Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Shinkan ❯ All the lives we take ( Chapter 5 )

Author's note: hey everybody sorry it took me so long to update but I wanted to get this chapter just right plus like I said before I doing more than one story at a time. I practically got the mother of all migraines just trying to pull off this chapter. So I hope you all like this one and thank you for the reviews you all already sent and I can't wait to hear from you all again- Rei

Summery: Things start to reach the boiling point and Kaoru must defend her own. Kenshin must decide whither or not he can be with Kaoru.

The next few days after Kaoru met Aoshi were the most agitated moments of her young life. Thanks to the warnings of the weasel known as Misao the shinkan's paranoia reached new heights. And though the change was subtle Kenshin, Sanosuke, and Yahiko did notice. Even Megumi could see the slightly weary glances she would give every so often. And for that the she doctor stayed at the dojo `just in case'. It didn't help the fact that doctor Gensai had left town and now Ayame and Suzume were left in her care.

 

Now she was meeting the Okashira and his shadow on a regular basis and the stress was starting to get to her. Sighing, Kaoru looked up at the cloudless sky hoping that a breeze would pass through the dojo. The heat was becoming insufferable to any and all so much so that Ayame and Suzume voluntarily went to take a nap just to escape the heat. Over all things were not going well and it was only a matter of time before Kaoru snapped. Unfortunately for a certain red haired violet-eyed Rurouni, he would be the focus of the wrath known as Kaoru.

 

Kenshin was not affected by the almost unnatural heat wave that was hitting Tokyo and so felt no need to shed his gi. In fact the manslayer went about his daily chores without fuss. Even as he was the linen for what seemed like the seventh time Kaoru watched him, the heat and stress didn't do anything to sate her lust for the beautiful man that she secretly loved.

 

`Shit things couldn't get much worse'

 

(Yes they could)

 

Internally Kaoru cursed profusely, the bitch was back.

 

She tried to ignore the monologue she knew was playing in her head. It was obvious that thinking at all was not such a good idea right now. She was too tired to argue with herself after all. Kaoru closed her eyes and tried to relax her muscles. Still the constant alert state that paranoia caused her wouldn't allow her to unwind completely. Out of the corner of his eye Kenshin watched the young kendo instructor sulk. The Rurouni was worried, Kaoru had been like this for days now and this new side of her personality was so much different than the usually bubbly or hot headed.

 

She was edgy and ever watchful of her surroundings not to mention she now wore her gi and hamaka wherever she went. Stretching out the last of the white sheet that was now freshly washed he thought back to the conversation he had with Sano when Kaoru had left the dojo.

 

Sanosuke grinned at the semi-shocked expression on his best friend's face. It wasn't often that he or anyone else caught the wanderer truly of guard so it was amusing to see the red head so flustered. The ex-gangster pulled out a jar of sake and made his way to the house.

 

"Come and sit down for a minute," he urged, sitting down and dangling his feet from the edge of the deck.

 

Kenshin hesitated, and then he slowly walked over to Sano and sat down beside the man. He was offered a drink of sake, but shook his head.

 

"No thank you," he finally looked at his friend, who was staring back at him with a pensive expression.

 

"Isn't it a little early for sake?" he admonished gently, slipping back into his usual role easily.

 

He had been Kenshin, the Rurouni for ten years now, acting gently, speaking in a higher tone than his normal cadence and refusing to kill. Of course, Sano saw right past his act.

 

"Don't give me that look!" Sano said, frowning darkly.

 

He was referring both to Kenshin's studied look of calm, as much as his friend's reference to the sake.

 

"Want to talk?" he asked abruptly.

 

He was no good at this man-to-man talk, but he would give it a shot.

 

"Not really," Kenshin said, gazing up at the blue sky.

 

"How is it going with Kaoru?" Sanosuke tried again.

 

Kenshin HAD to talk! It wasn't good bottling all those emotions up. He didn't have the luxury of going to find some bad guy to beat up. Kenshin didn't do that sort of thing. He hurt no one unless provoked to protect someone he cared for, or something he believed in.

 

"What do you mean?" Kenshin said warily.

 

Sanosuke wasn't actually asking THAT, was he? He had better NOT be asking that! A hint of gold flashed in his eyes.

 

"You know," Sanosuke rolled his eyes, “sometimes I really do wonder if you're brain dead or something”

 

Kenshin held back the urge to roll his eyes. Now was not the time to return to old habits that he picked up from Hiko.

 

“I don't deserve miss Kaoru that I don't”

 

Sanosuke slapped Kenshin over the back of the head. "You idiot!" he exploded.

 

"Sanosuke," Kenshin began, feeling annoyed.

 

"No! I'm sick of this holier than thou crap! You're not the same person you were."

 

Kenshin finally snapped, “It's because of me that she is constantly in danger you think that they will ever stop coming here looking for vengeance or their own agendas”?

 

"You think they'll hurt her?" Sanosuke asked seriously.

 

"Maybe," he sighed.

 

"Idiot," Sanosuke said affectionately, “you actually think that they'll leave Kaoru alone because you didn't admit you love her, Kenshin they knew it, we know it, and so does anyone that sees you two together denying it won't make it go away and Kaoru will be hurt even more because she doesn't know how you feel”

 

"Are you so certain?" Kenshin murmured again, staring into space.

 

"The real question is, Kenshin-do you want to see Kaoru with another man? She's not going to wait for you forever," Sano responded.

 

Was the man that dense? Well, it was his duty to lay it out for Kenshin.

 

"Another man?" Kenshin's eyes blazed a wrathful gold at the thought of another touching what was his.

 

"That's right," The taller man inched away from Battousai nervously.

 

Abruptly Kenshin punched the deck making the hard wood crack under the almost inhuman strength behind the strike. Sano stared wide-eyed at the fracture and gulped. With THAT sort of reaction, he was pretty damn sure what Kenshin's answer was!

 

"I will KILL anyone who so much as lays a finger on Kaoru in an inappropriate manner!" he snarled.

 

"Yes, but what if she wanted to get MARRIED to another guy? You can't kill someone she wants to spend her life with," Sanosuke said slyly.

 

Sano was pleased at it wasn't HIM that Battousai had turned his fury on for suggesting such a thing as Missy married to another guy!

 

"Make up your mind, Kenshin-before she does," Sano went on gently, laying a comradely hand on the man's shoulder.

 

Battousai glanced sideways and then sighed. Sano was right. He would have to make up his mind and soon-but how to decide on such a thing. He might hurt her. Unknowingly, but still...he could not control himself.

 

"Are you so sure?" he repeated softly.

 

Kenshin sighed, the talk with Sano had forced him to realize that none of his excuses would work anymore and that he either would accept and return Kaoru's love or he would have to leave. Looking at the beauty that was his beloved the former assassin knew that he would never truly have the will to leave. Suddenly a shiver went up Kenshin's spine.

 

He looked around his hand going to the hilt of his sakabatou. Surprisingly Kaoru two was on her feet with her trusty bokken in hand. Even more surprising it was she that called to whomever was lurking in the shadows to come out. But if he thought that was surprising than Kenshin was absolutely stunned into stillness when a certain Okashira and his former ward came forward. Kaoru however put away her beloved weapon and approached them with a slight glower on her face.

 

“What are you doing here”?

 

Kenshin turned shocked eyes toward the kendo instructor; he had never heard such a sharp tone coming from Kaoru. It eerily reminded him of how he sounded during his days as Battousai. The fact that she moved more like a predator on the prowl without a sound and without hesitation didn't help his suspicions. Who was this seductress and where was the sweet innocent young woman he had come to know?

 

“Sorry `bout that but we kindda had to warn you of the impending mini war that is about to go down, oh but if your busy we can always come back later I don't know maybe when your friends are dead and your kidnapped” retorted Misao spartanly

 

“Kaoru what is going on”?

 

In his confusion Kenshin dropped his usual humble wanderer act in favor of getting answers. Answers, that she obviously had. But she merely made her way to the dojo and slammed open the shoji and marched inside. Kenshin followed her and so did Aoshi and Misao. He watched as she pressed the plague behind the shrine and the wall opened to reveal a large compartment housing a suite of armor and a black metal staff. Aoshi and Misao hung back and watched as she armed herself with the staff and how Kenshin tried to get her to tell him what was going on.

 

So intent on his beloved was he that Kenshin all but forgotten that either of them were still there.

 

“Kaoru please talk to me”

 

She looked up at him using her unoccupied hand to stroke his face. A sad smile was stretched thinly across her lips.

 

“This is the first time that you ever called me by just my name” she whispered

 

It was all too easy for Kenshin to fall under her spell. When he stared into the jewels that were Kaoru's eyes he was lost. There was a fire in those orbs so similar to his own that any argument failed him. Then she pressed her lips to his temple in a chaste kiss.

 

“Stay here while I get Yahiko and Sano, wake up Megumi so that I can take Ayame and Suzume to the Akabeko once this is all over I will tell you the truth Kenshin” she whispered into his ear, “all of it”.

 

He moved back slightly looking at her face. Seeing the resolve clearly shining in her eyes Kenshin merely nodded. He went to wake up the lady doctor and the two children.

 

Kaoru faced her friend and the Okashira, “stay here”

 

“Make sure that you get those two to the Akabeko safely if they catch them you know what they will do” Aoshi warned

 

Kaoru nodded and exited the dojo, Kenshin was there waiting for her holding the hands of a now awake Ayame and Suzume. Kaoru strapped the staff to her back and picked up the two dazed children. Then she took off not even sticking around to see Megumi's reaction to her former captor. Kaoru made her way to the Akabeko ducking and dodging the people she recognized as a threat. However her luck had just run out when a man spotted her dressed in black. He was tall and obviously well built even as she couldn't see his face Kaoru knew that he was sent to capture her.

 

“What is it Auntie Kaoru”? Suzume echoed her sister unaware of the danger they were in.

 

The shinkan looked down at the children in her arms then to the restaurant haven that she wanted to deliver them to. Looking back she saw that the man was no longer alone. She cursed. It was broad daylight but they wouldn't care anything to bring her down would be welcome. Kaoru wouldn't allow them to take Gensai's grandchildren even though she knew that she would never defeat them all.

 

Setting the two down on their' feet, Kaoru told them to run.

 

“Tell Sano and Yahiko to get to the dojo, go,” she told them urgently

 

The two children nodded frightened by the steel in Kaoru's voice. They ran the last legs to the Akabeko without interference while Kaoru took this time to slip into the shadows. The man and his `friends' followed after her. The shinkan was the higher priority on this mission. As soon as they were in range Kaoru was already on the move. She killed the first stalker with a blow to the back of his neck with her staff. The echoing snapping of the poor fool's cerebrum cortex was drowned out by the sounds of the busy street.

 

The other two were easy enough to dispatch of Kaoru merely aimed for their' pressure points making sure that she put enough force behind the hits to make them lethal. However she could not overcome the man who had spotted her in the first place. He was relentless in his attacks using the fallen' weapons to beat into her defenses mercilessly. After a particularly brutal blow the man swept her feet from out under her and disarmed her. Without hesitation he knocked her out.

 

The man who had captured Karou had carried her to a small clearing only about 3 yards in diameter, the man then dropped her on the ground non-too gently, making her up in surprise, her hands rubbing her abused lower half with her bound hands behind her back.

 

“Now to get the message to the Battousai,” he said as he lifted his hood, showing man a foot taller than her with jet-black hair and light brown eyes. He smirked, lifting her up roughly by her chin, pulling her to face him.

 

Now grinning he said, “ So you are the silence figures the Battousai would choose something both beautiful and deadly too bad he won't live to enjoy you”

 

Karou glared, `How dare he! That bastard's gonna get it now.'

 

In one swift moment she bent down and swung her leg beneath him, making him crash to the ground, he looked shocked for a moment but then smirked again, getting up he then grabbed her roughly by her kimono's collar she was yanked forward, leaning into her ear he spoke in only but a whisper,

 

“ Heh,” he laughed, “and I know of your past too dear, little Kaoru,”

 

“ You, dear, miss Karou, you may have tried to hide, your past will catch up to you no matter how much you wish it to go away”

 

Her eyes widened and she pulled away from him, trying fiercely she snapped the rope with her own strength, but in slight punishment she had gained bloody cut marks from her struggle. The mans eyes begun to panic, `oh shit I just made her mad,' his body was frozen solid as Karou shifted one of her hands to grasp the cloth around her mouth, pulling it off, her eyes glued to his form, showing no emotion what so ever, except a small smile of a faint malice and amusement.

 

Kaoru may not have had her mother's sword but she was quite creative and this was an opportune moment to practice her interrogation skills.

 

At the Akabeko Ayame and Suzume delivered the message to Sano and Yahiko who immediately took off to the dojo when they found the staff that Ayame described Kaoru had in a dark alley along with two dead bodies. Tae took care of Ayame and Suzume and sent one of the waitresses to get the police. The waitress never returned. It was hours later before the shinkan returned to her home after torturing the assassin that was sent after her.

 

The scene that met Kaoru's eyes was a thing from her deepest nightmares. Several walls of the dojo were engulfed in flames and in the shadows cast by those flames, stood Yahiko, bruised, bloodied and badly wounded; judging by the way he held onto his bleeding stomach, it looked to be a serious injury.

 

Searching frantically with her calculating eyes, Karou tried to locate Kenshin in the confusion of battle. She breathed a slight sigh of relief as she saw Misao fighting against several of the intruders. Turning to face the gate, Karou noticed as Aoshi deftly wielded his kodatchi like a whirling wind, gutting several ninja before avoiding the slashing blade of another.

 

A familiar feeling coiled in the pit of Kaoru's stomach. It was cold and empty, the comforting darkness that she slipped in every time she was about to commit to the slaughter. But this would be the first time and hopefully the last time she killed in front of her family. And so she counted, on three there wouldn't be enough to bury.

 

One

 

A scream erupted from one of her guest rooms, causing Karou to whirl in that direction, only to notice Megumi fighting for her life against several street thugs. Sanosuke jumped in front of the doctor taking them out as best as he knew how. He saw her and threw the staff.

 

“That's yours Jou-chan”?

 

Kaoru caught in midair and swung it at the nearest opponent in range.

 

Two

 

She saw Kenshin fending off a large group of assassins intent on subduing him. And slowly but surely they were wearing the former slayer down. Kaoru fought her way towards him. Any idea of hiding who and what she was any longer nothing but a distant memory. Without hesitation she drew her sword now revealing what the staff for what it truly was.

 

Three

 

Any chance of survival the assassins had before they took it upon themselves to hunt her down was reduced to zero. The shinkan was now awake and ready to send each and every last one of their' asses to hell.

 

She smiled her empty little smile, `And then there was silence'.