Faerie Chronicles

by Raberba girl

Faerie is actually not a very nice place.

31. Part 4, chapter 12

The Faerie Chronicles of Kenshin & Kaoru: The Sleeping Prince, a Rurouni Kenshin fanfic by Raberba girl

Chapter 12 - In which the sleeping prince awakens.

A/N: I forgot if I've mentioned it before, but the terms "Niisan" and "Neesan," while literally meaning "older brother" and "older sister," can also be used for people who are not family. The connotation is that you look up to the person as if they really were an older brother or sister. That's why so many people in this fic call Tomoe "Neesan" or give her that honorific.

o.o.o

"O they rode on, and farther on,

And they waded through rivers above the knee,

And they saw neither sun nor moon,

But they heard the roaring of the sea."

Thomas the Rhymer

o.o.o

Megumi was cursing. It annoyed Kaoru, because it was like a pollution on this gorgeous day. She was glad that the girls were playing too far away to hear. Kaoru idly dipped her finger in the pool beside which she was sitting, watching the fat fish slowly scatter from this alien intrusion into their world.

"...and then that ridiculous scene at breakfast! Do you realize what kind of rumors are going to spread?" A pause. "Are you listening to me?!"

"What?" Kaoru mumbled. Some of the fish in the pool had scales exactly the color of Kenshin's hair. She abruptly slapped the water with her palm and turned away.

"Kaoru-Jooh." Megumi's voice was suddenly so helpless that Kaoru finally looked at her. "What happened between you two?" Megumi asked softly. "It's not just about Kenji, is it."

"Of course not," Kaoru snapped. Then she hesitated. What would happen, if she told Megumi? Would she understand? 'She has to,' Kaoru thought. Megumi remembered Kaoru's mother, had sometimes told her stories of the old queen. She would understand. "Megumi," she whispered. "He killed my mother."

"What?" Megumi said irritably.

Kaoru gritted her teeth and said it again, louder. "You know he was an assassin, Megumi. He was the one. When my mother died. It was him."

Megumi's mouth came open in shock. For a moment, she couldn't speak, and then it was in a disbelieving, strangled tone. "What?"

Kaoru started telling the story slowly, but she became heated and less coherent as she went on, her voice stumbling over itself at times. When she finished, she stared sullenly down at the ground, tense as she waited for Megumi's response.

"Something's...wrong," the older woman said slowly. "Ken-Ô wouldn't-"

"What would you know," Kaoru said tightly, "what that fae would or wouldn't do?"

Megumi stared at her. She had never heard Kaoru refer to her husband in such a way. "I know," she said finally, "that he would never have so heartlessly killed anyone, much less a woman. There must have been a better reason, at least! It doesn't make sense that he was only following orders."

"I don't care," she choked out, "whether he was only following orders!"

"There has to be a mistake..." Megumi said helplessly.

"Did you hear him, when he told me?" Kaoru hissed. "You weren't there. You didn't hear him. Maybe...maybe if Kenshin had told me...but it wasn't him. It was practically another person."

Megumi shook her head, not understanding. "Whatever he said, however he said it, he can't have meant it."

Rage surged over her, so powerful that the words to express it in left her. She sat in silence - the look on her face was terrible.

"Kaoru-Jooh," Megumi said quickly. "What I meant was, he can't have meant to hurt you so badly without good reason." When there was still no response, "Kaoru! You know him!"

"No," Kaoru whispered tightly, "I don't. Not anymore." The tears this time slipped quietly down her face, as her rage drained away into grief. "I never did." She touched her face, looked at her hands. Her wet fingertips sparkled in the sunlight. "All these years, and he never told me..."

Megumi was startled. "You mean he knew? He knew all along?"

"Apparently so," Kaoru said tightly. It did not occur to her to think otherwise; how could he not have known? How could he have been so callous if the realization was fresh? "I wonder what it's like, to marry a girl and have children with her, and laugh at the thought that you once...her mother..." She could not finish.

o.o.o.o.o

"Seriously?" Sanosuke yelped in disbelief. "That's what this is about?"

"Could it be anything less?" Sôjirô said wryly.

"Who'd have thought," Yahiko muttered. "And after all that, Kenji's still..."

"We have to see him," Sanosuke decided. "They can't go on like this. Did you see what happened at breakfast?"

"Talking to him right now-" Sôjirô started, but Sanosuke had already barged past him in search of their troubled sovereign.

There was a nervous, murmuring crowd huddled in the hall outside Kenshin's office. The door was closed. Sanosuke swore in confusion, and Yahiko demanded of those nearest, "What's going on?"

"The king threw us out," one of the men explained, almost sheepishly.

"What'd you do?" Sôjirô asked, interested.

"Nothing!" the man protested. "It was business as usual, but he wouldn't even look at the other papers until he had drafted the official statement on the prince's, ah, condition. But..."

"I was only doing my job," said a woman sullenly. "A person can't be expected to write about something she knows nothing about. I was only asking for a few details!"

"He can't do all the work himself," someone else complained, "that's what we're here for! What could he possibly be doing in there?"

"Shall we find out?" Sôjirô said invitingly. At this, the group of councilors looked hopeful, but they hastily backed away when Sanosuke grinned and clapped his fists together in preparation.

BAM.

The doors shattered like matchwood. The three bodyguards were at the head of an inward surge that halted at the sight of the king - or rather, at the sight of a heap of red hair perched atop a pile of sleeves. No one had ever seen him in that posture before. "Leave us," a muffled voice issued thickly from the unseen face.

No one had ever heard him use the majestic plural outside formal ceremonies, either.

"Kenshin," Sanosuke started firmly, but didn't get farther. Something like a clear bubble had appeared on the desk and was now rapidly increasing in size, looking as if it had every intention of expanding until it filled the room.

Sôjirô was the first to react, dashing with his inhuman speed to the empty fireplace to grab the iron poker. The protesting councilors suddenly broke off and hastily retreated, though Sanosuke and Yahiko held their ground until the bubble touched them.

It felt nothing like it looked - it was as if a wall of air was pushing them back, gently but firmly, as it advanced. "What the-!" Sanosuke cursed again as he and Yahiko shoved back, but they kept sliding ever closer to the broken doors until Sôjirô fought his way to them and held up the poker as if it was a shield. The bubble, abruptly and silently, burst, vanishing as if it had never been.

"Kenshin," Sanosuke growled, "was that a freaking spell?" He had known the king had fae blood. He had never before seen such strong evidence of it. It gave him a sudden, very disquieting understanding of Kenshin's mood.

"Some kind of magical barrier," Sôjirô supplied, when Kenshin didn't answer. "I'm afraid you can't get rid of us that easily, Himura-Ô." He turned, tapping the poker back against his shoulder as if it was a sword. "The rest of you should probably take the day off, though."

"But-!"

"We can't do that!"

"There's so much work-!"

Slowly, Kenshin raised his head. He needed to say nothing. The look on his face was enough.

"As the king commands," someone said hastily. They bowed and rustled away, looking troubled. After a moment, Yahiko went over and dragged the remaining bits of the doors shut.

"What do you want?" Kenshin growled at the remaining three intruders.

"Sôjirô told us," Yahiko said abruptly.

Kenshin put his head back down on his arms.

"Stop that!" Sanosuke exploded, stomping over and shaking Kenshin by the shoulder. "Stop acting like such a wimp!"

Kenshin shifted; narrowed amber eyes became visible through the fringe of his bangs. Sanosuke stopped shaking him, gulped, and took a small step back.

"Sano," Kenshin murmured, "do you have a wife, or children?"

"Of course not," Sanosuke snapped, coloring.

"Yes." His point made, he buried his face again.

Yahiko sighed. "This is ridiculous..."

The next instant, all four of them were on their feet, reaching for weapons. Outside, practically right next to the window, a voice was shouting furiously - Kenshin recognized it as Enishi's. "DON'T YOU DARE REVIVE HIM NOW, YOU SELFISH BROAD!"

"WHO'S CALLING WHO SELFISH, UNSEELIE BRAT?!" an enraged female voice shouted back. For an instant, the room went dim as an enormous mass of feathers struck the window. Sanosuke and Yahiko gaped at the sight, but Sôjirô looked around and realized that Kenshin had gone. "Sano-kun! Yahiko-kun! The queen is out there!"

Sanosuke cursed, and the three of them raced out.

Kenshin burst outside, where Kaoru was running to meet him, dragging the girls. "Kaoru-dono!" he called urgently.

"Kenshin! They're fighting-" She suddenly broke off at the sight of him, conflicted.

He impatiently turned his eyes to Megumi. "Megumi-dono, please get them somewhere safe," he ordered sharply, then took off for where the two fae were fighting - they were ominously close to Kenji's tower.

Kaoru glanced at Megumi in distraction. "Please get them somewhere safe," she repeated. Hurriedly, she stooped to kiss the frightened girls - "Mommy will be right back!" - and then dashed off in the direction Kenshin had gone.

"Oh, wonderful!" Megumi shouted after them. "I feel so appreciated!" Then she turned her attention to Ayame and Suzume, who were clinging to her. "It's all right," she said soothingly, "everything will be taken care of. Let's go somewhere nicer, okay?"

Titania, dwarfed by her own pure white royal wings, hovered by Kenji's tower in frustration. Enishi, supported by his own black feathers, was determinedly blocking her way. "Let me through, boy," she commanded.

"Over my dead body," he hissed, bringing his hands together. The dark energy of attack magic began to glow between his palms.

On the ground, Kenshin found his sleeve grasped by a harassed-looking Tomoe. "Kenshin," she said, her normally beautiful voice rasping, "I don't know what's going on - I think Titania means to revive Kenji somehow, but Enishi was furious when he found out." Kenshin glared up at the two in the air, who were now blowing bits and pieces off his castle when their attacks missed. He could just barely make out the knife in her hand.

The knife of Titania.

Kenshin slowly pulled out the knife of Oberon and stared at it. One had the power to cut through any Unseelie spell. The other was able to do the same to Seelie enchantments. Kenji was afflicted with both. "She means to..." he whispered. He stared at Tomoe with wide eyes. "Tomoe - if your curse is dissolved while Grandmother's is left in place, Kenji will still have a heart to sustain him."

Her hands flew to her mouth as her eyes filled with sudden, anguished tears. She had no right to refuse, no right to shake her head, but she could not stop her eyes from begging him, and he had no power to harden his heart against her. 'Besides,' he thought dully, 'if it is the Faerie Queen who frees him, it is to her he will belong.' Neither of them noticed Kaoru behind them, her eyes wide.

Up in the air, the Faerie King and Queen hovered warily, eyes fixed on each other. Titania was so intent on the battle that she even forgot to maintain her beauty glamours - her hair, dull red in color, hung in lank clumps past her shoulders; the cutting brilliance of her eyes had dimmed to a murky blue; and her face, though still attractive to human eyes, had lost its terrible, youthful perfection. As she became aware of this, it suddenly occurred to her, with a stab of wounded rage, that Enishi, who never bothered with such glamours, was actually better-looking than her in their natural states.

"Arrrgghh!" For the first time, she unleashed an attack targeted specifically to hurt him, to smash up that pretty face which no man had a right to possess.

He was ready, countering with an attack of his own, then following right in its wake. The two magical forces met with a thunderous crash, raining down flowers and shards of glass as they exploded. Enishi dodged under them just before they collided, which brought him practically up in Titania's face; he snatched the knife from her hand when she was still registering his proximity.

"No!" she howled, plowing bodily into him. She grabbed wildly for her knife, but succeeded only in knocking it to the ground. She gasped and turned to follow it, but Enishi seized her hair and pulled, simultaneously sending vicious shocks of magic into her.

Below, Kenshin had thrown up his arms to cast a spell of protection around the castle, at least around the portion he could reach, even though he knew that casting an effective spell of such size was impossible for him. He was grateful when Tomoe laid her hand over his own, lending strength and substance; his flimsy shield steadied and hardened, guarding his children and his people from stray magic as well as could be expected. "Sano," he grunted when he saw the guards out of the corner of his eye, "you are needed elsewhere. Get Kaoru-dono to safety and evacuate this area of the castle."

"The queen?" Sanosuke said in confusion, "but she went-"

"Sano, go!" Maintaining the barrier was taking all his concentration as he waited for Tomoe to seal it down. He did not notice when Sanosuke rolled his eyes and beckoned to Yahiko to go back the way they came.

Titania was screaming horribly, but despite the pain, she somehow managed to fold one of her wings quickly enough to clout Enishi on the side of the head. He staggered in the air, his grip loosened, and she slammed a dense ball of magic at his face; he shifted and it hit him just below his throat. As he coughed desperately, she contemptuously pulled free and descended to find her knife.

It was gone.

"Grandmother," Kenshin said urgently, gasping a little from the effort of using magic, "you should have spoken to this one first!"

"And lose Kenji, the way I lost you?" she sneered. "Not a chance."

"Your Majesty," Tomoe started, but broke off when Titania slapped her across the face.

Kenshin was instantly between them, hitting the queen with the full force of his amber-eyed glare, but she only smiled coldly. "You're so picky, Kenshin. 'This one must have Kenji back, at all costs!'" she whined in imitation of him. "'Except the cost of his so-called freedom, or the cost of dear little Tomoe, or-'"

"Where is it?!" Enishi shrieked. His voice was so near that all three of them whirled - he was on his knees, fingers tangled in the grass, looking around wildly. "It was just here! Who took it?!"

"Little mortal queen," Titania whispered, and looked at once to the tower. Neither Kenshin nor Tomoe could see what was happening in Kenji's room, but the vision of the Faerie King and Queen pierced through stone and saw the breathless figure emerge through the doorway and slowly approach the glass case, clutching the Seelie knife with shaking hands.

As one, Enishi and Titania loosed the same epithet and then surged back into the air. Kenshin barely understood what had just happened, but his instincts shot him into action at once. He whirled and streaked toward the castle doors as behind him, Tomoe called upon her own wings and rose up to the tower.

Kaoru was standing beside her son, looking down at him, her breath coming in frightened gasps. Her hand gripped the Seelie knife so hard she was afraid she would drop it, but she had only just started to raise it when Enishi and Titania came crashing into the room. "No!" Kaoru screamed, and reached frantically to cut Kenji free, but Titania seized her hand-

Before she could wrench the knife away, Enishi, forgetting all magic in the depth of his rage, punched her in the face. Titania crashed backwards against the wall, stunned, and slid down into a heap on the floor.

Enishi slouched there, breathing hard, glaring at Kaoru fiercely enough to melt her if he had remembered the accompanying words. She stared back in terror, clutching the knife to her chest, unable to move. "You," he whispered. "I'll kill you."

"Enishi!" Tomoe was slipping through the window, running to catch him by the shoulder, speaking quickly, urgently. "Enishi, don't hurt her! Wait, please wait, please-"

He shook her off violently. "Why are you protecting her?!" he shouted. "She's his wife! I'll kill her! In fact, I'll kill her first, while he's watching, and then I'll kill him!"

"Enishi, no!"

"Why not?! Why?! After everything he did, Nee-!"

"Enishi," she gasped desperately, "Kenshin never raped me! He never even touched me! I left the Unseelie court with him willingly- I wanted to marry him, Enishi!"

He looked like she had stabbed him. "Not...again," he rasped. "I told you - not to talk like that - ever again!"

"Enishi, it's the truth! Just because I can lie now doesn't mean I WILL!"

"Niisan wouldn't lie to me!" he screamed wildly. "Niisan told me everything!"

Tomoe stared at him, realizing helplessly that only one voice could reach him now, and that voice was gone forever. Even if he still lived, Shishio would have no inclination to free his little brother from such amusing delusions. "No!" Tomoe cried, when she saw Enishi summon his sword.

Kenshin knew he was not going to make it in time, but there was nothing else he could do, except run with all the strength of his being- Someone seized him, Sôjirô; they were like wind, faster than wind; Kenshin's face hurt from the lashing of his hair in the rush of their travel. They appeared in the tower room almost as if they had translocated.

Enishi was slashing a sword at his sister.

"Tomo-" The name choked in Kenshin's mouth. Only after that initial shock of sight did he perceive the rest; Kaoru backing away, screaming his name; Enishi killing her, trying to kill her, unable to because Tomoe was suddenly in the way. "TOMOE!"

Enishi noted with helpless confusion and fierce annoyance that Tomoe had thrown herself between him and his target. He didn't bother to check the blow, it was too late anyway, though he did wonder why her body felt so heavy as he shook her clear of his blade. Then he turned his attention to the mortal woman, but now here was Battousai, raising that ridiculous sakabatô to block his sword.

Kenshin strained to keep that deadly blade away from Kaoru, and he repelled it more easily than he had expected. The emotions roiling through him gave him a focus such as he had never experienced before. "Enishi," he whispered raggedly, "your own sister...?"

"What are you talking about?" Enishi snapped, sparing a glance behind him, but then he stopped. Tomoe was still on the floor. Something red was spreading steadily from her - where had that come from? "Neesan," he called irritably, "stop that!"

Sôjirô had moved around to take Kaoru by the arm, pulling her gently away; Kenshin was free to go to Tomoe, but Akira had reached her first. "Tomoe-san!" he cried desperately. "Tomoe-san!"

"Get up, Neesan!" Enishi shouted, furious in his terror.

A soft touch on his shoulder made him whip around like a startled animal; Kenshin took his hand away at once. "Enishi," he said in a low voice. "Tomoe has this one's mortality. She is as susceptible to admantine now as this one would have been."

"Shut up!" Enishi shouted, and fell to his knees beside his sister - but he saw, to his horror, that some magic was withering away from her. It had to be some other magic, not glamour...it couldn't be glamour, she didn't need it, she was immortal. Yet here were little wrinkles that had begun to develop in her forehead and at the corners of her mouth, and two or three strands of silver hair that flowed obliviously alongside their black companions. She looked...almost human. There was nothing fey about her beauty.

Enishi's eyes shot to Battousai, but the denial died on his lips. The red-haired swordsman was far too beautiful than anyone with so much human blood should be. Though he was over forty years old, he looked almost the same as he had when he was a teenager. "It's not true!" Enishi shouted. He kept screaming as he backed away from his fallen sister. "I'll find it...I'll find her heart, tear it out with my bare hands, terms or no-" He vanished.

Titania, sitting with her knees curled to her chest, whispered tightly, "You've gone mad, boy. You'll never find Kenji...and even if you could..." She glanced up, because she sensed Kenshin's eyes on her; but she could not bear that look of icy gold fury, so she hid her face like a child.

"Battousai!" Akira snarled, grabbing Kenshin's hands and pressing them against the blood-soaked wound. "Heal her! Heal her!"

"This one can't," Kenshin said helplessly. Small cuts, insect bites, fevers; but his magic was not strong enough for wounds of this severity. He tried anyway, pouring Seelie healing into her, but it did little more than slow the flow of blood. He felt as if he was being drained of something else as well, something vital...

Gentle hands closed over his, tugging him away. "Stop, Ken-chan. Are you trying to kill yourself, silly?"

Some of the handmaids had come, clustering around their fallen sister to lay their hands on her and watch the blood stop coming out of her, the sliced flesh sealing back together, leaving a long red scar.

"Tomoe-san," Akira called hopefully, cradling her. Her eyes remained closed, her skin cold. Her clothing, over her chest, was growing wet, though not with blood. "Why won't she wake up?!" Akira cried.

Titania's voice startled him, close and high above his shoulder. "A fatal wound like that...this fragile heart of ice cannot sustain her through such healing. Look, it's already melting." Titania looked sad. "Good-bye, Tomoe. I'm sorry." Horrified, Akira cast his thickest ice spell over Tomoe; it glimmered like crystal, encasing her in a shell of preservation. Titania shrugged. "You're only prolonging the inevitable. She's lost - only her true heart could have saved her." She gave him a condescending look. "Even the Faerie King, no matter how hard he searches, will not be able to find it. What chance do you think you have, boy?"

"Grandmother." She looked up. At the sight of those hot gold eyes again, she took a nervous step back. "What Enishi searches for..." He glanced for a moment at Kenji.

"Well, of course you can't literally rip out someone's heart and expect to be able to shove it into someone else," she snapped. "Such magic requires a thing's representative form - you should know that, after passing through the Fog!"

Without a word, Kenshin turned and stepped out of that world. Titania quickly followed him - or so she thought. He was nowhere in Faerie; by the time she figured out where he had gone, it was too late to stop him.

o.o.o.o.o

Kenji was really sick of the Boring Place, but he hadn't figured out a way to get out yet. It was like clouds, a floor of clouds stretching out like the ocean in all directions, on and on and on for as far as he could see. There wasn't even a sun, just a pale blueness above and the fluffy whiteness below. Walking on it was like walking on feathers - his feet sank down a little, but the cloudy stuff was massed so thickly that it held his weight.

He had been twirling out of sheer boredom, spinning around and around with his arms spread, when he finally, FINALLY caught sight of something that was not blue sky-thing or fluffy cloud-stuff. He jerked to a halt, swaying. In a slightly wobbly manner, he walked over to investigate this new thing that had appeared in the Boring Place.

It was a woman...and, like Kenji when he had first found himself here, she had no clothes on. She was curled up so that most of his attention was caught by the extraordinary sight of her back. Scars had been slashed into it, scars which strangely resembled the mark on Kenji's own cheek, only bigger. One angry red line stretched diagonally almost from her shoulder to her hip, and another line crossed it a little unevenly, coming the other way.

He found himself blushing. "Um...lady? You can imagine clothes, and they'll come." It had taken him a little while to figure that out. He had been walking around naked until he'd thought, 'I really wish I had some clothes,' and they had magically appeared on him.

Slowly, the woman uncurled and sat up, still facing away from him. "Kenji." Her voice was very quiet. "It is dishonorable to stare at an unclothed woman, unless she is your lover."

"Oh...right..." His face now crimson, he spun away and waited uncomfortably until she spoke again.

"I'm dressed now, Kenji."

"Hey," he said as he turned back around, "how do you know my name?"

She was kneeling with her hands limp in her lap, looking away from him. "I know you very well," she said softly.

"Yeah, but I don't know you," he pointed out.

At last she turned to look at him, and smiled a little. It was kind of a scary smile, though, because it was so sad. "I am Tomoe."

"Oh. Hi." He grinned and plopped down comfortably next to her. It would be very good to finally have somebody to talk to in this place. "I'm glad you're here, you know. This place is boring as heck."

"I apologize for that," she murmured.

He wrinkled his nose in confusion. "Huh? Why? It's not your fault."

She shook her head. "I am afraid it is, Kenji. You see, it...it was I who sent you here." She smiled self-deprecatingly into the distance. "It seems fitting that I should now find myself here as well."

"...Oh." He wasn't quite sure what to make of this. "Why did you...?"

She could not stand the hurt look on his face. "If you can find it in your heart to forgive me, Kenji-"

"Of course!" It was so quick that she was startled. "As long as you didn't mean to send me here, right?" He didn't want his new companion to be a villain. If she was willing to make amends, he was eager to befriend her.

"Well," she said slowly, "it was deliberate, of course. But it was very much against my desire, and I regret deeply that I gave in to selfishness and risked your life."

This sounded like a good story. "Someone forced you? You're a selfish person? You tried to kill me? Tell me!"

She looked at him, a little disconcerted. "I...well, I did not want you to die, of course. My brother-" She shook her head. "I will have to tell the story from the beginning."

Kenji spread his arms his arms out, indicating the vast nothingness. "Believe me, Neesan, we've got lots and lots of time."

She smiled sadly at him, in awe of his spirit. "Oh, Kenji, I wish I could have known you under better circumstances. I wish I could have been a good godmother to you, and watched you grow up with your family..."

"You're my godmother?" he said interestedly. "Tell me the story already! Please," he added as an afterthought.

She sighed. "Very well. Perhaps I should start by saying that I met your father long ago..."

o.o.o.o.o

Kenshin found himself floating. Lights were flashing through the darkness, and after a minute, he realized that these were people. Small ones in strange suits, pointing things at each other that made the lights on their clothing die. It was an utterly alien place, and held no interest for him at the moment; it was not what he was looking for. He moved on.

o.o.o.o.o

"...So you were gonna marry my dad? Hey! That means that you're, like, my mom!"

She looked over at him, her expression difficult to read. "I could have been your mother, Kenji - but I am not."

"Oh," he said, disappointed. He wanted a mother. He liked Megumi fine - in fact, he liked her a lot, even though she did yell at him for doing stuff that he called 'adventurous' and she called 'dangerous.' But he wanted...he wanted the real mother that his guardians always talked about. He knew he had one - somewhere. But he didn't know what she looked like, or if her idea of 'dangerous' was the same as Megumi's, or if he would even like her, but he wanted to like her. "I like you," he told Tomoe dolefully.

"Oh." She was a little confused. "Thank you. I like you, also."

o.o.o.o.o

Kenshin felt solid ground beneath his feet again, blinking against the abruptly shining sunlight, and a startled creature leaped away from his sudden presence. It took Kenshin a minute to realize that the thing was a mouse - it was much too large, and wore a sword at its waist that was shaped differently than a katana. This tiny weapon it drew, and brandished at him while addressing him in a fierce, challenging set of squeaks. Obviously it could communicate, though not in a way Kenshin could understand.

"This one means you no harm, and has no interest in fighting," he said in as reassuring a tone as he could. He turned away and vanished.

o.o.o.o.o

Tomoe sighed. "I should have been content with what I had... I did what I could for your father, and it should have been enough. I watched him walk through life with such a weight on his shoulders, until at last he found another woman."

"What a jerk!" Kenji said indignantly, and Tomoe nearly laughed.

"No. I was glad. I wanted to see him happy, and he was at last when he married Kamiya Kaoru. And," she eyed him, "when they gave birth to you, and to their two daughters after you."

Kenji suddenly felt very strange. Two daughters - his sisters. Two more he should have known intimately, and yet had never met.

"I was glad. I meant to watch over him and his family, to protect his happiness the way I could not when we were young. But...then I met Akira-san," she whispered.

"Is Akira a bad guy?" Kenji wanted to know.

"No!" she exclaimed. "No...Akira-san loved me." She laughed once, a desperate sound. "He wouldn't go away. He stayed with me, and loved me, until I couldn't help loving him back." She closed her eyes. "When I was told that I could break my contract and recover my heart, that I could...that I could be with Akira-san...that's why I cursed you, Kenji. Because I was too selfish to do the right thing. I thought I could stall until a way was found to save you, but it doesn't matter in the end. I never should have done it. I am a very terrible person."

"Yeah," Kenji said in awe. "You're like the wicked stepmothers in those stories. Except you're a lot nicer than them." He frowned. "Not as bad as my stupid dad, though. Dumping you 'cause he couldn't get what he wanted; I like your Akira better. That's what a real man should be like."

"Kenji..." she murmured.

o.o.o.o.o

Kenshin had appeared in a richly-furnished sitting room, where a very good-looking foreigner with black hair and an extraordinarily beautiful dressing gown gazed at him in mild surprise.

"Please forgive the intrusion," Kenshin said, since the man appeared to be in the middle of breakfast.

The man frowned and made an odd gesture. When he spoke, the words were strange, but Kenshin could somehow understand him perfectly. "Now, which world have you wandered in from, good fellow?"

"This one isn't sure," Kenshin confessed. "He had not realized there were more than two."

"I see."

At that moment, Akira and Kaoru came bursting into view, clasping each other's hands tightly. Both of them looked rather strained. "How are you doing this?" Akira gasped, out of breath. "It's taking all my magic just to follow your trail!"

"If you think," Kaoru growled, "I'm going to let you run off alone on some errand that concerns my son, you've got another think coming!"

Kenshin bowed in acknowledgment. "He is not here. Let's go." He could see she was not going to take his hand, so he turned away, trusting Akira to bring her along safely.

"I think I'm going to keep an eye on you three," the enchanter in the dressing gown murmured as he watched them go.

o.o.o.o.o

"...but even if that's true," Tomoe was saying, "which it isn't, you must remember, Kenji, that even the worst person in the world may have someone who loves him. That doesn't absolve him of his evil acts." She thought of her older brother and sighed.

"Yeah," Kenji protested, "but in the stories, the bad guy never-"

"Life's stories," she said quietly, "do not always resemble fairy tales."

"See, this is what I mean," Kenji complained. "All I've got are stories, I don't know anything. I want to freaking get out of the forest and actually have a real life, but now I'm stuck here-" He paused. "'Cause of you, I guess."

"I see," she said faintly. "You're right, Kenji. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," he mumbled, and rested his chin on his knees. "You think we'll ever get out of here?"

"I don't know," she said softly. "It is possible that someone will rescue us."

He eyed her. "Only possible? Not for sure?"

"We are here," she explained, "because something still ties our bodies to the mortal world. If we cannot get out before the final links are severed..."

Kenji shivered. "I hate having to be rescued," he growled. "I want to be the one rescuing other people."

She smiled a little. "One day, Kenji."

"If all goes well, you mean," he said pointedly.

"Yes. If all goes well."

Kenji lifted his chin off his knees. "Hey!" he shouted into the distance. "If you're coming, hurry up already!"

'Kenshin,' Tomoe thought, 'Akira-san...'

o.o.o.o.o

In the next world, a red-haired boy dressed in green looked down in surprise at their sudden appearance, breaking off the song he was picking out on a set of pipes. He made a puzzled exclamation that none of them understood.

Kenshin glanced back at his companions, then at the boy again. "This one is afraid he does not speak your language," he told him politely. He beckoned to the others, and once again, they moved on.

So it was in world after world, until suddenly, as they were leaving a place where a sandy-haired young man and a hulking black figure battled with swords made of light, Kenshin paused. He sensed...something. Some thread of love that he had never seen, could not see now, but could feel, had felt for the past fourteen years; and another thread, one he knew very well-

He followed them into the next world, which was barely even a world at all, merely a holding place for two prisoners.

o.o.o.o.o

At the sight of three figures appearing out of nowhere, Kenji gasped and scrambled to his feet. Tomoe also rose, hope blossoming in her heart. "Akira-san," she whispered, and then she was in his arms.

"I can't believe I found you!" he gushed delightedly. "World after world, I had no idea there were so many, and here you are at last!" Tomoe smiled, but she was looking over his shoulder, at Kenshin and Kaoru, who were for the first time seeing their son awake.

"Kenji," Kaoru gasped. "Kenji..." She ran to throw her arms around him.

He backed away in alarm, though not quickly enough, and eyed her warily when she had hold of him. "Do I know you, lady?"

Her eyes filled with tears. "Kenji, it's me. It's your mother."

"My mother?" He wriggled free and backed up towards Tomoe, eyeing her. "Is she really, Neesan?"

Tomoe smiled and put her hand on his shoulder, giving him a little push. "Of course she is. Don't be rude."

Kenji smiled in relief and took his mother's hands. "Nice to meet you...um, Mom." He colored a little. "I've never called anyone 'Mom' before."

Kaoru felt giddy with happiness. This time, he let her wrap her arms around him again - she held him tightly, breathing in his slightly sweaty smell and feeling the strands of his hair against her cheek. "Kenji," she whispered.

She felt him suddenly stiffen. "Hey," he said indignantly. "You stole my face!" She glanced over her shoulder and realized that he had seen Kenshin - who stood now with drawn sword, his face grave.

"Kenshin," she said warningly.

His eyes remained on Kenji as he answered. "Please move away, Kaoru-dono."

"Hey!" She whirled and spread her arms protectively in front of her son. "Just what are you planning?!"

"Enishi plans to rip it out," Kenshin murmured. "This one thinks there is a better way..."

"What?!"

"Kaoru-san," Tomoe started, but was drowned out.

"No! No!" Kaoru shouted. "Not when I finally have him back-"

"You don't have him back," Akira pointed out. "He's trapped here, he can't return without Tomoe-san's heart, and there's no way I'm letting that happen."

"What are you guys talking about?" Kenji complained.

Kenshin was looking at him thoughtfully. "Kenji, perhaps it is too much to ask for you to hold still so that this one can hit you?"

Kaoru looked ready to beat him to a pulp, but Kenji's eyes lit up with nervous excitement. He silently called for a bokutô, which appeared obligingly in his hands, and stepped around his alarmed mother to face his antagonistic look-alike. "It's a fight you want, jerk? Bring it on! Loser has to find a new face!"

Kenshin grinned a little, though with those golden eyes, the effect was a bit scary. "Only if this one loses - but that won't happen."

"Kenji!" Kaoru cried. "Kenshin!" Tomoe and Akira pulled her away as Kenshin flew into a charge. Kenji brought up his wooden sword out of pure instinct, though he was delighted to see the startled look on this Kenshin-person's face when he found his attack blocked. Not wasting a second, Kenji pushed away and simultaneously brought up a fist. Kenshin was lucky that his son had not yet mastered the Futae no Kiwami, or his face would have been crushed. As it was, he was knocked back with a mark that was later to become a very handsome bruise.

"Kenshin," Tomoe said, sounding as if she was trying not to laugh, "don't forget - I once granted him sword-skill even greater than yours. Please be careful."

"Understood," Kenshin murmured.

"Heheh..." Kenji looked delighted. The laugh was premature, however, since in the next second, Kenshin was unleashing a mild Ryuusôsen on him.

'Missed,' Kenshin thought unhappily as the boy plowed to the ground. Yet he was simultaneously quite proud of the fact that Kenji had blocked the main intent of the attack.

"Kenshin, stop it!" Kaoru was screaming. "He's just a child!"

"Am...not...!" Kenji grunted as he staggered back to his feet, his weapon clenched painfully in his fist. "Look- Dragon's Nest Strike!"

Kenshin just barely escaped getting damaged from having his own move thrown back at him. "Impressive," he murmured in admiring exasperation.

"Yeah, you bet it is," Kenji started to preen, then suddenly realized that he was accepting praise from the enemy. "Hey! I don't need to hear that from you! Eat this, loser - Dragon-hammer Strike!"

'Now, where did he pick that up?' Kenshin thought in amazement, but there was no time to muse over possible answers. He was already leaping clear, not just dodging, but going on the offensive as well. "Hiten Mitsurugi-ryuu: Doryuusen!"

It occurred to Kenji, in a flash of wordless thought, that Hiten Mitsurugi-ryuu was the same sword-style his father practiced, that his father's name was also Kenshin. Yet there was no time to process or react to this realization, because just as he regained his footing, the reversed sword was slamming with carefully controlled force into his chest, choking him- No, his heart was choking him, two of them, pulsing frantically like wild birds struggling to escape a cage...

He heard his mother scream as everything went black.

o.o.o.o.o

"Oh, gee, haven't we been this way before?" Sanosuke said sarcastically as they hurried back the way they had come.

"Just shut up and run," Yahiko panted. "They might need us."

"Of course they'll need us, what with those crazy fairies trying to blow up the place."

"The explosions have stopped, though. I don't know about you, but that makes me even more nervous."

When they finally reached Kenji's tower, neither the battling fae nor Kenshin and Kaoru were anywhere in sight. It was only Kenji's body in the glass case, and Sôjirô keeping watch by Tomoe's frozen body as the handmaids chattered excitedly to each other.

"What's going on?" Sanosuke demanded. "Where are they?"

Sôjirô shrugged. "Who knows. I'm just glad our queen is safe, or at least she was when she left."

"Left to where?" Yahiko wanted to know.

Sôjirô smiled. "Where else? Following him. It might take a while, but I think things will turn out well after all."

The handmaids came swirling around the startled Sanosuke and Yahiko in a twittering feminine cloud. "There are princesses here, aren't there?" they said breathlessly. "We want to play with the children! Souji-chan is being boring!"

"S-Souji-chan?" Sanosuke choked.

"They're hiding from you people," Yahiko said pointedly. "You think kids would be in the mood to play when they're afraid for their lives?"

"But all the dangerous people are gone!" they laughed. "We will find the little girls and brighten their faces again!"

Sanosuke couldn't stop them from leaving the room, and he didn't want them flitting loose around the castle, so he and Yahiko followed them around until they found the girls. It was occasion for mutual delight. "They are so cute!"

"Look at the fairies, Suzume!"

"Pretty, pretty!"

Sanosuke rolled his eyes. "I give up."

Sure enough, it wasn't long before all trace of fear was forgotten, and the girls were entirely captivated by the beautiful fey women. "Is Niisan really all right?" Ayame asked anxiously, when the fae had finally convinced her that the scary battle was over. "And Mommy and Daddy?"

"Daddy and Mommy went to get Niisan, and they're all coming back together," Michiko assured them, then she and the others fell about laughing.

"I can't take much more of this," Sanosuke muttered to Yahiko, feeling like he was drowning in girly silliness.

"Megumi's looking better by the second, right?" Yahiko muttered back with a grin.

"Shut up!"

Ayame and Suzume were a little disappointed when they returned to the tower and found Kenji still asleep. "Not happily ever after yet," Ayame sighed, as Michiko held her up to look at him.

"Soon," the handmaids assured her. "Soon we'll have another happily ever after!"

"Happy ever after," Suzume declared firmly, patting her brother's face as if to reassure him.

Everyone was startled when the three travelers suddenly appeared out of nowhere, one of them yelling vociferously. "-cannot believe you did that! Liar to the end, claiming you want to save him, turning right around and trying to kill him-!"

Kenshin made no answer as he went to his son, gently shouldered aside the inquisitive women, and drove the Unseelie knife down just beside Kenji's head. The knife appeared to be plunging into mere air, yet it obviously met some unseen resistance. He wrenched the knife all the way around in an outline of Kenji's body; the spell turned to glitter and showered harmlessly to the floor. When the circuit was complete, everyone stared expectantly, hushed and tense.

Nothing happened.

After a long, long moment, Kenshin folded his arms on the edge of Kenji's coffin and leaned down to rest his head on them, defeated. The handmaids twittered in confusion, as Kaoru stood still and silent.

"Daddy," Ayame finally said in puzzlement, "you forgot the kiss of true love."

"What, sweetheart?" he said wearily, not moving.

"In the stories!" she said enthusiastically. "You have to kiss them before they can have happily ever after."

He raised his head.

"Like this! Come on, Suzume. One, two, three!" Together, they leaned over and planted hearty kisses on either side of their brother's face.

Kenji's eyes flew open, and the room was suddenly a flurry of frantic activity. The little girls backed away, frightened, as their brother writhed and clawed desperately at his chest and throat; Kenshin and Kaoru were grabbing for him helplessly, shouting things they were not even aware of saying; Titania suddenly re-appeared in a surge of fury that quickly faded to concern. Striding forward, she pushed the others aside and clapped Kenji hard on the back. With a last agonized convulsion and a sickening gurgle, he rocked forward and coughed something into his hands.

"What the heck!" Kaoru shrieked. "That was in him?!"

Kenji wrinkled his nose as he looked at the small, slime-covered apple. "Ew." Swaying a little, he lifted his head to get his bearings and caught sight of Tomoe motionless on the floor. "Neesan!" he gasped, then coughed wretchedly at the pain of his voice passing through his raw throat. Scrambling out of the glass box, he yelped and collapsed as soon as his feet touched the floor. "Ow!"

"You've been unconscious for days," Kenshin explained, trying to help him up.

"Get *cough* off me, face*cough*-stealer!" Kenji shook free and crawled over to Tomoe, since his legs weren't cooperating. He stared for a second, then indignantly tapped at the ice spell encasing her.

Akira laid a hand protectively over her, and the ice began to slide off her as liquid. "You must restore her heart to her," he said tightly, ready to take it by force if necessary.

"Huh?" Kenji suddenly looked at the little red thing in his hand. Then he looked at Tomoe. "She doesn't *cough* have to eat it, does she?!" he exclaimed in horror. "It's-" He winced and swallowed a couple of times. "It's got my drool and stuff all over it." Akira made a snatch for it, but Kenji leaned away and reached to press the apple-that-was-not-an-apple against her chest. He yelped in surprise and jerked away when he suddenly felt the thing pulse under his fingers. Slowly, it sank down into her flesh.

After a moment, Tomoe's eyes drifted open and she gazed up at the ceiling. Akira caressed her cheek with trembling fingers. "Tomoe-san?"

She turned her head a little to look at him, his name forming silently on her lips. She reached up a hand and rested it on her chest, where for the first time in years, she could feel her heart beating. "Kiss me," she finally whispered. Smiling, weeping, he complied.

Kenji was so intent on watching them that he did not notice the approach of his own family, and was startled to suddenly be glomped by three enthusiastic females.

"Oh, Kenji!"

"Niisan, you're finally awake!"

"Yay, Niisan!"

Kenshin watched their joy from across the room, smiling, his heart aching. He became aware that Titania was bristling beside him. The smile faded, and he turned to fix an ominous stare on her. "You kept the last term secret, that you did."

"What term?" she said innocently.

"A kiss. You meant to claim him for yourself all along."

"And so what if I was!" she said defensively. "I did want his spell broken, you know...just not by any of you." She pouted. "Now I'll have to win him for myself the hard way."

He shook his head. "He'll never come to you, you know."

"Your grandfather did," she huffed. "You and your father were just defective. No normal man can resist my charms."

"Your enchantments, you mean," he said meaningfully. "Your true charms, your true desires...who knows."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

He looked at her sadly. "You buried your own heart once, didn't you."

"Who told you?" she said in a deadly voice.

He looked surprised. "No one. It was obvious, that it was."

Indignation and fear rose up in her. "Oh, was it? Well...well, knowing that won't help you any! She'll never forgive you, you know." She left him then, left him to stare at his wife and children and wonder if she was right.

To be continued...

Author's Notes: My version of the answer to the question that will forever nag me - "Why the heck does Kenshin, a Japanese warrior, have red hair and blue eyes?!" In this fic, he and his father and son inherited their coloring from Titania.

References included the Battle Room in Ender's Game (or Ender's Shadow) by Orson Scott Card, Reepicheep from The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie, and (of course) a scene from the Star Wars movies.