Disclaimer: Battousai will give me a full sword slash if I don't say that I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or anything from it... oh, and I ah... *feels sword tip poke her back* ... don't own Battousai.

AN: This is what's going to happen, this fic is mainly a B/K one but Kaoru and maybe a couple of other characters will be calling Battousai, 'Kenshin'. Why? Well, if you translate Battousai, it means, 'Lord Battou' so having certain people call him that all the time would be kinda… wrong. So when a character calls Battousai 'Kenshin', it isn't our sweet Rurouni who they are speaking to but the assassin. ^^ BTW, there may be a bit OOCness in here…

Behind My Back – Chapter Eight – By Cherry Chibi

'What becomes of her when she is not awake nor asleep?'

* * * *

Battousai turned off the taps with frustration. Steam flew in the air and swirled as he moved. Why was she still alive anyway? Katsura would have never left anyone like her alive. She may be his daughter but why should that make an exception?

However, even though the front of his mind clearly hated the change, at the back, things were different. The protective side if that's the way to describe it. A side that feared shedding her blood. A thought came and he froze. He knew this feeling. He knew what it was. But how could it be possible in less than two days?

* * * *

 "If you find me so annoying then why don't you just strangle me and get it over with?" Kaoru asked, revealing as much of her cocky attitude as possible. She knew that it really pestered the assassin but how else was she supposed to release all of her agitation? She couldn't start a fight because that would have been most inappropriate – it would've been abusive towards her captor. She sat back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest. She almost had the image of a stubborn child.

Battousai felt a nerve in his temples twitch furiously. Out of the necessary duties that came with 'taking care of the captive' category, he had to prepare the food that they were supposed to have for breakfast but at the rate they were going at, he was having to eat under the most testing self-control required circumstances. Why didn't the wretched girl want to eat? Was she starving herself? He didn't want to even know that the girl was that stupid to do such a futile thing.

 "Well, I guess that I'll get going now…" Kaoru stood to leave.

 "Sit down. Shut up. And eat." Battousai stated as firmly and calmly as he could.

 "What if I say no?" Kaoru replied. What she did next was the most needless gesture for that moment. She smiled. Probably that was the thing that Battousai needed to explode the anger management scale. Battousai slammed his pair of chopsticks onto the table.

 "Fine." He growled. "It's your choice." Not wanting to eat anymore, he stood abruptly and grabbed the handful of dishes that required washing. He had never had to 'take care' of anyone who was so 'spoilt' like her. In fact, he never had to deal with any kids so he had no idea how to deal with them – therefore, he didn't know how to deal with her.

She was totally opposite to the other woman he knew before and he knew that if he had put them standing side by side they would easily contrast.

 "Thank you for your kindness in allowing me to have freedom of choice for a bit." Kaoru said sarcastically.

 'Damn that girl.'  Battousai thought repeatedly in his head while he scrubbed circles into the plate. The soapy bubbles forming the white surface slid on the plate playfully and in a way, reminded him directly to Kaoru.

There was some clatter and a little breeze formed as Kaoru lifted the tea towel from the rack. She picked up a bowl and slowly dried it. Battousai felt his head pulse. What was wrong with her?

Kaoru picked up the sense that she probably was going to drive the assassin crazy. "You never asked why." She started off, "Just because I didn't eat it doesn't mean that I won't help with cleaning up." She felt the tensed muscles of Battousai and smiled again. "You're so predictable."

 'Is that so?' Battousai thought angrily in his head. He wouldn't have been so predictable if she didn't have that sixth sense or whatever it was. Now that he thought about it, should he be careful around her or not? He didn't know what she was capable of and there was always the risk that she may have been hiding something… no, she isn't like that. She was too honest to be like certain other people like Katsura.

Just after Battousai finished drying his hands, the phone rang. He snatched the phone and replied a cold, "Yes?" A little feeling swelled inside her guts. She froze in her position and watched Battousai on the phone. Something didn't feel too good. She didn't like it at all. Again, a minor headache returned and images flickered quickly before her eyes.

Weapons clashing. Shouts. Alcohol. Amber eyes. Blood.

 "Battousai, how are things going at your place?" Uno questioned.

 "It should be none of your concern." Battousai replied curtly.

 "I see… okay. Katsura has asked me to give you a call. You and Kaoru are to meet him tonight at the Underground Akabeko. Be sure to give Kaoru something to defend herself with."

 "Fine."

 "Meeting time is at eight but Katsura would like you and her there by seven thirty. See you then?"

 "Right." Battousai hung up the phone.

 "What was that about?" Kaoru questioned, she knew that the phone call had something to do with her.

 "Tonight we're going to meet with Katsura. Is there something that you have to fight with?" His question had set Kaoru's hands to ice. There was going to be fight? Why? She shook her head in answer.

 "I would use only a shinai or a bokken. Nothing else." Kaoru said.

 "A bokken and a shinai will not save your life against a real blade." Battousai said, "You're better off with using a sword." What he said had made no impact to Kaoru. It seemed that he had forgotten about what she was able to do. She was able to beat him on the first clash between them two using nothing at all. However, she didn't make a mention of it.

He watched as Kaoru shrugged and returned to drying and packing the dishes. He wasn't sure what to make of it.

* * * *

 "Uno, here are the documents you have asked for." A tall man approached the woman and placed a pile of folders onto her desk. Each folder was labeled with a name and underneath was the mark of the Shinsengumi.

 "Thank you." Uno said while grabbing the files and sliding them into her suitcase. "And I'll tell you about your friend as we agreed on... Misao was it?"

 "I would like to know her whereabouts." Aoshi stated. He had been in search for her ever since the Shinsengumi had kidnapped her. It was only recently did he find out that the Choshu had found out where she was. Uno smiled sincerely at Aoshi and then wrote something on a piece of paper and handing it to him.

 "This is where you'll find her."

* * * *

Kaoru was in awe as she entered the underground Akabeko. She never had realised that such a sophisticated restaurant could be so brutal below the surface. The mist of smoke created swells of coughs from Kaoru. She covered her mouth and nose with the palm of her hand and held her breath.

Battousai grabbed her shoulder and urged her to move faster. "If you don't look occupied they would think your another worker." Battousai stated in a low tone. Eerie feelings emitting from the room sent waves of shudders across her skin. She didn't belong here and as much as she knew that, she wanted to go home where she felt safer, away from here. There was a bad feeling.

"Early as usual." Takasugi stated as he paced steadily towards them with his usual grin. "Shall we have a drink?" Battousai's stone expression revealed nothing but the burning fierceness from his eyes showed that he wasn't going to tolerate anything besides business from Takasugi. He was about to reply but a shriek caught his attention. The girl who was standing beside him had disappeared.

* * * *

She had been pulled across the room, she would've fought but a man had injected something into her and it was having the same effects as the drugs that Katsura had given. The psychic abilities that she had were becoming dull as she was becoming drowsy.

"Hey... babe... wanna..." The man's speech was slurred and his breath reeked with alcohol. Kaoru took a step back unsteadily glaring at him while she straightened her shirt. With hungry eyes he stepped forward. "Feisty..."

Kaoru kept silent. She took a few steps backing away from him and then turned to try and get away but hands grasped over her shoulders and pulled her back. "N-no..." She muttered. Her limbs were slowly failing her. She was thrown back onto the lounge chair. "Leave... me..."

The drowsy girl was going to fall into sleep. She couldn't resist even though she wanted to. Just at the moment she thought she was going to black out, she heard a familiar male voice in her mind.

Don't fall asleep, get up and fight with the weapon Battousai has given you.

"I... can't..." She swallowed her saliva and felt the liquid burn her throat like acid. "Why...?"

Get up.

Before the drunk man could take another step he felt a blade press hard against his neck. "If I see you touch her again I'll make sure you'll suffer a painfully slow torture before I let you go traveling the seven hells and the river towards eternal darkness." Battousai stated, his tone not giving any sign of hesitation and no sign of caring if the man was alive or dead. The drunk man seemed to have woken up and was shivering from fear. "Do you understand me?" The sharp blade had just nipped the skin from the man's neck and blood flowed.

"Y-yes Battousai, she is your woman." The drunk man said fearfully.

"I believe that you're not getting the right message." Battousai continued. His hand gripped the hilt of his sword tightly and pressed the blade against the man's neck a notch harder. The blade pressed and nibbled, creating a slightly more faster blood flow.

"P-please... let me go... I won't touch her... I swear... just let me live..." The man was shaking even more of fear and his eyes were wild. "She's yours. I won't go anywhere within 5 steps near her... p-please.... spare me..."

"E...nough...."

Battousai raised and eyebrow. Her eyes were glowing deep blue and her expression was cold, it looked like she was in a dreamy state. She had a shinai in one hand and looked like she was preparing for a fight. Battousai removed his sword from his victim. The man grabbed his throat and stumbled away as fast as he could. It sounded like the room had silenced to watch the disturbance.

A complete contrast to the state she was in before, she stood in a stance. Battousai's first impression was that she was going to ask him for a fight but another presence told him different. He stepped to the side and out of the corner of his eye saw a tall bulky man gleaming at Kaoru. "What do you want, Garuda?"

"So I guess that this is going to be fun." Garuda said, "You should know how tonight is going to go girl, a match between the two of us and only the two of us." Garuda shot a sneer at Battousai. "You lose, well, I'll have another edition to my collection..."

* * * *

"This is crazy." Uno said as she watched from the booth beside Katsura and Takasugi. "You drug Kaoru with some substance and you expect her to fight a match that would risk her future?" Uno looked like she was going to be sick. Takasugi chuckled and placed a hand on her shoulder gingerly.

"There's nothing to worry about dear." He said.

"He's right," Katsura confirmed, "I've tried that substance myself and it has proved quite useful to me as an Empath. I thought that I would test it on Kaoru to see how her body would cope with it."

"In other words you have found yourself another lab rat." Uno muttered. She really didn't like the idea but Katsura looked extremely confident. His eyes were stone cold and his face expression was concrete. She couldn't understand how a man like him could be like that.

* * * *

Battousai sheathed his sword. Katsura must have planned this. The style of how this was set up with Katsura's trade mark. He reluctantly took a step back to watch. Kaoru wasn't even awake. She was practically asleep. That was the effect of the drug. Battousai was willing to step in and stop the whole ordeal in his own way but he wasn't going to cause problems for his Master.

"Ladies first," Garuda said with his superior, confident tone.

"Dirt before the broom." Came the deadly calm reply. "Unless the dirt feels unworthy to go even before the broom. Then..."

A vein looked like it had formed at Garuda's temples. "Bitch. You think that you can say that? I'll win this match!" He drew out his pistols and pulled the hammers, preparing to shoot.

"My... you're confident." Kaoru's tone was dull. Then she vanished from sight. Other men and women in the room were in horror with what they saw next. All tongues were leashed and everything had froze. Garuda's eyes were wide with shock and he was gasping for breath. Battousai was amused by the reactions and watched with interested quietness. Kaoru blinked slowly, her hand tightly grappling around his neck and her eyes devoured and gouged at Garuda's. With her calm dead voice she said, "Too confident."

Battousai didn't get what happened next but Garuda was sent crashing into the mirrors on the furthest wall bleeding from the eyes, ears, nose and mouth. A bruise clearly on his forehead.

* * * *

"My god..." Uno said with awe. Kaoru was in a sleeping state and she defeated Garuda with little effort. That was definitely extraordinary yet it was fearful. Takasugi's expression was much the same. He hadn't expected the substance to react with Kaoru's body that way. Katsura however, was smirking with confidence.

"Excellent..." He said, "Beautiful." The successful result presented itself to him and he grabbed it with sheer pleasure. If it goes on this way, 'The Project' will be a success. He'll be able to create the perfect pair of assassins yet. He had always thought that Battousai needed a partner just like how it is shown in the sign of Yin and Yang. He'll be invincible and would be able to claim the government positions smoothly, bit by bit. "That's all for tonight, we might as well go back to our places."

* * * * 

The night was over. Fun and games weren't welcome here for the rest of the night. The criminals cleared out. They were all leaving because they were all in fear of what had just happened. A teenager was able to beat one of the top assassins just before the real fight could begin. It was awfully quiet.

"That was too... easy." Kaoru said with a cool tone. She walked with smooth movements towards Battousai and stopped when they were face to face. Bright ultramarine eyes met amber with a quiet message. She was completely not herself or maybe it was just another side of her. She cupped Battousai's scarred cheek in her warm hand and brushed the red bangs back to see his face clearer.

He stood still and eyed her with unreadable emotions. He felt the warmth on his cheek. She was intoxicating. 'Only business.' He reminded himself. He took hold of Kaoru's hand and removed it. She snaked her other hand around his neck and pressed her cheek against his gently. "Only business isn't it?" She questioned him so quietly that it was almost a whisper. "I won't end up being another Tomoe, Kenshin..."

"You're not yourself." Battousai stated. Unmoving in Kaoru's embrace. He didn't know what to do or say next. And it was infuriating him that he was not the one in control.

"Really...?" Kaoru asked, "I may be asleep... but I am still me." She instantly released him and he felt the coldness of the room puncture his skin. Kaoru smiled weakly. "Let's go home."  

'When did she 'wake up'?' He thought, she was acting normal now and was playing mind games. He paused feeling like he had just been caged by a hunter. For the first time in a long time he felt that he was the victim of someone's mind game instead of the victor. He had just fallen for a trick.

* * *

AN: Sorry for the long wait. Hope that you all liked the chapter. Thanks for your support! I'm glad that so far the response to this fic has been positive. *yawns* So tired... Well, until next time!

~ Cherry Chibi