Chapter Ninety

The cold was intense inside the blizzard. Perhaps not as intense as the Arctic Lab had been, but coupled with the strong gales of wind and the constant exertion of the use of his internal and external flames, Kenshin had actually started to shiver. It was another side-effect possible from the overuse of his power, although the conditions were slightly different than overheating. While overheating his core was much more dangerous for the world around him, the supercooling of his core meant almost instant death for him. Almost, as it could be reversed, but the timeframe was limited; nearly minute. As with humans, shivering was his body trying to warm itself through physical motion, and was an early warning sign for the cooling of his core. When he stopped shivering but could no longer move his body, that was when he knew he was in danger. Like right then.

Dropping to his knees in the snow, Kenshin sucked air into his lungs greedily, and winced as each breath felt like knives of ice in his chest. This had happened almost every day while training with Hiko within the blizzard, but he was finally starting to develop some type of resistance to the cold. The first day it had taken merely a few hours before his body had started shutting down. Currently, it had taken almost the entire day. It was progress, and that was all he could ask for.

"Good work. I'm almost impressed."

The smirk in Hiko's raised voice could be felt even as violet eyes stared down into the non-melting snow, but Kenshin didn't respond. His body wasn't even warm enough to combat the frozen flakes packed under his palms. The training had been grueling, but it had helped with more than just strengthening the lining of his core. It had also heightened his senses. Fighting in a blizzard produced many handicaps that he had been forced to adapt to. The howling wind had blocked his hearing. The blowing snow had hampered his eyesight. The sting of cold air had numbed his body and his remaining senses. Hiko was deadly on a bright spring day. Trying to counter his attacks when he was half-blind, half-deaf, and freezing to death had been much like that day the dragon of the mountain had tossed him into the waterfall pool. Learn… or die.

Thankfully, he never pushed him too far past his limit, otherwise he would have already expired like a frozen hunk of volcanic rock. As one might expect, it took time to reheat his core from near death. Reigniting his core would have been an entirely different matter. As it was now, the flame of his inner core flickered like a weak candle, and he struggled hard to focus inward instead of outward on the piercing cold and biting air. His vision blackened briefly, and his elbows buckled where they held up his hunched over weight.

A moment later, white flames burst into life around him, and Kenshin came to with a shake at the unexpected assistance. Deep in his core, heat flared into being, flooding his body with warmth from the inside while the white flames outside of him did the same. They were not his flames, but instead belonged to the Kagu-tsuchi.

Hiko took a step back instinctively, and his gaze narrowed when a flash of golden light glowed at the center of Kenshin's back. Almost in the same way the golden light in Kaoru's chest glowed. Without looking away from Kenshin's spine, he purposefully projected disappointment into his tone.

"If you had this much strength left, why the hell are you kneeling in the snow?"

Relaxing into the comforting heat, Kenshin sat back on his shins and took a deep breath with steadied lungs. No longer was the air prickly like needles in his chest, and his body loosened out of frozen rigidity to droop with exhaustion.

"I didn't do that… but I'll accept the help if He wants to give it." Sounding more than just tired, Kenshin half-laughed.

Silently, Hiko's expression tightened as the implication of the white flame's origin was confirmed, and he grunted. If the Kagu-tsuchi had felt the need to step in, he begrudgingly acknowledged that they might have gone a little overboard.

"I suppose we have been pushing you a little hard." Sounding very much like he loathed making such an allowance, Hiko called off their training. At the same time, he slowly circled Kenshin's kneeling form until he was facing him, all the while studying the golden glow centered at his chest. "We'll call it a day. The storm is supposed to pass this evening anyway." It wasn't long afterwards that the white flames vanished, and so too did the golden glow. Flicking his eyes up just enough to meet his pupil's gaze, Hiko frowned, offered Kenshin a hand, and yanked him upright. "Take that girl for a walk when it does, before she tears my house apart just for fun." While walking away, he mumbled, "If she hasn't already."

Red lashes closed as Kenshin smiled harmlessly in the face of Hiko's annoyance.

"Miss Kaoru simply hates being confined." Most likely because she had spent so much time locked away ever since being revived. Of course, Kenshin could relate after his own experience in the Arctic Lab and then Megumi's lab. He hated that he had been all but forced to keep her restrained as well. Even if it was for her own safety. "She wouldn't damage your home, Hiko-sama." Thinking of the incident with the spider, Kenshin paused to add, "Not on purpose."

"Hmph."

The komainu met them on their way back to the house, and they each offered Kenshin a shoulder to lean on with cheery smiles.

"Are we calling it day?"

"You must be exhausted, Ken-nii."

Since they usually spoke at the same time, the words became jumbled, and Kenshin nodded without actually catching each sentence separately.

"How's your work coming?"

"One more day and we should have it all fixed up!"

Glancing at Hiko's scowl, Kenshin grinned sheepishly.

"That's good."

"Kaoru-san's gonna be so excited to see us." Sounding quite pleased with the thought herself, Ayame made the announcement while leaning forward to look at her sister on Kenshin's other side. Suzume agreed with a wide smile and a lion paw in the air

"Since we're going back early, we'll get to play today!"

Ayame sighed, and spoke matter-of-factly.

"I'm looking forward to her scrubbing my back again. She does a much better job than you, Suzume-chan."

This, unfortunately, caused Suzume to pout.

"That's not nice, Ayame."

But Ayame just shrugged her shoulders.

"You're too rough, baby sis."

"Oh yeah? Well… she's better than you, too. You're always in such a hurry, I barely feel clean."

Kenshin chuckled as they argued amiably the rest of the way to the mountain cottage. Yawning and fighting the weariness in his limbs, he was passingly grateful for the path Hiko was creating for them in the deep snow. Without it, he suspected he would have needed to be carried to the house just out of sheer exhaustion. A brief grin pulled at his lips as he imagined what awaited him once they arrived. Napping on Kaoru's lap was as close to cuddling as they could get, and he could admit he had taken full advantage of it. Even if he usually woke up with braids in his hair from where she had entertained herself. The grin faded, and Kenshin begrudgingly acknowledged Hiko had been right to point out Kaoru's obvious frustration with her isolation. Cuddling in her lap was good for him, but it did little for her. She needed something to stimulate her brain before she went stir crazy.

Luckily the storm should be passing soon, but I'll make sure to give her more attention. I brought her here to keep her safe, not ignore her.

They broke the tree line just as the wind finally died, and the clearing around the house was eerily quiet as their feet crunched in the snow. Ahead of him, Hiko stopped and Kenshin opened tired eyes even as he echoed him to see what was wrong.

"Something's not right."

The veranda doors stood wide open, and from the amount of snow collected across the frame, they had been open for quite a long time.

"What is she doing? She'll freeze!"

Indignant and worried, Kenshin pushed past Hiko to jog for the veranda, but the water dragon didn't follow him. Instead, he had turned to walk towards a different edge of the tree line. Like some sort of supernatural occurrence, the atmosphere became heavier the closer Kenshin came to the house, and it closed around his mind like a nightmare frozen in time. The interior was dark and cold, hinting that the fire had died out, but it was the webs that solidified the horror element. Spun like giant spools of thread and sparkling with flakes of snow, the spider webs spanned the entire width of the living room. Braced from the ceiling, the wall, and the floor, they had been weaved to spell out a message. A taunting message meant for Kenshin.

"Come get her."

"Someone took Kaoru-san!" Ayame's distressed voice sounded directly next to him as her own hands slammed down onto the veranda. Soon after, Suzume joined them, and her question echoed their unspoken thoughts.

"How did they get past the barrier?"

Their words resonated hollowly in his ears, and the world around him pulled back as his brain shut down. Someone had taken her. Someone had taken her from where they should not have been able to take her. She should have been safe there. Why? How? For how long? For how long would he be so worthless at taking care of her? At protecting her?

"Do you think it was someone from the Insect Clan?"

"How would they have gotten in?"

The komainu continued to hurriedly speculate as violet eyes flickered down and landed on something red within the silver webbing. Left, sad and forgotten on the floor, his hair charm lay like a discarded piece of clothing. It had failed to perform its duty. Kenshin had failed to protect her.

Had he ever truly succeeded?

You will fail again if you just stand here.

A spark of emotion broke through the numbness in his chest, and the world snapped back into place like a rubber band. Contorting with voluntary disgust, Kenshin's features turned downward into a deep scowl. Violet eyes flattened and turned dull in color, and his mind was consumed with enough negative emotion to scorch his self-pity into oblivion.

The situation was not complicated. Someone had taken her from him. He would take her back.

I'm sorry, Miss Kaoru, but I will not hold back. I'll burn every spider off the face of this planet, if I must.

Flickering flames had begun to lick the air around his temples, fingers, and the bottom half of his long hair. They appeared more decorative than threatening. Merely a display of the true nature inside of him and the change he was undergoing. Though overworked, his powers had been tempered by the storm and Hiko's relentless drills. No longer wild and untamed, his energy was finally taking shape like a carefully sculpted muscle or hammered steel. Instead of flames bursting from him in an awesome display of raw power, it was his presence that warned of his intention. Intense pressure, unyielding pressure, demanded that all attention be directed on him out of sheer survival instinct. The pressure was so great that it weighed down the air of the cottage clearing. It felt just like the distressed calm before a natural disaster, and it tasted of sulfur.

Before the pressure could bring the komainu to their knees, a hand much larger than his body wrapped completely around Kenshin and lifted him into the air. Like an enveloping wave, the dragon grasp cut off the outflow of power and left him gasping for air.

Hiko's true form was massive and venerable, the way Kenshin had always imagined a dragon to be. His body was the size of the mountain, and long enough to wrap fully around it. Each scale glistened like the sea under the sun, and his claws, still wrapped around Kenshin's body, were serrated and dangerous like ocean coral.

"Boy." Hiko's deep voice was demanding and his firm grip brooked no argument, but his purpose was clearly delineated barely a second later. "Save your strength. I just felt her pass through the barrier."

Angling sharp eyes up at the head of the dragon, Kenshin forgot to react to his own situation in order to focus on Kaoru. "Which way?" A low rumble from Hiko's chest shook the trees.

"You'll lose her if you go on foot. It'll be faster if I take you there myself."

It took barely seconds for the water dragon to climb over the top of the mountain and deposit him at the edge of the barrier on the other side. With his colossal head lowered next to him, Kenshin could scarcely see his sea-foam eye above rows of jagged teeth. Both of the horns sprouting from the ridge of his head were the size of tree trunks, but blunt instead of pointed. When he spoke, his voice did not boom as might be expected, but projected directly into his mind.

"I can't go any further, but you can still see her footprints from here."

Jerking a quick nod, Kenshin took off as soon as his feet touched the ground. From behind one of Hiko's horns, the stowaway komainu popped out to jump into the snow.

"We'll go in your place, Master!"

"Take care of him. He's exhausted."

"We will!"

"Thank you two." The deep rumble of his tone was tinged with regret as they both saluted and took off after the fledgling fire dragon. The barrier allowed them through easily, but Hiko's large dragon form settled around the base of the mountain, just within the barrier, to await their return.

Outside of the barrier, Kenshin paused at the intersection of multiple sets of tracks. Kaoru had exited the barrier alone, hence the one set of tracks coming from the mountain. However, once Kaoru had cleared the barrier, her path had been purposefully camouflaged to make it look like one set had turned into seven. They branched out in all directions, except to go back the way they had come. It complicated things, and bought whoever had taken Kaoru more time to get further away. No doubt to set whatever trap his enemy had planned.

"I'll follow these three on the left." Ayame slid to a stop next to him and jumped quickly into action. "Suzume, you take that one on the right. Kenshin…"

"I got it." Cutting her off, Kenshin's scowl creased. He didn't like this, but they had no choice but to play along. The longer she was gone, the more time they had to hurt her. Grinding his teeth hard enough to cause pain in his ears, he clenched his fists in an attempt to relieve some of his frustration without using his already overworked flames. "Call for me, if you find her first."

Suzume cracked her knuckles menacingly, and her normally happy features echoed the frown on her sister's face.

"Don't worry, Nii-san. You'll hear me punch 'em into next week."

X

Kaoru's feet were blisteringly cold. What warmth her body had retained from the cottage had initially melted the snow that had stuck to her socks, thereby creating a soggy chill that had sucked the heat from her soles. As a result, the liquid had hardened and had gathered even more clumps of snow to weigh down her socks. Though she shivered uncontrollably, her body moved on its own without pause. The strings of webbing that pulled at her limbs swung her forward incessantly as if she really were nothing more than a doll. Trapped inside of that doll, she was left with no outlet for her fear, her rage, or her helplessness. She could do nothing but endure, the same way she had been forced to endure when treatment such as this had been a daily occurrence.

The trek over the mountain had felt like an eternity, but walking now through the woods at the base was eerie. The difference between Hiko's mountain and the forest outside of his barrier was tangible. Every part of the water dragon's domain was serene and peaceful. There was a calm about it that instilled tranquility within her heart. It was part of the reason she had felt so safe there. Even Kenshin seemed comfortable there, though he half-heartedly complained about having to be there at all. There was nothing threatening about Hiko's mountain, as long as you had been welcomed.

These woods that Kaoru found herself in, however, were unwelcoming. Though the storm had finally passed, the sky was still obscured by cloud cover, and the sun was setting as well. What light daytime had afforded was quickly fading, and the darkness within the snow-covered trees came upon her even faster. It wasn't a comfortable darkness. Too often, she felt eyes on her, and the hairs on her arms and neck stood at attention.

The worst part of her situation was knowing what inevitably waited for her at the end of it. She had finally started to feel safe; to feel clean. The scars on her body reminded her of what she had withstood, but being with Kenshin had helped her to no longer focus on them or feel ashamed of the way they altered her once smooth skin. He was scarred as well, and they had begun to heal together. She didn't want to go backwards. Rather, she had no intention of going back.

Unfortunately, once Gein's power was instituted, she knew of no way to overpower it, and that alone terrified her. Which, in turn, made her feel weak and pathetic, as well as her convictions to sound empty. If she had no way to back up her convictions, then what good were they? Demanding that she would protect herself when she apparently could not, claiming that she would help Kenshin when she could not even help herself, all of it was nothing more than a bluff, nothing more than boastful arrogance, if she could not prove that she meant what she said. Or, at the least, if she did not fight until her last breath to live by those convictions.

Shivering with cold and stifled, innate terror, the shimmering tear of frustration that pressed from her eye trailed like ice down her wind burnt cheek. Just up ahead, the trees had opened up to reveal a large tent of spun web sickeningly fashioned within the banks of snow. The webbing was thicker than the small string web that compelled her movements, and it wrapped like rope over the branches and around the trunks of five closely assembled pine trees. It wasn't silverly in color, either, but had an ugly greyish tint that resembled ghostly tatters instead of careful architecture. From within that tent, a flush of orange glowed to indicate heat, but the thought of any fire but Kenshin's did not appeal to her in the least.

An invisible hand seemed to sweep aside the flap covering the opening of the tent, and Kaoru stepped inside before it swung closed behind her. The heat felt good against her freezing body, and she could feel the quickening of her blood as it attempted to catch and distribute the newfound warmth to her extremities. Her heart, however, had frozen the moment her eyes had landed on the large, spider demon standing next to the fire. The human skull mask that he wore to cover his features was gaunt and pale in the firelight, and when he spoke, his words were just as deceptively kind as she remembered them to be.

"Kaoru-chan. What a pleasure it is to see you again." Never once did his gaze look into her own, though. He looked at her body, at the doll he had created. He looked only at what he considered to be a soulless form, a piece of property, an artwork meant for display. She was nothing to him but a plaything: not human; not demon; just a toy for his amusement. A soft clicking sound spoke of disappointment, but it was not his mouth that had made the noise. Rather, it was the legs sprouting from his back that knocked together. "You poor thing. You're frozen half to death."

Like a recurrent nightmare, one long, hairy spider leg separated from the others and reached towards her as a brace for his weight. A second leg from the opposite side mimicked the first, and his body lifted into the air to swing towards her until all eight legs were spread wide over the campfire. The light underneath him cast horrific shadows onto the ceiling of the spider web tent, and Kaoru's wide eyes were drawn upwards. It was then that she noticed the balls of spiders tucked into the corners, and she thought she might be sick.

"Let's get you out of those clothes, hmm? Luckily, I brought some extra for you to wear." Gein's front two legs reached for her and touched her shoulders just before he released her from the webs holding her upright. Ever-so-slightly, her body jerked in revulsion, but it was the most she could manage. Not even her tongue would obey her.

Stop.

"Look at how well you've been taken care of!" The disgustingly pleased exclamation came as the tip of one leg tilted her chin to the side. "He's even been cleaning you properly. I'll have to thank that fire demon when I see him."

Stop it!

"Your hair is much shinier now," his hand reached to rub her hair before dropping to grasp her bicep, "and your muscles are so firm. I couldn't be prouder of how well I did when I designed you. If I didn't know any better, even I would think you were a real human."

Stop!

The sweater she had been wearing was removed, along with her socks, leaving her in just her long-sleeved thermal shirt and pants. With her feet now exposed, Gein lifted her high in order to examine them carefully. Soft muttering continued his one-sided conversation, and he stepped backwards with his eight legs until she was hanging closer to the fire.

"Good, good. I won't have to use any parts from the spare to fix you up." Finally, she was lowered back to his level, and, just briefly, his eyes met hers. "It's so tempting to just keep…"

Look at me.

Glowing irises of dark blue flame captured and devoured his gaze. For the first time, it felt like he finally saw her, but the recognition lasted for only a moment. Multi-faceted eyes, so very wide open, dimmed until they appeared blank and soulless, and all consciousness faded from Gein's vision.

Let me go.

Both spider legs holding her by the shoulders pulled away, and she dropped to her feet. The spell that had kept her inert and incapable of even speaking lifted just as abruptly and just fast enough for her to catch herself. Repulsed, and finally able to show it, Kaoru's features contorted darkly into a twitching expression caught between revulsion and anger, and she did not look away. She did not let him free of her hold. Her eyes pierced into his almost violently; threateningly. Suddenly it was easy to remember everything he had ever done to her. She could hear her own screams as he inflicted pain upon her body. She could feel the sting and smell the blood as it stained her clothes and skin. The feelings of helplessness he had cocooned her in, and the sensations of terror she had felt knowing she was not in full control of her own body, all of it raged through her mind like a stampede of rhinos. She hated this creature, this spider pretending to be an intelligent being. She hated him more than she had ever hated anyone.

He's just a spider.

Stamp him out.

Lead him to his demise.

Take his soul.

Make him a puppet.

The tempting thoughts were so strangely satisfying to imagine, and a slight smile took the place of her ire. It was a dreadful smile, a wicked smile, full of ill-intent and misplaced pleasure. If anyone deserved to be punished, it was this man. If anyone deserved to hurt, it was him.

No! I don't want that! I don't want to be just like him!

Recoiling from her own dark plans, Kaoru took a step back, and the sting of cold dirt under her bare feet shocked her system. It seemed the onibi power inside of her still clung to its miserable origin. It still maintained its unpleasant desires despite her own intentions, and her unstable emotions had allowed it a way to infiltrate and influence her decisions.

I just want to leave.

Another step back, and her lips trembled as she sucked in a deep breath. If she could just escape, then there would be no need to harm anyone. Kenshin undoubtedly would be looking for her. She knew he would. If she could meet him halfway, they could go back together without having to fight at all. His training was exhausting. This wasn't something he needed to deal with when he was already tired.

"Stay there." There was power in her words, but the shake in her voice undermined it and made it weaker than the command could have been. "D-don't…

"Found you."

The taunting words were spoken directly into her ear, and Kaoru instinctively broke eye contact with Gein to jerk her head over her shoulder. Psychotic laughter echoed inside of the web tent, and before Kaoru could fully turn to face the new threat, she found herself lifted off of her feet once again and hugged tight to Shishio's chest. Tight, like a child's teddy bear or baby doll.

"I finally have you! Now sing for me again! Sing!"

Shishio swung her almost violently from side to side in demand, and Kaoru fought to regain her bearings even as she clutched desperately at the arms pinching her ribs. Through the after-image of her wavering vision, she could see Gein breaking free of her hold, and her stomach sank then rolled nauseously. What was Shishio even doing there? Did that mean Sōjirō was there, too? She needed to escape, and she needed to do it fast.

"Cover her eyes."

Dammit! No!

A hasty blindfold was fastened tight over her eyes, and she found herself in the midst of a half-tug-of-war between Gein and Shishio as one tried to properly bind her and the other wrestled to keep her in his possession.

"She's mine! That was the deal!"

"Yes, Master Shishio. She's yours, but she's a dangerous little doll. Covering her eyes won't impede her ability to sing, hmm?"

Wait. I made Kenshin stop without looking him in the eye. I just touched him and it worked. Maybe I can do it again.

"Stop! Let go of me! Stop!" She tried to project as much determination and force into her words as she could, but they sounded more panicked than demanding. A moment later, crushing pain cinched her ribcage, and Shishio shook her hard enough that she bit her tongue.

"No! Sing! SING!"

All of the muscles surrounding her lungs locked in place, and her mouth opened in a silent act of agony. With him squeezing her ribcage, she could no more sing than breathe.

"Easy now, Master Shishio. We wouldn't want to damage her. Her body is perfectly frail, unlike yours. You must take care with her lest she never sing again."

Reluctantly, the pressure eased, and she gasped in air like a drowning person.

"I want her to sing now!"

"Of course. I want her to sing for you, too. But there's someone very dangerous coming after her. He's kept her from you all this time, and he wants to take her back again. If we don't take care of him now, he'll keep interrupting and she won't be able to sing."

"NO!"

"That's right, Master Shishio." A tinge of triumph altered Gein's tone just before it dropped back into placating. "If you help me take care of him, you'll be free to keep Kaoru for as long as you want."

"She'll sing for me then?

"Yes." Gein's voice softened, but was no less satisfied with the outcome. "She'll sing for you then."

"I-I'll sing for you now." Her input resulted in the back of a hand smacking her hard across the face. Her ears rang from the blow, but her body jerked as Shishio shook her again.

"Sing! Sing now!"

For several seconds, Shishio's screams filled the tent, and his hands ended up around her neck to counterproductively choke her in demand. Clawing at his hands until globs of congealed liquid splattered the ground, she was saved by the most unexpected interjection from the spider demon.

"Master Shishio." Unhurriedly, Gein spoke, but braced one leg sickeningly at her back for support. "Do you remember that fire dragon you killed? The one that ultimately took your life?"

The choking stopped with his hands still wrapped around her throat. "Yes." Shishio's voice changed in that moment. He sounded almost… excited, and she could feel his attention shift away from her.

"The one coming to take Kaoru away is his son."

W-what?!

Abruptly she was released, even as her heart convulsed in her chest.

No. No! I have to get out of here now! Kenshin…

What did that mean for how strong Shishio was? And Kenshin. When he found out… how would he react?

The leg at her back hooked her at the waist, and something long and needle-like buried itself deep in her bruised neck. As her consciousness faded, Gein's voice whispered in her ear.

"Save your strength, little doll. I want to hear how you scream when I torture that fire demon you tamed. Don't worry…" Her body slumped even as she fought the pull of darkness. "I'm not going to kill him. He'll be my next doll to play with."

X

Love Song #7

Enishi: Say You Won't Let Go – James Arthur