Chapter two.
"So Ms Kaoru, how is our guest?" Kenshin was in his usual place in the morning, washing the laundry and smiling his warm smile. The two children were at the surgery with Ms Megumi and the doctor, and everyone else was here. As usual. With a twist…
"Oh, well…I'm not to sure Kenshin." While Kenshin was dressed the same as he always was, maroon and white, Kaoru wore her light blue Kimono with a dark blue Obi tied around her waist in a bow at the back. Her long black hair was tied up high in a dark blue hair ribbon, and she tucked her legs to one side. She sat on the wooden edge of the Dojo before the floor, and looked to Kenshin sadly. "She hasn't said much. She didn't seem to mind sharing a room with me, slept all night…no matter how odd she slept."
"How odd she slept?" Kenshin raised a brow. "What do you mean Ms Kaoru?"
"I mean, well, she didn't lay down." Kaoru closed her eyes, her brow creased in thought as she couldn't grasp the reason for Shishi's behaviour. "I gave her a sleeping robe and made a bed for her, but after she got changed she took the blanket and sat up with her back against the wall. She held her sword with her and slept and everything. Odd…I can't imagine that being very comfortable."
"Samurais and assassins train themselves to sleep like that so no one can sneak up on them while they are asleep. I used to sleep like that all the time during the revolution, that I did. But if Shishi sleeps like that…" Kenshin frowned worriedly.
"Then Saito must sleep like that too. You said over dinner last night that Shishi seems to really love her father, and she did say yesterday that she modelled her life and her self around him."
"You are probably right Ms Kaoru." He nodded, happy with that conclusion, and returned to the laundry. "I was a little worried when she didn't come to dinner."
"I did make the offer but she said she wasn't hungry. Poor dear." Kaoru looked over to where her room was and sighed. "She just seems so upset. But cold, in a way. Like she is frozen."
"She idolises her father, that she does. And it appears as if the devotion goes only one way. If a strong current flows one way with no counter forces, even the strongest damn can be broken, that it can."
"And her dam has definitely broken." She sighed, and looked towards Kenshin again. "This is very awkward. We were meant to go to the Aoiya to see the Oniwabanshu today. But now that we have Ms Shishi with us…"
"That is not a problem." Kaoru jumped as none other than Shishi herself walked down the rough wood outer dojo flooring over to her. "I will be accompanying you. I could do with a change of scenery."
"But you just got here." Kenshin sweatdropped.
"And I am ready to leave. Besides." She folded her arms, letting Kenshin decide she was being the red blooded woman, not the child, and looked seriously to Kaoru. "The Aoiya is in Kyoto, am I correct?"
"Yes."
"Then you will need me to accompany you, as the streets of Kyoto have been rather violent lately. Many disturbances."
"Really?" Kenshin stood up, drying his hands on a towel and all finished.
"Yes, crime has escalated over the last few months, and I couldn't allow you to leave without police protection. Especially when having the Battōsai as your escort."
"Kenshin wouldn't let anything happen to me." Kaoru stood up and dusted off her Kimono. "He knows what he is doing, I trust him." Shishi looked over her shoulder to see Kenshin blush ever so slightly, before shaking it off.
"Why would I be putting her in danger Ms Shishi?" he approached them.
"Because you will be recognised and targeted. It seems, that a lot of old revolution bad blood has been stirring up. The next generation raised by bitter warriors from the revolution have been taking up the sword and taking to the streets. Three dead bodies have been turned up in the alleys alone in the last two weeks."
"That is bad. But wouldn't Ms Misao mention something like that?"
"Not if the government were covering it up." Shishi leaned with her shoulder against the Dojo wall. "So you see, if you must travel to Kyoto, I suggest that not only do you have myself with you, as the sight of an officer deters most trouble makers who are simple looking for a fight, and to travel in large numbers."
"Well, Yahiko, Sano and Ms Megumi were planning to come with us. And then we will be staying at the Aoiya with all the Oniwabanshu, so we will be in a large group. And I would love for you to come too, Ms Shishi." Kaoru smiled and nodded her head once with enthusiasm. "It will be nice having some female company, who isn't an absolute vain, pain in the backside." She scowled in memory. Damn Ms Megumi, flirting constantly with my Kenshin.
"Achoo!" Ms Megumi sneezed and looked out of her clinic window.
"Are we still planning to leave today then, Ms Kaoru?" Kenshin stepped up onto the dojo wooden flooring, and smiled to them both.
"Sure, why not?" she said happily. Everything had just started to get much better ever since they came back. After the feng schwa (sp?) masters incident, it took a while, but they were all finally getting back to normal.
Or the closest to it Kaoru was ever going to get.
"Then I will inform Sano and Yahiko or our plans, that I will."
"Thank you Kenshin." Kaoru nodded, and he smiled back.
"It is no problem to me Ms Kaoru. I will be ready momentarily."
"That's fine." For a moment they just looked at each other, saying nothing.
Shishi drew the obvious conclusion, and smirked. Well, why not? I have nothing better to do now. She took out her flip over note pad from her trouser pocket, and her little pencil. She licked the tip and flipped the blue cover off. Ms Kaoru, Kenshin. She then scribbled minor details she already knew about them in her own character bios, and looked up when they were still smiling at each other.
"Are you going to stand like that all day? We have places to go after all." they both snapped out of it, obviously embarrassed and hurried on after a quick apology to each other.
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"I better go this way."
"Bye."
"Bye." They said quickly, and Shishi looked up from her note pad when Ms Kaoru was looking at her.
"So…are there any items you wish to pick up before we leave?"
"I suppose a change of uniform would be a necessity. And toiletries."
"Well, where do you live and we can walk by it if you like." Kaoru brushed her hands down the front of her dark blue Obi. "I just need to pack my things. We will be going for a week, bare that in mind with what you collect. Oh, sorry, where do you live?"
"I live in Kyoto. But I was staying in the Hinba Inn."
"Isn't that near the police headquarters?" they started to walk further into the Dojo and into Kaoru's room.
"It is. Hopefully the Chief Goro will have left by now. He usually leaves at the crack of dawn." She said more to herself than Kaoru.
"Well, we can walk right by there if-"
"No. I am perfectly capable of retrieving my belongings and accompanying you at the bridge leaving Tokyo."
"But what if you miss us?"
"Trust me." She slipped her note pad back into her pocket. "I will find you." Kaoru shivered. That sounded so creepy. Like she would hunt them down and they had no way of escaping. Is she really that good? But then again, this was Saito's daughter.
"There is a large tree after a bridge on the outskirts. We will wait for you there."
"It is more likely that I will await for your arrival first." Kaoru gulped again, and stopped as Shishi walked on, as if she had been walking alone the entire time and didn't even say good bye.
She just left.
"Poor girl. She really is like her father."
"Not really."
"Oh Kenshin!" Kaoru jumped. "You stupid Baka! You should know better than to snoop around and make a lady jump like that!" she punched him over the head and a bump appeared. His eyes swirled and he swayed on his feet.
"Oh I'm sorry Ms Kaoru." He slurred.
"So you should be." She then looked out of the corner of her eye whilst pouting, and saw him rub his head. "I didn't hurt you did I?"
"You are very strong Ms Kaoru." He chuckled, and the bump vanished.
"Kenshin, what did you mean that Shishi isn't really like Saito?"
"Well, Saito does what he does for himself. He never does anything for anyone else, unless it benefits him or his way of life. Aku Soku Zan." Kenshin held his hands together inside of his large maroon sleeves before him. "But Ms Shishi however, has dedicated her entire life solely for another person. For her father. This in her mind was her opportunity to make him proud of her and show him she was worth teaching. If it wasn't for the revolution, I would have wanted to prove my skills to my Master, that I would. When I look at Ms Shishi, I see two people, that I do. A woman, and girl." Kaoru looked to the direction where she could still see the fleeting back of Ms Shishi in the distance, going down a street. "I see a cold, red blooded woman, moulded to be exactly like her father. And at the same time, I see a young girl, who is desperate for her father's attention. These two people inside of Ms Shishi are eternally conflicting for dominance, but they also work in harmony. Because they both want the same thing."
"Their father's approval."
"That they do. But when he refused to trial her, to let her show her worth to him…"
"It shattered their world, their dreams. All Shishi has ever wanted was her father." Kaoru nodded with understanding, frowning all the while. It explained why no matter how hard Kaoru tried to talk to her last night, she said nothing.
"And now she thinks she will never have him." Kenshin sighed and stepped closer to Kaoru. "The young girl has retreated in pain from the rejection, and the cold woman is left as the exterior, to handle the brunt of the pain."
"We can't just let her suffer like that Kenshin." Kaoru said desperately. "We have to do something."
"What like Ms Kaoru?" he smiled softly. You are so kind, to everyone you meet. No matter their pasts. He smiled to himself. You have always been that way.
"We need to cheer her up!" she banged her fist in her hand, and nodded decisively. "At the Aoiya, we need to make her feel like there is more to life than her father. I know! Misao and myself could take her shopping with all the other girls, and make her feel like she can be feminine and gentle. And we can all spend time with her and make her smile and laugh. If she forgets about Saito, she might realise there is much more to live for than for that old coot!"
"Now Ms Kaoru, that isn't very nice." He chuckled, but she didn't take it back. He didn't expect her to.
"I need to plan this out. I'm sure Misao would offer to help, don't you think Kenshin?"
"I'm sure she would." He smiled warmly at her. So kind, so pure. Even after all this time.
"And you will help too, won't you Kenshin?" he blinked at that, and pointed to himself.
"Me? What could I do Ms Kaoru?"
"Well." She folded her arms and smiled happily. "You can help me make her laugh and smile! You're a funny guy when you want to be. And you are always making me smile!" she beamed, and then blushed when she realised what she just said. "I mean, and everyone else." She looked away. Stupid, stupid, stupid! She scolded herself. Kenshin was about to ask her what she meant, when she saved herself. "Well, we can't just stand around all day now can we? I have to pack and plan our 'this is life' project for Shishi." She shuffled off quickly, leaving Kenshin smiling softly to himself.
I make her smile? Suddenly feeling like he could take anyone on, he turned and went to see how Sano and Yahiko were doing. They were arguing about Yahiko's age again last time he left them…
A slim figure flashed like a fleeting shadow from one roof, to the next.
Shishi Hajime leapt at the end of her run high into the air, and landed silently on the roof of the police headquarters. For the headquarters of the Meiji police force, it is pretty unguarded from attack. She assessed, professional at all times.
She ran the entire length of the building from the roof (remember, the roofs back then were all flat in design), and slinked down into a back alleyway. It wasn't long before she was at her destination, and looking from a side road out of sight, at the entrance of the Hinba Inn. There was the crest of a Mare on the front, and no officers in sight.
Shishi nodded, happy the coast was clear, and waited for an opening.
She found it.
A large hay wagon was being pulled by two large horses, and it was coming towards the Inn from her right. Shishi pressed her back up against the building behind her, and waited. When she could see the very back of the wagon, she jumped forward, grabbed onto the holding bar at the back and crouched down on her feet on the edge of the wooden wagon floor. She was over hanging over the road, and waited for it to get closer to the Inn. When it did, Shishi sprang with her legs and rolled into the side road right next to the Inn. She walked round to the back, dusting herself off like she had taken a normal stroll to get here, and fixed her hat in place.
One back door and a few hall ways later and she was looking at the door to the room she shared with her father. If you were anyone else, I wouldn't be sneaking around like this father. She sighed, her blank face breaking out into a frown, and her trembling hand reached for the door. She slid it open slowly, but not very far, and peered round to scan the room for any sign of her father.
There was none.
Shishi relaxed and let out a long sigh of gratitude, slipping her white gloved fingers around the door side and was about to open it fully…
When…
"Shishi, sneaking around are we?" she stiffened instantly. Shit! He wasn't supposed to catch me. "I wouldn't award you on your success, but at least I am honoured that you tried." He said calmly, in his usual bored manor. "Come in, the door is open." He opened it further and stepped forward, letting Shishi know he was stood right behind her when his chest bumped into her back. "Well? What are you waiting for?" Shishi released her iron grip on the door and walked inside slowly.
It was painful being here, in a room with him.
Even after a night to sleep on it, she couldn't handle being in his presence.
It was like he was a completely different man to her, not her father at all. It was so uncomfortable for her to be in his presence.
Is this how everyone else feels around him? "I am glad you returned." Her eyes snapped over to him, hope flickering in her chest and her eyes growing softer. "I really didn't want to have to come after you on our way to Kyoto. It would have thrown me off schedule. And you know how I dislike any change in my plans." Shishi frowned. Any change in his plans. That is what I am. I bet I have always been a change in his plans. I wonder if he ever 'planned' to have me or not. "But you always have been unpredictable, reliably so." It was as if he had heard her thoughts. Tears prickled at her eyes, and she closed them to hide her emotions from him. When she opened her eyes, her wide-eyed amber eyes were narrow and cold.
"Indeed I am Chief." She said calmly. Saito looked over his shoulder, but shrugged it off when he saw she was packing her things.
"We will be departing shortly to a secure location. I have business in Kyoto to attend to and your mother will collect you from the drop site."
Drop site. You always did just drop me as soon as possible for my mother to deal with. Bastard. She wrung her spare set of gloves in her hands to vex, before quickly putting them with her other belongings in her satchel. "How much did you give that Kamiya girl?"
"I don't remember." She fixed her hat in place, so it covered her eyes from him perfectly.
"Well you should. You can't be forgetful when it comes to money. You will be robbed blind if you are loose with your change."
"Kaoru is a respectable woman." She answered bluntly. "I believe she is trustworthy not to rob me. And she isn't stupid enough to rob a police officer."
"In training."
"So you remind me." She spat coldly.
"Was that a disrespectful tone I heard?" He looked up from his papers. Damn things. I never needed written passes before I got promoted.
"Of course not Chief. That would be insubordination, sir." She saluted him, and turned to the door.
"Shishi." He said warningly before she could get to the door, stopping her in her tracks. "I was under the impression you had come to your senses and returned to reality. But I am starting to think that you have otherwise immature motives to returning here."
"I am going to Kyoto." Saito didn't say anything to that. He knew she was going to Kyoto, he just told her that. Well, she has returned then. Probably a bit bitter still. He sighed. I will have to talk to her about that in the carriage… he nodded to her, allowing her to leave. All last night he had been pacing his room, thinking what he was going to say to her. First of all he was going to shout at her and threaten a choice punishment at her, of course. Then he would demand she follow him somewhere private so he didn't have to see that damn knowing smile on the Battōsai's face, and then explain his reasoning.
That had been the hardest part to think of. He just got it right when he saw Shishi walk up to their room, and he was ecstatic! Not only did this mean he no longer had to go and pick her up, not only did this mean his daughter ad returned to him, but it meant he didn't have to go through the embarrassment of explaining himself to someone.
So he simply looked down, trying to figure out which of the papers he was given this morning was the one he needed to travel with.
That bastard. Immature? That bastard. Thinking I had come back grovelling to him. Arsehole. No wonder everyone hates him. Conceited arse! Shishi fumed to herself, storming through the streets and towards the bridge on the edge of town.
But before she got there, she sent a pigeon message to Kyoto headquarters to expect her arrival, bought a horse, and galloped off to the tree.
And as she had expected, she was the first one there. They looked like a slow group. I thought as much. She decided to forcedly push her fury to the back of her mind for now. It wouldn't do to allow anyone to see her anger. The Battōsai and his 'followers' may be slower than her, but they wouldn't be that slow.
Not with Himura at the lead.
Shishi just had enough time to fix her bulging satchel to the rump of her horse, brush her sleeves off and fix her hat in place again when she heard the merry group in the flesh.
"-I am not a kid!"
"Stop aggravating Yahiko, Sano. You're giving me a headache." Kaoru rubbed her temples, sighing.
It seemed the police Inspector had sent them a courtesy carriage to Kyoto. It was a decent size, for two or three people. But they counted as Kenshin, Sanosuke, Ms Megumi (Grrr), Yahiko, Tsubame, Tae, Tsubame and herself.
That made SEVEN people!
So the four girls were cramped inside the carriage, Kenshin and Sano driving, and Yahiko balancing on the roof.
And with the constant bumps in the road, only being pulled by one large horse…
It was migraine season.
"-look Kenshin, Yahiko's doing that mime dance from the west."
"AM NOT!"
"SHUT UP!" Kaoru yelled, leaning out of the door window. "Before I MAKE you dance!" Kenshin sweat dropped, and decided to slow down. Maybe that would help Yahiko to stop wobbling and Kaoru to stop getting upset…
"Interesting way to travel. I almost thought you were a travelling circus, with a bright red head and a rooster driving, a runt dancing on the roof, a fox and a racoon inside, with two restaurant workers." Shishi smirked, especially at Sano.
"Why you little-"
"And what about me is little?" Her lips curved into an evil smirk. Sano couldn't help but look over Kenshin, gaze over her busty chest, her voluptuous figure, her seductive amber eyes…
"…mmshfhfh." He mumbled, coherent words not on the menu at the moment.
"I didn't think so." She chuckled darkly, before pulling her horse alongside the carriage. For some reason, Ms Megumi was biting her sleeve furiously, only to drop it and try to regain her posture upon realising Shishi was looking at her. "Megumi?"
"Yes?" her smile was false, she knew that.
"Thought so." She then looked to Kaoru, her long ebony hair cascading in the wind slightly behind her as they picked up the pace. "I am glad you decided to take my advice and travel in numbers, Ms Kaoru."
"Well, I like to be safe." She chuckled.
"But no comfortable." She looked them all over. "You, what is your name?" I know all about the other woman, Tae her name is, the owner of the Akebeka establishment. But the young girl… she had dark brown eyes, which sparkled with innocence, and short dark brown hair. Very girly in appearance.
She shyly smoothed out her orange Kimono, and yellow Obi.
"M, my name is Tsubame Sanjo, Ms Officer." Shishi looked at the self-conscious little girl, and said nothing.
Did I act like that when I was little?
"Why are you here?" before her eyes the young girl changed. Her hair became darker, ebony, swept back in a practical bun, and her eyes amber. But keen. The male voice she heard was all too distinguishable, ruff and for some reason, invigorated.
"To train with you father and become strong enough to kill all evil!" the strange girl she now saw had her head held high, eyes older than they should be, gleaming with the thirst for…
"And what is your legacy? Your way of life?" a pair of strong hands gripped her shoulders, and then placed something long, smooth into her hands until they were weighed down to the floor with a clink.
"Aku Soku San! AAAAA!" the child ran forward, never to be a child again.
No…I was not.
"Get out here." Tsubame gasped, looking to the older woman she had come with for help.
"Do as the officer says Tsubame." She said in her almost western accent, seemingly just as nervous as the young girl.
Slowly, Tsubame shuffled to the other side of the carriage, and looked up.
Before she knew it, she was whisked out of the carriage, and found herself mounted sideways over the front of the saddle. Her little hands clasping desperately to the dark navy uniform of her captor.
Shishi.
"You will not move, you will not talk, you will hold onto my waist, and you will call me Shishi. HA!" she kicked the back of the horse, speeding ahead of the carriage. "And hold on tight!" Tsubame yelped with fright, but did everything she was told. Kenshin also cracked the whips harder, and they sped off to Kyoto, where she saw the sun blazing with the heat of a thousand promises.
And a thousand regrets.