Disclaimer: puts hands into the air I. DO. NOT. OWN. THEM. PERIOD.

Summary: Kaoru, a recently orphaned teen, is struggling to discover herself and her 'gifts.' What will she do when a young man forbids her from further discovering them?

In A Bed of Roses :Chapter Three


She heard a strange sound. A baying. Fear seemed to clasp chilled wet fingers around her heart again. A dog. It had been nothing but a dog. And there it was. Down below, at the end of the drive. The animal was huge. She heard the baying again. Deep, and otherworldly. A haunting sound that might have come from an entire pack of deep-throated animals, crying to the night and the heavens above. She leaned over the balcony. It was a wolf. And once again, the night was split with the unearthly sound of the creature crying out to the moon and the sky.

- Realm of Shadows, Shannon Drake

I shook my head as I tried to shake off the feeling of guilt. I finally opened my eyes to look around and see if it was day. It wasn't.

The darkness of the room was still as black as ever and I turned my head wondering if I was indeed in the ship and not in another vision. I pinched myself and found that I was in the real world because I could never get hurt in my visions. Pain was the only thing that separated the real world to the one I had made for myself. My head snapped to the right, searching for the cause of the small sound I had heard.

I bit my lip in order not to scream at the sudden appearance of two amber eyes I had grown familiar with.

"Himura…"

I cursed myself at sounding so weak and breathless, but some things can't be helped.

Instead of replying, he shoved me savagely against the wood I had been leaning on. His amber eyes narrowed till they looked like amber slits. His ragged breath matched mine and I soon found myself cowering in fear. The added pressure of guilt for invading his privacy caused me to shiver at the pain he could inflict. Somehow I knew he knew that I had seen his past. He always seemed to know everything that happened.

"I told you not to go into your visions."

His slow, menacing whisper bit into my soul as fear resided deep within me. I suppressed every urge to whimper and held my head up high.

"You have no right." I was able to whisper, just as cold and menacing as him.

His hand gripped my neck in a half strangle. A storm seemed to play in his amber orbs and I found that it was hard to avoid them. Our eyes locked and I regretted it instantly. There wasn't just anger in his eyes, but sadness as well.

"I have no right?" He questioned me sarcastically, "You have no right to butt into my past."

"How did you get here?" Was my small effort to change the subject.

"I was always here. I was watching you."

The odd sensation I had felt earlier wasn't a lie. Someone had been watching me, and this fact made me feel safe and violated at the same time. Himura didn't seem fazed by my silly plan to change the subject and he continued talking.

"What's in my past is my concern, not yours. Don't, and I repeat, don't go use your visions to sate your own curiosity."

Although his voice sounded hollow and empty, I could tell that there was anger lurking behind every word. His grip tightened on my neck as he pushed me harder onto the wooden wall.

"I can't help it."

"Yes you can. You're just too goddamn curious." He let me go and I collapsed against the floor, taking deep breaths. His cruelty towards me was so sudden, but then again he was the same way when we first met. I kept quiet in fear of upsetting him.

Still, it was like my mouth had a mind of its own. I started speaking once more, "I'm sorry about…" Who were those people he buried? The ones with the large stones… "I'm sorry about your village."

"Don't say things you don't mean. I don't need your pity."

"It's funny how compassion is heartlessly discarded when needed most."

"Your emotions, ideas, thoughts mean nothing to me."

I smiled slightly, "Is it because I'm a foolish girl who's not old enough to understand how life works? How can I be called so immature and naïve when you don't look much older than I am?"

His amber eyes blinked as he looked at me with that unwavering glare. "Appearances are deceiving."

"In some cases."

"I am much older than you are."

I blinked in reply. He didn't look old. His face was void of any wrinkles or blemishes that came with age. His built seemed strong and youthful, and his hair was brilliant red without a streak of gray anywhere.

Then a period of silence flooded down upon us as he slowly backed away. He stopped, however, at just about an arm reach away and made himself comfortable.

Questions flooded my mind. Why was he here? How did he know I was in another vision? Although I know the reason for his scar was for a physical sign of his pain, did that mean he was still in pain? Or was there something more? How did he feel burying bodies of people he most likely loved? Did he feel as empty as I do now?

"I killed them."

"What?" His empty voice left me feeling cold and hollow. It made me feel… unfeeling. Like my whole body was numb and I felt tempted to cut myself to just make myself feel again, even though it's pain.

"I killed them, the men who burnt down my village. I was only seven at the time they came to our village. They wanted us to work under them, become their slaves and when we resisted they killed them."

His voice shivered with an almost insane tone as he continued his story of bloodshed, "I hunted them down, one by one. The leader, I found wallowing in his freakish pleasure of women, sluts and prostitutes. I killed off all his companions, severing their heads off so he could see my power, my cruelty. Then," There was a slight pause in his speech, which I found added a sort of suspenseful feeling deep in the pit of my stomach. "I killed him, cutting his limbs off. First his arms, then his legs. All the while he screamed, not stopping once. When his pain bored me I killed them without batting an eye."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Don't act as if you didn't want to know. I could tell you were thinking about it, I could tell that you're just like everyone else with little visions. That's all that separates you from them, your visions."

"I am not like everyone else and everyone else isn't like each other, because if that were life would just be dull."

Silence overwhelmed us once more, but then after a long pause I broke it.

"How did you know I was in a vision?"

He glanced at me as if contemplating whether or not he should tell me. Picking the former one, he opened his mouth to answer my question.

"When you have visions, you feel as if you're being pulled from your body, correct?" I nodded, "Well, that's your soul leaving you body and when this happens your ki levels lower till it's almost gone."

I nodded slightly, understanding slightly.

We sat in silence once more and I found myself too tired to try to make a conversation so I closed my eyes and tried to go to sleep.

The only comfort I had right now as to be sitting down and knowing that someone, even though seemingly dangerous, was watching over me.

TBC

So sorry for the long update and short chapter, it's just that a lot has been happening lately.

Review puh-lease!