[RK] Faerie Chronicles, Sleeping chapter 5

The Faerie Chronicles of Kenshin & Kaoru: The Sleeping Prince, a Rurouni Kenshin fanfic by Raberba girl

Chapter 5 - In which Kenshin and Kaoru are welcomed to the Seelie court.

"Four and twenty ladies fair

Were playing at the ball,

And out then came the fair Janet,

The flower among them all."

Tam Lin

o.o.o

"It's beautiful!" Kaoru exclaimed when they entered the Seelie court.

"It is," Kenshin echoed in surprise.  The glamour wasn't usually this thick...it was making him itchy.

Kaoru let go of his hand so she could get a closer look at the huge tapestry on the wall depicting Kenshin as a muscled, death-glaring warrior in the process of hacking the head off a truly hideous creature.  "Who did this?" she asked, with rather mixed feelings.

Kenshin came up next to her, studied the tapestry thoughtfully, then laid his hand on it.  At once, something soft and glittery came raining down on them; Kaoru coughed, wiped it off her face and hair, then glanced up again to see that the tapestry was now an old, ratty one bearing the faded image of Don Quixote.

"Ken-chaaaaan!" the handmaids whined, swarming around him again.  "All our hard work for nothing!"

"Such an enchantment would have taken less than five minutes to weave, that it would," he said placidly.

"Kenshin," his grandmother said in exasperation, "must you dissolve every glamour you touch?  It's a bad habit of yours, especially when you're in my court."

"Apologies, Grandmother," he said cheerfully, taking Kaoru's hand again.  She grinned over at him and squeezed his fingers.

"So, love," Titania said as she settled herself comfortably on her throne.  The handmaids came to drape themselves over her or lean against her chair or lazily coil locks of her hair around their fingers.  "What brings you here this time?"

"It is...Kaoru-dono," he admitted.  Kaoru glanced at him in surprise.  "This one meant to set out directly to lift the spell on Kenji, but...."  But there were farewells to say first.  "But having Kaoru-dono along was...unexpected.  She will need somewhere to stay, and she must return home safely...if we happen to get separated."

The fae were giggling for some reason, and Titania was surveying her grandson with an unreadable look.  "I see."

"Wait a minute, Kenshin," Kaoru whispered to him.  "You mean you're not taking me along?  You're leaving me here?"

"Well," he said carefully.  "This one's plans...did not involve you, Kaoru-dono.  Your presence is appreciated...."  He suddenly shook his head.  "It is a comfort, more than you know.  But please trust this one when he says it will be much better for you to remain in safety until Kenji is freed."

Kaoru's eyes narrowed.  "Kenshin, I don't like this.  Why can't I come?  I don't even know what your plan is!  Why can't you at least tell me that much?"

He scratched the back of his head uncomfortably.  "Erm...it's not really difficult...this one simply has to fulfill an...obligation, and Kenji will awaken."

Before Kaoru could ask the obvious, she was interrupted when Titania clapped her hands briskly.  "Enough business talk.  My grandson has come to visit, and we have made preparations to welcome him.  Please enjoy yourself, Kenshin."

The fae burst into cheers, mostly since they now had permission to get drunk.  The surfaces of the long tables around the room suddenly rippled with magic, revealing a sumptuous feast that outshone even special occasions at Himura Castle.  Whole roasts curled up on huge platters, garnished with exotic salads and strange, beautiful-looking fruits; baked goods of every kind sent their savory odors wafting into the air, breads and pastries and crackers alongside cheeses that ran the range of color.  The list went on - everywhere Kaoru looked, her eyes fell on something that made her mouth water.

"Kenshin!" she squeaked excitedly.  "Kenshin!  Beef hot-pot!"  She tried to tug him over to it, but he resisted.  "Kenshin, come on!"

"Kaoru-dono," he said gravely, "this food is not for you."  The next second, he was moaning on the floor.  "Ororo...."

"She hit Ken-chan!" the handmaids shrieked, and ran to cradle him in their arms and tenderly lament over his injury.

"What a violent woman," Titania sniffed, and took a bite of meat, clearly relishing it.  "You've always had bad taste, Kenshin."

Kaoru, standing over the downed warrior with blazing eyes, demanded of him, "What is your problem?!  Acting all high and mighty just 'cause I'm human!"

"Oro, Kaoru-dono, that's not it," he laughed weakly, sitting up.  "Surely you know about fey food?"

Kaoru suddenly deflated.  "Oh."  She cast a longing glance at the tables, which were now messy from the enthusiasm of the diners, though quite a lot of delicious-looking food still remained.  "Are you serious?  I can't eat any of it?"

It took him a couple of tries to get up, since at least two handmaids were attempting to pull him into their laps.  "Unfortunately not, Kaoru-dono.  Unless you wouldn't mind staying here forever."

Kaoru shuddered and stepped closer to him.  "No...no, that's all right."  Still, she could not keep her eyes off the food.  It seemed to be calling her, begging her to come eat, promising to be the best meal of her life.  Kenshin, noticing the look on her face, found a place to sit and firmly planted her in his lap, facing away from the tables.

"It's not even real, anyway," he said soothingly.  "Most of it is dust, or rotted, or...well, let's not get into that."

"Can you eat it?" she asked, twisting to stare longingly over his shoulder.

"Only a little.  Too much and this one would be affected just like any other human."  His fingers were idly caressing her throat, her lips; his other hand crept down to her leg, so that suddenly she forgot entirely about food.

"Are we spending the night here?" she asked in a whisper.

"Mm...yes..." he murmured, laying a soft kiss on the side of her neck.  Then another, a little lower.

"Ken-chan!"

Kaoru tumbled out of his lap in surprise.

"Oro...what is it?"  He seemed to be draped in handmaids again.

"You're ignoring us!" they whined.

"You're so meeeaan!"

They tried to kiss his neck and hands, but he stood and managed to gracefully detach himself.  "How rude of this one, to keep to himself during a feast laid in his honor."  He smiled and reached to help Kaoru up.  "Come, let's mingle."

Time seemed to be odd in this place.  Kaoru could have sworn they had only been walking around talking to people for only a few minutes, but the next time she glanced out the windows, twilight had fallen.  "Kenshin!" she exclaimed, whirling back to him and having to shout over the noise, "It's nighttime!"

"Yes," he answered, giving her a strange look as he sipped at one of the drinks people kept pushing into their hands.

"Guess time really does fly when you're having fun," Kaoru muttered distractedly, looking out at the center of the room where beautiful lithe figures were weaving enthusiastic patterns to the music.  "Kenshin!  Let's go dance!"

"Again?" he exclaimed.

"What do you mean 'again'?  We haven't yet!"

He pulled her close and studied her, and she grinned and took the opportunity to kiss him.  He yelped at the sudden action, and she giggled.  "Oh, yeah, I guess we did...."  Memories were oozing sluggishly back to her now, memories of whirling with Kenshin among the dancers; now that she thought about it, she was a little out of breath.  "We've been here for a week, haven't we!" she suddenly gasped.  It seemed like she remembered seeing the moon outside the windows, but now that she looked, it was not yet deep night.

"No," he said in confusion.  "At least, this one hopes not...."

Kaoru put down the goblet she had not remembered picking up and seized his hands, dragging him back into the dancing.  She felt giddy and excited, her head light, a strange uneasy nagging at the back of her mind that she was having too much fun to listen to.  She forgot about it again as she and Kenshin stepped and twirled in each other's arms; she noticed suddenly that a laughing ring had formed around them, and she stumbled.  A chorus of jeering cheers went up at her clumsiness, but Kenshin bent her back and kissed her theatrically, which earned them a round of applause.

"They're watching," Kaoru giggled, her face red.

"Someone else's turn," Kenshin called out to the crowd.  "Rerugo, see what you can do with Mitsuko-dono, eh?"  There was a burst of laughter, and a grinning sprite seized one of the handmaids and pulled her into the center of the dancing ring.

Kaoru was glad of Kenshin's steady arm as he led her to the side, and they rested for a while, sipping at new drinks as they watched the renewed dancing.  Then Kaoru suddenly froze.  "Kenshin!" she cried out in horror, "I'm drinking--!"

"It's only milk," he assured her.

She looked down in confusion at her cup, which was filled with cloudy white liquid.  For some reason, she thought she had been drinking fairy wine.  "This one made them bring real food and drink for you," he assured her.

She frowned.  "When?"

He frowned as well and looked out the window, which showed the sky as the same color - except the constellations were wrong, as if the night had rushed from twilight to dawn without remembering midnight in between.  "It can't be morning already!" he gasped.  He moved hurriedly to the window and placed his hand against it.  Something like soot fell quietly from the glass, and the sky outside instantly turned black, as if time had suddenly jumped backward.  He let out a long breath.  "So much illusion," he murmured.  "It has only been the one night, hasn't it?"

"Ken-kun!"  Seelie men, lithe and strong, with bright fair hair and faces as beautiful as those of the women, suddenly surrounded them, laughing.  "Don't be so preoccupied, you're at a party!"  They dragged him away, and even before Kaoru could protest, she found herself the center of attention in a group of chattering fey women.

"She could be adorable," one of them was giggling, taking up a lock of her hair.  "Glamour her up a bit and Ken-chan would be falling over himself trying to get to her...."

"He does that, anyway," another pointed out, and they burst into high-pitched, somehow unpleasant peals of laughter.

"Excuse me," Kaoru said urgently, trying to pull away, but they protested so prettily that she forgot about her uneasiness among them.  They plied her with more drinks which she barely sipped, and began regaling her with stories and gossip that sounded more like fairy tales than like things that could have actually happened.  'Though I suppose,' Kaoru thought wryly, 'that here in Faerie, such stories are one and the same.'

Eventually, it got to be too much for her.  Kaoru pushed her way out of the group of women and paused to let out a deep breath.  Shaking her head, she looked around for her husband and was startled by a burst of heavy masculine laughter.  Kenshin was with the group of Seelie soldiers across the room, who seemed to be eagerly engaged in boasting and telling stories as they brandished various mythril weapons.

"...But I bet Ken-kun could have taken care of it in two blows, eh?"

"One," Kenshin laughed, then added sheepishly, "maybe."  There was a roar of laughter at this clumsy attempt at modesty, and Kaoru noticed that Kenshin had yet another drink in his hand, which he had not been treating as cautiously as Kaoru had hers.

"Well," one of the men said slyly, "that's only to be expected of our Battousai, after all.  I bet he could take on the whole lot of us single-handed."

"No need to prove it," Kenshin mumbled, gulping more of his drink in embarrassment.

"No, really!  Let's have a little fun!  Show us some cool moves, Kenshin!"

Kenshin suddenly looked at the cup in his hand as if seeing it for the first time.  "No," he said slowly.  "No, this one...is getting a bit tired now, that he is."

There was a jeering howl of protest.  "Don't run off now, Ken-kun!"

"Good night," Kenshin said firmly, setting down the cup on a nearby table.

"No!" they shouted excitedly as he turned away.  "Get him!"  It took a minute of nervous giggling for any of them to actually attempt an attack, but, cheered on by the other fae whose attention had been caught by the exchange, one soldier charged forward with a shout.  Grinning a little, Kenshin spun to meet him; mythril clashed on mythril and they leaped back again.  After a moment of wary circling, the man burst into another charge.  Kenshin swiped his blade straight through the man's chest even as he avoided the coming blow.

"You're dead," he pointed out.  As the man subsided with a cry of good-natured frustration, the other soldiers descended on Kenshin in a shouting mass.

Kaoru gasped and took an unthinking step forward, but then one of the handmaids wrapped her arms around Kaoru and pulled her back.  "Just watch," the girl said breathlessly.  "This'll be a good show!"

"A show?" Kaoru repeated indignantly, but there was nothing she could do - it would be crazy to venture into the midst of those flashing swords.

Kenshin was breathtaking to watch, the way he gracefully eluded them, even when they cheated; the swift artistry of his blows, the incredible dance of his footwork - Kaoru suddenly realized that it was a sort of performance.

"Get them all, Kenshin!" Titania shouted excitedly, on her feet; the hall echoed deafeningly with cheers.  "Cut them to pieces!"

"My, how bloodthirsty," Kenshin laughed.  Someone put another cup into his hand, and he drained it.  "I'm afraid--  This one is afraid that obeying such a request is quite impossible with this sword."

"It's working," someone near Kaoru whispered excitedly.

"What's working?" Kaoru demanded.  Kenshin's lapse in pronouns had alarmed her.

"Didn't you hear him?  He said 'ore'!"

Kenshin was fighting again, eliminating opponents with each stroke.  One of the losers tried to sneak back into battle at one point; Kenshin deftly flipped the sakabatô to deal the man a painful blow with the hilt, then resumed his usual grip without missing a beat.  No one else attempted the same thing again.  "He fights even better when he's drunk!" someone murmured admiringly.  Then, in a shout, "Ken-kun!  Sugoi!"

"Drunk?" Kaoru said in alarm.  Even as she spoke, someone struck such a hard blow that Kenshin was forced back into a table even though he blocked it.  Without looking, he seized a jug and drank straight from it, then slammed it back down so hard that sparkling liquid came slopping out over his hand.

"Who's next?" he demanded of the handful of soldiers who remained, eyes glowing yellow.  They fell back, laughing nervously, until Kenshin seemed to almost disappear with the speed of his attack.  Two of the remaining opponents were struck out instantly; two more only had time to instinctively raise their swords before they were disqualified.

The last found the point of the sakabatô resting gently against his skin.  For a moment, they stared at each other - then Kenshin's eyes flickered slowly back to blue.  He grinned and politely pushed the sakabatô straight through the man's throat.  "I win," he announced cheerfully.  Then he frowned, looking troubled, but his lips had only just started forming the word sessha when he was glomped by a crowd of admiring Seelie fae.  The women flirted mercilessly, the uninvolved men were impressed and teasing; even the beaten soldiers grudgingly acknowledged, "You're the best, Ken-kun."

Kaoru shoved her way to Kenshin's side.  "Kenshin, are you all right?"

He smiled widely when he saw her, sheathed his sword, and wrapped his arms around her.  "Let's go find a room and make passionate love," he breathed hotly in her ear.

She wrinkled her nose - he never talked like that.  "Your breath smells too good," she told him unhappily.  Whatever he had been drinking couldn't be alcohol.

It took some time to extricate themselves from the crowd, and when they did, Kenshin went very quiet.  He leaned heavily on Kaoru as they made their way down the hallways, though he still seemed to be walking fairly straight.

"Kenshin," Kaoru asked again, "are you all right?"  His weight on her began to drag as his steps went slower and slower, until she was forced to a halt.

"Kaoru...dono..." he murmured unevenly, the correct enunciation costing him obvious effort.  "This one does not...feel so good, that he doesn't."

Kaoru's eyes widened, but at that moment, Kenshin's knees finally buckled and they sank to the floor, where he threw up.  Kaoru's gut reaction was to shriek in disgust and push him away, but she was caught short by the sight of the actual substance on her clothes.  It was glittering with the exact color of a rainbow, and smelled pleasantly of fresh fruit.  "Kenshin," she said faintly, "what were you drinking?"

"Fairy wine," he giggled.  "Had too much...."

"Obviously!"  She was not feeling so great herself.  She got his arm back across her shoulders and heaved until they were back on their feet.  "Probably not the best idea to be fighting on a stomach full of that stuff, either," she grumbled.  Noticing an open doorway, she glanced in to find an empty bedroom, which startled her when the walls suddenly began to glow.

"Guest room," Kenshin mumbled.  "Wanna sleep here...."

"They won't mind?" she asked doubtfully, but he only giggled.  She pulled him inside, where she finally let him go and climbed onto the bed.  It was a luxurious one, but she took no notice as she sat with her arms crossed and watched him, frowning.  He dragged himself after her and flopped down contentedly at her side.  She raised her eyebrow skeptically.  "Is this the part where we make passionate love?"

He gave her a confused look.  "Yes?"

She rolled her eyes.  "Well, let's go then," she challenged, though she couldn't have been further out of the mood.

"...Okay," he agreed faintly.  Then he put his head down, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.

Kaoru shook her head.  "Baka...."  She suddenly frowned and leaned over him, gasping when she noticed the blood on his clothes.  He had been injured in the battle - just small cuts here and there, but it suddenly occurred to Kaoru that, while his mythril sword had absolutely no effect on his Seelie opponents, their own weapons had the ability to harm him somewhat, since he was not pure-blooded.  It had only been a game, right?

Kaoru finally sighed, then snuggled close to him and lay awake for a long time.

o.o.o.o.o

Kaoru woke up abruptly to a thumping noise - she shot upright to find Kenshin on his knees in the middle of the floor, holding his head.  The half-sheathed sakabatô lay fallen beside him.  "Kenshin?" she said anxiously, "Are you all right?"

"Please whisper," he mumbled piteously.

Kaoru grinned a little, though she was far from amused.  "Hangover, huh?"

His only response was a groan.  Keeping one hand pressed to his head, he carefully reached out the other for the sword, awkwardly re-sheathing it as had probably been the original intention.  "It's been...too long...this one forgot...how much stronger...such wine is...."

Kaoru climbed out of bed and helped him to his feet, but when she attempted to lead him back to the bed, he resisted her.  "Kenji," he said stubbornly.

"Don't be an idiot," she told him in exasperation.  "You're in no shape at the moment to face Enishi and the Unseelie."

He winced, pressing the hand even harder to his head.  "Please whisper," he pleaded again.

"Not unless you lie down," she bellowed in his ear; he crumpled onto the mattress, moaning.

"This head is splitting...."

Kaoru sat down next to him and massaged his temples, so that soon his hands dropped and he lay silent.  After a long while, he said insistently, as if continuing a conversation, "This one must go after Kenji."

"Yes," she agreed.  "Later today, when you've recovered."

He gently pushed her hands away and, slowly, sat up.  "This one is recovered."

"You look like you got dragged through a flower masher."

He looked down at his rumpled, stained clothes.  "Doesn't matter," he mumbled.

She reached to comb the tangles out of his hair with her fingers.  The red strands were like silk, parting instantly at her touch.  'Stupid fairy hair.  I wish mine would do that.'

He sat there, taking in the feel of her hands, savoring it as he had not done in a long while.  'You're a fool,' he told himself.  'You started taking her for granted.  Fool, fool....'  He suddenly turned and kissed her slowly.  Due to the previous evening, it was not a very pleasant kiss for either of them, but it was almost frighteningly intimate as they absorbed and pondered over each sour taste.  It was not the kiss of fresh young lovers, or excited newlyweds, or blissful matrimony.  Alongside the deep steady love, they tasted fear, and anxiety, and secrets.

Kaoru whispered.  "Kenshin...."

He turned his face away, knowing what she wanted to ask.

She laid her head on his shoulder.  "What is it you're planning?"  Her words seemed to come from within him, pulsing against his flesh, vibrating in his throat.  "Why can't I come?"

He hesitantly brought up an arm to put around her.  Suddenly unsatisfied, he wrapped both arms around her and held her tight.  "There is an enchantment that needs to be broken.  It must be broken.  Please understand, Kaoru-dono."

"You won't tell me.  You don't trust me."  The words were quiet, but he felt how tense her body was.

"Kaoru-dono, you will know.  When the spell has been broken, you will know everything."

She turned her face up to him.  "Do you promise?" she growled.  "You promise to tell me?"

He suddenly smiled, brilliantly, heart-breakingly.  "It is a promise."

She sighed and leaned her head back against him.  He felt her relax again.  "All right.  I trust you, Kenshin."

The baths in this place were luxurious, though disconcerting.  Kaoru was not used to other bathers giggling as they looked at her, or having to watch flawless bodies being flaunted around her.  She crouched low in the water, scrubbing at herself sullenly and vowing never to bathe here again, at least when there were others around.

Kenshin looked much better as well when they met up again.  Now that he was cleaned up, however, he looked very unhappy.  "It was only one night," he said slowly as she took his hands.  "This one is pretty sure...it was only one night."

"Can they alter time here?" Kaoru asked cautiously.

He frowned.  "To make it run backwards, only the king and queen have the power to do; but to draw it out or make it pass swifter than it should?  That is one of their favorite arts.  This one tried to keep an eye on the time passing, but...it became slightly...difficult, near the end."

"No more fairy wine for you."

He kissed her cheek softly.  "Agreed.  Forgive me, Kaoru-dono."

"Are we going after Kenji now?"

"You are not," he reminded her.

"Kenshin," she growled.

He sighed.  "Grandmother has agreed to send you back home with an escort, on the condition we spend one more night here.  Doubtless she will try to seize more time, but it will not be allowed.  Kaoru-dono," he said gravely, "this one will set out when he is sure you are safe."

"I'll be safe with you," she said confidently.

He smiled a little.  "Gratifying as that is to hear, it is not entirely true.  The only interest the fae have in you is because of your connection to this one...which means you will be in danger, from both Seelie and Unseelie, until you are back home again, Kaoru-dono."

"Can't I help, even a little?  I'm not totally useless, am I?"  She had meant to tease, to put a playful whine in her voice, but was surprised at the tears that came to her eyes instead.  "Kenshin...."

He hesitated a moment, looking into her face with a conflicted expression.  Then he said softly, "The price for Kenji's awakening...is not something you can pay, Kaoru-dono."

"I would do anything--!"

"Spells," he said quickly, "often have conditions."  Then he smiled a little and affectionately brushed her bangs away from her face.  "For one thing, your hair is black."

Kaoru blinked.  "What...you're saying...it has to be a redhead who can save Kenji?!"

He shrugged.  "This one did not come up with the conditions."

"But that's so stupid!  Argh!"

He smiled at her comical frustration, and was glad that she forgot to ask about the other requirements.

o.o.o.o.o

The party never seemed to truly end - it trudged on through the day and then picked up its noise and pace as night fell once again.  Kaoru, having taken a nap earlier at Kenshin's suggestion, emerged into the main hall to find the music going at full-tilt, the dancing and games and one-on-one matches as enthusiastic as the night before.  "Is it always like this?" she asked in disbelief.

"Sort of," he answered, looking out over the court with a frown, "though they're not usually this...purposeful about it."

Before she could ask him what the heck that meant, a small crowd of fae came dancing up to them, laughing and urging the couple to join in.  To their disappointment, neither touched any food or drink this time, and to get them to stop whining and pestering, Kenshin finally said, "Ritsuko-dono, Maya-dono, perhaps you might treat us to a performance?"

The handmaids' eyes lit up.  The one called Ritsuko ran to fetch a flute, as Maya found a high stool and positioned it in the middle of the floor, which her companions were clearing.  The diners grumbled as they fell back against the walls, but their protests were faint, and once they had settled down to watch, their eyes grew heavy-lidded with contentment.

Kaoru settled down once more in Kenshin's lap, and as the flute's music wavered out into the silence and Maya's voice rose hauntingly, Kaoru found herself captivated.  The other handmaids wove a silent dance in time to the music, their movements unbelievably graceful.

"I now sing the story of Ariel," Kenshin murmured into her ear, and Kaoru realized he was translating.  "An airy sprite, beloved of the fae, doomed to an Unseelie enchantment broken only by a cruel sorcerer's curse...."

The tale was a long one.  Kaoru thought it sounded vaguely familiar, but from an odd perspective, and she listened dreamily to Kenshin's soft voice, relaxing in the warmth of his arms.  When she awakened, she found herself lying in a dark room, perhaps the same one they had slept in the night before.  The walls were glittering softly in the darkness, and there was a fairy curled up in her shoe.

She was alone.  Kaoru sat up, staring around her.  She climbed out of bed quickly, a little relieved to find that she was wearing the same clothes as before.  She gently lifted the fairy out of her shoe, which barely stirred as she re-positioned it on her pillow.  Then she went in search of her husband.

The halls seemed like they should be a maze, but Kaoru could have sworn that they adjusted themselves as she walked.  Extra doorways disappeared, the entry at the first dead end she turned into opened up straight into the anteroom of the hall where they had feasted.  It was dark as she crept on, her way lighted only by dim balls of light glowing from regular intervals in the walls.  She could hear a murmuring of voices beyond; otherwise, it was eerily quiet.  A wisp of rainbowy, feathery stuff covered the entryway to the hall, which she hesitantly pulled a little aside in order to see.

It was better-lit there, though the light seemed to be concentrated on the dais.  Many of the fae were gone; those that remained were all deeply asleep, some still clutching half-empty cups.  Titania was curled comfortably in her throne, lazily sipping from a goblet as she spoke to her grandson, who was sitting nearby, looking much more grave.

"...but do you think there is any hope of success?" he was asking, or at least that's what Kaoru thought she heard, his voice was so low.

The queen shrugged.  "Perhaps.  Probably not.  He must be telling the truth at least partially, otherwise she would never have gone along with it, the little slut....  Even so, you're too trusting, Kenshin.  I don't know how someone with fae blood, who has been betrayed so many times, can keep such naive trust in the face of everything...yet, somehow, you do."

"Are you answering this one's question?"

She chuckled.  "Not in the way you would like me to."  Then she sighed as she saw his solemn expression.  "Oh, Kenshin, is this to be the last face I see?"

He smiled at that.  "If it does not please you, then no."

"That's hardly better," she sniffed.  "I hate that long-suffering, self-sacrificing smile of yours.  Why can't you be merry, for once in your life?  Surely your human blood isn't that strong, to drown all the gaiety you should have been born loving."

"Gaiety was rather difficult to maintain in the life led under Shishio's command.  Unfortunately, this one fell out of the habit."

Titania set down her goblet.  "Dance with me, Kenshin," she asked softly.  "You haven't for so long...not since you were a child."

He paused.  Then he rose and held out his hand to her, and her delight was almost that of a young girl's rather than an ancient immortal's, when she took his hand and allowed him to lift her to her feet.  Soft music came from nowhere, floating around the room in sweet strains.  Kaoru tried to feel jealous as she watched them, but somehow, she couldn't, not when she saw their faces.

Titania looked rapturous, her eyes closed as she glided and twirled, her hands never leaving his.  She had completely forgotten that she was the queen, the one in ultimate control; as she let him lead her through their steps, her heart was lighter than she could ever remember it being, but she did not even realize it.

Kenshin's smile was gentle and kind...at first.  As he danced with the queen of the fae, something touched his heart that he thought he had long forgotten.  The weariness seemed to drop away from him, a mischievous spark lit in his eyes, and it was with an almost sly chuckle that he lunged into the next step and cast the queen into the air.

Titania's cry of surprise nearly caused the music to falter, but when she saw his expression, she met him grin for grin.  She drifted easily in the air as if it was her natural element, and scattered something like glittering sand over her partner.  He rose up expectantly to take her hands again.

They spun slowly together, touched down gently, only to take off again as the music quickened.  She leaped ahead and perched atop her throne, smiling in seductive challenge; he arched an eyebrow and drifted close, only to have her spin away again.

Now Kaoru was jealous.  A pulsing anger was building up in her as she watched, and she was all set to storm in there and re-arrange Kenshin's face, when the dance suddenly ended.

He had caught her.  She had let him, of course; but when, suddenly shorter than him, she turned up her face for a kiss, he looked away.

"Kenshin," she whispered breathily, "come.  The girl is asleep, she'll never know."  Even as she spoke, her eyes gleamed, and for a moment she looked straight at Kaoru before she smiled and returned her gaze to Kenshin.

He let go of her and stepped away.  "That does not matter," he said, distantly.  "This one's feelings have not changed."

"Stop it!" the queen suddenly shouted.  "Cut it out with the sesshas and donos and de-gozarus!  It's driving me crazy!  When you truly were a slave, you behaved every inch a prince; and now that you're free, you grovel to people, to women, as if they were your masters?"

He shrugged.  "You wouldn't understand," he said, in a careless tone that frightened her.

"Kenshin," she snapped, "don't treat me like this, like you're already--"

"Does it matter?" he returned, flipping his hair back in an unusual gesture.  "This one only returned to the Seelie to say good-bye, that he did."  He grinned again.  "This one would like to thank you, Grandmother.  He had forgotten what it was like to simply have fun.  It is a good memory to end with, that it is."

"Shut up," she said sulkily.  "Your lover's been skulking in the doorway, by the way."

He frowned in puzzlement, then turned to find Kaoru staring at him.  "Kaoru-dono!" he gasped in surprise, and the fey expression in his eyes vanished.

She was not aware of her hands gripping the rainbowy stuff so hard that it began to tear.  "Ke-n-shi-n," she growled.

"Ahaha...."  The laugh was much more nervous than usual as he ran a hand through his hair and smiled.  "Kaoru-dono.  Does the guest suite not suit you?"

"It would suit me...much, MUCH better...if I didn't have to sleep in it alone," she said, very pointedly.

He stared at her, and his face colored a little as he glanced at Titania and then away.  "...Is that so?"

Titania suddenly smiled and pushed him toward Kaoru.  "Go on, Kenshin.  You didn't get to enjoy your wife last night, did you?  Here's your chance, she's been waiting for you."

He turned his head to give her an incredulous look.  "Grandmother...it is making this one nervous that you would be...encouraging such a thing, that it is."

She tossed her head haughtily.  "Believe me, I am over you.  You really are conceited, aren't you?  Just go; Chou should be back soon, anyway, and I can wait for him without you."

"...Very well."  He gave her one last, uncertain look, before letting Kaoru pull him out of the room.

As Titania heard Kaoru's raised voice and Kenshin's feeble responses fading away down a corridor, she blew out an annoyed breath.  "Himura Kenshin, you are maddening."  Then she grinned nastily.  "Go screw that whiny mortal you imagine yourself to be in love with.  If it means you won't go through with this stupid plan of yours...."

To be continued....

Author's Notes:  There are several Japanese pronouns for "I."  "Ore" is what Kenshin uses in Battousai mode, and "sessha" in rurouni mode.

Maya is re-telling Ariel's subplot in Shakespeare's The Tempest.