Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Daughter of the Forest RK Style ❯ A Time of Healing ( Chapter 5 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

As my brother had promised, we left for the Christian’s the next day. Because of the urgency of the situation, my brother was able to talk my father into letting us leave early in the morning with little problem. What story my brother gave to my father, I don’t know, but I’m not going to press for it. If my brother does not tell me something, it’s probably for a good reason.

The Christian’s place of refuge isn’t very far away distance wise, but the route used to get there takes a while. The path is very narrow, just big enough to pull a small cart, and winds around a mountain range. It is extremely beautiful during the spring when all the flowers are in bloom, but not even the locals dare to ride this bath during the winter. To do so would be suicide. Lucky for us autumn had just started and the path was full of trees threatening to let their leaves fall. I have always enjoyed this time of year, so I rode on in silence, happy to look at the beautiful scenery.

After a couple of hours riding up the trail, we finally arrived at the Christian’s. His place of refuge is quite unusual in the since that it looks more like an extension of the earth rather than a house. In fact, if you really weren’t looking for it, you might pass it by with little notice. The house was originally used by the Druids before they took up residence in the forest on my father’s land.

Because of the Druid’s philosophy of living as a part of nature, the house was constructed in such a way that as little trees as possible must fall to create it. This meant that most of the house was underground in a natural cave. The only part of the house above ground is a small entry room and kitchen that connects the cave to the outside world. The whole outer part of the house is covered in vines and moss, making it look like an extension of the mountain it lies against.

Once we arrived, the Christian greeted us and took me into the entry room while by brother tied up the horses. As I took a seat, the Christian says to me, “I’m happy you could make it Kaoru. I’m sure you’re brother has told you why I sent for you.”

“He has,” I reply back seriously, “I hear that the boy is not doing well.”

“I fear that he is not. He’s wounds are quite serious and his will to live is low. I was hoping that you might be able to reach him better than I can.”

“I will try, though I can’t make any promises. The will to live is something that I can not control. I will do my best,” I respond very seriously.

“That is all I ask. I’m sure that if you can’t do it, no one else could.”

“Your brother told me what you guys did to save this boy,” the Christian says to me as Soujiro enters the room. “That must have taken a lot of courage on the part of both of you to go against your father’s wishes. Your father is not a lenient man.”

“We did what we thought must be done,” my brother states calmly.

“I see. What about you Kaoru?” the Christian asks looking in my direction.

“I couldn’t stand the thought of someone being tortured,” I said while looking down at the floor. I felt rather on the spot at the moment.

“You have seen many prisoners taken to the dungeon before, so what made this one so different?” the Christian asked attentively awaiting my answer.

“He’s not the same as the other prisoners,” I said now looking at the Christian’s face, “This boy is no soldier. I could tell by his stature. I couldn’t stand seeing someone such as him being tortured.”

The Christian just looked at me softly and replied back, “You do realize that he could have been an extremely important prisoner in your father’s campaign, don’t you?”

“I do,” I responded

“But you let him escape anyway?” the Christian said baffled.

“He is innocent of the arts of war and therefore should not be subjected to its torture. If I sat back and watched my father do so, am I not just as guilty for that prisoner’s treatment,” I replied back in a firm voice.

The Christian just looked at me and said back, “Your logic never fails to awe me. Your brother as well used such an excuse and I can’t fault you two for it. I just hope you understand the possible consequences of your actions.”

“I do,” I replied in a soft tone.

“Good. With that said I will take you guys to the boy. I do have to warn you that his wounds are not pretty.”

“I understand. Take us to him,” I said firmly in my typical on the job tone.

The Christian turns down the hallway and starts walking down into the cave. As we walk down the hallway we passed several doors until the Christian finally stops and turns toward a door on his left at the end of the hall.

As the Christian opened the door and let us in I see the boy laying there highly bandaged. It’s obvious that his wounds are extensive and the types of torture used on him were various. He had several cuts on his legs and burn marks on both of his feet. At the realization that my father’s men willingly burned a man’s feet, I couldn’t help but feel sick to my stomach.

As I looked further up his body, I couldn’t help but hate my father and his men for their brutality. There were tiny razor gashes all over his body. In one spot of his stomach one of the men must have gotten frustrated and kept on cutting at the same place. This wound was quite deep and was still bleeding. I couldn’t imagine how much pain this boy had to suffer while this particular torture was being used on him.

I also noticed that his right hand was broken. This obviously was done to discourage the boy from ever holding or welding a weapon again. This wound would be easy to heal. His head was also bandaged and I could see the dried blood in his black hair. From the looks of it, I wouldn’t doubt if he had suffered a concussion.

As I was looking at his wounds, I couldn’t help but notice his physical features. He wasn’t the most beautiful man alive, but he had a pleasant enough face. His face wasn’t what I would consider round, but it wasn’t long either. His hair was short and black with wisps of bangs that parted over his left eye.

As I was looking at the boy’s face, he suddenly woke up and his body flinched. I’m sure he would have run away by now but because of the state he was in, he couldn’t move much more than his left hand. His brown eyes stared at me in fear; almost pleading me not to hurt him.

“I think that he is scared with so many people in the room. If you don’t mind, could you guys leave me alone to talk to him?” I said firmly.

“It’s much too dangerous, Kaoru,” Soujiro said in concern, “You don’t know what he is capable of doing!”

“That is a risk I’m willing to take,” I said in imitation of the time Soujiro had said this remark to me.

“Your brother is right Kaoru. I’m not sure I’m willing to face your father if something happens to you,” the Christian says with concern.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. If it makes you feel better, you can wait outside the door in case something happens,” I directed toward the Christian. Now looking at Soujiro I say, “Don’t worry Soujiro. You’re just going to have to trust me. The Christian and I will be able to handle the situation from this point on.”

“I don’t know,” Soujiro replies hesitatingly, “but I guess I have no say in the matter do I?” Soujiro then turns toward the Christian and says, “Take care of her for me, will you?”

“I will,” the Christian replies while giving my brother a hug.

At the moment that they broke their embrace, I walk up to Soujiro and tell him in the middle of a hug, “I can take care of myself. You need not worry.”

My brother just stares at me, then looks back at the now attentive boy we saved and replies back in concern, “You better be careful.”

At that the Christian and my brother walk out of the room, leaving me alone with the scared Britain who was still lying on his bed. Immediately he looks me in the eye as if trying to figure out whether or not I was of any threat to him. After he was done doing so, I noticed the tension in his body releasing a little bit, but his body language still spoke of his weariness towards me.

Deciding to break the ice I tell him in English, “Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you. I’ve been sent here by the Christian to help heal your wounds.”

The boy looking back at me in puzzlement replies, “Tell me. Do all Irish people know English, or is it just a family thing?”

At that I couldn’t hold back my awe. How did he know that I was a child of Sevenwaters?

“You’re probably wondering how I knew, huh? It’s kind of hard not to notice somebody who was so intently staring at you, even if a whole party is staring at you. Wouldn’t you agree?” the Britain stated in amusement.

“I guess,” I replied back. “And it’s just a family thing.”

“Well, that’s somewhat a relief,” he replies back. “Now I don’t have to worry about every Irishmen being able to understand me,” the boy replied in a somewhat light note.

“If you don’t mind, can I take a look at your wounds?” I said in my professional voice.

“How do I know I can trust you? You are after all related to Lord Koshijiro, are you not?” he replied back.

“My loyalty lies in healing first and for most , not my father. For the most part my brother and I don’t quite see eye to eye with our father.”

“I guess I have no choice in the matter anyway,” he replied back in defeat.

“You always have a choice,” I said firmly, “The choice to live or die is yours alone, not mine.”

He just stares back at me and says, “You’re a strange girl. Go ahead and check my wounds if it makes you happy, though I doubt you can help me anymore than that Monk could.”

I took that as an opportunity to cleanse his wounds and change his bandages. I would tell him what I was doing and what to expect, while he sat there silently. Though I’m sure he would have preferred me to stay silent while fixing him up, I could not bring myself to do so. Staying quite meant that I might dwell upon his wounds, and quite frankly, I didn’t want to imagine what form of torture could have produced various wounds.

As I was about to finish wrapping the last wound I said to the boy, “Since we are going to be sending a lot of time together, the least we can do is get to know each others names. I’m Kaoru, what’s yours?”

“I already know your name,” he replied stubbornly, “It’s kind of hard not to notice it when two men are calling you by it. My name is Akira. Don’t even think about asking me anything more about my past. I’m not giving away my identity that easily.”

I just nodded in understanding and left the topic at that. If he doesn’t want to tell me about himself, that’s fine. When he’s ready to talk to me, I’ll be here to listen.

I finished wrapping his wounds and said, “I’m sure that you’re tired. I’ll let you sleep.”

As I was about to leave the room I heard Akira whisper, “Thank you.”

I just continued walking out of the room acting as if I heard nothing and meet the Christian who was waiting for me outside the door.

“I see that everything went alright,” the Christian stated.

“It did. The boy is still scared but at least he has calmed down a bit,” I said quite exhausted.

“You sound tired, child. Sit down and rest. I’ll get you some cider and we can talk a little bit before we go to bed.”

“That sounds nice, thanks,” I replied while following him up the hallway to the sitting room. It was once I got up to the room that I realized that I had spent the whole day in that room with Akira. No wonder I was so tired.

Once I had sat down and got comfortable, sleep threatened to take over my body. Luckily the Christian came in the room at exactly that moment with our cider in hand. I took the cider happily allowing the warm liquid to heat my body.

I took a couple of sips before the Christian looked up at me and said, “What do you think about the boy’s wounds?”

I looked back up at him and replied, “They are horrible. I can’t believe men are so cruel to one another. Akira might be annoying, but he’s just a boy after all.”

At that remark the Christian looked up at me in shock and said, “He talked to you and gave you his name?”

“Yeah,” I said in amusement, “I’m surprised he didn’t talk to you at all, being that he was giving me such a hard time about my family.”

“He knows about your family? How?” the Christian responded in concern.

“He said that he remembered seeing me at the party when my father’s men dragged him in. He just put two and two together.”

“He knows this yet, he allowed you to dress his wounds and know his name? This man must really trust you,” he replied still in shock. “Since he trusts you and won’t let me touch a hair on his head, I guess you’ll just have to be his main caretaker.”

The words that the Christian just said were having a difficult time sinking in. How is it possible that this man would trust his enemy’s daughter before a man of his faith? As flattered as I was that Akira trusted me, I did not like the fact that I am the only one who can handle him. I could just imagine Soujiro’s reaction if he knew this. If he knew, he would pull me out of this situation for good. I could not allow that to happen. I have not given up on a patient yet and I’m not going to start now.

“So, the boy’s name is Akira, is it?” the Christian said interrupting my thoughts.

“That’s what he told me, though he was adamant about not giving me anymore personal details,” I replied back once the initial shock of a voice talking to me subsided.

“I see. Maybe in time that will change, but for now we will work off of whatever information he is willing to give us. It’s nice to use a name rather than address him as boy. I was about to create a name for him if he hadn’t started talking soon.”

At that I just laughed and replied, “Thankfully we didn’t have to go to that length. I’m sure that even if you had named him, he wouldn’t have responded though. He is quite stubborn.”

“It’s not a wonder that he was willing to talk to you. You have a way of making the most stubborn people fold. Hopefully he won’t be too much trouble for you.”

“I can only hope so,” I replied yawning.

“I’m sorry, Kaoru. I completely forgot that you have had a long day. Why don’t you go to sleep? I’ll take care of the dishes,” the Christian said firmly.

I was too tired to fight the Christians request and immediately walked to the room across the hall from Akira’s. I was so tired that as soon as I hit the bed I fell asleep and dreamt of days past and days in which I hoped would come.

I hope you guys liked this chapter. I had so much fun writing it that I couldn’t help but come up with an update early. I’m sure none of you have a problem with that though. Hope no one died of suspense about who the prisoner was. That would make me sad.

I want to thank everyone for the reviews. I’m up to four. Yay! I know that doesn’t sound like much, but I can’t help but feel happy that I’ve gotten some support along the way. Those who are reading, please review. I enjoy replying to all my reviews and am actually kind of disappointed that I haven’t gotten any flames yet. I like a little criticism every once in a while. I love all the support, but I like to get suggestions and improvement tips as well. Ja ne!