In the Shadow of the Vampire

By: Psychotic Tanuki

Chapter Five: Is that so?

            Misao was happy. Perhaps, Soujiro mused, a little too happy. She was drawing too much attention to herself. Soujiro kept a neutral face as he watched her skip merrily on the sidewalk, arms wide and singing very loudly. They were trudging their way to the Aoiya, and Soujiro frowned. Misao had said she wanted to eat the owner of the Aoiya, who he assumed to be Aoshi. Aoshi was in Tokyo. Aoiya was in Kyoto. So if Misao wanted Aoshi, why the hell were they going to Kyoto? Soujiro frowned as his head started to hurt. No matter how hard he tried, the simple Tenken vampire couldn't seem to hack into the mind of Makimachi Misao.

            Up ahead and unaware of Soujiro's ponderings, skipped a euphoric Misao. Laughing and singing to herself, wicked thoughts crept into her head. She was proud of her idea, and she'd have to thank Sano later. A massacre, what a lovely concept, Aoshi-sama…A massacre of the many Aoshi-samas! However, she needed to be at the Aoiya. That would be the only way her demented plan would work. She would call Aoshi-sama, tell him there was trouble in Kyoto and like a fool he would come rushing to her rescue. Then the fun would begin. She'd convert Aoshi-sama!

            "Sou-kun!"

            "Hai, Misao-chan?" Soujiro smiled as she stopped her strange, childlike behavior as she stood there staring at the concrete.

            "How was I made?" Soujiro face faulted. This was far from the birds and the bees talk of humans, yet still just as embarrassing. "Look at Sou-kun! Sou-kun is all white!" Duh, Soujiro thought I have no blood pumping in my body.

            "Master decided to make you a vampire. He killed you, you drank his blood and then you became our Misao."

            "Is that so…" Misao looked thoughtful, she knew Soujiro wasn't telling the whole truth, but what did it matter? As long as she had Aoshi, nothing else mattered. She stared in front of her, Kyoto was to the west of Tokyo, and she took off running. Soujiro would catch up, he wasn't Tenken for nothing.

            Across the street, Aoshi frowned. An extremely genki girl was being chased by the Tenken.  A girl that oddly reminded him of Makimachi Misao, and now Aoshi was worried. That girl couldn't have been Misao. He'd left Misao in Kyoto where it was safe, where his influence in the underground world wouldn't harm her; where she wouldn't find out that her Aoshi-sama was a fraud.

            He sighed, the only reason he was out of Oniwabanshu HQ was to pick up some medicine for Okina and now he was seeing things. Still, he couldn't push that image out of his mind. Flipping out his cell phone, he punched in the numbers for the Aoiya.

            Ring…

           

            Ring…

           

            Ring…

            Click.

            "Hello?" Aoshi smiled in relief, it was Shiro. They were safe.

            "Shiro, it's me."

            "…Aoshi-sama, how are things in Tokyo?" Aoshi inwardly grimaced. Shiro tended to babble.

            "They're…fine, Is Misao there?" Aoshi's eyebrows furrowed together as the garrulous Shiro said nothing.  "Shiro? Is Misao there?" Dread crept under his skin and his throat became dry.

            "Gomen nasai, Okashira. She's been missing for a year…Okashira? Okashira-"

            Aoshi didn't hear him as his cell phone slipped from his fingers, shattering on the concrete.

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            Megumi's heels clicked down the busy halls of the hospital. After a four and a half hour search for that damned rooster, all she found was nothing and all she earned was a pair of aching feet. Needless to say, she was in a sour mood. She knew he was in this damned hospital, she had checked the computers- he was scheduled to be on shift right now.

            Stepping into the elevator, Megumi slipped off the accursed heels, desperately wishing for a tub of hot water. With a sigh of relief, she laid her head against the paneling of the elevator wall and closed her eyes. She didn't care who else was in the elevator, or who she offended by taking off her shoes. Her feet hurt.

            "Damn, I didn't know how bad women's feet smell. It's almost as bad as mine."  Megumi opened her eyes to find a tall rooster headed nurse. Four and a half hours of searching, and NOW she finds him? She wanted to laugh, but she couldn't so she settled for flipping him off instead.

            "Shut up and fuck off." Sano eyed her carefully with an amused glint in his eyes.

            "Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" Megumi rolled her eyes and snorted.

            "Whatever." She reached out in front of her and hit the button for the first floor.

            "Would you kiss me with that mouth?" Megumi turned her head sharply towards the grinning Sano and frowned. He was dirty, a slob and foul mouthed. She burst out laughing.

            "Not if you were the last man on earth." Sano's smile widened even further hiding his wounded pride.

            "Is that so…" He glanced over towards the control panel of the elevator. They were on the third floor, and he figured he hand enough time. He sauntered over to the suspicious doctor.

            Megumi glared suspiciously at the male nurse. All traces of that huge goofy grin were gone, and all that was left was a very serious rooster head. He placed his large hands on her shoulders and roughly bit her lower lip, drawing blood.

            "Screw foreplay."

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            Kaoru stared at her reflection in her handheld mirror. Her beautiful hair had been mercilessly hacked off by that nasal boy. It looked odd to keep her hair down seeing as the frayed ends were uneven. She unhappily swept up her hair into a high ponytail, much like the one she had seen on Shinta.

            Shinta was odd, extremely odd. Kaoru couldn't remember a time when she ever met a Japanese man with flaming auburn hair. Or one that still spoke in archaic speech. There were times when she felt nauseous or around him and others where she felt just fine. Not only that, the man wore pink. That meant he was either extremely secure about his masculinity or he was gay.

            But that wasn't what was most odd about Himura Shinta. Himura Shinta is not human. Kaoru had concluded this after he had helped her up.  His hands had been ice cold, and he was unbelievably pale. That and she couldn't feel his heartbeat when he had carried her into nasal boy's room. He walked so softly that she couldn't hear when he was outside the room. He'd been here for four hours, as had that Yahiko boy.

            Yahiko had taken an immediate liking to the red haired man and an immediate dislike for her. Whatever the reasons for his unexplained hate towards her, she didn't like him either. It wasn't her fault; some people just didn't get along.

            "That hairstyle suits you Kaoru-dono." Kaoru felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise as she turned to look at Shinta. He stood in the doorway with a disarming smile on his face.

            "It looks better on you."

            "I didn't know you noticed my hair." Kaoru flushed; a healthy pink glow on her face. Kenshin unknowingly licked his lips. The blood was rushing through the capillaries in her face in mass quantities.

            "It's hard not to notice. It's flaming red." Kenshin snapped out of his reverie and genuinely smiled.

            "True," he placed a cold calloused hand upon her forehead, "You still have a fever, so I'll get you some medicine." Kaoru nodded dumbly, wondering how he could tell she had a fever if his hands were freezing cold.

            Kenshin sauntered down the hallway and into the kitchen, his face slowly becoming more and more angular. His shishou said she'd be an important asset, so he was playing nice. Didn't mean he'd have to like it. He opened the refrigerator and stared at the drinks inside. He would need something where she wouldn't notice any…discoloration. Grabbing the carton of Orange juice, he took a mug out of the cupboard. Kenshin looked around; Yahiko was still in the living room reading something. Quickly, he pricked his thumb with his nail and squeezed a few precious droplets of blood into the drink. Next, he produced a pill from his pocket and set off towards the back room.

            "Kaoru-dono, I have some aspirin and orange juice. We are out of water." Kaoru nodded thankfully and accepted the cup and 'aspirin'. Kenshin stared impassively as she willingly swallowed the pill and the tainted juice. An evil smile worked its way onto his face as she slumped onto the bed, dropping the empty mug onto the green carpet. Picking up the mug, he smirked again. The mug was advertising the new Dracula movie.

            Kenshin had to admit that Kaoru was an attractive woman. She wasn't outstandingly beautiful, but beauty, especially in humans, was fleeting and in the end didn't matter at all. He sat on the bed, lifting the unconscious Kaoru into an upright sitting position. The first step of getting rid of a possible threat was to make his mark.

            'Don't you dare bite Kaoru-dono.'

            Kenshin rolled his eyes; it was terribly annoying to battle with his 'inner self' over the same topic over and over again.

            And what are you going to do about it, Rurouni?

            'You'll see.'

            Is that a threat? Kenshin frowned, he didn't like that the Rurouni was threatening him. HE was the master of this body and he'll be damned if some pansy Rurouni threatened him. With that last thought, he bit into Kaoru's neck and proceeded to drink the red blood that spilled out. It was a bittersweet taste and the sheer mind numbing power he received from it was overwhelming.

            'Stop it- You'll kill her!'

            Calm down. Kenshin licked his lips and let Kaoru's body fall onto the bed. The wound had already begun to heal, she'd live.

            'You almost killed her-'

            That's the plan dumbass

            'I won't allow it.'

            Is that so…

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            "Miss, are you alright? You seem to have fallen and hurt yourself."

            Megumi slowly opened her eyes to the face of a concerned man. She looked around to see she was slumped against the paneling of the elevator, and that for the second time today, Sagara Sanosuke was nowhere in sight.

            "I'm fine…" She put on her shoes and walked hurriedly out of the hospital. She rummaged through her pockets, pulled out her car keys and entered into her beat up car. Was that a dream, or was it real?  Raising an anxious hand to her lip, she was mortified to find that it was still bleeding.

            The concerned man stood at the elevator door. He had come here to see his nephew Okita Soushi, but seeing the incompetent doctors they had here, he wondered if Okita was still alive.

            "Women," Saitoh Hajime snorted, "they're not cut out to be doctors."

            "But they're perfect for bait."

AN: AHhhhhhhhhhhh- I'm finally done with this chapter. XP and if you're having trouble imagining Kaoru with shorter hair, she looks like she did at the end of the manga and in the Kenshin kaden. ; I've also been getting urges to kill off a character or two…can't decide who though…any ideas? Expect more wackiness in the next chapter…

Redroseprincess678- Ahhh when I meant that Kaoru's lame, I meant she can't walk. Her leg muscles have atrophied. As for my evil ideas…muahahahahaha~ I have much character torture ahead…

M.Kasshoku- hehehe…You'll see why Kaoru's so special in the next chapter or so

Ty- wahahahahahaha~ your review made me very happy! So I hurried up and wrote this chapter, glad you like it.

aga_xris- ^^;; well I can't say much for enishi's manners…but I don't think he'll be prancing around with knives anymore… at least not at Kaoru. )

Rainhe- I continued :]

Bluejeans- ^^, well I'm glad someone thinks its interesting.

Val- Yeah, well…we all know how Psycho Enishi can be. XP…as for the walking thing- ^^;; Megumi is kind of preoccupied but she'll get around to it. ^-~

Omochi- X)…I love scarring Yahiko for life. Its honestly so much fun, but Tsubame a vampire? O.o;;; That thought never really crossed my mind…

Vampire Tsubame: eek! I have to bite someone??? *faint*

;;; …I don't think that would too well…

JML- ^^;; it is a mess…sessha is cringing at how she will get herself out of it.

Kitsune- ^__________________________^