Chapter 5: Untitled
A/N: Well, sorries to you all. It shouldn't have taken so long, but I had vacation, festivals...and stuff. SO, without further adieu except to remind you that this is being written as another story, blah blah, I'm sure you've gotten enough of that by now so just read the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, I'm just shamelessly exploiting them for my own selfish reasons.
Note: Rating increased for language. Don't sue me.
Kaoru shifted in her seat, unable to place exactly what was causing her uneasiness. It was hard to say, really, that she was all that uneasy, but she certainly wasn't relaxed or comfortable. Perhaps it was the dark, or the close confines of the cab she'd chosen, or maybe it was the simple fact that everything had connected so easily…
She frowned, smoothing a wrinkle in her pants as she looked around, trying to calm herself down. There was nothing to see: the cab was as dark as the back of her eyelids, and not when she looked at the sun. Dark tint clung to the windows to shield the day-time customers from sunshine that could be harsh even in the dead of winter, but did little to help Kaoru now. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled, and she caught herself rubbing them absently.
She didn't think it was the cab; she'd ridden in cabs most of her life and they'd never given her this feeling before. She did, however, get this feeling when someone (usually someone other than herself) was driving a bit too fast for her liking. Kaoru craned her neck to see the spedometer, but her eyes met only darkness. The driver seemed to revel in the darkness, for the interior lights – even the ones on the dashboard – were turned down so low that Kaoru couldn't even tell they were on. Or maybe it was the pale glow from underneath the cigarette lighter crippling her eyes. The whitish yellow glow wasn't very bright: it shone only enough to illuminate the cabbie's name on the dash and reveal a vague outline that gave Kaoru the creeps.
Kaoru's eyes flicked back to the window, staring at her reflection that stared back at her. She didn't realize that as fearful as she felt on the inside, none showed on the outside. She couldn't see outside, and that was a fact that was definitely beginning to bother her. She shivered. Her mind would not stop the nasty tricks it loved to play…
"…um…Excuse me, Mr.–" Kaoru squinted at the name taped to the dash. "Mr. Heigne?" Randomly she noted that she hadn't put her seatbelt on. Hopefully this Mr. Heigne was in a good mood, and didn't decide that he should sling his annoying passenger out the window, and hopefully she didn't scare the bejeeses out of the poor man. Ultimately she supposed she was doomed to the same fate.
A semi-responsive grunt from the driver told her to continue. "Could you turn on the interior light? I…dropped an earring," she lied. What was she supposed to say, You're really creepy and I'm scared out of my wits, please don't rape me? "No," came the immediate, almost angry answer. He offered no more explanation, so Kaoru asked again. "Please?" "No." "Why?" She demanded, scooting forward. The driver whipped around to face her.
Kaoru couldn't see his face, but his eyes reflected an odd, malicious light. She shrank back in the seat away from him, hoping he didn't draw a knife. "You weren't wearing earrings." Kaoru's hand found its way to her pounding heart. "I, well…um, you see…what happened was," she stuttered. "I-I had them in my hand," she recovered finally, raising her chin to appear braver, and to hide the tremor in her voice. "And you aren't a very good liar. Why would you be holding earrings if your ears aren't pierced?"
Kaoru was taken aback. Sure, it was perhaps light enough for him to have noticed that she wore no earrings, but there was no way he'd been able to see close enough to tell that her ears were not pierced. In order for someone to know that, they must know her. No taxi drivers that she knew knew her well enough to know that her ears were not pierced. She paused. Maybe this really wasn't as bad as it seemed. Perhaps she was overreacting. Maybe it was just all a big mistake, and somehow she did know him.
She squinted at the name on the dash. "Lep, have I ever ridden in your cab before?" She asked. "You sound really familiar." Not long after she said it, she realized it was true. He really did sound familiar. "No," the driver said, and in the dim light Kaoru saw his lips curl into an amused grin. "Can't say that you have." Kaoru shuddered and clutched her purse. He was certainly very creepy, even for a cab-driver. "Oh. Ok."
A few moments of silence passed, and Kaoru began to relax. Then her cell phone rang, effectively scaring the wits out of her. She screamed bloody murder and flailed her arms and legs, nearly managing to fall out of the seat before she realized it was indeed her phone. The driver offered a single, stoic chuckle. The phone had almost finished its ringing cycle before Kaoru found it. "H-hello?" She asked, her voice still shaking.
"Kaoru, hey girl…um…where are you?" Misao's voice rang clearly through the phone, and Kaoru heaved a sigh of relief. "I'm on my way home, Mom…" she said, stressing the last word in hopes that Misao would understand that there was someone else there. "Mom? What's with that? Look, where are you?" Misao pushed, sounding urgent. "It's a long story," Kaoru said, rolling her eyes. "Kaoru, this is important!" Misao said. "There's no one here at the hospital. The nurses have never heard of a Nael Nichinacha or a Ani Nichinacha. I called Ani and she said that everything was fine. Where are you?"
"Uhm…well, you see, that's a funny story…" Kaoru said, the blood draining from her face. There was a very pregnant pause. "What!" Misao hissed. "A funny story…Kaoru…" Kaoru's eyes darted to the cab driver, who for the moment seemed more interested in the road. "No, I'm sure he'll be looking for me; I'm already late home," she said, not taking her eyes off the driver.
"What?" Misao said, her voice as confused as ever. Kaoru closed her eyes and willed her friend to catch on. "No mom, my tremendously huge predominantly tree-trunk like boyfriend," she said, affecting a huge fake grin. If her phone had a cord, she would have been twirling it in her fingers. As it was, her other hand twitched nervously. "Kaoru, please tell me you let Saito take you home…" Misao whispered through the phone, and Kaoru could tell by her friend's tone of voice that her eyes were closed in silent prayer…even though Misao never prayed.
"No?" "WHAT!" Came the immediate, hysterical response. "YOU'RE IN A CAB?" Kaoru winced. The cab driver had certainly heard that. He made no sign that he had, however. "Just where are you?" Misao demanded. "Pull that cab over, I'm coming to get you." Kaoru laughed nervously. She hated how obvious she sounded to herself. "I don't think he'd do that…" she said, still trying to pass it off as if she were talking about her nonexistant boyfriend.
"He'd better fuckin' do that!" Misao shouted. The speaker on Kaoru's phone vibrated, and Kaoru held the phone out away from her ear with a grimace. "SH!" She said when she pulled the phone back to her ear. "You're screaming at me. And don't use such language." Kaoru could almost hear the steam boiling off the top of her friend's head. "I'LL USE WHATEVER DAMN LANGUAGE I WANT, KAORU KAMIYA! YOU GET OUT OF THAT CAB TH–-" And the phone began to fizz. 'It's the dead area…I know where I am…' Kaoru thought, then frowned. "Misao!" She said, forgetting her facade for a moment. She needed her friend on the phone! "Damn!" She said, smacking the phone against the back of the seat several times before she realized that…she'd just gotten tangled up in her own lie. "Misao?" She said into the phone, pitifully, her eyes on the rear-view mirror.
The phone crackled and she caught the last bit of a few of Misao's words, but then the phone made a piteous beep and flashed the 'No Signal' message at her. "Damn…" she murmured again, pressing herself closer to the door. She looked up and met a pair of eyes in the mirror. He was looking at her again with that creepy, malicious gleam in his eyes.
"Don't hurt me…" she whispered in fright, her voice almost inaudible. A low, undeniably evil laugh vibrated through her bones. "Come now, Kaoru…" the cabbie drawled, chuckling maniacally. "You didn't honestly think I didn't know who you were talking to in the first place, now did you? After all, I sent her there…" 'Oh my God…it's the psycho stalking bastard that I can't get out of my thoughts…' Kaoru's mind whirled frantically, and she felt her heartbeat phsyically get faster.
"W-who…are you?" She whimpered, her hand searching in vain for the door handle. "Oh now Kaoru…you know who I am…you knew when you opened that cab door…" came the sophisticated tone. Yes, she did know who it was…but… Car headlights from the other direction illuminated the car fully, revealing the entire identity of the false cab-driver. His long, auburn hair spilled over his shoulders as he stared back at her, his amber-violet eyes harsh and intense. "Oh my God…" Kaoru finally whispered. "It's you…Kenshin…"
When the meaning of her words finally hit her, she scrambled frantically along the door, searching for the handle that had eluded her so effortlessly before, and finally found it…locked. Kaoru felt a scream building up in her throat as the car pulled off of the road. Gravel crunched under the tires ominously. "What do you want?" She pleaded. "Money? I have that, just take my wallet! There's even credit cards, and–" "No," Kenshin cut her off before she could finish. "I have no use for your petty human distractions," he said, his eyes narrowing.
The amber seemed to leak over the violet like mercury, and Kaoru was reminded of the time she'd broken the thermometer in the kitchen. Her father had told her to be careful, and not to touch the mercury, because it was poisonous. The gaze in Kenshin's eyes was surely the same, but Kaoru couldn't help but stare back into the endless pools. "That is not what I want," he said finally, his voice soft and mesmerizing. Kaoru could almost feel herself sailing away on the ocean that was his gaze; she could feel herself drowning in the capsizing vessel that was her willpower and fear. "What I want…" he said, leaning back towards her. Kaoru's breath quickened, and she caught herself leaning forward to him. His finger lifted her chin and sent trails of fire through her body. "…is something I can never have." And then he broke away, leaving Kaoru feeling unfulfilled, like a cast-aside lover. "I'm sorry…" she breathed, wishing that he would touch her again. Kenshin snorted. "I'm very sure you are," he said, turning away.
Kaoru almost cried as he blocked her out. He hit the door lock button, and Kaoru barely even noticed that the locks popped up. "Go," Kenshin said, his voice heavy and brooding. "I enjoy the chase." That much was certainly true. Kenshin valued the chase more than the kill, for after the chase, there was no more that could be. Though he was a creature of the night, and took life nightly as his means of survival, Kenshin believed very strongly in the value of life. It sickened him just how many of those that still had their lives didn't appreciate them.
Those he sometimes chose to eliminate simply because he could. And the world was a better place for that, he was sure. He thrived on terror, the disbelief, the anguish and bittersweet curiousity that this was the end, but even more, he thrived on the surge of energy, knowledge and adrenaline that flashed in a person's eyes before they died. He delighted in watching that spark come before snuffing it with his final brutality. Kenshin often wondered just what his victims were seeing, and sometimes mourned that he couldn't ask them, but alas, his work was final…and he didn't believe in doing things half-way.
Kaoru snapped back, almost like coming out of a trance, and stared at him in disbelief. He'd ferried her out here in the middle of nowhere to let her out of his cab? What was it he'd said? 'I enjoy the chase…' Kaoru shivered and inched out of the cab. Once her face touched the cool, dewy night air, her terror returned, although not as strong as before. A part of her strangely longed for him to catch her, to touch her again with his molten fire, but her rationality screamed that she was crazy. She glanced back on last time; her blue eyes met his amber ones, and she knew she was destined to run.
Kenshin scowled at the retreating back of his current prey. Humans were so pathetically easy to manipulate. He'd hoped Kaoru would be different, mostly because he was going out of his way to disturb her, to stalk her, to harass her…and to make her love him anyway.The constant play of emotions she radiated excited the more primitive feelings inside of him, which in turn exhilarated and amused him. If he had any real interest in who she was, he might have called it infatuation.
But to him, Kaoru Kamiya was pure, unadultered lust and sweet– agonizingly sweet– revenge in one body. It was the body that excited him somewhere on a deeply masculine level, and he thought perhaps it was because he knew he could have her, even right now, after he'd chased her down, he knew if he wanted her, all he had to do was touch her the right way– the way he'd touched her before– and she would be his. But he didn't want her yet. No, not yet. He wanted her to come to him, to beg him to have her, to ravage her pride, her person, and eventually her mind. And when she asked, he would comply. Until then, he would wait.
It struck him just how out of character he'd been lately, but it was obvious from an old encounter that conventional methods would not work with Kaoru…not since her pathetic excuse for a father had intervened and deprived him of what he'd wanted. Kenshin cursed. He hated not getting what he wanted, and the memory of that deprivation, of the months of planning, of all the thought that had gone into his plan, then the effortless thwarting of it by a human who should have been no trouble made him angry.
But he'd gotten effortless revenge on that old man, Kenshin remembered with a grin. And now he was back for sweet vengeance: Kaoru. He couldn't kill her, which was what he'd originally hoped to do, but that had been effectively halted, and could not be done. At least, not the way he wanted. He was quite sure what he wanted to do with her, and it was the perfect way to kick dirt in the face of her dead father. He, Kenshin, would have Kaoru as his vampiress love slave. The irony was so incredibly poignant that Kenshin could hardly believe he'd thought of it. He would have the daughter of a Hunter as his slave. Glorious.
The very prospect made him want to gloat, to turn to the dead body of her father and say: 'Look here, old man. See your daughter? She's mine now, and she will be forever! ' Kenshin let out a purely evil chuckle before opening the car door. Let the hunt begin…