Kaoru on Call
Chapter Five: To the Temple
-Note-
Hello, people! Sorry about the late update! But my mom has forbidden me to write any more fan fiction! But...-looks over shoulder- As long as I keep Maroon 5 pumped up on my CD player and my door locked, and if Dark-Pyro-Angel-2 don't drop dead for some strange reason, then I can secretly keep writing it! MWAHA! So please forgive the long gaps between updates!
Kaoru had been asleep for about seven hours when Aikoku's calm voice awakened her. She first fought off the interruption to her sleep, then found the persuasive voice to draw her from her futon.
"Kaoru, come. It is time for us to go to the temple." Aikoku said, shaking Kaoru's shoulder again.
Hesitantly, Kaoru rolled over and attempted looked up at the elder woman's face,.
The room was dimly lit by small lamps, and the sleep in her eyes partially disabled her vision. She blinked once, twice, and a third time before her eyes adjusted enough that she could see the face of her charge's wife. Kaoru was finally able to raise up with the sluggish moments of half sleep and looked around the room.
"What time is it?" She asked of Aikoku, who was holding something in her arms.
"Almost one thirty in the morning."
Kaoru's eyes widened, and her jaw dropped.
"W-what? Were going to the temple at this ungodly hour?"
Aikoku lifted one of two dark eyebrows that were impeccably groomed to arch across her dark eyes and etched into skin the color of newly opened magnolias.
"We must go to temple on business, Kaoru. This isn't a treat trip."
Aikoku walked over to the futon and lay the object over Kaoru's lap.
It was a miko's outfitting; white gi and red hakama. The young assistant master's fully awoken blue eyes skimmed over the clothing, then went to Aikoku. She was already clad in the clothing of a miko, her hair brushed down and gathered in a knee length ponytail.
"You're a priestess!"
Aikoku nodded, and sat down beside Kaoru. Sadness flooded up to drown her typically emotionless eyes in the pain of a childless mother.
"Eleven years ago, Kaoru, I bore a child. The child...Didn't make it through the night.
I mourned, no wait, I still mourn over my lost child. I blame it on my husband...My husband and his unquenchable lust."
Kaoru looked at the quiet woman beside her , then looked down at her hands.
"I'm sorry for your lose." She managed to murmur.
Aikoku turned to her and gave a small smile.
"Thank you, Kaoru. Now, change and we will be on our way."
Aikoku stood up and exited the room, leaving Kaoru to get dressed and gather her thoughts. The look in Aikoku's eyes at that particular moment frightened Kaoru. It wasn't a look a wife, even a wife like Aikoku, should have when speaking about her husband. She pulled the white gi closed and pulled the red hakama on, securing both of them safely closed with the hakama's sash.
She stepped out of the room, her bare feet touching the alien like furry stuff covering the floor. She still hadn't gotten used to the material Yamanote had introduced to her as carpet, and she didn't think she was either.
Kaoru found her way down the steps, her path dimly lit by small lamps and candelabras. Immediately, the Japanese atmosphere she had been raised in changed to the newly introduced Western style most residents of Japan were eagerly accepting. She exited the house and saw Aikoku standing in the long gravel driveway waiting for her with the same maid she had seen giving Aikoku the tea utensils just hours earlier.
"Kaoru, I want you to meet Kasumi; my dear friend and retainer."
Kaoru took in the woman's face, old and creased with age. A fierce but gentle fire burned within the depths of her time wizened eyes, showing her unspoken protectiveness over Aikoku.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Kasumi." Kaoru bent at the waist in a respectful bow, and slowly raised back up.
The thin black material of the old lady's yukata rustled over the gravel as she moved towards Kaoru and stared into her eyes, sending an uncomfortable chill up the assistant
Kamiya Kasshin master's spine.
"Lady Kaoru Kamiya? I knew your mother and father well before the Bakumatsu claimed them."
"But, Kasumi, my mother died in child birth."
"You were born on the battle field, dear child. Your mother was the daughter of one of the Tokugawa samurai, and then she met your father. Of course then, love between the Imperialists and Samurai were forbidden, so they loved one another in secret. You were conceived and I was the one who delivered you during one of the most violent battles of the war in a grove of undisturbed sakura trees."
Kaoru's jaw hung open as the woman revealed that she knew more about her than she knew about herself.
"That is why you are what you are. The blood of the Samurai coursing through your veins and the vibes of battle gave you your fighting spirit. The gentleness of the sakura petals you were born on gave you the delicate beauty and feminism enclosed in your features."
Aikoku smiled at the shocked expression on the young woman's face and stepped into the carriage that had arrived without Kaoru ever noticing.
"Come along now, Kaoru. We mustn't make the monks wait any longer."
The temple was very lovely, more so than Kaoru had imagined when Aikoku was describing it to her. Kasumi stepped out of the carriage first and assisted her lady down,
Kaoru followed quickly behind. Aikoku turned to her with a blank expression.
"Turn around Kaoru, and let me properly fix your hair."
"Um...Ok..."
The tall woman gently turned Kaoru around by the shoulders and pulled the indigo ribbon from her hair, sending a black cascade down her back. Taking a white strip of cloth from her pocket, Aikoku pulled the younger woman's hair back into a low ponytail at the nape of her neck and secured it tightly.
Kaoru felt around and took in the odd feeling of the new hairstyle.
"So this is the way of the miko..." Kaoru murmured, looking down at the red and white attire.
The three women approached the entrance to the temple where several monks bowed in deep respect, and touched their foreheads to the floor. Two more pulled open the large doors, and they stepped inside. Aikoku held up a hand, motioning for Kaoru and Kasumi to stop short several steps behind her as she swiftly moved foreword and stood in front of the large statue of Buddha.
"Kaoru, I think it is time that you found out something."
Kaoru looked at Aikoku, then at Kasumi who didn't dare meet her gaze. Kaoru turned her blue eyes back on Aikoku, who was retrieving a long sheath from within her clothing. The sheath soon revealed a hilt, and Aikoku held the katana out in front of her.
"Miss Kaoru, this was the sword that my son was going to wield someday. He was going to be able to nobly uphold his Samurai ancestry! But now, because of his sorry excuse for a father, he will never have a chance at life."
Kaoru tried to approach Aikoku, but the woman removed the katana from it's sheath, the sharp blade reflecting the light of the temple lamps. She brought it over her head, then threw it at Kaoru's feet.
"My husband will not live to see me dead, Kaoru. He will die long before I, and you will dispose of him for me!"
END!- Sorry for the cliffy and the long update! But remember; my mom has no clue I'm doing this!