Chapter Sixty-Nine

Sōjirō had never been impatient. Vaguely, he remembered someone whispering about how unsettling of a child he had been. Quiet, tolerant, and unresponsive to the abuse that had been heaped upon him, he had waited out the perfect moment. For a long time, he had not known why he was waiting, or what he was waiting for, but when that moment came, something inside of him had eased gently into place. Like a shadow following the disappearance of light. Slaughtering those that had claimed to be his family had been easy and almost satisfying.

With that same level of persistence and serenity, Sōjirō now waited out that perfect moment when the world would fall into chaos. Allowing Kaoru to "escape" from him had turned into the perfect catalyst. Necromancy was forbidden. Proof that it was in current use had caused a ripple-effect that would soon form a tsunami. The government would want to dispose of her as quickly as possible, because allowing something dead to stay on the living plane was too risky. However, the government also knew that she was being protected by the last remaining fire demon. They were hesitating to move against her because of him, and once that line was crossed, Sōjirō looked forward to the destruction that would surely follow.

Better still, her identity as a human was now known, and she had earned the attention of the Sky Emperor himself. His paranoia was practically legendary, and it fed brilliantly into the chaos Sōjirō was creating. It did not matter why he hated humans as much as he did. All that mattered was that he would throw the full force of his power upon the fire demon simply for being connected to Kaoru. A fight between two dragons of such complimentary natures, even if one was only a budding dragon, would destroy not just all of Neo-Japan, but would potentially scorch half the world. Wind spread and heightened fire, and stronger fire created higher air pressure. Death on such a massive scale would give him so many potential souls to steal and play with.

On top of everything, Master Shishio had been set loose to hunt and kill whoever he wanted, whether for revenge or desire. The deaths, both civilian and politician, had not only caused disquiet within the softened demon community, it had also stirred the government into a panic. Rumors were already spreading that the military had been "running drills" in preparation of a response. Anger was floating on the wind about potential curfews or even lock-downs. At their core, demons did not appreciate being ordered around or suppressed. Sōjirō looked forward to how the country would eventually react.

There was only one hitch in his plan.

Recently, Master Shishio had started staying out longer and longer. It had been exactly nine days since the last time Shishio had returned to their abandoned building. During that time, Sōjirō had confirmed only one death within the government that was more likely than not connected to Shishio, and then only one civilian death with a similar M.O. Two deaths were far too few for his master to be gone so long. Sōjirō would have been less bothered if Shishio had gone on a killing spree. Chaos and disorder were what he was hoping for, after all. The fact that he had restrained his murderous impulse, though, meant he was focused on something else.

Rather, on finding someone else. Someone else that Sōjirō did not want him to find.

Out of respect for his master, Sōjirō had refrained from incorporating runes or seals within Shishio's body that would allow Sōjirō to control him. Shishio had been revived with the intention of allowing him free will and free reign. Unfortunately, the repercussions from fighting and killing a dragon had destroyed not only his original body, but parts of his soul and mind as well. He was not the same as he once was, and he would never be that man again. His demeanor was too childlike, and his emotions were unstable. Being unable to empathize with those emotions made it difficult for Sōjirō to deal with him, and the lack of runes made it impossible for him to force Shishio to obey.

Sometimes, Sōjirō regretted his decision.

As Shishio marched towards him down the long hallway, Sōjirō tried to smile in that fashion Shishio had once taught to him hundreds of years before. Folding his hands behind his back, he greeted his master in a falsely chipper voice.

"Welcome back, Master Shishio. Would you like your bath prepared?"

There were times, like at that very moment, when Sōjirō could see parts of his master's personality shine through. The faded lighting cast shadows about him, and his bearing was purposeful and powerful. Underneath the soiled bandages protecting his burnt and rotting skin, his eyes peered out at him, so focused and intense. His chin was level, as if he were meeting an opponent in battle. The power in his gait was enough to strike fear in his enemies, and the lack of wasted movement a cause for envy.

As soon as he opened his mouth, all of the faux stability he was emanating fell away to once more reveal his damaged and regressed mind.

"Where is she?!"

His deep and powerful voice shouted at him in demand, and Sōjirō flickered backwards to avoid the slash of his dangerous katana. Shishio usually struck out at him when he was angry, but never before in such earnest.

"We've talked about this, Master Shishio. Kaoru-chan has to remain where she is."

Another failed strike came a little too close, and Sōjirō's forehead creased in confusion. There was danger in the air. Three more successive attacks produced screeching sound like the wailing of banshees, and the walls bore the marks afterwards.

"She's mine! I want her back! Give her back!"

"Master…"

The hands folded at his back in deference finally disengaged, and Sōjirō had to jump out of the way. Rot combined with a choking cloud of ash splattered across the floor, ceiling and walls, and ate immediately through the wood and concrete like it was wet paper. A thrill of danger dropped through Sōjirō's stomach, and he realized, without arrogance or pride, that he had almost died.

"Tell me where she is!"

Allowing his master to re-hone his skills had backfired in a most unexpected way. Sōjirō had never been a match for him, and had never planned to best him. Up unto that moment, if calming him with promises and bribes had not worked, Gein would help to physically restrain him. The fact that they had been able to, had confirmed for Sōjirō that his master was no longer as strong as he had once been. Certainly, no longer strong enough to again fight and kill a dragon. That assumption was proving to be perilously wrong.

"We can play your recordings for you." Calmly trying to offer an alternative, Sōjirō watched Shishio lift his arm in quick anger.

"No! It's not right! She has to sing it!"

Before the strike came down, Sōjirō's quick gaze caught sight of the multiple gashes cut into his master's forearms where the bandages had unraveled and trailed behind him. Congealed and rotten blood clung to the fresh wounds in sickening colors of purple, black, and maroon. Rushing to time his movements, Sōjirō sidestepped the attack, but miscalculated the other hand that latched around his throat. Stiffening, his body jerked forward so that his face was pressed close to that of his master, and the putrid breath that issued from his mouth washed up his nostrils.

"Give her back to me." The low growl was all threat, and there was no recognition in Shishio's manic eyes for the child he had once taken in. For a moment, Sōjirō wondered if what he was feeling was anger towards that little human doll for turning his master into such a weak and pathetic zealot.

Half a second later, the grey eyes of the shadow demon swung to his right where a third presence suddenly stood. His approach had been unfelt, unheard, and unnoticed. Vermillion eyes stared unblinkingly at Master Shishio, and his dark red hair of razor floss shimmered lightly with smoldering fire.

Master Shishio recognized him immediately.

"YOU! I killed you!"

Dropped and forgotten, Sōjirō stumbled back, slipped into his shadow form, and slid into the darkness of the hallway to watch from a safer perspective. The fire dragon did not react immediately, but waited for his opponent to make the first, wild and frantic, move. Strong fingers shot up and latched onto Shishio's dominant hand and stalled the attack in a split second. As a counter-measure, rot oozed from Shishio's flesh, and the dangerous liquid decay covered the arm of the fire dragon doll. No glimmer of pain or reaction touched the impassive features half-shadowed by red hair, though. Instead, Shishio's arm was twisted up and behind him, like a police officer might restrain a criminal, and the pinch of his grip caused the katana to drop to the floor. With an ease that was telling, Shishio found himself overpowered and slammed into the wall.

As quickly as the fight had started, it ended. From his hidden vantage, Sōjirō watched in disappointment.

I was correct. Master Shishio isn't strong enough anymore.

Paused in place, the vermillion eyes of Himura Takibi turned to him as if awaiting orders. The fact that he could pinpoint his location without visually trying was disconcerting.

"Put him in his room."

Maddened and irrational yelling echoed throughout the building as Master Shishio screamed out his rage at being defeated and denied. A harsh shove pushed him through the door to his room, and the heavy metal barrier at the entrance slammed shut and was secured. Materializing from out of the shadows, Sōjirō slowly picked up the forgotten katana Shishio had dropped. The fire dragon turned to face him. Without any active threat, he stood like an empty shell, as if he had not just easily defeated the strongest man Sōjirō knew.

"I am disappointed in you, Master Shishio." The words were a soft whisper, and were easily drowned out by the continued tantrum being thrown inside of the locked room. Returning to more pressing matters, Sōjirō looked up at the doll.

"Hold out your arms. I will cut out the rot before it eats away at your entire body."

For some reason he could not fathom, he explained himself. On command, the doll lifted both hands straight up and out. Curiously, however, they were completely unscathed and perfect. Tilting his head to one side, Sōjirō glanced up and into the face of the revived fire dragon. His dark red eyes remained forward and unfocused upon something over his head.

Perhaps dragon fire is even more powerful than Master Shishio's Death Power of rot. I will have to keep that in mind.

It was unsettling that Sōjirō had not seen or felt the fire dragon use his flames as a counter-measure. His strength was even greater than he had imagined.

"Follow."

Obediently, the doll trailed behind him, his features deadened and his eyes still unblinking and unmoving. In the basement, Sōjirō found Gein curled in a ball in the corner asleep. He had spent the entire night finishing up the last of their many dolls. His incapacitation, however, meant that he was not the one who had sent the fire dragon doll to aide him. Which meant, the doll had done so on its own.

A light nudge of Sōjirō's foot woke the spider demon from his deep slumber.

"Master Sōjirō." A yawn pulled at the man's mouth, and the eight legs sprouting from his back stretched one by one. "How may I serve you?"

"Master Shishio has returned."

"Very good." Smiling with eyes half-closed, Gein nodded. "I shall prepare his bath and the recordings we have of Kaoru."

"No. Leave him be for now." Turning away, Sōjirō pointed for the fire dragon doll to stand under a light. "Did you make any new adjustments to this one?"

Stretching his shoulders, Gein shook his head.

"Only the ones you requested, young master."

"Regrettable." His slightly high-tenor voice sounded less disappointed than curious. "It appears that reviving a dragon is a lot different than reviving any other creature on this planet."

Gein's eyes darted to the fire dragon then back to the shadow demon. It was only then that he noticed Sōjirō was not smiling, and he quickly blinked the sleep from his eyes to stand. The shadow demon always smiled, and the new expression was slightly alarming.

"What has happened? Did he malfunction while you were controlling him?"

Facing the fire dragon doll, Sōjirō's hands folded again at his back. His form, that usually flickered in bright light, was more solid in the muted light of the basement.

"No, but he came to my aide, unbidden and uncalled, to restrain Master Shishio."

"How?" The spider demon came closer and peered up at what he considered to be his greatest masterpiece. "That's not supposed to be possible."

"No. I had hoped to keep his presence from Master Shishio so as not to rile him up. Unfortunately, Master Shishio has become unmanageable. He has even started cutting himself again. Is it because he is uncomfortable in that body? Is he… angry with me?"

Gein bowed his head. "Forgive me, young master. It is my fault for providing him with an unsuitable body to inhabit. Master Shishio could never be angry with you."

"His attachment to Kaoru-chan confuses me. We may need to reevaluate the power in her voice. Perhaps our new mole in the lab will be able to give us some answers."

"Very good, young master." A glance eyed the unmoving fire dragon. "What shall we do with him?"

A tilt of his head, and the unnatural smile returned to Sōjirō's features.

"It appears I am lucky there was a malfunction in our runes. Nevertheless, we will need to fix it. I cannot have this happen again, no matter how advantageous it was for me. He is meant to protect me, but only from the fire demon, Himura Kenshin."

That, after all, would cause so much more chaos. Father versus son, fire dragon versus fire dragon, reunited in a death match. There was a chance the entire world could burn, and fire meant nothing but new darkness for a shadow demon.

The level chin of Himura Takibi lowered slowly, like a gear losing its tension, and his unfocused, vermillion eyes stared straight at him. Sōjirō frowned.

"Did we not already fix the issue with his neck?"

Gein grabbed the doll by its arm and pulled it towards his workstation.

"I will take another look."

X

Tomoe slowly sank back down into the chair in front of her desk as everyone else moved into the rec room. She couldn't hear everything that was being said, but Kaoru's voice was excited. Looking down at her lap, she twisted her shaking fingers together, and briefly closed her eyes.

With all that she was, she wanted to keep that sweet girl safe. After studying the runes and seals imbedded in her body, Tomoe knew almost as much detail about them as Megumi did. She knew exactly how easy it would be for Sōjirō to use her, against her will, to do harm, or simply disable her completely. Because she also knew Kaoru and her personality, she was well aware of how devastated she would be if either of those situations were to happen. If there was some way, any way, that she could help prevent such an outcome, she would do it. Even obey the man responsible.

I will have to tell him that we are looking into Kaoru's path from wherever his hideout is. He will certainly find some way to erase the evidence, if he hasn't already done so. Trembling, Tomoe hid her unstable inhale. If we can't find him through official channels… then I will find a way to do it myself. He's using me, and I know he won't honor any promise that he makes. I'm sure he'll dispose of me once he's through with me, as well, but… maybe I can use him before then. Any information I can gather will be helpful. For now, I just have to play along.

Deceiving the shadow demon would be dangerous, but she was determined and unremorseful about any lie she had to tell him. The hard part was going to be the necessary dishonesty she would have to put into every word and action around those she loved. Kaoru could sense strong and deep-set emotions, and even if she processed them as songs and music, she had already looked at her with concern just that morning. Enishi was her brother, and would know immediately if anything had upset her. Luckily, since he was her little brother, she knew how to handle him. It was Akira that she worried about the most.

Two separate scenarios were likely when it came to the daitengu. He would either not question her, and instead accept her actions as rejection and find fault in himself. Or he would make her hurt him by noticing something was wrong and questioning her out of concern. Tomoe wanted neither of those scenarios, which was why she had tried to convince Megumi to send him back to Genzai-sensei. Space and work would allow her an excuse to see him less often, and, she hoped, lessen any pain he might feel when she ultimately met whatever end Sōjirō had planned for her.

Movement caught her attention, and she glanced up to watch Megumi storm out of the lab. Something about her expression spoke of deep thought mixed with impatience. Tomoe stood, but the vixen was gone before she could say anything. As the door swung back closed, it was stalled by a hand and Enishi walked in.

"Hey, Sis." His greeting was normal, and she pulled together a small, sad smile to return his informal salutation.

"Is it already ten o'clock?"

"Yeah. Is our 'little sis' ready?" The way he addressed Kaoru sounded halfway caught between a laugh and rueful acceptance.

"I'm not sure. They were having quite a heated discussion just a moment ago."

The stone golem that was her little brother frowned at the quiet distance in her tone. His beautiful, emerald green eyes glanced around, and his features creased even deeper.

"What are you doing in here by yourself? Did something happen?" The frown turned to a scowl. "Did that little crow upset you or something?"

Her mouth opened in surprise at the suggestion, and her coal black eyes darted to her right to find Akira standing frozen in the doorway. Closing her mouth slowly as she regained composure, she lifted her chin and her small smile returned.

"Akira-kun has been nothing but a gentleman, Enishi. Please don't groundlessly accuse him again." Turning to her desk, she gathered up a few items while her little brother stuttered in indignation.

"I didn't accuse him of anything. I asked if you were alright."

"I'm fine. I just have a lot of work to catch up on today with other projects. You can handle eating lunch with Kaoru by yourself, can't you?" She stood and headed towards the door.

"Uh… sure."

Lightly pulling in the inner portion of her bottom lip, she glanced again at Akira as she passed and slightly bowed her head.

"Good-bye."

It was hard to keep her voice from choking, and even harder to maintain her composure when he whispered an even quieter response.

"Bye."

Inside the rec room, Kenshin caught the sound of Enishi's voice, and glanced at the clock on the wall to confirm the time. Briefly alone with Kaoru, he reached forward to push the tail of her long updo back over her shoulder. Very much aware of the camera in the room, he refrained from any other intimate shows of affection. It was difficult, since he was feeling fairly affectionate at that particular moment. Mostly, he realized, because Kaoru had indirectly provided a piece of confirmation that Sano was not only still alive, but in a position that Kenshin could help him. Sapphire eyes glanced up at him, and the warmth in her expression echoed his affection in her own shy way.

"I have to get to work, but I'll stop by tonight after my shift, if you want. It'll be late, though."

A light inhale quickly pulled between her lips, and her voice was just slightly breathless over the tightness in her chest.

"I'd like that. You… have to go to Arai Knives today, right?" He nodded, and her eyes brightened. "Can I come with you next time? I mean, if you don't have a shift at the restaurant afterwards, like today."

His smile closed his eyes in amusement with her enthusiasm.

"I'll ask if they mind. I think you'll like the owners."

"You leaving, Himura? We've got work to do." The gruff but friendly interruption sounded more like a direction to leave, but Kenshin smiled harmlessly at Enishi's entrance.

"Just now. Don't let her hurt you too bad while I'm gone."

The stone golem crossed his arms at his return jab, and Kaoru laughingly claimed that she would never be mean to her big brother. Kenshin left soon after, and Kaoru jumped up to change clothes. As they, too, left the host lab to head for the subbasement, where they now utilized the large underground chamber for Kaoru's training, Kaoru noticed Akira standing next to the desk he had been provided to use while there. Tapping Enishi's shoulder to ask him to wait a second, Kaoru skipped over to the daitengu while looking quite hesitant.

"Akira-san…" Stormy dark irises couldn't look at her, and his demeanor appeared defeated and sad. "You're going to take care of Tomoe-nee-san, right?"

He swallowed, but despite the hesitation in his mannerisms, the music she could feel from deep inside of him was much stronger than any time before. He was growing confident in the relationship they now shared, and the shift had been noticeable. The same could also be said about Tomoe, but something must have happened the day before. As soon as Kaoru had returned to the lab, she had known that something was bothering her. If it was personal between the coal demon and the crow, though, then she didn't want to get in the middle of it. However, she had also sensed that Akira needed just a little encouragement. Smiling, she pushed her finger gently into the center of his forehead to lift his chin. His dark eyes blinked, and she grinned.

"I mean, that's what you want to do, isn't it?"

His shoulders lifted, and he agreed quickly and with feeling. "More than anything."

Kaoru nodded happily. "Then we'll trust you to handle whatever is going on. Right Nishi-nii?"

Enishi crossed his arms and grumbled, but ultimately agreed. "If he can prove he's capable of taking care of my sister, properly… then I'll approve."

Akira bowed so low his forehead nearly touched the ground. It was slightly comical with his wings spread to counterbalance the shift in his center of gravity, but it did not lessen the solemnity of his promise.

"I won't let you down. I swear it."

"My sister's stubborn, so don't wimp out." The parting advice was muffled by the door as Enishi turned to leave. Kaoru hopped backwards to follow him out with a wave.

"We're counting on you, but let us know if we can help!"

X

A/N: I want to use more of Takibi's fire power, lol. This chapter was fun in a different way, but probably only from my perspective. I think I'm just happy that I'm finally getting to all this stuff I've been working up to. Alright, I promised myself that I would shorten up these author notes, because last chapter's was ridiculously long. XP I wanted to get to something else in this chapter, but then decided it was good a time to work in more Sōjirō and Shishio moments. Then the Takibi thing was perfect, so yay! I also needed to work in Tomoe's battle since it has a progression of its own. Anyway, next chapter, Kenshin discusses some interesting facts with the Arai boys about their fathers, and Megumi makes un-agreed to plans. Love the feedback! See you next week!