Well here goes nothing. Hope you enjoy.
It seems people want me to take my time, so I will. I don't have any of this planned out (not that I've had a lot planned out before this) so we will see where it goes. Please keep telling me what you want, I've been trying to add in what I read in the reviews.
The Slave
Getting in contact with her old friends wasn't as hard as she thought it was going to be. She just showed up, declaring who she was and demanding to see them. Once her message was relayed, they appeared. Mostly out of interest to see who the imposter was. Once they saw her though, it wasn't hard to convince them of her authenticity. Getting access to her family's money took a little longer since they required a DNA test as proof. But, all in all, it went smoothly.
Within a month she was settled into a small house provided to her by a friend. It wasn't long before word got around of her survival. On a daily basis she was invited for coffee, where everyone would question her on the past couple of years of her life and her survival. She gave the same story she had told Kaoru and they didn't question it. Why would they? She needn't have worried so much about Akira, after his failed attempt to catch the Battousai, he was all but removed from the social circles.
It took a bit of practice to fall back into the proper behavior she had been taught as a kid, but she adjusted easily. It would have been nice, except the constant reminder that the people she once called friends were buying and selling other people. She couldn't help but wonder if she might have been like them, if life had turned out differently. After all, before her family was killed, she was just like them. She liked to think that her family was different, but she had barely even acknowledged the lower class until Dr. Gensai saved her life.
Almost every day people brought up the massacre of her family and thinly vailed accusations against her. Those who were her true friends tried to keep the conversations away from such topics and tried to lessen the blow when the topic inevitably arose. She acted like the demure woman they saw her as. Accepting their words and proclaiming over and over again how much she regretted her actions. She didn't, however, let them see her shame or the pain their words brought. It would only cause them to talk about it more. Only at night, when she was alone in her room would she let the mask drop. She would curl up in a corner in a vain attempt to assuage the pain, wanting to scream it to the world, but unable to make a sound. When morning came, she would put the mask on once more.
Sano was always with her, thought she quickly found there was no comfort in his presence. She didn't know what Kaoru had done to get him to go with her, but she wished he wasn't there. She could always feel him nearby, judging her. The moment he found out who she was, anything they had vanished. He was simply a guard now. He spoke only when she forced him to, and then he said as few words as possible. In the past month he had said less than fifty words to her.
She sighed as she ran a brush through her hair. She was almost done brushing, which meant there were no more excuses. Soon she would have to leave the comfort of her room and face the world, alone. Today she was going shopping with Raku for the coming ball. She was disgusted by the waste of money, but it was necessary. She wasn't accepted enough for people to talk about business with her yet. So far, she was just subjected to gossiping with other women. Once she became old news, people would start coming to her. After all, her family had a lot of money and she was now the holder of that money.
"I'm going shopping today. Raku will have her own guards, so you don't need to come," she told Sano as they ate breakfast. He didn't even grunt in reply. He just sat there and ate. If her emotions hadn't been so dulled by the constant abuse, his actions would have hurt her. As it was, she only felt a small twang of pain.
Numbly, she ate her food. She didn't enjoy it, she didn't enjoy anything anymore. The food was simply a means to keep her functioning, she barely even tasted it. The only thing she looked forward to anymore was going to the hospital. She went there twice a week and it was the only relief she got. Everyone there treated her like a normal person. They didn't judge her or rub her shame in her face. Tae did her best to cheer her up, but she wished she could talk to Kaoru. Kaoru was annoying at times, but she always seemed to know what was needed.
She stood up to leave and Sano stood with her, "I said you don't need to come," she said.
"I was instructed to be near you always," came his terse reply.
"I don't care. I'm giving you time off."
"Going to order me to stay?"
Her jaw clenched, "You know I wouldn't do that. I just don't see a reason for you to come."
He grumbled something under his breath. The only thing she caught was something that sounded like 'don't want to be here.'
"Then leave," she said. She was too numb to care anymore. Sano stated and looked up at her. "If you don't want to be here then just leave." She left and headed up to the main house to meet Raku, whether he would be there when she got back or not, she didn't know, and she wouldn't let herself care. She was alone, he made that clear from the start.
"Where's your guard?" Raku asked her once she got there.
She flipped her hair dismissively, "I didn't think he would be necessary today. I thought he would just get in the way. Besides, you know how they can get if you don't give them time off."
Raku giggled, "Well come on, we've got lots to do today."
She let herself be dragged off towards the front of the house. Her body froze when they got to the front door and her heart dropped. There was a man waiting for them at the door with vacant eyes and the garb of a slave. She wanted to be sick, even Raku, her closest friend, was involved.
"Is he yours?" she choked out.
Raku grinned, "Ya. Mom gave him to me for my birthday. Isn't he amazing. He's strong and keeps me entertained at night."
She swallowed the bile that rose in her throat and forced herself to look at the man, indifference on her face. She didn't know him, not that she expected to. He was young, younger than Raku, and he was muscular. Probably worked on a farm or something like that. She couldn't help but wonder who he had been, if he had a family waiting for him.
They loaded into the car, the man sitting obediently at Raku's feet. It was hard, trying to act normal with the man there, but she forced herself to. She wasn't going to ignore his existence like everyone else did though. Part of her wanted to pretend like he wasn't there, it would make things easier, but she would let herself. She acknowledged him and did what she could to not accidently kick him in the car.
"Here, he can carry it for you," Raku said as they left the store with bags. Raku indicated to the man to take the bags, but she pulled away.
"It's fine," she said easily. She had already thought of an excuse. "If he carries my bags then there won't be enough arm room for everything you're going to buy."
Raku giggled, "Ture. You really have changed," She said as they went to the next store.
"How so?"
"Carrying your own bags. Working at the hospital. Cooking your own food."
"I couldn't exactly get someone to do it for me," she joked.
"What was it like, living with them?"
"It was a simple life…" she said cautiously.
"But wasn't it hard, I mean, with them being so uneducated and everything. They never noticed your superior knowledge?"
She almost choked, that's how the upper-class saw them? Did they really see the people of the lower class as idiots? "They never noticed," was all she could say.
Raku, thankfully, was too distracted to see her reactions. "I mean, mama says that becoming slaves is the best thing for them. Then they have someone to take care of them. They're better off."
She had to physically stop herself from slapping Raku. How in the world did she believe such a thing? Did she not see the man she was ordering around? How was that better for him?
"I'm going to try this on," Raku said and ran off to the dressing room.
She waited with the man. His brow was starting to sweat from carrying all the bags. She made sure no one was looking before removing the heaviest bags from his arms. There were too many bags for Raku to notice the change.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. It was brief, but the man's eyes flicked towards her before returning to their neutral position. He had acknowledged her actions. The man inside wasn't completely dead. That brief glance and the way his shoulders relaxed improved her mood. She wasn't like them, and he knew that now.
As they sat down to lunch she saw the man's eyes flick briefly towards their food a few times. It probably didn't even occur to Raku that he needed to eat. With a sigh she pushed her food away.
"If I eat any more I won't fit into that dress I just bought," she said.
Raku giggled, her giggling was starting to get really annoying. "Trash is over there," Raku said.
She just shoved her food towards the man. Raku gave her an odd look. "It's the same thing, right?" She said hating herself with every word.
Raku giggled and grabbed the man by the front of his shirt, yanking him down so his face was almost in the food. She had to bite her tongue and hope Raku wasn't going to force the man to eat without hands.
"What are you waiting for trashcan," Raku said to the man. "Get rid of it." Raku's sudden change in behavior was disturbing. With one more pull on the man's shirt, causing his face to hit the food, she let him go. He grabbed the food, returning to his original position to eat, barely registering the food dripping off his face.
After lunch they continued shopping. Raku seemed determined to stop by every store. Occasionally Raku's attitude would flip like it had at lunch. She would force the man to put on some stupid clothing or do some humiliating pose for her own amusement. Every time it happened, Megumi had to bite her tongue and wait until Raku was appeased. Occasionally she was able to distract Raku, ending the man's torment early. She hated that she could do nothing for the man.
It was past dinner time when they finally got home. Raku had dragged her to a restaurant where she forced herself to eat. At least this time Raku gave the man something to eat. The man looked utterly exhausted, but he never complained. He couldn't.
Once they were back at the house she found the first possible excuse to leave. Retreating back to her home. She barely even acknowledged Sano when she walked in the door, dropped her bags, went to the bathroom, and did what she had been wanting to do since that morning. She threw up.
She quickly emptied her stomach, but her body kept trying to throw up. At some point Sano had joined her in the bathroom and was holding her hair back. When the dry heaving finally stopped, she was shaking and covered in sweat. Sano gently helped her sit back and handed her a glass of water, so she could wash her mouth out.
She tried to stand up to leave the bathroom, but she was shaking too bad. Showing more kindness than he had shown her in the past month, Sano helped her up and into the living room. She curled up on the couch and put her head on her knees, focusing on her breathing. Slowly, the shaking subsided.
"Are you ok?" Sano asked. She ignored him and just focused on breathing in and out. "Megumi?" he pushed.
She stood up and walked past him without a word. Retreating to her room, she moved to her corner and laid down, not caring she was still in her regular clothing. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep. She was exhausted from shopping, but her mind kept wandering back to the man and the way Raku had treated him.
It wasn't long before her door opened, and Sano walked in. She kept her eyes closed in hopes he wouldn't see her and just leave, but to no avail. "What the hell you doing on the floor?" He asked. "You know there's a bed right there."
"No," she said sitting up. At first it was because the bed was too soft, and she couldn't get comfortable. Now she looked at the bed and wondered what things that man had been forced to do there. After all, this house was Raku's.
"What's wrong Megumi?" He asked, crouching down in front of her.
"Why do you care?" She snapped. She just wanted him to leave. He looked taken aback. "This is the most you've said to me since you found out who I was."
He scratched the back of his head and sat down. "It was just a lot to take in. I haven't really had a lot of time to adjust."
"Just leave," she said. "I know you don't want to be here or around me."
"No," he said. She wanted to throw something at him.
"Leave," she screamed. "I don't want you here." She was tired of his judgmental looks and they would only get worse.
He grabbed her wrists and pulled her roughly against his chest. She struggled against him, unsure what he was doing, but he was far stronger than she was.
"Kaoru told me that this would be hard for you and that how much of you was left in the end was up to me. I'm not going anywhere," he whispered.
"So, you're here out of pity," she said, her eyes burning.
"I'm here because I don't want to lose another person I care about. I'm angry, not because of your title, but because you didn't tell me. I'm afraid every time I see you interact with them, that you might turn into them." She was crying now. Her head buried in his shoulder. "But above anything, I'm afraid of the way you looked this morning. I know I've been a jerk, I just didn't realize how bad it was for you until this morning and I'm sorry. You're not alone."
She would have said something, but she was sobbing too hard to form any words. Sano just held her tightly.
"Let's get you to bed," he said pulling her up and moving towards the bed.
Her voice finally came back as she struggled against him. "No." He looked at her with confusion. "Raku has a slave. This is her home. He…" she couldn't say anything, just motioned towards the bed.
Realization flooded Sano's eyes and she felt him stiffen. She expected him to pull away but instead he startled her by picking her up.
"The servants quarters should be fine right?" He asked, she just nodded numbly.
Before long she found herself in an empty servant room. Sano put her down on the bed and she felt him start to move away. She wanted to ask him to stay, not wanting to be alone. But she couldn't bring herself to ask that of him. She must have done something though, because he stopped moving away and went back to her. He looked at her before climbing into the bed next to her, his arm wrapped tightly around her waist. She closed her eyes and soaked in the comfort of his body heat. Finally, she drifted off to sleep.
It was awkward. The room was awkward. It was just her, Aoshi, and Misao sitting there waiting for Tae to show up and give them an update from Megumi. The others were out doing different things. She sat there trying and failing to ignore the awkward atmosphere. She didn't know what happened, but for some reason, it appeared that Misao was giving Aoshi the cold shoulder. Misao was completely ignoring the man and it was driving Aoshi insane from the looks of it. She wanted to laugh but decided angering Aoshi more wasn't the best idea.
Over the past month she had moved back into her apartment with Yahiko and gotten her life back in order. She and Dr. Gensai had gone back to what they had been doing. Kenshin and his group went back to trying to keep peace. Saito, with the help of Eichi, had been able to return to the police without any repercussions. It was Eichi's way of apologizing to her. She was still mad at him, but she had forgiven him and their friendship, although rocky, was still intact.
"Sorry I'm late," Tae said coming in. She wanted to hug her friend in thanks for breaking the atmosphere.
"How's Megumi?" She immediately asked. She was worried about Megumi. According to Tae, Megumi had not been looking well. It was frustrating, not being anything to help her friend. Even with Eichi clearing her name, it was still too dangerous for her and Megumi to interact.
"Better," Tae said with a smile. She sighed in relief. "It appears that Mr. Sano…"
"Finally got his head out of his ass," she supplied since Tae was too nice to say it, Tae nodded. "Finally." She had started to wonder if sending Sano with Megumi had been such a good idea.
"What news from them?" Misao asked. Aoshi just sat silently in the corner and sulked.
"Well," Tae said hesitantly. "It appears that the upper class see us as uneducated and they believe they are helping us by turning us into slaves…"
The room fell silent as they all digested this information. "You can't be serious," she finally said. How in the world could they think such a thing? How could you see some broken person and think that it was for the best?
Tae nodded sadly, "It appears that they believe we are uncapable of taking care of ourselves or making good decisions, so it is for the best that someone does such things for us."
"How…" Misao tried to talk but she looked like she was going to be sick. Aoshi went from sulking to concerned. His hand moved to comfort Misao but stopped. The wall between them stopped him from doing what he wanted to do, so, she did it for him and comforted the young girl.
"Anything else?" She asked Tae.
"There is a ball tomorrow. She thinks people might start approaching her soon. Hopefully we start getting an idea of who is involved. There is a man she has mentioned a few times. He intrigues her, but she is unsure what side he is on."
"What's his name?" Aoshi asked.
"Okubo Toshimichi."
"I can look into him," Aoshi said getting up and leaving. He practically bolted out of the room. She held her laughter in at his disgruntled look.
"I should get going too, before I'm missed," Tae said and quickly left.
She turned her attention to the young ninja, "What's going on with you and Aoshi?"
Misao looked down at her hands, "He keeps assigning me to the safest tasks. I realized he's worried about me. That's why he was so angry when I went to help rescue Megumi and Dr. Gensai. I keep worrying him and relying on him. I want to prove that I can be strong too. That he can rely on me. I want to be there for him like he is for me."
"So, your ignoring him?"
"I want him to see me as an equal but I'm afraid if I speak to him, my childish side will come out. I don't want him to see me as a child. I…" Misao stopped herself but she understood what Misao had almost said.
She almost felt sorry for Aoshi, but he was just as oblivious as Misao. It was amazing how two talented people could be so oblivious. Especially since they could read ki. "Misao, that isn't exactly why he was angry or why he is protecting you."
"What do you mean?" Misao said looking completely confused.
"He doesn't see you as a child," she said, looking at Miso to make sure the girl believed her. "Nor does he think you are weak."
"But I'm always relying on him. He never relies on me."
"He relies on you, you just can't see it."
"I don't understand."
"It's not my place to say anything, you need to figure it out yourself. Just give the poor man a break and talk to him. He looked ready to explode," Misao just looked back down at her hands. She sighed, why were people so dense around those they loved?
"Misao, you are hurt because you believe he doesn't rely on you, right?" She nodded. "Then think how he must feel when someone who relies on him starts ignoring him for some unknown reason. All you're doing is hurting him and driving him away." Misao jerked up and looked at her, finally the girl was listening. "At least tell him why you aren't talking so he doesn't think he did something to hurt you."
Misao nodded sadly, looking pained. She put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "It is easiest to hurt those we love."
"Why is that?"
"Because to love them means to know them. We know what makes them happy and what makes them sad. We know what heals and what hurts."
"But how can I get him to see me as an equal without hurting him?" Misao asked. She mentally groaned, he already did but the girl was too blind to see it. "Must I hurt myself in order to not hurt him?"
"No," she said with a smile. "You must simply talk to him. You'd be amazed at the number of things that can be solved through talking."
"He's not one to talk," Misao said with a soft laugh.
"Something tells me that has never stopped you from understanding him before." This caused Misao to smile, "Just talk to him."
Misao nodded, "How did you become so knowledgeable?"
"I fell in love with a man who locks himself away from the world."
"What do you mean?"
"Kenshin…he fears himself. He fears hurting others. Not physically but on some other level. He fears that if he lets people in, lets them see the darkness inside of him, that the darkness will consume them. So, he locks himself away and wears a mask. He only lets people see the side of him that he believes won't hurt them. He fears that his own being will take away the people he cares about." She said, she could only hope that Misao understood what she was trying to say. It was hard to put into words what she felt.
She was so lost in trying to word her feelings that she didn't realize he was behind her until Misao stood up. Misao quickly excused herself, leaving her alone with Kenshin. He had that look on his face again, the look of pure and utter bewildered adoration. It was proof that he truly believed he was unfit to be loved. Every time she saw that look she couldn't help but smile, it meant she was one step closer to him. One more mask fallen, one more lock removed from his heart.