Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Third Impressions ❯ Killer Brother, Little Brother ( Chapter 3 )

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

Third Impressions

Part III

She didn't think she'd ever been this panicked in her whole life. Her life hadn't always been easy, but what she had experienced in the last three days would be branded onto her heart forever. Kaoru wasn't sure she'd ever be able to sleep easy again, not after this.

“It's Ryuichi.” She told Kenshin hurriedly. If she thought about the words she was saying, she'd never be able to tell anyone, would collapse into a broken shell of herself.

`No choice but to get it all out now. Before...someone else dies like that...'

Kenshin nodded, listening. He wasn't going to interrupt her while she could still talk; whatever she had seen was still wearing heavily on her mind. He was surprised she could speak, but she did, despite her bloodless face and tight grip on his arm.

“He's lost his mind, Kenshin...”

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Kaoru had never been one to watch the news, but now she was watching intently. They were showing a detailed report on the way Window-Walker was thought to de-brain his victims and she felt an odd, morbid desire to know. Something was nagging at the corner of her mind, like a fluttering piece of fabric at the corner of her eye. It tugged at her, trying to bring some memory she'd forgotten back to the surface. What wasn't she getting?

The sudden knowledge felt like a cold knife, slipping in between her ribs and slicing through her heart. She had been connected to all of these people. The fortune-teller she'd always passed on her way to see her biological father; the elderly moan who'd once been her neighbor; the waiter who she'd read about in the paper because the article had mentioned kendo; and the student who attended the same boarding school Yahiko did. And another terrifying thought crept up on her: Kaoru had mentioned every single one of those people to Ryuichi at some point.

`Oh, Goddess, please let this be some awful coincidence...'

As far as she could tell, there was no other link between the murders. They'd been of different walks of life, different ages and genders, none of hem were related...the only connection was Kaoru herself. What could she do? Would the police take her seriously? It was definitely not something she could keep to herself. And what about Ryuichi? If he was guilty...

`If he's the killer, I have to turn him in. He's killed five people already.'

If Ryuichi found out she knew, or suspected, would he kill her? Probably. He'd hidden his murderous thoughts well, but now that she knew, he'd guess just by looking at her what she had discovered.

And then the Gem Daily would have another article on another victim; Kaoru Kamiya, photographer. It would create all kinds of connections between her and Danny Thompson, and then no one would ever guess that Ryuichi was guilty of anything.

`I'll tell Kenshin. Right now. As soon as he gets out of the shower...'

`Now, now, you wouldn't want anything to happen to Yahiko, would you?'

`Who was that? Get out of my head!'

`Don't even think about telling anyone anything. In fact, leave. Or your only family is going to suffer very badly.'

`I'm not going to keep silent about this! He murdered five people!'

`And Yahiko will be the sixth if you can't keep your mouth shut. Now, wait until Battousai comes out and tell him you're going to see Ryuichi. And don't even try to tell him anything, or else.'

Inwardly seething, Kaoru did as she was told. Kenshin offered to go with her repeatedly, but Kaoru insisted on going alone. She promised to take his car as he asked, and lied cheerfully, saying she only wanted to get a jacket.

As soon as she was outside, she hailed a cab and went straight to Ryuichi's place. Ryuichi was waiting for her.

“Kaoru, you're here. I thought you would be here soon, just like you said. Sit down, have dinner.”

She knew better than to try and confront him, so she feigned good humor and ate the food, shuddering inwardly with every bite. How could she get out of this mess? If only she could somehow contact Kenshin, she'd at least have the reassurance of knowing her brother would be rescued. But Ryuichi was watching her like a hawk staring at her the entire time they ate.

And when she tried to get up and put her plate in the kitchen, she couldn't move. The arms of the chair had wrapped around her, holding her arms fast. There was no use in struggling; the wood held like steel, and the touch of it on her skin sent a pain that she recognized from her old sealing spell shooting through her throat. A spell to keep her from using her magic. The old sealing spell had literally knotted her magic, and she was still weak; but time enough had passed for her to at least try and learn the counterspell for the knot. Kaoru glared down at the chair, her eyes hidden by her bangs. It would do no good for Ryuichi to see her rage.

“They told me you wouldn't understand at first. That I'd have to explain it to you.” Ryuichi explained calmly.

`Who are they? The people who told him to kill people? The voices in his head?'

“Explain what to me?” Kaoru asked, genuine confusion coloring her tone.

“Everything. You think I'm a murderer. But I'm not.” Relief swept through her. he wasn't the killer. The person who' invaded her mind had either been mistaken, or trying to help her in a roundabout sort of way.

“I killed all of them for you, Kaoru. So you wouldn't be sad anymore.”

`For me? I never...I'd never...I'm not a murderer! I'd never kill anyone, not after everything my foster father taught me!'

“When you told me about those people, you looked so sad. So I got rid of them for you. Murder is when you kill someone for a selfish reason; but I'm not selfish. I did it for you this time.”

“This-this time?” Kaoru couldn't stop a tremor from coming into her voice; from pain, or fear, even she wasn't sure.

“Before, when I was abroad, you gave me some advice. You told me, whenever I was stressed, I should imagine myself somewhere else. So I did- except that I can actually do it.” His face was filled with pride, like a child who's just learned to ride a bike, wanting praise and encouragement.

“Do what?”

“I found out to make myself another person. If you take their minds, and then kill them- there can't be two of the same person- you can be that person for a while. I did. I was a hundred different people, and whenever I was upset, or lonely, I could be someone else.” He looked dreamy, happy, at the thought of escape. Kaoru had a feeling that she was listening firsthand to the rationale of a twisted, deluded mind. Ryuichi had been stressed, so he'd sought refuge in other people's lives.

“Didn't it cause a fuss when dead people started walking around alive?” Kaoru asked. If it hadn't been so incredibly horrible, she might have laughed. If he kept talking, she might go into hysterics and laugh anyway.

“They don't remember you're dead while you're there. They never remember any of it.” Ryuichi assured her. “So you see, I'm not a murderer. Murderers kill because they want to. I killed because it was necessary. Do you understand now?”

“Yes.” She said.

`I understand that you're a monster, a person with no morals and no guilt for all the lives you've taken to satisfy your own selfish desires.'

“I'm not like your boyfriend he's a murderer. No, I'm going to give you this collar to put on, okay. Then I'll show you how I killed them. I made movies, so I could show you before I popped the question.”

“Before you- what?” Marriage? This was about marriage? Kaoru was certain now that if she didn't get out of there soon, she would lose her mind. Under no circumstance could she let that happen. Only she knew the truth right now.

“Before I propose, Kaoru. Haven't you ever heard that expression?”

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It had taken her two hours to tell her story, and after that he'd given her a sedative so she could get some sleep without nightmares.

He was aware of the fact that he hadn't fully processed the information. He wasn't even sure he wanted to. The only thing that really stuck out in his mind was Ryuichi's final goal.

“Once he's gone, we can be together at last. Nothing will stop us. Nothing...”

Kaoru had said that she didn't know what he was talking about, and he didn't really want to tell him the he was probably Ryuichi's final target.

It made sense, in a twisted sort of way. Kenshin would never let Ryuichi steal Kaoru without a fight, and certainly wouldn't let her marry a murderer without her knowing all the facts. Or at all. It didn't help that Kaoru had been vague about most of Ryuichi's comments on what made a real murderer. He could guess why: it had probably already occurred to her that the two men had a few things in common.

And Kenshin had killed a lot more people then Ryuichi had.

Yes, it had been a war. Yes, he was a lot older than Ryuichi was. But that didn't make either of their deeds right. Would Kaoru see him as the same as Ryuichi? Or worse, because he was in full possession of his mental facilities, and had become a killer anyway. Would having a choice make him the worse of two evils? Was he a murderer? That answer, for him, had always been difficult. Kaoru didn't have his outlook. To her, a life was a life and Kenshin couldn't deny they had both taken many.

The subject would have to rest for now. He knew who the killer was. It was time to start the hunt.

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“He attacks the person and sucks their consciousness, their self, right out of them. Hen he kills them, slowly and elaborately. He projects the selves he's collected out and no one who isn't looking for it will ever notice. Add some slight memory suspensions, and no one would ever have guessed.”

“Can we assume Tokio was attacked?”

“Maybe. It doesn't fit the pattern, though.”

“The pattern?”

“Kaoru didn't actually know any of the victims. They were names she knew, but they weren't even acquaintances. If he's going to go after me, and I think he is, he'll have to move to people you know slightly, than friends, then close friends, until he finds someone who can get to me without being killed first.”

“So Ryuichi's building a chain?”

“Exactly.”

“You're hardly an ideal, Battousai.”

“He's my ideal. Isn't that the point? If he wasn't in Ryuichi's way, he wouldn't even be a target.”

“Note something else. All the victims are single. And all of them are humans.”

“Most nonhumans can detect someone else's presence in their heads.”

“If Tokio was attacked, she's alive because of you, Saitou. Her bond with you probably anchored her self. He couldn't suck all of it out, so he trapped it instead.”

“So he can't break preexisting bonds.”

“Why do nonhumans form such definite bonds with each other anyway?”

“The current theory is that it's an adaptation to centuries of persecution by humans. It means we might be able to figure out who the next target will be. Someone you know personally, but not too well.”

“Do I have to like them? Although Ryuichi goes after people he thinks depress me.”

“Someone you've mentioned to him. Or someplace you've mentioned to him. He killed Danny Thompson just because he was from your brother's school.”

“I mentioned a few models to him. I mentioned Roma, Bunny, Roma's husband. The nurses that take care of Dad. A few of my foster father's old students, and...I don't think anyone else fits. I talked about Misao and Megumi a lot, and I talked about Tae, a restaurant owner. She and I are pretty close, though.”

“Get us a list. We'll start tracking them.”

“Get all of this to Aoshi and Shishou. If we can catch him when he strikes next, we can end this.”

“You missed something, Battousai.”

“What?”

“What will you do if he attacks you outright?”

“What do you think I'll do, Saitou?”

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Harold Wormwood was furious.

First, his son had been kidnapped. Kidnapped! Abducted, after failing in his mission to contain the girl, by the ninjas! They had drained his mind of information and returned him to the Order recently, granted, but not until he was blank as a clean slate. The only way to restore his memory was to use magic, but the Order hadn't bestowed their permission upon him to do so. So he had lost, in effect, his only son.

Then he had been give charge of the Ryuichi person. An insane man, who had killed many, all they had to do was show him a few pictures, change his name, do a little cosmetic surgery via magic and they had a killer obsessed with a girl he'd never met. Ryuichi was supposed o kill Battousai and surround Kaoru so she could be reclaimed. He was supposed to give them control of Onyx so they could make it their base of operations.

Somehow or another the man had been discovered, as had he. Now he was in hiding, hoping that Ryuichi wouldn't reveal him while knowing that he would. Unless Battousai and his allies were al killed soon, Harold Wormwood was going to be six feet under soon enough.

The only thing he could try and so was reseal the girl. His little jaunt in her mind had allowed him to leave a little bit of himself there; if he could connect to it, he might be able to get into her mind fast enough to prevent the spells protecting her from obliterating him. If the girl's brother hadn't been acting as a channel the first time, he would already be dead. As it was, the girl's love for her brother had bypassed the spells completely.

Now he waited, as the hunters hunted him, hunted Ryuichi. The net was closing, and if he didn't get ahold of the girl, he would end up like his son...if he was very lucky.

He shoved against Kaoru's mind, trying to get to the piece of himself he'd stored there.

Harold Wormwood slumped, gone from the world forever. Smoke billowed from his torched body.

In a dark alley three miles away, a red-haired man looked up sharply. One down, one to go...

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Yahiko Myojin was a pretty good kid. He exercised good hygiene (most of the time), practiced his swordplay (obsessively), and at his sister's request, kept in touch even though it was humiliating.

It was like something out of a movie.

“Who are you people?” Yahiko asked curiously. “What is this?”

“We're here on behalf of your sister.” One of them said. “You're in danger. Have you seen this man?” he held up a photo of the late Harold wormwood.

Yahiko took the photograph and examined it carefully.

“Yeah, he bought a newspaper a few days ago and read it in the store. Why?”

“He had your sister kidnapped. She told us you'd been threatened, so the boss sent us to pick you up.”

“Who's the boss?” Yahiko asked. “And why does he care?”

“Your sister's on the phone. Ask her.” The guy who had been talking to him the whole time offered him a BlackBerry.

He took the proffered phone and spoke excitedly.

“Yahiko-chan? Is that you?” Kaoru said. “Are you all right?”

“Don't call me -chan, ugly!” Yahiko yelled. “Since when do you have bodyguards you can just set on me?”

“Body- what? Hang on a minute!” he heard yelling in the background. It sounded like Kaoru was beating on someone.

“Uh, ugly? Are you okay?”

Kaoru sounded breathless over the phone. What was she doing?

“Sorry, my boyfriend sent them. You need to go with them, okay? Something's happened and I don't want you to get hurt.”

“Yeah, yeah. Okay. See you when I get there.”

“Bye, Yahiko-chan!” She hung up the phone before he could snap back with an insult.

`What kind of guy is she dating, anyways?'

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“Sanosuke Sagara, if you don't tell me where you are taking me, I swear, I will embed this scalpel in your scalp!”

Sano winced and stopped, taking Megumi's hands in his. “Look, we need to move fast. I promise to tell you everything as soon as we're there.”

Megumi yanked her hands out of his and then stomped the rest of the way to the car, no mean feat in high heels.

“First I had to move into a safe house, and now this.”

They drove through the winding streets, taking obscure back roads and driving far above the speed limit. Megumi held tightly to the dashboard, praying that they wouldn't get into an accident. Eventually they wound their way back into the center of the Devil Eye area, stopping outside a fancy-looking apartment building. Sano opened the door and pulled her out roughly out.

“Hurry, we can't stand outside here all day!”

“Where are we?”

“Kenshin's place. The safe house isn't safe enough.”

“Then why is it called a safe house, rooster?”

He ignored her, opening the door to the building and practically carrying her up the staircase. Megumi idly admired the carpet as she was dragged along.

Kenshin lived on the top floor. After several minutes of climbing, she collapsed onto Sano as he furiously pounded on the door. He heard someone screaming from inside that sounded awfully like Kaoru's little brother and wondered if he was there as well.

“Yo! Kenshin! Let me in!” The door opened and a frazzled looking Kaoru, clutching a bokken in one hand and clinging to the door with the other, peeking at them.

“Oh , good, you're just in time for dinner.” She said, fully opening the door and allowing them in.

The apartment was huge, comfortably lit, and clean. It surprised her, considering Kaoru lived there, but maybe Kenshin did the domestic chores. He was already doing the cooking, judging by the delicious aroma permeating the air in around the table. There was some sort of seafood, and salad, even some sort of chocolate pudding…

“Kaoru, did Kenshin make this?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“I'm just trying to protect me and my baby's health from your cooking.” Megumi laughed her trademark fox laugh.

Sano tried to steal some food and Kaoru smacked him with her bokken.

“Wait until Kenshin gets back!”

Sano rubbed his head. “Where is he, anyway?”

“Out! You can explain things to Megumi while we're waiting, and don't even think about sneaking food!”

“Wait- how did you know that?”

Kaoru just stared at him and then pushed the two into an empty bedroom. There was a click as she locked the door behind them, and then they were left alone.

“So, why exactly are we here?” Megumi asked.

“Remember how I told you about Shishio and his zombie army?”

Megumi nodded, remembering that particular conversation well. She would never know how exactly Sano had found overhead transparencies, but then again, she didn't think she really wanted to.

“Remember how Kaoru was kidnapped and then showed up with Kenshin three days later?”

Another nod. Sano had never explained what had gone on with Kaoru, but had promised to tell her the facts later.

“Yeah, well, Ryuichi is the Window-Walker, who wants to kill Kenshin and take his place so he can marry Kaoru. She escaped from him when he kidnapped her and now Kenshin's trying to track him down. You're in a lot of danger so we're staying here. Did I get everything?”

Megumi closed her eyes. It was times like this that she realized how out of her depth she was in this new world.

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Ryuichi fondly stroked the picture of Kaoru. His secret hideout was plastered with such pictures, but this one, which he had stolen from the asylum where Kaoru's father lived, was his favorite. She was facing the camera, hair whipped by the wind, smiling brightly. It was the only such picture. All of the others had been taken from a distance and were blurred.

`Once we're married, I'll have lots of pictures…and Kaoru will always, always, be smiling. She'll never look sad, and never cry…'

He leaned back on the floor. There was no furniture in the closet-sized room, just a fluffy rug and a box filled with tapes and knives. The tapes were of all the conversations he'd had with Kaoru, well-used during his search for victims. The knives…well, they, too, were well used.

“Soon.” He said, kissing the picture's laughing mouth. “Soon, she will be mine…”