In The Shadow of the Vampire
By: Psychotic Tanuki
Warning: much violence… if you don't like gory violence do not read.
Chapter Six: The Mechanics of My Death
1998.6.06
12.01 AM – 1st minute
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Don't question me." Kenshin frowned as he looked at Hiko. It didn't matter if the giant oaf was Enma, Satan, or whatever you wanted to call him. He was still the Hitokiri Battousai, he would fulfill his duty. One tiny, insignificant girl could not undo that.
"Then get on with it. She must be dead by 666."
"I understand." Kenshin bowed and left the throne room of Enma. One little, tiny insignificant girl wouldn't change what he had built for the last four centuries. Tomoe Yukishiro would die by his hand and no one else's.
It was the least he could do and at the same time…
It was the most he could do.
All the same, he would keep their promise. He wouldn't ever say he was sorry.
She didn't deserve it.
1998.6.06
1.30 AM – 90th minute
Megumi rose up off of the bed, covering herself with her bed sheets. These were the times when she felt most jealous of Tomoe. Kenshin would have fun with her and then afterwards, run off to little goody two shoes Tomoe. She watched jealously as he clothed himself. She didn't care if he was once the Hitokiri Battousai. He'd turned on Enma and was helping Tomoe- helping their cause! Why couldn't he for once just stay with her?
"Kenshin, where are you going?" The slender redhead stopped a moment, his cruel undead eyes glared straight through her.
"To Tomoe. You know where she is? It might make the search a little easier." He laughed internally; all was going according to plan. He just loved to watch Megumi boil.
"She's at home, with Enishi. Do you really have to go back…to her?"
"Yes."
"Why?" Kenshin gave her a blank stare. How fickle humans were. She'd betrayed her best friend all for him, to steal him away from her best friend. How mortified she would be when she realized the truth. He didn't belong to either of them.
"Because, this is the way it is. Remember, before all this, she was your best friend. After all this is over, I won't be around anymore anyway." Megumi frowned. Kenshin was never this…sarcastic…this mean before. He's the one that came to her…not vice versa.
"You mean you're leaving?"
"Yes, and you'll feel so much better knowing that you've backstabbed your best friend. It's quite funny actually." Megumi's mouth fell open, stupefied at her own blindness.
"Bastard…"
"That's not what you were saying thirty minutes ago," Kenshin laughed heartily before returning his gaze to the stunned woman, "But you know, isn't it sad? You'll never be able to say 'I'm sorry'." Megumi's eyes were wide with shock; Kenshin had played her for a fool. He'd never really switched sides, and this whole time he'd been feeding information back to Enma.
"How capricious your kind is. I've enjoyed watching you squirm." He swept down upon her temple and virtually sucked out her memories.
When Megumi would wake up later, she wouldn't remember a thing. Kenshin, satisfied with his handiwork left. He'd reconstructed her memory; she wouldn't remember anything about him- not unless he decided to give it back to her.
1998.6.06
3.30 AM -210th minute
Sagara Sanosuke stared at the young woman's dead body. Shinomori Sayo, foresight to Yukishiro Tomoe, was dead. He smiled. He'd done just as his master had said for him to do. He'd mutilated her body so far beyond recognition, that it was nothing but a bloodied carcass. Never mind that he had fucked this woman, never mind that two days ago he'd promised to help her kill Shinomori Aoshi.
Kenshin's new world was so far above that. The ideal utopia was coming, and it was coming at a hurtling pace. The death of the Maid of Lorraine and all those who followed her was top priority. Still, the haunted eyes of Sayo chilled his bones. He would be the first to admit that he was shocked that Kenshin wanted her dead. Sure, he'd been stationed to watching her, and feeding Kenshin information but he'd never really considered killing her.
Sano frowned. He was still soft. He was centuries old, and he was still soft. He now understood why Kenshin had stationed him to this…imbecile job. Kenshin was testing his worth, his loyalties. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and stalked down the street. Pausing a moment, he looked up towards the dark sky. Sano raised a hand to his face, and was shocked to find it wet.
It was raining. Yes, that was it, it was raining.
It had to be raining.
Vampires didn't cry.
1998.6.06
5.30 AM- 330th minute
Kenshin stared coldly at the woman begging for her life. She was a stupid whore of a stupid vampire hunter.
"Please…don't kill me! You'll be sorry! Shishio will kill you if you do!" Kenshin snorted.
"Do you think I really care? Where is Tomoe? She's not home." Yumi flipped him off.
"I'll only ask once more, and then I'll kill you." Kenshin clenched his jaw, she was annoying him. He gripped her neck and lifted her up to eye level.
"Okay, okay~ I'll talk." Yumi's face flushed a sick red color as Kenshin stared at her dispassionately.
"You know what, I don't fucking care anymore." With that last notion, he glowered as he strangled off her air supply. He didn't care to notice the little thirteen-year-old boy hiding in the alleyway, his mother just killed by the Hitokiri Battousai. Seta Soujiro was scared.
1998.6.06
5.45 AM-345th minute
"Genzai-sensei, it's the Kamiya girl!" Takahashi Genzai stared at his assistant, Kamatari before running out of the room. He had made a promise to Kaoru's father to save her; he couldn't let the disease kill her now. The white halls were endless as he rushed down the hall towards the staircase. He was on the 8th floor, the 10th floor was only two flights up, and it would be faster to use the staircase than to wait for the elevator.
Such an odd girl, Kamiya Kaoru was. She had been sent to him two years earlier, at the young age of eighteen. And at that young age, she was stricken with an unknown and incurable disease. Fiery and spunky, he had no desire to tell her she was going die, so he didn't. He shoved open the door to the 10th floor and ran into Kaoru's room.
She was trashing and screaming again. Genzai braced himself; she could be quite irritable during times like this. She had just celebrated her twentieth birthday, which was father than he had ever hoped for her to live.
"Kamatari, help me restrain her-!" Genzai dodged a wild kick. Her parents had stopped visiting after the first couple of tantrums she threw. He couldn't blame them. It was hard to sit there and watch your child trash in agony and not be able to do anything.
What caused her thrashing? No one knew.
What caused her disease? No one knew.
What was her disease? No one knew.
What did they know? She was dying. Slowly, her organs began shutting down; her mind had recently begun deteriorating. She was lost in a world only she could see, screaming outrageous things- earlier that week she had started to yell at what appeared to be an apparition of her mind.
"I'LL KILL HIM, THAT NO GOOD, FILTHY BASTARD! HE KILLED ME! HE KILLED ME! HOW DARE HE KILL ME?" Genzai brushed aside the strange scream, deeming it an illusion of her mind. She'd screamed similar things before, though none this vehemently.
"Who are you gonna kill this time?" Kamatari muttered, strapping an arm onto the mattress.
"THAT STUPID BASTARD- I'LL KILL HIMURA KENSHIN! I'LL KILL HIM!" With that she fell quiet and lay deathly still.
"Well…that's the first time she's said a coherent name." Kamatari glanced at Genzai, who seemed disgruntled.
"Yes. I've heard that name before, Tomoe mentioned him last time she visited me."
"How's she doing?" Kamatari asked blandly as he re-plugged the machines back into Kaoru.
"She's fine, but never mind that. Isn't it odd that she said an actual name?" Kamatari shrugged.
"There are probably a lot of guys named Kenshin, and Himura isn't all that uncommon."
"I suppose."
1998.6.06
7.55 AM- 475th minute
Tomoe Yukishiro stared at her hands. Kenshin was…preoccupied lately. Her best friend, Megumi, was also becoming more and more…distant. She'd told Megumi she'd be home with Enishi if she wanted to talk. Yeah right, that's where she THOUGHT she'd be until she'd received a disturbing letter from Shishio, their latest recruit.
The stressed woman sighed. Enishi was safe at home, so she wasn't too worried. She'd spent the last twelve hours tracking down Saitoh Hajime, but to no success. She dearly hoped he got her message before it was too late. She smacked her head against the steering wheel of the car, she'd witnessed Kenshin sneak out of the house when she was returning home around half past midnight. She'd then followed him, only to find him at Megumi's.
It's not like she didn't expect it. That didn't mean it didn't hurt any less, but here she was conspiring against him. She knew he'd never turned on Enma- she was baiting herself and she feared the Day of Judgment was nearing. In a rage, Tomoe had hotwired Megumi's car and was driving around Tokyo's suburbs.
He'd find her eventually, but she didn't know what was taking so long. Deep down, she knew she wasn't really going to end all of this. She knew she was the figurehead, the 'fake' Maid of Lorraine. God had told Tomoe her role in this mess, this fiasco. She would pave the way for the next Maid of Lorraine, hopefully, the last one. She could only pray that Saitoh got her message and the picture of Kamiya Kaoru.
It was strange. Enishi was only fifteen, and all too eager to join his older sister in her 'destiny'. She herself didn't want her destiny. Her destiny was death, and all her childhood dreams had flown out the window. She didn't understand her brother's idolization of her, nor his obsession with being a hero and she was frankly worried for him. Although, that wasn't what was strange; what was strange was that she cared more about a sickly invalid woman's future more than her own brother's.
Kamiya Kaoru. She'd met the girl when she visited her grandfather, Takahashi Genzai. It was then; she knew that her fate was sealed. This sickly woman held more potential than she ever could. Tomoe's gift was fleeting and already she could feel it leaving her. She knew it would pass into that sickly woman, and perhaps she would end the vicious cycle of cat and mouse.
For every Maid of Lorraine, there was her White Demon. Tomoe had known Kenshin would be her White Demon, and no matter how much she'd conspired to kill him, it had all backfired.
The sun had risen, and she knew this would be the last time she would ever see the sun rise.
1998.6.06
8:30 AM- 510th minute
Sanosuke quietly bound the unconscious Maid of Lorraine to the stone altar. He could never be too careful around the chosen savior. Hell, no one of their kind could afford to be careless around her, not even Kenshin. He'd seen her terrifying power, the power of being able to command anything as long as it wasn't against free will. Kenshin had been undoubtedly quiet, and it rather agitated Sano. The vampire could bark out orders left and right, but in the end, he didn't have single word to say.
Glory and their ideal was so freaking close he could taste it. The dark chamber was dank and humid with musty air. God, Sano wanted to get out of there. However, surely, surely the taste of glory would taste much sweeter.
"Oi, Kenshin. Better kill her before it's too late."
"No rush. We've got plenty of time." Ignoring Sano's disapproving stare, he stumbled deeper in thought. She'd been damn hard to find, but when he found her she didn't even put up a fight.
She knew she was going to die, but why was she so unnervingly calm? She'd been conspiring against him from the beginning, but he never knew what it was that she had finally decided upon. What scheme was she thinking of in that dark and twisted head?
He'd find out soon enough.
1998.6.06
9:50 AM- 590th minute
Kaoru stared at the ceiling. She was seeing strange people, hearing strange voices, and they were trying to take control of her. Her head was swimming with a distant, fuzzy pain that seemed to send her mind into brief moments of nothingness. Her whole body felt heavy and she was tired; tired of putting up with the needles and the plugs, with sympathetic looks and the bullshit excuses.
She wanted it to end and she wanted it to end now.
And as if to answer her prayers, the green line went flat.
1998. 6.06.
10.10 AM- 610th minute
Tomoe stared up at a smirking Kenshin. He truly was a bastard, but she kept to her promise. She wouldn't say sorry, and neither would he. Neither of them deserved it.
"So, what big plan have you got in store for me now?" Tomoe nearly panicked. Did he know? Did he intercept her message to Saitoh?
"Nothing. You win." Kenshin's face twisted into a frown and a cold hand clamped around her throat.
"Bull. I know you're planning something. I can tell that you're lying, the heart tends to beat faster." Tomoe inwardly cursed but kept calm. She would need to stay calm if she wanted to drag this out as long as possible.
"Fine, believe what you want to believe. I don't care."
"Bitch." Kenshin tightened his grip around her throat, feeling the blood pump through her arteries. "Tell me the damn truth."
"I did." He let go of her neck, and she noticed a perturbed Sanosuke in the background. Painfully, she acknowledged that Sayo and her unborn child were probably dead. Poor Aoshi, he never knew of Sayo's unhappiness, or of her hatred for him. He did genuinely care for Sayo; it would kill him to see her dead.
"Why don't you fight back, Maid of Lorraine? You could kill me right now before I kill you." Tomoe ignored Kenshin. She couldn't fight back, her powers were leaving her at a rapid rate, and all she could do was save up for her final wish.
"No I can't." He slammed his fist into her face and she smelt the blood in her nose. She had to stall for time, but at this rate, she'd be a bloody pulp before she was ready.
1998.6.06
11.03 AM- 663rd minute
Kaoru stared as Genzai talked to her. He was trying to save her, but all she could hear was garbled words and fuzzy figures. She was dying and the bliss was unbearable. She couldn't feel anything, and her world was fading into black.
"Dammit, Kaoru, don't give up!" Genzai-sensei stared at the fluctuating green line that was threateningly close to going flat. He hadn't seen it many times before, but the familiar look in Kaoru's eyes was that of a dying person's last look on life. Her azure eyes were glazed over and unseeing as she passed.
"Get me that damn contraption!" Kamatari nodded as she/he grabbed the defribulator (spelling?) and watched teary eyed as Genzai sensei pulled Kaoru from the world of the dead, only to watch her slip back into convulsions.
"Dear lord…you should've just let her die!" Kamatari felt nauseous as Kaoru kept shaking and Genzai-sensei just stood there gaping. Genzai-sensei just stood there, hoping that she would calm down and return to normal.
He shut his eyes, as the convulsions stopped, she'd died anyway and he decided to call it quits. He couldn't save Kamiya-san's daughter, and he'd sworn he would. Kamiya-san had died thinking that his daughter would live to be a healthy old woman and he'd failed him. Kamatari was vomiting on the floor and he gently brushed his old wizened hands over her eyes.
"Time of death, 11:06 AM…"
1998.6.06
11.04 AM- 664th minute
He'd mutilated her face beyond all recognition and yet she wouldn't die. Kenshin didn't understand it, she'd given herself up, resigning to the fact that she was going to die by his hands; and NOW she was resisting death.
"Kenshin, you've got two minutes left." Sano fidgeted nervously, two minutes and if she didn't die soon, then she'd ruin their chances at the perfect world.
"Why, won't you die?" Tomoe's bloodied face, what was left of her mouth was curved up in an odd little smile, her nose bashed in, and her eyes glazing over.
"I give you the gift of a soul." And in that moment, she died. Sano breathed a sigh of relief, unable to hear the murmurings of the dead woman. It was 11:06, the 666th minute in the 24 hour day. They'd made the deadline. Sano's relief was cut short as he noticed his master's crumpled form at the base of the altar.
There, lay a screaming Hitokiri Battousai. One angry, pissed, screaming, Battousai who now had a brand new soul.
1998.6.06
11.07 AM- 667th minute
Kaoru opened her eyes. She was still alive, and yet, the voices were gone. Her constant headache was gone, and her body no longer felt so heavy. She was alive, and never felt better, she was finally cured! She could finally leave this godforsaken hospital.
"Thank you Genzai-sensei. I'm cured…really I am. I don't know how…but I am…"
Genzai just stared. In future years, this would be known as his greatest achievement in his medical career, and yet he knew he had nothing to do with it. Absolutely nothing at all, yet how do you explain someone coming back from the dead? Kamatari had passed out in his/her own vomit and Genzai grimaced. He d didn't know whether Kamatari was a woman or man, (and frankly, he didn't care to find out) but nothing disgusted him more than a nurse who couldn't handle tough situations. He'd demote him/her in the later on.
Year 2003
Kaoru woke up with a start. She'd dreamt of her death again, however, this time her attacker's face was clear. Himura Shinta had mutilated her face beyond recognition and she had been chained to a stone altar in a dark, dank, humid and musty room.
She reaffirmed her earlier conviction…
No way in hell was Himura Shinta human. Sitting alone in Enishi's room, Kaoru placed a hand around her neck. When she pulled it back, she was mortified to find blood.
AN: Wahahahahahaha……after so many finals and regents I finally got the time to crank this baby out. ^^…as you can tell…this was a change of pace from the plot and rather an explanation of the past. I have dropped mucho mucho hints in this chapter!
Ureshi desu yo…
Anyways…thank you to all of whom reviewed
Jason M. Lee- eheheheheh…yeah…Battousai does have personality problems…-_-; and I still am cringing at the feat of getting myself out of the even bigger mess of a plot I've gotten myself into…
M. Kasshoku- yes…I like the tension between all of them as well…And of course Sano has to be sleazy/sexy at the same time…however…its hard to actually get him to come out the right way…glad to know I did it right. Kenshin's mental battle is worrying me too… -_-;
Monkeysme- well…the reason as to why Kaoru's so important is hinted at here…and will come up in the next few chapters…and yeah…it is weird how Yahiko doesn't notice who's a vampire and who isn't. -_-; Oh well…Yahiko is Yahiko…he's just as dense as Kenshin sometimes…
Omochi- well…the whole Megumi remembering thingy was addressed here…hope that answered your question. Yes! The Rurouni will gain more muscle…he just has to… -_-;
Tashi- hehe…I liked the "screw foreplay" line too
Blue jeans- ^^ more is on its way…
Kimiko- ^^;; more S/M will come yes it will…I enjoy writing that pairing in this story….its a hell of a lot easier than writing Aoshi and Misao…just cuz…well I've made Misao so Ed like from Cowboy Bebop… -_-;
P1- AHHHH!!! I will write more….
Kamma- nyahahahahaha~ sessha has written more….
Chiruken- :3…I like Kaoru human…and I have no clue how many tricks are up Kenshin's magenta sleeve….Oh the possibilities… and Sano…well…who knows what the little roosterhead did in the brief 3-4 minutes in the elevator…hehehehehe )
Son Lila- Yes…I DO enjoy making you hang off the edge of your seat… )… hrm…wicked Tsubame…. I dunno about that one… not quite sure as to what I'm gonna do with her….
