The Pond

Ola

A/N Rurouni Kenshin is not my usual fandom, but I love reading about Kenshin/Kaoru. And as I could not somehow get that first sentence out of my mind all day, this little story seemed the perfect way to let it all out of my system :). I hope you enjoy.

He had often been told –repeatedly- that his preposterously pink gee did nothing good for his hair color. He had always smiled and shrugged in answer to such talk, not giving much regards to his clothing above its serviceability against chill weather. And yet, today, as he peeked from behind a tree trunk at the placid pool of water at the bottom of the valley, he strongly wished for clothing that was a little less… flashy. Preferably dirt brown or olive green. In the shadows, his hair dimmed to a tabby orange which could pass for the color of young bark, or the turning leaves in autumn. But the gee… ah, that was why it was currently hidden from view behind a bush.

For all that Kenshin was –he had been told, also repeatedly- practically invincible and had not much use in hiding from trouble makers, today was not such a day. He still was, for all concerns, -practically- invincible, but although he was not indeed stalking any kind of trouble maker, he did find an urgent need for temporary invisibility.

Because down below, in the pool that had so arrested his gaze, swam a girl.

Today, she calmly floated on her back, a dark braid trailing by her side, as the sleeves of her gauzy shirt billowed up in the water and bunched around her shoulders. Yesterday, she had been swimming vigorously from one end of the pool to the other, kicking her slender legs and pumping her arms in a series of movements that in anyone else would have looked silly.

It had been yet another day previous to that that he had first happened on her. Thinking himself alone, he had been practicing katas in a nearby clearing, relishing the tranquility of the woods and the opportunity to sweat out some of his internal worries. Then a shift in the wind had brought a welcomed breeze to cool him off, and the sound of splashing and laughter. His curiosity –and a short walk- had revealed a girl, a young woman really, frolicking in the shallows of a clear pond. With her pants rolled up to her knees, she skipped around the rocks, splattering water into a rainbow, and obviously enjoying herself immensely if her laughter was any evidence. It was quite an infectious joy, exacting an unconscious, answering smile from the rurouni who watched her from the shadows. That is, until she slipped on a moss covered stone, lost her balance, and after much arm-flaying and an undignified shriek, landed bottom first into the water.

Kenshin had taken several hurried steps toward her, ready to aid if she had come to harm, but the rueful smile she had gifted the surrounding area –as well as a few expletives, thankfully too softly spoken- proved to him her continued well being, and he had retreated back behind his tree.

His thoughts warred between interest, and respect of her privacy. He knew he should leave before the girl noticed him, and yet, he could not quite make himself take a step away. Such indecision had not jumbled his thoughts for many years now. The fact that it chose this moment to appear was quite interesting –although the rurouni was too enthralled by the sounds that came from the pool to pay attention to his own state of mind.

Another splash from behind him bade him turn around once more, to witness the form of the girl disappearing into the deeper water away from the edge of the pool. When she resurfaced, Kenshin barely managed to suppress the sound that came out of his throat when he chocked on his tongue. While he had been busy debating with himself, the girl had thrown off her own gee haphazardly onto the river bank –to land next to what he saw was a pair of getas and a boken- and now swam in a very diaphanous shirt, if it could even be called that. It clung to her body in most interesting ways that had the rurouni turning red and unable to tear his eyes from her. He was quite aware that was she to catch him spying on her –for at this point, that is what it had become- she would be most extremely vexed with him, and that boken would come in very handy. For her, that is; not him.

Slapping his forehead with a palm at his own stupidity, Kenshin nevertheless crouched down behind his tree and stayed in place. Bedamn the consequences. The girl, with her happiness and vitality, had tugged at his heart strings in a way that was almost too painful for his liking. And thus, he had stayed to watch her that day, until she had clambered back out of the water onto a patch of nearby grass and spread herself down, arms wide open, to dry in the sunlight. He wished he could have joined her and laid down by her side, to enjoy her sleepy liveliness up close, to gaze at her face, and caress her hair. Would it be tangled and heavy from the water? Smooth and feathery when it dried? That day, he had no found out. He had stayed to watch from afar, that day and the next, and the next.

And here he was, once again watching, wondering who she was, where she came from, and how she smelled. As the sun arched down and began to slip behind the tall peaks of the mountains around them, the girl finally stood up, re-braided her hair, and walked away, swinging her boken in the air, just as she had done the past two days. Kenshin never followed her. He wondered why he never did. He wondered why he came every day just to watch and absorb her joy –it soothed his ragged soul with warm hands that felt like sunshine. Maybe that was the reason why. And yet, he still wondered, and never left.

But perhaps tomorrow, she would be the one to stay and watch.

The rurouni smiled silently to himself as he imagined her face and her reaction at seeing him swim in her pond. Maybe she would be angry that he had invaded "her" part of the woods. Maybe she would go at him with her bamboo sword. Maybe she would yell.

And maybe she would laugh, and join him in the water, to ease his frazzled ki with her inner warmth. He rather thought she would. After she got tired of yelling and hitting him, that is.

Ah, he couldn't wait until tomorrow.

END