A/N:
Kenshin: Ur.. where is she?
Sano: Where is who?
Kenshin: Dove-chan! I can't find her anywhere - and she needs to start the next chapter!
Sano: Shh..
Both: *Listen*
*Banging noise emanates from Dove's bedroom.*
Both: *Open the door and blink. Instead of the usual scene, Dove banging her head against her desk, they see Dove banging Hiko's head on her desk*
Dove: You *SLAM* Mean *SLAM* JERK! *SLAM*
Hiko: Ooow!! What did I do!?!
Dove: You called Kenshin an idiot!
Hiko: *Groans*
*The fact that Dove has Hiko in a head-lock is made more amusing by the fact that she's at least a full two heads shorter than him.*
Sano: Um.. Dove-chan.. Stop beating up on the Master of the Hiten Mitsurugi style..
Dove: NO!
Soujiro: Ppppllleeeeeaaaaaaassssseeee??
Dove: *Growl* FINE!!!
--
And to the person that figured out my Koga thing, yes that was an Inuyasha reference. ^-^ Good job! You get a cookie! ^_-
--
Dark
Chapter Twenty-Five
**The War Part One**
"What's wrong, Kaoru?" Misao asked as she drove her purple mustang towards the Aoiya. Kaoru was seated next to her, shivering. Her face was dead white.
"W-wrong? Nothing's wrong." Kaoru assured her shakily, fingering the baby-blue felt seat material anxiously.
"Riiigghhtt.." Misao muttered. They got to the Aoiya quickly, the rest of the ride was silent.
"Misao!" An old man with a patch on his left eye called. "Here, catch!" He lugged a rolled up ball of garments at her.
Misao smoothly caught the clothing, and separated it into two smaller bundles.
"Here, Kaoru." She handed her the larger one. "This will be a lot better to fight in then that outfit." She pointed to a room off to the left. Kaoru obediently went into it and changed speedily. She came out to see Misao wearing a smaller version of the same outfit.
It was some sort of uniform.
"What is this?" She asked.
"It's the OniWaban ninja outfit. All members of the OniWaban are ninjas. And since we're allies of Shishio's enemies, there's no doubt in our minds that he's going to attack. And since you're here, we're gonna need you to lend us a hand."
Kaoru nodded, adjusting her wrist guards. They felt strange, not bad-strange. Just.. odd.
"So, Kaoru. What were you and Himura doing when we barged in?"
"None of your business, Misao." Kaoru snapped as she involuntarily shivered. She could still feel him.
"Well, then-" Her sentence was cut off by a large explosion.
Kaoru and Misao raced outside, followed by the rest of the group.
An ugly man with bird-like features and a cloth over his mouth stood laughing. The source of his amusement being the bodies of two OniWaban members.
Kaoru gritted her teeth, her fists clenching in fury.
To murder - and then LAUGH at your victims! At least Battousai treated the dead with some degree of respect!
"Unforgivable!" She hissed, her voice perhaps half a decibel above a whisper. Anger caused her vision to take on a red sheen for a moment, and her blood pounded against her temples.
"Misao. Do you have any Shinai?"
"No.." Kaoru whirled and stormed inside.
After some searching she found a discarded sword sheath. She weighed it carefully in her palm - it would do.
She stalked back outside, holding her make-shift weapon high.
The smell of gunpowder was over-powering, and disgusting. Kaoru had to choke down a coughing fit.
Seeing that she'd returned, Misao yelled,
"Who are you?!"
"I am Henya, of the Juppon Gattana!" His voice held a strange hint of insanity and blood-lust. It lingered thickly in the air.
The tension could have been cute with a knife and served with a side of potatoes.
Kaoru charged rashly, and swung. But before she could connect, Henya leapt into the air.
As he did so, he pulled off his jacket. Kaoru felt a gasp escape her lips.
Graphed to his back were a pair of wings. He looked as though he'd starved himself from birth to schieve the level of emaciation he was sporting. All-in-all, it was a very grotesque effect.
"Obviously you don't know me, girl! I am Henya, the master of the Hikko-Happa! With my style, no matter what style your opponent has mastered, when you're above their head, they can't fight back! I'm giving you a chance, girl, to run!" He whipped a stick of low-grade dynamite out.
He didn't want to level Kyoto, just kill those in his way.
"Y'know Henya, usually I would," Kaoru fired back. "But you just killed good people with a coward's weapon - and laughed at them! I'm gonna fight you if it kills me!" Henya laughed.
"So be it, fool!" And threw a bomb. Kaoru hit it with her make-shift Shinai, deflecting it by a good foot and a half.
It exploded and sent her skidding, but didn't remove any limbs like he'd intended.
"Ah, so you know how to use that sheath in your hand! Guess I underestimated that!" The next three bombs did some damage.
The first sent Kaoru flying on her back, into a sharp protrusion that gashed right down it.
The second lightly burned her left tricep, not a big injury. It still hurt, though.
The third caused flying debris to hit her face and gash open her forehead - right above the eyes. Blinking blood away, Kaoru readied herself for the onslaught sure to follow.
'Dangit. I'm not as fast as Kenshin, so I can't get.. wait..' Her thoughts trailed off as an idea occurred to her.
Henya lit a group of bombs.
"I'm bored with you - this ends now! Hahaha!!" His mad chuckle shook the air.
Kaoru tensed.
He threw the bombs.
"KAORU! GET INSIDE THE AOIYA! HURRY! YOU CAN'T DEFEAT BOMBS IN BATTLE!!" Misao screamed.
Kaoru shuddered.
'Won't you please be quiet? I'm thinking.' Kaoru mentally chastised. The bombs hurtled for her. Time seemed to slow down. Kaoru gave a scream.
It started with an almost frightened tone, and turned into a battle-cry, a challenge.
The bombs hit and a split-second after impact, exploded. They left a crater a foot and a half deep.
"KAORU!" Misao screamed. She followed the exclaimation with a hearty, "S***!! Battousai is gonna KILL me!!"
"NO ONE can beat the destructive power of-"
"Y'know what, Henya? You talk to d*** much." Kaoru growled.
Henya looked up and yelped. Kaoru stood, carefully balanced, on a rapidly descending door.
The doors of the Aoiya were made to be exact replicas of the tradtional Japanese-style sliding doors.
The explosion had flung one of those doors off of it's hinges and Kaoru had hopped on. The heat from the detonation had burned Kaoru's back, but only somewhat.
She was lucky not to have more severe injuries, but she'd had to time it JUST right.
"You used the explosion to get HIGHER than me?!" Henya cried incredulously.
"Yep." Kaoru smashed her 'Shinai' into his neck with all of her weight behind it.
A sick crackle-POP sound informed Kaoru that she'd just broken the man's neck. She winced and gagged. Kaoru had misjudged how hard she could hit his malnourished body. He was.. dead..
They both slammed into the ground. His body bent akwardly, snapping his spine as well. Kaoru felt her right wrist pop and her left ankle shatter.
'D***..'
She clambored away from the corpse and managed to limp to Misao's side, her 'Shinai' completely shattered. Kaoru held her right wrist close. It didn't feel broken - only sprained.
Still hurt.
A lot.
"You're alive! GREAT! How injured??"
"I'm fine. Just hurt my write some. No big." Kaoru lied innocently.
"Okay. Now that we've established that, we have another lovely threat." For the first time, Kaoru noticed a rather pretty, tall woman dressed in a strange kimono with some sort of rope version of the Butterfly Bow.
She groaned.
"I am Kamatari, member of Lord Shishio's Juppon Gattana." Her voice was strangely deep.
Kaoru decided to try an approach that could be described as the official 'To Darn Tired To Bloody Fight Ya, So I'm Gonna Try To Talk You Out Of It' tactic.
"Ma'am, do-"
"MA'AM?" Kamatari laughed. "Oh, I'm so FLATTERED! But I'm no 'ma'am', doll." Kaoru hesitated.
"Huh?" Kamatari sighed, and with an even deeper voice, said,
"I am LORD Kamatari, the Large Scythe." Misao shrieked.
"Oh my GOD!! SHE is a HE!!"
"Good job, nothing gets by you." Kamatari mocked.
"Fine." Kaoru said, keeping her tone sweet. "SIR, would you consider not fighting?"
"No.." He lifted his scythe. Kaoru balked. Crap. She HAD no weapon!
Operation 'TDTTBFYSIGTTTYOOT' was a failure.
***
The battlefield was chosen, the pieces were in place.
Shishio, heading his army of similarly black-clad men, called out,
"HIKO SEIJURO! THIS IS OUR FORMAL CHALLENGE FOR COMPLETE CONTROL OF KYOTO!"
"HEARD AND ACCEPTED!" A strange ritual, but Battousai shrugged it off as a formality.
What Shishio didn't say was that the winner of the war would have the ability to control all of Japan.
"Challenge as been Issued, Heard, and Accepted. Begin." Aoshi announced coolly, drawing his twin Katana blades.
Battousai drew his own sword, eyes becoming feral and sharp.
The largest gang war Japan would ever see began.
:::The battlefield was large and asphalt,
The war was fought - no skills at fault.
The din did rise, men did fall.
The clash of blades rang above all.
As the ground ran red with blood.:::
A/N: Okay, here's part one. I actually have two other parts. They were all going to be in one big chapter and that was going to be the end of Dark, but I was convinced by someone who actually enjoys this story to continue. So this is part one. And Dark will continue.
Other stuff..
Kamatari. His part will be modified, promise.
Flames. I haven't actually gotten any *Hears shocked noises* But if you do feel like leaving one, feel free. But remember to include your full address so I can hunt you down and beat you to death with a cheese straw.
Those actually exist, to. It's funny.
The poem is mine, it continues through the next two chapters.
Hmm.. lets see if y'all can handle this.
When my counter hits 750 reviews, I will post the next chapter. Best get crackin' on the reviewing! Make friends and family review! Go for it! ^-^
Not to say I'm not grateful for breaking 700..
Okay, I'm soooo tired..
But I want to apologize for not getting this out Monday. Turned out I had to go on a 'family bonding trip' with.. well.. my family. And I didn't get back until too late on Monday to get this thing typed up and posted. But I DID write it..
Email me, people! Really!! I LOVE GETTING EMAILS!!!!! *Grin*
Okay. I'll go now. *Mutter*
Kenshin: Ur.. where is she?
Sano: Where is who?
Kenshin: Dove-chan! I can't find her anywhere - and she needs to start the next chapter!
Sano: Shh..
Both: *Listen*
*Banging noise emanates from Dove's bedroom.*
Both: *Open the door and blink. Instead of the usual scene, Dove banging her head against her desk, they see Dove banging Hiko's head on her desk*
Dove: You *SLAM* Mean *SLAM* JERK! *SLAM*
Hiko: Ooow!! What did I do!?!
Dove: You called Kenshin an idiot!
Hiko: *Groans*
*The fact that Dove has Hiko in a head-lock is made more amusing by the fact that she's at least a full two heads shorter than him.*
Sano: Um.. Dove-chan.. Stop beating up on the Master of the Hiten Mitsurugi style..
Dove: NO!
Soujiro: Ppppllleeeeeaaaaaaassssseeee??
Dove: *Growl* FINE!!!
--
And to the person that figured out my Koga thing, yes that was an Inuyasha reference. ^-^ Good job! You get a cookie! ^_-
--
Dark
Chapter Twenty-Five
**The War Part One**
"What's wrong, Kaoru?" Misao asked as she drove her purple mustang towards the Aoiya. Kaoru was seated next to her, shivering. Her face was dead white.
"W-wrong? Nothing's wrong." Kaoru assured her shakily, fingering the baby-blue felt seat material anxiously.
"Riiigghhtt.." Misao muttered. They got to the Aoiya quickly, the rest of the ride was silent.
"Misao!" An old man with a patch on his left eye called. "Here, catch!" He lugged a rolled up ball of garments at her.
Misao smoothly caught the clothing, and separated it into two smaller bundles.
"Here, Kaoru." She handed her the larger one. "This will be a lot better to fight in then that outfit." She pointed to a room off to the left. Kaoru obediently went into it and changed speedily. She came out to see Misao wearing a smaller version of the same outfit.
It was some sort of uniform.
"What is this?" She asked.
"It's the OniWaban ninja outfit. All members of the OniWaban are ninjas. And since we're allies of Shishio's enemies, there's no doubt in our minds that he's going to attack. And since you're here, we're gonna need you to lend us a hand."
Kaoru nodded, adjusting her wrist guards. They felt strange, not bad-strange. Just.. odd.
"So, Kaoru. What were you and Himura doing when we barged in?"
"None of your business, Misao." Kaoru snapped as she involuntarily shivered. She could still feel him.
"Well, then-" Her sentence was cut off by a large explosion.
Kaoru and Misao raced outside, followed by the rest of the group.
An ugly man with bird-like features and a cloth over his mouth stood laughing. The source of his amusement being the bodies of two OniWaban members.
Kaoru gritted her teeth, her fists clenching in fury.
To murder - and then LAUGH at your victims! At least Battousai treated the dead with some degree of respect!
"Unforgivable!" She hissed, her voice perhaps half a decibel above a whisper. Anger caused her vision to take on a red sheen for a moment, and her blood pounded against her temples.
"Misao. Do you have any Shinai?"
"No.." Kaoru whirled and stormed inside.
After some searching she found a discarded sword sheath. She weighed it carefully in her palm - it would do.
She stalked back outside, holding her make-shift weapon high.
The smell of gunpowder was over-powering, and disgusting. Kaoru had to choke down a coughing fit.
Seeing that she'd returned, Misao yelled,
"Who are you?!"
"I am Henya, of the Juppon Gattana!" His voice held a strange hint of insanity and blood-lust. It lingered thickly in the air.
The tension could have been cute with a knife and served with a side of potatoes.
Kaoru charged rashly, and swung. But before she could connect, Henya leapt into the air.
As he did so, he pulled off his jacket. Kaoru felt a gasp escape her lips.
Graphed to his back were a pair of wings. He looked as though he'd starved himself from birth to schieve the level of emaciation he was sporting. All-in-all, it was a very grotesque effect.
"Obviously you don't know me, girl! I am Henya, the master of the Hikko-Happa! With my style, no matter what style your opponent has mastered, when you're above their head, they can't fight back! I'm giving you a chance, girl, to run!" He whipped a stick of low-grade dynamite out.
He didn't want to level Kyoto, just kill those in his way.
"Y'know Henya, usually I would," Kaoru fired back. "But you just killed good people with a coward's weapon - and laughed at them! I'm gonna fight you if it kills me!" Henya laughed.
"So be it, fool!" And threw a bomb. Kaoru hit it with her make-shift Shinai, deflecting it by a good foot and a half.
It exploded and sent her skidding, but didn't remove any limbs like he'd intended.
"Ah, so you know how to use that sheath in your hand! Guess I underestimated that!" The next three bombs did some damage.
The first sent Kaoru flying on her back, into a sharp protrusion that gashed right down it.
The second lightly burned her left tricep, not a big injury. It still hurt, though.
The third caused flying debris to hit her face and gash open her forehead - right above the eyes. Blinking blood away, Kaoru readied herself for the onslaught sure to follow.
'Dangit. I'm not as fast as Kenshin, so I can't get.. wait..' Her thoughts trailed off as an idea occurred to her.
Henya lit a group of bombs.
"I'm bored with you - this ends now! Hahaha!!" His mad chuckle shook the air.
Kaoru tensed.
He threw the bombs.
"KAORU! GET INSIDE THE AOIYA! HURRY! YOU CAN'T DEFEAT BOMBS IN BATTLE!!" Misao screamed.
Kaoru shuddered.
'Won't you please be quiet? I'm thinking.' Kaoru mentally chastised. The bombs hurtled for her. Time seemed to slow down. Kaoru gave a scream.
It started with an almost frightened tone, and turned into a battle-cry, a challenge.
The bombs hit and a split-second after impact, exploded. They left a crater a foot and a half deep.
"KAORU!" Misao screamed. She followed the exclaimation with a hearty, "S***!! Battousai is gonna KILL me!!"
"NO ONE can beat the destructive power of-"
"Y'know what, Henya? You talk to d*** much." Kaoru growled.
Henya looked up and yelped. Kaoru stood, carefully balanced, on a rapidly descending door.
The doors of the Aoiya were made to be exact replicas of the tradtional Japanese-style sliding doors.
The explosion had flung one of those doors off of it's hinges and Kaoru had hopped on. The heat from the detonation had burned Kaoru's back, but only somewhat.
She was lucky not to have more severe injuries, but she'd had to time it JUST right.
"You used the explosion to get HIGHER than me?!" Henya cried incredulously.
"Yep." Kaoru smashed her 'Shinai' into his neck with all of her weight behind it.
A sick crackle-POP sound informed Kaoru that she'd just broken the man's neck. She winced and gagged. Kaoru had misjudged how hard she could hit his malnourished body. He was.. dead..
They both slammed into the ground. His body bent akwardly, snapping his spine as well. Kaoru felt her right wrist pop and her left ankle shatter.
'D***..'
She clambored away from the corpse and managed to limp to Misao's side, her 'Shinai' completely shattered. Kaoru held her right wrist close. It didn't feel broken - only sprained.
Still hurt.
A lot.
"You're alive! GREAT! How injured??"
"I'm fine. Just hurt my write some. No big." Kaoru lied innocently.
"Okay. Now that we've established that, we have another lovely threat." For the first time, Kaoru noticed a rather pretty, tall woman dressed in a strange kimono with some sort of rope version of the Butterfly Bow.
She groaned.
"I am Kamatari, member of Lord Shishio's Juppon Gattana." Her voice was strangely deep.
Kaoru decided to try an approach that could be described as the official 'To Darn Tired To Bloody Fight Ya, So I'm Gonna Try To Talk You Out Of It' tactic.
"Ma'am, do-"
"MA'AM?" Kamatari laughed. "Oh, I'm so FLATTERED! But I'm no 'ma'am', doll." Kaoru hesitated.
"Huh?" Kamatari sighed, and with an even deeper voice, said,
"I am LORD Kamatari, the Large Scythe." Misao shrieked.
"Oh my GOD!! SHE is a HE!!"
"Good job, nothing gets by you." Kamatari mocked.
"Fine." Kaoru said, keeping her tone sweet. "SIR, would you consider not fighting?"
"No.." He lifted his scythe. Kaoru balked. Crap. She HAD no weapon!
Operation 'TDTTBFYSIGTTTYOOT' was a failure.
***
The battlefield was chosen, the pieces were in place.
Shishio, heading his army of similarly black-clad men, called out,
"HIKO SEIJURO! THIS IS OUR FORMAL CHALLENGE FOR COMPLETE CONTROL OF KYOTO!"
"HEARD AND ACCEPTED!" A strange ritual, but Battousai shrugged it off as a formality.
What Shishio didn't say was that the winner of the war would have the ability to control all of Japan.
"Challenge as been Issued, Heard, and Accepted. Begin." Aoshi announced coolly, drawing his twin Katana blades.
Battousai drew his own sword, eyes becoming feral and sharp.
The largest gang war Japan would ever see began.
:::The battlefield was large and asphalt,
The war was fought - no skills at fault.
The din did rise, men did fall.
The clash of blades rang above all.
As the ground ran red with blood.:::
A/N: Okay, here's part one. I actually have two other parts. They were all going to be in one big chapter and that was going to be the end of Dark, but I was convinced by someone who actually enjoys this story to continue. So this is part one. And Dark will continue.
Other stuff..
Kamatari. His part will be modified, promise.
Flames. I haven't actually gotten any *Hears shocked noises* But if you do feel like leaving one, feel free. But remember to include your full address so I can hunt you down and beat you to death with a cheese straw.
Those actually exist, to. It's funny.
The poem is mine, it continues through the next two chapters.
Hmm.. lets see if y'all can handle this.
When my counter hits 750 reviews, I will post the next chapter. Best get crackin' on the reviewing! Make friends and family review! Go for it! ^-^
Not to say I'm not grateful for breaking 700..
Okay, I'm soooo tired..
But I want to apologize for not getting this out Monday. Turned out I had to go on a 'family bonding trip' with.. well.. my family. And I didn't get back until too late on Monday to get this thing typed up and posted. But I DID write it..
Email me, people! Really!! I LOVE GETTING EMAILS!!!!! *Grin*
Okay. I'll go now. *Mutter*