Constellation

MysticShadowWanderer

Disclaimer: How do you get hit by a train? It's not like it hides behind the bushes and jumps out at you or something.

Chapter Eight: Blind Rage

"Kaoru?" Battousai's voice was weak and hoarse. "Where am I? What happened?"

Kaoru's head snapped up and she jerked herself out of the sleep that she'd fallen into; again she'd slumbered in the chair by Battousai's bed. His amber eyes were clouded and confused, still slightly dazed with fever, as he gazed at her, if a bit unsteadily. She smiled widely, breathing a sigh of relief that he'd come back to her. For three days she watched and waited, and for three days he'd wavered between life and death. Twice she'd thought that she'd lost him, but he always managed to pull himself back into the realm of the living. Quickly, she brushed the tears away from her cheeks so that Battousai might not recognize her weakness.

"You're at home, in your own bed," she finally answered, her own voice little more than a whisper. "You were shot, and you fell two stories. You were in the hospital, and you hurt yourself so badly, but Katsura insisted that you come back here and that I take care of you, and so here you are. But you're still sick and you broke some bones, so please don't try to move."

Battousai scowled, frustrated with both the fact that he was unable to move and that he had no memory of the night he was shot. All he could remember was shattering glass, a cascading halo of fragments that were falling, always falling and breaking away and with him. It didn't make any sense.

"I'm..." He turned his head as much as he could toward Kaoru as she spoke in broken pieces of sentences. "I'm glad..."

"Glad of what?" he rasped.

"That you're still alive," she replied. "I'm just... I'm glad."

A puzzled look crossed his face, but he let it pass. After a moment of lying in complete stillness and silence, he groaned heavily. Kaoru looked at him in alarm.

"Do you need something?"

"What kind of painkillers did the hospital give you?"

Kaoru blinked once and chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully. "I... don't remember... I was so panicked..."

"Some nurse you are," Battousai remarked. "It's a wonder that I didn't die..." He sighed and closed his eyes in thought. "In my bathroom, in the medicine cabinet, on the second shelf, on the very left side, there should be an unmarked bottle. Bring it to me with a glass of water."

Kaoru bit her lip to keep from reprimanding him for not saying "please," reminding herself that he was still sick and in extreme pain. She trotted off to do as he said, pushing open the bathroom door. For a moment she stopped and had to shield her eyes from the unexpected appearance of the sun. She had been wrong when she thought that the only light that came into the apartment was artificial. In his large, luxurious bathroom, there was a big window that offered a generous view of the city and let the sunlight bathe her for just a moment before she rushed to the medicine cabinet. Retrieving what he demanded, she hurried back out into the bedroom, blinking furiously at the change of light until she was once more able to see.

She peeked in the bottle to see what she'd brought him, but she didn't recognize the pills. "What are these?" she asked as he quickly swallowed one, downing most of the glass of water that she handed him.

"Valium," he replied thickly as he settled back and closed his eyes. "My entire body is feeling a very deep ache right now; it hurts..."

Kaoru didn't know what that felt like, but she sympathized with him nonetheless. She reached out a hand and brushed his bangs away from his face, letting her hand linger for a moment on his forehead to check his temperature. He leaned into her touch, savoring the coolness of her hand.

"Mm, that's better," he said absently, still thinking about how fragile she'd been when he'd last been with her, recalling how skittish she was and how he'd needed to show her what it was like to be cared for by him. He frowned when he realized that the situation had been completely turned around. He'd never meant for it to be like this, but when he thought about it, maybe it was better. She seemed to have warmed up to him a bit more, perhaps she would yet be his.

A thin smile stretched across Battousai's lips as he listened to Kaoru hum quietly. After a few minutes he opened his eyes just enough to make out her hazy form, and reached out an arm to her. Kaoru watched him, seeing how he wanted her to come to him, but she hesitated momentarily. Finally it was his pleading eyes that drew her in, and she let him take her hand in his. With all the strength he could muster, which was merely a shadow of what he usually possessed, he pulled her down onto his bed next to him. Carefully, avoiding causing him any more pain, she curled up next to him, not saying a word.

"Sing to me," he said softly.

At first Kaoru thought she heard him wrong, but his eyes were sincere, if a bit fever-glazed, so she slowly and quietly began to pick out a melody. Her voice twined through the darkness of the room, wrapping itself into the corners to draw out the demons and shove them away. Smiling contentedly, Battousai closed his eyes again and let his breath go in a relaxed sigh.

"Et ex corde diligamus nos sincere..." followed him as he slipped away into a deep sleep.
It was harsh to be awakened in the cold dark by the obnoxious ringing of an overly loud cell phone, and Battousai briefly considered throwing the phone at the wall before he realized that the only person who could possibly be calling him was Katsura, and that ignoring him would not be a wise choice.

"Hello?" he slurred, his voice still sleep laden.

"Battousai, how are you?" Katsura's voice seemed booming to Battousai's sensitive ears. "I take it you're still alive."

"Of course, sir. I'm fine."

"I'm sure that's an exaggeration, but it's good to hear that you're doing better."

"Thank you, sir."

"Tell Kamiya-san that she did an excellent job, and that I'll be seeing her soon."

"Yes, sir, I'll do that."

It was always a bit unnerving when Katsura hung up without saying goodbye, but he was a very busy man, and it was understandable. What was more disconcerting to Battousai at the moment was that Katsura had said that he would be seeing Kaoru soon. Being such a busy man as he was, Battousai himself rarely saw his employer. To him, when Katsura was making house calls, that meant that something was going on, that the man had some plan in his head, and he obviously didn't want to tell Battousai.
A knock on the door caught Kaoru off-guard, but didn't disturb the sleeping Battousai, who had recovered quite well in the past week. Jumping up from the couch and straightening her clothes and hair, she opened the door with considerable caution. Relieved to find that it was only Katsura, she stepped aside to let him in.

"Would you like anything?" she asked politely, inadvertently slipping back into the role of a well-groomed and trained hostess, despite her general disgust for the act she was conditioned to fall back on. "Battousai is asleep in his room right now, would you like me to wake him so that you can speak with him?"

"No, thank you," Katsura said with a smile that somehow struck Kaoru as more sad than warm. She momentarily wondered why. "I'm actually here to talk with you, as a matter of fact."

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow in mild curiosity. "What of, may I ask?"

Her calm, poised manner was somewhat off-putting to Katsura, but he continued.

"I was informed by a very reliable source, which is best to remain nameless, I believe, that just before Battousai lost consciousness after his fallen, he muttered your name. This leads me to believe that he cares more for you than he should, and that quite possibly you have become a distraction to his work. Though I regret to make such a decision, I'm afraid that I cannot risk having my top assassin injured again, and that it would be best for everyone if I assume responsibility for your care from this point forward. I am aware of the fate of your father, as he was a great contributor to our company, though I'm sure he didn't know of all that went on behind the scenes, and I feel as if it's the least that I can do to make sure that you are comfortable and safe."

Kaoru instinctively backed away in the direction of Battousai's room as Katsura stepped toward her. He bypassed her, however, and silently went into the room. A few seconds later he reappeared, and, before Kaoru could realized what was going on, grabbed her by the upper arm and hauled her out of the apartment, clapping a hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming.

"You have to believe me when I say that I'm truly sorry about this," he said as they traveled downward in the elevator. "I would rather not have to resort to this violence, especially with a woman as nice as you, but I have no choice in this. I'm sorry."

Kaoru ground her teeth together and refused to answer him. He thought she was a nice woman, and she could be, but she was about to prove to him just exactly how irritating and difficult she could be, not to mention dangerous.

She was silent all the way to the ground floor, out the lobby doors, and into the awaiting car. It was only when Katsura was in the seat next to her, the car's doors were shut and locked, and he was respectfully leaving her be that she exploded.

"Who do you think you are to take me like this?!" she exclaimed. "You've just kidnapped me, you realize? You think that because I'm fatherless and disowned by my family that I'm just going to bend to your will and allow you to drag me wherever you think fit? How long will it be before your conscience is cleared of my father's death and you 'have no choice' in setting me loose on the streets to fend for myself? Who do you think you are?"

With her questions posed, she refused to let him answer, but instead drew her hand back and backhanded him across the face with all the force she could, which was more than indicated by her small build. Katsura put a hand to his cheek in shock, but didn't make a single move.

"I deserved that, I know," he said finally. "But you can't change my mind, no matter how angry you get."

Kaoru leveled an intimidating glare at him. "I hate you," she hissed.
Battousai woke up feeling cold. He reached blindly to the side in the darkness and found his suspicions to be confirmed. Kaoru was not next to him. For the past week she'd slept curled at his side, keeping him warm and staving off the hellish nightmares that he was wont to have. Sitting up gingerly, he called for her, and open hearing no answer, reached over to flip on the light.

It took a few minutes for his eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness; he much preferred darkness. He struggled up and slowly pushed himself out of bed, wary of his broken ribs and left arm. After taking a moment to wrestle himself into a shirt, he padded out into the television room and then to the kitchen after he discovered that she wasn't watching TV. When she wasn't in the kitchen, worry began to settle in the pit of his stomach. Still, he searched the apartment thoroughly before he allowed himself to panic. Her clothes were all still in her room, so she hadn't left him; the blanket on the couch was still tousled and the television was still on and turned to one of the movie channels. It seemed impossible that she could be gone. But she was nowhere to be found.

He hurried back into his own room, and looked futilely in the bathroom and then the walk-in closet, but she was absent. Just as he sat down on the edge of his bed to run his hand through his hair despondently, he noticed an envelope with his name on it sitting at the base of his lamp.

"What the hell...?"

Reaching out and grabbing it, he fought with it for a moment to attempt to open it with one arm in a sling before finally ripping the end off with his teeth. Pulling out the letter inside, he scanned it quickly and then crumpled it violently in his fist.

"Goddamn him."

Katsura had his Kaoru. HIS Kaoru. There was no mistake about it, even though she may not have been aware of it, the woman belonged to him, and Katsura knew it. He had written out all of his paper-thin excuses, and they only made Battousai angrier. What irked him the most, though, was that he was almost entirely sure that Kaoru would not have wanted to go. If he found out that Katsura had used force to abduct his woman, the gods help him...

The urge to kill someone had never been so strong in Battousai before, and had he been in his right mind, he might have been slightly frightened of himself. But at that moment, all he wanted was to see Kaoru back in his arms, no matter what the consequences. He would get her back.

He was in the parking garage before his mind had time to process any sort of plan. His katana was strapped to his back under his coat, which was considerably difficult to get on in the condition that his left arm was in, and he had a pistol at each hip. He didn't know whether he would need to kill someone or not, but he knew that if the situation arose, he wouldn't hesitate and he would be prepared.

Luckily for Battousai, he had been riding motorcycles since he could drive, otherwise he would have had some difficulty operating the vehicle with only one arm. As it was, he was weaving between traffic at a breakneck speed, intent only on getting to Katsura's apartment as quickly as humanly possible.

He slid to a stop in front of Katsura's building, and didn't bother buzzing the doorman to be let in. Instead, he pulled out a pistol and with two shots shattered the entire front door. Ignoring the panicked screams of a woman who happened to be standing at the foot of the stairs, he holstered his gun and moved forward until he felt strong arms grasp him and slam him to the ground. Luckily for him, he twisted to avoid falling on his broken arm, but he still growled as pain shot through his ribs and chest.

The big, burly looking security man who was staring down at him never saw Battousai pull out his gun, and never realized that he was about to die. He only felt the pain of a bullet lodging itself firmly in his heart, and felt the floor rushing up to meet him as he fell. Battousai jumped up and resumed his course to the elevator, waiting impatiently as it reached ground floor and the doors opened. Not waiting for the two people inside to exit, he pressed the button for the twentieth floor and they were on their way up.

The dark-haired man that was standing next to him should have seen the murderous glint in his eyes, and should have left him alone. But people could be so stupid, and this man was compelled to tap Battousai on the shoulder and speak his mind.

"Excuse me! You are not the only person in the world, you know! Other people have places to be!"

Battousai spun around, his eyes narrow and his katana suddenly in hand. He slowly, tortuously, lifted the blade until it was horizontal against the man's neck. Suddenly the man wasn't so brave.

"Don't worry," Battousai said with a smirk. "Soon there'll be one less person in the world for me to bother with, and you won't have any troubles at all. Think of it as a favor."

"Please! Don't kill-"

His plea was cut short when Battousai slit his throat and threw him against the wall of the elevator. All of this took place within the space of a few seconds, and the elevator signaled that it was time for him to get off. The woman who had been getting off at the ground floor had fainted when he killed that annoying specimen of a man, and before the doors closed behind him, he considered killing her, just for the fun of it.

There was no time, he decided as he stormed off down the hall. There was also no time to knock on Katsura's door, which he quickly kicked in, sending splinters flying. Katsura was sitting at a desk, and looking up in complete shock, pen in hand and poised to write what was certainly an infinitely important document. Battousai glared at him with all the hate he possessed.

"Where... the HELL... is she?" he growled furiously.

"I don't know, Battousai," Katsura said calmly, despite the fact that Battousai seemed dangerously close to setting him ablaze with his mind.

"You fucking liar!"

"Pardon your French."

"Goddamn you! Where IS she?!"

"You are not going to get that information from me, my boy."

"Then you will not have anyone assassinated by me, old man."

Katsura blinked, and then stared sedately. "So be it. You will not be hearing from me once you're in jail. I hate for this to be the way things end, Kenshin."

"Don't call me that," was all that Battousai could grind out through his tightly clenched jaw. He pulled out a pistol and aimed levelly between Katsura's eyes. "Where are you fucking keeping her?"

The man remained frustratingly serene. "I've told you, you are not going to get that information from me."

"Do you like to die?"

"You wouldn't kill me."

Battousai swore and stormed out of the room, furious at Katsura for both not telling him where Kaoru was and for always being right. All he knew about her whereabouts now was that she wasn't in Katsura's apartment because, had she been there, he would have felt her presence. There were too many places that she could be, too many options and he didn't want to waste a second.

"Don't kill me!"

The words rang in Battousai's head as he threw open the door to an old, abandoned storage warehouse. His rage was uncontainable, and anyone who'd stood in the way of his search for Kaoru was now dead. The mental count he'd been keeping ended somewhere around twenty when he lost track in his fury. It was like a bad movie playing over and over again in his head, and it was driving him crazy. Waking up, being alone, Kaoru nowhere in the apartment, his panic, that god awful letter...

"Hello?" That was her voice! "Is someone there? Please, someone let me out!"

The voice was faint, and coming from above him. She was on the second floor, then. He rushed up the nearest stairway before calling out to her. Relief rang out in her trembling vocalizations as she continued to yell for him. He followed the sound until it was loud and clear and coming from behind a door. He quickly kicked it in and hurried inside.

"Battousai!"

Kaoru was sitting in a chair with her hands tied behind her back, crying. Without having to even think about what he was doing, he slashed away the ropes that had reopened the scars on her wrists and pulled her into his chest. She sobbed loudly, not caring if he heard.

"They... Katsura said... take me somewhere... comfortable," she gasped. "They brought me... here... That bloodstain..." She pointed with a violently shaking hand. "Is my father's!"

Battousai pressed her face firmly against his chest and walked her out of the room, trying his best to calm her.

"Sh, sweetheart, we're going back to my apartment now," he said soothingly. "Can you hold onto me on my motorcycle?" She nodded weakly. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," she replied. "Just please... please take me back."

He hugged her tightly with his good arm and the hastily led her out of the building. His motorcycle was waiting in front of the warehouse, and he made sure that she was securely seated before taking off into the street.

The route was slowed by ambulances at almost every corner. Kaoru gasped in shock when she came to a realization. She wasn't blind, she saw the bodies.

"Battousai... you... oh no."

"Hush, don't draw any attention to us," he said as they passed an ambulance and sped through a green light. "We have to get back without being noticed."

Kaoru buried her face in Battousai's shoulder. This was not good.

A/N: Whoa. Long time no see. I was on vacation, then at the county fair, and then I had some computer trouble. So I made this chapter a little longer to apologize. Actually, that's a lie. It's only longer because it came out that way. Ha! :cough: Right... Battousai lost it... I've always wanted to make him do that. Good times! Ah yes, and the line from the song, "Et ex corde diligamus nos sincere," is from "Ubi Caritas," is Latin, and means "Let us now without any reserve or deception love one another." It's actually a religious song, but what the hell, I like it. It's very beautiful, and is sung by Connie Dover. I would highly suggest downloading it, or buying the CD that it's on, "Celtic Spirit." (Excellent, excellent CD, one of my favorites.) Now that I've finished with my seemingly obligatory music suggestion, I have to go work on other fics to attempt to get them posted by tomorrow! Hope you enjoyed Battousai's spaz out.