Well, I guess updates are coming more on a monthly basis, sorry about that. School is school. Hope you enjoy.
The Secrets
There was a knock on her door and she opened it to find the Police Inspector outside. "Can I help you?" She asked, keeping the door mostly closed and putting her foot behind the door so he would have a hard time forcing it open.
"Are you Kaoru Kamiya?" He asked.
"Yes," she answered cautiously.
"I'm not here on police business," he said, accurately reading why she was nervous. "I'm here to enquire whether you've seen Eichi recently."
"What?" She asked, letting the door open more.
"He hasn't been to work all week. I was hoping you might know where he is."
"I haven't seen or heard from him in over a week," She said.
"May I come in?" He asked.
She hesitated for a second before opening the door and letting him in. Yahiko was in the kitchen and watched them silently. "Would you like anything to drink?" She asked, falling back on etiquette.
"No. Thank you. I won't take up too much of your time," he said sitting down where she indicated.
"So, Eichi is missing? Why did you think he was here?"
"Well you two know each other and last time I talked to him he was looking into Miss. Raku which is connected to your friend."
"I'm sorry. I haven't seen him. Do you know where he was last?" She asked, slightly worried.
"He wanted to look into Miss. Raku and I told him he should look into Miss. Takani's husband's family."
"Why?"
"There's just something off about them. I figured I could use him to finally look into them, but now I'm worried something might have happened."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know, but it's not like him to not show up. Unless he's done something stupid and is moping at home again. But he wasn't there when I went by nor is he at any of the bar's he frequents. No one has seen him all week. I was hoping you and your friends might know more or be willing to look into it for me." He said, making it rather obvious who he was talking about. She should have guessed he knew about her connection to Kenshin, but it was still a bit of a surprise. Kenshin said he was trustworthy, but she was quickly learning not to trust.
"I will," she said after a moment's hesitation. No use trying to deny what the man already knew. "Please let us know if you hear anything." He nodded and then left.
"Why do we care?" Yahiko said once the man was gone. "Eichi isn't exactly on our side."
"But he's trying to change. And he was only looking into Raku because I asked him to. If something happened to him because of that, then I'm partly to blame. Besides, if he found something that was big enough for someone to make a policeman disappear, then we might want to know what it is."
"Fine. But I still don't like him," Yahiko said.
She smiled and ruffled his hair, "I'm not asking you to," she said while he made an annoyed sound and tried to fix his hair.
"Still…" she said, trailing off as her mind wandered.
"What?" Yahiko asked when she didn't say anything.
"He said he told Eichi to look into Megumi's husband's family for information on Raku. Why would he say that?"
Yahiko was silent for a while. "He wouldn't have said that unless there was some connection between the two."
"That's what concerns me," she said. She tried to go back to sorting her herbs, but her mind couldn't stay focused. If that man was connected to Raku, then there was more going on than any of them expected and Megumi could be in a lot of trouble.
"You look troubled, that you do," she looked up to find Kenshin's face inches from her own. She let out a startled shriek and fell over.
"Kenshin. When did you get here?"
"About five minutes ago," Yahiko said between laughs. She shot him a glare and accepted Kenshin's hand up.
"I'm sorry, I was lost in thought," she said.
"Yahiko told me what happened. You're that worried about him," Kenshin said, failing to hide his anger.
"Not really him but Megumi. If Raku is connected to the man that murdered her family, then she could be in a lot more danger than she knows."
"I'll talk to Aoshi and see what he can dig up," Kenshin said, relaxing.
"Thanks. But tell him to be careful. If something did happen to Eichi because he stuck his nose where it is not wanted, then they'll be on alert." Kenshin nodded. "And promise me none of this will reach Megumi until we are sure, it's the last thing she needs right now."
"Promise," Kenshin smiled. "How is the hospital?"
"Good. Better than I had ever planned. There are quite a number of ladies that come daily to help out. They've really helped decrease the load and they help minimize the number of temper tantrums. A couple have even gone as far as apologizing for thinking we were stupid. I don't think any of them have gone as far as rejecting slavery, but it's an improvement."
"We can't expect them to change their way of life that quickly. We can only hope that they stop participating in the buying of slaves. Once that happens the industry will start to lose money and it will slow down."
"Most of the city is more aware of what's going on," Yahiko added. "They aren't kidnaping nearly as many people anymore."
"Let's just hope these changes don't drive the people in charge to do something drastic," she said.
"If they do, we'll stop them," Kneshin said. "You can't fight a war if everyone's against you."
"That doesn't stop them from killing a lot of people along the way," she said, unable to shake her dark mood.
Kenshin pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her. "When the world becomes broken, it falls to the people to fix it. None of us wish to die, but if we do, then we die fighting for the rights of our children and their children, and all the generations to come."
"I still don't like the thought," she said, burying her face in his shoulder.
"You're not supposed to. But it's that thought that pushes people past their fears, so they can stand up and fight for what's right."
"It's not meant to be easy, but it is meant to be doable," Yahiko said. She reached out and pulled him onto the hug. He allowed himself to be hugged, though there was a lot of complaining. She hoped with every fiber of her being that they would make it out of this and be able to live a peaceful life.
"So, what do you think?" Raku asked her excitedly. She swallowed the bile rising in her throat as she looked at the four people in front of her. Two were men and two were women. They were the slaves Raku had handpicked for her.
"I…I don't know," she managed to choke out. She looked at Tau out of the corner of her eye, he was staring intently at one of the women with short black hair. She prayed that this was his way of communicating that the woman was like him.
She slowly walked down the line, pretending like she was apprising them while in her mind she was apologizing for her actions. Vacant eyes stared back at her until she got to the woman Tau had been looking at. There was only a brief flash of something in the woman's eyes, but it was enough for her.
"This one," she said, nonchalantly pointing at the woman.
"I thought you would have gone for one of the men," Raku said, looking slightly peeved. "I thought you might want some practice," she said, drawing out the last word to make the innuendo even more obvious.
"That's unnecessary," she said, and she caught a glint of something in Raku's eyes that made her uneasy.
"Well, it's your choice. I handpicked them. So, they are all good," Raku said. "Go get the paperwork," She said to Tau. He bowed and walked off.
"So, why'd you pick that one." Raku asked while they waited.
"She seems like she would be good at house work," she said.
"Not worried about her tempting your guard?" Raku asked, and it finally hit her. Raku thought she was sleeping with Sano. While that wasn't exactly wrong, it wasn't the kind of sleeping with Raku was thinking. They were simply in the same bed.
She snorted, "I've seen his type, she's not it. Besides, I pay him enough to take his needs somewhere else. He knows better than to do such things in my home." Raku just smiled, making her uneasy.
Tau came back with the paperwork and before long she was officially a slave owner. She wanted to be sick, but she held her composure as she led the woman back to her home. Once they were safely inside she sagged against the wall.
"Please tell me you're like Tau," she said, facing the woman.
"Who?" The woman asked, falling out of her submissive posture.
"Raku's…" she waved her hand, unable to call him a slave.
"Ah, I didn't know that was his name."
"It's not. It's what I call him."
"Ah, well to answer your question, yes, I am like him."
"Thank god," she said, sinking to the floor. "I don't know if I could live with myself if I'd been wrong."
"He said you were different, but I didn't believe him. I only agreed to this because I owed him my life. But you really do care."
"Yes. I know that might be hard for you to believe and I'm not asking you to trust me. I simply needed to get Raku to trust me. I'm sorry for dragging you into this."
"As I said. I'm doing this for him."
"Thank you. Do you have a name?" The woman shook her head. "Is there a name you like or something I can call you?"
"I don't remember who I was," the woman said sadly.
"Our names don't define us, they are simply a way to differentiate between people because saying hay you all the time would get rather confusing. Think about it and let me know what name you'd like," she said softly.
"What name would you give me?"
She studied the woman. "Kusanagi."
"Why that name?"
"I know the name comes from a legendary sword. But I'm actually thinking of kanji weed inside the name. Weeds can be trampled on again and again, but they will continue to live. It's who you are. They tried to destroy you, but you never died."
The woman smiled faintly, "Kusanagi it is."
"Well, Kusanagi, make yourself at home. As I said, I only needed to do this to get Raku's trust. You don't need to do anything while here, though I will need you to go out with me on occasion to keep up appearances, and I apologize now for anything I say in public."
"She's a good actor, don't believe everything she says out there," Sano said, making Kusanagi jump.
"He's harmless," she said since Kusanagi looked nervous.
"Hay now. I take offence to that," Sano said indignantly.
"Deal with it rooster head," she said sarcastically, wacking him on the side of the head. "Your intimidating her."
"It's not my fault I'm so manly," Sano said suggestively.
She scoffed, "That's not the reason your intimidating."
"Why are you guys here?" Kusanagi asked before Sano had time to come up with a retort.
"To bring an end to the slave trade with as little loss of life as possible," she said. Kusanagi's eyes widened.
"Your part of that group I've heard about. The one that keeps finding dens and wreaking havoc for the upper-class."
"Yes, though obviously we don't want anyone else finding out about that."
"Of course. I just never thought I would ever meet any of you. Any of us who regained the ability to think for ourselves knows about you. That's why Tau is willing to help you despite the risk."
"How many of you are there?" She asked.
"About a hundred of us. The training they use wears off after about a year and a half."
"Why don't you escape?"
"We don't have anywhere to go. We regain the ability of free thought, not our memories. We stay because we can make more of a difference here. No one suspects us, so we can get away with quite a lot."
She looked at the woman in amazement. It took a lot of courage to stay and help others instead of just escaping. There was a network of slaves within the upper-class fighting the battle in their own way.
"That takes more courage than I think I poses," she said.
"You're the one facing them head on. We hide in the shadows. I'd say you're the one with more courage."
"How did Tau get you picked. Raku said she handpicked you guys."
"First of all, Tau knows what Raku likes and I'm a pretty good actor. Also, most of the people like me try to get placed close to the people involved in the slave trade, that way we can make the most difference. Suffice it to say, we are good at being slaves."
She sighed, "I wish you didn't have to go through that. Those people are cruel."
Kusanagi smiled, "Well, if our groups work together, then we can put an end to it for good and no one will have to suffer. After all, I probably know the hierarchy of the slave traders better than you do. I can help you target the right people."
She smiled, they would get along nicely. After a short tour, she left Kusanagi to get settled into whatever room she wanted while she and Sano prepared dinner. After a while, Kusanagi joined them and insisted on helping. She said it would be good for her to know the kitchen incase Raku came over. She also insisted on taking over some of the chores, since Raku might come to check how things are going and because she would get bored.
Kusanagi was rather amused by how she and Sano interacted and was very surprised when they not only slept in the servant's quarters, but in the same room. She tried to tell the girl that they weren't sleeping together in a romantic way, but Kusanagi didn't look convinced.
"What did you find?" She asked as Aoshi came back in. He walked over and sat down behind her, she happily leaned back into him. He only showed affection when the others weren't there. Though she suspected everyone knew about them anyway. If Sano were there she had no doubt he would be teasing them endlessly.
"A week after Megumi's family was murdered, they became rich overnight," Aoshi said. "How no one noticed is beyond me. It's played off like they had a previously unknown rich relative who died, and the fortune fell on them, but the story doesn't hold up if you poke it."
She swallowed, "You think they got paid off for their son killing Megumi's family?"
"I think he was bribed into killing them."
She shivered, and he wrapped his arms around her, "Who would do such a thing?"
"Someone who wanted to speed things up. Look how much things changed after that night." He was right, the division between the classes grew exponentially and the slave trade took off.