Hi there. This is my first story so please be lenient, but I am willing to face any constructive criticism that you throw at me. Let me know what I need to improve or add.

I do not own Rurouni Kenshin overall.

None of this is plagiarized.

So yeah. Enjoy…

Once in a Lifetime

Chapter 1

I am the princess everyone loves.

My life is filled with happiness and laughter.

I was taken from my home of Ryel by a tyrant.

He made me his.

He thought me a pleasure slave and a female to bear children.

My heart has closed to him.

I do not wish for his heart

And I do not wish to be with him.

I am Kaoru Kamiya, Crown Princess of Ryel.

The babe within me grows with each passing day. I have not yet reached my third month, but I notice that I am gaining motherly instincts. I, however, yearn for the activities I could do before I was with child. I could no longer walk far or spar under the watchful eyes of my husband and servants. I am no longer allowed to hold a knife or pour my own medicine, for they fear that I would harm the babe. They watch me like a lioness with her cubs. Such attention irritates me, especially the attention given to me by my husband.

When he had first captured me, I was only a whore in his eyes, a pleasure slave and a woman with a young and innocent body that had yet to be corrupted. Now, he sees me as the woman I am: an expecting mother and a young lady with bitterness and hatred that is directed at him. He woos me, pampers me, and even claims to love me. Ha. I will die laughing if he meant it.

Now, as I gaze out my window that faces the horses' pasture fields, I think about my family. How I longed to tell them I am with child. It matters not to me who the father is. I know they will be grinning with joy at my conception. Mother would take me to go shopping in the marketplaces and help me think of names. Father –I chuckled- would stare with his mouth agape, shocked at the knowledge, but would bark out his laughter with no humiliation. Aoshi would...I stopped. My heart dropped. My beloved Aoshi Shinomori, the Captain of the Palace Guards and Second Advisor to the King. It had only been a day after his proposal that I was kidnapped. We were supposed to wed next month.

Unbeknownst to my husband, I keep a small charcoal picture of Aoshi, his most precious necklace, and my engagement ring. I was not allowed to keep objects that would remind me of Aoshi, for my husband is a jealous and possessive man.

"Married women should not hold onto keepsakes that remind them of past loves," he had snarled at me. "You are mine and mine alone. No one is to have you but me."

I scoff at his words now. I had been kidnapped because my father would not give my husband what he wanted, what it was I don't know. Apparently after a year, my husband still kept me, believing that my father would trade me for what he wanted. What Father has that my husband doesn't must mean that this object is more than special.

I have become familiar with the back of my husband's hand whenever he was displeased with me. When I would mention Aoshi or speak of anything that relates to Aoshi, my husband would snap and take me aside to teach me a lesson. It is unpleasant and uncomfortable, but I am used to it now. The worse beating I received was when he found Aoshi's engagement ring hanging around my neck. Aoshi's favorite hawk had delivered it to me one early morning with a message of Do not be afraid, I will get you back soon. It was during this time that I was actually frightened of my husband. His eyes turned a bright gold with flecks of red, his face contorted into a devilish glare, and his hands became steel fists.

It was during that time that I was pregnant with my first child. Yes, the child that I now hold within my body is my second, not my first. I had miscarried during my husband's relentless beating. I had never told him. Kimiko, my husband's favorite old kitchen lady chef, told him. I had never seen my husband so devastated and hurt. His face was covered in sadness as I would reject his touch. He had sent so many flowers to my room that it was literally like a wild garden that was not tended to for a while. The only time that I allowed my husband to come near me and impregnate me was because of the lecture that I received from Kimiko. My husband was not the same after that.

I am the king everyone fears.

My past is drenched with blood and corpses.

I have taken a princess from her home.

I have made her mine.

I once thought her a female that serves for pleasure and bears children.

But now my eyes have opened

And I wish for her to see my vulnerable heart that is held in her hands.

I am Kenshin Himura, King Battousai of Liere.

I watch my wife of a year and a half sit by the window of our room and gaze outside. I can see the longing in her sapphire eyes. My free-spirited siren. She who has never been caged is caged. A beauty like no other from the inside and out, she captures both by heart and attention. I have already ruined our first chance together by kidnapping her from her family. And I have left our relationship hanging by a thin line when I assaulted her and killed our unborn child.

I did not mean to kill our first child. I did not know of it until my favorite maid, Kimiko, told me. Words cannot express how devastated and shocked I was. No, it was more than devastation and shock. It was something deeper. But I was also hurt that my wife kept the child a secret from me for four weeks. Did she not want me to be a father? Did she want me to be left in pain, knowing that my child would never know his or her father?

Ha. How can blame her? I took her from her family; it is only fair that she takes my child away from me. Now she is pregnant with our second, only because of Kimiko. Bless my favorite maid. She had been a second mother to me and raised me when my parents could not. She kept me partially sane throughout my bloody past. Though many of my advisors and guards and servants have left out of fear, it is Kimiko who has shown not one indication that she would leave. In fact, she is the only person who I fear and who my second half Battousai fears. Though Kimiko is kind and loving at heart, her temper is renowned. She mothered five children and has nine grandchildren. Her husband, Xuzyan, had long left this world. He, too, was a favorite of mine and a man I deeply respected. He had fought beside my father in many battles and gained the position of First Advisor and third in line to the throne should something happen to me, even though Xuzyan didn't want the throne.

But how can I show my beloved wife that I truly love her? I have told her and shown her many times, but she scoffs at me. She tells me, "How can you truly love someone if you've taken away that person's own loves of her life?" Many days I have pondered over this. And many days I have thought of returning her to her family. But I know she will never come back. I know she will never let me see my baby. I know she will pass my baby as Aoshi's.

Oh how I long to be Aoshi. He holds my beloved's heart and vice versa. There is no room in my wife's hands to hold my heart. She would rather feed it to the sharks than hold it. But if she would hold my heart and have a glimpse of how true my feelings are for her, it would not matter if she disposes of my heart. Just as long as she knows.