Disclaimer: I do not own anyone from Rurouni Kenshin. :: pouts :: Sad, I know. The only characters in this story that I do own are Kiana, Hinode and Yokoshiro-san. Please do not take them.
AN: As I said before, I am still working on my Japanese, so please tell me if I have messed up. Arigato.
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~ Mecchen no Neko ~
Chapter 2: Akabeko
Kaoru's eyelids slowly fluttered open. She crawled out of bed and opened the rice paper door, allowing the sunlight to pour into her room. "Oh, ohayo, Kenshin."
The ex-samurai halted before the sleepy woman. He held a bucket of fresh water. "Ohayo nasai, Kaoru-dono. Did you have a good night's rest?" he asked with a smile.
Kaoru leaned against the door paneling and allowed the sun to warm her bare feet. "Hai."
"What would you like for breakfast?"
"Hmm." Kaoru thought about the question for a few moments. "Beef hot-pot."
"YOSHI!" Yahiko yelled with delight. He had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "We're going to the Akabeko!"
Kenshin caught the hyper boy by his collar. "Are you sure, Kaoru-dono? We don't have much money, that we don't."
The raven-haired female turned and walked to a chest in her room. Kenshin and Yahiko peered inside, seeing Kaoru digging through an assortment of things. She pulled out a small bag and returned to the others.
"What is it?" Questioned a most curious Yahiko.
Kaoru emptied not even a fifth of the content.
"Oi, busu, where'd ya get all the dough?"
Kaoru placed the money back in the bag. "This is part of what I've earned teaching at the other dojo. I always save a little bit of what I make." She grinned in Kenshin's direction. "Now let me get dressed." She hit Yahiko on the head. "That's for calling me busu."
Kenshin clamped the lad's mouth shut so he would not say anything crude. "Hai, Kaoru-dono." He closed the paper door and pulled Yahiko away.
The boy was suddenly released. He spun on his heal, steadied himself and then faced the red haired male. "Oi, Kenshin, what was that all about?"
The twenty-eight year old smirked. "Kaoru-dono is being nice to us by buying breakfast with money she's been saving." He took the bucket of water into the house.
"Ah, did someone say breakfast? I'm starvin'." Sano walked passed the gate and into the cleared dojo court. "Where we goin'?"
Yahiko ran past him. "Akabeko!"
Within a few minutes time, Kenshin walked out of the house. "Ohayo nasai, Sano."
"Ohayo, why's the runt so hyper?" The fighter pointed over his shoulder with a thumb but received a shrug. He watched Yahiko run around in circles waving his shinai.
Kaoru stepped out of her room, dressed in her usual yellow and red kimono with the green striped obi. "Are we re… Sano, what are you doing here?" She trotted over to him. "What happened to your face?"
Yahiko suddenly skidded to a complete stop before the fighter. Both he and Kenshin examined the two claw-like marks on Sano's right cheek. Yahiko couldn't help but laugh. "What happened? A neko get ya?" A fist smashed into the boy's head.
Kaoru stood in front of the ex-gangster. "Sano?"
"Daijoubu, it's nothing. Now, when are we gonna eat?"
A sigh escaped Kaoru's mouth. "Fine, let's go."
"Oi, Jou-chan, I was going for that piece." Sano growled. He attempted to beat the female to the next piece of meat, but came up short. He glared at Kaoru. She had a perplexed look set on her face. Sano turned his gaze to Yahiko, who was enjoying the meat he had beaten both the dojo assistant master and ex-gangster to. "Kisama." Sano cursed. He popped Yahiko on the head again.
"Itai! Chikuso, Sano, that hurt."
"You never answered me." Kaoru stated.
Sano looked her way while giving Yahiko another pounding. "What'd ya mean?"
"Those scratches. What happened?"
Sano shrugged, "Nothing really, I got in a fight and this happened to be the end result."
Kaoru moved toward him. "Come on, tell me what really happened, what caused them?"
Sano backed away, lifting his head out of the girl's reach. "Uh, no. There's no need to worry."
"The marks appear too crude to be from a knife or hidden blade, that they do." Kenshin declared, taking a sip of some tea. Everyone looked in his direction.
Sano was not ready to tell them that a female had done this to him. "Why don't we just keep eating?"
He reached for another piece of meat, but Kaoru snagged it before him. She narrowed her eyes. "You won't get this until you tell me what happened."
"Tell us, " Yahiko added, "It's strange that you were scratched like that during a normal fight."
A small sake bottle shattered near Kaoru, startling her. She and the others turned their attention to where the bottle came from.
"Oi, it's the subeta from last night." A black-haired man yelled. He seemed to have a small limp in one of his legs.
Another man with a scar on his left eye stood up. "What are ya talking about?"
Tae and Tsubame walked over to the Kenshin-gumi to see what was going on. 'Neko-san.' Tsubame thought.
The one that was somewhat limp pointed to a girl in a booth across from them. She was in her late teens. She wore western styled clothing and had light brown hair. "Boss, it's her."
Another male stood up to look at the female the other two were making a fuss over. A snarl moved over his lips. He reached up to his face where five gashes lay. He made his way to her.
About another four men stood up, throwing their sake bottles, which shattered near some people.
Yahiko got to his feet and held his shinai, ready to give the men a piece of his mind for causing trouble in the restaurant, especially when they were drunk. "Oi!"
Sano rose, grabbing Yahiko and tossing him to the side. 'I thought I knew these men, I fought them last night trying to help that girl out.'
"Oomph," Yahiko sounded once landing on his back next to Kaoru. Tsubame helped him up. "Damn you Sano." He rubbed his shoulder.
The men surrounded the booth that Kiana sat in. The leader stepped forward. "Ah, so the subeta decided to show herself in the middle of day. Your little tricks and stunts won't work in such a closed off place."
'Chikuso, I was hoping they were too drunk to remember.' Kiana thought. She became aware of the fact that the leader was now reaching for her.
She was about to draw her dagger when one of the men was pushed into the leader. He turned around and came nose to nose with a tall young male with brown spiky hair. "You have no business here, move on." He looked back to the girl but she was gone.
Kiana ran out of the restaurant.
Sano was about to punch the leader of the yakuza, but he was pushed out of the way by the other six.
Kenshin, Kaoru and Yahiko followed Sano out of the building.
Tae, Tsubame and a few other people stepped out side to see that Kiana was completely surrounded by the yakuza.
"Neko-san…" Tsubame muttered.
Yahiko heard this. "You know her?" He was given a nod. "How?"
"She came in yesterday about four and then later last night. She's from America." Tsubame answered.
A husky man charged at the girl.
"NEKO-SAN!" Tsubame screamed, covering her mouth afterwards.
Kiana stood where she was, not moving an inch, her eyes narrowed, there was a blur and at that moment she was gone.
Kenshin and Sano had ran out into the street to protect her but immediately stopped about four yards away from the heavily built charging man, having no idea where she went.
"What was that? How'd she…" Yahiko searched the area with his eyes but found nothing. "Where'd she go?"
Sano looked at the man that had charged. He appeared to be at a complete loss.
The husky man then fell down groaning. On the other side of him was Kiana. "Keh," she spat, "you tried to restrain me before and now you were coming at me like a charging bull. What idiotic idea was running through that dense skull of yours?"
The remaining six made their way to Kiana, bringing out their hidden swords.
Sano and Kenshin were still in shock. They were trying to contemplate the actions of the female that had caused the unconsciousness of a fully-grown man. 'Exactly what did she do to him?' Kenshin thought. 'I didn't see her use a weapon.'
Kiana knew that she could handle one sword that was being used against her, but she was at a disadvantage when it was six. She ran towards the leader. 'If what I hope works, then all I need to do is take him out.'
"So you're coming for me, eh?" He thrust his sword forward.
Kiana jumped up before the weapon could reach her. She soared over the yakuza leader's head and landed. With out a moment to spare she did a back flip. The brunette stood upright behind him, turned around and kicked out. A full blow to the head sent the man to the ground. Unfortunately, it did not go how Kiana expected it to; the remaining yakuza members came upon her although their leader was down.
She was backed up to a wall and there was part of a roof over her head. Now not a single one of her acrobatic stunts would work. Kiana crouched down and was ready to pull out her dagger and run towards the advancing men, but a white flash appeared before her eyes. There were a few grey streaks and then the sounds of fists smashing into flesh. The clanging of metal sounded ahead of her.
As quickly as the blur appeared it vanished. Kiana then saw the kanji for 'Aku' on a white background. Two red pieces of cloth swirled about in the wind that had just picked up. She peered around the object that was obscuring her line of sight. Surprise was etched on Kiana's face. All the members of the yakuza that had been after her were lying on the ground. "Are they dead?" She whispered.
"No, only out cold." Sano said, looking down at the girl peering around his right side.
Kiana looked up at the spiky haired man with 'Aku' on his back. She stood, coming to be about two inches shorter than him. She still had her right hand on her dagger. Another man with red hair, a cross-shaped scar on his left cheek and a sword stepped over the bodies and walked to Kiana. He was about six inches shorter than her. "Daijoubu?"
Kiana stepped away from the two men and dashed to the side. She slid on her feet out of their reach. Both of her hands fell to her side as she stood up straight. She did not know either man so did not entirely trust them.
"Wow, she's quick." Yahiko said.
"Who are you and why were you after me last night?" Kiana directed her question at Sano.
Sano looked at the light haired girl. "What do you mean? I wasn't after you." He began to walk towards Kiana but stopped short.
Kiana was ready to move around the spiky haired man, but stayed put when he no longer advanced. "Then tell me what you were trying to do to me. I don't give people that mark when I feel like it."
Sano raised his hand to his cheek.
Kaoru, Yahiko, Tsubame and Tae gasped.
'So she's the one that did that to him…' Kaoru thought.
"Can't a man help someone without being accused of anything? After the fight, I wanted to know if you were alright." Sano's hand dropped to his side. He noticed that the girl had a scowl on her face. "You are as arrogant as I thought."
Kiana's eyes widened in shock. "Now what do you mean by that?" she demanded.
Sano shook his head. "After fighting those men that were harassing you, I wanted to see if you were alright. When I went to see how you were doing, you attack me with your dagger and when you couldn't do that, you mark me with these gashes. Oh, and they didn't stop bleeding until the late hours of the morning." He placed both hands in his pockets. "But, I'm at fault as well, I should've realized that you would have reacted that way when you never recognized me as someone that I was actually trying to help."
Kiana loosened up a little. "My apologies for not recognizing you as a friend. But you should consider yourself lucky. You're the first to get away with only two marks. I don't go out of my way to actually 'claw' an attacker. But when I do, they tend to end up with four or five marks."
Sano let out a breath and watched the female that stood nine feet away from him retreat to the shade of the Akabeko.
Kaoru stared at the taller female.
Kenshin realized that he still held his sakabatou and decided to sheath it. "What were you doing last night that caused you to get into that situation?" He asked, now standing beside Kaoru.
Kiana faced the direction the short man was in. "All I did was go for a walk to later enjoy the star filled night sky. Is that a crime?"
"Iie, " Kenshin answered.
"I apologize for making any assumptions as to who you were." Kiana's eyes shifted over to Sano. "I should've realized at an earlier point in time that you weren't with the yakuza. Your clothing clearly distinguishes the difference." She lowered her eyes to avoid any eye contact.
He moved towards the restaurant and stopped before the entrance. "I shouldn't have startled you like I did, so don't worry about it. Besides, what was that that you did?"
"Huh?"
"Those stunts that you pulled, like those kicks and flips and stuff." He paused for a moment and then continued. "I'm also wondering, how were you able to keep your balance so well while running on the bridge railing?"
"Yeah, and how are you able to move so quickly?" Yahiko added, standing in front of Kiana.
She chuckled, stepping to the side.
"You seem to be really flexible and stronger than you appear to be. Is that why you're called Neko-san?" Tsubame asked, once gathering her courage.
"Ah, plus even more, Tsubame-chan." Kiana smiled. "I've had certain reasons needing to practice." Her smile was replaced with a frown as thoughts crossed her mind.
"Neko-san?" Kenshin thought about the similarities between Kiana and a cat. "Well, from what I've heard and seen of your flexibility, reflexes and I guess part of your personality, the name seems to suit you. You can be comparable to a neko."
Kiana grinned.
The police arrived at the scene a few minutes later. "I take it that these men have been causing a disturbance?"
Tae nodded and watched the arresting of the yakuza. "Well, that's that. Hopefully everyone can now calm down after all this commotion and enjoy the rest of their meals." She said, walking past Kiana to enter the small restaurant. "It's still too early for a fight."
Kenshin agreed. The sun was not past the point in the sky for it to even be nine-thirty.
The crowd of people that did bother to go outside returned to the booths in the restaurant.
A carriage pulled up. A female of about twenty, with long, flowing, black-copper hair stepped out. She noticed that the police crawled all over the area. Her head dropped. "Neko-san…" she growled.
Kiana had been making her way through the Akabeko entrance to continue her meal but immediately stopped. 'Che, she's here too early.' Kiana did an about-face and smiled. "Hinode-san. What an unexpected surprise." She walked a few feet away from the building. "You weren't supposed to be here until noon." She continued to smile with both hands clasped behind her back.
The Kenshin-gumi had not quite yet entered the restaurant. They turned around and watched this sudden facade take place with surprise.
"Who's she?" Kaoru asked.
Yahiko cocked his head. "Is she related to Megumi?"
"I don't know, but she does look similar to the megitsune." Sano watched everything that happened between Kiana and Hinode.
"Neko-san, I know perfectly well that something has happened and that you were involved, now tell me what did happen, and don't try to hide anything from me." Hinode barked. The wind wrinkled her kimono and blew her hair in her face.
Kiana walked to the carriage. "Fine. All that has occurred was the end of a small fight that begun last night."
"NANI!" Anger filled Hinode's eyes. "I thought I told you on the train to avoid all fights if possible." She became hysterical.
Sano laughed. "She even seems to have the kistune's personality too. What do you think, Kenshin?"
Kenshin tried to perceive as many of the female's features as he could. "I must agree that she does look similar to Megumi-dono, that I do, and she seems to almost act like her too."
Kaoru chuckled.
"I would have, Nee-san, if I could." A serious face replaced Kiana's smile. "But how do you expect me to avoid a fight when there's about eleven men trying to attack and take advantage of you?"
Hinode fell silent and closed her eyes. "Gomen nasai. I thought you were being your regular self…"
"I expended all of my extra energy trying to ignore you on the train and coach." Kiana let loose an exasperated sigh. "It got so boring during those hours listening to you ranting about all the trouble that I could possibly get into." She turned around to walk away. "I had no energy left to need a fight. Trust me, I'm exhausted right now."
Hinode briskly reached out and grabbed her friend's arm. "Now where do you think you're going? We need to get your things and go to my uncle's house." She pulled Kiana towards the black buggie.
Kiana sighed and squirmed out of the woman's grasp. "Yamete… there's something I need to finish first." She ran into the Akabeko. "Tae-san… " Kiana handed the older woman some money. "This is for the meal."
Tae nodded. "Arigatou for actually paying before you leave." She looked over to Sano, standing in the doorframe.
"Eh?" Kiana looked over to the slightly older man. "I'm not even going to ask." She walked towards the Kenshin-gumi. Everyone was surrounding the only opening to the front of the restaurant. "Gomen nasai…"
The group shared a moment of astonishment. They were not expecting a sudden outburst of apology after everything was over with.
"My actions were inappropriate after the fight. Arigato, for helping me although you had no reason to." She focused her attention on Sano and then lowered her eyes, "Please forgive me… if I had known I never would have done what I did."
Sano felt something different about the younger teen before him. She did not have the fighting spirit like earlier. Her words and tone were smooth with regret, not like earlier when they were at first coarse with anger. He noticed the sadness that now filled her emerald eyes. "Don't think anything of it, I'm glad that I was able to help. Trust me, I'll be able to remember this event. There's no possible way I'll be able to forget." Sano's hand was raised to his cheek and then slid down to his neck that he began to rub.
Both laughed at the little joke. "If this didn't happen, I wish we could have met under different circumstances. I believe that you're really not who you appear to be." Kiana bowed and made ready to return to the coach, but stopped. "I'm just curious, but what is your name and who are they?" She pointed to Kenshin, Yahiko and Kaoru.
"I'm Sagara Sanosuke, this here is Himura Kenshin," he placed a hand on the ex-samurai's shoulder, "this is Kamiya Kaoru and this…"
"I'm Myojin Yahiko, Tokyo's Samurai."
Kiana laughed. "It was nice meeting all of you. I may return to this area in the next couple of days." The light-haired brunette walked out of the Akabeko and paused. The wind that had been blowing had suddenly died down. Kiana turned around. "If I figure correctly, you may be wondering who I am." She received a few nods. "My name is Kiana Enderson, but as I'm sure you've heard, most people call me Neko."
'En…der…son…' Sano played with the name in his mind for a moment.
A sigh came far from her right. "I must be leaving now. It was a pleasure meeting you and your friends. Ja." She ran to Hinode, who was waiting patiently in the carriage. After a moments time, it rolled down the road.
The Kenshin-gumi watched it disappear before returning to the restaurant to finish their meal.
Kaoru, Yahiko and Kenshin had their questions answered.
~To Be Continued~
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~Japanese~
Aa – Informal use of yes
Aku – Evil, Bad, Wicked
Che – Shit!
Chikuso – Damn it!
Daijoubu – I'm fine, Are you okay?
Kenshin-gumi – Kenshin Family (Mainly Kaoru, Sano and Yahiko)
Kisama – Bastard
Kitsune – Fox
Megitsune – Fox Lady
Ohayo nasai – Good morning
Obi – sash that ties around a kimono
Sakabatou – Reverse blade sword
Yoshi – Alright!
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AN: There's chapter two. It's shorter than the first and I hope you enjoyed it.
:: wanders off to grab a quick something to eat :: All this talk about food and a restaurant has left me hungry. Oh, and please review. It will seriously help.