Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ The Trap of Innocence ❯ Part II ( Chapter 2 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Western Ink 
Anime/Manga: Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Supernatural / Romance | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 03.26.2005 | Pages: 9 | Words: 7.3K | Visits: 421 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Supernatural / Romance | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 03.26.2005 | Pages: 9 | Words: 7.3K | Visits: 421 | Status: Completed
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The Trap of Innocence
Part II
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Author: Western Ink
Email: see profile
Genre: Supernatural/Horror/Romance
Pairing: Aoshi x Misao
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Summary: In the boundaries between the human world and the "underworld" reclusive vampire Lord Aoshi discovers temptation.
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He watched her pace the length of darkness, her eyes aglow. She was such a beautiful girl, he thought. He was so proud she was his creation.
"Misao?"
She stopped, turning her gaze toward him. She looked somewhere between feral and frightened.
"I told you to stay away from Aoshi-sama, did I not?" It might have been a warning tone, it might not have been.
"He came after me. What was I supposed to do, tell my Realm Leader to get lost?"
"One's title has never stopped you before," he noted, approaching.
She turned toward him fully, ceasing her pacing. "Stay away!"
He watched with weary eyes as she began to look nervous. "Feeling uneasy, Misao?"
She bit her lip and resumed pacing. "It's this feeling. Without my seals...I can't... I can't... It's so..." He watched tears spring at the corner of her eyes, revealing her desperation.
Misao never cried.
He stepped closer and she eyed him wearily. With a single lunge, he had her pinned. She gasped as his hand wrapped tight around her throat, her small hands raising to claw at his gloved hand.
"Unwise of you, my child, letting him break your seals. Do you see now, how much you've come to depend on them?" he whispered, then glanced back. "Miko!" he called.
Behind him, a young woman neared, her red and white hakama denoting her occupation. In her fingers dangled five small chains of beads, barely the size of tiny silver pin heads, almost invincible from the distance they stood apart.
Misao gasped for air as Hannya continued to hold her, his grip tight.
"No dallying, Miko, seal her."
The human girl began to chant, and the beads glowed. Her face was non-descript, her long hair pooling on all sides of her, dark and straight. She kept her face turned down, her fingers laced together, the beads between them.
"Such an effort for something so easily breakable..." A deep, smooth masculine voice broke through the rhythmic chanting.
The miko paused, her head snapping up, frightened by the newcomer. Aoshi walked past her without interest, as though she were unseen. Hannya continued to hold Misao and she continued to struggle.
"Misao's seals are to protect her. Misao is mentally unstable without them. My mistake, allowing humans to raise her, but it is done. She is what she is."
"How does she survive without hunting? Even she, only half of your blood, must have needs."
Hannya frowned. "Misao is her own woman. How she handles her lusts is her own business, I only watch to keep her safe."
Aoshi frowned, but made no move to interfere, just watching the girl continue to ineffectively attempt to attack Hannya.
"Miko..." Hannya growled.
The miko dropped her head and began chanting once more. The beads glowed and vanished, reappearing around Misao's wrists, ankles, and neck. She gasped, and her struggling against Hannya stopped.
A harsh gurgling sound reached his ears. He watched her eyes clench tight, her fists balling, arms now limp at her sides.
Hannya released her as the glow faded, a coil of tiny beads around her neck, glittering in the dim light. She fell, unable to hold herself up, collapsing into a heap.
"Ooohh, that stings," she whimpered, her head toward the floor. Even her voice quivered.
Hannya remained where he was, just staring at the fallen girl. After several minutes of silence, she picked her head up and struggled to her feet. She glanced at her wrists, staring at the jeweled pieces.
"They look fragile. Why didn't you use something stronger?" Her gaze was beyond Hannya, her question directed toward the miko.
"They are new, my grandfather has designed them especially for you, Makimachi-san. He says they should hold you more firmly than the others while still managing to amplify your natural defenses." If the girl knew anything of which she was speaking, she didn't say. Her entire demeanor revealed nothing, just a blank, impassive face.
"Oh," Misao replied, glancing down at them and then lifted her head to smile. "Thank you, miko-san. My thanks to your grandfather, I don't remember meeting him, but I do appreciate it."
The miko nodded and quietly turned, leaving them alone, looking only too happy to get out there.
Aoshi stepped forward, coming around Hannya who now stood several feet from Misao. A large, red blotch now adorned her neck from the pressure of his fingers.
He stared at her a moment, waiting for her gaze to meet his. She finally obliged him with a frown on her lips.
"You're very troublesome to me, Aoshi-sama. Don't come to where I am anymore. You should have more important things to do anyway, as a Realm Leader."
She stood firmly, meeting his gaze boldly. He stared at her a moment longer.
"This charade will only hurt you in the end."
Misao watched him as he vanished into the breezy afternoon and she leaned back against the wall, slumping. The old shed behind her was rotting at it's corners, but still remained solid along the lengths.
"Is he always so difficult?" There was a wisp of fatigue in her voice.
"Yes," Hannya replied, disturbed by Aoshi's warning.
It was not something he had not thought of on his own. Misao was a friendless, formless girl, flitting through the world. She stayed to herself, only venturing to town when she felt it was necessary.
Her only companions were a loosely tied group of individuals she met near her house at a dojo where she liked to practice. Himura, Kamiya, Sagara, Myoujin... They were all pleasant enough individuals, but it concerned him if they ever found out about her true nature...
Misao had felt the sting of rejection many times. She'd been hunted and spurned and mocked many times over, but she had handled it on her own. She refused to turn away from the path on which she stood. She remained doing what she'd done for as long as he could remember after meeting her, holding her position as Realm Guardian.
Her dedication to her job made him proud of her, but her underlying reasons for doing so worried him. She hunted with a viciousness that surprised him. A thick, mean streak that hid in the shadows of her bright smile. He'd recalled one evening seeing her bathed in moonlight, blood streaking down one cheek.
It had been her own blood that night, he thought. Her prey had gotten away and she'd been left there, injured.
The hatred that boiled in her eyes when she'd looked at him that evening shook him. It had been the first glimpse he'd been given of what lurked behind her smiles and pleasantries and made him wonder.
What filth had her human guardians soiled her ears with about him and others? What had she been told to inspire such complete hatred this way?
Misao was such an odd contradiction. Nor was her reason for staying in this Realm out of sheer love for humans. She, at times, hated them with just as great a passion. She did not want to leave the only home she'd ever had, but knowing all the same that she'd never belong to it. She vehemently protested even the thought of dwelling among her 'own kind'.
Her savage distaste for her own vampiric brothers caused him increasing amounts of alarm as her hunting trips became more and more barbaric. Misao restrained her baser instincts only to release the bound emotions on those who might identify with her position.
He sighed and turned away. He didn't know what to do about her. He'd been startled when she ran headlong into him one dark evening, meeting under an ill placed streetlight.
She'd pushed away and stared at him a moment, examining his mask, then
she'd laid into him with verbal insults about being in *her* way.
He had to give her points for courage. The girl had so little fear in the world.
After she'd thoroughly thrashed him to his face she'd walked by only to get into another fight with his companion not ten feet away. Only the next person she'd collided with wasn't half as friendly, and he'd watched her flay the demonic little imp that had been his servant.
The quick hands and the blood surprised him that night. He hadn't seen the kunai, nor sensed any kind of dangerous aura emanating from her, not even when she'd yelled at him.
She'd gone from harmless kitten to raging lion in a moment, and then sprinted off into the darkness leaving him to wonder.
It was no surprise then so many others found her fascinating. Vampiric men, especially, were drawn to Misao. Wild and open - she was free with her words and her weapon. Misao was more a feisty prey than a mate, however, and drew many interested parties.
Sometimes trying to understand her was extremely disheartening.
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Aoshi stepped through the front door and was his presence immediately noticed. His servants tensed, casting uneasy glances in his direction and the staff quickly scurried to get out of his way. The halls were clear and empty of clutter, everything perfectly in place.
The wood floors shined and were perfectly smooth, the walls clean, the lights low.
He slid open a door, noting how similar his own space was to Misao's. The half-demon girl with the traditional home, although she had admitted it was not her own. He wondered, as he stepped into his private office, what her space would look like.
"You look troubled, Aoshi-sama. Are there problems in the Realm?"
Aoshi sat down at his desk, brooding.
He barely glanced at the aging man who had appeared in his doorway. "Should you not be working, Okina?"
He'd sensed the older man, but figured it was easy enough to get rid of him. He might as well wait to see what he wanted.
Okina's response was a smile. "My work is finished and all the girls are busy today."
When Aoshi concluded there was no problem, he filtered everything else out, his mind already working on *her*.
"Shikijou's territories are within my Realm holdings, send Omasu and Okon out. There is a girl I want monitored. I want to know everything."
Okina's surprise was evident as his eyebrows shot up and a hand drifted to his beard, stroking it. "Is she trouble for us, Aoshi-sama?"
A look of uneasy curiosity settled over the old man's face as he thought out how much trouble one lone female could be. He wandered in to stand before Aoshi's desk.
"Realm Guardian," he replied, ignoring Okina's question. "Her name is Makimachi Misao. She is Hannya's child."
"H-Hannya? Surely, you don't mean those rumors of his fathering a half-breed were true?"
Aoshi turned away from the bookcase he'd been staring at.
"She is unpredictable, have them keep their distance. On their own, I'm not certain they could stand up to her. Together, they might fare well enough but avoid confrontations if possible. If she is approachable, I am not adverse to their befriending her."
Again, Okina's question was ignored, but the old man was far too used to it to be offended. He stroked his beard thoughtfully, fingering his small pink bow.
"Yes, yes, I understand. Very well, I'll send them out at once. Anything else, Aoshi-sama?" Okina asked, simply a matter of routine.
"Bored? Shinomori?"
Both men turned unwelcome glares toward the now filled doorway where another visitor appeared.
Damn Saitou for being so quiet. Okina stared at the man for a moment and bowed, completely outranked.
"If you will excuse me, Aoshi-sama. I will tend your orders."
Okina quietly left, closing the shoji behind him. Aoshi propped up an elbow on his desk, leveling an even stare on the opposite House leader. He saw Saitou so rarely, it must be important.
"What brings you here?"
It was no small distance across the realm, although Saitou, by rumor, did nothing but travel. His mate, a lady by the name of Tokio, was a famous recluse, the abandoned, beautiful bride of the House Leader. It was said she wailed at the peak of the mansion for his return, but it all sounded far-fetched to him.
He'd met her only once when he'd tried to hunt down Saitou to discuss a set of slayings. Tokio was a practical woman. She handled all House matters in her husband's absence.
Human girls hung by their ankles from poles, pools of blood beneath their feet, half skinned, their heads hanging precariously by fine sinews of flesh.
It had been gruesome, even for a world that thrived on the blood of humans. It was a horrid display that caused fear and panic to well up in the Realm, especially after the initial 7 females were followed by 2 young vampiric girls. Their bodies eviscerated and carved.
Uprisings had resulted as every little town and villa near the border had their suspects. Handfuls of people were strung together and burned alive. How many innocents had died in the resulting chaos was unknown, but it was believed the murderer had been among them as the killings stopped afterwards.
Saitou invited himself in and sat in the singular chair opposite his desk. "Heard something interesting..."
"Since when are you inclined to rumors?"
Already, Aoshi dreaded the interview. He knew enough of Saitou Hajime's personality to know he didn't like it and he wasn't going to like this.
"I've heard there's some girl causing trouble. Since it was your Realm's problem, I didn't care. But since several of my citizens have turned up diced, I'm not resolved to be so patient on the matter."
"Some girl? How do you know this?"
"Informants. She's been seen. Young, long hair, rumored to be the latest amusement of yours."
Aoshi frowned. Despite rumors to the contrary, he very rarely entertained such 'amusements'.
"This amusement have a name?"
"Makimachi Misao."
He might have choked at the sudden mention of the name. Her name.
"Impossible," Aoshi replied.
Saitou's grin worried him. "Don't like the sound of that, Shinomori?"
From inside his uniform blue jacket, he pulled an envelope and tossed it onto Aoshi's desk.
Aoshi pulled open the adhesive sealed flap and withdrew out one glossy black and white photo. Despite all the fuss his brethren made over humans, they relied very heavily on their weaker counterparts when it came to technological devices.
There, in the photo, she stood, a tanto in her hand, blood dripping down the blade. Her braid was hung over one shoulder, eyes gleaming in the darkness. Aoshi tossed it aside capriciously.
"Worthless. Misao is a Realm Guardian, it is her duty to kill unauthorized trespassers."
"You mean to insinuate I don't know the rules?" Saitou scoffed. "Two of the men dead are officials of mine."
"Where were they killed?" Aoshi replied smoothly.
"Human Realm."
"Were they authorized to be there?"
"No."
Aoshi half-shrugged. "I don't see the problem."
Saitou growled. "They were A-list officials. They are not subject to unauthorized departure rules, it is their duty to oversee the Realm Guardians."
"Aa, but the Guardian you are suspicious of is not killing one of your officials in the photo and she is currently under observation. Your trip was needless."
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Omasu stretched. "It's been so long since I've been out here."
Okon nodded. "Yeah, Aoshi-sama only ever authorizes us for business."
The two shared a frown. The road was nothing more than a worn down track in the grass. They walked along, their feet kicking up dirt unintentionally with every step.
"Why are we watching this girl?"
"I'm not entirely sure," Omasu replied. "Direct orders from Aoshi-sama, but Okina said she was a Realm Guardian. You know how much freedom they're given. They're allowed to do anything they want, maybe she's suspected of something."
"I suppose that's possible, but usually only very trusted people are given this job, aren't they?"
"I don't think so, not anymore. There have been a lack of volunteers to guard the Realm borders because of the stigma's attached to it back home. Last time I heard they were accepting anyone who came."
"You mean the borders are being guarded by whatever riff-raff comes along?"
"Well, Okon, really it's a one-way border. They're not keeping humans out, but keeping us in."
"That's the place." Okon pointed one slender finger toward it.
The two females stared at the tall house. It wasn't grand, but nor was it shabby. But it was old and two stories up, brown colored with a peaked cornered roof.
"Realm guardians provided houses?"
Omasu nodded. "Depends on the importance of the guardian watching the land. We're in Shikijou's territories here. I think he has only one guardian."
"So, his territory, compared to say, Hannya's, is much smaller..."
"Hannya's territories are inland, like twenty-five times bigger and not border lands. Hannya doesn't need any Realm Guardians." Omasu sighed.
"Oh... that's right, I forgot."
"I'm going to head a bit North of here and peek around. You stay by, we need to find her as soon as possible. The last I heard, Aoshi-sama was impatient for details on her whereabouts."
Okon nodded.
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Misao frowned walking up the pathway. It was pouring down rain, her clothes were soaked, and she'd lost track of her target. She'd noticed some suspicious activities occurring around the border gates, strangely dressed men appearing and
meeting with other human men.
What was suspicious about the whole thing was the apparent business feel of it all. She'd watched them, two nights in a row, meet and speak. They hadn't ventured far from the gate, within a few feet and then they'd talked no more than ten minutes before disbanding.
The two human men had dressed in business suits, a strange sight for this far out into the wilderness. There were no cars around, none that she had seen. The attire of the others had been formal also. She hadn't, however, seen them since. Either pair.
She peeled her hair back from her skin, pausing as she reached the security of her porch. What was that feeling? She turned, casting her eyes over the yard, but saw no one. The feeling remained the same, however.
Someone was watching.
Someone who wasn't Aoshi-sama or Hannya.
She'd been trained by Hannya to detect the difference between authorized and unauthorized visitors. The border territories like Shikijou's opened once at the end of every month and the hunt began.
It was forbidden by law to hunt at any other time during the month, outside the official date.
Her job depended on her ability to detect and root out those allowed and
those disallowed in the properties.
Aura reading had been a pivotal skill. Those authorized for travel into the Human Realm were adorned with a pendant that changed the resonance of their auras. It was something, once recognized, that couldn't be forgotten.
The others had a dull echoing feeling that caught sharply in her ears.
It wasn't that sound she heard. It was the other. Someone had sent a spy.
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Standing in front of Aoshi had never been so terrifying before, she thought. His eyes were narrowed, centered on her. Why was today so different?
She had just been doing her job. Her recent kill was off some feet beyond the bushes, not the corpse hacked up near her feet. She had just been doing her job, and then *poof*, there he was.
The only sound between them was the dripping of blood off her blade as it impacted with the ground. The scent of it hung heavy in the air, rising from the corpse a couple feet away.
There was a slight sound behind her. She tried to turn but was caught as a male arm wrapped around her, his chest pressed up against her back. A powerful male arm stretched across her shoulders, her wrist holding the tanto gripped tight by the stranger with gloved hands.
Who was this?!
She hadn't even felt him approach! Even humans gave off some kind of feeling...
She felt the long fingers of his other hand slide beneath the beads around her neck.
"What is this, Shinomori?"
Aoshi didn't respond and the man leaned closer. She could just barely see his gleaming gold eyes.
"So... This is the little assassin? This little weasel hardly looks capable enough to kill anything, let alone a handful of my men."
She stiffened. "Weasel!?" she snarled, moving to attack, but he was gone.
She gasped. One moment he'd been real and solid pressed against her and then next, nothing. She hadn't heard, felt or saw anything, he was just... gone.
It wasn't even a blur.
"Who is...?" she started only to trail off. "Assassin? I'm not an assassin!" She snapped.
Both men looked back at her from where they'd been staring at the dead man on the ground. His body had been cleaved in two through the abdomen. There was a deep, dark pool of blood beneath the body, the cloth was ripped through where the body had been cut. Organs were spilled over the ground, leaking fluids that tainted
the air with more than the scent of death.
"Really..." The man drawled, his lips thinning into a frown.
Misao held up her tanto. "Amazing girl that I am, even I, cannot cut through a guy with *this*. Besides, I've never cut anyone in half before. I'm not that gruesome a person, even if I do get carried away sometimes."
Saitou raised a brow at the notion and reached forward, plucking her blade away. He brought it up to his face, sniffing.
Misao gaped. He was smelling her sword? She frowned. He tossed the blade aside and she scrambled to catch it by the handle and not the bloody blade. He turned his back to her entirely.
"You see anyone else here, weasel?"
She glowered, staring at the blood now staining her hands. "Just that weird lady following me around. I saw something sparkling so I came over and found this guy. Then he showed up." She pointed to Aoshi. "And don't call me weasel!"
There were a few moments of silence before Misao's head turned suddenly in
the opposite direction. She stared. So... someone else was wandering around that shouldn't be. It was really a rather busy night.
How did so many people escape through the supposedly guarded gateways on the other side anyway?
She glowered, but the look faded as she turned back to Aoshi. "C-Can I go?"
She had told him she hadn't wanted to see him there. There he was.
She had the feeling something dangerous was going on and she didn't like it. She knew, however, she was directly subject to Aoshi. She couldn't explain why it seemed to suddenly matter though, just cause that other guy had shown up. Something about him was... extremely dangerous.
She trembled as Aoshi's gaze returned to her. He nodded once without a word and she took off in the opposite direction, her eyes narrowed.
. . .
Aoshi watched as Omasu followed after Misao. So, she knew she was being
watched. Did she know about Okon too?
He turned back to Saitou.
"If the girl didn't kill him... Then, someone else is running around killing off my men," Saitou mused.
Aoshi didn't say anything, eyes trained in the direction Misao had run in.
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She jumped up onto the old stump, it was termite infested, structurally weak, and balanced herself. She looped her arms around his neck, leaning close.
It had been a couple days since she'd last seen him.
She leaned close, her breath a warm touch against his face.
He watched her lean close and felt the velvety softness of her tongue against his cheek.
"You don't come watch me anymore, Aoshi-sama."
He remained still.
Were Okon and Omasu watching? Were they watching their Master be seduced by this girl? This young, inexperienced girl?
"Do you want me to watch?"
She'd told him not to, and he hadn't had time for her girlish fancies lately. There was a conspiracy afoot and he hated conspiracies.
Especially if they weren't his and he wasn't inclined to making them.
Saitou, on the other hand, loved conspiracies. More specifically, lopping off the heads of conspirators.
Her arms tightened and her lips moved, kissing down his neck.
Hannya had asked him to stay away from her. His best friend had asked him - why couldn't he honor this request? Why did he keep returning to the young woman who was as unpredictable as a hurricane?
He shuddered feeling the gentle prick of her teeth. The last time she bit him, her seals broke. Did he care if they broke again?
She drew away, but he reached up, again touching the back of her neck, his fingers sliding up into her hair, cradling the back of her head. No, damn the seals.
He pressed her gently, guiding her back to his skin. He fought the shudder of his own body as her mouth made contact with him once more. He slid his fingers through her strands, stroking her scalp softly and she sighed against his neck.
The soft moan was disarming, relaxing him, knocking him off guard as her teeth slid into his flesh.
He couldn't repress the violent tremble of his body or the heady wave of arousal that suddenly gripped him. His hand on her head tightened and she drew back, licking him softly.
But something was bothering him. He felt something he shouldn't have. Something in the air... Someone, perhaps.
Misao drew away from him, meeting his eyes when he recognized the feeling.
"Saitou," he growled, ignoring Misao's surprised expression.
A low, maliciously amused chuckle parted their private silence as Saitou stepped into the wooded clearing. Misao glanced back at him, but didn't release her hold on Aoshi.
"Never would've though the stoic Aoshi-sama got off on being bitten."
Aoshi's eyes narrowed, his euphoric Misao-induced haze, dispelled. "What do you want?"
He didn't bother moving away, and Misao kept her arms around him, but
fidgeted. Saitou just stared.
"Some of us are working."
Misao shifted.
"Who the hell are you, anyway?" Misao asked, dropping her arms away from Aoshi and hopping down walking toward him. "Always interrupting, so rude... just walking around wherever you damn well please..."
Saitou smirked. He looked past her toward Aoshi. "Realm guards are required to be educated in the official hierarchy - or is she here in this nowhere place just to be your fuck bunny?"
Misao blanched. "What?! That is grossly untrue! I'm not a 'fuck bunny' of
any sort, thank you very much! Does your mother know you talk like that!?"
Saitou didn't even glance in her direction. "Misao didn't come to be under my direction until very recently. In any case, it's irrelevant, her position as Realm Guardian is temporary."
He felt her eyes on him but she didn't say anything and he didn't meet her gaze.
She blinked and tensed cautiously when she noticed Saitou staring at her, gold eyes glinting, a thin line across his mouth.
She watched him pull the glove off one hand. He reached, sliding a hand beneath her chin, turning her head up as he stepped closer, eyes narrowed on her. He drew back after a moment, pulled back on his glove.
"I see." He glanced back at Aoshi a moment and then returned his gaze to her. "Then let me relieve of you of that particular innocence. There are two Realm heads, one is Shinomori there and the other is me, Saitou Hajime."
Her eyes widened in surprise and he grinned at her.
Her look of surprise vanished quickly. "Well that partially explains your personality, doesn't it?"
"Misao..."
She turned back toward Aoshi.
"Go."
She glared, but didn't seem to want to protest. She turned on her heel and slipped into the darkness, her presence vanishing from them as she moved further away.
Aoshi waited, expecting some smart, degrading comment from Saitou about Misao, but none was forthcoming.
Rather, Saitou began patting down his pockets reaching for a cigarette.
"Well, hell of a night."
He lit his cigarette, puffing contentedly.
"Yesterday, there was a sighting of a woman in a teal furisode, toting around a battle scythe walking along the cemetery park road near one of the border gates. Several hours later another official popped up, carved in pieces."
"A woman with a scythe?"
"Honjou Kamatari is suspected."
Aoshi nodded, recalling the cross-dressing male obsessed with rebel leader Shishio Makoto.
Years ago Shishio had staged a revolution to uproot the government. He'd been defeated in the end by a lucky combination of things and his followers had scattered.
Some, Kamatari among them, had been imprisoned. No one had paid much attention to the depressed cross-dresser when he was released from jail, but it wasn't such a stretch if the man had finally leaped off the deep end of sanity and was now taking revenge in some twisted fashion.
Always a possibility.
"Where is he now?"
"Unknown, believed to be wandering through the lesser populated territories."
Like Shikijou's, he thought. What would Misao do if she came across Kamatari? He was not a permitted guest of the region. She would target him.
Damn.
"Better keep an eye on your weasel girl there. She doesn't look like she could handle Kamatari alone."
Saitou turned, tapping the ash of his cigarette away.
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Misao left Aoshi and Saitou alone wandering about. She'd caught the feeling of an intruder and headed in that direction. She peered around for her target and finally spotted him ahead.
Misao froze, watching as her intended quarry was suddenly engaged by another. He was young, she noted. And fast. And... human.
With a swipe of his blade and a gory spray of blood the intruder fell, gurgling to the ground. She watched, flinching, as the young man drove his sword through the throat of the creature and sliced off his head.
That would probably be enough, sometimes the stronger vampires could survive having their heads cut off, as amazing as that was. When she went against someone she felt was unusually strong she drove a silver dagger through the heart and took the head off, she'd never had one get up after that. Although if she was really feeling that uneasy, she set them on fire.
Vampires burned well.
Scarily well.
Made her wonder sometimes if she'd light up like a tinder box like the others.
She stepped forward, surprising him as he suddenly turned toward her.
"Who are you?" she asked, not drawing her weapon attached at her back
horizontally at her waist.
He stooped slightly, pulling his sword from the corpse.
He brought a hand up and she watched him hack and wheeze, a horrid, grating
noise. His entire body shook as he coughed.
"Seta Soujiro," he replied, taking a deep breath.
"Seta Soujiro, what are you doing out here killing people?" she asked, not sure
what she was seeing.
"People?" He asked, flashing her a smile. "Not a person at all. But... You know all about that, don't you, Miss?"
She frowned, stepping back. "You are just a human, you are not permitted to engage in battle with unauthorized realm guests."
The "technical talk" as she liked to call it had been drilled into her by Hannya. He had made her repeat it a thousand times, saying how important it was for her recognition as a guardian among certain circles. It had all been very convoluted and she still had no idea what he was talking about.
His eyes widened. "Could it be? Oh...." He raised a hand, scratching his head awkwardly, smiling at her once more looking very young and boyish. "I apologize. You must be the Realm Guardian of this area. I did not mean to get involved in your duties, but after I watched him attack that little girl I just couldn't let it go... "
"How do you know about that?"
"Realm guardians? I knew a great vampire once. I learned so much from him, but he was killed many years ago. "
She watched him flick the blade, blood flying off, silver gleaming in moonlight. Was that a real silver blade?
"Seta Soujiro, who once knew a great vampire, who accidentally got involved in killing one... Coincidence?" she asked aloud.
He laughed, smiling brightly at her.
"I suppose it does sound a bit strange."
"It sounds a lot of strange."
She shifted suddenly, turning sensing another at the edge of their clearing. Probably drawn by the scent of blood on the breeze, it never failed.
"What is up with all the-" she barely got the words out, watching, amazed, as the human, Soujiro, leapt forward.
It was one perfect, fluid motion and a head went flying, blood spraying the
area. Dark colored and thick with a foul odor - it tainted the entire clearing.
"Seta Soujiro, human, who knew a great vampire, who kicks major ass," she turned back to smile at him. "I'm Misao, current Guardian of this area. You look a little... eh, worn. Need a place to rest?"
He blinked, surprised.
"My house is near here. You might as well come on over - I don't get a lot of company, and especially not company who knows anything about what I do."
She smiled, feeling strangely at ease with the young man before her. He smiled in return and followed her, sheathing his weapon. She led him along to her house, tucked away in the far regions where no one ever ventured. He thanked her as he stepped inside and she waved it off.
"So you're what? Traveling? Out here?"
He sat down, clearly grateful being out of the soggy weather.
"Yeah. Since I lost my master I've just been wandering around. As it turns out though, I've fallen ill. I don't think I'll live much longer."
She sat forward looking at him. "I can't tell those kinds of things about people just by looking at them, but I always think I should... But you are kind of pale."
He smiled again.
"How about some tea? I have lots of kinds of tea around here."
"That would be fine, thank you very much. I appreciate your welcoming me."
She just flashed him a smile and toted toward her tea kettle.
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"I can't believe I saw that."
"Please, get over your shock. Trust me, you saw it."
"But Okon... How can you be so calm about it? What we saw was MAJOR... MAJOR, girl! Our master let that girl bite him, she let him BITE him, do I have to repeat it for you? Again? Our MASTER got BITTEN by a girl!"
"NO! And I don't care to hear about it anymore. What Aoshi-sama does in his spare time is none of our business. Obviously the girl is important to him, now we know why we're watching her."
"Actually," the other replied. "We don't."
Okon and Omasu were lounging in the upper branches of a tree in Misao's front lawn. Misao's house was surrounded by a thick covering of grass and several tall, old trees that looked like something straight out of a horror film.
"Who do you think that guy was she brought with her? Maybe she's cheating on Aoshi-sama!"
"Omasu, please! We don't know anything about their relationship other than the fact Aoshi-sama likes letting Misao-san bite him."
Omasu laughed. "He did like it, didn't he?"
"Oh yeah, girl he loved it! Ever seen Aoshi shudder like that - his eyes closing, he was so beautiful. If I had those kinds of feelings for Aoshi-sama I'd be so jealous right now." Okon sighed.
"Imagine if all the women in love with Aoshi-sama knew about Misao-san and what he lets her do to him," Omasu snickered.
"Don't get any ideas, Okon. Now that we know Aoshi-sama has some kind of intimate connection with Misao-san we're obligated to protect that knowledge, you know that."
Okon slumped against the branch making the entire section shake and rustle. "I know, but that really sucks."
__________________________
Okina eyed the report with curious eyes. His mouth curved into a curious smile. Something about the way the two girls had worded their report was causing him great interest.
It was almost as if...
No, that simply couldn't be.
He walked toward his superior's office, the paper in his hands. He didn't bother knocking finding it already open. Aoshi, it appeared, was on his way out.
"Aoshi-sama, a report for you."
"Just leave it on the desk," Aoshi replied, still scanning his bookshelf for something. When he didn't find it, he stepped past Okina toward the door.
"It's from Omasu and Okon."
He stopped at once. "They found something?"
"Makimachi-san it seems, brought a young man home with her.
"Name: unknown. Home: unknown. Age: mid-20's. He's been determined to be human, he's been at her house, staying with her for two days."
"Two days?" Aoshi repeated. "In her house?"
Okina nodded.
"I see."
On that note, he watched his Master turn and walk out.
Okina grinned.
__________________________
"Oh, come on, that is so not true!" Misao argued, laughing. "I can't believe you think that."
"It is so true. I saw it myself."
"What a load of-" she stopped suddenly, her gaze shifting to the door, a knock
followed moments later. "Crap, this isn't gonna be good," she muttered, stalking over to pull open the door.
The sight beyond didn't surprise her.
"Aoshi-sama," she greeted dully. "Come in."
He stepped past her without a word, moving directly toward Soujiro.
"Who are you?"
Misao blinked at the audacious act. Ignore her and immediately question -her- guest? She shoved the door closed and re-entered the room.
Soujiro stood, smiling pleasantly. "Seta Soujiro. I'm sorry, am I intruding here?"
Aoshi watched him, not immediately replying. Instead, he turned his gaze back to her.
"Misao - get me some tea."
She glared at him. "What am I, your servant now or something?"
"You may go," he replied, looking away from her.
Although grumbling, she left the room obediently. Once she was gone, Aoshi spoke once more.
"Are you sleeping with her?"
Soujiro's smile died, and he paled suddenly. "N-no, sir!"
"Why not?"
"E-eh?" Soujiro's expression ticked with nervousness.
"Misao is a virgin - relieve her of it and then leave here."
Soujiro's cheeks actually colored. "Isn't that a rather cold way to treat someone? I'm sure it would hurt her feelings and she seems so nice and she's been so welcoming to me and-"
"You, with your blood tainted as it is, must understand something of my culture and people. Virgins are warded - they can't be corrupted without death coming to the corruptor. Take her virginity and leave her, never see or touch her again and I will remove the taint of your blood."
Soujiro sighed heavily, clearly understanding what was at stake. He nodded slightly and Aoshi turned.
"If she cannot be convinced and you fail, I will release you peacefully. If you force her, I will just kill you."
Soujiro nodded, point already understood and watched the tall, dark vampire lord leave the residence.
If that dangerous person wanted Misao so badly - he wondered - did Misao herself know?
When she entered the room a few minutes later with a cup of tea, she looked more than royally pissed at seeing her guest gone.
"Did he leave?" she growled.
"I'm afraid so."
___________________________
Author's note: Yes, it does drop off kinda suddenly there, but it picks up in this spot in chapter 3. I wanted to update *something*, so I figured this would do.
Converting /tmp/phpgVIuK5 to /dev/stdout
The Trap of Innocence
Part II
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Author: Western Ink
Email: see profile
Genre: Supernatural/Horror/Romance
Pairing: Aoshi x Misao
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Summary: In the boundaries between the human world and the "underworld" reclusive vampire Lord Aoshi discovers temptation.
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He watched her pace the length of darkness, her eyes aglow. She was such a beautiful girl, he thought. He was so proud she was his creation.
"Misao?"
She stopped, turning her gaze toward him. She looked somewhere between feral and frightened.
"I told you to stay away from Aoshi-sama, did I not?" It might have been a warning tone, it might not have been.
"He came after me. What was I supposed to do, tell my Realm Leader to get lost?"
"One's title has never stopped you before," he noted, approaching.
She turned toward him fully, ceasing her pacing. "Stay away!"
He watched with weary eyes as she began to look nervous. "Feeling uneasy, Misao?"
She bit her lip and resumed pacing. "It's this feeling. Without my seals...I can't... I can't... It's so..." He watched tears spring at the corner of her eyes, revealing her desperation.
Misao never cried.
He stepped closer and she eyed him wearily. With a single lunge, he had her pinned. She gasped as his hand wrapped tight around her throat, her small hands raising to claw at his gloved hand.
"Unwise of you, my child, letting him break your seals. Do you see now, how much you've come to depend on them?" he whispered, then glanced back. "Miko!" he called.
Behind him, a young woman neared, her red and white hakama denoting her occupation. In her fingers dangled five small chains of beads, barely the size of tiny silver pin heads, almost invincible from the distance they stood apart.
Misao gasped for air as Hannya continued to hold her, his grip tight.
"No dallying, Miko, seal her."
The human girl began to chant, and the beads glowed. Her face was non-descript, her long hair pooling on all sides of her, dark and straight. She kept her face turned down, her fingers laced together, the beads between them.
"Such an effort for something so easily breakable..." A deep, smooth masculine voice broke through the rhythmic chanting.
The miko paused, her head snapping up, frightened by the newcomer. Aoshi walked past her without interest, as though she were unseen. Hannya continued to hold Misao and she continued to struggle.
"Misao's seals are to protect her. Misao is mentally unstable without them. My mistake, allowing humans to raise her, but it is done. She is what she is."
"How does she survive without hunting? Even she, only half of your blood, must have needs."
Hannya frowned. "Misao is her own woman. How she handles her lusts is her own business, I only watch to keep her safe."
Aoshi frowned, but made no move to interfere, just watching the girl continue to ineffectively attempt to attack Hannya.
"Miko..." Hannya growled.
The miko dropped her head and began chanting once more. The beads glowed and vanished, reappearing around Misao's wrists, ankles, and neck. She gasped, and her struggling against Hannya stopped.
A harsh gurgling sound reached his ears. He watched her eyes clench tight, her fists balling, arms now limp at her sides.
Hannya released her as the glow faded, a coil of tiny beads around her neck, glittering in the dim light. She fell, unable to hold herself up, collapsing into a heap.
"Ooohh, that stings," she whimpered, her head toward the floor. Even her voice quivered.
Hannya remained where he was, just staring at the fallen girl. After several minutes of silence, she picked her head up and struggled to her feet. She glanced at her wrists, staring at the jeweled pieces.
"They look fragile. Why didn't you use something stronger?" Her gaze was beyond Hannya, her question directed toward the miko.
"They are new, my grandfather has designed them especially for you, Makimachi-san. He says they should hold you more firmly than the others while still managing to amplify your natural defenses." If the girl knew anything of which she was speaking, she didn't say. Her entire demeanor revealed nothing, just a blank, impassive face.
"Oh," Misao replied, glancing down at them and then lifted her head to smile. "Thank you, miko-san. My thanks to your grandfather, I don't remember meeting him, but I do appreciate it."
The miko nodded and quietly turned, leaving them alone, looking only too happy to get out there.
Aoshi stepped forward, coming around Hannya who now stood several feet from Misao. A large, red blotch now adorned her neck from the pressure of his fingers.
He stared at her a moment, waiting for her gaze to meet his. She finally obliged him with a frown on her lips.
"You're very troublesome to me, Aoshi-sama. Don't come to where I am anymore. You should have more important things to do anyway, as a Realm Leader."
She stood firmly, meeting his gaze boldly. He stared at her a moment longer.
"This charade will only hurt you in the end."
Misao watched him as he vanished into the breezy afternoon and she leaned back against the wall, slumping. The old shed behind her was rotting at it's corners, but still remained solid along the lengths.
"Is he always so difficult?" There was a wisp of fatigue in her voice.
"Yes," Hannya replied, disturbed by Aoshi's warning.
It was not something he had not thought of on his own. Misao was a friendless, formless girl, flitting through the world. She stayed to herself, only venturing to town when she felt it was necessary.
Her only companions were a loosely tied group of individuals she met near her house at a dojo where she liked to practice. Himura, Kamiya, Sagara, Myoujin... They were all pleasant enough individuals, but it concerned him if they ever found out about her true nature...
Misao had felt the sting of rejection many times. She'd been hunted and spurned and mocked many times over, but she had handled it on her own. She refused to turn away from the path on which she stood. She remained doing what she'd done for as long as he could remember after meeting her, holding her position as Realm Guardian.
Her dedication to her job made him proud of her, but her underlying reasons for doing so worried him. She hunted with a viciousness that surprised him. A thick, mean streak that hid in the shadows of her bright smile. He'd recalled one evening seeing her bathed in moonlight, blood streaking down one cheek.
It had been her own blood that night, he thought. Her prey had gotten away and she'd been left there, injured.
The hatred that boiled in her eyes when she'd looked at him that evening shook him. It had been the first glimpse he'd been given of what lurked behind her smiles and pleasantries and made him wonder.
What filth had her human guardians soiled her ears with about him and others? What had she been told to inspire such complete hatred this way?
Misao was such an odd contradiction. Nor was her reason for staying in this Realm out of sheer love for humans. She, at times, hated them with just as great a passion. She did not want to leave the only home she'd ever had, but knowing all the same that she'd never belong to it. She vehemently protested even the thought of dwelling among her 'own kind'.
Her savage distaste for her own vampiric brothers caused him increasing amounts of alarm as her hunting trips became more and more barbaric. Misao restrained her baser instincts only to release the bound emotions on those who might identify with her position.
He sighed and turned away. He didn't know what to do about her. He'd been startled when she ran headlong into him one dark evening, meeting under an ill placed streetlight.
She'd pushed away and stared at him a moment, examining his mask, then
she'd laid into him with verbal insults about being in *her* way.
He had to give her points for courage. The girl had so little fear in the world.
After she'd thoroughly thrashed him to his face she'd walked by only to get into another fight with his companion not ten feet away. Only the next person she'd collided with wasn't half as friendly, and he'd watched her flay the demonic little imp that had been his servant.
The quick hands and the blood surprised him that night. He hadn't seen the kunai, nor sensed any kind of dangerous aura emanating from her, not even when she'd yelled at him.
She'd gone from harmless kitten to raging lion in a moment, and then sprinted off into the darkness leaving him to wonder.
It was no surprise then so many others found her fascinating. Vampiric men, especially, were drawn to Misao. Wild and open - she was free with her words and her weapon. Misao was more a feisty prey than a mate, however, and drew many interested parties.
Sometimes trying to understand her was extremely disheartening.
__________________________________
Aoshi stepped through the front door and was his presence immediately noticed. His servants tensed, casting uneasy glances in his direction and the staff quickly scurried to get out of his way. The halls were clear and empty of clutter, everything perfectly in place.
The wood floors shined and were perfectly smooth, the walls clean, the lights low.
He slid open a door, noting how similar his own space was to Misao's. The half-demon girl with the traditional home, although she had admitted it was not her own. He wondered, as he stepped into his private office, what her space would look like.
"You look troubled, Aoshi-sama. Are there problems in the Realm?"
Aoshi sat down at his desk, brooding.
He barely glanced at the aging man who had appeared in his doorway. "Should you not be working, Okina?"
He'd sensed the older man, but figured it was easy enough to get rid of him. He might as well wait to see what he wanted.
Okina's response was a smile. "My work is finished and all the girls are busy today."
When Aoshi concluded there was no problem, he filtered everything else out, his mind already working on *her*.
"Shikijou's territories are within my Realm holdings, send Omasu and Okon out. There is a girl I want monitored. I want to know everything."
Okina's surprise was evident as his eyebrows shot up and a hand drifted to his beard, stroking it. "Is she trouble for us, Aoshi-sama?"
A look of uneasy curiosity settled over the old man's face as he thought out how much trouble one lone female could be. He wandered in to stand before Aoshi's desk.
"Realm Guardian," he replied, ignoring Okina's question. "Her name is Makimachi Misao. She is Hannya's child."
"H-Hannya? Surely, you don't mean those rumors of his fathering a half-breed were true?"
Aoshi turned away from the bookcase he'd been staring at.
"She is unpredictable, have them keep their distance. On their own, I'm not certain they could stand up to her. Together, they might fare well enough but avoid confrontations if possible. If she is approachable, I am not adverse to their befriending her."
Again, Okina's question was ignored, but the old man was far too used to it to be offended. He stroked his beard thoughtfully, fingering his small pink bow.
"Yes, yes, I understand. Very well, I'll send them out at once. Anything else, Aoshi-sama?" Okina asked, simply a matter of routine.
"Bored? Shinomori?"
Both men turned unwelcome glares toward the now filled doorway where another visitor appeared.
Damn Saitou for being so quiet. Okina stared at the man for a moment and bowed, completely outranked.
"If you will excuse me, Aoshi-sama. I will tend your orders."
Okina quietly left, closing the shoji behind him. Aoshi propped up an elbow on his desk, leveling an even stare on the opposite House leader. He saw Saitou so rarely, it must be important.
"What brings you here?"
It was no small distance across the realm, although Saitou, by rumor, did nothing but travel. His mate, a lady by the name of Tokio, was a famous recluse, the abandoned, beautiful bride of the House Leader. It was said she wailed at the peak of the mansion for his return, but it all sounded far-fetched to him.
He'd met her only once when he'd tried to hunt down Saitou to discuss a set of slayings. Tokio was a practical woman. She handled all House matters in her husband's absence.
Human girls hung by their ankles from poles, pools of blood beneath their feet, half skinned, their heads hanging precariously by fine sinews of flesh.
It had been gruesome, even for a world that thrived on the blood of humans. It was a horrid display that caused fear and panic to well up in the Realm, especially after the initial 7 females were followed by 2 young vampiric girls. Their bodies eviscerated and carved.
Uprisings had resulted as every little town and villa near the border had their suspects. Handfuls of people were strung together and burned alive. How many innocents had died in the resulting chaos was unknown, but it was believed the murderer had been among them as the killings stopped afterwards.
Saitou invited himself in and sat in the singular chair opposite his desk. "Heard something interesting..."
"Since when are you inclined to rumors?"
Already, Aoshi dreaded the interview. He knew enough of Saitou Hajime's personality to know he didn't like it and he wasn't going to like this.
"I've heard there's some girl causing trouble. Since it was your Realm's problem, I didn't care. But since several of my citizens have turned up diced, I'm not resolved to be so patient on the matter."
"Some girl? How do you know this?"
"Informants. She's been seen. Young, long hair, rumored to be the latest amusement of yours."
Aoshi frowned. Despite rumors to the contrary, he very rarely entertained such 'amusements'.
"This amusement have a name?"
"Makimachi Misao."
He might have choked at the sudden mention of the name. Her name.
"Impossible," Aoshi replied.
Saitou's grin worried him. "Don't like the sound of that, Shinomori?"
From inside his uniform blue jacket, he pulled an envelope and tossed it onto Aoshi's desk.
Aoshi pulled open the adhesive sealed flap and withdrew out one glossy black and white photo. Despite all the fuss his brethren made over humans, they relied very heavily on their weaker counterparts when it came to technological devices.
There, in the photo, she stood, a tanto in her hand, blood dripping down the blade. Her braid was hung over one shoulder, eyes gleaming in the darkness. Aoshi tossed it aside capriciously.
"Worthless. Misao is a Realm Guardian, it is her duty to kill unauthorized trespassers."
"You mean to insinuate I don't know the rules?" Saitou scoffed. "Two of the men dead are officials of mine."
"Where were they killed?" Aoshi replied smoothly.
"Human Realm."
"Were they authorized to be there?"
"No."
Aoshi half-shrugged. "I don't see the problem."
Saitou growled. "They were A-list officials. They are not subject to unauthorized departure rules, it is their duty to oversee the Realm Guardians."
"Aa, but the Guardian you are suspicious of is not killing one of your officials in the photo and she is currently under observation. Your trip was needless."
______________________
Omasu stretched. "It's been so long since I've been out here."
Okon nodded. "Yeah, Aoshi-sama only ever authorizes us for business."
The two shared a frown. The road was nothing more than a worn down track in the grass. They walked along, their feet kicking up dirt unintentionally with every step.
"Why are we watching this girl?"
"I'm not entirely sure," Omasu replied. "Direct orders from Aoshi-sama, but Okina said she was a Realm Guardian. You know how much freedom they're given. They're allowed to do anything they want, maybe she's suspected of something."
"I suppose that's possible, but usually only very trusted people are given this job, aren't they?"
"I don't think so, not anymore. There have been a lack of volunteers to guard the Realm borders because of the stigma's attached to it back home. Last time I heard they were accepting anyone who came."
"You mean the borders are being guarded by whatever riff-raff comes along?"
"Well, Okon, really it's a one-way border. They're not keeping humans out, but keeping us in."
"That's the place." Okon pointed one slender finger toward it.
The two females stared at the tall house. It wasn't grand, but nor was it shabby. But it was old and two stories up, brown colored with a peaked cornered roof.
"Realm guardians provided houses?"
Omasu nodded. "Depends on the importance of the guardian watching the land. We're in Shikijou's territories here. I think he has only one guardian."
"So, his territory, compared to say, Hannya's, is much smaller..."
"Hannya's territories are inland, like twenty-five times bigger and not border lands. Hannya doesn't need any Realm Guardians." Omasu sighed.
"Oh... that's right, I forgot."
"I'm going to head a bit North of here and peek around. You stay by, we need to find her as soon as possible. The last I heard, Aoshi-sama was impatient for details on her whereabouts."
Okon nodded.
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Misao frowned walking up the pathway. It was pouring down rain, her clothes were soaked, and she'd lost track of her target. She'd noticed some suspicious activities occurring around the border gates, strangely dressed men appearing and
meeting with other human men.
What was suspicious about the whole thing was the apparent business feel of it all. She'd watched them, two nights in a row, meet and speak. They hadn't ventured far from the gate, within a few feet and then they'd talked no more than ten minutes before disbanding.
The two human men had dressed in business suits, a strange sight for this far out into the wilderness. There were no cars around, none that she had seen. The attire of the others had been formal also. She hadn't, however, seen them since. Either pair.
She peeled her hair back from her skin, pausing as she reached the security of her porch. What was that feeling? She turned, casting her eyes over the yard, but saw no one. The feeling remained the same, however.
Someone was watching.
Someone who wasn't Aoshi-sama or Hannya.
She'd been trained by Hannya to detect the difference between authorized and unauthorized visitors. The border territories like Shikijou's opened once at the end of every month and the hunt began.
It was forbidden by law to hunt at any other time during the month, outside the official date.
Her job depended on her ability to detect and root out those allowed and
those disallowed in the properties.
Aura reading had been a pivotal skill. Those authorized for travel into the Human Realm were adorned with a pendant that changed the resonance of their auras. It was something, once recognized, that couldn't be forgotten.
The others had a dull echoing feeling that caught sharply in her ears.
It wasn't that sound she heard. It was the other. Someone had sent a spy.
______________________________
Standing in front of Aoshi had never been so terrifying before, she thought. His eyes were narrowed, centered on her. Why was today so different?
She had just been doing her job. Her recent kill was off some feet beyond the bushes, not the corpse hacked up near her feet. She had just been doing her job, and then *poof*, there he was.
The only sound between them was the dripping of blood off her blade as it impacted with the ground. The scent of it hung heavy in the air, rising from the corpse a couple feet away.
There was a slight sound behind her. She tried to turn but was caught as a male arm wrapped around her, his chest pressed up against her back. A powerful male arm stretched across her shoulders, her wrist holding the tanto gripped tight by the stranger with gloved hands.
Who was this?!
She hadn't even felt him approach! Even humans gave off some kind of feeling...
She felt the long fingers of his other hand slide beneath the beads around her neck.
"What is this, Shinomori?"
Aoshi didn't respond and the man leaned closer. She could just barely see his gleaming gold eyes.
"So... This is the little assassin? This little weasel hardly looks capable enough to kill anything, let alone a handful of my men."
She stiffened. "Weasel!?" she snarled, moving to attack, but he was gone.
She gasped. One moment he'd been real and solid pressed against her and then next, nothing. She hadn't heard, felt or saw anything, he was just... gone.
It wasn't even a blur.
"Who is...?" she started only to trail off. "Assassin? I'm not an assassin!" She snapped.
Both men looked back at her from where they'd been staring at the dead man on the ground. His body had been cleaved in two through the abdomen. There was a deep, dark pool of blood beneath the body, the cloth was ripped through where the body had been cut. Organs were spilled over the ground, leaking fluids that tainted
the air with more than the scent of death.
"Really..." The man drawled, his lips thinning into a frown.
Misao held up her tanto. "Amazing girl that I am, even I, cannot cut through a guy with *this*. Besides, I've never cut anyone in half before. I'm not that gruesome a person, even if I do get carried away sometimes."
Saitou raised a brow at the notion and reached forward, plucking her blade away. He brought it up to his face, sniffing.
Misao gaped. He was smelling her sword? She frowned. He tossed the blade aside and she scrambled to catch it by the handle and not the bloody blade. He turned his back to her entirely.
"You see anyone else here, weasel?"
She glowered, staring at the blood now staining her hands. "Just that weird lady following me around. I saw something sparkling so I came over and found this guy. Then he showed up." She pointed to Aoshi. "And don't call me weasel!"
There were a few moments of silence before Misao's head turned suddenly in
the opposite direction. She stared. So... someone else was wandering around that shouldn't be. It was really a rather busy night.
How did so many people escape through the supposedly guarded gateways on the other side anyway?
She glowered, but the look faded as she turned back to Aoshi. "C-Can I go?"
She had told him she hadn't wanted to see him there. There he was.
She had the feeling something dangerous was going on and she didn't like it. She knew, however, she was directly subject to Aoshi. She couldn't explain why it seemed to suddenly matter though, just cause that other guy had shown up. Something about him was... extremely dangerous.
She trembled as Aoshi's gaze returned to her. He nodded once without a word and she took off in the opposite direction, her eyes narrowed.
. . .
Aoshi watched as Omasu followed after Misao. So, she knew she was being
watched. Did she know about Okon too?
He turned back to Saitou.
"If the girl didn't kill him... Then, someone else is running around killing off my men," Saitou mused.
Aoshi didn't say anything, eyes trained in the direction Misao had run in.
____________________________
She jumped up onto the old stump, it was termite infested, structurally weak, and balanced herself. She looped her arms around his neck, leaning close.
It had been a couple days since she'd last seen him.
She leaned close, her breath a warm touch against his face.
He watched her lean close and felt the velvety softness of her tongue against his cheek.
"You don't come watch me anymore, Aoshi-sama."
He remained still.
Were Okon and Omasu watching? Were they watching their Master be seduced by this girl? This young, inexperienced girl?
"Do you want me to watch?"
She'd told him not to, and he hadn't had time for her girlish fancies lately. There was a conspiracy afoot and he hated conspiracies.
Especially if they weren't his and he wasn't inclined to making them.
Saitou, on the other hand, loved conspiracies. More specifically, lopping off the heads of conspirators.
Her arms tightened and her lips moved, kissing down his neck.
Hannya had asked him to stay away from her. His best friend had asked him - why couldn't he honor this request? Why did he keep returning to the young woman who was as unpredictable as a hurricane?
He shuddered feeling the gentle prick of her teeth. The last time she bit him, her seals broke. Did he care if they broke again?
She drew away, but he reached up, again touching the back of her neck, his fingers sliding up into her hair, cradling the back of her head. No, damn the seals.
He pressed her gently, guiding her back to his skin. He fought the shudder of his own body as her mouth made contact with him once more. He slid his fingers through her strands, stroking her scalp softly and she sighed against his neck.
The soft moan was disarming, relaxing him, knocking him off guard as her teeth slid into his flesh.
He couldn't repress the violent tremble of his body or the heady wave of arousal that suddenly gripped him. His hand on her head tightened and she drew back, licking him softly.
But something was bothering him. He felt something he shouldn't have. Something in the air... Someone, perhaps.
Misao drew away from him, meeting his eyes when he recognized the feeling.
"Saitou," he growled, ignoring Misao's surprised expression.
A low, maliciously amused chuckle parted their private silence as Saitou stepped into the wooded clearing. Misao glanced back at him, but didn't release her hold on Aoshi.
"Never would've though the stoic Aoshi-sama got off on being bitten."
Aoshi's eyes narrowed, his euphoric Misao-induced haze, dispelled. "What do you want?"
He didn't bother moving away, and Misao kept her arms around him, but
fidgeted. Saitou just stared.
"Some of us are working."
Misao shifted.
"Who the hell are you, anyway?" Misao asked, dropping her arms away from Aoshi and hopping down walking toward him. "Always interrupting, so rude... just walking around wherever you damn well please..."
Saitou smirked. He looked past her toward Aoshi. "Realm guards are required to be educated in the official hierarchy - or is she here in this nowhere place just to be your fuck bunny?"
Misao blanched. "What?! That is grossly untrue! I'm not a 'fuck bunny' of
any sort, thank you very much! Does your mother know you talk like that!?"
Saitou didn't even glance in her direction. "Misao didn't come to be under my direction until very recently. In any case, it's irrelevant, her position as Realm Guardian is temporary."
He felt her eyes on him but she didn't say anything and he didn't meet her gaze.
She blinked and tensed cautiously when she noticed Saitou staring at her, gold eyes glinting, a thin line across his mouth.
She watched him pull the glove off one hand. He reached, sliding a hand beneath her chin, turning her head up as he stepped closer, eyes narrowed on her. He drew back after a moment, pulled back on his glove.
"I see." He glanced back at Aoshi a moment and then returned his gaze to her. "Then let me relieve of you of that particular innocence. There are two Realm heads, one is Shinomori there and the other is me, Saitou Hajime."
Her eyes widened in surprise and he grinned at her.
Her look of surprise vanished quickly. "Well that partially explains your personality, doesn't it?"
"Misao..."
She turned back toward Aoshi.
"Go."
She glared, but didn't seem to want to protest. She turned on her heel and slipped into the darkness, her presence vanishing from them as she moved further away.
Aoshi waited, expecting some smart, degrading comment from Saitou about Misao, but none was forthcoming.
Rather, Saitou began patting down his pockets reaching for a cigarette.
"Well, hell of a night."
He lit his cigarette, puffing contentedly.
"Yesterday, there was a sighting of a woman in a teal furisode, toting around a battle scythe walking along the cemetery park road near one of the border gates. Several hours later another official popped up, carved in pieces."
"A woman with a scythe?"
"Honjou Kamatari is suspected."
Aoshi nodded, recalling the cross-dressing male obsessed with rebel leader Shishio Makoto.
Years ago Shishio had staged a revolution to uproot the government. He'd been defeated in the end by a lucky combination of things and his followers had scattered.
Some, Kamatari among them, had been imprisoned. No one had paid much attention to the depressed cross-dresser when he was released from jail, but it wasn't such a stretch if the man had finally leaped off the deep end of sanity and was now taking revenge in some twisted fashion.
Always a possibility.
"Where is he now?"
"Unknown, believed to be wandering through the lesser populated territories."
Like Shikijou's, he thought. What would Misao do if she came across Kamatari? He was not a permitted guest of the region. She would target him.
Damn.
"Better keep an eye on your weasel girl there. She doesn't look like she could handle Kamatari alone."
Saitou turned, tapping the ash of his cigarette away.
________________________
Misao left Aoshi and Saitou alone wandering about. She'd caught the feeling of an intruder and headed in that direction. She peered around for her target and finally spotted him ahead.
Misao froze, watching as her intended quarry was suddenly engaged by another. He was young, she noted. And fast. And... human.
With a swipe of his blade and a gory spray of blood the intruder fell, gurgling to the ground. She watched, flinching, as the young man drove his sword through the throat of the creature and sliced off his head.
That would probably be enough, sometimes the stronger vampires could survive having their heads cut off, as amazing as that was. When she went against someone she felt was unusually strong she drove a silver dagger through the heart and took the head off, she'd never had one get up after that. Although if she was really feeling that uneasy, she set them on fire.
Vampires burned well.
Scarily well.
Made her wonder sometimes if she'd light up like a tinder box like the others.
She stepped forward, surprising him as he suddenly turned toward her.
"Who are you?" she asked, not drawing her weapon attached at her back
horizontally at her waist.
He stooped slightly, pulling his sword from the corpse.
He brought a hand up and she watched him hack and wheeze, a horrid, grating
noise. His entire body shook as he coughed.
"Seta Soujiro," he replied, taking a deep breath.
"Seta Soujiro, what are you doing out here killing people?" she asked, not sure
what she was seeing.
"People?" He asked, flashing her a smile. "Not a person at all. But... You know all about that, don't you, Miss?"
She frowned, stepping back. "You are just a human, you are not permitted to engage in battle with unauthorized realm guests."
The "technical talk" as she liked to call it had been drilled into her by Hannya. He had made her repeat it a thousand times, saying how important it was for her recognition as a guardian among certain circles. It had all been very convoluted and she still had no idea what he was talking about.
His eyes widened. "Could it be? Oh...." He raised a hand, scratching his head awkwardly, smiling at her once more looking very young and boyish. "I apologize. You must be the Realm Guardian of this area. I did not mean to get involved in your duties, but after I watched him attack that little girl I just couldn't let it go... "
"How do you know about that?"
"Realm guardians? I knew a great vampire once. I learned so much from him, but he was killed many years ago. "
She watched him flick the blade, blood flying off, silver gleaming in moonlight. Was that a real silver blade?
"Seta Soujiro, who once knew a great vampire, who accidentally got involved in killing one... Coincidence?" she asked aloud.
He laughed, smiling brightly at her.
"I suppose it does sound a bit strange."
"It sounds a lot of strange."
She shifted suddenly, turning sensing another at the edge of their clearing. Probably drawn by the scent of blood on the breeze, it never failed.
"What is up with all the-" she barely got the words out, watching, amazed, as the human, Soujiro, leapt forward.
It was one perfect, fluid motion and a head went flying, blood spraying the
area. Dark colored and thick with a foul odor - it tainted the entire clearing.
"Seta Soujiro, human, who knew a great vampire, who kicks major ass," she turned back to smile at him. "I'm Misao, current Guardian of this area. You look a little... eh, worn. Need a place to rest?"
He blinked, surprised.
"My house is near here. You might as well come on over - I don't get a lot of company, and especially not company who knows anything about what I do."
She smiled, feeling strangely at ease with the young man before her. He smiled in return and followed her, sheathing his weapon. She led him along to her house, tucked away in the far regions where no one ever ventured. He thanked her as he stepped inside and she waved it off.
"So you're what? Traveling? Out here?"
He sat down, clearly grateful being out of the soggy weather.
"Yeah. Since I lost my master I've just been wandering around. As it turns out though, I've fallen ill. I don't think I'll live much longer."
She sat forward looking at him. "I can't tell those kinds of things about people just by looking at them, but I always think I should... But you are kind of pale."
He smiled again.
"How about some tea? I have lots of kinds of tea around here."
"That would be fine, thank you very much. I appreciate your welcoming me."
She just flashed him a smile and toted toward her tea kettle.
_____________________________
"I can't believe I saw that."
"Please, get over your shock. Trust me, you saw it."
"But Okon... How can you be so calm about it? What we saw was MAJOR... MAJOR, girl! Our master let that girl bite him, she let him BITE him, do I have to repeat it for you? Again? Our MASTER got BITTEN by a girl!"
"NO! And I don't care to hear about it anymore. What Aoshi-sama does in his spare time is none of our business. Obviously the girl is important to him, now we know why we're watching her."
"Actually," the other replied. "We don't."
Okon and Omasu were lounging in the upper branches of a tree in Misao's front lawn. Misao's house was surrounded by a thick covering of grass and several tall, old trees that looked like something straight out of a horror film.
"Who do you think that guy was she brought with her? Maybe she's cheating on Aoshi-sama!"
"Omasu, please! We don't know anything about their relationship other than the fact Aoshi-sama likes letting Misao-san bite him."
Omasu laughed. "He did like it, didn't he?"
"Oh yeah, girl he loved it! Ever seen Aoshi shudder like that - his eyes closing, he was so beautiful. If I had those kinds of feelings for Aoshi-sama I'd be so jealous right now." Okon sighed.
"Imagine if all the women in love with Aoshi-sama knew about Misao-san and what he lets her do to him," Omasu snickered.
"Don't get any ideas, Okon. Now that we know Aoshi-sama has some kind of intimate connection with Misao-san we're obligated to protect that knowledge, you know that."
Okon slumped against the branch making the entire section shake and rustle. "I know, but that really sucks."
__________________________
Okina eyed the report with curious eyes. His mouth curved into a curious smile. Something about the way the two girls had worded their report was causing him great interest.
It was almost as if...
No, that simply couldn't be.
He walked toward his superior's office, the paper in his hands. He didn't bother knocking finding it already open. Aoshi, it appeared, was on his way out.
"Aoshi-sama, a report for you."
"Just leave it on the desk," Aoshi replied, still scanning his bookshelf for something. When he didn't find it, he stepped past Okina toward the door.
"It's from Omasu and Okon."
He stopped at once. "They found something?"
"Makimachi-san it seems, brought a young man home with her.
"Name: unknown. Home: unknown. Age: mid-20's. He's been determined to be human, he's been at her house, staying with her for two days."
"Two days?" Aoshi repeated. "In her house?"
Okina nodded.
"I see."
On that note, he watched his Master turn and walk out.
Okina grinned.
__________________________
"Oh, come on, that is so not true!" Misao argued, laughing. "I can't believe you think that."
"It is so true. I saw it myself."
"What a load of-" she stopped suddenly, her gaze shifting to the door, a knock
followed moments later. "Crap, this isn't gonna be good," she muttered, stalking over to pull open the door.
The sight beyond didn't surprise her.
"Aoshi-sama," she greeted dully. "Come in."
He stepped past her without a word, moving directly toward Soujiro.
"Who are you?"
Misao blinked at the audacious act. Ignore her and immediately question -her- guest? She shoved the door closed and re-entered the room.
Soujiro stood, smiling pleasantly. "Seta Soujiro. I'm sorry, am I intruding here?"
Aoshi watched him, not immediately replying. Instead, he turned his gaze back to her.
"Misao - get me some tea."
She glared at him. "What am I, your servant now or something?"
"You may go," he replied, looking away from her.
Although grumbling, she left the room obediently. Once she was gone, Aoshi spoke once more.
"Are you sleeping with her?"
Soujiro's smile died, and he paled suddenly. "N-no, sir!"
"Why not?"
"E-eh?" Soujiro's expression ticked with nervousness.
"Misao is a virgin - relieve her of it and then leave here."
Soujiro's cheeks actually colored. "Isn't that a rather cold way to treat someone? I'm sure it would hurt her feelings and she seems so nice and she's been so welcoming to me and-"
"You, with your blood tainted as it is, must understand something of my culture and people. Virgins are warded - they can't be corrupted without death coming to the corruptor. Take her virginity and leave her, never see or touch her again and I will remove the taint of your blood."
Soujiro sighed heavily, clearly understanding what was at stake. He nodded slightly and Aoshi turned.
"If she cannot be convinced and you fail, I will release you peacefully. If you force her, I will just kill you."
Soujiro nodded, point already understood and watched the tall, dark vampire lord leave the residence.
If that dangerous person wanted Misao so badly - he wondered - did Misao herself know?
When she entered the room a few minutes later with a cup of tea, she looked more than royally pissed at seeing her guest gone.
"Did he leave?" she growled.
"I'm afraid so."
___________________________
Author's note: Yes, it does drop off kinda suddenly there, but it picks up in this spot in chapter 3. I wanted to update *something*, so I figured this would do.
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