Kenshin dropped the body of the girl onto the ground and eyed her dead
form
Kenshin dropped the body of the girl onto the ground and
eyed her dead form. It amused him that humans died more often than not with
their eyes open. He wondered if it was some sort of human bravery, attempting
to face death head on. He rather thought not. More like some idiotic
human reaction that they had little control over. Rather like breathing. No
control, instinctive rise and falls of their chests that was too easy to stop.
He had fed well. Kaoru was going to need to feed, but then she was heading
into a battle. It would be better to let her draw off his strength and then
feed her when it was over. He was disgusted that he had to think about her
needs, but some part of him was starting to enjoy keeping track of her. He
wanted to write it off as being instinctive to need to know all her weaknesses,
but his desire to use those weaknesses to hurt her were fading. He was
exasperated and frustrated and more than a little peeved at the small woman. He
knew from long experience that there was only so much he could do to fight his
internal instincts.
They demanded to be met.
Kenshin narrowed his eyes. His Master was back at the Aoiya and waiting on
him to come back to have a little talk. Turning on his heel he headed back into
the crowded streets, leaving the girl to be found. He was curious to see what
Hiko would want to say to him and resigned to being insulted during the entire
duration of their conversation.
He refused to allow his Master to get under his skin. He had too many other
things to worry about than his Master’s twisted sense of amusement. The shields
around the Aoiya had been rebuilt, but he crossed them easily.
Hiko walked into the main area immediately, holding a bottle of sake.
He looked annoyed, but that was a common expression. Kenshin nodded his head
and waited for Hiko to pick the place that they would meet.
“Office,” Hiko grunted.
There was only one office in the entirety of the Aoiya, so Kenshin headed
there and stepped into the office. He didn’t bother to turn as he felt the dark
shields of his master raise around the room, sealing it off from the outside
world. It was a relief to block out the meaningless clutter of noise coming
from inside the restaurant. “You wanted to speak with me?” Kenshin asked,
forcing himself to keep his tone even. Each moment that passed was another
moment that Kaoru’s determination and exhaustion beat at him. Even feeding
hadn’t improved his temperament.
“You’re being an idiot. I suppose I couldn’t have expected anything more,”
Hiko bluntly informed him. “Nature chose to give you a mate and this is how you
treat her. Have you learned nothing?”
Kenshin turned and faced him squarely. His Master rarely could go through a
conversation without some form of insult, but he hadn’t been prepared for this
line of attack. Before he could speak Hiko had already started talking again.
“Don’t answer that.” He muttered. “It went in one ear and out the other.” The
larger man crossed his arms and glowered down at him. “Did you learn anything
about empaths?”
Kenshin gritted his teeth. “Yes, I…”
“Not enough then. For someone who is supposed to be so smart, you are such a
dense idiot.” Hiko reached over and picked up the sake jug next to him
and took a long drink. “The first problem you have is that she was raised as a
human. Even if she had been raised as a vampire she would require more
affection than a normal vampire female. She thrives off emotion. She lives off
of it the same way you live off your own gift. Take that into consideration
each time you are put into a new situation that required some sort of tact from
you. It’s probably asking too much, but at least now you have been warned.” The
sake jug was dipped into again.
“Second, because of the botched transformation you pulled, she also requires
a place to rest from that gift of hers. I doubt she will ever have the level of
control considered acceptable by our kind. That means you will become her
control. I believe the little shadow walker had reported that you were her
ground and center source. I shouldn’t have to explain this to you, but I will
anyway. Your gifts are feeding off each other in an unusual manner.” Kenshin
looked up at the note that entered his Master’s voice, but there was little to
show for the emotion in his voice. “If things to develop the way they are now,
you will not survive her death.”
Kenshin frowned. “There was an… incident with her attempting to feed.”
“Her gift’s reaction was to killing. It’s possible that she is unable to
take human life within the scope of her gift. Take measures accordingly. It is
not likely that you will ever allow her far enough away from you that she will
have to feed on her own.” Hiko’s voice was harsh. “Do what you have to do to
make this work. There are not enough empaths for us to accidentally ruin this one
with your stupidity.”
Kenshin bristled, but kept his mouth shut. Getting into an argument with
Hiko right now would not help anything.
“Now,” Hiko said in a calmer tone of voice. “What else has she been able to
do?”
“She can transfer emotional imprints if she is frightened enough.” Kenshin
told him flatly. “The only time it has happened was when she attempted to
explain why she couldn’t kill the woman she was feeding off of.” He frowned
thoughtfully. “It was almost as if she was attempting to purge herself.”
“Empaths are rare so it is possible that she does in fact have to purge
herself. I shall have Shinamori digging in the archives for more information.
If you had been thinking you would already have him digging for information.”
Kenshin ignored the barb. Letting his irritation feed into himself, he
probed Kaoru while Hiko drained his first sake jar and moved on to the
second. She was wearing herself out. “Jineh was hired by Enishi or someone
Enishi is now working for.”
“And being the bake deshi that you are, you have allowed them two
opportunities to kill her.” Hiko said in a weary voice. “If this is indeed the
Master from ten years ago and thirty years before that, we cannot allow her to
fall into his hands. Do I really need to waste my breath stressing the
importance of this?”
Kenshin frowned. “He could be attempting to strike at you through me.”
“Or, he has given up on killing me entirely.” Hiko replied after another
pull at his sake jar. “Whatever you do, do not let them get their hands
on your mate. If they want her for something then, you should not want them to
get her hands on her. Do I make myself clear? Your stupidity should at least
understand that much.”
Kenshin winced and then shrugged. “I have things I need to do before Kaoru
finishes her little good Samaritan act. Is there anything else?” He raised a
brow in question.
“Don’t do anything stupid. Once she recovers I want to meet this little mate
of yours. Anyone who manages to have you in so many knots is worthy of my
acquaintance.”
Kenshin allowed himself an eye-roll as he exited the room.
~*~
Kaoru nervously bit her bottom lip as she walked through the
narrow hallway to Misao’s room. There was a sick sort of panic settled like a
brick into the bottom of her stomach. Even the warm and hopeful expressions on
the faces of the guests had done nothing, but leave her feeling shaky and
unsure.
Her gift was wild today. It was bouncing around the hallway and across her
skin, bringing back sensations and warm feelings that she could barely feel
through the thick layer of shielding that Kenshin had made sure she was covered
in before he left. Her gift knew where it was going long before she did.
The closer she got to Misao, the looser the shielding became, peeling away
from her body bit by bit. She was a bit discouraged at that, but she supposed
Kenshin had something to do with it. She didn’t know nearly enough about
shielding to be able to guess. However, her gift was thrilled at that and
leaped out at odd intervals and crawled through her insides. The dangerous
twisting of vines or snakes or something in the room ahead of her was feeding
her direction and calling to her gift. Her gift was greedy and responded by
slowly tangling itself in the extra rolls of power.
She could vaguely remember the feeling of Jineh’s ki rolling across
her skin, the feeling of those threads slipping through her gift and coming out
differently. This was different. Instead of changing Misao’s ki, her
gift was containing it and holding back. She stopped outside the door and
realized that her gift could do three things: she could continue to destroy the
threads she held, she could repair them, or her body could absorb the latent
power and feed it back into her own gift. Her hands trembled as she pushed open
the door to the little room.
When she had played around with Jineh’s ki she had been simply toying
with it. In that instance she had had a perfectly functioning ki and
gift to work with.
Misao was anything but perfect.
Opening the door, she felt the last of Kenshin’s shielding drop. In her
minds eye, she could see the pulsing of Misao’s ki around her small
body. Normally, it was a dark shade of gray, with even darker charcoal shades
representing her gift. Now, there were patches of blood red splashed through
her intermingling ki and gift. Most vampires kept the two separate so
they wouldn’t turn on each other.
Misao’s were practically destroying each other as she lay there. In fact, as
the invisible holds between them were destroyed, Misao was killing herself.
Aoshi was also in the room. Kaoru could feel the icy cold of his trapped
emotions and the way he attempted to control them. She couldn’t remember if
anyone had told her what his gift was, but his ki was colorless and
almost completely transparent except for the occasional flash of color. Just
like the sun shining through one of the glass prisms that the Westerners had
brought in, and displayed in windows.
Her palms were damp with sweat as she continued to take in the scene.
Misao’s skin was so pale that Kaoru could see the faint blue lines of her veins
around her mouth and eyes. Misao’s breath rattled in her chest alarmingly and
there was an uneven pattern to the way her chest rose and fell. Kaoru bit her
bottom lip and was surprised at the feel of her fangs, but she didn’t let the pressure
up.
Aoshi’s face was tightly drawn and his jaw was so tense that the skin around
his lips was white. With the fire that had raged in her blood still fresh in
her memory she considered what her friend must have been going through. Kenshin
had been able to save her from that and she wondered if there was a certain
amount of guilt in the man for not being able to do the same for Misao. She
didn’t know if it was in his character, but then she hadn’t thought protecting
her from herself was in Kenshin’s either.
Shaking off those thoughts, she settled on the tatami mat.
She watched the movements of Misao’s ki for a long moment before
lifting her head to watch Aoshi. “Do you think you could… shield the room?” she
asked softly, surprised at the edge in her voice. The rush of exhalation of her
gift was humming in her veins again, and it brought a sense of power she wasn’t
used to dealing with. “I need quiet and it’s loud and noisy and…” her teeth
clicked shut when the room was wrapped in what felt like a thick smoke to keep
the emotions out. It was different than the exact silence of Kenshin’s
shielding, but that was perhaps a difference in type of power, too. “Thank
you,” she added, when she remembered to. Something inside her shifted in
complaint to those words, but didn’t do anything more than that. Kaoru hoped
she wouldn’t have to ask him to suppress his emotions… but she didn’t think she
would. Taking a deep breath she let go of her gift completely and waited to see
what it would do.
There was a strange noise that ended up being her own breathing and she
couldn’t control the way her gift teased along the edges of Aoshi’s, but
eventually it got bored and came back. It was what the rest of her gift was
sinking in on, absorbing and sliding into Misao’s gift and ki that had
her breath catching.
Misao was in pieces.
Her ki had been torn to shreds and her gift was boiling in on itself.
There were long strips torn from her by a set of claws. She was missing chunks
from her life force and her gift had attempted to fill those gaps, and when it
failed, started to turn in on itself in an attempt to end the pain.
Kaoru felt sick. This was what she had the capability to do to
another being?
“Himura-san.” Aoshi’s voice broke through her shocked horror. She lifted her
eyes and blinked at him in surprise. There was an odd note of respect there she
had never thought to hear from the dangerous and older vampire.
“Can you help her?” His voice was quiet and it broke through the disgust
with herself that had been building deep inside her. Disgust, because some part
of her had recognized the work and admired the complication of the tearing and
memorized it for future use. Disgust, because she had realized that that part
of her that was slowly growing in strength was almost as cold as the little
pocket in her soul that allowed her to hide from herself.
She considered Aoshi’s words. “Yes.” She didn’t know if it was true, but she
was going to do it. If she was going to automatically learn how to rip and tear
and destroy, she was going to learn how to reverse it, to heal what she had
done. Some part of her was terrified that by learning to heal the damage she
was just going to teach herself new and creative ways to destroy, but it was a
risk she was going to take. Sucking in a deep breath, she reached out for her
gift and called it to her. She was surprised at how easily it came to her
summons and the greedy feeling that hummed in her veins. It felt hot and cold
against her hold and she licked her lips as she considered where to start and
decided that she was going to have to trust her instincts on this.
She had never been good at unraveling knots. She hated things that took time
and effort. When she had been a child it had taken her weeks to learn to sit
still and meditate. However, the only way she was going to be able to save
Misao’s ki was if she separated the gift from her life force. The red
areas were in several places above what Kaoru thought would be Misao’s major organs.
She would have to ask Megumi how that correlated. The gift was being forced to
feed off the ki to survive. She could work with that.
She quickly discovered while she had excellent control of Misao’s ki
and was able to manipulate where it twisted and bent to her will, control of
another person’s gift was not nearly so easy to come by.
It wanted to fight back and it wanted to fight hard. It fought against her
hold and struck against her. The first time it had hit back, she had been
thrown off guard and had almost pulled back before she had realized what it was
doing. It made her angry. Her gift slammed back at it without her prompting and
dove straight in, starting to tear at the gift. She had been terrified that she
was hurting Misao (her body bucking and twisting against the futon), but if she
didn’t do this she was going to lose and Misao would die. She gritted her teeth
together. Misao was what she considered a friend and she wasn’t about to let go
of that.
By pushing the weaker girl’s remaining strength into preserving her life
force and forcing her gift into where she wanted it go, she won back
centimeters. If you could measure spiritual energy in such human terms, but
each one gained was a goal achieved. It was a pattern she followed until she was
dripping in sweat, her kimono clinging to every inch of her body like another
skin.
Aoshi had been forced to move and hold the unconscious girl still so she
wouldn’t hurt herself. The motion had been something she had absently noted as
she fought for Misao’s life. Kaoru was having a hard enough time noticing
anything over the loud ringing in her ears.
There was a sort of acknowledgement in the back of her mind that her hands
were flat on the floor and she was bent over Misao form so close that the dull
blue turned to gray and filled her vision. There was a curious exhaustion
starting in her gut and working its way out into her body, but she ignored it
and continued to fight.
Her strength faulted and then there was a rush of dark and cold. She gasped
in surprise and had the presence of mind to be thankful for it, but had little
time to spare. Kaoru thought she caught a flicker of irritation mingled with
another emotion that was subtle under the temper, but she pushed it into the
back of her head to think about another time.
When she finally lifted her head from Misao, she met Aoshi’s eyes. She felt
hollow and drained and her gift was quiet for once. The exhaustion was bone
deep and she felt her body trembling from the almost-pain of mentally bruised
muscles.
“I think I have done all I can,” Kaoru said in a hoarse voice. “Everything
else should heal in time.” She wasn’t sure where that piece of knowledge had
come from. “She can’t use her gift for at least a month if I don’t help the
healing along….” She closed her eyes again. It was very difficult to not just
sink into the floor and sleep. Now that her gift was returning there was a
terrible need to feed. Her jaw ached with her need for blood.
“I will fetch Himura,” Aoshi said as he stood. “Someone will bring you a
futon.”
Kaoru nodded at his words. She was just going to lie down until he came…
~*~
Kenshin stepped into the herb room where Megumi tinkered,
and leaned against the wall. Megumi stilled the moment she recognized his
presence and lifted her head to watch him. He had spent some time going over a
few books while he waited for Kaoru to finish up whatever she was doing, but
his irritation with Hiko had made him antsy.
He watched as Megumi turned to face him and held in a smirk. There was no
fear in her eyes. He doubted that she knew how to show him fear after ten
years, but he couldn’t say he particularly minded. While he enjoyed inspiring
fear into those under him, it had never worked as well with her as it did with
others. He had learned that she needed to have a clear head in order to operate
properly. It was not good to put that sort of pressure on her.
There were other ways to get to the vulnerable doctor. “We’re going to war.”
He watched her reaction carefully. She had stood by him in the last war and it
had taken a toll on her. He enjoyed watching the way her pulse quickened with
fear.
If she fell into the hands of their enemies then she would die slowly. The
spike in her ki amused him.
Megumi swallowed at his words. It wasn’t a warning, or even him coming to
tell her information. He wanted something from her. She didn’t doubt that he
would tell her when he was ready but until then... war. War between vampire
races was dangerous.
“I want you to stay here. If you go out into the market, take someone with
you. You’re a liability. Stay out of the way. When this is over if you’re
alive,” he eyed her moodily. “Things will change.”
Megumi licked her lips, but kept her mouth shut. She wasn’t sure what his
temper was going to be like now. She had felt the pressure of Aoshi’s shields
drop a few moments ago and she knew that Kenshin would be checking on his mate
soon.
“I will not require your immediate services once this is over. You are free
to set yourself up in Kyoto however you choose, but you will be available when
I need you. I do not need your excuses.” He leveled her with a dark amber look,
turned and walked out.
Megumi felt her breath leave her in a gasp. He had … he had… he had
practically given her her freedom to choose to do as she wished. Picking up her
basket, she headed for the front of the Aoiya and headed for the market.
She needed fresh air to figure this out…
~*~
Kaoru felt like she was swimming up through some sort of
fog. She was acutely aware of every inch of her body sprawled out across what
felt like a futon, but she was couldn’t make herself move no matter how hard
she attempted to open her eyes. Rustling noises caught her attention and with a
great deal of effort she managed to open her eyes. Blinking several times, she
cleared the fuzziness from her vision and stared at the person in front of her.
Kenshin was sitting down with a book held open between his hands, his
posture the most relaxed she had ever seen it. There was an unhurried sort of
ease as he continued to read, propped up against a small chest. The picture
reminded her of a stance her father used to adopt, and she could easily see a
sword cradled against the length of his body and resting against the curve of
his neck. She must have done something to alert him to her being awake though, because
calm gold eyes lifted from the book and met hers.
He didn’t say anything, just took her in before glancing down to check the
page number and closing the tome. Standing in one quick move, he crossed the
few feet between them and settled himself behind her. Kaoru considered
attempting to move to follow him with her eyes, but before she could make a
decision one way or another, Kenshin had reached over and lifted her boneless
form. She was expecting to here some sort of biting remark or sarcastic rebuke,
but he said nothing. Instead, once he was satisfied with the placement of her
body against his, she found her lips being pressed against his throat.
Her instincts kicked in and she was far too tired to fight them.
Flicking her tongue across the pulse point, she tasted his skin for several
heartbeats before digging her fangs into his neck. Some part of her vaguely
recognized that he hadn’t even tensed at the sensation, but the rest of her was
too busy enjoying both his closeness and his blood. As her hunger tapered off,
she wondered why he had let her bite him in the neck. Normally he refused her
anything but the veins on his wrist. Licking the wounds until they closed, she
fought down the urge to wrap around him and go back to sleep.
“Misao?” Kaoru asked, as she lifted her head and pushed far enough away from
his chest that there was some space between them. She shivered inwardly at the
lazy expression in his eyes, and tried to ignore the way her gift attempted to
wrap around him while the darker side of her nature shifted impatiently under
her own skin.
“She will live.” Kenshin told her with a shrug. Reaching forward, he caught
some strands of loose hair and wrapped them around his fingers. “Hiko assessed
your work.”
Kaoru tilted her head and blinked at him. “Hiko?”
“My Master.” Kenshin’s fangs glittered for a moment. “It has also come to my
attention that you have passed a very important test, little Kaoru.”
Kaoru frowned at him. “I did what?”
Something gleamed back behind his eyes and the fissions in her stomach
weren’t all from nerves. “It took some digging, but the reasons why you were…
hurt by the attack when you fought back were brought to my attention.” He
lifted her hair to his mouth and she swallowed. “The reason that you almost
died and your gift turned in on itself is a surprisingly simple one.”
“Is it?” She was trying to pay attention to what he was saying, but part of
her was far more interested in the way his mouth shaped words.
“An empath operates like a sieve. When you go in to rip someone apart from
the inside out, you first filter that emotion and power through yourself. It
allows you to draw strength from them. You could even nibble on people’s
emotions if you were unable to take blood to sustain yourself. It’s the same
principle that I operate on when I kill someone. Their death becomes my power.
For you, it’s based on emotional output and the bond between gifts and ki.
That makes you very dangerous.” He seemed to be pleased by the information and
amused at his thoughts.
“Then why did attacking that woman almost kill me?” Kaoru asked flatly,
attempting to ignore the urge to do something to wipe that smirk off his face.
“You have to build your ability to handle emotion. However, most Empaths
cannot kill.” Something flickered in his eyes that she couldn’t read. “That is
why you struggled to feed yourself. That is why you almost died when you killed
the empathy that attacked you and Misao. You were incapable of processing that
much of someone’s life force and dealing with the aftermath of death. It
rendered the barrier between your ki and gift useless, and you attacked
yourself in order to find some sort of release from the pressure.”
“So I can’t kill.” Kaoru asked softly, attempting to figure out how exactly
Kenshin was going to deal with that little detail.
“Oh no,” Kenshin breathed. He moved fast enough that she couldn’t stop him,
and she ended up flat on her back with him straddling her thighs, her hands
caught above her head. Her stomach fluttered at the expression on his face.
“You see, that is the best part.” There was something wicked about the smile
that slowly lifted the corners of his mouth: predatory and dangerous. “You have
killed. Your body is now capable of handling that sort of pressure. That
means there is nothing to keep you from learning how to catch your own
meals and from ripping,” his mouth grazed the corner of hers. “Someone,” he bit
her bottom lip. “Apart.” He slipped his tongue inside her mouth for a moment
before pulling back.
Kaoru stared at him.
“I wonder,” Kenshin murmured, slowly sliding his hands down her arms so that
his calluses dragged against her skin. “How else your gift will react now that
there are no barriers holding it back. No self imposed survival instincts.” His
fingers trailed up her shoulders and across her throat to trace her
collarbones. His eyes watched the movement of her throat as she swallowed.
She felt him lower the barriers on her gift and she shuddered. He was hot
and dark and cold against the brush of her gift. Without the restraints holding
her gift to her body, she could feel everything. His amusement, the almost
playful edge to his temper, and the hot flickers of lust. Biting her lip, she
attempted to find some sort of control over herself.
Kenshin murmured something she couldn’t understand; she was too caught in
the way her gift raced through the room. He had apparently set up the black
barrier again, and her gift was disappointed for a moment before twisting back
and centering on him. The low chuckle that rolled from his throat was hungry as
her gift teased along his skin and she shuddered. There was no way to describe
having his emotions washing through her the way they were. He was doing nothing
to control them and she panted against his throat.
She was unprepared for the sensation of his mouth against her throat and the
response he had to her low moan. Gasping, she arched a little when his tongue
laved against a sweet spot. Wanting to burry her fingers in his hair, Kaoru
frowned when she realized she couldn’t move her hands. The feel of his fingers
back against her side were a mute testimony that he moved his hands but…
She had lifted her eyes to demand answers when she caught sight of his eyes.
His pupils had contracted to pin points and they caught and held her attention.
A low curl of what felt like amusement teased across her hypersensitive skin.
“How interesting,” Kenshin murmured, his lashes lowering as he examined her
clothing. “I wasn’t sure whether to believe the legends about empathy and sex
or not…” His lips curved slowly upwards.
Kaoru had opened her mouth to ask him what he meant when, his fingers
stroked her breast through her clothing. Moaning at his warmth, she tried to
reach for him and snarled in the back of her throat when she couldn’t. Enjoyment
at her prediction crawled through her and she flexed her fingers in
aggravation.
Leaning over he brushed her mouth with his before another laugh echoed in
his thoughts. “You’re so feisty,” he purred before he bit her lip again.
Kaoru felt her chest tighten and the urge to bite him back was almost
painful. Her wrists twisted against the hold, but refused to lift off the
futon. Kenshin seemed to enjoy taking his time and using his teeth. By the time
he had nibbled his way down her throat, she had hooked one leg around his and
was trying to encourage him to go lower. Instead, he scrapped his fangs down
the line of her throat hard enough to sting. Her leg flexed against his, hard,
and she keened low in his neck as he sucked hard
Frustrated that she could do nothing in retaliation, she was shocked when
her gift suddenly contracted around his body. Hot need slammed into her gut and
Kaoru let out a breathy moan while Kenshin shivered above her. “Oh yes,” he
purred as his fingers began to slowly undo the obi around her waist. His
fingers stroked up to her breasts and back down between each delicate pull. His
eyes burned. “I think you are going to enjoy this almost as much as I am.”
~*~
Megumi lifted the little jar of dried saffron and studied
the color intently, as she allowed the dying light of the sun to wash over her.
It was still mortally hot. She had always been most grateful for the change in
body temperature that came with her change. Allowing her to feel hot or cool at
her own control and not at the whim of Japan’s uncaring sun which had been an
unexpected pleasure.
Setting the bottle down to compare to another, she considered her
conversation with Kenshin earlier. There was a sense of giddiness that she was
still attempting to regulate, but she was hard pressed to keep the edges of her
lips from curling upwards. He wasn’t going to require her to follow him when he
continued his traveling under his Master’s guidance. The idea of taking lodge
in his current establishment and working with the Oniwabanshu was more
thoughtful than she would have given him credit for.
‘Of course, he is just making sure he knows where you are should he need
you. There is also the fact that while you are very gifted at healing,
there is little you can do to protect yourself and you are made. Even being
made by Battousai won’t get you out of all your issues. It is simply an
inconvenience for you to die and for him to have to find himself another loyal
healer.’ The truth to her thoughts might have bothered her five years ago,
but now they just brought about simple relief. She knew where she stood within
her Master’s will and that was enough.
Curiously, he had not forbidden her to find a mate either. In the past, when
he had left, he had left strict orders to keep to herself and to avoid males of
their species. ‘I wonder if that’s his…’
“What do we have here, gentlemen?” The voice was smooth and male and held
undercurrents a human’s voice could never hope to have; the authority that would
allow them to tame a human with only a voice if they should wish to put the
effort forth, and the hairs on the back of her arms rose in warning.
Carefully, Megumi put the expensive bottle of spice down and turned to get a
better look at her opposition. She was probably going to have to deal with this
herself. She hadn’t brought an escort because the stall was only a few stands
down from the Oniwabanshu hideout. She said nothing as she watched them smile
at her. They only wanted one thing and she had no intention of giving it to
them.
‘There are times,’ Megumi thought in a wry sort of exasperation. ‘That
I wish I could have been given a gift a little more intimidating.’
“Aren’t you curious as to why we are interested in you of all people,
unclean one?” one of the men jeered.
‘It’s been some time since I heard that particular jab.’ Megumi
thought with a great deal of venom in her thoughts. She was opening her mouth
to retort back when a male voice interrupted her.
“She isn’t interested and if you have any wish to remain alive, then you
will just walk away.” Sano’s voice cut in harshly. Megumi swallowed carefully,
forcing herself to not show the automatic reaction being in his presence lately
had caused in her. She would not blush, her hands would not tremble and it was
merely nerves that had her stomach in butterflies.
Instead, she looked up and forced herself to pretend she didn’t care that he
was stepping in. Sano looked furious, his jaw was clenched tightly and his
bandaged hand flexed back and forth, as if he was trying hard not to strike
first. Surprise fluttered in her stomach. She hadn’t thought that Sano had that
sort of control.
“Back off,” one of them snarled at him. “We have out plans for this made-bitch
and you’re not going to interfere.”
Megumi felt her eyes widen at the way Sano’s lips twisted into a lazy,
satisfied smile. The only thing that kept her from feeling betrayed was the
hard light that burned in his eyes. “You know,” Sano drawled as he brought his
hands in front of his body to crack his knuckles. “Someone once told me that
stupidity should be eradicated from the gene pool.” The smile on his face
dropped from his face. “Never thought I would be agreeing with him on that
matter…”
His body moved with a careless grace that was almost thoughtless. Megumi
watched as he caught one man in the jaw with a hard blow from his right hand.
She winced in sympathy at the damage that his already busted knuckles took. He
didn’t even seem to notice as he pivoted and drove one foot into another
vampire’s gut, using the motion to cross over with his left hand and snap a
fast uppercut into the third vampire’s jaw.
Sano stared at the groaning bodies and Megumi suddenly remembered what
Sano’s gift was. Strength. He was strong. Strong enough to lay a vampire flat with
a single blow. Strong enough to protect her from her nightmares and everything,
but the demon that changed her, but she had long lived with the knowledge that
he was her personal demon.
Desperation mingled with desire and she acted before she could think about
it. For a moment she thought her body was going to fling itself into his arms
so she could weep, but she surprised herself when she picked up busted knuckles
and shredded the bandages with her nails. “You’re an idiot,” she snapped at him
as she looked at the swollen joints. “You’re going to ruin your hand if you’re
not careful!”
“It’s nothing,” Sano drawled. Her eyes swung up to his face and he stared
down at her with an unreadable expression in his eyes. “Don’t worry.”
Megumi hardened her expression. “I’m not worried,” she informed him
waspishly.
“That’s not what your eyes said,” he returned softly.
Megumi dropped her eyes back to his hand and swallowed. She held his right
professionally between her own cold hands as she studied the damage. She refused
to allow her fingers to caress the skin as she wished. He was lucky he hadn’t
done more than bruise the tissue and bones. Licking her lips, she kept her eyes
down as she ran her fingertips along the abrasions on his knuckles, calling her
gift. With each pass she carefully feed a little more power into her gift until
the wounds had smoothed over and she couldn’t sense any internal damage.
“There,” Megumi said finally, letting go of his fingers. “You’re all…” she
started when his hand snapped back out to catch her own fingers.
“Megumi…”
She jerked her fingers free. Taking a step back, she took several very deep
breaths to calm herself down. She should have just left him alone and not
bothered at all. She was not ready for this sort of commitment! Blinking back
the rush of tears, she twisted on her back heel and marched determinedly
through the crowd to the Aoiya. She heard the sound of Sano calling her name
again, his tones holding a determined note she had not heard from him before.
Panic slithered through her gut and she picked up her pace, slipping in a back
door, then lifting the bottom of her kimono to allow her launch herself into
her workroom at the back of the restaurant.
The walls were built from stone instead of rice paper and were cool and the
room was dark. She didn’t bother to light a lantern. The simple smell of herbs
in the darkness allowed her to get her breathing back under control.
‘Stupid, stupid, stupid!’ Megumi berated at herself. ‘You know
better than to run! It just teaches the hunter that you are afraid or that you
have something to hide. Must I remind you that you can’t….’
She stilled in her corner as the door opened. The light from the Aoiya
blinded her, but she could see the faint form of the figure that was blocking
the light. He was too tall to be Kenshin and too broad shouldered to be Aoshi.
‘Please, please don’t see me…’
“I know you’re in here, Megumi.” Sano’s voice was quiet as he shut the door
behind him. “If it makes you feel better to talk about this in the dark, that’s
fine, but we are going to talk about this.”
When had he grown a backbone?
“I am not discussing anything.” Her voice was harsh and raw. “There is
nothing to talk about.”
“Then why are you hiding in the dark?” Sano asked in a mocking voice.
Megumi preferred him as the stupid thug she had first met. He wasn’t
supposed to be smart and he wasn’t supposed to have any sort of brains. She bit
her bottom lip and blinked back the sudden assault of tears that surprised her.
She hadn’t cried since the night she had been changed and she had promised
herself that she would never do it again. “I am not hiding. I like the dark.”
Sano snorted. “I’m not Battousai, Megumi. Those sorts of answers will not
fly with me. Do you want to know how I know that you are hiding?” His voice was
hard and merciless and sounded a lot close than she was comfortable with. She
made herself sit silently because she didn’t want to know how he knew. She
didn’t care. If she didn’t talk maybe he wouldn’t find her in the room.
He made a sound of disgust that churned her stomach. Something hot flared up
and she shoved herself to her feet and glared into the darkness. “I am not
afraid of you,” she snapped suddenly. She stomped her foot and clenched her
hands into fists, then made a noise of surprise when he put his hands on her
shoulders.
“Good.” His voice was satisfied. “I have never asked you to be afraid of me,
Megumi.” His voice had quieted. “I may not have been the nicest…”
Megumi jerked out of his hold and slammed against the wall, searching for
him in the complete darkness. “What do you want, Sanosuke?” She was having a
hard time standing with her knees shaking under her kimono like a child.
“I want you to admit this… this… bond between us,” he snapped abruptly. “I
want you to admit that you have feelings for me and I want you to agree to… I
don’t know what. I am tired of watching you tremble like a little child every
time he enters the room.”
“I do not!” Her voice was hot with emotion.
“You do,” Sano said in a firm tone. “You duck and shy away from anyone who
you believe is better than you. I don’t care if you’re made Megumi. Do
you understand that?”
She pressed a hand to her mouth and trembled. She had to be honest with him.
This was her mate - even if she didn’t want to acknowledge it. “What do you
want from me?”
He let out a sigh. “Will you lean on my strength, Megumi?”
“Will I what?” Her voice was high and scared. She detested it.
“Will you lean on my strength? I can’t promise you anything right now.
Something is brewing and I owe Kaoru my allegiance. But until I can, will you
let me protect you?”
“I don’t need anyone’s protection.”
“No… no, I don’t suppose you do.” Sano said in a cold voice. “But you will
one day and who will you turn to when that time comes?” She heard the sound of
his footsteps and then the door opened.
“Sano…”
He turned and she could only catch the faint outline in the blinding light.
“I won’t be around forever, Megumi…”
The door shut, leaving her in darkness again.
