Disclaimer: I don't own RK... please stop rubbing it in ;.;
A/N: I LIVE! Omgs... college is soooo time consuming, and I only have like two classes a day! (three starting next week x.x) But here is the next installment of the story! Woot we're getting closer to the end I can feel it!
A tad bit of the OOCness on the Kaoru and Aoshi conversation in this chapter, but fun to write. XD Yet again my editing skills suck, and I am going through every chapter in this story and editing them together so it will be fixed eventually. X.x Forgive me if there mistakes... they will be fixed eventually.
It was late afternoon before he had any good leads, there had been no murders the last few nights (or at least none that had been released to the public), but there had been a sighting of a mysterious figure entering a shrine just on the outskirts of the city. It was enough to lead Kenshin to the place to check it out.
"Welcome young sir to this shrine," Smiled the old priest as he greeted the red head.
Kenshin bowed to the old priest, "Thank you, I was hoping for some information on a mysterious person that may have entered this shrine the other night."
The priests eyes narrowed as his smile faded from his face as he turned away from Kenshin, "I was wondering when you would inquire Battousai."
"You knew I was coming?"
"Follow me, we have much to talk about and our conversation is not for innocent ears to hear." The old man nodded towards the small number of people gathered at the shrine. "My name is Kai, I have been the head priest here at this shrine for nearly eight years now, ever since my wife died of cholera."
"Sir?" Kenshin wasn't quite sure where this was leading.
"I came to live here; though my daughter was not permitted to come along. No, you see my family has very strict rules about heirs and things like that, because I nor my brother wished to..." The old man shook his head and smiled at Kenshin. "You see my family was a very traditional family, they believed in the old way of things. They were also high up in the inner circles of the Shogunate. But when everything toppled down they were left with very little, and sought out to reclaim themselves. I had no wish to be like them, I did not want those monetary things."
Kenshin was silent waiting for this seemingly senile old man to continue.
"My brother escaped our family's disorder to start his own life. He wandered for some time before settling in what is now Tokyo, he enlisted in the war against the Shogunate. That was when he was truly exiled from our lives." The old priest smiled, "My brother had the ideal life, a wife that he loved, who in turn loved him, and was not actually forced to marry, and a child full of such light one would think she was an image of Amaterasu(1) herself."
"I know someone like that." It finally clicked, this story sounded vaugly familiar, but now he was sure, those weary blue eyes did not lie to him.
"I suppose you do."
"What happened to your daughter?"
"Can you not connect the dots boy? Do I really need to tell you who my daughter is? You already know that my brother's child, my niece, is being framed by her."
"Was your daughter here last night?"
"My daughter wasn't, but the monster who she became was."
"Sir I need to know what she is planning, why she's planning it-"
"The what and the why is very simple. Why? Because she was ordered to by her grandfather; and the what is a certain military leader and politician that anyone like my family would like to see dead."
"...Yamagata"
"But what I cannot answer is how or when she is going to do this, nor can I tell you why she is bent on destroying her cousin's life. I will tell you however, that the police officers following Kamiya Kaoru are not as the appear to be," The priest smiled. "But we both already knew that didn't we?"
"How is it you know so much yet you do not set foot outside this shrine?"
"The eyes and ears that set upon my face are not the only ones I have Mr. Himura." Kai's eyes settled behind Kenshin and to the sky.
"The light is waning, and I think that you will have made my niece worry enough."
"I have one more question for you, how did you come to be here yet you left your daughter with the family that you despise."
"That story is irrelevant now, someday I will tell it, but for now it can wait until I can see my niece as a free person again."
"Goodbye Sir." Kenshin bowed as he was about to leave the sacred grounds of the shrine.
"My real name is Toshiya."
0-0-0
She was going insane. She had been in the confines of the small corridor in the Aoiya for only a day now. Maybe it was because it was in the very center of the complex building and had no windows in it what so ever. Kaoru was about ready to pound her head against the wall when the one and only Shinamori Aoshi walked in.
"Kamiya."
"Shinamori"
"..."
"..."
"Been busy?"
"I didn't kill anyone, if that's what you mean."
"I didn't say that."
"..."
"..."
"Where is Kenshin?"
"Out."
"..."
"..."
"Why are you here?"
"Why is the wolf so interested in you and your every movement?"
"..."
"..."
"Are you always so blunt?"
"Do you always avoid questions?"
"Do you always ask questions, and then answer with one?"
"..."
"..."
"You are a complex woman."
"You are a frustrating man."
"..."
"..."
And with that Aoshi just walked past Kaoru without another word.
0-0-0
Misao was waiting in the dining room for Aoshi to come back down the stairs.
When the Stoic man came down she looked at him expectantly, but all the man did was nod before setting himself down in front of his cup of tea and indulging himself.
Misao walked up the stairs casually and walked down one hall and around the complex before doubling back and entering a closet that had a secret door that lead to a corridor that was very plain and very empty. That was except for the woman setting at the end of the hall glaring at her.
"Nice to see you Misao, can you tell me why exactly doesn't this hall have a single window?"
"This is our 'safety corridor' if the complex is attacked or being watched, which by the way it is. We can have meetings in here or hide things here that are not easily accessible except by the people who know it's here."
"I see, but a window was still an unreasonable thing to do?"
"Yes."
"I am gonna die without seeing something natural!"
"I am sorry Kaoru... you're just going to have to wait until this is over."
"Wait!" She practically screamed, "I am just supposed to wait? How can you expect me to do that? I can't just sit here idly while others play around with my life as if it were some kind of dirt clod."
"Kaoru..."
"No! I don't want to hear it, please Misao just leave me alone."
"Kaoru-"
"Go!" Kaoru snapped grabbing fistfuls of her own hair wishing she could just rip it all out as if that would relieve all of her frustration. "I'm sorry, but please, just go away." Kaoru turned her back on the itachi and walked into the room she had been sleeping in.
Without another word Misao left her friend alone, her state of mind was unsettling to her.
0-0-0
Kaoru sat in her box of a room staring at the mirror pretending it was a window to the outside world. This was the first time she had actually looked at herself in many months and was almost shocked by her change in appearance. Her once sleek black hair lay listlessly down her back. Though her eyes still sparkled as they always have she couldn't help but notice that they had dimmed. Her face had lost its childish roundness, maybe it was from the lack of proper nutrition coupled with stress, but now as she looked closely at herself she shivered.
"Oh my kami is that a wrinkle!"
"A wrinkle is the least of your worries Raccoon."
"How did you get in here?"
"I am no an idiot, you know. I have my ways"
"What do you want Saitou? Wasn't parading me around half of Kyoto in Kenshin's clothes enough for your sick sense of humor?" Kaoru swiveled around and glared at the man.
"The laugh I got afterwards was a mere bonus," Saitou placed a cigarette in his mouth and was about to light up.
"Don't do that!" Kaoru yelled, "There are no windows in this entire corridor I don't want it smelling like you."
"You won't be staying here much longer." But he put the cigarette in his pocket anyway.
"Eh?"
"I told you on the damn mountain that you needed to stay there but you didn't listen to me." Kaoru opened her mouth to protest but the insufferable man continued. "Now you are in here like the caged raccoon you are. I need you to break out of here in two days."
"Are you kidding me?"
"You escaped a prison in Hokkaido."
"That was different, I had a cliff to jump off of, there is no way I can get out of a compound surrounded by Ninja's, housing one of the most feared samurai in Japan, that is also conveniently surrounded by the police."
"And what do you think I will do if you don't listen to me?" He glared at her threateningly. It was a look that would have any normal person quaking in their socks.
"Don't glare at me like that your face will get stuck, and what would your children think of that?"
"Do not mock me. If I can get in here undetected then just think what I will do to you if you don't listen to me."
"The last time I checked you weren't my boss."
"No? But I am your ticket to freedom."
"And what am I? Your ticket to a raise?"
"Not everything is about money."
"No? So you just want to be revered do you? But I thought you were a spy; wouldn't that be going against the whole "secretive" thing?"
"I think we went over the whole mocking thing," This form of conversation was getting him nowhere, so it was time for a different angle. "If you listen to me and do as I say then this will all be over sooner and you can go back to your little dojo; and I will never have to speak to you again."
"Is that a promise?"
"It might be."
"Fine, but don't blame me if I fail."
"Just get out of here and make it to the Sento Palace..."
"Are you crazy! Do you know how far away that is? Scratch that do you know how dangerous that is!"
"I could make it there."
"Well aren't you just peachy?"
Saitou just glared, there would be no room for argument, if his plan was going to work then she would have to do this.
"Fine!" Kaoru finally agreed "Do you have a map?"
The wolf held up a slip of paper that the girl hid in her sleeve. "Be there or we will be having a much harsher conversation than this one."
"Yeah, sure."
0-0-0
By the time he had made it to the Aoiya darkness had already blanketed the city. It had been a long day, but he had found out some very useful information, and after pulling a few strings found that Aritomo Yamagata was at the moment residing in the Sento Palace. The only thing Kenshin had yet to figure out was when this cousin of Kaoru's would strike. And he was afraid he wouldn't find out until it was too late.
"Hey Himura!"
"Good evening Miss Misao." Kenshin responded with an amiable smile. "How did everything go today?"
"As expected, but Kaoru is acting a bit strange."
"How so?"
"She's upset, I don't know what to do, maybe you can do something."
Kenshin just nodded at this, what could he do though? This was most likely the first time she had been able to sit and think about everything that happened. If this was true then her mood would be considerably darker than normal.
Kenshin entered the kitchen greeting Omasu who was standing over the sink peeling some potatoes. Entering the large pantry as if to look for something, but instead of going to one of the many shelves in the dark room he headed to a back corner that was blocked by a large barrel of pickled vegetables. Moving the vegetables out of the way he went through a door that any normal person would have missed if they were not looking directly for it.
Kenshin entered a dark corridor, there happened to be four ways a person could enter this certain part of the Aoiya, one being the way the rurouni had just entered. Another was through a closet that was inside of Aoshi's bed room, another was a floor hatch in the room Kenshin had been staying in. The last was a tunnel beneath the large statue of Shakyamuni Buddha(2) in the temple next door to the Inn.
Kenshin sighed, though this room was a minuscule example, the lengths the Oniwabanshuu would go for secrecy was something to be duly noted.
"Miss Kaoru?"
"Kenshin!" Her voice was bright and happy.
'I thought Miss Misao said that Miss Kaoru was upset about something.' Kenshin shrugged it off. "Are you well rested Miss Kaoru?"
"Ahh... Yes, but I feel bad I snapped at Misao earlier could you apologize to her for me when you see her."
"This one will be sure to do that."
"Ne, Kenshin?" Kaoru looked around the candle lit room she was sitting in. "What did you do today?"
"I was looking for information about your imposter."
"Aa, did you find out anything?"
"No, nothing of importance yet." He avoided her eyes when he said this.
"Are you lying to me?"
"Oro!"
"Kenshin look me in the eye and tell me the truth. Did you find anything?" She knew he wouldn't look her straight in the eye and lie to her, not this time.
He still refused to look in her eye, instead he rested his violet orbs on her slender chin and was about to answer when her finger came to his lips to silence him.
"Do I have to treat you like a child?" She chided softly as her fingers slipped under his chin forcing him to look her in the eye this time. "Now I do not want to repeat myself again, so please just tell me the truth."
"Yes."
Kaoru raised her eyebrow waiting for him to continue.
"Whoever this is, their next target is Lord Yamagata."
"Kenshin?" She just stared at him for a moment before shaking her head, "Never mind it isn't important." But that was a lie, Himura Kenshin was hiding something from her again, but what she did not know. Smiling secretly to herself she changed the subject to the nice priest she had met during her hide in a little shrine. 'Kenshin, you can keep your secrets for now, for I will do the same.'
"Ne Kenshin, Do you think that when this is all over we can go back to the shrine? I really want to thank the priest, he really did a lot for me."
To Be Continued...
(1) Amaterasu Omi Kami – Amaterasu was the Kami of the sun, she was really beautiful and the symbol of the emperial family (go figure 'land of the rising sun' who would have guessed) there is a long (kinda) story behind it, if any one wants to know more about it just say something in a review. (no this is not the authoresses ploy for more reviews... but it would be nice XD)
(2) Shakyamuni Buddha is the name the 'original' Buddha had after abandoning his material life. A statue of him would look like this: http/www(dot)filmtracks(dot)com/stella/buddha(dot)jpg
A/N: Nine pages! It's the longest one in a while... Okay it's also the first update in a while too :Bows deeply: Please forgive me! I am so unworthy! But there are two chapters left! and hey I might pull Demon out of Hiatus soon... but don't hold me to that, it just depends on how much time I have.
I don't ever say this enough: THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED!
I will give you all cyber cookies, I know how you like them D