1. The Beast
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Once upon a time, in a small peasant town people had always love to talk. And that is why, she reluctantly guessed, that is maybe how all the rumours had started… A lovely seventeen year old girl named Kamiya Kaoru like to read novels than to indulge herself in daily gossips of town…
There was one legend, however, that could not escape Kaoru's sense of bravery.
The village spoke of a mysterious beast.
They told such cruel stories to their children, frightening them off and preventing them from venturing too far from town and looming the forest outskirts. They spoke of a man who is described as cruel and heartless. Kaoru heard that this man resided outside of the town, isolated in a very dark forest. Everyone spoke about his evil actions, everyone describe him nothing but cold and ruthless.
They said that this beast was living alone in his castle, hiding from the outside world but only went out to ravish and kill innocent people. When someone is missing, people began to blame that they were taken by this beast…
This beast however has a name…
A name that is very famous and when someone had heard of it, a one's eyes will be widen in fear…
Hitokiri Battousai…
But Kaoru shook off her head from those non sense stories. She laid off her Little Red Riding Hood book on the table as she immediately grabbed her cloak and went to mount on her horse.
Her thoughts about the beast was the last thing on her mind as she followed the dark path in the forest. Her father had been missing in three days. She already asked for help in town but no one really wanted to help her out. Everyone is telling her that her father was a tough samurai, maybe he only travelled somewhere and he'll return home soon. No one from the town had really cared about her father anyway…
She was worried… really worried and all her fear and nervous was all she felt when she saw her father's travelling cloak hung by the tree branch.
"Father…" Kaoru whispered.
As she travelled deeper in the forest, she saw a distant castle loomed like a nightmare from the moonlight. As she reached the gates of the castle, Kaoru's face was filled in horror when she saw his father's sword trust on the ground. She nearly passed her breath when she held his sword and saw some traces of human blood.
She ran and made her way inside the golden gates. Kaoru banged the massive doors repeatedly and shouted with all her might, "Father! Father!"
But no one came to open the door… Alas, she gently pushed it open, hesitantly to go inside. The room was large and dark. She can barely see the staircase and the air was very still and quiet. It was warm as she stepped inside, the goose bumps rising on her skin as her mind think about the beast.
"Father…" Kaoru called again, her voice echoing off on the wide expanse of walls.
Realising she was alone, she now run in the hallways desperately searching for him. But everything was still dark and she get lost along the corridors. The castle was very huge.
At last, she heard a faint coughing and gasped as it followed up a dark and winding staircase. Kaoru rushed up to the stairs and realised it was a tower. It was a darker and mustier place.
A shoji door met her and she slid it open. The room was made with stone, cold and damp; hay was scattered all over the floor.
"Kaoru!" she heard her father gasped as he stifled another sickly cough.
"Father!" Kaoru rushed towards him but only to find out that he was bound in chains in the corner of the room.
"Kaoru, my darling. What are you doing here? You must leave now! Run away as fast as you could!" her father yelled and tears form in his eyes.
She touched his ice cold hand, "You're freezing!" She commented and tried to think of anything to break the chains that bound in his father's arms. "I won't go home without you! Who did this to you?"
But she jumped in surprised when she heard the shoji door opened with a brute force and slam shortly after with the same strength.
"Who dares to enter in my home of solitude!" someone said in a deep and loud voice. She turned around to see the source of that voice but she couldn't see anything other than his face was mostly masked by the shadows. "What are you doing here?" He asked angrily, his voice deep.
"I-I came to find my father! He has been missing from over three days. Please release him, he had done nothing wrong to you!" Kaoru begged.
"He trespassed on my property and therefore, he was now my prisoner. It was his own foolishness that landed him here." The man said.
"But you need to let him go, please… forgive him!" She told him, begging.
"You have no right to tell me what to do, Lady…" The man replied and revealed his sword. The sword was shining from the darkness…
"But who are you?" Kaoru asked as her eyes fixed on his sword, she feared the worst…
The man grinned and put the edge of his sword in her throat. "I am the master of this castle so I will do whatever I wishes. Now I'll give you minutes to leave this castle and spare your life. Your father will rot here until he dies!"
"But sir, he is old and sick! He can't stay here, he won't survive here!" Kaoru exclaimed, her voice coated in fear.
"That is not my concern. Now leave!" The man yelled and grabbed Kaoru's shoulder. His grasp on her was so hard and painful and it made her cry.
"Wait! Please…" She begged but the man did not pause to drag her away from his father's grasp. "Take me instead please! Just let go of my father!" She added.
The strange man paused. He turned his face to meet hers, his gaze bored at hers…
"You wish to sacrifice your life for him?" he asked.
"No, Kaoru! Don't do this!" Her father desperately begged from the distance. "I won't let you die just for me, please darling, stop this…"
But Kaoru remained silent as she gazed up the dark figure. The man grabbed a torch from his pockets and lit the lamp to shred the shadows made by the darkness. The light had revealed his face…
She gasped at the sight in front of her. He was very beautiful, if he was not cruel, Kaoru will think of him as a price in shining armour… The man has a crimson red haired which was very long that it was tied up in a ponytail. His face is really perfect but his cross scar on his left cheek ruined it. His eyes were the most beautiful shades of violet she had ever seen, it stares at her with cold and empty feeling. His jaw was firm and strong, an accenting feature on his face. He wore a black robe and red hakama, his presence took Kaoru's breath away…
"Fine. You will be more a use to me than this old man. I was planning to rot him here." He said and grabbed a set of keys from his pocket.
Relief swept in Kaoru as she saw the man free her father from the chains.
"You realise that you are giving your freedom, your very own life to me…" The man said as he turned to her.
Kaoru nodded sadly and now, her father was fully released.
Her father stood abruptly and pulled Kaoru in a warm and tight embrace, tears falling from his grey eyes. He never got the chance to say anything when the strange man grabbed him roughly and pulled him away.
"You will never give me a chance to say goodbye to him?" Kaoru asked, crying. She told her father and screamed that she really loves him.
"Quit all this drama!" The man answered as he slid the door shut in her face and she collapsed on the hard ground with defeat.
Alone in the world, alone from anyone else, Kaoru began to sob and wept only more. The reality took her in, that she was now a prisoner in the clutches of a cruel man's hand…
The door opened once again and it was that man.
"What's your name?" he gently asked her who was now sitting and crying on the floor. He was now on his knees so their height will be even, his violet eyes stares at Kaoru's blue ones.
"I'm Kaoru... Kamiya Kaoru…" Kaoru answered.
His hand reached her cheeks and caress it, his lips somehow touching the hollows of her neck. "Kaoru? It's a very lovely name. It means fragrance, wasn't it?"
Kaoru trembled in fear. "Stop this nonsense! Was my father now safe?" she asked and pulled away from his touch… "You do not have the right to touch me!"
The man twitched in annoyance. "You're only demanded to answer my question, not to give me a question!" he yelled.
"How could you be so cruel? No one has right to tell me what words or phrases I should speak!" Kaoru replied, very annoyed and frightened at the same time.
The man grinned, using his left hand, he forcefully held Kaoru's throat until she found it very hard to breath. His eyes roaming her body, his lips near to her ears, "You need to behave properly or you will be punished harshly. Do what I say and I'll let you live and see your father again…" The man whispered and released her.
Kaoru cough. Her blue eyes gaze at his figure near the door…
"I am Hitokiri Battousai and I am your master now." The red haired man said and slid the door shut. Kaoru heard that he locked the door from the outside.
His name was the last thing on her mind, Kaoru now realised that a cruel man like him deserved to be called as "The Beast…"
It was now dark and cold. The white snow started to fall from the dark sky like her tears started to fall from her very eyes…
End of Chapter
Author's Note: Hello lovely readers. This is my first Kenshin/Kaoru fan fiction. I always write for Aoshi/Misao fandom and I realise that I need to write something for KenKao for a change. This is my second fairy-tale fanfiction, my first one is A Cinderella Story: RK Fairytale. You can check out my profile to read it if you please.
How was the first chapter? Do you like this? I planned to make this story dark and exciting, some languages and actions are not suitable for young readers. But you can still read this, of course. The choice was still yours.
Kenshin or prominently known as Hitokiri Battousai will be dark in this story but I will still manage to keep his character in check. I hope that all of you love this.