Disclaimer: Neither of us owns Rurouni Kenshin. Well, the anime/manga. Sakura owns Kenshin himself, though. *nodnod* Be honest, now. If we owned the anime, would we be writing FANfiction? And wouldn't the Jinnchuu Arc had been completed?
Red and Black
A Rurouni Kenshin Fanfic by Sakura and Amaya
"Have you asked of yourselves
What's the price you might pay?
Is it simply a game
For rich young boys to play?
The color of the world
Is changing
Day by day...
Red - the blood of angry men!
Black - the dark of ages past!
Red - a world about to dawn!
Black - the night that ends at last!"
~Les Misérables
Sakura jabbed the iris into the delicate vase with a sigh. It was accentuated by Amaya's accompanying moan of boredom. No matter how beautiful the large garden they sat in was, the two friends could only withstand the ceremonial flower arranging for so long. After all, the flowers still went into the vase the same way now that it had been ten years ago when the two friends had moved to Japan.
Besides being neighbours, the Harrington and Malat families had been close friends back in their native Ireland. In 1854, Mr. Harrington and Mr. Malat had been transferred to Japan for business reasons. Naturally, their families had gone with them, including two six-year-old girls who had changed their names from Colleen and Jenny to Sakura and Amaya.
Once the initial culture shock had worn off –which took a few years- the girls found they actually preferred living in Japan. The company their fathers worked for owned a large home just outside of the city of Kyoto.
The home was in the traditional style of the area: one story, with large airy rooms, a sloping blue tile roof, and a wide wooden plank porch that wrapped around the outside. The building took up a large square of land, as it was designed to accommodate several families at the same time. It was big enough that the center of the square was removed to form a kind of courtyard.
Mrs. Malat and Mrs. Harrington, both being avid gardeners, had appointed themselves to turning the area into a lovely pleasure garden for receiving visitors and spending the daytime. Several ponds had been put in, connected by earthen walkways and quaintly painted wooden bridges. Koi filled the water, swimming lazily about the floating lilies and avoiding the tiny falls. Elegant vines and flowers filled the air with sweet perfume and bright riots of colour. Cherry trees, in honour of Sakura's name, lined many of the pathways.
On one side of the house were the Malat's sleeping rooms, with the Harrington's on the opposite end of the garden. Kitchens and rooms for entertaining were at the middle of the building, on each side of the garden.
Because the sky had been clear and bright after lunch, Sakura and Amaya had been shooed outside for the afternoon. Both fidgeted. That had been almost three hours ago. As Sakura carefully pushed a slender fern into the centre of her arrangement, the stem snagged on her finger and palm callouses.
Despite Japanese women of the town being very sheltered, the girls had managed to talk both their parents and the sensei of the nearest dojo to let them be trained. Sakura and Amaya had begged their parents for something to replace the beloved horseback riding of the homeland. Unfortunately, with martial arts training, the teens had to agree to sit through daily sessions of flowers arranging and the tea ceremony as well as the lessons they had already been receiving.
Learning the basics of the tea ceremony had been simple enough, but the equally basic flower arranging was still extremely dull after almost ten years.
"Okaa-san?" asked Amaya. "May we go to the dojo now?" Her mother looked at the vase of irises in front of the girl.
"Put that in the dining room, and then you can."
"Me too?" asked Sakura.
"Put yours with Amaya's, and it's fine," her mother agreed.
Walking as quickly as possible in the awkward geta shoes, the teens hastily bowed their thanks and left the room.
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After changing out of kimonos in to hakama's and gis, the girls walked to the dojo. Amaya looked at the soon to bloom cherry trees.
"They should bloom soon," she commented.
"Yup! I can't wait for the festival!" said Sakura. "Now we just need to find some nice guys to take us."
Amaya giggled, then sighed. "Yeah, but every good-looking guy around here is either taken or is busy with trying to clear out the Inshin rebels."
"I know. What's so bad about the Inshin Shishi anyway?" Sakura pondered. "As far as I can see, they kill less innocents than the Shinsengumi do."
"Hush, girls," came a familiar voice. They had reached the dojo, and the young man in the doorway beckoned them inside. "You'll have your families targeted if you aren't more cautious!"
"You hush Hojo," Sakura snapped playfully. "You know I've never been soft spoken." Hojo, the owner and grand master of the dojo, had been friend with Amaya and Sakura ever since they had moved to Japan. He was only about five years older than they, and treated each as if she was his younger sister- except when they trained. Then they got beat up as badly as any other kendo student.
"Ready for a lesson, I guess?" he asked.
"Yes!" Amaya responded happily.
As they headed through the dojo, Hojo made a surprising announcement.
"I think you can use some of the katanas today."
"Really?" squealed Sakura. "We never get to use katanas!"
"We've only used them about ten times ever!" cried Amaya at the same time. Hojo laughed and led the two over to the small room designated as the armory. Going past the shinais and bokkens, he selected an unblunted weapon for each of the girls.
"Careful!" he said to Amaya as she inspected the blade.
"I'm not enough of a baka to cut myself again," she told him with a blush.
"Sure," Hojo said sarcastically. Amaya shoved him and he almost toppled over onto the row of weaponry. As he protested, Sakura and Amaya when back out into the practice room to use the pretty new katanas.
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"Can we practice with our own weapons next time, Hojo-san?" Sakura asked after the afternoon practice had wound down. She was referring to the kodachi and set of kunai each girl had been given for their twelfth birthday.
"Haven't you gotten used to those already?" he questioned. "You should work with those at home and try new weapons and hand-to-hand combat here, where you cab get the guidance you need."
"We've been practicing, it'd just be nice to show you how much better we've gotten," said Amaya.
"Alright, if you bring them. But don't get caught," Hojo said empathetically. "I'm not seeing you arrested or fined for carrying weapons."
"Ok, Hojo," the girls chorused, and turned back home.
The two slipped through the rear of the house and into the garden. Hoping to avoid any pre-mealtime chores, they settled onto a stone bench under a bare cherry tree. "Why can't we carry weapons?" Sakura asked rhetorically.
"I feel safer with one, especially when the Shinsengumi go by," Amaya said with a shiver. "It seems unfair to make women so vunerable."
"That's so we'll have to find fine protective husbands to depend on," Sakura reasoned knowledgably.
"Well, my husband better not care that I train in kendo or with kunai," Amaya muttered dangerously. Sakura agreed. After a few minutes of staring at the dimming sky, each girl went off to her own room. Each returned quickly with their sets of kunai. Amaya had swiped a snack from the kitchen. They idly picked at the food while tossing kunai at a tree that had obviously served as a target before.
"Sakura!" Amaya said indignantly, "You ate everything again!"
"I did not!" Sakura retorted. "I really wasn't that hungry today!"
"Then who-" Amaya's voice broke off as she noticed a white-clad figure shuffling off through a bush behind the bench. "Hey!" she yelled.
Sakura bounded over to the bush and yanked out the figure.
"Get off me, dammit!" it yelped.
"Watch your mouth, kid!" Amaya snapped. For the figure was indeed a young boy. About seven or eight, he was dressed in white western-style pants and a loose fitting white jacket. He had spiky dark brown hair, which was pushed back from his forehead by a curious red band, the ends of which dangled down to his shoulders. He was most definitely the thief, as a bit of cake was still in his hand.
"What were you doing?" Sakura asked, taking in the small dirty figure. He glared at her sullenly. Sakura repeated her question.
"It looked good," he stated. He looked them up and down. "Why're you not wearing kimonos?"
Amaya giggled at the boy's impudence. "We were practicing at the dojo," she said.
"But girls can't do that," he said, sounding very sure of himself.
"Watch," Sakura said. Handing custody of the boy's arm to Amaya, she picked up a kunai from the bench and lobbed it at the carved target. It hit dead centre, and the boy's mouth fell open.
"Can you do that too?" he asked, twisting to look up at Amaya. She nodded with a giggle at his dumbstruck expression.
Sakura laughed outloud. "Do you want dinner?" she asked kindly.
"Sure!" he said, eyes lighting up.
"Will your parents miss you?" Amaya asked as they walked into the house.
"Nope. Don't got any," he said cheerfully. "I'm staying with some friends. They won't miss me for awhile."
The girls shrugged at his flippant attitude and the words that seemed almost too mature for a young boy.
"What's your name?" Amaya asked.
"Sanosuke," the child replied.
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