King of the World
By Seabreeze
Chapter Zero: Duty and Destiny
A/N: A story idea I've had for a couple years that I've finally decided to rethink and finally commit to. I had three chapters written when I realized it wasn't going anywhere, so I quit. Now I'm starting over with a very similar beginning, but I know where I'm going with it this time. I think. So anyways, I really hope you enjoy, and as always feedback is more than appreciated – it is the reason to keep writing.
Also, this is just a tester - the trailer, so to speak. If you like it I'll post more, if not, I won't.
Disclaimer: Watsuki Nobuhiro owns these characters.
It was a stormy night when this particular story first began to unfold itself. The dangerous navy-blue sky was lit up every minute with white-hot lightning as torrents of cold rain shot from the sky. Below, the sea churned violently, and as they neared the coast the unrelenting steel-blue waves crashed mercilessly against the sharp, craggy rocks with such force that one assumed that at any moment, they would crumble into the sea.
Fortunately for the people living in the castle atop those rocks, they held fast despite the beating the waves gave them.
If it was storming outside, it was nothing compared to the chaos stirring within the old and well-fortified castle.
Maids rushed back and forth in the dark, damp hallways, occasionally sprayed through the windows from the rain and the waves, and somewhere high up in the towers a woman screamed in pain, over and over…
"Mama," the little prince whimpered, clutching the queen's skirts tightly as another high-pitched scream assaulted his eardrums from behind the door before them. "I don't want to go in," The queen hushed the child, patting his smooth red hair affectionately but remaining silent, listening intently for a specific sound behind the door.
The boy screwed up his face and buried it in his delicate mother's skirts; it was clear his mother was not going to let him get out of this, whatever it was.
The screams were not the only things making the small Prince so edgy – there was a spark to the stormy air that night, an electric charge that made him feel anything – absolutely anything – could happen. It wasn't a feeling he understood, and it was certainly not one he liked. His life was perfect as it was, save for his bullying older brother, and he would pay dearly to keep it that way.
A few more minutes of enduring the woman's screams and the unusually chilly air, and finally a voice called out.
"Your Highness," it said, sounding rough and strained and very much like the palace cook. "We're ready for you."
The queen smiled grimly and bent to take her son's hand.
"Alright," she said, squeezing the small fingers gently. "Be brave now, Kenshin."
The boy straightened his back and faced the door with a look of determination, and the Queen smiled softly. It only took those three words – " be brave, Kenshin" – to get him to do anything.
She straightened up and pushed the door open. The little Prince readied himself for some grisly sight – for the woman screaming could be doing nothing but dying a very painful, terrible death – but was surprised to see, strangely enough, a woman on a table. She was panting heavily, and when she screamed Kenshin clapped his hands over his ears, but the Queen continued to walk towards the woman's side, so he followed her.
On closer inspection, Kenshin noticed that the woman's face was red and sweaty, and her legs were wide open with her feet flat on the table surface. One of the many maids in the room pulled a chair up next to the woman and motioned for the Queen to sit.
"She's nearly there," she whispered, bowing respectfully as the Queen sat and pulled Kenshin onto her lap.
"Mama," Kenshin said, staring nervously but curiously at the woman who hadn't seemed to notice his or his mothers' presence yet. "What's going on?"
"Shhh," the Queen said automatically, intently watching the woman before them as she placed a quieting hand on her son's head. "Wait and see,"
The woman's screams increased in number and volume, and as they did the activity in the room increased as well, with the cook snapping orders at the maids around her and the maids rushing to do her bidding. Finally, the cook situated herself at the woman's feet.
"Alright, you're ready," she said. The woman bit her lip and nodded, clamping her eyes shut. The next few moments were of great confusion to the young Prince, who simply couldn't understand why everyone kept yelling push when there was clearly nothing around for anyone to push, unless you included the table, but he didn't think it was a good idea for anyone to push a table with a sweating, screaming woman on top.
"You're almost there! Keep going!" the cook said, and Kenshin couldn't help but join in the maids' excited chorus of "Push! Push! Push!", because though he still didn't understand why, he certainly felt the urgency and excitement mingling in the air.
There was a flurry of activity, and the next thing he knew, the woman's screams had stopped and were replaced with the furious cries of a baby. Kenshin turned around on his mother's lap to give her a questioning look, but she only hugged him tightly in response and urged him quietly to watch.
The woman panted still, but she was smiling broadly and tears were streaming down her face.
"Let me see him," she whispered, her voice hoarse.
"Uh – " the cook, who held the screaming child in her arms, sounded uncertain. She turned towards the woman and the Queen. "Your Highness… Mrs. Akako… I'm not entirely sure how to tell you…"
"Go on," the Queen urged, looking concerned.
"Is my baby alright!" demanded the woman, Akako, struggling to pull herself up into a sitting position. At the same time, the Queen and a maid moved to push her back into a lying position.
"Well, yes," the cook replied, still staring at the small hysterical bundle in her arms. "It's just that, well… it's a girl."
"A girl!" Akako said in disbelief as the cook handed her her new baby girl.
Everyone looked to the Queen, who had pressed a surprised hand to her lips. Kenshin looked between the three of them in confusion. So the baby was a girl?
"It's never happened before," the Queen thought aloud, stroking her son's silky red hair. "But this must be it. It's his fifth birthday… a day of storm and darkness… Akako was long ago chosen to bear a Companion… the fact that she is a girl is strange, but it seems it is meant to be." She concluded, and lifted her son to sit on the table beside the woman.
"Mama…?"
"Kenshin," she said very seriously, taking his hands in her own. "You remember when you looked at daddy's special servant Jiro and my special servant Ai, and you asked me why you didn't have one?"
"Yes," Kenshin said, sounding suspicious.
"And I told you that you weren't ready yet, but someday soon you would get one of your own. Well, Kenshin, this little girl… she is yours. She is your Companion." The Queen let her words sink in, and Kenshin turned to look at the baby lying in its mother's arms.
"Mine?" he asked, confused. "But she's supposed to be a boy. No one has a Companion that's not the same as them. She's supposed to be a boy."
"But she's not, Kenshin." The Queen said sternly. "You have a very special Companion. Because she is a girl and you are a boy, you are unique… no one has had a companion of the opposite sex in over a thousand years, Kenshin. But she's still yours. She will be your best friend, your faithful servant, and your constant playmate. She will be by your side 'til the day you die."
"But she's too little to play with," Kenshin said, sounding disappointed. This caused everyone in the room to laugh, and the Queen smoothed his hair.
"For now, yes, she is. For now, think of her as your little sister. Her life will be lived for you, but it is your job to take care of her. It is your job to protect her, take care of her, and make sure she is safe."
The Prince took all of this in, and then nodded with much authority for a tiny five-year-old.
"Ok," he agreed. The Queen smiled, knowing full well that he did not understand. He couldn't, not until he was older. But for now, it would do.
"Would you like to hold her, Your Highness?" Akako asked Prince Kenshin.
"What's her name?" he asked, purple eyes wide. Akako smiled gently down at the baby, who was slowly quieting down.
"Kaoru."
A/N: Alright, sorry if that was confusing, but it will be explained more in later chapters. If you have any questions, let me know.