Wow, yet another Rurouni Kenshin One-shot. By ME! Hah hah!
Does not own RK, yadda yadda
In the darkness, he is falling.
Soaring, plunging, diving, all heading down to where the shadows are absolute.
He is aware, somehow, that to plunge and fall would mean the end of him.
He wonders whether he should do something.
The final battle, and the two before it have left him weakened, perhaps also broken.
He had not defeated his opponent, that much he knew for certain.
His foe had consumed himself, leaving the last one standing to crumble and begin his downward spiral.
He knows that there is some reason to stop falling.
Something…someone…he can hear, from infinitely far away, what might be voices.
They are speaking…they are saying…
They speak of him as if he will not wake up.
He cannot tell if he is asleep or awake, he cannot see anything but blackness.
Perhaps his eyes are closed.
Perhaps they are wide open.
It does not seem to matter anymore.
((She…waiting…))
Words he hears clearly reach him, though he cannot hear them.
He does not recognize this voice.
((She…waiting…you…promised…))
A promise?
Was there one?
Yes…as he thinks of it, it feels like there was a promise he had made with someone.
((She…waiting…you…promised…go…))
But even as the not-voice grew stronger and more insistent, still he fell.
Further and further down…away from the voices he can hear…and closer to the one that he cannot.
Faster he falls, until…
Something touches him.
It is a hand.
He realizes this as his fall, his downward flight, is arrested.
There is else someone here, and this someone is keeping him from falling.
Why?
((She is waiting. You promised her. Go back.))
Go back?
Back…to where?
Down here, the chill was almost soothing…but in the earliest part of his fall he recalled the pain, and the fire searing him from the inside.
But there was a promise…
/Let's all go back…together…/
((Go back. Wake up. Don't break yet another promise.))
/So, you would kill people, good or bad, if they were merely holding a sword?/
/If I had had a sword…would you have killed me?/
/No. I'd never kill you. Never./
/And there, the snow was red - red with blood…/
No!
Not again…never again…
He began to rise.
((Go back to her. Go back. This is not the place for you.))
As he started to rise higher, he suddenly found himself looking, trying to see.
Who had it been that had caught him?
There was nothing but blackness, but the hand still holding his wrist holds it with care, with compassion.
But who was it?
((That answer is also not for you. Go back.))
Strange…that voice should be different…not friendly…shouldn't it?
((You and I are not as different as you think. Now go.))
He opens his eyes, and briefly catches a glimpse of something before the bright light from above blinds him.
"Kenshin? He's awake! Megumi-san, Kenshin's finally awake!"
"I know that, now give Ken-san some room before you suffocate him!"
"Yeah Jou-chan, you wouldn't want him to wake up to your face and then die."
"Although I wouldn't blame him - with her face - ITAI!"
"You better start showing your assistant master some more respect, Yahiko-CHAN…"
Surrounded by the chattering and smiles of friends, he will not remember what little he had seen, but if he had…
It would be the first time he had ever seen amber smiling.
-fin-