A/N Sorry for the delay! I've been stranded with no internet all week!
*sob*! This has been gone over many, many times! Hope you like!
Shameless plug: PS Mind Control: next chapter coming soon, it'll make you go: awww.....
Purity: working on it.....
Disclaimer: If you sue me, I'll send my Battousai on you!
Batt-kun: Er.....*raises sword*
'Kenshin's thoughts'
Battousai's thoughts
Chapter 4: A Promise Thrown to Chaos
Bathed in red sunlight, the warrior known as Himura Kenshin met his end. Dying with the suns light, he watched in sorrow as his time set on the world and Hitokiri Battousai rose again to haunt the shadows as night descended once more on the changing world.
But, the sounds in the kitchen, sounds of light and laughter remained. A presence of normalcy in a life thrown into oblivion. Setting his resolve, the warrior turned and silently left the room, a haunting presence behind a cool facade.
Stopping outside the screen, Battousai listened to the antics of Kenshin's friends.
"Mou, jou-chan! I like my teeth in one piece!" Sano complained, biting into a large, round, black *thing*.
"If you don't like my ohagi you can leave and find your own food." Kaoru said with the air of a woman scorned.
"HAH!" Yahiko crowed at Sano's expense, biting into his own ohagi. A moments wait as Kaoru looked on expectantly. "Ow..." Yahiko moaned and spit out the ohagi. "Busu! You tried to break my teeth!"
"Well if you guys don't want to eat my cooking you can make your own!" Kaoru roared, affronted.
"Fine! We will!" Sano and Yahiko said in unison, moving to stand up.
"In the forest over a fire." Kaoru finished. Sano and Yahiko promptly sat back down.
"Aww...." Yahiko moaned.
"If I wasn't so hungry I'd value my teeth!" Sano groaned.
"Oh?" Kaoru asked, brandishing the spoon, "And you could do better?"
"Yea!" Yahiko said, jumping to his feet, "we could!"
"Jo-chan! Hand that over!" Sano roared, laughter in his eyes taking any malice away as he and Yahiko closed in on Kaoru.
"No! It's my spoon!" Kaoru cried.
"Hand it over ugly! You can't even use it!"
"Yea, give it 'ere!"
Kenshin silently laughed outside the screen.
'They're rather immature aren't they?'
It's pathetic Battousai commented
'But they wouldn't be them without it!'
Oh, Shut up!
Battousai silently slide open the door and sat at the corner of the table watching Sano, Yahiko and Kaoru argue over the spoon. They were completely unaware of his presence.
Battousai cast his eyes to the heavens in annoyance. If I were out to kill them, they'd be dead already.
Looking back up, Kenshin saw that the ohagi were about to catch on fire and the rowers had absolutely no idea that their dinner was about to go up in smoke and flame. Sighing, Kenshin rose up to his feet and moved like a shadow to the stove, shutting off the flame.
"Watch what you're doing next time. You could burn the dojo down." Kenshin said.
"Eh?" Kaoru said surprised, "Kenshin! You're back!" She moved to throw her arms around him, but stopped at the sight of the man before her. Framed by the bloody sunset, his flame colored hair seemed to be a bloody aura surrounding him, almost as if he were an angel of death. Dressed in the uniform of Choushuu, he truly looked the Bakumatsu warrior he was, but it was the eyes that halted her exuberance. Amber slits glaring out from beneath dark lashes and bloody bangs. Cold eyes, murders eyes.
The Kamiya dojo occupants could only look in shock at the man that stood in front of them, a mockery of their Kenshin. A fearsome and brutal mockery of his kindness and sincerity. Kenshin closed his eyes in sorrow, 'just like the guards at the government building, their afraid of me....'
no, they're afraid of me.
'You are me'
can you be sure of that?
"I won't harm you." Battousai muttered, breaking out of his internal dialogue to stop the rurouni's response, chagrined at the fear he saw in their faces.
"Kenshin...." Sano started softly, "what happened back there?"
"I cut a deal with death." Kenshin said simply, "to once more sell my soul for the cause."
Yahiko was paralyzed by the sight of Kenshin. The gentle man of his youthful trust was gone, replaced by the warrior he had only seen battle Saitou. This was the true Battousai. Fierce, merciless and still looking about fifteen.
'Yahiko's afraid' Kenshin's voice spoke in Battousai's head, colored in sorrow. Battousai was angered by the dejection in his gentle half's voice. Only he could cause him pain!
"I'll say it again." Kenshin said tersely, looking down at Yahiko, "changing my clothes won't make me harm you." With a last affronted expression, the swordsman spun and left the room.
"Woah.....what the hell was that!?" Yahiko asked sharply, fear hardening his voice.
"That was Battousai, the man Kenshin tried to eradicate from the past." Kaoru stated.
"The one who haunts children's dreams and plagues Kenshin's mind." Sano mentioned softly, bowing his head in empathetic sorrow, 'he doesn't deserve this.' Sano thought, 'No one does! And least of all Kenshin!'
With that said, Sano spun from the room and followed the errant rurouni, leaving a startled and frightened Meiji generation behind.
Staring out to the courtyard, Kaoru and Yahiko saw Sano slowly walk toward Kenshin. Kenshin's head was bowed and sorrow in his eyes.
"He's the same..." Kaoru whispered, struck by the moment, the ruthless facade of Battousai shattered, "Battousai or rurouni, he's still Kenshin. Still pure and kind, even if Battousai will kill." "He doesn't enjoy it." Yahiko finished.
Amber eyes or not, this was still their Kenshin, and as such they should be ashamed to be afraid. Nodding to each other, Kaoru and Yahiko raced out to Sano and Kenshin.
******
Kenshin stood by the dojo wall, hands clenched into angry fists. Was he angry at his friends? No. He was angry at himself, for fulfilling their worst nightmares.
'I am their wort nightmare....'
and their only hope is that you turn your back on your precious *ideals* and fight a true fight for once! Enough with this pathetic "I do not wish to kill de gozaru". Wake up Kenshin!
"..shin" A voice filtered through.
'Demo...'
"Kenshin!" Sano's voice broke the internal dialogue, surprising the rurouni back to the surface. Violet eyes wide with shock and pain stared up into Sano's intense chocolate gaze.
Sano's heart broke at the sight of the small swordsman's eyes, this was really tearing him apart, his mind itself in shatters. "Hey Kenshin."
"Sano." Kenshin said softly, acknowledging his presence.
"Sorry 'bout that back there...." Sano said sheepishly, hand behind his head. "You kind of surprised us you know."
"You didn't expect sessha to ever fulfill the legends of Battousai." Kenshin said dejectedly.
"No!" Sano cried out, grabbing Kenshin's shoulders, "That's not it at all!"
"But it is, because the legends are true." Kenshin said softly, avoiding Sano's gaze.
"I don't care about that." Sano said, lifting Kenshin's chin to meet his eyes, "It was the look in your eyes, the cold indifference and the pain."
"Wha?" Kenshin breathed, surprised at the answer.
"Kenshin, I-" Sano began.
"KENSHIN!" Kaoru and Yahiko's voice's broke through the moment, "Kenshin, come back!"
"Kaoru-dono, Yahiko!" Kenshin exclaimed softly, surprised.
Hmph! They have more backbone than I thought... Battousai contemplated.
"Kenshin, we're so sorry!' Kaoru exclaimed breathlessly, clinging to his gi, "You startled us that's all."
"Yea, those eyes are creepy!" Yahiko blurted out, then looked away embarrassed.
Kenshin blinked, then laughed, violet eyes sparkling. "Yea, kinda like Saitou's eyes, ne?"
"Saitou!? Nah man, his eyes aren't even worthy of being compared to yours! He's evil, through and through!" Sano said huffily, "He's a crazy bastard."
"Kenshin, do you forgive us?" Kaoru asked softly, hoping for the best, yet fearing the worst.
Kenshin gave her a soft smile, violet eyes warm with compassion. "Of course Kaoru-dono."
And they smiled back at him.
"Himura!" A voice called from outside the gate, "message!"
"Oro?" Kenshin exclaimed, walking to the door and sliding it open.
A man in military uniform greeted him, black hair and eyes giving him a fierce expression.
"I am a messenger from Yamagata-kyo."
"I see..." Kenshin said softly, head bowed. His friends looked on, wondering what was going on.
"I have an envelope for you, I trust all is included." He stuck out a tanned hand clasping a black envelope.
Kenshin's eyes dimmed in sorrow. 'No....not now...' Kenshin cried internally.
Shut up! You agreed to this!
Battousai's hand reached out and slowly clasped the envelope in his slender white fingers.
"Please open it and say if all is in order." At Battousai's fiercely questioning gaze, he continued, "I must report to Yamagata-kyo as soon as you have read the terms."
"I understand." Battousai said and opened the small black envelope, and was transported to the past. He remembered when he had been assigned his job of Hitokiri by Katsura, and how he had been slipped black envelopes just like these before each assignment.
Kenshin pulled out the paper. In red letters on black paper was: name: Kazutaka Yasashiku occupation: head weapons manufacturer for the rebel army physical description: Tall, dark hair, grey eyes, late 40's place: sunset shrine, he should be coming out the back path after his prayer session time: nine tonight
Another one seeking redemption for his crimes
'While he continues them...'
Kenshin's eyes blazed yellow and the hitokiri rose again. "It's all in order."
The messenger quailed at the empty yellow eyes. A play on the gentle violet of before. When I he had first come, he couldn't comprehend this gentle man being the fierce hitokiri. Now, he knew differently.
"Very well," the messenger replied, swallowing his fear, "I'll report back to Yamagata."
"Oh, one more thing." Battousai called out.
"What is it sir?"
"Tell the children of Tokyo to be afraid of the dark."
Amber eyes glowed from beneath bloody bangs as the messenger scurried away. His friends could only watch as their Kenshin slipped farther and farther away.
Battousai stared down at the black envelope.
nine tonight, ka? Battousai looked up at the bloody sunset, slowly being claimed by nights darkness. Lifting the black envelope to eye level, he tossed it into the slowly black and red sky. Pulling out his katana in a flash of deadly speed, he sliced the envelope into tiny pieces, concealing the message inside to obscurity. The dying sunlight glinted off his blade as amber eyes snapped open to stare into its shining depths.
mission accepted.
TBC.....In Chapter 5: The First Mission
Shameless plug: PS Mind Control: next chapter coming soon, it'll make you go: awww.....
Purity: working on it.....
Disclaimer: If you sue me, I'll send my Battousai on you!
Batt-kun: Er.....*raises sword*
'Kenshin's thoughts'
Battousai's thoughts
Chapter 4: A Promise Thrown to Chaos
Bathed in red sunlight, the warrior known as Himura Kenshin met his end. Dying with the suns light, he watched in sorrow as his time set on the world and Hitokiri Battousai rose again to haunt the shadows as night descended once more on the changing world.
But, the sounds in the kitchen, sounds of light and laughter remained. A presence of normalcy in a life thrown into oblivion. Setting his resolve, the warrior turned and silently left the room, a haunting presence behind a cool facade.
Stopping outside the screen, Battousai listened to the antics of Kenshin's friends.
"Mou, jou-chan! I like my teeth in one piece!" Sano complained, biting into a large, round, black *thing*.
"If you don't like my ohagi you can leave and find your own food." Kaoru said with the air of a woman scorned.
"HAH!" Yahiko crowed at Sano's expense, biting into his own ohagi. A moments wait as Kaoru looked on expectantly. "Ow..." Yahiko moaned and spit out the ohagi. "Busu! You tried to break my teeth!"
"Well if you guys don't want to eat my cooking you can make your own!" Kaoru roared, affronted.
"Fine! We will!" Sano and Yahiko said in unison, moving to stand up.
"In the forest over a fire." Kaoru finished. Sano and Yahiko promptly sat back down.
"Aww...." Yahiko moaned.
"If I wasn't so hungry I'd value my teeth!" Sano groaned.
"Oh?" Kaoru asked, brandishing the spoon, "And you could do better?"
"Yea!" Yahiko said, jumping to his feet, "we could!"
"Jo-chan! Hand that over!" Sano roared, laughter in his eyes taking any malice away as he and Yahiko closed in on Kaoru.
"No! It's my spoon!" Kaoru cried.
"Hand it over ugly! You can't even use it!"
"Yea, give it 'ere!"
Kenshin silently laughed outside the screen.
'They're rather immature aren't they?'
It's pathetic Battousai commented
'But they wouldn't be them without it!'
Oh, Shut up!
Battousai silently slide open the door and sat at the corner of the table watching Sano, Yahiko and Kaoru argue over the spoon. They were completely unaware of his presence.
Battousai cast his eyes to the heavens in annoyance. If I were out to kill them, they'd be dead already.
Looking back up, Kenshin saw that the ohagi were about to catch on fire and the rowers had absolutely no idea that their dinner was about to go up in smoke and flame. Sighing, Kenshin rose up to his feet and moved like a shadow to the stove, shutting off the flame.
"Watch what you're doing next time. You could burn the dojo down." Kenshin said.
"Eh?" Kaoru said surprised, "Kenshin! You're back!" She moved to throw her arms around him, but stopped at the sight of the man before her. Framed by the bloody sunset, his flame colored hair seemed to be a bloody aura surrounding him, almost as if he were an angel of death. Dressed in the uniform of Choushuu, he truly looked the Bakumatsu warrior he was, but it was the eyes that halted her exuberance. Amber slits glaring out from beneath dark lashes and bloody bangs. Cold eyes, murders eyes.
The Kamiya dojo occupants could only look in shock at the man that stood in front of them, a mockery of their Kenshin. A fearsome and brutal mockery of his kindness and sincerity. Kenshin closed his eyes in sorrow, 'just like the guards at the government building, their afraid of me....'
no, they're afraid of me.
'You are me'
can you be sure of that?
"I won't harm you." Battousai muttered, breaking out of his internal dialogue to stop the rurouni's response, chagrined at the fear he saw in their faces.
"Kenshin...." Sano started softly, "what happened back there?"
"I cut a deal with death." Kenshin said simply, "to once more sell my soul for the cause."
Yahiko was paralyzed by the sight of Kenshin. The gentle man of his youthful trust was gone, replaced by the warrior he had only seen battle Saitou. This was the true Battousai. Fierce, merciless and still looking about fifteen.
'Yahiko's afraid' Kenshin's voice spoke in Battousai's head, colored in sorrow. Battousai was angered by the dejection in his gentle half's voice. Only he could cause him pain!
"I'll say it again." Kenshin said tersely, looking down at Yahiko, "changing my clothes won't make me harm you." With a last affronted expression, the swordsman spun and left the room.
"Woah.....what the hell was that!?" Yahiko asked sharply, fear hardening his voice.
"That was Battousai, the man Kenshin tried to eradicate from the past." Kaoru stated.
"The one who haunts children's dreams and plagues Kenshin's mind." Sano mentioned softly, bowing his head in empathetic sorrow, 'he doesn't deserve this.' Sano thought, 'No one does! And least of all Kenshin!'
With that said, Sano spun from the room and followed the errant rurouni, leaving a startled and frightened Meiji generation behind.
Staring out to the courtyard, Kaoru and Yahiko saw Sano slowly walk toward Kenshin. Kenshin's head was bowed and sorrow in his eyes.
"He's the same..." Kaoru whispered, struck by the moment, the ruthless facade of Battousai shattered, "Battousai or rurouni, he's still Kenshin. Still pure and kind, even if Battousai will kill." "He doesn't enjoy it." Yahiko finished.
Amber eyes or not, this was still their Kenshin, and as such they should be ashamed to be afraid. Nodding to each other, Kaoru and Yahiko raced out to Sano and Kenshin.
******
Kenshin stood by the dojo wall, hands clenched into angry fists. Was he angry at his friends? No. He was angry at himself, for fulfilling their worst nightmares.
'I am their wort nightmare....'
and their only hope is that you turn your back on your precious *ideals* and fight a true fight for once! Enough with this pathetic "I do not wish to kill de gozaru". Wake up Kenshin!
"..shin" A voice filtered through.
'Demo...'
"Kenshin!" Sano's voice broke the internal dialogue, surprising the rurouni back to the surface. Violet eyes wide with shock and pain stared up into Sano's intense chocolate gaze.
Sano's heart broke at the sight of the small swordsman's eyes, this was really tearing him apart, his mind itself in shatters. "Hey Kenshin."
"Sano." Kenshin said softly, acknowledging his presence.
"Sorry 'bout that back there...." Sano said sheepishly, hand behind his head. "You kind of surprised us you know."
"You didn't expect sessha to ever fulfill the legends of Battousai." Kenshin said dejectedly.
"No!" Sano cried out, grabbing Kenshin's shoulders, "That's not it at all!"
"But it is, because the legends are true." Kenshin said softly, avoiding Sano's gaze.
"I don't care about that." Sano said, lifting Kenshin's chin to meet his eyes, "It was the look in your eyes, the cold indifference and the pain."
"Wha?" Kenshin breathed, surprised at the answer.
"Kenshin, I-" Sano began.
"KENSHIN!" Kaoru and Yahiko's voice's broke through the moment, "Kenshin, come back!"
"Kaoru-dono, Yahiko!" Kenshin exclaimed softly, surprised.
Hmph! They have more backbone than I thought... Battousai contemplated.
"Kenshin, we're so sorry!' Kaoru exclaimed breathlessly, clinging to his gi, "You startled us that's all."
"Yea, those eyes are creepy!" Yahiko blurted out, then looked away embarrassed.
Kenshin blinked, then laughed, violet eyes sparkling. "Yea, kinda like Saitou's eyes, ne?"
"Saitou!? Nah man, his eyes aren't even worthy of being compared to yours! He's evil, through and through!" Sano said huffily, "He's a crazy bastard."
"Kenshin, do you forgive us?" Kaoru asked softly, hoping for the best, yet fearing the worst.
Kenshin gave her a soft smile, violet eyes warm with compassion. "Of course Kaoru-dono."
And they smiled back at him.
"Himura!" A voice called from outside the gate, "message!"
"Oro?" Kenshin exclaimed, walking to the door and sliding it open.
A man in military uniform greeted him, black hair and eyes giving him a fierce expression.
"I am a messenger from Yamagata-kyo."
"I see..." Kenshin said softly, head bowed. His friends looked on, wondering what was going on.
"I have an envelope for you, I trust all is included." He stuck out a tanned hand clasping a black envelope.
Kenshin's eyes dimmed in sorrow. 'No....not now...' Kenshin cried internally.
Shut up! You agreed to this!
Battousai's hand reached out and slowly clasped the envelope in his slender white fingers.
"Please open it and say if all is in order." At Battousai's fiercely questioning gaze, he continued, "I must report to Yamagata-kyo as soon as you have read the terms."
"I understand." Battousai said and opened the small black envelope, and was transported to the past. He remembered when he had been assigned his job of Hitokiri by Katsura, and how he had been slipped black envelopes just like these before each assignment.
Kenshin pulled out the paper. In red letters on black paper was: name: Kazutaka Yasashiku occupation: head weapons manufacturer for the rebel army physical description: Tall, dark hair, grey eyes, late 40's place: sunset shrine, he should be coming out the back path after his prayer session time: nine tonight
Another one seeking redemption for his crimes
'While he continues them...'
Kenshin's eyes blazed yellow and the hitokiri rose again. "It's all in order."
The messenger quailed at the empty yellow eyes. A play on the gentle violet of before. When I he had first come, he couldn't comprehend this gentle man being the fierce hitokiri. Now, he knew differently.
"Very well," the messenger replied, swallowing his fear, "I'll report back to Yamagata."
"Oh, one more thing." Battousai called out.
"What is it sir?"
"Tell the children of Tokyo to be afraid of the dark."
Amber eyes glowed from beneath bloody bangs as the messenger scurried away. His friends could only watch as their Kenshin slipped farther and farther away.
Battousai stared down at the black envelope.
nine tonight, ka? Battousai looked up at the bloody sunset, slowly being claimed by nights darkness. Lifting the black envelope to eye level, he tossed it into the slowly black and red sky. Pulling out his katana in a flash of deadly speed, he sliced the envelope into tiny pieces, concealing the message inside to obscurity. The dying sunlight glinted off his blade as amber eyes snapped open to stare into its shining depths.
mission accepted.
TBC.....In Chapter 5: The First Mission