Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Now and Forever ❯ Secret's revealed ( Chapter 6 )

~ Now and Forever ~

Chapter 6: Secrets Revealed

As usual, rk characters do not belong to me. Waaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh! (sniff, sniff)

Chapter 6: Secrets Revealed

Kenshin awoke to the feel of Kaoru's soft form snuggled against his. Faint jasmine scent enveloped him as he nuzzled her nape, earning him an incoherent mumble from the still slumbering kenjutsu instructor. He chuckled softly as to not awaken her, remembering how tired she looked the night before. At that thought, Kenshin stilled as his hand touched her fevered forehead. Amber swirling back in his eyes as he remembered the way Kaoru looked the night before, pale and deathly white and the way she had shed away from him. As though she had feared him… as though she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Her expression clearly mirrored that of their friends when they first saw her on Enishi's island. He frowned... speaking of which, Megumi-dono and the others wore the exact same expression when he arrived. *What had caused that?* he wondered. He sighed, *he wasn't going to get any answers while lying down here,* Kenshin thought as he quietly and slowly slipped away from Kaoru and stood up, * he needed to talk with his friends.* Reaching the door, he smiled lovingly at Kaoru's slumbering form before making his way out of her room…

Only to bump into a very nervous Yahiko.

*Oh, man. Kenshin is going to be royally pissed off.* Yahiko thought as he made his way to Kaoru's room. He shuddered, remembering the way Kenshin's eyes flashed amber when he saw Kaoru in their room, at his growl when he sensed them behind him. Luckily, Sano had quickly pulled them out of Kenshin's sphere before he had the chance to question them.

He knew it was suicide to go to Kaoru and Kenshin's room, but… he needed an assurance that she would be ok, that she'd be fine now that Kenshin's here. He mentally cursed his luck when he had bumped right into Kenshin. Yahiko gulped, then forced himself to look directly into Kenshin's face. He gulped even more louder when he saw the cold amber fire swirling in his eyes. *Just his luck to bump straight into Battousai early this morning…* Yahiko thought.

Kenshin watched Yahiko closely. He could easily tell that the kid was nervous… and afraid. He even punctuated it with the visible gulping. His eyes narrowed.

"Yahiko,"

"Uh, hai?" Yahiko winced when his voice almost came out to resemble a squeak.

Kenshin's eyes darkened even more. "Get Megumi-dono and Sanosuke right now. I'll wait for you in the dojo."

"Hai." Yahiko responded before dashing out to follow his order.

It was wise not to anger an already royally pissed off Battousai.

As Kenshin made his way to the training room, he felt a familiar ki in his surroundings. He stopped, stared straight ahead and spoke to the unseen visitor.

"What do you want Saitoh? It's still quite early to start bothering us here." Kenshin growled

Saitoh stepped out of the shadows from Kenshin's left side, smirking. "Hmmm… seems that your senses are back to their usual sharpness. Could it be that you assignment actually freed Battousai?" he snickered

"What. Do. You. Want." Kenshin voiced out the words, clipped and dangerous.

"To see if the Kamiya girl still lives."

Kenshin turned to glare at Saitoh. "She's alive and well." He growled

"Hmph. Alive, yes. Well… now that remains to be seen" he smirked

"Just what the hell do you mean by that?"

"I've been hearing rumors that the Kamiya girl fell sick after receiving the letter."

Amber eyes flared, "Letter? What letter?"

Saitoh scoffed. "So, you still don't know. Why don't you ask them?" he said as he pointed to Yahiko who had just arrived with Megumi and Sano.

Glaring from one to the other, Kenshin motioned to the others inside the training hall and barked, "Inside. Now."

Sano, Megumi and Yahiko fidgeted a bit as they sat in front of a very, and as in very pissed off Battousai.

*This is going to be interesting.* Saitoh thought as he eyed the occupants of the room. From a very nervous and scared brat, kitsune, and tori-atama to a ready to blow Battousai.

Kenshin stood in front of them and barked. "Explain…NOW."

Yahiko fidgeted before launching into his explanation, followed in suit by a pale looking Megumi and backed up by a sweating Sanosuke.

Kenshin flopped down to the dojo floor numbly as he listened to their story. From the letter's arrival, Kaoru's reaction and up to the time that she fell ill. When they were all done with their explanations, they were shocked when Kenshin slammed his fist on to the floor.

"Who the fuck sent that letter?" He growled

It was Saitoh who answered. "The chief of police form Kyoto."

Kenshin turned to Saitoh. "Why the hell would they send something like that?!"

"Battousai. The Kyoto police and the oniwabanshuu were spread out all over Kyoto and the surrounding cities to look for you since you haven't showed yourself to the police office for weeks. The last time you were seen, was beside a small river in a forest not far from the city proper and was in battle. When you didn't show up, many believed that you had somehow died and your body got lost in the river. And that, was the reason why the chief of police in Kyoto wrote that letter to them." Saitoh told him nodding his head towards Sano and the others with his last statement.

"So I guess, it's time for you to tell your part of the story… Kenshin." Came the soft voice form the doorway

Everyone turned to see a very weak and visibly shaking Kaoru leaning on the wall for support.

"Tanuki-chan!"

"Jou-chan!!!"

"Kaoru!"

Megumi, Sano, Yahiko and Kenshin said all together as Kenshin rushed to Kaoru's side. Gently carrying and sitting her down beside Megumi, Kenshin watched as Megumi scolded Kaoru.

"Tanuki no baka! Are you trying to kill yourself?! You shouldn't be out from your bed and you still have a fever!" Megumi told her as she checked Kaoru's pulse and condition.

"Gomen, Megumi. But I just felt that I had to go here." She whispered and added "and besides, I'm getting all cramped up lying on that futon."

Megumi shook her head and smiled ruefully. "Baka tanuki."

Kaoru turned to Kenshin, "Kenshin… shouldn't we hear your side of the story?"

Kenshin sighed and nodded. Closing his eyes, he told them his side of the story… of how things came to be.

"Himura-san, your assignment is to bring Sukijiro in. As of your request to work alone… your request is accepted, though I think it is wise if you brought someone along with you." The chief of police told him.

A nod and a slitted amber glare was the only response he got.

The chief of police paled and gulped silently as the former assassin left the room to start on his assignment.

Kenshin went out immediately to start tracking down his target. Almost dormant skills awakened to aid him in his search so that he can get back to her, to his family. Thinking that this assignment won't take him long to accomplish, he was sadly mistaken.

Sukijiro was a crafty little weasel who managed to elude him twice by using the civilians around him in defense. His fury was mounting dangerously with every minute, every day, every week that passed by. The bastard had killed three women and two children in trying to escape. He used them as hostages, promising to let the go once he was out of his range. Kenshin had agreed since he feared for the lives of the hostages… but once he went out to hunt for him again, Kenshin found the bodies of the hostages littered on the cold ground. Since then, Battousai had been in full control of Kenshin's faculties, promised to kill the heartless bastard once he found him.

Two months passed when he had his next and final encounter with Sukijiro and his men.

Sukijiro smirked, "So, Battousai, we meet yet again."

Kenshin stared at him coldly and emotionlessly. "Give up. Besides you don't have anyone to bail you out."

"Ah," Sukijiro replied in faint amusement, "do you mean those pathetic idiots I killed after you let me go?"

Kenshin moved into battle position. "You are going to die."

"Heh, go ahead and try."

With a fierce battle cry, Kenshin slashed and fought Sukijiro's men. One after the other, they tumbled down like lifeless dolls, though none were killed. When Kenshin finally defeated the last of his men, he slowly made his was to Sukijiro who was now currently whimpering and shuddering in fear from him.

Kenshin smirked darkly, "Not so arrogantly brave now that your men are defeated? Or maybe I should say, now that you don't have anyone to use as a hostage."

Sukijiro whimpered in fear, "You're not going to kill me. Besides, if I'm not mistaken, your orders were to bring me in alive. Those people you serve in the government need me."

Kenshin smiled coldly, "Well, I could always tell them that you killed yourself in fear of being caught."

His eyes widened in fear but forced himself to smirk, "You can't kill me Battousai. From what I've heard, not only have you turned into a rurouni, but you have placed a vow on yourself that you will no longer kill."

Kenshin eyes glittered with hatred and fury, "A hitokiri, will always be a hitokiri. And you were the one who placed this fate on to your own hands."

"Wha… what do you mean?"

"The moment you killed those innocent hostages of yours, you released the demon within me."

With those word, Kenshin flipped his blade so that the sharp edge can be used. He raised his sword to deliver the final blow and brought it down forcefully, only to stop inches from Sukijiro's neck.

Warm sapphire eyes glinted with tears, a soft yet determined voice pleading him to stop. Pleading him to never kill again, to never go back to demon that he once was. Kenshin sighed and brought his sword down forcefully on Sukijiro's head. He watched coldly as his victim's body slumped to the hard ground. Sheathing his sword, Kenshin grabbed Sukijiro's limp form back to Kyoto.

Kenshin sighed. " So, basically, that's what happened."

Kaoru smiled and weakly made her way to Kenshin. "You just did what you had to do." Holding his face in her hands to make him face her, she smiled sweetly at him. "All that matters now is that you're home."

Kenshin smiled at her, "Arigatou ,koishii."

Saitoh smirked at the scene before him, "So, Battousai. Since you're back to the hitokiri I once knew, don't you think it's about time we finished that match of ours?"

Kenshin smirked darkly at Saitoh, "Why not?"

Kenshin was about to stand when he felt a painful bump on his head. "What the… Kaoru?"

Kaoru glared weakly at Kenshin, "Baka. Don't you two dare fight in here." At Saitoh she growled, "Saitoh, shouldn't you be on your way?"

Saitoh chuckled at her. "Even when you're sick, you still got your spunk." Turning to leave, he tossed back on his shoulder, "Just testing my luck if I could fight with you again, Battousai, but I guess that won't happen since that tanuki is watching over you just as fiercely as you're watching over her."

"Mou. He really gets on my nerves." Kaoru grumbled as Saitoh walked out of their house.

"Does he ever." Sano said as well

"So, I guess that's the whole story," Megumi said

"Aa.." Kenshin said in response

"Man, those guys should have checked thoroughly before they jumped into conclusions. Look what it brought us." Yahiko murmured irritatingly.

"Yeah, well, yah can't blame them." Sano said as started to make his exit.

"Hey, you tori-atama! Where do you think you're going?" Megumi yelled

Sano looked at Megumi exasperatingly before turning to give a knowing look at Kenshin and Kaoru's direction.

"Oh, yeah…" Megumi whispered, embarrassed that Sano had to point it our to her that Kenshin and Kaoru needed some time to be alone.

"Yahiko, you coming with us?" Sano asked the kid

"Uh.. no, I'll stay right here."

Sano shook his head before muttering "Gaki-chan.", knowing that it'll get Yahiko all riled up to join them, even though he's chewing his head off.

Sure enough, Yahiko was at Sano's head chewing at his hair as he made their way out. Before leaving, Megumi gave Kenshin a small pouch which contained the medicine for Kaoru.

"Ken-san," Megumi whispered, stepping back a bit when she saw that Kenshin's eyes still held it's amber shade. "Ken-san, make sure Kaoru drinks this every 4 hours. It'll help her fever."

Kenshin looked at the pouch and at Megumi, "Arigatou, Megumi-dono."

And with that, Megumi left the dojo following Sano and Yahiko.

Kaoru stirred from Kenshin's embrace, "Kenshin?"

Brushing the fringes from her face, Kenshin brushed his lips in gentle caress on her brow. "Hnn?"

"Aishiteru."

Kenshin smiled, "Aishiteru."

As Kaoru snuggled back in his chest, Kenshin's eyes narrowed in worry.

*Now that Battousai has been unleashed, how will the rurouni ever control him… if the rurouni ever gets the chance to control the demon and subdue him.* he sighed. *This will certainly be a problem. Kaoru may not seem to be afraid to Battousai, but how will Kenshin control the lust and passion Battousai feels for this woman.*

A problem… definitely a problem.

to be continued…

Chapter 7: The light and the dark

AN:

I'm not really good into creating fights, but… oh well. What do you think of this chappie? Hope to receive comments and suggestions! (",x)

Yuki-chan