In the Shadow of the Vampire

By: Psychotic Tanuki

Chapter 7- Blood Red Sunset

                Kaoru stared at the dry crusted blood on her fingers. Its dull brownish color starkly contrasted with her pale skin and she placed her hand to her neck again. It was sore, but she couldn't find a single scab, wound or injury anywhere. Kaoru sighed; she had those awful dreams again. They were a mixed jumble in her mind, each from different points of view of the same event. In the few minutes since she had waken up, the details were already blurred and some forgotten. She moaned in frustration and fell back upon her bed, unaware of when she had sat up in the first place. She had forgotten many details, but the things she wanted to forget, she couldn't.

                She'd seen her death—twice. It was strange; in one scene she was strapped to a musty stone altar, beaten to death by fanatical Shinta while a strange man—Sanosuke—watched in the background. In the other scene, she was in a hospital bed, screaming incoherent things as Dr. Genzai tried to save her life. They both couldn't be true, After all, Kaoru reasoned, you can't die twice.

                "So sleeping beauty wakes up, you nearly gave me a heart attack you know." Kaoru froze, since when had Megumi been in the room? She whirled around to face the weary doctor with an uneasy look upon her face. She had seen Megumi in her dreams, and that Megumi was someone she didn't care to associate with. How did she know that Megumi had changed? Easy--she didn't.

                "What do you mean?"

                "Tanuki-chan, you've been out for four days. I come back to the clinic—expecting to be off duty and I find a panicked Shinta because you 'dead fainted'." Kaoru opened her mouth to protest, she of al people did not faint. "—Not only that, you were out for the next four days and had me thinking you'd fallen into a coma."

                Kaoru felt guilty. The doctor was tired, and it showed. Her eyes were dull and watery, the beginnings of bags forming. Her hair was limp and stringy, and Kaoru guessed she hadn't showered or slept in a few days. Her skin was a pale color and her skin seemed to hang on her bones. Noticing the nasty cracked lip, that had started swelling; she guessed Megumi didn't do much eating either.

                "You look like crap—go, sleep, eat, shower. I'm fine." Megumi chuckled, soon leading into an insane laughter as the doctor snorted and chortled on the floor. Kaoru face faulted as Megumi began to sober up. "So, you maniac, what's happened since I've been out?"

                Megumi eye twitched a bit before an uneasy smile graced her face. Her lips pursed in thought and suddenly the tension in the room skyrocketed as Megumi figured out the words to say.

                "Well, Enishi came back—he and Shinta don't get along very well, but I'm not sure as to why. That little boy—Enishi's very interested in where he came from, he tried to take him to see Saitou the other day. Shinta objected and the boy sided with Shinta. Needless to say they exploded at each other…to make a long story short—this is your room now." Kaoru snorted. From her brief encounters with the younger man, she deeply resented him. She couldn't blame Shinta for blowing up at the conceited asshole (who liked to prance around waving knives) but at the same time, she felt very uneasy.

                Himura Shinta was not human. She had come to that conclusion the first day she'd met him, and had only talked to him once after that. That first meeting, she had oddly noticed how cool his skin was and when her head had been level with his chest, she didn't hear any heartbeats. Later, Kaoru had taken the aspirin he'd given her, and then all was blank. She didn't doubt for a second he had slipped something into her drink. It was orange juice—she wouldn't notice if something was slipped in.

                "Kaoru-dono, I have some aspirin and orange juice. We are out of water." 

                Bullshit. She was going to get out of there before the psychopath decided to kill her.

                "Hey Megumi—when are you going to help me get walking again?"

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                Enishi prowled the streets of Tokyo, watou discreetly strapped to his back. He was pissed, and he was thrown out of his home. Saitou was nowhere to be found and a little red haired man had taken his place in the clinic. He knew who that bastard really was, Himura Shinta his ass. Himura Kenshin was more like it. Hitokiri Battousai—in his grasp and he was unable to do anything.  Not while the kid and Megumi were being used as a shield. He had been the only one to notice what Battousai was doing—Battousai knew he wouldn't attack as long as both Megumi and Yahiko sided with him. He was smart, and he had also gotten his way as Megumi threw him out of the clinic "until he got his act together."

                Sullenly, he shoved his hands into his pockets and scowled. Saitou would be pissed at him beyond belief. He would beat his ass into pavement and Enishi kicked at the floor. Not only had he lost his room, with all his things in it, he had lost their strategic hold on the clinic. Neither he nor Saitou would be welcome in the clinic anymore and that little brat refused to go with him. He was their last chance at relaying things to the Maid of Lorraine. Their last chance to convince her to join their cause was gone down the drain. Enishi kicked the lamppost.

                How could Megumi not remember who this bastard was? How could she not remember the person who had brutally maimed and murdered Tomoe? How could Megumi take Battousai's side over his own? How the hell could she throw him, her surrogate son out?  Did she forget her part in the cause? Obviously she did. He didn't care if he was only thrown out 'until he got his act together', he wasn't going back. Megumi and the brat had chosen their sides, and he wouldn't forget it.

                His only regret was that he couldn't take Kaoru with him. He left the Maid of Lorraine in a wasp's nest. She was comatose by the time he had come back—no doubt Battousai's doing—meaning he had already started devising his murder scheme. Enishi stared at the setting sun, it was blood red. Kaoru's blood would pour out into the streets if he didn't do SOMETHING, anything soon. Then her blood would be followed with the blood of all of Tokyo. Footsteps were approaching, and Enishi snorted. This was not a good day.

                "It would seem that you are a troubled man Yukishiro."

                "I don't wanna deal with your shit Shishio—just leave me in peace." Enishi didn't bother to look at the freak. He'd gone insane after Komagata Yumi died and his son went missing. The man didn't have a shred of humanity left in his soulless body and Enishi didn't care to deal with the psychotic man.

                "Such strong words for a boy whose hasn't even become a man yet." Enishi grit his teeth, his fists clenched at his side. Saitou had warned him about Shishio, the man wasn't in his right mind.

                "Get lost." Cold laughter erupted behind him, and a shiver crawled up Enishi's spine.

                "You're wasting your time with Saitou. The whole Maid of Lorraine crap won't kill Battousai—she always falls in love with him. What's the point? We've got to take him out ourselves!!" Shishio watched carefully through his cold calculating eyes. The Yukishiro boy had gone rigid, stiff backed and if he clenched his fists any harder, he'd draw blood.

                "You're insane. It's a known fact that the only known way of defeating Battousai is through the Maid of Lorraine. Nothing else will kill him—he's the most freaking powerful vampire on the face of this freaking earth." Enishi turned to face the gaunt face of Shishio Makoto. His pale skin was matted by ratty black hair tied in a samurai's topknot. He even wore the traditional Japanese swordsman getup. There was a cold glint of insanity in the older man's eyes and Enishi felt his mouth go dry.

                "That's where you're wrong. Obviously someone thought up of the Maid of Lorraine—obviously we'll think of something else; something that might actually work. We're a lot alike, you and I. He killed your sister. He killed my wife and son. We both want to kill him."

"Yeah—and while we'd be thinking of an alternate way, Battousai would go out and kill us all." An insane smile grew on Shishio's face before he broke out into jubilant laughter. Enishi's scowl grew as he stood his ground, he was even more insane than the last time he met him.

Shishio took a step forward and Enishi held his breath, "My troops are a lot more prepared than the rag tag team you've got. We know we can kill him—he is after all only a vampire. You should join us Enishi. You'd make a great leader. I know we can kill him without that wretched woman—"

                "That's enough Shishio. I will not tolerate you harassing my apprentice." Saitou's cold voice was like a blessing to Enishi. The older men glared at each other until Shishio's upper lip began to twitch oddly, his hands shaking with an unknown emotion and he gave Saitou another scathing look as he walked away.

                "You know where to find me Yukishiro!" Enishi scowled as the disgrace disappeared, the red sunlight coloring the man's escape.

                "What did he want?" Enishi stared after Shishio, Saitou's cold stare making it clear he was in deep shit.

                "Nothing."

                "You're lying. I can tell."

                "Excuse me. I didn't know you could smell deceit." Saitou snorted. The boy was going to regret opening his loud mouth.

                "What's this I hear about you getting kicked out of the clinic?"
                Enishi sighed. Where did the man get his information? He'd been kicked out only two hours ago, how the hell did he find out?

                "It doesn't matter. I'll kick your ass later." Enishi breathed a sigh of relief and followed Miburo's wolf down the street, but Shishio's words had sown new seeds of doubt in his head.

                Is it really possible? To kill Battousai without the Maid of Lorraine?

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                Aoshi sat in his room at the underground headquarters of the Oniwabanshu. He had broken his cell phone and stared at the two broken pieces. This technological instrument was a piece of crap—it brought nothing but bad news and burned a hole in his pocket. Annoyed, he tossed it to the other side of the room, a scowl adorning his face.

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

                A whole freaking year. That would mean, she was missing soon after he left for Tokyo. Sighing, he buried his face into his hands and just sat there, hunched over and miserable. Guilt stabbed his heart as he wondered why, oh why did he leave Kyoto?

                He had left to protect her, the Aoiya, and the rest of the Oniwabanshu. He had left because the pain he felt over Sayo's death was much too great. He had left because he was a coward. He had left because he was a fraud to the Oniwabanshu name and all the ideals they stood for.

                The Oniwabanshu—the biggest, as well as the best vampire slaying 'cult' born of highly skilled, highly vengeful warriors, all with the potential to become the Right and Left Wings of the Maid. They would have all laid their lives down in an instant for the Maid of Lorraine. Aoshi stared at the wall; no doubt the Oniwabanshu group had fallen into disarray. As their Okashira, their leader, he had abandoned them and their cause—he had sold his soul to the devil all because of a woman.

                During Tomoe's reign as the Maid of Lorraine, the Oniwabanshu had been her greatest ally. They lent her the skills of foresight through Sayo, the information gathering skills of Hannya, and Beshimi, the experience of Okina and he, he had taken up his kodachi as her personal advisor. They had made a formidable force—possibly the biggest one Battousai had ever had to dismantle.

 However, it all went down the drain when they rescued Misao. He didn't blame the little girl; she was only twelve at the time. A tiny street rat, Tomoe had rescued her from being vampire food and taken in by the Oniwabanshu. She had taken an immediate liking to him, and an immediate dislike to Sayo, his wife. She drove the wedge between them even further, and to Misao's girlish whims, he could not refuse. Sayo grew distant, her foresight shady and then, both Sayo and Tomoe's dead bodies had ended the revolt against Battousai. They had lost miserably.

Aoshi grit his teeth. He had sought out Battousai, full of righteous fury and pain. He had fought Battousai, and was beaten to an inch of his life. In that instant of weakness, Battousai had let him live and in his agony; he listened to the nothingness offered to him. Battousai's utopia—his world of no suffering, in his madness, Aoshi had agreed and become a traitor to the Oniwabanshu. Utopia was Greek for empty, nowhere, and it had been a book written by Sir Thomas Moore in Henry the VIII's court about paradise. Thus, since then, the word had the connotation of paradise. The nothingness Battousai offered—at the time, Aoshi believed it was paradise.  To some extent, he still believed it.

His followers never knew that their beloved Okashira was helping Battousai regain strength. They never knew he supplied them with information—they never knew he was a double spy. She never knew. Misao just looked up to him even more and proclaimed him her 'Aoshi-sama' and he, he had grown dependant

             She never knew her Aoshi-sama betrayed the Oniwabanshu and in turn betrayed her. With her undying loyalty, she'd stared into his eyes, smiled and latched onto his being with all she had.  Misao, in those short four years had become his only friend, his best friend. Then, when he wasn't looking—she had grown into a beautiful young woman. She would leave him one day and Misao would view him as the father she never had and her girlish crush would fade.

                He couldn't bear that. His almost obsessive dependency on her had grown into some sick twisted form of love. It was unacceptable. It was profane and he was not going to let it continue. She'd be fine in Kyoto without him. That's what he had told himself. She wouldn't need him there, and thus, he was protecting her from his betrayal and from his sick perverse mind.

                Now she had been missing for a year. A whole god damn year. Aoshi gripped the cup of tea in his hands. Its warmth was gone and the sweat of his hands made the cup slippery in his grasp.

                "OKINA--! We're going back to Kyoto! We're going NOW!" He tossed the cup across the room. He was going to hell anyway—might as well do one thing right before he left this godforsaken world.

                Outside his window, the sunset was blood red—soon, Kyoto's streets would be the same color.

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                "Do you have any feeling in your legs?"

                "Yes."

                "Can you move your toes?"

                "Yes."

                "Do you think you can move them?"
                "Yes."

                "Can you give me more than one word answers?"
                Kenshin stared at the irritable patient in front of him. She was a real sneaky bitch when she wanted to be. Somehow, all of the Maids were. Kaoru had been mean, sulky and sullen at their first meeting, curiously bright and happy, their second and third meeting, and back to bitchy at their fourth.

                'God only knows why I haven't killed her by now. Shishou—I am going to kill you.'

                'This is a good thing de gozaru. She's not stupid—sessha bets she already knows your twisted and evil plots you piece of shit de gozaru.

                'Oh just piss off moron.'

                Make me.

                Kenshin had a migraine. When his…wimpier half had said he wasn't going to let him hurt 'Kaoru-dono' he'd laughed it off. What could Rurouni do? Apparently, dear Shinta had realized that too and resorted to petty bickering. It was driving him insane.

                "Why the hell are you teaching me how to walk again?" She looked at him in disgust. Of all people, Megumi had entrusted this psychopath, who was trying to kill her—she refused to forget that orange juice incident and the blood on her neck—to teach her how to walk. Kaoru was surprised he hadn't decided to break them instead.

                "Finally—the mute one speaks." Kenshin muttered under his breath. He fought desperately to resist the urge to break her toes that he was testing out for feeling.

                "Well if it isn't mister cranky-pants." Kaoru's face was twisted up in pain as she croaked out the words. Girly man was completely oblivious to the piercing pains in her side. Her head was spinning with light headedness. She felt as if she was going to pass out in minutes. She always got this sickness around Shinta. The man was a curse.

                "You look like shit." Kenshin scrunched up his nose. Her eyes were red and glassy, and her skin was blotchy as her hair stuck up in various places. She looked like a dying druggie.

                "Maybe it's because I think you're trying to kill me. Or maybe it's because it feels like I'm being STABBED in my gut, or maybe it's the fact that I'm so dizzy I think my eyes are going to fall out of its sockets—" Kaoru's eyes were unfocused and glazed over in pain and Kenshin felt a hand fist in his hair.

                "What are you doing?" His eyes turned squinty as he scrutinized his patient. She was doubled over in pain, and gripping his hair with some physical illness. It was a disturbing sight to seem; even more disturbing was her perceptiveness. She had no doubt figured out the orange juice incident and he had noticed the dried blood on her neck had been washed away thoroughly. It was quite possible he had underestimated her dearly.

                "If I pass out, I'm knocking you out too psychopath." Kenshin snorted.

                "What makes you think that in your current condition, you can knock me out?" Her weak hands were barely able to make a plausible grip, much less pull him down. Suddenly, her fist came flying at his face, and by its sheer power Kenshin fell backwards.

                "Cocky bastard." Kaoru had stood up on her legs and knocked the rude man over. Any trace of her former illness, or pain was completely gone from her face.

                Kenshin staggered up and gave her a curious look. He thought that she couldn't walk—and how the hell did she get the strength to knock him over? Sheer power emanated from her tiny frame, and his golden eyes bore into hers as she defiantly stared up.

                "I thought you couldn't use your legs." Kaoru faltered a bit, moments ago, she hadn't been able to even make her legs move an inch. Then as the cocky bastard started insulting her, she had wished that she could just walk over there and knock him out.

                "Well what do you know—God's cured my legs so I can finally get out of this godforsaken country." Kaoru was nervous and it showed through her brash reply. Kenshin narrowed his eyes. Never before had a Maid knocked him over with such ease and apparently, she had no clue as to how she had attained such a power.

                "What are you staring at?" Shinta was making Kaoru nervous and found herself hoping that he would just stop staring with his freakish dragon-like eyes and snarling face. She felt like a piece of meat that would soon be torn apart by a hungry dragon. At the same time, an ominous feeling of cold emptiness emanated from his being—and it felt like he had no soul. It was a freaky sense of tension that Kaoru wished that it would all just go away.

                "What, do you have a problem with it?" A cocky smirk graced his handsome face and Kaoru wondered why all the handsome men, were all jerks.

                "Of course I have a problem with it!"

                "So what are you going to do about it?" Kaoru fumed.

                "I hate you." Kenshin raised a delicate eyebrow. Now that was a first—a Maid of Lorraine, who was destined to fall in love with him, hated him.

                "There's a thin line between love and hate." Her face turned bright red at his suggestive smile and raised her hand to slap him.

                'Now that's curious. This slap is so weak even the weakest thug could block it.' Kenshin held a slim wrist in midair and watched with mild fascination at the blood pumping towards her face, and with great lust as he heard her heart thumping wildly in her chest.

                Kaoru flushed embarrassed at Shinta's grip on her wrist. She was righteously angry and found her thoughts were turning vindictive.

                "You're a soulless bastard, you know that?"

                "Yeah, I pride myself in knowing that." Kaoru scowled. Just to spite him, she wished he had a heart or a soul, maybe both, just so she could personally stomp on it. Kaoru watched with wide eyes as Shinta suddenly slumped over, unconscious on the ground like a limp corpse.

                "Holy shit—"Kneeling over, Kaoru began lightly slapping at his cold, pale face. She frantically placed a head on her his chest only to find no heartbeat. Frantically she gripped his wrist and found no pulse.

               "Shinta—wake up~ please don't be dead..." Kaoru paused a moment, "Okay, you're already dead but don't be dead dead. Oh fucking shit!"

                Himura Shinta lay comatose on the green carpeting of Enishi's room, with a frantic Kaoru wringing her hands as she hovered over him, trying to get him to wake up. Many thoughts ran through Kaoru's head at that moment; how does a dead person die again? If you're already dead, is it even possible to die again? How is it that a dead person can walk around like a normal human being? But probably the most rampant thought in her head at the moment was: Just how do you wake up a dead person?

                The sun set over Tokyo, and the sky faded to black.

TBC...

AN: -_________________________-; Well, there's some KxK moments right there, and as you can see Kenshin just keeled over unconscious. I had a bit of trouble with that scene in trying to get him to fall, and then whether to end it there, or go on with the next scene I had in mind…as you can see I let it end there. )… Ahhh and the plot thickens again…with the mysterious return of the ever mysteriously unbandaged Shishio…I really had a hard time figuring out whether or not I would make him in bandages this time.

Shishio: *wrapped in mummy bandages and walking in the sunset through Tokyo* Enishi…Come with me—Mumra--*cough cough* I mean, Shishio.

Enishi: ….*Bursts out laughing*

Saitoh: ….Ahou…*lights Shishio on fire with a burnt out cigarette*

Really, I can't take Shishio all that seriously walking through modern day Tokyo in a mummy outfit…and especially with those silly flaps on the sides of his head…

Yay—14 reviews! Thank you to all those who took the time to write one—its my natural high.

Jason M. Lee- ^^;; yeah, I took the liberty of explaining the whole utopia thing up in Aoshi's monologue/thought thingy. He seemed like the right person to know that fact of knowledge. Enma-sama is only helping Kenshin because…well…if Kenshin takes over the living realm, and Enma already has the lower part of the undead realm…then of the three realms, he technically controls 2 out of 3 realms…and his plans for complete domination begin… but he's such a sucker for watching Kenshin fail…

Jen- If your teachers/boss come up to me and bangs my head in for you not doing your assignments due to my story—I shall hide under my desk. Ahhh, not to worry, I do that all the time…I should be doing my work, but instead I run off to tea houses, coffee houses, and plan trips to Six Flags Great Adventure…but what teachers/boss don't know, can't hurt them… ^^;;

Linay- Wai wai…TT.TT sessha is so honored linay-sama reviewed my fic and even liked it…

Omochi- I don't know…*wiggles eyebrows* is she alive again? ) If you're not dead, but you're not alive, what are you anyway? *Shrug* If you beat Final Fantasy X, you might get an idea as to what Kaoru's status of 'living' is.

M. Kasshoku—Ahhh…the white haired one. Enishi was left at home…sleeping in his nice little fluffy bed when Tomoe…um…died. As for what happened after that—you'll see in a chapter or so…although Enishi might be …*ahem* 'snuffed' a little later on. I don't know whether I'll actually 'snuff' him or not…it all depends on whether my muses decide I'm a cruel hearted psycho.

Kimiko – I tried to fit in a S/M moment in this chapter but it just didn't wanna work out well enough and I was all : where am I gonna stick that scene in?? I am now waiting for the opportune time for the rooster to get his groove on.

Haruko—I like to thicken the plot slowly, even though half the time I wanna write something ten billion chapters away NOW, I have to make it work right so it doesn't seem rushed or sloppy. ; its half the reason I take so long to crank a chapter out. I envy all those who can crank out stories like a machine…how do they do it? Tomoe's death was definitely not in vain, but I've noticed in a lot of Kenshin fics—major turning points start with her death…O.- although I don't know how long she'll stay dead…

Lessa—You see…that "if Kaoru can't move how will she 'kill' Kenshin" problem bugged me for the last…oh…2-3 chapters and then I figured, well…"lets make it so she suddenly recovers almost immediately and see what the reaction is if I don't reveal the reason as to why". Trust me, the status of Kaoru's "life" and the whole "wow I can walk" thing will be explained in due time.

Jazika/Son lin- I love the dun dun dun…and updated I have.

Squirrel—glad you enjoy my story, and I updated…although not as soon as I had hoped…-_-;

Neko Oni-- *wai* your review made me uber happy. ; god…I'm turning into one of my friends with the word uber…;; anyway, Originally I was going to have Hiko as Satan and then either Okon or Onmasu (it would seem Okon likes Hiko more though) as a love sick female God who sends him jugs and jugs of sake. That didn't seem to fit with the rest of the story though, so Okon's just a normal human Oniwabanshu. Oh well. Saitoh and Enishi were meant to be partners together though…they're just too funny to stick together because they're so odd.

kaOru—no—taNuki- Ahhh…the ever present being of the Tanuki. My dad used to call me that when I was little though because I was obsessed with Meeko from Pocahontas and when I was even smaller I was always mucking it up with the boys and had Anji marks around my eyes… O.O; Well I stuck in the KxK moment up there, and KxK will come soon, probably in the next chapter *hint hint as to why Kenshin's knocked out*

Son Lila-- *innocent look* who me? Evil? *smirk*

Lilfrozenfire- *bows* I updated.