13Author's Notes:
Non-canon, but setting and time period still the same as original manga. Third person omniscient. A very liberal retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I know this idea has already been used, but I wasn't aware until after I wrote this. However, this story deviates from the traditional Beauty and Beast adapted by Le Prince de Beaumont, who is not the original author. The original author is Barbot de Villeneuve, and her version is the one I am to follow more.
Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or Beauty and the Beast.
Artwork Battousai by prismadragonfly on deviantart.
This creature here was more than man, more than animal. An entirely different being.
Unnatural, corrupt.
The woodland creatures perceived this and hence avoided him, darting in terror as he imposed on their territory, their primordial instincts firing warning shots along their diminutive nerves and receptors. Even the cunning wolf was wise enough to stay clear from the intruder, its role as the woods' most feared predator surrendered to the furless mammal of bipedal locomotion.
In his current form, however, the rurouni , the harmless wanderer of the sad smile, wouldn't hurt a fly. Well, maybe a mosquito. He smacked one as it landed on his arm before it could bury its nasty, sharp labium into his artery. The slightest pang of remorse was felt for the infinitesimal insect he had just slain. It was only trying to survive, to play its role in the circle of life, existing for a purpose bigger than itself. That tiny insect had a role, a purpose in life, more than he could say about his own wretched existence.
Nothing but a breathing curse.
As soon as he'd reached the boundary of the Edo prefecture, he sensed it. A dark surge of magic, parting around him like a river parts a rock. As one that was cursed, he'd learned to recognize it, and the magic recognize him, and it acknowledged that this creature could not be disturbed by magic other than by the one who placed the spell on him.
Solemnity hung like a dark cloud, sucking the resident's vigor as easily as such cloud sucked perspiration to form rain. Only a few street vendors were in position, their vociferous biddings sealed behind their downturned lips, enthusiasm as absent as the sun's rays. They were there to do their job, and that didn't include yelling out bargain prices on fresh, quality produce and hey, there sir, how about a bundle of pretty flowers for you pretty lady there? Only a few coins to show how much you love her.
No children kicking up clouds of dirt as they skipped, their mothers calling out behind them. Only adults out in the street, mostly men. Their unfixed gazes were on the floor or at a remote level, at no risk of meeting another's eyes. Shoulders stooped like old men. Even in their stupor a few didn't fail to cast semi-curious glances at the rurouni and his sword. He was a lot to take in, he knew. Not many people with flaming red hair and an X carved into their face, or even a sword. This was the Meiji era. Swords weren't allowed unless utilized by authorized police officers, who were known to at time abuse their privileged rank to create more injustice, more corruption, and ignore the pleas of those they had sworn on oath to protect.
In his many years of travel, he had seen similar scenarios. A small village, terrorized by bandits and bullies and all sorts of disreputable characters who'd decided to entertain and enrich themselves at the expense of the weak. Sometimes they fought back, sometimes they didn't. Mostly they didn't. They'd retreat, cooped up in their rundown homes, too afraid to venture further than their front step, too downtrodden to find even the most remote trace of comfort in a child's shy smile. Even in this day and age, there was suffering, and always would be so long as men roamed the earth. It was all a matter of how much suffering, how it manifested and how it was imposed.
This, however, was something entirely new to him. He'd seen individual spells, and even spells cast onto a family or group of people, but never to this scale. Of course, he had yet to explore more, to witness just how far this power swept over the city. From what he could detect, it seemed to stretch beyond that of what he could see.
A spark of energy hit him, moving closer. He looked at the direction from where it came, and had to keep himself from stopping mid-track. A girl, a young woman rather, dressed in a weathered hakama and gi, a bokken resting on a thin shoulder. She was strolling down the road, her features set in a look of discontent as she observed the local denizens. On her other hand she carried an empty bucket for tofu, handling it rather indelicately as she absently tapped it against her hip. He could tell she was of humble background, yet that did not work to lessen her remarkable beauty. She was the kind of girl who didn't try to look pretty and couldn't afford to, who chose practicality over aesthetics, and was comfortable in her own shoes, which made her all the more beautiful.
She moved with a swordsman's ease and vigilance, a wondrous swordsman's spirit packed within framework of strong and sinuous lines.
He kept his head slightly bowed, the red fringe of his bangs providing a curtain between him and the outside world. Just a destitute wanderer passing by, a fallen warrior with an attachment and refusal to let go of his sword. Pathetic, some may say, a samurai still caught up in the past merits our pity. But Battousai had not been samurai, only assassin.
Manslayer.
The spark drew nearer, and nearer. It was approaching, and not in the general direction.
He looked up and found that the girl was a drawn sword's length away, her bokken balanced by both hands, not quite in a fighting stance but at the ready in case she did need to use it. Against him. Her expression was even less welcoming.
"Strangers are not uncommon in this city. However…" This time, she crouched into an offensive stance, directing the weapon at him, "strangers carrying a sword and not robbed of their vitality once they enter this place, is. This is grounds enough for me to be suspicious, as well as view you as a threat."
"Oro?" His eyeballs rounded at the cry she let out, and at the fast approaching stretch of wood. She swung at him sideways, aiming for his right shoulder. He jumped back, the wind of the force blowing the flap of his gi open, and stumbled back, falling purposely on his bottom onto a crate full of solemn-looking apples at a nearby stand. He let out a discombobulated groan, splayed out on the broken crate like an abandoned
The girl stared at him disbelievingly.
"What in the… What're you doing? I thought you'd be much stronger. Or are you faking?"
"Now, now, miss. It's not wise to make brash assumptions about someone you don't know, that it isn't," said the redheaded wanderer, getting up with feigned difficulty and patting his buttocks, which were actually sore.
She frowned. "But your sword…"
"My apples…" The vendor intervened, an aged man with deep furrows and liver spots like islands on his visage. He sounded too tired to be angry. "Someone needs to pay for this…"
"My apologies, sir," said Kenshin, regretful that's he caused distress on this old man. He had expected a sharp reprimand, even perhaps a stream of curses, but the spell was evidently stronger than he'd read. "But I have no money to replace the damages, that I don't. But I will gladly salvage as many apples as I can and build you a new crate if that's any form of compensation."
"And I'll help," the girl offered, sounding contrite towards the old man.
"Yes," the vendor nodded wearily, his wrinkled form a sad picture of surrender, surrender to this stranger, to life. "That'll do. That'll do."
Kenshin crouched to gather the apples, the girl joining him silently. They placed them onto an empty wicker barrel, rubbing them off with their sleeves before dispensing them into the woven container. They did this silently, without the merest exchange of glance. When they were finished, the rurouni purchased some of the apples he had spilled, as did the young woman, who gave him an implicit look to follow her. He walked beside her, waiting for her to speak.
"Let me make this clear," the girl said, "I can't prove you aren't who you say you are, but I don't exactly buy the whole harmless wanderer act either. There is more to you than you let on."
"I won't deny that you are right about that, however," Kenshin said, abandoning his amiable tone , "if your suspicion of me, as you said, is based on the fact that I carry a sword and am not drained of my energy as many of the townsfolk here apparently are, then the same could be said about you. You don't carry a sword, but you do a bokken, and you appear to be in full touch of your faculties.
The girl paused, jabbing a finger at Kenshin, and said, "Now listen here, I've been living in this city since I was just a speck in my mother's belly, and as assistant master of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu, I will continue my father's legacy by fighting for the defenseless and disempowered. So when an odd-looking stranger carrying a sword passes by unaffected by this oppressive force of sorts, my reaction is to call him out on it."
"You're bravery is admirable, but I'm sure your father wouldn't want to pass on his legacy at the expense of his daughter's life, that he would not. For all you know, I indeed can be an evildoer, and would not hesitate to kill you on spot."
"There you go speaking all in rhetoric again. No, you're too smart to be regular goon. " She then pulled down the sleeve of her gi, exposing her bicep and, much to his discomfiture, her breast binds. "See this? I got this from battling one of the goons of the city who thought he could lay a hand on me. As much as a brute that he is, he is not slow and lethargic like the others, and neither are some of his buddies. Only the most tyrant and disreputable of men have been spared of whatever it is that's befallen the people. So it's not completely out of line that I be suspicious of an unaffected stranger."
"No, I suppose it isn't."
"Like I said, I don't think you're totally harmless, even though you are kinda wimpy looking, but you don't come off as the evil type either. I don't know what to make of you, which is why you and I are going to have a little match."
"Oro?" Kenshin could feel his eyes round out like saucers. The girl, who remained nameless, was so sure of herself that Kenshin didn't know whether to admire her brashness or find her foolish. "But, miss… Ah, what is your name, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Kamiya Kaoru of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu school. What is your name?"
"Kaoru-dono, nice to meet you," Kenshin offered an awkwardly amiable smile and bowed as politely as he could while he tried to keep with her resolute steps, "My name is Himura Kenshin."
"What style?"
"Well, that is somewhat of a secret you see, for I-"
She came to a halt, whirling towards him, arms akimbo. "How rude! I give you my style and you won't give me yours? Rude and sketchy."
"My apologies, but I really can't give it, not because I've malicious intentions, but simply for avoiding as many confrontations as I can."
"Hmm… Well, okay. It hardly makes a difference, anyway. You and I are going to settle this outside the city." She resumed her trek. He exasperatedly followed.
"You know, this really is not necessary. I will be out of your way if you wish me to, I promise."
She paused again, considering. After a short moment, she asked, "Do you promise to leave?"
"I promise to stay out of your way."
"No. You should go. I don't know who you are, but I doubt your presence here will be of any benefit to us. If anything, it may worsen it. Or at least, things will be bad for you, and so far I've been gathering that you not really the evil-type at all. You're just… different. So, please, leave."
"But, Kaoru-dono," her eyebrow quirked at the title, "You are just saying that you don't find me as the evil-type, so how can you be so sure that I am not someone who wants to help."
"How could you possibly help? You are just one man and this thing that has a hold of a city, it is not a man, it is a thing."
"You believe you can help, can't you?"
"Against this force, no I don't believe I can rid this city of the malice alone. But I can help the way I can in small doses, and perhaps, if I figure out the source of it all, I may find a way to stop it."
"But Kaoru-dono, you are just one woman, what can you do?"
He was reiterating what she had just told him in a lightly mocking sort of way, though not disdainfully. He was as was characteristic, being resourceful. Kaoru did not appreciate the comment, but she could see how unjust the words sounded when directed at her.
"I see your point, but I still feel obliged to this city. I am from here, and you are not, so what reason would you have to stay in this dejected, oppressed city when you can go along and be peaceful?" She was genuinely wondering his motives, not because she was still suspicious of him, he thought, but because she was struggling to fathom a reason why a stranger would want to help out of goodwill alone.
"Like you, I too fight for the defenseless and disempowered. As long as I witness suffering first-hand, I will never turn my back on it, and especially not on an entire area."
"But when I came at you, you couldn't even defend yourself. How am I supposed to rely on a man who can't even defend himself?"
"Ah, yes, that. I faked it."
"What? You mean to tell me you faked your falling?"
"Well, somewhat, yes, but" he brought his hand up in defense, as if already sensing another attack by the wayward girl who was pointing her finger at him accusingly, "I did that so I wouldn't have to fight you. You see, I prefer avoiding needless fights as much as I possibly can and participate in them only if there are lives at stake."
"Hmmm... I don't like that you lied to me Himura-san."
"Please, just Kenshin, and it was necessary to avoid a fight with you."
"That poor old man's apples… Ruined! Because you wanted to feign innocence."
"I am quite sorry about that. I didn't mean to cause the good man distress."
"You darn right should be! Well, at least you helped clean up."
"Hai," he said, giving her a smile that looked so sincere she couldn't stay mad at him, which only unsettled her more.
"So I suppose I can't talk you out of leaving, or fight force you into a fight. Well, maybe I can, but truth is I don't really feel like fighting you. I mean, I'm usually up to fighting someone but that's only when they provoke me."
"You see? No need to spend energy in needless violence."
"But I still don't totally trust you."
"No need, I will be out of your way, Kaoru-dono. "
"I will be keeping my eye on you, though."
"If you wish." He offered another smile, this one amiable, yet like all his other smiles, she noticed, tinged with a bit of sadness. She was trying to figure the right words to part with this enigmatic man when she noticed he no longer was smiling and had tensed up, looking over her shoulder with narrowed eyes that did not really seem to match his character and yet at the same time hit fill well.
She turned to see what or who it was that had caused this radical change of mood in him and felt both fear and anger rise when she she spotted the subject in scrutiny.
A huling, thickset man was approaching them, a stupid grin plastered on his face. It was not a grin of humor, rather of disdain and cynicism, a grin she knew all too well.
"Ah, there you are my little dove." His voice was gravelly and thick; exactly what'd you expect a villain of colossal size would sound like, like one of those ruthless gladiators void of any nobility. As usual, she was revolted at how he looked at her as if she were a fine possession. His slimy eyes turned to Kenshin, the desire draining from them but maintaining their contemptuous sheen. "Who's this your with? She's rather pretty." He laughed loudly at his lame joke, trying to humiliate the smaller but indeed prettier man. Because he was pretty, but not in a bad way. Almost, she admitted, in a beautiful way, like a prince was beautiful.
Himura didn't seem at all ruffled by the comment regarding his sex, just went on staring coldly at the bigger man, without absolutely no fear in his poise or expression. While she admired his courage, she worried over what the big oaf would do to him if he continued glaring at him like that, and even if he did stop glaring, he probably would still do something.
"He's just a wanderer. He was just asking me a question is all."
Gohei didn't glance back at her. He and Kenshin were having a stare-down.
"Just a wanderer, you say? Don't look like just a wanderer to me with that rusty-looking sword there. Let's have a looksy, shall we?"
His hand never reached the hilt. There was a whapping sound, and then Gohei was clutching his wrist as if it'd been hit by steel. Kenshin had smacked the putrid hand out of the way before it could leave any imprint on the worn lacquer, but now stood as collected as if he'd never made a move.
Kaoru stared in amazement, but not for long because then she was now looking at an enraged Gohei with nostrils flared so wide they could've snorted up rocks.
"You-you bastard! You're going to be sorry you did that."
Kenshin, saying nothing, crouched in defense as OJAS raised his swords him. He had his back facing Kaoru and as he swung his sword down, Kaoru took the opportunity to swing the bokken down hard on his head. It connected with a loud, thwack.
For a moment, all was silent, except the birds, flying and singing their mating calls from a space too high for the spell to reach. He had gone stiff, and though she couldn't see it, his eyes had gone blank, too, and not a dead blank, but a space-out blank, and he tumbled down like a cut down tree onto the ground, a cloud of dust in his wake.
It was later that she realized that, after having stared dazed at the fallen giant, Himura had also planted the butt of his hilt onto his chest, knocking all the wind out of him.
Kenshin didn't look so much dumbfounded by the condition of the man but by the action of the female, who might have been able to knock him out all by herself without needing him.
"Are you okay?" The handsome wanderer asked her, concern plain on his features.
"I think so. I mean, yes, yes I am. Just a little shaken up."
"He's not dead."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Watch closely."
She reluctantly drew closer to observe. Gohei was sprawled chest down, with his neck craned sideways. His eyelids were twitching, partially showing some whites. Indeed, the giant was still alive, knocked out hard but still breathing, and would probably remain like that for at least several hours, maybe a few days. Had he not the robust physique that he did, he would've likely have been dead.
Despite what a despicable person he was, she didn't want a death in her conscience, especially when she practiced the sword of giving life. She wasn't necessarily relieved he was alive, either, because once he regained consciousness he surely would make hell for her thrice more difficult as he had already been.
Several bystanders looked over at the unconscious figure with as much concern for the victim as they would for a misplaced item, going about their business as normal or staring at them as if there was nothing else better to do other than stare at the quizzical scenario. The insipid, bespelled civilians weren't what Kaoru was worried about. Sooner or later, the others would come, the ones who were not affected by the oppressive force and who were almost always people of ill-nature.
"This isn't good," she said, looking around to see if any of those said people of ill-nature were nearby. "We better go." Without thinking about it, she grabbed Himura Kenshin's wrist and started to run, hauling Kenshin with her.
Kenshin merely said, "oro," and went along to keep himself from being completely dragged by Kaoru-dono. She was a strong one, that she was, he could tell by her firm grip and how she had knocked out that big guy back there. After a bit she released him and trusted him to follow her, which he did, though he had no idea where they were going.
They ran for about fifteen minutes before she made a sharp left and cut across an alley out into a clearing that led up to a bridge. Still running, they crossed that bridge and passed the entrance into the other half of the city.
She panted a little, though not as heavily or long as someone out of physical shape would. Kenshin, on the other hand, had so much as one bead of sweat.
"We should be out of danger for the meantime," she said, clutching her bokken with both her hands. The wicker bucket for tofu was gone, but she had yet to notice. "But I don't doubt he's gonna come back looking for us once he wakes up. Maybe even before if his goons get wind of what happened."
"If he has any trace of sensibility, he will leave you alone."
"Doubtful. He is as sensible as a pile of sticks. He'll be back, like always."
"Has he been harassing you long?"
At this, the girl's featured waned, and Kenshin felt a pang in his gut.
"Ever since my father died, which was about eight months ago, also around the time this strange… influence befell the city."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
Kaoru had heard similar words such as the ones he just spoke uttered many times, but few as sincere sounding as his, especially not from a stranger. It was not only in his voice, but in his eyes, his deep, lavender, enigmatic eyes. She starred at them so intensely that she didn't notice he was gazing right back until he broke out into a shy smile and spoke.
"Well, I suppose I should get moving," his smile broadened at how she slightly jolted when he broke the silence, "Is there a cheap restaurant you recommend? I am rather famished."
Kaoru blinked. Mentally kicking herself for acting so ditzy. She was not one to be caught up in girly fantasies and pretty boys. If that was the case, shy was she so nervous to look him straight in the eye again and ask him to stay for dinner?
"Well," she started, unable to keep herself from fidgeting with her fingers, "I think that you should… I think that you should stay for dinner. You know, as show of my appreciation for your help today."
"I…" Kenshin looked towards the sky. The sun was shaded by a thin veil of clouds, vapid but still mercifully high. He was glad it was summer. "That would be nice, but I cannot stay long."
"So is that a yes or no?"
Kenshin stared at her, puzzled. No more than thirty minutes ago had she attacked him under suspicion of being some sort of villainous character and now she was invited him into her home for dinner. She was a rambunctious, brash young woman, and probably found her way into trouble easily.
"What time is dinner?"
"Well, as soon as I cook the rice. I don't have anything else to offer, I'm afraid. I forgot the tofu." Her expression went frustrated when she realized that not only did she not have the tofu, but the wicker tub as well.
"Rice will do just fine. Thank you, Kaoru-dono."
"Alright, then follow me home. It's not too far off. We can walk this time."
So he followed her, unable to determine whether the restless feeling in his chest was apprehension or excitement. He glanced back at the sun, his veins tingling with awareness of its rays.
In about four hours, the sun would set, and the harmless rurouni would be gone along with the last remnants of the sun.
Thanks for reading! Please review! I really appreciate any comment, even if it's a critique
