A/N: For those of you who have already guessed my evil plot, validation! I finally give the game away…sort of. This chapter was quite a pain to write. Your comments make it all worthwhile though! Annnd….just to reiterate, Kenshin is not mine.
Chapter SixMisao was frantic. When she'd attempted to follow Kaoru past the point where Kaoru had dismissed her (secretly, of course), the once gentle Kasshin Ryu instructor had somehow slipped behind the ninja, snuck up on her without a sound and punched Misao in the jaw, rendering her temporarily unconscious. When she came to moments later, Kaoru was gone. Other than being amazed that Kaoru had actually hit her, Misao was once again panicking over what to do next. Misao had to find Kaoru, but she had to tell Kenshin what was happening also. If only there were some way to get in touch with someone without going to the dojo! Rubbing the skin where Kaoru's knuckles had connected, Misao had a sudden idea, but she realized her action would have to be somewhat extreme to capture his attention. Pulling out a kunai, she held her breath and deeply sliced the flesh across her forearm. Hissing at the burning pain, Misao watched the red blood immediately well up and practically pour to the ground. Her fingertips began tingling a bit from the wound. Although it hurt, there wouldn't be any lasting damage since she was in her immortal form. Misao just hoped it was enough. She didn't want to have to injure herself a second time. Her anxiety was unnecessary. Within moments, she felt the familiar pressure change as Aoshi forced reality into a path leading him directly to her from wherever he'd previously been, weapons already drawn to address potential attackers. Aoshi was the only gaijin who could travel in that manner, which was why he had been put in charge of tracking down Kaoru and Shishio initially. Once the trigger on a location had been pulled, he could quickly travel there. She had taken a gamble that he was monitoring her safety by slicing her arm, although his instant appearance had been a surprise. From the amount of blood spilled, finding Misao alone was clearly not what he expected. His expression was as bland as always, but the way his eyes darted over her to the cut on her arm gave away his concern. He stalked over to her, reaching into the deep pockets of his coat for a strip of cloth to wrap the wound with.
'You injured yourself just to contact me?' Misao ignored the censure in his tone.
'Sano and I were in town and we saw Yahiko, so I followed him, but Shishio was there and I found Kaoru, but Sano might not bring him in time because she's gone to fight Shishio, and she's really scary and different and you're the only one who can bring Kenshin quickly!'
Aoshi managed to assimilate, translate and respond to her breathless speech with a nod.
'Try and follow her trail while I get Battousai.' Misao nodded an moved to leave when Aoshi caught her arm, pulling her close. 'I'll keep track of your power to trace your location, so don't cut yourself again.' Then he released her and disappeared.
Misao allowed herself a little smile, before she took off after Kaoru's trail.
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The dojo didn't feel the same in this life. The property had been unoccupied for so many years the dusty smell persevered no matter how hard he cleaned and scrubbed between the cracks of the floorboards. Without the plaques denoting the Kasshin Ryu students, the drill house walls seemed bare. No bokkens hung along the far wall. It wasn't just the drill house that felt empty either. No laundry hung on poles outside. The bathhouse was drained; even had the tub been filled, no wood remained to heat the non-existent water. His garden was overgrown with weeds, all the vegetables dead. The air itself seemed dried up, without the constant shouting of Yahiko, the giggles of Dr. Genzai's granddaughters, or...her. What little company he had was off searching still—Misao and Sano in town, Aoshi…well, who knew where.
Kenshin was frustrated he could not search also; the gaijin power continued to consume him and any spare strength he had would be needed for the confrontation with Kaoru. From his seat in the doorway, Kenshin let his head drop back against the shoji door. His eyes traced the frame opposite up to the ceiling, noting the screen track no longer showed the familiar wear and tear of use. Moving right, he followed the roof as it extended over the veranda, connecting with a support pole before ending sharply as his gaze met cloudless sky. The sun was going down. A wind chime used to hang there, and it would have glinted with the fading light; its single sharp ring soothing only because Kaoru had hung it for him.
Well, not him, per se. She had hung it for the rurouni. I'm not asking Battousai to stay, I'm asking you, the rurouni…
Kenshin's understanding of the situation upon his arrival in Tokyo and subsequent encounter with Kaoru had been severely lacking; but in his defense, she had called him Battousai and bashed him over the head first thing. Why would she have done that if she didn't think Kenshin remembered who he was? But it soon became apparent that Kaoru did believe his gaijin personality repressed by her spell, as farfetched as that was, and allowing her to continue thinking that way just seemed more expedient. He hadn't intended to deceive her for so long, but it had been so much easier to get close to her as the rurouni; she'd never have let Battousai Kenshin stay under the same roof. He'd thought, if he could just convince her that rurouni and Battousai were one in the same, they could settle their differences and she would come back to him as gaijin.
The incident with Jineh had driven deep how truly afraid she was of the Battousai personality and how complicated his pretending not to remember made the relationship. Originally, Kenshin had planned on dealing with Jineh in private; that way, he could take out the killer without giving away his deception. He should have known that Sano wouldn't have been able to stop Kaoru from following him to the river, and then Jineh had snatched her from right under his nose. As it was, he had trouble controlling the color of his eyes during the fight, but Jineh still escalated the confrontation with his idiot hypnosis trick. Being gaijin, Kaoru was in no true danger, but his fury that someone would touch her or try to cause her harm, had nearly unhinged him. Kenshin had completely forgotten to maintain the rurouni façade and she must have seen his gaze turn gold. Kaoru's power hitting him with the force of a runaway steam engine brought him back to his senses however, and her obvious relief at believing his gaijin personality repressed persuaded him to keep up the act. As long as Kaoru believed Battousai was trapped away in the rurouni, she felt safe, and as long as she felt safe—she stayed with him. He'd always assumed that as soon as their mortal lives expired, he could explain himself. Obviously, that hadn't worked out.
He should have just ignored her and chopped Jineh's head off. He'd wanted to, and he could have come clean about his act; she'd been tied up—as a captive audience, she would have been forced to listen to him--then maybe he wouldn't be dealing with the present disaster. In truth, even now, it grated a little that Jineh hadn't died by his hand. Jineh, and every other fool he'd been forced to spare to keep up his deception. Including Shishio.
Shishio had always coveted Kenshin's position and power, and had come damn near close to breaking one of the gaijin's top tenets—due to their immortality, gaijin were not allowed public or controlling positions of power in the mortal world. They were allowed to participate in mortal life, (otherwise the boredom of a never ending existence would be torturous) and gaijin could influence events to a certain extent, if they wished, but never assume control. That was why Kenshin had constantly declined government offices. Acceptance of such a role would eventually lead to control of the nation, because no mortal would be powerful enough to oust a gaijin ruler, and such a rule would last indefinitely. Gaijin would be seen as living gods—which they most definitely were not.
Shishio resented such restraints; he truly believed his survival of the fittest mantra. Gaijin were strong, mortals were weak—according to natural law, the former should rule the latter. If Kenshin hadn't of stepped in, Shishio would have taken over Japan, and wouldn't have stopped there. At the time the two hitokiris confronted each other in the mortal world, Kenshin had still been trapped in the mortal body; not possessing the gaijin title of Battousai precluded killing the immortal part of Shishio, but slicing the mummy in half may have gone a long way in convincing the asshole to stop manipulating the rules. He should have known the bastard would try and get to Kaoru before the new moon. The situation with the gaijin world was Kenshin's fault really, for not taking care of Shishio properly; without that madman's interference, Kaoru's fears about Kenshin regarding her spell could have been put to rest and he wouldn't be in this situation now.
'Feeling sorry for yourself, Battousai?'
Kenshin sighed. Had he been lamenting solitude earlier? Solitude was nice. He wished for solitude. Being as how his wish was not granted, he acknowledged the interloper.
'If I wasn't before, I am now. What are you doing here, Saitoh?'
The wolf was leaning against the gate entrance, letting the shade of the setting sun disguise his expression. Kenshin saw a match flare in Saitoh's eyes as he lit a cigarette. He took a deep drag and expelled the smoke slowly, enjoying making Kenshin wait for his answer.
'A truly, stupid question. The title of Battousai has done nothing for your intellect.'
Kenshin found himself only mildly irritated. This antagonizing was nothing new; he had developed a high tolerance for Saitoh's acidic words. Even before Kenshin was trapped in the mortal world, the two of them had found each other's company…difficult. While it was true they had developed a sort of truce when Kenshin was pretending to be the rurouni, he had no illusions that it would continue indefinitely. He stood, slipping his sakabatou through the sash at his waist and moved to the edge of the veranda, confronting Saitoh with crossed arms.
'Come to congratulate me, then?' The only other gaijin who had been serious competition for the title of Battousai was Saitoh. Saitoh hadn't wanted the title or the obligations it required, but that didn't mean it didn't grate on the wolf's nerves to know Kenshin had been chosen in his place; Kenshin didn't want to miss an opportunity to annoy the man back for a change. Saitoh exhaled another plume of smoke, his narrow eyes letting Kenshin know he'd hit a nerve, but the wolf recovered quickly.
'Congratulate you? Why? Have you finally found your little tanuki?' And then he smiled, knowing he'd regained the verbal upper hand as Kenshin's body went rigid with tension. Feeling the kill imminent, Saitoh left the shadows of the gate to stroll down the path towards Kenshin, who was further silenced by the wolf's appearance. Saitoh was dressed, not in the cop uniform, but in a full western suit and his hair was long, like it had been during the revolution; most shocking of all was that he wasn't carrying a sword.
'Were is your sword?' Kenshin blurted incredulously.
'A less stupid question, but not one that I'm going to answer.'
Kenshin really, really wanted to punch Saitoh's sharp white teeth down his throat.
'Then answer the first one.'
Saitoh inhaled his cigarette as if he were inhaling patience instead of nicotine.
'Obviously, I'm here to tell you where your little girlfriend is.'
Kenshin stepped off the porch, fully aware his eyes had turned solid amber. If Saitoh was toying with him on this matter, sword or not, Kenshin would kill the wolf. 'Why do you think you can accomplish what Aoshi couldn't?'
Saitoh fingered a faint scar on his cheek. Kenshin had missed it with the rest of the changes to his attire. The scar was almost as bizarre as the lack of sword though. Saitoh stood before Kenshin in his gaijin body, but in the gaijin form—they didn't scar. The cross shaped scar Kenshin had bore in his mortal life was not present in his current body. The scar was an impossibility. Almost as much as Saitoh's next words.
'Because I've already found her once.'
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Sano found it difficult to breath. Not because he had run all the way from the Akabeko—his new immortal status staved off exhaustion of any kind--but because the first person he saw upon entering the dojo was Saitoh. The bastard who had beat him within an inch of his life and then disappeared off the face of the earth, refusing Sano the validation of a rematch. Since he was still itching for a piece of Saitoh himself, and from the look of Kenshin, the wolf had about three more seconds to live, Sano said the first thing that came to mind to break the tension.
'Where the fuck is your sword, asshole?'
Saitoh raised a brow, unperturbed by Sano's sudden appearance or language. As usual, the wolf appeared to read the thoughts Sano's comment had stemmed from and responded in kind.
'I don't require a sword to wipe the floor with you, rooster-head.'
'Quiet!' Kenshin's command raised the hairs on the back of Sano's neck and he quickly recalled the reason he'd run all the way from town. 'Kenshin, we found Yahiko. Misao is following him. We think he will lead us to Kaoru.' He blurted everything out in a rush under those blazing eyes. Kenshin's harsh glare turned back to Saitoh, but the wolf didn't seem concerned in the least to have his thunder stolen. Instead, he calmly lit another cigarette.
'Before you dash off to reclaim your lost tanuki, perhaps you should inquire as to how I earned this scar.'
'No more games, Saitoh. Tell me now.'
'I believe the reason Aoshi has been unable to track Kaoru and the reason my scar remains is the same. She has somehow managed to lock her power within the blade of her sword.'
Kenshin paled and his eyes drained to violet. 'She took my role in the revolution without access to her power?'
'I don't understand. What does that mean?' Sano was baffled by Kenshin's extreme reaction.
'Without her power, Kaoru is mortal. She can be killed.' Saitoh answered. 'Luckily, she is also still technically a gaijin, so she remains ten times faster and stronger than any opponent. A human is unlikely to slay her.'
Any relief Kenshin and Sano felt at that statement was removed as Aoshi abruptly appeared in the courtyard. He ignored the others and addressed Kenshin immediately.
'Kaoru is fighting Shishio.'
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Shishio smoked his pipe, waiting for Kaoru to make her appearance. The kid was still glaring at him from the edge of the hut where Shishio had bound him, hand and foot. He didn't need the boy getting in the way when he killed Kaoru, but he was thinking now that he should have gagged him as well. It would be a pleasure to hack the brat up when this was over.
'You are gonna be sorry when Kaoru shows up! Do you even know who she is? She took out fifteen men in one swing! One coward like you is a piece of cake!'
Shishio exhaled a puff of smoke irritably. 'I'm not some ignorant thug, little boy. It's you who doesn't know who she really is or what she's capable of.' Yahiko bristled, but goading one stupid child hardly made up for the boredom of waiting. Shishio needed something more painful to prod the boy with. 'Do you actually think this fight is about your pathetic existence? That you are the reason she is coming here? This battle has nothing to do with you. You are merely bait to be devoured by the shark. She may give the appearance of trying to protect you, but she wiped you off the face of the earth easily enough before.'
'What?'
'Let me guess, she offered to teach you swordsmanship? Haven't asked yourself why a sword master such as her would bother to save one scrawny, worthless whelp from the Yakuza? You can't actually believe that she cares about your welfare?'
Yahiko felt Shishio's words hit a nerve. He had questioned Kaoru's reasons, but to hear them echoed by this madman was unnerving. What Shishio said might be true. It made sense; Yahiko had never met Kaoru before, so she should have no reason to single him out as special, and Shishio obviously knew more about Kaoru's past than Yahiko did, but…should he believe the words of a kidnapper over the actions of Kaoru? Hadn't she protected him by taking him out of that gang? Hadn't she watched over him, fed him, smiled at him, since then? If Kaoru didn't want him, Yahiko would hear it from her own mouth. And what was that crack about wiping him off the face of the earth? The guy was clearly nutty.
Before Yahiko could voice his defiance however, Shishio turned sharply away, listening intently at the forest. He smiled suddenly, baring sharp teeth. 'You're about to see, boy. She's a monster, and the sooner you get that through your head, the better you'll be.'
Moving out to the center of the clearing, Shishio drew his sword. Yahiko saw someone coming out of the shadows of the trees. Dressed in dark blue, gray and black, she was almost made of shadow herself.
'Kaoru!'
Her eyes found Yahiko, and he felt his smile falter. Her eyes looked different, cold and hard. She took in his bound hands. 'Are you hurt, Yahiko?' He shook his head, unable to find his voice, not realizing he still had the streak of dried blood on his face.
'Kaoru-chan. I've been waiting--.'
She was moving before Shishio could finish. Gaping, Yahiko marveled at the speed Kaoru utilized; it was like she wasn't even human. The air hummed over her blade as she ducked under Shishio's downward strike, pivoted on the ball of her foot and used the momentum to smash the blunt side of her blade into the base of his spine. The bone and muscle gave with a sickening crunch. The force of his own swing and her subsequent strike had him stumbling forward, barely managing to catch himself from falling to his knees. Yahiko couldn't see how it would be possible for any man to stay standing after a blow like that. Kaoru slid to a halt, eyeing Shishio as the man recovered. He spat a glob of bloody saliva on the ground and turned, facing her. Kaoru eased back into position, sliding her blade back into its sheath, preparing for another rush.
'You seem out of practice Shishio; what have you been doing for the past ten years?'
His eyes blazed red. With a roar from Shishio, they charged again and the ringing sound of their clashing blades sent a burst of birds from the surrounding trees. Yahiko could feel his eyes drying out, but he refused to blink—he might miss something. Shishio parried her cut and slashed at Kaoru's neck, clearly intending to slit her throat, but she dropped to the ground in time, his blade merely splicing the band holding her hair up. Kaoru kicked Shishio's legs out from under him before somersaulting backwards out of his sword's reach. She crouched for a moment, her loose hair twirling wildly in the wind.
'Not quite as quick the second time, are you, Kaoru?'
'Oh? And where is your famous Homura Dama? Couldn't find an alternative when you discovered my little spell prevented you from racking up the body count? How uncreative of you. Swine would have worked just as well, but perhaps that felt a bit too much like family, eh?'
Regaining her feet, she smirked and readied for another round. They flung themselves at each other again; this time, their blades connected and crunched in stalemate, each trying to overpower the other. A horribly piercing screech sounded from the friction of their swords and Yahiko wished he could cover his ears. Shishio, being taller and heavier had the advantage and took it, forcing her back with a shove, managing to nick her bicep in the process. In a grotesque move, he licked the blood from the steel.
'Speaking of family, Kaoru-chan, your little ninja bitch is looking mighty good these days. Perhaps after I finish you, I'll pay her a visit.'
Kaoru sped at him again, aggravated by his taunts and the wound he'd managed to inflict. Although she'd ensured Misao hadn't followed her, Kaoru knew Battousai's intrusion into this argument was imminent. Kaoru had been counting on the extra time it would take to track her down, but now that Shishio had drawn blood, the spell she'd put on him would activate—Aoshi would be aware of Shishio's location in mere seconds, and would probably arrive shortly after.
She had to finish this now. Leaping into the air, she moved into the final strike with all her strength. Only to be met with a version of the Gatotsu as Shishio slid under her and thrust his blade up into her ribs. She could feel instantly that he'd pierced a lung. The world seemed to slow down, drifting second by second, but it had nothing to do with her powers. She had no power at the moment to control time or anything else—she had locked it away as part of her spell to turn back time.
This wound would be fatal.
Yahiko's screams were far away. This wasn't exactly how she'd planned to go, but it would do. Shishio wore a look of triumph, even as she completed the arc of her sword's decent and severed his head from his shoulders, her blade cutting through his flesh like a hot knife through wax. As the blood spurted from his neck across her face, the world sped back up abruptly and she crashed to her side painfully on the ground beside the corpse, his sword still buried in her torso. Shishio's head rolled to the edge of the clearing, still grinning, unaware of its defeat. Despite the blood filling her lung, making it difficult and painful to breath, Kaoru pushed herself to her knees and yanked the blade from her ribs. The agony forced her to draw in a garbled gasp of air, which she just as quickly exhaled. Her mouth filled with blood and Kaoru futilely tried to staunch the flow pouring out of her wound. She still needed to free Yahiko.
'KAORU!'
He was looking at her in horror, tears gushing over his blotched cheeks. He was struggling spastically at the ropes binding him, tearing his skin with the effort. Yahiko was rapidly going out of focus and she blinked.
'Please! Please Help!'
Yahiko was looking at someone behind Kaoru and she swung her head over her shoulder, but the motion was too much; her head spun dizzily and she dropped her free hand to the ground for support, but the movement forced more air from her lungs in a spray of red and she slumped to the grass. From there, she could focus enough to see a pair of sandals just behind Shishio's severed head, up hakama clad legs, over a dark blue gi and finally to glowing, metallic, golden eyes framed by loose flame colored hair.
She closed her eyes, letting the darkness take her.
'Too late, Battousai.'