Into Thin Air
He shivered.
Something was very wrong. Very, very wrong.
He could feel the shudder as if an ice cold finger were slowly spreading its way down his spine. He could vaguely hear Sano arguing with Maho and Mori.
"You, Sagara Sanosuke, will never be in love. Kaoru and Kenshin are in love. You…" Maho trailed off, not knowing how to say it.
Mori picked up for her, cutting in and saying, "You can't handle responsibility, or commitment. You're immature. You look for a nice ass and a full chest."
Sano began stuttering, not knowing what to say.
"All I did was ask for the cream!" he complained.
Both girls sat down, huffing. "Spoil sport," they both muttered out of the corner of their mouths.
Kenshin stood up, not noticing his chair fall back. His breath was coming in short pants. He didn't know how, but he knew…
…Kaoru was in trouble.
His eyes flicked around the room. Where was it…? What had he done with his…
And then he tore from the room, running outside. He could care less that all he wore was a pair of pajama pants and a white shirt. Where had she gone? He could hear Sano calling his name, could hear the confused murmurs of the group, but kept running, faster than he had in a while.
'Where ARE you Kaoru?'
She opened hazy eyes, not knowing what was going on. 'Eh? What's…what's happening?'
"Kenshin?"
How ironic that the first words out of her mouth was his name, when she wanted to ask a million other questions. A small chuckle was heard to her left, and she flicked her bright blue eyes to the young boy.
"Himura-san is not here. Shishio-san thought the best way to get his attention was through you, so you were…retrieved."
Kaoru stared blankly at the boy. Did he ever stop smiling? Who was this Shishio-san? Why did he want Kenshin?
"Who are you?" Why couldn't she ever ask the questions she wanted to…?
The boy's grin grew wider, almost maniacal. Kaoru could see it was a mask, carefully layered so it looked like this boy was truly happy. But, he was about her age. And she understood teenagers very well.
Something had happened to this boy.
"I am Seta Soujiro. And you are Kaoru-san, ne?"
She nodded dumbly, just then realizing that she was bound hand and foot, in some warehouse. Soujiro saw her gaze and smiled cheerfully.
"This is a gas warehouse. They store it here before shipping it off to the gas stations and such."
Kaoru frowned, a small spasm of fear growing the in the pit of her stomach.
'Gods, what have I gotten myself into…?'
Soujiro caught the look on her face, nodded and smiling almost sympathetically.
"You must want to know what's going on, ne?"
'No…I love being in the dark.'
Not waiting for her answer, he continued, "You know what absolute zero is? The temperature at which all molecules stop moving? Shishio-san has perfected a way to contain it to certain areas."
Kaoru could only stare dumbly. 'What?'
"B-but I thought that he was a drug dealer! And that he was using the underground influence to take over the capital!"
Soujiro grinned, shaking his head again. "That was a cover. Shishio-san has much bigger plans. He says Japan needs a new government. The strong survive and the weak are food for the strong. That's the way it is, Kaoru-san."
His hands crumpled the letter. They shook with a burning, smoldering rage, making his eyes flash a molten amber. But this gold wasn't playful, like it had been with Kaoru. It was murderous. Deadly. Why?
They had taken her.
Because of him, they had taken Kaoru. Her ribbon was left with the note, the faint hints of blood marking it. Whether it was hers or not, he couldn't tell. It was making him grow anxious.
'Damn him.'
He walked back to his room, ignored the group still standing and looking like a group of confused idiots, and grabbed a sheathed sword.
He heard Sano's choked gasp and looked back, voicing only three words:
"She's been taken."
Kaoru sighed. Considering she was kidnapped, this was rather boring. All Soujiro did was smile freakishly at her, sometimes checking a watch. He made small 'tsking' sounds now and then, as if disappointed.
Crazy bastard.
A small sound reached her ears, and she looked up, red entering her vision.
"Kenshin!"
All her doubt, all her fear, everything that had caused her to be afraid, it flew out the window. She wanted him to look at her, to smile and say everything was okay. That she was getting out of here, and they could both go back and be happy forever.
Okay, the last part was a bit stretched…
But he didn't even look at her. His amber gaze settled on Soujiro, who's smile became larger.
"Himura-san. I see you have come. Good."
Kenshin nodded, eyes narrowing in distrust.
Why was this boy smiling? It was making him damned hard to read. Normally he could tell everything from the chi, but this boy's aura was…just…happy.
Nothing but happy.
But it was so fake, it faded into a nothingness he couldn't decipher.
"Let Kaoru go."
It wasn't a request. It was a demand, and it made Kaoru shiver. This was not Kenshin…not her Kenshin…this was Hitokiri Battousai, the cold-blooded murderer.
Soujiro smiled, shaking his head.
"Gomen nasai, but Shishio-san will not permit her to leave."
Kenshin's fists tightened and he unsheathed the sword. For the first time, Soujiro's face showed some emotion other than perpetual happiness and surprise flitted across his face.
"A-"
"-sakabatou!" Kaoru finished for him, confused. What in the seven hells was going on!
Kenshin was not about to waste time here. He sheathed his sword carefully. It was his fault Kaoru was here, and he was going to get her out, or die trying. He settled into a battoujutsu stance, narrowing his eyes at the boy.
"We will have one round. Winner is the last one standing. No exceptions." He stated his orders so calmly, Kaoru couldn't help but be in awe. Battousai had scared her at first, but now…
…he was just Kenshin in disguise. Underneath the mask of hatred and anger, there was a softness that kept him sane. And…he was using a sakabatou. He wasn't ALL evil.
'Gods, please let us live through this.'
Soujiro smiled (Gods, when DOESN'T the boy smile?), and unsheathed his own katana.
"A battoujutsu stance? Then I shall take one as well." He moved into the same position, his smile becoming sweeter by the second. They both just stood there, Kaoru tied up and off to the side. They were so caught up in gauging each other's weaknesses and defenses, they missed Kaoru scooting to a sharp piece of wood near a broken beam. She began trying to cut herself free.
'Must get free, must get Battousai, must get out. Must get free, must get Battousai, must get out.' It was a mantra, repeating in her head to keep her focused, although the air rippling around the two men was enough to make her dizzy. Kenshin's, while strong and angry, was calming and warm, and sent her into a euphoria of sensations. His chi was extremely distracting, while Soujiro's was just strong. It showed no signs of his movements, or what he was planning.
And then he moved. 'Gods, he's fast.' Soujiro rushed at him, and he pulled his sword out quickly. The swords met with a loud and reverberating clang, and both winced lightly at the impact of force. And then, Kenshin's sakabatou was cracking, breaking, falling…
…the sword was broken in half.
Kaoru's eyes widened. The sword…it was broken…and Soujiro's was still intact. Which meant that Seta Soujiro was the winner.
But then, a small noise drew all of their attention to his sword, and they watch in awe and fascination as small, irreparable cracks riddled the swords sharp edge. Soujiro lifted a happy face to Kenshin, smiling brightly.
"It seems we have underestimated you, Himura-san. It shall not happen again. We have come to a draw today, but perhaps another time?"
And she was freeee!
Kaoru grinned and held up her hands, rubbing her chaffed wrists. She quickly reached down and untied her feet, standing up and moving to Kenshin. It was then she realized that they were on…maybe the second floor of the building. Out of the window she could see the tops of trees, not trunks. The glass was broken in a few, and some were closed but extremely dirty.
'Niiice. They picked the most disgusting place to hold me hostage they could. I feel oh-so-loved.'
And then, a small chuckle and a plop of light falling into a line of gas leading to the other barrels interrupted. Kaoru's face showed pure, true horror, as she watched the match fall and land, and fire immediately raced to hell itself.
Kenshin gave a choked growl, rushing for Kaoru. He picked her up, watching as whoever had lit the match disappeared. He had to get her out, before it reached those barrels, or she would be caught in the explosion.
Soujiro was forgotten.
But this was the second story! He could jump out, but could he do it without hurting her? Would he land far enough away that she wouldn't be harmed? Gods, this was taking too much time, and it was steadily getting closer.
All logic flew out the window as it reached two feet away from the barrels.
He raced for the window, giving the terrified Kaoru a quick kiss before throwing her out of the window, just as the blast went off. The shock waves sent his head into the sill, and he blacked out.
"KENSHIN?" She fell to the ground, watching him smile before fading away into her own darkness.
'I'm dead.'
She opened her eyes, feeling an immense amount of pain.
'Damn it, no I'm not.'
The fire was being put out, and she was surrounded by firefighters. Soon, only a little bit of dying embers was left. She was wrapped in a blanket, and was given a drink before remembering.
"Kenshin! Where's Kenshin! Tell me where you have him!" She grabbed one of the men's shirts, shaking him and staring with large eyes.
He blinked in confusion, then sympathy as he removed her hands. He looked a bit like her grandpa, too old and tired of his job. She frowned at him.
"I'm sorry, miss, but there's no one in there. The fire burned everything up, except this."
He pulled out something shiny, something strong yet fragile, something…
His sakabatou.
Numb. Have any of you felt so lost, you just wouldn't believe anything anyone told you. Multiply that by about a hundred. You'll feel about a tenth of what she's feeling.
She began to laugh, laugh hysterically as she took the sword fragments and held them to her. She could vaguely hear people pushing past other policemen.
"Hey dammit! We're friends of that girl! Yeah, the crazy one!"
"Sanosuke, shut up! You idiot, what the hell's wrong with you?"
"Could you please let us in? Aoshi-sama, make them let us in!"
Kaoru kept laughing, and tears welled up in her eyes. The group finally broke through. Mori, Maho and Misao immediately headed for Kaoru, hugging her. She stopped laughing, but the tears remained.
She clutched the steel to her breast tighter as Sanosuke's eyes widened in realization. He looked at the firemen, and a darkness seemed to consume them.
"He's…not here. He's gone!"
Kaoru just started staring. Nothingness was nice. There were such pretty flashbacks. She could see Kenshin, as she had first met him. Standing there, smiling at Sano and Aoshi. Then she saw him at the pool where they had found Yahiko.
Then at the mall/shop place. Then in their rooms. The party. The song, his eyes, gold, purple, it was all a rush. He was rushing past her, fading. And a last picture of him, smiling as he fainted against the windowsill, mouthing a word she had missed before.
'Aishiteru.'
And Kaoru fell to her knees and screamed.
She sobbed, screamed, curled up and let her chi fly around her. The entire group was effected, and felt the stabbing pain jolting through their own veins. They felt the icy rush of grief, mortification and loneliness.
It was a horrible sensation that no souls should ever suffer, and if this was what it was like for them, what about Kaoru? The girl lay huddled on the ground, holding the sakabatou so tightly it cut her small, smooth hands. And she just kept crying, her hysterical sobs fading to rapid tears.
Kaoru kept crying into the night, letting one thought run through her head.
'He dead, he's dead, he's dead, he's dead…'
I'm going to run away now! I'm really sorry. When I first started this story, I had NO intention of killing Kenshin off. At all. Nope. None.
I would like to tell sRoze that I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! You gave me so much happiness, I was able to finish this chapter finally.
One thing I WOULD like to say about the story itself. 'The relationship seems a bit rushed.' Yeah, yeah. I know. But the thing is, I had to make them love each other within a week time span. Lets say love at first sight at its best, mmkay?
Really, though, Kaoru was the only one (until now) to actually say how she felt. Kenshin was just (as far as WE know) physically attracted to her. Until this chapter, however, when I FINALLY MADE HIM SAY IT!
Kenshin: I'm dead?
AA: Yep.
Kenshin: WHY?
AA: I really don't know. But now that you're not in the cast, I get you to myself. Watsuki-san thinks I'm borrowing you for much longer.
Kenshin: …O.o
AA: -drags Kenshin off somewhere-
