Eternal Bonds of Fate

Chapter 5: Entering the dragon's lair

I will strive to hold on to my sanity.

I will not give in to the darkness.

I will not let the past control me…

Silverine eyes glimmered in the dark as the metallic swish of her sword sounded in the night. Gritting her teeth, she controlled the fierce uncontrollable blood thirst struggling to consume her entire being. Moving soundlessly in the dark, she struggled to control her breathing as she moved with ease, the wind stirring the cheery blossoms floating around her body. The sword almost weightless in her hand. Lowering her sword arm, she tilted her head and stared into the deep starry night as she spoke out to an unseen person hidden in the tress.

"Good evening, Kenshin. Can't sleep as well?"

Moving from the cover of the night, he stepped forward until the clouds revealed his form as leaned back on the trunk of an old cherry tree. "Same with you as well?" he asked her, his amber eyes watching her every move.

She merely chuckled as she moved gracefully, quietly beside him and dropped down beside him. Leaning her head on the tree behind her as she looked up at him. "Who can sleep after everything that's happened today…"

"Hnnn, point taken. Demo, I don't think you should be pushing yourself…" he whispered as he slid down beside her

She chuckled humorlessly, "I have to. I guess you've already seen how's my brother trains the rest of us?"

The red head beside her merely nodded and looked at her, gone was the angry amber, it was now replaced by a swirling combination of both amethyst and amber. They had already been in the grounds for three weeks now. The first week, they had been toured around the city, the following week, they had seen just how strict the Hizuchi Clan training was. They had just seen another bout of the said training earlier this day between the leader of the Hizuchi clan and the water priestess when the news arrived about the combined forces of the Sawane and Takeguchi Clans.

"It was just supposed to be me against Amano… how the heck did this come to be?" she whispered as she wrapped her arms around her upraised knees.

Kenshin placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Daijobou. Everything will turn out all right…"

Lifting her head as she looked directly into his eyes, her eyes were filled with apprehension. "This is a war we're going into, Kenshin… I don't think that we'd be able to uphold our ideals not to kill anyone."

Clenching his teeth, he sighed and held her face in his hands, leaning forward until his forehead rested against hers. "I know… but I guess this is exactly what they say: we can't escape our past… we are who we are."

She shook her head, "I don't want to… I don't want you to get involved in this, all of you. I don't want you to kill anymore…" she told him through her tears.

He chuckled at her words. How so very like her… to think of others without regard to her own self. "You can't handle this all by yourself… and there's no way that we're leaving you behind." Shushing her before she could draw breath to argue, he smiled comfortingly at her. Sliding his around her neck and under her knees, he lifted her effortlessly as he stood up in one fluid motion.

"You need to go to sleep. And if I'm not mistaken, your brother is going to furiously train you tomorrow." He told her as he headed towards the forbidden forest. His brows quirked down at her when they reached the edge of the forest. Looking up at him and to the forest, she bit her lower lip to contain her chuckle. Waving her arm, the trees before them disappeared to reveal the clearing that formed as her private sanctuary. Moving silently, he quickly made his way to the hut beside the stream. Removing his slippers, he entered the hut and laid Kaoru on the futon found at the other edge of the room. He smiled gently down at her already sleeping form and covered her with a blanket. Just as he reached the door, her husky voice stopped him, turning slightly he listened intently to her voice. Nodding at her given instructions, he silently closed the shoji and left the Forbidden Forest. Eyeing the clearing, he smiled quietly before he uttered silent words covering the clearing once again with trees.

"It looks like you've just been given the special privilege to enter her sanctuary whenever you want."

Kenshin smiled as he faced Gentatsu. "Hai… I consider myself very lucky de gozaru."

The sorcerer merely looked at the forest with worried eyes. "I'm sorry to have brought you into this, Battousai."

The other swordsman merely shook his head, "Iie. Truth be told, I'm glad to be here. At least I'll be able to protect her." Came the quiet response before he moved stealthily back to the house.

Silver eyes slid shut, "Please protect her, Battousai… she's going to need it."

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Misao sighed as they stopped and eyed the gates that served as the boundary into the city of Fukushima. Staring up at the twin crystals perched at the top of the two columns, she stepped forward and reached out to touch one of the columns.

"If you don't want yourself to burn yourself to a crisp, then I suggest you step back from that column weasel girl."

Jumping in surprise at the Mibu wolf's harsh voice, the young onmitsu glared at the former Shinsengumi warrior. "Quit calling me weasel!" she yelled out loud.

Aoshi stood quietly beside her and held her upper arm in firm restraint and looked at the rest of their company. Aside from the Mibu Wolf, the entire Oniwabanshuu onmitsu were with them along with the former head of the Ishinshishi, Katsura Kogoro and the head of the Japanese defense ministry. Kenshin's mentor went along with them after the word spread about the incoming war, much to the delight of Okon and Omasu.

"We were told that there would be someone here to meet us." Aoshi told him neutrally.

The Mibu wolf nodded to the direction of the two columns. As they all looked towards the gates, they saw two figures perched on top of the tower crystals, the one on the left positioned, aimed and ready to shoot an arrow at them while the other at the right stood positioned in an offensive stance. A third figure stood before them, all three veiled by the evening mist, standing quietly and still as if waiting for something.

"The cherry blossoms falls silently into the night…" came the soft whisper from the figure standing before all of them.

Saitou came forward and finished the rest of the verse that stood as a password to the new comers… "to conceal the beauty of the executioner sent by the heavens."

The mist dissipated as the figure moved forward to reveal the grinning face of Kaoru Kamiya. Misao grinned widely when she saw the Tokyo swordswoman.

"Kaoru-san!" she yelled happily, running at top speed to her friend.

Chuckling at her friend, Kaoru bowed politely at the rest of the guests. Looking up, she gave a silent signal to the other two guards in approval. Lowering their weapons, the two jumped from their perches and let the moonlight reveal the also smiling countenance of two women.

"A pleasant evening to all of you. My name is Kaoru Mizume Kamiya, and these are my companions… the Lady Reika Hikawa and Lady Itsuki Minamori. We have been sent by our lord, Gentatsu Hirekaiwa, the leader of the Hizuchi Clan, to come and meet with you." She told them in hushed tones. Moving gently to the side, she motioned them to follow her with a mild tilt of her head.

Misao moved forward and opened her mouth to ask her friend what she was doing there when the young shihondai lifted a finger to her lips in a gesture for her not to speak and be quiet. Noticing the sharpness in the younger girls eyes, Reika lifted her head a bit and listened to their surroundings. Lifting a hand up in the air in a closed fist, the rest of their companions recognized the gesture to be still and be quiet.

Moving her hands inside her kimono, Kaoru looked at Itsuki and nodded to her. Itsuki then moved back and slowly motioned the others to follow her while Reika moved forward to join Kaoru in front. Slowly whispering words of incantation, she watched with worried eyes at the two female standing in front of them. A few moments later, the petite raven haired girl moved her arms sideways to reveal gleaming metal rods. Shrugging her arms, the kimono she wore dropped from her shoulders and pooled at her feet revealing her black uniform. Moving stealthily sideways, she stood beside a tree and looked at her taller companion and swiped the tree with the twin rods. As the tree fell, the ambush team from the Sawane Clan appeared and surrounded the two girls. Kaoru and Reika both smirked with deadly malice as the earth priestess crunched her knuckles and the twin rods became gleaming metallic fans with a snap of the water priestess' wrists.

Okon and Omasu yelped and tried to move forward to help the two girls when a bright light engulfed all of them. Misao glared in confusion at the wind priestess… "Our priority is to get all of you to safety. Don't worry. Those girls need the practice anyway…" Itsuki told them before she closed her eyes once more to concentrate on her incantation as the rest watched in morbid fascination at the battle taking place before them.

As Reika moved to the side, her fist met with one of the assassins' gut causing him to be thrown backwards forcefully into a tree knocking him out cold as the rest charged altogether armed with daggers, katana's and poison darts. As one man threw darts at Kaoru as she sparred with two assassins, Misao yelped out a cry of warning just as the darts reached her. Swiftly turning on her feet, she quickly used her fan to deflect the darts and use the other to block the in coming slash to her left side. Snapping one fan closed, she used it to slash her attacker directly on the neck while slowly moving her other wrist in a rotating motion. Swiftly moving beside her companion, she grinned wolfishly as the earth priestess delivered two consecutive punches similar in strength with Sanosuke's uncontrolled punch.

"Get down…" she whispered to the chocolate haired priestess as she turned to the other side in one quick movement. Spreading her legs wide apart, she eyed the rest of their enemies as the remaining standing men encircled them, tilting her head to the side, she lifted the hand that had been continuously spinning the fan on her wrist. The persistent action had caused it to accumulate the air around them, each swift revolution makes the air it gathers stronger. Now, as she lifted her arm, the air around her followed the movement of her arm, her loose hair whipping up uncontrollably along with the front and back parts of her uniform, exposing her long and lithe limbs, the thighs were covered with white bandages and above it were daggers strapped onto both extremities.

"Can we finish this now?" she called out loud to the men. At first, they didn't move and Kaoru thought that they wouldn't actually attack, but after a few moments, they moved simultaneously towards the raven haired girl. Just before they reached her, one man saw the earth priestess roll to the side and disappear in a flash only to reappear inside the protective barrier placed by Itsuki, in the last instant, he pushed with all his body to move back, to escape the attack that was sure to kill all of them. Silver eyes glittering, Kaoru screamed and pushed the air revolving around her down to the ground below her by lowering her arm and adding a distinct amount of her own ki to ensure that no one would be able to escape her attack.

As the wind was forced forcefully downward, it slammed into the hard earth and was pushed up just as forcefully and deadlier due to the added ki, completely destroying everything around the center of the spiraling wind. As the dust settled, the occupants inside the protective barrier coughed due to the dirt conjured by the attack. Looking up, Misao blinked and stared her friend who stood still in the middle of a completely devastated area. The trees surrounding them had been absolutely obliterated, including the assassins that have attacked them. All except one.

Struggling to control her breath, Kaoru merely lifted her head, crystal silver eyes gleaming, expression grim and merely nodded towards the injured man. Due to his last minute reprieve, he had been able to escape the powerful attack… lucky enough to live, but not that lucky to be able to escape unscathed. Saitou smirked at the tanuki girl and hauled the assassin none-too-gently to his feet. Noticing that the man would not be able to cause them any trouble, he gripped the back of the assassin's tattered uniform and dragged him along as he walked towards the three priestesses.

"Something tells me that we are about to learn a lot of things on this little jaunt." He told them sardonically. Kaoru merely kept quiet and as the others came to surround them she straightened herself despite her friends disapproval. Lifting her other hand, a bright light engulfed all of them and when it disappeared, they all saw that they were now in front of a majestic temple with the rest of the Kenshin-gumi and the leader of the Hizuchi Clan standing there to greet them.

All heads turned when they all heard the high pitched scream of Kaoru's name and just in time to see Reika grab the girl's waist as she collapsed unconscious.

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AN: Wheee! Here's the next chapter, hope you guys like this one! I'll try my best to start on the next chapter… thanks a lot for the reviews, it really helps boost my imagination to keep going! Me gonna need help as well, can any of you guys tell me the name of the defense minister in RK? The one that showed up looking for Kenshin on the first few episodes and the fung shui episodes? Me need help… me need his name badly… Wai! Me forgot! Wai! Wai! Do you think I should bring Tomoe back from the dead? (chuckles evilly) Tomoe's spirit come to haunt us… (ahihihihihi!) Don't forget revies are very much appreciated and the minister's name? Help? Arigatou! Ja ne!

Aoi-chan