Genre

Rating

Spoiler Level

Broken Pieces: Chapter 2 - the chase

by linay

I should not be the one to survive this.

My life is but a fleeting excuse.

A passing trend.

A disappearing abomination.

Kaoru stared death in the face. Battousai’s amber eyes locked with Kaoru’s blue pools of sadness and time stopped.

Time stopped but movement did not.

With the cry of a demon, Battousai brought his sword down in a fluid arc of steel. Kaoru’s calm blue eyes closed again.

An anguished cry from Aoshi shattered their communion of death. Battousai was knocked forward roughly and past Kaoru by a pained Aoshi - who had somehow managed to throw himself forward. Aoshi collapsed once again in a bloody heap on the floor beside Kaoru.

“Run,” he heaved painfully, “Please run, Kaoru-san.”

Kaoru turned her wide eyes from her injured bodyguard who lay on the floor to the red-headed killer who was picking himself up from the floor quickly. The assassin turned his head back toward them and Kaoru started at the look of pure fury in the amber eyes that were shadowed under red bangs. Her heart leapt into her throat just as she decided that she could in no way leave Aoshi behind.

As the Battousai gathered himself for a lunge at Aoshi, Kaoru did the only thing she could think of. She jumped to her feet, got a good grip on her seat and threw her chair at the assassin with all the strength she could muster.

Battousai had mere seconds to react, surprise getting the best of him for once. A CHAIR was hurtling at him? With no other options in sight, he let his sword carve the chair in two pieces. As the metal pieces of the chair crashed through the glass windows behind him, he saw Kaoru dragging a limp bodyguard out the double doors. Fury replaced surprise as the Battousai saw his target fleeing the room.

Kaoru acted in a state of panic. Cringing as she heard the glass windows shatter, she pushed the double doors of the room shut. Grasping the night stick of a dead policeman near the door, she jammed it through the handles of the double doors, praying that it would hold the demon inside. She heard him crash against the doors and she gave a wild yelp of fear. Her eyes flew to Aoshi who was barely conscious after having thrown himself at the assassin.

I have to hide him!

She grabbed one of his arms and hefted it over her shoulder, dragging his bleeding body down the hall as fast as she could, her eyes searching wildly for any sort of hiding place. A closet door caught her attention. Through the haze of her adrenaline pumped state, she could hear the hinges of the double doors giving way to the frantic beating it was taking. Almost ripping the door of the cleaning closet open, she pushed Aoshi’s heavy body in - none too gently. She mentally apologized for her rough handling, though she rationalized that he would appreciate it in the long run. Kaoru pulled out the first thing that remotely resembled a weapon from the closet and then, kicking Aoshi’s legs in, shut the door hurriedly. Then, without looking back, she took off running down the long white halls.

Battousai stared at the offending doors, his fury mounting by the second. A mere girl had managed to lock him into a room. Raising his sword high above his head, he swung it downwards angrily. The sword passed between the crack in between the two doors, swiftly slicing through the night stick. He had swung with such force that the tip of his sword was embedded in the linoleum floor. Battousai kicked the doors open forcefully and rushed out into the hallway in time to see his prey disappearing around the corner.

He stepped forward and then noticed the thin trail of blood that stopped right before the closed door of a closet. He stared at it, certain that a dark-haired body guard lay unconscious behind the closet door. He debated with himself.

Kill her quickly. The words of his earlier telephone conversation echoed in his mind. Rushing down the hallway, the Battousai decided to allow the little girl to have that small victory over him. After all, she had taken precious moments to hide the bodyguard from him, even if sloppily.

Battousai turned the corner and still did not see the girl. A tiny spark of surprise registered as he realized just how much distance she had been able to put between them in that moment he had spent deciding. He sped up, his sword drawn and ready. The corridor ended again, the only option being to turn right. Battousai laughed inwardly; there was no way she could hide in this building. He turned the corner without even slowing down.

And then was stopped abruptly as something damp and disgusting was shoved into his face all at once. Battousai sputtered as the rancid, stringy mass was pushed farther into his face harshly. Then, suddenly the thing was off his face. His grip tightened on his sword as he brushed the re-hydrated dried blood and smelly liquid from his face. Through the smelly haze he saw the girl whirl something in her hands around and the disgusting mass hit the side of his head forcefully again. Battousai was forced into the wall and he heard the thing clatter to the floor as the girl took off again at a run. Shaking the nasty water from his hair, he prepared to run again, glancing down momentarily.

He almost tripped.

Lying at his feet was a wet mop. A MOP?! Anger once again overtook his surprise as he raced after the insufferable girl who, only minutes ago, had looked like a martyr ready to accept death at his hands. He growled in irritation as he gradually began to gain on her.

Kaoru panted in panic as she heard the assassin’s light footsteps becoming louder behind her. She hastily turned yet another corner and vaguely felt irritation towards whoever had designed the medical centre. A new door presented itself to Kaoru’s field of vision.

A stairwell!

Without thinking, Kaoru pushed past the exit doors and flung herself into racing down the stairs. Distantly, she heard the piercing fire alarm going off as a result of her opening the emergency exit doors. Not really caring, she concentrated on her flight down the stairs. Only another few flights of stairs and she’d be at the exit of the building. She mentally counted the flights as she dashed down. Four more. Three more. Two more.

Then hearing a thud behind her, Kaoru knew her time had all but run out. She barely turned her head and knew that the assassin was only a few steps behind her. The sharp glint of his blade caught her eye and panic once again took over her body.

Battousai flew down the stairs easily, mentally cursing the fire alarm. He knew that his time would soon run out. Only a few more steps. He raised his sword horizontally, preparing to slash at her when she was finally within range.

Kaoru saw the landing of the steps and the exit door. Only a single flight of stairs down. Determination filled her muscles as she leapt from the step in a desperate attempt to distance herself from the terrible glint of the assassin’s sword. For a single moment, she felt the air rush through her hair as she sailed downwards.

Battousai swiped through thin air as the girl leapt clear of his sword - the blade catching only a few wisps of her hair. He watched, still tearing down the steps, as she attempted to jump almost a complete flight of stairs.

It was hardly a surprise to him, then, when he saw her foot crunch against the cement landing, her knee buckle under the strain and her body tumble forward. He was hardly surprised when he heard her cry of pain and when he saw her sprawled on her side on the cold, hard landing. As she tried to sit up and pull her injured leg close to her body, he slowed his descent, the grip on his sword tightening in anticipation.

As he reaching the landing, the girl bowed her head and backed up slightly, tears running down her cheeks in rivulets. The assassin trailed the tip of his sword across the cement as he approached, the sound causing a soft whimper to escape the girl. Satisfied that she was finally producing the desired reactions of a victim, he raised his sword and prepared to deliver a backhanded slash that would take her lovely head off.

Then the girl lifted her head and her blue eyes pierced his, tears still running from them. The mere expression in her eyes was enough to cause a pause in the Battousai’s swing.

It was not fear that he saw reflected in the glassy blue eyes.

It was not desperation.

It was not pleading.

Battousai ran down the list of acceptable emotions as his arm tensed for a strike. Then it hit him.

The blue eyes were angry. She was staring up at her assassin and her blue eyes were fairly crackling with unspoken fury.

Battousai was astounded.

Then the sirens of approaching fire trucks and security alerted him to the scarcity of time. He turned back to Kamiya Kaoru, his arm still raised above her. The look of absolute rage in her eyes was enough to push him over the edge.

Without hesitation Battousai brought his arm down in a vicious strike.

Kaoru crumpled to the cement floor, lifeless as a doll. A thin trickle of blood dribbled down her neck. Battousai exhaled loudly as he wiped the excess blood from his shiny blade on his cloak. Then he turned the sword and brushed at the hilt, removing Kaoru’s blood from where the hilt of his sword had connected with her skull. He sheathed his sword quickly and flipped the cloak over it, effectively concealing the long traditional weapon.

Stooping down, he inspected the wound at the base of his victim’s skull. Hearing her shallow breathing convinced him that she would be alive enough to be interesting, and he lifted her from the ground.

Vaguely mentioning to himself that he would complete his assassination when he had satisfied his curiosity, he threw her unresponsive body over his shoulder and carried her out the exit she was so hoping to get to only a few moments before.

In silence, Battousai disappeared into the many dark alleys of Kyoto - carrying with him, for the first time, a living cargo.

The security units that arrived at the scene of the crime found only masses of dead men and one unconscious bodyguard. Mysteriously, only bullets of the guards were found. Only the blood of the guards would be identified. Baffled, the coroners would speculate that a traditional Japanese long sword had been the weapon used to inflict all the wounds. Confused, detectives would laugh and question the coroners’ sanity since NO ONE used swords in assassinations anymore. And even if they tried, a swordsman would never be able to best half a dozen armed guards.

Days later in a hospital, a bodyguard would awake to concerned faces only to look for his disappeared charge. He would curse silently and vow to find her and her attacker.

The next morning, Kamiya Kaoru would awake to a pair of glittering amber eyes.