Rurouni Kenshin Fanfic
Rurouni Kenshin & Samurai X Original Japanese Version (c) N.Watsuki/Shueisha * Fuji-TV * SME Visual Works Inc. * Sony Pictures Entertainment
All Fanfics created by Chiruken (me) were written for the sole purpose of shared entertainment and not intended for publication or sale.
Honeybee
By Chiruken
Chapter 4
"Well." Aoshi stepped further into the room, frowning at the closed door the two young women had disappeared through. He had a feeling it was going to be a very difficult and uncomfortable arrangement between the four of them. He gestured vaguely towards the couch set off to the side. "You can sleep there." He didn't wait for a reply, merely flopped down onto the comfortable chair Misao had vacated and leaned back, closing his eyes. His eyes opened again when he didn't hear movement. He raised one eyebrow when he saw the other man still standing by the door, a thoughtful frown on his face. Aoshi decided he looked much younger than his professed twenty-eight years. How much younger he had yet to determine. "What are you doing?"
"I will stay here." He leaned back against the door, shifting his weight until he felt a bit more comfortable. It was going to be a long night, but he didn't dare let down his guard, if even for a moment. He didn't need sleep as the other man did. He could get by without and still remain alert. "You sleep, I will stand watch." His eyes moved towards the door to the other room and he tilted his head to the side in consideration. His hearing was exceptional and yet he could detect no sound from the young women on the other side of the door. He wondered briefly at that before discarding it as unimportant. After their concert he assumed they were more than likely exhausted and would wish for sleep, not…activity. He snorted softly, surprised at his amusement. He'd thought himself incapable of humor.
Aoshi rolled his eyes. "You expect me to sleep?" He snorted derisively. "I don't know about you, but I'm not entirely comfortable sharing a room with an assassin." And he wasn't. He was acutely aware of the other man's presence and conscious of his skills. He wasn't unskilled, yet he knew the other man's abilities made his pale by comparison…not that he'd ever admit it aloud. There were certain things his pride just wouldn't allow.
He shrugged, a fluid gesture. "Suit yourself. It matters not to me." He allowed his amber gaze to sweep around the room, memorizing the layout automatically. **Table, chair, sofa, lamp, window, face, door…face…** He was moving before he was consciously aware of having registered the threat. The sound of shattering glass was loud in the previously quiet room as he reached through the window, grabbing the intruder in a vice-like grip around his throat and dragging him into the room to throw him across it to smash against the opposite wall, raining plaster down on his dark head before he slid to the floor in a heap.
The door to the separate room slammed open and Misao bounded out into the main room only to stop and stare, her knives held poised at the ready. "What the---" She blinked and stared, mouth open in her shock. Her eyes sought her bodyguard's and she found him sitting in the chair she'd previously occupied, staring in stunned silence across the room. She followed her gaze, green eyes wide with shock, and found herself staring at the new bodyguard, Himura. She tore her gaze from him, frightened by the way his amber eyes seemed to almost glow with barely leashed fury, and started violently when she saw the man slumped against the other wall. It didn't take a deductive genius to figure out what had happened. No, what she wanted to know was **how**.
Kaoru trembled and tried to hide in the shadows. There was no possible way Himura Kenshin could have caused such destruction, yet the proof was before her eyes. The semi-conscious man lay slumped to the floor, moaning softly, covered in white plaster, the wall behind him all but destroyed, the imprint of his body clear to see. If she didn't know better, she'd swear that the stranger had literally been thrown across the room…a distance too far to make it possible…and slammed into the wall with enough force to nearly send him **through** it. No one had that kind of strength. It went against the very laws of nature. **Unless…** Her eyes, filled with rising panic, moved back to the man standing by the window. She'd known the moment she'd set eyes on him that there was something not quite right about him. Now the evidence was set before her. **He's been enhanced.** To what extent, she had no idea. But the fact that he'd been altered at all turned her stomach, left her feeling weak and dizzy.
Aoshi swallowed with difficulty. He hadn't seen the smaller man move. He had a very bad feeling about the situation. There was only one explanation for his impossible speed. He cast a quick look towards Kaoru and stifled a groan. It was obvious by her horrified expression that she'd already reached the same conclusion. Himura Kenshin had been enhanced. The situation was degenerating at a rapid rate. Slowly, with great care, he stood and turned his gaze to the assassin.
He could feel three sets of eyes on him but he ignored them. Instead he stalked across the room and scowled down at the man heaped on the floor. He scowled at the camera still clutched in his hands and slowly moved into a crouch. "It isn't polite to intrude on other's privacy." He reached out and plucked the camera from his loose hold, ignoring the other man's pained expression. Slowly, deliberately, he lifted the small camera to eye level and studied it for a moment. It was obviously worth quite a bit of money. He shrugged inwardly. He didn't care. He closed his hand into a fists, crushing the small bit of metal covered circuitry. "Do not do that again." He opened his hand, allowing the pieces to fall to the floor with tiny tinkling clatters. He stood slowly and glared down at the unmoving figure and sighed, reaching down to grab him by his jacket, pulling him to his feet, pinning him against the wall when he would have slid down again. "I didn't hit you that hard." He muttered irritably.
Aoshi shook himself from his momentary stupor. It was obvious to him that the assassin wasn't interested in killing the cameraman, yet it could happen if he were annoyed any further. He stepped forward and, carefully avoiding touching him, grasped the intruder's arm and led him to the couch. "Sit down." He ordered roughly, pushing him down onto the soft cushions. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"