My Date with the Battousai's Daughter
Chapter 3- The Battousai
Her kimono torn, knuckles bleeding, and tears streaming down her face, Sakura pushed through the gate and ran inside the dojo yard. Kenshin, heading back from the well, turned to greet her.
He dropped the bucket of water and ran towards her. The girl threw herself into his arms, crying uncontrollably.
"Sakara-chan! Sakara-chan…are you okay? Who did this to you?" Kenshin asked, fighting to keep his voice calm and gentle as anger and dread battled for supremacy within him.
"Kiyosato…" It came out as a whisper.
He put a hand to her face to brush away her tears even as they formed in his own eyes. "I am sorry Sakura, for not protecting you." Kenshin pulled back and bent his head down so that his bangs covered his eyes. A silence descended on the two, broken only by Sakura's soft tears. Then Kenshin's hands clenched into fists. "I am sorry…" His voice changed then, became deeper, laced with an undeniable hint of malice. "He will never harm you again..."
Sakura raised one hand to suppress a gasp. Her father—her loving, gentle, laundry-doing father—stared back at her with eyes of amber fire, then turned and began walking towards the house.
She shuddered at the murderous intent within those eyes. "But Dad…he didn't really…I mean…it's not how it looks…"
He turned back to face her, cutting off her explanations. "I am your father. I will protect you with my life. He should never have touched you the way he did…" His voice trailed off into a growl.
"Dad?" She asked timidly, "Please…Tell me what you mean."
His face changed then, guilt and anger replaced with a chilling mask of calm decision. "He will never touch you again…"
Under that look, Sakura could not move, only watch horrified as her father walked purposefully to the dojo and returned with his old sword.
As he turned to leave she could only find the voice to ask weakly, "Where are you going?"
"To speak with Kiyosato." He replied curtly. "Please stay here."
Meanwhile, Yahiko and Kaoru sat in the kitchen, talking and drinking tea.
Yahiko suddenly spoke. "Hey busu! Where did Kenshin go? He was just supposed to be getting some water."
"Who are you calling ugly, Yahiko-chan?" Kaoru yelled back, whacking him with her bokken. "All these years and you're still a brat." She grinned at the dirty look he gave her.
Rubbing the new bump on his head, Yahiko emerged from the kitchen with Kaoru to find Sakura still rooted in the doorway, her face considerably pale and shaken. With a gasp of shock, Kaoru immediately ran forward to put her arms protectively around her daughter's shoulders.
"Oh baby… What happened?" Kaoru asked.
After a moment Sakura blinked and shook her head, seeming to snap out of a trance. "I don't quite know..." She said in a small, halting voice.
Yahiko clenched his fists in anger. "It's that guy you went out with isn't it? Did he…?"
Kaoru silenced him with a hard look. "Yahiko go get some tea, alright? We need to calm her down first." Putting an arm around Sakura's back, Kaoru guided her over to a cushion.
For once, Yahiko obeyed with no argument on his part.
Taking the cup from Yahiko, Sakura sat silent and rigid, hands clenched firmly, her face and knuckles white.
Looking worriedly at her daughter, Kaoru asked gently, "Why don't you just try to tell me from the beginning, how did your date go?"
"Well, for a while it was going great." Sakura began evenly, taking a deep breath. "He escorted me to the restaurant like a perfect gentleman and we had a nice dinner. Then, after dinner, we went for a walk. He said he wanted to see me under the full moon…"
Sakura stopped and cried again for a few seconds. "It seemed so romantic at the time… But then he started kissing me roughly and putting his hands down the back of my kimono. I told him to stop but he just laughed and told me to relax, like what he was doing was normal. When I yelled and he still wouldn't stop, I hit him in the mouth.
The girl looked down and blushed at the large tear in her kimono. "When he fell down, he grabbed at my dress."
Yahiko let out a sigh of relief, then laughed nervously. "She's definitely your daughter busu!" Examining Sakura's hand he added, "By this scrape, I'd say you probably gave him a few loose teeth. How you women can have such a mean right hook I'll never know!"
Kaoru glared Yahiko into silence. "Anyway, please continue."
"Well…I was pretty upset so I ran straight home. The first thing I saw when I got in the gate was Dad." She shuddered as she continued, "When he saw me he became really upset. I have never seen him like that before. It was terrifying—his eyes changed to this amber color and he became really cold…and…and…he didn't give me a chance to explain what happened! Mom… he looked like he was going to kill somebody!"
The realization hit Kaoru and Yahiko like a brick.
Yahiko let out a horrified gasp, "It's Battousai… Kami-sama…"
Sakura looked anxiously at her mother. "Dad wouldn't really kill him would he?"
Kaoru gave her daughter a slow, fearful nod. "Battousai could."
The man known as Hitokiri Battousai ran swiftly down the street in the direction Sakura had come, looking for Kiyosato.
"I must not to kill him…" He thought, "No matter what he did, I cannot break my vow…"
"But I want to…" The darker half of his personality growled, "After what he did to Sakura, Kiyosato deserves to be taught a lesson…"
"Kiyosato…" Kenshin thought. His thoughts immediately went to the name that was inexorably linked with this one in his mind: "…Tomoe. That was the only time the name of Battousai had ever truly protected someone…at least…for a while it did… The only reason Tomoe was able to live at the inn without fear of harassment was that the men were too afraid of the Battousai to try anything."
"Fear," Battousai added, "is the only thing such men will understand."
For once, his conscience was silent.
"For harming my child," the Battousai thought, "I am going to teach him a lesson he will never forget."
To protect his wife and kids, the keys to his happiness in this new life, Rurouni Kenshin was more than willing to give Himura the Battousai a freer rein.