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

Possession

Donna8157

Chapter 22 : Fallen

"And so the answer is . . Kamiya-san?" The teacher turned his head away from the board to look at the class and waited for an answer to the Calculus problem from Kaoru.

"Kamiya-san," the teacher addressed once more since there was no response from the girl.

Kaoru felt someone nudge her in the shoulders and she quickly looked up from her book. Her teacher was looking at her through his spectacles with beady dark eyes. Alarmed, she shot a look at the problem on the board. It was another one of those logarithm examples that she hadn't completely grasped although she had studied it the night before.

"Umm . ."

"X equals 93.2."

Kaoru heard Kenshin answer the question. The teacher, too, seemed surprised that the boy had participated in class.

"Yes, that's correct Mr. Himura. Now as I was saying . ." The Calculus teacher started to point out more examples to the class on the board and through graphs on the overhead. However, instead of focusing on the lecture, Kaoru found her eyes drifting over to the young man. He was sitting there with his arms crossed in front of his chest, his body leaning back against the seat, and his eyes closed. She looked away and tried to concentrate on the Calculus lecture at hand, but she found herself not being able to concentrate. Throughout the entire day, Kaoru's head had throbbed with pain from all the complicated thoughts from earlier that day on the rooftop. She wondered how she was able to bear with it until the last class.

At the end of the day

BRRRRRING

The last bell of the day finally struck and students rushed out of their respective classrooms. The halls were crowded with people pushing to make their way outside or to their lockers.

"Uh!"

Someone had bumped into Kaoru as she was walking down the hallway. Kenshin, who was walking next to her saw what happened and reached out his hand to support her so that she wouldn't fall. As the woman felt his hand on the small of her back, she quickly took a step to the side. The place where Kenshin had placed his hand felt hot.

"I'm okay sir," she said as she looked down on the ground, her face red.

Kenshin nodded his head, stuck his hand into his pockets, and acted ambivalent. Quickening his pace, he walked out of the building first.

"Himura-san! Kamiya-san! Over here!" Soujiro waved his hands up in the air as he saw both Kenshin and Kaoru walk out of the school building. Sanosuke stood next to the young man with a melancholy expression on his face, he looked away when he saw the two of them.

When Kenshin was within an earshot's distance of hearing, Soujiro walked over with a large smile on his face.

"Himura-san, since Kamiya-san has just . ."

Kenshin didn't seem to have paid any attention to him and continued walking forward. The blue-eyed boy watched a bit taken aback by his friend's behavior.

"Did something happen to Himura-san? Why is he acting like this again?" he wondered out loud as he traded a glance between Sanosuke and Kenshin. The boy had noticed Sano's odd behavior after coming back to class and wondered what had happened, however seeing that the red-haired man was also acting like this piqued his interest.

Kaoru saw Soujiro's contemplative glance and her face paled incredibly. She didn't know what to say.

"Kamiya-san?" Soujiro asked when he saw her reaction.

Sanosuke looked up when he heard the concern in Soujiro's tone. When he saw how troubled she looked, he instantly became worried. He hoped nothing had happened to her because of him.

"Kamiya-san?" Soujiro repeated.

Kaoru looked up from the ground, a bit dazed from her thoughts. "Aa .. sorry, sir. I've got to go." Without giving them any further explanations, she walked off towards Kenshin.

A bit perplexed, Soujiro turned over to his tall friend and studied him carefully. "Sagara-san, you have some explaining to do."

A little later

Soujiro sat on the ground next to Sanosuke near the tree as he heard what had happened that day. After listening to the story, he sat there in silence.

"Sagara-san . ." the blue-eyed boy started in a low voice after a long while as he continued to look on the ground. The other didn't respond, but continued to stare out into space. Soujiro looked over at his friend with sympathy. Sano's shoulders drooped and his eyes seemed to be filled with regret and guilt.

"Sagara-san . . I had an idea about your feelings towards Kamiya-san . . but . ." Soujiro tightened his hands together as he continued. "But what did you think you would accomplish by telling her your feelings? Did you think she would be happy and return your feelings? As much as you and I don't like it . . Kamiya-san . . . . belongs to Himura-san."

Hearing Soujiro's words, Sanosuke clenched his teeth and looked away.

After a long while, Sano finally spoke up again. "I know . ." he said in a defeated voice. "I . . don't know why I did that, but as I looked at her face . . I couldn't hold it in anymore. When I had come back to my senses, it was already too late."

Soujiro let out a disheartened sigh as he looked at how much pain his friend was going through. He didn't know how to respond to him, there was nothing that he could say that would make him feel better. So for the moment, the two of them just sat there in silence.

Kenshin emptied another shot glass. He couldn't endure the feelings and emotions that were clouding his mind. Even after he emptied shot glass after shot glass, his mind only seemed to become clearer. The taste of alcohol began to feel numb on his tongue and his hand that was holding the glass started to tremble. The image of Kaoru appeared in his mind once more.

Kaoru who had avoided his hand that day when he reached out to help her. That expressionless face of hers whenever she looked at him. Those thoughts agonized Kenshin's feelings to a degree he couldn't understand.

He tightened his grip on the shot glass and threw it against the wall.

CRASH

The glass shattered as it made a clamorous sound. The residual drops of alcohol left in the glass stained the wall and was slowly dripping down onto the floor. As Kenshin looked at the broken pieces of glass, he was reminded of himself. Something that was broken.

"Are you . ."

Kaoru opened the door to Kenshin's room when she had heard the sudden noise. The pungent scent of alcohol oscillated within the confines of the room and she wrinkled her nose in disgust. The young woman looked over towards the corner of the room at the table and saw that there were two empty bottles of hard liquor. Kenshin was sitting next to it in the chair and looking at the wall with bloodshot eyes.

Kaoru's blue eyes widened in worry as she saw the sight and hurried over to the wall to pick up the broken pieces of glass. Her heartbeat quickened when she felt his gaze on her from behind. She hurriedly gathered up the scattered glass and threw it away in the trash can.

A callous smirk appeared on Kenshin's face as he thought of the position that he was in. He looked at her bent form as she was putting away the pieces of glass. The reason that you came rushing towards me . . that look of worry in your eyes . . it's all because of the master-servant relationship that we have. That bright look that you have in your eyes when you're with other people always seems to disappear when you see me. Is that . . is that because of the relationship that we have? Can our relationship never become ordinary?

Because of the combination of those thoughts and drunkenness, Kenshin began laughing. Kaoru stopped picking up the glass and turned around when she heard his laughter. Kenshin had his head bent back and was chortles of broken laughter erupted from his mouth.

"S-sir?"

Kenshin's maniacal laughter suddenly stopped and he looked at her with his bloodshot lavender eyes. "That's right. Why should I feel like this? I should have known that this was the kind of relationship that we had since the beginning. You . . you always obey my orders without a word. Why should I be troubled by that? It's just a small problem . . I . ." Kenshin's words began to slur together as he started walking towards Kaoru.

The young woman's throat felt dry as he came closer to her. She was confused and the words that he had just said made no sense to her. What did he mean? She turned her head not able to look at his eyes any longer.

"I'll be going, sir."

"Go? Where?" Kenshin's eyes grew wider and he rushed in front to block her way. Kaoru looked up at him once and then quickly dropped her head back down again, the intensity in his eyes was one that she had never before seen.

"Did I say you could go? You're going to go even though I didn't give you permission?" He reached out, roughly grabbed her chin, and tilted it up so that their faces were only a few centimeters apart. As he did so, he could see her sapphire blue eyes that were slightly trembling behind her bangs.

His brows furrowed with pain from the unspoken rejection. Why do you have eyes that look like you've been hurt? Are you that afraid of me? He frowned and tightened his grip on her chin. Kaoru shut her eyes tightly, however that only deepened Kenshin's frown. Does it really not matter to you what I do? His eyes grew cold and his hand started to tremble. He roughly grabbed the collar of her shirt and violently threw her onto the bed.

Kaoru let out a small scream of surprise as she felt the wind rush out from her lungs when she hit the mattress. She tried to push herself up with her arms, but found herself being pinned down by Kenshin's hands. He pressed his body against hers almost painfully as one of his hands roamed up to her thigh.

Blue eyes widened at the intimate contact and she looked up at him in panic. His eyes had turned a shade of lavender with swirls of amber. It was almost as if they were on fire. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight and her heart began to beat at a faster pace.

"S-sir . ."

Her words were stopped with Kenshin's lips. In fright, Kaoru gathered her strength and tried to push him away, but it was too late. It was long since he had lost control of himself. His hand traveled up from her thigh to the front of her blouse and he began tugging at the buttons in front.

One by one the buttons flew off from her shirt, revealing the undergarments underneath. Kaoru pushed him away in shock, but he pinned her down even more so that she couldn't move. There was nothing that she could do. She shut her eyes and her body grew deathly still. Small tears began to trickle down her cheeks.

Feeling the sudden wetness, Kenshin froze. He slowly disengaged himself from her and looked at her face cautiously, he was almost afraid to see what he would find there. He had hurt her again. Kenshin took a step back and lifted up his hands. He gazed at them with a blank expression on his face. What . . what am I doing? His pupils began to shake intensely as he realized what had just happened.

"No . . no." Kenshin continuously took steps back until his back hit the wall. He grabbed onto his head with his hands and slid down against the firm backing. He felt disgusted and disillusioned with what he had just done. What . .what was I thinking? Look at what you did to Kaoru . . . Himura Kenshin . . couldn't you even control your feelings? His hands fisted together against his head as he reprimanded himself.

Kaoru slowly sat up and looked over at him. His head was bent down in shame as he sat huddled next to the corner of the room. She had never seen him like this, he looked like a small child who had been hurt. She got up and made her way towards him. Even though Kaoru was standing next to him, Kenshin couldn't feel her presence. He was too guilt-ridden at his actions towards her.

Seeing him in such a state, Kaoru carefully reached out her hand and placed it on his shoulder. Kenshin slowly lifted up his head. His lavender eyes widened when he saw her face. That cold look in his eyes had disappeared and was replaced with saddened ones.

"S-sorry . . . I . . ." Kenshin's hoarse voice flowed out from between his lips.

Kaoru pulled him towards her without a word. She didn't want to see him in such a pitiful state. He looked better when he acted aloof and arrogant in front of her no matter what he did. This feeble side of Kenshin only made her feel sorry for him. As Kenshin leaned his head on her, Kaoru felt drops of warm tears soak into her torn shirt.

- To be continued

Author's Notes :

Thanks for reading this chapter. Reviews would be very much appreciated. Thanks very much! I know this was a bit of a shorter chapter than the previous ones, but it was a very important one.

Special thanks to Katana Midori-Fading Shadow, flaming-amber, saotome, Athena, Angela Himura, Mademoiselle Anime, Catrina3, samuraiduck27, Peachie-Chan, Mz. Amber Eyes, InuLimbo, S3R3nity, bonessasan, nobody, Jupiter's Light, AmayaSaria, Chibi Kiki, Sakura22, kodaku, Crazyperson, Mika, Tenshi-no-Hana-chan, De Lazy Lime, psychotic-catster, tintin-chan, kaoru gal, sc gurl, Jared, Anonymous T, Shenyu, legolasEstelstar, Mallory, erica6060, rain angst, HitokiriSky, BabyKaoru-sama, Falconess106, serenebeauty, ;) britty, Child-of-the-Dawn, Kenshen, Shizuka3, Boomerang-chan, Yukipchan, Oni Tokage, pyramidgirl89, Shinta-Fan, MizzLee, cutiechanXD3, yuppers, kik-ting, and Sugar-Crazy-Fox for reviewing!