Author's Note: I know it's been about 5 hundred years since I last updated. I just got back from Sweden and so I'm feeling like I want to update, so here it is.
Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, and all characters do not belong to me unless specially noted. Don't sue, or I'll cry.
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Once More by Battousai1235
He began walking down the street. Up ahead, he saw a figure standing with a sword drawn, facing away from him. He drew his own katana and stepped cautiously forward.
"Are you, by any chance, waiting for me?" came a voice. Someone else shot at the first figure, thrusting his sword at it. He squinted, trying to see who it was...
"Kamiya?" He thought the one being attacked looked like Kamiya. But who could be attacking her? He broke into a run.
She dove to the side as he shot past her. Okita spun around and swung his sword down at her, and she barely was able to block. He lunged to the side before coming back around again, driving his sword at her with such ferocity that she was quickly drained of all her energy.
"What now, Kamiya-san?" he sneered. "Not so tough now, are you?" He began sauntering toward her, a confident expression set on his face.
"Leave her alone." Okita whirled around and saw a man with red hair and a long scar along his left cheek. He was holding a katana at the ready.
"Ah, Himura-san," said Okita, grinning. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" He stepped away from Kaoru and started toward Battousai.
"You will not continue your fight against Kamiya-san until you beat me," replied Battousai. Okita kept smiling.
"If you wish to fight me again, Himura-san, I will gladly accept, for I have no problem with battling you again." Okita swung at Battousai, who deflected the blade before using an attack of his own. Okita dodged and moved behind him. Battousai cursed and dropped to the ground, spinning at the same time to face Okita.
"Come now, Himura-san. Is this all you have?" Okita drove his sword at Battousai relentlessly, backing him up against one of the buildings along the street. As Okita raised his sword for a final blow, Battousai jumped up, kicked off the wall, and flipped over Okita, turning in midair and bringing his blade down at Okita, who barely blocked it.
"What business do you have here anyway, Himura-san?" demanded Okita, the smile now gone from his face. "Why are you interfering in this Shinsengumi matter?" Battousai didn't respond.
'Good question,' he thought. 'I don't know. I guess I really do care about her.' Okita's face grew red.
"Answer me, damn you!" Battousai still remained silent. "WHY DON'T YOU SAY ANYTHING???!!!" Okita took a step forward and stopped. Blood spattered the ground in front of him. Battousai saw the tip of a katana protruding from his chest. It was pulled out and he fell to the ground.
"Bastard." Kaoru spit on Okita's body before facing Battousai. "And you!" She pointed at him with her sword, inadvertently bringing the blade dangerously close to his face. "Why do you keep showing up in my life?! Can't you leave me alone?!"
"You must understand, Kamiya-san, that I didn't come here with the sole intention of helping you. Apparently one of our own was shot in your house last night, and we went there to investigate—"
"WHAT???!!! What did you do?! If you touched my brother or sisters..."
"I did no such thing. The man who died was under the apprenticeship of another of the Ishin Shishi, however, and so he was pretty angry. He is still there, I believe." Kaoru pushed past him and ran toward her house. "Kamiya-san! Don't rush in there! They aren't going to be pleased to see you!"
"Then I'll kill them!" she yelled over her shoulder. "And you! You stay there! I'll be back!" Battousai stared after her.
'Does she really expect me to wait here for her?' He sheathed his sword and walked away.
Kaoru was running so fast that she almost ran headlong into a man covered in bandages.
"Watch it!" she growled, but she didn't stop. She burst into her house with her sword in front of her. Yahiko, Ayame, and Suzume all stared at her.
"Kaoru!" The three jumped up.
"Uh...Kaoru...your sword?" said Yahiko. Kaoru looked at the katana. Okita's blood was still wet, and dripping from the blade.
"Oh...this...it's..."
"Oneechan? Is that blood?" asked Ayame.
"No...no...not blood." Kaoru quickly returned the sword to its sheath and threw her weapons to the side. "So, what happened while I was gone?"
"People came," replied Suzume. Kaoru nodded and looked at Yahiko.
"Who?" she asked. He shrugged.
"Three guys. One of them had red hair and scar on his face, and one was wrapped in bandages." Kaoru was surprised.
'I passed him!' she thought angrily. 'I could have killed him!'
"What's wrong?" asked Yahiko. She shook her head.
"It's nothing...so, who wants some food?" Ayame and Suzume shouted with delight and ran down the hall. Kaoru sighed and picked up her swords.
"Who'd you kill?" She jumped. Yahiko was glaring at her. "Whose blood was that?" Kaoru leaned the swords against the wall and reached out to hug Yahiko, but he stepped back. "Answer me!"
"Yahiko-chan, you know I can't tell you." She sighed again. "You've seen blood before. What's the matter?"
"Those guys would have killed you!" he cried. "Because you killed someone last night! Every time you kill someone you make it worse for yourself! What are we going to do if you get killed?!"
"Yahiko-chan, I don't want you to worry. I am not going to get myself killed." Yahiko didn't reply. "Wait...they were mad because I killed someone last night?"
"Yeah...they said you shot this guy in the dojo last night. You didn't, did you?"
"Of course not. You know I would never use a gun."
"That's what I said, but they wouldn't listen."
"That's to be expected. They believe what they want to believe."
"I...I just...I don't want to lose you too, Kaoru...not after Dad..." He threw his arms around her and hugged her tightly. She returned the embrace and gave a soft laugh.
"Now come on, Yahiko-chan. Let's have some food."
'Irritating,' thought Battousai, heading down the road. 'She expects me to wait while she goes off and checks on her family? Gomen, Kamiya-san, but I have other matters to attend to."
"Obviously we can't have such a dangerous person in our organization. Kamiya-san, you are hereby suspended from the Shinsengumi. Until further notice, any and all communication you have with the Shinsengumi will be cut off, and you will not receive assignments from us. If you find some way to redeem yourself, you may find yourself reinstated, but until then, you are dismissed."
Kaoru recalled Saitou's words in his office. He had summoned her there early in the morning, and five minutes later, she found herself on the streets. Alone. Nowhere to turn. For the first time in her life, she needed a victim and couldn't find one. And that scared her.
'Redeem myself?' she though, puzzled. 'How could I do that now?' And immediately the answer dawned on her. It had been staring her in the face for some time now. It was as though the entire thing had been planned; she had everything she needed. A small smile tugged at her lips as she stood to go.
"A visitor?" questioned Battousai. The innkeeper nodded. "Very well." He walked down the stairs, where he saw Kaoru waiting for him.
"Kamiya-san? What do you want?" She smiled at him.
"I need your help, Battousai-san," she replied.
"With what?" He didn't like the way she was smiling. It was too fixed, too surreal.
"I was suspended from the Shinsengumi," she began, taking a small step toward him. "They said that I must redeem myself in order to regain my status." Battousai shifted uneasily.
"What does that have to do with me?" he asked. Her smile grew wider.
"I think they will accept me back if I manage to kill a high-ranking member of the Ishin Shishi." She put her hand on the handle of her katana. "That would be you." Drawing the sword as if in Battou-Jutsu, the blade pierced his stomach in the right and ripped up through the left side of his chest. Blood sprayed out, drenching her. Battousai stood for a moment, perfectly still, eyes wide. Then he slowly fell backwards, crashing into the floor with a sickening sound. Kaoru quickly turned and left the inn, leaving him lying at the foot of the stairs.
Voices...light...blood...pain...
"Battousai-san?" The sound was deafening. Battousai tried to clear his vision, to see who it was. "Are you awake?" The voice was a roar of noise, and it made him want to scream in pain, but he didn't have the energy to do it. A low groan came from his dry throat.
"I think he's coming to!" Another burst of pain. He heard several running footsteps.
"Is he going to live?" asked a second voice.
"I think so," replied the first voice, which sounded like Tomoe. There was a sigh of relief from the people in the room. Battousai tried to push himself up, but he felt strong hands pressing him back down.
"I...fine..." he gasped.
"No, Battousai-san, you can't get up. You need to give the wound time to heal."
"What...happen?"
"We found you at the door on the floor. You were unconscious and bleeding badly. I patched you up a bit but you need to stay put." He relaxed.
"She...will pay..." he grunted. Tomoe looked mildly surprised.
"She?" she asked. "Who might that be?" He stared at her dazedly.
"What?" And he drifted again into sleep.
"So...the Battousai is dead?" Saitou sounded incredulous. "How is it that you were able to find him so quickly?"
"I have encountered him before, as you know. After the most recent time, I followed him...without his knowing, of course...and found that he was staying at an inn." She found herself barely able to concentrate on what he was saying. She felt unnaturally strange. Ever since killing him, ever since his blood had first hit her, she couldn't think clearly.
"Kamiya?" Saitou's voice brought her back to earth. "How did you kill him? Did anyone see you?"
She thought for a minute before replying. "Only the woman who cleans the inn. I killed her after I killed him." Saitou was silent for a moment.
"When I told you that you were suspended, I did not expect to be welcoming you back so soon. However, in light of this, I believe that I would be a fool not to do so. You are once more a member of the Shinsengumi. Welcome back." He gave her a short, thin smile.
"Oh...thanks..." she muttered. She left the room. Stepping into the street, she looked dazedly around. She slowly pulled her katana from its sheath, staring at the blade, which still glistened with his blood. She brought it close to her face, breathing in deeply. Then she pressed her tongue to the steel, tasting some of the crimson liquid. The taste...unlike any she had had before. The taste of his blood brought to her a feeling of pure, absolute ecstasy, a feeling bordering on sexual pleasure. After standing still for almost ten minutes, she put the katana away and began the walk home.
It was some time before Battousai was able to move around again. Not to say that he didn't try to, but Tomoe managed to keep a relatively tight hold on him. However, within three weeks, the wound had almost completely healed. On his twenty-second day of the self-named "imprisonment," Katsura entered the inn and almost collided with the Hitokiri himself.
"Ah, Himura-san. So you're up at last. How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine, although I think I'll go mad if I am kept in here much longer. Please tell me you have something for me to do."
"Indeed, we do. That person from the Shinsengumi, the girl, she's been spotted killing a lot of important people recently." Battousai grimaced. He had not told Katsura (or anyone else, for that matter) that the girl from the Shinsengumi who knew his face was also the one who had given him this grave wound, for he knew the reprimands that would follow. In fact, he hadn't spoken about his attacker at all, because he did not want to lie about her identity any more than he wanted to name her. Out of respect, neither Katsura nor any other Ishin Shishi had asked him about the details, and for that he was grateful. Now, however, seemed a good time to get his revenge on that spiteful woman.
"What do you want me to do?" he asked.
Yo, that's it for this installment. I've got the next part partly written, so hit me up with some reviews, huh?