Darkest Just Before Dawn
RK doesn't belong to me.
AN: Finally! A chapter that didn't begin with a beach scene!
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The festival was going well, and Kaoru couldn't help but fidget as she waited for her date. Hana had teased her about it all week, Marisa included. Then her mother found out! The well know woman of being able to take things with a straight face fainted.
"Ah, there you are koneko-chan," said Kenshin, from behind her.
"Koneko-chan?" She asked, swirling around and just staring. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a tight shirt, all tight and loose in the right places. In other words, he looked down right sexy in a dangerous. She had the faint thought about his being able to hide a gun in one of the many pockets of his pants, and who knows what else.
"Sorry about the lack of tradition, I usually don't like dressing up, unless it was for business."
"It's alright, if it wasn't for 'family tradition,' I wouldn't be dressed up wither!" she said, giggling.
Kaoru thought she would be the embarrassed one to this event, but instead, it was Kenshin who was the slow one, gazing off at something and getting a start back to reality when Kaoru talked to him.
"Hey, Kenshin?"
"Oro!"
This was the first time she heard this word and she looked at him for a moment and started to giggle.
"What's so funny?" he asked, clueless about the whole ordeal.
"Nothing, come on!" Kaoru smiled and started to skip on ahead. Kenshin smiled as he watched her go, but it wasn't what people would call a "good" smile, it was far from it.
"Imouto-chan!" called out Nanisa, coming up with her date. Richard Newton was handsome, but when compared to Kenshin, even you would know who was the sexiest. "I didn't know you have a date!"
"It was the reason why mother fainted the other day," Kaoru replied, looking at her sister innocently. A servant had told her that no one knew the reason why the lady of the house passed in the middle of the dinning room. "Anyway, its been nice seeing you, Nanisa-nee."
She grabbed Kenshin's hand and started to walk away when the screams broke through the crowds.
"Alright, no one make any sudden movements, or this pretty one gets it!" cried out a big man wearing dark clothes and one ugly Halloween mask. In his arms was a gun, but one of his buddies held…Hana!
Kaoru froze, a cold feeling traveling down her spine as she stared at her sister who was shaking in fear, though her eyes held a determined look; even with a gun right against her head.
"That's Hana," she whispered, tightening her hold on Kenshin's hand, wanting to wake up from a bad dream. That this was just a dream. He didn't reply, just pulled her closer to him.
Kenshin knew who they were—but, they weren't anyone from his group, they would never sink down to something like holding a girl hostage…at least not at a private event.
"Please tell me its gonna be alright," she said, speaking in a low whisper once more. "Some one tell me that she won't get killed…"
Once more he didn't reply. His guess, his thought, for this gang was hopefully not right, other wise…well, to make a short story even shorter, they could do a lot worse things to their hostages then death.
"Hey boss? Do we take money and shit from them all as well?" called out a member in somewhat of the same out fit—all their masks were different though—waving his gun to the people all sitting on the ground, all in fear or tears. Some even felt nothing.
"No, just the money from the booths. Now, we'll be going and remember, we're The Red Hawks!" In a puff of smoke there were gone, and Hana was gone with them.
Kenshin was right.
A silent walk three days latter, walking the same path she, Marisa and…Hana took only a week or so before. Kenshin was silent as he walked with her. He had been visiting her for a while, wanting to comfort her if she would allow him. And he found it incredibly easy, too easy, a scary easy.
It was like she was hiding deep within his arms, getting away from her family and life, taking in all he had instead.
"Hey Kenshin, have you ever loved a sister or a brother so much that you couldn't continue on living with out them?" she asked, stopping and sitting on a bench.
"No…you loved Hana that much, didn't you?" he sat down besides her, resting back.
"Yes…she was my only connecting to my family. No, she was my only family." Slowly she pulled up the long sleeve of her shirt, underneath was a bandage, the cloth a dark blue, matching her shirt. Kaoru unwound the bandage and underneath were several scratches, looking as if they had been made not that long ago. "My family keeps telling me that is was my fault that Hana is gone…So I do this, make myself feel pain, but I know its nothing compared to what she is feeling."
"Its not your fault," Kenshin whispered, slowly wrapping his arms about her, holding her close to him, leaning his head on her own.
"And how do you know?" She looked up at him, her blue eyes sparklingly with the verge of tears.
"I just do…Koneko-chan, will you run away with me…"
They didn't find the body until five days after her kidnapping, bruises all over, broken bones, blood…and The Red Hawks were no where to be found. The cremation was a sad one, and Kaoru was quiet through the whole thing.
Her face was pale, and her blue eyes looked black. She was confused on what to do, with a thousand different other emotions running through her at the same time. He asked her to run away with him, but she was only 13! But, whenever she thought a bout him, this unsettling feeling would start to form in her stomach, sending a nice feeling through out her entire body.
Hana would've wanted her to go, right? What that thought in mind, she decided she would.
"Kaoru-chan, may I please come in?" her mother opened the door and walked into the room, not waiting for an answer. She sat down on the edge on the bed and motioned for her daughter t sit beside her. "Kaoru-chan," she said, brushing some of Kaoru's bangs out of her face. "Your father and I, well, we have decided to marry you off."
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AN: Cliffhanger! And I am sorry for those who like Hana, but her death helps build a bigger gap between Kaoru and her family. And now—if you didn't ready it already—you can read 'Thoughts of Darkness' cause the spoilers ended here for that.
Also, I suggest reading 'FF7 Interviews' by MoMo-chan, before she discontinues it! I like it anyway, thought you would to…the big finish is everyone's favorite bad guy for FF7! Or at least mine.
Sano: ah, thank you, I didn't quite know what that was. And yeah, I guess it could be a term for her.
kurara: good guess, though reading the one-shot partner for this fic is kind of a dead give away, but you got it right.
omochi: that is what is going to happen in the next chapter.
Sabrina-star: thank you, this fic is just here to explain things for what happened before 'Darkest of Days,' like any other under prequl. I am glad you like my fics.
Shizuka: no, I just like doing so incase I don't update one as much as I do the other cause I don't know what to write. And so far, I have never put a chapter under the wrong the story.
Agent BloodRayne Yui Shinomori: I think I knew you were the same person, and thank you, but, the 'sequel' for Darkest of Days won't be until I'm done with this one.
Clownsareeveil & Darkshadowheartless: did I spell it right? Anyway, how many people out there wanted Nanisa to die as well? I know I did, like you, but there needs to be a bigger gap between her and her family.
tsuki-sama: ah, a proofreader…hmm, how about next chapter? Thank you.
aku-chan: some one out there guessed right before reading the spoiler one-shot, sorry kurara, but its pretty cool.
Black Wings Angel: thank you, and I will.
Thank you for reviewing and I hope you like this chapter as well as the others.