~Crimson~
By: Alithiel Daystar
Disclaimer: I do not own Kenshin, that I do not. I only own the plot, that I do. Sessha hopes you like the story, that she does. *dodges flying tomatoes, green leafy vegetables, cans of SPAM, and shopping carts* HEY!!! BUZZ OFF!!! Sheesh.never plug a fic in front of a grocery store.
I would like to sincerely thank Little Chi, Lady Subaru, D.J., miko demon hunter, Hanna-chan, Conscience Fairy, animecartoons, and Arlyssa (O.ox) for reviewing this fic. I didn't think I would get so many at once! Thank you all for being so kind to Sessha. *Looks googly-eyed at ambereyes/yosei* Maa, maa.both of you, PLEASE calm down.! Sessha is very sorry she's taking so long, there's no need for violence! *Hides behind a wall*
Alithiel
Part 3: Struggle
To Kaoru's surprise, the scene shifted to a much different one than she thought.
"The.Aoiya?" She whispered, puzzled as to why it would take her there. Then she gave herself a mental smack. Of course.she had wondered if Misao would laugh at her for her foolishness.
/////
Makimachi Misao ran out of the Aoiya's font door, dashing through the streets of Kyoto toward the shrine on the hill. Her long black braid whipped around behind her, nearly taking out four people as she ran past them.
"Gomen!" She hollered at them, sending all four of them down anyway with the pure decibels of her voice. The breath whistled out of her lungs as she ran/climbed the long flight of stairs leading to the shrine.
"Damn.those.priests.why the.hell do they.need so many..FRIGGIN STAIRS?!" She panted as she lurched over the top step. She glanced around the deserted, tree-dotted yard, trying to catch her breath, looking for a moment toward the city before she made her way to the shrine proper.
"Aoshi-sama?" She called quietly as she entered, finally spying a shadowed figure in a white robe meditating. His voice floated through the dim shrine just as she was about to pounce on him.
"Misao, I am busy." Shinomori Aoshi returned his attention to his meditations. Misao plopped down beside him, staring at him insistently with emerald eyes. "Still looking for enlightenment, Aoshi-sama?"
"No man can achieve enlightenment without total immersion." The Okashira of the Oniwabanshu gumi declared piously with a glance at her. "What is it you want? Usually you prattle to no end, yet you are silent."
"This will sound silly.but I'm worried about Kaoru."
Aoshi arched a single dark brow, an abnormal expression of curiosity in his cold blue eyes. "Why are you so concerned for Himura Battousai's woman?"
Misao continued. "I have this feeling she's in trouble.but she shouldn't be, right?! I mean, she has Himura and the others, right?"
Aoshi couldn't help but chuckle as he settled himself into is meditative pose once more. "Come, Misao. Join me in my meditations. Maybe you will receive your answer?"
Misao thought a moment before sighing. "Maybe."
"The gods will provide." Aoshi declared as she settled in.
"I hope so."
/////
Kaoru shook her head as the mirror clouded once more. " Amazing.Misao was quiet for more than a second." Thoughtfully she added, "I am surprised that they are concerned as well."
Tomoe merely smiled at the younger woman. "Even though they are not near, their thoughts still count you. You are important to them as well.and you should not allow yourself to slip away."
"Slip away." Kaoru chuckled. "I guess that would be too easy." Tears began to slide from her eyes as her emotions finally broke free. "What good am I?? I'm a woman with no use whatsoever! I can't cook at all, I'm a horrible housekeeper, I yell and throw things.I'm not quiet and demure like all the other women." Her eyes fell. "I'm useless.everyone would be happier if I just."
"No!" Tomoe snapped, glaring darkly at Kaoru, who snapped her head up in surprise at the change in tone. "You stop that right now! Don't you see how much your friends care for you? They love you!"
Turning her eyes away, the younger woman sighed. "Maybe.but.the one I." Though she left her sentence unfinished, her thoughts rang clearly in the air.
The one I want to love me doesn't.
The mirror swirled and cleared for the last time.
/////
Kenshin wandered along the riverside in the sunlight. He had been walking, simply wandering around the city that was now his home, since he'd left the dojo last night, and now it was about noon. The citizens of Tokyo simply walked past him. They'd not only gotten used to him carrying his sakabatou around, but had also noticed his disheveled appearance, taking it as a signal not to bother him. Unless, of course, they wanted a Ryou Sou Sen to the head.
Kenshin preferred it this way. It allowed him to be alone with his pain.
Megumi-dono had said that her sickness, her scarlet fever, was caused by stress. He understood that, with taking care of the dojo, teaching Yahiko, babysitting Ayame and Suzume (and Sano), and fielding Megumi's quips, of course she'd run herself into the ground! And himself, the stupid Hitokiri Battousai turned rurouni that did the laundry and always ended up leaving for some righteous battle and making her life worse.
Kaoru.she filled his mind at every moment. The instant she approached him on the street, an angry Kamiya Kasshin Ryu assistant master looking for the Hitokiri Battousai, she had changed his life. She had been the only one able to keep him from killing.
Yukishiro Tomoe, his first wife.she had been able to pull him from his rage.but Kaoru had been able to prevent it completely. Not at first.but as time went by, she did.
He stooped walking, surprised to find himself in the same place where Jin- eh Udou had taken her away.
He sat on the rain-slick grass of the riverbank; violet eyes unfathomable as he watched the flowing water sparkle in the sun.
Kaoru had been able to break Jin-eh's paralyzing spell out of concern for him.he found himself remembering.
Kaoru giving him her favorite ribbon before Jin-eh took her, and then chasing him when he got blood on it.the look in her eyes when he was taken by Shura and the pirates.The sadness when he embraced her farewell before leaving for Kyoto.The joy of seeing her again.the feel of her hand in his as they sat on he roof of the Aoiya, before everyone interrupted.
He chuckled in spite of himself. Things might have been interesting if they hadn't been interrupted.
The darker, more evil memories invaded, mainly the vision of her, dead with a x-shaped cut in her smooth cheek, courtesy of Tomoe's younger brother Enishi, and the despair of the Rakuninmura before Tsubame had journeyed there to tell him she was alive.
Kenshin felt the wetness of a tear slide down his scarred cheek. He knew he was crying. He was unworthy to be part of her life, a stupid samurai with a past soaked with blood. The blood of men, Tomoe's blood.even so.
If she died.
He stood from the riverbank, lifting his face to the sky, mud-splattered and disheveled. The warm sunlight shone on his red hair as he fixed hopeless violet eyes on the thin clouds above.
"Gods.whichever ones may be listening, " He began, "I know that this stupid rurouni has done nothing for you these long years.so, Sessha deserves nothing. But.I beg of you! If you hold any kindness in your hearts, please, PLEASE save Kamiya Kaoru!"
His voice grew louder, more strident.
"She has touched so many lives.she saved a samurai's son.she protected an inn full of people, she even put up with Sanosuke and Megumi-dono.which is no small feat in itself."
He lowered his head, looking at his sandaled feet, his voice still fierce with old pain.
"But, most important of all.she kept me from breaking my vow and taking life again. If not for her, I would be even more damned than I already am."
Kenshin's fists clenched by his sides. A single tear fell, shining in the warm air before splattering on top of his foot.
His voice reduced to a whisper, he continued. "So, please.grant me this one wish.do not take Kamiya Kaoru from us.do not take her from me."
His knees wobbled. His next thought rang loudly in his mind, although he did not speak it.
-Don't take Kaoru from me.because.I love her.-
Himura Kenshin, master of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, the Hitokiri Battousai and slayer of many, fell to his knees in the mud of the riverbank, sobbing under the noon sun over an assistant Kamiya Kasshin master. After a moment this way, he felt a familiar presence brush across his ki, the feeling making him leap to his feet and take off running for the Kamiya Dojo.
/////
Kaoru removed her hand from the mirror surface, luminous tears streaming from her astonished eyes.
"I.never thought."
Tomoe laid her hand on Kaoru's spiritual shoulder. "Do you see now?"
The girl looked up suddenly. "That was the whole point of this, wasn't it?"
"In a way, yes." Tomoe glanced toward the mirror. "By allowing you to see how the people around you felt, it restored your will. You were at the end of your rope.as it was, you'd nearly given up, am I right?"
Kaoru hung her head. "Yes.I.felt as if I had failed in everything. Kamiya Kasshin Ryu, all the things my father taught me. I felt as if it all was for nothing."
"But that's not the only thing, was it?" The older woman asked slyly.
"No.I felt as if at any moment, Kenshin would leave again."
"He won't leave again. He has you now. That's enough reason not to go."
Kaoru smiled, wiping her tears away. "Yes! And it's time he and I cleared this matter up, am I right, Tomoe-san?"
"Wrong!"
The two women turned to the strange voice. A black door had opened into the white space, and standing beside it was a tall woman. Her hair was black as night and poker-straight, and her eyes glowed crimson from beneath her bangs. Her black robes swirled as she approached them, grinning evilly.
"You.!" Tomoe muttered.
"That's right, chickadee." The figure laughed. "It has been so long, Yukishiro Tomoe.I believe, it was the day the Hitokiri Battousai killed you?"
"Who are you?" Kaoru demanded. She felt strangely cold as she watched the dark woman.
"Oh, I have many names in many cultures." She flipped her long hair carelessly. ".But most people call me Shinimegami."
"Sh.Shinimegami.the Goddess of Death!" Kaoru shivered.
"Call me Shini, my dear." The death Goddess laughed coldly. "Its time you came with me, you know. That's why I'm here."
"No!" Tomoe declared. "You can't have her."
"Really now?" Shinimegami placed her hands on her robed hips, looking benignly at the elder woman. "I just don't see how you can stop me."
"I will stop you." Kaoru said, stepping forward with resolve in her blue eyes. Tomoe looked at the snippet of a girl with no small amount of surprise, happy that she finally saw what she needed to see. The girl glared Death in the eye, fist clenched by her side.
"I'll fight you if I have to." Kaoru stated in a deadly quiet voice. Shinimegami merely shrugged. "I figured someone like you would try." The death goddess said quietly. "But let me warn you that I'm undefeated." With that she threw her cloak aside.
A familiar face stared back at her.
Kaoru gasped. She was facing.herself?!
/////
Like you all couldn't see this coming, ne? With work, I haven't exactly been able to write much, and not to mention neglecting my other fics.the next part is the last, and it has a song in it. Read and review, if you will! Thanx!
By: Alithiel Daystar
Disclaimer: I do not own Kenshin, that I do not. I only own the plot, that I do. Sessha hopes you like the story, that she does. *dodges flying tomatoes, green leafy vegetables, cans of SPAM, and shopping carts* HEY!!! BUZZ OFF!!! Sheesh.never plug a fic in front of a grocery store.
I would like to sincerely thank Little Chi, Lady Subaru, D.J., miko demon hunter, Hanna-chan, Conscience Fairy, animecartoons, and Arlyssa (O.ox) for reviewing this fic. I didn't think I would get so many at once! Thank you all for being so kind to Sessha. *Looks googly-eyed at ambereyes/yosei* Maa, maa.both of you, PLEASE calm down.! Sessha is very sorry she's taking so long, there's no need for violence! *Hides behind a wall*
Alithiel
Part 3: Struggle
To Kaoru's surprise, the scene shifted to a much different one than she thought.
"The.Aoiya?" She whispered, puzzled as to why it would take her there. Then she gave herself a mental smack. Of course.she had wondered if Misao would laugh at her for her foolishness.
/////
Makimachi Misao ran out of the Aoiya's font door, dashing through the streets of Kyoto toward the shrine on the hill. Her long black braid whipped around behind her, nearly taking out four people as she ran past them.
"Gomen!" She hollered at them, sending all four of them down anyway with the pure decibels of her voice. The breath whistled out of her lungs as she ran/climbed the long flight of stairs leading to the shrine.
"Damn.those.priests.why the.hell do they.need so many..FRIGGIN STAIRS?!" She panted as she lurched over the top step. She glanced around the deserted, tree-dotted yard, trying to catch her breath, looking for a moment toward the city before she made her way to the shrine proper.
"Aoshi-sama?" She called quietly as she entered, finally spying a shadowed figure in a white robe meditating. His voice floated through the dim shrine just as she was about to pounce on him.
"Misao, I am busy." Shinomori Aoshi returned his attention to his meditations. Misao plopped down beside him, staring at him insistently with emerald eyes. "Still looking for enlightenment, Aoshi-sama?"
"No man can achieve enlightenment without total immersion." The Okashira of the Oniwabanshu gumi declared piously with a glance at her. "What is it you want? Usually you prattle to no end, yet you are silent."
"This will sound silly.but I'm worried about Kaoru."
Aoshi arched a single dark brow, an abnormal expression of curiosity in his cold blue eyes. "Why are you so concerned for Himura Battousai's woman?"
Misao continued. "I have this feeling she's in trouble.but she shouldn't be, right?! I mean, she has Himura and the others, right?"
Aoshi couldn't help but chuckle as he settled himself into is meditative pose once more. "Come, Misao. Join me in my meditations. Maybe you will receive your answer?"
Misao thought a moment before sighing. "Maybe."
"The gods will provide." Aoshi declared as she settled in.
"I hope so."
/////
Kaoru shook her head as the mirror clouded once more. " Amazing.Misao was quiet for more than a second." Thoughtfully she added, "I am surprised that they are concerned as well."
Tomoe merely smiled at the younger woman. "Even though they are not near, their thoughts still count you. You are important to them as well.and you should not allow yourself to slip away."
"Slip away." Kaoru chuckled. "I guess that would be too easy." Tears began to slide from her eyes as her emotions finally broke free. "What good am I?? I'm a woman with no use whatsoever! I can't cook at all, I'm a horrible housekeeper, I yell and throw things.I'm not quiet and demure like all the other women." Her eyes fell. "I'm useless.everyone would be happier if I just."
"No!" Tomoe snapped, glaring darkly at Kaoru, who snapped her head up in surprise at the change in tone. "You stop that right now! Don't you see how much your friends care for you? They love you!"
Turning her eyes away, the younger woman sighed. "Maybe.but.the one I." Though she left her sentence unfinished, her thoughts rang clearly in the air.
The one I want to love me doesn't.
The mirror swirled and cleared for the last time.
/////
Kenshin wandered along the riverside in the sunlight. He had been walking, simply wandering around the city that was now his home, since he'd left the dojo last night, and now it was about noon. The citizens of Tokyo simply walked past him. They'd not only gotten used to him carrying his sakabatou around, but had also noticed his disheveled appearance, taking it as a signal not to bother him. Unless, of course, they wanted a Ryou Sou Sen to the head.
Kenshin preferred it this way. It allowed him to be alone with his pain.
Megumi-dono had said that her sickness, her scarlet fever, was caused by stress. He understood that, with taking care of the dojo, teaching Yahiko, babysitting Ayame and Suzume (and Sano), and fielding Megumi's quips, of course she'd run herself into the ground! And himself, the stupid Hitokiri Battousai turned rurouni that did the laundry and always ended up leaving for some righteous battle and making her life worse.
Kaoru.she filled his mind at every moment. The instant she approached him on the street, an angry Kamiya Kasshin Ryu assistant master looking for the Hitokiri Battousai, she had changed his life. She had been the only one able to keep him from killing.
Yukishiro Tomoe, his first wife.she had been able to pull him from his rage.but Kaoru had been able to prevent it completely. Not at first.but as time went by, she did.
He stooped walking, surprised to find himself in the same place where Jin- eh Udou had taken her away.
He sat on the rain-slick grass of the riverbank; violet eyes unfathomable as he watched the flowing water sparkle in the sun.
Kaoru had been able to break Jin-eh's paralyzing spell out of concern for him.he found himself remembering.
Kaoru giving him her favorite ribbon before Jin-eh took her, and then chasing him when he got blood on it.the look in her eyes when he was taken by Shura and the pirates.The sadness when he embraced her farewell before leaving for Kyoto.The joy of seeing her again.the feel of her hand in his as they sat on he roof of the Aoiya, before everyone interrupted.
He chuckled in spite of himself. Things might have been interesting if they hadn't been interrupted.
The darker, more evil memories invaded, mainly the vision of her, dead with a x-shaped cut in her smooth cheek, courtesy of Tomoe's younger brother Enishi, and the despair of the Rakuninmura before Tsubame had journeyed there to tell him she was alive.
Kenshin felt the wetness of a tear slide down his scarred cheek. He knew he was crying. He was unworthy to be part of her life, a stupid samurai with a past soaked with blood. The blood of men, Tomoe's blood.even so.
If she died.
He stood from the riverbank, lifting his face to the sky, mud-splattered and disheveled. The warm sunlight shone on his red hair as he fixed hopeless violet eyes on the thin clouds above.
"Gods.whichever ones may be listening, " He began, "I know that this stupid rurouni has done nothing for you these long years.so, Sessha deserves nothing. But.I beg of you! If you hold any kindness in your hearts, please, PLEASE save Kamiya Kaoru!"
His voice grew louder, more strident.
"She has touched so many lives.she saved a samurai's son.she protected an inn full of people, she even put up with Sanosuke and Megumi-dono.which is no small feat in itself."
He lowered his head, looking at his sandaled feet, his voice still fierce with old pain.
"But, most important of all.she kept me from breaking my vow and taking life again. If not for her, I would be even more damned than I already am."
Kenshin's fists clenched by his sides. A single tear fell, shining in the warm air before splattering on top of his foot.
His voice reduced to a whisper, he continued. "So, please.grant me this one wish.do not take Kamiya Kaoru from us.do not take her from me."
His knees wobbled. His next thought rang loudly in his mind, although he did not speak it.
-Don't take Kaoru from me.because.I love her.-
Himura Kenshin, master of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, the Hitokiri Battousai and slayer of many, fell to his knees in the mud of the riverbank, sobbing under the noon sun over an assistant Kamiya Kasshin master. After a moment this way, he felt a familiar presence brush across his ki, the feeling making him leap to his feet and take off running for the Kamiya Dojo.
/////
Kaoru removed her hand from the mirror surface, luminous tears streaming from her astonished eyes.
"I.never thought."
Tomoe laid her hand on Kaoru's spiritual shoulder. "Do you see now?"
The girl looked up suddenly. "That was the whole point of this, wasn't it?"
"In a way, yes." Tomoe glanced toward the mirror. "By allowing you to see how the people around you felt, it restored your will. You were at the end of your rope.as it was, you'd nearly given up, am I right?"
Kaoru hung her head. "Yes.I.felt as if I had failed in everything. Kamiya Kasshin Ryu, all the things my father taught me. I felt as if it all was for nothing."
"But that's not the only thing, was it?" The older woman asked slyly.
"No.I felt as if at any moment, Kenshin would leave again."
"He won't leave again. He has you now. That's enough reason not to go."
Kaoru smiled, wiping her tears away. "Yes! And it's time he and I cleared this matter up, am I right, Tomoe-san?"
"Wrong!"
The two women turned to the strange voice. A black door had opened into the white space, and standing beside it was a tall woman. Her hair was black as night and poker-straight, and her eyes glowed crimson from beneath her bangs. Her black robes swirled as she approached them, grinning evilly.
"You.!" Tomoe muttered.
"That's right, chickadee." The figure laughed. "It has been so long, Yukishiro Tomoe.I believe, it was the day the Hitokiri Battousai killed you?"
"Who are you?" Kaoru demanded. She felt strangely cold as she watched the dark woman.
"Oh, I have many names in many cultures." She flipped her long hair carelessly. ".But most people call me Shinimegami."
"Sh.Shinimegami.the Goddess of Death!" Kaoru shivered.
"Call me Shini, my dear." The death Goddess laughed coldly. "Its time you came with me, you know. That's why I'm here."
"No!" Tomoe declared. "You can't have her."
"Really now?" Shinimegami placed her hands on her robed hips, looking benignly at the elder woman. "I just don't see how you can stop me."
"I will stop you." Kaoru said, stepping forward with resolve in her blue eyes. Tomoe looked at the snippet of a girl with no small amount of surprise, happy that she finally saw what she needed to see. The girl glared Death in the eye, fist clenched by her side.
"I'll fight you if I have to." Kaoru stated in a deadly quiet voice. Shinimegami merely shrugged. "I figured someone like you would try." The death goddess said quietly. "But let me warn you that I'm undefeated." With that she threw her cloak aside.
A familiar face stared back at her.
Kaoru gasped. She was facing.herself?!
/////
Like you all couldn't see this coming, ne? With work, I haven't exactly been able to write much, and not to mention neglecting my other fics.the next part is the last, and it has a song in it. Read and review, if you will! Thanx!