Hello
By; Aleesha Posey
July 11, 2003
My take on Karou's supposed death, and how Kenshin deals after the fight with Enishi.
Playground school bell rings
Again...
Rain clouds come to play
Again...
Has no one told you she's not breathing...
Hello
I'm your mind
Giving you someone to talk to
Kenshin turned to face the wall of the dojo. Ever since the death of Karou, it had been quiet...And for him, (perhaps the others as well but none as much as he) it was lonely... 'I should have known.' He thought aloud. 'I should have done more to protect her.' He finished silently.
Sanosuke peeked through the sliding dojo doors, noticed Kenshin hunched in a corner, hilt of the sakkabatu at his shoulder. Sano sighed and closed the doors silently. Kenshin had been in there since the night of the burial. He hardly ate, and it was doubtful that he slept at all. But then again, Sanosuke would not know the pain of losing the one you love...
And Kenshin had lost that twice. No doubt, the blame had been placed upon himself.
Hello...
Sano thought twice and slid open the doors and stepped into the dingy inside air. "Kenshin..." he started, but the words would not slide from out his lips.
Kenshin did not bother to acknowledge the tall man, he only hung his head.
"Kenshin, this must stop." Sano started but before he could go on, Yahiko burst through the dojo doors, nearly knocking the rooster head down.
"Kenshin, you must hurry!! Aoshi found something fishy... Karou—"
"Do not mention that name." Kenshin murmured.
"But Kenshin, Busu ISN'T dead!" Yahiko sputtered out ungracefully.
This caught the two men off guard, and Sanosuke thumped to the floor.
Suddenly, another figure graced the doorway with his presence. "You won't believe this... but Enishi's men have gone so far as to recreate bodies out of already dead people..." Aoshi tossed a dead cat into the middle of the wooden floor.
A collective murmur of general appall resounded throughout the dojo.
"The body in that grave is not Karou's."
If I smile and don't
Believe
Soon I know I'll wake
From this dream...
Kenshin sat full upright, at that. "What do you mean? I saw the body. I felt it. There was no heart beat. The skin was just beginning to cool." Kenshin turned angry gold-violet eyes on Aoshi.
Don't try to fix me I'm not broken
"There will be no heart beat, if it was a machine covered with real human skin." Aoshi said matter-of-factly.
Sanosuke and Kenshin fixed their gazes on the cat lying in the middle of the room. "You mean that cat... that's not a real cat?" Sano asked.
Aoshi took one of his swords out, and slit the fake feline from sternum to mid gut, exposing wires and metalworking.
Kenshin's mouth dropped, and in movements quicker than the human eye, he was up and out of the dojo.
Hello...
Aoshi, Sanosuke and Yahiko found him staring at Karou's grave.
"Dig it up." Kenshin nearly commanded the three behind him. His eyes had long since turned yellow, and his hand gripped the sakkabatu so tightly that his knuckles were ashen white.
Sanosuke and Yahiko removed the coffin from the grave and Aoshi took his sword, broke the seal and flipped the lid off.
"It smells like a dead body." Yahiko pointed out, holding his nose and grimacing. Sanosuke jabbed him in the ribs with an elbow.
Kenshin stepped forward, seemingly not noticing the smell, (after all, he was probably used to the smell of death) taking his sword, blade side down, carefully slitting the abdomen of the body open. Sure enough, wires protruded from the rotten flesh.
I'm the lie
Living for you so you can hide...
Don't cry...
"Where is she then?" Kenshin growled.
Aoshi stepped forward, "There is an island. A boat visits once a week, and it just so happens that it leaves tomorrow... We can get on it, and Enishi will be through with tomorrow." He said.
Kenshin nodded his agreement, and returned to the dojo. Sanosuke and Yahiko followed. Aoshi bid a silent farewell and joined Misao back at the Akabeko.
Kenshin laid his sakkabatu beside him, and then pulled it from its scabbard. "Tomorrow, Enishi, you will taste this sword. The end shall bring you to justice, for taking the one most dear to me." Kenshin's voice slipped to a dangerously low octave and his eyes flashed in the darkness. "I will not be your lingering hatred any longer. I have no reason to die, and you have no reason to live."
Suddenly I know I'm not sleeping
Hello
The boat pulled up to the sand and Kenshin set the first foot onto the beach. Enishi eventually joined them, and from somewhere wood-side, Karou called his name. Kenshin's mind called back to her... "Hello. I'm here, you're safe now."
Enishi's rage matched Kenshin's vengeance and seek for justice, and they squared off. The two fought for all they were worth, but, in the end, Kenshin's creed proved more durable than Enishi's. And Tomoe smiled down on him, as he fell into unconsciousness.
Karou ran to Kenshin's side and cradled his broken form in her lap. "You came." She said softly.
"I had to." He answered back. "I can't leave people I love behind." Kenshin closed his eyes and relished Karou's expression of surprise and her gentle touch on his cheek and hair.
I'm still here
All that's left
Kenshin turned in his futon and tested his flexibility. Bruised ribs were not an easy thing to work with. He slid open the shoji door and smiled at the activities occurring in the courtyard.
Yahiko stood in the Kamiya kashin style practice stance, working away his daily chores. Sano lay listlessly on the front porch, nodding. Aoshi, who chose to sit in the shade under a tree in the corner of the yard, was meditating... but something was missing... no... Someone...
"What are you doing out of bed?! You could hurt yourself!" Karou called from behind him worriedly.
Kenshin turned around gingerly, and smiled at her. Karou blushed slightly at the sight of the expanse of his chest, bound because of his injuries. Kenshin forced her into even redder hues as he grasped her hand and pulled her toward him.
"Thank you, for... everything." He said softly, he snaked his arm around her waist, pulling her intimately close.
"N... no problem." Karou sputtered through her embarrassment. "You really should go back to your room and lie down, though." She tried again.
Kenshin smiled. "I am quite alright, Karou." He said, purposely leaving off the honorific.
Karou gasped, "Y...You...?"
But Kenshin stopped her with a kiss. "I love you, Karou." He whispered as he pulled a bit reluctantly away from her. Looking her in the eyes, he smiled again. "I have put my past behind me, Karou. It is time for me to move on to my future... with you... As it were, I'm all that's left of my past... I'm all that's left...
Of yesterday..."
© 2003
Aleesha Posey