Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ 'Do You Want to Live Forever?' ❯ Going Back to The Beginning ( Chapter 4 )

Glossary: Tovaras=Friend, Cel=The One, Desigur=Yes,

Chapter Four

The Beginning

Kenshin's Grandfather's Home

April 2004, The Weekend

Sunday Night

Characters:

Kenshin Himura

Kenshin's Grandfather

Sansokue Sagara

Nadia Corban

The body on the bed was seized by yet another series of chills and shivers as it writhed and moaned tossing beneath the blankets arms and legs fighting against some unseen pain or adversary that was unknown to the dark-haired male who sat vigil at the bedside. Sweat and tears covered the face of the other male who lay thrashing within the mummy like confines of the bedsheets, and long strands of his brilliant red hair lay plastered upon his cheeks and forehead as the wetness turned them into tangled ropes of so much red seaweed clinging to his pale face. It was obvious he was trapped within the throws of a horrible dream from which he could not wake himself, but then again, neither could anyone else, for both Sanosuke and Kenshin's Grandfather had tried without success, and so the young detective continued to thrash, cry, and suffer alone through whatever pains and agonies gripped him. Just as he had for nearly two full days.

"Ever since you jumped that old geezer, Bud... What the hell were you thinking when you did that? HOW did you do that, and what in God's name did I see anyway?" Sano rubbed his hand over tired eyes that burned with fatigue and then let himself wander back over the disturbing memories from the morning before.

'You are Vampire, Ken-san! You cannot escape it...' Sano had thought he was going insane when he watched the old man's eyes turn into bloody burning coals and the incredibly long canines growing out of his mouth, but before that could hardly register, Kenshin was throwing that same old man half way across the shaded patio like he was a sack of potatoes. Fifteen feet? Twenty maybe, Sano could not be quite sure unless he went out and actually measured the distance, but he knew it was a substantial amount of area that Kenshin had tossed the other male, and then, to make matters worse, Sano had watched his best friend in the world not to mention the most pessimistic guy he had ever known, stand up and 'jump' that same distance pinning the older male to the ground. That was when everything really went wrong.

Kenshin had gone completely nuts. He had started punching the old man whom he had called Grandfather his whole life in a way that left no doubts he wanted to beat the brains out of his head and smear them all over the pale gray cement patio. And he had started to scream... scream like a crazy man in a high desperate voice that had tore at Sano's guts finally forcing him out of his frozen shock and making him move. 'I am not a Vampire! I am not a Vampire! I am not a Vampire!' But before Sano could reach the hysterical man, he had done something that, even now, the tall dark-eyed detective could not entirely accept.

He had reared back, bared his teeth like a wild animal, and then lunged into his

grandfather's exposed throat... and bit him, hard. Hard enough to draw blood, and when Sano pulled him off of the old man, the stuff was dripping off his chin like honey and Kenshin was practically unconscious. Things had only gotten stranger from there. As He and Kenshin's grandfather helped the stumbling red-head to his feet, he seemed in a daze not knowing hardly where he was or what had happened. They had set him down in one of the chairs and as Sano wiped off his face, Kenshin's grandfather began asking him what he remembered.

He was confused, so the old man asked him so just try and remember what they had been doing... the two Himura's had looked at each other for a several pregnant seconds and then Kenshin had literally passed out cold.

Sano had carried him into the house and laid him on the bed in the spare room Kenshin's Grandfather kept, and then the two of them began to try and wake him up. For nearly an hour they tried until finally the older male waved Sano aside and sat down next to Kenshin on the bed. Sano watched as he reached out and took the younger mans hand in his, and then bent his head and closed his eyes.

The room had remained quiet for a long time as Kenshin's grandfather concentrated on trying to reach him, and finally he lifted his head and sat looking blankly at the wall for several moments. "The choice is now his to make... I can do nothing else for him." He had said in a tired sad voice as he turned and looked at a very confused Sano. "You have been his tovaras and companion through many trials and hard times, Sanosuke. He will need you now, more than he ever has before."

"I-I don't understand," He had stammered into the face of a man he had believed to be in his last years of life, but now looked no older than Kenshin himself. "What the hell is going on? What are you?" The other man had smiled then, a very sad and self depreciating smile as he looked down at the hand that cradled Kenshin's within its tender clasp.

"I am... Vampire, Sanosuke. I am that which has walked this earth for more than 700 years, and Ken-san is my grandson by blood. He is also 'Cel'."

"Cel?"

"'The One'. Ken-san is the chosen one that my people have been waiting for for 6 centuries." Gentle hands had carefully brushed the heavy soft red hair out of the younger man's face and then softly stroked both of his flawless cheeks. "He is 'The Fang of Pythagoras", our Savior."

"Oh man... this is all a bunch of bullshit. Are you trying to tell me that Kenshin is some Vampire God or something that is supposed to rise from the dead and save the rest of the Vampires? From what? All you guys are dead anyway."

"No, that is not true, my tovaras. WE are not dead, only the 'Made' occupy the shells of a lifeless body that requires the blood of the living to survive. The body of 'A Pure Blood' lives and breaths just like yours, and we have a soul and a spirit just like you... though we tend to live a bit... ahh, longer than humans." Sparking blue eyes had twinkled unashamedly at the last part of the statement, and Sano found himself smiling back. "Both races are bound by many of the same rules, such as sunlight being an enemy to avoid, as well as silver and any object than may penetrate our hearts. But, where only silver and wood will destroy a Made, any object through our living heart will kill us... just as it would you... human."

"So... you aren't invincible?"

"Of course not... we are just another species of life trying to find a place to call our own so that we may coexist peacefully along side the other species."

"And the 'Made'?"

"They would kill us all and claim the human population as their exclusive feeding grounds... you would all eventually become either 'Made's' yourselves, or just food for the 'Gods'."

"That's unreal... How do you expect me to believe all that crap?"

"I don't... but consider what you have seen here today and then tell me what you believe."

"I still don't get it... what is Kenshin supposed to do if he is this 'One' you keep talking about?"

"It is his fate, Sanosuke... It is Ken-san's fate to unite the Pure Blood Clan's and then lead us into Civil War."

"WAR?? Are you shittin' me? Civil war? With who?"

"The Made... And their Leader, a man I once knew as Gustav Uriel... but the world knows him by another name now."

"The... the world? You mean this guy is out in the general population? A Vampire?"

"But of course." A nasty laugh had followed that reply as the white-haired man had once more looked into Sano's confused face. "We do not always hide and lurk about in the shadows with black capes and bad make-up."

"Ok... quit with the crap. Who is this guy? If the 'whole' world knows him, who is he?"

"The richest man in Europe and Aisa combined, Sanosuke... One of the biggest leaders of organized crime and drug smuggling the world has ever seen... The Black Diamond himself..."

"Bullshit! Your talking about..."

"Hajime Saitou, the owner and president of 'Black Diamond Enterprises'."

"But... but he's the largest manufacturer of surgical medical equipment in the Northern Hemisphere... do you have any idea 'who' you are talking about? This guy is worth billions and that is just from the franchise rights."

"I know that, tovaras... what better way to get yourself in contact with the major population points of the world than to run a business everyone needs, as well as be the top cocaine and heroin provider on the European front?"

"Those are only rumors, nothing has ever been proved. No one can even get close enough to this guy to get a decent picture. He's got so many damned body guards you'd be lucky if you got a wiff of his cars exhaust before one of them snapped your neck."

"They protect him very closely... He is very important to them and they will do anything to keep him safe."

"Anything?"

"Desigur... anything."

"Great... just great." The white-haired man had stood up and made to leave only to stop at the doorway and look back.

"Gustav Urial led the revolt that destroyed my home city, and over 8,000 people died that night beneath the swords of the Made who were sworn to his command. But it was Gustav himself who mounted the Palace steps shouting out his challenge and insults before my Father and Lady Mother... and it was his sword whose stroke severed my father's head from his body." Sano's brown eyes had widened in horror as he was forced to envision the horror of a son watching his father being murdered in such a bloody manner. "And it was he who stole the riches from the Palace and the burial vaults of the ancient Vampire Kings long past to begin the life of luxury and business that he now enjoys. He is the one the Made turn to as their Leader... He is 'their' Savior... Their God... It is He who they believe will win victory over 'Cel'... and if he does... the world shall weep in despair for all eternity, for no blood shall ever be spared the fangs of the Made. No blood will be sacred or respected... and life as it is now will cease to be... forever."

He had left at that point, softly closing the door behind him and leaving Sano to wonder and stew over what he could not accept as truth, but could not deny as fact. After all, he had seen the old man transform into a Vampire... and he had seen what had happened to Kenshin because of it... so, if it were all true?

"Shit..." He muttered and rubbed his face in exhausted frustration. "Come on and wake up, Bud... we really gotta talk." Looking at the writhing moaning form of his best friend as he shuddered beneath the blankets. "What's going on inside of your head anyway?"

Blood.... he could see it... smell it... feel it on his skin... taste it in his mouth... it was everywhere he looked. It dripped from the stones and ran in rivulets through the dry earth forming crimson puddles wherever the ground dipped or scooped into a depression. It was splattered upon the granite steps of the majestic pale pink palace that rose towering into the dark sky, and floated in the icy cold air like a red mist hovering above the ancient battlefield.

'I'm here...' He thought in awe struck horror as his wide violet eyes looked around at the carnage that had begun to materialize before him. 'I'm really here... oh dear God... it's not possible... it's not pos...' A great moaning cry rose up behind him and he whirled around in terror only to find himself confronted by one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen.

Her hair was long, nearly to the ground and blowing like a white blizzard about her slender form as she rose from the ground and stood before him. Great blue eyes, sparkling like sapphire diamonds in the clear moonlight, looked out at him from a delicate, elfin face as her bow shaped lips formed a sad smile. Her green velvet and satin gown, though stained with her own blood, remained beautiful and crisp as it had been the night she had died... and the wound. Dear God, the wound in her throat... the flesh lay open in a gash of ragged tissues that bared the muscle, tendons, and various blood vessels that occupied that part of her anatomy. It looked as if a great claw had just reached out and ripped her to shreds... Kenshin shuddered and swallowed hard as he realized that was exactly what had happened.

The clawed fingernails of a 'Made' had slashed across her pale creamy flesh and tore the life from her by ripping out the two main arteries in her throat, the jugular and the carotid, in one fatal stroke of their razor sharp talons, and it had taken her only moments to bleed to death. Suddenly tears were clouding his vision as he considered who this woman had to be and his ultimate connection to her. 'This is my great-grandmother.' He thought. 'And I never had the chance to know her... it's not right... it's just not right... damn them.... damn them all.'

"Do you know who I am,?" The woman asked as she rose to her full height which was

perhaps an inch taller than Kenshin.

"I... I am not completely certain." He replied not sure if he were dreaming or if this was a vision, but one way or the other he was not certain what to say to one who had been dead for so long.

"I am Nadia," Her voice was soft and cultured as it drifted to him on the cold night breeze. "I am your Great-Grandmother, and I have been waiting for you... for so long... so long." Not realizing he had even been looking at the ground Kenshin's head snapped up to look at her wistful face, and found those amazing blue eyes gazing lovingly upon his visage. "It has been many years since the night I foretold the World of your coming, Almighty Fang, and I have been waiting for you to find your way back to me." She was speaking in the old tongue and Kenshin was suddenly very grateful to his grandfather for making him learn the all but dead language because he had understood her perfectly.

"Y-you have?" Kenshin stumbled over his words in astonishment both from the fact that she was speaking to him, and because she seemed to know exactly who he was.

"Desigur, Great One. My soul has watched the world as it has evolved, and I have over seen the making of your great army as the clans have thrived and multiplied in hiding these many hundreds of years... and I have waited for The Time of Vengeance to draw near... the time of our Justice against the 'Made'... against the spilling of so much innocent blood as they did in this place on that night so long ago."

"Is that what this is all about, Grand-Mother? Vengeance... revenge for the revolution?" Kenshin's voice filled with disdain as the bitter taste of gall rose in the back of his throat at the thought of a war based on petty revenge. "I will not be the one to lead our people into a Civil War simply for revenge against the 'Made'... I am not that kind of a

man... I could not ask so many to give their lives for something so base and primitive. Revenge is not a just cause to die for." As he looked up into her extraordinary face, Kenshin gasped in wonder as he watched the most glorious smile he had ever envisioned grace her ethereal face. "What?" He asked in confusion as she moved toward him and rested her slender graceful hands on his shoulders. "I don't understand... why-why are you smiling?"

"Because, my beautiful child... YOU truly are The One. " If anything, Kenshin looked even more confused by her words and his face reflected as much. "You have a strong sense of Justice and Loyalty as well as a strong and pure heart. You will make an excellent Leader for our people. The Fates have chosen well... and I am proud of you... Ken-san."

"You know... my name?" He was confounded, but she only smiled and nodded.

"Desigur, I know many things about you, Ken-san...." Her enormous blue eyes looked

deeply into his bewildered violet, and when she spoke again, her voice was soft... gentle... but there was an edge beneath it that broke no denials from him. "You are Vampire, Ken-san. You can no longer deny this part of your soul... and you cannot deny the blood that runs through your veins." He could feel her eyes piercing into him and a part of his soul cried out in recognition as an unknown, yet familiar warmth began to spread through his vitals. "It is my blood... Your Grand-Father's blood, and... my Son's blood."

"The-the Prince.... the one who survived? The last surviving member of the Royal family... is that whom you mean?"

"Desigur... You know who he is, yet you deny what he is even though he had cradled your soul in his heart and hands from the day your were born."

"Grandfather..." Kenshin whispered in an agonized voice as the tears that had been

swimming in his eyes finally spilled over his lashes and ran down his cheeks. "He... he said... I... but I couldn't... I..."

"Shhhhh," She wrapped her arms around him and held him to her undamaged side, gently stroking his thick red hair with her pale hands. "He knows you love him, and he knows that you were afraid and confused... Crede was always the loving and sensitive of my sons... and it is he who I have missed the most. He understands what is in your heart, Beloved, and he will not hold your emotions against you."

"Prince Crede..." The name slipped out from between his lips as he burrowed against her throat seeking the comfort of her quiet strength like a child nuzzling against its Mother. "It is true then... all of it... every bloody gory detail... it all really happened, didn't it?"

"Desigur, My Love. It was the worst slaughter any of us could remember. Nothing like it before had ever happened... nothing. We had always been a peaceful people, or so we tried to be."

"Why then? Why did they do it?"

"Arrogance... pride... greed. There are many reasons for one species to seek the annihilation of another, including jealousy and envy... Gustav Uriel had been one of my husband's greatest warriors and most trusted battle advisor's, but Gustav believed that he and his kind were better, stronger than the 'Pure Bloods' and he obtained enough followers behind his cause to launch a surprise attack upon Ameck and all her inhabitants."

"The entire city?" Kenshin's voice was aghast as his mind withdrew from the horror of the slaughter of so many unarmed people. "Everyone?"

"Desigur, over 8,000 people died beneath the blades, fangs, and claws of Uriel's army that night... the old, the young... women, children, babies... none were spared his bloodlust. Only 44 people survived the massacre including my son, and it is because of him and a long trusted friend that our people did not die out completely. Do you know how they survived, Ken-san?"

"The Clan's." She nodded and Kenshin felt her chin against his forehead. The story of the Clan's had always fascinated him the way they had split up into groups of two to four and dispersed across the face of the known world. "That is how they survived all this time... spreading out into so many different countries... hiding in so many different places."

"That is partly true, but you must understand they have not been hiding."

"What do you mean?" He asked, feeling confused again. "If not hiding, what?"

"They have been fighting... fighting for their lives and the lives of their clan everyday."

"From whom?"

"The 'Made', dear one. Even now they hunt us wherever we go, but because we are spread so far and wide, so must they spread themselves to search for us. In smaller numbers, they are much easier to evade and prepare for."

"They have been fighting all this time?"

"Desigur... every night there are battles being waged in the streets of the cities and towns across the world, small battles but battles nontheless... they even fight around you, My Love, right before your eyes and you have not seen even one of them."

"The murders... the murders in the allies...I was right."

"You were." Once more she nodded and Kenshin felt her arms tighten. "But you must listen to me, Beloved... you must be careful now... the Vampire responsible for these particular murders does not kill at random and she does not kill for the pleasure. It is her assignment, she is a Slayer, A warrior... and she is not an ordinary 'Pure Blood', she

is very special."

"Special? Special how? I don't understand?"

"She is your Mate, Dear one."

"My Mate?!"

"Desigur. She is The Source. It is through her blood that you will fully realize and achieve your strength and power."

"Her blood? Do you mean... are you saying..." He began to tremble in her arms.

"She must bite you, and then you must bite her... the joining of your bloods will bond your hearts and souls together in ways you cannot even begin to imagine... but it will be her blood that will be the key to unlock the power within you that Crede has been suppressing all of your human life... Her blood will set you free and make you what you are meant to be... you will become The Fang of Pythagoras.... and no ones strength will match your own... Not even Gustov Uriel's." Kenshin's head was swimming with the magnitude of all of this amazing information and he could feel a dull ache beginning in the base of his skull as the tension and enormity of the situation began to take its toll.

"My Mate..." He breathed in awe as he tried to picture what she might look like in his mind.

"Desigur, and you must keep her from being caught by your... policemen. They will try to kill her with their guns and bullets. You must not let her die. If you do, everything we have worked for all these long centuries will be lost."

"How can I keep her safe if I can't find her, Grand-Mother? No one has been able to even get so much as a hair sample off any of her victims... how do I find her?"

"I will help you," Once more her voice became that soft, gentle tone with its underlying edge of steel seeping through and Kenshin pulled away from the comfort of her undamaged throat and shoulder to look into her shimmering eyes.

"How? How can you help me?" Suddenly he felt like a lost child who knew nothing and he desperately wanted to know the answers... all of the answers.

"You must do everything I tell you too, child... are you willing?" A shiver lanced up his spine as he felt his first glint of unease with her since they had spoken.

"I... yes, I... I am willing."

"Do you trust me, My Love? Do you believe that I would only do things that are meant to help you and not cause you harm?" Again the trepidation knifed its way though his soul and Kenshin felt little tension knot forming in the pit of his stomach. What the hell was she getting at? What was so damn ominous that she was trying to prepare him by scaring the shit out of him?

"Y-yes, I trust you." His voice dropped to a hoarse whisper and he swallowed hard against the dry lump forming in his throat his eyes growing wide as she moved purposefully toward him.

"Then, for all that is good and righteous in this world, Ken-san... bite me."

"Wh-what?" He croaked as she inclined her head to the side exposing her undamaged throat to him.

"Bite me... drink.... take some of my blood, child, and it will help you find Vampire energy and follow it, but you must drink... do it now." The chilling command hammered into his frozen brain and Kenshin's wild violet gaze darted to her face finding it calm and expectant as she waited. "Bite me, Ken-san... bite me and drink."

"But... but, isn't this just a vision? A dream?" He stumbled backward nearly falling down in the process. "You aren't real... are you?"

"You have touched me, have you not?"

"I... yes, but..."

"Did I feel real to you?"

"Yes, but..."

"We are in the place between the worlds of the living and the dead... your soul and mine, and here, we are real... do you believe me?"

"I don't know what I believe anymore..." Kenshin shook his head in dismay as she

approached him once more. "But if you are real, then I have no choice, do I?"

"There are always choices, My Love... did not the spirit of the Mother tell you that when she placed the choice of your future before you?"

"How do you know that?"

"We are connected, dear one... through our blood, just as Crede told you we were. I was waiting for you to make your choice and praying you would choose the path that led you to this place... to me... to The Place of The One and you did."

"I have run away and played the denial game as long as I can... haven't I?"

"Desigur, you have. It is time to take up the Mantle of your Station, My Love... it is time to step onto the path of your Fate and take your place among those who have waited with so much faith for you for such a long time."

"I... I am... afraid."

"I know... I would be worried about you if you were not." His head snapped up and he

stared into her beautiful serene face in shock.

"You... you would?"

"Of course... A Leader who is unafraid is a poor Leader because he has no morals, no

conscience, and no real love for those he leads. Thus, his he and his people are weak even if their numbers are large."

"Uriel..."

"You understand quickly. That is good." She smiled once more and cupped his cheek in her hand. "Arrogance and pride are the tools of defeat, My Love. As long as Gustav believes he is invincible, he is vulnerable... that is his weakness. Remember it well, and use it against him."

"I will." He nodded and covered her hand with his so he could tenderly kiss the palm. "Will I see you again?" He asked anxiously.

"Perhaps, if the time comes that you need me again... perhaps." And then she was gently but deliberately pulling him into her firm embrace cradling his head against her shoulder as she pressed his lips into her fragile throat. "Drink, My Love... and become Great." Suddenly Kenshin wasn't afraid of her anymore... wasn't afraid of what she wanted to do, and somewhere inside his head he felt a part of him stir and stretch as if trying to wake from a long slumber, and as it did so, he could feel the beginnings of sharp pointed fangs growing from his upper canines.

"Astonishing..." He whispered as he opened his mouth and let his tongue slide along the sensitive hollow of her throat instinctively finding that certain place where the blood flowed the heaviest and began laving it tenderly in a slow almost erotic motion. A low moan slipped free from her as she urged him closer begging him to take what she offered, and as a deep throated growl rumbled from low inside his chest, Kenshin swiftly and cleanly sank his fangs into her sweet flesh feeling an immediate surging of her hot blood as it flooded over his tongue and down his throat.

Ecstasy... mindless ecstasy. That was what he was experiencing as the rich honey thick

blood poured through his senses drowning him in a pleasure he had never known existed or was even possible. A heat that was completely unnatural but utterly intoxicating suffused every nerve ending in his body and he suddenly felt as if he might burst with just the pure joy of being that rushed through his heart and soul. He could feel her arms wrapped tightly around his neck and shoulders, and a part of him reveled in the fact that her agonized moans of pleasure were because of him and his hands fell to her slender hips roughly pulling her closer to him as his fangs sank ever deeper into succulence that was her.

Then, she was pushing him away with a strength that defied her small stature and he

stumbled falling to the ground as a wave of dizziness washed over him causing him to lose his balance. Holding his head in his hands, Kenshin moaned in discomfort as he waited for the world to right itself, and as he did, his mind started to race at an alarming rate of speed. Thoughts, images, half-conceived ideas all rushed by so quickly that the surge of nausea that rose within him caught him by surprise, and he found himself leaning over and vomiting onto the frozen ground. Opening his eyes, he blankly observed his own regurgitated leavings noting that it was indeed, blood, but it could have only been a fraction of the amount he had drank off of her.

"You try to take too much your first time, child..." Her breathless voice brought him around and he saw that she was holding the side of her neck with one hand and her stomach with the other. "You are not ready for so much as you took..."

"It... it was amazing." He whispered in awe and as his vision slowly began to clear, the night suddenly began to come alive before his very eyes. "What the...?" Struggling to his feet, Kenshin looked around himself in wide-eyed wonder. "Everything is... so bright... and the colors... Oh my God... the colors." Before him the Palace was a gleaming tower of glowing mauve and the surrounding gray granite stones had turned to a brilliant sparkling silver as the moonlight shone downward catching each nuance and shift in the chiseled surfaces. The ground itself was peppered with dancing lights of blue, green, red, and white as small stones caught and reflected the purity of the light turning it into a kaleidoscope of colors beneath his very feet as it stretched endlessly across the icy mountaintop. It seemed the night had come alive with the brilliance of hidden colors that only his Vampire eyes could show him, and Kenshin found himself entranced by the sheer beauty and wonder of it all.

But it was the blood that truly captured the essence of the moonlight to reveal its deepest and most glorious beauty that even in death could not be quelled. Every drop, every stream, every splatter gleamed and shimmered like the most brilliant rubies and richest silks he had ever seen or could have imagined... and it was glowing like red satin everywhere. Turning in a slow arduous circle, Kenshin surveyed the newly exposed battlefield, the thousands upon thousands of dead and mangled bodies that shimmered before his new Vampire eyes and, in his own personal horror, finally understood what being The One was really all about.

It was about this... the blood.... the murders of over 8,000 innocent people who had not deserved to die without being given the chance to defend themselves. Gustav Uriel had not declared War when he led the Revolution upon Ameck, he had declared genocide and had nearly succeeded in putting an end to the 'Pure Blood' species forever. He and his Army had killed without thought, prejudice, or remorse and despite their reasonings for doing what they had done, it was still wrong.

One does not wage war upon the innocent, nor does one spill the blood of one's enemy

without just cause or declaration. It was true, there had been abuse of the 'Made' by many of the 'Pure Bloods' who 'owned' or 'employed' them, and the government was trying to limit their numbers in an effort to spare the human population their 'curse', but those were not good enough reasons to wreck the havoc and decimation they had wrought upon these peoples and their innocents. Before him, glowing upon the ground in puddle after puddle, body upon body, was proof of how many had died and deep within his heart Kenshin knew why he had been chosen.

"It has to stop," He whispered into the cold night air seeing for the first time the translucent puff of steam his breath created in front of his face. "He can't be allowed to do this again... someone has to stop him..."

"Someone, Ken-san?" Nadia walked up behind him and placed her hand upon his shoulder feeling the muscles flexing in agitation beneath his skin. "Who? Who can stop such a thing as this from happening again? No one has been able to stand up to fight him for hundreds of years... who will stop it?"

"I will." It was a lead solid statement that almost sounded like a threat as Kenshin turned to face her one more time. "I'm a policeman, and a damn good one at that. I know how to plan and I know how to give orders, and I know how to make people listen to me." He paused and looked up into the darkness of the night sky and stared at the fullness of the moon for a long moment, and then spoke again. "I find people for a living... and this asshole is going to be no exception... I 'will' find him, and then we shall see what we shall see."

"You must be prepared, My Love. You must find your Mate and her sensei... they will help you gather the Clan's, and they will teach you to fight."

"I already know how to fight, Grandfather taught me."

"Desigur, I know, but now you must learn to fight like a Vampire, dear one... and that is different." He had not thought of that.

"I have to leave now, Grand-Mother. I have much to do."

"Desigur, your Mate needs you, Ken-san." His gaze whipped back to her in alarm at the tone of her voice.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"They will find her soon ... your policemen... they will find her, and she will not be able to escape."

"What's going to happen to her?" His alarm was growing by leaps and bounds as a strange fear reached inside of him and gripped his heart strangling it and making him catch his breath in pain.

"They are going to shoot her... in the ally. They are going to corner her and she is going to be shot..."

"NO!" He shouted furiously and suddenly he was running blindly through the sparkling mist toward a place that he somehow knew was the way out, and as his breathing accelerated and his heart began to thunder wildly inside of his chest, Kenshin's mind began to scream in a primitive fury and anger he had never known himself capable of. "Don't touch her you bastards! Don't touch HER!!" A solid wall of blackness rose before him, and he threw himself against it like a battering ram and burst through, and razor sharp shards of the shattered wall exploded in all directions as he rolled through unharmed.

One moment he was moaning and thrashing among the twisted sheets on the bed, the next he sat bolt upright, flaming amber eyes wide open, lips pealed back in a frightening snarl baring his elongated viciously looking canines, and then in a blur of flaming red he was gone leaving his bewildered partner behind shouting his name frantically.

"Keeeennnshhin??"

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