A/N: Sorry for the lateness of this chapter - did I say my troubles were over? You know, I really should keep my mouth shut about such things - as soon as I thought stuff had finished breaking, the internet went kaput. Hence the tardiness of the chapter.
Anyway, as I mentioned at the end of "A Christmas Heart", this story was written around the same time as "Reflections", but due to a whim on my part (in other words, I reallyreallyreally wanted to post "The Bureau Files") it was delayed until now. So, as with any of my older stories, I'm a little critical of this story, but I enjoyed writing it and I think you guys will enjoy reading it.
So now I present the first chapter of, "Blade's Edge"!
Cat.
ooOoo
"Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good.
Luckily, this is not difficult."
~ Charlotte Whitton
x
Chapter 1: Double Act
"No."
The young woman growled and leant over the desk at the officer. "I'm good," she insisted. "Really good. My father is–"
"I don't care whether your father is the king himself, young lady. The truth remains that women are not permitted to fight in the King's Guard," the officer recited in a rather bored, yet smug, voice. "Now, please, move aside. There are men waiting to sign up."
The brunette slammed her fist down upon the table in an action of last defiance before turning away and heading back the way she'd come, walking away from the queue of men who had all just witness her humiliating rejection. A few wolf-whistled, others made some scathing remarks.
"That's right, girlie, get back to the kitchen!"
"Leave this to the men!"
She slowed, barely resisted the temptation to turn back around and challenge them. 'The sad thing is, I'd probably beat them if I did,' she thought venomously. 'That is, if they'd even accept it.'
She kept her pace up, afraid that if she lingered, she would react to the men's taunts. As it was though, her hand lightly touched the blade that was strapped to her side.
'Another time, maybe.'
ooOoo
"So, did they accept you?"
The young woman let the door slam shut behind her. For several seconds her face remained neutral-calm, before she gave a vicious, well-trained kick into the wall beside her.
The man sitting across the room in a wheeled chair didn't take his eyes off the paper he was reading. "I'll take that as a no, then. Are you quite finished?"
The brunette straightened herself up; the neutral expression returning. "Yes, Father."
"Good. You know that wall is not designed to withstand such abuse."
Despite herself, she grinned. "Sorry, Father."
"Alright. As long as you're willing to rebuild that wall when it collapses, Haru, I'll let it go for now. Now, come and help your old man with this crossword puzzle."
"You must be getting bored if you're resorting to the crosswords to keep you occupied," she commented as she collected the various crockery debris scattered on the table beside her father.
"You have no idea. Okay, the clue is: an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident."
"Length?"
"Eleven letters and the third letter is an 'r'."
The young woman laughed as she dumped plates and cutlery into the sink. "Why, that's easy. It's serendipity." After a pause, she laughed again and added, "Well, that's something which I evidently don't possess. Okay, anymore?"
"Well, there's this one – to provide a room and sometimes with food. Again, eleven letters."
"Accommodate?"
"Yes, I thought that too, but the seventh letter has to be an 'o'."
Haru paused, counting in her head. "The seventh letter is an 'o'," she eventually said doubtfully. She moved away from the sink to peer over her father's shoulder. "Yes, see? You've forgotten to put an extra 'm' in."
Chuckling, the man scored out the word and corrected his mistake. "It's a sad day when my own daughter has to check my spelling."
"I read," she said stiffly, moving back to the sink to finish washing up.
"Hm, evidently a hobby you picked off your mother. She always had a book on her – when she wasn't sowing, that is."
"Quilting," Haru amended. "It's called quilting. Honestly, do you still have to call it that even after she's... after she's..." Haru made a sudden choking sound and quickly wiped away the tears that had escaped past her guard.
"Haru..." Her father put down the newspaper and motioned for her to come closer. "I'm sorry. You still miss her, don't you?"
Nodding, the brunette allowed her father to pull her into a warm embrace. "I know it's been a month, but still..."
"I know. I miss her too. But she wouldn't want us to always be weighed down with grief. As she's quoted enough times; carpe diem."
"Seize the day," Haru translated, smiling weakly.
Daichi kissed his daughter's head. "Yes. I'm sure she'd throw some other literary quotes at our heads if she were here too. She'd tell me to stop moping about my legs and you to keep your head up. Now, why don't you practise your skills with that blade of yours?"
"But they didn't accept me," she whispered. "I'm going to have to find another job, but because I'm a woman they won't pay well. And I need to get a decent job. With Mother gone and you having to give up your job in the army after the fire... I need to make enough money to keep us afloat. But I don't see how I can do that. We have enough saved to keep us okay for a little while longer, but soon..."
"I know." Daichi's hands moved to readjust the blanket covering his legs automatically when his daughter mentioned the fire last month. The woollen blanket hid his legs, but still it was possible to notice that they weren't quite as straight as they should have been. His hand came up to stroke Haru's head. "You sound as good as defeated."
Haru brought her head up. "I might as well be. They won't accept me because I'm a girl." She dragged herself to her feet, resisting the urge to kick something. Again. "And I can't change that." Eventually she gave in to the impulse and gave the wall another kick for good measure. "It's so unfair! I'm just as good as any of the men – you've been teaching me since I was a kid and I have the determination, the skill, the ability, but they won't even give me a chance! I'm so sick of being judged because of my gender!"
Daichi was watching the brunette, a sly smile slipping onto his features.
Haru paused. "Uh-oh, that looks like you've got a plan."
The smile widened. "Haru, how would you like to be a boy?"
ooOoo
"It looks like it should be a little tighter."
"It's as tight as it's going to go!" Haru hissed. "Honestly, this is worse than a corset!"
Her father raised an eyebrow. "Coming from you, that's a pretty big insult."
"You bet it is! I can't breathe as it is!"
"Well, unless you'd like to explain why you're a guy with a bust, that's going to have to be tighter."
Haru huffed and retreated into her room. "Okay, I'll fix it." Once the door was shut, she pulled off her top and checked the bandage wrapping around her chest. It was meant to bind her bust and so hide the most obvious sign of her gender, but so far she was beginning to feel it was more effort than it was worth. Her father had already trimmed her usually-short hair to an even shorter length in a more masculine style and she still had to become accustomed to the absence of her hair no longer tickling her shoulders.
She pulled her top back on and checked her reflection. There – she looked slightly more masculine than she had before now. It was a pity that her eyes were so wide and feminine though – but there was little she could do to hide that.
"Are you done?"
"Yes." Haru returned to the main room of their cottage. "How do I look?"
"Better, much better. Could you look a little less in pain though?"
"I'm sorry," Haru said shortly. "It's just going to take a little time for me to adjust to this. I hadn't realised breathing was optional."
"No need to get bad-tempered, young lady. This is for your benefit."
"Humph," Haru muttered. "Personally I don't see how I'm going to be able to wield a weapon, let alone fight, like this."
"Practice, my dear. Now, what else do we need to deal with?"
Haru motioned to her eyes. "What am I meant to do about this? My eyes look the same as ever."
"Well, short of placing really thick pair of glasses, not much. And if you wear glasses, that'll suggest you have impaired vision, in which case they're unlikely to accept you anyway." Her father thought for a moment. "Have you considered an eye patch?"
Haru laughed. "What, for both eyes?"
"You would look like a pirate," he teased.
"I would look blind."
"Look, just try... not to look too feminine."
"And how do you suggest I do that?"
Daichi paused. "Well, maybe you should resist fluttering your eye lashes..."
"I don't do that anyway!"
"Okay, true."
"The last problem is what I should call myself."
"Call yourself Haru."
"I can't do that."
"And why not?"
"Haru is a girl's name! That would be nothing short of advertising what I am."
Daichi laughed. "In fact, it's more commonly used as a guy's name. When you were born, everyone kept assuming you were a boy and it took quite a while before people stopped making that mistake."
Haru opened, then closed her mouth. After a pause, she added, "Really?"
"Yep. Naoko never quite forgave me for persuading her. Do a spin so I can see how you look."
Haru obliged.
"And try not to look like a two-year-old practising ballet, for goodness sake," Daichi added as Haru returned to face him. "Guys do not prance; they do not skip and for pity's sake, don't forget yourself and start squealing if you get happy."
"I do not squeal," Haru said flatly.
"You know what I mean. Oh, and don't go kissing any guys," he added, nearly as an afterthought.
Haru reddened. "Father!" she hissed.
"Even if they're very charming and very handsome–" Daichi stopped as a pillow was thrown at him. "What?" He hesitated, a nervous expression passing over his face. "Naoko did give you the talk about the birds and the bees, right?"
Haru stood with another pillow, poised for a second attack if needs be. "Yes, Father, she did," she said in a tight voice. "I do know better than to kiss a guy while disguised as a guy. Give me some credit."
"Right. Good. I think that's everything covered on that particular topic..."
A still extremely reddened Haru just huffed. "I think so."
"I have some of my old clothing from when I was a lad – you can go and borrow some of that stuff."
Haru made a face. "Father, that stuff is old. I'm going to look like some hand-me-down kid."
"Just borrow them for a short while, and once you have some money, get some new stuff. Anyway, don't you get a uniform?"
"I think so."
"Good. Right, time for you to head off. Take Taro with you this time."
"But he's your horse..."
"I'm not going to be riding him any time soon," Daichi said, slapping his legs for emphasis. "Take him – he always liked you better anyway."
"Okay." Haru moved over to her father and hugged him in an impulsive embrace. "Daddy?" she whispered, calling her father by her childhood name for him. "Thanks. This means the world to me."
Daichi chuckled. "I know. Now, go and show those boys who's boss."
Haru released him, smiling. "Will do."
ooOoo
"Name?"
"Haru Yoshioka."
"Yoshioka..."
"That's right. Sir," she added. She was trying her best to be respectful to the officer who had rejected her on the grounds of her gender only a few days ago. She had let several days go by to ensure that he wouldn't recognise her, although by the look of it, she needn't have bothered. He wasn't really sparing her a glance.
"Yoshioka... Are you related to the General Daichi Yoshioka, by chance?"
"Yes. He is my father. Sir."
"I didn't know he had a son."
Haru stiffened and when she next spoke, she had dropped the pitch of her voice. "We... didn't always see eye-to-eye," she lied desperately.
"Hm." The officer leant back in his chair, turning around to the assistant who was currently sorting out a box full of files. "Hey, Juro, you know General Yoshioka?"
"The one who was crippled after that fire a month ago? Yeah?"
"Did he have a son?"
The youth who was barely a few years older than Haru made a face. "Well, now that you mention it..."
Haru suddenly crossed her fingers behind her back.
"I think... he did have a child called Haru... Yes, it was Haru. I've got a second cousin on my father's side with that name, that's why I remember it."
The officer laughed. "Is that the cousin who you're always complaining about?"
"Yes; he's a right little terror."
Still chuckling, the officer turned back to Haru. "How old are you, lad?"
"Eighteen."
"I see you've already got a weapon; are you any good?"
"Yes. My father taught me."
"I thought you said you didn't get on?"
Haru floundered. "It was one of the few things we did agree on."
"Hm." The officer didn't seem persuaded, but apparently it wasn't worth his time to mull over. "Right, boy, you're in. Go through and get your horse stabled and collect a uniform. Practice starts at seven tomorrow, sharp."
Haru bowed. "Thank you. Sir," she added, as an afterthought. She tugged on Taro's reins and passed through the archway, coming into a large courtyard. A little delirious as she took in the clean surroundings, she hugged Taro's neck once they were out of sight.
"Yes! We did it!"