V
The manor is quiet except for the low hum coming from the central air conditioner. It's dark, only a few lamps are on and the lighting they provide is minimal. Kaoru feels weird, it is all moving very slow yet at the same time really fast. It feels like an out of body experience.
Everything tilts and twists, but it is the foyer. There's a puddle on the ground, and something is dripping.
Drip, drop.
The blood is dripping down from the step landing on the second floor. Long brown hair hangs from the once pristine white stair landing, now saturated with the darkest red she'd ever seen.
She can see where a blunt object had been smashed against the woman's face. The right side had completely caved, her eyelids open and only her left eye remaining.
Kaoru feels deep satisfaction swelling inside her. It makes her sick.
She hears the click of heels on the wooden floor as she makes her way deeper inside the manor. The blood is everywhere: on the walls, left behind by handprints and dragging down to the floor; on the white curtains; and puddling on the floor.
She can also see water and hear the tub overflowing.
The footsteps continue; they echo in the eerie silence inside the house.
Kaoru sees them stop in front of another prone body, andyet again it's female. She's beautiful, withluxurious mahogany locks that look strangely familiar, high cheekbones, elegant nose, and lips painted the color of ruby red due to the amount of blood that she had spilled. Decorating her throat is the most precious gaping wound Kaoru has ever seen.
Things start to move again, and from the corner of her left eye, Kaoru can see that the guest bathroom's tub had overflowed, and a hand is hanging limply from the side.
There's a sick,twisted feeling inside her, and she's terrified of what she's seeing. Yet, at the same time very,very happy.
There's no other woman to stand in her way. No other woman to speak and disrespect her the way they had. In the end, she'd had the last laugh.
Kaoru doesn't understand why she feels this way. Also, there's something else, a tiny detail that has been nagging at her. It's right there, in the front of her mind.
She feels cold.
She's been looking down at the open toed pumps the whole time.
When Kaoru wakes up, she's in the kitchen and has drool on the corner of her mouth. She sits up, wiping it off with the sleeve of her burgundy sweater.
She's still freezing, and she needs something to warm up.
A slightly startled gasp comes from behind her, and then the soft murmur of her name.
"I didn't want to stay in my room, I couldn't sleep."
"This one understands.I believe some chamomile tea would be helpful. It is very cold."
Kaoru watches him as he starts preparing the tea.
She likes this, watching him work. He's meticulous and ordered. He gives everything his full attention.
She must admit, it isn't just his personality that's attractive.
His arms fascinate her, but his back is equally entrancing.
She particularly likes watching how his black t-shirt clings to his skin when he's working out in the garden. Watching him now isn't that bad either.
Kaoru laughs quietly at her own ogling, and Kenshin turns his head to smile at her softly,then turns back to the stove.
"Does the trouble sleeping have anything to do with what you found in the dojo?" Kenshin startles her out of where her mind has drifted.
Sobering up, Kaoru is hesitant, but feels it'll be good to talk about it.
"I guess it is, but it's not just that. I've been having nightmares every night."
Kenshin turns,and in his hands he has two steaming cups of freshly brewed tea. His brow is furrowed, and it looks like he's clenching his jaw, but his concern is palpable.
"Since I got here I've barely slept, and when I do I keep seeing these things, feeling ways that I've never felt before."
She still feels cold.
Kenshin sat down, placed his cup on the island, and handed her the other. He didn't speak to her for a while, but the silence was comforting and his presence beside her provided the warmth she'd been missing.
His voice was quiet when he spoke, almost a whisper.
"This house was built many years ago. This one can barely remember when exactly. Its foundation is made of grief, despair, sorrow, and hatred."
Kaoru held her breath. For some reason, the atmosphere had become strange. She clenched her fingers on the fabric of her sleeves.
"Many horrible things have happened on these grounds. Not just the dojo, or the previous owners." Kenshin looked at her, and his eyes were shadowed, and guilt swam in them.
"I have witnessed many of them. Keeping them from you was the decision I believed would be best, but for some reason, you can feel every single terrifying emotion crawling on the walls of this manor."
He traced the rim of his teacup, and splayed his left hand on the countertop of the island. Kaoru could see the callouses derived from years of hard work.
Her heart was racing.
"I believed it would be alright, that you would not be affected. So different from everyone..." He trailed off, and she had a feeling that everything that he was saying, although said out loud, he said to himself.
He turned sharply to look at her, and told her in a firm tone;
"These dreams you're having, they're warnings."
Kaoru is freezing cold for some reason.
This was done ages ago. Thanks to my beta Lady P. I'm pretty sure it's this one and not the "un-beta'ed" version of the story.