Disclaimer: I don't own RK.
** This story is set in a fantasy alternative universe of medieval times. It's by no means an accurate representation of actual medieval times, but it has some borrowed concepts.**
Knight In Shining Armor
Prologue
In the mist of the morning running through the woods was a young woman with her child in her arms. She runs as fast as she can while being careful of her surroundings, escaping from the hands of misery and evil. All was silent except the sound of her feet falling on the ground and the occasional sound of distant creatures. Her heart was beating fast for she was tired and out of breath, but most of all terribly scared. She needed to save her daughter.
The woman was beautiful. Long raven hair that loosely flowed with the waves of the air produced from her speed, sometimes crushing against her shoulders as she slowed up to avoid accidentally falling and being caught up by her chaser. She had blue sapphire eyes that glowed brightly against the moonlight through her tears, and she wore a white silky robe that also flowed along with her hair, very precariously holding on to her body.
She was holding her baby, nestled in between sheets. Thanking every supernatural being for having finally calmed her daughter, making it difficult for her captors to know the direction she had ran off to.
She kept running until suddenly she made an abrupt stop. She was standing just in front of a cliff. A high cliff. She could see there was a waterfall far to her right side, but the fall was prolonged and dangerous. She thought, she would risk it.
She ran closer towards the waterfall, for it was known that the place where the water falls is much deeper than the rest. She found a path of stones jetting out from the surface possibly capable of leading her to the other side. Unfortunately, the last stone was too far from the other side making a jump there impossible. She took a deep breath and thought, "If I die, it would've been a much better fate than the one expecting me, but if I survive—" She stared down at her daughter, resolute.
She jumped.
Her hair and robe now flowed upward while she did her best not to scream, for she would be found, and trying at the same time to hold her baby as close and as protectively as she could. She reached the water in a hard plunge that took her several meters below the surface, now all she needed to do was reach the surface again as fast as she could so her baby could be saved.
She didn't take long, but her baby was almost drowning. When she reached the surface it was just in time for the baby. She moved toward the edge of the river laying her baby on the ground, calming her for she was crying and they needed to be as quiet as possible.
Then she remembered, don't waterfalls have a caves behind them? She went in search for it and was lucky to find one. All she had to do was climb up a few rocks to get to it. There, she decided, she would hide. She searched for animals, but apparently there were none, and now she could concentrate on her daughter.
While she was being held hostage at the keep's tower she had been hit so hard with a whip on her back and the old wound wasn't completely healed when she had decided to escape. Unfortunately, they had noticed her missing and where now looking for her, yet somehow, she had lost them. But now as her pulse returned to a semblance or normalcy her wound had started to bother her again due to all the abuse she'd given to her body, and it was starting to hurt like the fires from hell.
She walked back and forth in the little cave trying to sooth her daughter who still whimpered angrily at all the commotion hoping that the sound of the waterfall was loud enough to drown out any sound her baby could make. When her baby was finally able to catch some sleep, she figured she should do the same and laid down on her belly to catch some sleep for herself. However, sleep wouldn't come. She was worried too much of being found that her restless mind wouldn't concede to sleep.
Her baby, what will be of her baby. They were alone and she was going to die, but before that, she needed to find someone to take care of her little angel. She coughed. The ground was stained dark with blood. Time was running out, she needed to save her daughter from all harm.
Sometime in the day, her body surrendered to sleep and she woke up in the afternoon, in the cave surrounded by a mother bear with her cub. They were both staring at her intently, asking questions with their gazes but sharing the same motherly feeling that they needed, to protect their offspring. She stood still and watched the bear intently for what seemed like forever and suddenly, the bear turned around and went back to her life into the shadows of cave with her cub.
She watched them walk away and then returned her attention to her crying baby. The poor child was hungry. She gathered all her strength to be able to sit up and cradle her baby in her arms, singing soft melodies that had the strength to cast a sleep spell in all creatures, whether babies or not. Then she stood up, carefully trying not to open her wound again after the sleeping cure.
She peeked out of the cave trying to see if there was someone near, but nobody could be seen. She followed her path out taking a small shower that woke up her baby, but surprisingly didn't make her cry. She was laughing. Her mother was delighted and took her back to the outside world.
They walked for several days, eating from fruits they found on trees and saving some to eat later. After five days of traveling they heard the noise of people working the lands and she walked as fast as she could to reach it. Her plan was to find someone who she could leave her daughter's care with to be able to die in peace. She knew, of course, that her disease was without cure and that it was only a matter of time before she would die.
The sun was starting to come up from the horizon when they reached a small village. A young girl, that must have been around fourteen years old, spotted them emerging from the woods in a deplorable state. Startled by that, she ran toward them offering any kind of help, because it was known that the woods held many dark secrets. The mother gladly accepted and they were led to a small house where the young girl introduced them to her father.
The man was a little old but tall and extremely bulky. After some pleasantries, they exchanged some of their background and the beautiful woman learned that he was the town's blacksmith. However, the woman spoke very little about her past.
Eyeing her very worriedly, the man gathered that whatever it was that she was running away must've been very harmful, for he caught a glimpse of the wound on her back as she turned around to go inside his house. He, as his daughter, were very worried with the state the young beautiful mother and her child and decided to give them all the help they could.
He was a very kind man, and offered them food and drink as well as a roof and some medicine to heal her wound. She gladly accepted and after being left alone in a tiny room with her child, she and her daughter slept, and slept soundly.
While she slept, riders came into the small village, questioning all the villagers, asking for any trace of a pale skinned woman, with dark hair and a baby. They questioned the blacksmith, but their appearance was so ragged and distrustful, that the blacksmith opted to hid his knowledge about the woman and the baby sleeping in his bedroom. Once they were gone, he was deep in thought, for this woman, was a lady, and from what he gathered, a very important lady.
For several days, he hid this information from her, but watched her intently, trying to figure out more about her past, and why exactly had she run away. He hid her from the village, an easy feat for he also learned that the lady was suffering a terrible sickness and needed a lot of rest. Eventually, he couldn't hold his curiosity and proceeded to ask her, who she was and why was she running away.
Without explaining everything, she told the blacksmith most of the truth: that she came from a noble family and that she had escaped from certain death from an unwanted betrothal, one in which the man was the most unmerciful and apathetic human in the world, whose interest bordered in the insane. She explained to him, the evils of this man's, recounting how she had been raped on her wedding night, the result of which now she held in her arms. Her dislike of the man she had been married to was such that she was scared of what he would do to her daughter, and thus she had decided to find a way to escape.
Albeit nervous about this incredulous news, the blacksmith figured that the riders had already passed this village and that they would not return. The village, being so small, only a handful of farmers, most of them engrossed in their own problems, he figured the lady would be safe from her husband as long as she stayed with him.
She was learned how to work the land and help the blacksmith's daughter with anything they might need, for they had saved her life and her daughter's too. She had been working with them now for two years and was immensely thankful for their help. They had all become a family, and they had taken care of her those nights were death seemed to be so close to coming. They knew of her disease and had promised to take care of her daughter and raise her to be a wonderful lady.
The night of her death came one very hot summer where her coughing wouldn't stop and breathing became an extraneous exercise. The blacksmith and his daughter did everything they could to help her, but this night they noticed that it was more difficult to appease her sickness and that it was likely that tonight would be the last night this gentle and kind woman would grace their lives.
Although she had lived two long years with them, they'll never forget all those happy moments she had brought to the new found family. The child, one with a father more horrendous than a living Satan, and with a mother who couldn't possibly be the most kindest and well mannered women they had ever met, was now left to the care of a surrogate father with his daughter, and will grow up believing them as her family. He had promised this much to the lady, and he meant to keep it.
Years passed and the wonderful baby blossomed into the spitting image of her mother and one of the most beautiful women in the whole region. She had been named Kaoru, and they had given her their family name Kamiya. The once blacksmith who she knew as her father was now too old to continue with his job, but he was still wise and healthy only waiting for his death. Kaoru's older sister Megumi had found love, and was now married and pregnant with her first child. She had married a handsome man with eyes as brown as chocolate that matched his hair, and a well built body produced from working the lands and his favorite hobby, street fighting. Her sister had also blossomed into a beautiful woman with long raven hair and soft creamy white skin. Sometimes they really thought they were blood bound only until they looked into their eyes. Her sister had that same brown shade as her husband, and according to her father, she had that same color as her mother.
Kaoru had always loved water. She loved to go to a nearby glen where a small lake is located and bathed frequently. The glen had been found by her, and only her sister knew where it was located. She was there taking a bath, cooling her body from the heat of summer. She always took hours to bathe since she loved that small spot.
Horsemen were riding through the woods and they stopped somewhere near a village they planned to attack, to camp for the night. One of the men was very tall with a powerful body and long raven hair. They called him Lord Hiko Seijuro, and he was the leader of this small garrison of men, enemies of this region. As a lord, he was the owner of a small keep and lots of land in a neighboring region, and although once both regions were blood joined, now they were blood split, for from the same family, a brother, had declared war against his sibling.
They were preparing to raid the village. Winter had been long and punishing, their supplies low and their people needed more food. Weapons and horses ready.
His right hand and second in command of his army had a look of such frivolity unseen anywhere else in the world, and his reputation as an excellent fighter and swordsman superseded him. However, unbeknown to most, friends or enemies alike, was his intelligence, strategic ability and most of all, his compassionate nature. People knew no one else in the land who shared any similarity to his looks, for he had scarlet hair and amber eyes, a most strange combination. He was known as Kenshin Himura, and was thought almost as or better than his lord in both swordsmanship and skills.
He excused himself, for he required some privacy and headed off towards a more secluded part of the forrest where he made the most amazing discovery. He had found a small glen, with a lake surrounded by shrubbery and tiny flowers, where birds of wild colors would gather and a most striking woman, with the characteristics of an aphrodisiac goddess, bathing fully naked in the middle of the lake.
He just stared at her, dumbfounded, for he had never seen anything more beautiful. And when the sun's rays reached her, her skin glowed with a golden aura that just made her look supernaturally beautiful. He found himself wondering if he was witnessing a nymph cavorting with nature, or if this was actually a real woman. Could she?
He wanted so much to go into that lake and bathe with her, kiss her, hold her, but then he noticed a woman coming near her, and all his impulses stopped. He looked at the other raven beauty with curiosity, for he did noticed that both girls did look somewhat similar, but one was more graceful than the other.
The raven beauty that had interrupted all his thoughts threw a soap bar at the raven goddess who caught it with great accuracy, as if it was done so many times before.
Hiko, who had gone in search of his best knight, worried that something might've happened to keep him so long, found him in somewhat of a trance, staring behind bushes beyond at something he couldn't quite yet see and decided to close his distance to find out what it was.
He too stared in stupefaction, however for a completely different reason than his knight, for he immediately recognized who the beautiful girl bathing in the lake was. Denial was in his mind, how could it be, she could be no other than the daughter of his most trusted ally, and she looked so much like his long lost wife, she could be no other than the daughter who was thought to have been lost forever.
The girl looked to be around seventeen years of age, and he recalled that something like sixteen years ago, his friend's wife had ran away with their daughter and no trace of her and her daughter had been found. He had always wondered, why she had escaped, for he only knew his friend to be an honorable man, and theirs a perfect love match.
"Baka deshi, what are you looking at?" he asked although he already knew.
Kenshin flustered, for he was caught, said to him "Look for yourself."
"I see, do you want her?"
"What?" he asked, incredulous at such a question, of course he wanted her, how could he think differently!
Hiko proceeded "I say, because, I am positive that I know who that girl is just by staring at her and her remarkable similarity to her mother. She must be the daughter of Lord—, our greatest ally."
"But, wasn't she lost?"
"Don't you remember what her mother looked like?" Kenshin suddenly started to notice that her features definitely did resemble those of a woman he had seen a long time ago, and who he knew only as the prize wife of one of their most powerful allies. "I see that you do. We should take her back to her father, and then you can lay claim to her hand, after all, you were the one who found her."
Agreeing with this pronunciation, he nodded and continued to stare at the almost magical scenery in front of him as the girl turned around while the other girl washed her back, giving him a perfect view of her full round breasts. He most definitely would lay claim to her hand.
Hiko only stared at the girl once to notice the reason of the slight parting Kenshin's lips. He grinned and patted Kenshin's back to bring him back to reality "A little more and you'll be dropping your spit." He teased.
"You can't say she's not the most beautiful woman you've ever seen." He said straightening and returning to his commanding presence.
"She is certainly very beautiful, but I am no longer a man of such desires. Nowadays, I am more content with a woman of average beauty who knows perfectly well how to please a man. We know that she must live in the village nearby, but right now we must rest. We'll raid it in the morning, and I'll let you find her and bring her back with you to her father."
"Very well, my lord. But, before we put this matter to rest, do you think my father would oppose to my choice of wife?"
Hiko shouldn't be surprised by the question, but he was. Kenshin had been his pupil since he was but a child, and spent very little time with his now old and ailing father, another lord and ally, and didn't know him very much. "He shouldn't have anything to object, for she is the heir of a lot of lands and riches. Your father would be more than overjoyed to have you wed her, for she'll probably increase the wealth of the lands you'll inherit. You know, if the queen is unable to produce an heir, this girl, will be considered the next in line to the throne, and therefore probably inherit the kingdom."
"I never knew her mother to be of such great background."
Hiko only smiled but urged Kenshin to follow him back to their camp. Either had nothing else to say but quite a lot to think about.
That night however, proved to be extremely challenging for Kenshin as he tried to sleep, for his dreams were clouded with images of a nymph seducing him into the lake, her wet hair wrapping around his body while his hands ardently explored hers.
NEW AN: More changes to this plot, will try to go through the other chapters, no promises though! lol. It's been a long time! (8/4/2015)
OLD AN: I received a review about this story and as I was looking back and rereading it, I noticed a lot of errors. I probably haven't fixed them all, but I wanted to at least fix some that made the whole story sound a bit weird. I'll try to find some time to continue editing and maybe finish up this story. Unfortunately atm I have a lot of pressing things to do so we'll see! Anyways, thanks for all the reviews. :) (3/2/2011)
OLDER AN: "The kidnap" and "Gone with her heart" have been moved to Prudence- chan's site nosebleeds. Anyway, this is my first attempt at an alternative universe invented by me. I'm having problems with the choosing of names, consider helping me with them. I need one name for Kaoru's mother, one for the northern lair or Hiko's best friend and one for Kaoru's adoptive father that makes three. If you can make some of the original characters to fit in one of those places do help. They can be from the OVA or the TV series or one invented by you. Also don't forget about any spelling mistakes. I don't think there will be any lemon in this (That's my point) but maybe in one of the chapters at the end, MAYBE. I have to work on this for a while. The idea of this story came from the many historical romance novels I've been reading lately from Johanna Kingslay. She focuses on the old England, mainly the middle ages or very early modern times. This is some combination of that and lord of the rings. At least the landscape I'm picturing. The romance is one of my sick imaginations working. Now push that button and tell me what you think!
