Silence
Chapter Seven – Blood of Old
Blood, everywhere. It stuck to the walls in arching patterns, sliding down, dripping to the ground.
He stood alone, eyes glowing coldly, sword in his hand, blood dripping thickly from the blade.
Evil.
He was pure, unadultered evil.
The slain bodies of two children, and their parents lay before him. The children were in pieces, the mother was without her once-pretty head, and the father was missing some vital parts of his chest.
A wicked smile twisted across his face, a cruel grin. With a cocky swish of his wrist, he flung the blood from his blade. The second try cleaned it almost wholly. Wiping what was left of the blood across his sleeve, he resheathed the Katana.
"Foolish… trying to protect someone with your own life. So ridiculous." His voice was cool and emotionless. He spoke to mock, not for any other reason.
Pure hate and dark evil flowed smoothly about his body, the air seeming to ice from the strength of his ki.
He opened a door, splashing carelessly through a puddle of blood as he passed the bodies.
A girl was in the room, sitting atop a tatami mat, legs crossed and head held high. Black hair flowed freely around her. Upon his entrance she bowed her head, hair falling to obscure her face.
He swung his blade without preamble.
She lifted her head and looked up at him with a smile, her haunted blue eyes shining.
Swish.
Thock.
Splash.
Battousai awoke with a cry, sitting up in bed. Due to his obsessively healthy upkeep of his body, he was healing remarkably quickly. Had he not been, his stomach would have split open from his sudden movement.
~*~*~*~
Kaoru had been enjoying a rather happy dream that involved… well, she conveniently 'couldn't remember' when she tried to think about it.
Unfortunately, her sleep had been shattered abruptly by a strangled cry.
Reacting instantly, Kaoru all but leapt out of bed, fingers closing around the bat she'd taken to sleeping with.
Eyeing the room and seeing no immediate threat, she put her bat down.
Kaoru was incredibly sore, during her fight with Enishi she had used muscles she hadn't even known existed. She hurt from her confrontations with him, and she was exhausted and stressed to a mental breaking point.
Megumi had seen this all and was keeping them in the hospital.
Soujiro, Sano, Tsubame, Misao, and Aoshi had returned to Kenshin's apartment. They'd taken Wren and Mera with them.
"Kenshin? Kenshin, what's wrong?"
"I am not Kenshin. How many times do I have to remind you." Kaoru blinked, confused. His voice froze her heart and chilled her blood.
"What..do you mean, Kenshin?"
"Kenshin was lost to you when Enishi took you from me." His voice was emotionless and cruel. So much like the old Kensh- Battousai. How he'd been when they'd first met.
Kaoru whimpered. She didn't want him back. She had worked so hard to gain his trust, and earn the smiles of his violet eyes..
Golden eyes gleamed at her from across the room, assuring her that he was not kidding.
Kaoru resolutely hobbled over to Battousai's bed and leaned against a wall beside it. Battousai moved over and patted the bed beside him. The invitation was more of an order.
Kaoru obediantly sat next to him, keeping her distance. Battousai smirked at this, and put his arm over her shoulders. Both of them winced a bit. Kaoru from surprise and some fear, him from the stitches tightening.
"W-what made you cry out?" She offered softly, allowing worry to lace her words, despite herself.
"I had a nightmare." Battousai did not offer any information. So Kaoru, true to her nature, prodded.
"About?"
"I killed you." He did not elaborate, and suddenly Kaoru really did not want him to.
"Oh." She whispered softly. Battousai smirked once more – he could not seem to smile. He closed his eyes, leaned back, relaxed, and was asleep almost instantly.
"You're..odd..please let Kenshin come back.." Kaoru pleaded softly. "What if Akurei or Kurai were to be in control 24/7? Life would suck.." She began to rise, but Battousai's hand had slipped to her waist and restricted that movement. She groaned and leaned back onto the pillow, closing her eyes and shivering. She drifted off minutes later.
Battousai opened his eyes, covered them with a blanket – just because he was cold as well – and went back to sleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~*
Kaoru awoke to warm.
She liked warm.
Warm was comfy.
She sleepily propped one eye open, eyed the chest she had her head resting against, mumbled a hello to Battousai, and closed her eyes again.
And then both of her eyes snapped open. She opened her mouth to give a shout, and was cut off by his voice. "Shh." The command was sharp and demanded obediance. Her mouth closed.
If there was one thing that really pissed Battousai off – more that being hit in the face – it was a woman screaming.
Darnit, that sound HURT!
Kaoru was staring up at him with her wide eyes, 'She should patent that look..' Battousai mused. 'I can see it now. Kaoru-Look-Of-Confusion. She'd make a fortune.' Kaoru was speaking.
"…Well?"
Battousai broke off his thinking, and using his incredible mental prowess, rewound the last few moments. Mentally translating into words, he received, 'I'm hungry, want me to go get us some breakfast?… Well?'
"No. I'm not hungry. And I'm sure the hospital brings food." Kaoru sighed. She'd been hoping to escape. Ah, well.
The door opened and Sanosuke walked in, trailed by the girls and Soujiro.
"Yo." Pause. "Yer dressed, right?"
"Yes." Battousai growled. Kaoru wasn't sure if he was angry at Sano's implications, or the fact that they were still dressed.
~*~*~*~Four Months Later~*~*~*~
It had taken work. Oh goodness had it taken work! Kaoru had been forced to go through every measure she'd taken in the beginning of their relationship to convince Battousai to trust her. And then she'd brought him into her own heart, recreated their relationship..
And lastly..
She'd had to bring him back to her Kenshin.
And she had. After all of that work, Kaoru Agarais had returned her love to almost what he had been before Enishi had taken her. Soujiro and Sano had really bonded – they were practically brothers.
They were out almost every night drinking and gambling. Kaoru couldn't remember how many times, at this point, she'd been forced to give them both two Dramamine and put a pillow over her head.
~*~
Kenshin stepped out of the kitchenette lightly.
"Miss Kaoru? Would you like to come with me for some ice-cream?" Kaoru looked up at him, judging his sincerity.
"Uh.. sure Kenshin!" She put her book, War and Peace down on the coffee table and got to her feet, pulling on a light sweater to protect against the last winter chill and slipping into her shoes.
They walked hand-in-hand down the busy Kyoto streets, looking for all the world like a normal, happy couple – not like two people who were constantly on the lookout for an attacker. Kaoru was still thought dead by Hiko's organization, which was a plus. Kenshin was on a vacation – both for injuries and because he'd requested it.
"Kenshin, why are you holding my hand so tightly?" Kaoru hissed. His grip was bordering on actually being painful.
The red-head immediately released her hand. She grabbed it back, but held it loosely. He smiled gently down at her and they continued on.
They reached the ice-cream shop all to soon. Kenshin scampered in to buy two strawberry cones.
Kaoru and Kenshin sat side-by-side on a bench outside the shop, licking their sugary treats. Yummy.
"Thanks, Kenshin!" Kaoru chirped, a grin stretched across her face. Everything was so perfect, so relaxing. Kenshin looked up, his eyes flickering towards the ghost of the scars on her cheeks.
"Of course." He responded, sounding distracted. Kaoru ate speedily, finishing her cone with loud crunching. Kenshin ate much slower.
By the time he was finished, Kaoru was feeling extremely tired. In fact..Kenshin kept moving!
"Stop doing that."
"Doing what?"
"Jumping around like that."
"I'm not jumping around, Kaoru." The last thing Kaoru saw was Kenshin reaching out an arm to catch her.
Everything went back.
~*~*~
"Ladies and gentlemen, the seatbelt sign it off, feel free to move about the aircraft," Came the incredibly cheerful voice of a loud woman.
Kaoru moaned softly, and opened her eyes – with some effort. She looked around, confused.
An elderly woman across the aisle gave her a warm smile.
"I'm glad you're awake, sweet-heart. The man who brought you on here said that you were afraid of getting on planes so you had to take a tranquilizer and asked me to watch over you until you woke up. I'm so glad you aren't ill or something.." The elderly woman continued to ramble on the way that many older people tend to do when they find a willing ear to listen.
Finally, Kaoru responded with a smile, "I'm sorry I can't continue this conversation, Ma'am, but it might be better for me to close my eyes again.. I think I'm starting to get airsick."
The woman gave her another sweet smile. "Of course, dear. You go right ahead." She turned to her husband to continue speaking.
Kaoru leaned back, and felt something crinkle. Reaching into the sleeve of her sweater she found an envelope.
'Kaoru' Was written on the front in flowing Kanji. She stared down at the parchment for a moment, confused at this new development. The only person she'd ever seen write like this was..Kenshin?
She leaned her chair back a bit so that the woman couldn't see that she was awake, turned on her side, and opened the envelope slowly.
There was a letter that spanned two pages inside.
A/n: Sorry about the abrupt cut-off here.. I'm already copying his letter so I'll post that at the same time as this – the next chapter.
I'm sorry this took so long, but I was grounded for a good while.
But I'm sure you're all be amused to know:
Dove-chan broke her ankle.
Yes, feel free to laugh. I was dancing, and I landed a leap wrong. My ankle rolled and caaaa-rraaaccckkk.. it was all over. Ticks me off. Now I can't have Drivers Ed and I can't dance in 'The King and I', nothing.
Dove is not happen.
*Sumizome Shinkan*
If anyone knows what that meant, you get a cookie!
ORO! Thanks for reviewing, evillaughingtalkingwall, I missed you!
ITAII! EVERYONE READ CHIKI'S STORIES! 'When the World Revolves Around You' is over, but if you haven't read it already, do so. Now. 'Fourteen Days' is the awesome current sequel. There is also another one with Kenji as a brat and Kenshin as a struggling father, but I don't remember the name.
Anyhoo, read her stories!!! She's really good.
I broke the OS Trigonum, for anyone wanting to get technical, FYI.
See ya next chapter..
Don't forget, to get chapter nine (Chapter eight comes with Chapter seven when I post 'em) you have to give me..oh.. 142 reviews.
