A/N: I have enlisted the help of a wonderful new friend, Nigihayami Haruko, who has graciously volenteered her services to be my beta reader. This is 'OUR' first combined effort, and if I may say so myself, I think it turned out pretty darn GREAT!
Thank-you Haruko-san.
Tsuki-san :)
Chapter Six
The Eye's Of Daniel March
Saturday, October 28, 2001
'Somber Man' rose majestically upward into the midnight dark sky like a lone castle turret as the 10 teens gingerly approached the boulder strewn base using as much caution as possible. The pale starlight reflected poorly off of the gray granite that comprised the outside of the old tower, leaving the lighthouse looking more imposing than its usual appearance in daylight or full moonlight. It stood alone now, in a ghostly silhouette against the black backdrop of the sky and the even darker ocean water whose waves could be heard crashing against the cliffs far below.
If there had not already been a legend about the lighthouse being haunted, this night would have been the perfect opportunity to start one. Fragile misty shadows drifted across the edges of the bluff like ghostly wraiths shape shifting in and out of form, while the billowing of the winds as they blew up over the cliffs from the ocean sounded more like the moaning of long forgotten souls searching for peace and comfort than what they really were. This was a night made for fear and for wild imagination to run rampant without regard for reality or sanity.
It was almost Halloween, and the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead was growing thinner by the day. During Samhain almost anything was possible; moreover, the hours were growing short. Very short indeed.
"Ok, so who's going in first? Huh?" Sano looked around the group as he issued the challenge and waited for volunteers to speak up. When no one answered right away, he decided to up the ante. "Should we make it more interesting and put a bet on it? Like which ever couple can stay inside longer than 15 minutes gets 10 bucks from each of the other couples?"
"That is quite a bit of money, Sanosuke." Aoshi remarked as his brain added up the amount in a flash. "Forty dollars would go a long way to bolster a few people's courage I would say. What do you guys think...? A forty dollar bet worth it?"
Each couple looked at each other and there were a lot of shrugs around the loose circle followed by a few scattered, 'Ok's, and 'Whatever's, and Sano nodded his head in wicked enjoyment. "Cool, then it is settled. Forty-bucks to whoever lasts the longest. Deal?"
"Deal," Aoshi answer for himself and a wide-eyed Misao.
"Sure," Ruakii sounded as cocky as ever and then he was leaning over to Tomoe and whispering something into her ear that had her smiling and giggling.
"I guess so." Was the edgy tentative answer from the two younger teens, Yahiko and Quii. Neither of them was exactly keen on the idea, but had promised each other they would do the best they could.
"Great idea, Sano... Figures it would be yours." Only Kenshin could be that sarcastic and nasty and still sound half-way civil. Sano had to smile at his friend's nonchalant asshole attitude. Sometimes it was a perfect fit for the situation... and this time it was. A perfect fit.
"All right then, everyone is agreed, forty-bucks to the winning couple. Now, you gents pick a number between one and fifteen."
"What for?" Ruakii sounded like the one monkey at the zoo who missed the banana party.
"So we can decide what order everybody goes in, Stupid. Whaddya think?" Sano snorted in irritation at the other boy's thickness and wished for the thousandth time that night that he had not asked him to come. "So pick a number, nut-brain, and let's go."
"Who's got the Master number? You?"
"No. Megumi's got it."
"Oh... Ok."
"Stupid."
"All right you guys, that's enough... do you have your numbers or not?" Megumi was getting worn out by the constant bickering between Sano and Ruakii, and she made a mental note to never go double dating with him and Tomoe, or go on anymore group activities that involved them either.
Once everyone indicated they had chosen a number between one and fifteen, Megumi started going around the circle.
"Aoshi?"
"Seven."
"Ruakii?"
"Three."
"Yahiko?"
"Twelve."
"Kenshin?"
"Thirteen."
"Sano?"
"Ten."
"Ok, the number was Two. Looks like Ruakii and Tomoe are first, Aoshi and Misao are second, Sano and I are third, Yahiko and Quii are forth, and Kenshin and Kaoru are dead last. Sorry," She smiled a small apologetic smile in Kaoru's direction and then shrugged. "That is just the way it goes. Sorry."
"It's Ok. I don't mind." Kaoru lied. Point in fact, she was terrified and had been ever since they had finally reached the ominous looking tower. There was something wrong here. Something wrong with the tower and with this place. It was all wrong, and she wished she had taken Kenshin up on his offer to go back when he had made it.
Kenshin had been aware of Kaoru's discomfort from the moment they had arrived as well. Her terror was practically a physical being walking beside him, and he was worried about her. He could also feel the 'wrongness' about the tower, and that worried him too.
He knew this was a bad idea.
Since Sano was the only one with a watch that had a light on it, he was chosen to be the Timekeeper, that was until he and Megumi had to take their turn, and then Kenshin would hold the watch.
So, everyone found a reasonably comfortable spot on one of the dozens of stones that peppered the ground, and sat down to wait their turn. Ruakii and Tomoe headed off towards the eerie looking grey tower hand in hand, and Sano started the timer on his watch.
"There they go. Who wants to take bets on that pussy not being able to stay in there longer than 5 minutes?" There was a tone of malicious humor in his deep voice and it was followed by a few soft chuckles, and one loud 'Hauruumph.' Sano looked up and met the darkly shadowed eyes of Ruakii's younger sister and suddenly felt very stupid. "Oops, ahhhh, sorry Quii. I sort of forgot you were over there..." It was a lame excuse, but it was all he had.
"Jerk." She mumbled and favored him with one of her famous soul squirming scowls, and Sano found he was not immune to its affects. He started to fidget uncomfortably beneath the intensity of her glare until he finally snapped at her.
"Enough already... I'm sorry, Ok? Cut it out. You are giving me the heebie-jeebies." Quii smiled sweetly, nodded, and looked away. 'That little... She did that on purpose just so I'd apologize.' Sano was incredulous as he watched the future female manipulator expert start talking to Yahiko as if she had done absolutely nothing.
"How long have they been gone, Sanosuke?" Aoshi leaned across Misao's lap in order to get closer to Sano so he would not have to shout. Misao was practically swooning over the close proximity of his body, his hair, his... everything.
"Almost... seven minutes."
"Just about half-way." He leaned back vaguely noticing how Misao's nose seemed to follow the scent of his aftershave as he went. Casting a sidelong glance at her, he caught the last vestiges of the dreamy look on her pretty face and felt the hint of a smile tugging fiercely at the right corner of his mouth. 'Tomoe never got to me like this before. Tomoe never made me feel like teasing her with my cologne, or tickling her nose with my hair... What is it about this little live-wire that is getting to me?' For the life of him he did not know, but... He was beginning to think he liked it.
A shrill scream of absolute terror filled the night making everyone jump and grab the first thing they could get a hold of - the person next to them.
"What the fu..." Sano rose slowly to his feet, and another scream split the night followed by another and another, and then the sound of running feet reached their ears. It was not long until that sound of feet brought a frantic Ruakii and a terrified Tomoe into view. They were about 75 yards away from the group, and it looked as if they were sprinting the distance despite the uneven ground along the bluff.
"Look at them..." Megumi had grabbed a hold of Sano's arm in fear when the first scream had sounded, and she was now fully plastered to his side.
"They're scared shitless." He whispered. "Damn."
"Ruakii....?" Quii sounded frightened and worried at the same time as she watched her brother running like a wild animal runs for its life. "What...?"
"Aohsi? What...?" Misao instinctively pressed herself against the strength of his hard chest as she watched the terrified pair racing across the stone littered bluff towards them.
"I do not know, Misao. I do not know." He lifted his arm and wrapped it tightly around her holding her against him closely as he felt her body tremble. "Something is not right."
Kenshin had pulled a quaking Kaoru into the protective haven of his arms after the first scream, and then buried her head against his chest after that. Now he stood holding her as tightly against him as he could as they both watched what was happening. "Kenshin?"
"I do not know, Tanuki. Let's wait and find out before we panic, shall we." She nodded and pressed her face against his chest again. Both of her hands had grabbed a handful of his jacket, and she had yet to relinquish either one.
As the frightened pair reached the group, they both literally dropped to their knees panting and wheezing as they fought to catch their breath after their mad flight away from the Lighthouse.'
"What the hell happened to you two?" Sano and Megumi both knelt next to the exhausted couple and tried to help them at least set up. "Are you Ok at least... Ruakii? Dammit! Are you guys Ok??"
"Yes... we're fine... Holy Shit!!!" He was breathing so heavily it was a little difficult to hear him through his gasps for air.
"What happened in there? All we heard was screaming and shit. What happened?"
Suddenly Ruakii flipped over onto his back, and to everyones astonishment, he began to laugh, as much as he could in between trying to breath, and then, in only a moment, Tomoe was falling onto his chest in a fit of gasping giggles.
"What the..." Sano was completely baffled.
"Their laughing... I can't believe it." Misao looked down at the pair with shocked eyes. "They just got the shit scared out of themselves, and they're laughing like idiots. Will somebody kill them for me please?"
Kenshin turned and smiled at an equally shocked Kaoru, and as she looked back into his amused face, they both shook their heads and walked over to the wheezing, laughing couple. "You mind explaining what is so damned funny? We would all appreciate knowing what scared you two so bad that you came running back like a couple of rabbits, but still had the guts to lay down and laugh about it. So, spit it out. What was it?"
"Tomoe..." Ruakii tried to talk but he was laughing so hard he could not finish, and besides, Tomoe squealed and started to swat him.
"Don't you dare tell, don't you dare. I swear to heck, Ruakii, if you tell..."
"Oh come on, Honey..."
"Noooo..."
"But it was so cute..."
"Ruakii..."
"What did you do you dog?" Now Sano was grinning from ear to ear.
"It wasn't much, just a little thing actually."
"RUAKII! Tomoe swung wide and he deftly caught her by the wrists and pinned them between their bodies as he continued to laugh and she giggle.
"We were almost half way up the stair circle, and she was getting all jittery and shit... and I just couldn't help it. I knew we'd lose the bet, but I had to do it."
"What did you do?" Aoshi was getting in on the fun now because HE knew first hand how nervous Tomoe could be.
"I let her get a few steps a head of me... and then I scraped my duster against the wall really loud... and growled. Everything echoes really bad in that place and it sounded a lot worse than I thought it would. Shit! I almost scared myself." Tomoe buried her face in his chest and continued to giggle. "She lets out this big blood curdling scream and comes running down the stairs, but before I can say anything, she bumps right into me... 'I' scared her, and she starts screaming her head off and I'm trying to tell her it's ME. Once she finds out it is ME, she starts trying to rip my head off 'cause I scared her so bad."
"And that is what made you guys come tearing across the bluff?"
"Hell no..."
"Then what did?" Kenshin looked down and Ruakii turned around and met his eyes honestly.
"We were on our way down the stairs when, I swear to God, we heard somebody say 'Daniel March'."
"Say what?" Kenshin looked at him in disbelief.
"'Daniel March.' Some guys name. It was clear as a bell... well, sort of... It was this funky whisper-like voice, but it was clear and we both heard it at the same time. And when we did, WE HAULED ASS!!"
"Daneil March? Saitou, you're full of more shit than a Christmas goose." Sano laughed and walked away.
"Yeah, well then you go and see what you hear, Sagara, and then maybe you won't be so quick to brush us off."
"I can't go yet, Saitou. It isn't my turn." Sano retorted in a voice heavy with sarcasm. "But we'll see what Mr. Aoshi finds. After all, He is the man of logic and absolutes, is he not?"
"Bite me, Sagara."
As it happened none of the next three couples 'saw' or 'heard' anything like Ruakii and Tomoe did, so they did not get vindicated, but the last couple still had yet to enter 'Somber Man'.
Kenshin and Kaoru were standing outside the darkened opening that was the doorway leading inside the main tower, and both had stopped to look upward at the outline of the iron catwalk far above their heads.
"Is that where we are supposedly supposed to go?" She asked in a small voice.
"Yes. I believe it is."
"It looks very high... doesn't it?"
"Yes. It does."
"Do you think the iron is still safe?"
"Yes, most likely. Kaoru?"
"What?"
"Are you scared?"
"Yes. Are you?"
"Yes." She turned and looked at his lean profile and then he turned and looked at her. "I have been afraid all my life... of one thing or another. But mostly, I think have been afraid to live, or to be alive. I do not want to be afraid anymore, and I..." He turned and looked into the darkness of the doorway as he squeezed her hand. "I do not want to be alone anymore either."
"Neither do I." She squeezed back, and he turned to look at her again. His colorless gray eyes met and held her black eyes as they stood together in the chill of the moonless night, and Kenshin reached over with his left hand and ever so gently touched her face with the tips of his fingers. The skin of her white cheek was soft and smooth as porcelain as he traced an imaginary line from her cheekbone to her jaw line, and then to the point of her chin.
"You are so beautiful, Little Tanuki. I have never looked at anything more beautiful than you. That I have not." He cocked his head slightly to the right and let his eyes caress every delicate contour of her face. "Eyes so large and round, like sapphire ponds in an elfin face; you have reminded me of a fairy or a nymph almost from the first moment I saw your face." His hand moved to tenderly cup her cheek, and he watched as she closed her eyes and rubbed against that hand not unlike a cat seeking affection from its Master. "I've drawn your face, you know."
"You have?" Her eyes opened and looked at him in wonder. "You have drawn ME?"
"Um-hum. A dozen times or more at least."
"Why? What did you draw?"
"Why? Because your eyes have haunted my footsteps and my mind for days on end and because I cannot get your image out of my mind." A long elegant finger ran down the length of her nose and then dropped to trace the shape of her lips causing her to gasp sharply with a new sense of awareness of him. "What did I draw?" A wicked smile crossed his handsome face, and a soft laugh rolled over his full lips. "That is my business, Tanuki."
"Kenshin! Did you draw dirty pictures of me? Did you?" She caught his hand and momentarily stopped its tantalizing game with her lips.
She was greeted with another deep laugh and his other hand rose to cup her other cheek. "No. Kaoru. I did not draw dirty pictures of you, but I cannot say the thought did not cross my mind."
"Oh," Kaoru had to bite her bottom lip to stop herself from smiling, but she could do nothing about the mischief that appeared in her eyes. He was doing terrible things to her sense of balance, and the awful thing about that was she did not seem to care.
"I love to draw your eyes, Tanuki. I am obsessed with them."
"My eyes?"
"Yes. Your eyes. They follow me everywhere... even into my dreams."
"Kenshin... What are you trying to do to me? Are you playing a game with me?"
"NO." He spoke sharply and she flinched at the tone. "I do not play games... unless they are in bed, Tanuki, and then I only play if SHE wants too."
"Have you... Kenshin?"
"I will not lie to you, Kaoru." He said evenly as he dropped both hands back to his sides and turned away from her. "Yes, I have had sex before. Is that what you are asking me?"
"Yes." Her voice was very small.
"It was about a year ago... She was an exchange student from Japan who was only here for two semesters. It was very private, and very quiet. No one ever even knew we were seeing each other."
"Where is she now?"
"Back in Japan."
"You must miss her very much." Kaoru's head hung low and she felt as if all the air had been let out of her. She felt defeated even before she started.
"No, not really. It was just 'a thing' I guess you could call it. We both needed something at that time, and we each had that something the other needed."
"Are you telling me it was some sort of a... a 'trade off' thing?"
"Yes and No. She needed someone to help her with her English and grammar and I needed someone to help me with my math and physics... and we both needed someone to ease the loneliness. But it was never more than a 'band-aid' for the real problem. We knew it would never go any farther than an intimate friendship, so..."
"So..."
"So, we just enjoyed it while it lasted, and when the time came... we said 'Good-bye'."
"Oh." He looked at her and saw the look of desolation on her face, and his feelings of guilt and loneliness increased ten-fold. Looking away from her, he stuffed his hands into the deep pockets of his jacket and started stubbing his foot against the rocky ground. "You think I'm horrible, don't you? You think I'm a cold hearted bastard with no feelings or scruples, right? Well, maybe you're right. I do not really know anymore, and I haven't cared about it for a long time either. I have been alone for so long that it is hard to differentiate real emotions from the ones I have fabricated so I can at least sort of blend in. Do you know how hard it is to try and blend in, Kaoru? Especially when the cards are stacked against you even before you seat yourself down at the table to play?"
"Not really... but I understand what it means to try and blend in when you know you can't. I've been trying to do it every since my parents died."
He swung around and looked at her with hard eyes, and then approached her in two quick steps. Without missing a heart beat, he reached out and pulled her into his arms and held her close to him. "I'm sorry," He whispered against the thickness of her hair as he pushed his face into her neck. "Oh Kaoru. I am so sorry. I'm can be such an asshole sometimes... I talk without thinking, and I say the shittiest things to people. I just..."
"Don't..." She whispered as she pulled away and put a gentle hand over his mouth effectively stopping his words mid sentence. "I don't want to hear you talk about yourself that way. I think I know better than that." The look on her face was sad but understanding as she met his contrite gaze.
He took her hand in his, and finally gave into an urge he could no longer resist; Kenshin pressed a tender but passionate kiss against its wrist creating a cascade of shivers that rushed throughout her body. "How could you know better, Kaoru? You don't really know me?"
"I do not know how I know better, Kenshin, but I do. I can tell you are not a mean spirited person, and I know it is not in your nature to act that way either... I think you do it to keep people from getting too close, and to protect yourself from getting hurt...I think you have been hurt a lot in your life, haven't you, Kenshin?"
"Everything hurts, Kaoru." He whispered in a husky voice. "Everything in my whole life has hurt... Everything I've ever done has been wrong, and almost everything that has happened to me has been bad, and it is all so stupid because all I ever wanted was to be noticed... to be a part of the world... or just a part of something, anything, but I could not even be a part of my own family." His voice was small and filled with sorrow as he tenderly rubbed Kaoru's hand against his cheek. "All I've ever wanted from them was..." But then he stopped and just shook his head unable to continue. The silence around him was more deafening than any shout Kaoru had ever heard. It was like the roar of a whirlwind raging inward off the ocean to engulf them within the fury of its deadly funnel. She slowly raised her other hand and cupped his other cheek, and then spoke to him in the most comforting and assuaging manner she could muster.
"What did you want, Kenshin? What did you want from your family that they never gave you? Tell me."
He stood still for a long moment, and then he let his eyes slowly rise to meet the deep questioning concern of hers. Kaoru sucked in a breath of astonishment as she beheld the look of pure vulnerability etched deeply into the planes of his handsome face. He looked desolate and more lost than anyone she had ever seen before, and the sight of him tore at her heart making it just that much more important to find out what had gone missing in his life. As she looked at him, an amazing thought occurred to her. 'Oh My God, I am looking at his soul.' The pain she felt for him squeezed at her vulnerable soul. 'I am looking at Kenshin Himura's soul.'
"I just wanted them to accept me for who I am, not who they tried to turn me into. I wanted to be trusted, to be believed, to be valued as their son and I...." His voice faded and he dropped his eyes again, but Kaoru thought she knew what he was going to say.
"You wanted to be... Loved, Kenshin? To be loved?"
"Yes." The proud voice cracked under the stress of the emotions he was trying to control, and Kaoru chocked on a sob as she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a warm comforting embrace.
"Oh Kenshin. Sweet, wonderful Kenshin... I believe you, I trust you, I accept you... and I value you." She spoke vehemently into his ear and felt him shudder against her, and suddenly both of his arms were around her and holding her tightly against him. "I think you are a very valuable person, and I am so glad I met you... so glad. You made me feel safe again after such a long time of feeling scared and alone." Her arms tightened around his neck, and she pressed herself as close to him as she could. "I don't know why I feel this way, or how I know I can trust you or anything else, but I know I can, and I know that inside of you behind your tough-guy attitude, there is a really sweet guy who's just waiting for you to let him out. You can let him out, Kenshin, I promise I won't do anything to hurt him. I promise."
"Kaoru..." Kenshin rasped against the curve of her throat as he crushed the thinness of her hard against his chest. "Beautiful Kaoru. You do not know how much I want to be with you and just be 'that guy', but it is so hard to let go... it is so hard... be patient, sweet tanuki, please be patient and it will come because now that I have found you, I do not ever want to let go." A rare sound of happiness escaped from Kaoru's throat and then she was pulling away from him, but before Kenshin could speak or do anything, she had captured his lips within the tender urgency of hers. Kenshin stood stunned and pliant within her passionate embrace for a moment as the reality of HER kissing HIM sank into his foggy brain, and then he was reversing the pressure of control and molding her mouth to better fit the contours of his.
"MMMMMM," Kaoru's low moan of pleasure at his shift on dominance brought a rush of warmth to the long frozen flesh of his heart, and Kenshin had the uncanny sensation of new life being planted and beginning to grow within his soul.
He pressed kiss after kiss into the moist softness of her parted lips, and as he cocked his head this way and that, Kenshin found it did not matter from which angle he approached her, Kaoru's mouth seemed to morph perfectly and mold into his like matching puzzle pieces. She was a great kisser, and Kenshin found himself jealously wondering how much practice she had gotten, and with whom.
"Caaassssaannddraaa."
The pair broke apart in startled shock and stared into the dark of the doorway they were still standing in front of.
"Did you hear that?" Kaoru grabbed a handful of Kenshin's jacket and pulled him forcefully over to her. She was trembling and it was not from the cold.
"I... I heard something..." Kenshin stood still as stone cocking his head to the right as he listened intently for anymore odd sounds, but heard nothing. "Hmmmm, maybe it was the wind or some dried leaves or something. I don't hear anything else."
"Are you kidding? That was a voice. It said something, didn't you hear it? It said 'Cassandra' or something like that."
"I don't know... It was all raspy sounding and stuff. I think it was the wind. Calm down, it was nothing, Ok?"
Kaoru looked through the doorway with skepticism and doubt, but nodded her head. "Ok, but you better not do anything to me like Ruakii did to Tomoe, all right?"
Kenshin grinned and put an arm around her so he could pull her in for a hug. "I would not do anything like that to you, Tanuki. If I was going to scare you, I would plan something much more elaborate than this. This is too predictable and way too 'Halloween' for me. So don't worry. No creepy crawly stuff from me."
"Ok, because I have absolutely no intention of letting go of your jacket until we come back out."
"Ok, Tanuki. You hold on, and we'll be just fine." Kenshin kept his arm around her waist and they tentatively walked through the open doorway.
It took several seconds for their eyes to adjust to the darker interior, but there was enough starlight coming through the broken windows so make out the long circular stairway that led up to the Lamp room and the catwalk.
"You ready?" Kenshin asked a wide-eyed Kaoru who seemed to have misplaced her voice and could only nod. "Ok, come one, and let's get this over with." Carefully they stepped over odd debris and broken wood until they reached the bottom of the stairs. Kenshin looked up and followed the circular stair until it disappeared into the darkness over his head. He judged the lighthouse must be about 65 feet tall which would make the circle stair approximately a 55 to 57 foot climb to reach the Lamp room. "We can do this, Tanuki. Just stay close and keep your hand on the wall and we will be there in no time."
"You are sure?" She squeaked, and he chuckled gently.
"Yes, I am sure. Just stay behind me and hold onto my jacket. Ok?"
"Ok... But just for the record, I vote this IS NOT a fun idea."
"Me too. Let's get going so we can get it over with."
"Cool... Great... Can't wait."
"You sound like it." And then they were on their way up the stairway.
The wrought iron stairs creaked and groaned somewhat as Kenshin and Kaoru mounted each one, and the noise was beginning to get to Kaoru.
"You really sure this is safe? You don't think it's like going to pull out of the wall and dump us on the floor down there, do you?"
"No, Honey. I do not think it is going to come out of the wall and dump us."
"Then why is it making so much noise?"
"Cause it's old, Baby. Old things make noise. Didn't you ever have Grandparent's?"
Kaoru giggled. "That's mean."
"Made you laugh."
"Ok. But it was still mean."
"Got your mind off the stairs didn't it?"
"Ok, ok... you're smart, and I worry too much."
"Now you got the idea." A deep chuckle carried back to her and she yanked on his jacket to let him know just what she thought of that. "Hey, cut that out OR we will end up on the floor." Kaoru just smiled, and they went back to climbing.
"Biiittcchh."
"Ok, now I know you had to hear THAT?" Kaoru was up on the step beside Kenshin in a split second with both of her arms wrapped around his waist and her cheek pressed into his back.
"Ummm... Yes, I do believe I heard something that time." With his heart beating in his throat, Kenshin carefully looked around in a full 180 degrees but could see nothing. They waited for a couple of minutes listening as well, but there was no more noise. Now, thoroughly spooked himself, Kenshin kept Kaoru right next to him as then started to climb once more.
"FUCKING WHORE!"
"KENSHIN!" Kaoru cried out and both of them were suddenly pinned against the cold stone wall of the lighthouse. "Kenshin, what the hell was that? Did you hear that? Did you? Oh My Gosh!"
"Yes, I did... SHIT! What the hell is going on in here?" He started looking around again, but still could not see anything. "SANO?" He yelled, "If this is one of your fucking jokes, it isn't a very funny one, asshole." He waited and listened but heard nothing. "SANO?"
"FUCKING WHORE FUCKING WHORE FUCKING WHORE!"
"JESUS CHRIST!" Kenshin grabbed Kaoru's hand and turned to head back down the stairs, but was pulled up short by the vision of an incredibly beautiful woman huddled up against the wall not more than five feet away from then.
"Wha... Who the hell are you?" He asked her in a voice that shook far more than he liked. The woman just sat staring straight across the tower, and said nothing. "Hey, hey Lady? Are you Ok?" Kenshin pulled Kaoru behind him as he carefully approached the woman. She had long dark hair and a perfect cameo profile. As he reached her, Kenshin gently reached out to touch her shoulder, but she suddenly turned to face him and he jerked his hand back in horrified shock. She was looking at him with Kaoru's face. Both Kenshin and Kaoru jerked so suddenly they stumbled and fell backwards onto the steps behind them.
"Holy Shit, holy shit... oh my God... Kaoru? What in the name of heaven?"
"You have to leave," The woman rasped in a hoarse whisper as her face became contorted with terror. "You have to leave before he comes. He's drunk again, and he's dangerous when he's drunk." Her pale wraith like hands reached out towards Kenshin as if in entreaty. "Please, Edmond, leave before he wakes up. He will kill you if he finds you here. You have to leave, My Love." And then she turned and ran silently down the stairs only to disappear at the bottom.
Kenshin's breaths were coming in short harsh gasps, and so were Kaoru's. Neither were sure of what they had just seen, and neither had the mental capacity to discuss it at the moment either. So they just sat leaning on one another while they waited for their senses to calm down. But it was not meant to be. The night was not over for them. It was just beginning. For the hour had just struck the same as it had nearly 300 years before.
01:46 A.M. October 29, 1818
Somber Man's Lighthouse
Evermore, Maine
Cassandra O'Massy's bedroom
Living Quarters, Somber Man's Lighthouse
"Edmond, please, you have to leave. You have to hide."
"I am not afraid of him, Sandra. I will not hide like a sulking child."
"But you do not know him. He is dangerous, especially when he has been drinking, and he has been drinking ever since he got here."
"Then his senses are dulled and he will be easily dispatched, Darling. Stop worrying so much."
"No, no, no. The drunker Daniel gets the MORE dangerous he is... please, listen to me. He has found us, and he will kill you if you face him. "That is what he wants. He wants to kill you, Edmond. He wants to make me watch you die."
"Cassandra, Darling, please..."
"No, Edmond. He WILL kill you. He is deadly with a pistol, and his blade has never met its match. You cannot beat him, My Love. You have to leave."
"What will you do then?"
"I have always been able to placate him in one way or another. I will do something."
"Are you suggesting that you might..."
"If I have too, I will... You have to understand, Dearest. If it makes him leave for a few days and it gives us time to pack and flee, then it is worth it. I cannot go back to him... I cannot, I cannot. Oohhh..."
"Do not cry, Sandra. Please do not cry, Sweetheart. I understand why you must do this, but it does not mean I have to like what you're doing."
"Oh Edmond, can you forgive me?"
"Yes, yes. I can forgive you. If this man is as dangerous as you say, then I will leave, but I will only stay gone until the morning. If he is not gone by then, by God, then I will face him, come what may. I will not allow you to be so hunted and abused any longer."
"Please, just go. He will wake up soon. Go."
"Kiss me so I know you still love me, Sandra, and then I will go."
"I love you more than anything, Edmond. I love you more than life."
The door closed. 'click'.
01:54 A.M. October 29, 1818
Cassandra O'Massy's bedroom door is thrown open with enough force to splinter the doorframe.
"Wake-up, Bitch. Your 'usband's 'ere and he wants to sample some of your whore services."
"D-daniel... You are drunk. We should talk later a-after you s-sober up some. Besides, it's the m-middle of the n-night."
"I don't give a bloody piss what time it is, Cassy. I feel like
exercisin' me marital rights... and YOU are goin' to let ME. So, get up and take that bloody shift of NOW!"
"I... It's too cold to g-get out of bed, Daniel. Why don't you come over here?"
"Because I told you to get up and take your clothes off, Whore. I want to watch you strip like the fuckin' whore you are. Now get up and STRIP!"
"I-I... I don't want t-to."
"What did you say?"
"I said, I d-don't want t-to, Daniel. I don't want to make love."
"Who said anythin' about 'love', you filthy whore? I never said anythin' about 'love', but I do intend to have you, and I am goin' to have you NOW."
"OH GOD... NO! Daniel, don't do this... Please, for the Love of God... don't do this to me!"
A pause, sounds of a struggle and breaking wood as the bed frame gave way beneath the added weight of a very large man. Small frightened cries and gasps for air echoed against the pale stone.
"'aven't you heard, Cass, God doesn't love Whores, so He isn't goin' to care one bit about what I'm plannin' on doin' to you. Nobody is goin' to care because you are nothin' but a worthless two-bit whore."
"I am still your Wife, Daniel. Doesn't that mean ANYTHING?"
"That 'asn't meant anythin' for a long, long time, Cassy. I thought you knew that by now."
"If it doesn't mean anything, then why don't you just let me go? Why do you keep following me? Why Daniel? Why can't you just leave me alone?"
"Because, you disgustin', unfaithful Bitch, it is because you ARE me Wife that I can't let you go or leave you alone. I may 'ate you with the Devil's own passion, but I can never let you go. I can never let you rest."
"WHY?"
"BECAUSE YOU SHAMED ME AND MY NAME! YOU MADE ME INTO A FOOL!"
"HOW COULD I DO THAT? I HAVE NEVER DONE ANYTHING TO YOU?"
"YOU LEFT ME!! YOU MADE ME INTO 'ALF A MON IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE COLONY! YOU RUINED ME!"
"HOW COULD I RUIN A MAN LIKE YOU?"
"BECAUSE OF THE RUMORS..."
"WHAT BLOODY RUMORS?"
"THAT I WAS NOT 'USBAND ENOUGH FOR YOU! THAT I WAS NOT MAN ENOUGH FOR YOU! YOU RUINED ME AS A MAN, CASSANDRA! YOU RUINED ME FOREVER, AND I AM GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY FOR IT FOR THE REST OF YOUR MISERABLE LIFE!"
Soon the sounds of a violent struggle, ripping cloth, and agonized cries and moans of pain fill the small room. Then the sounds of yet another struggled ensued, but this time it was soon followed by the sound of running feet; terrified feet; panicked feet.
October 29,2001
01:58 A.M.
Somber Man's Lighthouse
Circle Stairway
"Are you Ok?" Kenshin turned his forehead into Kaoru's temple.
"I... I guess so. Kenshin?"
"Hummmm?"
"Was that a ghost?"
"I... I do not know. But it was sure the hell weird. That it was."
"No doubt."
"You ready to go?"
"Go?"
"Get the hell out of here?"
"Absolutely."
"Great. Let's go then." He stood up and was in the process of pulling her up with him when it all began.
Muffled cries and the accompanying sounds of a violent struggle began to drift upwards from somewhere in the darkness below the circular stair and through the hollows of the granite tower. The angry voices of a man and a woman locked in fierce argument echoed in the cold night air as furious curses and sobbing pleas were exchanged. The icy fingers of impending doom slid with slippery precision across the cold floor, and then wound their way up the old black wrought iron stairway until it passed Kenshin and Kaoru, leaving them shivering violently in the wake of its promise of bad things yet to come. They looked at each other in frightened confusion, and as Kenshin narrowed his eyes trying to see something in the darkness, he decided it was definitely time to leave. So, he tightened his grip on Kaoru's hand and started pulling her down the stairs behind him.
Then suddenly the tower was filled with the hollow echos of frantically running feet as they tripped and stumbled their way across the floor below. The sound rose high into the old lighthouse until it seemed it had surrounded Kenshin and Kaoru on every side. Kenshin immediately stopped, and pressing himself back against the cold stone wall, he pulled Kaoru back against his side and wrapped a trembling arm around her. They could hear the sounds of the iron circular as it creaked and groaned beneath the hidden weight of the individual who was now climbing them. The mournful and unmistakable sobbing gasps of someone in the throes of frightened distress could be heard as that same someone was making their was up the circular stair, and they were coming closer with each passing moment.
"Ken..shin? What is happening?" Kaoru was terrified and trembling violently as she leaned into the protection of his body. "What is going on?"
"I don't know, Kaoru. I don't know, but just don't move, Honey, Ok. Just stay still and don't let go of me, Kaoru. And, for God's sake, don't make any noise. Be as quiet as you can. No noise, Ok?" She quickly nodded and pressed her cheek against his chest. She was breathing in tiny short breaths. She was scared to death, but Kenshin was just as scared as she was. However, he knew he had to try and maintain some semblance of calm for her so she did not crumble into hysterics or something. He had to try and stay calm until they knew what was going on.
It was only a bare moment or two at the most before the hollow gasping breaths of pain were joined by the sounds of a much heavier pair of footsteps running across the floor, and then quickly mounting the stairs in one great leap that sent the circular into rocking. Immediately the hoarse sobs took on a note of terrified desperation and the sounds of their progress increased frantically. They were almost on top of the two teens who were becoming more frightened by the second.
With a feeling of great apprehension, Kenshin turned to his left and looked over Kaoru's head down the stairs. He sucked in a breath of pure shock and held it as a level of fear he had never experienced before was reached in that splint instant.
The young woman they had seen earlier, who had seemed so real, was now scrambling up the iron steps frantically on her hands and feet. Her long ebony hair was in a tangled mess hanging all around her, her delicate face was tear stained and covered with the blues and purples of darkening bruises, and her flimsy cloth night gown had been ripped and torn over her breasts and was gapping open revealing more bruised flesh beneath. As she approached them, it became easier to see and understand at this point, that she was definitely surrounded by an aura of iridescent light of purest white, and it seemed to illuminate every painful detail about her appearance including the fact that she was partially transparent. This time she did not seem to see either of them as she had earlier, and crawled right passed them as she made her doomed panicked flight up the stairs towards the Lamp room.
The second set of footsteps rounded the stairway suddenly much closer than they had been a moment ago, the terrible noise they made sounded loud and very angry, and it was not but a few seconds before the cause of those sounds became visible.
"Kenshin..." Kaoru tugged on his jacket in an anxious attempt to gain his attention as the second apparition rounded the circular and began to approach their position.
"God, help us." He whispered as he looked into the most malevolent face he had ever seen. "Please don't let us die in this place... God?"
The heavy angry footsteps belonged to tall dark-haired man who appeared to be in his mid-twenties, and his brilliant emerald green eyes were glittering diamonds, hard with furious rage as he tried to take the stairs two at a time. He was wearing a white shirt with long flowing puffed sleeves that were gathered at the wrist and then hung over his wrists. It was open at the throat with a loose white tie hanging freely over his broad shoulders. This was definitely a colonial period attire as both Kenshin and Kaoru took in his snug fitting breeches and knee high leather boots.
"Kenshin," Kaoru's voice was barely a breath as she turned to him and put her lips next to his ear. "I.. I don't think he can see us... He's going right passed... just like she did." They watched in frozen fear as the cold fury of the man drew him right in front of them, and then passed onto the higher stairs. The icy cold that was left in his wake caused both teen's breath to become a heavy white steam in the air, and Kaoru shivered in response.
"It's cold. Do you feel it?"
"Yes."
"He didn't see us. Did you see that?"
"Yes, I did." His wary violet eyes followed the man's progress as he disappeared up the stairs, and after a quick impulsive thought, Kenshin pulled Kaoru behind him and he followed as quickly as he dared.
"What are we doing?" Kaoru sounded like she thought Kenshin had lost his mind.
"Shhhhhhh," He shot a look back at her that said, 'Trust me.' "Something is really wrong about all of this. I think we should try and see if anything else happens. Come on."
"Oh shit."
"Shhhhhhhh."
Then the door to the Lamp room was ferociously slammed open with a loud 'boom' that reverberated down the iron circular jarring the railing beneath the youths cold hands, but Kenshin was nonplused by the reaction, and he stubbornly continued upward.
By the time he and Kaoru got to the Lamp room, both ghosts had already exited out onto the catwalk. Their raised voices could be heard just as easily as if they had been living flesh and blood. Kenshin carefully led Kaoru passed the long-dark lamp, through the room of glass panes and mirrors, and then as they stepped ever so quietly out into the cold wind blowing across the iron grating of the catwalk, they became spectators to a scene no one had laid eyes on in over 200 years. Cassandra O'Massy's murder.
The ghost of Cassandra O'Massy was standing with her back to the catwalk railing, her hands were behind her, and they were wrapped tightly around the rough iron as she struggled to hang on in the wild wind. Her once pretty face was bruised and swollen from the recent beating she had received at the hands of her estranged husband, Daniel March, who was at that moment, standing threateningly before her, his hands balled into tight fists. They were in the midst of a desperate argument. Desperate for Cassandra because she was swiftly running out of viable options... and catwalk.
"No, Daniel," She was pleading. "It... it's not too late... let me explain, please let me explain... wait... please." Tears streamed down her face. It was Kaoru's face. The resemblance was uncanny and it gave both Kenshin and Kaoru cold chills of great unease.
"I am through waiting on you, Cassy." Daniel snarled at the terrified woman as he began to advance on her tenuous position. "No more waiting... no more. Your whoring days are over, Bitch. It's time to meet your maker." He reached out for her and she was trying to back up, but there was nowhere for her to go. Cassandra O'Massy was out of options, out of time, and out of catwalk.
"Please, Daniel..." Her voice was desperate, pleading, bordering on hysteria as her terrified deep blue eyes read her fate glittering in his rage filled emerald eyes. "Listen to me... Dan..."
"Go to Hell..." He spat viciously. "And take you Whore's lies with you." His strong slender hands reached,and then lunged out for her, grasped for and found the smallness of her waist, and then bending his knees, he heaved her upwards.
"DANIEL! NO! WAIT!" Cassandra's high pitched scream of terror was cut short as he flung her over the edge of the iron railing. But the quiet of the night was suddenly filled with another scream; a bone chilling sound that rose up from beyond the cliffs as her body fell, and fell, and fell until it was dashed and crushed against the massive stones that rested at the base of the island. In a split instant of time, the world turned silent and became empty as if all life had died with the young woman who had perished on the rocks far below.
The ghost of Daniel March stood for a long moment just looking over the edge of the railing where he had maliciously thrown her body only seconds before.
"She's dead. Good-bye Princess. I... I'm sorry... I..." The voice held the hollow sounds of defeat and desolation, and finally he turned from his morose vigil and slowly reentered the Lamp room.
Kenshin had been holding Kaoru crushed tightly against him ever since Daniel's ghost had thrown Cassandra's ghost over the top of the railing in a desperate effort to keep her from screaming.
"You Ok?" He asked her gently as he cupped her face and looked into her terrified eyes. "Can we go back inside now, or do you want to wait a while?"
"No, let's go after him. He hasn't disappeared yet. I think that means he isn't done... we've come this far. We might as well see what else he does."
"Ok, but then we go."
"Deal. Kenshin?"
"What, Honey?"
"I don't ever want to come back here again, Ok?"
"Not a problem... I do not either." And he gently took her freezing hand in his and led her back inside.
Carefully and quietly they followed in the wake of the disappearing ghost watching him intently as he rounded each turn of the stairs. They followed him all the way down until they reached the bottom and had to stop because he sat down on the last two steps. The two teens jumped down the few feet it took to get off the steps they were standing on, and then circled the glowing apparition until they were in front of him. He was setting with his head in his hands, and it appeared he was crying in despair or grief.
"What have I done?" He sobbed in a voice full of anguish. "What have I done? Oh God, Cassy?"
Kenshin was slowly, carefully, and as stealthily as possible making their way towards the freedom of the doorway when the most unexpected thing happened. Daniel March raised his head and looked at them. He looked at them right in the face.
"I loved 'er, I did. I loved 'er more than anythin' else in this world, and I would have laid the universe at 'er feet if only she would have loved me back." He looked down at his hands and splayed them out in front of him with palms up. "I did not intend to kill 'er, truly I did not. But I always did have a frightful temper back then. I drank, a lot. Too much to be sure. That is why she left me. I could never admit I was a poor Husband. I always had to blame 'er, but it was my fault, it was. I could not face up to it and accept she left me because of me drinkin' and me damned temper, but that is the bloody truth of it."
Kenshin and Kaoru were both frozen in total terror and astonishment as they listened to the litany of a long dead and pitiful man.
"Is he talking to us... Kenshin?"
"I... I do not know. But I think it is time to go."
"Definitely." As he started to sidle over towards the door once more, Daniel whipped his head up and stared at them again. The vicious rage that was reflected on his face stopped them mid stride. Kenshin felt all of the small hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as his primitive alarm system went off.
"What the bloody hell are you doin' 'ere, you fuckin' bastard?" He sprang to his feet and turned toward Kenshin in a very threatening manner. "I told you to get the hell out of town, Fetlock, or else I was gonna put a bullet in your fuckin' 'ead."
"Kenshin, he's talking to you like he knows you. Like you are somebody else. What is going on?" Kaoru was becoming confused as well as frightened. There was something very wrong about all of this. Very wrong.
"Ahhhhh.... I... My name... is Kenshin. I am not Fetlock." Kenshin was completely terrified and had no idea what to do in the face of this bazaar twist of circumstance. He moved Kaoru behind him and shielded her with his body.
"What kind of bullshite are you trying to feed me, Fetlock? I am not that big of a fool, and I am not that drunk either. Now, if you know what's good for you, you will get your lilly-white whore-monger's ass out of my sight, and out of Evermore before tomorrow mornin', or you're goin' to be a dead man."
"Look, I-I told you, I'm n-not Fetlock, Ok... I'm just a kid in the wr-rong place. I am leaving now. Ok?"
"GET OUT! You filthy coward! Get out and get away from me Wife! Get out before I kill you right now!" Daniel made a rush at Kenshin, and the red-haired youth grabbed Kaoru's hand and pulled her roughly with him as he darted for the door. But the sound of a mournful moan and a cry of broken hearted grief made them stop and turn around. The ghost of Daniel March had fallen to its knees and was bent over as if in great pain. A great mournful wailing cry rose up from it, and then the broad shoulder began to shake with the sobbing of great emotional grief.
"Noooooooooooooooo....." It cried and threw it's head back raising its arms up toward the top of the tower. "Nooooooooooooo, Noooooooooo, Nooooooooo, Cassssssyyyyyy......." It hugged itself and began rocking back and forth as it cried. "Why? Why? Why 'ave you done this? Why 'ave you come back? Why couldn't you stay gone? Why couldn't you leave me alone? OOOoooooooooooooooooooooo......oooooooooooooooooo."
"What is he talking about, Kenshin?"
"I am not sure.... Unless..." Kenshin's face had a look of trepidation as he studied the distraught ghost, and then he turned and looked Kaoru in the face. "Unless he thinks YOU are Cassandra come back. You do look exactly like her."
"Oh, no way... No way!" Her eyes grew huge and round in her face, and Kaoru frantically shook her head. "That is completely nuts, and you know it."
"Well, yes it is, but HE'S completely nuts... right?"
"Good point... Great. A 200 year old dead psycho-murderer thinks I'm his dead wife reincarnated. Aren't I just special." She rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. "Lets get out of here while he's occupied with something else, Ok?"
"Absolutely." But as they turned to go, Daniel shot from his feet and darted across the space separating them all, and placed himself between the door and Kenshin and Kaoru.
"You cannot 'ave 'er again, Fetlock. She is mine. She was always mine. I will not let you steal 'er from me AGAIN."
"I told you, this is not your wife. Your wife is dead... you killed her for God's sake. Don't you remember?"
"It does not matter anymore. She has come back to me. She has come back to give me another chance to make everythin' right...AND I WILL NOT LET YOU GET IN ME WAY AGAIN!" But before Kenshin could act again, Daniel surged forward and passed into Kaoru's body.
HE HE HE HE HE!
Mean place to stop a chapter, idn't it? ;OD
Hope you all enjoy.
And as always... take care and God Bless.
Happy New Year... Don't Drink and Drive. Use a designated driver so everbody gets home in one piece. (Boy, I really sound like somebodies Mom now, don't I?)
Read and Review
Tsuki-san :) Until next time.
Thank-you Haruko-san.
Tsuki-san :)
Chapter Six
The Eye's Of Daniel March
Saturday, October 28, 2001
'Somber Man' rose majestically upward into the midnight dark sky like a lone castle turret as the 10 teens gingerly approached the boulder strewn base using as much caution as possible. The pale starlight reflected poorly off of the gray granite that comprised the outside of the old tower, leaving the lighthouse looking more imposing than its usual appearance in daylight or full moonlight. It stood alone now, in a ghostly silhouette against the black backdrop of the sky and the even darker ocean water whose waves could be heard crashing against the cliffs far below.
If there had not already been a legend about the lighthouse being haunted, this night would have been the perfect opportunity to start one. Fragile misty shadows drifted across the edges of the bluff like ghostly wraiths shape shifting in and out of form, while the billowing of the winds as they blew up over the cliffs from the ocean sounded more like the moaning of long forgotten souls searching for peace and comfort than what they really were. This was a night made for fear and for wild imagination to run rampant without regard for reality or sanity.
It was almost Halloween, and the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead was growing thinner by the day. During Samhain almost anything was possible; moreover, the hours were growing short. Very short indeed.
"Ok, so who's going in first? Huh?" Sano looked around the group as he issued the challenge and waited for volunteers to speak up. When no one answered right away, he decided to up the ante. "Should we make it more interesting and put a bet on it? Like which ever couple can stay inside longer than 15 minutes gets 10 bucks from each of the other couples?"
"That is quite a bit of money, Sanosuke." Aoshi remarked as his brain added up the amount in a flash. "Forty dollars would go a long way to bolster a few people's courage I would say. What do you guys think...? A forty dollar bet worth it?"
Each couple looked at each other and there were a lot of shrugs around the loose circle followed by a few scattered, 'Ok's, and 'Whatever's, and Sano nodded his head in wicked enjoyment. "Cool, then it is settled. Forty-bucks to whoever lasts the longest. Deal?"
"Deal," Aoshi answer for himself and a wide-eyed Misao.
"Sure," Ruakii sounded as cocky as ever and then he was leaning over to Tomoe and whispering something into her ear that had her smiling and giggling.
"I guess so." Was the edgy tentative answer from the two younger teens, Yahiko and Quii. Neither of them was exactly keen on the idea, but had promised each other they would do the best they could.
"Great idea, Sano... Figures it would be yours." Only Kenshin could be that sarcastic and nasty and still sound half-way civil. Sano had to smile at his friend's nonchalant asshole attitude. Sometimes it was a perfect fit for the situation... and this time it was. A perfect fit.
"All right then, everyone is agreed, forty-bucks to the winning couple. Now, you gents pick a number between one and fifteen."
"What for?" Ruakii sounded like the one monkey at the zoo who missed the banana party.
"So we can decide what order everybody goes in, Stupid. Whaddya think?" Sano snorted in irritation at the other boy's thickness and wished for the thousandth time that night that he had not asked him to come. "So pick a number, nut-brain, and let's go."
"Who's got the Master number? You?"
"No. Megumi's got it."
"Oh... Ok."
"Stupid."
"All right you guys, that's enough... do you have your numbers or not?" Megumi was getting worn out by the constant bickering between Sano and Ruakii, and she made a mental note to never go double dating with him and Tomoe, or go on anymore group activities that involved them either.
Once everyone indicated they had chosen a number between one and fifteen, Megumi started going around the circle.
"Aoshi?"
"Seven."
"Ruakii?"
"Three."
"Yahiko?"
"Twelve."
"Kenshin?"
"Thirteen."
"Sano?"
"Ten."
"Ok, the number was Two. Looks like Ruakii and Tomoe are first, Aoshi and Misao are second, Sano and I are third, Yahiko and Quii are forth, and Kenshin and Kaoru are dead last. Sorry," She smiled a small apologetic smile in Kaoru's direction and then shrugged. "That is just the way it goes. Sorry."
"It's Ok. I don't mind." Kaoru lied. Point in fact, she was terrified and had been ever since they had finally reached the ominous looking tower. There was something wrong here. Something wrong with the tower and with this place. It was all wrong, and she wished she had taken Kenshin up on his offer to go back when he had made it.
Kenshin had been aware of Kaoru's discomfort from the moment they had arrived as well. Her terror was practically a physical being walking beside him, and he was worried about her. He could also feel the 'wrongness' about the tower, and that worried him too.
He knew this was a bad idea.
Since Sano was the only one with a watch that had a light on it, he was chosen to be the Timekeeper, that was until he and Megumi had to take their turn, and then Kenshin would hold the watch.
So, everyone found a reasonably comfortable spot on one of the dozens of stones that peppered the ground, and sat down to wait their turn. Ruakii and Tomoe headed off towards the eerie looking grey tower hand in hand, and Sano started the timer on his watch.
"There they go. Who wants to take bets on that pussy not being able to stay in there longer than 5 minutes?" There was a tone of malicious humor in his deep voice and it was followed by a few soft chuckles, and one loud 'Hauruumph.' Sano looked up and met the darkly shadowed eyes of Ruakii's younger sister and suddenly felt very stupid. "Oops, ahhhh, sorry Quii. I sort of forgot you were over there..." It was a lame excuse, but it was all he had.
"Jerk." She mumbled and favored him with one of her famous soul squirming scowls, and Sano found he was not immune to its affects. He started to fidget uncomfortably beneath the intensity of her glare until he finally snapped at her.
"Enough already... I'm sorry, Ok? Cut it out. You are giving me the heebie-jeebies." Quii smiled sweetly, nodded, and looked away. 'That little... She did that on purpose just so I'd apologize.' Sano was incredulous as he watched the future female manipulator expert start talking to Yahiko as if she had done absolutely nothing.
"How long have they been gone, Sanosuke?" Aoshi leaned across Misao's lap in order to get closer to Sano so he would not have to shout. Misao was practically swooning over the close proximity of his body, his hair, his... everything.
"Almost... seven minutes."
"Just about half-way." He leaned back vaguely noticing how Misao's nose seemed to follow the scent of his aftershave as he went. Casting a sidelong glance at her, he caught the last vestiges of the dreamy look on her pretty face and felt the hint of a smile tugging fiercely at the right corner of his mouth. 'Tomoe never got to me like this before. Tomoe never made me feel like teasing her with my cologne, or tickling her nose with my hair... What is it about this little live-wire that is getting to me?' For the life of him he did not know, but... He was beginning to think he liked it.
A shrill scream of absolute terror filled the night making everyone jump and grab the first thing they could get a hold of - the person next to them.
"What the fu..." Sano rose slowly to his feet, and another scream split the night followed by another and another, and then the sound of running feet reached their ears. It was not long until that sound of feet brought a frantic Ruakii and a terrified Tomoe into view. They were about 75 yards away from the group, and it looked as if they were sprinting the distance despite the uneven ground along the bluff.
"Look at them..." Megumi had grabbed a hold of Sano's arm in fear when the first scream had sounded, and she was now fully plastered to his side.
"They're scared shitless." He whispered. "Damn."
"Ruakii....?" Quii sounded frightened and worried at the same time as she watched her brother running like a wild animal runs for its life. "What...?"
"Aohsi? What...?" Misao instinctively pressed herself against the strength of his hard chest as she watched the terrified pair racing across the stone littered bluff towards them.
"I do not know, Misao. I do not know." He lifted his arm and wrapped it tightly around her holding her against him closely as he felt her body tremble. "Something is not right."
Kenshin had pulled a quaking Kaoru into the protective haven of his arms after the first scream, and then buried her head against his chest after that. Now he stood holding her as tightly against him as he could as they both watched what was happening. "Kenshin?"
"I do not know, Tanuki. Let's wait and find out before we panic, shall we." She nodded and pressed her face against his chest again. Both of her hands had grabbed a handful of his jacket, and she had yet to relinquish either one.
As the frightened pair reached the group, they both literally dropped to their knees panting and wheezing as they fought to catch their breath after their mad flight away from the Lighthouse.'
"What the hell happened to you two?" Sano and Megumi both knelt next to the exhausted couple and tried to help them at least set up. "Are you Ok at least... Ruakii? Dammit! Are you guys Ok??"
"Yes... we're fine... Holy Shit!!!" He was breathing so heavily it was a little difficult to hear him through his gasps for air.
"What happened in there? All we heard was screaming and shit. What happened?"
Suddenly Ruakii flipped over onto his back, and to everyones astonishment, he began to laugh, as much as he could in between trying to breath, and then, in only a moment, Tomoe was falling onto his chest in a fit of gasping giggles.
"What the..." Sano was completely baffled.
"Their laughing... I can't believe it." Misao looked down at the pair with shocked eyes. "They just got the shit scared out of themselves, and they're laughing like idiots. Will somebody kill them for me please?"
Kenshin turned and smiled at an equally shocked Kaoru, and as she looked back into his amused face, they both shook their heads and walked over to the wheezing, laughing couple. "You mind explaining what is so damned funny? We would all appreciate knowing what scared you two so bad that you came running back like a couple of rabbits, but still had the guts to lay down and laugh about it. So, spit it out. What was it?"
"Tomoe..." Ruakii tried to talk but he was laughing so hard he could not finish, and besides, Tomoe squealed and started to swat him.
"Don't you dare tell, don't you dare. I swear to heck, Ruakii, if you tell..."
"Oh come on, Honey..."
"Noooo..."
"But it was so cute..."
"Ruakii..."
"What did you do you dog?" Now Sano was grinning from ear to ear.
"It wasn't much, just a little thing actually."
"RUAKII! Tomoe swung wide and he deftly caught her by the wrists and pinned them between their bodies as he continued to laugh and she giggle.
"We were almost half way up the stair circle, and she was getting all jittery and shit... and I just couldn't help it. I knew we'd lose the bet, but I had to do it."
"What did you do?" Aoshi was getting in on the fun now because HE knew first hand how nervous Tomoe could be.
"I let her get a few steps a head of me... and then I scraped my duster against the wall really loud... and growled. Everything echoes really bad in that place and it sounded a lot worse than I thought it would. Shit! I almost scared myself." Tomoe buried her face in his chest and continued to giggle. "She lets out this big blood curdling scream and comes running down the stairs, but before I can say anything, she bumps right into me... 'I' scared her, and she starts screaming her head off and I'm trying to tell her it's ME. Once she finds out it is ME, she starts trying to rip my head off 'cause I scared her so bad."
"And that is what made you guys come tearing across the bluff?"
"Hell no..."
"Then what did?" Kenshin looked down and Ruakii turned around and met his eyes honestly.
"We were on our way down the stairs when, I swear to God, we heard somebody say 'Daniel March'."
"Say what?" Kenshin looked at him in disbelief.
"'Daniel March.' Some guys name. It was clear as a bell... well, sort of... It was this funky whisper-like voice, but it was clear and we both heard it at the same time. And when we did, WE HAULED ASS!!"
"Daneil March? Saitou, you're full of more shit than a Christmas goose." Sano laughed and walked away.
"Yeah, well then you go and see what you hear, Sagara, and then maybe you won't be so quick to brush us off."
"I can't go yet, Saitou. It isn't my turn." Sano retorted in a voice heavy with sarcasm. "But we'll see what Mr. Aoshi finds. After all, He is the man of logic and absolutes, is he not?"
"Bite me, Sagara."
As it happened none of the next three couples 'saw' or 'heard' anything like Ruakii and Tomoe did, so they did not get vindicated, but the last couple still had yet to enter 'Somber Man'.
Kenshin and Kaoru were standing outside the darkened opening that was the doorway leading inside the main tower, and both had stopped to look upward at the outline of the iron catwalk far above their heads.
"Is that where we are supposedly supposed to go?" She asked in a small voice.
"Yes. I believe it is."
"It looks very high... doesn't it?"
"Yes. It does."
"Do you think the iron is still safe?"
"Yes, most likely. Kaoru?"
"What?"
"Are you scared?"
"Yes. Are you?"
"Yes." She turned and looked at his lean profile and then he turned and looked at her. "I have been afraid all my life... of one thing or another. But mostly, I think have been afraid to live, or to be alive. I do not want to be afraid anymore, and I..." He turned and looked into the darkness of the doorway as he squeezed her hand. "I do not want to be alone anymore either."
"Neither do I." She squeezed back, and he turned to look at her again. His colorless gray eyes met and held her black eyes as they stood together in the chill of the moonless night, and Kenshin reached over with his left hand and ever so gently touched her face with the tips of his fingers. The skin of her white cheek was soft and smooth as porcelain as he traced an imaginary line from her cheekbone to her jaw line, and then to the point of her chin.
"You are so beautiful, Little Tanuki. I have never looked at anything more beautiful than you. That I have not." He cocked his head slightly to the right and let his eyes caress every delicate contour of her face. "Eyes so large and round, like sapphire ponds in an elfin face; you have reminded me of a fairy or a nymph almost from the first moment I saw your face." His hand moved to tenderly cup her cheek, and he watched as she closed her eyes and rubbed against that hand not unlike a cat seeking affection from its Master. "I've drawn your face, you know."
"You have?" Her eyes opened and looked at him in wonder. "You have drawn ME?"
"Um-hum. A dozen times or more at least."
"Why? What did you draw?"
"Why? Because your eyes have haunted my footsteps and my mind for days on end and because I cannot get your image out of my mind." A long elegant finger ran down the length of her nose and then dropped to trace the shape of her lips causing her to gasp sharply with a new sense of awareness of him. "What did I draw?" A wicked smile crossed his handsome face, and a soft laugh rolled over his full lips. "That is my business, Tanuki."
"Kenshin! Did you draw dirty pictures of me? Did you?" She caught his hand and momentarily stopped its tantalizing game with her lips.
She was greeted with another deep laugh and his other hand rose to cup her other cheek. "No. Kaoru. I did not draw dirty pictures of you, but I cannot say the thought did not cross my mind."
"Oh," Kaoru had to bite her bottom lip to stop herself from smiling, but she could do nothing about the mischief that appeared in her eyes. He was doing terrible things to her sense of balance, and the awful thing about that was she did not seem to care.
"I love to draw your eyes, Tanuki. I am obsessed with them."
"My eyes?"
"Yes. Your eyes. They follow me everywhere... even into my dreams."
"Kenshin... What are you trying to do to me? Are you playing a game with me?"
"NO." He spoke sharply and she flinched at the tone. "I do not play games... unless they are in bed, Tanuki, and then I only play if SHE wants too."
"Have you... Kenshin?"
"I will not lie to you, Kaoru." He said evenly as he dropped both hands back to his sides and turned away from her. "Yes, I have had sex before. Is that what you are asking me?"
"Yes." Her voice was very small.
"It was about a year ago... She was an exchange student from Japan who was only here for two semesters. It was very private, and very quiet. No one ever even knew we were seeing each other."
"Where is she now?"
"Back in Japan."
"You must miss her very much." Kaoru's head hung low and she felt as if all the air had been let out of her. She felt defeated even before she started.
"No, not really. It was just 'a thing' I guess you could call it. We both needed something at that time, and we each had that something the other needed."
"Are you telling me it was some sort of a... a 'trade off' thing?"
"Yes and No. She needed someone to help her with her English and grammar and I needed someone to help me with my math and physics... and we both needed someone to ease the loneliness. But it was never more than a 'band-aid' for the real problem. We knew it would never go any farther than an intimate friendship, so..."
"So..."
"So, we just enjoyed it while it lasted, and when the time came... we said 'Good-bye'."
"Oh." He looked at her and saw the look of desolation on her face, and his feelings of guilt and loneliness increased ten-fold. Looking away from her, he stuffed his hands into the deep pockets of his jacket and started stubbing his foot against the rocky ground. "You think I'm horrible, don't you? You think I'm a cold hearted bastard with no feelings or scruples, right? Well, maybe you're right. I do not really know anymore, and I haven't cared about it for a long time either. I have been alone for so long that it is hard to differentiate real emotions from the ones I have fabricated so I can at least sort of blend in. Do you know how hard it is to try and blend in, Kaoru? Especially when the cards are stacked against you even before you seat yourself down at the table to play?"
"Not really... but I understand what it means to try and blend in when you know you can't. I've been trying to do it every since my parents died."
He swung around and looked at her with hard eyes, and then approached her in two quick steps. Without missing a heart beat, he reached out and pulled her into his arms and held her close to him. "I'm sorry," He whispered against the thickness of her hair as he pushed his face into her neck. "Oh Kaoru. I am so sorry. I'm can be such an asshole sometimes... I talk without thinking, and I say the shittiest things to people. I just..."
"Don't..." She whispered as she pulled away and put a gentle hand over his mouth effectively stopping his words mid sentence. "I don't want to hear you talk about yourself that way. I think I know better than that." The look on her face was sad but understanding as she met his contrite gaze.
He took her hand in his, and finally gave into an urge he could no longer resist; Kenshin pressed a tender but passionate kiss against its wrist creating a cascade of shivers that rushed throughout her body. "How could you know better, Kaoru? You don't really know me?"
"I do not know how I know better, Kenshin, but I do. I can tell you are not a mean spirited person, and I know it is not in your nature to act that way either... I think you do it to keep people from getting too close, and to protect yourself from getting hurt...I think you have been hurt a lot in your life, haven't you, Kenshin?"
"Everything hurts, Kaoru." He whispered in a husky voice. "Everything in my whole life has hurt... Everything I've ever done has been wrong, and almost everything that has happened to me has been bad, and it is all so stupid because all I ever wanted was to be noticed... to be a part of the world... or just a part of something, anything, but I could not even be a part of my own family." His voice was small and filled with sorrow as he tenderly rubbed Kaoru's hand against his cheek. "All I've ever wanted from them was..." But then he stopped and just shook his head unable to continue. The silence around him was more deafening than any shout Kaoru had ever heard. It was like the roar of a whirlwind raging inward off the ocean to engulf them within the fury of its deadly funnel. She slowly raised her other hand and cupped his other cheek, and then spoke to him in the most comforting and assuaging manner she could muster.
"What did you want, Kenshin? What did you want from your family that they never gave you? Tell me."
He stood still for a long moment, and then he let his eyes slowly rise to meet the deep questioning concern of hers. Kaoru sucked in a breath of astonishment as she beheld the look of pure vulnerability etched deeply into the planes of his handsome face. He looked desolate and more lost than anyone she had ever seen before, and the sight of him tore at her heart making it just that much more important to find out what had gone missing in his life. As she looked at him, an amazing thought occurred to her. 'Oh My God, I am looking at his soul.' The pain she felt for him squeezed at her vulnerable soul. 'I am looking at Kenshin Himura's soul.'
"I just wanted them to accept me for who I am, not who they tried to turn me into. I wanted to be trusted, to be believed, to be valued as their son and I...." His voice faded and he dropped his eyes again, but Kaoru thought she knew what he was going to say.
"You wanted to be... Loved, Kenshin? To be loved?"
"Yes." The proud voice cracked under the stress of the emotions he was trying to control, and Kaoru chocked on a sob as she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a warm comforting embrace.
"Oh Kenshin. Sweet, wonderful Kenshin... I believe you, I trust you, I accept you... and I value you." She spoke vehemently into his ear and felt him shudder against her, and suddenly both of his arms were around her and holding her tightly against him. "I think you are a very valuable person, and I am so glad I met you... so glad. You made me feel safe again after such a long time of feeling scared and alone." Her arms tightened around his neck, and she pressed herself as close to him as she could. "I don't know why I feel this way, or how I know I can trust you or anything else, but I know I can, and I know that inside of you behind your tough-guy attitude, there is a really sweet guy who's just waiting for you to let him out. You can let him out, Kenshin, I promise I won't do anything to hurt him. I promise."
"Kaoru..." Kenshin rasped against the curve of her throat as he crushed the thinness of her hard against his chest. "Beautiful Kaoru. You do not know how much I want to be with you and just be 'that guy', but it is so hard to let go... it is so hard... be patient, sweet tanuki, please be patient and it will come because now that I have found you, I do not ever want to let go." A rare sound of happiness escaped from Kaoru's throat and then she was pulling away from him, but before Kenshin could speak or do anything, she had captured his lips within the tender urgency of hers. Kenshin stood stunned and pliant within her passionate embrace for a moment as the reality of HER kissing HIM sank into his foggy brain, and then he was reversing the pressure of control and molding her mouth to better fit the contours of his.
"MMMMMM," Kaoru's low moan of pleasure at his shift on dominance brought a rush of warmth to the long frozen flesh of his heart, and Kenshin had the uncanny sensation of new life being planted and beginning to grow within his soul.
He pressed kiss after kiss into the moist softness of her parted lips, and as he cocked his head this way and that, Kenshin found it did not matter from which angle he approached her, Kaoru's mouth seemed to morph perfectly and mold into his like matching puzzle pieces. She was a great kisser, and Kenshin found himself jealously wondering how much practice she had gotten, and with whom.
"Caaassssaannddraaa."
The pair broke apart in startled shock and stared into the dark of the doorway they were still standing in front of.
"Did you hear that?" Kaoru grabbed a handful of Kenshin's jacket and pulled him forcefully over to her. She was trembling and it was not from the cold.
"I... I heard something..." Kenshin stood still as stone cocking his head to the right as he listened intently for anymore odd sounds, but heard nothing. "Hmmmm, maybe it was the wind or some dried leaves or something. I don't hear anything else."
"Are you kidding? That was a voice. It said something, didn't you hear it? It said 'Cassandra' or something like that."
"I don't know... It was all raspy sounding and stuff. I think it was the wind. Calm down, it was nothing, Ok?"
Kaoru looked through the doorway with skepticism and doubt, but nodded her head. "Ok, but you better not do anything to me like Ruakii did to Tomoe, all right?"
Kenshin grinned and put an arm around her so he could pull her in for a hug. "I would not do anything like that to you, Tanuki. If I was going to scare you, I would plan something much more elaborate than this. This is too predictable and way too 'Halloween' for me. So don't worry. No creepy crawly stuff from me."
"Ok, because I have absolutely no intention of letting go of your jacket until we come back out."
"Ok, Tanuki. You hold on, and we'll be just fine." Kenshin kept his arm around her waist and they tentatively walked through the open doorway.
It took several seconds for their eyes to adjust to the darker interior, but there was enough starlight coming through the broken windows so make out the long circular stairway that led up to the Lamp room and the catwalk.
"You ready?" Kenshin asked a wide-eyed Kaoru who seemed to have misplaced her voice and could only nod. "Ok, come one, and let's get this over with." Carefully they stepped over odd debris and broken wood until they reached the bottom of the stairs. Kenshin looked up and followed the circular stair until it disappeared into the darkness over his head. He judged the lighthouse must be about 65 feet tall which would make the circle stair approximately a 55 to 57 foot climb to reach the Lamp room. "We can do this, Tanuki. Just stay close and keep your hand on the wall and we will be there in no time."
"You are sure?" She squeaked, and he chuckled gently.
"Yes, I am sure. Just stay behind me and hold onto my jacket. Ok?"
"Ok... But just for the record, I vote this IS NOT a fun idea."
"Me too. Let's get going so we can get it over with."
"Cool... Great... Can't wait."
"You sound like it." And then they were on their way up the stairway.
The wrought iron stairs creaked and groaned somewhat as Kenshin and Kaoru mounted each one, and the noise was beginning to get to Kaoru.
"You really sure this is safe? You don't think it's like going to pull out of the wall and dump us on the floor down there, do you?"
"No, Honey. I do not think it is going to come out of the wall and dump us."
"Then why is it making so much noise?"
"Cause it's old, Baby. Old things make noise. Didn't you ever have Grandparent's?"
Kaoru giggled. "That's mean."
"Made you laugh."
"Ok. But it was still mean."
"Got your mind off the stairs didn't it?"
"Ok, ok... you're smart, and I worry too much."
"Now you got the idea." A deep chuckle carried back to her and she yanked on his jacket to let him know just what she thought of that. "Hey, cut that out OR we will end up on the floor." Kaoru just smiled, and they went back to climbing.
"Biiittcchh."
"Ok, now I know you had to hear THAT?" Kaoru was up on the step beside Kenshin in a split second with both of her arms wrapped around his waist and her cheek pressed into his back.
"Ummm... Yes, I do believe I heard something that time." With his heart beating in his throat, Kenshin carefully looked around in a full 180 degrees but could see nothing. They waited for a couple of minutes listening as well, but there was no more noise. Now, thoroughly spooked himself, Kenshin kept Kaoru right next to him as then started to climb once more.
"FUCKING WHORE!"
"KENSHIN!" Kaoru cried out and both of them were suddenly pinned against the cold stone wall of the lighthouse. "Kenshin, what the hell was that? Did you hear that? Did you? Oh My Gosh!"
"Yes, I did... SHIT! What the hell is going on in here?" He started looking around again, but still could not see anything. "SANO?" He yelled, "If this is one of your fucking jokes, it isn't a very funny one, asshole." He waited and listened but heard nothing. "SANO?"
"FUCKING WHORE FUCKING WHORE FUCKING WHORE!"
"JESUS CHRIST!" Kenshin grabbed Kaoru's hand and turned to head back down the stairs, but was pulled up short by the vision of an incredibly beautiful woman huddled up against the wall not more than five feet away from then.
"Wha... Who the hell are you?" He asked her in a voice that shook far more than he liked. The woman just sat staring straight across the tower, and said nothing. "Hey, hey Lady? Are you Ok?" Kenshin pulled Kaoru behind him as he carefully approached the woman. She had long dark hair and a perfect cameo profile. As he reached her, Kenshin gently reached out to touch her shoulder, but she suddenly turned to face him and he jerked his hand back in horrified shock. She was looking at him with Kaoru's face. Both Kenshin and Kaoru jerked so suddenly they stumbled and fell backwards onto the steps behind them.
"Holy Shit, holy shit... oh my God... Kaoru? What in the name of heaven?"
"You have to leave," The woman rasped in a hoarse whisper as her face became contorted with terror. "You have to leave before he comes. He's drunk again, and he's dangerous when he's drunk." Her pale wraith like hands reached out towards Kenshin as if in entreaty. "Please, Edmond, leave before he wakes up. He will kill you if he finds you here. You have to leave, My Love." And then she turned and ran silently down the stairs only to disappear at the bottom.
Kenshin's breaths were coming in short harsh gasps, and so were Kaoru's. Neither were sure of what they had just seen, and neither had the mental capacity to discuss it at the moment either. So they just sat leaning on one another while they waited for their senses to calm down. But it was not meant to be. The night was not over for them. It was just beginning. For the hour had just struck the same as it had nearly 300 years before.
01:46 A.M. October 29, 1818
Somber Man's Lighthouse
Evermore, Maine
Cassandra O'Massy's bedroom
Living Quarters, Somber Man's Lighthouse
"Edmond, please, you have to leave. You have to hide."
"I am not afraid of him, Sandra. I will not hide like a sulking child."
"But you do not know him. He is dangerous, especially when he has been drinking, and he has been drinking ever since he got here."
"Then his senses are dulled and he will be easily dispatched, Darling. Stop worrying so much."
"No, no, no. The drunker Daniel gets the MORE dangerous he is... please, listen to me. He has found us, and he will kill you if you face him. "That is what he wants. He wants to kill you, Edmond. He wants to make me watch you die."
"Cassandra, Darling, please..."
"No, Edmond. He WILL kill you. He is deadly with a pistol, and his blade has never met its match. You cannot beat him, My Love. You have to leave."
"What will you do then?"
"I have always been able to placate him in one way or another. I will do something."
"Are you suggesting that you might..."
"If I have too, I will... You have to understand, Dearest. If it makes him leave for a few days and it gives us time to pack and flee, then it is worth it. I cannot go back to him... I cannot, I cannot. Oohhh..."
"Do not cry, Sandra. Please do not cry, Sweetheart. I understand why you must do this, but it does not mean I have to like what you're doing."
"Oh Edmond, can you forgive me?"
"Yes, yes. I can forgive you. If this man is as dangerous as you say, then I will leave, but I will only stay gone until the morning. If he is not gone by then, by God, then I will face him, come what may. I will not allow you to be so hunted and abused any longer."
"Please, just go. He will wake up soon. Go."
"Kiss me so I know you still love me, Sandra, and then I will go."
"I love you more than anything, Edmond. I love you more than life."
The door closed. 'click'.
01:54 A.M. October 29, 1818
Cassandra O'Massy's bedroom door is thrown open with enough force to splinter the doorframe.
"Wake-up, Bitch. Your 'usband's 'ere and he wants to sample some of your whore services."
"D-daniel... You are drunk. We should talk later a-after you s-sober up some. Besides, it's the m-middle of the n-night."
"I don't give a bloody piss what time it is, Cassy. I feel like
exercisin' me marital rights... and YOU are goin' to let ME. So, get up and take that bloody shift of NOW!"
"I... It's too cold to g-get out of bed, Daniel. Why don't you come over here?"
"Because I told you to get up and take your clothes off, Whore. I want to watch you strip like the fuckin' whore you are. Now get up and STRIP!"
"I-I... I don't want t-to."
"What did you say?"
"I said, I d-don't want t-to, Daniel. I don't want to make love."
"Who said anythin' about 'love', you filthy whore? I never said anythin' about 'love', but I do intend to have you, and I am goin' to have you NOW."
"OH GOD... NO! Daniel, don't do this... Please, for the Love of God... don't do this to me!"
A pause, sounds of a struggle and breaking wood as the bed frame gave way beneath the added weight of a very large man. Small frightened cries and gasps for air echoed against the pale stone.
"'aven't you heard, Cass, God doesn't love Whores, so He isn't goin' to care one bit about what I'm plannin' on doin' to you. Nobody is goin' to care because you are nothin' but a worthless two-bit whore."
"I am still your Wife, Daniel. Doesn't that mean ANYTHING?"
"That 'asn't meant anythin' for a long, long time, Cassy. I thought you knew that by now."
"If it doesn't mean anything, then why don't you just let me go? Why do you keep following me? Why Daniel? Why can't you just leave me alone?"
"Because, you disgustin', unfaithful Bitch, it is because you ARE me Wife that I can't let you go or leave you alone. I may 'ate you with the Devil's own passion, but I can never let you go. I can never let you rest."
"WHY?"
"BECAUSE YOU SHAMED ME AND MY NAME! YOU MADE ME INTO A FOOL!"
"HOW COULD I DO THAT? I HAVE NEVER DONE ANYTHING TO YOU?"
"YOU LEFT ME!! YOU MADE ME INTO 'ALF A MON IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE COLONY! YOU RUINED ME!"
"HOW COULD I RUIN A MAN LIKE YOU?"
"BECAUSE OF THE RUMORS..."
"WHAT BLOODY RUMORS?"
"THAT I WAS NOT 'USBAND ENOUGH FOR YOU! THAT I WAS NOT MAN ENOUGH FOR YOU! YOU RUINED ME AS A MAN, CASSANDRA! YOU RUINED ME FOREVER, AND I AM GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY FOR IT FOR THE REST OF YOUR MISERABLE LIFE!"
Soon the sounds of a violent struggle, ripping cloth, and agonized cries and moans of pain fill the small room. Then the sounds of yet another struggled ensued, but this time it was soon followed by the sound of running feet; terrified feet; panicked feet.
October 29,2001
01:58 A.M.
Somber Man's Lighthouse
Circle Stairway
"Are you Ok?" Kenshin turned his forehead into Kaoru's temple.
"I... I guess so. Kenshin?"
"Hummmm?"
"Was that a ghost?"
"I... I do not know. But it was sure the hell weird. That it was."
"No doubt."
"You ready to go?"
"Go?"
"Get the hell out of here?"
"Absolutely."
"Great. Let's go then." He stood up and was in the process of pulling her up with him when it all began.
Muffled cries and the accompanying sounds of a violent struggle began to drift upwards from somewhere in the darkness below the circular stair and through the hollows of the granite tower. The angry voices of a man and a woman locked in fierce argument echoed in the cold night air as furious curses and sobbing pleas were exchanged. The icy fingers of impending doom slid with slippery precision across the cold floor, and then wound their way up the old black wrought iron stairway until it passed Kenshin and Kaoru, leaving them shivering violently in the wake of its promise of bad things yet to come. They looked at each other in frightened confusion, and as Kenshin narrowed his eyes trying to see something in the darkness, he decided it was definitely time to leave. So, he tightened his grip on Kaoru's hand and started pulling her down the stairs behind him.
Then suddenly the tower was filled with the hollow echos of frantically running feet as they tripped and stumbled their way across the floor below. The sound rose high into the old lighthouse until it seemed it had surrounded Kenshin and Kaoru on every side. Kenshin immediately stopped, and pressing himself back against the cold stone wall, he pulled Kaoru back against his side and wrapped a trembling arm around her. They could hear the sounds of the iron circular as it creaked and groaned beneath the hidden weight of the individual who was now climbing them. The mournful and unmistakable sobbing gasps of someone in the throes of frightened distress could be heard as that same someone was making their was up the circular stair, and they were coming closer with each passing moment.
"Ken..shin? What is happening?" Kaoru was terrified and trembling violently as she leaned into the protection of his body. "What is going on?"
"I don't know, Kaoru. I don't know, but just don't move, Honey, Ok. Just stay still and don't let go of me, Kaoru. And, for God's sake, don't make any noise. Be as quiet as you can. No noise, Ok?" She quickly nodded and pressed her cheek against his chest. She was breathing in tiny short breaths. She was scared to death, but Kenshin was just as scared as she was. However, he knew he had to try and maintain some semblance of calm for her so she did not crumble into hysterics or something. He had to try and stay calm until they knew what was going on.
It was only a bare moment or two at the most before the hollow gasping breaths of pain were joined by the sounds of a much heavier pair of footsteps running across the floor, and then quickly mounting the stairs in one great leap that sent the circular into rocking. Immediately the hoarse sobs took on a note of terrified desperation and the sounds of their progress increased frantically. They were almost on top of the two teens who were becoming more frightened by the second.
With a feeling of great apprehension, Kenshin turned to his left and looked over Kaoru's head down the stairs. He sucked in a breath of pure shock and held it as a level of fear he had never experienced before was reached in that splint instant.
The young woman they had seen earlier, who had seemed so real, was now scrambling up the iron steps frantically on her hands and feet. Her long ebony hair was in a tangled mess hanging all around her, her delicate face was tear stained and covered with the blues and purples of darkening bruises, and her flimsy cloth night gown had been ripped and torn over her breasts and was gapping open revealing more bruised flesh beneath. As she approached them, it became easier to see and understand at this point, that she was definitely surrounded by an aura of iridescent light of purest white, and it seemed to illuminate every painful detail about her appearance including the fact that she was partially transparent. This time she did not seem to see either of them as she had earlier, and crawled right passed them as she made her doomed panicked flight up the stairs towards the Lamp room.
The second set of footsteps rounded the stairway suddenly much closer than they had been a moment ago, the terrible noise they made sounded loud and very angry, and it was not but a few seconds before the cause of those sounds became visible.
"Kenshin..." Kaoru tugged on his jacket in an anxious attempt to gain his attention as the second apparition rounded the circular and began to approach their position.
"God, help us." He whispered as he looked into the most malevolent face he had ever seen. "Please don't let us die in this place... God?"
The heavy angry footsteps belonged to tall dark-haired man who appeared to be in his mid-twenties, and his brilliant emerald green eyes were glittering diamonds, hard with furious rage as he tried to take the stairs two at a time. He was wearing a white shirt with long flowing puffed sleeves that were gathered at the wrist and then hung over his wrists. It was open at the throat with a loose white tie hanging freely over his broad shoulders. This was definitely a colonial period attire as both Kenshin and Kaoru took in his snug fitting breeches and knee high leather boots.
"Kenshin," Kaoru's voice was barely a breath as she turned to him and put her lips next to his ear. "I.. I don't think he can see us... He's going right passed... just like she did." They watched in frozen fear as the cold fury of the man drew him right in front of them, and then passed onto the higher stairs. The icy cold that was left in his wake caused both teen's breath to become a heavy white steam in the air, and Kaoru shivered in response.
"It's cold. Do you feel it?"
"Yes."
"He didn't see us. Did you see that?"
"Yes, I did." His wary violet eyes followed the man's progress as he disappeared up the stairs, and after a quick impulsive thought, Kenshin pulled Kaoru behind him and he followed as quickly as he dared.
"What are we doing?" Kaoru sounded like she thought Kenshin had lost his mind.
"Shhhhhhh," He shot a look back at her that said, 'Trust me.' "Something is really wrong about all of this. I think we should try and see if anything else happens. Come on."
"Oh shit."
"Shhhhhhhh."
Then the door to the Lamp room was ferociously slammed open with a loud 'boom' that reverberated down the iron circular jarring the railing beneath the youths cold hands, but Kenshin was nonplused by the reaction, and he stubbornly continued upward.
By the time he and Kaoru got to the Lamp room, both ghosts had already exited out onto the catwalk. Their raised voices could be heard just as easily as if they had been living flesh and blood. Kenshin carefully led Kaoru passed the long-dark lamp, through the room of glass panes and mirrors, and then as they stepped ever so quietly out into the cold wind blowing across the iron grating of the catwalk, they became spectators to a scene no one had laid eyes on in over 200 years. Cassandra O'Massy's murder.
The ghost of Cassandra O'Massy was standing with her back to the catwalk railing, her hands were behind her, and they were wrapped tightly around the rough iron as she struggled to hang on in the wild wind. Her once pretty face was bruised and swollen from the recent beating she had received at the hands of her estranged husband, Daniel March, who was at that moment, standing threateningly before her, his hands balled into tight fists. They were in the midst of a desperate argument. Desperate for Cassandra because she was swiftly running out of viable options... and catwalk.
"No, Daniel," She was pleading. "It... it's not too late... let me explain, please let me explain... wait... please." Tears streamed down her face. It was Kaoru's face. The resemblance was uncanny and it gave both Kenshin and Kaoru cold chills of great unease.
"I am through waiting on you, Cassy." Daniel snarled at the terrified woman as he began to advance on her tenuous position. "No more waiting... no more. Your whoring days are over, Bitch. It's time to meet your maker." He reached out for her and she was trying to back up, but there was nowhere for her to go. Cassandra O'Massy was out of options, out of time, and out of catwalk.
"Please, Daniel..." Her voice was desperate, pleading, bordering on hysteria as her terrified deep blue eyes read her fate glittering in his rage filled emerald eyes. "Listen to me... Dan..."
"Go to Hell..." He spat viciously. "And take you Whore's lies with you." His strong slender hands reached,and then lunged out for her, grasped for and found the smallness of her waist, and then bending his knees, he heaved her upwards.
"DANIEL! NO! WAIT!" Cassandra's high pitched scream of terror was cut short as he flung her over the edge of the iron railing. But the quiet of the night was suddenly filled with another scream; a bone chilling sound that rose up from beyond the cliffs as her body fell, and fell, and fell until it was dashed and crushed against the massive stones that rested at the base of the island. In a split instant of time, the world turned silent and became empty as if all life had died with the young woman who had perished on the rocks far below.
The ghost of Daniel March stood for a long moment just looking over the edge of the railing where he had maliciously thrown her body only seconds before.
"She's dead. Good-bye Princess. I... I'm sorry... I..." The voice held the hollow sounds of defeat and desolation, and finally he turned from his morose vigil and slowly reentered the Lamp room.
Kenshin had been holding Kaoru crushed tightly against him ever since Daniel's ghost had thrown Cassandra's ghost over the top of the railing in a desperate effort to keep her from screaming.
"You Ok?" He asked her gently as he cupped her face and looked into her terrified eyes. "Can we go back inside now, or do you want to wait a while?"
"No, let's go after him. He hasn't disappeared yet. I think that means he isn't done... we've come this far. We might as well see what else he does."
"Ok, but then we go."
"Deal. Kenshin?"
"What, Honey?"
"I don't ever want to come back here again, Ok?"
"Not a problem... I do not either." And he gently took her freezing hand in his and led her back inside.
Carefully and quietly they followed in the wake of the disappearing ghost watching him intently as he rounded each turn of the stairs. They followed him all the way down until they reached the bottom and had to stop because he sat down on the last two steps. The two teens jumped down the few feet it took to get off the steps they were standing on, and then circled the glowing apparition until they were in front of him. He was setting with his head in his hands, and it appeared he was crying in despair or grief.
"What have I done?" He sobbed in a voice full of anguish. "What have I done? Oh God, Cassy?"
Kenshin was slowly, carefully, and as stealthily as possible making their way towards the freedom of the doorway when the most unexpected thing happened. Daniel March raised his head and looked at them. He looked at them right in the face.
"I loved 'er, I did. I loved 'er more than anythin' else in this world, and I would have laid the universe at 'er feet if only she would have loved me back." He looked down at his hands and splayed them out in front of him with palms up. "I did not intend to kill 'er, truly I did not. But I always did have a frightful temper back then. I drank, a lot. Too much to be sure. That is why she left me. I could never admit I was a poor Husband. I always had to blame 'er, but it was my fault, it was. I could not face up to it and accept she left me because of me drinkin' and me damned temper, but that is the bloody truth of it."
Kenshin and Kaoru were both frozen in total terror and astonishment as they listened to the litany of a long dead and pitiful man.
"Is he talking to us... Kenshin?"
"I... I do not know. But I think it is time to go."
"Definitely." As he started to sidle over towards the door once more, Daniel whipped his head up and stared at them again. The vicious rage that was reflected on his face stopped them mid stride. Kenshin felt all of the small hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as his primitive alarm system went off.
"What the bloody hell are you doin' 'ere, you fuckin' bastard?" He sprang to his feet and turned toward Kenshin in a very threatening manner. "I told you to get the hell out of town, Fetlock, or else I was gonna put a bullet in your fuckin' 'ead."
"Kenshin, he's talking to you like he knows you. Like you are somebody else. What is going on?" Kaoru was becoming confused as well as frightened. There was something very wrong about all of this. Very wrong.
"Ahhhhh.... I... My name... is Kenshin. I am not Fetlock." Kenshin was completely terrified and had no idea what to do in the face of this bazaar twist of circumstance. He moved Kaoru behind him and shielded her with his body.
"What kind of bullshite are you trying to feed me, Fetlock? I am not that big of a fool, and I am not that drunk either. Now, if you know what's good for you, you will get your lilly-white whore-monger's ass out of my sight, and out of Evermore before tomorrow mornin', or you're goin' to be a dead man."
"Look, I-I told you, I'm n-not Fetlock, Ok... I'm just a kid in the wr-rong place. I am leaving now. Ok?"
"GET OUT! You filthy coward! Get out and get away from me Wife! Get out before I kill you right now!" Daniel made a rush at Kenshin, and the red-haired youth grabbed Kaoru's hand and pulled her roughly with him as he darted for the door. But the sound of a mournful moan and a cry of broken hearted grief made them stop and turn around. The ghost of Daniel March had fallen to its knees and was bent over as if in great pain. A great mournful wailing cry rose up from it, and then the broad shoulder began to shake with the sobbing of great emotional grief.
"Noooooooooooooooo....." It cried and threw it's head back raising its arms up toward the top of the tower. "Nooooooooooooo, Noooooooooo, Nooooooooo, Cassssssyyyyyy......." It hugged itself and began rocking back and forth as it cried. "Why? Why? Why 'ave you done this? Why 'ave you come back? Why couldn't you stay gone? Why couldn't you leave me alone? OOOoooooooooooooooooooooo......oooooooooooooooooo."
"What is he talking about, Kenshin?"
"I am not sure.... Unless..." Kenshin's face had a look of trepidation as he studied the distraught ghost, and then he turned and looked Kaoru in the face. "Unless he thinks YOU are Cassandra come back. You do look exactly like her."
"Oh, no way... No way!" Her eyes grew huge and round in her face, and Kaoru frantically shook her head. "That is completely nuts, and you know it."
"Well, yes it is, but HE'S completely nuts... right?"
"Good point... Great. A 200 year old dead psycho-murderer thinks I'm his dead wife reincarnated. Aren't I just special." She rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. "Lets get out of here while he's occupied with something else, Ok?"
"Absolutely." But as they turned to go, Daniel shot from his feet and darted across the space separating them all, and placed himself between the door and Kenshin and Kaoru.
"You cannot 'ave 'er again, Fetlock. She is mine. She was always mine. I will not let you steal 'er from me AGAIN."
"I told you, this is not your wife. Your wife is dead... you killed her for God's sake. Don't you remember?"
"It does not matter anymore. She has come back to me. She has come back to give me another chance to make everythin' right...AND I WILL NOT LET YOU GET IN ME WAY AGAIN!" But before Kenshin could act again, Daniel surged forward and passed into Kaoru's body.
HE HE HE HE HE!
Mean place to stop a chapter, idn't it? ;OD
Hope you all enjoy.
And as always... take care and God Bless.
Happy New Year... Don't Drink and Drive. Use a designated driver so everbody gets home in one piece. (Boy, I really sound like somebodies Mom now, don't I?)
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Tsuki-san :) Until next time.