Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or any creations from it so yeah.
Behind My Back – Chapter Six – By Cherry Chibi
'Rough Beginning'
* * * *
Battousai eyed his master with cold hard eyes. Katsura had never ordered him to get rid of any of his assignments. Silence dripped and poured over the people before Uno cleared her throat gently.
"The list that you have received was a forged one, a friend of mine has informed me so." Uno said, "Iizuka is a traitor. We have no proof of that now but we're going to have to be careful from now on."
* * * *
"Wake up." Kaoru heard a voice say. She shifted. Her arm felt like a doll's arm since it just she couldn't control it, it just flopped. 'I slept on in the wrong position...' Kaoru thought.
"Come on girl, let's get you up now." The person helped Kaoru get out of bed and stand straight. "Gosh, Katsura sure did drug you alright." Kaoru looked exhausted and her face was pale. "I'm going to have to clean you up, Battousai has made rice porridge so you better eat something afterwards ok?" Her auburn eyes smiled into Kaoru's blue eyes.
"Who are you?" Kaoru questioned dopily. She unsteadily took steps out of the room.
"My name is Uno. I'll be helping you settle in." Uno replied, she led Kaoru towards the bathroom and locking the door behind them. "Now, I hope you don't mind me helping."
Kaoru was still feeling the lassitude in her system and couldn't reply or even move properly. She still was able to gather her thoughts though. 'Where am I...' Her thoughts were chilled when she felt cold water tracing over her bare skin. She shivered under the iciness.
Lately after Uno had cleaned Kaoru up and had Kaoru woken up completely, they were sitting at the dining table. Kaoru was eating slowly and hesitantly. Uno smiled gently. "Don't worry about the food, it isn't poison or anything." she said.
"I know but," Kaoru spoke quietly, "Why am I here?"
"Here?" Uno questioned. Kaoru nodded her head. The woman smiled to her and laughed lightly. "Battousai doesn't ever 'welcome' anyone into his apartment doesn't he?" Although the woman appeared nice and happy, Kaoru felt that Uno was really a lost person, she could see behind Uno's auburn eyes shielded windows to her soul, was a consistent worry and sorrow.
She sighed and continued eating. Nowadays, Kaoru has yet to meet someone who was really happy such a dark world. Uno turned her eyes away. 'This girl is completely the same kind as Katsura, an Empath. I better not stay too long or else this girl will know too much about me.' She stood from the table, "Kaoru, your things are in the bedroom. I'll see you soon."
"Wait." Kaoru said. "Can you tell me why this man… Katsura, wants me to stay here? I vaguely remember that he said that I would 'cover the dark roots' of the Choshu, what does he mean?"
"My, you have no idea how dark the world is..." Uno said quietly, almost to a whisper, "Every political group has their own criminals who are used to kill any threats. Katsura once explained to me about his abilities and Kikuno's..."
"My mother?" Kaoru asked. Uno nodded.
"Kikuno had the Empath ability but hers had somehow evolved... she could heal a person spiritually. When the Kamiya politicians found out about her and you..." Uno stopped there. She gritted her teeth and felt her chest tighten at the thought. "Well, Katsura's hoping that you'll have something like your mother's." Uno then left the apartment room and closed the door behind her.
"Em-path…" Kaoru dropped the spoon into the bowl and stared at it. 'She was telling the truth.' The deafening silence of the room accumulated in her ears.
* * * *
Ripples formed as a droplet of blood fell into the puddle. Battousai walked away from the mess and towards back to the base. When he gets back, that girl he left there better not have messed up anything. He was feeling weary and needed a break. After the late night doing stupid things like baby sitting the drugged kid and having the pointless meeting with Katsura at the late hour really had left him in a foul mood.
* * * *
Kaoru walked to the door and reached for the door knob, except it abruptly opened and caused her to trip. "Argh?!" She got onto her feet, sneering at Battousai without backing down.
"Are you always so futile?" Battousai snapped back. He closed the door locked behind.
Kaoru eyed the streaks of blood on his clothing and face with thorns. "You're disgusting. I can't even believe that you would even consider yourself human." Her glare transfixed at his and it seemed to have gone on forever, like a decaying body that no one dares to touch. Kaoru was the first to break the contact. She stormed into the bedroom and slammed the door shut. Battousai growled. What was her problem?
He strode to the bathroom hastily and slammed the door shut behind him.
* * * *
'I never thought that I'd ever figure it out... how can I be so blind?' She leaned against the door. 'Akira.' She should have known from the very first moment that she had met him that he was the one who murdered Akira. Akira's life was counted upon Battousai's sword. When news of Akira's death reached her, she would've thought that when the day came she met that person, she would hate that man for the rest of her life and bring hell to him.
'How weak could I possibly get? I've always been weak anyway. Who would ever care for me?' Kaoru heard footsteps on the other side. 'I can't do anything. I can't take revenge... I have to find another way.'
She closed her eyes and stifled a sigh. 'An Empath? Uno really does make sense. But does that mean that I'm some sort of alien? Who am I kidding, I already am.' She couldn't figure out how she had arrived at the apartment or the reason to why she was staying.
* * * *
Later, at night, Battousai stopped at the bedroom door. Should he? Should he try to talk to her? Ask her why a part of Tomoe was with her? Anyway, the girl had no memory of their current situation but what Katsura had said about her memory didn't say how far back it went. He hesitated. The door opened slowly and Kaoru faced him seriously. "I..." Silence again. Time froze. Quietness deafened the surroundings. Transfixed in amber eyes.
"How do you know Tomoe?" Battousai questioned with a stone face.
"Tomoe was my guardian, she was…" Kaoru halted immediately. "Why should I answer you?!" Kaoru said curtly, "You should be answering me." Battousai stopped the urge to roll his eyes. How naïve. "Why? Why are stepping all over my life and destroying everything that I hold dear?" Blue eyes slightly narrowed with droplets forming at the corners. Battousai raised an eyebrow with agitation. "Why don't you kill me too huh? You're obviously no better than- than… my father! I bet that now he won't even look for me if I was missing right now!" Her hands raced to her neck when Battousai grabbed it with his right.
"You have no right here in saying whatever." He growled. "I don't even get why you think you're such a know it all. I've never met someone who had irritated me as much as you." His deathly glare engulfed Kaoru and burned her with its icy fires. His tight grip on her neck loosened to avoid strangling her to death but she knew there'll be a bruise. Her neck pulsed with a thumping beat and she could smell blood strongly in the air. At that moment, if anyone else had smelt that rotting substance, they wouldn't have been able to hold in their dinner or whatever was in their stomachs.
"Typical." Kaoru said ironically in a hoarse tone. "You enjoy killing don't you? Why else would you earn such a name in the underworld and be hired to kill so many people? A manslayer." In seconds she felt sharp venomous snake fangs sink into her body as she skid across the floor and his against the opposite wall .
"I better not ever hear you say that again." Battousai's pupils narrowed and pierced through to her.
"Say… what?" Kaoru questioned angrily. "I am… human. I do have rights." Her voice grew low and deep, as if she was talking to herself more than arguing with him. "It had been over four years since I became an Empath and ever since then I have suddenly become inferior to all of those around me." Battousai watched unable to show his surprise, Kaoru looked up to him with tear rimmed eyes, eyebrows furrowed together and cheeks tinged a light shade of pink.
Everyone suffered in their own ways. Battousai eyed her form shrink under his gaze. It was very much like Tomoe before. Then it struck him, did Tomoe plan this or know that he would meet Kaoru sooner or later?
"It's only you who believes so." Battousai said, "If you think that's what others believe, then you're only playing the part." He crossed his arms and looked down mercilessly at her, showing no sign of sympathy. "No one. No one makes you inferior unless you allow them to."
"Easy for you to say." Kaoru curled into a ball. The deepness of her blue eyes grew with a distant gaze at Battousai. "You have learned to act that way." She crushed her eyes shut and felt the salty droplets dry and crisped on her skin. "Wait, can you… will you… help me do the same?"
Taken aback by the sudden question, Battousai remained silent and held the short fuse of his temper. How could she act so innocent right at the moment? Had she forgotten about what had just happened between them. Her mind was like a spider's web, twisting and turning but never detaching, if a droplet of water traveled along the web, it wouldn't lose a part of the web but connect onto the next, building up. Like a spider's web, if someone recklessly got themselves entangled in it, it may be deadly.
"Don't get any futile ideas into your head." Battousai stated, "You won't get very far if you decide to escape." He prowled to the sofa and sat with a slump. Kaoru eyed him curiously before pushing herself up.
"So you always take precautions and you don't trust so easily." Kaoru stated in the exact tone that Battousai had used. "Alright then, then let's get a few things straight." She pounced onto the space beside Battousai within a couple of steps. "First, please tell me how long I've been here and if I've been here for long, tell me about Sanosuke and… father. Are they alright?"
Battousai snorted at Kaoru's arrogance. "Your father is dead."
Shattered. Dropped. Running water escaping and flowing like rivers of winds. "Y-You're lying to me…" Kaoru said in disbelief. "No! That's not true!" 'I'm sure, I saw him just last night… we were having dinner together…' She stared into Battousai's cold hard gaze. 'But there isn't a drop of a lie in his eyes…' Her stomach swelled up with icy air and her chest tightened instantly like when a rubber band suddenly snaps.
"F-Father…"
stabbed the sword through her father's neck
hands gripping her head
bleeding cross scar
He who has not forgiven an enemy has not yet tasted the most sublime enjoyments in life…
It was only coming back in fragments. She couldn't grasp all of the pieces, there were too many tiny parts. With all her heart, she searched and tried to string things together and to get those vague memories back. Battousai watched and sighed inwardly. Katsura may seem compassionate but he played the worst things upon people. Not even his own daughter had escaped his claws.
"He…" She couldn't… remember. "I…"
Lost. So lost. She just wanted to curl into a corner and cry. Instead, she stood there meeting her eyes with the amber glow. Battousai would've expected the girl to breakdown into the pits of tears. But she just stood there staring back at him with the same look that she had given him before when they first fought.
The look of determination that surpasses the grief and sorrow that exist in them. The look which shows that she wouldn't give up. It was that look that made Battousai feel respect towards her.
"… no point swallowing up with the past." Kaoru finally said in a soft voice. "Good night." Battousai's eyes followed the girl under the shade of his red bangs. He had never would've thought that she would act like that. But then again, he pondered about what could've happened to her in her past.
~*~
Fifteen year old Kaoru begged as she fell onto her knees. The edges of her clothing were in tatters. Her wounded, dried blood covered wrists were cuffed with rusting metal behind her back, she cringed when the next surge of blows dismantled her nerves and reopened her just closed wounds.
Tears fell in a dust of glitter as she received another hit and burn. She landed with a skid on the tile floor and lay there. Her body ached. Her tendons and ligaments where all probably burned. The torture was becoming too much.
"That would teach you for going against the government!" A man said with his mocking tone. "Do you wish that you had agreed to commit yourself to the Shinsengumi now?"
Clenched teeth and fists balled tightly. Kaoru said nothing. She lay on the white tile floor and watched her blood dilute into a shade of pink with her tears. She didn't want any of it. She didn't want to be part of the Shinsengumi nor did she want anything to do with her father. Ever since her mother's death, she was nothing. Nothing.
"Answer me!" The man grabbed a handful of her tangled raven hair and pulled her up. "You're just as stubborn as your mother!"
Kaoru spat in the man's face. "Don't you ever talk about my mother!" She was silenced when another blow crashed into her cheek. Bruises all over. Cuts bleeding from head to toe. No one was ever there for her then, they were always against her. They planned things to do to her but the only thing that always twisted her heart when these things happened was the question – 'Why?'
~*~
AN: There we go! Another chapter. ^-^x Hope you all enjoyed it. I've decided not to do anymore reviewer's fics unless you guys/gals want me to reply or if there is a question that I would answer. Thank you all for your reviews! Well, I hope to see ya all next time! ^-^x Oh, and if anyone wants to find another RK fanfic to read, try Yotaka's fic. It's called 'Diary of a Hitokiri'. It's pretty good if you like dark-ish stuff. ^-^x