Chapter 9

Boy oh boy

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Kaoru woke up in the bed, not remembering how she got there. She must have crawled into it sometime between… she paused mid thought. She couldn’t even remember what she was doing last. She backtracked through what happened the day before and finally after going through everything, she remembered she had been crying again. She got angry. She was always crying. It was useless. Hadn’t she already learned that before when Kenshin left the first time? She sighed. It was no use getting angry about it either. All she could do was try to go on normally. And like a normal person would do, she decided she’d get dressed.

Finally she’d get around to seeing what weird clothes Enishi had chosen for her. She walked over to the trunk and opened it. She pouted, nothing strange yet. Just a simple Kimono, although the pattern was very nice. She decided to search through the rest of the trunk in hopes of finding something. Five minutes, nothing, just an assortment of kimono’s, a few Chinese dresses, a shirt and pant combination, Chinese style as well. A few gis and one or two Hakamas. She sighed exasperated. She didn’t know what she had expected to find. Enishi obviously wasn’t a depraved pervert. She eyed the door. Maybe he was a voyeur. She shook her head at herself and giggled. Maybe she was going a little to far. She briefly wondered why she hadn’t found a bathrobe in the trunk.

She donned one of the simple Kimono’s, with a light red, but not quite pink design, with blue lilies patterned on. She wasn’t quite used to the more revealing Chinese clothes. Wondering if Enishi was in his room, she walked over to it. Before she even got in a second knock he opened the door abruptly. He raised an eyebrow at her and stepped to the side, inviting her to pass into his room. Kaoru hesitated, but not long as she stepped past him, determined to ignore the strangeness of her recent circumstances.

Enishi’s room was also mostly bare, his bed was much larger than hers, but it was far too extravagant. She realized she had been staring at the bed for probably a minute now; she blushed and continued her survey of the room. Enishi caught her blushing. Apparently he wasn’t the teasing type, because he said nothing, but she couldn’t help but feel like he was laughing at her.

Enishi had two trunks in his room, one was just like hers, but smaller, and the other one seemed suited for the length of a sword. She looked back at him, it was the first time she’d seen him without it. No that wasn’t true, he rarely carried it on the island about the house, It was only when he left to the rest of the surrounding island that he brought it. She doubted it would be hard for him to get to it even in here.

Kaoru stopped as she spotted a mirror on the wall. Enishi didn’t seem to be the kind of person who cared about his looks. She looked over to him, yet she had to admit, he never looked bad, and he usually looked rather neat. Maybe she was wrong.

Enishi had leaned against the wall to watch her look about his room, his arms hanging at his side, but it seemed to give about the same effect as if he had crossed them over his chest. She stopped suddenly and looked over at him. He figured she was trying to figure something out about him. He often got that feeling from people. He took the opportunity to walk over to a trapdoor in the room that she obviously hadn’t noticed. He kicked it open with a foot and looked over at her, waiting for her reaction.

Kaoru eyed the trapdoor. She really hadn’t noticed that. But now that she saw it, it was rather obvious. She looked back up at Enishi, meeting his eyes. Enishi didn’t break the look as he jumped down in the hole. Kaoru didn’t hear him land, but heard a voice from below speak up to her.

“You may want to use the stairs.” Enishi said calmly “It’s pretty deep.” Kaoru took his advice and slowly climbed down the stairs, looking down to see if he was looking up her skirt. She couldn’t even see where he was. He was obviously not near the stairs. She sighed and descended the rest of the way. Obviously there were things she wouldn’t have to worry about around him like she had around Sanosuke, and sometimes even Kenshin, though she knew she had no need.

She blinked as she reached the bottom of the stairs. It was a huge dojo in the bottom level of the ship. She shuddered at the thought that they were likely surrounded by water entirely. The floor was wooden, but underneath it felt like metal. It was very likely since the whole craft was made of metal. She looked across the room where Enishi stood; He was staring at an intricate Chinese painting of a Tiger stalking his prey. He stared intensely into it and seemed as if he was drawn in. Kaoru noticed that Enishi and the tiger moved almost the same. With a confident, yet determined grace. Even so, it was impossible to disguise how deadly either was. She shivered again. Enishi spoke without turning around.

“The only entrance is through my room. Feel free to practice here anytime. I may join you if I’m not busy.” He looked over one shoulder at her “I trust you do not mind” he smiled. She was entranced. It was the first time she had ever seen him sincerely smile, no malicious or mischievous intent behind it. She nodded. Enishi strode across the room and right past her, easily sprinting up the steep ladder in two steps and disappearing into the room above. Kaoru stared after him until she heard the trapdoor fall to a close.

A small boy hid in the shadows of the ship that night. The bulk he usually carried around would have been too obvious in the dim shadows of the rocking ship. He glowered at the doorway he was heading to, there was too much light. He didn’t want to be noticed. The boy sunk further into the shadows as he waited. There would be an opportunity soon enough.

No sooner had the boy thought that than the door opened. A tall figure stood looking strait at him, although the boy knew he couldn’t be seen. The tall man in the doorway pushed up his glassed and turned around, leaving the door open. The boy grinned, the door cast enough shadow for him to get by. Enishi was really thoughtful sometimes.

Enishi heard the door close behind him. The boy was really very good at what he did. Enishi frowned briefly as he remembered their meeting two years ago. The circumstances had been unusual, and he didn’t like to think about it. He wiped the frown from his face and turned around to face the boy. He almost felt as if he was looking into the past. The boy looked very similar to him as a child, except the paleness of his hair and eyes was natural. He regarded the boy silently.

Kaoru peaked through the keyhole of the door. She hadn’t expected to actually have a clear picture of Enishi’s room through it. She chuckled, now she was the voyeur. Enishi opened the door to the deck of the ship. Her heart sunk, was he going out? She had wanted to watch him for a while to….to what? She wondered briefly. Her thoughts were interrupted when Enishi entered the room again. Maybe he had just wanted fresh air. Her eyes widened. Someone else had entered the room, she wouldn’t have seen the boy if he hadn’t stepped out into the light after closing the door behind him.

He reminded her of Yahiko in a way. The boy may have been shorter than Yahiko though, and his eyes were older than his years for sure. Yahiko had often had that look but only when he thought no one was looking, but this boy, his eyes seemed to fall forever inside of him like a window to an empty soul.

His hair was even whiter than Enishi’s and shined with an almost ivory or metallic sheen, Kaoru knew that only foreigners had hair like that, and she wondered where Enishi had met or found the boy. His hair was feathered, and seemed to rebelliously fall down around his face, though it also seemed as if he had tried to manipulate it to imitate Enishi’s. They started talking, and although Kaoru couldn’t make out what they were saying, she realized, for the first time, how hypnotic Enishi’s voice could sound. She shivered, as it seemed to flow over her like a warm summer breeze.

Her fascination was abruptly pushed to the side as the boy spoke. His voice had changed from the unintelligible murmur to a tone that burned like ice. It had not increased in volume but she heard every word as clearly as if she had said them herself.

“…because he is already dead, he just doesn’t know it yet” the boy turned around and left the room with a wild look in his eye. Kaoru gasped suddenly as she remembered to breath. She hadn’t understood what the words were about, but that voice would forever be burned on her soul. How could someone so young, hate so much? Enishi had scared her at one time, but she would take being stuck in a room with Enishi and one of his fits, than being within a mile of that boy when he had the look he had when he left.

Kaoru fell forward suddenly as the door was jerked open. She looked up to find Enishi towering over her, door held in one hand. She smiled nervously.

“Uhmmm, Hi?”