Author's Notes: FINALLY, after a WEEKEND of working (and chatting to reviewers and authoresses.. hehehehe, you guys know who you are) I am getting my butt back to work on my story, if slowly. I go from one bout of writers block to the next. I can work my way out of this; I'm just not sure what I want to happen next so this chapter may be shorter than the rest. That's my fault for not planning this out BEFORE I started to type it up... oh well, we'll get through this, ne? OH! And you should go read the story 'Cherry Blossoms'. It's really Angsty and has MAJOR spoilers (for those of you who don't enjoy spoilers, that was your warning) but the imagery is amazing and the author puts a lot of time into her chapters, even if they are short. GO READ! It takes place right after Kenshin dies... so yes, it is very angsty towards Kaoru. But otherwise, onto the story! OH! AND THANKS A BILLION TO DRAGONTAMER9741 FOR EDITITING THE CHAPTER! Any complaints, mail them to her, not me !
Breaking Through
Chapter 3- The Scent of Jasmines
That night was the first night he decided to use his futon when he went to sleep. He had not slept on a futon in over ten years when he thought about it. So this futon was still clean and fresh to him, as he had not used it the entire time he had been staying in this room. It was brand new, the comfort was still intact as new and not broken in, as it would have been had he slept on it before.
But the futon wasn't the only one his thoughts that night. He rolled under his blankets and stared at the interesting walls, trying to figure out the one thing that was keeping him awake.
How had the scent of jasmines become attached to his clothing? The field he had been practicing in was covered in pure grass.
Battousai puzzled over this. If the field had only been filled with grass, and surrounded by sakura trees, then how had he become covered with the scent of jasmine? Even after his bath the sweet scent still lingered on his skin. He hadn't been able to rub it off or mask it with his own sparsely used cologne. It was still there, confusing and haunting his senses, driving him mad. He tossed around under his sheets, trying to forgot the plaguing thoughts that filled his mind
Then her image placed itself in full view of his mind's eye. The gloss of her ebony hair, the placement of her hands upon the wooden sword as she held her ground against his live blade of metal. The image of her bright azure eyes, which shone brightly with pride upon telling him of her dojo, was clearly seen. The fact that she had been wearing male clothing had done nothing to mar her undeniable beauty. Her toned muscles and attitude added to her attractive flair.
She had said her name, what had it been again? Kamiya, that was her last name. Her technique, the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu, the sword that protects. Part of him had wanted to burst out into fits of laughter when she had told him of her ideals. But another part of him had agreed with her, and wished to be able to accept her idealism and take it as his own, instead of the never- ending torrents of killings he was finding his soul drowning in.
He drowned in the blood every time he killed, the guilt grew. And even if he blocked out the memory, the blood still tinted his skin enough for him to see. No one else saw it; of course, for it was only his guilt playing tricks on his mind, but the only thing that mattered was that he did see it. That it did haunt him, pushing out his hopes for true sanity, for closure and atonement.
But he did deserve all of this, he reminded himself solemnly. It was his fault.
All the people he had slaughtered in unspeakable carnage were gone, and he didn't hold the power to resurrect them and let them roam the earth as clueless as they had been before. He placed one hand on his head as it began to throb with memories and guilt, emotions the hitokiri never allowed to flow outward. At least not where others could pounce on them and twist them, using his pain and inner struggles to their advantage to break him down, slowly, piece by piece. Cause him to suffer more than he was already. His biggest fear was to find someone who knew him better than he did himself, someone who could see straight through his icy demeanor.
Perhaps that was why, deep down, that woman had scared him. Part of him believed that she had known he was, yet chose to ignore it. But who could be that forgiving of someone who had spilled so much blood, and caused the heavens to rain blood, the moon to shine red with it's tears, blood that is shed for his guilty, doomed being?
He flipped over again, the scent of the calming, innocent jasmine again reaching his senses. The scent was meant to calm him, and it had, but at the same time it stirred things within him that he didn't comprehend or understand. He kept thinking back to the woman, who stood like a warrior, yet held the grace of any traditional Japanese woman. Her battle ki was strong; he could tell she was slightly angered to find him on her property, yet she had been extremely hospitable towards him after a short while.
Was she always that naïve? If that was true of her being, then she was bound to get herself into a lot of trouble with people who were not as easily swayed as he had been in her presence. He was scared for the young woman, afraid that she was going to get in trouble.
But why did he care? He didn't even know her, so why did he care?
It had to be her gentle demeanor, he decided. But why had that been so confusing to him? Why hadn't he been able to glare at her like he had so many others before her? He had never backed down from a challenge, which was why he had accepted hers so vaguely. But he was afraid of hurting her. He didn't want to cause a bruise on her seemingly tender white skin, or to break down the spirit she held within.
More images of the woman began to circulate throughout his mind. Her hair reminded him of the inky blue of the night sky, as it had been so dark that it had a bluish sheen to it. Part of him scolded him for thinking of her again, like she was familiar thing that he needed to remember. He had never met that woman before, so how could he find her so familiar?
He pushed those thoughts out of his mind. Then it went back to how he could possibly feel anything. He was supposed to be cold, emotionless, and dull. Void of any possibility of feeling or impulse.
His mind swept with thoughts. How could he care for someone like that? What made him think he cared about her? It was a simple infatuation, he finally decided for himself. An infatuation that he'd have to get over. He promised himself never again, because it only brought to much danger to anyone of which he began to confide in. No, not again he had promised. This woman would not get any closer to him than she already was. She would simply be there to practice with him from time to time.
That was his deciding thought.
But he remembered something about the woman that seemed strange. Her offer to spar seemed to hold back an unmentioned feeling, but what was it? It seemed as if she had practically begged him to fight with her. But why? Had she any students to teach at her dojo? She must've had at least one or two.
He shook his head. He had to sleep.
Finally, his thoughts calmed down, and he found a comfortable position on his futon, curling up casually beneath the comforting sheets and shutting his hazy eyes in order to induce some form of sleep. Nearly drifting off into a slumber, his mind suddenly brought forth a piece of information he hadn't even thought to remember.
Jasmines meant something. And that something was "Everything Will Turn Out Okay".
Was it a sign from Kami, he wondered to himself, his eyes still shut tight in vain, trying to bring on a sleep that was not coming for him that night. He lay there pondering this for a few hours before he finally gave way to the dark abyss of sleep.
But for some reason, tonight was different from the rest in more ways than just him sleep on his futon.
Tonight he was not plagued with the constant, bloody reruns of war that haunted his nightmares.
Kenshin woke up with the sun the next day as it poured into his room, lighting his crimson hair with fiery highlights and streaks of orange. He regretfully subsided to the awaken glow and sat up, stretching his sore, stiff muscles in an attempt to help himself wake up. Yawning he stood and walked across his room to glance inside of his seemingly mundane wardrobe.
Navy blue gis and white hakamas were the only pieces of clothing, besides his sleeping yukatas, that lined the closet. This made his outfit easy to choose, but the process of elimination was quite monotonous to him when he had nothing to choose from except for a few faded gis.
Without a second glance he plucked some clothing from the closet, and rubbing his eyes, walked throughout the Inn until he reached the bathing room. No steam emitted from the doorway so he let himself in, setting his clean Ishin Shishi outfit on a hook and then walking into the bathing stall with his towel. He decided a good chilled bath would be better at waking him up at that time of morning than a warm one, which was sure to only lull him back into his sleep and dream of the fiery kendo teacher he had met the day before.
He stopped in his tracks, on hand hovering slightly above the tub with his realization. Now he had gone to the extent of dream about her that night? Even without the nightmares, his dreams still scared him. They were the only proof he needed to know that slowly, his icy demeanor was ebbing away into nothingness, being changed by one person he hadn't even held a twenty- minute conversation with.
'I really need a cold bath if that's how things are gong to be. I can't be warming up. It's only going to bring everything back tenfold if I do.' he thought to himself as he plunged into the freezing water, his body reacting and screaming back at him in shock, his head aching with the sudden change of climate. He resurfaced in the tub, and began to clean himself.
When he left, his amber eyes were hidden behind a thicket of blood red rivers of hair, his clothing exposed some of his still damp skin, but his aura was the same. Dangerous, merciless, and on guard, like it always had been. Like it was supposed
to be in the first place. He walked back to his room, grabbing his katana and wakizashi before stepping outside into the heat of the morning sun as it dried up the leftover dew that was scattered across the green sea of grass around him. His feet led him away from the building before he could be called back.
Battousai didn't take the time to look at the growing scenery around him, just allowed his feet to send him where he was headed while his mind was in a state of semi-comatosis. The swish of his sandals as they padded gently against the grass and dirt of the trail was the only sound heard besides the rustling of the leaves in the trees by the fingering wind. For a while he just continued on like this, his head bowed down towards the ground, arms swaying with his steps and feet dragging him on to some unknown destination.
He stopped abruptly, his head shooting up quickly and scanning his surroundings with keen eyes. He hadn't truly sensed a disturbance in the serene and tranquil area, but something about it was a little off. He glanced around and finally he figured out what so strange about the surrounding area of sakura trees where flowers fell like tears from the eyes of an innocent that had been tainted red.
He had walked himself back into the same area he had been in yesterday, the quiet field of grass surrounded by the blooming sakura trees, where he had met the woman yesterday while practicing.
At first he just stood there, the wind whipping at his clothing like it would to the ocean to make waves. His crimson hair fluttered about his face and back, whipping in one direction before changing rapidly into the next, circling around him with a grace unlike any other. His amber eyes stared out in utter shock, blue seeping over the yellow and allowing partial emotions to shine through.
Why had he gone here again, a second time? Had it been because of her willful gesture for a friendly spar? Or was it because he was so confused over the young woman that he sought for answers he may never have?
Kaoru Kamiya, his mind reminded himself, was her name.
Distantly he began to realize that he was no longer standing still but he had began a form of mechanical walking, much like what he did on his missions, farther away from the center of the field and more toward the place where the woman named Kaoru had disappeared off to the day before. He walked along the pathway he was certain she had followed, and found himself standing in front of a dojo, which was lacking the activity a dojo should have. He wondered why there were no students there for instruction on her Kamiya Kasshin Ryu.
That was, of course, until he heard a loud crash a few shouts from inside the dojo.
His thoughts flew directly towards the noises and his senses flew high as he slunk like a shadow towards the building. He was trying to leave himself far enough away to sense for ki and yet keep his own masked in case someone could sense him.
He could hear distant shouting and slowly edged his way closer, hiding his ki as well as he could from the occupants of the building. He closed in on the outside wall near the doorway, and saw the shoji was slightly agape. He hid himself well in the bleak shadows and peered in through the small crack, finally the best position to see most of the room. His eyes set upon the young woman and her opponent.
Quickly he began to assess the situation. He immediately disclosed the option of the six men in the room being her students, because they carried real swords instead of bokkens or shinai's. There was one giant of a man amongst the six other lean, short men, and he seemed to be the one who had challenged the fiery raven-haired beauty in the first place.
The smaller swordsmen didn't hold very strong fighting kis, and none of them even reached the caliber of the woman. But the larger man...
Battousai's eyes fell upon the blue-eyed woman. Kaoru, he reminded himself. She held her bokken up before her defiantly, one leg slightly father back than the other as she glared upon the taller man who towered above her. Her ki was high and threatening, Kenshin realized, which meant this wasn't a friendly spar and even he himself would have thought twice before fighting with her. But even if she was mad, the battle aura of the other man told him of many murders, something that the young woman had not participated in.
A crash alerted him to the fight and threw him out of his musings as his eyes fell upon the woman, her bokken holding the giant sword back much like it had his own the day before. She had caught it on its broadside again, which prevented it from slicing her wooden weapon in two.
"Leave here Gohei!" she demanded of him forcefully.
"You cannot scare me Kamiya. I am here for your dojo." the man named Gohei stated. "To take back what your father stole from me."
Kaoru glared back at him before forcing him back slightly with a pressure to her bokken. "My dojo doesn't belong to you. My father got rid of you because you killed someone with the technique that is meant to spare life and protect!"
"He made me lose the use of my hand." Gohei stated angrily. "And if Kamiya can't take the consequences on his own, then his daughter will for him."
"I will not. And if I do, I will fight you with the ideals he handed down to me, and I will win. You won't destroy someone who has the will to live, Gohei Hiruma!" she shot back at him.
She rushed forward in a fluid motion, her bokken aimed for attack.
Gohei moved to the side slightly, and Kaoru changed her path of attack at the last second, smashing the wooden weapon into his back. He yelped a little, stumbling forward with the force of her blow. She skid to a stop, using her free hand to balance herself before she ran into a wall or fell ungracefully to the floor. She glared up at him before preparing for counterattacks.
Kenshin continued watching from the doorway, surprised at her skill. She was a lot slower than him, he realized this, but not a lot of people had the god-like speed that his technique required. The man she was fighting with was much slower due to his enormous size, but one good blow from him could kill her with the extensive muscle he had amassed on his huge body.
The man regained his balance, glancing back at the girl of seventeen. He scowled venomously at her, in hope of intimidation. She ignored him and kept her concentration on the fight.
In a quick motion, her attacker was upon her again, but Kaoru sidestepped and slammed the hilt of her bokken upon his knees, causing him to collapse.
"You should have more skill than this, Gohei." she told him. "I am using the same style my father taught you. The same one you used to kill. Why is it not working for now? This is too one sided."
Gohei stood and blindly attacked her again. She held her bokken horizontally toward him, and it hit him right below the ribcage, depressing into his muscle and flesh slightly, but not cutting him, as it had no sharp edge. He fell back onto the floor, gasping for air and trying to ignore the soaring pain in his body as he fought to stand again.
"If there's one thing I hate more than losing to a Kamiya, it's losing to a Kamiya child! A girl, nonetheless!" he shot at Kaoru, determined to win. "I can guarantee you that I will win this fight!"
Kaoru planted her feet firmly onto the floorboards of the dojo, staring at Gohei and ignoring the men he had brought with him. "Then attack me, Gohei."
He jumped at her, and again she sidestepped. Her small error was not spinning around quick enough, and she suffered a slightly cut to her shoulder. She winced and jumped back, a hand flying to the wound as it colored her beige gi a shade of burgundy. She cursed silently to herself for being caught like that but put both hands on her bokken, bracing herself for a second attack.
He had nearly jumped in when Gohei sliced into to Kaoru's tender skin, but Battousai caught himself quick enough and calmed down. She wasn't down yet, and she'd still be able to fight, he saw. He just leaned back, but his hands were prepared to draw his katana in a split second for her life. This was a fight for her family's honor, he realized, and the only time he should interfere was when she could no long hold her own ground. The reasons why he shouldn't began to swim through his mind like flowers floating along the streams, but he ignored them all.
Even the Battousai was allowed to save life once in a while.
Gohei had smiled upon realizing he had injured her. "You cannot fight now, Kamiya, I have injured you. Go home and allow someone to fix it for you. Cry like the girl you are."
Her mouth flew open at the vicious taunt. "I am strong, Gohei, a small scrape isn't going to make me give up my skill, or give up this fight. Besides, this is my home in which you have invaded. Leave now, Gohei, and spare yourself the embarrassment of being defeated!"
Gohei flew at her and she parried strongly, but slid back with the force of his broadside against her bokken. Her skills taught her when to aim her sword for the broadside, and she was using them efficiently as he fought blindly with attacks that did not match anything she had been taught. He smirked upon finding her thinking and violently dove at her. At the last minute she had blocked him, but his power had sent her back into the dojo's wall.
Kaoru fell back from the wall, holding her previously injured shoulder as it had blocked her collision. She fell to the ground slightly, but stood after grabbing her bokken. Her eyes glanced down upon hearing them laugh and she saw that she only now held a half to the wooden swords hilt. The rest of the sword on the floor in pieces, shattered from the block and from the wall. She was weaponless, but Kaoru wasn't going to back down yet.
Battousai's eyes grew into slits upon glancing at how quickly she had flown out of his sight and then hearing them laugh. He could tell that she wasn't out of the count yet, but her lack of concentration after the first injury was beginning to cloud her power, her attacks were becoming less precise, and her judgment suffered, which was threatening to call the match in the favor of the opposition.
She glanced and saw the extra practice bokkens against the wall on the opposite end of her dojo.
Mentally she told herself that she needed to get a weapon from there, but she had to get through Gohei and his minions first to get to them. Calculating the situation she dodged of to the side, running as far away from the menand Gohei as she could.
One of them attempted to take a hold of her gi and pull her down, but Kaoru dodged and continued on her quick trek. One of the smaller swordsmen jumped out in front of her and instinctively she drew her hand back and decked him roughly in the nose, kneed him in the stomach then slammed her hands on his back to cause him to collapse to the floor in a heap. She ran to the corner and slid to a serious halt next to the wooden swords.
Picking one up she spun quickly with it extended before her. Upon completing her spin, she found the weapon to be in two as Gohei cowered dangerously above her. The shock muted her movements for a split second. But that was all Gohei needed to finish his task.
Taking advantage of her state of unrest, he brought the hilt of his sword to her head forcefully, knocking Kaoru unconscious within a moment's passing. She fell against the floor, and Gohei roughly lifted her up.
Kenshin was angry that he couldn't see what was going on when she had run out of his view. All he could do was wait for some indication that she was still fighting. He hadn't heard the sound of bokken to metal, or anything since the gasp when she had beat one of the men down to get across the room. He was becoming impatient, and nervous all at once with his hand securely placed upon the hilt of his katana. He made the decision to enter the building. He thanked Kami for once that he was a shadow assassin and could sneak in undetected at the right moment.
Gohei turned to his men, pleased with the unconscious state of Kaoru.
Gohei lifted Kaoru high into the air, to where her feet were at least three feet away from the floor. He grinned wildly to his men, all of who cheered at Kaoru's defeat. She didn't stir, and hung limply by the cloth of her tearing, bloody gi.
"This marks the end of the Kamiya line." Gohei announced casually, as if it was an everyday thing for him and his men. "Once we rid Japan of the final Kamiya and only surviving master of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu, we can strip their ideals and use the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu to it's true potential- to kill!"
His men hooted with their responses enthusiastically.
"But first, I think we should take our revenge slightly farther." Gohei announced. "When she can't fight back."
Battousai didn't wait for more.
Kaoru stirred slightly in the grip, waking up only to the intent that she could hear and see. Her body refused to move to protect her as Gohei lifted her higher.
"Let her go." came the curt voice.
Kaoru's mind spun, trying to recognize the familiar voice. Gohei turned toward the speaker, still ruthlessly holding Kaoru high in the expanse of air. His grin widened.
"I didn't know there was another Kamiya here."
"I'm not a Kamiya." he stated, stepping out of the shadows to expose his bloody locks of hair and crisp Ishin Shishi uniform. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to let you kill her."
Gohei cocked his head slightly towards the small, vague man. "And you are who to be saving this wench?"
"I demand a fair fight." he told him. "Metal to metal, man to man."
Gohei laughed at him, tossing Kaoru off to his men. "Have fun with her. I have to show this shrimp what a real swordsmen is like."
Kaoru fell into the others, wincing in pain as her headache grew from the shouts she got. She tried vainly to move but it was no use.
"Bastard." Kenshin muttered under his breath. "Do you except my challenge?" he added, louder.
"Of course. You will be easy to defeat." Gohei stated, his back still towards Battousai.
Again he moved his bangs to expose his scar to everyone, as if giving them a fair warning as to who he was, and to their inevitable doom.
"You are a fool." he seethed.
Gohei turned to find his challenger gone. He stood there puzzled for a moment, and then after hearing Kaoru scream in pain as she pulled away from the other men, he began to laugh.
"So you leave the fight?" Gohei questioned. "What a coward."
"Up here." Battousai stated, his voice cocky.
Gohei stared up towards the ceiling, shocked to find his competitor there, grinning down at him, amber eyes filled with hatred and a look he could not distinguish.
"Die!"
Gohei hadn't time to fight back with the man. With the call of 'Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu-Tsui-Sen', he had hammered down upon his body, cleaving him in two and sending him deep into the dojo floors. Everyone around was coated in his blood.
Battousai landed catlike to the floor. Kaoru was fending off the other men as well as she could with her state of pain, and most of them appeared to be scared stiff. One tried to touch her and she kicked him roughly in the side and then slammed his head against the back of another. Both of them fell to the floor in states of writhing pain.
"I'm giving you all a chance to leave." came the angry, low voice from the mysterious redhead.
The men didn't seem to realize the danger they were in, and 3 ran forward to attack him. Kaoru took a hold of a nearby bokken and rushed it against the remaining man's skull, knocking him unconscious. When she turned she found her dojo in ruins, splattered with unspeakable amounts of blood that fell down the walls and coated the floor like rain feeding the ocean. Despite the sickening carnage of limbs and blood, she glared at him.
"It's you." she stated ruefully. "And look what you did to my dojo! I hope you plan on helping me clean this up!"
Battousai's eyes widened at her state of anger, wondering if she was used to his kind of grotesque scenes. Then he mentally slapped himself. Of course she was, there was a war raging outside of her dojo, she was bound to come across scenes that much resembled this one when she was out. In this short instant of thinking, she had winced and took a tight hold of her injured shoulder, which now hung painfully since it had been dislocated.
"Your hurt." he stated as gently as a hitokiri could. "You should get that looked at."
He drew closer to her, hoping to help her somewhat. She didn't back away, but when he got close enough to touch her, he stopped. Under the scent of blood was... the scent of jasmines.
Author's Notes: AND WE'RE DONE WITH THIS CHAPTER! I had a hard time at the beginning but as I wrote it I made an outline at school... Resulting in 29 new slides on Powerpoint (which is where I'm writing this), and two new chapters (I use two chapters to write each chapter you read). The first one was only 8 slides, the second one was 21 slides. This chapter was 11 pages on Microsoft word. I'm actually proud of this chapter! I hope it's as good as I thought it was... I pray you guys thought it turned out good! AND YES I KNOW, ANOTHER CLIFFIE!
Luv and hugs,
Crystal Renee