So I'm officially out of school, for good... well, at least for the summer. I have passed all of my classes. As a treat, I'm giving you guys a really long chapter (well, long for me). Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to finish this story before I lose internet. I'm working on it, believe me.
Jolie Luv: Haha, thank you for all of your reviews. I can't give anything away. You're just going to have to continue reading. :)
For everyone else who has reviewed so far, thank you so much!
When she woke up in the morning, Kenshin was just about to walk out the door. As she scrambled down the stairs in her pajamas, she nearly ran into him. "Sorry." She breathed. "I woke up late." She wanted to kick herself. She looked down at herself. She didn't have anything under her pajamas which had sakura blossoms scattered on it. She wanted to wrap her hands around her chest, blocking the view.
He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Yahiko seems to have caught something, so he isn't going to school today." He gave her a stern look. "Take care of him."
"Don't worry, I will." He gave a nod and left, leaving her alone with a sick child. She walked around downstairs aimlessly, wondering what to do. This was usually the time where she helped Yahiko get ready for school, but since he wasn't going she was at a loss. Suddenly remembering the dishes from the night before, she tied her raven hair into a tight ponytail and walked into the kitchen and then froze. There wasn't any dirty dishes. "That guy..." She sighed to herself.
She walked over to the cabinets and opened them, viewing the shining dishes inside. She made an unladylike noise in the back of her throat. She stood there, not sure of what to do. Unable to do anything else, she went back to her room and grabbed one of the books she had recently bought off her shelf.
Hours passed and she had finally finished the book. Putting it down, she looked at the clock. "Lunch time." She said to herself, sliding out of bed. Before she made her way to Yahiko's room, she slid a sweater over her head. Walking to his door, she found that he was up as well, silently looking at a comic book. "Hey." She said, standing at his door.
His head shot up, surprised. "Hi." He attempted to say, but it came out in a whisper.
"Can I come in?" She asked and he nodded. "How are you feeling?" He shrugged and she sat down on the corner of his bed. "Not good, huh?" He only slid under his blankets; laying back down. She sighed. 'Poor guy.' She thought to herself. "Are you hungry?"
"No." He whispered.
"You need to eat something." Kaoru turned to see Kenshin in the bedroom doorway, his suit lightly wrinkled and his flaming red hair fell around his shoulders, like he'd just taken it out.. He gave her a cold look. "Were you planning on cooking something?"
"You know how I feel about cooking." She said, giving him a strange look, her mind weary.
"Then how exactly were you planning on taking care of him?"
That's when she noticed his eyes. Amber. She should have been scared, but she wasn't. Her temper flaring, she stood up, and defiantly put her hands on her hips. "By keeping your house standing and your son alive, Mr. Himura. What do you suggest I do?" She would probably regret how she was responding, but she didn't take well to being talked to like an invalid.
He glared at her, cold malice in his eyes. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought his breathing was heavy, like he was having a hard time controlling himself. "Get out." He growled.
Kaoru turned to notice Yahiko's eyes widen; not with worry or nerves, but from shock. She gave a sad smile before she ran her hand through his brown hair. Leaning forward she pressed her forehead to his hot one. "Feel better." She kissed his head and got up, walking quickly around Kenshin. She looked back, and he was still there, glaring at her like she was the world's enemy. She turned to run down the stairs and she was out the door.
Running down the street passing drivers, she had no destination in mind. She ran endlessly until she made it to a park. She looked around, noticing that it was abandoned. She should have seen this park before, but she had never been there before. The wind blew, making the swing set creak eerily in the silence. She walked over to the bench and sat down, drawing her knees up to her chest. It wasn't until she saw her tears on her knees that she realized she was crying. Angrily wiping her tears away, Kaoru wanted to scream. She wanted to scream at the world for her life, for her parents because of how the treated her, at Enishi for ruining her life and her trust of people, at Kenshin, who had been teaching her how to trust again and then just yanking it away in the blink of an eye. Most of all, she wanted to scream at herself, because she couldn't do anything to stop what was happening. There were always two paths, but she ended up always taking the wrong one. She looked up, into the line of trees and saw the face from the night before; no, not the face... the eyes. They were like death. Her breath caught in her throat.
Slowly getting up, she made her way to the trees, taking slow but steady steps. It was like the closer she came, the farther the person, the man, got. She wanted to run to him, see who he was. Why was he so familiar to her? One minute she was walking and then the next, she stumbled. Looking down, she noticed the branches on the group, blocking her path. When she looked back up, he was gone. She took one more step forward, and then felt a hand on her shoulder.
Whirling around, she saw Kenshin. His eyes were back to violet, and his hair and suit were fixed as though he hadn't even been the same person earlier. "What are you doing out here?" He asked her, looking her up and down.
She couldn't help but notice his voice was calmer then before as well. "You told me to leave, I did." She said, taking a step away from him.
"I said get out of the room, not leave the house." He replied.
"What's with you? First you act like you're pissed off at me, then you act like you hate me and now you act like you care what I'm doing." The wind suddenly began to blow, making her shiver.
He took off his jacket and placed it around her shoulders, but luckily she didn't argue or try to give it back. "I'm sorry about the way I acted earlier. It's been a very hectic day and I'm just trying to get through it."She didn't say anything, just continued to look at him and he sighed. "You didn't really answer my question."
She wanted to tell him that she didn't answer to him, but she sort of did... besides, he had apologized. She looked around. "Have you ever been here before?"
He shook his head. "No." Looking around, he continued. "A little girl died here a few years ago, so no one really comes here."
"Just because someone died?" She asked, looking startled.
"Well, she was murdered actually. She was taken to the woods over there and... well, she was found there by a group of children." He looked at her. "That's what I was told anyway. No one wants there children to potentially in that situation, so no one comes here anymore."
She looked back at the trees. "I saw someone." She said without thinking.
"What do you mean?"
"The person in the window... he was in there." She pointed between the trees.
"Is that why you were walking over there?" He asked, a startled look on his face. She only nodded. "I'm tempted to call you an idiot, but I understand why you did what you did." As the wind blew, she pulled his jacket around her tighter. She gave a small chuckle and without thinking he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Come on, let's go home."
She looked down, hiding her burning face from him. "Yeah." As they walked to the house, something dawned on her. "Whose watching Yahiko?"
He held up his cell phone. "If he needs anything, I told him to call me. I honestly didn't think I'd be gone that long, but I didn't think you'd have gone that far."
"I'm sorry." She said, feeling like a child. How much she had overreacted.
He opened the door as they made it to the house. "I'm the one who needed to apologize."
"And you did."
He smiled. "I did, yes." As he shut the front door, his phone rang. Looking at it, he smiled. "Yahiko." He answered the phone. "We're downstairs. I'll be right up." He looked at Kaoru. "He was worried about you. Come on."
She smiled as they walked up the stairs. Handing him back his jacket, she walked into Yahiko's room first. He was still under his blankets but his face was sweating.
"It's hot." He silently whispered.
Kaoru walked to his bed and sat down, pulling the blankets to his chin. "You need to sweat it out. You'll feel better sooner." She looked at Kenshin, who once again stood by the door. "Did he eat?"
"I only wanted crackers." He Yahiko answered. "I'm not hungry."
She nodded. "Okay, but you need to try to eat something tonight. Deal?" He nodded. "Good, try to sleep." Yahiko didn't reply, he just shut his eyes and rolled over.
Getting up, she made her way back over to Kenshin. Looking into his eyes, she found an emotion there that she couldn't identify. Taking his hand into hers, she gently pulled him out of his son's room. Walking down the stairs, they made their way into the living room and they sat down on the couch. "So you never told me about Yahiko." She started bluntly.
He looked at her, his eyes squinting in confusion."What?"
"When I talked about Yahiko and Tsubame... you said you'd explain later."
He looked away from her. "Oh." Settling back into the couch, he crossed his arms, his white button downed shirt tightening over his muscles. "When Tomoe and I got married she didn't want kids. To be more specific, she didn't want to give birth to any. We were young and she wanted to wait on that, but another side of her really wanted them. She wasn't superficial about how a baby would change her body but she didn't want all of the medical complications that could have happened. Anyway, I wasn't sure if I wanted children at the time, but I loved her and I wanted her to be happy so we talked about adopting. At first, it was a turnoff to me because who would want a baby that wasn't theirs, but like I said, I wanted her to be happy. After the whole process that we had to go through, we finally adopted Yahiko. He might not biologically be my son, but legally, and in every other way that really matters, he is."
"You love your son." It wasn't a question, but a statement.
"Yes."
"Would you ever want more children?" She asked, curious.
Kenshin leaned forward and rested his elbows on his legs, his chin on his folded hands. "As a single parent, no. Financially, I could, but I want to be in a relationship that I know will last before I think about having any other children. Though, I doubt I'd want to adopt again." He looked at her. "Yahiko was more than worth it, but if I ever have any more children I'd want them to be biological. There's no real reason for it. It's just something I want."
"That's understandable." She reasoned.
"What about you? Would you want any other children?"
She leaned against the arm of the couch, looking at him. "Once I get my life completely turned around, yeah. I think I would. I love children so when things get better for me, I'd think about it more seriously."
"Would you be a single parent?" He asked, and then sucked in a quick breath. "I apologize. That was a very invasive and very insensitive question."
"No, it's okay." She smiled. "I don't know. It's not something I strive for, but I'm already and single parent so it's not a big change for me."
Without thinking he told her that she deserved to be happy. She could only smile.
There was an awkward silence before she asked, "does he know?"
"That he's adopted?" She nodded. "Yeah. Sometimes I wonder if he knows what that actually means, but he says he does, so we'll see when he gets older."
Kaoru let out a small giggle.
"What?"
"You said it yourself. You're his father in every way that really counts. I think he realizes that too."
Kenshin leaned back again, resting his head on the back of the couch as he looked at the ceiling. "Maybe you're right."
"I think he understands more than you think he does."
He sighed as he looked at her through the corner of his eye. "Yeah..."
They sat there, not saying anything to each other. Kaoru played with the ends of her hair that fell over her shoulder and Kenshin sat there with his eyes shut.
"Are you nervous?" He finally asked.
Her hands fell to her lap before she looked at his face. His eyes were still closed. "No, why?"
"You've been playing with your hair for the past twenty minutes."
She opened her mouth to reply but his phone rang. He gave a low growl at the back of his throat before taking his phone out of his pocket. Without opening his eyes he put the phone up to his ear.
"Himura." He said. Kaoru just smiled. He didn't usually look to see who was calling, apparently.
"I know, I had a problem at home. Sorry, I meant to call in." Another pause. "Yeah, sorry, my son is sick and Miss Kaoru isn't really meant for the kitchen."
The person in the phone must have said something shocking because his eyes flew open. "I don't really know." He almost whispered. "Yeah, I'll talk to you later. Mhm, bye." He hung up the phone and looked at Kaoru. He opened his mouth but then looked at the top of the stairs. "Hey, what are you doing up?"
Kaoru turned and looked to see Yahiko.
"I'm hungry." He said, slowly walking down the stairs. He came to sit down between Kaoru and Kenshin.
"You're still burning up." Kaoru commented, placing her hand on his forehead.
He glared at her. "I'm hungry."
Kenshin stood up. "Stay here with Kaoru and I'll go make you some soup."
He leaned against Kaoru before mumbling. "Thanks dad."
The two smiled at each other before Kenshin walked away. Kaoru wrapped her arms around the young boy and pulled him against her. She figured that if she used her body heat to keep him warm, he'd sweat off the rest of her fever. She hoped it worked.
The next morning, she had to force herself to roll out of bed. Standing up, she felt lightheaded. There was a slight knock at her door. "Come in." She tried to say, but it came out in a whisper. She took a step before she began to sway. She tried to catch herself, but unable to, she fell to the ground with a thud. Before she could look up, the door swung open, revealing Kenshin.
He was at her side in a minute. "What happened?"
She opened her mouth, but didn't hear her voice. She tried again, but still nothing. She didn't know how to reply and soon tears were starting to form in her eyes.
He picked her up and placed her back on the bed before putting his hand to her forehead. "It's okay. I understand. Let me call work to tell them I won't be coming in today and we'll find some medicine for you."
She shook her head. You need to go. She mouthed.
He shook his head. "No, I don't. Yahiko is still sick and now you are too."
"Just go." She squeaked out. He opened his mouth and she held up her finger. Rummaging through her drawer, she found a pen and a notebook. Flipping to a blank page, she began to write.
Just bring Yahiko in here. We'll sleep until you get home.
"I can't just leave you two here by yourself."
Call Sanosuke.
He sucked in his breath. "I'd rather leave you two alone." She tried to laugh, but it came out as a rough cough.
Please, we'll be fine. I promise.
He sighed and walked out. No more than a minute later, he walked back with Yahiko in his arms. Scooting over, she allowed him to set his son down. "I'm going to leave the phone," he sat it down on her nightstand, "here. Call me if you need anything." She nodded. He began to close the door. "Bye." He said, but she was already pulling Yahiko to her, using their body heat to sweat out the fever.
True to her words, they slept the rest of the day. When Kenshin got home and made his way to Kaoru's room, she had just woke up and was trying to situate Yahiko on her bed. When she saw him all she did was smile.
This is my longest chapter yet. I had a lot I wanted to do and say here so this will probably be the ONLY long (3000+ word) chapter, but no promises.
Reviews are always welcome of course. :)
-K
