The Sacred Night, Chapter 21
"Yes, Tsubame-dono, I was," I answered. "I regret a lot of things very deeply. Do you understand now?"
"I think so… Battousai-san," I saddened at having her call me that, since I had just bared what I thought made it obvious how I hated that name, but I couldn't really blame her. I hadn't told her my real name yet.
"Himura Kenshin," I introduced myself, bowing. She bowed back and nodded.
"Himura-san, then,"
I felt the matter was resolved, at least for the moment, so I went to check on my wife. I saw a bit of light in the hallway issuing out of the bedroom, and was gladdened at the idea that someone was awake in there. I opened the door, doubting that anyone but Kaoru would be doing anything personal in there, and after all, if I saw that, it wouldn't be out of the ordinary. I entered, disappointed at finding Kaoru still asleep, but reminded myself that she had to sleep in order to get better.
"Oh, is it dark already?" Megumi asked, closing a very large book she'd been reading next to a small table lamp. "Have you thought any more what I said this morning?"
"Well, Megumi-dono, I'd really prefer to wait until my wife is better. I don't make it a habit to feed on other people,"
"No, Ken-san," she shook her head. "As your wife's doctor, I can't allow you to do that. It isn't safe for her,"
"I assure you, Doctor Takani, I can control myself until she is better," she looked at me wryly.
"I'm not thoroughly convinced of that, Ken-san, but in the event you can, what will happen when she is better? You will need to take a lot of blood to make up for your starvation during her illness, and she won't be able to handle it yet. You really must keep yourself healthy,"
I thought about this. Her concerns were legitimate- perhaps once I had been very good at going without feeding, but I hadn't experienced much of that in awhile. I might not be as controlled as I once had been now that I'd fed every single night for the last one hundred twenty six years, except during the period when I'd thought my Kaoru was dead. One could never be too careful, and I would have died before I knowingly took a chance on hurting her.
"I suppose you're right, Megumi-dono. I'd appreciate your help finding someone,"
"If you don't mind, Ken-san, I'm very busy, and it would be easier for me to just do it myself than it would be to find someone all the way out in Aizu. I don't have your telepathic abilities,"
"That would be fine, that it would," I answered, not thinking too much about it beyond a brief remembrance of the way her eyes had looked when she first made that offer. Her ki had offered little to back it up, so it was probably nothing.
She went to freshen up in the bathroom, and I did the same in the bedroom. I had slept fully clothed all day, and it was getting old. While I was in the room changing, Kaoru stirred and started to mumble. She was in the stage just before waking, where she usually talked about whatever she was dreaming about in her sleep. She had very funny dreams. I could remember dreaming, but couldn't remember any individual dreams, because I hadn't had one in so long. Vampires slept too deeply to have dreams, or at least too deeply to be able to remember them. If we slept in very dark areas, sometimes we could remember a faint ghost of a dream, but never more.
"Shoko-san, why are you driving that bus in here?" She murmured. "No, no, stop it! You're cooking the tofu wrong; you have to leave it on until it starts to get black…"
No wonder she was such a horrible cook. I was finished dressing and didn't want to disturb her rest, so I left to find something else to do until she woke up. I noticed that some laundry needed to be done, so I took an armful with me when I left the bedroom. It was convenient to have the devices that hadn't been around to make life easier when I was alive. It only took a few seconds to start the laundry and walk away to wait for it to finish itself in the twenty first century.
"What are you doing?" A female voice asked behind me, a stifled giggle apparent in her voice.
"I'm letting this machine do the laundry, that I am,"
"Men do not do laundry," she laughed.
"Tsubame-dono, when we were alive, that was a common opinion, and I did laundry even then. Now, with this machine, it matters even less who does the laundry,"
"You did women's work then? Why?"
"Kaoru-dono has always been the one to have a job, so I have taken care of the house,"
She kept smiling shyly, but walked away. I was glad I'd made her laugh, even if it was for a reason I thought was silly. Even though she was almost as old as I was, it was difficult not to think of her as a child, and she was so serious for a child. I didn't know her past, but she also seemed like she had experience with the types of feelings that had almost driven her away before I stopped her. She couldn't have had an easy life, not only being a vampire, but one that perpetually looked like a child at that. The streets of a big city like this one at night were no place for a child, and all of the unscrupulous adults out there knew it. She had probably had good reason to learn to repel stronger people as she had the night we met. I reflected on this pensive note for a moment, and then heard her musical laughter coming from the living room. She really did sound like a child.
Megumi was just coming out of the bathroom in a fresh dress, drying her hair with a towel. It was a nice dress; it was purple with tiny white flowers on it, and it reached the ground. It had little black buttons down the front and showed her arms. She must not have been as old a vampire as her ki had seemed to indicate, since that would have been inappropriate to wear in public when I was alive. We were not exactly in public, true, but for all intents and purposes, this was her workplace.
"Ken-san, I don't know what time you usually feed, but would you mind going ahead now, since I need to see about getting that medicine distributed to the other humans as soon as possible?"
"That would be fine, Megumi-dono, that it would," I answered, and she followed me to… well, actually, I didn't know where we should go. The bedroom, where I usually fed, was out of the question. There was no way I could feed on anyone with someone there, much less feed on a stranger with my wife in the room. There was nowhere else that guaranteed privacy except the bathroom, and someone might need to use that. The living room seemed like the only place even remotely appropriate, if such a place existed, so I led her there. As she walked, she gathered her long, loose black hair and pulled it over one shoulder to expose her neck. A vampire could feed from any place, but the neck was most traditional.
Fortunately, Tsubame seemed to have found somewhere else to explore, so I didn't have to ask her to leave. Megumi very likely wouldn't care, but I had associated this in my mind with a special bond between my wife and me that I couldn't think about doing it with someone else present without wrinkling my nose. She stood there next to me, waiting patiently for me to choose a position and at least partially get over my obvious discomfort. Lying down was not an option, but standing was never a good idea for feeding, since the human would probably get dizzy and fall down.
I motioned for her to sit on the couch and I followed her. I had been the epitome of steel resolve during the fiasco with Shishio, but I had butterflies now. She positioned herself perfectly to make it as easy as possible for me to reach her neck. I leaned toward her and closed my eyes. As my lips got closer and closer to her neck, I felt more and more disgusting. They touched her, and I could feel her heartbeat accelerating. My teeth never made it to her skin. I pulled away.
"I can't do it, Megumi-dono," I mumbled shamefacedly.
"You're going to have to, Ken-san, if you want both of you to survive this ordeal. It's all right; you can have more time to get used to the idea. We'll try again in the morning, okay?" She cajoled compassionately.
"Yes, Megumi-dono. We can do that," I answered, still not thinking I could.
Misao came by after Megumi left, saying Aoshi had asked her to do so. He apparently wanted to go and see if he could find more news on the hunter, but Misao certainly didn't see it that way. She didn't know about it yet, and still believed Aoshi was seeing another woman, as Kaoru probably did as well. It was a good thing Megumi didn't know anything about him, because then he'd have every female he knew hating him. Misao had spread her side of the story well.
"I hate that Aoshi-sama! He's probably out with her right now! I know you take his side, Himura-san, but you should see how he acts at home. He barely looks at me! There is no way you can say he's not seeing someone if you've seen that,"
"Calm down, Misao-dono. He is simply worried for your safety, I'm sure. Aoshi loves you, that he does,"
"I would love to believe that, Himura-san, but it's just not true. As much as I have always loved him, I guess I could never make him love me in return,"
"Misao-dono, do you remember when you first married Aoshi? You couldn't have doubted his love for you then,"
She smiled in a kind of silly way, probably thinking back on times it would have been unladylike to repeat to anyone else. She reveled in it for a few moments, and then seemed to remind herself that she was angry.
"I hate you, Aoshi-sama!" She shouted.
"Uuuuhhhhh…" I heard from my bedroom.
She had awakened Kaoru. I ran to her side and as she was waking up, she asked what all the shouting was about. I vaguely explained in a dismissing way so as to calm her and not worry her about Aoshi's and Misao's nonexistent marital problems. She mumbled and pulled me closer to her, laying her head in my lap and promptly going back to sleep. I smiled sadly own at her, contemplating her perfect innocence and the fact that I knew I was going to betray her, albeit with her approval, with her very own doctor just before dawn. For all that I didn't want to do it, I still couldn't convince myself that it was not wrong that I was going to do it.
I stayed there with her, stroked her hair, and wondered if there was any way I could be doing the right thing with Megumi until she woke up again, this time without Misao's help. She smiled at me and kissed me until I felt like such a snake, I couldn't stand to be around myself. Aoshi eventually came and retrieved Misao, and for all her shouting about hating him, she couldn't tear her eyes away from him as they left. Tsubame, whom I hadn't seen much during the night, came in to inquire after Kaoru's health and told me she'd been out. I had faced everyone except Megumi.
******************************************************************************************************************
Once again, I will not be updating this story on Saturday, as I am updating "Island Tiger" on that day. Thank you for your patience!
Yuhi-thedoerofevildeeds: glad you like it, and that you are allowed into your own account now…
Invader Zim: the length of the story is very much up in the air right now, but I have a good amount planned out. As to your other question, well, that's a surprise.
Cattibrie393: did you mean the action was fast, or me updating it was fast? Either way, glad you liked it.