Les Temps de Cerises
Timeline: canon universe, a bit AU-ish, set after EK's White and Black.
Reason: Too much Porco Rosso, and the idea that Japanese people had the license
to say "Hey the sakura flower is blooming" without sounding corny. (maybe not
for Houji)
credit: animelyrics.com for the lyrics-RK owned by Watsuki
***
Enishi woke up from his sleep. He looked at his wife, Misao sleeping peacefully by his side. He stretched his muscular body
Quand nous chanterons Le temps des cerises
Et gai rossignol Et merle moqueur
Seront tous en fete!
When we will sing The Time of the Cherries
And the cheerful nightingale, and mocking blackbird
Will be all in celebration!
He remembered that song very well. One of his business clients had played it over on the gramophone. He glanced beside the window. Indeed, it was spring. The winter was over. Very much over. He was still in the snowstorm until he got defeated by Battousai a few years ago. There was a void filling his heart. The need for revenge, the need to avenge of his neesan's death. The ten years of insanity, self-torture and pain. The agonizing nightmares that repeated over and over again making him unhealthy, paining him and stopping time for him. The need to get his deceased sister back.
And what for?
Ten years of struggle, ten years that brought new meaning to patience. The process on gathering the people he needed. Gein, Wu Heishin, Inui Banjin, Kujiranami Hyougo, Otowa Hyokko, Mumyoi Yatsume. The gathering of information that took his time and money. The meticulously planned assault, just after Shishio's trial to take over Japan. The devastating blow to bring Battousai down. The kidnapping of that pony-tailed lady Battousai loved for eternity. All for a note inside his sister's diary that said that she would curse and not approve of what he was doing.
He glanced again at Misao. More tunes popped inside his head.
Les belles auront la folie en tete
Et les amoureux, de soleil au coeur
The beauties will be insanes
And the lovers, heartsick!
He met her not really long after he redeemed his life. He tried to rose from his lowest point in life for a year and met her in his brother in-law's house, ready to kick his arse off. He was planning to make peace of his previous mistakes, although he was not begging for mercy or pity. He knew that his older sister would very much like that the two important persons in her lives would just reconcile. So he did. But apparently Battousai's friends were less than ready to welcome him with open arms. There were convinced that he was devising another evil plot to bring the red-head down the drain again. It was not his first time to see Misao because he had seen her previously giving Battousai the mental support altogether with Aoshi, his soon to become rival , Sanosuke and Megumi. He became a bit more familiar with her on a luncheon he set up just to tease and to know why she was spying on the newlywed's shopping trip for the baby .
But the teasing apparently turned into something else.
He felt like whistling the rest of the song he had heard.
Quand nous chanterons Le temps des cerises
When we will sing The Time of the Cherries
"La la la..la..la la la...la", the note was finished by the one beside him.
"You're awake?", he asked, a bit surprised. She quickly sat up. "Yep, pretty much."
"How did you know ...?"
"Don't you always whistle that song around the house ?"
He smiled. How observant of her! Maybe he should try to get one of the records and played it in their gramophone once in a while.
"Hey? What's the song about?"
He looked at the blooming sakura flowers beside their windows. "Spring, the time for Sakura..."
***
Mais il est bien court Le temps des cerises
Ou l'on s'en va deux cueillir en revant
Des pendants d'oreilles
But it is short, the Time of the Cherries
Where one goes to pick them in dreams
Earrings
"YOSSH!!"
"Hajime!", the woman instructor cried out. But her students refused. "Sensei," complained one of them. "We have been practicing for two hours straight. Can't we have a break?" Kaoru's face immediately frowned. The thirty other students in her class quickly glared deadly to their complaining peer. It is not a good act to complain to the mistress of Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu dojou especially in the middle of sparring practice. She was a woman but she was even more fierce than any other of their sensei. Tsukayama Yutarou-sensei was a bit more soft to them on the side since he was educated in the western manner, and even Myoujin Yahiko-sensei's harsh practice was not as grueling as this woman's standards. Maybe it was one of the reasons why Tsukayama Yutarou and Myoujin Yahiko became the heroes of the town. Shielding the town from trouble makers, rescuing damsels in distresses (the thing that Tsukayama-sensei loved best) helping people etc.
"Shut up! When I was still training with my father I had even more grueling time!"
"We know, sensei, we know.", they chorused rather tiredly.
"Do you want another hour of practice?"
The horror! The word more practice sent shivers down the student's spines.
"Kaoru-dono, tadaima.", a cry bellowed from the front door of the dojo.
"Kaa-chan, tadaima!"
Cerises d'amour aux robes pareilles
Tombant sous la feuille En gouttes de sang
Cherries of love on the same dresses
Fall on the leaf In drops of blood
The mass sighed in relief. Her husband and her son was back! They could have some time to rest finally!!!
Kaoru quickly rushed to open the doors. She saw a very messy looking Kenji holding a fish on his hands.
"My baby!", she uttered automatically, "What happened?"
"We were on a trip to go fishing, then suddenly a large boy taunted him."
"Kenshin what did I tell you about keeping Kenji from troubles?"
"But kaa-chan I won the fight! And I caught a fish too!"
"You did?"
"Un."
"Apparently Enishi was right of us overprotecting him. He's a bigger boy now."
"I am!", added Kenji eagerly. Kaoru let out a sigh. They all will have to talk about this sudden turn of events. The three of them. Maybe he is growing bigger but to her Kenji is always her little boy.
"And just what do you think you are doing?", she asked rather suddenly to the students approaching Kenji who was still holding the fish with pride. The boys walked back to the dojo in disappointment. That time, Yutarou came in.
"Hello, oh you still have a class Kaoru-sensei."
"Oh Yutarou-kun, maybe you could help me motivate these students to have a better practice.", she turned to him quickly. The mass turned pale hearing Kaoru's command. When she meant by help, a lot of the will have a quicker certain doom. Yutarou however, caught the pathetic looks that they were displaying. "Oh the sakura is blooming.", he said, not answering to Kaoru's request. He hoped it will distract her long enough.
Mais il est bien court Le temps des cerises
Pendents de corail qu-on cueille revants
But it is short, the Time of the Cherries
Coral-pink things that one picks in dreams
"Indeed, " Kenshin agreed. It was another spring. And he was still in the Kamiya dojo, raising his son and being together with his beloved wife. Kenji's birthday is going to come soon. He has not counted on how many years he had stayed ever in there. It was simply for him a miracle. A miracle to be loved again, a miracle to have a son, a miracle to have a normal life again, a miracle to be...human. And he was still there being with all the people he truly cherished in his life.
"Yes.", Kaoru replied rather dreamily.
***
Up in the heavens, a certain woman who watched the lives of the people she loved finished the song she had been singing all morning.
J'aimerai toujours Le temps des cerises
C'est de ce temps la Que je garde au couer
Une plaie ouverte
I will always love The Time of the Cherries
I keep this time In my heart
An open wound.
She smiled as one more petal of Sakura blossom fell onto her tombstone
The End
AN: Yes I do realize that Tomoe does not speak French. I blame Miyazaki-san for putting such a beautiful song in Porco Rosso that it made me wrote this fic. I do understand if you don't know this song, it's a really old song from World War II, maybe even older. And Ro-chan, thank you so much for that fanart