The Faerie Chronicles of Kenshin & Kaoru: Immortality, a Rurouni Kenshin fanfic by Raberba girl
Chapter 9
"Kaoru-chan!" Aya and Suzumi actually jumped up and came hurtling all the way across the restaurant to glomp Kaoru as soon as she set foot in the door with her parents. "We're soooo glad you're okay!"
"I'm fine," Kaoru grumbled, looking around in embarrassment. She had not entered such a swanky place in her life.
"Oh! Who are your friends, Kaoru-chan?" Mrs. Arai asked.
"Uh...well, this is Suoh Aya-chan and Suzumi-chan - they're friends of Ken- Mr. O'Neill's," Kaoru explained. "Guys, this is my mom and dad. And my brother, Iori."
"We're so happy to meet you!" the twins chimed together. Suzumi tickled Iori under the chin, making him laugh, and Aya ruffled his hair. Then they seized Kaoru's hands and dragged her over to the table where Kenshin, Natsue, Keiko, Kensuke, and a man whom Kaoru didn't know where already sitting. Kenshin and the stranger rose to greet them, Natsue inclined her head stiffly, and Kensuke kept slouching in his chair and playing with a straw, not showing any sign that the Arais existed.
"Kaoru-dono, it's good to see you," Kenshin said with genuine happiness, pausing slightly at her glare. "Arai-dono, this one is so glad you all could make it here tonight."
"I'm surprised our schedules allowed it," Natsue commented sourly, picking at an appetizer and looking as if she wanted to be somewhere else.
"Kensuke-kun!" the twins scolded, practically dragging the boy out of his chair, "Say hi to Kaoru-chan! Look, she brought her mom and dad, too!"
"Leave me alone," the boy complained. Kaoru stared at his left cheek, but could not detect anything out of the ordinary.
"Kensuke-kun, it's nice to meet you again," Mrs. Arai said bravely. "That's such a nice suit you have on."
"Oh, Kensuke," Natsue said in exasperation, her tight expression indicating that she was holding back what she really wanted to say.
"What, Mom?" Kensuke brushed a few stray bread crumbs off his pants and otherwise ignored her. "Hi, Baasan," he said to Kaoru, wrinkling his nose a little as if he wasn't thrilled to see her.
The Arais burst into laughter, Kaoru fumed, and Natsue looked mortified.
"Now, Kensuke, that's rude," the man said. He bowed to the Arais in both greeting and apology. "Forgive my son his bad manners. I am Himura Takashi, and I'm pleased to meet you. Mr. O'Neill here tells me that you're good friends of his."
"Well, I wouldn't go quite that far," Mr. Arai stammered, even as Kaoru leveled a pointed look at the slightly embarrassed-looking Kenshin.
"Sit down, sit down!" the girls urged, Aya pulling out a chair for Mrs. Arai and Suzumi snagging a waiter to ask for a high chair for Iori. "We ordered for you already, we hope that's okay!"
"Don't worry, you'll like it!"
"That's...that's fine," Kaoru's father said uncomfortably.
As if he could read Mr. Arai's mind, Kenshin put in smoothly, "Remember, everything is this one's treat, so please don't hesitate to order anything you like. Though," he smiled at Aya and Suzumi, who beamed back, "the girls have excellent taste, so you will be perfectly safe to trust them, that you will."
With so many people at the table, conversation did not prove to be a problem, even though Natsue and Kensuke seemed to be unsuccessfully doing their best to dampen the mood. Mr. Himura seemed practiced at softening Natsue's condescending complaints and Kensuke's surly childishness. Keiko proved equally adept at smoothing down her daughters' exuberance, and Mrs. Arai navigated the conversation to waters that everyone could contribute to (not just the rich people). Kenshin, of course, somehow managed to make every single person in the group feel at ease.
"Terrible thing, about the chancellor," Mr. Arai remarked at one point.
"He was a good man," Natsue said immediately. "Our nation will be sorely troubled in his absence."
"Yeah, definitely," Kensuke put in, looking angry. "Now an evil warlord's going to rule the world. I keep telling you, Mom, you need to let me practice more!"
"Schoolwork before hobbies," Natsue said curtly. "Besides, your kendô has nothing to do with the chancellor or important politicians."
"But Kensuke-kun is really good!" the girls insisted. "If he gets as good as Ken-jii, he can help fight!"
"Fight against what?" Kenshin said quellingly, sounding more as if he was warning them away from the topic rather than asking a question. Kaoru shivered and reminded herself again to stop thinking.
"You children make it sound like a war," Keiko laughed, as if the idea was silly. "Poor darlings, I know it's upsetting, but don't worry. They're saying that the poor vice chancellor is recovering surprisingly well from the attack - they're even saying he might be able to be sworn in as the new chancellor after all."
"But that's the problem!" Kensuke insisted, though the others talked over him.
"I can't believe that poor man is still alive," Mrs. Arai murmured. "Even if he's recovering, the burns must be terrible. Did you see the photos they took of what was left of the building?"
"I wonder why they've got a 'Regent' acting as temporary chancellor," Mr. Arai was saying at the same time, frowning. "I don't understand why they don't just swear in the next guy on the list."
"Obviously they are hoping for the vice chancellor to make a complete recovery," Natsue put in haughtily. "The man's certainly more than capable of running the country, and personally, I'd rather see him in office than some nobody who hasn't earned the job."
"But a regent!" Aya protested. "Isn't anybody worried about that?"
"Yeah!" her sister piped up. "A regent is what they call someone who's taking over for a king!"
Keiko laughed warningly. "Don't be silly, girls. We're in the twentieth century, not a history book. The man's just keeping an eye on things until the vice chancellor's condition is more certain, that's all."
"In any case," Mr. Himura mused, "I can't say I'm pleased with how things have been going lately, what with all the extra police in the streets and this new curfew business."
"The curfew's awful!" Suzumi said unhappily. "We have to go straight home from school, we can't even stop by anywhere on the way home anymore!"
"Children your age should be concentrating on their studies, not wasting time and causing trouble," Natsue said severely.
"Hanging out with friends is not wasting time," Kensuke snarled, suddenly tipping his chair straight (he had been leaning back in it before). "If kids work, work, work all the time, we go crazy!"
"You," Natsue snapped back, "seem to do this as a hobby, not as a result of too much work."
Kaoru, who was taking every opportunity to watch Kensuke closely, suddenly noticed it when the boy turned his head toward the light - a very faint cross-shaped mark had appeared on his left cheek, difficult to see unless one was watching for it. Kaoru was sure the mark had not been there before.
"The boy has a point, though," Mr. Himura said soothingly. "All work and no play, as they say..."
"I think children should be allowed to play," Mrs. Arai said, patting Iori affectionately.
"I agree," put in Mrs. Suoh. "I remember being a student myself..." She smiled at Kensuke, who looked away. "Sometimes I felt so trapped, too."
"Yeah, whatever..."
"Kensuke!"
"Kensuke, don't be rude."
"Come on, Kensuke-kun, straighten up!"
"Yeah, be a gentleman!"
"Ow! Hey, don't poke me!"
The mark was gone now, to Kaoru's astonishment. Did it only show up when the boy was angry, or experienced some strong emotion?
As everyone talked, Kaoru looked over at Kenshin, who had turned his head to look at her in the same moment. He smiled at her uneasily, but stopped when she did not return it. "So," she said, speaking quietly under the sound of the general conversation. "Any particular reason why you called all the last of the Himuras together?"
Kenshin kept gazing into her eyes, until Kaoru thought that she would drown in his. She shook herself and looked away, her heart pounding. "This one wants so badly to keep you all safe," he murmured, and she knew that he really meant it. "Kaoru-dono..."
She never knew what he meant to say next, because that's when her world shattered yet again: a group of policemen suddenly burst through the door of the restaurant and marched straight over to their table. Kenshin and Kensuke rose at once, visibly bristling, as Aya and Suzumi backed away with terrified expressions and the adults all just sat there, staring in astonishment.
"Ken O'Neill, also known as Himura Battousai, you are under arrest-"
"Over my dead body!" Kensuke screamed. He swept up his chair and flung it at the men, who scattered.
"He's resisting!" they started shouting. "Get them!"
Then it was utter chaos. "Sôjirô, get them out of here!" Kenshin shouted as he held out his hand. A trollish-looking figure appeared out of nowhere and tossed a sword into Kenshin's waiting grip, at which point he plunged into battle. A bunch of fantastic figures had also materialized - as had a small army of policemen. Uniformed officers clashed with fierce-looking fae as screaming restaurant patrons scattered in every direction.
Kaoru watched, frozen, as Sagara and a feisty-looking girl with a long braid and fairy wings yanked the astonished parents out of their seats and shoved them away. "Kensuke, you idiot, get over here!" Sagara bellowed as he propelled a shrilly-protesting Natsue after the others.
"I'm gonna kill you!" Kensuke was shrieking, slashing furiously at a policeman with fistfuls of steak knives as the man struggled to simultaneously dodge and draw his weapon.
"Kensuke-kun, he'll shoot you!" Kaoru found herself screaming frantically. She had taken several steps forward, but was restrained by a hand on her arm. She looked around wildly to find a boyish-looking person smiling a little as he held her politely but implacably.
"Your pardon, Kaoru-san, but I need to get you out of here. Kenshin-san can't escape until you and the others are safe."
"Get off me!" she snarled, shaking her arm but unable to get loose. There was a huge crash - she looked back to find that one of the large windows had been broken - BY AN ENORMOUS HAND, which was now groping closer and closer. Kaoru screamed, riveted in horror as the hand closed around Kensuke, and the policeman he had been fighting fell back in terror.
"Fuji! Let GO, you MORON!" the boy howled, struggling madly. The enormous hand took no notice, merely drawing him carefully back out through the window, with Kensuke yelling furiously all the way.
"HE TOOK HIM!" Kaoru screamed.
"Not to worry, Fuji-san is on our side," the young man beside her said soothingly. "Now, if you'll forgive me..." He swept her up into his arms and suddenly broke into such an insanely fast run that Kaoru literally couldn't breathe for a moment.
"Ugh...gah...pu'me...down...!"
The boy came to an abrupt halt. "Hm..."
Kaoru looked around in disorientation to find that they were outside now, a block away from the restaurant (she could still hear the fighting from here), and that there was an ominous figure harshly shadowed in the street light just ahead of them.
"The girl," it croaked in a chilly whisper, "the girl..."
"Sorry, but you can't have her," Kaoru's abductor/rescuer said cheerfully. There was a blur of movement, and suddenly the awful, inhuman figure was in three bloody pieces on the ground.
Kaoru screamed again.
"Kaoru-sa-" The boy whipped around as a dozen small figures flew at him out of the darkness, yelling lustily.
For a long moment, Kaoru just stood there, staring in disbelief as the boy danced about amid what looked like a crowd of lean, muscly armored dwarfs, killing them with swift, graceful, gruesome efficiency. Then she began to edge away.
"Kao-!" he started to call after her, but broke off with a sudden choking gasp. A policeman, thankfully human this time, had stepped up out of the night and flung some sort of glittering dust into the young man's face. He managed to blindly fend off two of the dwarfs that leaped at the opportunity of his distraction, but then suffered a graze and then a more serious cut from four others.
Kaoru ran.
There was nowhere to run but back towards the restaurant, so she did, determinedly avoiding looking at the sky, where the sense of that giant towering far over their little battle was making the flesh of her back creep. She did not like the idea of running straight into the fighting, so she looked around frantically for an escape, and was suddenly pounced on from behind. She screamed as the force of the attack flung her to the ground; then she was silent from having the breath knocked out of her, eyes watering from the pain in her chin, which had cracked against the concrete and was now bleeding steadily.
"Got her!" a gleeful little voice hissed above her; then, "Oh no you don't!" and someone else plowed into the creature on her back.
Kaoru scrambled to her feet and backed away in horror, watching as a one-armed man with cat-like eyes straddled the shrieking goblin-thing and slit its throat with one calm swipe.
Kaoru was too terrified to scream now. She whirled and ran again, this time into the first path she saw.
It was a dark alley. She tripped on pieces of garbage that littered the ground and fell, cutting her hands and knees open, too. It was pitch-black. Sobbing quietly, she pushed herself back to her feet and stumbled on, her heart in her mouth as she kept her hand lightly along the wall and then stumbled over a warm, squashy lump that grunted at the disturbance. "Whazzat...?"
Kaoru clapped a hand over her mouth and kept going, hoping that whomever she had just walked over was too drunk or stoned to follow her.
Sudden light, at the end of the alley, which was startlingly close. More policemen, with a huge, unchained dog - Kaoru screamed again when the dog suddenly morphed upwards into the shape of a man and grinned a nasty, toothy grin at her. "That's the one."
To be continued...