The Faerie Chronicles of Kenshin & Kaoru: The Princess and the Assassin, a Rurouni Kenshin fanfic by Raberba girl

Chapter 3 - "Please don't leave me."

Battousai and Tomoe were sitting on a hilltop, watching the sun go down. They sat apart, and neither of them spoke, yet each felt an unfamiliar but welcome sense of peace and contentment spread over them. They did not seem to notice the werecat creeping up on them from behind.

"Raagghh!"

Battousai grunted as the Unseelie creature leaped onto his back and hooked an arm around his neck in a chokehold. "Yield, Battousai!"

He calmly flipped the werecat to the ground and planted a knee in the creature's chest to pin it there. "Be quiet. We are trying to watch the sunset."

"Let me up!" the boy howled, struggling in vain to get loose. "You promised!"

Battousai sighed. "Promised what?"

"You said you'd teach me Hiten Mitsurugi-ryuu!"

"I promised no such thing."

The boy's eyes narrowed and he managed to roll free at last. "You think I'm going to let you go, after you beat Raijuuta-sensei like that? You're a master swordsman! You have to teach me all you know!"

"I will not teach a child to kill," Battousai answered, settling back again comfortably.

The Unseelie boy dragged his heavy sword free and brandished it menacingly at Battousai. The effect was rather ruined by the way it wobbled in his hand. "Teach me Hiten Mitsurugi-ryuu, or I'll cut you!"

"Noisy little creature, isn't he," Battousai remarked to Tomoe.

She smiled a little. "Yutarô," she pointed out, "is that any way to speak to someone of whom you're trying to ask a favor?"

Yutarô paused. Then he announced firmly, "I am Unseelie. Good manners don't become me."

"Good manners become anyone, whether fae or human," Battousai stated. "But even if you begged me on your knees, I would not teach you how to kill."

"Then teach me something else!" Yutarô cried in exasperation. "Teach me anything! I want to learn! I want to be the best, better than you!" Then he clapped his hand over his mouth, as if he had just ruined his chances, but Battousai only smiled.

"I do wish you to be strong, young one. But it will not be through Hiten Mitsurugi-ryuu."

Yutarô looked as if he would have liked to argue this point further, but Battousai winced as he felt a sharp sting on his neck. He started to clap his hand to the wound, but stopped just in time to keep from crushing the little pixie that was perched on his shoulder.

"Fuka," he said reproachfully, "that hurt."

"Oh, I can make you hurt," the little pixie laughed. "That was just a little love-bite to say hello."

"You could have just said 'Hello,'" he pointed out. Then the rest were upon him - little goblins and troll-children and various sprites, laughing as they pounced on his shoulders and nuzzled their faces against his, and argued over who got to sit in his lap.

A young lutin was now crouched on his head; Battousai pushed its tail out of his face and said apologetically to Tomoe, "At this rate, we won't even notice when the sun goes down."

"I don't mind," she answered, watching him with the children.

"Play with us, Niisan!" they begged. "Please play with us!"

His face darkened. "No. You know I don't like your play."

"Aw, pleeeeaaase!" they begged. "We won't hurt anyone this time!"

"Yeah, no tormenting humans, we swear!"

Battousai pulled the lutin off and got to his feet, sending a couple of kitsune cubs tumbling head over heels. "I will teach you a human game, then. It is called Fruits Basket."

"Fruits Basket?" they chorused back at him suspiciously. "No way, that sounds like a Seelie game!"

"Bug Basket, then," he amended. "The rules will not change. Each of you may pick the name of an insect instead of a fruit."

"Spider! I'm spider!"

"Roach!"

"Lizard!"

"A lizard isn't a bug, you idiot!"

"It is so!"

"Is not!"

"IS SO!"

Battousai fought the urge to laugh as he watched them argue. "You can be a lizard if you want."

"Hah!"

"But I wanna be a lizard," the other one whined.

Battousai rolled his eyes. "You," he pointed at one, "are gecko. And you will be chameleon."

The boys stuck their tongues out at each other, then turned adoringly to Battousai to hear the rest of the rules.

When he had finished explaining, he turned to Tomoe and raised his eyebrows invitingly. "You as well, Tomoe?"

The children went hushed and eager, looking to see what she would say. Sure enough, she rose to her feet. "I would like to play with you."

"No, you wouldn't!" they shrieked teasingly. "Look at your face! Angry girl, angry girl!"

She turned and glared playfully, so that they burst into laughter. "I am furious. I am coming to eat you up," she told them.

"Not in those shoes, you won't," Battousai said thoughtfully, looking at the thick geta she wore.

Tomoe hesitated, then carefully stepped out of her shoes. The children shouted eagerly, tugging at her skirts. "She really is going to play with us!"

"Come on, Neesan!"

"You can be a beetle!"

"And Niisan is a butterfly, 'cause he's Seelie-pretty!" Which caused them to dissolve into giggles.

One of them began to chant slyly, "Butterfly, flitting free, said to Beetle, 'Look at me!'"

The rest took up the nursery rhyme at once. "Beetle said to Butterfly, 'Won't you marry me!'"

"Enough," Battousai said sternly, and they shrieked with laughter again, for they saw that his face, and Tomoe's face, were both more pink than usual.

"It's been months." Surprised, everyone turned to Yutarô, who sat sulkily on the grass with his arms crossed. "Why don't you two just admit it? Everyone already knows."

Battousai frowned in confusion. "Knows what?"

"Lovers!" the children cried gleefully. "Battousai and the princess are sleeping together!"

Battousai stared at them in shock.

"I take it Seelie children don't learn of such things so young," Tomoe murmured, then looked at Yutarô. "You should not help the rumors spread, Yutarô. They are not true."

"Don't tell me you two aren't sleeping together," Yutarô said matter-of-factly. "It's obvious."

"We are NOT," Battousai said firmly.

"Why else would a guy like you be coming here so often, then? No one really cares, you know; it's not like liaisons with the Seelie are unheard of."

"I would not act with such dishonor," Battousai said stiffly. "If that is the impression I have given, then I will stop coming."

The children cried out at this, and rushed to cling to him so tightly that he nearly fell over. "Don't go, Niisan! Don't go!"

"Battousai," Tomoe said, very quietly. "Such rumors stem merely from your presence in the court for my sake. There is nothing else you can do." What she did not say, but what he understood anyway, was, "Please don't leave me."

Battousai stood very still for a long time, as everyone watched him anxiously. He did not even notice them. He was realizing that the reason he came as often as he could was to keep Tomoe company, to try to push away the sadness that cloaked her. He realized that in coming again and again, their friendship had grown until it was too strong to break easily...and he realized that, if he kept coming, he would care for her more and more until he really did fall in love with her.

And just as he thought that, he realized that he already had fallen in love with her.

He raised anguished eyes to hers, and she saw his face and read his thoughts, and drew in a painful breath.

"I cannot stay," he whispered.

The children were staring at him, their faces frightened.

"I didn't realize...Tomoe, I am..." He couldn't say he was sorry. It wasn't nearly enough. "Shishio," he started, and trailed off again. There were no excuses good enough. It was true that trying to involve a woman in his life was pure folly - slave as he was, forced to kill over and over again for a cruel master. The truth was, he should never have let himself care for Tomoe at all. By the very nature of his position, his love was doomed to end in tragedy, and he had been a fool to toy with Tomoe's feelings like this.

Battousai's eyes hardened. "I must go. Forgive me, Tomoe-san," he said coldly, and gave her a little bow. "I wish you success and happiness." Then he turned and strode away, with the children wailing as they trailed hopelessly after him.

Yutarô's eyes were wide. "P-Princess," he stammered, looking at her fearfully. "I didn't mean to...I never meant..."

Tomoe did not speak for a long time. Then she looked at Yutarô and said coolly, "Stop stammering, Yutarô, it is not seemly." She stepped back into her shoes with very deliberate movements, straightened her skirt, and headed back to the palace.

Yutarô clenched his hands into fists. 'What have I done?'

o.o.o.o.o

A week or so later, there was a mad scramble in the Unseelie court, as the fae readied themselves for the entrance of Lord Shishio. A hush settled over them as he entered, their eyes following him intently. He walked confidently, his head held high as if he didn't even see the rabble around him. He was flanked by his best men, including a slender youth with long red hair and frozen eyes.

"Makoto!" King Oberon rose and swept out his arms, greeting the man warmly. "How long as it been since you last set foot in my halls? Come in, come in, sit here by me." Of course this meant that the princess had to vacate her own seat, which she did silently and with no gesture of protest. She did not look anywhere near the young assassin, and he in turn kept his gaze steadily straight ahead.

"What brings you to my court, Makoto?"

"Oh, nothing much," Shishio said lazily. He grinned and kept his eyes on his chief assassin as he continued, "It's only a small favor I have to ask of you, Father."

The flicker of shock on Battousai's face was brief, but it was enough; the court had been watching him as well, and now they burst into laughter.

"Or maybe my little sister would be able to help me better with this particular issue," Shishio mused, indicating Tomoe. "After all, I am dealing with matters of the heart, so perhaps a woman's touch would be more useful than even that of my honored father." It was rather difficult to keep his amusement in check as he watched Battousai. The young man was standing stock-still, his expression completely opaque, and yet his arms were crossed tightly over each other as if to prevent them from trembling.

The dark fae were practically falling over in hysterics by now, but as they looked at Battousai, savoring the joke of these revelations on him, a fearful quiet suddenly fell over them. For the assassin, though he had not moved at all, was suddenly glowing bright with Seelie magic, which whispered around his body in hot flickers. The sweet power of it was too much for some of the weaker fae; they fled the hall, squealing.

"Terrible, terrible," Oberon said, as if in deep disapproval, but his eyes sparkled with mirth. "What lax control you have over your own men, Makoto, to let them flaunt Seelie poison in my hall."

Shishio frowned, as if mildly annoyed. "Someone shut him up, will you?" he asked, waving his hand at Battousai's magic, which burned as brightly as a silent scream.

Tellingly, the rest of Shishio's own men quickly stepped back; it was a couple of fae from the court who jumped to obey, blades flashing down on the assassin. In an instant their heads were rolling on the floor; Battousai was suddenly on the other side of the room, his swords drawn and bloody, his breathing harsher than it should have been for such slight effort.

Shishio clicked his tongue. "Don't you think that was an overreaction, Battousai? I'm sure there were better ways you could have vented your feelings about dear Tomoe being my half-sister."

The laughter started up again, but it was now muted. The blank eyes on those detached heads were warning enough.

Very slowly, Battousai wiped the blades clean, and as he did so, the glow surrounding him dimmed and then vanished. His voice was perfectly calm when he said, "I have no intention of giving my life away when enemies jump at me."

"Oh, really?" Shishio said lazily. Then he was suddenly a blur, and in a fraction of a second he was standing next to Battousai, his blade held to the assassin's throat. The young man didn't move or even look at his master, and his hands remained relaxed at his sides. "So does this mean I am no enemy, or that you knew I was testing you?"

"What do you want?" Battousai murmured.

"I want you to die," Shishio answered conversationally. He swept his sword up, ready to bring it slashing through Battousai's neck, but there was a sharp clang as it crashed to a halt against the assassin's blade instead.

At last rolling his eyes sideways to look at Shishio past their straining blades, Battousai said in a low, dangerous voice, "Did you come here solely to humiliate me, or do you have actual business in this place?"

Shishio smiled and let up. Tapping his sword casually on his shoulder, he turned and strolled back to the dais, presenting his unguarded back to the assassin.

Battousai did not even look at him. He did not look at Tomoe, either, whose face was carefully neutral, but whose eyes never left him the entire time.

"Now," Shishio said, "where were we? Oh, yes. A certain lady I have interest in; a queen, in fact..."

To be continued...