Chapter 30

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“You didn’t ask anything about Enishi” Fang said smiling slightly, although he looked a little curious. Mao gave Fang a deadpan look to rival Enishi’s usual expression.

“Enishi can take care of himself… when he’s not being blackmailed” Mao bit out the last part. Fang fought back a grin as he realized that Mao was pissed. Emotions were a tool to be used against someone. Although he had to admit, Mao was excellent at hiding them. Anyone else might not have noticed.

“And what if I say no?” Fang said, amused by his observation. His light attitude would undoubtedly be a mistake. Mao’s eyes further betrayed his anger as they darkened in a stormy grey hue. His expression, on the other hand seemed to grow even more apathetic than before. Fang observed him curiously.

“I won’t accept that as an answer.” Mao murmured, his voice softer than a summer breeze. Fang couldn’t hold back his grin any longer as he was enjoying the differences in Mao’s emotions from the norm. He had changed his mind about not toying with Mao. More than anything he couldn’t wait to get his hands on the boy, he thought to himself, fatally forgetting some of the prime reasons he’d kept Mao in the pit, and also forgetting that Mao wasn’t the frail pussycat he appeared to be.

“Ah well weather you accept it or not makes no difference” Fang said cockily. “You can’t kill me because I’m the only one who knows where Kaoru is.” Mao looked at him, his eyes seeming to clear up to a soft grey. Was he amused by what Fang had said? Fang lost his smile as Mao held up his left hand.

The nails on his forefinger and pinky were uncut and sharpened to a point. He drew them down along the scars under his eyes, cutting a new thin trail of blood that trailed down his cheeks to briefly rest at the corners of his mouth before passing

“Oh that doesn’t make a difference either” Mao said, actually smiling. Fang was afraid, fear was something he’d forgotten about and had wished not to remember. Mao held up his other hand, outstretched with his sister’s eyes still on it. “I can see into your mind” he said, his quiet voice seeming to reverberate throughout the room impossibly.

He lifted his left hand over the eyes laxly as his own blood dripped down on them he seemed to murmur something in an arcane language. He drew his hands away from the eyes finally like jaws and blood streaked away from his fingertips as the eyes became the eyes of a dragon. His body was barren of the intricately carved scar as something whispered in the air towards Fang.

Enishi sat chained against the wall still, the cold of the stone finally seeping into his back as the hot pain started to fade away. He almost wanted to groan but his discipline wouldn’t even allow him that small bit. Anything akin to submission wasn’t allowed to him… although he wasn’t strictly set on being in control either. He desperately wanted more control in a situation like this. Kaoru… who knows what Fang had done to her already. He gritted his teeth, deciding that was more a show of frustration than anything else.

He hissed in pain, not being able to resist that small concession as he shifted and his body protested even the small movement. This was not good. He was barely in any shape to move, much less do anything for Kaoru. He clenched his fists and squinted his eyes tightly. All he could do for now was wait and endure, and hope whatever happened he’d be able to erase it from Kaoru’s mind, even though he knew more than anyone that you could never erase the past.

He looked up suddenly as he heard an ungodly ear-curdling scream. That would be normal in a place like this, except that it came from Fang. He grinned. That would likely be Mao, because he couldn’t imagine it being anyone else if it was a scream like that.

Shinta leaned against a tree breathing heavily although he hadn’t done any exherting activities. It was like he was being chased, except it was all in his mind. He had decided he wanted to get caught, but at that point when he turned into the pursuer, everything was still just out of reach. He leaned against he tree and slid down the trunk, resting heavily on the ground with a thud.

He sighed as his hand rose to his cheek. From the bits and pieces he put together, his past was a dark and bloody one. What if he wasn’t who he thought he was? He wondered. Would he revert to his old way of thinking? Would he be a danger to those I love? He pondered painfully to himself.

He faintly remembered that dream he had now, where he had become a demon. Although he remembered little other than that. Was it some sort of premonition of what was to come? Or a memory of what had already transpired. He was lost in a sea of time with no compass as to where to go.

A whisper permeated his mind, blown from a northern wind from the dark regions of consciousness. It spoke, and ‘battousai’ was the name it carried. Shinta found himself shivering as he realized when he found this manslayer; he would find all the answers. He stood up and wiped the excess dew from under his eyes, slightly disgusted at the depths of his distress as he set off, hoping to find officer Fujita, as he could likely tell him more about Himura Battousai.

He breathed deeply as he looked over the pale horizon, his breath manifesting as a vaporous cloud. Safe. He sighed in relief, she was safe and things would stay that way for a good portion of the foreseeable future. He just had to keep her safe from her own curiosity now, it seemed to be the only thing that was in the way, but boy was it.

It had been especially hard to find excuses to keep her from visiting the dojo and discovering the absence of the usual occupants. Especially hard to make excuses without making her all the more curious to go. He half smiled at the thought, sipping a cooling cup of tea. He had to admit that he’d sunk pretty low to do that. All he had to do was accidentally brush his hand across hers, or look into her eyes and smile and she completely forgot all thought of leaving.

Noone could say that Makimachi Misao wasn’t completely blind when it came to things concerning Aoshi-sama. Aoshi thought to himself humorously, albeit a tad mockingly. All in all, he would likely need to find an excuse better than a determent that he’d been resorting to. She would start to suspect things when Kaoru didn’t send any word about anything. And It had been over a year, far longer than he should have been able to pull anything off.

He grimaced as he thought of her likely response to his misleading. She would be upset that he would do something so cold as to completely ignore their friends’ predicament. She wouldn’t understand the need for them to resolve things on their own. She wouldn’t understand that people can’t always be together. People needed space, no matter how much they may love and care for each other.

And sometimes the harder the task, the better it was that they stay out of it, especially considering the nature of things. It was a problem closely concerning only those residing at the dojo. Misao and he were far from the closest friends to them.

It would be best if she never found out. This could very well be that one thing that could sour her love for him, but he was willing to take that chance if it meant her life. She had so much to live for, and so many people to live for as well. The Aoiya needed her, she was everyone’s youngest, their pride and joy, and she further made them proud by taking responsibility of running the place. Too much would be lost by running off for who knows how long to an uncontrolled territory.

The oniwabanshu had enemies in China that he didn’t care t dig up, both sides had settled on being content as long as the other stayed out of their business. It would be more dangerous for Misao and he to go to china than it would for Kaoru. She had an escort who had tentacles all over there and here. Enishi was not someone to be trifled with, and in light of her not being killed before, he doubted any harm would come to her.

He hoped that his luck would hold out and they would all come back soon, so as he wouldn’t need to make up some excuse or lie to keep Misao from following them. He did hate mistruths and silence was often a better answer, but in this case he knew it wouldn’t help anything. Misao could find things out on her own. He doubted it would be the case though, them conveniently coming back in time. For him, things rarely wrapped themselves up so easily

Mao helped Enishi out of the shackles on the wall, having winced at the sight of enisi when he came in. Enishi noticed curiously, that the scarred dragon carved on Mao seemed to be in a different position, and the eyes had changed from dark, to clear. He didn’t ask about it though, grateful to Mao for getting him out of this predicament.

“Did you find out where she is?” Enishi asked urgently, trying to stand and succeeding, albeit barely so. It was obvious only sheer determination held him up against gravity. Mao grinned and nodded his smile fading before he spoke.

“I’ll lead you there, but it would be better if you retrieved her alone. It will be bad enough even you seeing her in the state she’s in” He said in a mix of sorrow and bitterness. Enishi glanced up at him quickly, disturbed at what he was saying, relieved that it meant no one was with her, and wondering how Mao knew all this, but he didn’t say anything and just nodded.

After Enishi donned his bloodstained and rather ruined pants, the two traveled through a long dark row of tunnels, the further they went the danker and more mildewed it got, and the less light penetrated into the heavy shadows. They came to a point where Mao shuffled to a stop before a small stream of light coming out of a slotted window to the side. Mao looked over at Enishi, his mouth quirking nervously as he spoke.

“There are no more turnoffs beyond here. It’s best I wait here for now.” Enishi shook his head.

“It might be better if you waited at the exit. I can find my way out” or make a new one, he finished the thought to himself. Mao nodded at Enishi’s apparent determination. Mao paused before he left though, and handed the battered man Kaoru’s katana.

“I picked it up after you stormed off after fang, they’d left it behind.” Enishi nodded and took it from him, wanting to ask about T’lin but thinking better of it. He knew both of their stories, and undoubtedly the meeting had been painful for both parties with no hope of a pleasant ending.

He walked of towards Kaoru’s freedom, each step becoming harder to walk, at the same while his heart lightening knowing she would no longer have to endure such pains. He didn’t want to see whatever Fang had done to her, in hopes that it wouldn’t be true but he walked onward, nothing so small as his own mental disorientation anywhere near stopping him from his goal.

Kaoru’s eyes were still squinted closed when she saw the room lighten even through her eyelids. The sensation was accompanied by a creaking of a door, so Kaoru had no doubts as to the validity of the action. She was afraid to open her eyes, to see who walked through that door, but in a sickening painful movement, she couldn’t help herself as she opened one eye.

Both of them shot open as she saw a battered and bloodstained Enishi, but despite his injured state, there was nothing she’d be happier to see. She tried to cry out his name, but with the gag it came out as a garbled pathetic plea. He met her eyes then, and she thought she would drown in the depths of emotion she saw there. Sorrow, relief, anger, remorse, all swirled in the depths beyond his sight. She wanted to close her eyes again in shame as she also saw herself reflected in his eyes.

Enishi strode forward, saying nothing as he quickly worked to free her from her suspended imprisonment, first removing the objects that had caused such torturous pain with each movement, and then the actual harness. Lastly he removed the gag from her mouth and she swallowed and gasped, two actions not allowed to her for the last… she didn’t know how much time had passed.

As her legs failed her from being bent and tied so long, Enishi caught her, and she could feel how tenuously he was standing himself. She wondered what could have happened to him to cause so much damage, but tears pooled in her eyes as she realized he’d likely gone through worse than she had, yet here she was thinking only of herself.

Despite that she couldn’t control herself as she threw herself at him, grasping tightly to his frame as she cried. Words came out of her mouth but she barely believed what she was saying as they did.

“Enishi..” she all but croaked before swallowing and starting again “Enishi make me forget,” she sobbed her heart trembling, afraid he would say no or reject her request somehow. She tilted her hear into his bare chest and whispered again, her hand running down his pack, feeling him unconsciously flinch as she rubbed a raw spot “Onegai, help me forget…”