Alpha and Omega
Summary: "And then Oguni Genzai wondered what kind of woman this little girl would be." Kaoru, from birth until the beginning of the series.
Rating: K+, I think…maybe…
Notes: I find a lot of stories on Kenshin and his past, Sano and his past, Megumi and her past...and yet, the past we know the least about, oddly enough, is Kaoru. We only know that her father is dead. Well…I decided to take the challenge, and try to do an in-character, realistic story of the first 17 years of Kaoru's life. I'm fairly certain it's going to be in vignettes, though I have no idea how long it'll be…we'll see, I guess.
Also, as a final note, this is strictly mangaverse—hence, we only get Kaoru's father's name and a tiny bit of history in the early volumes. And none of those two little kids that are Genzai's.
Prologue: Something there.
She was born screaming.
From the moment her head left her mother's body, she was screaming, as though she was in extreme pain or maybe glorious ecstasy. Not wailing, not crying, screaming.
It made her father laugh through his tears.
It made Oguni Genzai, wonder what kind of woman she would be.
Her mother was not expected to survive the birth; Keiko was small, and the child was early, and she had bled copiously, and it was her sixth pregnancy after all, and the first baby that had been carried past the sixth month. Even before she had lost consciousness she had welcomed her own death, a peaceful smile on her face, a last whisper: "You take care of her, Koshijirou, you hear?"
Her husband had clutched her hand as Genzai and his assistant helped birth the child.
She had died then, as the screaming child entered the world.
---
Genzai cleaned the baby off; she was small, too, even for being as early as she was, and already sharp, her wide blue eyes observing everything. Koshijirou watched him, his gaze shaking and unsteady on Genzai's back, and he wrapped the baby in a blanket and handed her to her father.
"What will you name her?" Genzai asked.
He had been the family doctor for years; he had helped birth Keiko-chan as a young man and had set Koshijirou's multiple broken limbs when he had been small; he had been present at the couple's wedding eight years previous and had wrapped five tiny, miscarried bodies in white gauze and set them in their arms. That this little one had survived was a miracle in itself.
Koshijirou paused, and looked down at the child. She blinked up at him, and lifted a hand to grasp his nearest finger.
The yound swordsman jumped, and then looked back up at Genzai.
"We decided on Kaoru," Koshijirou said. "If it was a boy or a girl. No matter what, we weren't going to raise her any differently."
"Are you going to teach her to fight?" Genzai asked.
"Of course!" the small man responded. "I'm going to teach her the basics, at least. If she doesn't like it, she can stop, I suppose." He looked down at the child, who was squirming in his arms. "I want her to like it, though," he whispered.
The baby, obviously looking for something to nurse, smacked Koshijirou in the chest with a tiny fist.
"She's got spunk," Genzai said, smiling.
"She'll gave me gray hair, just like her mother," Koshijirou said, referring to the premature silver strands at his temples. He was young, in his mid-twenties, and already going grey. He and Keiko used to joke, Genzai knew, that she had given him grey hair due to her horrendous spending habits. In truth, both were frugal and lived simply.
Genzai watched Koshijirou smile down at his daughter wistfully.
"If you need help," he said, "My older sister, whose husband runs the tailor's down the street, is about to wean her third child. She would be willing to feed little Kao-chan, if you desired."
Koshijirou nodded. "Yes," he said quietly. "That would be...good."
Genzai frowned. "Perhaps she should just stay here and help you cook," he mused. "She's a good woman. Just keep out of her way when she's cleaning." Koshijirou nodded, still looking at the little girl. Already, Genzai noticed, she had a stubborn chin so like her father's.
"She's got spunk," Genzai said again, resting a hand on Koshijirou's shoulder. "She'll be fine."
Koshijirou nodded, his face brightening a little. "She will be, won't she?"
The doctor touched his shoulder. "Why don't you stay with her? I'll sent Jun-kun after my sister and prepare Keiko-chan's body, all right?"
Koshijirou nodded.
Kaoru grabbed his finger again and tugged on it. Her round blue eyes met his.
He smiled. Blue eyes...how odd.
Kaoru tipped her head slightly in his warm elbow, as if studying him. It seemed like she nodded then, as if giving her approval (an action that was so perfectly Keiko that he trembled), and went back to looking for food.
Koshijirou blinked furiously as his daughter squirmed in his arms, and suddenly, he felt hope.
Maybe they would be all right.
TBC