A/N:
Dove: Hello, loyal wonderful fabulous readers.
Kenshin: She is happy, 900 reviews have been broken.
Sano: *Snorts* Wanna see a bet y'all CAN'T win? I bet you can't break 1000 reviews! HAHA! *Knows he is going to win*
Dove: *Hugging her new toy* Sano, just drop it. You've already been POUNDED INTO THE GROUND by them on your last bet.
Kenshin: *Sigh*
Sano: She's been obsessed with nun-chucks for some time now. And a friend of her father bought a set for her. So she's officially in love.
Dove: Yeah.. it's the only reason that I started this chapter, I was suddenly in a FABULOUS mood.
Sano:..yeah.
Dove: OOH! By the way, congratulations, everyone. You have offically completed over 214 written pages of Dark. Facinating, eh?
Kenshin: She danced after she realized how many pages there where.
Dove: *Twitch* MUST you keep a running commentary?
Kenshin: Yep.
Sano: Definatly.
Dove: *Mutter* Smart-Alecks..
Kenshin and Sano: *Whistling innocently*
Dove: Whatever. Anyhoo. Just to let you all know, I have ACTUALLY started working on the first chapter of my next RK fic. It will be out soon. *Silence* *Sarcasm* Gee, your enthusiasim is deafening me.
Dark
Chapter Twenty-Nine
****NOTE: Just a warning, chapter thirty will be the last chapter of Dark. There may be a sequel, depending on the demand for it. ^-^ So this chapter is gonna have a definate impact on the end!****
Kaoru jumped when Battousai broke the surface of the water. He sucked in air for a moment, before demanding his sword.
Kaoru immediately leapt for it and threw it to him. With no effort at all he reached up and caught the sheathed blade, and dove.
He reached Soujiro's box very quickly, and dropped into a battou-jutsu stance.
It was hard to slice the water, so it took him about three tries to cut the lock.
Blood billowed from the open box, followed by a pale and wincing Soujiro.
Battousai did not dawdle. He grabbed the pained boy by the arm and hauled him to the people waiting for him above-water. Breaking surface once more, Battousai released Soujiro and dove once more.
He opened the other two boxes he found.
The first contained a dead man, face bluish and eyes bulging. Battousai went out of his way to wedge that box shut.
The second one contained a little girl that didn't look so well. Her face was slightly blue, she must have run out of oxygen. Either that, or she'd been breathing in when he opened the box.
Proud of himself for saving one of Shishio's last victims – such a lovely way to 'honor' his memory – Battousai lifted the girl in his arms and swam to the surface once more.
Kaoru couldn't watch as her brother was treated for his bloodied injuries, so she waited for Battousai to resurface.
He did, with a little girl clinging to him.
The assassin handed the child off to Kaoru and pulled himself out of the water. He was soaking wet. Kaoru did her best to focus her attention on the girl. 'Yum..he dressed yet?..don't LOOK Kaoru!'
The girl's hair was brown, and her eyes had a violet shade to them.
"Hey, I need someone medical-like over here!" And then the girl was taken from her to be examined for any extensive injuries.
***
They were all resting in Kenshin's living room, except the owner himself. Kenshin, who's eyes had regained their normal color, was in the kitchen making tea. He'd been really worried what his 'other side' had done. But Kaoru had told the poor guy nothing. He'd just take it on his own shoulders and get depressed.
Kaoru's wrist was wrapped in a handy Ace bandage, and her ankle was in a cast and propped up with some pillows. She had the couch all to herself.
Megumi had also stitched her back, where she'd gashed herself, and washed off her forehead. That had received two stitches, nothing serious when compared to the thirty-six stitch requirement for her back.
Sano was okay, especially now that he had some lovely morphine and could look forward to pain-killers. The blade had left him with a fourty-one stitch hole in his leg and chipped the bone.
"So, what's your name?" Kaoru asked the little girl. The girl had been treated for mild hypothermia, and a sprained wrist similar to Kaoru's.
"I..I'm Tsubame, ma'am." The poor kid still seemed amazed that they'd saved her, moreover that BATTOUSAI had done the actual 'saving'.
"Nice to meet you, Tsubame. I'm Kaoru, the guy staring at the clock and watching the second hand is Sano on painkilling drugs, the guy in the chair asleep is Soujiro – my big brother – and.." Kenshin walked in right then, putting the tea-cups down. "This is Kenshin, the man who saved you."
"I..I remember you..all..I've seen you.. at the Akabeko.."
"Oh!" Kaoru remembered suddenly. The little girl serving with.. what was her name? The polite girl with the nice smile.. Jessie, that was it!
"So, Miss Tsubame. What did you do to end up in that box?" Kenshin asked amiably.
"..I went against Mr. Hiko's orders, sir." She whispered.
"You mean Shishio?" She shook her head slowly.
"N-no sir. Mr. Hiko. He was working with Mr. Shishio and I.. went against an order. So.. I ended up in..that box."
Kenshin's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"It is not nice to lie, girl."
"I..I'm not, sir." She looked up at him, confused, eyes wide, her pale face void of any color. Kaoru thought that she herself had probably looked like that when she'd first met Battousai. And Kenshin was beginning to sound like his counter-part in a startling way.
"Kenshin, look at the poor girl. I mean, come on. YOU have the 'lie-detector' sixth sense. She isn't trying to pull the wool over your eyes, stupid!" Kenshin gave her a sullen look.
"Kaoru. I have been with Hiko Seijirou since I was eight. And now you want me to believe that everything he has ever said to me has been a lie?"
Kaoru nodded. "Why would she lie, Kenshin?" She returned. With a snarl, Kenshin rose and stormed into the bedroom. Kaoru leapt after him.
***
"Stupid girl." Kenshin growled, furiously pounding on a pillow. The door opened, and he plopped sullenly on the bed.
Kaoru quietly closed the door and stared at Kenshin for a moment. And then she sat next to him, turning so she could peer into his face.
"Kenshin, I don't know ANYTHING about you. Would you like to tell me about Hiko, so I can understand?"
He stared at her for a long moment, Kaoru got an eerie feeling that he was reading her soul or her mind or something. And then he nodded.
"Alright, Kaoru. You want to know about ME? Well, I'll tell you."
Kaoru gulped and nodded, ready for whatever he could throw.
"I used to live in America, I was born there. My father was Japanese, my mother was Irish. They were.. actually, they were the best parents a guy could ask for. They loved me and always tried to make sure that I had food in my stomach, clothes on my back, and love in my heart.
They died when I was four."
Kenshin closed his eyes, and let the memories take him away.
~~~~
'He was in Japan. Tokyo. He'd been sent to live with an uncle. How unfortunate that said uncle was an underground child slave trader. Very quickly Kenshin found himself 'for sale'. He was bought by a group of shady men.
He was worked constantly, hefting boxes over 30 pounds more than a 4-year-old should have been handling. But he never complained. Even when they beat him, all he did was stare at them coldly and wait for them to tire of their useless waste of energy. His spirit was to strong.
Finally, he was noticed by a group of three women. Their jobs..were different from the males. But they tried to help him when they could, even taking some of his punishments for him.
Their spirits were not broken, but teetered so closely to the edge..
They'd been attacked, late one night when he was eight. By a group of Shishio's men.
He'd moved to attack them, grabbing a strange sword that one of the fallen men was carrying.
But he didn't get far before his adoptive mothers snatched him back. They formed a tight, protective circle around him.
'Let me go! Let me fight!' He whispered. 'They're hurting them, and killing them.. what did those people ever do to the bad men?'
'No, _____' they whispered.' Kenshin could never remember what they had called him. ''You have to live! We've already had all of our lives to choose our paths, but your way has just begun, your path not yet clear and chosen! You have to LIVE! For us!' The tear.. a single tear.. more than anyone had shown for him in four years.
The terror. The warm blood spurting from the bodies of the murdered women as one by one they fell away.
'What-a we got here? A little KID? Crying over those women? We'll take the pain away.' He didn't bother to raise his head, without a weapon he could not fight and the sword was out of reach.
A feeling of utter weakness raced through him and his spirit shattered. He just slumped and waited for death.
And it did not come. There were grunts of pain and thumps as bodies fell. Kenshin spun, and found himself staring into the smirking face of an incredibly tall man.
'Ah, so I did find a survivor.'
'..who..you?' Kenshin's Japanese was very, very basic. The women had spoken to him in English, Seijirou never found out what they'd said, Kenshin had kept it a secret.
'Hiko Seijirou, Kid. You?'
'______' Again the name escaped him. Hiko had smirked once more.
'That's a bit of a weak name. I think I'll call you.. Kenshin.'
'K..Kenshin?'
'Yeah, that's fitting for an ally of mine.. Now come with me.' Kenshin stood and followed Hiko, head down. His spirit was..dead..
His golden eyes shone from his flaming red hair as he watched Hiko stride through the dead bodies.
Battousai, the one everyone considered the horrible evil one.. had already started putting the pieces of his weaker counterpart's spirit back together.
It took almost ten years to do that..
And another ten for their existences to have the ability to coincide peacefully.
Hiko Seijirou was there through it all.'
~~~~
"That's why, Kaoru. I can't believe that he would be working with the man that killed those women.. and the man that we both swore to hate."
"But.. Kenshin.. Kenshin, can I tell you something?"
"Yes."
"It's something.. I saw in his eyes. Hiko Seijirou is a dangerous man, calculating.. and.." She stammered into silence.
"And?"
"..Thelookinhiseyeswhenhelookedatyouradiatedhate,evenmoresowhenhelookedat-" Breath "-Watsuki." Kaoru responded as quickly as she could, her words jumbling together in her haste.
"I don't want to believe that.. Kaoru.. but.." He sighed. "I don't know anymore."
***
"I think he's catching on, sir." Saitou remarked to Aoshi, his superior.
"Yes, I do, as well."
Saitou was an agent for Aoshi. Misao and Kaoru had never really been in any REAL danger around him.
Lighting another cigarette and taking a long drag, Saitou remarked,
"The only question that remains is.. is Battousai going to be able to cut out all the sentimental stuff, and take out Hiko before he is ordered to kill the girl?"
"He has two days." Aoshi responded slowly. "I hope he uses them wisely, he never disobeys orders." The two continued watching what was going on through the hidden camera in the room.
***
A/N:
Dove: I got a complaint about how I make Saitou all kinds of evil.. and since I don't really hate wolf-man, I decided to make him a good guy. ^-^
Kenshin:….
Sano:….
Dove: What? No comments?
Both: Nope.
Soujiro: I have one! How are you going to wrap this ALLL up next chapter?
Dove: By fusing some loose ends and tying them all together.
Soujro:…good luck with that, Dove-chan..
Dove: Hello, loyal wonderful fabulous readers.
Kenshin: She is happy, 900 reviews have been broken.
Sano: *Snorts* Wanna see a bet y'all CAN'T win? I bet you can't break 1000 reviews! HAHA! *Knows he is going to win*
Dove: *Hugging her new toy* Sano, just drop it. You've already been POUNDED INTO THE GROUND by them on your last bet.
Kenshin: *Sigh*
Sano: She's been obsessed with nun-chucks for some time now. And a friend of her father bought a set for her. So she's officially in love.
Dove: Yeah.. it's the only reason that I started this chapter, I was suddenly in a FABULOUS mood.
Sano:..yeah.
Dove: OOH! By the way, congratulations, everyone. You have offically completed over 214 written pages of Dark. Facinating, eh?
Kenshin: She danced after she realized how many pages there where.
Dove: *Twitch* MUST you keep a running commentary?
Kenshin: Yep.
Sano: Definatly.
Dove: *Mutter* Smart-Alecks..
Kenshin and Sano: *Whistling innocently*
Dove: Whatever. Anyhoo. Just to let you all know, I have ACTUALLY started working on the first chapter of my next RK fic. It will be out soon. *Silence* *Sarcasm* Gee, your enthusiasim is deafening me.
Dark
Chapter Twenty-Nine
****NOTE: Just a warning, chapter thirty will be the last chapter of Dark. There may be a sequel, depending on the demand for it. ^-^ So this chapter is gonna have a definate impact on the end!****
Kaoru jumped when Battousai broke the surface of the water. He sucked in air for a moment, before demanding his sword.
Kaoru immediately leapt for it and threw it to him. With no effort at all he reached up and caught the sheathed blade, and dove.
He reached Soujiro's box very quickly, and dropped into a battou-jutsu stance.
It was hard to slice the water, so it took him about three tries to cut the lock.
Blood billowed from the open box, followed by a pale and wincing Soujiro.
Battousai did not dawdle. He grabbed the pained boy by the arm and hauled him to the people waiting for him above-water. Breaking surface once more, Battousai released Soujiro and dove once more.
He opened the other two boxes he found.
The first contained a dead man, face bluish and eyes bulging. Battousai went out of his way to wedge that box shut.
The second one contained a little girl that didn't look so well. Her face was slightly blue, she must have run out of oxygen. Either that, or she'd been breathing in when he opened the box.
Proud of himself for saving one of Shishio's last victims – such a lovely way to 'honor' his memory – Battousai lifted the girl in his arms and swam to the surface once more.
Kaoru couldn't watch as her brother was treated for his bloodied injuries, so she waited for Battousai to resurface.
He did, with a little girl clinging to him.
The assassin handed the child off to Kaoru and pulled himself out of the water. He was soaking wet. Kaoru did her best to focus her attention on the girl. 'Yum..he dressed yet?..don't LOOK Kaoru!'
The girl's hair was brown, and her eyes had a violet shade to them.
"Hey, I need someone medical-like over here!" And then the girl was taken from her to be examined for any extensive injuries.
***
They were all resting in Kenshin's living room, except the owner himself. Kenshin, who's eyes had regained their normal color, was in the kitchen making tea. He'd been really worried what his 'other side' had done. But Kaoru had told the poor guy nothing. He'd just take it on his own shoulders and get depressed.
Kaoru's wrist was wrapped in a handy Ace bandage, and her ankle was in a cast and propped up with some pillows. She had the couch all to herself.
Megumi had also stitched her back, where she'd gashed herself, and washed off her forehead. That had received two stitches, nothing serious when compared to the thirty-six stitch requirement for her back.
Sano was okay, especially now that he had some lovely morphine and could look forward to pain-killers. The blade had left him with a fourty-one stitch hole in his leg and chipped the bone.
"So, what's your name?" Kaoru asked the little girl. The girl had been treated for mild hypothermia, and a sprained wrist similar to Kaoru's.
"I..I'm Tsubame, ma'am." The poor kid still seemed amazed that they'd saved her, moreover that BATTOUSAI had done the actual 'saving'.
"Nice to meet you, Tsubame. I'm Kaoru, the guy staring at the clock and watching the second hand is Sano on painkilling drugs, the guy in the chair asleep is Soujiro – my big brother – and.." Kenshin walked in right then, putting the tea-cups down. "This is Kenshin, the man who saved you."
"I..I remember you..all..I've seen you.. at the Akabeko.."
"Oh!" Kaoru remembered suddenly. The little girl serving with.. what was her name? The polite girl with the nice smile.. Jessie, that was it!
"So, Miss Tsubame. What did you do to end up in that box?" Kenshin asked amiably.
"..I went against Mr. Hiko's orders, sir." She whispered.
"You mean Shishio?" She shook her head slowly.
"N-no sir. Mr. Hiko. He was working with Mr. Shishio and I.. went against an order. So.. I ended up in..that box."
Kenshin's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"It is not nice to lie, girl."
"I..I'm not, sir." She looked up at him, confused, eyes wide, her pale face void of any color. Kaoru thought that she herself had probably looked like that when she'd first met Battousai. And Kenshin was beginning to sound like his counter-part in a startling way.
"Kenshin, look at the poor girl. I mean, come on. YOU have the 'lie-detector' sixth sense. She isn't trying to pull the wool over your eyes, stupid!" Kenshin gave her a sullen look.
"Kaoru. I have been with Hiko Seijirou since I was eight. And now you want me to believe that everything he has ever said to me has been a lie?"
Kaoru nodded. "Why would she lie, Kenshin?" She returned. With a snarl, Kenshin rose and stormed into the bedroom. Kaoru leapt after him.
***
"Stupid girl." Kenshin growled, furiously pounding on a pillow. The door opened, and he plopped sullenly on the bed.
Kaoru quietly closed the door and stared at Kenshin for a moment. And then she sat next to him, turning so she could peer into his face.
"Kenshin, I don't know ANYTHING about you. Would you like to tell me about Hiko, so I can understand?"
He stared at her for a long moment, Kaoru got an eerie feeling that he was reading her soul or her mind or something. And then he nodded.
"Alright, Kaoru. You want to know about ME? Well, I'll tell you."
Kaoru gulped and nodded, ready for whatever he could throw.
"I used to live in America, I was born there. My father was Japanese, my mother was Irish. They were.. actually, they were the best parents a guy could ask for. They loved me and always tried to make sure that I had food in my stomach, clothes on my back, and love in my heart.
They died when I was four."
Kenshin closed his eyes, and let the memories take him away.
~~~~
'He was in Japan. Tokyo. He'd been sent to live with an uncle. How unfortunate that said uncle was an underground child slave trader. Very quickly Kenshin found himself 'for sale'. He was bought by a group of shady men.
He was worked constantly, hefting boxes over 30 pounds more than a 4-year-old should have been handling. But he never complained. Even when they beat him, all he did was stare at them coldly and wait for them to tire of their useless waste of energy. His spirit was to strong.
Finally, he was noticed by a group of three women. Their jobs..were different from the males. But they tried to help him when they could, even taking some of his punishments for him.
Their spirits were not broken, but teetered so closely to the edge..
They'd been attacked, late one night when he was eight. By a group of Shishio's men.
He'd moved to attack them, grabbing a strange sword that one of the fallen men was carrying.
But he didn't get far before his adoptive mothers snatched him back. They formed a tight, protective circle around him.
'Let me go! Let me fight!' He whispered. 'They're hurting them, and killing them.. what did those people ever do to the bad men?'
'No, _____' they whispered.' Kenshin could never remember what they had called him. ''You have to live! We've already had all of our lives to choose our paths, but your way has just begun, your path not yet clear and chosen! You have to LIVE! For us!' The tear.. a single tear.. more than anyone had shown for him in four years.
The terror. The warm blood spurting from the bodies of the murdered women as one by one they fell away.
'What-a we got here? A little KID? Crying over those women? We'll take the pain away.' He didn't bother to raise his head, without a weapon he could not fight and the sword was out of reach.
A feeling of utter weakness raced through him and his spirit shattered. He just slumped and waited for death.
And it did not come. There were grunts of pain and thumps as bodies fell. Kenshin spun, and found himself staring into the smirking face of an incredibly tall man.
'Ah, so I did find a survivor.'
'..who..you?' Kenshin's Japanese was very, very basic. The women had spoken to him in English, Seijirou never found out what they'd said, Kenshin had kept it a secret.
'Hiko Seijirou, Kid. You?'
'______' Again the name escaped him. Hiko had smirked once more.
'That's a bit of a weak name. I think I'll call you.. Kenshin.'
'K..Kenshin?'
'Yeah, that's fitting for an ally of mine.. Now come with me.' Kenshin stood and followed Hiko, head down. His spirit was..dead..
His golden eyes shone from his flaming red hair as he watched Hiko stride through the dead bodies.
Battousai, the one everyone considered the horrible evil one.. had already started putting the pieces of his weaker counterpart's spirit back together.
It took almost ten years to do that..
And another ten for their existences to have the ability to coincide peacefully.
Hiko Seijirou was there through it all.'
~~~~
"That's why, Kaoru. I can't believe that he would be working with the man that killed those women.. and the man that we both swore to hate."
"But.. Kenshin.. Kenshin, can I tell you something?"
"Yes."
"It's something.. I saw in his eyes. Hiko Seijirou is a dangerous man, calculating.. and.." She stammered into silence.
"And?"
"..Thelookinhiseyeswhenhelookedatyouradiatedhate,evenmoresowhenhelookedat-" Breath "-Watsuki." Kaoru responded as quickly as she could, her words jumbling together in her haste.
"I don't want to believe that.. Kaoru.. but.." He sighed. "I don't know anymore."
***
"I think he's catching on, sir." Saitou remarked to Aoshi, his superior.
"Yes, I do, as well."
Saitou was an agent for Aoshi. Misao and Kaoru had never really been in any REAL danger around him.
Lighting another cigarette and taking a long drag, Saitou remarked,
"The only question that remains is.. is Battousai going to be able to cut out all the sentimental stuff, and take out Hiko before he is ordered to kill the girl?"
"He has two days." Aoshi responded slowly. "I hope he uses them wisely, he never disobeys orders." The two continued watching what was going on through the hidden camera in the room.
***
A/N:
Dove: I got a complaint about how I make Saitou all kinds of evil.. and since I don't really hate wolf-man, I decided to make him a good guy. ^-^
Kenshin:….
Sano:….
Dove: What? No comments?
Both: Nope.
Soujiro: I have one! How are you going to wrap this ALLL up next chapter?
Dove: By fusing some loose ends and tying them all together.
Soujro:…good luck with that, Dove-chan..