Authors Notes: Hey guys! I'm really glad you all like my new story! I'm going to take the time to reply to your reviews!
Replies to Reviews:
Reignashii: Glad you think it's interesting! Tell your friends about it :)
Kenshinlover2002: Well I'm hoping that you see it that way! Well, Kenshin may be killing for a good cause but being immortal sort of makes him a little cocky, y'know? And you know Kaoru. Killing disgusts her so she pretty much will loath him for the time being. Glad you like it!
Unknown beedee: I have to say I liked the beginning as well. I scared myself! I didn't know I could write like that! Sheesh! Anyway, I hope you like the rest of the story as well!
Mew Koshou: Glad I made you speechless :) Haha, only kidding. And don't you worry. I'm continuing and planning on doing so 'till it's finished.
Kanzen ne Tsuki: Oh, gosh, I'm hoping that it came out right and sounded ok! And I picked up that the 'anyways' did sound a little funky. Although I wanted people to get the message that no one has actually seen him mortal so yada yada. I'm glad you picked up on the lack of detail! I was planning to exaggerate on the details of that in this chapter. Like for example, when Kaoru makes it into Kyoto, I'm going to have her see the corps and sort of describe it there. And when Battousai meats her, he describes what she looks like and such. Well I'm so happy that you liked it! I was hoping for that reaction! Thanks a bunch! –hugs-
Neko-Yuff 16: Well, I'm not really planning on her being devastated, more shocked. He promised to come back and all. So then the rage sets in. But I don't wanna give too much away:) Thanks for the review!
NilNil: Actually, you'd be surprised. I'm not going to have her cry right off. And it's not going to be wishy-washy either. It's going to be sort of a depressed state. But not too dramatic. Anyway, thanks for the review!
Prince Aoshi: I'm glad you liked it! And trust me, this chapter will ensure you know what's going on. :)
Kaori-Angel: Well, you'll see what's going to happen in this chapter, wont'cha!
ImmortalSoul: Don't worry, I think this was a long enough wait. I don't think many more reviews will come to the first chapter anyway. Keep reviewing!
MuSiCaDdIcT RYE: Haha, thanks! Glad you like it!
Half-breed-demon-fox: Thanks, glad you like! Thanks for the review!
Erica6060: I'm glad that you like it! Thanks for the review!
Well, that's all of 'em! Here's chapter two!
Chapter 2 – Disaster Follows
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Kaoru's breath was caught in her throat. She placed her hands on her knees and lowered her head taking panted breaths and heaves of oxygen. She had ran the whole night and all the upcoming day and after two nights and one day she had arrived in Kyoto.
Frankly, she was surprised that she hadn't been attacked yet. She looked around suspiciously, the thought of being assaulted bringing her energy back. The streets seemed to be clear enough…but she still cautiously prowled around the moonlit streets.
Her head whipped and glared down ever dark alley way to catch a glimpse of anything that might try to harm her out of the blue. She held her breath before every corner, sweat running down her back. She didn't know what Kyoto was like and the unfamiliar surroundings and vibes she was experiencing definitely weren't something she'd call a warm welcome.
Suddenly, a putrid stench drifted to her nose. Her neck jolted back in disgust as she gulped down the urge to vomit. It smelt of something rotting. It was hard for her to clarify the exact aroma she was pulling in. In curiosity she followed the smell.
Luckily, the reek seemed to really dominate in the area. It was easy to find the exact path to where the source was. But when Kaoru had finally reached it's core, she regretted her curious instinct.
In the back part of a darker alley was a decomposing corpse. Flies were haphazardly hustling around the rotting body while dried on blood caked the dirt ground. Kaoru could barely hold in the bile that seeped up her throat. She slowly and carefully, avoiding the blood, walked over to the corpse.
Obviously dead. The smell was unbearable. She felt her eyes watering from the awful scent but continued to inspect just how this man had died. Obviously made by a sword, it seemed as though the body had been hit multiple times. The back of the man was slashed to ribbons, amazingly, the size deep wounds seemed to all measure the same depth.
Kaoru took note that who ever had done this must have had great control of the sword. She could barely make out the faint sight of ground through the body, indicating that he had also be struck straight through his stomach area. She made her way up his back to the neck to see…
No attaching head. The corpse had not only been stabbed and slashed, but decapitated as well. She looked around for the head but didn't see any further from the neck. She happened to glance down and screeched when the head lay close to her feet, the eyes rolled back into the sockets and the skin white while flies seemed to have a field day. Kaoru quickly squirmed away from the body and head and backed out of the alley.
Her breathing increased as she held in the urge to just run away and scream. She felt herself trembling slightly. She had seen one murder in Kyoto. The thought of someone doing that to her made her knees weak. She felt her feet start to walk away from the alley though her eyes seemed fixed at the spot.
She had thought for two nights and a day just how Kyoto would seem and what kind of skills would be there. But now she regretted ever wanting to find out. She felt weak, becoming so frightened and intimidated by the slaughter, but she truly didn't want to experience the fate of the dead mad she saw. She started to run away, trying to get away from the sight that disturbed her so much.
'It was wrong of me. It was wrong of me to come…I should have listened to daddy! I should have listened…'
She constantly cursed herself for being the macho girl and trying to prove herself strong and coming to Kyoto, running through the streets, not even bothering to keep her stealth. She ran and ran until her legs just gave out on her. She plummeted to the ground and positioned there, heaving breaths in and out of her lungs. She gripped the ground with her hands and slowly pushed herself up from her position.
She needed to get away…
0o0o0o0o0o
Kenshin sat solemnly against the wall of his room. His eyes were closed, but the stern narrowness of them indicated that he had yet to become victim to slumber. His sword was still perched against his shoulder.
Surprisingly, he had yet to receive any assassination orders that night. He took advantage of that, basking in the moonlight that peaked into his room as the quietness around him was peacefully soothing.
He found it almost too peaceful. At moments like that, he had time to reflect on his fresh past. Barely even a year ago, when he had become mortal. He opened his eyes just slightly and lifted a hand to trace the scar that carved down his left cheek.
He sighed slightly. It was his own foolishness that led him down the path of heartbreak. He had fallen in love so easily and the truth soaked in not as smoothly. To be so foolish as to expose of your one weakness was something he'd never forget.
He almost knew not to trust that woman, that she'd only end up something that got in the way. But his heart didn't let that convince him of that fact. And because of that, he earned a scar that was to last. He remembered the stares he got from his allies. Many asked him how.
He never answered them, and the ones gutsy enough to keep pestering he threatened with a sword to the neck. He wasn't questioned or stared at after that. He sighed once more as he shook his head. Thank god the mortality didn't last. He was almost surprised that he changed back, considering he was still tender about the subject.
He grunted slightly in disapproval. Finding it disgusting that it still effected him so. The limit that had to be exceeded to earn his trust sky rocketed to the point where he could almost feel himself not wanting to be around his comrades, thinking that they too, may betray him.
But it didn't really matter. He wasn't close to anyone specific. His men feared him too much to befriend him. He smirked, it almost being ironic. He feared betrayal and the traitors among his men when they feared being the traitors or betrayers because of him. Funny how things worked.
He remembered how he used to be when he was younger. He was, without a doubt, friendlier. Much more interactive with the other people around himself. He smiled a lot more often as well. That was before he became involved in the war.
Things changed. He became closed up. Not as much as the present, but more so than before he had joined in the war. He remembered his first kill as well. It felt strange. He finally felt as though the beginning of the growing weight of lives had started. His instructor, Kogoro Katsura, was impressed that he didn't go insane at the young age.
Even then he was still more open then where he was at the moment. All because of one woman. All because of her that he was so cautious. He didn't know if he'd be able to trust anyone anymore.
His face scrunched into a scowl as he glared down at the tatami mats and the grip on his sword became more firm. It angered him to think that he made himself so vulnerable. Especially to such a weak gender. He took note that he was being a sexist thinking that but after what he went through, he didn't care.
He shifted slightly and the top in his gi brushed against his side. He quickly regretted his course of thinking. His mother was a woman who definitely wasn't the type she was. Nor were the three woman who took care of him once his mother and father died.
Sakura, Akane, and Kasumi. The names of the three woman. They were another example of women who gave a good name to their gender. But women like her quickly stained that name. He sighed slightly. Out of the women that he had seen and known, he had to fall in love with one who was rotten to the core.
Just his lovely, damn luck.
He continued to caress the scar on his face, regretting everything his heart had uncontrollably decided. He almost wanted to regret being born into the family that he had bore into. He quickly discarded of the thought and sighed once more. His father's blood was of all immortal blood. From whence it came, he never knew. His mother being all mortal. It was almost like a fairy-tale. The father being pure blood of a different species than mortal, the mother being pure blood of a mortal. The child, half-and-half.
It just so happened that he was a male, making him lean more on the immortal side like his father, rather than being born a woman, and more mortal than immortal. And just like any other fairy-tale, there was always some catch that triggered the other side of him.
And out of everything and anything; it had to be love. It could have been a full moon. It could have been some weak spot on his body like Achilles' heal. It could have been some sort of physical object like fire or water.
But it had to be love.
He cursed himself for ending up with such a fate. Someone else might have found it humorous, but he definitely did not. He found it an obstacle in his life that couldn't be removed.
Once again, his thoughts drifted into a haze about the woman in which he had unwillingly picked for a love. He hissed slightly in aggravation. He had to restrain himself from putting a hole through someone's head with his sword in which his palm had firmly gripped.
He knew the anger wouldn't stop building within him if he didn't do something. He raised his fist and punched the tatami mat below him forcefully, creating a hole in the mat and a dent in the floor below.
'DAMN you….damn you, Tomoe…you son of a-'
His course of thought was suddenly interrupted. The scratching of sandals against the dirt streets and the rough panting of someone outside of the inn brought him to interest of what was going on outside of his mental world.
He heard a large thump, the sound of a body hitting the ground roughly and the scraping of sandals ceasing. Indicating that only one person was out there and that one person had fallen. Kenshin's eyes grew sharp and vividly deadly as he stood partially.
This person was daringly close to their inn. The chance of him being a passerby was low and Kenshin didn't feel he had the choice to let it pass as that. He stood up fully then and quietly made his way out of his room to follow the fellow.
He stepped outside of the inn after creeping through the halls of the shadowy shelter and glanced around. His eyes caught a small glimpse of a silhouette slip into the alley next to the in itself.
Without hesitation, Kenshin followed after the shadowed figure.
He was in for a surprise, whoever this man was…
0o0o0o0o0o
Finally balancing onto her feet, Kaoru stumbled into an alley way next to an inn. She leaned onto it and rested her back against the cold wood wall. Her breath was ragged as she closed her eyes, her head tilted toward the sky. The vivid image of her being ripped to pieces was replaying over and over again in her mind. She could almost feel the tip of the sword, pointing at her next. As if it were actually-
"It's foolish to run into a dead end alley way. Especially when tired…"
Kaoru's eyes snapped open. Her instinct was to lower her neck to look at just who was talking to her but the tip of a sword warned her not to do so. Her breaths ceased to even out as they became more rapid. Her eyes lowered to look into the eyes of molten gold. She took a good heaping of breath, trying desperately to desist her trembling.
"Draw your sword…"
The cold voice of the man before her was demanding and carried death. She could barely find the strength to raise her right hand and grip the shinai that was still strapped to her waist. She finally got a nice hold on it and pulled it out and gripped it with her left hand on the end of the hilt.
The man's eyes flashed slightly as he gazed at the shinai. He lowered his sword slightly but still portrayed his defensive demeanor. She could feel the fabric around her being sucked in and out with her deep breaths as she tried to slow her racing heart.
Oh god, how she wished she could just rip off the fabric and scream to the world she was a woman. Maybe he'd let her go…
Then again, that could always make the situation worse…
0o0o0o0o0o0
Kenshin stared at the man before him. He didn't know whether or not it was just a coincidence that he used the same weapon as Koshijiro Kamiya did, or that there was something connected with that. He looked the man up and down.
More of a boy than a man. His figure was small, and his hands didn't seem too masculine. Then again he could say the same for himself, although he couldn't lower himself to this man's level. He almost glanced at his hands on comparison to the boy in front of him.
He walked almost amused as the boy's obvious fear was desperately trying to be retained. He had potential, he had to give him that. He raised his sword slightly and watched as the boy backed away, his eyes twitching in a reaction to the movement.
Kenshin took in the sight before him. It looked as though the boy wanted to conceal his face and used a simple scarf to do so. It seemed to do the job just fine. And the gi and hakama he wore didn't look like he was part of any group like the shinsengumi. And he wore no hand armor either.
There was another coincidence between Koshijiro and this boy. Kenshin started to become curious. He almost regretted having to kill him without solving the mystery.
"Why don't you run…?"
Kenshin's question seemed to effect him. A small glare appeared in his blue eyes as he gripped his shinai stronger and stepped forward slightly.
"I'm not running away…"
His voice was slightly low, but not the normal voice of a boy of his age. Whatever his age was. Kenshin's close estimate would be around 15, according to his body and vocal impression. Kenshin felt a twinge of pain in his heart. He would be killing a young boy who hadn't even started his life yet. It sickened him doing so but he had to. Being by the inn he stayed in, the suspicion of him being a spy couldn't go unattended.
Finally, Kenshin swung his sword. It was blocked by his shinai, but the fear and trembling of his victim was clear. Just as Koshijiro's, the wood started to split from the blade. Kenshin found that the boy seemed to be wise when he pushed him off to prevent more splitting.
Kenshin drew up his sword again and the boy swiftly dodged to the side to avoid the slash downward. But without hesitation, Kenshin turned the slash down to I diagonal slash, intending to decapitate yet another victim. But to Kenshin's slight surprise, the boy seemed to dodge it once again, practically bending into a backbend.
Kenshin's surprise was put to a halt as he saw the boy stumbling, trying to gain his balance. It finally made sense. Kenshin recalled learning about how when the adrenaline of fear or the thought of something drastic, such as death was about to occur, the body goes beyond the normal limitations and can quicken reflexes and movement.
Now that he actually tried, Kenshin could see the fear, let alone sense it, emanating off of him. Kenshin smirked as the boy finally seemed to gain his balance.
Once again, Kenshin swung forward with his katana, this time with more speed than force. Much to the boy's dismay, the speed of the katana's slash, the boys weapon was split in two, the larger end of the shinai clacking to the ground, the hilt still clutched in the boys hands.
Kenshin smirked again as he raised his sword to strike the final blow. Bringing his sword down, he expected his sword to hit upon flesh but instead, his sword ripped through the scarf fabric that was around the boys face. Kenshin noticed how the boy seemed to back up just enough.
The fabric fell in tattered pieces onto the ground, the boy's face finally revealed. Kenshin's molten gold eyes fell upon the biggest surprise in the longest time. When the boy looked at him directly, fear riddled in his face, Kenshin almost backed away.
The boy looked to have the face of a woman. Kenshin shook his head. He shouldn't be surprised. There were a lot of men that looked like woman slightly. But still…this was abnormal. He backed away slightly. Kenshin didn't know what to do. He didn't know whether or not this person was male or female, and if this person were female, he couldn't kill her!
His face was feminine. But his chest didn't say the same. The confusion burned in Kenshin's mind. There was only one way to find out. Kenshin sheathed his long katana and pulled out his second sword, a wakizashi. Pointing the tip to the chest of his victim, he triedbacked away but the wall behind him prevented him from doing so.
Without piercing the flesh, Kenshin brought the tip over the fabric of this person's gi and started to drag downward, ripping the fabric. The boy's eyes widened as he frantically tried to stop the blade.
"What are you doing!"
The question that came from his victim wasn't very masculine anymore. Finally ripping the fabric and wrappings around his chest, Kenshin dropped his wakizashi and stepped forward quickly, pressing his body roughly against his victim's, trapping him.
"Stop it! Get away!"
Kenshin didn't listen to him. Roughly grabbing the torn wrappings and gi, Kenshin ripped the rest of it away from his chest. When Kenshin finally ripped all the way down the center to his stomach, he couldn't believe his eyes.
There, bluntly portrayed before him, was nothing close compared to a chest. But finely built, feminine breasts. Kenshin jerked back, eyes widened in disbelief.
"Get away! Pervert!"
Kenshin almost gulped as he slowly stepped away from the female before him, his eyes still wide. He lifted a hand and pointed at her as if he had seen a ghost.
"You're a female…"
She quickly gathered the torn parts of her gi and covered her breasts quickly and scowled darkly at him. Kenshin was still in such a daze, he didn't notice.
She was a woman. He almost killed a woman. He carefully glanced back up at the girl who was edging away from him. He inspected her fully, running his eyes up and down her body.
And a beautiful one at that.
Now there had to be something wrong with the picture that was displayed in front of him. What was a girl doing in Kyoto during the revolution, with merely a wooden sword, no back up, and all on her own.
Kenshin couldn't figure it out right at the moment but he sure wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to find out. Not in a million years…
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Well, I hope you guys liked the second chapter! It was a lot of fun writing it:)
PLEASE REVIEW!