Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin
Now, I could tell you a romancing story, of how through all my trails and mistakes, I was able to pull through the hard times. I could lie to you, if you wish to hear that sort of story, I'm sure there is a Mary Sue story somewhere you could read. This is not that kind of story, this story is what life is about. I will not lie and say that 'Oh, well I marry the guy of my dreams at the end' or 'I was the best student she had', I will tell all that you wish to know. The truth of what happened in my life, and the truth is as important as the story. My story begins, when I was just a small child.
Chapter 1: The meeting of the Red Dragon and the Sparrow
"Get your bags, let's go." yelled the strange woman at my door. She was plump and old, with wrinkles like cracks in her face, clothes of a farmer, and hair untamed, she scared me. "Your going to loose your spot on the train if you don't hurry!" I grabbed what my small 4 year old hands could carry, a small red and brown kimono that my Mother gave me, my hair ornaments, and my doll of a samurai I kept with me. As I tried to reach for my jewelry, the strange woman at my door grabbed my hair and pulled me out of my room.
"Stop you hurting me!" I cried like a small child should when they are being dragged by their hair. The strange woman looked at me with evil eyes.
"Your Father is worrying about you, and will continue to worry if you don't get on the train." she yelled at me, through her yellow teeth.
"Papa?" I asked her.
What I can remember about the night was, that it was raining, the rain felt like ice on my face and body, the sky was as black as the deepest water, and all I could hear was my Mothers screaming voice from my home. She was yelling for me, for me to come back to her. I could hear somebody hold her down, otherwise I knew she would chase after me. I wanted to ask where I was going, who was this strange woman, why is my Father going and my Mother staying? The night was unkind to me, as to not answer my thoughts.
The strange woman threw me into a carriage, and told me to stay quiet or "they" would find me. The carriage was a small carriage, made only for two people, with warm seats and red carpet on the inside. I had assumed my Father was going to join me but, there was he not. Instead he, was guiding the horses to their location. The strange woman got into the carriage with me and banged on the wall. The ground under me began to shake and churn, and I knew we were off.
The strange woman stared at me for the longest time, her eyes the color of old honey, just staring at me. I kept my head down as much as I could but, questions ran through my mind being of a young age, I had no idea how to control them. I held my head up and looked right into her eyes.
"What's going on?" I asked out loud.
"You may call me Gascogne-sama." said the strange woman. I looked at her for answers, not names. "You have been chosen out of ten girls to become Adori."
"Adori?" I asked. "What is Adori?"
"All will be explained later, now," Gascogne tossed me a shirt and a pair of trousers, the shirt was a clean white, almost like a light in the darkness of the carriage. The pants, where the color of fall leaves, or the color of a deep red paint. "Put those on and tie your hair back, we'll be at the train shortly."
Being of small age, my first reaction was to cry, so I did. But Gascogne balled her fist and swung it across my face at the first site of my tears. She looked me right in the eye, as more tears started to fall down my face. "If you try any of that in The Cottage, they will hit you harder. No tears must ever come from your eyes, do you understand?" I nodded my head, while holding the side of my face she punched, tears involuntary falling down my face. "From this day forward you are to be an Adori, no emotion can ever be shown you are stone to the eyes of people."
"Gascogne-sama!" I yelled. "What is Adori!"
"Adori," Gascogne started. "Are priestesses with no ties to a shrine or faith. They are wanderers, aimless travelers but," Gascogne was about to say something when banged twice above us. "We're here! Put on those clothes now and tie your hair back like I told you." Gascogne opened the door to the carriage and closed it quickly, I could feel she was waiting for me. I quickly slipped on the clothes that were to big for me, tied my short hair back like Gascogne said and ran outside in the rain.
I couldn't see anything, it was just cold, wet and dark, I felt something grab my hand and pull me to somewhere. I had thought it to be Gascogne, so I didn't ask anything, I just followed. I couldn't see faces, nor people, I could only feel the cold rain and taste the ice. We stopped in front of a big machine, with metal wheels, it sounded like it was screaming and smoke was rising from it. Whoever had my hand dragged me up and pushed me on the train, they handed me a small piece of paper.
"Go Selene." said a mans voice, I recognized it almost instantly.
"Papa!" I yelled like a small child, I reached out for him but all I could grab was rain.
"Selene!" yelled Father at me. "If you don't get on the train now, they'll kill you too!"
My Father pushed me on the train, past the man in the blue uniform who shut the door after I fell in. I scrambled to my feet and looked right out the window, I could make out his shape and soon my eyes got used to the rain. I could see his face, his thin face, with a nose like a statue and his small chocolate eyes. I smiled for a second, until...
I noticed them coming for him and I banged on the window. They where dressed in matching coats, I couldn't make out the colors. All, swords shining. I was scared for my Father, and even more scared when they came up to him. The train started to pull away from the station as the men came up to my Father.
"Papa!" I yelled as loud as I could, the man at the door was getting angry at me.
The rest of it seemed like a nightmare, one moment they are talking to my Father the next, a sword goes through his stomach, and he falls to the ground. Blood spilt from him like a fountain, and nobody on the train took notice, except for me. "PAPA!" I cried and cried and cried but in my crying I could make out something, or someone. He stared right at me as the train pulled away, with piercing eyes of amber, and hair the color of blood. I looked at him, in my blurred vision I saw something on his left cheek, it looked like a cross.
After the train pulled far enough away from the station, I fell to the floor covering my face, when I felt the paper. I wiped my eyes ever so quickly to read what it said, it was a train ticket. A one way ticket to Tokyo, from the Kyoto train station. The man in the uniform looked at me, and took my ticket away.
"You're a bit too young to be riding this train by yourself don't you think?" he asked me.
"Why did they kill my Papa?" I asked still in tears, I didn't even care about the ticket. "What did he do!"
"That I'm not sure of little one," he said to me, in an ever so quiet tone. "But what I can tell you is this, those where Kyoto patrolmen."
"Kyoto patrolman?" I asked.
"That means your Father did something terribly wrong."
"But my Papa was a good person."
"Look little one all I know is your to young to be riding a train by yourself, so I'm gonna have 'ta."
"She's not by herself." said a seductive voice from behind me. I turned around and there was a woman dressed in the same clothes I was, with her hair done the same way as mine, except her face was much prettier than mine. Softer, smoother, less childish, more like a womanly mother than a beautiful woman. She took my arm and pulled me to my feet. "I would like her ticket back please." I couldn't help but stare at her more. Her hair was long and black, like mine but with shining blue highlights, and her eyes the color of the sea. She held out her hand at the man, until he gave her my ticket. She turned me around and led me into one of the seats on the train. "First lesson," she glared at me with her sea eyes. "You are stone. No one can see your emotions. You are intangible, to the people around you."
I looked at this woman, understanding only half of what she was saying. She glared at me until I reached my hand up and wiped my eyes clean of tears. Only then did I realize what I left in the carriage. My red and brown kimono, my hair ornaments, the only thing that I kept with me was my samurai doll. I pulled it out of my pocket, and looked at it. I couldn't help but get blurry eyed. The woman noticed my doll, and sighed.
"That, you may keep." she said. "Normally, I would take it and throw it out the window. But," she put her hand under my chin and cupped it. "You are so young, younger than most who I teach." she dropped her hand and looked at me. "You will learn in time, my dear Selene."
I looked out the window into the cold, wet, world. I was unable to cry, unable to go to my Mothers room, unable to do anything. The woman, who I came to find out later that her name was Tsu-tsu, just stared out the window and was to cold to hug me. I looked at my samurai doll, the one my Father gave me from his visit to Tokyo once. It was adorned in a blue shirt with white trousers, and a sword in his white obi. I noticed for the first time, that he looked like the Kyoto patrolman who looked at me, even down to the color of his hair. The only thing that was missing was the cross on his face.
I looked around my train seat for something red but, the only thing I found red was my trousers and Tsu-tsu's pants. Then I noticed a piece of metal sticking out from the seat, for the wooden seats were held together by metal bars and screws. I knew what I had to do, it was to remember who I will ask when I was older, I will ask what my Father did, and if that I am a bad person as well. I reached my index finger down, and touched the metal, it felt hard and cold as I scraped my finger across it so hard I gave out a yelp.
"Selene!" yelled Tsu-tsu, she grabbed my wrist to look at my hand. "Your bleeding! Here." she ripped off a piece of her shirt and tried to tie my finger in it but, I pulled away.
"Wait!" I said. Tsu-tsu looked at me, as I traced the cross on my samurai dolls face the same as how I remembered it on the Kyoto patrolman. Tsu-tsu took my wrist when I was done and tied the white cloth around it as a makeshift bandage. "So I can remember..."
"Remember what?" asked Tsu-tsu, with a tone like she could care less but, felt like she had to know.
"The Kyoto patrolman who stared at me, when I looked at my Father." I hugged the doll to my chest. "The one who had amber eyes..."
"Amber eyes huh?" asked Tsu-tsu. "Sounds intriguing..."
Now to the Kyoto patrolman, I had no idea what his side of the story was. It could've been that he was only doing his job, or that I was his real mark and he had lost it. It could be that he was only trying to scare me by glaring at me. I didn't have a clue, the only thing I knew was that, when I grew up, when I was able to leave from wherever I was going, I would find him. Not to kill him, not even to fight him, just to ask "What happened that night?"
A many, many, many, many days and nights later...
I woke to the sound of the screaming train, stopping at a station. My samurai doll hung under my arm as I lifted my head. I was older now, I was pulling into the Tokyo train station. I held my head in my hand, it had been a while since I had the dream of my past and, of the Kyoto Patrolman. I put my samurai doll that I've had since I was a child, in my pocket and headed to step off the train. People stared at me wearing priestess clothes, and gave me a slight nod. I had now know the reason for wearing such attire. A man in a uniform standing at the door stopped me, he was old, short, and looked like a old prune.
"Excuse me young lady," he said to me, with only three of his teeth still left. "Do I know you from somewhere?"
"No, I can't say you do, nor that I remember you, sir." I told him in my grown up voice. In truth, I did remember this man, from my first ride at the last age I could remember. I had grown up much since then, my voice and my mannerisms changed completely. As such, my body grew to the womanly shape it held at the time, and so did my learning, for I didn't even flash an eye of remembrance though I did remember him. "Now, please let me off the train." He stepped aside from the door and let me off.
Tokyo looked much different when I was smaller, for now it was less scary, less crowded, maybe because I went there of my own will instead of being forced to go there this time. I clasped my hands together and hid them under my sleeves, walking with my head down looking at the ground. I knew Tokyo already so I hadn't even the need to look up at complete strangers. The smells of Tokyo flooded back into me, the smell of fresh fish and new crisp vegetables crowded my mind. "To think," I thought to myself. "This place was so different when I was a child."
I'll talk about my childhood awhile later. But the reason I was coming back to Tokyo, and the reason I had left in the first place, was because of the Kyoto Patrolman. I had assumed that he would still be in Kyoto but, when I got there I asked to see the main officer in charge of the Patrolman.
"I'm sorry ma'am," said a weak looking boy no older than 16. He was working in the police station for extra money. I could tell by his hands he was just a farmers boy. "But the Kyoto Patrolmen separated after the Bakumatsu."
"What? That can't be true!" I exclaimed. "Where did they go?"
"Most went to Tokyo but some became officers in the army." I thanked the boy for his time and left.
I had concurred that, being a true samurai, he would not take an officer position in the army. So I sent myself first to Nagasaki to speak with an old friend on what I should do. Tsu-tsu told me that I should go back to Tokyo not to find him but, let him come to me. So she gave me money enough to catch a train to Tokyo and some splurging money do with it what I wish. I headed off the next day.
Being back in Tokyo, I thought it best if I should get some food to tied me over. Walking slowly among the crowding masses, I came across an aura of smells coming from a building. The building was small, wood, with flags streaming down it. The sign outside read: "Akabeko, beef pot house." I licked my lips at the thought of big hunks of meat drowning in beef sauce, mixed with steamed vegetables and rice, and began to make my way to the Akabeko.
As I slid open the door, I was greeted with costumers turned heads, warm smiles, along with the high pitched voices of the whole female staff.
"Welcome to the Akabeko!" Their voices rang through peoples ears, as they welcomed me. I blinked a few times until a woman dressed identically to the others came up to me and smiled.
"Only one?" she had a very thick accent. I nodded my head gracefully. "Follow me please."
She led me to an area near the back of the restaurant. The dinning areas in your house might be a separate dinning room, where there's a large table and everyone sits around it in chairs, not in Tokyo (at the time). No there, you are in somewhat of a no door closet, where everyone sits around a small round circle where the food is brought. People leave their sandals before they step into the dinning area as a way to show kindness. I slipped off my shoes and took a seat to the far left so I was facing a wall.
"Beef stew for one," I told her. "And warm Sake."
"Warm sake? This early?" she gave me a questioning stare. I nodded and she went off to do what she does.
I didn't notice the door to the Akabeko slid back, nor did I notice a group of three enter it and take a seat two dinning areas away. The woman who served me my food went over there and started talking to them intently. I had made it a good habit of mine not to turn my head or eavesdrop on other peoples conversation (unlike few people). It seemed, at the time, that this ability had left me in the dust, for I should have noticed the blood colored hair, and the cross when he stepped inside.
After finishing my meal and my bottles of sake, I was feeling tired, warm, and dreary. I could barely keep my eyes opened and I knew I needed a place to stay quickly. I slipped back on my sandals, left the money on the table (which was an unheard of thing to do at the time), and stumbled out of the dinning area. I walked further, when I felt a strong chi at my left. The chi was powerful, with the hint of surprise. I turned slowly to my left to see if it was him, though I was a little drunk, I could tell he was watching me intently as I was to him.
Tho' his eyes had changed from the merciless and cruel eyes of amber, to ones of soft and contented lavender, his gaze still struck the fear and loneliness into my heart that I hadn't felt since that day on the train. I knew, that he must have gotten older but, it looked like he hadn't aged a day. His hair wasn't the same, now it was brighter, more like the color of a fall sunset, rather than blood, and I could see his sword laying next to him on the ground. I glanced down the left side of his cheek and there, hanging like a nightmare, was the cross that had bestowed upon me anger, fear, and unknown feelings. Some people were looking at us, I didn't want attention but I couldn't unlock my eyes from his. Until I looked down at the people he was with.
One was a girl, or should I say young lady, with long black hair tied back in a pretty indigo ribbon, and cold blue eyes. I could sense a state of fear, as well as love in her chi. She looked no older than 18. I had assumed this to be his woman, and thought of him less of a man for picking an infant. There was also a small boy, who looked very much like my Father, except tanner. I could feel an ego on him, and he was seeping at the seams with pride. This woman would have been too young to have that child, so it wasn't his child. I closed my eyes braking the stare.
"I can see your gaze has not grown older, Patrolman." Tsu-tsu would have slapped me if she knew I greeted him this way. It wasn't the proper way to greet a man.
"You've grown up much since the last time I saw you, that you have Ms. Asukura." he said to me in a sweet playful tone. In my head, my thoughts where racing around trying to find out how he remembered my name but, I dare not showed it on my face.
"I see you have the simple pleasures of knowing my name already, Sir." I said humbly. "I also see that in the time that has past, you have gained yourself a young farmers daughter, as your bride? To bad she is an infant." A slam came from the table, but not by the hand of the Patrolman, instead from the tan hand of the small boy.
"You can disrespect anyone else in here and yet you pick Kenshin and Kaoru!" he yelled at my face. "As a priestess you should know better, and if you don't I Yahiko Myojin will beat it in your skull!"
Before I could unleash my blowing words on him, a man busted his way through the Akabeko front door, holding a small knife in one hand and a bag in another. He was fat, tall, and block headed, I could tell from looking at him that he wasn't much of a fighter, he relied more on people being scared of him.
"Alright everyone listen up!" he waved his knife around to get the peoples attention. "All the money you got in this bag right now!"
"What's this guy doing?" yelled the young Yahiko as he tried to step up out of the dinning area. I held my hand to his face to stop him.
"Stay with them, you'll be safer." I told him, and pushed on his forehead so he could fall back. He did just as well, right on to the woman. She was yelling something at me but I blocked it out, my goal was to get rid of this man, then talk to the Patrolman. I walked right up to the man. "Get out of my way!" I yelled at his meathead. The man gave me a look of surprise but then laughed right into my face.
"Stay out of my way you bitch!" he yelled at me as he raised his hand to punch me in the face. Big mistake. Before his skin even made contact with the air, I grabbed his wrist and pulled it behind his back, bending his arm the wrong way behind him. The meathead whined in pain.
"I could brake your arm if I wanted to, don't you agree?" I twisted his arm a little.
"Yes!" he screamed.
"Which would you rather have, the money or your arm?"
"My arm! MY ARM!" I could see tears fall down his face.
"So when I let you go, you'll take your knife and leave." I shook his arm. "Understood?"
"YES! PLEASE LET ME GO!" I dropped him on the floor and he grabbed his arm in pain. He looked up at my face, and I knew how dark and cruel I looked. He hastily picked up his knife and ran out of the Akabeko.
Everyone in there was smiling and laughing and thanking me for what I did to help them. The woman who served me gave me a free beef hot pot to take with me. Some strangers in the restaurant came up to me and patted me on the back for what I did. A few children came up to me and hugged my legs "for making the scary man go away." But, the person who was most impressed, and the only one I cared to impress, was the Kyoto Patrolman whose name I heard to be Kenshin. I turned to him promtly.
"We have not formally introduced ourselfs." I told him. "Selene Asukura."
"Kenshin Himura." he said in a sweet voice.
When I was smaller I dreamed of the day when I would meet him, this man of so few words, yet an effect like he had taken my virginity away. I hadn't expected that, I would be this calm and straight forward with him. In my mind, I always thought that I would yell, scream, shout, but here I was too quiet to even understand. He didn't even look the same as before, before... with the killers eyes of amber now... the sweet, loving, caring eyes that made him seem almost heavenly. His words broke me from my silence.
"Ms. Asukura, when did you learn...?"
"You should know sir," I said with a calm face. "That when you are trained as Adori you,"
"Adori!" I was cut off by a man in restaurant. "Are you the last Adori?" People around Kenshin and I started whispering.
"Do ya know h'much bounty they've got 'n ya girly?" asked a man from another table. I nodded my head, and closed my eyes. I had known for a long time that Adori were being hunted like animals. That was the main reason we wore priestess clothes, so we could say we were from a nearby shrine. I opened my eyes to a room full of people who needed the high bounty for their children, clothes, food, lives and yet, they didn't chase me, nor did they even move from their seats. I bowed to them and Kenshin.
"Until again Sir Kenshin." I turned and walked gracefully to the front door, I could feel everyones eyes on me. I barely touched the door before I hear the boy named Yahiko's voice.
"Wait a minute! You mean to tell me you come here, insult Kenshin, save us and all you can say is 'until again'?" He stood and faced me like a grown man, with his big chocolate eyes full of anger and pride. His gaze made me think of my Father, and almost brought tears to my eyes. I could feel his deep swordsman spirit pulsing through his whole body, and out on to me.
"Keep that spirit you have, young sir." I said to him. "And ask Sir Kenshin why I am this way." I slid open the rest of the door and left the Akabeko in awe.
That is all Adori are, we leave you to remember us but we never dwell on your mind again. You could be something you mention when you are at a party, or something you tell your parents but, that is all we are. We are there for our small amount and leave you in awe, and wonder. We are a shadow in your mind to be locked away, and ultimately fade away.
End Chapter 1