Chapter 10: Broken Melodies

Kaoru POV

An elevator opened up my right. I stepped inside and looked at the little panel of buttons by the door. I hit the little plastic button with "Archives" written on it; elevator doors shut, and then a screech of metal-against-metal struck soundly in my ears. As the elevator plummeted downward at a high speed, I felt my body grow light due to the effects of gravity and inertia, and the sensation of my feet leaving the ground cause my hair at the back of my neck to stand on end. Then, the elevator crashed at what felt like the bottom floor. I felt the sensation of myself rise higher for a few seconds, then my head slammed against the steel ceiling of the elevator and thrown down on the elevator floor, the florescent lights in the elevator flickered from the impact.

Ouch.

"Kaoru? You okay?" Megumi's worried voice echoed in my pounding head.

Yeah, I thought, as I kneaded the swollen little bump on the back of my head with my fingertips. My head hurts a bit but other than that, I'm fine.

The elevator doors slowly opened, and a cloud of dirt drifted lazily into the elevator.

Talk about a landing.

"It's okay. I guess it was supposed to do that. Anyways, just go through."

How are Kenshin and Sano?

"They are alive, Kaoru. Don't worry about them. Just concentrate on completing your part of the mission," Megumi said a little too firmly in my head.

Hai, I thought in indifference. As long as they are alive…

I got up off the elevator floor, brushing the thin layer of dirt that had settled on me. I took a deep breath and stepped out of the elevator into darkness. Then I heard a small click and a dozen huge flat panel screens clicked on around me. Computer screens… In the little light cast by the lights flickering on the panels that hung on the ceiling and walls, I saw vaguely a high-backed, plush black leathered chair in the middle of the room. I hesitantly walked over to the chair and pulled out my electronic finder, scanning it for any form of security on it.

Nothing.

I slowly sat down, the leather softly molding to my sore body. I relaxed, my body cradled by the chair. Suddenly, the panels flickered on all around me and I was surrounded by the words: "SEARCH:"

"Keywords?" asked a high pitched, robotic voice.

I'm in the archives, Megumi.

"Good work! Try to search for all information pertaining to you and save it to your nano chip."

"Kamiya, Kaoru," I said out loud.

My name appeared in the blank spaces beside search. Then the panels started flickering about, colors racing across panel to panel. Videos were playing everywhere but there was just too much information at once. I couldn't read it…

Then all movement ceased, and each screen held a little icon resembling a folder. Each of the folders-17 in all-had various titles written above them like "Origins" and "Training Programs".

"Is this all the information pertaining to Kamiya Kaoru? If not, also open all files with keywords "Kamiya, Kaoru" in them."

A few panels whizzed but most of them stood still. I guess not that much more, huh.

"Save all data found onto a memory chip."

A steel floor piece slid open to my right and a little panel rose up to arm level. An outlet was in the center of the electronic panel.

"Insert memory device into slot to begin data transfer," said the robotic voice.

I complied, inserting the tiny device. A blinking red light flashed for a few moments, before a green light switched on.

"Download complete. It is now safe to remove memory device."

I pulled out the little chip and slid into a compartment in the heel of my boots.

Okay Megumi. I got the data.

"Great work, Kaoru! Go ahead and exit out the same way you came in! Kenshin and Sano have wiped out most of the guards so you shouldn't have any problems. Is you camouflage still full in power?"

It's got enough to get me back.

But I want to stay. The lure of opening and viewing the many files around me was tempting…I've waited so long for this chance that I can't wait any longer.

Sorry, Megumi.

"Wait! What are you doing? You can view the files late…"

She didn't get a chance to finish. I yanked out the silver from my ear, the "earring" falling apart in my hand back to its original spherical shapes. I slipped the little beads into my side pocket before returning my attention to the computer screens in front of me.

"Open folder: Kamiya, Kaoru NOIR files."

The file flew to the center screen from my right, and a little animation of the folder opening followed. A word document opened…I leaned forward reading the tiny words.

"Kaoru Kamiya. Born: July 16, 1987. Age: 20. Characteristics: Black hair, black eyes."

I paused for a moment, fingering my earrings while thinking to myself. I have black eyes…whatever. I kept reading.

"Current Occupation: Working for HARM corp. Hiding from NOIR officials for capture for the purpose of permanent mind state alterations"

"What?" I said outloud, catching myself before falling out of the chair.

I was being chased after NOIR for mind alterations?

"Open "Origins" folder please." I said trying to control my emotions. I have to keep going!

After the little intro, a video clip started to play. It was of a woman, holding a child. Then, the baby was snatched away from her from a few guards. The woman looked so familiar…

"Zoom into that woman's face."

The woman's face enlarged, a pair of dark blue eyes surfaced and a wave of raven hair came into view. She looked like me!

"Who is that woman?"

A folder zoomed in front labeled, "Project God. Kami. Kamiya Kaoru"

A document opened, and I read it holding my breath.

"Kaoru Kamiya is the current most expensive project NOIR has contributed to since its creation. "Kami" aka Kaoru Kamiya was conceived through calculated fertilization. She is the clone of Tomoe Kamiya with the data of Tomoe's memories stored in her."

I sank back into my chair, my mind at the brink of shock. A clone? Me? But what about my memories?

"Who is Tomoe Kamiya?"

A folder swooshed in front of me entitled, Tomoe's Preserved Memories.

"Tomoe Kamiya. Born July 16, 1983. Early case of Leukemia. Projected life span of 10 years. Lived till the age of 17 before dying by bullet wounds at the medical camp during the rebellion in Japan. Died July 14, 2000."

A video clip in first person began playing. Birthdays flashed by rapidly, picnics and such following a pattern of a happy little girl's life.

"Wait. Go back a bit and play at normal speed."

The clip rewound, a scene at a beautiful flower meadow began to play at normal speed. A boy with a shock of white hair showed up. He placed a wreath of flowers on the first person's head.

"There, Tomoe!"

A man seemingly picked the screen up, swirling the person round and round over the man's head.

"You are the most beautiful girl in the world Tomoe!"

The clip skipped ahead and a scene at a table followed, the boy with white hair sitting close to two older adults and another pair of adults sitting across from the first person.

A kind young woman smiled at the screen, her blue eyes a stark contrast to her light brown hair.

"Tomoe, darling! Eat your cake dear, or your father will eat it all!"

The man beside her laughed, his dark eyes and hair seemed to shimmer with his laugh.

"Not if your other eats it first! Tomoe, you will grow to be even more beautiful then your mother!"

All the people at the table laughed, and the boy with white hair grinned sheepishly at the screen before passing a slice of cake.

I felt something wet smack my hand, bringing me out of my daze. But I still couldn't keep the words from repeating in my mind…

"I'm a clone. My memories are not mine. I'm not Kaoru Kamiya, but Tomoe Kamiya," I whimpered, feeling the world close around me.

"You are my Tomoe in fact," said a cool voice behind me.

POV

My head feels so fuzzy.

mumble mumble

Who keeps mumbling in my head?

Sa….o….an…san….Sano….SAnoo…SANO!

I jolted upright at the sound of my name, feeling pain rushing into my mind at the same time.

AGH! I thought looking down at my chest for the source of pain. I suddenly saw a face that resemebled a wolf flash in front of my…the fight with that wolf guy with the creepy eyes I remember now!…what was his name? Oh yeah! It was Hajime Saito!

"I'm glad you're up and kicking!" Megumi's voice cracked like a whip in my head.

Oh hey darling! You worried about me?

"In your dreams. Either way, you and the Battousai have been attacked and we lost communications with both Battousai and Kaoru. Head to Kaoru!"

What happened to Kenshin?

"He got in a fight, and I think he was worse to wear in the beginning of the fight due to a lot of guards and fighting. You were knocked out by a very nice guy. Consider yourself lucky."

What? Kenshin is out? That's bullshit! I'm going to go find him! Kaoru will be alright!

"Sano you idiot! The mission! You have to protect Kaoru at all costs since she's got the data. Kenshin wouldn't want you risking her life on the account of him. So go! I'll give you instructions from here. Don't worry, Misao is trying to get Kenshin back online."

Alright…I'll go.

Somewhere in NOIR headquarters

Kenshin lay on a steel table, a team of doctors leaving him with his chest exposed to the blinding fluorescent lights. His hair was unbound and lay splayed out like a crimson fan behind his head. His body was wrapped carefully in long thin strips of linen; the linen slowly becoming blood soaked before a doctor would come by again to change his bandages. He was still in his worn ninja gear. His breathing was haggard, the oxygen mask misting with every shuddering breath. An ivy dropped in time with the rough but controlled breathing of Kenshin, holding him captive by along needle protruding out of his arm. Another plastic sack was dropping little droplets of blood into the popping vein of his other arm.

A lone figure hid in the shadows, watching the Battousai like one would watch his prey before taking its life. He stepped forward into the light, a hand flicking toward Kenshin's throat. His fingers pressed on the severely injured man's throat. The mist in the mask slowed. Life or death hung between his toying fingers. A benign smile flashed on his face, but his eyes were full of malice.

"Battousai. You are a marvelous man and admire you as a fellow genius assassin. One worthy of working at NOIR and of being my future partner. But you sought for a wish that crossed my commander's one too many times. You're alive because of my genius. But you were hurt cause of my cunning commander's plan. If I had attacked you without you being weakend, it would have been a fight to the death. I dearly wanted to find out who was the better between us so I'll keep you alive and bring you back to health, but you will have to face me before retrieving your Kami."

With that, Soujiro Seta released the pressure off of Kenshin's throat, returning Kenshin's breathing to as close to normal as it could be. Soujiro moved to the side and sat down in a chair beside Kenshin, his face comforting to the fallen assassin, but his eyes filled with excitement as he watched his formidable foe regain his life.

Agh! Sorry everyone for the delay! I've been SOOOOO busy! But i managed to get out chapter 10! YAY! Well anyways alot of storyline was zapped out in this chapter. hopefully it answers a part of your questions (totally intentional). So wait till the next chapter to find out what Soujiro is talking about! Will Sano make it in time to help Kaoru from her past? And what of Kaoru's past? What happened? WHO'S TOMOE? All will be answered in the next chapter so do some R and R! Please!

Thanks!

KishofWings