Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ An Elusive BloodLine ❯ Letters From the Dead ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: See Chapter One

Tsuyoku - Here's chapter two, thx for coming back!!

An Elusive Bloodline: Chapter Two: Condolences

The alarm went off through the room and Kaoru rushed out of bed to turn the shrill, annoying noise off. When she was sitting on the floor beside her bedside, still trying to wake up, Kaoru heard her stomach growl just as loud as her alarm clock had sounded. She got up from the floor and walked, clad in only a t-shirt and underwear, down the hall. “‘Ruko, get up. I'm hungry. Let's go out for breakfast." There was no sound. “‘Ruko, c'mon, I'm-"

Kaoru stopped short as she opened the bedroom door to find an empty room devoid of human presence. It was exactly the same as she'd left it; immaculate, much unlike Kaoru's room, except for the clothes on the floor where she'd left late for work that morning. Kaoru entered the room, eager to still spend time with her best friend, but not being able to fully grasp the truth in her subconscious. She looked around the room, not touching anything, but as she looked about 'Ruko's dresser, she noticed a piece of paper with her name on it.

Kaoru,

I don't know how to tell you this, but... the curse is back. I can feel it, I know it's coming. That's why I'm leaving for a while. I've got to get out of town before something happens. So, I hope that you don't worry about me; I'll be safe if I get away. You have to leave as well. Please be safe. We are the last of the family, and we are both in danger-

Kaoru was interrupted from the letter when she heard the phone ring. Picking up the receiver next to her, she managed a rough hello. The letter meant more personally than it would someone else. "Hello, this is Sugara from the Tokyo Police. I know it's early in the morning, but I have a few questions to ask you about a... Shizuma, Hairuko." Kaoru sighed, but agreed to the torture she'd already been subject to. "Now, when did she leave the house Wednesday morning?"

'Wednesday... Two days ago...' Kaoru thought. "She left late that morning; I'd say about eight. She was going to be late for work, so she rushed out."

"Did she contact you at all during the day?" Kaoru didn't know why she had to go through this again.

"She did contact me once. We were going to meet for lunch later, but an hour or so after that, she had to call and cancel because a worker had called in sick."

"Did she--"

"Okay, look. Yes, she called, no I haven't, at all, noticed anything suspicious about the way that she was acting, nor had she said anything unusual to indicate something was wrong or was going to happen. I do not know of anyone that would want to harm her. Alright?" Kaoru just wanted to be left alone, Ruko was gone and she felt a little lost to the world. She'd lost her cousin, her best friend, and her other half when she'd got the call that Wednesday night.

"Miss Kamiya...? Ms. Kamiya?" The voice on the other end got Kaoru out of her little reserve.

"Y-Yes."

"I said, I think that's all the questions that I have for you, but once again, if you think of anything don't hesitate." Before she could respond, there was a click followed by silence at the other end. But she was thankful. Kaoru wanted to know who it was this time that had come. Was it the same people that had killed her aunt and uncle and brother before? Or was it someone new that had suddenly begun to execute the curse again?

She began to read the letter again, but this time was interrupted by a knock at the door. “Damn!” Couldn’t she get a bit of peace and quiet anymore? Kaoru jumped out of her seat on the bed and went to answer the door; ‘Ruko’s and her friend, Kenshin, stood outside the door. Knowing it was him; she flung the door open and went back into the apartment.

“Nice teddies,” Kenshin said. She flipped him off knowing that it was her underwear he was talking about.

“It’s laundry day, Kenshin. They were the only pair I had clean,” she looked at them, “Plus, I kind of like them; they’re cute!” She walked on back into Haruko’s room and grabbed the letter.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a letter that Haruko left me. Kenshin, this letter means she knew that she was going to die.”

“What?” He grabbed the letter out of her hands and started to read it. “This means-“

“Yes, the curse is back. I don’t know what to do, Kenshin; she wants me to get out of here, to hide, but I can’t move again. It would just be too hard without her!” She sank down to the bed, her head finding her hands and tears ruefully escaping through her strong emotional barrier. This was the first time that she had cried since she found out about the news. The sadness was there, but tears just hadn’t come. But the thought of living the rest of her life without Haruko, however long that may be, was terrifying. It had always been them. Just those two.

“I’m sorry, Kaoru. I know; it’s hard to imagine living without her, but we’ve got to give it a chance. But I think you do need to move. Get out of this apartment, somewhere you might be safe. For now, I’m not leaving you here alone. For moral support, but mostly for your safety. For now you'll stay with me until we can arrange to move somewhere together." He put his arms around her small frame, comforting her as well as he was able to.

"No Kenshin, you don't have to do that. I don't want you to have to move because of me-"

"Don't give me that. I know you'd be too scared to go anywhere alone now. Remember Kaoru, every time you and 'Ruko have moved, haven't I moved right along with you?" That was true. Every time that it showed up again, they were able to skip town fast enough to escape and that allowed them time to live somewhat of a life. But Kaoru didn't care as long as she had her best friends. And now she had lost one of them. She and her cousin had been friends forever, since they were children. Their family allowed them to play together, doing everything, and that led to their finding out about the curse. The two had never really understood much about the curse, being very young when they had to start evading it, but there were some memories that never made sense and never left them.

It had been raining that day, and Hairuko and Kaoru were forced to stay inside to play. A game of hide and seek had only been going on for a few minutes when Kaoru, looking for Hairuko, had wandered into the room of her aunt to look in her closet, since it was the biggest. Kaoru looked between most of the folded linens before sliding the door closed; this was Hairuko’s favorite place to hide, had she found another great spot? Kaoru saw her aunts futon, unrolled and laying out on the floor. Kaoru smiled, there was Hairuko, as she spied the unmistakable lump of a body lying there.

She caught the edge of the fabric with her fingers, slowing peeling the covers back until the right moment. She would scare the life out of ‘Ruko; this was going to be so good! WHAM! The covers flew back to the feet of the person lying there. Kaoru had expected to see Hairuko jump; she’d expected to see Hairuko.

But there was her aunt, lying on the futon as if she was sleeping. But she wasn’t. Kaoru noticed a faint pale to her face, as if she was sickly, but it was the tale tell blood that seemed to imprint in her mind the family curse.

She screamed.

Hairuko was the first to enter the room, having been right down the hall. Then Kaoru’s uncle came in, only to usher the girls from the room, while he sent for his sister’s husband..

A piece of paper was in her father’s hand as he entered the house of her uncle. It was old: the edges burnt a bit and each character faded on the yellowing paper. Kaoru could only make out a few of the characters, but she didn’t recognize what the kanji meant. Only that this was bad. All they could overhear from behind the thin shoji walls were ‘curse’ and ‘unsafe’. Words of hate flooded from each of their father’s mouths; Hairuko’s mother was a victim of some curse that the family...

Everything they said after that was a mumble. Nothing was understood, and Kaoru would never forget the look on Hairuko’s face as she turned to her. She’d never forget the forlorn look of hatred and sorrow in her eyes because it mirrored her own.

The only things that Kaoru remembered after the incident were the faces of her father and her uncle. They both looked so solemn

Her face now was the same as then. Tears rolled down her face, wondering what had happened to their safe lives. Where had she gone that day? Where had Hairuko encountered the curse?

Why was there such a curse, you ask…? It all began years ago, when the Kamiya family had just begun…

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Tsuyoku: Sry for the cliffy. I’m working on ch. 3 now, as well as a few other chapters for other fics. More should be out soon, please R&R, it helps us authors work better!