Well, this is my first fanfic, and probably a good gauge of the kind of things I'll be writing.
Sadly.
I blame this on Misaoshiru (aka Nutmeg, emphasis on Nut), as the idea for this evolved from an AIM conversation we had a couple months ago about Barbie dolls.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Rurouni Kenshin, nor do I own Ken dolls or Barbie dolls or Kenshin dolls, though if there IS a Kenshin doll please point me in the direction of the nearest store that carries them so I can buy one. C:
Chapter 1
Kaoru watched detachedly as her thirteen year old sister, Megumi, hurriedly opened the bag their mother had just given her. Megumi had an obsession with dolls of all sorts - she had had it for as long as Kaoru could remember. Her room's walls were lined with shelves upon shelves packed with dolls, and both her closet and the space under her bed were filled to bursting with them. Every time a doll caught Megumi's fancy, she had instantaneously begged to own it, and her parents had never denied her pleading face.
Kaoru herself had never really liked dolls. She found much more enjoyment in swinging her bokken about in the family dojo and pretending she was fighting the bad guys from her Saturday morning cartoons. Megumi, being the perfect little lady she was, had always wrinkled her nose in disgust when faced with her younger sister's bokken and made some scathing comment about how a sweaty tanuki like her would never be wanted by a guy. In all honesty, Kaoru didn't care what her sister thought.
A sudden squeal of delight snapped Kaoru from her musings as Megumi held the box of her newest acquisition gleefully.
"She's so pretty!" Megumi crooned, hugging the box to herself, giving Kaoru a view of the back. Although Kaoru paid minimal attention to Megumi's obsession, even she knew that "Ken" dolls were supposed to be male.
"Meg-chan, it's a Ken doll."
Megumi's eyes snapped open and narrowed as she quickly turned the box over. Her clever retort died on her lips as Kaoru's observation was proved correct. Trying to salvage some of her dignity, she stuck her nose haughtily in the air.
"Actually, it's a Kenshin doll. But I think I'll call him Ken-san!" she bubbled happily, forgetting her anger in the euphoria that always accompanied a new doll. Rolling her eyes in disgust, Kaoru was about to turn away when she saw the front of the box. The doll inside did look like a girl, with a thin face and long red hair tied in a high ponytail. His baggy 18th century style hakama and gi didn't help matters any. But what instantly told Kaoru that this was indeed a male doll was his eyes. His shockingly amber eyes were narrowed and intense, reminding her of some sort of feral beast. She could have sworn they glinted for a split second before Megumi began opening the box and pulling the Kenshin doll out of it. Suddenly, her nose wrinkled the way it did whenever she caught sight or scent of Kaoru practicing her kata.
"Swords," she said venomously, holding the tiny saya as though it was a slimy worm. Kaoru's breath caught as she stared at the perfect swords, so much prettier than her own wooden one. Impulsively, she spoke.
"If you don't want him, I'll take him."
Shock replaced disgust as Megumi looked at Kaoru's face, but was quickly masked behind a sneer.
"I should have guessed that the tanuki would want a doll with swords. Go ahead; take it. I don't want it any more," she said mockingly, sweeping herself into her room.
Kaoru stared, entranced, at the doll and saya lying on the floor where Megumi had dropped them. Shyly, she took the saya in her fingers and gathered up the doll and packaging before retreating to her own room to find a place for him to live. She never noticed as the doll's eyes glinted dangerously, his painted mouth quirking upwards at the corners.
Kaoru hummed contentedly as she set out the popsicle stick dojo she had made two years ago, when she was nine, and prepared it for Kenshin's use. Carefully, reverently, she took the saya and placed it on a dojo shelf. Satisfied with the arrangement, she placed the doll in front of his saya and turned her attention to the packaging. She read everything on the box thoroughly, paying special attention to the snippet of story about the Hitokiri Battousai that the doll was supposed to look like. She shifted her focus again towards the doll in question, her breath catching as his burning amber eyes bored into her own. Quickly averting her gaze, she stared instead at the saya resting on the shelf she had placed it on. Briskly, she shook herself and began to speak to the doll.
"You're the first doll I've ever owned, you know. You'll probably get lonely if I don't introduce you to some of Megumi's dolls. But maybe you like to be lonely," she mused, tilting her head as she once again stared at the red headed doll.
"But that's probably not true. Nobody likes to be lonely. They might like to be alone, but not lonely."
Shrugging slightly, she picked up the doll, leaving his swords behind, and approached Megumi's room. She raised her hand to knock on her older sister's door but let it drop to her side as she stared at the ground. What was she doing? She never played with dolls. She tried her level best to avoid her sister's room at all costs. So why was she now standing here now, a doll clutched in her left hand as she seriously contemplated walking into her sister's room and showing her plastic companion all the other inanimate objects Megumi had collected over the years? Swallowing thickly, she knocked quickly on the door before she could change her mind again. It opened after a brief shuffling to reveal a very annoyed Megumi, a half-dressed doll in one hand and a plastic shoe in the other.
"What do you want, tanuki?" Megumi asked, her eyes narrowed. Kaoru gulped and shakily raised the hand that held the doll.
"I thought he might be lonely since I don't have any other dolls..." she trailed off, suddenly finding her shoes very interesting. Megumi stared at her with wide eyes before her face broke into a devious grin.
"O-ho-ho-ho! The tanuki finally wants to act like a girl! Well, come on in. I'll give him a tour," she smiled, showing just a little more of her teeth than necessary.
Kaoru followed her into the room, gripping the doll tightly as she absorbed the blinding brightness of her sister's room. The walls had been painted bright pink, with a light yellow carpet and gauzy orange curtains that fluttered in the breeze that wafted through her open window. The bed was what brought the colors into harmony with each other, light yellow sheets and a pink and orange-striped comforter tying the color scheme together.
Megumi was most definitely a teenybopper.
Suddenly feeling nauseous, Kaoru fought the urge to rush away from the blinding colors and retreat to the safety of her own room. She would not falter. This was for Kenshin.
Wait.
She was doing this... for a doll?
She blinked owlishly, staring with incredulity at the narrowed amber eyes.
'You'd better be worth it...' she thought, irritated, before following Megumi around the room as she showed off her favorite dolls in each area.
"...And this is Katsura-chan, and this is Iizuka-chan, and this is Okami-chan," Megumi sang happily, reaching a shelf packed with dolls dressed similarly to Kenshin. Kaoru's gaze flitted between the dolls and finally came to rest on a female with long black hair and soulful brown eyes. Curiosity piqued, she pointed to the doll.
"Who is that?" she asked, reaching out her hand to brush the doll's hair out of her eyes. Megumi slapped Kaoru's hand away, narrowed eyes glinting with promise.
"Don't touch her. Tomoe-chan is special," Megumi hissed protectively.
"Tomoe-chan...?" Kaoru inquired, trying to ignore the sting of Megumi's slap on her hand. Megumi's eyes suddenly turned liquid, a dream-like expression flitting across her face.
"Tomoe-chan is engaged to Akira-chan," she purred, lifting up each doll in a hand and holding them close together. "But Akira-chan has to go to war, and Tomoe-chan gets sad. She doesn't smile much," Megumi said, sorrow tingeing her voice as she took the two dolls and placed them on opposite ends of the shelf. Kaoru was suddenly filled with compassion for Tomoe, though where she got feelings for a doll was beyond her.
"Maybe Kenshin can make her smile," she ventured, timidly holding up the scarlet-haired swordsman. Megumi scowled at her.
"Kenshin will have nothing to do with Tomoe-chan. She's far too special for him," she sneered, staring at him disgustedly. Suddenly, Kaoru was filled with indignation on behalf of her doll. Who did Megumi think she was, putting down her new friend so openly and completely?
"I think Kenshin is better for Tomoe-chan than Akira-chan any day!" she huffed, narrowed eyes flashing. Megumi matched her glare with equal fire in her eyes.
"Akira-chan has more charm than a stinky old swordsman ever will!"
"I bet Kenshin would beat Akira-chan in a sword fight!"
"Would not!"
"Would too!"
"Would not!"
"Would too!"
"Would no-" Megumi's reply was cut off as the door to the room suddenly opened, their mother appearing in the doorway.
"Girls, that's enough," she said firmly, striding towards them and laying a hand on each girl's head. The sisters glared at each other venomously, but complied with their mother's wishes.
Kaoru quickly strode out the door, her hand tightening around Kenshin in anger. She needed to cool down somehow. Immediately her thoughts turned to her bokken, and her frown lessened slightly. Kata always helped center her and clear her thoughts. Resolved, she slipped into her practice clothes and darted through the hallways to the dojo, where her bokken was kept. She placed Kenshin against a wall and picked up her wooden sword, at once feeling the tension drain from her body. A sigh shuddered through her as she got into position and began one of her kata.
By the time her kata was finished, she had visibly relaxed, her mind at peace with the world, though she still felt a twinge of indignation when she thought of how Megumi had treated Kenshin. 'He doesn't deserve to be treated so,' she thought to herself as she put her bokken away and picked up the doll gingerly. 'He deserves to be cherished and loved, and I'll be darned if I don't do just that.'
Amber eyes flashed violet for a millisecond before returning to their original hard gold.
Kaoru tossed in her bed, unable to find sleep. Something was in the air, a tension that had never been there before, one that beat against her finely tuned senses and robbed her of rest. Moaning tiredly, she swung her feet to the side of the bed and padded to the kitchen for a glass of water.
What she saw upon returning to her room almost caused her to drop the glass.
Her brand new doll lay on the floor, splattered with red paint. Or was it paint? She set the glass on the floor and bent beside Kenshin, prodding him tentatively. No, it wasn't paint. Paint never smelled tangy and coppery or turned brown as it dried. A sick feeling lodged itself in the pit of her stomach as she scooped up the doll and his crusted swords and whisked them off to the bathroom.
She slowly scrubbed the swords clean, drying them with the hand towel that hung next to the sink before removing her doll's clothes. She blushed slightly, even though he was just a doll. He had somehow come to be much more than that in the short time she'd had him, and so she concentrated fully as she washed his soiled clothes carefully with cold water and hand soap. Once the stains had mostly come out, she placed them on the towel rack to dry and closed her eyes as she washed off the doll's body. She finished him quickly, scrubbing him dry with the hand towel. Her brow furrowed as she pondered what to dress Kenshin in while his normal hakama and gi were drying. Well... it was night after all, so pajamas of some sort might be nice. A yukata, then, she decided, quietly creeping through the halls to Megumi's room. Surely she had extra doll clothes available that Kenshin could borrow, at least until Kaoru could make him something or coerce her mom into doing it for her. She really was helpless at womanly crafts like sewing and cooking. A sigh escaped her lips as she silently opened Megumi's door, padding softly on bare feet to the shelf that had Tomoe and Akira on it. What she saw stopped her cold.
One of the dolls, whose name she didn't know, lay on his chest, his head rolled a ways away and coated with a sticky redness. Suddenly nauseous, she turned and ran from the room, completely forgetting about finding clothes for Kenshin.
'Did he... but no... It's not possible... is it?' her thoughts were scrambled as she retched into the toilet, tears stinging her eyes.
'What happened back there?'
--
Glossary:
Bokken – a wooden sword
Tanuki – Raccoon dog; Kaoru's derogatory nickname
Hakama – basically samurai pants
Gi – the top that goes with the aforementioned samurai pants
Kata – a routine for practicing various forms of martial arts; in this fic, kendo
Saya – a set of two swords; a katana and a shorter wakizashi
Hitokiri Battousai – Kenshin's nickname back in the Bakumatsu, meaning something like "Assassin, master of lethal sword drawing"
Yukata – a lightweight sleeping kimono
AN: Mwahaha! I think I'm going to enjoy writing this story. ;D
I hereby ping uber luff at my beta and friend and the insane evil person who inspired this story, Misaoshiru. You'd be faced with many a strange sentence if she hadn't meticulously gone through and fixed all my strange grammar for me. 3