Disclaimer: I will never own Kenshin like I own my new Slipknot 9.0 live CD.

Wow, this has to be the fastest update since Chapter 3. XD I got Slipknot 9.0 and Anberlin's new CD! Boo-yah! Anyway, I won't rant on about my love of music. Just enjoy the new chapter all. By the way, I decided to go with an M rating.

Final Genesis: Lol, I dunno where the bite thing came from. I'm kinda hinting at something but no one's getting it!

Skenshingumi: You of all people should be getting what I'm hinting at. Hm, I wonder why he's so mad? Lol, I'm not accusing anyone because you'll all find out later. All of us are lousy keyboarders sometimes anyway, look at all the mistakes I make. :)

royal blueKitsune: Agh! So close to 100! Oh well, I still get there though. Enjoy!

Sims are awsome: I'm becoming faster in my updates aren't I? Lol, enjoy their reunion.

ShadeSpirit: Yeah it was Enishi. Go have fun killing him. XD

Tkdl: This soon:D

battosaichick-: Thank you! I'm getting new reviewers by the second!

satsujin-muzai: Thankies! Tomoe must die! I say someone should create the Tomoe Must Die hompage. Lol. That is too good. Anyway, enjoy! KxK forever!

midnite cherry blossomz: Kenshin and Kaoru will be together again. Fluff next chapter!

Now our Feature Presentation;

Rurouni Kenshin: The Whispers of Insanity

Chapter Twelve: Amethyst

By: DJ Baka-chan

"Take this kiss upon the brow!

And, in parting from you now,

Thus much let me avow-

You are not wrong, who deem

That my days have been a dream;"

-Edgar Allen Poe, from "A Dream Within a Dream"

---

Silence.

Tokyo was silent.

And that was very unusual.

No one but a casual passer-by was seen in sight. No venders, no police, no anything. It was only mid-day and most of the time the city formerly known as Edo would be bustling. I stood as Saito entered to police office to report his findings and see if any trouble was brewing. He sensed the unease also, the silent flag waving for attention, alerting those whom did not know of the danger and suffering that lay ahead. I felt the hiss of the wind as blew through this ghost town and the scent of flame seemed to tingle in my nostrils for but a moment. I turned toward the direction of the wind, a small billow of smoke that would seem as dark clouds to anyone not looking, was rising into the air. The whispers told me to go to it, their lingering presence still not leaving me.

'Go…' Was their silent murmur. 'Go to it…To her…'

My head snapped up when I heard Saito's voice call for me.

"Battosai, the Kamiya Dojo…has been set aflame." I took no time to stand there idle. I was running before I began thinking.

"Shit!" I cursed to myself. "Shit, shit, shit!" The world was blowing by. I took no heed to anything but reaching the dojo and my constant thoughts about Kaoru.

Kaoru…

That was what it took for it to click, that simple minded thought. This was Enishi's doing. There was no doubt, it was him. My feet pounded at I hit the trail that lead right to the dojo.

So close…

250 feet.

Almost…

230 feet.

There's no time to waste! Faster!

200 feet.

The faster I lurched my body forward the more it took out of me.

Dammit!

172 feet.

I could see the flames, hellishly rising from the home I used to know so well.

Almost, so close, get there now!

The tears flew, streaming behind me. I was so close yet it felt as if I'd never reach the end. It was like it was running from me. 100 feet left to go. Now I could see the crowd. So this is why Tokyo was such a ghost town? Pushing through, I could see Sano, yelling and being restrained by at least ten men.

"Bastards!" He yelled. "You fucking bastards! Let go! She's still in there! LET GO!" He fought back some of the men but others toppled onto him. I brushed past before any could latch onto me.

"Someone's going in!" Someone yelled.

"Idiot!" Called another.

"Kenshin?" Was Sano's cry.

But I was in the door before anyone could stop me.

The flames were crazy, billowing left and right. I could here murmured voices and muffled cries. So it was Enishi. As the men garbed in black approached me I cut my way through. No one stop me. My sword cut through flesh and bone, I not caring where it hit as long as they were out of my way.

"Bastards! Move!" I sliced one in half for the hell of it. This alarmed the others.

"Fuck you!" One cried and sent me flying through a shoji. After landing on my back, they immediately jumped upon me. I could feel a number of cuts but with in seconds I was back on my feet, making heads roll again. I swung, blindly, and slit open a throat then jabbed behind and ruptured an aorta. So much carnage, oh how those whispers were enjoying it. The chanted in my head, 'Death…', over and over. It was a never ending cycle.

Never ending.

Someone grabbed me by the throat then and as my eyes snapped open, I could see Kaoru. She was quickly trying to undo the ropes that bound her. She bit down on her gag as she rubbed the ropes against the closest piece of wood near her. I stabbed backwards, slicing through the large and small intestines of my victim. Able to breath again, I took again to my attackers, cutting, stabbing, you know the drill. It was then it happened. My stomach lurched as blood forced its way up my throat and out my mouth and the crimson liquid began pouring out my side. One katana jabbed through my right sub-clavian artery as I toppled to my knees. The sword was jerked out of my shoulder by foreign hands. A blue hakama swirled by my face as the feminine battle cry rung through the air. My head turned quick, the scream flying out my mouth before I even thought.

"Stop!" Somehow, I couldn't stand the image of Kaoru with blood on her hands. Azure eyes turned to me, wide in shock.

Did she not recognize me?

I yelled something else then lunged forward at someone behind her, grabbing them by the shoulder and pushing my thumb down on their Adam's apple. Soon as he was dead, I let the hacking cough escape my lips. The smoke was beginning to get thick. I held the sleeve of my gi up to my mouth. I stood and pulled Kaoru to my chest.

"Don't breathe it in." I whispered. She was trembling. Why? Because of fear? Because of the fire? Because…of me? I rocked her in my arms for a moment, not forgetting to hold my own sleeve to my mouth. The men seemed to have disappeared. For a second it was just us, standing together in the roaring flames of a collapsing building.

Collapsing… She looked at me, into my eyes. She must have seen something different, for I could not understand the strange glances she kept giving me.

I hated this.

I hated every last bit of it.

And yet, still, I fought.

War is something I've always despised and yet I've always been a part of. I bet Kami just won't let me be happy.

I bet he sits there, on his nice little throne, and watches me all day long.

'Oh great, it's that Kenshin person again.' He'd growl. 'And he's happy. Won't that boy just get the memo?' I can picture him doing so. "Mortals aren't supposed to be happy", shit like that.

A crashing support brushed me out of my thoughts. Kaoru tugged on my gi, motioning for us to make are escape.

Why was she so silent?

Why wouldn't she talk to me?

Dashing for the entrance, I tried to avoid any falling debris. She pulled, silent ever still, and tried to watch her own head. I had a hold of her wrist and was ahead of her until I felt her jerk back.

Shit!

I pivoted to see the fallen support beam crushing down on her. I tried to lift the beam with all my power and it began to budge.

Now I understood the point of all those push-ups.

I screamed at her to move as I held to support high. She didn't budge. My eyes narrowed when I realized she was unconscious. I pushed up, putting all my force and muscle into my arms, and toss the beam, narrowly missing her legs. I scooped her motionless body into my arms and dashed out of the breaking building, into the crowd of people. Sano was standing at the head of them all along with Megumi.

I looked like the hero.

But I wasn't.

Because I caused this.

It was my fault.

So no matter what heroics I pull, stunts I do, lives I save, it will always be my fault.

Being my friend is beginning to become very dangerous.

I handed Kaoru off to Sano, his silent words not registering. The only thing I could make out was my name.

"Kenshin…Kenshin…Kenshin…murderer…hitokiri…Kenshin…" It was them, the Whispers.

Would they not leave me?

Would they make me suffer for the rest of my life?

Maybe it's Kami, with his sick humor.

Or master, with his voice of reason.

Or, possibly, I'm just losing my mind.

All was black, darkness rampant. I let it come in its soothing blanket, covering me up and tucking me away.

The dark was my friend, and nothing else.

------

Snow.

It's all I see.

The white blank nothingness.

I look for something, someone, other than me. So empty, so cold, so…frightening? I don't know how to put it anymore. I look through the ashen void and still, nothing more.

"I'm sorry…" Whispers the wind, so quiet that I can almost not hear it. I then see a speck of black, mixed with colorless emptiness. It is a person, almost unrecognizable from this distance. I pull the sleeve of my ragged gi to my brow, blocking the snow from my eyes.

"Sorry…" The Whispers call again. The figure draws closer and I began tremble. Was this the same feeling Kaoru felt in her burning home? Those vivid dark eyes, the white kimono and the fine ebony hair matched with her fair pale skin. Blood streaks the kimono and face of the figure, the blots of red also becoming visible on the snowy ground.

And there she is, the ghost of past. Her hand reaches to my cheek and she fingers the cross scar.

"You're hurt." She whispers. Her lips set into a frown and her hand draws away. And that's when it rips through me, a burning pain like none before.

Or have I felt it?

Somehow, I remember it…

It shreds at my body, pulling me away from her. She says nothing and stands there, watching me.

"Only you…can finish this."

------

She's gone when I awake. And nevermore shall she be. I overview all of my body, the tingling sensation of pain all the sudden disappearing with the abrupt end of my dream.

"Only you…can finish this…" I repeat slowly to myself. I put my hand to my cheek and caught a small trickle of blood falling like a tear drop.

What did it mean?

What did all of this mean?

The added weight on my shoulder suddenly became apparent. A head of messy black hair lay on my right shoulder, a light snoring coming from it. Kaoru's arms were wrapped around my neck and her entire upper body was leaning on my chest. She held my left cheek in hand, cover up the cross scar.

She was okay.

A light smile played on my lips and I adjusted my position so I was comfortable and was ready to close my eyes when a voice stopped me.

"Hey, don't go to sleep yet." Sano was looking down at us from the door way across the room. He gave me one of his goofy grins the walked over.

"You don't need to worry, she's fine…but, there's something I need to show you." Sano pealed Kaoru off me but not with out her small whimpers and groans of protest. Placing her gently on a futon, he pulled away the left side of her yukata.

At first, I was surprised by this action and had to restrain myself from slicing Sano to pieces. He pointed to a large mark on her shoulder.

"Look." He said mutely. It was a bite. And not an ordinary bite. The tissue had been ripped away deliberately, with malevolence and disgust. It was meant to cause pain.

"Megumi pointed it out to me when she was fixing Kaoru's wounds. It's a human bite, Kenshin." My nails dug into hakama.

Enishi…that fucking bastard!

There was nothing I could do though. Couldn't do anything about what he did to her.

"Is she…you know, 'okay'?" I queried about her virginity. If Enishi had gone that far, no one would stop me from walking out that door, tracking him down, and making him suffer to no end.

"Yeah…" Sano murmured with a tint of red on his face.

Kaoru stirred, a whimper slipping from her lips. Her eyes slipped open and she immediately looked at me.

"Who...are you?"

I looked at her like she was crazy.

"He's Kenshin! Kaoru, what are you crazy?" Her head snapped towards Sano.

"Maybe it's amnesia…" Sano pondered.

"Sagara Sanosuke, I know who you are, but that man is not Kenshin." She turned to face me again. "You're the one who saved me right?"

I nodded. I couldn't talk, I couldn't move, and I could hardly breathe. It's as if I sat there bound and gagged.

What was she talking about?

How am I not Kenshin?

She was sitting up now, her eyes locked with my own. She's searching for something but she can't find it. Something hidden, sheltered deep within in my soul that even I don't know where it is.

"You're not the Kenshin I knew. You're…different." She kissed me then, full on the lips, deep and hard. She pulled away only after she had no more breath. I grabbed the back of her head and held her to my chest.

"I missed you." I pleaded quietly to her ears alone.

"So did I...but…Your eyes hold the key. Look and you will find you are not who you think you are." She said through my chest.

My eyes?

Was this the reason she kept look at me so strangely?

I let her go and rose to fetch a small mirror. Pulling it up to my face, I looked where Kaoru had asked me to.

A shatter of glass could be heard through out the clinic. I could hear Megumi cursing about how she was going to force me to buy her a new mirror.

But that didn't matter.

All that did was what I saw.

And what I saw shocked me.

My eyes…

Amethyst.

Do you get it? I know, sneaky. Short lived reunion scene, ne:) Sorry. I needed to end it there. But this is the longest chapter thus far. 9 pages on the computer. Well, the story part is. I'm mad though because all my review alerts decided not to come today (e-mail-wise). Sigh. Stupid computers! Anyway, work on Chapter 13 will begin shortly! The insight on Battosai's past starts next chapter. Here's a happy little teaser;

---

"So Kenshin, how did all this shit start? I mean your whole deal with this Enishi guy." Sano looked at me as Kaoru laid her head in my lap.

"Well, Enishi is my half-brother. He is the younger brother of my former wife Himura Tomoe…whom I murdered with my own two hands." Kaoru's eyes widened.

"So that…is why…"

---

Hope you enjoyed! Now, that happy review button is asking for you to press it.