A/N: Kenshin no mine. I duck in corner while you read. Please put the pitchforks down.
Eternity in a Grain of Sand
Chapter 4
Hiko glanced surreptitiously at the door his baka deshi had just disappeared through. He was incredibly nervous, though it only showed in the way he gripped his sake jug with white knuckles. He glared out into the night before glancing back at the door. If you screw this up, Kenshin… he thought to himself. A sudden flair of ki distracted him from finishing his thought. Vampires out here? He wondered, standing and moving to his doorway.
One of the reasons he'd chosen Germany as a refuge was because most vampires had evacuated during WWII. Secret concentration camps had not been the only thing Hitler had been up to. He'd also tried to get his hands on a sample of genetic vampire material. He'd intended to make an army of superhuman Nazis with the sole purpose of taking over the world. He had not counted on the retaliation of the vampire community. He'd thought they'd react like beasts, but instead they turned and fought in secret, slipping into the ranks of the Allied armies and reeking hell on the battlefields. Kenshin had been one of those vampires until the war was over.
After the war had finished, very few had returned. Their memories haunted them far too much for that. Even vampires had been horrified by the atrocities the Nazis had committed. Hiko had not participated in the war, indeed, had been isolated in Tibet at the time. But even he had longed for a little taste of civilization, not to mention a ready sake supply. Germany had seemed like a suitable place, especially with such a limited vampire population. This might have been the first unfamiliar ki he'd felt since he'd first come to Germany.
A feeling of foreboding settled over him and he drew his sword without hesitation. These people had picked the wrong vampire to bother. He watched with narrowed, glinting eyes as two shadows slowly emerged from the darkness. They stood at the edge of the clearing unmoving, though the tall one held two naked kodachi.
The tall one, a man with dark ear-length hair dressed in a trench coat, stepped forward slightly and said, "Is Himura Kenshin here?"
"Who wants to know?" Hiko growled, bringing his sword to bear on the tall man.
"Tell him Misao and Aoshi are here," the shorter shadow said, stepping forward and revealing that she was a female vampire dressed rather simply in jeans and a windbreaker. A long braid swung down her back past her knees.
Hiko frowned. Kenshin had mentioned a Misao when he arrived, but he hadn't said she'd be following. As though reading his mind, the girl added, "We followed against his wishes, but we have some information he needs to know."
"And I should trust you because…?" Hiko drawled, twirling his sword in idle threat.
The male vampire, Aoshi, glanced at the female by his side before growling lightly and beginning to talk in the old speech, the words raising a brief, chilling wind and calling to wild animals for miles around. Hiko listened and was impressed at the male vampire's eloquence. Aoshi left absolutely no loophole for himself. Essentially, he placed himself at Hiko's mercy. The female quietly repeated him, word for word.
"Come in," Hiko said roughly, motioning as he sheathed his sword. "Kenshin's…occupied at the moment, but he'll see you when he's finished."
"We don't know whether or not we were followed."
Hiko glanced sharply back, but continued down the hallway to the kitchen. "Followed by whom?" he asked as he fished out another carafe of sake and two saucers for his guests.
Misao looked to Aoshi and he nodded curtly. "Shortly after Kenshin and Kaoru left, two vampires arrived at the castle she was staying at. We didn't disturb them, but they looked like Council lackeys. I listened in on part of the conversation. It sounded like they were after Kenshin, not Kaoru, but I wasn't entirely sure."
Hiko frowned lightly, keeping his eyes carefully hooded. If Kenshin had led the Council here, there would be hell to pay. But normally his baka deshi was smart enough to cover his ki trail. They shouldn't be able to track him. Unless the Council had some new underhanded trick up their sleeves.
He looked up again to see that both of the vampires were watching him intently, studying minute details an ordinary human would miss. These two traveled in dark circles; of that Hiko was certain. He would guess that they were ninja, possibly spies, though two kodachi was a very odd weapon choice for a ninja.
"I will deal with the problem if it should come," he told them softly. "In the meantime, you two have traveled all the way from Transylvania. I'll show you to a room where you can rest." He rose and walked down the hallway, knowing the two were following without having to look behind him. He opened the door of his own personal bedroom. It wasn't as if he planned on sleeping tonight.
The tall vampire walked in without a word, but the young female stopped in the door frame, looking back slightly. "Sir, is Kaoru…ok?"
Slough black eyes glared down at her for a moment, taking in every detail and seemingly peering straight into her head. Then Hiko sighed and his imposing manner disappeared for a moment. "I'm not sure yet," he answered truthfully.
She seemed to consider this, her eyes darting to the other doorways in the hallway. Then she nodded and also disappeared into his room. Hiko shut the door behind them and stalked back down the hallway, pausing outside Kaoru's door even though he knew he wouldn't hear a thing. "She damn well better be ok," he growled angrily before continuing on his way to the living room where he would await dawn.
oOoOoOoOo
The two agents traveled at great speed through the mountainous landscape.
"You're sure they came this way?"
"How else could they have crossed the mountains?"
"The tall one is a magic user. He could have used a transport spell."
"He didn't. I would've sensed the ki."
"My lord will not be pleased if we lost them all, especially her. This is the first sniff he's gotten of her since the Second World War. You know he was intent on killing her this time."
"Of course," the smaller agent growled, trying desperately to pick up even a faint trace of vampire ki. He knew the penalties were too high if they failed.
"Wait," the taller one suddenly cried as he tilted his ear to the side. Both halted, standing upright and conspicuous against the white snow. "We've gotten lucky," the tall one said after several seconds had passed. "One of our agents spotted them passing a small village on the border. They're somewhere in Germany."
"Do we have any other information?"
"Yes," the tall one said, his mouth curling into a predatory grin. "When Battoussai ran from his mentor, another vamp took him in for a while. If the rumors are right, that vamp is hidden in the Black Forest."
"What are we waiting for then? Let's get going."
"Just a moment," the tall one murmured, grabbing the second agent's arm. "Our lord is going to help us."
As he spoke the words red, flickering light spread from bands around the agents' necks. It strengthened and took the form of a spell circle, drifting down to the snow and easily melting the upper crust of ice. The shorter agent watched in fear. He knew little of magic. This circle could be a killing spell, and he wouldn't know until he was dead. Symbols slowly etched themselves into the snow inside the circle, pulsing faintly and giving off the odor of fresh blood. The tall agent smirked and began salivating, already dreaming of the blood that waited for him elsewhere.
With a final bright pulse, the magic took hold and activated. A loud rush of air filled the clearing and then all was silent. The agents had disappeared.
oOoOoOoOo
"Talking?" Kaoru hissed. "What is left to talk about?"
"Everything," Kenshin said vehemently, grabbing one of her arms before she could try to run from him. Kaoru glared at him, the silver of her eyes intensified by the light of the waning moon.
"Why don't you ever give up?" she growled, her fangs dipping below her bottom lip in warning.
"What would be the fun in that?" he teased as his other hand ghosted down her neck and across her collar bone to her shoulder. It took all of Kaoru's self-control not to shiver at the phantasmal sensations running across her skin.
"You've been running for too long, Kaoru," he said as he voice dropped in pitch. "Aren't you tired of it yet?"
"Yes! I've told you that."
"No, you've told me you're tired of life."
"It's the same thing."
"No, it's not. There is a difference between facing your fears and killing yourself to avoid them."
"What would you have me do? Burst in on the Blood Council and demand atonement from the one who tried to slaughter me."
"In time, yes. For now, I'd much rather you just admit that you don't want to run from me anymore."
"Yes, I do."
"Why, Kaoru? Give me your reasons," he demanded firmly, pulling her closer so that there was almost no space between them. At this distance she could not avoid his eyes. She was forced to stare into the golden depths and meet him head on.
"Because you're a pawn of the Council. You sold your soul to the creatures lower than the Devil himself!" she shouted, struggling desperately in his grip and using what little strength she'd regained to try and shock him with the lightning spell still etched on her hand.
"But there's more to it!" Kenshin shouted back, firmly grasping the hand with the spell written on it. "You never do anything for just one reason! Tell me!"
"No!" she cried, lunging forward and sinking fangs into his shoulder. Kenshin hissed, but did not push her away. Kaoru did not feed on other vampires as a rule, and he knew this. She'd bitten out of defense, not hunger. Her fangs disengaged from his shoulder, just as he'd known they would and she tried to break away from the injured arm. His grip remained unwavering.
She wrenched away, and the sight he was presented with scared him to the core. Her eyes were wild and feral, completely uncontrolled. His own blood dripped from her lips and fangs down her chin to spatter on her shirt. Her nails ripped viciously at what skin she could reach, drawing deep welts into his arms. She was what she had feared becoming--a wild vampire without control. Pain wrenched in his heart as he saw what she had become, partly because of him.
Unthinkingly, he gripped her arms tightly and pulled her close ignoring the nails that now scrabbled at his chest. He kissed her, demanding submission while at the same time trying desperately to apologize for what he'd done and the wounds he'd only deepened.
At first, she bit him, fangs finding purchase in his lips and tongue, but then the fight started dying in her. She was still too weak and had used her poor strength to fight him. Oh so slowly, her nails stopped clawing and simply gripped, holding him against her. She stopped biting, though she did not respond when he tentatively licked her lip. Her frame went limp in his arms until he supported more of her weight than her own feet.
Kenshin slowly broke away from the kiss, easing back just enough to look into her eyes. Silver still glinted there, but blue was starting to return. In that unguarded instant, he could see the utter tiredness of her soul. It brought him crashing to his knees. Gently, he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close so that he could press his face into her stomach.
Kaoru stood motionless in his hold and stared listlessly into space. What was the point of it? Why should she even bother to fight? In all the years she had fought, it had gotten her nowhere. Those she cared for still slipped from her fingers; innocents still died horrible deaths. Perhaps if she stopped fighting, the world would finally give her some measure of peace.
Kaoru was wrenched from her morbid thoughts, though, when she heard the sound she'd last expected to hear. At first, she wondered if perhaps she was dying because she could not have heard right. But then, the sound came again, a soft sob against her stomach. She looked down, amazement and bewilderment in her eyes. The cool feel of liquid soaking through her shirt confirmed the sight. Himura Kenshin was crying softly against her.
Had he done anything else, she would have known how to respond. A blow is answered with a blow, an angry word with an angry word. They are easy rules to live by. But how does one go about responding to tears of pain? Normally, comfort is offered, but Kaoru had none to give. Instead, she could only stare, utter bafflement crawling through her brain.
In all the years she had known him, Kaoru had never seen Kenshin express pain if he could help it. His wounds did not make him cry, rarely even made him flinch. There was never a sight that he had met that had made tears spill from his eyes. Yet here he was, a cold-blooded killer whom she knew she should hate, and he was crying. Please, not this, she thought desperately. She could handle anger, but this was something else entirely.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, his voice rough and low. He looked up then and his eyes were not the familiar burning amber. They had turned a shining amethyst covered in a blue cast. Wonderingly and of their own volition, her fingers traveled to his eyes, touching the corners gently.
"I will understand if you never forgive me, Kaoru," he said, grasping the hand that was touching his face, "but if you can find it in yourself to give me a second chance, I will never leave your side."
The words moved Kaoru beyond all thoughts of anger. Damn it all! She did love him, loathe though she was to admit it to herself. However, as he began repeating himself in the old language, she knew she would not be able to resist him.
She had disappeared to avoid this. Some small part of her had known that once she saw him again, in person, the walls she'd built to guard herself would start to crumble. She'd been wrong. The walls around her heart weren't crumbling; they were crashing.
"Why do you do this to me?" she whispered as she slipped to her knees so they were eye level.
Kenshin looked at her, touching her face hesitantly. "Because I love you."
"You're an idiot," she informed him softly. "I won't make you happy."
"Yes, you will," he insisted, the gold returning to his eyes in increments. "Even arguing with you makes me happy."
"I have three thousand years of life that you're trying to take onto your shoulders. You're going to destroy yourself," she insisted. "It's destroyed me."
"Not yet," he growled, moving forward to kiss her. She pulled back and he immediately halted his advance.
"Give me time," she pleaded, her fingers moving slowly to his lips. "I'm…not used to…being around others."
"I know," he whispered, gently kissing the fingertips against his lips. He understood what she was really saying. She was not ready to trust and individual so far with her body yet. He could wait.
"You need to sleep," he murmured after a moment, gently lifting her as he spoke. She slumped against him, the energy drawn out of her. He laid her on the bed, settling next to her and gently wrapping an arm around her stomach.
"You are ruining your life," she whispered, eyes staring to the ceiling.
"So little faith, Kaoru," he said softly, gently rubbing her side as he pressed his lips to the shoulder nearest him. "Just sleep. The pieces will fall as they were meant to."
She murmured something, but he could not make out the words. A moment later, her ki evened out. He gazed at her profile for long hours, hoping that one day she would be able to tell him exactly what had made her so afraid of life.
oOoOoOoOo
Hiko paced angrily through his living room, pausing every now and then to take a long draft of sake. Wasn't the idiot finished yet? What had happened? For God's sake! He wouldn't care about any mess their fighting might have left if he could only find out what had happened in that room.
The click of a door knocked him out of his reverie and he immediately turned watchful eyes down the hallway. He had to push himself to suppress the growl he felt rising as the two vampires who'd arrived last night slowly emerged from his bedroom. Both watched him warily as they approached and Hiko became aware that he must present a rather intimidating figure.
He immediately tried to smooth his ruffled feathers as he said, "I hope you slept well."
"Yes. Thank you for your hospitality," the female said, smiling brightly.
"Not at all. Are you hungry?"
Neither said a word, but he could see the ravenous looks that sprung in their eyes. "I've got some rabbits left, I think," he growled as he turned to the kitchen.
They received no warning as the foundations of the house shook. Hiko and Aoshi were immediately at the door, weapons drawn. Misao stood further back, her kunai clenched between fingers and ready to be thrown. In the guest bedroom, Kenshin awoke and without pause lifted Kaoru from the bed as he rushed to get his swords. Her blue eyes were slow to open, but he could see the alertness there as he hurried down the hallway to his old room.
Stupid! he berated himself mentally as he glanced back to see Hiko, Aoshi, and Misao (when did they arrive?) standing guard at the door. I should have brought my swords with me. But I didn't want to intimidate her. His feelings were more thoroughly expressed as a growl rose from his throat. He could sense magic all around the house, encapsulating them as thoroughly as a cage.
In the living room, Hiko threw open the front door and strode out purposefully, grateful suddenly that he had a person to watch his back. "What is the meaning of this?" he said, his voice carrying easily across the clearing.
Two vampires faced him, both grinning rather manically. One had his hands extended, upholding the spell around them. The other, shorter one had a gun at his side, no doubt loaded with spelled bullets.
"We're looking for someone. We understood we might find that someone here," the short one said, raising his gun so that it was supported against his shoulder.
"No one in this house is going with any Council scum," Hiko said dangerously, keeping his eyes on the short vampire's trigger finger.
"A shame," a new, deeper voice stated from the corners. "I had so hoped she'd be willing to come out and play."
Just as Kenshin arrived at the door, Kaoru safely behind him, a stranger emerged from the woods. Five pairs of eyes immediately swung to the new voice and watched as another vampire appeared from the shadows of the forest.
Kaoru's eyes widened as she took in white hair, rose-tinted half-spectacles, and burning red eyes. "Enishi…" she whispered, the hair on her neck standing on end.
"Kaoru," he purred, stepping fully into the light, "it's been such a long time. The last time we saw each other was in Egypt, I dare say."
Kenshin glanced behind him as he felt waves of fear and anger pulse strongly from Kaoru's body. During the time he'd been searching for her, he'd also been speculating which member of the Council was responsible for her near death five hundred years earlier. Enishi had been on the list, but he hadn't been Kenshin's number one suspect. He felt near surprise now as he took in the white-haired vampire.
Enishi had almost always been a somewhat honorable Council member. His underhanded deals were almost always for the betterment of the vampire world, though he did admittedly traffic in human slavery. However, the vampire had never struck Kenshin as the type to brutalize one of his fellow Council members. Clearly the redhead had been wrong.
oOoOoOoOo
Enishi strolled along the side of the clearing just outside range of the spell circle. He looked calm and collected, as though he were simply strolling to a bank to make a deposit. Every now and then he would throw a glance to one of the occupants of the spell circle, his manic red eyes seeming to draw them in like a rip tide.
"Battoussai," he drawled at length, stopping his pacing to lean back against a tree, "it is wonderful to see you again. May I commend you on the fine work you did in South Africa when last we met? Truly, few others could have tamed that tribe of blood hungry half-breeds."
Kenshin said nothing, but his grip on his katana tightened and he considered the benefits of hurling his wakizashi at Enishi in hopes of removing some vital limb. Such a shame Hiko was in the way.
"However, I am a busy man and must be on my way. But before I go…"
Enishi suddenly stepped forward and drew his finger along a line of the spell circle, adding to one of the patterns. The magic surrounding the house flared brilliantly green and settled over the occupants in a sickly haze. Kenshin tried desperately to draw his sword, but his hand was frozen. His chest wasn't even moving to breathe. If he'd been human, he would have been in trouble.
Enishi strolled into the circle, untouched by the mist. Behind him, his henchmen closed in like circling vultures waiting for the tiger to finish its kill. Within moments, Enishi was among them.
"My dear Kaoru," the white-haired man purred, running his finger along her jaw line, "we have unfinished business."
Kaoru could not move to fight him; though she knew the counter-curses for his spell circle, she was still far too weak to use them. Only her eyes could express her hatred as his hands continued a languid and sickening journey over her upper body, only barely avoiding groping. Enishi was not one to immediately jump to torture.
Without a word, the one the vampire world had nicknamed White Tiger lifted Kaoru and sketched a symbol on her forehead. Yellow and red washed over her body in waves. As Enishi passed, Kenshin could see her eyes fighting to stay open, but in the end they flickered shut.
Rage boiled through Kenshin's veins like nothing he'd ever felt before. His body shook against the spell and he managed a single step forward, bringing him even with Hiko. Enishi cast a glance back at the redhead, a smirk clear on his face. "Good day Battoussai. We'll not see each other again," he said, the malice clear in his voice.
"I have what I came for," Enishi said to his henchmen. "You may do what you will with the rest."
Without another word, the white-haired man disappeared as though he'd never been in the clearing. The lackies he'd left behind began to advance, the thirst in their eyes bright and dangerous. Ki erupted through the clearing as Kenshin broke some of the spell bonds and screamed.
Glossary type thingy:
baka deshi-idiot pupil (Hiko's personal nickname for Kenshin)
A/N: cough I am a liar. A compulsive liar. I admit it. This chapter was late and there was absolutely no sexual content in it (can any of you really blame me?) And it was short. And, to make myself even more evil I went and left you all with a cliffy. To make up for the horrible things I've subjected you to, please go check out the WAFFY one-shot I wrote from the "Eternity" universe just for you, the readers. Title is "Snowfall in San Francisco." Those of you who review, tell me I chose the right villain. I agonized over whether it should be Gohei or Enishi. Again, I'm evil and I'm sorry that the greater powers chose to make me that way. The next chapter should (cross fingers here) be up before March 23.