Author's Note: I've taken many liberties with events, timing, people, and spacing, but please read and enjoy my first Kenshin fanfic! Thanks!
You Were Always On My Mind
A forest blanketed with snow. Pure, quiet, serene. The swordsman awoke sitting against a tree, snow lightly falling down all around him. He knew he had been here before, too many times to count. He stood up, looked around and started walking briskly.
"I don't want to be here," he thought. "I have to get out of here. I must..."
He ignored the snow, which started coming down more heavily and cleared a path as best as he could manage.
"I don't want this. Wake up! Wake up! I don't-"
It was then, suddenly, that he caught a whiff of it, of hakubaiko. White plum perfume. Her perfume.
He couldn't help but stop and close his eyes.
"Please. I don't want to see you. I'm fine, I-" his train of thought broke off, for the smell was becoming stronger by the second, as if someone was drawing near him.
And, against his will, he opened his eyes slowly, only to look upon the face that haunted him, the face that he would always remember.
Tomoe… Tomoe…
Her face bore no sign that she had any idea of the traitorous thoughts he had almost uttered out loud, but instead was full of welcome and yes, of love.
Tomoe…
He knew that he should step back, should leave her and try to forget but…
I just can't help it.
He took two steps forward as her face broke into the heartwarming smile he remembered. Her white plum perfume was all around him now. He raised his arms, intending to embrace her, and-
Kenshin snapped awake suddenly. His eyes full of emotion, he looked down for a while and gathered himself before looking at his surroundings. It took him a while to remember that he was indeed at the Dojo, his joints aching, his body weak, a long time before it should have been.
"I knew it," he said sadly to himself. "I knew it was just a dream. It always was, and it always will be. I'll never meet her again."
By the weak sunlight streaming through the window, his face suddenly seemed older, as if all the cares and burdens of the world had been thrust upon him.
I never will," he repeated softly.