Deep Into The Unknown

Chapter 5
Answers Given

Kenshin slowly got up from his seat and turned to face Night Flash. Night Flash just gave her evil smile and led Kenshin to the kitchen and took a seat on the far side of the table. He took the seat opposite of her and waited patiently for her to begin.

Night Flash took a deep breath and began her tale.

"It started many years ago. I was the first of her many personalities who came. I came when her parents were killed by an unknown assassin. He tried to kill Kaoru as well, but I told her how to release us and I fought him off. Then I calmly retreated back into her mind, only to come out when I was needed. That was the way it went for many years. That was before the others came.

Silver Streak was the next one to arrive. Since her parent's death Kaoru had been miserable. She locked away her emotions and vowed never to show them ever again. Then she met this one boy who was always made fun of. She saved him during one of his sessions of being attacked by the other children. The boy had looked up to her and she decided that maybe it was the time to forget her vow and to actually show her emotions once again. That however did not last long.

A few weeks after saving the kid, his parents got in a violent fight. The boy and his mother died and the father committed suicide. The news stunned Crimson Light beyond belief. Once again she retreated into herself and this time the vow continued for 7 years. By that time she had entered high school. She was made fun of like that boy, but she never showed her persecutors how she felt. Then Kuro Ryū had arrived. Kuro took it upon herself to be Crimson Light's guardian, and set out to show those fools just who they were messing with. She acted like she was going to tell them something important after school, and acted like they all were friends. When they got outside, she proceeded to kick their asses. She nearly killed them all. Crimson Light regained control just in time to spare their lives. Since then she's become more careful of who she talks to and who she lets close to her.

Now we start to descend to the darker sides other than myself. First is Tooriama. As you can tell, she's one of the sides you don't want to meet. Because of Kuro being around, we forced Crimson Light to undergo rigorous training. She was noticed and was asked to do a few assassination missions. If I'm correct she did about 20 missions. Then she decided to quit. She told her boss she got bored of it all. He forcefully insisted she stay and she revealed to him how she became such a good assassin. He met Tooriama for the first and last time.

Next is Akuma. You'll know it's her when Crimson Light's eyes turn red. She's about 5 times worse than me, so you might want to run then. She goes insane and will kill anything that moves, no matter what it is. All the stress of having the other sides slowly started getting to her. She separated herself from what little friends she had. One night she was training when she started remembering the past. The next thing she knew, her katana was deeply embedded in a large tree trunk. She decided it was best to leave her hometown and to find a quite place, like the Carpathian Mountains. She stayed there for a few years making a few friends with men like Mikhail Dubrinsky and Adian Savage, just to name a couple. They showed her how to suppress the others and taught her a few attacks in their style of swordsmanship. She then came back to her home, where you found and kidnapped her.

Finally there's Aka Ryū. She's the second appointed guardian. I can tell you're getting bored so I'll make this as brief as possible. I chose several defensive techniques that Mikhail showed Crimson Light. We attempted to duplicate them, but since the balance of power was tilted toward evil, it never seemed to work. After many failed attempts, we had just about given up. It seemed that only Carpathians could do it because they managed to overcome the darkness around their souls. However, during training, Kuro Ryū was knocked out and Akuma went after Crimson Light. Before Crimson Light was hit, Akuma was sent flying. Aka Ryū stepped forward and took Kuro's place. The two began fighting while the others watched. Kuro regained consciousness and at first thought about attacking Aka Ryū but began fighting Akuma as well. Akuma retreated and the two dragons sized each other up before shaking hands. The techniques were tried once again and they worked. Thus Crimson Light was able to hold the others off longer than before.

That concludes my tale. I don't care if you believe it, because you'll find out the truth soon enough. You know my power, but you'll soon know the other's. You really don't want to meet Akuma and if you do, you should heed my warning. I'm not sure how long Crimson Light can hold her back." Night Flash finished as she got up from her seat. An arm reached out and pulled her back. She looked and saw Battousai's eyes glow amber, and she refrained letting Crimson Light out to show him how much she feared him.

"Why are you afraid?" His cold voice asked.

"I'm not afraid of you. Crimson Light is. From the way you act, I can't blame her."

"Have you forgotten who I am? I'm not one people like. I'm not surprised that she fears me. Everyone else does, so why not her as well."

"However you have a nicer side. Yet you never allow him any freedom. You should since it might calm Crimson Light down."

"Why should I care how she feels?" Battousai asked with his fists clenched. His anger was reaching a boiling point.

"Because if she's angry I'll come out and we'll have an interesting little chat. A chat with swords that is." Night Flash replied with a smirk on her lips. "Now if you don't mind this discussion ended a while ago." She stated as she twisted out of Battousai's grip and walked back into the living room of the apartment.

She was suddenly slammed into the wall. She turned her head and saw red hair. She elbowed Battousai in the stomach and turned around to face him. "It's not over yet." He said as he shoved her back into the wall. "I never wanted it to come to this but you asked for it." A new voice called back. Battousai was knocked to the ground since his legs fell from underneath him. He looked up and saw dark red eyes. "Who are you?" he asked while getting to his feet. "My name is Aka Ryū. You've crossed a line, Battousai. You've officially made a dragon your enemy." Aka Ryū replied while she drew her dual bladed katanas.

As if on cue a voice across the hall yelled, "What's going on in there? People are trying to sleep." Shortly after that the door opened and Sanosuke walked in, only to be met with two pairs of heated stares. " I hope I'm not interrupting anything?" He asked while staring at Aka Ryū's katanas. Kaoru's eyes faded back to blue and she looked up to see Battousai's glare. "I'm sorry. I'll leave you two alone to talk now." She said while keeping her head down. She turned and walked to the first room she found and shut the door, leaving a baffled Sano staring at Kenshin.

"Ok. What did you do this time?" Sano asked.

"You act as if it's all my fault."

"That's because it always is. You should lighten up around Jou-Chan. It's not like she wants to be here, but yet she has to put up with you all the time. I kinda feel sorry for her." Sano said as he walked back to his apartment. Kenshin stared at the closed door for a moment before searching for Kaoru.

It wasn't too hard to find her since she had chosen the door the led to his room. He opened the door and found her huddled in the farthest corner from the door. His eyes flashed amber once before turning purple. "Miss Kaoru I'm not going to hurt you. I promise." He said as he walked toward the corner. Kaoru shrank back as far as she could as he drew closer. Kenshin visibly flinched when he saw just how scared she was. He sat down in front of her and pulled her to him in an embrace. She reacted just as he feared she would. She struggled to get out of his hold, which made him hold on tighter. He felt something wet on his shoulder that made his heart sink. He was the cause of all of this and he knew it.

"Why won't you leave me alone? All you want to do is hurt me in some way. Please leave me alone." Kaoru said in a whisper. Kenshin let go and turned her to face him. "Now why would I want to hurt you Kaoru?" He asked with sincerity in his eyes. Kaoru turned her head away as a tear fell down her cheek. Kenshin reached out and wiped it away. "You asked why? It's what you do. Ever since you've met me that's all you've done. It's all you'll ever do." Kaoru softly replied as the tears continued to fall. The reply startled Kenshin so much that his hold loosed and Kaoru slipped past him and ran out the door. Kenshin quickly followed until he saw Kaoru trip and fall. He caught her before she hit the ground. He carried her to the couch and sat with her head on his shoulder while her tears subsided. When they finally stopped, Kenshin noticed something. She had fallen asleep on top of him. He blushed bright red and tried to move without disturbing her, but she grabbed his neck and held on. His assassin training had never covered this. His eyes turned back to amber as he slipped out of her grasp, almost waking her. Battousai sighed as he walked into his room, grabbed a spare quilt, and placed it carefully over Kaoru. He then grabbed his katana and headed out the door to the meeting he was told to attend at the first opportunity.

He walked down the long corridors and walked toward the meeting room, where Katsura was waiting on him. Battousai stood over in the corner and waited for Katsura to speak.

"Do you know why I called you here?"

"Yes, but I have a feeling you're going to tell me anyway."

"You're right. As you probably know, the Shinsangumi are gathering their forces. One in particular you might be interested in is now going by the name Goro Fujita now. I'm sure you'll be able to figure out who he is. Also as far as the murder of the girl's father, it is none of your concern. If she wants to hunt the killer down, she can. However I'll not waste any of my forces on a mission that won't benefit this organization. You can tell her that if you wish, but do not volunteer your services to such a mission. If you do, I'll have this whole organization hunting the both of you down. Is that clear?"

"I understand, but I think you'd better think of how many lives you'll lose if you send anyone after me. You know my power Katsura. If you won't help Kaoru, then I will. No matter what the consequences may be. As for Mr. Fujita, I think I might have a chat with him. Why didn't you tell me that the Wolf of Mibu was in town?"

"I thought you would enjoy finding it out yourself. I know that you two have a few scores to settle, so when would you ever get a better chance?" Katsura replied as he motioned for Battousai to leave. Battousai quickly left and rushed back to his room. He heard sobbing on the other side of the door. Then he smelled blood, and opened the door.

Kaoru stood by the window, blood coming from a cut by her lower lip while she stared at her own reflection with hatred. Battousai resisted heading toward her and let this play out. Kaoru reached up and wiped the blood away with disgust.

"How could I be so stupid? Silver Streak, I want you to take over here, in case Battousai comes back." She spoke aloud without realizing it. Battousai watched closely as her eyes glazed over and were replaced with silver. Silver Streak sighed as the fight began. She then felt a hand on her arm. She turned and saw Battousai's bright amber eyes.

"What is she doing?"

"She's training. Why should you care?"

"Because it's my job. I'm supposed to be taking care of her until she's outlived her usefulness."

Red eyes stared back at him. "Is that the real reason? I think you're hiding your feelings from yourself. That would explain the Rurouni. You should never hide from yourself. You had a choice in acquiring another personality. Aka Hikari didn't."

"Hikari?"

"That's right. Aka Hikari or Crimson Light. I figured you of all people would know what it meant."

"Why do you protect her?"

"It's my duty to her. Unlike you, I have no hidden motive. I never will. I vowed when I met her to help Kuro Ryū protect her until I am killed. Seeing as only those two can kill us, I shall not fear their judgment, but accept it." Aka Ryū replied while moving away from Battousai.

"Even if the one you must protect her from is yourself?"

"Are you implying that I would harm Aka Hikari?" She asked while mentally watching the fight.

"No. By the way, who's winning?"

That was the last draw for Aka Ryū. "That is none of your business, mortal. If she was in danger of being killed, either Kuro Ryū or myself would assist her. Now if you wish to live you'll back up and stop asking questions." She stated while reaching for her katana, which was on the couch near her.

Battousai beat her to it. He grinned and tossed it to the other side of the room. Aka Ryū growled and began watching him closely. All he did was smirk and wait for her to move. When she made a motion to go for the sword, he moved to block her path. All she did was laugh.

"So you're finally ready to play?" She asked as she flipped over him and grabbed her sword. Battousai moved to knock her feet out from underneath her, but she jumped up and kicked him in the face. Battousai swore under his breath and reached out to grab her. She ducked under his arm and knocked his feet out from under him.

"Having fun yet?" She asked with she playfully dodged his attacks. 'She's enjoying this? What the hell is she?' He thought to himself as he tried to get her sword away from her, which she had yet to use. Finally she let her guard down. Battousai launched himself at her and knocked her to the ground. She elbowed him in the neck, neatly knocking the wind out of him. While he struggled for breath, Aka Ryū shoved him off her.

"You're a fool. It's impossible for you to win so just give up."

"You think for one second that I'm going to let this fight go on? Sorry to disappoint you bitch, but that isn't going to happen." He replied as he grabbed her waist and pinned her to the ground. She continued to struggle and he was losing patience.

"If you value Aka Hikari's life, you'll stop struggling. You're only making this harder for her."

"I'll never let you have your way with her. She's been through too much for me to allow that to happen." She replied as she brought her knee up and caught him in a very sensitive area. Battousai had no choice but to loosen his hold on her. She took advantage of it and kicked him in the face. While he was on the ground, she smiled and walked out the door. Battousai gritted his teeth against the pain and stood up. His whole body was bruised and battered but that didn't matter. He had to get her back.

He ran out the door and right into Sano. Battousai pushed Sano out of the way and ran after Aka Ryū. Sano shrugged and quickly ran after him. Battousai could faintly hear her footsteps, until they suddenly stopped. Sensing something was wrong, he stood perfectly still and began counting the seconds until it was safe to move. He peeked around the corner to see the main door open and a pair of footprints in the snow. Battousai cursed his luck and grabbed one of the nearby coats, not caring who it belonged to, and ran out into the snow.

A.N.: There's chapter 5 for you. Remember that I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or any of the Carpathians. The Carpathians belong to Christine Feehan. Sorry about the sudden ending, but it was necessary. I'll get to work on the next chapter. Thanks to all my reviewers and my beta reader.