Disclaimer: I don't own RK
'Thoughts'
"talking"
XXXXXX-time/scene change
Last chapter:
Kenshin smiled faintly as he sat on the roof with his sword over his shoulder. He felt a lot better after talking to Yahiko. He didn't even understand why he had opened up so much to the boy. It must have been because Yahiko had reminded Kenshin of how he was as a boy. He just needed someone to talk to and Yahiko was right there. He needed a distraction from all of his dark thoughts he had been having.
He missed his days with his Shishou. They were as close to a childhood that he had ever gotten and he was what caused it to be cut short. If only he had listened to his Shishou….
Chapter 5:
Things had slowly fallen into a routine at the dojo as each week passed. Everything seemed peaceful and the occupants of the dojo seemed to have forgotten about the mysterious man, all except Kenshin who was still constantly on the alert, either from habit or from the fear of being caught off guard even he didn't know.
Kenshin was slowly becoming more and more restless as the days passed by. He hadn't left the dojo in over two weeks and the fact that he hadn't had a chance to go out and practice his katas at all was making him feel uneasy and tense. Kenshin didn't dare leave the dojo when one of his friends was there and one of them always seemed to be there.
Kenshin stood up from his position on the porch and stretched out his stiff limbs. Things seemed to be very quiet now…a little too quiet. Kenshin checked the vicinity and found Kaoru's ki in the dojo. She was practicing her katas by herself since Yahiko had gone to the Akabeko to work and Sano was who knows where. Probably out gambling or getting drunk. As Kenshin sat back down, Kaoru's ki suddenly vanished causing him to jump back up in surprise. He extended out his ki as far as he could, but Kaoru's aura was completely gone. There was no trace of it at all. Unless Kaoru had suddenly learned how to sense ki and completely mask it, there is no possible reason for this to happen.
Kenshin narrowed his eyes and dashed to the dojo where he had last sensed Kaoru's ki. He threw the door open and scanned the room. He stepped inside and stepped on a kunai knife with a note tied to it. Kenshin narrowed his eyes further and opened the letter.
It read:
Battousai,
I have all of your friends here with me right now. By the way, when I said all, I meant that I had Kaoru, Yahiko, Megumi, and Sanosuke with me…I wonder what I should do with them…Maybe I should have some fun with them …hmmm….we could start by cutting off their fingers. Or maybe, I can break a few limbs…I always did wonder how it would feel to intentionally break a bone with your bare hands…well…maybe I should let you decide what I should do with them. I'll be waiting at an abandoned building deep in the forest by the dojo. I'll allow you to find this place on your own. Be here by 6 PM this evening, or else your friends die.
P.S. It is near a small stream/river.
Kenshin crumpled the paper and clenched it in his fists.
"Kuso!" he yelled throwing the paper against the opposite wall and taking off towards the forest. 'How did he get Kaoru? I understand the others, but Kaoru was right here! How did he get to her without me knowing?' By now, his eyes were glowing a bright molten gold rather than the dull grayish purplish hue it had taken on over the past week. He ran into the forest and began looking for any clues as to where this man had taken his friends. He scanned the plants for broken branches and the ground for footsteps. It was about 4 PM, which left him 2 hours to find this place.
Kenshin began following the river deeper into the forest stretching out his ki sense as far as it would go. Finally, after wandering around the forest for about an hour, he began to sense a small group of people. He quietly jumped into a tree and made his way to the place. As he spotted the huge compound, he stopped and hopped down onto the ground. He searched through the kis and sensed his friends deep inside the building. He began walking up to the front gates that were already opened for him. As he stepped past the gate, most of the men milling around looked up.
Some began smiling evilly while others watched him nervously, fearfully. Kenshin looked at one man that seemed to be afraid of him and said, "Where are my friends?" The man flinched and began to fumble nervously. Another man, this one bigger and with a confident look on his face said, "You must be Battousai. Kind of a puny little guy aren't you? Anyway, our leader is waiting inside."
Kenshin ignored the man's earlier comment and began walking towards the door. As he walked, many of the men were smirking and sniggering causing Kenshin to involuntarily tense up. He opened the door and stepped inside revealing a well-built man with long brown hair. He wore a black gi and grey hakamas with the traditional daisho at his side. He had a wide grin on his face and he had his ki completely masked.
"Well, if it isn't Battousai! He has a heart after all. A part of me was afraid that you wouldn't come for your friends. I'll bet you're wondering how I was able to slip right under your nose and grab the girl without you noticing?" he said with a smile.
Kenshin narrowed his eyes and glared at him.
"Well…I have learned how to fully control and manipulate my ki. That means, not only can I do the things you can do, but I can make it feel like it's someone else's while disguising mine. In other words, I went into your dojo while masking my ki, knocked your girlfriend out, and left the dojo while extending my manipulated ki into the dojo so that you wouldn't notice until I was long gone," he said his eyes filling with excitement.
"Where are they?" growled out Kenshin getting frustrated that he was actually tricked by this man.
"Tsk. Tsk. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the futon," he sneered.
Kenshin grabbed his sword and prepared to draw it.
"Now, now, no need to get violent. Follow me," he said calmly with a smile.
He began leading Kenshin through a series of hallways that led to a stairway to the basement. The basement was filled with doors and prison cells. By now, Kenshin's senses were on high alert. The man glanced back at him over his shoulder and smiled evilly. He continued walking down the hall until he came to a door that seemed to be in the middle of the long hall. He opened the door and stepped inside. Right behind Kenshin, two big men followed him in to make sure there wasn't any trouble.
The room, Kenshin saw, was divided into two prison cells with bars in between them. There was no way of getting into the other prison cell, except from a door from the hallway. Inside the other cell, Kenshin saw his friends. Their hands were chained to the wall and they all had looks of worry and fear in their eyes. Sanosuke's whole arm was chained to the wall to prevent him from using the the Futae no Kiwami.
"Let them go," growled Kenshin swinging his eyes to the man.
"I'm sorry Battousai, but I can't do that, but I am willing to strike up a bargain with you. What do you say?" he said with a cheerful look on his face.
"What do you want?" said Kenshin coldly glaring at him.
"You," he said simply. "If you willingly give yourself up, I promise I won't kill your friends and I might let them go."
"Don't do it Kenshin!" yelled Kaoru.
"Shut up Wench!" the man said sharply. "Do you need some help deciding Battousai?"
Just then, another man that Kenshin had seen outside walked into the cell his friends were in and pulled a dagger out. He began touching Kaoru's face with the tip of the blade gently enough so that the skin didn't break.
"Don't touch her!" yelled Sanosuke struggling against the chains.
As his blade moved from her forehead to her cheek, the blade went a little deeper creating a thin line of blood from below her eye to the corner of her jaw. Kaoru's eyes widened in fear as he began bringing the blade to the other side of her cheek to complete the cross.
"Stop!" yelled Kenshin. "Don't hurt her. Take me. Just don't hurt them," he said quietly with his head bowed, bangs covering his eyes.
"That's a good boy," the man said with a look of victory on his face. He nodded at the men beside Kenshin and they roughly grabbed him and slammed him against the wall. They grabbed his hands and pulled them above his head and chained them to the wall.
"Take his sword to my office," said the leader nodding to the other man in the cell across from Kenshin to leave. The bodyguard beside Kenshin yanked the sakabatou from his waist and followed the other man out of the room.
The man stepped in front of Kenshin and spat in his face. Kenshin lifted his head and glared at him.
"You have me now. Let the others go!" said Kenshin.
"I said I might let them go, but don't worry, I promised I wouldn't kill them, and I am a man of my word," he said with a grin.
Kenshin growled and swept the man's legs from under him causing him to fall ungracefully on his behind.
"Why you little brat!" he said jumping to his feet and sending a wave of punches into Kenshin's stomach. Kenshin clenched his fists against the pain shooting through his body.
"Stop it! Stop it!" yelled out Kaoru and Megumi. Surprisingly, the man listened and stopped, panting heavily. "Awww…you girls sure are party poopers, aren't you?" he said mockingly with that sickening smile on his face.
"Why are you doing this?" yelled Yahiko in frustration and anger.
The man's smile disappeared. "Why am I doing this? I am doing this because of him!" he yelled pointing at the glaring Kenshin. "He brought everything that I am doing upon himself! This monster that you call a friend is the reason for my misery. That is why, when I found a way of manipulating my ki to change people's ages, I chose to make him a 17 year old. I want him to suffer for all the lives he has taken!"
"Who are you?" asked Megumi hesitantly.
"Who am I?" he laughed. "For now, you can call my Shun," he said leaving the room with a slam of the door.
Kenshin clenched his fists and banged them once against the wall above his head. 'Kuso,' he thought. 'How can I let something like this to happen?'
"Kenshin…" said Kaoru uncertainly.
Kenshin brought his head up and looked across the room at his friends. "Did he hurt you?" he asked quietly.
"No," they all answered.
"What do we do now?" asked Yahiko a bit fearfully, Kenshin thought.
"Nothing. There's nothing we can do until he comes back," answered Kenshin truthfully. "Don't worry though, he won't hurt you guys. It's me he wants."
AN: I am so sorry this took forever to get out. I just couldn't get a chapter that I was happy with. I rewrote this chapter several times until this idea popped into my head. It ended up completely different from my original chapters, but that's okay. Once again, sorry for the long time it took me and please update. I'll try to get the next chapter out faster.
