The Sacred Night, Chapter Two
It was my second night traveling with Misao. She was very talkative and pleasant, if kind of needy at times. She talked a lot about men named Aoshi and Hannya, who were apparently also part of this group she'd mentioned. These people lived in Kyoto, but some, including Aoshi and Hannya, were on a mission somewhere kind of far away. She'd left to find Aoshi a week ago, but had been unsuccessful.
"So, this man, Aoshi, is your leader?"
"Hai,"
"Why did you come after him if he ordered you not to do so?"
"Honestly, how dense are men?" She rolled her eyes. "I'm in love with him, of course,"
"I see," I turned my gaze back toward the moon, wondering if I should leave her. It wasn't going to Kyoto that bothered me, because it wasn't as if I'd have to face my shishou- I could just leave once she was back with her friends. It just seemed pointless to place myself in such a tempting situation when I was planning on dying soon anyway. I didn't really know how long it would take, since I'd never succeeded, but I thought it must be close now. I hoped Misao wouldn't see it happen and become sad, but then I'd have to stay alive, or as alive as I could be considered anyway, until we reached Kyoto. I supposed I could do that.
We were on a relatively open road, since we were way out in the country by this time and it wasn't likely that humans would be around. It wouldn't have mattered much if they had been, though, since I had eaten, in a way, just the previous night. I wasn't hungry enough to lose control yet, and they couldn't sense what I was anyway. They only way they could tell would be if they saw me do something humans plainly didn't do, such as teleporting or shape-shifting, but I was too starved to do any of those things anyway. I was still stronger and faster than they were, and would be till the day I died, but they weren't likely to see that displayed. Misao couldn't even tell after twenty-four hours in my company.
"You haven't eaten anything tonight, Himura-san. You're paler than you were last night, even after I made you eat. Are you sick or something?"
"Iye, Misao-dono, I haven't been sick for a long time. I'm just... different. I'll be fine," I assured her.
"Different? Different how? What could be so different about you that food doesn't do you any good? Do you have a tapeworm?"
"Iye, I don't have a tapeworm. I just need a different kind of food, that's all," I knew I was treading on dangerous ground telling her this much, but I didn't want to flat-out lie to her. I would just answer her questions and try not to make her curious.
"What kind? We can stop and buy it somewhere, all you had to do was tell me," she offered, very confused.
"It's not like that... you can't but it anywhere, I need to find it. Don't worry, it isn't anything hard to find. I can get it right here in the forest," I smiled to assure her there was nothing wrong.
"What is it, just out of curiosity?"
"I'd, um... rather not talk about it," I balked, not seeing any creative answer that would be even remotely truthful. I hoped she would go for that.
"Aw, come on. It's not as if it's anything disgusting like human flesh or anything. What's here in the forest that you can't buy anywhere except dirt?"
"I really don't want to talk about it,"
"You don't eat dirt, do you?" She laughed.
"Iye, Misao-dono, I don't eat dirt," I smiled genuinely this time. She seemed to be satisfied that I wasn't talking, because she kept walking, more quietly now. She was only quiet for a moment, however.
"Ok, if whatever you eat is so easy to find, why don't you ever go find it? Don't you need to eat every day?"
"Well, to be at my healthiest I should, but I can go a long time without it,"
"You should eat. Why wouldn't you, if you can so easily?"
"I suppose I could. I will tonight," I gave in, hoping she would stop talking about it now.
"Promise?"
"Why are you so eager for me to eat?" I was glad I managed to say that properly- I'd almost said "feed" instead of "eat," and that would certainly have made her curious.
"You're worrying me, looking so pale. I'm afraid you'll die on me," she joked, probably quite falsely sure I wouldn't be dying on her.
"Ok, I promise,"
We kept walking, chattering on about anything that crossed our minds, and I began to reconsider what I'd told her. Any blood I was willing to drink wouldn't help me at all, since it would come out of my own veins, so it would not really be eating what I'd need. I'd promised to eat what I needed, but I definitely couldn't do that. Ah, well, it wasn't as if I'd lied to her on purpose.
I was kind of glad she cared enough to drag that promise out of me- the last time someone had cared for me was... Tomoe. I hesitated to say it even in my head. I stopped walking and Misao looked at me a little weirdly, so I went on. If her fate was to be shared by those who care for me, I didn't think I wanted anybody to do so, but it did feel nice. It wasn't as if it mattered much- she would forget about me when we reached Kyoto and then I could crawl away somewhere and die as I'd planned.
That was, if I didn't die before then. That would be bad, because then Misao would be unhappy. The whole point of this starvation diet was so I'd stop hurting others, and I definitely didn't want to hurt her by dying. Maybe if I fed just once, to stay alive for her... no. There was no way I could do that to someone, even if I left my victim enough blood to live. I'd just have to conserve my energy until we got to Kyoto.
What was I really saying? Who said she cared? She was, after all, just kidding when she said she was afraid I'd die on her. I supposed anybody would be at least slightly unnerved if his or her traveling companion died in the middle of a journey. I didn't want to complicate her life by dying when she seemed to think I was worth her worry. I could wait if it meant making her happier, and I would start by "eating" right now.
"Misao-dono, I'm going to go and get something to eat now, could you wait for me?"
"Sure, go ahead. I'll be here when you get back," she nodded and sat down on a rock to wait.
I turned and walked through the trees until I got to a small clearing, so as to be at least mildly comfortable while I satisfied my hunger and her worry. I drew the sword I always carried, though I didn't really need it. I supposed I only carried it because I did know how to use it in the unlikely event I needed to do so, and it reminded me of what it had been like before I was changed. I'd lived with my shishou and had been almost ready to learn the ougi of our style. It wasn't the same sword I'd trained with; I'd lost that one sometime in my delirium shortly before or after being changed. This one was, if anything, symbolic of my new lifestyle- the blade was reversed so that with normal strokes, I wouldn't cut whatever I hit with it, and thus my opponents would always survive.
I held it with the curved edge up and the blade toward my arm. I lowered it and my blood just trickled out. My heart wasn't beating, so it didn't move around, just sat there inside me. It came very slowly, and the wound closed before I'd had very much, but that didn't really matter. I'd done what I'd said I would do, so I cleaned my sword and stood up to go back to Misao. As I turned back in the direction of our path, I saw I didn't have far to go. She was standing right there in front of me.
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woot! two chapters! there will be a chapter or two more of traveling, then they will arrive at the aioya and there will be a few more chapters there, then i'll probably move on to modern times, and possibly even the future after that! he's going to be one very long-lived vampire, as they often are.
Maeve Riannon: thanks! I didn't know you had already found this story, so i mentioned it in my last email, but i'm glad you're enjoying it! Thanks especially about the transposition thing; i was especially proud of that. I liked the prologue, too, and considered doing more chapters around that time, but i obviously decided against it. You will see about him surviving "without sucking someone up soon." And i was planning on including kaoru as well, but after i had part of it written, i just thought, "you know what? That sounds more like misao..." plus it made more sense for her to go to kyoto, since kaoru doesn't have kenshin to lure her there in this fic.
Yuhi-thedoerofevildeeds: there will be no romance as far as i know at this point, since i don't like fics that are too romantic and i don't care for the kenshin/misao pairing, but they will arrive in kyoto sometime in the next couple of chapters. there will be a few chapters there, then i will move on to a more modern time period- being a vampire, he will still be around in, say, the year 2004.
Chibi Yuushi: really, my prose is poetic? I like that idea, it's really cool, but i always thought my prose sounded more like speech... oh well, poetry is cooler! Thanks for the porphyria info, it really does sound like it's the source of vamp myths. My vamps are not quite like that, but sort of, and they are not diseased, but undead. Interesting bio lesson, though (i don't mind, i like bio!) yeah, someone else said she was expecting kaoru, and to be honest so was i, but when i had it written up to the part where it mentions her long braid, that's where i decided on misao. I just thought se made more sense and the things i'd already written for her to say sounded more like her. I'm a big tomoe fan, and i was really committed to making this as little au as possible except the vamp thing. I'm a k/k fan as well, but an even bigger k/t fan. The problem i have with k/k is that she's fully eleven years younger than he is, though that was normal back then. Tsk, tsk, don't get yourself in trouble for being online... what was your fight about? If it's not too personal, that is... anyway i will try to update three times a week, but that might not hold up so well one school starts again. This review was even longer than the last time, you broke your own record! YAY!!!!!!!
PraiseDivineMercy: i will be keeping him in character as the rurouni, though i may give him Battousai moments, because i've got a really good idea for that in the future. He actually does have the sakabatou. The fact that vamps are always so sexual annoys me as well, and plus my morals don't permit me to write porn (ew). Glad several people have agreed with me on that.
Crazy Girl Person: yes, many people were expecting kaoru, including me, but i decided misao made more sense, especially since, as you said, she wouldn't be traveling to kyoto unless she'd already met kenshin, which she hasn't. i like her, though, so i'm going to try to fit her in somewhere. Matter of fact, i just got an idea while typing this! And thanks again about the description, i try to make it vivid.