Disclaimer: I disclaim everything.

A/N: So sorry, this was supposed to come out way earlier, like right after I read HBP (finished it on the sixteenth, so sorry it took a week extra!) I'm not sure what happened, but I think it has to do with excessive movie-watching and counter-strike-playing. Plus, I always have trouble with fight scenes. Anyway, hope you enjoy.

Tanoshimu!


Chapter 19

Aoshi: What Lies Within

-

Aoshi kept his eyes carefully trained on his opponent as he reached down to grasp the sheath that held his two kodachi.

But a smaller, cooler hand reached the sheath before Aoshi's did. He could feel this hand pulsing beneath his own. The fingers laced with Aoshi's so that their hands were entwined around his kodachi sheath. And then he could feel Kaoru coming up behind him, her other hand coming to rest on his other side, against his hip. Her forehead pressed slightly against his spine, an act of affection. Was she telling him to go, or was she holding him back?

Kaoru was reminded of another time she had done this very same thing, but the memory seemed fuzzy and badly tuned in comparison to what she was doing now. Once, she had been a little girl, holding back someone she cared about from an uncertain fight.

Now, Kaoru was a woman, not holding Aoshi back, but urging him forward, wishing him luck for an unavoidable fight.

Aoshi turned, slightly, to look at Kaoru who stared right back up at him. He raised his hand and patted her once on the head.

"It will be fine," he said. Kaoru was sure that only she could hear him. Before he turned around again, he opened his mouth to speak once more, "Thank you."

Kaoru stepped back, ready to let him fight in the way he knew how.

Aoshi turned to face Rokuro again, giving no change in his demeanor to indicate that he'd had a tender moment with Kaoru just a few seconds before. Anything, Aoshi knew, could be used against him. Especially someone he cared about.

Rokuro looked like he didn't notice any such encounter. He said nothing, but was clearly waiting for Aoshi to draw his swords.

Aoshi decided it wasn't in his best interest to keep anyone waiting, so he grasped either end of his sheath and produced a kodachi from either side, letting the scabbard clatter to the floor.

"You were the one who fought Naruku," Aoshi said in a bland tone.

"I suppose that means I'm a bad guy," Rokuro said, his voice laced with sarcasm. "But I'm sure you know better, Shinomori-san. A job's a job, and you do what your employer asks, isn't that it?"

There it was. That expression, that look on his face that Aoshi knew all too well. It was as if his own face, as it had been in Kyoto two years ago, reflected back at him. Rokuro fought without regard to life, without fear of death. He fought like an ogre, but the only thing missing was that gleam in his eyes, the flash that represented the willingness to change his very soul just for one fight.

It wasn't there. Nothing was there that would indicate Rokuro cared at all about his life, or what he did with it. Aoshi guessed that if he cut Rokuro down right where he stood, he would not even raise an eyebrow.

It was infuriating. Both men had little desire to fight each other, and yet, there they were.

Aoshi waited for his cue to launch an attack. Rokuro tensed, one foot slid forward a fraction of an inch. Aoshi lunged at Rokuro, kodachi stretched out as far as Aoshi could reach. Two successive strikes of the kodachi landed on Rokuro, one on his hip and one on his shoulder as he turned away, forcing the sword away from Aoshi. Aoshi's movements were like liquid, there was a simple grace there that made it clear Aoshi was not only a swordsman, but a martial artist as well.

"Perfect!" Yahiko yelped from the sidelines. "He may not be Kenshin, but he sure knows his stuff!"

Kaoru had noticed that too. Kenshin may have been able to attack like that defensively. That is to say, he would have begun after Rokuro had attacked. Aoshi was not quite as quick as Kenshin, nor did he pretend to be. By attacking a half second before Rokuro, he had been able to evade the swing of the sword to land two near-perfect blows.

There was something oddly drawn in about Aoshi's attacks. He was not quite fighting defensively, but neither was he attacking with offensive aggression. He was almost like a median between Kenshin and Sanosuke—not so infuriatingly passive as Kenshin was, constantly waiting the fight out, letting himself be attacked and striking back only when necessary. But neither did Aoshi go all out, throwing caution to the wind and forgetting to keep himself guarded, as was the way Sano fought. Aoshi fought cautiously, yet with definite force.

Aoshi attacked Rokuro again, effectively keeping his sword at bay yet again with just one kodachi. The other he brought forward, grazing Rokuro's arm. The blow had not landed as predicted, and the uselessly exerted force caused Aoshi to lurch forward.

Rokuro's sword was coming down quickly, but Aoshi kept his poise. He shifted and brought one kodachi up to block it, successfully regaining his stance.

But Rokuro had yet another trick up his sleeve. With speed Aoshi hadn't thought possible from a man of his size, Rokuro grabbed the base of Aoshi's kodachi and wrenched it forward, causing Aoshi to be unpleasantly put off of his balance.

Then, with strength to match his speed, Rokuro pushed Aoshi off his feet. The onmistu crashed against the floor, and before he could jump to his feet again, Rokuro stepped on his forearm, causing Aoshi to flex his fingers and let the kodachi fall out of his grasp. Rokuro put pressure on Aoshi's arm, slowly shifting all his weight to that foot. Then he grabbed Aoshi's other arm and tugged it upward.

The result was unsurpassable pain. Aoshi barely held in his loud yells of agony as he felt his right arm breaking under Rokuro's foot. He thought he heard a scream, but it didn't come from him.

Blind with pain, Aoshi raised his left arm and let it fly through the air. Anything to make the pain stop. The kodachi, gripped tightly in Aoshi's left hand, slashed at Rokuro's back. The cut was enough to get Rokuro off of him, which was all Aoshi needed. He jumped to his feet, so quickly that he felt his head throb. He held his left arm out, keeping Rokuro away long enough for Aoshi to focus.

He heard frantic whispers, movements and then a heated yell behind him. It didn't matter. His eyesight zeroed in on Rokuro. Broken arm or no, Aoshi would win. He lunged forward, twirling the kodachi around before sweeping it upwards to catch Rokuro in the ribs. Without missing a beat, he jumped back, barely evading a counter-strike by Rokuro's sword.

"Well?" Rokuro said, in a voice leaded with bitterness. "Aren't you going to call me on that, agree with your friend and say I played dirty?" he jerked his head at Sano who, indeed, looked very enraged.

Aoshi did not cast a glance behind him. "No. You did what you did in hopes to win the fight. You took away my ability to make most of the attacks that could finish you. I am a better swordsman than you, so you handicapped me. There is nothing dirty about that, it was your only chance of winning."

Aoshi's voice was not arrogant, and he knew that Rokuro would not deny any of it—it was true after all, and both men agreed.

Rokuro made a sound, somewhere between a scoff and a chuckle. "I like you." With that, he rushed forward and swerved to Aoshi's right—the side with the injured arm. Aoshi anticipated this and jumped backward, turning his body so that the kodachi in his left hand clashed with Rokuro's sword. The two weapons pushed against eachother, and Aoshi knew that his one-armed grasp would never survive against Rokuro.

He released his sword from their deadlock and attempted to make a blow to Rokuro while he was still recovering from their thirty-second showdown. Unfortunately, during the split second that Aoshi left himself open, Rokuro struck and caught him in the gut. Blood spilled and Aoshi backed away, breathing with difficulty. If he'd had his second kodachi, that never would have happened. He would have been fully guarded.

Aoshi raised his cold blue eyes and stared at Rokuro furiously. If only he could over come his handicap…if only he could…

Aoshi struggled to get himself in a stance that even somewhat resembled offense. His right arm hung uselessly at his side, a hindrance, a weakness he'd never dealt with before.

Over Rokuro's shoulder he caught sight of Kaoru, a blazing look in her eyes. But there was a slight upturn to her lips, as if she were trying not to laugh. Aoshi understood. She knew the end of a fight when she saw one. Or perhaps it was Aoshi and his own expression—Kaoru knew all too well the look of a fighter who was not about to give up.

Aoshi straightened, held his kodachi in front of him, almost perpendicular to the floor. He waited.

There it was again. That telltale rigid stance, one foot would soon slid forward. Not wanting to give Rokuro a running head start, Aoshi made his move before Rokuro's foot so much as twitched. He launched the kodachi out of his left hand moving off to the side as he did so. The kodachi shot through the air, coming at Rokuro dead center. The kodachi was within Rokuro's blind spot before he could even think. Quickly, he ducked to his left side, avoiding the kodachi by inches.

"Missed," he said gruffly, turning back to where Aoshi had been standing, expecting to see him there, disappointed that his last-ditch plan at victory had not worked. But Aoshi was not there.

"Not quite." Aoshi was on Rokuro's right side, his blade at Rokuro's throat. Rokuro's eyes widened—he was backed up against the wall, a kodachi at his throat, his sword hanging at his side, useless. He was beaten; he could not keep himself alive any longer, even if he had wanted to.

"But," Rokuro felt no need to go on. He glanced down; there was Aoshi's kodachi, implanted firmly in the wall at which Aoshi had thrown it.

In Aoshi's hand was the second kodachi, which he had snatched off the ground the moment he had thrown the first blade. With one hand, he had been able to use both blades.

"You are a great swordsman, Shinomori," Rokuro said, his voice deep. He closed his eyes, almost blissfully. "It would be an honor to die by your hand."

He heard steps, running steps, towards them. A gasp and then a scream that died in its owner's throat.

Aoshi felt himself smile somewhat. Quite plainly, he replied to Rokuro's statement, "It would be an honor if you lived by my hand."

Rokuro opened his eyes and looked disbelievingly at Aoshi. There was no longer a blade at his throat. "I thought you were just like me, Shinomori-san," he said slowly. "A will only to fight, and lives, even our own, could be taken for granted."

Aoshi looked at him. Rokuro noticed that behind him, the young girl with blue eyes stood still, staring at the two fighters.

"Now I see that I was very wrong. You are a far better man than I ever was. I could not believe in the power of my own hands, or my own words. I am insignificant in the scheme of things.

"There is only one person who ever made me think differently, and she's sitting upstairs, waiting to be saved."

Aoshi's eyes narrowed. "Naruku?"

Rokuro laughed, but it was a pitiful laugh that became a cough midway through. "Yes. That girl said something to me that made me realize how much I could matter if I wanted to. How much my life could mean to someone, as something more than a hit man."

"What did she say?" the tentative question did not come from Aoshi, but instead it was the black-haired girl behind him that uttered it.

Rokuro turned to her. "She told me not to leave. And that she was scared. She knew I was her enemy—she fought me, even. But she still saw me as a person who could make his own decisions. A person who could be different from…from him."

"Enizu?" it was Sano who spoke this time. He had been creeping forward and now stood behind Kaoru, staring intently at Rokuro. Behind them, Megumi and Yahiko stood, also looking on with mixed interest and pity.

Rokuro turned to Sano. "Yes. Different from Enizu. She said that too, that I wasn't the same as him. It wasn't until later…" he paused for thought. "It wasn't until just now that I realized how important that was to me."

"Well it should be!" Sano exclaimed suddenly. "Enizu is a bastard. Who'd ever want to be compared to him?"

A nervous chuckle escaped almost everyone else in the room. Even Rokuro smiled, though it was clear he was out of energy. "I will do anything I can to get you to her. Unfortunately, my fight with you, Shinomori, has left me somewhat exhausted. I can't fight alongside you."

"Thanks a lot, Shinomori," Yahiko said, grumbling in disappointment. "You cost us an ally. Did you have to go so hard on the guy?"

Kaoru bristled at his rude remark. "You think if Aoshi 'hadn't gone so hard on him' Rokuro-san would even consider helping us? That's what I thought," she added when Yahiko immediately clammed up.

Aoshi ignored the two Kamiya Kasshin students and continued questioning Rokuro. "What can you tell us?"

"There are gunmen planted just outside of this room. Beyond that, fighters, but they're armed with bombs. Get to the other side before they can detonate."

"Bombs?" Aoshi repeated, growing more concerned at each moment. "And more gunmen?"

Rokuro laughed. "You've faced a Gatlin gun before, haven't you? So this should be nothing in comparison."

Aoshi dipped his head and replied quite evenly, "Against a Gatlin gun I had four friends who had nothing to live for and would die for me. Now I have four friends who have everything to live for, and if they ever tried to die for my sake, I'd make sure to kill myself first."

There was silence. Then Rokuro began to laugh again, great whooping guffaws. "You're not a cynical man, are you Shinomori?"

Aoshi bowed his head again. "I would lay down my life for every single person who stands beside me, but I could never allow them to do the same for me. Now, what else can you tell us?"

"Enizu'll be waiting in the ballroom. He only has eyes for fighting Battousai, and if things go as planned, that'll be the only one he does fight," Rokuro said grimly. In the doorway, Yahiko snorted dubiously.

"Himura?" Aoshi asked, balking slightly.

Rokuro's eyes darkened. "Yeah."

"Is he—here right now, then?" Aoshi asked uncertainly.

"I should think so. You'd better get a move on," Rokuro said, gesturing to the doorway across the room.

Aoshi nodded and moved toward it, Kaoru close at his heels. Sano and Megumi followed. As Yahiko was passing Rokuro's collapsed form, he heard a whisper.

"Good luck to ya."

When he looked back, Rokuro was unconscious and Yahiko was facing a corridor of new adversaries.

-

Naruku woke up to hardwood floor pressing up against her ribs uncomfortably. She was sprawled on the floor of that monstrous room, with no recollection of how she had gotten there, or even of falling asleep.

Her senses returned one by one, in order of least importance, or so it felt. The first thing she became aware of was the vile taste in her mouth—acidic and tart, as if spoiled cabbage had been in her mouth for hours.

She breathed in and air filled her nose. It smelled mostly of polished wood and dusty floors, but the tangy scent of ginger also lingered there, and she realizes it must have been from her own skin and the perfume she wore. Another scent, which could only be described as the smell of new fabric, loitered around her nose and mouth, seeming unsatisfying out of place.

As Naruku tuned into the sounds around her, a loud clamor woke her up completely. It was noisy and repetitive, successfully blocking out every other sound surrounded Naruku. She wished she could go back to sleep, or bury herself to get away from it.

It suddenly struck Naruku was kind of situation she was in. She was at Castle Edo, currently at the mercy of the only person she loathed—Enizu. Her eyes opened but she was met with nothing but darkness. She blinked several times, but no shapes emerged from the obliterating dark. It then occurred to her that she had something wrapped around her eyes, a blindfold.

She groped blindly at her face, wanting nothing more than to see again, and for that loud noise to stop.

The blindfold was quickly tugged off her face, and she was instead met with a most unwanted image—Enizu's face, grinning evilly just inches from her own.

"Ah, so the prize has awakened. Good."

Naruku closed her eyes and felt Enizu moving away from her. She held in tears, but they had already seeped out, gluing her eyelashes into triangles. Covering her face with her hands and breathing in heavily, Naruku struggled to sit up and discovered she had very little mobility in her legs. Finally, she managed to get to her knees. Her hands flew away from her face and her jade green eyes were left uncovered.

The reason for her immobility was discovered when Naruku looked down. She was surprised to find that instead if her oversized, butter-yellow gi, she was clothed in what looked like the proper attire for an extremely rich geisha.

Her upper body was forced into proper posture by a constricting furisode made of a heavy white material that seemed to be tinted with a rosy color. It floated against her skin, dipping between her collarbones and folding down from her shoulders, exposing the pale milky skin of her shoulders and the tops of her breasts. The obi, a deep midnight blue, was tied very tightly and intricately around her middle. It was adorned with colorful accessories, one of them a snow-white obi-jime that looped stylishly around her, the ends dangling down to her midriff.

The sleeves were long and lay spread out of the floor behind her, joined also by the brick-red of Naruku's hair, undone from its usual twist and now piled neatly at her thighs.

Despite the heaps of fabric, Naruku could not help feeling very bare and very small. She looked down at her hands, at the comforting sword calluses there. Those rough bits of skin were practically the only part of herself that Naruku still recognized. She clenched her hands, letting them turn a sickly yellowish-white at the knuckles.

Two of Enizu's fingers ran across Naruku's jaw and down her bare neck. She did not turn away, but instead stared at his detestable features, noticing how each of his movements made her hate him more and more, until she could hardly stand it.

"Our visitor will be in soon," Enizu said, abruptly moving away from Naruku. She kept her eyes trained on him as the loud banging sounds coming from outside intensified.

A 'visitor,' he said. She no longer cared what that meant. Half the crime-lords in the world could be seated in that very room and she wouldn't care.

An explosive crash hurtled into Naruku's ears and she jumped at the sound. Then she realized how very quiet it had become and her curiosity got the better of her. She turned toward the doorway.

Before she could catch a glimpse, Enizu, who stood on her left side, had kicked her harshly into the wooden floor. "You will bow to our guest," he spat at her.

She braced herself against the floor, hanging her head and letting the tears seep out. Then she heard something that almost stopped her pounding heart.

"Naruku-dono, I'm here."

Naruku slowly looked up. Kenshin stood amongst the debris of what had once been grand double doors. His violet eyes looked at her, only her, as if Enizu wasn't even there, as if Kenshin couldn't see him hovering around behind Naruku.

Naruku was too awed to speak, she wanted to badly to rush over to where Kenshin stood and let him take her in his arms. She stayed put and kept her gaze on him, as though looking away would cause him to vanish.

His own eyes lingered on hers for a moment longer before adopting a hard, steely look as he shifted his gaze to Enizu.

"Your cruelty will not last a moment longer, that it will not," Kenshin said, his voice taut and fierce with a deep boiling anger. "This ends now."


A/N: So badass. Okay, so I know the Aoshi and Rokuro fight wasn't as exciting as maybe it could have been. I like to think I did an okay job with it, I mean, I'm pretty satisfied for the most part.

As for the second part of this chapter, well, that's another reason this chapter took so long to come out. That scene has been in my head since the time I first started planning this fic, so naturally I needed it extremely fine-tuned and perfect. I don't know if I achieved that, and I doubt it, but I am pleased with it. And I know it took Kenshin an unnatural amount of time to get from the staircase in the beginning of chapter eighteen to the ballroom at the top of it in the end of this chapter. That's explainable, and you'll see why next chapter.

Thank you all for your incredible, lovely reviews, they have really kept me going and inspired.

Crewel: You are the first, yay! I'm glad you liked that part with Megumi, I thought she deserved it. I'm sorry there won't be too many more SxM moments, since the action is really starting to be the focus. Love getting your reviews, though!

Justagirl8225: Glad you liked it…I thought Megumi stole the show a bit after reading most of my reviews…haha, oh well, she did deserve it, didn't she?

Long Island Grace: I'm not really sure where that quote came from either…Aw, thanks. Since descriptions are numerous in this chapter, I'm glad you like them. Haha, now that I think of it, you're absolutely right. I should really update my site, shouldn't I? I'll get on that soon. I didn't want everyone to think that Megumi kicking ass was too unbelievable, but I wanted her to shine, too. Thanks!

Leona Westley: I hope you liked Aoshi's fight, and I'm glad you liked the bit with Megumi. What do you mean 'lighten my mood?'

Yuna: Aw, thanks. And yeah, I did start to slack off, my apologies! I won't do it again. Aw, thanks. Your idea for Enizu has its appeal, but I've already excessively planned that scene. Hope you like it when you get to it.

Another Baka: thanks.

Mysterious Samurai: I have been keeping Kenshin's and Naruku's relationship pretty neutral for this fic (until about now) but I hoped that you'd see a bit of how much they mean to each other. Don't worry, Soujiro has his part, and it's coming soon.

One and Only: Um…no comment! I hope you liked the Aoshi vs. Rokuro fight this chapter. Don't worry, you'll see what happens with that fight soon enough. You're a little bit on the right track, though. Haha, glad you caught the time-frame thing, I'm not sure if anyone else did. Or they just didn't mention it. Anyway, yeah, my personal brainchild.

Seta Misao: thanks. Yeah, Soujiro's pretty awesome pretty much always. Sano and Megumi have been together the longest in my series, so they're pretty comfortable around each other. Both are fine, by the way.

MSN-chan: I love hearing from you, your reviews have gotten increasingly long, which is excellent. Whew, a lot to say. Chapter fifteen: Well, the back story with Sou is that after he killed all those guys while defending Misao, Enizu approached him. He knew who Enizu was because Misao had spoken about him. He's just playing dumb with the others when he's acting clueless about Enizu. I'm also glad you liked the Aoshi and Misao clarification.

Chapter sixteen: you hit the nail on the head about Naruku. I'm surprised that you compared Rokuro to Anji, but it does make a bit of sense. Kenshin's pretty strong, but he has his troubles while fighting, and I don't think this is any exception…

Chapter seventeen: Hahaha, I'm glad you caught on about the room where Aoshi came from, but don't go having any r-rated thoughts about them. Ha! Good speculation about Soujiro, but I won't say a word on the matter. I'm so glad you're so interested.

Chapter eighteen: Of course I'm not tired of seeing you, I love your reviews. Soujiro is definitely being a bit secretive, and it may take a while to find out his true intentions. Actually, Sano and Megumi aren't married…yet. Ha! Well she was pretty cool. Hm, a lot of people seem to think Kenshin and Soujiro should team up.

Liem: I had so much trouble naming that chapter, I'm glad you liked it. Most of the action was with Kaoru and the others, but then, that kind of makes sense, doesn't it? Glad you liked the Mongol warriors as well, it just sorta popped into my head, but they portrayed what I wanted them too. (Which is yes, indeed, Enizu went through a lot to plan this duel.) Sorry about the fox laugh (hahaha). Ohhh…I'd better duck for cover, I left the same kind of cliffhanger. Sorry!

Question Marks: Pretty much, yeah, you're right. (darn!)

Anonymous Freak: Sorry! I'm back, though. Glad you care so much about Naruku. Haha.

Pissed Girl: You've been reading my fic for a year? Thanks!

Zioncross: Woohoo, you're back. I'm glad you like the build-up, it's quite fun to write, actually. Great dialogue? Awww, thanks. You're right, Misao doesn't completely trust Soujiro yet, but she knows he's her best bet to getting to the center of it all. Luckily, Kenshin's a lot smarter (or stronger) than he gives himself credit for.

Wood Worm: Glad you like it, they're my favorites too!

Philia-chan: Come on now, I wouldn't really make Aoshi loose, would I?

Kie-san: I'm so glad you've finally started on this fic. Wow, I'm happy you like it so much! All the pairings have been a blast to write. And somewhere deep down, I actually appreciate the fact that you don't like Sano/Megumi so much because then I don't have to feel guilty when they don't get a lot of romantic moments. In fact, this should make you happy, my Sano/Megumi plotline is mainly just Sano. Yay. I hope you'll come back and read more soon.

Wow. That's a lot of reviews, you guys make me so happy to check my mail. I'm sure I don't need to brainwash you further to realize how very important your comments are to me. Please leave some! Thanks.

Hopefully, I'll get working on chapter 20 ASAP (wow, chapter 20 already? I never thought this fic would be so long!) It should be pretty epic, so stay tuned.