The Faerie Chronicles of Kenshin & Kaoru: Reclamation, a Rurouni Kenshin fanfic by Raberba girl
Chapter 1 [censored version]
A/N: There's nothing inappropriate in the excised material, I just felt like cutting out some things.
o.o.o
"One last thing," Tomoe said as they were about to leave their new quarters. The dormitory was empty now, the bedding neatly folded and all personal belongings packed away.
[. . .]
"Having second thoughts?" Megumi smirked. "Want Tomoe-san to whisk you back home so you can wait for Ken-san like a good little wife?"
"No way," Kaoru said hotly. She had not come this far only to back out now. "Thank you, Tomoe-san," she said firmly. "Your help is appreciated."
Tomoe smiled. "You're welcome. I will keep an eye on you two and on the boy, but please keep your rose close also, Kaoru-san. It will offer some protection." The women bowed to each other, and then Tomoe disappeared to check on Yahiko.
Kaoru took a deep breath. "Well," she said, squaring her shoulders, "shall we go?"
"After you, Kaoru-san," Megumi said with a grin. For a moment, Kaoru was startled at the honorific, but then remembered they were supposed to be equals now. Straightening her new uniform one last time, she and Megumi left to start their new duties.
o.o.o.o.o
"I can't believe how much this place has changed," Sanosuke muttered.
"What was that?" Yahiko asked, glancing up at him. The two were wandering the streets near the palace, looking for a likely situation that would both suit Sanosuke and be useful for their purpose.
Sanosuke flapped a hand dismissively. "Ah, nothing. You better get back, they'll be looking for you."
Yahiko shook his head, making an aggravated noise. "Of all the stupid things," he complained. "I'm stuck as a kitchen boy, then I escape and get to go on an undercover mission - as a kitchen boy!"
"Don't complain, kid, you're the only one protecting the princess now. Speaking of which, you better get back there before some thug tries to cop a feel on Her Highness."
Yahiko stiffened. "Y-You don't really think anyone'd do anything like that to her, do you?"
Sanosuke eyed him.
"Yeah, all right, I'm going!" Yahiko exclaimed, both worried and annoyed. "You'll be around, though, right?"
"Yep." Sanosuke was looking over at some sort of half-constructed wing of the castle, where workers were bustling around under the direction of a large, bulky man who said little but had a commanding presence.
"Is that the foreman?"
"Only guy around who looks the part. Mission accomplished, now get out of here."
"One day," Yahiko grumbled, "one day I will do something important for once..."
Sanosuke rolled his eyes and went to get himself hired.
o.o.o.o.o
Kenshin, his hair and eyes glamoured black and his birthmark hidden by the same means, walked the streets of the capital with his sword hidden under a cloak. He was unhappy to see even more soldiers patrolling than had been usual under Shishio's rule - it seemed that Senkaku doubted his ability to control the people. Even as he watched, a sudden commotion broke out near a tool shop.
[. . .]
"Shut up!" The soldiers, not to be dissuaded, knocked him to the ground; then they turned with relish back to their prey. Some of the passersby were hurrying along on their business, eager to get away; others had stopped to stare with angry helplessness. Only a very few seemed eager to watch the coming cruelty, and those tended to be more richly dressed.
Kenshin's hand was already on the sakabatô's hilt when a man's authoritative voice cut through the tension. "It seems to me that if the soldiers of Senkaku are so worried about thieving, they ought to look first to their own ranks."
The soldiers turned on the speaker furiously. He was a tall, good-looking man, and though his clothes were old and shabby, they were neat and clean, the rest of his appearance treated with similar care. He faced them with quiet confidence, even though he had no weapon. "Katsura-sama," the crowd was whispering in relieved excitement. "It's Katsura-sama..."
Kenshin narrowed his eyes, stepped back, and watched quietly.
"You!" the enraged soldier exclaimed, drawing his sword at once. "You dare show your face, with the price you've got on your head?! Heheh, Lord Senkaku'll be pleased to get his hands on you at last!"
"Do you really think you'll be the one to capture me, you fool?" Katsura murmured.
One of his antagonists grinned and spread his arms mockingly. "Three swords against an unarmed civilian. Looks like a no-brainer to me."
'Are all minions this stupid?' Kenshin wondered. Wasn't it obvious that this Katsura person would not be facing them so calmly if he was not perfectly confident of handling them?
It was quick, almost too quick. One soldier made an enthusiastic though graceless charge, yelling; Katsura calmly plucked a pitchfork out of a bystander's hands and used it to thrust his attacker's sword aside. With the same movement, even as the soldier was processing the fact that he was now wide open, Katsura brought up a leg to kick him in the throat. The choking soldier's weakened grasp made it quite easy for Katsura to twist the pitchfork and get the sword settled into his own hand.
'Nice,' Kenshin thought mildly.
The other two soldiers, enraged, came at Katsura simultaneously, one on each side. Katsura ducked them both so he could thrust the sword through the still-coughing man's chest, then rolled into his continuing momentum out of harm's way. Kenshin sucked in a breath as he watched the first soldier gurgling to death before him. Not this...he had firmly put killing behind him, and the renewed sight of it sickened him.
The other two soldiers, having nearly crashed into each other in the wake of Katsura's little maneuver, straightened and were immediately forced to defend against their opponent's lightning-quick strikes. There were so few of them, the men were within a hair's breadth of death; Kenshin barely had time to stride forward and meet Katsura's blade with his own. "No killing," he said quietly to Katsura's surprised, annoyed expression.
Almost in the same breath, Kenshin sent a sleep-spell into the two remaining soldiers, so that they dropped like rocks and lay sprawled unconscious in the street.
"They're scum," Katsura said, eyes narrowing as he obviously wondered whether to take on Kenshin next.
Kenshin sheathed his sword and stepped back in a peaceful stance. "They cannot hurt you if we leave before they awaken." He raised his eyebrows questioningly. "Allow me to buy you a drink?"
Katsura studied him for a moment distrustfully, then glanced out at the agitated crowd. Most were glaring contemptuously at the fallen bodies, but a few were looking outraged at Katsura's and Kenshin's audacity in attacking warriors of Lord Senkaku.
"Fine," Katsura said shortly. "I'll hear you out, but I make no promises."
Kenshin nodded. "That is all I ask for."
Even in broad daylight, in the middle of that crowd, it was like the two men had vanished. No one remembered in which direction they had gone, or even, when more soldiers later showed up to investigate the disturbance, anything about what Katsura-sama's accomplice had looked like.
o.o.o.o.o
She couldn't believe how hard cleaning was. How did her servants do this all day, six days a week?! Not only was her body achingly tired after only a few hours of this, but her efforts seemed to be making things worse rather than better.
Megumi caught sight of her and acquired a very interesting facial expression. "Kaoru-san!" she hissed, hurrying over. "Can't you at least pretend to know what you're doing?"
Kaoru looked down helplessly at the section of wet floor she was attempting to clean, which looked dirtier than when she had started. "I am! How am I supposed to do it any different? She said get the mop wet and wipe the floor with it, so that's what I'm doing! I swear I don't know where all those mud trails came from."
"From your feet," Megumi said in exasperation. She neatly plucked the mop out of Kaoru's hands and wrung it into the nearby bucket of soapy gray water. "For one thing, you're supposed to wring out the mop each time, before you use it on the floor, otherwise it gets sopping wet and takes much too long to dry. For another thing, start in a corner and work your way out, don't walk all over what you just mopped!"
Kaoru looked from her friend to the floor. "Oh." Then she frowned in annoyance. "How did you figure that out so quick, anyway?"
"I didn't just figure it out. Before we left, I asked the maids to spend a couple of days training me. Did it not even occur to you to prepare? Or did you just think that, as a female, you were born magically knowing how to clean?" It was a good thing Tomoe had charmed the steward who'd hired them, or Kaoru would have been turned away at the door.
Kaoru's head came up haughtily, even though she was secretly mortified. "I'll have you know that I prepared quite a bit," she said. Then she wilted a little. "Just...it's just that a person can't think of everything, you know? Lay off, Megumi!"
Megumi sighed and shook her head, though she found herself smiling a little. "Just stick close to me."
Just then, one of the senior maids came hurrying up, looking pinched and harried. Kaoru and Megumi immediately straightened up, not wanting to be the objects on which she vented her frustration. "Man's hurt," the woman snapped, "Dr. Gensai needs an assistant. One of you come with me."
Kaoru instinctively glanced at Megumi, wondering what she should do, but her disguised lady-in-waiting was already briskly setting aside her mop and straightening her clothes. "I don't really have any medical experience," she said, "but I'm not squeamish around blood."
"Good. His previous assistant was executed last week and he hasn't had time to find a proper replacement. He just needs someone to hand him things, wash things, run errands, that sort of thing; anyone with a strong stomach will do. Come with me."
Megumi did so, making a face at Kaoru over her shoulder.
'Executed?' the princess thought a little queasily. Somehow, she had the feeling that it hadn't been for any crime deserving of such a fate. 'I hate this place. Kenshin...'
o.o.o.o.o
Katsura surveyed him coolly. "If you oppose Senkaku, why haven't I heard of you before? We tend to know our allies, even if we never meet."
The two of them were sitting in a corner of a tavern, drinking slowly and speaking too softly to be overheard.
"This one just arrived last night," Kenshin explained. "The intention is to take Senkaku out of power and restore the rulership to what it should be, but this one needs to get a feel for how things stand first, that he does." He made a little face. "Things are not well. One will have to tread cautiously."
Katsura narrowed his eyes. "'Restore the rulership to what it should be.' According to whom?"
Kenshin hesitated before answering. Among other things, there was also the possibility that this man might be a rogue, uninterested in the old kings. "According to the Himuras."
Katsura let out a mirthless gust of laughter and shook his head. "The Himuras. All dead, except a vanished murderer. You're mad."
"Not vanished," Kenshin said, very quietly. "And a murderer - never again."
There was a pause. Katsura studied him closely. "Himura Kenshin," he said slowly. "The last surviving member of the royal line. Slave and assassin for Shishio Makoto. I'm not sure I would want him for a king even if he did come back." The next words were challenging. "Besides, he has red hair and a cross-shaped birthmark on his left cheek."
Kenshin sighed. "He also has some small ability in the way of fey glamour."
Katsura's expression did not change, though his breath quickened a little. After a long moment, Kenshin casually put his hand up by the left side of his face, as if leaning on it. The gesture shielded part of his face and a lock of hair from view, both of which he briefly removed the glamour from. Then he lowered his hand, his hair once again completely black and his face unmarked.
Katsura was still. Then he said, visibly trying to keep his composure, "Never again?"
"Each killing weighs heavily on the heart," Kenshin said softly. "If anything could have been done to avoid such work, short of ending this one's own life, it would have been done." Then he closed his eyes. "Perhaps this life should have ended...but I couldn't, even if it was wrong to cling so hard to life." He opened his eyes again. "A slave and an assassin, those words were once true. But that path was always hated, and now this one is free to make his own choices, that he is. I chose this kingdom and this responsibility, that I did. Will you help me, Katsura?"
Katsura did not want to trust the man before him, but he had been looking into those sorrowful blue eyes, and he felt in his heart that it would be wrong to do other than have faith in such a strong spirit. So he smiled. "Yes."
o.o.o.o.o
The foreman's expression was not impressed. "We're not so desperate that we'll hire scrawny kids off the street for such work," he said in a low, rumbling voice.
Sanosuke glared. He wore an open shirt, after all; couldn't the man see his abs? "I'm stronger than I look...sir." Even remembering, just in time, not to call the man a punk or something similar, it was still hard to go against his inclination and use a term of polite address.
"Hmph. We'll see. Start over there, stacking blocks along the row. Ôtani will come behind you to mortar them."
Sanosuke looked at the huge blocks of stone that would ordinary take two men to lift each. He forgot to not roll his eyes. "Sure thing, boss."
o.o.o.o.o
The first night was a difficult one. Kaoru tossed and turned, unused to having to share sleeping space with so many other people. The maids chattered and gossiped loudly all throughout their bedtime preparations, and even after lights out, many of them stayed up late, their eager whispers grating on Kaoru's ears.
For the first time, she appreciated what it was like to have her own vast bedroom and servants to attend to every slightest need and whim. This new arrangement was going to take some getting used to; Kaoru was just thankful it wasn't permanent. She did not even have the comfort of her friend - hard as it was to get to sleep, she was long gone by the time Megumi stumbled in, yawning and covered with blood. The older woman simply stripped off her stained garments and fell into bed next to Kaoru, too tired to do anything else.
Meanwhile, as Yahiko shifted uncomfortably on a cold stone floor and Sanosuke snored on a poorly-stuffed straw mattress, Kenshin found himself being hosted by some friends of a friend of Katsura's - apparently, the friend himself was in jail. "Is he, now," Kenshin murmured neutrally.
"Shinsaku organized a mutiny among Senkaku's own guards," Katsura explained. "It would have worked had he been less impatient. Too many men turned coward at the last minute, the plans collapsed, and the remainder fought bravely, but were slaughtered. As their leader, he's set for execution in a few days - by that time, it will probably a relief to him."
Kenshin's fist clenched at the thought of what tortures the man might have been put through. "Then it seems that this one's first move is now clear, that it is."
Katsura raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You plan to free Shinsaku? Whisk him to safety out from the noses of all the guards swarming in the heart of the castle's dungeons?"
"This one will do what must be done."
Katsura gave him a measuring look. "Well then, my friend - prove to me what you can do."
"Can I count on you, Katsura?"
The other man sighed. "Shinsaku is my friend. Even if he wasn't, I'm at least interested in seeing how well you back up your claim, Himura. I will support you for now."
"Thank you, Katsura. That is all this one asks."
To be continued...
Author's Notes: The foreman is Anji, btw. Sanosuke eventually learns the Futae no Kiwami from him.