Note that italic texts in parenthesis, eg. "Kenshin...", are 'thought' texts, whilst others are emphasis. Enjoy!
Part 4: Without You
Kaoru sobbed as she rushed to wherever her feet would bring her. With one hand lifting up her kimono, and the other pressing on her chest, she sped away from the dojo. Away from Kenshin.
"TOMOE-SANNNN!!!!" she remembered the vibrating voice of his piercing her ear drums like sharp needles. It still lingered in her mind - refused to go away. She shook her head to erase those thoughts... those hurting thoughts. "Dame... dame..." she whispered to herself. Her footsteps hurdled herself into the bush, deeper and deeper into the forest. Kaoru lost her sense of direction. Not only that, she lost the grip to herself. She could feel the spinning depression crunching her feelings, perplexing her mind.
"TOMOE-SANNN!!!!!" it went again. Kaoru's eyes swelled, leaking with tears, as she stopped at a tree, sobbing and gasping for air. She fell on her knees, shaking her head again, trying to get the vague voices out. "Suffering, be gone!!! Go away...!"
"DAME!!!!!!" she shouted. The place remained silent. She looked up into the dark blue sky, gradually sending twilight upon the earth, and wept endlessly. All this time, she thought she had all the courage and strength in the world to grow up. She was known well for her confidence and enthusiasm. She was tough, strong and brave. Nonetheless, at that very moment, she felt useless... unwanted... unloved. All her good qualities were buried deep under a thick layer of pain and pessimism. For a young heart like hers, the impact was too much.
"Kenshin...... Kenshin......." she sobbed out low. The name sounded sweet yet bitter. "Aishiteru, Kenshin......." If only she could say those beautiful words to him. But he loved Tomoe. Such a painful love...
Feeling the grass, she pushed herself up, and stepped slowly to find her way out. It was very dark - she hardly could see anything. But one thing is for sure - Kaoru won't be going home. She decided to wander out from her place for a while, whilst trying to forget that merciless fact that tore her innocent spirit.
"I'm not going home... not until I forget this matter... not until I can live peacefully with this fact..."
Her tears dried away. Obviously, she was gaining herself little by little. Walking out of the woods, she went off into a secluded row of shops. Lights came shining from the rooms, as sniggering laughter and loud conversations filled the chilling air. To get through the night, she knew she has to look for a shelter. Walking past a few shops, she looked around. No place to stay. Glancing at her place, reading the signboards attentively, she spotted a bar with a few rooms to rent for the night. She slowly walked in, and saw some gentlemen drinking and talking politics. She could tell it from their wealthy faces and appearances. However, nothing seemed threatening to her. Therefore, she took a seat at the far corner and began drinking a few cups of sake served in front of her.
Such torment couldn't result more than a hard feeling, which will create a cold character in Kaoru. Previously she had been soft, and vulnerably defeated by the power of a heartbreak. Automatically, she realized that life is not worth giving up, and determined to play hard in it. Her mind chilled off like the winter storm, emptying her thoughts from the torturing truth. Indeed, sometimes, fear leads to disappointment. And disappointment would lead to a rapid transformation... or hatred, perhaps...
Suddenly, danger jumped in. A grasping hand landed on her shoulder.
"Hello, young lady... mind if I have a drink with you?" A dark, bold voice breathed into her ear. She turned, and saw a man with what seemed to be his escorts, tagging around him. He had the look of a wealthy aristocrat - big built, his hair combed nicely and his thin moustache lined under his nose. His attire of a western-style suit would have given the same impression. He impudently took a seat next to her, and ordered a bottle of sake. He stared at his escorts violently and shouted, "Go get yourselves some places to sit! Can't you see I'm in a business here??" Like chickens being chased off, they grabbed themselves places visibly far from their master. He turned to Kaoru, "Sorry about that."
Kaoru, in contrast, smelt something fishy. She coolly spoke, "I didn't even permit your request. What makes you think you're in a business with me?" and gulped a cupful of sake. The businessman continued to watch her attentively. "Nothing. It's just..." he passed her another cup, "... you seemed pretty lonely tonight."
She sniggered, "Sou desu ne??" Her head swayed slightly - a good indication that she was close to being drunk. "I've always been," she said again. The man shook his head in fake sympathy, making sounds before saying, "Poor girl. Well, you won't be tonight, because I'm going to accompany you..."
"Who asked you?" Kaoru replied quite harshly. Although she was tipsy, she could still think straight. For today, she wanted to be drunk, relax and empty her mind so that her new, cold self would be developed easily to replace the scarred one she has now. She was still in control of herself. Or so she thought...
"Oh, don't be so rough, my lady..." he said. Kaoru made a careless impression towards his manly flirtatious acts, which made him insist on her even more.
"The name is Azumi Hokure. A businessman from Yokohama. And yours is...?" he began. Another loud gulp, and Kaoru glared at him, "Where's your right to know??" and looked in front. He grinned, fuming, "Hm... very hard-headed. I love stubborn girls..." He reached for her fringe, and swept his hand down to her cheek. She snapped it away, yelling directly, "Watch your hand!!"
"Oh, playing it tough, huh? I'll say it once more. I'm going to accompany you, and I guarantee you that you'll remember this night for the rest of your life..." he started to sound insisting.
Kaoru was getting agitated by that ridiculous request. She was thinking how bad his sense of making acquaintance is. "Be quiet! And don't be so confident that I'll accept it!" Hokure began to feel the impatience running through his blood. "Don't play with my patience... once I explode, you won't want to see me angry!"
"Who wants to see a low-life guy like you anyway?!!" Kaoru blurted out. Immediately, he spoke out loud, "What did you say??" He grabbed Kaoru out from her seat, and dragged her along the isle, as he said out victoriously, "You'll be as what I said! No objections!!"
"No, I'm not!! Let me go!!" Kaoru pulled her hand away from his grip and with all her might, gave him a slap on his left cheek. It became red almost at once. He held it, concealing it. To be slapped in the public is not a good reputation for a businessman. "You miserable girl!!" He was about to swing a punch towards her, when the owner of the restaurant halted it. He spoke, "You moron! Don't you know how indecent it is to hit a young lady in the public?!!" Hokure froze, and made a furious face before instructing his escort to leave with him. As he slammed the entrance, Kaoru sighed in relief, as she sank onto the chair next to the bar.
"Are you allright, Miss?" said the owner. Kaoru glanced wearily, "Hai... arigato..."
Not even a day from Kenshin and she was almost screwed up by life's unwanted troubles already...
"Kaoru-dono......"
Kenshin rested at a bridge opposite a big shrine. He leaned against the banister, swallowing air. It was already night time... and he hadn't even found her...
"Where are you...??"
Kaoru was extraordinarily fast when she ran off the dojo that evening. Kenshin - still recovering from his injuries - didn't manage to keep up to her that he had lost her. When that scene occurred, he was absolutely in a state of infinite shock. He had experienced it, but he never could imagine how it was when Kaoru left him. How bad and terrible it felt. It was like this whole world came tumbling down. It was as if the light that shone in him dimmed and died. It seemed like the moon cracks, and the sun explodes. Or simply - LIFELESS...
He began to analyze the indescribable emotion overwhelming him. Tomoe had long gone from him, but her presence in his inner eye called the old sentiments back. As for Megumi, he had known his limits for her - only as a friend, and nothing more. For Kaoru... somehow he sensed... it was something else. Something deeper. Something stronger. Something that he never experienced before - even with Tomoe or any other women who had been close to him. He wanted to tell Tomoe, but the fact that he was married to her insisted him to hold back. Yet Tomoe had shown signs that she recognized those feeling inside Kenshin, and forced him to tell it out.
There was, sometimes, the longing to tell Kaoru how he really felt whenever she sat or walked next to him. The flicks of affection he saw in her eyes - it could somehow make him feel so close to her. All this time he denied it, refused to feel it, insisted that there are better men out there for her. But since Tomoe reappeared to him and seemed to hint him with clues about his love life, he started to bother about matters which long ago, he didn't want to bother.
"Why, Tomoe-san?" he started talking lowly to himself. "I'm just afraid that you won't want to hear the answer. I don't want to hurt you anymore. I've became your torment, and I refuse to be one again..."
"Young man... are you having any problems??" suddenly a figure in a dark robe, with the face covered by a hood, spoke. "Oro...!" Kenshin exclaimed in slight shock, seeing the strange sense of dressing of the figure. From the voice, he could tell that it was an old lady. Plus the hunch back she had, and the walking stick jotting out from her sleeves, he couldn't be more positive.
"I'm... I'm just fine..." Kenshin told.
"Your face tells everything. You do have a problem..." she said again. For once, Kenshin felt like a little kid who lost his way home. Indeed, he is. He lost his way to Kaoru, and he needs to find that path to her. But this old lady won't be much useful. Or so he thought.
"Arigato, obasan. I'm allright. It's just..." his inner thoughts suddenly told him to give it a try, "... I'm looking for my friend. I've been looking for her all evening but I haven't seen her anywhere..."
A smile was visible under the hood. "So it's a girl?"
"Yes. Have you seen her??" Kenshin looked calm, but his heart was anticipating a good answer.
"What are her features?" she asked. Kenshin described her fully - blue eyes, dark hair tied in a ponytail, dressed in a flowery kimono...
"Yes, I did see her! She headed for the inn at the shophouses at the outskirts of town about an hour ago!" she answered. Kenshin gave her his best smile of appreciation, and bowed in the most possibly cool manner, "Arigato! Take care, obasan... I have to go now." He gripped his sword in his belt, and was about to run off when the old lady called, "Young man..."
Kenshin glanced. She continued, "You'd better be quick. That's place is very nasty. She could be in trouble."
He nodded, and left quickly. His heart leapt, as he sped along the bushy trail. He was determined to bring Kaoru home. If it wasn't for the old lady, he wouldn't be able to trace her this easy.
Strangely though, he smelt the scent of white plum when he left the bridge...
Kaoru was led to a room by the owner of the restaurant. She rented it, until she decide that it was best to go back to the dojo. She didn't want to stay long though, because of the limited money she had, and the fact that the dojo is actually hers. But to chase Kenshin away from the dojo for good isn't an option for her.
"Tadaima…" the sweet speech of Kenshin rang in her ears again. The dojo is Kenshin's home. How could she chase him out of it. She was about to indulge on her gloominess before her conscious sense woke her up.
"Snap out of it, Kaoru! You've had enough torture for today!"
She decided that she needed a hot bath. Therefore, she began to untie her obi, and let the kimono fell forming what seemed to be an over-sized shirt over her. She was just about to untie the sash, when suddenly her door was dashed open. She jumped back, holding her kimono, as she observed the faces enlightened by the candle light. Three men in dark suits holding long sticks, formed a semi-circle in front of her.
"Who... who are you??!!" Kaoru asked, promptly building up some courage to fight back.
"Let's go, lady... our master is waiting..."
They stepped closer towards her. She tried hard to resist from being panic. Preparing to face them, she tied her sash tightly, and took a broken piece of the door frame as a wood sword. "Not before you defeat me!!" she warned them.
"She's talking crap! Charge!!" They charged forward, as Kaoru maintaining from being hit by their sticks. She kept on dodging, and landed at the far corner of the room. They trapped her there, as she brainstormed on how to escape them.
"We got her now..." one of them began to speak. They sniggered wickedly. Kaoru's mind clicked with an idea, and she thrust hard forward towards one of their foreheads. "Arrrgghhhh!!!" he fell aback onto the floor. She released herself, and went on to hit the other two on their stomachs. They, too, fell like giants. She quickly went to the door to run from that situation of terror, but as she reached the door step, a man with a familiar look emerged.
"Going away, witch???" he spoke. She took a breath of shock before a punch landed on her face, and left her unconscious...
Even if she was conscious, the only thing she heard was, "Take her away... I want to get this business done with......" Nevertheless, she was helpless, and only Kami-sama could decide what Kaoru's next fate...
Kenshin had searched in each and every inn in that particular row of shophouse. No one had seen that particular girl he was looking for. But he wasn't even thinking of giving up. He observed around the place. Drunkards were singing like crows along the dreary street, and from the inns, he could hear strange sounds which obviously he didn't like to hear. The place is, truly, a nasty place.
Then, he saw a resthouse. Quite desolated, but it seemed like the only decent spot on this nasty grounds. He made his way into the place, and went to the bar.
"Kombanwa. Anything for you, sir?" the owner asked.
"No, thanks. I would just like to inquire whether you happen to see a girl, around 18 years of age, with blue eyes and dark hair tied in a ponytail...??"
The owner widened his eyes. Kenshin anticipated.
"Does she have a bad temper and stubborn...?"
Kenshin was slightly astounded, "Yes... but what makes you say that?" "Well... there was a girl being messed up by a man just now. She looks exactly the way you described..."
"Being messed up by a man??!" Kenshin exclaimed. The owner calmed him down, "Don't worry, she's safe in this resthouse now. I can show you to her room if you like. But first you have to tell me who you are - just to make sure that you're not a stranger to her..."
"Himura Kenshin, a good friend of hers. She knows me very well." Kenshin afforded a look to insist him, "Please, let me see her."
"Of course," the owner was convinced, and led Kenshin to the room. But by that time, it was too late. Seeing a group of people outside the room, the owner rushed to the room, to find a badly spoilt door, and an messy bedroom. He gaped in shock and glanced to Kenshin. "She's..."
Kenshin's eyes widened. "Kaoru..." He rushed through the damaged door, and checked the room. "She's not here!! Where is she??" he spoke out loud. He could feel the rush of blood mounting to a level of extreme madness, and became much more irritated when the people around him couldn't afford to give him a better answer than a silence.
"Can anyone answer me??!" he told as he turned towards them. The owner encouraged, "Come on, there must be someone who knows what happened!!
Finally, someone stepped out to speak, "All I can say is the girl was kidnapped by four men..."
"Kidnapped......" Kenshin gaped.
The owner added, "One of them must be the man whom she quarreled with at my bar. You see, the man was insisting on her to..."
Kenshin urged for a continuation, "To what...??"
"... to spend the rest of the night with him. By the look of him, I can tell he's very indecent..."
Again, Kenshin gaped, saying in low, "Indecent......" The clues began to project unwanted images in his mind. His eyes were getting frenzy. He never felt this enraged. Even if he ever did, it was the day Kaoru was kidnapped by Jin'eh Udou. And today, some four thugs repeated that same deed, which resurrected a side of Kenshin which no one wanted to see...
He closed his eyes, trying to resist the coming of the old spirit of Battousai into him. Calmly as he could, he asked, "Where did they go??"
The boy, who gave the information earlier, pointed into the bushes. Kenshin walked down the corridor, into the open garden. He scrutinized the grounds, and found tracks leading towards the tall concrete wall. There was a rope, and mud trace of footsteps on them. Obviously, the rope was used to escape.
Kenshin turned to the owner, and said, "I would appreciate it very much if you could call the police."
He stared at him, "How about you?"
"Don't worry..." Kenshin adjusted his sakabatou, "I'll bring those insolent thugs back..." He could hear the sound of amazement among the crowd behind him. But as usual, he didn't get distracted. His focus was fully on saving Kaoru, and teach those who mess up with her a good lesson for life. He leapt over the wall, and led by his instincts, sped into the darkness.
"Kaoru... hold on! I'm coming!!"
"Wake up, young lady..."
Kaoru thought those voice seemed familiar. Her eyelids moved, and gradually opened. "Where... where am I?" As her nerves began to function, she felt stiff, rigid. She pulled her arms and her legs... but they seemed very much restrained.
"What's wrong...??" She blinked, trying to get a good visibility on where she was. Shockwaves shot into her as she found out that it was the obscurity of the night that covered her. Chills crisped on her skin from the foggy mist of the forest, as well as the haunting breeze. Recklessly, she turned to her left, then right... before looking at her legs. Each was tied to four post of a broken shrine.
"What the -- !!" Her eyes gleamed frantically. She tried to break lose... but it was to no avail. There, like a chained prisoner, she screamed distressfully. Suddenly, a hand covered her mouth from behind, as she mumbled behind them, trying to free herself.
"Shhh!!! You might wake people up!" the bold voice which spoke earlier sounded again. Kaoru turned, and in that dimness, she could see his face in the ray of the moonlight. She recognized it.
"You ugly businessman!! I swear I'll make sure that you'll pay for this!!" she said loudly. The businessman, Hokure, began feeling her kimono, and slowly untied the sash. It fell, and her cloth was loose. Grasping it, he said, "Do you think you can?? After you..." pulling the kimono harshly, "... make business with me???"
Her kimono was torn. Just another layer of clothing was Kaoru's protection before her body could no longer be called 'untouched'. Just strips of linen enough to cover her breasts and abdomen, and another piece to cover the lower part of her body. She screamed in terror, hoping that anyone would listen. "STAY AWAY!! DON'T EVEN TOUCH ME!!!" Yet, it seemed as if only four of them would listen. They laughed, as those three escorts of his stand guarding around him, and he stood in front of Kaoru, victoriously holding one piece of Kaoru's torn kimono.
"I can do whatever I wish when you're in this kind of condition," he laughed wickedly. Then, in came the scene Kaoru never want to see in her life. That indecent man knelt in between her open space between her bounded legs, and started to slither his hands from her ankles... up to her knees... to her thighs... and he was close to her private part, when she had thought of an idea, and spat him at once.
"I SAID DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!! YOU MONSTER!!" Kaoru's speech was hard. Hokure reached for her face and slapped her twice, as she muted at once. The blood from her nose - because of the punch by Hokure at the rest house - had crisped before, but now it flowed again.
Kaoru's eyes leaked. Truthfully, she was scared. Completely scared. She couldn't think of anything but her fate afterwards... and how she had regretted that she ran off from the dojo... and from Himura Kenshin... the man who protected her all this time...
"Kenshin..." she whispered, "... I wish you can hear me..."
"Dream on, girl..." Hokure wiped his face from the spit, and settled down slowly on Kaoru's body. "Whoever that guy you're calling... he won't be coming..." His face moved nearer to hers, as her eyes narrowed in fear plus disgust, and her head shaking with infinite resistance.
"STAY AWAY!!!!" she screamed again.
"I won't..." he licked her cheek, and uttered to Kaoru her words of doom, "... because tonight... you're MINE...!!"
Kaoru frowned. "This is not happening...!! Kenshin...!!! KENSHIN...!!!"
"KENSHINNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"