Kaoru on Call
Chapter Five: Decisions, Decisions
How are you all? Fine, I hope."
Kaoru's pen moved across the paper with nervous skitters. She only had twelve days to get the money to save Yahiko, and no one had bothered to attack Yamanote...Not even his wife.
Kenshin's letter went on about that everything so far was quiet and she was doing alright. He already had enough on his mind then to be worried about her caught in-between spousal wars.
Clenching her eyes shut to prevent tears from dropping to the paper, the day's activities came swarming back to her...
Aikoku stood before her, her eyes filled with flaming rage as she went on about her husband's evils, her son's death, and the possession that Westerner's had cast over Japan.
"I came from a noble Samurai family by the name of Nijoymo. Then after the war, my father, Okihayo, tried his best to keep my mother and my six other sisters fed and happy.
However, since I was the youngest, my mother sold all of my dearest possessions, despite my father's protests. My other elder but simple minded sisters drowned in luxury while I was sold off into marriage at the age of sixteen."
She turned to face the great statue of Buddha as tears flooded her next words."I gave birth at seventeen, and my child never made it. I would have named him after my wonderful father, Nijoymo Okihayo. But he'll never have a chance!" Her voice raised and she slammed her fist against the wooden miniature shrine.
Kaoru by this point had already sank to her knees in utter confusion. The husband wanted wife dead on any attempt to take his life, the wife wanted the husband dead no matter what. She was supposed to be protecting one person, working for one person. Protecting that one person from a would-be assassin, not his wife!
But his wife now wanted him dead. And she was caught in the middle with no escape.
"I will try to be home with the money as soon as I can. "
"I will save Yahiko...I promise,
Kaoru"
She sealed the envelope and lay it on the small desk in Aikoku's room for delivery.
Aikoku was sleeping on her futon peacefully, but the day's events showed in the way she had turned on her side to sleep instead of her back. Kaoru slid down in the sheets of her own bed, and had just started to get comfortable when she heard the sound of shattering glass.
Her eyes widened, her body stilled as a wave of cool air slowly crept over her from under the door. Kaoru looked over at Aikoku and decided that she would be safe for the time being. Her father's katana was protruding from the bag beside her suggestively, and
Kaoru was more than willing to accept its offer of being chosen to defend her and the residents of the house if needed.
The sword finally made its way between the red sash and the red hakama of the priestess she had yet to remove. Kaoru moved with ease across the wooden floor and carefully slid back the shoji screen.
Down the hall, moonlight shown brightly on shards of glass scattered across the floor.
Kaoru took a deep breath and slid down the hall, her bare feet finding their way safely over the threatening shards. The trellis leading up to the balcony had its climbing roses torn off and coming off in certain areas, and a black strip of cloth was dangling by a thorn.
"So there's where you went..." Kaoru murmured to herself, and began to carefully crawl through the window without being cut by the glass.
Thorns tore at the cloth of her white gi and pierced the material. Tiny rivulets of blood appeared on her arms, staining the gi crimson. The trellis ended at a grand balcony where the French doors stood open invitingly into the darkness within.
Kaoru hauled her small frame over the elaborately engraved railing with an ease that seemed practiced. She took a deep breath and entered the room, oblivious to what lay within.
She had taken no more than three steps when the doors slammed shut behind her and deprived her of the little light she had from the moon's radiance.
The tiles underneath Kaoru's bare feet were ice cold despite the warm evening of mid summer weather. She took another step forward, but found that tile warm. Curious, Kaoru knelt down and felt it and the tile she had been on a second ago. There was definitely a difference in the temperature, and Kaoru stepped forward. The tile was also warm, as were the next three.
The fourth tile turned cold again, and the dark haired girl stepped back. The left and right tiles were also cold, but the one diagonally above the left one was warm.
"What's going on here?" Kaoru murmured to the silent darkness as she took another left diagonal, two rights, stepped up one, and a single right diagonal.
The warm tiled path ended at the corner in the western end of the room.
She ran her hands up and down the wall, searching for a small crack that might open to be a door, a draft...But nothing came.
After a moment of searching, her patience had finally reached its limit.
"Argh!" Kaoru yelled in frustration, and kicked the wall as hard as her legs would allow.
She turned to leave, angry about losing her quarry, when the scent of cinnamon and honeysuckle washed over her senses.
The wall was sliding back, cleverly disguised from Kaoru's searching eyes while she hunted for a way past the warm tiles. Following her natural curiosity and pursuit, she entered the warm, and a wave of heat crashed into her, making it almost unbearable to continue.
Ignoring the heat, she made her way down the spiraling steps that led her deeper and deeper underneath the house. Perspiration was rolling freely from her cheeks and forehead, causing the raven hair to glisten brightly from the torches lighting the way and adding to the heat.
Kaoru finally reached the bottom, but not before losing three gallons of sweat. The staircase had opened up to a large room that held various katanas, armor of all colors, ferociously designed helmets, and cages were all over the room. A moving black figure caught Kaoru's eye, making her shift her blue gaze to the left. What she saw then made her almost faint.
There walking was a person dressed in black and silver armor... And carrying an unconscious Yahiko over their shoulder.
END- So...What you think? Hope you like!
WhiteRabbit5: You may use the idea for Kaoru's parents!