Shadows
…………..
Chapter 3 : In the bloody rain
…………..
Misao ran as fast as she only could, unaware of the bitter tears streaking her face and blinding her.
Childish. So that was what she was to him : childish. A child. A mere child.
She wanted to scream, let go the despair in a last cry of painful agony.
But she kept running, fast, fast, away from him and his cold heart. She didn't even feel her legs begging a rest.
Suddenly, she fell. Her foot tripped over a stone, and before she could react, she collapsed. Her chin hit the ground, hard. A taste of fresh blood surged in her mouth, and the sharp pain of her injured knees and hands made her feel so weak that she didn't even try to get up.
Misao curled up in a ball, kneeling on the ground, pulling her knees to her chin. The tears were running through her face, and in the silence of her loneliness, she heard herself sobbing loudly.
She hated him. She hated him for being so ruthless, for regarding her as a brat. And over everything, she hated his scornful eyes and their cold, implacable look. Not even a hint of understanding. Just his usual detached indifference. She hated him ! Why did her heart wrench so painfully ? She hated him ! But it still hurt so much… She would have ripped her own heart out of her chest if she had only could, just so that the suffering could weaken. Why the heck did she feel as if her heart was going to explode ? Why did he harm her like that ?
A cold wind brought her back to consciousness. The heavy warmth of the morning had changed in stormy rain clouds heaped up in a dark grey sky. Considering the luminosity, Misao had stayed prostrate during hours. She wipped the tears from her moist cheeks with a trembling hand. What had she planned to do again ? Oh yes. Go to the Yaminobu's headquarters and kick his ass to their damn leader… But it was out of the question now. It was time to come back in the Aioya. She knew she couldn't mislead Okina about her pain, and she feared she might have to face Aoshi at the diner, but she was not in order to sleep in the open.
Misao gathered all her strenght of mind and body in order to get up. Her limbs felt heavier than ever. Her head over all. She made a face as she tried to outstrech her legs, her muscles stiffed by staying in the same position for so long, and the wounds on her knees opening up again. Damn, her whole body was so tired… Every inch of it refused to move, to coordinate with the other body parts.
She felt like a little doll, a dislocated puppet that someone would have let fall on the floor. Broken. Dead.
But just as she managed to stand up, something hard was hurled against her back, and hit her so violently that she couldn't help crying in pain and surprize. She fell again, tears coming back to her eyes.
An unknown, scathing voice rose from somewhere in her back.
"Is that all what the Oniwabanshuu are able to do ? What a pity… Stand up, Oniwabanshuu bitch !!"
Before Misao's distraught senses could even notice it, a tall young man was standing in front of her. With a frightening slowness, he caught her by the top of her shirt and lifted her up, until her loose head was at the level of his.
She opened her tearful eyes, hardly aware of what happened to her injured body. But her mind was rushing in bewildered and incoherent thoughts. She glanced at the man's face, not even conscious enough to glare at him. Her frantic mind wasn't coherent enough to understand or react, but scanned his face with the painful precision of madness. She etched in her memory the sharp eyes, the straight nose, and the nervous expression of a strange pleasure in seeing her suffering.
Misao saw her death in those eyes.
"Who… who are you…" she managed to articulate.
The look in the young man's eyes became harder, filled with anger and disappointment.
"So you won't guess, little girl ?"
He brought her closer, until his mouth brushed against her ear.
"This'll be a secret between you and me, little girl.", he murmured under his breath."I am Inoue, the leader of the Yaminobu, Oniwabanshuu bitch."
Misao shivered. In all her life, she had never seen such a hatred in anyone's eyes. Never apart from one time. In Aoshi's eyes, once. Just once.
At the thought of Aoshi, her heart wrenched. He had already warned her about his feelings, and she had wanted to hang on her own hopes. She hadn't believe it could be true, when he told her that he didn't want to see her again. And now…
But her painful musings were abruptly interrupted by a violent slap on her cheek. She let out a shriek of suffering, as her eyes snapped open, bright of tears, the pupil dilated.
The man grinned coldly with a hint of amusement.
Misao caught her breath, waiting for the next blow. A punch thrown in her lower abdomen. Her eyes tightly closed, tears running on her face, she had to gather all her last strengths to control a scream. No way she was going to make him the favor of screaming.
Kicks followed punchs, on her face, in her back, in her stomach. The heart pounding wildly, she was taking the shocks with a hard determination of remaining silent, while bitting her lower lip till the blood came.
And suddenly she realized that she didn't want to resist. She was not in order to fight back, so it would be easier if her death came soon. And so she wouldn't have to assume Aoshi's disgusts about her, she thought bitterly.
Her manhandled body stopped reacting to the blows and shocks that came from everywhere. A mist with strench of blood invaded her mind, numbing her senses until the extrem limit of the fainting fit.
A mere sound managed to reach her brain.
The sound of drawing a sword.
Misao knew that her last hour had come. And in a way, that didn't affect her. The faster she would die, the better it would be.
Nevertheless, during a time that seemed to Misao an eternity, the fatal stab didn't come.
Instead of that, she felt the man dropping her. The fall started very slowly in her dizzy mind, then speeded up, and she hit the ground with frightening speed. She moanned with aching pain.
But she had recovered part of her abilities, and she heard Inoue's mocking voice, speaking with ironical thoughtlessness.
"Welcome among us, Shinomori Aoshi."
……..
Kill.
Kill.
Kill.
One only word resounded in Aoshi's mind.
Kill.
Whoever wound Misao, whoever touch her would die.
His icy blue-grey eyes were shining with metallics gleams just like his drawn kodachi, and staring at Inoue with a threatening glare. His well- trained mind scanned the neighbourhood ; he sensed three fighting ki hidden in the trees on his sides, and Inoue.
Four enemies. Wouldn't be easy, if the guys were great fighters, but he wouldn't let them hurt Misao longer.
Aoshi braced himself, focusing on the man in front of him. He knew that if he failed, he wouldn't have any opportunity of striking back, but the mere view of Misao, who lay almost unconscious on the ground, was enough to make him utterly angry, and to give him an incredible boldness.
Suddenly, a fiendish glow of madness lighted up his icy eyes, and with a groan of fury, he jumped towards the young man, his kodachi crossed ahead of him.
As the blade met a bone with a sinister crack, everything merged in a whirpool of blackness, cries and blood.
…
Kill.
…
Kill.
…
Kill.
When Aoshi regained consciousness, he shivered.
He was standing right in the middle of a sea of blood, the sticky liquid still streaming on his swords, and dropping on the ground like crimson tears.
A lightning smashed the dark sky which burst open, and it began raining, at first isolated droplets drowning in the pool of blood, then big, hard drops hammering his skin.
On their fresh contact, the last doubts and uncertainties melted away in Aoshi's mind. He had killed, once more. He had lost every kind of self- control in order to throw himself in the madness of a fight. Four figures appeared in his head, coming back from an almost forgotten part of his heart, and his old fears surfaced again. He was falling again, but this time it was in such a deep abyss that he guessed he wouldn't be able to climb back.
Aoshi looked up, searching frantically for a mark, anything he could hang on to.
And his gaze fell on her.
She was standing a few steps away, her long, ebony hair partly loose from their usual braid surrounding her delicate features, and her torn tunic let see the white, soft skin of her breast. She was beautiful.
And her bright blue eyes remained focused on his, accusing.
Turn your eyes away. Turn them. Turn those damn eyes of yours !
But her eyes were still there. On the verge of tears. Incredibly cold.
He tried to ignore the way his insides twisted when he saw the bloodtrail on her cheek. A drop of water slid along her face, dissolving it in a red tear. Another followed. Trembling with sorrow and anger, her whole body stained with blood dragged along by the hard drops falling from the sky, Misao seemed a fallen angel lost in the bloody rain.
…………..
Chapter 3 : In the bloody rain
…………..
Misao ran as fast as she only could, unaware of the bitter tears streaking her face and blinding her.
Childish. So that was what she was to him : childish. A child. A mere child.
She wanted to scream, let go the despair in a last cry of painful agony.
But she kept running, fast, fast, away from him and his cold heart. She didn't even feel her legs begging a rest.
Suddenly, she fell. Her foot tripped over a stone, and before she could react, she collapsed. Her chin hit the ground, hard. A taste of fresh blood surged in her mouth, and the sharp pain of her injured knees and hands made her feel so weak that she didn't even try to get up.
Misao curled up in a ball, kneeling on the ground, pulling her knees to her chin. The tears were running through her face, and in the silence of her loneliness, she heard herself sobbing loudly.
She hated him. She hated him for being so ruthless, for regarding her as a brat. And over everything, she hated his scornful eyes and their cold, implacable look. Not even a hint of understanding. Just his usual detached indifference. She hated him ! Why did her heart wrench so painfully ? She hated him ! But it still hurt so much… She would have ripped her own heart out of her chest if she had only could, just so that the suffering could weaken. Why the heck did she feel as if her heart was going to explode ? Why did he harm her like that ?
A cold wind brought her back to consciousness. The heavy warmth of the morning had changed in stormy rain clouds heaped up in a dark grey sky. Considering the luminosity, Misao had stayed prostrate during hours. She wipped the tears from her moist cheeks with a trembling hand. What had she planned to do again ? Oh yes. Go to the Yaminobu's headquarters and kick his ass to their damn leader… But it was out of the question now. It was time to come back in the Aioya. She knew she couldn't mislead Okina about her pain, and she feared she might have to face Aoshi at the diner, but she was not in order to sleep in the open.
Misao gathered all her strenght of mind and body in order to get up. Her limbs felt heavier than ever. Her head over all. She made a face as she tried to outstrech her legs, her muscles stiffed by staying in the same position for so long, and the wounds on her knees opening up again. Damn, her whole body was so tired… Every inch of it refused to move, to coordinate with the other body parts.
She felt like a little doll, a dislocated puppet that someone would have let fall on the floor. Broken. Dead.
But just as she managed to stand up, something hard was hurled against her back, and hit her so violently that she couldn't help crying in pain and surprize. She fell again, tears coming back to her eyes.
An unknown, scathing voice rose from somewhere in her back.
"Is that all what the Oniwabanshuu are able to do ? What a pity… Stand up, Oniwabanshuu bitch !!"
Before Misao's distraught senses could even notice it, a tall young man was standing in front of her. With a frightening slowness, he caught her by the top of her shirt and lifted her up, until her loose head was at the level of his.
She opened her tearful eyes, hardly aware of what happened to her injured body. But her mind was rushing in bewildered and incoherent thoughts. She glanced at the man's face, not even conscious enough to glare at him. Her frantic mind wasn't coherent enough to understand or react, but scanned his face with the painful precision of madness. She etched in her memory the sharp eyes, the straight nose, and the nervous expression of a strange pleasure in seeing her suffering.
Misao saw her death in those eyes.
"Who… who are you…" she managed to articulate.
The look in the young man's eyes became harder, filled with anger and disappointment.
"So you won't guess, little girl ?"
He brought her closer, until his mouth brushed against her ear.
"This'll be a secret between you and me, little girl.", he murmured under his breath."I am Inoue, the leader of the Yaminobu, Oniwabanshuu bitch."
Misao shivered. In all her life, she had never seen such a hatred in anyone's eyes. Never apart from one time. In Aoshi's eyes, once. Just once.
At the thought of Aoshi, her heart wrenched. He had already warned her about his feelings, and she had wanted to hang on her own hopes. She hadn't believe it could be true, when he told her that he didn't want to see her again. And now…
But her painful musings were abruptly interrupted by a violent slap on her cheek. She let out a shriek of suffering, as her eyes snapped open, bright of tears, the pupil dilated.
The man grinned coldly with a hint of amusement.
Misao caught her breath, waiting for the next blow. A punch thrown in her lower abdomen. Her eyes tightly closed, tears running on her face, she had to gather all her last strengths to control a scream. No way she was going to make him the favor of screaming.
Kicks followed punchs, on her face, in her back, in her stomach. The heart pounding wildly, she was taking the shocks with a hard determination of remaining silent, while bitting her lower lip till the blood came.
And suddenly she realized that she didn't want to resist. She was not in order to fight back, so it would be easier if her death came soon. And so she wouldn't have to assume Aoshi's disgusts about her, she thought bitterly.
Her manhandled body stopped reacting to the blows and shocks that came from everywhere. A mist with strench of blood invaded her mind, numbing her senses until the extrem limit of the fainting fit.
A mere sound managed to reach her brain.
The sound of drawing a sword.
Misao knew that her last hour had come. And in a way, that didn't affect her. The faster she would die, the better it would be.
Nevertheless, during a time that seemed to Misao an eternity, the fatal stab didn't come.
Instead of that, she felt the man dropping her. The fall started very slowly in her dizzy mind, then speeded up, and she hit the ground with frightening speed. She moanned with aching pain.
But she had recovered part of her abilities, and she heard Inoue's mocking voice, speaking with ironical thoughtlessness.
"Welcome among us, Shinomori Aoshi."
……..
Kill.
Kill.
Kill.
One only word resounded in Aoshi's mind.
Kill.
Whoever wound Misao, whoever touch her would die.
His icy blue-grey eyes were shining with metallics gleams just like his drawn kodachi, and staring at Inoue with a threatening glare. His well- trained mind scanned the neighbourhood ; he sensed three fighting ki hidden in the trees on his sides, and Inoue.
Four enemies. Wouldn't be easy, if the guys were great fighters, but he wouldn't let them hurt Misao longer.
Aoshi braced himself, focusing on the man in front of him. He knew that if he failed, he wouldn't have any opportunity of striking back, but the mere view of Misao, who lay almost unconscious on the ground, was enough to make him utterly angry, and to give him an incredible boldness.
Suddenly, a fiendish glow of madness lighted up his icy eyes, and with a groan of fury, he jumped towards the young man, his kodachi crossed ahead of him.
As the blade met a bone with a sinister crack, everything merged in a whirpool of blackness, cries and blood.
…
Kill.
…
Kill.
…
Kill.
When Aoshi regained consciousness, he shivered.
He was standing right in the middle of a sea of blood, the sticky liquid still streaming on his swords, and dropping on the ground like crimson tears.
A lightning smashed the dark sky which burst open, and it began raining, at first isolated droplets drowning in the pool of blood, then big, hard drops hammering his skin.
On their fresh contact, the last doubts and uncertainties melted away in Aoshi's mind. He had killed, once more. He had lost every kind of self- control in order to throw himself in the madness of a fight. Four figures appeared in his head, coming back from an almost forgotten part of his heart, and his old fears surfaced again. He was falling again, but this time it was in such a deep abyss that he guessed he wouldn't be able to climb back.
Aoshi looked up, searching frantically for a mark, anything he could hang on to.
And his gaze fell on her.
She was standing a few steps away, her long, ebony hair partly loose from their usual braid surrounding her delicate features, and her torn tunic let see the white, soft skin of her breast. She was beautiful.
And her bright blue eyes remained focused on his, accusing.
Turn your eyes away. Turn them. Turn those damn eyes of yours !
But her eyes were still there. On the verge of tears. Incredibly cold.
He tried to ignore the way his insides twisted when he saw the bloodtrail on her cheek. A drop of water slid along her face, dissolving it in a red tear. Another followed. Trembling with sorrow and anger, her whole body stained with blood dragged along by the hard drops falling from the sky, Misao seemed a fallen angel lost in the bloody rain.