A/N: Hoo, chapter 10! LOL! Thx reviewers!
StormHornet – Yes, poor Kaoru… and yes, why didn't I kill Kenshin? Ah, well. Maybe next time LOL!
Sonia/Sunny – Though I do not understand how you could still be speaking after dying, I glub chu anyway! That's right; I glub chu…
Valerie – GAH! –dies, then is resurrected- Did you mention… Sesshoumaru-sama? –glomps- he's mine! MINE! I am glad you resurrected me, for if you had not I would be dead and unable to update! w00t!
Rurouni-maxi – Oh, no! –cowers- Don't kill me! I'm sorry! But LOL you must REALLY hate Hotaru!
Recap –
They stood frozen, until Kenshin clutched at his side, the wound gushing blood. Then Daemon staggered, and blood burst from his torso.
"I have… been beaten… by this man?" Daemon uttered, feeling his open chest. Daemon's gaze snapped to Kenshin. "Himura Kenshin! I swear that I will drag you down to hell one day soon!" Then Daemon coughed up blood and fell forward, dead.
The Color Black-Red – Chapter 10
Hotaru rushed to Kenshin's side. She tried to help him make his way to Kaoru's body, but he pushed her away and, holding his bloody side, staggered over to Kaoru's limp body. Hotaru ran over to him. "I can heal you!" she said.
All Kenshin said was, "You cannot heal the wound in my heart." Then, after a pause, "And if you can only heal pain, you are no use to me. I need to intensify the pain to symbolize what … I … have done."
"But it… it was me, Hotaru." Kenshin held Kaoru's body close. "It was I…"
"Oh…" Hotaru bit her lip. "It was not you, Kenshin-san. She would not have wanted you to feel this. She would surely say, 'move on.'"
"Is this some scheme to get me to fall in love with you? Because if it is, I am not listening," Kenshin said flatly.
Hotaru knelt beside him and took one of his hands in hers and looked at Kaoru. "You defeated Daemon." She helped him up, him sagging like a rag doll. "Let me heal you."
Kenshin said nothing, his eyes on Kaoru.
Hotaru sighed and put her hands on Kenshin's side. They glowed with a gray white light and Kenshin winced with pain. Then Hotaru said, "Let you now be healed of this wound." Then the wound was gone. The blood was still there, dripping down Kenshin's side and hakama.
"Arigato." Kenshin said monotonously. "Can we bury her?" he asked, his eyes not drifting from Kaoru's still body.
"Hai."
Suddenly they heard a sound coming from the torn, massacred corpse of Daemon. Their heads snapped in that direction. What they saw quite astounded them. A blue light poured out of Daemon's body and flowed into Kaoru's. A small smile played across Kenshin's lips. "Her powers."
"Powers?" Hotaru wondered aloud.
"Yes. You, yourself are a cleric, correct?" Kenshin turned his head toward her.
Hotaru nodded.
"Well, Kaoru is… was … a very advanced cleric as well as a sorceress. She… well, I suppose she might have had necromancer powers as well."
"Ah… necromancer?" Hotaru felt foolish.
"A Necromancer is a person who raises people from the dead." When Hotaru opened her mouth to speak Kenshin held up a hand, already knowing her question. "No, not like a cleric. Necromancer's can only petrify wounds, stilling the pain for a day, giving you a chance to find a cleric. You know how Clerics can bring people back to life if they are powerful enough? Well Necromancers can do that… except they would raise them as zombies. Zombies cannot fight, no less talk. They can barely walk. Or the Necromancers might raise the dead as wraiths. Wraiths can fight, talk and even run."
"Oh." Hotaru looked up. "I am not powerful enough to resurrect someone. I am sorry. I am sorry I am such a weakling," she said miserably.
Kenshin felt pity, and placed a hand on Hotaru's shoulder.
"No, you are not a weakling."
Hotaru looked up earnestly. "Will you tell me more of Kaoru's powers?"
"Yes," Kenshin grunted and picked up a sheet and put it over Kaoru; he couldn't stand seeing his dear love's body. Then Kenshin kneeled down on the hard, marble floor, motioning Hotaru to join him. "Kaoru was a very experienced cleric, she can heal fatal wounds and resurrect without trouble and with almost no limit. However, when she got tired she had to stop and use sanctuary or haven to, lets say she was fighting in a battle, to get through without getting hurt."
Hotaru asked quietly, feeling a fool, "Sanctuary is where you put your hands together and ring your healer's bell and nobody can hurt you, right?"
"Yes." Kenshin sighed deeply. "She was also deeply advanced in sorcery. She could cast blindness and sleep and all sorts of spells by merely raising her hand. That's how Kaoru fought in battles. She used swords as well, though she preferred magic. She quite enjoyed fighting with swords. Her magic spells were mostly just temporary. Death was one she almost never cast. One of her favorites was always Delusion. When you cast that spell over someone you may tell them what they are, or if their friends are actually their enemies," Kenshin finished quietly. He looked at Hotaru, tears in his amber eyes that were now turning a strange shade of violet.
Hotaru leaned over and put her hands on his arm. "Shall we bury her?" she asked.
Kenshin nodded and stood up when a voice said,
"Hello again, Himura Kenshin." Shinomori Misao stepped out of the shadows.
Kenshin was lost for words. "Misao?" he asked, stepping toward her. "Shinomori Misao?"
"Yes," she said, and let her head fall. "You have killed Daemon-sama."
"Yes." Kenshin smiled triumphantly, though he thought it odd that his friend Misao would refer to Daemon as 'Daemon-sama'. "I did."
"I shall kill you!" Misao shouted, tears falling down her face. She used her kunai and threw them at Kenshin.
He leaped aside in surprise. "Misao? What in Kami's name are you doing, my friend?"
Misao paused in mid swing. "A long time ago, I was a simpleton working for good. Then, when I was 17, when I saw my Aoshi kiss Kaoru, I realized my folly. I realized that the people who worked for good were going to fall. So I joined evil. And so did Kaoru. Or," Misao looked around suspiciously, "at least, that is what she told me."
"My friend." Kenshin walked towards her. "Oh, Misao…you are evil?"
"Yes. I am." After a pause she asked, "Where is Kaoru?"
"Kaoru…" Kenshin took a deep breath. "Kaoru is d-dead."
Misao blanched. "What? What?" Misao started crying. "Impossible!"
Kenshin said nothing, he just looked unimaginably sad.
Misao sobbed, "I am so, so sorry! Oh…" She dropped upon the ground and hugged her knees. "Oh, Kaoru I am so sorry! So sorry, my friend…"
Kenshin put a hand on her shoulder.
"No!" Misao hit his hand away and glared up at him through watery eyes. "Kaoru was my best friend! I … when I suspected she was evil I nearly attacked her, but I held back to ask Daemon the truth… and I said I wouldn't cry if she died! How could I have said that? Look at me now! I am so sorry Kaoru, so sorry." Misao shook with sobs.
With Misao still sniffling at the death of her friend, and Kenshin not really speaking, they carried out the burial. Kenshin slowly, tearfully, put Kaoru into a wooden box. Misao used her earth moving powers to create a hole and they lowered Kaoru's unblemished and unscarred body into it. Then Misao recovered the hole and with Kenshin quietly crying, they said praise. Then they moved a marking stone to signify the grave.
As Kenshin, Misao and Hotaru silently walked away Kenshin turned back toward the grave, his eyes filled with tears, and blew a kiss. "I'll never forget you, Kaoru. I love you."
TBC…A/N: Its almost done!
Review please!