Subject: [kenshinfanfics] Fanfic pt 3 Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 19:06:04 EDT From: Reply-To: kenshinfanfics@makelist.com To: kenshinfanfics@makelist.com Well, here's part three, as promised....Thanks for the c & c, I know the reactions were a little off, I've been pondering changing them. ^_^ My only real excuse is taht this's my first fanfiction (for rk) but...Well, enough excuses... Battousai again Part 3 Shinomori Aoshi stared in horror around the corner, hearing Megumi run up behind him. She’d decided to follow him around, since he was going inside and away from the blood. That had been their intention, at least, but then they’d heard shouts. Looking over his shoulder she gasped. Misao knelt on the ground, blood pooling beneath her, dripping from a gaping chest wound. She was obviously in pain. Then she spotted Aoshi and hope starting taking the place of pain. She reached out, trusting that he’d save her, yelling for him to help her. Aoshi didn’t even move, he was too stunned by the sight of her sitting wounded to even fully comprehend what was happening, not even when Megumi began to run towards the hurt girl, obviously intending to help. Aoshi failed to recover and Megumi never reached Misao…in time. Aoshi’s shock was broken when Kenshin hit Misao again, slicing her across the shoulder and throat. She fell back, hands on her throat, choking. Aoshi ran forward, even though he knew it was too late. Misao was dead, she could have possibly survived that chest wound, but not this. Dead, because he hadn’t reacted fast enough. He stopped however, as Kenshin spun around, knife flashing through the air. The knife caught Megumi right through the ribs, stabbed her just below the heart. She barely had time to say anything before she died. "Sano…Ken-san…" Kenshin stared down at her, not really seeing anything. He pulled his knife out and resolutely turned, stalked back to the rows of graves. Aoshi started running again, no longer paralyzed by shock and surprise. He reached Misao, stared down at her, hopeless, saddened. Her eyes opened, as if in response to his presence. "Aoshi-sama…I had him back…I had to reach you…I knew you could handle it…I’m sorry…" Her eyes closed again and Aoshi really began to hate last words. What did they mean, what good were they? The person you loved still lay dead at your feet, because of your own inaction. * * * Hiko frowned as he heard a shout. It came from the other side of the dojo, so he decided he’d go around. Since he was closer to the back then the front he decided he’d go around that way. The choice ended up making a significant difference. He stared at the rows of graves stretched out before him and frowned at the figure of Kenshin, hard at work. Digging. Not a good sign. Hiko frowned, wondering if it was for that little girl that had apparently run away and gotten here ahead of them, or if it was one of the others that he was with. Then he saw something that really made him upset. Kenshin wasn’t digging one grave, he was digging two. Aoshi and Megumi then. Or that girl and Saitoh. Either way, Hiko had to stop him, he couldn’t let his baka deshi kill anyone else. He walked up behind Kenshin, silently, and wasn’t even noticed. Kenshin was busy digging and thinking about something. Hiko didn’t care to surmise what he was thinking of. "Kenshin…" Kenshin blinked, stood up straight and turned to face him. "More of you? Why doesn’t Ryu just come himself, does he think that you’ll actually kill me?" Hiko scowled, "Ryu?" Kenshin sighed, "Stop pretending you don’t know!" Hiko shook his head. It was obvious Kenshin was insane. He had no other choice. "I’m sorry…Kenshin…" Kenshin blinked. "Sorry? For what?" Hiko went into battou-jutsu pose and watched a surprised Kenshin do the same. When they lashed out at each other, however, Kenshin’s battou-jutsu fell before Hiko’s Ama-Kakeru-Ryu-no-Hiramaki. Kenshin stared in shock at his master, who closed his eyes and sighed. "Kenshin, I’m sorry." Kenshin growled and struggled towards his knife, sword broken. Hiko blinked. He was still alive! The sword had absorbed a part of the blow before it broke, making the wound one that didn’t kill instantly. That, plus Kenshin’s mad energy, dredged from some demented depth in his soul, kept him going. Hiko shook his head and kneeled by Kenshin, after knocking the knife out of reach. "Kenshin…you made a mistake. I’m sorry you had to suffer for it." Kenshin glared back up at him a moment then blinked, eyes going wide. "K- Kaoru-dono?" Hiko blinked. "huh? Baka! I’m not that girl! Kenshin’s gaze focused on him a minute, eyes violet once again. "Master? What’re you doing he-AHHH!" He doubled over, clutching at his chest. IN doing so he fell back against one of the graves. His expression immediately saddened. "What have I done?" "you went hitokiri again…" Kenshin shook his head, "Beyond hitokiri…I didn’t just kill them, I tortured them! I wanted to know…who’d hurt…" Hiko nodded. "I know. Megumi-" Kenshin groaned. "Megumi! I just…oh god…Megumi!…Kaoru-dono…Yahiko…even Ayeme- chan and Suzume-chan! I thought they were my enemies, I thought…" He’d started crying. "I thought…" Hiko sighed. "it’s al right Kenshin. It’s over now…" "For me…But what about the rest of you? Aoshi…I didn’t kill him. Perhaps I should have…he’ll never forgive me…For making him fail her…" "her? Who?" Kenshin sighed and closed his eyes a minute. When he opened them there was no trace of the gold that had haunted it for those past, fateful days. "She helped me, you see. I was nearly sane for a minute. When I fell back in, it wasn’t all the way…the pain…cleared everything up…" His eyes went wide and he reached past Hiko. "Kaoru-dono, forgive me! Everyone…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean too…I really didn’t want too…" He slumped backwards, face pained a moment, then a smile crossed it. "Arigato, everyone…Maybe now…Maybe now we can really be a family…" Hiko waited a few more minutes, but there was nothing. Kenshin continued to smile, happier then Hiko’d seen him since he’d returned for his final training. Eventually he stopped breathing, slumped farther back, body now dead weight. Hiko sighed and stood. "it’s over…" "Hardly. We still have to bury the mess." Hiko spun to see Saitoh standing behind him. He frowned. "how long have you been there?" Saitoh shrugged. "long enough…At least he died happy." Hiko made a face. "As if you care…where’s Aoshi?" Saitoh shrugged. "How should I know. Probably went where that shout was. I was heading there myself when I found that blood trail…" Hiko sighed and started walking, again, towards where the earlier shout had come from. When he arrived, the sight was not as bad as he’d expected. Megumi lay on the ground, blood staining her clothing. She’d been stabbed cleanly through the chest, a wound that took mere seconds too kill. She wasn’t much of a mess. Misao had been covered by a blanket, probably from inside. Aoshi stood by the body, silent and depressed. Hiko sighed. "Aoshi…we should go back to Kyoto now. They’ll be wondering what happened." Aoshi nodded, and picked up Misao’s covered body. He looked at Saitoh, eyes scarily cold, but not angry, the way they had been when Han-nya and the others had died. "You’re right. We should leave…Saitoh, can you arrange for a carriage to take us back?" Saitoh nodded. "Sure. Shouldn’t even take too long." Aoshi nodded and, still carrying Misao, he left. Hiko remained to bury Kenshin and Megumi and Saitoh went with Aoshi to the police station to arrange for their transport back. The ordeal was over. * * * Kenshin stood in the Kamiya dojo court yard. It was no longer red stained to him, there were no graves in the back. This was the dojo of his memories, the one where he’d been so happy. It was eternal, as were he and his friends, trapped in a moment in time, never aging, never noticing, unnoticeable. Happy. He could hear Ayeme-chan and Suzume-chan playing in the background, could hear Kaoru giving lessons to Ryu and Yahiko. Megumi and Sanosuke were arguing over something, while Tae and Tsubame cooked some lunch for them all. Kenshin smiled, doing the laundry as normal. Everything was as it should be. Suddenly he was aware of a presence over him. "Kenshin!" He blinked. "Huh? Kaoru-dono? What’s wrong?" "Kenshin, are you okay? You looked sort of spaced out there…" Kenshin smiled. "I’m fine, Kaoru-dono." She smiled back. "Good…" He looked around. Ryu had gotten himself caught by Megumi, had become a part of the argument while Yahiko laughed. He set the towel he was washing down and stood up, hugged Kaoru. She smiled up at him, hugged him back. He grinned, closing his eyes, listening to everyone’s happy laughter. "everything’s okay now…" When wasn’t it? ---- Read this list on the Web at http://www.makelist.com/list/kenshinfanfics/ To unsubscribe, email to kenshinfanfics-unsubscribe@makelist.com To subscribe, email to kenshinfanfics-subscribe@makelist.com -- Start a FREE E-Mail List at http://www.makelist.com !