Disclaimer : Rurouni Kenshin is the property of Nobuhiro Watsuki, Shonen Jump, and Sony Productions.

Warning : Characters are OOC.

Author's Notes : Characters are around 18 years old. A more detailed overview of ages will be given later on.

Possession

Donna8157

Chapter 2 : Doll

"Mom, I won't be able to come as often now. Fortunately, Hiko-san has granted my request and I'll be able to go work for him. I'm . . I'm going to be busy so . . so don't be worried. Just .. just take care of your health," Kaoru said as she spoke to her mom who was sitting in a wheelchair. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes as she held her mom's still hand and looked at her face. She used to have such vivacity, such strength but now the woman looked like a mannequin. The girl could not tell whether or not her mother knew how she felt for since the day that her father died, Kaoru's mom had become emotionless. She very rarely talked and very rarely ate.

Even now with Kaoru's touching words, her mother's visage held no emotion. The woman just seemed to stare into thin air with her lifeless blue eyes. Seeing her mom in such a state grieved Kaoru more than anything else. It seemed as though her mother had given up on living. It seemed as though she had given up on Kaoru herself. A lone tear dropped from the girl's eyes. Surprised, she quickly hid her tears with both of her hands.

The young woman then heard some coughing behind her and turned around. There she saw a man in a black suit with sunglasses standing in front of a limo. A look of reluctance passed through Kaoru's eyes as she turned to her mom's face again and stared at it. She wanted to memorize every detail of her face, but more than anything she wanted for her mother to look at her again like she did before the business went bankrupt . . before her father died. But it would not happen.

"It's . .it's time for me to go now, mom. I love you. Take care . . and be healthy."

With Kaoru's last words, she kissed her mom's forehead ever so softly. She then started walking without turning back for a final look. Tears began to flow down from her eyes at the finality of it all.

I love you, mom, she recited in her heart as she stopped in front of the limo. The man opened the door for her and she got in. Then he got into the driver's seat and started the engine. She turned back and saw her mom's figure in the wheelchair. It almost seemed as if the mom was sad, too and understood that the girl was leaving.

As the car began to drive away from the hospital, Kaoru's heart began to ache as she saw her mother becoming smaller and smaller in the distance.

"Change into the clothes over there," a rough voice ordered from the front of the car.

Kaoru looked up and wiped off any remaining tears when she heard the blunt request of the man. She then looked over to the left of her and found a shopping bag on the seat. She reached over and opened the paper bag and like the driver had said, there were clothes inside. It was a white blouse and a two piece black suit with gray stripes made by Versace. Next to the clothes was a box of brand new pair of black high heels. They were such expensive clothes that Kaoru didn't immediately think of putting them on.

"Hurry up and change, girl. We're almost there," the driver ordered again as he took a glance at her from the rearview mirror.

"Here?" she asked a bit confused. "And in these kinds of clothes?"

"Yes," he said. The man then pushed a button that lifted up the darkened mirror in between the driver's side and passenger's side so that Kaoru would have some privacy.

"Y-yes, sir," she said as she carefully lifted each article of clothing out of the bag. She wasn't used to handling such expensive clothing. Kaoru then changed having no other choice. Fortunately, the windows of the limo were tinted so the interior was not visible from the outside and the inside of the car was large so there was no discomfort in changing. As the girl was in the process of finishing changing, the car had arrived at its destination and stopped.

"We're here. Get out," the brute voice ordered.

"Oh . . yes, sir," she replied as she finished putting on her high heels and got out of the car after the driver opened the door for her. The man looked at her a bit surprised at how different she appeared in these clothes. Kaoru looked attractive no matter what anyone said. The black suit had fit her well and brought out her blue eyes.

"This is 'Studio 57', a club owned by HMI. Please go in, I'll be going now," he said as he turned around and started walking back to the front of the car.

"Umm . . wait!" she called out as she reached over towards the driver's shoulder. The man turned back with an annoyed look on his face. She looked down, a bit intimidated by his fierceness and asked, "What . .what am I supposed to do here, sir?"

"You just have to go in." With that the man turned around and drove off.

Kaoru looked at the building with a feeling of foreboding. What do they want me to do here?, she questioned herself. The club had no windows and it seemed almost as if it were deserted. She took a deep breath and prayed as she started to go down the stairs and stood in front of the door. When she was about to open it, her fear got the best of her and she felt as though she didn't have the confidence anymore. Kaoru then pulled herself together and pulled open the door and went in.

The first thing the girl noticed was the strong stench of nicotine and sweat. It was suffocating. There was also loud rap music blasting in the background. As she looked around longer, she noticed that the club was quite large. The lights were turned down really low and she could hardly make out the faces of the people in the room. There were people drinking, dancing, playing pool, and there were some couples off in the corners making out. Not knowing what to do and feeling extremely out of place, Kaoru just stood there. Right at that moment, she noticed someone come towards her.

"You're here," someone said in an unemotional voice.

Kaoru shiver go down her spine and turned to the person who was talking to her. She felt her heart skip a beat as she looked at him. The young man had short red hair and purple eyes, but it was not those features that shocked her. It was how he looked at her. He had a cold and overconfident expression on his face and his eyes stared at her as if he were waiting for her to say something. He looked at her longer and smirked. He then turned around and yelled to the person standing next to the audio system, "Hey! Turn off the music!"

The music immediately stopped and the eyes of all the people in the club were immediately directed to the young man. Kaoru felt embarrassed as she felt everyone look at her. Her eyes widened when she felt the man wrap his arm around her shoulders. She looked over towards him with questioning eyes. A glint of mischievous flashed through his eyes as he looked at her and then turned back towards the audience.

"I want to introduce you all to someone. This is Kamiya Kaoru, the present that my father gave me!! It has finally arrived!! How is it?"

Time seemed to stop when she heard those words. What was he saying? What the hell was going on? A present? Her stomach started to do flips inside of her and she felt nauseous all of a sudden. She had no idea what was going on. She looked up and saw other guys giving her lecherous looks and women giving her dirty, hateful looks.

It was then that Kaoru heard a lot of people whistling.

"It's good," a masculine voice called out.

"Hey, I can't really see her face. Her hair is blocking the way," another called.

All the people around the club began to move in around her to get a closer look. She felt like she was some sort of creature at the zoo or some specimen that was to be examined under a microscope. She clenched her hands in fear as she felt everyone's gaze upon her. What could she do? She had sold herself to him.

"Wow! Look at those blue eyes. They're so pretty," someone commented.

"Man, she's a cute one," another said.

Everyone took their turns saying something about the young man's new "present".

"Since it's my birthday," the red-haired man offered. "I'll let you guys borrow her for today. Make her do anything because she'll do it." He said it with a boastful voice while his arm was still around her. "Isn't that right?" he asked as he looked down at the girl and snickered in a low voice. A smile began to spread on his lips. Kaoru finally understood to what extent she had become.

She felt that she wasn't treated as a person anymore.

Instead she was an object.

Only an object.

A mere possession.

She looked at the red-haired man and an image flashed through her head. How could she have forgotten? She remembered that there was a young man standing next to Hiko-san that day when she went to see him. Himura Kenshin. The young son of Hiten Mitsurugi Incorporated's president. When she had gone to see Hiko-san, Kenshin must have suggested that he give Kaoru to him as a present and his father had done just that.

"Oh! Is that right, Kenshin?" another voice called out, a bit skeptical.

Kenshin nodded his head.

"She'll do anything? This is going to be fun." Everyone's eyes seemed to shine with evil intent and delight.

"Then let's have some fun tonight! Turn on the music!" the lavender-eyed young man called out with a large smile. After the music was turned back up again, people started to move towards both Kenshin and Kaoru. A guy amongst the crowd went straight to the girl and took out a bottle of whiskey and waved it in front of the girl's face.

"Let's find out what her drinking capacity is," the man said.

The man with glasses grabbed hold of Kaoru's long hair and started pouring whiskey into her mouth. She struggled in shock, but the person holding onto her did not let her go. Tears started to form around her eyes as she squeezed her eyes shut in pain and embarrassment. After he poured the remaining whiskey into her mouth, he roughly let go of her hair.

Kaoru started coughing violently and fell to the floor. Her hair was in a complete mess and she felt all her self respect, pride, and dignity fall out from underneath her feet in that one action. What was she now? She was nothing. Nothing.

"What is this? You're not down already are you? You're too weak," the same man said as he narrowed his eyes.

"Hey Kanryuu! Stop it. If she gets drunk, she might vomit all over the place," Kenshin said as he looked over at the other man. Even though he did say that his friends could play with her, he didn't like seeing the guy grab her hair like that. After all, she was his and his only.

"Heh. You're right, Kenshin," Kanryuu agreed nonchalantly.

Kaoru continued to cough since she felt miserable from the side comments and looks she had been getting from the other people. She swallowed back her tears that were threatening to come out. I'm not going to cry in front of them. Not them. Not ever, she promised herself as she struggled to get back up.

"What's wrong with you? Get up now!" Kenshin commanded as he looked down at her pathetic form.

Kaoru tried to hold in her coughs, but to no avail. Her throat felt like it was burning and she started to feel dizzy from the effects of the strong liquor. But after a few minutes, she finally staggered up. One by one the people around her made fun of her. They trampled on her self respect as they enjoyed watching her weak self not do anything.

"Hey, go dance up there!" Kenshin called out as he pointed to the pool table at the side of the club.

Kaoru started to stagger towards the pool table and began clearing off the balls.

Annoyed, Kenshin shouted, "Just leave the damn balls and dance!"

Kaoru looked up at him, her eyes almost pleading for him to stop. The young man paid her no heed and instead called for the person standing near the audio system to turn the volume up. With the order, the music got louder and rung inside the club. Swallowing back any sense of pride left, Kaoru got up carefully on top of the pool table.

The people below hooted and whistled as they watched her stand there and Kenshin watched with a satisfied, smug look on his face. She felt as if she were a toy. Just some object for them to play with and discard later on. She shut her eyes as she stood there and began to move her body. It was extremely difficult for her to keep her to move around much for the alcohol had contorted her sense of balance.

"What's that? You call that dancing? Is that all you can do?" a familiar voice rang out. It had to be Kanryuu.

"Hahaha," a woman's voice laughed.

Kaoru's face turned red as everyone began to laugh at her. Anger and sadness began to well up in her as she bit her lips roughly. A metallic taste began to fill her senses as she started to move and sway to the music again. Everyone stared at her dancing for it reverberated sadness and pain. She was a little unsteady, but her movements were placid and beautiful. Just then, Kaoru stepped on a ball and lost her balance.

Her eyes widened as she felt that she was about to fall. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Kenshin, who had been watching her, quickly rushed to her side and caught her just before she hit the ground. Surprised, Kaoru looked at him, a bit unsure of what to do.

He quickly straightened her up. "Watch where you step, idiot," he muttered under his breath before he let her go. Then Kenshin went towards the pool table and moved all the balls. Afterwards, he got onto the table himself and gestured towards Kaoru to take his hand so he could pull her up. She took his hand and when they were both on the table, he started to dance. She noticed that everyone else started to follow his lead and started dancing also, forgetting about her for the moment.

Kaoru just stood there watching the man in front of her with a perplexed expression. His lavender eyes met with her blue ones and he leaned over to her ear and whispered, "You did well today, doll. I'll be expecting more next time. Now dance!"

After he said those words, Kenshin started to dance intensely. Kaoru's body became stiff and she couldn't move. His low voice was still echoing in her ears. She understood the meaning behind his words.

Now . .everything that was hers didn't belong to her anymore.

From that moment on, Kamiya Kaoru's life was handed over to Himura Kenshin.

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- To be continued

Author's Notes :

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Special thanks to Boomerang-chan, Dragon Master271, Koishii, Ryoga, S3R3nity, Chibi Kiki, pink clove, Babo-chan, nobody, Reignashii, OniTokage, Ochanoko, Mz. Amber Eyez, and saotome for reviewing!