Okay, yall, thanks for your devotion, now for the second half of the story.
i think you all thought that that first part was too long, but, that's my style.
Oh, and with my new glasses i think I look like Vash the stampede.
Creepy, since i'm a girl and all.
Tai raced through the streets toward Kamiya Dojo.
She burst throught the fence yelling for Kenshin.
"Kenshin!" She yelled, seeing him sitting on the porch.
She raced over to him and sat beside him on the stair.
"Kenshin-sama, there is a band of robbers hanging out at the Akabecko! they are threatening Yumi and say that if you dont show up, they will slaughter everyone in the akabecko." she blurted out.
Kenshin felt adrenaline rushing through his veigns as his other side tried to take over.
He let it.
Pushing himself to his feet, he slowly moved around to adjust to the feeling of weightlessness before taking off toward the Akabeco.
"Kenshin, it's time for.." Kauru trailed off when she saw Tai sitting near where Kenshin was supposed to be. The dark haired girl was crying.
"Tai?" she asked, wary.
"There are a band of robbers at the Akabeco, they say that they will kill everybody if Kenshin doesn't come and fight them." she told an astonished Kauru.
"Where is Kenshin?" She asked warily, fearing the worst.
"He...His eyes turned a creepy color of yellow and he walked around a little before taking off through the gate." she said, slowly.
"Fuck!" Kauru cursed under her breath, and in the second called to the others.
"Hey, where's Kenshin?" Sano asked as they arrived.
"He turned again and ran toward the akabecko." kauru said, as they began to race toward the gate.
Batthosai arrived at the akabecko in a flash. his legs felt odd, but he had a job to do.
The bandits were large men, one could easily fill the doorway.
He drew his sword.
"You shall leave now." he said, glancing around the restaurant.
"So, you are the legendary batthosai?" One man asked.
"I am called that on occasion." he nodded, and attacked.
before they could move, all of the men but one were nocked down.
"Who are you?" Batthosai asked the smaller man.
"I am Kyotoko. and you are my prize." he said, pulling a pistol out of his kimono.
"A bounty hunter, how sad." batthosai said.
"I am the reason why you should not be able to walk. Is it because you are truly inhuman?" Kyotoko asked himself.
"i am more than most think." Batthosai said, attacking.
After ten minutes of battle, the victor was still not clear.
Kauru and the others crowded around the door of the akabecko, watching them fight.
neither were wounded.
Then, Kenshin flipped his blade and charged the other man.
a million things went through Kauru's mind all at once as she threw herself into the path of the sword.
It stopped just before it reached her.
The Batthosai looked at her in horror and looked at his own hands in disgust, dropping the sword.
"Kauru..." he said, as his eyes melted back to violet and closed as he collapsed.
"Kenshin!" she ghasped, catching him and stumbling under his weight.
"You should have let him kill me, wench. it would have been a fitting end. Now i will kill you as well!" the man mocked, aiming his pistol at her.
Suddenly, the pistol was knocked accross the akabecko by Sano's fist.
"Get him out of here, Jou-chan, i'll deal with this creep." sano said, punching the man in the gut.
Kauru nodded quickly and began dragging Kenshin out the door.
"Kenshin! Please wake up! No!" she screamed as the ruroni paled.
"Kauru, is kenshin going to die?" Yahiko asked, his voice trembling.
"No! He cant die! Go get Megumi!" She pulled Kenshin's head into her lap.
Sano threw Kyotoko onto the floor, kicking him hard in the ribs as he did so.
Running outside to join Kauru, he glanced at Kenshin and his mind filled with horror.
The most invincible man he knew was dying before his very eyes.
He picked the ruroni up, and ran with him down the street toward the clinic. "Don't you die on me Kenshin!" He said to the unconsious man.
Sano ran into Yahiko as he was coming out of the clinic with megumi.
"Hurry, place him here, on the table." she said, gesturing to a table nearby.
Kauru's face was blank as she held the unconsious man's hand.
"I dont know, i've done everything for him that we can." megumi said, her voice quiet as they watched the scene unfold.
Kauru brushed her hand along his jaw, down past the cuts on his left cheek, and back up to brush his eyelashes.
She watched him breathe.
She sat there, watching him as he took his last breath, and lay still...
"No!!!!" she screamed, the moan ripping from her chest as the tears that she had refused to shed burst through and she cried.
Yahiko's face was streaming with tears, and Sano was crying, his face turned stubbornly away from the scene before him.
Megumi's eyes shone with unshed tears.
Kauru was dreaming.
she dreampt of the day she first met him, when she had attacked him with her bokken.
Then, when Dr. Gensai was treating him for his black eye that she had given him.
She remembered when she was kidnapped by Jin-e, and when he turned into the batthosai that day to save her life.
She dreampt of that night among the fireflies.
She dreampt of that first day they were back in Tokyo with Kenshin.
she dreampt of the nights that he held her after her nightmares.
She dreampt of finding him on the roof, sleeping soundly.
then she woke up, and Kenshin was dead again.
She wanted to dream again, wanted to sleep and never wake again, to die with Kenshin.
"Oh, Kenshin, why did you have to go and die, you baka?" she cried again.
When she couldn't cry anymore, she dressed and walked out onto the porch.
she couldn't help her glance at the room across from her, the room that Kenshin had occupied.
She felt her legs want to collapse under her, but she forced herself to stand.
She would be strong for the others.
When the word got out that Tokyo's protector was dead, the violence escalated in Tokyo.
Soon it was time for Kenshin's wake, and Kauru and the others were ready.
It was a simple funeral, with Kenshin on a raised platform, his sword at his side and his hair around him like a blood halo.
Kauru sat there, in the corner, hugging her knees and watching on with tears in her eyes.
"I am sorry for your loss." it was the eighty-ith time today that she had heard this. This time it was Saito.
She looked up at him with haunted eyes, eyes that made him turn away in half terror.
Saito turned and kneeled beside the body of the man-slayer.
"Batthosai.... I was supposed to Kill you. I didnt, i find that i am even going to miss your antics." he stood and walked out of the dojo to astonished stares, tears streaming down his face.
"I am sorry for your loss." it was another unknown face, another person Kenshin had saved from some demon.
"I am sorry for your loss." This time it was Aoushi.
He did not kneel at Kenshin's side, but stood above him, glaring at the ruroni.
"You weren't supposed to die, you know. you were supposed to out-live us all. Not die because of some coward with a needle and a gun."
When Aoushi was finished, he stood there for awhile, staring at the red haired man.
Suddenly, his brows lowered.
He walked over to Megumi.
"Megumi, what were the symptoms before he died?" Aoushi asked, his mind working quickly.
"First he passed out, then he became paralized, then he willed himself to walk and even run as the Batthosai, and then, when he turned back into Kenshin, he passed out, and never woke up." Megumi said, her eyes full of tears.
"Arigatou." Aoushi said, then walked over to a corner.
He had seen color in the ruroni's cheeks and had sensed an aura around him.
He had only heard of this once before, and the same thing had happened, with the same symptoms.
"Hm." he thought, 'this will be interesting.'
the only ones in the dojo, now, were Aoushi and herself.
Kauru uncurled from ner fetal position against the far wall and crawled over to the body of the man she had fallen in love with.
"You stupid Baka, why did you have to go and get yourself killed for?" she said, slapping him across the face.
She left her hand on his cheek and laid her head on his chest.
'I can almost hear his heart beating, he looks like he's just asleep.' she thought to herself.
She shifted and brought her face to hover over his.
She kissed him, then, all of her love and passion flowing through her lips and into his. in the back of her mind, the thought that dead lips were cold penetrated her thoughts.
Suddenly, she felt a light hand on her cheek and she opened her eyes.
She looked right into kenshin's violet orbs, her heart flipping.
"Kenshin?" she asked, afraid of the answer.
Kenshin floated in the endless expanse of space, he could hear things, though it sounded like he were listening through water.
He pushed himself toward the surface...
"...i will even miss your antics." could this have been Saito? was that tears in his voice?
he heard words after that, but none of it made any sense.
"You stupid Baka, why did you have to go and get yourself killed for?" it souded like Kauru, but he wasn't dead, was he?"
Then he felt a sharp pain in his left cheek and warm lips on his own.
Her kiss was possessive and passionate.
He opened his eyes and raised up his hand and touched her face.
She looked down at him in surprise, then disbelief, then joy.
"You jerk, you had us all thinking you were dead this whole time, and really you were just playing hookey." Kauru said, mock scolding him.
"Actually, he did die, at least technically. The poison he was given was originally meant to kill a person, but, as it turns out, the drug actually kills them, then brings them back to life. I have heard of it from a european bard." Aoushi pushed himself away from the wall and walked outside, leaving them alone.
"Kauru? are you okay?" Kenshin asked, his brows drawn together in confusion and concern.
"You are the one lying at your own wake, not me." she said, hugging him tightly to her.
"Oro?"
"What?"
"Nothing. nothing at all." he said, ignoring the pain shooting from every nerve in his body.
"Hey, Kenshin! You are alive!" Yahiko ran to the ruroni and embraced him, tears streaming down his face.
"It is a medical impossibility, but it happened." Megumi said, tears also streaming down her face.
Sano stayed over by the door, his face pale white as he looked at kenshin.
"Oye, Sano, come over here!" Yahiko said, pulling on Kenshin's hair.
"Uh, No way man, he's a ghost and i aint goin' anywhere near him, nowhere." Sano said, backing up until he fell off of the porch.
then they all heard a sound that they didn't think was even possible; Aoushi, The King of Ice, was laughing.
He laughed so hard, that he ended up rolling on the floor, Kenshin and the others joined him soon.
Okay, that's it. I hope you all liked it.
Oh wow! This is the first and only fanfiction that i didn't have to go back to to finish!
Only the epilogue to go, write me and tell me how you think it should tie up.
Hey, maybe, if i get some more inspiration like this one, i might right a spin-off.
Alright, i need to get started on other things, like finishing something else, or something like that.
i think you all thought that that first part was too long, but, that's my style.
Oh, and with my new glasses i think I look like Vash the stampede.
Creepy, since i'm a girl and all.
Tai raced through the streets toward Kamiya Dojo.
She burst throught the fence yelling for Kenshin.
"Kenshin!" She yelled, seeing him sitting on the porch.
She raced over to him and sat beside him on the stair.
"Kenshin-sama, there is a band of robbers hanging out at the Akabecko! they are threatening Yumi and say that if you dont show up, they will slaughter everyone in the akabecko." she blurted out.
Kenshin felt adrenaline rushing through his veigns as his other side tried to take over.
He let it.
Pushing himself to his feet, he slowly moved around to adjust to the feeling of weightlessness before taking off toward the Akabeco.
"Kenshin, it's time for.." Kauru trailed off when she saw Tai sitting near where Kenshin was supposed to be. The dark haired girl was crying.
"Tai?" she asked, wary.
"There are a band of robbers at the Akabeco, they say that they will kill everybody if Kenshin doesn't come and fight them." she told an astonished Kauru.
"Where is Kenshin?" She asked warily, fearing the worst.
"He...His eyes turned a creepy color of yellow and he walked around a little before taking off through the gate." she said, slowly.
"Fuck!" Kauru cursed under her breath, and in the second called to the others.
"Hey, where's Kenshin?" Sano asked as they arrived.
"He turned again and ran toward the akabecko." kauru said, as they began to race toward the gate.
Batthosai arrived at the akabecko in a flash. his legs felt odd, but he had a job to do.
The bandits were large men, one could easily fill the doorway.
He drew his sword.
"You shall leave now." he said, glancing around the restaurant.
"So, you are the legendary batthosai?" One man asked.
"I am called that on occasion." he nodded, and attacked.
before they could move, all of the men but one were nocked down.
"Who are you?" Batthosai asked the smaller man.
"I am Kyotoko. and you are my prize." he said, pulling a pistol out of his kimono.
"A bounty hunter, how sad." batthosai said.
"I am the reason why you should not be able to walk. Is it because you are truly inhuman?" Kyotoko asked himself.
"i am more than most think." Batthosai said, attacking.
After ten minutes of battle, the victor was still not clear.
Kauru and the others crowded around the door of the akabecko, watching them fight.
neither were wounded.
Then, Kenshin flipped his blade and charged the other man.
a million things went through Kauru's mind all at once as she threw herself into the path of the sword.
It stopped just before it reached her.
The Batthosai looked at her in horror and looked at his own hands in disgust, dropping the sword.
"Kauru..." he said, as his eyes melted back to violet and closed as he collapsed.
"Kenshin!" she ghasped, catching him and stumbling under his weight.
"You should have let him kill me, wench. it would have been a fitting end. Now i will kill you as well!" the man mocked, aiming his pistol at her.
Suddenly, the pistol was knocked accross the akabecko by Sano's fist.
"Get him out of here, Jou-chan, i'll deal with this creep." sano said, punching the man in the gut.
Kauru nodded quickly and began dragging Kenshin out the door.
"Kenshin! Please wake up! No!" she screamed as the ruroni paled.
"Kauru, is kenshin going to die?" Yahiko asked, his voice trembling.
"No! He cant die! Go get Megumi!" She pulled Kenshin's head into her lap.
Sano threw Kyotoko onto the floor, kicking him hard in the ribs as he did so.
Running outside to join Kauru, he glanced at Kenshin and his mind filled with horror.
The most invincible man he knew was dying before his very eyes.
He picked the ruroni up, and ran with him down the street toward the clinic. "Don't you die on me Kenshin!" He said to the unconsious man.
Sano ran into Yahiko as he was coming out of the clinic with megumi.
"Hurry, place him here, on the table." she said, gesturing to a table nearby.
Kauru's face was blank as she held the unconsious man's hand.
"I dont know, i've done everything for him that we can." megumi said, her voice quiet as they watched the scene unfold.
Kauru brushed her hand along his jaw, down past the cuts on his left cheek, and back up to brush his eyelashes.
She watched him breathe.
She sat there, watching him as he took his last breath, and lay still...
"No!!!!" she screamed, the moan ripping from her chest as the tears that she had refused to shed burst through and she cried.
Yahiko's face was streaming with tears, and Sano was crying, his face turned stubbornly away from the scene before him.
Megumi's eyes shone with unshed tears.
Kauru was dreaming.
she dreampt of the day she first met him, when she had attacked him with her bokken.
Then, when Dr. Gensai was treating him for his black eye that she had given him.
She remembered when she was kidnapped by Jin-e, and when he turned into the batthosai that day to save her life.
She dreampt of that night among the fireflies.
She dreampt of that first day they were back in Tokyo with Kenshin.
she dreampt of the nights that he held her after her nightmares.
She dreampt of finding him on the roof, sleeping soundly.
then she woke up, and Kenshin was dead again.
She wanted to dream again, wanted to sleep and never wake again, to die with Kenshin.
"Oh, Kenshin, why did you have to go and die, you baka?" she cried again.
When she couldn't cry anymore, she dressed and walked out onto the porch.
she couldn't help her glance at the room across from her, the room that Kenshin had occupied.
She felt her legs want to collapse under her, but she forced herself to stand.
She would be strong for the others.
When the word got out that Tokyo's protector was dead, the violence escalated in Tokyo.
Soon it was time for Kenshin's wake, and Kauru and the others were ready.
It was a simple funeral, with Kenshin on a raised platform, his sword at his side and his hair around him like a blood halo.
Kauru sat there, in the corner, hugging her knees and watching on with tears in her eyes.
"I am sorry for your loss." it was the eighty-ith time today that she had heard this. This time it was Saito.
She looked up at him with haunted eyes, eyes that made him turn away in half terror.
Saito turned and kneeled beside the body of the man-slayer.
"Batthosai.... I was supposed to Kill you. I didnt, i find that i am even going to miss your antics." he stood and walked out of the dojo to astonished stares, tears streaming down his face.
"I am sorry for your loss." it was another unknown face, another person Kenshin had saved from some demon.
"I am sorry for your loss." This time it was Aoushi.
He did not kneel at Kenshin's side, but stood above him, glaring at the ruroni.
"You weren't supposed to die, you know. you were supposed to out-live us all. Not die because of some coward with a needle and a gun."
When Aoushi was finished, he stood there for awhile, staring at the red haired man.
Suddenly, his brows lowered.
He walked over to Megumi.
"Megumi, what were the symptoms before he died?" Aoushi asked, his mind working quickly.
"First he passed out, then he became paralized, then he willed himself to walk and even run as the Batthosai, and then, when he turned back into Kenshin, he passed out, and never woke up." Megumi said, her eyes full of tears.
"Arigatou." Aoushi said, then walked over to a corner.
He had seen color in the ruroni's cheeks and had sensed an aura around him.
He had only heard of this once before, and the same thing had happened, with the same symptoms.
"Hm." he thought, 'this will be interesting.'
the only ones in the dojo, now, were Aoushi and herself.
Kauru uncurled from ner fetal position against the far wall and crawled over to the body of the man she had fallen in love with.
"You stupid Baka, why did you have to go and get yourself killed for?" she said, slapping him across the face.
She left her hand on his cheek and laid her head on his chest.
'I can almost hear his heart beating, he looks like he's just asleep.' she thought to herself.
She shifted and brought her face to hover over his.
She kissed him, then, all of her love and passion flowing through her lips and into his. in the back of her mind, the thought that dead lips were cold penetrated her thoughts.
Suddenly, she felt a light hand on her cheek and she opened her eyes.
She looked right into kenshin's violet orbs, her heart flipping.
"Kenshin?" she asked, afraid of the answer.
Kenshin floated in the endless expanse of space, he could hear things, though it sounded like he were listening through water.
He pushed himself toward the surface...
"...i will even miss your antics." could this have been Saito? was that tears in his voice?
he heard words after that, but none of it made any sense.
"You stupid Baka, why did you have to go and get yourself killed for?" it souded like Kauru, but he wasn't dead, was he?"
Then he felt a sharp pain in his left cheek and warm lips on his own.
Her kiss was possessive and passionate.
He opened his eyes and raised up his hand and touched her face.
She looked down at him in surprise, then disbelief, then joy.
"You jerk, you had us all thinking you were dead this whole time, and really you were just playing hookey." Kauru said, mock scolding him.
"Actually, he did die, at least technically. The poison he was given was originally meant to kill a person, but, as it turns out, the drug actually kills them, then brings them back to life. I have heard of it from a european bard." Aoushi pushed himself away from the wall and walked outside, leaving them alone.
"Kauru? are you okay?" Kenshin asked, his brows drawn together in confusion and concern.
"You are the one lying at your own wake, not me." she said, hugging him tightly to her.
"Oro?"
"What?"
"Nothing. nothing at all." he said, ignoring the pain shooting from every nerve in his body.
"Hey, Kenshin! You are alive!" Yahiko ran to the ruroni and embraced him, tears streaming down his face.
"It is a medical impossibility, but it happened." Megumi said, tears also streaming down her face.
Sano stayed over by the door, his face pale white as he looked at kenshin.
"Oye, Sano, come over here!" Yahiko said, pulling on Kenshin's hair.
"Uh, No way man, he's a ghost and i aint goin' anywhere near him, nowhere." Sano said, backing up until he fell off of the porch.
then they all heard a sound that they didn't think was even possible; Aoushi, The King of Ice, was laughing.
He laughed so hard, that he ended up rolling on the floor, Kenshin and the others joined him soon.
Okay, that's it. I hope you all liked it.
Oh wow! This is the first and only fanfiction that i didn't have to go back to to finish!
Only the epilogue to go, write me and tell me how you think it should tie up.
Hey, maybe, if i get some more inspiration like this one, i might right a spin-off.
Alright, i need to get started on other things, like finishing something else, or something like that.