A Cinderella Snapshot
A Rurouni Kenshin fanfic by Raberba girl
She found him sitting in the ruins, hunched over dejectedly, clutching that sword of his like it was his only support.
She came to stand in front of him, and noted with disgust that he did not even react to her presence. "Battousai. What are you doing moping here when you've got a princess to propose to?"
"I'm not proposing to anyone," he answered dully. "Kaoru-hime deserves someone better. Someone whose hands aren't stained with blood...someone who can offer her more than the wretched life of a rurouni."
She very nearly kicked him. "If anything, she's the one who is lucky to have you. In my opinion."
His only answer was to bow his head lower, hiding even more of his handsome face behind those ridiculous bangs.
She clicked her tongue. "Well, one thing's for sure; no guard in their right mind will let you into the palace in that state. Come on, let's get to work." When there was no response, she ordered more firmly, "Stand up, Battousai!"
He did not move, so she yanked the sword out of his arms and held it up above her head.
"Hey!" His startled face finally came into view as he surged to his feet, reaching up for his lost prize. "Give that back!"
The sword vanished just as his hands were about to close on it. "No sword 'til you let me fix you up a bit," she stated in a tone that brooked no argument.
He glared, an expression that would have crushed anyone who did not know him well. "Who are you, anyway?" he growled.
She threw back her head indignantly. "Has the war been so cruel to you that you don't even remember me, Battousai? It's me, Tomoe. Your fae guardian."
He stared at her. Yes, now that he knew to look behind the fey glamour, he recognized her face now. "You..." Then his eyes narrowed. "Why weren't you there? Why didn't you stop me from joining the army?"
She shook her head. "If you didn't listen to Hiko, how on earth would anything I said have made a difference?"
He looked away.
"Now, then," she said briskly. "First order of business, your clothes. The suitor of a princess does not prance about with ragged hemlines."
He watched in amazement as she made a magical gesture toward his ankles, sealing up the torn cloth and adding a sparkling design around the hems. Her waving hands passed over the rest of his outfit; blood and dirt dropped away, the colors shone brilliantly, and his once-plain garments took on elaborate ornamentation.
"And let's see, the hair..."
He ducked away from her fingers. "What are you trying to do to me?"
"How can she fall in love with those good looks of yours if she can't even see them? Just let me trim back those bangs for you--"
He shook his head emphatically.
"Fine," she huffed. "Maybe she goes for the pretty-boy look. In that case, let me grow out that pathetic ponytail."
"Tomoe--" he started, but she was already tugging at his length of auburn hair, so that it grew thicker and longer within moments.
"We'll brighten it up a bit - if it's got to be red, it might as well be fiery - and then, one last thing." She poked at his eyes, making him yelp and duck away again.
"Oro! Tomoe-dono, this one must protest..."
She smiled. "What's a bishounen without humongous pretty eyes, after all. There, Battousai, you look wonderful. Oh-- I almost forgot. We can't have a big ugly slash across that sweet face of yours, now can we." However, when she held up her hand to do away with the scar, Battousai caught her wrist and leveled such a glare at her that even she froze for a minute.
"Don't touch it," was all he said, but his tone was warning enough.
Tomoe swallowed. "All right. All right, I'll leave it alone." She pulled her wrist out of his grip and crossed her arms, studying him. "Let's see, anything else? No? You are ready, then. Don't forget to let your top droop open a bit; I'm sure she'll appreciate being able to see a bit of flesh."
So of course he self-consciously tugged at his clothes to better cover his chest. "Tomoe-dono, may this one please have his sword back now?"
She shook her head. "I was hoping you would forget about that." She sighed and dutifully pulled his precious sword back out of thin air. As she made to swing it back to him, however, the sheath slid free and she jerked back in surprise. She gasped when the end of the blade raked his cheek, exactly perpendicular to the scar that already marred his looks. "Battousai! I'm so sorry!"
He held a hand to his bleeding face, looking more confused than upset. "Tomoe-dono..."
"I-I'm sorry!" she apologized again. "Here, let me fix it--"
He stepped back and gently shook his head. "Leave it."
She sighed. "Have it your own way, Battousai. At least let me stop the bleeding." As she did so, she frowned at the sword. "Got to do something about this menace, though."
"Tomo--" he began urgently, but she had already placed her palm at the base of the blade and carefully slid her hand down its entire length.
"What did you do to it?" he asked indignantly.
"Only reversed the blade. Look at it this way, Battousai; now you won't be able to upset the princess by killing anyone in front of her."
He frowned thoughtfully at his altered sword, then shook his head and tied it back at his waist. "This one still thinks this is a mistake."
She stepped up to him and put her arms around his neck. "If you feel that strongly about it," she said quietly, "then just know that I would not be adverse to claiming you for myself." He did not answer. "What will it be?" she said ruthlessly. "Me, or the princess?"
His eyes were far away for a minute. Then he focused back on her face. "Tomoe-dono," he said. "This one is sorry...for what happened between us. But...what's done is done. You are of the fae now, and this one is still mortal. We lost our chance to be happy together long ago."
She nodded. He was right, and she had known he was right, but it still hurt, and she could see it hurt him, too. "Then please grant me this," she whispered. "Find happiness. You know where it is - claim it, it is yours for the taking."
He nodded. Then he moved off, and as he was walking away, she called after him, "Wait!"
He stopped to listen, though he didn't turn around.
"Battousai is much too harsh a name to use for wooing princesses, you know."
"Any suggestions?" he called back, with just a hint of amusement in his voice.
"Kenshin," she said firmly. "Himura Kenshin. It's easier to make cute nicknames out of."
This time he laughed aloud, and only then did he turn to face her for a moment, and smiled. Then he walked on, headed for the palace where Princess Kaoru was waiting.
Author's Notes: Yay, my first RuroKen fic. I love this series, but for a long time I did not feel comfortable writing about it because I know next to nothing about either Japanese history or swordsmanship.
Then it finally occurred to me that I could write AUs. Unfortunately no good ideas were coming to me, so I thought of doing fairy tale re-writes instead, and one of the ones that fit was Cinderella. However, when I tried to imagine out the Cinderella story, the only scene that really worked was the one where Tomoe, as the fairy godmother, comes to transform Kenshin into a prince, so I decided to just make a one-shot focusing on that scene. Hope you liked it.
I see now that Tomoe is OOC. I fixed it as best I could, but in this case, unfortunately, her characterization is going to have to suffer for the sake of style. I apologize.
While re-reading the manga, I finally realized that Kenshin starts out calling her Tomoe-san, then drops the honorific altogether when they get to know each other better. Even as rurouni, he never calls her "Tomoe-dono," but I decided to keep the honorific anyway in order to emphasize Kenshin's transformation. I figured that it might be okay since this fic is an AU.