___chapter two [[haunting]]
Your lost words whisper slowly to me
Still can't find what keeps me here
But all this time I've felt so hollow inside
I know your still there…
Watching me, wanting me
I can feel you hold me down
Fearing you, loving you
I won't let you hold me down
Haunting you, I can smell you, alive
Your heart pounding in my head
Watching me, wanting me
I can feel you hold me down
Seeing me, raping me
Watching me
Watching me, wanting me
I can feel you hold me down
Fearing you, loving you
I won't let you hold me down.
"You're sure about this, Takasugi?" Katsura asked, his voice unsure.
Takasugi took a moment to cough before answering, "Trust me. It'll work."
"Why would you do that to Himura?"
Takasugi raised his face level to Katsura. "Don't talk about it as if this were his punishment."
"To Himura, his job is already a punishment. This would make things worse."
"It'll knock two birds down with one stone!" Takasugi insisted. "Listen… Himura is strong… really strong. But he's also got a heart."
"It's odd hearing this from you." Katsura muttered as the corners of his lips tugged into a smile.
"I've got Uno. That's what saves me." Takasugi grinned. "Without her, I'm a naked blade."
"So she's your sheath."
"Yep." Takasugi took in a deep breath, but broke into coughs. Falling to the ground, he looked up at the ceiling. "Iizuka already asked me about her, he saw Himura carrying her home. Uno knew her, actually, so I know a little bit about the woman. Her name is Yukishiro…"
"Yukishiro?!" Katsura looked up, surprised. "Same as Yukishiro Enishi?!"
"He's her brother. He trusts her more than anybody."
"This is hard to believe…" Katsura looked at the ground. "She only told me her name was Tomoe…"
"That's her full name." Takasugi waved it off. "Listen though. Uno told me that Tomoe is tight with her brother. He's more protective of her than her own parents. The reason his base is set up in Kyoto and not Edo, his home, is to make sure he can keep an eye on her. She won't divulge his secrets so easily."
"What are you planning…?" Katsura eyed him warily. "What exactly did your note say?"
"A few things. And tips." Takasugi smirked.
"Takasugi…" Katsura warned.
"Haha… so uptight. Did being an important politician do that to you?" Takasugi teased. "Either way… I wonder if Himura will follow the commands. If everything goes right, Himura's sanity will be restored AND we will have inside information about Yukishiro… including where he stashes these weapons of his."
"His sanity…? You never mentioned anything about that."
"I said it earlier, Himura has a heart. People like you, Katsura, politicians, used to have that same spirit when you held the sword. But Himura's heart has kindness, and it's being ripped apart by his role as a killer. You think his sanity will hold much longer? Day after day he's being destroyed by himself… I warned you when you took him to Kyoto. Making him a hitokiri will destroy the boy."
Battousai reread the paper, and gulped. How am I… supposed to do that?! He wanted to disappear, or better yet, evaporate so he wouldn't have to appear anywhere else.
"Katsura-san left?" A soft voice next to him spoke. Nearly falling over in surprise, Battousai stared up at Tomoe. "I made some food…" She murmered.
"Ah, um… yes…" He stammered. This is insane! How did she sneak up on me?!
"Is your name Battousai?" Tomoe asked suddenly, looking at him with her icy, lifeless eyes.
"They… call me that… and you're Tomoe right?"
Tomoe looked as if she had something to say but shrugged it off. Without another word, she turned and walked off.
The paper still in his hand, Battousai lowered himself onto the floor. She won't even talk to me. Then again, I DID take her here without any consent… I wonder why she didn't ask about it yet. Sighing, he crumpled up the sheet of paper and absentmindedly tossed it into a wastebasket. It went in perfectly.
"That's some twisted plan you've got, Katsura-san." Iizuka laughed, tilting his hat over his eyes. He was meeting Katsura in a restaurant for lunch, where Katsura told him of Takasugi's plan. "You really want to mess with him like that?"
"As much as I hate to admit it… Himura's so easy to manipulate." Katsura sighed heavily, leaning back. "I don't want anything to happen to him though. Besides him being the strongest Imperialist, I also promised Takasugi I'd take care of him. But Takasugi was the one who suggested the plan…"
Iizuka shrugged, casually tilting back in his chair. "Maybe love will heal his scars."
Katsura sighed, looking down at his drinking dish. "Perhaps they will only deepen them."
Night fell upon Kenshin's house swiftly; before long the sky was a blanket of darkness with prickles of stars flooding the sky. The waning moon hung in it's place in the heavens, the crescent illuminating the unkept yard.
The house was different, and Kenshin realized this as soon as he returned home from his usual meeting with Katsura and the others. It wasn't too late, an hour before it was technically considered the "next day".
It smelled… different. He walked in, slipping off his shoes, tired as hell. He was ready to slip into his light sleep until he was to rise in the morning, but the smell was so stunning it almost knocked him off his feet. It smelled… good.
Aromatic smells of flowers and white plums filled the air, and the smell of real, actual good food floated around him enticingly. The house no longer smelled damp and unclean, but rather… fresh and airy.
Well, this was quite a change.
He walked through the houses until he saw Tomoe. She was sitting, drinking some tea. She turned her head lightly and acknowledged his presence. As he came in, about to sit down, she promptly stood up and left the room.
Ouch, that hurt.
Kenshin was pretty pissed.
For one, Iizuka made it a point to tease him every time the speaker took a breath about Tomoe and how much "fun" he had last night, and he kept pouring some alcohol into his drinking dish. How he wanted to punch him straight in that filthy mouth… But Battousai doesn't loose his anger, now does he? After he had drank more than enough, his eyes had flashed the feral amber before he stood up and just left. By now, all of his fellow Shishis knew better than to follow him.
He seriously didn't know what to do about Tomoe. He never told her to stay, in fact, he expected her to have already left. But no, she was always there, cooking or cleaning or doing something related. He swore he saw her writing in a diary a few times. The house, which he had never bothered to clean or take care of, improved considerably, and the stench of blood and grime was replaced by white plums.
Why wasn't she going? Why wasn't she afraid of him? Why didn't she say anything to him? No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't see what she was thinking at all. This wasn't like a kenki, for she obviously didn't know kenjutsu, but her personality… It made him so exasperated, but at the same time, he ached to learn more about this enigmatic woman.
She should run away. She should hate him. She should want to kill him, and then he'd die, like he always deserved to.
No, wait, don't go…
It was late at night now, very, very late. The moon had already risen high in the sky, the ambient sounds of night engulfing Kenshin. While the "tranquility" of his light sleep should've taken him already, he found, much to his annoyance, that he couldn't sleep even a wink.
It was her fault.
Whenever he closed his eyes, he could feel her icy glare on him, and he wanted to disappear. He could see her face, the anguish and sadness, and the coldness she gave him. The pain and sorrow she held in her heart for her fiance's death was his fault; he was the one who was killing her on the inside. Her tormented soul was haunting him, even in his sleep.
Didn't he always play the role of the devil?
[a/n: *sighs* I've been making Tomoe seem really mean lately. ;__; She'll warm up in the end, I promise! xD;; Battousai is funny… *sniggers* I know he's supposed to be serious and all, but I'm imagining him doing these things and it cracks me up! Tomoe's gonna make him go insane, heeheee… ^_^ And just to let you all know, I mean no harm to any of these characters… I'm not gonna make them suffer or anything like that. o__O;; I was flamed for another fic because I did that. Harumph. ^o^ Anyways… the song in the beginning is Haunted, and I think it's by Evanescence. ^_^ I love their band name! =D Anyways… the "plan" Katsura, Takasugi, and Iizuka were talking about will be revealed soon. It's funny! Kinda… in a… moronic way. x__x oh well, whatever, eh? Sooo… nothing more to say? Midori signing out!]