Disclaimer: Once again, I tell you I don't own Rurouni Kenshin and its
characters. They rightfully belong to Nobuhiro Watsuki-sensei so don't sue
me. I'm poor and I only wrote this stuff for entertainment purposes only.
Author's greetings: Hello to you all! Right after I finished Chapter 2, I started typing this chapter. So now it's actually 1:30 in the morning and I'm not gonna sleep until 2:30, if I can help it. So now enjoy, ok?!
Rating: PG-13 (though ratings may vary as the plot unfolds)
Warning: There are some foul languages here, I think. So I suggest you should skip the words if you can, OK? You'll find out sooner or later why I had to insert them. Enjoy!
Second Chance
Chapter III: Promises
Kenshin shifted restlessly to his side, lying on his futon. He had gone to bed an hour and a half ago and he still could not sleep. He felt that something was completely wrong. He got to his feet, folded his futon and placed it inside his closet.
Sliding his door open, he stepped outside his room. He looked around and saw Sano sliding the door of Yahiko and his room open with a half- asleep Yahiko following him, rubbing the sleep from his eyes..
*So he sensed it, too.* Kenshin told himself. Sano nodded at him and went into Megumi's room. After a couple of seconds, a confused and annoyed Megumi followed him outside her room.
Kenshin's expression said it all. Something was really wrong. They just don't know what was it, exactly.
As the trio was trying to solve the puzzle of why they were so suspicious, a voice boomed from somewhere, "Hitokiri-battousai!"
Kenshin settled into a battou-jutsu stance almost immediately, left hand rising to his sword. Searching the area swiftly, he ran towards the withered cherry tree in a flash. Leaping from the ground with great agility, he slashed the tree into two, at the same time shouting, "Ryu Tsui Sen!"
A man leaped from the cherry tree into the ground, a good distance from Kenshin almost in an effortless manner, as if he'd done it several times. He was about Kenshin's age, only younger though. He was dressed in a black gi with short sleeves and a white hakama. He had arm pads and kneepads on and a daisho hung at his side.
Sano rushed towards the unknown guy, fist ready to punch some stupid butt. But he avoided Sano too, and easily.
He jumped away from Sano, laughing like mad. Sano cursed him under his breath. "Strong… but repulsive." He insulted Sano.
"Why you, bastard!" Sano cursed loudly.
"Dare?" Kenshin asked almost, if not, rudely in a low tone, his eyes changing from amethyst to amber, denoting his anger.
"Damn! So they stated correctly. Battousai certainly have a foul mouth." He crossed his arms, staring steadily at Kenshin.
The gentle rurouni vanished in a second. Battousai was in charge now.
Kenshin spat before asking one more time with more force added to his tone. Eyes narrowing, he asked, "Dare?"
"Actually, you don't need to know. I'm a very straightforward person so I won't keep you waiting. My daimyo wants you to join our group. I came here to – fetch you." The mysterious man said.
Sano snickered scornfully. "Yeah? And what makes you think that you can just barge in here and say you're gonna FETCH Kenshin and bring him to your fucking daimyo, huh?" He challenged the guy.
The guy's green eyes burned with hatred towards Sano. "Shut the fuck up, I'm not talking to you!" Turning to Kenshin, he said, "Battousai, I'm waiting for your answer."
Kenshin narrowed his amber eyes at him. "And what if I don't?"
"Then… your lady-friend here suffers the consequences." He responded.
The first one to look up was Megumi. "Oh my God!" she gasped.
All the others followed the direction where she was staring.
"KAORU!" Yahiko shouted.
@@@
Sano clenched his fists in anger. Another man, but younger than the first one, was holding an unconscious Kaoru, still dressed in her kimono, in his left arm, his right hand holding a dagger dangerously near her slender throat. He was perched on the tip of the roof like a bird or something.
"Oi! Let go of Jou-chan!" Sano could not help but shout.
"Are you implying that he should drop your lady-friend to the ground?" the older man asked him annoyingly. Sano gritted his teeth.
He looked into Kenshin's direction and saw the calm but angered look on his friend's face but he could also see the horrified look in it.
"Oi! Battousai!" The man called Kenshin's attention. Kenshin shifted his gaze slowly from Kaoru to him.
"Nani?" Kenshin snapped at him.
"Once again, I repeat. The daimyo of the Takami-gumi had asked for your cooperation to join our group. If you refuse, your lady-friend here dies either through an impact or through blood loss. And if you comply, then she's safe. It's that easy." The man made it sound like it's no big deal.
*The Takami-gumi. They're the band of samurais who've been killing government officials for the past weeks. * Kenshin glared at him.
Sano was thinking the same way too. Yahiko understood definitely what they were talking about and Megumi was not stupid. Each and every one of them understood that this guy was asking Kenshin to join their group and kill in exchange for Kaoru's life.
"Himitsu!" the man called to the younger guy holding Kaoru. Himitsu, as he was called, jumped off the roof and landed easily beside his master. The man turned his attention to Kaoru.
"She's beautiful, ne?" he asked no one in particular. He began running his fingers on her eyebrows.
Kenshin thought he might explode. Taking a step forward heavily, he shouted possessively, "Get your hands of her!"
The man enjoyed every moment. He caressed her lips softly and said, "It would be a shame to spill her blood all over this dojo."
@@@
Kaoru shuddered when the cold midnight wind pricked her skin. *How did I get outside? I fell asleep in my futon with my kimono still on… * she thought to herself.
She opened her eyes slowly and realized that a muscular arm was holding her upright.
She moaned slightly in pain when a dagger pricked her throat. Her eyes opened immediately in alarm.
"Himitsu, we should be gentle towards ladies." Someone told the guy who was holding her. The dagger distanced a bit from her throat.
She saw Kenshin, face filled with anger, a few feet away. Sano was just behind him, fist clenched in hatred. Yahiko was grasping his bokouto tightly in the back. And Megumi was on the ground, one hand covering her mouth and the other was supporting almost all her weight to the ground.
"Kenshin…?" she called out his name questioningly. Kenshin's face softened at the sight of her.
"Yare, yare…" the guy in the black gi muttered.
She shifted her gaze from Kenshin to the guy in the black gi. He looked back at her, his jade eyes softening slightly.
"And she has extremely beautiful sapphire eyes, ne, Battousai?" that guy asked Kenshin. Kenshin just glared back at him. Signaling the man who was holding her, the older guy said, "Himitsu, release her."
The guy holding her released his hold. "Kenshin!" she began running towards Kenshin and Kenshin was taking steps towards her when Himitsu, or whatever he was called, grabbed her right arm compellingly and placed the dagger again near her throat. She screamed in pain. And Kenshin halted midway, eyes widening in fear… for her.
"Kaoru-dono…"
"Battousai, come on! What's the answer?!" the man in black asked Kenshin impatiently. "I may be straightforward but I'm also very impatient. Do you want your woman hurt or what?" The dagger pricked her throat.
"Kenshin, don't do it. Don't go with them…" Sano said.
"Ken-san…" Megumi was unable to finish, and just sobbed.
"Kenshin, don't go. Don't join their group. They'll just make you kill again. They're the Takami-gumi, for Pete's sake!" Yahiko was pleading him.
Kenshin's hair(bangs) covered his eyes.
Kaoru did not know exactly what was going on. But she knew one thing. These guys are the Takami-gumi, they have come to ask Kenshin to join their group… and they're using her as live bait!
@@@
"Kenshin…" he lifted his eyes towards her. Tears are now spilling down her cheeks. "Don't go, onegai…" she was pleading him.
He did not want her hurt. He loved her too much. He smiled at her. THAT smile. More tears spilled down her cheeks as she realized what that smile meant. "Kenshin… don't…"
"I'll come back, I promise, Kaoru-dono, for you…" he smiled at her. That adoring smile. Kaoru watched his face, trying to memorize every detail. The auburn hair, the beautiful amethyst eyes, the smile.
"Come back, Kenshin… I promise, I'll be waiting for you…" she heard herself say. The next moment, Himitsu had placed a handkerchief with a rose scent in front of her face, which made her quite dizzy and she fell to the ground, unconscious.
Kenshin looked behind him suddenly, realizing that some other guys had appeared out of nowhere and had done the same thing to the rest of the Kenshin-gumi. Even Sano didn't realize that somebody was behind him until he fell unconscious to the ground.
In a flash, two other guys where holding both his arms forcefully. The guy in black stood before him. *Why the hell would Imizuki-sama want this guy to work with us? * Shinru asked himself. He looked scornfully at the auburn-haired man before him.
"Well, Battousai, I'm a very generous man, as well as straightforward and impatient. So any last words before you leave your loyal friends?" Shinru, the guy in black, asked him impatiently.
Kenshin glared at him. "Put them in bed." He jerked his head towards his friends.
Shinru smirked scornfully. "We're not your slaves. And anyway, we don't want to waste time. Choose just one, will you? And hurry it up!"
Kenshin looked at Kaoru's limped form. She looked like a doll, her porcelain face etched with sorrow and pain. "Her."
Shinru dug his arm under the bend of Kaoru's knees and the other arm at the side of her stomach. Kenshin watched his every move, looking possessive of Kaoru. "And don't touch her." Kenshin added protectively. Shinru just smirked at him.
"Take the Midnight Route." Shinru said to his men.
Then somebody placed a handkerchief in front of his nose, which smelled heavily of roses. He shoved the hand aside. He felt dizzy in an instant and fell into a deep slumber.
"Kaoru-dono, I promise…" he mumbled, the words dying in his lips. Those were the last words he said that night. A promise that seemed so impossible to fulfill.
@@@
Shinru rolled the girl into her futon. He took a good look at her. She looked so familiar, and yet… so unfamiliar. She was about eighteen to nineteen years of age and looked incredibly beautiful. There were wisps of her hair in her forehead and lips… Shinru just can't take his eyes off the wisps of hair in her lips. They look almost… seductive. He ran his fingers over her lips, removing the strands of hair there.
He leaned closer to her and said, "You'll soon understand…" Jade eyes softened at the sight of the sleeping girl.
The soft jade eyes suddenly burned with anger when he realized he was being spied. "Himitsu! I thought I told you to go ahead!?" master rebuked his student.
Himitsu bowed down. "Sumimasen. I thought you wanted some company back to the headquarters."
Shinru sighed. "Let's go now." He stepped outside Kaoru's room. Himitsu followed, sliding the door shut gently behind him.
TBC
Author's notes: Chapter 3: finished! It's exactly 4:00 a.m., people! Long, huh? So, any good? I tried my best in the action scene but no style came into my mind, just "Ryu Tsui Sen!" Frankly, I had the urge to type "Amakakeru Ryu No Hirameki!" there but I realized it would be too much for Kenshin, ne?
See? I neglected sleep just to finish this chapter. Hey, tell me if anyone had a similar fic, OK? I don't want to be accused of stealing.
I poured all of my will power here so PUH-LEASE! Review! Aishiteru, minna!
lieveit1'^-^'
Author's greetings: Hello to you all! Right after I finished Chapter 2, I started typing this chapter. So now it's actually 1:30 in the morning and I'm not gonna sleep until 2:30, if I can help it. So now enjoy, ok?!
Rating: PG-13 (though ratings may vary as the plot unfolds)
Warning: There are some foul languages here, I think. So I suggest you should skip the words if you can, OK? You'll find out sooner or later why I had to insert them. Enjoy!
Second Chance
Chapter III: Promises
Kenshin shifted restlessly to his side, lying on his futon. He had gone to bed an hour and a half ago and he still could not sleep. He felt that something was completely wrong. He got to his feet, folded his futon and placed it inside his closet.
Sliding his door open, he stepped outside his room. He looked around and saw Sano sliding the door of Yahiko and his room open with a half- asleep Yahiko following him, rubbing the sleep from his eyes..
*So he sensed it, too.* Kenshin told himself. Sano nodded at him and went into Megumi's room. After a couple of seconds, a confused and annoyed Megumi followed him outside her room.
Kenshin's expression said it all. Something was really wrong. They just don't know what was it, exactly.
As the trio was trying to solve the puzzle of why they were so suspicious, a voice boomed from somewhere, "Hitokiri-battousai!"
Kenshin settled into a battou-jutsu stance almost immediately, left hand rising to his sword. Searching the area swiftly, he ran towards the withered cherry tree in a flash. Leaping from the ground with great agility, he slashed the tree into two, at the same time shouting, "Ryu Tsui Sen!"
A man leaped from the cherry tree into the ground, a good distance from Kenshin almost in an effortless manner, as if he'd done it several times. He was about Kenshin's age, only younger though. He was dressed in a black gi with short sleeves and a white hakama. He had arm pads and kneepads on and a daisho hung at his side.
Sano rushed towards the unknown guy, fist ready to punch some stupid butt. But he avoided Sano too, and easily.
He jumped away from Sano, laughing like mad. Sano cursed him under his breath. "Strong… but repulsive." He insulted Sano.
"Why you, bastard!" Sano cursed loudly.
"Dare?" Kenshin asked almost, if not, rudely in a low tone, his eyes changing from amethyst to amber, denoting his anger.
"Damn! So they stated correctly. Battousai certainly have a foul mouth." He crossed his arms, staring steadily at Kenshin.
The gentle rurouni vanished in a second. Battousai was in charge now.
Kenshin spat before asking one more time with more force added to his tone. Eyes narrowing, he asked, "Dare?"
"Actually, you don't need to know. I'm a very straightforward person so I won't keep you waiting. My daimyo wants you to join our group. I came here to – fetch you." The mysterious man said.
Sano snickered scornfully. "Yeah? And what makes you think that you can just barge in here and say you're gonna FETCH Kenshin and bring him to your fucking daimyo, huh?" He challenged the guy.
The guy's green eyes burned with hatred towards Sano. "Shut the fuck up, I'm not talking to you!" Turning to Kenshin, he said, "Battousai, I'm waiting for your answer."
Kenshin narrowed his amber eyes at him. "And what if I don't?"
"Then… your lady-friend here suffers the consequences." He responded.
The first one to look up was Megumi. "Oh my God!" she gasped.
All the others followed the direction where she was staring.
"KAORU!" Yahiko shouted.
@@@
Sano clenched his fists in anger. Another man, but younger than the first one, was holding an unconscious Kaoru, still dressed in her kimono, in his left arm, his right hand holding a dagger dangerously near her slender throat. He was perched on the tip of the roof like a bird or something.
"Oi! Let go of Jou-chan!" Sano could not help but shout.
"Are you implying that he should drop your lady-friend to the ground?" the older man asked him annoyingly. Sano gritted his teeth.
He looked into Kenshin's direction and saw the calm but angered look on his friend's face but he could also see the horrified look in it.
"Oi! Battousai!" The man called Kenshin's attention. Kenshin shifted his gaze slowly from Kaoru to him.
"Nani?" Kenshin snapped at him.
"Once again, I repeat. The daimyo of the Takami-gumi had asked for your cooperation to join our group. If you refuse, your lady-friend here dies either through an impact or through blood loss. And if you comply, then she's safe. It's that easy." The man made it sound like it's no big deal.
*The Takami-gumi. They're the band of samurais who've been killing government officials for the past weeks. * Kenshin glared at him.
Sano was thinking the same way too. Yahiko understood definitely what they were talking about and Megumi was not stupid. Each and every one of them understood that this guy was asking Kenshin to join their group and kill in exchange for Kaoru's life.
"Himitsu!" the man called to the younger guy holding Kaoru. Himitsu, as he was called, jumped off the roof and landed easily beside his master. The man turned his attention to Kaoru.
"She's beautiful, ne?" he asked no one in particular. He began running his fingers on her eyebrows.
Kenshin thought he might explode. Taking a step forward heavily, he shouted possessively, "Get your hands of her!"
The man enjoyed every moment. He caressed her lips softly and said, "It would be a shame to spill her blood all over this dojo."
@@@
Kaoru shuddered when the cold midnight wind pricked her skin. *How did I get outside? I fell asleep in my futon with my kimono still on… * she thought to herself.
She opened her eyes slowly and realized that a muscular arm was holding her upright.
She moaned slightly in pain when a dagger pricked her throat. Her eyes opened immediately in alarm.
"Himitsu, we should be gentle towards ladies." Someone told the guy who was holding her. The dagger distanced a bit from her throat.
She saw Kenshin, face filled with anger, a few feet away. Sano was just behind him, fist clenched in hatred. Yahiko was grasping his bokouto tightly in the back. And Megumi was on the ground, one hand covering her mouth and the other was supporting almost all her weight to the ground.
"Kenshin…?" she called out his name questioningly. Kenshin's face softened at the sight of her.
"Yare, yare…" the guy in the black gi muttered.
She shifted her gaze from Kenshin to the guy in the black gi. He looked back at her, his jade eyes softening slightly.
"And she has extremely beautiful sapphire eyes, ne, Battousai?" that guy asked Kenshin. Kenshin just glared back at him. Signaling the man who was holding her, the older guy said, "Himitsu, release her."
The guy holding her released his hold. "Kenshin!" she began running towards Kenshin and Kenshin was taking steps towards her when Himitsu, or whatever he was called, grabbed her right arm compellingly and placed the dagger again near her throat. She screamed in pain. And Kenshin halted midway, eyes widening in fear… for her.
"Kaoru-dono…"
"Battousai, come on! What's the answer?!" the man in black asked Kenshin impatiently. "I may be straightforward but I'm also very impatient. Do you want your woman hurt or what?" The dagger pricked her throat.
"Kenshin, don't do it. Don't go with them…" Sano said.
"Ken-san…" Megumi was unable to finish, and just sobbed.
"Kenshin, don't go. Don't join their group. They'll just make you kill again. They're the Takami-gumi, for Pete's sake!" Yahiko was pleading him.
Kenshin's hair(bangs) covered his eyes.
Kaoru did not know exactly what was going on. But she knew one thing. These guys are the Takami-gumi, they have come to ask Kenshin to join their group… and they're using her as live bait!
@@@
"Kenshin…" he lifted his eyes towards her. Tears are now spilling down her cheeks. "Don't go, onegai…" she was pleading him.
He did not want her hurt. He loved her too much. He smiled at her. THAT smile. More tears spilled down her cheeks as she realized what that smile meant. "Kenshin… don't…"
"I'll come back, I promise, Kaoru-dono, for you…" he smiled at her. That adoring smile. Kaoru watched his face, trying to memorize every detail. The auburn hair, the beautiful amethyst eyes, the smile.
"Come back, Kenshin… I promise, I'll be waiting for you…" she heard herself say. The next moment, Himitsu had placed a handkerchief with a rose scent in front of her face, which made her quite dizzy and she fell to the ground, unconscious.
Kenshin looked behind him suddenly, realizing that some other guys had appeared out of nowhere and had done the same thing to the rest of the Kenshin-gumi. Even Sano didn't realize that somebody was behind him until he fell unconscious to the ground.
In a flash, two other guys where holding both his arms forcefully. The guy in black stood before him. *Why the hell would Imizuki-sama want this guy to work with us? * Shinru asked himself. He looked scornfully at the auburn-haired man before him.
"Well, Battousai, I'm a very generous man, as well as straightforward and impatient. So any last words before you leave your loyal friends?" Shinru, the guy in black, asked him impatiently.
Kenshin glared at him. "Put them in bed." He jerked his head towards his friends.
Shinru smirked scornfully. "We're not your slaves. And anyway, we don't want to waste time. Choose just one, will you? And hurry it up!"
Kenshin looked at Kaoru's limped form. She looked like a doll, her porcelain face etched with sorrow and pain. "Her."
Shinru dug his arm under the bend of Kaoru's knees and the other arm at the side of her stomach. Kenshin watched his every move, looking possessive of Kaoru. "And don't touch her." Kenshin added protectively. Shinru just smirked at him.
"Take the Midnight Route." Shinru said to his men.
Then somebody placed a handkerchief in front of his nose, which smelled heavily of roses. He shoved the hand aside. He felt dizzy in an instant and fell into a deep slumber.
"Kaoru-dono, I promise…" he mumbled, the words dying in his lips. Those were the last words he said that night. A promise that seemed so impossible to fulfill.
@@@
Shinru rolled the girl into her futon. He took a good look at her. She looked so familiar, and yet… so unfamiliar. She was about eighteen to nineteen years of age and looked incredibly beautiful. There were wisps of her hair in her forehead and lips… Shinru just can't take his eyes off the wisps of hair in her lips. They look almost… seductive. He ran his fingers over her lips, removing the strands of hair there.
He leaned closer to her and said, "You'll soon understand…" Jade eyes softened at the sight of the sleeping girl.
The soft jade eyes suddenly burned with anger when he realized he was being spied. "Himitsu! I thought I told you to go ahead!?" master rebuked his student.
Himitsu bowed down. "Sumimasen. I thought you wanted some company back to the headquarters."
Shinru sighed. "Let's go now." He stepped outside Kaoru's room. Himitsu followed, sliding the door shut gently behind him.
TBC
Author's notes: Chapter 3: finished! It's exactly 4:00 a.m., people! Long, huh? So, any good? I tried my best in the action scene but no style came into my mind, just "Ryu Tsui Sen!" Frankly, I had the urge to type "Amakakeru Ryu No Hirameki!" there but I realized it would be too much for Kenshin, ne?
See? I neglected sleep just to finish this chapter. Hey, tell me if anyone had a similar fic, OK? I don't want to be accused of stealing.
I poured all of my will power here so PUH-LEASE! Review! Aishiteru, minna!
lieveit1'^-^'
