Kaoru ran to the door, being sure to slam it loudly for Karenna's benefit. It was a bright morning, and much less sinister than the night before. Her feet splashed in he puddles left by the rain, and the hem of her skirt sloshed through the mud. She'd wear men's clothes in a second, of course, but Karenna would throw a fit. For the moment, she was happy with her gray dresses, even if Megumi did think that the color made her look emaciated.
She stopped at the door to the barn and peeked inside. Yahiko was eating as fast as he could, and the redhead—Kenshin, right? —was patting one of the horses.
"Don't eat so much, Yahiko. You'll get fat," Kaoru remarked acidly.
Both the boy and the young man started, and Yahiko temporarily put down the chunk of bread he was gnawing at.
"What are you doing here, Ugly?"
"Karenna wants the carriage." Kaoru stared around the barn distractedly. "Where's Megumi?"
Yahiko choked, and stood up straight. "What? She wants it now? But—nothing's been done! The horses haven't been fed, things need to—"
Kaoru tuned him out, and turned to Kenshin, feeling shy again. After all, how were you supposed to talk to a person whom you carried around like a sack of beans the night before? Lucky for her, he started talking first.
"I am sorry that we didn't get to speak earlier, Lady Kaoru."
Would he stop calling he Lady? "I… don't think I'm deserving of that title, really," Kaoru said brusquely.
Kenshin looked faintly surprised by this. "Well, miss, you do retain some semblance of the mannerisms of a lady."
"Some?" Kaoru snarled, reaching for a conveniently positioned broom.
Kenshin took a few steps back, his hands held out in a gesture of surrender.
"I— I am sorry, my lady," he exclaimed, backing up a couple more steps. "I did not mean that to be an insult, rea—"
WHAM!
"Oro," Kenshin muttered, sitting down hard on the ground. Kaoru stood, ready to take another swing, when Yahiko stopped bustling around, and said tartly,
"Listen, Ugly, could you leave him be so he can help? I won't get any of this done by myself, especially if you keep yelling like that."
Kaoru reluctantly stopped, put down the broom, and stalked to the door. Once she was outside, Kenshin said, pained,
"Is she always like that?"
"Nope," Yahiko said, looking, for some reason, pleased. "First time she's been like that in months." Catching Kenshin's puzzled look, he explained.
"You see, I haven't known Kaoru for very long, but Megumi has. Say, would you mind helping out? But—" he added—"you don't have to if you're not feeling up to it."
"No, that's fine."
As they both set about the chores, Yahiko told the story.
"Y'see, a long time ago, Kaoru's dad was the lord of this province. Apparently, everybody liked him. His first wife was said to be really beautiful—that's Kaoru's mom.
She died when Kaoru was still a baby. I guess the lord never really recovered, after that. But when Kaoru was … twelve, I think it was, he left for the capital and came back with Karenna. Nobody knows why he married her. She's mean as anything, and has a face to match. A few weeks later, well, he died. There were all sorts of rumors about what happened. Spells, love potions, poison— I've heard them all. Anyway, Karenna immediately started spending the money and abusing Kaoru. Over the years, Kaoru's spirit just got… worn down. Her getting angry with you was the first time I've seen her get animated about anything in a long time. Don't worry about it," he said noticing Kenshin's downcast look, "She only yells at the people she likes."
While picking up a feed bucket, Yahiko noticed Kenshin looking in the direction of the manor, with a secret smile on his face. He shrugged, and went about his work. It wasn't any of his business, anyway.
Kaoru fumed as she strode towards the manor, kicking at unoffending weeds as she passed. What did he mean, "some" mannerisms? What did he expect? All of her lessons had stopped after her father died. She still found time to educate herself, though. There was a booklender in the village that had always given her books when she asked for them. There was precious little time to read, though. Reading at night was always a possibility, but eventually, the wax candles would all disappear, and Karenna would get suspicious. Well, at least she wasn't a complete loss. She could still use a sword fairly well, and she could read and write, something that many of the local villagers couldn't do. Suddenly, this train of thought was interrupted by another. If Kenshin was the wanderer he said he was, how could he recognize any of the social niceties? Learning to be a noble was a laborious process. If one was familiar with it, then it was easy to recognize the training in another person, just by how they held themselves. Kaoru lacked this talent, but could he be someone special?
As she opened the door, all of her musings centered on one question.
Just who was Kenshin Himura, anyway?
The clinks and mutterings coming from the dining room showed that Karenna was still busy with her breakfast. Kaoru stealthily ran up the grand staircase, to where the bedrooms were. She hadn't been up here in ages, but she immediately walked past the master bedroom where Karenna slept, and went into the storage closet. All of her father's clothes were kept in here. Karenna didn't care less about what happened to them, and Kaoru didn't have the heart to throw them out. She clawed through all the fancy silk and velvet tunics her father had liked, looking for something simple. She finally was left with two items of clothing that her father, in her dim recollections, had never worn. One was a fairly plain pair of white pants and the other—Kaoru bit her lip to keep from sniggering— was an eye-catching pink tunic. Well, Kaoru thought as she closed the closet door, he looks like a girl anyway.
Hearing a jingle and a few neighs, she peered from the window down into the courtyard. Karenna was sweeping regally into the carriage, with Yahiko, looking royally bored, at the reigns. Kaoru, flinching guiltily, realized that she had forgotten to tell him about the grim errand they were going on. Shrugging it off, she leapt down the stairs two at a time.
Walking into the barn for what seemed to be the umpteenth time, Kaoru saw Kenshin frantically searching the room. He looked up when she came in, and straightened with an embarrassed smile. Kaoru felt an eyebrow quirk up, but let it pass.
"I brought you some clothes," she announced handing him the bundle. She concealed another laugh as he stared in some consternation at the pink tunic, but he seemed to let it pass.
'Thank you, Lady Kaoru," he said with a sunny smile.
The lady herself shrugged, and gestured at what he was wearing.
"I can't exactly let you walk around like that, can I?"
Kaoru turned to leave when he caught her sleeve. "Lady Kaoru, could you answer me two questions"
"Sure, I guess…what?"
"For the first, where were Yahiko and that other lady going?"
"The slave fair, I'm afraid."
"What!"
Kenshin lurched forward to stare her in the face. Despite herself, she shivered. There was something very dark in that stare…
"Slavery?"
"Well…" Kaoru took a deep breath. "The king legalized it a few years ago. I think it's disgusting, myself, but the nobles love it."
Incomprehension clouded his eyes now.
"It's a filthy practice, that it is," Kenshin said gravely, breaking the momentary silence.
…..
That's all for today! Sorry for breaking it off, but it's late. Ah, well…
