Author's Notes: Hey there! Back again for this chapter? I still haven't
decided if I'm going to include Misao yet, but I need to make up my mind
soon!
Sailor Scout Boy: Thank you soooo much for what you said and I'm sorry to say that this is the only RuroKen story that I have.
DragonTamer9741: Thanks for the much need info! I'll get right on that =)
Title: The Scholar and the Princess
Author: KaBunny
E-mail: Alexandra_Miyoko@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13
Chapter Eight: Aoshi Shinomori
Kenshin didn't move or blink as he watched and waited for Sano to make the first move. The brunette's first move came as he slid his foot back slowly before kicking off quickly and charging towards Battousai. A yell escaped from Sano's mouth as Kenshin drew his sword with speed like the Gods from his imaginary sheath and used the wind pressure of an upward swing to knock Sano back.
His eyes wide and unbelieving, Sano caught his balance as a revelation hit him. He couldn't take this man lightly or let his anger rule him. In order to get his revenge he would need extreme concentration and control. With that in mind, Sano slid his foot back as slowly as before, as a smile crept into his face. He charged again, this time silently.
Kenshin dodged the few punches he threw. First his right hook, Kenshin leaned left and when Sano swung back around again, this time with his left, Kenshin ducked and rolled around to his back. With one quick upper to lower swing of his sword, Kenshin landed a hit on Sano's back that caused him to fall forward. The back of Sano's shirt ripped open and Kenshin's wooden sword snapped in half from the pressure of his blow to the knight's back.
"You're playing with me," Sano stated, as he caught his balance. He whipped back around to face Kenshin as his eyes narrowed. "Fight me for real, Kenshin. I will kill you."
"I have no desire to fight someone who knows nothing of the truth, that I don't," the red haired man answered rather coldly. 'Sano.....please understand,' he thought, his face becoming hidden once again by his bangs as he tried to control his anger at Aoshi.
~~~~~~
Having just finished with his lesson with Yahiko, Aoshi wandered down the hall to Kaoru's room. He wanted to see how she took the news of Kenshin being Battousai. Not that he cared, but her reaction to the one she cared for would be most interesting. Since she was going to be his wife, he had the right to know what she would be like in the coming years. He needed to know if her spirit would die and he could actually follow through with his plans or if he would have to detain her and break her spirit to follow through with his plans.
Aoshi knocked lightly on the princess's door and received no answer. But he glanced to his right a few seconds before Kenshin's door opened and out popped the searched for girl. Kaoru paid no heed to Aoshi, as she was lost in thought.
"Princess Kaoru," Aoshi stated, catching her attention. "Just the woman I was looking for."
"I'm not a woman, yet, so don't call me such," Kaoru answered, sharply. 'There was some reason that Aoshi wanted to marry me and I intend to find out what it is. At least.....that's what Kenshin said just before he left the room,' Kaoru thought, having a glimpse of Kenshin saying "So, that's why he wanted to marry you" just before running out of the room.
'Something's on her mind,' Aoshi thought, that small cold smile coming to his face once more. "I must become better aquainted with my future wife," Aoshi replied, the smile still on his face. "I would like you to join me for a walk in the gardens."
Kaoru immediately wanted to say no and that she had better things to do with her time, but as soon as she opened her mouth to say such a thing, she closed it again because she got an idea. "Fine," she responded, curtly.
They wandered off together down the hall, side by side. They were both silent for awhile until they got out into the gardens. Kaoru was trying to render up her courage, but couldn't do so until they reached the center of the gardens where a temple stood, honoring Apollo, the god of the sun. (AN: I just decided to use the Greek Gods for their worship..... spur of the moment thing)
They both went inside to escape the heat of the day. The front had six steps and six large pillars which held up the overhang. The building only had one entrance and Aoshi let Kaoru enter it first. There were seats on either side of the long aisle like a church. It lead up to a large statue of Apollo's likeness. What many did not know was that in the back of the statue, there was a door used to cleaning purposes statue, which was hollow. It lead up to a hidden door, by ladder, on the top of the head. One person, however, who did know it was there was Aoshi.
Kaoru sat down in the front row and took a deep breath. 'Here goes nothing,' she thought, finally having the courage. "Professor....I have some questions for you," Kaoru stated, looking up to his back. He was facing the statue in silence.
"Yes, Princess?" he questioned, not turning around.
"I found some things out about you that I want clarified," Kaoru said, her eyes burning into his back.
"You want to know if I actually killed my Captain, do you?" Aoshi asked, turning around to look at the girl. He smiled his small cold smile as Kaoru's eyes widened in surprise. "If I told you no then you would begin to doubt Battousai, but if I told you yes, then you would trust him fully if you did not already. Honor is a very fickle thing, is it not?"
Kaoru was confused slightly and this was evident by the look on her face. Aoshi smiled again and began to slowly walk closer to the girl. "The question to ask Kaoru would be, not did I kill Captain Sagara, but why did I kill Captain Sagara," Aoshi replied, stepping ever closer to her.
For the first time in her life, Kaoru was frozen. She felt her blood run cold and her face go pale as she stared into Aoshi's cold dark eyes. They had a flare.....the same flare as Kenshin's when he saw Aoshi. "W- ....why?" Kaoru murmured out.
"Simple," Aoshi said, stopping infront of Kaoru. "I had devotion to my Captin because I believed that we were fighting for the same ideal. It's the same devotion you have to Kenshin. I believe that is because you think you love him." He paused here to gauge Kaoru's reaction which was surprise. She had to lean slightly back from Aoshi as he bent down, his face quite close to hers. "When I found out that what I had been fighting for all that time had been the wrong ideal, I realized that the embodiment of that wrong ideal was Captain Sagara, himself. I had to destroy that ideal in order to create my own ideal."
Kaoru gripped the edge of the seat quite hard and her knuckles turned a white hue as she leaned back farther away from Aoshi who just smiled that cold dark smile of his again. He stood up straight and began to slowly walk back to the place he had been standing to look at the statue. "The monarchy is dying out. And-"
"The monarchy is NOT dying out!" Kaoru shouted, suddenly. She stood up and glared at Aoshi as she gripped the sides of her kimono. The light green layers underneath the light violet peeked out as she pulled slightly in the material. "The people may not support the monarchy as they once did, but it is NOT dying out! The gap has just become bigger between the king and his subjects! Things can be done to fix this, however! Maybe, sometime in the future the monarchy will die out, but not under my or my father's or my child's rule!"
"Ah, yes, but you do agree that it will die out?" Aoshi questioned, glancing back at her. Kaoru's mouth hung open slightly in surprise, but she closed it quickly and creased it into a small angry line. "I don't plan on waiting for the monarchy to die out and the chaos of searching for a new government to ensue. I won't live that long. I believe that a military state will work much more proficiently, but in order to create such a thing in the world, we need someone to start the chain occurence."
"You're.....you're USING me?!" Kaoru cried, taking a step forward her anger boiling. She marched over to Aoshi as he turned to look at her again, a brow arched. She reached her hand up and went to slap him, but he caught her wrist easily.
"I told you all this to see if you would comply with me, but I apparently was mistaken," Aoshi said, twitching slightly from his hidden anger. "In order to keep this from your father, I will have to take certain.....precautions."
~~~~~~
Sano stopped a moment to catch his breath. He hadn't been able to lay a single hand on Kenshin the entire time that they had been fighting, no matter how hard he had tried. Kenshin had also been using restraint. He had eventually grabbed another wooden sword off of the rack after dodging Sano had become a slight task. Ocassionally he would use the wind pressure from his sword to move Sano in a certain direction, but aside from that, he hadn't come close to hitting Sano again.
This only irritated the brunette even more and caused him to try harder. So small bout after bout had occured and Sano still couldn't hit the shorter man. He was now begining to tire, but he wasn't going to let that stop him. Sano turned around and inhaled deeply as he glared at the scholar. He slowly began putting his foot back again before pushing off in another charge.
"Sanosuke! Kenshin!" a voice called from the doorway. Sano stopped in his tracks as they both turned their attention to the small boy. "The King wishes to see you both! Immediately!"
Kenshin glanced at Sano and Sano glanced back at him. The taller man glared and sighed. "Let's go, Himura," he muttered, stalking off toward Yahiko. "The king comes first."
Kenshin followed Sano, who was following Yahiko through the passages. They eventually reached the throne room and Yahiko opened the doors for them. "I found them, your majesty," Yahiko stated, entering in before both of them.
"Kenshin.....Sanosuke.....have either of you seen Kaoru this morning?" the king inquired.
Kenshin's eyes widened as he glancd outside. He had been fighting all night and hadn't even realized that the morning had come. "No, your majesty, I have not," Kenshin replied, still looking outside and forgetting his manners.
"Neither have I, your highness," Sano answered, bowing to the man upon the throne.
"Aoshi, what about you?" the king questioned, looking behind the two.
Both turned around to look at the man in the door. Kenshin immediately became tense and turned away while Sano just stared for a moment in interest. "No," Aoshi said simply.
"Boys," the king muttered, looking out at all of them. "Spread out and search the castle once more. Kaoru has gone missing....."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, sorry to end it at such an inconvinient position, but that's where I had planned to stop it all along, heh heh....Yeah, I know.....I'm evil. Anywho, I hope you liked that chapter! The story gets much more interesting.....Does it makes sense now?! Well, it should...any questions, feel free to ask.
Stay Tuned for Chapter Nine: The Missing Kaoru.....As you all know, Kaoru has gone missing. Where is she and how can she be found? Who will find her? And will Kenshin be able to control himself long enough, so he doesn't kill Aoshi? Or will Sano kill Kenshin before Kenshin has the chance to even fight Aoshi? And what's so wrong with Aoshi's ideal? Isn't equality what everyone wants?
Ja ne! ~KaBunny
Sailor Scout Boy: Thank you soooo much for what you said and I'm sorry to say that this is the only RuroKen story that I have.
DragonTamer9741: Thanks for the much need info! I'll get right on that =)
Title: The Scholar and the Princess
Author: KaBunny
E-mail: Alexandra_Miyoko@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13
Chapter Eight: Aoshi Shinomori
Kenshin didn't move or blink as he watched and waited for Sano to make the first move. The brunette's first move came as he slid his foot back slowly before kicking off quickly and charging towards Battousai. A yell escaped from Sano's mouth as Kenshin drew his sword with speed like the Gods from his imaginary sheath and used the wind pressure of an upward swing to knock Sano back.
His eyes wide and unbelieving, Sano caught his balance as a revelation hit him. He couldn't take this man lightly or let his anger rule him. In order to get his revenge he would need extreme concentration and control. With that in mind, Sano slid his foot back as slowly as before, as a smile crept into his face. He charged again, this time silently.
Kenshin dodged the few punches he threw. First his right hook, Kenshin leaned left and when Sano swung back around again, this time with his left, Kenshin ducked and rolled around to his back. With one quick upper to lower swing of his sword, Kenshin landed a hit on Sano's back that caused him to fall forward. The back of Sano's shirt ripped open and Kenshin's wooden sword snapped in half from the pressure of his blow to the knight's back.
"You're playing with me," Sano stated, as he caught his balance. He whipped back around to face Kenshin as his eyes narrowed. "Fight me for real, Kenshin. I will kill you."
"I have no desire to fight someone who knows nothing of the truth, that I don't," the red haired man answered rather coldly. 'Sano.....please understand,' he thought, his face becoming hidden once again by his bangs as he tried to control his anger at Aoshi.
~~~~~~
Having just finished with his lesson with Yahiko, Aoshi wandered down the hall to Kaoru's room. He wanted to see how she took the news of Kenshin being Battousai. Not that he cared, but her reaction to the one she cared for would be most interesting. Since she was going to be his wife, he had the right to know what she would be like in the coming years. He needed to know if her spirit would die and he could actually follow through with his plans or if he would have to detain her and break her spirit to follow through with his plans.
Aoshi knocked lightly on the princess's door and received no answer. But he glanced to his right a few seconds before Kenshin's door opened and out popped the searched for girl. Kaoru paid no heed to Aoshi, as she was lost in thought.
"Princess Kaoru," Aoshi stated, catching her attention. "Just the woman I was looking for."
"I'm not a woman, yet, so don't call me such," Kaoru answered, sharply. 'There was some reason that Aoshi wanted to marry me and I intend to find out what it is. At least.....that's what Kenshin said just before he left the room,' Kaoru thought, having a glimpse of Kenshin saying "So, that's why he wanted to marry you" just before running out of the room.
'Something's on her mind,' Aoshi thought, that small cold smile coming to his face once more. "I must become better aquainted with my future wife," Aoshi replied, the smile still on his face. "I would like you to join me for a walk in the gardens."
Kaoru immediately wanted to say no and that she had better things to do with her time, but as soon as she opened her mouth to say such a thing, she closed it again because she got an idea. "Fine," she responded, curtly.
They wandered off together down the hall, side by side. They were both silent for awhile until they got out into the gardens. Kaoru was trying to render up her courage, but couldn't do so until they reached the center of the gardens where a temple stood, honoring Apollo, the god of the sun. (AN: I just decided to use the Greek Gods for their worship..... spur of the moment thing)
They both went inside to escape the heat of the day. The front had six steps and six large pillars which held up the overhang. The building only had one entrance and Aoshi let Kaoru enter it first. There were seats on either side of the long aisle like a church. It lead up to a large statue of Apollo's likeness. What many did not know was that in the back of the statue, there was a door used to cleaning purposes statue, which was hollow. It lead up to a hidden door, by ladder, on the top of the head. One person, however, who did know it was there was Aoshi.
Kaoru sat down in the front row and took a deep breath. 'Here goes nothing,' she thought, finally having the courage. "Professor....I have some questions for you," Kaoru stated, looking up to his back. He was facing the statue in silence.
"Yes, Princess?" he questioned, not turning around.
"I found some things out about you that I want clarified," Kaoru said, her eyes burning into his back.
"You want to know if I actually killed my Captain, do you?" Aoshi asked, turning around to look at the girl. He smiled his small cold smile as Kaoru's eyes widened in surprise. "If I told you no then you would begin to doubt Battousai, but if I told you yes, then you would trust him fully if you did not already. Honor is a very fickle thing, is it not?"
Kaoru was confused slightly and this was evident by the look on her face. Aoshi smiled again and began to slowly walk closer to the girl. "The question to ask Kaoru would be, not did I kill Captain Sagara, but why did I kill Captain Sagara," Aoshi replied, stepping ever closer to her.
For the first time in her life, Kaoru was frozen. She felt her blood run cold and her face go pale as she stared into Aoshi's cold dark eyes. They had a flare.....the same flare as Kenshin's when he saw Aoshi. "W- ....why?" Kaoru murmured out.
"Simple," Aoshi said, stopping infront of Kaoru. "I had devotion to my Captin because I believed that we were fighting for the same ideal. It's the same devotion you have to Kenshin. I believe that is because you think you love him." He paused here to gauge Kaoru's reaction which was surprise. She had to lean slightly back from Aoshi as he bent down, his face quite close to hers. "When I found out that what I had been fighting for all that time had been the wrong ideal, I realized that the embodiment of that wrong ideal was Captain Sagara, himself. I had to destroy that ideal in order to create my own ideal."
Kaoru gripped the edge of the seat quite hard and her knuckles turned a white hue as she leaned back farther away from Aoshi who just smiled that cold dark smile of his again. He stood up straight and began to slowly walk back to the place he had been standing to look at the statue. "The monarchy is dying out. And-"
"The monarchy is NOT dying out!" Kaoru shouted, suddenly. She stood up and glared at Aoshi as she gripped the sides of her kimono. The light green layers underneath the light violet peeked out as she pulled slightly in the material. "The people may not support the monarchy as they once did, but it is NOT dying out! The gap has just become bigger between the king and his subjects! Things can be done to fix this, however! Maybe, sometime in the future the monarchy will die out, but not under my or my father's or my child's rule!"
"Ah, yes, but you do agree that it will die out?" Aoshi questioned, glancing back at her. Kaoru's mouth hung open slightly in surprise, but she closed it quickly and creased it into a small angry line. "I don't plan on waiting for the monarchy to die out and the chaos of searching for a new government to ensue. I won't live that long. I believe that a military state will work much more proficiently, but in order to create such a thing in the world, we need someone to start the chain occurence."
"You're.....you're USING me?!" Kaoru cried, taking a step forward her anger boiling. She marched over to Aoshi as he turned to look at her again, a brow arched. She reached her hand up and went to slap him, but he caught her wrist easily.
"I told you all this to see if you would comply with me, but I apparently was mistaken," Aoshi said, twitching slightly from his hidden anger. "In order to keep this from your father, I will have to take certain.....precautions."
~~~~~~
Sano stopped a moment to catch his breath. He hadn't been able to lay a single hand on Kenshin the entire time that they had been fighting, no matter how hard he had tried. Kenshin had also been using restraint. He had eventually grabbed another wooden sword off of the rack after dodging Sano had become a slight task. Ocassionally he would use the wind pressure from his sword to move Sano in a certain direction, but aside from that, he hadn't come close to hitting Sano again.
This only irritated the brunette even more and caused him to try harder. So small bout after bout had occured and Sano still couldn't hit the shorter man. He was now begining to tire, but he wasn't going to let that stop him. Sano turned around and inhaled deeply as he glared at the scholar. He slowly began putting his foot back again before pushing off in another charge.
"Sanosuke! Kenshin!" a voice called from the doorway. Sano stopped in his tracks as they both turned their attention to the small boy. "The King wishes to see you both! Immediately!"
Kenshin glanced at Sano and Sano glanced back at him. The taller man glared and sighed. "Let's go, Himura," he muttered, stalking off toward Yahiko. "The king comes first."
Kenshin followed Sano, who was following Yahiko through the passages. They eventually reached the throne room and Yahiko opened the doors for them. "I found them, your majesty," Yahiko stated, entering in before both of them.
"Kenshin.....Sanosuke.....have either of you seen Kaoru this morning?" the king inquired.
Kenshin's eyes widened as he glancd outside. He had been fighting all night and hadn't even realized that the morning had come. "No, your majesty, I have not," Kenshin replied, still looking outside and forgetting his manners.
"Neither have I, your highness," Sano answered, bowing to the man upon the throne.
"Aoshi, what about you?" the king questioned, looking behind the two.
Both turned around to look at the man in the door. Kenshin immediately became tense and turned away while Sano just stared for a moment in interest. "No," Aoshi said simply.
"Boys," the king muttered, looking out at all of them. "Spread out and search the castle once more. Kaoru has gone missing....."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, sorry to end it at such an inconvinient position, but that's where I had planned to stop it all along, heh heh....Yeah, I know.....I'm evil. Anywho, I hope you liked that chapter! The story gets much more interesting.....Does it makes sense now?! Well, it should...any questions, feel free to ask.
Stay Tuned for Chapter Nine: The Missing Kaoru.....As you all know, Kaoru has gone missing. Where is she and how can she be found? Who will find her? And will Kenshin be able to control himself long enough, so he doesn't kill Aoshi? Or will Sano kill Kenshin before Kenshin has the chance to even fight Aoshi? And what's so wrong with Aoshi's ideal? Isn't equality what everyone wants?
Ja ne! ~KaBunny