**********
Chapter Sixteen; Musings on a Kenshi
**********
Brain rapes range from "my neurons had to fake an orgasm" to "my cerebrim was given rohypnol" to "my brain needs support groups and therapy"
-Sage
**********
"Busu!"
"Twit!"
"Tanuki-chan!"
"Idiot!"
"Raccon!"
"Jerk!"
"Midget!"
"Runt!"
"CROSS-DRESSER!"
The beating commenced.
Kaoru sighed and rubbed her sinuses, beside her Aoshi and Hiko shook their heads in unison.
"Do the boy like being hurt?" Aoshi asked Kaoru.
Kaoru shrugged. "Who know what ten year olds think? I know I don't remember."
"Nor I." Aoshi agreed. "Perhaps you should watch him for other masochistic tendancies?"
"Been doing that, this seems to be limited to fighting with Kaori." Hiko told the Oniwabanshuu, Kaoru nodded her agreement.
Aoshi shook his head disparagingly. "Something about this place brings out the wierdeness in people."
"AOSHI-SAMA!"
He flinched as Misao waved at him from the front gate. "Some others however..." he muttered and then made strangulated noises as Misao once again glomped him.
Kaoru laughed and used her bodken to pry Misao off before Aoshi died of asphyxiation. She was immediately glomped in return and it was up to Hiko to pry Misao off her while Aoshi got his breath back.
"You both are just too much fun to mess with!" Misao giggled and latched onto Aoshi's arm, which he let her have considering the alternative... but also because he actually liked the human contact as long as it didn't interfere with his breathing.
"How's job hunting for the Oniwabanshuu going?" Kaoru asked. "You guys haven't been around as much."
"Since you're up and around again, we don't have to keep a guard on you." Misao explained.
"The others have odd jobs around town doing basic bodyguarding for Okubansho and Restaurants. Shikijo is working at that restaurant you all favor; Akabeko." Aoshi told Kaoru. "Actually, they've all got some vacation time coming up and we're going to the Hot Springs up in Izu."
Kaoru grinned. "Izu! I passed through there on my way to Tokyo, I remember wishing that I had enough money to stay in the Inn there. The Hot Springs there are something else."
"Hey, why don't you guys come too?" Misao burst out. "I mean, I'd really hate to be the only girl there and with you, Takani-san, and Kaori it'd be way cooler."
Aoshi glanced at Misao. "That's true isn't it? Why not?" his lips twitched in an attempt at a smile. "The more the merrier, isn't that what Okina says?"
"... just in reference to something other than vacations." Misao muttered.
Kaoru wasn't positive, but she thought she saw a faint tint of pink touch Aoshi's cheeks; it was gone before she could be sure.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea." Kaori agreed, emerging from the cloud of dust that had sprung into being where she'd been pummelling Yahiko. "I wonder if the hot springs in Izu are any better than the ones up at Iron Mountain?"
"There were hot springs at the Monastery where you grew up?" Misao quizzed Kaori.
"Yeah, they're half the reason the Monastery was founded there. Those guys do almost othing else but farm the feilds and practice their matrial arts, a good hot spring can be invaluable to their health."
"It must have been odd growing up with only men around." Aoshi commented.
Kaori sat down on the veranda with her mother. "Not really, it was actually like having twenty or so big brothers. They could be unreasonable about me talking to boys down in the town but they all had something to teach me." she laughed. "The Monastery doesn't disallow it, but it's frowned upon for the Monks to take wives so they all pretty much had given up the idea of having children of their own. Kaneda-nii was the worst really, he woldn't let me leave the monstery without him right there. He was convinced that I'd die if I set foot outside the walls or something."
Kaoru chuckled. "Brother Kaneda hasn't changed much then, he was always paranoid about the people he cares about. Is he still as gung-ho as ever?"
"Yeah, and then some. I'm surprised he didn't follow me to the Dojo." the young girl scoffed and then turned a little serious. "By the way, if any of your Oniwabanshuu see a bald guy in his twenties with tan skin, and a scar over his right eye who is dressed like a monk then tell him Kaori says to stop skulking around and just come to the Dojo."
"Have you been followed recently?" Aoshi asked Kaori.
"Not as I can tell." she shrugged. "I do however know Kaneda. If he's not in town right now then he's on his way."
***
About fifteen miles outside of Tokyo, at a road-side tea stall a five and a half foot tall monk with a scar over his left eye sneezed in the middle of his prayer of thanks over a mug of tea and some onigiri.
"Bless you, Kaneda-san." The stall owner said graciously as the monk sniffed and blew his nose on a handkerchief.
"Arigatou gozaimasu." he answered and sniffed again. "Someone must be talking about me."
***
"Uh-oh, heads up. Chibi-Saitou is here for his lesson." Enishi warned the group as they laughed over one of Kaori's 'Kaneda' stories.
"Ohaya Yukishiro-sensei, Kamiya-sama!"
Saitou stood at the front gate escorting Shinnosuke inside, he waved once, impersonally. Beside him his son waved more energetically.
Shinnosuke was indeed a 'Chibi-Saitou' or at least showed every sign of turning into one. He was already shooting up and outgrowing clothing at an embarrassing rate and with those growth spurts, his baby fat was being spread thin giving him the same lanky structure as his Father. His face had also lost most of it's softness and let his bone structure shine through.
Fortunately his mother cut his hair so no one would ever call this boy 'spider-face', but it was drawn back into a high pony tail with heavy bangs covering one eye.
The most unsettling resemblance Shinnosuke had to his father was his expression. He had that same beatific, closed-eyes smile that Saitou adopted when he was doing his 'Fujita Goro' act. In fact the kid almost never opened his eyes except when he was mad, scared, or serious.
Unfortunately, even though Saitou had some sort of wierd sixth sense that let him walk around without seeing where he was going, Shinnosuke did not and was forever walking into walls and whatnot.
"Ohayo, Shin-kun!" Kaoru greeted him. "Saitou-san." she nodded to Saitou.
"Practice well, son." Saitou told Shinnosuke. "I'll pick you up after work."
"Sayonara, Tou-sama!" Shinnosuke said brightly. As soon as his father left the courtyard he turned to Kaori. "Ohayo, Kaori-kun. Have you beaten up Yahiko-chan today or is it my turn?"
*AN* It's acceptable for students to add the suffix -kun to each other's name regardless of sex, although it's usually meant for male friends. This rule applies in modern Japanese but I don't know about the 18th century japanese. There can't have been too much language drift though, it was only century or so... oh jeez listen to me ^_^¿ 'Only' a century.
Yahiko's strained voice came from the garden, where he'd been beaten into the dirt. "Don't call me, -Chan!"
"I'll take that as a 'yes'." Shinnosuke inuited.
Kaori laughed and nudged her partner in crime with her elbow. "It's good for his soul." she whispered to him.
"Then Yahiko's soul must be very healthy indeed by now, in fact if you keep this up he might attain Buddha-hood!" Kaoru chided.
Shinnosuke and Kaori beamed angelically at her. "Hai!" they chorused.
"Are you training with us today, Kaori-chan?" Shinnosuke asked Kaori.
"I dunno, it depends on the lesson Enishi had in mind. Do you need me for a demonstration, Enishi?" she asked the shihondai.
"Actually yes, we're going to get into the hand to hand combat today and I'll need you help to partner off against the boys." Enishi got to his feet. "Someone pry Yahiko off the ground and get him into the Dojo." he commanded as he left for the lesson.
Shinnosuke and Kaori leapt to it and mercilessly hauled th groggy boy into the practice hall.
Kaoru excused herself to go observe the lesson, as she always did. After all, after the boys passed a certain level she would take over their training so Enishi could take on a fresh batch of beginners. She wanted to become familiar with their habits before then so she could be an effective teacher.
'Mou, Kaoru.' she chided herself cheerfully as she followed Kaori and Shinnosuke into the Dojo. 'Twelve years of being an actual swordswoman haven't killed your true passion. I guess what I told Saitou is true, some people are meant to practice and some are meant to teach. I'll always find a way to train children in Kenjutsu no matter what I do or where I go. I suppose it's just part of who I am.'
***
"It's good to see Kaoru-san moving under her own steam again." Aoshi commented as the Kenshi woman disappeared into the practice hall.
"I'll say, she's the patient from Hell." Hiko grumbled. "It makes me pity Kitsune, almost."
Misao poked him. "How do you know that?" she asked.
Hiko cocked an eyebrow at her. "Do you know how Kaoru begot Kaori?"
Aoshi's eyes narrowed thoughtfully and he took a sip of tea to cover up the expression of curiosity on his face. Kaori's existance had been an issue of worry for him, Kaoru-san had once told him that she'd never been married and had refused to ay anything more. Now that he knew she and Seijuro-san had been lovers it aroused his inherent, ninja curiosity. He knew the candidates would be few, since Kaoru-san was a very discerning woman. She wouldn't take a lover on a whim.
He honestly wanted to know why Kaoru hadn't married Kaori's father. It wasn't as though she was an unattractive woman, and she was adept at the domestic arts. There were definately worse wives to be had if a man got his lover into trouble. Maybe the man would have forced her to give up her sword? If that was the case then he could understand. Any one who had hoend their skills the way Kaoru had would die before giving it up.
"Rape, yeah." Misao shuddered. "Kaori told me the story."
Aoshi spat out his tea.
"Are you all right?" Misao leapt up to pound Aoshi on the back. "Did you swallow wrong?"
He waved her off. "No!" he sputtered a little more and wiped the moitsure from his mouth. "Did you just say that Kaoru-san was -raped-?" he asked Misao. "A Kengo such as she? By who?"
Of all the scenarios he'd imagined, -that- had never been an option!
Misao nodded. "Yes, Kaori told me the whole thing. It was in 1869, Kaoru-san had been travelling for about three years then." she sat back down and looked sad. "Kaori didn't know too many of the details, but she did know that her Kaa-chan was out in a bad part of town at night and met up with some chinese sailors. the rest they say, was history."
Aoshi settled himself and drew on his composure like a coat. "What does this have to do with Kaoru being a difficult patient?" he asked Hiko.
"I was the one who found her after the scum-bags were done. I may have even passed them as they left her." Hiko scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. "She was unconscious in an alley way with several knife wounds to accompany what they'd done. I suppose the idiots thought they'd killed her, but they were so drunk they didn't realize they'd only inflicted some flesh wounds. The bleeding was still bad, so I took her back to my Pottery and patched her up. I know she's a bad patient because she kept trying to sneak off before her wounds began to knit. She was convinced she was imposing on my hospitality."
Misao snorted with feeling. "That's so like her."
Aoshi frowned. "I still don't understand how a master swordsman like her could fall prey to some drunk animals."
"You misunderstand." Hiko corrected him. "She wasn't always as amazing as she is now. In fact when I first met her, she was pretty damn pathetic. Someone had been messing with her head and had her trained to be protected. While she was recovering her strength I trained her in some of the basic forms of the Hiten Mitsurugi; speed, ken-ki, and using her bodken efficiently. She stayed with me for nearly two months before she went to the Iron Mountain Monastery where she had Kaori. She stayed there until Kaori was four and then she started her travels again."
Hiko paused to shake his head. "That woman and her wander lust. Anyway, while she stayed at the Monastery, the Abbot there helped her develop the Kasshin style her father had taught her into the advanced style she uses today. I visited the Monastery often and Kaori thinks of me as something like an Uncle/Father. Kaoru travelled in the Spring and Summers, when Autumn came she headed back for the Monastery to spend the Winter with Kaori. That's part of the reason Kaori is so attached to her mother, she's used to only seeing her four months out of every year."
He looked off to the Dojo, where he could see Kaoru clapping her hands, applauding Kaori as she tossed Shinnosuke across the floor in a classic judo-throw. "I was surprised when I learned that she was settling down here for good. It just doesn't fit in with the way she's lived her life, but then I don't know what motivated her to start travelling in the first place. She has a great love for teaching and she would instruct village children in basic Kendo as she travelled and get the talented ones enrolled in good Dojos. When I learned, two years ago, that she had once been the Heir to this Dojo in Tokyo I couldn't understand why she left her students and went into danger."
A frown creased Misao's pretty forehead. "I don't get that either, do you think she was trying to get stronger so she coud be a better teacher?"
"I doubt it." Aoshi interjected. "Teaching others has very little to do with how skilled you yourself are, although it does make the student mind a bit better. I believe we have just presented ourselves with another mystery of Kamiya-Kaoru. That makes how many so far, Misao?"
"Well..." Misao held up a hand and started to tick them off on her fingers. "There's the fact that she knows just about everything that goes one around her. And also how she knows Hiko-san... oops, guess that one's not a mystery anymore. That also goes for how she conceived Kaori, and how she got so good with a sword. I guess we're down to her knowledge, what she travelled for, where she travelled, what she did while she travelled, why she started in the first place, why she is scared of Enishi sometimes, why she felt she had to get so incredibly strong, and where that scar came from."
"Oh is that all?" Hiko asked sarcastically.
Misao nooded cheerfully, the insult flying right over her head.
Aoshi took another cautious sip of his tea. "I doubt we'll ever run out of things to wonder about Kaoru-san. Hiko-san, did she receive the scar when she was attacked that night?"
Hiko shook his head and frowned. "Come to think of it, she already had the thing when I met her. It looked old then as well."
"Hold it!" Misao held her hands up in a time-out T. "You said she had it ten years ago? Wouldn't it have faded a little by now? That thing is still as dark as if she'd only gotten it a year ago!"
The two men mulled that over silently until Aoshi broke the silence.
"This is only a bit of medical superstition, but I once heard that if a person had great emotions centered around a scar then it won't fade until that person gets over that trauma."
Misao looked over her shoulder at the dojo. "Come to think of it, Kaoru-san always touches it when she starts thinking and getting depressed. Especially if Enishi is around. Maybe he knows something about it?"
"I guess we'll have to interrogate him after supper then." Hiko said grimly.
********
End Chapter Sixteen
********
Seiyuu; Questions, questions, too many questions and answers only breed more!
Ladies and Gentle-beings! The Writer's Block Fairy has left the building! In commemoration of this event, another chapter!
Chapter Sixteen; Musings on a Kenshi
**********
Brain rapes range from "my neurons had to fake an orgasm" to "my cerebrim was given rohypnol" to "my brain needs support groups and therapy"
-Sage
**********
"Busu!"
"Twit!"
"Tanuki-chan!"
"Idiot!"
"Raccon!"
"Jerk!"
"Midget!"
"Runt!"
"CROSS-DRESSER!"
The beating commenced.
Kaoru sighed and rubbed her sinuses, beside her Aoshi and Hiko shook their heads in unison.
"Do the boy like being hurt?" Aoshi asked Kaoru.
Kaoru shrugged. "Who know what ten year olds think? I know I don't remember."
"Nor I." Aoshi agreed. "Perhaps you should watch him for other masochistic tendancies?"
"Been doing that, this seems to be limited to fighting with Kaori." Hiko told the Oniwabanshuu, Kaoru nodded her agreement.
Aoshi shook his head disparagingly. "Something about this place brings out the wierdeness in people."
"AOSHI-SAMA!"
He flinched as Misao waved at him from the front gate. "Some others however..." he muttered and then made strangulated noises as Misao once again glomped him.
Kaoru laughed and used her bodken to pry Misao off before Aoshi died of asphyxiation. She was immediately glomped in return and it was up to Hiko to pry Misao off her while Aoshi got his breath back.
"You both are just too much fun to mess with!" Misao giggled and latched onto Aoshi's arm, which he let her have considering the alternative... but also because he actually liked the human contact as long as it didn't interfere with his breathing.
"How's job hunting for the Oniwabanshuu going?" Kaoru asked. "You guys haven't been around as much."
"Since you're up and around again, we don't have to keep a guard on you." Misao explained.
"The others have odd jobs around town doing basic bodyguarding for Okubansho and Restaurants. Shikijo is working at that restaurant you all favor; Akabeko." Aoshi told Kaoru. "Actually, they've all got some vacation time coming up and we're going to the Hot Springs up in Izu."
Kaoru grinned. "Izu! I passed through there on my way to Tokyo, I remember wishing that I had enough money to stay in the Inn there. The Hot Springs there are something else."
"Hey, why don't you guys come too?" Misao burst out. "I mean, I'd really hate to be the only girl there and with you, Takani-san, and Kaori it'd be way cooler."
Aoshi glanced at Misao. "That's true isn't it? Why not?" his lips twitched in an attempt at a smile. "The more the merrier, isn't that what Okina says?"
"... just in reference to something other than vacations." Misao muttered.
Kaoru wasn't positive, but she thought she saw a faint tint of pink touch Aoshi's cheeks; it was gone before she could be sure.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea." Kaori agreed, emerging from the cloud of dust that had sprung into being where she'd been pummelling Yahiko. "I wonder if the hot springs in Izu are any better than the ones up at Iron Mountain?"
"There were hot springs at the Monastery where you grew up?" Misao quizzed Kaori.
"Yeah, they're half the reason the Monastery was founded there. Those guys do almost othing else but farm the feilds and practice their matrial arts, a good hot spring can be invaluable to their health."
"It must have been odd growing up with only men around." Aoshi commented.
Kaori sat down on the veranda with her mother. "Not really, it was actually like having twenty or so big brothers. They could be unreasonable about me talking to boys down in the town but they all had something to teach me." she laughed. "The Monastery doesn't disallow it, but it's frowned upon for the Monks to take wives so they all pretty much had given up the idea of having children of their own. Kaneda-nii was the worst really, he woldn't let me leave the monstery without him right there. He was convinced that I'd die if I set foot outside the walls or something."
Kaoru chuckled. "Brother Kaneda hasn't changed much then, he was always paranoid about the people he cares about. Is he still as gung-ho as ever?"
"Yeah, and then some. I'm surprised he didn't follow me to the Dojo." the young girl scoffed and then turned a little serious. "By the way, if any of your Oniwabanshuu see a bald guy in his twenties with tan skin, and a scar over his right eye who is dressed like a monk then tell him Kaori says to stop skulking around and just come to the Dojo."
"Have you been followed recently?" Aoshi asked Kaori.
"Not as I can tell." she shrugged. "I do however know Kaneda. If he's not in town right now then he's on his way."
***
About fifteen miles outside of Tokyo, at a road-side tea stall a five and a half foot tall monk with a scar over his left eye sneezed in the middle of his prayer of thanks over a mug of tea and some onigiri.
"Bless you, Kaneda-san." The stall owner said graciously as the monk sniffed and blew his nose on a handkerchief.
"Arigatou gozaimasu." he answered and sniffed again. "Someone must be talking about me."
***
"Uh-oh, heads up. Chibi-Saitou is here for his lesson." Enishi warned the group as they laughed over one of Kaori's 'Kaneda' stories.
"Ohaya Yukishiro-sensei, Kamiya-sama!"
Saitou stood at the front gate escorting Shinnosuke inside, he waved once, impersonally. Beside him his son waved more energetically.
Shinnosuke was indeed a 'Chibi-Saitou' or at least showed every sign of turning into one. He was already shooting up and outgrowing clothing at an embarrassing rate and with those growth spurts, his baby fat was being spread thin giving him the same lanky structure as his Father. His face had also lost most of it's softness and let his bone structure shine through.
Fortunately his mother cut his hair so no one would ever call this boy 'spider-face', but it was drawn back into a high pony tail with heavy bangs covering one eye.
The most unsettling resemblance Shinnosuke had to his father was his expression. He had that same beatific, closed-eyes smile that Saitou adopted when he was doing his 'Fujita Goro' act. In fact the kid almost never opened his eyes except when he was mad, scared, or serious.
Unfortunately, even though Saitou had some sort of wierd sixth sense that let him walk around without seeing where he was going, Shinnosuke did not and was forever walking into walls and whatnot.
"Ohayo, Shin-kun!" Kaoru greeted him. "Saitou-san." she nodded to Saitou.
"Practice well, son." Saitou told Shinnosuke. "I'll pick you up after work."
"Sayonara, Tou-sama!" Shinnosuke said brightly. As soon as his father left the courtyard he turned to Kaori. "Ohayo, Kaori-kun. Have you beaten up Yahiko-chan today or is it my turn?"
*AN* It's acceptable for students to add the suffix -kun to each other's name regardless of sex, although it's usually meant for male friends. This rule applies in modern Japanese but I don't know about the 18th century japanese. There can't have been too much language drift though, it was only century or so... oh jeez listen to me ^_^¿ 'Only' a century.
Yahiko's strained voice came from the garden, where he'd been beaten into the dirt. "Don't call me, -Chan!"
"I'll take that as a 'yes'." Shinnosuke inuited.
Kaori laughed and nudged her partner in crime with her elbow. "It's good for his soul." she whispered to him.
"Then Yahiko's soul must be very healthy indeed by now, in fact if you keep this up he might attain Buddha-hood!" Kaoru chided.
Shinnosuke and Kaori beamed angelically at her. "Hai!" they chorused.
"Are you training with us today, Kaori-chan?" Shinnosuke asked Kaori.
"I dunno, it depends on the lesson Enishi had in mind. Do you need me for a demonstration, Enishi?" she asked the shihondai.
"Actually yes, we're going to get into the hand to hand combat today and I'll need you help to partner off against the boys." Enishi got to his feet. "Someone pry Yahiko off the ground and get him into the Dojo." he commanded as he left for the lesson.
Shinnosuke and Kaori leapt to it and mercilessly hauled th groggy boy into the practice hall.
Kaoru excused herself to go observe the lesson, as she always did. After all, after the boys passed a certain level she would take over their training so Enishi could take on a fresh batch of beginners. She wanted to become familiar with their habits before then so she could be an effective teacher.
'Mou, Kaoru.' she chided herself cheerfully as she followed Kaori and Shinnosuke into the Dojo. 'Twelve years of being an actual swordswoman haven't killed your true passion. I guess what I told Saitou is true, some people are meant to practice and some are meant to teach. I'll always find a way to train children in Kenjutsu no matter what I do or where I go. I suppose it's just part of who I am.'
***
"It's good to see Kaoru-san moving under her own steam again." Aoshi commented as the Kenshi woman disappeared into the practice hall.
"I'll say, she's the patient from Hell." Hiko grumbled. "It makes me pity Kitsune, almost."
Misao poked him. "How do you know that?" she asked.
Hiko cocked an eyebrow at her. "Do you know how Kaoru begot Kaori?"
Aoshi's eyes narrowed thoughtfully and he took a sip of tea to cover up the expression of curiosity on his face. Kaori's existance had been an issue of worry for him, Kaoru-san had once told him that she'd never been married and had refused to ay anything more. Now that he knew she and Seijuro-san had been lovers it aroused his inherent, ninja curiosity. He knew the candidates would be few, since Kaoru-san was a very discerning woman. She wouldn't take a lover on a whim.
He honestly wanted to know why Kaoru hadn't married Kaori's father. It wasn't as though she was an unattractive woman, and she was adept at the domestic arts. There were definately worse wives to be had if a man got his lover into trouble. Maybe the man would have forced her to give up her sword? If that was the case then he could understand. Any one who had hoend their skills the way Kaoru had would die before giving it up.
"Rape, yeah." Misao shuddered. "Kaori told me the story."
Aoshi spat out his tea.
"Are you all right?" Misao leapt up to pound Aoshi on the back. "Did you swallow wrong?"
He waved her off. "No!" he sputtered a little more and wiped the moitsure from his mouth. "Did you just say that Kaoru-san was -raped-?" he asked Misao. "A Kengo such as she? By who?"
Of all the scenarios he'd imagined, -that- had never been an option!
Misao nodded. "Yes, Kaori told me the whole thing. It was in 1869, Kaoru-san had been travelling for about three years then." she sat back down and looked sad. "Kaori didn't know too many of the details, but she did know that her Kaa-chan was out in a bad part of town at night and met up with some chinese sailors. the rest they say, was history."
Aoshi settled himself and drew on his composure like a coat. "What does this have to do with Kaoru being a difficult patient?" he asked Hiko.
"I was the one who found her after the scum-bags were done. I may have even passed them as they left her." Hiko scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. "She was unconscious in an alley way with several knife wounds to accompany what they'd done. I suppose the idiots thought they'd killed her, but they were so drunk they didn't realize they'd only inflicted some flesh wounds. The bleeding was still bad, so I took her back to my Pottery and patched her up. I know she's a bad patient because she kept trying to sneak off before her wounds began to knit. She was convinced she was imposing on my hospitality."
Misao snorted with feeling. "That's so like her."
Aoshi frowned. "I still don't understand how a master swordsman like her could fall prey to some drunk animals."
"You misunderstand." Hiko corrected him. "She wasn't always as amazing as she is now. In fact when I first met her, she was pretty damn pathetic. Someone had been messing with her head and had her trained to be protected. While she was recovering her strength I trained her in some of the basic forms of the Hiten Mitsurugi; speed, ken-ki, and using her bodken efficiently. She stayed with me for nearly two months before she went to the Iron Mountain Monastery where she had Kaori. She stayed there until Kaori was four and then she started her travels again."
Hiko paused to shake his head. "That woman and her wander lust. Anyway, while she stayed at the Monastery, the Abbot there helped her develop the Kasshin style her father had taught her into the advanced style she uses today. I visited the Monastery often and Kaori thinks of me as something like an Uncle/Father. Kaoru travelled in the Spring and Summers, when Autumn came she headed back for the Monastery to spend the Winter with Kaori. That's part of the reason Kaori is so attached to her mother, she's used to only seeing her four months out of every year."
He looked off to the Dojo, where he could see Kaoru clapping her hands, applauding Kaori as she tossed Shinnosuke across the floor in a classic judo-throw. "I was surprised when I learned that she was settling down here for good. It just doesn't fit in with the way she's lived her life, but then I don't know what motivated her to start travelling in the first place. She has a great love for teaching and she would instruct village children in basic Kendo as she travelled and get the talented ones enrolled in good Dojos. When I learned, two years ago, that she had once been the Heir to this Dojo in Tokyo I couldn't understand why she left her students and went into danger."
A frown creased Misao's pretty forehead. "I don't get that either, do you think she was trying to get stronger so she coud be a better teacher?"
"I doubt it." Aoshi interjected. "Teaching others has very little to do with how skilled you yourself are, although it does make the student mind a bit better. I believe we have just presented ourselves with another mystery of Kamiya-Kaoru. That makes how many so far, Misao?"
"Well..." Misao held up a hand and started to tick them off on her fingers. "There's the fact that she knows just about everything that goes one around her. And also how she knows Hiko-san... oops, guess that one's not a mystery anymore. That also goes for how she conceived Kaori, and how she got so good with a sword. I guess we're down to her knowledge, what she travelled for, where she travelled, what she did while she travelled, why she started in the first place, why she is scared of Enishi sometimes, why she felt she had to get so incredibly strong, and where that scar came from."
"Oh is that all?" Hiko asked sarcastically.
Misao nooded cheerfully, the insult flying right over her head.
Aoshi took another cautious sip of his tea. "I doubt we'll ever run out of things to wonder about Kaoru-san. Hiko-san, did she receive the scar when she was attacked that night?"
Hiko shook his head and frowned. "Come to think of it, she already had the thing when I met her. It looked old then as well."
"Hold it!" Misao held her hands up in a time-out T. "You said she had it ten years ago? Wouldn't it have faded a little by now? That thing is still as dark as if she'd only gotten it a year ago!"
The two men mulled that over silently until Aoshi broke the silence.
"This is only a bit of medical superstition, but I once heard that if a person had great emotions centered around a scar then it won't fade until that person gets over that trauma."
Misao looked over her shoulder at the dojo. "Come to think of it, Kaoru-san always touches it when she starts thinking and getting depressed. Especially if Enishi is around. Maybe he knows something about it?"
"I guess we'll have to interrogate him after supper then." Hiko said grimly.
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End Chapter Sixteen
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Seiyuu; Questions, questions, too many questions and answers only breed more!
Ladies and Gentle-beings! The Writer's Block Fairy has left the building! In commemoration of this event, another chapter!