Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ A Shared Curse: Blood is Stonger than Magic and Steel ❯ Chapter 1: The King's Words ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 1: The King's Words

 

 

 

On the dawning of Princess Kaoru's thirteenth birthday Kaoru woke in her little bed happily snuggled under the pretty blue quilt her beloved nursemaid, Tae, had made for her on her eleventh birthday. Although she knew what today was, Kaoru didn't really care. To her it was just another day on the calendar. All be it this one would see her surrounded by the nobles who either blatantly ignored her or cast cruel glares in her direction every other minute. Even the children seemed to view her with distaste and avoided her by any means possible.

Kaoru couldn't wait for the sun to go down, so that she could go into the village and be among people who actually cared about her. If only she could stay in her bed. Maybe she could fake being sick. Kaoru groaned and pulled the covers off her head. There was no way she could do that. If Kaoru fell ill on one of the few days people actually noticed her there would be a grand old mess of a fuss. If she fell ill today it would just result in some two bit healer sitting in her room all day trying to decide whether she had a disease or had been poisoned.

He probably wouldn't go away even if she told him she had just been faking. He would just shake his head and say it must be some kind of dangerous and complex curse that was plaguing her. The healer would then call some horribly cheap and homeless wizard that wouldn't even notice the difference between a stick of incense and a dried up dog turd, to cure her of the non-existent curse. The mentioned wizard would then choke her with some foul smelling smoke and herbs. Then he would make her drink some disgusting mixture involving bat blood and bird poop that would make her sicker than any illness ever could.

Kaoru groaned again and sat up. Brushing her messy bangs out of her face Kaoru looked around her room to find that it was still dark. She threw off her blankets to pad across the cold wooden floor on bare feet. She walked over to the door that led out to her garden. Throwing the door open Kaoru stepped out without even bothering to grab her sandals that sat near the door.

Kaoru smiled and welcomed the breeze that swirled around her and played with the hairs that had escaped her braid in the night. Kaoru walked down the thin dirt path that wound through her garden to the section she had dedicated to herbs long ago. Bending down to admire her flourishing chamomile, Kaoru also plucked a leaf from her peppermint plant. Breathing in the sharp scent she smiled again. The Indian summer had been especially kind to her pretty little garden.

“Kaoru, dear,” Kaoru jumped up at hearing her name and spun around to find her beloved care taker, Tae, looking at her bare feet with amusement, “Out for a romp in the garden already. Don't you think it's a bit early for this? Besides you left the door open for any one of your strange little free roaming pets in.”

Kaoru smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. About a year and a half ago a bunch of the squirrels from the tree in Kaoru`s garden had managed to get into her room and make a mess of her chambers and any others rooms that were attached to it. One of those rooms had been Tae`s and the damage had been extensive. Needless to say, she hadn`t been happy. “Sorry, Tae. I really didn't mean to leave it open this time. Was I really so loud as to wake you on a Sunday?”

Tae shook her head, “Not at all, dear and your forgiven. Now come inside and get cleaned up. You've got a big day today.”

Kaoru groaned as she remembered what this day was again. “It's big alright. Big, boring, and horribly annoying.”

Tae chuckled and walked back into Kaoru's room. Glancing back over her shoulder, Tae said, “At least you have something to look forward to when the sun goes down. Ne, Princess Kaoru?”

Kaoru made a face at the title, but nodded and smiled anyway. Tae had been the one to head the plans for Kaoru's birthday party so she knew every thing that was going on, even the parts that had been kept secret from the little princess. Then again, Tae seemed to know everything even when it had nothing to do with her. Tae had once told Kaoru that knowledge is powerful. Having the right amount and type of knowledge could not only save your job, but also your life. If a castle servant doesn't know what's going on around her the results could be fatal.

Kaoru smiled at Tae's back as she followed her inside. Tae had been the closest thing to a mother Kaoru had ever known. The queen had completely ignored Kaoru from the day after her birth. The king had seen this and chose to follow his wife's example. For Kaoru, there were no distant warm happy memories to fall back on when her parents forced her to do things she hated doing. Kaoru had no reason to love or think kindly of her parents and they had never made the effort to change that.

Tae on the other hand had been kind and loving to Kaoru from the very beginning, even when Kaoru had been a shy quiet child that wouldn't speak to anyone but her brother. Tae had been the second person Kaoru had talked to in the days when every one thought she was mute. Tae had gone out of her way to make little Kaoru laugh. These attempts were often met with success, but resulted in an awful lot of people getting the impression that she was a horribly foolish ninny. Tae always told Kaoru it had been well worth it and the prize had been too good to pass up.

Kaoru often wished she had been born to Tae and her husband, Haru. Don't get her wrong, Kaoru took great joy in her many luxuries as a princess, but she knew she would survive without them. She would have enjoyed working for a living. Kaoru hated being idle and she had very few duties to fill up her days with. She was constantly having to come up with knew hobbies to entertain herself with. She would have enjoyed living with a real family that actually cared about her.

Kaoru would have tried convinced her brother long ago to run off with Tae and Haru to somewhere in which the four of them could have lived like she had always imagined. She would have succeeded to, but there was something that she wanted to do, something that only a person in high power could do.

Kaoru had a dream in which she could make things better for the lower classes. It had been the lower classes that had raised her and cared about her. Kaoru wanted to give them something in return. She wanted to make their already hard lives just a little easier by slowly taking away pieces of the tight collar the nobility had on them, until it was completely gone. Kaoru knew that she could never do this as a normal person. As a crown princess the path to better lives for her people would be quite a bit easier. Once Aoshi took over the throne the two of them would work together to realize her dream.

Kaoru mused over this particular thought as she washed up and dressed in a simple blue dress with Tae's help. She sat quietly as her care-taker unbound her hair and began to comb it out. She already had a plan for reaching her goal, but that would all have to wait until after Aoshi was securely settled onto the throne of Senari (Kaoru's kingdom, you dolts).

Kaoru heaved a heavy sigh. No matter what she was doing she was always relying on Aoshi. She liked knowing that he would always be there to support her, but she kept getting this feeling that she was getting in the way and tying Aoshi down. She realized that having a sister who depended on you for everything would probably be a very heavy burden. Aoshi was always thinking on how his actions would impact his sister's life. He was always worrying over her and protecting her. Kaoru wanted to become strong so that she could stand proudly beside her brother, instead of hiding fearfully behind him when things got too tough.

 

Kaoru and Tae finished the morning activities and made their way into the maze of halls that connected Kaoru's small chambers to the rest of the world. Her brother had them specifically built that way so that his precious little sister would have a place to run and hide when the scornful gaze of the court became too much. The wing in which Kaoru resided had been built specifically for her by Prince Aoshi. The many twists and turns kept any possible assassins, spies, kidnappers and even annoying slaves of foreign nobility who would bring any little tidbit back to their masters to be used against the Sena family. Kaoru clung to Tae's hand and breathed as they passed through a little hardly noticeable doorway and into the main castle.

“How much longer `til I'm free, Tae?” It was a simple question with hidden meanings that Kaoru often asked right before and sometimes after she had to deal with the nobility.

“My beloved little princess, you and I may never know true freedom, but at least we can suffer this cage together.” Tae smiled sadly at her young charge. That question had been the first thing Kaoru had ever said out loud to her. It was a strange question to be coming from a six year old girl, so Tae had answered her differently than most adults would answer such a question from such a young child. With the truth. Both she and Princess Kaoru were bound by laws, duties and responsibility. They could never really do everything they wanted.

As the pair approached the doors to the throne room Tae gave Kaoru's hand a squeeze before releasing it and stepping back from her side. “Strength, my love. Strength.” Kaoru gave a weak smile to Tae and the guards who watched her with kind eyes. Kaoru lifted her head and steeled herself as the doors opened.

Kaoru walked into the throne room with her head held high. No matter how many suspicious comments were said about her, no matter how many cruel glares fell upon her for no true reason, she would never bend or show weakness to them. She would become strong, just like Aoshi. None of what they said or did mattered, all she need do was wait and be patient for Aoshi to claim the throne of Senari from her ever aging father. Kaoru swept the skirt of her dress and dipped into a curtsey.

“Greetings, honorable father. I wish you well this morning and may the gods grant you with many more to come.” Kaoru rose from her curtsey and stood quietly with her head bowed in modest respect and waited for him to dismiss her like he always did. The king, however, surprised Kaoru by directly addressing her instead of waving her away.

“Young Princess Kaoru, youngest child of the crown of Senari, today is your thirteenth birthday. After this day you will be of marriageable age. Are you prepared to do what is expected of you and marry for the good of you king, your country and your people?” Kaoru's heart slammed to a stop, seeming to ram into her ribcage as if the shock of the kings words had thrown it completely out of position.

Suddenly Kaoru wished she had never left the comfort of Tae's quilt. She wished that she had accepted Aoshi's offer to go with him. Suddenly she found herself once again wishing she had been born to a simpler family. Though no matter how she wished nothing would ever change. She could do nothing but pretend to carry out this duty with grace, even as her heart raged with anger and despair. Kaoru wanted to scream, shout, curse anything to make it all go away, anything to go back to her little garden and let the world outside dissolve into nothingness. But that wouldn't help anyone. Even a married princess was more useful than an empty shell of a person.

Kaoru drew a calming breath to steady herself and tell the greatest lie of her short life. “I will do as my king wishes for the safety, power, and strength of the kingdom.” the king nodded slightly in agreement before flapping a hand at her, a clear and recognized sign of dismissal. Kaoru curtseyed again and walked slowly out of the throne room, even though her mind kept screaming at her to run for all she was worth. Each muffled thud of her booted feet and every whisper from the nobles echoed inside her head, meaning nothing to her. Her very being had retreated into that dark little place that it had dwelled for most of her childhood. A dark place she had just managed to drag herself out of only to be dragged back into it by her father's words.

Kaoru vaguely remembered the guards slamming the doors shut behind her and collapsing into Tae's arms. She remembered being lifted up in a pair of strong arms and being carried swiftly through the halls. After that, she knew no more.