Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Third Impressions ❯ First Strike ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Third Impressions

Part II

“Sano, you idiot rooster-head! You're such a jerk!” A pointy shoe narrowly missed his eyes, and Sano decided that maybe staying in his apartment- or what had formerly been his apartment but was now the evil lair of Megumi-sama the Frightening- was not a Good Idea.

Fleeing to the safety of his car, he hurriedly dialed his phone once securely inside, seat belted, and locked in. Just in case she decided to give chase. He silently prayed that Kenshin would pick up his phone, and meet him somewhere for protection-that is, to do guy things. Guy things. He was certainly not afraid of his fiancée, and didn't need a shrimp like Kenshin to help him. Even if said shrimp had once put him in a headlock. In front of Megumi. Who had laughed and laughed about for ages afterward.

`Why am I calling him again? Oh, right he's my best friend and he'll listen without making sarcastic comments like some people I could mention.'

“Sano?”

“Yo, Kenshin. Are you free?”

“Now/” Kenshin demanded, frazzled. Sano new it was a bad sign when Kenshin was frazzled; the stress of his life and job had given him extreme calm in the face of mind-blowing chaos.

“Yeah.”

“I need another half-hour. Saitou didn't show up to work-”

“Whoa, what? Is the apocalypse here already?” Sano said. Saitou was incredibly punctual and freakishly efficient, unlike Sano. His not showing up to work was unheard of.

“No, he's with his wife.”

Sano nearly dropped the phone in surprise; had Kenshin just said wife? As in married? As in Saitou had a woman who would put up with his sarcastic, evil, smoking ways? What was the world coming to? Although if Kenshin could find someone to put up with his sadism and weird sense of humor, anything was possible...

“Wife?”

“Yes, wife. She's sick, so he stayed home with her. And as soon as he left a bunch of zombies tried to destroy a building downtown, and we're still filling out paperwork for all the dead bodies.” Kenshin explained.

“There are zombies? In Onyx?”

“No, in Pearl. They destroyed a bakery.”

“Zombies like cake?”

“No, they were after the owner of the bakery. One of Aoshi's informants. You can see why this is problematic. I've drained Wormwood's mind, but he doesn't know anything.”

“Wormwood?”

“I'll explain later. Meet me at the bar in half an hour and you can tell me what you did to Megumi this time.”

“Hey! What makes you think I did anything to Megumi?”

“Why else would you call me at five in the evening?” Kenshin hung up, presumably to deal with the zombies and other issues. Sano drove to Viper and proceeded to start a fight.

A few good punches would cheer him right up.

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Her cell phone was ringing. Sano was calling her at three in the morning.

While Kaoru was used to this sort of thing from Sano, his relationship with Megumi had decreased the amount of nights he spent drunk dramatically. Unless, of course, they fought, in which case he was bound to show up at either her or Misao's house at some point. Kaoru leaned over and groped around in the dark until she found her phone flipping it open and wincing at the glow of the screen, she held it to her ear sleepily.

“Rooster-head?”

“Can I come in?” Sano sounded completely sober. Was he on drugs, or had Megumi thrown him out? Or was he hurt? She jumped out of bed, snagging a bath robe as she went into the front room and fumbled with her house keys. Opening the door, she saw Sano, slumping with depression but too clean to be drunk. His hands, she noted, were scarped bloody. He been brawling, then, which meant he was really upset.

“Get inside before you get sick.” Kaoru said, dragging him to a couch. “What's wrong?”

“Megumi threw me out.” Sano said in a hollow voice. “Can I spend the night?”

“No problem.” Kaoru said, trying and failing to sound upbeat. “I'll get you a pillow and stuff.”

She pulled some blankets and pillows from a linen closet before bringing everything into the living room. Hurrying into the kitchen, she carefully made tea. She would have liked to talk to Sano while it boiled, but in her experience anything left unattended in her kitchen was a fire hazard, and Kaoru couldn't afford to pay for repairs.

The tea was warm, and Sano drank it down in one gulp. “Thanks for the tea.”

“Sano, what happened? Is this just because she's pregnant, or what?”

Sano put his cup down on the coffee table with a loud slam. “I don't even know. She just blew up at me when I got home, chased me out with her shoes. So I went to a bar with Kenshin, started a couple fights, and went out alone on the town.”

“Does Kenshin know you spent the night brawling?”

“Told him I was heading home. I tried, but she started throwing stuff again. Then she yelled that she never wanted to see me again, so I left.”

Kaoru sighed. She handed Sano hid bedding. “Go to sleep. I'll go and see her in the morning, okay? Assuming she doesn't call looking for you.”

“Yeah. Night.”

She silently willed Megumi, wherever she was, to wake and think of the man she'd just tried to beat with her footwear. `Come on, Megumi. You know you love him.'

Across town, in a bed for two that held only one, Megumi clutched her engagement right in one hand and the stuffed fox Sano had given her for her birthday in the other.

`Please...please be alright...'

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Tokio was warm. It was dawn, and Saitou had left for work fifteen minutes ago, leaving her alone in bed. She didn't mind, had feigned sleep so he wouldn't be uncomfortable.

She had fed last night, and the numb pain that had plagued her was gone, replaced with a fiery energy that she knew would sustain her for weeks. Turning over onto her side, she stretched out onto his pillow and nestled up in the warm spot he'd left behind. It was always good to see her husband, even if he didn't want to see her. It reminded her that she was not alone.

Faced with nothing to do (she was on vacation), Tokio decided to do one ofher favorite things. Rummage through Hajime's stuff.

His clothes were boring and stiff, in dark shades and rough fabrics. They were in good condition unsurprisingly. Hajime had always been a bit OCD.

Okay, a lot OCD.

He didn't seem to have any personal items in his apartment. Every drawer and cabinet was either empty or neatly organized. There was a cabinet in the kitchen full of cooking utensils, and another of instant soba, and another of sword-care equipment. There was a closet stacked high with neatly alphabetized files, presumably from work, and some stark furniture in the living room. The only two things that didn't really fit were the swords rack on one wall, which stuck out like a sore thumb, and a box in his bedroom closet that turned out to be full of what seemed to be memorabilia from his past.

There were a few newspaper articles, and old clothing, and photo albums. The note inside said that his mother had made them up for him. They were an insight into his past, a biography in pictures instead of words. There was a whole scrapbook on their wedding, with copies of the invitations, dried flowers from the bouquet, decoration sample, and even a short biography of Tokio, with a picture she'd taken of herself before the wedding. It was the only really sentimental thing her husband seemed to own.

`Is it pathetic that the fact he actually has this stuff makes me happy?'

The doorbell rang, and Tokio hurriedly smoothed her hair in the mirror before opening the door. Outside was a dark haired girl with a confused expression on her face and a camera slung around her neck.

“Hi, I'm Kaoru Kamiya. Your husband asked me to stay with you while he was out, said you were new in ton?”

Tokio blinked, then nodded and let her in. “Tokio Takagi. You don't really need to be here, I fed last night, so I'm fine.”

“Even so, I think I'll stay. If Saitou is anything like Kenshin, he'll be all paranoid that people are going to come and eat your soul or something.” Kaoru giggled.

Tokio stepped aside, letting Kaoru in and offering her tea, which she cordially refused.

“Wow, this apartment is...um...”

“Freaky? Yeah, I didn't design it, you can insult it if you want.”

Kaoru started laughing again. “Your husband is OCD.”

“And your boyfriend isn't?”

“How did you know that? Is everyone I know a closet stalker or what?” Kaoru demanded. “First Kenshin steals my house keys, then Misao hijacks my cell phone, now you're delving into my personal life?”

“Hajime always asks for a copy of my itinerary...although it's probably because he wants to avoid me...” Tokio mused out loud.

“Men,” Kaoru said with a sigh, flopping back onto the couch with a melodramatic sigh. “Are so, so useless sometimes. I think Kenshin is the only semi-normal boyfriend I've ever had, and he's weird.”

Tokio sighed. “Hajime and I have been married for five years, and we've never spent more than a few nights in the same room at one time.”

Within a few hours, the two were trading stories about their own problems with men. It felt good to tell someone about how very frustrating it was, to be married in name only. Not that Kaoru's life was perfect; she'd dated some crazies, one of which had almost gotten her arrested for possession of heroin despite the fact it had been in her boyfriend's apartment. it was late in the afternoon when Koru jumped at the sight of a conveniently placed digital clock and said that she had to meet someone for lunch, an would Tokio like to come?

Having nothing better to do, Tokio joined Misao and Megumi for lunch at a deli. The food was wonderful, and Misao and Megumi turned out to be funny, intelligent, and sympathetic. They spent a good half an hour moaning and groaning before life's killjoy, work, called them back to their respective jobs. But not before Tokio had been given a whole host of contact information and invited to a club with the three girls that night.

Kaoru had to go to work herself-Bunny's shoot was sill on- and after she had left, Tokio made her husband dinner, cleaned up the house, and changed into some nicer clothing to await his return. Normally she wore showy, immodest clothing that she bought in strange places or made herself, with the sole exception of work, where she wore modest, professional clothes. But for that night, she put on nice slacks and a silky blouse. Hopefully Hajime would notice her clothes and comment.

`Hell, I'd settle for him noticing!'

Something Kaoru had said lingered in her head as she changed.

“If he doesn't care for you, why am I here in the first place?”

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The sun poked through the blinds, depriving her of the ease of sleep and forcing her to open her eyes. When she managed to do so, she found that several things were wrong. First off, there was no sun poking through the blinds. It was the middle of the night, as the clock next to her read. This brought her to the next issue: the clock. It was fancy, and digital, and had obnoxiously bright yellow numbers. And it definitely was not hers. Final problem? This was Kenshin's bedroom, and she had been sleeping there. The space next to her was empty and the bathroom light was visible through the crack under the door. Kenshin must be in there.

There was a click, and the bathroom door opened, blinding her temporarily. She covered her face with a forearm, peering at Kenshin, who mercifully turned out the light and sat down on the bed.

“Shouldn't you be asleep?” He whispered, pushing her back down onto her back. “It's the middle of the night.”

Kaoru reached over and flicked on lamp, bracing herself. She rubbed her eyes and slowly, carefully opened them to accustom her self to the light. Peering at him, she narrowed her eyes and glared.

“This,” She gestured to the bed. “Is becoming a bad habit.”

“What is becoming a bad habit?” Kenshin asked lazily, reaching over her to switch of the lamp.

“This. Us. In the apartment, which is bigger than my house, in this room. In this bed. Get your mind out of the gutter. Sleeping. It's a bad habit.”

She found herself being dragged backd own onto the bed and felt an arm wrap around her waist. “How is it a bad habit?”

Kaoru snuggled up to him despite her annoyance. It was cold in his apartment. She suspected it was that way on purpose, to give him an excuse to hold her. Not that he really needed an excuse.

“It's a bad habit because I have a house. It's bad because I have a shelf in your bathroom, and I leave my stuff over here, and you gave me closet space. You're a cat person, aren't you? Cat people are always sneaky.”

“Yes, I am a cat person. And I am not sneaky, you are just oblivious.”

“So this is a ploy to get me to move in with you! I knew it!” Kaoru crowed triumphantly.

`Sneaky cat person boyfriend, trying to get me to live with him already...although I would probably get better food if I did...crap, another pint in his favor...'

“Is it working?” Kenshin asked.

“Yes. No. Maybe. If you were a lousy cook, this would be easier.” She hadn't meant to admit that. Clearly it was sleep deprivation. She was not subtly hinting that she could be bribed with food. Right.

“So if I feed you, you'll move in with me?” Kenshin asked. He was whispering directly into her ear now, lying beside her. His bed was much nicer than hers was...

`Must resist evil boyfriend's persuasive tactics...'

“Resistance is futile.” Kenshin told her, smirking. “Go back to sleep.” She rolled over so she was facing the obnoxious alarm clock again, and then decided she'd rather sacrifice her pride then her sleep. After all, it was a proven point that food was far more important than pride. It seemed employment, warmth, and sleep fell into the same category.

She was dimly aware of his burying his nose in her hair before she drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

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Misao was not a heavy sleeper. Being raised by ninjas may have caused this problem; it could have been her popularity in high school; it could even be her hyper alert weasel perceptive skills. All she really knew was that when the phone rang in the middle of the night, she answered it, and even managed to sound intelligible, as compared to Kaoru, who always sounded drunk on the phone.

“Will you accept our offer?” A voice was speaking. She didn't recognize it and was about to ask who it was when another person answered the speaker.

“It's wonderful. At last I can have her again. It's been too, too long.” Another voice, sounding like that of a young man, spoke in delighted tones. He sounded faintly unhinged. Misao dubbed him Crazy Boy mentally.

Wrong Number spoke again. “Very well. Drink this. We will expect your call when you complete your mission.”

“I'm so happy. She'll love me so much, and everything will be great.” Crazy Boy was still rambling on. His voice was slightly familiar, but Misao couldn't for the life of her remember where she had heard the voice.

The phone hung up. What had that been? Who'd been talking? And why ha they called her?

The only possible explanation was that that one of the two people had phoned her, knowing she'd hear the conversation. Or a third party had been present. It wasn't just a random call; someone had wanted her to get a message.

Dialing her phone again, Misao called the Aoiya. If anyone knew who Crazy Boy and Wrong Number were, it was the Oniwabanshuu.

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It was a dark room, lit only by a few candles and a single bare bulb. The walls and ceiling were slightly moldy, and the skittering of bugs was audible. This cramped room looked at best like an abandoned basement, but it was the underground room of Seijuro Hiko XIII, and it was currently occupied by four men.

“The Order of Truth has joined forces with Shishio.” Saitou began. “The zombies that took out the bakery carved the same symbols Wormwood has on his staff onto the wall.”

“Problematic, but not unexpected.” Kenshin mused aloud. “The Order wants Kaoru. Shishio wants my head on a stick. Their goals are similar.”

“Why is the Order after your woman?” Hiko asked.

“I'm not sure. She hasn't been bothered by them at all since I unsealed her, which makes me think that they're planning something big.” Kenshin said. “Wormwood doesn't know anything useful. He's been told nothing of importance. A pawn in the game, as it is.”

“I am not a pawn!” Wormwood roared. He was tied to the wall so that they could ask him questions if needed. It was easier than having Kenshin project what he had learned with his power.

“The Order is planning something.” Aoshi agreed. “I received a phone call this morning. Misao received an unusual phone call last night. Two people, one of whom is definitely an order operative, were discussing something. The Order operative was asking about an agreement between himself and another man.”

“The second man is insane.” Hiko said. “I listened to the tape.”

“Which leaves us with few options. We can track down the order man and see what he knows. We can track down this insane man and see what he knows. Or we can wait for them to make a move.” Saitou listed off.

“We'll have to do all three.” Kenshin said quietly. “The Order man lives in another country. We can try and get his visa revoked.”

“how do you know that?” Saitou asked.

“His wife, Naomi, spoke to some of my men yesterday.” Kenshin explained.

“What a coincidence. We didn't know about all this yesterday.” Saitou muttered.

“We are being baited.” Aoshi confirmed.

“All we can do is try and predict what they're going to do.” Kenshin admitted. “I looked at a list of potential targets for another attack. Top on the list are places we all frequent.”

“I'll put out a guard.” Saitou volunteered. “If they try anything...”

“You'll catch them.” Hiko finished. “Has it occurred to you idiots that the real targets will be your women?”

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- Excerpt from the Gem Daily, October 29th

Shadow Murderer Strikes Again!

By Lindsey Walker

The mysterious murderer, the Window-Walker, has taken another victim. A woman who owned a pastry shop in Viper was reported missing this morning. Her brain was later found stabbed onto an iron fence in Platinum, outside an estate.

This killer has murdered four other victims thus far, all with seemingly no connection. The list is as follows:

Gaia Moon, a fortune-teller who was killed in her tent off of the highway.

Theresa Jones, an elderly woman living by herself as a homeless person.

Danny Thompson, a waiter at a restaurant in Viper who was recently featured in this very newspaper for winning a kendo tournament.

And young Mark Malter, a teenager at Garrett Boarding School, who was visiting his sick aunt in Gold.

Each of these innocent people was known to have vanished first; then a few hours later, their brains are found publicly displayed somewhere in Gem. The police have no leads, and the citizens cry for justice, how much longer will the Window-Walker go free?

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Kaoru put the newspaper article down with a heavy sigh. The appearance of the Window-Walker at the beginning of the month had caused a wave of fear to sweep through the city. The very idea that anyone could kill in such a brutal way, leaving their brains displayed like trophies...it was sick. No one had found a body yet, either; only the brains. A DNA processing facility had been set up in each of the Three Districts to cross reference the brains with the list of missing persons, so that each victim could be identified quickly.

She felt sad at the thought of the bakery owner. She had passed the bakery many times on her way through the city, and had always wanted to stop in and have a bite. Somehow she'd never gotten around to talking to the sweet old lady she'd seen almost everyday. No she never would.

Something was nagging her about this article. The names seemed familiar to her, and not just because she'd seen the articles and reports in the media. It was some other thing, linking the list of names together. But the connection eluded her, and she gave up. She would remember later, surely. For now, she was finally getting to see Kenshin.

The murders were being handled by her boyfriend and his allies; because they had figured out they were being done at least partially with magic. The normal police, even the Onyx police, were mystified, and the onyx police force was trained to handle magic. Kenshin had been very busy, trying to catch the Window-Walker while preventing his other enemies from getting the upper hand or attacking. There hadn't been any more zombie attacks, but Kaoru still worried about his safety.

The phone rang, loudly, cheerily. It nearly fell off of the counter, and she cursed the evils of the vibrate setting on her cell. The call was from Kenshin. Her stomach flipped. What if he was hurt?

“Hello?” he asked nervously, hoping it was him and not someone else passing on bad news.

“Kaoru?” It was Kenshin, thank goodness, and he sounded alright. But that meant he was cancelling their date, as he'd done several times ever since the murders started. Kaoru knew that he didn't mean to leave her hanging every time; it was just that things always panned out that way.

“Something came up?” Kaoru asked. She already knew the answer.

“I'm sorry-” She cut him off, not wanting him to feel any worse. The sudden gloom that had overtaken the city wasn't his fault, and he was trying to prevent people from dying.

“I know.” She told him. “I know. You're not hurt, are you?”

“Not yet.” Kenshin said dryly. “The public is bound to have me hanged sooner or later, don't worry. I should be there when you get home.”

“Home as in your apartment, or home as in my house?” Kaoru asked. While Kenshin had never officially asked her to move in, she'd spent most of he last two months in his apartment. Until he asked her, though, she wasn't going to call it home.

“My apartment, if you don't mind.” There was a loud crash in the background. “Can't these idiots do anything without me? Kaoru-”

“You have to go. Bye.” She hung up the phone and laid it down on the sofa carefully. It seemed she was going to end up at Ryuichi's place again.

Ryuichi had been her father's student when she was a child; he'd gotten a place in a kendo school abroad and moved away when she was fourteen. He'd recently returned to the city, and had looked her up. He was one of the few people that knew about her past, and she could reminiscence with him for hours on end. She suspected Kenshin was a little jealous-he twitched at the mention of his name- but she wasn't going to lose the man who'd acted as her brother when she was younger just because of his insecurities.

Normally he came and picked her up in the evenings if she was free. The way things were between Kenshin and her, he had decided to drive by every evening on his way home, and if she left the porch light on, she a home; if it was off, she was out. Flipping the switch, Kaoru made herself some coffee and settled in to do some work. She had a hour before her friend showed up, and she intended to use it.

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Misao, Megumi, and Tokio were in a girl's fantasy: a wedding dress salon, full of every kind of dress imaginable. The foxy doctor was getting married in the spring, and was planning to wear an elegant, classy, and modern sort of own. Having told all this to an excited and perky saleswoman, they were swept into a spacious dressing room and given an assortment of gowns to try on and critique.

Kaoru was at work and had promised to be there for the rest of the wedding planning, and had sworn to be at any other dress-related trips they made.

Megumi began trying things on immediately. The first gown was a lacy, poofy thing with no sleeves and no back. There was an ugly looking string lacing the dress up from behind.

Both Tokio and Misao hated it on sight.

“No. You look like a Barbie doll.”

“At least Barbie had a visible figure. In this, you look like you have no legs, no hips and a huge chest.”

The next number was a scarlet, calf-length dress with ruffled hems and one tick strap on the right shoulder. The worst part was a giant, cabbage looking rose centered on Megumi's chest. Megumi took one look at the flower and refused it.

“I mean, scarlet? For a wedding?” She ranted.

“Sexy, but not the look for you.” Tokio agreed.

There were a few more dresses that stood out: a pink dress that was barely decent and sparkly to boot (“Halloween costume for a three-year-old.” “All that glitters isn't suitable for a married woman.”), an ivory dress that fit beautifully but was decorated with snowflakes (“Spring wedding! Spring! The season after winter!” “Winter Wonderland is not our theme.”), and a long pale peachy dress that had extremely poofy sleeves (“Too Alice in Wonderland.” “Looks like Cinderella's pumpkins to me.”)

Tokio excused herself to visit the restroom when they finally escaped and took refuge in the food court. The other two girls discussed the other places they could visit and began making heated plans to see them next weekend.

After fifteen minutes, Misao and Megumi went to check on Tokio.

They couldn't find her in the bathroom, or in any of the nearby stores. She wasn't answering her cell phone.

The sound of sirens alerted them to her location. She was lying facedown on the ground, bruised, and with an alarming pool of blood spreading out beneath her. There were paramedics, and police on the scene already. Misao called Saitou while Megumi wormed information out of the medics. All she found out was that someone had called the emergency number and asked for an ambulance, saying they'd found an injured woman.

Later, in a nonhuman hospital, a doctor told them something had attacked her magically. She was lucky to be alive. Tokio herself was in a coma, and unlikely to wake unless they hunted down whoever had attacked her.

The headlines saw the cut on the back of her head and immediately blamed the Widow-Walker. Little did they know how right they were...

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There was a chilly autumn rain the night Kaoru disappeared, and the weather only worsened while she was gone.

She had gone to see Ryuichi, and never returned. Ryuichi had been out of town the entire three days she was missing, something Kaoru had definitely known about. No one knew where she'd been going when she lied to her boyfriend and headed out into the night.

The three day passed slowly, agonizingly. Kenshin spent all of his time at work, obsessively trying to figure out where she was, who had taken her, and what they wanted. There were massive searches conducted all over the city, and outside of it, even a look at Shishio's abandoned hideouts. Nothing came of it; Kenshin couldn't find hide or hair of the woman anywhere.

He was at home for the first time in three days, looking at a map and guessing where his enemies would keep her. He'd identified thirty places when the sound of thunder crashed through the apartment. All of the windows were closed (and made of thick, bulletproof glass), so Kenshin went into his bedroom, in the direction of the sound.

The window above the fire escape was open, and a dripping, sobbing Kaoru was half way through it.

He ran to her and pulled her through, trying to calm her down.

She shook her head wildly and grasped his shoulders tightly. She stared at him with wide, fearful eyes.

“I know.” She whispered in horror. A flash of lightning illuminated her terrified face for an instant. “I know who the Window-Walker is!”

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