Night Stalker

MysticShadowWanderer

Disclaimer: Pick me up now, I need you so bad...

Chapter Ten: Cuts Marked in the March of Men

Kenshin woke to Kaoru's slender finger poking him insistently yet discreetly in the arm. Easing his eyes open, he flipped his headphones off and raised one eyebrow at her curiously. She leaned over with a sultry expression, confusing Kenshin all the more, to whisper in his ear.

"That man across the aisle and two rows up has walked back and forth by us four times now," she said, her serious tone countervailing the heated look on her face. Kenshin had to withhold a smile at her ingenuity; she wanted to give the impression that she was whispering sensuous things to him so that she wouldn't look suspicious. "He stared at us every single time," she continued. "He studied you for a long time when he thought I wasn't looking."

Kenshin nodded slowly, a smile that matched the expression on her face spreading across his own. He had no difficulty acting along with her. He turned his head to brush his lips against her ear. "It's too bad we've left Kuroi Ame," he murmured, "because you have the mind of a criminal genius." Kaoru slapped him in mock playfulness, but really as a sharp reminder of how she felt about his words. "Sorry, love," he apologized swiftly, "I should learn to keep my mouth shut. Do you think he's with the syndicate?" He saw and felt her nod briefly. "We'll just have to keep an eye on him then. We can't do anything right now. I suppose it's too much to hope that he's just an innocent traveler who happened to see our katana."

"Mm, very true," Kaoru agreed. "We'll have to see what happens when the plane lands, then?"

"Yes." Kenshin leaned back into his seat and flashed her one last smile. "And now, I believe, that I'll go back to sleep. You wore me out last night." He winked slightly at her and she had the decency to blush, which was rather endearing.
It hardly seemed that it could help anything to worry, Kenshin decided. They would have to deal with this when the plane landed and avoid causing commotion, which was the last thing that they needed to do. There was nothing to do but wait it out. He sighed quietly as he allowed his body to relax as much as it would, still unable to relinquish all of his remnant habits from his not so far in the past assassin days. When Kaoru was next to him, he found, though, that he could slip just a bit farther away into sleep, even on a plane.

Kaoru watched as the lines of tension left Kenshin's body enough that he was able to fall into a light sleep. A smile traced across her lips as she observed him; he seemed just a little more innocent, a little less troubled, when he was sleeping like that. Even as she noted his apparent ease at being next to her, the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach worsened. None of this was going to end well; she was picking up on senses that told her something terrible was going to happen. And she knew very well whence it would come as she lifted her eyes subtly to glance at the man who'd been glancing at her. Did he know that she knew? She wondered about that. Perhaps she'd only discovered his fixation on them because of her gifts. But it seemed too euphemistic to believe that. He knew who they were, and he would likely try to kill them.

Death had a certain way of raining on anyone's parade.

"Please fasten your seatbelts, as we have entered the landing pattern and will be arriving at the airport shortly."

Kaoru shook an awakening Kenshin by the shoulder, an action that she made more out of habit than necessity. It surprised her that he'd slept through the entire flight, but she didn't question that at the moment. What worried her most right then was the steady gaze that the man fixed on them. Something would happen. The utter lack of fear in those dark brown eyes put her on edge and told her that he either didn't know who Battousai was, or was very powerful. She hoped it was the former.

"Be still, love," Kenshin murmured as he laced his fingers with hers. "If it happens, then it happens."

Kaoru blinked at him once and then stopped fidgeting. It wouldn't be long until the plane landed, and she wanted to be centered mentally and emotionally before anything happened. Kenshin was right and simplistically profound in his words.

"If it happens, then it happens," she mused, the words slipping out not quite under her breath.

There was no time to worry about anything, there was just time to act and respond. The question was, did they want to be the catalysts or the reactants?

"Himura."

They ignored the voice and walked straight on, their bags slung over their shoulders, although Kenshin's hand was slowly caressing the hilt of his katana that hung at his hip. Purposefully they strode forward, saying nothing as they increased their pace just slightly.

"Himura! Kamiya!"

There was no mistaking it, the voice was full of ill-intent. Kenshin lengthened his stride a bit more, causing Kaoru to struggle to keep up with him. He refused to let the public get involved with this. They could not get into a conflict in the middle of an airport. Hand shaking just slightly with anger, he released his katana to grip Kaoru's elbow firmly and force her to walk faster.

"Himura, you're making the wrong choice."

People were stopping to stare as the odd group was almost running through the airport. Kenshin blinked rapidly as they burst through the sliding glass doors and into the sunlight. Thankful that it wasn't raining, he attempted to catch the attention of a taxidriver when he felt a large, strong hand grab him by the arm. He wrenched to the side, pulling his arm free, and spun to glare at the figure. His eyes narrowed to meet the challenge in the other man's eyes.

"What do you want?" Kenshin hissed, his voice lower than usual.

"You owe us something," came the enigmatic answer. Kaoru glanced back and forth from one man to the other, wondering how this would turn out.

"I owe nothing to anyone."

"Kuroi Ame, and Katsura, happens to believe otherwise."

"I hardly see how that concerns me."

"You know the rules," the man said, obviously becoming frustrated by Kenshin's obstinance. "You owe us your service or your life. But I suppose this pretty thing here would suffice." His fingers slipped under Kaoru's chin to tilt her head so that he might look at her more closely.

Kenshin's katana would have taken the man's fingers off had he not moved his hand swiftly, all while chuckling. It was sick, Kaoru thought. Was there no respect for human life here at all? Because to her there was nothing worse than the blatant disrespect for a human life.

"Now, now sweetheart," the man said, his voice suddenly reminiscent of the hiss of a snake, "just because I'm going to kill the precious man you've been fucking doesn't mean that you have to look so pissed at me."

Now Kaoru's hand was resting against the hilt of her katana and the motion didn't pass their aggressor unnoticed. He laughed openly and loudly, and Kaoru had to grit her teeth together painfully to keep herself in check.

"What's the matter, darling? Can't handle a man?"

Her patience was wearing thin, Kenshin noted just before he stepped between her and the dark haired man. He glared up at the man, eyes hardening and taking on an amber hue. This man had a way of getting under their skins, and the worst thing of all was that he didn't recognize the stranger. It was odd, because he had generally been aware of all the activities going on within Kuroi Ame, and this was a man he didn't know.

"It will be me and you then, Himura?"

Kenshin nodded, his eyes reverting fully to amber. Distantly, as if through a wall, he heard Kaoru's despairing groan, her emotion too full to be expressed with any sort of word created by man, but he ignored it. Settling into a stance that was too familiar, he tilted his head at his opponent, a silent but firm challenge.

'This cannot be happening. He cannot kill again, not so soon!' Kaoru was shouting in her mind, but none of these words could escape her closed throat.

"That's what I like to see," the man said, sinking into his own stance and unsheathing a katana that Kaoru, surprisingly, hadn't noticed before. "After I kill you, Battousai, I will have your pretty little plaything here... again and again and again."

A low growl stole from Kenshin as he prepared to lunge at the man in a full attack. Kaoru finally screamed, but it was no use now. Her mind raced far faster than the moves of the two men, and she found herself remembering just one line of a song that she'd listened to with Kenshin. And now was the time to act, she knew.

Kenshin froze when he saw his challenger stop abruptly in mid-strike and cough out blood. Taking a few wild steps backward, Kenshin shook his head roughly to make sense of it. Kaoru stood, head down and hair haloing her as if she were a dark angel, with her katana plunged straight through the man's chest. Slowly, as if to draw out the drama of the moment, the man slipped backward and fell to the ground, lifeless eyes rolling back in his head. Kaoru's katana clattered to the concrete and she sank to her knees, her body trembling fiercely. Kenshin put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a look of utter bewilderment when she glanced up at him.

"For you, my love... I would kill him," she whispered just before she too fell forward, only avoiding hitting the cold ground as Kenshin dropped his own katana and caught her gently in his arms.

She was bleeding, Kenshin realized as her blood dripped slowly onto his bent legs. Then he looked down to see the katana that was still firmly lodged in her lower stomach. A desperate, panicked cry choked out of him and he clutched her to him. He had almost lost her once, and she would not die for him. But who would be able to treat her, a murderer on the run?

"Kenshin, jump in, hurry!" The voice was familiar.

He was so shocked that he might have cried when he glanced up to see Sanosuke leaning out of the back seat of a large Lincoln Towncar, holding out a hand to him. As if he'd somehow acquired a personal angel that had just appeared to help him in his time of need. Without hesitation, not wondering even who was behind the wheel, he lifted Kaoru and gently placed her in the car, paying only fleeting attention to Sanosuke, who was crawling up into the passenger seat.

"Thank God," Kenshin murmured. "Thank God." He could say nothing else.

"No need to thank me," Sanosuke quipped. "I just do what I can."

Kenshin didn't answer from where he cradled Kaoru's head in his lap, stroking her hair repeatedly. She was hurt so badly, and it was all his fault. All because he had been willing to kill again. This wasn't right.

It didn't matter which hospital they were in, all of them were the same. Kaoru was still hurt and it was still his fault. What kind of a man was he? To so easily throw away a vow... And those words she'd spoken to him... He couldn't even think them at the moment, it was too much.

"Please, let her live," he was whispering, his eyes closed and hands folded in prayer. "I have never asked for anything before in my life, but if she dies now... I die with her. Don't let her die. She needs to live. I need to live."

Sanosuke watched his longtime friend's fervent prayer from an orange plastic chair just across the room. Something told him that Kenshin needed space at the moment, and though he was just as worried for Kaoru as the smaller man was, he left conversation alone for a while.

"Is that girl going to be alright?" the man sitting next to Sanosuke whispered. Sano shrugged.

The words were loud enough for Kenshin to hear, and he looked up, seemingly noticing the man for the first time. He blinked rapidly as if to adjust his vision. It was the bartender from London. What had Sanosuke been thinking, or drinking for that matter, that could have made him believe that this was a good idea. Then again, how had Sano known where to show up in the first place?

But those were all questions for another time. Right now he was only worried about Kaoru. Those words she'd said to him rang in his head.

'For you, my love... I would kill him.'

A/N: :sigh: What a beautiful sentiment... Seriously. I love that line... It's from Coheed & Cambria's song entitled "Cuts Marked in the March of Men" (hence the chapter title), and it fucking rocks. Coheed & Cambria is a band of godly awesomeness. I have seriously wanted to use that line since.... oh... the second or third chapter. I've had it in mind for about three months now. It's odd how it's taken me so long to finish this story. I never step back and put it in prospective timewise, and it's interesting how long it takes to finish writing. Anyhow, in conclusion, I am wasting precious minutes of sleep to get this to you people, so you damn well better appreciate it. It is now 12.20 AM and I have school tomorrow. I have trouble waking up when I get a solid 9 hours of sleep (which almost never happens, by the way). And I'm going to get... what... 5... 6? If I'm lucky. APPRECIATE MY LACK OF SLEEP! I have a cold... Bleh... I should stop ranting before I piss someone off. Oh well. Everyone needs to rant every now and then. And I just lost an hour or something of sleep to bring you this chapter, so I deserve it. Want to know what's annoying? Having an awesome picture in my head of a piece I want to draw... and then it doesn't come out right. I hate that. The longer I look at my work, the uglier it gets. I hate that too. Because it SHOULD be flawless. But it's not. And that's annoying. :shameless plug time: Go read my story on I'm Kurenai Seito on there, and the story's called Broken Wings. Read, slaves, read! :currently indulging in her fantasy to be the Mistress of all the world::hasn't worked out so far::damn: I should go to bed now. I'm going to. Goodnight, all! (you'll all probably be reading this in the afternoon, too.... heh...)