Author's note: new job is coming along well, so here is a chapter for my patient readers. Expect two more chapters to conclude this little adventure. I also plan on updating Chapters 4 and 6 to work in some more development of Kenshin and Kaoru's relationship, so be on the lookout for revisions. Thanks to everyone for their reviews and suggestions – it is so helpful having other people look at the story and give their input.
A smear of blood caught Kaoru's eye as she panted her way down the hallway. Looking down, she saw a line of red on her arm: Kamatari apparently had nicked her during the battle. Remembering the massive weapon her attacker had wielded, Kaoru was grimly aware that she had been extremely lucky to escape with just a scratch and a few bruises. Her lungs suddenly constricted and she coughed loudly, feeling her breath ragged and harsh in her throat. Her legs burned with fatigue, and Kaoru knew that she was running on adrenaline. However, Kenshin was waiting and she would keep charging ahead until she dropped from exhaustion.
The zephyr ahead of her suddenly gave a ripple of energy that exploded into Kaoru's brain and rounding the corner, she saw that a salamander was streaking towards her like a bullet. Kenshin! Kaoru thought with joy but it wasn't her husband who was following the salamander but Aoshi. Kaoru's heart sank in disappointment as the tall, hooded-eyed man intercepted her, but her spirits quickly revived: Aoshi would lead her to Kenshin and the two kodachi at his side were comforting. Remembering Kamatari, Kaoru guessed that there would be other opponents up ahead, and she was glad for all the allies she could find, particularly if they were armed and dangerous.
Aoshi looked as if he had gone a few rounds with the salamander because there were burn marks on his clothing and the ends of his bangs were scorched. Spotting her, he stopped instantly and called out, "Kaoru, I have been sent to bring you to your husband. Please follow me." He made as if to turn around but his eye fell on her bleeding arm. Frowning, he inquired, "Are you hurt?"
"No," Kaoru gasped out. "Let's keep going!" Aoshi nodded and the two elemental wielders chased after the salamander and zephyr who had raced ahead, closely followed by two undines. Kaoru was uncomfortably aware that Aoshi's long legs could easily outstrip her short, exhausted ones, but he only kept a few paces ahead of her, running with graceful, easy strides. Wiping sweat from her brow, Kaoru glowered at him; it just wasn't right for someone to be that elegant. While Aoshi's clothing was disheveled and burnt in spots and he had clearly gone a round or two with an opponent, the man moved like he and Kaoru were passing through the steps of a dance and he gave no signs of fatigue.
Kaoru, on the other hand, was heaving with exhaustion, hair snaking its way out of her messy ponytail to plaster itself wetly against her damp forehead, and feet tiredly pounding the floor. Her body seemed to move forward on its own initiative, disconnected from her brain. She was worried about stressing the baby too much and far as she could tell, the flicker of chi in her belly was not too terribly happy. Get to Kenshin, she told herself firmly. Just focus on that.
Suddenly, Aoshi slid to a stop and smoothly unsheathed both kodachi in one fluid movement. As Kaoru gasped up to him, the Okashira rumbled, "Stay back, Kaoru. This one is mine." Looking around him, Kaoru was not entirely surprised to find that the hallway had ended in an open, high-ceiling room, much like the one where she had encountered Kamatari. In the middle of this room was a tall, squint-eyed man with a shock of gravity-defying blond hair that was entirely too familiar to Kaoru. Chou had apparently slipped his bonds and recovered his swords for he stood in the middle of the room grinning, armed, and very much non-incapacitated.
"Hey there, missy, you gave me a right bump to the head," he said to Kaoru. "Not very sportsmanlike, you know. A real swordsman would face his opponent dead-on and not take him by surprise. I was gonna find you to teach you a few manners, but I see you picked up a friend."
Eying Aoshi, Chou grinned, "Say, those are some fine-looking kodachi you got there. I wouldn't mind adding them to my collection, but first I suppose I gotta win them off you." The other eye opened, and suddenly the good-natured expression turned wicked. "You're a strong-looking fella and you look like you know your way around a sword. But I betcha you've never seen something like this before!" Chou made a quick motion, ripping his tunic off with one hand to reveal what looked like body armor of thin metal wrapped around his waist.
Aoshi was unmoved. "A urumi blade. You mean to go against the Okashira of the Oniwaba with an urumi blade and live," he said coldly.
"Not just any urumi, partner, this here is the Hakujin no Tachi!" Chou rumbled in a sinister laugh and gave a yank at the metal around his waist. Kaoru was astonished to see that it was not body armor but a long, flexible sword that unwound itself from Chou in a shimmer of sharp-edged lethality. With a flick of his wrist, he bellowed out, "Look here at my Orochi! Try dodging that, tough guy!" The sword snaked through the air, bounced off the floor, and arched upward in waves of steel that honed in on Aoshi.
Aoshi dodged, winding and twisting his way across the room in graceful arches. However, the speed of the long blade was too fast for Kaoru to follow with her eyes and when Chou pulled it back for another strike, she saw that it had marked Aoshi; a trickle of blood was seeping through the sleeve on his right arm.
"See that?" Chou smirked. "My Hakujin no Tachi's not so easy to dodge, now is it? You and your two fancy kodachi aren't gonna last long against my sword, no siree."
Sneaking a glance at Aoshi, Kaoru tried reading his chi. The stone-faced Okashira betrayed not a flicker of emotion and as Kaoru watched, Aoshi's frame seemed to vibrate and split into several copies which moved across the floor like images in a funhouse mirror.
"Pretty fancy there, pardner," Chou sneered, "But dontcha realize that my Hakujin no Tachi can cut through all your shadow images at once!" With a battle cry, Chou whipped the blade around again but not a microsecond later, Aoshi materialized behind him, striking him heavily across the back with one of the kodachi.
The swords on Chou's back shattered and fell away as he collapsed to the floor in a crumpled heap. Aoshi straightened up, looking down upon his defeated foe with icy eyes. "The Ryūsui no Ugoki is not to be taken lightly," he intoned ominously "However, you will not live long enough to regret your mistake." He raised a kodachi overhead to strike a death blow on Chou's unresisting neck.
"NO!" Kaoru yelled, racing forward. Two zephyrs apparated in front of Aoshi, hissing in displeasure.
Aoshi paused and turned to look at Kaoru. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded, coldness edging his voice.
"I mean no, don't kill him," Kaoru said firmly. "He's down and defeated. No more bloodshed."
"Kaoru, you defeated him once and he came back to kill you," Aoshi reminded her stonily. "He is evil and deserves death."
"No, Aoshi," Kaoru insisted. Stepping up to him, she firmly grasped his arm. It felt like iron under her fingers and she was hazily aware of the conflict welling up in him. "My husband took a vow not to kill and I will keep this vow too. I know he's kept this vow even in the middle of all this, and I will not allow it to be violated if I can do anything to stop it."
Aoshi was silent for a moment and something odd flickered in his eyes. After a second or two he said, "Very well," and sheathed the kodachi. "Then let us find your husband to see if he is still holding true to his vow."
Kaoru nodded, "Yes, let's." The salamander danced impatiently in front of her as two zephyrs twirled around her head. At a word from Kaoru, all three elements raced forward as Aoshi and Kaoru followed closely.
The air reeked of pollutants as tall towers of metal belched out dense clouds of sickly smoke, hissing angrily with pent-up steam. Kenshin, Sano, and Saito paced forward, feet pounding out a rhythm against brick. In front of them was Shishio, standing at ease and with eager eyes watching their approach. A lovely woman and a tall, pale man stood a little off to the side. However, it was Shishio who gained all the attention. He stood entirely at his ease, arms crossed and a blue robe slung casually around his bandaged-wrapped body.
"Welcome, Himura the Battousai," Shisho rumbled. "And welcome Saito Hajime and Sanoske Sagara." His eyes fastened on each on individually as he spoke their names, but his attention was soon wholly on the short redhead advancing towards him.
"I congratulate you, Battousai," Shishio stated. "You overcame Sojiro the Tenken and destroyed his Elemental power yet still let him live. Doing so had to have taken a tremendous amount of power and you are bearing the wounds of that battle, yet here you stand before me ready to fight." An evil grin creased the bandages across his face. "I like that. I have looked forward to this fight as much as I have looked forward to bringing the whole world under my fist."
"I have not looked forward to this battle nor any others I have fought," Kenshin responded levelly. His eyes had given up their violet hue and were swirling into amber. Stepping forward, Kenshin snapped into a fighting stance, hand on his katana hilt. "However, I have come to stop you and that I will."
"Come to stop me?" Shishio responded, "And here I thought you had come to rescue your wife and unborn child." The air around Kenshin seemed to freeze as his eyes narrowed. Shishio's smile grew crueler. "She has been waiting for you, just like your last wife did, although I suspect this one has more spirit than the last one." Salamanders suddenly began apparating around Kenshin in a horde, tails lashing and tongues curling in hisses. "Do you intend to kill this one too, like the last one?" Shishio pressed cruelly.
Battousai raged, tearing like a brutal animal at the chains which Kenshin held him back with, snarling for blood and wholly consumed with the desire to see his enemy's severed head at his feet. Kenshin held firm, clinging desperately to the brightness of Kaoru's chi and the effervescence flicker of his son's essence. They were coming closer, and he drew strength from their oncoming presence, their energy the only thing keeping him from giving into the overwhelming desire to let Battousai take over and slaughter Shishio in one deadly slice of his blade. Firmly holding back Battousai, Kenshin swallowed his rage and faced Shishio levelly, "I came to kill no one, but I will defeat you. Draw your blade and summon your salamanders."
"Salamanders?" Shishio scoffed. "I no longer need salamanders and I have you to thank for it, Battousai. Consider this a show of gratitude!" In a heartbeat, both Masters charged forward and blades met in the middle with a resounding clang of steel. Kenshin gritted his teeth; Shishio's power was immense and his skill prodigious. Kenshin's salamander army was swarming around looking for enemy elements and coming up short, and Kenshin could feel their confusion clanging around in his head. Where are Shishio's elements? he thought to himself. Why is he holding back?
As if in answer, Shishio's sword and his entire body burst into a dazzling ball of brilliant flames. The heat was scorchingly intense and even Kenshin, a Fire Master long accustomed to flames, went stumbling backwards away from it. The flames raged for a few seconds, then dimmed, leaving the man and sword behind completely untouched. He wasn't even smoking lightly.
Shishio gave a triumphant laugh, "Now you see my power, Himura the Battousai! When we fought many years ago, you did me a great favor. In the burning of my body, you sealed my salamanders inside my body, uniting my Elemental Power with my sword skill. I have become the strongest of all and because I am strongest, you will die here!" A legion of Kenshin's salamanders flew at Shishio, teeth bared in anger. However, they halted abruptly when they approached him and began milling around him in puzzled circles. Shishio ignored them, keeping his eyes fastened on Kenshin.
My salamanders...are useless? Kenshin thought in confusion, then the world exploded into a brilliant blaze of pain as Shishio attacked and everything immediately went dark.
Kaoru's knees suddenly gave out underneath her as Kenshin's chi flared up in alarm and suddenly went dim. She collapsed on the floor, eyes wide with shock as she saw Kenshin's salamander flicker and disappear. No! She thought frantically, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! Reaching out frantically with the Soul Bond, Kaoru shoved forward, desperately searching for Kenshin's chi. Her questing energies found it, latched on to the intimately familiar pattern, but it was barely a flutter. Desperately she clung to it, pouring herself into the energy pattern for some clue about her husband's condition. He was alive, she knew that, but unconscious, his body having shut down after a crushing attack.
Aoshi was before her, kneeling down, "Kaoru?" he said, worry pricking in his normally emotionless voice. "What's wrong?"
"It's Kenshin!" Kaoru gasped out, "He's badly hurt and unconscious. I've got to get to him now!" Suddenly, Aoshi's arms seized Kaoru in an iron hold as reality shimmered and twisted into a vortex, exploding in a brilliant display of light and sound and leaving behind nothing but a gust of wind in the empty hallway.