History

The warm sun shone down, making Kaoru's multiple layers stick a little closer than usual, the thick air wrapping around her lungs with each breath. While a bit uncomfortable, the heavy heat reminded her of a warm bath house, steam curling off of the furo. She sighed. Dreams were meaningless. She wandered the grounds of the house often now, her new daily routine settling gently into a life as weeks had started to stretch into months. A rotation of practice, tutoring, and meals, along with walks like these. Today she passed a field, workers diligently tending the rows and rows of grain.

As she watched, there was some commotion, a supervisor yelling at one of the workers, one who seemed to be smaller than the others. She moved quickly towards the sounds, only to discover the man looming over the boy, ready to strike again. Without thinking, she threw herself down over him, bokken raised in defense. She could feel the rise of battle heat as she glared at the belligerent man. A crowd of onlookers had gathered and the supervisor's yelling seemed to shift to her. He reached for her, no doubt to push her away, but her defensive position changed as she landed a blow on his shoulder. He stumbled back, allowing her the chance to spring to her feet, ready for his attack. He was sizing up the situation before barking at one of the gaping bystanders. As they faced off, the man no doubt having sent for reinforcements, she kept her eyes trained, waiting for him to move again.

The messenger soon returned, leading another familiar looking man. Where had she seen him before? His sword was drawn, although hanging casually at his side. She knew better – he was ready for action, should there be any. He looked at her quickly, recognition in his eye, then addressed the boy's attacker. She heard her own name among the jumble of syllables that spewed from his mouth, the dark looks sent towards her made her keep her ground.

The field supervisor shot her another glare before turning his back on her, shouting at the other people in the area. As they all moved back to their work, the soldier sheathed his sword and approached her, speaking in a tone that reminded her of a man's address to a spooked horse. She lowered her blade to an easy stance, watching his face closely. Then, she dropped to her knees next to the still child on the ground. His messy black hair covered his face, but as she took his shoulder and gently turned him over, she gasped.

Centimus felt like this was déjà vu. He sighed, pushing his bangs away from his face, only to let them fall again. The woman, Miss Kaoru, was once again kneeling before him, a proud, angry look on her face. Only this time, instead of clutching a sword, she held a boy of about ten in her arms with a fierce protectiveness. His eyes were closed, his unconsciousness no doubt stemming from the blood that had dried in his hair and across his face. He turned to Gladius, who stood mere paces away from the pair. "What happened?" His sharp mannerisms as he gave his report reminded Centimus of his battle days.

"There was an altercation between the slave boy and the supervisor. When he was being punished for insolence, the girl attacked the supervisor." Centimus looked again at the dried blood covering the boy's head.

"And what was this punishment, that so much blood was spilt?" he gestured at the pair. The soldier shrugged.

"I didn't see it, sir. I was called after the girl attacked." He felt an out of place jerk of humor in his cheek. He would have liked to see the showdown between his burly field supervisor and the girl. He pushed the image aside and refocused on the soldier.

"Find Felix and tell him to report to me when his day is done." His guard nodded and strode from the room.

As he studied the pair before him, he noticed something rather strange. The boy seemed to have more the features of the young woman than of his countrymen. The straight black hair was similar, the strange clothes, the skin tone, while tanner, was also similar. Was it possible…?

The room empty now, he crouched down in front of her and was relieved to see the tension slowly drain from her, although her grip didn't loosen around the unconscious boy. Maybe she trusted him, just a little? To promote that possibility, he gave her a soft smile and put out his arms, offering to carry the boy. "Let's find Taena, shall we?" Keeping a wary eye on him, she shifted and relaxed her grip, allowing him to slip his arms under his shoulders and knees. He caught his breath as his hand slid across the cool silk of her robe, eyes on hers. She nodded, having heard the maid's name and rose fluidly to her feet, her wooden sword tied to her back.

She stayed close, blue eyes flicking from him to the boy, her hand gently caressing the black hair. She had insisted that they take the boy to her room. He was surprised at his hesitance and light embarrassment at entering her bedroom in his house and he laid the boy on the bed.

Taena and the little maid that seemed to follow her everywhere came into the room, bearing a bowl of water, a towel, and bandages. Kaoru took these things from his housekeeper and began cleaning the boy's face, murmuring to him in her own language. One word in particular that he couldn't quite make out she seemed to repeat as she gently cleaned the blood, unshed tears in her eyes.

Centimus sent a bewildered look at his housekeeper, who only shrugged. It was some strange behavior for a random boy, but she was a strange woman. The small maid was on the other side of the bed, peering down at the youth, her wide eyes watching for any sign of movement as she clasped his brown fingers in hers. He had never seen this boy before, but then he didn't know all of the field hands. He turned to his housekeeper.

"Do you know this boy, Taena?" She shook her head.

"No, master. Where did you find him?" The light of humor sparked in his face and a small smile tipped his lips.

"Gladius brought them to me, apparently there was some to do in the fields." His eyes lingered on the maid's ceaseless watch. "Does the girl know him?"

Taena turned to the maid. "Su? Do you know this boy?" The girl looked up and slowly nodded. Centimus almost missed her soft voice.

"He saved me from a snake. Cut off its head with an axe." Her eyes dropped back down to the boy and continued in a soft whisper. "He's so brave." Was that a little hero worship in her face? The idea tugged at the dark humor he found in this entire situation.

Kaoru had finished cleaning his face and was wrapping one of the bandages around his head when the boy began to stir. He blinked open his dark eyes, flicking from the maid, to Taena and Centimus before landing on the young woman beside him. Confusion seemed to fill his face as a huge smiled filled hers. "Kaoru?"

With a shout, she flung herself down to hug him, her repeated word coming more clearly now. "Yahiko!"

The man sitting on the other side of the table looked everywhere except at the angry red haired man standing on the other side.

"What can you tell me that will keep me from seeing incapacitating you?" His sword, while still sheathed, was within easy drawing range, buckled around his waist. Hiro's eyes were trained on the sword and the hand that was so close to the hilt. His plans were falling apart, bringing the girl to the house had been a monumental mistake. The small amount of money he'd gotten for them wasn't enough at this moment. He should have insisted she be sent to the fields straight away. Even at the lower price, at least Centimus would never have known she existed. The man seemed to have acquired some fondness for the chit and now look at how things were going.

Instead of the riches he'd been expecting from this trip, he was here facing an angry man threatening to kill him. His only approach could be ignorance. He opened his hands and will himself into a surprised expression.

"I did not know he was her brother!" He could tell Centimus wasn't sold. "All I knew was that he was from the same village. I didn't know they even knew each other" Lies came easily to him, they always had. It had been easy, luring them into his trap. That fool Koshijiro setting off on that expedition without looking back. She had believed her brother dead, he knew. They had kept him in the brig on the ship and never let them cross paths. Better to make them think they were alone in this new world. There was no way he was telling this man though.

"The boy said he was taken from his home during a fire and when he woke up, he was locked up on a ship, with you cursing at him." Hiro kept his face completely blank. "He also said you told him his whole family was dead and he was now a slave."

"Boys are known for making up stories." Centimus eyed him with a sharp glare.

"So are men in bad situations." He flicked his eyes towards the door, judging the distance against the man's reach. There was a humorless smile on his captor's face. "Don't try it. Assuming you get away from me, the instant you open that door Gladius will have his sword through your heart." This was a difficult situation. His plan was done. He needed to get out of this wretched place. "I kept you here because I was curious about this place you came from. I also saw you valuable as a translator. Today, my interest in your well-being has ended." This could be the loophole he was looking for!

He threw up his hands in a placating gesture. "I'll leave and never come back here, if you will let me go now."

They stood before the men of the household. Farmers, soldiers, workmen. Hiro stood between two armed men, one holding each arm. Centimus stepped to the front of this gathering.

"Men, hear this. This afternoon, this man, Hiro, will be escorted off of the estate. If he ever crosses our boundaries again, you are to capture or kill him. No exceptions." Hiro watched nods and glares go around the room. "Get a good look at him now, so you can be prepared."

Hiro felt the weight of dozens of eyes taking in his appearance. A foreigner in a foreign land, he would be easy to identify. Offense is the best defense, right?

"You have my word; I will stay away." The cold face of the man did not relent.

"See that you do."

A/N: RK and I took a break for a while, and its impossible for me to write in a fandom when I've refocused on something else. Midnight Sun came out and now I'm rereading Twilight. I think I'm a little embarrassed. Against the odds, this one came to mind the other day. I have the finale written for this story, but as my fanfic-dreams come in vignettes, I still have to get there.