Chapter Forty-Four
No one breathed as all eyes remained fixed upon Kaoru and the deep abyss of her black eyes. Without pupils, it was hard to tell what or who she was looking at, and the gentle undulation of her hair was eerie and ghostlike even under the harsh overhead lights.
"Kaoru."
Kenshin stepped forward, but Megumi quickly raised a hand in the air to stop him.
"Wait."
Kenshin frowned.
"For what?" The question practically snapped.
"Himura-san… Kaoru's still sedated." Tomoe's input was low.
"Then how is she up?"
"She's not in control." Megumi was watching her carefully. "I believe we just stumbled upon a trap."
Enishi and Sōzō both stood slowly from their chairs.
"If you know it's a trap, then shouldn't we… ya know, do something?"
"Like what?" Megumi's voice hissed impatiently. "She's already sedated."
"I don't know, but…" The deep rumble of Enishi's voice was clearly upset, and Kaoru's head turned toward him sharply. Slowly, Kaoru's legs swung off the edge of the hospital bed.
"M-Megumi-sensei."
The name whispered from Tomoe's mouth, and everyone hesitantly looked in the direction of her pointing finger. Around the edges of the thick glass, tiny white particles were beginning to form inside the observation room. Slowly, it spread inward. Harshly, it began to crack and thicken. Like the icy hand of death, the frost implied dropping temperatures, but also foreshadowed what was to come.
"What… the hell?"
Alarms abruptly screamed into life as the wires and tubes hooked to Kaoru's body froze and snapped, and the awful sound caused everyone to jerk reflexively. Bare-foot and underdressed, Kaoru stood, and her movements were so seamless and smooth that she seemed to float towards the heavy glass barrier between them. Both of her hands lifted to flatten against the chilled surface, but her touch held no heat to melt the frost under her skin. Testily, her chin tilted back and turned as she studied the barrier that separated her from them. Wide and unblinking, her matte black eyes drank in light and held it prisoner. Not even the blue glow hovering about her hair reflected off of them.
"I don't want to sound like a wimp or anything, but… I don't like this." Sōzō's dry, cracked voice was uncharacteristically nervous.
"Then get out." Megumi leaned closer to the glass, and Kaoru's face twitched to focus on her. "I want to see what she does."
"Not like this." The low denial was firm in Kenshin's chest, and he turned to walk towards the observation room door. "She needs to be in control of it."
Kaoru's black eyes shifted to him, and there they stayed. Her whole body moved to follow his progress intently.
"Ken-sama. That's not wise."
At the edge of the glass wall, a small enclosure of thick concrete around steel beams rimmed the door for stability and security. Kaoru's hand wrapped around the doorknob and jerked, but it was locked tight.
Kenshin stopped short of the door to growl back at the fox.
"And you think this is?!"
An obvious frown of concentration creased Kaoru's face, and she turned purposefully back into the observation room. The hospital bed was kicked violently onto its side, and Tomoe jumped nervously to her feet.
"H-Himura-san."
Accusing violet eyes turned on the coal demon.
"I'm not leaving her like that!"
The broken legs of the bed slammed into the glass like a jack hammer hitting asphalt. Cracks from the force and cold splintered the thick barrier into delicate webs, and Kenshin's shocked gaze finally shot back to the young human woman now crouched in the middle of the floor. The blue light glowing between the thick strands of her hair was growing, flowing like liquid gas and fumes up and out from her entire body.
The tenko's gentle voice chimed in, and was, for the first time, surprised.
"Is that… fire?"
Flickering into life like embers in dry grass, the blue flame encasing her became tangible. It was beautiful and terrifying, but worst of all, mesmerizing. It beckoned, like the warm arms of a lover. It danced like fireflies in the dark. It instilled yearning and wonder and feelings of avarice too strong to deny. But it was a cold flame. A dead flame.
By the time Kenshin gasped sharply in realization, the flames had reached the ceiling.
"Onibi." Even the whispered word sounded like death in the unnatural silence, and his eyes went wide as Kaoru's legs flung her straight into the center of the cracked glass.
"Everyone down!"
Held tight in Kaoru's hands, the broken side rail of the hospital bed hit first, and the glass exploded outward. Dangerous shards shot past Kenshin's face and rained down upon the floor, but it was the cold inferno of death that she brought with her that was the most concerning. Luckily, Tomoe and Megumi instinctively ducked under the metal table top, while everyone else flattened themselves to the floor. Barely a second later, Kenshin flooded the top half of the room with the strongest fire he could manage.
He could not afford to allow one lick of that dead flame through, otherwise the results would be devastating. However…
What if I hurt her?
The intrusive thought caused his will to falter, and he parted the flames to judge her position. Even though he could feel her presence at the center and knew she was untouched. The twinge of doubt in his heart demanded his eyes confirm the truth, but the opening was taken without an ounce of delay.
The rail was still clasped in her now bloody and cut-up hands. A flip, and she held it by one end so that she could swing it directly at his head. The empty void of her all-black eyes was like a pit, and vertigo heaved upwards from his gut as if he were falling into them. Dodging nearly a moment too late, he simultaneously cut off the blue flames that burst from her back before they struck Enishi and Sōzō, who were both crouched on the floor.
Like the trained military warrior that he was, Sōzō stood and readied himself for a fight. The action felt natural, as it had many times in the past when they had fought together in the war. Today, however, it was also worrying, and Kenshin felt a brief moment of irritation towards the hiderigami for thinking to attack Kaoru. Slamming him with the hot air from his flames, Kenshin knocked Sōzō flat on his ass and shouted at him to stay down and out of the way.
Not that there was anything the drought spirit could do in this fight, anyway.
Countering the onibi required not just the hottest flame in existence, but life itself. Such a flame was intense and insanely powerful. Even for a fire demon, it was not a flame that was easily controlled or conjured. After some deliberation, Kenshin had understood why Hiko had determined this flame to be the catalyst for his transition into a dragon. To control this flame was to control all flames, and if he could manage that, then perfect control would be just within reach.
But I'm not that confident with this flame yet. It takes so much power. I can already feel my strength waning. What if I can't keep this up, and her flames break through?
Frost spread across the railing in her hands, and it shattered when her next attack hit the wall instead of his shoulder. Left now with a sharply pointed metal pipe, her grip switched automatically to hold the new weapon in the deadliest way possible. Blue flames raged like an inferno from her body, and Kenshin struggled to keep his attention divided between fending her off and containing the deadly touch of the onibi.
H-how do I do this without hurting her? How do I do this without letting her hurt anyone else?
Strangely, though her flames attacked indiscriminately, her attention remained focused solely on him. With almost single-minded obsession, she attacked him; with the pipe and with her flames. Blood smeared across the floor from her feet, and his heart ached. Crusted red ice broke from her fingers, and he winced in pain for her. She was relentless, and unmindful of the damage being done to her own body.
I need to stop her, and I need to do it fast!
"Stop thinking about it and just do it. Are you or are you not made of fire?"
The impatient words from the hermit water dragon were almost maddeningly accurate in his mind, and disgust with himself hardened his mouth. Rather sheepishly, he let his doubts go.
Are you or are you not your father's son?
Gritting his teeth, Kenshin focused on tightening in the edges of his flames. Wasting such energy would do him little good. He also could not allow it to get too close to Kaoru or the others for fear of burning them to cinders.
Use the heat in the room.
Dodging her with perfect ease, he pulled air in slowly through his nose, and the excess heat in the empty spaces around him was recycled back into his body. It would not be a long-term solution, as he could not continue to cycle the heat from his own flames, but it eased some of the stress creating such an intense blaze caused.
Now… to figure out how to incapacitate her without actually touching her.
A duck and roll avoided the onibi flames, and he could feel Tomoe and Megumi kneeling behind him.
Shit.
"What are you still doing in here?! You need to get out!" The distracted shout was aimed over his shoulder.
Pressing his palms to the floor, he conjured a ring of tight fire-spouts around where Kaoru still stood to buy a few seconds of time.
"What the hell kind of fire is that?!" Megumi was shouting at him, but he yelled back at her angrily.
"Get out!"
"Kenshin!" Enishi's voice called out from the other side of the room, and Kenshin jerked.
As if they were nothing, Kaoru walked directly through the ring of fire.
Dammit! I'm losing heat.
Grabbing up a fallen chair, Kenshin flipped it and caught Kaoru between the chair legs. Twisting her weight easily within the metal spokes, he watched her grab onto the chair for support at the same time that he brought her down onto the smooth concrete floor.
"Kenshin! Stop it!" Tomoe's voice was distressed, and though his own heart ached, he pushed the chair legs firmly into the floor to pin Kaoru in place.
"You can't let her flames touch you! You'll die instantly!"
"W-what?"
Finally, Kaoru's features creased, and anger and rage stared directly up at him. Blue flames burst once more from her body, and Kenshin brought his hands together to forcefully reignite his own power. A bubble formed around them, boxing in her cold flame of death, but he had to kick away the chair to keep it from melting onto her prone body. The instant she was free, her palm shot out to slam into his knee, and he only just avoided her by pivoting back on his opposite foot. The icy temperature permeating from her shivered across his skin.
I can't touch her… but I have flames that can.
Slamming his fingers together so that they were interwoven, he yanked them apart a second later and tangled her in strings of heatless fire. Glass scratched against the concrete as he picked her up into the air, and he glanced over his shoulder to make sure everyone else was still okay. A dark wing half covered Tomoe as Akira knelt in front of her, and Genzai was tugging Megumi's ear like a parent with an unruly child. Over his other shoulder, Enishi was torn between watching Kaoru and going for his sister. Sōzō was already making a path for the others towards the exit.
"Go!"
A scream. One unlike any other he had ever heard, echoed within the close confines of the destroyed room, and his eyes jerked back up a second too late. Blue flames cut effortlessly through his heatless threads, and Kaoru dropped roughly to the floor in front of him. Slivers of glass had already shredded the soles of her feet, but one large piece shoved clean through her right foot and out the top of her arch upon landing. But physical pain drew no reaction from her. It was strictly rage that called forth her voice. Standing, straight and unaffected before him, she brought both arms down and erupted the death-flames of onibi directly at either side of his body.
She's not aiming for me!
Echoing her motions, Kenshin's arms shot up in opposition, and he blocked the attack with two solid walls of white-hot flames. Shooting pain burst across his left cheek, and blood dripped down his neck from the opened cross-shaped wound. He was on the cusp. The limit to his current power had nearly been reached. Nausea swept up the back of his throat, but he swallowed it down to force his body into submission. This wasn't over, and he had no time or space to let up.
The pointed piece of pipe had been lost earlier, but having no weapon did not deter her from attacking him. Using the same heatless flames like chains between his hands, he blocked her attacks to save his strength. The others were finally filing out the exit, and he had to buy them enough time to escape. Nausea hit him again, coupled by a headache of epic proportions. Like splitting agony, pain knifed through his forehead, and his vision wavered.
Over Kaoru's shoulder, Megumi reappeared in the door to the exit with a needle in hand.
"No!" He knew what she meant to do, and that it would not work.
Her face pursed angrily.
"It'll immobilize her body!"
"How? You can't touch her!"
Her hip cocked to one side.
"Then what do you suggest? 'Cause I'm all ears!"
Jerking to the side, Kenshin turned so that he was between Kaoru and Megumi. Catching her once again in his chains of heatless fire, he lifted her only minimally off her feet then swept a second strand underneath her like a whip to clear away the glass.
"Can you lock this room down?"
"Of course!"
"What about ventilation?"
A thin shield of white-hot flames was conjured when her onibi power sprang out at him. It broke the line holding her in place, but her drop was much shorter and less damaging to her feet this time.
"What about it?!" Megumi's raised voice was almost annoyed.
"Can you cut it off?"
"Sure, but…"
The pain in his head was getting stronger, but no longer felt like a knife stabbing into him. Instead, it felt like someone trying to pull his brains out through his crown.
"Do it! No matter the flame, it needs oxygen to survive!"
"Clever!" The vixen's impressed voice was slightly shrill in his suddenly sensitive ears. "I'll leave this door open for you to escape!"
Glancing over his shoulder, Kenshin shook his head.
"Don't bother! I'm staying!"
"Are you an idiot?! It's too risky!"
"LOOK AT ME!"
There was something so desperate, nearly anguished, about the demanding shriek, and Kenshin's violet eyes widened as he steadied them on Kaoru's face. Since the moment she had first attacked him, he had almost unconsciously avoided looking into her eyes. Witnessing their hollow void unsettled and upset him. He didn't like how empty they were, or how unlike Kaoru they appeared. He wanted those blue eyes back. Though it had only been a few hours, he missed those sapphire depths almost distressingly.
They were still dead and lifeless, but it was the torment on her features and the smoky blue tears streaming down her cheeks that spoke of at least a sliver of consciousness.
"Please… look at me." The softer request was broken by her sobbing breaths.
Clenching his fists, Kenshin kept his eyes on her, and shouted back at Megumi.
"Do it, Megumi-san! I've trained in low-oxygen. She'll pass out first."
"Ugh, fine! What do I care if you die?!"
The door slammed shut, and Kenshin tried to smile at the young woman directly across from him.
"I'm looking at you, Miss Kaoru. At no one but you. As long as you want."
A tremulous smile touched her lips, pleased by his promise, but it was grieved and short lived. Megumi wasted no time in executing their plan, and heavy steel doors crashed down over each exit. As an extra security precaution, a full steel wall cut them off from the broken-out glass of the observation room window. The small ray of cognizance Kaoru had been able able to force through abruptly disappeared, and her face twisted in pure survival rage.
Wave after wave of dead blue flames poured off of her. They filled the room clear to the ceiling, and crashed against the walls and steel doors like a tidal wave hitting land. Left with only himself to protect, Kenshin wrapped his body in the life-giving flames and withstood her onslaught in tormented silence. True to his word, his eyes never left hers, and he watched her drain the oxygen from the room and cause her own downfall.
Strained breathing heaved from her chest, and the blue flames sheathing her body flickered out. Her legs buckled next, and he caught her with a heatless net of harmless fire. Gently she was lowered to a cleared spot on the floor, and he knelt next to her slowly. Cautiously, he continued to refrain from touching her, but needed to be close to satisfy his desire to protect and soothe her.
"It's alright, Miss Kaoru. You're safe now."
Pain, overexertion, and lack of oxygen caused his vision to swim, but he blinked desperately to make sure she lost consciousness first. She fought frantically against it, but her body eventually shut down to preserve energy. Finally, those soulless black eyes disappeared behind the delicate shielding of her eyelids. Giving in almost immediately, Kenshin dropped to the floor beside her.
It was not a peaceful transition. Rather, the frightening embrace of darkness overcame them both like fairytale monsters hiding in a child's closet at night.
X
The umbrella in Sōjirō's hand twirled and spun in constant circles as he stared out over the skyline from the top of his abandoned building. The sun was high overhead and oppressively hot. Without some kind of shade, he would have been forced back inside. Even now, his form flickered and jerked like a mirage in the desert.
The forever smile on his lips remained, even though he was alone. Far away, on the other side of the city, he felt the seal he had placed on Kaoru's onibi powers disappear.
"What fun. I'm sad I won't get to see it. Especially since Kaoru-chan hates it so much."
Leaning against the ledge, Sōjirō braced his chin in hand and hummed.
It's really too bad I've lost contact with that ogre. I suppose they finally caught him.
I'll need a new spy to report to me, but I doubt they'll let anyone new in now.
Should I use someone already there?
Sōjirō's grey eyes closed.
What fun.
X
A/N: You guys know I struggle with these action scenes. Ugh, lol. I rewrote this several times, but I wanted it to be a very certain way. I think it works, but I still hope it reads well. This new aspect of Sōjirō's plan helped me a lot with trying to keep him integrated into the story. I also like how it will affect the other characters, but I realize it's going to be a little upsetting. I like and don't like it for that reason, but it's going to be a big deal for not only plot development but character development, too. Yippee! Kenshin having to fight Kaoru has been a day one plan. The fact that it appears he is the only person in the world who can fight her at this point was not original. Woe is me. I've been holding in her powers for so long, I'm so happy to finally get to put it out there. As you can imagine, though, they are very contrary to her own beliefs and personality. I also seem to have created a little problem for myself. How does one train such deadly powers when one touch can kill someone instantly? Why do I hate myself? Lol Next chapter, Kenshin wakes to find Megumi has done something he finds deplorable. Much love, hugs, and kisses!