Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Silver Cross ❯ Tomoe Yukishiro, Part 1 ( Chapter 14 )

A/N -I'm happy to say that I've just recovered from a little writer's block. Okay, confession time: it didn't seem little at the time! So yet again, despite it being summertime, I have taken a whole month to update. Sorry! But I'm just REALLY happy that the writer's block is gone, so I'm not that sorry. It took a little one-shot (that I recommend reading) and a couple days thinking to banish it, the writer's block I mean. Allow me to reward you with an extra long chapter.

And now, a thanks to the reviewers:

Inuyashachic15, Kyia, MZ. AMbER EYES, Ebony Glare, ixchen, pruningshears, De Lazy Lime, Poppy2, Jade Catseye, YukiCodeLyoko, JML, InsanexPsycho, docanderson, genocide ex-sync*in, Kuroi Tamashii, stoictimer, Hitokiri-miao miao, Naiya-chan, XxSilentxDreamerxX, BelleDayNight, Bando-Eido no Megami-sama, MidnightRosebud, Sapphire Priestess, Gilligan's Ghost, PsychoSushi, Kenshin luvs durians, Moon-Dragon 1288, kenshin's-angel, the sacred night, bonessasan, Rinfirithiel, unknown beedee, Iram, Kenshin's Demon, Mishorou Mie, WiNdSpRitE_11, softball202

Disclaimer - I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or the Matrix or anything else I may have mentioned. Can you tell I'm tired of disclaimers?

Silver Cross

Chapter 14 - Tomoe Yukishiro, Part 1

I'm out of hair gel. Can I use yours?

No. Go get your own.

That means I have to go all the way outside and then walk all the way to the store and then come all the way back. It's raining. You wouldn't do that to me, would you?

You'd best get to walking.

You suck.

It's your own dumb fault.

Fine. Just don't come crawling to me the next time you're out of hair gel.

"There's something about ice cream that raises you up from the pit of despair in which you were falling and sets your feet upon the rock. Thank You, Lord, for this strawberry ice cream."

Ken watched as Kaoru closed her eyes to savor the ice cream and dug in, missing the skeptical look he shot her way. She was an ice cream fanatic. Ken decided to keep that information in mind. He frowned, what had she meant by 'the pit of despair'? Reasoning that there was no way to find out unless he asked, he did.

Kaoru opened one eye and focused it on his face, tongue paused in the act of licking her cone. "Don't mess with me while I'm eating my ice cream."

Ken just blinked at her. Normal people didn't act this way.

Kaoru resumed licking her ice cream cone for a few moments before grinning up at him, her smile chasing away the darkness around them with the help of a few streetlights. "I'm just kidding. Don't take everything I say so seriously."

Ken blinked again. If anything he wasn't being serious enough. He should be physically and mentally preparing himself to deal with Saitou, whom they were about to be late meeting with, and Tomoe, whom he'd been blackmailed into killing in the near future. Instead, he'd let Kaoru convince him to take her out for ice cream during the hour between sunrise and Saitou arriving to take them to Ayame's. As if there wasn't ice cream at the tea house! And all it had taken were a few coy looks from the corner of her eye and a fleeting kiss. He really needed to gather his wits and get Kaoru off his brain if he was going to have any chance keeping himself sane around Saitou, not to mention Tomoe.

"I resent being stared at as if I was crazy."

Ken adverted his gaze from Kaoru to monitor the streets around them. Tomoe knew he was looking for her by now. He wouldn't put it past her to enlist someone to track him down and spy on him before their meeting to gain a little intel. After all, that was how she'd roped him into this whole mess in the first place. And there was no doubt that it had all started with her. If she hadn't sought him out during the war, he never would have found himself in the situation where he had to choose between death and living the life of a vampire. He never would have had to curse himself every night for one weak decision all those years ago. But griping about it sounded pathetic even to him. What was done was done and no amount of regret would change the conscious decision he had made to become a vampire. True, he hadn't known what he'd been getting himself into or even what a vampire was, but that gave him no grounds to blame Tomoe for his mistakes. He should have listened to his consciousness that time instead of agreeing to allow her to save him, therefore indebting himself to her.

A familiar vampire ki intruded on his senses. Saitou. No sooner had Ken thought the man's name then he spotted the man himself, emerging from an alley. Ken nodded to him briefly in acknowledgement, keeping his eyes on the Juppongatana member warily as he drew closer. Kaoru remained oblivious, still licking her cone as if it was the only thing that mattered in the world. Looking at her, you'd think she was strolling along a park path in broad daylight instead of standing on a street corner at night in a part of town that was falling into disrepair. That quality in her was as comforting as it was terrifying.

"Why are you out here?" Saitou asked bluntly as soon as he was within hearing distance.

Kaoru visibly jumped, but didn't make a sound.

"She wanted ice cream," Ken answered in a tone that conveyed the fact that he was annoyed to be forced to state the obvious.

Saitou stopped a few feet away from Ken and glared at him. "You know perhaps better than I how much danger you're putting yourself in by standing out here in the open. You're a fool to indulge her whims."

"What do you care? It's no secret you want me dead. I didn't think it would matter to you if you weren't the one to do it."

"Maybe I do want you dead, but that's impossible right now. My leader has ordered me to watch over your sorry ass, and I refuse to let you defeat me again by dying on me. We'll fight our own war when this one is over."

Ken's grin held a feral quality. "If you say so," he agreed. Beating Saitou was always a pleasure.

"I say so. You won't wriggle out of this battle."

Ken's face lost its grin. "Are you implying that I 'wriggled out of' the last one?"

"Infer what you want," Saitou said coolly, glaring steadily at the other vampire.

"I must have given you a few too many hard knocks on your head, because you seem to have lost some brain cells," Ken informed him in clipped tones. "I was the one who saved your ass. You'd be dead if it wasn't for me."

Saitou sneered. "I would have made it out."

"Tokio told me you had to stay in bed for two more nights afterwards. It only takes one day to recover from most injuries. You wouldn't have made it anywhere but Hell."

"What were you talking to my wife for?!" Saitou asked, unpleasantly surprised.

"You're the one who hates me, not her. Why wouldn't I talk to her?"

"Stay away from her, Battousai."

Ken scoffed. "You know there's no way you can stop her from reaching me if she wants. If you tried to stop her she'd have your head."

Sick of the words flowing back and forth between the two vampires, Kaoru decided to put in her own two cents. "If it's so important not to be seen, then why are you two just standing here squabbling?" All she received for her efforts were two icy glares.

"Stay out of this," Saitou snapped.

"Don't talk to her that way. You're to address her with nothing less than respect," Ken snapped back, taking a menacing step towards Saitou.

"You are attempting to intimidate me? This is too funny. I can't wait to have a good laugh with Okita when I tell him about this."

"I know you're not taking me lightly, Saitou. I know inside you're a little uneasy, a little unsure that maybe you couldn't beat me. After all, we haven't really fought each other all out. You know I haven't been as earnest as you were in your efforts to kill me. I don't want to fight you, but if you want a fight to the death after this is all over, I'll give you one."

Kaoru definitely did not like where the argument was going, or the fact that Ken seemed to be perfectly okay with the direction in which the argument was going. She looked from Ken to Saitou with growing alarm.

"You don't intimidate me, Battousai."

"Then you haven't learned your lesson."

"You forget that the first time I saw you in ten years, you were following this girl around as if she had you on a leash. You've obviously grown soft with a human running your life."

"If you felt that way, then why didn't you confront me as soon as you saw me instead of waiting until I left her alone to threaten her?" Ken shot back.

"I had orders to keep you in the dark from high up. If it had been up to me, you would have been dead."

"I am fucking tired of being left in the dark," Ken stated slowly, flatly, by now more angry at the world than angry at Saitou. Kaoru watched him guardedly. Just as it seemed he was going to let the anger get the better of him, all emotion disappeared from his face. He turned abruptly and started walking away from Saitou and Kaoru.

"Where are you going?" Saitou yelled, frustrated.

Ken didn't reply, simply continuing back in the direction of the apartment.

With a scathing glance at Saitou, Kaoru followed the shorter vampire at a safe distance. If she tried to approach Ken, he probably wouldn't shrug her off, but as long as there was a chance that he might, she didn't want Saitou seeing it. And something told her it would be wise to stay behind the scenes for the moment, just in case Ken was resenting the fact that she was a tagalong.

The scuffing sound of an angry foot connecting with the curb reached her over the steady murmur of traffic going by. So Saitou was angry? Let him be. He deserved it. Kaoru would have yelled at him herself if she wasn't sure that it would aggravate Ken. It was depressing being looked at as inferior just because she was human. It was even more depressing because there was a degree of truth to that attitude. There was nothing she could do to benefit Ken. She had to be watched every second at night, Ken had forbidden her to go out in the day, and she probably couldn't stand up to the weakest vampire after her blood. Her first encounter with Misao was proof of that.

We've been running for hours. I'm thirsty.

Stop complaining.

I can't help it. There's no time to hunt down an animal and get some blood. I'm dehydrated. Is there any water around here? I'm that desperate.

Here. It was in the human's pack.

Thanks! Cool, one of those water bottles with a filter you can change and shit. I should get me one of these.

…

Hey! This water tastes like dirt!

How can water taste like dirt?

I don't know, but this does. Try it if you don't believe me.

… You're right. It must be well water or something.

Crappy filter! See, that's why I'm against technology.

"You can't just leave me here," Kaoru exclaimed, hands on her hips.

"I agree that it's best to leave the human here," Saitou cut in while Kaoru still had her mouth open, "but you are not leaving me behind, Battousai."

"You are both staying at Ayame's while I take care of Tomoe. I can't afford to worry about where you are while I'm fighting her," Ken said blandly, giving them both a hard glare that did not match his genial tone of voice.

Kaoru bit back her next protest. Ken hadn't treated her coldly since they'd come to LA. She preferred to think he was acting this way because he needed to distance himself from the world. He was planning to kill someone in the near future after all; the person who'd turned him into a vampire. Yes, it was better to chalk his behavior up to nervousness at seeing Tomoe again than have the reason be that he'd decided there was no way their relationship was going to work, and was preparing to sever ties with her.

"Even though I'm sure it would give you much satisfaction to boss me around, you are not my superior." Saitou's voice was steely. "My leader has given me orders to witness the death of your assignment and that is what I will do."

Ken's smirk did not reach his eyes. They remained expressionless, more amber then violet, utterly different from the even swirl of the two colors that Kaoru was used to seeing. "I thought you'd say something like that, Saitou. The second Myojin calls you with new orders, I'm leaving. You will stay here to protect Kaoru."

Ken tuned out the protests from both of his unlikely companions and watched the traffic outside Ayame's. He'd parked the car illegally, but he didn't expect to leave it in the handicapped spot for long. He didn't want a meddlesome cop coming along and giving him a ticket, which would do nothing but leave a paper trail. Since the Juppongatana obviously knew his identity as Mr. Sato it wouldn't be long before that information leaked out to the hunter and vampire public from one of the Juppongatana's less reliable members.

"Kenshin Himura! You're not listening to a word I'm saying!"

"Shut up," Saitou barked harshly. "Don't yell his name all over the street! Do you want everyone to know who he is?!"

"Don't tell me to shut up, you worthless piece of crap! I don't know why your wife married a haughty, arrogant, domineering jerk-face like you," Kaoru yelled, counting off each insult with her fingers.

"Jerk-face?"Saitou rolled his eyes. "Is that the best you could come up with?"

"I bet you don't even know what haughty, arrogant, and domineering mean you thick, brainless, dim-witted, unreasonable-"

"Kaoru, stop." The controlling element Ken put in his voice silenced her just in time. Saitou seemed about to tear her into shreds if she'd gone on any longer. Ken didn't have time to deal with their argument tonight. "Be quiet and wait for Saitou's leader to call. When he does, go to Ayame and have her put you to work until I get back."

"But, Ken-"

"You work as a waitress, it'll be no trouble for you."

Saitou started snickering. "You're a waitress?" He turned to Ken. "You pick up your contacts at restaurants now?"

"Hey," Kaoru defended herself hotly. "It's only a summer job. For your information, I'll be a junior in college next year! And I am not his contact!"

Saitou snickered some more. "Dating college kids now? I never thought I'd see the day. Of course, you do look like one. I should have figured. Leave the girl and let's go. I don't intend to waste the whole night on this assignment."

Ken ignored the jibe from Saitou. He was too wired to care. He needed Myojin to call so he could leave Kaoru where she was safe and acquire a few things before his meeting with Tomoe. She'd agreed to meet him in the letter Ayame had transferred to him. One of Ayame's human workers had received it from a street kid earlier that afternoon. Now Ken was impatient to be off. If he was late, he knew Tomoe wouldn't wait for him to show up. She had better things to do, things that apparently had to do with the Juppongatana, since they were so eager to have her destroyed. Ken planned on getting a lot of information out of her before she suspected anything. Like he'd said to Saitou before, he didn't like being kept in the dark.

"Ken, couldn't I just stay at the apartment?"

"No. The Juppongatana know where it is. You're not safe there."

"Don't insult the honor of the Juppongatana," Saitou said testily. "We would not go back on our word and harm her there."

"I'm not any safer here," Kaoru protested, angry that Ken wasn't bothering to make eye contact with either of them.

Ken was tired of both of them arguing at him. Couldn't they see he didn't need to listen to their bickering and yelling right now? "Saitou, I'm not insulting the honor of your crappy police club. Kaoru, stay at Ayame's. You'll be safer in the open of the restaurant and Ayame protects all of her waitresses. Beg her to let you work there for tonight." Thankfully, Kaoru looked resigned to her fate and started shooting the storefront of the restaurant sulky glances instead of Ken. Saitou just looked pissed, but remained silent.

A few minutes of tense silence between the three passed until Saitou's cell phone vibrated. Casting Ken and Kaoru both hateful looks, he stepped out of human and vampire earshot to answer it.

Kaoru sighed in defeat. "Fine, Kenshin. Go alone, just come back, okay?"

Ken finally brought his eyes away from scanning traffic to her. "I will. I need you to be at Ayame's, Kaoru. She's the only vampire I trust in L.A. She'll take care of you while I'm gone."

Kaoru nodded. "Just so you know, I resent the fact that you're making me work without pay."

Ken ignored her attempt to lighten the mood. "Stay with her for a few nights if I don't come back-"

"If you don't come back?" Kaoru echoed, disturbed at the notion.

"And then go to the apartment in the morning, pack up our stuff, and get a plane ticket back to Philly before nightfall. I doubt the Juppongatana will come after you, but try not to go out after dark for a few months," Ken finished.

"Oh please, if you don't come back, then I'm going after you, not going back to Philly," Kaoru informed him breezily, refusing to entertain the notion that it meant he was dead if he didn't come back.

"If I don't come back there'll be nothing to find but ashes, and I doubt you'll find that much," Ken informed her.

"I don't believe that. I'll come after you if you don't come back," Kaoru said firmly.

"I'll just have Saitou call Soujiro then. He'll be sure you get back to your home whether you want to go or not."

Kaoru glared up at him stubbornly. "I can deal with Soujiro. He trusts me enough still that I could outwit him long enough to get away."

"That's what Shishio and those other hunters are for," Ken said smugly. "They'll never trust you enough to let you get away."

"Why are you talking like you're not coming back?! You better come back!"

"There's a good chance I won't, Kaoru. Don't be an idiot. Tomoe's older and wiser then me. I've got to face those facts. There's no way I can go into this underestimating her and ever come out." Ken wished he could beat the truth into her brain and make her believe what he said, but he could see the denial in her eyes. No matter what he said, he didn't think he could change that. He hadn't realized she looked up to him to the extent that she believed he was the most powerful vampire out there. Hadn't she seen him at the mercy of the Juppongatana? Hadn't she grasped how powerless he would have been against all of them?

"You'll come back. Stop doubting yourself."

There was anger in her voice. Ken could hardly believe that she was honest-to-God, truthfully, fiercely, angry at him for doubting himself. He gave up trying to convince her that he really wasn't all that.

"Look, Kaoru, let's stop arguing. I don't want to leave with you mad at me."

"I can't help but be mad at you, Kenshin! How are you going to beat her if you've got some inferiority complex?!"

It was cute that Kaoru called him Kenshin when they were alone now, well as alone as they could get standing on the busy sidewalk of a crowded street in the middle of the city, and it even kind of turned him on, but she was irritating the Hell out of him at that moment. And it was insulting to be told that you had an inferiority complex, when you clearly did not. In his whole life as both a human and vampire, not once had someone told him he had an inferiority complex, except for when it came to Hiko, but that didn't count. And even if he did have one, he certainly wouldn't be feeling inferior to Tomoe, a woman who preyed on young men and turned them into vampires just to get her kicks. He just had a healthy respect for her, and that was it. Kaoru was the one with the inferiority complex. He'd seen the way she looked at Ayame. That was probably half the reason she was putting up a fuss. But there was no way Ken was going to tease Kaoru about that right now, not when that would just make new arguments pour forth from her lips.

"I don't have an inferiority complex. I'm just being cautious. I doubt the Juppongatana will be all smiles and understanding if I failed to kill her. They'd probably come after you, which is why I want you to stay with Ayame." Ken hoped Kaoru didn't realize that there was no way Saitou would call Soujiro to take her back if he was ordered to kill her by his boss. Actually, there was no way Saitou would ever do a favor for Ken, especially not one as big as preserving the safety of a person he cared about.

"But they're not allowed to kill humans, Ken! They can't threaten me with death," Kaoru protested, wondering why she hadn't made the revelation before.

"They'll turn you first, and then kill you."

Kaoru's hands reflexively went to her neck. "I-I didn't think of that."

"I know. Now as soon as Saitou finishes with his conversation I'm going to leave and you're going inside Ayame's to beg for a job, because if she doesn't give you one and I don't come back, you're dead. Agreed?"

Kaoru nodded mutely.

Ken sighed and took her hands in his, drawing them away from her neck. "I will try my best to come back to you, Kaoru."

"I know. I'm sorry. I just feel guilty that you have to kill her because of me," her voice dropped to a whisper he wouldn't have been able to discern if he was human. "I don't want you to go and leave me alone."

"Don't be melodramatic; you've got your family and friends."

Judging by the startled look in Kaoru's eyes, she obviously hadn't meant for him to hear that last sentence. "Like the old song goes," she whispered in a voice just as soft. "If I can't have you, I don't want nobody, baby."

"You'll make it."

He said that because it was the truth. She would make it. They hadn't known each other for long and she was young, not centuries old like him, she would make it.

"Kenshin-"

A finger on her lips and she was silent, staring up at him expectantly. Now was the time where he was supposed to say something that would make her teary eyed but determined to get a job for the night at Ayame's, which was about the only place she could make herself useful at the moment. It was too bad Ken couldn't think of anything inspiring to say.

"Don't argue with me anymore."

Kaoru sighed and cast her eyes to the ground. "Okay. Have it your way."

"You win," Saitou's voice cut in. "Somehow you pulled it off."

Ken let go of Kaoru's hands, his eyes mostly amber once again, and turned to the other vampire. "Watch Kaoru until I get back," he ordered, striding to the car.

"Only because those are my orders," Saitou bit out, turning his back on Ken and stopping at the entrance to Ayame's. "Come on, Kamiya."

Ken was in the car and had pulled into traffic before Kaoru could overcome her shock at the rapid pace Saitou had changed his mind and say good-bye. She wished that Ken's eyes hadn't been amber again, and that he'd at least kissed her before he left. And what lay ahead in the next few hours for her? First groveling to Ayame, a serious blow to her pride, and then being extra polite and cheerful to the customers, all the while under Saitou's spiteful gaze. At least it would make the time until Ken returned pass faster.

"Come on, Kamiya," Saitou ordered annoyed. "Staring after him isn't going to make him come back any sooner. And when he does come back, I'm going to whomp his ass into the ground."

Kaoru turned away from the street and glared at him. She vowed to teach the vampire to respect her before the night was over.

What's ESP stand for again?

Extra-sensory perception.

Well I think I've got it.

You?

Hey! Stop laughing!

This from the guy who lost a thousand dollars because he bet he could pick out an ace from five cards, and you picked the two of clubs.

It could have happened to anyone!

Sano, the other four cards were aces.

"He's on the move tonight."

Shishio scoffed, the sound muted through the hotel door. "The Battousai is on the move every night."

"It's different. The word is that something big is happening tonight, and it has to do with the Battousai and the dark one. I think it would be best if we lay low tonight."

"You mean not go out at all?" Jineh asked incredulously.

"No. I mean stay as much behind the scenes as possible," Enishi corrected. "We don't want to get in the way of the dark one."

"If it's in the way of the Battousai, then I don't care," Jineh argued stubbornly. "I'm paying you to kill that manslayer."

"You're also paying me to protect you," Enishi shot back. "Except for the kid, you're the greenest one of all of us, but even you should know not to mess with the dark one."

"He's right, Jineh," Shishio's voice came drifting through the door. "Don't pull any major stunts tonight, and if you actually find the Battousai, get away from him as fast as you can. If the dark one wants him, let it have him."

Jineh must have agreed because there was no more talking, just feet walking around on the carpet before the sound of the main door creaking open was heard and all three of them left the room. The door slammed behind them and Soujiro stood in a daze from his position crouched by the door that adjoined the two rooms. He was exhausted. He'd been up for over twenty-four hours and had stayed up the extra few minutes to eavesdrop only to receive news like this. If Kaoru was anywhere near the Battousai, she'd be in a danger so threatening even his uncle feared it. Soujiro had long since gotten over his initial hatred of Kaoru for cheating on him and then dumping him. He was still angry, but that didn't mean he wanted her dead. Still, there was no way he could warn her or find her in time to stop any bad fortune that might befall her. He had to entrust her life to the Battousai for now. Thankfully, the vampire was competent enough to watch over her.

Soujiro made his way over to the bed and climbed in after kicking his shoes off. No, there was nothing to do but pray.

Coffee or bread? Coffee or bread? Coffee or bread?

What are you mumbling about?

Which one should I have first?

You are hopeless.

Ken waited until after he'd paid a visit to the storage facility where he'd stored a katana and a few other choice items a couple decades ago to call Ayame. He figured she would have set Kaoru to work by now, and he owed her a thank you.

"Ken, why are you calling me at work?" her voice came on the line, a little scratchy because he didn't have a good signal.

"Sorry, Ayame. I just wanted to say thank you for using your influence with the Juppongatana to get Saitou off my back."

Her laugh trilled over the phone. "No problem. Saitou's and Myoujin's wives are friends. Once I convinced Tokio that her husband would only get in the way, it was a done deal. Tsubame may not run the Juppongatana, but she does run her husband."

"Do you usually reveal your secrets to all the people you do favors for?"

"Of course not. If it wasn't for you, I'd probably be dead. I'll tell you anything that may help you later."

"Good. I thought Sano and I trained you better than that."

"You two did a wonderful job," Ayame said softly. "By the way, Ken, your little girlfriend's here. She said you wanted her to work for me until you get back."

"Good. And Saitou's there too?" Ken asked. He needed to know the vampire was looking after Kaoru.

"Yes. Sitting at a table by himself with a cup of tea, scaring all my customers off. But enough about him, what's the deal with this girl, Ken?"

"What do you mean, what's the deal?"

"You know what I mean. You never hung around with a contact before."

"She's not a contact," Ken corrected absentmindedly.

"You sure look at her like she's your contact. I'm a woman. I know about matters of the heart, and she's heartbreak waiting to happen. She doesn't look too keen on turning into vampire either, which is the only way your relationship might last."

"When did I say I wanted her to?" Ken asked defensively.

"So that means you do have a relationship," Ayame fairly crowed.

Ken didn't bother to say anything. She'd caught him in a trap and he didn't feel like digging himself deeper at the moment.

"She's doing well with the customers," Ayame told him, wisely changing the subject. "She told me she had a waitressing job part-time. I think she'll be alright here. I'll make sure my men look after her as well, so don't worry about her tonight."

"Thanks. I'm sorry I had to leave her with you. There's no one else."

"It's fine. What are friends for? Not that you've been keeping in touch with me more than once a year."

"Don't tell anyone about her, Ayame. I don't want her getting mixed up in my life more than necessary."

"Sure thing. I'll keep my mouth shut this time. I see her across the room now. She is a pretty little thing, isn't she?"

Ken thought up a mental image of Kaoru at the restaurant, with a few minor alterations to the scene that must be playing out now. No one in the restaurant but her and him, with her in that bikini from last night sounded about right. "Yes," he agreed, deciding Ayame was the last person in the world he could be frank with besides Kaoru, not that there had ever been that many. After he had struck out on his own, he had never needed to talk to anyone other than Sano and the occasional contact who had no clue what was going on.

"Try and come back for her then, Ken. I don't know what weird mission you're on tonight, but rumor has it that the dark one has something to do with it."

"Go back to your restaurant, Ayame. If I get back I'll say hi before I pick up Kaoru."

Ken hung up and turned his phone off, concentrating on the road once again.

Ew. Mosquito!

Where is it?

Right there.

Where? I don't see it!

Right there! Kill it. I hate clapping bugs.

I don't see it! Get it so it doesn't get us during the day!

Ewwww.

What?!

I got it.

Kaoru had watched him do some basic workouts before they'd gone out for ice cream. She'd even joined in, albeit a bit half-heartedly. He had to prepare his body for the confrontation with Tomoe so it wouldn't fail him if his mind did. Luckily, he'd been in peak physical condition when he'd been turned, so it wasn't hard to bring his body back into shape. With only an average of twelve hours a day his, even less in the summer, he rarely had time to train anymore, especially since his mission to kill the dark one had started. Back in the storage shed, Ken had been grateful he'd taken the initiative to give his body a workout. The muscles he used when he fought with his katana and companion wakizashi hadn't been exercised in a long time.

Ken parked the car on the side of the road after turning around so he could hop in and strike off for L.A. in a hurry if need be. The map he'd brought said the driveway to the ranch Tomoe had holed herself up in was a mile long. Ken preferred it that way. Tomoe wouldn't have heard the sound of the car from the house and it was unlikely that she would have had cameras installed that far from the stronghold. Of course she wasn't expecting him to drive up and knock on the front door, but she was only one woman. Probably only one woman anyway. Tomoe liked to conduct her affairs in private. It was unlikely that she'd brought anyone along to patrol the perimeter, and Ken had a hard time picturing her slinking around through the bushes in the dark waiting for him, so his choice to park a mile away was justified.

After turning off the engine and unbuckling his seatbelt, Ken meditated for a few moments to clear his mind, a habit born from hanging around Aoshi Shinomori. He banished Kaoru from his head and thought only of Tomoe and the task ahead of him. He would be much happier when this night was over. Allowing himself a small sigh, Ken exited the car and walked around its front to the passenger-side door. Yanking it open, he retrieved his daisho and secured them in his belt against his left hip, with the weapon edges face up. He pulled up and down on the scabbard a few times to be sure it was firmly attached. It wasn't quite the same as when he'd fought in the war centuries ago, but the action certainly did bring back memories. Back then, he'd secured the daisho on his hakama. Times had changed.

Ken let out a short laugh at that thought and retrieved the other items he'd repossessed from the storage shed, placing them carefully in the pockets of his trench coat. Shutting and locking the door of the car, he evaluated himself once more. He was now clothed entirely in black, having changed at the storage shed into a pair of black boots, black pants, a black t-shirt, and a long black trench coat. He probably looked like one of the characters from that movie the Matrix, minus the dark shades. A Matrix character or a goth. He hadn't bothered to take his hair into account. At night, it merely looked dark brown, almost black, not the deep shade of reddish brown that made him stand out in the sun. As a child, his hair had been even brighter and he would have needed a hat to allow him to go unnoticed, even in the dark, but as he'd gotten older, it had thankfully toned down. Ken doubted any of the vampires were even aware of the fact that he had red hair since he hadn't been cursed by any telltale freckles and his eyebrows were actually a lot darker than his hair.

He quizzed himself until he was certain he knew in what pocket every item he carried was, even his car keys. Then he drank in his surroundings, allowing his keen eyes to adjust to the dark. In a few seconds he could make out the trees that lined the dirt road into the forest where the ranch lay in wait for him. In a few more seconds he could see the individual leaves on those trees, and in a minute he could see the small shadows of the bugs that rested on the leaves, cast down by the crescent moon.

To be sure he could maneuver around his trench coat enough to draw his katana in a hurry, Ken practiced drawing it from its scabbard and executed a few practice thrusts.

"Iai do: the art of drawing a sword," Ken murmured to himself. It felt good to hold a katana again. Ten years was a long time to go without the weight of one in his palm. Sheathing the sword, he gave the interior of the car a last cursory glance before shutting the door as quietly as possible and sprinting into the forest.

Ken had always been fast. Even when he was human his speed had rivaled that of the average vampire, not that he'd even heard of such creatures back then. When he'd been turned it had increased tenfold. Now, with the aid of his vampire senses, he was able to navigate through the forest at night as if he'd been walking along a paved path at noonon a clear day. Cautiously, he made the mile trip to the ranch in three minutes.

There it lay. Every single window in the three story ranch house was lit. The light from the windows pooled out and across the manicured lawn. To the left and slightly behind the house were a large barn and a fenced in pasture. To the right of the house and almost in the woods was a small cottage, presumably for the live-in caretaker. The woods ended where Ken stood. The land beyond the small ranch was nothing but rolling hills of scrub bush and God knew what other plants. There would be no cover trying to break into the house. Ken did not intend on knocking on the front door. He decided to check out the caretaker's single story cottage first, simply because it was the only place he could reach without fear of being detected from the house. With a watchful eye for movement on the illuminated windows, he slunk around to the cottage.

Tomoe, what's wrong with me? Why am I so weak?

I saved you from dying. You're recovering. It's normal for you to be weak.

Oh… Why am I so cold?

You're a vampire, Ken. I turned you into one to save you from death.

What's a vampire?

Did you hear the story of those peasants who fell victim to a mysterious foreigner?

They said he wasn't human, that he sucked their blood and left them barely alive.

Yes. That was the vampire who turned me. He was lonely for one of his own kind. You're one of us now.

I don't understand.

You will once your body has adjusted to the changes. Sleep now, Ken.

I don't understand…

Kaoru sat down in the vacant chair at Saitou's table for two with a sigh.

"You're supposed to be making yourself useful."

It really was depressing not knowing a single person in the whole restaurant but a man who clearly threw her in with the scum of the earth in his estimation, and a woman who was convinced she was Ken's mistress. Everyone else in the room seemed determined to drive her nuts. As it was, she'd ignored six calls for a waitress just while walking over to Saitou.

"I'm on break for a few minutes," Kaoru replied tersely. How in the Hell was she going to get Saitou to look at her like she wasn't shit crusted on the bottom of his shoe? And Ken must be having a bad influence on her, swearing didn't normally fit into her everyday thought pattern.

"Why'd you come over here?" His eyes remained fixed on the singer performing on stage.

"There's nowhere else in this place for me to rest a minute where I'd be out of the way. I'm not moving. I don't care if you mind," she finished stubbornly.

Saitou shrugged. "It's more convenient for me this way since I have to watch you."

Perhaps she should have stepped outside in the alley in that case. She hadn't wanted to do Saitou any favors. But who knew what would have happened to her if she'd done that. Kaoru suppressed a shiver.

"This isn't exactly my idea of an adventure," she said noncommittally.

Saitou just grunted.

"I always visualized something like Inuyasha or Fruits Basket or Ranma ½," Kaoru continued. "Something a bit cuter I suppose, not such an intense guy like Ken who hates what he is on a mission to kill someone."

She was surprised when Saitou actually turned to her with a spark of interest in his yellow gaze, a dull spark, but a spark nonetheless. She even more surprised when he spoke.

"You watch anime?"

Kaoru nodded. "And I read manga, when I have the time that is. Why? You know someone who does?"

"My wife," Saitou supplied. Kaoru had the distinct feeling he wasn't telling her the whole truth, but decided to ignore it for now. She hadn't known vampires were into anime, and it was always exciting to find a fellow anime-obsessed person.

"Which ones does she like?" Kaoru asked eagerly.

Saitou leaned back in his chair. Although his expression didn't change, Kaoru had the distinct impression that he was thoughtful. Wow. That was a first.

"She likes the ones you have mentioned. She also talks about Naruto, Wolf's Rain, and Cowboy Bebop."

Kaoru brightened. "Really?! I like all those too. Has she rubbed off on you a little, Saitou?"

"What are you talking about?" His question was more of a statement.

"I know from experience that you can't live with someone who's totally obsessed with anime for very long without a little bit rubbing off on you. I started out on Dragon Ball Z after hanging around my friend too much, and her brother was the one that got her hooked on it. Has your wife ever watched that one?"

"She used to set the VCR to tape it. It came on during the day most of the year."

"Yeah, Vegeta got me hooked on that. Goku was too good. Vegeta had more brains." Kaoru sighed happily. "Ah, memories. What did your wife start watching after that?"

"Outlaw Star."

"Cool. So do you watch any anime or read the manga?"

Saitou favored her with a bored glance. "When my wife forces me to."

"Oh." Well there went Kaoru's hunch that Saitou was a manga freak behind closed doors. Glancing at her watch, she saw that her break was over. Well three minutes really wasn't all that long. Stretching, she stood and straightened the uniform apron one of the other waitresses had outfitted her with. "See you later, Saitou."

"I'll be watching you, Kamiya."

Kaoru nodded before pushing in her chair and throwing herself to the masses once again. So much for making headway with Saitou.

You want me to drink her blood. I won't. I'm not like you.

But you are like me, Ken. No amount of wishful thinking can change that.

I'm not like you, Tomoe.

Stop lying to yourself. I know you feel the lust for her blood. You have to drink. You've started to lose your energy. Don't deny that. No amount of food will satiate your hunger.

What have you turned me into, some kind of demon?! You never eat, you sleep in the day, you're pale as death some nights, and rosy the next, what are you?!

I already told you. We are vampires. I'll leave you alone with her now. Do what your body tells you and drink. She's already been sipped on by the vampire who turned me. She sought me out.

Why wouldn't she run away as fast as her legs could carry her from a creature like him?

Ask her yourself.

The caretaker's cottage had proved to be empty of life, except for the tied-up, drugged-up, vampire-bitten caretaker lying on the sofa snoring. Ken had decided to deal with him later. The barn hadn't yielded any answers either, only a dozen or so horses, all well-kept and well-fed, presumably by the caretaker. Confident that no attack would come from either of those places, Ken had studied the house, lit up silently in a yard in the middle of nowhere. There was no doubt Tomoe was inside waiting for him. Ken preferred things dark and dreary, at least then he would have had some cover, but as it was, his every move would be out in the open once he entered that house. She'd left all the windows open as well as lit, so it had been an easy feat to climb in one towards the back of the house. Now he stood waiting quietly, not even breathing, by the same window he'd entered in. He waited for five minutes. There was not a sound throughout the house the whole time, besides a few creaks that could have been the house settling. But Ken knew better than that.

Keeping to the side of the wall, he made his way to the doorway to the rest of the house as silently as possible. Still, there was that one moment where he would have to stand in the middle of the doorway and potentially expose himself to threat. Placing his hand on the hilt of his katana, he moved into the doorway-

-and met her eyes.

"Hello, Ken."

After all the years her voice was exactly as he remembered it: suave, distant, and serene as a winter night after a blizzard. Her brown eyes stared into his, unnerving him now just as they had all those years ago. It was hard to believe her eyes were what had attracted him to her in the first place. Back then there had been melancholy and frustration in those eyes, behind the cold, composed exterior. Now they told him nothing, not even whether she was pleased or annoyed to see him again.

"It's been a long time," she stated when he said nothing. Surprisingly, she looked just like a regular woman in the twenty-first century, clad in blue jeans, boots with a three inch heel, and a short sleeved shirt made from a delicately patterned fabric. The Tomoe he remembered wore a kimono, socks and sandals. But she was still the same woman, sophisticated and detached as ever. Of that he had no doubt. Seeing her again was a shock that was taking him a disturbingly long time to recover from.

"Yes," Ken found himself agreeing. "It has been a long time."

"Please," she said with a faint smile that didn't reach her eyes, "come sit with me in the living room where we can talk."

With that she turned her back on him and disappeared through a doorway to her right. Ken shook his head to clear the fog from his brain before following her. He'd much rather keep her in his sight now that he'd found her. Cautiously, he made his way to the doorway and stepped through. Tomoe was sitting in a straight back wooden chair and had just picked up a cup of tea from the service on a low table in front of her. She gestured for him to sit across from her. Gingerly, Ken complied. He was all too conscious of the fact that she would have to be blind to miss his daisho now that he was sitting down, but there was no way he could attack. She was on her guard.

"Since you're well and functioning, I'm guessing you found another vampire to teach you the ropes after you left me," she observed dryly. "I had hoped you would."

"I did. He taught me well." Ken didn't add that it had been Seijuro Hiko. If Tomoe didn't know who he was, he didn't want to put the man in unnecessary danger.

"Tell me, have you kept your vow not to change anyone?" she asked, not moving her eyes from him as she sipped her tea.

"Yes," Ken told her firmly. "There are too many vampires in this world and no need to make more."

"Not liking immortality, darling? I know many humans who would be happy to be in your place."

Ken winced. 'Darling' was not one of his favorite pet names. "I'd switch places with them if I could."

Tomoe didn't comment. "I love the girl you're hanging around with by the way. She's very pretty, very polite as well."

Tomoe had met Kaoru?! Ken knew Kaoru would have mentioned any unusual meeting. Then again, Kaoru had no idea what Tomoe looked like. She could have passed her on the street and not known. But when had Kaoru been alone at night? Ken honestly didn't know. This was bad if Tomoe had access to Kaoru, very bad.

"How do you know about her?" Ken asked, unable to prevent steel from entering his tone.

Tomoe raised one elegant eyebrow at the change in his voice. "I saw you two together. You make a cute couple by the way. Is she a long term accessory? You have good taste."

In a corner of his mind, Ken knew Tomoe was trying to anger him, to set him on edge. He also knew she was succeeding. The quickest way to undermine his confidence was through Kaoru. Somehow, Tomoe had discovered that truth and was now going to use it against him. Manipulating bitch, Ken thought angrily, aware that there was nothing he could do to stem his emotions as far as Kaoru was concerned. He would just have to stomach Tomoe's words and come out on top in the end. He knew a few ways to get under her skin, and since she'd been the one to start the verbal battle, he had no qualms on finishing it.

"No, I owe my pursuit of her all to you, Tomoe. You set the example, forcing young humans with high energy levels on me. But unlike you, I don't intend to change her."

"Don't tell me you're still bitter over me turning you," Tomoe remarked, bemused. "I thought you'd have accepted your life by now. How long has it been? Around two hundred years?"

"Two hundred and three years," Ken told her, unable to keep the bitterness from his voice. "And I haven't forgiven you yet."

"I never asked you to," Tome said with a sip of her tea. Gently, she sat her cup down on the tea service. "So why did you call this meeting, Ken? From your behavior, I gather it wasn't a voluntary decision."

"I wouldn't have burdened you if I could see any other way out of my current situation."

Tomoe leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. "And just what is your situation?"

"I'm being blackmailed."

Tomoe flicked an imaginary piece of lint from her shoulder. "And I care because?"

"My blackmailer has ordered me to kill you."

Tomoe froze and stopped fussing over her sweater. Folding her hands in her lap, she gazed at Ken with interest. "I thought you didn't kill women," she remarked with the air of someone who'd just discovered that it wasn't supposed to rain tomorrow after all.

"I don't."

"Hmm. But I suppose you have to this time."

Ken gave her a slight nod. "Yes."

"So that's what the daisho is for. Tell me, do you know why you've been sent to kill me?"

"I can't give you that information."

"Respect for the blackmailer. You really are naïve," Tomoe observed with a slight air of wonder. Her hand drifted to her hair, which was done up elaborately with long silver pins. She twirled an errant strand around her finger, studying him. "I thought I taught you better."

Ken had opened his mouth to reply when Tomoe's wrist flicked in his direction. He glanced at her face. Her expression had not changed, but she'd just sent a six-inch silver needle slitting through the air towards his head. Ken blinked at the needle slicing towards him in disbelief. Where had she gotten a weapon? It hadn't been in her hand the whole time, or he would have noticed. He was sitting down, there was no way he could unsheathe his katana or wakizashi in time to deflect the needle from its target: his right eye.

Ken jerked his head violently to the left. The needle grazed his cheek, leaving nothing more than a slight sting and burning sensation in its wake. He preferred that over a punctured eye. She had already sent another needle flying in his direction, this time aimed for his chest. The needle was going to hit him. There was nothing he could do about it. Ken lurched up from his chair and leapt to the right. The needle pierced his left shoulder, hit bone, and started to burn its way through the flesh of his shoulder. With a grunt of disgust, Ken reached his right arm across his body and placed his fingers on base of the needle, where it had entered his skin. They started to burn as well. As quickly as possible, he yanked the needle free from his body and flung it into the wall. The needles had been silver. Keeping his eyes on Tomoe, Ken realized the needles were keeping Tomoe's hair up in that elaborate hairstyle. Since he wasn't finely acquainted with the methods women used to style their hair, he had no idea how many needles she had left.

She'd been watching him with a curious expression on her face the whole time, playing with her hair. Ken wondered how she could touch the needles to throw them at him when they were blessed silver. Only that type of metal would have burned him on contact with his flesh as her needles had.

"Let's see how quick you've gotten," Tomoe murmured. She smiled slightly. Again, it did not reach her eyes. "Draw your katana so you can at least block." She stretched. "I haven't had a good confrontation in a long time."

Ken figured he might as well try to reason with her. "I'd rather you let me make this painless."

Tomoe let out a low laugh and watched avidly as he drew his katana and slid to an attack stance. "Too slow."

Ken barely settled into his stance when he discovered he wouldn't be able to attack at all, not with his katana. Tomoe threw the needles with a speed and fluidity that let him know she practiced every night. Ken had not lifted a katana for ten years. At first he was barely able to deflect most of the needles, but then the rhythm of his sword style gradually began to control his movements. After studying the way the needles bounced off his katana, he started sending them back at her. She wasn't as fast as him, but had the advantage of having more weapons. Whenever he got too close, she simply sent a well placed needle towards his eyes, which he was forced to dodge haphazardly. And as she flitted around the room, she seemed to have no problem with reusing needles that had gotten stuck in the walls. But Ken was wearing her down. Unless she had a hidden supply of needles under the sofa, she was going to run out, her hair was falling down in waves to rest straight and black against her back.

And then she had no knives left. Ken couldn't miss this chance to kill her and be done with it. He cleared his mind and readied himself for the strike that would take off her head in a clean sweep. Tomoe smirked, he hesitated, and a gleaming katana was at his throat. Ken froze.

A/N - So there you go. Finally, chapter 14! I hope you don't mind the cliffhanger too much, but this scene was way too long not to split up and I wanted to get a little Tomoe action in there. Hope you liked it. I welcome all feedback.