Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Voix ❯ Shades ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter Two- Shades

Kenshin stepped carefully from the dojo, ensuring that he did not make a noise as he walked into the yard. He turned his head back to the house and whispered a quick prayer to protect his surrogate 'family' before letting his wings grow, stretching free in the darkness. He opened his eyes and found that, as usual, he could see much better.

He spread his wings out, stretching them to their full length, preparing to raise himself into the sky. A soft sound from behind him caused him to turn suddenly, too late to hide his wings. He let out a sigh of relief in seeing that it was just Kaoru standing just outside her room, hand clutching her long, sleeping yukata shut.

"What are you doing, Kenshin?" She whispered, stepping near the edge of the porch.

He folded his wings. "This one… rather desired to fly…" He confessed, extending a hand to help her to the grass.

She took it without hesitation, stepping down delicately. "Oh…" She whispered, turning her eyes down to the ground, unwilling to meet his.

"How did you know?" He asked, quietly.

She shrugged her shoulders once, unenergetically. "I don't know… I just… felt it."

He stared at her in the cool moonlight, where she looked even more like his goddess. "This one understands…" He let her hand go reluctantly. She was subconsciously beginning to feel the lifebond…

"Didn't you want to go flying?" She asked after a moment of silence, mangled only by the sound of crickets.

He nodded slowly. "This one did…" He kept his eyes down to the ground, knowing that if she looked into them, she would be frightened. "It doesn't matter… it may even be a bad idea…"

She blinked up at him. "What? Why?"

He sighed, resisting an urge to look at her. "This one fell from Heaven three years ago… you found this one three years ago… to this very day."

She looked stunned. "You're right… June 20th…" She sighed, knowing exactly why he hadn't said anything. She absently fingered the necklace she'd bought, unknowing that it was a symbol of his enslavement. She couldn't bring herself to take it off, though it had been almost two weeks since the incident. Though it seemed so inappropriate…

He couldn't help but smile at the sound of her voice. After careful pondering for a moment, he offered his hand again, looking up at her. He forced his demonic eyes to be as kind as the eyes she preferred. He knew exactly how to show part of his gratitude.

"Would you like to fly?"

She stared at him, stunned. In all the three years of knowing him, she had seen him go out to fly many times, even stayed up to the early hours of morning waiting for him to return, but he had never, ever, asked her to join him. She opened her mouth, but only a stuttered reply came out.

He smiled kindly. The Kenshin she knew…

"H-hai… are you sure it's okay?" She asked softly.

He smiled and stepped over to her. "If you don't mind being very close to this one." He replied gently.

She shook her head. "I don't mind… not really." He was gentle as he wrapped strong arms around her waist from behind and spread his strong, black wings.

"Ready?" He whispered into her ear.

She shivered and nodded. "As much as I will be…"

In the next instant, his wings were raised and fallen again, pulling them up suddenly.

Kaoru bit back a scream, instead squeezing her eyes shut as the night air rushed past them.

"Do you want to go back down?" Kenshin's breath brushed past her ear, making her shiver more than the cool darkness.

"No, Kenshin… I'm okay…" She managed, slowly opening her eyes.

The moon shone brightly, illuminating the entire countryside in its soft glow. Kaoru gasped in delight.

"It's so beautiful! You're so lucky, Kenshin!"

He smiled at her joy. "I'm glad you think so."

Her head jerked up, staring at him, mouth parted in a slight `o'. He mentally smacked himself for slipping with his speech mannerisms.

"Kaoru-dono… This one-"

She shook her head and smiled as he beat his wings slowly to keep them aloft. "Kenshin… I prefer that you stop that silly `this one' nonsense… and I want you to call me Kaoru… really…"

He found it difficult to resist the way she smiled at him. "It's not really polite…"

She smiled. "No one cares… my parents take care of you… everyone just thinks of you as a… brother of mine… no one would mind… especially not me."

"H-hai… Kaoru…" As the words passed from his lips, he felt something that made his blood drain from his face, and his heart turn to ice. "No… not now!" He whispered, turning his head in time to just see another angel slam into him.

"Traitor!" The angel cried, white wings catching the moonlight.

Kenshin tried to keep his grip on Kaoru, but he could feel her slipping. "Kaoru… no…" He whispered as the attacking angel struck him again across his arm, this time with a blade.

He bellowed in pain, feeling Kaoru slide from his grasp. He watched as she fell, the angel slamming into again, driving the sword into his abdomen. He screamed, trying to push the angel away.

He dove through the sky, blood preceding him. He pushed himself, catching her quickly. The girl was wide-eyed in terror, clutching at his gi and burying her face into his chest.

The attacker smashed into him again, this time with no threat of jarring Kaoru from his grasp, it was so tight.

Kenshin's eyes flashed. "Leave her out of this!" He growled.

The black-haired angel glared at him. "Then I should certainly include her, shouldn't I?"

"I'll kill you if you do!" Kenshin's threat was vehement, and Kaoru cowered at the sound of it. He meant it.

He smirked. "Go ahead and try… go ahead and try… You should have just taken Death when they tried to give it to you three years ago! You'll die! But this time, we don't have to do it so painlessly!" He held out his long sword and came in to kill Kaoru…

Kenshin's eyes darkened, burning with rage. "You will not touch her!" He growled, removing one arm from her. A spell of destructive flame was borne into his hand.

The angel smirked. "Magic won't help you now!" The tip of the sword grazed her exposed shoulder, ripping the material of her yukata.

Twin marks burned on Kenshin's face as he murmured a spell deep in his throat. "I swear, Yuichi, you will die for it…" The spell in his hand blossomed greater and brighter.

Yuichi's eyes widened. "You wouldn't dare… You don't have that kind of power!" He cried as Kenshin drew his hand back.

"You should have known, fool." He hissed.

Kaoru seized his hand.

"Kenshin! No!"

Kenshin nearly changed in his surprise. Her voice had jolted him from his rage. She was bleeding badly, though not as much as he was. "K-Kaoru…" He whispered, the spell dissipating in a fraction of a second.

Yuichi was nearly ready to attack them again, when Kenshin turned a fierce glare on him. "Go back and tell them, if they didn't know. Tell them that I still live, and that if they want me, they will have to come to try and get me. Understand?" Kaoru was still frightened of the growl.

Yuichi glared at them and took off in a rustle of white feathers.

Kenshin settled them back to the ground, letting Kaoru to the ground before reaching out to inspect her shoulder wound.

She recoiled at his hand, and he froze. "Kaoru…" He choked out miserably.

She fell to her knees, sobbing on the moonlit hill. She clutched her torn yukata around her and cried. "Please… don't…"

He fell back slightly, stunned by the fear in her words. He had heard every single emotion in her voice. He had heard fear. But now it was fear of him. He pulled his dark wings into him in utter shame, for the absolute first time. He had never been ashamed of what he was, until that moment. "Kaoru-dono…"

He clutched his wounds, all too aware that they were bleeding all over the soft grass. I deserve to die for scaring her like this… He thought, miserably watching her.

Suddenly, she crawled into his lap, pounding her fists against his chest. "You were going to kill him! I don't want you to be a murderer!" She clenched her fists around his gi, crying into his chest.

He stared at her and ran his hands up and down her back soothingly. "I'm so sorry…" He whispered. "I knew it was a bad idea… I knew something would happen… I was careless with you… I really ought to die for it…"

She shook her head violently. "No, Kenshin… if you go… I'll be alone again…"

His young mistress was near hysterics, making her almost irrational, possibly not even thinking. Even so, he could not have been less prepared for her next words.

"Kenshin… I don't want to be alone… I really care so much for you… I don't think I was ever happier than when I found you on that mountain… when you came… I think I fell in love…"

He stared at her. He had seen all the signs in her… that she was feeling their lifebond… Detecting exactly where he was at all times, like he had always been able to do for her… everything… he had seen the signs! Humans thought of it as love, but it was still a relationship of power… he was submitted to her… She wouldn't understand it that way… he was bound to protect her.

He was bleeding all over the grass… all over her. How were they going to explain it to her parents? The night was cold. Kaoru might get sick. He had landed them close to the dojo, but how would he explain what had happened if her parents woke up. He was thinking of a thousand things but the one of what should have been immediate concern.

Kaoru loved him? No… she was simply hysterical after such a horrifying event.

She was still crying, but softer now, sensing the shock that had descended over him. "Kenshin, I'm sorry…"

He shook his head, vaguely feeling anything. "No, Kaoru…" He remembered saying fuzzily. He stood slowly and picked her up gently. "We have to get you back to the dojo…" He whispered.

"You're worse than I am… we can't go… you'll kill yourself if you walk around like you are!" She protested.

He nodded numbly. "But your parents do not know of me… it will not look good for either of us if we were to come home in the morning together."

"I don't care!" She protested again, struggling against him. He held her closer.

"Kaoru… don't say that…" He whispered to her. "Of course you care… You don't know what you're saying." His voice was careful and even.

As they stepped back into the dojo, Kenshin was quick to fetch a medical kit, only to return to find himself in a situation. Kaoru's yukata was ruined… and it would have to come off in order to tend to the nasty wound.

She was silently brooding as he approached her. She seized the kit and pulled his gi off unceremoniously. He sat, flinching only when she cleaned the wounds. Her hands were still as soft as that day…

He closed his eyes at the blissful memory of her comforting hands. The same hands that were then dancing around his abdomen. He shivered. "Kaoru… I have to tend to you… I should have before you did to me…" He reached out tentatively and slowly, letting her know he would not harm her.

When she did not move, he tugged the yukata down just enough to see the shallow cut, as she clutched it tightly closed.

He was quick to clean and bandage her, before helping her to her feet. "I'm so sorry, Kaoru…" He whispered.

She stepped to her room, but paused with her shoji half open. She turned back to him. "Kenshin… I meant it…" She slid into her room, closing the shoji with a very soft click.

He ran a hand through his hair. The night had proved to reveal shades of things yet to come. "Damn it all…" He muttered.