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 and occasionally unpleasant 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 6: Truth
At nine-thirty, Kaoru, Aoshi and Misao strode into the Cat O'Nine Tails, ignoring the buzz their appearance generated. Sano was waiting for them at their usual table in the shadowy recesses of the bar. His eyebrows rose slightly as he took in his captain's appearance. She was back to wearing her usual pirate togs, so it wasn't her clothes that were surprising to him, it was her face. She looked tired with dark circles under her eyes and a frown etched on her normally cheerful face. Aoshi and Misao didn't look much better.
Sano immediately got up and grabbed a round of beers for his friends, figuring they all needed it.
"You look like hell." Sano told his captain as he thumped a warm mug of watery beer in front of her.
"Shut up." She replied, taking a deep swig of the foul liquid.
"She should look like hell." Aoshi muttered from his seat across from her. He grunted in pain when Misao dug an elbow into his ribs.
Sano looked around the table, taking in each of their grim expressions. "What the fuck is going on here? You all look like you've just eaten shit."
Kaoru didn't reply, she was too interested in her beer.
Aoshi scowled. "She's letting him help us." He said irritably.
"Him who?" Sano was rather bewildered.
"Captain Himura. She went to tell him not to get involved and somehow we ended up with the exact opposite." Aoshi replied.
"What the fuck is your problem, Shinomori?" Kaoru growled, fixing Aoshi with a lethal blue gaze.
"My problem is, Captain, that he's Navy brass. We don't know that we can trust him. Not only that, but you seem to have gotten yourself involved in some sort of relationship with him that everyone has been telling you from the start is a very, very bad idea. Don't forget who he owes his allegiance to." Aoshi retorted angrily, ignoring the restraining hand Misao put on his arm. "He could be playing you for a fool."
Kaoru slammed her fist down on the table, rattling the mugs of beer. The noise in the bar died down as people turned to peer at the group. Recognizing them, the patrons immediately returned to their business, knowing that the less they heard, the better.
"God damn you, Aoshi." She hissed, her face white with fury. "Don't you think I know that? Don't you think that's been going through my mind since the beginning?" She took a deep breath. "I've agonized over that, but I don't know what else I can do!" She reached for her beer and downed the rest of it in one gulp. "It's inconceivable that any of this should have happened and I've tried NOT to let it go this far…" She trailed off, her furious expression fading, replaced by one of deep unhappiness.
"Just ignore him, Kaoru." Misao said soothingly, shooting Aoshi a dirty look. "He'll have plenty of time to think of a proper apology tonight, while he's trying to fall asleep on the couch."
Sano tried unsuccessfully to choke back a snort of laughter and even Kaoru found herself almost smiling. Aoshi, meanwhile, looked stricken.
This was the scene Kenshin came upon when he appeared exactly at ten o'clock. He had 'dressed down' in accordance with Kaoru's request and was currently wearing baggy black pants and a simple white linen shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He tried to hide his rather distinctive red hair by covering it with a bandana. He had completed the ensemble with an old pair of battered black boots and his gun, which he stuck into his waistband since he lacked a holster.
Yahiko, upon seeing Kenshin as he prepared to leave the house earlier that evening had grinned and told his guardian that he "looked like a pirate", much to Kenshin's chagrin.
He stepped into the Cat O'Nine Tails and wondered at the patrons. He had never seen such an assemblage of shady looking characters in his life. Any of the men and even some of the women in the place looked capable of slitting his throat. He swallowed nervously, a hand rising to reassure himself of the gun placed securely at his waist while he scanned the room for Kaoru. He found her a moment later, sitting at the back of the room.
She was scowling at Aoshi and the two of them appeared to be having some sort of disagreement. Kenshin was surprised to see Misao seated next to Aoshi, looking almost as annoyed as Kaoru, while Sano, who completed the small group, appeared to be highly amused by something.
Kenshin approached them, warily stepping around drunks and prostitutes, hoping to escape the patrons' notice. He wasn't so lucky.
"Will you look at that pretty boy, Naru?" A slurred voice from behind him boomed.
Kenshin flinched. 'Shit.' He muttered under his breath.
"Look at 'im, walkin' around 'ere like 'e's too good for us!" Another drunken voice chimed in, Naru, apparently.
The bar stilled as the patrons all turned to watch what they hoped would be an interesting fight.
Kenshin turned and glared at the drunken pair and opened his mouth to say something when someone else said it for him.
"Oi, Naru, Ran, are you two makin' trouble for my friend?" Kaoru's voice rang out.
Kenshin turned back and was surprised to see Kaoru, still seated at her table, a long, wicked looking hunting knife twirling between her fingers. She was slouched casually in her seat, one foot propped up on a nearby chair. Although she looked rather relaxed, there was a palpable menace to her that Kenshin had never seen before.
"I'd hate for you to be making trouble." Kaoru said, sapphire eyes gleaming in the uncertain candle light.
"No, ma'am. We weren't makin' any trouble." Ran replied, scared out of his drunken stupor. "Were we, Naru?"
Naru shook his head violent. "No, no. No trouble from us."
"Glad to hear it." Kaoru replied with a sweet smile that seemed oddly out of place.
She gave the knife a final twirl and plunged it into the rickety wooden table in front of her.
The bar patrons, deprived of a fight and not wishing to get on Kaoru's bad side, immediately went back to their business, louder than before.
Kenshin made his way over to their table, wisely left alone by the hoi polloi.
Kaoru took her dirty boot off the only empty chair, swept the dirt off of it and offered Kenshin a seat. "Sorry about that." She said, glancing in the direction of Naru and Ran, who, sensing her gaze, immediately scooted into the darker recesses of the bar with slightly panicked squeaks.
Kenshin shook his head. "No problem. That was a rather impressive performance, though." He replied with a small smile.
"Who said it was a performance?" Kaoru lifted her eyebrow and smirked.
"Right." Kenshin swallowed, trying to match this dangerous woman to the one he had held in his arms the day before. It was a daunting task as she seemed completely changed.
"You remember Sano and Misao, right?" Kaoru waved her hand in their direction.
"Of course, how could I forget?" He nodded in Sano's direction and was rewarded with a curt nod in return. He turned his attention to Misao and smiled broadly. "Miss Makimachi, I must say, you look awfully good for a dead woman."
She giggled. "What can I say? Death agrees with me." She leaned forward conspiratorially. "Did you hear about my funeral? It was huge!"
"Yes, I understood from a friend of mine that it was quite a social event." Kenshin replied politely.
Misao nodded emphatically. "Every important person in society was there." Her smile faded and she slumped back into her seat, a pout forming. "It figures that my social status rose after I died."
Kaoru rolled her eyes and took a final swig of her beer. This particular topic was a familiar one; Misao mourned her social status often, especially after a beer or two.
She thumped her mug down and gestured to the bartender to pull her another and bring one for their new guest. "And of course you can't forget Aoshi." She said, finishing her introductions, all the while glaring at her navigator who seemed rather unmoved by her anger.
Kenshin nodded curtly, his gaze frosty. The tension at the table ratcheted up a notch.
Even the bartender noticed as he set down the two mugs of beer. He was happy to grab Kaoru's money and retreat back to the relative safety of the bar.
Kenshin lifted the glass to his lips and took a tentative sip of the pale liquid, trying to seem casual about it. But his face betrayed his horror at the taste and he nearly spit it out.
Kaoru grinned at his expression. "You gotta drink it down fast so you don't notice the taste." She advised, demonstrating with her own mug of beer.
Kenshin's reaction broke the tension somewhat. The amusement they obviously all felt relaxed them. Kaoru cleared her throat and broached the subject of their meeting.
"So, now that we're here, let's see what we've got." She said, turning her attention to Sano. "What did you find?"
Sano frowned. "Not much. Katsu's a paranoid bastard." He grumbled. "The only thing that kept popping up was the fact that the Navy was involved somehow."
Everyone glanced at Kenshin, who was frowning. "Involved in his disappearance?" He asked.
Sano shrugged. "Or involved in whatever scandal he was hoping to uncover."
Kenshin drummed his fingers on the table thoughtfully. "And you believe Admiral Serizawa is part of all this?" he asked Kaoru.
She nodded. "We do."
"All right." Kenshin pushed his mug of beer away. "What I am going to tell you does not leave this table, understand?" He glanced around the table, waiting until they nodded their assent before continuing.
"Admiral Serizawa is currently under investigation by the Office of the Admiralty for his involvement in some sort of bribery scandal, but he doesn't know it. From what I could gather, he is accused of accepting bribes from…" Kenshin paused, a small, amused smile on his lips. "From pirates, actually, to allow them safe passage to certain harbors."
"Pirates, hmm?" Kaoru looked at Sano thoughtfully. "Who do we know that's been doing rather well?"
Sano frowned. "Well, the only one I can think of is Niimi…he's been making a killing lately. Remember? He just bought those big ass cannons for his ship. His asshole first mate Kanryuu was bragging about it."
"Kanryuu, yuck." Kaoru shuddered.
"Oh yeah, he's always hittin' on you, isn't he?" Sano said, amused.
"Don't remind me." Kaoru made a face. She took a swig of beer. "He's such a slimy fucker. They both are."
"How well is well?" Kenshin asked, trying to ignore the brief stab of anger he felt towards this man he had never met.
"Cannons that size are expensive." Kaoru said. "Each one costs a couple thousand, easy. And he bought enough to outfit his entire ship. Ten above, ten below."
"Then I'd say he's doing very well." Kenshin replied. "What does he do?"
"Smuggle, mainly." Kaoru emptied her mug. "He used to do quite a bit of the human kind before my father put a stop to it." She glanced at Aoshi.
It was then that Kenshin noticed how tense the navigator had become. His face was white, his jaw clenched. Misao was talking low into his ear, rubbing a reassuring hand on his arm.
Kaoru cleared her throat and brought Kenshin's attention back to her. He raised a questioning eyebrow at her but she just shook her head.
"Now he sticks to smuggling booze, silks, drugs, that sort of thing." Kaoru said lightly.
"From what I recall, smuggling isn't usually that profitable." Kenshin said carefully.
Kaoru grinned. "Nah, there's not much money it, not since the Navy started cracking down. The real payday is in…" She trailed off, embarrassed. "Never mind."
Kenshin couldn't hide his slightly amused smile. "I heard nothing." He said.
Sano chuckled. "Gotta watch your mouth, Kaoru. This guy here's the law."
Kaoru cleared her throat. "Is there anything else you can tell us about the Admiral, Kenshin?" She said, changing the subject abruptly.
"Nothing as official as the investigation. The rest is just rumors." He replied.
"Well, even rumors could be helpful." Sano grunted.
"From what I understand, the Admiral has a lot of enemies. His illegal actions haven't gone entirely unnoticed by the Admiralty. But, since he's known to have a lot of sensitive information on people, they won't do anything to him. They overlook most of his crimes. Except for Admiral Hijikata."
"Hijikata?" Kaoru interrupted, a slight frown on her face. "Where do I know that name?"
"Well, his family is pretty well-connected and he's a war hero…" Kenshin answered.
"No…that's not it." She hit her forehead with the heel of her hand. "Where? Where did I…oh!" She grinned. "Now I remember! He was at that party. I saw him talking to Admiral Serizawa!"
Kenshin snorted. "Serizawa was probably trying to bribe him. And I can tell you right now that it didn't work. There is no one in the Navy as honest as Hijikata."
"What about you?" Kaoru teased.
"Me? I consort with pirates." Kenshin replied cheerfully.
"Is that all the information you have?" Aoshi interrupted their banter.
Kenshin turned his attention to the navigator, who still looked slightly pale.
"For now." He replied.
Aoshi snorted. "We pretty much knew all that."
"Aoshi." Kaoru's tone contained a warning.
"I'm curious, Mr. Shinomori, why you seem to be so angry towards me, and why you seem so determined to sabotage Kaoru's and my relationship." Kenshin asked quietly.
"Drop it." Kaoru squeezed Kenshin's arm, a move that didn't go unnoticed by anyone at the table.
"No, I won't." Kenshin murmured, his flinty gaze on Aoshi.
"Because, Captain," Aoshi replied just as quietly, "you will hurt her in the end. And she's already been badly used once before, and I'm not entirely sure she'd survive being hurt again."
Kaoru's eyes widened. "Aoshi…you…"
Kenshin frowned. "I don't know what happened in the past, but I have no intention of hurting her." He replied steadily.
"You don't know?" Aoshi looked at Kaoru for a long moment. "I thought relationships were built on truth and trust." He said.
"You've gone too far, Aoshi." Sano growled. "What goes on between them is none of our business."
"It'll be our business soon enough. What if she…" Aoshi began.
"Shut up." Kaoru said quietly, but the argument between her two crew members had gotten so loud that she wasn't heard. "Shut up. Shut up, SHUT UP!"
Everyone at their table and the bar stopped talking.
Kaoru stood up so fast her chair tipped over. Her face was dark with anger. "That is it, Aoshi. I warned you."
"Kaoru, he was only looking out for you." Misao began, trying to smooth things over between her lover and her friend. "True, he did it in a completely insensitive and stupid way, but…"
Kaoru ignored the other woman, her anger blinding her to everything except Aoshi. "I thought I had your respect, but it is quite obvious to me that I was wrong." She spat. "I want you off my ship. I'm tired of all your second guessing."
Aoshi looked as though he had been slapped. "But Kaoru, I…"
Sano looked troubled. "Kaoru, calm down. You don't mean that." He murmured, reaching out and giving her arm a reassuring pat. She jerked it away.
"Kaoru, please…just think about it." Misao pleaded.
Kaoru closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I am going for a long, long walk. We will talk about this later." She muttered. She opened her eyes and glared at Aoshi before wrenching her knife out of the table and holstering it in her boot. "Go back to Maiko's, Aoshi. And Sano, you get back to the ship and make sure those morons aren't tearing it apart in my absence."
Kenshin, who had been silent during the entire exchange, spoke up. "And what about me, Kaoru?"
"Go home." She replied before brushing past him and stomping to the door.
There was a long silence at the table before Sano broke it.
"Aoshi, you fucker. You don't ever bring that up. You'll be lucky if she just decides to cut off your balls." Sano said angrily, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Bring what up?" Kenshin asked, looking at the three grave faces around him.
Misao pursed her lips and looked at the dirty floor while Sano seemed strangely interested in the stains decorating the worn and rickety wooden table.
"Kaoru was raped by the men who mutinied against her father." Aoshi replied, blue eyes inscrutable as he watched Kenshin's reaction. "They forced her to watch her father's murder and then they raped her."
Kenshin felt the blood drain from his face.
"Aoshi!" Misao exclaimed angrily. "You should have let Kaoru…"
"She wouldn't have told him. She's afraid to, afraid that if he knew, he'd be disgusted and leave." Aoshi replied quietly. He looked at Kenshin, studying his face. "Before, you said you wouldn't hurt her. What about now? Most men would walk away at this point. So, tell me, Captain, what are you going to do now?"
Kenshin returned Aoshi's gaze unflinchingly. "I'm going to go find her." He replied calmly before standing up and walking out the door.
A/N: Some new bad guys for this story? Hmmm...maybe so. Kanryuu was, of course, the bad guy in the anime who killed the members of the Oniwabanshuu.
He was based on a real guy, a traitor to the Shinsengumi, Takeda Kanryuusai. Takeda was a bad, bad man and was eventually assassinated by Saitou.
Niimi Nishigi, the bad pirate I mentioned in the story was also a real person. Niimi was a crony of Serizawa Kamo's in the Shinsengumi and together they plundered and did VBT. (very bad things) Hijikata found out about it and forced Niimi to committ seppuku.
That's all I can think of right now. My brain is toast. Moonspark is still shacked up with her man, and is also navigating the treacherous waters of grad school, so no beta-reader, but it looked okay to me. I am happy, happy happy with all my wonderful reviewers, you guys feed my ego!
I do have one question...does Aoshi seem too asshole-ish? To me, he's just very, very worried about Kaoru and afraid of her getting hurt by Kenshin, who he doesn't trust. He's also a bit of a tact-less butthead. Maybe Misao can beat some manners into him?
Oh, and to the reader who asked...WAFF means warm and fuzzy feeling.
There will be a special treat for Valentine's Day! WOO!
Sequel to Between the Devil and the Deep
A Rurouni Kenshin AU Fic
by Gemini
Rated R: For cursing and other naughty and occasionally unpleasant 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 6: Truth
At nine-thirty, Kaoru, Aoshi and Misao strode into the Cat O'Nine Tails, ignoring the buzz their appearance generated. Sano was waiting for them at their usual table in the shadowy recesses of the bar. His eyebrows rose slightly as he took in his captain's appearance. She was back to wearing her usual pirate togs, so it wasn't her clothes that were surprising to him, it was her face. She looked tired with dark circles under her eyes and a frown etched on her normally cheerful face. Aoshi and Misao didn't look much better.
Sano immediately got up and grabbed a round of beers for his friends, figuring they all needed it.
"You look like hell." Sano told his captain as he thumped a warm mug of watery beer in front of her.
"Shut up." She replied, taking a deep swig of the foul liquid.
"She should look like hell." Aoshi muttered from his seat across from her. He grunted in pain when Misao dug an elbow into his ribs.
Sano looked around the table, taking in each of their grim expressions. "What the fuck is going on here? You all look like you've just eaten shit."
Kaoru didn't reply, she was too interested in her beer.
Aoshi scowled. "She's letting him help us." He said irritably.
"Him who?" Sano was rather bewildered.
"Captain Himura. She went to tell him not to get involved and somehow we ended up with the exact opposite." Aoshi replied.
"What the fuck is your problem, Shinomori?" Kaoru growled, fixing Aoshi with a lethal blue gaze.
"My problem is, Captain, that he's Navy brass. We don't know that we can trust him. Not only that, but you seem to have gotten yourself involved in some sort of relationship with him that everyone has been telling you from the start is a very, very bad idea. Don't forget who he owes his allegiance to." Aoshi retorted angrily, ignoring the restraining hand Misao put on his arm. "He could be playing you for a fool."
Kaoru slammed her fist down on the table, rattling the mugs of beer. The noise in the bar died down as people turned to peer at the group. Recognizing them, the patrons immediately returned to their business, knowing that the less they heard, the better.
"God damn you, Aoshi." She hissed, her face white with fury. "Don't you think I know that? Don't you think that's been going through my mind since the beginning?" She took a deep breath. "I've agonized over that, but I don't know what else I can do!" She reached for her beer and downed the rest of it in one gulp. "It's inconceivable that any of this should have happened and I've tried NOT to let it go this far…" She trailed off, her furious expression fading, replaced by one of deep unhappiness.
"Just ignore him, Kaoru." Misao said soothingly, shooting Aoshi a dirty look. "He'll have plenty of time to think of a proper apology tonight, while he's trying to fall asleep on the couch."
Sano tried unsuccessfully to choke back a snort of laughter and even Kaoru found herself almost smiling. Aoshi, meanwhile, looked stricken.
This was the scene Kenshin came upon when he appeared exactly at ten o'clock. He had 'dressed down' in accordance with Kaoru's request and was currently wearing baggy black pants and a simple white linen shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He tried to hide his rather distinctive red hair by covering it with a bandana. He had completed the ensemble with an old pair of battered black boots and his gun, which he stuck into his waistband since he lacked a holster.
Yahiko, upon seeing Kenshin as he prepared to leave the house earlier that evening had grinned and told his guardian that he "looked like a pirate", much to Kenshin's chagrin.
He stepped into the Cat O'Nine Tails and wondered at the patrons. He had never seen such an assemblage of shady looking characters in his life. Any of the men and even some of the women in the place looked capable of slitting his throat. He swallowed nervously, a hand rising to reassure himself of the gun placed securely at his waist while he scanned the room for Kaoru. He found her a moment later, sitting at the back of the room.
She was scowling at Aoshi and the two of them appeared to be having some sort of disagreement. Kenshin was surprised to see Misao seated next to Aoshi, looking almost as annoyed as Kaoru, while Sano, who completed the small group, appeared to be highly amused by something.
Kenshin approached them, warily stepping around drunks and prostitutes, hoping to escape the patrons' notice. He wasn't so lucky.
"Will you look at that pretty boy, Naru?" A slurred voice from behind him boomed.
Kenshin flinched. 'Shit.' He muttered under his breath.
"Look at 'im, walkin' around 'ere like 'e's too good for us!" Another drunken voice chimed in, Naru, apparently.
The bar stilled as the patrons all turned to watch what they hoped would be an interesting fight.
Kenshin turned and glared at the drunken pair and opened his mouth to say something when someone else said it for him.
"Oi, Naru, Ran, are you two makin' trouble for my friend?" Kaoru's voice rang out.
Kenshin turned back and was surprised to see Kaoru, still seated at her table, a long, wicked looking hunting knife twirling between her fingers. She was slouched casually in her seat, one foot propped up on a nearby chair. Although she looked rather relaxed, there was a palpable menace to her that Kenshin had never seen before.
"I'd hate for you to be making trouble." Kaoru said, sapphire eyes gleaming in the uncertain candle light.
"No, ma'am. We weren't makin' any trouble." Ran replied, scared out of his drunken stupor. "Were we, Naru?"
Naru shook his head violent. "No, no. No trouble from us."
"Glad to hear it." Kaoru replied with a sweet smile that seemed oddly out of place.
She gave the knife a final twirl and plunged it into the rickety wooden table in front of her.
The bar patrons, deprived of a fight and not wishing to get on Kaoru's bad side, immediately went back to their business, louder than before.
Kenshin made his way over to their table, wisely left alone by the hoi polloi.
Kaoru took her dirty boot off the only empty chair, swept the dirt off of it and offered Kenshin a seat. "Sorry about that." She said, glancing in the direction of Naru and Ran, who, sensing her gaze, immediately scooted into the darker recesses of the bar with slightly panicked squeaks.
Kenshin shook his head. "No problem. That was a rather impressive performance, though." He replied with a small smile.
"Who said it was a performance?" Kaoru lifted her eyebrow and smirked.
"Right." Kenshin swallowed, trying to match this dangerous woman to the one he had held in his arms the day before. It was a daunting task as she seemed completely changed.
"You remember Sano and Misao, right?" Kaoru waved her hand in their direction.
"Of course, how could I forget?" He nodded in Sano's direction and was rewarded with a curt nod in return. He turned his attention to Misao and smiled broadly. "Miss Makimachi, I must say, you look awfully good for a dead woman."
She giggled. "What can I say? Death agrees with me." She leaned forward conspiratorially. "Did you hear about my funeral? It was huge!"
"Yes, I understood from a friend of mine that it was quite a social event." Kenshin replied politely.
Misao nodded emphatically. "Every important person in society was there." Her smile faded and she slumped back into her seat, a pout forming. "It figures that my social status rose after I died."
Kaoru rolled her eyes and took a final swig of her beer. This particular topic was a familiar one; Misao mourned her social status often, especially after a beer or two.
She thumped her mug down and gestured to the bartender to pull her another and bring one for their new guest. "And of course you can't forget Aoshi." She said, finishing her introductions, all the while glaring at her navigator who seemed rather unmoved by her anger.
Kenshin nodded curtly, his gaze frosty. The tension at the table ratcheted up a notch.
Even the bartender noticed as he set down the two mugs of beer. He was happy to grab Kaoru's money and retreat back to the relative safety of the bar.
Kenshin lifted the glass to his lips and took a tentative sip of the pale liquid, trying to seem casual about it. But his face betrayed his horror at the taste and he nearly spit it out.
Kaoru grinned at his expression. "You gotta drink it down fast so you don't notice the taste." She advised, demonstrating with her own mug of beer.
Kenshin's reaction broke the tension somewhat. The amusement they obviously all felt relaxed them. Kaoru cleared her throat and broached the subject of their meeting.
"So, now that we're here, let's see what we've got." She said, turning her attention to Sano. "What did you find?"
Sano frowned. "Not much. Katsu's a paranoid bastard." He grumbled. "The only thing that kept popping up was the fact that the Navy was involved somehow."
Everyone glanced at Kenshin, who was frowning. "Involved in his disappearance?" He asked.
Sano shrugged. "Or involved in whatever scandal he was hoping to uncover."
Kenshin drummed his fingers on the table thoughtfully. "And you believe Admiral Serizawa is part of all this?" he asked Kaoru.
She nodded. "We do."
"All right." Kenshin pushed his mug of beer away. "What I am going to tell you does not leave this table, understand?" He glanced around the table, waiting until they nodded their assent before continuing.
"Admiral Serizawa is currently under investigation by the Office of the Admiralty for his involvement in some sort of bribery scandal, but he doesn't know it. From what I could gather, he is accused of accepting bribes from…" Kenshin paused, a small, amused smile on his lips. "From pirates, actually, to allow them safe passage to certain harbors."
"Pirates, hmm?" Kaoru looked at Sano thoughtfully. "Who do we know that's been doing rather well?"
Sano frowned. "Well, the only one I can think of is Niimi…he's been making a killing lately. Remember? He just bought those big ass cannons for his ship. His asshole first mate Kanryuu was bragging about it."
"Kanryuu, yuck." Kaoru shuddered.
"Oh yeah, he's always hittin' on you, isn't he?" Sano said, amused.
"Don't remind me." Kaoru made a face. She took a swig of beer. "He's such a slimy fucker. They both are."
"How well is well?" Kenshin asked, trying to ignore the brief stab of anger he felt towards this man he had never met.
"Cannons that size are expensive." Kaoru said. "Each one costs a couple thousand, easy. And he bought enough to outfit his entire ship. Ten above, ten below."
"Then I'd say he's doing very well." Kenshin replied. "What does he do?"
"Smuggle, mainly." Kaoru emptied her mug. "He used to do quite a bit of the human kind before my father put a stop to it." She glanced at Aoshi.
It was then that Kenshin noticed how tense the navigator had become. His face was white, his jaw clenched. Misao was talking low into his ear, rubbing a reassuring hand on his arm.
Kaoru cleared her throat and brought Kenshin's attention back to her. He raised a questioning eyebrow at her but she just shook her head.
"Now he sticks to smuggling booze, silks, drugs, that sort of thing." Kaoru said lightly.
"From what I recall, smuggling isn't usually that profitable." Kenshin said carefully.
Kaoru grinned. "Nah, there's not much money it, not since the Navy started cracking down. The real payday is in…" She trailed off, embarrassed. "Never mind."
Kenshin couldn't hide his slightly amused smile. "I heard nothing." He said.
Sano chuckled. "Gotta watch your mouth, Kaoru. This guy here's the law."
Kaoru cleared her throat. "Is there anything else you can tell us about the Admiral, Kenshin?" She said, changing the subject abruptly.
"Nothing as official as the investigation. The rest is just rumors." He replied.
"Well, even rumors could be helpful." Sano grunted.
"From what I understand, the Admiral has a lot of enemies. His illegal actions haven't gone entirely unnoticed by the Admiralty. But, since he's known to have a lot of sensitive information on people, they won't do anything to him. They overlook most of his crimes. Except for Admiral Hijikata."
"Hijikata?" Kaoru interrupted, a slight frown on her face. "Where do I know that name?"
"Well, his family is pretty well-connected and he's a war hero…" Kenshin answered.
"No…that's not it." She hit her forehead with the heel of her hand. "Where? Where did I…oh!" She grinned. "Now I remember! He was at that party. I saw him talking to Admiral Serizawa!"
Kenshin snorted. "Serizawa was probably trying to bribe him. And I can tell you right now that it didn't work. There is no one in the Navy as honest as Hijikata."
"What about you?" Kaoru teased.
"Me? I consort with pirates." Kenshin replied cheerfully.
"Is that all the information you have?" Aoshi interrupted their banter.
Kenshin turned his attention to the navigator, who still looked slightly pale.
"For now." He replied.
Aoshi snorted. "We pretty much knew all that."
"Aoshi." Kaoru's tone contained a warning.
"I'm curious, Mr. Shinomori, why you seem to be so angry towards me, and why you seem so determined to sabotage Kaoru's and my relationship." Kenshin asked quietly.
"Drop it." Kaoru squeezed Kenshin's arm, a move that didn't go unnoticed by anyone at the table.
"No, I won't." Kenshin murmured, his flinty gaze on Aoshi.
"Because, Captain," Aoshi replied just as quietly, "you will hurt her in the end. And she's already been badly used once before, and I'm not entirely sure she'd survive being hurt again."
Kaoru's eyes widened. "Aoshi…you…"
Kenshin frowned. "I don't know what happened in the past, but I have no intention of hurting her." He replied steadily.
"You don't know?" Aoshi looked at Kaoru for a long moment. "I thought relationships were built on truth and trust." He said.
"You've gone too far, Aoshi." Sano growled. "What goes on between them is none of our business."
"It'll be our business soon enough. What if she…" Aoshi began.
"Shut up." Kaoru said quietly, but the argument between her two crew members had gotten so loud that she wasn't heard. "Shut up. Shut up, SHUT UP!"
Everyone at their table and the bar stopped talking.
Kaoru stood up so fast her chair tipped over. Her face was dark with anger. "That is it, Aoshi. I warned you."
"Kaoru, he was only looking out for you." Misao began, trying to smooth things over between her lover and her friend. "True, he did it in a completely insensitive and stupid way, but…"
Kaoru ignored the other woman, her anger blinding her to everything except Aoshi. "I thought I had your respect, but it is quite obvious to me that I was wrong." She spat. "I want you off my ship. I'm tired of all your second guessing."
Aoshi looked as though he had been slapped. "But Kaoru, I…"
Sano looked troubled. "Kaoru, calm down. You don't mean that." He murmured, reaching out and giving her arm a reassuring pat. She jerked it away.
"Kaoru, please…just think about it." Misao pleaded.
Kaoru closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I am going for a long, long walk. We will talk about this later." She muttered. She opened her eyes and glared at Aoshi before wrenching her knife out of the table and holstering it in her boot. "Go back to Maiko's, Aoshi. And Sano, you get back to the ship and make sure those morons aren't tearing it apart in my absence."
Kenshin, who had been silent during the entire exchange, spoke up. "And what about me, Kaoru?"
"Go home." She replied before brushing past him and stomping to the door.
There was a long silence at the table before Sano broke it.
"Aoshi, you fucker. You don't ever bring that up. You'll be lucky if she just decides to cut off your balls." Sano said angrily, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Bring what up?" Kenshin asked, looking at the three grave faces around him.
Misao pursed her lips and looked at the dirty floor while Sano seemed strangely interested in the stains decorating the worn and rickety wooden table.
"Kaoru was raped by the men who mutinied against her father." Aoshi replied, blue eyes inscrutable as he watched Kenshin's reaction. "They forced her to watch her father's murder and then they raped her."
Kenshin felt the blood drain from his face.
"Aoshi!" Misao exclaimed angrily. "You should have let Kaoru…"
"She wouldn't have told him. She's afraid to, afraid that if he knew, he'd be disgusted and leave." Aoshi replied quietly. He looked at Kenshin, studying his face. "Before, you said you wouldn't hurt her. What about now? Most men would walk away at this point. So, tell me, Captain, what are you going to do now?"
Kenshin returned Aoshi's gaze unflinchingly. "I'm going to go find her." He replied calmly before standing up and walking out the door.
A/N: Some new bad guys for this story? Hmmm...maybe so. Kanryuu was, of course, the bad guy in the anime who killed the members of the Oniwabanshuu.
He was based on a real guy, a traitor to the Shinsengumi, Takeda Kanryuusai. Takeda was a bad, bad man and was eventually assassinated by Saitou.
Niimi Nishigi, the bad pirate I mentioned in the story was also a real person. Niimi was a crony of Serizawa Kamo's in the Shinsengumi and together they plundered and did VBT. (very bad things) Hijikata found out about it and forced Niimi to committ seppuku.
That's all I can think of right now. My brain is toast. Moonspark is still shacked up with her man, and is also navigating the treacherous waters of grad school, so no beta-reader, but it looked okay to me. I am happy, happy happy with all my wonderful reviewers, you guys feed my ego!
I do have one question...does Aoshi seem too asshole-ish? To me, he's just very, very worried about Kaoru and afraid of her getting hurt by Kenshin, who he doesn't trust. He's also a bit of a tact-less butthead. Maybe Misao can beat some manners into him?
Oh, and to the reader who asked...WAFF means warm and fuzzy feeling.
There will be a special treat for Valentine's Day! WOO!