Deep Within the Heart
By: Dark-Wolf 91
Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or any of the characters from RK.
Prologue :
"No! Give me back my baby! Please give her back to me . . . I'm begging you. ," Sakura cried, trying to take her child away from the hands of her former best-friend. Kara.
"She's my child now. She's the child of my husband, and therefore she belongs to me," Kara stared down at her best-friend with hate.
"Kara . . . Why are you doing this? To me of all people! I was your friend! Why are you doing this to me? . . . please Kara . . . give her back to me. If you truly have a heart . . . please. ,"
Sakura kneeled down her friend and begged for her baby back.
"Heart? I don't have a heart Sakura, not any more . . . you and Kiroshi took that from me a long time ago. How could you talk of being my best-friend?! You were seeing my husband even though you knew I was married to him!"
"It's not like that! Kiroshi and I were together before you two wee married! He only married you because you claimed you were carrying his child when you clearly were not! His parents didn't approve of our love because I was some poor woman! Kara . . . you were the one that took him from me. He doesn't love you!"
Kara slapped Sakura and spit on her. "How dare you?" She kneeled down beside Sakura and attacked her. "HOW DARE YOU?!"
The baby wailed, apparently startled by all the commotion. Sakura pushed Kara off of her and started toward her child. "I'm coming baby . . . mommy's here . . . " But before Sakura could reach her child, Kara pulled her back and started strangling her.
"Mine! She's mine!!" Kara pounced on Sakura, hitting her with full force. At the last moment, she grabbed a rock the size of her fist and brought it down to Sakura's head.
Sakura fell down with a thud. Kara smiled to herself and lifted the baby up from the ground. "Kaoru . . . I'm gonna name you Kaoru . . " she took one last glance at Sakura before motioning her sister-in-law to burn the house down.
Chapter 1- Fateful Night
Eighteen year old Kaoru Kamiya laughed as songs of 'Happy Birthday' filled her surroundings. When the singing was over, she blew out the candles on her humongous cake and joined in with the laughter of everyone.
Kaoru smiled and searched for her father. She saw him a moment later, talking to her uncle. Kaoru ran up to him and hugged him. "Dad . . . thank you so much! This day has been really wonderful!"
Kiroshi Kamiya smiled and embraced his daughter. "For you . . . Kaoru . . . only the best" Kiroshi glanced around at the orchestra who were playing a soothing yet lively melody in the background. "Can I ask the debutante to dance with her father?" Kiroshi smiled, noticing how beautiful his daughter had become. Sometimes it had puzzled him. She looked nothing like his departed wife. He can see resemblances to him, like her eyes for example, but there was nothing similar between her and her mother. He smiled again, realizing what a fine woman his daughter would grow up to be.
Kaoru was wearing a white ball gown and on her neck was her mother's necklace. Her long raven tresses was tied up in a bun, and her ocean blue eyes shined with happiness. Kaoru nodded and stepped into the dance-floor with her father. They danced together laughing.
"Daddy . . . this was the best birthday ever. My debut. I'm glad you were here to share this with me . . . I only wish okaa-san were here too" Kaoru's eyes saddened as she remembered her departed mother. She had loved her very much. She was lovely and at the same time giving and loving. Unfortunately, she had died When Kaoru was thirteen.
"She would have been proud of you Kaoru. Like I am now . . ." Kiroshi took his daughter's hand and kissed it. "Kara and I loved you very much."
Kaoru smiled, tears brimming around the edges of her eyes. "Arigato otou-san"
"Well . . . why don't you go talk to your friends? Or find Sanosuke?"
A pair of strong arms encircled Kaoru's waist. The man smiled and kissed Kaoru. "You look great Jou-chan"
"Thanks Sano"
Kiroshi couldn't help but smile as he saw Kaoru and Sano together. They had been the best of friends, and just a month ago, Sanosuke had asked Kiroshi for his daughter's hand in marriage. Kiroshi had approved. Sanosuke was a nice man. He knew that he would take care of his daughter. Kaoru didn't know that she was to wed Sano though. But Kiroshi did not worry. H knew Kaoru would accept Sano.
Kiroshi Kamiya was a very wealthy man. He owned three of the largest companies in all of Japan. Sanosuke's father was one of his business partners. So was the husband of his sister, Yumi. Kaoru was to be the heir of everything he had. Besides Sano taking care of his daughter, he would also take care of Kiroshi's business once he was married to Kaoru.
"So . . . Sano . . . have you told Kaoru about the big news yet?" Kiroshi asked.
Kaoru stared at Sano and her father in curiosity. "What news?" she asked.
Sano scratched his head and grinned. "My parents agreed."
"Agreed to what?" Kaoru asked.
"Us." Sano said simply. "Marrying each other."
Kaoru was dumbfounded. She looked at her father with a questioning look.
"I've already said yes Kaoru. You and Sano are to be wedded."
"Isn't that great Kaoru? We finally get to spend our lives together." Sano gave his bride-to-be a tight embrace.
"Yeah . . . great . ." No one saw the sadness that filled Kaoru's eyes. She wasn't ready to marry yet. Even though Sano was so great, she just didn't love him. She knew she had no choice. She wanted her father happy. And if marrying Sano would make him happy, then she would gladly do it.
Outside the Kamiya mansion, A man wearing black was waiting for hi clients' signal. His name was Enishi. He blew out a puff of cigarette smoke and waited for her. He smiled silently. He couldn't wait to finish this job. Yumi had paid him a total of seven hundred thousand dollars just to get rid of her niece.
Enishi glanced around, looking for any sign of his boss. There. He saw it. Yumi was walking out of the mansion. She smiled at him and nodded her head. Then, she went back in.
Enishi smirked and ordered his men to go to their positions. Now . . . they only needed Yumi to bring out th girl.
Yumi came out a second later with Kaoru. Enishi was very impressed with Yumi's acting. He was also very surprised to see that the girl was very beautiful. One of his men fired a bullet in the air. 'Wait for the scream . . .'
Yumi screamed as she heard the bang. Kaoru looked around in bewilderment. Enishi and his men grabbed her and made their getaway.
"Let me go!" Kaoru yelled. "Let me . .- -. ."
Enishi at that moment had covered her mouth with a napkin that had been sprayed with a substance that can put people to sleep. Kaoru fell limply into Enishi's arms.
Enishi smiled and carried Kaoru into his van. "Let's go"
Yumi yelled dramatically as she saw his brother coming out of the mansion. She pretended to be scared and cried. "Kiroshi . . ." She knew her plan would work this time. And without her niece, all her brother's money would go to her.
"Yumi . . ." Kiroshi and Sano came running towards her.
"Kiroshi . . . Kaoru . . ." Yumi pretended to sob.
"What? Yumi, where is Kaoru?!" Kiroshi yelled, shaking Yumi's shoulders. "What happened?!"
"T-the man . . . he had a gun . . . I couldn't do anything! They swore they would kill me! They took her . . .s-she's been kidnapped!"
"Which way did they go?" Sano asked worriedly.
"I-I don't know!"
Sano cursed and ran to his car, driving away in a matter of seconds.
"Come back with her safely Sano . . . please" Kiroshi watched as Sano's car grew smaller in the distance.
Kenshin Himura and his "brother", Yahiko were walking home, pushing a wooden cart filled with vegetables, fruits, fishes, and all kinds of stuff from the market.
"I told you, we should have gone shopping earlier!" Yahiko growled "Why did we have to go after sunset? Man . . . I'm so hungry right now . . . Did you know I haven't eaten anything since dawn this morning? And I stink! All those grime from those slimy fish! We didn't even have a decent catch!"
Kenshin laughed. "Yahiko . . . you know we had to sell the fish right? Okaa-san is low on money right now . . . we need to help her as best as we can." the young man talking was about 19 years old. He had red hair, purple eyes and an X-shaped scar on his left cheek.
"Yeah. I guess you're right. Mama Sakura had always been there for us. You know . . . I'm still curious. How come she took us off the streets even though she didn't have a lot of money?"
"Well . . . she's just a nice person. I still remember it when I first saw her. It was raining. I had nothing to eat . . . then she took me to her home and adopted me."
"What happened to your parents anyway?"
"They . . . died. My uncle took care of me. On the way to the market one day, I wandered too far and got lost. That was the last time I saw my uncle."
"Well . . . it was a good thing . . .- - . . ."
A car sped past them, almost hitting their cart.
"OY!" Yahiko yelled. "Who the heck were those?"
"I don't know. It seemed like they were in a lot of hurry though."
"Kenshin."
"Yes?"
"I think they're headed over to the docks."
"So?"
"So . . . let's go over there and see what's happening. Besides, I wanna yell at them fo almost running us over."
"Oro"
"Well? What the hell are you oroing there for? Come on! Let's go!"
The two headed over to the docks and saw a man with white hair and green glasses coming out of the van along with a girl. The girl looked unconscious however. One of the other men, grabbed an empty barrel and placed the girl inside.
"What in the hells are they doing?"
The man closed the lid and with the white-haired man, they threw the barrel containing the girl into the ocean.
"Mission accomplished." The white-haired man laughed. The group went back into the van and drove off.
Kenshin glanced at Yahiko. "Stay here,"he ordered
"Wait! Kenshin where are you - -?"
Before Yahiko could finish his question, Kenshin jumped into the water and tried to save the girl. If she was still alive that is.
Kenshin searched for the barrel underwater, he finally found it and tried to open the lid. He succeeded a little later and pulled the girl out. They swam to the surface and into the shore.
Kenshin helped the girl out of the water when they reached the shore. The girl coughed and collapsed on the ground, trying to catch her breath.
"Miss? Are you alright?" Kenshin asked, studying the girl. Even though she was soaking wet, he couldn't help but notice how pretty she was. She had blue eyes and raven black hair which shone under the moon.
Kaoru nodded shakily. "Hai . . .I'm alright" she shivered against the cold air.
"Here . . . I . . ." Kenshin looked around for some kind of clothing that would keep the girl warm.
"KENSHIN! KENSHIN!" Yahiko came running to the shore, calling out Kenshin's name. "What the heck were you- -? Holy . . ." Yahiko had apparently noticed Kaoru. He blinked, studying her up and down. He blushed, noticing how pretty she was. "Hey . . . I know you! You're that Kamiya girl!" Yahiko's eyes shone brightly. "I've seen you in the newspaper!"
Kenshin nudged Yahiko's ribcage. "Gomen miss . . . please forgive my brother."
"It's okay," Kaoru told them. "By the way, um . . . thanks for saving me"
Kenshin smiled and offered to help her up. Kaoru gladly accepted his hand and stood up with his assistance.
Kaoru took a closer look at her hero and felt the heat rising to her face. He was rather good-looking, she mused. Then she noticed a cut over his eyebrow. "You have a cut . . ."
"Oh, it's nothing"
Kaoru smiled and held out her hand. "I'm . . . uh . . . Kaoru Kamiya"
"Kenshin Himura" Kenshin smiled said gently shook her hand. "Oh, and this is my brother yahiko Myojin," Kenshin told her, pointing to Yahiko.
"Thanks again for saving me."
"Kaoru!"
Kaoru turned around to see Sano running towards her. She heaved a sigh of relief as she saw him.
Sano reached her and embraced her. "Kami . . . yokatta . . . I'm so glad you're alright." Sano let go of her and noticed Kenshin and Yahiko. "Who are you?"
"They saved me Sano," Kaoru told him, smiling gratefully at the two.
"Really? Thank you," Sano said, shaking both Kenshin and Yahiko's hands. "Come on Kaoru, let's get you home." Sano put his arm around Kaoru and started leading her to his car.
Kaoru turned around an said, "Thank you again, Mr. Himura. As thanks, I'd like you to come to my house tomorrow. I'm sure my father would be really pleased to see you."
Sano nodded his head. "Thank you again." He scribbled Kaoru's address on a piece of paper and handed it to Kenshin. "We really hope you would come."
With that, Sano and Kaoru left, leaving Kenshin and Yahiko staring after them.
End
A/N: I hope you liked this chapter! You all know my rules right? I want at least four reviews before I update. Arigato!