A/N:
Dove: First of all, I want to apologize for my typo.
Kenshin: She meant to put 'Hiten' not 'Kenshin'.
Dove: And another thing..
Sano: Here it comes..
Dove: I'M IN HIGHSCHOOL NOW! WHOOOOTT!! *Dances like a maniac*
Kenshin: Sano. Get the marshmellows.
Sano: We're out!
Kenshin: Then. Get. The. Zanbatou..
Dark
Chapter Twenty-Four
"Wh.. what do you want?" Kaoru asked, trying to keep her voice from shaking.
The people circled in closer. She counted eight guys and three girls.
"You turned down our leader, Koga!" 'A gang!' She realized, the tan-and-blue colorcode sinking in.
Kaoru had to think for a minute before she remembered the rude boy with black hair and blue eyes that had announced she was going out with him. He'd been wearing the same outfit as the people that were snarling at her.
"Is your leader THAT lame?" She growled, slightly annoyed.
The one who'd been doing the talking to that point cracked his knuckles.
"Our leader don't know we here. Dis be our fight!"
"Proper english, moron. 'Our leader doesn't know we're here. This is our fight.' Repeat after me." Kaoru challanged.
The 'leader' of the moment growled and advanced. The others followed his lead.
"You don't want to do this.." Kaoru warned. 'How stupid and immature!' She thought ferociously.
A fist connected with her jaw and sent her stumbling a few paces backwards.
Kaoru couldn't figure out why the almost-healed scars on her face didn't cause them to shy away somewhat.
Another fist hit her head, millimeters from her temple. Kaoru was grateful – it was a powerful punch, had they hit her temple she'd have a concussion.
Yet another fist, slightly less powerful, slammed into her gut.
NOW she was pissed.
"You asked-" And yet ANOTHER fist smashed into her mouth, splitting her lips. "-For it." Akuma finished, spitting blood out of her mouth.
The attackers paused for a moment, confused at the sudden change in their prey.
"What? NOW you're all afraid?" Akuma challanged.
The 'leader' lunged. Normally Akuma would have fought to kill. But these were small-time enemies so she held back.
She neatly kneed her attacker in the gut and sent him flying with a spinning kick.
Her other attackers converged, and she dispatched each neatly.
Akuma stumbled back to the car, blood tricking from her lips. She had large bruises on her stomach and head, and a black eye forming from a lucky sucker-punch.
Just as she reached the car, she switched personalities.
"KAORU!" Kenshin gasped. He'd smelled blood, but hadn't been sure if it was real or he was imagining it. "What happened?!"
Rumor looked up, looking just as confused and worried as Kenshin.
"I.. I don't know." She admitted. "Judging from the state I'm in, I appear to have been in a fight. And judging from the condition of my knuckles, I'd say I won." She smirked.
Kenshin looked closely at her eyes. 'Rumor!' He realized, 'Not Kaoru.'
He finally asked, "Don't you feel any pain?"
"Pain?" Rumor smiled. "Yes. I feel pain."
"Then why are you smiling?" Rumor frowned.
"Because it doesn't bother me. I'm strong enough to ignore pain."
"Your shirt is ruined," Soujiro mentioned, smiling. Rumor blinked at him in confusion, and then looked down at her bloodied blouse.
"Huh.." She muttered.
Kenshin was still puzzling over Rumor's last comment. 'She's.. strong enough to IGNORE..?' Finally it clicked and he remembered that Rumor had been 'born' because Kaoru's mind hadn't been able to handle the pain that had come with the sudden malevolence of her leukemia.
So obviously Rumor's mind had to be pretty much numbed to the feelings associated with pain.
Soujiro and Rumor were chatting amiably.
Kenshin stared in facination as they returned to their flame-blue.
Kaoru's knees buckled slightly and she stumbled a bit.
"K-Kenshin? Woah.." She muttered, holding her forehead with the palm of her hand. She groaned, rubbing her temples gently with her pointer and middle fingers. "Dizzy.." She muttered.
Sano finally returned from whatever he'd been doing to amuse himself for the last twenty-five minutes.
Kenshin helped a highly confused Kaoru into his car with a joking, 'Try not to bleed on my upholstry, I just had it redone after your LAST bloody escapade'.
She giggled and then turned her energies to keeping the dripping blood from her mouth off of the seat.
***
"So. What happened, missy?" Sano questioned when they were back at Kenshin's apartment.
He ran the alcohol swab over her bottom lip and dabbed at the top one. The back of the couch made it impossible for her to jerk her head backwards and she couldn't turn her head because of the pillows stacked around her.
"OOOWWW!! Sannnooooo!!" She complained.
"You don't want to get infected!" He chided, dabbing once again.
"You'll get yours." She muttered darkly, and inhaled sharply through her teeth as he dabbed some more.
((Crap.. I need to pay attention.. I'm in Spanish..))
((Okay. Your lovely Dove-chan is back. Aohla, Buenas Tardes, Presente, Buenos Dias, Moi Bien, Gracias, Como Te Llama.. yep, I remember it all. ^_-))
"I head that a lot. Are you all trying to tell me something here?" Sano mocked. "Anyways. Again, what happened?"
"I got – OW!! – a note to meet someone at the back of the school."
"Who signed it?"
"It was anonymous.."
"You are one of the most stupid, naïve people I have ever met! You don't go to a meeting outside of a highschool when an unsigned note delivered by a guy you probably couldn't name in a line-up tells you to!" Sano raved. Kaoru pouted.
"It was stupid. I get that." She groused.
Sano gave the wounds on her mouth a cursorary last swipe before handing her and ice-pack to put on her eye – it was swollen shut by then.
Kaoru heard muffled splashing and cursing.
"Ah.. Sano..?"
"Mmh?"
"What's Kenshin doing?" Sano smirked, but Soujiro answered.
"Your laundry." He drawled casually. Her jaw dropped.
"Breathe, missy." Sano tapped her chin. She half-heartedly swung a cushion at him, missing by a good two and a half feet.
"WHY is he doing my laungry?"
"Blood-stains are a bit suspicious at a laundromat, missy. 'Specially when it's not all your blood.
"So. He can cook. He can clean. He can keep a house in a general state of orderly chaos. What CAN'T he do?!"
"Dance. He knows the waltz and the tango and stuff, but if that man ever went to a club, he'd be shocked. And he's horrible at sewing, too."
Kaoru snorted. Leave it to Sano to come up with really weird weaknesses.
Kenshin came out soaking wet and covered in bright red bubbles.
But he was grinning.
"I got your uniform clean, Kaoru!"
***
Over the next week of school, no one could get close to the math teacher's desk.
Guys still pursued Kaoru, but passibly. The news that she'd pounded the Wulvez into the ground with little more than a black eye and bloodied lips traveled like wildfire.
Finally, Kaoru saw her chance when the teacher offered an extra after-school 'tutoring' of sorts.
"Any volunteers?" Her hand shot up. "Ah. Good. Miss Tsumuji."
"Are you sure you can handle it alone, Kaoru?" Kenshin whispered, worriedly.
He and Sano had a mission – they wouldn't tell Kaoru what it was.
"Yes, Kenshin. Of course I can!" She grumbled. Soujiro had stayed at the apartment because he'd managed to catch the flu.
***
Kaoru sat in her desk, pretending to do math. Everyone else had left already, but she 'didn't understand'.
The instant that the teacher left the room to run something off, she raced to his desk and started pawing through his drawers.
She found a locked drawer and proceeded to pick the lock – with some effort. She wasn't a person who found it easy to break into things. It took her almost fifteen minutes to get a jar of pickles open.
Kaoru found what she was looking for. She flipped quickly through the neatly labelled folders until she found the one with the name of the syndicate branch that Kenshin belonged to.
She flipped it open and scanned it quickly to be sure.
And then she heard footsteps approaching.
Kaoru panicked and did the first thing that she could think of.
She froze.
The door opened.
The teacher stared at her for a moment before his face twisted into an angry snarl.
"What do you think you're doing?!" He growled, his menacing voice almost as chilling as Battousai's.
"Looking for a pencil?" She offered weakly. The man drew a gun. For a second, it looked like a foreign object.
It was small, Kaoru thought it might be a barretta.
It came right out of his pocket as though he was drawing a sword and he pointed it at her steadily.
"SPY!" She spat ferociously. Kaoru shrugged.
"Well.. yeah.." His finger tightened on the trigger, and he opened his mouth to speak, it looked as though he was going to order her to go somewhere.
Kaoru felt tiny beads of sweat spring up on her hairline, and ice spread through her body – starting at the stomach.
The window to her left smashed in. They both turned slightly. Soujiro stepped calmly inside.
Kaoru was impressed – the room was on the second floory. Her eyes fell on Soujiro's hands. He was holding an AK-47 in the right one.
But something was wrong.
Kaoru realized that the gun was trained directly on her right shoulder.
"TENKEN!" The 'math teacher' gasped. He looked ready to growled at the boy's feet.
Kaoru didn't understand – the teacher hadn't reached that way while they were in class!
"Soujiro.. what are you doing?" She asked.
"Who fo you work for?" Soujiro chirped impartially, ignoring Kaoru. There was a big smile on his face.
"Tenken, what are you-?"
"WHO do you work for, Mr. Unji?"
"Shishio Makoto..?"
"Are you askking me, or telling me?"
"SOUJIRO!!" Kaoru hissed urgently.
"Yes, Kaoru?"
"Quite pointing that gun at me and tell me what you're doing her when you're supposed to be at Kenshins' apartment with the flu!"
Soujiro shook his head, still grinning. He didn't move the gun.
"I played sick. I just didn't want to go to school. But then I got the feeling that something was wrong so I caught a bus, ran here, and saw you and Mr. Unji in that stand-off through the window." The gun went off.
Kaoru gasped and winced, but the bullet flew right over her shoulder.
She heard a sound suspiciously like a 'Gyuu..' from behind her. Kaoru spun to see that the other man was behind her, frozen in place, with his arm posed to pistol-whip her with the barretta.
There was a hole in his chest.
"Our.. orders.. were.. you.. kidnap.. her..!" He gasped, his face confused. A thin line of blood trickled from his lips and Kaoru stared at his eyes as they rolled back in his head and he dropped backwards.
"W-what did he mean, Soujiro?" Kaoru stammered.
"Why don't we go to a quaint little tea-shop I saw on my way here?" Soujiro offered evasivly. Kaoru nodded uncertaintly. She followed Soujiro rather numbly out of the school, onto the bus, off of the bus, and into the teahouse. All after he'd hidden the body and placed the folder out in the open.
When they were settled, Kaoru voiced her question once more – following it up with a sip of tea.
"I suppose I should start at the beginning."
Nod.
"Well, first god said-"
"Soujiro!" Kaoru smiled some.
"Much better. Now, let's see here.. first of all, I'm not 16 or so, I'm 24."
"You're only four years younger than Kenshin?!"
"Yep. My parents died when I was seven or eight. I had a five-or-six year old younger sister. I was taken from her and adopted almost immediately. But my 'loving family' was actually a physically abusive father, a verbally abusive mother, two 'brothers' who hated me, and a 'sister' who was the biggest spoiled brat I have ever seen. They made me work for them.
"One day, after a particularly bad beating, I was outside and saw a man in all back kill a cop. He promised to keep me alive if I returned the favor. So I kept him in the barn, fed him, and got him some bandages for some cuts he had. He gave me his Wakizashi as a 'thank you'. My 'parents' were watching America's most wanted and they somehow figured out my secret and tried to kill me so that they could get the reward for Mr. Shishio.
"I drew the Wakizashi and killed all five. And then Mr. Shishio took me with him when he left.
"I trained me and I became known as 'Tenken'. And then I started looking for the younger sister that I remembered having.
"In the records room I found a file on you. You're inheriting 600-something million dollars and an incredible house when you're 21. Koshijirou Kamiya had adopted you and his mission was to try his darndest to drive you insane so that all of the inheritance would be rerouted to him and he, in turn, could give it to the syndicate.
"I saw your six-year-old picture and realized that you were my little sister. I approached Watsuki, realizing that he was the 'real' good guy. If that term can be applied to anyone in the syndicate. He placed me under Hiko as a double-agent against Mr. Shishio.
"THAT is why you were really captured. To save you from Koshijirou. Of course we couldn't let Battousai, nor you, know this. Which is why we came up with that story and sent one of our youngest members, Yahiko, to finalize it.
"I didn't realize that Hiko was planning to threaten your life. When I found out, I was FURIOUS. And a bit surprised that Battousai had grown that attatched to you.
"It took me weeks to figure out how to discreetly 'invade' your little group. When Mr. Shishio kidnapped you, he inadvertantly provided me with the needed opportunity. I just rushed to be in the same room as Koshijirou when Battousai found him.
In reference to Mr. Unji's comment, Mr. Shishio ordered he and myself to kidnap you. Mostly to get back at Battousai for interfering with his first attempt.
And that's my whole story. Thank the gods that Battousai killed Koshijirou before I did."
Kaoru was staring towards the general direction that Soujiro was sitting.
"He killed my father?" She could faintly remember some mention of it, but had been positive she'd been imagining it.
"Kaoru.." Soujiro set his tea down and took her cup from her hands gently – lest she drop or shatter it. Arranging it next to his on the table, he waited for her reaction.
But she seemed to be trying selective memory on for size.
"I'm inheriting something?" She smiled slightly. "Every girl's dream." She paused. "So.. you're my brother, Soujiro?"
"Yeah.." He'd kinda been hoping she'd forgotten that crucial part. He practically jumped out of his seat when she suddenly turned and wrapped her arms around him, resting her forehead on his shoulder. He felt warm tears soaking his t-shirt.
"Would you like to know our real last name?" Soujiro whispered, ignoring the stares that Kaoru had attracted with her odd behavior. She nodded.
In truth, Kaoru remembered everything Soujiro had told her. But she didn't want to talk about the fact that his confirmation of the death of her 'father' made her feel more happy than she'd ever had the pleasure of feeling, and gave her soul the right to be completely free. A great weight was lifted from her shoulders.
She wasn't crying from any sort of pain, her tears were tears of utter joy.
"Our last name is-"
((HIMURA! Bwahahaha! Shoot. I just ruined the seriousness and angst of this chapter. Darnit!))
***
"Sano! She isn't here, either!" Kenshin growled. The ruffian was slumped in a relaxed pose, but Kenshin could smell his tangy sweat and hear the worried crackling of his knuckles.
"Call Hiko, Ke-" He stopped short when a drop of blood hit his nose. They looked up in unison. Sano reached up and punched the ceiling tile. The dead body of their Algebra teacher tumbled out and hit the ground with a sickening thud, his head lolling.
((ME? Harboring ill will towards math? Naawww..))
"Sano. Give me your cell." Kenshin ordered sharply. The slightly pale other man complied instantly.
***
After a five minute phone conversation, Hiko sent a clean-up crew to the school to fix the window, collect the files – especially the one on Hiko's syndicate branch they'd found on the desk – and erase all evidence. Including the body.
"It's okay, Kenshin." Hiko said semi-soothingly. "We have a search party. You and Sano need to go back to your apartment and wait, Kenshin." The red-head nodded a half-hearted agreement.
Hiko whipped his cellphone out the instant that he saw them leave the building.
***
"-Agarais." Kaoru let the name run through her mind, nodding slowly. "As far as I know, we both kept our first names."
Soujiro's phone rang.
"National Praise Pizza Foundation, what can I do for you?" He paused, listened, made an affirmative noise and hung up. "Looks like we have to cut this short, Kaoru. Battousai and Mr. Sagara are panicking."
So they went home. Kenshin was so furious at them that he turned totally 'hunter' on them. Kaoru panicked and locked herself in the bedroom. After Soujiro explained the situation he calmed down and coaxed Kaoru out.
And then they all sat down and had a mature, adult conversation.
Sano: "You're gonna be a millionare? COOL!"
Kenshin: "That was really foolish, Stupid-head!"
Soujiro: "I'm older than Kaoru! NYAH!"
Kaoru: "I'm and heiress and can buy my own country! NYAH!"
And so on. And then they went to bed.
((I bet you all are wondering what Soujiro is inheriting.. well.. that.. is a Secret!))
***
The school was closed for a week while the police investigated the dissapearance of their math teacher.
But that week was far from uneventful.
Kenshin was still a master-assassin, and Hiko had suddenly begun to pile him with jobs – sometimes he killed two or three people a night.
Sano managed to piss the leader of a powerful gang off. He got jumped and took a beating almost twice as bad as Kaoru's. Luckily, he was close friends with a different gang leader and they came in and thinned out the crowd for him.
Soujiro tried to hide from Kaoru. And succeeded. For all of thirty-eight minutes.
Kaoru hunted for Soujiro – she wanted answers!
"FOUND YA!" Kaoru cheered, and hauled him out of the closet, where he'd been hiding for the last thiery-eight minutes.
"Yeah.." He groused. She dragged him to the couch.
"You are NOT going to JUST tell me that you're my big brother and leave it at that! I want DETAILS! C'mon!" She whined.
"Fine. FINE! What do you want to know?"
"Who were our parents?"
"Miana and Kanji."
"Our dad was named after a style of writing?!"
"Yeah.. what else do you want to know?" 'There's something he doesn't want to tell me!' Kaoru realized.
After finding out that they'd had no pets, they'd lived in Yokohama, and they their parents had died in a car wreck.. Kaoru gave up on her questioning and just launched into friendly banter about nothing.
***
"Sakion Harium. I am here for your life." Kenshin intoned. He hated the killing, oh how he hated it. But he would NOT let Battousai out. After seeing his Kaoru panic when she saw his yellow eyes, he knew that his becoming Battousai again would be horrifying for her.
His victim snorted with laughter.
"You? The man trapped in a girl's body? PAH!" Kenshin gritted his teeth as the familiar dark ice of Battousai threatened to overwhelm him.
"What a terribly rude thing to say." Kenshin gutted the man like a fish in one swift swing. His eyes got comically wide as a scream gurgled and died in his throat.
Blood, the crimson liquid that had sprayed from the wound ran down Kenshin's face. A taste of it found it's way into his mouth.
Kenshin moaned as the black-velvet darkness of the Battousai broke through his blockades and took control. He hid within his own mind. Even he was afraid of the legendary Battousai, despite the fact that they were one in the same. 'Kaoru!' Was his last concious thought before he went dormant.
Battousai ran his tounge along the length of his blade, savoring the warm, mettalic blood that held a hint of pistachio nuts. He smirked as his weaker, emotional counter-part fled to the depth of their mind.
Sheathing his weapon, Battousai returned to his apartment. 'Lets see how Kaoru will act in the face of the real Battousai in full control, that little show last night was nothing.'
Shading his eyes with his bangs, Battousai opened the door.
"Soujiro. Go talk to Sano for a while, if you would. I need to be alone with Kaoru for a while." He ordered.
"Sure, Kenshin!" Sano obeyed mindlessly, trusting his little sister to the care of the red-haired man smiling at him.
The door closed and suddenly Kaoru got a very uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Kenshin lifted his head and she screamed. Kaoru remembered at that moment that the apartment was sound-proof.
She made a break for the bedroom – he never followed her in there!
Battousai was in front of her instantly, his arms going around her and locking like steel bands.
Kaoru stared at him, biting nervously on her lower lip as his golden eyes bit into her own. His hands went to the small of her back, and stopped – going no lower.
Kaoru pushed against his chest, trying to make him let her go. He just pulled her in tighter, her hands being trapped between them in the process.
"What makes you think I'm going to hurt you, Kao-ruu?" He purred, emphasizing her name in an odd way.
"Y-you're Battousai!" Her tone assured him that this was proof enough.
"Verry perceptive.." He drawled. "Can't get anything past you.."
"L-let me go!"
"I'm not going to hurt you, Sparrow. Unless you keep struggling." He soothed.
'S-sparrow?! Why does everyone keep comparing me to a bird? Geesh!' Kaoru though off-handedly.
"Oh? Then WHAT do you want?"
"I want you to trust me, Sparrow. Like you trust Kenshin. We are the same, you know."
"NO!! You're NOT the same!" Kaoru thrashed in his grasp, hitting him as best she could. Battousai grabbed her smoothly by the upper arms and threw her.
Kaoru shrieked with surprise as she hit the couch. Not hard enough to actually hurt, just enough to stun her.
Battousai strode over and sat down casually, pulling her up so that she was sitting up next to him.
"Yes, we are.." He purred, pulling her close. Kaoru whimpered fearfully, the sound so faint that he wasn't sure she was aware that she'd made it.
"You have to accept ALL of Kenshin, Kaoru. Are you willing to do that?" Battousai was putting her on the spot, and he knew it. If she said no, she couldn't have Kenshin. If she said yes, she had to accept the blood-lusting man pinning her to him and the couch.
She was terrified. Battousai could smell it. And he could not only feel, but also hear her heart racing.
"Are you?" He pressed. Kaoru stiffened, and her eyes sparked. And then they dimmed and she slumped against him in defeat.
"Yes.." She whispered, her head was resting against his chest. She could feel his calm heartbeat, and hated him for it.
"You see, that wasn't so hard." His arms tightened and she cringed, instinctivly trying to pull away. She shivered.
The door burst open. Battousai dropped his arms with an annoyed sigh.
Kaoru gave a sigh of relief, and scooted as far away from him as the couch would allow, biting her lower lip. That was becoming a bad habit for her, 'Maybe I'll bring it up..' Battousai thought idly.
And then he turned to his newcomer and listened.
"Kenshin!" Sano cried. "Shis-"
"Shishio's syndicate branch has declared war upon Hiko's. He's preforming a call to arms. You have been summoned." Aoshi interrupted smoothly.
"You, you and Misao will go to the Aoiya. The OniWaban have been called to assist, and we have answered." He finished. Battousai nodded his agreement. Kaoru leapt to her feet and ran out the door, shoving past Aoshi and Sano, her face pale.
"This is it, Battousai." Aoshi continued, after Kaoru and Misao had gone. "If we win, the OniWaban will merge with you and we will have complete control of Kyoto. We only have to eliminate Shishio."
"And his Jupon Gattana.." Battousai reminded him.
"I can help.." Soujiro offered. "I'm the Tenken. I'm supposed to be the 'last of the Juppon Gattana' of course Mr. Shishio doesn't know that I'm not on his side any more." Battousai nodded his acceptance.
Sano finally regained his breath.
"We meet Hiko in an hour to prepare for an assault. We'd better be battle-ready by then."
***
Next Time: Henya, Kamatari. Some Aoiya smashing. We FINALLY get to see Kaoru fend for herself without Akuma, Rain, or Rumor. And the war of Shisho Makoto's Syndicate versus Hiko Seijuro's Syndicate begins!
***
A/N:
Dove: This was had hard chapter to write. I really took my time. I've been wokring on it all week. Seventeen written pages, 15 typed.
Kenshin: Woah! WOah! WOAh! WOAH!!!
Dove: Yuusss?
Kenshin: WHY DID I SUDDENLY GO ALL BATTOUSAI!?
Dove: I got bored. And it fit my new plot.
Sano: Looks fun.. so, we ever gonna find out what Shishio's 'plan' was? The one Soujiro called him about.
Dove: Yes. We are. At some point. Later.
Kenshin: I'm sure everyone is happy that you didn't keep Sou-chan evil.
Dove: Yep. I got death-threats about if I did keep him evil.
Sano: Good of them.
Dove: *Groans* I wrote about five or six pages of this on a camping trip. Friday I had PT (Physical Training) for JrROTC. I did 2 minutes straight of push-ups (50) and 2 minutes straight of sit-ups (44).
And if THAT didn't make me sore engouh, I just finished a 2 hour and 15 minute horse ride. I've NEVER ridden a horse before. So right now I couldn't POSSIBLY be ANY more sore.
Now that I've ranted about my sad physical condition..
To answer some questions:
This is from a while back – No, she isn't going to wear the bandages, she already took them off.
More recent – 'English' isn't here as a foreign language. It's here as 'Language arts' you know, the class where you read and write and stuff like that? And I put Spanish in here 'cause I have Spanish and I figured 'Hey, why not?'.
Evillaughingtalkingwall – You are some kinda creepy. But I love getting reviews from ya – keep it up! ^-^
To those who wished me well in school – Thank you! Right now I have straight A's! And s'long as I don't end up with a C all year as the 'big grade' on my progress report, then I'll still be updating. 'Cause of my great encouraging reviews I am actually enjoying school!
What else.. oh! Me and LadyShiin-chan, the authoress of SkyDweller and some other fics are making a combined website! It should be up soon, so look foreward to it! ^-^
Lastly.. THANK YOU TO ALL OF MY FANTASTIC REVIEWERS! I LOVE YOU ALL!! ^-^
Next update Next Monday.
Have a good night, I stayed up WAY late typing this and I'm getting up WAY early tomorrow to post it.. it's a school night! I expect at least 30 reviews! COME ON! TELL YOUR FRIENDS! *Begs and pleads*
G'night, my dear reader-sama's.
(Heh. I managed to drag this out to 17 pages. DANG I'm good! ^-^)
Dove: First of all, I want to apologize for my typo.
Kenshin: She meant to put 'Hiten' not 'Kenshin'.
Dove: And another thing..
Sano: Here it comes..
Dove: I'M IN HIGHSCHOOL NOW! WHOOOOTT!! *Dances like a maniac*
Kenshin: Sano. Get the marshmellows.
Sano: We're out!
Kenshin: Then. Get. The. Zanbatou..
Dark
Chapter Twenty-Four
"Wh.. what do you want?" Kaoru asked, trying to keep her voice from shaking.
The people circled in closer. She counted eight guys and three girls.
"You turned down our leader, Koga!" 'A gang!' She realized, the tan-and-blue colorcode sinking in.
Kaoru had to think for a minute before she remembered the rude boy with black hair and blue eyes that had announced she was going out with him. He'd been wearing the same outfit as the people that were snarling at her.
"Is your leader THAT lame?" She growled, slightly annoyed.
The one who'd been doing the talking to that point cracked his knuckles.
"Our leader don't know we here. Dis be our fight!"
"Proper english, moron. 'Our leader doesn't know we're here. This is our fight.' Repeat after me." Kaoru challanged.
The 'leader' of the moment growled and advanced. The others followed his lead.
"You don't want to do this.." Kaoru warned. 'How stupid and immature!' She thought ferociously.
A fist connected with her jaw and sent her stumbling a few paces backwards.
Kaoru couldn't figure out why the almost-healed scars on her face didn't cause them to shy away somewhat.
Another fist hit her head, millimeters from her temple. Kaoru was grateful – it was a powerful punch, had they hit her temple she'd have a concussion.
Yet another fist, slightly less powerful, slammed into her gut.
NOW she was pissed.
"You asked-" And yet ANOTHER fist smashed into her mouth, splitting her lips. "-For it." Akuma finished, spitting blood out of her mouth.
The attackers paused for a moment, confused at the sudden change in their prey.
"What? NOW you're all afraid?" Akuma challanged.
The 'leader' lunged. Normally Akuma would have fought to kill. But these were small-time enemies so she held back.
She neatly kneed her attacker in the gut and sent him flying with a spinning kick.
Her other attackers converged, and she dispatched each neatly.
Akuma stumbled back to the car, blood tricking from her lips. She had large bruises on her stomach and head, and a black eye forming from a lucky sucker-punch.
Just as she reached the car, she switched personalities.
"KAORU!" Kenshin gasped. He'd smelled blood, but hadn't been sure if it was real or he was imagining it. "What happened?!"
Rumor looked up, looking just as confused and worried as Kenshin.
"I.. I don't know." She admitted. "Judging from the state I'm in, I appear to have been in a fight. And judging from the condition of my knuckles, I'd say I won." She smirked.
Kenshin looked closely at her eyes. 'Rumor!' He realized, 'Not Kaoru.'
He finally asked, "Don't you feel any pain?"
"Pain?" Rumor smiled. "Yes. I feel pain."
"Then why are you smiling?" Rumor frowned.
"Because it doesn't bother me. I'm strong enough to ignore pain."
"Your shirt is ruined," Soujiro mentioned, smiling. Rumor blinked at him in confusion, and then looked down at her bloodied blouse.
"Huh.." She muttered.
Kenshin was still puzzling over Rumor's last comment. 'She's.. strong enough to IGNORE..?' Finally it clicked and he remembered that Rumor had been 'born' because Kaoru's mind hadn't been able to handle the pain that had come with the sudden malevolence of her leukemia.
So obviously Rumor's mind had to be pretty much numbed to the feelings associated with pain.
Soujiro and Rumor were chatting amiably.
Kenshin stared in facination as they returned to their flame-blue.
Kaoru's knees buckled slightly and she stumbled a bit.
"K-Kenshin? Woah.." She muttered, holding her forehead with the palm of her hand. She groaned, rubbing her temples gently with her pointer and middle fingers. "Dizzy.." She muttered.
Sano finally returned from whatever he'd been doing to amuse himself for the last twenty-five minutes.
Kenshin helped a highly confused Kaoru into his car with a joking, 'Try not to bleed on my upholstry, I just had it redone after your LAST bloody escapade'.
She giggled and then turned her energies to keeping the dripping blood from her mouth off of the seat.
***
"So. What happened, missy?" Sano questioned when they were back at Kenshin's apartment.
He ran the alcohol swab over her bottom lip and dabbed at the top one. The back of the couch made it impossible for her to jerk her head backwards and she couldn't turn her head because of the pillows stacked around her.
"OOOWWW!! Sannnooooo!!" She complained.
"You don't want to get infected!" He chided, dabbing once again.
"You'll get yours." She muttered darkly, and inhaled sharply through her teeth as he dabbed some more.
((Crap.. I need to pay attention.. I'm in Spanish..))
((Okay. Your lovely Dove-chan is back. Aohla, Buenas Tardes, Presente, Buenos Dias, Moi Bien, Gracias, Como Te Llama.. yep, I remember it all. ^_-))
"I head that a lot. Are you all trying to tell me something here?" Sano mocked. "Anyways. Again, what happened?"
"I got – OW!! – a note to meet someone at the back of the school."
"Who signed it?"
"It was anonymous.."
"You are one of the most stupid, naïve people I have ever met! You don't go to a meeting outside of a highschool when an unsigned note delivered by a guy you probably couldn't name in a line-up tells you to!" Sano raved. Kaoru pouted.
"It was stupid. I get that." She groused.
Sano gave the wounds on her mouth a cursorary last swipe before handing her and ice-pack to put on her eye – it was swollen shut by then.
Kaoru heard muffled splashing and cursing.
"Ah.. Sano..?"
"Mmh?"
"What's Kenshin doing?" Sano smirked, but Soujiro answered.
"Your laundry." He drawled casually. Her jaw dropped.
"Breathe, missy." Sano tapped her chin. She half-heartedly swung a cushion at him, missing by a good two and a half feet.
"WHY is he doing my laungry?"
"Blood-stains are a bit suspicious at a laundromat, missy. 'Specially when it's not all your blood.
"So. He can cook. He can clean. He can keep a house in a general state of orderly chaos. What CAN'T he do?!"
"Dance. He knows the waltz and the tango and stuff, but if that man ever went to a club, he'd be shocked. And he's horrible at sewing, too."
Kaoru snorted. Leave it to Sano to come up with really weird weaknesses.
Kenshin came out soaking wet and covered in bright red bubbles.
But he was grinning.
"I got your uniform clean, Kaoru!"
***
Over the next week of school, no one could get close to the math teacher's desk.
Guys still pursued Kaoru, but passibly. The news that she'd pounded the Wulvez into the ground with little more than a black eye and bloodied lips traveled like wildfire.
Finally, Kaoru saw her chance when the teacher offered an extra after-school 'tutoring' of sorts.
"Any volunteers?" Her hand shot up. "Ah. Good. Miss Tsumuji."
"Are you sure you can handle it alone, Kaoru?" Kenshin whispered, worriedly.
He and Sano had a mission – they wouldn't tell Kaoru what it was.
"Yes, Kenshin. Of course I can!" She grumbled. Soujiro had stayed at the apartment because he'd managed to catch the flu.
***
Kaoru sat in her desk, pretending to do math. Everyone else had left already, but she 'didn't understand'.
The instant that the teacher left the room to run something off, she raced to his desk and started pawing through his drawers.
She found a locked drawer and proceeded to pick the lock – with some effort. She wasn't a person who found it easy to break into things. It took her almost fifteen minutes to get a jar of pickles open.
Kaoru found what she was looking for. She flipped quickly through the neatly labelled folders until she found the one with the name of the syndicate branch that Kenshin belonged to.
She flipped it open and scanned it quickly to be sure.
And then she heard footsteps approaching.
Kaoru panicked and did the first thing that she could think of.
She froze.
The door opened.
The teacher stared at her for a moment before his face twisted into an angry snarl.
"What do you think you're doing?!" He growled, his menacing voice almost as chilling as Battousai's.
"Looking for a pencil?" She offered weakly. The man drew a gun. For a second, it looked like a foreign object.
It was small, Kaoru thought it might be a barretta.
It came right out of his pocket as though he was drawing a sword and he pointed it at her steadily.
"SPY!" She spat ferociously. Kaoru shrugged.
"Well.. yeah.." His finger tightened on the trigger, and he opened his mouth to speak, it looked as though he was going to order her to go somewhere.
Kaoru felt tiny beads of sweat spring up on her hairline, and ice spread through her body – starting at the stomach.
The window to her left smashed in. They both turned slightly. Soujiro stepped calmly inside.
Kaoru was impressed – the room was on the second floory. Her eyes fell on Soujiro's hands. He was holding an AK-47 in the right one.
But something was wrong.
Kaoru realized that the gun was trained directly on her right shoulder.
"TENKEN!" The 'math teacher' gasped. He looked ready to growled at the boy's feet.
Kaoru didn't understand – the teacher hadn't reached that way while they were in class!
"Soujiro.. what are you doing?" She asked.
"Who fo you work for?" Soujiro chirped impartially, ignoring Kaoru. There was a big smile on his face.
"Tenken, what are you-?"
"WHO do you work for, Mr. Unji?"
"Shishio Makoto..?"
"Are you askking me, or telling me?"
"SOUJIRO!!" Kaoru hissed urgently.
"Yes, Kaoru?"
"Quite pointing that gun at me and tell me what you're doing her when you're supposed to be at Kenshins' apartment with the flu!"
Soujiro shook his head, still grinning. He didn't move the gun.
"I played sick. I just didn't want to go to school. But then I got the feeling that something was wrong so I caught a bus, ran here, and saw you and Mr. Unji in that stand-off through the window." The gun went off.
Kaoru gasped and winced, but the bullet flew right over her shoulder.
She heard a sound suspiciously like a 'Gyuu..' from behind her. Kaoru spun to see that the other man was behind her, frozen in place, with his arm posed to pistol-whip her with the barretta.
There was a hole in his chest.
"Our.. orders.. were.. you.. kidnap.. her..!" He gasped, his face confused. A thin line of blood trickled from his lips and Kaoru stared at his eyes as they rolled back in his head and he dropped backwards.
"W-what did he mean, Soujiro?" Kaoru stammered.
"Why don't we go to a quaint little tea-shop I saw on my way here?" Soujiro offered evasivly. Kaoru nodded uncertaintly. She followed Soujiro rather numbly out of the school, onto the bus, off of the bus, and into the teahouse. All after he'd hidden the body and placed the folder out in the open.
When they were settled, Kaoru voiced her question once more – following it up with a sip of tea.
"I suppose I should start at the beginning."
Nod.
"Well, first god said-"
"Soujiro!" Kaoru smiled some.
"Much better. Now, let's see here.. first of all, I'm not 16 or so, I'm 24."
"You're only four years younger than Kenshin?!"
"Yep. My parents died when I was seven or eight. I had a five-or-six year old younger sister. I was taken from her and adopted almost immediately. But my 'loving family' was actually a physically abusive father, a verbally abusive mother, two 'brothers' who hated me, and a 'sister' who was the biggest spoiled brat I have ever seen. They made me work for them.
"One day, after a particularly bad beating, I was outside and saw a man in all back kill a cop. He promised to keep me alive if I returned the favor. So I kept him in the barn, fed him, and got him some bandages for some cuts he had. He gave me his Wakizashi as a 'thank you'. My 'parents' were watching America's most wanted and they somehow figured out my secret and tried to kill me so that they could get the reward for Mr. Shishio.
"I drew the Wakizashi and killed all five. And then Mr. Shishio took me with him when he left.
"I trained me and I became known as 'Tenken'. And then I started looking for the younger sister that I remembered having.
"In the records room I found a file on you. You're inheriting 600-something million dollars and an incredible house when you're 21. Koshijirou Kamiya had adopted you and his mission was to try his darndest to drive you insane so that all of the inheritance would be rerouted to him and he, in turn, could give it to the syndicate.
"I saw your six-year-old picture and realized that you were my little sister. I approached Watsuki, realizing that he was the 'real' good guy. If that term can be applied to anyone in the syndicate. He placed me under Hiko as a double-agent against Mr. Shishio.
"THAT is why you were really captured. To save you from Koshijirou. Of course we couldn't let Battousai, nor you, know this. Which is why we came up with that story and sent one of our youngest members, Yahiko, to finalize it.
"I didn't realize that Hiko was planning to threaten your life. When I found out, I was FURIOUS. And a bit surprised that Battousai had grown that attatched to you.
"It took me weeks to figure out how to discreetly 'invade' your little group. When Mr. Shishio kidnapped you, he inadvertantly provided me with the needed opportunity. I just rushed to be in the same room as Koshijirou when Battousai found him.
In reference to Mr. Unji's comment, Mr. Shishio ordered he and myself to kidnap you. Mostly to get back at Battousai for interfering with his first attempt.
And that's my whole story. Thank the gods that Battousai killed Koshijirou before I did."
Kaoru was staring towards the general direction that Soujiro was sitting.
"He killed my father?" She could faintly remember some mention of it, but had been positive she'd been imagining it.
"Kaoru.." Soujiro set his tea down and took her cup from her hands gently – lest she drop or shatter it. Arranging it next to his on the table, he waited for her reaction.
But she seemed to be trying selective memory on for size.
"I'm inheriting something?" She smiled slightly. "Every girl's dream." She paused. "So.. you're my brother, Soujiro?"
"Yeah.." He'd kinda been hoping she'd forgotten that crucial part. He practically jumped out of his seat when she suddenly turned and wrapped her arms around him, resting her forehead on his shoulder. He felt warm tears soaking his t-shirt.
"Would you like to know our real last name?" Soujiro whispered, ignoring the stares that Kaoru had attracted with her odd behavior. She nodded.
In truth, Kaoru remembered everything Soujiro had told her. But she didn't want to talk about the fact that his confirmation of the death of her 'father' made her feel more happy than she'd ever had the pleasure of feeling, and gave her soul the right to be completely free. A great weight was lifted from her shoulders.
She wasn't crying from any sort of pain, her tears were tears of utter joy.
"Our last name is-"
((HIMURA! Bwahahaha! Shoot. I just ruined the seriousness and angst of this chapter. Darnit!))
***
"Sano! She isn't here, either!" Kenshin growled. The ruffian was slumped in a relaxed pose, but Kenshin could smell his tangy sweat and hear the worried crackling of his knuckles.
"Call Hiko, Ke-" He stopped short when a drop of blood hit his nose. They looked up in unison. Sano reached up and punched the ceiling tile. The dead body of their Algebra teacher tumbled out and hit the ground with a sickening thud, his head lolling.
((ME? Harboring ill will towards math? Naawww..))
"Sano. Give me your cell." Kenshin ordered sharply. The slightly pale other man complied instantly.
***
After a five minute phone conversation, Hiko sent a clean-up crew to the school to fix the window, collect the files – especially the one on Hiko's syndicate branch they'd found on the desk – and erase all evidence. Including the body.
"It's okay, Kenshin." Hiko said semi-soothingly. "We have a search party. You and Sano need to go back to your apartment and wait, Kenshin." The red-head nodded a half-hearted agreement.
Hiko whipped his cellphone out the instant that he saw them leave the building.
***
"-Agarais." Kaoru let the name run through her mind, nodding slowly. "As far as I know, we both kept our first names."
Soujiro's phone rang.
"National Praise Pizza Foundation, what can I do for you?" He paused, listened, made an affirmative noise and hung up. "Looks like we have to cut this short, Kaoru. Battousai and Mr. Sagara are panicking."
So they went home. Kenshin was so furious at them that he turned totally 'hunter' on them. Kaoru panicked and locked herself in the bedroom. After Soujiro explained the situation he calmed down and coaxed Kaoru out.
And then they all sat down and had a mature, adult conversation.
Sano: "You're gonna be a millionare? COOL!"
Kenshin: "That was really foolish, Stupid-head!"
Soujiro: "I'm older than Kaoru! NYAH!"
Kaoru: "I'm and heiress and can buy my own country! NYAH!"
And so on. And then they went to bed.
((I bet you all are wondering what Soujiro is inheriting.. well.. that.. is a Secret!))
***
The school was closed for a week while the police investigated the dissapearance of their math teacher.
But that week was far from uneventful.
Kenshin was still a master-assassin, and Hiko had suddenly begun to pile him with jobs – sometimes he killed two or three people a night.
Sano managed to piss the leader of a powerful gang off. He got jumped and took a beating almost twice as bad as Kaoru's. Luckily, he was close friends with a different gang leader and they came in and thinned out the crowd for him.
Soujiro tried to hide from Kaoru. And succeeded. For all of thirty-eight minutes.
Kaoru hunted for Soujiro – she wanted answers!
"FOUND YA!" Kaoru cheered, and hauled him out of the closet, where he'd been hiding for the last thiery-eight minutes.
"Yeah.." He groused. She dragged him to the couch.
"You are NOT going to JUST tell me that you're my big brother and leave it at that! I want DETAILS! C'mon!" She whined.
"Fine. FINE! What do you want to know?"
"Who were our parents?"
"Miana and Kanji."
"Our dad was named after a style of writing?!"
"Yeah.. what else do you want to know?" 'There's something he doesn't want to tell me!' Kaoru realized.
After finding out that they'd had no pets, they'd lived in Yokohama, and they their parents had died in a car wreck.. Kaoru gave up on her questioning and just launched into friendly banter about nothing.
***
"Sakion Harium. I am here for your life." Kenshin intoned. He hated the killing, oh how he hated it. But he would NOT let Battousai out. After seeing his Kaoru panic when she saw his yellow eyes, he knew that his becoming Battousai again would be horrifying for her.
His victim snorted with laughter.
"You? The man trapped in a girl's body? PAH!" Kenshin gritted his teeth as the familiar dark ice of Battousai threatened to overwhelm him.
"What a terribly rude thing to say." Kenshin gutted the man like a fish in one swift swing. His eyes got comically wide as a scream gurgled and died in his throat.
Blood, the crimson liquid that had sprayed from the wound ran down Kenshin's face. A taste of it found it's way into his mouth.
Kenshin moaned as the black-velvet darkness of the Battousai broke through his blockades and took control. He hid within his own mind. Even he was afraid of the legendary Battousai, despite the fact that they were one in the same. 'Kaoru!' Was his last concious thought before he went dormant.
Battousai ran his tounge along the length of his blade, savoring the warm, mettalic blood that held a hint of pistachio nuts. He smirked as his weaker, emotional counter-part fled to the depth of their mind.
Sheathing his weapon, Battousai returned to his apartment. 'Lets see how Kaoru will act in the face of the real Battousai in full control, that little show last night was nothing.'
Shading his eyes with his bangs, Battousai opened the door.
"Soujiro. Go talk to Sano for a while, if you would. I need to be alone with Kaoru for a while." He ordered.
"Sure, Kenshin!" Sano obeyed mindlessly, trusting his little sister to the care of the red-haired man smiling at him.
The door closed and suddenly Kaoru got a very uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Kenshin lifted his head and she screamed. Kaoru remembered at that moment that the apartment was sound-proof.
She made a break for the bedroom – he never followed her in there!
Battousai was in front of her instantly, his arms going around her and locking like steel bands.
Kaoru stared at him, biting nervously on her lower lip as his golden eyes bit into her own. His hands went to the small of her back, and stopped – going no lower.
Kaoru pushed against his chest, trying to make him let her go. He just pulled her in tighter, her hands being trapped between them in the process.
"What makes you think I'm going to hurt you, Kao-ruu?" He purred, emphasizing her name in an odd way.
"Y-you're Battousai!" Her tone assured him that this was proof enough.
"Verry perceptive.." He drawled. "Can't get anything past you.."
"L-let me go!"
"I'm not going to hurt you, Sparrow. Unless you keep struggling." He soothed.
'S-sparrow?! Why does everyone keep comparing me to a bird? Geesh!' Kaoru though off-handedly.
"Oh? Then WHAT do you want?"
"I want you to trust me, Sparrow. Like you trust Kenshin. We are the same, you know."
"NO!! You're NOT the same!" Kaoru thrashed in his grasp, hitting him as best she could. Battousai grabbed her smoothly by the upper arms and threw her.
Kaoru shrieked with surprise as she hit the couch. Not hard enough to actually hurt, just enough to stun her.
Battousai strode over and sat down casually, pulling her up so that she was sitting up next to him.
"Yes, we are.." He purred, pulling her close. Kaoru whimpered fearfully, the sound so faint that he wasn't sure she was aware that she'd made it.
"You have to accept ALL of Kenshin, Kaoru. Are you willing to do that?" Battousai was putting her on the spot, and he knew it. If she said no, she couldn't have Kenshin. If she said yes, she had to accept the blood-lusting man pinning her to him and the couch.
She was terrified. Battousai could smell it. And he could not only feel, but also hear her heart racing.
"Are you?" He pressed. Kaoru stiffened, and her eyes sparked. And then they dimmed and she slumped against him in defeat.
"Yes.." She whispered, her head was resting against his chest. She could feel his calm heartbeat, and hated him for it.
"You see, that wasn't so hard." His arms tightened and she cringed, instinctivly trying to pull away. She shivered.
The door burst open. Battousai dropped his arms with an annoyed sigh.
Kaoru gave a sigh of relief, and scooted as far away from him as the couch would allow, biting her lower lip. That was becoming a bad habit for her, 'Maybe I'll bring it up..' Battousai thought idly.
And then he turned to his newcomer and listened.
"Kenshin!" Sano cried. "Shis-"
"Shishio's syndicate branch has declared war upon Hiko's. He's preforming a call to arms. You have been summoned." Aoshi interrupted smoothly.
"You, you and Misao will go to the Aoiya. The OniWaban have been called to assist, and we have answered." He finished. Battousai nodded his agreement. Kaoru leapt to her feet and ran out the door, shoving past Aoshi and Sano, her face pale.
"This is it, Battousai." Aoshi continued, after Kaoru and Misao had gone. "If we win, the OniWaban will merge with you and we will have complete control of Kyoto. We only have to eliminate Shishio."
"And his Jupon Gattana.." Battousai reminded him.
"I can help.." Soujiro offered. "I'm the Tenken. I'm supposed to be the 'last of the Juppon Gattana' of course Mr. Shishio doesn't know that I'm not on his side any more." Battousai nodded his acceptance.
Sano finally regained his breath.
"We meet Hiko in an hour to prepare for an assault. We'd better be battle-ready by then."
***
Next Time: Henya, Kamatari. Some Aoiya smashing. We FINALLY get to see Kaoru fend for herself without Akuma, Rain, or Rumor. And the war of Shisho Makoto's Syndicate versus Hiko Seijuro's Syndicate begins!
***
A/N:
Dove: This was had hard chapter to write. I really took my time. I've been wokring on it all week. Seventeen written pages, 15 typed.
Kenshin: Woah! WOah! WOAh! WOAH!!!
Dove: Yuusss?
Kenshin: WHY DID I SUDDENLY GO ALL BATTOUSAI!?
Dove: I got bored. And it fit my new plot.
Sano: Looks fun.. so, we ever gonna find out what Shishio's 'plan' was? The one Soujiro called him about.
Dove: Yes. We are. At some point. Later.
Kenshin: I'm sure everyone is happy that you didn't keep Sou-chan evil.
Dove: Yep. I got death-threats about if I did keep him evil.
Sano: Good of them.
Dove: *Groans* I wrote about five or six pages of this on a camping trip. Friday I had PT (Physical Training) for JrROTC. I did 2 minutes straight of push-ups (50) and 2 minutes straight of sit-ups (44).
And if THAT didn't make me sore engouh, I just finished a 2 hour and 15 minute horse ride. I've NEVER ridden a horse before. So right now I couldn't POSSIBLY be ANY more sore.
Now that I've ranted about my sad physical condition..
To answer some questions:
This is from a while back – No, she isn't going to wear the bandages, she already took them off.
More recent – 'English' isn't here as a foreign language. It's here as 'Language arts' you know, the class where you read and write and stuff like that? And I put Spanish in here 'cause I have Spanish and I figured 'Hey, why not?'.
Evillaughingtalkingwall – You are some kinda creepy. But I love getting reviews from ya – keep it up! ^-^
To those who wished me well in school – Thank you! Right now I have straight A's! And s'long as I don't end up with a C all year as the 'big grade' on my progress report, then I'll still be updating. 'Cause of my great encouraging reviews I am actually enjoying school!
What else.. oh! Me and LadyShiin-chan, the authoress of SkyDweller and some other fics are making a combined website! It should be up soon, so look foreward to it! ^-^
Lastly.. THANK YOU TO ALL OF MY FANTASTIC REVIEWERS! I LOVE YOU ALL!! ^-^
Next update Next Monday.
Have a good night, I stayed up WAY late typing this and I'm getting up WAY early tomorrow to post it.. it's a school night! I expect at least 30 reviews! COME ON! TELL YOUR FRIENDS! *Begs and pleads*
G'night, my dear reader-sama's.
(Heh. I managed to drag this out to 17 pages. DANG I'm good! ^-^)