A/N: Please remember that Edmond was in his mid to late twenties and Cassandra in her early to mid twenties when they died. They were 'Adults' and they are now inhabiting Kenshin and Kaoru's teenage bodies as the controlling entity, so . . . their actions and reactions are a bit different to say the least. They are not teenagers, nor do they have teenage philosophy on the brain . . . besides that, they are old country 300 years ago when conversation and relationships were a tad different. Also, Daniel is a mid twenties man stuck in a 40 year old body. Hmmmm
1. Also remember that Kenshin is a letterman in fencing as well as martial arts. Everyone is in for a few surprises.
Chapter Twenty
Memories of An Angel-Wolf
The past, the present, and the future seemed to be colliding all at once inside the small room far beneath the lighthouse, and as the reincarnated lovers once more held each other in their arms, the rip within the fabric of Time widened and the breech became critical.
'...have to get them out . . . must keep them safe . . . must not fail.'
Memories of abusive fists mixed with cries of pain and fear as the worlds of three centuries past and the present swirled together into a befuddlement of fused images. Hazy pictures of Daniel crossed over with horrifying reflections of Hiko as Kenshin's mind slithered next to Edmond's inside the single redheaded skull, and an uncontrolled shudder passed through the body the two entities shared as intense thoughts of protection suddenly surged to the surface of their consciousness.
A small gasping cry pulled the red-haired man away from the woman he held so possessively within his arms as he realized there was no time for this. As much as his heart and soul demanded he hold her, he knew he wasted precious seconds they should be using to escape the darkness. Daniel was not going to remain subdued for much longer, and he had to get the girls to a safe place before he found them. If they were destined to face one another again, then it was not going to be on the dark man's terms this time. It would be on his.
"We must go, Sandra." His gentle touch caressed her tear damp cheek. "Before Daniel finds us here." She nodded and the two of them turned back toward the darkness of the stairway only to find the bright golden eyes of Quii Saitou watching them patiently.
"I don't want to be rude or anything, but it's about time. I mean, it's not like we've got all day for you two to get reacquainted or anything. I know it's been a long time since you've been together and all, but if it's all the same to you . . . I'd like to get the hell outta here before Mr. Ugly comes back."
Edmond raised an indulgent brown eyebrow at her sarcastic way of speaking, and then took the flashlight out of her hand and turned its beam onto her smirking face. "Quite." He replied as he eyed the saucy teenager with a dire look. "By all means, let us be gone from this place. After you, Miss Saitou." He waved his hand toward the dark stairs as he shined the light upward. "I wouldn't want to keep you from anything important . . . like say perhaps, Kenshin's younger brother."
"Soujiro?" Quii gasped and jumped to her feet with wide eyes. "Is Soujiro here? Where is he? Did he really come with you?" Suddenly it seemed their precarious position was forgotten and she looked liked she might pop if he didn't answer her.
"Of course, you silly girl. Where else would he be?" Edmond's voice edged with the slightest amount of impatience as he wondered where this girl's brains were, as they didn't seem to be residing in her head. "It was obvious he cared about you. Kenshin saw that even if you didn't, and that would only make it logical that he would be here to try and help retrieve you as well as help his brother in his time of need. You may not have noticed it in your short association with them, Miss Quii, but Kenshin and Soujiro are not your usual breed of brothers. They are fiercely loyal and completely dedicated to each another."
"Of course I noticed." She snapped. "Everybody noticed. It didn't take a genius to see THAT." She huffed as her cheeks flared in embarrassment. "I'm not THAT blind." The angry thumps of her steps carried her up the stairs as she mumbled to herself. "Why does everyone think I'm so dense and rude all the time? Do I sound that way? Shit!"
"I think you hurt the poor girl's feelings, Edmond." Cassandra's soft voice chided her lover from behind his left shoulder.
"Perhaps, but at least she got up and moved, eh?"
"Wretched man. Why don't you move yourself?" And she gave him a shove that sent him stumbling into the edge of the doorway. "You're the one who said we were in a bit of a hurry, Hmmmm?"
"Mouthy wench." He grinned in the dark and took her arm in a gentle grip and led her upward. "I'd forgotten how much you could get under my skin with that sharp tongue of yours."
"I'm sure that's not all you've forgotten, Edmond." A low chuckle greeted her suggestive statement and Cassandra felt gooseflesh prickle across her arms and down her backbone.
"I've not forgotten as much as you think, lovely Sandra." His voice was suddenly very close to the shell of her ear and her breath hitched in her throat as a jolt of awareness caught her by surprise. "My memory is quite good, and improving by the moment."
"Hey! Hurry up down there." Quii's disembodied voice floated down to the emotionally charged couple, acting like a bucket of ice water. "Or are you trying to screw this up?"
"I'm going to personally strangle that irritating child."
"Edmond," Cassandra admonished him in a shaky voice. "She's just trying to be helpful."
"Aye, but she's rubbing me the wrong way . . . and interfering at the most inopportune moments."
"What do you expect? She's a child. That's what they are supposed to do."
"Fuck that."
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!?"
"What? Oh, forgive me." He said sheepishly. "It would appear I've been spending too much time with young Kenshin." His smile was boyish and completely endearing as they walked out into the daylight. "His bad habits must be starting to rub off on me."
"I see. Is that the excuse you are going to stick with?" Her dark blue eyes danced merrily in her pretty face as she enjoyed his embarrassed slip in manners.
"Aye. That I am." He quickly kissed her cheek as his sparkling amethyst orbs laughed into her smirking face. "It's safer that way, I'm thinking."
"Coward." She caressed his cheek and then allowed him to lead her up the pathway around the corner of the lighthouse. She didn't remember him being this spontaneous or having quite this much of a sense of humor before and she was enjoying it. One of the perks of a dual entity personality she decided.
As they entered the lighthouse back through the kitchen door, Edmond immediately shoved the
two females behind him. From there, their progress was much more calculated as the red-haired
man carefully looked around each corner before entering another room. There was no use
stumbling onto Daniel before absolutely necessary if they could avoid it.
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"Shut-up, Ruakii." Aoshi's voice was pure ice as he turned his deadly gaze onto the fidgeting boy. "All your complaining and constant bullshit is making my head hurt. We will move when I say we move. Understand? Himura left me in charge, not you. Now calm yourself, and try to be useful for a change."
"Useful? What the fuck do you want me to do that's useful? We're just standing around for fuck sake!"
"I told you to shut-up. That's useful." The icy blue-green eyes stared hard into Ruakii's face and the shorter boy was intimidated into a shameful silence. "I am trying to give Himura as much time as possible before we go blowing this thing wide open. Less people get hurt that way. So, just sit still and wait. No one is going anywhere until I say so . . . got it?"
"Yeah, sure." Ruakii's dark eyes turned and looked out across the wind swept surf as he tried to calm his panicked mind. 'She's my responsibility and I blew it. I've always blown it. I never did anything for her that I can say I'm proud of . . . not a damn thing. No wonder she hates me. I'm sorry, Quii. I'm sorry baby-girl . . . so damn sorry.' "My Dad is going to kill us."
"Most likely, but not before we do what we have to do." Aoshi looked at his watch and noted that twenty-five minutes had crept by and still there was no sign of Kenshin or the girls. 'I can't wait any longer, my friend.' He thought with dismay as he turned and caught Sano's worried brown gaze. A faint nod of his head was all that was needed and the tall dark haired teen's lips tightened in understanding.
"Come on, Saitou." Sano growled as he reached out and grabbed the collar of Ruakii's jacket and jerked him over next to him. "Let's go."
"What? Now?"
"Yeah. Now. Come on. I'm not waiting on your ass. Move." And then Sano was sprinting off toward the old bridge with the shorter boy hot on his heels.
"Are you ready for this, Soujiro?" Aoshi's cool steadfast gaze turned and measured the younger boy's calm, blank profile as the wind blew the soft brown hair off his forehead. "We have to go in there and find him . . . find out what's happened to him."
"I know."
"I don't know what's in there, Soujiro. I know he thought it was bad."
"That's why he went alone, Aoshi. He's always facing Dad alone so nobody else gets hurts. It's always been that way. I used to have nightmares when I was a kid that one day Dad was going to hit him so hard it was going to kill him. I'd wake up in the night with tears on my face crying his name. He'd always come into my room and hold me, you know, like I was a little kid, and tell me everything was going to be ok. He always said that nothing was ever going to happen to him, that he'd never let Dad get him . . . but, what if . . . what if this time . . . what if he's wrong?" Pain filled blue-gray eyes turned and looked hard into Aoshi's face. "What do I tell Cleo? And Mom? If we go in there and find out the old man killed him, what do I tell them? HOW do I tell them that he's finally gone . . . that after all these years, Dad finally won? How do I do that?"
"I..." Aoshi reached out and gripped Soujiro's shoulder in a hard hand as he forced himself to lock gazes with the younger boy. "You are not going to have to do that." His voice was low but hard as flint. "I will not accept that Kenshin is dead until I see him with my own eyes. He may be hurt, but I will not believe he is dead . . . and neither will you, do you understand me, Soujiro? Your brother is not dead!"
"You don't know that." Soujiro dropped his head for a moment but Aoshi shook him so hard he
had to look back up.
"Yes I do. I've fought him myself. I know what he's capable of and he is no fool. He will not let
that maniac take him down when he has so much to fight for . . . to live for. Where is your faith,
Soujiro? Where is your belief in this brother who has fought for you for so long? Where is your
heart that loves and honors him with your respect and faith? Where is your Loyalty?"
"It is HERE!" He cried as tears filled his eyes and his hand grabbed the front of Aoshi's jacket in a hard fist. "It is HERE, in my chest."
"Then hold onto it because he needs you . . . and so do I.." Icy blue crystals locked and held the flaming iridescent blue lanterns as the two young men hung onto each other with fierce grips. "I can't go in there without you, Sou. I can't do this alone. I need your help. Help me."
"I will. God help us both. I will."
The bitter wind seemed to blow all the colder as the two young men threw their shoulders back and started to walk toward the open front door. God only knew what was waiting for them inside, but it was time to find out. Each drew a deep sobering breath, and then ducked beneath the old rotted door and disappeared inside.
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The Angel-wolf stirred restlessly beneath Edmond's cool facade as the wary colonial man led the two young women back along the pathway through the living quarters that he had taken to get outside. Something was wrong and the predator-protector kept trying to pinpoint the cause for the feeling, but Edmond's thoughts were so chaotic at the moment as he flashed from trying to keep the women safe to his elation and confusion over being alive again with his beloved that the warrior within was having difficulties finding any balance for focus.
He knew that the shift in the mood of the surrounding silence was a bad omen, but the lighthouse had been haunted for so long, how was one to know which omen to worry about first. Being trapped inside of the same body with two other identities of the same person were taking their toll on his instincts and senses, but he continued to try and keep Edmond alert and prepared to some degree. The man was no fool, but he was no Kenshin either. At least the younger version of themselves had the heart of a survivor and knew what it meant to be hunted. He knew the warning signs and the precautions needed to ensure his success and the safety of those that were with him, but Edmond Fetlock; Edmond had never really been faced with such dire circumstances as these, and he was letting his emotions get in the way.
"Where are we going, Edmond?" Cassandra reached out and tentatively touched her lover's taut shoulder as they stood within the doorframe of the cook's quarters. "Shouldn't we be trying to get young Quii out of here before we do anything else?"
"Aye, Sandra. That's what I'm trying to do, but I just can't shake this feeling that something is wrong. Something's waiting for us, but it's not Daniel."
"What do you mean, 'it's not Daniel'?" Her face creased with confusion and worry as she pulled
him around to face her. "Who is it then?"
"I don't know." He shook his head and looked at her with wide violet eyes that reflected his
indecision. "I can't explain it. It just feels wrong." A worried glance touched Quii's frightened
features, and then he walked through the door without another word.
Cassandra screamed shrilly as the blurred vision of a chair came crashing down onto the slender frame of her beloved. The force of the vicious blow sent bits and pieces of wooden legs and armrests splintering off in all directions as the chair crumpled against the younger man, sending him careening further into the room and then onto the floor in a heap of moaning linen and blue silk.
"Not so quick these days are you, boy?"
"And you're just as fair-minded when it comes to confrontations as you ever were, aren't you, old
man?" The voice that rose from the heap of arms and legs had a faintly hollow quality to it, and as
the young man pushed himself over onto his back a swathe of unruly hair fell across his forehead
covering his face. He coughed several times, and then sat up dusting off his hands and wiping the
hair off his face. "But then, I don't know why I'd have thought you'd change after all this time.
After all, you always were a fucking yellow bastard when it came to fighting. I should have
remembered that."
Ferociously glittering green jewels narrowed into dangerous slits as Hiko Seijuro listened to the
snarling, irritating smoothness of a voice he had not heard in years. It was a voice he thought was
long gone. Long ago subdued. The voice of the snapping yellow-eyed, feral demon that had
clawed and punched at his authority until his rage had nearly caused him to murdered it with his
fists. It was the voice of Kenshin's fury, but Hiko detected something different about it this time.
There was an icy maturity that he had never heard before, and as the glowering yellow orbs of
hatred shifted to his face, he felt a ball of nausea slamming hard into his gut. This was not the wild
wolf-cub he remembered. This was something else. This was something infinitely more dangerous.
"What's wrong, old man?" The Angel-wolf crawled slowly to his feet a feral gleam shimmering in his liquid amber gaze, as he forcibly pushed the last vestiges of Edmond Fetlock away into the back of their collective-mind. "You look like someone just walked over your grave . . . or did you just miss me?" The smart-ass question was followed by a wicked chuckle, a rough shake to the shaggy mane of disheveled red hair, and then an almost playful toss of the heavy mass over his shoulders clearing his vision and revealing his face. Then he subtly shifted his body into a forty-five-degree angle, tucked his chin into his chest, and then smoothly moved his left hand to rest it on the well-balanced hilt of his katana. "Don't you know it's going to take a lot more than one fucking chair to get me down, old man? I don't break quite that easily, or have you forgotten?"
"I haven't forgotten anything, you fucking wild animal." Hiko rasped as he stepped off to the left trying to judge just how much better at the game the beast was than he used to be. "As I remember, it was usually you who ended up eating shit in the old days, so perhaps it's you that has the bad memory. Eh? No matter what, I always win. Or have YOU forgotten?"
The Angel-wolf tossed his head back and barked a loud ring of laughter that sent cold chills up the older man's spine. "I remember everything you ever did to me. You fucking spineless ape." He jibbed as he gripped his katana and laughed. Then, just as unexpectedly, his voice dropped to a threatening hiss, and the snarl that curled his lips gave him an even more frightening appearance when coupled with the acidic look in his yellow eyes. "I remember every punch, every slap, every kick, every vicious word and peevish threat you've ever heaped upon my person; all the bloody noses and black eyes, dislocated shoulders and elbows, broken fingers and ribs, all the sucker punches and choke holds when I wasn't looking . . . yeah, I remember everything."
"Right, sure you do." Hiko sneered in mock bravado trying to bluff the beast into thinking he was completely unaffected by the ferocity of the exchange. "And now you're the big man? Is that what you're thinking? You're all grown up and finally big enough to stand up to me and get it all back? Is that it . . . pup?" The big man started to chuckle low in his chest, a deep disrespectful sound meant to play on the Angel-wolf's psyche and shake his resolve. "Some things never change, do they. You know you're still just as full of shit now as you were back then. "
"I don't think so." As the words oozed menacingly from a place deep in the Angel-wolf's throat, his lightening quick agility launched him high into the air as he sprang at the hulking form of the older man. His body arched gracefully and as he twisted, both of his booted feet came smashing down into the big man's shoulders sending him stumbling and sprawling awkwardly into the nearest wall with tremendous force. The snapping sound of Hiko's jawbone coming in contact with the plaster surface cracked through the coolness of the room, and he groaned, slumping halfway to the floor leaving a smear of blood behind as he went.
The Angel-wolf landed on all fours several feet away, agile as a cat and prepared for a counter attack if any were to come. When nothing happened, he sprinted back toward the open door and grabbed a gapping Cassandra by the wrist yanking her into the room. "You have to run, Sandra." He grated out through clenched teeth as he met her terrified gaze. "Get the hell out of here and take Quii with you."
"Wh-where am I supposed to go?" Her hand reached up and grabbed his chin as her eyes darted warily to their right and then back up to his face to lock with his flashing amber crystals. "What do you want me to do?" She asked as she realized to whom she was speaking. Edmond was gone and the changeling had returned to take control of the body once again.
"Find Aoshi and Sou. They should be inside of here somewhere by now . . . find them. They will keep the two of you safe."
"And what about you?" She sounded panicked. "I can't leave you here like this. I won't leave you here like this. Even you can't do this alone!"
"You have to. This is something I have to do. I was made to do this, Sandra, don't you see that? This is why I am here, but I can't do this until I know you're safe. You and Kaoru have to be safe. Now GO! Please!" As he spoke the words that would send her running from him, the Angel-wolf turned for one split second and let his gaze fall upon the heaving form of Hiko as he struggled to regain his feet. "There isn't any more time for discussion, Sandra. Get the fuck out of here!"
"But . . . "
"RUN CASSANDRA!" He shouted into her wide-eyed terrified face as he shoved her away from
him. "Run and don't look back!"
"We love you." Cassandra/Kaoru gazed into the fierce face as she reached behind her groping for Quii's hand. "Don't you dare get dead . . . we'll never forgive you if you do."
A cocky smile curved his handsome mouth and he dipped down to steal a swift kiss. "We love you too." He breathed fiercely and then pushed the two women toward the far door. "And we have absolutely no intention of getting dead . . . we've got too much to live for. Now run! Find Aoshi and Sou."
He watched her disappear through the open doorway with a sigh, but his feelings of relief were suddenly being washed away as all the short hairs on the back of his neck stood on end in screaming alarm. "I'd have thought, boy, that you would have learned by now you should never take your eyes off me let alone show me your back." A delicate shiver of awareness slithered across the Angel-wolf's skin and the golden-eyed warrior froze as the deep husky voice from all of his worst nightmares came creeping over his shoulder. "But you really fucked up now, smart ass, and you're as good as mine . . . and nobody's here to stop me. You're dead you little hell-spawn. Get ready to go meet your Father." He felt a cold rush of displaced air coming up from behind him, indicating movement of a large object at high speed, and it shifted passed his cheek lifting several feathery strands of his crimson hair in its wake. Then, in the next split instant, he heard the unmistakable sound of steel being pulled from leather as Hiko's saber cleared its sheath and went whining through space on a hard upward swing meant to tear the muscles of his back to ribbons.
"I'm here, Hiko . . . " The Angel-wolf growled as his eyes flashed a bright furious gold. "But you don't get to have me. Not this time . . . not any time." And as the rapier sliced through the air, the amber-eyed warrior leapt straight up into the air arching and twisting as his trajectory took him over his opponent's head. He landed feather-soft about six feet away and the 'swish' of his katana as it left its sheath sounded like the rasp of death in the stillness. "Let's dance you bastard. I'm tired of playing games with you."
Hiko stumbled to a halt as his blade met nothing but emptiness where the body of his estranged step-son used to be standing. Furiously he turned and faced the snarling crouched figure that had somehow ended up behind him. "You want to dance you little fuck?" He bit between his clenched aching teeth before turning to spit some bloody phlegm on the floor. "No problem, but I get to lead . . . " He rushed forward with a vicious two-handed thrust aimed at the teen's throat, but the katana rose upward like a ripple of liquid silver and parried the wild attack filling the room with the resounding 'ching' of metal on metal as the two blades struck each other. The saber swung upward with the parry and then rolled sharply over the top of the katana and tried to use its momentum to slice back downward onto its opponent's exposed right arm, but a swift duck beneath the katana's protective overhead barrier left nothing for the Spanish steel to bite as it quickly dropped. The exchange ended as quickly as it began as the blades sparked off each other, and then the younger man roughly pushed his shoulder into the back of the hulking form as it passed by shoving the bigger man away from him.
As the first pass ended without either opponent finding purchase in his enemy's flesh, the two challengers backed slowly away from one another with arms spread wide, weapons to the forefront, and their eyes locked malevolently upon the gaze of the other. Silence stretched out, and as the tension started to mount, they began circling each other like two wolves locked in a life or death battle over superiority and control of the pack; the younger and the elder, they stood with fangs bared, claws at the ready, and the death of one or the other assured by the laws of natural succession and survival of the fittest. Hatred boiled hot in each predatory gaze, and bloodshed was immanent. It was only a matter of time.
The Angel-wolf carefully sheathed his sword never letting his gaze falter for even an instance as he arranged his body in the age-old battoujutsu stance with his right foot forward, knee bent, a slight twist at the waist took his left foot behind him where it was firmly planted on the floor waiting to propel him forward. His left hand held the wooden sheath tightly, the thumb 'clicking' the hilt free from the safety catch as his right hand passed in front of his body to hover over the leather-covered wood in anticipation of his next move. He was perfectly poised for attack or defense, and he stood still as stone his eyes trained on his enemy.
"Is that supposed to make me nervous, boy?" Hiko narrowed his eyes as he shifted his stance bringing his saber into a full frontal attack position. He could feel Daniel's expertise and knowledge with a blade shifting and stretching beneath his skin as the other half of his dual entity once more took over the battle, and he felt a sense of invincibility wash over him as his arrogance rose to the surface and surged through his soul. "You'll have to do a lot better than that before you shake our confidence."
Hiko knew nothing of swordplay, but Daniel had been an expert swordsman and the only thing weighing him down now was his alter ego's unstable rage and hatred for their opponent. So clouded were the Lawyer's thoughts that Daniel was having difficulties communicating the fact that the fighting stance the young wolf had taken up was something that needed to be taken very seriously. It looked deceptively ill prepared for any sword fight, and even though Daniel hated the Japanese with an evil passion, he had heard about Samurai Warriors and their incredible sword skills. This was one of those strange battle stances he had heard about once, and he knew it was lightning death or dismemberment for an opponent who underestimated its effectiveness, but Hiko was not paying attention to anything but his own fury and bloodlust. All he wanted was to hear the boy's screams of pain and see his blood on the ground. He wanted death, and nothing else was getting through. Daniel would have to try and save them on his skills alone.
A blinding rush of speed turned him into a blur of black and brought him right up on top of the
younger man in the space of a breath, but instead of trying to bring his saber upward as he had
done before, Hiko/Daniel whirled at the last moment and brought it around in a full sweeping
downward arch from high to the right aiming for the juncture of the Angel-wolf's neck and
shoulder. This maneuver would cut the little beast's upper body in half at an angle severing all of
the main blood carrying vessels and all but decapitating him as well. It was perfect, and as he flew
forward, a feeling of God-like confidence surged through his body and he threw his head back
letting his voice rise on a shout of Victory. His mind could already see the bloody death of his
enemy as it would happen in the next breath of time. He had won the battle honorably and the
world belonged to him. She belonged to him. All the wrongs he had committed had been set right
and he was free. They were both free.
An elation he had never experienced before rushed through him making him feel even more
powerful as his arms pulled the saber through the last movements of the attack that would make
him the strongest, but just as he reached for Victory, Hiko/Daniel caught sight of the faintest
washing of blue as it bled into the blur of the world around him. Then suddenly his perfect dream
was being shattered by a screaming battle cry that set the blood in his veins to ice and he faltered,
wavering in his resolve. As the saber came arching down through the turn in search of its prey,
pain exploded across his chest igniting a fire inside of his lungs. He sucked in a great gout of air as
he stumbled to the side, swinging wildly with his sword arm only to feel another fire erupt along
the extremity.
His vision blurred, and as the sounds of inhuman screaming began to fill the room, he heard the clattering of steel striking the floor and then rolling away. His ears were ringing and he could hear the sounds of a great rushing water roaring all around him as it slammed and churned against the rocks and cliffs. The wind screamed in his face and bit at his skin as he fell and he could feel the darkness reaching up for him. He was falling into the darkness. The darkness that had neither substance nor purpose. The darkness with no name. The darkness that swallowed men whole and never returned them to the world of the light.
He was unconscious before he hit the floor.
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Review Responses at the end of chapter 22.
God Bless Tsuki-san.