This was I think my very first fanfiction ever written, so I hope you all enjoy. Again, no spoilers cause its simply just a "what if" kind of situation.
Disclaimer: The characters of Kenshin do not belong to me and the lyrics used are to a Sarah McLachlan song called "I will remember"
And If you Leave
Karou stepped into an empty room, the shutters barred against the barest light that found its way through the darkness in the sky above.
Her footsteps soft as she slipped into his room, barren.
Her hand hung to the doorframe as she watched the darkness, searching for a sign of his existence, searching for something he'd left behind…
"I remember the nights I watched as you lay sleeping
Your body gripped by some far away dream
And I was so scared and so in love then
And so lost in all of you that I had seen"
Shaking fingers found his corner, his shadow still clinging to the wall as he'd leaned over the sabakatou he'd always held by his side, eyes shut in his slumber, breathing deep as she'd stood as his guard, wishing his dreams to be kind. Wishing them to leave him be for a night longer…
To let him stay…
"But no one ever talked in the darkness
No voice ever added fuel to the fire
No light ever shown in the doorway
Deep in the hollow earthly desires"
She leaned into the wall, dark hair slipping around her face as she felt her own shoulders shake, silky strands of hair catching in the tears staining her cheeks, the silence, her only comfort, hollow…
She'd always wished his dreams to be kind…
"But if in some dream there was brightness
If in some memories some sort of sign
And flesh be revived in the shadows
Blessed our bodies would lay so entwined"
She'd sunk to his side, his warmth remembered as he'd wrapped his arms around her trembling limbs, promises she'd always thought to be true…
Empty promises he must have known he'd never fulfill…
But he'd been hers for a moment, if only a moment…
Tears were warm on her skin.
"I will
Oh I will
Not forget you
Nor will I ever let you go
I will
Oh I will
Not forget you"
So quiet… the silence suffocating in her isolation. She'd have stayed by his side, always stayed by his side. There was no other. There never would be… No other…
She slipped down, falling against the wall as she'd seem him do so many times before, the barest warmth of his touch lingering on her skin, ghosts of love that held no comfort, only bringing memories of everything she'd lost as they held her as she sobbed.
"I remember how you left in the morning at daybreak
So silent you stole from my bed
To go back to the one who possesses your soul
And I back to the life that I dread"
So alone…
The silence leaving her so alone…
Karou threw herself to her feet; movements frantic as she flew threw the hallways, empty… so empty… so alone…
The rain fell from a raging sky above, beating her hair against her skin and washing away the tears that refused to slow as she tore down the path to the river.
Her screams lost in the cries of thunder rolling across the water.
"So I ran like the wind to the water
'Please don't leave me again' I cried
And I threw bitter tears at the ocean
But all that came back was the tide"
Kenshin looked up to the sky above him, as the rain slipped down from the sky, falling against his face like the salt from her tears, the distance behind him long.
Not able to look behind him as the thunder held her cries, rolling to him from across the water, the rain holding her tears…
And as Karou sank to the ground, her words slowly became clear:
"And I will
Oh I will
Not forget you
Nor will I ever let you go
I will
Oh I will
Not forget you"
"And I will
Oh will
Not forget you
Nor will I ever let you go
I will
Oh I will
Not forget you…"