Chapter 10 - My weakness

Haruna Satogure wasn't really what you could call stupid´. Maybe, to the untrained, human eye she must have seemed helpless and pathetic, with her unusual outfit and her dull, dead look in her eyes. And dangling from the ceiling, her wrists bleeding being cuffed, it was obvious to anyone that a person of much greater wit had decieved her, and captured her. And there she was now, exposed and humiliated. All of her martial arts skills, all of her stamina, strength, speed; she felt it as if it had been sucked out of her very bones. She felt her heart beat, in a slow, agonizing rythm. It was taunting her. Forcing her to live and breathe, though this bloodsucking, breathtaking pain had her flesh screaming inside. She wanted it no more. She wanted peace. And she cursed herself for giving up herself, but it was too late. Over the past hours that had passed by she must have lost at least 1/4 of the blood within her body. With a surprising amount of effort she took at glance at her wounds. Didn't seem like they were about to stop bleeding anythime soon, unless she got help. She yelped hopelessly. A shadow muttering a few words in japanese appeared in front of her. She closed her eyes as she broke down in tears begging for him to stop. second to one thing, this was to her the greatest humiliation of all time to her. But, just second.

"Ai-chan wa doko..?"(Ai-chan, where are you?).

How she missed her more than being without this pain. How she missed her, so much more than the eternal darkness she desired in this moment. Kenshin wasn't there at the time, she managed to see. Everything was...blurry and reddish. It was nothing but pain to keep her eyes open, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't prevent that voice in the back of her head from saying you're done for Haruna. No one's here to save your sorry ass, not even Ai-chan. She might be dead too´ She blinked a few times, holding a hand to rest her head at. Not even that annoying man will be here to free me. But I didn't expect that...´ Images flickered in her mind, thoughts. She couldn't get her mind to rest. Everything was taunting her at these last moments of her life.

He was resting there at the couch. She wanted to bother him, somehow, though she didn't think of it as being mean. Why? He was annyoing, stubborn and a foolish human...propably a hopeless pervert as well, like most men. But she didn't hate him-not...not like that. She wanted...to be close to him. Hah, she wanted to make him kinda angry as well. His face looks twisted, and kind of funny when he was about to get really ticked off-her speciality. But it was ok. Strangely enough she was afraid of him in a good way. Bet that sounds strange but...that's the best way to describe it she guessed. Even though she sensed the strong aura of a true killer-a real warrior-he was so warm. A warmthness which she treasured. She would never admit that, though. She could imagine how he looked at her with anger and hatred in his eyes. He would...he would think that she was in love wih him! Haha! How stupid is that...! She thought it was anyway. In love! With a man she'd known for days, not years! minutes, not hours. And they had been fighting against each other, nearly to the very death. And she...had lost. He spared her life. Treated her wounds. And verbally abused her, much to her amusement. He was a man of his words, strong and yet kind and warm when you would least expect him to be. And most cold and harsh when you most expected him to be, and he was a stupid, annoying, idiot.

He looked only innocent when asleep. And he propably wasn't at all. It was a strong memory, of their fight in the living room. It was combat alright, like when they had first met. Or? He held a different grip on her. Looked at her with just a slightly different glanze. And he winced a bit, just a bit, when seeing her giving up. Surrendering herself. Leaving herself at his mercy. ACK! What was she thinking! Don't think like that Haruna, i-d-i-o-t! But she couldn't prevent it. She was too weak. What was going on? It was because of a weakness, surely she had a weakness for Dave. And she must have had...not the same, but something like that towards Kenshin. She hated him so much that she was afraid. And she...she...liked Dave so much that she was afraid. 2 weaknesses in the same body of a Kunoichi, once proud and strong. But a warrior must have no such thing as weaknesses, and certainly not more than one. That was what had turned around to bite her in the ass. She was sure of that.

"Snake..."

If only...If only she had been more kind. To him. He propably deserved that. A man like him could only have fought for the sake of good. God knows how many times he had saved the lives of these people on earth? But he desired no credit...A sad, lonely man...And Meryl? She must have been what caused that sadness. Some of it. Death accepts no bribery. Sadly. If only she could have comforted that sad man...that kiss...did it bring him happiness? Or did she just further in that wound in his heart? What if...she took him by his hand and kissed him more. The thought made her blush. She could have done that. And they would have kissed again, even more, even stronger. They would...maybe they would have seeked privacy and he-he would have undressed her. Slowly. Enjoying the sight of her slighty muscular, feminine body. Kissed her breasts. And she would only enjoy a thing she had shared only once with a man before in her life. He would whisper words of a lover into her ear, arousing her to the point where she just had to feel him inside of her.


A weakness that she just had to surrender herself at.

Because she desired so.

"God forgive me." She whispered between grit teeth, and hot tears trickled from her sore eyes.

"God won't listen to self-pity my girl."

Haruna turned her head just a bit to quickly to see who was the owner of that foreign, female voice, noticing the strong, russian accent. So fast, that her neck made an awful, cracking noice, and she whimpered.

"See what I mean?" She stod up. It was a blonde woman, that was what Haruna noticed secondly. What first caught her attention, was her eyes. Strong, teal eyes, with a hint of ice-blue in them. Eyes that made her shiver, just a bit. She had platin blonde hair. She was a tall woman, propably about 5'7 feet (176 cm). She was slim, but athletic. She might be just a few years older than herself. The woman sighed at Haruna's curious eyes. "There is no time for analyzing. We need to get you out of here."

"Who are you! One of NIS? Who sent you!" Haruna knew that it was no time to question things, yet she urged to get information.

"I will inform you. But not now, we simply do not have any time for chatting."

Haruna gasped, and looked past the blonde woman. She turned around to look as well.

"Crap." Then Haruna noticed that the woman was carrying a weapon; it looked like a heavy sniper rifle to her. But she wasn't sure of that.

"So, another visitor. Welcome, welcome...and goodbye." Kenshin laughed, but he was obviously aware that this blonde woman had no intention of being killed or captured. She went almost down on her knees, and leapt into the air, where she dissapeared, strangely.

Kenshin frowned. He didn't expect that from a woman. Instead he turned his attention towards a messed up kunoichi, who was now standing on her feet. "Dear-"

"Kenshin." She growled, her eyes glowing with an incredible purple glow. "I don't know anything useful to you. And I know what you're really after..." He tried interrupting her but she kept going, and walked towards him. "You've always hated him, my father. And when he died, you lost your chance for revenge..."

He growled. "You better shut up before you say something you'll regret..."

"I can't." She chuckled. "The way you messed me up I won't survive anyway. But, I will kill you before I go…"

"HARUNA!"

Ai-chan...!

"FREEZE!"

Dave...

Quite right, Snake and Haruna's best friend were standing side by side, backs against each other, the beautiful kunoichi equipped with a wakizashi in each of her hands. And the mercenary held his SOCOM .45 in tightly in his hands, his aim being at Kenshin.

"David!"

"Haruna!"

"So you finally got to know humans, ne Haruna-chan?"

Snake was furious. "Let her go!"

Kenshin's cupid lips curled into an evil smile. "I don't think so...Solid Snake!"


Snake nearly dropped his gun, but with a skilled mind he did not do so. It would take at least Hiroshima all over to twist that gun out of his iron-like grip. "How come…do you know me?" Kenshin then smirked.

"I certainly do not know, David! Do YOU know ME?"

Snake stepped closer even though Ai and Haruna seemed to think that was a bad idea. Ai lined up her wakizashi's in position for attack but her hands trembled and she had to close her eyes to concentrate. Haruna nervously watched her. She had never killed a living thing before.

Haruna was just about to make her remember that -but she couldn't.

Kenshin's cold blade tickled the area of her neck where her pulse was still throbbing.

"You see Snake. Men like us-we need nobody else. No government, no rules...and certainly no weakness." He stared down into the purple eyes of his prisoner. She blinked with sorrowful and shining eyes, hoping that this would soon end. Hoarsly, she spoke.

"Snake...Ai-chan...Please run, before it's too late." Ai-chan replied with a firm "Zettai!"(Never), but Snake just looked back at her with harsh eyes, and she was surprised by how combatworthy this man was.

"Look kid, this is no time to play hero! You-" He cocked back the hammer of the gun and aimed at the head region of Kenshin, who's grin just spread even more across his face. "Let her go."

"So that's how bad you want her...I see..." He laughed but Snake stood strong. Ai on the other hand, blinked several times as she had a hard time staying focused with the sweat emerging from her forehead trickling down and into her eyes. "I guess that you could fall in love twice...too bad. I'm going to have a hard time eliminating all of your weaknesses if you keep it up this way." Snake frowned but Kenshin continued. "I hope that you do not forget who you really are. The genes that you carry wasn't given to you so that you could lead a normal life, Snake. You will always, always be a great soldier. And there will be no time for...love. Right my dear?" Those last words he said directly into her face, as he firmly pressed his lips against hers. Ai yelled out her protests. Snake seemed to have forgotten why he got her in the first place as his voice became slightly weaker. He lowered his gun, just a little.

"You killed her."

Pulling back from the helpless woman, he grinned.

"So you finally got it. Yes, I did." His grin turned into a laugh and he continued. "Hiding out in a hut in Alaska. Just the two of you. Oh it was so romantic, wasn't it Snake? Huh? Don't you just miss-"

Ai screamed as Snake leaped towards the man who had killed Meryl. He yelled, as agony and pure rage overcame him. Kenshin released Haruna to reach for his gun, but Snake was too fast-Kenshin was forced to block Snake's gun hand trying to knock him unconscious. Kenshin quickly responded. His right elbow made rough contact with Snake's left side-right where his wound was located.

It was not enough pain to make the skilled soldier scream though many other men would have done so, but he had to grit his teeth. He looked down.

"Oh was that too much for you? I'm sorry-I will be more gentle to you then." Kenshin pushed him away from him, and before Snake could get back up, he had a gun pointed in his face. "I guess that even legends can die. And it's not even an honourable death...too bad for you." He cocked back the hammer. "Well, at least now you can see your loved one again. And even that stupid friend of yours with the glasses." Snake felt for the second time in his life that he was about to die inside. He killed Otacon too. This-this was far too much.

"Maybe you'll even get the chance to tell her what you never had the courage to. I guess you'll never join my side anyway. So, I bid you farewell."

"Mattenasai!"(Wait!) Ai shouted. She leaped towards him like Snake had did, but with much less attention. Kenshin was surprised that she did so, but that was taken over by his instincts. He fired his gun; but not at Snake.

Ai screamed again, this time in pain. But as the second, third, fourth bullet ripped through her body, she was silent. And it happened right before Haruna's eyes.

The body of the beautiful goddess-like kunoichi fell to the ground, her limbs bleeding severely. Her beautiful silver hair had crimson stains in it, and the shine in her eyes fainted. She was dead before she even had hit the ground.

"Stupid woman." Kenshin said with a much smaller voice; he did not seem comfortable about this. This was Snake's chance, and surely, when Kenshin had turned his head, Snake had fired his gun more than once at Kenshin. But he deflected those bullets with his sword.

"I guess this won't be where the legend ends. Not yet, Snake. But I will try to kill you." He looked furious as he ran off, leaping into the air and dissapearing.

Snake lowered his gun, resting a hand at his hip.

"Yeah? I'll be waiting for you, freak."

--

To be continued...