The Devil's Workshop
MysticShadowWanderer
Disclaimer: I know I died that night, and I'll never be brought back to life once again, I know.
*****
Chapter Two: The Fire Within
Battousai sat by the river, watching as the crystalline water rippled with the cold winter wind. It mirrored the confusion in his mind, the feeling of not knowing how he felt. It was so foreign to him. The sky was beginning to cloud over, he noted, there would be heavy rain, maybe even snow if the temperature dropped a bit more. He didn't mind the light mist that slowly crept upon him as he remained motionless, it was as much his friend as the darkness and night had always been. What bothered him was the woman, Kamiya Kaoru, and the effect she had on him. How was it that when she was near, he could see nothing but her face and figure, he could smell nothing but her scent, he could sense nothing but her warmth. And it was infuriating to him that he wanted naught but to get nearer to that warmth and be swallowed whole by it.
"Damn that woman, anyhow," he thought aloud. "I don't need a woman. I'll have my fun with her and I'll leave, like always. She's no different."
Something deep inside him screamed in protest of his own words. But he refused to believe that she was different. It was impossible, he had no weaknesses and a woman would certainly never become his only flaw. Absently, his hand strayed up to the scar that crossed his left cheek. His second flaw, then. Not wanting to think about it any longer, he stood and made his way through the shroud of mist that hid his path back to the dojo. It wasn't a difficult task for one such as him, but he took his time, wanting the few extra moments to contemplate just what he was going to do to the girl.
He approached at a leisurely pace, taking his time. Inside, his mind reeled, his senses flaming from being so near to her. This feeling that crept over him was unfamiliar to him, and he wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Eventually he decided that it was best to ignore it, and smiled slowly as he silently made his way into the dojo, where he could hear her practicing with a wooden sword. The very idea amused him, a wooden sword was useless, good for nothing but fanciful ideals and, later, broken lives and homes. A sword was a weapon created to kill, nothing more and nothing less than that simple duty.
She was all fire and spirit as she practiced; he watched her openly, silent admiration lingering behind the evident desire in his eyes. The way her body moved, it was hard restraining himself from taking her right there. His gaze came to rest upon a stray tendril that caressed her face much in the way his hands were begging him to do. The delicate, fragile creature that he'd thought her to be was an image that quickly vanished as he continued to observe her. She stopped momentarily and glanced his way, where he hid in the shadow of a corner; he'd been caught. Her wooden sword clattered to the ground and she shrank away from him. But for every step backward she took, he took two towards her, until he caught her shoulders in a casual, yet tight grip.
"What do..." He silenced her with a chaste kiss, nothing more than a quick pressing of his lips against hers. He growled as she tensed and tried to pull away. "What do you want?" she finished her question; his hold on her tightened.
"I think we both know the answer to that, lovely," he said, words rumbling deep in his chest, she could feel it from where she was crushed to him. She gazed warily at him. "I want you."
She was inclined to tell him that he couldn't have her, but her voice caught as his lips fell to her throat, trailing warm, wet kisses from her pulse-point up the side of her neck to just below her ear. She moaned faintly and he grinned at this while he nipped lightly at her ear.
"No," she whispered, fighting against her rebellious body. "Please, don't."
The smirk fell from his face and he pulled away just enough to look in her eyes. Suddenly, it became his objective to seduce her rather than to simply claim her. She seemed afraid, did she think he would hurt her? That was reasonable, if he had his way she would be screaming in pain by the time he was through with her. But who was to say that pain wouldn't be pleasurable as well? He knew, at least, that it would be to him, if not her. Why should that be of importance to him?
'Ah, she's a virgin, I would guess,' he thought. "Do I frighten you, pretty?" She shook her head and then nodded. "Well? Which is it, darling? If you're scared, I won't do anything. Not for now anyway."
Her head tilted to the side of its own accord. Did she not believe him? If nothing else, he was honorable to his word. He may have had a way with twisting what he said to make it seem as if he were promising exactly the opposite, but he did not lie. He manipulated and cheated, yes, but he refused to become a liar.
"Are you or are you not afraid?" he repeated himself.
"Yes," she said so quietly that he nearly didn't catch her words.
"Well then, my little virgin, I'll let you have a few nights to contemplate," he replied with a feigned air of generosity. He dropped his voice to a lower register, his words coming out husky and just a shade away from a whisper. "I know you want me just as much as I want you. Don't deny yourself."
After giving her one more burning kiss, he let her go and left the dojo as swiftly and silently as he had entered. Kaoru stood rooted in place for a moment, letting her fingers trail over her lips absently. Without picking up the wooden sword that she'd dropped, she walked out of the dojo and headed for her room in a daze.
***
Kaoru's hands shook as she removed her training gi and hakama. What had that man done to her? Her head pounded and she could still feel the sensation of his lips on her. Involuntarily, her hand flew to her neck as she remembered with startling clarity the warmth of his soft tongue on her neck. She shook her head, raven tresses scattering about her, as they were now loose.
'I must stop,' she reprimanded herself mentally. 'I must not think of him. And most of all, I must get him out of my home.'
But she couldn't stop thinking of him, he was on her mind as she slipped into a yukata, as she ran her comb through her hair, and as she unrolled her futon. She had a feeling it would be a very long night for her.
***
"Dammit," Battousai cursed softly into the darkness. "I was so close. What was I thinking? Who cares about seduction if I can have her now?"
He stood from where he was sitting in the corner and began pacing the long wall of the room, frustration beginning to build upon him. Why couldn't he have her now? He could simply go to her room, couldn't he? A lazy smile etched itself onto his face; why not?
Sliding the shoji open, he strode purposefully yet quietly into the hall, heading for where he knew Kaoru's room to be. When he stood in front of her shoji, he stopped, feeling for her ki and listening for her breathing. She was asleep. Good. Taking care to make as little noise as possible, he slid her shoji open and stepped inside, shutting it silently behind him. A small patch of moonlight and his keen eyesight allowed him to see her there, sleeping restlessly. He couldn't help but notice the troubled look on her face as she tossed and turn. His face creased into a frown, what could one so young and innocent as her possibly have to be worried about? That is, besides himself? Somehow, he could sense that he wasn't the cause of her nightmares. He'd always had particular skill for reading people, and he'd sharpened the natural facility to near perfection over the span of several decades.
Battousai knelt by her side, brushing some of the hair from her face with a featherlike touch. He grimaced. If only the Ishin Shishi could see him now, brooding on the well-being of this useless human girl. His thoughts were interrupted when she began mumbling senselessly; he strained to make out any words. Understanding nothing but "Father," "please," and an emphatic "no," he impulsively reached out and took her hand. Kaoru jolted awake at the contact and was amazed and frightened to find the Battousai kneeling next to her and holding her hand. Her eyes widened, she had been having a nightmare, was he comforting her?
"I'd prefer not to talk about it," she said softly, tears staining her cheeks.
Battousai glared coldly at her. "I don't recall asking," he hissed, standing abruptly.
"I'm sorry," Kaoru replied faintly, turning to her other side and fixing her gaze on the far wall. She didn't want to upset him more.
"Good," he said shortly, and left the room without further conversation.
***
Battousai sat with his back to the wall, softly beating his head against it. 'Why the hell did I do that?'
He sighed roughly and brought his right knee up, shutting his eyes forcefully. Determined to get at least some rest, he regulated his breathing until he slipped into a light slumber. His was not a mind to be plagued by the mortal trouble of nightmares, he relished in each vision splayed before his closed eyes. It was all darkness and massacre, victims falling to his blades in so many horrifying and gruesomely delighting ways. The more twisted and crumpled the body was, the more broken their skeletons were, and the more blood that flowed across the scorched earth, the more pleased he was with what he saw.
But these were only paper-thin illusions that brought him joy when he was just barely asleep. Although it was not unnatural for those of his kind to revel in slumber, most of whom preferred the realm of fantasy to that of reality, he rarely ever actually let himself fall into a deep sleep. Battousai was an assassin, or perhaps even more than that, and there was no allowance in his profession for such foolishness; he knew that the moment he let his guard slip so far was the moment that his life was forfeit. And if he was going to die, it was going to be by his own hand, and not until he'd had his fill of this world and was ready to move on to dream in silence. He refused to be taken down by the filth of the human race, they were so far beneath him.
A few hours of imagery, tearing flesh and pooling blood, he allowed himself, until his eyes snapped open, alert and ready, at the sound of soft, padding footsteps in the hall outside his room. His entire body tensed in that moment, prepared for whatever might come next. His hand snaked instinctively toward his katana, but the feeling that he wouldn't need it pressed upon him.
'She couldn't possibly be here,' he thought. 'Why would she do such a thing?'
His senses, however, told him otherwise. These were steps that he'd memorized almost immediately after the first time he'd heard them. Kaoru was the person who stood with her hand lightly placed on his shoji, tentatively wavering between opening it and leaving and retreating down the hall. Quickly, he shut his eyes and tried to relax his muscles to pretend to be sleeping. He held back a new smirk when he heard her tread into the room, her footsteps unevenly placed, as if she were uncertain of what she was doing. He slowly cracked one eye open; she stood, nervously biting her lower lip, just inside his shoji. Her large, sapphire orbs were still a bit heavy with the sleep she'd obviously just woken from, but otherwise she looked awake, overly tense even. What was the reason that she had come? He wondered about this for a moment. A cloud shifted and allowed just a bit of pale moonlight to frame her face, refracting from the black silk strands of her hair to give her a nearly ethereal quality. His other eye opened just slightly to devour the sight of her, his soft breathing increasing in the smallest amount. No doubt, this woman was the only mortal that he'd ever felt so attracted to; she was practically a goddess. There was no need for him to ask himself what to do next.
*****
A/N: Could you blame me? I simply HAD to stop there. I mean... come on, just look at the beauty of that stopping point. Check out all it's majesty. And that sort of stuff. Ok then, I'm still in the 'idea-gathering' stage of this fic. Which means I'm sort of clueless as to where it's going to go. All I know is that I want it to be dark. I like dark fics, and it's high time I pull out my full ability and make my own shockwaves. I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed, I was quite pleasantly surprised. Domo arigatou gozaimasu, minna-san! Ok... I've put in a full hour of work on this tonight, and it's almost 1 a.m. and I happen to be REALLY freaking tired, so I'm going to leave you with this. Ja ne!
MysticShadowWanderer
Disclaimer: I know I died that night, and I'll never be brought back to life once again, I know.
*****
Chapter Two: The Fire Within
Battousai sat by the river, watching as the crystalline water rippled with the cold winter wind. It mirrored the confusion in his mind, the feeling of not knowing how he felt. It was so foreign to him. The sky was beginning to cloud over, he noted, there would be heavy rain, maybe even snow if the temperature dropped a bit more. He didn't mind the light mist that slowly crept upon him as he remained motionless, it was as much his friend as the darkness and night had always been. What bothered him was the woman, Kamiya Kaoru, and the effect she had on him. How was it that when she was near, he could see nothing but her face and figure, he could smell nothing but her scent, he could sense nothing but her warmth. And it was infuriating to him that he wanted naught but to get nearer to that warmth and be swallowed whole by it.
"Damn that woman, anyhow," he thought aloud. "I don't need a woman. I'll have my fun with her and I'll leave, like always. She's no different."
Something deep inside him screamed in protest of his own words. But he refused to believe that she was different. It was impossible, he had no weaknesses and a woman would certainly never become his only flaw. Absently, his hand strayed up to the scar that crossed his left cheek. His second flaw, then. Not wanting to think about it any longer, he stood and made his way through the shroud of mist that hid his path back to the dojo. It wasn't a difficult task for one such as him, but he took his time, wanting the few extra moments to contemplate just what he was going to do to the girl.
He approached at a leisurely pace, taking his time. Inside, his mind reeled, his senses flaming from being so near to her. This feeling that crept over him was unfamiliar to him, and he wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Eventually he decided that it was best to ignore it, and smiled slowly as he silently made his way into the dojo, where he could hear her practicing with a wooden sword. The very idea amused him, a wooden sword was useless, good for nothing but fanciful ideals and, later, broken lives and homes. A sword was a weapon created to kill, nothing more and nothing less than that simple duty.
She was all fire and spirit as she practiced; he watched her openly, silent admiration lingering behind the evident desire in his eyes. The way her body moved, it was hard restraining himself from taking her right there. His gaze came to rest upon a stray tendril that caressed her face much in the way his hands were begging him to do. The delicate, fragile creature that he'd thought her to be was an image that quickly vanished as he continued to observe her. She stopped momentarily and glanced his way, where he hid in the shadow of a corner; he'd been caught. Her wooden sword clattered to the ground and she shrank away from him. But for every step backward she took, he took two towards her, until he caught her shoulders in a casual, yet tight grip.
"What do..." He silenced her with a chaste kiss, nothing more than a quick pressing of his lips against hers. He growled as she tensed and tried to pull away. "What do you want?" she finished her question; his hold on her tightened.
"I think we both know the answer to that, lovely," he said, words rumbling deep in his chest, she could feel it from where she was crushed to him. She gazed warily at him. "I want you."
She was inclined to tell him that he couldn't have her, but her voice caught as his lips fell to her throat, trailing warm, wet kisses from her pulse-point up the side of her neck to just below her ear. She moaned faintly and he grinned at this while he nipped lightly at her ear.
"No," she whispered, fighting against her rebellious body. "Please, don't."
The smirk fell from his face and he pulled away just enough to look in her eyes. Suddenly, it became his objective to seduce her rather than to simply claim her. She seemed afraid, did she think he would hurt her? That was reasonable, if he had his way she would be screaming in pain by the time he was through with her. But who was to say that pain wouldn't be pleasurable as well? He knew, at least, that it would be to him, if not her. Why should that be of importance to him?
'Ah, she's a virgin, I would guess,' he thought. "Do I frighten you, pretty?" She shook her head and then nodded. "Well? Which is it, darling? If you're scared, I won't do anything. Not for now anyway."
Her head tilted to the side of its own accord. Did she not believe him? If nothing else, he was honorable to his word. He may have had a way with twisting what he said to make it seem as if he were promising exactly the opposite, but he did not lie. He manipulated and cheated, yes, but he refused to become a liar.
"Are you or are you not afraid?" he repeated himself.
"Yes," she said so quietly that he nearly didn't catch her words.
"Well then, my little virgin, I'll let you have a few nights to contemplate," he replied with a feigned air of generosity. He dropped his voice to a lower register, his words coming out husky and just a shade away from a whisper. "I know you want me just as much as I want you. Don't deny yourself."
After giving her one more burning kiss, he let her go and left the dojo as swiftly and silently as he had entered. Kaoru stood rooted in place for a moment, letting her fingers trail over her lips absently. Without picking up the wooden sword that she'd dropped, she walked out of the dojo and headed for her room in a daze.
***
Kaoru's hands shook as she removed her training gi and hakama. What had that man done to her? Her head pounded and she could still feel the sensation of his lips on her. Involuntarily, her hand flew to her neck as she remembered with startling clarity the warmth of his soft tongue on her neck. She shook her head, raven tresses scattering about her, as they were now loose.
'I must stop,' she reprimanded herself mentally. 'I must not think of him. And most of all, I must get him out of my home.'
But she couldn't stop thinking of him, he was on her mind as she slipped into a yukata, as she ran her comb through her hair, and as she unrolled her futon. She had a feeling it would be a very long night for her.
***
"Dammit," Battousai cursed softly into the darkness. "I was so close. What was I thinking? Who cares about seduction if I can have her now?"
He stood from where he was sitting in the corner and began pacing the long wall of the room, frustration beginning to build upon him. Why couldn't he have her now? He could simply go to her room, couldn't he? A lazy smile etched itself onto his face; why not?
Sliding the shoji open, he strode purposefully yet quietly into the hall, heading for where he knew Kaoru's room to be. When he stood in front of her shoji, he stopped, feeling for her ki and listening for her breathing. She was asleep. Good. Taking care to make as little noise as possible, he slid her shoji open and stepped inside, shutting it silently behind him. A small patch of moonlight and his keen eyesight allowed him to see her there, sleeping restlessly. He couldn't help but notice the troubled look on her face as she tossed and turn. His face creased into a frown, what could one so young and innocent as her possibly have to be worried about? That is, besides himself? Somehow, he could sense that he wasn't the cause of her nightmares. He'd always had particular skill for reading people, and he'd sharpened the natural facility to near perfection over the span of several decades.
Battousai knelt by her side, brushing some of the hair from her face with a featherlike touch. He grimaced. If only the Ishin Shishi could see him now, brooding on the well-being of this useless human girl. His thoughts were interrupted when she began mumbling senselessly; he strained to make out any words. Understanding nothing but "Father," "please," and an emphatic "no," he impulsively reached out and took her hand. Kaoru jolted awake at the contact and was amazed and frightened to find the Battousai kneeling next to her and holding her hand. Her eyes widened, she had been having a nightmare, was he comforting her?
"I'd prefer not to talk about it," she said softly, tears staining her cheeks.
Battousai glared coldly at her. "I don't recall asking," he hissed, standing abruptly.
"I'm sorry," Kaoru replied faintly, turning to her other side and fixing her gaze on the far wall. She didn't want to upset him more.
"Good," he said shortly, and left the room without further conversation.
***
Battousai sat with his back to the wall, softly beating his head against it. 'Why the hell did I do that?'
He sighed roughly and brought his right knee up, shutting his eyes forcefully. Determined to get at least some rest, he regulated his breathing until he slipped into a light slumber. His was not a mind to be plagued by the mortal trouble of nightmares, he relished in each vision splayed before his closed eyes. It was all darkness and massacre, victims falling to his blades in so many horrifying and gruesomely delighting ways. The more twisted and crumpled the body was, the more broken their skeletons were, and the more blood that flowed across the scorched earth, the more pleased he was with what he saw.
But these were only paper-thin illusions that brought him joy when he was just barely asleep. Although it was not unnatural for those of his kind to revel in slumber, most of whom preferred the realm of fantasy to that of reality, he rarely ever actually let himself fall into a deep sleep. Battousai was an assassin, or perhaps even more than that, and there was no allowance in his profession for such foolishness; he knew that the moment he let his guard slip so far was the moment that his life was forfeit. And if he was going to die, it was going to be by his own hand, and not until he'd had his fill of this world and was ready to move on to dream in silence. He refused to be taken down by the filth of the human race, they were so far beneath him.
A few hours of imagery, tearing flesh and pooling blood, he allowed himself, until his eyes snapped open, alert and ready, at the sound of soft, padding footsteps in the hall outside his room. His entire body tensed in that moment, prepared for whatever might come next. His hand snaked instinctively toward his katana, but the feeling that he wouldn't need it pressed upon him.
'She couldn't possibly be here,' he thought. 'Why would she do such a thing?'
His senses, however, told him otherwise. These were steps that he'd memorized almost immediately after the first time he'd heard them. Kaoru was the person who stood with her hand lightly placed on his shoji, tentatively wavering between opening it and leaving and retreating down the hall. Quickly, he shut his eyes and tried to relax his muscles to pretend to be sleeping. He held back a new smirk when he heard her tread into the room, her footsteps unevenly placed, as if she were uncertain of what she was doing. He slowly cracked one eye open; she stood, nervously biting her lower lip, just inside his shoji. Her large, sapphire orbs were still a bit heavy with the sleep she'd obviously just woken from, but otherwise she looked awake, overly tense even. What was the reason that she had come? He wondered about this for a moment. A cloud shifted and allowed just a bit of pale moonlight to frame her face, refracting from the black silk strands of her hair to give her a nearly ethereal quality. His other eye opened just slightly to devour the sight of her, his soft breathing increasing in the smallest amount. No doubt, this woman was the only mortal that he'd ever felt so attracted to; she was practically a goddess. There was no need for him to ask himself what to do next.
*****
A/N: Could you blame me? I simply HAD to stop there. I mean... come on, just look at the beauty of that stopping point. Check out all it's majesty. And that sort of stuff. Ok then, I'm still in the 'idea-gathering' stage of this fic. Which means I'm sort of clueless as to where it's going to go. All I know is that I want it to be dark. I like dark fics, and it's high time I pull out my full ability and make my own shockwaves. I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed, I was quite pleasantly surprised. Domo arigatou gozaimasu, minna-san! Ok... I've put in a full hour of work on this tonight, and it's almost 1 a.m. and I happen to be REALLY freaking tired, so I'm going to leave you with this. Ja ne!