Thicker Than Water

My_Little_Samurai

Author's Note This fic is based on a manga called "Bloodhound." I really liked it and wanted to write a fic about it, so here goes. I hope you all enjoy it seeing as it is my first vampire fic. Okay, well I think this story is a Humor/Drama/Romance, but I'm not sure. There'll probably be a little more Drama than any of the other categories… oh well. I hope you all like the beginning.

Summary "Blood is thicker than water…" Kaoru is a young woman who is searching desperately for the cause of her friends supposed death when she first sees Kenshin. Suddenly an insane concept enters Kaoru's mind and no matter what Kenshin does, he just can't seem to get rid of her.

Disclaimer Okay, I don't own the quote in the summary and I don't own the characters… Aw snap, crackle, and pop!

Thicker Than Water

Prologue

Lately, many women have gone missing. Friends, families, and lovers of these women often have hope that they would return since they were only missing and there was no known evidence of their deaths. So far, there has only been one found corpse. Chihiro Miyamoto was found in the reservoir at seven o'clock on Saturday morning, September 15.

Kaoru paced restlessly around her room, kicking her bed at random moments. Earlier that day the police had called her to inform her of her friend's disappearance. They were still unsure if Misao had ran away or if she was abducted. Kaoru was unsure of what to do, but she's heard of the "vampire" who's stalking the streets. When the doctors examined Chihiro Miyamot's body there were no signs of violence inflicted on her. The only thing they noticed were two parallel holes at the base of her neck, so they came to name the murder a "vampire."

Kaoru looked down at the business card Misao had mailed to her yesterday, the day of her disappearance. Kaoru had wondered why Misao sent it to her and was planning to ask her today, but now she was missing. Kaoru brought the card close up to her face.

It was a card to a new bar that was set up near her neighborhood. Kaoru sighed as she sat down on her bed. She really missed Misao, and she was really worried that something might happen to her. Kaoru knew that Misao was seeing someone, but she didn't tell anyone. Many people told Kaoru to let Misao go and that they would have a funeral for her.

Kaoru would always yell at them for forgetting Misao so easily. She knew that deep down in her heart Misao could still be alive and that they shouldn't give up hope. Kaoru sighed as she collapsed onto her bed. Should she go to the bar? Who knew what could happen there; She could get kidnapped, killed, etc.

Still, the need to prove that Misao was still alive burned in her heart and she knew that the "vampire" would be there because most likely he was the cause of her disappearance. Sighing honce more Kaoru pulled her pillow against her face and screamed.

"Okay…" Kaoru calmed down and was now lying down on her bed staring at the ceiling. "I'll go there… and then what?"

Kaoru fisted her hands uncertain of what she was going to do; it wasn't like she could defend herself against a "vampire." Sure she mastered the Kamiya Kasshin, but would that enable her to hold against a vampire or just someone who could be twice her size. Kaoru sighed and picked up her bokken from its rack. Her life didn't matter right now; all that she cared about was Misao because no one ever wanted to be her friend before Misao.

Kaoru walked out of her room and as an afterthought, she picked up her rosary on her bedside table. Kaoru slowly climbed down the stairs carefully tiptoeing so as not to make a sound.

"Where are you going?"

"I…"

"Kaoru, you can't go out there!"

"But-"

Kaoru's father looked down at her. "You were planning to run away, weren't you?"

"No I wa-" Kaoru was cut off. Her father had always been a strict man. He rarely listened to the reasons behind their actions. If he caught them doing something out of the ordinary he would get mad no matter what, even if it were for a good cause. Kaoru bowed her head when her father started yelling at her. She could do nothing else because he would just get angrier if she tried to defend herself.

"Why can't you be like Tomoe?!"

"But, I can't."

"Your sister was always so obedient and understanding. She never did things without reason!"

"I have a reason!"

"What is it?" Kaoru's father looked down at Kaoru with a skeptical look in his eyes. She knew that no matter what she told him he would just say it wasn't good enough. She never was good enough. Even if Tomoe, her sister, is dead he would always compare them together.

Tomoe was at least three years older than Kaoru. Tomoe had turned twenty the year before and was dating a man she referred to as Battousai. Kaoru never understood why Tomoe would call her lover by the name of a legendary serial killer, but even with these curiosities in her head Kaoru said nothing about it. Tomoe never brought him to their house to introduce them to each other, but Kaoru imagined him to be a tall, charming, and handsome man. Tomoe normally attracted such men so this wouldn't be a surprise.

When Tomoe died her father was devastated. He couldn't look at Kaoru without being reminded of his beloved daughter. Sure he love Kaoru too, but to him Tomoe was more special. She was just like her mother and that was probably the reason he wanted nothing more than to spoil her silly. He gave her everything she wanted causing Tomoe to mature fairly quickly. Tomoe died the night after her birthday. She was found on the streets with a katana stabbed through her abdomen. Kaoru remembered everything. It was raining really hard and blood surrounded her carcass.

There were a lot of people there too and they stood around the body whispering to each other. Kaoru knew that they were asking each other what could have been the cause of this crime since nothing like this has ever happened in their neighborhood. Kaoru's family used to live in a really rich neighborhood because of her father's profession. Kaoru remembered looking down at Tomoe's face. She was so calm, like she always was. It didn't seem like she was scared or anything… she rarely was. She was so pale…

And everything seemed to stop at that one moment.

They had to move because Mr. Kamiya was afraid that something like that would happen again and he didn't want to be reminded about Tomoe when he looked around the room. Kaoru looked up her father and saw the pain in his eyes. She closed her eyes to try to prevent her tears from falling. She didn't want him to get angrier.

"I want to help look for Misao…"

"Absolutely not."

"Why?"

"It would be no use. No matter what people think, it will never happen. And what if you do find her? She'll probably be dead and that would just cause you more pain than her just missing."

"But, I need to know if she is or if she's not."

"It doesn't matter! I already said no!"

"But, dad! She was my best friend!"

"Tomoe wouldn't argue with me! Why can't you do the same?!" Kaoru's dad lifted his hand to strike her, but when she didn't cower he lowered it. He was a much esteemed lawyer and he couldn't afford to ruin his reputation just because his daughter was being an insane case. He just couldn't reach her. He just couldn't understand her. Why did she always insist on tormenting him?

"I'm not Tomoe! I'm sorry, dad, for caring about another person besides you!" Kaoru grabbed her coat and walked past her dad. Mr. Kamiya made no move to stop her.

Kaoru glared at him and her fist tightened around her bokken, "Don't expect me to come in early."

With that she exited and shut the door behind her. Kaoru didn't care if her father was angry and would probably hurt her when she returned, it just didn't matter. He never really cared for her before anyways, so why should this matter now? Kaoru looked up at the dark sky and saw slightly visible grey clouds come overhead, signaling that it was about to rain.

Kaoru pulled her hood up and walked down the streets and followed the directions on the business card. This could be the only way to get answers. She desperately wanted to know if Misao was fine.

______________________________________________________________________________

Everything was in motion in the Hiten Mitsurugi bar. Since only men worked in the bar it attracted many women. A tall spiked hair man approached the woman sitting at the counter.

"Hello there, can I ask you a question?" The woman nodded while giggling. It was quite obvious that he was flirting with her. "Do you believe in love at first sight, or do you want me to walk past you again?"

The woman just giggled. The woman gently held her hand out for a handshake. "I'm Megumi Takani."

The man took her hand and planted a soft kiss on her knuckles, "I'm Sanosuke Sagara, nice to meet you. Do you want anything?"

"Why don't you surprise me?"

"Stop right there!"

Kaoru smiled triumphantly as she entered the parlor. Kaoru scanned around the room. Which one could he be? Kaoru shook her head violently, it didn't matter who did it she just needed to find Misao. Kaoru whipped out her rosary and pushed it into the face of the closest person to her.

"Burn you damned vampire!"

Kaoru looked over her hand and saw that she forced her rosary on a rather handsome red-headed man. Although his features were somewhat feminine, he was still a good looking guy. Kaoru blushed red and pushed the rosary closer to his face.

"Why aren't you burning, damn it?!"

"I'm not a vampire, miss…"

"Yes you are and you should be burning…"

Kaoru took that moment to look around the room and to her surprise it was covered from top to bottom with crosses. "Huh?"

"As you can see, I'm still not burning so that doesn't make me a vampire."

"But- Misao! She gave me this business card and I believe it's yours."

Kenshin took the card from Kaoru's hands. He looked down at the card then up at her. "This isn't mine."

"What?!"

"This isn't mine."

Kaoru glared at Kenshin, "Of COURSE it is!" Kaoru sized Kenshin up although she was almost a head shorter than him. Kenshin looked down at Kaoru and suddenly an image of a beautiful woman flashed in his mind. She giggled slightly and smiled, Of coarse it is. Kenshin snapped out his gaze and looked down at the angry teen that seemed seconds away from actually smacking him.

"Miss, why don't you leave?"

"The names Kaoru!"

"Miss Kaoru, why don't you leave?"

"And what if I don't?" Kaoru crossed her arms over her chest and gave Kenshin a look that clearly said she was challenging him.

"If the police see you here, you're the one who will get in trouble."

"I don't care what the police do! I just want to find my friend!"

"We haven't seen anyone your age here."

Kaoru gave him an incredulous look. How could he be so calm like that? It was so unnerving. Kaoru looked around the parlor and saw that all the customers left and she was in a room filled with about four men and just her. Kaoru felt a tingle climb its way up her spine.

"Well, too bad. I won't leave here till I find Misao."

Kenshin was surprised by Kaoru's stubbornness because not many women were as stubborn as Kaoru was.

"Then we'll have to have you escorted out." Kaoru stuck her tongue out at Kenshin.

"Like you'd do that." Kaoru looked up at Kenshin and saw that he was dead serious. She swallowed loudly and allowed herself to shiver. His eyes were amber colored… what an unusual eye color? Suddenly Kaoru wondered if they were contacts. They looked real, but you never know.

"I could throw you out and you know it."

Kaoru suddenly smiled up at Kenshin when a thought entered her mind. She looked at the bar and gently trailed her finger against the surface of the wood. She smiled because the wood was so smooth; she could tell that they were a very successful club. Kaoru let her hand wander to the ice bucket where the wine was kept.

"You must be proud to own such a successful company…" She suddenly grabbed a bottle and threw it to the ground. "Opps…" She smiled up at them with fake sympathy, "I guess I could work here to pay off for the wine."

Kaoru laughed at all their surprised expressions, "I know there's a vampire here and I won't leave till I find him."

"There's no such thing as a "vampire," replied the red-haired man.

"Yes there is! I saw one before…" Kaoru trailed off. She saw a vampire before. It was the night when she really did decide to run away. She was only five and her father had gotten mad at her again. She only forgot to clean her room and when he saw it he started to yell at her.

"Why do you always FORGET? Tomoe never forgets to do her chores!"

Kaoru remembered sobbing into her sleeves, begging him to forgive her. She hadn't meant to forget, she was just busy doing other things. She was only five and her father was screaming at her like it was the end of the world. Kaoru had felt like he didn't love her. She felt more like he loved Tomoe a lot more than he loved her.

Kaoru didn't know what she always seemed to do wrong, but she tried everyday to fix it. It still didn't help, he only got angrier at her for trying to be like her sister. He got mad because he thought she was trying to mock him.

Kaoru finally got fed up a decided to run away. It was late at night and she left a note on her pillow telling her dad what she was doing. Kaoru was walking around when she got a bridge. She looked over the edge at the water bellow.

"It must be easy to be able to let go of your life since you are reborn anyway."

"What?"

Kaoru remembered a scary looking man with a long dark robe. He wasn't very tall, but that didn't matter because he seemed very intimidating. He looked down at her with his piercing red eyes. Although he was so imposing Kaoru knew that he was really a gentle person. She could tell because he actually took time to talk to her instead of just outright kill or kidnap her.

"Humans, you let yourselves die too easily. Still it must be easy because you are reborn in another body and continue to live through someone else."

"Who are you?"

"I'm a vampire…"

"Really? Do you get reborn too?"

"No, we just die."

"That's not fair though."

Kaoru remembered how he looked at her when she said that. It was an expression filled with curiosity. Why should someone say it's not fair? Vampires prey on human kind and kill them, and yet Kaoru said this.

She remembered looking closely at his face and then she saw what she was looking for. Two long, sharp fangs protruded from his upper lip. Kaoru remembered not feeling scared.

"Are you thirsty, Mr. Vampire?"

"Yes."

The little girl swept her hair away from her long, slender neck and stood in front of the vampire.

"If I get reborn, then I might have a good life after this one. Can you?"

The vampire towered over the little girl and placed his hands on her shoulders. His long cape  surrounded them and he brought his face close to the little girl's neck. He got closer and closer, and the little girl could feel his cold breath brush against her sensitive skin. Suddenly he stopped.

"You're too naïve to think that I'd take your life." He pressed two fingers against her neck, "This is a symbol that I have spared you."

"Let go of my daughter!"

Suddenly the vampire grabbed Kaoru's shirt and held her over the running water below, "What importance is this girl?"

"Give me my beloved daughter!"

Kaoru's eyes widened when he said that. She was his beloved daughter…

That was the only time her father told her that. He never really said anything like that before that moment. It was really hard to believe that she was his beloved daughter because he was always mad at her. The vampire threw her into her father's arms and flown off. Kaoru remembered watching him fly into the dark night.  It seemed like a dream, but Kaoru knew it was real. At that point Kaoru thought that vampires were only fairytales, but when she met one she knew they were real.

"It doesn't matter what I think!" Kaoru broke out of her reverie and glared up at Kenshin. "I have to work to pay off that wine and now you can't hide Mr. Vampire."

"My name is Kenshin Himura."

"Whatever, it doesn't really matter. I will find my friend and there's nothing you can do about it."

______________________________________________________________________________

TO BE CONTINUED…

Like it, don't like it? Tell ME so I know! I would really love to know what I'm doing wrong so yeah.