Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Blood and Amber ❯ Death ( Chapter 4 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Battousai readied himself for battoujitsu, preparing himself for when his opponent finally came at him. When Kaoru whispered no, it was as though someone had dropped a coin- it was their signal to start. Battousai watched in near amusement as the man raced towards him. It was barely a question of speed anymore- Battousai knew that he was faster, and got angrier with himself for not catching up with this swine on that chase.......
"Huggggghhhhhhh." the man gasped, falling down on his side. Battousai has struck with his sword, knocking him aside as easily as you or I would swat a fly. The man went down and stayed there for a moment, gasping for breath. Battousai took that moment and went to Kaoru. He quickly severed the ropes binding her, and told her to run.
"Leave. You won't want to witness this." He turned away, but she pulled him back.
"Please.... Kenshin.. don't kill. You swore not to kill...." The Battousai glared at her, and felt a twinge of remorse. He felt...... guilty for glaring at her. It might have had something to do with the way she flinched, ecspecially when he spoke next.
"No." She whimpered, and he felt liked he had kicked a puppy. He brought her face up to his, and spoke to her in a softer tone of voice.
"He hurt something..... very precious to me. Extremely precious." He let the back of his hand caress her cheek lightly, but then withdrew his hand, not even grimicing at the small streak of blood his touch had left on her cheek. "Don't you want me to kill him for you? For what he did to your hand?" Kaoru looked at him, big blue eyes brimming with tears.
"Yes, Kenshin, I do want him dead for causing you and me that kind of pain, but....." She took a deep breath, then continued. "......But a rurouni I love took a vow never to kill again, and I know that- if he kills- he'll never be able to wash off the blood." She looked deep into his eyes then, without flinching. "I don't want him to suffer that guilt." Her tears were pouring now, as she grabbed his hand and put it back on her cheek, not seeming to care that she'd get her face bloody too, as well as her sleeping yukata.
"I want my rurouni again..." She closed her eyes, feeling defeat wash over her, then she felt something else. She opened her eyes wide. Battousai was kissing her, but it was a chaste kiss, the kind you'd expect from the rurouni, not Battousai. She was about to let herself melt into it when she saw something beyond Battousai's shoulder that he couldn't. She screamed.
"Look out!" She grabbed Battousai in a tight embrace and turned them around, so that it was her back facing the man with death on his mind and in his eyes. His sword slashed her back open, not Battousai's. She saw his eyes widen in shock, then felt herself falling backwards. She vaguely sensed that she was smiling.
Then her eyes closed, the energy taken completely out of her by the days events.

*Kaoru's thoughts/feelings*
His lips were so sweet, and soft, almost like the fine silk I've seen in the markets. I so wanted to just kiss him- blood on his face or no- but.....
Over his shoulder, I saw the man who had so cruelly cut open my finger. He had a blade in his hand. The fight came back to me.
'NO!' I thought violently, wrapping my hands around Kenshin and spinning us around, crying out.
"Look out!" (Kaoru means the pain of seperation and stuff like that. Everything will become clear in the end. expect 3 REVIEWS BEFORE I POST AGAIN! Just wanted to get that out of the way... on with the fic!)

*Battousai's thoughts/feelings*
I was kissing her. In all my life, I had never kissed a woman so pure, nor with so much restraint. Then suddenly she was screaming, then turning us around. At first, I was confused, but then I saw her fall, back bloody and torn, yet somehow she was smiling. As she fell, a cold rage ignited within me. How dare he? How dare that man?

Battousai watched helplessly as Kaoru fell, a wound in her back. He kneeled over her unconscious body, searching for a pulse. After a few seonds of frantic searching, he found one. It wasn't that strong, but it was it's prescense that gave Battousai strength. He felt and heard the air whistle as a sword went by, aimed at his back, trying to give him a similar wound to the one on his woman. He gritted his teeth, and dodged the oncoming sword easily, Kaoru's body in tow. He knew that it wasn't wise to move her- it could circulate her blood faster, making her wounds run instead of trickle. He set her down gently, then faced his opponent, angerier then he had ever been.
"You hurt her...." His aura started to glow around him. "You swine......" Battousai spit the last word out, feeling his rurouni side echo his sentiments. The man looked afraid then, with good reason. The battle resumed, and this time, Kenshin didn't even seem to care if he got hurt, as long as he delivered a blow or two of his own. The two broke apart, bloody and panting from exhaustion. Kenshin's sword once again dripped, as he did. Blood pooled beneath the two fighters, thought neither noticed it.
Nothing moved, as if they were waiting for something.
"Not bad." the man said offhandedly, once he caught his breath. Now that he had actually fought the Battousai, and had seen him get as tired as any normal man meant that the Battousai was indeed human, and humans can be killed.
"Why don't you join us? Lose that nonsense 'rurouni' guise and return to the hitokiri you once were? We could use a swordsman of your skill."
"I have no need for a large group. You hurt Kaoru." Battousai took a few steps forward. Unconsciously, the man moved back. "I will not forgive that. Have you ever heard of someone hurting something or someone close to Hitokiri Battousai and livng to tell about it?" Each word was punctuated by another slow, deadly step forward. The man kept moving back, and soon he was at the wall.
"N-no, I have not." Battousai kept staring- just staring- at the pathetic creature in front of him. The man's face widened in realization, though he had suspected this all along.
Despite his vow never to kill again, the Battousai would take his life.
He didn't want to die. His numb fingers dropped his sword, and he flinched as he watched Hitokiri Battousai deliberately flip over his sword, so that the sharp edge would be the one to hit.
"You never will, either." Battousai raised his sword as the man slumped to the ground, staring wide-eyed at the sword that would sever his head from his body.
"No.. no...." he whispered, wondering where the hell he had gone wrong.

Kaoru opened her eyes groggily. Her back hurt, with a firey pain that couldn't be described. She touched it gentely, wincing, as her memories returned.
"Kenshin...." she whispered, touching her finger's to her lips. Just minutes before, he had kissed her. He hadn't ever shown feelings like this for her..... ever.... he had always been so polite, catering to her every need with a smile on his face, even though she had never done anything for him. He had never said a word about liking her, or her being his.
Wait a minute, hadn't it been Battousai who had kissed her?
'No.' she thought slowly, thinking everything out. 'Kenshin will always be Kenshin to me, no matter if his eyes are violet or amber. He's just more gentle and caring when his eyes are purple, and more possessive and violent when his eyes are golden. He'll always be my Kenshin.' She glanced around for him, and just spotted him as he raised his sword.
"- will, either." he said, getting ready to swing. The sword started down, impossibly fast, but it was like slow motion for the occupants of the room. Kaoru watched in horror as the sharp side of the sword glinted, realizing that this wasn't a knock out blow. This would kill the man. Kenshin would kill.
"KENSHIN! You're a Rurouni now, not Hitokiri anymore! KENSHIN!" How Kaoru managed to yell that out that quickly was a mystery to her. She struggled to get up, but her wound burned so much it was impossible at that moment. She felt Kenshin's eyes on her, and whispered.
"Not hitokiri.... rurouni...."
All this had happened in three seconds.

Kaoru had shouted. Battousai processed the words quickly, but his sword still descended. He was forced to remember his vow, and his eyes widened at the horror he was about to commit. He didn't even register Kaoru's whisper. He tried to turn the sword over in mid-swing, milimeters from the man's neck, but her just managed to get it turned on a bit of an angle bbefore the sword buried itself deep into the man windpipe.
No one had ever survived such a blow before. Kenshin dropeed the hilt of the sword, backing up and stumbling, numb. His eyes had gone back to purple.
The man gasped.
"Help me......" he whispered to no one. "Help me....!" the man crawled a few inches, his blood staining the floor, the outer edge of the puddle reaching to Kenshin's feet.
"No..." Kenshin whispered, afraid of himself. The man took one last shuddering breath,and died. His body stopped shaking on the floor, his glassy eyes staring, accusing Kenshin. The rurouni just stared at his hands. They were covered in blood again, both literally and figuratively. In his rage, he had disregarded this man's life. In the heat of battle, he had killed again, not thinking of the repercussions. He had held himself back in other battles, but this was the one in which he had killed, for the first time since the Bakumatsu ended.
"Kenshin...." Kaoru said, not wanting to startle him. Her effort was wasted. He quickly moved his head to look at her, his hair flopping and blood flying off of it. Now that he noticed it, after the heat of battle, he was soaked in blood, from head to toe, dripping with the ugly red liquid. His cuts were many, and major inujuries few. He just shot her that one scared, pained look,then looked back at his hands.
Blood already dried on them.

Kaoru watched him. She had watched him since the blade had struck home, killing the poor man in a few seconds. She stared, feeling like it was the only thing she could do, her expression a mixture of shock, fear, and remorse. She was shocked that Kenshin had actually killed someone, after all these years....... she was sorry that the man was dead, but most of all, she was afraid of what Kenshin might do now- not afraid for her life, but for what he'd do to himself now that he had killed again.
"No....." Kenshin whispered, staring at his hands.
"Kenshin...." Kaoru whispered, seeing him 'wake up' as it were, like he had been in a trancelike state, and only now realized what had happened. She saw him glance at her, and was actually able to read his expression, so raw and powerful were his emotions. He was afraid. Afraid of himself. Many were critically wounded, a man was dead, just because of him.
"It's... my fault......." Kenshin whispered. Kaoru said nothing, probably the worst path to take. He saw it as her blaming him, and a small part of her did blame him, so he wasn't too far off the mark.
"Kenshin.... you did kill him, but you tried to stop yourself.." Kaoru said, knowing that the words were useless. Kenshin knew it too.
"Did I?" he asked out loud. "Did I do everything to turn the blade around? Or did I just make a half-hearted attempt? Either way, he is dead by my hand, after I swore not to kill again." He laughed faintly, a dry, humourless laugh. "Even using a sword with a reversed blade couldn't stop my nature to kill....."
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