Chapter 9: No more Tears, Loads more Discomfort
"Ow…" Kaoru moaned as Megumi examined her two arms raised high in the air. "Ow, ow…" Megumi took tight hold of her wrists.
"Forgive me."
"WHA- OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" Kaoru screamed as Megumi pulled Kaoru's arms down.
Kaoru threw her head down and shook violently, blubbering as she rubbed her wrists.
"Honestly," Megumi said, pulling out a strange translucent cream from her medical bag and rubbing it on Kaoru's rope-burned wrists. "This is no way to teach a lesson. If anything, it'll just hurt your skill in the end."
"He can do what he wants to me…" Kaoru said gruffly, lifting her head back up. Her lip was bleeding from biting it when the pain hit her, and there were tears on her face. "I just wish I hadn't needed people's help… again… I want to do something on my own and do it right!"
"Why is that?" Megumi asked, an interested tone in her voice.
"…because…" Kaoru said, thinking about it for a moment. "I want them to be able to know that they can count on me… I don't want to be the dunce of the group. I've trained long and hard on Kamiya Kasshin-ryu… so I have to face this the same way."
"In other words… You're not wanting to do anything halfway, right?"
"RIGHT!" She said, beaming proudly as she held her fist in the air, then dropped it, moaning in pain.
"Well, you certainly are off to a good start," Megumi said sarcastically.
"Huh?" Kaoru asked, teary-eyed.
"You talk so big, but you've already screwed up on your first day here. You need to become more thorough and stop complaining. 'Ow, my arms hurt', bull. You have to fight through the pain. You have to be tough. You have to work hard. You have to ignore everyone else and everything except what your goal is. You have to act like a MAN."
Kaoru blushed in surprise of Megumi's speech.
"What do you have to say to that?" Megumi said promptly, glaring at her. "Huh?" Her glare faded to surprised concern.
"Me--- Megumi…!" Kaoru wept, holding her arm over her eyes. "I'm trying so hard…! I'm sorry I messed up! I d-didn't mean t-to… I just…"
Megumi put her arms around her and held her close. Megumi was so warm, Kaoru noticed, and her hair smelled of sakura blossoms, probably from her bath oils. "Don't cry…" Megumi said soothingly. "Boys don't cry…"
"I don't know how you do that… You can be so mean and then so nice to me…" Kaoru whimpered.
"I know how hard you're trying…." Megumi said kindly. "You're doing your best, but you have to do better than that… Don't make your best your goal… okay?"
"I promise… I'll do better than my best… I'll show them all… With these two hands… I'LL DO THE SAVING THIS TIME!"
Megumi smiled, leaning her head into Kaoru's short hair. "That's what I wanted to hear… Now… how about you get some of that strength and get back out there."
"Yeah!" Kaoru said. "I'm going!"
-
When she reappeared for the rest of the training, Shoji seemed shocked at first, as did her friends, but he shrugged and allowed her to continue.
Her hands ached, and every time she punched, tremendous pain shot through her wrists. She didn't complain though. She ate through the pain with determination, and soon learned to ignore it. For hours, she worked, and finally, she busted it to pieces.
"Yeah, you did it, Kahei!" Yahiko cheered.
Kaoru looked gleefully over at him. She was exhausted, but she couldn't have been happier. "Yeah…" She whispered, panting and rubbing her wrists.
"Brilliant work," Kenshin said, smiling at her. "Now sessha… shall fight with you."
"HUH!" She squeaked.
"Sessha promises he'll do this gently… unless you do not want sessha-"
"Bring it on!" She squealed, turning red. When he talks like that, it sounds like we're… AHH! That dream's coming back again!
"That'll have to wait, Himura," Saitou said. "My team's finished for the day."
It was indeed time for them to quit.
"Then sessha supposes we'll work on it more later then," Kenshin said. "Go clean up then."
"Actually, since it's the first night, I'll allow you all to finish early," Shoji announced.
Everyone began celebrating except for Kaoru.
"Humph…" Kaoru said. He's still not on my good side. It's only early for the other teams.
"All right! LET'S GO DRINK AND BE MERRY!" Sano exclaimed, throwing his arm around her.
"Yeah…" Kaoru said, laughing nervously. At least I didn't have to fight Kenshin. I'd have to bring out Kamiya Kasshin-ryu to even stand a chance against him, and then I'd definitely be discovered.
She figured that she looked weak, but to tell the truth she was playing it safe. Any sign that she actually knew any swordsmanship would give it away. She was always using a weapon to defend herself leaving bare fists very weak, and using them for so long after being punished really took the toll.
…but she had decided. There would be no more tears, no more whining, no more complaining. She'd take everything head on without a single protest. Nothing would get in her way of disguise now…
…or at least she thought.
-
"This…" Shoji said, extending his hands to the several pools of steaming water all gathered in a small area, "is where you will bathe."
"All right!" Sano exclaimed, removing his shirt.
"Yeah!" Yahiko cheered.
"Be back in an hour. My officers will be serving all of you sake."
The men began stripping down right in front of her. She yelped and covered her mouth.
"Is something wrong, Kahei?" Yahiko asked, stretching his long brown arms upwards. She got an eyeful of his behind, not by will of course.
"No…" She mumbled. "I just ah---"
"Are you shy?" Sano asked, putting his naked arm around her.
"Uh…"
"No need to be! We're all guys here!" Sano exclaimed.
That's what you think… She thought.
"C'mon!" Sano exclaimed. He had a sake bottle dangling in his fist. It was amazing how quickly he could get to it.
"uh-"
"Leave him alone, Sanosuke," Kenshin giggled, removing his hair band and wrapping it around his fingers.
Kaoru laughed uncomfortably. This wasn't going well, she was beginning to feel heated in the face, seeing a bunch of naked men.
-and then… it happened.
Kenshin was miraculously good at quickly removing his clothing. At the sound of his hakama dropping, she could feel her heart skip a beat. By the time he removed his underwear it had stopped completely.
Now, it wasn't as if she hadn't seen him naked before. There was that time at the hot springs when he sort of forgot and came running through the bushes, but that was different. She was younger then, and he wasn't completely visible.
Now, she was seeing him in all his glory, every scar, every muscle, every… thing…
He stretched his arms and smiled, and it was all the more clear. "You can relax," He said, turning his back and heading towards the water. She got a good look at his backside too. His hair was a lot longer than she remembered too. "We won't make fun of you."
"I------ I FORGOT MY SOAP!" She screamed, zooming off. As soon as she was out of sight range, she placed her hands over her mouth and nose to prevent the nosebleed she had just gotten. "Go away, bad thoughts, go away, bad thoughts," She chanted.
She slowed to a walk and then stopped. "What am I going to do about a bath…? I can't just go without… They'll notice really quick, I'm sure of that…"
She closed her eyes and let her other senses take over. The sound or running water wafted into her ears.
After a few minutes, she realized this was not from the hot springs and honed in on it. She shoved her way through the woods from the left and after a few minutes managed to find what she was looking for…
A large, clear-water stream upon a dirt beach stood before her.
"Perfect!" She cheered. "Maybe I'm luckier than I thought!"
She looked around for a few moments then stepped to the edge of the water, removing her clothing and bandages and placing them on one of the smooth gray rocks that sat high on the edge of the brook.
She slowly slipped in, feeling the incredibly chilly water engulf her as she stepped deeper and deeper.
"Brrrr," She whispered. "I hope I c-can get u-used to this…" She ducked her head under the water.
Maybe I'm not so lucky after all…
She swung herself back above the surface and began scrubbing her body down with soap. The water was starting to feel more comfortable.
She rubbed the soap into her hair, then used her fingers to get in into the roots. Afterwards, she dunked herself under again and rubbed her hands in it to get it out.
"Ahh…" She said happily after emerging from underneath the water, rubbing her sore shoulders. "This isn't so bad… Cold yes… quiet yes… but not bad. I can survive. Besides, there's no one here, and that's the best thing of all!" She let out a giggle of happiness.
"I've had my share of problems, but I have a feeling that I'm things are starting to look up for me, and I'll be able to pull it off after all!" She swam a bit, diving and resurfacing.
She was so happy with herself, that she didn't notice the body emerging on the old, overgrown path that led along the beach's edge.
Kaoru wiped the water off of her face with her hands and sighed in satisfaction.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" A high tenor voice asked, sounding a bit amused.
She gasped.