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 9: Reading is FUNdamental
Kenshin scowled down at the official Navy report in his hands. Admiral Serizawa was a very, very bad man. He had known some of it; almost everyone in the Navy knew at least a little of the Admiral's rather sordid reputation, but to see all this evidence against him in black and white and to know that nothing was being done…it made Kenshin's blood boil.
His guest and author of the report, Captain Hajime Saitou, puffed lazily on a cigarette, a half filled glass of scotch dangling loosely in one hand. He was lounging in one of the leather chairs in Kenshin's personal office, watching his comrade with sharp golden eyes. "It angers you, too, I see." He observed as he lifted the glass of scotch to his lips.
"Why hasn't he been arrested? I know of men who've been executed for less." Kenshin growled, slapping the report down on his desk in anger.
Saitou shrugged. "He's very well connected. We can't lay a hand on him."
Kenshin shook his head. "That shouldn't matter…the man has broken almost every law in the book!"
"Have you always been this naïve?" Saitou asked as he stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray Kenshin's housekeeper had thoughtfully provided him with.
"Damn it, Saitou, we're supposed to fight AGAINST men like Serizawa, not put them in power." Kenshin ran a hand through his hair, clearly frustrated.
"You sound like Admiral Hijikata."
Kenshin arched an eyebrow. "Even he's frustrated and helpless?"
Saitou offered Kenshin a wolfish smile. "You mentioned earlier that Captain Kamiya's friend, Tsunan Tsukioika, was somehow getting information on the Admiral and then publishing it in his newsletters, correct?
Kenshin nodded, not quite understanding where Saitou was going with this.
"Well, let's just say that Admiral Hijikata was an avid reader of 'The People's Voice'."
This time, both of Kenshin's eyebrows shot up. "Wait…you mean…"
Saitou produced another cigarette from the depths of his uniform coat and lit it, taking several deep drags before replying to Kenshin's unfinished question. "The Admiral is not as helpless as he seems. He just prefers doing things at his own pace. Of course, now that his favorite journalist is missing, he's become rather concerned."
Kenshin felt a headache coming on. "Admiral Hijikata put him in danger. And now, he's missing, probably dead and Kaoru's…"
"So now she's 'Kaoru'?" Saitou smirked and drained the last of the scotch from his glass. "And what does she call you, I wonder?"
Kenshin's eyes narrowed. "That's none of your business."
Saitou leaned forward, his expression cool and calculating. "You, Captain Himura, aren't nearly as well connected as Admiral Serizawa. If it got out that you were consorting with a known pirate…"
"Are you threatening me?" Kenshin asked darkly.
"Just making an observation." Saitou drawled. "It's just not a very good career move, that's all."
"Well, I've been rethinking my career aspirations of late." Kenshin muttered, tapping a finger absently on Saitou's report. "I'm not so sure that I want to be part of an organization that condones such ruthlessness."
"So then, what are you planning to do? Give up your commission and go on account(1)? Pirates aren't exactly known for their love of justice, either."
Kenshin scowled. "Not everything is so black and white, Saitou."
Saitou leaned back into the chair and chuckled. "I suppose not."
The two men sat in silence for a long while until Saitou finally broke it.
"Is that report all you needed?" He asked.
"It is. I appreciate you bringing it to me on such short notice. I hope Tokio was not too put out with me dragging you away from your family." Kenshin retreated back into the safety of polite conversation, firmly tamping down on his anger.
Saitou snorted. "More than likely, she was relieved to get rid of me."
Kenshin swallowed a smile. "And how is the baby? It was a boy, was it not?"
Saitou nodded. "Tatsuo. He's almost ten months old now."
Kenshin waited for Saitou to continue, but the child's age and name was apparently all the man had to offer. So much for a boastful parent.
They exchanged a few more banal pleasantries before Saitou terminated their meeting. Kenshin escorted his guest to the front door, making useless small talk while Saitou donned his coat and gloves, offered to him by a nervous servant girl.
Saitou waited until the girl had scurried back into the bowels of the house before speaking again. "Be careful with that information, Captain. Admiral Serizawa is not a man you want to have as your enemy." He said quietly.
"I understand." Kenshin replied.
"Good." With that, Captain Saitou left, leaving a trail of cigarette smoke in his wake.
Kenshin went back to his office and began a more thorough examination of the report that Saitou had been ordered to write. He felt himself growing angrier the more he read. Was there no justice in this world? How could a man like the Admiral get away with doing what he did? How could the Navy condone it and then turn around and condemn others for lesser crimes?
The headache that had threatened him earlier finally made good on its promise; his temples throbbed with pain. He buried his face in his hands and sighed in frustration.
He was so focused on his anger and pain that he didn't hear his office door creak open, or the soft tread of footsteps on his wooden floor. But he did feel the cool hands that gently began to massage his temples in an attempt to relieve him of his headache. Startled, he jumped, his hands blindly searching the desk for a weapon, Saitou's warning about the Admiral echoing in his mind. Had Serizawa already discovered Kenshin's interest in his shady dealings and sent someone to kill him? He didn't stop to consider that it was highly unlikely that one of the Admiral's assassins would try to alleviate his headache before running him through. He grabbed the closest thing to a weapon he could find: his silver letter opener. It wasn't much, but it was sharp and applied with enough force, it could be useful. He turned and thrust it in the direction of his supposed assailant.
Kaoru leapt back a few feet, deftly avoiding the letter opener being propelled in the direction of her stomach. "Watch it you idiot!"
Kenshin dropped his weapon and gaped at her. "Kaoru? What…? I almost…"
She rolled her eyes. "As if you could have hurt me with that." She said, pointing rather disdainfully at the letter opener lying harmlessly on the floor.
"How did you get in here?" He asked, looking behind her to see if Saya or one of the others servants had come in with her.
She grinned. "Trade secret."
He blinked at her stupidly.
She sighed. "Should we start over again?"
He nodded. "Please. I'm a little confused."
"I wanted to see you, so…here I am." She offered as an explanation.
He raised an eyebrow. "And to what do I owe the honor?"
"Do I need a reason?" She asked defensively.
"Of course not, it's just that I'm a little surprised to see you." He replied hastily, hoping to soothe her.
"You never did give me a tour of your house, you know. I only saw a little bit down stairs." She said abruptly, spinning on her heel to look around his office. He watched her in silence as she went over to his bookshelf and read the titles in his collection. "My father once said that you could tell a lot about a person by what they read." She observed as she ran a finger along the spines of some of the books.
"Oh? And what can you tell about me?" Kenshin asked, sounding both curious and amused. His heart was slowly returning to its normal speed and he felt himself relaxing in her presence.
"Hmm…" She worried her lower lip thoughtfully for a moment before replying. "You like ships. And swords."
Kenshin choked on what sounded suspiciously like a laugh. "Anything else?" He asked after a moment.
Kaoru plucked a particular book from the shelf and held it up for him to see. "And you're a pervert."
"What?"
She tossed the book to him and he caught it easily. He took one look at the title and immediately turned a dark shade of red. "I can explain…"
"And here are two more!" Kaoru took another one of the books off the shelf and turned to him to shake her head in amazement. "Such tawdry bits of fiction nestled between such respectable books on philosophy and warfare." What looked like a smile tugged on the corners of her lips.
Kenshin looked rather embarrassed. Then, suddenly, his expression changed and he looked up at her accusingly. "Wait, how do you know what these are?"
It was her turn to blush. She cleared her throat. "Misao reads them. She lends them to me sometimes. But I'm a woman, you know. It's not so embarrassing that I read them. Why do you really have them, anyway?"
He muttered something under his breath that she couldn't quite hear.
"What was that?"
He sighed. "Know thy enemy. It's just common sense. Before going into battle, you should always know what you're facing."
Karou goggled at him for a long moment before bursting into gales of laughter. "You…you mean that you read these for…information?" She managed to gasp out. She collapsed into a convenient chair and continued to laugh, clutching the smutty book to her chest like a lifeline.
Kenshin looked rather wounded. "What's so wrong with that?" He asked, offended.
Her laughter having mellowed to the occasional giggling hiccup, Kaoru flipped open the book in her hand and read from a random passage:
"Storms soothed her, but apparently excited him, Mother Nature in her finest fury. Yes, there was something primitive in that, something that might incite a man's passions." Kaoru stopped and fluttered her eyelashes, dropping her voice to a low, dramatic whisper before continuing, "She wished he hadn't done it. Knowing how wonderful and exciting it was, being kissed by him, wasn't going to help her peace of mind any.(2)" She finished her dramatic monologue with a snort and tossed the book to the floor. That particular passage had hit rather close to home and she found herself slightly annoyed by it.
"I hope you weren't trying to find out information on me, Kenshin. None of those books looked like they were about wooing female pirate captains, although now I see where you got your rather…aggressive courting habits from."
"You said you liked my aggressive courting." Kenshin muttered, looking like a sullen school boy.
"Indeed. But if you expect me to swoon and fall at your feet, you're mistaken." Kaoru wagged a finger at him.
He sniffed in irritation. "There was some pretty good information in there, I'll have you know. And I didn't hear you complaining when I tried some of it."
She suddenly looked quite interested in what he was saying. "Oh? And what did you try on me?"
Kenshin rose from his chair and retrieved the book she had thrown to the floor. She straightened in her chair as he approached her, trying desperately not to look as nervous as she felt, given the rather steamy look in his eyes.
He flipped the book open and scanned a few chapters before he found something. "Here, on page 177." He held it so she could read the paragraph in question.
"Sound familiar?"
When had his voice dropped to that low, sexy growl? She wondered as she finished reading, feeling a slight blush heat up her face at both that and the story. "The dining room, the other day." She managed.
"You seemed quite pleased with that." He flipped through some more pages. "And here, on page 215, although I never got to the best part."
He once again held it out so she could read it.
"The best part?" Her face went from pink to bright red as she finished reading the section he had indicated and moved on to the next paragraph, which she had to agree really was the best part. "Oh…my."
"See?"
She ignored the smug tone and focused on the fact that the 'research material' had some rather interesting ideas. Ideas she wanted to try.
"I see your point, Kenshin." She said after a long, thoughtful moment.
He was startled out of a reply when she stood up, grabbed him roughly by his shirt and kissed him heatedly. He dropped the book and returned the favor, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into him. It was several minutes before either of them came up for air.
"Kenshin?" Kaoru purred, running a fingertip down his chest in a rather enticing move.
"Yes?" His eyes followed her finger's downward path with interest.
"Do you think we could give page 215 a try?"
He blinked and looked up at her, the lust in his expression tempered with concern. "Are you sure, Kaoru? I don't want to do anything that you aren't ready for."
She smiled at him and pushed a few loose strands of red hair away from his face. "Oh, I'm ready for it. You have no idea how ready."
He returned her smile. "Well then, why don't we go conduct a little research?"
(1) To go "on account" means to become a pirate.
(2) Excerpts taken from 'The Heir' by Johanna Lindsey
A/N: I couldn't do it. Oh, how I tried. I really, really did try to write some smut to go with this chapter, but in the end, I got so bogged down by the, ahem, 'technical' details that the story really suffered. So, since someone once said that the brain is the most powerful sexual organ a human has, I'll leave the naughtiness up to your imagination.
Sorry for the month long absence from posting, but Lord, life has really been something lately. I got promoted at work, which is fabbo, but it also means more responsibility and less time. Couple that with school and personal things to attend to...I've just been waaay too busy running around to write. But, this story is nearly done and so is school. I'm hoping to have it all wrapped up before summer comes. Keep your fingers crossed, children!
As for the title of this chapter, ha! That was the title of a reading program I had in school. Trust a librarian to remember these things and make books a central point in an erotic exchange. I really need to get out more. Bah. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it! Comments, critiques and cookies all welcome!
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 9: Reading is FUNdamental
Kenshin scowled down at the official Navy report in his hands. Admiral Serizawa was a very, very bad man. He had known some of it; almost everyone in the Navy knew at least a little of the Admiral's rather sordid reputation, but to see all this evidence against him in black and white and to know that nothing was being done…it made Kenshin's blood boil.
His guest and author of the report, Captain Hajime Saitou, puffed lazily on a cigarette, a half filled glass of scotch dangling loosely in one hand. He was lounging in one of the leather chairs in Kenshin's personal office, watching his comrade with sharp golden eyes. "It angers you, too, I see." He observed as he lifted the glass of scotch to his lips.
"Why hasn't he been arrested? I know of men who've been executed for less." Kenshin growled, slapping the report down on his desk in anger.
Saitou shrugged. "He's very well connected. We can't lay a hand on him."
Kenshin shook his head. "That shouldn't matter…the man has broken almost every law in the book!"
"Have you always been this naïve?" Saitou asked as he stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray Kenshin's housekeeper had thoughtfully provided him with.
"Damn it, Saitou, we're supposed to fight AGAINST men like Serizawa, not put them in power." Kenshin ran a hand through his hair, clearly frustrated.
"You sound like Admiral Hijikata."
Kenshin arched an eyebrow. "Even he's frustrated and helpless?"
Saitou offered Kenshin a wolfish smile. "You mentioned earlier that Captain Kamiya's friend, Tsunan Tsukioika, was somehow getting information on the Admiral and then publishing it in his newsletters, correct?
Kenshin nodded, not quite understanding where Saitou was going with this.
"Well, let's just say that Admiral Hijikata was an avid reader of 'The People's Voice'."
This time, both of Kenshin's eyebrows shot up. "Wait…you mean…"
Saitou produced another cigarette from the depths of his uniform coat and lit it, taking several deep drags before replying to Kenshin's unfinished question. "The Admiral is not as helpless as he seems. He just prefers doing things at his own pace. Of course, now that his favorite journalist is missing, he's become rather concerned."
Kenshin felt a headache coming on. "Admiral Hijikata put him in danger. And now, he's missing, probably dead and Kaoru's…"
"So now she's 'Kaoru'?" Saitou smirked and drained the last of the scotch from his glass. "And what does she call you, I wonder?"
Kenshin's eyes narrowed. "That's none of your business."
Saitou leaned forward, his expression cool and calculating. "You, Captain Himura, aren't nearly as well connected as Admiral Serizawa. If it got out that you were consorting with a known pirate…"
"Are you threatening me?" Kenshin asked darkly.
"Just making an observation." Saitou drawled. "It's just not a very good career move, that's all."
"Well, I've been rethinking my career aspirations of late." Kenshin muttered, tapping a finger absently on Saitou's report. "I'm not so sure that I want to be part of an organization that condones such ruthlessness."
"So then, what are you planning to do? Give up your commission and go on account(1)? Pirates aren't exactly known for their love of justice, either."
Kenshin scowled. "Not everything is so black and white, Saitou."
Saitou leaned back into the chair and chuckled. "I suppose not."
The two men sat in silence for a long while until Saitou finally broke it.
"Is that report all you needed?" He asked.
"It is. I appreciate you bringing it to me on such short notice. I hope Tokio was not too put out with me dragging you away from your family." Kenshin retreated back into the safety of polite conversation, firmly tamping down on his anger.
Saitou snorted. "More than likely, she was relieved to get rid of me."
Kenshin swallowed a smile. "And how is the baby? It was a boy, was it not?"
Saitou nodded. "Tatsuo. He's almost ten months old now."
Kenshin waited for Saitou to continue, but the child's age and name was apparently all the man had to offer. So much for a boastful parent.
They exchanged a few more banal pleasantries before Saitou terminated their meeting. Kenshin escorted his guest to the front door, making useless small talk while Saitou donned his coat and gloves, offered to him by a nervous servant girl.
Saitou waited until the girl had scurried back into the bowels of the house before speaking again. "Be careful with that information, Captain. Admiral Serizawa is not a man you want to have as your enemy." He said quietly.
"I understand." Kenshin replied.
"Good." With that, Captain Saitou left, leaving a trail of cigarette smoke in his wake.
Kenshin went back to his office and began a more thorough examination of the report that Saitou had been ordered to write. He felt himself growing angrier the more he read. Was there no justice in this world? How could a man like the Admiral get away with doing what he did? How could the Navy condone it and then turn around and condemn others for lesser crimes?
The headache that had threatened him earlier finally made good on its promise; his temples throbbed with pain. He buried his face in his hands and sighed in frustration.
He was so focused on his anger and pain that he didn't hear his office door creak open, or the soft tread of footsteps on his wooden floor. But he did feel the cool hands that gently began to massage his temples in an attempt to relieve him of his headache. Startled, he jumped, his hands blindly searching the desk for a weapon, Saitou's warning about the Admiral echoing in his mind. Had Serizawa already discovered Kenshin's interest in his shady dealings and sent someone to kill him? He didn't stop to consider that it was highly unlikely that one of the Admiral's assassins would try to alleviate his headache before running him through. He grabbed the closest thing to a weapon he could find: his silver letter opener. It wasn't much, but it was sharp and applied with enough force, it could be useful. He turned and thrust it in the direction of his supposed assailant.
Kaoru leapt back a few feet, deftly avoiding the letter opener being propelled in the direction of her stomach. "Watch it you idiot!"
Kenshin dropped his weapon and gaped at her. "Kaoru? What…? I almost…"
She rolled her eyes. "As if you could have hurt me with that." She said, pointing rather disdainfully at the letter opener lying harmlessly on the floor.
"How did you get in here?" He asked, looking behind her to see if Saya or one of the others servants had come in with her.
She grinned. "Trade secret."
He blinked at her stupidly.
She sighed. "Should we start over again?"
He nodded. "Please. I'm a little confused."
"I wanted to see you, so…here I am." She offered as an explanation.
He raised an eyebrow. "And to what do I owe the honor?"
"Do I need a reason?" She asked defensively.
"Of course not, it's just that I'm a little surprised to see you." He replied hastily, hoping to soothe her.
"You never did give me a tour of your house, you know. I only saw a little bit down stairs." She said abruptly, spinning on her heel to look around his office. He watched her in silence as she went over to his bookshelf and read the titles in his collection. "My father once said that you could tell a lot about a person by what they read." She observed as she ran a finger along the spines of some of the books.
"Oh? And what can you tell about me?" Kenshin asked, sounding both curious and amused. His heart was slowly returning to its normal speed and he felt himself relaxing in her presence.
"Hmm…" She worried her lower lip thoughtfully for a moment before replying. "You like ships. And swords."
Kenshin choked on what sounded suspiciously like a laugh. "Anything else?" He asked after a moment.
Kaoru plucked a particular book from the shelf and held it up for him to see. "And you're a pervert."
"What?"
She tossed the book to him and he caught it easily. He took one look at the title and immediately turned a dark shade of red. "I can explain…"
"And here are two more!" Kaoru took another one of the books off the shelf and turned to him to shake her head in amazement. "Such tawdry bits of fiction nestled between such respectable books on philosophy and warfare." What looked like a smile tugged on the corners of her lips.
Kenshin looked rather embarrassed. Then, suddenly, his expression changed and he looked up at her accusingly. "Wait, how do you know what these are?"
It was her turn to blush. She cleared her throat. "Misao reads them. She lends them to me sometimes. But I'm a woman, you know. It's not so embarrassing that I read them. Why do you really have them, anyway?"
He muttered something under his breath that she couldn't quite hear.
"What was that?"
He sighed. "Know thy enemy. It's just common sense. Before going into battle, you should always know what you're facing."
Karou goggled at him for a long moment before bursting into gales of laughter. "You…you mean that you read these for…information?" She managed to gasp out. She collapsed into a convenient chair and continued to laugh, clutching the smutty book to her chest like a lifeline.
Kenshin looked rather wounded. "What's so wrong with that?" He asked, offended.
Her laughter having mellowed to the occasional giggling hiccup, Kaoru flipped open the book in her hand and read from a random passage:
"Storms soothed her, but apparently excited him, Mother Nature in her finest fury. Yes, there was something primitive in that, something that might incite a man's passions." Kaoru stopped and fluttered her eyelashes, dropping her voice to a low, dramatic whisper before continuing, "She wished he hadn't done it. Knowing how wonderful and exciting it was, being kissed by him, wasn't going to help her peace of mind any.(2)" She finished her dramatic monologue with a snort and tossed the book to the floor. That particular passage had hit rather close to home and she found herself slightly annoyed by it.
"I hope you weren't trying to find out information on me, Kenshin. None of those books looked like they were about wooing female pirate captains, although now I see where you got your rather…aggressive courting habits from."
"You said you liked my aggressive courting." Kenshin muttered, looking like a sullen school boy.
"Indeed. But if you expect me to swoon and fall at your feet, you're mistaken." Kaoru wagged a finger at him.
He sniffed in irritation. "There was some pretty good information in there, I'll have you know. And I didn't hear you complaining when I tried some of it."
She suddenly looked quite interested in what he was saying. "Oh? And what did you try on me?"
Kenshin rose from his chair and retrieved the book she had thrown to the floor. She straightened in her chair as he approached her, trying desperately not to look as nervous as she felt, given the rather steamy look in his eyes.
He flipped the book open and scanned a few chapters before he found something. "Here, on page 177." He held it so she could read the paragraph in question.
"Sound familiar?"
When had his voice dropped to that low, sexy growl? She wondered as she finished reading, feeling a slight blush heat up her face at both that and the story. "The dining room, the other day." She managed.
"You seemed quite pleased with that." He flipped through some more pages. "And here, on page 215, although I never got to the best part."
He once again held it out so she could read it.
"The best part?" Her face went from pink to bright red as she finished reading the section he had indicated and moved on to the next paragraph, which she had to agree really was the best part. "Oh…my."
"See?"
She ignored the smug tone and focused on the fact that the 'research material' had some rather interesting ideas. Ideas she wanted to try.
"I see your point, Kenshin." She said after a long, thoughtful moment.
He was startled out of a reply when she stood up, grabbed him roughly by his shirt and kissed him heatedly. He dropped the book and returned the favor, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into him. It was several minutes before either of them came up for air.
"Kenshin?" Kaoru purred, running a fingertip down his chest in a rather enticing move.
"Yes?" His eyes followed her finger's downward path with interest.
"Do you think we could give page 215 a try?"
He blinked and looked up at her, the lust in his expression tempered with concern. "Are you sure, Kaoru? I don't want to do anything that you aren't ready for."
She smiled at him and pushed a few loose strands of red hair away from his face. "Oh, I'm ready for it. You have no idea how ready."
He returned her smile. "Well then, why don't we go conduct a little research?"
(1) To go "on account" means to become a pirate.
(2) Excerpts taken from 'The Heir' by Johanna Lindsey
A/N: I couldn't do it. Oh, how I tried. I really, really did try to write some smut to go with this chapter, but in the end, I got so bogged down by the, ahem, 'technical' details that the story really suffered. So, since someone once said that the brain is the most powerful sexual organ a human has, I'll leave the naughtiness up to your imagination.
Sorry for the month long absence from posting, but Lord, life has really been something lately. I got promoted at work, which is fabbo, but it also means more responsibility and less time. Couple that with school and personal things to attend to...I've just been waaay too busy running around to write. But, this story is nearly done and so is school. I'm hoping to have it all wrapped up before summer comes. Keep your fingers crossed, children!
As for the title of this chapter, ha! That was the title of a reading program I had in school. Trust a librarian to remember these things and make books a central point in an erotic exchange. I really need to get out more. Bah. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it! Comments, critiques and cookies all welcome!