Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ The Samurai Wives ❯ Danger ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter One- Danger

Turbulent winds howled through violently shaking treetops.

The round moon glowed brightly for the moment it was freed from behind thick clouds. Just before it plunged the world back into darkness again, the light caught on the bloody colored hair of a young man, crouching on the edge of a forest.

His companion scowled at the sky. "Dammit… we'd been counting on the moon for light…"

The teen shot him a venomous glare, silencing him effectively.

The man held up his hands, smirking in submission. "Fine, fine."

The young man turned his dark eyes back to the building that stood proudly near the forest. The moon peeked out again, just long enough for his sharp eyes to spot the figure standing outside. As he jumped up, he flipped his drawn katana and disappeared with a rush of displaced air.

The man sighed, jumping up to follow him. He despised being sent on a mission with the younger man, since he was always so quiet. Silent, but deadly… He thought sardonically, sprinting across the grass after him. He spotted the glint of metal, and the heavy sound of a body collapsing into another. The boy is a god… He has to be… He thought, catching up to him.

The redhead was gently leaning an unconscious young nun against the wall of the temple. "If you're coming with me, then you'd best be faster, Iizuka." He hissed softly, as the older man realized why the boy had flipped his sword over.

Still young and idealistic… He'll change…

The boy stepped into the temple with all the grace and soundlessness of a cat. Iizuka followed at a step's distance.

They were quick moving through the halls, searching for a single room, the precise location they only had a vague idea of, the teen knocking out anyone who they encountered.

"What are you doing here?" A voice of command came from behind them, startling Iizuka into jumping out of fright. The young man merely turned to stare at her evenly.

"What are you doing here?" The older woman demanded again, hands on her hips.

The boy spoke. "Where is she?" He demanded, voice bordering between polite and urgent.

Her eyes narrowed. "Who is she?"

Iizuka stepped forward to negotiate rationally, but the boy took matters into his own hands.

He lifted the katana. "Take us to her, or I will kill you for being an obstacle."

She lifted her chin. "You think you're the only man who's come here, demanding to see a woman? Threatening to kill me if I don't? What right do you, as men, have here? It is the fault of men that these women are here. Get out!"

There was the sound of screaming from nearby. The woman's eyes widened as she turned. "What's going on?" She demanded of him.

"Where is she? Where is the princess?" He asked, his voice near desperation.

"Why should I…" She trailed off at the sound of more screams. More terrified screams.

"Do you want them all to die? We're here to get her out, because that's who they want! They'll kill her!" Iizuka cut in.

"Who are they? Who are you?" Her eyes were wild, as though she was torn between leaving them to discover the cause of the commotion, or stay with the unwelcome intruders.

"Shinsengumi, Himura?" Iizuka addressed the boy.

"Doubtlessly." He replied quickly, bowing to the woman. "Himura Kenshin. Hirokiri for the Ishin Shishi."

Her eyes widened. "Rebels…"

"Come on, woman!" Iizuka growled.

She glanced to the direction from which the screaming came, then back to the two men. "Come on… hurry!"

The boy sheathed his katana and followed her swift step with his own speed. Iizuka took a moment to realize that they had moved on, and then followed them quickly.

She led them closer to the screaming, then stopped at a shoji that did not stand out at all. She slid it open and hurried in, kneeling next to the futon, shaking the girl that was apparently not sleeping.

"Kaoru-chan! Wake up!"

The girl sat straight up at the sound of the woman's voice. "Mother…" She whispered in concern. She jumped at the sound of the shoji being slammed shut by the younger man, and the metallic sound of his katana being drawn. Her eyes widened. "Men…" She whispered.

"They're coming!" He hissed, seizing a blanket and throwing it over the two women. "Don't make a sound!"

The shoji was opened furiously, and the women heard the sound of several other men entering.

There was the clash of swords, and the screams of death from the lips of falling samurai. The two women felt the vibrations of a man falling just next to the blanket they cowered under.

Kaoru turned her wide eyes to the head nun. "The others…" She whispered almost soundlessly.

The women suppressed a pleased chuckle before responding just as silently. "They were the wives of samurai… they didn't surrender their war chests when they came here, and they all still remember how to swing a katana."

A chilly voice reverberated through the room, freezing Kaoru's heart upon hearing it.

"Has the Ishin Shishi run out of lowly men to do simple rescue missions? Are they so shorthanded, that they must send an assassin to retrieve a mere girl?"

The young man's voice rose. "It would seem that the same is true for the Shinsengumi."

After a very brief instant of absolute silence, there was the hard clash of katana on katana. Kaoru shivered and closed her eyes. The duel was growing so close to them…

"Captain!"

The duel ended immediately. "What is it?" The icy voice demanded.

"It's the men, sir! The women are fighting back. We can't find the girl! We have to retreat!"

"Then give the order to retreat!" The swish of a sword, then the sound of it being clicked back into its sheath. "We'll have to finish this some other time, won't we?"

"I'll be waiting." The boy's voice was cool.

After another moment, where Kaoru's heart pounded furiously, the teenager reached over and pulled the blanket away. "Hurry now… we have to leave before they send reinforcements." He leaned down and wiped the blood off of his sword onto the shirt of a dead man.

The women crawled out, and Mother hugged the girl. "I'm sorry, Kaoru-chan… I wanted to tell you… but I suppose these two will take care of it for you… Get up! You have to leave with them!"

"I don't understand!" She protested, but stood anyway and followed Mother behind a screen. They stepped out a moment later, the girl completely dressed in a plain deep blue kimono. Mother was tightening her purple obi, finishing quickly.

"There's not time to explain, Kaoru-chan…" She handed her a satchel, and helped her fold several spare kimono to place in there. As they slid them in, Mother glanced up at the two men, who were standing impatiently nearby.

"How funny, isn't it? I'm giving over the brightest flower in this temple over to an assassin…"

The boy scowled. The label given to him for his work was obviously one he did not like.

Kaoru stood up, the sack in her hands. "Mother…"

Mother stood and hugged the girl tenderly. "Go with Himura-san…" She turned a glare on the boy. "Take care of her, boy."

His shadowy eyes flashed. "I have every intention of performing my duties perfectly."

She nodded in approval of the boy's answer. As Mother was hugging the young girl, she whispered into her ear. "He is the only one you can trust… trust him, but not the other one…"

The girl nodded very slightly in affirmation. "Why…?"

Mother shook her head. "No time, Kaoru-chan… just go… Go!" She cried to them all.

He stepped over to her quickly and took her arm. "Let's go…" He pulled her along quickly, hurrying out of the temple.

They ran quickly into the forest, not stopping for nearly ten minutes, when they reached a clearing in the trees.

Iizuka collapsed against a tree, and Kaoru yanked her arm away from him.

He turned a glare on her. "Stay close to me."

"What do you want from me?" She hissed.

"To bring you back to your family."

"What do you care about my family? They're dead!" She stalked off towards another tree.

"No, they're not, girl." Iizuka called from his tree.

"My mother came to the Tokeiji when I was a baby! She died because of my father's abuse!" Her ocean-deep eyes were burning with emotion.

The redhead crossed his arms over his chest. "Do you remember any of this?"

"Of course not!" She snapped.

He raised his eyebrows. "Then let me tell you why those men were after you. Your mother is not dead. She is very much alive, and still living with your father. They sent you to that temple in order to keep what would have happened tonight, had we not come for you, from happening. You would have been assassinated. The only heir to your father's new throne as emperor."

"You're lying." She accused angrily.

"I don't lie." He replied evenly.

Kaoru turned her head up to the sky, where the moon was completely gone under thick, dark clouds. "It's not true…" She whispered. "It can't be true…"

A single drop of rain fell on her face.

Then another.

And then, the heavens burst open into a downpour.