Disclaimer: Don't own Kaoru or Kenshin…but I wouldn't have a problem with having a Sanosuke of my own!
A Lonely Dojo Mistress
Yahiko runs off
To the Akabeko,
Tae and
Tsubame awaiting him
With smiles.
We just finished a bout,
And for once,
I think something actually
Got through.
Won't know,
Though,
Till the next fight
We find ourselves in.
Kenshin,
Sanosuke,
Even Yahiko…
Are they all so much stronger?
Am I so…
Weak?
Perhaps so.
But I did fight
Alongside each of them,
And I have
Grown stronger.
I could fight a member of the Juppongatana
With only a broken bakuto,
I could face an enemy much
Stronger than I.
But…
If not for Kenshin,
I'd have died that night.
When he whisked out of the
Darkness and carried me
Away.
He saved me again
From Gohei and Kihei,
And from Jin-e…
Hitokiri, rurouni,
My friend and companion.
From him I learned
The values my father hadn't
Been able to teach, and
From him,
I reinforced my hope
Of Kamiya Kasshin-Ryu.
The shinai, the bakuto,
The sword-arts themselves.
They were both my
Father's gifts,
And my inheritance.
Slightly different? Perhaps so. I wanted to show Kaoru in a light that isn't the damsel in distress, or untouched virgin, or even a saddened mother. This is her prime, when she is both Yahiko's master and mentor, when she could fight Kenshin, and almost win.
Laters!
KD