Disclaimer: How many of these have I written out? I don't know. I think I
might go back and count. Lets see. 30+4+7+7+some odd number= how many
disclaimers I've written. Ya think people would get the hint by now? Well,
just to be certain no one tries to sue me for the one feather I own, I DO
NOT OWN KENSHIN. Nope. Not at all. ^____^ Wish I did but heck, dreams don't
ALWAYS come true, huh?
Author's Notes: Okay. Yes. Once again I will say this. I AM SORRY FOR THE LACK OF UPDATES. I am REALLY busy, so PLEASE don't get on me about it. Basketball season just started, which means more cheereleading practice, and that I will not be home from school until about 10:30 PM every Tuesday and Friday. And then the holidays, too. And the piles and piles of homework my teachers have been handing out lately. Exams are in a few weeks. And to add to that, I have 4 chaptered stories I'm updating on this site. Four. That's a lot. When I update, I don't want to just post something I put together on a whim, I want it to be a least satisfactory. It's really hard to even WANT to update with all that, and then on top of it people complaining because I don't update as fast as I used to (you know who you are). A 'update soon' doesn't bother me, I do like to get those, but when I get 'update faster for christs sake', that bugs me. Not to mention I think I'm coming down with a cold, now too. Okay. There. That's off my chest. Sorry for being so snippy. On with the story.
Sireta: There. She wrote that out a few days ago. If it was me I'd be hunting you all down. Now don't forget who's in charge of this chapter. :: points over to Crystal Renee who is gagged and bound in the corner :: Heh. Lets see what kind of torture I can put our favorite couple through now. It's been a while, wouldn't you agree?
~Silhouettes of Shadows~
***Chapter 9- Enemies, Allies, and Pains***
"What else do you need to do?" Aoshi questioned.
Kenshin looked at his blade dejectedly. He didn't want to have to use it again, but now he knew he had no choice. "Something I should have done a long time ago. Destroy Katsura. With him gone, he can't give orders to kill me, Kaoru, or Kenji."
Aoshi stared at the floor. "There are more enemies out there for you then you think. I've taken the liberty of looking into it for you. Besides Katsura, Saitou Hajime is still alive."
"I expected that. He's too stubborn to die that easily. He'll hunt me down until the day I die, but at least he has some honor. I don't think he'd actually try to kill Kaoru or Kenji. If anything he'd just use them against me. There have been many times he could have killed Kaoru and he hasn't. He doesn't kill woman and children. He's only after me." Kenshin stated. "Go on."
"Then there is Jineh Udo, an ex-Shisengumi member who uses the Shino no Ippou to paralyze his enemies. And then the Juppongatna, also. They were Shishio's minions. It seems they want revenge on you for killing their leader. Well, all of them except for Usi. He wanted Shishio dead in the first place. And Anji, who seems to have run into Sano and taught him the Futae-no-kiwami and left the Jupponganta after Shishio died." Aoshi stated.
Kenshin sighed. "I'm always going to be hunted down."
"They're hunting for the manslayer, not family man Kenshin Himura."
"But they'll dig him up eventually. They know how." He told them. "Once a hitokiri, always a hitokiri. It's painted to my being and can never make up for that."
Aoshi looked toward the ground. "But yet, you have found happiness despite this. You are trying to stray away from your katana, yet you cling to it. Can't you use your sakabatou instead?"
Kenshin stared at the two swords and shook his head. "No. This will be my final assignment as Battousai with this blade, and then, I will destroy it on my own to be sure it is never used again---- nor that it is picked up by innocent, pure hands like it was today. The blood it thirsts for will not be provided by anyone else but me."
He stood and stepped out of the room to the porch, to think. He needed to clear his mind. It had been a long time since he had last killed someone.
Could he still do it?
************ ************
Misao slid to a halt before Sanosuke's door. She banged on it loudly, knowing he was probably either drunk or asleep. She was impatient; there was no time to just stand there doing nothing. She had to get back and tell Kenshin what Katsura had told her about in the market on her way there. She tapped her foot.
"Open up Sanosuke!" she cried. "It's important!"
A grumbling was heard and the door slid open to reveal Yahiko, who held Kenji. "What do ya want, Weasel?"
A vein popped out of Misao's head, but she kept her cool. "It's important. Someone attacked the dojo today and Kenshin sent me to get you, Kenji, and Sanosuke!"
"The dojo? Is Kaoru okay? Did Kenshin kick some big time butt?" Yahiko asked.
"Kaoru's okay, and no, Kenshin got there after the attack finished. Aoshi-sama beat them up, in case you're wondering. Now get your toosh in gear and lets get going! Where's Sano, anyway?"
"He went to visit Megumi."
Misao hit herself in the face. "He left a teenager to watch a toddler? My god, someone needs to get through to him! Okay, where's Megumi living now?"
Yahiko pointed off in the general direction. "It's at that clinic thing in town."
"Well, come on, I'm not letting you carry Kenji around town alone now!" Misao took his wrist and carried him off.
************* *************
Kenshin sat in his spot, not moving. He stared over Kaoru's sleeping form to the window on the opposite end of the room. He was sitting by the door, and Aoshi was outside the dojo gates waiting for Misao to turn up with Yahiko, Sanosuke, and Kenji. Right now all he wanted to do was get away and think, to get rid of all the threats that plagued his small intimate group of friends and family. There wasn't much he could really do but wait.
His eyes flew momentarily to the katana at his side. He hadn't actually used it since his last encounter with Saitou. After that, he had received his sakabatou, and hadn't used the katana and wakizashi since. They were like foreign objects to him. Objects that had tried to corrupt Kaoru's innocence. He had long known that the blades would call to someone, and then connect with that person for life. He had hoped he'd never have to pick up that katana and use it again.
No such luck for an ex-hitokiri, the Battousai, like himself.
He had wanted to rid himself of the blade's burden long before, when he first killed. And then again, when he accidentally killed Tomoe. Only with Kaoru had he been given the chance to actually release himself from the blade. But just as before, he had to take it back up again to protect her and Kenji. He had sworn himself to the katana the day he killed for the first time, and he'd be tied to it until the day he died.
An ancient feeling stirred in him as he lifted the blade from the floor and stood from his position on the floor. He eyed the blade, the familiar feel of it hitting his senses immediately. The sword didn't seem heavy like it used to. He hadn't killed in two long years, it seemed like some of the weight had been lifted.
But he'd make up for it all by destroying all those who got in his way of happiness. Anyone who dared to attack Kaoru again wouldn't get off as easily as they had before. She always stopped him when she had the strength to. The only person she hadn't saved from his blade was Shishio, and he didn't even think she could have if she had the strength to tell him not to. The dirty trick that Shishio had played, giving him a heart and saying it was Kaoru's, was one he'd never forgive. He had actually thought she was dead. And she nearly was, too.
He cringed. He needed to stop remembering these things. Kenshin gripped his forehead in pain; he had acquired a headache thanks to his brooding. He needed to do something besides sit and think.
Taking the initiative, he turned to leave. He would have left, that was, if a hand hadn't taken a hold of his ankle.
"You better not leave me here, Kenshin. Don't go off." Kaoru stated, awakening.
He turned to her. "I'm not leaving you, koishii. I promise. But I am going to protect you, no matter what I have to do. Don't get in the way."
Kaoru sat up. "Kenshin..."
"Don't worry."
************** **************
Aoshi glanced up from his tree stand. He had been sitting there, waiting for Misao to come back. If he had calculated correctly, she should have been back a half hour earlier. Though he wouldn't admit it, he was beginning to worry about her. But he'd give it another half hour before he left to find her. If he left now and she was fine and on her way back, he'd never hear the end of it. She'd bite his head off and spit it back out.
He shuddered at the image of Misao doing such a thing, but he kept his eyes on the gate. She needed to come back soon.
Hearing a rustling, Aoshi's gaze flew from the gate long enough to catch site of someone- a man- in the yard of the dojo.
*********** ***********
Walking, Kenshin suddenly stopped in the middle of the dojo.
"Saitou..." he said quietly, stepping out from the dojo. "Where are you, Saitou?"
Stepping from the trees in the distance, Saitou made his grand entrance, his sword at his side and smoking a familiar cigarette. He grinned at Kenshin, noting his angered features.
"Battousai... fancy meeting you here."
"What do you want?" Kenshin seethed.
Saitou looked at him. "Straight to the point. If you must know, I am a police officer here. So unfortunely, I have to help you."
"Like the wolf of Mibu would actually help Battousai the manslayer." Kenshin stated, crossing his arms.
"Trust me, I don't want to. I want to get my final deathmatch with you, and I will eventually, don't worry." Saitou smirked. "But for now I have to do business. I hear there was an attack on your woman, Kaoru, today. Tokio sends her well wishes."
"You still have your wife? Do you scare her into submission?" Kenshin stated.
Saitou glared at him. "Talk about her like that again and I'll forget about helping you and think about killing you. Tokio's a good woman, strong in her own right."
Kenshin nodded. "Then I'll tell Kaoru she sent her wishes. Kaoru's fine, but I'd like to say that the men that attacked her..."
"Suffered Battousai's wrath, I'm sure. My shoulder still doesn't work exactly right." Saitou complained. "You gave me a blow the last time we crossed blades."
"I didn't kill them. I haven't killed in two years. Aoshi Shinomori did that for me." Kenshin stated. "And how do you plan on helping me?"
Saitou smirked. "I guess I'm doing you a favor you'll have to repay someday. I know a little information about Katsura Kogoro's plans concerning you that you may like to know. Like the fact that he's here in Tokyo right now, and already ran into your weasel friend Misao."
Kenshin glared. "Did he do anything?"
"The weasel's fine, he didn't even send his swordsman on her. She got away with a message for you, though. Last time I knew she was on her way to that woman doctor's place to the get the moron." Saitou responded.
"I guess that I have to trust you." Kenshin muttered. "So for a while we're on a truce, I take it."
"Any truce with you will be to long, but yes, we are." Saitou stated. "Shinomori, you can stop hiding in the tree now."
Author's Notes: Yes. Short. Sorry. I'm trying to post chapters to all of my stories on the same day. Plus I was kind of in a blank for this chapter. So go easy on me, but tell me what you think. I think I did a bad job on Saitou's character. HE'S HARD TO WRITE. ^___^
Sireta: DANG!! I...... Next chapter I will make it better. Stupid place for me to take over. I couldn't do anything. But Saitou's in here now. Maybe now I can get something happening. Hehehehehehehehehehe.
Crystal Renee: I think not!! :: attacks Sireta ::
Love and hugs,
Crystal Renee
Author's Notes: Okay. Yes. Once again I will say this. I AM SORRY FOR THE LACK OF UPDATES. I am REALLY busy, so PLEASE don't get on me about it. Basketball season just started, which means more cheereleading practice, and that I will not be home from school until about 10:30 PM every Tuesday and Friday. And then the holidays, too. And the piles and piles of homework my teachers have been handing out lately. Exams are in a few weeks. And to add to that, I have 4 chaptered stories I'm updating on this site. Four. That's a lot. When I update, I don't want to just post something I put together on a whim, I want it to be a least satisfactory. It's really hard to even WANT to update with all that, and then on top of it people complaining because I don't update as fast as I used to (you know who you are). A 'update soon' doesn't bother me, I do like to get those, but when I get 'update faster for christs sake', that bugs me. Not to mention I think I'm coming down with a cold, now too. Okay. There. That's off my chest. Sorry for being so snippy. On with the story.
Sireta: There. She wrote that out a few days ago. If it was me I'd be hunting you all down. Now don't forget who's in charge of this chapter. :: points over to Crystal Renee who is gagged and bound in the corner :: Heh. Lets see what kind of torture I can put our favorite couple through now. It's been a while, wouldn't you agree?
~Silhouettes of Shadows~
***Chapter 9- Enemies, Allies, and Pains***
"What else do you need to do?" Aoshi questioned.
Kenshin looked at his blade dejectedly. He didn't want to have to use it again, but now he knew he had no choice. "Something I should have done a long time ago. Destroy Katsura. With him gone, he can't give orders to kill me, Kaoru, or Kenji."
Aoshi stared at the floor. "There are more enemies out there for you then you think. I've taken the liberty of looking into it for you. Besides Katsura, Saitou Hajime is still alive."
"I expected that. He's too stubborn to die that easily. He'll hunt me down until the day I die, but at least he has some honor. I don't think he'd actually try to kill Kaoru or Kenji. If anything he'd just use them against me. There have been many times he could have killed Kaoru and he hasn't. He doesn't kill woman and children. He's only after me." Kenshin stated. "Go on."
"Then there is Jineh Udo, an ex-Shisengumi member who uses the Shino no Ippou to paralyze his enemies. And then the Juppongatna, also. They were Shishio's minions. It seems they want revenge on you for killing their leader. Well, all of them except for Usi. He wanted Shishio dead in the first place. And Anji, who seems to have run into Sano and taught him the Futae-no-kiwami and left the Jupponganta after Shishio died." Aoshi stated.
Kenshin sighed. "I'm always going to be hunted down."
"They're hunting for the manslayer, not family man Kenshin Himura."
"But they'll dig him up eventually. They know how." He told them. "Once a hitokiri, always a hitokiri. It's painted to my being and can never make up for that."
Aoshi looked toward the ground. "But yet, you have found happiness despite this. You are trying to stray away from your katana, yet you cling to it. Can't you use your sakabatou instead?"
Kenshin stared at the two swords and shook his head. "No. This will be my final assignment as Battousai with this blade, and then, I will destroy it on my own to be sure it is never used again---- nor that it is picked up by innocent, pure hands like it was today. The blood it thirsts for will not be provided by anyone else but me."
He stood and stepped out of the room to the porch, to think. He needed to clear his mind. It had been a long time since he had last killed someone.
Could he still do it?
************ ************
Misao slid to a halt before Sanosuke's door. She banged on it loudly, knowing he was probably either drunk or asleep. She was impatient; there was no time to just stand there doing nothing. She had to get back and tell Kenshin what Katsura had told her about in the market on her way there. She tapped her foot.
"Open up Sanosuke!" she cried. "It's important!"
A grumbling was heard and the door slid open to reveal Yahiko, who held Kenji. "What do ya want, Weasel?"
A vein popped out of Misao's head, but she kept her cool. "It's important. Someone attacked the dojo today and Kenshin sent me to get you, Kenji, and Sanosuke!"
"The dojo? Is Kaoru okay? Did Kenshin kick some big time butt?" Yahiko asked.
"Kaoru's okay, and no, Kenshin got there after the attack finished. Aoshi-sama beat them up, in case you're wondering. Now get your toosh in gear and lets get going! Where's Sano, anyway?"
"He went to visit Megumi."
Misao hit herself in the face. "He left a teenager to watch a toddler? My god, someone needs to get through to him! Okay, where's Megumi living now?"
Yahiko pointed off in the general direction. "It's at that clinic thing in town."
"Well, come on, I'm not letting you carry Kenji around town alone now!" Misao took his wrist and carried him off.
************* *************
Kenshin sat in his spot, not moving. He stared over Kaoru's sleeping form to the window on the opposite end of the room. He was sitting by the door, and Aoshi was outside the dojo gates waiting for Misao to turn up with Yahiko, Sanosuke, and Kenji. Right now all he wanted to do was get away and think, to get rid of all the threats that plagued his small intimate group of friends and family. There wasn't much he could really do but wait.
His eyes flew momentarily to the katana at his side. He hadn't actually used it since his last encounter with Saitou. After that, he had received his sakabatou, and hadn't used the katana and wakizashi since. They were like foreign objects to him. Objects that had tried to corrupt Kaoru's innocence. He had long known that the blades would call to someone, and then connect with that person for life. He had hoped he'd never have to pick up that katana and use it again.
No such luck for an ex-hitokiri, the Battousai, like himself.
He had wanted to rid himself of the blade's burden long before, when he first killed. And then again, when he accidentally killed Tomoe. Only with Kaoru had he been given the chance to actually release himself from the blade. But just as before, he had to take it back up again to protect her and Kenji. He had sworn himself to the katana the day he killed for the first time, and he'd be tied to it until the day he died.
An ancient feeling stirred in him as he lifted the blade from the floor and stood from his position on the floor. He eyed the blade, the familiar feel of it hitting his senses immediately. The sword didn't seem heavy like it used to. He hadn't killed in two long years, it seemed like some of the weight had been lifted.
But he'd make up for it all by destroying all those who got in his way of happiness. Anyone who dared to attack Kaoru again wouldn't get off as easily as they had before. She always stopped him when she had the strength to. The only person she hadn't saved from his blade was Shishio, and he didn't even think she could have if she had the strength to tell him not to. The dirty trick that Shishio had played, giving him a heart and saying it was Kaoru's, was one he'd never forgive. He had actually thought she was dead. And she nearly was, too.
He cringed. He needed to stop remembering these things. Kenshin gripped his forehead in pain; he had acquired a headache thanks to his brooding. He needed to do something besides sit and think.
Taking the initiative, he turned to leave. He would have left, that was, if a hand hadn't taken a hold of his ankle.
"You better not leave me here, Kenshin. Don't go off." Kaoru stated, awakening.
He turned to her. "I'm not leaving you, koishii. I promise. But I am going to protect you, no matter what I have to do. Don't get in the way."
Kaoru sat up. "Kenshin..."
"Don't worry."
************** **************
Aoshi glanced up from his tree stand. He had been sitting there, waiting for Misao to come back. If he had calculated correctly, she should have been back a half hour earlier. Though he wouldn't admit it, he was beginning to worry about her. But he'd give it another half hour before he left to find her. If he left now and she was fine and on her way back, he'd never hear the end of it. She'd bite his head off and spit it back out.
He shuddered at the image of Misao doing such a thing, but he kept his eyes on the gate. She needed to come back soon.
Hearing a rustling, Aoshi's gaze flew from the gate long enough to catch site of someone- a man- in the yard of the dojo.
*********** ***********
Walking, Kenshin suddenly stopped in the middle of the dojo.
"Saitou..." he said quietly, stepping out from the dojo. "Where are you, Saitou?"
Stepping from the trees in the distance, Saitou made his grand entrance, his sword at his side and smoking a familiar cigarette. He grinned at Kenshin, noting his angered features.
"Battousai... fancy meeting you here."
"What do you want?" Kenshin seethed.
Saitou looked at him. "Straight to the point. If you must know, I am a police officer here. So unfortunely, I have to help you."
"Like the wolf of Mibu would actually help Battousai the manslayer." Kenshin stated, crossing his arms.
"Trust me, I don't want to. I want to get my final deathmatch with you, and I will eventually, don't worry." Saitou smirked. "But for now I have to do business. I hear there was an attack on your woman, Kaoru, today. Tokio sends her well wishes."
"You still have your wife? Do you scare her into submission?" Kenshin stated.
Saitou glared at him. "Talk about her like that again and I'll forget about helping you and think about killing you. Tokio's a good woman, strong in her own right."
Kenshin nodded. "Then I'll tell Kaoru she sent her wishes. Kaoru's fine, but I'd like to say that the men that attacked her..."
"Suffered Battousai's wrath, I'm sure. My shoulder still doesn't work exactly right." Saitou complained. "You gave me a blow the last time we crossed blades."
"I didn't kill them. I haven't killed in two years. Aoshi Shinomori did that for me." Kenshin stated. "And how do you plan on helping me?"
Saitou smirked. "I guess I'm doing you a favor you'll have to repay someday. I know a little information about Katsura Kogoro's plans concerning you that you may like to know. Like the fact that he's here in Tokyo right now, and already ran into your weasel friend Misao."
Kenshin glared. "Did he do anything?"
"The weasel's fine, he didn't even send his swordsman on her. She got away with a message for you, though. Last time I knew she was on her way to that woman doctor's place to the get the moron." Saitou responded.
"I guess that I have to trust you." Kenshin muttered. "So for a while we're on a truce, I take it."
"Any truce with you will be to long, but yes, we are." Saitou stated. "Shinomori, you can stop hiding in the tree now."
Author's Notes: Yes. Short. Sorry. I'm trying to post chapters to all of my stories on the same day. Plus I was kind of in a blank for this chapter. So go easy on me, but tell me what you think. I think I did a bad job on Saitou's character. HE'S HARD TO WRITE. ^___^
Sireta: DANG!! I...... Next chapter I will make it better. Stupid place for me to take over. I couldn't do anything. But Saitou's in here now. Maybe now I can get something happening. Hehehehehehehehehehe.
Crystal Renee: I think not!! :: attacks Sireta ::
Love and hugs,
Crystal Renee