Disclaimer: RK and its characters are property of Watsuki Nobuhiro. The story idea is my own.

Warning: The story will be rated a strong R, but will probably flirt somewhere between R and NC-17. I will try to keep things from getting too graphic to prevent the rating from going up, but graphic to me might be stronger than it is for others. All depends on your perspective. Very strong language, BDSM, mutilation, use of illegal substances, sexual references, darkness, general smuttiness, fetish, and overall content that some may find disturbing. This warning is here for a reason. I don’t want to hear complaints later if some of the situations presented disturb you. Use your own discretion. This is my first attempt at something like this…so we’ll see how it goes…

Rating: R

Pairings: Enishi/Misao, Sano/Misao, Soujirou/Misao, Kenshin/Kaoru, possibly others.

Summary: The year is 2225. Misao and her teammates are an elite group of soldiers fighting to save the war ravaged Earth. In the midst of the war, her own personal battle rages on. Three men offer her three very different relationships. One offers his undying love and adoration, one offers new experiences, and one offers her a sexual affair that dances between pleasure and pain and borders on obsession. Who will help her to discover herself and ease the darkness in her soul, and who will she choose to stay with in the end? (The plot is much more complicated than this and it is very hard to summarize. I hope you will give the story a chance. I will strive to keep you entertained.)

~~denotes shifts in time, **denotes shifts in character perspective, ‘(and italics) denotes thoughts

Misao’s POV.(Future chapters will rotate between characters.) A/U. OOC.

~*~*Dedication: This story is dedicated to Chibi-Nikoru, the winner of my “Ballad of a Lonely Heart” contest. Our relationship started with one small review and led to an uber-cool friendship that I hope only grows stronger with time. This one’s for you, Chibs! I hope you enjoy!*~*~

~*Desecration*~

Prologue: Lust

Year: 2225

Earth: Utero- Kincaid Military Base & Academy

I thought that I had forgotten, pushed the memories back into the farthest recesses of my mind. But all it took was one brief glance, one miniscule second in the endlessness of time, to bring the memories flooding back, washing into me like acid, tearing and shredding at my heart. The nights of darkness, the feeling of shame that clung to me like the stench of death in a morgue. I could never be rid of it. It permeated my skin, lived under my fingernails like some sort of fungus.

It all started innocently enough--petty rivalry, personalities that clashed like electric charges, exchanged looks of disdain in the hallways. We were the best, the chosen leaders of opposite teams. Our competition seemed almost natural, as if it had been pre-scripted, and we merely stepped into our roles, dancing around the stage of life like marionettes controlled by an unseen hand.

I hated him for his arrogance, his unshakable conceit. I despised the disparaging smirk that always etched his perfectly chiseled features. It was like a permanent sneer I could never escape. It haunted me.

I should have known that it would lead to something dangerous, something awful. I should have known that it would escalate to some unforeseen climax. To this day I curse my own stupidity.

But it was something nobody could predict.

Even after it started, it still seemed unreal, as if my spirit disconnected from my body and I was forced to watch a lifeless shell of skin, bone, and muscle performing acts I had never imagined, even in my darkest dreams or wildest fantasies.

I remember the day it happened. I had taken to waking early, practicing in the training halls while the rest of the base slept on. It was my defiance, my way of avoiding him and stealing away some time for myself.

But he found me that morning, in the farthest, most unfrequented training hall on our sprawling base.

He must have been searching for me or perhaps he had followed me as I jogged away from the dorms. Whatever the case, I had finished my calisthenics to find him lounging against the wall, eyeing me with that smug expression on his face.

For a moment, I had stared at him in surprise, blinking slowly as he started forward, turquoise orbs raking over my body in open appreciation.

He stopped inches away from me, and our eyes met, holding for an eternal second before everything seemed to explode.

We fought like the fate of the world rested upon the result of our personal feud. I punched, kicked, bit, slapped, and he struck back at me with merciless force. Our genders never came into play. The fact that I was supposed to be the weaker, more fragile sex never entered our thoughts, but in the end, his weight and considerable bulk gave him the advantage and I found myself pressed to the mats, a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of my busted lip.

He held my wrists above my head in a painful grasp, a look of feral lust racing across his features.

Beneath him, I bucked and struggled, panting from exertion, ribs aching dully. He never even flinched, merely moved his knees to straddle my legs, and leaned down slowly.

I carefully resisted the urge to flinch as his face came towards mine, bracing myself for the worst, the fate that seemed inevitable.

Words cannot describe the shock that coursed through me at the first touch of his tongue, gently rasping away the crimson liquid dribbling down my chin.

My eyes went wide, my body tensed, but he ignored my reaction, continuing to calmly lave my skin clean before nibbling at the corner of my mouth.

“What the hell are you doing!?” I demanded. My voice was trembling. To this day, I cannot say whether it was from outrage or desire.

“What does it look like?” he murmured against my lips, his warm breath washing over me.

“Get the hell off of me!”

I felt him smile against the skin of my throat, and suddenly his legs were between mine, his pelvis pressing forward roughly.

I could feel his arousal, hot and hard, even through the layers of our clothing.

“I’d rather get inside you,” he said, voice laced with amusement.

“Fuck you!”

“No, baby,” he whispered, hands releasing my wrists to further part my thighs. “Fuck you…”

I can’t remember exactly what happened after that. My memories are hazy. But I can recall the feeling of his lips on mine, tongue thrusting into my mouth, dominating me. I can remember his hands tearing off my clothes, his seductive voice muttering obscenities in my ear. I remember his touch, surprisingly gentle. I remember my anger, my hate.

I remember kissing him back.

When it was over, he pulled his pants back up, smirking down at me briefly, and left without a word.

I sat up with a wince. There was blood on the whiteness of my thighs, pooling on the dark mats beneath me. I struggled to my feet and went into the shower room, stepping into a stall and turning the spray on full force.

I can’t remember how long I stood there. It could have been minutes; it could have been hours.

That was how it all began. That is how I started down the path to my own destruction.

All of this flashes through my mind in less than a second. When it is over and my eyes finally focus, I am left staring into a pair of aquamarine orbs that gleam eerily with mockery and cruelty. The air is thick, heavy with a thousand unspoken sentences, and time seems to freeze.

I am unprepared for this. I had no idea he was out of prison. I had no time to brace myself, and once more I am left defenseless to his calculating gaze.

He has always read me so easily, and the situation is no different now.

I watch his lips twitch, the corners curving upwards in his usual scornful sneer.

“Y-Yukishiro,” I stammer out, the very word choking me as I force it past my throat. “I thought you were still in lock up.”

He moves towards me, and I curse myself inwardly as I give into my trepidation and take a step backwards. My entire body jars as my shoulders strike the wall behind me and I am brought to an abrupt halt.

His grin widens and he braces a muscled arm on either side of my head, leaning forward until his lips brush against the sensitive skin of my earlobe.

“Things change,” he whispers. “I’ve come to re-apply for the program.”

“They’ll n-never let you back in,” I stutter, desperately wishing I could melt into the wall and vanish.

“Oh, I think they will,” he murmurs, one knee lifting to part my thighs, ignoring the fact that we are in a brightly lit, well traversed hallway and can be discovered at any given moment. “I have ways of getting where I want to be. It is almost too easy…”

He feathers his lips over my chin and I work up my courage, summoning a protestation, “Leave me alone. It’s finished.”

“No, baby,” he says softly, sinking his teeth into the tender flesh of my throat and biting just hard enough to cause pain without breaking the skin. “It’s not finished. It will never be finished.”

“I—“

My words break off as his fingers suddenly wrap around my neck, squeezing brutally and lifting me until I am left balancing on the tips of my toes, desperately attempting to keep my weight from strangling me.

I raise my hands to clutch at his wrist, raking at the exposed flesh of his arms with my nails.

He flinches slightly, his grip tightening, but he never loses that mocking smile.

“You know it will never be over,” he hisses into my face as I fight the urge to gag. “All I have to do is crook my finger and you’ll be back in my bed, sucking my cock like the stupid little whore that you are…”

His lips smash onto mine with ferocious cruelty, and I whimper as I taste blood, the metallic substance flooding my mouth.

“That’s your place,” he murmurs as he pulls back, his thumb brushing over my swollen bottom lip. He raises the digit to his mouth and laves away the blood—my blood—that has marked his skin scarlet. “That’s the only place you belong. The only place you’re worth anything.”

“What the fuck is going on here?!” a voice demands suddenly, and the relief that races through me is so intense that I fear I might faint.

He releases me with a smirk, nonchalantly straightening his jacket and he turns to face my saviors, my friends.

Sanosuke’s chocolate eyes are narrowed dangerously, an expression of undiluted fury marring his handsome features. Beside him, Kenshin stands, violet eyes wide in his pale face.

“Sagara,” Enishi says, making the name sound suspiciously like an insult. “I would have thought they would have gotten rid of all the idiots by now…”

“You son of a—“

“Have you been reinstated, Yukishiro?” Kenshin interrupts calmly, stilling Sanosuke’s forward lunge with a small hand.

Enishi glares down at him contemptuously. “That’s none of your goddamn business.”

“This base is accessible to enlisted officers only,” Kenshin murmurs, keeping his voice level. “Shall I call security to escort you out?”

“Or would you prefer to leave in a body bag?!” Sanosuke shouts, large hands balled into fists at his sides.

Even at their identical heights, Enishi manages to seem as if he is peering down his nose at the younger man. “Try it and see how long you last against me, boy.”

“You—!”

“I know that you were here for an appointment,” Kenshin says quickly, staying Sanosuke once more. “You were to leave immediately afterwards.”

“I—“

“I also know,” Kenshin interjects calmly. “That your parole will be revoked if you cause a disturbance here. And I doubt you would like that…”

Enishi says nothing to this, his mouth curling downwards in disgust. He turns on his heel, casting a mocking glance in my direction.

I haven’t moved from my position, my chest rising and falling rapidly. I must look like a frightened animal, caught unaware in the headlights of a speeding automobile.

He gives me one final smirk--a promise for the future, a promise of the reoccurrence of events I have struggled so desperately to push away--and stalks down the hallway, his voice floating back to ring hollowly throughout my ears, “I’ll be back.”

Three words. One threat. For which one of us, it doesn’t matter. The foundation I have labored to build has been broken. The floodgates have been reopened.

My own personal hell has returned.

TBC…

Thanks for reading! Please review and tell me what you think! This fic is very much A/U, so differences in personalities are a given.

I would like to thank all of those who have visited my humble website! As a thanks, I will be awarding the 5,000th visitor with a one-shot or short fic featuring the couple of their choice. Please keep an eye on the hits when you visit. If you see you are the 5000th visitor, email me immediately. The first email I receive after the 5,000th hit is the winner! ^_^

~Midori

It is time for the Rurouni Kenshin Readers Choice awards once again! Nominations are open! Go to the following link to nominate all your favorite fics from 2002, but be sure to read the guidelines so you won’t find your nominations rejected!