The Faerie Chronicles of Kenshin & Kaoru: The Sleeping Prince, a Rurouni Kenshin fanfic by Raberba girl
Chapter 2 - In which Sôjirô returns with some bad news.
A/N: "Joou" ("queen") is the feminine version of Ô, and it looks horrible in English no matter how you spell it. It can be spelled correctly as Joou, Jooh, or Joô, but it's a long /o/, so it does NOT rhyme with "zoo."
"When she came to Carterhaugh
Tam Lin was at the well,
And there she found his steed standing,
But away was himself."
Tam Lin
o.o.o
They never, ever left him alone - or at least, they tried not to. Yet sometimes, such as the incident when he was seven years old, it couldn't be helped.
Sanosuke had been gone setting traps, and Megumi was out gathering herbs. Yahiko heard her scream for help and had run off to find her, instructing Kenji in the severest of tones to stay in the house and not open the door to ANYONE. Kenji thought that was stupid, since no one ever came to the cottage besides the four of them, but whatever.
He had been happily busy dragging some of Megumi's clothes through blue and pink paint when suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Kenji cocked his head in puzzlement, because no one had ever knocked on the door before.
A scratchy, quavering voice came from outside, a sound which frightened Kenji, for he had never heard a voice other than his own and those of his guardians. "Little boy, little boy, please let me in."
"Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin!" Kenji chanted back automatically, echoing the familiar story.
"But child, you have no hairs on your sweet young chin."
He frowned. "I'm growing 'em," he called back defensively. "By tomorrow I'll have a big long beard and be a grown-up man!"
There was a rasping laugh. "Is that so? Then come be a gentlemen and open the door to a poor old woman. Your granny's tired old feet can't hold her up much longer."
"Can't open the door to anyone," he said stubbornly, delighting in the opportunity to be an annoyance.
"You can't open the door to strangers, you mean," the withered voice said persuasively. "But of course you can open the door to your loving grandmother, who came all this way to see you, my dear."
"Don't got a granny."
"Oh, yes you do, Himura Kenji. Now open the door like a good little boy. Don't you want to grow up fast and be a man? Granny's got something special to grant that very wish."
He leaped to his feet and trotted to the door, flinging it open. A bent old lady stood there, wrapped in a ragged black cloak and grinning a nearly-toothless grin.
"You're ugly," he told her.
She paused for only a moment, the spark of fury in her eyes swiftly hidden. "Such is the fate of the elderly, my dear."
"Where's my special wish?"
From within the folds of her cloak she drew something out - an apple, small and sweet, with the smoothest, most blood-red skin he had ever seen. "This is for you, dear. Take it - one bite, and you'll be a tall, strong man."
He reached for it eagerly and chomped at it, his teeth tearing away huge delicious chunks. He did not see the triumphant, almost greedy smile on her face as she watched him.
As the last bite entered his mouth, he tried to swallow too hastily; the bit of fruit lodged in his throat, and his eyes widened. He tried to speak, but all that came out was a faint whistle of air; he reached for his throat and gagged, his body convulsing. Finally, his eyes rolled back and he dropped to the ground, unconscious.
The old woman laughed, and her ugliness suddenly melted away from her in a twinkling wave of light. She stood ageless and strong and immortal, her beauty unrivaled, her cold eyes surveying the boy with satisfaction. "Granny was quite glad to be able to see you at last, my love. Be a good boy for me, and make that Unseelie wench's life miserable." Stooping, she kissed the boy's forehead, then drew her cloak around her again. It was an old woman once more who hobbled away from the cottage, leaving behind the boy's fallen body.
"...I can't believe you left him alone, you idiot!"
"I went to help you, ungrateful vixen!"
"If I'd needed rescuing, I would have called!"
"You did call, moron! See if I come running next time!"
"I did no such thing, you stupid- Kenji!"
The ran to him, horrified, and Megumi took charge at once. Though she was able to revive him, Kenji was never the same after that, and the incident was a puzzling one. It was not until much later that they truly understood what had happened that day.
o.o.o.o.o
A good-looking young man stepped out of thin air, and nearly slipped when he stepped on a cluster of mushrooms. "Whoops. That was close."
"He came out of the sky!" a little girl's voice shrieked.
The young man looked up curiously to see two children staring at him.
"He didn't come out of the sky, Suzume," the older one told her sister. "He came out of nothing."
"Nothing!" cried the smaller girl happily.
The young man smiled and bent to put his hands on his knees so he could address them better. "Hello. Do you girls happen to know where the castle is?"
The children stared at him, then burst into giggles. "Silly," the older one said. "This is the castle!"
The young man looked around, taking in the beautifully verdant garden they were standing in, two people laughing and talking on a bench, and the familiar castle walls looming up beyond the garden's prettily-painted fence.
"So I see," he murmured. "You two are much too well-dressed to be servants...ambassadors' children, then? Looks like your nurse and your bodyguard are having a bit too much fun over there."
"Fun!" cheered the younger girl.
"We're not servants, or 'ambidant' children," the older girl told him. "We're princesses!"
"Of course you are," he humored her. "And lovely ones, too."
"Yup," the older child agreed. "Daddy says we're the most beautiful princesses ever!" Then she blinked, as if a thought had occurred to her. "Are you looking for the castle because you want to talk to Daddy?"
"I need to see the king," the young man acknowledged, "though I'm not sure he's your father."
"Of course he's our daddy! Come on, you'll never see him the normal way. You have to wait in line for ages and ages, and register with Mr. Bamboo-Curtain Head, and wait ages and ages more, and then you can see Daddy. But come on, I'll take you the shortcut way!"
"It's a shortcut," the younger girl laughed.
"'Mr. Bamboo-Curtain Head'?" the young man wondered, allowing the children to seize his hands and lead him away.
o.o.o.o.o
It was barely even ten o'clock, yet Kenshin and Kaoru already had their hands full with the day's work.
"Hiwatari-san," Kenshin said patiently, surveying the angry-looking artist before him, "it's been fourteen years. The stolen paintings have already been compensated for, that they have."
"Yes," Kaoru put in. "Why are you wasting our time with some old family grudge, when there are people with much more pressing problems that need attending to?"
"I want them to pay!" Hiwatari yelled, pointing an enraged finger at the family he was attempting to sue. "Those Niwas are thieves, every last one of them! I don't care about the money, I want them behind bars!"
"Your paintings are the ones that should be behind bars!" the petite Niwa matron yelled back. "They're cursed, you know! We're keeping them safe!"
"Safe?" Hiwatari shot back. "That's completely beside the point! You have no right to those paintings!"
His son calmly tugged on his sleeve. "Dad. They can keep the paintings. They belong to me, anyway, and I don't care who has them, as long as they are kept under control."
"You be quiet, Satoshi," Hiwatari ordered.
He turned back to the king, but Kenshin held up a hand. "Hiwatari-san, your foster-son has a point, that he does. As the last descendant of his family, it is he who has guardianship of the artwork, and he has stated that it may remain in the care of the Niwa family. Now please, allow us to consider another case."
Hiwatari looked like he was going to argue, but at that point, the doors to the throne room burst open. A man strode in as if he owned the place, his figure accentuated by the huge white cloak swirling around him. He was carrying something over his shoulder, and was trailed by Sanosuke, Yahiko, Megumi, and a host of court lackeys twittering angrily at him to wait his turn in line.
Kenshin took one look and rose to his feet. "Leave us, all of you." The guards and the ladies and gentlemen of the court glanced at him in surprise, but at a thunderous look from the queen, they all began filing out. Hiwatari was dragged away, still shouting, followed by his rather embarrassed-looking son and the curious Niwas.
Hiko Seijûrô strode forward, swept aside the piles of documents on the nearest table, and carefully slung his burden onto it. Then he turned to Kenshin. "I happened to come across a couple of things that belong to you. Apparently it's high time you took them back." He held out the sakabatô, his eyes snapping with annoyance. "Next time, run your own errands. I assume the servant who delivered this also had a message that should have gone something like, 'Do not under any circumstances give this to the prince.'"
Kaoru cried out and rushed to the table where her son lay. It was the first time she had seen him since he was an infant, and she wept as she reached out to touch his face, to smooth the bangs from his eyes, to sob as she felt his cold skin.
Kenshin felt as if he had gone numb all over. He couldn't even feel his feet touching the floor as he made his way over to his old master, reached out, and grasped the sakabatô. "This sword," he whispered. "Of all the ones that could have..." Hiko let go of it, and in Kenshin's grip it dropped straight down, as if he had no strength to hold it aloft. "Faerie does have a sense of irony," he said softly, and wished suddenly that he could draw that sword and drive it into the heart of Faerie itself.
"Your people explained things to me," Hiko said, jerking his head in the direction of Sanosuke and the others. "First time I ever heard of this ridiculous Sword-Banning Act. You of all people should know you can't combat evil enchantments like that."
"Can this one be blamed for trying?" Kenshin growled. "What would you have done better?"
"Gone after Enishi himself, of course."
Kenshin gave him a furious look, though his voice was still relatively calm. "And what kind of a king would this one be if, after having abandoned his country for over twenty years, he left it again to go chasing into Faerie? Wasn't it you who always said that fulfilling one's duty comes before pursuing personal desires?"
"So instead, you sent in a mortal with no control over the boundaries between worlds," Hiko observed. "It's been fourteen years, yet for all we know, that Seta kid might have only just reached the Unseelie court. How long are you planning to wait, baka deshi?"
"For as long as is needed," Kenshin shot back. "Who else was there to send? You?"
"He's alive!" Interrupted in their grief-fueled argument, the two men turned to Kaoru, who gazed back at them with her face pale and tear-streaked. "Kenshin...his heart is beating."
Kenshin was at her side almost instantly. Laying his hand on Kenji's chest, he was amazed to feel a faint heartbeat under his fingers. Finally allowing himself to truly look at his son for the first time, his eyes drank in the boy's face, the pale cross on his cheek, the dark red hair and fine features.
Kaoru leaned her head against her husband's shoulder. "He looks so much like you," she whispered. "Oh Kenshin, if only..."
He took her hand and squeezed it. "Perhaps," he murmured, "it is fortunate that it should have been the sakabatô after all. His Seelie blood would have been more resistant to that particular sword."
Kenshin at last turned to the other three people in the room. As soon as his attention was on them, Yahiko and Megumi dropped to their knees, bowing with their faces to the floor in a gesture of humiliation that they had never used toward him before.
"We've failed you, Your Majesty," Yahiko said shortly, addressing his sovereign with unaccustomed formality. "We are prepared for the consequences."
"Forgive us," Megumi said softly. "I'm afraid...this is not the first time Kenji has come to harm."
Sanosuke had remained on his feet, but he was skulking by the door with his shoulders hunched and hands buried deep in his pockets. His eyes met Kenshin's straight on, glittering with fury and shame. "I don't know what you plan to do to us, Kenshin. But if I survive it, I swear to you that some fairies are gonna die for what they did to Kenji."
Kenshin shook his head. "Get up," he said wearily. "It's obvious there was nothing you could have done." His eyes narrowed slightly. "What was it you were saying, Megumi-dono?"
She rose and said solemnly, "Seven years ago, we found Kenji lying unconscious in the cottage. He had choked on a piece of apple and couldn't breathe, but by the time we got back to him, it should have been too late. I don't know how he survived...but after that, he..." She trailed off, looking uncertain.
"What?" Kaoru demanded. "What happened, Megumi-san!"
"He had two heartbeats," Yahiko said bluntly. "We could freaking hear two rhythms going, it was the weirdest thing." He glanced back at Megumi. "It was like that for the past seven years, until..."
"Until he touched the sakabatô," Megumi finished. "Now that he has fallen under the enchantment, his heart still beats, but only one; and he has no pulse. Ken-Ô - I think that Kenji is supposed to be dead."
Kenshin and Kaoru stared at her, then back down at their son, who lay still and silent.
Just then, the throne room doors opened again. The six of them turned indignantly to face the intruders, but were brought up short when it became obvious who they were.
"Daddy! Mommy!" Princess Ayame announced. "This guy wants to talk to you!"
"He wants to talk to you!" Princess Suzume insisted.
"Mr. Bamboo-Curtain Head almost didn't let us in!" Ayame added reproachfully.
"Ha ha," laughed the young man who was with them. "Ayame-chan, I don't think that's very nice to Saitô-san."
She gave him a sheepish look. "Oh yeah." Then she turned and called up to the scary-looking man standing behind her, "Sorry, Saitô-san!"
"Sorry! Sorry!" chanted her sister.
Saitô Hajime gave her a cold look. "Apology accepted." Then he looked up at the king and queen. "Obviously you're dealing with important business, but the princesses insisted this couldn't wait. I'll leave it to you." He closed the doors again, leaving the young man standing with all eyes on him.
Seta Sôjirô smiled. "Sorry to interrupt, Himura-Ô, but I figured you'd be interested in my report." As he glanced around the room, his eyes suddenly widened when he caught sight of Kenji lying on the table. "What...?!" He was at the boy's side in an instant, gazing down at him in shock.
"He's not dead," Kaoru said in a wavering voice. "His heart is still beating." She turned pleading eyes to Kenshin. "He's not dead, right?"
Sôjirô was staring as if he could not believe what he saw. "How old is he?" he finally asked weakly.
Kenshin answered in a quiet voice. "He has just turned fourteen."
Sôjirô turned to look at Ayame and Suzume with new eyes. "They really are your daughters," he realized. Then he turned his full attention to the others in the room - Kenshin looked the same as ever, but Kaoru, Sanosuke, Yahiko, and Megumi all showed signs of their aging.
"Forgive me, Sôjirô," Kenshin said. "This one had hoped that, with your fae blood, you would be less affected by crossing the boundaries between worlds, but I was wrong."
Sôjirô took a while to answer. "In Faerie, it was only a week or so," he murmured. "Apparently, the few drops I have is not enough." He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, the smile was back in place. "Well. Can't be helped, I suppose. I knew what I was getting into." He shook his head, then looked back at the boy on the table. "The more pressing matter is this..." He felt for the boy's heartbeat, then chuckled. "That's a relief. For a moment there, I thought Yukishiro-Ô had lied to me after all...but then, his sister would not have said what she did if that had been the case."
Kenshin and Kaoru looked at him hopefully. "What do you have to tell us, Sôjirô?" the king asked.
Sôjirô turned to them, and his smile faded. "Himura-Ô, I need to speak to you alone."
Kenshin looked at him. Then at Kaoru. Then back at Sôjirô, who grinned. "Yes, completely alone."
"What?" Kaoru burst out. "I'm the queen, Sôjirô! Kenji is my son! Don't you dare think you're going to try to keep secrets from me, not if you know how to save him!"
"Kaoru-Jooh," Sôjirô said gravely. "Given the nature of my report, I think it is up to your husband to decide whether it is fit to tell you or not."
Kaoru looked ready to deck him. Kenshin, however, already getting a sense of what Sôjirô had to say, held her back. "Kaoru-dono," he murmured. "Please be patient. I will take care of this."
She frowned at him. "Don't give me that look. Just because you're a king doesn't mean you're responsible for fixing every problem in the world." He smiled at that, but did not answer.
After he and Sôjirô had disappeared into an empty council room, Kaoru leaned back against the table and clenched her fist. "They drive me nuts sometimes."
"Mm," Megumi murmured, with a trace of her old smile. "Does that mean you're getting tired of Ken-Ô? I wouldn't mind taking him off your hands for a while."
"Megumi-san!" Kaoru snapped.
"Aw, she's just teasing you," Yahiko sighed. "Lighten up, busu-Jooh." He thought ruefully a second later that he was supposed to use his swordsmanship to defend his queen, not defend himself from her.
The little girls had, by now, climbed up on the table to get a better look at the sleeping boy. "He's got a cross just like Daddy!" Ayame exclaimed, tracing the birthmark on Kenji's cheek with one finger.
"That's because he's your big brother, Ayame-chan," Kaoru explained, turning away from a dizzy Yahiko. "Remember how we told you?"
"He came back!" Ayame gasped in delight. "Niisan can come live with us again!"
"Wake up, Niisan!" Suzume ordered cheerfully, poking Kenji in the ribs. Of course he didn't move.
"Be nice, Suzume-chan," Kaoru told her. "He's kind of...sick right now."
"Sick?" The girls were suddenly staring at her with stricken faces.
Kaoru forced herself to smile. "Don't worry. It will be all right."
"'Cause Daddy will fix everything!" Suzume cheered, and Ayame smiled brightly.
"Come on, Suzume," she told her younger sister. "Let's go get Niisan some soup! Soup is good for sick people."
"Soup!" Suzume agreed. They wriggled back down to the floor and trotted eagerly in the direction of the kitchens.
Hiko shook his head. "'Daddy will fix everything,'" he muttered.
"He always does," Kaoru said weakly. "Nothing's ever come up that Kenshin can't handle..."
"...Yet," Hiko finished pointedly, and Kaoru looked away.
It seemed like ages before Kenshin and Sôjirô finally came back. Sôjirô was still smiling as he glanced at the king, but Kenshin seemed lost in his thoughts, his bangs swinging forward to hide his eyes.
"Kenshin?" Kaoru said anxiously, knowing that the others were also aching to hear the news.
At the sound of her voice, Kenshin raised his head and smiled at her. "It's all right, Kaoru-dono. There is a way to save him, that there is. It looks like this one will be going to Faerie after all."
Sanosuke rolled his eyes. "Figures."
"What do you have to do?" Megumi wanted to know.
"Mm, nothing too complicated. However, Kaoru-dono..." He turned to her with a rather apprehensive look. "Do forgive this one, but circumstances...seem to require that, um..." It took a while for him to get up the nerve to tell her, and when he finally did, her reaction completely justified his hesitation.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN'T COME?!"
"Scary!" the little girls cried, and ran to hide behind Sôjirô. "Mommy's scary!"
Kenshin sheepishly tried to fend off his enraged wife. "Kaoru-dono...it's for the best...this one can handle the situation better alone-"
"Alone!" she cried, swiping at him with her bokutô. "Alone! Why do you always have to do things alone?!"
"'Cause he thinks none of us are strong enough to help," Sanosuke suggested darkly. "We'd just get in the way, right, Kenshin?"
"It-It's not that..."
"Liar," Yahiko said matter-of-factly.
"Kaoru-dono." Kenshin suddenly caught the descending weapon with one hand, and took Kaoru's other hand in his free one. "Your task has nothing to do with Faerie," he said gently. "The girls would miss you if you left, but even aside from that, the kingdom will need you in this one's absence. This one is depending on you to take care of things here, Kaoru-dono."
Kaoru nearly burst into tears in frustration. "I'm your wife, Kenshin! I should be by your side!"
Feeling her hands go limp, he used them to pull her close so he could kiss her cheek. "You have been everything a man could ask for, and more. Words cannot express how much this one loves you. Please grant him your trust, Kaoru-dono."
This time she really did cry - for about five seconds. Then she jerked back and delivered him a good whack to the head. "That's to remember me by when you're gone!" she huffed, and stormed out of the room.
"Oro..." Kenshin wailed softly, rubbing at his aching head.
"Normally," Megumi mused, "I would offer my comfort and encouragement against a certain shrew of a wife...but I'm almost inclined to hit you myself, Ken-Ô."
"Don't listen to these emotional women," Hiko suggested, looking rather bored. "Dragging along luggage would only slow you down."
"Oh, so we're 'luggage,' now, are we?" Sanosuke demanded hotly.
Hiko looked him straight in the eye. "Sorry to tell you, Spiky, but you're no match for Yukishiro. Kenshin, idiot though he is, at least has a chance. He doesn't need to expend extra energy trying to protect a pack of adoring, useless weaklings."
"Shishô," Kenshin said in alarm, but it was too late, Sanosuke's short temper had been ignited.
Leaving them to it, Kenshin sighed, took one last look at Kenji, then went over to the others. "Thank you very much - it is good to see you all back home. You are dismissed, so please take as much time as you need to rest and refresh yourselves before you resume your previous duties."
"Daddy," Ayame ventured, "are you going away?"
He reached down to hug his daughters. "Yes, Ayame-chan. This one is leaving so that your brother will be well again."
"Yay!" Suzume cheered, and Ayame gifted him with a beautiful smile. "I'm so glad, Daddy! You always make everything all right."
He smiled as hard as he could and did not answer.
To be continued...
Author's Notes: Slipped in a bit of Snow White while I was at it. That was Titania, btw.
The girls came back with the soup while Kenshin and Sôjirô were still talking.
Baka deshi means "stupid apprentice," or "idiot pupil," etc.
Sôjirô's only got a tiny bit of fairy blood, to explain his speed. I wouldn't have made him fae at all otherwise.