The Sacred Night, Chapter 18
I watched the fire, completely taken aback. I had seen fire only a handful of times since being changed into my present form, and had felt the same thing every time: uncontrolled, purely instinctual fear. I had never dared to go as near it as I was at that moment, because it was one of only a scant few things that could kill a vampire. I recalled the first time I had seen it after I was changed, and the unexplained sensation keeping me away even when the carriers of it had been my only hope of finding home. My rational mind had told me it was a silly fear, that I had no reason to be frightened of fire, and had not been afraid of it even as a human child. My rational mind could not compete with my vampiric instincts, however, even when I hadn't known what they were.
This was the last thing I ever expected to see in a vampire fight, or anywhere near a vampire who was not about to die. Sano's eyes were as wide as mine, and we each took a step back. A reverent silence fell over the entire room except Shishio. The three vampires I didn't know remained stony, Sano and I were too awed to speak, Aoshi was fully aware that the fire was meant for him, and even the human was still. She was the only one who had no reason to fear the tiny column of energy springing from the sword, but she must have appreciated the danger for her friends.
The other vampires must have not only been aware that their leader planned to do this, but also trained, as he also must be, to suppress their natural fear of it. This was truly the ultimate weapon for combating a vampire, as humans had exploited for centuries, but I had never expected it to be used by a fellow vampire, for two reasons. It was rather bad form to use things humans took advantage of us with, but it was also just plain difficult to do.
The creation of fire was no accomplishment for a human, who can simply strike a match or any number of other things, but for a vampire it was considerably more difficult. The instinct to flee fire was ingrained into our bones, like the desire of a bird to fly south during cold months. It didn't matter if we knew we could control it or if we didn't know why we should be afraid of it. The man standing before Aoshi and grinning wildly at the victory he must be certain he would have must have spent decades suppressing his instincts in order to do this, and though it wasn't wise, it was effective.
It was effective because it worked in more than one way. Of course, there was the obvious, which would result if the opposing vampire allowed the fire to touch his or her skin, but there was also the fear that crippled a vampire's reasoning at times. The danger was real, and a logical vampire would certainly not discount that, but there was a catch. A vampire could not, without significant preparation, still the fear of fire inherent in our nature, so even if the flame was minute enough to be of very little actual danger, the vampire would likely take greater pains than necessary to avoid it.
I watched the two of them trade blows, Aoshi never backing away from the tiny, bright death sentence coming ever closer as his opponent taxed his strength. Aoshi had several rips in his clothing that attested to the fact that wounds had been there once, though they were now healed beneath the drying blood on his skin and garments. Shishio was completely unruffled, never moistening the bandages that covered nearly every square inch of his skin with sweat and never marring them with blood. His kimono was never wrinkled, and what little hair was visible was not mussed. He was easily a match for Aoshi.
Aoshi twisted out of the way of a particularly close blow and for a moment, I was afraid he hadn't made it. A piece of the fire came away with Aoshi's coat, and I gripped the hilt of my sword, preparing to take his place protecting my wife and the other humans. In a moment, however, it disappeared, defeated by the slight wind created by Aoshi's movements. I sighed and relaxed, but didn't stay that way long. I stayed alert, knowing that though I wasn't in the same danger as Aoshi was at the moment, I was in fairly immediate danger because there was fire in the room. No one knows how easily a fire can spread like a vampire does. If Shishio somehow lost control of it, we would all be finished. If he should decide to use a more 'impressive' attack, we may be in just as much danger.
My fears were never realized during their fight. That tiny tongue of flame was sufficient to keep Aoshi at bay, effectively ensuring that he could do nothing but defend. He soon realized, like me, that the only way to have a chance to win was to risk the touch of the fire. It was not impossible for a vampire to live through this, but the odds were rather slim. Vampiric flesh was very susceptible to the damages of flame, and the substance that was embedded in it to facilitate the rapid healing we relied on, bruja-sangre, was highly flammable.
Fortunately for Aoshi, he wore a coat over most of his flame-sensitive skin, and the fabric would have absorbed only minuscule quantities of bruja-sangre, the way a human's garments absorb very little of the oil that keeps human skin from drying out. Luckily in this case, but as a rule very unluckily for us, the fabric was actually less flammable than his skin, as well as mine, Sano's, Misao's, and presumably Shishio's.
He dashed into the inner circle of space around Shishio, grasping out for a hit on his torso. Only a small opening appeared in the bandages swathed around his stomach, but a surprising thing happened nonetheless. The wound bled for the expected moment, but after that it just… didn't stop. Perhaps it had something to do with his strange injuries and his production of bruja-sangre. Shishio kept fighting, but his strength waned rapidly- even more so than a human's would. For a vampire, blood was of vital importance, and every bit of ki contained in the lost blood was gone forever, unless the vampire could drink it as fast as it came out, and given the location of this particular wound, that wasn't possible.
The loss of ki amounted to starvation, and Shishio was now fighting like a vampire who had not fed in weeks. A vampire's body doesn't hold blood long, thus the need to replenish it nightly, and doesn't contain much at one time unless the vampire has just fed. Shishio, clearly, had not just fed. He bled more quickly as a result of the physical activity he was engaged in and insisted on continuing, and soon he could barely stand. Aoshi stopped moving and simply bowed his head.
"Shishio, your plan has failed. If I thought there was any way you would reform, I would let you survive, but I know you. You have to die,"
My emotion exploded to life at this. I couldn't let him kill right before my eyes, for murder was never an option. I had learned that the hard way. I also couldn't interfere, though, because theirs was a personal fight that could feasibly continue for all eternity if they weren't allowed to resolve it on their own, besides, we weren't supposed to leave without killing him. My emotions didn't war long, though, since Shishio gathered his strength to speak his last words.
"You understood once, Shinomori. You'll understand again with or without me," he smirked in the midst of a statement meant to be sage, and crumpled without a touch from Aoshi's weapons.
At that moment, all the forces of the underworld broke loose. The large, serious vampire charged Sanosuke, while I found myself face to face with the serenely smiling, boyish vampire. No one bothered Aoshi, which strategically, was a mistake. I guessed this was because it was assumed that Shishio would succeed in killing him and only Sano and I would be left to dispatch. It didn't matter, though, because Aoshi wouldn't interfere in another person's fight for the world unless Misao was involved.
I had to move at my full speed to block the weapon hurtling toward me, which almost never happened. The youth, I couldn't help but think of him that way, though we were probably only ten or so years apart, attacked furiously, not leaving time to ask why exactly he had targeted me after the issue was seemingly resolved. Everything had happened so quickly from the time Aoshi had announced that he'd found the creator of the virus that I hadn't really understood why it had been done in the first place or who was involved, and now I was in a fight for which I could give no reason except that I'd been attacked first.
I was especially puzzled by the youthful vampire's ki. Though he was obviously a fighter, and a good one at that, he had no ki to indicate this. I couldn't see a pattern to his attacks, and his mind was a blank slate to me. I had never met a vampire whose mind I could not hack into with a bit of effort, but there is a first time for everything. No matter what forces I employed of the unseen, I could not begin to view his thoughts, much less control them.
I was forced to defend to avoid being sliced in two, but only began to truly attack after several such attempts at slicing me in two proved that this small fighter would not relent until I forced him to do so. Surprisingly, not only could I not read his ki accurately, I was having difficulty matching his speed. This disturbed me, since there was only one person I had ever known who could exceed my top speed, or even match it, for that matter, and thankfully, he would never have opposed me for any but instructional purposes.
Suffice it to say I was not exactly winning. It was not an entirely foreign sensation, since I often started out in the losing position and later figured out the secrets to my opponents' moves and how to defeat them, but I had never done this without reading their ki. I knew there was nothing outside clouding my senses, since I could sense and easily read everyone else in the room, though the human had a markedly fainter ki-image. It was only the man in front of me whom I could not sense.
We finally broke away from one another, and to a human we would have looked completely untaxed, since we did not breathe or produce sweat and no redness rushed to our faces, but I was certainly beginning to feel the effects. I couldn't really say I knew whether the other man felt the same way, but based on experience, it was entirely likely. This conclusion was confirmed by the fact that he stood still a few moments, and in that interval, I took advantage of the ability to spare a bit of attention for conversation.
"Why did you attack me?" was the most obvious question, so I asked it after a few seconds.
"Shishio-san ordered us to fight you to the death if Shinomori-san defeated him, because we need to prove that we are the strongest so we can rally the vampires to our cause," he obligingly answered. "I didn't think it would really happen, though," he finished without letting his smile falter.
"What cause is it that you want vampires to support?"
"Shishio-san always said that the strong are the only ones who survive in this world. This is just the natural order of things. Vampires are the strongest species on the planet Earth, and it just makes sense that we should rule it,"
"So he wanted vampires to take over the world? If he wants vampires to be the most powerful class on the planet, he should not have chosen a method of action that could potentially kill so many vampires,"
The boyish vampire laughed softly when I said that. "Only those vampires who care to spare humans would be killed, Himura-san, and those vampires do not deserve to rule the world with those of us who understand things. It's only nature,"
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yay, finally an explanation! Major bonus points to anyone who knows what "bruja sangre" means! Well, chi, I know you'll know what it means…
Chibi Yuushi: glad you liked that- I like it when I don't check for awhile and then practically all my favorite stories are updated. Yes, Shishio is behind it all, and if you know him, you know he'd never do anything without being difficult… besides, I didn't say what went on before Kenshin came into the situation- if you'll remember, Aoshi was already wounded when he announced that he'd found him, so perhaps he tried to talk it out of him first and failed. Given that it's Aoshi, though, there's no telling. No, I don't know that song, but it sounds like it fits Kenshin in this fic based on those lyrics. *so sad* btw, where did you learn to fence? I think martial arts are the coolest, and would like to learn something like that.
Invader Zim: glad you like my work so much. I like The L Word as well, since I adore tomoe. Maybe I can help you with your poems if you tell me specifically what you do wrong, or maybe let me read them. Glad you like my poetry style. That story now has two fans. Why aren't you a member? It doesn't cost anything, and it's more convenient to find all the stories you want if they're lined up neatly in your favorites list. You don't have to hunt them down. I really liked Creeping up on You as well. It might be my favorite. I loved the idea. I won't be finding a 'cure' for Kenshin, since I like vamps and I want him to live peacefully as one, since many seem to think it's impossible. There will likely be something like five more chapters.
Cattibrie393: glad you understand. Many of the exploits in this fic are based at least loosely on manga events, so if you don't understand something in the future, that's a good place to look.
Yuhi-thedoerofevildeeds: glad you don't mind and are looking forward to my story.
Cheesecake: glad it's not getting dull in its old age. You are so smart. I just can't tell you anything about Kenji, as that would spoil later chapters…