Lost From Within Chapter 7: The story you haven't told me yet (II)

Disclaimer: I do not own RK. I have a poster of him though, and wallpaper and a plushy and a DVD set and a fake sakabatou and identical violet and gold contact lenses. Let's see this list could go on forever...

Hiko smiled. Neitherknew how much loved played a role here already.

Kaoru looked at Hiko expectantly,hoping to get this over with quickly. Thinking about Kenshin would make her already strung-out mental faculties worse. She indicated for him to continue.

Hiko himself was lost in thought. Should he tell his already spooked future daughter in law that her fiancée was hearing every bit of their conversation?

Hiko thought about his sanity and more importantly,the consequences,which mostly centered his face. He decided against it. He liked his looks. He decided to move on with the story.

"Well, my dear." He said mischievously. "How should we go ahead with this? I haven't told a child a bed time story in quite some time."

Kaoru smirked at him. It was her turn to smile mischievously. "I think you'll do just fine."

Hko sat back,arms folded."Oh really?"

"For starters,it's not a bed time story I want to hear. I want to know about you,Hiko-san."

His eyebrows went up."Me?" He asked incredulously. "How interesting can I be?"

"Interesting enough." She answered.

"Ask away. It seems that is YOUR forte at this moment."

She ignored his comment. I will NOT let him in my head. Shaking it off, she asked solidly, "How old are you?" He really looked quite young.

"Is that all?" he exclaimed. "I was expecting something more complicated out of you Kaoru-chan! My mistake,I guess, for wishful thinking."

"I didn't ask for any snide comments Hiko-san. Just your age," she answered coolly. I wonder where that came from,she thought giddily. One minute she was pleading and the next she was acting impudent.

"So you do have a back bone!" He teased. "Kaoru-chan, didn't your father teach you to be polite?"

She stiffened. Two could play that game."Of course! He also taught me to never avoid a question." she shot back,surprised by her own nerve. She immediately chided herself. Cool it Kaoru! If you don't play nice he won't tell you a thing! She calmed herself down, settling for middle ground. She didn't feel like pleading any more.

Hearing Kaoru argue with herself was very funny at times, Hiko thought.

"Kaoru, if I tell you who I am and you don't like it, who will be to blame?"

"I don't to be honest, any sins you may have committed in the past don't matter to me as it seems you have done more than enough penance for them."

"Oh, have I now?" he asked sarcastically. This got her wondering at her own words again:what crimes had he actually committed that would require penance?

In truth,Hiko was shocked at her audacity. It was very refreshing to see that in a woman. He had only known one other that was this outrageous.

"Hiko-san," she tried again, hesitating. "How old are you?"

"I am not really sure. All I know is that I was born before the Meji Era. "

"What?" she spluttered, her mind reeling at the decades, perhaps centuries, behind that witty,presently amused,seemingly ageless face.

Hiko wanted to laugh at that thought. It was only a couple of centuries to him...

Hiko then found another question lodged in her skull. He was about to answer automatically, when she asked it.

"Hiko-san, did you ever have a mate?" Kaoru asked cautiously. She wasn't sure if she was allowed to ask.

"Yes." He said with reverence. Hmm. Maybe she's not as stupid as I thought. " She was beautiful, the only one so for me. Her name was…" he trailed off; Could he bring himself to finish his sentence?

"What was her name Hiko-san?" Kaoru prodded gently.

"…Kieko." Hiko was shocked. He couldn't believe he actually told her the name of his beloved.

"What was she like?"

"Oh, she was very naïve."

"How was she naïve?" Kaoru asked.

"She fell in love with me; so, I'm assuming that she was naïve." He laughed at the memory.

Kaoru laughed with him. Hiko could be funny and not the least bit creepy when he wanted to be.

"Kaoru-chan, hasn't my baka son taught you not to let your guard down with me? And shouldn't you have learned that on your own yet?"

Kaoru stopped laughing and looked at him. He was still reading her mind. This damn demon thing couldn't be put off for even a second.

"Kaoru-chan, I think you should wonder less about me and more about Kenshin." Hiko said. As he said this, he looked over to the staircase and moved his eyes to the right.

Kaoru nodded, wondering why Hiko was looking in the other direction.

Kenshin was listening to everything Hiko was saying. Kaoru wasn't even aware that Hiko was reading her mind, was she?

She was so innocent. It made Kenshin feel like laughing and crying at the same time. Kenshin was worried about the girl. She was too innocent. She seem to embody opposite ends of the spectrum, her pride unshakeable,and her heart fragile. What if she couldn't handle his story? What if she ran? Or worse, what if she hated him?

He wiped out the last thought. He did not care if she hated him, or loved him. It then occurred to him that Hiko, just for the sake of being Hiko, would tell her his story. Maybe she would run, and then he would be left alone. That did not frighten him. What did frighten him was the fact that she would hear it and it would be another person that knew his shame. It would be yet another person looking at him with mixed pity and disgust. He could take that from anyone. Except her.

Kenshin would not let her. She was nothing but a human. Albeit a human whom he felt an insatiable need for; the feeling was not alien to him. He did not care for her feelings, he reassured himself. It was only a fleeting obsession with a large amount of physical need sprinkled in. After all, he had gone a decade or so without a woman as real as she.

He tried to pay close attention to her reactions to get a sense of why he wanted her so badly. This was beginning to get unhealthy...

Kenshin listened as Hiko told her about his own past. Kenshin of course had known about Kieko. Hiko would not speak much about her. All he knew was that she had died.

He listened to the faint shock that was evident in Hiko's voice. Kaoru of course couldn't hear it. She was too enraptured in the story. He heard Hiko's slow chuckle. It was plainly heard in his voice that he didn't think all that much of Kaoru.

He listened as Kaoru hissed under her breath, telling herself to relax and keep calm. Kenshin could feel his heart thundering at that simple sound. All he could think about was her. Her laugh, her tears, her smile, her voice. His mind generously supplied him with visions of her. His body did not seem to know how to react to these developments.

Kenshin's mind reeled with possibilities. He could run from these feelings. He could take her, possess her for a night and see if his need for her had been sated.

He was shaken out of these musings to hear the words he had been dreading all night.

Kaoru, I think its time you learned about Kenshin…

"AND JUST WHAT IS IT THAT KAORU SHOULD HEAR?"

Kaoru jumped as the sound of Kenshin's voice thundered around them. Suddenly he appeared out of nowhere in front of Hiko, his eyes molten gold and his fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles were white. Kaoru gasped as she noticed his eyes, and the phrase if looks could kill ran through her mind.

Hiko seemed completely unperturbed. He motioned for Kenshin to sit down, still smirking. Kenshin knew he could not let Hiko tell Kaoru everything he knew.

No one knew better than Hiko how ashamed he was of his past. Who wouldn't be, after everything that he had done?

"She needs to know Kenshin." Hiko said calmly. He knew the card he was playing. He needed both of them to realize their feelings, even if he had to play the evil step-father. Not that he minded playing the role.

"Why don't you finish with yourself first Hiko? Or haven't you told her the rest of the gruesome details?" Kenshin spoke arrogantly.

"She's not marrying me." Hiko stated brusquely.

"It's a marriage of convenience!" Kenshin growled at him. "She doesn't need to know anything about me!"

"And why is that?" Hiko asked, bemused. "Why do you not want her to know? Do you really care so much for her opinion? Has the great Kenshin Himura fallen at the hands of a mere human girl? Is she more than a human to you now? Face the facts, Kenshin."

Hiko knew what he was doing. Every question he asked pierced straight through to Kenshin's heart, gnawing at his resolve. He could feel it working.

Kaoru was genuinely confused. Had Kenshin been listening to everything? To top it off, he was hiding something.Can things get any weirder? she wondered.

"Kenshin?" she tried tentatively. He looked at her with fury in his eyes.

Kenshin was struck by her voice. Such a sweet voice. He looked at her and felt the truth of Hiko's words.

Then suddenly his mind closed to the revolting idea. NO! It was not possible. He had not fallen! It was merely that she surprised him. She had caught him off guard with her pure aura, the way her innocence enveloped his darkness. It was merely the demon inside him that wanted her. It was the fire.

The fire yearned to be sated. Kenshin knew he did not choose her. A woman he might have chosen would have been smarter; less innocent, less trusting. Someone who would have deserved someone as unworthy as he.

Yet, there she sat. Looking as pure and as caring as ever. The fire raged inside him and he knew that he had to push her away. He would show her how foolish she was to think she could save him. To think she could make him fall.

"You are naive." Kenshin told her in a tone that blended anger with awe. He saw Kaoru flinch at the word 'naïve' and continued.

"Are you really stupid enough to think that you could save me? That you could help me even? You little fool, do you even know what you're doing? Have you realized all that you've ruined?" He heard his own words and did not care. She needed to hear the truth. She needed to hear everything.

Kaoru's ears were ringing. Is this what he thought of her? Both her mind and body shut down and she went slack. Her eyes lost their sparkle. Everything she had been told since her father died was right. No one wants me...

Kenshin expected her reaction. But he had to finish this, and not in front of Hiko. Slowly Kenshin picked up Kaoru's dazed form bridal style and ran with the speed of the gods.

Kaoru was numb in Kenshin's arms. She heard his words. What had happened to his so called honor? Kaoru could only hold on tight as he burst into his room and threw her on the bed.

That was when she came to herself.

"HEY!" she protested, trying to get up.

Immediately, he was upon her. His lips captured hers in a fiery kiss. His hands roamed everywhere. He bit her bottom lip and continued. She then realized that it was suddenly getting very, very hot. Her body seemed to heat up with each kiss.

His tongue snaked inside her mouth, cutting off any thoughts of stopping. After a good while, he stopped kissing her and allowed her to catch her breath.

"You are naïve." He told her. "So naïve that you can't even begin to guess how much you tempt me."

She could only listen; hanging on to every word; touched deeply by the truth visible in his body language. He kissed her again and she felt him release all his inhibitions.

He began to nibble along her jaw line, then kissed down her neck. He whispered at the base of her throat.

"I tried to convince myself that all this was just a charade of yours. To try and make me feel like an idiot. But I can't pretend any more. Everything about you is real. I never imagined a creature such as yourself could exist. A creature so innocent and pure that even I cannot corrupt you."

What? What was he saying? Her thoughts now drifted to the position of this intimate(a little too intimate) conversation. She struggled to get him off.

He wouldn't allow it. He pinned her wrists above her head and continued to kiss her. It didn't help her concentration.

"I tried to stay away from you. But I saw you every day. It was becoming harder and harder to resist you. I felt you through my soul and I had your energy to supplement me. Feeling you inside me, while you weren't even there wasn't helping," he continued.

"You have ruined me Kaoru. I never wanted to feel this. I never wanted any shackle upon me. I never wanted to feel this. I never wanted to feel this horrid feeling."

That was when she froze. He wasn't. No, it couldn't be possible.

He loosened his hold on her. She sat up and looked him in the eyes. He sat on the bed as well. He was looking at her pleadingly. He looked like a child confessing a crime.

Kaoru then realized that Kenshin, at this moment, was vulnerable. He slumped on her, holding on to her shirt as if it were a life line. He gripped it, as though he was undecided on whether he should rip it off or leave it on.

"Feeling?" she asked. "What feeling? What do I make you feel?"

He chuckled darkly and fisted his hands on the fabric of her shirt.

"I don't want to fall." He mumbled so low, she couldn't possibly hear.

"Kenshin?" she called softly.

He took her face in his hands and kissed her. Kaoru heard for the second time his voice in her head due to his extraordinary gift.

A/N: And cut! We will end that right there. I am sorry for the delay folks but I have been so busy with other obligations that I have forgotten all of you, my beloved readers. I also apologize in advance for this lovely cliff hanger. I know, I know, I'm cruel. Anything you want to add about my cruelty Crazyforcanines-san?

Still alive, are you? I was making preparations for your memorial service. Well, at least now we can all get some sleep, right? Don't scare me like that. (I know. I'm a mother hen :P )

Well... I will see you in chapter 8. I would love any and all suggestions on the plot, characters, even ideas on what color I should dye my hair. I am secretly voting for green depending on what crazy thing I am allowed to do. Remember to R&R and I don't mean rest and relaxation. (Though you should get plenty of that too.)