Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or any of its characters. I am just a fan girl with a wild imagination.
************Okina POV*****************
*The next morning*
Okina rose early the next day. As he folded up his futon, he thought about the next plan of action to take.
Who was this man? Why didn't he want medical attention?
Being a priest, he should be more inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to someone in need. However, Okina was not just any priest.
He was the former leader of the Oniwabanshuu, and he was not so easily fooled.
Priesthood and shrine management was simply another way to generate a steady income while appearing retired.
Okina had left the Aoi-ya to be led by Aoshi and the four other remaining members of the Oniwabanshuu.
He was still in the same city, therefore if he ever missed them, it was a 15-20-minute drive.
Okina walked down the hall to the guest room and slide open the shoji screen just enough to peek his head in at the sleeping man.
"He should still be down."
Okina jumped slightly. He hadn't expected her to be up yet.
"Ah! Megumi, he seems to be sleeping tranquilly, how are his wounds?"
"The only reason he is down now is because I put a sedative in his IV. he caused some problems last night."
Okina turned towards Megumi with concern. She looked tired, her skin was pale, and she had dark circles under her eyes.
"What happened?"
He tried to keep his voice down so as not to wake their 'guest.'
"He woke up in the middle of the night when Kaoru went to check on him. He ripped out his IV and reopened his wounds."
"Hmm. From what I remember, his injuries yesterday seemed fatal. How is it he was able to get up so quickly."
"Not sure. He lost a lot of blood; any normal person would have died. He seems to have a strong will to survive."
"I thought for sure we were going to have to call the police today and report a dead body."
Okina paused for a moment and looked over at the redhead. The man, though asleep, had a strong aura.
It had been a while since Okina had seen an aura such at this, it radiated off of the man, illuminating him in a bright blood-orange color.
He better prepare to meet this man the moment he woke up.
"Megumi, how long does that sedative last?"
"Typically, 24-48 hours. It could hold down a horse, why?"
"Could you do me a favor and give him just a little more? I want to question him, without him getting up and running away. In case we do need to involve the authorities."
Megumi looked at Okina in wonder.
Give him more?
She wasn't trying to stop his heart. This was just to tie him over.
How would it look if they called the polices and they drugged the poor guy?
"Okina, with all due respect, I think what I gave him is more than enough."
"Perhaps for the average person. But I have my suspicions about this one. Just humor me please."
"You can't be serious. I will give him a little bit more. But that is it. I don't want to be held responsible if this goes south."
Megumi walked away leaving Okina to his thoughts. Okina slid open the door more, as quietly as he could.
He made his way over to the man's things. There was no I.D., no wallet, no phone. Only a sheath, a broken sword, bloody clothes, and wooden sandals. He carefully sifted through them one by one.
As Okina was looking over the items he noticed something shining on the sheath. He stepped over into the light to get a closer look.
It was an ancient seal written in old style calligraphy. Okina froze. He knew this phrase.
Wanting to see is weakness.
Why would a regular human have this in their possession?
Okina decided to look at the broken sword. This appeared to be a broken katana, but the shape of the weapon was strange, the blade was in the back instead of the front.
It was a reverse blade sword. Okina was no stranger to Japanese swords, so he looked for the artist's signature on the tang of the sword.
The tang is covered by the handle of the sword, which is normally secured to the tang via the use of one or two wooden pegs. Okina removed the pegs off the handle to reveal the signature.
Arai Shakkū…
It's a sakabato shinuchi….
How can this be?! If this is an Arai Shakku sword, it would have had to have been made in 1868….
Okina felt his hands begin to shake. Arai Shakku was an archaic demon who specialized in crafting demon swords.
He hadn't gone by his original name for over 100 years.
Okina had to stop and steady himself before carefully placing the sword back in its sheath. He glanced over at the sleeping man who seemed to lie still like a corpse.
Still asleep..
There were too many peculiarities with this man to rule this out. His aura, his strange strength and stamina, his oddly colored eyes, and hair. The only explanation is that they were not dealing with a human at all.
Wanting to see is weakness..
It was a metaphor to outsiders, but to those that knew of the existence of demons; it was magic spell. Each demon has a unique phrase of their own.
There is only one demon he knew of that would carry an ancient weapon with that phrase around proudly on his sheath. A shapeshifter.
Okina felt his pulse pounding and adrenaline, flow through him. There were all in trouble if this was the man in their keep.
While he hadn't encountered a demon for quite some time, he knew that they still existed in modern day Japan.
They were behind some of the most powerful economic, and government corporations. They could hide their powers, dull their appearances, and walk among men so well, that people no longer believed they existed. They had become fairytales to anyone who didn't know better.
Demon slayers, hunters, and clans still existed to try to control them.
Regrettably, over time their numbers had dwindled. Whereas demons could live for hundreds of years. Some demons could even walk between dimensions, realms of the living and the dead. If they had the power.
While on holy ground, he could seal the demon's power for a short time. As soon as the demon regained his strength, he could wreak havoc. He must try to reason with the demon and get him to leave so that they would be spared.
The fact that no other demons had followed him here could mean that they couldn't detect his aura due to his injury.
Or the powerful holy aura of the sacred ground they were on masked it from them.
Once he was back to normal his aura would be a beacon in the area to other powerful demons who might be looking for him.
Okina realized he must hurry. He needed to get this demon out, and prevent more from coming to their beloved shrine.
He tried to put everything back as he found it and quickly made his way out of the room.
He needed to prepare the seals at once.
There was no telling how long a sedative would really last on a demon of this caliber.
***********Kaoru POV***********
When Kaoru woke up, everyone was gone. The mid-morning sun was shining through her window and the house was quiet.
Not a sound could be heard. As she sat up and started to put away her futon, she realized that today was a sacred holiday.
That's right! Everyone has the day off so they must be out.
Still, they had a wounded man in the other room that they would have to deal with today.
Kaoru wondered apprehensively how their next interaction would go. She would come with a peace offering.
Yes! Then she could send him on his way or call a family member to come get him.
Maybe someone he knew could take him to the hospital.
Feeling more confident, Kaoru got dressed and made her way to the kitchen to prepare some food for the man.
Hopefully 'Kenshin' liked tea, rice balls and miso soup.
She wasn't much of a cook, but Kaoru could make the essentials when necessary.
************** Kenshin POV**********
Violet eyes slowly opened and looked at the white ceiling above him. Kenshin's body felt like lead.
He couldn't remember a time when he felt this weak.
From his spot on the futon, he looked around the room and surveyed his surroundings.
He was in a shrine. The Heian shrine. And the owners were taking care of him. They must have decided to take him in when they found him.
There was a girl….Kamiya Kaoru..
She had come to check on him last night. Kenshin grimaced. He had been out of control.
The battousai had taken over and scared her.
Great. But why he was still here?
She hadn't called the police. From what he remembered she had a strong right hand.
Kenshin looked to his right arm, there were two IV's attached that slowly trickled liquids down into his arm.
Without trying to strain too hard, he opened his borrowed robe to see a mass of bandages covering his wounds. A female doctor had been here.
Megumi.. was her name? She had stopped the bleeding.
Kenshin sighed and laid back down. It took so much effort just to try and remember any of this.
It was almost as if the walls of the shrine were pressing down on him too. Adding to his depleted state.
Kenshin's mind wondered back to the past 48 hours.
He had a deadly confrontation with Shishio and was left to bleed out.
Somehow, he had made it all the way here. He should have never gone alone on that mission. It had to have been a set up.
His sword had been shattered…Fuck.
He was going to have to go through so much trouble to get a new one. The original sword smith had given him that sword before the Meji Era.
There was no telling where that demon could be now. Eventually he would have to return to Hiko and recant what had happened.
At the current time he had zero motivation to do that.
Kenshin's train of thought was broken by the sweet smell of lavender and jasmine coming closer.
He heard the shoji screen slide open behind him and footsteps drawing nearer.
Alas, he was too tired to sit up and turn around. Red and white came into view as Kaoru came to his side dressed in her shrine maiden outfit.
He watched her set down a small tray of food and tea next to him.
"I'm glad you're awake. I brought you some food."
Kaoru sat down next to him and stared at his face staring back at her. They both seemed to take each other in for a moment.
His eyes! They are purple again. I saw the gold right? I'm not crazy?
His raspy strained voice brought her back to reality.
"Thank you, Miss Kaoru."
Miss Kaoru? He seems so different from last night.
There was a new awkward silence between them. Kaoru had so many questions to ask him. She decided to start with the basics.
"What happened to you? When we found you yesterday, you were bleeding so much, I thought you were going to die."
Her answer was met with silence from him. He started to move as if to prop himself up. Kaoru moved to help him. She grabbed a few pillows and reached behind him to prop him up.
"Here, let me place some pillows under your shoulders."
Kenshin closed his eyes at the close contact between the two of him.
Kaoru saw him visibly tense up and set his lips into a fine line. She started to move away.
"I'm sorry am I hurting you?"
Hurting? Not at all. Tempting..yes.
"No."
Kaoru decided to try again with the questions.
Once she had his attention again, she went for it. From her place beside him, she sat with her legs folded under her.
"Um, do you have any family or friends who are looking for you? Someone that can take you to a hospital to get professional care?"
Kenshin groaned, realizing that he would have to give her something if he wanted to continue to hide here.
"I was in a fight; I am lucky to be alive right now that I am. As for family, I am an orphan. I would prefer not to go to a hospital."
Kaoru just stared dully back at him.
Of course, he was in a fucking fight. Geez this guy wasn't much for details, was he?
He looked at her disbelieving face quizzically, waiting for her next question.
When there was more silence between them, he picked up a rice ball and started to chew. Kaoru tried a different approach.
"Look Kenshin, you gotta work with me here. You must know how bad this looks, a stranger shows up bleeding out at our shrine and doesn't want to get medical help? That's suspicious and—"
"Miss Kaoru, did you make these yourself? They are savory!"
Kaoru visibly bristled.
He was BRUSHING her off!
She felt herself begin to get angry again at this frustrating man. She put her hands on her hips and prepared to yell at him.
Kenshin sensed the change in her emotions and a small smile lifted the corner of his lips.
This woman was easy to rattle. She was quite pretty when she was angry.
"You will tell me something! How do I know you won't try to harm anyone here? You are acting all polite now, but last night! You were a psycho with golden eyes! Tell me why I shouldn't call the police right now!"
Towards the end of her rant Kaoru started rise to one knee. She was going to get up and do just that.
This guy was turning out to be more trouble than he was worth.
As she crouched to get up, a hand on her wrist stopped her.
Kaoru gasped and and looked at Kenshin; she hadn't even seen him move. He was fast.
His gaze was intense, as if he was boring right into her soul. His hand was calloused but soft on her forearm. Not tight or as bruising as the grip from last night.
He leaned in closer to her and spoke softly.
"Miss Kaoru hold on a moment. I am sorry about last night that I am. I didn't remember where I was when I woke up. I would never harm you."
Kenshin seemed so sincere that Kaoru felt herself soften and relax her shoulders at his words. She settled herself back down by his side.
She felt a blush creep up her neck to her cheeks.
"Okay, so what do we do? Everyone here fears you. Gramps won't just take simple responses like this; he will want real answers."
She was going to help this man. She barely knew him.
Geez I'm so easy.
"I am afraid that If I go to a hospital that the man who did this to me will return to finish the job. I don't want to be found right now."
There were people after this guy? What the heck was he wrapped up in?
Kaoru couldn't wrap her head around this situation. They both were from very different worlds.
"How do we know that man won't find you here?"
"I know this man very well; he would never think to look here. I can't tell you everything, and that will keep you from being put in any danger."
Kenshin knew that wasn't the whole truth, but it wasn't 100% a lie either.
He would be harder to locate for now to any demons that were searching for him.
If he could only rest a little bit longer, then he would have a better chance of making it back to his master's headquarters alive.
A dark voice spoke in his mind reminding him of the real reason he was there.
Stop lying to yourself. You want to play with this little blue bird.
No. She is too young, and innocent to the world.
Naïve you mean. She could be ours. We could make her understand.
Stop it! I wouldn't be able to protect her. She would become a target.
You couldn't. You are weak and that is why we are here. But I can. I want her.
No. I won't let you. I have control.
With that last thought Kenshin squeezed his eye shut and clamped down on the demon in his mind. He felt the internal growl of his demon die down.
He would have to leave as soon as he was able. He couldn't put Kaoru in danger of meeting his beast again.
Kaoru openly gawked at Kenshin, What is going on?
One minute they are talking and the next minute he is disassociating from the world and unreachable. Is he mentally ill?
"Umm..Helllo? Kenshin?"
"Oro?"
"Where did you go? I've been trying to talk to you?"
"I am sorry Miss Kaoru. May I please stay here a little longer? If I am not better by tomorrow, I will call someone to come get me."
His violet eyes pleaded with her. He grabbed her hand in reassurance and wrapped it in both of his.
"I promise."
How could she say no to that? This man had her under a spell or something. Kaoru exhaled and looked up at Kenshin through her lashes.
"Okay, but you have to talk to gramps. It is not up to me. I will speak on your behalf though."
Kenshin squeezed her hand in response and smiled at her. This sent a shiver up Kaoru's arm.
She felt herself beginning to heat up again. He seemed so kindhearted and friendly now.
"Thank you, Miss Kaoru, that's all I could ask for."
"I need to go run some errands; will you be alright by yourself?"
"Yes, I think I shall try to rest more."
He was spent again. This exchange and trying to control his demon had taken a lot out of him.
"Okay, I will come check on you later."
Ending their conversation, Kaoru got up and walked out of the room. If she wasn't careful, she would develop an obsession for this man. She needed to spend some time away from him.
Kenshin watched her leave and heard the door shut behind him. He finished his food and settled himself back down to rest.
***Author's Note****
I would like to show Kenshin's personality switch between his demon and his more human conscious as a switch. Almost as if he has dissociative identity disorder. My intention is to blend in some of the character story lines of Rurouni Kenshin, but also add in supernatural elements and demon mythology. I appreciate your feedback because it helps me to reel it back in. Love you guys!