You probably all hate me, but like I said on my profile, I'm gonna FOCUS!
Disclaimer: Misao is aqua
Kaoru is blue
I don't own RK
And we all know it's true
"Seems something exciting is going on…hmm, shall we go see?" Yumi ignored the arm he held out and shook her head.
"I must go Kanryuu, other business calls." Kanryuu tutted almost inaudibly but Yumi heard it and swept a deep curtsy with a sarcastic, "My apologies LORD Kanryuu, but I must leave your wonderful presence immediately!" She disappeared just before Kanryuu burst out laughing at his power over the rose vampiress and strode out of the room to investigate.
"Slave! What is going on?" Kaoru sighed and glanced down at the remains of the soldier who had rather crudely groped her in front of his fellow Werewolves. Kanryuu followed her gaze and a hint of disgust and lust mixed together appeared in his eyes at the sight of the blood creeping across the floor. Turning to Kaoru, Kanryuu firmly shook his head and grinned,
"What have I said about killing soldiers?" Kaoru rolled her eyes and refused to reply. Something was off, Kanryuu mused, before he caught sight of her bloodied hands and frowned. "How did you kill him? I expressly forbid you earlier from touching other creatures in this facility." Kaoru smirked, showing off crimson stain canines as well,
"I can't control my instinct Kanryuu," she winced at the shock that ran through her veins, "I mean, LORD Kanryuu…and if I can't control them…what makes you think you can?" The hellish gleam in her eyes made him take an instinctive step back and she lunged forward, snapping her teeth centimetres in front of his nose. With a grin of amusement, she watched as he screamed and slipped on the pool of blood to fall to the floor and her feet.
She knew she was being sadistic but at the moment, she really didn't give a damn about manners or anything of the sort.
"Listen closely Lord Kanryuu, as long as you don't touch me, I won't hurt you…well, as long as I have this thing on…" she tugged distastefully on the collar and shot him a glare that compacted the last four days of orders and humiliation into a single look of burning hatred. With that last parting glance, she spun on her heel and began stalking down the hallway, hoping to run into someone foolish enough to enrage her vampyric instincts.
Suddenly a large hand landed heavily on her shoulder and she spun, startled, fangs bared and eyes wild as her nails lengthened into razor sharp claws. Seeing it was only Kanryuu she shook her head. She was too tense if he had managed to surprise her…with a sigh of disgust she turned back to her original path and frowned before she reached up to carefully peel his fingers away from the death grip they had on her shoulder. Behind her the mortal wannabe-vampire squeaked, the scream caught in his throat as he stumbled backwards and watched as she flippantly dropped his severed hand on the floor.
Rage blossomed as fast as the numbness that was crawling up his arm and his remaining hand trembled on the grip of his blessed hand gun, complete with holy water and silver bullets.
"Y-You bitch!"
"You should have listened" Kanryuu froze. Those weren't Kaoru's soft melodic tones coming from behind him. Kaoru spun around, a look of relief on her face, and Kanryuu's dread deepened as a lightly tanned hand reached around and pried the gun out of his hand, crushing it carelessly in his palm before allowing the shattered bits and trickles of holy water to run to the floor.
Acting on impulse, Kanryuu ran forward, trying to grab Kaoru as a human shield, but forgot about his now dismembered arm and grasped air. Startled, the human stumbled forward and paused, staring at his stump in disbelief, as if he had just noticed it was gone.
The light chuckle resounded in the tiny hallway and Kanryuu swallowed heavily, closing his eyes as the famed crimson haired vampire lord leapt over his head and landed with a light thump somewhere in the hallway in front of him. Slowly, his eyelids lifted from the extended blink and he could only watch in horror as the red headed demon rose to his feet, golden eyes gleaming underneath blood red bangs. Whimpering, he fell backwards and tried to crawl away from the vampire watching him in amusement.
This demon was going to kill him.
"You're not even dead are you?" Kanryuu froze and his bloodied stump instinctively went to his touch his pocket where the small black orb hid. It was his one link to the underworld and if this thing got its hands on it, he would be destroyed within seconds.
Battousai, who had watched the automatic reaction, smirked and strode forward, placing his foot squarely on Kanryuu's chest, shoving the weak fool into the ground. One hand reached down and he ripped the entire pocket away, the orb clutched in his grasp. Kanryuu immediately grabbed onto his hand to remain in contact and was faced the awe inspiring anger of a vampire lord.
"Foolish mortal…" Snorting in disgust, his hand tightened and, in a flash of gold fire, the orb was gone. Kanryuu fell back to the ground, horror etched on his features.
"N-No!" His remaining hand literally rippled and a small tendril of black ooze pierced through the bubbling skin, followed by others until Kanryuu's hand was nothing more than a waving mass of tentacles, slowly bursting out up his arm. The blood dripping out his stump of a hand turned black and he recoiled from the sight, screaming as a waving arm burst of his cheek, taunting him as it waved in front of his face.
Battousai watched his demise coldly, taking care to block Kaoru's view when the man's internal organs succumbed to the black curse. When it was over, the vampire took a step forward and prodded at the pile of translucent goop with a curious foot. The sludge rippled and latched onto his leg before it was burned away by golden fire under an impassive golden gaze.
"Well…that was…interesting" Kaoru's hesitant comment was strangely loud in the hallway and Battousai turned to her, his eyes falling on the collar.
"How do I get that thing off of your neck Kitten?" Apparently no situation was serious enough to stop the nicknames and Kaoru sighed before replying,
"I don't know. The idiot-" the collar flared and she gasped in pain before gritting her teeth together, "I mean Lord Kanryuu placed another spell on top of a conductor spell that was imbedded into the leather." Battousai shrugged and knelt down, running a slim finger against the fabric,
"As much as I like you in leather Kaoru-mine, I'm afraid this will have to go…" with that, he opened her mouth and ran the pad of his finger against her fang, slicing the skin open. Letting a few drops fall onto her tongue, he pressed the bloodied finger against the constraint, watching as it literally burned the leather off of her skin. After repeating the process on the armguards, he rose to his feet and wiped the blood smudged finger on his pants before yanking Kaoru up into his arms.
"Come on Kitten. Let's get out of here." Settling her more firmly in his grasp, Battousai sighed and nuzzled his cheek lightly against her hair, "Sorry it took me so long to get here Kaoru-mine but this warehouse is in the middle of nowhere…That cat of yours helped though…" Kaoru frowned, confused,
"Cat?" Battousai nodded and shifted her so he could reach into his pocket and remove the stuffed animal. At the sight of it, Kaoru smiled and pulled it into her grasping fingers.
"I had nearly forgotten about this guy…he was my favourite stuffie when I was a kid. My parents got me him after…" she trailed off, "…after you had brought me home. They were so relieved to see me again…I thought they would have hated me but they had sent out search parties and everything even though I had only been gone…what, a couple of hours?" She stroked the fur between its ears thoughtfully, "It was the only thing that lasted the blast after y-y-you killed them…" Her voice hiccupped on the words and it was if she had a sudden epiphany and quickly tried to shove herself out of his arms.
"I didn't kill them Kaoru" His voice was low and even, the syllables curling in the air like physical objects. Kaoru glared at him,
"How do I know you're telling the truth?" Anger rose up and he shoved her against the wall, pressing his body tight against hers.
"I will NEVER lie to you Kaoru." His voice was sharp now, still caressing but with an undertone of threat. Swallowing, Kaoru nodded and he sighed, lifting her back into his arms. They would have to discuss this later, preferably with Kaoru tucked into a warm bed next to him where he could keep an eye on her.
"Rest Kitten"
Nodding, Kaoru reluctantly rested her head against his chest, the removal of the spells having drained a majority of her energy.
'What I wouldn't do for some good old plain water…' The stray thought jarred in her mind and she quickly scrambled out of Battousai's surprised hold, dropping to the ground in a crouch as her legs gave out on her.
"Shura!" Confused, Battousai reached down to scoop her back up but the stubborn vampire squirmed back out of his grasp, slowly making her way back to pool, clutching at the wall for support.
"Princess" there was a tone of warning in his voice and she rolled her eyes, gesturing to the blue doors that led to the pool.
"Shura helped me out and Kanryuu got me to pour something into the pool when she was swimming. She might be hurt!" Growling lightly, Battousai slung Kaoru over his shoulder and stalked off to the pool, slamming the doors open with a simple mental shove.
Kaoru, startled by the sudden hard shoulder digging into her ribcage, snorted and wiggled off his shoulder until he carried her bridal style again. At least this way she was more comfortable…
The deep end of the pool was still completely red and opaque, ominously similar to blood. Still slightly angered by his vampire's unwillingness to go back to their castle and rest, Battousai simply waved the water to either side as he jumped down into the pool towards the unmoving figure at the bottom. A bubble of water surrounded her body and one finely arched eyebrow rose,
"Kitten, you've done it again…" Kaoru pouted and crossed her arms over her chest,
"What do you mean? Done it again!"
Battousai grinned, "You make the most interesting friends Kaoru-mine…" and settled her more firmly against his chest, reaching out with a temporarily free hand towards the bubble. The see-through shield immediately popped and Shura woke with a start, coughing up red tinged water.
"Damn it! That hurt!" Just noticing her company, Shura blushed a light blue and rubbed at the spiral designs on her arms self-consciously.
"Uh…hi?" Battousai snorted and Kaoru lightly hit him on the back of the head, glancing Shura over with a critical eye.
"Are you okay? Kanryuu told me that stuff could kill a thousand humans or a hundred vampires easily…" Shura coughed and Battousai chuckled,
"Kitten, this girl is a water sprite." Kaoru frowned,
"So? What's special about them?" This time both Shura and Battousai grinned,
"It means she is completely made of water…as long as water is around her, she will never die." He glanced over at the red coloured water around them, "Even her bones are made of continuously moving water so new water will just replace them if she ever broke one…" Kaoru's eyes lit up and she turned to glance in amazement at Shura,
"So when you swallowed the poison, the infected muscle and tissue and stuff like that was just switched with clean water!" At the girls nod, Battousai jumped back out of the pool, ignoring Kaoru's furious huff.
"We're going Kitten, say goodbye." Kaoru rolled her eyes but obediently waved to the lone figure standing in the middle of the pool,
"Goodb-" her farewell was cut off by their sudden disappearance into the shadows. When they appeared back in the courtyard of the castle, Kaoru turned her azure glare on the golden eyed vampire holding her.
"Nice, real nice Battousai" Battousai frowned and quickly strode into the castle, making his way with inhuman speed through the twisting passages.
"Don't call me that Kitten" Kaoru snorted and pulled away from his tensed form to glare more thoroughly at him,
"Call you what? Battousai?" He nodded and she sputtered indignantly, "FINE! I'll just call you bastard! Or maybe prick since you seem to like it s-" he quietly cut her off,
"Kenshin" Her gaze went from anger to confusion and she made no protest when he placed her on a giant feather bed.
"What?" Battousai carefully tugged off her boots,
"Kenshin. That's my name and I'd like to be called by it once in a while." Kaoru blinked as the blanket was pulled up to her chin and she hesitantly nodded,
"Sure…Kenshin…" Kenshin grinned and Kaoru quickly crossed her arms before stammering, "T-That doesn't mean I like you anymore than I did before!" Kenshin smirked,
"Of course not Princess, of course not…"
Kenshin sighed as he sank down next to Kaoru, the girl in mention already fast asleep after summarizing what had happened to her. He would have to get someone to investigate who had given Kanryuu and Misao the orbs to stay in the Shadow Realm…he pushed the multitude of thoughts from his mind and wrapped his arms around the comforting body next to him. Just as he had dimmed the lights and closed his eyes, the door slammed open startling both of the occupants of the bed awake.
"KaoruKaoruKaoru! You're alright!" Kaoru yawned and sat up, rubbing at her eyes,
"Misao?" The rambunctious girl nodded and jumped onto the bed, throwing her arms around Kaoru's neck.
"I was so worried and when I heard you were in the castle I had to check up on you 'cause I felt totally guilty but Aoshi, that icicle ass, told me not to interrupt you in case you were sleeping which I'm totally sorry for waking you up but I had to see you and make sure you were al…ri…ght…" by this time the endless rambler that was Misao had caught sight of the disgruntled red head sitting next to her best friend, "oh…you have erm…company…terribly sorry Kao and um…yea, excuse me Mr. Battousai…" Silently Misao crawled backwards off the bed, keeping her eyes trained on the red head that was currently getting attacked by Kaoru's glare of death, before scampering out of the room.
"What are you doing in my bed?" Kenshin grinned, fangs flashing smugly,
"Your bed? Think again Kitten…you're in MY bed." Eyes wide Kaoru glanced around in horror, finally realizing the splendour of the room and the family crest hanging arrogantly above the head board.
"oh…" Kenshin's grin grew even wider and he swung a leg over hers so he straddled her shocked form,
"Of course, we could always make it your bed as well…" A quiet cough came from the doorway and Kenshin turned his head to meet Aoshi's stoic gaze, "Report?" The vampire nodded and reached into his jacket to toss a small scroll to Kenshin,
"No leads so far on Kanryuu or the orbs but our mages detected something odd at the warehouse you went to. There was a collar outside what appears to be the main office and it was heavily warded with spells of the constricti-" Kenshin sighed impatiently and nodded,
"Yes, I know. Kitten here was wearing it." Aoshi's eyes darkened in a way that on most men would be nervous shuffling and Kenshin fell silent, quietly scanning the scroll as Kaoru tried to push him off of her.
"Get off of me you arrogant oaf! I need to get home and get a change of clothes and tell Megumi that I'm ok-" Kenshin cut her off with a single comment,
"You aren't leaving here Kitten" Azure eyes widened and narrowed into tiny slits of rage as she tried to shove him off again,
"Like HELL I'M NOT!" Her voice steadily grew in volume and Aoshi coughed to get her attention,
"When His Highness released the spells on the collar they were "tied" to his aura instead of the collar. However, since this was not his intention, the spells warped to meld with his aura and resulted in a temporary bond between the two of you. You cannot leave Kaoru until an undetermined amount has passed." Kaoru's mouth dropped open and her hands fell limply against Kenshin's chest,
"Undetermined?"
"The mages assured me that milord's aura will completely obliterate the corrupt spell by a certain time. Judging by the strength of milord's aura, it may only be a week or it may be many years. The particular way one of the spells was warped created something very similar to a marriage bond, and as such, most vampires would have had a life long bond, you are fortunate that it is only temporary." Kenshin growled a bit at the last sentence but glanced down at Kaoru to find she had seemingly fainted.
"Aoshi" The vampire straightened imperceptibly,
"Yes milord?"
"Go to the treasury and remove a generous purse for Kaoru. She and that Misao will have to make it comfortable for her in this realm. Allow the human girl to furnish her own suite with assistance from the maids." Aoshi nodded, but remained in the doorway, "Kaoru will need companionship of the female variety and I would think you would not mind the girl visiting…she will not be staying, of course, merely helping Kaoru get used to this realm again before the patrol" Aoshi nodded again and left. When the door closed, Kenshin sighed and lowered his body on top of Kaoru's, delighting the way her tiny form fit against his before rolling to the side and cradling her in his arms.
That was the way the maid found them in the morning. Unused to have his highness in bed after the Shadow realm version of noon, she had innocently opened the door to be greeted by the sight of her Lord and Master cosily entwined with a long legged female, his mouth resting at her pulse in the most obvious sign of claim, generally only instinct for married couples…which these two must be judging by the connection between their auras. A bright grin lit up the pale brunette's features and she happily shut the door and skipped off down the hallway, heading towards the best place to spread the news…Tea's Tavern and Tea House. Within an hour, everyone would know of their Lord's long anticipated marriage.
"That's her! That's the Queen!" At the murmur, Kaoru groaned and pressed her fingers against her temples. Annoying rumours had spread since her return and it seemed everyone in the Shadow Realm was talking about her supposed "marriage" to the King Battousai. After waking up, unnervingly comfortable in his grasp, it was not the way she wanted to start off the new day. Misao, bounding happily by her side, laughed and slung her arm around her friend's waist,
"Aww! Don't worry Kao, it'll eventually die down." Her grin became mischievous and she lightly nudged the vampire, "at least you're a queen eh?" Kaoru looked at her dryly and tugged on the dark blue gown Kenshin had forced her to wear.
"Oh yeah, just great!" She crossed her arms over her chest and turned to glare at the shorter girl, "He wrecked ALL of the clothes I had stockpiled here!" She pouted before a glint appeared in her eye. At the look, Misao grinned and linked her arm through her friend's elbow,
"Kao?" The taller vampire looked down, a similar evil grin growing on her lips,
"Yes Mi?"
"How would you like to go shopping?" Kaoru's grin grew as Misao continued, "I mean, we're female, and according to Ice-ass and Crazy-Bats, we are supposed to make our selves feel comfortable and at home…" Kaoru snorted and looked around for a brief moment before nodding her head towards a nearby clothing store. The two girls smirked and practically ran into the store, hands reaching for the money purses on their belts. It was time to shop.
Two hours later, the two girls re-emerged from the properly ransacked store, their multiple bags tucked away in one of Kaoru's pocket dimensions. Misao yawned and stretched, relishing in the feel of cool silk whispering against her skin.
"Kkkkkkaaaaooooooruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu" Rolling her eyes at the younger woman's whine, Kaoru tugged happily on a leather glove,
"What?"
"I'm hungry! And Ice-ass and Mr. Batts told us to meet them somewhere didn't they?" Kaoru nodded, still joyously distracted by her new outfit and purchasing power.
"Yeah, at the Bloody Mary…"
"A YEAR!"
"Kao, calm down…" Kaoru turned to her diminutive friend,
"Calm down? CALM DOWN?" Furiously she turned to the smirking vampire, "You're lying, Aoshi! I know it! I can't be stuck here for a goddamn year!" Kenshin shrugged and glanced over at Aoshi. After a brief moment of silence, the quiet man nodded,
"It's true. The mages preformed a test while you ladies were out shopping. They assume somewhere between 10 to 14 months. The spell turned out to be amazingly resilient. You cannot be a realm apart without dying."
"And I will not let you die Kitten." Kenshin's crooning voice interjected and the vampire lord rose to his feet, grabbing Kaoru's wrist to drag her out of the tavern. "Aoshi, inform your human what is to come." Aoshi sighed and turned to meet Misao's fiery glare,
"Misao…."
Blinking at the sudden change in scenery, Kaoru glared at the man dragging her along and tried to wrench her hand out of his grasp.
"Let me go you bastard!" Kenshin shrugged and released her, watching in amusement as she stumbled into his chest from the momentum. Immediately, his arms wrapped around her and held her annoyingly close to his chest,
"Now, now Kitten. Play nice…" he smirked and buried his face into her hair, "after all, you're in MY world now." Kaoru rolled her eyes at his dramatics and slammed her heel onto his foot, grinned when the vampire winced.
"We'll have to talk about your choice of clothing Princess." He pushed her an arm's length away so he could look her over before continuing, "what happened to that dress you were wearing earlier?" Kaoru's lip stretched up into an evil grin and she dug in her pocket for a moment before pulling out a strip of blue fabric,
"I thought you'd like a memento." Kenshin stared at her flatly before shrugging and tucking her arm under his as they began walking again,
"Very well, I suppose you need some clothes for the patrol…" she stopped and looked at him,
"Patrol?" he nodded,
"Yes Kaoru-mine, patrol. Once every decade I have to travel around to the minor shadow states. It takes an entire year, two months to get between each state and a month visit at the capital with the residing lord or lady." Kaoru nodded and glanced up at the star studded sky,
"When do you leave?" Kenshin smirked,
"WE leave next week."
End of Ch.10.
How exciting no? I don't know WHY I was suddenly struck with the urge to finish this but I have to say this chapter was already half written when I found it today and I think you can probably tell the parts I had already outlined and written compared to the parts I scribbled out today. Originally, I had a totally different scene between Kenshin and Kanryuu but to tell the truth, I just wanted to wrap up the stupid little scene with Kanryuu. Oh! And WAIT! The annoying armbands that really had no purpose other than making Kaoru appear spineless and idiotic are GONE! Yay!
I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter and I'm sure a lot of you had devilishly wicked comments but I thought my best apology would be to kick this chapter out ASAP. Chapter 11 WILL be out WAAAAY sooner than this one was. Hopefully :P
