This is actually a short chapter on purpose. This chapter and previous are combined into one on another website since I forgot to upload the last chapter. Whoopsie!
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Queen Tomoe walks silently through her palace's corridors. Her guards footsteps are light taps behind her. Well she called him a guard, but she has adopted him as a brother. She could have adopted him as her son but there is no room for a son in her heart. Before he became her guard and brother, he had been a random mixed blood child. More god than human and accepted by neither for his… 'Impurity.'
There's no need for either of them to speak. After so many years, they're content with silence in each other's company. Many of those who are judged seem to expect her palace to be a lavish place with gems and precious silks draped in every available space. Queen Tomoe is not sorry to disappoint them with her palace, and even her throne, being cold gray stone.
She has existed long before such things became popular. The Queen remembers sleeping on dirt, grass, and stone when she and- When she first existed. She only makes an exception for her clothing, preferring the most regal appearance possible to further cement her authority. Although why these souls stop trying to argue because of her appearance as opposed to her power still baffles her after all these years.
The Queen sighs as she seats herself in her throne, and her guard makes his place behind her. Another day of judging. Her sister had unwittingly increased her already immense workload by forcing her to judge humans more 'fairly' with that deal. Queen Tomoe's lips curl into a sneer. These things don't deserve fair. Not like her gods and demons.
The first soul is black as though it's been coated in tar and rolled in filth. Disgusting. She flicks her fingers to send it to the underworld only to jerk them back when it sparks and forces her powers back. Carefully, she reaches out again to read the soul. It was a man named Jineh given a blessing by Kaoru after deciding to kill her. So… In this life she was named Kaoru.
Her sister is still stupid. She notes this grimly as she thinks of how many times Kaoru had turned down her offers to break their contract. Well, if her sister wants to think this soul is salvageable, then let's prove her wrong. Queen Tomoe touches the soul with disgust curled in abdomen, and begins to slough off the layers of pollution. Thoughts of proving her sister wrong and finally finally convincing her to break the contract off held off her nausea from touching this filth.
Tomoe, Queen of the Underworld, Judge of the Damned, stares at the soul left behind. It's a little small, the shape is only slightly off when compared to others, but it's… not a bad soul. It actually looks a bit like a new soul. A child. Perhaps that's why she listened to it when it requested something other than rebirth or paradise. She watches it leave while deep in contemplation. Her guard continues to watch her silently.
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Kaoru is so tired, but she has come to a realisation. Even if she were to go to Yahiko and her children, they will never be safe from Kanryū. She wants to protect all of the children from him. Not just her own. Jineh had given her knowledge that she had already known, but never truly known. She, the Sekihōtai, and everyone else trying have already failed. The children have been suffering since before she was born. What arrogance, what stupidity, they had for thinking they could save the children without taking care of those that preyed on them first.
Kenshin has been watching her since she woke. He can recognize the signs of an epiphany going on in her mind. Her lips are slightly parted and her eyes are glazed but fierce. Every moment he thinks that he has her figured out, she throws him off. She felt compassion, affection even, towards a manslayer who kidnapped her. Again she throws him off when her gaze of fiery determination lands on him.
She breaths his name as though he's salvation. Kaoru has missed something in all her time with Kenshin. How long has he been in service to Kanryū? Surely he would know where Kanryū kept the children captive. That's how they could start. They could begin with taking the children and smuggling them to safety using the Sekihōtai. Perhaps the Sekihōtai could detain those already under the obedience spells until she was able to remove them like she had Kenshin's.
"Kenshin. I want to go to war with Kanryū. I want to save the children. I want to bring him to his knees and destroy every obedience spell. Do you want to?" Kenshin is frozen thinking of Kanryū and the men before him. It's with a malicious grin that he agrees.
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Finding Sano wasn't difficult. All Kaoru had to do was ask about a drunken gambler wearing white that never paid for his food and his location was nearly served to her on a silver platter. A smirk spreads over her face as she stares at a sleeping Sanosuke. Forget a silver platter. This is a gem encrusted gold platter, and she's going to make this count. Kenshin's colors are amused as she raises the bucket of ice water.
Sano's reaction does not disappoint her. He shrieks shrilly and dives out of the bed in a state of complete and utter panic. Exactly like a rooster. Eventually his colors start to calm and he stops to take a good look at her before paling. "Kaoru, are you dead?" This is why she assumes everyone she meets is an idiot. Kaoru's only able to stare in an attempt to not flat out call him an idiot. "Oh gods… I'm dead aren't I?" Kenshin fails to smother a quirk of his lips at the sight of Kaoru's eye twitch.
This Sano person is about to get the bokken. Whap! Sano's hands come to cradle his head as he begins to whine. "Kaoru why?" She levels him with an eye-twitching stare. "You. You are an idiot. Do I look dead to you? Huh?" Wisely, Kenshin decides to watch this development from the other side of the room. Mostly due to her shaking Sano back and forth. "Why? Why are you so stupid?"
Kenshin is in awe of Sano's ability to remain conscious. Well… Mostly conscious. When Kaoru is finally calmed, Sano has been acting like a limp ragdoll for the past twenty minutes. He eyes the limp figure. Probably not acting then. "Sano, I'm here for you as the captain of Sekihōtai. As Master of the Kamiya Dojo, I request assistance from the Sekihōtai."
Sano sits up with a serious look on his face. Kenshin is unsure what to make of this man. One moment he's sure he's acting and the next… Is he an idiot or is he just pretending? "What do you need assistance with?" She grins at Sano. "I want to raid the facilities they keep the children in, undo the obedience seals on the adults, and destroy Kanryū's control over the people." Sano's expression is blank. "Getting rid of Kanryū's control won't make people change. Some will always see the kids as a weapon. As for raiding the facilities… We don't know where they are."
Kenshin takes that as his cue to chime in on the conversation. "I know where they are." He watches as Sano's eyes focus on the hair, sword, scar, and back to the hair. His jaw drops and his eyes widen with horror. "Kaoru. Kaoru why are you with the Battousai?"
