Between the Devil and the Deep
A Rurouni Kenshin Alternate Universe Fic
by Gemini
Rating: R for language. Saitou is very, very pissed in this chapter.
Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin is owned by Nobuhiro Watsuki, Shonen Jump and a bunch of other people I can't recall and am too lazy to look up. But, the main point here is that I do not own it, nor am I making any money from this fic! (Ha!)
For Moonspark, who needs a hug and some pocky.
Chapter 9: For Pride and Honor
Saitou marched down to the brig with a thunderous expression on his face. His
men hovered nervously behind him, desperately hoping to avoid his wrath. He had
nearly exploded when they moved to take his sword and keys away, but after several deep
breaths, had managed to hand them over without bloodshed.
A low murmur of voices was coming from the ship's prisoners, but the sound
stopped when Saitou stepped into the room. Aoshi and his men eyed the captain
with some trepidation, fearful that he was about to make good on his earlier
threat to get information from them with whatever force necessary.
They were therefore, rather surprised when one of the sailors unlocked the steel
door and escorted the captain in. Saitou sat down on the narrow wooden bench
that ran the length of the cell and scowled darkly as his man slammed the door
shut and locked it again. Both of the sailors immediately vacated the premises,
not eager to stay behind and hear anything their captain had to say.
Kaoru's men stared at Captain Saitou and he stared back, daring them to ask
him the question that was obviously on their minds.
Finally, Aoshi cleared his throat. "What...?" he began, but Saitou cut him
off.
"The fucking Commodore and I had a fucking disagreement and he decided that I
was a fucking mutineer and sent me down here while he sends all my fucking men to be
killed and puts my fucking ship in danger, the fucker." Saitou growled.
"Ah." Aoshi murmured. He and the other men looked at each other, trying to
decide if this was a trick of some sort. Finally, they came to a silent, mutual
agreement. There was no way Saitou could pretend to be as mad as he was. Veins
were throbbing in his forehead and his jaw was clenched so tight, it looked as
though he were about to shatter all his teeth.
Aoshi stood up and walked over to the captain, ignoring the man's glare as he
sat down next to him. He extended his hand and said in a somber voice, "Aoshi
Shinomori, navigator of the Kami Kaze."
Saitou stared at him for a long moment before taking his hand and giving it a
brief shake.
"You do realize that we are still enemies and that if you hadn't come aboard
my ship, none of this would have happened, correct?" Saitou asked darkly.
"I do. However, I must say in our defense that we only wanted to take Miss
Makimachi. We had no further interest in your ship. The Commodore recognizing us
and the subsequent fighting was unexpected. The captain really tries to avoid
bloodshed on either side whenever possible." Aoshi replied.
"Well, your captain is up to his fucking neck in blood right about now."
Saitou said with a scowl.
The other men exchanged brief glances before Aoshi replied. "I'm sure our
captain is fine. She tends to excel in situations such as this."
"She?" Saitou's eyebrows went up.
"She. Kaoru Kamiya, the daughter of our first captain Tetsuro Kamiya."
"She mutinied against her own father?" Saitou asked, incredulous.
"No. She killed the man who murdered her father and took control of the
ship." Aoshi replied.
"I see." Saitou leaned back against the metal bars and crossed his arms
across his chest. "I wish I could be up there when Shishio sees that he's
fighting a woman. His expression will no doubt be priceless."
"Does he have something against women?" Hannya asked curiously.
"He doesn't like women who don't drop to their knees and worship the
ground he walks on." Saitou responded with a slight smirk. "Therefore, I
would bet a great deal of money that he won't like your captain."
"I'm sure the feeling will be mutual." Aoshi deadpanned.
Misao kicked the stout wooden door of her cabin and cursed loudly. "Let me out
of here, you bastards!" She yelled, rattling the doorknob to no effect.
"Miss Makimachi, perhaps you should calm down. It is hardly fitting for a woman
of your social standing to be yelling and pounding on doors." Her maid murmured from her
position at the small vanity, her face set in a disapproving scowl.
"Perhaps you should shut up!" Misao retorted. "If it wasn't for you
running to my parents, I wouldn't be in this mess, you nosy old bitch!"
The maid's expression darkened further but she did not reply.
Misao exhaled a frustrated breath and slumped onto her bed.
She sat for a long while, her expression becoming more and more hopeless until,
quite suddenly, she heard the man who was guarding her room exclaim in surprise,
his shout fading into a pained grunt. There was a rattle of keys and then the
door opened, revealing the slightly disheveled form of Tokio, Captain Saitou's
wife, who, up until this moment, had spent much of the trip in her state room,
being sick. Misao noted with a brief twinge of jealousy that even in her seventh month
of pregnancy, with a large belly, messy hair and a slightly askew sleeping robe,
she still looked rather beautiful. Misao immediately shelved the thought and
jumped to her feet. "Madame Saitou! You shouldn't have come here! You should
be in bed! In your condition..."
Tokio cut her off with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Yes, I should have and let me worry
about my condition. That moron, Commodore Shishio has relieved my husband of his duty
and stuck him in the brig while he storms your friend's ship."
Misao sucked in a breath, her blue eyes as wide as saucers. "What are we going
to do?" She asked.
"We are going down to the brig to let them out and end this nonsense." Tokio
replied irritably, reaching down to relieve the unconscious guard of his gun,
which she then handed to Misao. "Here. I already have one." She said.
Misao's maid rose to her feet, shaking her head and sputtering in anger.
"Of course she will not help you! How dare you..."
Both the women turned and glared at her. "I think the first thing we should do
is take care of her." Misao said darkly, pointing the gun at her maid.
"Agreed." Tokio replied cheerfully.
Kaoru mopped the sweat off her forehead with her sleeve. Shishio was
just toying with her, she knew that. He would attack and then drop
back, not giving her even half of his full strength. She cursed and
spat onto the deck. "Quit fucking around, Shishio. I don't have all day." She hissed.
Shishio grinned. "Why, Miss Kamiya, that would be unfair to you.
I'm fighting at your level now. Anything more and I might hurt your pretty little self."
Her mouth tightened. Now he was insulting her.
She dropped back, eyes narrowed. "I think that perhaps you should
be taking all of this a bit more seriously, Commodore." She said quietly.
"I'll be serious when I face a serious opponent." He replied smugly, spurring into motion again.
Kaoru barely had time to block his attack, sliding back several feet into the railing.
He raised his sword and swung it viciously downward, but she managed to slip away,
so that it was the railing that bore the brunt of his attack, splintering into tiny pieces
that fell into the sea below.
Kaoru's face was nicked by flying splinters, drawing blood. She wiped the blood off and
prepared for his next move, which was almost ridiculously easy to predict.
Kaoru blocked Shishio's strike with ease, pushing him off with a small smirk of her own.
He scowled and struck out again, missing her by a hair's breadth. His sword
hit the mainmast with a thud and she laughed out loud.
"Rather sloppy, Commodore." She said, resting the tip of her sword on the
deck.
Shishio spun to face her and scowled. "Don't you dare mock me, little girl." He
spat.
"Then stop giving me the opportunity." She replied. "Now, let's finish this."
"Oh, all right." He said with an exaggerated roll of his eyes. "I suppose you're
getting tired."
His bravado was shaken slightly by her attack. She forced him back,
almost pinning him to the mast with her sword. He pushed her off and ducked,
slipping behind her. He attempted to strike her unguarded back, but found
himself looking straight into her eyes.
"Trying to stab me in the back?" She hissed, blocking his sword with her own.
He frowned and pushed off, sliding back several feet. "Perhaps I underestimated
you." He said.
"I think maybe you did." She replied evenly.
Their next strike was a blur of motion, highlighted by the ringing of steel
against steel. They broke apart and dropped back, each taking inventory of
their injuries.
Shishio had a ribbon thin slash from the corner of his left eye to his chin.
Kaoru's lip was bleeding again and one of her sleeves was ripped neatly down the center.
Kaoru licked the blood from her lip and stared down at her arm.
"This was my favorite shirt." She spat.
Shishio wiped his face with his sleeve and glowered at her. "Believe me,
Kamiya. You have bigger things to worry about."
They rushed at each other again, the clang of their swords echoing off the deck, their
thrusts and parries almost too fast to watch. Suddenly, they both broke off and
retreated. Shishio's uniform coat hung in tatters, a thin slash along his chest was oozing blood
in ruby colored droplets, the thick material of his coat having taken the brunt of Kaoru's attack.
For her part, Kaoru was bent over, her bloody left arm cradling her stomach.
"Finally, I got through." Shishio said smugly, tearing off what was left of his coat and tossing
it nonchalantly onto the deck.
Kaoru straightened up and shrugged. "I've had worse." She replied through
clenched teeth, her words betrayed by the large dark red stain spreading across
her abdomen.
Kenshin, from his position by the stairs, sucked in a breath at the sight of
Kaoru's blood. Behind him, Hiko made a similar noise and hastily retreated
back to the galley, no doubt to find Megumi.
Kenshin's hand gripped the sword handle tight enough to turn his knuckles
white. He wanted to run out and help Kaoru, defend her against Shishio. But he
knew that she would resent the intrusion and, revealing himself to the Commodore
would end his career.
"Shit!" He cursed, his mind in turmoil, his borrowed sword held in a white knuckled grip.
Shishio rushed towards Kaoru, hoping to deal the final blow. Kaoru's parry
surprised him. How could she still have enough strength left to block him? Her
blade rasped along his and the two stood still, gauging each other's strength.
Shishio clearly felt that he had the advantage.
"Give up, little girl and I'll spare your life." He said with a smile.
"I would rather die." She hissed.
"I can arrange that." He replied, drawing back, readying himself for another
attack.
He was fully expecting to feel his sword bite into flesh, and was justifiably surprised,
when instead, it hit metal, the ringing of the two swords' impact reverberating across
the deck. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw who was holding him off, the last
man he would have ever expected to see.
"Captain Himura? What in the bloody hell are you doing here?" He asked,
incredulously.
"That is my business." Kenshin replied, pushing Shishio away. "However, I
can not allow you to hurt Captain Kamiya any further."
Shishio's eyes narrowed. "First Saitou and now you! I am seriously beginning
to wonder about the loyalty of His Majesty's men." He spat. "I'll have
you court marshaled for this, Himura."
"I expected no less." Kenshin replied evenly.
"Kenshin, get out of the way!" Kaoru said angrily, moving to stand behind
him. "This is my fight, not yours."
"Kaoru, you are in no condition to continue this." Kenshin said over his
shoulder, keeping one eye on Shishio.
"I'll be the judge of my own goddamned condition!" She exclaimed, trying
to push him out of the way, but he would not budge.
"Lover's quarrel?" Shishio drawled, a smirk tipping up the edges of his mouth.
"Hardly." Kaoru replied acidly. "Captain Himura here just has an exaggerated
sense of chivalry, which, let me assure you, I don't require."
"And Captain Kamiya has an excessive amount of pride, almost to the point of
stupidity." Kenshin replied angrily.
Kaoru's jaw worked as she bit back several responses, none of them kind.
Finally, she took a deep breath and managed to bite out a response. "I'm asking
you one last time, get out of my way."
Kenshin shook his head. "Look at your wound, Kaoru. You can barely stand up, how is
that a fair fight?"
Kaoru closed her eyes and signaled surreptitiously to Sano, who came up with two other men to take
Kenshin away. They grabbed on to him before he could register what was happening.
"Goddamn it!" Kenshin cursed, struggling against Sano's iron grip. "Are you just going to let
her be killed?"
Sano scowled. "You think I want her to die? Fuck no. But we gotta do what she says and if she
says to get you out of the way so she can fight, then we do it." They dragged Kenshin back until he was
out of the way, their faces set in stony acceptance of their captain's fate.
"I'm sorry, Kenshin, but this is my fight." Kaoru said quietly, focusing her intense gaze on Shishio as she
spoke.
"I'm truly choked up by all of this." Shishio mocked. "Really."
"Shut up and fight." She hissed.
"Gladly."
Kaoru bit her lip to keep from screaming as she moved to dodge his attack. Every movement caused
her wound to burn. She knew she only had a few good strikes left, before all of her strength fled her
body. She gritted her teeth against the pain and focused on Shishio. She had to finish this, and soon.
A/N: Ahhhh! I lost this chapter 3 times because of problems with Microsoft Word, so if there are any misspellings, it's because I gave up and typed the damn thing out in WordPad.
In this chapter , I introduce Tokio! She's been there the whole time and I'm pretty sure I hinted at it in chapter 2 or 3. She and Misao are going to kick ass. Happy day! Also, I hope you're enjoying the fight scene so far. I'm hopeful that I pulled it off. Lord, isn't Shishio an asshole? I hope Kaoru beats him but good.