Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Desire ❯ L'alimentazione di Arrivederci ( Chapter 6 )

Chapter VI: The Power of Goodbye

For maximum pain, please play Tracy Chapman's Over in Love andGoodbye (especially on the last part) and as the title says, Madonna's Power of Goodbye. If you do not have these songs in your rack, you may play any nice angst-ridden ballad of your choice.

If you want to reread this whole thing, just to refresh your memory or for the sheer heck of it, read it at nfiction.com under the same title and nom de plume. Some of you may already have come across that site, which is uncannily like this one albeit with minor differences. It houses my NC17 version and the formatting is really nice and neat, just as I have wanted it unlike the one at mediaminer.org whose formatting preferences I still have to discover.

Thank you to all reviewers, silent or otherwise.

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"How terribly dramatic," a feminine voice purred from the corridor outside the dojo entrance. It was Yumi, clad in a brick red robe and surrounded by women dressed like ninjas. Some of them were dressed in tight robes that were cut past their thighs while the rest wore traditional ninja couture. Everyone turned around to see them. Kenshin's head remained bowed and paid no usual attention to the sultry woman.

"I've come to claim the seed which I planted several days ago," she said and a grim smile formed in her rouge lips.

"What is your business here, Yumi-dono? I was at the understanding that you and your Amazons were at Nowhere," the Sage asked as he approached the woman. Several of her Amazons were dispersed on the yard in front of the dojo while others were perched on the high wall. Their scythes and shurikens were suspiciously at the ready, as if prepared for battle.

Yumi let out a delicate snort. "You understand nothing, old man. Finally I'll be able to showcase the beauty of my plan. But first things first." She stepped past the Sage and into the dojo and raised a haughty stare against the other people who were situated there. As she sauntered inside, she blew kisses to the impassive crowd of the Wolf, Reverse, Mountain and the Ice. When she received phlegmatic, marginally appalled stares, her trek was stopped short by the Neutral.

"Your business, madam?" he asked with his thumb in the hilt.

Yumi noticed the stance. "There's no need to be defensive, Soujirou-san, I am here to pay respects to our master," she replied. She tried to move the other way, but there seemed to be something barring her movement. She continued to push her foot forward but it was futile.

"What sorcery is this? You do not have power over me, I am an immortal!" she uttered vehemently. Seeing that on this side she was immobile, she moved the other way. She reaped the same results. The other people in the room looked on, bemused and amused. With her huffing and puffing, Yumi however, did not understate her comeliness. She furthered with her pushing but found, much to her consternation, that her bones moved like lead.

"My symbol, the chrysoprase. It acts under the same principle as the Reverse's beryl which is stopping time. The only difference is that it stops the time governing the individual, not the environment around him, or in this case her," he showed her the gleaming gem on the hilt of his sword. "I suppose that is because people, not the environment, threaten other people. My duty is to protect. In this circumstance, our master apparently requires protection from you," he finished. Several snorts were heard in the background.

Yumi grinned despite herself. "Thank you for educating me, Soujirou-san, but my business is with the master. Now, move," she enjoined.

"Whatever you want to say to me, say it to everyone else," Kenshin spoke after his moment of silence. He lay down Yutaro's head, whose body was devoid of all wounds through the Comfort's powers, and stood in front of everyone. There appeared to be a hint of difference in him. His hair was subtly longer and a deeper tone of scarlet, his eyes somber and his countenance assured, like his voice. His frame, no longer frail, came to be slightly robust and fuller, as if he had more square meals and a week's worth of rest.

"But this message is for your ears only master, " she amended.

"Oh? How so?" Kenshin asked with his brow nonchalantly raised.

Yumi hesitated. "Well, like I said earlier, I came here to congratulate you for your successful Judgment, and...and..." an awkward pause ensued because any further explanations were null.

"Your felicitations are duly noted."

She suddenly laughed darkly. "It would have been so much nicer had you accepted taking the message privately, my dearest master. It would have been more dramatic." With a snap of her fingers, the Amazons started to file inside the yard and the others out in the hallways. All of the Pillars eyed them almost lazily.

"Surely you bluff woman. Do you know the consequences of being a traitor? Besides, it doesn't have to take all of us to wipe you and your pathetic little gang off; one swipe and you're all in hell," Okita the Reverse chastised.

"Obviously it is pointless to fight the Pillars all on my own. I am not as stupid as you may think, all of you. Like I said before, I am here to claim the seed I planted days ago," she stepped back and held out her hand on her side as if she was inviting someone to dance. On cue, in came Kaoru who was flanked by two burly Amazons. Her eyes were glowing blue and she was walking stiffly. Her head was in the clouds, so far was she from herself.

"Jou-chan! What in the world have you done to her?" Sanosuke yelled.

"Hold your tone, Tower. I am in control now." Yumi took Kaoru's hand and moved to stand behind her. The dojo now looked like a chessboard with Kenshin and the Pillars on one end and Yumi and her Amazons on the other.

"I'd say right now that neither of you should do anything that would cause my displeasure. With the power I have over all of you, it would do well to stay on my good side." Her free hand snaked over Kaoru's belly, right where her womb would be. She clutched the fabric shielding the other woman's flesh.

"I find conception a very peculiar activity, not to mention tedious. First, people delight themselves in the laudable occupation of coupling and then the women go through nine months of nausea and bodily pain. You suffer even more during childbirth; after all that pain, your child would turn into an ingrate. Don't you think that outweighs the optimistic reasons?" The hand that was over Kaoru's belly suddenly clenched tight and ground into the fabric as if it twisted something out. Kaoru remained passive, her face was a blank slate and her eyes remained an eerie glacial blue.

Kenshin's eyes surreptitiously slanted and smoldered. Not one flicker of emotion did he want to betray to the woman who was holding his wife hostage. Nevertheless, he wasn't taking things too lightly. He met eyes with Sanosuke.

"Life is borne out of pain. Let's see how much one person can endure." She plunged deep into Kaoru's flesh. The motion of her forearm suggested that she was searching blindly for something. Megumi whimpered in empathic desperation. Searching and searching, deeper and deeper yet not a shard of emotion marred Kaoru's face. And so did her husband's. All of a sudden it was done before they thought anything had begun. Yumi took out her hand from Kaoru's insides and was surprisingly devoid of blood. In her palm was a small orb that dimly glowed. Her deed accomplished, she roughly pushed the other girl away from her and into the arms of Sanosuke who had edged closer moments before. Kaoru fell limp in the man's arms and her eyes were no longer azure.

Instantly, when they have assuaged that Kaoru is alive and well, Kenshin sent out an air assault with his blade which had effortlessly bounced off an invisible shield, as if similar to that of Soujirou's minutes ago. He blinked in mild surprise, as well as the others, but didn't have much time to react as the surrounding Amazons commenced on a simultaneous attack.

It was an easy fight, no question. Those that weren't accustomed to fighting - the Sage and the Comfort - were competently protected by the Neutral who almost lazily immobilized half a dozen attackers. He finished them off with a graceful swing of his blade. His movements were calculated and precise; it appeared in choreographic manner. Magnificent blows were deftly executed.

It was the same with the others. Though unaware of their enemies' motives, it appeared to them that they knew their characters already. The Wolf and the Reverse didn't need to make use of the Fanged Illusion since precise steel thrusts overpowered their opponents' moves effortlessly. The Mountain created small wood "tsunamis" with the flick of his wrist which catapulted several Amazons straight into the Ice's glacial blade. Sanosuke, who shielded the unconscious Kaoru, surprisingly was left alone amidst the rain of blood. It seemed that, no matter how good it felt seeing that their enemies are going down, something is definitely amiss.

Kenshin didn't even need to unsheathe his sword to get the Amazons to back off. He maneuvered the hilt and the tip of his sheathed sword to hit definite energy points in their body to knock them down. He didn't even move from his spot, nor did he take his eyes away from the woman who was the object of his current loathing.

And this woman didn't even seemed bothered with the commotion at all. The dimly glowing orb she had extricated from Kaoru's belly moments earlier had increased in size from a small lime to an unripe melon. The light from the orb cast shadows on her face and her eyes felt drawn to it. Kenshin looked at it as well and tried to figure out what it is and why it mattered to Yumi. As soon as he set eyes on it, an icy sensation crept around his retina. It was as if his eyes weren't being burned out, they were being frosted over. He blinked on impulse; a bloody tear emerged from the corner of his eye.

"Whatever you do, don't set eyes on the orb, " he called out to his companions. It was not an easy command to follow for the orb simply outshone the person holding it, even the torch lights that illuminated the place.

Under the protection of the Tower, Kaoru had been moved next to the Comfort for her expert analysis on what had happened to her. Megumi placed her hands on Kaoru's temples. The older woman took hold of her wrist and searched for a pulse; it was there, but only just. Her eyes were open and unblinking albeit the glow it emanated had been long gone and left in its place a gaping midnight hole. Sanosuke shook her awake. It was futile; she was dreaming in her own mind. She had been taken away from herself.

Sanosuke called to her, each time his voice wavered little by little. It was as if she is there in his arms but she had resigned herself to another place, to another consciousness. She dreamed, yes, but she didn't know reality either. In her mind, this was what she cared for.

"I am going to take the pain away from you now."

"Pain? What pain? I don't feel hurt anywhere," Kaoru whispered.

"Poor thing. You have been in constant pain it became a part of you. Let me take it out so you can feel the difference."

"What are you going to take out?"

"A bad seed. A man planted a seed in you and it corrupted your body. Your insides are scarred because of this man's seed. It would be best if we take it out."

"How did the seed get into me?" Kaoru asked and felt drawn into the conversation.

"He forced it inside you."

"Oh. And that is how I got hurt?"

"Yes. And now I'm here to make it all go away."

"But if it is that bad, how come I feel that I'm harboring something precious?"

"That is your soul, young lady. It shone the brightest before this seed blocked its light out."

"I was bright? My soul is special?"

"Definitely. Would you like to get your light back?"

"Yes please. Do so right away."

"This, my dearest, won't hurt a bit."

"KAORU," Megumi called futilely and so resorted to clapping her palm in the younger woman's cheek. Kaoru had turn her head due to the impact but didn't pay any heed to her injury. She was still beyond herself. There in its place, like a small assurance that she is still alive, a pink mark where Megumi's hand had been. But still, as humans all know, it wasn't good enough.

"She will wake," Yumi called out in the midst of all the horrid screams and splashed of venous blood gushing out from decapitated bodies. "She's just processing the truth."

"Do not speak gibberish woman," Kenshin growled out. Fed up with banal delaying tactics of the enemy, he charged fully into Yumi and the orb. He took extra measure to send his sword her way instead of the orb, after he deduced that it must mean something to Kaoru's well-being since it came from her. However, the tip of his sword only went as far as an eighth of an inch into her body. It seemed that the...

"...orb is protecting me, for the time being." She waved her hand outward as if to push the sword away. Kenshin retreated marginally and turned his vexation to an unfortunate Amazon.

"It can only be stopped by the power of the Twelve Pillars, my lord." There was now a swirling shard of air that swathed her body and hoisted her up a couple of inches of the ground. The orb had stopped increasing in circumference and is now alarmingly still.

She looked down on them. The last of her Amazons had now been vanquished and lay on heap of mangled bodies. The blood that pooled slowly crept up to the spot where she levitated and drained there. "Just sit back and enjoy the show."

The Sage followed the trail of blood and paled in understanding. "She's opening a dark portal!"

"Who is the man that took all of this light away?"

"Someone who became envious of your power and wanted it all to himself."

"Why?"

"So he can rule over everybody and their lives."

"That's terrible."

"What's more terrible is that he used you. He played with your trust and affections to get what he wanted."

"No, I couldn't possibly hold affection for anyone like him."

"He deceived you, innocent one."

"He used me."

"What are you going to do?"

"I want to know about him; I can't seem to remember."

"You don't need to remember. Forget about them."

"I need not remember."

"That is the consequence of him destroying you."

"He destroyed me."

"He wanted to quell your light for he hated it."

"He hated me."

"He misused your trust and broke you."

"He broke me."

"And now, your light is gone."

"And now, my life is gone."

"Do not remember him, the man whose hair is stained with your blood."

"I will forget."

At first all they could see is black. Then gray. Black, gray then white. Slowly, a mirage of colors bled through their retinas. It felt like it was their first sight, first truth and first hope. They stood where they were before, unmarred with any injuries. When the blur cleared up they saw that they were alone in the dojo. There were no bodies, no traces of blood or punctures on the wooden floor and most importantly, no Yumi and glowing orb. If they didn't know any better, one would say they had a group hallucination.

But they were no mere people. "I'll go and check on Misao," Aoshi declared and disappeared in frosted wisp.

The Sage stood and placed his hands under his chin in an appraising sort of way. "I'll return to Nowhere and see if anything is amiss there. Yumi-dono has opened a dark portal that leads to an infinite number of planes. Although I am sure that she wishes to free something or someone."

"Three guesses who," Sanosuke said dryly.

"We cannot be entirely certain about these things. There is some serious sorcery involved here and she definitely does not have access to such power. I am going to find out." He turned to teleport when a hand stopped him.

"Be careful, Genzai-sensei. I suggest that Saitou and Okita-san accompany you," Kenshin said.

The wizened man's eyes softened in appreciation. "Thank you, master."

"Very well. I am sure though that Yumi would not linger to where she knows we can find her," the Wolf said. Kenshin nodded in understanding. The rest watched as the three disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Is she hurt?" Kenshin asked as he turned to Megumi.

"Physically, it doesn't appear to be so. Nevertheless I am apprehensive about that orb which Yumi pulled out from her," she replied.

The Mountain surveyed them quietly. "Perhaps she had simply lifted the veil of lies," he offered quietly. Megumi's head lifted in attention.

"It couldn't be," she whispered. Hastily, she removed her pendant from her neck and hovered it over Kaoru's torso. She clucked her tongue in irritation after several moments. Then her brows furrowed in apparent worry and confusion. Her hand stopped over the prone woman's womb.

"Why?" she gasped. Tears welled in her eyes.

"Because there was none from the beginning," the Mountain answered.

"What? What is it? Can somebody explain it in plain language?" Sanosuke ejaculated. He stopped to see Kenshin sink to his knees and grasp Kaoru's feet.

"No," Sanosuke moaned. "She didn't kill the baby."

"Incorrect, Tower," Soujirou interjected. "Yumi-san declared earlier that she had come for a "seed" didn't she? We suspect that she hid the seed inside a mortal who is more susceptible to such things. She could have given the orb to Kaoru-san in the guise of an unborn child."

"But why Kaoru?"

"I would suspect that she is the most vulnerable among all of us yet ironically the strongest of will," Anji answered.

"So there was no baby? She didn't have a miscarriage?" Sanosuke clarified.

"No. And this would prove that I was right before when I had commented that she had conceived the child in a dream," Megumi said pointedly at Kenshin, who admitted his slight.

He sighed. "I shall be the one to explain to her when she wakes. I'm thinking she didn't remember a thing about what had transpired."

"Explain what?"

"Kaoru! No, don't get up yet; you're still hurt," Megumi said as she coaxed the other woman to lie down once more. Her hand was swatted away as Kaoru tried to clear her disoriented mind.

"I'm fine." She looked up and saw familiar faces and a couple of unknown ones. There holding her feet was Kenshin with a tender smile on his face. She smiled back at him and flew to his embrace.

"Oh Kenshin! I was so scared. I didn't know what to do," she sobbed into his shoulder. He patted her hair gently, soothingly and whispered wordless comforts to her. When her tears had subsided, he softly motioned for her to stand. The Mountain and the Neutral both had gone to make some tea while Sanosuke and Megumi stayed behind.

The two stood slowly and still clung to each other. They started to move to their room when Megumi's strangled cry alerted them.

"Oh Kaoru, don't move!" she pointed to the trickle of blood that stained her legs and the lower back of her yukata. A spot grew at the point where one sits and was painfully obvious from the back. Kenshin immediately carried Kaoru to the sitting room, swift as lightning.

Kaoru remained impassive as she heard distantly shouts from Sanosuke as he called for Anji and warm water, instructions from Megumi and calls from Kenshin. She blinked once, twice, thrice slowly and languidly as she looked down on the warm dribble of crimson fluid that alarmingly tarnished her immaculate robe.

Somebody clutched her head and attempted to shield her eyes. "No, no, koishii don't look. It isn't what it seems." But those words penetrated deaf ears. Truth, or what was perceived as truth, dawned and tears fell first and a primal scream, one that you wouldn't want to hear again, pierced through the hushed sounds of the night.

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And such despair would spiral into nothingness, considering the void of her heart could accommodate another void. A comforting hand draped around her slim shoulder but caused warmth to be usurped from her flesh and added to the biting cold. She shrugged off the hand in irritation and let her torso fall into her lap. She looked at her feet, sheathed in cotton socks and remembered how bloody they were last night. It was like a great chasm of emptiness in her heart had trespassed into her soul.

I could run away from life, but where would I go?

She let the tears fall but no sob escaped her throat. She mourned in silence and brooded in defeat.

Death is not so appealing once you've lived. But how does one live?

It felt like her life was ripped from her. She felt spineless and dirty. She extricated herself from the soulful gaze of her companion and proceeded to the bath house to wash herself. Not bothering to divest herself of clothes, she poured chilly water over her head. Over and over she drenched herself and looked with unseeing eyes.

He destroyed me. He hated me. He broke me.

"Kaoru?" there he was again, outside the door, tailing her. Without bothering to respond, she continued to pour water over her body. She took a washcloth and rubbed it on her face and neck. She rubbed and scrubbed until red marks lined her skin. Water would once again wash over her so she could restart on trying to slough her skin off.

"And now, your light is gone."

"Kaoru? Ajisai?"

"Do not remember him, the man whose hair is stained with your blood."

Pounding on the door. "Open the door! Kaoru, answer me!"

"I will forget."

The door burst open and Kenshin stepped inside. He saw Kaoru slumped over the furo drenched and fully clothed. A bloody washcloth hung limply around her fingers. He turned her face to see them all red and blotchy. He searched her face and neck for any self-induced injuries and was relieved to see none. He looked back at her hands and was aghast to see splintered fingers. The blood apparently came from them as she tried to claw at the wooden tub. He motioned to carry her back into the house when Kaoru's reddened eyes widened and she thrashed about in his arms.

She clawed at him, at his face and hissed and spat at him. He struggled to maintain his balance and hinder Kaoru from doing any more damage. But Kaoru found a use for her legs and she tried to knee him in the face. She missed narrowly except the force of the motion threw them off and they fell. Once on the ground, Kaoru scrambled away from Kenshin who had cushioned the fall. He watched as she huddled on a corner trembling and bleeding. Slowly, he crawled towards her.

"Stop! Don't come near me!"

"It's all right, Kaoru. I shall explain." He reached her corner and cautiously tried to embrace her. She let him, at first but a mumbled question caused him to draw back.

"What is it?"

"I said, who are you?" her pitiful azure eyes unblinking.

"I...I don't understand."

"More importantly, who am I?"

"Kaoru?"

"Is that my name? 'To be fragrant.' How sweet. How incredibly unlike me," she said as she pushed herself off the corner and moved to walk away. She stopped when Kenshin's hand wrapped around her wrist and effectively immobilized her.

"Kindly unhand me."

"No, not until I get the chance to explain." He yanked her down next to him. She fell on top of him and he maneuvered her beneath him. The next thing she knew was kisses being showered on her face. She resisted and fought back, wildly flailed about on the ground. He was strong, so much stronger than she is and it was a matter of power. He caught hold of one of her hands and she cried in aguish as the splinters dug into her flesh. She used her other hand to slap him hard on the face. Kenshin ceased in shock.

Kaoru freely cried, fear etched into her face. Kenshin's head dropped into the crook of her neck and cried the same tears. Tears of pain, tears of fear, tears of remorse. Each drop pooled at the hollow of her throat, as if beckoning each other to form a part.

And suddenly, as everything else had been, a dazzling blinding light emanated from between their bodies. Kenshin drew back as he sensed Kaoru floating away. He was on the ground as he saw warily the clear liquid of his tears turn into deep purple. Her feet barely skimmed the floor as the liquid hardened and solidified into a circular Amethyst.

On the same moment, Megumi came in after seeing rays streaming out of the bath house. "The Light," she whispered, amazed. She glanced at Kenshin who was just as amazed as she was.

"Kenshin! Your eyes," she exclaimed, "they're gold!" He barely had time to register that as the Amethyst had fully formed and Kaoru was no longer air-borne. He caught her as she descended.

He didn't have the chance to whisper her name because she fled from him as soon as she found her legs. She turned apprehensively at the new woman who came in and looked doubly confused.

"Get away from me!"

"Let's not do this again."

"Kenshin what's happening?"

"I have no time to explain. Kaoru, don't be afraid."

"I have every reason to. Don't come near me!" with that, a faint shimmer of gold began to swathe Kaoru.

"Kaoru, come back! We need to talk."

"How much longer would you try to break me?" she feebly asked as her body grew fainter and fainter.

His eyes grew somber. "If you need some answers, I shall wait for you to return."

She said before a glimmer of gold dust took her away from him, "Then you shall wait forever."

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And that is why this is not for kids.