Ugh... what a night, Kaoru thought, blinking at late-morning sunlight as she levered herself out of bed. Pulling on jeans, she sniffed the air, catching a trace of brewing coffee. Did I set the timer on the coffeepot? Don't remember doing that. Then again, dream I had last night, I'm surprised I remember my own head. She yawned. Sorcerers, sword-spirits, guys with magic and guns... man, I have to lay off on the fantasy books before bed-
"Snerk..."
Rubbing away sleep-sand from her eyes, Kaoru glowered at the six-foot, spiky-haired agent sprawled under a purple sheet and dinosaur-patterned blanket on her futon, currently tangled around himself so he was drooling on the back of his arm. Not a dream. Damn it.
Yahiko was currently as limply sprawled on her couch, sleeping bag pulled up almost over his mussed brown hair. The blankets she'd lent Kenshin were piled neatly at his feet.
"Kenshin," Kaoru whispered, hand clenched near her heart. The patch of living room wall he'd claimed last night was empty save for a sheathed sword, small bookcase no longer leaned against by a tired redhead. Gone? But he promised - he promised - ooo, I'm going to kill him-!
"Shhh..."
She jerked toward that soft whisper, gaze traveling up from bare feet to off-white folds of hakama, strands of red drifting over one of her oversized blue sweatshirts, and finally, bright violet eyes.
Kenshin smiled shyly, holding up a steaming black mug. "Coffee."
Thoughts of mayhem tossed aside, Kaoru headed for the beckoning pot.
"Ahhh..." She breathed deep of her half-empty mug of milk-laced ambrosia a few minutes later. Funny Kenshin had dug this one out; she'd have sworn she had the Statue of Liberty mug tucked into the back of the cup shelf. "And the curse is broken, and the beast returns to humanity."
"Hmm. So easy."
Kaoru opened her eyes in time to catch that flicker of - sadness? Regret? "Is something wrong?"
"Oh, it's nothing, Miss Kaoru. I-"
She glared.
Kenshin eeped, backing up, setting his own mug near a freshly-scrubbed spot on the kitchen counter as if he suddenly needed his hands free. "It's only - well - it was a long night for all of us, that it was-"
Kaoru gave him a considering look. "I always thought Beauty got gypped."
"...What?"
"Here she is, finally somewhere someone appreciates her, talks to her, takes her seriously - and when she tells the Beast she loves him, what does she get? A prince!" Kaoru rolled her eyes. "Do you have any idea what medieval princes were like? They were scum!"
"Er..."
"High-handed, aristocratic, inbred idiots," Kaoru said with great relish. "And the story says he's the one who got cursed. Must've been written by a guy."
Wide-eyed, Kenshin's gaze darted toward the doorway.
Oh no, you don't. "Kenshin. What's wrong?"
"...I broke two of your cups this morning."
"You what?" Kaoru smacked her temper a good one. He's really upset. "So you dropped some of my mugs. It's not a big deal-"
Blue-clad shoulders shifted. "I didn't drop them."
Do not throttle unhelpful shopkeeper-slash-swordsman. His brother would never forgive you. He might help, but he wouldn't forgive you. "Kenshin. I'm on my first cup of coffee. I'm not in any shape to do twenty questions. What happened?"
Sighing, Kenshin fished her dustbin out from under the sink. Dug past coffee-soaked paper towels to take out the cracked remnants of half a flower-painted green mug. Flexed the fingers of his left hand, and closed them on the smooth curve remaining.
Claws bit through glazed ceramic like thick mud.
"...Okay," Kaoru said after a moment's tongue-tied shock. "That... kind of explains the smell of coffee on the floor- Kenshin!" God, he's fast! But he wasn't used to long hair yet, and her fingers had been just quick enough.
She walked her hand up the length of crimson strands, marveling at the soft warmth. Tickles... whoa, that was static! Part of her wasn't even surprised; it felt almost like silky fur, and his form was wire-taut as a snow leopard about to leap for cover. "It's okay," Kaoru said firmly. "You didn't know. Coffee washes off. It's okay."
She could barely make out his words. "I could have hurt you."
Kaoru thumped the side of his head. "You and what army, buster!"
"But - I-"
"You broke two cups," Kaoru shrugged. "You should have seen me when I hit my awkward years. No, forget that; just wait until Yahiko puts on another inch or two - and he will, he definitely got the height in your family. Lock up the fine china, stick to cheap knockoffs, and chalk it up to experience." She rounded him until she could catch shy eyes. "Look. Look at these wrists. Do you see any scratches?"
Mute, he shook his head.
"So if you didn't hurt me last night, when you were trying to tear something apart - what on earth makes you think you're going to cut me up by accident?"
"I..." Kenshin dared to lift his gaze to hers. "I did not expect to have the chance to risk it, that I did not."
For a long moment Kaoru could barely breathe, reading the frank admission in frightened violet.
I came to save you. I came to stop him.
I never thought there would be an "after".
A faint, wry smile tugged at Kenshin's lips. "Battousai says this is only the second time he's had to deal with this problem. He wasn't truly conscious for the first one... yet he still remembers the shock when his first bearer realized he'd survived the Bakumatsu, against all odds. And that somehow he would have to live with what he had become." Violet slid aside. "I'm frightened of what I am, Miss Kaoru."
"I know." Kaoru let crimson slip through her fingers. "I'd be more scared if you weren't."
Kenshin bowed his head in acceptance. Started to step back.
"Hold it!" Where's a bokken when you need one, darn it? "I didn't say I was scared of you!"
He hesitated.
Keep talking. Fast! "I'm more worried about the guy camped out on my futon. I could've sworn he said he'd go home with that guy Katsu, but he ends up here... smooth-talking rooster-headed..."
"Sano?" Kenshin almost laughed. "He's harmless, Miss Kaoru. As long as you don't expect him to pick up the check."
Kaoru relaxed a little. "I notice he's not scared of you."
"He's been Crowley since he was eight," Kenshin said wryly. "Anyone raised on the streets by an Ishin Shishi ghost has a rather different definition of dangerous from the rest of us."
Bristly brown hair wandered into the kitchen, dark eyes still heavy with sleep. "Sano was raised by a ghost? Really?"
Kaoru stifled an eep, noting grumpily that Kenshin hadn't so much as turned a hair at his brother's sudden appearance. And he's the one with his back to the doorway! Not fair.
"He was," Kenshin nodded, glance silently asking permission to delve into her refrigerator for breakfast to go with the coffee. "Captain Souzou Sagara, of the First Unit of the Sekihou Army. Katsuhiro could still remember his last name when Sagara found them, but Sanosuke didn't. So when some of the Commune Elders drew up the paperwork, the captain gave him his."
"This, I have to hear," Kaoru announced, dragging out peanut butter and jelly for the bread Kenshin had found. Cooking might be an invitation to disaster, but she could make a pretty fair sandwich. "Are you telling me a ghost adopted Sano?"
"He did." Kenshin slathered strawberry over wheat bread. "Battousai remembers the case very well; it was the first time he'd met another Kin from the Bakumatsu in New York." Sandwich finished, he set it on Yahiko's plate and started another. "Katsu and Sano's families were part of a group of tourists from the West Coast. Their tour bus... took a very wrong turn. Very wrong." The knife stabbed into peanut butter. "There are things that live deep under the streets of New York, Yahiko. Very - horrible - things. And sometimes, those creatures come up near the surface to feed. Especially in the darkness of a bus terminal, during an unexpected blackout.
"We don't know what preyed on that bus. Captain Sagara swore he never got a good look; he just heard the shrieks, and arrived in time to chase off something shadowy from the two children. They'd been drained of life-force and memory, almost to death, but they still had the wits to run. It took him days to track them and talk them into trusting him. Weeks for him to arrange with fellow Commune members to talk with Target Alpha on neutral ground." Kenshin shrugged. "By that time, we'd already determined they had no living relatives left. The children trusted him. And... it would have been difficult, finding foster parents who would understand why they had a horror of the night. Target Alpha is not Child Services; so long as one of their agents checked to see the children were alive and reasonably sane, they saw no need to tamper with the situation." A distant smile touched his face. "Battousai arranged to take that duty whenever he could. He found it pleasant to talk with someone else who had made their own peace with that great bloodshed. Even if peace, for Sagara, came after his own execution..."
"So Battousai's known Sanosuke for years?" Kaoru snatched the next sandwich, trying to head off the shadows in violet eyes.
"As many as Sano has known of Kin," Kenshin nodded. "So you see, Miss Kaoru, Sanosuke is not, perhaps, the most unbiased of judges when it comes to a certain degree of danger; that he is not."
Sanosuke trusts Battousai, Kaoru translated. Even if you think that, just maybe, he shouldn't. She almost snorted. Clue, Kenshin. If Sano grew up on these streets, he knows who he can trust.
Yahiko was savaging his sandwich, tearing off one strip of bread after another, strawberry staining his plate red as he chewed and swallowed. "But we got the bad guys, right? So when are we going home?"
"We stopped Jin-e." Kenshin set aside the knife, started on his breakfast. "C Spot's pack will take more time to dissuade. And Sano and his fellow agents likely won't be able to track them down until this afternoon, at least. I'd prefer not to risk it, that I would not."
Out of the corner of her eye Kaoru watched him eat as she munched her own sandwich; nibbling at sweet-touched bread, one slow, careful bite after another. He's not sure it's going to stay down. "Are you... should you be eating that?"
"I'm not a vampire, Miss Kaoru. It's only... it tastes different." A hint of fangs flashed in his smile. "And I'm still not sure I won't bite my own tongue, that I am not."
"You mean we're going to be stuck here all day?" Yahiko scowled at his crust. "That sucks!"
"Yahiko. We're guests in Miss Kaoru's home," Kenshin said, soft warning in his tone.
"I know, but-" Yahiko scrunched his shoulders, looking away. "No Internet, no computer - you said I shouldn't use her phone..."
And you don't want to spend the day with a girl, Kaoru filled in the blanks, starting to steam. She knew this wasn't class. She knew the kid was just being a typical teen; more interested in chatting up whatever guy friends they had and daring each other into mischief than settling down and doing something useful. She knew half his petulant look was probably just a reaction to the whole wild, weird, horrifying situation; god knew she wanted to just crawl into a corner with a soft blanket and try not to think for, oh, maybe a week.
She still wanted to flatten him.
Wait a minute... not a bad idea. "I was going to be practicing kata this morning," Kaoru said off-handedly. "And I know I've got more than one bokken."
Interest flashed in dark eyes, before the small shoulders scrunched tighter. "Kenshin told me not to practice without the pads. And I think - I think they blew up with everything else..."
Blew up? Now some of the images Battousai had passed along yesterday made more sense. Oh man, no wonder he's upset! "We don't have to hit each other, we can just practice swings... Kenshin?"
Kaoru stared at the empty space where he'd been, a curl of steam wafting up from his abandoned mug, then jerked her head toward the sound of her front door locks coming undone. Headed that way in a barefoot skid, noting that the sword was gone from the living room. No, please, not another fight. Not here. Not now. Swallowing back fear, she growled under her breath. "I swear, I'm going to nail that man's feet to the floor!"
"Ohayo!" Ayame's voice chirped from the hall.
"Ohayo, Akage-san!" Suzumi chimed in.
"Mr. Redhead?" Kenshin was crouched eye to eye with the little girls, looking at them with shy wonder. "Does your grandfather know you're out here, Ayame-chan?"
"Well, he certainly does now." Dr. Genzai rubbed sleep out of his eyes as he marched into sight, giving both little girls stern looks. "What have I told you about letting Kaoru sleep in one of these days, young ladies..." He stopped, voice colorless. "Battousai."
"Kenshin," the redhead said firmly.
Genzai's arms circled his granddaughters, hands poised and ready to gesture. "Are you quite sure, young man?"
"Hai." Kenshin inclined his head. "I am Kenshin Himura." His voice dropped. "Though Battousai is here as well." He stood, gazing down at the girls as if he'd caught a glimpse of rainbow in fountain spray. "They're so bright."
"So I've been told." The doctor relaxed, letting his granddaughters pounce on a too-slow Yahiko.
"Aaugh!"
"I can't see it myself," Genzai went on, stepping up to the doorway. "But those who can say the ki of a child is like young sunshine. It isn't as strong as that of a trained fighter, but it also usually isn't as carefully hidden." He glanced at Kaoru. "And we should talk about this behind closed doors. May I come in?"
Trying not to giggle as Yahiko fought off his pint-sized opponents, Kaoru waved him in. A sorcerer. My family doctor, a man I've trusted for years, is Kin.
But... he's still Dr. Genzai.
Dr. Genzai who was eyeing her occupied futon with worried amusement. Sanosuke was still snoring away, gray crystal glinting on his neck, oblivious to the three-way tussle rolling near his feet as Yahiko tried to disentangle Ayame's Slinky from his fingers and Suzumi's hair-ribbons. "You had a sleepover, Kaoru?"
"Sanosuke's a friend. Or so somebody tells me." Kaoru crossed her arms, daring Kenshin to make any more of it.
"It is a long story," Kenshin started.
"Kurogasa grabbed me, Kenshin and Battousai saved me," Kaoru said simply. "Sanosuke helped us get out of there before the cops showed up."
"Not that long, then." But behind the cheer, Genzai blanched. "Kurogasa? The assassin? Dear gods. Is he-?"
"Dead." The redhead's voice was suddenly cool. Almost inhuman. "For now."
Kaoru stared at eyes like molten gold. On the floor, she heard the tussle fall suddenly silent. "You," she whispered.
"Kamiya-sensei." Battousai inclined his head, tail of hair flowing behind him like bloody rain. "Kenshin showed me you were well, but it is good to see it."
Yahiko hurtled up off the floor. "What'd you do to my brother, you-"
"Yahiko." Battousai caught the boy easily, points of claws just pressing on the cloth of yellow sleeves. "He's only aside for a moment. So that I may speak with Genzai-isha." The sword-spirit measured the sorcerer with his gaze. "That is what you wished, is it not? To judge for yourself how much of Himura I had taken? To see if there might be some way you might break what binds us, and leave him human once more?" A minuscule shake of head. "You know there is not."
"You'll forgive me if I was hoping I was wrong." The doctor swallowed dryly. "If I may be blunt... I was under the impression your kind always destroyed the host."
Amber never wavered. "Most do."
"But you don't," Kaoru said forcefully.
"Do not is not cannot, Kamiya-sensei. It was a risk Kenshin was willing to take." Battousai watched her, face expressionless, waiting. "Was. And is."
She shivered. "Is...?"
"The risk lessens with time. As we become more accustomed to each other. The more he learns my soul, as I do his, the less we can harm one another." One hand let go of Yahiko, moved to rest in mussed hair. "Yahiko-chan. I will be careful with your brother. He suits me well."
"Suits you?" Yahiko glared up at the spirit. "He's not a damn pair of sneakers!"
"No. He is my sword. As I am his." Chill amusement glowed in amber. "And Yahiko... he can hear you perfectly well."
The spirit looked up. "Genzai-isha. I cannot stay long. But if I might ask..." He inclined red hair toward the futon. "Sanosuke usually sleeps soundly, but not this soundly."
"You're worried about him!" Kaoru blurted out.
Battousai's gaze was unreadable. "He is my friend."
Genzai slipped the silver chain off over Sano's wild hair. Watched his patient carefully, frowning as the man barely tossed in his sleep. Murmured a silent chant as his fingers traced patterns in air.
Pale blue traced the path of his fingers, called an answering white gleam from the bandages on Sanosuke's right hand. "Hmm." Genzai unwrapped the bandages enough to see the two healing cuts; one at the base of Sano's forefinger, another, longer, across the back of his hand. "Ah."
"He's out because of those?" Yahiko said skeptically.
Gray brows lifted. "Two cuts from a Muramasa blade, young man? He's lucky to be alive."
"Two blades," Battousai said quietly. "The older mark was mine." His hands rested by his sides, as if will alone kept them from becoming fists. "But I cannot feel it now."
"That would explain the aural damage." The doctor dusted off his hands and replaced the crystal necklace. "Exhaustion," he pronounced. "Let him sleep it off. If he's still not up by this afternoon, let me know, and I'll check on him again. But I believe he'll be fine. He's a very resilient young man."
"Arigatou." Gold blinked away.
Amber, blue... violet. Kaoru breathed a sigh of relief. Okay.
"That's... unsettling, that it is," Kenshin said dazedly.
"I imagine it would be. Let me see that, if you would..." Moving slowly, Genzai traced his fingers over the cross-shaped scar. "Hmm." Traced the long slash again, and sighed. "I'm afraid he wasn't lying, Kenshin. A mark like this-"
"I know." Kenshin glanced at the children. "Did I frighten you?"
Ayame shook her head, though Suzumi was peeking from behind her hands. "Ghosts are okay."
"They are, huh?" Kaoru whistled softly. "Something tells me we're all going to be having some long talks about ghosts. And other things."
"Planning to stay in the family, then?" Genzai weighed her and then Yahiko in his gaze. "It is possible to forget, you know. To go back to an ordinary New York, filled with ordinary people..."
Yahiko clung to Kenshin. "No!"
Matching alarm flashed in Kenshin's eyes, and his arm circled the boy's shoulders. "Doctor. I know you mean well, that I do. But..." he swallowed dryly. "We're all we have."
"Then be careful," Genzai said matter-of-factly. "He's a lot more fragile than you are, and anyone you cross won't hesitate to use that against you. Kin or human; I wouldn't trust some of the local Witches as far as my granddaughters could throw them. You need to take precautions. All of you do," he added, turning a sober glance on Kaoru. "This building's fairly well warded against attacks, but once they go home-"
"Is the apartment next door still open?" Kaoru asked abruptly.
"I believe so, but - are you really interested in moving this soon?" Genzai turned back to Kenshin. "It's probably wise to move eventually, but you could take some time to adjust. Your neighbors will chalk the changes up to hair dye and a dip into the Goth scene; at least for a few weeks."
"Our neighbors will probably turn us in to the cops the second we show up," Yahiko said sourly. "One little explosion, and they're all freaked."
"One explosion, one fire, and a few temporarily dead bodies," Kenshin amended. "They've reason to be alarmed. But he is right, Doctor. We're not safe at home now. If you say this building is protected, and it would not add to your risks to have us as neighbors..." Violet sought her gaze. Worried. Wondering. Hoping.
Kaoru smiled. "Stay."
This is so cool! Yahiko exulted, skipping down the sidewalk to Wonderful Things. His brother was a quiet, reassuring presence behind him, the very silence of his tread making an ordinary New York street new and interesting. He didn't even regret leaving that neat radio Kenshin had picked up behind with Sanosuke.
Well, not much.
Magic's real, and monsters are real, and anybody might be one. Yahiko watched his fellow pedestrians as they strolled or scurried by, trying to see something, anything, that might mark out the Kin from the rest of the Herd. Got to get Sanosuke to tell me what to look for before he takes off... wait a minute. Sano's Battousai's friend, right? And Battousai's stuck with Kenshin.
Which... kind of gave Yahiko the creeps, when he thought about it too much. A sword that could take over his brother's body; even though Battousai seemed to stay in the background most of the time, he'd seen someone else look out of his brother's eyes. Freaky. Like way too many horror movies rolled into one.
Only in the movies, the bad guy never lets go once he's got you, Yahiko thought. Or if he does, it's only 'cause he's trying to be charming, so you never see the whole evil plan until it's too late...
Battousai might be a lot of things, but charming hadn't made the list. The sword-spirit was cool, calm, and matter-of-fact as a police diver looking for bodies in the Hudson.
Scary, the young teen thought, running his fingers over the smooth blue paint of a postal mailbox as they passed it. But a weird kind of scary. Not like the zoo, where you know the only thing between you and the leopards is the cage. It didn't feel like he was going to hurt me. It didn't feel like he'd ever hurt me.
Quite the opposite, in fact. He'd felt bizarrely safe in the spirit's clawed grip. Like standing under a dragon's wing.
Could be your imagination, Yahiko reminded himself.
Still. Battousai did seem to care about Sanosuke.
Which means Sano's going to be around. A lot. Cool! Yahiko skidded to a stop as dark hooves clopped around the corner. Whoa! Cop!
"Good morning!" his brother said cheerily.
A gloved hand waved back as the mounted patrolman worked his way down the street, buckskin mare pricking her ears toward the friendly greeting.
Yahiko looked at the retreating form of the officer. Looked at his brother. "Um... aren't swords illegal?"
"In New York? Yes." Mischief glimmered in Kenshin's smile. "He didn't see it."
Yahiko eyed the very visible black lacquer sheath. But then, nobody seemed to give Kenshin a second glance either. At least not since yesterday. "How come?"
"Battousai didn't want to be seen."
Yahiko fell in beside his brother as they walked to the shop door. "You mean you can be invisible? Like a ninja?"
"Unnoticed. Not invisible. There's quite a difference." Key in the lock, Kenshin hesitated. Braced himself, and twisted it open. "Let's see how much damage Uramura's team did."
'If you want to avoid the cops, this might not be the best place to be.'
I know, Kenshin acknowledged, ringing up a browser's purchase of a Chinese dragon plate and two Art Deco-style lamps. His eyes skipped past the customer as she fluttered out the door, drawn back to the gap in his displays where a glass case had been like a tongue to a sore tooth. They'd spent half an hour this morning just sweeping up glass; for some unknown reason, possibly a hatred of Goths, Uramura's man had used some replica Egyptian footstools to smash up their display of jet mourning jewelry. Yahiko was currently in the back with wood glue and a mad glitter in his eyes, trying to see if there was any way to fix the footstools. The case itself was a dead loss. But... this is my family's place. I have to look after it.
I have to do something that's me.
'I understand.' Curiosity touched him. 'I've never been bound to a shopkeeper before.'
Not very exciting, Kenshin admitted.
'But you know the history of it all. It's interesting.'
I try. Checking to be sure a pair of giggling teens were still in plain view, Kenshin bent his attention back to a bent earring he'd rescued from the wreckage. Some of the pieces had been whole enough to shuffle hastily into one of his other cases; others had been ground underfoot and would need a dedicated jeweler to salvage. But a few, like this one, were borderline; post bent aside, or dangling fringe missing a few beads. Something he might be able to fix.
Kenshin picked up the jewelry pliers again, attempting to grip and straighten bent silver, and tried not to swear as his claws nicked his own fingers.
'You're thinking too hard,' Battousai advised. 'Your body interprets tension as a warning of threat, so it prepares for a fight. If you want to retract your claws, relax.'
Relax. Sure. After nearly getting eaten, blown up, and almost killed half a dozen other ways. Why not relax? After all, it wasn't as if anything important had happened last night.
"A hitokiri is a hitokiri until death..."
'...Oh.' A soft sigh. 'I wondered when that blow would strike.' Understanding wrapped him, silky as sun-warmed scales. 'It's all right. I'm here. I will not leave you to face this alone. You have the strength to be what you are, I swear it.'
I don't want to! Kenshin's fists squeezed closed, points pricking at his palms. No one - no one should be able to choose to reach out and kill-
'"Should" matters not. You can. You will.'
Kenshin tried to tighten his grip. Wanting to draw blood. Wanting the pain. I won't!
Battousai held his fingers steady, claws just pressing against skin. 'And if Kaoru is in danger? Yahiko? If you cannot dissuade their foe, cannot find a tactic that will allow you to strike to disable? If the only choice is their life, or another's?'
I-
'You. Will. Kill.'
Because of you! Kenshin hurled at the spirit.
A flash of anger, as swiftly restrained. 'I just make it easier.'
"Mr. Himura?" Laying a slim book of Victorian fashions on the counter, one of the androgynous teens brushed dark curls out of wide eyes. "Are you okay?"
"I'm sorry," Kenshin said, tears still burning down his face. "There was - a death in my family." Mine.
'Yes,' Battousai admitted softly. 'The Kenshin Himura you believed you were died on Tani's penthouse floor.' Compassion hugged him. 'He died fighting for your life. Will you not honor such a sacrifice?'
Kenshin blinked. I... don't know if I can...
'I believe in you.'
Fight for my life, Kenshin thought. Just because... no one's trying to kill me... doesn't mean the fight's over.
And the first battle starts right here.
Straightening his shoulders, he moved to scan the tag. "Will that be cash or charge?"
"I'm going to have that rooster-head of hair nailed to my office door," Uramura growled, listening over his headset radio to the rhythm of his team getting into position around Wonderful Things one more time. "Damn it!" He cut off his words; clogging up the comm was unprofessional, what you'd expect from a gutter rat like Sagara, not the traditional, trained FBI agent seconded to Target Alpha from the academy. But the thoughts behind the curses wouldn't stop. Risking your career, risking civilian lives - and for what, Sagara? An ENO? It's not even an undead! Just a hunk of metal with delusions of grandeur.
A hunk of metal that those in charge of Triborough felt strongly enough about to call in favors with the head office. They must have; after all, why else would his superiors bluntly order him to "escort Battousai in of his own free will if at all possible"?
Damn them.
But he had his orders. "Levinson, with me." If anyone deserved a shot at taking in Battousai the hard way, Agent Rachel Levinson did. Getting stabbed with your own tranquilizers was a nightmare. "The rest of you, cover us."
Metal chimed as they walked in the front door; wind chimes, instead of the bell most establishments on this strip of shops would have on the entrance. Uramura let his gaze sweep the racks of antiques, fake antiques, and various craft supplies, face professionally expressionless. But he couldn't keep his eyes from narrowing at the sight of a particular box of cream-white, handmade paper. Sheets like that still flashed through his nightmares, decked with formal black ink and sealing blood; Deeds that had bound Kgorek demons to various malign tasks for the sorcerers of Black Solstice, before loosing the man-eaters on innocent humans. God. Hard to believe a human ran this place. It reeks of Kin.
"Somehow I doubt you're here to browse, that I do."
Levinson flinched; Uramura held his ground, though he felt a muscle in his jaw jump. Damn ENO can make you look past him, somehow...
He focused on the blaze of red hair, feeling his gut knot at the sight. Himura's DMV photo plainly had dark hair. If the Muramasa blade had gotten that much of a hold on its unwilling host already-
And Himura stepped out from behind the counter with too-familiar grace, violet eyes regarding them both with eerie calm. "If you do wish to continue where you left off yesterday, Agents, I would ask that we take this outside. Your co-worker did more than enough damage here already, that he did."
Uramura hid a grimace, eyes drawn to the smaller man's left cheek. Kin don't usually scar. Kurogasa must have gotten in some fierce hits. "I can't blame Agent Green for smashing up what looked like a set of enchanted Deathbeads," he said bluntly.
Was that amber, flickering in violet? "They were not," Himura said simply.
"Sure. Tell us another one. Hand-carved jet, custom-strung, all the old-fashioned way? Even if they weren't, it'd only take a little black magic, and they could have been." Levinson waved her hand at the racks and cases. "You have no idea what most of this stuff can do in the wrong hands-"
"I know," Himura broke in, "that anything may be misused. And that most of those who come here are of humankind; good, or evil, or simply trying to live as best they can."
"We're not here to debate the merits of shutting this place down." Uramura held out his hand. "The sword, Himura."
Red hair shook slightly. "He does not wish to go with you, that he doesn't."
"Don't be stupid, Mister," Levinson said severely. "You have no clue what that thing can do to you."
Himura spread a hand, palm up. Afternoon sun glinted off white points of claws. "Your pardon, Agent, but I believe I know more of what Battousai can do than you could possibly imagine."
God, no. Uramura looked at the man, finally seeing past the small frame so different from Ward's to the unmistakable similarities. The claws, the moves, the subtle hint of fangs... We're too late.
Damn Sagara!
The control team leader set aside his emotions, coldly reviewing the situation. Based on the available evidence, they had obviously run out of time to allow Target Alpha's curse-breaking methods to leave the civilian in one piece. But not to deal with the cursed hunk of steel that had crippled him. "Mr. Himura. It would be in everyone's best interests if you came along quietly-"
Something small and humanoid darted out of the back room. "You leave my brother alone!"
"Yahiko, iie!" Red blurred out of Uramura's view, snatching up the young teen before the agents could draw and aim. "They are armed!"
Mussed brown hair fought the clawed grip. "I don't care!"
Uramura jerked up a hand toward Levinson. Hold your fire! Damn it all, now they had a hostage situation on top of everything else. At least it was one hostage situation they could treat as such, with proper New York patience, rather than being forced into Los Angeles-type SWAT heroics. Unlike most Kin, Battousai wasn't contagious.
"I care, young one. Calm."
"Sir?" Levinson whispered, wide-eyed.
Uramura clenched his teeth, shivering. To hear a voice go from quiet, human politeness to that effortless chill...
"Calm," Himura repeated gently, gaze fading back to violet as he hugged the boy close. "Yahiko. I've told you I will not leave, that I won't." His glance met Uramura's, glinting steel-blue. "Two nights ago I would have left your world behind me, and gladly. But now... I will not give up what is still mine. I'll tell you once. Get out."
Uramura swallowed, subtly clicking the key on his radio to signal the team to move in. "You know we can't do that."
"Actually, you can," a familiar aggravating voice reported over his radio.
"Sagara?" Uramura snarled. "How did you get on this frequency?"
"Tell Rachel she needs to remember where she loses her equipment," the field agent said flippantly. "And your orders are to bring Battousai in, right? So what's the difference if you sit there glaring at him over your guns for a few hours, or if you say you're sorry, back off, and let him walk in when he's ready?"
Say we're sorry? "You're out of your mind."
The humor dropped out of Sagara's tone. "Okay, let me fill you in. The difference is, either you back off in one piece, or Battousai makes you back off in a bloody pile of pieces."
Uramura pressed his lips into a thin line. One sword, even an ENO sword, against a whole control team? "You've got to be joking."
"Did you get a good look at the kid with him? Unless you count a few third or fourth cousins out Seattle way, Kenshin doesn't have any other family. You're a bright guy, Uramura. What do you think Himura would be willing to do to get you to back the hell off?"
We're not the bad guys here. "Sagara-"
Himura held up a hand; quiet. Cocked his head, eyes half-closed to listen.
Yahiko looked up at his brother. "Kenshin?"
"Something's out there." Himura frowned. "Something cold."
"Cold?" Uramura asked, easing his stance slightly. Battousai might be a cursed blade, but its hosts' ability to detect other Kin had been whispered about in the agency for decades.
"There, but not there. Like holes in the weave of the world, wrapping around the ki of life to fade it away..." Violet snapped open. "Virus!"
A chill skittered down Uramura's spine. "All eyes, look sharp," he ordered. "We have Virus, I say again, Virus suspected in the area. Sound off!"
"Stutler, here-"
"Nez, clear south-"
"Johnson, no sign east. You sure, sir?"
Uramura kept listening. "Debrowski, come in."
Silence.
"Damn it, Louie, answer me!"
"Sir!" Rachel's gun sagged, pointing at empty air.
The Himuras were gone.
"Stay back," Kenshin whispered as they neared the half-open back door to Zip Electronics, following that chill of nothingness where the ki of their near neighbor should have been. Marks in the trash spoke of a burly man's heels dragging the ground; fear hung about the small computer shop like darting mosquitoes. "Stay behind me. Do not let them touch you." Kami, what am I saying; what am I doing? I should be getting Yahiko out of here. Yes, one of Uramura's people is in trouble - but they're agents! They know the risks-
Just as he did. What Virus was. What it could do. One creature that hated all life, human and Kin alike. One entity in multiple bodies, all of which were so armored only explosives or enchanted weapons had a chance at taking it down.
Oh yes. Uramura's people knew. And they'd go after it anyway. It was their job.
The moment they'd slipped out from under Uramura's eye, he'd sensed the trail. Turned toward it, like iron to a magnet. Taken one step. And another.
Crazy, this is crazy, I'm not - I don't want to-
But part of him did. That odd, alloyed part of his soul was remembering they hadn't seen Pidge, Zip's quiet, gawky owner, in nearly a week, and adding that to the chill of Virus from that store, and snarling...
I have to protect Yahiko!
And something snapped, old instinct meshing with new like interwoven fingers, and there suddenly wasn't a fight at all.
Virus was here. In his territory. And Yahiko would not be safe while it lived.
"Oh, come on. It can't be worse than werewolves." Yahiko faltered at his narrowed eyes. "Can it?"
"Much worse," Kenshin said softly, echoing the cold fury washing through him from Battousai; visions of screams, computerized gates mincing innocents apart, death in gleaming, twisted metal. "A werewolf kills. These creatures obliterate." Too much. It's too much. Stop!
The flood of memories slowed, but did not cease. 'I can't.'
They were human once. I won't hate them!
'They were human. Now they are an enemy to everything that lives.' Battousai's touch was roughly gentle. 'I don't hate them, Kenshin-'
Chill within those walls. So chill it burned, like gripping razor-edged steel in a blizzard. A darkness in the energies of New York, a perversion of everything that was or would be. The wrongness cried out to him, as if the city itself screamed rape.
'-I kill them.'
The door crashed open, a shape of wire-shot flesh and metal striking for his throat. He drew and slashed through it in one smooth motion, leaping through the doorway as steely claws spasmed and fell.
'Their hearing's not that good! How did they-'
Pidge's shop - hidden cameras-
'You couldn't have remembered this before?'
Kenshin let the anger slide away as he dodged and struck, sinking into now. Virus... Virus was harder to read than Kin. No hate, no fear, not even irritation; just a black, gaping hunger for bio-electricity, thirsting to sink its circuits into not-self and twist them into self.
Like fighting half-blind.
Printout slid underfoot, throwing him off; Kenshin curled on himself and flipped up, landing on top of gray free-standing shelves as wire-wreathed metal hands smashed through where he'd been a breath before. The Virus pulled back to strike again, a printer shattering off its steel nails, bleeding black toner. Fast!
'Not fast enough.'
Grim glee mixing with adrenaline, Kenshin took a second to scan the open room. Front windows that should have let in afternoon sun were shuttered and barred with steel. From the settled dust, they'd been that way for days; he sensed the indistinct energies of passersby walking out there, no longer wondering when the shop might open again, oblivious to the menace hidden behind the security gate. Four Virus circled in the humming light of fluorescent tubes, ignoring the halves of their counterpart sparking by the back door. That one was down, but he wouldn't get as easy a shot at the rest. They weren't new victims, but fully developed Virus; bald humanoids of glinting metal, wires snaking from where a mouth should have been to wreathe neck and shoulders. Four creatures that had once been human or Kin, all trace of vulnerable flesh absorbed into glistening metal and wires...
No. Five.
What had been Pidge crouched in a corner by a shattered laptop display, still-human face blank as a department store mannequin's, circuits plunging from under its nails into the jerking form of a Kevlar-vested agent. Debrowski was gasping for air, brown eyes dull and glassy, ki so faint it barely registered.
Feeding? Or infecting?
Either way, it hardly mattered; Debrowski was running out of time.
Static hisses itched at his ears; Virus saw him, knew what was hurting it. Three lunged for him. He leapt, twisted, bounced off the white-tiled ceiling to bring the sharp edge through a metal skull and down-
The last went for a computer. With attached speakers.
'K'so!'
And he knew what was coming, he knew - but there were two on him, whipping wires and metal points of nails in a perfectly synchronized flurry of blows that kept him blocking and dodging even as he heard the clatter of keys that was Virus activating the sound system.
The ultrasonic shriek cut his hearing like a knife.
Wire snaked around him as Kenshin faltered, stabbing through his sweatshirt into skin. Weakness swept him; the Virus, draining his own life-force to feed. No!
Battousai seized hold, forcing him through the pain. 'We will not die here!'
"Dou Ryuu Sen!"
Carpet shredded under his ground-level slash; loose circuit boards and bits of computer casing smashed into both his opponents, driving them back. But the true respite was the shockwave of air, damping the speaker's whistle for one brief heartbeat.
"Ryuu Kan Sen!"
What served it for a spine slashed through, his captor fell.
Tearing loose of the wires, Kenshin lunged toward its partner; not sure what he was doing, only that he had to strike, even through vision gone fuzzy and gray. But his body remembered if his mind didn't; the same rapid-strike that had tangled Jin-e swept out, blunt edge smashing metal tendons into uselessness before the sharp side took its head.
Two down. But the noise, the killing, electronic shriek-
And there was gunfire, horridly loud gunfire, blasting through speakers and computers and Virus alike.
Ow. Ow. Ow... Panting, Kenshin stood very still, unwilling to move into potential lines of fire. "Over there - Debrowski-"
One single shot rang out.
Covered by his people, Uramura moved in on the bloody mess that had been Pidge. Eyed the red-smeared wires poking out of the gaping hole his razor-top bullet had put in its still-bony skull.
And put two more through the chest to be sure.
"Medical. Now." Uramura checked his watch. "Keep breathing, Debrowski. We've only been out of contact ten minutes. Not enough time for the damn thing to infect." Behind glasses, dark eyes narrowed. "You hear me, Louie? You are not checking out on us!"
"Uramura. There's a basement. I don't know how deep." Kenshin half-closed his eyes, fighting the room's desire to spin. "I don't... feel any others... but be careful."
Uramura took his eyes off Debrowski just long enough to give him a considering look. The revulsion in his ki was fading, mingling with caution, and flickers of odd, wary respect.
He thinks - he feels - gods, I don't want to deal with this. Flicking stray circuit-dust off his blade, Kenshin sheathed his sword and wobbled out past incoming agents. The ache in his ears was fading, but the ground still didn't want to stay put.
'You'll heal,' Battousai reassured him. 'Just try not to fight for a night or so.'
Kenshin shot the blade raw annoyance, woven through with trembling as adrenaline drained away, leaving him aware of every throbbing wire-puncture. I wasn't trying this time!
Amusement tickled him. 'I'm sure you believe that.'
Unable to find a good retort, Kenshin reached out with his senses, seeking for the familiar brightness of Yahiko's ki. Please, please tell me he listened, for once.
Well, he wasn't in a Kin's line of fire. Though by the way Yahiko and Levinson were squared off eye to glaring eye, she wanted nothing less than to drop-kick the stubborn teenager straight into mid-town traffic. "Is this yours?" she growled.
"Hey!"
"Most of the time," Kenshin admitted.
"Hey!"
"You're lucky he's got good ears," she said grudgingly. "I can hear a little above average range, but it takes more than that to realize the bad guys are using ultrasonics." The agent gave him a probing look. "That must have hurt like hell."
"Hai," Kenshin said raggedly, rubbing his forehead as Yahiko scowled and slipped past him to the doorway. "Yahiko! Don't-"
Too late; he felt the spike of revulsion, heard Yahiko stifle a whimper. His brother turned straight around, face drained white. Headed for the alley wall, standing by a pile of half-crumpled bags of electronic trash. Shook, fists clenched.
And proceeded to toss every last bit of his lunch.
"I'm sorry." Kenshin held shaking shoulders, waiting out the sickness, the meaningless whimpers. "Yahiko, I'm sorry..."
"First body, kid?" Rachel said roughly.
"Pidge was a neighbor here," Kenshin informed her, eyes not leaving his brother. "Renfield Paige Orsson, and don't ask me what his parents had against him... he went by Pidge. Sometimes he would come by for a break. If he wasn't tied up in systems debugging. We haven't seen him since last Tuesday. But that isn't - wasn't - unusual..."
"Damn." The agent shook her head, holstering her gun. "Kid. Yahiko, right? Look at me. Look at me," she insisted when the teen ducked his head. "If he's been gone for a week he's probably been Virus for a week, and there's nothing you could have done about it. This is not your fault."
"But-" Scrubbing his mouth with his sleeve, Yahiko stared at his brother with wide eyes.
"I wouldn't have been able to tell until last night," Kenshin said honestly. "Not for certain. And if we had visited, if it had thought we... suspected something... it would have killed us too."
"If you were lucky," Rachel said bluntly.
"You know, I doubt luck would have anything to do with it," Sanosuke's voice broke into the chilling silence. The man himself sauntered into view, brown eyes still smudged with exhaustion and a slim, twilight-blue wrapped bundle under his arm. "These two are a lot tougher than they look." He grinned tiredly at Kenshin. "We've got to stop meeting like this. People are going to talk."
Kenshin raised a skeptical brow.
"Sheesh, tough crowd..." Sano stepped out of the way as two armed agents dashed by with a medical kit and a stretcher. Dangled the miniature radio. "Missing something?"
Levinson snagged it, growling under her breath. "How long have you been here?"
"Caught the edge of the shots," Sano said soberly. "The little miss keeping an eye on me wouldn't tell me where the hell these two went until after I ate something." He shuddered. "Kenshin? Word of warning. Never let that woman near a peanut butter jar and chili sauce at the same time."
Yahiko's pallor turned distinctly green.
"Anyway, once I knew you were going to be stubborn, I figured you might need this. So I stopped by my car." Sano shook his head. "I should've come straight here. You're not Ward; you don't plan things into oblivion before you move." He whistled softly. "Never would have thought Battousai'd pick somebody with a temper."
Kenshin reddened. "I'm a very calm person, that I am."
"Oh yeah," Yahiko muttered. "Way calm." He gave his brother an arch look. "So what are you going to do when Kaoru asks for her sweatshirt back?"
"Anou..." Kenshin glanced down at his chest and arms, taking in the long rips, dots of blood, and indelible gray stains of Virus fluids. "Sano? Be a true friend, and kill me now?"
"You don't get off that easy." Grinning, Sanosuke unwrapped blue cloth from a pair of sheaths; one long, one short. "Here. This should let you walk around in public without tweaking the cops' nerves."
'My old haori.' Battousai reached out for the raw silk jacket. 'It's been decades since I've been able to...' Clawed fingers brushing silk, he hesitated. 'But... if you do not wish to...'
Distracting eyes from a blade they don't expect to see is one thing. Forcing cops to ignore blood - we can't afford to spend that much energy right now, can we? Kenshin picked up the jacket, swirling it over his shoulders in a motion new and familiar. He settled the long sleeves over his hands, pushing away the ghostly images of leather arm-guards Battousai's memories insisted should be there. I may not find it - comfortable, to be dressed as you. But I'm not going to be stupidly stubborn.
"I'll be damned. It fits." Sano looked behind them, where Kenshin could feel the approaching roil of determination and anger that was Uramura. "Okay. I know this is going to be the hard part. Yahiko? Mind holding these for us? Careful, they're heavier than they look."
Yahiko's grunt agreed with that. "Daisho?" he asked, looking over the plain, braided hilts. "They feel kinda weird."
"Long and short, and yeah, they've got a couple spells worked into them." Sanosuke agreed. "Nothing like a true Muramasa, but good for street work." He met Kenshin's gaze, unflinching. "I need to take custody of Battousai."
Give him up? Never! Kenshin wet his lips, shaken by the intensity of that reaction. "I-"
The laden stretcher gave him a moment to breathe, stepping back to give Debrowski's paramedics room to get the agent out. He noted the oxygen mask over the dazed man's mouth and nose, frowned at the fluids dripping into the agent's arm.
'Plasma and antivirals,' Battousai identified the translucent fluids as the paramedic agents dashed out of view. 'It wouldn't be enough to stop a full infection, but the Virus didn't have him nearly long enough for that. They're just being careful.'
"It doesn't have to be easy," Sano went on as a van rumbled into life, carrying Debrowski away. "But we've got to get this mess straightened out. You know that." And we have to do it here, his frank gaze said. Where Uramura can see.
"I know," Kenshin said quietly. Deliberately unclenched his fingers from his sleeves, and drew the saya from his obi.
Sano took the sheathed blade with a sigh of relief. "You okay?"
"No." He felt disjointed, off-balance; as if part of him were still here, and another gripped in hands that were and weren't familiar.
I'm unarmed. I'm outside household walls, and I'm unarmed.
It felt terribly, desperately wrong.
Breathe. Just breathe. Kenshin flexed his fingers, claws aching to reach out and tear. Three days ago, you wouldn't have cared.
'Three days ago, you believed you were safe,' Battousai echoed his unease. 'I recognize those blades, if you do not.'
Part of the panic flowed away, replaced by gnawing unease. Sano knows you pretty well, doesn't he. Kenshin stood still, not trusting himself to move; the fear and nausea of dealing with the Virus was fading, burned away by sudden anger.
He brought you swords. He thinks I'll let you take them. He thinks I am you, where it matters; that I'll just fit into that space Ward left empty, join Target Alpha, and life will go on-
'Then we must show him otherwise.'
Kenshin blinked. You're not upset?
'I think you wrong him. Sano is not so careless of others' hearts. Yet...' Reluctance. 'You may be right, as well. I have been held by Target Alpha so long. They will assume... many things.' A soft touch. 'But take the blades, Kenshin. For Yahiko's sake.'
Kenshin nodded slightly, lifting the paired swords from Yahiko's surprised hands. "So where are we going?"
Sano crossed his arms. "Central Park West."
Dou Ryuu Sen - Ground Dragon Flash.
Ryuu Kan Sen - Dragon Wrap Sword.
