Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or any of its characters.
The Heart of a Queen
By Sevick
You know you will break my heart…
CHAPTER FOUR:
"What?"
"Kiss me," she repeated, her eyelids already sliding lower. Kenshin pulled back ever so slightly, drawing her full attention.
"We shouldn't do that," he whispered, and Kaoru looked at him with wide, honest eyes.
"You are mysterious, Kenshin. You are… handsome, and foreign, and you are only here for one night. Would you give a girl – no, a queen, who may never know love – her first kiss?" She giggled softly to alleviate the nerves coursing through her system, smiling up at him. "Don't make me command you."
Kenshin released a breath he had been holding, and Kaoru felt him lean closer. Bolder than she'd ever been, she moved her hand to rest over his, let her eyes fall closed, and waited, breathless, for the touch of his lips.
It never came.
Before she could open her eyes she felt his hand slip from beneath hers and heard his footsteps walking quickly away. She quickly stood from the fountain to see him climbing the steps back into the ballroom – a place she couldn't follow him full of such indecent emotions.
"Kenshin!" she shouted before he reached the doors, but he didn't even turn around.
Her hands clasped together and fell into her lap as she sat abruptly back down on the fountain. By the grace of Heaven alone she managed not to fall in. Tears burned at her eyes as the cold knowledge of rejection coursed through her. She had never made such a proposition before, but in anything she had asked for, she had never been rejected.
She wanted to cry, wanted to break down, wanted to act as Misao had every time Aoshi outright ignored her, but she couldn't. Kaoru was a queen now, and queens were never the pawns of men. But she would sit at the fountain for a few moments more.
Footsteps on the garden pathway disturbed her melancholy, and she shot her gaze up. Perhaps Kenshin had returned!
Soujirou came into view, smiling as always, his eyes twinkling with the light of the garden lamps. But they were nothing compared to the beauty of Kenshin's eyes.
"Your Majesty, I finally found you," he exclaimed happily, reaching out a hand to help her from the fountain.
"Hello, Sir Soujirou," she said softly.
"Call me Soujirou, Your Majesty."
"Then call me Kaoru."
"Would you do me the honor of a dance, Kaoru?" he asked, always with that damned smile, leading her slowly towards the ballroom.
Kaoru spared a quick glance back to the fountain, finding the angels' embrace suddenly filthy and hateful. Her vision blurred for a moment before she turned her gaze back to Soujirou and smiled.
"I would love to."
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
The warm glow of dawn filtered in through the curtains to fall across the new queen's face, disturbing her sleep. With a soft murmur of awakening, she twisted in the bed and opened her eyes. Though her room remained the same in décor and furnishings, it suddenly felt bigger and more regal than it ever had.
With a yawn, Kaoru began to sit up and looked out the window at the stirring world. She couldn't remember when she'd gone to bed last night. She remembered dancing with Soujirou until her feet ached and she could hardly breathe, and then she was practically carried to her bed. But before that…
Kenshin.
The thought drove all grogginess from her mind. She remembered the touch of his hand, the glow in his eyes, the warmth of his breath… and the sound of his footsteps as he walked away.
Without thinking, she rose from the bed and slipped a thicker robe over her night garments before stepping out into the hallway. Only a few servants mingled about the palace, but it was too early for them to be making rounds so they all remained on the first floor. She was able to hurry down the hallway to his room without being noticed.
The white oak door stood before her, silent and imposing. With a deep breath, Kaoru pushed it open, preparing her apologies for brazenly interrupting the man's sleep.
But none were needed.
The bed was made, the sheets clean and wrinkle-free. There was no sign of anyone ever having been in the room, save for a scrap of paper lying on the end table beside the bed.
Thank you for your great kindness and hospitality.
Kaoru held the paper between her fingers, her eyes locked on long after she had finished reading it. The words blurred suddenly, and she felt the telltale warmth of tears behind her eyes. As she tucked the note into the pocket of her robe, she wiped away the tears with her other hand before walking back out into the hallway.
"Your Majesty?" Tsubame asked, standing a few doors down. "Are you all right?" She hurried over with tiny footsteps, concern written over her face.
"I will be," Kaoru answered softly, walking past her back to her bedroom. "It was nothing, after all. Just one night." Tsubame watched her after she had disappeared into her room, puzzled but confined to silence.
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Kaoru made her way down to the court, entering the room just as Gohei grabbed her elbow.
"I don't ever want to see another spectacle like last night again, Your Majesty," he said roughly as he led her to the throne. A few court members began to trickle in, muttering about the echoes of their footsteps in the court room and how it affected their headaches.
"I did what you asked, I danced with Soujirou," she said quickly, pulling her arm away and beginning her ascent. "And if you grab me again I shall call the guards on you."
Gohei cursed beneath his breath and followed her up the stairs to the platform.
"There is unrest in the capital today, Your Majesty. Your coronation last night did upset some; and many report greater conflict in Tokugawa over your inheriting the throne without a husband," he informed her, coming to stand beside her as she sunk into the throne.
"They will soon see that I need no husband to rule this nation," she said, as much to herself as to Gohei, observing the rest of the court fill in. "Let us just begin this session, please, Gohei." He muttered something, but then cleared his throat and stepped up to her side.
"Court is in session," Gohei shouted. Kaoru sat in her marble chair, draped in yellow silk, her hair pulled back in a simple ponytail. Almost all of the court members wavered where they stood, the telltale signs of a long night in their postures and faces. Misao was entirely absent, Kaoru guessing that she was, "ill."
One by one, subjects approached the throne with a variety of problems or solutions, and Kaoru patiently did what she could for all of them. A few simple court cases were put before her, and a budget for the rebuilding of a village destroyed by fire was approved. A few more law enforcers were employed to deal with a bandit problem to the north. Kaoru did nothing radical, and after the excitement of the day before, the court session had so far been rather boring.
Until the loud bells of battle began ringing throughout the castle.
The court froze. Kaoru stopped speaking, and the man kneeling before her halted his activities. For ten years, the bells of battle had been silent, since the end of the Bakumatsu Wars. It couldn't be foreign invaders, since they would have heard of their approach from the border villages long before they reached the capital.
For a horrible few moments, there was nothing but silence and the bells. Perhaps someone was ringing them by accident? Kaoru held her breath.
Shouts and screams finally reached their ears from outside the castle, and the court erupted into chaos.
"It's Jineh! It's a revolt!" someone shouted from the foyer, and then the rebels reached the palace doors.
Members scattered over the marble floor, flinging themselves through whichever doorway they could reach first, some ending right on the end of an enemy's blade. Guards swarmed in to take on the rebels.
Kaoru had stood up from her throne, looking around in terror at her subjects and friends fighting and killing. She looked back but Gohei had disappeared, and Shishio was nowhere to be seen. Megumi ran up to her side.
"Come on, let's go, there's an exit behind the throne," she shouted excitedly, terror filling her face. She tugged urgently on Kaoru's arm, but Kaoru remained still.
"I can't leave them," Kaoru said, gesturing to the chaos on the floor. Most of the court members had escaped alive, as the guards took their place fighting the invaders, but some lay on the floor, clutching bloodied wounds or lying still in death. "These are my people, Megumi. The ones invading the palace are my people!"
"Fine then, die!" Megumi shouted, dropping her arm and running off with a shriek.
The guards were holding off the rebels from the throne, but some were moving closer to her. Gohei had always told her it is always better to hide and survive in such a situation than to fight and die, but Kaoru couldn't leave her people like this.
Then she saw him. Moving through the chaos as though it were a puddle to wade through, Jineh kept his gaze fixated on her as he approached the throne. A grin lit his face, though his eyes remained cold and pierced her like knives.
Jineh had been a troublemaker for years now, after being discharged from the army, but he was always stopped before causing an all-out revolt. He had hated her father's kind politics, and now that she was queen he was making a statement, that he wouldn't stand for it anymore. It seemed he made the mistake of believing she would be easier to take out than her father.
Kaoru reached back and grabbed a sword from behind the throne. She took one last look to confirm that Gohei and Shishio were indeed gone, before she turned back to Jineh, who stood a few feet before the steps to the platform.
"Hello, Your Majesty," he said with his grin growing larger, lifting his sword from his side. "Such a shame you won't be able to enjoy the title for much longer."
Gripping her sword in one hand, she grabbed her gown in the other and cut swiftly through the silk. She couldn't avoid a slight grimace as she felt the expensive silk tear, but now she had room to move. A few guards tried to make their way to her to protect her, but they were quickly stopped by Jineh's men.
"Oh, are you going to try and fight me, Your Majesty?" he said with a loud cackle, lifting his sword into position.
"I won't just try," Kaoru said as she descended the steps. She felt the slickness of sweat between her palms and the hilt of her sword, but now was no time for hesitation.
Without warning, Jineh charged her, swinging his sword with fearsome force towards her. She parried the blow, shocked at the trembling reverberations that shot through her body. Somehow, she managed to keep her ground as Jineh pulled back with a growl.
Before she could completely regain her strength, Jineh was charging again, even faster. Kaoru sidestepped the blow, moving down to the court floor, and tried to swing at Jineh's back as he passed. But Jineh had already turned around towards her in midair, and the tip of his sword grazed her side, ripping through her dress and cutting her flesh. Kaoru gave a cry of pain, stumbling but able to remain standing.
She reached a trembling hand down to examine the wound, and found it small and shallow. Swallowing her pain, she lifted her sword and turned to face Jineh again. She saw him grin at the slight trembling of the blade.
"Had enough, Your Majesty?"
"Not until you stop menacing my people, Jineh."
He laughed and made to charge again. This time, Kaoru was more ready, and parried the blow with greater force, halting his charge. They moved in a circle, exchanging blows, Kaoru grunting with exertion but holding her ground. Jineh's grin never left his face.
"You're not bad for a queen," he said with a laugh.
"You're horrible for a former soldier," she said with a smile of her own, throwing all her weight into a blow that knocked him back a few steps.
Flushed with her small victory, Kaoru prepared to charge herself, running towards him with her best battle cry. But Jineh was ready, dodging the blow and turning to strike a blow against her back. He turned his blade so the flat of it smacked hard against her middle back, knocking her down against the steps and forcing the air from her lungs.
Kaoru lay on her stomach, collapsed on the steps, gasping to regain her breath. Blood trickled from a wound on her head that the steps had cut open, and she looked up over her shoulder at Jineh's slow approach.
"I could have cut you in half just then, but I thought perhaps a beheading would be more appropriate for a queen," he said, raising the blade above his head.
Kaoru pushed her hands beneath her, struggling to rise, but without breath and with her head swimming, she quickly fell back down, defeated.
So this was it. One night as queen, and it was over. Had she been so bad?
Her thoughts were cut off by terror as she saw the blade begin to fall. The song of it cutting through the air, once a melody she dreamed of, now became the soundtrack of a nightmare. She closed her eyes and waited for the end.
A loud jarring note shook the air around her, and a shadow fell over her.
Kaoru opened her eyes, seeing swords crossed above her head, and…
Red hair.
Kenshin.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Author's Note: I'm sad that only one person reviewed the last chapter - thank you to that one person! You guys can tell me what's bad... that's just as good as telling me it's good - makes me a better writer. Some people withhold chapters for reviews but I don't think that's fair to all the quiet readers out in internet-land. I want to hear from you; speak up!
Anyway, I hoped you liked this chapter - next chapter, the drama continues. Will Kenshin's return be brief or permanent?
Next Chapter:
"I'm afraid my past would only stain this fine palace."
"I am not asking your past to stay here; I am asking you."
The opening line/title chapter is from Celine Dion's "To Love You More"
