Hello all! I decided to update this thing for the helluvit. I don't know why, just did. Reviews and flames alike are appreciated!
Chapter 2
Goodbye Portugal, Goodbye Me
"Ahem, Miss Kamiya? Would you like me to escort you to your ce-"
"No."
Kamiya Kaoru stormed a few feet ahead of Captain Himura looking as if for all the world she knew exactly where she was headed. She stopped in the dead center of the deck. "Good God, man, you could at least point me in the right direction!" Kenshin resisted the temptation to roll his eyes and pointed his index finger towards a door in the main bulkhead just behind the mast. She flung it open and disappeared down a row of stairs calling over her shoulder, "My trunk is still on deck. Someone better attend to it!".
"Some woman." Said a voice behind Kenshin. "She's more like a she-beast. I know if I was the Emperor of Japan, I'd kill the King of Portugal for shipping me that." First mate Segara Sanosuke placed his rough hands on his hips and squinted in the harsh sunlight. He had been loading miscellaneous cargo into the hold below and his white jacket had taken on a rather brown and dusty tone.
"Yes, Sano…but one wonders exactly what has made her the way she is. What has she faced, I wonder, to make her hate men so? And how has she ended up in exile, de gozaru yo?"
"Kenshin, sometimes, you're just too damn polite." Sanosuke spit on the newly waxed deck. "She's ended up in exile because she's a royal pain. Well, there goes the fun in this trip, my fellow wanderer. There goes drinking on the coast of Africa. There goes the exotic women and the fun we usually have. We're gonna be babysitting that wench all the way to Japan."
"You don't think she'll actually try to escape, do you? Where is she going to go?" Kenshin surveyed the ocean on three sides.
"I hope you're not talking about me, Ken-san!" A fluttery voice rang out from the other side of the ship. Sano chuckled at the sight of the fox's lilting walk as she approached the two men.
"No, Megumi-Dono, for once you aren't the only woman on this trip." Takani Megumi, resident cook of the King's Royal Armada, gave a pretty little smile towards Captain Himura. She turned towards Sano and scowled in his general direction.
"Don't know what you're talkin' about cap'n. Only see one lady here and her name is Kamiya Kuri."
"Kaoru." Kenshin chimed.
"Whatever." Sano absentmindedly stared at the furling sails.
"Oh-ho-ho, Sanosuke, you will never change, will you? One of these days, you are going to go just a bit too far and I'm going to do something drastic…" It wasn't a very good comeback but it was all she could think of at the time. Good thing no one noticed too much because all of their trains of thoughts were abruptly interrupted by what sounded like a girl…but no one could be sure it was really a girl, no one could be entirely sure that it was human since it sounded more along the lines of a banshee fresh out of hell and very, very hungry.
KYAA!
It came from below the deck.
It came from the mouth of one very angry piece of human cargo.
With god-like speed, Kenshin flew down the stairs into the lower holds of the ship. In the dim light, he could just make out a sailor trying to push a woman through an iron grated cell built in to the bottom of the ship. She had her hands on the two iron bars that made up the door frame and was steadying herself against his push.
"Get in there!" Roared the angry sailor.
Kaoru merely tossed her head in defiance. Finally, at the sight of his captain, the sailor gave up and slumped against the side wall sulkily. Kaoru turned towards Kenshin.
"I've had worse," she pointed towards the cell, bare except for a table, half of a candle, a chair, a rickety old bed, and a large trunk with Kamiya Kaoru printed in big letters. A small, barred window gave access to the outside world. "Prison was much worse, and I really am not trying to be picky…"
"But?" Kenshin really didn't see a problem then.
"It's the principle of the thing! You can't go around pushing women through door-cases all of the time, it's just not right. My equality standards go against it." Kaoru raised her head towards the ceiling. Sano let out a low growl.
Something clicked inside Kenshin's head as she said the last part of her sentence. 'Kamiya Kaoru… the Kamiya Kaoru, Duchess of Avario tuned women's rights activist. Arrested on charges of conspiring to overthrow the government.' Himura Kenshin had an anarchist aboard his ship. A flaming feminist anarchist at that. He grimaced at the sailor, giving him a look like, 'why are you making me do this?' and then turned towards Kaoru.
"Miss Kamiya, would you please enter your cell so that this man may lock you in and guard you?"
"Well, I'm not sure exactly where you think I'm going to go, but….since you asked so nicely…" She stepped lightly into the cell, closing the door behind her and allowing the guard to lock it. Kenshin was the only one to notice the slight smile on her face, it made him want to laugh, the way she could manipulate the world to work around her. She opened up her trunk and took out a notebook and writing utensils, beginning to scribble furiously and acting as if the rest of the crew had entirely vanished. Sano opened his mouth to say something about her pig-headed, womanish ways but was interrupted.
"Captain Himura!" Someone called down from below. "Everything is ready! We need permission to set sail!" Kenshin the Wanderer jumped to attention, racing up the stairs towards the main deck with Sano and Megumi on his heels. Kaoru's "guard" had already fallen asleep in his chair by the time the three of them had stepped back into the sunlight.
Suddenly, Kaoru heard a rustle as a gust of wind filled the sails. The boat began to creak and turn, its nose pointing out to sea. With a burst of energy, it began to move across the tumultuous ocean, waves breaking against it's mighty boughs.
Kaoru stood up from the desk and quietly walked over to the small window, placing her hands delicately upon the bars. A little voice escaped her throat coming out in a small whisper, "Oh, my love…just because I cannot see you doesn't mean you're not here, right? You wouldn't leave me, would you?" She turned the gold band on her left hand around and around her ring finger.
A lonely tear escaped her eye as she watched the only home she had ever known sink slowly behind the blue horizon.
Well, kids, reviews are welcome! Otherwise, goodbye, story! The proverbial buck stops here w/o reviews, so…. toodles until next time, if there is one :p