A/N: Yeah so it's been a long time. I'm semi-back, though! Well, this chapter is finished...hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or their original storyline. I'm just shamelessly exploiting them for my own selfish reasons.

Chapter 6: Untitled

Kaoru pelted through the brush, her crashing footsteps like thunder to her ears. She was frightened, lost, and confused, and she wanted to hide but had no idea where. Where could she hide that he wouldn't find her? It was hopeless, he was too fast, too sharp, too...inhuman to miss her. She leaped over a fallen tree, swatting at tree branches that tore at her hair and clothing. She was covered in a plethora of tiny, bloody scratches and could feel the blood running down her face and neck from the particularly vicious ones, but she still continued to run, fueled by the knowledge that he would catch her if she didn't. What would he do?

Her mind chanted a constant mantra in her ear ('Run, run, run!') as she ran, pushing faster and faster in the dark. She couldn't see, couldn't think, and didn't really want to do either, because she was afraid that one or the other, or maybe both, would finally point out to her that she'd lost it, that she'd had a surprise brain aneurism and a blood clot was starving her brain of oxygen, causing absurd hallucinations, but it all felt so real...

No. It definitely wasn't a hallucination; this was real. She swerved around a rotten tree, only to run into a patch of briars. Before she knew what was happening, Kaoru was on her hands and knees with incredible fire running all along her body. Her first thought was fire ants, and her second was OW! She tried to straighten up, but the briars were hopelessly tangled in her hair. She whimpered and fought furiously with them, ignoring the blood that stained her hands and ran into her hair. Finally simply ripping at the entangled hair, she freed herself of the troublesome vines. Her shoelaces were tangled, but she pulled them loose and stumbled on.

Kenshin strolled casually along the blatantly obvious trail Kaoru had left him to follow. Broken sticks, overturned rocks, Kaoru wouldn't have been that hard to track even if he hadn't had superior vision and hearing. Even as far away as she was, he could hear her panicked breathing and hurried steps as she charged ahead of him. Sooner or later she would tire, and he would enjoy hearing the hopelessness in her manner when she did, but she still went on strong this early. That was fine...let her run.

Deciding to pick up the pace of the chase a little bit, he began to jog. 'Kaoru...I'm coming for you,' he thought, then smirked. This hunt had been over before it began. He stopped and kneeled before the thorns that Kaoru had fallen into, his hand delicately reaching out to pull the thin strands of her hair from the briars. He closed his eyes and lowered his head towards the ground. The scent of her blood was strong here, radiating to him, calling and begging to be taken.

Kenshin inhaled slowly before standing again, his eyes a feral amber.

Kaoru leaned against a tree, both hands against either side of it as she panted for breath. This was getting her nowhere. She was getting tired; she couldn't run much longer. She knew he knew this...he'd known it from the very beginning. If she could get back to the road, maybe she could find a car, and somehow she'd convince them that her bizarre story was real! No, that would never work. Perhaps if she could move far enough out of the dead area to get cell phone reception...

With a frantic clutch at her pocket, Kaoru realized she didn't have her cell phone. Panic wrought her for several minutes before she slapped herself firmly across the face. The sound rang out in the forest, and a few of the night sounds paused before cautiously starting again. Kaoru gasped, surprised that it had actually hurt that bad. It never looked like it hurt that badly in the movies. She shook her head. There was nothing she could do about her lost phone, but she needed to get moving again.

There was a very potentially dangerous guy after her, and she wasn't especially keen on being caught.

Kenshin's narrowed amber eyes didn't waver from Kaoru's still body. He had caught up to her quite a distance before, but had yet to make a move. The scent of her blood was intoxicating, and quite frankly, it was driving him mad. Instincts in him demanded that blood, and it was difficult for him to refuse them. A low growl vibrated from his throat as Kaoru pushed away from the tree and rubbed a blood-stained hand across the oozing cut on her neck.

Her eyes flicked to his hiding place and the chase began in earnest again. He darted after her, his breath coming in short pants as he struggled with his beastly inner demons. He charged around a tree Kaoru had passed and began to tail her. Kaoru cast frightened looks backwards as she dove through the underbrush; she was whimpering now, and trembling if she'd taken the time to stop.

Kenshin lunged for Kaoru, she felt his cold fingers graze her arm, but she jerked away and ran again. She looked back once again, caught his predatory gaze, and turned to bolt through the forest even faster. She ran for several minutes; he was so close she could sometimes feel his fingers graze her body, but she continued on. She knew he could end the chase at any time, and she raged inside at the power he held over her. Why did he not use it?

The only answer she could come up with only infuriated her more. The only explainable reason was that he was toying with her. He was feeding off her emotions, running her around and tiring her...for what? Cold fingertips on her heated skin forced Kaoru away from her thoughts. She hadn't been paying enough attention to her running, and Kenshin had closed the shallow gap she had been able to gain on him.

She turned back and met his gaze, and was spurred further on by the hunger in his eyes. This was not a look she'd seen previously. This was not the smug, arrogant look he'd possessed when she first met him, nor was it the seductive, smooth look he'd possessed in the taxi cab. Her mind screamed run, then she saw red. Then black.

And Kenshin smirked.

A solid, thick line of pain filled Kaoru's head; every heartbeat made it worse, and all she could see was red. The color swirled in front of her eyes, blinding and hurting, but somehow her eyes opened anyhow. Her vision remained blurry for a few seconds, then her eyelids fluttered and everything seemed to clear for a moment. Someone...someone leaned over her, and a necklace of some sort dangled near her face. What...Where was she? Those sounds...who?

Everything leaked back to her slowly. She was in the forest, and...Kenshin! Kenshin was chasing her! That evil, psychotic stalker! He, HE was after her and---He was looking her in the face, a twisted grin revealing far more of his pointed, vampiric teeth than Kaoru wanted to see. "Oh God no..." she whispered, closing her eyes when she felt tears pricking at them.

Kenshin felt her hopelessness, and decided finally that he liked it. A low rumble started in his chest as he bent over her. "Oh yes, Kaoru. This is what I am. Do you fear me, finally? Do you feel the hopelessness in this clearing? What good is this God of yours, when he left you here, alone, with me? Convenient that he arranged for you to run blindly into that limb, don't you think?" he said, his eyes clouding stormy amber. The smell of fresh blood nagged at his senses. It had been days since he'd fed...perhaps...

Kaoru moaned slightly, and a tear fled the throbbing refuge of one eye. Kenshin could see that the flesh around both eyes beginning to bruise. The rather large cut on her neck bled slightly; it seemed to have reopened when she fell. Kenshin's eyes watched as a fat drop of blood rolled down the porcelain skin to caress the leaves beneath her. 'It wouldn't take much for her to take the blood, now that she is down for the count and injured,' Kenshin thought. All his well-thought-out plans began to steal away, leaving him with the demands of his inner demon and intense need.

He took a shuddery deep breath and grasped the talisman around his neck, closing his eyes and willing the demon down. The need for blood decreased, but the call remained, clouding his thoughts, obscuring his reason. Kaoru moaned again, softly enough to not disturb the night noises around them. The crickets sang loudly in the silence that then reigned.

Kenshin's eyes were riveted to the open wound on her neck. Would she even notice? He hesitated only a moment longer, then ran one slender finger up her neck to the wound, staining the tip red with Kaoru's blood. He hungrily stuck the finger in his mouth, and what little violet that had bled back into his eyes disappeared promptly. He growled and lowered himself to her neck, licking gently at the wound.

Kaoru's eyes snapped open, but she found herself unable to move, for Kenshin's hands pressed her arms firmly against the ground. Her voice seemed to have taken refuge somewhere far away. The pounding in her head increased tenfold as her pulse began to race once again. His tongue burned like fire against the cut on her neck, and she struggled against him. "No!" she gasped, for his hands were unyielding. "No, don't," she whimpered. Her eyes closed in defeat when she realized he wasn't going to stop.

Kenshin's eyes narrowed but didn't move from the wound. His other senses searched the forest for danger, but finding none returned to his current fascination. His mouth attached firmly to the cut, sucking greedily. Kaoru let out a small yelp, and her eyes flew open again. Pain! Pain...Was he killing her? With a sob, Kaoru realized she didn't care anymore. The forest canopy spun around her, and the ground fell away. She felt weak, defenseless, and hopeless. The world bled black...

Kaoru awoke slowly, in that comfortable, easy way one always wakes up in their warm bed. She stretched under the covers then winced. Man, she was sore. That had been one odd dream she'd had...she must have stayed up too late watching TV the night before...now that she thought about it, she was almost certain that was what had happened. Too much TV, too late. She smiled to herself, then pulled the blankets back and sat up.

She raised her hands to rub her eyes but the window caught her eye before she could. It was bright and shining outside, obviously well past noon. She'd slept all day? Oh well. She stood up and stretched fully. Kaoru then noticed that she was completely naked. Well...it must have gotten hot in the night, see, there on the floor were her clothes, they were...dirty and torn?

She frowned slightly and headed towards the bathroom. She'd feel better after a shower. She felt...dirty and gross. She walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower, then yawned. She worked night shift tonight, if she recalled correctly, so she needed to get ready. She jumped in the shower, and sang to herself. She laughed as she finally stepped out of the shower...today was going to be a good day! She pulled her towel off the towelrack and flipped her hair over, capturing it with the towel and drying as she raised her head.

She pulled the towel down and caught a glance of herself in the mirror. Most of it was fogged up, but the middle was clear from where she rubbed it every time she got out of the shower or bath. Two purpled black eyes greeted her. "Oh my ever-living God."

A/N: Um...yah...that's the end. Review and tell me about it! I give you permission to yell at me for being gone...lol...