Destinies Desire
This is The Enforcer speaking,
This is an Alternate Universe type story about how Ken and Kaoru finally get together and what results with there run in with a mysterious girl who carries a sword and knows how to use it.
Wind blew lightly through the trees and ruffled the grass; sun shined down through a cloudless sky the color of cornflowers.
Kenshin walked calmly towards town, a small smile graced his face. He was on his way to do some grocery shopping. Oddly enough the warrior enjoyed such choirs.
The Market was always bustling with business, full of people, families, children…
Yes, times were peaceful now, at least for the moment, and for as long as the peace lasted Kenshin would enjoy it and take every advantage of it.
The serenity didn't last as it was suddenly broken
Crash! Slam! Cling!
"Someone help!"
Kenshin twisted around towards where the sounds were coming from. Someone's shop had been destroyed, the broken planks and bamboo stood up at angles, the shop tenders wares lay scattered through the street.
A ring of onlookers blocked Kenshins view; so he slid swiftly through the crowd to a better vantage point, what he saw stopped him in his tracks.
A girl with dark blue hair stood encircled by a group of very unwholesome looking men.
The thing that surprised Kenshin the most was not that the girl was dressed as a man, in hakama pants and the such, it was that she carried a sword.
But she was uncertain in her stance, held her sword too tightly and was afraid.
She was short, shorter even than Kenshin or Kaoru, thin, well built and young, perhaps only seventeen.
"Why don't you- come over here." Her voice was soft and low, bangs and shadows hid her eyes.
"Come on boys lets get her." All five men launched themselves at her together. Kenshin put a hand on his sword and prepared to jump in when-
She was gone.
"Up here you idiots." She stood up on top of a shop right next to the one they destroyed. Her voice was strong, confidant in her abilities she was.
Kenshin stopped and narrowed his eyes.
Her stance had completely changed, she seemed secure now, not a flicker of fear upon her face, her grip was firm yet loose and the girl warrior looked amused.
"This one shall wait." He thought to himself.
She jumped back down to the ground. The nearest man started towards the girl. She smirked. It was an oddly delicate yet chilling and powerful gesture.
Kenshins' eyes grew wide.
She cut through the mans bokken like it wasn't even there, hacked him across the chest and without a second thought kicked him out of the way. The next three attacked in unison.
Cut, slash, kick.
The three lay bleeding on the ground next to their fallen comrade who lay moaning in pain but not mortally wounded, one was missing his hand. The last man laughed.
"They were weak, I am strong. Try that with me little missy." Eyes still hidden she grinned.
"It would be my pleasure." The tall brutish man attacked, pulling a sword as he did so.
He was more skillful than the others, but not by much, it was simple, for Kenshin at least, to see that she was merely toying with the man.
Out of nowhere a child suddenly ran into the melee.
"Gee! No." Cried his mother, but it was too late.
"Stop fighting." The little boy cried, jumping in the way.
The man turned towards the boy. "Why you..." Lashing out he kicked the child, the boy fell over, crying out in pain. The man went to kick the boy again when she made her move, kicking him up along side his head so hard that she plowed his face into the ground.
"Enough."
Growled the mystery girl, the anger that filled her voice in that one word sent chills down Kenshins spin.
"How dare you harm a child. They are the innocent ones."
She kicked him again as he tried to crawl up off the ground.
"They are not to be abused." She kicked him again. She turned her back on him.
Walking over to the fallen child she picked up the little boy and handed him to his mother who thanked her softly.
As the man got up out of the dirt, the girl permitted the fight to begin again.
Kenshin knew that this man would die, when she found an opening he would not just be laying bloody on the ground missing a hand or something, he would be dead, her sword had tasted the lifes' blood of man before, tasted death.
The man dropped his arm.
The opening was there.
Wham!
The girls copper eyes were wide.
Kenshins sword blocked hers knocking it away from the killing blow.
He looked down at her sternly. She looked at him in contempt then smiled.
"Ah, the Battousai." She pulled her sword back, flung the blood off of it, and began cleaning it with a stray piece of cloth she'd found.
Her top was a blue as dark as her long, long hair and her hakama pants were grey.
"It is not right taking lives, that it is not." She smiled up at him, shrugging.
"And it's right for grown men to harm children." She shot back. Then closed back in on her self with a shrug.
"So Battousai, you from around here?" She sounded so unconcerned that it caused Kenshin to pause for a moment. The warrior stared at her, he could not just let her leave to continue on her way, she was a danger and if left unchecked she would continue to kill.
"This one is sorry, but you must come with him." Kenshin heard shouts. The police were coming. She didn't look up from her cleaning of her katana.
"Yeah," she chuckled, looking sideways at Kenshin "right." If it was possible she sounded even less worried than before. "You and what army Battousai." Finally she sheathed her sword.
"This one apologizes young miss."
Finally looking up the girl replied, "For what?"
"For this." Kenshin struck out faster than the young girl had ever seen someone move, she saw it coming a second before his fist made contact with her jaw. Her head whipped back and to the side, her eyes wide, then she fell backwards, out cold.
The girl fought well but she didn't fight that well, he'd seen her style before, it was not a properly learned style, it was a style learned from the need to survive. Brutal and unclean, good against basic brutes but not against someone who was good and had been properly trained, to learn to fight the way she had, meant she had lived a brutal life.
Though Kenshin received a few odd looks he made it back with relative ease, carrying the girl was easy as she weighed little.
Upon his arrival at the dojo he was met by a suspicious Kaoru.
"And who is this?" Kaoru bantered him.
Kenshin laid the girl out on the porch.
"This one does not know, that is, she is a stranger…"
Kenshin sighed and then told Kaoru what happened down at the market.
Kaoru looked at the girl in shock.
Slam!
"Why did you bring her here you idiot what happens if she does something stupid and it's traced back here huh!?" Kenshin lay stunned on the ground.
Kaoru still held the kendo stick in her hand threateningly
"Oro?"
Kenshin pulled himself up off the dirt, dusted off his pants, and tried to look dignified.
"Because this one could see the killer in her, she has a potential to be very dangerous without the right mentoring. Perhaps you have another student, that is it." Kenshin looked at Kaoru pleadingly.
"When she wakes up Kenshin we're going to sit down and have a nice long chat with her, whether she likes it or not. Now, lets' go eat lunch. Little Yahiko lunch time."
Chimed Miss Kaoru.
Kenshin stood there looking dumbfounded. That woman could switch moods so fast it left him stunned.
Kenshin sat down next to the unconscious girl. He looked at her closely. Something was different about her, something not quite right, well besides her odd colored hair, eyes and extraordinarily pale skin.
Something about her looked lethal, dangerous, inhuman, even in her "sleep".
Reaching down, the warrior seized the girls' sword and pulled it free of her belt, it would not be wise to leave it on her. It would be a mess as it were when she finally woke up. He pulled her katana out of its sheath and gave it a good looking over.
It had been used a lot but maintained well.
"KENSHIN!" Her voice rocked the walls. "Get in here and eat now."
"But Miss. Kaoru, this one can't just leave her here alone, it would be very bad if she woke up out here alone, that it would be." Kaoru came stomping out and glared at Kenshin.
"I guess that is true, I'll bring you out some lunch, you need to eat."
The sun had set and the nights' sky was the dark blue color that it gets just before the stars come out and the true black of the night comes, the moon was a day away from full and lit up the nights' sky.
"Exactly how hard did you hit her," Kenshin didn't look back at Sano, "because she's been out for hours?"
"Honestly this one hit her pretty solidly because she posses such a threat." It was just as these words left Kenshins mouth that the girl moved.
Sano and Kenshin froze. The first thing she did was reach quickly for her sword only to find it gone, frowning she stood up.
"Where am I, where have you taken me?" Her voice was calm even as she looked around in irritation, probably trying to locate her sword. "And where the hell is my sword?"
Sano, made a move to go from the shadows towards her from behind.
"You in the shadows, if you value your life, you will not come any closer, with or without my sword I can end it swiftly." Sano stopped moving, she turned back to Ken,
"Battousai, care to explain this situation?"
Standing up Kenshin began with, "Firstly, this one no longer goes by Battousai, this one is known as Himoura Kenshin, now to answer you other questions, you are at Miss. Kaorus' dojo, and you are here because this one believes you are too dangerous to be allowed to roam about at this moment. Your sword has been hidden from you by me and you will only get it back when this one decides to give it to you."
The girl shuddered visibly.
"Now we will go inside and have a chat with Miss Kaoru."
Kaoru, Kenshin, Sano, Yahiko and the girl all sat around in a circle inside the main house.
"What is your name?" Kaoru demanded. The girl smiled.
"My name… Kisho, Kisho Akira if you must know."
"Hey isn't that a boys name." Yahiko spit out without thinking, the death glare sent to him by Akira did not go unnoticed. He paled and piped down.
"Where are you from Miss. Akira?" Kenshin asked most politely hoping she would stop glaring at Yahiko.
"I'm not really sure to tell you the truth and drop the Miss ok, its jut Akira." Kenshins eyes bugged out.
"Ok, but may this one ask you, what are you're… Origins, your hair and eyes, your skin… this one has never seen any like it before…" Akira sneered.
"Talking about origins I wonder where you get such red hair." Kenshins eyes popped open and he coughed slightly.
"It's always been this way M- er…Akira…" Akira smirked.
"Same for me I'm afraid, but… I would like to ask you a question…do you believe in demons?" Everyone froze, turning eyes towards her. They all nodded at the same time.
"Well then I guess you'll believe me when I tell you what I am," She laughed softly, "I am what is known as a Hanyou, I am half demon, half human, hated by your kind as well as mine. This," she pulled a necklace out from under her top, dangling from the end of was a small sealed bottle, "contains the things which keep my demon side at bay, every Hanyou has something that keeps there demon side at bay, without it when circumstances are right my demon side would take over, when this happens I lose pieces of my soul, I wouldn't know anything but blood, death, destruction, I'd kill and kill until something stopped me." She tucked the bottle back down her top and stood up preparing to leave.
"Where do you think your going?" Sanos' low voice made everyone jump.
"I'm leaving; I assume you would not want a half-breed such as myself staying here any longer." She smiled while she said it, Kenshin had an idea.
"Your plan will not work, that it will not, we are not going to chase you away so you can go about your business." Kenshin stood up and put a hand on his weapon.
"Sit back down Akira." Kaoru stood up herself. The half breed glared at the two of them blocking her path then sat back down.
"I am no match for batto- Kenshin. I know that." Everyone settled back down on to the floor. "Keep asking your questions."
"Normally we do not concern our selves with ones past around here, but it is important to know this…Have you ever taken a human life with your sword?"
Akira blinked slowly, "Yes, yes I have, many lives over the years, I don't remember the first time but it was long ago, I've killed for money, survival, power…" Akira shrugged.
"I've long since made peace with my self; I am what I am killings all I'm good for. Learned that long ago."
"NO!" Kenshin slammed his hand down on the floor, rattling the walls, his eyes flashing.
"True that is not." He stood up, jaw set. "We will teach you another way."
"She can not learn my style of swordsmanship." Kaoru sound slightly frightened and stared at Kenshin with wide eyes.
"This is true, she has stained her hands with the blood of man but there has to be another way." Kenshins voice was as serious as anyone of them had ever heard it.
"The reason I have not learned proper swordsmanship, Kenshin, is because no one wants a thing like me as a student." The Hanyou was extremely matter of fact.
"You know Ken. You could take her on as your own apprentice." Sano crossed his arms as he spoke.
"No. This one will not pass on his style to another generation."
"But why let it die out, you use it to do good with, so can she, sounds to me like your out of options if you insist on not passing on your style." Sano continued. "Think about it Kenshin."
"While it is true what you say…" He stopped as his eyes fell on Akira, briefly he saw behind the arrogant mask she wore. He saw that she thought that she was going to be turned away again so she wouldn't even allow herself to hope.
"Then I will be on my way, if you won't train me then I will leave now." She tried to move past Kenshin but his hand shot out suddenly grabbing her shoulder. Akira reacted immediately, grabbing a hold of his hand she twisted free, rotating out and away she flipped Kenshin over trying to slam in him through the wall.
But mid air Kenshin rotated, reversing the throw and landing on his feet.
"Don't touch me, no one, is allowed to touch me…ever."
Her words were harsh, the last word a curse.
Kenshin straightened up, letting his hands drop to his sides he spoke, barely above a whisper.
"Miss. Akira, allow this one to think on it to night, allow this one the time to decide what is right and what is wrong to do." Akira glared at Kenshin then nodded.
"Fine, sleep on it Battousai but one night is all, I can't bear to stay in one place too long being useless."
Kaoru locked Akira away the same way she locked Kenshin away that first night he stayed at the school, but some how she knew if the girl was really intent upon leaving she would be gone.
Kenshin watched Kaoru walk back to the porch.
"Kenshin, she seems awfully dangerous, I don't think it would be wise to teacher her to fight even better." Kaoru spoke as she sat down next to him.
"She is tired of the killing, growing up as what she is, she learned to kill to stay alive, then used it to get whatever else she needed. She doesn't know how to stop."
Kaoru leaned her head against Kenshins shoulder. Kenshin froze breath catching in his throat. Kaoru never touched him except to hit him. Kenshin swallowed thickly.
"Miss Kaoru?" Kenshin knew his voice was a bit shaky.
"Will you drop the Miss Kenshin; you've known me long enough to drop the Miss."
"Um.. Y-yes mi- urm, Kaoru."
Kenshin lay awake for the longest time, unable to sleep mulling over the decision what should be done? Tossing turning. Finally Kenshin sat up growling.
"Damn it, that's it, that's what this one must do, this one has no other option!"
-TBC
Well I hope you've enjoyed it so far, please review, I like reviews, when people review it helps me write more, more quickly.
On the Next episode, Kenshins decision is revealed…
-The Enforcer