Gasping, she again found herself sprawled on her back, eyes wide in horror.
His face was mocking, with a humorless smile that did little to compliment his blazing eyes. The blade was in his grasp now, his free hand wrapped around her slender throat.
"And what do we have here."
Damn it!
She gasped in pain as he hauled her harshly to her feet. Tossing the tanto carelessly over his shoulder, his eyes never left hers.
"No more hiding."
Her eyes glittered with temper as he ripped the veil off of her face.
What he saw took his breath away.
Almost as effectively as the dainty fist she planted in his stomach. Earning a grunt of surprise, she dropped to her knee and used one long leg to knock his legs out from under him.
However, that move he was expecting, as he wrapped long fingers around her ankle.
A word more accustomed to back alleys and sordid tea houses burst from her lips as she fell painfully on her stomach, her fingers just mere inches away from the knife embedded in the floorboards.
"You little minx," he breathed harshly; dragging her towards him, suffering bruises and bumps as her legs and fists flailed out.
Gasping for breath, she flailed out, hearing his oath. Panicked, Kaoru reached into her tousled hair, wrapping her fingers around a small, sheathed blade.
She never had the chance to use it.
Grabbing her wrist and twisting it enough to cause her to cry out in pain, Battousai grit his teeth as he tried to dislodge the weapon from her hand. She had, he thought, a grip of steel. He could attempt to wrestle it out of her some more, but he calculated that someone, namely him, would require some serious stitching up afterwards.
Pulling her under him, he smashed her mouth to his; taking advantage of the bright blind haze of fury that he knew clouded her vision. The knife clattered to the floor. As soon as the sound registered in both of their fevered minds, Battousai successfully caged her hands and legs under his, hissing in pain when the sharp heel of a shoe made contact with his already abused shin.
"Give me one good reason that I really shouldn't just kill you now," he hissed, fighting the urge to moan and lick his wounds. He would be tender in the morning, which infuriated him.
"I'm not about to give you the satisfaction of begging for my life, you murderer!"
Raising an arched eyebrow, he reminded her belatedly that she was the one who had come with an assassination on the mind.
She flushed, but regained her dignity as well as she could. Silent, she glared at him from under a dark scowl, one that did nothing to subtract from her beauty.
"Just my luck," he mused thoughtfully as he scanned the room for something to tie her with. "Just my bloody luck that I would get a girl who looks like some kind of fairy tale princess to come and try to kill me."
She remained silent, narrowed eyes sending all sort of dark threats.
"Yeah, well, hime, I do not like you too much either." Nudging a blanket roll towards the futon, he used his teeth to undo the rope that held the roll together. Hissing in annoyance as she hit him in the back of the head with those hideous western high heels, he worked as quickly as he could with her resistance, tying her wrists together. He withdrew a small wakizashi from a band on his forearm, chuckling darkly when her eyes widened a small fraction at the sight of the blade.
"It would serve you right, but fortunately for you, I do not feel like fighting anymore," he informed her. Burying the blade in the wooden floor, he looped the rope around the protruding hilt and, with a sigh, leaned back to assess the damage.
The room- he thought darkly- looked as though a tsunami had blown past it. Make that, he sighed, a tsunami with no survivors. The futon was slashed down the middle, it and the pillows standing as innocent victims of the small blade/hairpin. Feathers had rained down to cover the victimized floor, and not many of the tables and pieces of furniture had managed to come out unscathed.
The only thing that remained untouched was his sword rack, bearing his katana and his wakizashi. He did not know if he was to be thankful or bitter.
He looked at the girl again, smiled gently. She only could blink at the rapid change of being. Even his eyes had switched from the fiery amber to a subdued, somber violet.
"Well, seeing as you tried to kill me, I would say that we've gotten to know each other quite well," he murmured. She failed to answer, only looking away at his gentle searching of her face.
"Who sent you?"
Silence.
"Why were you sent?"
Silence.
"What is your name?"
Silence.
His teeth girt against each other in a sign of annoyance. By the gods, this girl was trying on one's patience!
"What. Is. Your. Name. Answer me, girl."
"Kamiya Kaoru."
He raised a slim eyebrow at her stony voice. "Well. I cannot say that I'm pleased to meet you under the current circumstances, but it…was interesting."
He rose to pace the room, idly stooping down to pick up random fallen objects.
"Since I really cannot fathom letting you go after you have really tried to assassinate me, and I have no desire to kill you yet, I am afraid that there is only one option, Kamiya-dono."
Her blue eyes widened impossibly. "Iie…"
"Hai, I'm afraid so. As of now, Kamiya-dono, you are to stay here, with me."