Disclaimer: Zounds, it is not mine! Rurouni Kenshin
It
be not mine! This humble authoress
Does
but borrow the noble characters
For
her miserable piece of fiction.
*prances
around in joy at having completed the pentameter*
The next morning, Kaoru found Karen and Kenshin both going through a few basic kenjitsu exercises, with Yahiko watching them intently. Kenshin seemed pleased to find someone to spar with - the truth of the matter was that neither Kaoru nor Yahiko was up to sparring a master of Hiten Mitsurugi-ryuu, and the only person who came close - Saitou Hajime - would never cross swords with Kenshin unless it was to kill. Kaoru, being a student of the sword herself, was able to appreciate the subtle finesse of the moves of Hiten no Mitsurugi, aptly named, for both Kenshi and Karen moved with the deadly grace of a dragon in flight. The exercise ended in a few minutes, as they sheathed their swords and bowed.
"Kaoru-dono," Kenshin greeted her, a smile lighting up his face as he wiped some sweat off his brow. The day was already warm. "Did you sleep well?"
"Fine," Kaoru replied. "Konichiwa, Karen-dono."
"Konichiwa, Kaoru-san," Karen said lightly, approaching her. Kaoru made up her mind to tell Karen something that she had been thinking about ever since last night.
"You don't have to call me san, Karen-san," she said sincerely. "Kenshin calls me dono because it's a silly habit of his, ("Oro...") but I don't want you to pick up his ways."
"Well, then," Karen said obligingly, "I'll call you Kaoru-chan, if you call me Oneechan."
Kaoru was surprised, but it quickly melted into delight. "Hai! I've never called anyone oneechan before," she added impulsively.
"Well then, Kaoru-chan," Karen said cheerfully, "Let's go make breakfast."
"Hai, Oneechan!!"
As the two girls linked arms and headed towards the kitchen, Yahiko watched Kenshin as he wiped his forehead and took a seat next to the boy. "Oro... why are you staring at me, Yahiko?" he asked.
"Nothing," he shrugged. "I was just wondering..."
"Wondering...?" Kenshin prompted him.
"You and Karen."
"Hai, what about us?"
"Both of you are students of Hiten Mitsurugi-ryuu."
Kenshin raised his eyebrows. "What are you trying to say, Yahiko?"
"I guess what I want to ask is," Yahiko took a deep breath. "Does that make you two...equal?"
Kenshin's brow wrinkled as he contemplated the question. "As...as kenkaku?"
"Yeah, I guess that's what I mean." Yahiko looked slightly uncomfortable, feeling that the question was somewhat rude. "You don't have to answer that."
Kenshin's lips quirked in amusement. "No, daijoubu. But I'm afraid I can't answer that for you, Yahiko. I'll be honest..." Kenshin paused and searched for his words. "Karen-dono is... physically weaker than me, and she told me last night that she hasn't mastered the last part of Hiten Mitsurugi-ryuu, partly because her father refused to teach it to her. And she learned the sword at a later age than I did. But physical strength isn't the only kind of strength, Yahiko. She's a skilled kenkaku, but more than that, she possesses inner strength."
"She didn't seem concerned about killing those men last night."
"Yes well..." Kenshin sighed. "I can't say I approve, but that is her decision." The fight yesterday had been rather hectic, and he hadn't noticed the corpses until after the police had arrived.
"What makes her different from Saitou?" Yahiko asked bluntly.
"Saitou doesn't feel remorse," Kenshin said. "Karen-dono does. No true student of Hiten no Mitsurugi could not."
"Oh..." Yahiko seemed wrapped up in his own thoughts for a moment, then lifted his head to sniff the air. "I think she's done something greater than master Hiten Mitsurugi-ryuu."
"Nani?" Kenshin looked confused.
"She's taught Kaoru to prepare a decent meal!" Yahiko jumped up and scampered to the kitchen, leaving Kenshin behind. "Oro..." Kenshin chuckled to himself as he got up and trailed after him, his stomach rumbling at the smell of food.
"Karen-dono?"
The moon was now slowly renewing itself, still a sliver in the summer night sky. Karen, seated in the shadows on the wooden floor just outside the dojo, glanced in the direction of Kenshin's voice. "Is something wrong, Kenshin-san?"
"No, but what are you doing outside, in the middle of the night?"
"Keeping watch," Karen said frankly.
Kenshin blinked. "Karen-dono, I don't think..."
"It's for my personal peace of mind, Kenshin-san, so don't worry about it." She smiled, her face half hidden by the shadows. "Come and keep me company, Kenshin-san, if you're not too tired."
Kenshin obligingly stepped up to the wooden floor and sat down next to Karen. She was wearing a loose robe, and her hair fell unbound around her face. The faint moonlight glowed on her skin. "What were you thinking about, Karen-dono?" he asked, noting her pensive expression.
"Oh, a lot of things," she said vaguely.
"Such as...?" he prompted.
"Oh, on nights like these I think of my mother, mostly." She shrugged and smiled a little. "I like to speculate how different my life could have been if my mother had had the courage to follow my father, or if my father had returned to see my mother earlier." Her voice carried a sort of deep bitterness, long buried but still not forgotten. " My mother always thought he had forgotten about her, that to him it was nothing but a one night stand with a geisha who was silly enough to fall in love with a wandering kenkaku. I grew up hating my father because of that." She paused. "He wept in front of my mother's grave."
Kenshin found it hard to picture his shishou weeping over anything, and Karen looked amused at the wonder on his face. "Yes, well, he doesn't really strike one as the sensitive type."
"Have you ever thought about giving that up, Karen-dono?" Kenshin asked, nodding towards the katana by her side. She smiled ruefully at his question.
"Kenshin-san... no, Kenshin-sempai." Karen slowly unsheathed the sword and held it up to the moonlight. "Every era needs its hitokiris. You did your part, during the war. I am doing mine as well. I have no illusions about what I do. My father always told me, ken is a tool of killing..."
"...and kenjitsu is the art of killing," Kenshin finished. "No noble cause or fine words can change this truth."
"Yes," Karen nodded. "A harsh truth, but one that is necessary for the birth of a new era. And for its continuation."
"You don't need to live like that," Kenshin began, but Karen cut him off. "No, sempai. I do. It is fate, you see. Hitokiris don't just pop out of the ground like mushrooms. Life pushes them toward that road. As it did you, as it did Saitou, as it did my father, and as it did me. You, sempai, you deserve to live in the Meiji Era, as a part of it. You are the light, the ideals of the Meiji Era, but I..." she smiled, and something in her eyes caused a pang in Kenshin, because it seemed something so akin to himself. "I am the shadow of the Meiji Era. Like Shishio, maybe, minus the insanity and ambition." Kenshin couldn't help a chuckle at her wry tone. "Daughter of a hitokiri and geisha. I am perfectly resigned to my fate, Kenshin-sempai."
"I really don't deserve to be called sempai," Kenshin protested. Karen arched a brow and smiled mischievously, her tone lighter than before. "Well, I'm afraid technically you are, even if I'm not an official student of Hiten Mitsurugi-ryuu. You're my father's baka deshi, I'm his mazui musume. That does create a bond between us, ne?"
Kenshin nearly fell over at her words. "He doesn't really call his own daughter ugly, does he?"
"Of course he does," Karen shrugged. "Why should you be surprised?"
"Yare yare..." Kenshin shook his head in dismayed amusement.
"And stop calling me Karen-dono," Karen said pointedly. "I am your junior, remember?"
"Demo..." Kenshin hesitated. "You are still the daughter of my shishou."
"Then call me Ojousan," she suggested. "Sempai?"
"All right then," he relaxed, smiling. "Ojousan."
The two students of Hiten Mitsurugi-ryuu sat side by side in a contented silence, leaning against the wall as the night wore on. Karen, having lost sleep for the past few nights, soon began to doze lightly against Kenshin's shoulder, and he found a newfound affection for this girl who was like the sibling he had never had. It was a completely different thing from his feelings concerning Kaoru. Much simpler, he told himself.
A soft step in the shadows made him tense ever so slightly, and in a heartbeat Karen's hand was resting on the hilt of her katana. Kenshin also moved to better grip his sakabatou, although neither of them moved to get up until the sound passed very close to them. Intent on his mission, the intruder was unaware of the two still figures until they were practically on top of him.
"Kenshin? Oneechan?" Kaoru's voice, still thick with sleep, came through the darkness. "Nanigoto desu ka?"
"Daijoubu, Kaoru-dono," Kenshin called back, holding him down in the dirt while Karen disarmed him and searched him. She came up with a small vial full of some silver liquid.
"Naaaaa... nande?" Yahiko demanded through a yawn, somewhat disoriented but more or less awake as he slammed his door open.
"Mercury," Karen said grimly. "He was going to drop it down the well. These bastards must mean business." She continued her search until her hands rustled against a piece of paper. "Shut up and stay still, you bastard," she said absently as she tugged the paper free. "It's a letter."
"What does it say?" Kaoru demanded.
"'Make sure you don't mess up this time,'" Karen read. "'Kamiya must be taken care of tonight. Yamagata is tomorrow. Be there.'"
"Yamagata," Kenshin breathed, stunned. Kaoru dimly remembered the Japanese government official who had once tried to convince Kenshin to take his place as one himself. "Why?"
"Well, it makes sense, in a way," Karen mused. "He is very determined that foreigners will not get their hands on Japanese land, not illegally, at least. Assuming that this land-hunter is a foreigner, killing Yamagata-sama seems like a logical conclusion. The question is not why, but how?"
"Ojousan, will you stay here with Karen-dono?" Kenshin still had the squirming man pinned down. "I will go take this man to the police."
"I'll go with you," Yahiko announced.
"Be careful, Kenshin," Kaoru said worriedly, as Karen simply nodded. "Better tell Saitou while you're at it, sempai. We may have to make a trip to Kyoto first thing tomorrow morning, to go see Yamagata-sama."
Confused as Kaoru was, she did not fail to notice a change between Karen and Kenshin, and not only the switch in titles. It was as if Kenshin had acknowledged Karen as his equal, asking Karen to "stay" with her as if Karen was, for example, Sanosuke, or maybe Aoshi. She knew it was ridiculous to feel jealous over this special bond between Kenshin and Karen, but she couldn't help feeling vaguely troubled. After all, Oneechan is beautiful and accomplished, and I'm...
"Kaoru-chan, are you feeling all right?" Karen said, shaking her out of her thoughts.
"No, no, Oneechan, I'm fine," Kaoru shook her head. "I'm perfectly fine."
