Constellation

MysticShadowWanderer

Disclaimer: Yay! Go me!

Chapter Ten: Quick Reactions

Both Battousai and Kaoru jolted awake at the loud, insistent pounding and shouts from the front door. Battousai's eyes went wide as he realized that they were calling for him to come out, to give himself up peacefully and let himself be arrested. He swore under his breath and jumped out of bed, hastily donning the clothes that he'd been wearing the day before. Kaoru sat in stunned silence for a moment, but came back to herself when Battousai shook her by the shoulders and demanded in a hissed whisper that she put some clothes on.

"Himura, we know you're in there!"

"Shit," Battousai growled. "We have to get out of here."

As Kaoru was running back into the room, hopping on one foot and struggling to pull on a sneaker that she'd grabbed from her room, he took her by the wrist. There was no time to spend thinking about it; he knew he had to think of some method of escape and quickly. Kaoru watched his face as his mind raced through the possibilities, his expression growing more and more furious as he discarded option after option. Then, his face suddenly lightening, he decided.

"The skylights in the bathroom," he whispered. "Go get a chair from the kitchen. Quietly."

Nodding, she hurried to do his bidding as he reached for his katana, which was leaning against the wall in the corner. With practiced fingers, he secured it across his back, and continued to strap his nine millimeters to his hips. Kaoru came back in with the chair, and he lifted it out of her hands and motioned for her to follow him.

Locking the bathroom door behind them, he positioned the chair. Within what seemed like seconds, Kaoru watched as he broke the skylight and jumped up through it in an amazing display of athletics, holding out his good hand to her and beckoning for her to hurry. She climbed out with relative ease due to his assistance, and he held her close to him as he led her across the roof to the fire escape and silently started down it. It seemed like they metal rungs of the ladder would never stop coming, and Kaoru was sure that the police would see them, they seemed so conspicuous as they descended, so when her feet hit pavement she heaved a huge sigh.

Without a word, Battousai tucked her to his side and walked hastily out of the alleyway and down the street. The police were so intent on drawing him out of his apartment that they never saw the two slipping off in the other direction.

"Don't make any sudden moves," Battousai whispered into Kaoru's ear. "Don't say anything, don't do anything that would set you apart from the crowd. We are going to Katsura's office."

He offered her nothing else as they hurried on their way. Though she wondered what good that going there could possibly do them, but she had learned not to question his judgement. In his mind he had worked out the entire thing, and in a situation like this, it was best to just go along with whatever he said.

A huge office building loomed ahead of them, and Kaoru gulped nervously as Battousai simply walked in, hauling her along with him. She assumed that he was known here, which put her on edge, because surely they would have known what he did. But the man behind the desk nodded politely at them, and people were bowing respectfully to them. It didn't make any sense.

Then the realization hit her. Katsura was not the type of man to set all of Battousai's colleagues against him. He would no longer keep the assassin's name out of police records or do anything to stop Battousai's imprisonment now that he had been disloyal to the company, but he had no malicious intent. She found herself feeling a bit sorry for Katsura, even. Battousai had threatened him, turned his back on him, and all because of her. It had been the only thing that the man could do to take her away when she began to enslave Battousai's attention, even though it was accidental. She shook her head to clear such thoughts. There was no time for this now. Perhaps later, if they escaped with their lives.

Battousai skillfully navigated the winding halls of what was a labyrinth to Kaoru. Before she could readjust herself and attempt to decipher at least which direction they were headed, Battousai opened a door that proved them to be outdoors again. Sitting in front of them were two rows of sleek black helicopters. Kaoru's eyes widened and she glanced at Battousai.

"We're going to... take one?"

"Didn't you ever want to be a pirate when you were a kid?" He grinned at her, despite the seriousness of the situation. She could do nothing but blink.

Battousai didn't wait for her answer before he took her by the hand and helped her into the passanger's seat of the largest helicopter. He slid easily into the opposite seat and watched her as she strapped herself in to make sure she was doing it right before he adjusted his own safety harnesses. With the flipping of a few switches, turning of knobs, and pressing of buttons, the copter roared to life and Battousai looked over at Kaoru with a reassuring smile.

"Don't these things have tracking devices or something?" she yelled over the whirring of the air being sliced by the propeller.

Battousai eyed her approvingly. "Very good," he shouted back, "that was quite clever of you. Most people wouldn't have thought of that. Yes, they do, but this is Katsura's personal helicopter, so it contains the master control system. We don't have to worry about them tracking us down for a while, and by then we'll be long gone."

Kaoru wondered briefly if he'd had an escape like this pre-planned, but she gave it no more thought as they lurched off the ground and into the air. She shrieked involuntarily and pressed her hands into her eyes as Battousai maneuvered the helicopter with skill that frightened her. Every move that he made seemed dangerous to her, and she wasn't unfamiliar to riding in helicopters, but she trusted him as they sped off.

After a while, Kaoru began to feel the slight effects of boredom. Covering her mouth with her hand, she yawned widely. Land and water slipped by beneath her, which had at first been frightening, because there was no door on her side, or Battousai hadn't closed it, and she had felt as though she might fall out. But by the time they were passing over the Sea of Japan, she was used to the sensation. Vaguely she wondered how much fuel the helicopter had and how far they could get on it, but it didn't really matter. They would get as far as Battousai wanted to get, though she didn't know where that would possibly be.

Several painful hours later, they sat on a dock in China, their legs dangling out over the water. Battousai scowled as Kaoru sighed and leaned back, swinging her legs to try to regain some of the feeling in her feet. They'd been in China all of three hours and Battousai had discovered that he was already notorious for those murders. When the police had reported him to have allegedly left the country, word was sent around the world of who he was. It was this type of situation that he'd been trying to avoid all his life, and now he didn't know where to turn. Because he'd turned his back on Katsura, he would have trouble hiding with any associate of the company, unless they took pity on him. And he hated to be pitied.

"There has to be somewhere," he murmured as he stretched out a bare foot to stir the water in thought. "Where can we go that murderers would be welcomed and our identities could be concealed?"

"What about Russia?" Kaoru asked idly, less than half-serious.

Battousai looked sharply at her. "Why do you say that?" Kaoru could see the proverbial wheels turning in his mind.

"Well... Aren't they supposed to have a history of that sort of thing? You know, the KGB and all." She glanced at Battousai in surprise. "I was thinking about that movie, 'Triple X'; I was just joking."

Battousai made a noncommital humming sound before he pulled his foot out of the water, shook it dry, and pulled on his socks and shoes. He stood and offered a hand to Kaoru. Eying him warily, she accepted it and then bent to put on her own shoes. There were no words between him as they walked up the dock and toward the landing pad where they'd left the helicopter, but Kaoru watching him suspiciously the entire long walk. Just what did he have in mind?

"Yes, we have no problem with that," the man behind the bar said.

Kaoru couldn't believe that she was standing in a nightclub in Russia, watching as Battousai spoke quietly with the bartender. The last day and a half had been like one long dream, and she could barely remember the journey to Russia. It didn't seem possible that she traveled so far in such a short amount of time. Of course, she frowned, it also didn't seem possible that Battousai had murdered twenty-some people in his rage to get to her. None of this made any sense; it was all like a sick, twisted fairy tale.

"This way," the bartender said, bringing her out of her considerations. She rose from her barstool and followed Battousai, who was close behind the man.

A curtain was shoved aside and they stood in a hazy, smoke-filled room that housed many large poker tables. So this was the real income of the club. In the corner sat a man in an expensive Italian suit, which looked out of place. Kaoru glanced around with wide eyes as Battousai was introduced to him and took a seat across from the oily haired man. Kaoru stood behind him silently, trying to keep her distrust off her face and to give the man the impression that she was a submissive, unobservant, and, most importantly, unthreatening woman.

"I can understand your situation, Mr. Himura," the man, Kaoru hadn't caught his name, said in a thick Russian accent that was every bit as oily as his hair. "And I'm sure that you can understand that to keep you concealed that I will require quite a bit of money."

"I was prepared for that," Battousai responded coolly. "I can pay whatever price you ask."

The man glanced at Kaoru, who didn't dare to meet his eyes lest he read her, and leaned forward to whisper conspiratorially to Battousai. The man seemed to think that there was some big secret in the amount of money that he was going to ask for, because he continually shifted his eyes toward Kaoru as if she weren't to be trusted. He smirked in a self-satisfied way after he told Battousai the amount, appearing to be quite pleased that he set a price so high that surely even a man wanted for murder would be loath to pay it.

"That's fine," Battousai said, his face completely expressionless. "I expect to be able to make the payment in smaller amounts so that it doesn't arise suspicion as to a large sum like that being transferred all at once." It was not a question, not a suggestion. When the Battousai made demands, they were met.

"Yes, that's fine," the man replied after a few moments of slack-jawed astonishment.

"Then we will be taken to a room now."

"Of course, Mr. Himura." The man scurried to his feet to do them the honor of being escorted in his personal car to his hotel, where the Battousai and his woman would be given one of the finest rooms.

Kaoru was the picture of calm and collection until the door shut and they heard the man's footsteps moving off down the hall. Then she burst out with an exclamation about how she didn't like that man, and he didn't seem at all trustworthy, and was about to continue before Battousai quieted her with his mouth. He kissed her soundly, then released her so that she could sit down heavily on the bed in complete silence.

"He's not a man to be trusted," he said simply. "But he will be true to his word, and if not, then I'll be forced to kill him. He and I both know it, and that's what makes all this possible.

"But how can we-"

He pushed her to the bed and planted his lips firmly over hers. She sighed and wound her fingers into his hair, submitting to his dominance and agreeing silently to let him handle the matter. As they broke apart, he grinned at her.

"I always knew that you would open up to me eventually."

Kaoru slapped him playfully before she rolled over into the middle of the bed with a yawn. Traveling the world was enough to exhaust her, and she pulled a thick blanket over herself and fell asleep even though she was still clothed. Battousai smiled down at her and tucked the blankets closer around her to fend off the chill in the room before he stood. He stopped to look back at her momentarily, smiling again at how innocent she looked when she was so comfortable, and then left the room. He had to get to a bank, and then a few stores. If he was going to be making monetary transactions, he was going to want some kind of laptop computer, and they were going to need changes of clothes.

He sighed and tugged at his bangs. There was a lot to get done, and somehow he felt as if the worst were yet to come.

Sorry about the long wait, my computer had some massive issues...

A/N: Oh. My. Gods. Screw talking about this chapter (all you need to know is that this is a transition to set up for big stuff), I just got back from the Warped Tour about an hour and a half ago (it's 12.05 AM, Tuesday the 17th) and holy SHIT did it kick ass. I had so much fun! We had to buy less-than-legal armbands to get in, and that cost $100, but it was WORTH IT! We saw.... uh... three bands that we couldn't figure out who they were, a little bit of New Found Glory, Billy Talent, Letterkills, The Casualties, Taking Back Sunday, Tiger Army, Anti-flag, Sugarcult, Yellowcard, Avenged Sevenfold, Coheed & Cambria, and Bad Religion. It fucking rocked! I met Sugarcult (my brother is never getting that shirt back now... it's all autographed :grin:), the lead singer from New Found Glory (whatever the hell his name is... I can't read it anyhow), the drummer from Staring Back (we couldn't say no, so we had to buy their CD, turns out that it kicks ass... plus he gave us free pins), one of the members of Mourning Maxwell (who sold me a compilation CD for $1), and the lead singer of Nor Am I, who was awesome. I felt so bad because we had no money left by the time we talked to him, and the music was EXCELLENT. And he was really hot, so that of course makes me want to buy a CD. But we listened to the music, because all he really cared about was to get people to hear it because he loves what he does. I got a hug from him :biiiiig grin: and we all stood around and talked for a while. Sugarcult was fucking awesome, and Tim's signature rocks (it's Japanese-styled!). And damn he's REALLY hot in person. Anyhow! So I went from not even being able to go to going and having a hell of a good time. (Spitting ice at people is always a great pastime.) In closing, this chapter sucked, and Avenged Sevenfold puts on one HELL of a show.