Re-Posted: 11-8-10

The vampire in front of him was curled into a small ball, limbs bent and broken in ways humans could never survive. The scent of blood was thick in the air and open cuts ran freely. Nothing left of her could have been considered female, if what was left could be considered anything at all.

"Find her."

The words were stern, a lone finger rubbing against the splattering of blood across her back. The artless drops that had scattered with each twist of the whip, each turn of his knife. Her pain bled into his senses like melted chocolate, hot and heady. She tasted of bitterness, anger, agony. The sweetest on his tongue was her helplessness. Her power, the very life she gave his blood.

"Find my little bird." He traced his fingers across the crisscross of bone-white that littered her body. "Bring her back to where she belongs."

The woman whispered her agreement and his nails tightened until they drew blood. Soon, he would falter. He couldn't hide his child in the shadows forever. The moment she reached for that sweet, unattainable sunlight, he would know.

Then…

Then…

Then he would break her power to his will; he would have that final piece that had alluded him, that he needed for his plan to be complete. Eyes lidded in pleasure as he stroked the matted hair of the woman in front of him.

X

The Aoiya was filled with loud hustle and bustle of the afternoon rush. The quick, precise movements she supposed came with their ninja training. Kenshin must have been doing one of those tricks of his, because no one looked at them as they entered. It wasn't until they were at the more private rooms that he spoke.

"This is our room for the duration of our stay." Kenshin's voice was mild and he apparently expected her to stay, because he turned to walk by her. "Misao will be by soon."

The house that Kenshin owned was furnished with western luxuries, but this room was strictly Japanese. The tatama mats were familiar under her feet and the futon was rolled carefully in the corner. There was a low writing table with a cushion or two next to it so she could sit on her knees comfortably and the Kimono rack was settled into a corner. The chests for his and her clothing were placed on opposite ends of the third wall and the shoji screen door opened in the back to a well kept little rock garden.

This was the closest she had ever felt in being home at someone else's place.

"I hope you like everything," Misao said suddenly and Kaoru turned to see her perched on the edge of one of the trunks. "It's simple, but I didn't know what you'd like. Himura is fairly easy to please when he wants to be."

Kaoru offered a faint smile. "It's perfect."

"Himura said that he wanted me to teach you to shield," Misao informed her, swinging her feet back and forth. "If you check your trunk, I snagged some of your practice clothes. They would be a bit more comfortable than that lovely Kimono you're wearing."

"Thank you," Kaoru said relieved. It wasn't just that the gi and hakema would be comfortable, but from home. She desperately needed something familiar. "Where do you have in mind for this?"

"I thought you'd be most comfortable in the Dojo." Misao offered with a smile. "Himura usually uses it, so it should be empty currently. We just finished repairs."

"Repairs?"

"Himura doesn't always see a reason to use restraint. Here we are!" Misao said. Kaoru walked into a lovely practice area that had been recently cleaned. It smelled lightly of soap and she admired the way the light came in through the shoji doors and the weapons that lined one wall.

"I guess they haven't gotten everything back inside. Oh well," Misao shrugged and sat down. Her eyes scanned over the equipment leaned up against one of the walls. "I know Himura has been responsible for containing your gift, but I need to know what he has taught you. Have you started working on anything?"

Kaoru shook her head mutely.

Misao sighed. "That was what I was afraid of. From what I have picked up regarding Himura's art – and it isn't much – is that he learned control through his sword style. In order for him to teach you, he would have to teach you Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu. We both know how likely that is." Her mouth curved slightly. "At least he asked for help with you even if he will never ask for himself."

Kaoru blinked. "I don't know… are you sure?"

Misao nodded. "Even if he didn't want to deal with it, if he could, he would. He doesn't rely on others easily. Now, enough about this – the first thing you have to learn is how to see your gift. This is important, because your gift appears to be so volatile."

Kaoru chewed her lip. "Is this going to be like the meditation techniques for kendo?"

Misao titled her head. "It's a good comparison. In fact, we should probably go that route. You have years of instincts in that area and it would be best just to redirect them than start all over. Okay, let's get comfortable and then we'll start."

Kaoru shifted her legs and body a bit, until she was in a familiar position and nodded.

"As I said, the first thing you must do is find the center of your gift. I know that sounds odd, but by seeing and understanding how everything appears when you're calm and controlled, you can redirect that energy later. For now, we'll do that through meditation. Later, you shouldn't need to meditate."

Kaoru did as she was told and took several deep breaths until that impeccable resolve, the cool waters in the storm of her raging gift, settled around her. Under Misao's instruction she pulled out and went back 'in' several times, until she could find her center in a matter of seconds once she entered the calmness of the meditation. Under her direction, she worked back out through each layer of power, memorizing the feel of each.

Misao opened her eyes and used her ki sense to look at Kaoru. Himura had left all the shields up and she was loath to bring them down until Kaoru had little bit more stability. Even with the exercises, Kaoru's gift was still flaring wildly against those shields. There was so little actual information about Empath abilities; she had to assume that was normal.

"Alright. You need to practice this several times a day – this is important. If you're attacked like with Yukishiro or need to use your gift for something that isn't just passive scanning, knowing your center will ground you." Misao hesitated. "We just don't know much about your gift, Kaoru. Empathy is rare. But what we do know suggests that you're going to need more than just your own grounding."

"What do you mean?"

Misao raked her hands through her hair. "I went through every scroll we have on the subject and they all agree that if something went wrong with your gift, without an external grounding point you might lose control. They don't give a lot of details on how or why. Internal ground is just going to be practice for you – you have the discipline. But we need to find you another way to balance you. It should be something you're already deeply associated with and more importantly, something calm."

Kaoru hesitated and looked. Outside of the feel of her gift, she wasn't certain what Misao was describing. Opening her eyes she gave Misao a frustrated look. Misao tilted her head and sighed.

"I was hoping we could avoid this but… you're going to have ask Himura to remove his outermost shield. It should give you the ability to see without putting too much pressure on your gift."

Kaoru looked at her. "How?"

Misao's brows tucked together. "What you mean…" She rolled her eyes in a way that had Kaoru half-smiling. "I am not surprised. The bond between you should allow you to reach him – no matter what. Until you become familiar with the path, it will be easier if you meditate first. Just picture Himura and think about what you want him to know. I don't know how your gift will translate that to him, but it should work to open the mental link between you. I imagine he knew this would happen and is keeping an eye on you, so to speak."

Kaoru frowned and attempted to do what she was told, falling back into her favorite meditation and picturing Kenshin. It was difficult. It was as if she was trying to talk through water – until she felt him catch the link. She wasn't sure how much of what she needed went through but there was a shifting around her and the emotions of everyone in the Aoiya wavered across her. It was a light brushing, like it had been on the street, but it made her uncomfortable.

The sudden dark damper was welcome.

Misao sighed. "Well damn, now I know why he keeps those shields of yours layered!"

Kaoru's gift had been spiking all over the place, brushing against any ki signature that it was close too. Pursing her lips, she made sure her own shield kept her gift contained in the space around the dojo and grimaced. It was going to be a difficult afternoon.

"Alright. I should be able to keep the worst of the edge. I need you to look again and see what you can find. If we have too, I can expand my shield a little more but I'd prefer not to."

Kaoru frowned. "What am I looking for exactly?"

"Well… when your gift went wild when you were feeding earlier today, what did you do to gain control?"

Kaoru blinked at her, startled that she knew about that. Determined to ask about that later, she shifted uncomfortably. "Kenshin gave me blood."

"He fed you." Misao repeated, brows tucking together. "When you were fighting for control, what happened after he fed you?"

"It was cold and calm," Kaoru said softly. "Why?"

"I think your gift… responds to his. I think he can center you if something were to happen. In fact, if I'm correct, he has already been doing so subconsciously."

"What does that mean?" Kaoru asked.

"I don't know." Misao confessed. "It's never the same for everyone but… if Himura is calming your gift, it makes me wonder what yours does for his. Himura feeds off of life, death is his tool. Everything here is just guess work. I've never heard of an empath bound to someone like Himura."

Kaoru felt her gift shift around her at the feel of Misao's worried ki and tried to understand it. "What do you mean?"

"This is going to be a bit of a challenge, that's all. You said that Kenshin's gift calmed yours? How hard is it to find him that way?"

Kaoru looked away. "It's not hard."

Misao blinked. "Huh… I didn't realize you were so closely connected. That certainly makes things easier. Can you reach for it now?"

Kaoru swallowed a bit and then searched inside herself for that bit of darkness that opened for her when she needed it. For a moment, she let it wash over her, somehow comforted. After a moment, she eased out and opened her eyes. Her expression was openly curious.

"Well this certainly makes things easier." She licked her lips and suddenly the shield expanded around the room so that the colors seemed dimmer, like they were attempting to move through shadow.

"What I need you to do is to let go." Misao said finally. "You're certain you can find Himura when you need him?" At Kaoru's nod, she took another deep breath. "Alright, then let's go."

Misao rocked back on her heels as the wild tumbling of Kaoru's ki swept the room. Himura must have been paying attention because suddenly all of the shields separating Kaoru from the world dropped. Kaoru went a little pale and Misao didn't blame her. Her shields should have been preventing her from being able to feel anyone outside of herself but she wasn't the most emotionally stable person to do this with.

'Damn you Himura…' Misao thought violently as she watched Kaoru struggle.

Then Misao hit her with a wallop of shadow. Kaoru's ki was suddenly wrapped around her in a multicolored wave of protection and Misao nodded. "Next time I do that, find your center immediately."

Kaoru looked a little unsure but nodded gamely.

The next time she pushed, the pieces of ki wrapped around her a moment quicker. The years spent in kendo were serving her well here, as her body and ki had been disciplined before her gift had burst free and it was following those paths of obedience now.

"Alright," Misao cheered. "Now that you know what is coming, we are going to work on your controlling those bursts of ki so that they protect you all the time. Once we have that down, you can start building shields to supplement Himura's work. "

Kaoru nodded even as sweat beaded at her temples. She understood what Misao was thinking, but the exact steps behind the moves were not so clear. Keeping a firm grip on her gift, she reached for that part of her that was somehow Kenshin. The wildness around her shivered at the sudden influx of calm and for a moment, everything seemed to settle.

With a gasp she lost her grip on both and somehow ended up staring at the ceiling with her ki wildly spinning.

"You were close!" Misao's voice encouraged. "Try it again!"

X

Kaoru pulled herself out of the hot bath with a bit of a groan. She felt like she had stepped into a kendo match without her bokken and been beaten like a beginner. Every muscle physically hurt. Once she was brushed and braided, she all but stumbled to the futon that someone had laid out for her. Crawling under the covers she laid there for some time thinking. Misao was quite impressed with her progress and had told her that by the end of the week she should be able to pull together a basic shield. Kaoru was fine and well pleased by that, but the week was such a long time away. She had been so tired that she hadn't even noticed when Kenshin's shields returned.

It was Misao's sudden relief that had tipped her off. Kaoru had discovered the more that she worked with her gift; the less happy it was to be shoved back under a shield. Even with Kenshin's shield keeping it in check it was writhing just under her skin, alive and searching out for holes so that it could test and change and turn and writhe along whatever it chose. Misao's expression had been tense all afternoon, and remembering what she had done to Jineh, Kaoru was certain she was keeping both of them safe.

Misao had stressed that it was only when she managed to work with her gift so that it was willing to work itself into shields that she would be able to start letting tendrils out to explore on a controlled basis on her own. She was going to have to learn to live with her gift, because it wasn't going to let her bury it again.

Then there was the matter of feeding. Misao guessed that part of her problem was that she wasn't able to block feeling the death of her victims. While it was true that Kenshin's ki was based on death, Misao guessed that was balanced against Kenshin's life-ki. Kaoru was uncertain how she should feel about the fact that his ki twisted around hers in the way that it did when Kenshin was so… conflicting in how he responded to her.

All she knew was that she was bone-tired and hungry. Misao had some blood sent up and she had choked it down, but feeding like that wouldn't work for long. Even when she mixed that with a real meal of human food, she knew she was going to have to feed within the next few days or risk being too tired to control her gift. Any gift that got away was dangerous, and hers could easily destroy and twist around itself until there was nothing left of her original ki pattern.

X

"He is leading us on a goose-chase," Kenshin said tightly as he stood in the middle of the carnage. He hardly noticed his gift siphoning off the reaming bits of death-ki, and ignored the pale looks Aoshi's men were giving him. "I don't like it."

Aoshi's report had confirmed that there had to be another player involved in the recent events. He had managed to link Jineh back to Yukishiro once he had known to look for those connections. So far they were still tracking were Yukishiro had spent the last ten years but from what Aoshi had described of his sword style, it was likely that it had been outside of Japan.

"It is becoming clear that someone is hiding him." He turned his gaze back to the man who lay incapacitated at their feet. "Tell us who Yukishiro is working for."

The man gave a gurgling laugh. He was missing a section of his stomach the size of Kenshin's fist. "You will never stop them! It is too late!" He coughed, blood flecking off his lips before he went still.

"I suppose that is the most we can expect," Aoshi said.

Kenshin frowned for a moment before shaking himself.

"Hiko will be here in three days. I imagine he will have something to say about how he feels this operation is being run. He has also expressed his desire to meet Kaoru and doesn't trust me to bring her up the mountain in one piece."

Kenshin paused, his expression considering before he finally spoke. "Put Soujirou back on the hunt. I do not have time to run down every lead generate by your clan; I hope I have made it clear that if there is another mistake by either of you on this hunt, you will not live to regret it?"

Aoshi remained silent and Kenshin stepped around a motionless body. "How is Makimachi holding up?"

Aoshi glanced at him, the air turning frigid. "She is fine."

Kenshin shrugged and sheathed his sword. His eye flickering around the room, making sure they had not forgotten anything. "Three days of dealing with Karou's gift should leave her nice and vulnerable for you."

There was ice in the air turned even colder.

"Is that what you suggest I do?" Aoshi's voice was mild and Kenshin turned and gave him a hard glare.

"I suggest that you do whatever is necessary to keep from being distracted during this hunt. Someone is pulling strings for a purpose we haven't even found a hint of yet. I have no desire to allow this to become as out of control as the last time." His voice was ice and heat. "I am sure you remember the price you were forced to pay?"

Aoshi said nothing for a long moment. "They might go after yours."

Kenshin's eyes narrowed. "They shouldn't know of her presence. I suggest you send word to the little onimitsu that anything that happens to Kaoru will be taken out of her blood. We have another stop to make before we head back and I do not think that we should keep our host waiting."

X

Kaoru looked around, her stomach uneasy as she stood in the middle of the market. "I don't know, Misao. The last time we tried this…"

Misao shook her head. "I know. To be honest, I really don't want to try anything like that without Himura here to guide you back. What I am hoping to do is see what sort of limits you have and then I can hunt and feed us both. Although you should know, doing so will form a bond between us until Himura feeds you again."

Kaoru looked at her. "Is that a big deal?"

Misao bounced on her heels for a moment. "Well, to be honest, there isn't any sort of code or rules for it. The most important thing is that you never take blood from a male. You're taken and Himura would take that as a direct breech of your bond and things would get messy. I'm female, so while Himura won't like it, he won't mind it nearly as much. You do need fresh blood.

"But the reason people are so careful about blood sharing is you exchange small pieces of ki. With as often as Himura has shared with you, it's no wonder why you carry around a piece of his ki with you. Although, it might also have to do with you changing over from a Halfling… be very, very thankful that you never tasted Jineh's blood."

Kaoru frowned. "Would that have been bad?"

Misao shrugged. "Jineh was clearly insane, and insanity for vampires is a sort of disease. If it's going to be passed on, it's going to be passed through the blood. I am going to guess that Himura – or his shishou – would have been able to burn it out of your blood but I don't know that for sure. It a touchy subject. Perhaps one day we will know more."

Kaoru frowned, her eyes scanning the market. "His master?"

"He hasn't mentioned Hiko yet?" Her voice was amused. "It's a long and complicated story, but as far as I know, Hiko took Himura in when he was very young. Sort of how Himura took in Soujiro, but it's a bit different. No one knows if Kenshin was born vampire or changed, and to be honest, it doesn't matter. Hiko is the undisputed leader of the Vampire sects. It's full of political background and some of it I don't have clear details on. Himura follows Hiko's orders and no one else's; although I hear he did a fine job of pretending otherwise during the Bakumatsu."

Her eyes turned distant and slightly sad.

"Everything changed then and when they started searching for the traitors… there is a reason Himura is as powerful as he is. And he is still very young by our standards. It makes you important as well and not just because you're an Empath."

Kaoru frowned and picked at her obi. "I think I liked things better when I was human."

Misao gave her a sympathetic look. "But you were never human, were you?" She sighed at the expression that crossed Kaoru's eyes. Kaoru was going to have to deal with that sooner or later, but it had been a difficult couple of weeks for her so she let it go.

"What we need to do is practice your attempts to shield without Himura shielding you. I want you to be able to tell me what is going on. You need to be able to use your gift at will. It wants to read people for you. Let it. Just learn to communicate to it how much information you want. It's part of you Kaoru, just like kendo. Use it like you would your bokken."

Kaoru blinked at her. "You want me to attack people with my gift?"

Misao shrugged. "No, but think of it this way. A sword is a single slash. That's what you want to make your ki hone into. It won't be so difficult to learn how expand it, then you just have to learn how to control it," she waved her hands around. "Just have Himura lower your shields a bit, will you? The practice will do you good."

Kaoru muttered under her breath, reaching for Kenshin in the signal she had developed with him over the past few days. He dropped the shields and emotion swept over her. Small annoyances and displeasures washed over her. Misao was watching her face intently and Kaoru took a deep breath. They had learned quickly that it was impossible to work against the first layer of people's emotions. Most of likes and dislikes were habits and people easily noticed if they were affected. For some reason, the deeper emotions in the psyche were easier to manipulate. They hadn't figured out why yet, but they were trying.

Kaoru licked her lips and struggled against the rising tide that dragged at her. Lust and human love, and all the other emotions that were manipulated by things outside of them crushed against her. Biting her lower lip, she was careful with her fangs. It was another side effect Misao had to explain to her, that when she used her gift; her fangs were likely to become visible. People who had a lot of control over their gifts like Shinomori and Kenshin were more likely to not show there fangs but it would be years before she managed it.

Until then, she was in constant fear of piercing her own bottom lip.

Kaoru worked until she was dizzy. Sitting down she breathed deeply through her nose and looked up at Misao. The girl was offering her a wrist and Kaoru closed her eyes. "Its freely given Kaoru, there are no catches. Please, take it. Himura will kill me if you faint."

Kaoru sunk her fangs in, her stomach trembling. However, the blood was hot and fresh and tasted good. Closing her eyes to keep from screaming, she sucked until she just couldn't anymore and pulled away. Misao brought her wrist to her mouth and licked it dry. "It will get easier, Kaoru."

Kaoru swallowed, attempting to ignore the taste of Misao's blood on her tongue. It was different than Kenshin. Where he was rich and full on her tongue, Misao had a hint of spice and shadow. Curling into herself a bit she pressed her nails into her thigh.

"I find that hard to believe." She raised bright eyes to her face and Misao nodded.

"I know. But what else can you do?"

X

The woman stood there, her eyes flat on the ground. "I am sure, sir."

There was a giggle. "So close…the Master will be so proud. He does want his little pet. Come with me, and we shall gather her to our fold." He tilted her chin with rough fingers, forcing her to absorb his erratic ki, drinking in her taste with a smile. "Once we have her, Master's collection will be complete. Then, we shall rise as the rest of the vampires fall at our feet!"

The woman shivered and kept a careful grasp on the feeling of her blood running in her veins. She could not let the girl escape. Not this time. Then, perhaps, her Master would find someone else to love.

X

Kaoru licked her bottom lip, nibbling on the sensitive skin as she stood there. Misao was perfectly relaxed as they hid in the shadows, examining people. In fact, Misao was having a great deal of fun pointing things out and guessing emotions and having Kaoru confirm them. However, she seemed to be picking up on her unease.

"Kaoru," Misao asked, unsure. "Is something wrong?"

Kaoru tilted her head, attempting to figure where her feelings were being generated from. It was sizzling along her stomach lining, as if something was getting closer that shouldn't be there. It had been bothering her ever since she had dropped her shields, but it was getting worse the later the afternoon became.

"I don't know," Kaoru confessed, feeling for the bond between her and Kenshin almost before she realized what she was doing. It was cool and slick, like it had been since she started her training. She knew part of it was so she was forced to learn on her own, but suddenly she wished she knew how to breech it. When she realized what she was thinking she stilled and shook herself. That sort of thinking was not going to get her anywhere. She did not need to rely on Kenshin.

"There is something out there and it's getting closer," Kaoru told her friend softly. Her eyes kept scattering around the road and Misao grabbed her hand took her a bit deeper into the shadows for camouflage.

"I can't feel it but that doesn't mean anything. It could be your feeling the intent of someone to hurt someone else." Misao offered her eyes muted as she watched her carefully. "Does it feel like that?"

Kaoru shook her head. "No, and it doesn't feel like my gift at all. It's different." She clenched her hands, feeling edgy as she attempted to locate the reason. Looking at Misao she swallowed. "I think we should head back to the Aoiya."

Misao nodded. "That won't be hard, we just…"

Misao stopped short, her eyes widening before she stumbled forward in an uncharacteristic lack of grace. Kaoru spun around and felt her stomach drop to her feet.

The woman was covered in fine lines, white like bone, from the expanse of her broad forehead down into her raggedly covered body. Even the tips of her fingers were marked, as if she was used to digging her nails into wood. Her eyes were dull and the left pupil seemed to be bleeding. Her hair was long and short, as if someone had ripped great tufts of hair out; fine scratches that were still bleeding ran down her cheeks.

Kaoru's eyes swung from the… woman to the grinning man behind her and her gift swelled and churned behind the barriers she was barley containing. Misao …her eyes swung to Misao and she swallowed hard. It was like that time with Jineh. Everything felt wrong. Misao wasn't moving, so Kaoru supposed the woman knew… Her eyes widened in alarm.

"What did you do to Misao?"

The woman smiled, showing off broken teeth and bleeding gums. She didn't answer; it was the man behind her. "Finally! Who would have thought that you would have managed to keep away from Master for so long? Bind her."

She felt the surge of power and felt her gift respond. The little creature that was bent over from her waist as if she couldn't quite rise made a noise and something flickered in her eyes. Kaoru felt sick and she let her weak barriers drop. Misao's state hit her like a slap and she actually stumbled backwards from it. The man in front of her sung with greed, lust and a need for blood that was almost overpowering. There was something off with their ki as well, as if they had been tampered with. Her own gift fought and surged within her and she attempted to control it.

Kaoru felt threatened.

Instinct warned her that if she did this, something bad would happen. Even with that hint of knowledge, the woman rose up, her eyes pink around her pupil, and she screeched. Kaoru felt something sucking at her and Misao made a faint noise of pain and Kaoru shuddered. For a moment she couldn't feel, for a moment she had no ability to touch anything. Inky cords of something slid around her.

"You have her?" He asked, smile sharp. "Good. Once we contain her then we can kill this one, although what you did to her is going to be more than enough to leave her all but dead for the rest of her life. We leave her as a warning to that Okashira of hers."

Kaoru felt cold settle around her and she relished it. Inside her, her own power writhed. Swallowing she allowed herself to fall back into the darkness Misao had told her to find and she let go. Heat rushed through her, burning away the cold for a moment, and then it was gone. Her ki expanded and it ate away at the bonds wrapping around her, and the woman screamed. Kaoru gritted her teeth and she reached for Misao, only to be rejected by another black cloud of oily-ki. Turning her eyes back to the woman, she physically recoiled at the sight of her.

Her ki was in tatters. Like someone had taken a blade and cut stripes out of it. The rest of her ki reacted badly to itself and seemed to almost be feeding off Misao's ki. Kaoru narrowed her eyes and tried to remember what Misao had taught her on directing ki battles. Taking a deep breathed she reached and shoved her ki at the stuff clinging to Misao. There was a horrible retching sensation. It was like something inside her was being twisted, pulled inside her and expanded into more than her body could handle. Attempting to ignore the sensation that filled and pulled at her, she continued to fight. She wanted to scream when she realized that even after she pulled whatever was attacking Misao off her, what was left behind was severely damaged.

The woman snarled and Kaoru felt the force of her hatred come rolling back at her. That stretching, sickening sensation continued, and Kaoru struggled to gain the upper hand. She had no idea how long they battled, but she was aware of sinking into the depth of Kenshin's gift. Her body around her burned and ached and pain seared through her like hot flashes of fire and she struggled to keep from screaming. Desperately, she looked at the woman in front of her. There were two or three bright threads that seemed to be pulsing to the beat of something. Reaching out Kaoru pulled the same way she had with Jineh and felt the sucking sensation stop.

Fire exploded through her body. Her knees gave out and Kaoru felt everything expand and wretch. There was shouting going on outside of her mind and there was screaming, continuous screaming, that followed her into the darkness she sank into. It felt like her insides were being pulled inch by inch out of her body. Her gift ran wild, ripping through her with in agonizing waves. Her last memory was of hands grasping her shoulders as she was shaken, spittle flashing across her face, but she ignored it. Instead she fled the agony and curled into ball where it was safe.

X

Kenshin frowned. Narrowing his eyes he searched around him. Something was wrong. He ignored Omatsu and instead narrowed his eyes, searching out the pathways that were running along his blood.

"Be quite."

Silence was immediate.

Kenshin focused inward and he scanned the path to his mate.

His eyes narrowed.

Opening the path he had closed for her training, his body went predator still. Those around him watched in surprise as his lips pulled back in a snarl as his face contorted into a fury they had rarely seen. There was a shifting and then there was a blur. Omatsu turned and ran into the kitchen, her eyes wide.

"Shinomori-sama! Something happened to Misao and Kaoru!"

Please Comment