A New Battle

Chapter 6 - Erasing Memories

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

Kenshin's eyes went wide and he dropped the unconscious man on the ground before wiping the blood away from his mouth, "Yahiko... this isn't what it looks like."

Yahiko felt anger mix with fear as he stared at the man in front of him, he just couldn't believe it, Kenshin really was a vampire and he had just bitten someone! Kenshin stepped towards him and he took a step back, getting ready to retreat, "Yahiko, don't run, just listen to me..."

"Misao was right... you are a vampire!"

"Yahiko, wait..."

Yahiko made a dead sprint down the road, running faster when he felt Kenshin catching up to him. It didn't take long before Yahiko felt a strong hand grasp his arm and pull him back, he punched out at his attacker and hit him in the stomach, but Kenshin didn't even blink when the boy's fist made contact with his stomach, he simply grabbed hold of his arms and picked him up off of the ground to look him in the eyes, "Yahiko, stop, just listen to me."

"Why, so you can tell me that you weren't biting that guy! That you were just 'talking' to him! I'm not listening to anything you say, now let me go!"

"What's going on here, Kenshin?"

They both looked over and Yahiko was surprised to see Gaiyo standing there, "Gaiyo! Kenshin's a vampire!"

"I know, Yahiko, and apparently... now so do you."

"Y... you know? How?"

"I'm a vampire myself, Yahiko, that's how I met Kenshin, we were both out feeding one night and we ran into each other and became friends."

Yahiko turned pale and started struggling harder against Kenshin's strong grip, "I can't believe this! You got us to trust you and then you turn out to be a blood sucker! Kenshin you're a total creep!"

"Yahiko, just listen to me and I'll explain what's going on."

Yahiko stopped struggling and looked into Kenshin's eyes, gasping slightly when he saw that they were a piercing amber color. He swallowed the lump in his throat and whispered, "Will you at least put me down?"

"You're not gonna run are you?"

"No."

Kenshin set him down and Yahiko let out the breath he was holding, looking up at the two vampires with cautious eyes, "Ok, start explaining!"

Kenshin was the first one to answer, "You see, there are two different types of vampires, there's the normal ones that just bite once in awhile to stay alive, like me and Gaiyo here, and then there's the ones we call the Rogues. These are the ones who go around biting people because they like to and kill them after words just because they can and because they enjoy the blood."

"So you two are 'good' vampires?"

"I guess you could say that, yes. There's a special group of us that go around looking for Rouge Vampires and stop them before they can kill too many people."

"Don't you guys kill?"

"No," Gaiyo answered, "We kill other vampires, of course, but we don't kill humans unless we no other choice. Kenshin and I bite because we have to, we don't enjoy it, well... Kenshin doesn't, any ways."

Kenshin turned his icy glare on his friend, his voice low and threatening, "If you turn into a Rogue, I swear I'll be your worst nightmare, Gaiyo."

"I know, I know, I was kidding but I guess you're right, now is not the time to be joking around."

Yahiko felt really uncomfortable around the two arguing vampires, he just wanted to find out what he wanted to know and leave, "So are you the ones who have been causing all of the attacks in the past couple of weeks?"

Kenshin sighed, "Yes, Yahiko, we are. Gaiyo's bitten a couple but mostly it's been me doing the biting. Don't worry, they live and they don't remember what happened to them, they wake up a little sore but that's about it."

"What about the guys who had broken arms and stuff?"

"They were the ones who fought, I forgot about my strength and I accidentally hurt them, I didn't mean to."

"How can you not know your own strength!"

"That's one of the bad things about being a vampire, you have unusual strength and when you're biting someone they tend to against you and sometimes you forget about how strong you are compared to your victim and you... hurt them."

"Ok, answer me this, why have you been attacking all of these people? I doubt you need to bite someone every night!"

"True, I can go a long time without biting someone, however, it's a tactic we're using to lure out one of the Rogues."

"What do you mean?"

Gaiyo stepped up closer to Kenshin and started to explain, "There's a Rogue out there named Norihiko, he's one of the younger vampires but he's extremely dangerous. He comes from Kenshin's time and they have a... grudge against one another so they've been trying to kill each other for the past several years."

"But what does that have to do with you two biting people?"

"He enjoys blood and he can't stand another vampire in his territory, especially Kenshin. So we let him do most of the biting so his scent and ki will be around the area and hopefully Norihiko will sense it and come out into the open so we can eliminate him."

"So you bite people to tick this guy off and get him to come out and fight so you can kill him?"

"Basically, yes, we don't enjoy biting, well... at least Kenshin doesn't."

Kenshin shot his cold glare at his friend, his voice harsh and warning, "If you turn into a Rogue, I swear I will become your worst nightmare, Gaiyo."

"I know, I know, but I suppose you are right, now is not the time to be joking around."

Yahiko was becoming a little anxious, not comfortable about being around two arguing vampires, he cleared his throat to catch their attention, "Ok, so what're you gonna do if this doesn't lure this guy out?"

"Well... there is one other option but Kenshin won't let us do it."

"Don't go there, Gaiyo, that is not an option, now nor ever!"

"What do you mean, what option are you talking about, Kenshin?" Yahiko asked, thoroughly confused

Kenshin sighed, "Using a human as bait, particularly the one he's after but that isn't going to happen, I'm not going to put the girl in danger so we can catch this guy."

Gaiyo shook his head, "She wouldn't be in danger, Kenshin, you and I will be there to stop him the second he shows up..."

Kenshin interrupted him, "No! I won't bring Kaoru into this more than she already is."

"Kaoru? What does Kaoru have to do with this?" Yahiko asked

Gaiyo answered, "Kaoru is the one he's after, she's the only one to survive an attack from him and so he wants to turn her into a vampire because she's strong."

"So... Kenshin wasn't the one who attacked her?"

"No, Kenshin's the one who saved her and it's a good thing he was there at the time, if he hadn't stopped Norihiko that night then Kaoru would either be dead or a vampire by now."

"Is that why you're staying at the dojo?" Yahiko asked, turning to face Kenshin.

Kenshin nodded, "Yes, I'm staying until we can kill this freak then I'll leave and you'll never hear from me again, but until then you have to keep quiet and not tell anyone about any of this, understand?"

"Yeah, I understand."

Gaiyo smiled briefly before turning to Kenshin with a serious look in his eyes, "So now that we have that over with, what are we going to do about Yahiko?"

"What do you mean?" Kenshin asked

"We can't let him go around knowing our secret, you know how loyal he is, he'll eventually tell Kaoru everything."

Kenshin thought for a long moment then sighed almost sadly, "I know... I guess we'll just have to erase his memory, that's the only thing we can do."

Yahiko's eyes went wide at their words and fear started to creep into his stomach when he heard Kenshin's voice go deeper, "W... what do you mean..."

Before he could move Kenshin picked him up and wrapped an arm around his waist, holding him firmly against his chest. Yahiko struggled to get away but Kenshin easily held him without a problem, his voice soft and calming, "Yahiko... look at me."

"Why!"

"Just look at me."

Yahiko angrily lifted his head up to meet Kenshin's eyes, letting out a gasp when they started glowing faintly. All of the sudden he felt tired and his body started to go numb then he realized what Kenshin was doing and quickly turned his eyes away, "No! I won't let you do this!"

He felt rough, calloused fingers grasp his chin and lift his face up to meet Kenshin's bright gold eyes once more, holding him still as those eyes tried to hypnotize him into sleep. Yahiko managed to turn his head enough to bite Kenshin's thumb, drawing blood from the wound but, surprisingly, it didn't faze Kenshin at all. He didn't even blink as Yahiko jerked his head away and spit out some blood, he only let out a sigh, "Just stop struggling, Yahiko, you can't get away from me, just relax and let me do what I have to do.

"No way! I'm not going to give into you!"

Kenshin sighed, "Fine, be that way, just relax then, if you struggle or if you're tense then it'll hurt."

"What will hurt?"

Yahiko dared a look into his face and saw Kenshin leaning down towards him, opening his mouth slightly to reveal his wickedly sharp fangs. Yahiko finally understood what was going on and he struggled harder against his captor, swinging out blindly to try and get away. As he was swinging out his fingernails caught the side of Kenshin's neck, causing him to groan softly as blood trickled down his throat from the cuts created by the little boy's hands, "Yahiko... stop fighting."

"Go to hell, Kenshin!"

Yahiko bravely looked into his golden eyes, the tired feeling growing stronger but he still fought, getting a soft chuckle from Gaiyo as he did so, "I'm impressed by your strength, Yahiko, most grown men would've been out long by now but yet you're still conscious and fighting on top of it. You'd make an excellent vampire with that kind of will power, don't you think so, Kenshin?"

"He would, but that's not our intention tonight, Gaiyo, I'm only going to erase his memory, nothing more."

Yahiko's strength started to give out and his struggles became weaker, then he suddenly felt a hand running through his short hair and he glanced up to see that it was Kenshin's hand. It wasn't rough or meant to hurt him, it was meant to lull him to sleep and that touch, combined with the hypnotic powers of his eyes, was taking its toll on the little strength he had left. Yahiko's vision started to blur and his body began to go limp in the vampire's arms, yet he still tried to get away, although his struggles were no more than tiny shoves now, "Kenshin... let me... go..."

"I can't, just hold still and this will be over in a minute."

Kenshin started to lean down again and Yahiko put his face in the crook of his neck, trying one last time to avoid the inevitable. A hand grasped his hair and gently pulled his head back to reveal his neck to Kenshin as he leaned down towards his target. Yahiko felt fear start to overcome him and he did the only thing he could, "Kenshin... please don't... don't bite me..."

"Shh, it's alright, it'll be over in just a moment, then you won't remember anything about this."

Yahiko cringed slightly when he felt Kenshin's lips against his throat, his breath warm and tickling as he whispered, "This may sting a little, Yahiko."

"Huh... aww!"

Yahiko cried out when he felt Kenshin's fangs sink into the tender skin on his neck, feeling a slight stinging sensation coming from the bite as his vision began to cloud over. Kenshin pulled away a few moments later and licked the blood from his lips but Yahiko couldn't really see him or Gaiyo as he came up next to them, "How long will it take to take effect, Kenshin?"

"Not long, by morning he won't remember a thing about what happened tonight."

Yahiko groaned as his head started to swim, his body going limp, "I'm sorry, Yahiko..." was the last thing he heard before the darkness totally consumed him.

The next morning Yahiko woke up and rubbed his eyes, he had one heck of a headache and he felt like he'd been hit by a truck. He looked around and realized he was in his room, "What... happened..."

"Oh you're awake, you scared us there, Yahiko."

He looked up and smiled when he saw Kaoru beside of him, "Hey Kaoru... what happened? I fell horrible."

"Kenshin found you in the hallway this morning, you have quite a fever, apparently you were sleepwalking again."

"Sleepwalking? I haven't done that in a long time."

"I know, but I think it's from the fever, you go ahead and rest today, Kenshin and I will do the chores, ok?"

Yahiko smiled, "Thanks Kaoru."

Kaoru ruffled his hair and left the room before he looked up at the ceiling, he had a strange feeling that he needed to tell Kaoru something but he just couldn't remember what that something was. His thoughts were interrupted by a tap on his door then Kenshin poked his head in, smiling in his usual, cheerful way, "Hey there, are you feeling better?"

"Not really..."

"That's alright, that it is, Miss Kaoru and I will take care of the chores today, that we will, you just rest and get your strength back, ok?"

"I will."

"I'll be around the back doing laundry, that I will, just yell if you need me."

"I will, thanks Kenshin."

Kenshin smiled and shut the door, not noticing Yahiko raise an eyebrow at him as he left. For some reason he felt that Kenshin was different, something in the back of his mind told him that he shouldn't trust the smiling wanderer but sleep started to tug at him and he dismissed the thought with a yawn. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, unaware of the secret he carried in the back of his confused, fevered mind.

Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter finished, I've had such horrible writer's block it's not even funny. Any ways, I'm going to try a lot harder to keep my mind on track and get this done for you guys, thanks for being patient with me.