Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Third Impressions ❯ Blondes and Wormwoods ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Third Impressions

Part VI

Tsubame flattened herself against the wall behind her, hoping that somehow she could blend in. Dressed in the sort of adorable, ruffled skirt and puffy-sleeved top that she was, she knew that moving would attract attention. But if she could just stand still, in the shadows behind the Dumpster, then maybe the crowds would thin and she could go...where? Her original plan had been to go to Tae, her older sister, but the restaurant was closed. No one she knew wandered the streets within her sight, and she despaired of ever managing to evade the Order's men that even now would be beginning the roll call, checking to insure that Besh's private servants were where they were supposed to be. The other girls would cover for her, but it was only a matter of time before someone noticed what was going on. And what would they do to her if she got caught?

There had to be a hiding place somewhere. Where could a girl in such extravagant clothing, with men looking for her even now, take refuge? And what if the Order's men hurt whoever took pity on her?

Taking a chance, Tsubame darted out and peered around the streets. It was crowded and there were no Order men nearby. Catching sight of a group of women coming directly toward her, she jumped out of the way.

“...going to the temple...” Of course, the Temple of the Goddess, located in the religious section of Pearl. It was a sanctuary for those who need the protection of the Goddess. Within the protective circle carved into the floor, you could not be touched by anyone whose intentions were not pure, or so she'd been told. Tsubame's sisters were not as religious as some, so she'd never been in a Temple before.

The Temple was a fifteen minute walk from here. If she kept to the shadows and side streets...

...she would still have to pass the hotel where the girls were being kept. To avoid it would take her into parts of town that she didn't know well enough, and if she stayed out in the open she was bound to get caught. Where else could she hide? Looking wildly around for an idea, starting to panic, she spotted a group of kids her age- teenagers, really, but Tsubame looked young for her age and was often mistaken for a middle schooler- laughing and walking across the street. She hurriedly latched onto them, hoping they would camouflage her until she found a place to stay.

Wandering through the crowded mall, she lost the group but wasn't afraid. In the crowded, dim mall, no one would bat an eye at her as long as she stayed quiet. Now to find deserted store, maybe change, and try to go somewhere else...

“Tsubame?” She whirled around looking for her pursuer, but saw only a tall, spiky haired boy. He looked familiar but her terrified mind couldn't place him. Trembling, she began to back away, hoping to hide with the cosplayers up ahead when he held out a hand to her.

“Hey, Tsubame. It's me, Yahiko.” Relieved, she came back towards him. Yahiko, who she only saw occasionally now since he was at boarding school. His sister came by more frequently.

“Yahiko, I'm so glad you're here! I-I have to find Tae!” She grabbed onto his outstretched hand.

“Okay. Come on, I'll give you a ride to the Akabeko.”

“No, it's closed, I went by earlier. Can you- can you take me to Kaoru? I'm sure she can help me!”

“Yeah, okay. Come on.” Confused, he led the girl out into the parking lot and to his car. It was the sort of old car that gets sold for parts at the junk yard, but Kaoru had refused to get him anything better. She said that once he had a real job and finished his schooling, then and only then would he get a real car. A car that he would have to buy himself. It was green, and shabby, and smelled odd inside, but Tsubame held onto the seat like it was her last lifeline on Earth. Yahiko noticed her tight grip.

“My driving's not that bad, Tsubame.”

“No, it's just...” She couldn't finish; they were passing her hotel. Any minute now, she'd be charged, the men shooting at them. Yahiko would get hurt, everyone would get hurt, and she would be forced to return to the service of Besh and his insane followers.

`No.' she told herself firmly. `No. They can't possibly see you in a moving car; they would never expect me to be with Yahiko, who's supposed to be at school.'

Lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice they were parked until Yahiko nudged her gently.

“Hey.” He said. “We're here. Kaoru was here when I left.”

“This isn't your dojo.” Tsubame looked with perplexity at the tall apartment building with shining glass windows and ornate terraces. This was the nicest part of the Devil-Eye Districts; and the most expensive. She couldn't understand why Kaoru would sell her house and come live here.

“No, we're staying with a friend while it's...um...fumigated.” He made a fast excuse, knowing that he wasn't supposed to tell people anything they didn't need to know. Kenshin had been clear on that point, stressing the importance of secrecy. So much, in fact, that even Yahiko was missing a few crucial facts. Like where his sister had met an assassin in the first place. Every time he tried asking, they got him off topic somehow. He decided that he didn't really want to know if it made Kaoru blush when he asked about it.

“Oh. Um...should we go in from here, or...?” Tsubame had never been in such a fancy place before. She didn't know what the etiquette was, and she couldn't afford to stand out.

`Pull yourself together.' She scolded herself. `Just follow Yahiko. Kaoru can help you.'

“We'll take the fire escape. It's faster that way.” They walked around the building to a long, well-made staircase that crawled up the side of the wall. It was shining, unrusted steel- obviously used and maintained well. Yahiko let her go first, and she tried to keep herself hidden in front of him as they slowly made their way to the top of the staircase. Nervous at the growing height, she clung to the handrail, which was reassuringly hard and sturdy.

Yahiko reached across her shoulder when they were at the very top, sticking a key into the lock on the tall window. With a click he turned it, slowly, right, then left, then right again. It was a combination lock that needed a key to open it. With another clicking noise, and a faint buzzing that Tsubame thought might be magic, the window slid smoothly open. She clambered over the rim and the windowsill, the other teenager at her heels. He closed the window behind her, and she hurried out of the room.

“Hey! Ugly! We have a guest, so get your fat-” Something flew out of the living room and hit Yahiko squarely in the head. He yelled, grabbing onto his sore scalp and motioned for Tsubame to go ahead.

“Kaoru, are you here?” She asked nervously. A head poked up from behind the couch, dark hair tousled from sleep into a halo around her face. The drowsiness faded from her face when she recognized Tsubame. Jumping over the couch and nearly crashing headfirst into the carpet, Kaoru grabbed Tsubame's hands.

“Tsubame! Where have you been? Last the police sighted you, you were north!”

“That was a trick. I was really in the south. Kaoru, I really need your help, so if you could maybe hide me?”

“Of course! I'll call Tae, she'll want to know her little sister's back home! And I should call Kenshin and let him know, this might be important...”

The younger girl didn't have a chance to ask you Kenshin was, since Kaoru was already dialing her older sister.

“Hello? Tae? Can you come over right now? No, there's no emergency; your little sister just came in. Yahiko brought back- no, I don't know. I have to call Kenshin and ask, he'll probably know more about- talk to Yahiko? Sure.”

She handed the phone to the grumbling Yahiko, who told Tae about finding Tsubame in the mall and bringing her back here.

Meanwhile Kaoru was digging under the sofa for her cell phone, since the house phone was occupied.

The brown-haired girl sat down on the sofa and hugged her knees, suddenly feeling much lighter. Soon, she'd see her sister, and then she could tell the police what she knew.

Maybe some of the other girls would free, too.

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“We found a way into Besh's headquarters.”

“How?”

“They make most of their money off of the illegal female slave trade, specializing in nonhumans. Besh and a few high-ranking subordinates choose their own servants, and the ugliest of them are kept as servants for the others. Besh always chooses sirens, mermaids, or water sprites.”

“So what, idiot?”

“So those caravans go north first, make sure a few of the missing girls who have families are sighted and reported, and then they sneak south to the Order where no one notices them.”

“You still haven't explained to me why this is even relevant...idiot.”

“So the caravan is here, in Onyx. Right now. They don't steal girls from this city, since the odds of being caught are so high. But they do stop and stay a night to get supplies. If hat Tsubame has told us is correct, they'll head north, and split into smaller groups that go through small towns. If we could sneak someone onto a caravan-”

“Like who?”

“There are plenty of ways to create a fake person, Shishou. You know that.”

“A real woman might work better.”

“A real woman might get hurt. A fake one that we're controlling won't.”

“Have you told Kaoru any of this?”

“She told me about Tsubame- Yahiko found her and brought her to my apartment- but she doesn't know my plans.”

“Because she'll offer herself up to go, and you're overprotective.”

“Because it's a pointless argument. Kaoru is the last person I would send on a mission like this.”

“Like I said, idiot, you're overprotective.”

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“We'll be dropping you off at the Lou's apartment. From there your on your own. Remember, first thing-”

“Find the tickets and travel information. Then get acquainted with the people. I really appreciate your help.”

Kaoru, Misao, and Tokio were seated in the back of a taxi, squished together. They each held identical new designer tote bags containing everything they needed to bring with them. Kaoru had the harp; Misao had the files; and Tokio had some extremely creatively disguised weaponry. It didn't hurt to be careful, after all.

The man who'd been told to drive them dropped them off, wished them luck, and left before he was spotted. The three girls, giggling, sauntered up the stairs and into the complex. It wasn't very pretty, but the Lou triplets, daughters of a bankrupt oil tycoon, had recently lost all their money. The apartment building was the perfect place for them: it was very cheap.

The actual apartment had ratty carpet in what might have been white but was now puke green, puke yellow, gray, and brown, depending on the room. The bathrooms were dirty and linoleum, the mirrors were all cracked, and the smell...it made public bathrooms seem like heaven. The kitchen looked too dangerous, with occasionally sparking appliances and slime dripping from the ceiling.

No wonder there were take-out menus taped to the walls. And Tokio had thought it was only because of the hideous lime green with powder blue and pink hearts on it.

At least they wouldn't be ere long. The Lou sisters had been planning to move soon to a small town just south of here, and run a flower shop there. They were alone, and penniless, and would be mildly ostracized as new comers for a while. Perfect targets for the Order. Luckily for them, they would be impersonated by Kaoru, Misao, and Tokio, who hopefully could infiltrate by being captured. As long as they acted like April, May, and June Lou, there was no reason why they wouldn't be. Especially since one of the higher-ups in the Order always kept blonde servants.

Misao dragged a large mirror, smudged with grime, out of the master (and only) bedroom.

“Here.” She said. “Let's just take a look at ourselves.”

In the mirror stood three identical girls. Girls with long, white-blonde hair that curved and waved to perfection til it reached their waists. Girls with exotic gray eyes that gleamed with mischief and irresponsibility. Girls in matching clothes and matching accessories, who smiled the same superficial white smile with pearly teeth.

“We look the part, at least. All we have to do is act it.” Kaoru said, satisfied. She frowned, tugging on a strand of blonde hair. “We have to shower here at least a few times, so we'll smell the same, too. Remember how even after Alzi changed us, Kenshin could still pick me out by scent? Let's not take chances.” Alzi was a siren who had mastered the trick of turning all the bone in someone's face into wax, then reshaping it as desired, and hardening it into bone again. Add iris, hair, and skin dyes and no one could have noticed that the three weren't the Lous.

“Yeah, I remember. It was creepy.” Misao rolled her eyes. “Seriously, you don't think it was...stalker-ish?”

“Not stalker-ish, Misao, just plain stalker. Don't ever try and leave him, Kaoru.”

“I wouldn't dream of it. Come on, let's try and figure these girls out.” The three dispersed, looking in all the cupboard and closets, learning what each of their new selves liked and disliked.

Kaoru, who was now April, found that she now played tennis and volleyball, wore nail polish all the time and coordinated it perfectly with her clothes, and always matched her sisters. She liked green and orange.

Tokio, who was now May, discovered she too played tennis and volleyball, wore constant nail varnish, and coordinated herself to the T. She liked pink and purple.

Misao, or June, was exactly like May and April. Except she liked blue and red. It was as though they were the same person in three bodies. Even their diaries were alike, the same events in each one told from different points of view. The only discernable difference in the pictures that they found was that each girl wore a bracelet with her name hanging from it in the colors she liked. Otherwise, they were carbon copies.

“It feels weird to be as tall as you, Kaoru.” Misao complained, going through June's sneakers. They were white, posh, and only genteel used. It was easy to see why; they were decorated with diamonds in the toe and heel.

“It feels weird to have blonde hair. I've never willingly died my hair.”

“I've dyed your hair!”

“The operative word in the sentence was `willingly', Misao.” The two laughed and continued their thorough search of the bedroom.

Tokio joined them, holding an armload of purses, designer and expensive all. “I found these. Three of each; we have to coordinate everything. What a pain.”

The other two concurred. They worked for another hour, immersing themselves neck deep into the Lou siblings' lives.

If no one suspected anything, they would be within Order lands in just a month.

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In a hotel in Viper, Arnold Wormwood sighed with relief. H wiped the sweat form his face. This member of the Wormwood family was the brother of the late Harold Wormwood, and was very displeased. Two of his relatives, dead! But he had been honored with the position of guard for the women they were selling. And he would receive second choice of slaves. This was exciting for him, since women abhorred him for one, superficial, yet disgusting reason.

He sweat. He sweat a lot, so much that no amount of prescription strength deodorant and anti-perspirant could help. He perpetually stank as well.

Now, closing the door on the chained women, he looked for his fellow guards. Ever since the youngest girl, the one who the Great One had sent with them to be broken in, had escaped, he'd been on edge. If any other girls ran off, they would have to pack and run before one of them caught Battousai's attention. Their discovery would collapse their lucrative business.

But for now he was safe. The rest of the girls were there, and he would have a chance to get new ones from the next town. Hopefully a few cute blondes- as a teen, a pretty blonde girl had rejected him, and he'd never gotten over her.

Her name had been April Lou, or was it May? He could never tell her and her triplets apart, and it didn't matter. They were women, inferior to men in all ways. But she hadn't seen it that way- when he couldn't tell her apart, from the others, she'd coldly told him she “didn't date stinking, sweat-soaking pigs like him.”

He was not bitter. Not at all.

He'd get his girl in the next town. June, or April, or September was an impoverished heiress, and he was an important man, working as the Goddess's agent on Earth. Who cared if July hadn't liked him?

He didn't care, didn't carry her picture in his wallet. Didn't dream of her even at the age of forty.

“In the next town, I'll grab a nice blonde girl. She won't call me a sweaty pig...”

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The flower shop was tasteful in the extreme. Everything smelled clean and floral, the flowers were labeled prettily, and the three staff members were perfectly delightful in their matching uniforms and shining nameplates.

This was the general impression that the customers left with, and soon enough the false sisters Lou were up to their necks in work, for their flowers never seemed to be wilted and lasted a long time more tan anyone else's. Young and old men, wanting roses, husbands wanting exotic things for anniversaries, and wives needing party decorations. There were always orders to fill, and most villagers assumed that the girls slept at night to recharge for the next hectic day.

But at night, the three girls sheltered in the nearby wood and plotted. They spread out files and sparred, knocked things over and repaired them with magic. There was always the possibility that the Order would recognize them, and if that happened, more then likely there would be a fight.

On this night, the girls were nervous and didn't venture out of their flat above the shop. The Order caravan was due to arrive tomorrow morning, and the three lay on the floor of the living room, going over the plan, again.

“So, we get into the headquarters. Than what?” Tokio knew the answer, but it was a ritual to ask questions as though none of them knew anything.

“Then we spy. We spy and infiltrate and gather information.” Misao said. “And after we think we know enough?”

“We're supposed to send the signal, and wait for our big, strong men like good little girls.” Kaoru supplied. “I was thinking last night, and I figured something out.”

“What?” Misao asked curiously.”

“Siren magic can be distilled in water. If done correctly- not an easy thing- you get water that retains all the properties of both water and magic.”

“Renewable magic. You could do all kinds of things with that.” Tokio said.

“That's why the Order keeps all those sirens and water sprites, I'll bet. To distill their power into water and use it to power their headquarters. Which is good. If my power was distilled, it should still be in use. I should be able to fuse into their storage, or whatever. I could shut down whatever system they're using.”

“That would be good. No magic, probably easier to blow up or whatever.” Tokio mused. “How are we going to hide our powers from the Order?”

Misao grinned evilly. “I got Heretic's Oil off the black market. Don't ask where or how, you really don't want to know, but it works.”

“Heretic's Oil? Are you serious?” Heretic's Oil, as Kaoru full well knew, was a magic-proof substance. It could block or conceal any magic it was applied to. But only about fifty gallons were produced per year and sold at incredible prices.

“Yeah.” Misao said. “Tomorrow, we can soak in it before we accidentally allow ourselves to be captured.”

Kaoru and Tokio nodded, forgetting she couldn't see them while they were on the floor.

Silently Kaoru prayed.

`Goddess, Mother, defend us from evil with all your might. Disperse the impure intentions of monsters and deflect all terrors from our hearts...'

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Linda Stone was a successful businesswoman. She was used to having her way, and despaired over weaker people. In her opinion, all women had to be strong to survive. She loathed weak people, and all the other inhabitants of the caravan they were in seemed thoroughly weak to her.

Some of the girls cried, some of them were silent, and still others chattered inanely, But none of them had Linda's poise or cool head. It didn't occur to her that she would probably attract plenty of customers with her mysterious face and lack of weakness, and that the pitiful behavior of the other girl's might be an act to help protect themselves. No, for Linda Stone, she was strong and others were weak, and nothing else mattered.

She was dozing lightly when she was knocked awake by a thump.

The curtain at one end of their truck had been pulled aside and guards were heaving three other girls, new ones, in handcuffs and gags into the truck. She leaned forward and in the dim light of the one lantern they were given saw that the girls were triplets, pretty and blonde. She recalled their faces from woman's magazines that her ridiculously simple-minded daughter read. April, May, and June Lou, former rich girls.

One of them pulled herself to her knees with surprising ease and began wiggling her wrists.

“It's no good, there's no way you can break out.” Linda told her. The girl ignored her and continued twisting. With a snap, the hand cuffs dropped off, still locked and closed; the girl's wrists free, she yanked out her gag and began helping one of her sisters, who was already starting to pop her own hands free. Within a minute, all three had handcuffs in their laps and gags on the floor.

Linda stared. Who were these girls? “Hi. I'm Linda Stone.”

The first girl smiled at her. “June Lou. So what exactly is going on here?”

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Yeah, it's too short, but this was a good place to stop. How did Kaoru and CO. convince their boyfriends/husbands to let them go? Um...I'll get there. Eventually. Next Chapter; Kaoru and Co. (I like this abbreviation) adjust to life in the Order HQ, while back home in Onyx, Kenshin and Co. worry about them. Oh, and stuff happens.

Thanks for all your reviews. If you like this Impressions Trilogy, False Identity, a one-shot that's set way after Third Impressions, and does have spoilers (but if you're reading this it shouldn't matter) is up