Letter of Marque
Sequel to Between the Devil and the Deep
A Rurouni Kenshin AU Fic
by Gemini

Rated R: For cursing and other naughty things

Disclaimer: This Rurouni Kenshin franchise is owned and operated by Earl "Nobuhiro" Watsuki,
Tim "Shonen" Jump and "Sony" Jones. There are also a few silent partners I can't recall.

The events in this story take place one year after the end of 'Between the Devil and the Deep'

Chapter 4: Jealousy

"So then, she had an affair with her husband's valet…" Maiko Hamaguchi was a regular font of useless gossip and information, Aoshi discovered part way through the evening. Even though he was only half listening to her, he still picked up more dirt on the members of the upper class than he needed. He kept pleasant expression on his face and nodded occasionally, just to make her believe he was actually listening to her.

In fact, most of his attention was focused on the set of elaborate glass doors he had seen Kaoru slip through almost twenty minutes earlier, followed shortly thereafter by Captain Himura. He almost frowned, but kept his expression carefully neutral, even as he worried about Kaoru and what was happening with the Captain.

When Kaoru finally reappeared, looking amused about something, he relaxed. She wasn't angry or upset, so things must have gone well. She caught Aoshi's eye and smiled. Things must have gone well indeed, he mused, noting that her hair was slightly mussed and her lips were rosy and kiss-swollen. He cocked an eyebrow at her and ran his hand over his hair meaningfully. She caught a reflection of herself in the glass doors and turned pink.

He had to work to contain the smirk that threatened to appear at her horrified expression. Seeing Kaoru flustered was a rare occurrence and every moment of it had to be savored. With an expression of extreme embarrassment, Kaoru vanished into another room, no doubt looking for a mirror and some privacy so she could make herself look a bit less debauched.

Captain Himura looked decidedly less happy when he emerged from Tae's gardens a few minutes later, Yuki Hidaka hanging off his arm. His face assumed an almost martyr-like expression when Yuki's mother appeared and dragged him towards a gaggle of giggling girls, clearly friends of Yuki. Aoshi suppressed another grin, no doubt finding more humor in the situation than Captain Himura did.

Kaoru re-entered the room a few moments later, looking more respectable. She shot Aoshi a dirty look as she made her way through the crowds, her expression effectively neutralizing any sarcastic remarks he might have been prepared to give when she joined them.

"Did you enjoy Tae's gardens?" Maiko asked the younger woman as she took her place by Aoshi's side, unaware of the tension between her two guests. "I saw you slip out there a little while ago."

A slight flush crept up Kaoru's neck. She smiled tightly at her friend. "Yes, I enjoyed them quite a bit."

Aoshi's chuckle turned into a grunt thanks in great part to the elbow Kaoru shoved into his side.

Maiko raised an eyebrow at both of them, but shrugged it off. 'Must be a pirate thing.' She mused. As she was constantly confronted with the strange and unusual habits of Kaoru and her crew, she had long ago learned to simply write them off as normal pirate behavior.

"Tell me, Auntie Maiko, which one of these men is Admiral Kamo Serizawa?" Kaoru asked, bringing her friend out of her musings about pirates.

"Admiral Serizawa?" Maiko pursed her lips and scanned the room. "I don't…" She paused and frowned slightly. "Wait, I think that is him…over there, by the musicians." She gestured in the direction of a string quartet, which had set up shop on a small dais provided by Tae, playing elegant compositions that could barely be heard over the crowd.

Kaoru's eyes followed the gesture and she found the tall, distinguished looking man, quite handsome in his full dress uniform. He had jet-black hair and a severe look on his face, but he didn't seem to her to match the descriptions she had of the Admiral. "That man? The one standing next to that wall?" she asked Maiko, quite puzzled.

"No, no. That is Admiral Hijikata. Admiral Serizawa is the man he's talking to." Maiko replied.

Kaoru's eyes skipped from the tall man to his shorter, pudgier companion, whom she had missed in her initial once over of Admiral Hijikata. Brown hair, dark eyes and a perpetual sneer: that was Admiral Serizawa to the letter. His dress uniform was ill fitting, clearly intended for someone thinner. The Admiral looked like a man who had once been in good shape, but too much rich food and drink had softened him around the middle and added jowls to a face that might have once been considered handsome. From her informants, she knew he was in his early forties, widowed with no children and had a taste for young, innocent girls.

Though he mainly amused himself with a long stream of ignorant country maids, he occasionally turned his sights to the daughters of his contemporaries, much to their dismay. Kaoru knew, for instance, that earlier in the year, he had been challenged to a duel to avenge the honor of a titled gentleman's daughter, who had fallen into the Admiral's clutches. Sadly, the Admiral was victorious; the girl's father was sent home with a mortal wound, and her reputation remained tarnished. Kaoru knew all this and more about the Admiral, making her job rather difficult since she'd rather kill him than kiss him.

"Thank you, Auntie Maiko." Kaoru said quietly, patting her hair and smoothing her dress. "I think I'll go introduce myself."

Maiko frowned. "To the Admiral? Kaoru…you must know, he has a terrible reputation when it comes to young ladies. He once…"

Kaoru held up a hand to silence the older woman. "I know. I've heard all the sordid details. Unfortunately, he is the man I have to get to know." She sighed and a frown graced her features for a moment before disappearing behind a genial mask. "I wish I didn't have to, but, unfortunately, I fit the profile for the sort of girl he prefers. If only he liked men. Then I could have sent Aoshi, or even Sano."

Aoshi scowled. "I sincerely hope you're joking."

She smiled at him. "Maybe I was. Anyway, wish me luck." With a wink to her companions, she started off, weaving through the crowd towards where the two men were standing, engaged in a serious conversation, judging by their somber expressions. She stopped a few feet away from the string quartet, tilting her head and arranging her expression into one of appreciation, which wasn't difficult since the musicians were rather talented.

She closed her eyes and listened, letting the music wash over her. Unbeknownst to her, a small smile blossomed on her lips. Standing at the foot of the dais, with her smiling expression, she made a pretty picture.

When the quartet finished the piece with a triumphant flurry of bows, she opened her eyes and applauded loudly.

"They are quite good, aren't they?"

Kaoru started and turned to see who was addressing her. The Admiral Kamo Serizawa stood smiling at her elbow, blatantly appraising her figure.
She swallowed the rude retort that was her immediate reaction and instead offered him a warm smile. "Quite. I've never heard anything like it." Kaoru replied shyly. "We don't have people nearly as talented like this at home."

"And where is home, my lady?" He smiled pleasantly at her, but she saw the lust in his eyes and had to suppress a shiver. The last time she had seen such an expression in a man's eyes… She could almost feel the dirty hands on her, smell the acrid stench of sweat, hear the rough voices and her own screams…

"My lady?" The Admiral tapped her arm politely with his index finger and she had to call upon every ounce of control she had not to shriek and push him away.

'Get a fucking grip, Kaoru!' she told herself silently. 'Those men are dead…they can't hurt you anymore.'

"I'm sorry, sir, my mind wandered. What did you ask?" She smiled at him as prettily as she could, hoping to distract him from her strange actions.

"I asked where you were from." He said, raising an eyebrow.

She named a distant northern province and he proclaimed that he had never been there. "Tell me about it. Are all the young ladies there as beautiful as you?"

She fought the urge to roll her eyes and instead giggled, quite vapidly. "Oh, there are many girls prettier than me, sir." She said modestly.

"I doubt it." He said, leaning forward so that their faces were intimately close. "Would you please put me out of my agony and tell me your name, my lady? It was a breach of etiquette for me not to ask in the first place."

"My name is Keiko Fujiwara, sir. Now, may I be so bold as to ask yours?" She asked coyly.

"Admiral Kamo Serizawa." He said proudly, stepping out of her personal space long enough to bow.

"Ooh, I've never met a real admiral before." She wanted to smack herself for acting so stupid. It went against every fiber in her being. "You must be a very important man."

He smirked. "Advisor to the Emperor himself, my dear lady."

She pretended to be impressed. "Oh, you must tell me…what is he like?"

The Admiral stepped closer to her than she would have liked and smiled. "Well, he is very dependant on my opinion…"

Kenshin frowned over the head of his supposed fiancée, wondering why Kaoru was flirting with another man, especially one as despicable as Admiral Kamo Serizawa.

His frown deepened when the Admiral stepped indecently close to her and began some sort of intimate conversation. She giggled and cooed, batting her eyelashes and offering up dazzling smiles. Kenshin felt his chest tighten. What was she doing? Maybe it had something to do with her mission, but what sort of mission would have her throwing herself at another man? Was she doing this to make him jealous? Revenge for his non-existent engagement?

His hand drifted down to rest on the hilt of his ornamental sword as he entertained ideas of running said blade through the Admiral, who dared to run a finger over Kaoru's cheek in a thoroughly inappropriate manner. He had to admit to himself that he was quite jealous. He and Kaoru had only a few passionate moments between them, and he had been denied such every day affections as the ones she was currently lavishing on the Admiral. She never smiled at him like that. His jaw tightened.

"Captain Himura? Might I have a word?"

Kenshin looked over and discovered Aoshi, blank faced as usual, standing nearby. "I have a few questions concerning the navy, and Madame Sekihara suggested you as the man to talk to."

Kenshin forced a smile and gratefully disentangled himself from Yuki. "Certainly." He turned and nodded politely to the women. "Excuse me, ladies." Ignoring their protests, he followed Aoshi into a relatively private corner.

"I see the way you're looking at her, Captain Himura, and I must ask you to do nothing. You could cause us quite a bit of trouble if you over-react." Aoshi said without preamble.

"What do you mean?" Kenshin grated out.

"That's not real affection up there, that's acting." Aoshi glanced over at where Kaoru and the Admiral were standing, rather close together, speaking in hushed voices.

"What is going on here? Why is she doing this?" Kenshin's eyes followed Aoshi's gaze.

"What did she tell you?" Aoshi asked.

"Nothing." Kenshin replied sullenly.

"Then I will follow her example. Clearly, she doesn't want you to know and I must respect that."

Kenshin sighed. "Fine. But she will have some explaining to do later on." He said irritably.

Aoshi regarded the shorter man with curiosity. "And what exactly does she have to explain? It's not as though there's an agreement between you two, is there?"

Kenshin flushed. "Not exactly…but…"

"Listen to me, Captain, it's highly unlikely that Kaoru would ever abandon her ship or her crew, even for love. She's in a difficult position, and I know that regardless of her feelings on the matter, she will always do the right thing." Aoshi frowned down at the floor. "It is unfortunate, but that's the way things stand."

Kenshin walked away from him without saying another word, too angry to speak. He hated that Aoshi was probably right, he hated that he was in love with someone so unattainable, he hated that Kaoru was all he could think about.

"Kenshin, dear? Where are you going?" Tae ambushed him as he wandered into various rooms, seeking his coat so that he could leave.

"I'm suddenly very tired, Tae, and I want to go home." He replied shortly, finally locating a footman who knew where the coats were kept.

"Did Yuki tire you out? She's in rare form tonight, I must say." Tae smiled in a slightly amused manner and gave Kenshin's arm an affectionate squeeze.

He offered her no reply, only a tight smile as he took his coat from the reappeared footman and shrugged it on.

"Well, can you join me for lunch tomorrow?" She asked, absently smoothing the slightly rumpled shoulders of his coat.

"Actually, I have plans." He replied without thinking. Tae's face lit up and he cursed himself.

"Oh? Who with? One of these lovely girls, perhaps?" Tae turned and eyed the crowd, trying to discover which girl had captured his attentions.

"Hiroshi Fujiwara. He was curious about certain aspects of the Navy and I offered to enlighten him over lunch." He hoped she bought his hastily thought up lie.

She sighed. "Oh, Kenshin. A roomful of eager girls and you end up having a luncheon with a man?" She shook her head."I had hoped all those rumors about sailors were false, but I guess there is truth in it after all."

"What are you talking about?" Kenshin frowned, confused by her outburst.

"Well, obviously, you don't want to marry because you prefer men to women." Tae looked rather shaken at the thought. "I had hoped it wasn't true…"

Kenshin blinked, her words slowly sinking in. "Wait…Tae…"

"It's all right, we're still friends, but oh, I did so wish to see you married!" She shook her head sadly.

"Tae…believe me when I say that I most definitely prefer women!" Kenshin nearly yelled.

She stared at him for a long moment. "Oh, thank the gods!" Tae pressed a relieved hand to her bosom. "So you will marry!" She sprang on him and hugged him tightly.

Kenshin disentangled himself and sighed. "Tae, you are a dear friend, but your priorities are a little strange."

A/N: Happy New Year! Whee! Ahem. Anyway, so this is a little late. I promised to have another chapter done before the New Year. I'm 4 days late. Sorry. I've been busy. Sooo...that Orlando Bloom has proven quite wily and hard to catch. I'll give you readers some more time to grab him and until then, I'll content myself with the cookies. More on the way...maybe one of these days I'll get to the point, plot point that is.

Oh, and thanks for all the reviews! I'm happier than a pig in slop!