Endymion

By dee1600

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or any of its characters. This story was inspired by Hyde's song Shallow Sleep from his Roentgen album.

Author's Note: This is a warning to those who are fans of Misao --- you might not like how she is portrayed in this chapter.

Chapter 9: Discovery

I was supposed to be elated. I was supposed to be thrilled. I was Aoshi's lover. I had a brother. I was not alone anymore.

But I should have guessed that all was not happily ever after.

I had betrayed --- and had been betrayed.

Had I known, would I have wanted to know who I was --- who I had been back then?

I just saw you
A moment far too brief
Before the daylight came

Whenever I fall into slumber, I remember that day when Aoshi left me.

"Go ahead. Take her. She is nothing but a nuisance to me."

I remember all this as my brother takes me again and again and everytime he does this, I remember the pain of not being anything to Aoshi --- not even a friend.

But my heart is beating fast
Perhaps we'll meet again

But despite this knowledge, my heart does not stop hoping that one day Aoshi will come to save me.

And so time passes and with every single day, this hope wanes and nightly, my brother whispers taunts in my ear.

"He will never come to collect you. He is useless to you. On the other hand, I find you --- entertaining."

And that was when the nightmare began. It started with a small one, the image of Aoshi leaving me. As doubt started to eat into my heart, so did the nightmare. It grew and grew until one night, I would not sleep for fear that this nightmare would drain Aoshi's image all away.

Only Soujiro's lashes saved me from the nightmares. When he did this, the pain was so sharp that all I could think of was the pain and nothing else. And I wanted that forgetfulness. I craved it.

"Sou--jiro…"

Soujiro then stopped whipping me. He then held me by the roots of my hair and I bucked.

"No one tells me what to do. Especially not you, bitch."

He then licked my wounds and I actually found myself wet between my thighs. When he started to lick me there, I bucked in pleasure and then he took me. And I screamed out his name to my brother's delight.

The only thing more horrifying than my brother is me.

I am not the innocent Misao anymore. I can never be the Misao that Aoshi loved ever again. That thought made me wish I was someone else. I wanted to forget that I was alive. I wanted to forget who I was.