Stormraven: Thanks so much! I've been doing a lot more reading lately (when I actually have the time) and that always helps with my own writing. It kind of opens up the imagination. I looooooved your guesses. I'm not going to say anything more about it… :)
Chichanz: Tension is STILL on! Ha! Poor Kaoru. For her to feel that kind of rage is a little heartbreaking I think. Especially with her morals. More on that soon! Thank you so much!
SesshaTetsuko: That's so nice, thank you! I've been trying to work more on my descriptions because I've read some beautiful literature where they just capture the imagination so well. I honestly wondered if I could pull it off. If I end up going overboard, please let me know. Lol. I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
Author's Notes: To all of you wondering what the heck is wrong with Tomoe, please remember what she's been through in the last 48 hours. Don't give up hope in her yet! Kaoru is very OCD in the first half of this chapter. Don't forget, Kaoru and Kenshin blended as well… :) As exhilarating as it's been, I'm really looking forward to writing another chapter without fighting in it, I must say. And I miss Sano!
Disclaimer: I don't own Kenshin.
CHAPTER 38
"Everything will be okay now, Kaoru-dono." Kenshin's voice was a low hum, each syllable like the cold leak of a dark secret, promising blood. I stared, wide-eyed as a doe, my tongue thick and heavy in my mouth, and my thigh throbbing as the bleeding slowed to a light trickle.
"You're suffering now, aren't you, Battousai?" The blue of Enishi's eyes were too small, white with wildness as they stayed locked on Kenshin while his hands opened and closed in tight fists. He was like an overflowing bottle of bubbly champagne, bursting with sheer joy. At that moment I found his absolute glee at seeing someone else's suffering to be just as terrifying as Kenshin's calm rage.
With a flick of his arms, Enishi shed his robe, letting the stained fabric pool at his ankles. "Next, I will make you both scream!"
I stared at his large biceps, straining with an eccentric mixture of suppressed anger and pure exhilaration. I half expected to see tiny footprints on the blue veins where they pushed up from his skin, prominent as a map making a trail to his forearm and disappearing beneath his bloodied sleeve. The room was poorly vinylated, and I was having trouble breathing, the air thick with the scent of blood and sweat.
"Kenshin," the barest of whispers. My hands shook as I pressed them to my burning thigh.
Kenshin kept his back to me, his entire body straight as a streetlight, tense with such fury that the sweltering air seemed to crack with it. Just as I was thinking that very thought, thunder roared outside, intermingling with the heavy drumbeat of my heart. Distractedly, I thought we must have been in a corner room to hear it so clearly.
"You will not get close enough to touch her again, Enishi." Kenshin took a single, straight-backed step to the side, carrying himself with such trained grace that his kakama drifted across his ankles as if it were being carried by a gentle current of water. He never looked at me, keeping his flaming eyes steadily fixed on the dangerous man in front of us. "Stand down now!"
Enishi threw his head back and laughed sharply. "Never!" He followed Kenshin like a Lion watching his prey, absolutely still except his eyes. Once, when I was a little girl, my father caught the outside grill on fire, which knocked over the leftover gasoline. It burst instantly, and the flames lifted into the air like the spiraling colors of the northern lights, a flame burning so hotly it turned blue. Enishi's eyes, rimmed with red, burned with that same blue fire as they fixed solely on their prey. His lips moved quickly and quietly, the same word repeating on his tongue like a chant: "Sister, sister, sister, sister…"
"As you wish." Kenshin's fingertips caressed the hilt of his sword, the gentle stroke of a lover, and then he uttered the words that changed everything, "Your life will end now, Enishi."
Time stopped with my gasp. I understood now that it wasn't a question of Kenshin breaking his promise not to kill. It was not remembering the promise existed, like a simple word drifting through the back of your consciousness, just beyond the grasp of your searching lips. In Kenshin's mind, Enishi was not even a man anymore. He was an apparition, scarcely a shadow of a human being. He might not even comprehend the kill until after the deadly blow was dealt.
Save him! My subconscious screamed.
A slow grin crawled up Enishi's pale lips as he sank to the ground, pressing his heel into the floor. Kenshin grasped his hilt.
"Attack, Battousai!" Enishi let out an animalistic snarl and leapt.
The hair at my temple flew up and Kenshin was no longer in front of me. I'd never seen anything like it. There were sounds of clashing swords like lightening strikes, the hiss of blades zooming through the air.
God-like speed.
It was hardly an exaggeration. Ghostly figures of red and grey slashed through the air like bullets from a gun, plummeting into flesh. Blood splattered against the glass wall and Yahiko vaulted backwards, smacking into Hiko's chest. Whose blood? I couldn't tell. But the panicked revelation that only one of them would walk away from this fight grated into the back of my mind. Kenshin would either kill or die. Had Enishi been any other man, he would have died a dozen times over. But he'd been holding back when he'd fought me. There was no way he hadn't been. From the swift images my mind was able to catch, they were evenly matched.
My mind raced, gripping like stiff, clawing fingers for a resolution.
Somewhere in the back of my mind I realized I was screaming.
Screaming Kenshin's name.
It did nothing.
Know your skill, Kaoru!
They paused. Kenshin skidding on his heels from the impact of Enishi's attack. His palm whacked against the floor and he took in several heaping breaths. The sleeve of his kimono was slashed open, revealing a line of blood that dripped down his muscled arm like ice cream melting from a sugar cone.
One second, he was down, the next he raised his burning eyes to Enishi and became a blur again. I heard Enishi grunt and something rang clear as a bell in my mind. I gasped when he spun, using the force of his own hands to block Kenshin's attack.
That defense Enishi just used… I had seen it. In my minds eye, I could almost feel my muscles and bones bending and curling with each precise movement.
I knew I could do this.
Enishi fell, still chuckling happily in the face of his own death. His sword fell to the floor with a loud clink, whistling against the tile until it banged against the corner wall.
Kenshin's opening was clear.
Behind the glass, Yahiko's walnut brown eyes rounded, pleading with me to do something. So I did.
Kenshin thrusted forward and I viciously shrieked, "Kill him, Battousai!"
Those yellow eyes instantly snapped to mine, and I detected a distinct hint of uncertainty upon hearing my uncharacteristic cry. It was the last thing he expected to hear me say. But it caused the distraction that I desperately needed. Kenshin shook his head once and snarled. Just as his flaming eyes returned to his enemy, I suddenly leapt up, pushing past the pain in my thigh, swifter than even Kenshin had the chance to react. The attack seemed to flow, clicking into place seamlessly as I focused my attention on ending this now!
Suddenly, I was in front of Enishi, blocking Kenshin from a deadly thrust. I felt the cold steel of his sword as it slid forward, trapped between my palms, and I twisted beneath it, groaning in pain as I made a full circle, hoping to wrench it free from his grasp. For a moment I couldn't breathe. Kenshin was watching me with violent retribution for an infinitesimal fraction of time. Then his eyes cleared, and instantly his face crumpled. I felt a piece of him die in that moment, as a low groan ripped through his pale lips.
And slowly, achingly slowly, time moved forward again. I glanced down, and even as my heart broke at the look on Kenshin's face, I was elated at the sight of the blade trapped in my palms, the tip a hairsbreadth from my belly.
My eyes snapped to his. "Alive!" I choked out, a near hysterical laugh shoving past my lips as I wrenched Kenshin's katana from his hands and spun around. As easily as he let it go, I might as well have sucked the adrenaline straight from his body with a straw.
Before I understood what I was doing, I bent my knees, slowly raising the sword in a threatening arch above my head. Kenshin was swaying in the wake of believing he'd killed me, and Enishi lie cackling hysterically on the floor, blood pouring from his side.
It was much like the wound Akira had given to Sano. "You need surgery," I said, dreamily, feeling my throat thicken as I tottered to the side. "I hope you've taken good care of Megumi."
I steadied myself, feeling like a drunkard staggering from an all-night bender, but the floor still kept teetering like a weight scale.
And Enishi kept laughing.
And each staggering high-pitched breath he gulped into his lungs felt like a nail being driven into my skull.
Here I was, standing over the man who had been tormenting Kenshin, me, and our friends for several months now. Despite his laughter, he hid his face beneath his arm like a beaten child trying to shield himself away from a brash whipping. And that's what he was; a child. A child who had lost his mother, and then his beloved sister who had replaced that tender spot in his heart.
But my eyes rounded as I stared at him, and the thundering in my ears seemed to grow louder and louder. I wondered if I had made a terrible, terrible mistake.
Drop the sword, Kaoru.
I clinched it tighter instead, my heart hardening in my chest. Mentally and emotionally, I was trapped somewhere between fury, compassion and complete disbelief. And my body wasn't sure what to do with this strange feeling; wanting to end a life. Wicked as he might be, it was still a life, still precious. That's what I truly believed. And not without it's terrible losses, we had won this battle. As far as I could tell, Enishi was splintering like a broken bone. If his sanity hadn't shattered yet, it would very soon. His selfishness in desiring to torture Kenshin had taken him down. Had I not inherited his own skill, I would be dead. And if he had not blended repeatedly, he might have won this fight.
Beside me, I could almost feel Kenshin's intensity dying down, like a wilting candlewick. And I was the complete opposite, like a wild animal, untamed and beaten to the point where I felt on the brink of insanity or slavery. Even the coppery taste of my enemy's blood still lingered on my tongue.
Drop the sword, Kaoru.
The trembling that started in my heart rushed out to my stomach, and then my limbs. The sword shook so hard I could barely keep it lodged between my fingers, numb from blood loss, as the adrenaline I'd felt coursing through my limbs ebbed away with each heavy breath.
My Shinta was dead...
"You have taken everything from me, Enishi!" I spat.
He peeked up at me through his folded arms, and his laugh intensified. Then he coughed, spitting blood and mucus on the floor. When he finished, his eager eyes flashed up to mine. "I see the Battousai blended with you as well, Miss Kamiya! Good! Let it out! Kill me! I dare you! Watching you destroy yourself because of him will be all the more satisfying! Then he can fade back into his time knowing what he's turned you into!"
My body went instantly cold. I had forgotten that I'd lost my shoes, and my feet touched cool tile, wet with the blood of several of Enishi's victims, most of whom were his own fighters. The blade was above my head. All I had to do was swipe it down and end him. End all of this.
And then Kenshin's face was in front of me. He was pale. So pale in fact, that the spray of dried blood across his cheek made me think of a pomegranate seed bursting on rice paper. His brows were drawn, eyes wide and swirling with that strange, beautiful violet. All I could think was why isn't he angry with me?
As soon as my heart stopped roaring in my ears, I would ask him, but for now his eyes seemed wide as ripe plums, and I could almost hear my heart crack in two at the pitiful sight.
He can't disappear from my life. He just can't.
I took in several heavy gulps of air, trying to contain myself, and suddenly Kenshin reached over, steadying my trembling hands.
"Kaoru…" There was no anger in his voice, only a desperate worry. It was only when he touched me that I realized he had been speaking to me.
"Kenshin?" I whimpered, clutching the blade. "Why aren't you angry with me?"
He should be angry. I'd done it again, placed myself in infinite danger, and not by the enemy this time, but by his own blade. But the eyes gazing back at me had rounded and cleared, purple as the petals of a Crocus flower washed with sunlight.
My Rurouni.
Distantly, I realized that my madness was proving to ground him, bringing him back from the brink. What is it they say? When one is weak, the other is strong.
A moment ago, I was the strong one, and now it was his turn.
Killing is wrong! My mind screamed. No matter what!
"This isn't you, Kaoru-dono."
I choked on a cynical burst of laughter. "It isn't you either." My eyes drifted past him. Enishi was watching us, peaking like a spoiled, bratty child beneath his arm, secret glee leaking from his expression as if we were siblings receiving unjust punishment for his disobedience. The wrongness of it lit a fire behind my eyes, until I felt the burning in my skull, blinding me with rage. Shaking, I snarled, "I don't know what I'm like when someone has stolen you away from me, Kenshin!"
Enishi's sudden sigh of relief was painfully and unmistakably audible. His smile remained, but he was tired. "And now you understand me, Kaoru Kamiya," he said, dropping his arms to the ground. His head bent, and he stared at the blood-soaked floor as if he were recalling some excitable dream. He chuckled once more, broad shoulders bouncing. "I knew you would."
Enishi dropped a bolder in Kenshin's calm waters, and a sudden tidal wave brewed behind his eyes as they fixed on the broken man on the floor. "You still killed in this lifetime, Enishi. That you did. Even though you never lost your sister here. Kaoru couldn't possibly understand taking a life like that."
Kenshin was right; I didn't understand Enishi, and this wasn't me. Even if I hated what Enishi had done to us, I would never comprehend his wicked plotting, his utter disrespect for human life.
A drop of cold sweat dripped down the crease of my nose as I watched him, eyes set in excitable anticipation for his own death. I was breathing, yet I felt like I was drowning. Each desperate gulp of air seemed to be laced with water, flooding my lungs instead of breathing life into them.
"Miss Kaoru…" that soft voice. "Kaoru…"
I blinked. I breathed.
"A sword is a weapon. The art of swordsmanship is learning how to kill. That is the truth. What Miss Kaoru says is sweet and innocent talk that only those whose hands have never been stained with the blood of men can believe. But, to tell you the truth, I much prefer Miss Kaoru's sweet and innocent talk over the truth. Indeed I do."
I could see his face, on that very day, clear as the one watching me now. That sweet smile, crinkling his purple eyes. I choked on a painful sob but kept my eyes firmly planted on the man ahead of me.
"Killing is wrong," I had said, "No matter what."
That's what I believed. It's what I would always believe. These feelings of wanting to kill, they didn't belong to me. I wasn't like Enishi. How could I even think…?
I licked my lips, tasting its salty slickness, and slowly lowered the tip of the blade to the floor. Without warning, I twisted to the side and promptly vomited. It hurt everywhere, my injuries throbbing with each heave of my stomach. The warmth of Kenshin's hand touched my back and I heard the low rumble of a jungle cat emanating from his chest. When it was over, I stood straight and wiped my mouth with the edge of my shirt.
Enishi lifted his head and his eyes slowly widened in disappointment. Even as his sister sat not ten feet away, he still wanted to die to get rid of that pain he barely endured when he lost her as a child.
Taking a deep, shuttering breath, I finally spoke. "Kenshin is right. I don't understand you, Enishi," I said softly. "You tried to make me understand, but I don't. I understand protecting the people I love, but I will never understand killing and hurting and revenge, even at the cost of those you hold closest to your heart." I glanced pointedly over at Tomoe, whose face seemed to have frozen in place like a breathtaking ice sculpture. The only emotion she showed at all were the tears dripping down her chin as if she'd been left out too long in the warmth of sunlight. My throat worked heavily at seeing her this way. I could barely swallow past the lump lodged there. Sadly, I glanced down again at her brother.
"I forgive you," I said softly, Shinta's smile pressing on my mind like a tattoo. "You deserve to die, but I forgive you. Do you know why?"
Enishi stared at his sister in silence, but his throat worked roughly, his adams apple bobbing like a buoy. But he ignored me.
"Life is precious," I answered for him, "and your life is precious to someone I love. I can't take anything else away from her."
Kenshin glanced down, letting out a long breath, his bangs hiding his eyes. He took the sword from me with exaggerated care. I hadn't realized I'd been gripping it so tightly I could have climbed it until he began delicately peeling my stiff fingers away. It dropped to the floor with a resounding clink and he kicked it away as if the very sight of it disgusted him. The hilt touched Tomoe's shoe, making her jolt. Tentatively, she stared down at it, thick tears seemed to melt from her dark eyes. Kenshin watched her for a moment before turning back to me. He held my hands in his, examining the blood and the glass still lodged into my skin. I saw his breath speed up, felt the tremor in his hands, and I knew we had to lend each other strength at this moment.
"It's okay, Kenshin," I crooned softly, "We're alright. It's alright now." I pressed my lips to the top of his head and inhaled deeply, and he let go of my hands to clench at the cloth of my shirt, leaning into my touch with a thankful sigh for a brief, vulnerable moment. A heartbeat later, he stepped to my side. We were in this together, fighting our internal demons as one, even if it only lasted a few short moments. Because it wouldn't be alright when we disappeared from each other's lives, but we'd mount that hurdle when we came to it.
Enishi shriveled like a blade of grass caught up in a wildfire. He stared at his sister who refused to meet his eye, and I cringed with pity when I saw his fingers dig into the floor, unconsciously trying to claw his way through.
It made me hyperaware of my own injuries, and suddenly it was as if the floor had turned into quicksand, wanting to swallow me up. I took hold of Kenshin's arm for support, feeling as if my legs had turned into popsicle sticks, cold and unable to support my weight any longer.
Kenshin tugged me against his body and I pressed my face into the crook of his shoulder. My bleery eyes cracked open to find Shinta's body once more, stiff and pale, and everything in me crumpled all at once.
"What are Gein's ingredients for, Enishi?" Kenshin asked, and I felt the hum of his eerily low voice against the tip of my nose as I attempted to stifle a sob against his throat.
Enishi started chuckling again, as if it were all some elaborate joke, and our friends would jump through the glass all at once, exclaiming "You got PUNK'D!" Then Hiko would call us both idiots and explain in annoyance how there's no such thing as time travel. And then Shinta would open his eyes and sit up, muttering something about me pummeling him with my bokken later for pulling a stunt like this.
I blinked, imagining it all playing out, and let out a tiny chuckle. "Yea, I would," I muttered against Kenshin's skin.
He tilted his head. "What was that, Kaoru-dono?"
But instead of answering, the inevitable tug of darkness began to pull at my eyelids. Now that I wasn't moving, my nerves seemed to hum from the pain. Swaying, my legs folded beneath me. Before I collapsed to the floor, Kenshin's arms went around me, lifting me up into his arms with a low grunt.
"She's okay, Yahiko," I heard him say.
It was dark then, a sweet and consuming darkness that numbed the pain of my injuries and the pain of reality. Dreams were better. Dreams were safe. In my dreams I could conjure up sweet smiles, lingering kisses, yellow roses and then scent of pine needles... If only I could dream forever.
"You're a disappointment in both lifetimes Enishi Yukishiro." That voice! I wasn't sure if this was another tease of my imagination or not, but Shishio's deep, thrumming words filtered through the darkness. Kenshin's arms tightened around me, his chin touching my forehead.
"Shishio," he said, as if to confirm my thoughts. Then, "I see you've blended," and it sounded much like an accusation.
My brows drew together, head heavy as a bucket of stones. "He's been blended," I moaned into his collar.
"Very perceptive, Mister Himura." A woman's voice!
Yumi… it sounded like Yumi.
It was surprisingly difficult to peel my eyes open. A blurry image of a woman in a deep purple kimono stood a few feet away, shielded by the light shadows in the corner of the room, her hand clutching Shishio's bandaged forearm. Her hair was pulled back in a loose bun, strands of deep maroon framing her narrow face. She looked different than before; less skittish and more content. Blended, Kenshin had said. But Yumi hadn't time traveled yet…
I bolted upright, nearly smacking Kenshin's chin. "Enishi's machine!" I nearly squealed, digging my fingers into Kenshin's collar as life and power flooded back into my limbs like a broken dam. His eyes met mine, wide with unspoken hope that he dared not give words to, but that my heart couldn't help but scream. I touched his cheek and whispered, "If he hasn't destroyed it yet, I can go with you!"
Enishi started laughing again, and Shishio's red-rimmed eyes cornered over to him in annoyance.
There was a sudden sound, a pounding coming from the floor beside Tomoe and Shinta, and everyone froze. Kenshin's grasp on me tightened, his knees bending as if to prepare to leap away from a shooting blade. I stared at the floor, transfixed on a single white tile, and something in my heart strangely leapt with hope instead of horror. It was quiet and calm for a single moment, and then BOOM! Both Tomoe and I jolted as that single area of the floor lifted from a blunt force pummeling below it. It happened again, one more time, before quieting.
Megumi and Sano! I thought, nearly laughing out loud at the idea of him punching the ceiling in irritation of missing a fight. They're alive!
Enishi laughed louder, clutching his hand to his side in his hysterics.
This time Shishio's black lips curled in menace while watching the madman. His fingers stroked across his chin meditatively. "It seems Enishi Yukishiro has checked out of this game, Battousai. I suppose if he's not going to kill you, I'll allow you to say your goodbye's. After all, you did release me from my jailcell, however reluctantly." He stepped forward out of the darkness, clutching something in his hand. "My turn," he hissed. He pressed a button and the floor dropped beneath my friends.
"No Shishio!" Kenshin shouted.
I gasped in horror, reaching out as Yahiko's mouth opened in a soundless scream before he disappeared. "Yahiko!"
Kenshin's teeth snapped on a snarl as we spun to face Shishio. Then, like terrifying apparitions, each member of the Juppongatana seemed to melt into the room, their bodies like shadows as they appeared through the wall, standing behind their master with smiles on their faces and determination lighting in their eyes.
Gein happily bounced up off the ground beside Tomoe with glittering laughter as he reached for Shinta. "I'll be taking that now, my dear."
"NO!" I screamed, just as Tomoe swung at him.
Shishio barked out a laugh and then snarled, "This house is extremely interesting!" And with a single press of his thumb, Kenshin and I dropped into the darkness below.
TO BE CONTINUED…