The creature that was curled into a small ball was bent and broken in
ways that humanity could never be
The creature that was curled into a small ball was bent and
broken in ways that humanity could never be. The life blood that ran from cuts
fresh enough to bleed the bright red of life, instead of the dark blood of
oozing infection, pulsed to her heartbeat. If what was left of her could be
considered enough to be female; if what was left of her could be
anything.
“Find her.”
The words were purred, a lone finger tracing the splattering of blood across
her back. The artless drops that had scattered with each twist of the whip,
each turn of his knife. Her pain bleed into his senses like melted chocolate,
hot and heady. She tasted of bitterness, anger, agony. The sweetest on his
tongue was her helplessness. How it burned through his body and left him with
only the heady addiction of her emotions. Her power, the very life essence she
spilled into his blood.
He could feel it gathering, calling, to its brothers, calling forth more of
that delicious tonic. Her eyes were bleeding, her face re-arranged to hide the
almost perfect beauty that had mocked him. The dark eyes that had challenged
him, and lost.
“Find my little bird.” He traced his fingers across the criss-cross of
bone-white that littered her small body from where he had broken her. “Give me
something new to play with. Give me something…delicious. Something to share.”
The woman made a noise, a gurgling noise, and his nails tightened until they
drew blood. Then he licked them clean as he watched her struggle. Soon, he
would falter. He couldn’t hide his …child…in the shadows forever. The
moment she reached for that sweet, unattainable sunlight, he would know.
Then…
Then…
Then her delicious emotions would be his.
Then nothing would stop him.
His lids half-closed in pleasure as he stroked the matted hair of the
creature in front of him.
~*~
Kaoru hadn’t known what to expect when she arrived at the
Akebeko. It was filled with hustle and bustle as customers were directed to
seats and flushed faces as they moved with a quick precision she supposed came
with their ninja training. Kenshin must have been doing one of those tricks of
his, because no one even bothered to look up at them as they entered. It wasn’t
until they were at the more private rooms that he turned back around to look at
her.
“This is our room for the duration of your stay.” His voice was mild and he
apparently expected her to stay because he turned to walk by her. “Misao will
be by soon.”
Something twisted in her gut at the sound of his voice saying another
woman’s name and she quickly went into the room to hide from either it or him.
She wasn’t sure. Distracting herself, she glanced around in surprise. Where the
house that Kenshin owned was furnished with western luxuries, this place was
strictly Japanese. The tatama mats were familiar under her feet and the futon
was rolled carefully in the corner. There was a low writing table with a
cushion or two next to it so she could sit on her knees comfortably and the
Kimono rack was placed off into a corner. The chests for his and her clothing
were placed on opposite ends of the third wall and the shoji screen door opened
in the back to a well kept little rock garden.
This was the closest she had ever felt in being home at someone else’s
place.
“I hope you like everything,” Misao voice rang out and Kaoru turned to see
her perched on the edge of one of the trunks. “Its simple, but I didn’t know
what you would like. Himura is fairly easy to please when he wants to be.”
Kaoru offered a faint smile. “It’s perfect. Please don’t go to lots of
trouble on my behalf, Misao.” Her voice was low and controlled and she
swallowed when she turned and met Misao’s eyes. They were the same vivacious
blue-green but they held a sparkle to them she hadn’t noticed before. Misao was
home and it showed.
“Himura said that he wanted me to teach you to shield,” Misao informed her,
swinging her feet back and forth. “If you check in the other trunk I snagged
some of your practice clothes. They would be a bit more comfortable than that
Kimono he had you stuffed in. Although it is very nice,” it was spoke with a
smile and Kaoru felt the knot of tension leaving her gut.
“Thank you,” Kaoru said relieved. The comfortable clothing would be
something she had from home and would be something that she felt confidant in.
Kimonos were pretty, but she had never worn something so…so…elegant. Shaking
off the effect she quickly changed and followed Misao outside. “So where…”
“Oh, probably in the dojo; I think the Oniwabanshu is using the other
training grounds right now. They received some new recruits and are beating them
into shape so they can start the testing. Usually its only Himura who uses the
dojo but the repairs should be finished form the last time he and Soujiro went
at it.” Misao was practically skipping down the hall and Kaoru relished the
easy movement from her practice clothing.
“Repairs,” Kaoru questioned in a curious tone.
“They don’t understand the word we like to call restraint. Don’t worry about
it…here we are…” Misao opened the door and Kaoru walked into a lovely practice
area that had been recently cleaned. It smelled lightly of soap and she admired
the way the light came in through the shoji doors and the weapons that lined
one wall.
“I guess they haven’t gotten everything back inside. Oh well,” Misao
shrugged and sat down. She gave Kaoru a thoughtful look. “I know Kenshin has
been centering your gift and supplying a shield to keep things out….and
possible a shield to keep things in. Has he attempted to teach you anything?”
Kaoru shook her head mutely.
Misao sighed. “That was what I was afraid of. From everything I have learned
about Himura’s art, is that his sword style is his ground and center. In order
to teach you what he learned growing up with Hiko he would have to teach you
Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu. I don’t see him wanting to do that any time soon.” Her
mouth curved slightly. “At least he has the brains to ask for help with you
even if he will never ask for himself.”
Kaoru blinked. “I don’t know…” her tone was doubtful. “Are you sure its not
because he doesn’t want to mess with me?”
Misao shook her head. “That might be what he wants you to believe but even
if he didn’t want to deal with it, he would still do so. Himura is very
stubborn. Alright, the first thing you are going to have to learn is Ground and
Center.” Her expression changed and her eyes looked at her with a curious
solemn expression. “That’s the most important part because your gift is so
volatile.”
Kaoru chewed her lip. “Is this going to be like the meditation techniques I
had to learn in Kendo?”
Misao titled her head slightly. “It’s a good comparison. Actually, this
might not be as difficult as I thought it was going to be. I had forgotten that
you had to learn about your core and things for that….” She tilted her chin.
“All right, you need to be comfortable.”
Kaoru shifted her legs and body a bit, until she was in a familiar position
and nodded.
“Alright, the firs thing you have to do is find yourself. I know that sounds
odd but you need to find the part of yourself that you stabilized over the
years with your Kendo. It should be the same as if you were finding your calm
before meditation.” Misao instructed, closing her eyes. Kaoru did as she was
told and took several deep breaths until that impeccable resolve, the cool
waters in the storm of her raging gift, settled around her.
“Good! The reason that you need to find this is so you can tell what isn’t
yours. You have to know yourself in order to be able to face those outside of
you and be able to kick them out. Now, memorize what you feel, what you see.
Were going to work our way out so that you can recognize each change, this way
you will know everything.” Misao’s voice was calm and controlled, so not to
disturb Kaoru as she worked to memorize herself.
Misao opened her eyes and looked at her friend. Kaoru has slipped into an
easy half trance and Misao opened her limited Chi sense to look at her friend.
Kenshin had left the shields up and she was loath to bring them down until her
friend has little bit more stability. Her Chi was still wild and flaring at
random moments, but Misao was under the impression that her gift was always
going to have a touch of wild to it. At least everything she had learned about
Empaths suggested it.
“Alright. Now that you have found yourself, because that should be the easy
part, you have to find something outside of yourself to lock onto.” Misao
hesitated and spoke her next words quietly. “It’s important that you find
something that is…calm.” She chewed on her lower lip.
Kaoru hesitated and ‘looked’. Everything just appeared blank and rough and
she couldn’t quite find what Misao was attempting to describe to her. Opening
her eyes she gave Misao a frustrated look. Misao tilted her head and sighed.
“Alright…I was hoping…you’re going to need to ask Kenshin to take down the
outermost shield. The one that completely separates your gift form the world.
You’re going to have to use it to find some sort of centering.” Her words were
firm.
Kaoru looked at her, sucking her bottom lip between her teeth. “How?”
Misao’s brows tucked together. “What you mean…” She rolled her eyes in a way
that had Kaoru stifling her giggles. “Okay, here…what I want you to do is to go
back to the half-trance and picture Kenshin. Form the words in your mind that
you want and see what happens. Apparently he hasn’t opened the mental link yet
and this should work…you won’t want to do this unless you have to. I think your
gift is going to be…more of an expression of emotions to him, but he should be
able to communicate what he wants to you just fine.”
Kaoru frowned and attempted to do what she suggested, falling back into the
trance and pulling up an image of her mate and forming the mental description
of what she needed. It was difficult for her to express what she wanted, even
as she thought she felt him catch it on the other end. It was like attempting
to speak in a language she had never tried before but suddenly there was a
shifting around her and the emotions of everyone in the Akebeko wavered across
her. It was a light brushing, like it had been on the street, but it made her
uncomfortable.
Suddenly it was like a blanket, dark and inky, had been dropped over that.
Misao sighed. “Damn….well, now I know why he keeps you so well
shielded…that’s just the first level?” Her gift had been spiking all over the
place and running around like a little child playing tag! Swearing she made
sure her own blanketing would hold and looked up at her.
“Alright, that’s not going to work. You’re going to have to find something
to center on. Your gift has to find a base…something that won’t change and will
be there to…show it how it’s supposed to behave.” She sighed. “Tell me….when
your gift went wild when you were being taught how to feed…how did you gain
control?”
Kaoru looked at her and then looked away. “Kenshin…” her words were low.
“He…”
“Fed you,” Misao agreed, her brows knotting together. “It shouldn’t…tell me,
when you were fighting for control, what did you find?” She kept her word even,
attempting to keep her emotions under control when Kaoru was depending on her.
“It was cold and black and calm.” Kaoru said softly, “why?”
Misao sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “Himura is your center,” she
told her flatly. Kaoru frowned.
“What does that mean?” Kaoru asked calmly, attempting to figure out the
expression on her friends face.
“Grounding is finding the center inside yourself. To find all the pieces
that makes you up. Centering is finding the one thing that keeps you under
control. For me….well, it doesn’t matter. For you, it’s the utter stillness of
Himura’s gift.” She shrugged helplessly. “Himura is death. I imagine once your
gift ages a bit, everything is going to be…something to you. Normally you try
to find something outside yourself to hold you steady if your grounding should
ever shake, but…” she sighed. “This means were going to have to change things
around a bit.” She chewed on her lip.
Kaoru felt her gift shift around her and she struggled for a moment to try
to figure out what her friend meant. “What do you mean?”
Misao grinned suddenly. “Its just going to be bit of challenge, that’s all.
I mean…well, Himura isn’t here so finding that little pocket of death that you
cling to when…what?”
Kaoru looked away from her. “You’re saying it’s because Kenshin isn’t here
that I can’t center myself around him.”
Misao nodded, “yes.”
Kaoru swallowed a bit and then searched inside herself for that bit of
darkness that she had found she could curl up in when things got to difficult.
Closing her eyes she sank into it, welcoming the chill of it in comparison to
her heat of her own gift. Opening her eyes she met Misao’s eyes. The girl was
blinking rapidly and had a strange expression on her face.
“Oh…” Misao breathed. “I wouldn’t have thought….well this makes things
easier.” She licked her lips and suddenly the shield expanded around the room
so that the colors seemed dimmer, like they were attempting to move through
shadow.
“What I need you to do is to let go.” Misao instructed. “Of that cold and of
your gift; now you’re sure you can grab onto…um….the cold stuff whenever you
need?” At Karou’s nod Misao took another deep breath. “Alright, then…let go.”
Misao rocked back on her heels as the wild tumbling of her Chi swept the
room. Battousai must have been paying attention because suddenly all of all of
the shields separating Kaoru from the world dropped, hard. Kaoru went a little
pale and Misao didn’t blame her. Her shields should have been preventing her
from being able to feel anyone outside of herself but she wasn’t the most
emotionally stable person to do this with.
‘Damn you Himura…’ Misao thought violently as she watched Kaoru
struggle.
Then she hit her with a wallop of shadow. Her Chi was suddenly wrapped
around her in a multicolored wave of protection and Misao nodded. “Center!” She
snapped. Kaoru looked startled but Misao hoped she was doing what she should.
Suddenly, the wild pieces of Chi looked like they were unsure for a moment.
“Alright,” Misao cheered. “What you need to do is link those!”
Kaoru felt sweat beading and falling down her temples and the valley between
her breast. She understood what Misao was thinking, but besides sending an
invitation “Chi meet death, and vise versa” she wasn’t exactly sure how she was
going to do that. Keeping a grip on the cold, wonderfully silent ball of Chi
that was somehow part of her soul, she ‘grasped’ the wild part of her with her
other hand. The wild Chi shuddered and so did everything else. With a gasp she
lost her grip on both and somehow ended up staring at the ceiling with her Chi
wildly spinning.
“You were close!” Misao’s voice encouraged. “Try it again!”
~*~
Kaoru pulled herself out of the hot bath with a bit of a
groan. She felt like she had stepped into a kendo match without her bokken and
gotten slammed around like a child. Every muscle physically hurt and she was
almost thankful when a woman with downcast eyes appeared to help her with her
hair. Maybe she should just have cut the damn stuff off?
Once she was brushed and braided she dropped the towel and slipped into her
Yukata and stumbled the futon. Crawling under the covers she laid there for
some time thinking about what had happened that day. Misao was quite impressed
with her progress and had told her that by the end of the week she should have
been able to find her center just fine. Kaoru was fine and well pleased by
that, but the week was such a long time away. She had been so tired that she
hadn’t even noticed when Kenshin’s shields had gone back up. Misao had made
some noise of relief, her own expression just as tired. She had told Kaoru that
she had been blocking everything so that she could operate undisturbed as she
struggled to find a way to center her gift, but that it was difficult work.
Kaoru couldn’t really trudge up any sort of sympathy for her friend. She had
discovered the more that she worked with her gift; the less happy it was to be
shoved back into a corner and forgotten. Even with Kenshin’s shield keeping it
in check it was writhing just under her skin, alive and searching out for
wholes so that it could test and change and turn and writhe along whatever it
chose. Misao’s expression had been tense all afternoon, and remembering what
she had done to Jineh, she wasn’t entirely sure her small friend wasn’t
attempting to keep herself safe as well.
Misao had stressed that it was only when she found her center that she was
going to be able to learn how to shield and learn what parts of her gift she
could allow to flicker out. Apparently she was going to have to learn to live
with her gift, because it wasn’t something she could shove into the back shelf,
no matter how much she wished to. Once she had found her center she could then
have something to build her shields off of. Misao guessed that part of her
problem feeding was that she wasn’t able to block the feeling of death and the
slow draining of life-chi from there bodies. While the sensation of death in
Kenshin was welcoming, it was because she could balance that against the warmth
of Kenshin normal life-chi.
All she knew was that she was bone-tired and hungry. Misao had some blood
sent up and she had choked it down, but feeding like that wouldn’t work for
long. It didn’t have the kick of real blood to it. Even when she mixed that
with a real meal of human food, she knew she was going to have to feed within
the next few days or risk being to tired to control her gift. Any gift that got
away from someone was dangerous, and hers could easily destroy and twist around
itself until there was nothing left of her original Chi pattern.
~*~
“He is leading us on a goose-chase,” Kenshin said tightly as
he stood in the middle of the carnage. He hardly noticed his gift siphoning off
the reaming bits of death-chi, and ignored the pale looks those Aoshi had
brought with him were giving him. “I don’t like it.”
Aoshi nodded. “He has found help for this,” his words were irritated as he
nudged a body over. “This work reminds me of something…” he frowned but didn’t
elaborate. Reaching down he picked up one of the few men who were still alive
by his shirt. “Tell us who Enishi is working for!”
The man gave a gurgling laugh. He was missing a section of his stomach the
size of Kenshin’s fist. “You will never stop them! They will rule forever! We
will never…” he gurgled a bit and his head rolled back limply and Aoshi dropped
him.
“I suppose that is the most we can expect from such idiots,” Aoshi said
irritably.
Kenshin wasn’t looking at him and Aoshi realized he must be reporting. The
expression on his face, one he had only seen when Kenshin was speaking to his
Master, forced him to look away least he loose his composure.
“Hiko says he will be here in three days. He agrees that something is off
and would like to express his displeasure in the way we have been handling
things,” Kenshin’s voice was dry.
Aoshi quirked a brow.
“He also wants to meet Kaoru and doesn’t trust me to bring her up the
mountain in one piece.” His voice was bored as he stepped over a body. “We
should be heading back soon.” He quirked a brow upwards, “how is Makimachi
holding up from the workout we have been giving her?”
Aoshi was silent for long moments. “She is fine.”
Kenshin shrugged and let his sword fall from his hands, disappearing back
into the pocket that he stored it in. He easily stepped over bodies, his eye
flickering around the room, making sure they had not forgotten anything. “Three
days of dealing with Karou’s gift should leave her nice and vulnerable for you
to take.”
There was a faint shiver in the air.
“Is that what you suggest I do?” Aoshi’s voice was cold and Kenshin turned
and gave him a hard glare.
“I suggest that you do whatever is necessary to keep from being distracted
during this hunt. You and I both know that something is working behind the
shadows that we can’t see. Its manipulating people in a way that I haven’t seen
since the last revolt and I have no desire to let it get as out of hand as it
was last time.” His voice was ice and heat. “I am sure you remember the price
you were forced to pay last time?”
Aoshi said nothing, looking at the red-head who spoke so lightly of the
past. “They might go after Kaoru.”
Kenshin’s eyes narrowed. “They should not know of her presence. I suggest
you send word to the little onimitsu that anything that happens to Kaoru will
be taken out of her blood.” A flicker of Chi and an opening formed. “Come. We
have another stop to make before we head back and I do not think,” razor sharp
fangs gleamed, “that we should keep our host waiting.”
~*~
Kaoru looked around, her stomach uneasy as she stood in the
middle of the market. “I don’t know, Misao.” Her tone was doubtful. “The last
time we tried this…”
Misao shook her head. “I know. To be honest, I really don’t want to try
anything like that without Himura here to guide you back.” She offered her
friend a bright smile. “However, we can see what sort of limits you have and
then I can hunt and feed us both.” She tilted her head. “Although I am going to
warn you, it means you will have a bit of a bond with me until Kenshin feed you
again and his power washes mine from your veins.”
Kaoru nodded slowly. “You are going to have to explain to me why that is
such a big deal, Misao.” Her tone was quite. “I would hate to accidentally
insult someone.”
Misao bounced on her heels for a moment. “Well, to be honest, there isn’t a
sort of code or rules for it. The most important thing is that you never take
blood from a male. You’re taken, and Himura would take that as a direct breech
of your bond and things would get messy. I’m female, so why Himura won’t like
it, he won’t mind it nearly as much. You do need fresh blood. Now, the reason
that people are careful to who they share blood with is really simple. Each
exchange, your Chi absorbs something of that persons gift into there own. They
might be the reason that you carry around a bit of death-chi permanently,
because Himura was the one who brought you over fully. I don’t think anyone has
really done any sort of research about it, and we know nothing of our effect on
Halflings. Be very, very thankful that you never tasted Jineh’s blood.”
Kaoru stilled. “Would that have been bad?”
Misao shrugged. “Jineh was clearly insane, and insanity for vampires is a
sort of disease. If it’s going to be passed on, it’s going to be passed through
the blood. I am going to guess that Himura’s blood would have been strong
enough to take care of the problem, but I don’t know that for sure. It a touch
subject. Perhaps one day we will have more answers. Although it wouldn’t
surprise me if Himura’s master has those answers.”
Kaoru frowned, her eyes scanning the market. “His master?”
Misao looked honestly surprised. “He hasn’t mentioned Hiko yet?” Her voice
was amused. “It’s a long and complicated story, but as far as I know, Hiko took
Himura in when he was very young. Sort of how Himura took in Soujiro, but it’s
a bit different. No one knows if Kenshin was born vampire or changed, and to be
honest, it doesn’t matter. No one will be brave enough to suggest one or the
other. Anyway, Hiko is the undisputed leader of the Vampire sects. It’s full of
political stuff, and some of it I don’t have clear details on, but Kenshin is
our bogeyman. He follows Hiko’s orders and no one else’s, although I here he
did a fine job of pretending otherwise during the Bakumatsu.” Her eyes turned
distant and slightly sad. “Everything changed during that time, and then when
they started searching for the traitors…well, anyway, Kenshin is the second
most powerful being that I know of and he is very young by our standards.” She
grinned at Kaoru. “That makes you something of royalty as well. Your very
important to us, not just the fact that you’re an empath, but because your
Himura’s.”
Kaoru frowned, and picked at her obi. “I think I liked thing easier when I
was human.”
Misao gave her a sympathetic look. “But you were never human, were you?” She
sighed at the expression that crossed Kaoru’s eyes. “What we need to do is
practice with the removal of that shield. I want you to be able to tell me what
is going on. You need to be able to use you gift at will. It wants to read
people for you. Let it. Just learn to communicate to it how much information
you want. Its part of you Kaoru, just like your beloved Kendo, its best to
think of it as such. Use it like you would your bokken.”
Kaoru blinked at her. “You want me to attack people, with my gift?”
Misao shrugged. “No, but think of it this way. A sword is a single slash.
That’s what you want to make your Chi to hone into. It won’t be so difficult to
learn to how expand it, then you just have to learn how to control it,” she
waved her hands around. “Just lower your shields a bit, will you? The practice
will do you good.”
Kaoru muttered under her breath, reaching for Kenshin in the signal she had
developed with him over the past few days. He dropped it like she asked and the
next thing she knew, emotion was sweeping over her. Small annoyances and
displeasures washed over her. Misao was watching her face intently, and Kaoru
took a deep breath. They had learned quickly that it was impossible to work
against the first layer of peoples emotions. Most of likes and dislikes were
habits and people easily noticed if they were affected. For some reason, the
deeper emotions in the psyche were easier to manipulate. They hadn’t figured
out why yet, but they were trying.
Kaoru licked her lips and struggled against the rising tide that dragged at
her. Lust and human’s take on love, and all the other emotions that were
manipulated by things outside of them crushed against her. Biting her lower
lip, she was careful with her fangs. It was another side effect Misao had to
explain to her, that when she used her gift; her fangs were likely to become
visible. People who had a lot of control over there gifts like Aoshi and
Kenshin were more likely to not show there fangs when they used it, but Misao
said that she was going to probably have to learn how to control them later.
Until then, she was in constant fear of piercing her own bottom lip.
Kaoru worked until she was dizzy. Sitting down she breathed deeply through
her nose and looked up at Misao. The girl was offering her a wrist and Kaoru
closed her eyes. “Its freely given Kaoru, there are no catches. Please, take
it. Himura will kill me if you faint.”
Kaoru sunk her fangs in, her stomach trembling. However, the blood was hot
and fresh and tasted good. Closing her eyes to keep from screaming, she sucked
until she just couldn’t anymore and pulled away. Misao brought her wrist to her
mouth and licked it dry. “It will get easier, Kaoru.”
Kaoru swallowed, attempting to ignore the taste of Misao’s blood on her
tongue. It was different than Kenshin. Where he was rich and full on her
tongue, Misao had a hint of spice and shadow. Curling into herself a bit she
pressed her nails into her thigh. “I don’t know if this is something I want to
be comfortable with, Misao.” She raised bright eyes to her face and Misao
nodded.
“I know. But what else can you do?”
~*~
The woman stood there, her eyes flat on the ground.
Terrified, she refused to lift them. “I am sure, sir.”
There was a giggle. “So close…the Master will be so proud. He does want his
little pet. Come with me, and we shall gather her to our fold.” He tilted her
chin with rough fingers, forcing her to absorb his erratic Chi, drinking in her
taste with a smile. “Once we have collected her, Master’s collection will be
complete. Then, we shall rise as the rest of the vampires fall at out feet!”
The woman shivered and kept a careful grasp on the feeling of her blood
running in her veins. She could not let the girl escape. Not this time. Then,
perhaps, her Master would find someone else to love.
~*~
Kaoru licked her bottom lip, nibbling on the sensitive skin
as she stood there. Misao was perfectly relaxed as they hid in the shadows,
examining people. In fact, Misao was having a great deal of fun pointing things
out and guessing emotions and having Kaoru confirm them. However, she seemed to
be picking up on her unsurety.
“Kaoru,” Misao asked, unsure. “Is something wrong?”
Kaoru tilted her head, attempting to figure where her feeling of unease was
being generated from. It was sizzling along her stomach lining, as if something
was getting closer that shouldn’t be there. It had been bothering her ever
since she had dropped her shields, but it was getting worse the later the
afternoon became. “I don’t know,” Kaoru confessed, feeling for the bond between
her and Kenshin almost before she realized what she was doing. It was cool and
slick, like it had been since she started her training. She knew part of it was
so she was forced to learn on her own, but suddenly she wished she knew how to
breech it. When she realized what she was thinking she stilled and shook
herself. That sort of thinking was not going to get her anywhere. She did not
need to rely on Kenshin. Ever.
“There is something out there, and it’s getting closer,” Kaoru told her
friend softly. Her eyes kept scattering around the road and Misao grabbed her
hand took her a bit deeper into the shadows for camouflage.
“I can’t feel anything but that doesn’t mean anything. It could be your
feeling the intent of someone to hurt someone else.” Misao offered, her eyes
muted as she watched her carefully. “Does it feel like that?”
Kaoru shook her head. “No, and it doesn’t feel like my gift at all.” She
swallowed. “It’s different.” She clenched her hands, feeling edgy as she
attempted to locate the reason. Looking at Misao she swallowed. “I think we
should head back to the Akebeko.”
Misao nodded, “that won’t be hard, we just,” the girl’s eyes suddenly
widened and Kaoru watched, in surprise, as she stumbled forward suddenly. Her
eyes snapped forward and the sight that met her eyes caused her stomach to
roll.
She was covered in fine lines, white like bone, from the expanse of her
broad forehead, down into her raggedly covered form. Even the tips of her
fingers were marked, as if she was used to digging her nails into wood and her
nails were torn and chipped. Her eyes were dull and the left pupil seemed to be
bleeding. Her hair was long and short, as if someone had ripped great tufts of
hair out, and fine scratches that were still bleeding ran down her cheeks.
Kaoru’s eyes swung from the…woman…to the grinning men behind her and her
gift swelled and churned behind the barriers she was barley containing.
Misao…her eyes swung to Misao and she swallowed hard. It was like that time
with Jineh. Everything felt wrong. Misao wasn’t moving, so Kaoru supposed the
woman knew…Her eyes snapped up in surprise. “What did you do to Misao?”
The woman smiled, showing off broken teeth and bleeding gums. She didn’t
answer though; it was the man behind her. “If it isn’t Kagami’s little brat.
Who would have thought that you would have managed to keep away from Master for
so long? Bind her.”
She felt the surge of power and felt her own response. The little creature
that was bent over from her waist as if she couldn’t quite rise made a noise
and something flickered in her eyes. Kaoru felt sick, and she let her barriers
drop. Misao’s state hit her like a slap and she actually stumbled backwards
from it. The men in front of her sung with greed, lust and a need for blood
that was almost overpowering. There was something off with there Chi as well,
as if they had been tampered with. Her own gift fought and surged within her,
and she attempted to control it.
She felt threatened.
Something warned her that if she did this something bad would happen. Even
with that hint of knowledge, the thing rose up, her eyes pink around her pupil,
and she screeched. Kaoru felt something sucking at her, and Misao made a noise,
faint; and Kaoru shuddered. For a moment she couldn’t feel, for a moment she
had no ability to touch anything. Inky cords of something churned around her
and she could hardly breathe.
“You have her?” He drawled his smile sharp. “Good. Once we contain her then
we can kill this wench, although what you did to her is going to be more than
enough to leave her all but dead for the rest of her life. We leave her as a
warning to that Okashira of hers.”
Kaoru felt cold settled around her, and she relished it. Inside her, her own
power writhed. Swallowing she allowed herself to fall back into the darkness
Misao had told her to find and she let go. Heat rushed through her, burning
away the cold for a moment, and then it was gone. Her Chi expanded and it ate
away at the bonds wrapping around her, and the woman screamed. Kaoru gritted
her teeth, her back molars protesting, and she reached for Misao, only to be
rejected by another black cloud of oily-chi. Turning her eyes back to the
woman, she physically recoiled at the sight of her.
Her Chi was in tatters. Like someone had taken a scapel and cut stripes out
of it. The rest of her Chi reacted badly to itself and seemed to almost be
feeding off Misao’s Chi. Kaoru narrowed her eyes and tried to remember what
Misao had taught her on directing Chi battles. Taking a deep breathed she
reached and “shoved” her Chi at the stuff clinging to Misao. There was a
horrible retching sensation. It was like something inside her was being
twisted, pulled inside her, and expanded more than her body could handle.
Attempting to ignore the sensation that filled and pulled at her, she continued
to fight. She wanted to scream when she realized that even after she pulled
whatever was attack Misao off her, what was left behind was severely damaged.
The woman snarled and Kaoru felt the force of her hatred come rolling back
at her. That stretching, sickening sensation continued, and Kaoru struggled to
gain the upper hand. She had no idea how long they battled, but she was aware
of sinking into the depth of the calm of death. Her body around her burned and
ached and pain seared through her body like hot lashes of fire and she
struggled to keep from screaming. Desperately, she looked at the woman in front
of her. There were two or three bright threads that seemed to be pulsing to the
beat of something. Reaching out Kaoru pulled the same way she had with Jineh
and felt hat sucking sensation stop.
Fire exploded through her body. Her knees gave out and Kaoru felt everything
expand and wretch. There was shouting going on outside of her body and there
was screaming, continuous screaming, that haunted her into the darkness she
sank into. It felt like her insides were being pulled inch by inch out of her
body. Her gift ran wild, ripping through her with in agonizing waves. Her last
memory was of hands grasping her shoulders as she was shaken, spittle flashing
across her face, but she ignored it. Instead she fled the agony and curled into
ball where it was safe.
~*~
Kenshin frowned. Narrowing his eyes he searched around him.
Something was wrong. He ignored Omatsu and instead narrowed his eyes, searching
out the pathways that were running along his blood.
“Be quite.”
Silence was immediate.
Kenshin focused inward and he scanned the path to his mate.
His eyes narrowed.
Opening the path he had closed for her training, his entire body stilled,
the moment after a heart beat ends. Those around him watched in surprise as his
lips pulled back in a snarl, to show off gleaming fangs as his face contorted
into a fury they had only seen once. There was a shifting and then there was a
blur. Omatsu turned and ran into the kitchen, her eyes wide.
“Aoshi! Something happened to Misao and Kaoru!”
