Kaoru…. Warm hands slid over the contours of her body, sending thrills through her nerves. His arms wrapped around her waist as her knees weakened under his touch.
Kaoru…Kaoru… A hand on her nape coaxed her to turn her head and his lips caught hers, warm and slightly chapped but pleasurable. Skin slid against skin as she felt the pleasure build in her stomach, in tune with the movement of his fingers. Oh, clever, clever fingers.
Kaoru… Kaoru… Kaoru... She rode the waves of pleasure wrecking her body, crying out her pleasure to him. She kissed him again, to express her gratitude, a satisfied smile gracing her lips.
When his teeth latched onto her bottom lip, and bit, hard.
With a cry, she wrenched herself away, but firm hands on her waist kept her against him. Suddenly, they were more akin to restraints than the warm embrace of a lover. Something sharp dug into her skin, and she looked down to watch nails turn into claws, digging into her skin and drawing blood.
"Enshii!"
Red, hungry eyes watched her. A sadistic smile graced his mouth, her blood all over his lips and dripping down his chin. She vaguely registered her lip still bleeding. And those lips moved: "Kaoru!"
Let me devour you!
With a scream, Kaoru snapped awake, away from a nightmare so realistic to what happened a few days ago. Her body was drenched in sweat, muscles quivering from exhaustion.
Thunder boomed and she jumped, eyes flashing around to survey her surroundings.
A small bedside table stood next to the bed she slept in. Her phone and some toiletries sat on the table. Dim light came from a standing lamp next at the corner of the room, casting its warm light on an open suitcase on the floor, and the sink in the toilet, whose door stood ajar.
Heart beating in her throat, Kaoru slid off the bed, wincing when its springs creaked loudly in the silence.
Her hand found the switch and she flipped all the lights in the room with baited breath. No crazed mythical beast greeted her, only a toilet bowl and a small area for showering. Gulping, she moved to wash her face in the sink.
Cold water washed over her skin, a welcome relief from the clammy, sweaty sensation the dream left behind.
Breathing through her nose, she blindly reached for a towel to dry her face. That is, before her appearance in the mirror caught her attention.
Eyes wide, she stared at the scared, fearful girl in the mirror. Water droplets clung onto her long eye-lashes. Lashes that framed sunken eyes that were embraced by dark circles, testimony to her lack of rest over the past few days. Once deep blue eyes which held happiness, were now dead, and a large bruise where he had backhanded her, was forming on her cheek.
Turning her head to the side, she pushed her midnight tresses to her opposite shoulder to stare at the three deep gorges that spanned from the back of her jaw to the her nape, until their red marks blurred as her eyes went out of focus. She has similar markings on her waist, from where he had dug them into her skin. But those were shallow compared to this.
Frustration crossed her expression as she forcefully pulled a towel from the rack to wipe her face.
After driving non-stop for 2 full days, she had stopped at a convenience store to buy alcohol and a sewing kit. Then, she found a cheap hotel before she drank half the bottle. She used the remaining liquid to douse the wound before sewing them close. The pain was so excruciating, she'd teetered on the edge of consciousness. Thankfully, she only fainted after knotting and cutting the final strand with shaky fingers.
Now, the wound, held together by thread glowed an eerie red, as it had been when she woke up from her fainting spell. She didn't know why, but she figured wounds inflicted by… half werewolves wouldn't appear normal either. As long as it didn't kill her.
The sudden, pattering sound of rain falling on the roof caused her to look up, fear crossing her expression again. Her ears strained for any sound out of the ordinary.
It had been a rainy day when it happened. When her entire life was changed, and she discovered that monsters were real.
She officially hated rainy days.
After the storm, Kaoru hopped into her car again for another long drive, to heaven knows where.
Sometime midafternoon, she passed the sign that pointed her in the direction of Chicago. Frowning, she pulled up on to the road shoulder, fingers closing around the hilt of the Japanese sword that sat in her lap. It had saved her life, she never went anywhere without it anymore.
Sword fighting wasn't something that you learnt in a day. She had been practicing from young, learning from her late father, because she loved the grace and stealth that swordsmen, or women, had. Now she had something else to love about it: It was her safety net, her protection against the world.
Her grip on the hilt tightened slightly before she forced it to relax. Searching through her duffle bag, she found her phone and switched it on to dial the familiar number: Misao's.
She held her breath, eyeing her rearview and side mirrors for any unusual movement. Misao picked up after five rings.
"Kaoru?" Her friend's loud voice came through the speaker, cheery and bright, like the sun. She missed the sun, she thought suddenly.
"Misao." All the breath whooshed out as Kaoru spoke her best friend's name. "Did Enshii drop by your place?"
"Oh! He came over yesterday to check if you were around." Fear flashed through Kaoru, and her hand flew to the hilt of the sword again. As she came back to her senses, Misao was still speaking. "…you guys had a tiff and you ran off. What got you so worked up?"
Her friend's voice was teasing. It reminded her of old times, happier, safer times. Kaoru tried to focus on it, and to reign down the fear.
"It wasn't a tiff, Misao." Thankfully, miles of physical distance between the two girls was insufficient to hide the emotions that caused break in Kaoru's voice at the offending word.
Misao sobered. Her voice turned serious, strange. "What happened?"
Kaoru opened her mouth, and closed it. She swallowed. Tried to speak again. She might have managed to whimper out the word "hit" somewhere in the jumble of words. Her grip was tight on the hilt of her sword.
"Shit, Kaoru." Followed by a string of absolutely foul words. Kaoru had to bite back a smile. For a small girl, Misao could cuss with great conviction. "Come by the back gate, and we'll talk in my safe house, okay?"
Swallowing again, Kaoru nodded.
When did Misao have a 'safe house'? But at that point in time, terrified and alone, Kaoru would give anything to have a moment of decision making to someone else. And if that came with safety, she was definitely following along. "Okay."
"How far are you from here?"
"I'm about 4 hours' drive away."
"Kaoru," her friend took a deep breath over the phone. "Tell me: was his attack out of the ordinary?"
Misao's voice held an inflection. It was as if she knew about the unnatural nature of the attack on Kaoru.
Kaoru hesitated. Even if Misao does deem her as crazy, she would not be so harsh as to throw Kaoru out of the house, at least for the night. She would get a warm bed, some food, and a temporary sanctuary to come to terms with her situation. She would have to content herself with that.
"Yes, it was."
The simple statement sent Misao into a new string of curses that could make a pirate blush. But Kaoru was surprised. It appears that Misao was not new to this idea of coexisting with… monsters.
"You have to tell me everything, Kaoru! We can help." Kaoru could scarcely interrupt Misao when her friend was on a roll. "Head over asap! I'll explain everything at my safe house. It's behind the garage. And! I'll send people out if you don't reach in 4 hours, deal?"
"Deal."
Parking her car in an inconspicuous corner, Kaoru slung the sword on a belt around her waist.
She moved to the door, eyes flashing around nervously, and knocked.
There was a moment of silence while she held her breath. A rustle of leaves behind her had her jumping back, unsheathing her sword. A brown rabbit hopped out of the bushes as Kaoru gritted her teeth, turning back to the door.
She was reconsidering knocking again when the door flew open.
She caught a flash of unusual red before she was unsheathing her sword again, her entire arm intending to follow through the movement.
Her sword met resistance as the unknown man pulled his own sword, sheath and all, upwards, defending his own throat.
She expected to catch her opponent by surprise, not to be caught by surprise. The recoil sent her sword, and her own body into the door frame, and he was on her in an instant, hand grasping the wrist of her sword arm and coming nose to nose to her. Golden eyes stared into Kaoru's own and she fought to fight the strong wave of nausea and fear that washed through her.
Fear gripped at her muscles, chaining her from movement. Her lungs froze, and all her senses zeroed in on the man in front of her as memories of the previous night with Enshii flooded her thoughts.
But she'd sworn. Sworn never to be powerless in front of others again. The thought had her left hand curling into a tight fist. That night with Enshii was a mistake; she'd let her guard down. There would never be a repeat of it if Kaoru had a say in things.
Kaoru was just preparing to punch the living daylights out of the red-haired man when Misao's cry sounded. "Himura Kenshin! Remove your hands off of my friend this instant!"
This… Himura barely graced Misao with a glance. His eyes stayed glued to Kaoru, searching, evaluating. "She attacked first."
"I already told you to exit by the front door!" Kaoru couldn't help the involuntary shiver in reaction to Misao's high pitched shriek. She looked back up to watch see one side of his mouth curve upwards just slightly.
"I shall go and leave as I please, Misao." His next sentence held more venom that his facial expression. But his eyes… golden eyes bore into Kaoru's; and they held a warning for her too.
There was an exasperated sigh. "Fine, Kenshin, but let go of my friend. Please."
The firm hand around her wrist loosened, and pain radiated from the abused skin. With the force holding her up gone, Kaoru slid down the door frame onto the floor. She glared up at Himura as she resisted the urge to massage the spot; they were going to add to her collection of present bruises.
Golden eyes now surveyed her with slight amusement, before falling on her exposed neck. Shit, Kaoru cursed mentally, hand flying to cover the wound. The earlier impact of the recoil had sent her hair back from her shoulder, revealing the glowing red claw markings. Darkened eyes met hers for a moment, but before she could read his emotions, he was gone.
Kaoru turned to look at her friend. "He's gone."
"He comes in occasionally for business with Aoshi. But as alpha, he tends to get his way with a lot of things," Misao shrugged. Then concern flitted in her eyes as she surveyed Kaoru.
"How are you holding up?"
Biting her lip, Kaoru resisted the urge to just break down and cry. She made a show of getting up and dusting her jeans. "I've been better. Way better."
"When you called, I begin looking into things. They told me your house was ransacked, Kaoru! What happened?"
Kaoru's returning smile was weak. "I might have ransacked my own apartment in my rush to get away."
Misao's mouth dropped open. Walking towards Kaoru, she tugged her friend onto the couch.
"We can help." She took Kaoru's hand, and Kaoru felt Misao give her hand a reassuring squeeze.
Kaoru opened her mouth, but had difficulty finding the words to start.
Looking into Misao's concerned eyes was too heartbreaking for Kaoru, she threw herself into Misao's arms. And words rushed out of her in a garbled mess.
"I managed to escape from Enshii! He hurt me, I thought I was going to die!"
A.N (27 Apr 2015): This has been edited. I'm still writing it, but I am taking my own time with it, considering that I have other commitments and I want this to be something I am satisfied with. More importantly, this has been changed to a 'completed story', to keep you readers from expecting more (probably because I've been reading fanfic and I am sick and tired of coming across fanfiction that haven't been completed and I was left hanging :/). If anything, I hope you like the little bit of action with Enshii and Kenshin thrown in. I'm sorry to those who came across this much earlier and are waiting for an update, but I've won't update this story unless I am mostly finished with the first draft. Which may take months, even. What I can assure you guys, is that I am still writing and I fully intend on completing this. Thank you for the support thus far! :)