Okay, sorry for the wait:) I've added a few more paragraphs to it at the end, so if you've already read it, you can skip down to the end of the chapter.
I would have posted this sooner... but someone threw out my entire set of notes for the story... weeps loudly So please bear with me as I try to finish this.
Disclaimer: No, in truth I don't own ruroken-I just use the characters for my own wicked plots--I mean stories, nice-stories-that-don't-harm-the-characters, yeah...
--Two Halves of a Whole--
The darkened skies were violently ripped open by the jagged flashes of hot white lightening. Rain dripped down from the gaping wounds caused, filling the dark streets beneath. Tall dark, sentinel-like buildings stood row upon row, presenting an intimidating spectacle to the viewer. Smaller buildings shoved against each other, trying in vain to create more room for themselves. The streets and sidewalks were covered with litter of all sorts and both looked equally worse for the wear that the past eighty-two years had brought them. Covered in pot-holes, some deep and some small, you would have to be extremely careful as you walked down these roads to avoid tripping or falling.
Unfortunately for Kamiya Kaoru, today she was just not being careful. Fortunately she almost tripped over a small pothole, causing her to merely lose a tiny portion of her balance. Which was just enough to cause her to fall as she over-balanced when seeking to correct herself, the momentum forcing the girl backwards onto the street to land with a small splash of rain water.
Cursing softly, she stood up quickly and tried to brush off some of the water. Her old, tattered coat was soaking wet along the bottom, though considering the rain, it never was really dry to begin with. Her worn and patched skirt was in the same sopping condition as her coat, but fortunately her blouse wasn't wet. At least, it wasn't too wet in the areas the her jacket hadn't been soaked through.
Clinging to a tiny purse that looked like it had seen better days at least five years ago, Kaoru tried to be a little more careful in her steps.
She glared up at the sky as another bolt of lightning and roar of thunder caused her to jump. "Stupid weather, stupid teachers, stupid-" she never finished her list as she stopped to stare at something that floated soggily down.
Before the wind could blow it out of reach, like it had done to her hat earlier, she reached out and caught it deftly between her thumb and forefinger. It was a feather, but it wasn't like the ones that she saw everyday. It was almost as long as her skirt, which started at her waist and ended right above her knees, and it was black, silky, even being damp it was a pretty feather.
Smacking herself upside the head mentally, she stuffed the feather as best she could into her purse and continued walking. If she wanted to make it home before night fell, she'd have to rant about the feather at home.
Rushing along, she failed to notice a pair of violet-amber swirled eyes watching her from atop one of the many roofs.
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Minutes later found Kaoru climbing wearily up the steps of an apartment complex. The cement steps looked unpleasant and cold, just another reminder of why she wanted to leave.
Entering the building, she marched quickly to the stairs and began climbing them, wincing slightly at every creak and groan it issued forth.
As soon as that flight of stairs ended, she turned and began on the next. Her room was located at the very top of the building, which meant it was less expensive as most people were not willing to walk all the way to the top. The apartment complex didn't have an elevator, not like they'd be able to use it even if it was there.
Disgruntled, tired, and stressed, Kaoru needed the one thing that always managed to get her through the day... a large cup of dark, steaming coffee. She dropped her purse and coat on the floor and made her way to the tiny kitchen.
Deciding on instant coffee, the one luxury she could afford herself, she waited impatiently for the microwave to finish. Feeling extremely grateful to her old neighbors for having left her the appliance when they had left the city, she bent forward and dropped her head onto the counter. Drumming her fingers impatiently on the same counter, she watched as the seconds ticked down.
5...
4...
3...
2...
1...
A loud crash of thunder startled her as she was expecting the beeping sound of her microwave timer instead.
Deciding to postpone her coffee for a minute, she walked over to the somewhat dirty glass door that led to a tiny balcony. She ran delicate fingers that hard work had not yet managed to corrupt, over the balcony's rusty iron rail.
Another blinding flash of lightning and a cacophony of thunder erupted directly overhead. The raven-haired beauty jumped and thought that right now was a really good time to get back to her coffee.
A soft sound behind her erased these thoughts and caused the hair on the back of her neck to rise.
She turned around slowly, sapphire-blue eyes wide in her pale face. A muffled shriek ripped itself from her throat as she saw what stood before her.
A man with large midnight blue wings that contrasted sharply albeit pleasantly to his pale skin and flaming red hair. Violet-amber swirled eyes regarded her with an expression Kaoru didn't want to contemplate. Not right now anyway. Letting her gaze drop to his clothing, she noticed he wore a long sleeved black shirt-the top three or four buttons unbuttoned. 'Which meant he's got an ego.' Kaoru mused silently as her gaze wandered lower. Tight fitting black pants with a wide belt and silver chain completed his attire.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, -Kaoru couldn't quite decide which- that... man blocked the entrance to her tiny apartment. That was not acceptable.
And that look in his eyes was completely unacceptable as well. Anger flared high causing her eyes to turn a stormy blue shade. "Excuse me, I'd like you to move." her voice didn't come out as strongly as she wished, but when faced with a man with wings, you have to cut a girl a break.
A lazy smile crossed his lips as he moved forward slightly, "Why should I?"
Kaoru shivered at the sound of his voice, so dark and rich like honey yet it held a dangerous tint to it as well. "Because I said so!" 'There, that came out just right!'
He looked amused at her aggressive stance and angry eyes. "Hmm, but I really don't feel like it."
The raven-haired beauty looked almost ready to kill, why was he being so aggravating? It's not like she had done anything to him!
Almost as if he had read her thoughts, he smirked slightly and replied, "Not to me personally, but it seems that you've been hiding for far too long, Kamiya Kaoru."
Startled, she clutched weakly at the rail for support. 'Who the heck is this guy, and what does he know?' Her heart sped up and her breath grew ragged as she saw him unsheathe a katana.
He lunged forward, the bright blade flashing eerily in the steady downpour.
Kaoru screamed and covered her face with her arms. She was unarmed and defenseless, nothing she had been taught would let her escape that fire-haired demon. Closing her eyes tightly, she braced herself for the oncoming strike.
A sickening gurgle sounded from behind her, she could feel something hot and sticky splatter her skin and clothes. Her eyes flew open as she let her arms drop limply to her sides. Her face flushed as she noticed that she was extremely close to his chest, but that didn't stop her traitorous eyes to notice that it was finely toned. She slid down to her knees, praying he wouldn't notice where her eyes had traveled. Last thing she needed at the moment was for him to think she was interested.
The man stepped back, calmly flicking the blood off his blade, though a mild look of disgust at the creature crossed his face for a moment.
Kaoru looked around wildly for a weapon, something she could use to get away. She had been running for almost ten years now, and she wasn't about to let this man take her without a fight.
The man smirked again, "You can't fight me."
That smirk was really starting to grate on Kaoru's temper.
"How dare you, you arrogant-" she stopped as she felt something call her. Call her soul. Her eyes gleamed silver giving her an ethereal appearance.
"What are you doing?" she whispered hoarsely, fear written all over her face.
The man kneeled down to look her in the eyes, "Lady Kaoru, one of the ancients, born with the ability to destroy and to heal-not to mention whatever experiment they tried to do to you before you escaped-you do know that you're an extremely wanted woman, right?"
Kaoru let her gaze drop to her lap, fear constricted her heart and throat tightly, "What do you want?"
"I'm simply here to repay a debt."
"I won't go with you, I can't go back there!" she yelled, hear eyes wide with fear and anger, "Do you know what they did to me! You can't take me back there, I won't let you!" Balling up her fists, she rushed him and tried to at least render him unconscious.
She didn't really want to hurt him, not until she asked him how he could call her like that. She was sure it was him.
Unprepared for what happened next, Kaoru was stunned and flabbergasted at the man's actions.
Large black wings enveloped her on either side, one of his arms had wrapped itself about her waist, pulling her petite body close to his. The other arm neatly and effectively blocked her punch. His lips covered her in a searing kiss.
To say she was shocked would have been the understatement of the century. This was very unexpected, and though originally unwanted, Kaoru found herself melting in his arms.
He pulled back, that darn smirk still in place. "My name is Himura Kenshin, your father-before he...died, asked me to watch over you."
"Guardian angel." Kaoru mused aloud and was surprised at his quiet chuckle.
"Of sorts." he agreed then pulled her gently inside the house.
Kaoru's mind was whirling, she had already heard of her father's death-so that wasn't such a great shock.
The bigger shock was him, this Himura Kenshin.
"How were you able to call me?" she demanded, unafraid now that she knew he wouldn't turn her over to her pursuers.
"You should know that already, Kaoru." his eyes bored into hers as she stared at him.
Kaoru shook her head, puzzled at his words.
"Don't tell me you've forgotten." he asked, the tone sounding almost exasperated.
Moving faster than the blink of an eye, he had grabbed her hand and put it against his, palm against palm. Interlacing their fingers, he watched calmly as a mark began to appear on the back of his hand.
Kaoru stared openmouthed at the symbol on the back of her hand. "No..." she breathed as she studied the crescent moon and star mark on the back of her hand.
"Two halves of a whole." Kenshin stated softly, as he too studied the mark on the back of his hand.
"But, I-this is-you can't-" she stuttered, feeling helpless-and Kamiya Kaoru did not like feeling helpless.
"You are mine and I am yours, Kaoru." he almost purred, a wicked gleam forming in his eyes.
She backed away quickly, "Don't even think about touching me!" Though, she wouldn't quite mind. Considering the fact that if he was that good at kissing, he should be good at other things too.
'Bad Kaoru!' she slapped herself mentally.
Kenshin noted where her thoughts were going, and decided to save it for later. They had more important things to discuss right now.
"Kaoru, many lives are at stake here. They need their king and queen to free them from that tyrant's rule."
"What!" Kaoru's mouth dropped open. "Fat chance! Look, Kenshin was it? I can't do this, sorry. You need to find someone else."
Kenshin grabbed her arms to prevent her from walking out the door.
"Whether or not you care for it, you are of noble blood. Start acting like it." he hissed.
"I don't care." she glared menacingly at him.
"You will." his voice was hard with promise.
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Dark clouds floated listlessly across the wide expanse of a grey sky. The storm had stopped hours ago, but that was only the storm outside. Inside, Kaoru was creating a miniature thunder-storm of her own.
"How dare you!" Glaring heatedly at the man lounging on the floor against the wall, she ignored the way his exotic features caused her heart to race-whether it was fear or infatuation she didn't dare decide. "You come into my home, practically threaten me, and now you're saying that my father sent you to me! And you expect me to swallow that load of crap about me being royalty? Get real, if you want a queen go elsewhere. Not interested." finishing with that outburst, she turned her back to him quickly. She had to let her anger take full reign of her emotions at the moment, that Kenshin was causing feelings to erupt in her soul that she couldn't explain, nor quite liked.
Kaoru liked to be in control of her situation, and that man wasn't about to let her. 'Unfortunate for him.' she mused silently as she recalled the few times she had let her temper slip out of her control, they weren't pretty memories.
Kenshin kept his silence for a moment, allowing himself a brief moment to admire this new side of her lovely figure. Truly she had royal blood coursing through her veins, you could tell simply by the way she carried herself. Granted, he admitted, she was a bit of a klutz as this evening alone had proved. Still, there was something irresistible about her. He hadn't quite figured it out yet, but given the time, he would.
A smirk played about his lips at this thought, then he regretfully put away those kind of thoughts for later. Right now he had to get the girl to cooperate. To awake her ancient powers and memories would take a considerable amount of time. He recalled the last time he had gone through this mess, er...process. It had been a few hundred years ago, and it always was the same. Always awaking first, he had the duty to wake her up-it seemed that she was always unwilling to leave the normal behind.
Kaoru felt his eyes roam her body and stood straighter. Turning to let him have another piece of her mind, she paused at the thoughtful look on his face. It seemed her 'guardian angel' was lost in his thoughts.
That was perfectly fine with her.
Hoping to be able to sneak out while he was zoned out, she tiptoed towards the door. A sudden rustle and flapping of wings could be heard before she found her face brushing up against Kenshin's chest.
A startled shriek pierced the air as she fell backwards onto the floor, landing hard on her rump. That darn smirk reappeared as he glanced down at her, "Leaving so soon?"
That was it, Kaoru decided now was a perfectly good time to snap, "Me leaving! It should be you that left!" Mustering up the best glare she could, she tried staring him down and was irked to find him smirking even more.
"What is it with you and that darn smirk!"
"Don't like it?" he grinned mischievously, showing off perfect white teeth. Jerk.
Kaoru turned her gaze to the floor, not deigning to respond. Instead she found out how interesting her tiles were. Who knew they could look so filthy even after she scrubbed it. It was probably all those cracks in it, yeah-that was it.
She tried in vain to ignore him, and found her eyes rising to meet his again. It felt like she was being drawn to him... and there had to be some reason for it-other than her odd attraction to this man. Moving her eyes from his violet-amber gaze to his mouth, she growled inwardly. His lips were barely moving-meaning he was chanting something, probably a spell to calm her down and make her listen. That was her guess because that was how she felt at the moment.
Using her own source of power, she deftly created an almost tangible shield about her body. "Stay away from me." she hissed venomously.
Kenshin felt surprised at her ability. Last time he had to awaken her, she had barely been able to heal herself. He smiled slightly-at least this time would be slightly easier. Almost frowning at the way she nervously backed up as he stepped forward, he exhaled loudly. "I'm not going to hurt you."
"Guilty until proven innocent." was Kaoru's reasoning. "Besides, you still have those." she pointed to the katana and wakizashi which were strapped at his waist.
"Fine." he took them out of his belt and placed them carefully down on the floor at her feet. Refraining from putting them back into comfortable reaching distance, he stepped back and looked at her-one fiery colored eyebrow arched. "Well?"
"Well, what?" Kaoru snapped irritably.
"Are you going to talk to me peaceably now?"
The woman huffed in response, but remained quiet. Her bright blue eyes bored into his-almost as if telling him to get it over with.
Kenshin sighed quietly. This was one debt that he almost wished he didn't have to repay.
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--END NOTES--
Please review and tell me what you think! And again, apologies for the lateness.
