The Intricacies of Fate

The Intricacies of Fate

Disclaimers: Standard RK disclaimers apply. I'm also borrowing the characters of Flame of Recca for a few more chapters or so. Character credits go the authors and producers, I'm a good kid, please don't sue!

Chapter 7- A Tragic Past and an Ominous Future

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"Quit shoving!"

"Well stop crowding me!"

"Urusai!"

"You're such kids," scoffed Tokiya as he frowned at Recca, Fuuko and Domon who were all crowding together, as Kenshin and Aoshi stood calmly nearby.

"Yamete!" shouted Fuuko as she punched Domon's nose. Domon winced as he said in a wounded tone, "Fuuko-koishi, I was just showing my love for you!"

Fuuko turned the evil eye on him as she glared. "Baka!" she muttered turning back to the thin plaster walls to listen to what's going on inside Madame Shedrianne's chamber. Misao and Kaoru were ushered inside without preambles or questions.

With a puzzled frown, Misao and Kaoru let themselves be taken inside the mystic's chamber. The rest were left gaping after the two sisters and wondering what the heck was going on.

"Would you just be quiet!" chastised Aoshi in a steely-soft tone as he leaned an ear against the wall. Kenshin smiled his close-eyed smile as he shrugged and placed his ear against the wall too. Tokiya followed the suit while Recca and Fuuko glared at Aoshi before giving in to their curiosity.

"Oh hell!"

************

Misao and Kaoru fidgeted nervously before Madame Shedrianne's piercing eyes. The woman was still young, although decidedly mature. Her gray eyes were clear, almost crystalline in appearance. Her white blond hair was caught in a simple bun and her clothes were more austere than garish.

"It's been a long time," Madame Shedrianne said with a mysterious smile.

Immediately, Misao got a little irate. "What do you mean by that? I never saw you in my whole life!" she remarked as Kaoru nodded in agreement with her. "Hai, we've been living in America for these past few years and I'm sure I'd remember meeting you," said Kaoru as she settled back against her chair.

With an apologetic smile, Madame Shedrianne answered, "Gomen ojou-sama. What I meant about that was our meeting happened three lifetimes ago."

Misao looked skeptically at her, " Three lifetimes ago?" Madame Shedrianne shook her head apologetically again. "Sumen, three lifetimes from my lifetime now. It's pretty confusing isn't it?" she said with an understanding smile aimed at Kaoru and Misao's baffled expressions.

Madame Shedrianne reverted to a more formal approach as she asked, " You came to ask me about the Book of Binding Spells ne?" Seeing Kaoru's nod of affirmation, she continued, "You know ojou-sama, this book you seek, is no longer of use to you now. You have invoked a very powerful spell, a double bind if you will, of souls and destinies."

Shaken, Kaoru asked, "Demo... we've never even dabbled in mysterious things before! How can you say we invoked a spell which you say is even double bind?" Misao piped up with a question, "Ano, what's a double bind?"

With a bejeweled hand, Madame Shedrianne sought to explain, " A double bind is a spell that binds not one but two or more together. It's a very dangerous spell for it is like a double-edged sword, with weakened faith it can lead to a disaster."

Scratching her head, Kaoru asked, " But, how can you say we've invoked that spell? I mean it couldn't have been done unconsciously ne? A spell like that would have drained us of all our concentration and ki ne?"

For a while, Madame Shedrianne looked mystified. A quick look of comprehension crossed her face as she patiently said, " Oh you did invoke it. You invoked it in your last lifetimes."

Misao abruptly stood up. "Gomen Madame Shedrianne but I don't believe in past lives. We went to you because Kagerou told us to. I just find you too weird," said Misao before leaning back down to tug Kaoru up.

Madame Shedrianne's passive manner quickly changed into one of ominous behavior. A strange light flickered in her eyes as she whispered, "Beware young ladies, that you do not echo mistakes from the past!"

Kaoru disengaged herself from Misao's tight grip as she leaned over and met the mystic's eyes squarely. "Can you show me that past?" she asked quietly and Misao gasped behind her. "This is crazy oneechan!" burst out Misao and received one quelling look from Madame Shedrianne. She immediately shut up.

"Give me your hand and I'll take you back to when it all began," she said. As though hypnotized, Kaoru placed her right hand in Madame Shedrianne's outstretched hand. Misao intercepted Kaoru with her left hand and firmly clasped her sister's right hand with her own. Madame Shedrianne watched the two of them with a gleam of satisfaction in her eye.

"If you're going, then I'll be going too," said Misao flatly as her hand still held Karou's right hand, palm against palm, in a connection that sealed their fates four generations ago. (author- re: Binding Hearts)

Madame Shedrianne seated them each on a couch and a chair with an arm rest. She never separated the sisters' linked hands but even reminded them, " Your connection with each other would bring you back but once you let go the past will be one with you. Always remember that a spell done in spite or in violence would precede all those which you wished to avoid. This will explain why you're here."

"Are you ready to face your demons?" she asked softly as the incense that wafted towards Misao and Kaoru brought them into a state of half-lethargy. Their grips on each other's hands remained tight even as their eyes slowly slid close.

"We're ready."

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"What the heck is going on?" wailed Fuuko in frustration as she struggled to hear what's going on. She pulled herself away from the wall and began pacing agitatedly. Aoshi and Kenshin were both wearing grim expressions and strangely enough both men lapsed into a brooding almost slumberous state.

"This is weird," observed Domon as he scratched his head. That remark earned a sharp elbow in his stomach courtesy of Fuuko. "My that was a blinding flash of the obvious," hissed Fuuko as she stormed away from the doubled over streetfighter.

"I think Fuuko-san is just extremely worried," said Yanagi with her usual smile as she helped Domon move into a chair. Recca nodded as he gazed at the closed door of the chamber. Strange, the Shedrianne woman seemed somehow familiar to him but he just couldn't place her in his memory.

"Minna, even Shirofuji and Hikoshichiro-san seem to be experiencing what's happening to Misao and Kaoru-san," said Tokiya as his composed voice rose above Fuuko's rantings.

"Nani?" yelled Fuuko as she ran back to Aoshi and Kenshin. Both men were staring vacantly into something which Fuuko and the others cannot see but clearly the images so tormented these men that a cold sweat beaded upon their brows.

"Aoshi-sama! Kenshin-san! Doushita no?" exclaimed Fuuko as she shook their shoulders. What she heard after made goosebumps rise all over her arms. As one, both men said,

"Two bodies, one soul

Always incomplete

Always seeking.

May my soul find yours..."

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Kaoru felt a strange sense of detachment from reality. She felt weightless as she hurtled down the sands of time to look back in her past. She felt something solid in her hand and that gave her a sense of ease.

"Oneechan, daijoubu?" asked that strange disfigured voice.

Almost a reflex, Kaoru answered back in the same way. "Hai, daijoubu desu. Daijoubu ka?" she asked.

"Hai,"answered Misao's mental voice. Pretty soon, Kaoru regained full control of her faculties as she gazed into the unending blackness. She gripped Misao's hand tighter as she asked in her normal speaking voice, "She said we'll be going back to when it all began... so what's going to happen now?" she asked.

A mental chuckle then rang through the strange oblivion. "My, what an impatient nature my dear, I'll take you back to the very beginning then," Madame Shedrianne said.

~ It was a scene straight from Dante's inferno. Or maybe it was just a past so horrifying, seeing it was like experiencing it. But then, maybe Kaoru and Misao's were experiencing the same pain because somehow, the past they were seeing was connected to them.

The following excerpts are from Binding Hearts

The streets were still filled with smoke. Time stood still for Kaoru and Misao. Tears were unnecessary, the pain in their hearts has leached their senses of everything, even their own wounds. Their hearts were but empty ashes and even as they held the men they loved, they could feel nothing, only the instinctive need to never let go. Finally, Kaoru reached her right hand out to Misao and Misao held onto it with her left hand.

Their other hands were firmly placed on Kenshin and Aoshi, unable to let go. Misao and Kaoru's eyes locked together and now they knew what Madame Shedrianne had seen when she looked at them. There was only one thing left to do.

Their voices were emotionless, their hearts but turned to stone. They no longer needed the book of spells but what they chanted was evocatively powerful. Looking into Kenshin's face, her hand held above his heart. Kaoru could hear Misao echoing the words, her own voice choked by grief.

"I bind my heart with yours,

Let my soul be yours and yours mine.

May our love bind us,

For all our lifetimes.

Two bodies, one soul

Always incomplete

Always seeking.

May my soul finds yours."

With that, the only thing that was heard in the silent street was the eerie howl of the wind as it took the lives of two women who loved too much but had so little time.

~Sobbing, Misao and Kaoru held onto each others' hands tightly. "Is this our past?" asked Kaoru as she gazed at the images that blurred slowly in front of her.

'Hai...' answered Madame Shedrianne's faint voice. 'Now that you've seen influences from your past, you must now return and reclaim your future...' she said before a snapping sound jolted Misao and Kaoru back into reality.

*******

Misao and Kaoru slowly opened their eyes. They found their hands linked together tightly and when they released each other, a faint pink scar throbbed in the middle of their palms. The scar then faded, leaving their hands whole once more. They looked up when they heard Madame Shedrianne's low, hypnotic voice.

"That is the proof of your connection to each other... your connection to your past," she said, her gray eyes, so clear and transparent that it was like looking into a crystal.

"Demo... " started Kaoru her eyes still troubled.

"All will reveal itself in due time. I merely showed you a past that will inevitably tie into your future. The past always repeats itself... heed my warnings and spare yourself another generation of unrequited love..." intoned Madame Shedrianne.

Shrugging, Misao evidently has gotten over her glimpse of her past life. She stood up and stretched her arms. She gave Madame Shedrianne a cheeky grin that was also a smile of apology for her earlier disrespect. "Aa, we will heed your warning. Now I know why Kaoru-neechan and I were always keen on some aspects like kempo and kendo," she exclaimed.

Kaoru stuck her tongue out at Misao. "Now I know why Misao is such a brat!" she said as she handed Madame Shedrianne the hundred-dollar bill. Madame Shedrianne's eyes widened slightly. She nodded in gratitude as she searched Kaoru's eyes for the reason of such a high payment.

"Ja matte ne!" said Misao with a grin as she and Kaoru got out of the mysterious room and joined their friends who were anxiously waiting for them.

Fuuko's voice dominated the din as she fairly yelled in vexation at Misao and Kaoru.

"What's the big idea making us wait so long?! Che!" she shouted as Misao and Kaoru only shook their heads and smiled in relief at being back where they really belonged.

Right in the present where they could still work their differences out.

But the question is... how?

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Author's Notes:

WAH!!! Gomen! Gomen minna-san! I got stuck in this chapter so long I forgot I had this story going! Anyway, a pretty boring chapter I think, I promise to improve! Anyway, comments and suggestions are very much appreciated. I need an expert on Flame of Recca... onegai! Tasukete! I'm planning to write a really major chappie soon and I want to get the facts straight. Anyway, arigatou for reading. Please r&r.