Author's Notes: I'm so sorry for the delay on this chapter. I hate when I
can't write and I hate when I get miniscule writer's block which is
actually is just me losing interest in writing. The only way for me to get
rid of writer's block is write, but the only time I do that is when I have
nothing else to do. So here I am....with nothing to do, so I turn to
writing. Hopefully this chapter doesn't turn out as bad as I think it will.
As I wrote in my other SM story, I am currently looking for one editor that
likes a wide variety of animes. I have no spelling/grammar program for any
sort of editing, so I need someone to help. As always, thanks for your time
and for reading.
Title: The Scholar and the Princess
Author: KaBunny
E-mail: Alexandra_Miyoko@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13 (the violence is coming...trust me =) )
Chapter Nine: The Missing Kaoru (That makes Kaoru sound like an object or something, lol)
He immediately knew that something was wrong in the room and he knew it was coming all from one man. The self-assured smile and air of Aoshi helped to give him away. Kenshin knew he had done something to Kaoru and the idea that Kaoru could be dead or the fact that he would never see her again suddenly made him feel ill.
Sano turned to glance at Kenshin as the king walked out of the room, Yahiko following him. He saw all the color in the man's face drain and his eyes grow a dull violet color. He almost had pity for the man, but then he remembered what he had done. 'I can't believe my stupid conscience is getting in the way,' he thought angrily. 'First....I have to find Little Missy. Then I'll deal with Kenshin.....but, Little Missy...she's....Damn!'
He glanced at Aoshi who was standing there, his face plastered with a self-assured smile and his arms crossed. Aoshi was staring coldly between him and Kenshin. Sano shuddered before regaining his composure and anger. "What are we all standing around here for?! The Little Missy's in trouble!"
Kenshin glanced back at Sano with his dull eyes. "He knows where she is," he replied, monotoned. "Ask Aoshi. He did it."
"Aoshi?" Sano questioned, looking confused and turning to look at the man.
Kenshin twitched in anger and took a step toward the professor. His eyes turned a dull yellow color as anger and sorrow filled him in great proportions all at once. "Where's Kaoru?" the redhaired man asked, his voice still flat.
"I have no idea of what you inquire," Aoshi muttered, the smile still coldly plastered on his face.
"You told her about your idea and she didn't agree with you, so you kidnapped her," Kenshin said in anger. "You couldn't kill her like you did Captain Sagara because unlike him, you need her so you can pursue your ideals. So, where is she?"
Sano growled in frustration at the two men. They hadn't been listening to him. As to why, he guessed that it had something to do with the past. He hadn't heard a word that they had been saying to one another because they were speaking too quietly for him to hear across the room. He refused to stand around and wait for them to finish. He would find her himself. "Fine," he muttered, glaring at the men before turning and walking out of the room. "I'll find her myself."
~~~~~~
Kaoru flinched when she felt pain shoot up her right arm. She had just awoken from the knock on the head that Aoshi had given her and hadn't really expected to be tied up. Her arms were behind her back, tied at the wrists, and her legs were at her sides, tied at the ankles. There was some sort of fabric tied around her head, enabling her to speak. She was leaned sideways against the wall, and hadn't known how long she had been out.
She glanced around the mostly dark......place. She hadn't a clue as to where she was and she was pretty sure that no one else, except Aoshi, did either. 'I wish Kenshin were here,' she thought, solemnly. 'I hope Yahiko didn't tell Sano.....I don't want them fighting because neither Yahiko or Sano would know the real truth.....especially about Aoshi. I have to get out. I have to save Kenshin.'
She pushed herself up against the wall and off the ground slightly so she could swing her legs around the front of her and sit down with her legs out in front of her. She then used her legs to pull herself close to the other.....wall....so she had sufficient amount of room behind her. She then pulled her arms up toward her head and popped her shoulders out of joint for a sec so her arms would be around infront of her. 'Good thing I know how to do that,' she thought, mentally smiling. 'Thank you Sano for all your training.'
She then reached her hands up behind her head and untied the fabric which had her gagged so she wouldn't talk or scream. "Ouch! Aoshi'll pay for that!" she replied, moving her jaw in circles as she worked out the stiffness. "Now where am I? And more importantly, how do I get out?"
She glanced to her left as she moved closer to the previous wall she had moved away from. There was a ladder leading up into darkness. "There?" she questioned to the darkness.
~~~~~~
As Sano searched through room after room, he eventually ran into Yahiko. They exchanged notes on where had been searched and the determined where had not been searched. There was the maze, the gardens, the dungeon, and the rest of the kingdom outside of the castle left to search through.
Sano gave orders to the young child to gather all the soldiers in the castle and order them to the courtyard. After they were assembled give them the orders of searching the city of Crysta from top to bottom. Use force if necessary, but please infrom the people of the situation at the castle before doing so. If they continue to resist, move them out of the way, but do not injure them seriously in any way.
After Sano felt satisfied with his orders, he let the child loose on his task. His last order to Yahiko was to search the maze once he had followed through with his work of handing out orders. Sano was headed off to the gardens. If he could not locate Kaoru there, he planned to head into the dungeons.
He didn't know what he would do if he couldn't locate Kaoru. The king would surely have his head. He sighed as he began to run out of the castle and towards the gardens.
He searched through trees, bushes, all sorts of flowers patched, and shubbery. He found no trace of this missing princess and suddenly felt a weight come over himself once more. He finally reached the center of the gardens where the temple to Apollo stood. It was th eonly place left unsearched in the gardens.
~~~~~~
The dark haired girl glanced over at the ladder again before rolling her eyes. 'Come on Kaoru,' she coaxed herself. 'You have to get out of these ropes.'
She had tried untying her feet first, but instead she got herself entangled, so she decided that maybe she should probably get the ones off her wrists first. She began to pull on the ropes with her teeth, but that did little to no damage at all. She would need more power or something else......
A small smile creased across the girl's lips before she started twisting her wrists. The ropes were moving. Perfect! She twisted her wrists back a forth some more and smiled again as the ropes loosened slightly. 'Aoshi did a poor job of tying these,' she thought, giving a small laugh. 'He may be a good swordsman, but he certainly isn't any good at tying people up.'
She twisted her wrists back and forth a little more and the ropes loosened a little. She pulled one side tight on her wrist ropes and pulled her left hand free of the ropes. She pulled it the rest of the way off with her free hand and sighed of relief. Now all she had to do was untie her feet and she would be free. Well, of the ropes, at least.
As she reached down to start untying her feet, she stopped abruptly. She heard footsteps. Thinking it was Aoshi, she placed her hands behind her back and leaned up against the wall as the footsteps came closer. She heard the stop, move, stop, move, stop, move in a repeat quick moving pattern. Someone was searching for something. Was it really Aoshi? 'Maybe it's Kenshin....,' Kaoru thought, shaking her head immediately afterward. 'It's not Kenshin....for some reason I just know it's not Kenshin.'
The footsteps were very close now. It sounded like they stopped right behind her and Kaoru was holding her breath. 'Please let it not be Aoshi,' she thought miserably.
Just then, the footsteps moved. They sounded as though they were walking around her and they made their way to the other side of the 'room' she was in. She heard a loud creaking noise and then she was bathed in light and the shadow of a rather tall, spikey haired man.
"Kaoru?! Oh my Gods! Kaoru!" she heard a familiar voice say. It wasn't Aoshi.
She pushed her hands up infront of her eyes just in time to see Sano down on his knees pulling the ropes off her ankles. "Sano!" she cried, diving forward just as he pulled the ropes of her ankles. She wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled for a brief moment. "Thank you so much for finding me. We.....we need to find Kenshin!"
"I'm sorry Little Missy," Sano muttered, pulling her arms off from around his neck. "I don't want to do what I must, but that bastard killed my Captain. I have to take revenge for what he did and I'm sorry that I have to kill him. I know you're quite attached."
"No," she said, shaking her head. "He didn't kill your Captain. Aoshi did! I'll explain on the way, but you must take me to him. He's in great danger! Aoshi plans to kill him!"
~~~~~~ (You're all going to hate me for this)
"I knew you'd go to great lengths to achieve your ideals, but I never imagined you would use a whole kingdom or a young innocent girl for that matter," Kenshin said, his eyes that dull yellow color. He was torn between searching for Kaoru and recieving an answer from Aoshi as to her whereabouts.
"You should have realized sooner, Battousai," Aoshi replied, that small cold smile still on his face. "I never knew you were capable of feeling the emotion that Kaoru feels for you."
"What would you know of how I feel?!" he growled, stepping back from Aoshi. He walked to the side of the room where there were five mounted swords, each of the kings of the past. He removed two and tossed one towards Aoshi. It hit the floor and slid to hit the side of Aoshi boot. "There's only one way I'll get the information I need."
"Are you going to go back on your oath, Battousai?" the man asked, a hint of surprise in his voice. "That's a real sword you're fighting with you realize."
"I know damn well what I'm doing," Kenshin murmured, stepping away from the wall slightly. He tied the sword in the sheath onto his gi before sliding into a fighting position.
Aoshi smirked again as he pulled the sheath off his sword and slid into his fighting stance. He stared across the room at Kenshin. Yellow clashed with ice blue. Kenshin let out a loud yell as he released as the strength within himself that he knew it would take just to use the sword. Every fiber of his being argued with him as he moved forward and readying himself to unsheath his sword.
"Kenshin!!" a female's voice called from the door. "Kenshin please don't go back on your oath!! I have your reverse blade!!"
All movement stopped in the room. Aoshi had his sword already up to block Kenshin's previous swing and Kenshin had already moved halfway into his second swing which would hit Aoshi on lower right side in and upward swing. Both men turned toward the dark haired ninja standing in the door.
A cold heart skipped a beat and the other sighed in relief. "Kenshin.....I have your reverse blade....all nice and repaired. Well, okay, so maybe it's not YOUR reverse blade, but it IS a reverse blade made by the same man who made yours," the girl rambled, walking closer to relaxed swordsmen.
Kenshin had dropped the sword abruptly and kicked it away as he smiled at the girl in relief. Aoshi, if he had any feelings would be staring slackjawed, stared at the girl with interest as his heart skipped another beat. His loose grip on the sword caused him to drop the blade he had out of astonishment.
The girl glanced at Aoshi for a second before turning back to Kenshin. She smiled at him, her sea green eyes lighting up. "I couldn't let you break your promise to yourself, and I didn't," the girl said. "I did just as you asked me to do."
She handed Kenshin the sheathed sword. He pulled it a little out of the sheath as if to check to see if the girl wasn't lying and she wasn't. The blade was on the wrong side of the sword. He resheathed it, replaced it with the empty sheath on his gi, and looked back up at the girl. "Thank you, Misao," he replied, giving one of his light fluffy smiles as he forgot of his sorrow for the moment and his eyes flashed back to lavender. "I would be lost without you, that I would."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There! Ya happy! I included Misao!! *laughs* I'm glad I found a place to fit her in. I even had to do research on A/M stories in order to find out how Aoshi would react. I still think I did a bad job. What do you think? Anywho, I hope you liked the chapter and Nikki.....it's LONGER than usual, sheesh!
Stay Tuned for Chapter Ten: Sorrow, Battle, and Love........Of his guard because of his strange hidden feelings, Aoshi's battle skills aren't up to par. Kenshin and Aoshi battle and Kenshin wars within himself of what he must do. The battle brings up the past and time keeps fading together. Sano and Kaoru make their way to the battle.....will Kaoru be able to stop Kenshin from doing what he vowed he'd never do again? Will she be able to bring the real Kenshin back from being the Battousai? And.....who is this Misao and how does she tie into the picture? Is there jealousy on the horizon? Is there a reason for Kaoru to be jealous?
And again.....I'm looking for an editor who likes a wide variety of animes. I'm going to be starting to write an IY fic eventually....I have SM fics....and I plan on writing some GW fics. I also have a tendency to write other fics from other animes I become interested in, so as you can see....wide variety. Thanks!
Ja ne! ~KaBunny
Title: The Scholar and the Princess
Author: KaBunny
E-mail: Alexandra_Miyoko@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13 (the violence is coming...trust me =) )
Chapter Nine: The Missing Kaoru (That makes Kaoru sound like an object or something, lol)
He immediately knew that something was wrong in the room and he knew it was coming all from one man. The self-assured smile and air of Aoshi helped to give him away. Kenshin knew he had done something to Kaoru and the idea that Kaoru could be dead or the fact that he would never see her again suddenly made him feel ill.
Sano turned to glance at Kenshin as the king walked out of the room, Yahiko following him. He saw all the color in the man's face drain and his eyes grow a dull violet color. He almost had pity for the man, but then he remembered what he had done. 'I can't believe my stupid conscience is getting in the way,' he thought angrily. 'First....I have to find Little Missy. Then I'll deal with Kenshin.....but, Little Missy...she's....Damn!'
He glanced at Aoshi who was standing there, his face plastered with a self-assured smile and his arms crossed. Aoshi was staring coldly between him and Kenshin. Sano shuddered before regaining his composure and anger. "What are we all standing around here for?! The Little Missy's in trouble!"
Kenshin glanced back at Sano with his dull eyes. "He knows where she is," he replied, monotoned. "Ask Aoshi. He did it."
"Aoshi?" Sano questioned, looking confused and turning to look at the man.
Kenshin twitched in anger and took a step toward the professor. His eyes turned a dull yellow color as anger and sorrow filled him in great proportions all at once. "Where's Kaoru?" the redhaired man asked, his voice still flat.
"I have no idea of what you inquire," Aoshi muttered, the smile still coldly plastered on his face.
"You told her about your idea and she didn't agree with you, so you kidnapped her," Kenshin said in anger. "You couldn't kill her like you did Captain Sagara because unlike him, you need her so you can pursue your ideals. So, where is she?"
Sano growled in frustration at the two men. They hadn't been listening to him. As to why, he guessed that it had something to do with the past. He hadn't heard a word that they had been saying to one another because they were speaking too quietly for him to hear across the room. He refused to stand around and wait for them to finish. He would find her himself. "Fine," he muttered, glaring at the men before turning and walking out of the room. "I'll find her myself."
~~~~~~
Kaoru flinched when she felt pain shoot up her right arm. She had just awoken from the knock on the head that Aoshi had given her and hadn't really expected to be tied up. Her arms were behind her back, tied at the wrists, and her legs were at her sides, tied at the ankles. There was some sort of fabric tied around her head, enabling her to speak. She was leaned sideways against the wall, and hadn't known how long she had been out.
She glanced around the mostly dark......place. She hadn't a clue as to where she was and she was pretty sure that no one else, except Aoshi, did either. 'I wish Kenshin were here,' she thought, solemnly. 'I hope Yahiko didn't tell Sano.....I don't want them fighting because neither Yahiko or Sano would know the real truth.....especially about Aoshi. I have to get out. I have to save Kenshin.'
She pushed herself up against the wall and off the ground slightly so she could swing her legs around the front of her and sit down with her legs out in front of her. She then used her legs to pull herself close to the other.....wall....so she had sufficient amount of room behind her. She then pulled her arms up toward her head and popped her shoulders out of joint for a sec so her arms would be around infront of her. 'Good thing I know how to do that,' she thought, mentally smiling. 'Thank you Sano for all your training.'
She then reached her hands up behind her head and untied the fabric which had her gagged so she wouldn't talk or scream. "Ouch! Aoshi'll pay for that!" she replied, moving her jaw in circles as she worked out the stiffness. "Now where am I? And more importantly, how do I get out?"
She glanced to her left as she moved closer to the previous wall she had moved away from. There was a ladder leading up into darkness. "There?" she questioned to the darkness.
~~~~~~
As Sano searched through room after room, he eventually ran into Yahiko. They exchanged notes on where had been searched and the determined where had not been searched. There was the maze, the gardens, the dungeon, and the rest of the kingdom outside of the castle left to search through.
Sano gave orders to the young child to gather all the soldiers in the castle and order them to the courtyard. After they were assembled give them the orders of searching the city of Crysta from top to bottom. Use force if necessary, but please infrom the people of the situation at the castle before doing so. If they continue to resist, move them out of the way, but do not injure them seriously in any way.
After Sano felt satisfied with his orders, he let the child loose on his task. His last order to Yahiko was to search the maze once he had followed through with his work of handing out orders. Sano was headed off to the gardens. If he could not locate Kaoru there, he planned to head into the dungeons.
He didn't know what he would do if he couldn't locate Kaoru. The king would surely have his head. He sighed as he began to run out of the castle and towards the gardens.
He searched through trees, bushes, all sorts of flowers patched, and shubbery. He found no trace of this missing princess and suddenly felt a weight come over himself once more. He finally reached the center of the gardens where the temple to Apollo stood. It was th eonly place left unsearched in the gardens.
~~~~~~
The dark haired girl glanced over at the ladder again before rolling her eyes. 'Come on Kaoru,' she coaxed herself. 'You have to get out of these ropes.'
She had tried untying her feet first, but instead she got herself entangled, so she decided that maybe she should probably get the ones off her wrists first. She began to pull on the ropes with her teeth, but that did little to no damage at all. She would need more power or something else......
A small smile creased across the girl's lips before she started twisting her wrists. The ropes were moving. Perfect! She twisted her wrists back a forth some more and smiled again as the ropes loosened slightly. 'Aoshi did a poor job of tying these,' she thought, giving a small laugh. 'He may be a good swordsman, but he certainly isn't any good at tying people up.'
She twisted her wrists back and forth a little more and the ropes loosened a little. She pulled one side tight on her wrist ropes and pulled her left hand free of the ropes. She pulled it the rest of the way off with her free hand and sighed of relief. Now all she had to do was untie her feet and she would be free. Well, of the ropes, at least.
As she reached down to start untying her feet, she stopped abruptly. She heard footsteps. Thinking it was Aoshi, she placed her hands behind her back and leaned up against the wall as the footsteps came closer. She heard the stop, move, stop, move, stop, move in a repeat quick moving pattern. Someone was searching for something. Was it really Aoshi? 'Maybe it's Kenshin....,' Kaoru thought, shaking her head immediately afterward. 'It's not Kenshin....for some reason I just know it's not Kenshin.'
The footsteps were very close now. It sounded like they stopped right behind her and Kaoru was holding her breath. 'Please let it not be Aoshi,' she thought miserably.
Just then, the footsteps moved. They sounded as though they were walking around her and they made their way to the other side of the 'room' she was in. She heard a loud creaking noise and then she was bathed in light and the shadow of a rather tall, spikey haired man.
"Kaoru?! Oh my Gods! Kaoru!" she heard a familiar voice say. It wasn't Aoshi.
She pushed her hands up infront of her eyes just in time to see Sano down on his knees pulling the ropes off her ankles. "Sano!" she cried, diving forward just as he pulled the ropes of her ankles. She wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled for a brief moment. "Thank you so much for finding me. We.....we need to find Kenshin!"
"I'm sorry Little Missy," Sano muttered, pulling her arms off from around his neck. "I don't want to do what I must, but that bastard killed my Captain. I have to take revenge for what he did and I'm sorry that I have to kill him. I know you're quite attached."
"No," she said, shaking her head. "He didn't kill your Captain. Aoshi did! I'll explain on the way, but you must take me to him. He's in great danger! Aoshi plans to kill him!"
~~~~~~ (You're all going to hate me for this)
"I knew you'd go to great lengths to achieve your ideals, but I never imagined you would use a whole kingdom or a young innocent girl for that matter," Kenshin said, his eyes that dull yellow color. He was torn between searching for Kaoru and recieving an answer from Aoshi as to her whereabouts.
"You should have realized sooner, Battousai," Aoshi replied, that small cold smile still on his face. "I never knew you were capable of feeling the emotion that Kaoru feels for you."
"What would you know of how I feel?!" he growled, stepping back from Aoshi. He walked to the side of the room where there were five mounted swords, each of the kings of the past. He removed two and tossed one towards Aoshi. It hit the floor and slid to hit the side of Aoshi boot. "There's only one way I'll get the information I need."
"Are you going to go back on your oath, Battousai?" the man asked, a hint of surprise in his voice. "That's a real sword you're fighting with you realize."
"I know damn well what I'm doing," Kenshin murmured, stepping away from the wall slightly. He tied the sword in the sheath onto his gi before sliding into a fighting position.
Aoshi smirked again as he pulled the sheath off his sword and slid into his fighting stance. He stared across the room at Kenshin. Yellow clashed with ice blue. Kenshin let out a loud yell as he released as the strength within himself that he knew it would take just to use the sword. Every fiber of his being argued with him as he moved forward and readying himself to unsheath his sword.
"Kenshin!!" a female's voice called from the door. "Kenshin please don't go back on your oath!! I have your reverse blade!!"
All movement stopped in the room. Aoshi had his sword already up to block Kenshin's previous swing and Kenshin had already moved halfway into his second swing which would hit Aoshi on lower right side in and upward swing. Both men turned toward the dark haired ninja standing in the door.
A cold heart skipped a beat and the other sighed in relief. "Kenshin.....I have your reverse blade....all nice and repaired. Well, okay, so maybe it's not YOUR reverse blade, but it IS a reverse blade made by the same man who made yours," the girl rambled, walking closer to relaxed swordsmen.
Kenshin had dropped the sword abruptly and kicked it away as he smiled at the girl in relief. Aoshi, if he had any feelings would be staring slackjawed, stared at the girl with interest as his heart skipped another beat. His loose grip on the sword caused him to drop the blade he had out of astonishment.
The girl glanced at Aoshi for a second before turning back to Kenshin. She smiled at him, her sea green eyes lighting up. "I couldn't let you break your promise to yourself, and I didn't," the girl said. "I did just as you asked me to do."
She handed Kenshin the sheathed sword. He pulled it a little out of the sheath as if to check to see if the girl wasn't lying and she wasn't. The blade was on the wrong side of the sword. He resheathed it, replaced it with the empty sheath on his gi, and looked back up at the girl. "Thank you, Misao," he replied, giving one of his light fluffy smiles as he forgot of his sorrow for the moment and his eyes flashed back to lavender. "I would be lost without you, that I would."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There! Ya happy! I included Misao!! *laughs* I'm glad I found a place to fit her in. I even had to do research on A/M stories in order to find out how Aoshi would react. I still think I did a bad job. What do you think? Anywho, I hope you liked the chapter and Nikki.....it's LONGER than usual, sheesh!
Stay Tuned for Chapter Ten: Sorrow, Battle, and Love........Of his guard because of his strange hidden feelings, Aoshi's battle skills aren't up to par. Kenshin and Aoshi battle and Kenshin wars within himself of what he must do. The battle brings up the past and time keeps fading together. Sano and Kaoru make their way to the battle.....will Kaoru be able to stop Kenshin from doing what he vowed he'd never do again? Will she be able to bring the real Kenshin back from being the Battousai? And.....who is this Misao and how does she tie into the picture? Is there jealousy on the horizon? Is there a reason for Kaoru to be jealous?
And again.....I'm looking for an editor who likes a wide variety of animes. I'm going to be starting to write an IY fic eventually....I have SM fics....and I plan on writing some GW fics. I also have a tendency to write other fics from other animes I become interested in, so as you can see....wide variety. Thanks!
Ja ne! ~KaBunny