Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

Saimu no Ken	By : Gothic_Lust Category: InuYasha Crossovers > Het - Male/Female Views: 1973 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: All characters and plotlines from InuYasha and Rurouni Kenshin belong to Rumiko Takahashi and Nobuhiro Watsuki respectively. I don't make any money off the writing of this fiction.

Chapter List
- 3
- 4
- 5
Chapter Four:

A Beautiful, but Dusty, Prison
"Welcome back to Tokyo, Miss Kagome." He grinned.
Kagome thought he really should have said, "Welcome back to hell."
Before Kagome could fully step out of the limo, she was forced back inside by Hiko's arm as he blocked her exit. From inside the limo, she could see the driver step out of his seat and allowed another to replace him.
"Where the hell do you think you're going with my daughter?" Her father shouted from the sidewalk. He was held back by Aoshi who was simply pointing his gun at him, and his wife who hid behind his large bulk.
"You tried to run from our agreement. I can't trust you with my investment." Hiko's words were crass, insensitive to the families feelings or Kagome's, whom he trapped within the limo. He immediately sat himself within the car and through the corner of his eyes, watched as Kagome scrambled to the other end of the seats farthest from him. "She will be in good hands." He added, though he didn't mean for the words to be soothing.
Hiko shut the car door and the driver took off, ignoring the little boy as he tried to chase the limo, and directed the driver to head around the tall glittering building and out through the back gate. Once they hit the main roads, Kagome heard a low click and the windows, which had previously been lightly tinted, switched to a deep black that was impossible to see through, either in or out.
Kagome panicked.
She began to breathe fast and shallow, hardly stopping to relax. The slender room of the limo began to spin before her eyes dizzyingly. The car was moving far too fast into nowhere for Kagome to gain any semblance of steadiness.
Suddenly, Hiko was beside her, a brown paper bag in his hands which he held over her mouth and nose.
"Breathe." He spoke calmly. She did.
Slowly, things reeled back into focus. The seats stopped revolving and the car was crawling at a normal pace. As she continued to breathe, her head, now heavy instead of dizzy, throbbed with a vengeful headache.
"I should have warned you about the windows." Hiko stated after sometime, however, there was no remorse in his voice. "Kenshin's home is top secret, I'm afraid even you will not be allowed to know it's location until after the marriage."
"Kenshin," Kagome whispered hoarsely.
"Yes," Hiko moved away from her when she stared shifting uncomfortably, though he didn't move far. "You will be staying there until your marriage this coming weekend."
Kagome's death grip on her stuffed rabbit tightened as he revealed the date for her marriage was so close. Hiko either didn't notice, or did not care that she sought comfort in a stuffed toy.
"S-so s-soon." She stuttered miserably. She did not look up to meet Hiko's gaze. She continued to look into the eyes of her frost white rabbit.
"We cannot afford to waste more time." Hiko seethed, his anger from tonight's stunt apparent to her. "Tonight made that impeccably clear."
Hiko shifted slightly towards her as he reached deep into his pocket. Kagome cringed away even as he pulled out a cell phone.
Kagome noted, as Hiko waited for whomever he was calling to pick up the phone, an interesting mark that sat upon his cheek. Had that been there before?
"My apprentice," Hiko answered her as he snapped shut the cell phone. Whomever it was he called had not answered. "thought it was funny to throw a lit cigarette at me just a few hours ago."
Kagome nodded mutely. It didn't seem within Kenshin's character to smoke cigarettes, let alone throw them at people. But then again, in light of last night, how well did she really know him?
"The idiot left this on my desk the other night. I assume it's yours? My idiot apprentice doesn't have such neat handwriting."
Hiko handed to her, her bound composition book. She flipped through the first few pages, blindly at first.
This was it, proof that last night really happened. Kenshin really was the Hitokiri Battousai. Hiko really did buy out their debt, and Kagome was really going to marry him, the Battousai.
She lightly brushed a hand across the first pages of her notes. She slipped her slim fingers beneath the next page and pulled, hard.
The weak pages ripped free. Page after page littered the floor of Hiko's once clean limo. It made her feel better, even if ripping the book apart did absolutely nothing to solve her problems. It was easy to let her frustrations out on it. It was this book that must have given Hiko the idea that Kenshin needed help. That Kenshin needed a wife to care for him. Kenshin may have said he borrowed this notebook from a classmate, a female classmate. He may have even mentioned her name in passing. It was this very notebook and his stupid request to borrow it that got Kenshin to notice her. The notebook had to go.
Math notes from the other day added themselves to the floor, and as she continued ripping pages, blue ink streaked across the black and white pages disrupting the flow. She paused her destruction of the book as words that were not her own filled a small part of a page. Chicken scratch for handwriting in blue ink was difficult to read, but the smooth signature at the bottom of the short paragraph was not:
Thank you, Kenshin Himura.
Kenshin, He wrote this?
She could barely think as fragments from his quick note flooded her. Words such as "I'm sorry" and "promise" filtered through her but the letter just simply would not piece together in her racing thoughts. Even as the limo slowed and her head throbbed, and Hiko moved to the back of the limo to open the door, Kenshin's note, though not understood, its presence calmed her. She could not explain why it calmed her, but it had. Enough at least for her to gain enough courage to peel herself from the seat and exit the limo, the stuffed rabbit and half-destroyed notebook in each hand.
XxxxxxX
Sango's room within the Crypt's sleeping quarters was small. A bed pushed on the wall opposite the door took up most of the room, beside it, a small bedside table with a lamp and an alarm clock. The thin mattress was rolled up at the foot of the bed with cleaned sheets folded neatly on top. Just two feet from the foot of the bed was a sliding door closet. The room was bland in color, the walls simply painted white with a beige trim.
"Welcome home, Sango." She whispered to herself. She unrolled the mattress and quickly dressed it in the deep brown sheets. In the closet she found two pillows which she quickly stuffed into their cases and tossed them onto the bed.
With a deep sigh, she fell onto the soft sheets. Her fight against Hiko left her drained, bruised, and with a startling realization of how weak she really was.
She had been panting, bent over her knees while he stood straight, calm and unaffected. They had sparred for what seemed like days, but truthfully, once Sango had the chance to look at the clock, realized the fight lasted only half an hour. It was shameful to realize that all her hard work and training amounted to nothing more than half an hour with an opponent of Hiko's level, and if she were to admit to herself the true scope of the man's power - which she would not do at least out loud - she would have been in awe of the man's strength and endurance. Damn bastard hadn't even broken out into a sweat.
"You did well for a female."
His words stung. She did not want to be acknowledged as a good female fighter; she wanted to be known as a great fighter. She wanted to be a woman dominating in a man's world.
"This job will be difficult, but I can trust you with her now that I know your skill."
Gods did she hate that man! If it weren't for the fact that she desperately needed the money, to payback her debt and for her younger brother, she wouldn't even have looked at the vain, arrogant bastard.
But even as a Yamanaka, she couldn't find work underground, not as a woman anyway. It was well known that nearly all of the Yamanaka men worth having were slain by Battousai's blade and that the women were useful only for defensive purposes and teaching. It was an opinion she wanted desperately to change.
Besides, Hiko worked most of the underground networks anyway. The bastard made it difficult for any of her family members to find respectable work outside of man-slaying. She, however, didn't want to go against the organization if this morning's battle was any sign of the strength of the organization or of its leaders, Hiko and the Battousai.
Then another thought came to her as she thought back on her spar with Hiko. If Hiko was that strong, then how did the Battousai compare?
She shivered at the thought. It was unfair how talented a man could become at the killing arts, but a female could not be as good or as strong.
Yet, as strong as the Battousai and his boss, Seigiro Hiko were, how was a young sixteen-year-old girl involved? Why was the Battousai, a feared manslayer (and an old pervert as Sango began to think of him and Hiko) getting hitched to a sixteen-year-old high school student?
It didn't make much sense. Did she witness something the Battousai had done but was too innocent to deserve death? Were the girl's parents in on the arrangement or was it done by force? Had the Battousai or Hiko simply kidnapped the girl for the sheer amusement of it all? Was she some sort of trophy won by the company during a well-placed assassination?
Many things just didn't add up. Girls her age were worried about college, school crushes and their slowly (very slowly) fading looks. Sixteen-year-olds don't just end up engaged to serial killers in a powerful underground and government-sanctioned Yakuza group. That is, unless the girl was pregnant…
Sango paused again, watching as a few people passed by through the corridor. They looked in briefly to her dark room before continuing on to the opposites sides of the building where the Rat desks were located. Most, she noticed, were in their twenties like herself, a far cry from the middle-aged men and women at Saito's Osaka headquarters for most of Hiko's Reapers, and even more were male. She sighed, staring into the empty space of her room, the monotony of it all boring her. She couldn't do much until her luggage arrived from her old apartment anyway to lightly redecorate the cold dwelling into a somewhat comfortable space.
"Damn it all! When are they going to get here?" She gritted her teeth and punched the pillow below her head. Comforted by the less lumpy consistency, Sango settled and allowed her sore muscles to relax a bit more and ponder about the girl that was soon to become her charge.
Kagome Higurashi. It was an interesting name. She was sure it belonged to a beautiful girl, probably athletic (at least, she hoped), and well versed in some form of defense. After all, she was marrying a killer; she had to have some sort of fighting skill to catch that man's eye.
She wondered, briefly, if they could be friends. A high school student and a twenty-two year old middle school dropout, it could work…possibly.
"Ah, finally!" The sigh of relief caught her off guard, but she settled quickly and tucked away the kunai she began to pull from her sleeve.
Sango glanced to her door. Leaning against the frame, a tall man with his hair tied in a short rat tail was silhouetted by the hall's light, her suitcases resting at his feet.
"Kenshin, over here." He turned to shout down the hallway to his companion. A shorter, red-haired teen joined him.
"These are heavy." She heard him mutter as he set them down with the rest of her bags. She also noted that the red-haired man carried most of her luggage.
"If you set them by the closet, It'd be much appreciated." She called out to them. She hoped they would move them the extra few feet. She didn't want to get up from the bed just yet.
"So you're the newest reaper to join our team." The taller man spoke to her as he entered with her things. "It's sad to see such a beauty drowned in hard work." He sent her a wide smile she assumed he meant to be charming. She glared at him, sitting up to be able to react to any unwanted advances.
"You're one of those womanizing perverts," Her glare intensified as his red-haired companion hid a snort behind his hand and nearly dropped the bags in the process. "Aren't you?"
He set down her bags near the closet and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I wouldn't call myself a pervert per se." His answer did not amuse her.
"Don't mind Miroku," The red head bowed lightly as he greeted her. It was daring and bold to pass such a slight nod of the head as a bow to someone older and stronger than him in the food chain of Hiko's organization. So, he thought himself better than her! Well isn't he a chauvinistic bastard! He was not better than the pervert. "He's harmless, just watch out for his hands."
Sango's eyebrows shot up at that. A groping pervert. Great!
The pervert stepped forward, away from her bags and the closet, towards the bed. "I'm Kido Miroku." He bowed, lower than the teen had. He then gave a hard slam to his companions back and said, "This guy is Himura Kenshin. Welcome to the Crypt."
She nodded her head in turn. She couldn't wait for this mission to be over so she could go home, back to Osaka. Well, it wouldn't be all bad, she thought. She could still see her little brother who was living in Tokyo.
"Yamanaka Sango." She noticed Kenshin seemed startled at the name, more so than the less-than-polite introduction would have been to anyone else. She didn't care if they remembered her or not or if they felt offended. She certainly didn't want to remember them, or anyone else in this place. She was here on a brief mission to safe-guard the Battousai's bride until the actual ceremony. She wasn't here to make friends.
"Yamanaka," He began, pulling Sango from her blank stare at the wall. Didn't she just try to dismiss them? "As in the Yamanaka clan from Osaka?"
Sango's attention focused entirely on him. She watched with sharp eyes as his right hand twitched ever so slightly. Did he have a grudge towards her clan? Could one of her family members have taken someone important from him? Even as she stared him down, he did not move more than the involuntary twitching of his right arm and fingers. He wanted to reach for something, but what?
"So, you recognized the name?" She stood, ready to reach for the tanto at her back. If he tried something against her, she would not hesitate to kill him. Hiko and this mission be damned, she was not going to let some kid get the better of her, not after all that damn training she went through as a kid.
"Yeah." He muttered. She noticed he settled a bit to the side, too much of a fighter's stance for her to relax as well. At least his hand stopped twitching.
"I'm sorry for your loss." It was low, but she heard the words and the sorrow behind them.
Locked deep within the sigh, almost as if he was following each whisper of soul from her long lost relatives, Sango couldn't help but wonder as to whom this person really was and why he felt sorry for the crime that the Battousai committed.
She could not blame the Battousai fully for her family's death. It was well known that the world of spying and assassination was full of dangers and problems that you were bound to face and one day fall to. There was always someone stronger, wiser, more-practiced that you were, and Sango was not a fool. She knew there were more skilled persons out there ready to kill anything that stands in the way of their job, but it was still hard to imagine her family gone.
Battousai was strong, she respected him for that, but she was not going to befriend him. His young wife, maybe. The girl could probably use a female who understood the system well enough to explain to her why she would be sleeping alone in a cold house for days, weeks or even months at a time. It would be hard on a young girl in an equally young marriage. Sango could take pity on that at least, having seen her mother go through the same thing.
She watched as the red-head bowed again, deep and humble. Remorse? Why would he feel sorry for her? Why would he feel guilty for her pain? Wasn't he a chauvinistic bastard? Wasn't he supposed to see her as inferior? He was a military-like bigot, so why did he seem genuinely upset to meet her, one of the two sole survivors of the Yamanaka clan from Osaka?
"Thank you." She responded dryly. She did not trust his word. His act could be just that, an act. He must be after revenge. She would watch him carefully, but for now, it seemed he wasn't going to do anything, yet.
She sat back on the bed, noticing he did not ease out of his fight-ready pose. She pulled the tanto from her back and slid it beneath the rumpled sheets for easier access. "It wasn't your fault." She added, a bit softer than she intended.
He seemed to frown at that, but didn't say anything more.
"So," Miroku coughed in to break the silence. "Have you been given an assignment yet?"
Sango sighed. Where these men seriously all a bunch of tittering women? All she heard throughout the time she lay resting, waiting for her luggage, was gossip. Who was Battousai? Secret Missions? Hiko's newest plans for a new branch in America? Battousai's new fiancé?
"Yes." She tried to turn on the bedside light, annoyed with the darkness, but nothing happened after she pulled the cord a few times, frustrated. " Idiots, I was transferred from Osaka for a reason."
"You need to put the bulb in." Kenshin said, moving to remove the shade. He opened the bedside drawer, rolling inside was a clear bulb, which he screwed into place. When Sango replaced the shade, he leaned down to plug in the cord and flipped on the light with the switch from the wall.
"You don't need to pull the cord." He added. "It doesn't work anyway."
It wasn't much light, but for such a small room, it was enough to soften the dark shadows stuck in the corners.
"Anything interesting?" Miroku continued. Did these idiots not want to leave? Didn't they have something else to do than bug her? Maybe some paperwork or something?
"Bodyguard work." She replied. She didn't want to give away too much information. Hiko strictly forbade her from speaking about it to strangers.
"Whom, if we may ask?" Kenshin gained more life now, but still, his gentleman act was getting on her nerves. She knew he really wasn't as polite as he seemed, it was a stupid act and she wanted him gone.
"Battousai's fiancé." She said, after some time. If she couldn't stop the gossip, she might as well kill two birds with one stone. She didn't want wrong information circulated about herself. If she was strong enough to protect the Battousai's fiancé, then she was good enough to be treated as any of the guys.
Their faces reflected utter shock. Kenshin's paled considerably as his eyes went distant for a few moments.
"And before you even say it, forget it, I won't tell you who it is."
"Damn Hiko," Kenshin growled, a hard glint in his eyes. "Why can't he leave Kagome alone?"
Before the hard glint could focus on anything other than murdering the organization's boss, Sango had jumped from the bed and pinned Kenshin to the far wall next to the door.
"How do you know that name?" She growled. A leak of information could spell disaster for her mission. It could wind up killing her, Kagome and the Battousai. She needed to know how he found out.
Before she could drill him for information however, a strong hand gripped her wrist. A light scent of pine needles and blood crossed her nose as a strong breeze struck her face. She couldn't release herself or contemplate a way out of her lock as she was slammed into the wall, a sleek black gun pointed directly at her temple.
From the corner of her eye she saw that the once lavender eyes of the young red-haired teen hardened over to a deep purple. Pale yellow light flashed over his narrowed eyes, giving his iris a cold gold glare. It was the narrow calculating gaze of a pure-bred killer. The intense stare and large killing aura suffocated her. She couldn't breathe without thinking it may be her last.
She heard the gun click as it was cocked. Her eyed widened as his weight pressed against her back.
Even though she was taller than him by a few inches, and what she previously assumed as stronger, he had her successfully trapped against the wall and his heavy bulk. She could feel the strong muscles of his chest, legs and biceps as he held her there.
"Kenshin!" She heard Miroku shout. She could see his weapon was drawn, pointed at Kenshin.
Hot breath fanned against her ear and neck.
"What exactly did Hiko tell you?" He asked. His grip loosened enough to pull out her hidden kunai and shuriken from sleeves, pockets and small adjustments she had made to all her clothing for them to fit comfortably and inconspicuously.
How did he find those? But that would have to wait for another time, because Kenshin lightly tapped his gun against her temple to remind her how serious he was.
"You want answers," She bit her lip hard, but continued, "Ask Hiko!"
Damn them all. She wasn't going to snitch out on Hiko or the Battousai. Her mission was to protect them, to protect Kagome and her identity. If her only act was to not tell Kenshin what little information she was given, then her mission was successful.
Kenshin tossed her back onto the bed. She bounced several times. When she stopped, she felt the tanto bump her thigh. She went to reach for it when the barrel of Kenshin's gun was once again pointed to her.
"Leave it." He said. She retracted her hand. Was it luck that he got the best of her? Must be, she just had a fight against Hiko, so she should still be tired.
"Sango-chan, calm down." Miroku said, walking over to Kenshin he lowered his gun. Kenshin, however, did not.
"You want me to calm down?" She screeched. "That bastard's pointing a gun at me and you want me to calm down?"
Miroku nodded. "Yes. Kenshin isn't one to miss a shot." He looked to Kenshin, a silent conversation passed between them as Sango watched on, even as he continued to speak to her.
"And he should know this information."
"Why?"
"They're classmates." Miroku said quickly, and then spoke to Kenshin.
"I'm sure she's interested now, she won't attack again, right Sango-chan?" At her nod Kenshin allowed Miroku to lower his hand, and when it was fully lowered from shooting range, she grabbed her dagger and tossed it, blade first towards Kenshin's head. He ducked it with ease, pulling Miroku with him.
"Well, at least now you're weaponless." Kenshin sighed, reset the weapon and holstered it behind his back.
"So," Sango said, crossing her legs and arms. "You're Kagome's classmate?"
"Actually," Miroku cut in. "We both are."
Sango narrowed her eyes. "Exactly how old are you two?"
"Funny thing," Miroku laugh nearly seemed to be a whine. "I'm 24."
"Then I'm not the only one he's sent back to high school then?" Sango seemed pleased with that. At least she won't suffer the boredom alone. "So we're all in our twenties. I thought you were at least in your teens." She pointed her chin up to Kenshin.
"I am." He replied, to which she did nothing more than blink. "I'm seventeen."
"Bullshit." Sango cursed. "There's no way a seventeen-year-old was let in on this."
"Well, he was there for the engagement. after all." Miroku looked to between Sango and Kenshin, wondering if he'd have to step in to break up a future scuffle.
"What?" Sango yelled. Kenshin merely pulled out his cell phone when it began to vibrate in his pocket. He glanced at the caller i.d. before putting it back. "That means you know the Battousai's true identity."
"Yes," Kenshin said. His phone began to vibrate again, he didn't pick up. "We both do."
Sango was speechless. Hiko could trust these two buffoons with the Battousai's identity, but not her, the one guarding his fiancé?
"Aren't you going to answer that?" Miroku asked Kenshin, glancing at his pocket where his phone kept going off.
"I'll call him back." He waved off the concern and focused back to Sango.
"He obviously hasn't told you for some reason, so I won't tell you either." Kenshin said, beside him, Miroku nodded as if ordered into silence.
"And how exactly do you expect me to do my mission to any degree of success without that information." She huffed. She knew she wasn't going to win. The Battousai's identity was so secret, only a few people knew who he was at all.
"You did just fine against me." Kenshin said.
"If Battousai cuts off my head I'm going to haunt you two." She growled. Miroku just smiled.
"I'd gladly welcome your eternal company, my dearest Sango." She replied with a punch to his face.
"He won't cut off your head." Kenshin said firmly. "He doesn't kill females or children, you're safe."
Any tension Sango had about it disappeared. So he won't go after her brother then. Good.
"Wait!" She looked at Miroku. "Why exactly are you back in high school? You don't seem like the bodyguard type."
"I'm not," He answered. "I gather intelligence from the region. I work directly for Aoshi, Hiko and the Battousai solely. I'm in high school because…"
Kenshin stepped on his foot. Miroku shut up immediately.
"It's classified, sorry." Miroku quickly corrected.
"Oh." Sango breathed out. "And you."
"I'm seventeen, remember." Kenshin pointed to his school uniform jacket, his finger just under the crest of his school. "I have to go."
"You still haven't explained..." Miroku cut her off.
"Yes, but without knowing the Battousai's true identity, we can't possibly give you any reasonable explanation. You're just going to have to trust us." Miroku said.
Kenshin nodded. "And you're not going to find out from Kagome either. She hardly speaks to me because of the incident, and I doubt she'll tell you."
"And why exactly are you here, Kenshin?"
"Classified." He managed to say before a tall, spiky haired teen ran into her room.
"God damn it Kenshin! There you are!" He was breathing heavy. "Why didn't you answer your phone?"
Kenshin's demeanor changed quickly. "I'm sorry Sano, I was helping Miroku get these bags up to Miss Sango."
"Never mind her," He grabbed the smaller boy by the arm and tugged him to the door. "Hiko wants to see you before you head home."
"He's back?" Kenshin asked. "He wasn't in his office when I checked in."
"Yeah. He's back, muttering something about groceries."
Kenshin frowned. "He better not have gone through my fridge."
"Sorry man." Sano said. "But he probably cleaned out whatever you had left that was good."
Kenshin sighed. "Never mind."
With a wave he was out the door. Sango and Miroku looked towards one another, now alone together in the small room.
"Well, goodbye, Sango-dearest." Miroku smiled and made to leave as well before she drilled into him without Kenshin to keep his tongue in check.
"Wait." Sango paused when Miroku's face brightened. "What's his deal?"
Miroku looked confused.
"Kenshin." She elaborated. "Why is he working for Hiko so young?"
Miroku smiled sadly. "Hiko or Kenshin will need to tell you. Besides, I don't really know myself." With those final words he was gone, allowing Sango to ponder Kenshin and her new mission as a bodyguard for one Higurashi Kagome.
XxxxxxX
Kagome stepped out of the limo before a beautiful home. The winding cobblestone path was rimmed with sweet smelling flowers and budding orchids. The door and forward window was guarded by a skillfully trimmed cherry tree, its pink petals dusting the front porch that opened to a strong, dark stained, double doors.
Hiko watched her appreciation of the handsome home as she admired the natural and very neutral tones the house had been painted in. Bored now, Hiko stepped onto the cobblestone path, and with long strides walked to the double doors. Kagome's soft foot falls echoed behind his own as she followed him up the path.
With a set of keys he fished from his pocket, Hiko opened the door and allowed Kagome inside before following. The modern western style of the building melted away as soon as Hiko turned on the light. They stood upon deep ceramic tile that continued to the main level of the house. They broke off where the main level rose up a step and opened into an expanse of hard wood floors. At the end of the hall, Kagome could see the beginning of a living room.
"This way," He said. "And don't bother taking off your shoes, this place hasn't been dusted in ages."
Hiko, with his boots still on, stepped up and into the home. Dust kicked up with each step he took, making Kagome sneeze. She toed her right foot back into the sneaker she half pulled off and joined Hiko at the end of the hall.
"I thought you said Himura-kun lived here?" She said through the cupped hand over her mouth. Despite the shield it provided her, dust filtered through her fingers as she opened them slightly to breathe in cool air, and she sneezed again.
Hiko pulled a handkerchief from the inside pocket of his suit jacket and held it out for her. She did not take it. Without pause or word, he replaced it back into his breast pocket and continued into the house.
"He does, on paper anyway." Hiko said, flipping on another light. The yellow florescent lights flooded the boxed in family room with pale color. It reflected off the white walls and maple center table. Deep grey couches lay against the far wall and adjacent wall circling the heavy wood table. Before the seating lay a large cabinet housing books, empty photo frames and a television shrouded in fine dust.
The enclosed hallway Hiko had taken her down to get into the house now branched off into two separate corridors leading both left and right. Each end was engulfed in darkness, though to her left, a door could be seen by the soft glow from the wood as it reflected the weak light.
"This way," Hiko said, following the left corridor, passed the door and into another open room.
Kagome tripped as a new landing emerged without warning. She cried out and fell to the floor, dust clouding around her, filming the soft moonlight from a pair of glass doors from the room she just fell into.
"Watch your step." Hiko pulled her to her feet by her arm, his strong grip on her forearm painfully squeezing old bruises.
"You should've told me it was there," She muttered beneath her breath then bit her tongue for silence. Last thing she needed was Hiko hearing her, there's no telling what he would, or could do.
Kagome bent to pick up the dropped stuffed rabbit and the torn math notebook, the note from Kenshin tucked inside.
She managed to find the hard corner of the island counter in the center of the kitchen with her hip when Hiko blinded her as he flooded the room with bright lights.
The room was large. It housed both a beautiful kitchen and a sparingly decorated family room. This space was simply furnished. A few bar stools were tucked beneath the island counter, a kotatsu and several pillows sat in the center of the living room before a modest sized outdated television set.
The kitchen's beautiful granite counters were covered with more than several months' worth of dust. The gas range stove was still new and unused.
Hiko moved over the fridge, pulling it open and searching the meager contents inside. Left over Chinese takeout, a broken box of pizza, an old carton of milk (half-empty), several fruits and an old bowl of cereal from what appeared to have been Kenshin's breakfast that morning all lay inside. Hiko perused them thoughtfully before lifting the lid to the old broken box of pizza and pulling out the last slice. He shut the door, leaving the empty box inside.
"You're going to have your work cut out for you," Hiko snorted through his chuckle, taking a bite of cold pizza before spitting it out into the sink. "I hate mushrooms." He tossed the rest into the sink as well, reopened the fridge and pulled the carton of Chinese take-out with a pair of chopsticks still stuck inside.
"Lo Mein, perfect." He ate as he made his way back out of the kitchen and into the hallway once more. "This way, girl, and keep up."
Kagome followed, annoyed with the useless detour to the kitchen so Hiko could raid Himura-kun's fridge.
"Now pay attention." Hiko said, finishing the carton of lo mein before placing it on the living room coffee table. Kagome frowned at the added trash to the untouched room, but did not comment. "In the morning Kenshin and a driver will escort you to your school, where you both will go about your classes regularly.
"Once you are finished, the driver will pick you up and escort you to the Crypt, where I will give you further details about the wedding and what is expected of you."
Kagome scowled. There it was again, the marriage rubbed in her face like sand paper. She already hated the situation as it was, but to have Hiko deciding where she went, where she slept and how she got around was suffocating. Was Himura-kun going to be as constricting? Would he set standards for her to follow, rules she could not break?
For some reason, Kagome could not imagine Himura-kun doing that. It seemed for Hiko's style to control where people went and whom they socialized with, but not Kenshin.
"After the meeting, I'll arrange for the ceremony to be performed in my office."
Kagome blanched. She didn't even have a say in the wedding? Wasn't it a bride's dream to plan out her own wedding, choose the locations, the people who attended, the food that was served, the music that was played and the song she and her new husband would dance to as they engraved the memory in their hearts.
Kagome wanted for her song to be played. She'd had it picked out since she could remember, and she didn't want to give it up. It was her dream besides a successful and happy career, that she and her beloved would dance to that one song.
"No." Her tone was surprisingly firm for how low she had whispered. It struck Hiko swiftly and efficiently, stopping his speech about the going on of the next day to glance at the small girl.
"No." Kagome repeated. She was louder, bolder and staring at Hiko with fierce blue eyes. "No."
"No?" Hiko asked smoothly. It was a taunt, a laugh at her sudden rebellion. "You have no choice, my dear. Time is money and money is something I don't have the luxury of wasting."
"No!" She screamed. Tears flew as her dreams of a white wedding and a happy life flittered out the window like fragile dust, small and unnoticed by those that did not care.
"You can't just treat people like this." She continued. Hiko stayed silent, stepped back and allowed her to cry, to scream, to voice her frustrations, though no matter what she said, it didn't change his mind.
"I've planned my wedding to a T since I was little." Kagome glanced around the room, taking in the work, the dust, the future she was about to share with her classmate in an empty home with no soul, no character, no life of which she could see.
"I wanted to marry in a traditional Shinto wedding at my grandfather's shrine. I wanted my family to witness it, for my father to hand me to the man I love and to share it with those I care about. I wanted to dance to my song, I wanted my wedding. You can't just force people into something without asking, without considering the feelings of those involved."
She breathed deeply and frowned as Hiko did not seem phased. "I don't want to live in a house whose only residents are ghosts and a teenage killer that never lives here. I.."
"You," Hiko said, cutting into her tirade. "Is the only person you can think about is you?"
"How dare you!" Kagome screamed. She grabbed the empty lo mein container and threw it at Hiko, chopsticks and all. The paper box hit his chest lightly before falling to the floor, the sauce from the noodles staining his shirt. "How selfish can I be when you are the one forcing me into something I did not approve of!"
"Everyone keeps throwing things at me today." Hiko sighed, pulled out the handkerchief he previously offered to Kagome, and began to mop up the sauce.
Kagome wanted to hit him. She wanted to ram the chopsticks down his throat or something that would cause him pain, the same pain she felt and could not get rid of. She wanted him to experience the loss she felt, have him share in her broken dreams because with every demand he laid upon her she buckled more, broke more, despaired more.
She felt like a mirror she could not fix. Cracked, broken and useless. Her reflection glared back at her from the depths of the mirror, a forgotten self that she could no longer reach. Her old self was drowning in the mirror, and Kagome felt that soon there would be nothing left for the mirror to show other than a broken woman and her equally broken husband teetering on the cusp of insanity.
"You are selfish, my dear." Hiko reiterated. "You have not thought of Kenshin in all of this. Your marriage is saving his life."
How? Kagome wanted to demand, but instead fell silent and watched her shattered mirror self thrash in the broken shards.
"He needs someone, and if there is one thing you wish to take to your grave at the end of this life," Hiko paused as he walked out of the living room and into the hallway towards the door. "Sleep well knowing that you are about to save a young man from a horrible fate." Hiko then opened the door and left, locking her into a beautiful, but dusty, prison.
XxxxxxX
Kenshin followed Sanosuke out of the dorms towards the elevator in the middle of the floor. The small atrium was empty except for several people passing from one end of the building to the other and a small group waiting for the elevator. Floor to ceiling windows stood adjacent to the elevators, overlooking the glittering lights of Tokyo's metropolis over thirty floors below.
"So, you have no idea why he wants to see you?" Sanosuke fiddled with his cell phone, pressing several buttons as they waited for the lift to reach their floor.
"None." Kenshin glanced around briefly, the small crowd of people thinned as the elevator to their right opened up. They didn't get on.
"Aren't you two getting in?" Asked one of the lift's occupants, his thumb pressing the button to keep the lift open.
"We'll catch the next one." Kenshin smiled in reply. "We're not in a rush."
The man only nodded and smiled kindly to them as the doors closed.
Kenshin pulled a key from the pocket of his school pants and entered it into the small keyhole below a conspicuously placed button by the middle elevator. He turned the key, watched as the button lit with a dim red light, and pushed it. The sound of the elevator cables pulling the lift was loud, catching the attention of several people who happened to walk by just as Kenshin replaced the key into his pocket.
"I always thought that lift was broken." A woman said as she walked by, stopping briefly when she noticed the lights to the middle lift was working.
"It is," Kenshin said. "They must be doing some tests on it."
The woman simply hummed and continued on her way. A few moments after her departure, the lift doors opened. Kenshin and Sano walked inside quickly, but before the doors could close fully, an arm laden with reports stopped it.
"Thanks for holding the lift." The man sneered as he tried to push his way inside.
Sanosuke, annoyed, simply rerouted the man back out of the lift and slammed his hand on the singular button on the right hand panel.
"Sorry man, broken." He said. The man didn't have time to reply before the doors closed; however his cursing could be heard through the metal walls.
Sano resumed his game on his phone as they rode the elevator up to Hiko's office.
"What are you playing?" Kenshin asked, peering onto the screen.
"Some new game. I found it just after we assassinated that old man." Sano replied distractedly, his character on the game hunting and shooting its way through the massive crowd.
"What's the purpose?"
"To kill stuff." Sano's character tossed a grenade into a mass of people. "And to find the boss. He's hidden. You only see shadows of him briefly before you die. It's my purpose to find him. Actually!" Sano perked up looking towards his friend. "Do you mind if I send you the game, it's supposed to help. By sending it to other people, you get more ammo and toys to maul through the guards to get to the boss, it's really cool."
"Sorry," Kenshin pulled out his phone. It was old, and had a small screen. "I don't exactly have the required screen size for a game like that. Besides, it's probably linked to the internet and this phone is ancient."
"Tough. Oh well, when you get a new phone, I'll send it to you. It's so cool how sending it to certain people gets you elevated points." Sano added.
The elevator stopped and the two men looked up as the doors opened into a large space. Sitting at her desk was Hiko's secretary Omime.
She looked up as they stepped out of the elevator. "Oh, Kenshin-sama, Master Hiko is expecting you." She said and stood from her desk.
"I guess you don't need me then?" Sano smiled, rubbing the back of his head. He tried to sneak back into the elevator as the doors were about to close but Omime stopped him quickly by grabbing him around the waist.
"Oh no!" She said. "You have paperwork to do!"
"But I don't wanna!" Sano cried as he tried to pry the smaller woman off. "I hate paperwork!"
"Sorry, but Hiko-sama really needs those reports." She grunted from the effort to hold him tight.
Omime managed to wrangle him into her desk chair before the several monitors at her station. She huffed and wiped the sweat from her brow.
"There, all settled." She turned to Kenshin. "You may go in Kenshin-sama, Master Hiko's waiting for you."
Kenshin nodded, and just as the doors of Hiko's study were about to close behind him, he smiled. He could hear Sano's cries as Omime forced him to type out his reports.
"Sagara Sanosuke! I'll be watching you very closely!" She scowled. "And don't you dare mess up my computer!"
"Yes ma'am." Was all Kenshin could hear of Sanosuke's small reply before the doors shut completely and he was face to face with Hiko.
- 3
- 4
- 5
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Saimu no Ken