Quiet. Calm.
Space, I hurt everywhere.
Gentle thumps against the cushion he was lying on, accompanied by a curiously familiar squeak, and the bright feel of a pair of young Force signatures. "You awake yet?" a very young voice asked.
"Grandpa said don't wake him up!" a slightly older one objected.
"But he feels nice! Like Kaoru-nee-san."
"But Grandpa said no-"
"It's all right," Obi-Wan said wryly, prying his eyes open enough to see two tiny brunettes in flower-print robes tussling at the edge of his odd bed. They hadn't quite crashed into the small table near his bed, where something green and triangular fluttered over itself like a dropped kerchief. "I'm-"
The green triangle moved, and squeaked, and scratched the back of its beaked head with a wing-claw. The other membranous wing was splinted, but emerald eyes blinked at him with interest, not fear.
"I'm awake," Obi-Wan said, stunned. A young hawk-bat? Here? "What's that ataru doing here?" And where's the rest of its flock, oh dear...
Wait. What did I call it?
The grasping arms stopped immediately, and brown eyes went wide. "You're not gaijin!"
Not a foreigner? He pulled up the sheet covering him, wondering why their words sounded so odd. Almost not like Basic at all.
"But he has sun hair," the younger one objected. "We don't have sun hair."
Kami-hi? That's not-
"Ken-nii-san does," her sister pointed out, corralling the chirping hawk-bat before it could flutter off the table. "He said back in the mountains, some people do."
Big brother Ken. Not Basic. They're not speaking Basic.
How is it I can speak it?
Understanding it didn't worry him; he'd understood Megumi and Sano's frantic babble to Gensai before, even half-conscious. He'd traveled the galaxy with Qui-Gon Jinn, after all; and if you survived that, you tended to learn a few things. One of which was how to extend telepathy and a sense of the Force into understanding the spoken language of any sentient... well, more or less. It helped if the speaker were sensitive as well, and even then, a Jedi might miss nuances. Which could have consequences ranging from the mild to nearly homicidal.
No. Understanding it didn't surprise him. Speaking it - that was bizarre.
"There you are, you little hellions!" A short, elderly man with gray hair opened the paper screen that seemed to serve in place of a door, strode in with a sigh. "Ayame-chan, Suzume-chan, what have I told you about jumping on the patients..."
"Grandpa!"
The doctor caught armfuls of little girls and littler creature, hugging them close before setting them down to bow to his patient. "Forgive the little ones," he said in careful Basic. "They don't always understand when someone might wish to be left alone-"
"It's nothing, Gensai-isha," Obi-Wan said firmly, relieved. He'd thought he'd recognized the man's Force signature, but the way everything still felt battered at the edges, he wouldn't have been sure who it was even if Master Yoda had walked by. "Compared to what I thought I might wake to, being greeted by two well-behaved young ladies and their - pet? - is quite a pleasant surprise." He smiled at the older, whose hair fell loose instead of in orange-beaded pigtails; Ayame, he thought. Brown eyes went wide all over again, and she ducked behind her grandfather.
Just like the younglings in the Temple, when a Knight they'd never met came back from a mission... The thought tugged at his emotions, and he reached delicately out with the Force. Stars. Just like the younglings. They're sensitives!
"Not pet," Gensai said firmly. "We're only assisting it a time, until that wing heals. And I know two young ladies who should put it back in the rehabilitation cage..."
Giggling a little, they disappeared down the hall.
Gensai watched them go, then stepped inside and drew the screen to. "I've never met anyone from Coruscant who spoke Yamatogo before."
Obi-Wan didn't flinch. "What makes you think-"
"Kenobi-san. Please. Your accent - at least, your accent in Basic - is recognizable to anyone with some Galactic education." The elderly healer smiled wryly. "Not to mention, you didn't scream when you saw the ataru."
"I was tempted," the Jedi admitted dryly. Hawk-bats? Here? But... they're native to Coruscant! Possibly the only species left native to that citified planet; using sight and echolocation to migrate through the pipes and lower levels every few months as they searched for heat and granite slugs... or anything else that didn't move fast enough. "A large flock will attack just about anything."
"On Coruscant, perhaps," Gensai admitted. "But as long as we've known them, they tend not to bother humans." Amusement glinted in brown eyes as he knelt down by his patient's futon. "Of course, we don't usually eat them, either."
"That might well influence the matter, yes," Obi-Wan had to smile back, even as he tugged his sheet a bit higher about himself. No wonder he'd thought himself back in the healers' care; someone had rather efficiently stripped him of every stitch of clothing. He could see the remnants now, grimy but neatly folded under the small table; still, he'd prefer a little privacy before he tried to reclaim them. At least, as much privacy as there is around here, Obi-Wan thought wryly. Translucent paper walls? Whose idea was that? "Who in the worlds was insane enough to bring them off Coruscant?"
"At a guess? Whoever was insane enough to flee here from Coruscant when Yamato was first settled, millennia ago," Gensai shrugged. "Though from the few legends we have of that time, fleeing was the only sane response. The Jedi and Sith were at war, it's said, and dark forces consumed everything they touched. Even the lives of whole planets..." He shook his head. "Ah, but you don't want to hear an old man spouting fairy tales."
You'd be surprised, Obi-Wan thought. But he let it go. If Gensai felt the topic was risky to speak of with strangers, pushing would get him nowhere at lightspeed. Patience. The way of the Jedi is patience. "Customs differ from planet to planet, Gensai-isha, but most medics I've met would be asking certain questions right now."
"That you call me Gensai-isha, Kenobi-san, tells me that the first question I would ask may not yet be relevant," Gensai said dryly.
May not yet be- Obi-Wan sat up, meeting Gensai's gaze head-on. The first question usually is, how do you feel...
"Do you know who you are?"
"Well, of course I-" Something in the healer's face stopped him. Know. He said know, not remember. "You're not speaking of amnesia."
"Short-term memory loss wouldn't be unlikely with the fever you were running, but no," Gensai agreed. "Even among those foreigners who have learned our language, most don't know the honorific for a healer." A gray brow lifted. "Or speak with an accent that might well have come from mountains no off-worlder has ever set foot on."
An accent? Obi-Wan replayed the sense of Gensai's words, surprised to recognize not only the meaning, but certain faint impressions he was used to only picking up from Basic, from long nights of listening in Dex's Diner. Gensai's manner of speech was educated, but slangy; Edokko, something in him whispered. Most of the other voices he couldn't help but overhear from other private rooms in this clinic had the same pattern; but one passing by out on the street had a quiet, almost circuitous feel to it that same something identified as Kyotoko, be alert-
What are you? Closing his eyes, he quested within himself for that sense of other. Who are you?
Not a who, from the feel of it; a ghost of a self, like a shadow passing over a mirror. More - impressions. Afterimages. A lingering, gentle chill, as if ice-damp cloth had pressed against burning fever.
The Sith!
No question. It was tied to that place in his mind where the link had been; as if the Dark presence had held him so tightly against itself, impressions still lingered on the clay of his soul. "What did he do to me?"
A cluck of a tongue, as Gensai pressed lightly down on his shoulder. "Kenobi-san. You're still recovering from Miasma and a mild case of skeletal calcification. You should rest-"
Calcification? You think I'd remember being caught in a power coupling... oh. Blast. "Please." No force behind it; only all the sincerity the Jedi once called the Negotiator could muster. "Gensai-isha. I must know."
"The help you received saved your life," the healer said carefully. "I will not be part of any plot for vengeance-"
"My people don't believe in revenge."
Gensai gave him a very odd look. "No?"
"No. Never." Obi-Wan hesitated. "Justice, yes. We strive for that. But if the intent truly was only to help... please. I only want to know what happened to me."
Gensai sighed, and settled back on his heels. "If there were things being thrown about without hands on the Sekihoutai-"
Oh dear. I'd hoped I'd misheard that.
"-and mind you I'm not saying that there were, but if there were... then part of why you feel so odd is the medication you're on."
Oh, not good. Odd was the word for it, indeed; once Obi-Wan accounted for the fever and overall feeling of exhaustion, there was still a leftover sense of something... not quite in balance. And just how do I go about asking him what's wrong with me? "Pardon me, but precisely what do your local drugs do to Force-sensitives? And why are you calling those stormtroopers?"
"Most people suffer no noticeable side-effects from hashima," Gensai went on. Thought for a moment, and tapped his chin. "Though there are always a certain small percentage of off-worlders who break down into an irredeemable psychopathic frenzy..."
Obi-Wan choked.
The elderly doctor grinned cheekily at him. "Don't worry. We'd have noticed by now if that was the case. Well," he corrected himself, "I'd have noticed. As would the Guard, the local fire brigades, the undertakers..."
"I believe I get the idea, yes," the Jedi said dryly. "So if I'm not about to become a raving lunatic-?"
"Then you fall into a far more pleasant treatment category," Gensai smiled. "The small but stable percent that find hashima particularly beneficial. Are you looking for a wife?"
He couldn't have heard that right. He simply couldn't have. "...Am I what?" Obi-Wan managed to get out.
"No? Pity. I know a few widows who might- well, that's neither here nor there." Gensai sobered slightly. "A local would know what to expect. As you are not, or at least, haven't been for a very long time..." He hesitated, picking his words like a path through grav-mines. "You may find your emotions to be a bit more volatile than usual."
A chill ran down the Jedi's spine. Volatile emotions... Anakin...
"This is normal. Perfectly normal."
No, it's not normal! There is no emotion, there is peace-
"Do not be afraid."
Fear leads to the Dark Side. Obi-Wan grabbed onto the edges of his control, willing himself to stillness. Breathe. Be at peace. Listen.
"Just count to ten before you do anything drastic. Count twice, if you have to." Gensai rested a comforting hand on his shoulder. "The first weeks are the worst. Once you're stable enough, we can drop your dosage... in the meantime, try not to be too hard on yourself. Anyone who cares will forgive a few lapses." He chuckled. "Though I'd stay away from anyone bureaucratic. I hear it's incredibly tempting to watch officers' bootlaces mysteriously tangle each other, but given how they tend to take it out on anyone in the vicinity..."
Obi-Wan blinked. Is he saying local Force-users prank- I really don't want to think about this. "As for the rest of why I feel odd?" he asked pointedly. "You do not get skeletal calcification from drugs." At least none I ever heard about.
"Ah." Gensai sighed. "I don't know precisely how that works, only that it does. Those rare ones who are skilled in the technique... they quiet themselves. They sit by you, much as I am sitting now, and read the flesh and soul of the one they would help."
Obi-Wan could almost remember that, overlain by fever as the image was; the feel of another presence searching his mind and body for illness.
"There are - ties made. So that if the pain drives your soul from your flesh, they have a means to call you back."
He linked with me. Tightly. Like a master preparing to take a padawan through a dangerous meditation.
"And then... it's as if lightning strikes."
Force lightning! Stars, no wonder I hurt... I'm lucky to be alive!
"When the case is as desperate as yours was, the Miasma has to be killed, and killed quickly, if you're to have any hope of survival," Gensai went on. "The tie must remain intact so long as the practitioner is working, for the patient is already weak, and without outside strength to draw on, the pain might kill. And that pain... has to be felt by the practitioner as he works, or he will not know when he is killing Miasma and when he is killing his patient."
Obi-Wan made an effort not to stare. Sith delight in inflicting pain. They don't take it for other people.
Yet if this Dark Side user had done what Gensai was describing-
I would have sensed - not a Sith, but someone in terrible pain. I would have tried to help him. And if I reached out to him as he was trying to hold onto me...
The universe really, really hates me.
But no matter how they'd gotten tangled up in each other, the Dark one had kept his word. The place where the link had been was numb. Tingly, perhaps, and touched with shadows; but no worse than he'd felt after that last encounter with Maul on Tatooine, when he'd wanted so much to kill, yet knew his oath as a Jedi could not take an unarmed life...
Before Owen Lars' blaster bolt had made the moral struggle moot.
"I know off-worlders regard many of our ways as quaint superstitions, but I assure you, to the person who helped you, the pain was quite real. If I'd known how real, I might not have asked..." Reaching into his kimono sleeves, Gensai pulled out a small medical computer. "Here. Let me show you how much trouble you're still in."
A parasite, Obi-Wan realized, studying the complex life cycle laid out on the screen. A rather nasty one. "Why wouldn't other medics have found this years ago?"
"It was likely quiescent in your liver, or bone marrow," Gensai said practically. "That's usually where it hides after you've survived an acute crisis. That's where it's retreating right now, in fact. Oh yes, you're still infected," the doctor added at his sharp look. "Miasma is a chronic condition. It can be kept in check with hashima. It will go dormant once you're off-world and no longer have the necessary trace elements in your system. But it's almost impossible to eliminate entirely." A paper sheet followed the computer from the sleeve. "This is the prescription I want you to follow for the next week. After that, you can cut back to the secondary prescription below it; that, you should stay on for a month. Get through those, and you can cut back to the usual prophylactic dose. Though I'd advise you to keep at least one high dose of hashima on your person at all times, in case of relapse. Another physician might assume you had Tokyo Miasma if you showed up ill, and they might not realize their mistake in time."
"There's a difference?" Obi-Wan said warily.
"Oh my, yes, young man. Around Tokyo, Miasma may make one ill, but it rarely kills; we have existed together so long, and use hashima so often, it's simply not to Miasma's advantage to be deadly. But on the Kanto Plain... most of its carriers are animals, not humans. It survives by making those infected as ill as possible, so midges can feed on the poor creature before it's eaten." Gensai shook his head. "All my experience as a doctor tells me this is not the first time you've nearly died of it. But you have no memory of being treated before?"
Using his training, Obi-Wan cast backward in memory; back before the Temple, to faint images of Owen and endless waving grasslands. And - something dark, and confusing... "Purple grass," he said softly. "With an edge of green on the growing tip, catching the dawn like gold. Small, dark grazers - they like us, but they're shy. Tan wings marked with violet riding the noon winds; ataru, stars, I always thought I was mixing that up with Coruscant before. Rocks with symbols... Owen said Mother and Father thought they were important..."
"There are ruins on the more distant part of the Kanto Plain, yes," Gensai agreed, surprised. "You have been there."
"I was very young. Three, possibly four; I'm not sure." The Jedi frowned. "I remember - fear. Pain. Orphan." The Basic word seemed to burn on his tongue.
"Koji, or minashigo?"
"Both, I think. I... I don't know what those mean..."
"That you were lost, and no one was left to claim you." Gensai gripped his shoulder in sympathy. "Yamato is not a friendly world to those without ariitu. Is there no one here who can take you in?"
Ariitu. Clan, or kin group. I think. Odd word. Almost sounds familiar, but from where? Obi-Wan shook his head. "My... clan was attacked years ago, there are very few of us left." Yoda. Himself. Anakin... oh stars, what he had done to the children...
Not all of them. Not quite all. "Is there," he hesitated, "a central information system on this planet?"
"Several," Gensai said wryly. "Most of which are under Imperial control."
"Details, details," Obi-Wan muttered under his breath.
Gensai chuckled softly. "I think I understand why Sanosuke offered you a lift." His face grew serious again. "Should I also understand that you do have a relative here, Kenobi-san?"
"It's possible," Obi-Wan admitted. "I came to this world to look, in fact. Though if I'd any idea of the hazards... well, I might have come anyway." Easy. Easy. Calm. "I had an older brother. Owen Kenobi. I found a report that he had been traced to Tokyo, years ago."
"Hmm... I'll ask," Gensai said thoughtfully.
"I also had..." Gently. Gently. "A young cousin. A distant cousin. About your height, auburn hair, blue eyes; very stubborn. She hasn't seen me in - space, decades - but I have a feeling..." He wet his lips. "Firefinder. Her name was - is - Hana Firefinder."
Silence.
"You know her," Obi-Wan breathed, lunging up to catch the doctor by the shoulders. "Please, if there is mercy in your heart, please-"
"Kenobi-san." Gingerly, Gensai pushed him back down. "You're weaker than you yet realize. Please, try to be calm."
Weak indeed, Obi-Wan thought grimly, sinking back. Every muscle was trembling. And the sorrow hanging around Gensai like mist... "I'm too late."
"It is my burden to inform you that the spirit of Firefinder Hana, who was named to us Kamiya Hana, passed into the beyond ten years ago," Gensai said, head bowed formally. "In her death, she saved three young lives, and their families honor her memory at every Feast of the Dead." His gaze lifted, bright with old sorrow. "It was a scaffolding collapse. The Empire... engineers from off-world don't truly understand how to build for our earthquakes. She went into the rubble with her lightsaber, brought as many survivors out as she could before it settled." He sighed. "Koshijirou never got over it. Not really."
"Who?" A more sobering fact struck home. Ten years for the Empire to tighten its fist. Hana said she'd be safe carrying it during the Purge, but that recently? "What do you mean, with her lightsaber? The Empire would have-"
"The Empire," Gensai said bluntly, "knows better than to try and take a lightsaber away from a samurai. Adopted or not. I grant you Koshijirou may have had to finesse some of the paperwork, given she had a hard time hiding her accent. But she brought no dishonor on her ie by her actions."
Ie. That feels like house, or... family? "Her ie?" Hope flickered in his breast.
"Koshijirou was Hana's husband," Gensai nodded. "I've been the Kamiya family physician since... oh, before you were born."
I doubt that, Obi-Wan thought wryly. "I'd like to meet him."
"So would I," Gensai said softly. "Even once more." Grimaced, and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Kenobi-san. He was a dear friend of mine. He died six months ago."
Too late. I'm always too late...
"Would Kaoru know you?"
Obi-Wan didn't have the energy to hide his stare. "Who?"
"Hana's daughter."
Relationships are forbidden for padawans, was on the tip of his tongue. But the Jedi caught it. She'd been alone, she'd been lost; who was he to judge Hana for breaking that small part of the Code? "I... No. We've never met."
"But you'd like to?" Gensai smiled. "I think she'd like to meet you, too. And as it happens, my granddaughters and I were going over there for dinner. There's a patient in that dojo I need to check up on. But first-" he looked over exposed skin, and tched. "Forgive an old doctor for being blunt, young man, but you desperately need a bath."
---------------
"Why are they after you?" Kaoru planted her fists on her hips, foreign blue eyes stormy.
Megumi faked a yawn, and turned her attention back to the pot of grain simmering in the rock and sand-lined fire-pit. Kanryuu's mansion had scarlet carpets, elegant platinum carvings, and formal, Imperial-style kitchens, where food cooked with the press of a button. This compound laid claim to no such amenities. Only the classic poor samurai living quarters; small single rooms ornamented with books and a niche for flower arrangements, polished wood floors, thin tatami, and one large main entry room where the family could cook out of the weather and huddle together on the nights when snow fell.
It'd been years since she'd cooked in conditions like this. But she still hadn't quite lost the knack. Kokumotsu was simmering nicely, heading toward the soft stickiness that made it easy to pluck out with chopsticks. Other vegetables and fish waited in small dishes on the side, ready to be cast into the shallow pan next to the pot. Pickles and fruits waited somewhat farther away, to spice the meal or serve as sweet afterthought. One deep sniff, and her mouth watered.
But watered with caution. Burn any of this, and the plain little tanuki-girl would jump in and take over the cooking - and from what the frowning smuggler now leaning against the house wall had told her, that could be a fate worse than death.
At least she didn't have to fend off a hungry youngster and cook at the same time. Yahiko had taken over watching Katsu with serious dedication, even if he had grumbled a little. But only a little - given looking in on Katsu meant he could peek in on dear Ken-san, as well.
Not that he's peeking for that same reason I would be, Megumi smiled to herself. She'd barely met the man, but a doctor's sense of ki let her glimpse the slim, muscled frame tattered cloth tried to hide. That, and the unconscious care of Sano's movements around the redhead, told her more than all the plaques on the dojo wall.
Kamiya may be a samurai in training. But small and delicate as he looks, that man is samurai - and he knows how to use that lightsaber.
Which just might buy her enough time to get back off the planet. Maybe.
Megumi gave the Kamiya girl a languid shrug, as if only now catching up to her question. "Not that a little one like you has to worry about it... but sometimes procurers see a woman - human, Fireryo, Zabrak, even one of those odd Twi'lek the companies brought in, they're not fussy that way - and just decide they have to have her for their master's teahouses." Megumi shrugged gracefully, casting back her long hair. Not the pampered length of a tayuu's, but elegant enough to make the point - especially against her competition's rough, pulled-back ponytail. "How should I know why they seem to want me?"
The samurai girl reddened. "They're not procurers, and you know it!"
"Jou-chan's got a point," Sano said soberly. "The guys who pick up people on contract for the brothels don't usually throw ninja darts just 'cause one girl's getting away." He crossed his arms. "Who are we up against?"
Megumi stuck out her tongue.
Kaoru growled.
"Ladies... I grant you I use the term loosely..."
Brown and blue glares fixed on him.
Sano rolled his eyes. "Look, as soon as Katsu's back on his feet, we're going to find out," the smuggler said practically. "You could save us a lot of time and aggravation if you just-" He stopped, staring at Kaoru. "What's wrong?"
Blue eyes were distant, as the samurai girl's head slowly turned toward the outer courtyard. "We have company."
"We do?" Sano said numbly, hand dropping to his blaster. "Hell."
Kaoru rose smoothly, breathing out one shuddering sigh. Blinked, and turned a clear, serious gaze on Megumi. "Don't let Kenshin outside."
"What?" Megumi said blankly, still stirring the grain. If the girl had said that about her bratty little student, she would have understood; the boy was only ten, after all. But exhausted or not, Kenshin was samurai-
"There's Darkness out there," Kaoru said matter-of-factly. "And he's walked too close to it already."
Darkness? Megumi thought, confused. Oh, I'll never understand samurai... killing is killing! Who cares if you enjoy it or not?
"Kaoru, you-"
"I can handle it, Sano," the girl nodded. "I have to." Another deep breath, and her hand rested on the saber by her side. "This is what I am."
"Yeah, well..." Sano pulled his blaster out, checked the muzzle, shoved it back into his holster with a jaundiced look at Kaoru. "Smart pilots don't fly alone."
She smiled back. "Let's go."
"They're insane," Megumi muttered under her breath as the pair slipped on boots and sandals to walk outside. "Absolutely insane."
But then, wasn't that what she'd been looking for? After all, no one sane in Tokyo would go up against-
"Hand over Takani, and no one gets dead!"
-The men who served Takeda Kanryuu.
---------------
There is no passion; there is serenity.
Stepping off the engawa to face their foes, Kaoru cupped peace in her heart like a butterfly in her palm; cherished, but remaining of its own free will. Numbers did not matter. The anger, the lust, the greed for blood in these men's eyes - did not matter.
Sano. Yahiko. Katsu. The stubborn redhead still lost in fitful, exhausted sleep, after risking his own hard-won peace to save a stranger. Even Megumi. They mattered.
And because they mattered, she would not fear.
A mote in the wind. A leaf in a stream. Your heart within the Force.
"Look, guys, can't we talk about this-" Sano started behind her shoulder.
Her blade was lit and blazing, deflecting a blaster bolt away almost before it had left the barrel. Thank you, mother. Father. Blasters had been almost unknown on Yamato before the Revolution; Kamiya Kasshin had incorporated Koshijirou's hard-learned lessons of survival even before Hana had taught him Shii-Cho and what she remembered of Soresu.
Blasters or not, these men were not Gohei. They were strong, but not giants; they hated, but it was not the crushing, poisonous cloud that had surrounded that murderer. She could endure it. She would.
They were not armored against her; why should they be, against an assistant master known to carry only a student's blade?
Your second mistake, she thought, as screams and bodies flew. I may not cut you. I may not kill you.
But damned if I won't break a few bones!
---------------
And... Jou-chan is laying on the smack-down, Sano thought wryly, in the little flickers between shots. His blaster was set to stun, no matter what the dozen or so bad guys were using; if Kaoru had been laying the past few days out straight for him, the dojo had drawn more than enough attention already.
Not that that would have stopped him - but it was Kaoru fighting out there. Kaoru, who didn't believe in killing.
More important - Kaoru, who would feel every death as if it were her own.
Stunning them wouldn't make her falter. He'd seen that before. But if they died - she might flinch.
And in that fury of vibro-blades and blaster-fire, one flinch could kill her.
Smack.
Sano shook out his tingling fist, only now registering that despite her best efforts, four ugly-looking guys with vibro-blades had gotten past Kaoru to the engawa. Well... make that three ugly-looking guys, and one collapsing buddy whose looks could only have been improved by the black eye. "Hi, guys."
Whack. Thump. Zap!
Sano grinned at the falling bodies, breathing just a little fast as he lifted his blaster to find another target. "Bye, guys."
Okay. Half the bad guys down, and more were falling. Jou-chan didn't have a scratch on her. And nobody had gotten past them.
Why do I still have a bad feeling about this?
Movement caught his eye; he whirled, somehow knowing it wouldn't be in time-
And the spiral dart halted in front of his face, caught by an unseen hand.
"I may be a stranger here," a precise, familiar voice stated from the open gate, "but I rather think that falls into the category of rude."
---------------
I'm going to pay for this later, Obi-Wan thought grimly, letting the dart fall to polished wood. Force, I still hurt everywhere...
The bath had helped; even if Gensai had had to give him instructions on how to properly use the primitive local equivalent of the refresher, including the odd - but practical - custom of cleansing oneself outside the tub, before the long soak in clean hot water. Clean clothes, no matter how foreign, had helped as well; they weren't Jedi robes, but the chestnut hakama and leaf-patterned green gi were far closer than other gear he'd had to wear undercover. Even the walk through crowded streets had been somewhat refreshing; the faces might all have the same startling Humbarine cast as the Sekihoutai's crew, but the rise and fall of voices had the pleasant rhythm of a city at peace, trees cast green scents into the avenues, and Ayame and Suzume strayed just enough to distract him, but not far enough to spark real worry. And the casual reaction of passers-by as he darted into the crowd after one or the other had reassured him that Gensai was right: dressed in local garb, with a shading reed hat to conceal his foreign auburn hair, no one looked twice at him.
I wonder if they'd look twice at Master K'Kruhk. He always did like that hat.
For a moment, Obi-Wan had fought a sudden urge to laugh, thinking of the shaggy Whiphid Jedi. Reed hat, ragged Jedi robes, wry serenity coupled with a swordsman's slight swagger... fur and tusks aside, he'd blend right in.
Or would have... no. I do not know he is dead. He's fooled many into thinking so on other occasions, Grievous included. Be open to all possibilities. If any Jedi could outwit the Purge... a planet like this would certainly fit his sense of humor. Hana knew of this world; why not others? Who knows who I might find, simply walking down the street?
At least it's not Anakin trying this, he'd thought as they walked on. He's too tall...
Anakin... never will walk here. Not unless he comes for me.
Dark thoughts. He'd believed they were only shadowed aftereffects of the Force lightning, Darkness still clinging despite his best efforts to meditate...
Until they'd reached the front of the Kamiya dojo compound, and Gensai had gasped to see a street oddly empty of people. And an open gate.
"Take the children," Obi-Wan had urged in an undertone, hearing the clear discharge of blasters. Feeling a darkness beyond simple evil moving within the walls, and a light burning against it clear and steady as a star. Is that Kaoru? Oh Hana. You may have lost your braid to save your life, but you were a Master after all.
Gensai had given him a dark look he remembered from uncounted other medics: you're going to do something stupid and end up in my infirmary again, aren't you?
But he didn't argue, snatching his granddaughters and hurrying away toward the nearest comm-booth.
Decades ago, Obi-Wan recalled, he likely would have jumped through that gate into the fray, sorting out ally from enemy in the sweep of a lightsaber. But at the moment he didn't have a 'saber, he didn't have a clue... and without actively gathering the Force to support him, he had about as much energy as stranded shock-eel.
I can still bite. But I'll have to make it count.
So he'd slipped inside the gate with all the caution he could muster, watching the flow of the fight to determine who was dangerous, and who was just a temporary annoyance.
The dark-haired girl laying out men with horizontal side-swipes and swift parries was definitely dangerous.
More Shii-Cho than Soresu, though it's not quite either, Obi-Wan had judged. Meant more for dueling than blaster-fighting; she knows what she's doing, but she hasn't deflected a single bolt back on them, yet-
A green stun-bolt fired on the wooden porch, and he'd recognized Sanosuke. The smuggler was in the midst of putting down the last of four opponents, unaware of darkness focussed on him - there-
It hadn't taken much of a push to stop the dart. Fortunately.
Yellow with Dark rage, cat-eyes narrowed at him from a shadow in the trees. A shadow that was suddenly - gone.
"Sano!" A shove of her hand and will tripped one opponent; Kaoru battled the remaining trio, the first threads of fear reaching through the Force around her. "Inside - Megumi-"
Knowledge. Serenity. Harmony. Obi-Wan drew on it all to move with the grace and speed illness would otherwise deny him, catching one of the last thugs standing with a move straight out of Mos Eisley's darker dives. Ducked a punch, and tossed another with a flowing unarmed kata that left him standing and his foe groaning brokenly. Sano wouldn't be enough to take a Dark Side user; he had to free up the one person with a lightsaber-
The front door-screen tore loose, shoved by a howl of pure, unadulterated rage.
Obi-Wan shuddered from that wave of darkness, but dread only touched him when despair writhed black in its wake. Sanosuke? Why - no...
"Damn you to hell!" Sano snarled, blast after blast punching holes in the walls. "You poison-using... shape-twisting... stay still so I can kill you!"
"Or go, and leave us to mourn our dead," a soft, precise voice carried outside, like a whisper-chill of wind. "She swore she would escape you. One way... or another."
"You haven't heard the last of us, samurai!" A blur of darkness vanished off the roof, disappearing into the twilight.
The last foe broke and ran in the Dark one's wake, dragging one of his more conscious comrades with him. Obi-Wan traded a glance with Kaoru, then raced with her to the main house.
Let those who could flee. The grief inside was far more important.
"Damn it," the smuggler was cursing as they skidded inside, Kaoru barely hopping out of her sandals as she crossed the border into the house. "Damn it, damn it all to hell..."
Obi-Wan drew in a quiet breath. Sano had sheathed his blaster and was now punching a few more holes in the wall. A messy-haired youngster with a wooden practice blade was white-faced in the opening leading to the rest of the house, obviously guarding the still-unconscious Katsu whom Obi-Wan could feel somewhere in the rooms beyond.
He ignored them all, sorrow touching him at the sight of the dark-haired woman discarded on the floor, head cradled in the lap of a small young redhead who shook from pure weariness. The left sleeve of her kimono was cast back, exposing a deep gash from wrist to elbow, made by the long fish-knife discarded on the bloody sand of the fire-pit.
Her chest did not rise. Her wound no longer bled.
Kaoru made a soft, hurt noise, switching off her lightsaber almost without thinking. "Kenshin, no..."
"Is he gone?" the redhead whispered.
"She trusted us," Kaoru said bleakly. "Megumi trusted us, and now she's-"
"Is he gone?" Kenshin repeated, sweat trickling down the side of his face. "One has not... the strength to know..."
"He is," Obi-Wan said firmly, stretching out his own feelings. There was something amiss here, something he'd not felt since-
The Clone Wars. Could it be?
"Gensai-isha," Kenshin whispered. "Swiftly."
"He's not going to help!" Sano snarled, splintering another board. "I can't believe you let him get away, why are you just sitting there-"
"Get the doctor. Bandages. Something for a tourniquet," Obi-Wan ordered, dropping down by the redhead's side. "When she starts bleeding again, we'll have to work quickly."
"Right!" Kaoru turned and bolted, hope surging around her again.
"Whoa, whoa - are you trying to tell me Megumi's not...?" Sano couldn't manage the word. "You pulled some kind of samurai mind trick?"
A shadow of a smile touched Kenshin's face. "Only weak minds bend to such tricks, Sano."
"But sometimes, when you can't win, there are alternatives to fighting," Obi-Wan agreed, laying a hand on Megumi's warm cheek. "Let me help you."
A minuscule shake of red hair. "Too risky," Kenshin breathed. "One is - not well practiced in this. Not on others. Megumi's life must be held still; one dares not jar it."
I imagine not, Obi-Wan thought, still amazed at what he felt. Morichro. Or something very like it.
First a Dark technique. Now a Light one I've not seen since Master Yaddle died. How many Healers are there on this world?
And why would anyone teach such a dangerous technique to someone so young? He can't be much older than Kaoru-
Obi-Wan met that focussed violet gaze, and halted mid-thought.
...And then again, maybe he can.
The body seemed young, yes; possibly eighteen or nineteen by Galactic reckoning, old enough to be an experienced Padawan, not old enough to be Knighted. The face, save for that striking cross-shaped scar, seemed younger still; gentle, fine-boned, with a certain surprising stubbornness that oddly reminded him of... well, a young Jedi Padawan who'd flown to Naboo with Qui-Gon.
But the eyes were deep, full of violet sorrow. And perhaps, one blue glint of hope.
Who are you? How do you know a child of my Temple's children?
A wash of worry and concern through the Force; Gensai was there, digging into his doctor's kit to cleanse and seal the long slash. "It's all right, Kenshin, you can let go now, it's all right... kami, Kaoru, pry him loose before we lose him..."
Kaoru touched Kenshin's arm, blue eyes troubled. "It's all right, Kenshin." A smile dawned on her face. "We did it."
"We... did." He sagged, slumping to the side as Megumi drew one sudden, gasping breath.
"Let me help you," Obi-Wan said, supporting the limp redhead from the other side as Kaoru helped work him out from under the rousing woman. "I take it you're the other patient Gensai-isha was worried about... what in the worlds did you do to yourself, take on a whole army?"
"Close enough," Gensai grumbled. "I hear the local jail's still stuffed to the gills with Yakuza."
The Jedi frowned. "Yakuza?"
"Think of them as human Hutts," Sanosuke said dryly, ruffling little girls' hair as he looked Obi-Wan up and down. "Huh. You almost blend in."
Kaoru and the boy did swift double-takes; the boy's jaw actually dropped. "No way!"
"Yahiko!" Kaoru scolded him. "I apologize for my student. We're not used to strangers around here, sir...?"
"Kenobi," he answered, after the local manner. "Obi-Wan. And I've rather gotten that impression, yes. I hope you don't mind that Dr. Gensai invited me along; I believe he didn't trust me to stay quietly in his infirmary." He granted her a wry smile, and a shrug. "Which is entirely reasonable. I'm told I'm a very bad patient."
"Yes; I suppose I might as well have all the troublemakers in one place," Gensai said tartly, sealing in blood before it could escape. "You might just cancel each other out."
Obi-Wan choked back a laugh; glanced toward the redhead, and caught a suspicious sparkle in violet eyes. Humor that turned to caution as Kenshin regarded him watching Kaoru.
I can't blame you, Obi-Wan thought. Two young, partly-trained Force-sensitives, in your care - and here I am, a stranger, strong in the Force, just when they're most at risk from the Dark Side. I'd be cautious of me, too. It's just... she looks so much like Hana.
The hair was different, of course; long and dark, caught back in a hasty ponytail, with no trace of a padawan braid. The build, also, had changed; a little more compact than the girl in the hologram, more in line with the usual frame of the local humans. But he could see Hana in her face, just as he'd seen Anakin in Luke's...
Space, why can't I stop thinking about him? It's past, it's over - I released those emotions to Force twenty years ago-!
Yet one mad duel in the heart of the Empire's death machine, and they'd roared back as if the Temple massacre had been yesterday. He felt burned and chilled at once, as if Mustafar's lava had met Hoth's ice inside him; raw and angry and aching. Oh, if only he had been able to reach that moment of peace within the duel, and let Vader strike true. He could be with those he loved even now...
"No."
He glanced up, and did not care if the samurai saw anger in his eyes.
"Whoever you grieve," Kenshin said, near-soundlessly, "they would wish you to live."
Dark humor tugged at Obi-Wan's soul. "There is no death."
"Then if there is not, it is not important, and you could grant us the grace of a few days, hai?" Violet was fathomless, but troubled. "Only a few days. It is never wise to make hasty decisions when one is tired."
But I'm so alone. As he had been since Mustafar. As he had been, all those aching, empty years on Tatooine, one lone Jedi where he had always lived with the presence of thousands. I just... don't want to be alone anymore.
Yet duty came first. And duty said he had some last task to carry out here, for Hana and Owen. Though he did not yet know what.
"Grandpa? Is the pretty lady going to be okay?" Ayame asked, wide-eyed.
"She'll be fine," Kaoru said firmly. "But you can't tell anyone she's here, okay? It has to be a secret. Even from the Guards." She walked to the front entryway, and made an exasperated noise as she looked over the thug-scattered courtyard. "Where are the Guards?"
"I doubt they'll be coming," Gensai said grimly. "When I placed my call, I received the distinct impression that the dispatcher had been instructed to put off responding to any disturbance in the vicinity as long as possible." Checking over the wound sealant one last time before he applied a protective bandage, the doctor gave Megumi a sober look. "I believe we'd all benefit from knowing precisely who has that much influence."
Pale, Megumi bit her lip.
"It can wait," Kenshin said softly.
"Himura-san-" Gensai frowned.
"If Sanosuke would prop up the shoji, we could eat in peace and tranquility, and then deal with - whatever must be dealt with." Kenshin gave the dark-haired woman a kind smile. "After all, we should not let Megumi-dono's hard work be wasted."
---------------
One sick smuggler, one brat of an apprentice, one worn-to-the-bone rurouni, and two suicidal strangers, Kaoru ticked off her current problems in her mind, watching Sano scarf up the last stray bits of dinner as everyone else sat back with cups of tea. Katsu was almost asleep in his; Yahiko kept an eye on the copilot between sips, ready to prop him up or lean him down flat. At least the thugs got up and limped out. With a little help from Sano, who'd locked and barred the dojo gate afterwards. If they're part of what Megumi's running from, her problem looks like something that can be thumped. But Kenobi-san...
He looked fine, that was the problem. Worn down, yes, and a little worried about the law, or lack of same, that might decide drop by. But if Kenshin hadn't murmured that quiet warning in her ear, she'd never have guessed he wanted to die.
"There is grief in him, Kaoru-dono. A grief he has never healed; only buried, under honor and duty, so he might finish the task he has set himself.
"But fate has cast him loose from that plan, and now the storm of that grief threatens to drown him. And in the darkness, he cannot see what is a rock bent on tearing him asunder, and what may be a rope thrown out to save...
"If we can draw him into quiet waters, only for a little while... one will not ask this of you, Kaoru-dono. But - one would hope to see that Gensai-isha's work was not in vain."
No mention of his own, the stubborn idiot.
No mention of the worry Kenshin had to be feeling, either; if she could feel the Force flowing through Obi-Wan, Kenshin definitely could. Which meant - well, she wasn't sure what it meant, yet. But any Light Side Force-user might be a potential danger, if they knew who Kenshin had been.
So we see that he doesn't. Kaoru turned a polite look on Dr. Gensai, inviting him to comment further on their unexpected dinner guest.
Gensai cleared his throat. "Kaoru, did your mother ever mention any cousins?"
...Say what? Kaoru thought, stunned.
"Adoptive cousin, I should have said," Obi-Wan said shyly. "I know this is awkward, but... if she is the Hana Firefinder I've been looking for, we were adopted by," a bare instant of hesitation, "guardians from the same clan."
Kaoru stared at him. Guardians? Mother's only legal guardian by Galactic law was-
Oh. Kami. It can't be.
But she lived. She lived, and if she did maybe someone else could have - he looks like the right age, he could have been a padawan- "What clan?" she got out.
"Vornskr." Faint, fragile hope gleamed in aquamarine eyes. "Quidel Tenskwatawa's clan -urk!"
"He is still a bit fragile, Kaoru," Gensai put in, amused.
Reluctantly, Kaoru relaxed her hug. Master Quidel's youngling clan. And the Temple records were destroyed, the Imperials wouldn't know that! "Welcome home."
"Ah..." Obi-Wan blinked as she stepped back. "This is a bit... sudden..."
"Keh." Sano rolled his eyes. "Told you. You're a neighbor." He cracked his knuckles. "Course you know, she's been like my little sister for years, so... let's take it easy and get to know each other better, hmm?"
"Later," Katsu said darkly. "Who's after you, lady?"
"It's not your concern," Megumi said numbly. "Just... take me off-planet, leave me somewhere, anywhere..."
"Is there no one to wait for you, then," Kenshin asked gently, "at your home in Aizu?"
Aizu? Kaoru barely kept her jaw from dropping, as Megumi blanched. Aizu supported the Shogunate... they held out against the Empire for years, before it ground them down...
"This one has wandered far, and encountered many from Aizu," Kenshin went on. "You can't hide that accent, no matter how you try."
Megumi has an accent? Kaoru made herself focus on that, rather than the thought of just where Kenshin would have had most of his encounters with Aizu natives. Kyoto might be far from that wild northern province, but it had hosted hordes of Aizu samurai during the Bakumatsu. She just - well, she didn't sound like Tokyo, that's all I could hear.
"Takani Megumi!" Gensai sat up, eyes bright. "Well, well, young lady! Where have you been all these years?"
"W-well, I..." Words dried in Megumi's throat.
"The Takanis are a clan of doctors," Gensai said, looking over his fellow guests. "Renowned for their skill, their flexibility - they were some of the first to adopt Galactic medicine, after the early traders landed here, at great personal risk - and their compassion." He smiled at the pale woman. "I'm glad to see you alive, young lady. I'd heard that your father had died in one of the insurrections, and your mother and brothers gone missing... that you yourself had reappeared five years ago as a doctor's assistant, only to vanish when he was killed two years later. I feared the worst."
"You were right to," Megumi whispered. "He was working for Takeda Kanryuu."
Kaoru gulped.
Gensai blanched. "No. I knew the man. He wouldn't-"
"He was." Megumi wouldn't raise her eyes. "I... found out when Kanryuu killed him." She swallowed dryly. "The doctor - belonged to him. Now Kanryuu thinks I belong to him... and I won't go back, I won't-"
"You will not," Kenshin said firmly. Glanced at the others. "Takeda Kanryuu?"
"Bad news, Himura," Katsu said darkly. "Very bad."
"Industrialist, has a mansion on the expensive side of Tokyo," Sano nodded that direction. "Powerful guy. Friends in the government, in the underworld... looks like a few ninja on the payroll, too." He started to say something else, changed his mind looking at the two youngsters by Gensai. "We're going to have to be real careful."
"I see," Obi-Wan said thoughtfully. Smiled at the girls. "Well, we should be fine for tonight. How was your day? Do you think the ataru will be ready to leave soon?"
A few minutes of girlish chatter, interspersed by growing yawns, and Gensai was able to carry off his granddaughters back home. Sano did much the same for Katsu in one of her spare rooms; Kaoru could hear the low undertones of a tired argument all the way out in the main room. Megumi hadn't protested when Kaoru gave her a closet-sized room between Yahiko's and Kenshin's, apparently too tired to note the older and younger swordsmen silently trade glances about who was keeping the night's first watch.
:Yahiko takes it first, and that's final,: Kaoru had stated flatly.
:Kaoru-dono-:
:You're tired,: Kaoru stated, feeling the frailty of that contact. :You're sick. You need time to just be. Yahiko can wake you up if something drops in.: Her scowl at her student had said he'd darn well better.
Now she was alone with cups of cool water and a stranger who might be distant kin. At least, as much as any Jedi had kin. "How- how did you find me?"
"Sanosuke would likely say luck," Obi-Wan said ruefully. "I found myself in a bit of a fix on Yavin IV, he almost landed on top of me-"
Kaoru had to laugh. "He wouldn't have. He's a better pilot than that."
"Hmm. Well, in short, I recognized the ship's class, and decided I'd check to see..." The auburn head shook. "I've no idea what I expected to see, truly. It certainly wasn't that." Sea-green eyes sought hers. "Were you aware she left a message?"
Kaoru nodded. "She knew it was risky, so she told us about it. She didn't think it was a big risk, everything she knew about Sith said they wouldn't expect Jedi to be sneaky - but she wanted us to be ready, just in case."
"You and your father."
"He wasn't Jedi," Kaoru said softly. "But he was samurai, and he tried to be a decent person. On Yamato, that's about as close as anyone comes."
"Samurai. Ninja. Sensitives scattered all through the city." Obi-wan shook his head. "And I believe Sanosuke called Kenshin a rurouni, earlier. I must admit I'm a bit lost."
Oh, she knew that feeling. Trying to put together bits and pieces from her memories of Mother and Father; always wondering what a true padawan would know that she didn't. "They probably weren't in the Archives, trust me," Kaoru said wryly. Oh, great thing to tell him, Kaoru. From the look of him, he probably wasn't more than fourteen when the Temple was destroyed, but he's spent more time in them than you ever will. Even if that was twenty years ago. Never mind, moving on... "Which is kind of ironic, because from what my mother could figure out, Yamato was settled because of a war only the Jedi remember."
Obi-Wan grew still. "What war?"
"The Second Sith War."
Her fellow Jedi let out a slow breath. "Not good."
"Really not good," Kaoru agreed. Sipped her water, getting her thoughts in order. "Mother wasn't sure, part of this is based off her guesses, part off the work of a few Old Republic archaeologists out on the Kanto Plain - but there are carved memorials out there whose language dates back to about then. Though based on some of the Yamato legends, my mother thought they weren't made during the war, but shortly after it, by Jedi and Sith fleeing the Purge..."
"Jedi and Sith?" Obi-Wan pounced.
"Legends say there were things out there eating any Force-sensitives they could catch," Kaoru said grimly. "The survivors had a little more to worry about than which side of the Force those fighting beside them were on. People just ran, and some of them ended up running here. And they hid. For thousands of years." She looked down at her water. Swirled it against the thin ceramic of her cup. "And in that time... they changed.
"Part of that was Yamato. This isn't exactly a safe world, outside the spaceport. But it's safer for sensitives than people who aren't; we have creatures here who hunt by the Force, like the vornskr, and sensitives have a better chance of feeling them coming. Even more than that, we have Miasma. Given you had Kanto Plain, you're probably alive because your midi-chlorian count is high enough for training."
"What?"
"It kills more non-sensitives than sensitives," Kaoru shrugged. "Dr. Gensai could probably give you a better explanation than I could. But Miasma means samurai and ninja children have better odds of living to become adults. So for centuries, they've been encouraged to marry. Or at least have children." She gave him a shy grin. "So - and I know this is a shock to anybody from the Temple, my father told me how 'Kaasan busted up a tavern full of samurai once - don't be surprised if perfect strangers try to get you alone for the night."
Obi-Wan made a choked noise.
"Just don't let it go to three nights straight, or technically, you'll be married..."
The poor man looked about to faint. But he cleared his throat, evidently setting that terrifying thought aside. "Samurai and ninja. Jedi and Sith?"
"Mostly," Kaoru agreed, "but it's not that easy. Not every samurai or ninja is Force-sensitive. You're born into those clans; if you don't have the ability to read ki, you just get the physical training. And even among sensitives, I've heard of samurai who lived only to spill blood. Or a few ninja who never hurt anyone; only used their training to spy, and heal, and help negotiate treaties that kept a lot of people from getting hurt." And that doesn't even get into sorcerers, and healers, and hitokiri- No. One shock at a time. "The lines are a little... blurry."
"But not for you," Obi-Wan said levelly.
"No." Kaoru sighed. "Mother died when I was seven." She still flinched at the memory; the sudden shock of the mind she'd been bound to ever since she could remember, gone in crushing pain. "My father took over my training after that. Kamiya Kasshin Ryu is a Light style. A defensive style. For protecting, not for war."
"Sometimes protecting innocents means one must resort to battle," Obi-Wan said softly. "As you did today."
Kaoru had to smile. "Now you sound like Kenshin."
"Do I?" His answering smile was warm, but sharp with curiosity. "What is a rurouni?"
"A wandering swordsman." Kaoru set down her cup, ticking facts off on her fingers. "Before the Empire took power and declared the hereditary classes were dead - except for the nobles, Force only knows why, nobles hadn't been important on Yamato for centuries, but I guess the Ishin Shishi had to have something for symbols, and Palpatine likes the idea... anyway. Yamatoans, human or otherwise, were mostly born into one of four classes; farmer, samurai, artisan, and merchant. Well, five if you count the river-folk, which is where the Empire's tried to force everyone who's not human... they're outcasts, entertainers, leather-workers; all the professions most people think of as unclean."
"Mostly?" Obi-Wan asked pointedly.
"Force sensitivity turns up all over the place," Kaoru shrugged. "For centuries, the Shogunate said only samurai were allowed to carry two swords, and if you weren't samurai and didn't have a lot of money or power, you weren't allowed to carry any. Which ninja have always ignored, at least where they won't get caught... there have always been some people who aren't samurai, but can carry a sword. Given that Kenshin calls himself rurouni, not ronin, I guess he's one of those."
"You guess?" Auburn brows climbed. "You trust him."
"I do," Kaoru smiled. "But I don't really know him. Not yet. We met less than a ten-day ago, when he saved my life." She let out a slow breath. "He knows I'm Jedi. Which means he can probably guess you're Jedi. So- so don't be afraid, okay? He won't turn you in."
"A dangerous course to take, if we're discovered," Obi-Wan observed.
"You don't know the half of it," Kaoru sighed. "He helped me find Yahiko - and if people learned he helped a Jedi take an apprentice, he'd really be in trouble." Though not as much as he already is, being... who he is... don't think about that too loud, Kaoru.
"An apprentice." He frowned.
I was worried about this. "I've never been through the Trials. I know that. But I am an assistant master of Kamiya Kasshin, Kenobi-san. I'm qualified to teach, and to build my own lightsaber." Not that I have, yet. 'Tousan showed me the crystal meditation, but I've only managed student-level crystals so far. I'm not a master, not yet...
But Yahiko needs me.
"The Temple is gone," Kenobi said bleakly. "I cannot fault anyone for attempting to ensure that all our ways do not perish from the universe. So long as you remember the danger of the Dark Side, as I can sense you have. But you sound as if it's more than Imperial law that would have our redheaded friend in jeopardy."
"A lot more," Kaoru said soberly. "I'm not sure why, Mother thought it was because the legends got warped over the years, but people here are sure it's the Jedi who drove our ancestors into hiding. And it didn't help when the rumor got out that the Jedi Watchman for this planet kidnapped a few children for the Temple, decades ago."
"Jedi would never-"
Kaoru shook her head. "Watchman Ulloriaq might have. By accident. If she didn't know Yamatoans well - and that can take a long time. Jedi always checked with the parents, right? Unless the children were orphaned, when they might just take a Force-sensitive child?"
"If there were no adult guardians, yes," Obi-Wan admitted.
"Here, your family is your clan," Kaoru stated. "The parents have first claim. Then siblings, aunts and uncles, or grandparents; that's why Dr. Gensai has Ayame and Suzume. Then cousins, or other adults in your clan, or even those of a clan allied by marriage, or just treaty..."
"Oh, Sithspit," the swordsman muttered. "Then - Yahiko-"
"If he's not an orphan, his relatives don't deserve to claim him!" Kaoru said furiously. Calm. Remember calm. "He was with the Yakuza. His mother died under them, because she didn't have anywhere else to go! No one has any claim on him anymore." Breathe. Slow and easy... "It's a matter of record where Kenshin found him. Anyone who might show up would get laughed right out of Tokyo."
Obi-Wan gave her a considering look. "So society can declare a relative's claims null and void."
"If a clan doesn't honor its commitments to a person, those who do honor them have the right to take them in. An obligation to take them in. Clan is your life, here," Kaoru said plainly. "Someone who doesn't have a place - it's a horrible way to live." She made herself brighten. "But if I say you're a cousin, people will believe me. Even if you are gaijin."
His mouth twitched at that, but his eyes stayed level as a blade. "You're putting a great deal of trust in someone you've just met."
"Is there any reason I shouldn't?" Kaoru said boldly. "Why are you here, Kenobi-san?"
He smiled, wry and sad. "I suppose... I have nowhere else to go."
So much sadness. "I know how 'Kaasan got away," Kaoru said softly. "How did you?"
"The sacrifice of a friend," Obi-Wan sighed. "I was riding a dragon-mount along a cliff. I don't know how she knew, I didn't know; but when Order 66 came through and the clonetroopers opened fire... she took the blow instead of me. We both fell." Sea-blue eyes were distant. "It was a very long fall."
Kaoru bent her head. "I'm sorry for your friend."
The auburn head shook. "Grief is an attachment."
"Life is an attachment," Kaoru shot back. "Duty is heavier than a mountain, death lighter than a feather. Samurai live. And love. And grieve. Because we are human, and our duty to others of the clan of sentient beings is to grant them feelings in return for those they have for us. And it's our duty to ourselves, too; if we don't understand why they act in the will of the Force, or don't, how can we hope to resolve anything without violence?"
"That is... a rather unique interpretation of Jedi teachings," Obi-Wan said thoughtfully.
Kaoru blushed. "Um-"
"I think my master would have found it worthy of meditation," he mused. "Days worth, at the very least. I wonder... if the Council had heard that view, would it have helped..." He sighed. "Likely not. They'd have had to hear it first, and that requires more than simply the presence of ears and an absence of vacuum."
"You met the High Council?" Kaoru said faintly. You just insulted the High Council?
"Hmm? Oh, yes," Obi-Wan gave her a wryly amused smile. "My master was in conflict with them on several occasions. He was strong in the Living Force, you see, and most of those on the Council were stronger in the Unifying Force. As was I, so I could not always see why he disagreed so strongly. But given what I've seen the past years, I wish we had all listened to him."
"Oh, poor Kenshin," Kaoru murmured. "That is... I mean..."
"Jumps in on instinct, solves problems in rather unconventional ways, picks up yet another pathetic lifeform - yes, he does remind me a bit of my master," Obi-Wan agreed ruefully. "If I'd ever imagined my master as a teenager, which I assure you I hadn't, really. Ever."
"Um." Kaoru cleared her throat. I'd better tell him, before he assumes something and somebody gets hurt. "Kenshin's older than he looks."
"Thank goodness. Even early twenties are easier to deal with than teenagers-"
Kaoru blew out a breath. "He's thirty-eight."
Silence. "You are not joking," Obi-Wan said at last.
"He was old enough to fight when the Empire took over here," Kaoru stated, trying not to think about exactly how many facts she was glossing over with the truth. "I think that's why he ended up rurouni. He's... um... kind of wanted by various people."
"Why am I not surprised," Obi-Wan muttered. "Thirty-eight?"
"I checked with Maekawa-sensei; he was a friend of my father's, I'll introduce you to him later. But he says it really does happen, sometimes," Kaoru nodded. "Some of the people back in the mountains, the ones who throw redheads once in a while? There are stories about a redheaded samurai woman who landed with the first refugees, and was still fighting strong over three centuries later." Kaoru half-closed her eyes, hunting for Maekawa's exact words. "We don't know her name, not for sure, but her clan was called Sunrider. And Himura - well, the way Kenshin writes it, it means scarlet village. But if the characters changed over time, it could mean sun village..."
"Space!" The Jedi looked rattled.
"I know! But it's lucky for him, too, because the people looking for him are looking for somebody - well, older than you are-" Kaoru stopped. "Wait. You know that name?"
"From a class in ancient history, but yes." Obi-Wan settled his hands on his knees, eyes distant as he called lightly on the Force to review his own memories. "Sunriders have been Jedi since... oh, before the First Sith War. Vima Sunrider, I think, is the one I recall as being alive during the Second... and her descendant, Vima-Da-Boda, was among us when the Order was issued. Her fifth-generation descendant," Obi-Wan added, stunned. "Five generations in over three and a half millennia... I can't believe I never calculated that before."
"Urk," Kaoru gulped.
"They're very strong in the Force," Obi-Wan mused. "It would be a good reason not to be worried about Kanryuu." He weighed her in his gaze. "But you are worried."
I have people depending on me. I have an apprentice to look after. And we just managed to cross one of the nastier guys in Tokyo's shadow economy. But none of those were what really made her heart sink. "Sano and Katsu, they work around the Empire," Kaoru stated. "I do what I do in spite of it. Kenshin - well, he tries to avoid it where he can, and bluff it where he can't." She studied her guest. "What do you do?"
Obi-Wan was silent for a long moment. "Do you know, I hadn't truly thought about it." Sea-green went distant, choosing each word carefully as a master flower arranger. "I spent most of the years since the fall of the Republic in a rather desolate place, making myself very small and quiet in the Force. I'm desperately out of practice, just when it seems you truly do need Jedi here."
Patient, Kaoru thought, waiting as he thought. She was going to be patient, if she had to beat herself over the head with her own bokken.
"But for all my efforts to hide, the Empire finally caught up with me," he said at last. "I managed to elude them, and I believe they believe I am dead. I could hide again. Bury myself in emptiness once more." Obi-Wan looked up. "But I had forgotten what it felt like to have a lightsaber in my hands. To follow the will of the Force, and stand in defense of the just, and the innocent."
Kaoru let out a relieved breath. Thought a second, and dropped a glance at his weaponless belt.
Obi-Wan cleared his throat awkwardly. "Yes, well... I did say I was out of practice. I lost it in the battle. I'm fortunate that's all I lost," he added grimly. "I've a focus crystal, and I was able to find some few of the components in storage on the Sekihoutai before I became delirious, but-"
"Parts won't be a problem," Kaoru jumped in, relieved. At least, not if Sano's right about you having a chunk of cash. Kenshin had helped her search some of the most out-of-the-way spots in Tokyo for the parts she'd needed to repair her training saber - she'd never have thought of talking to kabuki prop makers - but even so, the dojo budget would have no room for luxuries this month. At least I have a budget. Rurouni have a hard enough time just staying fed. No wonder Kenshin hangs onto his toolkit like grim death.
No, parts wouldn't be a problem. But Dr. Gensai's warnings rang through her head, and she gave Obi-Wan a sober look. "You're not well enough for the meditation yet."
"Kaoru-" he began, nettled.
"You're not," Kaoru insisted. "You almost died. If Dr. Gensai hadn't been able to find a healer - you need to rest. Get your strength back." She skewered him with a look. "Unless you've got that Imperial hang-up about being protected by a woman?"
"Jedi are generally above that particular frailty, milady." Humor danced in his gaze; sobered. "So you know what happened."
"My father always believed that where there is light, there will be darkness," Kaoru said steadily. "And where there is darkness, there is still a little light. It's not good or evil; it's just life."
"The Jedi have always fought the Sith," Obi-Wan objected.
"And here we had to stop fighting if anyone wanted to live," Kaoru stated flatly. "I follow the will of the Force." As well as I can, anyway. "If I sense a disturbance, someone deliberately out to do harm, like that ninja meant to do to Megumi, then I stop them. But if I tried to chase down every ninja in Tokyo who touched the Dark Side, the samurai would kill me." If the Empire didn't beat them to it. "There's a kind of truce here. A balance."
"A balance in the Force?" He started to cross his arms skeptically; stopped, suddenly thoughtful. "Well. My master always said one should cultivate a certain tolerance for local customs."
That's not an answer. But Kaoru nibbled her lip, and deliberately calmed her temper; push too hard now, and he might not even consider trying to live among her people.
"For now, I believe I can tell a certain sensei who has quite definitely not said she might be involved in certain rebellious activities..." The glint of humor was back. "I can be a very heavy sleeper, if need calls for it. After all, I have it on good authority that I am still quite ill, and feverish; there's no telling when I might simply have to drop off for a nap, is there?"
Relieved, Kaoru grinned at him.
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Translations and info:
For more details on lightsaber forms, see Wookiepedia. Great site!
Ariitu - "aliit"; family, bloodline, clan. Mando'a origin.
Ataru - Form IV lightsaber fighting, Qui-Gon Jinn's - and Yoda's - favored style. Makes extensive use of acrobatic maneuvers often thought physically impossible without the aid of the Force. Users are a "whirlwind of destruction", but may be open to attacks from multiple opponents, and - as Maul painfully demonstrated - can be vulnerable in tight spaces. The "Form of the Hawk-Bat".
Hai - formal yes.
Ie - house, family organization.
Kami - spirits, deities.
Koji - orphan, without parents.
Living Force - deals with emotions, healing, the "now"; "feel, don't think - use your instincts." Qui-Gon Jinn's strengths lay in this direction, while most other Jedi Masters were stronger in the Unifying Force: telekinesis, visions of the past and future, a more rational and long-term use of the Force. Note that all Jedi use both; they simply tend to have more strength in one direction. While the High Council favored the Unifying Force, in fact, neither side does well without the other. Unifying users need a kick to get them to work in the present (just watch the High Council in the Prequel Trilogy, believe me), while Living Force users can be caught up so much in the now they don't see the cliff they're about to jump off of. Example: Hitokiri Battousai.
Minashigo - without protective affiliation.
Morichro - similar to a Force trance, slowing a being's metabolism, breathing, and heart rate (or equivalents). Unlike a Force trance, Morichro can affect beings other than the Jedi using the technique. Abused, this power can be fatal; the Jedi Council forbade its use, even though Dark Side Force-users were not known for it, since it required the student to master less malevolent uses of the Force first.
Shii-Cho - Form I, taught to all younglings even before they become padawans. Simple, which is its strength; good against both blasters and sword-wielders.
Soresu - Form III fighting; Obi-Wan's favorite in AotC and RotS. The most defensive form, developed to counteract advancing blaster technology throughout the galaxy.
Tanuki - raccoon dog.
Tayuu - high-ranking courtesan.
The encounter of Obi-Wan and a rebuilt Darth Maul was drawn in a comic book, Star Wars: Infinities. Not technically canon EU, but it was neat. :)
Scary as the math is, the Sunrider info is canon EU. Sunriders tend to have strong Force powers, long-lasting youthfulness, and red hair; some suspect Mara Jade is of this lineage. Vima was born in 4,000 BBY, and may have died in the year 3,952 BBY on Katarr, during the Jedi Purge that was the aftermath of the Second Sith war. Her true fate, however, is unknown - and given she was one of the strongest Jedi of her generation, it's possible she escaped. Vima-Da-Boda was born 190 BBY, and, canon, is a sixth generation descendant of Nomi Sunrider (Vima's mother) through Vima; Vima-Da-Boda herself was still alive well into the New Republic era, meeting Leia.
