Chapter Forty-Eight

Master Shishio was beginning to draw some attention. Instead of allowing him nightly outings, the incident with Ōkubo Toshimichi had inspired Sōjirō to move up his schedule. With Shishio performing so wonderfully, he had already added three other high-ranking officials to his kill list. It was amusing to watch their government flounder about in an attempt to catch the perpetrator, and, at the same time, hide the deaths from the public. Civilization really was such a fragile thing.

Unfortunately, Master Shishio was still throwing tantrums in Kaoru's absence. Kaoru's power had fully soaked into the core of Shishio's being, and he craved it. Like an addict experiencing withdrawals, Master Shishio's mind and body screamed in anguish without her voice to calm him. It was unpredictable, and therefore unwelcome. They were able to placate him with recordings, but soon even that wouldn't be enough.

It was too bad Sōjirō had not understood what kind of influence her voice had during the three years she had been in his possession. Luckily, it was apparent she had not understood how to manage or control that power, either, as Shishio was the only one to fall under her spell. It was unclear, however, whether that had more to do with the close proximity they had shared and Shishio being constantly subjected to her singing, than anything else. Either way, it was a subtle power, and quite useless to his plans.

For a long time, Sōjirō had never imagined himself being in control of his own life. Master Shishio had taken him in, and in Master Shishio he had left his fate. Making plans, deciding the best course of action, was not how Sōjirō preferred to live. Master Shishio had wanted power, and so Sōjirō had dedicated himself to serving and assisting Master Shishio in obtaining that power. When left to his own devices, Sōjirō had only ever done what he thought to be fun.

It had never occurred to him that his definition of fun was different from others' definition. Of course, it had never occurred to him that he did not experience emotion or empathy like others did, either. He didn't necessarily enjoy what he found to be fun, rather it amused him and kept him from boredom. There was no end goal to his amusements, only fleeting distraction.

Even his interest in necromancy had been encouraged by Master Shishio. Learning it, finding someone knowledgeable, had all been at the Master's direction. Necromancy, however, did not remain a mere amusement, but rather became an obsession. Sōjirō liked collecting pieces of dead things. Sometimes just to play with their revived souls. True flesh never lasted long with the dead living inside it, though, and his playthings always withered quickly in the beginning. It had never mattered then, because he had still had no interest in what others would call a goal.

After Master Shishio's death during his fight with the fire dragon known as Himura Takibi, Sōjirō had continued to do nothing but amuse himself. Whatever purpose he had had before that had disappeared with his Master. Aimless and without direction, Sōjirō had felt neither a part of the world nor disaffected from it. Almost like a doll himself. One without a master to pull his strings.

Until Gein had offered to provide him with a body for Master Shishio. One that would not wither and fade so quickly. Master Shishio was the only person Sōjirō felt any kind of attachment for. Returning him to the world, allowing him to once more pull his strings, had consumed Sōjirō's attention.

It was unfortunate that Master Shishio's mind had returned from the other side damaged, because Sōjirō did not know the mind of the Master. He did not know what he would do, or what plans he would make. Revenge wasn't something Sōjirō felt or understood, but it seemed reasonable to allow Master Shishio to have it, despite his damaged faculties. So it was for revenge that Sōjirō had first set out to achieve for his master.

But then everything became so fun.

Tormenting others, whether emotionally, physically, or mentally, gave him such pleasure. And he was good at it. Finding weaknesses. Exploiting them. It was effortless. It was so easy. Others were much too attached to their families, friends, and possessions. They were too easily horrified by seeing others in pain, others that they cared for.

Sōjirō wasn't sure when it had happened, but at a certain point, inflicting pain was no longer enough to satisfy. Killing was no longer enough. It was death that he wanted. After all, death was where it had all started. Power over it. Power to bend it to his will. Not just as a necromancer, either. For the very first time in his life, Sōjirō had a goal that was all his own, and it seemed like such fun.

"I have almost everything that I need now."

Walking through the halls of his worn down, abandoned building, Sōjirō's vacant smile mimicked that of a doll's.

Kaoru was the key. Not only were her powers perfect, but her death had been one in a million. It was merely fortuitous that she now clung to the last remaining fire demon. The last fire demon in a long, prestigious line of protectors to the Kagu-tsuchi. A weapon born from the birthing star. A weapon that was said to contain the power of both Life and Death. A weapon that could only be wielded by a fire demon of that same said line.

Luckily for Sōjirō, he had a fire dragon doll from that prestigious line. A masterpiece consisting of Gein's ingenuity, Himura Kenshin's power-soaked tear at its core, and Himura Takibi's soul. Suppressing that soul had been difficult, but necessary to ensure Sōjirō's complete control. Having another disobedient doll like Kaoru would be undesirable. All he needed was the bloodline and the vessel to wield the sword.

Between Kaoru's onibi flames that sucked out the souls of the living, the fire dragon's power to summon souls directly from the dead, and the Kagu-tsuchi's power of Death, it would be Sōjirō that was the master. No longer a puppet.

Such fun.

Master Shishio was not a part of his plan, though. Simply because Master Shishio was not a pawn. Before it was all over, Master Shishio would get his revenge. After all, that revenge was the perfect cover.

"How are the newest subjects coming along?" Pushing aside the door to the lowest level of the building, Sōjirō's shadow form melded freely with the darkness.

Across the room, Gein turned from his metal table, and the skull mask covering his features glinted in the harsh light beating down on the top of his head. The flash of his iris from within the deep sockets was pleased with the question.

"I'm nearly finished, Master Sōjirō. Did you have any last-minute requests?" There was subservience in Gein's tone, that was almost second nature.

"No. I'm leaving you with complete creative license. These newest dolls will be for you to use." Sōjirō's voice echoed with a lightheartedness that was obviously fake.

"You are too kind." Gein returned his attention to the body sprawled across the table. Two long arms and legs spilled off of it onto the floor, but they were not the same kind of precise and graceful jorōgumo legs that Gein had. In Gein's eyes, the doll's limbs were ugly and thick in comparison. Upstairs, crashing could be heard as Shishio threw something against the wall.

"Master Shishio is getting restless again." Out of the corner of his eye, Gein watched Sōjirō stroll closer to his favorite masterpiece. It had sustained unfortunate damage in Sōjirō's most recent test run. "I'm worried we may not be able to placate him with recordings much longer."

"It is getting difficult." Sōjirō agreed, but his lips remained bowed in a vacant smile. Slightly, his head tilted upward to look into the unblinking, vermillion eyes of his dragon doll. "I will send him on more missions to keep him calm. Killing seems to help."

"Can you not activate the seals and force Kaoru to come back?"

"I could." Circling the dragon doll, Sōjirō's voice was offhand. "But that would lead a very angry fire demon to our doorstep. It wouldn't be wise to give away our location. Not until all of our pawns are ready."

"…Would it not be better to get rid of him now? I remember you mentioned he wasn't as powerful or disciplined as you imagined he would be. I could take care of it for you."

"Could you?" Sōjirō's eyes closed, and his smile mimicked amusement. Behind him, sluggish movement was masked by the shadows in the room.

"With ease." Arrogance entered Gein's voice, and suppressed excitement rose in his chest. "As the only remaining fire demon, only his true flame poses a threat to Kaoru's onibi power. It only makes sense to get rid of that possibility before it becomes a problem."

And if I steal the Kagu-tsuchi in the process, no one will be the wiser.

For Gein, the Kagu-tsuchi represented new life for his work and his dolls. For all his ill intentions, he was still a creator. While he enjoyed destruction and pain, like many others, he imagined a world created of his own design.

It was too bad Gein foolishly assumed that Sōjirō did not know Himura Kenshin was in possession of the Kagu-tsuchi.

"No. I think it best to leave him for now."

Gein grimaced in disappointment, but bit back his impatience to accept Sōjirō's decision. For now.

"May I ask why?"

"Did I not tell you?" Sōjirō sighed, and glanced back up at the dragon doll beside him. Gein did not know about the way his plans had grown from simple revenge for Master Shishio to something greater. It was not something Sōjirō had told anyone. Nor did he have plans to do so.

Hesitation furrowed the fake smile on his features, and Sōjirō's eyes blinked up at the downturned face of his fire dragon doll. Vermillion eyes were still empty and devoid of consciousness, but his chin was angled directly at Sōjirō who was standing to its left. Sōjirō tilted his head curiously, and kept his eyes trained upon the dragon doll while he explained the surface layer of his plans to Gein.

"The fire demon is also part of my plan for Master Shishio's revenge upon this country's government. The son of the fire dragon he was ordered to kill. Though they ultimately both lost their lives in that fight, Himura Kenshin is still the son of the man that ended Master Shishio's life. It seems only fair that he get to take his revenge upon that dragon's bloodline."

Nothing touched the dragon doll's features. No flash of anger or aggression, and his eyes remained vacant.

"It also amuses me to imagine his devastation when he finds out that it was actually Master Shishio that killed his father. Or when he realizes that the very man that pointed him towards the human emperor's son was the one that ordered Master Shishio to do it. And now, he seems quite protective of our Kaoru-chan. No doubt, he has fallen under her spell as well, and will make my plans for her all the more interesting. I couldn't have planned his torture better. It was honestly somewhat fortunate that Kaoru ran into him during her outing. I had planned to find him later, when all of our pawns were in place, but with Kaoru becoming so… uncooperative, it was nearly a relief to be rid of her."

"She would have eventually understood that starving herself was pointless. I could have rejuvenated her body once she learned."

"Of course you could, Gein, but the girl is stubborn and required too much attention. Letting someone else take care of her for a while freed us up to work on other necessary preparations. They've done nothing but waste time over this last year studying her. Now that the seal holding back her power has been released, they will have even more to deal with. It really is too bad we lost our informant. I will have to wait to see if she was able to kill any of them when they set off our trap."

"And if they kill her? It could set us back."

"I have faith in your backups, Gein. We can just bring her back again in a new body." Sōjirō's dark grey eyes shifted away from the vermillion eyes of his doll to look straight over at Gein still working away on their newest pawn. "I think this one's neck may be broken."

Gein glanced up, and then frowned when he noticed the position of the fire dragon's head.

"Hmm. I thought I had fixed that. I will look at him again shortly."

X

Kaoru woke long before Kenshin did the next morning. As he continued to sleep peacefully, her eyes studied the smooth outline of his features in the dim light of the room. Blessed warmth surrounded her, and not one bit of chill raced across her skin. Kaoru disliked the cold, and it amused her slightly to realize she was attracted to a fire demon.

The weight of his body had pulled the blanket a little too tightly against her shoulder, but she ignored the uncomfortable pressure to instead watch her companion sleep. Though she had readily shared her pillow with him, he was currently using his arm as a rest for the side of his head. His other arm wrapped over the unconscious salamander, and looked amusingly like he was cuddling the creature as one would a stuffed animal. His free hand, however, rested just on the curve of where her elbow was under the blanket.

Within her tangled memories, she realized that, since their first meeting, Kenshin had always quite tenderly touched her. Innocently, comfortingly, and warmly his touch had offered reassurance and protection. Under all of it, though, his touch had also offered familiarity and even intimacy. Even now, his touch was unconscious and yet affectionate. For someone who had, albeit playfully, complained about the ease with which she openly embraced him without warning, he was surprisingly comfortable enough with her to touch her without embarrassment or reluctance.

Kaoru loved it.

The only nagging regret that pouted her lips was the realization that she had pretty well failed to do what she had always wanted.

Slow and gentle to keep from disturbing him, Kaoru freed her right arm from the blanket and slid her bandaged fingers across the pillow. His skin was truly warm, if not slightly hot under her touch, and was even a bit rough and raspy like fine sandpaper. Instead of feeling like smooth human skin, there was a sense of scales that she found at once odd and appealing. For surely, his skin did not look like it was scaled, but perhaps it was merely the gauze blocking her fingertips from his face.

A smile twitched onto her mouth as she explored the angle of his jawline, and a passing thought wondered how someone who had hated humans so much could create such a handsome façade. He didn't look much like his father, except for their shared red hair. Which meant this form was created through the imagination of its wearer. What had he done as a child to create this form, she wondered? What references had he taken from? Would it have been different if they had been friends?

A soft sigh issued through her parted lips, and her blue eyes wandered from the tip of his horns to the hollow at the base of his throat.

I really did want to protect you, ya know. From all the bad things.

I'm sorry that I couldn't.

Tremulously, she chewed her lip. Not that anything could be done to change what had happened, and dwelling on it would do neither of them any good.

It's so weird that you're actually older than me now.

The pout returned to her mouth, and her mood shied back towards the warmth of the moment.

And you've been the one looking out for me. Why does my default have to be so childish?

"Your touch is warmer today, Miss Kaoru."

The whispered observation was not startling, though her heart did skip. The hand still resting between them had already lifted, and his fingers curled around her wrist and the bottom portion of her thumb. Red lashes had barely parted in lazy contentment.

"Do you feel better this morning?"

Gently, her hand was drug back down over his jaw so that he could press the knuckles just below her fingernails against his lips for a tender kiss. Hot puffs of air seeped through the bandages covering her hand and almost seemed to soak her skin in heat. Mesmerized and blushing furiously, Kaoru nodded.

As his lashes blinked open wider, his expression brightened with a smile. Beneath his head, he adjusted his elbow for what she assumed was a more comfortable position.

"You're not too hot with both of us up here?"

Dark eyebrows lifted, and she shook her head quickly to disagree.

"Hmm…" A few more blinks, and his hand left hers at his chin to in turn reach for her face. "Are you hungry? You didn't eat anything all day yesterday." A frown creased his eyes and entered his voice, but it was not displeasure at but for her.

Reflexively, she bit and chewed her bottom lip, and nodded shyly.

It's kinda upsetting, because I wanted to take care of him, but… I really do like how he takes care of me.

"I'll find you some breakfast." The smile returned to soften his features, but he didn't move to make good on his claim. Instead, he brought up more examples of how he was planning to care for her. "There's a bottle of water next to the bed, with a change of clothes. This room isn't very private, but I'll hold the blanket up for you to block the camera if you want to change."

Suddenly, his expression turned apologetic.

"I promise I won't look."

Light giggles finally escaped her throat and nose, and she wrapped his wrist in both hands to hold his fingers captivate at her mouth.

"You don't want to look?" The innocently teasing question produced the desired effect, and she hid her grin behind his knuckles as shocked surprise tore across his face. More giggles, and she returned his sweet gesture from earlier with a coy kiss on his skin. "Sorry, I was joking."

It took a moment, but whatever thought entered his head burned his skin red, but not just his cheekbones or ears as might be normal. Instead, every inch of skin from his neck to his arms turned a dark rosy color, and she frowned as it appeared he had stopped breathing.

"Are you okay?"

It wasn't embarrassment on his face, though. Before Kaoru could correctly interpret what it was that she was witnessing, the salamander's weight shifted, and both of its back legs kicked Kenshin square in the gut. The force rolled Kenshin sharply backwards, where he fell flat on his ass off the side of the bed.

"Kenshin?"

Peeking over the edge, Kaoru curled an arm automatically around the salamander who had cuddled into her side. On the floor, Kenshin's violet eyes stared straight up at the ceiling, but his skin had returned to normal.

"I'm fine." The claim was wheezy and a bit forced, and his smile was shaky and crooked. Tilting her chin to rest it sideways on the mattress, Kaoru sighed.

"You two are so silly."

X

A/N: Sorry I took a week off, but I thought it might be a good time to do so. That week after Christmas and before New Years is mostly a limbo week anyway. It was also hard to do anything with my man off of work. He's an extrovert and would probably die without attention, lol. His idea of leaving me alone to write is walking by every five minutes to stare at me and pout. So distracting, lol. (He's almost worse than my cat.) This chapter was very much split between evil plotting and fluffy nonsense. I really needed the fluffy nonsense for these two. I do want to stick with my focus on love in this story, so despite how twisted I could make Kaoru act because of everything that has been done or happened to her, that's not the route I want to go. Even with all of her memories, or actually because she now has all of her memories, she is not one to overthink or dwell on things if it isn't something that she can fix. That doesn't mean she won't struggle or second guess herself. Instead, she's making a very conscious choice to accept and protect what she currently has. Sometimes, just loving what you have can put a lot of things into perspective. Next chapter, maybe we'll finally get to the training I've been talking about, and a quick peek in on Yahiko? Love all the reviews! Let's make this year as good as we can!