Chapter One Hundred One
For three seconds, Kenshin was still. Still enough that he did not appear to even breathe. His intense violet eyes went blank as Kaoru watched, his hands still openly offering the Kagu-tsuchi for her to peruse. The question she had asked hung in the air between them, left unanswered as whatever spell took hold and pulled his consciousness away. When those three seconds ended, they ended abruptly, without so much as a sharp inhale, and in open violence.
"NO!"
The fierce denial was practically screamed in her face, but she did not have to ask to know that his answer was not meant for her. A sharp twist and a vehement lunge of his shoulder thrust the tip of the Kagu-tsuchi's blade deep into the frozen dirt. Left to sway in unsettling jerks, Kenshin stomped five steps away from the sword before stopping. His hands fisted fitfully, his breathing was angry and labored, and Kaoru could do nothing but stare at his back in wide-eyed confusion and concern. His actions were openly disrespectful and completely unexpected.
"K-Kenshin…?"
His entire body twitched before he spun towards her, and for the first time since meeting him, even counting the day he had unintentionally taken her life, every instinct in her body recoiled. There was something about the contortion of his usually kind features, something about the pressure surrounding him, that warned her to run. When he stomped back towards her, she automatically backed away.
"We have to kill it." The deep, rumbling baritone of his voice did not sound like the man she loved at all, but a man possessed by desperation and rage.
"W-what?" A hand settled protectively over her sternum.
"I'm going to get rid of it!"
He reached for her, but she slapped his hands away and stumbled.
"No! What is wrong with you?!"
A tree root caught her heel and she tripped backwards into a large tree trunk. Brief pain contorted her face, but her discomfort pulled no reaction from Kenshin. He was still advancing on her, and panic was setting in. Two very different emotions warred within her: protectiveness for her offspring; and the desire to have this man continue to look at her. He was giving her no time to think. She just needed more time to think. Frightened, sparks of blue fire popped into life around her, but they were dowsed from existence by the appearance of her salamander.
Gasping for breath, her sapphire eyes averted when Kenshin finally paused, and she stared instead at the salamander standing next to her. He was no longer the small, winged creature that could ride on her shoulders, nor was he the large, squat lizard-like beast of his first form. Whatever adjustments Kenshin had made on the protective hair charm had turned him into a more noble and fearsome guardian. He stood now at the same height and build as a very large dog. His tail was long and studded now with barbs. The still fiery tip twitched uneasily back and forth like a wary cat. Proportionate wings sprouted from his upper back, but remained carefully folded in tight furls just behind his front legs. The dangerous structure of his dragon-like skull was lowered toward the ground, so that the curve of his shoulders could be seen over his ivory horns, as well as his jagged spine of heated bone. Both golden eyes stared straight ahead, but the angle of his head made it so that one of his eyes was near her while the other was near Kenshin, effectively allowing him to keep both in his sights. He neither stood in Kenshin's way nor beside him, as if undecided what to do.
"Stay out of the way." The low growl came from Kenshin, but the salamander did not immediately move. Kaoru had no way of knowing whose side the salamander would ultimately choose, and so carefully scooted away from both.
"Kenshin… I don't understand. Why are you being like this? I… I thought you were happy."
Shadows veiled his face, but the glint of his violet eyes disappeared when red lashes lowered.
"It's going to kill you."
Trembling, Kaoru shook her head.
"W-what are you talking about?"
"Listen to me!" His lashes snapped apart, and his desperation was getting worse. "I'd have to kill you just to get it out! And if we don't get it out it's going to kill you anyway! You have to let me snuff it out right now while I still can! It's the only way!"
"No." Struggling to her feet, Kaoru frantically tried to think. Of anything. Any other way. "We'll… we'll think of something. Together. There has to be a way."
"There is no other way! Either it dies or you die, and I'm choosing you to live!"
"Stop calling him an it! He's our son, and I'm not going to let you kill our baby!" Screaming at him, her entire being denying what he wanted, she stood in fierce opposition, ready to do anything and everything to protect her child. Beside her, the salamander's head briefly lowered, then lifted, and he stepped purposefully between them. He did not growl or make any type of threatening noise, but his posture clearly delineated that he meant to protect Kaoru and her decision from his maker.
Huffs, not unlike the angry huffs of a cornered animal, rose and fell from Kenshin's chest, the hot air from his insides forming white clouds from his nose after each forceful puff. Pain, so deep and anguished, eventually contorted the muscles in his face, and he turned to stamp off into the dark woods. The Kagu-tsuchi was snatched from out of the dirt, but held at an angle away from him, as if he were disgusted by its mere presence. As her eyes tracked his retreat, a different form of panic set in. It was a more profound panic, one that was overwhelming and unnatural.
"W-wait!"
He could not leave. He had to keep looking at her. If he stopped looking at her, she would break apart and shatter.
"Kenshin!"
The heavy and solid body of the salamander blocked her from following, his form catching her at her thighs. Blindly reaching after Kenshin, she overbalanced over the salamander's torso, her fraught emotions causing her to fight him like a pinned cat.
"Let me go! He has to look at me! He has to!"
Struggling fitfully and crying out, Kaoru found herself flat on her back in the thin layer of snow, the salamander's front feet grasping her carefully by each arm to keep her still. Golden irises like burning suns stared steadily into her eyes, and though it was muted, the panic slowly eased. Far off on the mountain, a scream of intense rage echoed in the night like the roar of a wounded dragon, and Kaoru cried bitter tears under the blood-red scales of her hair charm.
X
When Hiko found her, she was still lying on the ground with the salamander standing guard over her. The fire-lizard's chin rested gently on one shoulder, and the heat from his breathing warmed her shivering body. As Hiko approached, the salamander lifted his head in a rather menacing fashion, his eyes studying the water dragon carefully and silently. Gazing blankly up at the starry sky, hot tears ran from the corners of Kaoru's eyes before turning cold in the bowl of her ears.
Advancing cautiously, Hiko lifted an open hand to beg peace with the much larger salamander. The creature turned his head dismissively, and allowed him to come closer.
"Are you alright? I heard yelling."
Pain contorted Kaoru's face and she shook her head, the tears coming from her eyes turning blue. Deciding to forestall any further questioning, Hiko bent to pick her up.
"It's cold out here, Kamiya-san." Turning, Hiko carried her back towards the house with the salamander following close at his side. With her vision now filled with the passing of trees, Kaoru's vacant pupils focused only at the hint of an orange glow. Distant lights from Neo-Kyoto winked at her from between the barren branches, but they were usually a quiet reminder of the civilization Hiko lived near to. Tonight, the dark atmosphere blushed like a setting sun. Blinking her way out of despair, Kaoru inhaled shakily and pointed.
"Is that fire?"
Hiko turned his head to look, and his feet slowed to a stop. His prompt response was gruff and confused.
"It is."
When she struggled, he sat her down on her feet and followed her as she hurried for a better view.
"Those are deliberate."
Several fires blazed inside the city, and each separate one was large enough to be seen from a distance. One by one, new ones cropped up as they watched, dotting the horizon like funeral pyres, and Kaoru's heart sank with instinctive dread. Blindly, her handed fisted in Hiko's sleeve.
"Where's Kenshin? Can you tell?"
"Further up the mountain."
Nodding, as she had already known he could not be the cause, she wiped at her face roughly and turned to the water dragon.
"They're going to blame this on him."
Hiko's mouth firmed.
"I believe you are right."
Sniffling to fully suppress her sorrow and confusion for Kenshin's recent actions, Kaoru instead focused on what she knew needed to be done. Others' lives were in danger, not just Kenshin's reputation, and she would not just sit around while some agenda was played out. Twisting on one heel, she ran to the nearby cottage without looking back. Inside, the komainu stirred from their pile near the table, and they blinked at her in sleepy interest as she retrieved the wooden sword Hiko had made for her. The salamander waited patiently outside for her to return, as if already aware of her intentions. Tying her shoes quickly, she hopped back into the yard, and placed a hand on the back of the salamander as he jogged close beside her. She glanced up quickly when the water dragon blocked their way to the descending path.
"Are you going to try to stop me?"
An amused huff puffed from his chest, as if to express how wasted an effort that would truly be. Instead, he answered her with a question of his own.
"Did you know that it has been more than two hundred years since I've left this mountain?" The clean blue-steel of Hiko's water blade lifted from out of thin air, and he rested its length on his shoulder in comfortable strength. "Tonight, I believe I will stretch my legs." Stepping to the side, he cleared the way and bowed his head slightly while she grinned up at him. Behind, the two lion-dog guardians shouted after them from the veranda.
"You two stay with the mountain. I have to take down the barrier, so it'll be your job to protect the boundary."
"Yes, Master!" The unison answer echoed happily in the night air, but it mixed and died under the wafting smell of black smoke.
X
Soot had smeared across Misao's skin like war paint on a soldier. The glaring heat from the fires burned her eyes, and she had long since abandoned her sylph form for fear of damaging her delicate wings. Just as they had suspected, her stupid father had planned something nefarious for Neo-Kyoto. Never in all their brainstorming, however, had they imagined he would set fire to his own people. She hated to admit it, but his decision was smart. Blaming such malicious destruction on the only living fire demon left in the world would unequivocally convince the rest of the nation that he deserved whatever the Emperor intended. In the end, he would have even more power to wield over the nation, but she suspected that even that would not be enough to satisfy her father. After all, anyone who knew him could deduce that he had not achieved the rank of dragon because he wanted to help others. The rank was only a tool for power, and a safety net against assassinations.
Or so he thought.
The fires had spread faster than they could keep up with, and the number of individual fires had spread their numbers thin. Even with the addition of Yūtarō's people they were lacking the manpower, because it was not only the fire that they had to contend with. It was those responsible for setting them that they really needed to address, and they were not few or weak. Even at that moment, the seven Oniwabanshu members with her, including Aoshi, were locked in intense combat while the fire ate away at the buildings just out of their reach. One of the uncontested criminals shouted curses at the top of his lungs at the fire demon he named responsible while at the same time adding more fuel to the already blazing flames. It was sick and twisted, and pure evil at its core.
Misao had learned quickly, however, that her power was of no help in this situation. Wind was a compliment to fire, not a detriment, and just by fighting she had inadvertently caused the fire to jump from one building to the next. It was frustrating and shameful, and the pent-up anger stirring inside was growing for that bastard she could not just simply disown as her father. Aoshi had demanded that she stay out of the combat if she was only going to make things worse. Luckily, her grandfather had taught her other ways to fight, and no one told the Pixie Princess what to do. She was more worried about that reckless little brother of hers.
Though he was still recovering, Yahiko had insisted on joining the fight, but had been regulated to search and rescue only. Hopefully, he did not get himself into any trouble trying to use his power while performing his set duty. It was probably a good thing she had separated him from that little fish boy. She did not know what the story was behind their animosity, but it had taken little time for her to see that the fish knew exactly what buttons to press to piss her little brother off. This was not the time nor place for a pissing contest.
"My Lord!" One of the kijin directly under Aoshi's command appeared between them, and a brief nod was aimed in her direction. "Princess. We're receiving strange reports from across the city. Someone has been indiscriminately incapacitating the military patrols and our people to the southwest. They seem to be putting out the fires, but their intentions are unclear."
Aoshi's mellow voice remained steady despite the noise of the chaotic fight.
"Incapacitate only? Have they not killed anyone?"
"No, My Lord. At least not at the sites I have personally checked. They were not dead, but I was unable to rouse any of our troops."
"Do we know what they look like? How many they are?" Misao cut in even as she parried her attacker's advance.
"The reports are inconsistent, but there appear to be only two of them."
"Just two?! How strong are they?!" Even as she asked, a voice shouted over the fighting and the roar of flames.
"Slow down, Kaoru-san! You're leaving me behind!"
The voice was familiar, as it belonged to Yūtarō, and his usual pompous intonation was breathless. Jerking her head around to search for him, Misao stopped on the sight of what appeared to be a small, red dragon. Though small compared to a true sized dragon, it was large enough to catch a fearful breath in her throat. It appeared menacing and tough with fire breathing from its nostrils and out the tip of its tail. It stood obvious guard over a young woman with a long dark ponytail and glowing blue eyes. That young woman opened her mouth as Misao stared, and a voice so enticing and ethereal poured from her throat.
"Sleep."
The whispered word slithered in to her ear and wrapped like silk around her brain. It should not have been able to cover the distance between them, but Misao heard it clearly, as if the woman were right next to her, holding her, and rocking her in soothing comfort. Like heavy curtains, her eyelids slid closed, and she slumped onto the ground in deep, restful sleep.
X
A/N: Only two chapters this time. I'm sorry they're so short as well, but I was having a really hard time finding the time to write. It's been a mess with everything going on. (It never fails that everything happens at the same time, ugh.) Also, my husband will be starting a new job soon, and it will be a big change for us, so I'm trying to get a lot done and spend as much time with him as I can. I'm happy that I'm finally coming to the conclusion of my plot lines, I feel like it's taken forever to get here, but at the same time two years has to be some kind of record for me. XD In the midst of all this turmoil, I want to reconfirm what this story started out as: a place of escape where we can find comfort in love. Love is not only comforting in its softness, but protective in its strength and ferocity. We cannot only enjoy love when it is easy, but we must also fight for it when it is hard.
Up next, Misao and Kaoru make an unexpected connection, and Kenshin joins the fight for Neo-Kyoto.
(WARNING: I'm only putting this here because I'm afraid of my own obsessive nature. The new Legend of Zelda game is coming out this week… if I'm behind on my story, you all know why. Please forgive me!)
Bonus Song #5
Okina: Stand By Me – Ben E. King