Heyheyhey! Hello again! A faster update this time! (Compared to the last one)
I've never had so many people call me mean all at the same time! Some even called me cruel! LOL… But..despite almost all of you saying that I'm mean (I swear I'm not, I'm actually a very nice person, I just happen to be ingenious at that time…hehehe) I want to thank you all for the nice comments that followed the "You're so mean!" part. Thank you also for making me laugh and giggle like crazy every time I read and remember the reviews (My parents think I'm so weird, suddenly bursting into giggles. The reactions are so funny…I honestly didn't think anyone would fall for it. And for all of you who got scared to death, or whose heart stopped for a second or two, I'm really sorry about that. Teehee..
Thank you so much to all those nice people who reviewed. I got 25 reviews last chapter!! Wow, that's a record for me! (The joke certainly was an effective way to make people review… not that I'll ever use it again…promise! *tries to look innocent* ) Special thanks goes to tearlesereph who was up till 5am reading the entire fic.
To those who thought Aoshi was OOC last chapter, and should have been more cautious…well..if he had, then Kaoru would have never been kidnapped, neh? And as Susan said, this fic would have been uninteresting if that didn't happen. It'll just be painfully dragging and plain.
One more thing…Kenshin using a katana has been introduced in a previous chapter, right? So don't be surprised if he actually uses it in this or the following chapter. Some of the sword-wielding RK characters may use them too, even if this is set in modern times. It's just not RK without them, and as I've pointed before, "sword technique schools" still exist today. But don't worry, guns will also be used at the same time.
Anyway….here it is! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin. This fic is entirely fictional and Japan did not have a Project Messiah nor a Mission Messiah as far as I know.
Other Side of the Moon
The Flower Wreath
Chapter 13
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I think that there must be a tiny star out there that is my star…
and, as I am alone here on earth among millions of people,
that tiny star is out there among millions and millions of stars!
---Charlie Brown (May 17, 1958 United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You're awake." Kaoru heard as she slowly opened her eyes, which were still blurry and slowly adjusting to the bright light.
"You've been out all afternoon I think," the voice continued.
"Who are you? Where am I?" she consecutively asked as she struggled to focus her eyes.
"Ah, yes. I haven't introduced myself, forgive my rudeness. My name's Kanryu Takeda. I believe your name's Miss Kaoru Kamiya, am I right?"
"Takeda.." she murmured. 'Damn. They got me.' Kaoru remained quiet.
"Not the talkative one are we? Fine by me, the last thing I need is a loud woman in my premises," he said to no one in particular.
"Sir, the meeting is about to start," a man standing by the door informed.
"Well then, I'm afraid I'll have to leave you for a while Miss Kamiya, but don't worry, I'll be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, he will keep you company," Kanryu bid as he walked out the door. Mere seconds later, a young man stepped inside the room.
Kaoru immediately recognized the man and said, "You're the one that brought me here."
The man remained expressionless, as he leaned at the door's frame.
"I thought you were going to kill me. You had a gun at my neck didn't you?" she continued.
Silence.
Kaoru was beginning to think that he isn't going to talk to her at all. 'Perhaps, he couldn't understand a word I'm saying,' she thought as her eyes wandered upwards from the man's newly polished shoes, neatly pressed pants, navy blue dress shirt, fairly white skin, tight flat lips, steel blue eyes, to his light colored hair. Her careful observation ceased when she heard him answer ----
"It was only loaded with a tranquilizer," he answered with an accent.
"Figures," she answered sarcastically, then talked some more. "What happened to the little girl, did you hurt her too?"
"Little girl?" the guy snorted. "You must mean Marguerite," he continued shortly. "Why would I hurt her? We work for the same people. And don't call her little girl, she's not as young as you think."
Not sure of what to say next, she chose to remain silent and studied her 'company' instead.
'The accent he had… He certainly is not Japanese,' she concluded.
"The door to your right is the bathroom, TV's right in front of you, it even has digital cable," he explained gravely as he folded his arms across his chest and deliberately closed his eyes. He paused to let Kaoru speak, but when he heard nothing he continued the 'orientation.' "There's a game console below the TV. Marguerite thought you might get bored so she let you borrow the unit for a while. But I doubt if she can stay away from it too long, she's a video game addict, so she'll probably knock on your door later and play with it for a while," he talked as if this was an overnight stay of some sort.
"Why are you saying all these things to me?" asked a perplexed Kaoru.
"I thought it would be nice if you got settled comfortably in your new room,"' he said in a surprisingly cordial tone. And as if reading Kaoru's mind perfectly, his tone abruptly changed back to its usual hostility, "There's no way you can escape Miss Kamiya so don't even think about it. There's someone guarding your window and door--- the only means of access in this room. We chose not to give you a computer nor a telephone line, for obvious reasons."
Not letting herself feel fear from the man in front of her she haughtily said, "Of course," and rolled her eyes.
"Now…" the man said as he lifted his eyelids lazily, turned his head towards Kaoru's direction, and gazed intently at her eyes. "If you'll let me finish my speech."
Kaoru stiffened a bit, and looked the opposite direction.
His lips shifted to a twisted smile for the first time, as he let his eyelids fall once more, and went on, "The armoire on the left hand side is full of clothes, feel free to use any of them."
"What's your name?" she bluntly asked.
The guy grimaced languidly before he released his name, "Vincent."
Silence.
"I'll go tell the cook you are awake, they'll bring your food shortly," Vincent said before stepping out of the room and shutting the door behind him.
"Vincent," she murmured his name. 'His eyes, when he looked at me…they were beautiful,' she thought.
'Baka Kaoru. What the hell am I thinking?' she shook her head, desperately trying to free her mind from such thoughts. She approached the bedroom door, and tried to open it with all she had. When the door didn't bulge at all, she decided to check out the window. She pulled the curtain to the side and saw that the windows were barred with horizontal metal bars--- every five inches, top to bottom.
*Sigh* 'They really took precautions,' she thought miserably, then took a peek at what's present below her window. "Guards," she whispered. Standing right below her window were two guards, heavily armed and on high alert.
Accepting her state at the moment, she slowly made her way to the bed, sat down slowly and tried to think things through.
'Alright, I have to recall what happened first,' her brainstorming started. 'This morning I…' with the sudden rush of events, she immediately halted her reflection and broke into worry instead, 'Oh no….'
"Aoshi," she said as her face paled.
**
"How's he doing?"
"He still has a moderately high fever, but he's not in a critical condition anymore," the doctor answered.
"I see. Is he awake?" Saito inquired.
"No sir. The only time he woke up was when he vomited, rather severely if I may add," reported the specialist.
"Have you found out what happened to him?" he asked.
"He seems to be suffering by blood poisoning. He was poisoned with ricin."
"Ricin?" the captain asked skeptically.
"Yes, it is a deadly poison, a derivative of the castor-plant. Luckily, the antidote for the said poison was discovered a few years back. Not a lot of people know how to formulate it, fortunately one of our doctors knows. If not, he would have been dead in four days," explained the doctor.
"How did he get poisoned? Do you know?"
"Yes. We found a miniscule platinum-iridium pellet in his left leg. It is a pellet much smaller than a pin's head. According to the lab tests done, the said pellet contained the poison."
"I see. Was this micro pellet shot by a certain type of gun?" Saito asked.
"I do not know sir. It is my first time to see one. Maybe we can just ask Shinomori-san to answer that when he wakes up. He is expected to wake up sometime this week."
**
"Knock, Knock! Are you still awake Kamiya-san?"
Kaoru abruptly sat up, after hearing the loud banging at the door and the high-pitched voice that came with it. She had been staring at the ceiling intently right after she finished eating her dinner--- the tray that was brought by one of the house's servants. She ate the meal without hesitation. Of course, they wouldn't dare cause her harm, not until they got what they wanted that is.
'The door is locked from outside, why the hell is this person knocking?' Kaoru thought not so politely, given that she isn't in a good mood since the kidnapping that morning. Not that anyone would blame her.
"What do you want?" she answered sharply.
Kaoru heard the door being unlocked and not long after, a girl gleefully appeared at the door, and merrily said, "I just wanted to play with you for a little while! It's not that late, it's only half past nine."
'I'm actually at my kidnapper's place right? Aren't I supposed to be all tied and gagged up? Then why am I here in a fully furnished bedroom, being fed and dressed like a princess and to top it all, one of my 'captors' is knocking at my door pleading to play a video game with me? I haven't been kidnapped before, but common sense tells me, this is not the conventional way,' she thought as she watched the girl in question hook up the game console and load the CD.
"By the way my name's Marguerite," she cheerfully introduced and extended her right hand, as she was waiting for the game's main menu to appear on the screen.
Kaoru looked suspiciously at the girl and kept her hands to herself.
"It is rude not to accept a lady's extended hand," she said.
'Why is my kidnapper acting all friendly? And---teaching me how a lady should act???' "Well, excuse my manners. I thought taking someone and keeping them locked up against their will was a form of rudeness too," she replied crudely.
"Ouch… You shouldn't act so smart in front of your captors you know? You may never know what we could do to you," the girl replied almost too sweetly.
"You won't touch me until you get what you want," she replied daringly.
"Ahh… right you are. Well then, I'm getting impatient now, let's play!" exclaimed the girl and threw Kaoru one of the controllers, as if the recent interaction never happened.
Kaoru, who still cannot understand what was happening, decided to play along until she finds out what this is all about. 'Strange. I'll just play along for a while and see how it goes.'
"I can't believe I died again!" whined the girl in her native tongue.
Kaoru, who was watching the girl play an RPG, stared blankly at the girl's reaction and wondered what the girl could have just said.
"Sorry, 'bout that, didn't mean to left you out. I just got so frustrated, I didn't realize I was talking in German," she apologized.
'Okaaay…since were getting all comfy here, as that guy said, guess it won't hurt to actually talk to her and maybe get some information,' Kaoru decided.
" Ah, so you're from Germany, huh?" started Kaoru.
"Yup! Bet you can't tell when I speak huh? My teacher said that I am very fluent in Japanese. I learned it when I was nine," Marguerite beamed. "Bet you can't tell how old I am too?" she continued.
"Umm... I thought you were about ten when I first saw you," guessed Kaoru.
"Wrong," she said dully before saying the correct answer with a huge grin. "I'm turning 16 next month!"
"Nani?" said Kaoru in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me!"
"That's such an exaggerated reaction Kamiya-san!!!!" she screeched.
Kaoru who was still in shock lowly muttered, "That guy wasn't kidding when he said you weren't as young as I thought."
"Guy?" she repeated. "You mean Vincent? You've met him? He's actually been to your room? Tall, blond, blue eyes? That guy?" she asked in one breath.
"Yeah, that's him," she replied shortly. 'What's up with all the questions?'
"What do you think of him? Don't you think he's totally cool?" the girl continued ignoring Kaoru's questions.
"Wha---?" Kaoru asked in complete disarray with what's going on.
"Stop it Marguerite, it's late," the girls heard someone say. Apparently someone had stepped inside the room and was left unnoticed by the two involved teenagers.
"You never let me have fun, Johann," she said while giving a pout.
"You're practically tormenting Kamiya-san," he added with no sympathy for the pouting figure.
'Now who's this guy?' Kaoru wondered. "Excuse me, but who are you?" she asked not bothering to consider being polite. These were her kidnappers anyway.
The man referred as Johann saw Kaoru's still confused look, and voluntarily cleaned things up, "Hello there," he greeted. "I hope I didn't intrude your privacy Kamiya-san, my name's Johann," he said politely. "I couldn't help but hear what you were talking about a few seconds before I let my presence known. Just ignore Marguerite's questions about Vincent. She can get carried away sometimes and not notice that she's going beyond the line," he said while casting a knowing look at the hyper active girl.
"You sound so old, O – NEE - CHAN!" the girl answered in return with much emphasis.
'That's her brother?' Kaoru thought, and that was when it hit her that two actually shared the same hair color, features, and both spoke with no accent at all.
"Shut up shorty, just go to your room already. It's way past your bed time," he jeered with a smirk posted across his face.
"What did you just call me??????? And since when did I ever have this so called bed time?" she erupted.
"What's all the commotion? I could hear you from downstairs," they heard one of the passerby ask.
'Sheesh…my so called room a.k.a. unconventional dungeon, is so exposed and open, people are practically walking in and out like we've known each other for a long time,' thought Kaoru sarcastically.
"Johann's bullying me again Vincent!" whined the girl to the newcomer as she stomped her right foot for emphasis.
"Go to sleep Marguerite," the boy replied emotionlessly, which earned a moan from the reprimanded girl. "Go and make sure she complies Johann, I want some peace and quiet here," he added.
The other man nodded in reply and escorted the girl out of the room, from the hallway Kaoru could still hear the girl whine, "Vincent's such a meanie!"
'I can't believe she's turning 16. And I can't believe these are my kidnappers,' she thought as she mentally shook her head. That was when she noticed that the guy named Vincent was still inside the room.
"Do you need something?" she asked flatly.
"Nothing, just watching you think. You looked so deep in thought," he said. "I told you she was going to come tonight."
"Ah, and she did," she answered not feeling too comfortable under the gaze of the tall blond.
"Well then, I'll let you rest now Miss Kamiya," he said as he turned his back to her.
"Wait!" she said.
"What?" he answered while still looking straight ahead.
"How long are you going to keep me here? How come you are not making any moves to take the password yet?"
"We only do the things we are commanded. They haven't told us anything yet besides the fact that we treat you well. That's all we're doing," he replied.
"Then why are you being all friendly around me?" she asked before he could make another step forward.
"I can see Marguerite has grown fond of you, maybe because you're the only other teenage girl in the house. Johann's always nice and polite. And me? I didn't know I was being friendly at all. Most people find me cold, but---" He made a slight turn to his left allowing him to see her through the corner of his eye before he finished his sentence, "I'm glad you think otherwise."
She felt her cheeks lightly flush but immediately covered it up by rebuking, "Don't give my question meanings which weren't there in the first place."
That earned another smirk from the young man who was about to lock her door. "But don't mistake our friendliness as a weakness, we are completely different people when we're at work," he said before he finally shut the door close.
**
"What happened?" Misao started the questioning. Sano and Kenshin were at the hospital too. They came as soon as they found out that Aoshi had gained consciousness.
"As I was waiting for Kaoru, a little girl came and asked for the umbrella that her brother left. After I handed the umbrella, she flashed this wicked smile and it was then that I felt a sudden sting in my left leg," he bitterly explained, as guilt and self-directed anger built up inside him again. It was his second time to narrate the incident that day, the first time with the members of the Mission.
"What, no gun?" inquired Sano.
"No, the only object near or aimed at my leg was the umbrella I told you about," he answered.
"I heard about an umbrella used for assassinations during the cold war," Kenshin shared.
"Yes, that came to my mind too," Aoshi agreed.
"Umbrella? War? What the heck are you talking about?" a lost Sano asked.
"I read a book years ago about an unsolved crime that happened in the cold war. The crime was about the murder of a Bulgarian defector who was broadcasting propaganda against the time's communist Bulgarian government. According to the article, the man was walking at his work's parking lot when he felt a sharp sting on his right thigh. He turned and saw a stranger holding a closed umbrella and heard him mutter an apology. He seemed fine for the next 10 hours, but after that he started to experience high fever, and nausea. He died four days after that. A similar event happened in France around the same time, and with another Bulgarian defector as well," explained Kenshin.
"But I haven't heard anyone use that method for a long time, lest here in Japan," pondered Aoshi.
"Say, did this 'girl' look like Japanese?" Kenshin asked.
"Not particularly. She had light brown hair and emerald eyes, but her Japanese is perfect though, no accent," he recalled.
"Are you saying that Kanryu may have hired a foreign group to do the job?" an overwhelmed Misao asked.
"It is possible. If not, we should have heard news about it already," Kenshin replied.
"Damn..we shouldn't have underestimated the enemy," Sano said.
"No room for regrets," they heard someone say as the room's door swung open. "The women finally tracked down who made the potentially fatal pellet. They have their location too. I need someone to go talk to them and find out whom Takeda is doing business with, and where they are keeping Kaoru. Any volunteers?" Saito asked.
"I'll go," Kenshin willingly volunteered.
"We'll go too," answered his two classmates instantly.
"Fine, Officer Seta will go with you three. Makimachi and Sagara will act as back ups. Himura and Seta will be the only ones to go inside, understand?" instructed the captain.
"Isn't that dangerous? Only the two of them?" questioned the young girl.
"I have confidence in my people, I don't know if you have the same confidence in your colleagues. In any case, that's why there are back ups. The less people, the quicker the mission will be," he answered.
"Fine by me. What's the address?" Kenshin asked fervidly.
.
A/n: Ok no more farewells here. Teehee..real notes right away.
Ok, the new hired hitmen (and woman) are introduced. I'm sure you quite caught that they are foreigners, specifically German. Wait! I don't have anything against German people at all! (Ei! The 'kidnappers' as revealed in this chapter turned out to be pretty cool, weren't they?) It's just that…*ahem long explanation coming up*
I'm currently watching the series Gravitation while writing this chapter, sooo…it kinda influenced my choices a little bit. Remember the guy named Vincent? I kinda patterned him to Yuki Eiri, blond, cool, etc. except for his eyes. It's kinda yellowish right? Don't want to have two pairs of amber eyes in my fic. Anyway, Yuki certainly don't look like Japanese, so in order to make quick decisions I asked my Dad to answer from the top of his head the first blue eyed, tall, blond people (By first I mean, the 'original' ones before they immigrated to other countries). He quickly answered Germans, Celtics, some French and English. I just picked his first answer.
Why foreigners you may ask? Because, I figured if it were Japanese, the police (meaning Mission Messiah) should have heard rumors or have received reports about it already (if so, they should have prevented Kaoru's kidnapping) since it is much easier to monitor local activities. International activities will be harder to monitor and keep track since it is outside the power and control of the Japanese government. Why didn't I use RK characters as the villains? Because I made Soujiro one of the good guys. If I were to pick the villains, it would have been Shishio and the Juppongatana. However, it is just unfair and weird if Soujiro's at the other side of the line. So I decided to make up my own set of villains.
I'm trying to give my "villains" character and not just there for the sake of having bad guys to kick butt, so that explains the pretty extensive part of this chapter.
About the fatal umbrella…(I actually did some research)
I actually read it in a book. I was asking my dad about cool gadgets and stuff and he showed me the said unsolved case. There actually was an umbrella used for assassinations during the cold war. Kenshin's explanations with the defectors and stuff were all real life events. Ricin's the real poison used in the mentioned umbrella. When the book was published, there was no antidote discovered yet for Ricin (the book is O-L-D). However, I refuse to kill Aoshi or any of my main character (I actually thought about it, but I can't seem to kill off anyone), so I invented the antidote part.
Reference: Wallace, Irving, and David Wallechinsky. The People's Almanac # 3. NY: Bantam Books, 1981.
I'm currently writing the next chapter, and it will contain action. Advise on how to improve, or simply how to write action sequences would be great. This'll be my first time to write one, so please be gentle. Also, tell me if you are all right with the pace I'm on right now. Not update wise (feels guilty) but I mean story wise, is the fic dragging or just on the right tempo?
I'm super sorry for the outrageously long author's notes (Ey, it was a long chapter after all, the longest so far). Please leave me a review! Thanks!
