"Take her. They've come," Aoshi commanded curtly, depositing Misao. She was a little indignant, but didn't complain loudly about being left. He went to leave her, like so many times before, yet not at all like the other times. This time there was a threat. They had sought her out, and Aoshi was fighting them. "They want to talk to you, too, Battousai," he added hesitantly. I wished he wouldn't still insist on calling me that, but this was not the time to argue about it.
I followed him out, annoyed that they had requested my presence. I knew who "they" must be, and I had already made it clear that I did not want to work for them. I still needed to be there, though, since there was obviously a danger from which I could protect the others, and if it came down to it, since the Takeda man seemed to value my services and possibly my opinion, I might be able to sway him. We arrived in the street in front of Aoshi's and Misao's house to find a number of vampires and Takeda waiting.
I debated asking Sano to come. He could undoubtedly help a lot, but I didn't want to involve him unless it was necessary, in spite of the way he might say I'd hogged all the fun later. It couldn't hurt to have him there, however, and there were a lot of vampires, so I eventually told him where we were and what was transpiring. He appeared before I'd finished my sentence.
The two of us stood behind Aoshi, and the group of vampires we didn't know gathered behind the Takeda man. The two of them walked slowly toward one another, just like in a movie. They glared daggers, but no clash of weapons would occur between the two of them. There would be only words, and then the group of vampires would be signaled to converge on us.
"My wife has nothing to do with our differences," Aoshi accused. Even the densest human could tell what he felt at that moment, though his face betrayed nothing.
"Shinomori-san, I have rebuilt my enterprises without you, but I didn't appreciate being forced to do it. You are the one that pulled out when the heat got too much for you, and since the girl ties herself to the traitor, she ties herself to the treachery. You did enough damage letting the woman escape- you didn't have to get self-righteous so suddenly,"
I had no idea what the man meant by that. I had no memory of him or any events he had mentioned thus far, and while Aoshi didn't tell me all of his business by any stretch of the imagination, I had a feeling that I would have been involved in this, had I known him at the time. I was briefly glad that whatever seemingly innocent woman had been caught up in the affair had gotten free, but didn't have time to ponder it any deeper than that.
"Fine. I will never agree with you and I don't want to talk about it. If you're going to start a fight, do it now, and if not, then leave,"
At the end of Aoshi's sentence, Takeda raised his hand and the vampires rushed forward. I got into a ready stance, waiting for whichever vampires would target me to come. It didn't matter if they all came at once. I didn't imagine they would be very skilled, judging by not only the skill of the first group I'd encountered, but also by the speed with which he had assembled them. Some, in fact, were the same men. Their numbers were simply greater, and in the absence of skill, numbers didn't matter much to me. They charged, but Aoshi, Sano and I stayed where we were. Sano was the only one who even might be eager to join this fight, and even he stayed in place. Perhaps the involvement of the woman had struck him as it had me. Perhaps he knew more about it than I did.
"Kenshin! The women!" Sanosuke shouted before he and the charging vampires all disappeared. I was struck by his referral to Aoshi's and my wives and the onetime object of his affection, but followed him knowing exactly where he and the vampires would be, if not how he knew to follow them there. I hadn't sensed anything from them other than the usual fighting emotions, and they hadn't attempted to enter my mind. I didn't know how Sanosuke had known to follow them, but I was even more shocked that they knew where to go at all.
I arrived inside the house, just in case that was where the attackers had arrived, but it turned out that their information wasn't as specific as I'd feared. They were in the street below the balcony that adjoined Kaoru's and my bedroom, and I joined them soon. Aoshi had followed as well, alerted as I was by Sanosuke's shout. They clearly meant to get in where I'd been, though, and we took up the defensive position outside the building.
The sounds of metal, wood, leather, and flesh impacting against one another needed no time to reach the volume required to wake the good citizens of Tokyo, and the humans must have gotten quite a shock to see what they probably thought was a gang fight, which in some measure maybe it was, in which the participants used such archaic instruments of harm as swords, whips, and arrows along with their bare hands, and in some cases, claws or animal-like teeth. Kaoru and Megumi were on the balcony above us soon, and though they were intelligent enough not to cry out to us even mentally, they could not mask their fear to us, which stood out against the other humans' because they were familiar. They soon went inside again, however, when arrows began to seek them.
I immediately felt a flare-up of energy from inside when the two entered, which must have been from Misao. She seemed to be straining and frustrated, which she often was when danger was present, because Aoshi, like Megumi and Kaoru, would not let her participate in the alleviation of it. Obviously stronger than either of the other women currently in the house, however, she soon broke away and only anger and fierce concern for her husband could be felt as she flung open a window, making the other women's protests audible.
"Misao, stop, you'll be shot!"
"You're the one they're after!"
"Aoshi will be very angry with you!"
"You don't know what's going on out-" Megumi stopped mid-sentence. In the few instants those words had taken, Misao had flung a few well-placed kunai which freed Aoshi of any opposition, but Megumi seemed to realize something slightly less positive. I didn't know what prompted her sudden shock, but she grabbed Misao with more force than I or the small ninja would have thought possible and dragged her away from the window, Kaoru following without being compelled, though more slowly.
Aoshi, now free to assume other duties than fighting, since Sano and I already guarded the remainder, marched with a disturbingly calm stride toward Takeda. When Aoshi had such a transcendental calm as he had then, one knew he was beyond anger. He had been angry when I had let Misao go outside. He had been angry when the men had threatened her. Now, he was otherworldly.
I didn't doubt that he would kill the man. It was no my place to interfere, nor did I have the luxury of concentrating on something other than the man in front of me who held a whip that screamed through the air toward me, but I wondered if there was some other way to prevent the man's death. They exchanged words too low for me to hear, and anyway they were not meant for me. Takeda called off the remaining vampire still fighting with Sano, though I noticed that this vampire had been unconscious only moments before. Sano had defeated all of his opponents and kept fighting for reasons only he could understand, though he'd talked briefly and nonchalantly about them before, expecting me to have similar ones.
Takeda stood taller to face Aoshi as the man disappeared, but Sano and I stayed to find out what exactly was going on, standing at a polite distance out of hearing of their hushed conversation. If something we were permitted to hear took place, they would speak more normally. Very soon, I heard twin cries from Kaoru and Misao, but still nothing from Megumi. She seemed to be struck by the scene in a way Misao and Kaoru were not, or by something that would mean nothing to them. Perhaps she recognized someone among Takeda's men. I didn't know, but I didn't have time to speculate about it.
Sano and I both went inside immediately, since there appeared to be danger there, but Aoshi understandably stayed behind to take care of Takeda. We arrived to find Misao fighting viciously against the same man Sano had defeated once and come close to defeating again before he had been sent away by Takeda. She was actually winning, though she had never been up to Sano's level, but the man was probably tired. That wasn't much of a handicap to a vampire, so she was really doing well.
Kaoru and Megumi were both watching, Kaoru with a scowl of both concentration and frustration, Megumi barely conscious. She seemed to be staring into nothing, though her eyes followed the movements of the battle closely. Kaoru tried to move in front of Megumi as if to protect her, but was shoved back by the still-healthy and thus stronger doctor. She should have known that would happen, and it seemed to me that Kaoru needed more protection in her weakened state than did Megumi. Why had she bothered to try?
It wasn't difficult to assess Kaoru's emotions, especially since she was an open book most of the time anyway, but Misao was a blank slate, hiding her ki as was prudent in battle, and Megumi was radiating despair in waves. She reminded me of… myself, back before I'd met any of the people in the room. I routinely hid it, of course, but it was there. Had it always been with her, and simply veiled over by her human mental guards which kept me out not because I couldn't overcome them, but because I respected them? I doubted I could have failed to recognize it at the forefront of her consciousness, blocked or not. More likely it was always with her in some capacity, but mercifully overshadowed by other things most of the time.
I began to understand that she had been serious when she said she had secrets, and to get an inkling of what those might be. Takeda had mentioned something about a woman escaping from him, and though Megumi had not had any real reaction to Aoshi that I'd noticed, he did not seem to be the one she should fear, since he had allowed her to leave. She had, however, had a significant shock when she saw him and his men outside our house. Perhaps they were the same men who had attempted to prevent her escape. She was probably the reason Misao was fighting this vampire in my house right now.
It also didn't take long for Kaoru to notice my presence and attempt to stand up and walk to me without distracting Misao. I went to her in a speedier and less conspicuous fashion that only vampires could manage. She whispered greetings and some details of things that had already transpired, and then we settled down to wait. Sano and I saw no reason to interfere when Misao was clearly not being bullied- she had as likely as not started the fight herself. The only thing that could be done was to wait.
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i don't know how many chapters there are left, but the story is drawing to a close. after i resolve the Kanryuu issue and the Kenshin-Megumi issue, there will be a sweet epilogue.
Kenshin's My Man: yes, well, i do love angst. there will be so much more soon, it will be great. glad i'm good. writing is important to me, so i'm glad to hear people like it. maybe i could make some money at it someday. cute little smile, btw, was that Kenshin winking?
Cattibrie393: thanks. i appreciate the effort to help, and if you really don't find anything bad to comment on, just tell me why it was good, but it would be a little arrogant of me to say there's nothing bad to comment on…
Yuhi-thedoerofevildeeds: yes. writing in advance is less stressful, because i can post often but still not feel like i have to write fast. in the future, i might actually finish the fic before i start posting it, or at least be really far ahead.
PraiseDivineMercy: thank you so much! i've never been called brilliant before. really, i originally didn't know who the hunter would be, but i knew i had to bring it about soon, and i didn't really want it to be an OC, so i picked someone who would have a grudge toward Aoshi. yes, Megumi made opium in here, and you'll be hearing more about that next chapter. i like writing about Kenshin and tomoe, and i plan on more of that.