Though they had all gone off to bed more than an hour ago, she could not sleep.
She had never, not once, opened up as she had that night. In all her life, she'd never let anyone in, had never told anyone the truth of her past. There had never been anyone she trusted enough, no one she felt that needed to know just what had happened to her that night. It felt nice, in all honesty, to have it all off her chest after so many years.
And so, that was how she found herself out in the yard, standing beneath the moonlight. Above her, the stars twinkled in the sky, reminding her of the stories her mother had told her when she'd been small. Footsteps were approaching her then and she knew it was Kenshin long before he'd stopped walking; already he was that familiar to her. She turned as he approached and found herself to be smiling at him, amazed by the transformation of his somber features when he smiled back. "Can you not sleep?" She asked, amusd by this meeting, so like the one they had that first night she had stayed in the dojo.
Kenshin felt his heart skip a beat at the sight of her, standing there in the yard bathing in the soft white moonlight. It illuminated her like a goddess of sorts, her eyes intense in their gaze when she turned to face him. "I cannot," he admitted as he came to stand closer to her, the gap between them barely an arm's length. "It must be the moon." She chuckled at that, the sound soft and sweet like music to his ears. Kenshin had, much like this young woman, distanced himself from everyone. Since Tomoe... He pushed away the thought of her, it was still yet so painful... But since her, he'd kept to himself. He'd had no personal relationships until he had met Kaoru and all the others. But this girl, she had anchored herself to him without even trying, had filled him with a new sense of duty that he simply could not explain. All he knew was he wished to protect her, that he wished to ease the pain which she so clearly suffered through.
"My mother always told me the full moon brought out the worst in people," she mused as she tilted her head back to the sky above, the moon but a half tonight. It had been no coincidence, Misaki supposed, that the night she'd died a full moon had hung high in the black sky. "I never really believed her, how could the moon control the moods of humans? But, it seems my mother was right, as she usually was." Misaki hugged her arms around herself as she looked back at him. "Do you remember your mother?"
The question hit him and Kenshin paused a moment, thinking back to those days so many years before. "Just barely," he admitted softly, a smile touching his lips as he thought of his mother's soft hands brushing hair away from his forehead. "She and my father died when I was seven, cholera it was." Her face did not change as she listened to him speak but Kenshin felt compelled to speak on, telling her something he'd never even told Kaoru. "She used to sit beside my bed each night to tell me stories, each one better than the last." He found himself to be smiling at the memory, his mother's face foggy to him now, but the soft flow of her voice was embedded in his mind.
Without realizing it, Kenshin had closed the gap between them, his gaze lingering on hers as her hand raised up, touching the x-shaped scar there on his cheek. He felt the pads of her finger tracing the scar and he closed his eyes, committing to memory the warmth of her skin against his. When he opened his eyes again, he somehow knew exactly what he needed to do; leaning down, Kenshin brushed his lips against hers, tentative at first until she reacted. Her hand slid back around to the base of his neck, drawing him closer to her, and she felt him slip his arms around her waist. She was kissing him back as he held fast to her, as if she were the only thing anchoring him to the world. "Misaki..." He murmured her name as he drew back for just a moment, looking into her eyes as if they held all the answers.
And, truthfully, it was as if they did.
He took her by the hand then, drawing her out of the yard and into the room that had been his all these months at the dojo. It was a small, modest room, his very few belongings packed into a corner. His pallet lay in the center of the room, the covers pushed back as if he'd only just left it a moment before. Without a word, he drew her towards it, pausing only when they stood directly beside it. And then he was kissing her again, a bit more fiercely this time, his tongue meeting against hers as they found their rythym. Kenshin was unable to stop his hands from wandering- first tangling into her hair and then sliding down the length of her body, his palms memorizing her every curve. She tilted her head to the side, a smile brightening her features as she took a single step back, hands rising up to the neck of the kimono she still wore. Kenshin gulped, mesmerized as he watched her slowly slide the sleeves from her shoulders, exposing her skin to his prying eyes. He reached for her then, drawing her in to plant kisses from her jaw down her neck, her breath catching in her throat as his teeth sank into the soft flesh of her shoulder. "Kenshin..." Her utterance of his name hardened him completely and he felt a shudder race the length of his spine.
With his own hands, he helped her from the kimono she wore, discarding it without a second thought. Her body was bare before him and for the first time, he could inspect every inch of it; she was perfect. "Go," he urged softly, gesturing for her to get onto his pallet, which she did without a word. He freed himself from his own clothing and as he sprung free, her hand was instantly around him, moving at a tantalizingly slow speed. Throwing his head back as she began to move it a bit faster, Kenshin thought he was going to lose his mind. But then it was not her hand that held him, but she had instead taken the length of him into her mouth- giving him pleasure that was undescribable. When he could take no more, he pulled from her, and she was laughing as he dropped down to the pallet too.
Hovering over her, he gently pushed her onto her back, pushing her knees apart with one move. Then he was positioning himself between her thighs, his heart thudding hard within his chest. They met eyes for a moment and Misaki smiled, a smile he'd never seen on her face before, and he knew what she wanted him to do. Pushing into her, he heard her little gasp, and his own breath caught as he began to thrust into her. She was arching her back against him, grinding her hips against his, all while moaning his name. His movements were slow at first, tantalizing her as he pushed himself all the way in, and then drew it right back out. Beneath him, Misaki writhed, and Kenshin felt himself coming close to the end. He thrust hard into her and threw his head back as he burst inside of her, before he pulled free and crumpled onto the bed beside her.
Nothing else made sense to him but to draw her body to him, wrapping his arms around her thin frame all the while pulling his blanket over the both of them. He buried his face into the crook of her shoulder, the warmth of her skin against his more comforting than anything else had ever been in all his life.
[ x x x ]
When he woke the next morning, Kenshin found Misaki to still be sound asleep in his bed beside him. She had rolled over away from him and for the first time, he could see the array of scars that littered her body; they were mostly on her back, old, jagged scars that came from deliberate, torturous movements. He reached out, trailing his fingertips across each one, lingering for a moment on the large on directly in the middle of her back. That one, he realized, should have been the kill shot. But somehow, she had survived such a wound, despite the severity of it and all the others she'd been inflicted with. "They're bad, hm?" Her voice jolted him from his own thoughts and he drew his hand back as she rolled over to face him. "Even you, Hitokiri Battosai, do not have scars such as mine." She smiled, but he could see the sadness reflected in her eyes as she was recalled back to the night she'd been given such scars. But then she turned back to him, reaching out to touch the scar upon his cheek as she had done the night before. "Only this one..."
He caught her hand in his, drawing it close to his lips to kiss the center of her palm. "The woman I once loved gave it to me," he murmured softly, watching her expression closely, to see how it would change when she heard such a thing. But, she merely continued to look up at him, her face impassive though her eyes searched out his. "It was her fiance that gave me this one," he touched the lengthwise scar, and now that she looked it was indeed older than the across scar. "The first man to injure me in many years, I honored his will to survive against me, but I took his life all the same. And she was watching." By then, Misaki had sat up, clutching the blanket to her, listening intently to every word he spoke. As he went on, explaining the past to her, he felt lighter... It had been over ten years since those days, but he had not forgotten them. Tomoe tormented him, his past enemies tormented, every life he had ever stolen haunted him. "I killed her when she stepped in front of me in an attempt to protect me." Kenshin said softly, turning away from her as the memory of Tomoe's blood spilling filled his mind. "With her dying breath, she gave me this one," he touched the other wound, his sorrow hardening his gaze. He looked back to her, expecting her look to be one of horror, or even of disgust... But her eyes were soft and her hands even softer as she reached for him, drawing him towards her chest.
She wrapped her arms around him, holding him close to her; he pressed his ear against her breast, listening closely to the soft sound of her heartbeat. For what felt like an eternity, they sat together like that, no need for words, no need for anything but the feel of her arms around him. How long... How long had it been since he'd felt the touch of a woman? Or of anyone at all...? Kenshin buired his face into her chest, his arms winding around her waist, feeling as she slipped her hands into his hair. Tipping his head back, he met her eyes, and for the first time in his life... He felt hopeful. He brushed his lips against hers, a soft kiss, much different from any of the other ones they had shared yet. Misaki responded, her kiss as gentle as her own, but her hands still yet entangled themselves in his hair. She opened her mouth to speak, but then they both heards it: the unmistakable vocals of Kaoru.
Without a word, Misaki had leapt to her feet, hurriedly pulling her once discarded clothes back on; her kimono was rumpled, but she was dressed. And so was Kenshin when Kaoru slid the door open, quite unceremoniously Misaki noted with a smile, looking puzzled. "Misaki, there you are. You didn't come to bed...?" She trailed off, glancing towards Kenshin who stood with a sheepish look to his face. The moment he met eyes with Kaoru, he jumped and busied himself with adjusting his sword at his side, clearly uncomfortable beneath Kaoru's gaze. "Kenshin, it's not like you to sleep in, either." She looked from face to face again, before letting her gaze settle upon Misaki's.
"I could not sleep, Kaoru-san. I fear I kept Kenshin-san up far too late, it is my fault he's still abed," Misaki spoke as she approached Kaoru, casting one single glance over her shoulder at the wanderer. "Shall I help you with breakfast?" Kaoru grinned then, apparently taking her words for truth, and Kenshin watched her link arms with Misaki, leading her from his room, chatting happily about a surprise she had for her. He sighed, a contented feeling washing over him as he watched their retreating backs; it had been many years since he'd felt such a feeling. Turning back to make up the pallet he slept upon, he adjusted the blanket and then saw it, a pale blue ribbon. He recognized it at once as the one Misaki had been wearing the evening before and his heart fluttered. Picking it up, he slid it into a safe place against his chest, enjoying the warmth of it pressed against his heart.
[ x x x ]
That morning, once breakfast had been cleaned up and Yahiko was in the yard with Kaoru, kendo sticks in both of their hands, while Ayame and Suzume cheered them on. "I promised to help you find the man you seek, that I did." He looked to Misaki, who sat across from him, her sapphire hues widening as she turned to look at him rather than the others. "I think I may know where to find Kenta... but..." Kenshin was more than certain, in truth, but he worried about taking her there. The area was less than favorable and the crowd that frequented the opium den he hung around were criminals.
"But nothing. You said you would help me." She cut in, eyeing him with hardened eyes as she turned back to stare out into the yard, watching as Kaoru easily knocked Yahiko back. "Tell me where he is."
Kenshin sighed, but knew he has no choice but to tell her now; he had made her a promise after all. Besides, he had witnessed her prowess behind the sword- she was skilled and able to protect herself. Her small stature gave her a grace and speed most men could never achieve. Her talent with a blade surely would have made her later father proud, though Kenshin suspected General Akiyama would not have wanted his daughter to become a murderer. "We shall go tonight, when the others have all gone to bed. I don't wish for Kaoru-dono..." He trailed off, his own line of sight falling upon the now laughing Kaoru, who was extending a hand out to help up Yahiko. "She is not ready for such a place." When he looked back at Misaki, she had focused her indigo eyes upon him, her head tilted ever so slightly. But then she gave a single nod and smile, standing up and stepping out into the yard.
He could do nothing but sit there and stare out at the little family he had acquired- from Kaoru-dono to Yahiko and of course Little Ayame and Suzume. But then his gaze fell upon Misaki, bent at the waist, lost in a conversation with the two little girls that adored their newest playmate, and he felt his stomach turnover. He had loved a woman once... Years ago... It had ended badly and Kenshin had vowed to never love again. How could he, after all that he had done? How did he deserve to have something as special as love? To be loved? No, he simply didn't deserve it. And yet... As Misaki turned to look at him from across the way, he felt compelled to rise up, felt his legs as they began to move of their own accord... Right to her. It felt that things were changing, he was changing, and it was almost as if a spark had ignited within him. He had told himself he'd never allow himself to feel anything for another woman, or for any person really, but right there were five of the people he cared for most.
Just like that, the heaviness in his heart had begun to lessen. Just like that, he was remembering what it was like to have people to care for him and to have people to care for. He laughed along with the others as Suzume jumped into his arms, her little voice carrying along the wind, and hugged her close to him. These were the people who needed him now, these were the people he wielded his sword for now.
These were the people he'd always protect.
