Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ The Samurai Wives ❯ Silk ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter Two- Silk

Kaoru dropped her bag onto the futon unceremoniously. She was alone for the first time since she had left the Tokeiji with her `escorts'. She nearly hissed in rage at the mere memory of those… men. They had taken her away from her home, tried to persuade her into their lies. She clenched her fists, feeling a bit betrayed by Mother.

Maybe they threatened her with us… She thought.Yes… that's the only explanation… Mother would rather die than hand one of us over to a couple of men. It was a set up. The battle… everything.

Despite how she denied everything, Kaoru knew that their story was, ludicrous yes, but more likely than arranging an attack on the Tokeiji just for her. Why else would they want her, and only her? She sank onto the futon, her kimono torn from the rough travel. She closed her eyes, letting the sleep she had been interrupted from overtake her once again.

((()))

She blinked once. Twice. She rubbed the crust off of her eyelashes as her eyes tried to focus on the figure that was bustling around the room. "Hello?" She croaked, flashing her eyes to the shoji. By her judgment, it was a few hours before sundown.

Not surprising, since she had only arrived at about noon.

The woman turned and smiled. "Oh! You're awake!" She cried, bowing to her deeply. "It's a pleasure to meet you, milady."

Kaoru's first thought shot out of her mouth before she thought better of it. "Are you all this delusional?"

The woman stared up at her in surprise. "I… B-but…" She stuttered, and Kaoru sighed.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking… But I'm not lady."

The woman sighed and continued organizing Kaoru's clothes. "They warned me… Katsura-sama wishes to see you when you're changed."

"Katsura… sama?"

The woman nodded, setting out a kimono. "The man who gave the order to retrieve you."

Oh, now she felt like a thing to be picked up. Kaoru scowled at her.

"Oh, don't look at me like that!" The woman shot at her, beckoning for her to come closer. Kaoru complied reluctantly, and the woman helped her out of her kimono. "Would you like a bath?"

Kaoru nodded numbly as the woman pulled out a yukata and handed it to her. She pulled it on and let the woman lead her to the bath house.

"I'm Kamiya Kaoru... What's your name?" She murmured softly to her.

The woman sighed. "What does it matter?"

"It matters because it's who you are!"

The woman raised an eyebrow to her. "No one cares about people like me."

Kaoru's eyes sparked. "So you're content serving men for the rest of your life? That's just as bad as a geisha! Spending their lives just to entertain men... it's terrible. Women should be held in a higher regard!"

The woman shook her head. "Milady... words like that are dangerous. Don't you want to get reincarnated as a man?"

Kaoru hissed in indignity. "I certainly do not!" She stormed into the bath house and pulled her yukata off forcefully.

The woman shook her head again, sighing. "Your name is not 'Kamiya', so you know, milady."

Kaoru scowled at her general direction. "Go away!"

The woman sighed and started to turn away, then paused. "Chiyo. Murasaki Chiyo." She waited for an answer, which came slowly and hesitantly.

"Thank you... Chiyo-san."

Chiyo sighed and moved back toward the bath house. "Weren't you raised in a nunnery?"

Kaoru sighed and pulled her head back up from the water. "The Tokeiji... yes." She closed her eyes in bitter reminiscence of the temple and the depressed women who had been Kaoru's mentors. She had had friends, of course; children of the women who couldn't bear to leave her offspring behind. But they would leave in time, when their mother was free again. In her more recent years, Kaoru had actually befriended some of the women, who were very near her own age.

Chiyo nodded, realizing exactly what it meant. "Oh..." She whispered.

Kaoru sighed and scrubbed herself clean. She hated the twigs stuck in her hair, and the grime on her face. When she was finished, she stepped out and dried off. Tying the yukata around her waist tightly, she followed Chiyo back into her room.

Slowly dressing in the deep red kimono, Kaoru felt a sense of foreboding. "Are all the people here... men?"

Chiyo nodded. "Everyone except the maids, and some of the geisha that are friends with Katsura-sama. Oh, and-" She stopped, hesitant at mentioning what she had been close to saying.

Kaoru reddened. She had, of course, heard stories from the other women at the Tokeiji of women who could be purchased with the right amount of money. She felt a rush of repulsion. Were women really so willing to sacrifice their everything to men?

Chiyo reddened as well. "They don't come here very often... it's usually the men who go to them..."

In all her sixteen years, Kaoru had never been so stunned at the behavior of women. Mother had never warned her of such things in the outside world, but had Kaoru ever been intended to leave?

The thought occupied her, in realization that it was probable that she would have stayed at the Tokeiji forever. Or at least until someone came to get her.

Who would come to get you? Who would want you? You're just an orphan! She reminded herself forcefully as the black obi went around her waist, tied tightly around her.

She smoothed her clothing and stepped into the courtyard again. Chiyo murmured an apology and scurried off when she spotted the surly teen on the rock.

Kaoru glared at him. "What do you want?" She spat.

He turned a cool glance on her. "I have a name, you know."

She glared right back at him furiously. "I don`t care."

"I'd prefer it to just `you'." He made no move off of his rock. "Himura… Kenshin." He added his first name for her benefit.

She narrowed her eyes. "Kamiya Kaoru."

His eyebrows raised very slightly. "I'm here to get you."

"I will not go with you," She paused for a moment, then. "Himura-san."

"Katsura-san's request." He told her evenly.

She turned away from him. "I'll go myself." She hissed.

He pressed his lips together in disapproval. "I'm supposed to look after you."

"I have no need of a man looking after me!" She cried angrily.

He stepped off his rock calmly. "It's still my job." He told her.

"I don't care." Her voice was full of loathing.

He turned, his face staying frozen blankly, and started out of the courtyard. "Just remember, milady, that I am the one who must ensure that you stay alive. Katsura-san will tell you. So enjoy your moments alone, but be cautious. Unless I am close enough to hear your screaming, I will not be able to help you." His eyes darkened considerably. "And then you will be dead."

She glared at him furiously as he left the courtyard through the gate. Once he was out, the wind took control and tore at her hair. She felt her ribbon being loosened, and finally taken by the gale. She clutched at her hair, trying to keep it in her control as she watched the ribbon take flight toward the sky.

Closing her turbulent eyes, she turned back toward the inn, stepping back inside. She would have to ask someone to take her to see this Katsura.

Kenshin turned his eyes up to the late afternoon sun. She was going to be difficult to take care of. He had requested that Katsura have someone else do the babysitting, but the man had refused.

"Himura… it's too dangerous too leave her in anyone else's care. She'd be assassinated in no time, what-so-ever." Katsura's voice was deep and soothing.

"Katsura-san, won't this interfere with my duties to you?"

Katsura shook his head. "You will know the ways that any attacker may think. I would rather you protect her."

Kenshin had simply given up on the argument, choosing instead to bear the assignment. Just as he did for all the other unpalatable assignments that always seemed to fall to him. It just wasn't fair really, and it irritated him. He was simply too tired of the war to care anymore.

He looked up when something blocked out the sun, then collapsed when the wind stopped its great blowing. The long strip of silk fell slowly, floating down to him. Kenshin stretched out his hand, snatching it out of the air.

The smooth feel of the silk stunned him. He had never, in his memory, touched silk. It felt like the breeze and flowed with the grace of water. His calloused fingers tightened on it. It was such a precious item, however strange it was. He lifted it to his face and inhaled the scent of the silk. A smell he didn't recognize, but most certainly floral. He would ask Ikumatsu about that later. He had walked through the geisha district before, expertly hiding his fascination with the fabric. Now he could feel it between his own fingers.

He turned his face back up the sun, noting that he only had a few more hours of daylight left. Tucking the ribbon into his gi, he stepped back into the courtyard. The young princess was no longer within the courtyard, and he stepped back into the building.

Before he closed the shoji, he gave the evening sky a brief, wistful glance.

He was certain that there would be problems with the girl. Soon.