Disclaimer: I don't own anything, excusing the story, which is entirely mine, because I made it! Muhahaha! Just kidding
It was another day for Kenshin, filled with attending to his small plot when whispers around him circled in the air, making the atmosphere heavy and dark. Farmers softly whispered to one another as they worked, ignoring him as he stared questioningly at them. Finally, a farmer next to Kenshin finally began to talk loud enough so that he caught on to what they were saying… "Princess Karou is having a ball a week hence from today." murmured a farmer to another and they droned on as Kenshin tuned out the rest. What did he care? The poorest farmer of the lowliest peasants get to go to a ball to try to win a princess's heart?
It was the next words they said that made him stop dead in his tracks, " - making everyone go in the land, including us…" Kenshin mechanically returned to weeding his rice plot, stunned. A sort of rumbling sound was heard, and soon a large wagon came into sight from the fields, stopping in front of the huts that the farmer's lived in. Everyone paused, for wagons meant trouble - most likely, they were bandits who had come to steal some rice or a women or two.
Kenshin's hand automatically touched the hilt of his hidden sabeto suspended at his hip, and stared speechlessly as a tall, wolfish looking man emerged and began to bark orders. "All of you - get into the wagon now!" and began to shove the nearest farmers into the wagon unceremoniously. One of the farmer's wives ran after her husband, a child on her hip when she was blocked and shoved down. Kenshin found himself being lifted from the waist and being thrown into the cart only to land on the hard floor of the wagon. Soon, all of the farmers had been rounded up, leaving only those who were disfigured or too old for Princess Karou. They left behind belongings, wives, and forlorn looking children watching them tearfully leave. The doors slammed shut, and the wagon gave a lurch and they set off for the unknown, being locked up like cattle with no food and water. With some luck, all of them would return - if they could survive the journey there and back…
Back at the castle….
Megumi had indeed found her mistress at the sakura gardens, just staring into a pond, Cat-like, Megumi crept quietly to where Karou sat, and said, "Remember the legend about this pond?" Karou shrieked, then turned around to find her personal servant laughing behind her hand, enjoying the sight of Karou's face. She stopped it quickly, and then came to rest beside Karou on the small bench near it. Karou, in a commanding voice told Megumi, "Tell me the legend again, please…" and began to look into the water. She smiled, and then began to tell the tale in a quiet voice. "Many, many years ago, there was a beautiful maiden that longed for a husband. She wandered the lands, searching and searching until she came upon this pond.
They say when she looked at her reflection in it, a man stricken with love at first sight snuck up behind her and startled her, causing her to fall into the pond. Her spirit melted with the pond's, and the man came back evening after evening to talk to the young maiden, even though she lived within the pond it self. She begged the man to find another, but he refused and eventually she fell in love with the man. The water nymphs that guarded the pond took pity upon the poor lovers, and added the man's spirit to the ponds, just as the maiden's had so many, many moons ago. Now they say that if you look upon the surface on a clear evening, you can see the two lovers, and hear the whisperings of them as they share a quiet night together.
That is how the pond became known as the "Mirror of the Lover's pond". Megumi finished telling her tale, only to find that Karou was soundly sleeping, having nodded off during the tale. Megumi smiled fondly, then gently ruffled Karou's hair, remembering all the times that she told it to Karou when she was younger. She sat up, and then glanced around the gardens to see if someone could help her lift the princess, a task that she could not accomplish alone. Then she remembered what had taken place earlier - that handsome young man bumping into her… Maybe he could help her? She shrugged off her overcoat and draped it over the Princess, making sure that she would not roll over and land in the pond, and Megumi set off, headed towards the place where she had last seen the young man.
She strode over the kitchens and found the strange man peeling potatoes, under the tyrant head cook. Megumi put on her sternest face, marched in there and calmly confronted the head cook. "I need to borrow him - now, if you don't mind…" barked out Megumi, using her iciest glare to stare down the tyrant. She quivered, then bowed and made shooing motions to Sanosuke. Megumi was feared around the castle - no one dared to refuse her anything. Sanosuke calmly followed her out of the kitchen, and when they were out of sight, Megumi burst out laughing, much to the surprise of Sanosuke. Sanosuke stared confused, slightly discomforted with this strange women - what did she want with him anyway? Megumi blushed a bit, then asked "Sorry about that earlier - otherwise the tyrant there wouldn't let you out of her sight, but could you help me carry Princess Karou? I'm not strong enough to carry her by myself…" Sanosuke nodded slightly, then said, "Yes ma'am" and stared downwards. Megumi felt sorry for him, for she once had to do the same - before she became Miss Karou's servant. As they walked to the gardens, Megumi found that an awkward silence had grown between them. The quickly reached Karou, and as Sanosuke picked her up gently, Megumi thought to herself 'I wonder if those strong arms would ever hold me as tight… Bad Megumi! Bad Megumi!' Megumi mentally scolded herself as she led him to where Karou's own quarters lay. Other servants whispered and stared as they went by, but Megumi tried her best to ignore them.
Finally, they reached where Karou's bedroom was, and Megumi watched as Sanosuke carefully set her down and tucked her into bed. As they were walking out of her room, Megumi quietly shut the double doors and turned to walk back, but suddenly tripped - and landed right in Sanosuke's arms. The sudden addition of weight was enough to cause Sanosuke to tip over, Megumi on top of him with their lips almost to the point of touching… Megumi's eyes rolled up in her head, and she fainted, still lying in Sanosuke's arms. Using an arm, Sanosuke dragged himself and Megumi over to wall so he could prop himself up. Great - he was stuck with a fainted women in his lap and in a corridor that was almost unused, thanks to Princess Karou's orders.
He gently arranged her so that her head was lying on his shoulder, and the rest of her body was in his lap, and took a better look at her. She was very pretty - beautiful in fact. Delicate features, a rosebud mouth that was begging for him to kiss it… 'Dammit Sano! You don't have a chance in the world with her…' Sanosuke took a peek down the corridor, and seeing as no one was coming, he leaned down and buried his face in her hair.. 'Smells like roses… I was right..' Sanosuke this leaned back up and sat there, waiting for either one of the women to wake up, or someone to walk down this lonely way, with him just sitting there….