Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Surrounded By Shadows ❯ Cobalt Control ( Chapter 5 )

Here's the long awaited chapter 5: Cobalt Control

Disclaimer:

I'm running out rhymes,

Can you tell?

I'll own Rurouni Kenshin

The second Watsuki will sell.

Excerpt From Chapter 4: Ruby Reminiscing

“What the hell are you doing here? Get out of my-mmmph!” The last part of her statement was forcefully cut off by Battousai's hand closing painfully over her mouth.

“Quiet koi, there is someone here” Kaoru stilled and cast her senses to `feel' throughout the house. Her eyes suddenly widened with fear as she was painfully ripped from the Battousai's grasp and thrown on the floor.

Gazing up, she saw the two blades clashed together, and the glinting red eyes staring directly at her. Meeting the intruder's gaze squarely, Kaoru watched as the stranger's gaze dropped from her eyes to her neck.

“So Battousai, she is the one you claimed... be warned, spawn” he glared at Kaoru, “I will get you, torture you, and kill you”

Kaoru frowned and got to her feet, invoking her power over her household to freeze the occupants.

“You guys are on MY turf! So I have dominance and a right to kill either of you!” The stranger sneered at her and tried to wiggle free of her spell. Battousai blinked calmly at her and tensed his muscle, violently jerking from Kaoru's mental hold. Striding over to the frozen vampire, he took his blade and inserted the tip into the immobilized vampire's arm, ignoring Kaoru's furious cries.

Bringing the blood soaked tip to his mouth, he ran his tongue over the blade, wiping it clean as he tasted the blood.

“You were changed, who is your master?” The vampire hissed at the swordsman and focused back onto Kaoru.

“Take your curse off me spawn!” Kaoru glared at him and waved her hand, drawing the vampire closer. Closing her eyes for a prolonged blink, she reopened the sapphire orbs and gazed directly into the ruby gaze.

“Who are you?” Her voice held a melodic quality to it and the vampire quickly succumbed to her hypnosis.

“Derek…” Kaoru smirked but continued with her interrogation,

“I like that name…” she traced her finger across his chest, drawing nonsensical patterns against his shirt. “Derek…it just rolls off your tongue doesn't it?” Derek nodded and Kaoru released him from his immobilization, smirking when he still didn't move. “I have a question for you…Derek…” the vampire nodded again and Kaoru pressed her body against his, ignoring Battousai's hissed warning. “Who is your master? I just have to know who made you such a…delectable creature…” Derek smiled goofily and slung his arm over her shoulders before answering,

“Her name's Yumi…but she isn't anywhere as pretty as you! What's your name again?” Kaoru giggled coyly and began to run her fingers up and down his chest,

“You don't need to know that Derek! But I have another question…” at his nod she continued, “Where is Yumi right now? Where did she come from?” Derek frowned,

“Why do you need to know that?” Kaoru laughed again and wrapped her arms around his neck, getting him to meet her gaze again,

“I'm just curious, Derek. Like a cat…meow!” Derek smiled at her and nodded,

“You're a cute kitty…Yumi-sama said she'd wait for me in a bar downtown, shadow realm…I don't know where she's from, but she said she was made…just like me!” Kaoru laughed and snuggled up to the boy even more, shooting a discrete glance at Battousai, mouthing if he had any questions. Battousai glared but nodded and Kaoru pulled back, looking at Derek in the eyes.

“Derek…honey,” she ignored the dopey grin that appeared on his face, “I have a friend…he's really funny and nice…he has some questions too! We just want to know so much about you!” She brushed her nose against his neck, her fingers tracing his abs before he nodded. Gesturing towards Battousai, he nodded and took a step forward.

“Who made Yumi?” Derek shrugged,

“Don't know…she didn't tell me”

“Why does Yumi want Ka-” Kaoru furiously shook her head and he changed the name, “Yumi want Kitty dead?” Kaoru nearly groaned but looked up at Derek again, silently nudging him to answer the question.

“It's probably `cause Kitty is so much prettier!” Kaoru giggled on cue and gently slapped his chest,

“There's got to be another reason silly! Who'd wanna kill something this cute?” Kaoru pouted but smiled when Derek laughed at her antics,

“Yeah, said something about blood and Battousai!” The second the last syllable left his mouth, Derek's eyes shot open and he looked out in confusion. “What? What am I doing here?” He gazed down at Kaoru and violently shoved her away. Kaoru cursed and quickly rolled out of the way as Derek lunged at her. Immediately, a sword was lodged in his chest and Derek had a few seconds to gasp for breath before his body collapsed into a pile of dust. Swearing, Kaoru got to her feet, wiping off a rather deep cut where Derek's claws had caught her arm.

“You know this is your fault right?” Battousai looked at her calmly,

“I wasn't aware, how is it MY fault?” Kaoru glared at him, and gestured to the pile of ash lying on the hardwood floor before sitting down with a heavy thump on the leather couch.

“He was after me because of YOU. He was broken out of my trance because of YOUR NAME. He cut me because he was out of my trance because of YOU. He's making a mess because of YOU.” Hissing in anger, she ignored him in favour of her injury, lowering her head to lap at the blood. A stern hand grabbed the back of her head, fingers digging into the damp strands as he pulled her mouth away from her cut.

“What are you doing? I need to clean my cut!” Battousai ignored her and sat beside her on the couch, bringing her arm up to his mouth.

“It's my fault, as you so adamantly stated, so I have to make amends.” Kaoru glared at him,

“You just want to suck my blood” he shrugged, and with a quick,

“That too,” fastened his lips on her arm, his tongue running languidly over the wound. Within seconds the cut was closed, but he refused to remove his mouth from her arm, instead traveling up her arm to her shoulder and his bite marks. Instinctively, his fangs lengthened and he sank the sharp canines into her neck, ecstasy overcoming him when as her blood ran down his throat. A sharp pain in his arm shocked him back to reality and he reluctantly disengaged his teeth to figure out what had happened.

Golden eyes widened when he saw the girl beside him with her own fangs buried in his forearm. Slowly, the pain disappeared to be replaced by the lethargic pleasure of a vampire's kiss and he smirked, replacing his fangs in her neck to return the favour as he dragged her into his lap.

Seconds felt like minutes and minutes felt like hours under the vampire's spell and finally, Kaoru removed her fangs from his arm, her tongue whipping out to lick the excess blood off his arm and her lips. Rolling her eyes when she realized he was still feeding, she reached back and tugged his head away from her neck. A smirk was on his lips and Kaoru bit her lip at the sight of the blood on his cheek. Still woozy from the `kiss', she leant up and gently pressed her lips to his cheek, her tongue lapping up the blood.

Battousai watched her out of the corner of his eye, ignoring how much he liked the feel of her lips against his cheek. After a second, she sat back down and curled up like a kitten against his chest. Knowing that she was still hung-over from the feeding, he gathered her up in his arms and stood up, cradling her against his chest. Just as he was about to walk into her bedroom, the main door opened and another girl entered, one hand rubbing her neck.

“Kao, I'm home…Megumi let me out but I swear I saw Aoshi…” she trailed off when her gaze fell on the man holding her best friend. Switching into her fighting stance, her fingers fell on the kunai she carried after dark.

“Who are you?” Battousai looked at her and snorted lightly, blatantly ignoring her question.

“So you're the one Aoshi claimed.” Misao's glare narrowed and she readied the sharp blades for her throw before repeating her question,

“Who are you?”

“No vampire would ever give his true name fool. I am known as Battousai, King of the Underworld.” Misao's eyes widened in shock and she took a step back before remembering what Kaoru had always lectured her about.

`To a vampire, the home is a sacred place. We of the undead cannot enter a household without permission from the owner. If a vampire tries to get into the apartment, ignore them and don't look at them in the eyes, some, like me, have the power to hypnotize. If a vampire somehow already entered, claim your dominance over a household and you should have some measure of power over them. Being human, you won't have much influence but you'll have enough to make them obey the command not to kill you. Only a few vampires can deny the owner and if you ever meet any of those vampires, you're safer outside your house than in it.'

“I uh…claim my dominance?” Battousai looked at her amusedly before glancing down at the girl in his arms.

“I suppose she taught you that…fine, what do you want?”

“Put Kaoru down!”

“No. Anything else?” Misao gulped but straightened her posture and in a (Megumi inspired) haughty tone, commanded,

“Don't kill me or Kaoru,” he thought about it for a moment before nodding.

“Fine but know this human, I am only accepting your claim because I want too. Nothing will get between me and mine.” Misao arched an eyebrow but nodded, walking over to the kitchen, hitting the coffee pot to make it start.

“How do you know about Aoshi?” Battousai snorted, disappearing into Kaoru's room and deposited the woman on her bed before returning to the kitchen.

“Aoshi is one of my most faithful guards, you should be honoured.” The mug fell from her grasp and she spun, her bright blue eyes searching for the vampire lord. He was gone, a small drop of blood showing he was there at all.

A groan made her turn to the bedroom and Misao watched as Kaoru blearily stumbled out of her bedroom.

“Ugh…headache. Hey Mi, pass me some coffee…” Misao silently poured another mug of coffee and handed it to the stumbling vampire.

“Kao-chan…does Battousai have any human guards?” Kaoru sat down on one of the stools and shook her head.

“No, they'd die right away. His castle is in the Shadow Realm. Only creatures of the night can go in there and live. Why?”

“Aoshi is one of his guards…” Kaoru fell silent and hopped off the stool, enveloping the girl in a tight hug.

“It's okay Mi…you want me to go find him and drag his ass back here?” Misao shook her head, her face pressed against Kaoru's shirt.

“No…if he doesn't come back of his free will…I don't want him back at all!” Kaoru was silent but led the girl to her bedroom, making sure she would be all right before leaving the apartment. No matter what Misao said, Kaoru was going to see where the hell Aoshi had gotten the idea to leave Misao like that…

It only took seconds for her to get to the nearest hellhole, a tear in the dimension that lead to the Shadow Realm and began to cast the spell needed for entry. Only vampires of reasonable power could open hellholes on a whim due to the complexity of the spell and the strength realm skipping (as it was called) drained from the caster. As a silver pentagram appeared beneath her feet, she began to chant, a quiet undistinguishable murmur.

“W-Wait please!” She stopped; her arms rose in the air and turned her head (careful not to disrupt the silver flames that outlined the star), to gaze at the young boy running towards her.

“Why do you need to travel to the Shadow Realms? You can be any more than 3 years old!” The boy glared at her,

“None of your business ya old hag!” Her eyes narrowed and she moved her arms into the next position for the spell.

“I really wouldn't insult someone who has the power to open a hellhole.” The boy pouted and inched near the edge of the circle,

“Can I come in?” Kaoru nodded and the boy walked through the flames, unharmed. “Look, I'm sorry, `kay? My name's Yahiko and I need to find a Master so I can become the best vampire in the realm!” With a quiet snort, Kaoru turned back to her chanting, altering the spell enough to include Yahiko, and finally snapped her arms to her sides, completing the spell.

The pentagram began to rise, inching up their bodies and slowly transporting them into the Shadow Realm, particle by particle. Unmoved by the fact her shins were now gone, Kaoru crossed her arms impatiently, wishing the spell could be faster. A small whimper at her side made her look down at the younger vampire in amazement as she finally realized,

“You have realm skipped haven't you?” Yahiko glared up at her and nodded furiously, his hands digging into his pockets in fear. Sighing, Kaoru knelt down and encased the boy in her arms, ignoring his protests. Within seconds, the portal closed over them entirely and they were gone, teleported deep within the shadow realms.

“Whaddya do that for!” Kaoru rolled her eyes and straightened, cracking her spine happily.

“It's good to be back, haven't been here in years…” Yahiko glared up at her curiously,

“How'd you get your blood then?”

“I have a friend who's a doctor, she supplies me every so often.” Yahiko frowned in disgust,

“Humans, blech!” Kaoru glanced down at him, eyebrows raised.

“That's a negative outlook on interspecies relationships…”

“I hate humans! They don't deserve to live in the same realm as us!” Kaoru knelt down and playfully ruffled the boys hair,

“You'd be surprised at how many humans agree with you there…even with the dark treaty between humans and us, they're terrified that we'll rise up and attack them again like we did ten years ago. That's when I was changed, so I'm kind of stuck opinion wise…” Yahiko snorted and watched as Kaoru rose, flicking her hair over her shoulder as she glared disdainfully at her outfit.

“Dammit…I never changed…but listen brat, there's a vampire who lives just down the street and around the corner. Go to him and explain Sapphire sent you okay? Oh…and a note, don't give anyone your name, it gives them power over you.” Yahiko looked stricken and Kaoru could hear him gulp,

“But I told you my name!” she laughed and gestured him closer,

“Now you gotta keep this a secret or I'll have to kill you painfully and slowly okay?” at his nod, she quietly whispered in his ear,

“My name is Kaoru, remember it but tell no one.” Yahiko nodded and Kaoru stood up again, gesturing down the cobblestone street, “Remember, Sapphire sent you, and you can call yourself…hmm…Brat. Tell Mistress Tea (“Tea? You gotta be kidding me…like in the drink?”) that you're looking for a Master.” With a nod, he turned and darted down the street, mentally chanting her instructions in his head. Laughing as he ran off, she turned and jogged into the nearest clothing store, eager to get out of the tiny garments.

Emerging from the store, she grimaced but knew that it was the best thing one could find in the Shadow Realm. The entire ensemble was leather, decorated with various buckles and straps. The top was a high collared vest, held together in the centre by four silver buckles, ending just above her naval, while the pants were tight leather, the cuffs disappearing into a pair of armoured knee high boots. A belt was slung around her hips, dangling with various purses and weaponry designed for intimidation. Her hair was pulled back up into a ponytail and black metal arm guards shone on each forearm.

Rolling her eyes, she quickly set her sights on the huge castle rising out of the darkness, near the end of the city. Modelled after the 18th century motif, all of the roads were cobblestone and the buildings were old fashioned made out of a synthesized material that looked a lot like wood (having real wood would kill a majority of low level vampires) with the hanging signs swaying the wind. The sky was a mottled grey and black, with a bright white moon hanging, perpetually full, behind the castle. While having the appearance of the moon on Earth, the Underworld moon was tinged blue and allowed werewolves (and other shape-shifting monsters) to have the ability to maintain human form but still not burning the lower level vampires like the sun would.

Sighing, she began the lengthy walk up to the castle, deciding that flying would bring too much commotion. Being the spawn of the most powerful vampire in existence did have its perks, Kaoru admitted, but more often than not she despised the amount of power the other vampire had over her as a side effect. Anger building as she remembered his actions of the previous day, she bit her lip and vaulted into the air, landing on a nearby building.

For a minute, she looked like a statue, perfectly still on the rooftop before a pair of bat wings burst out of her back, ripping through the tough leather. Flapping her extra appendages experimentally, she growled and took off in flight. Screw what anyone said about her, she was pissed and she needed to find Aoshi ASAP and smack some sense into the ninja's skull, just to relieve her temper.

Seconds later she landed with a heavy thump in front of the gates, her sapphire glare trained on the guards.

“Let me in.” One of the guards looked her up and down, his eyes resting on her wings for a spilt second before shaking his head in the negative.

“Sorry, no one is allowed in unless they have authorization or proof of claim to the lord of the castle.” Rolling her eyes, she stepped forward and undid the top buckle, ignoring the stares when her fingers didn't burn away under the presence of silver.

“Here, is this good enough?” She flashed the bite marks for a brief inspection, before redoing the collar. Stunned, the guard nodded,

“Yes Ma'am…that works fine.”

“Thank you, I always find it much more polite to get the guards to open the gates instead of forcing my way in.” Another guard snorted and crossed his arms over his chest, gesturing at the still closed gates

“Like you could open this gate! It's made of the purest silver and is doused in holy water. Only our sire, Lord Battousai can even stand to touch it without exploding into ash!” The first guard shrugged but nodded in agreement,

“Sorry milady, but I have to agree with Berenizius here. Those gates have killed more guards than our enemies!” Huffing angrily, Kaoru strode forward waved her hand towards the metal, eyes narrowing when it only shifted an inch under her mental shove.

“Going to be stubborn are we?” With the quiet mutter, she took another step towards the gate and placed her hands against the bars, tuning out the guards fearful gasps. Shoulder's tensing noticeably; she pushed, both mentally and physically, against the silver gates. With a satisfied grunt, the door swung upwards and she stepped through the fence, allowing the gate to slam shut behind her. Blowing on her lightly singed hands, she flashed a fanged smirk at the unbelieving guards.

“Now…if a little thing like me can open it, what could our enemies do?” With a laugh, she turned back and merrily skipped to the castle's main drawbridge. A flick of her wrist and a mental shove had the wooden gate falling gracefully to make a bridge between the land and the castle and she crossed it quietly, a small smile dancing on her lips.

As she entered the main courtyard, she flared her aura, trying to find Aoshi's ice cold Ki. She never forgot a friend's aura, no matter how old nor what species. A twitch in her senses made her turn, sapphire eyes widening in surprise at the figure that greeted her,

“What are you doing here?” A deep chuckle, full of hidden desires and blood lust, echoed around the courtyard.

“Why…my little Sapphire Kitten, the better question would be, what are you doing here?”

 

And there folks, is the end of chapter five, complete with kick-ass Kaoru and angsty past pals turning into vampires. Isn't life great? Anyhoo, please review and tell me what you think! I'll loveth you all if ya do!