Part Taweee.... (heh heh) Kenshin- The Shadow of Kurokagei Kenshin saw the slender figure of Kaoru fall to the dark ground, limp as a broken doll. He struggled to get to her, but the man held him firmly. "Kaoru-dono!" The other forms wasted no time in knocking everybody unconscious. He winced. It was for the better, he thought to himself, he didn't want them to struggle against these mysterious entities. He sensed a strong ki in the chilly air. Gritting his teeth, he concentrated on scanning out where it was coming from. Suddenly the air opened up. Kenshin had no time to embrace himself from the icy winds that crashed down on him. The wind was powerful like a tornado. This was all ki!! He watched as a form melted into shape infront of him. Unlike the others, his face was not dressed in black cloth. A lethally handsome face with an icy expression painted across it. Kenshins amber eyes flashed dangerously. It was their leader. The tall man pushed aside his black bangs and stared at the small hunched form infront of him. Pitiful, the man looked like no threat and yet he was what the legends spoke of. The legendary Hitokiri Battousai. His cold jade eyes addressed him coldly. "Battousai. You will join the Kurokagei." The flame haired man said nothing. Stubborn son of a bitch. "I know you have your honour to uphold, Battousai, but we can kill your friends in a single slash." his jade eyes rolled like cold marbles. " I will honour you with one last request." Kenshin thought for a while before speaking. "Put my friends back in their beds." The Ninja snorted coldly. "We don't have that much time. Choose one." Kenshin looked down at Kaoru. "Her." The Ninja grabbed the girl and roughly swung her over his shoulders. He turned to address his servants. "Take the Battousai away." The black men formed at tight circle around Kenshin, shadowing him in a cold darkness. He stood there, chin high as they began to chant. Then something strange began to happen. Their body suits began glowing with tiny droplets of light. Kenshin stared in wonder as the droplets spread across their body. Soon it looked like the night sky itself. Like stars reflecting off a still lake. They bounded up into the sky, the men blocked off any sight of the city below. Kenshin was fascinated by the speed and height they were attaining. Their black body suits changed to match the starry heavens as they took flight across Tokyo. All around him, the fake stars glittered and moved like giddy fireflies. It was as if the sky was spinning before him. Kenshin put a hand to his face as he felt a dizzinessattack him. Each spin made it worse. I....I'm not going to let her down.. "Kaoru-dono..." It was the last words he said that night. The tall boy rolled Kaoru on to her futon. Her silky black strands draped across the pillow as some wisps of hair gentle caressed her cheek. The young man stared at her sleeping face, the pale moonlight basking her in a silver glow. A girl. Her long lashes fluttered as he traced a long finger down her face. He stared at her in wonder. His breathing was faint as he drew in her beauty, smelled the pleasant scent of lilacs surrounding her. Curiously, he traced his fingers across her mouth and over her eyelashes. She moaned. Frightened, he crawled away fast and eyed her closely, only to see her roll to her side with a rustle of blankets. Her sugary voice mumbled something. Hesitantly he returned to her side and studied her some more. She was slender, her figure showing through the strange wrappings around her. Colourful wrappings that were a bit tousled and reckless. He got up and probed her, his cold jade eyes piercing the cool air. She must've been only 18 years of age. She looked a lot more different than the elderly Kurokagei head women. He bent down to touch her again. His voice loosing his steel edge as he silently talked to her. "The time shall come, sweet angel." He departed silently out the door. Kenshin awoke with cramps in both his arms. He moved his hands painfully and heard the clatter of rusty chains. He leaned his head back against the brick wall and sighed. The small room was dark and damp, with tiny drops of water collecting in a pool beside him. He rolled his head to the side and stared out a barred window. The crisp air told him it was morning, the starry sky told him it was night. Kaoru-dono. Her name was comforting enough. He had a promise to keep. He went over the situation in his head. He didn't know where this was, but he could hear the soft waves of the ocean nearby. He had never seen any dungeons like this, and being associated with Saito and Uramura-san, he would have known that such places like this existed. There was shackles all over, no benches nothing else. There was no lights, even in the hallway outside. No light fixtures, there was a lack of technology in this place. He was probably in another town. The room here looked like it has been weathered down or carelessly put aside so it had to be in a remote town, possibly out of the government's care. He raised his voice. "Hello, anybody here?" His voice carried down the dark hall outside, echoing as it travelled. Echoing? That meant this dungeon only had a couple, maybe one jail cell, and a long hallway connecting it. Otherwise, this facility was pretty much empty. Strange, nobody was patrolling.. What kind of town was this? No use trying to figure it out with a throbbing headache. Kenshin slid down in to a more comfortable position, he grimaced as the chains pulled at his sore wrists. Once he settled down, he closed his eyes and let sleep take hold of him. "Kenshin....Kenshin? Wake up, it's morning." That voice....that sweet voice. His eyes snapped open. There she was, his dear Kaoru-dono. Smiling that sweet smile that had his heart for years. "Kaoru-dono?" Wait. Kenshin quickly checked to see if he was back in the Kamiya Dojo. He was still chained to the wall like a dog. A beam of morning light slid through the windows and made an awkward criss-cross blanket across the dungeon floor. He frowned. He was still here. He turned his attention back to Kaoru-dono and gasped. Her frail hands were releasing her Kimono at the top and pulling it down to reveal her collar bones and the top portion of her breasts. Kenshin turned beat red as he looked away. Kaoru's hand gently turned him back to her. Her expression was sad. "You're not happy to see me?" She leaned her body against his and Kenshin felt her half naked breasts push up against his exposed chest. His breathing was loud as he tried to pull away. "Kaoru-dono, what are you doing? Why are you here??" "I've come to rescue you silly." "But...Kaoru-dono...I..." Wait a minute. Kenshin's eyes narrowed coldly. There was no chance in hell that Kaoru-dono would act like such a horrible slut. Being more moderate and a great deal more innocent, she would have tried to pull off his chains. Not seduce him. This was not Kaoru-dono. "Get off of me!!!" Kenshin wriggled his body violently out of her grasp. She looked at him one more time in a sad melachony way, before bursting out in hestirical laughter. "Fool!! This is the last time you ever will see me and your pushing me away!" Then she began to chant in a low mocking voice that never belonged to the real Kaoru-dono. "Murderer, Killer, Evil son of a bitch. Go and rot in hell my dear 'Kenshin'!!" Another outburst of psychotic laughter. Kenshin grimaced. This was worst than a bloody nightmare. Her face was twisted in shadows, her laughter becoming more and more demented as each outburst took hold of her. Now she was no longer Kaoru-dono, just an ugly witch. Then she disappeared altogether. Kenshin turned and stared at the doorway. His eyes glowing fierce amber. "Very impressive, Battousai. You broke through my hallucination barrier." The Ninja's icy voice echoed off the dungeon walls. Kenshin had a sudden urge to scream at the top of his lungs. They were playing with him. Using those blasted Ninja tricks. The man took notice of Kenshin's hellish expression and laughed. "My dear Battousai, I was just wondering what kind of relationship you had with this 'Kaoru-dono'. It seems that you don't care for her much." Kenshin spat out a trickle of saliva before turning to face him. "You may have got her appearance right, but the personality is something to work on." The man opened the gate and entered, his black clothing trailing behind him. A devilish expression was sewn across his face as he knelt before the shackled Kenshin. The two held a hateful gaze The Ninja let out a low, mocking growl. "You don't deserve an angel like her." Kenshin's expression didn't waver. He stared at the young Ninja with pure hatred. Suddenly the man drove his fist into Kenshin's stomach. Kenshin fell forward on his shackles and stared at him shakily, with low glowing eyes. "Maybe I don't deserve her....but I'm going to protect her from deranged scum like you." The sounds of more hits were heard as the shadows played it across the wall. Kenshin choked up blood. The Ninja lifted Kenshin's chin and looked at him with hard eyes. "I don't want to hear no bullshit from the likes of you." With that the Ninja slammed Kenshin in the pressure point. Every muscle in Kenshin's body spasmed for a moment before he fell in to unconsciousness. When he woke up for the second time that morning, he was being shoved through a dark hallway. The weird black covered men were all around him. Chains were all over Kenshin's torso and arms. His body was badly searing up with sharp pangs, and the headache had returned full blown. He spat blood as the men continued to roughly pull him along. Kenshin observed his surroundings with weary eyes. The place was dark, with fiery torches casting lonely glows. Kenshin lost count of how many flight of stairs they descended as they continued their journey to the underground premises. Finally after a couple more stair ways they reached a set of large metal doors. One man stepped infront. "Honourable Heads of Kurokagei, please grant us entrance." Kenshin shivered. Hell ugly voice. But the one that came from behind the door was a lot more uglier. "Come in." The metal doors creaked open slowly. Inside the fires were a lot more lonelier, as if they were ashamed to shed light. The room was big, mostly bathed in shadows with scarce light casting them. He was roughly shoved into a kneeling position before a darkened area to the front. There was a brief clatter of chains as he was forced down and then a uneasy silence. Then a scratchy croaking noise came from the shadows. Kenshin realised somebody was talking. "Dear boy, we have been watching you. You have strength that can prove useful for our dying society. Your name..was it Battousai?" "The legendary Ishin shi shi, Hitokiri Battousai of Kyoto." another croak chimed. "We have bought you here to serve us." Kenshin strained his eyes, but he still couldn't see the owners of the voices. "Who are you? Show me your fac..ugh!" Kenshin was punched in the back of the neck. The mysterious voices chuckled. "Now, now, dear servants of Kurokagei. You mustn't treat an honoured guest like that." "Bring the young man forward and bring a torch as well." A hand grabbed his wrist and began dragging him across the uneven ground. Kenshin felt the pain of rocks digging into his flesh as he was escorted across the cold floor. The low light made it's way to the shadowed area, barely piercing the darkness. Finally he saw bits and pieces of wrinkly faces. Old women. Four of them. These were the head of Kurokagei?!! The four elderly women noticed the look of confusion that played across the young man's face and laughed. "We can see you are deeply baffled, Battousai. If you will listen, we will tell you how we came to be the head of the Ninja Clan, Kurokagei." Kenshin was dragged into a sitting position. The one in the middle throne began to speak. "This clan has been here for generations before the Heiken and Genji war. We were like a large family, everybody helped everybody else. It was a pleasant life until the Government got involved." "The government and shoguns were people that abused power and scornfully took the pleasant Tokyo from our grasp. They tried to be brave, but we all knew they were scared of us and the power we pocess. We decided to stand up to the government and fight for our freedom, but we were horribly outnumbered." "There was a lot of innocent blood shed. Our children were slayed. The women raped and the men were wiped out. It was a horrible time. Even at my age, I can still recall the events as if it was yesterday. We had lost our fight and the remaining survivors were all shipped away to this far away island." Finally the last elder began to speak. Kenshin felt a sad melody play in her aged voice, he couldn't help but feel sorry for her. "There was many nights of tears on this desolate island. Our husbands and our sons had all perished, all that was left was a group of women. Some very wounded and awaiting death. My grand-daughter was only fourteen but she was in the early stages of conceiving a child. An officer had raped her before she had boarded the boat." The woman paused. "You have met Shinji, haven't you?" So that was the young Ninja's name. "Yes, I have." Her features seemed warm for a moment. "Yes, my dear great-grandchild, Shinji.." The miserable expression pinched her face again. "My grand-daughter was too weak to conceive a child and dyed shortly after Shinji was born. The rest of the woman were dropping like flies. They perished from grief and from pain. Soon there was no one left on this island but us and my great-grandson. But we knew that the curse of Kurokagei was upon the government and Tokyo." her voice became bitter. "Our long dark lives have been driven by revenge, and we shall have it." "I understand your pain elder ones. But Tokyo is different now." Kenshin's eyes flashed with resolve, his voice ringing clear as a bell. "There is no longer a blood thirsty government, there are no longer abusive officers." 'I need them to understand. Tokyo can't take another war.' "Please elder ones, come back to Tokyo!! We will great you with open arms." "No!!" the middle elder stood up, pointing her cane accusingly at Kenshin. "You don't understand. We were paraded around the streets in chains as people spat at us, called us witches and other unruly names. You say they will great us with open arms?? You are wrong, my dear adolescent!! They will slaughter us because they are afraid of the power we pocess!" Kenshin was taken back by the sudden assault of words. The elder looked at him coldly. "We have already planned an assault on Tokyo and you, my dear friend, will help." Kenshin tried to protest but his vocal chords wouldn't work. Terrified, he watched the flames go out one by one and a growing pool of crimson begin to collect in the large room. "Feel the wrath of the Blood Bind." (Critism??? :) Please tell!! I have another (estimate) 7 chapters till the grand finale... which I am working on now!(flashes a demented mad gurl grin) -Mihoshi ----