Beginning Note: Well, I actually haven't been remiss with writing this fic. I have been writing it, but I've been jumping around. I started Part V without even finishing Part IV… Yeah, I'm a terrible person. It's okay. I hope you all can forgive my laxness. I'm working a couple of jobs as well as doing freelance writing and working on 80 other stories. I'll try to concentrate on this one for a little bit more. I actually have the ending planned out so there will probably be about 3 more parts. 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 IV
Kaoru tried her best to make sense of the many winding halls that made up the Battousai's massive house. It seemed futile to even try to remember the path they took since the red-headed killer seemed determined to confuse her with the mansion's layout. Trailing behind Yahiko on still highly unsteady legs, the weapons specialist resolved herself to making an escape plan when she was let outside. If she was ever let outside again.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, they stopped in front of a solid wood door with a bright brass handle. Kaoru looked at the Battousai, her blue eyes meeting his amber ones defiantly, daring him to surprise her. He smirked slightly at the look and opened the door.
Despite her defiance, the teenager was surprised by the room and it showed on her face, much to her disgust and Kenshin's intense pleasure. It wasn't the torture room the NJAAF agent had been expecting. Instead, it was a tastefully decorated bedroom with pale yellow walls, a large bed, a dresser of drawers, and a light oak rocking chair next to a nightstand and full bookshelf. Kaoru stared in amazement at the highly feminine room.
"Well?"
She blinked. "Well, what?" she asked, eliciting a frustrated sigh from Kenshin.
"Go in."
"Excuse me?"
The crime lord's eyes narrowed. "You have proven yourself to be of higher intelligence," he said shortly. "Let's not ruin it by acting stupid. Get in the room."
Kaoru dug her heels into the carpet as the older man clamped down on her wrist, practically dragging her into the room. She fought his tight grip the entire time, much to Yahiko's admiration. He had no idea where all her spunk came from. She was openly defiant, despite hours of physical and mental torture.
"I am tired of this game you're determined to play, Kamiya," Kenshin said, virtually shoving the resisting Kaoru into the bedroom. He smiled with grim satisfaction as the girl lost her balance and stumbled into the yellow room. "Yahiko, I have things to take care of. Explain the living arrangements to our guest here, and then lock the door behind you."
"Sure thing, Kenshin," the boy said.
"Have a pleasant night," the red-head said, bowing mockingly.
Kaoru glared at the Battousai's retreating back.
"Asshole," she muttered darkly before turning to Yahiko. "Well, inform me so I can be miserable in peace."
He blinked at her. "Uh, yeah. Sure," he began, stumbling over his words. "There are clothes in the dresser and closet. Kenshin doesn't want you ruining the blanket and sheets with your dirty clothes."
"Charming," she commented dryly, swiping at her ruined skirt suit half-heartedly.
"A doctor will be stopping by in about an hour, after you take a shower and change." He pointed to the door on the opposite side of the room. "The bathroom's in there. Don't think of trying to drown yourself. The water only lasts ten minutes and doesn't fill the shower. Same thing for the sink."
"Killing oneself while standing up must be uncomfortable."
Yahiko ignored her and continued.
"If you're hungry, tell me now so I can send food up with the doctor."
"Something soft and cold," she said, mouth throbbing.
"Fine. I'll be the one to wake you up in the morning for breakfast. Be decent," he said, coloring slightly. "Don't cause trouble and don't try to escape because you will pay dearly for it. Any questions?"
"Pretty speech. Do you say that to everyone who spends the night?" she asked sarcastically.
Yahiko scowled at the NJAAF specialist.
"If you don't have a question, I suggest you take a shower."
He turned to leave, but paused when he reached the door.
"You might as well make yourself comfortable with the fact that you're not leaving here anytime soon."
The boy looked down.
"I'm sorry. Good night."
He shut the door softly and as the lock clicked into place, Kaoru felt her eyes fill with tears.
"I'm sorry too," she whispered. Then she straightened and slapped herself mentally. "Alright. It does me no good to cry and feel sorry for myself. I'll take a shower, put on different clothes, and then try to figure out my situation."
The girl nodded to herself. It was a decent plan, if not simple.
Fifteen minutes later, Kaoru emerged from the bathroom blood and dirt free, dressed in a pair of black athletic shorts and a soft, gray cotton tank top that she had found in the dresser. She sat down in the rocking chair, carefully towel-drying her long raven hair, scalp pricking in pain, thinking about the situation she currently found herself in. Twisting a damp lock around her finger, the teenager listed the things she was completely and utterly sure of.
First, if she was in the Battousai's second complex outside of Tokyo, she would probably not be found by any NJAAF team, IF or otherwise. Secondly, if that proved to be true, then, as Yahiko had said, she would have to get used to the idea of living in the complex until she was no longer useful. And thirdly, the Battousai had made a huge mistake of not taking away her bobby pins, which she could easily use as makeshift lock picks to try and escape the room and explore the mansion, if not escape entirely.
Kaoru chewed her bottom lip worriedly, ignoring the sting and coppery taste of blood as she considered the last thing. Certainly it was difficult to see the bobby pins in her dark hair, bur during the hours of torture, she had seen those golden hawk eyes flick to them multiple times. And why would he allow her any means of escape, especially when he had taken her real lock pick set away with her weapons? That bastard was testing her. He expected her to try and escape. Most likely tonight or the next night.
She gave a short, humorless laugh. She would pretend to be the scared, little, broken hostage and stay put for a week or so. Long enough for the Battousai to get bored with trying to make her talk. When the perfect moment arose, she would grab at it and work with what she had. Kaoru sank sown in the rocking chair, gently moving it with her left foot. With her plans for the week settled, all she could do now was sit and wait for the crime lord's doctor. Her eyes drifted shut as she stared at the door, and within minutes, she was asleep.
o-o-o-o-o
"Your behavior tonight was rather odd," Kenshin commented as Yahiko handed him the key that locked Kaoru's room. "It's very unlike you to interrupt an interrogation."
The boy colored and mumbled something under his breath. He heard Kenshin rustle his newspaper and clear his throat, an obvious sign that he was to repeat his comment.
"She reminded me of two people," he said again, shoving his hands into his dark blue hoodie's pocket.
He waited to see if Kenshin would move. He didn't. He just continued to scan the international section, obviously uninterested.
"It was actually eerily similar," the young boy volunteered, causing the assassin to sigh inaudibly. He took the bait.
"Who did the lovely and intriguing Kamiya remind you of?"
"Well, my mom for one. The way she defended me, just like Mom did," Yahiko said softly, eyes pricking at the memory of his mother's death.
He had only been six when his parents had been killed in a home invasion. His mother his him in the secret space in their bedroom closet and told the robbers he was at daycare. He listened to her sob and the gunshot that stopped any sound. He had been found several hours later, sitting in a pool of blood next to his mother's dead body.
He had then been shuffled from relative to relative before running away and living on the streets at age seven. Yahiko survived through begging and picking pockets. The brown-eyed boy one day managed to pick the wrong pocket and got caught. The man and his friends had thrown in the child into a deserted back alley and had started beating him within an inch of his life. There was suddenly a spurt of gunfire and the beating stopped.
Yahiko could barely open his swollen eyes to see one of the men staring back at him, lying in his own blood. The boy thrust himself away from the dead man, only to back into a pair of suit-clad legs. The then seven-year-old Yahiko looked up to see a demon with liquid amber eyes and hair as red as the blood dotting his white shirt. His savior started down at him, expression unreadable. Too terrified to speak, Yahiko had continued to stare at the older man, vision hazy with pain. Without a word to the boy, the demon picked up the bloodied and injured Yahiko by the shirt collar and now, three and a half years later, here they were.
"That's understandable. It's mentioned in Kamiya's file that she's prone to mothering," Kenshin commented, still not looking up from his newspaper. "Who else?"
"Huh?"
"You said she reminded you of two people. Who else?"
The boy paused. "You should know that answer better than anyone else," he said lightly.
Kenshin froze, knowing exactly who his young charge meant. He himself had made the comparison multiple times, but was never brave enough to linger on those thoughts.
"Tomoe," the killer rasped, setting the paper down on his mahogany desk.
"Yes," the child said quietly. "She's just like her in some ways. The way she cares about people. I bet she melts the iciest hearts."
The red-haired man steeled himself and shot Yahiko a stern look. "I am not one of them," he snapped, picking up his paper again. "Plus she's nothing like Tomoe."
Yahiko stared at the man who had saved his life and become his mentor and father figure, knowing the battle the crime lord fought within. Almost everyone did.
"You can deny it all you like, but you know that it's true. I'm going to leave now," Yahiko said, making his way across the room. He paused before he shut the door.
"G'night, Kenshin."
"Good night, Yahiko," he returned, continuing to read.
Kenshin set the paper down as the door clicked shut. As much as he wanted to deny it, Yahiko was right. The Kamiya girl was similar to Tomoe, uncannily so, and it made him angry. He had always struggled to lock that part of himself away. To lock away what had happened.
A smile appeared on his lips. Fine. If he had to suffer because of the defiant teen, so would the ones who loved her. He picked up his phone and dialed a number.
His feral grin widened at the sound of the voice on the other end.
"Good evening, Director."
o-o-o-o-o
"Um, excuse me?"
Kaoru stirred and opened her eyes, trying to pinpoint where the voice was coming from.
"Kamiya-san?"
The source of the voice was standing ten feet away. A pretty but timid girl stared at her, fidgeting and looking uncomfortable. Kaoru thought she looked scared witless and wondered why. She then realized that the young girl was frightened by her. Kaoru bit her lip in annoyance, trying not to roll her eyes.
"I'm not going to eat you. I'm far too tired," the teenager informed the girl, who squeaked and ducked her head. "What do you want?"
"I have you food," she said, stuttering softly, still not meeting Kaoru's gaze. "And the doctor's here."
Kaoru sighed and stood up stiffly, causing the absurdly timid pre-teen to shrink back.
"Stop that!" the NJAAF agent snapped, eyes flashing angrily. "I'm not going to hurt you, so stop acting like I'm about to!"
"That's enough of that," said an aged voice. "Our Tsubame is very shy and you are more than capable of injuring her, even in your sorry state."
The teenager glared at the elderly man who was standing in the doorway. He was dressed neatly in dark blue slacks and a white button down shirt, stethoscope hanging around his neck. His face was weathered and his thin-lipped mouth was framed by a precisely trimmed goatee.
This was obviously the doctor in charge of tending to her extensive wounds. He glared right back at her, with Tsubame wondering who would win the staring contest. It was Kaoru who broke eye contact first.
"Well, are we doing this or not?" she asked, sitting on the bed and crossing her arms over her chest.
"If you promise to behave," the old man said, ambling towards her. "No more scaring Tsubame."
"Cross my heart," Kaoru said dryly. "I apologize for my behavior, Tsubame."
The younger girl blushed and brought a steel serving cart into the room, several bowls of soft cold food on the top shelf. Kaoru's mouth watered at the sight of the food.
"You get to eat when I'm done," the doctor informed her.
Kaoru made a face but let the doctor examine her. She flinched as his fingers gently felt for fractures and breaks underneath the bruises and cuts. The teenager's vision swam when he popped her two dislocated and broken fingers back into their sockets before splinting them.
"Hold shit," she muttered when she could see again.
"I'm impressed," the old doctor said after he was done splinting her fingers. "Even the hardiest of people I've treated made more noise than you."
"Well, old man," Kaoru gritted out, experimentally moving her formerly dislocated fingers. "I've been trained from an early age to try and ignore pain."
"My name is Dr. Gensai so you're not forever calling me 'old man.' And your philosophy is very samurai-like," he commented.
"My father's a very traditional man that way," she said wryly. "Are you done now so I can eat?"
"I expect such thoughts with you being the daughter of Kamiya Kentarou," Dr. Gensai said with a sigh, writing down the extent of the young woman's injuries. "You can eat now."
"So how badly am I damaged?" Kaoru asked through a mouthful of yogurt. Tsubame giggled at the way the older girl sounded and the teenager offered her a small smile.
"Well, you're pretty banged up. You have multiple bruises and lacerations. A missing molar, two broken and dislocated fingers," he said, ticking them off on his fingers. "A bruised collarbone, a possible hairline fracture of your tibia, and most likely, several bruised and cracked ribs."
"Huh."
"Huh indeed. That kind of abuse was highly unnecessary," the old man said, somewhat testily.
Kaoru shrugged, wincing as she did. "It's probably nothing compared to how much of a smartass I was," she said, taking another bite of yogurt. "If you're so against it, why work for the Battousai?"
"It's complicated," the doctor said, pulling a roll of Ace bandages from his bag. "I'm going to wrap your ribs tonight, and tomorrow you'll come to the medical wing and get X-Rays."
"Whatever," the NJAAF agent said. "It's up to his royal jerkface."
"I'm sure Kenshin wants to keep you in decent condition, so I will see you tomorrow around one-thirty."
She scowled at Dr. Gensai.
"Is everyone here so bossy?" she asked, voice dark as the old man began wrapping her ribcage with the thick, tan material.
He sniggered and just smiled at her. Kaoru assumed that meant yes and her scowl deepened.
"This place will be the death of me," she grumbled, not thinking about her word choice.
Dr. Gensai paused before securing the Ace bandage.
"If you're not careful, it will be," he said softly.
The teenager looked back at him, startled and gave him a sad smile. Tsubame just looked down.
"I will probably die here, but I'm going to try my damnedest not to."
"You can't make promises to yourself, especially a promise like that," the old man said, packing up his medical bag.
"Well, if it's my fate to die here, I will go fighting at least. I refuse to lie down and show that bastard my belly," she spat, adjusting her tank top so it laid flat over the bandage.
Dr. Gensai looked at her with gloomy eyes.
"Pray Kenshin has use for you, woman-child, because God help you if he doesn't," he said, ushering the silent Tsubame out of the room.
"God has nothing to do with it. I'm not a child, Dr. Gensai," Kaoru said, drawing herself up straight. "I hold no illusions or pretty hopes. I'm just determined, willful, and smart. And I'm going to try my hardest to get out or die trying. Good night."
She closed the door in the old man's face before he could reply. She wasn't stupid. She knew how little her chances of survival were, but it would not stop her from planning her escape. The weapon's specialist signed as she settled back down on the bed, selecting another bowl from the metal cart. She took a bite and laughed out loud, delighted to find chocolate and peanut butter ice cream in the bowl, her favorite.
Kaoru glanced around the room, searching for any hidden cameras. Unable to spot any, she delved into the bowl happily, despite her situation. The Battousai obviously had a ridiculously specific and thorough file on her if he knew her favorite ice cream flavor. But as long as the crime lord couldn't watch her enjoy her ice cream, Kaoru was happy.
o-o-o-o-o
"You do realize that you severely beat a seventeen-year-old girl almost to death?"
"Oh, please, Dr. Gensai," Kenshin said, waving a careless hand at the old man, not taking his liquid golden eyes from the surveillance footage. "This is a highly trained, extremely healthy NJAAF agent and weapons specialist. She was a little more challenging than most."
"Kenshin, that doesn't make it right," the doctor said, handing the killer the list of Kaoru's injuries. "This is a girl who suffers a lot already; beatings are not going to help. Look at who her father is for Christ's sake."
"Which is exactly why I'm treating Kamiya the way I am," the crime lord said, fast-forwarding the footage he was watching. "Treat her too lightly, she'll escape, and all this glory comes tumbling down. Treat her too harshly and then she's dead and I have to leverage to bargain with."
The doctor stared sadly at the younger man. He remembered when Kenshin was still an honest man. Back when Tomoe was still alive. He was less angry and was quicker to forgive than to take revenge. But the old doctor knew all too well the effects of tragedy on a person. The current Himura Kenshin was a prime example.
"It's not her fault what happened to your fiancé, you know that, right?"
Kenshin paused the tape, the screen frozen on an image of his captive kicking one of his lackeys under the chin, in a tight skirt no less.
"This is not about Tomoe, Doctor," he said casually, spinning in his chair to face the older man.
"Then what is it about, Kenshin? You ask too much of an old man," Dr. Gensai said quietly. "I refuse to heal her just for you to kill her."
The crime lord smirked.
"Not kill," he said, grin malicious. "Just break. Like a wild horse. It's going to take some time, but sooner or later, she'll break."
Dr. Gensai backed away slightly, feeling uneasy.
"I just hope you know what you're doing," the old man said. "If you injure her more than she is, I will let her walk out the door myself. She's not a toy."
"Careful with your threats, Doctor," the red-headed man said, amber eyes narrowed. "You may be a part of this organization and an old family friend, but I will send you out those front gates in a body bag."
The dark-eyed doctor merely stared at Kenshin for several moments. Finally, he signed and turned towards the office door.
"Kaoru has several areas that need X-Rays. Have her in the medical wing by one-thirty tomorrow."
"Will do, Doctor," Kenshin said, mockingly saluting the old man's back.
After the doctor left, the golden-eyed demon turned his attention back to the paused video. He tapped the play button on the screen, eagerly drinking in Kamiya's fluidity as she thrust, punched, and kicked, trying to fight off her kidnappers. It was beautiful and hypnotizing to watch the lithe girl move and even more satisfying when his men finally subdued her, the teenager still struggling.
She was definitely going to be an enjoyment to break.
A/N: Again, I apologize for lack of writing on this fic. I had more written than I thought I did and I was afraid I was going to have to write more. I'm happy to say that's not the case. Hopefully Part V will be finished soon and I will be able to update this fic regularly and finish it in a somewhat timely manner. Please review! Thanks, and you're all the best!