Tattered Ange, Part IX

                                                                     Monday
By Mihoshi @aicom.com                                       August 10, 1998
                                                               10:41 PM PST

And everybody meetz up! ^_^ Ok, I wrote this part in a BIG rush. So I
probaly am going to have to rewrite a couple thingz...Imput needed!

Demons and Ninjas

"Kenshin!! Kenshin!!!"

Kaoru ran through the low shrubs, her kimono shredding as the branches tore
at her flesh. He had been with her, she was finally here.....and he had
disappeared. Fresh tears swept into a cruel wind as she travelled the
forest. Heart not pounding but pelting through her ribcage.
She was suddenly knocked in the stomach by a winded branch. Kaoru fell to
the ground, the rocks scarring her face and hands. She lay there shivering
like a single leaf in rippling waters.

Kenshin
.......Kenhsin..

"KENSHIN!!!!"

Battousai tumbled out of a tree, his body exploding with fever. He looked
up at the cave with glassy yellow eyes.
Must see the elders.
He bolted in through the cave. His torso being stabbed with ruthless pangs.
Battousai held his stomach as tears sprang out of his eyes. The stairs were
up ahead. He fell to the ground with a sharp thud and stumbled down the
stairs. Battousai did not bother trying to get up, the pain was too emense.

'You wanted her blood. You wanted to murder her.'
No, I didn't want to kill her!!
He hit solid ground, the impact jolted the bones in his arm. Hastily he got
up and staggered to walk, staining the walls with his blood. The red haze
had darkened to a deep scarlet, his body convulsing with the agony of his
wounds. He bit his lip, feeling the bitter copper on his lips and forced
himself to walk. The Iron doors loomed infront of him. He pushed against
the door with his body. Screaming as he felt the blood squirt out of his
fresh wounds. Finally he tumbled in.
"Elders!!" his voice echoed. "Save me from my insanity!!"

The Elder Misuzu smiled. She had been waiting for this moment Now was the
time to work the full blood bind into his veins.
"Loyal Servants of Kurokagei! Bind this man in the strongest iron chains!!"
Battousai was shrouded by the demented shadow-men in a second, he felt the
cold iron of the bindings in his wounds as they bound him. The four elders
were all around him now.Battousai stared up at them as the heavy chains
were tied to his body.
"Do you think this is wise, Elder Misuzu? If you unleash his full power
now, he might kill us all."
" Don't worry. If he is locked in shackles in the wall and is in these iron
chains he will kill no one."
"Elder Misuzu is right. It is better to work the full spell now that he is
tired."

Battousai wept bitter tears.
"Save me from my insanity."
Their faces were near cracking as they laughed.
"We are, dear boy. We are."
Then the Elder called Misuzu put a shrivelled finger to his forehead. A
strange blue aura encircled Battousai's kneeling form, flickering in his
cuts. He winced as the heat singed his skin.

"Hear me now from the ashes of hell,

We give a sacrifice of pledging joy,

The vengeance of a killer boils in his blood,

To you, Grim Reaper, we give you this boy."

A gush of blood flooded out of Battousai's mouth as he felt his body being
tormented by the searing flames. He rolled to the floor and screamed.

And then he saw it.

A black hooded skeleton with blood oozing out if his bones. A glinting
scythe intertwined in his bony fingers. He towered over him like a bursting
volcano, the blood rising from him like flames.

The Grim Reaper.

Battousai tried to get up, but he couldn't. Some sort of invincible force
was pushing down on him. Frightened he watched as the skeleton pointed his
scythe at his face. The tip of the blade exploded in to a mass of wriggling
black worms. They poured out on to the ground and crawled towards him at an
alarming rate. Battousai shrieked in terror. Now they were wriggling in his
cuts.
He tried desperately to move away but he was paralysed. A gruesome
expression of horror washing over his pale face. The Grim Reaper waved his
scythe and the worms melted into a thick black liquid and slid to the
ground. Battousai realised that his wounds were healed. The Reaper smiled
and spoke silent words through chattering teeth.
And then everything stopped.
There was no more pain, no more feelings of horror.

Just pure joy.

Battousai smiled, mirroring the cracked skull's own gruesome expression.
His eyes pulsed a dark crimson.

He had sold his soul to the Reaper.

***************

"Come on we have to find Kenshin 'n Kaoru!!"

Yahiko jumped off the boat and scrambled on shore.
Sanosuke was about to join him when something chilled his ears. And spread
through his body.

Something was up.

"Sanosuke."

Megumi was shaking his arm, a frightened expression planted across her
pretty face.
"Did you feel that?"
Sanosuke nodded grimly. He then turned to see Yahiko waving to them, and
quickly turned back to Megumi.
"Wipe that look off your face, you don't wanna scare Yahiko now do you?"
Megumi forced a smile. "I don't think the look of fright on a girl's face
is enough to scare him."
Sanosuke squeezed her hand.
They leapt off the boat and ran along the sandy beach. They found Yahiko
walking up some man made stairs. Sanosuke looked at him with firm eyes.
"It's best if we stick together in a place like this. So don't go wandering
in front!"
"I know that! I'm not that dumb."
Yahiko turned back to join them and together they marched up the stairs.

Shakily Kaoru sat up and looked at the lush green forest that surrounded
her. The birds were chirping and the sun was drenching the forest in honey
rain drops. The scenery was way too pleasant for her liking. She got up and
began walking back to the cave, her breathing hoarse from her endless cries
for her
Kenshin. Suddenly something flew down at her from the trees.
Kaoru was blinded by a fury of black.
"Kaoru-san, I told you not to wander off in the forest!"
She turned her head and looked wearily at the Ninja that held her in his
grip.
"Shinji?"
Kaoru looked up at him with sad swollen eyes. Her kimono was tattered and
dirty, her clear complexion bruised up with scratches. Shinji narrowed his
eyes.
Battousai.

He held her hand and led her away from the forest in silence. When they
reached the cave, Shinji heard a slight rustling in the bushes.
They were being watched.
Judging by the size of their ki, they would oppose no threat to the
Kurokagei fleet. He decided to ignore them and proceeded down the cave. If
they followed, he would kill them later on. He led her down the flight of
stairs.

"Who was that guy?"
Yahiko poked his head out of the bushes and stared at the dark cave.
Sanosuke stood up.
"That guy is no normal thug. A lot more stronger than those Ninja shits
that attacked us."
He began walking towards the cave. Megumi walked beside him, her expression
glum.
"I hope Ken-san is ok..."
Sanosuke paused. He reached over and hugged her shoulders. Startled, she
looked up at him.
"Sanosuke?"
He gazed at her with soft brown eyes.
"Don't worry." he smiled. "Everything gonna be fine."
The group headed down the cave.

Shinji stopped before the iron doors, Kaoru beside him. He could sense
something truly evil lurking about in the shadows of Kurokagei. There was a
prestilence in the air. He turned to face Kaoru.
Her face was pale and she was hugging her shoulders. Her frail body shaking
madly.
So she could sense it too.
"Wait here."
He then opened the door and stepped in to the black room. Strange, what
happened to the torches?
"Elders! It is me, Shinji."
A low cackling was heard.
"My dear Shinji, you have bought enemies to our home."
He shook his head. "No, Kaoru-san is not an enemy. She is a kind girl."
Another voice rose from the darkness. "Have you fallen in love with
Battousai's girl? Fool, she is a citizen of Tokyo. She is no good for you."
He could sense it.

It was the Blood Bind.

"What have you done to Battousai? Where is he?"
His great-grandmother's voice rose like a bursting flame.
"Can you not sense him? He's in this room in an enchanted sleep. He will
awakening in 5 days with full wrath. And then finally, my dear child, we
will have our revenge."
It was cold in this room.
Shinji shivered in the darkness.

Outside Kaoru stood with fingers to her mouth in pure shock.

Revenge? Tokyo?
"Kaoru!"
Kaoru turned around and meet the panting forms of her friends.
"Sanosuke, Megumi, Yahiko!! What are you doing here?"
"Why do ya think we're here? We came to rescue you!"
Yahiko grinned from ear to ear.
"Jo-chan, where's Kenshin?"
"He's in that room...under a Blood Bind."
"What? Ken-san?"
Megumi shivered. So that's what the feeling was.
"Fuck!! What are we gonna do now?"
"Wait that's not all. They're gonna be attacking Tokyo and using Kenshin as
their secret weapon."
Everybody looked at her shocked, Kaoru nodded her head grimly. She looked
at her friends, eyes filled with resolve. She was no longer going to hide
from her fears, she was going to confront them.
"It's up to us to stop him."
Kaoru opened the door and ran in to the darkness.
She could hardly see anything, but she could make out a five shadowy forms
up at the front.
Gathering her courage and a couple deep breaths she ran to the higher
platform. She heard Shinji's startled voice as she brushed past him.
"Kaoru-san, Noumph!!"
Sanosuke was holding on to him. Yahiko had his sword to his throat and
Megumi was holding his mouth. The Kenshin-gumi was back.

Sorry Shinji.

Kaoru stood there and addressed the four hunched figures with anger.

"Where is he?"
They all laughed, their voices croaking from their throats.
"My dear girl, your being rude. Were you not taught to treat elders with
respect?"
Kaoru narrowed her eyes.
"I'm going to ask you one more time, where is he?"
Behind her she could hear Sanosuke struggling to keep Shinji at bay.

"Dear girl, you and your friends have out stayed your welcome. Ninjas of
Kurokagei take these ungrateful people to their home."
Everything happened so fast.
She wanted to scream but there were figures around her in a second. She
heard the strangled cries of her friends as they were ambushed too. Then
there was a hit to her shoulder..

*********************

Kaoru felt her head wobbling on her neck. Somebody was shaking her.

"Kaoru-chan, Kaoru chan!!"
Kaoru...chan? Slowly she opened her eyes and the long worried face of Tae
came in to focus.
Kaoru sat up and quickly looked around.

Kamiya Dojo.

The front yard of her own home.

Flames? C&C (what is a C&C???) ^_^

"Cognito erguem. I think therefore, I am."

Very famous quote.

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