A/N: Greetings from 'the writers block from hell' world. I've been stuck for weeks. I am so sorry, but my brain just would not regurgitate anything. I got lucky today. wink. I apologize if it is not up to par for my usual quality, but at the moment, it is the best I've got. The windows are starting to open again, just a little bit. Lets all be grateful. KnT
P.S. You guys are the best. I love you. Please forgive an old lady for not doing reveiw responses this chapter. I promise I will with the next one. You guys all know how much you mean to me. Without you, I'd be nowhere. God Bless, Minna-san forever. KnT
Chapter 23Time for Explanations
Place: Saitou's car/lighthouse
Time: November 1, 2001
Sunday Morning
7:18 a.m.
Saitou, Tokio, and Dharma raced out of the house and piled into his silver Ford, Taurus. Cleo was wrapped in her mother's arms and hanging on with all her might as the two of them clamored into the back seat.
"We going after Kenshin, Momma?" Big, blue eyes looked into Dharma's face as the little girl settled into her lap. "We're gonna bring him back, right?"
"Yes, baby. We are going to bring him back, and everyone else too."
"Momma?"
"What baby?"
"I'm scared." Cleo burrowed into her mothers chest as a tiny shiver of fear shook her little body. "I don't want the bad man to kill Kenshin."
"I know, baby." Dharma rocked the little girl as shards of fear and worry stabbed through her mind and heart. "I don't want him to either, that's why we have to hurry. Mr. Saitou?"
"What?" Saitou turned the key in the ignition and the car roared to life.
"Do you think we'll be there in time? I mean, will we be able to stop what's going on?"
"I sure as hell hope so, Mrs. Seijuro. Because if we aren't, I may never be able to live with myself." Fury and anxiety mixed and battled within the depths of his dark amber eyes as he adjusted the rear view mirror and threw the car into reverse. "There is something very spooky and very bad going on here, and I intend to find out what it means before someone ends up dead. Especially one of those damn kids."
"Oh God." Dharma buried her face against Cleo's halo of shining red hair as a wave of terror threatened to overwhelm her. "Please let us be there in time. Please, God. Help us get there before something terrible happens. Please don't let my son die."
"Hajime," Saitou turned and looked at his wife as he began to back the car out of the driveway. "Look," She said pointing out the window at two figures running across the snow covered grass toward them. "Isn't that..."
"Ruakii!" Saitou slammed on the brakes and shoved the car into park as he leapt out the door. "Ruakii!" He cried again as relief flooded through his system. "What in the hell..."
"Dad, dad!" Ruakii's voice was hoarse and he was out of breath from running so far, but he managed to shout the acknowledgement back to his worried father. "Hang on, we're coming." In a matter of seconds he and Sano were skidding to a halt in front of the anxious School Master, both panting and spent.
"Ruakii," Saitou's voice was filled with a hundred different emotions as he looked down on his son's flushed face. "Do you have any idea how worried and upset we are at this moment? Where the hell is everyone else, and what the hell is going on? Where is your sister? Where's Quii?"
"Slow down, Dad." The exhausted teenager held up one of his hands attempting to halt the barrage of questions being fired at him. "Calm down and let me explain, will ya?"
"Fine, explain... in a minute."
The gruff quality to Saitou's voice finally gave his son a clue to the real emotions hiding behind the furious mask, and then those strong, corded arms were reaching out and engulfing him in an embrace that nearly crushed his chest. "Dad..."
"Why didn't you wake us up? Why did you try and do all of this on your own?"
"We didn't think you'd believe us, Dad. We were afraid if we came to you for help right away, you wouldn't let us go."
"You're right, I wouldn't have." Saitou nuzzled his nose into the thick brown hair along his son's neck and breathed in the scent of him. "But I might have listened if you guys had given me a chance. I'm not a total asshole when it comes to extenuating circumstances."
"This is a little more than just 'extenuating' circumstances, Dad. We're talking about dead people being reincarnated into alive people, and one of them wants to kill just about everybody."
"Hiko."
"Yeah, only it's not just the Hiko guy."
"What do you mean?" Pulling away, Saitou gazed down into the dark brown eyes that looked so much like his wife's. "Are you telling me there is more than one crazed lunatic out there trying to hurt my kids?"
"Sort of." Ruakii cast a pleading glance over at the silent Sano. 'Help me out, man. I think he's ready to eat me.'
"Sort of?" He roared. "What the fuck does 'sort of' mean?"
"Master Saitou," Sano finally stepped up and put his hand on Saitou's arm. "If you'll just listen, we'll explain everything, but right now, we need to get back to the lighthouse as fast as possible."
"Why?" Amber eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What's going on at the lighthouse?"
"I'm not completely sure, but Kenshin sent us to get you, and whatever help you thought we might need, and now we gotta go back and help him."
"Help him? What in the hell has he gotten himself into?"
"I don't know. But he said if he didn't come out of the lighthouse with the girls in fifteen minutes, Ruakii and I were supposed to come and get you, and Soujiro and Aoshi were supposed to go in and try to find out what happened. Well," Sano looked into the glacial golden stare and tried not to flinch. "He never came back."
"Oh God, no."
The three men turned as one to face the tear filled, terrified eyes of Kenshin's mother. She had rolled the window down so she could hear what they were saying, and heard every word. Now her pale face was an ashen color and her lips were turning blue as the horror of losing both her son's became a tangible possibility to her.
"Dammit!" Saitou cursed and looked back into the anxious face of his son. "We have to go, don't we?"
"Now, Dad. We have to go now."
"Explain on the way. I want to know what the fuck is going on." The three of them piled into the car, the boys crowding into the back seat with Dharma and Cleo. "I want you to tell me everything including who this other guy is that's out there with them. Is he someone we know?"
"No, Dad. We don't know him." Ruakii and Sano exchanged glances. "He's a ghost."
"He's a what?!"
"Ruakii, dear," Tokio leaned over the back of the seat and pierced her son with a shocked look. "Did you say, 'he's a ghost'?"
"Yup," Sano chimed in as he could see Ruakii was starting to get that look that said he was getting backed into a corner. "That's what he said."
"Okay, now Kenshin's letter said a lot of things about ghosts and murder and we are all very confused as to what is going on. Just exactly what is going on, do either of you really know?"
"Kinda," Ruakii looked sheepishly at his mother. "It's sorta complicated, Mom."
"Sorta?"
"What's with all the 'sorts's' and 'kinda's'? Just cut to the chase and tell us what this is all about." Saitou was running out of patience in the face of his son's trepidation, and his worry was mounting by the moment. "We'll deal with the 'ghost' issue when we get there."
"Okay, but you can't get mad, deal?"
"Jesus.... fine, deal. Just spit it out before I go thermal."
From there the tale started to come out in bits and pieces to the best of Ruakii's and Sano's knowledge. At first the adults were more than skeptical, but as the explanation progressed their opinions began to change too. It was just too far fetched to be a lie, and too outrageous to be a game. There was no choice but to believe every word. But, then again, it all made perfect sense once it was coupled with the strange information Cleo had gifted them with that morning about 'the bad man' and who her parents 'should have been'.
"I'm getting to old for this kind of shit." Saitou muttered under his breath as he cast a worried glance over at his pale faced wife. "None of this was in the 'How you raise kids' manual."
"Hajime." Tokio threw him an impatient look. "What is it you are always telling me?"
"Beats the hell out of me at the moment, honey. What?'
"Truth is stranger than fiction."
"Gee, thanks. I needed to hear that just about now." His jaw clamped shut with a loud 'click' and he focused his attention on the road. "I just hope this Daniel and Edmond haven't run into each other yet."
"You mean Hiko and Kenshin, don't you?"
"No, Tokio, I don't. This particular fight sounds like it's been coming for a long time, and there is a lot of hatred built up between those two. If they are possessing Hiko and Kenshin's bodies the results could be catastrophic."
"What do you mean, 'catastrophic'?"
"One of them could very well kill the other, and not only would the ghost be dead again, but the body he's inhabiting is going to die too. Get it?"
"Drive faster."
OooooooooooooooooooOoooooooooooooooooooooOoooooooooooooOooooooooooooooo
The room had grown quiet to the point of being eerie and uncomfortable, and despite her usually strong bravado, Quii was terrified. Three of her friends were laying unconscious on the floor behind her, and the rest were no where to be seen. Her small feet padded across the floor as she paced in anxious agitation. She could not decide if she should stay where she was or leave and try to find help.
"Daddy?" She whispered tearfully as she bit on her fingers. "I don't know what to do. I'm scared. Daddy, where are you?" It was almost as if he had heard her because the next moment Quii could hear that beloved, edgy voice shouting her name. Freezing midstride, she stopped and cocked her head listening to the sound trying to make sure she wasn't hearing things, and then it came again only louder–and angrier.
"Quii?! Where the hell are you, little girl? God dammit!"
"Daddy!" Her feet raced to the door and her hands clawed at the knob trying to open it. "I'm in here, Daddy! I'm in here!" Just as the knob turned in her hand and the door pushed loose from the frame, it was seized from the other side and yanked open. There Quii's wild, tear filled golden eyes clashed with the frightened angry amber crystals that belonged to her father. For a split second they absorbed each other and then Quii was launching herself into her father's waiting embrace.
"Daddy!"
"Quii... Oh my God, Quii." Saitou buried his nose in her long, dark hair as he crushed her to his chest. "Oh, little girl. Are you alright? Are you hurt? Did that bastard hurt you, Quii?"
"No, Daddy, I'm Okay. I promise, I'm Okay."
"Thank you, God." The husky voice was all but lost in the chestnut tresses, but Quii felt the tremor that quaked through him as he pressed his lips against her jaw. "You promise you're not hurt?" He pulled back to look down into the elfin face. "You look like you've been through three rounds with your brother... and lost."
"Dad!" A wrinkled nose was his answer as Quii let him know what she thought of that. "You know Ruakii can't beat me. He's a wimp."
"Hey! I resent that, midgit!"
The snide, angry tones of her brothers voice reached her ears and Quii pulled out of her fathers arms, a new look of anxiety covering her face. "Ruakii?"
"Yeah?" He watched warily as she approached him, and as she drew closer he lowered his eyes. "You can let me have it, if you want too." He mumbled in a shame filled voice. "I deserve everything you have to say and more for what happened. It was my fault that asshole got his hands on you. If I wasn't such a prick..."
"You're right."
"I–I am?" His head shot up and he flinched beneath the angry heat in her golden eyes.
"Yes, you are. You are an asshole, and a prick..."
"Quii!" Tokio exclaimed at her daughters language, but Quii didn't miss a step.
"But you're still my brother, and that means I'm going to love you no matter what stupid, mean thing you do to me, but if you ever get in the way of me and a boy I like again, Ruakii. So help me..."
"I won't, I swear... unless he's a real jerk or something."
"You promise? No more 'big bad brother' scenes?"
"I– I promise."
"Were you really that worried about me, or was it just because Sou is Kenshin's brother?"
"Sou? Soujiro?" Saitou looked at his wife and then at Dharma. "Did you know about this?" Tokio shook her head and Dharma offered him a perplexed look. "Great. That is just great. Why do I always find out stuff about my kids like this?"
"Yeah, I was worried about you." Ruakii pulled his shoulders back and glared at his sister. "You're my little sister, that makes you my responsibility whenever Dad's not around, so I got to look out for you and make sure you don't get yourself into a bunch of trouble."
"Me? Get into trouble? Oh please." She laughed. "If anyone is going to get into trouble, brother dear, it is usually you because you're such a jerk."
"Does that mean you forgive me, or what?" He sounded hopeful as he offered her a contrite look.
"Yes, it means I forgive you, but don't you ever do anything like that again, or I'll make you regret it the rest of your natural life. I swear I will."
"You got it, midgit." He smiled and then his face took on a thoughtful look. "I'm always going to worry about you, you know that, right?"
"I–I guess so." A nervous blush stained her cheeks as she looked at a brother she wasn't so sure she knew.
"Good, 'cause you're stuck with me, Quii. I'm the only brother you got, and I don't plan on losing track of you again like I did last night. I don't want anything to ever happen to you again. I–I couldn't live with myself if it did."
"You–you couldn't?"
"No, I couldn't. Is that so hard to believe?"
"Sort of. You always act like I'm such a pain in the ass."
He grinned rakishly. "You are, but that's what makes you my sister. No body gets to me like you do. I wouldn't know what to do without you."
"Are you trying to tell me you love me, Ruakii?" Quii gingerly approached the tall dark-haired man she thought didn't care about her at all. 'Was I wrong?'
"Yeah, I guess I am." He reached out and brushed a few stray strands of hair off her cheek as he gazed into her wide amber eyes. "I'm not so good at showing it, and I know that, but I really do love you, Quii. I really do."
"I love you too, you know."
"I know." Her tearful smile made him feel warm all over and he finally did something he hadn't done since Quii was a little girl. He hugged her.
"Okay, I'm ready for hell to freeze over AND pigs to fly." Tokio grabbed Saitou's arm as they watched their children hold each other for the first time in years. "I wouldn't believe it if I wasn't seeing it and hearing it myself."
"I know. I wouldn't either."
The strangeness of the moment filled the small confined space of the doorway and everyone grew still allowing it to become what was necessary. But there were still so many other things that needed to be done, and the moment didn't last very long. As a pair of wide blue eyes calmly watched the siblings hug, an idea was forming within the young intelligent brain.
"Where is Kenshin and Sou?" Cleo looked up at her mother and tugged on her hand. "Where is Kaoru?"
Dharma looked down at her small daughter in a flash of bewilderment, and then understanding. Moving past the Saitou family reunion, she stepped into the room with Cleo in tow. The dusty musty odor was strong enough to make her sneeze and cover her nose. Everything was a ruin. Moth and mold infested carpets, furniture, and ragged draperies littered the room and breathing was a difficult necessity.
"Everything is so pretty, isn't it, Momma?" Cleo let loose of Dharma's hand and stepped onto the ruined carpet. "Look at all the pretty colors."
"Pretty colors?" Dharma looked around perplexed. The room was a shambles. "What colors are you talking about, baby? I don't see anything."
"The curtains, they're kind of a red. And the chairs, they're red and blue, so's the rug. And the paper stuff on the walls looks like roses and violets. It's pretty, can't you see it?"
"No, baby, I can't." A shiver laced up Dharma's spine as she considered what this might mean. How was it that Cleo was seeing the room in full color and restoration while she continued to view it as the rotting ruin it was?
"Look, there's Sou and Kaoru!" The little girl broke away from her mother and raced across the room and knelt beside the three fallen bodies. "Momma! They're all asleep."
Dharma had taken off after her child as quickly as she could, and was kneeling beside her looking at the three unconscious teenagers. "They're not asleep, baby. There is something wrong with them."
"Dear Heaven," Tokio scrambled to Dharma's side and looked with growing worry upon the three bodies. "What do you think happened to them? Quii?" She looked over her shoulder and met the frightened gaze of her daughter. "What happened? Why are they like this?"
"I–I don't think you'll believe me, Mom."
"Yes, I will. After everything else that's going on, I promise I will." Pulling Quii down next to her and Dharma, Tokio put her arm around her daughters shoulders and hugged her. "Just tell me."
"It's confusing, Mom."
"I know, honey, but try anyway."
"Kaoru and I... I mean Cassandra and I were trying to get out of the lighthouse like Edmond told us too, and..."
"Cassandra? Edmond?" Saitou, Ruakii, and Sano all knelt down on the opposite side of the fallen teens as Saitou impaled his youngest child with an intense look. "What are you talking about, Quii?"
"Cassandra O'Massy, she's the girl that got killed her 300 years ago. You know, the lighthouse ghost story?"
"Her lover was supposedly the one who killed her."
"That's what everyone thinks, but it's not true."
"How do you know that?"
"Because... she told me." Quii's face took on a look of panicked entreaty. "Daniel March was her husband, but he was a really abusive jerk, and she left him. She fell in love with Edmond Fetlock and they ran away so they could be together, but Daniel found them."
"Are you saying this 'Daniel' killed her?"
"He killed them both."
"No, that's wrong. The lighthouse operator shot himself in the lamp room."
"That's what everyone thinks, Daddy, but that's not what happened. Daniel killed him and made it look like he did it himself. But he didn't. And he didn't kill Cassandra either, he loved her."
"Quii, sweetie, are you saying you've talked to these... these people?" Tokio captured her daughters eyes and bore into them looking for the truth.
"Yes, Mom. Kaoru is Cassandra, and Kenshin is Edmond. It's like they are all wrapped up in the same bodies together jumping from one personality to the other. It's freaky especially when Kenshin talks to himself like he's someone else." This statement earned her several odd looks, but she didn't stop to explain. "Daniel had me and Kaoru down in some cellar pit thing, and Kenshin came and found us and pulled us out. Only it wasn't just Kenshin. It was Edmond too... and something else I've never seen before."
"Something else? What do you mean 'something else'?"
"Another part of Kenshin. It was like... like a... like..."
"Like a demon?" Sano's voice interjected and everyone turned to look at him. "Is that what it was like, Quii? Like something that was so real and so scary you weren't sure if what you were looking at was human anymore?"
"Yeah. It was like that. How do you know?"
"I saw it up close once myself, and everyone in the school saw it the day Kenshin leveled his old man. It's in his eyes."
"That's right. They changed colors, and they looked like... like an animal or something."
"A wolf." All eyes turned to Saitou as his voice slid in under the conversation edges. "It looks like a wolf."
"You saw it too, then?" Sano met the stern School Master's gaze. "You really saw it that day?"
"Yes, Sagara. I really saw it that day, but I wasn't sure what I was looking at. Now I am."
"What is it? What makes him do that?"
"It's his ki. His fighters soul. The tenacity, strength, and cunning of a wolf bonded with one of the most intelligent and gifted minds I ever saw. I though he was just the worst smart-ass, irreverent little jerk I'd come in contact with, but I was wrong. We all were."
"What do you mean, Dad? What were we all wrong about?" Ruakii leaned over to catch his fathers eye. "What are you talking about?"
"His reputation," Saitou replied. "His fucking reputation. It was been built on a pile of lies and cleverly laid plans meant to destroy him and leave him alone in the world. And it very nearly did."
"You know?" Dharma's voice was soft, tremulous as she reached out and grabbed Saitou by the wrist. "How do you know?"
"That all the charges and the conviction against your son are bullshit?"
"Yes. How do you know?"
"I'm not really sure how I know, but it's been staring me in the face for over 3 years and I missed it. I fucking missed it." Piercing amber eyes locked onto troubled amethyst. "It was Hiko, wasn't it? He contrived the entire thing–all except the accidental shooting. I know he was there, but was Kenshin even the shooter?"
"No." The word slammed into the huddled group with the force of a Mack truck.
"Dammit! I knew I was right. I just knew it. So how in the hell did he end up taking the rap for it?"
"It was a deal Hiko made with me."
"A deal, what kind of fucking deal? Give up your son or what?"
"Or he'd kill him."
"Out right?"
"Yes, outright. It was the only option I had that would keep Kenshin alive. If I didn't agree, it would have been only a matter of time until Hiko... until he..."
"It's Okay, Momma. Kenshin wouldn't let Papa hurt him. He's too smart."
"I hope you're right, baby. I hope you're right."
"So do I." Saitou's gaze finally returned to his now silent daughter. "Finish. What happened that made these three end up like this."
"I–I don't know, Papa." Quii wrung her hands as she looked worriedly over Soujiro's relaxed face. "Aoshi went out first. Him and Cassandra were talking and then all of a sudden...bam! He was out cold. Then the same thing happened to Sou and Cassandra. I can't explain it. It was like a big burst of white light that rolled over us and when it was gone, they were like this."
"A white light?" Ruakii looked at his father and the older man just shook his head.
"We need to find Kenshin." Saitou looked at Sano. You stay here with the women, I'm going to take Ruakii and go looking."
"Yes, sir."
"Papa?"
"What, Quii?"
"Edmond and Daniel were fighting when we saw them last. He made Cassandra and I run while he stayed behind."
"Where were they, honey?"
"I'm not sure, but I know we came in here through that door and it was through the hallway somewhere."
"Alright. You stay here with your Mother and help keep an eye on your friends."
"Yes, sir." She nodded and Tokio hugged her close. "Wait, Papa!" Saitou turned back. "You have to know this."
"Know what?"
"They weren't just fighting, Papa. They were sword-fighting–with real swords. They were trying to kill each other. And it wasn't Kenshin and his step-father. It really was Edmond and Daniel. One of them is going to die, Papa, I just know it."
"Swords? Where in the bloody blazes of the 7 hells did they get swords?"
"Quii?" Tokio looked hard at her daughter. "What do you see when you look at this room?" The girl gulped and gazed at her mother nervously.
"Why are you asking me that, Momma?"
"Because, didn't you hear Cleo? She says everything in here is 'pretty', but I can't see anything but a mold and rat infested derelict. Now tell me, what do you see?"
"I see what Cleo sees." Her head drooped and she started wringing her hands again. "Everything looks brand new, and Aoshi and Sou have on some really strange clothes." She looked into her mothers big brown eyes. "You can't see anything?"
"No, honey, I can't." Worried brown eyes met seething amber as Tokio glanced up at her husband. "If they are standing in the past, Hajime, and we are standing in the future..."
"That's insane, Tokio."
"Is it? Where else are they going to find swords except in the past?"
"Ah shit!"
TBC
Gomen Nasai for the time between updates. I will try to get the next one out much sooner as well as include all of the reviewer responses. Again, you guys are the best and you've made this story the unique phenomena that it has become. Arigato my friends. Arigato from the depths of my heart.