The Faerie Chronicles of Kenshin & Kaoru: The Useless Sword and the Enchanted Rose, a Rurouni Kenshin fanfic by Raberba girl
Chapter 5 - Flowers & Mushrooms
"Your stance is off... You're leaving your side exposed... The passion isn't coming through..."
"Shut up, Sanosuke!" the young servant finally exclaimed in exasperation. "You don't even know anything about swordsmanship! Go get drunk somewhere else!"
Sanosuke grinned from where he was lounging on one of the kitchen porches, sipping from a stolen cup of sake and watching Yahiko practice one of his techniques. "I'm just fine right where I am, kid. Besides, I need some laughs right now. Sôjirô and I were up all night on double-guard duty again."
'He needs some laughs,' Yahiko thought furiously. "Don't you have to be with the princess, then? What are you doing slacking off?"
"I'm not slacking off," Sanosuke said in annoyance. "It's Sôjirô's shift. I'm goin' to bed as soon as I finish this." He bobbed the cup in one hand and used the other to make flapping motions at Yahiko. "Go on, entertain me with your little stick-sword."
"It's a shinai!" Yahiko said hotly. "Though I guess it's just like you not to be able to tell."
One of the head cooks thundered out just in time to see his most troublesome charge grappling with a royal bodyguard twice his size. "Myôjin!" the man barked. "Return to your duties this instant, before I find where I put that switch!"
Sanosuke grinned as he let go of the amusing brat. As for Yahiko, even the threat of a whipping did not curb his distaste for abandoning the scuffle. It was only with utmost reluctance that he slung the shinai across his back and went into the kitchen.
Sanosuke chuckled under his breath as he watched them go. "Great kid. Even if he's got no clue how to throw a punch."
o.o.o.o.o
The days had passed too quickly - the wedding was tomorrow. Sitting in her garden to take advantage of the winter sunshine, with Sôjirô keeping watch from a respectful distance, Kaoru could no longer stand the endless circle of her thoughts.
"There's just no way out," she complained to Megumi, one of the few court ladies Kaoru could honestly call a friend. "I feel sick at the thought of being married to Lord Shishio, but he's promising a peace treaty in return for my hand. Yet he's clearly willing to break contract, but Father won't do anything about it because he's set some ridiculous hope on a useless prince - who has also offered marriage, but is at the beck and call of the first man! There's just no way to win! What are they all expecting of me? I always knew I was destined to marry for politics, but when there's so little chance for any good to come of it- Hey! Why are you yawning?!"
Kaoru glared at Megumi, who returned it with an annoyed look. "Listen to you, twittering and whining as if the world is about to end."
"My world is about to end," Kaoru pointed out. "At the very least, it could be for the benefit of my people - but what if I can't even have that?"
"The key word there being 'if,'" Megumi said calmly, then cocked an eyebrow when Kaoru gave her a sharp look. "Are you so sure that long-lost prince of yours is useless?"
Kaoru rolled her eyes. Megumi did not know that Battousai was an assassin, but it was common knowledge by now that, lost prince though he may be, he was in some sort of service to Lord Shishio.
"Oh, come on. Think about it," Megumi continued. "Since when does a birthmark get passed down through a family line? There's something fey about that man, some destiny that I wouldn't take lightly if I were you."
Kaoru gave her friend a skeptical glance. "You sure you're not just interested in him because of his looks?" She meant it sarcastically, so she was a little surprised when Megumi, grinning, appeared to take her seriously.
"I admit he would be rather handsome without the birthmark, especially if those eyes of his ever thawed. But there is more to him than that." Her gaze shifted as she looked beyond Kaoru. "Speaking of which..."
Kaoru frowned, then turned to find Battousai himself wandering into the garden, looking around curiously. "Battousai," she called. "This is a private garden, you know." She glanced over at Sôjirô, who winked and made no move to interfere. Kaoru supposed it was a good sign that he did not look worried.
Battousai turned to her and smiled a little. "Is it? In that case, please forgive the intrusion, Kaoru-hime. I was looking for a place..."
As he trailed off, Kaoru suddenly noticed the thing he was holding carefully in both hands. "Hey!" she burst out. "What are you doing with my rose?"
"It's dying," he stated, holding it out to show her. "I thought that perhaps it would like the open sky better than being imprisoned in the great hall." His face was almost sad as he looked around at the winter-struck garden. "But all its companions are asleep. This is not the right place after all...I beg your pardon, Kaoru-hime." He gave an apologetic little bow.
The two women stared at him, perplexed by this unexpected explanation. "All flowers die without food and sunlight," Megumi pointed out. "Why would a man like you care about something like that?"
Battousai pondered this for a minute. Then he nodded and said, "You are right. It needs nourishment to thrive...what is this fey thing meant to feed on, I wonder?" He gazed thoughtfully at Kaoru for so long that she glared at him in self-defense.
"Well, it's not gonna spring back to life again if you plant it. You have no business here, Battousai."
His eyes had automatically followed the gesturing of her hands as she spoke, so he noticed the mushrooms when he would not have otherwise. His interest piqued, Battousai handed the rose to Kaoru and crouched down by the little growths, which were formed in a ring near the base of a tree. He reached out for them, his fingers hovering just over their soft caps.
"What are you doing?" Kaoru said harshly. "Don't touch them!"
He withdrew his hand and smiled up at her knowingly. "Have these always been here?"
"How should I know?" she said haughtily. "They're just mushrooms." Yet he kept his gaze on her, so that after squirming for a while, she could not pretend any more. "It was a long time ago," she admitted in a low voice. "When I was a child. I don't even remember anything." Then she burst out heatedly, "And if you dare say, 'Ah, I thought you looked touched' or some such thing, I'll pound you into the dirt!"
He rose and smiled at her in a way she would never have expected from an assassin. "Ah," he said, with just a hint of humor. "I thought you looked familiar." Then he gently took the rose back from her limp hands and walked away.
Megumi expelled a heavy breath, her eyes traveling between Kaoru's shocked face and the mushroom ring - the fairy ring, it had to be a fairy ring. "You've been to Faerie," she realized. Then she laughed. "No wonder you're half-mad, Kaoru-hime! Heh, I was always curious."
"Oh, be quiet!" Kaoru snapped, terrified that there might be truth behind her friend's teasing. "It was just once, and it was a long time ago. I don't even remember anything about it!"
"Uh huh."
Kaoru blushed and looked down. After a minute, she whispered, "There was...dancing. And everything was so beautiful...strange, but beautiful." She shook her head. "But I can't remember any details, really. I don't even know why they let me come back at all."
Megumi reached out and clasped her hand in an unusually sympathetic gesture. "It does explain some things," she said softly. "Like why an enchantress would give you that rose."
Kaoru sighed. "I was afraid of that."
o.o.o.o.o
Just outside the garden, Battousai was met by one of Shishio's servants. Houji held up a black envelope, and Battousai's lips tightened.
Sensing the assassin's reluctance, Houji frowned in warning and insistently extended the envelope toward him. Battousai briefly closed his eyes, then accepted the assignment.
They parted ways.
To be continued...
Author's Notes: According to Wikipedia, a fairy ring is "a naturally occurring ring or arc of mushrooms...[which] also occupy a prominent place in European folklore as the location of gateways into elfin kingdoms, or places where elves gather and dance." People in stories who spend time in Faerie often find, when they return to Earth, that time passes much differently in the two realms. They used to call people 'touched' if they'd had dealings with the fairies.