Author's note: this has some strong language and lime but not terribly much. I don't own RK as much as I would like to admit ownership. This is purely for kicks and giggles and I do not intend to profit financially from this writings. A pity, the stuff I do write for selling is not nearly as good as the fanfiction stuff I create. Such is life.
A deafening roar violently jerked Kaoru awake. Her well-trained reflexes acted instantaneously, sending her rolling across the expansive bed in a tangle of sheets, limbs thrashing and wide eyes darting about for the source of the noise. Hitting the floor, she scrabbled away from the bed, her kicking legs propelling her backwards until her back crashed against a wall. As Kaoru's eyes raced around frantically, she saw that the noise was coming from the other side of the room where a strange man was bellowing violently into a large, ornate mirror. "MAAASSTEEERRR!" the man roared angrily, shaking the mirror between two clenched hands.
Kaoru took in the scene in a heart-thumping millisecond, and three very startling questions crashed over her. One was Why the hell am I naked? as she realized that silken bedsheets were wrapped around her very nude body. The second one was Why the hell is he naked? when a glance at the stranger revealed that the man had no clothing on save for a thick mass of disheveled red hair that hung down to his waist. The third question, a confused grammatical jumble of Holy cow, where AM I? and What the hell's bells is going on?, rolled around inside Kaoru's frantic mind as the mirror swirled and the shape of a man appeared in it.
"Baka deshi, stop your bellowing," a sardonic voice filled the room. "The last thing I need this early in the morning is another one of your complaints."
The red-haired man gripped the mirror as if he wanted to pulverize it between his clenched hands. He growled and let loose a string of low-toned but colorful invective.
"I don't see what you're complaining about," the other man retorted. "She's obviously quite suitable for our purposes and from the looks of things, you two are...ahem, admirably compatible. So enough yelling. Get yourself dressed and come to the dojo. We have work to do." The mirror shimmered and the man disappeared, leaving behind only the reflection of the furious redhead.
Snakelike, the man whipped around and faced Kaoru. Kaoru made a strangling sound in her throat as a furious blush rose in her cheeks. Like her, the man was divested of his clothing but unlike her, he had nothing between his skin and the tense air swirling around them. Kaoru gulped. She had never seen a naked man in the flesh before and had hoped her first encounter with one would be in the context of love and romance, not one of of mass confusion, rank embarrassment, and potential danger. For as her embarrassed eyes quickly lifted upwards from his bare frame to his face, she saw gleaming orbs of pure amber staring at her violently. Tension and fight was evident in every muscle twitch, his body poised for conflict; Kaoru was surprised his thick hair was not raised up in challenge.
Kaoru automatically reached for her bokken, her fingers grasping nothing but silken cloth. Then her eyes fell upon a elegant katana resting on sword mounts above the big bed. Saved! she thought, but the man's eyes pinned her in her place. Despite her fighting skills, Kaoru suddenly was overwhelmed with the impression that if she and the man both went for the katana at the same time, she would hit the floor very dead.
As Kaoru's mind furiously tried to formulate a decisive course of action, the man's furious expression suddenly disappeared and a confused one took its place. "Oro?" he bleated out, looked down quickly, then frantically dived for a pair of pants on the floor. "Suimasen, Miss, please forgive me!" he gasped out, holding the clothing over his nether region as crimson poured over his cheeks. Despite the tension, embarrassment, and confusion of the moment, Kaoru noticed fleetingly that the man bore a strange cross-shaped scar on his cheek that his furious blush emphasized. "I am so sorry, Miss!" he blurted out, backing away from Kaoru while trying not to look directly at her.
Kaoru yanked the sheet higher up on her chest and hugged her arms into herself as the man scooted backwards, bowing at the waist, face almost as red as the messy hair swooping around him. "Please...I...gomenasai...I must go now, but please...um, er, make yourself at home...I'll explain later..."
"Wait!" Kaoru yelped. "What's going on? Why am I here? I..." The only answer was the rapid shuffle of feet and the slam of a door closing.
"Dammit!" Kaoru screamed for the lack of anything better to do. She thought briefly about running after the man and demanding an explanation, but her current state of dishabille and her vivid memories of his previously violent expression kept her in place. Instead, she settled for taking out some aggression by pummeling the luxurious bed mattress with a frustrated fist.
Crash! The dojo doors burst outward, slamming against the walls with a deafening judder that nearly shattered them. Seijuro Hiko took another calm sip of tea and watched in mild interest as his obstinate pupil marched towards him with blood in his eye.
Holding up a hand to check the flow of abusive words and harsh questions sure to come his way, Hiko barked out, "Sit down."
Kenshin faced his master, planted his feet and let loose a string of words beginning with, "MASTERIHAVENEVER...!"
"Sit down, I said," Hiko repeatedly firmly, snapping his fingers. Kenshin's legs collapsed neatly underneath him and he found a cup of steaming tea in front of his knees. Shaking with anger, he picked up the cup, smothering a deeply felt desire to jam it directly up his master's nostrils.
"As far as what I was thinking, you have no real need to know because as your master I have a perfect right to do whatever I think is necessary to my stupid pupil," Hiko responded smoothly, sarcasm edging his tones. "As I recall, you came back to me begging to complete your training and out of my great generosity and kindness, I have been doing so. However, we have begun to exhaust the limits of your ability. You will not reach complete mastery of Fire Magic on your own power. Thus, I have arranged, shall we say, a complementary force to assist your training."
"Complementary force?" Kenshin repeated, his hand so badly with rage that hot tea splashed over his hakama. "Master, there is a naked woman in my room and..."
"And that is a problem, why?" Hiko responded. "Most men would be absolutely thrilled with such an unexpected turn of events." He quirked a brow at his sputtering pupil and smiled thinly, "Although I must say you, ahem, rose to the challenge with astonishing alacrity. Rather unexpected for a man blushing so deeply after simply being in the same room with an unclothed female."
Kenshin's brain was rapidly losing track of its far too tenuous grasp of reality. He had very little recall of last night's events. Hiko had set him loose for the evening to amuse himself and Kenshin had found his way to a quiet bar, intent on nothing more than a few drinks and maybe a round or two of darts. He had dim memory of a second glass of beer and a dazzling set of blue eyes that had smiled at him rather shyly, then everything went fuzzy.
Glaring at his master, Kenshin demanded, "What happened, Master?"
"Don't be ridiculous, boy, you ended up in bed naked with a naked woman, do you really need me to fill in the blanks?" Hiko responded.
Kenshin's face resembled a freshly-picked tomato, and his normally tenor voice squawked into a falsetto. "I...I mean...how...what...?"
Hiko smiled bemusedly, "Never underestimate the combined power of alcohol, hormones, and a little magical assistance, baka."
"But...I...why?" Kenshin squeaked.
"Simple," Hiko responded. "You needed to Soul Bond with her. She's an ideal match, really: complementary element, strong chi, sword skills, although admittedly nowhere near your abilities. However, a Soul Bond was the only way to unit all these strengths together for your benefit. Without it, she would not be that much useful to our purposes." Hiko took a sip of tea, then grunted, "Besides, I knew that left to your own devices, it would be months before you made the Soul Bond. I merely...encouraged its culmination."
"Encouraged?" Kenshin repeated incredulously. "I don't remember a damned thing from last night! What the hell did you do, Master?"
Hiko waved his fingers dismissively, "A useful little spell, helped along by beer and the beating of youthful hearts. Come, don't tell me I haven't chosen well for you. She's a pretty little thing, isn't she not?"
Kenshin gritted his teeth as unwittingly a memory roared to the surface: a pale-skinned woman with a river of glossy black hair, eyes blue as a summer sky, and silken sheets wound around a graceful frame. He remember how her cheeks flushed in shame and embarrassment as she looked at him standing in front of her, the full Monty, and how tension and dismay was edged in every graceful line of her fine form. "Yes," he spat out grudgingly.
"Then why all the fuss, boy?" Hiko shrugged dismissively. "Things will right themselves out, no worries. In the meantime, your training is waiting."
Kenshin set the cup down with a thump, never more grateful to face his master with a drawn sword. He had no intention of holding anything at all back today. "Yes, Master," he said darkly, reaching for the katana rack.