Through the Cracks Ch7 bit – Ningen

~ crossovercreativechaos

“You wish to know of Pastun,” Kenshin said, ignoring the slow curses of Battousai in his soul.

“The night you were there,” Kaoru nodded soberly, pushing back her sleeves. “Let me-”

“A moment, Kaoru-dono. Please.” Kenshin shook his head. “Sessha was not there at night. Sessha arrived, dealt with a few of its dwellers for food that would keep on the road, and left out the far end of the village a few hours before sunset. Sessha did not wish to risk staying the night amongst strangers, that I did not.”

“You’re sure?” Kaoru frowned. “I mean, if you weren’t, we’d understand. This was a while ago.”

“Six cycles of the moon,” Kenshin stated. “On a night like this one, just after the new moon, when the first thin crescent stands like a drawn blade in the sky.” He drew in a breath, feeling youki ebb as that moon climbed the star-struck dark. “On a night… exactly like this one.”

“Kenshin, you’re not making sense-” Kaoru stopped, feeling something prickle at her ki sense. Something’s off.

Something’s happening.

Lantern light glowed on fiery hair, glimmered as flaming strands were suddenly streaked a darker red. Auburn that flowed and spread as Kenshin closed his eyes and breathed raggedly.

It feels like a storm passing, Kaoru thought, stunned. Like – something’s just going away-

Another heartbeat, and Kenshin let out a shuddering breath, blinking dazed violet eyes. “Sessha – always forgets how quiet the world really is….”

As if in a trance, Kaoru moved around the lantern. Picked up an unresisting hand.

A callused, clawless, human hand.

“All of the legends are true, Kaoru-dono.” Kenshin gave her a shy, fangless smile. “We are born with a youkai’s power, but our bodies are mortal as yours. And from time to time they must rest, powerless as any ningen.”

10 thoughts on “Through the Cracks Ch7 bit – Ningen”

  3. Auburn hair . . . interesting.

    Methinks that youkai might not be the only surprise in Kenshin’s family waiting for people to discover.

    And it seems that Kenshin is destined to be the nail that sticks out, no matter what species he is. Which, even if he wasn’t an assassin, given the culture he grew up in would be a good reason to want to be as invisible as possible. Ichigo Kurosaki, as another member of the Natural Non-Dark Hair in Japan Club, sympathizes.

    . . . Dratted bunnies, they took that thought and combined it with a line from above into Battousai as a zanpakuto and Kenshin as his shinigami . . . like I don’t have enough AUs . . .

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    1. If you know some of the laws of the Shogunate, you know how much trouble Kenshin would have been in just for existing. And if his family hadn’t been way back in the mountains, he probably wouldn’t have been born; he favors his mother in that aspect….

      As for too many AUs – my bunnies, avidly playing with Shiny Something Completely Different in between trying to hack my way through the rest of Seeds, have currently come up with a plausible way to cross Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan and Bleach, with a powerless Ichigo running into Zen when the bird-youkai’s in over his head again, and things getting more complicated from there….

      Let me know if I should put up the idea somewhere. 😉

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      1. Let me know if I should put up the idea somewhere.

        Always.

        Can’t speak for the others but I’m generally up for a good Bleach AU . . . and there is very neat potential in Nura for ch-*cough*er, interesting encounters, situations, and only Ichigo could manage to do that to himself . . .

        Through one is willing to wait until some of the current projects get further along or finished. Because there is a lot of interesting with those . . . and that’s not including your original novels.

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      2. ATM it’s only general story-building ideas that the bunnies are playing with. I don’t plan on writing any of it until Seeds is finally roughed.

        …Unfortunately it’s already come up with a name, which is always a bad sign when it comes to bunny tenacity. Always.

        *Drags Seeds plot a little farther….*

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