More Than a Disguise

Chapter 1

From Kaoru's hiding place she couldn't see anything. It took all she had not to leave and find out what was going on. Whatever was happening, it wasn't good. Someone had come to their home in the middle of the night. She would have realized it to late if it weren't for her father who came into her room, pulled her from bed, and shoved them both into her closet.

"Stay here. DO NOT come out until I come get you. I don't know what these men want, but I won't let them have you." With that her father left. Kaoru's mind somehow couldn't get around what was happening. Who were these people and what did they want? It didn't make sense. This was only the home of a simple lord and his daughter. They had no political power or large amounts of money. In fact they were like most other people; the only thing that was different was the title and small amount of land that went with it. In fact, whenever her father and she went into the city, that's exactly how they were treated; like regular folk.

When Kaoru's father did come back, she looked like she was considering leaping out of the closet and purging her home of the idiots who decided to interrupt her sleep. He turned when he saw his daughter in an adrenaline-fueled fury; he had to make sure that she didn't see his smile. He could tell that she was annoyed with the intruders. Any other person would be either scared stiff or foolishly confront the trespassers. Not his daughter. Even now, with her still waking up, she had a cool head. He was more proud of her common sense then he would ever be of her fighting abilities.

"What's going on out there?" Kaoru's question brought him back to the subject at hand.

"I don't like it. They haven't broken anything or even searched for anything valuable to take. They're being too careful. I'm not sure what they want, but I know it isn't good." He took a deep breath and looked Kaoru in the eye. "Confronting them isn't a good idea. We need to get out of here and report this to the military post outside of city. After we tell the commanding officer know what's going on, we can come back and claim our home."

Kaoru nodded in agreement. Her father was right. It wasn't a good idea to meet the enemy head on; especially, since they didn't know what they were getting into. There was only one problem that she had.

"Do you think we can get dressed first? I personally don't want to ride into a military post with only a nightgown on." This time Kaoru's father didn't hide his smile.

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She didn't know what went wrong. One moment she was with her father escaping their home, the next she was alone trying to evade the intruders. They had almost made it to the stable when a group of men saw them and gave chase.

It never occurred to her that what was happening was more than a simple theft; but when she saw the more than 30 men gathered together as if in military formation she knew that what she stumbled into wasn't anything good. Her suspicions were confirmed when she saw who she supposed was the leader. His white hair and dark stare sent chills down her spine. His whole person exuded a dangerous and dark feeling. The only word that had come to Kaoru's mind was evil. Whoever this man was, she knew she didn't want anything to do with him. Unfortunately, it was he who had come to her.

Looking at the same scene that she was, Kaoru wasn't surprised when she felt her father was just as tense as she. It was when his body almost jumped in anger that she had turned her attentions to him. Her father had obviously seen something that enraged him. Looking in the same direction he was, she found the source of his rage. Gohei, the landowner whose land ran next to theirs. He had been trying for years to take hold of their land, but never succeeded. It seemed he had finally found a way to do so.

Kaoru collapsed on the branch of a tree trying to catch her breath. None of that mattered now. Their escape came to a complete stop when a man stumbled across her and her father. His holler of alarm quickly alerted the rest of the men. She remembered vividly the white haired man ordering his men to find and kill them. It would become a memory that would haunt her thoughts and dreams for many years to come. She would never forget the moment that her father told her to run for her life as he stayed back to fight. She knew her father was dead when a small cheer came from the attackers.

So here she was now, alone, orphaned, and homeless. Things weren't looking good. She dropped her head back on the tree, and let the tears silently fall.

Though the tears helped, she knew that she couldn't do cry forever. She shook her head as if to clear her mind. She didn't have time to sit here and mourn all she had lost. Not when there were things she could still save. Her father sacrificed his life for her and she wasn't going to let it be in vain. She didn't know what she was going to do yet, but she knew that she wasn't going to just give up.

Footsteps nearby brought her focus to the ground beneath her. It was two of the men that had come after her. She silently thanked her tomboy childhood where tree climbing was an everyday activity. It may have driven her caretakers crazy, but it sure did come in handy.

"I wish we could just find her and get rid of her. If Yukishiro finds out that she got away, he'll have our heads for sure."

"We'll find her. How far could she get?"

So they were still after her. This was going to make things a lot more interesting. She watched them as they walked away. When she thought that they were far enough, she climbed down from her perch. Well, since they were looking for a girl; maybe it was time to revisit her tomboy self.

Walking in the general direction of the city, she found exactly what she needed. It seemed a farmer's wife had hung out her son's and husband's clothes out to dry. She felt bad about taking some of the clothes, but she knew it might be now or never. Promising herself that she'd repay them back, she grabbed the smaller set of clothes and left.

The pants seemed to fit well enough. The length turned out to be a little long; but she could cut off the excess once she got her hand on a knife. She used a long strand of heavy twine to secure the waist loosely. The last thing she wanted to do was to show off her female figure. With the bottom half of her taken care of, she turned to the task of hiding the other obvious signs of her gender. Though she wasn't in anyway buxom, it still was a pain to band herself down with the long piece of cloth that she made from one of the shirts.

With the clothes finally taken care of and in place, Kaoru had to stop and considered her hair. She had always been proud of her hair. Her father said that it was just like her mother's, long and black. So black that it seemed that it seemed to be made of night. Kaoru's heart clinched with the thoughts of her father. She quickly stamped them down. There wasn't any time for emotions. She'd have leave the hair for now and hide it under the hat that she grabbed earlier. It was time to go.

Her plan was to go to the military outpost and report what had happened to her father. Hopefully, the commander would be able to reclaim her home from this Yukishiro.

Walking to the city, while keeping her eyes out for the men looking for her, took longer than she expected. By the time she got there, the sun wasn't far from setting. Her whole body was exhausted. She was ready to collapse, and her emotions were raw. Today had obviously drained her in more ways than one.

Fortunately the outpost was on the outer edge of the city. With night coming in so rapidly, going into the city was something that she didn't want experience. During the day the city seemed pleasant enough, but night was when the city really came to life. She never took the time to find out what the night life offered, and she didn't want to start now.

A wave of relief swept through her as the outpost came into sight. She had to keep herself from running to the door. The idea that this mess was coming to an end was a relief. There was nothing more she wanted then to be able to start picking up the pieces of her life and start over.

Her thoughts and movements came to a halt when she heard two familiar voices. Stopping right outside the door, Kaoru stood there and listened. She was now certain. The men in the forest made it to the city before she did. Kaoru yelled at herself for not getting there faster. She shouldn't be moping around when there was so much at stake.

"Thanks a bunch Capt'n. It was such a tragedy to hear that the girl took her own papa's life. What's the world coming to when you can trust your own kin?"

"Well thank you for the notice. We will be sure to keep an eye out for Lady Kamiya. She shouldn't be too far from the estate. Do I need to send a detail over to help search the Kamiya land?"

"Oh, no sir. Master Gohei has everything under control. He's got the Kamiya place covered. He's using his own men to help with the search and the keep'n up with the land. So if ya see any strange men around, it's probably one of Gohei's men that he hired to help with the land."

"That's good to know. There's been some thefts in the area that's been keeping us on alert. Now that we now that there's going to be some new people in the city we can make sure we don't consider them suspects."

"Twas nut'n Capt'n. It's our duty to help. But if you'll excuse us we'll be on our way."

Kaoru dove out of the way, but it was too late. They caught her.

"Get out of the way boy. I'm walkin here."

The taller of the two men pushed her aside as they walked out of the building. The shock and relief that she wasn't recognized paralyzed her.

"You had better get home now. Its night and I bet that your parents are worried sick about you." Kaoru looked up to find the Captain looking down at her. She nodded and ran straight to the city.

Next Chapter: Kaoru meets Sano and Battosai.