Night Stalker
MysticShadowWanderer
Disclaimer: No one bites back as hard on their anger, none of my pain can show through.
*****
Chapter Two: Tear Off Both My Wings
"The trick isn't to outrun the police, but to outsmart them as well," Kenshin had said and they pulled into a dark corner of a parking garage.
The two sat in silence and complete darkness, for Kenshin had hurriedly thrown a black drop cloth over the car. Kaoru bit her lip as she listened to the sirens go past, then slowly fade away. She couldn't help but laugh in relief; this had been the strangest day of her life.
"Where exactly are we?" she asked.
"A parking garage located... somewhere?" Kenshin suggested. "I can guarantee that we're still in Britain."
"Well that's a comfort," Kaoru said. "Especially as Britain's an island."
Driving at the speed they had been had eaten away the miles, neither one could be totally sure exactly where they were now. That was, however, going to be the least of their problems once their friends got a hold of them. Kaoru groaned quietly, she was going to be yelled at for days over this one. Kenshin leaned back and crossed his arms behind his head, shutting his eyes.
"We might as well get some sleep, at least a half an hour," he said. "We're going have to lie low for a while, with all the people who were there and all the records the police already have on me, they're bound to know it was me." He sighed and tugged at his hair. "Katsura is going to kill me when I don't report to him in the morning. And Sano's got my katana..." Suddenly he stopped, realizing just who he was talking to. It felt safe to tell her, somehow, but he knew that the second he did, they'd both be in danger. What was it about this woman?
"Katana?" she questioned.
"I'm starting to collect them," he lied quickly.
"Are you trained in kenjutsu?"
He grinned; he wasn't called Battousai for nothing. "Yes."
"Interesting... Do you have a particular style?"
He paused for a moment, she obviously knew at least a bit about kenjutsu. As he was the only one currently using his style, if she knew it, she might know who he was.
"Hiten Mitsurugi."
He heard her go still. "Christ..."
'Shit,' he thought. 'She knows.'
"Hitokiri Battousai... who would have thought he was such a kind person."
Kenshin's eyes flew open. What had she just said? Perhaps he owed her an explanation now that she was effectively stuck with him. His name was infamous, but he'd strived to keep himself from truly being discovered. He felt like hitting himself; he should have known better than to tell her the name of his sword style. He sighed heavily and tried to make out Kaoru's face through the darkness.
"I'm afraid you're going to have to stay with me now," he said. "It's bad for business, you know, to have people know who I am."
Kaoru reached out and found his hand with hers. "I think... I understand."
"You do?" He retracted his hand from hers with some reluctance. What did she want from him? He was the notorious hitokiri Battousai, yet she wasn't running and didn't seem scared.
"'Full responsibility,' right?" It was rather a rhetorical question. "I told you that no matter what happened, I'd accept the consequences. Shouldn't that apply to knowledge gained through my own curiosity?"
"I suppose..." he ruminated. "I'm really bit si bad as the stories make me out to be," he added, just on the chance that she was afraid.
"Not in day to day life, at least," she returned. "I'd already figured that out. I trust you, there's something safe about you," she said suddenly. "I can sense it."
"Woman's intuition?" He couldn't help but grin, his tension at the situation already beginning to melt away with her acceptance of his "alternate persona."
"Maybe just intuition," she replied offhandedly.
The answer she gave him was perplexing, to say the least, but he let it drop. Somehow it didn't seem right to ask too many things of her, she was so trusting that he couldn't bring himself to do it. Kaoru attempted to look at her watch, but found the darkness too complete to allow her to see the face. The action didn't slip past Kenshin's notice, and he checked the time on the glowing face of his phone.
"Shit." It was well past dawn, which would make it more difficult to get from whatever garage they were in to whichever apartment of the syndicate's happened to be nearest. They generally owned four or five scattered in each city large enough to be on a map, used for meetings or situations just like this one. With a sigh, he reached under his seat. Kaoru watched with avid interest as he removed a cloth-enfolded rectangular item, and gently eased his door open. The light assaulted her eyes when he flung off the drop cloth and set her to blinking furiously.
Kenshin looked around and quickly set about changing the plates. If there was one thing he never had and never would be called, it was "unprepared." In his line of work, not having counted on every possible outcome before started could be the difference between life and death, and Himura Kenshin was most certainly not pleased by the idea of dying young. He made swift work of the task, not wanting to be caught in the act.
"Well, that's a temporary solution to one problem," he said as he rejoined Kaoruin the car. "We have to find out where we are; that shouldn't be too difficult."
Kaoru yawned and nodded as he started the engine and made his way out of the parking garage. They drove around aimlessly for a few minutes while Kenshin got his bearings. Soon, he dryly informed Kaoru that they were in Kingston, which he estimated to be around twenty kilometers outside London. He reached for his phone as she let the information sink in and tried to picture the city on a map.
"Sano," he spoke into the phone. "Yeah, I'm fine. I've got Kaoru with me. She knows." There was a long pause. "I know, I know. We're in Kingston, and I need the apartment locations." Another pause. "Yeah, thanks. Take care of my katana, won't you?" Kaoru assumed Sanosuke had agreed, because there was no yelling on Kenshin's part.
With a groan, she remembered that she would have to make a call herself, and pulled out her cell phone. "Hope it's in range," she muttered as she dialed. "Hello? Yes, it's Kaoru. I've sort of gotten myself into a bit of a mess... I'm afraid I won't be back for a while." Kenshin tried desperately not to laugh as Kaoru held the phone away from her ear with a grimace while her friend yelled obscenities at her. When the screaming died down, she tentatively said, "I'm fine, don't worry, and your car's alright." She gave her friend directions to get her car, reassured her that everything was fine several times, and hung up.
"That didn't sound good," Kenshin said wryly.
"It wasn't."
"She'll cool down eventually."
"I can only hope. Where is it that we're going?"
"There's an apartment just a few blocks from here that I've got access to. We'll have to stay there a few days at least. It depends on how things go."
Kaoru nodded and let the conversation drop; she needed a few minutes to think about all the things that had happened so quickly in the past night. It took them much longer to get to the apartment complex than it usually would, Kaoru suspected, with Kenshin driving at legal speeds. She had to hand it to him, the man was intelligent, if not downright brilliant. It wasn't hard to believe that he was a master assassin.
Kenshin tried hard to keep himself from staring at Kaoru. The woman, to be frank, amazed him. She had fire and kindness at the same time, and somehow she'd managed to see him as he really was, not just as a hitokiri. Most of all, she understood the meaning of freedom, of flight. Something within him had already claimed her as his, even this early..
Kenshin parked the Enzo in a small lot behind a respectable-looking apartment complex. Kaoru helped him gently slide the drop cloth on, but he dove back under. He emerged holding a rather impressive CD collection.
"I have a feeling we're going to need entertainment."
***
The apartment, unlocked by a keypad code that Kenshin quickly typed in, was sparsely but efficiently furnished, and was completely, totally, and starkly white.
"No expense was spared on this," Kaoru commented sarcastically.
"Simple and effective," Kenshin replied. "But boring."
Kaoru wandered toward the kitchen, hoping to find at least something to snack on; she hadn't eaten since her small dinner the day before. She was ecstatic to find the cupboards and refrigerator stocked with various food items from around the world. She grabbed a bag of chips and went to see what Kenshin was doing. She had plenty of questions for him. Kenshin was busy making the beds in the two rooms of the apartment, which Kaoru found to be surprising and mildly amusing.
"Do you cook and do laundry as well?" she asked teasingly.
"Of course." She couldn't keep herself from giggling. "It seems rather necessary that I be able to."
She choked back her laughter and sat at the foot of the newly made bed, patting the spot beside her as an invitation for Kenshin to sit as well. He complied readily and she held her bag out to offer him some chips. He took a handful and sat chewing thoughtfully.
"So, is this place yours?"
"No, the business I work for owns it."
"I thought as much... It's far too white for you to own it." She grinned and he raised his eyebrows at the indirect insult.
"I'd have a bigger TV," he replied flatly. Kaoru burst into laughter.
"I have a feeling it's going to be interesting to stay with you," she said.
***
The two soon found that the linen closet's top shelf was occupied by various board and card games. After losing too many hands of rummy to count, Kaoru beat Kenshin spectacularly at Scrabble.
"It hardly seems fair that you can count a word you didn't actually know existed," Kenshin commented.
"But pupilfish is word, even though I wasn't aware of it!" Kaoru exclaimed.
"I still think –" Kenshin was cut off by the ringing of his cell phone. "Sorry," he said before he answered.
"Katsura-san?" he said tentatively. This couldn't be good. "But..." he was interrupted. Kaoru tried not to listen to his end of the conversation, but it was difficult. "I don't think..." He was having a hard time getting a word in edgewise, this Katsura seemed to be very insistent about something. "Sorry, sorry..." He paused. "Yes, I understand. Goodbye." With a sigh, he flipped the phone shut.
"What's wrong?" she asked, having noticed his frequent glances at her during his phone call.
"This is going to be difficult to explain..." he began. "I'll fix dinner and we can talk about it while we eat."
He left Kaoru to clean up the pieces of their forgotten Scrabble game while he set about making something simple. She wondered what this was all about; she had a bad feeling about what was going to happen. The feeling manifested itself and settled to the pit of her stomach, where it chewed at her relentlessly until she became worried for both herself and Kenshin. After she unenthusiastically picked up the mess they'd created, she cautiously stepped into the kitchen. She heard Kenshin sigh as he stirred something on the stove one last time and then poured it into bowls. Kaoru couldn't keep herself from smiling; Kenshin had made macaroni and cheese. He attempted a smile at her, but it fell short of being at all comforting. Once they'd seated themselves at the table, he began to explain.
"You're not going to like this, but it's the way it has to be," he started. "For now, just sit quietly and listen." Kaoru nodded. "I'll start at the beginning. You already know I'm called Hitokiri Battousai, and that I'm an assassin. But what you may not know is that I do my work for a crime syndicate called Kuroi Ame. They pretty much own me, but get me out of scrapes like we were in last night. Had I not been able to escape the police, with a phone call I could have gotten a helicopter to pick us up within minutes; they're that efficient. I do what they say, and I'm free to break all the laws I want with relatively few ramifications. It's an odd sort of freedom.
"That's the simple part. When I let you become involved, it seems I opened the door to a whole new world of troubles. My superior, Katsura-san, is now extremely upset, as you may have gathered. Sanosuke told him everything. You know who I am now, and that breaks the syndicate's top rules. Katsura-san has given two choices to me, but I think it's more appropriate that you are given the final decision. I know what I would choose, but in the end, it's up to you. Before you say anything, let me tell you the options. One, you choose to have nothing more to do with me and I'm forced to kill you. Two, you become, from this moment forward, a member of the syndicate and do whatever you're ordered to. Take a few moments to consider."
"Consider?!" Kaoru exclaimed. "What could there possibly be to consider? I don't want to die!"
"Good," Kenshin breathed. "I didn't want to kill you."
"But you would have?"
"It would have been unavoidable."
Kaoru sighed deeply, but reminded herself that she, in essence, brought this upon herself. It seemed like just another part of "full responsibility." She was beginning to hate those words with a strong passion. Kenshin, for his part, looked truly sorry and sympathetic. He really was a sweet man, for an assassin.
"It's hard to believe that I'm a criminal now."
"Not just a criminal, one of the elite," Kenshin said wearily.
"What will they have me do?"
"I don't know, but if it's any comfort, I can request you as my partner. I almost always get what I want."
"Me? Partner to Battousai?" she sounded timorous. "Haven't you always worked alone?"
"Yes, but I got you into this, and I'll help along."
"That's awfully generous of you."
"I like you, you understand me."
Kaoru paused, and Kenshin sensed that perhaps he overstepped unspoken boundaries. He went quiet and silently began to eat his now-cold macaroni; it didn't really have much flavor to him at the moment, so he supposed it didn't matter. Kaoru poked at her food with a fork, but she'd lost her appetite rather quickly. She stared blankly across the table at Kenshin, who seemed to be just as down as she was. She quietly asked why.
"I guess I feel guilty, is all," he said after some consideration. "I like you, I really do, and I've gotten you into one hell of a mess. That and we're going to have to hide out here for a while."
"No racing?" He nodded. "It's that important to you?"
"It feels like they've ripped off my wings," he said in a nearly inaudible voice.
"Kenshin?"
"Hmm?"
"I think now's a good time for you to teach me to drink."
He laughed at that, but he knew how she felt. There were a lot of things that the two could stand to put off thinking about for a while.
***
Kaoru was soon throwing back shots of whiskey like she'd been doing it every bit as long as Kenshin had. Pretending that he didn't want to be outdone, Kenshin was drinking two glasses to Kaoru's one, but his real reason was to keep her from getting too drunk. When he started to feel the effects that large amounts of quickly consumed alcohol had, he knew it was time to stop.
"Kaoru if you don't quit, you're going to pass out," he warned in a voice that he hardly recognized as his.
He eased her glass from her hand and set the whiskey aside; to his surprise, she'd held her own fairly well. She'd drunk less than half the amount he had, but was only moderately more intoxicated than him. He chuckled; they were going to regret this when they had to wake up, eventually.
"What's so funny?" she slurred.
"I'm proud of you," he replied as he lurched to his feet from the couch they sat on. "You aren't so completely trashed that I've had to drag your unconscious body out of the bathroom and put you to bed."
She snorted at the image that made as he, swaying slightly, put in a DVD. Flopping back down on the couch, he let himself go limp as he pressed the buttons on the remote, his body telling him that it was past time to get some rest. He wondered briefly about just what movie he'd selected, having randomly grabbed one from the shelf beside the television. He almost groaned when he recognized it as Monty Python and the Holy Grail. They were going to be laughing for hours. Not only had he put in quite possibly the funniest movie ever made by man, they were both drunk. But, when he thought about it, they needed a good laugh after everything that had happened in the past day.
Much as he predicted, they were soon holding their sides with laughter. It felt good, if not amazing, to Kenshin, who hadn't truly laughed in what seemed like ages.
'Imagine, all it took was Kaoru to get me drunk and this stupidly hilarious movie. Why can't life always be this simple? Besides the fact that I'd look like a moron if I was constantly drunk...'
"Mmm, Kenshin?" Kaoru broke into his thought. "What are you thinking so seriously about?"
"Nothing much, just that I should thank you," he replied.
She sat up from where she leaned against the arm of the couch. "For what?"
Kenshin smiled, she was still slurring her speech. He imagined he was, too. "For letting me be myself, that's all."
She smiled and moved to sit next to him, resting her head against his shoulder. "You're welcome then," she said, giggling at the French taunting that was going on onscreen.
Kenshin was a little surprised at her closeness, but, then again, they were both intoxicated, which was a good enough reason to put his arm around her snugly. He liked the way she felt in his arms, it was instinctively right. All his life he'd been trained to go with his instincts, it was part of his job; he smiled. Now he was just making excuses.
"You know," Kaoru said with a yawn. "You're a good man, Kenshin. You really are."
He stared at her incredulously. He couldn't remember the last time anyone had said that to him and meant it. "You can't know that for sure," he replied darkly.
"I can," she continued. "You must trust me when I say that I can. I'll explain later."
Kenshin wondered what that meant, but didn't press the matter. Kaoru was tiring, as was he, and drunk, she could just be talking nonsense. His gut feeling was that she wasn't, but he ignored it for the time being. There would be plenty of time to talk later. Kaoru snuggled into his arms, her fingers lightly clutching the thick material of his sweater. He bit back a groan when he thought of his sweater, remembering that they were both wearing the same clothes they'd been wearing all through the previous day, and it was now nearly one in the morning. He'd have to do something about that when he woke up, though he suspected he could at least find some shirts somewhere in the apartment, the syndicate generally thought of everything. Women's clothing, however, was unlikely, as there were very few women in the syndicate. He smothered a yawn; he'd figure it out later.
Kenshin lifted Kaoru easily and she stirred, opening her eyes slightly. He gave her a smile and shushed her protests that she could walk on her own as he carried her into the larger of the two bedrooms. He set her gently onto the mattress and tucked a blanket around her. He stood looking down at her for a moment, she looked both an angel and a devil as she slipped away to sleep. Just as he was about to walk away, she caught him by the sleeve.
"Kenshin... stay," she said, her voice laced with sleep and alcohol.
"I can't," he whispered. "It's not right, Kaoru."
"Always the gentleman?" she asked. It was meant to be rhetorical. "Just for a while... Please?"
Her voice was so softly compelling that he couldn't find it in himself to deny her. He sat next to her and rested his back against the headboard. Somehow it didn't seem right that things were moving so fast between them, like it was beyond his control. In truth, he would have dearly loved to lie with her in his arms and listen to her breathe, watch her sleep, but it went against his nature to do so this soon, especially when she was drunk. He resigned himself to holding her hand and silently stroking his fingers across it while she sighed in content and drifted off. When her breathing became deep and even, he let go and eased himself up. Stopping to look at her once more, he whispered a quiet "goodnight" before softly shutting the door.
Ignoring the TV which was still on and at the very end of the movie, and the scattered glasses and spilled whiskey, he went to his own room; he could clean it up tomorrow. After removing his sweater and tossing it to the floor, he flopped down on the bed and, without bothering to pull even a sheet over himself, fell fast asleep.
***
Kaoru dragged herself out of bed when her sheets were no longer enough to block the painful light of the sun. Glancing at the clock, she was mildly surprised to fine that it was almost two in the afternoon. She sat up with a groan; she was extremely grateful to Kenshin for making her stop drinking when he had. So much wrong had happened, it was nice to forget about it for a while, but she had to come to terms with who she was now. It wouldn't have been lying to say that she was attracted to darkness and danger, Kenshin was a prime example of that, but becoming a member of a crime syndicate seemed a bit over the top. Still, part of her was excited, though she tried to ignore it.
Flinging her legs over the side of the bed, she suddenly realized that she was still wearing her leather skirt and halter top, which was now dangerously close to falling off, but that Kenshin had apparently removed her boots. A smile crossed her face, he was a very thoughtful man. She wondered what secrets he had hidden underneath his sweet, kind exterior. At the moment, however, all she really wondered if she could get a shower and a change of clothes. Stumbling to the closet, she found close to nothing, but grabbed a towel and a button-down shirt that looked like it had been placed there in case any extremely large men stayed in the apartment. Slamming the door unintentionally, she entered the small bathroom that was attached to her room. Quickly peeling off her clothes, she stepped into the shower with a sigh of relief mixed with content.
From the kitchen, Kenshin smiled when he heard doors banging and the shower starting. He'd been up for hours already, but he couldn't blame her. Humming to the music on the stereo, if a bit off-tune, he turned his attention back to the food he was cooking, which happened to be bacon and scrambled eggs. As he dumped the contents of his skillet unceremoniously onto a large plate, he stopped to think about what he was humming. Music meant a lot to him these days, often expressing the feelings that he couldn't quite get across.
'I'll face the truth when I think I can, try to understand what I love denying.' The thought and line hit him hard, unexpectedly. At times like these, he wondered who he really was. Was kindness and understanding his true nature, or was the cold, detached assassin? Maybe it was a mix of the two, he wasn't sure anymore.
"Kenshin?" Kaoru's voice snapped him out of his deliberation.
He smiled and held out a plate, all the while running his eyes over her as discretely as possible. She was wearing a button-down shirt that fell loosely to her knees, and her still damp hair was braided down her back. Though less revealing than her previous outfit, this somehow seemed all the more desirable, maybe just because it exuded comfort. There wasn't much comfort in his life. In return, she giggled at what he was wearing. He was clad in a pair of navy blue sweats and a white shirt that read "If you looked up 'stupid' in the dictionary, it'd be purely by chance." It seemed he hadn't had many options when getting dressed.
"I made breakfast, or, rather, lunch," he said. "Do you think you can eat?"
Kaoru grimaced, but he got her to eat some eggs, saying that it was unhealthy to go without having at least something. They ate in relative silence, appreciating the music Kenshin was listening to and simply being in each other's company. After a while, Kenshin broke the peaceful quiet.
"Kaoru?"
"Hm?"
"How do you feel?" He meant that on two levels, and she was aware of it.
"Like hell," she replied, stirring her eggs listlessly.
"I'm sorry," he said in a low tone, reaching across the table to take her hand in his. "I really am."
Kaoru couldn't keep herself from silently starting to cry. This was all far too much for her to handle, being a rather emotional person as it was. Kenshin frowned and squeezed her hand gently, it tugged at his heart to see her in tears, she was such a sweet person. When her tears gradually turned to subs, he pulled her up and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly.
"I know how hard it is to accept," he said. "But I promise I'll help you all I can."
"Th-thank you," she sniffed. She sighed quietly and, her voice muffled in his shoulder, said, "Why are you so good to me? You certainly don't have to be."
"I don't know," he confessed. "Maybe because you understand what it really means to be free. I'm not really sure, but since I first met you, I could just sense something about you."
"That's really sweet," Kaoru replied. "I think... I think the feeling's mutual. No, I know it is. Something about you is different and special, Himura Kenshin. I can see it, sense it with everything I am, and that makes me very certain. I don't think I can explain it to you at this moment, but I promise I will. Just like you, I have secrets. I know that you're the Battousai, so it seems only fair that I tell you something of myself. But now isn't the time." She was looking into his eyes with such an earnest, sincere expression that he had to fight the strong urge to kiss her right then and there. Like she said, now wasn't the time.
Slowly, as if he had to think about it, Kenshin removed his arms from Kaoru's warm body. Her hair was still slightly damp, and he hadn't been able to help but notice how fresh and clean she smelled. It almost scared him how much he longed to keep her in his arms and protect her from the world. He'd never had that urge before, the last woman he'd truly cared for had been Tomoe, and their relationship had been vastly different than that. He didn't even like to think about what he'd had with her, and how it had ended.
"Kenshin?" she questioned, seeing the saddened look in his eyes. "Is something wrong?"
"No," he answered. "No, I'm fine." She didn't need to hear about his past right now, for the moment it was enough to just help her through her tangled emotions.
It seemed they'd have at least a week to do so in, as well. Katsura said it would take at least two days for the syndicate's "computer technicians" (the flowery term for hackers) to deal with the police, and Kenshin figured that it would be wise to buffer that by at least five days. It was better to be caged for a week than to be arrested and thrown in jail.
*****
A/N: Chapter three coming soon!
MysticShadowWanderer
Disclaimer: No one bites back as hard on their anger, none of my pain can show through.
*****
Chapter Two: Tear Off Both My Wings
"The trick isn't to outrun the police, but to outsmart them as well," Kenshin had said and they pulled into a dark corner of a parking garage.
The two sat in silence and complete darkness, for Kenshin had hurriedly thrown a black drop cloth over the car. Kaoru bit her lip as she listened to the sirens go past, then slowly fade away. She couldn't help but laugh in relief; this had been the strangest day of her life.
"Where exactly are we?" she asked.
"A parking garage located... somewhere?" Kenshin suggested. "I can guarantee that we're still in Britain."
"Well that's a comfort," Kaoru said. "Especially as Britain's an island."
Driving at the speed they had been had eaten away the miles, neither one could be totally sure exactly where they were now. That was, however, going to be the least of their problems once their friends got a hold of them. Kaoru groaned quietly, she was going to be yelled at for days over this one. Kenshin leaned back and crossed his arms behind his head, shutting his eyes.
"We might as well get some sleep, at least a half an hour," he said. "We're going have to lie low for a while, with all the people who were there and all the records the police already have on me, they're bound to know it was me." He sighed and tugged at his hair. "Katsura is going to kill me when I don't report to him in the morning. And Sano's got my katana..." Suddenly he stopped, realizing just who he was talking to. It felt safe to tell her, somehow, but he knew that the second he did, they'd both be in danger. What was it about this woman?
"Katana?" she questioned.
"I'm starting to collect them," he lied quickly.
"Are you trained in kenjutsu?"
He grinned; he wasn't called Battousai for nothing. "Yes."
"Interesting... Do you have a particular style?"
He paused for a moment, she obviously knew at least a bit about kenjutsu. As he was the only one currently using his style, if she knew it, she might know who he was.
"Hiten Mitsurugi."
He heard her go still. "Christ..."
'Shit,' he thought. 'She knows.'
"Hitokiri Battousai... who would have thought he was such a kind person."
Kenshin's eyes flew open. What had she just said? Perhaps he owed her an explanation now that she was effectively stuck with him. His name was infamous, but he'd strived to keep himself from truly being discovered. He felt like hitting himself; he should have known better than to tell her the name of his sword style. He sighed heavily and tried to make out Kaoru's face through the darkness.
"I'm afraid you're going to have to stay with me now," he said. "It's bad for business, you know, to have people know who I am."
Kaoru reached out and found his hand with hers. "I think... I understand."
"You do?" He retracted his hand from hers with some reluctance. What did she want from him? He was the notorious hitokiri Battousai, yet she wasn't running and didn't seem scared.
"'Full responsibility,' right?" It was rather a rhetorical question. "I told you that no matter what happened, I'd accept the consequences. Shouldn't that apply to knowledge gained through my own curiosity?"
"I suppose..." he ruminated. "I'm really bit si bad as the stories make me out to be," he added, just on the chance that she was afraid.
"Not in day to day life, at least," she returned. "I'd already figured that out. I trust you, there's something safe about you," she said suddenly. "I can sense it."
"Woman's intuition?" He couldn't help but grin, his tension at the situation already beginning to melt away with her acceptance of his "alternate persona."
"Maybe just intuition," she replied offhandedly.
The answer she gave him was perplexing, to say the least, but he let it drop. Somehow it didn't seem right to ask too many things of her, she was so trusting that he couldn't bring himself to do it. Kaoru attempted to look at her watch, but found the darkness too complete to allow her to see the face. The action didn't slip past Kenshin's notice, and he checked the time on the glowing face of his phone.
"Shit." It was well past dawn, which would make it more difficult to get from whatever garage they were in to whichever apartment of the syndicate's happened to be nearest. They generally owned four or five scattered in each city large enough to be on a map, used for meetings or situations just like this one. With a sigh, he reached under his seat. Kaoru watched with avid interest as he removed a cloth-enfolded rectangular item, and gently eased his door open. The light assaulted her eyes when he flung off the drop cloth and set her to blinking furiously.
Kenshin looked around and quickly set about changing the plates. If there was one thing he never had and never would be called, it was "unprepared." In his line of work, not having counted on every possible outcome before started could be the difference between life and death, and Himura Kenshin was most certainly not pleased by the idea of dying young. He made swift work of the task, not wanting to be caught in the act.
"Well, that's a temporary solution to one problem," he said as he rejoined Kaoruin the car. "We have to find out where we are; that shouldn't be too difficult."
Kaoru yawned and nodded as he started the engine and made his way out of the parking garage. They drove around aimlessly for a few minutes while Kenshin got his bearings. Soon, he dryly informed Kaoru that they were in Kingston, which he estimated to be around twenty kilometers outside London. He reached for his phone as she let the information sink in and tried to picture the city on a map.
"Sano," he spoke into the phone. "Yeah, I'm fine. I've got Kaoru with me. She knows." There was a long pause. "I know, I know. We're in Kingston, and I need the apartment locations." Another pause. "Yeah, thanks. Take care of my katana, won't you?" Kaoru assumed Sanosuke had agreed, because there was no yelling on Kenshin's part.
With a groan, she remembered that she would have to make a call herself, and pulled out her cell phone. "Hope it's in range," she muttered as she dialed. "Hello? Yes, it's Kaoru. I've sort of gotten myself into a bit of a mess... I'm afraid I won't be back for a while." Kenshin tried desperately not to laugh as Kaoru held the phone away from her ear with a grimace while her friend yelled obscenities at her. When the screaming died down, she tentatively said, "I'm fine, don't worry, and your car's alright." She gave her friend directions to get her car, reassured her that everything was fine several times, and hung up.
"That didn't sound good," Kenshin said wryly.
"It wasn't."
"She'll cool down eventually."
"I can only hope. Where is it that we're going?"
"There's an apartment just a few blocks from here that I've got access to. We'll have to stay there a few days at least. It depends on how things go."
Kaoru nodded and let the conversation drop; she needed a few minutes to think about all the things that had happened so quickly in the past night. It took them much longer to get to the apartment complex than it usually would, Kaoru suspected, with Kenshin driving at legal speeds. She had to hand it to him, the man was intelligent, if not downright brilliant. It wasn't hard to believe that he was a master assassin.
Kenshin tried hard to keep himself from staring at Kaoru. The woman, to be frank, amazed him. She had fire and kindness at the same time, and somehow she'd managed to see him as he really was, not just as a hitokiri. Most of all, she understood the meaning of freedom, of flight. Something within him had already claimed her as his, even this early..
Kenshin parked the Enzo in a small lot behind a respectable-looking apartment complex. Kaoru helped him gently slide the drop cloth on, but he dove back under. He emerged holding a rather impressive CD collection.
"I have a feeling we're going to need entertainment."
***
The apartment, unlocked by a keypad code that Kenshin quickly typed in, was sparsely but efficiently furnished, and was completely, totally, and starkly white.
"No expense was spared on this," Kaoru commented sarcastically.
"Simple and effective," Kenshin replied. "But boring."
Kaoru wandered toward the kitchen, hoping to find at least something to snack on; she hadn't eaten since her small dinner the day before. She was ecstatic to find the cupboards and refrigerator stocked with various food items from around the world. She grabbed a bag of chips and went to see what Kenshin was doing. She had plenty of questions for him. Kenshin was busy making the beds in the two rooms of the apartment, which Kaoru found to be surprising and mildly amusing.
"Do you cook and do laundry as well?" she asked teasingly.
"Of course." She couldn't keep herself from giggling. "It seems rather necessary that I be able to."
She choked back her laughter and sat at the foot of the newly made bed, patting the spot beside her as an invitation for Kenshin to sit as well. He complied readily and she held her bag out to offer him some chips. He took a handful and sat chewing thoughtfully.
"So, is this place yours?"
"No, the business I work for owns it."
"I thought as much... It's far too white for you to own it." She grinned and he raised his eyebrows at the indirect insult.
"I'd have a bigger TV," he replied flatly. Kaoru burst into laughter.
"I have a feeling it's going to be interesting to stay with you," she said.
***
The two soon found that the linen closet's top shelf was occupied by various board and card games. After losing too many hands of rummy to count, Kaoru beat Kenshin spectacularly at Scrabble.
"It hardly seems fair that you can count a word you didn't actually know existed," Kenshin commented.
"But pupilfish is word, even though I wasn't aware of it!" Kaoru exclaimed.
"I still think –" Kenshin was cut off by the ringing of his cell phone. "Sorry," he said before he answered.
"Katsura-san?" he said tentatively. This couldn't be good. "But..." he was interrupted. Kaoru tried not to listen to his end of the conversation, but it was difficult. "I don't think..." He was having a hard time getting a word in edgewise, this Katsura seemed to be very insistent about something. "Sorry, sorry..." He paused. "Yes, I understand. Goodbye." With a sigh, he flipped the phone shut.
"What's wrong?" she asked, having noticed his frequent glances at her during his phone call.
"This is going to be difficult to explain..." he began. "I'll fix dinner and we can talk about it while we eat."
He left Kaoru to clean up the pieces of their forgotten Scrabble game while he set about making something simple. She wondered what this was all about; she had a bad feeling about what was going to happen. The feeling manifested itself and settled to the pit of her stomach, where it chewed at her relentlessly until she became worried for both herself and Kenshin. After she unenthusiastically picked up the mess they'd created, she cautiously stepped into the kitchen. She heard Kenshin sigh as he stirred something on the stove one last time and then poured it into bowls. Kaoru couldn't keep herself from smiling; Kenshin had made macaroni and cheese. He attempted a smile at her, but it fell short of being at all comforting. Once they'd seated themselves at the table, he began to explain.
"You're not going to like this, but it's the way it has to be," he started. "For now, just sit quietly and listen." Kaoru nodded. "I'll start at the beginning. You already know I'm called Hitokiri Battousai, and that I'm an assassin. But what you may not know is that I do my work for a crime syndicate called Kuroi Ame. They pretty much own me, but get me out of scrapes like we were in last night. Had I not been able to escape the police, with a phone call I could have gotten a helicopter to pick us up within minutes; they're that efficient. I do what they say, and I'm free to break all the laws I want with relatively few ramifications. It's an odd sort of freedom.
"That's the simple part. When I let you become involved, it seems I opened the door to a whole new world of troubles. My superior, Katsura-san, is now extremely upset, as you may have gathered. Sanosuke told him everything. You know who I am now, and that breaks the syndicate's top rules. Katsura-san has given two choices to me, but I think it's more appropriate that you are given the final decision. I know what I would choose, but in the end, it's up to you. Before you say anything, let me tell you the options. One, you choose to have nothing more to do with me and I'm forced to kill you. Two, you become, from this moment forward, a member of the syndicate and do whatever you're ordered to. Take a few moments to consider."
"Consider?!" Kaoru exclaimed. "What could there possibly be to consider? I don't want to die!"
"Good," Kenshin breathed. "I didn't want to kill you."
"But you would have?"
"It would have been unavoidable."
Kaoru sighed deeply, but reminded herself that she, in essence, brought this upon herself. It seemed like just another part of "full responsibility." She was beginning to hate those words with a strong passion. Kenshin, for his part, looked truly sorry and sympathetic. He really was a sweet man, for an assassin.
"It's hard to believe that I'm a criminal now."
"Not just a criminal, one of the elite," Kenshin said wearily.
"What will they have me do?"
"I don't know, but if it's any comfort, I can request you as my partner. I almost always get what I want."
"Me? Partner to Battousai?" she sounded timorous. "Haven't you always worked alone?"
"Yes, but I got you into this, and I'll help along."
"That's awfully generous of you."
"I like you, you understand me."
Kaoru paused, and Kenshin sensed that perhaps he overstepped unspoken boundaries. He went quiet and silently began to eat his now-cold macaroni; it didn't really have much flavor to him at the moment, so he supposed it didn't matter. Kaoru poked at her food with a fork, but she'd lost her appetite rather quickly. She stared blankly across the table at Kenshin, who seemed to be just as down as she was. She quietly asked why.
"I guess I feel guilty, is all," he said after some consideration. "I like you, I really do, and I've gotten you into one hell of a mess. That and we're going to have to hide out here for a while."
"No racing?" He nodded. "It's that important to you?"
"It feels like they've ripped off my wings," he said in a nearly inaudible voice.
"Kenshin?"
"Hmm?"
"I think now's a good time for you to teach me to drink."
He laughed at that, but he knew how she felt. There were a lot of things that the two could stand to put off thinking about for a while.
***
Kaoru was soon throwing back shots of whiskey like she'd been doing it every bit as long as Kenshin had. Pretending that he didn't want to be outdone, Kenshin was drinking two glasses to Kaoru's one, but his real reason was to keep her from getting too drunk. When he started to feel the effects that large amounts of quickly consumed alcohol had, he knew it was time to stop.
"Kaoru if you don't quit, you're going to pass out," he warned in a voice that he hardly recognized as his.
He eased her glass from her hand and set the whiskey aside; to his surprise, she'd held her own fairly well. She'd drunk less than half the amount he had, but was only moderately more intoxicated than him. He chuckled; they were going to regret this when they had to wake up, eventually.
"What's so funny?" she slurred.
"I'm proud of you," he replied as he lurched to his feet from the couch they sat on. "You aren't so completely trashed that I've had to drag your unconscious body out of the bathroom and put you to bed."
She snorted at the image that made as he, swaying slightly, put in a DVD. Flopping back down on the couch, he let himself go limp as he pressed the buttons on the remote, his body telling him that it was past time to get some rest. He wondered briefly about just what movie he'd selected, having randomly grabbed one from the shelf beside the television. He almost groaned when he recognized it as Monty Python and the Holy Grail. They were going to be laughing for hours. Not only had he put in quite possibly the funniest movie ever made by man, they were both drunk. But, when he thought about it, they needed a good laugh after everything that had happened in the past day.
Much as he predicted, they were soon holding their sides with laughter. It felt good, if not amazing, to Kenshin, who hadn't truly laughed in what seemed like ages.
'Imagine, all it took was Kaoru to get me drunk and this stupidly hilarious movie. Why can't life always be this simple? Besides the fact that I'd look like a moron if I was constantly drunk...'
"Mmm, Kenshin?" Kaoru broke into his thought. "What are you thinking so seriously about?"
"Nothing much, just that I should thank you," he replied.
She sat up from where she leaned against the arm of the couch. "For what?"
Kenshin smiled, she was still slurring her speech. He imagined he was, too. "For letting me be myself, that's all."
She smiled and moved to sit next to him, resting her head against his shoulder. "You're welcome then," she said, giggling at the French taunting that was going on onscreen.
Kenshin was a little surprised at her closeness, but, then again, they were both intoxicated, which was a good enough reason to put his arm around her snugly. He liked the way she felt in his arms, it was instinctively right. All his life he'd been trained to go with his instincts, it was part of his job; he smiled. Now he was just making excuses.
"You know," Kaoru said with a yawn. "You're a good man, Kenshin. You really are."
He stared at her incredulously. He couldn't remember the last time anyone had said that to him and meant it. "You can't know that for sure," he replied darkly.
"I can," she continued. "You must trust me when I say that I can. I'll explain later."
Kenshin wondered what that meant, but didn't press the matter. Kaoru was tiring, as was he, and drunk, she could just be talking nonsense. His gut feeling was that she wasn't, but he ignored it for the time being. There would be plenty of time to talk later. Kaoru snuggled into his arms, her fingers lightly clutching the thick material of his sweater. He bit back a groan when he thought of his sweater, remembering that they were both wearing the same clothes they'd been wearing all through the previous day, and it was now nearly one in the morning. He'd have to do something about that when he woke up, though he suspected he could at least find some shirts somewhere in the apartment, the syndicate generally thought of everything. Women's clothing, however, was unlikely, as there were very few women in the syndicate. He smothered a yawn; he'd figure it out later.
Kenshin lifted Kaoru easily and she stirred, opening her eyes slightly. He gave her a smile and shushed her protests that she could walk on her own as he carried her into the larger of the two bedrooms. He set her gently onto the mattress and tucked a blanket around her. He stood looking down at her for a moment, she looked both an angel and a devil as she slipped away to sleep. Just as he was about to walk away, she caught him by the sleeve.
"Kenshin... stay," she said, her voice laced with sleep and alcohol.
"I can't," he whispered. "It's not right, Kaoru."
"Always the gentleman?" she asked. It was meant to be rhetorical. "Just for a while... Please?"
Her voice was so softly compelling that he couldn't find it in himself to deny her. He sat next to her and rested his back against the headboard. Somehow it didn't seem right that things were moving so fast between them, like it was beyond his control. In truth, he would have dearly loved to lie with her in his arms and listen to her breathe, watch her sleep, but it went against his nature to do so this soon, especially when she was drunk. He resigned himself to holding her hand and silently stroking his fingers across it while she sighed in content and drifted off. When her breathing became deep and even, he let go and eased himself up. Stopping to look at her once more, he whispered a quiet "goodnight" before softly shutting the door.
Ignoring the TV which was still on and at the very end of the movie, and the scattered glasses and spilled whiskey, he went to his own room; he could clean it up tomorrow. After removing his sweater and tossing it to the floor, he flopped down on the bed and, without bothering to pull even a sheet over himself, fell fast asleep.
***
Kaoru dragged herself out of bed when her sheets were no longer enough to block the painful light of the sun. Glancing at the clock, she was mildly surprised to fine that it was almost two in the afternoon. She sat up with a groan; she was extremely grateful to Kenshin for making her stop drinking when he had. So much wrong had happened, it was nice to forget about it for a while, but she had to come to terms with who she was now. It wouldn't have been lying to say that she was attracted to darkness and danger, Kenshin was a prime example of that, but becoming a member of a crime syndicate seemed a bit over the top. Still, part of her was excited, though she tried to ignore it.
Flinging her legs over the side of the bed, she suddenly realized that she was still wearing her leather skirt and halter top, which was now dangerously close to falling off, but that Kenshin had apparently removed her boots. A smile crossed her face, he was a very thoughtful man. She wondered what secrets he had hidden underneath his sweet, kind exterior. At the moment, however, all she really wondered if she could get a shower and a change of clothes. Stumbling to the closet, she found close to nothing, but grabbed a towel and a button-down shirt that looked like it had been placed there in case any extremely large men stayed in the apartment. Slamming the door unintentionally, she entered the small bathroom that was attached to her room. Quickly peeling off her clothes, she stepped into the shower with a sigh of relief mixed with content.
From the kitchen, Kenshin smiled when he heard doors banging and the shower starting. He'd been up for hours already, but he couldn't blame her. Humming to the music on the stereo, if a bit off-tune, he turned his attention back to the food he was cooking, which happened to be bacon and scrambled eggs. As he dumped the contents of his skillet unceremoniously onto a large plate, he stopped to think about what he was humming. Music meant a lot to him these days, often expressing the feelings that he couldn't quite get across.
'I'll face the truth when I think I can, try to understand what I love denying.' The thought and line hit him hard, unexpectedly. At times like these, he wondered who he really was. Was kindness and understanding his true nature, or was the cold, detached assassin? Maybe it was a mix of the two, he wasn't sure anymore.
"Kenshin?" Kaoru's voice snapped him out of his deliberation.
He smiled and held out a plate, all the while running his eyes over her as discretely as possible. She was wearing a button-down shirt that fell loosely to her knees, and her still damp hair was braided down her back. Though less revealing than her previous outfit, this somehow seemed all the more desirable, maybe just because it exuded comfort. There wasn't much comfort in his life. In return, she giggled at what he was wearing. He was clad in a pair of navy blue sweats and a white shirt that read "If you looked up 'stupid' in the dictionary, it'd be purely by chance." It seemed he hadn't had many options when getting dressed.
"I made breakfast, or, rather, lunch," he said. "Do you think you can eat?"
Kaoru grimaced, but he got her to eat some eggs, saying that it was unhealthy to go without having at least something. They ate in relative silence, appreciating the music Kenshin was listening to and simply being in each other's company. After a while, Kenshin broke the peaceful quiet.
"Kaoru?"
"Hm?"
"How do you feel?" He meant that on two levels, and she was aware of it.
"Like hell," she replied, stirring her eggs listlessly.
"I'm sorry," he said in a low tone, reaching across the table to take her hand in his. "I really am."
Kaoru couldn't keep herself from silently starting to cry. This was all far too much for her to handle, being a rather emotional person as it was. Kenshin frowned and squeezed her hand gently, it tugged at his heart to see her in tears, she was such a sweet person. When her tears gradually turned to subs, he pulled her up and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly.
"I know how hard it is to accept," he said. "But I promise I'll help you all I can."
"Th-thank you," she sniffed. She sighed quietly and, her voice muffled in his shoulder, said, "Why are you so good to me? You certainly don't have to be."
"I don't know," he confessed. "Maybe because you understand what it really means to be free. I'm not really sure, but since I first met you, I could just sense something about you."
"That's really sweet," Kaoru replied. "I think... I think the feeling's mutual. No, I know it is. Something about you is different and special, Himura Kenshin. I can see it, sense it with everything I am, and that makes me very certain. I don't think I can explain it to you at this moment, but I promise I will. Just like you, I have secrets. I know that you're the Battousai, so it seems only fair that I tell you something of myself. But now isn't the time." She was looking into his eyes with such an earnest, sincere expression that he had to fight the strong urge to kiss her right then and there. Like she said, now wasn't the time.
Slowly, as if he had to think about it, Kenshin removed his arms from Kaoru's warm body. Her hair was still slightly damp, and he hadn't been able to help but notice how fresh and clean she smelled. It almost scared him how much he longed to keep her in his arms and protect her from the world. He'd never had that urge before, the last woman he'd truly cared for had been Tomoe, and their relationship had been vastly different than that. He didn't even like to think about what he'd had with her, and how it had ended.
"Kenshin?" she questioned, seeing the saddened look in his eyes. "Is something wrong?"
"No," he answered. "No, I'm fine." She didn't need to hear about his past right now, for the moment it was enough to just help her through her tangled emotions.
It seemed they'd have at least a week to do so in, as well. Katsura said it would take at least two days for the syndicate's "computer technicians" (the flowery term for hackers) to deal with the police, and Kenshin figured that it would be wise to buffer that by at least five days. It was better to be caged for a week than to be arrested and thrown in jail.
*****
A/N: Chapter three coming soon!
