AN- Well I wrote a lot of chapters for this fic. I don't know when to post them, but I'll post them anytime soon. Please do leave comments, suggestions, and questions in a review. Thanks! And have a good night or good day wherever you are!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin series. I wish I did but I don't. : (

Opening of the Mind

Chapter Two

"Kaoru, please do rush."

Kaoru looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her sapphire eyes saddened at the fact that today was her last day home. From this time, she would never be able to call this home her home. During the past month, she hoped that this day would never come, but it did. It was a slow punishment for her.

"I told the maids to wake you up earlier, so they could dress you properly," Tokio continued. "But then again I would like you to miss that boat so you could spend the rest of your time here then over there, in the strange country with a particular stranger you never met." Tokio looked at her daughter eyes. She noticed that not a single tear fell from her eyes. It was so unusual for Kaoru not to shed a tear, when it came to leaving home. Many times Kaoru left home with a tear-streaked face, this time she was leaving her home as a woman.

"Mother, please don't look at me the way you do. You don't need to shed tears on this day," whispered Kaoru quietly, as she saw her mother struggling to be brave this day and not let her tears get into the way of her preparation of leaving her home.

"I try not to think that you're leaving for good. I try to say that you'll be back someday, but it seems that even the comforting I try on myself does not work. Maybe it is because I know you are leaving me, and that I would never get to see you in a long time to come." Tokio tried so desperately to hide her feeling from her daughter but always known to hold nothing from her daughter, she could tell her attempts were futile.

"Mother, you will get to see me soon, that I promise you." The maid came in with the last things, readying the bags that had to be stacked away in the carriage. For the next two hours, everyone scurried about the place, trying their best to get their mistress's daughter ready for her big journey.

Soon everything was ready. The trunks were piled with the latest clothes made from the best clothes makers. One dress, in which she worked very hard on, was her wedding dress. For the past month, she made sure she worked on the dress to the last detail. The dress was a color of creamy white, paler then the color of her skin. The dress was covered with hand made lace, except for the tight fitting sleeves. The beautiful gown was tight around her small waist with a square neckline and a flowing skirt, the lace divided in the front to show the skirt beneath. Kaoru decided to wear her wedding dress with white pearls that her mother gave to her on her nineteenth birthday and her white satin slippers.

Tae personally saw that Kaoru's wedding dress was placed into a different trunk, so that it wouldn't wrinkle as bad. From the little to the grandest weddings she could remember, the dresses were not as beautiful as this wedding dress was. She saw how much time and effort that Kaoru put into planning her wedding dress and making it real. To make sure everything went according to plan, Tae checked one last time to see that the grand coach was packed with all the necessary equipment.

The small- three-masted vessel remained on dock for the past three days, awaiting the main the passenger to come aboard deck. Gensai, captain of the boat called Flamer, stood on deck watching the everyday movement on the seaport. The wind blew slightly on his wind roughly face. For some reason he felt very uneasy.

Soujiro Seta needed some assistance. Earlier he summoned Gensai and offered him a generous amount of money. It was granted to him, if he was willing to bring about a safe passage to Soujiro's fiancée across the Caribbean Sea, he will reward him extra money as a bonus. Before Soujiro approached him, he decided to retire his years from sailing out into the open seas. He wanted to take a long break from the sea, because after all he had his experiences. Plus he didn't want to escort women over sea.

This woman must mean a great deal to he Mr. Seta. Gensai looked at his building crew. He saw them stocking the last remain of supplies aboard the ship. Looking worriedly over the men, Gensai hoped that the men had their fills of women. He didn't want anything bad happening to Soujiro's wife-going-to-be. On the hold, women were bad luck to have on a ship. It was as well as a superstitious belief. Women expected to be pampered, to be fitted in such luxuries. This was going to be the worse voyage he had in twenty years of his time sailing across the seas.

Then just around the corner, a grand coach pulled up. The amount of trunks packed on top of the coach astonished Gensai. From the amount of trunks packed on top the coach, Gensai guessed that the bride and her family were already here for the voyage. My God! Why did he take this job?

Kaoru looked out through the window of the small carriage. Through the window she saw so many three-masted vessels, her father told her that she would be traveling on. She decided she should look more into learning about ships because Flamer was just one of the ships Soujiro owned.

Saito got off the carriage and spoke to a passing sailor. The sailor revealed that the coach was parked right in front of the ship in which he was looking for. Saito went aboard the ship to talk to the person in charge. There he found the relevant information and came back to relay the information to his family.

Kaoru waited patiently until she saw her father opened the carriage door. A part of her panicked at the fact knowing that this was the last time she would ever be near her native home. From tomorrow she would be out at Sea, away from her mother who cared deeply for her.

"The captain the trunks will be loaded aboard the ship. By this evening he's planning to set the ship at Sea. He said the earlier the ship leaves, the less time it would take to get to the Caribbean."

Kaoru was astonished by his generosity. Never had he been so kind as to tell information in complete detail. Saito was just a man if a few words. His harsh, serious face did the speaking for him alone. He believed that talking was a waste of his time.

By the time afternoon hit, the ship was already loaded and ready to leave port. Kaoru cried at last, the tears she kept back, spilled from her eyes freely. She hugged her mother with all her heart, and lightly kissed her father on his cheek. He seemed embarrassed by the light gesture, though that didn't get to her. She just wanted to say a decent goodbye to her father she tried so hard over her years to please so much. It would have been nice, if Saito told her just once that he truly loved her, just for once those words could stop all the suspicion she carried in her heart over the years.

She bid her last farewell to her father, for he would never be able to give her another heartbreak. Her mother, however, was a different story. It took Captain Gensai to break her apart from her mother. He pushed her lightly aboard the ship. Following her every step of the way was her maid and companion throughout the whole journey.

Turning around, Kaoru watched her mother one last time. Each second, her vision got blurrier because of her tears. So many times she blinked her eyes, hoping to get a better glance of her mother's disappearing form, but her eyes brought new tears to life. She also felt all eyes on ship, directly on her. She forgot to tie her long raven hair up in a bun, for the loose ribbon that once held her together, fell away with such ease. The dark midnight hair caught the sun's reflection, making it a sight to behold at the moment.

Gensai barked his order at the crew. Momentarily struck by the beautiful sight of the fine looking woman with long raven hair, they finally realized they were not dreaming and dispersed to doing their daily work. Gensai could not believe the beauty the woman held. Her shimmering long raven hair, beautiful sapphire eyes, her slender form, made her the most beautiful woman Gensai ever laid his eyes on. Plus on top of that, she carried so much gold aboard the ship, mostly dowry money. It was enough to make any man go pirate, plus the beautiful Ms. Kamiya could tempt any man and not know it. However, out of word of honor, Gensai promised to escort Ms. Kamiya to Soujiro, and that was something he would keep, or at least die trying.

For the pass two weeks, Kaoru missed her long luxurious baths. On deck, she couldn't have that. The bowl of water that was placed quietly on the table was not enough to keep her clean. The real problem was her long raven hair. Due to the fact of the length of her hair, Kaoru realized her hair could not be easily managed. It only took the first rainstorm, the Flamer experienced, that she got her first bath or shower. She risked walking on the slippery decks, to manage her hygiene well. Captain Gensai warned her against it but she got away with it. He ordered all of his crew below deck, while she stood on the top deck, next to her maid Tae, and a few guards. She smiled at the knowledge of feeling perfectly safe where she was located.

A few times Kaoru joined the Captain to dinner. Each time they met, he warned her to stay away from the crewmembers on deck. He never explained why he wanted it to be so. She honestly didn't see any harm going on deck, when the other men were there, but whatever was the reason, had to be a good one.

Finally summoning up the courage to ask her maid, Kaoru sat and began. "Why can I not go on board when the crew is around?"

"This is something you should not concern yourself with," said Tae. "Just do as the Captain instructs you."

"But you know the reason do you?" Kaoru pressed the issue further.

"Well, yes I do," she answered, looking away from Kaoru.

"Then why do you hesitate not to tell me anything? I am no longer a child. I am going to marry soon."

"Yes I know that, but you are innocent in many ways and still you are a child."

"Very well, why can I not have any freedom on this ship. For what reason am I kept locked away?"

It took a moment before Tae answered, but when she did, Kaoru was astonished at the news her maid told her. "It is because you are so beautiful. The Captain is afraid you might tempt the crew. You see men have desires, desires so strong; they're willing to die for it. In this instance, the Captain is afraid men will not be able to fight their desire to make love to you."

"Oh!" she gasped, not knowing what to say.

"This is the reason why, you should keep a low profile from going up on deck."

"How is it you know so much about this?" asked Kaoru with a pleasant smile on her face.

"Because I was never shielded from men as you are," answered Tae.

"So you have made love to a man before?"

"Now you're curiosity goes way to far. I think we should leave certain things private, don't you think?" Kaoru never pushed the subject any further. She wanted to know what was so good about making love that men were willing to die for it. Well, she had to wait till her wedding. Once she was married, she would find out the true secrets about making love.

After four weeks at being at sea, Kaoru experienced not such a nice incident. Tae left the main cabin room to get Kaoru's food, leaving Kaoru all by herself. Kaoru wanted to so badly go up on deck that she waited eagerly for her maid to return. Searching through her trunks filled with clothes, she heard soft footsteps behind her. Kaoru turned around automatically, expecting to meet Tae. She never did, instead she met with a huge man, who grabbed her harshly by her shoulders and pinned against her the wall like nothing. He just held her. He didn't seem to hear her. His eyes were to busy traveling up and down her body.

"Grab him!" the Captain, shouted. Two men rushed into the room and grabbed the man. He struggled while he was taken on deck and tied to the mainmast. Kaoru followed in confusion. Before she could fully comprehend the whole situation, she saw a guard pulled off the man's tunic, who was tied on the mainmast. The other guard took out a leather whip, about a yard long.

"Apparently the crew was warned about a situation like this. Soujiro will certainly be upset from finding out that you were almost raped," said the Captain. He nodded his head toward the guard holding the long whip. With a crack from the whip, the officer brought his whip down at the open back. Once, twice, the whip kept on clashing. Trickles of blood sprung from the wounded flesh as the men yelled out in pain. Splashes of blood splattered on the men's clothing nearby. Each whipping sound pushed a strong feeling inside of Kaoru. It was the first time she experienced such cruelty. Her mind became like waves, and her eyes became droopy like. Before the whipping scene ended, Kaoru fainted only seeing the color of crimson in her mind.

(To be Continued)