Haunted Chapter 3: Belong, a rurouni kenshin fanfic

A/N: Wow. It's been forever since I last updated. My first year of university is officially over and I've finally got time to sort out ideas and throw out some chapters for those of you that have been waiting for such a long time. I apologise for the long wait, but a lot has happened this year, and school work practically ate up all of my time. I've also been suffering from some writer's block for both this and Need to Kill, but rest assured, I'm not giving up on either of the stories. Because my second year is going to be a million times more jam-packed with work than my first year was, I'm gonna try my best to finish off both these long-standing stories before the second year starts. However, I can no longer guarantee when I'll churn chapters out, so please bear with me, 'kay? Thank you to all the reviewers and I hope you keep reading! Anyway, before I bore you anymore, let's get on with the story. I present to you chapter 3 of Haunted.

Chapter 3: Belong

Her mind awoke in layers; still asleep in a haze of fleeting dreams. The weak ray of sunlight through the window did nothing to help her out of her sleepy countenance. Then suddenly she noticed the feeling of a slight stickiness between her legs and her eyes shot wide open of their own accord. Kaoru awoke to the twilight-like morning, suddenly frightened about the fact that there was an unexplainable wetness in her panties (which was definitely not due to her period; that had just finished about a week ago). Her face blushed tomato-red; could she have had a wet dream last night? She had never experienced anything such as this; had always suppressed the desire to pleasure herself, something that was foreign and taboo to her, stuff that one would see only in ecchi or hentai manga.

The sudden memory of amber eyes the shade of old gold seemed to enter her mind, and she was shocked to find that a wave of desire crashed over her. She shivered, not because of the cold, but because she felt, no she knew that somehow the wetness between her legs had something to do with those beautiful feral eyes that held immeasurable volumes of emotion. It was the first time that anyone – let alone any guy – had made her feel such things. Although her parents had indeed passed away while she was very young, their traditional values had been passed on to her, and she was very much – despite her repeated protests – still the innocent wide-eyed woman-child. Grabbing the terry bathrobe that lay on the chair next to her bed, she wrapped it around herself, hoping that the delicious shudders of pleasure would stop. Kaoru jammed her feet into her slippers and made her way to the bathroom. The little apartment was dark; the winter sun lent little light to the darkness and Kaoru groped around blindly for the switch in the toilet.

Fingers met the flat plastic switch of the toilet and she flicked it on, her eyes scrunching up at the sudden illumination before they adjusted to the bright light. Kaoru brushed the tangles out of her raven black hair, fingers sliding through them carefully before she stopped suddenly to stare at the mirror, blinking to see if she was seeing things. Her hands left the mass of hair as they moved to her neck, fingering at the little red mark there. She edged closer to the mirror, pulling the collar of her T-shirt downwards to make sure that there was actually a mark there.

And there it was, a dark red mark on her white alabaster skin; not so red enough to mar the complexion of her skin, but yet it seemed to her as if she'd been marked…

As if she already belonged to someone.

You are mine…

He almost laughed out loud to himself as he watched her through the sheet of transparent glass again; loving the way she touched his Mark on her, the sweet confusion in her eyes and even the way her bedclothes were tousled. To Battousai, it looked as if she was an angel who had just tumbled out of bed; awake enough to know what was going on around her, but not awake enough to know why things were the way they were. He reached a hand to touch her image, running a finger along her cheek, wishing he could feel her skin again like he had done the night before; the supple tenderness that was her within the circle of his arms.

His eyes narrowed as he felt another presence in his domain. The image of Kaoru in her bathroom disappeared. The presence was familiar, yes, but at this moment?

Quite, quite unwelcome

"What business do you have here Saitou? I'm busy." The redhead snapped without turning. He pulled a glass of red wine out of thin air.

The Wolf raised a fine eyebrow. "Aren't you the touchy one today, Battousai."

"What's it got to do with you?" His voice was icy cold.

He shook his head in mock disappointment. "For all your centuries, sometimes you act like one of those spoilt human children, Battousai."

"If you just came here to jest, Saitou, I suggest that you leave at once." Battousai's voice was low, almost a hiss in the darkness that enshrouded the two figures. "I am not in the mood to play your games."

"Oh, but I play no games, Battousai." It was well-known to the whole Transience that Battousai and the Wolf were always at each other's necks, but were very close friends…if it was ever possible to call them that. "I'm just here to warn you today that the Elders will be on high alert after your intrusion into the Timeline yesterday."

Shit. Battousai cursed himself inwardly. He had hoped that his 'small intrusion' into the Timeline he controlled had gone unnoticed, but from what Saitou was currently saying, it didn't seem that way at all. The glass of red wine disappeared from between his fingers as he turned around to face Saitou; amber eyes meeting tarnished gold ones.

"Did they See?" There was a high chance that Saitou was pulling a bluff on him; even though he'd known the Wolf for centuries on end, he still couldn't, and wouldn't trust him as far as he could throw him. And this applied to the situation at hand as well.

"Not firsthand. But one of the Elders just so happened to filter through your Timeline last night and might have picked up on some of that girl's memories." The Wolf pulled a cigarette from out of mid-air and the end of the cigarette lit up by itself. He inhaled the smoke, purely for the sake of the scent. Saitou could sense Battousai's tinge of worry; the sardonic smile that lit his face was evidence enough.

"You're lucky it was your ex-Watcher Master who found it and informed Shinomori and I." Thin smoke veil as he exhaled. Saitou glanced at Battousai for a second; the other Watcher showed no outward sign or acknowledgement of the fact and the Wolf shrugged. Unknown to Saitou, Battousai was relieved to find that he hadn't been found out…even though it was indeed his ex-Watcher Master who had covered up for him.

"But you'd better watch your ass Battousai. Hiko can't cover up for you forever. The other Elders could find out at anytime, as talented as Hiko may be at hiding things."

Amber eyes hardened like glittering stones. "I don't need his help, and neither do I need yours. Now if you'll please excuse yourself and get out of my Bounder, I have important business to intend to that does not concern you at all."

Saitou mock-bowed, then moved back into the shadows from which he had appeared. Much as he would love to aggravate Battousai, there were always other times when he could do so. Right now, he wanted to get back to his own Mate.

Let the great Battousai figure this one out on his own.

"Kaoru-chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!"

The young woman in question hid the small wince that accompanied the great tackling hug from her cousin's love interest that ensued.

"Misao…can't…breathe…" The younger girl meant well, but sometimes she was too boisterous for her own good. Makimachi Misao pulled back slightly to prevent from strangling Kaoru but kept her petite arms around her hair still.

Dark green eyes twinkled at her. The petite girl was a year younger than Kaoru, three years younger than Kaoru's cousin Aoshi, and tremendously hyperactive, as had just been proven. The two young women had met each other during high school, and had bonded together quickly throughout the years. Misao, however, had moved from Tokyo to Kyoto about a year ago, and although the cities were not that far apart from each other, Kaoru had been hard-pressed to maintain constant contact with the younger girl because of her many part-time jobs she held.

It wasn't that Kaoru really needed the money, and it wasn't as if her parents hadn't left a trust fund behind for her, but she wanted to save up some spare money so that she wouldn't eat into the trust fund too much and so that even when she actually started working, she would at least have some money to back her up.

Kaoru smiled at the younger girl and returned a hug, albeit less bone-crushing than Misao's. Aoshi nodded at her in acknowledgement, but said nothing as he watched the young women embrace. To anyone else, Aoshi might have seemed to be a person who seemed cold and uncaring, but Kaoru knew her cousin better than anybody. She had been there when his father up and left, and she had been there at his mother's funeral. After such striking events like that to a child, it was no wonder that he had almost completely closed himself off from the world.

Misao bounced as Kaoru strolled along, finally having entangled herself from the muddle of limbs in the hug she had given Kaoru.

"So, what's your new place like? Is it big? Have you completely moved in? Is it…" She lowered her voice dramatically.

"Haunted?"

Kaoru's eyes widened suddenly, and the image of haunting amber eyes replayed itself in her head, causing her to stop in her tracks. Her fingers went towards her neck, and she remembered the little mark she had found in the morning; it was hidden by the turtleneck that she wore now: if Misao saw it, there'd probably be hell to pay and numerous questions to answer.

Misao continued to ramble, oblivious to the fact that Kaoru had stopped, but Aoshi sounded his query.

"Kaoru?"

Aoshi's voice snapped her out of the lingering image of amber eyes and crimson hair. She blinked twice before managing a weak smile at the pair.

"Sorry about that. I was just zoning out about…something." Aoshi's response was to quirk an eyebrow up at her and her flushed face, but he said nothing on the subject. Misao on the other hand, was very worried about her friend.

"Are you okay Kaoru? Have you not been eating enough or something? Are you ill? Here, I've got some aspirin here somewhere…" The younger girl proceeded to go through the pockets of her blue coat before Kaoru reassured her that nothing was wrong. Misao finally relented after making Kaoru promise that she would come to the Shirobeko if she wanted to eat a nice, warm meal with someone. Kaoru allowed Misao to drag her off without uttering a sound, but as they continued walking down the street, Kaoru couldn't help but turn her head. There was nothing of significance there, but she could have sworn that she had felt the striking gaze of someone's eyes on her. She could have sworn that it was some type of déjà vu, could have sworn that she had heard that single drawn-out whisper in her head that seemed so right.

"Kaoru…"

The brunette shook her head and continued down the street.

Amethyst eyes trailed trio of the two women and the man as they moved further and further away from him. Himura Kenshin's eyes seemed to be glued onto the woman with gorgeous cerulean eyes, shadow black raven hair bound up in a pony tail and definitely a to-die-for body that was evident even under the many layers of winter clothing she wore. Her very presence seemed to draw him in, and he longed to just go over and…

Wait a minute. What was he doing here fantasising about some girl – albeit a very hot one – who had just walked down the street and who had caught his eye? She was probably a college student, and would want to have nothing to do with the likes of him. Shaking his head to clear the image of the desirable young woman, he moved from the shadow of the dark alley into the weak sunlight of dying winter. The light brought out the soft auburn colour of his hair, emphasising the tinges of gold in the locks. The young professor heaved a sigh, his breath puffing into the frigid air of morning before he took the road opposite from which Kaoru had taken. This was no time for him to be thinking about beautiful women when there were so many other pressing matters he had to attend to before the new semester at Kyoto-dai started. Grimacing at the thought of the mountain of paperwork which awaited him back in his office, he pulled his black leather coat closer around him and shelved the thoughts of the blue-eyed beauty…

For now.

A/N: Like? Hate? Review and let me know.