Chapter Eight

Something dark was latched to his ankles. No matter what he tried, it tangled about his legs like thick shackles. It weighed down his gait like vines pulling him from below. He tried to run, but his body was heavy and his limbs moved as if he were running through water. The darkness was winning, and soon it would drag him down into a void of despair.

Just as he was about to give in, a tiny blue light flitted across his vision, focusing him away from the shadows. It sang to him, in a voice so haunting and with words he could not understand. But he knew what it wanted. The light was beckoning him to follow, and he gave in to its temptation without a second thought.

X

Red lashes came open as suddenly as they had closed hours before, and as he lay in the muted light of the laboratory, the scene he had caused came back to him. Violet eyes clenched shut briefly, the breath he had not realized he was holding flooded his lungs, and he twisted to get up. Was everyone alright? How much damage had he caused? Barely one step was taken, and he tripped over a solid lump in his path. One ungraceful face-plant later, and he was sprawled over the solid lump and what felt like soft bedding.

With his arms bracing his weight, Kenshin curled his upper spine so that he could see the cause of his embarrassing mishap. At the same time, the lump moved, and he found himself staring at Kaoru's once sleeping form, now propped up on her elbows as she blinked back. Immediately, she smiled, and he scrambled to remove himself from squashing her.

"Miss Kaoru." Situating himself cross-legged next to her futon, he struggled for a moment as he watched her sit all the way up. "Why are you out here?"

Smiling features creased slightly as her forehead dipped into worry, and one of her hands lifted to point at the couch.

"I… see." Briefly he dropped his chin towards his lap, and closed his eyes. "But you don't have to sleep out here. I'm fine, Miss Kaoru. I promise."

Slowly, her hand came back to rest in her lap, and the smile melted from her face as she tilted her head to one side. Sapphire irises, shining brighter in the dark than he thought they should, studied him intently. As if she did not believe him.

Red brows creased heavily, and he looked away.

"I'm sorry, Miss Kaoru." His tone softened in shame, and a thick swallow interrupted his apology. "That you had to see what you did."

Movement caught his attention, and when he glanced back at her, he found she had lifted the edge of the blanket nearest to him. For several long seconds, she held it patiently in the air, waiting for him to understand. Abruptly, he remembered her kneeling before him with arms outstretched in open acceptance, and realization dawned like a slow rising sun. Red eyebrows lifted towards his hairline, the muscles in his chest tensed, and his hands shot forward to force the blanket back down around her waist.

"T-thanks, but no." She seemed confused by his refusal, and he heard himself laugh uncomfortably. The smile on his face felt tight. "I-I'm fine on the couch, really." One of his hands came back to pull at the collar of his shirt. "Besides, I still feel gross and… not quite myself. I'm going to clean up and change, but…" And now she's getting up. Does she expect to help?!

"Stop!"

She froze with one knee under her. A long breath drug itself deep into his lungs.

"Stop. I'll be right back, so please, Miss Kaoru… go back to sleep." Blue eyes blinked, and there was the slightest touch of petulance on her lips. Unable to help himself, he stroked one finger down her cheek in reassurance. Her dry skin was a touch softer than before.

"Thank you, for staying with me." The smile returned, and it lifted his spirits.

An overnight bag he had left in the lab was retrieved from behind the couch, and he locked himself inside the bathroom, just in case. Though he did not bathe like others did, with water, he wanted to be somewhere he could douse himself if he needed to. Something still felt off, and he was hesitant to use his cleansing fire. Even though it was the easiest and most natural of his flames to use. In consequence, he took his time to commit fully to his focus.

When he returned to the recreation room, he was relieved to find Kaoru asleep, or at least lying down with her eyes closed. Carefully stepping over her this time, he tucked a scrunched-up blanket he found around the seat cushions before lying down himself. The couch had retained a funny smell from the CO2, but Kaoru was utilizing the only spare bedding and it didn't feel right to sleep in her cot.

As soon as his eyes closed, he felt the return weight of the darkness from his dream once more. Unwilling to face it, red lashes snapped apart, and he tried his best to hide his unsteady breaths. It did nothing to help. Turning onto his side, he tried watching Kaoru breathe easily on the floor directly beside him, but the blue light of her eyes was hidden away.

"Kaoru." The name was nothing more than a whisper, for fear of waking her if she truly was asleep. Straightaway, her eyes opened, and her head turned towards him in question. One moment of hesitation was all he could stand before he extended his top arm over the side of the couch. He did not even try to hide the shake of his fingers. Pink lips curved into a gentle, comforting smile, and she unearthed the arm nearest him to grasp his hand in hers. With elbow bent, she pressed the back of his hand against her cheek, and the last image he remembered before sleep took him was of her blue eyes glowing in the dark.

X

In the dimness of the rec room, a shadow detached itself from the couch and slid quietly to the back corner. Slowly, it climbed the wall until it finally pulled itself away to form a solid, three-dimensional shape out in the open. When it moved, however, the shadowy figure did not walk, but instead seemed to flicker out of existence to appear somewhere else. Now standing behind the couch, one dark, shimmering hand rested on the back cushion and grey eyes looked down upon the two peacefully sleeping occupants of the lab.

A smile, that was both habitual and fake, pulled at the shadow's mouth, and he studied the pair as he circled the couch. When he spoke, his voice was calm and emotionless, like a scientist coldly analyzing an experiment.

"You were much stronger than I thought, Himura Kenshin. I would have liked to see if the stories are true about your kind, but you resisted. You don't seem to have any real control over your powers, though. Such a pity."

Glancing away, he flitted across the room to the small desk with Kaoru's scattered drawings. There the shadow bent to study the papers, but refrained from touching. It was several long minutes before he turned back to the couch.

Squatting next to the futon, he tilted his head to find the fire demon's hand still clasped against Kaoru's cheek as she slept.

"This is an interesting development." Sojiro's flat voice was hushed. "My seal is working perfectly, but you persist. Is your attachment unconscious? His presence is detrimental to your survival, but now I am curious to see how this plays out. What if I do this?"

One glimmering finger extended to press down upon an area just between her breasts. Creases twisted the half-smile on Kaoru's face until she appeared in pain, and her spine bowed as her muscles contracted.

"Sweet dreams, my little doll, but do not worry… I will not let you die."

A single, smoky-blue tear escaped from the corner of her lashes, and Sojiro's hand carefully withdrew. As it rolled slowly down her temple, he slipped that hand into the dark abyss of his jacket and withdrew a tiny black box. The tear was collected delicately, and then tucked back into the darkness for safe-keeping.

Sojiro stood once more, and glided through the door to the main room of the laboratory. Char marks and melted plastic formed a perfect spherical perimeter around the area the fire demon had been kneeling, but Sojiro was interested in only one small section of the floor. Kneeling on the scarred concrete, Sojiro dug a pair of long tweezers from out of the void that was his jacket, and carefully extracted a small red lump out of a hole in the floor.

"Perfectly intact." Holding the mass up before his eyes, Sojiro rotated it, and watched it sparkle like a raw ruby. "What luck. Fire demon tears are unheard of." Another, larger box was removed from his jacket, and the solidified magma disappeared into the darkness as well.

As the box was pushed down into the endless confines of his shadow, Sojiro tilted his head at the gleam of metal and glass underneath one of the far desks. A quick flit of his body, and he reached with his tweezers to turn over what was once an outdated phone.

"Ah. You thought this was how I got to him, didn't you? An admirable attempt to break my hold, but ultimately pointless. You know I only let go of my toys when I'm finished playing with them."

The phone was left behind, and Sojiro turned his attention at last to the computer and monitors lining the glass wall. A few skilled keystrokes later, and Kaoru's information was displayed upon the screens. The fake smile stayed upon his features as he gave the data a quick once over.

"How disappointing. I did not expect you to have such connections, Himura Kenshin, but they do not grasp my doll's importance. Not even a little."

Kaoru's imaging was brought back up, and Sojiro purposefully left it on the screens.

"You've also missed one of my runes. It's an important one, you know." Lifting dead, grey eyes to the camera in the corner, Sojiro stood and bowed slowly. "I believe I'll leave her in your care for now. After all, this place is perfect to test my plan." Melting back into the floor, the shadow that was now Sojiro slid underneath the exiting door and disappeared from the building.

X

Tomoe did not return to the lab the next day, or even the day after that. Although Kenshin had been assured that she was fine, her absence bothered him. It was easy to tell that it bothered Kaoru as well. The use of her powers was draining on her. Even more so since she had a gentle disposition. That she needed to rest wasn't exactly unusual, but Kenshin feared it was more than that. Despite his concern, he found himself unable to call to check personally on her well-being. The fact that his phone had obviously been destroyed by his meltdown provided him with a perfect excuse.

In Tomoe's absence, Megumi claimed the project wasn't worth her time and avoided them. At the moment, Kaoru really needed to heal more than anything anyway. However, Kenshin had been informed, quite irritably, that he would be paying for the damages he had caused to the building. Specifically, to the glass lobby, the elevator, three industrial air conditioning units, and the heat damage inside the lab. Exactly how he was going to afford to pay for anything at that point was a mystery even to him, but he had accepted that he was responsible for the damage. It was only right that he reimburse the lab somehow.

I really need to find a new job soon.

On the third day, Tomoe returned to the lab, and with another set of hands in tow. She seemed relaxed and well-rested, upon careful scrutiny, and Kenshin was relieved by her usual perfect appearance. She was even touting several large department store bags in both hands with ease, which he quickly offered to carry for her. It was the guest trailing along behind her with copious amounts of additional bags that put him back on edge in a completely different way.

"Himura." The tone in his voice was thick with disapproval, but the tall demon still bowed his head in greeting. He had been taught to be respectful, if nothing else.

"Enishi." Kenshin nodded his head back. "You've been… well I hope."

"Hmph. Better than you, I heard." Green eyes like hard emeralds offered him a side-look, before he marched past Kenshin to deposit the bags where his older sister indicated.

Tomoe was a coal demon, like her father, but her mother had been an elemental. An earth demon, to be exact. Not long after Tomoe's eleventh birthday, her mother had passed away in the war with the humans. From what Kenshin understood, Tomoe's father had mourned the loss of his wife for one hundred years. At the end of that time, her father decided to create a golem using his wife's ashes. He had not wanted someone to replace his wife, though, and instead created a son by combining a piece of his own body with hers.

Enishi was tall, like Tomoe, but with hair the color of pale stone. His body was hardened earth with a rich skin-tone to match, and his voice was gravely and deep as a mine. Unlike Tomoe, he was blunt and straightforward, which would come off as mean at times. He did not lie to spare someone's feelings, even for his sister. But he was honest and trustworthy. Kenshin did not hate him, per se, but Enishi had never really liked him. A part of him knew why, but that same part refused to dwell on it.

All that mattered to him right then, was whether he would upset or frighten Kaoru. That and the inordinate number of parcels now stacked and spilling off the couch.

"What's all this for?"

Tomoe had already made her way straight to Kaoru, and was rubbing off a smear of pencil lead from her chin. In turn, Kaoru was happily grinning back. "You obviously forgot all about the items I requested you bring back for Kaoru the other day, so I took the liberty of bringing them myself." The gentle tones of her voice were equal parts reproachful and calm.

Red lashes blinked. I should feel guilty, but… I doubt I could have afforded this.

"Thank you, Tomoe-san. I'll be sure to pay you back."

"No need. I heard you have quite enough on your plate right now. Besides, these are for Kaoru, not you."

"Right." Still feeling quite sheepish, Kenshin grimaced. Tomoe, on the other hand, had already moved past the conversation. Sitting down in the chair next to Kaoru she lifted a hand to direct the young woman's attention to the unintroduced man in the room.

"Kaoru, I would like you to meet my brother, Enishi. He's been a bit lonely lately, so I promised to bring him along today." Sapphire eyes were uncertain as she looked up at the towering man standing beside Kenshin, but she bravely ducked her head in greeting. Enishi looked bored by Tomoe's explanation, but bowed much lower than he had when acknowledging the fire demon.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Kaoru-san." The rumble of his voice unnerved her, and Kenshin instinctively stepped closer when she bit her bottom lip and ducked her head.

"Don't worry, Miss Kaoru." Smiling to dispel her worry, he pulled up a chair to sit on her other side. "He's not as grumpy as he sounds."

Tomoe's brows creased seriously. "My brother is quite sweet, Himura-san. I've never thought him to be grumpy at all. Well…" She looked thoughtful, and Kenshin threw a suppressed grin at Kaoru. "Perhaps he is a bit ill-tempered when he's hungry, but he always calms right down after a meal."

A noticeable breath in and out of Enishi's nose spoke of restraint. "I'm not a child anymore, sister." Kenshin tried to hide his snickers by quickly rubbing his nose, but had to clear his throat when Enishi scowled. Tomoe's dark lashes blinked, ignorant of Kenshin's teasing, and she sighed instead at her brother's show of petulance.

"I know, but you are my little brother, and you were so cute when you were small. Ah, I know. Why don't you make yourself small while you're around Kaoru? She might feel more comfortable if you're her size."

Enishi's brows slammed together.

"That's not a bad idea." Playing along, Kenshin nodded and then winked at the curious sapphire eyes that were darting between the participants of the conversation.

"Stay out of this, Himura."

As the siblings argued, Kaoru turned her attention back to him, and he continued to smile to let her know everything was fine. For a few long seconds, she studied him without blinking or responding to his expression of reassurance. It was something she had done often over the last two days. It felt to him like she was not quite sure his expression was real, or that he was actually fine after everything that had happened. Slowly, one of her hands lifted to touch his cheekbone, and the curve of his lips faltered. Flame blue eyes were burning into his soul in an attempt to find something that he was not even aware was there. Whatever it was recoiled, and a nauseous pain in the base of his skull forced him to shake his head and break eye-contact.

"What is it, Himura-san? Are you alright?" Distracted from the attempted coercion of her little brother, Tomoe witnessed only a part of what had occurred.

"I'm fine." Swallowing, he tried repositioning his smile, but ended up with a sad replica. "I've just… felt a bit off since the other day."

Dark eyes watched Kaoru's small hand lower away from Kenshin's face, but her eyes stayed locked on him and her head tilted unconsciously to regain eye-contact.

"Has she done that before?"

"A few times, I suppose." Playing it off, Kenshin was unsure why it was important.

"Kaoru." Requesting her attention, Tomoe had to physically tilt Kaoru's chin towards her. "Look at me, okay?" Blue eyes strained to keep Kenshin in sight, but eventually she nodded with a short sigh. Although deep black eyes remained locked with Kaoru's gaze, the young demon's pupils were unfocused now, and they looked back and forth between each of her dark irises curiously. Tomoe's mouth turned down slightly. "Forgive me, Kaoru-san." Her hand slipped from her chin, and she sat back. "I thought perhaps she was displaying a demon skill, but it may have been nothing."

"Or it's only something she sees when she looks at him." Enishi's rough voice spoke up suddenly, and he crossed his arms when everyone looked at him. His emerald eyes, however, were already trained on Kaoru. "What did you see?"

Kaoru's eyes dropped, but Tomoe took hold of one of her hands to convey gentle comfort. "It's alright, Kaoru-san. We just want to know if you can see something the rest of us cannot."

Fitfully, she chewed her bottom lip, and she glanced over at Kenshin. The smile was gone from his face as he sat in complete silence, and her eyes sadly lowered once more. Slowly, she nodded. This time, Tomoe glanced at him as well, but something painful and unsure had contorted his face.

"Can you tell us what you see?"

One shaky hand reached for a pencil amongst the scattered colors on the desk and grasped it in her palm. A scrap piece of paper was pulled towards her, and she slammed the lead of the pencil hard into the center. Holding the pencil more like a weapon than a drawing device, she scratched and dug the tip into the page over and over again in an uneven sphere of back-and-forth violence until it tore. Before she could stop herself, a single angry line grated across the desk all the way to the edge.

The rec room was deathly silent as they all stared at the brutal mess she had made, and Kenshin even forgot to breathe until the flattened pencil clattered from her hand onto the floor.

"A-and… what is that? A shadow?"

"Looks to me like she can see how full of hate you are, Himura."

"Enishi." Tomoe's scolding voice was soft.

"It's not as if he's wrong." Kenshin looked away in shame and missed the tremble of Kaoru's bottom lip. Tomoe did not.

"What would you like to do about this, Kaoru-san?" Tapping the drawing for reference, Tomoe encouraged the conversation forward. Without hesitation, Kaoru's hands crumpled up the paper as hard as she could, and then she grabbed one of Kenshin's wrists and shoved it into his palm. Startled, Kenshin held it up uncertainly, but Tomoe's mouth had curved into a small smile.

"I think she wants you to burn it." One red eyebrow lifted. "Right, Kaoru-san? You want it to disappear?"

She was nodding before Tomoe finished, but then strangely started to shake her head, almost desperately. Something Tomoe had said was not completely right. Without any urging, she grabbed at another piece of paper and a fresh pencil to struggle out what she wanted to relay.

"Shadows hate light."

A sharp breath hissed past Kenshin's teeth, and he sat up straighter in his chair. "Sojiro's a shadow demon." Sapphire eyes lifted to connect with his, and she nodded slowly. Looking over at Tomoe, Kenshin elaborated. "I met him the other day. He's the one who did this to Kaoru." His voice dropped an octave as he revealed what he had learned. Tomoe looked stricken, but it was Enishi who provided surprising insight.

"I'm not sure what's going on, but I've heard that shadow demons can enhance dark emotions in others. Like hate."

Kaoru's hand shot up and over the back of her chair to point at Enishi excitedly, but her eyes stared desperately at Kenshin for him to understand. It was an uneasy conclusion to arrive at when he realized what Kaoru meant by seeing a violent mass of darkness in him. A darkness that had been heightened by other darkness.

"He… cursed me?"

X

A/N: Posting this a little late, but I ended up spending a lot of time this week trying to get some things done around my house. I tried to stay up late a few nights, so I could work on this chapter and get it out on time for everyone, but I'm not much for staying up late, so it was tough. Lol Anyway, glad I could stick with my Friday posting.

Enishi was an immediate addition to the story once I fully committed to Tomoe. He's a tough character for me, but I'm going to do my best. As the only girl of four kids, I really wanted to write some sibling interactions. I love teasing the crap out of my little brother (who is actually much bigger than me, lol) and we've always been pretty close. I know Tomoe and Enishi's relationship has its troubles, but I wanted to go at this from a little different of an angle for them. I hope it will be something you might like. Things will start moving forward soon. Please let me know if you continue to enjoy. Ciao!