Chapter 8: No Need for Help

When Kaoru opened her eyes, it was almost pitch black in the room. For a moment she forgot where she was and almost yelped out, but managed to recover herself in time. Yahiko was snoozing quietly in the futon next to hers while Sanosuke had placed his right next to Megumi's. The rooster was very protective of his fox, it seemed. With all the disgusting men there with sick ideas, who wouldn't be?

She pulled her blanket up over her nose and started to drift off again. She wasn't sure how much longer she'd have to sleep, but surely it was a few more hours.

Just before she fell back into her slumber, a loud stomping of feet on the stairway next to her ears snapped her up. Candles lit the room as Shoji and his officers marched down the stairs, and Saitou exited his room, looking stern as usual.

"All right, everybody up!" Shoji yelled. "Get up, get up!"

Kaoru rubbed her eyes and yawned as Yahiko stirred next to her.

"Don't waste time! Get up! Stand up!"

Kaoru stumbled to her feet, grabbing the sword she had been given from the side of her bed.

"Stand up tall, you imbeciles. You think those men will feel threatened if you stand like that? You will stand up tall and strong every single day or be punished! Today, you're lucky because I'm letting it slide."

"Ugh…" Kaoru moaned, slipping her sword into her belt. "I feel like I didn't sleep at all… I hate it when I'm woken up right when I'm about to fall asleep again…"

"Do not speak! Silence is what keeps you hidden. In a battle, you will not wish to give away your position unless you have a death wish."

"Get your shoes and follow me," Saitou said, walking towards the door. "Stay in a single file line until I place you somewhere, and don't be an idiot and goof off… Sagara."

"Hey! Why do you gotta single me out, Wolf!" Sano complained. "Wanna fight!"

"Let it go," Kaoru whispered, shivering. The sun had not come up yet, and the world was still chilly.

"Come on now," Saitou said, looking aggravated.

All of the men slowly half-trudged, half-marched out the door and onto the dew covered grass. They traveled down the old stone steps until they arrived at the grassy area they had been at yesterday. It had many large logs tied with ropes placed on poles all around the area.

"These are what you will test your strength against. Today, we will not be using swords, but fists. If you break yours, you will wait until another one is broken and square off against that person in a fist fight. We must know that your ability without a blade is as good as with one, in case it is thrown from you in battle, and you are forced to use your hands," Shoji said.

He sure is smart… Kaoru thought. Then again, I suppose you have to be if you're a leader like he is.

"Try not to kill anyone today," Saitou said. "I can think of plenty of you I'd like to be without-" He glanced at Sanosuke who growled, "but we need all of you here right now. The weaker ones will be picked out eventually-" He glanced at Sanosuke again, "-but for now, we'll keep it the way it is."

"Bastard," Sano muttered, cracking his knuckles.

"Begin," Shoji said, and all of the men went to their spots.

Kaoru stood, staring at hers. She took a deep breath, then let it out, and just as she was about to punch it.

BAM!

Sano's collapsed on his first punch.

Whispers of "Wow, did you see that?" and "I wouldn't want to mess with that guy!" and "That was incredible!" slipped among the men.

Sano smirked at Saitou who merely blew smoke in his face. "Don't act so confident. If I recall, I beat you in our last battle using fists alone, and it wasn't even my strong suit."

Sano's smirk changed to a scowl, and he crossed his arms, waiting angrily for a sparring partner.

Kaoru began punching hers, left hand and right hand, crying out "Ho!" every shot she made as the others did.

The sun began to rise after awhile, and more men entered the battlefield. Aoshi and Saitou began having a light sparring session with their blades, trying to avoid the men training. Kaoru ignored them.

By the time the sun was over the horizon, her body was pouring with sweat. Her clothing felt heavy and gross, and her hair was sticking to her forehead, but she didn't stop. Her determination was strong. Unfortunately, her arms weren't quite as much.

Half of the men were already sparring, and the others didn't even look tired. Yahiko had even finished second, and she was slowly starting to realize the differences in stamina that girls had to boys. The will power was there, but not the strength, and as the men dwindled to only a few left that still didn't look the least bit out of breath, she dropped to her knees, panting.

"Soldier! Get back up!" Shoji yelled, kicking her in the back.

"I… can't keep doing this…" She moaned through her gasps for air. "My arms aren't strong enough."

"Oh… They aren't?" He said irritably.

Many of the men had stopped to see the show.

"Well, now, dear Kahei," Shoji said, grabbing her wrist and lifting her to her feet. "Maybe these skinny arms need to get a work out through your punishment!"

"Punishment?" She questioned as he dragged her up the stone steps. "What am I going to have to do?"

"Just stand still," He replied, arriving at the top and pulling her to the side of the temple. There in the wall was a long steel pole set six feet above the ground. There were more poles, but he didn't even regard them. Removing a large step ladder from behind the statue from the front, he commanded her to climb up. She did.

"Hold your arms in the air," He said. On the ladder, her wrists touched the pole. Shoji climbed up next to her, and before she realized what he was doing, he had tied her wrists to the pole tightly with thick rope.

"Wh-what are you doing?" She exclaimed, horrified.

He hopped off the step ladder and pulled it out from under her feet.

A huge weight suddenly fell upon her as she dangled by her arms in the air. "Hey! What're you doing!" She repeated, trying to pull herself up above the bar to no avail.

"You can hang there for awhile until I decide that you can train with everyone else. Have a nice workout," He said marching away, looking all too pleased.

"HEY! You can't just leave me like this!" She cried, tears brimming at her eyes. What she wouldn't give to be able to move her hand to wipe that scratchy feeling away right now. "Stop! Wait! PLEASE! Come back!"

She closed her eyes and whimpered quietly. It was her first day of training and she'd already screwed up. How foolish of her. She was never going to be able to help them at this rate. Sure, she was strong against some people, but in the end, Kenshin usually had to come and save her. Now she wanted to save him… but why was she doing such a crummy job! She was trying so hard, but it seemed to not quite add up in the end.

It seemed like hours passed while she stayed suspended in the air. She knew it hadn't actually been that long since the sun had hardly moved in the sky. Truth be told, maybe an hour passed if that much.

She swayed silently, head down, eyes closed, when she heard voices of men. Raising her head slightly, she saw Kenshin's recruits headed down the stairs.

"KENSHIN!" She cried in relief, and then bit her lip. She was hoping for his help again. She couldn't help herself at all. She only prayed that he hadn't heard her slip.

He had. He came around the statue with a look of awe on his face, probably wondering where the calling had come from. When he caught sight of her, he gasped.

"What are you doing up there?" He asked, staring up at her.

"Oh, you know… just… hanging around," Kaoru replied, trying to make light of the situation.

"How long have you been hanging up there like that?"

"Not all that long… Just… an hour, or so…"

"An hour!" He exclaimed in outrage. "Why?"

"I err--- couldn't complete… the training…" She said regretfully, the smile fading from her face. "I'm being punished…"

"Sessha will get you down from there-"

"NO!" She yelled. "I…" I can't let you save me every time I'm in trouble. "I can't disobey Shoji-sama."

"This is not right though. It won't make you any stronger and will probably end up hurting you in the end."

"No… I'm learning a lot from this… like how I shouldn't complain… and how I should follow orders… Please… don't help me… I don't need your help."

"Then… why did you call sessha here?" Kenshin asked, worry in his eyes. "Sessha would have never even known you were here had you not called his name."

"I don't know…" Kaoru mumbled, though truthfully she did. "I guess… I wasn't thinking."

"Sessha must get you down from there. He can't stand to see you like that," Kenshin said.

"Then don't look," Kaoru said. "Go to your troops. They'll need your help."

Kenshin stared at her for a long time.

"HIMURA!" Shoji called. "Battousai, get down here!"

Kenshin narrowed his eyes and glared in Shoji's direction. "I'm coming," He said darkly.

Kaoru gasped almost silently.

Kenshin started to walk away.

"K--- I mean… Himura-san…"

He looked back at her.

"Please don't talk like that… You sound so angry…"

"Maybe I am," He said calmly, shutting his eyes.

"No…" Kaoru muttered. "You aren't like that… You're a good person…" She tried not to cry.

Kenshin opened his eyes, and they were innocent and kind. "Sessha is happy to hear someone say that." He smiled.

"You'd better get down there," Kaoru said, blushing.

"Yeah, Sessha better," Kenshin said. "Sessha will try to talk to Shoji-sama."

Kaoru nodded. There really was no stop to him when he wanted to help.

He was gone before she could say another word.

You are not… Battousai… anymore… Kaoru thought. Please… stay as you are… Stay as the man that I love…

She tried to pull herself up again, but only managed to do a chin up. There was no way she could get herself free on her own.

The sun slowly rose higher on the horizon while the cries of men sounded loudly into the echoing distance.

-

"Ah…" She moaned. She felt like she was about to fall off her arms. It had been hours, for real this time, since she had been placed up there, and apparently Kenshin's persuasion job had not gone too well. She was starting to regret refusing his help. "Ah… AHH… GOD! IT HURTS!" She sobbed loudly.

"So, you're ready to come down now, are you?"

She looked up to see Shoji standing confidently by the statue.

She nodded, tears pouring down her face.

"Well, then… That's too bad," Shoji said, grinning even wider. "I don't think you're ready to come down yet, so…"

"NO! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!" She screamed. "You evil son of a bitch! Get me down from here!"

He began laughing at her.

Kaoru sobbed loudly, unable to do anything else.

Shoji apparently thought it was hilarious until the butt of a sword was placed against his back. "I don't see anything humorous about this situation," Kenshin said angrily.

"Feel free to point it out," Sano joined in heatedly.

Yahiko found the step and began to untie her hands.

"Are you defying me, Battousai? I know what's best."

"Torturing a kid on his first day is not the best thing to do!" Sano yelled, cracking his knuckles. "How can you do that to someone!"

Kaoru collapsed into Yahiko's arms, making him fall off the step. He was fine though, and just held her innocently, not too closely since he thought she was a he.

Kenshin stepped back, not willing to make himself any angrier than he was and went to tend to Kaoru.

"-and Sagara," Shoji said, turning to him. He then punched Sanosuke in the face, knocking him off his feet. "You are even lower than Himura to me. Don't talk to me that way unless you want to be hung from that pole by your neck."

Sano glowered silently.

Kenshin lifted Kaoru into his arms. "I'm taking him inside," He said.

"He can take himself inside," Shoji said. "I tied up his arms, not his legs."

Kenshin glared furiously at Shoji.

"Put him down and resume your training, Himura. If it annoys you that much, Kasuhige Kahei here can go inside… alone."

Kenshin placed her on her feet. "Go straight to Megumi-san."

Kaoru trembled on her legs, unable to put her arms down by her side. She was just starting to regain feeling in her hands. She passed each man, feeling shameful that she had still once again been saved instead of saving herself. By the time she had her back to them, she had broken into tears again.

She was beginning to feel rather doubtful of her abilities to help at all.