Mirai No Yakusoku Disclaimer: All rights and privileges to Rurouni Kenshin belong to Nobuhiro Watsuki, Shuiesha, Sony Music Entertainment, and associated parties. The characters of this series are used without his permission for the purpose of entertainment only. This work of fiction is not meant for sale or profit. This is my first attempt at the art of fanfiction. Please be gentle. Comments are greatly appreciated!!!
Notes:
The title means "Future's Promise" in Japanese. . . . . All the characters I create belong to me.Japanese Names:
(Sagara) Yuukiko = the characters of Brave + Child
(Myoujin) Kakushin = Core/Heart
(Seta) Yuunosuke = The character for Brave + nosuke ^.^
(Niitsu) Keiko = Graceful + Child
(Same name as Megumi and Sano's youngest in RK: A New Era)
(Kamiya) Nozomi = Character for Hope
(Yamamoto) Akira = Character for Light
(Sagara) Mai - written as Truth and Only
(Sagara) Sou - written as Concept/Idea
(Sagara) Fumi - written as Sorcerer and Beauty.
(Myoujin) Yutaro - written as A Reason, Many, Sons
Yoko-chan (ardith@hanabatake.com)
http://www.hanabatake.com
Mirai No Yakusoku: Part 13 - Hunter Dammit, her teeth were beginning to hurt.
It could be from the smiling. Then again, it could be from an almost uncontrollable desire to grind them. She thought that demonstrated incredible control by not going mad after so many hours. If she smiled at another salary-man, she swore she was going to scream. Fumi stifled a sigh of frustration and then a yawn of boredom. She wanted nothing more that to take a hot bath and to get some sleep. How do these kids survive on this much sleep? Don't they have school in the morning? The streets were filled with people and music.
She tapped her foot as she heard Judy and Mary's Daydream fill the air. She closed her eyes and listened to the bittersweet words. There was nothing like a little JAM to make you happy. Yuki's high voice drifted over her making her smile, though she was more than a little frustrated. She had wasted half the night for nothing. Not even a nibble. No one on the street was talking about the murders. It was as if no one was even paying attention. Not to the dead girls. Not to her. And they were running out of time.
She sighed in relief when a voice in her ear warbled flatly stating that the stakeout was over for the night.
"Okay. See you tomorrow night," she whispered to the watchers as she gathered her stuff to leave. She would just have to try again. The girls who had died needed her to help them. The bastard had to go down. The profilers said that he probably stalked his victims in Shibuya in some social situation, luring them away from the lights and then torturing and killing them. He was smart, brilliant really. Yeah. The man was fucking brilliant, but also fucking mad. But no matter how mad he was he left no evidence. Only the pattern of the killings linked them together. He was brutal, cruel and cold. And every time he killed, he left a message: I am waiting. I am watching. You will be mine. Sick son of a bitch.
Interpol had been brought in because the pattern matched a pair of murders in the US a while back, almost exactly. Down to the lack of evidence to link anyone. No DNA or traces were left. It looked like someone got tired of working the murder thing in the States and decided to try it here. The US case had assumed that he was a male, young and probably white. But since the murders started happening in Japan, they began to reexamine the case. So far, the only thing they knew was he liked young girls with black hair. The girls who disappeared were last seen in Shibuya. None of them had colored their hair in the popular tea washes, but left them traditionally long and black. By all accounts, they were nice girls. Shibuya must have been adventures for them. Maybe they wanted break from studying, time away from home. They ended up dead. It pissed her off because they were so young.
That was the reason that she was chosen for this assignment. She fit the bill of the type of girl the wacko liked. And she was half Japanese, so she fit in. She was thankful that her mother's hair was black, too. Her looks were slightly exotic, but not enough to make one think she was not fully Japanese right away. She had spent the evening wandering the streets, looking for information and being hit on by the local (and not so local) Romeos. Though there was little chance of someone actually snatching her, she may get to find out something that could break open the case.
She tucked a strand of long hair behind her ear and looked around as people rushed passed her. She knew she caught the eye of some. Her features were too striking to go unnoticed. She smiled and tilted her head, glancing at her trendy Japanese watch now and then. Blend in and find out what you can. She had been doing her best, but so far there was no word on the street, no warning or caution amongst the youthful creatures of Shibuya. The young always think they will live forever.
"Little girls like you shouldn't be wandering out at night. It might be hazardous to your health." She wanted to jump, but pushed herself for control. The voice came from the shadows, cultured and cool. A curl of white smoke lazily floated from the dark, then the burning tip of a cigarette.
Ooh, finally a pervert comes out. You would think in this area of town, more sickos like him would approach her. "What's life if you don't take risks, mister," she said coolly. She didn't really want to play this game right now. Fumi just wanted to leave. She was sick and tired of all this crap.
"Dark things go on in the night, little girl." Was he just a perv or was he the killer? She couldn't see him. As if he could sense her frustration, he stepped out into the light.
She couldn't breath. He was....
Get a grip, Fumi. Those are just dreams.
Rei watched the color drain and flow back into the girl's face. Girl? No, she was older than the schoolgirl uniform led a person to believe. Her eyes, her lack of innocence, of naiveté, showed her to have much more experience than a schoolgirl would. Her lighter hazel-green eyes marked her as happa. As he watched her from the darkness, he had thought of her as striking. He reassessed his opinion upon closer inspection…she was beautiful.
"Hmmm, not a little girl after all...." He knew her. She was the one. His only. He felt the pull, the recognition. "Tokio..." he rasped, his voice was a harsh whisper in the night. This was no dream. He knew this woman. He knew her smell. Her voice. Her attitude. The past and the present suddenly came into sharp focus. He closed his eyes and accepted his fate. His hand was shaky as he took a slow drag off his cigarette.
She, of course, had different ideas. "Yeah. This is Tokyo. Shibuya," she shot back, purposely changing her accents to a more rough, boyish style that went along with her aloof schoolgirl image. "Need directions? The train station is over there." No way was that whispering voice familiar. No way.
"You're Tokio." Ah, you were always the more pragmatic one, love, he thought, anticipating her answer. His heart ached as she bit her lip and tucked her hair behind her ear. Tokio.
"Mister, I don't know what you are talking about. I got a name, and Tokio ain't it. And if you haven't heard, smoking is bad for your health." She shifted her legs, pulling her bag closer in an artless schoolgirl gesture. He saw her twist her fingers nervously. Habits she couldn't shake in a thousand lifetimes. He had found her.
"No," he mused, putting out the cigarette. "Of course it's not Tokio. That's no more your name than if mine were 'Hajime.'" He watched her color flow back and forth. She could never hid from him. "How about if I buy you a drink and tell you about my dreams?"
She didn't resist as he took her hand and lead her into the night.
***** Silver sliced through the darkness. Yuukiko stood silent, watching. Battousai. His eyes were yellow. He held a katana in his hands. The blade was wickedly sharp. Kakushin.
"I won't let anything happen to you. Not again. I can't lose you again." He reached out for her, but the room turned black. She could see nothing. She could only hear the screams. Smell the coppery essence of blood. She did not move, but waited, listening. In her heart she knew the truth. She closed her eyes and waited for the pain.
_________________________________________________________ Kakushin woke with a start. Yuukiko was in his arms, spooned against him, but she was not asleep. Tension radiated from her. He wasn't surprised. The past few weeks hadn't been easy. He felt her sigh and relax against him, sinking into him.
"I can feel him, Kakushin. He's waiting out there. I think that this time, whoever is out there is much less stable than anyone we dealt with in Meiji."
"Yuuta." He remembered the madness in Yuuta's eyes, those final deadly seconds, the madness that cost him Kaoru.
"Yuuta?" She could feel the hot-cold slice of metal cutting her flesh. Death.... You could die in your dreams and still wake up. She didn't plan on feeling death that way again. She didn't know if it was him again, or part of him, or just some dark evil. "Kakushin. I want this to stop. I don't know how many chances we get to be together. I have a feeling that we have used a lot of them up before. We have to end this."
"Yuukiko, what happened in your dream?" He turned so that he was above her, looking down at her face. In the pale light of the moon, her face was washed white. Her dark eyes looked lost. He wanted to hide her away, protect her. He reached out and smoothed her hair as much to sooth himself as Yuukiko.
"The dream? What happened?" She suddenly felt so groggy, as if she could not pull herself out of the darkness. "I-I died. I've died so many times, Kakushin. I saw.... I died in Heian. I was a concubine to a prince. He killed me when I tried to protect my lover. My childhood friend. My servant." Yuukiko kissed him softly on the cheek.
"I was an empress during the Taika era. I died in battle against a warlord. My loyal general at my side. My son... ruled after me. I died so many times in Kamakura. I was a samurai wife, daimiyo's daughter, peasant farmer, prostitute. Every time, I was your lover. There were battles and wars. Instability. Love." She snuggled closer to him. "Kakushin, every other time I have lived, you were there. Every other time, you died or I died. Or we died together. There is a reason that we are together. We belong, but there is someone out there who exists only to destroy us."
"So he is out there because even though he has lived so many lives, he still has not accomplished what he needed to do. He destroyed us, but that did not get him peace. That did not let him go on."
"Yes. He can't let go yet." Yuukiko sucked in a shuddering breath. "He can't let go…."
"I won't lose you again. I'm tired of this, Yuukiko. No way am I going to let you go. Remember, if you die, I follow you this time."
"That's stupid, Kakushin. Don't every say that."
He tightened his hold on her, breathing in her smell, her warmth. "Remember, I will follow you this time. I can't do this again," he repeated. The firmness in his voice made tears spring to her eyes.
Stupid. So stupid and stubborn. She loved him so much it hurt. "Then I better not die," she whispered unsteadily. She tried to shake off the feeling of foreboding her dreams left her. "I don't plan on it this time. We have a better advantage. Knowledge is power."
Kakushin kissed her, pulling her close to him. He needed her to be with him. It hurt so much to know that he lost her so many times. "Yuukiko?"
"I know." She kissed him lingeringly, trying to drive the demons away. Empress, lady, whore. No matter what she was in those lives, she had love. She had him.
***** She wasn't there. She had escaped from him. Again. She would pay for that.
No more. You will be mine. You will be. But for now, you will have to suffer. You have to know that I'm waiting. Watching. You.
We belong together. My beloved. Oh, love. Everything I do is for you. Everything. How could you turn away? How could you leave me?
He left the room, silent as the night, and turned off the light. The voices in his head were hardly satisfied. Not enough. Not nearly enough. But soon…. He shuddered as he felt the hunger wash over him again. He would have to search for something to take the edge off.
I wait for you.
Soon. Soon, he would find peace. Until then, he would try to find ease. He walked out into the night.
___________________________________ "Sagara Fumi." Rei said her name as if he tasted it, savoring each syllable. Savored it even though it made him smile ironically that she carried the blood of the man he had mocked unmercifully all those generations ago. Looks like you did do some good, Aho. His dark eyes studied her face, as if trying to figure out all her secrets. It bothered her that he might just be able to. He was just following his instincts now. "Do you normally dress like a Japanese Lolita? I know that there are guys out there who get off on that." He said it with a mocking smile.
"Oh yeah, I enjoy the perverts trying to stick their hands up my school uniform." She smiled when he frowned at the image, as if there was a possibility that she was telling the truth. "No. I'm not into that sort of thing."
"Then why the costume? You certainly are not in high school." She didn't answer. Instead she took another sip of coffee and smiled. He narrowed his eyes, but did not peruse the subject. The answers would come in time.
The coffee shop was small, clean and quiet. It was somehow a separate world from the chaos outside. Or it could be the man she was with. But she did not want to think about that. Not yet.
The coffee was hot, if not a bit pricey, and tasted wonderful. She sighed as she took a sip of the coffee. She loved the rush of caffeine, the ringing in her blood. After spending most of the day trying to be bait, she definitely could use the break. And after her dreams, she could not stop herself from listening to her compulsion to follow this man. Fine time to go an have a nervous breakdown, Fumi. She must be going crazy. And it was the fault of those damn dreams. Hell, she didn't even know why she was in the shop, with a virtual stranger. It didn't make sense. It wasn't like her. She studied him surreptitiously. His movements were swift and compact. As if he thought about every move before he made it. Rei. His name was Uchida Rei.
She openly studied the man who had quietly took her hand and brought here. He was handsome. And, she admitted to herself, fascinating. His dark eyes broodingly sharp and lips sculpted to look beautiful and hard. She wondered idly if they would soften as they kissed.
He sipped his coffee casually, bringing attention to those lips, as if he knew where her thoughts ran, before he began. His eyes glinting with laughter and something else. "You look like you are waiting for me to grow fangs. I don't bite... hard." She blushed at the glint in his eyes. "As well you know, my love."
She didn't pretend not to understand. "Listen, those are only dreams. Dreams don't mean anything. People dream all the time."
"But do they meet the person of their dreams?" He smiled crookedly. He watched her face, the emotions. He had dismissed his dreams as fantasies, half remembered in the night. But when he saw her, when he touched her, he knew that what was between them was real. "You know the truth. Can't you accept it?"
She wagged her finger at him and began, "Ha ha, you're-" She didn't finish the thought. He pulled her towards him and kissed her. She sighed and surrendered for a moment. The images began to flood her mind. Hajime. He tasted of her dreams. Tobacco and Hajime. The memories came swiftly, solidifying and strengthening until she knew for sure. She leaned forward, pulling him closer. The world had never understood him, but she did. He was her mate.
He slowly pulled away from her. Fumi's cheeks were flushed. She'll never change. "Remember now?" he asked, rubbing his thumb across her lower lip, just as he always did, as if to gentle, to comfort. As he always did….
"Dammit, that can't be real! This can't be happening! You... You." She was shaken to the core. She didn't, couldn't believe it.
"Fumi. I didn't think so, either. I thought it was stupid. How could I be obsessed with a woman from my dreams? She wasn't real, couldn't be real. But I was. Every other woman was measured against her. Every time, they were lacking. I didn't even remember all of the dreams, all of the images, but it wasn't enough for me to see that I didn't want them. Not really. None of them were Tokio. None of them were you…. I thought I was crazy. Until I saw you standing there...."
"I... I don't understand. This can't- I can't- I have to." She could feel her heart beating, hear it thumping frantically. No. She was not going to fall for this. It was too crazy.
Rei saw the look in Fumi's eyes. He knew what that glint meant. The conversation was just about to end. He had to make her see. How could he? He reached for her hand, gently holding it. "I never really believed in much in my life, Fumi. I'm a cynical bastard. In more ways than I really want you to know, but I'm not going to pretend I'm not. I used every means I could to work my way to the top. And I have, Fumi. That's me. But in the dreams, in life.... As soon as I saw you, you gave me peace. I never had that before in this lifetime. Please. I don't say it often, but.... please don't walk away."
Please don't go. I need you. A dream, half forgotten from her childhood. Warmth and love and need. She sighed and sat down. It was real. She knew it in her heart. And her heart was his.
***** Nami leaned against the wall, looking at her watch. She was hoping to catch Rei coming in, but he had not arrived back at the hotel yet. She wanted to rage against him. He did not care about her, really. This trip to Tokyo basically proved it. All their conversations were stilted. Strained on her side and cold on his. No matter how much she pushed, he was not hers and would never be.
She had called, but there was no answer in his room. She sighed and closed her eyes. No promises. Damn him. Well, a girl knows when to walk away. And this girl is going to walk away now. She called again, this time to leave a message. It was time to say good-bye. She wasn't going to waste anymore of her life waiting for him.
She was resigned as she walked out of the hotel lobby. She did not notice the shadow following her until it was much too late.
Part 14
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