Etched In Black Ink

MysticShadowWanderer

Disclaimer: I wanted to name this chapter "On The Road Again," but I thought better of it. :wanders away whistling Willie Nelson songs:

Chapter Three: Going Away

Kenji sulked from his position on Battousai's back; he didn't see why he had to leave his home and all of his toys. His mother had only allowed his to bring a precious few, and she'd had to drag him kicking and screaming from the house. He didn't want to leave, and he, in his anger, tightened his hold around his father's neck, unconsciously trying to choke the man. Battousai glanced back quickly, scowling furiously.

"Stop that, Kenji." There was no force to his tone, it was soft even. But it was what was behind the words that made the child loosen his grip. Even a five-year-old could hear the quiet threat behind the calm command.

"Yes Father," he whispered, turning his eyes downward.

Kaoru watched the exchange with sorrowful eyes. Battousai had just threatened his son. And while it was effective, it pained her that the only way to control the child was force. Just what had she gotten herself into? The life she led now, while it was certainly more adventurous than her quiet dojo life, was full of danger and illegal activities. And she hated to kill, despised it with every fiber of her being. But the man had been so much bigger than her, so much stronger... And she couldn't allow herself to just lie there and be violated. If only Battousai had been around to stay the man's original interest, then maybe things would have turned out better. Fate could be so cruel to them.

With all her heart she loved her son, but a part of her, the part that was hidden but was slowly gaining more attention, was afraid of him. The boy had already proved that he had inherited his father's lust for blood and love of the thrill of killing, though he would give them no details about the act. She shared a glance with Battousai at that moment and he nodded; this was far enough for today.

Trekking a short distance off the road and into a cornfield, Battousai set his son down in the dirt. He frowned as he thought of how much more convenient a forest would be, and how he enjoyed the company of the trees much better than the company of stalks of corn. Kaoru reached into her bag and pulled out a few slices of bread to tide the child over. She looked at Battousai pointedly and he sighed. They would have to find somewhere to stay soon, because Kenji couldn't live off bread alone. When they used to travel together hunger could be ignored, but a child wouldn't understand that. A slow look of recognition crept onto Battousai's face. Or wouldn't he understand?

"Kenji," he said quietly. The boy looked up, ceasing his careful nibbling at the piece of bread. "Do you understand what you did?" The redheaded child nodded, his face blank as he stared at his father. "Do you realize that this means that you and your mother and I have to get out of here quickly?" Another nod. "If you are old enough to commit acts like you did, then you are old enough to accept the consequences." At that, Kenji nodded again, but looked slightly confused. "That means that we're not going to have much to eat for a few weeks. Your mother and I will do whatever we can, but we have to travel light. So when you get hungry, you have to put up with that just like we do, just like an adult. When you get really hungry, you can say something, but I expect you not to whine. Is that clear, Kenji?"

"Yes Father," he said solemnly. "I will be good. I'll be grown up."

Battousai smiled and ruffled his son's hair before sitting down and motioning for Kaoru to sit next to him. She spread out her old, tattered blanket out on the ground and, as Kenji finished eating his bread slices, went about tucking him in so that he could take a nap. Despite all the maturity the child had, he was still only five-years-old and still needed a daily nap. She shuddered to think of how horrendously he could act if he didn't get some sleep. He smiled at his mother as he snuggled into the warm, albeit slightly dirty, blanket and closed his eyes, falling asleep almost instantly.

"Ah, the easy sleep of the innocent," Battousai mused. Kaoru snorted and he raised an eyebrow at her.

"He's not all that innocent."

"Compared to me? And you?"

"Well... yes... But still."

Battousai sighed and was forced to agree with her. Leaning against his side, Kaoru toyed with a stick, drawing patterns into the dirt absently. She hated the fact that he'd brought up her sins; she hated to think about the times she'd killed. All that kept her from going insane was the knowledge that both times she'd had no choice. Still, she liked to forget, even though she knew that too was wrong. One cannot simply forget the mistakes of the past. They had to learn.

"I don't know what to do, love," Battousai said quietly, raking a hand through his tangling, dusty bangs. "I honestly don't know this time."

It frightened Kaoru that he was telling her this, because usually he would have kept it to himself and acted confidently. No, that wasn't true. Usually he would have known what to do. But fatherhood was new to him, and she was certain that it was different than anything he'd ventured to try thus far in his long life. Nothing in the world could have taught him what this would be like. She knew that because she felt the same way.

"Just teach him," Kaoru replied in a weary voice, days on the road already taking their toll on her body, which had been tired before they even started. "He killed because he doesn't know right from wrong, and he has to be taught."

Battousai stopped dead, a small cloud of dirt rising around his suddenly halted feet. He turned slowly to stare at her incredulously. The look in his eyes was half shock and half fury. Kenji scampered away from his mother's hold to sit at the side of the road, aware that this was something that he would rather not be in the middle of. For a five-year-old, he was quite observant.

"And you think I'm the person who can teach him this moral code of yours?" Battousai's voice was dangerously low. "You think I'm going to stop him from killing? You know what I am, what I've always been."

"Yes, I know," Kaoru whispered. "But I also know the difference. The look in your eyes and the look in his... There IS a difference, and you're the only one who could possibly bring him back under that control. There is a fine line between assassin and cold-blooded murderer!"

"I AM a cold-blooded murderer, Kaoru!" he shouted. "I always have been! You know that!"

On the roadside, Kenji scowled, not liking the fact that they were talking about him like he wasn't even there to hear them. On the other hand, this was the first he'd heard about what his father did, and he hadn't known that he was an assassin. It was fascinating to a young child that had already tasted the thrill of taking another's life.

"Your blood never ran so cold as you liked to think," Kaoru countered. "You were going to kill me, remember? And you couldn't do it. You were soft at heart."

"Untrue," Battousai hissed. "I didn't kill you because I was fated to be with you. If I hadn't been, you would have died long ago."

"There were many people that you could have killed along the way, then," she said. "Why didn't you kill them?"

"Place, timing, everything made it impossible. I don't just go about hacking down random passers-by, there's an art to it."

"You've just proven my point. You only kill when you have to. Just because you don't regret it like I do doesn't mean that you're cold-blooded. It just means that our outlooks are different. You are not a cold-blooded killer, just a killer."

Battousai opened his mouth to reply, but found that he'd lost. His eyes widened as he realized what had just happened. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that he should still be angry, because they'd gotten into another argument, but he found himself too stunned to be mad. Instead of shouting like he'd prepared to, he started to chuckle. Kaoru eyed his cautiously, as if unsure whether he'd finally lost his mind or not. Laughing, he swept her into his arms and pressed her body to his, bending his head for a passionate kiss.

"Gods I love you," he whispered against her lips.

He frowned in confusion when she pushed him away from her. She glanced at Kenji briefly and he groaned when he understood her train of thought. The child was sitting there staring at them, his deep blue eyes wide in shock. If Kenji hadn't been there, Battousai would have dragged Kaoru off into a cornfield and fulfilled his intentions until she could no longer protest. This could prove to be quite interesting along the way, he thought. If 'interesting' was the right adjective. 'Painful' was, perhaps, the better choice.

A/N: Another short chapter. Damn. I know. But I've got some serious writer's block with this story, and with all the problems I'm having right now, I figured this was better than nothing. It'll probably be a lot of short but somewhat frequently posted chapters from now on. Although school does start up again soon... Anyhow, there were a lot of questions from the last chapter, so I've decided to write up some individual review replies. Yay! If I didn't reply to your review, you probably didn't ask a question. I read them all, of course, and I appreciate all of them, but I just don't have the time to respond to every single one. If I missed you... well... sorry. But thanks for reviewing :grin:

fallen-angel121: Sevendust, "Honesty." Sevendust, "Honesty." Sevendust, "Honesty." MUST REMEMBER! Thank you SO much, and I just have to say that I heard it again on my school's radio station and it rocked even more the second time. Sevendust is awesome... Anyhow, thank you thank you thank you. (Excellent taste in music, by the way :big grin:)

ChibiKai02: Give me the damn cookies! This was a faster update, ne? I want cookies...

kik-ting: Yup, Kenji killed someone, and yes, someone would have heard. But this is... uh... well... by now I've forgotten EXACTLY what year it was, so it's going to take them a bit of time to figure out who did it, and Battousai and gang are going to be long gone by then. Also, when you're in a situation like Kaoru was (rape is such an ugly word...), you never know how you're going to react. I know I would have killed him (then again, I'm evil like that), so I just sort of... went with that... "They say that you must learn to kill before you can feel safe."

BabyKaoru-Sama: Here's the deal, at least for the moment -- Battousai doesn't age physically, and Kaoru ages as normal. I'm still working on the situation...

anabell: Reminds you of The Bad Seed, ne? Anyhow... I will be revealing how and with what he killed the guy soon!

To everyone who had the same thought that "Hmm... it's not really believable that a little kid killed a person," I anticipated this response. Just keep in mind that he's not fully human, and he's an extremely mentally advanced little bastard (yeah... have I mentioned that I HATE kids?). And who's to say that a five-year-old couldn't kill someone in the real world? I have a five-year-old cousin that's nearly strangled a few people, so you let one near the kitchen knives, or fire pokers, or other random blunt objects, or like... blenders or psychic monkeys or something and you've got yourself a real problem on your hands. Especially with those psychic monkeys. Gotta watch out for them. So, in conclusion... BEWARE THE PSYCHIC MONKEYS!