Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Dangerous Alliance ❯ Far Away ( Chapter 10 )

Chapter 10

For a week Misao never left Kaoru's bedside. Aoshi never left her side. She tried for days soothing, talking and pleading to Kaoru to wake up. Finally she collapsed and Aoshi took her away.

Kenshin spent most of his days and nights at her bedside. In fact he had put her in his bed so he could keep an eye on her. Maids changed her bedclothes and the sheets, but otherwise she was like a limp doll, eyes wide open in shock. Her skin was growing cold to the touch. They were slowly losing her day by day.

Hiko came in occasionally to check on them. Thankfully he had taken up royal duties again, leaving Kenshin mostly free.

"You're going to make yourself sick," he told him tonight.

"She can't be left unguarded. She's an easy target for an assassin right now."

"You're going to have to face the fact she probably will never wake. One day her heart will just stop beating. She's already becoming too cold."

"She's still alive. Until she is dead I will not give up hope."

"Baka…I never thought I'd see the day you'd love another woman. Pity you couldn't realize it before this. By combining powers you could have prevented this."

"What?" Kenshin asked, his head flying up to meet Hiko's gaze.

"Idiot. A virgin sorceress has only half the power and a sorceress bound to another mage triples her own power, especially if it is bound by love. No one is sure why but the powers manage to combine and multiply each other."

"But I am no mage…"Kenshin said.

"You are such a blind fool sometimes. You can kill ten men with one stroke of your blade. You move with the speed of the gods…little slower than me, but ten times the speed of the average man. You know things before they happen. Your eyes turn colors! After all of that the fact I could not let Tokio rule should have given you a clue! She has no magic at all!"

"All that is magic?"

"What…did you actually think you were just some super human? Baka."

"But if I am a mage, then maybe I can do something for Kaoru."

"I am ten times as powerful as you and I can do nothing. Give it up, deanship. Say your goodbyes and hold her well. She probably won't last the night." Hiko left the room with a flutter of his cape and carefully shut the door behind him.

Kenshin looked up at the closed door. His face held a determined look.

"But you just said love multiplied the effect of magic. Maybe your ten times was lacking…Shishou."

Kenshin rose quickly and locked the double doors. Next he locked the servants' door and extinguished the candles. He didn't want anything to disturb him. Pulling off his shirt he climbed into the bed and pulled Kaoru to his chest. She lay against him limply. Feeling that wasn't enough he pulled off the nightgown that was on her, bringing her cold bare skin to his own. Gods if this didn't work he was going to feel like such an idiot.

Kaoru was surrounded by darkness. When had it grown dark? When had it become so cold? Where was she? What was going on?

Someone was attacking the barrier. They had managed to lock her mind away from her body. Without her mind her body was slowly dieing…but she didn't know how to get back.

"Daddy help me," she cried out. She sat down upon nothing, held her head in her hands and began to cry. She was all alone.

"Kaoru," a distant voice called out, almost frantic.

"Daddy?"

"Kaoru!" the voice called, closer this time. It wasn't her father.

"Kenshin?" she called back…confused. Why was he here? Wasn't he supposed to get married or something? His voice seemed to get distant again. No! He was here! She wasn't alone!

"Kenshin! Over here! Please! Don't leave me…." she cried out, a sob wracking her fragile frame.

Warm arms pulled her close. Kaoru looked up. Kenshin was smiling down at her.

"Gotcha. Do I get a kiss now?" he teased.

"You…You're not blindfolded…" she said lamely.

"Damn, forgot about that. Can I kiss you anyway?"

"But you're getting married!"

"I am? To who?" he asked, confused.

"You're not?"

"Not that I knew of. Were you planning on proposing?" Kaoru reached out and gave him a mock blow.

"Women do not propose!"

"Ah, but a mere prince cannot propose to a Queen."

"I am no Queen. I am a failure to my people…"she said, tears welling up in her eyes. Kenshin held her tighter and kissed her forehead.

"They signed the treaty with almost no complaint, although King Saitou made an awful comment and now Tokio is filing for divorce."

"NO! She loves him; I saw it in her eyes!"

"Whether she loves him or not doesn't matter. She told him to take his crown back and go home alone. He wasn't too happy."

"So who is getting married?"

"I have no idea. Shishou seems to be the only one who knows and he won't tell."

"Maybe he thought we were going to get married…" she said lightly. "Guess he didn't foresee this."

"Are you saying if I had asked you would have married me?" Kenshin asked, looking down at her.

"I thought you said a mere prince cannot propose to a Queen."

"Sweetheart, for you I would go through hell and back. Breaking a few traditions is nothing."

"Good…because I think soon I will be in hell," she said quietly. His hold on her suddenly got stronger.

"No, don't think like that. You can still wake up from this. Think, Kaoru. You just have to fight them."

"It's no use. The magic is too strong, too old. It's like trying to arm wrestle a mammoth."

"Kaoru, Kaoru, please don't give up. I can't lose another woman I love."

"I'm sorry….I just don't have enough power. Will you stay with me until the end?"

"Of course…" was his reply. I'll even go with you. If you die, I don't want to wake up.

Some time later Kaoru looked up.

"Can I ask you…a personal question?"

"You can ask me anything in the world."

"How did your first wife die?"

"Tomoe?" he said, taking in a raged breath. "Tomoe was two years older than me…but I didn't care. A vassal under Saitou came and attempted to kill me. I fought back and killed him…then took in his fiancée. I didn't know it was his fiancée. She had been sick and we all just assumed she was his sister. She was a quiet woman. Never told you anything was bothering her. She didn't know until a year after our marriage I had killed her original fiancée. Saitou kidnapped Tokio in retaliation….I fell in love with Tomoe and married her. We were…happy…sort of. As happy as you could be in that situation."

"Then she had a miscarriage. I was away at war with Saitou. I didn't know. She was angry. Everything had built up over the years. She and a party of assassins came to get me. She called me out to a cottage. I killed all but the last and he managed to drug me. I couldn't see straight. For whatever reason Tomoe repented her attempt and placed herself between me and him….just as we brought our blades down one last time. Mine went through her and killed him. His stopped halfway in her. Either way, she was dead. That's how I got this scar. The first stroke was from her fiancée. The second one was from her."

Tears ran down Kaoru's cheeks. So much pain…so young. And here she was dieing on him as well. She could see it in his eyes. He would not survive her death. He intended to go down with her.

"What the hell am I thinking?" Kaoru said, sitting upright. "This is bullshit! I never sit around waiting for something to happen! If they want my country and people, they're gonna have to do it in a fight!"

"What do you want to do?"

"I want you to stand behind me. Don't let go. I need an anchor. I think I read about this somewhere….maybe. Maybe I'm just making it up."

Kaoru extended her hands. A light formed. Good. Now to make it bigger. She had to create a gate. She'd never done that…not even thought about it, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

"If you were a High Mage in the Empire, where would you do your magic from?"

"Some high lofty tower where the elements were easily at hand to manipulate," Kenshin whispered in her ear.

Kaoru tried to picture the Empire's palace…a dark fortress of twisting rock and towers. She traveled upward to the topmost tower. An evil energy poured out of it. Someone laughed.

"You mean to defeat me at my own game, do you?" the mage said. He was covered in bandages, a wicked smile on his face. "You made it this far little one, but you have no more energy. Now what do you intend to do?"

Kaoru knew he was right. It took all her energy just to hold the fortress in her sight. His laugh certainly pissed her off thought.

"Can you hold it?" Kenshin asked.

"Yes, but I can't do anything."

"You don't have to," he said. Kenshin held out his hand and closed his eyes. Light collected in his hand and extended outward until he had a sword fit neatly into his palm. "You hold us here, I'll kick his ass."

"I love you," Kaoru said as he moved forward. He turned back and kissed her softly.

"I'll be back," he said.

"Who the hell are you?" the mage hissed as an unknown warrior appeared from behind the Edo witch. She wasn't yet married. Who the hell was this man?

"Call me Battousai."