King of the World
By Seabreeze
Chapter Double Zero: Time and Change
A/N: Wow, you guys, I'm so happy this story has interested so many people so quickly. To be honest a few hours after I posted that prologue, I had decided I wouldn't continue it because I was sure everyone would hate it. Apparently the description got everyone's attention, which was funny because as I wrote it I was laughing at how crappy I thought it was…
I'm usually not that negative. I'm actually on vacation right now, and feeling a bit homesick, so writing fan fiction makes me feel more at home
How sad is that. I'm in a very cool place with a beach, and I'm writing fan fiction. To be fair, I have a lot of free time and writing is my passion… yep, that's a good enough excuse.
Disclaimer: See last chapter.
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Two Years Later
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It was nearing Kaoru's second birthday, and if she had entered the stage of "the terrible twos", no one could tell. Kaoru wasn't terrible.
She was a demon of destruction.
But Kenshin, at a princely seven years of age, could not have been prouder of her. Since the day of her birth nearly two years ago, he had insisted on calling her "Baby Sister Kaoru". He spent at least a couple hours a day every day playing with her and talking to her about how to be a good kid. Little Kaoru, in turn, absolutely loved the attention Kenshin lavished on her, often demanding with an authoritative cry of "KenKen!" that he come and play with her or tell her a bedtime story. She adored Kenshin, to the delight of both Akako and the Queen. Partially because she was to become his Companion, and partially because he was so affectionate of her, Kaoru herself was treated like a little princess, and not the servant she truly was.
Kaoru's second birthday, Kenshin decided, was special. And if it was special, it was his job to get her the best present ever.
So he decided to make her something.
On the day of his own birth, Kenshin had been given a soft teddy bear who had somehow come upon the name "Gubby Bear". Gubby Bear, though he was certainly not the finest thing Kenshin owned, was without a doubt his most precious possession. Since he loved Gubby Bear so much, it only made sense that he would make another Gubby for Kaoru.
When Kenshin approached the Queen with questions on how to create a Gubby Dog, she knew that they were both in for a lot of work. As determined as Kenshin was to make the stuffed dog all by himself, she knew that if she did not interfere with the project secretly, there was little chance the gift would be remotely acceptable in time for Kaoru's birthday.
So everyday, Kenshin collected bits of soft cloth, velvet, stuffing, and thread from the seamstresses and took them into the Queen's private chamber to start assembling what he figured to be the best birthday present Kaoru would ever get, and everyday the Queen would sit and watch, giving him help when he asked for it. When he would tire of working, the Queen would lock the soon-to-be Gubby dog in her private dresser, and take Kenshin to bed before coming back, unlocking the dresser, and working furiously in the night to ensure that Gubby dog was everything Kenshin wanted it to be.
Kenshin fell asleep the moment after he had sewed Gubby dog's last stitch, to the Queen's good fortune. After carefully placing her son in his massive four-poster bed and tucking him in, the Queen did what she could for Gubby dog, tied an indigo ribbon around his neck, and had her personal maid Ai bring her the finest gift box and tissue to wrap him up in. Ai, knowing her queen by heart, brought back what looked like a pale yellow hat box with royal blue flowers decorating it, and a fine tissue that matched Gubby's indigo ribbon. Satisfied, the Queen dismissed Ai thankfully and went to bed herself.
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The next morning, the Prince, dressed in his best with his shoulder-length red hair pulled back into a neat plait, set his gift before a now-two-year-old Kaoru with the air of a King bestowing an entire Kingdom upon a worthy recipient. Kaoru's blue eyes went wide as she looked up at her Prince, and she wasted no time wrenching the lid off the quaint yellow hatbox.
Gubby dog, as it turned out, truly was the best gift Kaoru had ever received in her entire life. Her delight was evident as she crushed the soft stuffed dog to her chest and regarded her Prince with eyes full of nothing but admiration and pure love before toddling over to wrap her arms around his hips (which was about as high as she could reach).
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Four Years Later
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"Kenshiiiiin, wait for me! I can't find Gubby dog!" six-year-old Kaoru cried as she frantically tore her room to pieces looking for the worn stuffed dog. Kenshin, a room over, rolled his eyes in complete disgust as he re-laced his right boot.
"Kaoru, I already told you that me 'n Sano are going riding. You're too little to come along!"
"Found him!" she cried triumphantly, and seconds later appeared by Kenshin's side with Gubby dog in hand, wide blue eyes excited and ready to go.
"Kaoru," Kenshin began in irritation, heading into the hallway without a backwards glance. "This is big-kid stuff. I've told you three times already that you're not coming!"
"I'm a big kid!" Kaoru said huffily, following after him. "I'm six!"
"And I'm eleven!" Kenshin snapped. "Go find kids your own age to play with!"
Just as Kenshin's temper snapped and Kaoru's huge blue eyes began to fill with fat tears, the Queen had turned a corner and was now crossing her arms and giving Kenshin the look.
"Kenshin," she said warningly, setting a comforting hand on little Kaoru's back. "What did I tell you about using that tone with Kaoru?" Kenshin groaned.
"Mother," he said, clearly trying to appeal to her sense of logic. "She can't follow me everywhere. Me 'n Sano –"
" – Sano and I," the Queen interrupted. Kenshin scowled.
" – Sano and I are going riding around the grounds, and it's just not safe for her to tag along!"
"I can ride Jester," piped up Kaoru, referring to the fat, lazy, spotted pony the stable hands usually reserved especially for her.
"There, see, Kenshin, problem solved," the Queen said easily.
"Mother, Jester can't move past a trot, we'll never get anywhere," Kenshin said in exasperation, and the Queen gave what was almost a scowl before pulling Kenshin into a corner just out of Kaoru's hearing range.
"You and Sano will take Kaoru on a quick walk with Jester around the garden once, and after that I will call Kaoru in so you and Sano can go as fast as you want after that. Is that a deal, young man?" she asked, daring him to disagree. Kenshin swallowed, though he was clearly still annoyed he had to allow Kaoru to hang around him if even for just a short time.
"Deal," he snapped, storming past both her and Kaoru towards the stables. "Kaoru, hurry up."
With a squeal, Kaoru jumped to obey him, waving happily at the Queen as she went. The Queen couldn't contain a smile – it was hard to believe that, even at his age, Kenshin couldn't appreciate Kaoru's dedication to him.
Kenshin and Kaoru met Sanosuke on the way down to the stables, and Kaoru was more than happy to follow her adoptive big brother and his spiky-haired friend the rest of the way. A little too patiently, Kenshin and Sanosuke helped Kaoru get Jester's tack and grooming supplies off the high shelves in the tack room, and even carried them to Jester's stall for her before heading off to ready their own mounts. Kaoru happily groomed the fat appaloosa pony, singing softly to herself as she combed his mane and (haphazardly) picked his tiny hooves. Once she had hefted the saddle onto his wide back and gotten the bridle over his ears, she locked the stall door behind her and headed to fetch Kenshin, who's job it was to check and make sure she had saddled her pony up correctly.
But just as Kaoru had started off towards Kenshin's mare's stall, she heard a voice mutter something from somewhere inside the barn, and the next thing she knew, two enormous full-grown Irish wolfhounds were bounding towards her with vicious teeth bared and golden-brown eyes glowing maliciously. Kaoru had no time to think, only her reaction to scream Kenshin's name –
"KENSHIN!"
A few stalls down, Kenshin was in the process of trying to convince his mare Princess to take her bit when he heard his name – Kaoru. Thinking something had gone terribly wrong with Jester, Kenshin burst out of Princess' stall without a second thought. The sight of the two huge dogs rushing to attack Kaoru's tiny, defenseless body sent his blood running cold, and he sprung into action just in time –
Kaoru continued to scream, and as the dogs made a final leap, she closed her eyes and held her arms before her face in protection. To her surprise, the bites never came. Tentatively she peeked out to see Kenshin literally fighting the two huge dogs off. One of them had his jaws around Kenshin's arm, which was already bleeding freely. Before Kenshin had to deal with the second dog, Sano had leapt to his defense, and together the two quickly punched and kicked the huge dogs into a yelping retreat.
As the dogs ran back, Kenshin hurried after them, and Sano and Kaoru watched silently as he yanked a crouching boy about a year older than himself from behind the hay stacks with his injured arm and throw him coldly onto the cobblestone pathway in the barn.
Kaoru gasped softly right as Sano cursed under his breath. It was Kenshin's brother's companion. Though Kenshin was a good 5 inches shorter and 30 pounds lighter than the boy, it was clear who was the dominant of the two – the Prince, furious and bleeding, glared down at the cowering older boy.
"What was that!" he demanded ferociously. "Why did you send those dogs to attack Kaoru? Whose idea was this?"
"M-mine, your Highness, it was mine!" the boy replied hastily.
"Bull!" Kenshin snapped. "You dare lie to your Prince? Tell me who's idea this was!"
The boy looked uncertain, and Kenshin drew his good arm back as if winding up to strike, and the boy winced.
"Saitoh's, Your Highness,"
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A/N: Oooooh, intrigue! So if you didn't figure it out, Saitoh is Kenshin's big brother.
This was mostly a filler chapter, to show more of Kenshin and Kaoru's background together as they grew up, but also to introduce Saitoh's character. Next chapter will begin in the present time of this story.
I can't thank my readers and reviewers enough. I've never gotten such a reaction to any of my stories before – Sweet Mistake might be close, but it didn't get quite the same response after only one chapter – and it means so, so much to me. I tried to reply to all of you, and I apologize to my "anonymous" readers because I couldn't reply to you. But believe me that I read each and every review and they were all wonderful. Thank you so much.
On a completely unrelated note, I posted the first chapter of my first ever original story on fictionpress dot net under the name "Seabreeze2", so if you're interested check it out and tell me what you think.