Haunted
Long lost words whisper slowly to me
Still can't find what keeps me here
Kenshin awoke abruptly from some sort of ghoulish dream. His breathing was hard and fast, and he was sure he had called out her name in the darkness... Right as rain, he heard soft footsteps approaching from somewhere down the hall... and knowing Yahiko's sleeping habits, it was bound to be Karou.
Karou slid the shoji door open, and peered inside, hearing Kenshin call out in the night had become a fairly regular occurrence lately... She was beginning to worry about him. "Kenshin?" She called into the darkness.
"Karou-dono, I'm fine. Go back to sleep, please." Kenshin called back to her automatically. But Karou didn't move from the doorway.
"Kenshin, this is the fourth night you've had bad dreams... I will not go back to bed with out an explanation..." Karou paced over to Kenshin's futon, clutched her robe tighter around her, assuring that nothing inappropriate would be seen, and sat down on the mattress beside him, waiting expectantly.
Kenshin looked into her eyes, a strange sense of déjà vu coursing through him... She looked so much like Tomoe. He thought idly to himself. "And she's grown up so much..." he almost said this aloud, but shook it off at the last moment and looked back down at his lap as if to assure himself that it was still there...
When all this time I've been so hollow inside
I know you're still there...
Kenshin recounted his dream to Karou, detail by detail. He explained how he had come to kill Tomoe, and her fiancé. He told of the blood that wouldn't wash from off his hands... He recounted the pain in himself, the thing that caused him to awaken.
Karou sat in shock, and bewilderment. Kenshin was actually talking to her... usually, he would brush it off, and tell her to go back to sleep, but this time, he opened up to her... Karou was left in wonder as she listened to him.
Kenshin spoke slowly, if not disbelievingly. 'Why am I telling her all of this?' he thought to himself absently. With one look at her, he knew the reason... It was because he found in her a second chance after Tomoe.
It is time you moved on, darling.
Kenshin stopped talking, catching Karou's eyes with his own. She blushed and looked away, but he grasped her chin and brought her gaze back to meet his own.
"I see now what she is trying to tell me..." Kenshin said cryptically... "And she won't let me be until I do it."
Watching me, wanting me
I can feel you pull me down
Karou's head was spinning. Why was Kenshin staring at her like that? And why I the world did he have to be... so sexy? Since when had he matured into the man he really was?! Karou's mind was racing and when he grabbed her chin and forced her gaze back to his own, the emotions playing in his eyes stopped her thoughts dead in their tracks.
"Karou. I was afraid to move on until these dreams began." Kenshin said his voice dropping to a low and huskier tone. "Tomoe helped me see what I needed to do... She's been haunting me..."
Karou heard him speak and she nearly passed out... There was no honorific... She unconsciously leaned closer to him, so that mere inches separated their bodies, she could feel the masculine heat of Kenshin's body, and Karou shook herself physically in an attempt to restore herself to her senses.
"Kenshin."
Fearing you, loving you
I won't let you pull me down...
Kenshin moved suddenly, bringing his lips to Karou's softly, but firmly, silently warning Tomoe that, while he loved her, he knew what he needed to do...
I am proud of you, Kenshin. Make her happy. Happier than you made me... Love her unconditionally... Love her more than you loved me... Because she deserves it.
Kenshin pulled away, abandoning all thoughts as he looked into Karou's deep blue-violet eyes. "Karou, I—" Kenshin began to apologize, but the look in her eyes and a mental slap in the head, he changed his mind and leaned in and kissed her again, this time, more deeply and more passionately.
Karou abandoned all her hesitations when Kenshin kissed her a second time. She leaned so close to him that their bodies were touching from shoulder to hip and her arms automatically came to encircle Kenshin's neck as she pulled him impossibly closer...
Haunting you I can smell you—alive
You're heart pounding in my head
Kenshin pushed Tomoe out of his being when Karou kissed him back. He set his whole heart to loving the creature in front of him. His arms encircled her waist, and he pulled back to look in her eyes... silently gaining her permission to continue as he pleased...
Karou granted that permission unconditionally.
Watching me wanting me
I can feel you pull me down
Kenshin laid her back onto his futon and hovered heatedly above her. She pulled him down and pressed him against her body. "Karou." He gasped but her lips were on his... silencing him. In that kiss, Kenshin knew immediately what Karou wanted from this night, and at that point in time, he was in no position to disagree with her.
"Kenshin. Tomoe wanted you to be happy..." Karou whispered. "Please... Do what makes you happy."
"The only thing I need to be happy, Karou... is you." Kenshin breathed, saying her name once again without the honorific. Karou would always love the way that sounded coming from off his lips.
Saving me, raping me
Kenshin searched his mind absently before passion completely overtook him, but instead of the person hiding deep in his mind, constantly haunting his every thought. He found only peace of mind, and a certain passionate desire craving release. He looked at Karou, and said words that he had only said to one other person.
"Karou, I love you."
Karou smiled coyly and pulled his face near to hers. "And I you." She whispered. "You've haunted me."
"Yes... and SHE'S haunted me... It looks like this was what she wanted for us... because I can tell right now... the nightmares will not come back again... for as long as I live." Kenshin said, and then kissed her.
In that night, he sealed that vow of love and made her his own.
Watching me...
© 2003
Aleesha Posey
August 3, 2003