Author: Bradybunch4529
Rating PG-13 to R
Disclaimers: Not mine in any way. Just borrowingthem for awhile.
Summary: AU Modern Kaoru is considered a piano virtuoso and Battousai is a leading mob boss. What happens when the two worlds collide?
Chapter 7: Missing
Kaoru's breath came in short gasps. Her heart pounded in her chest and sweat streamed down her face. She had long ago abandoned her jacket and her hair was escaping the pony tail. A gentle breeze stroked over her heated skin and Kaoru lifted her face to it, enjoying the coolness on her over heated skin. She bent over, hands resting on her knees as she dragged air into starved lungs.
She raised a hand to her forehead, wiping away the sweat. Her blue eyes considering as she contemplated the situation in front of her. The sound of traffic faded away and her head tilted. A hand landed on her back and Kaoru's head lifted slightly.
"You okay?" a female voice asked.
"I'm good," Kaoru assured her with a grin. "Just haven't done this for awhile."
"Doesn't show," Kimeko told her with a grin. Her short black hair was tousled around her face. "Besides the boys do like to get rough."
"That they do," Kaoru agreed and stood slowly. She tossed her hair out of her face and arched her back slightly. "Whose idea was it to play full court?"
"Well it's kinda a habit," Kimeko said with a grin. "It got dangerous playing half court with the gang. So we decided that it would be better to keep it full court. They expand more energy this way and keeps the fights to a minimum."
"Too tired to really get into it," Kaoru summed up.
"Right," Kimeko agreed.
"You two gonna stand around and chat all day or are we going to play?" A male voice demanded.
Kaoru looked up to see everyone else standing around watching them. The other girls were using it as a chance to catch their breath but the boys were getting impatient. Kaoru nodded and they moved back into the game. There was a quick argument over who got the ball and whether the last play ended in a foul.
Kaoru had to smile at the normalcy of the act. The city traffic and noise flowed around them. It was away from the main drag, in a part of town that was probably considered broken down. The noise of the game had first attracted her and she had been content to stand outside the chain link fence and watch.
A group of kids and adults stood or sat around the outside of the basketball court watching the action. It was clear that this was a familiar routine to them; good-natured shouts and arguments rang through the air. For her it had brought alive music, beautiful in its simplicity and a new piece began to take shape in her head. How she had gone from observing to playing was still a mystery but Kaoru had to admit that she was enjoying herself.
The worries and tension drained from her shoulders. At this moment in time nothing could touch her. Thoughts of Kenshin were pushed to the side as she got into position, waiting for the toss of the ball.
In seconds the ball was back in play and Kaoru's world narrowed to blocking and chasing the ball. Shouts echoed through the air and feet pounded across the court. Her heart was pounding in her chest, her concentration on blocking the boy in front of her. His dark eyes flashed when they met hers, sweat streaking his skin. He smirked slightly before he spun around her.
Kaoru bit back a groan and chased after him. But a smile touched her lips, if nothing else she would be tired enough to sleep.
"How in the hell did
you loose her?" Kenshin demanded coldly. His amber eyes flashing
a warning at Sano and Soujiro. "I sent you over there to watch
her Sano. Which means that you weren't supposed to take your eyes
off of her."
"Sorry Kenshin," Sano apologized, his hand
rubbing at the back of his head. "She was in the shower and I
really didn't think you wanted me to follow her in there."
"Shower?" Kenshin questioned incredulously. "How did she escape the shower?"
"We kinda left the room," Sano admitted slowly. His dark eyes flashed over to the calmly smiling Soujiro.
"Why?"
"I needed a suit," Sano offered hesitantly.
"Should I ask?"
"Jou-chan was quite adamant that I need a suit if I was going to stay with her," Sano told him carefully.
"Miss Kaoru is very particular about her image and those around her," Soujiro finally spoke. "She was quite forceful about Sano having a suit."
"A ruse to get you out?" Kenshin finally asked after a moment. He stood up and turned to the window behind him. The city was laid out before him and somewhere down there his little birdie was hiding. The question became where was she?
"It probably was," Soujiro admitted. "But she does often use the shower to escape from everything."
"So the real question would be how did she get out of the hotel without anyone seeing her?" Kenshin demanded. He fought back the image of Kaoru naked, water streaming down her body as she hid from the world. He was definitely going to have to show her another way of escaping reality for a while.
"She's trained to," Saitoh offered. His first comment since entering the room.
Kenshin turned to meet Saitoh's gold eyes, ignoring the smoke swirling around Saitoh's face. The two men glared at each other, fighting for dominance without moving a muscle. Sano and Soujiro both ignored the tension swirling around the room, determined to not get into the middle of it.
"Miss Kaoru was trained to get out of any situation," Soujiro continued for Saitoh. "We wanted to make sure that if we were ever rendered useless that Miss Kaoru would be able to escape. So we made sure that she could disappear."
"Where would she go?" Kenshin questioned without looking away from Saitoh.
"That's a problem," Soujiro told him. "We've already checked the normal places."
"Which are?"
"Anything with music," Soujiro admitted. "Unfortunately I did notice that she took her Ipod with her. Which means that she has her music with her."
"So?"
"Normally…"
"Kaoru loves music. She normally escapes to play it, listen to it, live it," Saitoh told him. "She's done it since she was a little girl. If she has her Ipod with her it then she doesn't have to follow the pattern. Which means…"
"She could be anywhere," Kenshin finished for him. A frown crossed his face. He turned away from them considering this new piece of information. This did complicate things slightly. He was just going to have to put the word out on the street and see what that turned up.
Of course doing that brought about it's own complication. He was taking the risk that someone decides to use Kaoru against him. Or she could wind up being hurt by fighting against anyone that attempted to bring her in. His arms folded across his chest as Kenshin concentrated firmly on the problem. His best option was to hope that Aoshi and his team managed to find Kaoru. But he really didn't like waiting here.
"When does she normally come back?" Kenshin finally asked.
"She didn't take her passport, so she's not planning on leaving the country. Of course that does leave the train and a very large country side," Soujiro told him.
"How much money?"
"Several hundred," Saitoh admitted. "So she could be anywhere. Taking in a movie, museum, amusement park, or a bus tour." He blew smoke towards Kenshin. "My little girl is not stupid Battousai. She knows how to disappear when she wants to."
"Doesn't answer my question as to when she'll come back," Kenshin gritted out between clenched teeth.
"Night fall," Soujiro told him. "She normally comes back to go to bed." Soujiro shrugged lightly, "but this is not a normal situation. So she could decide to hide somewhere."
"Where?" Kenshin demanded, feeling his hold on his temper slipping quickly.
"She's an avid reader," Soujiro told him carefully. His blue eyes taking in the signs of temper in Battousai's eyes and the way his hands were clenched tightly at his side. "Or she could be walking around the city, taking a jog, playing in the park, golfing, a gaming store." Soujiro shrugged lightly.
"Kaoru will know that all of us will be looking for her so she's probably going to stay away from places that we are used to her going to," Saitoh told him calmly. Smoke curling from the cigarette held loosely in his grip, golden eyes challenging Battousai as he smirked slightly. "My daughter is very good at this."
"Anyway of tracking her?"
"She might contact Yakiho," Soujiro finally admitted. "He usually went with her when she was in this mood. But she could be expecting us to watch him so she probably won't."
"Kenshin," Aoshi slipped into the room silently. His manner calm and unconcerned as he met the burning gaze of his boss.
"What is it?" Kenshin demanded harshly.
"I've just received word that Shishio knows that Miss Kamiya has slipped away from her protection, he's put word out on the street to find her and bring her back," Aoshi told him calmly, meeting the rage that suddenly burned out of control in the amber eyes. "He's offering a substantial reward."
"He could get her killed!" Kenshin hissed out as his fist slammed down onto his desk.
"To be fair he did make it clear that no harm was to come to her, and if it did he would kill the person responsible," Aoshi continued as if Kenshin hadn't spoken.
"So we might have caught a break," Kenshin mummured lightly under his breath. He paused for a moment, considering this new information. "Put the word out on the street, I want Kaoru before Shishio can get to her. Utmost care is to be used though. If she's seriously hurt I'll destroy not only the person who brings her in but also everyone he works with. That should make them think twice about hurting her." Kenshin nodded slightly to himself, satisfaction with his plan welling up in his breast.
Kaoru leaned back against the fence, ignoring the sweat the dripped down her face. The sounds of the game breaking up and everyone beginning to go their separate ways flowed through her ears. Her eyes drifted close as the music that had been thrumming through her mind began to get softer, the music slowly drifting off into nothing. As the final note finally sounded Kaoru's eyes opened.
The sky was a brilliant shade of blue, the sun shining and a gentle breeze blowing across the city. Around her the steady thrum of the city and the birds sang their gentle song around her. Kaoru felt herself relaxing for the first time in days, Battousai and her own insecurities seeming to be far away.
She had needed this, Kaoru suddenly realized. Not so much the entire basketball thing, but to be with people that didn't know who she was. To be away from the music business entirely. While she loved music, enjoying every aspect of creating and playing, she sometimes felt adrift in the world she found herself in. Always being pressured to do better, to create more, to tour and to play. Perhaps it was time to quit the touring, to find some sort of normalcy.
"Hey Kaoru!" Kimeko's voice startled Kaoru out of her thoughts. "We're all going to get a soda at the ice cream shoppe, want to come?" Kaoru lowered her eyes and met Kimeko's brown eyes. She debated for a moment before giving in gracefully.
"Sounds good to me," Kaoru agreed with a smile, pushing away from the chain link fence. "Ohh," she moaned involuntarily as her muscles suddenly protested the movements.
"Hurts huh?"
"It has been way too long since I have played basketball," Kaoru agreed. She forced herself to take another step, ignoring the pain the movement caused. "So where is this ice cream shoppe?"
"Just down the street," Kimeko assured her as they headed for the rest of the gang. "We all live on this block and it's as much a part of our routine as the game."
"Sounds nice," Kaoru told her.
"Sometimes," Kimeko agreed with a wry smile. "Sometimes it's boring. But what can you do?" Kimeko shrugged. "We all have little things we want to change don't we?"
"And things that we want to escape from," Kaoru offered.
"Right," Kimeko nodded.
Kaoru fell silent as they reached the rest of the gang. Her mind turning over Kimeko's words. Everyone has their own world, their own problems, their own routines. And while Kaoru had always known this, it had always seemed so faraway from her. Soujiro and her parents had wrapped her up in a cocoon. And while she was allowed to go out and interact with the world their main goal was to keep her sheltered and out of touch with time.
Even her brief forays into the world were monitored and only allowed for a short time. She still lived at home, her father was her manager and either they or Soujiro always accompanied her. She was never really alone. And while she loved her family and Soujiro she couldn't remain the way she was right now.
But she had made a promise. A vow willingly given in exchange for another's. And she would not break it, not until the debt had been paid in full. Which left her back where she started. But for now she would forget. It would be time to return to her prison soon enough.
A/N: Well there is the next chapter. I am sure that by now you all want to shot me. But things went insane around her. My great grandmother died and my sister is at bootcamp and I'm helping out with my nephew. So forgive me and know that I am doing my best. So stay with me a little longer. Thanks.