The Lady and the Tramp
Disclaimer: I don't own Kenshin or the basic story line but I did twist it into my own version so there!
Kaoru Gal: okay people! I know I already have too many stories, so many I can't handle them, but I really wanted to test this idea out! If you guys don't like it I won't bother updating it and stuff because I have all my other stories to look after anyway.
Soujiro: Kaoru Gal could really use some feedback on this story, so be cool and cast a review! It doesn't hurt!
Kaoru Gal: Before I start I'd like to say that this story WON'T be following the story line of The Lady and the Tramp. Just warning you.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The story is set in modern time; Kaoru just uses such formal manners and speech because she was brought up to do so. The kimono she has to wear is for the sake of the occasion. Her family may seem too traditinial for modern days...but that's just how it is so if you've got a problem with that screw you.
Full summary: 4 words uttered so carelessly from her noble mouth. 4 words that were held against her by the young tramp that saved her. 4 words threw her into his open and eager arms. 4 words, "I'm in your debt."
Noble girls weren't supposed to be curious. And if they were they were expected to hide it. In that area this certain girl was lacking. Her delicate features and wide blue eyes gave you the impression of a shy respectful girl who kept her pretty eyes down cast. But then she would surprise you when you turned to look at her. Her face would be held high and proud her gaze unflinching and steady. That set her apart from the others.
It was this young girl's birthday today, the day she turns 17. Thus our story begins.
"Kamiya-dono! I'm afraid that you will miss breakfast if you don't wake up soon!" a snappish maid warned rapping her fist against her mistress's grand door.
From the other side the young lady was sleeping in a very uncivil heap of blankets and legs. "My god, it's my birthday! Does that not permit me some sleep in?" the bundle of bed sheets groaned forgetting all manners.
"No it doesn't." the maid snapped storming into her room, throwing open the oak wardrobe.
"Well it should." She grumbled pulling the blankets off her face revealing a disheveled yet still pretty face.
The older maid clucked her tongue in exasperation. She clapped her hands summoning an aid. Immediately a small girl around 12 years arrived. She bowed deeply before grabbing a silver comb and pulling it through the birthday girl's long mane of black locks.
She winced. "Ayame, that hurts!" she protested.
The girl gave her a sympathetic smile. "My apologies my lady. But it must be down." She continued pulling the wretched comb throughher manyknots until the mass of hair turned glossy and straight.
The older maid nodded and laid out a fancy kimono full of under dresses. "This is what you're expected to wear."
She scowled a feeling of dread creeping up on her like it did every other morning. "But it's so hot out! That must be about 7 layers of clothing!" she exclaimed her eyes staring at the outfit.
"Well then you need not go outside!" the maid snapped stomping out of the room not bothering to bow.
"Shall I assist you in dressing?" Ayame asked tensely.
The girl shook her head needing a moment to be alone. Ayame bowed once more before she rushed out.
The youngmaiden sighed. She had spent her whole life watching others rush away from her. Don't worry, she was used to it.
"Kaoru! Where were you?" her father snapped as she slipped into the dining room taking a seat at the end of the table.
"Father," she bowed respectfully. "I was dressing of course."
"Yes but does that really take 3 hours?"
"Of course, if you want it to look right that it. Surely you're not asking me to rush myself and end up looking sloppy."
He sighed. "Clever you are."
Kaoru grinned and grabbed an apple but caught the disapproving look from her father and took a dainty bite. "So father, I was thinking about my presents…"
He cut her off, "Of course I haven't forgotten!" he clapped his hands and a manservant stepped forward from the shadows carrying a narrow box.
Kaoru looked up at her father as she took the gift. He was smiling. With a sigh she pulled it open and glanced up. "A necklace…"
It wasn't just any necklace it was a beautiful necklace. A thin chain holding up a small white glass lily. She held it around her neck and fumbled for a moment trying to fix the catch.
"It's lovely father, it truly is, but…" she started again.
"Yes dear?"
"I…I would like to…go outside." Kaoru announced bravely though not daring to look into his face, afraid to see the answer.
"Of course dear, there are a million different gardens we have, just explore those." He brushed her off.
Kaoru sighed impatiently. "No that's not what I meant. Besides I've been through all of them anyway."
Her father's handsome face twisted into a worried frown. "You want a new garden for your birthday. Well, I do wish you had informed me before today, that way I could have arranged for it…but it is your birthday so I'll see what I can do." He raised his hands on the verge of summoning his manservant.
Kaoru reached across the table and clutched his hands in hers. "No father. You misunderstand me…I wish to go outside these walls. Outside the fences too…"
A silence filled the great dining hall even though her heart was beating wildly like a drum. "Please!" she begged softly catching his brown eyes with hers.
His face was full of thunder. "How many times must I say this? No! You are the daughter of a noble! So act like one! Noble girls like you do not go outside the walls! Does this mean anything to you?" he pulled himself away from her.
"I'm just curious! I've never seen what it was like out there!"
"You don't want to. That's why there are walls. We care about your protection. Now be good and drop this topic." He warned.
Kaoru stared up at him angrily but said no more. After all she had long expected this answer.
"It's unfair." Kaoru cried angrily into her pillow listening to her mother sing. Her mother always sang when she combed her hair.
"Life is unfair." Mrs. Kamiya commented now plaiting her long black hair.
Kaoru sat up and watched her elegant mother sitting calmly below her. "Were you ever like me when you were my age?" she asked sliding off her sleeping platform to sit next to the older woman.
Her mother smiled thoughtfully as she looked back upon those memories. "In some ways yes. I certainly remember having a few of the younger servants calling me 'Yuk'. Since my name is Yukino, I used to beg my father to change my name." She chuckled.
"Did you ever go outside the walls?"
"Not until I was married to your father. And even now it's best to take someone with me."
"Doesn't it get frustrating?" Kaoru asked fiddling with her sleeves.
Her mother shook her head. "It wasn't for me, I spent too much time singing to notice the outside world…but everyone is different."
"Yes…everyone is different…" Kaoru echoed wondering how she could possibly be the child of such a beautiful patient lady.
"I just want to know," she protested.
"In time I'm sure you'll understand why we can't allow this." Yukino answered standing up to leave.
Kaoru watched her mother's shadow moved across the room and exit.
"It's unfair," she argued to the wall. "I'm not going to run away or anything. I just want to know what it's like."
Kaoru stood up indignantly. It was unfair! She was just simply wondering and they won't let her even do that? Well, she'd show them. She'd go beyond the walls anyway, and they would never know…
"Ah, Battousai. What are you here for?"
A young man, perhaps around 18 years, looked up as he heard his name. Amber eyes glared in annoyance from his dirty but otherwise handsome face. "What do you want?" he spat.
The man who addressed him satbeside him,ignoring the icy stare he was receiving. "Usually you come here when you need to tell me something."he took a long swig from his beer bottle.
"Or it could be that I'm here for a simple drink." The amber-eyed rouge answered scraping the dusty bar table with one dirty fingernail.
The man beside him let out a loud mocking laugh. "That will be the day. Now really. Tell me what you need," the man looked at him suspiciously. "Or are you here to get with thattan girl who you've been eyeing for a while."
"She doesn't interest me anymore."
"Already got her then?" he asked looking impressed.
"No. I lost interest in her type. They're all fowl dirty creatures." He growled shaking his long red ponytail.
"Like you?"
Battousai scowled glancing at his tall brown-haired companion. "Piss off Sano."
"That hurts."
"Don't you have something better to do?"
"Don't you?"
"…"
"So what did happen to that cute girl from yesterday?" Sano asked with a knowing smile.
Battousai stood up with a clang causing a few blank looks from the tramps around them. "I'm going." Hesnarled daring anyone to object.
"Hey, hey! I meant no harm! What's with you anyway, you never been sensitive about girls before. Why the sudden change?" Sano protested.
Battousai turned withdark amusement in his eyes. "I know that I deserve so much better then this bunch of…" he cast a disgusted look around at the women in the bar, "junk."
Sano looked taken aback by this sudden statement but his rough scowl melted into a joking smile. "Himura, look at yourself. You're a dirty tramp, like the rest of us. You're no different…you deserve nothing better or nothing worse then what you have now." His voice was calm and soothing as if he was merely scolding a stupid child.
The short man swung around, red hair swishing angrily. "I will claim something better." He snapped before striding out of the room, not caring to look as the fatuous grin on his friend's face turned into a grimace.
Battousai stomped out of the bar into the blazing heat of Japan. The narrow streets were unusually empty, save a beggar or two slumped against the molding wall of a building. He ignored them and they ignored him. One look at his tattered pants and dirt-smudged shirt told you he was common rouge just like them. Nothing special.
But he didn't choose for this life, no one did. He was tired of walking the same miserable roads filled with miserable people. Sometimes he would spend hours watching from a distance the finer part of the city. All those people…so completely different from him it was as if they were a whole different species.
A long growl erupted from his stomach reminding him of the days he spent without food. He grinned and turned in the direction of the market place, time for a little bit of action.
"Ah, such a pretty face like yours is incomplete without these!" an old woman rasped holding out a pair of gaudy earrings.
Kaoru shook her head and pulled her hood higher over her head making sure that the shadows cast by her hood obscured her azure eyes.
"Ah, are you sure my dear?" she insisted, her grimy eyes peering into her face.
Kaoru nodded wondering how this wretch of a woman had gotten her hands on such apparently expensive earrings. "I'm okay, thanks." She assured the lady before moving away.
The outside worldreally wasdifferent, nothing she had expected…everything seemed so dirty and unfamiliar. Maybe she should be getting back. Kaoru turned in the direction of home pondering on ways to sneak back in.Suddenly ahand grabbed her shoulder and spun her around roughly.
"Haven't seen this face before!" a tall man leered at her.
"Such pale skin! Spent your whole life inside then, haven't you?" another commented grabbing her chin in his rough hands.
"Let go!" Kaoru demanded swatting their hands away, backing up until she felt her back connect with a wall.
They chuckled at her anger and moved closer. "You act pretty high and mighty now for a street girl…"
"Excuse me? What did you call me? I am NOT some whore!" shegasped keeping the fear out of her voice.
They laughed and grabbed her arms. "Matters not." She thought she heard one of them murmur as they pinned her against the wall. They were too close now, much too close. So Kaoru did the first thing she could do, she closed her eyes and screamed.
'No one's going to help me!' she thought losing herself in the hopelessness of the situation. She was alone, in the bad part of the town where no one cared what happened to anyone else. So there she waited, waited for their touch. But nothing happened.
Fearfully she opened her eyes slightly then gasped in surprise. The three two men lay on the ground, bleeding and bruised heavily. A short boy around her age was standing over them with a smug look on his face as he casually bit into the red apple held lazily in his hand.
Kaoru stepped forward carefully lowering her hood. "Thanks…who are you?" she asked slowly letting her big eyes travel up and down his form. He was shabby, but his face was delicate and he had amber pools for eyes.
He grinned at her as he noticed her staring. She blushed and muttered an apology for her rudeness looking down at the ground. "It's okay, you weren't the only one admiring sights…" he said lazily.
"Um…I'm…Kaoru," she finally said deciding on not revealing her last name.
"Pretty name. I'm…" he grinned at her. "Battousai."
Kaoru cocked her head to one side. "That isn't really your name, is it?"
His eyes hardened. "It doesn't matter."
"Well…Battousai, I guess I'm in your debt." She said awkwardly thrusting her hand out to him.
He stared at her hand for a moment, and just as Kaoru began to sheepishly lower it back to her side he grabbed her wrist and pulled it up to his eyes.Her palmwas soft and unscarred. "You don't live around here, do you?" his eyes caught hers daring her to lie.
"Erm…well…I do live close to here." She fumbled trying to ignore the way his eyes glowed when he heard those words. She offered him a nervous smile then glanced down at her hand still clasped tightly in his fist. He didn't let go.
"In my debt, huh?" he echoed with a small smirk twisting at the ends of his mouth.
Kaoru shrugged distractedly and started to try and twist her wrist from his hand. "Um, my hand?" she hinted.
He made no motion to let go. "Can I hold you to that?" his eyes pierced hers.
"Hold me to what?" she answered wearily wincing inhis iron grip.
He smiled and let her wrist go, watching her stumble backwards against the wall. "You'll see…Anyway, I'm guessing you're from the higher part of town…"
Kaoru gasped and her fingers automatically raced to her necklace. She shook her head.
Battousai laughed. "Don't lie. It's obvious. From your jewelry, your pale skin, and the fine craftsmanship." He ran a finger down her cheek.
Kaoru's eyes flashed indignantly and she flinched away from his touch. "Pardon? I'm not an object."
He smiled. "Of course."
She narrowed her eyes trying to figure out if he was mocking her or not. "You going to try and mug me then?" she said coolly letting her hands fall away from her neck.
"Of course not. Actually thought I couldgive you a taste of my world."
She sniffed at the invitation. "Your world? Haven't I seen enough for one day? Seems my parents were right…"
He held out his hand to her, blood red hair swaying about him like fire. "No my dear," he smiled, sending shivers up her spine. "What you've seen so far isn't even half of it."
And with some hesitation she took his hand.
Kaoru Gal: Thank you for reading this! If you liked it please review, if you didn't please review and say what I could do to make it better. Please don't flame, it makes me sad.
You guys better review if you did like it, it was a whole nine pages! Besides, I need to know if I should continue.
Review please and rock on.
KG