Ebony Bliss
Rating: Sorry but it's still PG-13...It will get better...I swear it will just be patient with me
Spoilers: If you haven't seen the OVA and you don't want to know anything about it until you can see it, then you probably won't want to read past the first chapter. There are going to be some references to people and situations that happened throughout them but other then that it should be safe.
Other Warnings: It's definitely AU with a few original characters, a somewhat original plot…if it's been done before then yell at me because I haven't read much of the Kenshin fanfiction that's lying around. It may be OOC but I'll try as hard as I can to avoid that.
Archives: None yet…ask me nicely and I might let you have it
Feedback: Please! Just email me at Dark_Izunami@dangerous-minds.com, I'd love to hear what you have to say!
Blah blah blah…Kenshin is not mine…if he was…you wouldn't be seeing too much of him because he'd be locked up in my room with me for quite some time. He belongs to some really lucky person in Japan who has a lot more money then I do.
Chapter 4
Kenshin remained silent, not knowing what to say to the woman in the window. Servants crept in and out of the room after building up a fire and leaving a plate of food on a table. He was assuming it was for him, not knowing if she still ate regular food or not.
"Was the operation successful?" A different voice came from the doorway. The man entered, not bothering to knock or to be invited in.
"The Gods sent signs to wait on him." Ebony answered "I'm not about to go against their wishes."
"The rest of the village won't be pleased when they find out he wasn't treated the same."
"Ryote, you forget your place." She stood up and walked over to take a package from him, "They won't find out. He's only being exempted for a short time until he adjusts to this new way of life. I doubt anyone in the village will care as long as he helps to feed them. You are not to mention this to anyone."
"As you wish." The pale man bowed but Kenshin didn't miss the mocking tone in his voice. "The ceremony to bring him over will be held one week from today. You said you wanted to bring him over by the next full moon, correct?"
"That's right." She turned to fix her gaze on Kenshin "Just see to the preparations and arrange for a small hunting party tonight. Just take out a few of the older boys and don't let them take home more then two humans each to feed their families. I will speak with you later to check the ceremonial circle."
He gave another quick bow and left the two of them alone in the room. "A friend of yours?" Kenshin asked
Ebony tossed the package to him "My partner in crime so to speak. He's the only one in this place that I'll trust to aid me. He's not the nicest person but he's dependable."
Kenshin untied the string that held the brown paper together. He pushed everything out of the way and gazed down at the black garments. "Your clothes were dirty and torn, I sent them down to a woman in the village who takes in laundry in return for food for her and her young child. They'll be back in a few days although I doubt you'll be needing them again."
He slipped on the new clothing, the material silky soft to the touch and lighter then air. On instinct, he reached down to touch his sword and found it missing. "It will be returned to you once you're brought over." Ebony explained "I would have done it before now to save you the public display but there wasn't time at your home and now that you're here, everyone is expecting a ceremony."
"Could you be a little bit specific?" Kenshin asked, standing up to test the strength of his legs
"What do you want to know?" Ebony asked "If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm a vampire, as is everyone else in this village. Most of the can't bring themselves to go feed on their own so the task of finding prey to drain has fallen to myself, Ryote and the few members who have finally given into their new lives. We usually bottle up the blood and distribute it to the families but things have gotten out of control lately and the population is swelling too quickly for us to keep up with. We can't feed everyone on our own anymore and we needed help. That's why I went to find you. With your sword skills combined with mine and the help of a few other people, we might be able to save everyone from starving."
"You speak as if this is a common story." Kenshin frowned "What makes you think that I'd be willing to start killing again after I washed my hands of blood years ago?"
"That's where the ceremony comes in." She grinned "It hasn't failed yet. Once you're one of us, your hunger for blood, the same lust the Battousai had in the revolution, will come back to you and you'll end up giving in."
"You're assuming I have no free will and no mind of my own." He shook his head "If you're going to kill me, then kill me and use me for food. I'm not going to go back to the life I left behind, I made a promise to myself."
"Say what you want." Ebony shrugged "You're not the first with honorable intentions that I've had to reform. Have you ever felt true hunger? The kind that leaves you paralyzed, unable to move, speak or even think of anything besides nourishment? Have you ever in your life felt that pain that goes all the way down to the bottom of your soul with pulsing agony? The people in the village are confined to their beds most of their lives, they don't have the strength to move and most of them eventually become zombie-like. They breath but they will never live again. The only person who can take them out of their misery and send them to the afterlife refuses to. You'll never understand what I'm talking about until your honor and integrity are the cause of your insanity."
"So there is someone who can help them?" Kenshin asked
"Yes, but he won't. I've begged, pleaded, bargained, and cried to him millions of times for the sake of those poor people but he has his own selfish intentions." She shook her head, trying to regain some of her composure. "If you'll promise not to run, I'll take you down to the valley and you can see what I'm talking about."
"I don't have any intention of trying to escape and putting my friends in danger."
"You are the honorable type, aren't you?" Ebony smirked and eyed him up and down in the dim firelight of the room. She had been hoping the black garments would hide more of his appearance then the other outfit had. Unfortunately, the black only enhanced the creamy column of his neck and face. His hair fell down, a fire against the black silk. "Hold on." She tore the thick black ribbon out of her hair and wrapped it around his neck.
"What was that for?"
"These people are starving...if you walk around with your neck showing, it would be like offering a glass of water to a dying man in the desert. This way, they'll be less likely to attack you, the ones that could at least." She fixed her own word back on her hip "Just follow me, I'll give you the tour of your new home."
"How long have you been here?" He asked once they were outside
"If that's your way of asking how long I've been like this, the answer is six years. Not a very long time in general but under the circumstances, it seems like a lifetime. You tend to lose track of time when you can't gaze at the sun. The only clocks in this village are in my castle and ones in the center of the heavily populated areas."
"You don't care if it's morning or evening?" He asked
"Day and night just blend together when you have to sleep away most of your life. When you're asleep, you don't feel hungry or thirsty. It's just another way to escape this reality." She rounded the hill and started up the path that took them into the center of the commercial area. "It's nothing too impressive." She shrugged "Just a few tailors, wash women, and three butchers who employ some boys to hunt animals. They drain the blood and sell it to those who can afford the price. There are two general stores down the other way. When we end up taking an entire family, their goods are donated to those stores and the prices are regulated so the people can stay clothed and purchase new bedding and other things like that once in awhile."
"With so few jobs, wouldn't most people be unemployed and unable to buy any of these things?" Kenshin glanced into the nearest shop and spotted a pale woman stitching up what looked to be his gi.
"They get paid to overcome their fears. Those who can go out and hunt down humans get rewarded for their efforts. I pay them to feed others."
"Looks cozy." Kenshin remarked, looking down the street lined with small houses and hovels.
"Now you'll see what I've been trying to tell you." Ebony walked up to the fourth house on the left side and opened the door. "Mama still sleepin'." A little girl looked up from where she was lying in her futon."
"Here." She took two bottles out of the small sack she had brought and handed them to the girl's older brother "Don't waste it on your mother, she's beyond your help. Just feed your sister and yourself for a few days and hopefully it will give you the strength to go out and start hunting."
"Thank you princess." The boy gave a slight bow and crawled over to his sister, opening her mouth and pouring some of the thick red liquid down her throat before he took some for himself.
"Come here Himura." She knelt down beside the futon of what must have once been a woman. Kenshin's eyes widened as he took in the sight of her. There was no fat, no muscle, nothing but the pale, pasty gray skin barely covering the bones that were poking out of her. Every vein in her body was visible as they kept her from passing over. There was no hair on her head and her eyebrows were gone. The eyelids that were pasted shut and did little to hide her eyes, the outline of the balls were obvious against the thin flap of skin. "How many are there like this?" He finally asked, having to look away from her
"At least thirty. The population here is around two hundred and fifty now so it's considerable. More are going every day."
"How many people do you have hunting?"
"Ryote and I go out every night. There are about fifteen boys between the ages of sixteen and twenty three who we take out in shifts. They have shoved all the fears behind them and are becoming great assets to this community. There are two or three girls around the same age that are the head of their families for one reason or another and are forcing themselves to hunt. They usually aren't very successful though, their feelings keep getting in the way. It's better then nothing though and it's two less families we have to worry about." She stood up from where she was kneeling "Are you ready to go? The sun should be coming up in a hour or so and we really should be inside then. Up on the hill, there are a few spots where the light can flicker down through the foliage and I can't risk running into that."
"So the myths about vampires and sunlight are true." He gently touched the woman's hand before rising and following her out of the small hut.
"Not all, but I'm not your typical vampire. I don't get to live by the normal rules and neither do the rest of the people. The creature responsible for keeping us here has designed our lives in such a way that we can never be in the sunlight again without suffering a horrible death."
"But I thought you said that whoever it was wouldn't let any of you die." Kenshin gazed up at the thick branches
"It's a curse. It's closer to death then what you saw back there but it's still not complete. The body would be reduced to the dust it was created from and the half spirit that was left would be left in that one spot for eternity, never moving and not escaping. As you can see, he thought of everything."
The two of them started up the hill to her castle, Kenshin mulling over all the information she had thrown at him. "Who is this man? You obviously know him."
"Better then I would like." She kicked a rock into the underbrush "He's my father."
"What kind of powers does he have?" The manslayer was nearly speechless "How can a simple man control the lives, deaths, and souls of so many? It's inhuman."
"This is going to be hard for you to understand but I might as well tell you it now.
You've probably heard of him through myths and legends. He goes by the name Amatsu Mikaboshi to the human world."
"The god of darkness and evil is your father?" Kenshin stopped right where he was
"Don't stop walking or I'll have to use force." She warned "Yes he's my father although the story is more complex then just those facts. I'm half goddess and have some basic superhuman powers. I wasn't really running when we fought, I knew if I used my true speed, you would have thought that I disappeared. I can also blend into the night, using almost anything as a camouflage but that's about it. I'm nothing compared to him and he knows it. However, if he's sent out of this world, these people will be freed and can go into the afterlife."
"What about you?" He asked
"I honestly don't know. It seems like I would finally die with the rest of these people but the immortality thing is working against that. I'm hoping to find out if the times comes."
"So there were two reasons for you bringing me here." Kenshin smiled "To feed your people and to help battle your father."
"You were brought here solely to help hunt." She frowned "Do you honestly think a God could be destroyed by brute force alone? That's only half of it, the rest being spiritual and praying off of the will of the people he has enslaved." She threw open the doors to the castle and began to walk up the stairs. Kenshin glanced behind them to find Ryote glaring up "Mistress Ebony, you barely missed the sunrise."
"I'm aware of that. Himura needed to be enlightened on the present situation and I wanted to get it out of the way. He will be staying in my room until he's brought over, I don't want to risk him finding his way out of here."
"Whatever you say mistress." The man nearly growled, a sound not heard by Ebony as she yawned.
"Come on Himura." She continued up the stairs to her room.
"You're sure that man is trustworthy?" Kenshin asked uneasily
"Are you questioning my judgement?" She asked, pulling a rope that brought two maids into the room to turn down the blankets, bank the fire and remove the plate of uneaten food.
"I probably shouldn't say anything, since I haven't been here long but something about that man makes me uneasy, that it does."
"You're not used to our kind yet." Ebony shrugged it off and stepped behind a screen to chance into a nightgown of navy blue silk adorned with black flowers along the bottom hem. She stepped back out and unbound her hair, letting it spring out and drape down her back.
"I hope this doesn't offend you Miss Ebony but I feel perfectly at ease with you and I felt no fear when I was in the village. I believe that it's only him who is causing me to worry."
"You can put your fears aside. Ryote is as trustworthy as anyone else around here and one of the only people I can trust to help me in my plans to overthrow my father."
"I'm going to worry about you Miss Ebony, that I am. I feel you're overlooking more then what you should and you need someone to watch your back. I'd be honored if you'd let me be that person."
She felt her cheeks heat up. Damn him, she glared at his calm eyes and gentle smile. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."
"I'm sure you are, but I'm still going to look out for you. You're a very strong woman but there's a softer side to you that you are trying to hide. You remind me of another woman I knew quite some time ago and I'm not going to let you go as easily as I let her."
"Get in, Himura." She pointed to the side of the bed closest to the wall
"I couldn't let you sleep on the floor." He protested "I'll stay down there and I swear to you that I won't run."
"I'm going to be sleeping in there with you, with your wrist and leg bound to me so there is no way you can escape."
"If that's what you want." Kenshin shrugged and climbed into the bed. "It's much nicer then a futon, that it is." He ran a finger over the pillow and looked up at her
I hope this isn't going to be the biggest mistake of my life. Ebony forced herself to climb in next to him and tie his limbs snugly to her own. "Comfortable?" She asked dryly
"Very." He smiled up at her, his violet eyes twinkling in the dim firelight. "Pleasant dreams Miss Ebony."
"Goodnight Himura."
*I love Japanese mythology and wanted to do something with it in this story. I know it's throwing quite a bit of fiction into this but I've always wanted to see an anime based on ancient legends and myths. The vampire bits are a little shaky, I had to reason it out to myself and even now, I'm sure there are some problems that any mortal vampire or gothic person would love to throw in my face. The next chapter is already planned out in my head and you're finally going to hear Ebony's story and for those of you who haven't seen the Samurai X OVAs, I'm planning on using some major spoilers in the next chapter. It shouldn't be too long before it's up!*