The Sacred Night, Chapter 15
CRACK. I ground my foot into his shoulder as I came down from my jump, but he wasn't deterred. I also realized the crack came not just from his shoulder, but also from my ankle. Certainly it hurt, but I knew any injury I sustained would be gone before this fight was over anyway. He winced when he swung his sword, but had the same force as before. I didn't feel that force, thankfully, but could see it in the speed and momentum of the swing. I dodged through his attacks, getting in small hits in important places, but it was difficult to get to him at all without hurting him more than I intended.
He showed me that he could jump high, too, and actually got me from above once. He took a chunk of flesh from my arm, but I didn't miss it long. Even as it painfully grew together, I drove my knee into his stomach, both of us still in midair. He tried to block me, but couldn't quite reach down far enough. I knew there would be an advantage in being shorter than my opponent someday.
We landed close together, and I saw my opportunity to strike his face. His nose suddenly bloomed red, but as I'd planned, it wasn't broken. There was a distinct chance he could die if I did that, and I most certainly didn't want that. He staggered back momentarily, and I waited. I was ready to stop if he was, but he assumed a strange fighting stance again and came toward me. He stayed oddly low, but I didn't have a problem with that. I was, after all, oddly low myself by nature. I waited to see what direction I should dodge, but there was no indication until he was upon me. I was on the floor bleeding soon, and I heard a feminine scream from my left, only to have the room mostly obscured from my view by a body, also feminine.
"Get out of the way, girl. I swear I'll kill you this time," I heard the man, my brother-in-law, say.
"I won't let you kill him. I don't know all the details of what happened with your sister, but I know him and he is not a killer,"
"Kaoru-dono-" I interrupted to correct her.
"Let me finish," she said to me over her shoulder, and then turned back to the other man. "He may have been one in the past, but not anymore. If he didn't bind your sister, there must have been a reason. Maybe she didn't want to be bound. I know I was reluctant at first, but I chose what was most important to me. Your sister probably didn't want to give up having a normal life while she could,"
I was amazed. On the surface, my wife may have seemed childlike, but she was never further from that than when she was serious. I was amazed by her maturity, but also by her willingness to defend my virtue when clearly no such thing existed. I was still getting to know this woman I had spent over a hundred years loving. Suddenly, I realized perhaps he was going to make good on his oath and kill her, because he was getting into position to attack her. She was fully aware of this, I could see, because she began to tremble, but she stayed in place in front of me.
I pulled her down and away from his advancing weapon when it became apparent that she was not planning on moving and put myself between it and her. I thought after a moment that this might not be enough, because he might still want to kill her, which he could still do with that incredibly long sword by stabbing straight through both of us at once. I twisted around to deflect the blow somehow, but never got the opportunity. Instead of a snarling, indignant avenger, I saw a cringing, distraught brother.
"No, Tomoe, I didn't hurt her! I didn't hurt her, stop looking at me that way!" He shouted, seemingly to no one. I thought I had been traumatized by her death, but this guy was driven downright insane. I stood up and walked toward him, devoid of violent intentions.
"Yukishiro-san," I called gently, not wanting to anger him into another fight. Kaoru pulled on my arm and looked up questioningly, but I shook my head. He deserved to know. "You should know I did love your sister. I didn't know at first that she would die from my feeding on her, and she figured it out before I did. She stayed even after that, though, and I really think she was happy with me. The reason I didn't bind her is... the reason is that I didn't know how at the time. I know it's horrible reason, and she shouldn't have had to die because of it, but believe me when I say I never meant for that to happen,"
He knelt silently a moment, digesting the information. After a moment a low sort of growl or moan started to come from his direction, and he screamed, "You murderer!" and swung his sword out at my legs, the only part of me within his field of vision. I jumped to avoid it, and as I landed I began to wonder if I really shouldn't just let him kill me. One would think that would appease him, but he didn't seem the type to let go easily. He might just kill me and then go after Kaoru or Aoshi and Misao. They could defend themselves, certainly, but for a human, he was really very good. So far as I knew, being bound shouldn't have anything to do with it, but maybe it did enhance his abilities somewhat.
He came at me invigorated with fresh energy, no doubt supplied by hatred, but he swung so wildly in his hysteria that he was more dangerous to himself than to me. I eventually succeeded in disarming him and we left, putting his sword where he would find it eventually, but not before he had calmed down. As soon as I had put it down somewhere, we prepared to go home and realized there was a slight problem. All four of us had come here using vampire methods, since we were all vampires, but now there were five of us. Kaoru was human, and she would need a conventional human method to cross the water back to Tokyo, such as a boat.
"Uh... Aoshi-" I said just as Aoshi and Sano both disappeared. Misao followed slightly behind them, still seemingly not herself, and I was left alone with my wife on a nearly deserted island. Under other circumstances, I might not have been so anxious to leave, but given the possibility of my ex-brother-in-law coming out of his sanctuary for reasons other than a family reunion, I was not quite thrilled.
"Kaoru-dono, there's a problem," I began, "I was so anxious to come here and get you when I found out you were alive that I neglected to use a boat, meaning I sort of... don't have a way to get you home. Don't worry, though, I can go get one and come back for you..."
"You aren't leaving me alone are you?"
"Well, I have to, if-" I couldn't finish my sentence, since it was interrupted by a piece of fruit, most likely from a nearby tree, connecting with my head.
"No! Tell Shinomori-san and he can come get both of us, okay?"
"All right, Kaoru-dono, I can do that," I answered and sent a brief message via telepathy. "He's coming now, that he is,"
"Okay," she answered, and began to walk around, looking at scenery while we waited. "You know," she said after awhile, "Misao seems unusual today. Do you know if there's something wrong?"
"No, but I have noticed her acting strangely a few times. I tried to talk to her earlier and she ignored me,"
"Maybe I should try. It could be a woman thing," I nodded my agreement and she went back to enjoying the scenery. I couldn't help but watch her as she did so, she was such a beautiful and comforting sight I had never expected to see again. Even considering all the bumps on my head that had never been there before I married her, she was a sweet, loving woman. Though in my mind I knew her to be one hundred forty-four, she still looked every bit the nineteen year old girl I had met long ago, and had much the same innocent quality. For all her age, her association with vampires, especially me, and her adverse experiences in life, she was the most positive person I knew.
As much as I was enjoying watching her, I was afraid to walk over to her and touch her, as I really wanted. I was afraid my fingers would go right through her and I would cease to see her. It was still a relatively new surprise that she was alive, and it was difficult to believe my mind was not playing tricks on me. In case she really was not there, I didn't want to shatter the illusion.
I was just entertaining the thought of going to her anyway when I heard noise from the shore. Water lapped at the edges of a skiff Aoshi was rowing across the water. I would never know how Aoshi always managed to find things and people so quickly, but I didn't complain. He and Misao got out of the boat to let Kaoru and me in, since only two people could really be accommodated comfortably. It wasn't a problem for them, of course, since they could just leave as they had before. Kaoru and I entered the small watercraft and got on our way home, noticing that Misao lagged slightly behind Aoshi yet again.
I myself didn't worry as much about Misao as Kaoru probably did, being still enchanted by Kaoru's presence after I thought she was dead, but I still worried about her. Since Kaoru was going to talk to Misao, I thought perhaps I could ask Aoshi if something was amiss. Surely he would know, or at least have some guess. I didn't want to bother them yet, since they had already assisted us greatly by telling me where Kaoru was and showing me how to get there, so I decided to wait until the next time I saw Aoshi to ask. I would see him soon any way, since the woman he had bound lived across the street from me and he would naturally have to feed.
When I did see him later the next night, it was around 3:30 am. He was coming out of the woman's house and I was sitting on the small patio that opened off our living room. He glanced up at me as if there was something he wanted to say, but looked down again and began to walk. Is something wrong, Aoshi? I asked so only he could hear.
I've been debating on telling you, but it seems like I have to now, he responded. I waited for him to continue. Someone's after Misao, he said finally.
A slayer?
Probably. She doesn't know yet.
She doesn't? I thought that might be why she was acting strangely earlier, but I don't suppose that makes sense anyway,
No, but she might suspect something herself. She wouldn't be afraid, but maybe she only has part of the information and thinks something completely different is going on...
Like what?
She keeps asking me if I love her and if I am happy with our life. Maybe she thinks I'm seeing another woman, I don't know.
Aoshi and I made our goodbyes and I went inside to talk to Kaoru, since I knew she was worried about Misao, and she seemed to have gathered some of her own information.
"I talked to Misao like I said I would earlier," she began as soon as I entered the room. "Aoshi is seeing another woman,"
If I've been too late recently, it is NOT MY FAULT. Ff.net has been messing up and not allowing me to post.
Chibi Yuushi: yes, the time gap... well, I suppose I could get to that... maybe this chapter gives a bit of insight, but there's definitely more in chapter 16 or so. And yes, i adore enishi. I don't recall anything about his eyes changing color, but i did think the hair thing was weird. His eyes are turquoise or something like that, yes? I don't know why they would change to that, but oh well... anyway; he does have to be very traumatized. If you like him, maybe you'd enjoy my fic "Island Tiger" which is an anthology of enishi poems. As for kaoru, well, a lot of things in this fic are based on the manga, but changed, so i thought it was kind of predictable, but glad to see it wasn't too obvious. I couldn't kill her off before she was even properly in the story! Glad you like my suspense and action... i'll try not to slack off on that, though my ideas for the future are not such that they would involve fight scenes, but they are good, i think. Vamps as sex gods... oh, please. That is so silly and you will not be seeing it here, no worries. I try to stay a few chapters ahead as far as updating, so haste shouldn't be a problem. Glad to hear my chapters are well thought out, though, because i was beginning to fear they were too hasty.
Backtalk: i actually thought changing her was a curveball and made the story more interesting, but if you disagree, go for it. Don't worry, there will be plenty of humans in the future.
Maeve Riannon: glad the revenge arc is fitting, but enishi is not a vamp. He is bound to some unknown vamp. If the time change is too abrupt, i'm sorry i guess, but i really like it. I'm going to try to explain more later as to what went on during that time. glad you liked my comment on john lennon, i was afraid some wouldn't get it.
Yuhi-thedoerofevildeeds: glad you're up to speed. More is forthcoming!
Houndingwolf: glad you like enishi. If this is confusing, I hope the next few chapters will clear it up.
Cheesecake: no, tomoe is dead and kaoru is alive, I promise. Hope you're up to speed.