Chapter 4: the mistress

Kenshin squinted into the darkness, and heard the heavy iron door being locked behind him.

"Thank you for honoring me with your presence," a silky voice said. Suddenly a match flared to life, and kissed the wick of a candle. Yumi brought the match to her wet-looking lips, and delicately blew it out. The soft glow of the candle revealed that she was completely naked except for her socks. She was reclined luxuriously across some sort of chaise, her long legs drawn up and crossed at the knees. She was smiling sleekly.

Kenshin's eyes narrowed. "What's going on?" he demanded. He caught the scent of her perfume. It smelled more like spice than flowers, and it was intoxicating.

"No time for pleasant talk, my lord?" Yumi asked coyly, the daintiest of pouts on her lips.

"No." Kenshin tightened his grip on his sakabatou. "I was told that someone would die if I didn't show up here alone tonight de gozaru. Well, here I am. Where is your hostage? Who is it? I demand that you set them free de gozaru!"

Yumi chuckled softly behind one of her elegant hands. "You're so passionate! I can see why Shishio-sama is so fascinated with you. The 'hostage' is actually me, Yumi. You see, I am under orders to kill myself if you don't cooperate tonight. And while I wouldn't hesitate to take my own life, I'm…looking forward to the challenge of making you play along."

"Play along?" Kenshin repeated, suspicious.

"Yes. You're so naïve; it's adorable. Most men would have figured it out by now but you're still clueless. I want you. Come here." She beckoned to him gracefully.

"But you don't even know me!"

"You're 'legendary', remember? I've been lusting after you since the first moment I heard about you. And now Shishio-sama wants me to seduce you."

"But… WHY?" Kenshin said, aghast. His shoulders slumped forward. He had barely begun to come to terms with last week's incident with Hiko, and now Shishio's woman was going to kill herself if he didn't allow himself to be seduced… what was going on?

"Shishio-sama trusts my talents," she said. "He wants me to sleep with you to find out what kind of man his senpai really is. You may think of it as espionage if you wish."

"How can you learn anything of importance to Shishio by sleeping with me?" Kenshin demanded. Then a horrible thought struck him. "Unless… Shishio wants to sleep with me too?"

Yumi smiled. "I'm amazed that you guessed, my lord. Shishio-sama underestimated you. He said you wouldn't recognize his true feelings towards you in a hundred years."

"Shishio Makoto's 'true feelings', huh?" Kenshin muttered.

"Yes. He's practically infatuated with you."

"Doitsumo koitsumo," Kenshin muttered.

"Anyway, I'm eager to see what pleases the man that Shishio-sama holds in such high esteem. And he mentioned that if I like you, perhaps there could be a threesome..."

"ACK!" Kenshin staggered backwards. "WHAT! This is insane de gozaru! I'm not going to sleep with you and I'm NOT going to let Shishio rape me and I'm not going to participate in a 'threesome'-"

"Then this is the end. Farewell," Yumi said, and held up a dagger. Before Kenshin could say anything, she slit her wrist. She held her graceful arm out over the floor. The blood began to flow quickly. Eyes wide, Kenshin practically leapt forward. He grabbed the knife away from her and flung it into the darkness behind him. Then he pulled back one of his sleeves and tore a wide strip from the white lining. He knelt beside the chaise and took Yumi's wrist, bandaging it as she studied his face demurely. Such cruel scars- what a pity to ruin such a beautiful face.

"You're so kind," Yumi said, covering the bandage with her other hand. "Have you decided to cooperate?"

"I've decided that I don't want you to die," Kenshin said darkly, looking away. "But I also don't want to sleep with you."

Yumi laughed. "You're the first man who's ever said anything like that to me," she said. "How charming! But really I ought to be insulted- you don't know how much of an honor this is for you- I bet that all the money you ever touched in your life wouldn't add up to enough to buy a night with Yumi, before Shishio-sama found me."

"You may be right about that," Kenshin admitted.

"But this is so unprofessional of me," Yumi said, her tone changing. "Honor me by accepting my apology, my lord." She bowed her head, her eyelashes fluttering. "My sincerest wish is to please you, and yet, of the two things you 'don't want', I must give you one. So which will it be? Will you accept my seduction, or my death?"

Kenshin felt a tiny flare of anger. How could anyone be so foolish, to throw their life away over this? "There's no way I can convince you stay alive if I don't sleep with you?" he asked.

"Of course there is… not," Yumi said flatly.

"In that case," Kenshin said solemnly, "I apologize, Yumi-dono. I regret this, de gozaru yo." He looked at her with sad violet eyes, his mouth a thin, determined line. He would think of this as saving Yumi's life, and therefore he would accomplish the task willingly enough.

He held her gently, asking her to please stop whenever she started to try something exciting, and although she wasn't sure why, Yumi realized that she actually liked the former Battousai. She felt a warmth growing in her heart, and realized it was a fond respect for the polite little Inshin-shishi. Something about his integrity, his very nature… something about him was irresistible.

X

"There now," Yumi said breathlessly, happy to see sweat glistening on his shoulder in the candlelight. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Kenshin really wasn't sure how he kept ending up in these situations and he wasn't sure how he felt about his own reactions to each of them- especially just now with Yumi. "So you're done with me? I can leave now and you won't kill yourself?" he asked.

"Yes," Yumi said, sitting up and stretching her arms over her head. "I've completed my mission. Thank you for your cooperation."

Kenshin felt guilty even though he knew he'd just saved her life. "What will you report to Shishio?" he asked, not sure if he really wanted to hear the answer.

Yumi laughed. "First, that you're far too kind and gentle, and that obviously your legendary title of 'strongest' wasn't given to you by any of the whores in Kyoto. You're no match for Shishio-sama, and I'm sure he'd be bored with you if he ever, ah, pursued his fantasies. But, to be honest, I'll also have to tell him that I'd love the chance to seduce you again."

Her smile cut him like a knife. She didn't care at all that he didn't love her. His feelings didn't matter to anyone. Feeling more ashamed and dehumanized than usual, he put his clothes back on and snuck back to the Aioiya.