[CO - RK/SW] RuroKen Star Wars, chapter 5

RuroKen Star Wars, a Rurouni Kenshin / Star Wars crossover fanfic by Raberba girl
Episode V - Cloud City (ROUGH DRAFT)

Sanosuke, Megumi, Princess Kaoru, and Yahiko disembarked from the Sagara Falcon and then looked blankly around the landing platform in the city where they had decided to take refuge.

"There's no one here," Yahiko commented.

"Yahiko, you're a genius," Sanosuke told him.

"Oh, leave him alone, it's a droid's job to state the obvious," Kaoru said.

"I don't need to be defended by you, busu-hime!"

"What'd you call me?!"

Before the princess and the droid could beat each other up too badly, a door on the far end of the landing platform slid open to reveal a decidedly odd-looking collection of humanoid specimens.

"Geez, could you get any fatter?" Yahiko wondered, staring at the chubby hulk in the back.

"Or uglier?" Kaoru said in distaste, eyeing the one who wore a skeletal mask over his face.

Yahiko's eyes flickered mischievously.  "Of course you can, Princess - don't you ever look in a mirror?"

As the sounds of combat resumed, the apparent leader of the group nodded and then turned to stride down the platform towards them.  He stopped when he was within speaking distance and planted himself before them as if to block their way.  "Welcome to Cloud City," he said shortly.  "Go away."

"What kind of greeting is that?" Megumi said indignantly.  "Who are you, anyway?"

"Shinomori Aoshi," Sanosuke spoke up, glaring darkly.  "He's the administrator of this facility."

Everyone looked at him.

"What?" he said defensively.  "I do know big words, I just don't use them a lot!"

"For your own good," Aoshi said again, "leave.  I won't tell you again."

"We can't leave," Kaoru told him.  "The whole reason we're stranded in the first place is because our ship's hyperdrive is broken."

Aoshi shrugged.  "Fine.  We'll take a look at it.  But don't blame me for the consequences."  He turned on his heel and marched away.  The others gave each other meaningful looks, then trailed down the landing platform after him.  They entered the building and walked down a few hallways before Aoshi finally frowned and turned to face them again.  "Why are you following me?"

"Because it's in the script?" Kaoru ventured.  Megumi elbowed her.

"Who've you got working on my ship?" Sanosuke demanded.

"How should I know?" Aoshi said in annoyance.  "I just give orders and they get done."

"Which means either you have loyal and efficient employees," Sanosuke mused, "or a bunch of fangirls catering to your every whim."  He pointed an insistent finger.  "Which is it, Shinomori?!  If you let fangirls touch the Falcon, I'll never forgive you!"

"'I'll never forgive you'?" Aoshi repeated.  "What is this, a shoujo drama?"

"Hey," Kaoru suddenly wondered.  "What happened to Yahiko?  I thought he was right behind us."

His baka deshi was fighting like a robot, Hiko observed disgustedly.  Blows as hard and movements as efficient as if he was a machine; doubtless he could plow straight through a whole army of average swordsmen.  But against a warrior like Enishi?  Against Shishio, a Sith master?  Hiko shot out a leg, attacking with that rather than with his raised sword, and sure enough, Kenshin went crashing off into the trees - again.  For crying out loud....

"Get up," he demanded, striding over to where Kenshin was slumped against a thick trunk.  "Pull your brain out of the clouds and stop fighting on autopilot, 'cause if you try that with Enishi you'll not just be a stupid apprentice - you'll also be a dead one."

For a moment Kenshin did not move or speak.  Then, slowly but with firm movements, he rose and sheathed his sword.  His face was hidden by his bangs...not a good sign.  "I'm sorry, Shishou."  He walked right past Hiko, heading in the direction of his submerged fighter.

Hiko whirled and stalked after him.  "No.  Not now, not when we're so close--"  He broke off.

Hiko Seijuurou had never learned the ways of the Force.  He had not needed to.  He had faced masters of both the Jedi and the Sith in battle, and he had prevailed over all.  He also had little respect for his idiot apprentice, a frail-looking specimen with an irritating tendency to get distracted.

Yet even Hiko Seijuurou could not stop himself from being at least somewhat impressed when the overly emotional, girly-looking, red-haired shrimp stood straight-backed on the banks of the swamp, one hand calmly raised, seeming to watch with merely casual interest as the huge fighter came lifting out of the murky water.  The two men were silent as the fighter glided toward them and came softly to rest on solid ground, propelled by absolutely nothing that Hiko could detect.  The effect was pretty creepy.

Kenshin lowered his hand.  After a moment he murmured, "Doubtless, such abilities will fade again when Kaoru-hime is safe.  For such a goal, however, it is enough."  He turned and started packing up his things.

"Kenshin," Hiko growled.  "I'm not going to let you leave."

Kenshin paused to give him a cute little smile ('You don't really want to deal with my passive-aggressive tantrums, do you?'), then went back to packing.  Hiko found himself grinding his teeth together.  He had to grudgingly admit to himself that Kenshin, despite everything, was actually pretty cooperative most of the time, and he wasn't sure what he would do if the infuriating redhead suddenly wasn't.

He raised his sword threateningly.  "You just try taking one step toward that fighter--"

Kenshin paused again, and looked at him with a grim expression.  "Sano is being tortured.  Megumi-dono is being tortured.  Kaoru-hime is being tortured.  Shishou, you have never told this one whether you ever loved a woman...but if you have, you would not have been able to hear her screaming like that, and keep silent."

The sword had gone limp in his fingers.  Hiko narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip again, and tried one last time.  "Kenshin.  A long time ago, you dreamed that Himura Tomoe died in childbirth.  That you killed her with your own hands.  Neither of those are what happened to her in the end."  He shook his head.  "What was it someone said once?  'Always in motion is the future'?  How do you know that your rashness isn't the very thing that makes your vision come true?"

For a while Kenshin said nothing.  Then, in a low voice, "Shishou...this one will come back.  It is a promise."  He raised his eyes to meet his master's squarely.  "This one will finish what was started."

Hiko sheathed his sword and deliberately turned his back.  "I refuse to cater to your stupid, selfish whims.  If you leave now, consider it the end of your training."  He did not look to see his baka deshi's reaction.

After a while the sounds of preparation continued, and then the low whine of the fighter started and climbed higher and higher until it was lost in the roar of the engines.  The ship rose slowly and soared away, taking the light with it.

"What a waste of time," Hiko murmured disgustedly.  He moved to return to his camp, but paused when he saw a new light glowing amidst the trees, approaching with small, dignified steps.  "Well?" he called.  "Was he dreaming the truth this time?  Do you know?"

The ghostly figure halted and looked at him solemnly.  "Whether his visions were true or not, he will not be able to help his friends.  He is walking into a trap."

Hiko shook his head, unsurprised.  "Idiot."  Then he eyed his intangible companion.  "Why didn't you show up earlier?  You could have stopped him."

The figure smiled and raised a pearly hand, looking at it thoughtfully.  "No.  A woman of flesh and blood has a stronger call on his heart than one he lost long ago."  She lifted her eyes again.  "To tell the truth...it makes me glad to see that he still has no hesitation in going to save the one he loves.  I only wish it would not be at such cost to him."

"Not such a high price as the last time this happened?" Hiko snapped, surprised at the urgency he could hear in his own voice.

"No...no," she assured him.  She smiled again.  "He was not lying, Hiko-san.  He will come back to you.  When he does...please.  Teach him what he needs to know.  I do not wish to watch him die, especially when you could save him."

"Forget it.  It was his choice to turn his back on his training, and now he must deal with the consequences."  At least, that is what Hiko Seijuurou meant to say.  What he found himself saying in actuality was, "I'll think about it."  Irritated, he turned away and swept back to his camp, so that he would not have to see her quiet smile.

The door slid open to allow Princess Kaoru to march into the room.  "They haven't found Yahiko yet," she announced.  There was no reply from the two other people in the room.  "I think he was stolen or something.  He's a droid; you can't just lose them like you'd lose your car keys or something."

Megumi looked up in annoyance from where she was curled in Sanosuke's lap.  "Did I interrupt your make-out session?"

"No," Kaoru admitted, blushing a little.  "But you flirt with Kenshin all the time, just to annoy me.  Oh yeah," she added, "they fixed the hyperdrive, too."

Sanosuke's face lit up, all irritation swept away by delight as he dumped Megumi off to the side and scrambled to his feet.  "They did?  Hot dog!"  He took two steps and then paused to look at his fuming first mate.  "Uh...wanna come with me to check on the Falcon, Megumi?"

"No," she said sweetly.  "Wouldn't want to get between you and your first love, after all."

"My first...?  Hey!"

Just then Aoshi came into the room and dumped a box of Yahiko parts on the table.  "I was told this is yours."

"What happened to him?!" Kaoru exclaimed in horror.

"Apparently he was so busy gawping at my protocol droid that he didn't see the stairs."  He turned and called, "Stop lurking in the doorway and come in here."

A droid resembling Yahiko but more feminine in design clanked in timidly.  "I am so, so sorry," it said at once, distress evident even in the mechanical voice.  "I really didn't mean for Yahiko-chan to get hurt, honestly I didn't--"

"Stop apologizing, Tsubame," Aoshi said shortly.  "It was the YA's own fault."

"Is it just me," Sanosuke wondered, "or are droids these days stretching their human imitation functions way past plausibility?"

"There you go again, using big words!" Kaoru cried.  "Stop, Sanosuke - it's really scary!"

"Oh shut up!"

"All of you come eat," Aoshi said abruptly.

They stared at him.

"Somehow," Megumi remarked, "the way you said that sounded really suspicious."  She paused.  "And it doesn't help that your droid is whimpering apprehensively."

Aoshi shrugged.  "Whatever.  Darth Enishi will find you one way or the other; it's not like it's my problem either way."

There was a stunned pause.

"Did you say...Darth Enishi?" Kaoru whispered.

"This one has a really bad feeling about this, that he does," Kenshin muttered.  His instruments reported that his destination was close, so he punched a button to urge the fighter to top speed.

Tsubame unlocked the cell and stepped in as quietly as it could, upset that its metal feet clanked so discourteously loud on the floor.  The gears in its chest seemed to grind in sympathy when it saw the human woman sitting bowed over with her arms wrapped around herself.

"T...Takani-san?" the droid asked timidly.  "I am so sorry...are you feeling too badly?"

Megumi shook her head and wiped at her eyes.  "I...no...I'm all right," she mumbled.  She knew that what they were doing to Sanosuke was much worse.

"Is there anything I can do?" Tsubame asked in concern.

Megumi swallowed a few times, getting herself back under control, then glanced over at the box where Yahiko lay in pieces.  "Well...it would be nice to have Yahiko functional again...there's only so much I know about droid repair work."

"Oh, please leave it to me!" Tsubame cried, desperate to help in any way.  It also felt bad for, in a way at least, being responsible that the YA-10 had been broken.

The two of them had only spent a few minutes sorting out the pieces and figuring out how to re-attach them when the door slid open again and a battered figure in white was cast in.  Megumi jumped to her feet and hurried over to her captain, leaving Tsubame to continue working.

"Sanosuke," Megumi murmured, kneeling and pulling his head into her lap.

"You all right?" he mumbled, his eyes closed, not bothering to move.

Tears stung her eyes.  "Isn't that what I should be asking you?"

"'M fine," he lied under his breath.  "Don't stop...that feels good."

She smiled a wavering smile and continued to stroke her fingers comfortingly through his hair.

A few minutes later Kaoru stumbled in, and when the door locked again behind her she made her way shakily over to her friends and sat down next to them, hugging her knees.  "I want Kenshin," she said in a small voice.

"I know," Megumi said softly.

"Don't we all," Sanosuke mumbled, disgusted at himself.

The next person to come striding in was Shinomori Aoshi and his motley hangers-on.  "You all look horrible."

"I wonder why," Kaoru snarled, struggling to her feet.  Megumi cried out as Sanosuke scrambled up and flung himself at Aoshi, only to be brutally knocked back by the muscled giant.

"Enough, Shikijô," Aoshi snapped.  "They're injured.  Look," he added, turning to the prisoners, "I don't know what's going on here, but--"

"You're Oniwabanshuu!" Kaoru shouted.  "Don't tell me you don't know what's going on!"

Aoshi paused.  "Fine, I know everything, but--"

"And you cooperated with the second most evil man in the galaxy?" Megumi spat in cold fury.

"Will you all shut up a minute and listen?" Aoshi said irritably.  "Enishi wants--"

"Agh!"  Startled, everyone looked around to find a limbless Yahiko shifting restlessly in the alarmed-looking Tsubame's arms.  "There are Edo troopers here!  I've got to warn the others!"

"Thanks, buddy," Sanosuke grumbled.

Aoshi rolled his eyes.  "If I don't get to deliver my lines in the next ten seconds, I'm taking a coffee break.  Are we okay now, or no?"

Silence greeted him.

"Thank you.  Now.  Darth Enishi's after that jerk Battousai--  I mean, a man I am completely unfamiliar with who goes by the name Himura Kenshin."

"How nice of you to tell us stuff we already know," Kaoru spat.

Aoshi's eyes blazed.  "So," he said icily, "you knew that you are being used as bait to lure Battou--  Himura here?"

Kaoru gasped, Megumi's eyes widened, and Sanosuke cursed.

"Enishi has ordered that the women be kept here under guard, but the rooster-haired one is being handed over to a bounty hunter."

Megumi put a hand over her face.  "Jin-e...."

"Hey!  What's with the Rooster-head comment, Gloomy?!"  Sanosuke put up a fist to ward off the retaliatory movements from Aoshi's guards, but he called them back before they could reach him.

"Take my advice, stop worrying about...Himura...and look to yourselves.  What Enishi's got in mind for you isn't pleasant."  He turned and stalked out of the room, trailed by his men, long white coat swirling.

There was a moment of silence.  Then Kaoru murmured, "'Unpleasant,' he says.  Seeing as how we were all just tortured, that doesn't sound encouraging."

The chamber was dim and filled with steam-emitting machinery.  The Kenshingumi were marched in and herded near the center of the room, where a very ominous-looking pit waited.  "Why do I get the feeling," Sanosuke remarked, "that I'm going to get the worst of all this?"

Kaoru smiled a wavery smile and clapped him on the shoulder.  "It's because you're the hero, Sanosuke.  Do your job and spare us females."

"Is that a carbon-freezing machine?" Yahiko wondered.  "It looks like a huge magnet."

"Yeah," Sanosuke agreed.  "Maybe it's really a torture device for droids."

"What?  No way!"

The figure lurking in the shadows made a disgusted sound and flicked his cigarette off into the depths of the steam, to horrified squeals from the carbon-freezing attendants.  "Why doesn't it surprise me to find this group yakking away right before they're about to lose one of their number," he muttered under his breath.

"Oi, Saitou scum," Enishi wanted to know, "are you really okay with this?  What if the rooster-head dies?"  ("Hey!")

Saitou shrugged.  "You can't kill him.  He's like a cockroach."  ("HEY!")

"Well that's no good," Enishi complained.  "The whole point of freezing the rooster-head is to test to make sure the process won't kill Battou--"  He paused.  Then a grin split his lips.  "Never mind.  Toss him in."

The unfortunate Edo troopers who dutifully approached were suddenly set upon by a screaming whirlwind of feminine fury.  Sanosuke's mouth dropped open as he watched his first mate bash in face masks and kick dents into the white armor.  Then he grinned.  "Go Megumi!  Go!"

"Stop, Megumi-san!" Kaoru cried, "You'll get hurt!"

"Don't you dare lay a single hand on my captain!"

"Beautiful," Sanosuke sighed happily.  Then he saw the butt of a gun coming down on Megumi's head.  He snarled, seized the bag of Yahiko parts, and flung it at the surprised trooper before the weapon could make contact.

"I'll get you for that!" Yahiko yelled from the floor, as a startled Megumi turned to Sanosuke.

"Sano--"

"Megu--  HEY!"  They had seized her and were locking cuffs around her wrists.  "Let her go!" he shouted, adding a few colorful words as he set himself upon the stormtroopers.  Of course, since his arms were bound he didn't get very far.  Someone struck him with what should have been a stunning blow to the head, but he merely turned, snarling and still upright, and lunged recklessly at his attacker.

"Don't you think this is getting out of hand?" Saitou commented, looking bored.

"No way!" Enishi cheered gleefully.  "Maybe we should skip the carbon freezing and stick 'em in a gladiator pit instead."

At that moment Sanosuke was knocked into the carbon-freezing chamber by an irate Edo trooper.  "Sanosuke!" Kaoru shouted.

"Sanosuke!  I love you!" Megumi cried, struggling in the arms of her captors.

"Urk," his voice echoed from the chamber, which was hissing more than ever as the giant magnet-thing began to move, "I think I sprained something...oh, wait, no, that's not what I meant to say!"  It was, however, the last thing he said.  With horrible noises, the chamber closed completely over him.

"Sanosuke," Megumi whispered, tears flowing down her face.  Then she frowned.  "That's the last thing you say to the one you love?!  You didn't even kiss me, you moron!"

When the block of carbonite was raised out, Sanosuke's friends could barely look at him, so horrible was the sight of what might very well have been the last moment of his life, captured in all its raw emotion.  Aoshi stepped forward and inspected the readouts.  "He's alive," he announced, his tone expressing no opinion one way or the other.

"Can those little blinking lights," Enishi asked urgently, "tell you if anyone could survive that, or if he's only still alive because he's a cockroach?"

"Shut up!" Megumi shouted at him from across the room.  "He is not a cockroach!  He's a brave man, worth far more than you!"

"Remind me to kill her later," Enishi told one of his Edo troopers.  "Well, Aoshi?"

"How should I know?" Aoshi said shortly.  "This is the first time we've ever used the process on a human being."

"Nrgh," Enishi growled.  "Oh well.  If Battousai doesn't die, I'll just melt him back again and kill him properly.  All right!  Get all this trash cleared out and reset the chamber!"

"First a cockroach, now we're trash," Kaoru growled as an Edo trooper pulled at her arm, "I forgot how much I hate this guy."

"Oh, by the way, Aoshi," Enishi said in his most evil voice, "I changed my mind.  I'm taking the tanuki girl and the kitsune girl with me."

Aoshi shrugged.  "Whatever."

"What?!  That doesn't cause you distress?!"

"Why would it?  I barely know them."

"...Oh.  Fine then!  Be off, all of you - I must prepare for my Ultimate Battle!"

"With Ken-san," Megumi muttered in disgust.  "I told him, and he didn't listen...."

Himura Kenshin made his stealthy way through the seemingly-deserted halls of Cloud City, searching for his friends.  He still had a really bad feeling about this, but it couldn't be helped.  "Kaoru-hime...Sano, Megumi-dono, please hold on...."

He suddenly ducked out of sight as a man whose hair resembled a bamboo curtain walked by, followed by a floating block of carbonite guided by a couple of stormtroopers.  When they had passed, Kenshin ventured out, only to be suddenly attacked.  The moment their blades clashed, Kenshin gasped - he knew this sword.  He knew this man--  Startled, looking up into cold eyes, Kenshin nearly screamed at coming face-to-face with a flesh and blood ghost from his bloody past.

"NO!"  Their swords rasped apart and Kenshin hurled himself at Saitou Hajime, hacking at him in a haze of fury, feeling his eyes burn gold as the faces of dead children came to his memory.

"Kenshin!"

Her voice tore him free from the past, even as Saitou's blade came slashing down.  Kenshin only just barely blocked it, and was slammed aside into a wall.

"I don't have time to play with you at the moment," Saitou said calmly - and sheathed his blade.  "Just stay out of my way."  He beckoned to the bewildered-looking Edo troopers, who hurriedly resumed pushing the weird block of carbonite after him.

Kenshin, torn between an old enemy in one direction and a new love in the other, hovered for a moment in panicked indecision.

"Kenshin!  Get out of here!  It's a trap!"

The children were long dead.  He could do nothing for them, attacking Saitou would not atone for their deaths - it was Princess Kaoru who needed him now.

Kenshin reeled around and flew in the direction of Kaoru's desperate voice, dashing right past confused Edo troopers with only one goal in mind:  Kaoru.  He had to save Kaoru.

The door swooshed shut over their faces, Kaoru's and Megumi's strained and frightened, the man with them cold and appraising.  Kenshin roared and slashed at the door, taking several seconds to remember that he had Hiten Mitsurugi-ryuu to rely on now.  The door finally burst apart - only to reveal an empty corridor beyond.

Growling, Kenshin stepped inside, all his senses sharpened to the utmost.  Something felt wrong....

He emerged into a dim chamber filled with steam-emitting machinery.  At the center of the room, a very ominous-looking pit waited--

"The Force is with you again, Himura...but you are a Jedi no longer."

Gritting his teeth, Kenshin turned to face Darth Enishi, saying nothing, though his sword was at the ready.

Enishi grinned.  "Now didn't that line sound very cool when I said it?"

"No," Kenshin said shortly.  "Where is Kaoru-hime?"

"I ate her."

Kenshin blinked.  "What?"

"Just kidding!  Actually that Aoshi person is about to rescue her, but who cares.  I'm going to kill you, Battousai!"

Something was wrong, something was wrong...if Kaoru was going to be rescued, if she would be safe, why was he here...?

Had Hiko been right?

Kenshin shook his head violently.  "Let this one see her, and Megumi-dono and the others."

"Didn't you just hear me?" Enishi snapped.  "I said I'm going to kill you!  Your eyes are supposed to turn yellow and you attack me, you're not supposed to just sit there and whine some more about Kako-hime this and Koru-hime that!"

Kenshin sheathed his sword for battoujutsu.

"Now that's more like it," Enishi said gleefully, holding his weapon at a strange angle.

Kenshin frowned.  "Wait a minute.  If you're a Sith lord, how come you use a steel sword instead of a lightsaber?"

"Are you kidding?" Enishi scoffed.  "Lightsabers don't make blood.  I like blood.  Especially yours.  Now come at me already!"

"But...we have to wait for a pin to drop or a bead of sweat to fall--"

"Grr!  No!  I wanna fight now!" and so they did.

Kaoru and Megumi, freed from the handcuffs, stared with their mouths hanging open slightly as Aoshi and his oddball goons wiped the floor with the Edo troopers escorting them to Darth Enishi's ship.  Then Aoshi turned to them and nodded coldly.  "There.  We saved you.  Now let's get going to Tattooine."

"What?" Kaoru said in confusion, "Why Tattooine?"

"Does it matter?" he said impatiently.  There was something there he wanted back, and rather badly, though he still refused to admit to himself how much.  "Let's just get going before we have to make our way to your ship through a blaze of crossfire."

"No," Megumi said determinedly.  "We're getting Sanosuke first."

"Believe me, he'll be long gone by the time you can get there--"  Aoshi sighed as he watched the women running off, trailing a protesting bag of droid parts.  Even Tsubame was clanking after them as fast as it could, calling the YA-10's name in distress.  "Figures...."  He turned to the Oniwabanshuu.  "Make your way to Tattooine while I handle these idiots.  I'll have the final plans worked out by the time we're able to meet up again."

"Yes, sir," the men agreed, and all went their separate ways.

Sure enough, Kaoru, Megumi, Aoshi, and the two droids arrived at the landing platform just in time to watch Saitou's ship taking off.  Megumi yelled furiously and blasted at it, to no avail of course.  Then, just as Aoshi predicted, they ran on again through a blaze of crossfire, desperate to get to the Sagara Falcon.

For Kenshin, battling Enishi was a very frustrating experience.  He had grown too used to being a master of his weapon in the old days, and afterwards had gone too long without fighting anyone, except Hiko, who even came close to his skill level.  Now, however, having to fight a skilled Sith lord with a sakabatou instead of a lightsaber....  As if that wasn't bad enough, he found that he no longer had access to the Force.  The flow was gone, and anything he gestured at was unresponsive, his powers dormant again now that he knew Kaoru was probably safe.

Cursing silently, Kenshin blocked and then tried for an immediate attack - and somehow found himself flying back into the carbon freezing chamber instead.

"All too easy," Enishi's voice echoed above him, followed by an ominous click just barely audible through the hissing of the machines.  "Now I'm kind of hoping you do survive...I wanna beat you up some more before I kill you!  ...Wait a minute...then why don't I just--"

Kenshin, who had been in the process of climbing out of the steam-choked chamber, gasped when Enishi's hand seized the front of his clothes and hauled him violently up.  Nose to nose, they glared at each other and thought angry thoughts.

"Why don't I just skip the whole freezing thing and beat you up for sure?" Enishi mused.  "Yes, that's a much better plan...that Aoshi scum tried to trick me into killing you too fast, I will get him for that.  Prepare to get bloody, Battousai!"

"You're the one who should prepare," Kenshin snarled.  He kicked against the inside wall of the chamber and vaulted up and around, twisting free of Enishi's hold and landing cat-like behind him.

Enishi grinned and rose, turning as he did so.  "Not bad," he purred.  "Of course you don't have a weapon anymore."

Kenshin punched him.

Howling, Enishi toppled over the edge of the platform, giving Kenshin time to scramble for his sakabatou.  "That felt really good, that it did," he muttered under his breath in satisfaction.  Then he leapt down after his opponent, only to find that he was alone.  "Oro?"  Frowning, he tried to sense out Enishi's ken-ki, and realized that the dark lord had moved.  Kenshin hesitated.  Should he follow the obvious lure and pursue Darth Enishi, or go back and try to find Kaoru?

"Come on, I'm getting bored here!" a voice shouted from the shadows.

Kenshin sighed.  "Coming, coming..." he grumbled.

Finding himself standing before an invitingly large window, Kenshin turned to find Darth Enishi stalking up to him, weapon at the ready.  It was not the sword which attacked first, however.  Kenshin, hearing the noise as a piece of machinery behind him was wrenched off the wall, whirled and raised his sword in defense.  The chunk of sparking metal crashed right into him and knocked him into the floor.  "Ow...ow...."

'You can't slash things in half anymore,' he reminded himself in exasperation, 'not unless you reverse the blade - you have a blade now, not a rod of light!  Don't forget!'  He climbed to his feet just in time to face another flying chunk of machinery, which he dispatched correctly this time.  Things were going well until the conveniently large window reached its limit, at which point glass shattered and Kenshin was drawn backwards by the sudden howling rush of air.  He was about to jam his sword into the floor to halt his progress, but Enishi chose that moment to kick him, and Kenshin went flying out the window to land painfully on the catwalk outside.

"Ororo...."

"Tsubame-chan, you're wonderful!"

Droids could not blush, but Tsubame's eyes were glowing a pleased, embarrassed pink as it was glomped by an impressed and delighted princess.  "Th-Thank you, Kamiya-hime."

"It's Kaoru," she laughed.  "You don't have to be so formal, Tsubame-chan!"

As the women and the droids hurried out onto the landing platform, the security code on the door having been deactivated by Tsubame's prowess, Aoshi finished the evacuation announcement and hurried after them (amidst the obligatory blaze of crossfire, of course).  Everyone scrambled to get to the cockpit, leaving poor grumbling Yahiko in the capable hands of a concerned Tsubame.  Megumi threw herself into a seat and said crisply to Aoshi, "Hands off my ship, if you don't mind."

"Forgive me for trying to save us some time," he murmured, scowling as he leaned back after he had finished programming Tattooine's coordinates as their destination.

"Can you fly this without Sanosuke?" Kaoru asked worriedly.

Megumi sniffed.  "Please.  He'd never have lasted an hour in this thing without me."

They had lifted off and were soaring away through the clouds when Kaoru suddenly stiffened.  "Wait - wait!  We forgot Kenshin!"

"So?" Aoshi said.  "He's Battousai, he can take care of himself.  Besides, he must have flown here in some sort of ship, he can leave in that."

"No!  No!" Kaoru shouted.  "Megumi!  GO BACK AND SAVE KENSHIN!"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" the beautiful first mate of the Sagara Falcon pointed out.

Kaoru looked outside again and realized that they had turned around and were heading back for Cloud City.  "Oh.  Uh...thanks."

Sparks flew every time their swords made contact.  Kenshin's battle fury was raging, but Enishi was a total monster.  They hacked and slashed at each other at crazy speeds, flitting around on the catwalk like deadly dragonflies.  Kenshin had far more experience than Enishi, but unfortunately for him, he was at a disadvantage from his incomplete training in his new sword style, and from languishing for years on Tattooine while Enishi had only grown stronger in the interim.

Their blades rang together one last time, and then fire shot up Kenshin's arm as his right hand was hacked clean off his body.  He cried out in surprise and pain and clutched his arm close to himself, watching in astonished horror as his sakabatou went sailing down into the abyss below, never to be seen again.  "No...."  Fire again, this time in his face.  Kenshin instinctively threw himself backwards and stumbled down, gasping as he raised a hand to his left cheek.  Blood was pouring down his neck, making his palm slick as he touched the cuts--

Two of them.  In the shape of a cross.

Kenshin's eyes widened.  A cross-shaped....  His disbelieving gaze shot up to the dark lord, who loomed over him.  "Enishi," he whispered.

Enishi did not attack - with his sword.  Instead he slowly lifted his hands and raised the mask away from his face, looking down at his enemy in grim expectation.  "Seen this face before, Himura?" he said quietly.

"Yukishiro!" Kenshin screamed.  Then, agonizingly blinded by ghosts of the past, "Tomoe!"  He was kicked hard in the head and lay still, wanting to die.

"Don't you dare say my sister's name," Enishi snarled at him.  "You have no right to say her name, you murderer!"  He flung himself to his knees and grabbed the front of Kenshin's clothes again, pulling back his other hand so that the tip of his sword hovered just before the stunned warrior's face.  "Die."

It was no fun to kill someone was just lay there, not even trying to fight or resist.  Enishi frowned, then lowered his sword and let go so that Kenshin flopped back, the cuts on his face bleeding steadily.  Tears were leaking down to mingle with the blood, and the sight of them made Enishi sick.  With a howl, he lunged back to his feet and kicked at Kenshin, who rolled away and right off the catwalk, into the abyss after his lost sakabatou.

He fell.  He fell for a long time, and then something struck him hard; he wondered if it was the ground.  He thought he might have blacked out, but when he blinked and realized he was conscious, he found himself hanging just below Cloud City, his remaining hand clutching the rigging that had caught him.  "You should let go," he told it.  The guilt was like worms, gnawing at his heart and trying to totally consume him.  He couldn't fight it.  Death waited just below, waited for him to let go.

So he did, and found himself still hanging, now upside-down, still gripping with his legs.  Tears and blood were leaking into his hair.  He touched the wounds on his face and thought of Tomoe and of all the other dead ones who reached up for him, trying to lay hold of him and drag him down to be at their mercy forever.  "To...moe...."

The rushing of the wind was growing louder.  Kenshin stared up at the underside of the floating city, trying to make his legs relax.  It was like his body was trying to not die against his will.

"So which is it, Battousai?"

Uncomprehending, Kenshin looked down and saw the Sagara Falcon hovering below him, a grim-faced man staring up at him, waiting.

"Make your choice soon.  There are enemies nearby...and that annoying princess will be charging up here herself if she has to wait too long."

The princess...Kaoru.  Kaoru.  Kenshin lifted his hand to cover his face, struck to the heart.  'Tomoe...I've betrayed you.'  He could see her face in his mind, gazing at him, unsmiling.  He couldn't bear that expression, so he looked down at the man again and made his choice, sick at heart.  "Help me," he whispered.

"I've got him.  Let's go."

As Megumi urged the ship back into motion, Kaoru sprang to her feet and ran to meet Aoshi in the corridor, who unceremoniously dumped Kenshin into her arms and strode back to the cockpit.

"Kenshin!" Kaoru cried, seeing his blood-drenched face and the way he was nursing one arm close to himself.  "Ken--"  She had reached for the injured arm, and was shocked to see that the entire hand was just - gone.  The stump was smoking slightly...severed wires were visible within the exposed wrist.  Kaoru lifted her eyes to his.  "You're a...cyborg?" she said in bewilderment.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, as if it was his fault.  His eyes were filled with so much pain, as if he could barely see her.

"No, no, it's all right, Kenshin," she quickly assured him.  "Come on, you've got to lie down, let me find Tsubame so she can tend to you...."  She got him settled, but he still seemed shell-shocked, the slashes on his face glaring luridly, his eyes blank.  "Kenshin," she whispered, "please."

"Kaoru-hime...I'm sorry," he murmured.

"For what?!  You didn't do anything, Kenshin!  What's wrong?" she cried.  He pulled her close with his good arm and held her, but didn't answer.  "Kenshin...."

Yahiko came awkwardly through the corridor, only partially re-assembled.  "Oi Tsubame, you gonna finish with me yet--?  Kenshin!"

It was rather disconcerting the way Kenshin stared at the droid for several seconds before recognition stole into his face.  "Oh...Yahiko."

"What happened to you?!"

"Uh...an Ultimate Battle with Darth Enishi?" Kenshin mumbled sheepishly.

"You look even worse than when we rescued you from the snow monster."

"Sorry...."

"Stop that!" Kaoru said in annoyance, wriggling free and knocking him (gently) on the head.  "Stop apologizing for everything, Kenshin!  It's not your fault."

"Everything is this one's fault," he said dully, so she hit him for real.  "Oro!  That hurt--"

"Stop being so stupid!" she shouted.  "What, you're taking responsibility for the empire, and Darth Enishi, and--?"  She broke off when she saw from the expression on his face that he was.  "BAKA!"

In the cockpit, Aoshi frowned and cocked an ear to the violent sounds coming from outside.  "Isn't it customary to refrain from further injuring people who are already injured?"

"It's Kenshin and Kaoru," Megumi said with a straight face.  "The normal rules don't apply."  She flipped a speech to activate the ship's comms.  "Everyone, prepare for lightspeed!"

Later, on a medical ship belonging to the rebels, Kaoru watched as the final adjustments were made to Kenshin's new prosthetic hand.  He dutifully submitted to the pain reaction tests and moved this fingers this way and that to ensure that the hand was working as fully well as a real one would.  Then he just sat there.

"Kenshin," Kaoru said softly.

He didn't look at her.  In fact, it seemed like he had been going out of his way to avoid her gaze ever since Aoshi had dragged him in from Cloud City.  "Princess...."

Kaoru hesitated, then reached to touch the new scars on his face, scars which he had refused to have treated.  They did not seem to be healing well....  At her touch, he winced but did not pull away.

Kaoru frowned.  'Masochist.'  "Kenshin," she said aloud, "what's wrong?  It's not like you to be so depressed after losing a battle--"  Actually, it was not at all like him to lose a battle, period.  She swallowed.  "Megumi and the others have already left...don't worry, we'll get Sanosuke back, and everything will be okay."

"Princess," he said softly.  "This one--"

"My name's Kaoru!" she shouted.  "Kaoru!  Not 'Princess'!  And look at me, before I chop all your stupid bangs off!"

Startled, he emerged from the safe haven of his bangs and glanced up at her.  He was aghast to find tears in her eyes.  "Kaoru-hime...I'm sorry."

She burst into tears, whirling away and plopping down to sit next to him.

He looked at her heaving back and hesitated, then lifted a hand and placed it on her shoulder.  He had to think a while before coming up with something that wasn't an apology.  "Kaoru-hime, maybe it's better if...if we don't...."

She stopped crying, her body tensing as she realized what he was trying to say.  She turned back to him and gripped his shoulders hard.  "Don't you dare," she hissed, "tell me to stop loving you.  Because it's too late - I can't, and I don't want to."

"This one does not deserve you," he whispered.

"Stop that!"  She started shaking him as hard as she could, until he had whimpered enough 'Oro's to reassure her a little.  "Stop hiding from me!  Either tell me what's wrong, or at least lock it up again and come back to me!"  She nearly cried again from relief as his arms came around her, holding her tightly.

"Kaoru-hime."  His voice was fierce now.  "You will live."

"Okay," she agreed cautiously.  "You will too, right?"  She pulled away a little so she could look at him, and was relieved to see him finally smiling - though it was a hard smile.  His eyes were hard too, taking in every line of her, his gaze covering her just as tightly as his arms had.

"It won't happen again...you will be protected, and you will live."

"If I live," she said pointedly, "I want to be happy.  I will not be happy if I lose you."

He hugged her again.  "Then this one will not be lost," he murmured.

She smiled, finally satisfied.  "Good."

To be continued....

Author's Notes:  The Saitou in this chapter didn't kill any kids (he wouldn't do that in canon).  Let's leave it at that for now.