A New Battle

Chapter 5 - Vampire Attack!

The next couple of weeks seemed to fly by as Kenshin started to become part of the family, soon he, Sanosuke and Yahiko were teaming up to pull pranks on the girls. It soon became apparent that Kenshin was more than what he made himself seem to be, Kaoru had caught him off in the courtyard early one morning practicing with one of her swords and found that he had incredible skill with the blade. Once he saw her watching he apologized and said that he didn't want her to make fun of him of being a swordsman. Kaoru laughed it off and told him that he could practice whenever he liked, which got him to smile. Gaiyo had started hanging around the dojo as well, having many private conversations with Kenshin that lasted anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours before he would just leave. The others started to become a little suspicious of Kenshin's friend but he reassured them that he was no threat and he made Gaiyo talk with them whenever he came over and he soon earned their trust, after much flirting with Kaoru, of course.

One day while Kenshin was off doing the laundry, Misao, Yahiko, Sanosuke and Kaoru sat on the front porch and listened intently as Kaoru read the paper, "It seems like there have been more vampire attacks."

"More? How many this time?" Misao asked

"Just one today. It says here that all the victims in the past couple of weeks have been men, most convicted felons and well known robbers and although they weren't seriously injured they didn't remember anything about what happened except strange colored eyes."

"This is getting serious, that's like the twelfth attack these past two weeks, do you think it's the vampire that attacked you, Kaoru?" Yahiko asked

"I don't know, they said that these attacks aren't as brutal as some of the ones in the past couple of months but they say that the victims lost severe amounts of blood and had some had broken bones and severe cuts too, like they were fighting someone."

"Well whoever this vampire is, he's dangerous, and what if there's more than one of them?" Sanosuke asked

"I don't know, there's not really anything that we can do except stay inside and not go out after dark."

"Hey Kaoru."

They all looked up and smiled at Gaiyo as he came onto the porch, "Hey there, what brings you here?"

"I came to see Kenshin, if it's alright with my pretty lady Kaoru, that is."

Kaoru giggled, she was used to his flirtatious comments by now and knew that he meant nothing by them, "He's in the laundry room."

"Oh, putting him to good use for once, huh?"

They laughed and waited until he was down the hall before Yahiko asked, "How can you tell if someone's a vampire?"

"I read somewhere that they can blend in with us and retract their fangs at will so it will look like they don't have any. They say that most of them are mild-mannered and quiet, real shady characters, always off by themselves and they usually tend to speak only to certain people and go off somewhere late at night and don't come back until near morning. I also heard that most of them are really good at history and story telling because they most likely lived through that certain time period." Sanosuke explained

Misao looked around to see if anyone else was near before she whispered to the others, "Have you noticed how strange Himura has been acting lately?"

"What do you mean, Misao?" Kaoru asked

"Honestly... I think Himura's a vampire."

"What!" Everyone asked in complete shock

"You're crazy, Misao!"

"Yeah Weasel, I mean... come on, Kenshin a vampire? The guy's a total wuss and he gets beat up by girls on a daily basis. For goodness sake, the man says 'oro!'" Sanosuke complained

"I know but think about it, he's very polite, he's quiet and mild-mannered, he only hangs out with that guy Gaiyo and when he's around they go off by themselves to talk. And another thing, every time we ask him about his past he says 'I don't care to bring up my past, that I don't' and changes the subject. And last weekend I got up for some water around two in the morning and I saw him sneaking around the courtyard like he was stalking someone or something. I'm telling you, Himura's a blood sucker!"

Everyone looked to the ground and thought seriously for a moment, "You made some good points, Misao, but I really don't think that Kenshin's a vampire."

"Come on, Kaoru, the man's totally creepy at times, especially when he gives people the 'touch Kaoru and die' glare."

Kaoru flushed, "Kenshin doesn't give people the 'touch Kaoru and die' glare!"

"Sure he does, he likes you but that's not the point, the point is he's scary and he has way too many secrets. What kind of guy now a days goes around traveling around being a wanderer?"

"Yet another good point, but maybe that's just what he likes to do, you like to do strange things too, Misao."

"Yeah but I have a family, friends, a home, Himura has a duffle bag, a dagger and the clothes he's got on. Face it, Kaoru, your boyfriend's a vampire."

"That's enough, Misao! Kenshin is no such thing!"

"I'm not a what, Miss Kaoru?"

They all turned around with a start to see Kenshin and Gaiyo standing next to them, getting a nervous chuckle from Misao as she said, "We were... saying that you're... really prissy."

Kenshin chuckled but Kaoru rolled her eyes, "Misao thinks that you're a vampire, Kenshin."

"KAORU!"

Kenshin and Gaiyo looked at one another before busting up laughing, "You actually think that I'm a vampire, Miss Misao? Why would you think such a thing?"

"Because you're creepy and strange! You know way too much about history! You sneak around at night! You're way too polite! Most of the time you're completely emotionless! And most of all, you're just down right evil sometimes when you pull pranks on people!"

Kenshin laughed again, "Come now, Miss Misao, true I am quite strange but I was raised by an Irish mother and a Japanese father, that I was, I can't help but be a little strange, that I can't. Yes, I know much about history, my several times great-grandfather was Battousai and I learned through stories about him and studying in school, as well. I am polite, but that's how I my mother raised me to be and she would turn over in her grave if I acted otherwise, that she would. And yes, I know I don't emotion very often, that I don't, but... I've been hurt emotionally so many times in the past that I just shut off whatever I had left, that I did, it's more of a habit than anything, that it is. And as for me being evil, my father and my friend Gaiyo over here taught me that being evil to your friends meant that you love them, except when you just want to be mean, that is."

"Ok, then why do you sneak around the dojo at night!"

"With all of these vampire attacks going on I stay up late to make certain that we don't have any unwanted guests, that I do, I would never forgive myself if I let a vampire get hold of any of you, that I most certainly wouldn't."

Misao huffed up, "Alright then, prove that you're not a vampire!"

Kenshin just stared at her and gave her a very pathetic "Oro?"

Everyone busted up laughing and Misao finally gave up, "Ok, I'm convinced, no vampire in the right mind would disgrace himself like that."

Kenshin chuckled and Gaiyo nudged him, "I need to leave, Kenshin, I'll see you all later."

"I'll walk you out, Gaiyo, that I will."

Kenshin and Gaiyo headed to the gate, looking back to make sure the others weren't around before Kenshin asked, "Have you found him yet?"

"No, he's come out once or twice but none of us have been able to catch him, he's starting to recognize our tactics and he's found more ways around us then we can think of. You wouldn't happen to have a plan would you, Kenshin?"

"No, but I'll sleep on it and get back to you, just continue with our original plan until then."

"Kenshin! Kaoru needs help!"

"I'm coming Yahiko, that I am! I'll see you later, Gaiyo, let me know the second you hear anything at all."

"I will, see you later, my friend."

Gaiyo left the dojo and Kenshin went to help Kaoru and the others, not noticing the dark figure lurking within the shadows of the trees.

Later that night Kenshin awoke around midnight and quickly checked the others to make sure they were asleep before doing a run through of the dojo to make sure that no one unwanted was there, "Time to meet up with Gaiyo."

He silently made his way to the door, unlocking the gate and heading off down the street, not noticing the young set of eyes as they watched him leave, "Misao was right, Kenshin does sneak off at night, I'm going to see what he's up to."

Yahiko quietly left the dojo and looked around for Kenshin, finding him near the bridge talking with Gaiyo. He crept up behind the tree nearby and strained to hear, "He's somewhere in the Hotakikai area, we just found one of his victims there."

"Great, another one, that vampire's starting to be a real pain in the ass. Let's get over there and set up the trap."

Gaiyo nodded at Kenshin's order and they took off down the road with unreal speed. Yahiko took off after them but he was unable to keep up with them and lost them around a corner, "Dang they're fast! I wonder where they went... oh well... I guess I can just head back to the dojo."

Yahiko made his way back down the street, keeping his eyes and ears open for Kenshin or the vampire he was talking about. When he was about half way to the dojo he saw a man running into an ally, apparently trying to get away from someone... or something. He heard the man scream and he ran to the entrance of the ally to help him but he froze in place as he watched the scene before him, fear starting to creep up his spine as he looked on with wide eyes. The man was backed up against the wall with a shorter man standing in front of him. Yahiko couldn't see either man's face very well but he could tell that the one against the wall was terrified, his voice shaking with fear as he spoke to his attacker, "Please... don't... don't kill me..."

The man in front of him chuckled darkly, his voice very deep and husky as he spoke almost soothingly to his target, "I'm not going to kill you, I'm just going to bite you."

He tried to run but the smaller, yet surprisingly, stronger man caught him by the arm and pushed him hard into the wall, "Let me go, vampire!"

The vampire was silent for a moment before he waved a hand in front of his victim's face, whispering a single word, "Sleep."

The man went limp and fell forward but the vampire caught him and grabbed his hair, jerking his head back to where he could see his neck. The vampire then leaned down and opened his mouth, allowing Yahiko to catch a glimpse of his long fangs before he sunk them into the man's neck. Yahiko's eyes continued to widen in fear as he took an unconscious step back, causing a twig to snap loudly in the dead silence of the night. The vampire apparently heard him and snapped his head up before turning around to meet the boy's startled, wide eyes, his own going wide slightly when he realized he'd been caught in the act.

Yahiko could only stare at the vampire, his body unable to move as he whispered his name, "K... K... Ken... shin..."

So what do you think? Did I surprise you? That's what I was aiming for in this one, I got my proof reader with it and she hit me for it, hehe. Any ways, I'll update soon so stay with me, if you can handle my insanity, that is :).