Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ The Samurai Wives ❯ Monster ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter Five- Monster

"I thought you wanted to go out." The assassin was growing more frustrated with Kaoru than ever.

She crossed her arms over herself. "It's too cold!" She protested, keeping her kimono tight around her. "It's raining, and cold."

"But you said you wanted to go pray."

"I changed my mind!"

The scowl on his face grew darker as Kenshin crossed his own arms.

"Besides... The Shinsengumi might be looking for me even more!"

"That never bothered you before."

"The rain bothers me."

"Will you just make up your mind? Just once, and then keep it that way?"

The rain beat on the roof of the inn as the two argued. Katsura paused outside the open shoji, watched them for a moment, then sighed and continued walking.

Ikumatsu smiled at him from his side. "They really do liven up the place, don't they?"

Katsura shook his head. "If I didn't know better about him, he would seem so normal... they fight about some of the most ridiculous things... And he never was like that before she came along."

She fought a smile. "Does it strike you as a bad thing?"

"No... just strange."

"Not to me."

"It wouldn't."

Ikumatsu's smile bloomed. "This place is very dark... it's nice to have the youth bringing it to life."

"Neither of them really are young. They've both grown up young."

"They certainly don't act that way around one another."

((()))

Kaoru sighed as Kenshin beat her for the fifth time in shogi. "Is it an army thing?"

"What?" He asked, looking back up at her.

"Being able to play shogi so well. Is it something related to you being in the army?"

"I'm not in the army."

"Then what do you call this?" She waved her hand around the room.

"I call it a group of men who want to change the world." He turned back down to the board, where they began a new game.

"Oh, really?" Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

"That's all we are. Most are of noble lineage... none knowing mine."

"Doesn't Katsura-san know?"

"No."

"Don't you think he ought to know?"

"No."

"Do you say anything but `no'?"

"No."

Kaoru stared at him for a moment, then started to laugh.

He looked up at her, one eyebrow raised. "What is it?"

She shook her head, slowly halting the laugh, but her smile faded very slowly. "You know... I never thought a man would make me laugh."

"I'm not really a man." He stared back down at the board.

"Then what are you?"

"A monster."

"No... if you're a monster, then what are the men who treated their wives so terribly that they had to run away to the Tokeiji?" Her eyes bored into his skull.

"Just men. Just samurai. And the women just the wives of samurai."

She stared at him, and then down at the board. "I don't think you're a monster."

"You will... soon enough."

"I don't think so."

There was a long silence.

"Tsukino Hiro-san is looking after you tonight."

Her head jerked up at him. "What?"

"Tsukino Hi-"

"I understood that... but why?" Tsukino-san was a newer member of the group. A samurai of excellent blood, Kaoru knew, but a regular coward. He had joined the group for ideological reasons, but he did not have the bravery required of a soldier... especially one faced with the perils of the war.

Kenshin stood up.

"Himura-san! Tell me!"

He stared down at her. "I am a monster... tonight I am required to do monstrous things."

"But what if something happens tonight? Hiro-san is not exactly one I would like to depend on."

"I sincerely doubt anything will happen." He turned away, stepping back to the shoji. The game sat, forgotten, on the floor.

"Himura-san!" She stood. "What if something does?"

He sighed. "I cannot take you with me."

"I'm not asking you to." She shot back. "I don't want to see people die."

"Then deal with Tsukino-san." He turned to the shoji and slid it open.

She growled in frustration. She had, over the several weeks under his protection, come to rely on the constant protection of the temperamental assassin. He had already saved her twice, not even counting the time he had come just in time to remove her from the Tokeiji. "Oh... hold on!"

He stopped outside the door, waiting patiently for her to catch up.

The rain was still coming down hard, and she pulled her kimono tightly around her. "I don't see why you have to be so damn irritable." She mumbled.

He sighed. "Just come on..." He stepped into the hall for dinner.

"Himura! Are you ready?" Iizuka's voice cut through the din to them.

He scowled, but nodded. "Come on." He pulled her over to Hiro. "Tsukino- san... This is her."

She yanked her arm from his tight grip. "Thank you, Himura-san." She bowed to the black haired man, who was only slightly taller than Kenshin.

He nodded and bowed to her deeply. "Milady... it's a pleasure to meet you."

She pressed her lips together. "Likewise... I'm sure."

Kenshin sighed and stepped over to Iizuka. "She's worried something will happen tonight."

Iizuka shook his head and laughed. "Don't blame her, myself."

Kenshin scowled. "Whatever you say... she may have good reason to be worried. She usually had a sense about these things."

"Are you backing out of the job?"

"No."

"Then let's go."

Kenshin took one last, quick, glance back at the girl before turning to follow Iizuka.

((()))

Kaoru paced her room.

It was late. Very late. And Kenshin still wasn't back from his job.

Hiro was sitting outside her room, supposedly keeping watch. But she could hear the steady sound of his breathing, telling her that even he was asleep.

How late is it, anyway? She thought, her tension mounting as time passed.

The sound of Hiro jerking awake with a muted shout made her jump and turn to the shoji, looking for a weapon. She heard Hiro running down the hallway, suddenly very awake.

The shoji opened slowly.

"Kenshin?" She nearly hit herself for the slip of tongue. "Is that you?"

His high-set ponytail sagged over his shoulder as he bent, breathing slowly in order to catch his breath. "Come on... we have to get you out of here... now."

"What's going on?" She was at his side. As she touched him, she became very aware of the sticky liquid that was all over him. She leaned forward, and in the moonlight she could tell.

He was covered in blood.

"Shinsengumi... Tsukino is rousing Katsura-san... sounding the alarm. But I have to get you out of here." He took her hand and pulled her out of the room.

She was suddenly unwilling to go with him, for all the blood that covered him. "Let me go!" She cried, pulling away from him as his words from earlier in the day rang through her head.

"You will... soon enough."

He turned to her. "I told you... I am a monster... but you have to trust me."

She covered her face with her hands and cowered against the wall.

"Kaoru! We don't have time for this!" He cried, and she could hear his katana being drawn. "I'm not going to kill you."

The sound of the entire inn awakening assaulted her ears.

"Himura! Get her out of here!" Katsura's voice filled her ears, and she pulled her hands away from her face to stare up at him, eyes stricken and full of fear.

There was Kenshin, still covered in blood, but now she could see the wound on his shoulder, from which most of the blood was seeping out of. On his cheek was a long slash, doubtlessly made by his victim in a feeble attempt to remove him from the world of the living. She looked away from him, noting that she could not hear the words he was yelling to Katsura.

Two strong arms seized her and pulled her to her feet. She blinked up at Katsura.

"Go with him. He is not going to hurt you. Didn't you trust him?"

She nodded numbly.

"He is no different now than ever, except when he's around you. I need you to make sure he makes it out okay. Understand?"

She nodded again.

"Good. Now go!" He pushed her into him and turned to dash into another room.

Whatever had been making Kenshin's voice mute to her ears was gone, and he was pulling her down the hallway.

"Come on!"

"You're hurt!"

"I know that, just come on!" They burst out of the inn, into the street, where Iizuka was waiting.

"Are you two ready?" He asked evenly.

Kaoru recoiled. "He's not coming, is he?"

"Just to get us out of the city." Kenshin told her, pulling her along as they followed the man through the streets.

They navigated the streets quickly. Kaoru felt a stitch growing in her side, and she moaned in pain, stumbling and falling back.

Kenshin seized her, sweeping her into his arms and continuing to run.

"Put me down!" She hissed, trying to push out of his grasp, but he turned a silencing glare on her.

"The assassin!" A voice broke through the night, and Kenshin stopped.

"Shit." He growled, setting her to the ground and drawing his katana again.

A short, brown haired man stepped out of the shadows. Kaoru recognized the uniform. "Shinsengumi..." She whispered faintly.

"Okita Souji..." Kenshin muttered to her. "Where is he?"

Another even voice reached them. One Kaoru recognized from the night Kenshin had come to the Tokeiji. "Me?"

"Saitou-san..." Kenshin's voice dropped even lower.

The two advanced slowly.

"No, Okita-san... Not in your condition. Stay back." Saitou ordered coolly, and the man protested, but complied.

Kenshin pushed Kaoru behind him. "Stay back... out of the way..."

She nodded, falling back away from him, swallowing the lump that had appeared in her throat.

They raised their swords.