Chapter Fifty-Five

As soon as Kenshin exited into the hallway, Enishi tried to wander his way over to Kaoru. Tomoe, however, deterred him to help her pack up the few belongings Kaoru had in the now wide-open cell. With everyone's dispersal, Kaoru's jittery anxiety started to taper off, and she began to speak animatedly with the daitengu about the best place to train the salamander to fly. In her chest, her heart still trembled.

"The roof would be the best place. There's plenty of space there." Akira shakily provided his input, and his eyes darted to Tomoe's back nervously. Talking to Kaoru one-on-one was slightly intimidating. She was very excitable, and Kenshin was openly overprotective of her. The possibility that he might say something wrong was enough to give him palpitations.

"Y-you've done a good job trying to help him out, but he needs more space to spread his wings in the beginning."

Kaoru grinned.

"I knew asking you was the best idea. I don't have any way to pay you, but I'll owe you a favor, okay?"

"O-oh, t-that's not necessary."

"I won't take no for an answer." Turning away from him as quickly as she had forced her presence on him, Kaoru skipped away towards the cell to help Tomoe and Enishi. Behind her, Akira blinked indecisively, as if unsure how to act now that he had been abandoned.

Halfway across the room, sapphire eyes caught sight of Sōzō still seated by the door, and she bee-lined for him instead. His one good eye blinked, and he smothered a smile.

"What can I do for you, Kaoru-san?" Sōzō's dry voice crackled slightly when he spoke.

"Can I ask you a question? It's kinda personal, but it's been bugging me for a while."

His eyebrow lifted, but he waved a hand at a chair next to him.

"Be my guest."

Kaoru sat without fanfare, and her eyes never left his face. There was the honest light of curiosity in her gaze, and a wonder he still wasn't used to.

"You're a hiderigami, right?"

"Correct." His head bowed forward almost gracefully.

"But you're male."

Sōzō laughed so loud and abruptly that it caused Akira to jump on the other side of the room.

"You know a thing or two." She grinned, and he adjusted his crossed-arms with a left-over chuckle. "Are you not also interested in why I have two arms and two legs?"

"Yes." Kaoru slid forward onto the edge of her chair. "I thought hiderigami only had one arm, one leg, and one eye."

"That's right." Taking a moment to contemplate how much he should tell her, Sōzō glanced around before leaning forward. "What I'm about to tell you can't be repeated, alright?" His smiling features softened towards something sad and serious. "Especially not to Himura-san. It might… stress him out if he knew."

"O-of course. You have my word."

"I will believe you." Thinking of how she had kept her promise to Kenshin's father about not repeating his name, even while under anesthesia, Sōzō nodded trustingly. "My father was a human. My mother was a hiderigami. As you seem to know, hiderigami are usually female. It was… quite the stir when I was born."

Kaoru's mouth half-opened, and then slowly closed.

"You're… half-human?"

A tangle of emotion tightened the muscles around his eyes, and he nodded. "Yes. I can guess your next question. How could I fight in the war against humans if my father was one?"

Sitting back into her chair, Kaoru scratched the back of her neck and shook her head.

"That's… not something you have to explain to me. I don't agree with how things were handled, but… I can kind of guess how things happened. I… do wish things had been different, but no one can do anything about it now."

"You're much too nice, Kaoru-san." Ruffling her bangs, Sōzō smiled. "Let me do something nice for you by letting you in on a secret. I'm not the only demon with human ancestors, you know. There are a lot more like me than most demons realize. Everyone says the humans were wiped out in the war, but… that's not really true. We just blended into the population, didn't we?"

We. The simple inclusion somehow broke a barrier Kaoru hadn't been aware of, and her entire demeanor softened. Moisture collected at the corners of her eyes, and she pouted slightly to fight the unexpected emotion.

"That's… kind of neat to think about. Like we're all together now, instead of separate." She forced a grin, and her dark lashes squeezed shut. "I like that."

The door to the hallway popped open, and Kenshin slipped back into the room. Sōzō's one eye glanced up at him, and then winked at Kaoru before mouthing silently.

"Remember, our secret."

Kaoru giggled and stood to skip off before Kenshin was able to make his way over. Sighing, he slipped his phone back into his pocket as he watched her disappear.

"I think she's avoiding me."

"Trouble in paradise already?"

Violet eyes shot Sōzō a side look, before he took over the seat Kaoru had recently vacated.

"I need a favor."

The serious tone deepened his voice, and Sōzō's military training lifted his chin.

"Name it."

"I appreciate your willingness, but… I'll understand if you say no."

Without having to say anything else, Sōzō was able to read between the lines.

"This is serious, isn't it?"

"I hope not, but I suspect so." A hesitant breath exhaled from Kenshin's nose. "There's a young man that works at the restaurant by the name of Myojin Yahiko… He's a sky demon. An illegitimate one, if you understand what I mean."

Sōzō's crossed arms slowly lowered to rest his hands on his thighs.

"Are you certain?"

"He told me so himself. He's a good kid, and a friend. According to his girlfriend, he's been missing for three weeks. Do you think you could locate him? I need to make sure he's not in trouble."

"I'll look into it. I'm assuming this needs to stay under the radar."

"That would be for the best." Kenshin paused again. "You need to be careful. If this involves the Emperor, like I suspect it does, it could be dangerous if someone finds out your digging into it."

A one-sided grin pulled at Sōzō's face, and it was reminiscent of someone else they had both been close with.

"I'll take that under advisement, but I've got better connections than you think. I'll find this kid of yours… but what are you going to do if he is being held by the Sky Emperor? Any action you take to free this kid would be seen as an act of aggression. You know that old fossil has been looking for an excuse to lock you up and throw away the key. I hate to say it, but it'd almost be better if the kid was dead. For him and you."

"I'll think of something. For now, I just need to know if he's okay, where he's at, and under what circumstances."

"Fine… but what about Kaoru-san? Are you really going to do something reckless when you just said you weren't going to risk exposing her to him?" At times, Sōzō could see the powerful demon that Kenshin was, with all the traits that had made his father one of the strongest in the world. Right then, however, he could still see the unsure youngling they had sent to him to lead during the war.

Frustration tightened Kenshin's jaw muscles and he looked away.

"I know."

One hand came up to touch the covered horns sprouting from his head. Despite training with Kaoru for the last two months and constantly using the strongest power he could control to counter her onibi flames, his growth, it appeared, had stunted. Somehow, for some reason he didn't understand, he was caught in limbo. He was neither a fire demon anymore nor a fully realized fire dragon. Something was holding him back, but he just couldn't figure out what.

Sooner or later, he was going to have to bite the bullet and go crawling back to Hiko. He hated the thought, for multiple reasons, but mostly because he didn't want to leave Kaoru behind again. It didn't help that that man had a way of destroying what little pride he allowed himself to have.

"I don't plan on acting recklessly, but I can't abandon him, either."

"Alright then." Sōzō stood, and Kenshin automatically followed. A slight smile warmed the hiderigami's only eye. "To be honest, I wasn't really that worried about what you might do. Now if Sano were still here…" Sōzō shook his head with a chuckle. "That damn rooster was a bad influence on you."

Kenshin half-laughed, but it was tinged with sorrow. "He was a better influence than I deserved."

A clap on the shoulder jerked Kenshin to one side.

"He was a menace and we both know it. I'll admit that he was a damn good friend, but that's all I'll give him." Sōzō walked away with a wave over his head, the same way Sano used to. "Looks like I've got a job to do. I'll be in touch."

X

Kenshin smiled as he watched Kaoru happily settle back into her host lab on one of the upper levels of the building. She was no longer avoiding him, which he obviously preferred, and was instead openly throwing her affection at him in random spurts of giddy goofiness. While he was glad that she was no longer trapped underground in a cold cage that had been built specifically for him almost two hundred years prior, there was something sad about how happy she was trading that cage for her original one.

When he had first learned that Megumi had transferred her to the subbasement, he had rashly decided that he would remove her from the building completely once she was free. Now, however, he realized it wouldn't be such a simple undertaking. Tomoe had grown fiercely attached to her, as had Enishi. Both had fallen easily and almost eagerly into their new roles as older brother and sister. Kaoru was just as attached to them, as well, and thoroughly enjoyed not only their indulgence but also their care. With a sigh, he begrudgingly acknowledged that he truly was going to have to earn their approval before he could even contemplate moving Kaoru into his apartment.

A slight flutter of nervous excitement felt strange under his ribs, and he briefly looked down. While he had long since accepted how attached he was to Kaoru, he still wasn't used to how greedy his affection for her made him feel. It was a confusing maelstrom of impatience, joy, desire, pride, possessiveness, submission, and countless other emotions pulling him in all directions.

They were comfortable together, but at the same time, new to one another. He wanted to know everything about her. He wanted to be near her at all times. He wanted to keep her all to himself, but not hide her from the world. He wanted to protect her from everything, but show her all of his weaknesses. He wanted to know what it was like when it was just the two of them, without any knowledge that she would eventually have to return elsewhere that was not with him. He wanted the two of them to be a family. A real family, with simple concerns and a simple life.

The main room of her lab had been renovated during her stay downstairs. All of the equipment had been replaced, as had the wall of glass looking into the observation room. There were a few leftover char marks in the floor and on the walls, but it almost appeared as if nothing had ever happened. Everything was in perfect order, and it eased a bit of Kenshin's anxiety that the room might trigger Kaoru's guilt over the event. Thankfully, she appeared either completely oblivious or too preoccupied with reuniting with her favorite past-times to dwell on it.

At that moment, Enishi was nodding in rapt attention as Kaoru explained what kind of workout-schedule she had planned for herself. Apparently, their training downstairs had not been physical enough for her to be satisfied with, and she was feeling out of shape. As the resident expert, Enishi carefully listened and then adjusted her reps when she tried to pile on too much. They also agreed to continue their sword training together, and a twinge of jealousy marred Kenshin's mood.

Now that Kaoru had all of her memories back, he was eager to see what the Kamiya Kasshin-ryu looked like when used by a master. As a sword master himself, he also kind of wanted to test it personally. Unfortunately, he could not confirm his own aptitude with a sword without potentially exposing his possession of the Kagu-tsuchi. He had already gotten too close to being caught when he had briefly used it against Iizuka. As a sacred and powerful blade, he was not just its vessel, but its protector: to and from the world.

Briefly he wondered what Megumi had done with Iizuka… then decided he didn't want to know.

"Kaoru." Tomoe's soothing voice called to her as she walked up the hallway. What few clothes they had brought downstairs for her had been carefully put away in her bedroom. "Megumi-sensei would like to get an MRI of your chest this time. Since you no longer have any metal in your body to worry about, it will be safe now. We'll get repeat imaging of the rest of your body here, but the MRI is a few floors below us."

"Okay. Right now?"

"If you want to wait, we can. The scan will take a bit of time, and you'll need to hold still."

"No. It's fine. Can I nap?"

Tomoe giggled lightly. "Sure."

Enishi and Akira stayed behind in the host lab, since it wasn't going to be a quick process, but Kenshin held Kaoru's hand as they stepped onto the elevator. She was once more in her gown to make sure she was metal free, and her feet were protected by a pair of fuzzy slippers. A grin was aimed at him when she caught him glancing her direction, and a quick flit of her tongue spoke of orneriness.

Once in the room with the MRI machine, Kenshin waited in a walled off section with monitors and a half wall of windows. As he watched Kaoru hop up onto the groove bench she was to lay on, Kenshin's mood saddened. Kaoru amiably went along with most if not all of the tests they required of her, but he was getting sick of them. Sick of watching them poke and prod her like some lab rat. Sick of this building he had hated to begin with.

Without willing them, his features must have reflected his emotions, because Kaoru's smile died when her eyes glanced over at him through the windows. Quickly her hands asked if he was okay, and he blinked. Offering her an immediate and reassuring smile, he responded in kind that everything was fine. She grinned and shot him a thumbs up to convey she was fine as well, and his mood shifted to rueful. Using sign language to communicate with her again was weirdly natural and a bit satisfying. Somehow, he felt closer to her than before.

It really does feel like some secret code.

When Tomoe entered the smaller room, she settled into one of the two available chairs, and scooted herself closer to the computer that ran the MRI. The sliding bench Kaoru lay on retracted into the machine, and suddenly her breathing was louder over a set of speakers near the monitors.

"Wow, it's tighter in here than I expected."

A button was depressed, and Tomoe asked if she was uncomfortable at all.

"Oh, I didn't know you could hear me. I-I think I'll be fine. I'll just close my eyes and pretend I'm lying on the floor or something."

"It will get a bit loud, so don't be alarmed."

Even with the warning, Kaoru jumped at first, and then giggled at herself. After a few minutes, Kenshin sat down as well, and Kaoru's breathing turned soft and even. The imaging on the screen began to appear in small sections, a layer at a time. Tomoe made small talk, and indicated it could take up to an hour and a half if he wanted to wait elsewhere. Electing to stay, Kenshin leaned back into the mesh chair, and stared absently at the video displaying Kaoru's relaxed features.

"She really did fall asleep in there."

"She must have been tired from earlier." There was fondness in Tomoe's voice. "She used a lot of energy controlling her flames… and a lot of emotion explaining her past." Black eyes turned on him. "Should we spoil her some? It's going to be winter soon. How about we take a trip to a hot spring? I know a nice one up North that has a very pleasant dry sauna."

Hopping on board, mostly as an excuse to get Kaoru out of the lab, Kenshin nodded.

"That sounds nice. Pick a weekend and I'll get some time off work."

One of the new layers flashed bright across the screen, and Tomoe turned back to the monitor in surprise.

"What's that?"

Kenshin leaned forward to get a closer look.

"Another seal? But I thought it disappeared when it fully released her power?"

The coal demon, however, was not in agreement.

"I don't think it is a seal." Her finger pointed. "It's way too bright, and it doesn't have a definitive shape."

A few minutes later, and the next layer was even brighter.

"This… this is directly under her sternum. Why hasn't this showed up on any other imaging?"

Inside the other room, the MRI machine thumped and whirred away, but Kaoru remained unconscious and unaware. Another layer, and the patch of bright light appeared like a hot spotlight inside her chest. The more layers that revealed it, the more intensely it illuminated the screen. The fifth layer revealed the core of the light, and Tomoe had to cover her eyes. Automatically, she stood from her chair, and she peeked almost instinctively into the room to make sure Kaoru was still fine. A moment later, the whirring died with a slow drone and the monitors went dark.

"What the hell happened?"

Kenshin stood as well, and then Tomoe gasped.

"Kenshin, get her out of there!"

Whisps of white smoke began to discharge from the machine as it caught fire, and Kenshin kicked over his chair in his haste to jerk open the door. Grabbing Kaoru by the ankle, he pulled her from the machine and swung her into his shoulder. Limply her head rolled into his neck as he backed away, and Tomoe came from behind him with an extinguisher.

Despite shaking her and calling her name, she did not immediately wake up. Behind her closed eyelids, her eyes visibly twitched back and forth with fitful dreams.

X

When Yahiko had been told he would be locked away, he had not imagined his cell to be so… open. The Sky Palace was quite literally in the sky, and consisted of multiple buildings constructed on floating portions of solid land. The Sky Emperor's power kept the palace aloft in the clouds, and served as a reminder to those below that he was not one to be challenged. Only those invited were allowed inside the palace, and the only way to gain access to the palace for commoners like himself was through a special well-guarded entrance on the surface. Like Yahiko had seen, the palace was extravagant, and it seemed so were the cells.

His 'cell' was not in some fortified or buried place deep inside of the palace. Instead, he had been isolated in a separate building suspended from the palace by a heavy chain. The building was only large enough for a single room, but that room had no walls and was surrounded by only a wrap-around veranda. There was a roof to protect from rain and the direct rays of the sun, and the temperature inside the cell was regulated despite it being open to the elements. There was absolutely no privacy, however.

While it seemed inefficient as a cell and strangely not as uncomfortable as Yahiko had imagined, it was brilliant for a sky or wind demon prisoner. After all, a normal cell would do little to contain a demon literally made of air. Yahiko's cell kept him trapped within not by iron bars or thick walls of stone, but by a strong, full-proof barrier designed and regulated by the Sky Emperor. The barrier had been fabricated with only one rule, which made it more powerful as a result. Anyone could enter and leave his cell at will. Anyone but him.

Yahiko was not completely unaware of how such a barrier worked, though. The Sky Emperor was obviously too important and busy of a person to maintain such a barrier personally, all day and through the night. To eliminate the need to monitor it at all times, the barrier would have been placed on an object in or around where it covered. If he could find the object the barrier had been fixed to, and he could somehow manage to destroy that object, he could be free.

The problem was finding it, and then reaching it.

In addition to the barrier, he had been assigned one guard. The guard rotated in twelve-hour shifts. Not one of the guards would speak with him, or look at him, for that matter. They were too well-trained and too afraid of their emperor to disobey their orders. At that moment, a guard he had not yet seen stood on the veranda with his katana strapped at an angle along his back. After three weeks of studying the other guards, Yahiko was easily able to discern that this guard was different than the others.

He was tall, which made his choice to carry his weapon on his back instead of his hip confusing. It was a longer than normal katana, however, so Yahiko filed the detail away. From what Yahiko could tell, the guard was a kijin, or elite ogre. He was not large and bulky like other ogres, but slender and, while tall, more lithe than giant. A single white horn sprouted directly from the middle of his forehead, and his cropped black hair parted directly down the center. What was most disconcerting about him, though, was his piercing blue eyes. Yahiko had only glimpsed them once, but a shiver of danger had raced up his spine when their eyes had connected.

The quiet jingle of a bell announced that it was supper time, and Yahiko stood up on to his tiptoes to watch as a young lady suddenly appeared next to the veranda. She was floating without any visual assistance, and touched down on graceful feet with a tray in her hands. Politely, she bowed her head to the guard, and then walked straight through the barrier without pausing. Her movements were fluid, and below her traditional kimono, her feet seemed to glide along the flooring.

Her name was Yuna, and she was his half-sister. She was as kind as her name suggested, and demur like he imagined a princess to be. She and she alone had served him his meals every day without fail since his imprisonment. It was obvious to him that this was the sister his father had planned for him to marry. It was possible that it was still his plan.

While she was beautiful and had a sweet disposition, somewhat similar to Tsubame, the mere thought still made Yahiko want to vomit.

"Good evening, Yahiko-kun." She knelt with his tray of food, and removed the lids used to keep his rice and soup warm. Her voice was gentle and soothing, and her annunciation was perfect.

"Hey." Seating himself cross-legged on the other side of the tray, Yahiko dug into the meal without fanfare. There was no telling when he might not get another meal, so he always made sure to eat as much as possible whenever he could.

Yuna did not speak unless she was spoken to, which made things easy. When the meal was gone, she adjusted the dishes on the tray and stood to leave.

"I will see you in the morning. Sleep well, Yahiko-kun." She bowed again, and turned to leave.

"Yeah, sure."

While he did not necessarily dislike her, Yahiko knew trusting the half-sister that his father wanted him to marry was foolish. Even if she was not on board with the arrangement, her disposition was too submissive to defy their father.

The sun was getting lower in the sky as she disappeared over the edge of the veranda. A few more hours, and his guard would change again. Yawning, Yahiko stretched himself out flat on the floor and stared up at the ceiling of his cell. Briefly, he wondered what Tsubame was doing… and whether she was missing him at all. While he did not want her to worry, the thought of her concern did warm him enough to smile. An intrusive image of that annoying koi demon comforting her turned his smile into a scowl.

Movement out of the corner of his eye captured Yahiko's attention, and he sat up instantly when the guard turned sharply inward. Those piercing blue eyes bore down on him, and surprise mixed with fear slackened Yahiko's features when the guard stepped deliberately through the barrier to march closer. One hand reached up towards his shoulder where the hilt of his katana was, and Yahiko instinctively began scuttling backwards.

"H-hey. Wait a minute."

Not only did the barrier prevent Yahiko from leaving, but it also cut him off from the use of his own demon power. Without any way to protect himself, Yahiko was completely at the mercy of this kijin. Perhaps, the Emperor had decided it was no longer necessary to keep him alive.

Without even a hint towards his intentions, the kijin went down on one knee and bowed his head forward subserviently. The hand he had stretched over his shoulder stopped level with his neck instead of reaching fully for the hilt of his weapon. A second later, that hand withdrew and carefully offered Yahiko something in the palm of his hand. Curious but hesitant, Yahiko leaned back forward.

To Yahiko's surprise and confusion, the tiniest person he had ever seen sat cross-legged in the palm of the kijin's hand. Delicate wings of shimmering silk, like those of a dragonfly, fluttered at the small demon's back, and were nearly larger than her. For it was a girl that had been presented to him. A large yawn pulled at the girl's mouth, and her pixie features scrunched with fatigue and boredom.

"This job is so boring, Aoshi-sama. I'm starving and I need the bathroom."

Without raising his head, the kijin responded with a sigh.

"I warned you, My Lady."

"Yeah, yeah." Smoothly, the pixie girl gained her feet, and instantly rose into the air without the visual use of her wings. Behind her, a braid so long it touched the bottom of her bare feet hung down her back. Irises of aquamarine, like the furthest part of the sky, stared down upon him, and her hands pulled up to rest at her waist in judgment. "So, you're my little brother, are you? I guess you do look a lot like that idiot father of ours."

Yahiko's dark eyes blinked, but he was too shocked by what she was to react to her insult.

"You're a sylph."

A toothy grin widened the girl's smile.

"What gave it away?"

Chagrined, Yahiko's features returned to a petulant sulk.

"What do ya want?"

"Rude." Crossing her arms, the sylph looked down her nose at him. "Is that how you talk to your elder sister?"

"Half-sister. And it's not like we grew up together."

She shrugged.

"You got a point. Still, I thought you might be nicer to the sister willing to bust you out of here."

Yahiko's face tightened suspiciously.

"You're lying."

Suddenly, those piercing blue eyes flashed from behind a line of black hair, and the kijin's low voice darkened.

"You will not call my lady a liar."

Yahiko bulked, and the girl giggled, almost happily.

"It's fine, Aoshi-sama. If he wasn't suspicious, I'd question his intelligence."

The wings at her back began to glow, and then the tiny body of the sylph disappeared. In its place, a young woman now sat before him, and the same grin remained on her face as she leaned back into the guard behind her. The hand the kijin had outstretched braced at her back, and his chin lifted to make room for her shoulder. Even now that she was proportionately their size, she was still small.

A full-on frown of disgust creased Yahiko's face, because he couldn't understand why his half-sister would so openly reveal how close she was to her bodyguard.

"Don't worry, Yahiko-chan. I want something from you in return."

"Oh, yeah? And what's that? If you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly in a position to do much." Sarcasm dripped from every word, but he remained alert as he watched the sylph wrap her arm up and around the back of the kijin's neck.

"It's nothing much, really. I just need your help to kill our old man."

Mischievous aquamarine eyes winked at him, and her grin was wicked.

"My name's Misao, by the way. It's so exciting to finally have a brother to play with."

X

A/N: I finally realized what was bothering me about the last couple chapters. I've missed writing from Kenshin's perspective. I wanted to do that for this story, for the most part, and writing this chapter made me a lot happier, lol. I also kind of miss Kaoru not being able to talk. I know, weird, but it made things almost easier.

Of course, I also got to introduce a couple characters that have so far been absent from the story. Yippee! Once I realized how I was going to best work them in, I've been dying to get to them. I had to make sure a few things were revealed first, though, which is why getting back to Yahiko kept getting pushed back. This story is a lot more complicated than any other story I've written so far. It's fun, but also keeps me on my toes trying to keep everything straight. Thanks for sticking around with me for so long. I still worry, but at this point, there's no backing out now, lol. Your reviews are always very much appreciated! Let's continue to share the love with one another! Love and kindness are so very important in this world gone crazy. Next chapter, Kaoru remembers more details about the veil. See you then!