A/N: Hi, I'm back. Sort of. More notes at the bottom :)
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CHAPTER 02: Meeting
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Misao did not realize that it was almost midnight. Watching over her friend and going over what she had witnessed that evening seemed to have sped up the time. What a long day, she sighed to herself. Glancing at Kaoru's sleeping form for the nth time that night, Misao felt waves of relief wash over her as her friend's eyes began to flutter open.
She was quick to her feet and by Kaoru's side. "Kaoru-chan? Ka-! Kami-sama, you're finally awake! How are you feeling? What the hell happened?" came Misao's barrage of questions.
"Don't harass my patient, Misao-chan," a voice from behind said. How Megumi managed to make it sound authoritative and like a joke at the same time, Misao did not know, but she followed anyway, sheepishly retreating from Kaoru's waking form.
"Is... Is he okay?" Kaoru managed to ask in between heavy breaths, surprised despite herself that it was the first thought that came to mind.
"Is who okay?" Misao answered. "You should be thinking about you! You've been unconscious for like forever already!"
"Misao-chan!" Megumi warned sternly this time. She finally stood up from her place on the small couch by the door. With a gentle hand checking the temperature on the patient's forehead, she asked, "Kaoru-chan, how are you? Are you hurt in any part of your body? And don't worry, you've been asleep for only four hours, far from forever."
"Just my head, it's aching a bit," Kaoru assured, as a rush of memories so vivid assaulted her. The swiftest movements, the sharpest blade, the most graceful swordplay I have ever seen. The hairs on the back of her neck stood ever so slightly. She decided that supplying her friends with an overload of information might make the headache worse, so she let her first question slip away unanswered.
"That must be from this girl's cackling," Megumi suggestively pointed over to Misao, which garnered a defensive, "Hey!"
"Can you sit up? You should eat, if you can. I'll reheat some soup," Megumi continued, already heading for the door when Kaoru pushed herself up to a sitting position.
"Thanks, Megumi-san," Kaoru smiled. She turned to her best friend, who looked like she was having a harder-than-usual time keeping quiet. Getting her bearings clearer and clearer by the minute, Kaoru addressed her. "Okay, I'll ask what you've been waiting for," Kaoru sighed and chuckled despite herself. "What happened? There was this man, he was—"
"Oh, gods, Kaoru-chan!" Misao bursted out like an avalanche waiting for the last pull of gravity. "I was so worried! I was almost home when I realized I haven't returned your notes from this morning's class, so I turned around to go to your place, instead—don't worry, it's fine, I was also thinking of grabbing my favorite ramen along the way so there's no need for that You didn't have to! thing that you do. Anyway, a few blocks from here, there were police officers and paramedics crowding a small alley. Thanks to my curiosity and my ninja senses, I found you right there! You, lying unconscious beside a dead man! Can you just imagine my shock? I almost pulled out my shuriken in front of all those officers!" Misao desperately clung to Kaoru's bed sheets, eyes wide and demanding for a response.
Kaoru, waiting for more information from Misao and seeing that there was none coming just yet, replied with a somber tone, "What about the others? There was a man; he was—"
"There were no others," came Megumi's answer as she appeared in the doorway holding a tray with soup, bread, and water. "It was just you and the man. He died of cardiac arrest. Thanks to surveillance videos, we were able to prove that there was no foul play, and that you just happened to pass by the alley and ran to the man in an attempt to help him, but you fainted along the way."
Kaoru looked at her two friends meaningfully, trying to see if they were holding any more details from her. She was certain that there were other people in that alley. And the god-like hooded figure, she recalled, who was wielding a katana. The memory made her head throb with pain.
Seeing that her friends had CCTV footage to back up their claim that there were no others present in that alley, Kaoru decided to keep her memories to herself. "I must have hallucinated or something. My brain does feel like jello even now," she tried to lighten the mood. "I'm sorry for worrying you two. I'm alright, though; I can just sleep this off. The man who passed, did he have a family?"
Misao sighed with a sympathetic smile, "You and your unstoppable nature to help other people in a pinch. Classic Kaoru-chan right there."
"Obaachan!" Kaoru exclaimed with delight as she approached a woman in her late years; the younger girl tried her best not to run and jump onto her out of eagerness. Clad in a simple white dress and sparse accessories, the older woman, Yuumi-san, good-naturedly beckoned her over, with her own excitement evident in the spark of her dark eyes and the wrinkles around them. Grays have almost taken over her coffee colored tresses, but the youth of her spirit was seen in the way her lips curved upward into a beautiful smile.
"My dear, I've missed you so," the elder said, barely a whisper as the two embraced.
"I'm so sorry it took a while before I got to visit again. School and my part-time job at the Akabeko had taken over my life! I hardly had time to go to the dojo, too!" Kaoru apologized.
"Aa, you are going to tell me all about it, yes?" the older lady said as they began to enter her home.
Kaoru glanced over the house on the left, a wave of nostalgia creeping up inside her. How long has it been since she last stepped foot inside her former home, dirty and sweaty from all the swordplay with the other kids, but warmly welcomed by her beautiful mother? She would excitedly wait by the kitchen shoji door for afternoon snacks, and her father would later come in from a class from the dojo, telling her to clean up first before they could enjoy sweets and tea and the afternoon breeze on the engawa. It feels like a lifetime ago, she found herself thinking.
A soft touch on her elbow brought Kaoru back to her present, and she smiled ruefully at Yuumi.
"It must be difficult for you to see your old home and not be welcomed by it," Yuumi softly empathized as she set a plate of dango in front of Kaoru. "I am sorry that you have to go through the same sadness over again whenever you visit me. You don't' have to always come over, my dear, and you know that, right? We can always meet somewhere else, Kaoru-chan."
"You have nothing to worry about, obaachan! I would never impose anything on you. Besides, I am happy to have an excuse to see my old home once in a while," Kaoru assured her. "This dango and green tea are lovely, Obaachan. They are the perfect pair."
Sensing a deliberate change in topic, Yuumi followed through with a gentle knowing smile, "Kaoru-chan reminds me so much of my youth—full of life and optimism! You know, when I was your age, I fell in love with a senpai who was just the most wonderful man. He was strong and mature beyond his age, and he was good at kenjutsu, too! Do you have a love interest, Kaoru-chan? I am certain a lot of boys in your school has taken interest in you! Tell me all about them, will you?"
Kaoru felt her face heat up and busied herself with her tea. The drink scalded her tongue, but she bit down the pain in an attempt to act normal. With an arsenal of stories about her school and her rowdy customers at the Akabeko, this was not the conversation she was expecting.
"Eh? Well, no, I don't have anyone of that sort right now," Kaoru sheepishly admitted. "I'm not even sure if I have the time to entertain such things," she quickly added as she saw a provoking smile from the old lady.
"Ah, Kaoru-chan, but with that heart of yours, I am certain karma would reward you tenfold with a love far beyond your imagination."
It took all of Kaoru's strength not to cover her face from embarrassment, and it showed. Yuumi chuckled good-naturedly and proceeded to change the subject yet again, the spark in her eyes never leaving as she offered more sweets to her guest. The afternoon went by with serene laughter, more tea and more stories retold as animatedly as Kaoru possibly could.
The train ride home had Kaoru deep in her thoughts. There were cosplayers in the cabin where she was, and one of them was donned in a black hooded cape that seemed so familiar. The sight had Kaoru drifting to the incident in one of her neighborhood's alley. That was two weeks ago, huh?
After the event, no sign of that hooded figure appeared at all, and it made her question what she saw. Was it all in my head? She faintly remembered snippets from her younger days about seeing something—someone—similar but all of them were too vague she'd long ago dismissed them as dreams, instead.
Two weeks ago was different. Not only did she see, but she also felt. It could not have been her imagination if she had felt that much ki. She sensed the hairs on her arms stand up at the thought. Megumi explained that her fainting was due to the stress on her body from all the activities she'd been managing to juggle, and the shock of the man's apparent death. However, Kaoru knew better. She could not explain it, but deep in her gut, she just knew.
The PA announced the next stop and Kaoru snapped out of her reverie. She gathered her things and stood up to wait near the exit doors. With the train slowing down to a stop, Kaoru tried her best to compose herself and rid her brain of all the unanswered questions.
After all, there's no point overthinking things I can't explain, she convinced herself. And I even have sweets to take home from Obaachan! Kaoru-chan should be thinking about that, instead, eh?
Finally, the train halted, and the doors slid open to let the crowd out. The station was packed with people rushing to their destinations—to the exits, to the next train, to a different line. Kaoru utilized her kenjutsu reflexes to avoid bumping into anyone, but a sharp pain on her right shoulder told her she could've put in more effort. Instinctively, she looked back to apologize but there was no one to say sorry to. Shrugging it off, she continued to her designated exit.
Another bump at her leg made her think of how people should really be careful of lugging their bags around. And with a push from behind, her patience all but disappeared. She pivoted backwards to face her assailant, but she was met with a deafening silence.
Time and space seemed to malfunction as Kaoru felt her body, even her breathing, in slow motion. Yet, all the movements around her went about as normally as she would expect. The noise of the train station seemed to have been cancelled out and was replaced by only the sound of her own breaths and a distant ringing in her ear. She could feel the pulse of her heart in her head, and her vision began to swim.
Amidst her confused state, she could recognize a handful of movements quite similar to hers, as if they, too, were in the same time and space as she—slow, pulsing, deliberate. Deliberate in the sense that they were walking towards her. Walking was not even the right word, as Kaoru was not sure if they were actual people or just some shadowy semblance of a human being.
Kaoru felt panic slowly creeping up on her when they began to close in, and she forced her feet to move. She tried not to knock anyone out with her running, but the rest of the world seemed to pay her no mind at all. Everywhere she turned, though, was a shadow gliding on her direction. At this point, she'd counted to eight of them. She flexed her hands ready for hand-to-hand combat; not that she was sure it could help, but it was the only weapon she had at the moment.
One shadow on her left caught her attention and she abruptly assumed a defensive stance. This one was already too close to run away from. Two arm-like extensions rose to reach her, but with a faint sound of sliced air and a sudden flash of silver arc swinging down, the shadow dissipated into nothingness.
Kaoru, in her state of heightened senses, heard a few more of the same action around her. She spun around only to see the shadows disintegrating one by one, until none was left. What—
Suddenly, a strong grip on her left wrist tugged her into the start of a sprint. As quickly as the world was switched off, it turned back on, and all the noise and physicality of the train station attacked her. She could feel her footsteps again and was surprised to find herself letting this someone guide her out to the street. The hooded figure, Kaoru vaguely registered.
After about a minute more of running away from the station, they stopped, and Kaoru was glad to finally have the chance to catch her breath and her thoughts. She stood up straight to face her savior. Their back was to her, and they were still as a statue. Trepidation was in her veins, but a sense of gratitude prevailed.
"Thank you for saving me," she meekly said in between her breathes. "I don't know who you are, but thank you."
She had so many questions in her head.
Finally, the stranger turned around to face her. She did not know what to expect, but she imagined she'd meet golden eyes. The certainty scared her.
The hood of the stranger casted shadows on their face, and their long auburn bangs did not help to show their features in the least bit.
After what seemed like forever, they finally spoke, "Are you alright, Kamiya-san?"
A man's voice, Kaoru noted. And he knows my name, dawned on her. With wide eyes and an unexplainable mix of fear and excitement, she was about to answer when her phone anticlimactically rang in her pocket. The shrill sound of the device took them both by surprise and they stared at it as if it was an alien thing on Kaoru's hand.
"Shinomori-san?" Kaoru answered the phone incredulously.
"Kaoru-san, I assumed by now you have met Himura-san," the voice on the other line monotonously stated. Kaoru looked up to the man in front of her, and he finally let down his hood as if to confirm Aoshi's statement. His hair, tightly tied up his head, was redder and longer that she imagined; his height shorter than she expected; and his face more feminine than she thought possible for a man. He looked straight out of fiction, and looked at her straight with intensity she felt she could get hypnotized by his golden eyes.
Kaoru found it immensely difficult to swallow.
"I- Shinomori-san, I don't understand-"
"I would like to explain but I cannot right now. Himura-san is sent there to protect you, as he is the most capable of doing so. I am certain you have innumerable questions, but at the moment, I ask you to trust me. And trust him," Aoshi paused, as if to let his words sink in. "I will be arranging our meeting soon to explain everything."
The line went dead, but Kaoru still had her phone to her ear.
Himura slowly bowed as an introduction, as Kaoru dumbly stared, the phone in her hand slipping and dropping to the concrete floor with a thud.
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A/N: It's been four years? Well, real life, you know? I reread the prologue and first chapter, and I cringed at the inconsistencies and meager writing. I edited a few bits, and I want to edit some more, but I think I'll go on with the rest of the story first.
I had to review my notes for Tenshi because I'd almost forgotten what I had planned for this. And, the more I recall, the bigger the story seem to grow in my head and I'M SCARED HAHA! Man, I still have a long way to go with this one, and I don't know how I'd continue but I'm happy to have written something again after a long time.
If you have ideas on how I can improve, please do let me know :) Too wordy / too fast / too dialogue-y / too something? I'd be happy to learn! Thank you for reading!