by ElysianKiss
Changes
The next morning found Kaoru with a splitting headache.
She could recall nothing after collapsing against Kenshin in her sorrow.
Yet somehow she was in her sleeping robe and all traces of the carnage
had been washed from her hands and body. However, she could still
feel the blood on her hands; could still see it in her minds eye.
She gripped the sheets tightly and soon felt a pair of comforting hands
on her shoulders.
"Miss Kaoru...," Kenshin's
soothing voice echoed in the silence of the morning.
"Kenshin...," she whispered,
"I..."
"Shh...you should eat breakfast,
that you should. Then we can talk about what happened."
"Yes. Breakfast."
Kaoru sat quietly at the breakfast table as Kenshin
served her a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, and sweetbread. Yahiko
sat across from her, not daring to say a word. Kenshin sat beside
her and urged her to eat.
"You must eat breakfast
to regain your strength, Miss Kaoru, that you must."
"I'm not very hungry, Kenshin..."
"Onegai, Miss Kaoru," he
whispered, uncharacteristically.
"H-Hai, Kenshin...," she
agreed.
Kaoru took small bites of her food, almost mechanically. Yahiko
ate quickly and left the uncomfortable silence of the room. Tears
slid down her pale face as she noticed her only student apparently run
from her. She deserved it, after all. She had spilled blood,
in the presence of a child. She was a hypocrite, just as that ninja
had said. Everything she stood for was a lie.
"Kenshin, how can I live
my life, knowing I'm nothing but a hypocrite?" she asked.
"Miss Kaoru," Kenshin breathed,
"You are not a hypocrite. You did what you had to do, that you did..."
"No, Kenshin! I could
have avoided killing those men! But...it felt like I was someone
else! I felt this power and overwhelming knowledge surround me.
I couldn't fight it. I saw what was happening, but I couldn't stop
myself! The legend is true, Kenshin. My great grandfather's
sword gave me the power to defeat those men, but it cost me my very being...."
"Miss Kaoru, please..."
"Iie! I can't ever
go back to what I used to be. I need...I need to go out for a walk,"
she said, getting up.
Kenshin watched her head back to her room.
He closed his eyes and sighed. Kaoru discretely hid the sword in
her kimono. It was as if the blade called to her, told her it might
be needed during her walk.
"Only for protection...,"
she lied to herself.
She left the house then and took a solitary trail toward the river.
She reached it soon enough and sat on an old log. She stared hard
and long at her small hands, she could still see the stain of blood on
them. She lunged toward the river and dunked her hands under the
rushing waters, trying to scrub away what wasn't really there. She
scrubbed until she drew her own blood and then scrubbed harder in hysterics.
She was pulled roughly away from her task.
He had seen the lovely young woman torture herself
and could not stand to let her do this to herself. He yanked her
away from the river and held her to his chest, protectively. She
struggled and cried in his arms. Her perfumed scent wafted up to
his nose and he looked down upon her, she was a goddess. Those desperate
eyes and the pale, tear stained cheeks heightened by a delicate blush made
him gasp in desire.
"Why do you want to hurt
yourself so badly, little one?" he asked, his smooth voice washing over
Kaoru.
"I...I'm washing the blood
off my hands," she whispered, not quite knowing why she was telling this
stranger.
He took her hands in his and looked into her eyes
and saw the heartbreak.
"You have killed," he said.
"H-Hai...I have...," she
whispered in fear.
"Don't be afraid.
I'm certain that you did so in self defense. Come. I will take
care of you. Do you trust me?"
Kaoru looked up at the black haired, amber eyed man and strangely found
herself drawn into his arms.
"Yes, I trust you," she
said as if in a trance.
"You have a warriors spirit
and are very lovely, little one. I will teach you all you need to
know..."
"What is your name?"
He smiled charmingly.
"Mitsurugi Tenryu.
And you?"
"Kamiya Kaoru."
"Kaoru...the name suits
you. Come, Miss Kaoru..."
"Hai, Mitsurugi-san."
"Call me Tenryu."
"Hai, Tenryu-san."
Tenryu smiled and led his new student away. He had seen the latent
fire in her eyes. She had killed, recently. And while she was
remorseful, he could not deny the chance to take on a student with the
potential to be the best swords woman in Japan. Her beauty was also
an added bonus. He would train her well and make her his and his
alone.
She was broken and ready to be changed into something
more, something she was destined to become. The blood filled crystal
on the hilt of her sword glowed red for the briefest of seconds as Tenryu
led Kaoru away. It would be a long time before she would ever be
seen or heard from again.
