Footsteps in Moonlight

I think I must have known him all this while. Otherwise, how can it be that I took only two days to remember the way he loves to look at people with his head tilted at a slight angle? Or the way he pushes his glasses up just before he eats or sips his soup? Or even the manner in which he strides, like a panther or a lion soaking up the respect and fear of his compatriots?

Yes, yes, I must have known him all this while, but it matters not, or I cannot allow it to matter, for he is the enemy.

Kaoru turned to regard the white-haired man just a scant five meters away from her. As calmly as ever, he raised the soup bowl to his mouth as he drank in her vile concoction without as much as a squeak unlike the cacophony of complaints that she was accustomed to receiving when it came to her cooking. He was quiet and collected everything that Kenshin was, yet not.

Cocking her head to the right, she stared at the man-child whose very existence shook the Shanghai triad just a few years before as a boy, the very same person who was now responsible for her capture on this godforsaken island. Yet the more she stared, the more she could not shake off the feeling of familiarity. She knew him. Yes she did. There was something altogether recognizable in him that she was used to. Still…

Sighing, she put her chopsticks down as the sun started its long trek down the horizon. It mattered not who Enishi was or the reasons for her seeming curiosity of him. She was there for one reason and one reason alone – to be the bait.

But as the sun steadily fell, casting its last rays on his snowy locks; she could not help but imagine that they were there for reasons beyond that of a kidnapper and a captive. They were there because he was simply a lost boy looking for a friend, and she, the one person he has been searching for all this while.

"What are you sighing for?"

Enishi clumsily started the conversation, gruffly spitting the words that he had been dying to say.

"I…" Turning to gain better access to Enishi's gaze despite the fact that his shades were on anyway, Kaoru thoughtfully chewed on her bottom lip. "I don't quite know… do I know you from somewhere?"

Snorting, Enishi simply slammed the bowl on his tray and pushed his chair back, ready to leave.

"You don't know me."

His parting words before Kaoru was left in the rapidly darkening patio.

"But I do."

The whispered words never reached Enishi's shadow, but Kaoru needed to say them anyway. Even after Enishi's rude reply, Kaoru could not shake the gnawing feeling that his aura, his personality, everything about him was a reminder of something that had come to pass.

Sighing once more, she stood up to gather the plates and the remnants of the charred meal she scalded. It tasted even worse than anything she had done before, but she did not really care. She was neither in the mood nor feeling giving enough to try. It was just Enishi's luck to get her in such a disposition anyway.

The trip back to the kitchen was by no means arduous, but with the failing light, Kaoru could not help but guess as she stepped precariously ahead. Not a graceful person by birth, Kaoru was fortunate that she was gifted in Kendo and hence given a head start where it came to moving along. However, still unaccustomed to the big dungeon, it was not long before her leg caught on the carpet that furnished the large house. And so, with a startled cry, everything went crashing down.

"Shimatta!"

Knowing that there was bound to be a mess, Kaoru was at least thankful that she did not hurt herself in the clumsy fall. Most of all, she had managed not to cut herself with the splintered glassware. However, she should have been more attentive to her surroundings because as she climbed up, she realized that she could not tell where she was, and most importantly, where she should be going. Somehow the tumble took away more than her sense of balance, but stole her sense of direction as well. This earned yet another reason for Kaoru's inevitable "Kuso!"

"Tsk tsk tsk, Kamiya, what a potty mouth."

A sharp intake of breath gave away Kaoru's position as she took a step back, unknowingly grounding her foot onto a fragment of porcelain.

"Itai!"

Quickly shuffling back to her original position, Kaoru rested her weight on her uninjured foot while sending a death glare to the imaginary direction where Enishi might be. It was this fraction of a second which allowed Enishi to reach Kaoru's side as he tugged at her.

"What are you doing?!"

Enishi ignored her and simply cradled her to him as he carried her cautiously in some strange direction which seemed not that much different from where she had been.

"Unhand me!"

Struggling, albeit in complete futility, Kaoru refused to be manhandled even if it was against her choice, still, it did not make a single difference.

"You're just making it harder on yourself Kamiya. So just shut up and stop squirming."

Enishi's low baritone reached Kaoru's ear as she only managed to give off an unhappy 'hmph' while silence ensued.

It was only when a completely foreign corridor came into sight with the faint glow of the moonlight illuminating the passageway that Kaoru noticed she was back where her room was. Realizing too that Enishi was in no mood to accommodate her struggling, she simply sighed in resignation and laid her head to rest on his chest.

Murmuring in her half-comatose sleep, Kaoru was vaguely aware that Enishi had reached her door and was entering her room with her in tow.

Maybe it was the moment when he padded in quietly with the moon glow at his feet, or maybe it was then when he laid her gently on her bed, or it could even be the second when she was softly tucked in that the thought came unbidden in her semi-awake conscience: Perhaps he is as lost as I was.

Yet the next second forth, as he kissed her temple before exiting, the white light barely visible in the darkened room, Kaoru burrowed herself deeper in the inviting sheets and slept on, her thoughts forgotten.

I think that I knew him all this while, I must have, for wasn't he me? Wasn't he the lost child I was once before? Wandering alone in this world where all that was loved was gone? Maybe he isn't the enemy, maybe he never was. But can it be?

End

A/N: I do know that this is a little short, but it's inspiration (a BGM from an anime which I can't remember) is equally short. In fact, I had to put the song on repeat for 49 times just to get enough motivation for my muse to work. Please keep in mind that this entireshort story happens in one smooth flow, the little breaks thatoccurs arepartially breathers and entirely something like a shift in camera angles. It is most definitely NOT a change in POV because as you can read, this story is in a third person's POV.

This is also a little something for my readers who have been reading and supporting my works for all this while. I know that I've been sorely lacking and hardly putting my muse to work, but these are trying times and there is just too much going on for me to really concentrate on writing. I hope that this would tide you over until my next writing spurt, but til then, please keep your faith in me! Love you all so much! So please read and review, they are greatly appreciated and craved!!

Haruko