The rhythmic ring of a cell phone hummed within the pocket of Kamiya Kaoru’s jean jacket. Kaoru reached into her pocket and whipped her cell phone out, popping its silver cover open with ease. “Kimi,” she read the message aloud, her lips curving into a warm smile. She and Torokou Kimi had been living as roommates in the same apartment for over a year now, after her uncle had moved to Argentina on the day of her eighteenth birthday. When her father had passed away, she had moved in with her Uncle Mel, and though she and her uncle weren’t close, what was left of her childhood going into her preteens hadn’t been all that bad.
“Change of plans, Jurou. Kimi has invited me to lunch. You don’t mind if I take a rain check, do you?” Kaoru, her bright, sparkling eyes pleading with the man who sat opposite her in a small booth at the most popular ice cream parlor in town, arched a delicate, dark brow at Jurou questioningly.
“Oh, alright, but you owe me an ice cream, Kaoru,” the tall man smiled genially at Kaoru as she slid out of the booth, her indigo-blue gaze shining with gratitude. “I should have known that Kimi would always come first.”
Kaoru laughed affectionately as she leaned over Jurou’s shoulder and pressed her lips to the warm curve of his cheek. “I knew you would understand. Don’t worry,” she called over her shoulder as she started for the exit of the ice cream parlor. “I’ll come calling one of these days, Jurou, and then I’ll buy you that ice cream I owe you!” With one last wave of her hand, Kaoru disappeared through the automatic, double glass doors.
On any normal day, Kaoru would have taken the kia sophia to meet Kimi at her favorite restaurant, Kady’s Boardwalk, but it was such a beautiful day. The sun was shining brightly over the city of Tokyo, and there was not a single cloud in sight. The gentle breeze swept through the long, dark strands of her hair, from where she had tied an indigo ribbon around her tresses so that she would be able to keep them off her neck. Kaoru, a light, trouble-free smile grazing her lips, walked along the busy sidewalk, sliding in and out of the crowd of men and women trying to hurry towards their destinations, wherever they might be.
Kaoru was met by Kimi the moment she reached Kady’s Boardwalk, her taller friend’s long, straight, soft brown hair swaying in the breeze.
“Kaoru, right on time! Hey, girl, sorry to pull you away from your date so suddenly, but—“
“Date? I wasn’t on a date, Kimi, and I don’t mind,” Kaoru interrupted with a simple shake of her head, the dark crimson stain of a blush tingeing her cheeks. Kimi was always judging her and Jurou’s close friendship, thinking that she and Jurou were actually dating when in reality they were just really good friends. Nothing was wrong with Jurou; Kaoru just wasn’t looking for someone to fall head over heels for, like Kimi usually did every time a new, handsome male entered the picture. Jurou was the tall, dark, and silent type, as her older friend constantly reminded her, and any woman would be lucky to have him.
But not Kaoru.
She wanted no part of the dating ritual.
“So, anyway, how’s the sword business coming along?” Kimi asked out of curiosity as she led Kaoru into her favorite seafood restaurant. Her eighteen year old friend worked at an ancient, swords shop, selling and collecting swords, and Kimi really didn’t see what the big deal was about those swords. They were only rusted metal used in the primeval times. Kaoru seemed to enjoy working there, though, so she figured there had to be something interesting about the shop.
“Oh, it’s doing alright. You won’t believe how many different people you’ll meet in there.”
Kaoru and Kimi were quickly seated in a booth secluded in a corner towards the back of the restaurant, near a window. Silently, both women looked over the menus placed on the table in front of them. However, Kaoru’s mind wasn’t on food. It was on the swords shop she worked at. She knew that Kimi didn’t understand why she enjoyed working in a ‘musty old shop,’ but it was unexplainable. Something drew her to those swords, something imperceptible, and it had to do with her father.
Her father had been in love with his sword collection. Everywhere they went, if he and his young daughter would come across a swords shop, he would have to have a look inside. It never bothered Kaoru. She actually enjoyed looking at all the ancient, Japanese swords. They reminded her of the old, samurai movies she had collected as a younger teenager.
Kaoru reached into the front of her jade green blouse, her fingers enclosing around the small, silver key she had been given when she was merely eight years old. She never left home without the key, never took it off, because of what it symbolized. Her father had always said that it was the ‘key to his heart,’ and for that reason alone, she always kept it close to her heart. To put it this way, the key symbolized the love she and her father shared before his dying day.
“Kaoru,” Kimi’s voice low, she waved a hand in front of Kaoru’s unfocused, blue orbs, knowing full well that Kaoru was lost in another world. “Kaoru, are you alright? Do you know what you’re ordering?”
Kaoru absently stared across the table at Kimi, a thoughtful frown curling her lips. She missed her father terribly. He had been a good man, but his death had been so unexpected.
Just like another man’s death.
The man from her childhood, the man who had threatened her all for the sake of the small, silver key she wore around her neck. His death had been swift but painful. Kaoru could remember the look that entered his cruelly wicked, gleaming eyes when a long, sharp object, a ruler no less, protruded from his chest. Then, he was silent.
Kaoru could also remember the twin slits of amber staring down at her after the cruel man had fallen to the floor. It had been a terrifying moment, one she would never forget, but those eyes…never had she seen such oddly colored, beautifully furious eyes. She was only thankful that she hadn’t been on her savior’s death list that time around. Hopefully, she would never see him or those chillingly intense orbs again.
“Kaoru, is anybody home?” Kimi knocked on the hard, wooden surface of the table, trying to catch Kaoru’s wandering attention. Her younger friend definitely was not acting herself today. She could never remember a time when Kaoru would completely zone out, leaving the world of reality behind just so she could enter the world of the fantasizing. Kimi was concerned about her.
Kaoru, blinking her hazy, blue eyes in confusion, stared at Kimi, pondering the reason why her roommate was ogling her with worry. “Is something wrong?”
“No, no, everything’s fine. It’s just that you didn’t look so well for a minute. Well, you see—oh, never mind,” Kimi muttered quietly as she rolled her burnt sienna hues to the ceiling. “Have you made a decision on what you want to order?”
Kaoru chewed thoughtfully on her lower lip as her blue eyes scanned the menu she held in front of her. She wasn’t much of a seafood fan, but she could do with either catfish or popcorn shrimp. “Well, I think I’ll have the boardwalk popcorn shrimp.” Setting her menu down, Kaoru turned to look out of the window near their booth, the sun’s bright rays streaming through the glass.
Kimi nodded as she also set her menu down. She already knew what she wanted. She ordered it every time she happened to visit this restaurant. Her concentrated, dark eyes watching for a waitress, when a tall brunette donning a black skirt and white blouse with the label Kady’s Boardwalk: Here to serve you pinned to its front passed their booth, she called the woman over.
“Is everything alright, ma’am? Have you being waited on yet?”
Kimi offered the waitress a smile as she shook her dark head. “No. But we’re ready to order.”
The brunette, Iizou, pulled from her blouse’s pocket her small, black notebook and flipped it open while she uncapped her pen swiftly. “Ready when you are.”
“Alright, then, we both would like a cup of coffee, five sugars if you please. I will also have the Fried Scallop with a garden salad on the side. Ranch dressing, please.”
Iizou scribbled Kimi’s order onto her notepad before she trained her smiling, cerulean eyes onto the woman sitting across from Kimi. “And for you, ma’am?” “Just the boardwalk popcorn shrimp, please.”
“Would that be all?”
Kimi looked across the table at Kaoru, one brow arched in question, and when the eighteen year old woman simply nodded her head, Kimi’s attention returned to that of the smiling waitress. “Yes, that would be all. Thank you.” Handing both her and Kaoru’s menus over to Iizou, Kimi folded her arms across her chest and settled back against the back of the bench comfortably, watching Kaoru with interest.
The women were silent as they waited for their meals to arrive. Kaoru averted her indigo-blue eyes to the table, tapping her fingers against her knees rather awkwardly while she felt the heated curiosity of Kimi’s dark orbs upon her face, searching. What they were searching for she didn’t know.
It didn’t take long for their meals along with their cups of coffee to arrive, and quite thankfully, Kaoru indulged in her boardwalk popcorn shrimp. She had to do something to keep her mind off the past and off of Kimi’s unnerving, searching gaze. Quietly, she popped a few small, bite-sized shrimp into her mouth, her thoughtful eyes wandering towards that of the couple who sat in a booth two spaces away from her and Kimi. They were indulging in a few well-played, passionate kisses. She supposed some good could come of having a beau. Still, Kaoru could not allow herself to become involved with anyone at this time. She absolutely refused to.
Their luncheon soon came to an end when Kimi finished off the last of her scallops and Kaoru popped one last piece of popcorn shrimp into her mouth. Gazing down at her watch, Kaoru sighed regretfully. “I have to go, Kimi. I’ll see you later tonight around ten.” Wordlessly, Kaoru laid her part of the bill on the table as she slid out of the booth, Kimi following suit. The women embraced quickly, as though they weren’t going to see each other for a long time, before Kaoru departed, leaving Kimi to stand beside the booth they had been sharing for lunch.
Duty called.
Kaoru was due at the swords shop in less than an hour, and she couldn’t afford to be late. If she was on time to work everyday and she rarely called in sick, she would be promoted.
She really wanted to be promoted.
The sinister shadows enveloping the calm, vacant sidewalk Kaoru’s sneakers treaded along quietly was a little unsettling for her. Kaoru wasn’t exactly fond of the dark. She knew she should have taken her car to work, but once again she had thought about how beautiful the day had been. That is, before the sun had set and darkness had surrounded the city of Tokyo. Kaoru hadn’t thought about having to leave work at such a late hour. She hadn’t thought about the glowing, iridescent moon that would soon take the place of the sun.
In fact, she hadn’t thought at all. Her mind was too preoccupied, even now, with thoughts of her past to have even considered every single detail of an ending day.
Sighing softly to herself, Kaoru quickened her pace. The apartment she shared with Kimi was only a block away; the faster she hurried along the sidewalk, the quicker she would reach the safe haven of her home.
Forcing her long, slender legs to pick up their pace, Kaoru practically fled down the sidewalk, rushing to reach the apartment before her fear of the dark increased. If truth be told, she was afraid of the dark but only because of a horrible event that had taken place when she was only nine years old and another event that followed when she was eleven. Both times had been dark, filled with ghastly memories, and both were times better left forgotten. But Kaoru could never forget her father’s startling death or the appearance of the devil himself, with his flashing, molten-gold hues pinning her to the floor.
Their memories would forever plague her mind no matter how old she aged or how hard she tried to forget them.
Slowing her pace until she stood at the gate’s entrance, which would lead her to her apartment, Kaoru leaned over her knees, her arms wrapped around her stomach while she heavily panted into the night’s warm atmosphere. She was exhausted to the point of staggering the rest of the way home.
Though she was tired from her little exertion, no one could mistake the gratitude that crossed her weary features when she reached the end of the second floor in section B, where her and Kimi’s apartment was located. However, when she stood before the door, her fingers wrapped loosely around the doorknob, she found the house to already be unlocked.
How strange, Kaoru mused as she widely pushed the door open and slipped into the apartment silently. The house was covered in shadows. Wherever she looked, darkness draped over her squinting, blue eyes, refusing to release her vision even when she blinked several times.
But it was no use.
This was a sign that no one was yet home.
Kaoru would have thought that by now, at this time of night, Kimi would either be sitting in the living room watching the television or be in her room asleep on the bed with a book propped open against her upraised knees.
“Hello? Kimi?” Kaoru called through the silence that encircled the entire apartment, straining to hear if by chance Kimi was home.
Silence greeted her.
So, Kimi must not be home yet. “How strange; I wonder where she could be.” Shrugging her shoulders in an exhausted gesture of helplessness, Kaoru took a shortcut through the quiet, dark kitchen in order to reach her bedroom at the end of the long stretch of hallway, knowing for a fact that Kimi’s bedroom was opposite hers, down one door, on the left side of the hallway. As she passed her roommate’s bedroom, the faint light flooding into the hallway from beneath the closed door caught Kaoru’s attention. Furrowing her brows in confusion, Kaoru stopped long enough to press an ear against the door. Surely if Kimi was home, she would have heeded her call and come out of her room to greet her, as she usually did.
But she hadn’t…
…And Kaoru soon found out why.
When she cautiously wound her fingers around the doorknob and turned it, wincing at the loud clank the lock made when the door opened a crack, Kaoru peered into the bedroom, searching frantically for any sign of her friend. Unable to detect a single living soul within Kimi’s spacious, lime green bedroom, Kaoru pushed her way into the room. What her deep blue hues found when her gaze searched the room, noticing Kimi’s queen-sized bed with its neon green comforter, a black, Dell computer, a wooden desk littered with various slips of paper, a silver, twenty inch television, and the posters of her favorite band that covered most of her walls, forced her heart almost to a painful stop.
Kimi was lying on the floor, a motionless hand covering her face, and the familiar, thick substance in which Kaoru had seen much of only once in her lifetime pooled around her body, like a puddle of crimson rain. Kaoru merely stared down at the immobile woman, not knowing what to do.
Her closest friend and roommate; she was seriously injured, or possibly even worse. Who could be responsible for such violent acts of horror?
Her lips parting in shock, Kaoru sank to her knees beside Kimi’s broken body, disbelief filling the concerned violet-blue of her gaze. “Kimi? Can you hear me, Kimi?”
Nothing.
No sound.
Not even a groan.
This couldn’t be happening. Kimi couldn’t be dead. It was impossible. It seemed that too many people had died because of her. She couldn’t allow Kimi to be added to the long list of the deceased. She was far too young to die. Placing her two fingers at the junction where her slackened jaw was connected to the rest of her head, Kaoru felt for a pulse.
She was able to feel one; though, it was very faint.
Kaoru’s eyes lit up with hope as she grasped her friend by the shoulders and turned her over onto her back. However, she gasped in alarm when she saw the cause of Kimi’s pain. A long slash ran from her jaw line to the center of her collarbone, and the dark crimson of crusty, dried blood was caked onto the whole of her chest from where she had been lying on her stomach.
“Oh, Kimi,” she whispered sadly as she saw the whole of her friend’s injuries, knowing full well that it would be weeks, maybe even months, before Kimi could be back regularly on her feet again.
Her full, undivided attention focused on a silent Kimi, Kaoru reached into the right, jean pocket of her light-weight jacket and removed her cell phone in order to call an ambulance, and so intent was she in studying the long, gruesome wound that affected most of Kimi’s chest that she never even noticed the pair of viciously ominous, gleaming eyes watching her from the shadows.
“I’m here. Do you want me to go in and fetch it now?”
An extensive pause filled the gloomy silence.
“What about the girl?”
Another pause.
“And if she chooses not to hand it over, do I dispose of her?”
A grunt of disapproval echoed along the quiet, vacant sidewalk as the cellular phone that was being used clicked off. Narrowed, molten-gold orbs closely observed the set of apartments that stood erect before him as he stuffed his cell phone into the large pocket of his heavy, black trench coat.
According to the big boss man, if the girl refused to hand the key over to him, he would have no choice but to use brute force to take it from her.
He didn’t like to use force against women, but in this case, he had little choice. But only if she refused to peacefully give it to him. He doubted she would hand it over without a fight. If he remembered correctly, seven years ago, as a young girl, she had fought the men who had tried to steal the small, silver key from her. She had been a brave, little girl, but now…now, he didn’t know how courageous a woman she could be.
“Damn,” he cursed under his breath as he silently ascended the metal staircase that would take him to the second floor and to the girl’s apartment. He hoped that she would listen to his reasons for demanding she hand over the key. It was for a good cause, a true cause, one that a man wouldn’t hesitate to fight for.
To live in a better-styled Tokyo; to get rid of the few corrupted citizens who would only bring the city down.
She would have to understand that he didn’t mean her any true, physical harm, but if she fought him, he wouldn’t hesitate to strike out at her and even kill her. He hoped that it wouldn’t come to that, but if it did…
A startling shriek filled the tense atmosphere surrounding the apartments, bringing him down the hallway and to her front door with swift ease. His eyes dangerously wild and gleaming in the night, Hitokiri Battousai, as he was commonly known in the underground, lifted his black book and kicked the door right off its hinges, watching as it landed with a heavy thud on the floor. Wasting no time at all, he sprinted inside, one hand curled around the hard, warm hilt of his deadly, assassinating weapon.
Silence.
Everywhere.
Darkness.
In every corner.
He examined the shadows one by one as he slowly sauntered around the slightly large, dark living room with expertise, from one side to the other. Nothing.
There was no sign of the girl and whatever had startled her enough to force a scream from her.
It was quiet, a little too quiet for his peace of mind, or what little he had left of one.
The stumbling stride of a body’s pace could be heard above the steady, rhythmic beating of his heart. Battousai’s intense, probing eyes searched the room for the source of the sound. When only darkness met the end of his search, a scowl furiously curled his lips. He was already tired of this game as it was. If the girl was still here, then, surely she would have already made some type of noise.
This was highly aggravating.
It was then he recognized the harsh, labored panting of a person gone completely out of breath, and it was coming from the small kitchen, or somewhere in that area.
Silently, Battousai crept towards the kitchen until he found himself crouching near the counter, his tensed back pressed against the hard surface of the wall casually. The breathing became louder as he crawled on his knees the rest of the way towards the counter.
Someone was definitely hiding in the kitchen.
A threat.
Someone he might have to rid this world of soon.
His strong, calloused fingers wrapping around the hilt of his sword, gripping it firmly and with confidence, Battousai gazed steadily around the corner of the counter and into the shadows surrounding the kitchen.
Yet again nothing, as he had somehow expected.
Perhaps, his mind was merely playing tricks on him again. It intended to do that a lot to him when he was prepared for his sword to make contact with human flesh. Some would call him bloodthirsty, but they couldn’t be farther from the truth. He wasn’t a bloodthirsty, cruel man who enjoyed murdering his victims. He was quite the opposite, but the fact of the matter was that he only knew war. Since the young age of fifteen, he had been wielding a sword for the soul purpose of assassinating the filth in this city, and all for a good cause.
Sighing with frustration, Battousai raked a sweaty-palmed hand through the long strands of his burgundy hair, his eyes glinting furiously in the dark. He would find that girl soon, and when he did, he would snatch the key from around her neck. He had planned to simply ask her for it, but now he was thoroughly pissed. If he wasn’t careful and so in control of his actions, there was no telling what he might have done to the girl when he found her, and mark his words, he would find her.
When he began to calmly retreat from the quiet kitchen, the sudden, unmistakable glittering of a metal object flashed within the small, tiled space, catching Battousai’s irate attention before he could rise and begin his own little, thorough search of the apartment for the woman. Swiftly, he returned to the counter, ducking expertly around the corner as he explored the small space, looking for the source of the gleaming metal.
Nothing.
Again.
Then, unpredictably, the shout of an enraged woman sounded from the other side of the counter, just behind him, catching him off guard. Swiftly whirling on his heels, crouching at the ready, Battousai rapidly and silently unsheathed his deadly weapon and held it tightly in front of him, prepared to indulge in battle if the need arose.
His infuriated, madly magnificent eyes widened in astonishment when the woman’s indigo-blue orbs flashed crossly at him through the shadows enveloping the apartment before he was forced back into the counter by the large butcher knife she surprisingly swung at him, the sharp, massive blade embedding into the wood beside his head, nearly clipping his ear.
She was seriously trying to kill him.
Narrowing his astounded gaze on the woman as she yanked the butcher knife out of the wood with shocking strength, Battousai lashed out with the hilt of his sword, catching the woman in the mouth.
Kaoru cried out in pain as she immediately released the butcher knife, hearing the unambiguous clang as the blade met the hardwood, tiled floor of her and Kimi’s dining room, and cupped a hand over her bleeding mouth. Her indigo-blue eyes gleaming with tears, she slowly backed away from the formidable man, her shoulders tensed with anticipation. She didn’t expect to live after this night, but Kaoru refused to go down without a fight. If she was to be injured, then, her assailants would be receiving a few injuries from her as well.
“You stupid bastard, you thought you could break into my house, attack my best friend and me as well, and not get hurt in the process? Well, you certainly thought wrong!” She shouted at the slightly taller silhouette of the man who had broken into her apartment and hospitalized Kimi, her voice muffled from the blood pouring from the corner of her mouth, her hand putting slight pressure to the wound as she had been instructed to do on a few occasions before.
Silence greeted her once again. Did her assailant not wish to taunt her? That was the one thing he did when he found her in Kimi’s bedroom, leaning over her injured friend.
Her chin lifting a notch, Kaoru’s deep blue eyes narrowed dangerously to slits. Well, she didn’t have any time to waste. She had to get out of this house and wait for the ambulance to arrive. She doubted she would be able to wait, though; not with this man fast on her heels.
She did know why these crooks were in her apartment; injuring a woman they had thought was her at the time. The same group of scoundrels had attacked her seven years ago while she had been in school. Her fellow friends and even a few of the well-liked teachers had been slaughtered. Namely one came to mind when she thought of the dreadful event that had occurred so long ago. Mrs. Yukishiro, her mother-figure and respected history teacher, had died protecting her.
Kaoru couldn’t let her down by dying seven years later for the same purpose death had greeted Yukishiro Tomoe.
She would fight until the very end.
Wordlessly, Kaoru flung herself across the dining room at her assailant, her hands clenching into fists when her attacker drew nearer. It didn’t matter that she couldn’t see a thing in this gloomy apartment. All that mattered was her fists meeting their intended target; the bastard’s face, or somewhere close to it.
Her right fist made contact with the hard, warm curve of the man’s cheek, her knuckles stinging from the harsh contact as she brought her other fist around in order to catch him in the mouth as he had done to her. However, her fist never met its target. Warm, steel-like fingers wound around her wrist in a painful grip, stilling her punch as swiftly as she had thrown it.
Before Kaoru could grasp the meaning behind her pain, she soon found herself pinned to the cold, uncomfortable floor with the hard contours of the stranger’s body pressing into her own firmly, easily holding her in place.
“Let go of me!” Kaoru screamed in rage as she struggled violently in the arms of her attacker. She half expected the powerful, unyielding arms to loosen around her waist, but they did quite the opposite. They tightened. Kaoru whimpered fearfully when she felt the hard, sinewy muscles of her attacker overpower her strength. Energy was slowly draining from her weary body, and her head was beginning to swim, but still she fought, screaming angrily at the top of her lungs while demanding for her freedom.
“Damn it, woman, hold fucking still!”
At once, Kaoru stilled.
There was so much sheer, raw power circulating around the man that it frightened her.
Who was he? He hadn’t tried to hurt her yet, excluding the fact that he had busted her lip, and she had thought that by now she would be dead. After all, he had come for the key, hadn’t he?
She was lifted onto her feet then, his arms still wrapped securely around her slender waist, and yanked forcibly towards the front door, or rather the dimly lit doorway from where the door had been kicked in.
Without warning, light soon flooded the entire apartment, causing Kaoru to blink her blurry eyes several times before they became accustomed to the bright, hallway light. When her indigo-blue hues fastened on the man who had invaded her home, her breath hitched in her throat.
“No,” she whispered softly as her eyes widened in panic. “No!” Shoving harshly at the man’s tensed, broad shoulders, Kaoru fought to be released with as much vigor as she possessed. “Let me go! Bastard, get away from me!” Abruptly, she was flung to the floor, her backside connecting with its hard surface roughly. Her eyes brightly shining with terror, her lips parting in distress, Kaoru mentally shook her head.
This couldn’t be happening.
She was living a nightmare of seven years.
This couldn’t be her assailant! She didn’t want to believe it!
Looming over her, his narrowed eyes flashing an irritable gold, stood the man she had feared she would meet again, and very soon. The man with the unique eyes; the man who murdered Fujiro, Leo, and all the other scoundrels from the past with a simple school item; a ruler; the man who would always bring death and destruction with him no matter where he went.
Kaoru was doomed. Her savior from seven years past had invaded her apartment for one reason only.
He was here to take her life.
Swallowing nervously around the hard, growing lump within her throat, Kaoru mouthed the words Help Me even though she knew no one would come to save her. She was a goner, just another walking corpse on the list of corpses this man had sent to their graves. She had no choice but to let Mrs. Yukishiro down after the woman had died to protect her life. Her noble death would have occurred in vain; she had died for no reason at all.
The woman remembered him. It seemed she remembered his face well. That much was clear when Battousai glimpsed the dread that slowly claimed Kaoru’s slender, lithe body. He couldn’t believe that he had thought of her as a little girl only moments ago, but the last time he and the woman had crossed paths was when she was a little girl, eleven if he remembered correctly. He hadn’t seen her since, not until now.
“Kamiya.”
Kaoru’s pallor paled noticeably.
He knew her name.
This devil of a man knew her name and possibly who she was. Did he know about the key she wore around her neck? Was that the reason he knew her name? Could he be here, standing in her apartment and looming over her, with the notion that he would kill her to obtain the key?
“If you give me the key, woman, no harm will come to you.”