King's Box
Lil-Sun-Rie
Author's Note Well, here's the seventh chapter! *victory dance* Go me! Go me! Go me! Well, now that the craziness has passed all I have to say is enjoy and don't forget to review!
Summary Amber eyes glowed eerily in the dark shadows. All he knew was that a soft heart wasn't a heart at all. It must be of stone, so as to carve the law of living: The strongest survive. Will a light pierce the dark abyss they call insanity?
Disclaimer I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, although that wouldn't be so bad… My birthday is May 18. Are you going to get me a present?
King's Box
Chapter Seven: Pain
Kaoru suddenly gave a small whimper as she limped back to camp. She didn't know what had given her the strength to run here because now her leg hurt like hell. She looked back at the clearing. Misao left before her and disappeared in the trees. She said something about practicing. Kaoru felt like crying, but instead she plastered a huge smile and told everyone who asked that she was fine.
Kenshin saw Kaoru return from the forest. She seemed well enough, except for that limp that appeared every step or two.
Kenshin watched Kaoru's every move from the dark corner of camp. He knew that she or anyone else would not see him. Kenshin thought that he was turning soft. He couldn't and he shouldn't. He was the legendary Battousai. It wouldn't be right if that happened. Kenshin let his hand wander to his left cheek. He fingered the scar and winced. He winced because the emotional scar hurt more in his heart. Every time he thought about the scar it brought back memories. Good and bad. It was the last time he let his soft side get in the way. Kenshin wasn't always a hitokiri. He used to be known as the sweet and gentle Shinta, but long ago fate took its course and decides to work against him. Afterwards he left Hiko and worked for Shishio.
Kenshin's burning amber eyes could be seen glowing eerily against the darkness of the shadows surrounding them. His hands were stained with blood and forever in blood shall they be stained. He couldn't change the past and he couldn't see the future. All he knew was that a soft heart is not a heart at all. It must be of stone, so as to carve the law of living: Only the strongest survive. The weak die and the strong live. (Can you guess where I got that?!)
******************
Yahiko approached Aoshi.
"Uncle Aoshi, Kaoru is afraid of heights."
"And why should we let that bother us?"
"Well the cliffs are coming up. . ."
"The road is still broad." Aoshi commented absent mindedly.
"I guess that's okay then."
Aoshi glanced at his nephew, "Yahiko, it's not really a big deal. She'll get over it. The road is broad and she can ride to the side."
"Uncle, you don't understand. You weren't there." Yahiko took a deep breath. "Kaoru may seem brave and tough, kind of like Misao, but she has a great fear of heights. You should have seen her. I thought she was going to die on the spot. She was scrunched up against the wall and still seemed to be sick."
"Yahiko, you're too young to worry about these things."
"Uncle, I've seen 9 winters! I would be celebrating my name day this winter!" (Okay, this is an AU fic and they don't really say years. So if Yahiko saw 9 winters that would mean he is 9 years! Name day is when they celebrate a child entering puberty. I made these up okay, so don't go looking for info on the net.)
"Yes," Aoshi replied patting him on the head, "you are getting older."
Aoshi pat Yahiko's head some more then gently pushed him away. He watched him go.
"Yes, Yahiko. Yes, you are getting older . . . so am I."
************************
Kenshin's mind was unease. He knew that there was some thing between Soujiro and those assassins. Kaoru could get hurt, but what did he care. He didn't like her . . . the kiss was happened only because he hasn't been with any women lately. His deprivation was getting to him. After all he was a man, and the battousai. . .
Kenshin felt something yearn deep inside him. Something he locked away. Shinta, the sweet gentle Shinta was still in him. Kenshin never revealed his true personality because deep down he knew it could destroy him. But, how much pain and confusion can one man take? Kenshin knew that he was at the brink of insanity. He was treading the thin line. . . he didn't want a push into the dark abyss of confusion. Assassinating, killing, cheating, lying . . . when would it end? All through his train of thought he stayed silent, his expression never changing.
All his thoughts ended the same way, love is a mask to hide the deceptive mind.
**********************
Kaoru loved her father dearly, the night he died was forever etched into her memory. She spat bitterly into the grass.
Kaoru couldn't remember her mother that well. She was too young when she died. All Kaoru could remember was the promise that she made to her mother. . . a promise she never fulfilled.
"Kaoru, my dear Kaoru."
"Mother, are you okay?"
"Dear, you were always so sweet. . . I fear that I won't be able to see you grow up. I won't see you in your first kimono. I won't see you when suitors come. I won't see you get married and have children."
"Mama, why not?"
"Dear, dear Kaoru, its okay. I won't be able to see it and you won't be able to see me, but we'll always be together."
"Ma. .."
"Oh, Kaoru don't cry." Her mother drew her into her arms. Kaoru gripped the front of her mother's beautifully woven kimono. Tears slipped down her cheeks.
"I know I'm going to die. The death spirit is upon me."
"Tell him to go away."
"Kaoru. .."
Kaoru's eyes widened when she felt her mother's body relax against her own.
"Kaoru, promise to fall in love. Promise to love life and everything about it. Act on your emotions Kaoru, never lock them up."
Kaoru nodded her head. Her mother's body went limp and Kaoru knew that she was gone. She gently laid her mother in the small cot.
Tears rushed out of Kaoru's eyes and her lips trembled. She stared at the body that had once been her mother. It was not anymore. It was merely a shell, a replica of what her mother used to be. It was dead and cold compared to her mother's warmth and liveliness.
"Goodnight mother." With that final statement Kaoru left the small bed room. Later she heard an anguish cry and knew her father had seen mother, but she couldn't help. She was wrapped in her own sorrows to help.
Although she had only seen 6 winters, she knew what death was. She knew that it was unavoidable and that no one could live forever. It took a long time for her to talk.
Even when she watched her mother's cold body in the dancing flames. She only stared at the small raft that contained her mother in her most prized kimono float across the sea with flames dancing about it. Cold and cruelly she ignored everyone and everything around her. She was only six winters and she already knew the hardship of life and was determined to meet it with an emotionless face.
A year later she met Soujiro and they became friends. It brightened her up and she was able to smile again. She was able to play and be happy.
Two years later she was 9 winters and preparing for her name day. She never celebrated it. On the eve before her name day the king's lover had died. No one knew how and so instead of celebrating they mourned to loss of some one so sweet and honorable.
**************************
Misao could tell that no one around the camp was in the mood for talking, in fact not even herself. She has never felt so depressed before. It was a big difference compared to her normal happy self. Misao glanced around the camp and saw Aoshi sitting all by himself sipping his sake slowly.
'Aoshi-sama, if only you knew. But like I said I'm in love with some one stupid.' (That's not meant to be funny okay.)
Like everyone else she was scanning her memory. She remembered her family, well rather her lack of one. She was an only child who lived with a widowed woman. Her mother never loved her and made her do all the work will she sat and painted her face. Misao could never see the resemblance from her and her mother. They looked more like distant cousins rather than mother and daughter.
Her mother tried to get her to marry one of the many suitors she had, but she refused each one. Unlike her mother, she didn't waste time painting her face or learning to walk in a kimono. Instead she practiced with her kunai.
Her mother thought her unladylike.
Then later her mother married and thought her husband was after Misao instead of her. Then the search for a husband for Misao grew more desperate. Soon her mother began sending messengers to all of Japan just to get her a husband. Misao's mother was still young and her husband was too. Her mother knew that there was no way to keep a man's attention for long if there was competition, so after years of looking for a suitor she finally gave up and sent her to her grandpa Okina. Misao often wondered why she didn't do it before and she often reasoned that her mother wanted the husband's dowry.
It seemed that way. Even though she was her mother's own flesh and blood, it seemed as if all she wanted from Misao was her husband's dowry.
***********************
Aoshi could see well in the dim light and saw that Misao was deeply troubled. She didn't act like her normal self. Aoshi's face, however showed no emotion at all.
Aoshi wasn't always a stiff. He would smile once in a while, but not a lot. He used to smile all the time with his friends from the Oniwaban group, but it was hard on him when they all passed away. He didn't know how to react and somewhere deep inside himself he knew that it was his fault they had died. The process worked slowly, slowly draining his ability to smile, to laugh, to cry, to feel. At first it was denial. He would lay awake at night and convince himself that it wasn't his fault. Soon the late nights took a toll on his body, continuously making him weaker and weaker. Then, a he fell into a long coma where he dreamed of his old days with his friends. He would see himself smile. A smile so pure of happiness that it seemed impossible for it to be him. It seemed like an imposter.
When he awoken, the need to live grew stronger within him. He needed to be the best and to start being just that he needed no emotions. So he locked away any emotion he had ever had. It was his way of mourning his friends passing, like a woman who wears black and never smiled for years to mourn someone.
***********************
Soujiro watched as one by one the members of the camp fell asleep. He knew that Kaoru would be asleep. Maybe then he could finish his job. He forced himself to smile his old emotionless smile. Soujiro skulked, completely masked by the night's darkness.
Kill. . . heart. . . no evidence.
Soujiro breathed in. He couldn't do it, but he had too. It was going to be hard for him. He knew Kaoru all his life and it just didn't seem right.
Kill her, bring back her heart, and leave no evidence. Soujiro shivered. He could never do this, not to Kaoru. He was standing above her, watching her breathe in and out. His shadow flew over her, covering her like a mother shelter's her young.
Soujiro unsheathed his sword and held it with both hands. The survival of the fittest. That's what Lord Shishio taught him and his many followers. The point of his sword was above Kaoru's neck. His fingers tightened around the hilt as he slowly lowered it.
Could he do it?
He didn't know.
He simply didn't know.
Was he able too?
Of coarse . . . if he didn't have a conscience.
Soujiro's fingers began to shake. Could he go on with life knowing that he killed his best and only friend?
No, no he couldn't. Soujiro dropped the sword away from him and looked down at Kaoru. His friend. His only friend. How could he have thought of killing her? Soujiro dropped to his knees, his hands trembling uncontrollably. He stared at them long and hard.
"I'm sorry." He knew she couldn't hear him, and that probably was for the best. It was a good thing she was asleep. He didn't think he could go through with it if she knew.
Soujiro suddenly cleansed when he whispered those words. He got up, picked up his sword, and sat in a small secluded corner watching Kaoru sleep. He silently thanked her for her unknowing of his deceit. A smile crept to his lips and he fell asleep like an assassin would, sitting up right with his sword cradled in his arms.
*************************
Kenshin woke up. He glanced around the camp and saw two figures hugging each other intimately. He felt a surge of jealousy when he saw that it was Kaoru and Soujiro.
************************
Kaoru woke up when she felt something soft brush against her nose. She scrunched up her nose in distaste thinking that it was just a bug. But, it persisted. Kaoru's eyes shot open and she saw Soujiro innocently holding a piece of grass in his hand. She suddenly sat up hastily and turned to face Soujiro.
"Oh Kami! I though you had gotten hurt!" Kaoru mock pouted.
Soujiro just laughed.
"You shouldn't do that." She whispered, suddenly serious. She looked him dead in the eye. "Please, don't do that again. If I run, you run."
Soujiro smiled at Kaoru and pulled her into a gentle embrace.
They hugged each other not knowing that Kenshin was watching.
*********************************************************************************
A/N: Well, here's chapter seven! I would like to thank my loyal reviewers. THANKYOU! THANKYOU! THANKYOU! *takes a bow and turns to the cast of the story. They too are bowing.* Arigato. Arigato. Arigato.
I hope to see you all review! *scary face comes on. Repeats in an eerie voice* Review. . .