Author's note: thanks so much everyone for the feedback! A big shout-out to JMai for kindly pointing out that I have been spelling Kaoru's name wrong...and I think I have probably done that for ALL my fanfiction. Must check. Anyway, this chapter has a lot of info packed in and is slightly dry in areas, but there is some light lime at the end to liven things up a bit. Enjoy!
"Very good, Kaoru," Kenshin smiled.
"Thanks," Kaoru panted, a flush of pride welling up in her. She and Kenshin had been beating swords together all morning and she was covered with sweat, aching from burning muscles, gasping for air through tortured lungs, and feeling oddly happy. Despite the coerced nature of her training, Kaoru was surprised to discover how good it felt to have a sword in her hands again. When her father had died a few weeks after she graduated from high school, Kaoru had been so absorbed in grieving his loss, desperately trying to make ends meet, and preparing for college that kendo had plummeted to the bottom rung of her priorities. Aside from teaching a few classes here and there and trying to fit in practice time between college coursework, her bokken had been more of a conversational piece in her dorm room than a weapon. Two weeks of captivity had made it abundantly clear how badly she was out of training and how many calluses she had lost on her hands, and both Kenshin and Hiko seemed determined to rectify these issues as soon as humanely possible.
Kenshin sheathed his katana with a smooth effortlessness that Kaoru longed to emulate (her short arms had always made resheathing an interesting exercise in contortionism) and nodded to Kaoru, "Rest now." Kaoru badly wanted to succumb to gravity and let herself collapse to the ground in a sprawling heap of exhausted flesh, but she retained her warrior poise and lowered herself to the floor in seiza. Gratefully taking the bottle of water Kenshin handed her, she downed half of it before coming up for air.
A companionable silence settled over the dojo as Kenshin and Kaoru sat lost in their own thoughts. Kenshin closed his eyes, allowing Kaoru to surreptitiously examine him. While she had loathed the sight of the man at first, Kenshin's politeness and genuine regret over the exact nature of their first meeting had eroded Kaoru's hatred and while it was still somewhat awkward and unsettling to be around him, she had worked through some of it and was slowly adjusting to her new life.
The adjustment had only come after the realization that escape currently wasn't an option: Kaoru had spent the first week trying to formulate a few jailbreak plans that were resoundingly thwarted. Practically every waking moment was spent with Hiko, Kenshin, or the both of them ordering her around, and she was too heavily supervised to disappear. At night, her door and windows were unopenable and unbreakable. There were no phones or computers or other means to summon help; she had even thought of writing a message and placing it in a window in hopes that someone would see it but a glance through the windows revealed that the mansion was out in the boonies and no one was around except for her two captors.
After about two weeks, Kaoru had finally wrapped her head around the idea that she was currently stuck and simply had to make the best of the situation in hopes that things would change in the future. However, her current predicament did involve sword training and the brand-new subject of magic, and it took place in a gorgeous mansion where all her needs were met and all she needed to worry about was her training and her chores. Her second day of forced apprenticeship, she had discovered that all her belongings from her dorm room had materialized inside her new quarters. When she grilled Kenshin, he merely responded that all her affairs had been taken care of: she had been withdrawn from college, her part-time job had been notified of her leaving, and there was apparently no loose ends she needed to trouble herself with. While it infuriated Kaoru that she had been so effectively removed from her former life, she did grudgingly admit that Kenshin had arranged everything seamlessly and it was a small comfort to not have to pinch pennies and stress about how she was going to pay next semester's tuition. Compared to her former life of ramen noodles, exams, ratty old clothes, and student loans, this new life had its perks.
As Kaoru had readjusted to hard training again, she began recalling how much she had loved it, loved the intense practices, the aching muscles and fatigue and sense of accomplishment. Being kidnapped and forced to do something she adored was not as great a hardship as it might have been, and at times Kaoru forgot that she was indeed a prisoner.
Kenshin was implicit in her captivity, but the calm, quiet man sitting on the floor was starting to become more of a companion than a jailer. Looking over Kenshin, Kaoru's thoughts wandered briefly to the color of Kenshin's hair – a shaft of sunlight had turned it to fire, and it glowed with a thousand brilliant tints. Admiring it, Kaoru idly thought about what it would feel like to run her fingers through the red locks, then stopped, irritated. What the hell do I care what his hair feels like? she asked herself fiercely, feeling an odd blush rise to her cheeks.
It was at this most inopportune time that Kenshin chose to glance up and catch her staring at him. Violet looked into blue, and Kaoru jerked her head away, embarrassed and then angry at herself for feeling so. Kenshin said nothing for a few moments, then gently questioned, "How have these two weeks been for you? Are you adjusting?"
Kaoru suddenly found a smudge on her katana's sheath that needed buffing away. Rubbing at it with a bit more vigor than necessary she replied, "As well as I can, I guess."
"I see," Kenshin responded and sadness crept into his eyes. "I am sorry. More than anything, I wish this entire situation would have been different."
"Kenshin, stop apologizing," Kaoru huffed with a trace of irritation. "Look, what happened happened. It's done. I know you would have done things differently if you could have, and I appreciate that. But it happened, and I'm here. This isn't the life I would have picked out for myself, but it's not as bad as it could be. You've been kind and I appreciate it, I'm back in sword training, and I'm learning new things. All in all, this is not a terribly bad situation. Let's just move forward."
Kenshin smiled rather ruefully but said, "Then we will do that."
"Good," Kaoru climbed slowly back up to her feet, feeling overworked leg muscles protesting mightily. "Then let's get back to work."
"Heads, it's Bleach, tails it's Death Note," Kenshin said as he flipped a quarter upwards several feet. As it arched back down, he plucked it effortless from the air in midspin and slapped it against the back of his hand. "Heads," he called.
"Ha! Gimme that remote," Kaoru chortled. Kenshin resignedly handed it over as Kaoru pressed the play button and settled back into the overstuffed couch. As electric guitar sounds and a snappy drum beat hit the surround-sound speakers, Kaoru's mind drifted away and began musing on the oddity of her new life. It was surreal that she could have spent the entire day wielding a sword and trying to master the Basic Summoning spell, all this otherworldly stuff, then pass the evening sitting on the couch with very ordinary, solidly familiar microwave popcorn and anime.
The entire past month had been similarly disjointed. Kaoru's new "home" for lack of a better word was steeped in both magic and modernity. Salamanders kept much of it clean, skilled in their ability to burn away any impurity and filth without damaging carpet, furniture, or countertops. Kaoru had long since accustomed herself to the lizard-shaped streaks of fire that constantly zoomed around the gigantic mansion like excited lapdogs. She had her own living area, complete with another one of those damned mirrors that either Hiko or Kenshin could summon her through. In fact, Kaoru had been irritated to discover that all the mirrors in the house were similarly enchanted, and if Hiko wanted her, all he had to do was look in a mirror to find out what room she was in and bellow at her through the glass. Most unhappily, Kaoru had discovered that the mirror in her room was stuck firmly to the wall and no amount of prying would loosen it: moreover, covering it up with a cloth only earned her an extra round of chores. However, since it was in her sitting room and not her bedroom or bathroom, she tried to ignore it.
But despite the magic that permeated the entire house, Kaoru was constantly astonished at how, well, ordinary it was. Since she was now an apprentice, abet a reluctant one, she could not escape her quota of chores, much of which involved cleaning that the salamanders either could not or would not do. Kenshin was in charge of the cooking, something Kaoru volunteered to help with, fully knowing that her mediocre cooking skills would mean Hiko's meals were guaranteed to be burnt, oversalted, or otherwise "accidentally" ruined; however, Kenshin had politely but firmly banished her from the kitchen. From what she had seen, the kitchen was fully modern, equipped with blenders, toasters, and a stainless steel fridge. The laundry room had a high-tech washer and dryer, detergent, and fabric softener. A few times, Kaoru swore she heard a cellphone ring somewhere in the house. The entertainment room Kaoru and Kenshin were sitting in was furnished with overstuffed couches, a massive HD TV, and surround-sound speakers, and Kenshin had said something about them getting Netflicks streamed in. Clearly Hiko was quite wealthy and enjoyed the finer things of life, both magical and non-magical.
However, it was also clear that Hiko liked yelling at his two apprentices even more and that despite the entertainment center and state-of-the-art oven, this was a house of serious training and the prolonged suffering that accompanied it. If Kaoru was not up by dawn, Hiko was sure to bellow through the mirror for her to get her lazy ass out of bed and she didn't stop moving until evening. Except when occupied with chores, Kaoru spent dawn to dusk in a rotation of being yelled at, ordered around, and mentally provoked by Hiko and being respectfully tutored by Kenshin, both instructing her in their sword art and magic.
"You'll need an Air Master's tutelage eventually, girl," Hiko had commented. "But my baka deshi and I can give you the magical foundation you need. All magic users start out the first few years learning the same skills anyway, and any Elemental Master can teach that. Besides, my foolish apprentice would be well served by having someone to teach: the best way to learn something is to teach someone else how to do it. Maybe you can be instrumental in beating some sense into that idiot's head. At the very least, he will finally understand how frustrating it is to have an apprentice and realize how much I have suffered on his behalf all these years." Hiko was practically preening as he said that last line. Then frowning, he rumbled, "And stop making faces, I can see that, you know." Kaoru hastily stiffened up; she had been making gagging expressions into her sleeve on the pretext of coughing. Hiko's arrogance practically had its own mailing address, and Kaoru surmised that there was very little which could threaten the man's fortress-like assurance of his own awesomeness.
Although she grudgingly had to admit that he wasn't a bad teacher: although Hiko heaped on sarcasm and seemed to delight in provoking Kaoru into losing her temper, he hardly ever lost control of his. Even when Hiko yelled at her or Kenshin, it was usually in a rather lazy, oh God, how long must I put up with this tedious bullshit? sort of way. Also, Kaoru had to admit that her new master was less rude to her than he was to Kenshin; Kaoru had only heard him call Kenshin by his rightful name a few times and most of the time used some abusive term or other to summon his long-suffering apprentice. However, Hiko seemed to prefer attaching a fairly moderate negative to "girl" and using it to address Kaoru; "foolish girl" seemed to be his most favorite one so far. Since it was less harsh than "idiot apprentice", Kaoru let it pass. Unlike Kenshin, though, she sometimes gave abuse right back, as much as Hiko would let her get away with and far more than she suspected Kenshin would be allotted.
Kenshin was a far different teacher, never deviating from scrupluous politeness (although Hiko kept snapping "You'll never gain the authority you need over an apprentice if you keep calling her dono, you idiot!") and endlessly patient. Unlike Hiko, he never raised his voice and very unlike Hiko he was free with praise. All told, Kaoru realized that having two instructors with vastly different teaching styles was rather helpful. Alternating between being bellowed at and verbally baited and being quietly praised and encouraged kept her lessons interesting and provided different levels of motivation.
After a month of her forced apprenticeship, Kaoru had fallen into a fairly regular pattern: mornings and early afternoons spent in sword work and afternoons/evenings of magic training, Hiko and Kenshin trading Kaoru back and forth between them. At certain points of the day, she would be set chores to do so that Hiko could order Kenshin about for a change. Often training stretched into late evening so that the days ended up being endless and Kaoru often fell into bed each night exhausted. Although she suspected that Hiko was easier on her than he was on Kenshin, the training was both mentally and physically draining. On the rare nights that Hiko released them both at a reasonable hour, she rarely had energy to do anything more than just flop on the couch utterly spent. As a result, she and Kenshin had fallen into a pattern of popcorn and anime on free nights which was what they were doing right now.
Episode 29 of Bleach was in full swing on the TV, but Kaoru wasn't really paying attention. Instead, she kept ruminating over the Basic Summoning spell Kenshin and Hiko had been teaching her, or at least attempting too. All magical wielders needed to master it in order summon the embodiment of their element. Kenshin and Hiko had salamanders that they could conjure up by the dozens with merely a snap of their fingers. Kaoru knew that her element was a zephyr and according to drawings she had seen, she knew it would look similar to a crane. But her efforts with the Basic Summoning spell were only producing erratic bursts of wind that sent small objects flying. A crane-shaped otherworldly being had yet to materialize.
Squinching her forehead together, Kaoru tried to concentrate, reaching inwardly for her elemental power. It irritated her to no end that she couldn't do this. Sword skills were one thing; Kenshin or Hiko would show her a form and she would perform it again and again until she got it right. But magic skills were different; Hiko or Kenshin could tell her what to do but could not show her. Kaoru was a visual learner, not an auditory one, and it was extremely frustrating trying to figure out what exactly she was supposed to be doing. As both Kenshin and Hiko had explained it, magic training was basically about learning how to tap into her natural ability and both control and direct the energies inside her rather than starting with zero ability and skill and working up from there, which was how Kaoru's sword training had been. Her magical training was vastly more frustrating than the brutal Hiten Mitsurugi sword style Hiko and Kenshin were beating into her. However, unlike the sword, Kaoru could practice magic just about anywhere and she found herself doing so constantly: in the bathtub, scrubbing the floor, waiting for Hiko to finish yelling at Kenshin over something, lying in bed, brushing her hair, it was an endless struggle to try to coax a reluctant zephyr into being.
Kaoru squeezed her eyes together, feeling tension rise up in her. It seemed so simple when Hiko and Kenshin summoned their elements. What was she doing wrong? Closing her mind to the noise of the TV, she reached inwards, straining desperately.
Crash! The bowl of popcorn hit the floor and two full glasses of soda and ice cubes went flying. The drapes shivered and a picture on the wall wobbled dangerously. Kaoru jumped to her feet, "Sorry, I'm sorry!" she yelled and dived for the scattered popcorn.
"Don't worry about it," Kenshin replied and summoned two salamanders. They shimmered across the carpet, burning away the spilled popcorn and drinks before zooming out of the room. "That was quite a gust."
"Sorry," Kaoru repeated.
"There is nothing to be sorry about; it is normal for new magical wielders to be quite astonishingly unstable the first several months. If I recall, I spent at least five months causing small fires throughout this house," Kenshin responded with a fond smile. "One time when Master was sleeping, I caught my bedroom drapes on fire. It was difficult to wake him and by the time Master arrived on the scene, the entire bedroom was in flames." He paused, then grinned, "I believe I had double sets of chores for quite some time after that."
Kaoru grinned back. The salamanders returned, this time holding a new bag of popcorn that was expanding broadly. Giggling, Kaoru reached for the bag. She had seen salamanders pop popcorn with the heat of their bodies several times but it still made her laugh. In the strange dichotomy of Kaoru's new life, Kenshin using an Elemental creature as a microwave was a perfect example of how magic and nonmagic blended together in this odd world that had become hers.
Kenshin was part of this dichotomy too. Sitting next to her on the couch, dressed in a t-shirt and sweatpants like Kaoru was, watching anime, and eating popcorn, he looked like a college student. Kaoru could almost believe that this scene was taking place somewhere in her old life, that Kenshin was a friend that she had invited over for a movie night.
Then the image was shattered as Kenshin flicked a kernel of unpopped corn at a salamander; it caught it and the kernel burst open into fluffy whiteness. "Show off," Kaoru said mock-scoffingly. Kenshin smiled, and Kaoru wiggled deeper into the comfortable couch. Things had been highly awkward with Kenshin in the beginning; there was simply no getting around it. When two people wake up naked next to each other without any recollection of the previous night's activities, a certain level of weirdness is inevitable. The fact that Kenshin was complicit in her imposed apprenticeship and was one of two people in charge of ordering her around every second of the day also added to the awkwardness factor. But a month of spending all their waking hours working together had created a growing respect between the two, and Kaoru was learning to simply not think about what had happened that night and focus on the present. Kenshin had been nothing but respectful and polite, and she was growing more and more comfortable in his presence.
However, there was no overlooking the Soul Bond between them. Kaoru had tried to ignore this at first, furious about the fact that she had unwittently joined her soul to a stranger. But there was no escaping it either. Kaoru had long since discovered that she didn't need a mirror to contact Kenshin; she just knew where he was and could easily pinpoint his location. As days turned into weeks, she had also discovered that she could gague his moods rather effectively. Kenshin's exterior rarely radiated anything else but a calm serenity, but Kaoru was learning that there were many layered emotions rolling under the serene surface.
Such as now. Kenshin sat seemingly at his ease, but Kaoru was aware that something was nagging him. On a deeper level, he was troubled by something that he was trying to process. Reaching out with her chi, Kaoru tentatively probed his essence. She had hesitantly tried tapping into his chi a few times and had been confronted with what felt like a wall gently but firmly blocking her out. His inner being was carefully guarded, and she had been unwilling to push it any further. But Kaoru was realizing that her initial blazing anger and loathing of Kenshin had slowly been replaced by respect, care, and a somewhat unsettling interest in learning more about him. Kenshin was not one who freely shared about himself, and sometimes it took some probing to make him talk.
Unconciously leaning a little towards him, Kaoru stretched out with her chi towards Kenshin. Chi, she knew, was a separate entity from her magical abilities. They operated on many of the same principles but were different powers all together. As a martial artist, Kaoru had been training her chi sense for years and she felt it move up against Kenshin's essence. As usual, she felt her chi run against the mental wall Kenshin had erected around his inner being but this time, she pressed forward, feeling her chi run like water along a table, searching for cracks and weak points.
Oooh! Kaoru thought as Kenshin's chi suddenly shifted and a pulsing energy brushed against Kaoru's gentle prodding. It tasted fiercely of heat and strength, startling her with its intensity. Blushing slightly, Kaoru began tugging her chi back.
Crash! For the second time that evening, the popcorn bowl sailed to the floor as Kenshin twisted sharply and knocked it out of the way. For one heart-rendering moment, Kaoru thought that he was lashing out at her. She tensed in surprise as his hands seized her and effortlessly yanked her to himself, crushing her body into his own as his hot mouth found her surprised lips.
As Kenshin's tongue flicked against hers, Kaoru tasted ginger and green tea and felt his hands trail rivulets of fire up and down her back. Her hands hesitantly went for his hair, and she ran her trembling fingers through his silky red strands. Cupping her hips, Kenshin rolled her closer into his body, molding her against himself before lowering her down on the couch, pressing her back into its soft cushions. His eyes were liquid gold, and they burned with an intensity that both thrilled and terrified her.
Suddenly, Kenshin jerked backwards violently, knocking a cushion to the floor as he scrambled to his feet, breathing heavily. Confused, Kaoru looked up at him; in the tiny portion of her brain that was still able to process coherent thought, she wondered what had just transpired. Did I do something wrong? she thought. Also, am I relieved or disappointed that he stopped?
Kenshin's hands were gripped into tight fists and he was panting as if he and Hiko had just gone head-to-head. "Kaoru...I," he started, then paused. The golden gleam was still flaming in his eyes, and he seemed to be engaged in an interesting battle of wills between hormones and logic. Finally, in a strangled voice, he said, "It is getting late. I think I will go to bed. Goodnight." Turning on his heel, he left the room, leaving behind a very confused, hurt, and furious Kaoru. What the hell was that all about?
The spilled popcorn on the floor twirled upwards in a mini tornado and a pile of CD's scattered across the room like leaves caught in a windstorm as Kaoru screamed "AAARRGGGGGGHHHHHH!" into a pillow. Curtains flapped violently, knocking over a few figurines as wires whipped back and forth and books fell off shelves. Kicking her feet against the couch, Kaoru let loose her anger in a magnificent fit of drama that relieved some of her temper...until she lifted her head from the pillow to see the entertainment den in shambles. "Awww, DAMMIT!"