Summary: KK, WAFF, one-shot. One rainy day, Kenshin and Kaoru prove love and care can be shown without words.
Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or the songs 'It's Gonna Rain!' by Bonnie Pink, and '½' by Kawamoto Mokoto. All belong to their respective owners.
"This is dialogue."
These are song lyrics
This signifies a memory or flashback
Rain
By Boomerang-chan
High in the heavens the clouds moved with insistent winds, covering the sky in a gray sheen as they gloomed heavy with their burden that cried to be released.
Footsteps are lightly taken, chao chao
Further down in a dojo on the streets of Tokyo, one person was awakening. A subtle flicker of lightning momentarily lit up her face's drooped cobalt eyes and loosely braided black hair. Her footsteps padded, giving a faint echo in the halls of her shared home.
But hurrying anyway, chao chao
She yawned, drowsy, but knowing her destination. Standing outside a certain room closed by the thin shoji door, she gave it a gentle knock. What she did not notice was that the owner of the room was not there; only the empty silence was its occupant.
The thunder like a lion's roar
"Kenshin...?" When she received no reply, Kaoru slid open the shoji. Empty. His futon was neatly folded and pushed to the far wall. Did he leave without telling her?
Prompts a dispersion.
Brows etched in worry, Kaoru dashed out of his room, stepping outside. His presence did not grace the laundry area, and he was nowhere by the well or any of the other outer grounds.
Her round blue eyes lost all signs of drowsiness and momentarily she forgot to breathe. Translucent pearl of a raindrop plopped onto her nose. Looking up, her visage softened. That would mean he was all alone out there...and he would soon be sopping wet.
What's going on?
Something in her mind snapped and Kaoru hurried back inside before anymore precipitation could target her.
It was as if the nearest kimono at hand was instantly wrapped around her, and the obi practically flying to drape snugly around her waist. Hair was loosed from its braid, left unbound and rolling down her back. Not even bothering to grab a shawl to protect her from the powers of nature, Kaoru grabbed the only object important at the moment.
An umbrella. It was a plain light dandelion shade, small yet efficient and had two blue flowers and a topaz stripe for decoration.
All thoughts fled from her mind and Kaoru left the dojo, opening the umbrella to wander and search on the streets of her hometown.
That's right...the rain's coming.
Emptiness reigned the slick streets, and its only friend for that early morning was one red haired rurouni. His violet eyes remained blank, not betraying anything, but the slight curl at the left corner of his lips showed he was not very happy.
I really hate the rain, chao chao
There had been no food left back at his home with Kaoru and the other two boarders who devoured every meal like they had faced a ten year famine, and he had gotten up to an empty kitchen. So he had left to go to the market, and he enjoyed his outings, but better liked it with another certain companion, even if he ended up overloaded with the heavy items like the salt, miso, and soy sauce.
I wanted to stay here a little longer, chao chao
Sighing, Kenshin glanced down at his vegetables, miso, and other culinary ingredients. Funny how he could protect Kaoru-dono so effectively from demons of his past dark era, and not these food items from the rain.
The beaming face of Kaoru swam into his mind. Maybe he should have told her he would be going out...he could already imagine his arrival home, and getting a huge bop on the head from her bokken. Not like he was ignorant, but Kenshin knew she was always worried that he might wander off again despite hiding behind her antics, but he did not intend to have her tears fall again because of him.
In the instant when the pleasant sensation was changed,
Thunder pealed overhead, carving jagged light in its course. He had better get going, for though none of them usually arose this early, the young storm would not relent and boom until they grumbled their way out of the futons.
When the lion made me hurry
Covering his buy as best as he could, Kenshin quickened his pace. The mist pooling from his mouth at each exhale, he observed through the drape of his fiery uneven bangs that plastered to his forehead.
It was obvious, No! Annoying.
It's gonna rain!
The sky continued to crash, heavens arguing loudly, attacking with their cragged bolts. The on looking clouds wept at the tumult, protests unheard.
Panting, Kaoru pattered on, sloshing through brown puddles, not noticing her mud crusted geta, soaked tabi, and stained ends of her kimono.
Has the rain erased his alibi?
As a rurouni, this unworthy one never knows when or where one will be off to next...
Had he truly decided to be a vagabond again? Would she ever see him again?
Did he already forget?
Would she ever know if...
Is this all the two of us will become?
That wetness trailing down her cheeks...is it raindrops......or are they tears?
Let's make all of this the rain's fault.
Kaoru bit her lip, hoping and praying to find Kenshin. She had followed him to Kyoto once, and she would do so again, even across the ocean, just to see him one last time. One last time to be able to say goodbye, which meant much more than just seven letters.
As for calls from him, Nothing Nothing
And lessons from the rain too, Nothing Nothing
Would it be too late for her to tell him? What went deeper than the beating of her heart...How long had she yearned for this? To release her soul to him, and ardently hope he would too.
If my mind would change
But fear of rejection and stubbornness was something Kenshin and Kaoru both had in common.
Like the weather in England
Kaoru's umbrella swished wildly about and droplets descended on her head, making her dark hair look like a halo of midnight strands and the dew on it like twinkling baby stars. All the anxiety made her face look like it had lost all tranquility and inner peace. Kaoru slowed to a walk, feeling down, but not out of determination yet.
No matter what, Kaoru knew they would find one another, whether it be an hour from now or a year.
That would be a relief...but it's the opposite.
Lifting a trembling hand, Kaoru brushed her cheeks of its mysterious moisture with delicate fingers. The rhythmic tempo of the rainfall all around her, above her umbrella, filled her senses. She stopped and closed her eyes, letting the natural music soothe her hectic nerves.
The rain has made my fever return.
A foreign echo reached Kaoru's ears, too heavy to be that of splattering water. Eyelids abruptly lifted, and she gasped, fervent hope humming loudly in her ears.
But he also suddenly remembered me.
Tentatively, Kaoru lifted the umbrella, brimming sapphire eyes widely falling upon the figure less than a foot away from her. He stood surprised, amethyst gaze observing her with light confusion.
Her face immediately lit up and Kaoru trotted over to him, adjusting the umbrella so it covered them both. A shy blush blossomed across her cheeks and she offered him the gift of a smile.
Kenshin accepted and sincerely returned it, placing an affectionate hand over hers that curled around the umbrella. An inch away from each other...
The two of us were guided to here now.
No need for words. Or amorous actions. Their eyes said it all, speaking volumes of a buried emotion, slowly, but surely being unraveled.
It's all the rain's fault, no, thanks to it.
"Kenshin...."
His smile only broadened and the hand wrapped over hers warmed and squeezed tenderly.
"Let's go home, Kaoru-dono."
"Yes......home."
Not exactly hand in hand, close enough, but two hearts unknowingly beating together. For a time they may have pondered, why were they born as "we" if perhaps they were meant to be as one? The answer is, that they are half of each other, and Kami-sama and Fate meant for them to meet and learn that love is what makes them one.
The rain calls people and makes them disappear--
A magician stronger than anyone.
The two of us had merely been fooling each other;
And didn't everything start in the rain...
It's gonna rain!
~Owari~
End Notes: *heaves a HUGE sigh* Wow. By far the longest and most dramatic one-shot, no, story, I think I have ever written. I've poured so much into this...Actions speak louder than words, ne?
Really the first time I have actually written an actually songfic. I hope you people liked, because I definitely enjoyed writing this!
My Inspiration: I had many actually; The first would be obvious, the song 'It's Gonna Rain!' and the whole half thing at the end from the song '1/2', and you all probably know, both of those are RK theme songs, and a pic I've seen a few times of Kenshin and Kaoru under an umbrella...I just woke up Saturday 1/17 with the idea.
Here's the part of 1/2:
Why were "we" born?
We're 1/2 of each other, right?
I try thinking by myself, but
as I expected I'm not very good at it.
Credits: Translated song lyrics from animelyrics.com.
First Draft: 01/17/04
Edited and Finalized: 01/19/04
Please do review! Arigato Gozaimasu!