Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin and all related characters are property of Nobuhiro Watsuki. The song this fic is based on, Senyaichiya ("One Thousand and One Nights") is from the .hack//liminality series, and is copyrighted by Bandai Entertainment. No copyright infringement intended.
Warnings: Beware! A romantic fic! Ohohohoho! XD Why did I write it?
Um...uh... ::huddled in corner and pondering::
I guess...because I had nothing else to do. ^^ Er...
This fic is PG-13 in rating, because nothing too bad happens here...what were you expecting, hentai?!
Pairings: Oho! This fic's pairing is none other than: Enishi Yukishiro x Kaoru Kamiya! ::shock!:: Were you expecting that? I bet not! I bet you were expecting...Kenshi x Kaoru, perhaps? Kenshin x Megumi? No? If you were expecting Kenshin x Sanosuke...go somewhere else for your yaoi. :-|
Author's Notes: Err...written right after I watched the Samurai X Reflections series. Hrrm...I began to think about the possibilities of an Enishi x Kaoru relationship. Yes I know, Enishi only captured Kaoru so he could kill Kenshin...and yes, Kaoru loves and always did love Kenshin...but I have a strange mind. Really strange. So there.
Takes place at the end of Samurai X Reflections: Episode One. I'll try to make this as un-confusing as possible.
Verse One
Kono basho wo dete aruku michi no koto wo kangaeru
Sora wa mada hayai yuugata kumo ni iro wo nokoshite
Tonari no kodomo wa onaji uta mou san do mo utatteru
Owaru kotoba omoi dasezu saigo dake zutto kurikaeshite
Kaoru walked beneath the shade of the dying sakura trees. Her mind was blank, numb with shock at what Kenshin had just told her. She wanted to keep it that way. She did not want to have to think about what Kenshin's words might have meant.
Those words, full of grief, heavy with sadness and despair and longing for what may have been; a tone Kenshin had never needed to use when with Kaoru, until now.
He had not eaten for a long time, but merely brooded outside in the yard, looking out at the sky, not telling her anything. Kaoru had taken it upon herself to bring him some kept-behind dinner. She swore not to ask him what had happened before he came back home to the dojo – it would probably upset him even more. Best to act as though nothing had happened.
She had just set the tray down when Kenshin's eye caught sight of the teacup on the edge. It was a delicate thing, lightly colored, with a spray of plum blossoms painted across it. Seijuro Hiko had made it for her, "to serve good tea in". And serve good tea she did.
But Kenshin did not care about the tea. He picked up the teacup tentatively, almost cautiously, as though afraid of it. He said, "There is a story behind this."
Kaoru had opened her mouth to protest – hadn't she said, such a long and yet short time ago, that she did not care about Kenshin's past? But there was a look in Kenshin's already sad eyes – something that went beyond sadness, beyond mortal grief – and she kept her silence, and listened to the ghastly tale, the story behind the cross-shaped scar.
She did not want to think about what he had said. She didn't want to submit to the rage, the horror, the jealousy, the sadness – all of the emotions welling up inside her. She began to run – the better to escape from the thoughts that were already trying to invade her mind.
"I murdered my wife...Tomoe Himura...with my own two hands..."
It was no use. No longer trying to fight the tears, no longer trying to escape her thoughts, she fell to her knees upon the grass, choking on her sobs.
"I thought...that he would come back to me – that he is mine – it is so far from where we are..."
She looked up at the garden before her, at the grass and the fireflies. Through her tears she could still see Kenshin in her mind's eye, sitting with his head bowed; for once, a man defeated.
Crunch. Crunch.
The muted sound of footsteps, walking through the fallen leaves and the grass behind her...who was it? Perhaps Kenshin had come to take her back home...?
She made no attempt to wipe the tears from her face. She turned to meet this late-night visitor – and froze.
Standing directly in front of her, framed by the eerie red-orange glow of the setting sun, was a tall man, wearing spectacles and carrying a long bundle on his back; entirely unremarkable in this era…but though young, his hair had turned completely white – the demon's color. And in his turquoise eyes, there was something Kaoru had seen only a few times in her life, but never to this extent: pure hatred.
She gasped and fell back, stumbling upon her kimono, as the white-haired young man advanced toward her. Frightened, she began to run –
Kaoru had not gotten more than three paces before a hand shot out and clamped a damp cloth tightly over her mouth, muffling her shriek of surprise. She smelled something sickly-sweet on the cloth, like one of Megumi-san's medicines...
Kenshin…!
That was her last thought before something grasped her by the wrists and forced her hands behind her; the world suddenly turned black and all was lost.
I walk away from here, pondering which way to go.
The sun is setting early, painting the clouds with its glow as it disappears.
The children next to me are singing the same song for the third time.
Unable to remember the words to end it, they repeat the last verse over and over...