Summary: Kaoru harbors a hopeless love for her married boss Kenshin, and her shared visions with Enishi won't leave her alone. Semi-sequel to "Tiger's Den," though you probably don't have to read it to understand what's happening. Enishi/Kaoru, modern day with some throwbacks to the Meiji Era.
A/N: I wrote something along these lines a long time ago but it was too complicated. Here it is again, all stripped down and polished up. Also, I increased the weirdness/creep factor.
A red-lipped woman wraps a man's broken fingers. Calloused hands grip a wooden sword. Violet eyes blink calmly in a blurred face.
"Stop it," Kaoru growls aloud to herself. It's bad enough when these not-memories flood her mind back home in Tokyo. It's intolerable that the images have followed her all the way to Xinyue Island when she's supposed to be working.
The elevator door opens. A bandaged demon bursts into flames. "Oh, come on, that one doesn't even make sense," she grumbles as she steps into the cramped, dark hallway.
"Seriously? It's only one floor." The two-meter tall, silver-haired speaker admittedly knows how to wear a suit to his advantage.
"Enishi," Kaoru replies flatly. "The stairs were, uh - too crowded."
"Crowded" wasn't exactly the right word. Only one person had been standing at the foot of the grand staircase. Tomoe, ethereal elfin princess with rivers of black hair and skin of glacier ice and skirts sewn from fairy dust, had been gazing, dreamlike, into her drink, waiting for her husband Kenshin to show up to the reception.
And instead of greeting Tomoe like a normal person would, Kaoru had ducked into the elevator alcove and jabbed the call button like a maniac until the door opened and she could escape.
"Liar," Enishi pronounces crisply. He's lived in Tokyo for years, but the Shanghai accent still rolls off his tongue. He looks down at Kaoru's cheap blue work-to-cocktail dress and raises an eyebrow above those fussy spectacles of his.
The shoji screen slides shut on a boy's complaints about chores. Kaoru winces.
"Oh. Again?" Enishi asks, his voice softening. His Oxfords squeak on the floor as he steps closer.
Kaoru nods. A girl's shrill cheer pierces the thick jungle foliage. "All kinds of stuff. Faces and sounds; weird scents. It's been constant since my boss and I arrived yesterday." She tries not to think about the tender smile Kenshin gave Tomoe as they disembarked from the transport ferry. "You?"
"Same. Fights, mostly. Pain from impossible injuries." He tugs at his ear as he glances over his shoulder. "And of course, the woman."
She presses her lips into a flat line; she's heard all about the bloody woman in the snow that haunts Enishi's mind day and night. She gazes past Enishi to the main landing where dignitaries and mediators are toasting the deals they made during the day's summit. "Come on, let's get a drink. We both have clients who expect us to show our faces tonight." She sticks her clutch under her armpit and jerks her head toward the crowd. "And we both know that the visions don't go away if we ignore them."
"Wait." Enishi looks around again, as if making sure that no one is watching them. "Just a quick -" he leans down as he does sometimes, so fast that Kaoru doesn't have time to react, and presses his nose to her neck. His breath is hot on her skin as he dips his head lower and grazes his teeth against her collarbone. "Better," he whispers in her ear, then whips away and turns on his heel. Without so much as a goodbye, he stalks into the party and strikes up a conversation with the CEO of Kanryuu Industries.
"Bastard," Kaoru curses. At the very least, Enishi could have let her brush her face against his wrist, inhale his scent - anything for a moment's respite from her mind's illusions. "Aku. Soku. Zan," rasps a man with a voice of gravel.
Kaoru shakes her head, composes herself, and steps out onto the grandiose landing. The second floor chandeliers have been wired for electricity, but otherwise the neocolonial Smuggler's House has been restored according to strict historical standards to preserve it for future generations - and, of course, to generate tourism dollars in the future.
Sidestepping Xinyue's loud, red-faced Minister of Forestry, Kaoru strides across the polished wood floorboards and through wide French doors, into the warm night air and onto the balcony.
Kenshin is exactly where he said he'd meet her. The man that she will love forever, the man she will never have for herself, stands at the balustrade, his red-brown hair tied back neatly and his shirtsleeves rolled at his elbows. He turns around as if he senses her presence, and he gives her a smile that makes her stomach flip and her heart sink.
And beside him, of course, of course, is Tomoe.
"Hello, you t-two," Kaoru stutters as she approaches the couple, wishing she'd grabbed a drink before facing Kenshin's wife. A saké jug sails across a room and crashes against a wall.
"Kaoru, I was just telling Tomoe about your success at the negotiating table today." Kenshin caresses Tomoe's shoulder and Kaoru cringes.
Tomoe meets Kaoru's eyes. Cherry blossom petals float in the spring breeze. "Yes," Tomoe says quietly. "Kenshin says that you held firm with the Dao ward representatives. That they agreed to improve conditions in the poor neighborhoods across the bay."
"Uh, yeah," Kaoru mumbles, fiddling with her clutch. "No one else was speaking up for the people who live there, and that's who works at all of our clients' properties, so . . ." she trails off.
Kenshin breaks into a beatific close-lipped smile with the corners of his mouth upturned, but Tomoe's face remains placid. "It's important to fight for those without a voice," she declares as she shifts her gaze to beach below the bluff.
"Just so," Kenshin agrees. He continues to relate to Tomoe more of the day's accomplishments in his warmest, most calming voice.
Kaoru can hardly stand listening to Kenshin sing her praises while he beholds his wife so lovingly, but she can't come up with an excuse to leave the conversation. Her eyes wander across the crowd. A petite Japanese developer who wants to buy more beachside properties makes her case to a balding, sweaty attorney for the Society for Historic Preservation. A white-coated waiter attempts to retrieve empty champagne flutes from one of the tables without being elbowed by the drunk, gesticulating Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries. Enishi leans against the wall, clearly bored, as a woman with a severe haircut seems to be trying to argue or flirt with him, or both. Swords clang together under the hot midday sun.
Enishi catches Kaoru looking at him, and he blows his spiky silver hair out of his face and smirks. Kaoru rolls her eyes and glances away. He left her wanting earlier; now it's his turn to wait.
"Please forgive me, I -" Tomoe stammers, interrupting her husband and recapturing Kaoru's attention. Kenshin's wife is staring strangely in Enishi's direction, and her face has, if possible, grown even paler. Her brows furrowed, she looks back at Kaoru with clear pain in her eyes. "I'm not feeling well. Perhaps the alcohol. Kenshin -"
"Of course." Kenshin takes Tomoe by the elbow and gives Kaoru an apologetic but cursory nod. "Please excuse us, Kaoru. I'll see you at the resources meeting tomorrow morning." He guides his wife through the party to the nearest exit. Fireflies flit across an earthen path. A figure disappears into the springtime darkness.
Kaoru closes her eyes and rolls her shoulders. What a mess, she thinks. It would be easier if she could hate Tomoe, but the woman has never been anything but gracious toward her, if a little shy. Two ladies look down at their somber reflections in the surface of a clear pond.
The city on the other side of the bay sparkles in the distance. Kaoru knows that she's actually looking at slummy housing blocks with stolen electricity, but in the darkness their glow is beautiful. Out on the water, green and red lights flash from the bows of motor boats skimming the surface. Perhaps some of the skiffs are smuggling contraband out to pirates beyond the strait.
"Was that your boss?" Enishi asks as he sidles up beside her. "The one you're in love with?"
Friends laugh as they cross a bridge at sunset. "His wife too."
"Ah. Didn't get a good look at her." Enishi hands Kaoru his drink and their fingertips touch; Kaoru downs what turns out to be half a vodka soda in a single gulp.
She sets the glass on the rail and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, which she would never in a million years do if Kenshin were watching. "This place creeps me out. I'm getting even more visions here than down by the river in Tokyo."
"Me too," Enishi agrees. "Not quite as bad as when I'm in Kyoto, though." He pushes his spectacles up the bridge of his narrow nose and tilts his head toward the door. "But either way I'm done with this. Coming?"
Wordlessly, Kaoru follows him off the balcony, down the stairs, and into the yard. Together they cross several lanes of the ring road and reach a long, leafy pedestrian path that leads to the beachside resorts.
They reach a part of the path where the tree canopy arches overhead, blocking the moonlight. Enishi takes Kaoru's hand, and she sighs. "You're at the Dao Suites, right?" he asks, his fingers intertwining with hers.
"You're staying there too. Tonight anyway," she replies, and before she even finishes her sentence Enishi pulls her against him and leans down and presses his nose on that sensitive spot behind her ear and inhales.
Kaoru leans away so that she can put her forehead against Enishi's, so that she can breathe in his breath. A shot rings out and a man slumps over in the sand. She pulls back. "That's nowhere near enough. Come on."
They stumble along the remainder of the path and through the hotel's back entrance. Kaoru's heels click on the tile floor as they hustle to the elevator bank and take one to her floor. She leads Enishi to her room, unlocks the door with the card from her clutch, and practically shoves him inside. A smoke bomb explodes in the yard of an old dojo. "Hurry," she urges as she drops her purse on the floor and reaches for his shirt collar.
Enishi bats her hands away. "Stop. I can do this faster than you." He sheds his blazer and fumbles with his belt in the near darkness. "You work on yourself. I always get the zipper stuck."
"Right," Kaoru says, kicking off her shoes. She divests herself of her dress and flops onto the bed at the same time that Enishi, nude but for his underwear, slams his glasses on the bedside table and joins her.
He grabs her around the waist and presses his flat stomach to hers, tangles their legs. She wraps her arms around his neck and nips at the apple of his throat.
"Good," he groans as his hips jut forward against Kaoru's panties. A shadow with a crescent smile appears in the haze.
"Still not enough for me." She pushes him against the mattress and rubs her face against his chest, then flips herself on top of him so that her shoulders and back and bare thighs are pressed to his body. "I'm still seeing - oh," she breaks off as one of Enishi's hands slides up her rib cage while the other wraps around her neck.
It's working, finally.
Enishi grinds up against her bottom. "Still seeing things?" he rasps in her ear and brushes his lips against her cheek. He hooks his thumb into her mouth and she bites down lightly.
"Just stars," she replies as she wiggles her hips. She rolls over again and straddles him, and as he gasps in a way she's never heard from him before, she grins in the dark. She feels even more desperate than usual tonight, and as he fusses with her bra clasps she whispers to him, "We could go further this time."
His hand freezes, and his muscles tighten beneath her.
She holds her breath. Plum blossom fragrance wafts through the smoke. "Follow the scent," a cruel voice calls.
"Nevermind. We don't have to. I just thought - you know, maybe more would help," she backpedals carefully. "It's so bad tonight," she adds plaintively.
Enishi's hands slip down her back and stop at her thighs. He hitches her up so that her face is directly above his. His eyes shine in the moonlight that streams through the window, and the muscles at his temples pulse as he clenches his teeth. "No, it's too risky - let's stick with what we know will work," he murmurs, and Kaoru suspects that he's afraid of unleashing something worse if they deviate from their long-established routine.
Again, Kaoru gently bumps her forehead to his. "Alright." She reaches back and unhooks her bra and sits up, and she can't help but smile as Enishi's jaw goes slack. "Let's do the usual, then," she says, and she slips her hand into her panties.
"Right," he growls, relief threading his voice. Roughly, he takes her free arm and pulls her back down to the bed. "You looked sexy up there but I can't touch myself if you're on top of me."
"Whatever you say," Kaoru slurs. She's already pretty close, and she hardly even notices as Enishi looms over her with his own hand down his boxer briefs.
"Damn," Enishi chokes out, watching Kaoru as she bites her lip and arches her back.
As Kaoru's orgasm washes over her, she hears Enishi take a gulp of air and collapse on the bed beside her.
Her mind clear for the first time in days, Kaoru drifts off to sleep.
"Why does that always help?" Kaoru mumbles against Enishi's chest the next morning. Her visions haven't returned, not in her dreams, not even with a flash of color or an unexpected voice.
"I don't know," Enishi says around a yawn. "Glad it does, though."
Kaoru sits up and glances out the window. The first rays of sun crest the bluff beyond the bay. "So you're better now?"
"Yeah. Nothing since -" he grins and places a hand high up on her thigh. As he looks up into her face, his smile fades.
She suspects that he is thinking about her suggestion the previous night. "Don't worry about what I said earlier," she tells him. "We don't need to mess around with what works, even if it's a little weird." Rubbing up against a colleague to keep from losing one's mind probably qualifies as more than a little weird, but Kaoru doesn't mention that.
Enishi grimaces. "It was bad that time we resisted."
Kaoru nods grimly. She remembers telling Enishi once that their secret routine was too creepy to continue, then kicking him out of her apartment. She remembers the visions washing over her like a tsunami, remembers locking herself in her bedroom and screaming herself hoarse into her pillow. She remembers Enishi finally dragging himself back to her place, high on pills and covered in bruises. "I remember. But at least those are real memories," she mutters petulantly.
"Not ones I wish to relive." Enishi shrugs and stretches, showing off his long lean arms. "Anyway. Is your company invited to the beach thing tonight?"
"The tourism campaign kick-off at sunset? We'll all be there." Kaoru's stomach sours as she thinks of of Tomoe's pale face. It would have been easier if Kenshin hadn't brought his wife on the trip. Kaoru would never try to steal Kenshin away, but at least she could enjoy his low voice and warm eyes without the gut-churning guilt.
"Good." Enishi reaches up and tucks a lock of hair behind Kaoru's ear. The way he's looking at her makes her blush. "But I've been thinking. Perhaps just a kiss wouldn't hurt anything."
Kaoru swallows and looks down at Enishi's mouth. Whatever she and Enishi are doing isn't about love, or dating, or even desire, really. It's only about beating back the hallucinations, right? "A kiss? We've never done that before. Didn't you say over and over that you're worried any change might - you know - "
"Yeah, I know. Might make the visions worse." He pulls himself up so that his face is inches from hers. "Maybe it's worth the risk. What do you think?"
I think I want Kenshin, Kaoru reminds herself, but for the first time she thinks that may no longer be entirely true.
"So?" He asks, his breath warm against her skin.
Kaoru closes her eyes and leans forward until her lips meet his. Her mind remains blissfully blank. "Not so bad," she whispers.
[to be continued]
A/N: Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoy the coming weirdness! With these rarepairs/quiet fandoms, your comments mean even more than usual!
