Beginning Note: I just want to thank all who have read Possessionso far. I hope you are enjoying it. Thanks to all who left me such wonderful reviews and who gave me a little push! It's greatly appreciated. It's been quite a while since I've written an RKstory and I fear that I am out of practice, so please forgive me! Enjoy!
Disclaimer:I do not own RuroKen. I wish I did, but I don't. Please enjoy the workings of my dark, sordid mind!
Possession: Part II
Kaoru was floating in the space between sleep and wakefulness a few hours later. It took her a minute to realize that someone was wiping her face with a soft, wet cloth. Jumping into full alertness, she thrashed violently against the chains that held her captive and proceeded to bang her head against something hard.
"Ow!" came a muffled voice. "What the hell did you do that for, stupid?"
When the stars cleared from her vision, Kaoru saw a young boy with messy dark brown hair and chocolate brown eyes rubbing his forehead, a frown cutting across his face.
"Who are you?" she demanded, shocked at the age of the boy. He couldn't have been older than ten.
"None of your business, Kamiya," he said, dipping the cloth into a bucket of water.
"You obviously know who I am, and it's rude not to introduce yourself."
The boy rolled his eyes. "If you haven't noticed, you're not really in the position to be giving lessons on manners," he said, wiping more blood off her cheek.
"You're a child and no where near as intimidating as Battousai," Kaoru said wincing as the boy hit a particularly deep cut.
"I am not a child!" he cried angrily, while keeping his hands gentle and steady. "What do you know? Kenshin will get what he needs from you and then he'll dispose of you like he should."
"You're too young to be so used to and so cynical about death," Kaoru said softly, her eyes pools of sadness. "Life must have dealt you quite a blow for you to be like this."
"Yahiko," came the boy's quiet voice.
"What?"
"Myojin Yahiko. My name is Yahiko."
A smile crept onto Kaoru's face. "See. Was that so hard, Yahiko?"
Yahiko colored. "I guess not," he muttered, wiping the last of the grime off the older girl's face. He pulled a dark bottle from the first aid kit beside him. "Open your mouth."
"Why?"
"It's saltwater to clean out the blood from your molar," he explained. "Trust me. It works wonders."
She obeyed, praying that she wasn't about to be poisoned and he poured the nasty tasting liquid into her mouth. Kaoru nearly gagged, but after spitting the saltwater into a bucket, her mouth felt cleaner and no longer tasted coppery.
"So, how did you come to work for the Battousai?" she asked feeling uncharacteristically chatty as she watched him pack up the first aid kit and dump the bloody water down the sink that was in the corner.
"He has a real name, you know," Yahiko pointed out.
"I know that," Kaoru told the boy. "I am a weapons and arms specialist with the National Japanese Allied Armed Forces, as you well know I'm sure. Battousai's file is sitting on my desk at NJAAF's main building right now."
Yahiko looked at her, unfazed.
"That's if Sanosuke didn't take it," she said to out loud to herself, scrunching up her nose and blowing her bangs out of her face with a sigh.
"Oh yeah?" the young boy challenged. "What's 'Battousai's' real name and how old is he?"
"His original name is actually Shinta, but when he arrived in Kyoto at age eight and Tokyo at fourteen, he went by the name Himura Kenshin. He still goes by that name as well as several others. And he's twenty eight."
The sound of clapping from the shadows caused the two to jump. A figure emerged from the gloom.
"You've done your homework well," said Kenshin, eyes glowing golden in the dark. "I'm impressed, Kamiya."
Yahiko jumped to his feet in a panic . "I'm sorry, Kenshin. I didn't mean to talk to her, but it just kind of happened."
Before Kenshin could say anything, Kaoru cut in. "I was the one who started talking to him. If you do anything to hurt him, I swear you'll regret it."
"I don't need to be babied!" snapped Yahiko.
Kenshin held up a hand and the child fell silent. "Your fire is admirable, but quite unnecessary," he told Kaoru, fishing a small, silver key out of his jacket pocket. "I have no intention of hurting Yahiko."
Blue eyes narrowed. "Yeah right, Battousai."
The red headed man sighed. "Obviously Battousai isn't my name. You just proved that you know it. I use your name, so it's only fair that you be polite and use mine. Himura. It's not difficult to say. HI-MU-RA," he intoned sarcastically.
"Over my dead body," the girl snapped, regaining the spunk that made her so desirable to catch in the first place.
"While that can easily be arranged," the crime lord said casually, examining the key. "I still need you, even though I'd love to dump you still warm and bleeding body on your father's or Sagara Sanosuke's front step."
"Fuck you!" she screamed, lunging forward while Kenshin laughed. Yahiko stood there silently, used to his mentor's harsh tactics for obtaining information.
"Fortunately for you," Kenshin continued as he approached Kaoru, who fought wildly against her chains and was screaming obscecities at him. He was rather impressed by the mouth she had on her. "I have other plans in mind."
He waited patiently for her to stop moving around so much. After a few minutes of thrashing, he grew frustrated and pulled his katana off the table, placing its sharp edge against her neck again. The girl stilled immediately.
"That's better," he said, unlocking the shackled around her ankles first. "Now, I'm going to unlock your wrists. You will be very sorry indeed if you try to take a swing or something like that. Got it?"
Understanding her danger, she nodded. She figured if she cooperated, her chances of escaping or being released fairly unscathed were high.
"Good," Kenshin said, unlocking her wrist restraints. The chains hit the wall with a loud 'clank.'
Kaoru took a step, gingerly testing her weight on her tired and weak legs. Hours of hanging from the chains had caused her legs to fall asleep. She pitched forward as they gave out beneath her and she saw the wood floor fly towards her. She braced herself for the impact, but was jarred as strong arms caught her. She found her face inches from Battousai's. Kaoru struggled to breath as she stared into his deep amber eyes. Battousai set her on her feet, where she swayed slightly. She was relieved that he was no longer staring at her.
"I don't think she'll be able to stand, Kenshin," commented Yahiko. "Or walk for that matter."
Kenshin groaned slightly. Keeping the Kamiya girl was going to be a nuisance that he didn't need. He was too busy running his organization to baby-sit a teenager, even if she was a weapons specialist and extremely valuable as a hostage.
"Is the room ready?" he asked Yahiko tiredly, ignoring the boy's statement. He noticed Kaoru stiffen. She was scared. Good. It was always beneficial to keep a hostage off kilter.
"Yep. Everything is laid out and ready for her."
"You," Kenshin said, pointing at Kaoru. "Try to walk again. I'd rather not have to carry you."
"I wouldn't let you carry me if I were dying and you were the last person in the world with arms," she snapped, leaning against rough wood wall, breathing heavily.
"Then try walking."
Kaoru tried, her legs shaking under her. She ground her teeth together as pain shot straight from her feet to her skull with each tentative step. The pins and needles in her legs made it feel like she was walking on knives. Unable to watch the older girl struggle, Yahiko moved to her side.
"Let me help you, Kamiya. You can barely walk."
She pushed his hands off her arm.
"I will not give him the satisfaction of seeing someone helping me," Kaoru said, tiny lines appearing at her eyes because of the pain. "I can make it to this room."
"You're going to run out of wall eventually," Kenshin said pointedly, opening the door that led outside.
"And your point is?"
"You are possibly the most pigheaded girl I've met in my entire life," mused Yahiko, watching the NJAAF agent slowly make her way to the door.
"That makes me the best at what I do. I'm not a top specialist because of my father."
"Commendable," Kenshin, looking bored.
Kaoru glared at him, who merely stared back at her.
"You are quite determined, Kamiya. I'm rather impressed," Kenshin said, watching the girl's progress with a calculated eye. "Lesser women would have fallen by now."
The teenager just gritted her teeth and tried to ignore the older man. Her goal was the open door and she refused to be deterred by an irritating psychopath.
"You're very much like that doctor."
For the first time, Kaoru stumbled and fell, skinning her knees and the heels of her palms. She stared up at her captor with large azure eyes.
"What?"
"Takani Megumi," Kenshin said, brushing imaginary lint from his suit jacket sleeve. "She refused to have someone help her walk too. You must have learned your stubbornness from her. But unlike you, she wasn't feisty, just proud."
"Stop it," the girl whispered.
The red headed man ignored the NJAAF agent sprawled at his feet. "That didn't last long once she realized that she was headed to die. Then she started to cry and beg for her life."
"Stop it!" Kaoru shrieked, clamping her battered hands over her ears. "Shut up!"
The demon squatted so that his face was level with Kaoru's tear streaked one. "But you aren't like that, are you, Kamiya?" he whispered, stroking the teenager's hair once before gripping it tightly in his fist. He wretched her head back so that she could stare straight at him and a stray tear leaked from her eye. "No. You are stronger than that doctor. Even as I lay my blade across your neck, I know you won't cry or beg for your life. You'll just pray and apologize to that Sagara idiot for not being strong enough."
"Stop."
Kenshin released his hold on Kaoru's hair and stared at Yahiko. The boy's face was contorted with pain.
"Please, Kenshin," he begged. "She's been beaten into submission. It is necessary to do this to her?"
A red eyebrow raised as Kenshin observed his younger companion. It was rare for him to interfere with interrogations, and rarer still for him to beg for Kenshin to stop. There was something about this girl that altered the boy's thinking.
"Is it so wrong to love?" Yahiko asked, watching Kaoru hugging herself as she sobbed. "Is it so wrong to say you're sorry for not being strong enough?"
Kenshin shut his eyes, but not before the younger man saw the pain and regret lingering there. The red head ran the tips of his calloused fingers over his scarred cheek briefly, lost in a memory of white plum perfume, a soft brown gaze, and silken black hair. When Kenshin opened his eyes again, they flashed coldly at the crying young women in front of him.
"Stop that bawling," he ordered, grabbing her arm with force and pulling her to her feet.
He waited a few seconds for her to get a hold of herself and when she did, he began to lead her towards the door, Yahiko following silently behind. Kenshin narrowed his eyes as Kaoru wrenched her arm out of his grip.
"My patience is wearing dangerously thin," he growled, his tone tight and dangerous.
"I don't need your help," Kaoru snapped, voice thick with tears. "It's the last thing I want right now."
"You are treading in some deadly waters, Kamiya," Kenshin warned. "If you want to live to see Daddy and Sagara again, I suggest you shut the hell up right now."
Kaoru scowled fiercely and thrust her nose in the air as she slowly and painstakingly made her way to the outside world. She signed with relief as she smelled the fresh air and not the stink of blood and iron and rotting wood. Out here it smelled like wet dirt and pine trees and the breeze cooled her hot skin. Her eyes roved, taking in her surroundings and she calculated her chances of escape. Her hopes fell as saw armed guards with dogs roving all over the vast complex.
Before her, an enormous house, if it could even be called that, rose like a titan before her and she couldn't help but be impressed. She and Sanosuke could barely afford the rent on their small, one bedroom apartment in one of the shadiest parts of Tokyo on their salaries despite being specialists in their respective fields. Obviously being a crime lord was much more profitable. Kaoru wondered if this was Battousai's second complex that the NJAAF has been trying to find for the last year and a half. If it was, she was screwed.
It took her a few seconds to realize that her captor had been speaking to her.
"What?"
Kenshin barely suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at the exasperating teenager. This was going to be much more work than he had initially thought.
"I dislike having to repeat myself," he said with forced patience. "So from now on, you will listen when I talk so I don't have to say it twice."
Kaoru narrowed her intense blue eyes. "I'm not one of your lackeys, Battousai. I don't take orders from you."
It was Kenshin's turn to narrow his eyes and he leaned close to her face. "You'd better start if you plan on surviving," he said smugly. "You don't have a choice. If I have to repeat any order or question, you will be a very sorry person indeed."
Kaoru shot Kenshin a look that could peel industrial paint off a bridge. It was a look that promised pain and anger.
"Do we understand each other, Kamiya?"
"Perfectly,"" she ground out between clenched teeth.
"Good. Now follow me and don't fall behind because I will not wait for you and you'll be at the mercy of my men. And frankly, they don't like NJAAF agents. Even ones as pretty as you." He started up the expansive driveway.
"Lovely," Kaoru muttered and slowly made her way after Kenshin towards the house that loomed in front of her like a dark promise.
A/N: Here is the second installment of Possession. I hope you are enjoying it. Please forgive any mistakes. I edit my own work and things do sometimes slip through. I love feedback so please comment! Thanks and enjoy!