A/N- Yeah, I find it pretty amusing that Battousai thinks Kaoru is a boy. But then again, it is because he is watching her from a distance and she is wearing men's clothing and was carrying a sword. Quite unladylike of course. That's our Kaoru.
Disclaimer: RK is not mine, obviously.
Faceless Friends and Fears
Chapter 3
Battousai watched the young samurai with great amusement. Even at that distance, he could tell the boy had been unnerved by his gift, by the reality that he was no longer alone on the forbidden mountain. A whole day passed without him so much as poking his head out of the cabin, but by the second day he had to venture out to gather more snow for water and more wood. He did not carry his sword and Battousai guessed from the way he continued to favor his right shoulder that he could not have so much as lifted it. The boy's first attempt at hunting must have aggravated a deep wound.
Learning from that, the boy samurai kept the short sword ready and within easy access of his left hand. He glanced around nervously and struggled to finish his necessary tasks as quickly as possible, which wasn't by much. He tended to limp and the exhaustion of his obvious injury and whatever hidden ones he suffered had taken a notable toll. The boy was in serious trouble on his own and too determined to accept the obvious end that awaited him.
For this, Battousai admired him. This one is a fighter.
When the boy once again disappeared inside the cabin, the red-haired swordsman left his hiding place and circled down the hillside and around the meadow. He would cross through on the boy's own footprints, leaving his hidden. It was quite within his abilities to complete the task without so much as a whisper of a sound, but it was necessary to make just enough noise so that the boy would know he had been there.
It was a quail this time, unlucky enough to find itself caught in one of Battousai's many snares set upon the mountain. He never failed to eat well during the winters there and found some gratification in sharing his plenty with the injured boy. He didn't want him to die.
No doubt the younger samurai was formulating his own ideas about the one who had left a rabbit on his doorstep, perhaps wondering if the unknown benefactor might be an enemy in disguise. Battousai would leave him to such imaginings because he had no wish to come face to face with the boy either.
He didn't want any to know who or where he was, and had enjoyed such anonymity for a long time. No reason to destroy it now just because of his desire to help someone in need.
Dropping the quail in much the same place as he had left the rabbit two days before, Battousai turned swiftly on his heel, careful to tap his sheath against the door before he vanished in a flash of color.
Kaoru stared frozen at the door she had entered just scarcely minutes before. There was no mistaking the sound. Would it be the same as before, another animal left as a gift? Or might this time prove to be the ambush she expected? Whoever it was could not have missed her out in the open as she gathered snow and wood. They had been watching her and waiting for the moment when she entered inside before coming into the meadow. But she had seen no one! And she had looked hard!
She tried to busy herself with some other task and forget about the unnerving truth, but truth could not be shaken. Gripping her short sword firmly she marched up to the door and took a deep breath before lifting the security bar and cracking it open. The meadow was empty as always and on the step was a second offering, a quail.
Kaoru opened the door wide and stepped out, narrowing her eyes as she scanned every tree, every shadow, every bit of vegetation within her view for any sign of her benefactor. There weren't even footprints beyond her own. She hesitantly picked up the quail and cast a quick glance around the meadow before returning to the safety of the cabin, dropping the bar back in place.
Maybe Oni is fattening me up to eat me, she decided later as she stared into the quail stew bubbling over the fire. In that case, he has a long way to go. The thought made her chuckle despite the unnerving situation she was now in. In any case, she had found herself in someone's favor and whoever her neighbor was, she felt the exchange should be fair. But she had nothing to offer.
What could I give him, or it, in exchange? She allowed her gaze to drift thoughtfully around the cabin. If this is Oni's cabin and he has decided to let me stay, then that means he had to find himself shelter elsewhere. I wonder… Her gaze fell to her bedding and a smile spread across her face. One can never have too many blankets when sleeping outside.
So when Oni returned the next day with another rabbit, he found a blanket folded neatly in the same spot he always left his kills. His friendship had been accepted by the timid young samurai.
There were no more gifts that Kaoru could offer her unknown friend, but that did not stop the continuous supply of fresh meat. It did wonders for her emaciated body and soon the wound in her arm stopped seeping. She tried to spend a little more time outside, no matter how nerve racking it was since she could never shake the feeling that she was being watched and she knew for a certainty that she was. Her woodpile was beginning to thin down, so she would venture out to the edge of the trees and collect what twigs and logs she could find and haul with the use of only one arm.
She imagined she presented a comical figure to whoever watched, but she was grateful for the activity. Her rise in activity was dully noted and larger quantities of meat began to show as if her friend knew her appetite was growing with her returning strength. It still bothered her that she had nothing to give him in return, but she suspected this mattered little to him as the offerings did not cease.
The door stayed barred. After all, she knew nothing more about this person than the meat he offered. In her mind she called him Oni because the whole situation both amused and frightened her. The short sword was never far from her hand and she was always tense and watchful when outside, but even still never caught a glimpse of her neighbor.
As the days passed with this same routine, Kaoru decided there was something comforting about having a neighbor on the forbidden mountain, even if that neighbor might be the malevolent Oni himself who found amusement in providing for the only person desperate enough to trespass on his realm.
There was no shortage to the rabbits, quails and the occasional pheasant that appeared on her doorstep. The day before the storm struck, she was given a deer.
As usual, she never approached the door immediately after the obvious tap on her door sounded. She didn't want to see the face of her neighbor anymore then he wanted to be seen. Never had she expected something so large and she wondered where he had found it since she had seen no sign of deer in the area.
Kneeling beside the animal, she realized it must have been carried some distance to be found on her doorstep. It had already been bled. The other animals had no doubt been captured in a snare trap, but the small deer had one clean slice across its neck, telling of a quick and relatively painless death.
She stared uncertainly at the wound on the animal, wondering over the hand that had inflicted such a powerful and flawless blow.
Claws sharper than man-made steel, Oni can slice through a man's bones as if through silk.
She shivered, no longer comforted by the knowledge that it was still just a story. Myth was only the truth a few years later, was it not? It was a struggle dragging it inside with the use of only one arm. As her injured shoulder began to heal and she felt more tempted to use it she had fashioned a sling to remind her not to. That left her with the lean and pull technique to drag the carcass inside to be cleaned.
It awarded her a great deal of meat, enough for three days. I wonder why he gave me so much? Time went quickly as she cooked some of the meat and smoked and dried the rest. At some point she realized the wind had picked up and within another hour the mountain was once again shrouded in storm.
He must have known, she reflected as she paused in her work. That meant she would not be seeing…well hearing her friend for several days. As the wind howled maliciously and the cabin creaked, Kaoru stoked her fire until it flamed brilliantly.
"I hope he is someplace safe," she told the fire and it snapped in reply. On nights like this, when the wind was full of such sound and fury, Kaoru felt her solitude sharply. She wondered if anyone missed her, or if her name had been forgotten among the villages.
It seemed as if years had passed when it had only been weeks since her village was attacked and burned… since she had been captured. She didn't permit herself to remember the night, but cut off from even her mysterious friend, the memories found her.
Kaoru leaped to her feet and spun around quickly as she felt fingers run through her hair, but she was alone in the cabin, alone with the shadows. Invisible hands gripped her, grasped at her clothes, touched her where no man should and she cried out in terror.
"Leave me alone!" she shrieked as she grasped the short sword and swiped it through the empty air. Amid the fervor of the storm she heard the laughter and it drove her mad. His face formed before her and she threw the sword with wicked accuracy, but it passed through the phantom and splintered into the wall.
Suddenly unarmed, she dove for the katana and drew it free as she rolled.
"Look! The girl wants to play!"
"Stay away from me!" she cried. He merely laughed and she leaped in terrified rage. The sword split the air and the phantom leaped away. No sooner did she touch ground and she whipped around, her sword sliding in a swift sideswipe. The metal resonated viciously as it struck wood and Kaoru felt the hilt tear from her grip, fire searing through her shoulder.
Kaoru clutched her wound and dropped to her knees, helpless against her enemy, helpless against the vengeance he would bring. She crawled into the corner and rocked incessantly.
"Please, don't hurt me," she whispered.
The cries of the dying roared in her ears drowning out his laughter and she knew there would be no mercy. She was covered in blood, the blood of the children who believed in her ability to protect them, but she had failed. She wanted to join them, but that was not to be her fate. The enemy was not going to let her die so easily.
I cannot die. I cannot die. I must live and warn the others. If the others know, they can fight. They can stop them. Her fingers curled beneath her and in her mind she remembered the touch of metal. He grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and she clenched her teeth against the pain.
His breath was hot and rancid. "I want you to scream for me," he breathed into her ear.
Her eyes flamed and she granted his wish. All her strength was thrown in the blow, but he leaped back at the last possible moment when he saw the glint of metal in her hand, the dagger scraping across his cheek. Seeing her blunder, Kaoru shifted her stance and backhanded him with the hilt.
Freedom had been won, but at what cost? She was the sole survivor of the village and for the sake of life, she pressed on until she was nearly dead to reach the next village and to warn them of the renegade band of swordsmen hot on her trail. Three days later, they attacked and Kaoru fled into the mountains to trust her fate to Oni rather than the man with the scar on his left cheek.
But for the scar she may never recognize him should he come hunting her. It had been dark that night and she knew nothing of his eyes or hair or face. How many men in Japan had a scar on their left cheek? For this she would know her enemy.
"You're not real," she whispered to the wavering phantom. "You can't hurt me."
The wind howled, the snow fell, and Kaoru rocked in the corner of her cabin staring down the memories no longer held at bay. I am safe on this mountain, she told herself. They will not come into this mountain. They can't… they won't…
Hot tears streamed down her face and she curled up into a ball in her corner.
By the third day when the wind died down, her fever broke. It wasn't until the delirium passed that she realized she had been sick at all. Was it fear or stress that brought it on, she didn't know. She felt weaker for its passing but throughout the whole terrible experience, was never short on food. Oni's deer was the only thread to reality she had as she battled her past in the confines of the cabin.
It was a miracle that her wound did not become infected since it had reopened again. The cabin had not fared well either. There were multiple gashes in the walls and she felt guilty that she had inflicted such damage on the building.
For the length and fury of the storm, it had not snowed as much as she expected. Kaoru took a deep gratified breath as she stepped out into the fresh clean world. She had wrapped a blanket around herself, wary of the lingering warmth that could easily break into another nightmare tainted fever. Her gaze drifted across the meadow and she stiffened as she spotted movement.
Someone is there, she realized and watched the spot intently, wondering if it might be her mysterious neighbor. She did not see it again, but there was no doubt in her mind she had seen motion. Above all else, the unknown terrified her and she returned inside to consider how she might repair the gashes she had left in the walls rather than dwell on what she had seen. She told herself it was just an animal stretching its legs after the storm. Perhaps it might even be Oni, checking up on her. After all, who else would be on his mountain in the dead of a winter storm?
To my reviewers:
Sakuya Kaleido- yes, she has become that skinny but also Battousai is watching her from a distance, so he can't see the features of her face. Since she is wearing men's clothes, his to be exact, carrying a sword and has her hair up just like him, it is easy for him to presume her to be a boy. Besides, what kind of woman in her right mind would be all alone up in the forbidden mountain?
Mizz-Clumsy- This takes places ten years after the Bakumatsu, basically the same time when Kenshin and Kaoru meet in the anime so they are the same ages as in the anime/manga. But of course Kaoru does not live in Tokyo but a more isolated area below the forbidden mountain. Kenshin has his sakabatou (reverse-blade sword), but the two swords Kaoru found are the ones he used as Battousai. In this fic, Kenshin is mostly rurouni but he is both aware and accepting of his Battousai persona and until he interacts with Kaoru, I will refer to him as Battousai to demonstrate his distance from humanity. That's why he built the cabin in the first place, as an isolated sanctuary from others.