Ebony Bliss
Rating: Still PG-13. The lemon should be in the next chapter...I know I've been saying that for two chapters now but there's really not much else I can do until that part is over. What's going to happen is that there are going to be two different versions of chapter seven, one to put on here and another NC-17 one that will be posted on another site somewhere that I'll post the link for because I'm not willing to put my account here on the line.
Spoilers: Nothing more then what I've already posted five times....
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!
Chapter 6
"Himora?"
"Yes Ebony?"
"This is probably going to sound ridiculous but can you tell me what your world is like? It's been so long since I've really been able to stay out there; I've almost started to forget about it."
He frowned and looked up at the high ceiling "I'm not sure I understand. What exactly do you want me to tell you?"
She shrugged "I told you it was a stupid question. I guess I was just hoping that you would tell me what makes it so special to you. I watched you for weeks and you never seemed happier then when you were outside, no matter what you were doing out there."
He smiled softly "You're right about that one, that you are. I'm not much to be kept cooped up indoors, I much rather be out in the sunlight, and I don't really care what I'm doing out there as long as I can feel that natural warmth."
"Just tell me...in here it never changes from season to season and every day is dark, from beginning to end. There's no beauty here, there's no life."
"Alright, just let me think for a moment." Kenshin sat up, wrapping his arms around his legs and placing his chin on top, staring off into space, a smile eventually coming to his face "The sun is probably blazing down right now, it happens around this time every summer. The heat drives everyone to hide inside to save their own skins. We have a small spring in the woods about a mile from the dojo and we usually end up running off there to swim and soak for a while. The silky smooth coolness of the water almost makes you forget the discomfort you felt not even an hour before. I've never really told anyone this before now, but I do believe in water spirits, when you're just lying there and letting the current wash over you, it has a life of its own and just draws you in with it."
"Autumn has always been one of my favorite seasons. The leaves are so beautiful when they fall off the trees. During the revolution, I always thought it was ironic that something dead should look so beautiful and bring people so much joy. The smell of the air is always what draws me in though, that crisp smell of spices and smoke. Everyone is canning and bringing in everything they planted, cooking for days and the entire city smells like a big kitchen. We have a garden full of herbs for Miss Megumi and the entire dojo smells of them as they dry out back. Ayame and Sazume are always outside jumping around in the leaf piles, soiling their clothes. If their grandfather was not such a kindhearted man, I feel he would have scolded them on more then one occasion. There was a time last year when all of us just forgot about our chores and dove into the leaves with the two of them, throwing handfuls of the leaves at each other. It was one of the silliest things I have ever seen, four adults, and three children making a genuine mess of themselves. I don't think I'll ever forget about that day though, its little things like that which drive away my nightmares."
"When I was younger, Mother would spend days canning vegetables while Bliss and I played in the leaves, getting our dresses absolutely filthy and smearing mud all over each other. When she was taking care of the pumpkins, she would always put an extra dash of ginger in with it to give it that special autumn kind of scent. It always smelt better then it tasted but Bliss and I never complained. She yelled at us every year for sniffing at our plates instead of eating what she gave us. There was one time I remember when we smuggled up a jar of it and left it sitting in our room, just to smell it all winter long. It rotted before too long and Mother gave us both a good spanking." Ebony's eyes danced with unspent laughter "We really were horrible at times. Since there were two of us, we always found a way to get what we wanted."
"Spiced pumpkin..." Kenshin's eyes closed for a moment "I remember smelling it in homes through the revolution. No matter how much blood stained my clothes, I could forget everything standing outside a door and just sniffing the air. Did it really taste that bad?"
She nodded and gave into the laughter "It may have smelt like the greatest food in the world but pumpkin never tasted any good when my mother cooked it." Two maids came into the room with a plate of food, a glass, and a bottle. Ebony signaled for them to leave it on the table in the center of the room and turned to concentrate solely on Kenshin. "Please, just keep talking."
"If that's what you want." He shifted his position, leaning back against the headboard of the bed. "I've always hated watching the fall turn into winter, the leaves covered up a little bit at a time. I've never been thick skinned enough to stand the cold so it's the only time when I'm really stuck inside and I honestly hate it. There aren't as many chores to be done so most of the day is spent doing nothing. The only thing that ever really got to me was one morning when I woke up; I think it was the day before Christmas. My nose was freezing and I was rather disoriented. I wrapped a spare blanket around myself, looked outside, and was nearly blinded. The sunlight was as bright as any summer day and the snow looked like crystals scattered around on the ground. Millions of tiny diamonds glittering and shining as kind of a Christmas present for us all. Miss Kaoru found me standing out there and ended up joining me for the morning. The two of us sat out on the porch huddled under blankets, staring out at the yard. Every time I shifted my head, they sparkled so brightly it was like they were sent from a different world. I've seen it many times since then but something about that day just makes it stand out further in my mind."
"Snow people, snow angles, snowball fights, snow houses..." Ebony looked into his eyes with another smile "winter was always my favorite time of the year because Mother would always stay inside and Bliss and I were free to do what we wanted out of the house. Father would come out every once in awhile, we'd tackle him into a snow bank, and he'd usually find time in his schedule to play with us. He loved the winter just as much as we did and it was the only time he was home to spend time with us. Every other season he was boarding down in the village so he could teach. Mother would always make sure I was dressed warmly and fed properly when he was home so the winter was the only time I really thrived and was able to act like a normal child instead of what I really was." She rested her hand gently on his arm "You forgot spring."
"I can never forget about spring. It's the time of the year when I feel the most alive, when I'm able to come back out into the sunlight after being cooped up all winter. I love the feeling of my toes sinking into the soft gooey mud and the smell of all those new plants and freshly turned gardens. I'd have to say my favorite time of the year is when the cherry blossoms start blooming and the flowers are everywhere. Every yard, road and roof is covered in that thin layer of soft pink petals and the fragrance fills the air. We always take a picnic lunch out with us, and sit under the trees to watch the blossoms fall and the people smile as they watch. Miss Megumi usually makes large batches of potpourri with them so the smell can stay with us longer. I've got this silly habit of sprinkling the petals in with the wash when I'm outside. I think the clothes smell just a little bit fresher and look cleaner that way. Sanosuke laughed the first time he caught me doing it and he hasn't let me live it down yet."
"The village south of us had a cherry blossom festival every year. There was so much dancing, and eating, and noise that I could forget about being different and just pretend to be a normal girl for a little while. Bliss and I always dreamed that one day we'd get to participate in one of the dances and how we'd have all the boys looking at us, wanting to ask Papa if they could walk us home at the end of the day. We never got to, the year we could have be asked, she was gone and I was still training too much to take time out to have any fun. It would have been too painful to go back there without her with me anyways. If Mother had still been alive, she would have told me it was exactly what I deserved, being devil spawned and damned for eternity. I thought about going, just to satisfy her spirit but I had training to do and two hungry men to feed at home. I haven't been since then; I guess it serves me right."
"Ebony, you talk like your mother was justified in treating you like an unwanted visitor in her home. Just because you were born to be heiress to a kingdom of evil doesn't mean you were anything other then a wonderful child at the time. You weren't ruling it then and you hadn't even had contact with your father, you can't keep letting that hang over your head. Didn't Bliss have the same father as you? You act like she was better then you when you two were exactly the same. The only thing different was going to be your futures and those could have been changed. Your mother was mistaken when she made you feel less then the girl you are."
"You mean were." She replied quickly
"No, I meant it how I said it. You're still just as wonderful as you were when you were a child and you should never think otherwise."
"She made me think that all the problems in the world were my fault. Father brought home a book of myths from overseas one time and Mother made me feel like Pandora, like I was the one who unleashed pain and suffering on the planet."
"Pandora?"
"It's a Greek story about how the Gods put a woman on the planet so wonderful that they eventually wanted her to have a fault, everything was too perfect with her around. They sent down a beautiful box and told her not to open it, knowing very well that her curious nature would make her go against their orders. She opened the box only to have disease, sorrow, pain, anger, hatred, and death fly out to take over the world."
"I've heard of that story but you left out the ending."
"That's as far as Mother ever went. It didn't make for the most pleasant bedtime story."
"Miss Megumi told me that story once. Pandora unleashed all those horrible things from the box but there was something left in the box?"
"The end of humanity?"
Kenshin smiled and took her hand in his "Hope was in the box, weak and afraid to leave it. Pandora nurtured that hope until it grew stronger. It was hope that kept her going and gave her the strength she needed to go on living."
"There's no hope here. It flew away as soon as Bliss died."
"There is hope here, if there wasn't you wouldn't be planning your father's demise or trying to feed all these lost souls. The only thing that can take hope away is death and a life that inflicts nothing more then that. You are the hope for those people; you are their strength and their only chance for peace. A world without hope is nothing more then hell."
"The revolution, you always talk about it like that was the hell you were forced to live in. How could it be hell if you had hope for the outcome and for a life after?"
"I told you that the only thing that can take away hope is death and someone who caused only that. All I was in the revolution was a man slayer. I couldn't really live because every day I had to look death in the eye and come out the victor. I forgot what I was fighting for and just lived for the bloodshed in the battles. It was hell for the warriors and I was just the grim reaper, bringing them to their ends. The only spark in that life was Tomoe and I couldn't even preserve that bit of hope, I killed her just like all the others."
"So what's this world? What would you call the life I'm living?"
He shrugged "You seem to have no hope because you can't realize that you are the hope. You are the only person who actually cares about the lost souls trapped here. You're the only one trying to make their lives tolerable and you're trying to ease the pain inside of them. You're trying to save them by putting your own life on the line. This isn't hell; this is a primitive clash of good and evil with the lives of hundreds relying on the outcome."
"Aren't creatures of the night supposed to live in the darkest of worlds though? If hell is supposed to be the most evil of all worlds, what could be worse then this for us? When you're brought over, will this replace your idea of hell?"
He shook his head and smiled "My mortal life is resting in your hands. You have become my hope, just like you are to everyone else here. This will never be a hell to me because as long as you're here and willing to protect your people, hope will never die out."
She turned away from him. "You're too certain of your own path."
"I'm not certain about my path. You can never be sure of your future; the only things a person can control are their actions and their choices. Everything else has yet to be determined."
"So what happens when we bring you over? What choices will you make then?"
"The same ones I have already. I'm sorry Ebony but I will not let myself kill anyone just for their blood to feed your people. I'm sorry you trusted all this with me and put all your hope into the fact that I was still a manslayer but times have changed and so have I. I will be willing to fight by your side to bring your father to his demise but I will not take life ever again, I'm not willing to go back to being a servant of hell."
"So that's it. If you were brought over you'd just become another member of the village, another mouth to feed who refuses to help himself. What's the point in taking you over when you'd be more trouble then value?"
"That's not for me to decide." He shrugged
Ebony sighed "I can't do it. I'm going to keep you here but I can't see any point in bringing you over to a life where you'd just be another burden. Come here for a second and trust me."
Kenshin knelt by her side only to feel the sharp pain of her fangs puncturing the tender skin of his neck and drawing out some of his blood. His head began to spin, his vision blurring and his balance faltering before she removed herself and pressed a clean napkin to the area to stop the bleeding. "You're forever marked but you're still a mortal. I'll tell Ryote that you were acting suspiciously so I brought you over before the ceremony. That should be enough to satisfy him and the rest of the village."
Kenshin fell over onto his side on the mattress, his eyes drifting shut "Thank you." He whispered as his eyes closed and his breathing became heavier, steadier.
Ebony touched her lips, still tinted with his blood "So sweet." She murmured, looking at him with a new hunger in her eyes. "Sleep well Kenshin, find your hope in your dreams, don't trust tainted vampire with something so precious."
*Ha! It only took about two months to write this part, I think I'm doing pretty good. The story of Pandora's Box has several different forms and I was just trying to think of how you would tell it to a child and that seemed to be the easiest way. I know it's probably not completely accurate but the main part is still there. Now you people be on your merry little ways and I'll work on getting you some lemony goodness before Christmas.*
Rating: Still PG-13. The lemon should be in the next chapter...I know I've been saying that for two chapters now but there's really not much else I can do until that part is over. What's going to happen is that there are going to be two different versions of chapter seven, one to put on here and another NC-17 one that will be posted on another site somewhere that I'll post the link for because I'm not willing to put my account here on the line.
Spoilers: Nothing more then what I've already posted five times....
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!
Chapter 6
"Himora?"
"Yes Ebony?"
"This is probably going to sound ridiculous but can you tell me what your world is like? It's been so long since I've really been able to stay out there; I've almost started to forget about it."
He frowned and looked up at the high ceiling "I'm not sure I understand. What exactly do you want me to tell you?"
She shrugged "I told you it was a stupid question. I guess I was just hoping that you would tell me what makes it so special to you. I watched you for weeks and you never seemed happier then when you were outside, no matter what you were doing out there."
He smiled softly "You're right about that one, that you are. I'm not much to be kept cooped up indoors, I much rather be out in the sunlight, and I don't really care what I'm doing out there as long as I can feel that natural warmth."
"Just tell me...in here it never changes from season to season and every day is dark, from beginning to end. There's no beauty here, there's no life."
"Alright, just let me think for a moment." Kenshin sat up, wrapping his arms around his legs and placing his chin on top, staring off into space, a smile eventually coming to his face "The sun is probably blazing down right now, it happens around this time every summer. The heat drives everyone to hide inside to save their own skins. We have a small spring in the woods about a mile from the dojo and we usually end up running off there to swim and soak for a while. The silky smooth coolness of the water almost makes you forget the discomfort you felt not even an hour before. I've never really told anyone this before now, but I do believe in water spirits, when you're just lying there and letting the current wash over you, it has a life of its own and just draws you in with it."
"Autumn has always been one of my favorite seasons. The leaves are so beautiful when they fall off the trees. During the revolution, I always thought it was ironic that something dead should look so beautiful and bring people so much joy. The smell of the air is always what draws me in though, that crisp smell of spices and smoke. Everyone is canning and bringing in everything they planted, cooking for days and the entire city smells like a big kitchen. We have a garden full of herbs for Miss Megumi and the entire dojo smells of them as they dry out back. Ayame and Sazume are always outside jumping around in the leaf piles, soiling their clothes. If their grandfather was not such a kindhearted man, I feel he would have scolded them on more then one occasion. There was a time last year when all of us just forgot about our chores and dove into the leaves with the two of them, throwing handfuls of the leaves at each other. It was one of the silliest things I have ever seen, four adults, and three children making a genuine mess of themselves. I don't think I'll ever forget about that day though, its little things like that which drive away my nightmares."
"When I was younger, Mother would spend days canning vegetables while Bliss and I played in the leaves, getting our dresses absolutely filthy and smearing mud all over each other. When she was taking care of the pumpkins, she would always put an extra dash of ginger in with it to give it that special autumn kind of scent. It always smelt better then it tasted but Bliss and I never complained. She yelled at us every year for sniffing at our plates instead of eating what she gave us. There was one time I remember when we smuggled up a jar of it and left it sitting in our room, just to smell it all winter long. It rotted before too long and Mother gave us both a good spanking." Ebony's eyes danced with unspent laughter "We really were horrible at times. Since there were two of us, we always found a way to get what we wanted."
"Spiced pumpkin..." Kenshin's eyes closed for a moment "I remember smelling it in homes through the revolution. No matter how much blood stained my clothes, I could forget everything standing outside a door and just sniffing the air. Did it really taste that bad?"
She nodded and gave into the laughter "It may have smelt like the greatest food in the world but pumpkin never tasted any good when my mother cooked it." Two maids came into the room with a plate of food, a glass, and a bottle. Ebony signaled for them to leave it on the table in the center of the room and turned to concentrate solely on Kenshin. "Please, just keep talking."
"If that's what you want." He shifted his position, leaning back against the headboard of the bed. "I've always hated watching the fall turn into winter, the leaves covered up a little bit at a time. I've never been thick skinned enough to stand the cold so it's the only time when I'm really stuck inside and I honestly hate it. There aren't as many chores to be done so most of the day is spent doing nothing. The only thing that ever really got to me was one morning when I woke up; I think it was the day before Christmas. My nose was freezing and I was rather disoriented. I wrapped a spare blanket around myself, looked outside, and was nearly blinded. The sunlight was as bright as any summer day and the snow looked like crystals scattered around on the ground. Millions of tiny diamonds glittering and shining as kind of a Christmas present for us all. Miss Kaoru found me standing out there and ended up joining me for the morning. The two of us sat out on the porch huddled under blankets, staring out at the yard. Every time I shifted my head, they sparkled so brightly it was like they were sent from a different world. I've seen it many times since then but something about that day just makes it stand out further in my mind."
"Snow people, snow angles, snowball fights, snow houses..." Ebony looked into his eyes with another smile "winter was always my favorite time of the year because Mother would always stay inside and Bliss and I were free to do what we wanted out of the house. Father would come out every once in awhile, we'd tackle him into a snow bank, and he'd usually find time in his schedule to play with us. He loved the winter just as much as we did and it was the only time he was home to spend time with us. Every other season he was boarding down in the village so he could teach. Mother would always make sure I was dressed warmly and fed properly when he was home so the winter was the only time I really thrived and was able to act like a normal child instead of what I really was." She rested her hand gently on his arm "You forgot spring."
"I can never forget about spring. It's the time of the year when I feel the most alive, when I'm able to come back out into the sunlight after being cooped up all winter. I love the feeling of my toes sinking into the soft gooey mud and the smell of all those new plants and freshly turned gardens. I'd have to say my favorite time of the year is when the cherry blossoms start blooming and the flowers are everywhere. Every yard, road and roof is covered in that thin layer of soft pink petals and the fragrance fills the air. We always take a picnic lunch out with us, and sit under the trees to watch the blossoms fall and the people smile as they watch. Miss Megumi usually makes large batches of potpourri with them so the smell can stay with us longer. I've got this silly habit of sprinkling the petals in with the wash when I'm outside. I think the clothes smell just a little bit fresher and look cleaner that way. Sanosuke laughed the first time he caught me doing it and he hasn't let me live it down yet."
"The village south of us had a cherry blossom festival every year. There was so much dancing, and eating, and noise that I could forget about being different and just pretend to be a normal girl for a little while. Bliss and I always dreamed that one day we'd get to participate in one of the dances and how we'd have all the boys looking at us, wanting to ask Papa if they could walk us home at the end of the day. We never got to, the year we could have be asked, she was gone and I was still training too much to take time out to have any fun. It would have been too painful to go back there without her with me anyways. If Mother had still been alive, she would have told me it was exactly what I deserved, being devil spawned and damned for eternity. I thought about going, just to satisfy her spirit but I had training to do and two hungry men to feed at home. I haven't been since then; I guess it serves me right."
"Ebony, you talk like your mother was justified in treating you like an unwanted visitor in her home. Just because you were born to be heiress to a kingdom of evil doesn't mean you were anything other then a wonderful child at the time. You weren't ruling it then and you hadn't even had contact with your father, you can't keep letting that hang over your head. Didn't Bliss have the same father as you? You act like she was better then you when you two were exactly the same. The only thing different was going to be your futures and those could have been changed. Your mother was mistaken when she made you feel less then the girl you are."
"You mean were." She replied quickly
"No, I meant it how I said it. You're still just as wonderful as you were when you were a child and you should never think otherwise."
"She made me think that all the problems in the world were my fault. Father brought home a book of myths from overseas one time and Mother made me feel like Pandora, like I was the one who unleashed pain and suffering on the planet."
"Pandora?"
"It's a Greek story about how the Gods put a woman on the planet so wonderful that they eventually wanted her to have a fault, everything was too perfect with her around. They sent down a beautiful box and told her not to open it, knowing very well that her curious nature would make her go against their orders. She opened the box only to have disease, sorrow, pain, anger, hatred, and death fly out to take over the world."
"I've heard of that story but you left out the ending."
"That's as far as Mother ever went. It didn't make for the most pleasant bedtime story."
"Miss Megumi told me that story once. Pandora unleashed all those horrible things from the box but there was something left in the box?"
"The end of humanity?"
Kenshin smiled and took her hand in his "Hope was in the box, weak and afraid to leave it. Pandora nurtured that hope until it grew stronger. It was hope that kept her going and gave her the strength she needed to go on living."
"There's no hope here. It flew away as soon as Bliss died."
"There is hope here, if there wasn't you wouldn't be planning your father's demise or trying to feed all these lost souls. The only thing that can take hope away is death and a life that inflicts nothing more then that. You are the hope for those people; you are their strength and their only chance for peace. A world without hope is nothing more then hell."
"The revolution, you always talk about it like that was the hell you were forced to live in. How could it be hell if you had hope for the outcome and for a life after?"
"I told you that the only thing that can take away hope is death and someone who caused only that. All I was in the revolution was a man slayer. I couldn't really live because every day I had to look death in the eye and come out the victor. I forgot what I was fighting for and just lived for the bloodshed in the battles. It was hell for the warriors and I was just the grim reaper, bringing them to their ends. The only spark in that life was Tomoe and I couldn't even preserve that bit of hope, I killed her just like all the others."
"So what's this world? What would you call the life I'm living?"
He shrugged "You seem to have no hope because you can't realize that you are the hope. You are the only person who actually cares about the lost souls trapped here. You're the only one trying to make their lives tolerable and you're trying to ease the pain inside of them. You're trying to save them by putting your own life on the line. This isn't hell; this is a primitive clash of good and evil with the lives of hundreds relying on the outcome."
"Aren't creatures of the night supposed to live in the darkest of worlds though? If hell is supposed to be the most evil of all worlds, what could be worse then this for us? When you're brought over, will this replace your idea of hell?"
He shook his head and smiled "My mortal life is resting in your hands. You have become my hope, just like you are to everyone else here. This will never be a hell to me because as long as you're here and willing to protect your people, hope will never die out."
She turned away from him. "You're too certain of your own path."
"I'm not certain about my path. You can never be sure of your future; the only things a person can control are their actions and their choices. Everything else has yet to be determined."
"So what happens when we bring you over? What choices will you make then?"
"The same ones I have already. I'm sorry Ebony but I will not let myself kill anyone just for their blood to feed your people. I'm sorry you trusted all this with me and put all your hope into the fact that I was still a manslayer but times have changed and so have I. I will be willing to fight by your side to bring your father to his demise but I will not take life ever again, I'm not willing to go back to being a servant of hell."
"So that's it. If you were brought over you'd just become another member of the village, another mouth to feed who refuses to help himself. What's the point in taking you over when you'd be more trouble then value?"
"That's not for me to decide." He shrugged
Ebony sighed "I can't do it. I'm going to keep you here but I can't see any point in bringing you over to a life where you'd just be another burden. Come here for a second and trust me."
Kenshin knelt by her side only to feel the sharp pain of her fangs puncturing the tender skin of his neck and drawing out some of his blood. His head began to spin, his vision blurring and his balance faltering before she removed herself and pressed a clean napkin to the area to stop the bleeding. "You're forever marked but you're still a mortal. I'll tell Ryote that you were acting suspiciously so I brought you over before the ceremony. That should be enough to satisfy him and the rest of the village."
Kenshin fell over onto his side on the mattress, his eyes drifting shut "Thank you." He whispered as his eyes closed and his breathing became heavier, steadier.
Ebony touched her lips, still tinted with his blood "So sweet." She murmured, looking at him with a new hunger in her eyes. "Sleep well Kenshin, find your hope in your dreams, don't trust tainted vampire with something so precious."
*Ha! It only took about two months to write this part, I think I'm doing pretty good. The story of Pandora's Box has several different forms and I was just trying to think of how you would tell it to a child and that seemed to be the easiest way. I know it's probably not completely accurate but the main part is still there. Now you people be on your merry little ways and I'll work on getting you some lemony goodness before Christmas.*