The Faerie Chronicles of Kenshin & Kaoru: The Sleeping Prince, a Rurouni Kenshin fanfic by Raberba girl
Chapter 8 - In which Kenshin and Kaoru put the plan into action.
"'My tongue is my own,' True Thomas said;
'A goodly gift you would give to me!
I neither was able to buy nor sell,
At fair or tryst where I may be."
Thomas the Rhymer
o.o.o
The next morning, Titania was furious when she discovered that the binding spell had been broken, but was surprised and pacified when Kenshin easily agreed to spend another night. "Just for you, Grandmother," he said with his prettiest smile. "This one will stay until tomorrow."
"Kenshin, darling." Titania couldn't resist giving him a good glomp. Perhaps he was up to something, but then, so was she - now she had another whole day and night to think of something else to keep him. "Will you play with me?" she asked eagerly.
"Unfortunately," he said, sounding abjectly apologetic, "this one has already agreed to accompany Furulan and the others on today's Hunt, that he has. Deepest apologies."
"Fine," Titania huffed. "Ungrateful brat."
She was startled when he moved close and lifted his face to kiss her cheek. "Thank you, Grandmother."
"K...Kenshin?" she said faintly.
He had already turned away to kiss his wife good-bye ('You'll be all right, Kaoru-dono?' 'I won't let you down, Kenshin. Love you.' 'Love you.'), then he turned eagerly to join the impatient, excited group of men.
The women watched them mount their horses and ride off, then Titania sighed and turned to Kaoru. "He's left you again," she said challengingly.
Kaoru mustered up a sigh. "He's always leaving me," she said dolefully. "I'm going to be so bored all day without him."
Titania tapped her finger to her lips thoughtfully. "I suppose it's beneath your dignity to alleviate such boredom in the company of your rival."
Kaoru blinked. "Is that...an invitation?" she said in disbelief. This was almost too easy.
"Of course not," Titania said quickly, as haughtily as she could. "Like I'd want to spend the day with an ugly little mortal."
Kaoru almost had to clap her hand over her mouth to squash her indignant response. Focus, Kaoru-chan, focus. "Everyone here calls me ugly," she complained. "Kenshin always says I am the most beautiful woman in the world, but...I mean, is he lying to me?"
Titania grinned. "Of course he is. Kenshin's only a man, after all, after the same thing as the rest. He's just much better at making his demand appealing." She shook her head. "Such a talent is wasted on that boy. All the women who would give their voices to have him for just one night, and none of us - of them -" she quickly amended, "can get him to tear his eyes away from a single, unattractive little human girl."
Focus, Kaoru-chan, focus... Sweating with the effort of keeping the smile plastered on her face, Kaoru managed to whine, "There you go again, calling me ugly! How am I supposed to compete with you fae, anyway? You're gorgeous, perfect. I wish I could be like that."
"Hmph. Of course we far surpass you mortals in beauty...though," Titania added thoughtfully, "the glamour helps. I don't know what we'd do without it."
"Can glamour," Kaoru asked, interjecting a hopeful note into her voice, "can glamour be used on...I mean, can only the fae use glamour?"
Titania's eyes slid to her. "Hmm..." She paced around the other woman, eyeing her critically. Kaoru nervously tried to keep her eyes on the queen, but Titania grabbed her shoulders and forced her back into place. "Hold still."
Kaoru swallowed nervously, her back creeping at the sense of the queen's presence behind her. Her eyes darted around, looking for Sôjirô, until she told herself firmly that even if he was here as planned, she wouldn't be able to see him. Kenshin had gotten Chou to help him weave a cloaking spell for her bodyguard; if everything went as planned, Sôjirô should be tailing her the entire day.
Titania came back around to face Kaoru and laughed. "It's doable," she said condescendingly. "You want us to doll you up for when Kenshin gets back?"
"I think," Kaoru said shyly, "that I want to look my best when he finally has to leave for good."
Titania's mouth tightened at this, but she merely replied, "All right, then. Come along, dear. The handmaids will be delighted."
o.o.o.o.o
Slipping away from the Hunt was even easier than he had anticipated. Once the golden hind was spotted and the hunters were caught up in the excitement of the chase, Kenshin simply signaled his horse to go slower and slower until they were walking, listening to the sound of the others' hoof beats fading into the trees. Then Kenshin grinned and turned back to the palace.
"Figures," his mount muttered. "Of course I have to get stuck with the boring two-legger. Get me all excited for the Hunt, but then, oh no, back home we go, when we've barely even begun-"
"Apologies," Kenshin said to it, trying unsuccessfully to keep the amusement out of his voice. "Will sugar and some extra apples make up for it?"
"No!" the horse brayed. Then, as an afterthought. "Well, maybe a little."
"There's always next time," Kenshin said soothingly. "And just think, you'll never have to put up with this one again."
"Yeah, I heard about that," the horse suddenly said. "Are the rumors true about what you're planning, Cross-face?"
"Yes," Kenshin said simply.
"Don't understand two-leggers," the horse muttered under its breath, "simply don't understand them at all..."
"It's for a foal," Kenji pointed out.
"But you're not a female," the horse answered. "Why should you care? If anything, it's your mate-"
"No," Kenshin said harshly. Then, kinder but with no less firmness, "Kaoru-dono is staying out of it, that she is." He suddenly smiled. "Besides, she couldn't fulfill the terms even if she wanted to. It must be this one."
"Whatever. The queen won't be happy, though."
"It can't be helped," Kenshin said quietly. "She made her choice, long ago; she must now bear with the consequences."
"None of the fae are used to having to do that," the horse pointed out, "much less their queen."
"Perhaps if they all had to do that, then they would not cause so much hurt to others."
"Seems like mortals, who do deal with the consequences, cause plenty of hurt."
"True."
o.o.o.o.o
Kaoru could not stop looking at her reflection in the mirror. She kept touching her face, her hair, marveling at her hands; she looked like a fairy princess.
All flaws and blemishes had been covered over. The blue of her eyes sparkled, its color enhanced, the lashes long and alluring. Her hair was a wash of soft silk that she could never have produced with the most expensive shampoos on earth. Her skin glowed with a rosy, invitingly creamy shade of peach; her hands were soft and fine, all calluses and bruises erased; her breasts swelled from a figure that was perfectly sculpted to accommodate a man. Her clothes rustled with quality, jewels sewn discreetly into the hems, the colors rich and beautiful; she simply could not believe they were still the same old robe she had thrown on the morning she had run after Kenshin.
She almost didn't recognize herself, and when she could tear her eyes away from her own unbelievable beauty, it was to look anxiously into that face and search for proof that it was her own.
"What do you think," Titania whispered gleefully into her ear.
Kaoru turned carefully, almost afraid of upsetting the clothes and the elaborate hairstyle. "It's so...I just can't believe it!"
Excited, unable to glomp her for fear of ruining the glamours, the handmaids danced with delight at their handiwork and hugged each other instead, then shrieked with laughter and sat down to dress each other up as well.
"Is this really only magic?" Kaoru said wonderingly, fingering the sleeve of her outfit. It felt like real silk, the emeralds in the hem were cool and hard under her fingers.
"The best," Titania said merrily, now working on her own hair. The odango buns reminded her abruptly of Tomoe; she set her lips, shook her head wildly to loosen the fair locks, then began pulling them into a different style.
Kaoru sighed as she looked down at herself. She had always, always wanted to look like this. No matter how many times Yahiko called her "busu-Jooh," sometimes she would lie in bed at nights and watch Kenshin breathing beside her, and trace her fingers over his closed eyelids and imagine that she really was as beautiful as he always claimed she was.
She wanted to believe it so badly...sometimes she almost did. More often, the taunts would pound at her ears and she would grit her teeth in anger, even as tears smarted at her eyes, and know in her heart that it was true. Ugly, ugly, ugly...not hideous perhaps, not totally loathsome, yet no match for her lovely friend Megumi, or for the elegant enchantress. No match, humiliatingly, for her own husband, or even for that scythe-wielding assassin who had come after them soon after Shishio's death.
"I wish I could be like this forever," she said bleakly.
Titania suddenly started, and a smile crept over her face.
o.o.o.o.o
Kenshin hadn't wanted to risk sneaking back into the palace, so he was hiding out in the stables instead. The horses made him nervous, peering at him inquisitively, but after a while they lost interest and went back to their meals. He eventually became so absorbed in what he was doing that he sensed the approaching figures too late.
"Ken-chan!"
He grunted when someone plowed into him and wrapped slender arms around his neck. His hands stilled on his work, tense.
"Ken-chan! You're back early!" Some of the handmaids were swarming around him now in a flock, playing with his hair and sticking little flowers in his clothes and peering with interest at his project. "What are you making, Ken-chan?" several of them chorused.
"Something fun," he answered, keeping his voice light.
"It's not very good, is it," one of them observed.
"A kid could make one better than that!" another one cried, and laughed.
"You are probably right, that you are." His magic, diluted by so much human blood, was not powerful enough for spells like this. He sighed and sat back on his heels, causing the girl on his back to shriek and clamp her arms even harder around his throat. He winced and worked his hand up between his neck and her arms. "Sara-dono, that is not very comfortable, that it is not."
"Sorry, Ken-chan!"
"Where is the queen?" he asked, worried that the presence of the handmaids meant she was not far away.
"Playing chess with Kaoru-chan," one of them sighed.
"So boring!" another whined. "Chess is a man's game! Women shouldn't have to think so hard!"
"Ken-chan," one of the girls suddenly said, "why are you making a toy like this?"
Nine pairs of eyes were suddenly fixed on him, anxious and crafty. Kenshin realized that he was going to need to do something fast, before they decided to turn him over to the queen. "This one is making this so that he can leave," he said, looking at them steadily. "Do you understand? This one must escape. He must."
"Titania won't like it," one of them said worriedly. "We have to tell her-"
Kenshin grabbed her gauzy skirt as she began to rise, allowing his eyes to go big and watery and irresistible. "Please, Michiko-dono," he whispered. "Please."
"Don't cry, Ken-chan!"
He gasped when they suddenly glomped him en masse, he only managed to get free when they realized he couldn't breathe. "We won't tell, we won't tell! We promise!"
"But you can't go," one of them insisted. "You can't leave us, Kenshin. You have to stay here with us forever."
He looked at them gravely. "You all claim to care for this one - and yet, by preventing him from leaving, you condemn his son to death."
"But we don't care about a little boy we've never seen," one of them said earnestly. "We care about you, Ken-chan."
He gave her such a cold look that they all fell silent and huddled together. There was an uneasy rustling.
"But he's not dead, Ken-chan," one of them finally said. "He's dreaming, he doesn't even know that anything bad is happening. He's happy! You should be happy, too, Ken-chan."
"Yes, yes!" they cried eagerly. "Be happy, Ken-chan!"
"Happy like you?" he said sadly.
"Yes!"
"Of course!"
His eyes moved over them, over those beautiful faces framed by fragrant blossoms. "Have any of you," he said slowly, "ever had children?"
Most of them cocked their heads in puzzlement, but Aria suddenly went limp and stared at the ground. Kimiko gasped and pressed her hand against her chest as if it hurt, and Michiko's breathing was coming hard. "How can you," she rasped, "ask that?"
She suddenly snatched up a handful of straw and flung it at him. "How can you ask such a thing?!" she shouted. Her flowers were shriveling; she turned away and put her face in her hands and wept. Aria curled even tighter into herself; Kimiko, eyes glimmering, put her hand on Michiko's knee. The other maids had drawn back, looking frightened.
"Michiko-dono," Kenshin said softly, "Kimiko-dono, Aria-dono...wouldn't you have done anything in your power to save them?" All three of them were weeping by now. He felt sick, but forced himself to turn to the others. "Why do you wear those flowers in your hair?" he asked them.
"Because it's more fun that way," Maya said quickly, and the other girls quickly took it up.
"Yes, yes!"
"It's more fun!"
He looked at them. "Who is it you're forgetting?"
They went very still. More of them were crying now; a few were sullen, the rest distressed.
"You're ruining it!" Maya cried. She reached up for the her flowers, which were wilting a little. "Stop it! We'll tell Titania!"
"I want to help." Aria's quavering voice came more clearly than anything else could have. "I want to help you, Kenshin."
"Yes!" Kimiko took his shoulder. "Please, let us help."
"Yes," Michiko rasped.
One of the handmaids reached out for the thing Kenshin had been working on, touching it gently. "This will not fool the queen for a moment," she said softly. "We can make a better one."
"She'll sense it," Maya objected. "Our magics are tied to hers, she'll know we made it."
"What if we distract her?" someone piped up eagerly. "We'll make it seem like Ken-chan's with us, so she'll leave him alone!"
"Yes, yes!" they all agreed excitedly.
"No."
They stared at him in astonishment.
"But Ken-chan-!"
"No." He was glaring. "She will find out that you helped this one. She will be very angry."
For a moment, they sat around him, quivering. Then Maya said strongly, "We will help."
"We will help," came Michiko's determined agreement; Aria hid her face against Kenshin's shoulder and whispered, "Yes."
Kenshin reached for the flowers in Maya's hair and pulled them away. "Do not make such promises when your minds are not your own."
Maya had made a feeble grab for her flowers, but Kenshin crushed them in his hand and looked at her challengingly. She met his eyes for a long minute, then said, quietly, her eyes clear at last, "I will help you, Kenshin. I will endure what must be endured, for your sake."
His eyes widened. He opened his mouth to speak, but one by one, the handmaids were pulling the blossoms from their hair and casting them at his feet. "We will help you," they said solemnly. "We give our word."
He looked at them helplessly, those faces suddenly deadly serious. Their fey beauty had somehow faded with the false smiles, but now they looked more...real. They were looking at him and truly seeing him, for almost the first time he could remember. "This one cannot allow-"
"You can't do it without us," Kimiko said abruptly. "You need us, Kenshin."
"As we said," Aria said in a small voice, "we cannot do this magic for you, and Titania will see the trick at once. If you don't let us help you, you don't have a chance."
When he still hesitated, Sara grinned and picked up two chunks of her hair, flapping them teasingly. "No flowers, see? You can't say no."
His eyes steeled. "Yes, this one can, and will. No."
They lifted their voices in protest, but Michiko called to them silently. 'Sisters, enough. He will not change his mind, but he cannot stop us once he's gone.' The girls laughed and hugged her; Kenshin looked at her suspiciously, but she only smiled. "Don't worry, Kenshin. We won't betray you."
o.o.o.o.o
That evening, Kenshin stepped into the main hall, too preoccupied with his thoughts to notice the antics of the handmaids accompanying him. It was Titania's voice that called him back to the present. "How was the Hunt, Kenshin?"
He blinked up at her. "The Hunt...? Oh. It was good."
After a pause, she gestured impatiently. "Just 'good'? What else? How was it, boy?"
"Very good." He wandered up to sit next to her as the tables were being laid out for supper. One of the court women took the place next to him, and the intensity of her attention on him caused him to glance at her for a moment. "What is it?"
"Um," the woman mumbled. She was quite extraordinarily beautiful, but it was a result of being caked with glamour - Kenshin was having a hard time holding back a sneeze. "How do I look, Kenshin?"
"Very nice," he told her politely. He sighed and put his chin on his hand, thinking of the night ahead. He would have to make sure Kaoru was taken care of, and make sure he was prepared for the journey without the queen noticing, and-
"Kenshin."
He frowned, then tried to hide his irritation. "Do I know you, miss?"
She gaped at him. "Well, I should hope so!" she finally gasped indignantly.
He stared at her in confusion as the queen and the handmaids laughed in the background. Then his eyes widened. "Kaoru-dono!"
She glanced away, a rosy blush spreading up into her cheeks, then looked back at him with a shy smile. "Well?"
He turned furiously to the queen. "What did you do to her?"
"Nothing!" Titania insisted. "Isn't she lovely, Kenshin?"
"Take it off! Now!"
"Glad to oblige!" Titania laughed, and reached to undo the fastenings of her clothes, pretending to misunderstand the order.
Impatient with her antics, Kenshin turned back to Kaoru and touched her face, pouring magic over her. The glamours wrinkled and began to peel away; Kaoru gasped at the stinging sensation and tried to pull away, but he wouldn't let go. "Kenshin!" she cried. "Stop!"
"Stop, stop!" cried the handmaids in dismay, now adorned with fresh flowers. "You're supposed to kiss her, silly!"
"So she can stay that way forever!" one of them piped up, then shrank back at the glare from Titania.
He had gotten most of it off by now. Kaoru twisted out of his grip and watched as he cast something like a sparkling mantle to the floor, which quickly crumbled to dust. "You ruined it," she said reproachfully. "I wanted-"
"You wanted something that was not meant for mortals," he said firmly. "Don't you realize it was another trap?"
Kaoru's eyes widened, and she turned indignantly to the queen, who shrugged. "You said you wanted to be beautiful forever."
"She already is beautiful," Kenshin growled. "Don't you ever touch her with glamour again."
Kaoru was shaking, torn by mixed emotions. "Kenshin..."
He opened his mouth angrily, but then stopped at the sight of her tormented expression. "Kaoru-dono," he finally said, forcing himself to calm down. "It's all right, there's no harm done. Sit down. It's all right," he said again. Slowly, she lowered herself into the chair beside him; he kept hold of her hand.
Unsurprisingly, supper that night was a rather sullen affair.
o.o.o.o.o
That night, Kaoru was half-roused from sleep by the sensation of Kenshin leaving the bed. Her cheek tingled; had he just kissed her there? "K'nsh'n?" she mumbled muzzily. Her eyes seemed to be stuck closed, and she was too sleepy to move.
His movements paused. "Kaoru-dono." His voice was so soft, a whisper in the darkness. She felt his fingers on her face, gently brushing aside a clump of sweaty hair. "This one loves you, so much."
Her nose crinkled; it was an odd thing to hear from a man who was getting up to use the chamber pot. But it was a nice thing to hear, so she attempted to kiss the fingers on her face though she was too tired to be very successful in her aim. "L've you too," she mumbled, and fell back asleep before she heard him lie down again.
Kenshin stood staring down at her for a long time. He was fully-dressed, the sakabatô at his waist; the chamber pot remained untouched under the bed. Then he forced himself to turn away. After that, it was fairly easy to go to the door, and open it, and step through, and close it so quietly behind him that Kaoru would not have heard a sound even if she had been able to listen for it.
To be continued...