Everyone had to sit down before they collapsed. The sweet, innocent and carefree Kaoru they knew was no more. Soujiro looked at them sympathetically. Kaoru raised a finely arched eyebrow at them and sighed. "I guess we better go in and I'll explain over a cup of tea." She led everyone into the building. When they were seated Kaoru started her tale.
"If you ask Genzai or Tae you'll find out that the Kamiyas found me and adopted me. However when they found me I was already wearing the mask of a 14-year-old. A girl that became the girl you know now. However that was not true. I was really a 16-year-old branded and stained by war. For in reality my life was not as joyous and carefree as you all think, no it was far from that.
I was 4 when it first began. My parents were murdered before my eyes. I was sold into slavery and whipped and beaten for things beyond my understanding back then. At age 8 I was bought by a man who taught me sword arts and treated me kindly. I was fooled into thinking someone actually cared. However I found that was a lie when he drafted me into the army. I never knew which side I was on. The only thing I heard was kill this man or I'll do worse things then you can imagine. When I first resisted killing, they would capture an innocent and kill them painfully slow before me.
I became but a mere pawn, a mindless killing machine and it was then I lost myself and my sanity. I lived to kill so that those who did not deserve it would not suffer a fate worse then death. Every time I killed I heard the bloodcurdling screams of the innocent, and saw the horrifying look of pleading eyes wanting to know why they had to suffer. They were filled with a question that you could just not justify or answer. It was this that made me numb to the instant fear emanating from the victim before I swiftly killed the victim.
I was covered in scars from my previous enslavement and from my mistakes and hesitation when making a kill. It was while these killings that my skill rose and reached its peak and I became the Hittorikiri Kaze.
When I had had enough I staged my death and ran away disguised as a different girl and that was how they found me. Pretending to be just Kaoru a girl with no past. They took me in and taught me all they knew. I could never figure out why though, maybe that is one of the reasons I took you guys in. I never knew why I did that but I did."
There was silence after Kaoru's tragic monologue. Kaoru had told this in a bored but factual way that let you know it was true but the was more that she was unwilling to talk about. There was something about her warning them not to question her or to probe.
It was then that some of her weariness poked through. She seemed old and tired of it all.
" If you want to know right now I am actually 20 years old." She spoke up breaking the silence startling people out of their stupor. " Do not pity me Himura san." Kaoru said hurting Kenshin deeply even though he hid it well.
The unsettling silence made Yahiko uneasy. Wanting to break it up and bring back the comforting familiarity, Yahiko swung his boken at Kaoru's unsuspecting head. Time seemingly stopped as before Kenshin could warn Yahiko not to bait the new and unfamiliar they found Kaoru's hand griping the boken with one hand as the rest of her seemed placidly drinking tea as if she had no care in the world. Her grip tightened and the sound of crunching wood could be heard as the boken splintered.
" Do not bait me Moujin san." She replied calmly not looking up nor bothering
to open her eyes. Everyone was stunned by her coldness and lack of familiarity.
Author's Note: So what did you guys think? I wrote a chappie for this story because this had the most reviews per chapter. I originally started on a different idea for this chapter but I changed my mind when I got so far into this idea. Yea yea I know she is a bit cold. Fine, really could but don't worry she'll warm up in coming chapters.