In the smoky streets of London, a battle is brewing. Kenshin is a former business man who has just discovered life in all its varied forms. Kaoru, a vampire, is running for her life when a certain red-head stumbles into it. COMPLETE Modern-Day AU.
Summary: In the smoky streets of London,
a battle is brewing. Kenshin is a former business man who has just discovered
life in all its varied forms. Kaoru, a vampire, is running for her life when a
certain red-head stumbles into it. Modern-Day AU.
Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin. I am making no
profit by writing this fan fiction. It is intended for recreation purposes
only.
Rating: R for language and violence
Pairing: Kenshin/Kaoru, Aoshi/Misao, and Sano/Meg
Chapter Eight: The End Has Come
Misao's chains created a bloody
little sphere of death around her small form. She bore many bleeding wounds
that would require attention soon lest they go septic. The pile of carnage around
her grew with no signs of stopping.
"Back the fuck off!" she screamed
at a ghoul before tearing its head off like all the others.
"Misao!"
She heard the sound of her name
over the keening of the ghouls. Misao turned to see who was calling her. It
didn't sound like Kenshin or Hanya, but the voice was male. It came again with
an edge of desperation.
"MISAO!"
Then she glimpsed him through the
wall of bodies. Aoshi was tearing his way through ghouls with a short blade in
each hand. His eyes blazed in the dim light as he bellowed her name over and
over again.
"I'm here!" it came out without
conscious effort on her part. She'd been answering to Aoshi all her life, the
habit was ingrained by now and hadn't faded with time.
Unerringly he turned towards her
and upon catching sight of her forged through in her direction. He kept his
eyes trained on her and because of that ghouls began to slip underneath his
guard.
Misao swore vilely and started
towards him. The bloody fool was going to get himself killed trying to reach
her. She slipped a hand into her coat and came up with one of her fire papers.
She spoke the activation phrase and threw it at the ghouls in between her and
Aoshi.
The paper exploded into a massive
fireball that utterly consumed the monsters unfortunate enough to get caught in
it. Misao leapt into the clear spot it left behind and raced towards the idiot.
Despite the fact that he was still
surrounded, Aoshi focused on her and grimly fought his way towards her. The
back of Misao's neck tingled, but before she could turn to dissect the ghoul
taking advantage of her run he broke through his opponents and gutted it…
leaving his back completely vulnerable.
Misao saw the claws reaching for
his dark shoulders the teeth aimed for the back his neck and snapped. Her
chains cleaved through flesh and bone without mercy, creating a zone of death
around her and Aoshi.
She felt Aoshi's eyes on her, but
before she could look she felt his back line up against hers. His spine felt
warm and wonderfully solid against her shoulders. The ghouls kept coming, but
Misao couldn't feel afraid.
Suddenly the ghouls around them
scattered and Kenshin appeared before her still in his dragon shape. The only
difference was that Kaoru was perched on top of his head gripping his red mane
for stability. Her beautiful gown was torn and bloody, but she had a huge grin
on her face.
"Nice to see you two are getting
along!" she called down to Misao. Shadows eddied in her hands and spilled down to
pool around Misao and Aoshi, holding off the remaining ghouls long enough for
Kaoru to speak to them. "We've closed the Rift they were using to get into the
council hall! There are only six of the Council left, myself included. Once we
clean out the antechamber, regroup in the Council Chamber!"
"Right!"
Once the dome of shadows fell away, Misao and Aoshi were besieged again, but
there were fewer ghouls now.
Kenshin and Kaoru accounted for
most of the monsters remaining and Saitou stepped in with another one of his
light spells.
The Oniwabanshuu converged around
Aoshi from all points in the room. They were tattered and bleeding, but all
intact. Misao used the distraction the represented to slip away and hunt down a
first aid kit.
The Keeper arrived into a disaster
scene.
I had been too late.
The Council Hall was strewn with
the torn and charred bodies of ghouls. The intruder had brought ghouls with
him, controlling them through some foul method. This had been his work, the
Keeper knew.
However, there was some kind of
hope. It would never have been able to enter the Hall if the Council didn't
have some surviving members. It could smell the fragrance of their Oaths on the
air mixed in with the coppery tang of blood and the fetid stench of ghoul
spoor.
There were still enough of them to
stop the Intruder from destroying the Grace.
Misao found a standard medical kit
in the kitchens, but when she'd returned someone had brought in a troupe of
healer magi. Her wounds weren't serious just superficial so she chose a quiet
corner and began doctoring herself. The greatest danger she was is was
infection.
Nearly all her injuries were
scratches and bites. Ghouls were notorious carrion eaters so after a good scrub
with soap and water she doused each one with hydrogen peroxide and treated them
with iodine for good measure before she fixed on some hasty pressure bandages.
Aoshi found her a few minutes
later as she was using one of her throwing daggers to cut a patch off her pants
leg to let her at the bite on her thigh. She didn't look up when he approached,
but he knelt down by her side and took the knife from her hand.
"You should go see one of the
healers." She said testily, reaching for her blade. "I'm fine!"
"You wouldn't have worried about
me when you were younger." Aoshi's voice was like cold water thrown in her
face. The sound of it knocked the bluster right out of her. She wouldn't have
then. She'd have been too shocked by what she'd seen and looking for reassurance.
Now, on the other hand…
"I wouldn't have done a lot of
things when I was younger." She grumbled and glared at him. "You're not off the
hook. Leave my leg alone and turn around."
He cocked an eyebrow up at her,
but Misao stood firm and kicked his knee out from under him when he didn't show
signs of obeying. He caught himself just like a ninja would by throwing his
weight forward and bringing his other leg around to steady him. Misao took
advantage of his misbalance to give him a shove on the shoulder, spinning him
around and bringing him into the position she'd requested.
"Take off your coat." She told
him. When he hesitated, she added. "I'll cut it off if I have to." Aoshi gave
her a strange look over his shoulder, but acquiesced to her wishes.
The long gash across the back of
his shoulders was every bit as bad as Misao had thought it would be. One of the
Healers noticed her examining it and brought by a bowl of warm water and clean
towels to replace the one she'd used to clean her own wounds. While she was
there, she examined it and agreed with Misao that it was too shallow to require
stitches and just needed a good cleaning. The bleeding had already stopped.
The Healer left, deliberately
turning her back. Misao knew what the woman expected her to do and technically
she should have. However, the mage couldn't have known that Misao was Undead…
she knew she didn't act like it. Her saliva didn't have the healing properties
that a Living Vampire like Kaoru would have. Instead there was a potent narcotic
in her mouth.
Aoshi didn't flinch when Misao
callously poured on the peroxide. Ninja stoicism, she supposed. He didn't give
her anymore problems either. He turned when directed, held up his injured
limbs, and rotated them as she ordered. The only hint that he wasn't treating
this as a normal 'patch-up' session was that he never took his eyes off her
face.
Misao stopped noticing it after a
while, since if Aoshi was anything like she remembered then it would be like
pulling teeth to get a straight answer out of him. The only thing he'd really
said to her was that odd comment earlier, but she wasn't sure that counted.
She had to give him credit for his
patience, though. In his situation she'd have been screaming long before now.
There was a confrontation on the way, she was sure of it. It was only a matter
of who broke first and knowing Aoshi, it might as well be her.
"So…" her voice failed her for a
moment and she had to start over. "So how did you find me?"
"It was an accident." He replied,
as though he'd been expecting her to speak. "Until a few weeks ago, we thought
you were dead. Beshimi was detailing the Sekihoutai, looking for a clue as to
whether your Sire still lived or if Saitou was going to have to maneuver a new
candidate into her seat before Yukishiro snatched it up. He saw you interrogate
Sagara."
"Is that when it was?" Misao
murmured. Somehow the information that Saitou didn't trust Yukishiro didn't
come as a big shock. How did that saying go? 'Keep your friends close, but keep
your enemies closer.' "So he was the guy in the apartment across the street
with the telescope. I thought I'd kept my face obscured."
Aoshi didn't seem surprised that
she'd spotted Beshimi. "Hanya put a bug on Sagara's bike. We didn't know it was
you until you introduced yourself." He explained. Then came the part she'd been
waiting for. "Why didn't you ever contact us?"
Misao's hand stilled on the
bandage she had been wrapping around Aoshi's forearm. "Why didn't you tell me
the others weren't human?" she dodged his question with one of her own.
He was silent. "For much the same
reason, I imagine." His concession was gentle without being condescending.
There was understanding in his tones. He'd had a lot of time to think about this,
she realized. "We've only ourselves to blame."
Misao snorted at that. "Believe
that if you like. I'm not saying none of the blame is mine, but the way I
figure there's enough to go around for anyone who wants some. There's no point
in dwelling on..." she might have said more, but at that moment she saw a
crippled and bent figure in a bloodstained white cowl limping across the blood
streaked floor of the antechamber.
The Keeper hissed half heartedly
when two vampiri came to block its
path.
It was immortal, yes, but its
wounds were draining and the pull of sweet healing sleep was getting harder and
harder to resist. It had a duty to discharge, but the vampiri before it smelled young and foolish. They were not
indoctrinated into the Council Mysteries, they would not recognize it.
They were damaged, but 'walking
wounded' as the humans said. It would have to try and twist its mouth into
human speech to reason with them. The Keeper had no strength to meet them on
the field of combat.
Luckily, it didn't come to that.
One of Council, the Keeper
remembered hearing his oaths over two hundred years ago, spotted him and waved
the younger vampiri off. A moment's
thought brought the Councilman's name to the Keeper: Saitou. He was the head of
Council now.
The larger of the vampiri, a male with cold eyes, backed
off without question, but the smaller of the two, a female with bright
questioning eyes looked at the Councilman and back. She said something in her
human tongue, it was demanding and the Councilman snarled something at her. It
seemed to mollify her and she backed off as well.
The Keeper watched her go.
Something in the way she held herself reminded him of another Vampiress whose
vows he'd witnessed. It liked the fire in her eyes and the way she walked with
her shoulders straight.
"Forgive the children, Keeper."
Saitou turned to him with the customary bow and addressed the Keeper in its own
language. "Your presence here is opportune. There was an incident and naturally
there are questions…"
"A Vampire invaded my Sanctuary."
The Keeper hissed, ignoring all the old customs and niceties. Sleep bore heavy
on it and time was short. "It rang the Bell
and drove me away with its ghouls. It was one of yours."
Something ugly flickered in
Saitou's eyes, but the Keeper had learned this one's ways well. The Councilman
was thinking on his progeny, not the one who stood before him.
"I demand his life." The Keeper
hissed. "Give me his head and I will ignore the breach of conduct between us."
The Councilman was no fool. He
knew that generations of his kind relied on the neutrality and safe zone that
the Grace provided. It was within the Keeper's rights to withhold that power.
Saitou nodded once, sharply. "I will do this."
The Keeper bowed. "Then all will
be well. I must retire to… mend."
"There are rooms in this crumbling
heap." The Councilman motioned to one of the least damaged of his attendants.
The young vampire came like a good dog and listened attentively to his master's
order.
The young vampire led the Keeper
out of the Hall as the Councilman strode off to his duty. As they exited the
antechambers, they passed the two vampiri who had halted it at the doors. The
female looked up at it with her bright eyes and challenging mouth.
"I will hear your vows one day."
It told her, forgetting that she could not understand its language. "You will
make a fine Councilwoman."
Kaoru quietly watched Misao stare
at the retreated back of the Keeper. Kenshin had changed back a while ago and
was still looking for clothes beyond the tablecloth he'd used to cover
himself. She'd left to check on her
sireling, but curiosity had stilled her footsteps when the Keeper had stopped
to make his pronouncement. Unlike Misao, she understood the immortal creature
just fine.
A small secret smile hovered
across her mouth. Misao on the Blood Council? Granted,
the day was far off. She had a long way to go before she had that kind of power
and influence, but Kaoru found the notion quite appealing.
'At least I know I'll have someone
trustworthy to pass my seat onto when I retire from Politics' she thought as
she watched that Shinomori boy approach Misao from behind. Misao couldn't see
his hands lift as though he wanted touch her, but he forced them back down by his
sides. Kaoru shook her head.
Misao would have a time with that
one.
"What do you find so amusing,
dearest." Kenshin came up from behind her, hooking his arms around her waist.
He let his chin rest on her shoulder and she turned a little to nuzzle him fondly.
"I'm watching Misao and her young
man circle one another." She whispered.
Kenshin was silent as he watched
the two young vampires. "I see what you mean." He said finally. "For Misao's
sake I hope he realizes she won't break or vanish if he touches her."
Given their history until now,
Kaoru doubted it would be soon until Aoshi came to that realization. Misao was
damn prickly when she wanted to be. That young man would have to muster up some
thick skin if he was going to accomplish anything.
"I'm just glad that the whole mess
turned out to be something so manageable." She sighed. "If someone was using
Misao's memories of her friends to torment her then I think it might have hurt
her too deeply to heal. I don't know about you, but I was ready to make the
problem disappear overnight if I had to."
"Oh, yes. I was thinking along the
same lines." She felt him smile. "Perhaps we should arrange something?"
Kaoru smiled, but it faded. "Perhaps. It was close today, we didn't even expect it. The
Council is cut it half. All of us lost children today and we must mourn, but I
think you know that the party responsible won't give us that luxury now that
we're weak and demoralized."
"If I knew where to find him, I
would take care of it now." Kenshin growled, his grip
on Kaoru tightened. "I've almost lost you twice… no, three times because of
this madness. It needs to stop."
"The Keeper demanded Enishi's head
from Saitou in return for his continued alliance with the Blood Council." Kaoru
revealed what she had overheard with reluctance. "I have no idea how we'll
deliver on that. No one knows where he is."
"He can't hide forever, beloved.
He has to know that his little scheme failed and even if your council is
halved, you're still stronger than him. He didn't use his own power beyond that
Rift. He must have spent weeks gathering all those ghouls. He can't have much
left. We'll make this stop. I promise you."
Kaoru turned into Kenshin's arms
and let his reassurances wash over her. She knew his words wouldn't heal all
the ills inflicted this day, but she could pretend… just for a minute.
Saitou was Not Amused.
He left the Council Hall through
the Shadow Realm. Only the elder vampires like Kaoru would have been able to
manage it again so soon, but Saitou had always had an affinity with that dark
place, with the necessity, and practicality of it. For him, it felt good to be
stripped down to the bone with no extraneous gross, to be rendered down to what
he simply was and leave the details behind.
It wasn't hard to find his spawn.
He planted spell beacons on all his children until they passed 'final
inspection' as it were. The fool was actually in his own apartment, as though
his meager protections would help.
At one time he'd thought that it
was good exercise for his sireling to test his mettle against an older, more
experienced Vampiress, but he should have realized that Yukishiro would take it
to a completely different level.
Enishi had been different before
his change, but then again they all were. He could hardly expect two successful
changes in a matter of years, could he?
Now the little fool had let his
ambition take him a step too far. Saitou had hoped that the boy would have
learned a little discretion to temper his ambition, but apparently not.
It was just as well that the
Keeper had demanded Enishi's head. Now Saitou wouldn't have to justify killing
his sireling for being so unforgivably stupid.
She wasn't sure of it at
first, but as time passed Misao realized that Aoshi was following her.
It wasn't anything obvious,
but wherever she happened to be, whether it was folding linens for the Healers
or just sitting, he was within eyeshot of her. He didn't stare, but she felt
the weight of his attention like a ton of bricks.
He wouldn't approach her and
that was driving her to distraction. He had to want something, but why in God's
name couldn't he just come up and tell her what it was?
'Maybe he doesn't want an
audience…' the thought came out of no where, but when Misao thought on it, it made
sense. Aoshi was hardly the demonstrative type if memory served. If anything he
was intensely private.
For that matter, there were
things she wanted to discuss with him.
First and foremost in her
mind was that bizarre episode when they were still fighting ghouls. He should
have been directing the Oniwabanshuu or whatever it was Okashiras
did. He shouldn't have been barging around hollering her name and nearly
getting ripped open.
Her eyes narrowed.
Come to think of it, getting
him alone was grand idea!
She rose, trying hard not to
look too much like she was trying to get his attention, and strolled off into
some of the other disused rooms in the Hall. There had been a time, long ago
when the Council Hall was where the Council lived and did business, but that
time was long past and there were thousands of rooms in the quasi-space that
the Ancient Vampires had carved out of space and time.
The room Misao finally chose
was a fair distance away from the Ballroom and Council Room. She had a fair
idea she might end up screaming at Aoshi before it was all over, and it
wouldn't do to bring anyone running.
She settled down to wait and
began to peruse the contents of the room. All the furniture was covered in dust
cloths, but after some investigation she realized (much to her chagrin) that
she'd picked a bedroom.
'Whoops,' she thought,
dropping the dust cloth back over the small bed frame she'd uncovered. 'I'd
probably best take this someplace else…'
Unfortunately, once she turned
around Aoshi had already arrived.
He stood in the door way
looking at her with that inscrutable expression on his face. Then he took a
step inside and closed the door behind him.
Misao stood up straight,
ready to have that talk that had been brewing all evening… but Aoshi didn't say
a word. He took another step towards her, then another, and another, until he
was far too close for comfort. She made a move to step back, but Aoshi's hands
shot out and then crushed her against his chest.
"Wha…"
she started to asked him what the hell he thought he
was doing, but he chose that moment to haul her up the length of his chest to
press his mouth down on hers.
Misao had been kissed a lot
in her life. She'd had the sloppy, passionate kind and she'd had sweet and
chaste. She'd had fond kisses from Kaoru and friendly ones from old French
women who greeted everyone with a kiss on the cheek. She'd never been kissed
like this before.
The moment Aoshi took
possession of her mouth, the earthquake started at the tips of her toes and
spread through her entire body before he let her up for air. He didn't release
her and to be honest if he had, Misao was sure her knees would have buckled.
His voice was hoarse with
desire when he spoke. "You offered me something when I last saw you. I'm
accepting your proposition."
"Tha-that
was five years ago!" Anger sparked in Misao's belly, giving her the strength
she needed to cast of the shock of what he'd just done. "You missed the train,
buddy. You said no."
"I said you were too young."
Aoshi corrected her. His hand trailed down cup her curved bottom. "You aren't
anymore."
There really wasn't anything
to say to that, but Misao didn't get the choice. Aoshi did it again and after a
while she forgot what she was so mad about.
To say it caused a stir when
Saitou stormed into the Hall bearing Enishi's head by his white hair would be
putting it mildly.
Kaoru had been with Kenshin,
looking for Misao so they could begin their return trip… however once she laid
eyes on her fellow Council member's grisly burden, all other thoughts left her
mind.
She was vaguely aware of Kenshin's
comforting hands as Saitou paused by her as he passed.
"The matter is closed, Kamiya." He
said as though he could feel her impending questions. "Suffice it to say I keep
closer track of my sirelings than you do."
"Apparently so."
Her voice sounded weak in her ears, but no one commented.
Saitou vanished into the upper
level. No doubt he intended to give the Keeper exactly what it had demanded.
"It's over…" Kaoru whispered.
"It's over." Kenshin confirmed,
holding her close.
They stood there for a long while,
letting it sink in.
There were questions in each of
their minds. Where would they go from there? Would their relationship change
because the danger had been removed from their life.
Necessity no longer required them to spend every waking hour in one another's
presence…
Kaoru pushed the questions out of
her mind and turned in Kenshin's arms.
They'd work it out… later. They
had time now; time for anything at all.
fin
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