The Trap of Innocence

Part VIII


Quickly scaling the steps back at the Shinomori mansion, Aoshi threw open his office door and began to root through the closet on the far side. He withdrew his kodachi and started sliding other things into his pockets.

"Aoshi-sama?"

He barely glanced up to see Okina and Hannya at the doorway.

"Are you going to battle?" Okina asked astonishment clear in his voice. It had been ages since Aoshi had battled.

Aoshi ignored him, instead turning his attention to Hannya as he straightened. "I found Chiraki."

Hannya remained very still and silent.

"You have some explaining to do when this is over. Now, I have business to attend."

"Aoshi-sama! Wait! Are you going to battle?" Okina called after him as he stalked down the hall away from his companions. "Allow me to send some people with you."

"I will go," Hannya volunteered. "Please allow me to serve with you, Aoshi-sama."

"Fine," he curtly answered, throwing open the front door and disappearing out it. Hannya followed after. "Misao has very likely already made it to the Ashataru Mansion by now and there is no knowing what awaits any of us there."

Before Hannya could respond or acknowledge it, Aoshi was gone and Hannya was left dreading the end of the impending affair.

When Hannya appeared on the lawn of the great house moments later, Aoshi was already there waiting for him. "Misao is inside. This house and the people in it are of no consequence."

"You expect a battle here?"

"This has been a center of rebellious activity since its abandonment, but it could not be destroyed with the pendant still missing because the wards on the necklace are the same on the house. They have to be destroyed together."

"Is it your intent to destroy them?"

Aoshi was silent. "When I find her, I'm cutting all her seals. I suggest you stay out of the way. House of Ashataru or not, Misao now belongs to the House of Shinomori and so I own her." The tone was threatening. The time of peace and permission had passed; Aoshi was out to stake ownership.

Hannya said nothing.

"Go through the back. If you remove her from the house before I see her, you will be punished."

Without ever glancing back, Aoshi strode through the front door of the once-grand house and it slid closed behind him. The echoing sounds of gambling caught his ears and he wandered toward the sound. Sitting propped up against the wall was a skinny old man clasping a sake bottle. He raised the bottle in greeting but said nothing and Aoshi walked by.

He pulled the door open and stepped through into chaos. Laughter, the scent of alcohol, and the roll of dice all combined to grate against his already frayed nerves. Stepping forward, he began navigating his way through the tables.

As he made his way through the loud conversation became hurried whispers about his presence there.

"Shinomori…"

"He's here…"

"Let's get the hell out of here before Kamatari shows up…"

Before he reached the other side and slid open the door, the room behind him was half empty. Pulling open the next door, he was met with another empty room; table legs and scraps of wood littered the floor… Old, crusty blades were discarded here and there, blood stains still visible on the fraying and thinning tatami mats.

"Get the hell out, man, he's nuts!"

Aoshi stepped into a hallway, turning at the scream to see two young men tearing down the hall toward him. With their heads turned, their eyes straining to see their hunter, they barely saw Aoshi before they crashed into him. Rather, they crashed into one another, collapsing onto the floor in a clumsy pile.

"Ah… Please don't kill us, Shinomori-sama, we aren't part of them, we swear!"

"We just wanted somewhere to sleep… "

The two males looked up at him pleading. Ahead, he sensed movement and peered up to see Hannya approaching, the blade in his hands dripping blood.

"Are you killing your way through the house?" Aoshi asked while the two boys continued to plead, whimpering.

"Whatever way is effective," Hannya replied.

Aoshi turned his gaze down. "I'm looking for a girl named Makimachi Misao. Young, short, has a long braid…? Have you seen her here?"

"Yes! Yes! She's here… She's upstairs with Soujiro and Kamatari, we saw her go up about a few minutes ago," one pleaded, his hair, an odd spiky red color bobbed as he shook his head erratically.

"Soujiro?" Aoshi questioned aloud thinking back to the smiling man from Misao's house. Had this been some kind of set up? Was the boy an enemy?

"Young guy, always smiling, but strong…"

"We stay out of his way, he's nice and all but has mood swings…"

"Yeah…"

"Yeah…"

"Get out," Aoshi remarked and the two boys jumped up and ran past him.

"Thank you!"

"Thank you so much," they yelled as they ran the opposite direction.

"The boy who was living with Misao?" Hannya asked.

"I tasked him with killing Kamatari, I see he has not done so."

"Then perhaps the border killings I were a distraction?" Hannya speculated, turning. "The stairs are this way."

Aoshi followed him up.


Her throat felt tight. Soujiro and Kamatari, each standing at a window on the opposite side of the room did not immediately notice her distress. She brought her hands up to her face, touching the pads of her fingers to her cheeks.

Cold sweat beaded at her temples and became hot; her face flushed suddenly, her palms dampened and became slippery. The beads around her neck glowed like fiery embers. She could feel them heating, slowly, slowly…. They were going to burn her.

Her fingers itched to touch them, to yank them away… She wanted to grab, to pull… Instead, she pulled her hands down to her sides and clenched her fists. Just the thought made her fingertips crackle.

The beads tightened, she could feel the string digging into her skin. Her knees went weak and she fell, striking the floor. The boys by the window turned.

"Misao?" Soujiro asked, taking a step forward and then stopping as the door behind her slid open. The young man's eyes widened in surprise and he took a step back toward the window, reaching back to place his palm upon the sill.

Misao hunched over bringing her hands up to her temples. "Ah…" she gasped trying to suck air in. "It burns," she hissed.

Behind her, Aoshi stepped inside and came up behind her. He reached down and slipped gloved fingers beneath the beaded necklace. Immediately, theycaught fire. He yanked and the flimsy string beneath broke. The beads scattered, falling and rolling on the floor. The tiny fireballs continued to burn, the fire smokeless.

Kneeling beside her, he slipped his hand into her garment. He felt the soft skin of her breast and laid his hand across it for a moment before his fingers touched the fine velvet of the pouch. He knew it at once and withdrew the item drawing Misao's gaze up.

Her eyes were changed, almost feral and her pupils were constricted into sharp points. He wondered then, for the first time, if her sanity would survive. She had been living on the fringes of society for ages; her sanity was precious and stretched so thin.

He noticed a blur of movement and looked up to see that Soujiro had leapt out the window, escaping. Aoshi took no further notice, instead he tipped the contents of the pouch into his palm and the crest caught fire, burning wildly in orange flames lapping at the material of his glove. Misao rose onto her feet steadily her eyes trained on the fireball and his eyes on her.

"This house is dead Misao."

With that, he closed his palm around the fiery necklace, there was a crunch and a wisp of smoke escaped the cracks in his hand. When he opened his palm a wave of metallic glitter and black charred specks spread over the floor. Her eyes widened, her small lips parted soundlessly.

Aoshi felt Hannya enter the room. "Go find the boy."

Hannya didn't hesitate to follow his orders, he disappeared. One remained by the windows and Aoshi took a peek in that direction.

"Aoshi-sama," she gasped brokenly. Her breathing was uneven, her little fists were curled into fists at her side.

"Are you hungry Misao?"

Her mouth moved but no sound came out. Her eyes dropped from his toward the windows where Kamatari still stood, silent and curious. Was he afraid, standing there waiting to see what she would do? Did he know how dangerous she was?

Aoshi raised his hand and laid his palm on her shoulder. She started at the touch, jumping under his hand. He could feel the fine tremors of her shaking. How had she survived, he wondered for a brief moment. Sliding his hand down her back, he began to stroke her gently, up and down, from her shoulder almost down to the length of her hip and her trembling eased.

He leaned down, pressing his mouth close to the shell of her ear. "Hear it?" He brought both hands up and laid two fingers gently on each side of her temple and tapped. Again and again and again…

Tap-tap.

Tap-tap.

Lub-dub.

Lub-dub.

Sweat beaded at her temples.

"Hear it?" he whispered again.

He knew what she was feeling. Starvation was powerful, primitive. All the moral fences she'd put up, all her human rules crumbled like ash as the holy wards melted away, the beads that burned on the floor. She'd never properly fed, her wards, her very mind… the mind could do such amazing things to the body… but Misao had missed ecstasy.

He'd show it to her… He'd bring it to her.

"Taste it," he muttered urgently into her ear.

The tension was making him hungry but not for the curious young male on the opposite side of the room. He wanted her. He wanted to lick the blood from her mouth after she fed, he wanted to shove her back against the wall and take her hard, he wanted… he wanted so desperately to growl at Hannya and punish him for forbidding him this treasure.

Misao teetered forward, toward Kamatari. The young man's eyes widened and he back up a pace looking worried, his eyes cast about and then back at the window. Seeing him about to flee, Asohi discreetly slid his kodachi from its sheath.

Misao leapt wildly and Kamatari dashed suddenly and skidded to an abrupt, cold stop. Misao turned her wild eyes to her prey as the scent of blood permeated the room, rising up like a cloud of steam perfuming the air. Kamatari fell to his knees, his mouth open. Blood dribbled down his chin… he was utterly still.

Misao crept up to him and slid to the floor at his side. He watched her, what would she do? She wrapped her hand around the blade jutting through Kamatari's center and pulled it out staring at the gleaming metal.

Maybe… maybe, he thought, she needed to be guided.

Just as he was about to approach her, she tossed the sword to the floor and leaned close. Kamatari's gasp was enough for Aoshi to know she'd bitten him. He'd heard a female vampire's bite was euphoric, but he'd heard horror stories enough to know not all women were gifted with it. Misao, it seemed, was.

Jealously, he watched as Kamatari gasped and trembled as Misao drank from him, his body was taut with pleasure. Misao's victims would never leave her side wanting or in pain… The longer she bent over him, the more his jealousy grew until he could watch no longer.

Only the tapping sound of Hannya reappearing at the window stopped him from advancing toward Misao.

"Is our business here concluded, Aoshi-sama?"

"Yes, go back."

Hannya was wise to say nothing further and he vanished. Stalking forward, he snatched her backward by her collar, ripping her away from the dazed boy on the ground. Grabbing his kodachi from the floor, he took her wrist and they, too, disappeared.


Okina waited, his brow furrowed, at the front door while he waited for Aoshi-sama. Hannya's appearance had been brief and curt. He had barely shoved a boy at him in the front door, growled about his orders and just as soon left. With the prisoner detained in another room and Hannya long gone, Okina could only wait in unease for his master to return.

Aoshi-sama had been restless lately. Terribly restless and it only seemed to be worsening. With a sigh, he folded his hands together and continued to wait. Scarcely a moment had ticked by and the door was thrown open and Aoshi-sama stalked through it. Okina opened his mouth to address the man when he caught sight of the tiny slip of a female being dragged by her arm along behind him.

"Ah… Aoshi-sama?"

"Do not disturb me."

Okina glanced over the girl noting the bloody smudges on her fingers, down her shirt, around her mouth. Her eyes were dazed. Was this the girl? The one Okon and Omasu had been spying on for Aoshi-sama?

His master stalked toward the stairs and then abruptly up them. Okina heard the master's door slid shut, the wood panes snapping against one another.

Oh.

Oh.

Do not disturb indeed.


AN: One more chapter... just one. Just one. Ready for Chiraki?