As the Red Ribbon Falls
A Rurouni Kenshin Fan-Fiction
By Princess454
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Chapter 1
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It was a normal day. Of course it was. Apart from the current battle going on, it was a normal day.
My uncle's dojo was getting fewer and fewer of its students back; all the young lads were being shipped off to war and other military related businesses. Since I was ordered to stay put and care after my mother, I didn't have to worry about going off into anything scary like that. I could enjoy a relaxing walk to my uncle's dojo and back, like today, and not have a worry in the world.
I had worked up a good sweat today and my uncle praised me well. I could see in his eyes though, his ever growing sadness. He tells my mother that he's afraid of closing up the dojo for good. The government is asking for his help, and has been for awhile. But if my uncle goes, I wouldn't have a dojo to go too, and stay in shape. Plus his wife, my aunt, has many children to care for. All my little cousins, it would just break my uncle's heart.
I was thinking about my uncle's worries on my way back from the dojo. I thought I could worry about him, seeing as I had no worries at all. But today might as well be the only relaxing day I'll get for a long time. I knew something was up when everyone started acting nice to me all of a sudden. Not that no one acts nice to me, but everyone has to have some rivals. There is this boy who picks on me; he thinks it's wrong that I practice at a dojo so often. I know more arts of fighting than he'll ever know in his entire life. But all the same, he thinks he is better than me. I encountered him today, on my way home.
I was walking and noticed him. He was carrying flowers, and helping his elderly grandmother down from the steps of the flower shop in which he had come out of. He gave me a frightened look all of a sudden, then after that I couldn't read any more emotion out of him.
I held back a sneer, and a witty greeting. I was five years older than him and I know what you must think of me. But still, that kid was a brat. He wasn't acting like that today though. I thought maybe because we had an elder in our presence, but for some reason I knew that wasn't it.
"Good day," I greeted as I strolled by. The grandma nodded and the boy just darted his eyes away from me for a moment, then looked me in the face.
"Miss Nikoru. I've heard around town that you mustn't leave your sick mother alone for so many hours in a day. Yet, you still go to that dojo to practice," He said finally. I was taken aback by his polite way of addressing me, but he still made a point that I shouldn't go to a dojo.
"I know of my mother. Today was a good day; she felt so good I could've taken her with me to watch her daughter in action. But I did leave early after all. Are you implying that I do no care for her enough?" I asked. He scowled but his grandmother took his arm, cutting him off from saying something back.
"Come, let's go home. I hope your mother really does get well Nikoru Dear. If she ever needs a cheer up, I'll bring her some flowers," The old woman said, walking away with the boy. I nodded and continued my way home.
I wondered if the boy was right. Was the town gossiping about me not caring for my mother enough? I think they just don't want me to practice such manly arts. Then again, there were loads of girls who went to the dojo. Putting those unnecessary thoughts aside, I stopped by a small market to buy more tea herbs, the sky displaying proudly that tonight will most likely be a cold one.
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When I came home, my mother was sitting at a chair, reading. She looked pale as always, since she was sick, but had that unmistakable twinkle in her eyes that she believed everything in her world was perfect. Sometimes I wonder if she even cares about being so sick, and knowing she will never get better. I'd go crazy finding out such a thing, but my mother was casual as well as calm about everything relating to the subject. With my father going off to fight in the battle of Toba Fushimi, you'd think she would also be saddened. He has been gone for a long time, but his last words to me were still fresh and clear:
"I'm going now. I know you are old enough to care for yourself alone as well as your mother, whom you know needs more care than anyone. When I come back, I'll be ever so grateful to see your faces again, but until then I'm counting on you." Then he had patted my head, and had simply gone.
I've kept my promise; Mother is being cared for by me and with the help of our few house servants. When Father does come back, which I hope will be soon, I know he will be pleased to see that Mom is still healthy and awaiting his return. Secretly, I know Mom is trying her hardest to stay strong, merely to help me in convincing my dad that I could have cared for her easily.
But of course it wasn't easy. Sometimes she was so sick, I had to request help from the servants, and all this sometimes during the middle of the night. I couldn't even look at her sometimes. She'd be vomiting and shaking, and it was as if I was watching some other woman take over. When the doctor is sometimes called upon during the worst stages, after he's gone everything is calm again. Mother is back. The monster that she was hours ago was long gone…until next time.
She doesn't know it, but sometimes her sickness really hurts me as well. When she's in a really bad state, I sometimes blame myself. It's not my fault, I know, but there's always that idea in the back of my head that I could've done better; I could have done more for her. But thankfully her last episode was awhile ago, and none had been coming back. She was so well that she could read on a chair, like she was now, or walk for awhile.
"Nikoru darling, what's in the basket?" Mother asked as I came nearer and placed the small basket on the table.
"Tea herbs. Tonight will be pretty cold, I know you'll need as well as like them," I replied. As if on cue one of our favorite servants, a young maid named Mei, came in and took the basket to take to the kitchen.
"How is your uncle?" Mother asked closing her book. I helped her get out of the chair, and she also placed a hand on the table for balance.
"Fine, I guess. He told me I'm doing very well with my practices, but when I look at him, it is on his face as clear as day that he wishes he were praising more students and running a successful dojo once again like in the old days," I replied. "I think he might just leave after all."
"Oh…how very disappointing. If he does leave, what dojo will you go to next?" Mother asked. My mother supported my training and thought it a good source of exercise and discipline for a young lady, especially during these times. She herself, as a young girl before marrying father, would help out and teach others at her father's dojo which is now my uncle's and her brother's.
"I…I don't think I'll go to any," I replied finally, not looking at her. She stood firmly on two feet now and let go of my arm.
"Not one Nikoru? There are many good ones other than my side of the family's dojo. Why is it that you give up on the idea so easily?" She asked trying to get me to look at her.
"This is not the time to be worrying about such things. We are on the brink of the Revolution; you're sick and I must stay home more often anyway to care for you. I would be doing well for both of us and keeping Father's promise as well," I explained and finally did look at her.
"If it is me you're worried about, you know I'm fine. When you go to training; that is when I sleep, so when you come back I'm feeling better. And also, the government's actions are for them to worry about, and not a mere eighteen year old girl such as yourself." Mother gathered my long light brown hair in her tender hands, and stroked the side bang that hides my left eye away from my face so I could see her with both my eyes. "You have such pretty green eyes. Why do you hide one, so as the other one is all alone?" She asked for the millionth time.
"I guess it makes my training more challenging for a change," I replied jokingly and in reply as well I also took my hair back from her, continuing to have that wavy bang hovering in front of my eye. I knew it drove her crazy, she always said I should pin it up like everyone else, even though she herself wears her long hair loose on her shoulders. But then again she never leaves the house, though I never remembered her pinning it up, even before she was sick.
"Tell Mei to make that tea now," Mother said faintly as she walked slowly to a sitting carpet. I did tell Mei, and after putting all my stuff away and taking a quick bath the tea was already set up and I joined Mother. The night went on as if it would never end, and nothing troubling would interrupt it. If only that were true.