Couple of quick notes about this drabble:
It jumps around between the past and present. I separated everything with dividers but refuse to put "flashback" or something else equally ridiculous to show exactly which part is the past and future. Let's hope it's not too confusing.
When I originally posted this, several people wanted to know if Kaoru was committing suicide. I would like to say now, up front, that is not the intention of this drabble. Kenshin = Siren/Nymph like character who cheats and Kaoru has a connection to the ocean that gets her into trouble.
Ravyn
Leaning into her the side of the phone booth, her breath coming in short, excited bursts, Kaoru twisted the cord around her fingers as she waited for someone to pick up the phone. The adrenaline didn't fade as the answering machine kicked on and her first few words were shaky and rushed.
"Hey Misao!" Clearing her throat, she tried again. "Hey, I'm… away for the weekend. I know I promised that I would go to the movies with you, but I had something come up. I left the key in the same place. Please check on my fish."
Hanging up the phone, she stared at trembling hands and bit her lip, telling herself to calm down.
There was always the chance he wouldn't remember her anyway.
X
Sudden air was a shock to her lungs as the sea threatened to pull her under again. Something was holding her up in the water, something cool and sold against her chest and fingers as she continued to gag up seawater. Some part of her brain was horrified. She was a strong swimmer, she knew how to avoid heavy undertow, and yet the water pulled her down, down, and down… an old friend's embrace.
The world shifted again, this time abrupt and forceful, her skin cold with the chill in the air as she was pulled from the warm invitation of the ocean. The soft siren song to sink deep, heavy, and…
She was dropped heavily onto the earth and her eyes flew open. A man was standing over her. His hair was a dark, deep wet and fell over bare shoulders – nearly to his navel. Curiously mauve eyes watched her moodily, the faintest hint of yellow around his iris.
"Her victims are normally not so willing," he said finally. He shifted his weight and Kaoru felt herself flushing uncomfortably as she realized this man was completely naked.
"Humans are born of fire and know nothing of the water. Who are you to call on her?"
X
"To thin," the old woman muttered in broken English. "Too cold." To emphasize her words, she wrapped her arms around her rather full middle and shivered. "Need man."
"No," Kaoru said softly as the little old woman fussed with the light blanket on the bed. "That will be fine."
Smiling brightly, Kaoru fished a few bills from her pocket and pressed them into wrinkled hands.
"Thank you."
Shrewd eyes studied her for a moment before she reached up and patted her cheek. Seeming content now, she bustled from the room, her wide hips swinging to some internal rhythm.
Taking a deep breath, Kaoru pulled back the gauzy material that covered the window and stared at the crush of the ocean. There were too many bodies on those white beaches now. But tonight…
It would be her, the dark of the ocean and her dreams.
X
Somehow, the conversation had gone downhill. His demanding question – who the hell was he anyway – had ended up with her sprawled out in the cold sand in front of him, his knees pressed against her ribs. He didn't seem at all concerned with her discomfort. She desperately tried to think of anything other than his nakedness. She still wasn't sure why she had let him manhandle her into the position anyway.
He was brushing her hair.
He had started by picking all the knots and snarls from her hair with a comb that looked suspiciously like it had been carved from bone; with little smooth bits of brightly colored shells or coral pressed into the top. Now he was brushing it, smooth strokes that started at her scalp and work through the length of her hair. She wasn't relaxing, per se, but she wasn't so jittery that she felt like she was going to shake apart either.
Allowing her eyes to trail back to the ocean, she watched the waves as they crashed against the earth, pulling everything it could back into its depths. There was something so lulling and beautiful, that it took a sharp tug on her scalp before she realized she had matched her breathing to it.
Fingers trailed down her spine in an alarming fashion.
"This isn't the first time that she has called you."
Kaoru twisted, so that her elbow rested against his shin.
"You keep saying that."
A slight breeze tickled her face with the strands of his hair, but she didn't look away.
"She only lets you go once and yet… here you are."
Frowning, Kaoru reached down to push herself up off him. Part of her was scandalized that she had even let him touch her, regardless of how water logged and drained she was. He said nothing as she sat up and glared at him, just watched her from those curiously light eyes.
"I have no idea of what you are talking about."
The edges of his mouth curved. "Yet here you are…" he repeated, tone thoughtful. "I wonder…"
X
Dinner was exhausting. There were so many people. Crowding, pushing, and sucking the scent of the ocean in their lungs to be exhaled like smoke and the heat of breath. She barely tasted her food, distracted by the siren song only she seemed to hear.
Pushing her half-eaten plate away from her fork, she dug around until she found the appropriate monetary sum and carefully set it down. Standing to lift her purse, she left the diner and headed back to her room. She had the urge to take a hot shower.
It was a struggle to think about hot water and soap, her mind being tugged at by the melodious music that the breeze brought her of the open water. She was so close. Wouldn't she care to join them. Shivering, she walked into her room and locked herself in the shower.
There were still too many people.
X
"It is dawn now," he told her, his eyes tracing her features. "You are safe for the moment."
She tiled her chin, eyes flashing as he too stood. His hair was dry now, sliding around his form as the wind teased it; whispering over pale skin and muscle. The early morning sun turned the dark strands to fire. Ignoring the clenching her gut, she turned away from him. Questions she wished to ask burned on her tongue. She dared not.
Fingers curled strongly in her tumbling hair. Her body turned as his hand directed. Almost cold breath ghosted across her lips. His free hand suddenly curved along her jaw, fingers surprisingly rough.
"Once you taste the ocean," he told her. "It never lets you go."
He smelled of sea salt and the wind. He tasted of something else entirely. She had but a moments shock to register the sensation of flesh on flesh, his shoulder blade and spine under her grasping fingers, tangled in his long hair. Her toes curling in the sand. As his tongue invaded her mouth, a roaring filled her ears. The crashing of waves against violent rocks; the endless buoyancy of water; twisting and turning and sinking as she filled all sight and sound and sensation in cold, welcoming darkness.
A whisper in her ear, lips curved against skin, blinking past the darkness behind her eyes.
"That is why she will keep you."
X
Her eyes scanned the ocean, her fingers dragging through the grains as she watched the way the ocean slid on and off the wet beach. It was pounding in her blood again, except this time; she wasn't willing to step into its embrace for a swim; willing to be caught up in her waters.
Closing her eyes tightly, she wondered if she would ever be able to deny the heady call. Pushing to her feet, Kaoru walked to the waters edges and let it wash over her toes. Tilting her head back to the moon, she allowed some of the tension of the day to ease from her shoulders.
She could live with these quiet moments.
Opening her eyes, she glanced across the waters once more and her breath caught in her throat. He was standing waist deep in the water, his hair as wet and tangled as she remembered it. His eyes looked dark in the moonlight, fingers splayed on top of the water.
The edges of lips curved slightly.
Water tugged at her calves in invitation.
Swallowing, she took a step forward.
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