Genre

Rating

Spoiler Level

Broken Pieces: Chapter 14 - step forward

by linay

Pawns living and dying,

We play the game.

Dreams of snowing lavender blossoms amongst towering cedar trees. A peaceful place. A quiet place. Kenshin felt as if he were floating, lazily suspended in a world of sweet smells and gentle caresses. His toes gently touched down on the petal-covered ground. Curled at his feet lay the lithe body of a sleeping woman, petals strewn over her naked body. He knelt beside her and traced his finger down her milky forearm.

Something was missing. Something that should have been present in his dream was absent. He stood, looking through the gale of petals. Realization dawned on him like the sun.

No nightmare. No blood.

Kenshin lifted his face to the sweet wind and inhaled, a feeling close to joy filling his senses.

When Kaoru awoke, it was to a most unusual smell. Her fleeting dreams left traces of deeply wooded forests and mountains of soapy bubbles. She inhaled deeply and found that something still smelled softly of cedar coupled with soap. The rare grey area between sleep and waking was pleasantly enticing. Instead of opening her heavy-lidded eyes, she sniffed her surroundings carefully, turning so that her loose hair was pillowed under her cheek.

The sweet smell of lavender was suddenly very strong. A slight knot in Kaoru’s forehead appeared. Oddly, the smell seemed to be coming from her hair. Impossible, of course.

She rolled to the other side, burrowing into the warmth of the blankets. Immediately, the woody smell increased dramatically. Another knot in her brow. Then, something shifted beside her.

Kaoru’s eyes immediately snapped open, throwing off the delicious sleepiness. Before her very eyes, lay a pair of black jeans. Except the jeans were not empty. Her eyes trailed up from the legs to a bare chest and sinewy arms covered in long strands of rich, red hair.

Instantly, Kaoru became very still, the source of the cedar scent now painfully obvious. Mere inches away from her, Kenshin was sitting on the bed with his back to the wall. Her blue eyes rolled up to peek at his face and her eyebrows immediately shot up. His finely featured face was tilted to the side and resting against the wall, his fiery hair loose and spilling over his shoulders and back. His eyes were lightly closed and he was breathing steadily.

Could it be that he was asleep?

Kaoru blinked and then looked down at herself, moving the covers aside slightly. She could only gape in surprise at the rosy sheen of her skin. Lifting her head to get a whiff of her shoulder, she realized that she herself was the source of the delightful soapy smell. Examining herself a little further, she found herself loosely wrapped in what appeared to be Kenshin’s blue bathrobe.

Her face went red as she gradually recalled the intimate conditions from the previous night. Inching her way completely under the covers, Kaoru clamped her eyes shut and waited for the man to leave the bed.

From above, Kenshin’s eyes drifted open slowly. His chest still rising and falling with the satisfying rolls of restful sleep, Kenshin observed the human lump under the covers with vague amusement. It was strangely entertaining to see the soft wisps of black hair escaping her cover and the clenched hands curled around the blankets shielding her face.

“It’s not healthy to be so tense in the morning,” he commented blandly as he rose fluidly.

“Since when do you have a sense of humour?” Kaoru shot at his retreating back, peeping over the covers.

Turning the corner to the kitchen, Kenshin pondered her question. Since when HAD he had a sense of humour? Come to think of it, when had he last had such a peaceful sleep? Rolling his shoulders, Kenshin pulled a pot from a cabinet and began filling it with water. Breakfast.

“Katsura!”

“No, Shinsaku. You know it is impossible.”

“I’m only asking for permission to retrieve her.”

“And as I said,” Katsura sighed, “You know it is impossible.”

Takasugi paced the lavish office, a hand perpetually running through his scraggly hair. “You can’t expect me to just sit here and do nothing!” he muttered between harsh steps, “For god’s sake, just let me go get her from them.”

Katsura sighed again and stood. “Shinsaku,” he said evenly, “Think rationally.”

“Rationally?” he pitched, “How can I think rationally when the one I love most is probably being beaten to death as we speak?”

Walking around his desk, Katsura approached the agitated man and placed his hands on his shoulders. “You know that I understand,” he said softly, “And you know that you must bear it for the sake of the whole.”

“My innocent Uno must suffer-”

“Yes,” Katsura interrupted, his voice growing sharp, “What do you think will happen if you storm in there and rescue her?”

Takasugi gritted his teeth in frustration. He knew that if he were to do anything to help Uno, they would know about it. It would be traced back to Katsura and the Choshu organization. They would be exposed, arrested, disbanded. Everything they had carefully built would be destroyed.

“Damn them,” Takasugi bit out bitterly between clenched teeth.

“So they will be,” Katsura acknowledged grimly, “But only if we keep to the plan. If you are revealed to them, we will be crushed. If the Bakufu organization finds out that Choshu is against them, we will be wiped out. We’re not ready to eliminate them yet.”

“If only,” Takasugi breathed, his eyes burning with unshed tears, “If only-”

“There can be no regrets, Takasugi Shinsaku. We chose this path. You and Uno chose this path when you fell in love. They took her because of her connections with you.”

“How can we build peace if we can’t even protect the ones we love?”

Katsura turned away, his eyes calm, collected and cold. “The peace is not for us but for the ones after us. Their peace will be built on our bodies and the bodies of the ones we love.”

Takasugi snorted and looked out the window to watch the reddish hues of sunrise.

A world of red.

All Uno could see was red. And all she could hear was that icy voice, continually prodding.

“Tell me, whore,” it whispered between her screams, “What is Choshu up to?”

At first, she had protested with witty remarks. “Aren’t they your allies?” “Why don’t you know what they’re doing?” But then the red sea had filled her eyes and she could only choke out syllables.

“I’ll ask you again,” came the whisper, “What are they doing behind our backs?”

“Nothing.” A panted breath.

“Come again?”

“Nothing!” This time it was a scream of pain.

Oh god let me rest.

“What’s you name?”

“Linda.”

“Your real name.”

“Linda.”

There was that horrid stench of burning flesh again. And then those piercing, heart-rending screams.

“Name?”

“Linda!”

The screams rose again as the smell of blackening, burning flesh made her vomit. Her own flesh and voice.

But the whispers had stopped. Only her screams remained. And suddenly she felt her voice die within her as she fell to her knees. Uno looked up and saw, through a red haze, the most beautiful blue-grey skies. Something was rushing from her. It was a river; her life pouring out for her beloved. Uno fell from the beautiful grey skies.

This is love.

She fell into a sea of red.

From the bathroom, Kaoru could hear Kenshin running the water over the breakfast dishes. She was picking up the discarded clothes from the night before, smoothing them and folding them in the process. As she smoothed out the mini-skirt she had been wearing the night before, her deft fingers passed over a slight lump in a tiny pocket. Kaoru drew out the hard object with the thumb and forefinger, turning it in the light.

A thin silver band. Linda, or rather Uno, had pressed a tiny ring into her fingers the night before. Kaoru frowned, remembering Uno’s request that she deliver the object to someone. But who? Dismissing the thought from her mind, Kaoru slipped the slender ring onto her own index finger.

Meanwhile, Kenshin was piling steaming clean dishes into the dish rack. The two had eaten a modest breakfast of miso soup and fish, then separated amicably to other chores. Somehow, they had settled into a semi-comfortable silence.

Looking to the side, he saw the girl curl up onto his leather sofa, hiking up the loose jogging pants she was wearing. In fact, she was wearing his jogging pants, the drawstring tied so that the material bunched up at her slim hips. Presently, she was flipping through an old magazine that had been lying beside the sofa.

He had been the one to suggest the jogging pants, though not in any verbally coherent manner. She had been carrying her dishes to the sink when he had disappeared into the bedroom for a moment. As she emerged from the kitchen, Kenshin had tossed the jogging pants into her surprised arms. At her quizzical look, he had only shrugged and muttered gruffly that she needn’t occupy his bathrobe all day. To his muttering, she had shrugged and complied. No explosions or objections. When she had reappeared after changing, her hair was loosely pulled back into a ponytail. As an image taken out of context, they seemed like two quiet roommates going about their daily business and not like an assassin and his feisty captive.

As he shut the tap off and wrung the water from his hands, Kenshin wondered briefly if he was losing an edge that he had on her. The girl seemed so relaxed and comfortable. It was unnatural. On the other hand, he could not deny that he felt better with the present easy atmosphere. It almost felt as if his muscles were slowly un-tensing.

The phone rang. The girl bounded up and pitched herself over the back of the sofa. She yanked the phone from the cradle before Kenshin finished drying his hands on a kitchen towel.

“Hello?” she said sweetly into the receiver, pushing up the strap of her white tank top, “Of course, he’s right here.”

She handed the phone to Kenshin’s outstretched hand, ignoring his disapproving glare. “Yes?” Kenshin asked, “What is it, Katsura-san?”

Kaoru curled a lock of black hair around her index finger, watching Kenshin’s impassive face as he conversed.

“School?” he was saying disbelievingly, “But Katsura-san, is that wise?”

Kaoru could hear Katsura speaking from where she was. His instructions lasted a few minutes, Kenshin frowning but nodding all the while. Then, wordlessly, he passed her the phone. Kaoru accepted it with a raised eyebrow but pressed it to her ear anyway.

“Hello?”

“Kamiya-san,” Katsura said, his deep voice partially muffled by the phone, “How would you like to attend your school for a day?”

“I would love to!” Kaoru said, suddenly eager, “I haven’t been for almost a week and people might have already started to wonder if something happened to me.”

“That is precisely what we don’t want,” Katsura continued, “But you must agree to certain restrictions.”

“Fine by me,” Kaoru replied, dismissing her nagging suspicions in favour of the idea of returning to the schooling that she often missed.

“First of all,” Katsura listed, “You must agree to have Himura-san at your side at all times.”

Kaoru frowned but did not interject.

“Second, you must let Himura-san act as your legal guardian - since there are some arrangements I wish for him to make on your behalf. I have already confirmed this with your school.”

Kaoru’s frown deepened but the prospect of going to school was too good to turn down, no matter what the restrictions.

“Finally, you must give me your word of honour that you will not try to escape Himura-san.”

Kaoru remained silent for a moment, pondering the request. Escape? Escape to where and to whom? Although she had been witness to many gruesome scenes while in Kenshin’s company, her circumstances were not worse than when she had been in Aoshi’s care. Either way, she had always been a prisoner.

“Fine,” she agreed.

“On your honour?”

“On my honour,” Kaoru repeated gravely, “I will not try to escape from Kenshin.”

“Thank you, Kamiya-san,” Katsura replied, “I appreciate your cooperation.”

To that, Kaoru could find no reply. She nodded mutely as Katsura voiced his farewell and hung up. She replaced the phone softly, not even trying to repress the sunny smile that began to beam from her face. She was going to school.

“Hey ninja-boy!”

Aoshi paused in his movements and looked over his shoulder to the doorway of the training hall.

“Suit up,” boomed his burly boss, “And get going.”

Aoshi straightened. He didn’t even need to ask the reason for his deployment. “Where?” he asked crisply.

“Fujiya High School,” came the curt order, “She’ll be at school today. Battousai will be watching her.”

Raising a cool eyebrow but leaving his question unvoiced, Aoshi waited silently for further information.

“Bring her back here,” the Hiko Seijuro ordered gruffly, “And don’t get your stupid ninja-butt kicked while you’re at it.”

Aoshi’s blue eyes narrowed as he tensed at the reference to his previous failure to protect her. His boss cut a grim, open-mouthed smile.

“Don’t be so damn tense, you nincompoop-ninja. Just do your job.”

His strides clipped and precise, Shinomori Aoshi headed for his weapon rack. Expressionless and cold, he tucked various small weapons into his ankle belts, arm belts and waistband. Finally, he reverently lifted two identical, short swords. One in each hand, he lifted them briefly by their long handles then twisted them gracefully and tucked them behind his back, criss-crossed. He snatched his long, beige overcoat from its hook and swung it over himself, flipping the collar so that the rusty orange lining was visible.

As he strode from the room and into the crisp morning, his thoughts became focused, determined and deadly. Today, he thought, he would rescue Kamiya-san from the clutches of the devil Battousai and then kill him for his sin. It would be simple, quick and lethal.

Kaoru was leaning back in the leather front seat of Kenshin’s black sports car, smoothing the pleats in her black school skirt. Kenshin drove silently; the only sound was the occasional shifting of gears. Their silence had almost become companionable. Kaoru began to stare out the window, watching the neighbourhood go by. They had entered the plush side of town, where houses had neat gates and expensive cars parked in their driveways.

“Do you know how to get to my high school?” she asked quietly.

“Yes,” Kenshin stated shortly.

“Fujiya High?”

A brief nod.

“How?”

“Katsura-san.”

Kaoru inhaled, trying to be as quiet as possible. Kenshin looked over at the girl beside him. Her white hands were clasped tightly in her lap, her eyes riveted to the scenery whizzing by. She had insisted on ironing her black school jacket and skirt and on picking up some new navy socks on the way over. Her facial muscles, he noted, were taut.

“Are you nervous?” he asked suddenly.

She turned to look at him in surprise. “Why do you ask?”

He shrugged, turning back to the road. “We’re almost there.”

Kaoru nodded, straightening her skirt once again. “Are you going to come in?”

“Of course,” he answered, “That was our agreement.”

The tall brick structure loomed ahead of them amidst neatly arranged trees. Fujiya High School was small as schools go, only a few hundred students attended - all rich and elite. The brick buildings were beautiful and they towered magnificently in the small oasis of nature. Kenshin pulled into the main parking lot. Killing the engine, he unlocked the doors and looked over at the girl.

“Ready?” he asked.

Kaoru nodded slowly and pushed the passenger door open. When her black loafers hit the pavement, Kenshin was already at her side, holding out a hand. Looking up, she took his open hand gingerly and pulled herself from the low seat. As she stood, brushing down her stiffly ironed uniform and straightening her crisp white collar, Kenshin shut the car door and then stood before her, watching her thoughtful movements. Kaoru pulled her navy knee socks up and then righted herself, running her fingers one last time through her neat bangs and ponytail.

Then she noticed the look that her chaperone was giving her. “What?” she asked, almost defensively.

Kenshin’s dark eyebrows knotted slightly beneath his red bangs. “You are nervous,” he stated.

Kaoru gave off a high-pitched chuckle. “Well, of course! I’m late for my first day of school in a whole week!”

She shifted from foot to foot under his scrutinizing gaze. Kenshin, meanwhile, continued to puzzle over her latest façade. He had thought, from her previous expressions, that she was overjoyed to be returning to her school. Now, however, she seemed to be completely off kilter. He himself had thought that going to her school for a day would be disastrous; unanswerable questions would certainly come up. The story that Katsura had told him to feed the school authorities seemed plausible enough but, even so, Kenshin had taken extra care to appear non-descript and unthreatening. He had chosen his regular black ensemble but had opted from a black trench coat, rather than the traditional Japanese overcoat he usually wore on missions. Instead of bringing along his long sword, he had only tucked the short sword into his belt. His flame red hair was knotted tightly into a high ponytail, not unlike Kaoru’s.

But despite her earlier excitement, his charge was now nervously picking at invisible lint spots on her school blazer, the brave young woman he had been guarding so jealously lost to a nervous schoolgirl. It puzzled him. “What are you nervous about?” he inquired, his voice low.

Another high-pitched giggle. “I’m not!” she protested, still looking down at her uniform, “I love school!”

Slowly, Kenshin stepped towards Kaoru and looped one arm around her waist, pressing the flat of his hand into the small of her back. Surprise written all over her face, Kaoru looked up into Kenshin’s expressionless features, his intense amber eyes inches from her own.

“It puzzles me,” he said, his voice bland, “That you are so afraid.”

“Afraid?” Kaoru began to sputter, leaning back.

“Yes,” Kenshin repeated, lowering his face nearer to hers, “Afraid of such a trivial thing as school when you were never afraid of me.”

“Well, who’d be afraid of you?” the little girl shot back.

A smirk tugged at the corner of Kenshin’s tight lips. He pushed his fingers through the hair at the side of Kaoru’s head and let his palm hover near her cheek. Kaoru froze.

“Foolish words,” he scolded in a soft voice, “Especially from one who has seen death in action. Aren’t you ashamed to be scared of such little things? ”

Kaoru averted her eyes from his intense gaze. “It isn’t fear,” she breathed.

Kenshin slid his fingers down her cheek and took her chin in his forefinger and thumb, forcing her to submit again to his piercing yellow stare. “Then what is it, Kaoru?” Her name was a command and not an endearment. “Tell me now. Your life is in my hands alone.”

“My life belongs to no one but me,” Kaoru answered, her voice both delicate and determined, “But so that you know, it is dread. Not fear. Do you know the difference?”

“No.” Kenshin continued to scrutinize her. “I have never felt either emotion.”

“One day you will.”

“Perhaps.” She could feel the indifferent shrug in his voice. “But for now…”

Her breath quickened as he pulled her even nearer, so that their chests were almost brushing against each other.

“Take courage,” Kenshin said, his voice so low it was almost a whisper, “And step forward bravely.”

He released her suddenly and turned away, giving her space to slow her racing heart. Kaoru stared at the man’s back, consciously slowing her breathing. Kenshin looked back over his shoulder at the child who had lived more lifetimes than any adult. A puzzling combination.

“Coming?” he asked, his voice calm.

Kaoru nodded quickly, skipping to catch up to his quick paces.

From the window of a tall brick building, Katsura Kogoro turned to his associate, Hiko Seijuro.

“It is going well, don’t you think?”

“We’ll see,” came the brusque reply, “The day has only started.”

The school office was sterile and whitewashed. Kaoru sat as still as she could, watching the hands of the plain school clock tick away. Kenshin was within the principal’s office, discussing the arrangements for Kaoru’s schooling. Suddenly, the door to the office opened. Both the secretary and Kaoru looked up to see an arresting red-haired man emerge beside the suited principal. Kaoru stood.

“It has been a pleasure speaking to you, sir,” the principal was saying to the serious-faced Kenshin, “All the arrangements will be made as we discussed.” The principal turned to Kaoru. “We are sorry to hear of your recurring illness, Kamiya-san.”

Kaoru could only nod mutely.

“But we are sure that your teachers will be happy to provide you with material to study at home.”

Glancing furtively at Kenshin, who remained stone-faced, she nodded again.

“Well, then,” the principal announced, “Enjoy your day at school and we’ll see you again next week!” He turned and pumped Kenshin’s hand.

Kenshin gave the principal a single, curt nod and then stepped forward to take Kaoru by the elbow. Neither of them glanced back as he led her from the school office. As the door swung shut behind them, they both caught the principal’s comment to his secretary.

“Strange girl, that one is.”

“Always has and always will be,” the secretary replied.

Kenshin slid the classroom door open for Kaoru and she stepped into the brightly lit room carefully, gripping the notebooks at her side tightly. The room was filled with laughing teenagers, all dressed alike. At the sound of the sliding door, most of the students cast a glance their way, expecting the teacher. Kaoru’s unexpected arrival elicited various expressions, all of which Kenshin noted mentally. One girl student rushed forward suddenly, her short black hair bouncing.

“Kao-chan!” she exclaimed with a giggle, “You’ve been away a long time again!”

Kaoru nodded. “Ah, Tomomi-chan,” she simply acknowledged.

“Well,” Tomomi giggled, “I saved the math notes for you.” She dug out a sheaf of papers and handed them over. “But you know how bad I am at English and literature so I didn’t bother with those notes.” The perky teenager peered around Kaoru to stare at Kenshin.

“Who’s that?” she asked, batting her eyes.

“My companion,” Kaoru replied.

“Kao-chan!” Tomomi scolded lightly, “I haven’t seen you for a week and you’re as cold as always!”

Kaoru smiled distantly. “You’re always so attentive, Tomomi-chan!”

“Ah,” Tomomi continued to rant, “Hirazawa-kun and Horimoto-kun are always asking about you! But it’s not like I know where you were or anything.” She shrugged her shoulders, inviting an explanation.

“No,” Kaoru answered, walking past the petite classmate and evading the question, “But you don’t need to worry about me.”

Silently, Kenshin followed her as she walked to a desk near the back of the classroom. She sat and arranged her writing utensils. He paused above her, setting a finger onto her desk. Kaoru looked up, her blue eyes pensive.

So that only she could hear, Kenshin spoke softly. “What is she to you?”

“You’ll see,” Kaoru said, a ghost of a smile passing over her lips.

The classroom door slid open again.

“Good afternoon, students,” a tall teacher announced as he walked into the room.

“Good morning,” the students replied, scattering to their desks quickly.

“I have an announcement,” the teacher continued, “I have just received a message from the principal. Kamiya-san,” he gestured to her with an open palm, “Will be joining us for the day. She will be present once a week with her companion, who will stay at the back.”

All eyes were on Kenshin as he took up a chair at the back of the classroom. A few snickers and whispers rose like mist around the room. But Kenshin’s eyes were trained on Kaoru and Kaoru’s eyes on the teacher.

“Welcome back, Kamiya-san,” he concluded. “Now, please open your notebooks.”

Over the next hour, Kenshin surveyed the room like a hawk, memorizing every face and feature while keeping watch over Kaoru. As soon as the teacher began to lecture on Japanese history, she began to scribble madly. He watched her ponytail bob up and down as she alternated between studying the board and writing her notes. The concentrated look she wore told Kenshin that she was rapt in attention, absorbing every word with relish.

Sitting perfectly erect and still, only Kenshin’s catlike eyes roved the room. While Kaoru immersed herself in the lesson, the other students were signing and whispering to each other while the teacher’s back was turned.

“Why’s she here again?” A snide remark from a prettily adorned girl.

“Who cares?”

“But take a look at her new companion. Gad, isn’t he hot?”

“I dunno,” a giggle, “I liked the other one better. Tall, dark and handsome - that’s more my style.”

The other one? Kenshin deduced that Kaoru’s former bodyguard had also accompanied her to school on certain occasions.

“You’re crazy! Look at that red hair! It’s gorgeous.”

“How unfair,” a whine, “Why does that low-class chick get all the goods?”

The lead tip of Kaoru’s pencil suddenly broke off loudly. Lips tightening, Kenshin watched as she pulled another pencil from her pencil case and begin writing again. She obviously wasn’t deaf.

“Students,” the teacher’s voice boomed, “Please wait quietly for the next teacher. Kamiya-san,” he added, “I will return with your study materials in a moment.” The door slid shut as the history teacher left the room.

“Hey! Horimoto-kun!” a male student hooted across the room to a small, spectacled classmate, “Your weirdo girlfriend is back. Go give her a kiss!”

“Yeah, Horimoto,” another girl taunted, “You must be glad she’s back since she’s the only one who talks to you!”

“Hah,” cruel laughter, “And protects your wussy ass!”

The class broke out into giggles and guffaws. Horimoto sat trembling in his seat, staring down at his papers.

“Leave him alone!” A familiar, commanding female voice.

Kenshin’s amber eyes swivelled back to Kaoru, whose fingers were clenched around her pencil angrily.

The class’ attention immediately left Horimoto and moved to Kaoru. The girl in the seat next to hers leaned over and spoke loudly.

“Hey, Kamiya-san,” she said in a falsely private tone, “Are you screwing that guy too?”

Kaoru’s face went white. “Shut up, Miyazaki-san.”

“Oh!” called a male classmate, “You should be jealous, Horimoto! She’s banging someone else!”

“But why would a hot guy like him want to screw our resident weirdo?” the girl sitting nearest Kenshin asked acidly. She turned around and winked at Kenshin. “Why don’t you ditch her and come to my place tonight?”

Kenshin didn’t even look at her, however. His eyes were trained on Kaoru. Slowly, his darkening gaze swept around the room. Oddly, he noted, the perky girl Tomomi was wearing a look of cruel fascination. He could only imagine how their suggestive remarks pricked at Kaoru’s painful memories. It made him angry that others could prey so easily on her past. Another young woman leaning casually in a window seat caught his attention.

“Kamiya-san,” her snake-like voice hissed, “Why do you always get special treatment? We don’t see anything special about you. You belong with the losers and the deadbeats. Do us all a favour and stay away.”

Kaoru turned incensed blue eyes her way just as a leering male student clamped his clammy hands onto Kaoru’s desk.

“Hey, Kaoru-baby,” he sneered suggestively, “Maybe if we get it on in the closet, you’d learn to loosen up a bit. Whaddya say?”

Kaoru shot up from her seat, rage rolling off of her in waves. “What makes you think I’d ever be caught with you?” she nearly spat, “Or do you just want me to kick your girly ass like the last time you tried to touch me?”

“You’re the one who always shows up with older men!” he accused with a sneer, wagging his finger in her face as his classmates jeered him on, “I’ll bet you’re nothing but a two-bit whore that screwed everyone available in order to get into this school with such special treatment.”

Kaoru’s eyes went wide in anger. She lashed out violently, backhanding her classmate with fluid force. The room went silent.

“You skank…” the boy hissed, wiping the corner of his mouth. “Bitch!” His voice rose as he raised a fist.

“Go back to your seat.”

“What the hell-” the boy looked behind Kaoru to where the cold command had come. His angry ejaculation was cut short, however, when he saw the intimidating figure rise from his seat and approach.

“Sit down,” Kenshin commanded again, his voice low and dangerous. His golden eyes not leaving the petrified boy’s face, Kenshin hooked an arm around Kaoru’s shoulders and pulled her back into his chest. “Now.”

Shamelessly, the boy scurried back to his desk and sat, his saucer eyes riveted to the terrifying man. The classroom door slid open and two teachers strode in.

“Ah, Kamiya-san,” one said, “Welcome back!”

“I believe she’s had enough for one day,” Kenshin answered for her quietly.

The teacher shrugged, slightly confused. “If you say so.”

“The study materials, please,” Kenshin addressed the history teacher, still not relinquishing his hold on Kaoru.

“Of course,” the teacher replied, walking over and placing a thin textbook in Kenshin’s outstretched hand.

He took it and gradually slid his arm from around Kaoru’s shoulders. Without another word, he walked out of the class, pushing Kaoru out ahead of him by her lower back.

As the door slid shut behind them, the class exhaled a collective sigh of relief - not even having noticed that they had stopped breathing. How could one small man be so terrifying?

“Kaoru.” It was Kenshin’s voice, calling her. But she was walking away, her steps clipped and sharp. How could anyone have said such cruel things to her, to anyone for that matter. The words had stung, burrowing deep into her past and igniting past memories. Their leering faces elicited a tight-lipped frown from her as she marched up the flight of stairs.

“Kaoru.” Again, but this time a reprimand. “Stop.”

She swung around on her heel on the last step, turning to look down at him. “What?”

“You were excited to go to school this morning.”

“So?”

“What happened?”

Kaoru’s shoulders sank. “I’ve never really been popular,” she said softly.

“I could see that.”

Kaoru glared at his expressionless face. “Thanks a lot.”

“Why did you want to come then?”

Kaoru sighed and turned away. “I love school. I love the books and the notes and the blackboard. I love feeling like a student.” She looked down. “I love feeling normal.” She took another step up and put her hand on the handle of the door at the top of the steps. “And I have a few friends, really. Mostly people I stand up for,” she chuckled. “But the others…”

Kenshin also climbed another step. “You are brave.”

She looked back at him, startled. “What?”

“You don’t run away from them,” he reiterated, deadpan as always, “That is admirable.”

“A compliment?” she laughed, “From you?”

“Let’s go,” Kenshin said, reaching up to her.

“Not just yet,” Kaoru smiled. She grabbed Kenshin’s outstretched hand and pulled, flinging open the door. Blinding sunlight surrounded them as they emerged from the door and onto the building’s rooftop. Another majestic brick building loomed to the left. Looking around from the rooftop, they could see the green trees and lawn of the campus spread out before them. Kaoru smiled into the sunshine, still lightly grasping Kenshin’s hand.

“This is my favourite spot,” Kaoru explained, flinging out her other arm in a wide circle, “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

Kenshin turned to look at her, the sun creating a halo of light on her shiny black hair and a bright glow around her sun-kissed profile. “Ah,” he replied quietly, “Beautiful.”

“I knew you would come up here.” An icy voice echoed from above, slicing through the warm air.

They whirled around, the owner of the cold voice invisible.

“You see,” the voice said again, “I know you. And I have come to bring you back.” A shadow fell from the sky. And suddenly Aoshi was there, crouched before them both. He stood slowly, his beige trench coat blowing slightly in the wind.

“Battousai,” he announced, his voice cold and deadly, “How dare you touch Kamiya-san with your dirty hands. Get away from her.”

Instead of complying, Kenshin stepped in front of Kaoru, shielding her with his body. With his right hand, he pulled the short sword from his hip and crouched, holding the weapon behind him by the sheath.

Aoshi’s blue eyes narrowed in cold fury. That gesture. That protective stance. “You will die today,” he said, flipping out the twin blades.

From above, two sets of grave eyes watched from a window.

“I hope ninja-boy doesn’t screw up.”

Katsura Kogoro was silent and grim.

“The game has begun, hasn’t it?” Seijuro Hiko asked, not really expecting an answer.

“Indeed, it has.”

From the rooftop below came the sharp ring of unsheathing steel and the anguished cry of one young woman.

Take courage, and step forward bravely.