This chapter is not as long as I wanted but any longer and it would have been the last chapter. Are you guys ready for the end though? I don't know if I am ready for this to end! No I'm kidding I'm ready for new things to start happening! Last chapter is the next one…or maybe not…stick around to find out as always read and review!
"What Kaoru told you was truth," Kenshin grumbled slightly annoyed by the lot of them at that moment. He was tired and angry; the thirst and the call of the kill beckoning him and still pulling on his nerves. He and Aoshi had taken care of the men back at the dojo and the Oniwaban leader was disposing of their bodies as they spoke. He had promised Kenshin it would be their little secret. "I'm not a tool or a weapon. I will fight for the cause I believe in and if it just so happens to be beneficial for you then thank the heavens," he groaned and pulled Kaoru from him. So much always happened to them when they wanted a normal life. He meant what he said about making her his wife and impregnating her with more children than she could handle.
That was what he was fighting for. A future for him and his family. He looked over to the exhausted Misao, the terrified Ame, and the child Yahiko whose knuckles were badly swollen. "Then you have doomed us all," Hiwokama croaked out coughing over the blood in his mouth. He was badly hurt both physically and emotionally. The Battousai struck his pride and for him that was all that he really had. "You won't be able to take them all out Battousai you need help," he tried to argue through panted breath. He began to walk and his small family followed out behind him not saying a word to either of them.
"I swear you lot get into more trouble than I do," he growled and they all looked around trying to be innocent. He was not going to let Kaoru off the hook so easily though. He grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her up against the wall and halted her family in their tracks. He stared into her eyes trying to make sure he had her undivided attention. She knew he was serious without his death glare and she could feel the anger rolling off of him in waves. She was choking off of another emotion that she could not place at first; fear.
"Kaoru how do you expect me to stay alive and concentrate if you can't even stay out of trouble for a couple of seconds?" he scorned her. Her answer was somewhere in her mind but she found it did not come out. What she wanted to say was "I promise I will be more careful and mindful of my actions and surroundings."
"How did you know where to find me?" was what came out instead. He bit down on his bottom lip wanting so badly to be upset with her but how could he? He let go of his hold on her shoulders and took a deep breath. "I heard you or felt you in distress and I followed it to you," he tried to explain and then looked over to her and her family to see if it all made since He released his hold on her clan and they each looked to each other. His emotions were so strong that they could feel them too.
"He is scared for you Kaoru," Ame spoke first and he jeered his head in her direction silently thanking her. "Yes, we understand it now and you need to be more careful and thoughtful of everything he is doing to keep you safe," Misao fussed and Kaoru turned to them. "Yeah you ugly ungrateful woman he can't do his job if you can't even manage to stay out of trouble!" Yahiko spat crossing his arms over his chest to drive his point home. Kaoru wanted to explode at the insult he gave her but she had to listen to everyone for once. She looked to him once again and saw his eyes begging and pleading for her to give him an answer.
"I swear I will try my very best to stay safe for you," she told him and her family noticeably sighed, "No not for me but for all of us," he corrected as she wrapped her hands around him. "I highly doubt Japan is ready for the bloodshed and carnage that I will rain down if something was to happen to you," under normal circumstances she would have been bothered by his form of flattery but he was normal by no means. She wanted to ask him about what the man said earlier about him not being human but thought it was best she left it for another time.
Ame's yawn pulled them from their embrace and he once again turned to head in the direction of their home. When they got to the dojo they saw the damage that it incurred but everyone was too exhausted to make a fuss over it now. Aoshi was waiting for them in the gardens. Misao broke from the pack and ran over to him. He stiffened from her touch but then relaxed into her embrace. "Seems like my little cousin will lose her maidenhead tonight," Kaoru tried to whisper but she was so tired she could distinguish from loud and soft. Misao turned a red deadly glare at her cousin and Aoshi emitted a small chuckle. Yahiko yawned and stretched walking off to his room murmuring something about disgusting, ugly, inappropriate, indecent girls.
Ame said her farewell to the two couples and too returned to her room. Kaoru tried not to think about everyone leaving her tomorrow and focus on the little time they had left. With her left arm wrapped around Kenshin and her head on his chest she looked to Misao and Aoshi. The two of them looked as though they belonged together. She could tell he was still trying to see what he would do with her. He felt the couple's eyes on him and he looked their way. They nodded simultaneously before Kenshin led his woman away. Misao missed the entire exchange as she was basking in the fact he let her embrace him.
"Time for sleep onna," he called out as he pulled from her and walked towards his room. She stood there for a second unsure if she be upset because he called her woman or happy that he finally saw her as such. She couldn't help but blush crimson red as the implications her cousin made earlier resurfaced. Was this it? Would it be the moment she gave herself to Lord…no Aoshi? She followed him in hot pursuit completely sure she was ready for this magical experience.
"He won't take her yet," Kenshin commented once everyone was in the respective rooms. Kaoru slipped into her yukata as she thought about what he was saying. "How do you know?" she asked him as she joined him on their bed mat. He let his fingers roam through her tresses as he tried to explain how he was able to do abnormal things when he did not fully know. "I can read his emotions…oh he wants to but he still thinks she is too young," he pulled her back into his chest as she laid her head on his extended arm.
"In terms of society I agree she is and she is unmarried as are we. But in terms of love and expressionism I believe that they should let their hearts lead them." She whispered before making herself more comfortable in his frame. His belts and shredded kimono were laid neatly beside them as they fell asleep.
The next day everyone slept in pretty late. Ame found that she was the first one to awaken so she decided to go to the market and gather some things to make breakfast. It would be a surprise and a great way for them to say their good byes. Kenshin had awakened when he felt someone get up and walk through the house. He relaxed when he realized it was Ame but sleep did not reclaim him. He felt Yahiko stir and then shortly after his woman blinked a couple times to look up at him. She sat up on her elbows and kissed him gently as to not awaken him. He didn't know why but he kept pretending to be asleep. She got up and went to go walk around the grounds to clear her mind. Today was going to be the saddest day of her life. He heard a heart wrenching scream shortly after she left and he jumped up snatching both swords on his way out. He saw Aoshi and Misao running in the same direction as he but he made it there first. Aoshi grabbed Misao and pulled her away from the scene.
"Ame…please no!" she cried out in violent sobs dropping to her knees. She saw her best friend's head on a pike sticking from a post in the gate. Her eyes and tongue had both been carved out and her face seemed to be swollen with bruises. The wind passed through them and her hair flowed along with it. The smell that crossed her nose made Kaoru lean forward and vomit. Kenshin went to her side and rubbed her back. Yahiko came from his room a bit later wondering what all the fuss was about. He took in the scene and had to grab his stomach to as his bowels were released from his mouth. Kaoru was crying so hard that she was trembling. Kenshin jumped up and took her head down and went to find a place to bury her. He knew that he should be comforting Kaoru but he was so upset he was about to snap. He felt as though he needed to kill or perhaps die.
If there was no him she would no longer have to be a target. Maybe it was for the best that his kind died out. A manslayer was nothing but a burden to those he loved. How silly of him to think that after all he had done that he got the happy ending? No he didn't deserve a happy but his Kaoru did! He wiped his hands on his pants and walked back over to Kaoru. No one had spoken words since they came out. No words seem like they were the right thing to say.
"This is all my fault," he whispered to her and her tear filled looked up to him trying to comprehend. She violently shook her head no to him and he nodded in response. "I caused all of this," he said trying to force her to see reason. "My father was involved and so was hers…they are to blame…they weren't here for us when we needed them to clean up the mess they made." She spat really wishing their father's would have come up with some sort of backup plan.
"No Kaoru, don't tarnish the good thoughts of your late father because of actions by the living," he asked of her but she needed to blame someone and HE wasn't an option. "Don't you understand that could have been you!" he shouted his anger flaring up.
"Battousai," Aoshi growled and the warrior looked upon him not registering his purpose for the interruption. Heads would have to roll; he just could not see another way around it. Being gentle was not getting his point across,. How could he protect her in his current state? A knock on the door pulled them out of their standstill. Kaoru headed for the door but was stopped by Kenshin. Yahiko saw this and went to the door only to be scared almost shitless. Kenshin was there in an instant ready to attack. He saw Ayao running up in full panic mode.
"They went after my family," he cried out and Kaoru shouted before dropping to her knees. The bad news had become too much for her and she felt herself retreat inside of herself. "Ayao I don't know what to say," the Battousai answered as he watched the brave samurai drop to his knees in defeat. This was another death he was responsible for. Had he not stopped to drop his things off and chat he might have made it home earlier.
"Ayao I'm sorry that this happened to you but we're leaving now," Kenshin ordered sounding so much like the manslayer he was when Kaoru first met him. Hearing the tone of voice he was carrying sent her heart plunging into a dark abyss. She could not take any more pain or heart ache. Her friend was gone forever, she would never be returning. Her lover was leaving and she did not know if she would see again. She knows that she should fear for her own safety but he seems to think that putting distance between them will do some good. Kaoru wanted to scream out again but each time she opened her mouth she choked on her own voice. She could feel the vomit rising up in her chest with each violent pull she gave trying to wail.
So when Kenshin and Ayao turned to take their leave from the dojo she said nothing. Her tears were streaming down quickly seeming to burn sores unto her skin. The pain in her head and her chest was near unbearable. She held her hand out to try and ask him to stop but he never once turned around. He did not even utter the words good bye to her as he walked away from her unknown if they would meet again. In an instant she began berating herself. "Kaoru get up and go after him!" Misao shouted and Kaoru turned to stare at her cousin as if she was to blame. "If that was Ayoshi walking away from me I would go after him!" she tried to reason and Kaoru looked back in the direction that he went. She looked further over her shoulder first to Yahiko and then to Ayoshi himself. They both nodded at her though she didn't know if they were agreeing she should go after him or that Misao would go after Aoshi.
Before her brain could even process the request she tore from the ground running as fast as her feet could carry her. She was partially in shock from all that had happened and still could not find her voice. Her eyes searched the streets for any sign of red hair. Memories of his red hair surrounding her and sticking to their sweaty bodies in the throes of passion crossed her mind. The way he could be so rough one moment then gentle and caring the next. The thought that she would never feel him again drove her insane. On some levels she understood him. She understood that he was a troubled man who would never be as romantic and loving as some may hope for. But he was her man and she would change him for the world. Why couldn't she just tell him that? Why did she have to push her nonviolent philosophy upon a man who did badly for the greater good? It was all clear to her now. And now…now it may be too late.
'He always wears those stupid hats,' she thought as she crossed paths of two men wearing hideous straw hats. The force with which she stopped was so strong that she was about to lose her footing. Seriously, did he think those hats were fooling anyone? She turned back the way the strangers went and came so close that she tipped the hat and forced it to the ground. His red hair sprawled out and they both stopped to look at her as she fell to the ground on her knees.
"Miss Kaoru," Ayao sighed as he went to help her up. Battousai held a stoic expression as he pretending not to care in case someone was watching. He needed to cut his ties to her and let her go to save her. A part of him was upset with her for exposing herself the way she did knowing that someone may well enough be on her tail now. "I have to at least have a goodbye," she let out with a painful voice barely above a whisper. Ayao knows his comrade and knows he does not want to make a scene. Being a weakness worked both ways in their world and their enemies would see nothing wrong with doing her harm just to cause him harm and vice versa. But seeing the girl crying and pleading and knowing that her fate might be what his family endured he felt mercy. If he had the chance to say good bye he would and so he knows what he must do.
"Battousai, say good bye," he whispered turning his back to the girl. He tried to ignore the intense look he was getting from him as he thought he was betraying him. "Say good bye for me too," he asked pleading silently with his eyes. He saw the emotions coiling through the Battousai's eyes and knew that he would grant them both a goodbye. He grabbed Kaoru by the arm and hauled her off to an alley. "You know the risks coming out here after me?" he asked in a gruff voice making her heart ache at the sound. She nodded her head and he gently pushed her up against the wall. "But you came anyway?" she tried looking away from him but he cupped her jaw and forced her to look into his changing eyes. Her own were exploding with newfound tears as he interrogated her.
"Kenshin…I…iloveyou," she breathed out saying what he already knew. She wanted to say more but even those words burned her throat. "I want to belong to you and you to me!" she claimed and he captured her lips with his own. At first it had simply been to silence her but he found her taste to be erotic. Her hands went to his shoulder as she pulled him in deeper making his hand go up to the wall to keep his balance. "No one else can have me Kaoru…I will always belong to you," he swore as he broke the kiss. The weight of her lips imprinted permanently on his. She was the girl he was fighting for. His principle had always been to fight to survive but now he had a reason to survive to fight. He had to stay alive to protect her and he knew now where he had to go.
"Take me," she asked him and he looked upon the once innocent girl with devious eyes. He unstrapped her slowly as he kissed every part of her body his eyes could see. It wasn't until he dropped unto his knees and pulled her legs on his shoulder did Ayao turn around. He had been watching the two from the entrance of the alleyway and now his back was to them to stand guard. It had been a dark and gloomy day for all of the people he knew. His family was no more but somehow hearing his…his…associate make love to the woman he cared for brought him joy. After standing in contentment for so long he peered over his shoulder to see that they were entangled with one another. Ayao dropped down to get comfortable as he waited for them to finish.
"Ayao, what a horrible guard you would make," he heard a voice say as a foot nudged his side. His eyes opened to see a beaming young lady and a rugged samurai staring down at him. He blinked a few times before sitting up to see that they were indeed clothed and standing at his side. Ayao got to his feet and bowed to them whilst hiding his embarrassment; although, he was not alone. Kaoru, for some reason, could not look him straight in the eye.
"Kaoru, good bye," Kenshin said as the winds of destiny blew through them. He was looking straight ahead to ignore the look of pain in her eyes at his words. She nodded her head and bowed slightly to them both before turning to make the long agonizing journey home. As she made it to the end of the street she turned to see the two manslayers staring at her. "I…take care Kaoru…and never forget that you belong to me!" he said jokingly although he was hurting very badly on the inside. She nodded and turned the corner unsure if she or he would live to see each other again.
So…like I said short but it had to end here! Hit that review button and let me know what you think!