Author's Notes: Phew! I am so dreading posting the last chapter of The
Scholar and the Princess....you are all going to kill me ::sigh::, but
there's nothing I can do about it... ah well, I guess I should continue to
write this and hope you give me a quick death when the time comes to
post... As always, any questions, feel free to ask.
Title: The Swordsman and the Ninja Author: KaBunny E-mail: Alexandra_Miyoko@yahoo.com Rating: PG-13
Chapter Two: The Role of Shishio
'Four more days... four more days before I become a woman and four more days before Kenshin comes back for me,' Kaoru thought, smiling at her reflection. Lately, that was all she seemed to be doing, smiling. She also seemed to be singing a lot as she floated through her world of immerse happiness. How could she not be happy?
She knew she had the strength this time. She was going to be a strong adult in four days and that was enough to give her the courage to deem anything possible. She was also going to marry Aoshi, the man her father had chosen as her suitor for the past year. So much had happened.
Just about a year ago, Kenshin had popped out of nowhere to be a tutor for her, who needed manners according to her father. The only reason the king thought so was because she was learning to protect herself from Sano, the Captain of the Knights of Crysta. It wasn't her fault that she was fascinated by the art of swordsmanship. But, Kenshin wasn't only there to be a tutor for Kaoru.....he was looking for someone, actually Aoshi. Kenshin had hoped to correct the wrongdoing of what Aoshi had done and to prevent Aoshi's ideal of total equality with the enstatement of a military state.
In the end, it had been Kaoru that Aoshi needed to kill all along. Kenshin had prevented it, but caused Aoshi to lose his memory in the process. Misao, Kenshin's younger sister, and Kenshin left to go back to their own kingdom of Alexandria to never return unless Aoshi should remember and decide to pursue his ideal once more. (A recap for those who missed my previous story, hehe)
A few weeks later, Shishio had entered the picture as a new teacher for Yahiko as Aoshi, the previous teacher, was out of commission. Something in him sparked the interest of the king and he was appointed as the king's personal advisor. It had been as though they were glued at the hip from then on. The king would not go anywhere without Shishio at his side. He was always consulted on every issue even some of the most trivial kind. It was odd.
Kaoru was not in the least suspicious, but Megumi, the head doctor of the castle, and Yahiko, the young Crystian Knight trainee, were quite so. Megumi had even gone as far as to mention something to Kaoru. She had said that it was as though the king had no mind for himself. Kaoru shrugged and replied, "He must have some mind for himself if he's still willing to force me to marry someone whom I do not wish to marry."
That had hushed the woman, but it didn't stop her from looking into the issue. She recruited Yahiko and so, it was hard to find the boy and the doctor far from one another. It was making Sano quite angry. Yahiko spending more time with his girlfriend than he, himself, got and Yahiko not putting as much time into training as he used to.
Yes, it had been an interesting year that had gone by. Kaoru sure did miss most of the time that flew by, however, because her head had been up in the clouds the entire time. She was too busy thinking about Kenshin to do much of anything. Of course, she had been helping Aoshi with his mysterious dreams, she finally got Sano to admit his feelings for Megumi, and she had also gotten Megumi to trap Sano in a romantic situation. She had come down sometimes... but mostly, she lived up in the clouds with her thoughts, spending weeks locked up in her room by herself.
Kaoru sighed as she set her hairbrush on her vanity top. She ran her fingers through her long hair as she stared down into her lap. She turned out to glance at the moon that would be full on her wedding night. She faintly wondered if Kenshin was watching it somewhere in Alexandria just as she was watching it at that moment.
~~~~~~
Kenshin glanced away from the moon as he heard his sister mumbling something in her sleep. He smiled at the young girl as he got up from his seat on the sill of the window. He walked over to his sister and brushed the back of his hand over her hair before walking over to the empty bed in the room. He sat himself upon it before laying back with his hands behind his head. He sighed lightly as he closed his eyes. He had moved into this house after working in the local resturant for nearly six months with Misao. It had taken that long to earn the money to buy this small establishment from the owner of the restaurant. Okina was a good man and he did offer a good price. Although, it was kind of odd living above the Akabeko, the restaurant he had been working at for the year. (I spelled that right, ne?)
Life hadn't been as easy as it had been on the travel. He never thought that staying in one place would be so time consuming and less resourceful as living by the seat of your pants. He didn't mind it, of course. It was truly all for Misao, who had spent most of her younger years traveling with him on his quest to seek out Aoshi. She was only sixteen after all. (Don't go all fuddy duddy on me, kk? I told you I was going to mess with the ages because I only recently discovered how WEIRD all the ages are in the actual show....Kenshin 28 and Kaoru 18....weird, I tell ya! I mean....how could Kenshin be 28 with that adorable face of his?)
For the last six years, Misao had been traveling with him. She had missed out on most of her teenage years to his incessant meddling. The first year of traveling had been awful, but that was because the war was dwindling to a halt and everyone was branded by a kingdom. You were either with Alexandria or with Crysta. There was no in-between, so border hopping had been imposssible. But, traveling got easier as they went and Misao continued to persevere and not complain at all even though Kenshin was stealing away her 'golden years'.
It really wasn't his fault that their parents had died. So, she had decided that complaining about 'what is' would do nothing. But, following her brother had caused her to learn things that she would never had learned had she just been sitting in one place thinking about what kind of dress to make. She had been thankful, unknowingly to him. Also unknown to him, he had introduced her to the man she had been dreaming about for the past year.
The other night through a dream, Aoshi had told her that he was getting married. Well, she knew that he was a real person, but she hadn't been so sure of this marriage. It could just be a dream, but it always felt like more. So, being the curious kitten that she is, she sent a letter to Yahiko in Cysta. She was satisfied that she would be getting a reply by tomorrrow, hopefully.....
~~~~~~
"Hey sleepyhead! You have a letter....wake up, will ya?" Kenshin said, giving Misao another slight shake.
The girl in the bed opened a bleary sea green eye and squinted for a few seconds until the shape of her brother swam into her eyes clearly. She groaned, annoyed, before rolling over and pulling the covers over her head. 'Why now? I was just about to....,' she thought and blushed. 'Kenshin! You ruin the best of dreams!'
"Okina says that he wants you on the evening shift today, Misao. And the letter that came for you is on the table. I will see you later. I have the morning shift today, that I do," Kenshin said, closing the door behind himself. Misao listened to his wooden sandaled feet plod down the stairs before she registered what he said.
'Did he say letter?' "Yahiko!" she shouted aloud as she sat up abruptly, throwing the covers off herself. Her eyes were wide with suprise and the blush that she had had, had vanished back into her pale skin. She glanced at the table where the letter lay and a smile creeped into her features.
She hopped eagerly out of bed and scooped up the letter as she kneeled next to the table. She ravaged the envelope causing it to become confetti before she could actually get the letter completely out. She read it anxiously, her eyes darting quickly back and forth, but her large excited smile drooped to a frown as she reached the bottom of the letter.
She dropped the letter on the table and rubbed her hands over her unhappy face. She peered out at it as if it would disappear or become a figment of her imagination, but it was as solid real as the table it sat upon. She sighed and sat for a moment, thinking.
She then hopped up and dressed herself in her ninja, which had been sitting in the closet for the last year, neglected. She had filled out in a couple places that had been lacking before, but the outfit still fit comfortably. She then sat on her bed and put on her sandals before wrapping up her legs in the same fabric as her outfit. She wiggled her toes which were visible through the fabric, but not through her two toed socks.
She grabbed a quill, some ink, and a piece of paper out of the drawer in the dresser. She wrote a note upon it and set it on the table, the bottle of ink on the paper as a weight. She glanced out the window at the blazing sun and smiled. 'I'll fix this Aoshi....I won't allow you to get married to Kaoru,' Misao thought, standing up and making her way to the door. 'Even if my brother is thickheaded, I'm not,' she thought as she closed the door behind herself.
~~~~~~
Aoshi continued to pace, burning a hole in the wood floor of the library. Sano had been watching him for an hour now, an astonished look on his face. The man hadn't even slowed, nevermind the fact that he had been as stiff as a board. If it hadn't been for the fact that Sano had seen him blink, he would've been convinced of otherwise.
It was time to see what was bothering the groom. Sano approached the man, but then was unsure of how to catch his attention seeing as he had been in his own world for the longest time. The brunette arched an eyebrow as Aoshi paced by him again still muttering to himself. Sano shook his head and put his arm out to stop the man.
His path obstructed, Aoshi looked up from the floor to Sano's arm. He trailed his eyes along the arm and discovered it to be the knight. His eyes widened in surprise as if it was the first time he had found out that an arm was attached to a human being. "You better slow down, Aoshi. You're burning a line in the floor," Sano said, smiling at the man who seemed a little more pale than normal. "Have a seat and tell me what's on your mind. I got time."
"Oh... it's just so confusing," Aoshi muttered, sitting himself down at one of the long tables of the library. He put his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.
"Would you mind elaborating a little more? I know I have a reputation of having the right answers, but I don't get it from reading others' minds," Sano replied, sitting down in the seat next to him.
"Well, I'm not so sure I should be marrying Kaoru. I mean....I don't even know why I originally was going to marry her," he answered, staring at the floor through his fingers. "Is it proper? Even if I'm only doing it so Kenshin will show up, it still feels weird. I mean.....why can't I remember?"
"I don't know," Sano responded, he gave a hint of a smile. "You can look at it two ways. You CAN'T remember or....you choose not to. But, I can tell you one thing. You're a much better person since you forgot everything. Kaoru likes it that way. Yahiko likes it that way. Hell, even I like it that way. Maybe you should consider that too."
Aoshi glanced up at Sano in surprise and confusion. Sano gave him a reassuring smile as he stood up and wandered out of the library, tossing a wave over his left shoulder. 'What was that all about?' Aoshi thought, sighing once more. 'Apparently, I have more to think about.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~
Bah! Done this chapter, finally! I keep getting kicked off by my brother and losing interest and such. When I have interest I have about five minutes ::sigh:: Ah, well....I just need to buy another computer and then I won't have this problem because when I have interest someone else always seems to be using the computer. Whatever....anywho, I hope you enjoy this chapter/story. And I hope my poor e-mail account is okay...::sniff, sniff::
Stay Tuned for Chapter Three: Wedding Bells.....the dreaded wedding day arrives. Will Aoshi understand what Sano said? (Do YOU understand what Sano said? heh heh) What happened to Misao? What was that letter she wrote? Will Kaoru's hopes be dashed or will Kenshin learn of the wedding? Does he even care for her as she thinks he does? Lastly, who placed these thoughts into Aoshi's head?
Ja ne! ~KaBunny
Title: The Swordsman and the Ninja Author: KaBunny E-mail: Alexandra_Miyoko@yahoo.com Rating: PG-13
Chapter Two: The Role of Shishio
'Four more days... four more days before I become a woman and four more days before Kenshin comes back for me,' Kaoru thought, smiling at her reflection. Lately, that was all she seemed to be doing, smiling. She also seemed to be singing a lot as she floated through her world of immerse happiness. How could she not be happy?
She knew she had the strength this time. She was going to be a strong adult in four days and that was enough to give her the courage to deem anything possible. She was also going to marry Aoshi, the man her father had chosen as her suitor for the past year. So much had happened.
Just about a year ago, Kenshin had popped out of nowhere to be a tutor for her, who needed manners according to her father. The only reason the king thought so was because she was learning to protect herself from Sano, the Captain of the Knights of Crysta. It wasn't her fault that she was fascinated by the art of swordsmanship. But, Kenshin wasn't only there to be a tutor for Kaoru.....he was looking for someone, actually Aoshi. Kenshin had hoped to correct the wrongdoing of what Aoshi had done and to prevent Aoshi's ideal of total equality with the enstatement of a military state.
In the end, it had been Kaoru that Aoshi needed to kill all along. Kenshin had prevented it, but caused Aoshi to lose his memory in the process. Misao, Kenshin's younger sister, and Kenshin left to go back to their own kingdom of Alexandria to never return unless Aoshi should remember and decide to pursue his ideal once more. (A recap for those who missed my previous story, hehe)
A few weeks later, Shishio had entered the picture as a new teacher for Yahiko as Aoshi, the previous teacher, was out of commission. Something in him sparked the interest of the king and he was appointed as the king's personal advisor. It had been as though they were glued at the hip from then on. The king would not go anywhere without Shishio at his side. He was always consulted on every issue even some of the most trivial kind. It was odd.
Kaoru was not in the least suspicious, but Megumi, the head doctor of the castle, and Yahiko, the young Crystian Knight trainee, were quite so. Megumi had even gone as far as to mention something to Kaoru. She had said that it was as though the king had no mind for himself. Kaoru shrugged and replied, "He must have some mind for himself if he's still willing to force me to marry someone whom I do not wish to marry."
That had hushed the woman, but it didn't stop her from looking into the issue. She recruited Yahiko and so, it was hard to find the boy and the doctor far from one another. It was making Sano quite angry. Yahiko spending more time with his girlfriend than he, himself, got and Yahiko not putting as much time into training as he used to.
Yes, it had been an interesting year that had gone by. Kaoru sure did miss most of the time that flew by, however, because her head had been up in the clouds the entire time. She was too busy thinking about Kenshin to do much of anything. Of course, she had been helping Aoshi with his mysterious dreams, she finally got Sano to admit his feelings for Megumi, and she had also gotten Megumi to trap Sano in a romantic situation. She had come down sometimes... but mostly, she lived up in the clouds with her thoughts, spending weeks locked up in her room by herself.
Kaoru sighed as she set her hairbrush on her vanity top. She ran her fingers through her long hair as she stared down into her lap. She turned out to glance at the moon that would be full on her wedding night. She faintly wondered if Kenshin was watching it somewhere in Alexandria just as she was watching it at that moment.
~~~~~~
Kenshin glanced away from the moon as he heard his sister mumbling something in her sleep. He smiled at the young girl as he got up from his seat on the sill of the window. He walked over to his sister and brushed the back of his hand over her hair before walking over to the empty bed in the room. He sat himself upon it before laying back with his hands behind his head. He sighed lightly as he closed his eyes. He had moved into this house after working in the local resturant for nearly six months with Misao. It had taken that long to earn the money to buy this small establishment from the owner of the restaurant. Okina was a good man and he did offer a good price. Although, it was kind of odd living above the Akabeko, the restaurant he had been working at for the year. (I spelled that right, ne?)
Life hadn't been as easy as it had been on the travel. He never thought that staying in one place would be so time consuming and less resourceful as living by the seat of your pants. He didn't mind it, of course. It was truly all for Misao, who had spent most of her younger years traveling with him on his quest to seek out Aoshi. She was only sixteen after all. (Don't go all fuddy duddy on me, kk? I told you I was going to mess with the ages because I only recently discovered how WEIRD all the ages are in the actual show....Kenshin 28 and Kaoru 18....weird, I tell ya! I mean....how could Kenshin be 28 with that adorable face of his?)
For the last six years, Misao had been traveling with him. She had missed out on most of her teenage years to his incessant meddling. The first year of traveling had been awful, but that was because the war was dwindling to a halt and everyone was branded by a kingdom. You were either with Alexandria or with Crysta. There was no in-between, so border hopping had been imposssible. But, traveling got easier as they went and Misao continued to persevere and not complain at all even though Kenshin was stealing away her 'golden years'.
It really wasn't his fault that their parents had died. So, she had decided that complaining about 'what is' would do nothing. But, following her brother had caused her to learn things that she would never had learned had she just been sitting in one place thinking about what kind of dress to make. She had been thankful, unknowingly to him. Also unknown to him, he had introduced her to the man she had been dreaming about for the past year.
The other night through a dream, Aoshi had told her that he was getting married. Well, she knew that he was a real person, but she hadn't been so sure of this marriage. It could just be a dream, but it always felt like more. So, being the curious kitten that she is, she sent a letter to Yahiko in Cysta. She was satisfied that she would be getting a reply by tomorrrow, hopefully.....
~~~~~~
"Hey sleepyhead! You have a letter....wake up, will ya?" Kenshin said, giving Misao another slight shake.
The girl in the bed opened a bleary sea green eye and squinted for a few seconds until the shape of her brother swam into her eyes clearly. She groaned, annoyed, before rolling over and pulling the covers over her head. 'Why now? I was just about to....,' she thought and blushed. 'Kenshin! You ruin the best of dreams!'
"Okina says that he wants you on the evening shift today, Misao. And the letter that came for you is on the table. I will see you later. I have the morning shift today, that I do," Kenshin said, closing the door behind himself. Misao listened to his wooden sandaled feet plod down the stairs before she registered what he said.
'Did he say letter?' "Yahiko!" she shouted aloud as she sat up abruptly, throwing the covers off herself. Her eyes were wide with suprise and the blush that she had had, had vanished back into her pale skin. She glanced at the table where the letter lay and a smile creeped into her features.
She hopped eagerly out of bed and scooped up the letter as she kneeled next to the table. She ravaged the envelope causing it to become confetti before she could actually get the letter completely out. She read it anxiously, her eyes darting quickly back and forth, but her large excited smile drooped to a frown as she reached the bottom of the letter.
She dropped the letter on the table and rubbed her hands over her unhappy face. She peered out at it as if it would disappear or become a figment of her imagination, but it was as solid real as the table it sat upon. She sighed and sat for a moment, thinking.
She then hopped up and dressed herself in her ninja, which had been sitting in the closet for the last year, neglected. She had filled out in a couple places that had been lacking before, but the outfit still fit comfortably. She then sat on her bed and put on her sandals before wrapping up her legs in the same fabric as her outfit. She wiggled her toes which were visible through the fabric, but not through her two toed socks.
She grabbed a quill, some ink, and a piece of paper out of the drawer in the dresser. She wrote a note upon it and set it on the table, the bottle of ink on the paper as a weight. She glanced out the window at the blazing sun and smiled. 'I'll fix this Aoshi....I won't allow you to get married to Kaoru,' Misao thought, standing up and making her way to the door. 'Even if my brother is thickheaded, I'm not,' she thought as she closed the door behind herself.
~~~~~~
Aoshi continued to pace, burning a hole in the wood floor of the library. Sano had been watching him for an hour now, an astonished look on his face. The man hadn't even slowed, nevermind the fact that he had been as stiff as a board. If it hadn't been for the fact that Sano had seen him blink, he would've been convinced of otherwise.
It was time to see what was bothering the groom. Sano approached the man, but then was unsure of how to catch his attention seeing as he had been in his own world for the longest time. The brunette arched an eyebrow as Aoshi paced by him again still muttering to himself. Sano shook his head and put his arm out to stop the man.
His path obstructed, Aoshi looked up from the floor to Sano's arm. He trailed his eyes along the arm and discovered it to be the knight. His eyes widened in surprise as if it was the first time he had found out that an arm was attached to a human being. "You better slow down, Aoshi. You're burning a line in the floor," Sano said, smiling at the man who seemed a little more pale than normal. "Have a seat and tell me what's on your mind. I got time."
"Oh... it's just so confusing," Aoshi muttered, sitting himself down at one of the long tables of the library. He put his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.
"Would you mind elaborating a little more? I know I have a reputation of having the right answers, but I don't get it from reading others' minds," Sano replied, sitting down in the seat next to him.
"Well, I'm not so sure I should be marrying Kaoru. I mean....I don't even know why I originally was going to marry her," he answered, staring at the floor through his fingers. "Is it proper? Even if I'm only doing it so Kenshin will show up, it still feels weird. I mean.....why can't I remember?"
"I don't know," Sano responded, he gave a hint of a smile. "You can look at it two ways. You CAN'T remember or....you choose not to. But, I can tell you one thing. You're a much better person since you forgot everything. Kaoru likes it that way. Yahiko likes it that way. Hell, even I like it that way. Maybe you should consider that too."
Aoshi glanced up at Sano in surprise and confusion. Sano gave him a reassuring smile as he stood up and wandered out of the library, tossing a wave over his left shoulder. 'What was that all about?' Aoshi thought, sighing once more. 'Apparently, I have more to think about.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~
Bah! Done this chapter, finally! I keep getting kicked off by my brother and losing interest and such. When I have interest I have about five minutes ::sigh:: Ah, well....I just need to buy another computer and then I won't have this problem because when I have interest someone else always seems to be using the computer. Whatever....anywho, I hope you enjoy this chapter/story. And I hope my poor e-mail account is okay...::sniff, sniff::
Stay Tuned for Chapter Three: Wedding Bells.....the dreaded wedding day arrives. Will Aoshi understand what Sano said? (Do YOU understand what Sano said? heh heh) What happened to Misao? What was that letter she wrote? Will Kaoru's hopes be dashed or will Kenshin learn of the wedding? Does he even care for her as she thinks he does? Lastly, who placed these thoughts into Aoshi's head?
Ja ne! ~KaBunny