The Festival
"Oh wow, do you really know Kenshin Himura, Kaoru-sempai?" the freshmen students gushed at the trio, interrupting their tour of the festival.
"Like I just said, yes. He's the number one ranked member of the kendo club. Agatha and I are in the kendo club. Of course we know him!" The group of girls started squealing and jumping up and down, talking about how cool it all was. Kaoru rolled her eyes. "Now will you please go somewhere else? My friends and I are trying to find a good spot to watch the parade."
"Oh, my friends and I have a perfect vantage point to see the whole thing. Come with us!" The trio had no choice but to follow the gushing girls to their spot. These high school students were obviously part of the Red Prince's fan club. There were fan clubs for all the cute boys in school. They were pumping Kaoru for any information on Kenshin they could get and screeching with every new detail, no matter how inane it was. Finally, Aggie had had enough.
"I'm trying to watch the parade, girls. Your shrieking is really distracting and annoying. My brother wouldn't appreciate it."
"What do you know, you-"
"I know a great deal more than you do, obviously. He's my big brother and we are very close. I happen to know that the idea of a fan club makes him uncomfortable and girls following him around sighing and mooning over him is distressing. What do you actually know about Kenshin's personality, Ichika-chan? What do you know about him at all that makes you so gaga?" The two stared at each other until Ichika looked down and away. "I thought so," Aggie sniffed, sneezing at the gunpowder in the air. "If you wish to watch the actual parade with us, we welcome you. But if you're only here to find out more about my big brother, then you might as well move along."
"Hey, we found this spot first," Akari protested weakly.
"Yes, but we're actually using it for its intended purpose," the sophomore shrugged. The group of five girls settled and started paying attention to the parade and soon the attractive junior student was forgotten, at least for the time being. The group enjoyed the rest of the parade with the occasional remark about the performances in it. As they were heading back to the festival grounds, a group of rough-looking men came and surrounded the group.
"What have we got here?" the men said in English, eyeing the girls like prime rib. Sakura whimpered and moved out of the touching range of one of the brigands.
"We're on our way back to the festival. Please get out of the way," Aggie said firmly in Japanese. This made all the men leer and laugh.
"What's a monkey like you doing speaking Japanese? That's quite a feat; I wonder which language you cry out your passion in? And you are going to be crying out under me, you cheeky monkey. Me and the boys here are going to have some fun with the eight of you. No need to go back to the festival. We've got the festivities right here!" The men laughed evilly as Yui burst into tears.
Aggie bent over and unzipped the invisible zippers on either side of her kimono. Widening her stance and bringing her weapon to bear, she smiled as she felt her friends similarly preparing themselves for the battle ahead.
"When the opportunity presents itself, run and get the police," Kaoru told the freshmen quietly. "My friends and I will hold them off."
"But there's too many of them," Akari whimpered, looking at the nine brutes surrounding them. "We're going to-"
"Pay attention to Kaoru," Aggie snapped in a quiet, but harsh tone. "You'll only get in the way. Go get help when the circle breaks. We are capable of defending ourselves. This isn't the first time we've been threatened. We've always come out triumphant. I've got 1848. Mark?"
"Mark," Kaoru and Misao answered, setting their watches and readying their weapons as if this were a school bout.
"What are you doing, monkey? Trying to decide how to divide yourselves among us?" the leader gloated. He went to grab the strange bokken from her, convinced that the girls were nothing but scared prey when the black girl feinted left and shoved her stick straight into his throat. The force of the blow sent him to his knees, allowing her to put her foot across his face, knocking him out. The men froze at the aggressive move, allowing the dark-skinned beauty to strike the man that had been behind the leader, breaking his arm before she swiped at his face, breaking his nose. Another of the men rushed her, breaking her stance. She swung her bokken like a baseball bat, snapping his jaw with an audible *crack* and knocking a few of his teeth out in the process. While Aggie dealt with the leader, Kaoru attacked the two thugs to her right, sweeping the legs out from under one and breaking the wrist of the other. Two more converged on her and she swung, her aim true. One went down with broken ribs and the other was able to back away in time to only have a broken hand. The Kenjutsu Princess kicked the downed opponent, but he reached out and twisted her ankle. Instead of fighting him and ending up with a broken ankle, she flowed with the movement, using her other foot to break his nose and knock some teeth out of his mouth.
Misao, not to be undone by her comrades, launched two kunai in rapid succession, straight into the necks of her two opponents. Both dropped, desperately trying to keep from bleeding to death from the neck wounds she'd inflicted on them and she backflipped into the center of the knot of five freshmen. "RUN!" she shouted at their stunned figures. The girls didn't need to be told twice, gathering up their kimono and taking off for the festival.
"You BITCH," one of the men wheezed weakly, his jaw smashed by Agatha's initial move against him. He stood to try and attack her again and she sidestepped him, tripping him up with her bokken and managing to attack his family jewels on his way to the ground. The man curled in on himself, moaning.
Kaoru was back on her feet, but one of her attackers managed to lift her up off the ground, glaring at her around his broken and bloody nose. She headbutted him and when he dropped her to hold his nose in pain, she dropped into a crouch and rolled away from him, using her bokken to shatter his kneecaps. The thug crumpled to the ground, crying out in pain and Misao was there to help her friend to her feet. Both prepared themselves for more attacks, but the rapists had clearly had enough punishment. A few were trying to get away, but most were too hurt to run.
And that's how the police officers found the three women, towering over their potential rapists, weapons at the ready.
"What's going on here?" Officer Koshi demanded.
"These… worm-ridden pieces of FILTH threatened to rape us and the five freshmen that were with us as we were headed back to the festival," Agatha ground out. The officer blinked at the vivid description, taking in the girls more carefully. All three were shaking with adrenaline, their eyes fully dilated from the rush of battle. But the dark-skinned one was pacing in front of the captives, looking ready for another fight.
"Miss, have you been doing drugs?"
"Of course I haven't been doing drugs! Why would you ask that?" The officer, suddenly realizing who he was addressing, shuffled uncomfortably.
"No reason, miss. So, these men approached you on the way back to the festival?"
"Yes, officer," Misao jumped into the conversation. "It's just like Aggie said, they threatened to rape us and our five companions over there. We only defended ourselves."
Looking at the two men desperately attempting to staunch the bleeding in their necks, he shook his head. "This all seems highly unusual. I'm afraid that you are all going to have to come with us down to the station."
"Are we under arrest for defending ourselves?" Kaoru spat out. "Were we supposed to just let these evil men have their way with us?"
"They're telling the truth, officer," Sakura said from the safety of the crowd. "Those men really did threaten us! They did everything they could to protect us from them."
"Be that as it may, we'll need statements from everyone involved, including you and your friends." With that, the officers started taking the men into custody. They had to wait for the ambulances to arrive. Very few of the thugs could still walk. By the time the last of them were carted off to the hospital under police guard, all eight of the girls had testified to the officer. There was very little deviation in the stories, and Officer Koshi was inclined to believe the frightened teenagers. Watching the three sophomores pace and shake with adrenaline, he had to admire them. If this was the same group of thugs that had been terrorizing this area for the last two months, then this story would have had a very different ending without their intervention.
"We'll be processing the men who threatened and assaulted you at the hospital. They may be the gang of rapists we've been trying to catch for the past few months. If so, then you've done this community a great service. If not, you've still acted honorably to protect your friends. Either way, we owe you a great debt of thanks." Camera crews were starting to arrive and the officer wanted the minors out of the spotlight. He waved the group away from the cameras, but not before the news crews were able to gather a general outline of what happened and the names of all those involved. It was enough to make a report on the evening news, sketchy as the details were at this point. It was also enough to alert three guardians to the goings on of their young charges.
Kaoru was the first to get a call. "Yes daddy? The news? But we didn't- Of course we- But Daddy, we're not supposed to come home until tomorrow afternoon! We didn't- Those men were going to-" She listened for a few seconds, then sighed in defeat. "Yes, daddy. I'll be ready when you get here. I love you too. Goodbye." Before she could say anything, Misao and Aggie's phones rang. Their conversations with Okina and Hiko didn't go any better.
"Man, talk about blaming the victim," Aggie grouched, changing out of her kimono and putting together her things for her legal guardian's arrival. The others followed suit and soon they were back in their street clothes. "You'd think they'd be proud of us!"
"I think they're just scared out of their minds for what might have happened," Misao chimed in. "We stopped a group of rapists after all."
"I am so geared up," Kaoru said, shaking her hands out. "I think the first thing I'm going to do when I get home is practice until all this adrenaline is out of my system."
"By the time they get here and get us back home, it'll be so late that I expect to crash and sleep like the dead," Aggie groaned. "I feel so keyed up right now, but I know that once it wears off, I'm going to be exhausted. In fact, I think I'll head down to the gym right now - it'll take our parents hours to get here. I need to work off some of this energy." Her friends followed her to the gym, which was blessedly empty. Once there, Aggie immediately launched an attack at Misao. It didn't take the three long to be locked in a three-way battle royale. Misao was all acrobatics and grace, Kaoru was on the defense most of the time, adhering strictly to her father's teachings, and Aggie was a deadly combination of offense and defense, the perfect combination of the principles of the Hiten Mitsurugi and the Kamiya Kasshin styles of martial arts.
None of them noticed the people outside the gym filming their battle. There weren't many people, fortunately, thanks to the festival, but the staff was still present and amazed at what they saw. Most were frozen, impressed at the expert display being put on by the three young women. They kept at it until Aggie's phone rang in her pocket, causing her to misstep. She recovered immediately, backing away from her friends to answer.
"Hello? Poppi, I was just-" she listened and frowned suddenly. "It's been two hours already? No, Poppi, I- I'll be right there. I just have to- I don't dawdle as a rule, Poppi. Yes, Poppi." She hung up, wiping the streaming sweat off her face with her arm. "Damn! I didn't realize that it was two hours already. Our folks are outside waiting for us. We'd better get a move on." Their limbs felt as if they'd been coated in lead, but the three made it back to their room and grabbed their things, each privately wishing for the time to jump in the shower after such an extensive and intensive workout.
"God, this is going to suck," Aggie groaned as she hoisted her bookbag. "I don't know about you two, but I am soaked to the bone with sweat and I just feel cruddy. I could really use a shower before such a long trip home."
"Yeah, it's not like we're boys!" Misao sighed and stretched. "We need to clean up before heading out." Kaoru was already calling her father to let him know that they were going to shower after such an intense workout, pulling her soaked clothes off of her with distaste as she did. The three jumped in the shower, quickly scrubbing themselves down and rinsing off. There wasn't time for a proper soak in the hot spring to work the kinks out of their tired muscles, but at least they would be clean!
The three trudged down to their guardians, finally having spent all of their adrenaline from the encounter with those awful men. All any of them wanted was their beds. None of them were looking forward to a scolding for using their talents to defend the innocent.
Misao was the first to emerge, preparing to be very angry at her Okina and defend herself. "Pops, I- Aoshi-sama? What are you doing here?" Before she could get an answer, the usually stoic man had enveloped her in a tight hug. He breathed in her usually frantic energy, noting just how tired she was at the moment.
"I'm proud of you," the dragon whispered into her hair, massaging the base of her scalp through her thick braid. "You did so well, protecting those girls and yourselves from those men."
Koshijiro had similar words of praise for his daughter. Ever since his precious wife had passed away, he'd always harbored a secret fear of losing his little girl. Kaoru looked over at her endlessly energetic friend and smirked that she looked so secretly pleased to be in the arms of her not-so-secret crush.
"I'm glad the three of you are alright, sis," Kenshin said softly, giving her a hug. Hiko rested a fatherly arm on both their shoulders and Kaoru looked away in jealousy. She huddled in her father's arms until a tap on her shoulder caused her to look up. Disengaging from her father's embrace, the girl turned to face her crush.
"I would have been devastated if something had happened to you," Kenshin told her anxiously, stepping into her personal bubble. "It would have wounded my soul because I never told you."
"T-told me what?" she said, caught up in his beautiful violet eyes. Instead of answering, he leaned down and covered her lips with his. The kiss wasn't very long, but the teens leaned into it. When he released her, she smiled up at him, caressing his scarred cheek and laying her head on his shoulder.
"Way to go, oni-chan!" Aggie whispered from her place in her guardian's arms. Hiko looked down at her in shock and she only grinned up at him. "Those two were made for each other. It's about time he made things official between them. Just as long as they don't go all lovey-dovey during practice. Ugh! I'd better warn them against that nonsense! The dojo is no place for romance!" Two steps from her brother, Misao suddenly grabbed Aoshi's face and smashed it down on hers. Aggie froze, a pleased grin on her face, especially when he took over the kiss, arranging her lithe body around his to kiss her properly. Their kiss was more passionate for all that Okina was right there watching. When HIko's daughter saw the icy male's tongue enter her mouth, she whooped, unable to help herself. That broke the new couple apart.
"Wow! Way to go, Mi-chan!" she hooted, laughing along with Kaoru at the look on the ninja's face. It was clear that Misao was caught between embarrassment at the situation and anger at her friend for the interruption. In the end, though, she settled on embarrassment and went over to be congratulated by her friends. The three hugged and squealed, but there was no time to talk about boys when the boys were right there. Instead they promised to meet up after school on Monday to gossip and catch up. They said their goodbyes and headed to their respective parents. Once in the jeep, Aggie turned to her brother and smiled.
"I'm so glad you finally admitted your feelings for Kaoru, oni-chan! It was making her miserable not to know."
"How did you know?" Kenshin asked with a dazed look on his handsome face.
"It's blatantly obvious for anyone with eyes to see. You're always so protective of her during the practices, you walk her back to the lockers afterwards, you're always asking about her… In fact, the only one that couldn't see it was Kaoru herself!" The boy grinned, thinking that maybe he had been a little obvious. Feeling his leader's disapproving glare through the rear-view mirror, he mustered up the courage to ask the one question that could shatter his world.
"Agatha… Aren't you upset? We were meant to wed someday."
"What? Ew! Kaoru said the same thing to me and I don't get where you two got that idea. I would never wed a sibling. That's disgusting! You can't want a dark-skinned fatty like me. Kaoru's perfect for you. She even-"
"You're not fat," Kenshin blinked. "You've never been fat, Aggie. If anything, I'd say you were a shade too thin, but your constant workouts and practices keep you looking fit and healthy."
"Poppi said that I was too fat for this country when I first got here," she whispered, beautiful brown eyes large and vulnerable. Kenshin glared at his guardian through the rear-view mirror. The confines of the truck meant that even a whisper could be heard clearly, especially with a dragon's enhanced hearing.
"Agatha, that was never meant to reach your ears," Hiko said immediately. "It was a secret fear about your future, dear one. I loved your mother dearly, but she was on the heavier side. It never mattered to me, but I didn't want that for you. I was trying to come up with a way to prevent that fate for you when you took care of the problem yourself. You're too skinny in my humble opinion, but that's better than being too big. You're fit and healthy, like your brother said. You're not too fat for this country." He watched as tears silently leaked from his little girl's expressive brown eyes as he assuaged her secret fear. His baka deshi hugged her close as she cried and he wished more than anything that he could stop the jeep and hug her himself. But they had a long journey ahead of them to get home in this Saturday night traffic. It didn't take long for the girl to drop off to sleep to the steady rhythm of the wheels on asphalt. It was late after all, and she'd had an emotionally exhausting day.
"You called her fat?" Kenshin growled once he was sure his sister was asleep.
"As I said, that was a future fear I was lamenting, not a present one. She was only a child at that point."
"Obviously, she held onto that statement all these years. It's shaped her opinion of herself."
"Indeed," the man sighed, changing lanes. "I never meant for that to happen. It seems that you have gotten out of marrying my daughter, baka deshi."
"I never intended to marry your daughter," Kenshin said bravely. "At least, not once I met Kaoru. I don't feel anything but warm affection for your little girl. And while marriages have been built on less, Kaoru calls to my heart. Surely you can understand that." Hiko thought about that for a long time, so long that they were almost home by the time he answered.
"I loved my Dalia, it's true. I just want my little one to be protected. She is more than capable of taking care of herself, I know. But I would just feel better if she-"
"You should tell her who she is, shishou," Kenshin blurted out. "She would understand more, be able to protect herself even better if she knew."
"I will not allow her image of her mother to be spoiled!" the dragon roared suddenly. "She believes that she is the daughter of Dalia and Tyler Davis. It will remain that way until the day she dies if I have anything to say about it!"
"Say about what?" Aggie muttered sleepily, rousing herself at the angry tones in the jeep. "What's… What's going on?"
"Nothing," Hiko told her with a gentle smile. "It was just something my baka deshi said."
"Oh…" the girl yawned, halfway back to sleep. The two males' eyes met through the mirror, silently communicating as the girl slept.
Wow, that was intense! I hope she's still sounding like a teenager. Let me know, eh?