Author's Note: A break from the angst of "Portrait in Blue", this came to me after reading a very cute one shot written by my friend Summer39 for "Battle of the Planets" and then a sweet song in the soundtrack of an anime episode I had watched (I think it was Samurai Champloo). It's as Kaoru is calming a very fussy Kenji. As usual, I do not lay claim to RurKen, it belongs to Watsuki-sama, Shonen Jump, and Sony.

MOONLIGHT LULLABY

The full moon was hanging almost mid-sky over the roofs and dark houses of the city formerly known as Edo, now Tokyo sending its diffused light down and turning everything silver. That same moon shone through the open window slats of a bed chamber, encasing the entwined forms on the futon in lunar light as soft words of love sweetened the air around the married couple that resided at the Kamiya dojo. Himura Kenshin, the man who was once the most feared hitokiri in the Bakumatsu lay on the futon as he held his young wife, her tresses of midnight silk carpeted across his arm with one of hers resting on his chest. His eyes, turned a soft shade of periwinkle in the moonlight were like twin glowing jewels as they gazed upon the former Kamiya now Himura Kaoru. Both were basking in the afterglow of their long and eager lovemaking, Kaoru with her eyes closed and seemingly dozing in total contentment.

Sensing her husband's loving perusal, Kaoru's eyes fluttered open to greet his gently smiling face with one of her own. "And what is it that has you so spellbound that you are staring at me?" she asked coyly.

Kenshin's hand, laced in the tangle of ebony strands, caressed his koishii as he replied, "You in the moonlight. You take my breath away, that you truly do." And from the moment I first laid eyes on you, you always did he added to himself.

A delicate tint of pleasure appeared on her cheeks as Kaoru was touched by Kenshin's words. "Oh Kenshin, anata."

She leaned in to meet his waiting mouth to join in another searing kiss, the prelude to another energetic coupling but their plans were interrupted by the soft mewl that became a wail from behind a silk screen covered with blue birds and sakura blossoms. At the sound of their infant son Kenji's summons, the couple drew reluctantly apart.

Aware of their new roles as parents both Kenshin and Kaoru sighed as he said, "I can go and see to his needs, koi. You stay here and rest."

But Kaoru was rising and reaching for her long discarded yukata as she said, "Iie, anata. He's been a bit fussy today, I'd better see what is troubling him."

"Are you sure? I know how tired you were when I came home from Yamagata's office and it worried me, tenshi. I can go to him."

Typically protective, Kenshin was insisting but Kaoru shook her head and after tying the yukata closed, headed for where Kenji's cries had increased in volume. She went behind the screen to the bassinet where the little boy was sobbing and leaned down to get her son.

Cradling the tiny redhead, Kaoru sat on a cushion and rocked him. "Maa, maa, Keni-chan. What is it? Are you hungry?" She opened the yukata and offered a breast but the baby moved his head away, still fussing.

Kaoru sighed as she reached for a stack of swaddling cloths and spreading one across her lap, she felt his loin cloth for any sign of wetness, and he was dry. So she picked him up again to try to soothe his distress and held him in the crook of her arm

Crooning softly, Kaoru murmured, "Come aka-chan. You need to sleep so you can grow up big like your daddy, Keni-chan." She began to rock him slowly and hum, her soprano sending the melody past the screen and into the moonlit room. . . .

Meantime from the futon, Kenshin lay deep in thought, his reverie filled with the knowledge of the amazing passion that continued to grow and flourish between him and his wife in their short marriage. Never in his wildest dreams and most detailed fantasies he had while living as a boarder at the Kamiya dojo had he entertained the thought that making love with Kaoru could be as exciting and satisfying as it was. As she was ten years younger than he was, Kenshin had eagerly looked forward to initiating his bride into the intimacies of the marital relationship but he had to admit that she was surpassing far beyond what even he had hoped for. Nights were becoming his favorite time of day for each night the loving seemed better and better and if the pattern held true, the best was yet to come. His mind full of those thoughts he then dwelled on how for a decade he had wandered about Japan, living a lonely existence seeking atonement for the countless lives he had taken as a hitokiri. In that other dark life, he had been thrust into the role of killing for a purpose thought of as noble at the time. Until the fateful day in the snow when he took the life of his first love and bride. . .

Tomoe had been someone who had crossed his blood-soaked path, stumbling upon him in the midst of completing one of his "assignments". She was a sad eyed beauty whose sorrow was hidden in the shadow of a smile she bore for him, an angry and cold 15 year-old man-child who had taken lives for the Choshu Ishin Shishi, and the list of his victims had included her betrothed. So although she had first came into his life to seek revenge, the purity that had been in Kenshin had reached to her and so she became his sheath, his harbor from the vicious reality of his wretched existence. So he fell in love with his rescuer and made her his wife. They shared a short but idyllic life away from the chaos of Kyoto until the assassin Tatsumi who had duped her into duping Kenshin…came to end his life. And in the heat of battle, as he sought to slay the shogunate ninja, he pierced Tomoe's heart, fatally wounding her. But before she left for the afterlife she completed the cross on his left cheek to mark him forever.

Lost in the memory, Kenshin felt the tiny yet lingering sadness that his former wife's death had left him until the soft gurgles of his son reached his ears. Then he heard it; notes floating on the night breeze, the soft, sweet voice that sounded like an angel, singing a lullaby that he vaguely remembered from his own very early childhood. Smiling, he rose in hitokiri stealth and wrapping a sheet about his loins, he made his way to the screen to watch the view.

As he observed Kaoru rocking and singing to their baby boy, his mind became filled with a new and different slide show; one of the recent past. Back he went to the foggy night he had entered Tokyo and was confronted with a bokken-wielding wildcat with sapphire eyes, looking to avenge the honor of her father's sword style and dojo. The reckless girl was determined to call out the Hitokiri Battousai, who she said was murdering using the Kamiya-Kasshin Ryu and she intended to end the siege herself. But when she tried and her bokken was sliced in half, ready to be skewered by the villain calling himself Battousai, he, the real Battousai rescued her and carried her home to her dojo. Then, when the villain Gohei stormed the dojo and attacked her again, he defeated him and then was invited by her to stay as the rurouni he had become in ten years of wandering. It was then that his soul began to slowly but surely heal and his heart was lost to those jewel eyes.

Kenshin gazed at the picture his wife and son made as Kaoru's melodic voice surrounded him creating the peace for which he had always yearned. For the rest of his life, he would always be grateful for the way Kaoru accepted him into her life unconditionally to end her own loneliness. And as life at the dojo gave his soul repose he vowed to always love and protect her. For because of this beautiful, courageous, and reckless girl, he now had something that he had long felt was unattainable and that he did not deserve, a home.

Kenji's intermittent crying had stopped as his mother's song worked like the Lorelei and drew him into the haven of sleep, the baby's lavender eyes closed as he snuggled close to Kaoru's bosom. She gazed down lovingly as she planted a kiss on his brow and then as she rose, turned to find her husband's strong hand at her elbow to assist her. She smiled and made a motion for him to be quiet as she put Kenji back in his bassinet. After covering and kissing him, she and Kenshin tiptoed out from behind the screen and headed back to the futon.

As they strolled back and her husband wrapped an arm around her, Kaoru asked, "Why did you come back there? I told you I would take care of him. You could have gone back to sleep."

Kenshin squeezed her as he responded, "I wasn't sleepy, my mind was too full." He planted a kiss on her forehead and added, "Besides, I missed you."

"Full of what?" His wife turned to face him, her eyes inquisitive as they stopped at the futon.

Kenshin studied the deep indigo orbs in which he wanted to bury himself and replied, "Full of nothing but you, my Kaoru. How in about a year's time you have brought light into my dark life."

His words were acting as an effective stimulus and making her heart pound so Kaoru took hold of his face and planted her petal soft lips against his in a butterfly touch, her innocent desire portrayed profoundly and re-kindling the fire in his loins as he became instantly aroused. With a groan and wanting her to feel him he pressed her to him and deepened the kiss.

Sometime later and breathless, she pulled back then asked in a seductive voice. "Shall we pick up where we left off?"

The Battousai smiled in a wicked manner as he scooped his wife up and said, "As you wish, koishii."

Cradling her against his chest, Kenshin knelt down to place Kaoru on the futon. He then leaned in to capture her mouth as he stretched himself over her, his hands working to rid her of the yukata as they slid under the garment and pushed the silk off, removing the filmy barrier. Uncovering Kaoru's beautiful body, then covering it with his own, Kenshin continued to love her until sheer exhaustion claimed them and the moon in the window moved across the night sky toward the west and the sun began to brighten the east.

END