D/C: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.

Hello!! I'm back with my 11th chapter, which happens to be my last one! Yes, after this chapter is over, you will never hear from me again!! (I mean the story) Anyway, thank you all for the reviews you've sent me, and without further ado, I present to you, chapter 11!! Enjoy!!

Chapter 11:

Kaoru watched in horror as Enishi brought down his sword upon Battousai, who didn't seem to be wanting to move anytime soon. Without even pausing to think, she had scrambled up the floor and placed herself between the two men. Enishi was taken by surprise...yet he managed to stop his attack with the sword's tip just a few millimeters away from Kaoru's face. Kaoru felt beads of sweat forming on her forehead and she swallowed.

'Step aside, you stupid woman!' Enishi snapped. 'Come on! Move!'

Kaoru shook her head. 'No, I won't!' she shot back. She turned around and wrapped her arms around Battousai. 'I won't let you touch him!'

If Enishi had been surprised, then Battousai was stumped. With his face buried in her shoulder, he could barely move...let alone speak. 'Kaoru...' he whispered.

Kaoru wrapped her arms more tightly around him as she glared up at Enishi. 'You won't kill him, you understand?' she demanded. 'If you're going to have to kill him, you might as well kill me first, because I'm not moving from here!'

'That's enough!'

To both her and Enishi's surprise, it was Battousai who had said those words. He was standing up, glaring at both of them. Kaoru shivered when she saw the yellowish hue in his eyes. Stepping around Kaoru, he slowly advanced on Enishi, who, involuntarily, took a few steps back. Kaoru could sense the power radiating off his body, and it didn't seem like anything good would come from it. In a flash of a movement, Battousai had snatched the sword out of Enishi's hands and was holding the blade to Enishi's neck.

'This is a nice sword...its workmanship is Chinese, but it really is a Japanese sword, isn't it?' Battousai said quietly, and Enishi barely managed a tiny nod. Battousai smiled. 'I believe you know what will happen to you if this sword draws out a single drop of Kaoru's blood, do you not? And you!' Kaoru froze as Battousai turned around and fixed her in a steely gaze. 'I don't want you protecting me, alright? People who've tried to do that died...and I don't want that happening with you, too.'

Kaoru nodded meekly, not daring to tell Battousai the truth of her intentions; that she was protecting her husband, and not him. But still, she had to admit that his words had sent a chill up her spine. Not wanting to be protected by others so that they wouldn't die for him...only know did she realize how much Tomoe's death affected him. She couldn't even start to imagine how it would feel to kill some one you love when you don't even intend to...Battousai...

Her eyes wide, she watched fearfully as Battousai pushed Enishi against the wall, the blade of the sword still pressed against his neck. His eyes flashed as he advanced on him. 'You will give me what I want, or yours won't be a very happy ending,' he whispered. Enishi nodded. 'I want you to tell me how I could reverse the curse your dear grandpa placed on me, alright?'

Enishi shook his head. 'I...I wouldn't know of any counter spell; my grandfather didn't tell me anything about it,' he told him, his voice quivering.

'Don't lie to me!' Battousai snapped pressing the blade more tightly against his throat, and Enishi flinched as a drop of blood trickled down his neck. 'You were just boasting about how you and your grandfather had been really close, you damn bastard, so don't start telling me that you don't know the counter spell!'

'But I swear I don't know anything!' Enishi protested.

'Don't give me that bullshit!' Battousai said angrily. 'The fact that you're denying it makes me more certain that you know something about it!'

'Um...Battousai?' Kaoru said uncertainly, as she slowly rose up to her feet. 'Um...don't you think he might be telling the truth? I mean, he really might not know anything about a counter spell...'

'Are you defending him now?' Battousai said, and Kaoru could hear the note of anger in his voice. She started to open her mouth, when he turned to look at her with a gentle expression upon his face. 'Kaoru, if there's anything I'm good at; it's killing...and the nice ability of being able to tell out who's lying to me...although I've had to acquire that ability the hard way.' He fell silent for a moment, and then he grinned cheerfully at her. 'And I could easily tell you that this bastard over here is lying.'

He looked back at Enishi, who managed to maintain a bit of a firm expression even though his face had lost some of its color. 'So you caught me...big deal,' he spat at him. 'You can kill me right now because I'm not telling you anything about the counter spell. My grandfather trusted me with this secret, and I'm not about to go betraying his trust to Battousai himself. I don't care if I'm dead as long as I don't betray my grandfather! I'm sure he's up in Heaven with Aunt Tomoe, and I know that they're both smiling at me, telling me to stand firm...'

'Shut up!' Battousai exploded. 'Stop spouting crap about your damn grandfather! You don't know half the truth, alright? Do you know that it was your bloody damn grandfather who led that guy to our whereabouts? Do you know that he sided with the enemy? If it weren't for him, then none of this would've happened! And Tomoe wouldn't have died!! And one more thing? Don't talk about Tomoe like you know her! You're just like you grandfather!! You think you know Tomoe pretty well, you think you understand her...but you don't! Tomoe sacrificed herself for me that day! She died because your damn bastard of a grandfather wouldn't leave us alone! We were just beginning to settle down and then he came along and...and...'

Kaoru could hear the tremor in his voice, and knew that if it weren't for the fact that he was holding back in front of Enishi, she was sure he would've been crying. She moved forward towards him. 'Battousai...' she said softly.

'So you're going to be a good boy now and give me the counter spell,' Battousai finished. 'I don't care what happens to me as long as Kaoru's happy. I don't want to hurt her like I hurt Tomoe. I'm going to return her husband's body to her, and you're going to help me with that.'

'No!' Kaoru protested, her eyes filling with tears. 'You said you don't want to hurt me, and that's great, thank you! But...but...I don't want you to get hurt in the process!! I don't want you to suffer anymore; you've suffered enough to make up for your sins and more!! I want you to be happy too...and I'm sure Kenshin would want that to...I'm sure he's telling you right now to not throw your life away...'

Battousai was silent for a moment, and then he bent down his head, chuckling. He released Enishi and turned towards her. He smiled. 'Thank you, Kaoru,' he said softly. 'And you're right; Kenshin said exactly what you thought he would say, but the thing is, I don't care anymore. I've lived long enough around here, and as I've already told Kenshin...the only thing I want now is death, and I was just wondering if our dear Yukishiro-san would be able to grant me this wish.'

They both looked back at Enishi, who was still standing, frozen against the wall, although his expression had remarkably relaxed. 'Yes, it happens that I can grant you that wish, Battousai,' he told him, a hint of a smile hovering over his thin lips. 'But I'm afraid that you're gonna have to take your host along with you.'

-

'He's going to have to kill Kenshin...too?'

Battousai and Kaoru were both standing beside the paddock in Enishi's backyard. Enishi, himself, was no where to be seen. Kaoru knelt down and started stirring the still waters with her hand. Small fish swam up to her hand. Battousai gripped the hilt of his sword so tightly his knuckles were becoming white. Enishi had told them that in order to release Battousai from Kenshin's body, the exact same procedure with which Battousai had been trapped inside the sword had to be followed, while saying the incantation...so, by releasing Battousai from the body, Kenshin was going to have to die, too.

'Gomen,' Battousai said softly.

Kaoru looked up. 'What are you apologizing for?' she asked. 'It's not your fault. None of this is.'

Battousai slowly shook his head. 'No...that's where your wrong, Kaoru-dono,' he whispered, and Kaoru was startled at the use of this honorific with her name. 'Everywhere I go, people tend to die. Even the people who are close to me die...even though I try so hard to protect them. They die, and I remain alive, drowning in my sins. I wonder...is it my punishment?'

'Battousai...' she murmured. She paused for a moment. 'You know, that's just stupid.'

Battousai blinked, confused. 'Sorry?' he said.

'I told you before, Battousai, you can't go blaming yourself for the death of every person you've come upon in your life, because that's entirely stupid. You also can't protect everyone,' Kaoru said quietly. 'You probably think that your feelings of guilt are a way of abiding to your sins, but that's not true. If you want to correct what you've done wrong, then you have to do something good, something which cancels out the bad that you've done before...only then you can really make up for your mistakes.'

Battousai chuckled. 'How come you always say the things that I want to hear?' he said softly.

Kaoru looked up at him, a bit pink in the face. 'Um...excuse me?' she said.

He smiled at her. 'Nothing,' he replied.

They stayed together in silence for a while, and then Kaoru stood up and faced him with a determined expression. 'There has to be another way!' she told him. 'There has to be another way to reverse the curse! This just can't be the only way! We don't have to kill Kenshin! We...we can't kill Kenshin!'

Battousai said nothing. Kaoru watched anxiously as his face became a mask of anger. In a blink of an eye, he had drawn out his sword and charged at an old oak tree. 'Kuso!! Enishi, you bastard!!' he bellowed.

'Battousai! What are you...?' Kaoru cried, and froze midway as Battousai's sword came in contact with the tree's massive bark.

There was a moment of silence in which nothing moved, and then the spot where Battousai had sliced the bark split from the tree and the upper part of the tree, with its trees and branches, crashed to the ground with a loud thud and a cloud of dust rose around it. The ground shook beneath Kaoru's legs and she shielded her face with her arms from the wave of dust which was coming her way. When the dust had cleared, she looked up and saw Battousai standing before the sliced bark, while Enishi stood behind it, looking petrified. Kaoru watched silently as Battousai walked towards Enishi, who took a few steps back, tripped over his own feet and stumbled back to the ground. Battousai stood above him, sword raised. She held her breath.

'Enishi, you and I both know that this is not the only way,' Battousai hissed. 'There is something that you're hiding from me, and you'd better tell it to me soon because my patience is running low. Sure, you talk big and say you don't care if I kill you, but on the inside you're just a frightened little mouse. Now, spill out your beans, Yukishiro!'

-

'How is it that the act of killing has been reduced to the simple task of drawing out a bit of blood and reciting the counter spell?'

Battousai fixed Enishi with an accuusing glare, and the latter flinched. He fetched out a small silver dagger out of the cabinet he had been searching in and turned to face Battousai and Kaoru. 'This is the one,' he muttered.

'You're such a sick bastard, do you know that?' Battousai told him. 'You were actually ready to kill an innocent man just to get me. Is your grudge that deep?'

Enishi glared at him. 'You know nothing,' he snapped. 'You caused people so much pain. Life didn't matter at all to you, you just killed to please your lust for blood. You can't expect me not to hate you for that.'

Battousai smiled pleasantly. 'But wouldn't killing Kenshin have made you the exact same thing?' he asked. 'Weren't you just about to kill Kenshin to please your lust for Battousai's lust? Face it, Enishi; you're just as bad as I am...and so was your grandfather.'

Enishi didn't say anything. He just fetched a necklace from behind his shirt. To the thick silver chain hung a small glass cylinder. As they watched, Enishi crushed the cylinder with his bare hands, to which Kaoru gave a small start. Blood trickled down his arm, but Enishi didn't seem to care. He opened his hand and they saw a small roll of parchment lying in the palm of his hand. Battousai watched this tiny parchment with interest.

'This is the counter spell, I presume?' he asked politely.

Grudgingly, Enishi nodded. 'So...if you'll want to start now...' he muttered.

Battousai grabbed Enishi by the neck of his shirt and brought him close to him. 'Let us set a few things straight first, Yukishiro-san...' he said in a quiet, deadly voice, and Enishi gulped, sweat forming at his forehead. 'I want you to know that if you harm one hair of Kaoru's and Kenshin's head after I'm gone, I'll come back and haunt you. You know how ghosts with unfinished businesses tend to come back? Well, you'll be my unfinished business...and I'll stick to you until I drive you off the brink of insanity, do you understand me?'

Enishi nodded, and Kaoru didn't think he'd even dare to do otherwise in his situation. She started when Battousai turned to face her. 'This is it, then?' she asked him. 'You're leaving?'

Battousai smiled. 'Yeah,' he replied. 'But I don't suppose you'll be missing me, ne?'

Kaoru paused a moment before saying her next words. 'You know, Battousai...being the murdering bastard you are, I suppose the most logical thing will be not to miss you,' she told him, and Battousai's expression drooped slightly at that. 'But...believe it or not...I am going to miss you. After all, it's not everyday you get to meet the great Battousai...right?'

Battousai smiled, and before she could even react, he had leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the cheek. Kaoru was numb with surprise; Battousai had actually kissed her!! She would've remained in that state of surprise if it weren't for the fact that Enishi was starting the rituals. Enishi was holding the silver dagger against Battousai's palm, and he was breathing deeply. Kaoru watched in horror as he started to slice at his palm.

'Oh, great spirits of Japan, I ask you to hear my plea, and cast your mercy upon the soul of this mortal being,' Enishi whispered. Both Kaoru and Battousai watched him warily. 'I ask you to free the invadant soul of this body, and release him to do as he pleases. Oh, great spirits of Japan, I beg you to answer my request...'

Blood trickled down Battousai's arm and to the ground, but something strange was happening. The wound on his palm was starting to radiate with a white light. Battousai looked at Kaoru. 'It's happening. I can feel it,' he whispered, his eyes filled with emotion. 'I can already see Tomoe...holding out her arms for me...'

'Oh, Battousai...' Kaoru whispered.

Enishi was still chanting. 'Oh, great spirits of Japan...tear away the invading soul from this body and free its host,' he whispered. 'I beg you to hear my plea!!'

'Good bye, Kaoru...it's been fun,' he told her.

There was a blinding flash of light, and then...silence. When Kaoru opened her eyes again, Battousai was lying on the ground, the wound on his hand now completely sealed. Both she and Enishi watched him silently for a few moments, and when he didn't seem to move, Kaoru rushed forward towards him. She cradled his head in her lap and pushed his locks of red hair away from his face.

'Kenshin? Kenshin, please wake up!' she pleaded. She bent her head and placed it against his chest. Her eyes widened when she couldn't hear any heartbeat. 'Kenshin!!!'

-

A/N: There! Done!! I guess I'll be receiving flames for this second cliff-hanger, hehe. Yes, that means there's still one chapter left to go. I decided I wouldn't finish it in this chapter, after all. Well, anyway, I hope you liked this chapter too because I'm expecting reviews, okay? Thanks!!! Wait for my last chapter!!!

- S. N. B.