Author's note: Okay.. To tell you the truth, I had written a VERY lengthy chapter already, which took me about 3 days to finish. But my luck crashed down on me as my disk was corrupted and my beautifully written chapter was GONE! Grrrr… So, I was pissed off and didn't have the mood to rewrite this chapter again since my ideas I had at that time spoofed. But here I am again.. This new chapter I'm writing might not be as good as the chapter that was gone but I'll try my best.. v()v
Chapter 10
Massive holes could be seen around the now deformed castle. Some guards thought someone threw bombs at the castle, while the others, who knew the truth, decided to shut up or they would end up having holes on their body too. The fact was a young maid punched holes through the walls due to her rage with a lanky spiky-haired guy sighing every now and then at her.
"Misao, would you stop releasing your anger on this innocent wall? Besides, who's going to pay for all these damages you made?" Sanosuke sat casually on a minister-reserved chair while chewing on his trademark fish-bone. "In case you don't remember, this is a palace. So, the payment would be much higher."
"Sagara Sanosuke!" Misao growled as she threw a chair at him. Sanosuke however kicked it aside nonchalantly as it had become a daily routine for him. As bored as he might look, he was a little dismayed by Misao's never-ending childishness. "I'm so mad, sano! It has been what.. A week? And we're still here doing nothing but destroying the castle instead of finding her!"
Sanosuke spat out his fish-bone at her statement and retorted, "Oi.. What do you mean 'we'? I didn't do anything to the castle. Don't expect me to pay half of the bill! You wea.." His voice trailed off as he saw Misao glaring dangerously at him with an imaginary burning flame on the background. He rubbed his nose to calm down his nervousness before walking up to her.
"Misao, can you chill for a second? Destroying the castle wouldn't bring Kaoru back," Sanosuke smiled briefly. Misao could tell from his tone that he was not trying to crack a joke, he was really concerned. "Megumi is right. We cannot just go and rescue Kaoru on our own. We need some backups, but unfortunately, the army wouldn't take our words until the King himself ordered them. We have to wait for the King to come back."
"When will he come back, Sano?" Misao shot back. She clutched her hands tightly as it trembled vigorously. "When Kaoru's already on the verge of death?"
At her solemn tone, Sanosuke paused and tore his gaze away from her. Guilt and pain was all he could feel right then. Misao moved closer in front of him and gripped his arm. "It has been a week. We don't have the closest idea of what Kaoru is going through now. She may be tortured or worse," Misao said her face sobering. Sanosuke closed his eyes seemingly fighting with himself as Misao slowly let go of his arm.
"Fine, you selfish bastard! I'll go get her myself!" Misao shouted a trace of bitterness in her voice as she dashed out.
"Misao! Stop!" Instead of stopping, Misao threw several shinai in his direction. He managed to dodge all of them and screamed, "You weasel! Do you really think.." A shinai flew past him only a cm away. He paused and gulped in fear. 'Never mess with Misao when she's angry,' Sanosuke made a mental note of that.
He turned to look at Misao but she was already long gone. 'Baka..' Slowly, Sanosuke fell down to his knees, he never have been so confused all his life. 'What should I do? I'm a guard, I should obey the rules. A guard..' Suddenly, a memory flashed in front of his eyes.
Flashback:
A 13 year old boy wandered around the Kamiya palace. He wondered why did the King summon him to this palace instead of executing him like what they did to his captain and other members of Sekihoutai? Remembering his late captain Sagara, the young boy bit his lips and clenched his fist tightly.
Captain Sagara was his lifetime idol and he looked up to him like his own father/brother. But Sekihoutai was deceived and betrayed by the government. Those bastards blamed Sekihoutai for everything to cover up their own mistakes. Then, in front of many people, Captain Sagara was beheaded and his head was hanged as a display.
The boy was so deep in his thought, he bumped into a guard. "Hey kid! Watch it!"
He looked up to see two guards towering over him and a rat-looking minister behind them. The minister walked to him slowly, bending down and putting a hand on the boy's head. "Ohoho.. Look who's here. You must be the Sekihoutai brat! I wonder why King Koshijiro even bothers to bring you here. If I were in charge, I would have cut you into pieces and give your meat to the lions. You and that stupid Sagara were foolish enough to be played," the minister snorted with a sinister smile on his face, as the two guards laughed.
The boy's body shook in anger and despair. He just wanted to punch that sick look on that rat! He didn't have enough patience left in him when the minister teased him, "Ah.. Look at his tiny fist. You want to punch me, do you? Punch me then. The king will surely put you in jail and you'll have nothing but rats to talk to."
With a full blow, the young boy hit the minister right at his face and kicked his private part. The minister fell down in pain with blood streaming down his nose. The boy ran for his life as the two guards began chasing after him, leaving the minister with his own agony. After running up and down, he finally saw an opened door. Without further ado, he scurried inside and closed the door. Weirdly enough, the guards checked every room but not this one.
The boy breathed heavily and tried to catch his breath but a cough snapped him out of it. He approached a beautiful bed placed besides the window and saw a young girl having a coughing fit. The girl noticed his presence and gasped. "Uhhmm.. I'm sorry that I scared you," the boy stuttered as his face reddened.
Yet, the pale girl smiled and shook her head, "No. You didn't scare me, you just surprised me." She was pretty, with her round sapphire eyes, long raven hair and pale white skin. "What are you doing here?" Her voice was so soft and light, it brought shivers to the boy.
"The king brought me here, and on my way to meet him, I bumped into a minister who made fun of me and my captain," the boy hesitated to continue, scared that the girl in front of him wouldn't like him anymore, "and.. and so.. I punched him, and his guards chased me so I hide in your room."
Surprisingly, the girl just nodded understandingly and smiled sweetly, "Ahh.. so you must be the new guard.. Sanosuke I assume?"
"Guard?"
"Yes. Dad told me so.."
"And your dad is?" Sanosuke looked on with his eyes full of confusion.
Suddenly, a familiar voice came out of the room causing Sanosuke to jump and looked for a place to hide.. which happened to be below her bed. "I'm sorry to disturb you princess, but have you somehow seen a spiky-haired boy running around here?"
PRINCESS! SHE'S PRINCESS KAORU! Sanosuke came out of his hiding nest when she answered, "I don't see him. I'm in my bedroom all along." Sanosuke could hear the guard's footstep began to fade after a few seconds. Sanosuke turned his head to look at the princess.
"Why did you help me? If your dad is the king, then..," Sanosuke turned around to leave without finishing his sentence.
"Where are you going?" Kaoru sobbed, her coughing fit came again. Sanosuke froze; his feet didn't know where to bring his body. "Don't go, please."
"I don't want to be THEIR guard. I don't want to protect those bastards' life. They killed my captain and my friends! I hate them! I don't want to-" But before Sanosuke could finish his sentence, the girl grabbed his wrist, making him look down to her pain-stricken face.
"If you don't want to, then don't be their guard," the little princess managed to say through her coughs and added, "Be my guard. Be my friend. Protect me. Are you willing to do that?"
She was the first person who wanted to befriend with him and a princess nonetheless. Somehow, Sanosuke was attracted to this sick girl, maybe it was because of pity and also because he finally had found a person to rely on. "I'll be your guard. I'll protect you forever, princess Kaoru." –Or maybe, because his heart had fallen for a beautiful princess.
End Flashback
"Kaoru..," Sanosuke whispered as his memory began flashing in front of his eyes. He closed his eyes tight, slapping his own face hard; Sanosuke finally came back to his consciences. "Damn the rules! I'm Kaoru's guard, not one of the king's. Damn it!" Eyeing the soon-will-collapse walls, Sanosuke spitted out the fishbone in his mouth and dashed out of the room through the holes in the walls. 'Luckily Misao made these holes, it's like a shortcut.'
oooooooo
"So weasel, where are we going again?"
"I've told you! We're going to their headquarters! We're going to sneak our way through and see if princess Kaoru is kept there. Now, please store that lil piece of info in that chicken brain of yours!" Misao fumed, pacing quickly in front of the sagging toriatama.
They were busy bickering around and thus, oblivious to a person following them. A hitokiri took slow steps few miles behind them; quietly and steadily. He had been shadowing them since they left the palace; obviously he had also been staying in that place for quite some time.
oooooooo
"Akira," Kaoru whispered slowly.
The guard looked up gradually at his name, he wasn't covering his face any longer and his head was still bandaged from the injury Kaoru inflicted. Ever since the day Kaoru tried to escape, they ironically became more comfortable around each other and somehow got to know each other more. Kaoru learnt his name and how his hair turned white due to his extreme sorrow over the death of his family. She remembered being shocked when he told her he was only 5 years older than her. After hearing his story, Kaoru then understood why he still looked so young despite having so many white hairs. 'Silly me,' thought Kaoru then.
When she didn't speak for a while, Akira queried, "What? Thinking about Battousai?" His question sounded like a mock, Kaoru didn't know why. Maybe after his story, Kaoru felt more confused about her husband; whether he's the man Kaoru thought he was or was he really the beast like she was told. She didn't know, in fact she knew little about her husband.
"Actually I kinda was. I don't know how I feel right now. I remembered the story you told me about your father and brother's death, and mixed emotions are running through me. I feel guilty, I feel sorry, I feel helpless, I feel useless, I feel angry at Himura-san but at the same time, I feel confused and..," Kaoru was at loss for words. There were just too many emotions she could not describe. But Akira described her emotion spot on.
"You're disappointed."
"What? Why should I.."
"You're disappointed," repeated Akira, cutting off whatever she was trying to say, "You're disappointed at yourself and also at your husband. You feel disappointed at yourself on how you cannot be of any help to me, feel disappointed by your emotion on how you still care for Battousai though you now found out how inhumane he is, feel disappointed by Battousai on how he's not the man you thought he was, feel disappointed by him on how he could kill a man so easily. That's disappointment, princess."
Kaoru rose and walked to the opened window. The headquarter was near a rocky shore, and the scenery outside the window were of rocks and the ocean waves splashing on it. The ocean stretched away before her, twilight was setting comfortably in place, a graying of the light, a calm descending and fireflies were winking into view. Feeling the breeze against her face, letting the sea smells fill her senses, Kaoru let her gaze wander and as she did so, there was a moment in which all of her memories of Himura Kenshin came together at once. 'Himura-san, I really don't know what to believe anymore. All this time, were you really just faking it in front of me?' Kaoru pondered before saying out loud, "Am I being used?"
"You wouldn't believe that until you heard or seen it from Battousai himself," Akira's reply was unexpected, his lean face gone hard. Suddenly, their silent conversation was interrupted by a loud knock on the door. "It must be the other guards. Who allowed them to be here? Just stay put, I'll shove them away," the man warned and Kaoru did nothing but did as what he said.
Akira got up and walked to the door while signaling Kaoru to hide and stay down. He opened the door slightly and asked with a demanding voice, "Why are you two here?"
"Ohh.. Come on mate. We only want to see the princess," sounded a drunken idiot. A man being drunk did nothing to ease Kaoru's fright.
"Yeah mate. Don't keep all the fun to yourself, as they say, sharing is caring," taunted another man who sounded no less drunken.
"Go away."
Kaoru nearly jumped when she heard the sound of glass breaking, she assumed it must be the drunken guards splashing their wine bottles in anger. "What the hell! Who do you think you are! Just because boss told you to watch over the princess, that ain't mean you're superior to us!" roared one of them.
Suddenly, Akira was thrown to the nearest wall as the door broke off from its hinge and exploded. He collapsed to the floor and didn't move afterwards which made the princess worried from where she was hiding. 'His head! His cuts must've reopened again!' Kaoru screamed inside her head, but soon her worries were replaced by fear as shadows of two huge men overlapped her small form.
"Hello there beauty," sneered one. "You really are as delicious-looking as the others said. That red-head bastard is a lucky man." The other guy snorted and nodded in agreement. "Let's have a little fun, shall we?"
"She's the prettiest thing I've ever seen," whispered the huge man, smiling at her discomfort and fear.
Kaoru went cold to her bones. The silence that enveloped the room became enormous, an unending, suffocating ocean. 'No!' she bawled in the darkest corner of her mind. There was fear whispering in her ear again. Her breathing sounded harsh in her own ears as she forced her eyes away from her unconscious friend. Though she didn't dare to level her eyes up to the guards', she knew they were coming closer to her, their figures towering over her.
'Please God, have mercy on me. Protect me from the hands of these evil men. Please God.'
Her prayers seemed to go unheeded. The helpless girl screamed as the two guards began ripping her clothes off.
oooooooo
"Hurry! We're getting closer!" motioned a bouncy ninja. "Come on Sagara!"
Behind her, a tall man crawled with little effort and in a second, fell down to the ground. "I can't!" he mumbled, dust flying over his face as he said so. He spat out some of it before groaning, "I'm officially dead. Am I in hell? How come there are no sexy girls in tight red leather pants flying about?" His eyes swirled when Misao whacked his head.
"Stop playing around! We have to get there!" Misao boomed, veins started popping up on her forehead. She pulled Sanosuke up by his collar and threatened, "You really are going to hell if you don't stop being so sissy and weak!"
"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME!"
Misao shrugged as she let go of her grasp and he fell down to the ground again, on his butt this time. She had no worries now as she knew he was all fired up. A little fun wouldn't hurt though. "I called you sissy and weak. Sagara Sanosuke, the softy guard."
Sagara Sanosuke clenched his teeth and his fist ready to strangle the laughing girl in front of him. But his anger dissipated when he heard something moved in the bushes, though it was only for a while he noticed it. Misao seemed to have heard it too as she had stopped clutching her stomach like a maniac. Both of them looked at each other and agreed silently in what to do next. The braided ninja slowly reached for her shinais strapped to her legs before quickly throwing it to the bush with absolute power. However, there was no response and nothing happened.
"So..," Misao whispered hesitantly, "I'm just going to get back my shinais?"
Sanosuke stared at the bush solemnly before mouthing 'be careful' to Misao in approval. Misao gulped, taking a deep breath and made her way towards the bush with as little sound as possible. Instantly, her shinais flew back towards her with a slow speed as if allowing her to catch it and she did. "Who's there!"
"No one you don't know of," and out came the infamous Battousai with his face still slightly pale and his frail body still bandaged. This clearly caught both Sanosuke and Misao by surprise and they just stood there with their mouth wide open. "What are you gaping at? I'm no sexy girl in tight red leather pants. Just a red-head hitokiri with bandages."
"What the hell are you doing here, Battousai? You should be resting your ass off!" Sanosuke yelled. "You've not recovered yet! And you actually followed us the whole time? Man, you're a stalker!" But Sanosuke sweat dropped when Misao suddenly blushed and screeched shyly. "Ermm.. Weasel, I didn't say he was stalking you." And that initiated yet another of their fights.
"Will you two cut it off? We need to find Kaoru," Battousai reminded.
"Oh no no no. You're not coming with us Battousai. You should be resting instead of walking. And you'll just burden us instead of helping," Misao rhymed.
"Misao, I can help. I have to find my wife," Battousai's voice was a plea of desperation.
Before Misao could open her mouth, a dozen of hidden ninjas attacked them from behind. Sanosuke raced forward in an attempt to protect Misao but he got more than plenty paranoid ninjas blocking his ways and they were so persistent; it annoyed the daylight out of him. Misao also got some ninjas to handle with, but since she was one herself, she had some experience of what to come. Even so, both were battling with their fullest energy and maximum ability and yet, they couldn't shake off the ninjas.
Ignoring his own discomfort, Battousai forced himself to his feet, pulled free the katana he had fastened to his side and stumbled out into the 'war' zone. As he slashed the enemies with a swift of his blade, Battousai felt a momentary rush of excitement. 'My hitokiri side seems to be enjoying this,' he realized. With the help of him, the trio managed to overcome the ninjas. By then, the rain was falling steadily and at the same time, Battousai caught glimpses of twinkling fireflies. 'Fireflies..'
"Thanks Battousai! We couldn't have done it with you. I'll take back my words," Misao interjected Battousai's wandering mind. "Oh! Fireflies! They're beautiful!" She was about to go to the direction of the flying insects but was pulled back roughly by the tall ex-gangster.
"Come on, weasel. We ain't got any time to lose."
Everything grew hushed as the drops came quicker, what only echoed through the silence was the fast footsteps of three desperate people racing against time.
oooooooo
Time flew by never so quickly yet for the trio, time seemed to stand still. They had been running for God knows how long thus far they just couldn't seem to get to their destination. No one had spoken a word throughout the long journey; everyone was so absorbed in arriving at the headquarter as soon as possible. And everyone was praying that maybe, hopefully, Kaoru would be there..
Kenshin had never been more miserable. Fear for his wife's safety gnawed at him and his exasperation to reach the headquarters was unbearable. If they make it to the headquarters, would they be able to find Kaoru? Well and Alive? His thoughts were debilitating and Kenshin knew he must only allow himself to think only about rescue.
The day neared its end and as the sun descended, a massive building loomed before them, with a few lights burned in front of the gate. "This must be the place," Misao whispered out of the corner of her mouth.
"Let's go."
oooooooo
HoNeyZ-RinoA: Don't worry people, the next chapter will be out very soon – but then again it's me we're talking about here, so there's no guarantee.. :P Hopefully, I'll post the next chapter up anytime this month. "cross fingers" P/S: sorry for any grammar mistakes.