The woman was silent, kneeling in front of him. She sat perfectly erect, knees folded, sitting on her heels. Her hands were deceptively calm in her lap, her robe lay around her without a crease, her odd, wide sash stiff and the heavy bow behind her seemed to be helping her posture. Her midnight black hair lay down her back and eyes looked respectfully at the floor, but he could tell from the set of her jaw that the look in her eye would be anything but meek. In front of her, just out of her reach, was a sheathed sword. Centimus Himurus flicked his eyes towards the odd-looking man standing just off center and then turned to the soldier who had brought who had brought them both into the room.
"What is this?" He questioned the soldier.
"A gift from Asia, sir."
"You brought me a slave? Why is she here in my audience and not with the overseer?"
"It was believed that since she is exotic, you may want her as a personal slave, sir." His eyes slid over her figure, her posture. Proud. This was not a peasant girl, abducted from the fields. A political prisoner? He stepped over the sword on the floor and crouched down, tipping her face up to him. He was surprised by her blue eyes and the steel they held. No emotion crossed her face. He smiled at her. She remained impassive. The soldier was right. She was exotic. He stood and stepped back, giving this woman her space. He picked up the sword.
"What's this?" He saw her eyes flicker to the weapon as he unsheathed it. The beautiful blade caught the lamplight. It was unlike any sword he had seen. Blade on one side, instead of two. The sword was slightly curved, with the single blade on the concave side, which seemed counter intuitive. Functional hilt and well used scabbard.
"She brought that with her, we took it, of course, but thought it was a nice artifact you might like for your collection." Then, the woman spoke. Clear, soft, but resolute. Centimus snapped his attention to the odd-looking man. Perhaps a translator?
"What does she say?" The man hesitated before replying. At least he was a translator.
"She asks for the honor of seppuku." Centimus just stared at him
"Which is?" The man's brow furrowed, trying to translate the concept. He went with description and miming.
"She wishes to cut her belly with a blade." He demonstrated the idea with his arm, figuratively cutting his bowels. Centimus looked alarmed and switched his eyes back to the woman.
"Suicide?" She spoke again, more slowly this time. His eyes connected with her resolute ones. Why was this woman asking to kill herself? "Translate." He bit out to the man.
"She sees that you hold the katana, sir. She wishes to cut herself instead of being beheaded by you, sir. This is how captives are dealt with, they are denied the honor of seppuku."
"I'm not going to behead her." The man did not respond, he just eyed the drawn sword. Centimus caught on and sheathed it. He turned back to the woman and set the sword down again. She followed it with her eyes. "I'm not going to kill you." She was like stone. Proud.
He directed his question to his men which continuing to observe her. "Tell me about her. What is her name? Where is she from?"
"Her name is Kamiya Kaoru." Hearing her name, the woman gave a slight bow, barely an inclination of her head. The translator bristled and hissed something in her language. She glared at him. Centimus watched this exchange with some amusement. "She is seventeen years old. We have brought her from Japan, after our last exploration trip. As a souvenir." A woman as a souvenir? The grin on the soldier's face made his gut wrench. He didn't much care for the ways of some of the soldiers who saw every woman as an object to be possessed and any blood worth spilling.
"Was it worth destroying her life?" Taking her away from kith and kin, more than halfway around the world? She was destined to die alone and far from home, no matter how far into the future that was. Truly a terrible fate.
The soldier only shrugged carelessly. "Her family was killed. Don't worry, we kept her safe for you." Safe from all the men on the ship, no doubt. At least now he had a name, he could talk to her with a name.
"Kamiya Kaoru." He tried to fit the syllables of her name into his mouth, trying to say it as the interpreter had. She fixed her eyes on his. He smiled. "You are at Himurus house. I am Centimus Himurus." His eyes flicked to the translator. He seemed to know the most about her. "Why does she have a sword?"
"She is samurai. Her family belongs to the warrior class. Her family practices Kamiya Kasshin Ryu." The girl's chin raised just a tad at the mention of those words. Warrior class. That would explain the pride and resolve.
"What does that mean?"
"The samurai families practice different forms of kenjitsu, swordsmanship. There are many unique schools in Japan. Her family's school is called Kamiya Kasshin Ryu." The steel in her carriage spoke of this.
"And does she know this style?" The man was surprised.
"I don't know."
Centimus gestured towards her. "Why don't you ask her?" He shrugged and directed a few words to her. Her reply was strong. "Well?"
"She says that she is shihondai of her father's school, that is an instructor who teaches under the master."
"A swordswoman? Is this common?"
"No, sir. Samurai women are trained to defend themselves, but usually with smaller blades, such as daggers. This woman is a bit of an outcast by her people's standards." Which might be why they let her go so easily after her family was killed. A woman so far from home, she must have seen some terrible things. He admired her strength, her pride, and her courage. She had an exotic beauty; one he wouldn't mind spending some time admiring.
The lull in conversation seemed to prompt her to action. In a single, graceful movement, she took hold of the sword and rose to her feet. His guards immediately pulled their swords to attack. Centimus put up a hand to stop them. She held on to the sword but did not unsheathe it.
"Sir!" He heard a guard call, shocked at being stopped. Centimus held her gaze.
"She is afraid, Gladius. She is alone, surrounded by enemies. Allow her the comfort of holding the sword. I am sure she will not attack." The soldier wasn't convinced. He kept his eyes trained on her blue ones. The fire in her eyes had increased since her bold move. He took a moment to admire her standing form. He saw now that the robe she wore was made of painted silk. Long, embroidered sleeves hung down her body. She was smaller than he was, and he was a short man, by his people's standards.
She stood and proclaimed herself in grand style, holding the sword out in front of her.
"Translate!" The interpreter did not really want to. "I said, translate!" finally he nervously agreed.
"She wishes to do honor to her school through one on one combat with you, sir." Centimus drew back. "With terms, sir." He leveled his gaze on the man.
"What terms?" He looked away, stumbling over his words as he asked her. Her strong voice replied. "Well?"
"If she loses, she will pledge fealty to you as her lord. If she wins, she demands her freedom."
A/N: Feelings about this thing?
Yes, Kenshin's name in this story is Centimus. In Latin, the letter c is always a hard /k/ sound, as ancient Latin had no letter k. Read the name as 'Kentimus' and you have a close approximation. Yes, I made up his name and yes I just stuck an 'us' on the end. I know, it's lame. This is AU, people. This is my excuse.
Unfortunately, slavery has played a major role in human history. Culturally, the characters in this story don't really have a problem with slavery. In fact, Centimus would consider himself a really nice slave owner, caring for his people's needs.
My first thought on setting was ancient Rome, however the history was going to be atrocious. Japan during that time was not necessarily something I wanted to deal with in this story. The politics, geography, etc. were too far removed from the setting I wanted to portray. Instead, we are in AU, a Roman Empire-esque fantasy land with Kaoru's Japan thrown in there.