Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Shards of Me ❯ Second Interlude: Under the Surface Lies a Dragon ( Chapter 7 )

Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin is the property of Nobuhiro Watsuki. The main plotline of this story is completely fictional. Situations should in no way be considered truthful or based on real events. Political opinions expressed in the story are mine. If you do not agree with said opinions, do not flame me for them. Do not stoop so low as to berate me for what I hold to be truthful. Some smaller side stories may be based on factual events. I will alert you if they are.

Shards of Me

 

Second Interlude: Under the Surface Lies a Dragon

 

Kaoru glanced at Kenshin again as butterflies continued to spin violent whirls through her stomach. He seemed to sense her turmoil and turned to give her a reassuring smile. “Don't worry, Kaoru. You'll do fine.”

 

“So you say,” she murmured, glancing out the window of Hiko-sensei's SUV. They were currently en route to a regional martial arts tournament that a few of the local clubs and dojos had managed to put together. It would be Kaoru's first tournament ever and she was already feeling woozy at the thought.

 

She glanced around the interior of the SUV, taking in the other students who had also chosen to participate. The brooding, handsome boy, Makoto Shishio, was scrunched in one corner as far away from anyone else as he could get. Enishi was in attendance as were a few lower level students she didn't know as well.

 

She and Kenshin were sharing the front seat, forced to sit together because they were the smallest people coming from their dojo. In two years, Kaoru had only managed to add a few inches to her height since joining Hiko's dojo. Kenshin had had similar luck, despite the fact that he was at the age when boys were supposed to shoot up like trees.

 

Just as Kaoru thought she might very well lose her lunch all over a very unfortunate Kenshin, they arrived at the fitness gym that had elected to host the tournament. Kaoru burst out the door as soon as the car stopped moving and went around back to start unloading everyone's equipment. At least her nervous energy would be well spent.

 

She handed down bokken and shinai to their respective owners before reverently reaching for the last weapon in the trunk. Hiko had given Kenshin his blessing to use a steel katana for the first time in a tournament. The blade was blunted for safety, but it was still a great honor to even touch the weapon, in Kaoru's opinion. Kenshin took the sword from her with a smile and helped her down from the back.

 

Together they wandered into the gym. Kaoru couldn't keep from gaping around in wonder. Because many of the clubs participating only had a few sister clubs or dojos in the region, several martial arts styles had collaborated in the event. Everything from tae kwan do to kendo, kempo to unusual weapon specialties was present. Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of a young girl hurling a short dagger at a target. A cheer rose among the crowd, indicating she'd probably hit her mark.

 

Kenshin watched Kaoru out of the corner of his eye, watching as a smile began to grow on her face, erasing her previous nervousness almost completely. With a gentle tug on her arm, he led her toward the locker rooms. Pointing with a slight grin he said, “I believe this is where we part ways.”

 

She followed the line of his finger to the ladies' locker room and blushed faintly. “I'll see you later,” she murmured. He halted her with a gentle hand on her shoulder. She turned her head slightly to look at him with a wary eye.

 

“You'll be fine, Kaoru. I have faith in you.” She smiled slightly at his words and continued into the locker room, leaving him to go and change with the others.

 

In the locker room, Kaoru found herself virtually alone. She was not the only girl present, but she was one of a very few. Only two other girls were changing when she entered. With hurried movements, she changed into her hakama and gi, pausing only to run her fingers of the embroidered crescent moon and crane that were the sign of Hiko's dojo. Then she thrust her bokken through her sash and ventured out into the main building again.

 

Hiko was waiting for her outside the door. She did not even question how he'd known she was already changing, simply bowed and waited for him to speak. He handed her a piece of paper as he said, “Your first match is in a half an hour. Make sure you're warmed up and ready. We're in the red section of the gym. You're on mat A and you're facing off with someone from Maekawa dojo. They favor offense over defense. Let your opponent make the first move and play off what he or she deals you. Don't get too hasty in your attacks and make sure you keep your swings tight.”

 

She nodded as she accepted the paper, glancing down to see it was a tournament schedule. “Will I have to fight anyone from our dojo?”

 

“Unlikely, though if you do chances are it will be Enishi. Kenshin and Makoto are in the level above yours.”

 

“Will I get to see anyone fight?”

 

“It all depends on how the rounds time out against each other. You might get a chance.”

 

She nodded as she tucked the paper into her wide sleeve then bowed again. “Thank you, sensei.”

 

“Not at all, Kaoru. Just don't do anything stupid.”

 

She grinned slightly and turned away, intent on finding her first match and warming up.

 

oOoOoOoOo

 

Kaoru shook her sweaty bangs out of her eyes as she rose from her formal bow. Four matches in and the back of her gi was soaked through. The competition was good…exceptionally good. She'd had to work very hard to even make it into the quarter-finals only to be defeated by young person of indefinite gender who'd entered under a dojo by the rather simplistic name “Strength.” The boy…girl…person bowed in return with a glinting eye before eyeing the crowd behind Kaoru with a predatory smirk. Kaoru turned also to see what had caught her opponent's eyes and saw Kenshin and Makoto standing shoulder to shoulder. Kenshin was smiling at her slightly and when he noticed her gaze gave her a thumbs up symbol. Makoto seemed somewhat preoccupied with her opponent. A look of what she could only call disgusted fascination lingered on his face as he observed the slightly disturbing and gender confused person.

 

Kaoru made her way off the mat with a sheepish grin and was immediately clapped on the shoulder by Hiko, who had swooped down like a giant white bat the moment her foot touched the gym floor. Under the force of what was meant to be a congratulatory pat she was sent sprawling into Kenshin, who barely managed to catch her before she brought them both to the floor. She clumsily yanked herself away from him as a blush brushed across both of their faces. Kenshin coughed roughly before saying, “You did very well, Kaoru. That move with the double kick is something I've never seen before.”

 

Hiko grunted in agreement before getting to the next point. “Semis for Kenshin and Makoto's division are in about a half an hour. Until then wander and watch the exhibitions or do whatever the heck you want so long as it doesn't have the potential to involve cops. There's a ninja exhibition somewhere around here you might like.”

 

With his usual rough manner Hiko yanked away Kenshin and Shishio without another word, the two boys trailing haphazardly behind the large man's wide stride. Kaoru took a moment to snicker at the comical picture of the dazed Kenshin and the deeply angered Makoto before wandering off, just as Hiko had suggested.

 

For a time she watched the kendo matches, but found she felt she'd be more interested in things she'd never seen before. With that mindset, she wandered into the exhibition areas. A show of traditional Japanese archery with a longbow immediately caught her attention. She was watching another archer prepare to fire when something small and exceedingly bouncy accosted her back. Kaoru buckled under the weight of her assailant but managed to retain her balance as a high-pitched voice assaulted her ears running perhaps two times the speed of light.

 

“HimynameisMisaoMakimachi.Isawyouinyourkendofightandyou'rer eallygood. I practice ninja arts myself. I'm here as an exhibitionist. You should so totally come watch us because I think you would really like what you see. Right now my sparring partner Aoshi-sama is exhibitioning. He uses kempo accompanied with kodachi and I think you would really like it and would you please come watch because everyone else I've talked to has said no.”

 

Small wonder, Kaoru thought as she tried to disengage herself from the small clinging girl. “Excuse me,” she tried to talk over the constant and seemingly endless stream from the girl. “Excuse me.” Again, the incessant talking continued completely and totally unabated. “Excuse me!” That managed to get the girl's attention. Her mouth paused mid-sentence and she quirked her head at Kaoru like an inquisitive yap-dog.

 

“I'll go see whoever it was you wanted me to see if you will get off my back.”

 

The girl remained in her frozen state for a moment more before a huge grin split her face. “You mean it? You'll really come watch?”

 

“If you'll get off me.”

 

“Great! Let's go!” The annoying yap-dog girl leapt off Kaoru and grabbed her by the hand, yanking her through the gym to an exhibition mat. Truth be told, the girl's partner needed absolutely no help attracting attention to watch his exhibition. A huge crowd of onlookers had gathered to watch a tall boy who looked no older than sixteen whirl and dance across the floor, two short swords in each hand. Kaoru frowned. No, as the girl had said he didn't use wakizashi; rather his sword of choice was a kodachi, two at that.

 

Kaoru watched in growing admiration as the boy's weapon dance became exceedingly complicated. Through it all the smaller girl circled, tugging on Kaoru's arm and commenting on various moves that her friend was making, all without ever seeming to breathe. Kaoru was so caught up in the beauty and smoothness of the weapons dance that she began asking questions and commenting on various moves almost as much as the girl was.

 

The tall boy finished his dance with a half-flip worthy of a gymnast, finishing by going down to one knee with one sword extended in front of him and the other curled around his back to linger over his shoulder. The crowd clapped enthusiastically as he stood and bowed. Kaoru joined in with the loud applause as the loud speaker in the gym crackled to life.

 

“Attention guests and competitors. The finals of the level eight mastery kendo will be beginning shortly. The finals will be between Kenshin Himura of the Seijiro Dojo and Seta Soujiro of the Strong Dojo. Please make your way to the main ring.”

 

Kaoru jumped at the announcement. She hadn't realized how much time had passed while she watched the exhibition. She quickly turned and began to make her way to the center of the gym. The annoying girl (Misao had she said her name was?) grabbed her arm and said, “Where are you going?”

 

“My best friend is the in the finals they just announced. I have to go see him compete.”

 

“Oh, in that case we'll come with. We're done for a little while anyway.”

 

“We?” Kaoru murmured as Misao turned away. She saw quickly enough what Misao meant when the small girl wormed her way through the crowd and grasped the taller boy by the arm. She dragged him through the crowd back to where Kaoru was standing.

 

“Aoshi-sama, this is…uh…”

 

“Kaoru Kamiya,” Kaoru said shortly, extending her hand. Aoshi, as he was apparently called, took her hand in a firm and startlingly cool grip.

 

“A pleasure,” he murmured in an equally cool and slightly Japanese-accented voice.

 

“We're going to go watch her best friend in the finals,” Misao said excitedly. Without another word she grabbed Kaoru and Aoshi and yanked them through the steadily thickening crowds until they were nearly ringside. Aoshi glanced at her and she returned the glance. His eyebrows rose incrementally, though the rest of his face remained stony. She got the idea that he was used to these sorts of antics from Misao. She nearly said something to him, but then they were there and Kenshin's red hair was glinting before her eyes. The match was about to begin.

 

oOoOoOoOo

 

Kaoru watched sharply as Kenshin bowed to his opponent, a boy roughly the same height as Kenshin. The boy's hair was brown and fell into dreamy, almost vacant blue eyes. A strange smile dressed his face, as though he was viewing the world from a permanently drugged state.

 

“Which one is your friend?” Aoshi murmured, leaning over Misao and completely ignoring whatever was spewing out of her mouth. Kaoru inclined her head towards Kenshin and said, “The redhead.”

 

“Mmm…” Aoshi asserted, his gaze traveling over the slight boy, “I believe he and I have met before, at the last exhibition in East High School. He's very good if I recall correctly.”

 

Kaoru's attention returned to the mat as the first round began. Kenshin had gotten even faster since she'd first met him. She often found it difficult to even follow his moves. Once they had been on the same level, but he now surpassed every member of Hiko's dojo, all with infuriating modesty.

 

He and his opponent whirled across the mat, light glinting off their blunted steel blades. They seemed so evenly matched that Kaoru began to suspect that the match would result in a draw. Her eyes caught a flaw in the battle as Kenshin's opponent lost his footing and slid just the smallest amount, giving Kenshin an opening. Just as she might have seen the first point of the match a heavy hand fell on her shoulder.

 

She turned and saw a tall boy move next to Aoshi. The boy was wrapped in a white training outfit trimmed with black. A Japanese symbol dressed his back, but she was unsure what it might mean. His hair was brown and stuck out at odd angles almost as much as Cho's did. A bright red headband was tied around his forehead, holding his bangs out his face and failing rather pathetically at the job.

 

“How's he doing?” the tall boy asked, pointing in Kenshin's general direction just as cheer rose up from the crowd. Kaoru's head whipped back to the circle to see the judge indicating that Kenshin's opponent had scored the first blow.

 

She turned back to her the boy who'd distracted her from the match and said angrily, “Clearly not that well. And now I missed why thanks to you you…you…rooster head!”

 

“Whoa, girly,” the boy muttered backing up until he ran into Aoshi who glared coldly at the boy's back. “I didn't mean anything. It's just that Kenshin and I know each other from a few years back and I haven't seen him in quite a while. I thought he might like to know I was back in town.”

 

“That still doesn't give you an excuse. Jerk.”

 

She turned her head defiantly back to the mat and found that the crowd had shoved in front of her while she was arguing with the rooster boy. A groan of frustration built in the back of her throat and she began to wearily push her way back to the front.

 

“Let me see if I can help you there,” said the rooster, and before Kaoru knew what was happening, he had her perched on his shoulders.

 

“Hey! Put me down, you…” Kaoru's voice trailed of as she found she now had an excellent view of the match, as did her tall and annoying companion.

 

“The name's Sanosuke Sagara, by the way,” he said as he shifted her weight back slightly. “You can thank me later.”

 

“I'll punch you later, that's what I'll do,” she growled before adding lightly, “Kaoru Kamiya.”

 

“So you're that girl with all the kendo talent that Kenshin keeps talking about.”

 

“He talks about…” Kaoru trailed off again as the brown-haired boy managed to strike Kenshin across the cheekbone. She heard the crunch of bone even from fifteen feet back and winced. The judge called a time out as Hiko rushed onto the mat to see to his pupil.

 

Blood was trickling out of one side of Kenshin's nose and his cheek was red and already looked swollen, but he stood and motioned that he was OK. Kaoru saw something in Kenshin then that she had never seen before. As his eyes briefly swept the crowd she saw in them an unusual flash of brilliant gold, a chill of icy rage, and a distinct simmering anger that Kenshin rarely exhibited. She felt her gut clench and her blood run cold at those strange flashing eyes.

 

The judge signaled an illegal move on the brown-haired boy's part and indicated that Kenshin would receive a penalty point. He signaled the start of the third round, the decisive round and Kaoru watched with apprehension as Kenshin crouched down into the stance of the style he was currently trying to master.

 

The other boy never even saw it coming. One moment Kenshin was crouched low to the ground with a hand on the hilt of his sheathed sword, the next the other boy was on the ground holding his stomach, his discarded blade by his side. Kenshin stood slowly from his stance and flicked his blade to the side before sheathing it. Kaoru recognized the move as the traditional move to clean an opponent's blood from the sword and felt her breath freeze in her lungs for a moment before emerging in a soft exhalation.

 

Kaoru had sparred with Kenshin often, watched him fight even more often, but never had she seen him exhibit such speed, such calculated coldness, or such anger in a single move, let alone a match. She felt like she'd just watched a match performed by a complete stranger. Kenshin was her best friend and she suddenly felt like she knew nothing about him.

 

Chills trickled down her spine as a trophy was presented to Kenshin which he respectfully handed to Hiko. She watched as her sensei leaned down to murmur something in the redhead's ear. Kenshin bowed deferentially before walking off the mat. The crowd parted for him as he passed, the Red Sea before Moses. Kaoru was struck then by how eerily silent the combat floor was. She watched Kenshin's bobbing red ponytail disappear through the crowd before pushing herself off her bearer's shoulders. Sano called after her but she'd already disappeared.

 

oOoOoOoOo

 

Kaoru stood outside the boys' locker room for all of two seconds before determinedly striding inside, all the while quietly whispering “Please no naked guys, please no naked guys.” She need not have worried as the room was deserted. Most likely all the combatants were still gathered around the ring gossiping about Kenshin's victory.

 

Kenshin was easy enough to locate. His bright red hair caught the harsh yellowed lighting even though he'd placed himself in a corner of relative darkness right next to the showers. His head was bent forward and his sweaty bangs formed a curtain about his face. Kaoru considered his bowed form for a moment before turning to the ice machine she'd spotted in the corner. A plastic bag dispenser near it was noted and she took a bag and filled it with ice before wrapping it in a thin cotton rag, also located in the general vicinity apparently for this use. With an increasing amount of trepidation, she approached Kenshin and knelt before him.

 

He started when she pushed his bangs behind his ear, his eyes flashing up to her as one hand brought his sword forward as though he intended to attack. She remained motionless as recognition lit his features and he allowed his sword to sink listlessly back to the ground, his head again drooping. His eyes caught her notice so odd was their coloring. It was as though someone had taken an amethyst and dipped it in tree sap, so purple shone through under a cast of bronze-gold hue. She'd never seen his eyes quite like that before.

 

With more confidence than before, she reached up and pressed the ice to his already swelling cheek. He winced as cold connected with feverish flesh. Kaoru matched his wince in sympathy. Blood had not stopped trickling from his nose and she wondered if it was broken. Carefully she began to apply pressure to his cheek, just enough that the ice covered the entirety of the wound, but not enough to hurt him…or at least she'd thought so. Kenshin shoved her wrist away so suddenly that she reeled back from him and fell on her bottom, but he hadn't been quite quick enough. She'd still felt bone shift under her hand from the pressure she'd applied.

 

“Kenshin, we need to take you to the doctor. You're hurt worse than you let on.”

 

“Leave it,” he murmured quietly, turning his face away from her, further into the shadows.

 

“But…”

 

“I said leave it!” he told her, his words biting and harsh.

 

“Kenshin…”

 

He shook his head and rose, moving away from her so that he could pace.

 

“I'll be fine.”

 

Slowly she rose to her knees, watching his tense pacing. He seemed to her like a caged tiger, all energy and nothing to rip apart. The very idea was hateful to her. But at the same time, this was Kenshin. He, of all people, would never ever hurt her.

 

“Hiko will insist and you know it.”

 

“He won't insist if he doesn't know,” Kenshin said, his eyes darting sharply to her in warning.

 

“You and I both know I'll tell him. Don't even try to stop me,” she snapped, angered at the idea that he would ask her to keep something so serious from his guardian.

 

“Don't Kaoru. Just…don't.” His mood change caught her completely off-guard—one moment anger and the next pleading.

 

“Kenshin…why not?”

 

“Because I don't deserve it.” His voice was so definitive, so completely sure on the matter that she almost didn't question him.

 

“Why not?”

 

He laughed bitterly, an odd sound coming out of such a young and generally happy person. “You saw the match. You saw exactly what happened. God, Kaoru! I…I lost it. I lost it completely in front of all those people because of one little illegal move.”

 

“Kenshin! That was not a `little illegal move.' He could have seriously hurt you. He did seriously hurt you! A little higher and he could have put you in a coma, even killed you if there was enough force behind the blow!”

 

She was standing in front of him now, stance wide and defiant as she shouted him down. “And you think what you did was `losing it?' What I'm doing right now is losing it! Stop the stupid self-deprecation and listen to reason! We are going to a doctor and we are going right now! Now take this ice and hold it on your cheek or I swear I will duct tape it there.”

 

She presented the ice bag to him with unquestioning force. Kenshin looked warily from the bag to her, as though one or the other might bite him if he made any sudden moves, which on Kaoru's part might have been partially true. Then, with just a touch of a bitter smile on his face, he took the bag of ice and pressed it to his cheek. Kaoru snatched his sword hand and began forcefully yanking him out of the locker room, just as a torrent of boys entered to change. The boys paused in their stampede at the sight on an angry thirteen-year old girl storming towards them with a champion swordsman in tow.

 

“Get the hell out of my way,” she hissed through clenched teeth.

 

They got out of the way.

 

Author's Notes: waves the white flag So, I gave you two chapters at once. Does that mean I won't be murdered? About the interludes: I know I said they'd be every three chapters or so, but then I realized if I did that, I'd probably finish the story before I got all the interludes in. Thus, we have this tidbit for you all. I'm playing with the ages a bit, but I think you can all live with that, right?

 

In the last chapter, please note I did have a tiny little true story in there. At the very end of the chapter I mention a desert girl who was hanged by her people for marrying without permission; her lover was hanged with her. This is based on a factual event I learned of while interviewing an Iraq veteran. He said it was one of the most haunting images he carried away with him when he left. Just something to chew on.

 

On updating: These last two months have been hell for me as far as writing goes. My schedule has not permitted that I do anything I might actually want to do most days of the week, if not all. Things will be dying down now that marching season has come to a close and the last performance of our fall play is finished. At the same time, I am still inhumanly busy, so bear with me if you don't see another chapter again for a while. I'm doing my best.

 

And finally, a big huge thanks to each and every reviewer, even if you left approximately three words. I still appreciate those blurbs because they let me know that someone enjoyed this enough to click the button and say something. To all reviewers and readers I thank you greatly and ask that you oblige my ego and click the button again. Thanks all so much!

“Hate War, Love the…Warrior.” -Lt. Gen. Harold Moore