Standing in the Shadows by Broken Angel
She was standing at the window, her blue eyes misty and faraway, gazing into the deep blue evening sky, where the last traces of pink streaked from the heavens to the green-gray sea. I knew that look, that wistful, dreamy look– she was thinking of her beloved Himura Battousai, longing for him. She didn't notice me. She would never notice me.
I felt a flash of anger. It's too bad, Kamiya Kaoru. Battousai will never be able to come running to your rescue. He's useless, don't you see? He's useless! He failed to protect my sister, and he failed to save you, too! Stop waiting for him! Look here! Look at me!
I longed for her. She ached for Battousai. Battousai was my worst enemy, and she was the girl who had replaced my dead sister. These kind of situations were almost laughable – and I had thought they only existed in the romance novels Tomoe used to flip through. In those novels, there was always a happy ending. But in real life, they never did have a happy ending.
At least, there would be no laughter and sunshine for me in the end. That was the story of my life.
But I would make sure none of the laughter or sunshine went to Himura Kenshin, either.
I glanced at her again. With her lovely, delicate face illuminated in the fading glow of the sun's rays, she seemed beautiful to me. Is that strange? Maybe it was. But there was always a strange beauty to a person seeming so delicate and innocent, yet with a fiery spirit and headstrong, stubborn faith in what, in who she believed in burning inside her.
She would always love, trust and believe in Himura Kenshin, her defiant eyes had said on that fateful day which we had met, and she had confidently declared that she knew Kenshin would save her. In the end, Kenshin hadn't come to save her. But her eyes still said the same thing. The same thing.
It was ridiculous, childish, naïve, and plain stupid.
But it was admirable, too.
For a moment, I let myself dream about how it would be like to have a woman like her by my side. A woman who be there, by my side, through all my successes and failures, through all my joy and my pain. A woman whom I knew would always be behind me, to pull me up when I fell, to share my tears, to double my happiness. A woman who would stand by me no matter what, to accept me, completely, and to love me, always and forever.
But those were dreams, and they could only remain dreams. We just weren't meant to be, not in this lifetime. Maybe in another, when Lady Luck was kinder to me, but no, not in this lifetime. Those crystalline blue eyes would always tell of her unconditional love for Battousai, and I would always be watching her from afar.
I sighed miserably to myself, and shaking my head, I turned and melted into the darkness of the shadows, which the night had thrown down onto the Earth. Into the shadows, where I could only, and always be, watching her.
~ The End ~
A/N: I have always been intrigued by the possibility of an Enishi/Kaoru pairing. So, on the impulse after reading an Enishi/Kaoru fanfic, I wrote this. I hope you K&K fans don't mind too much, but I feel that poor Enishi-chan is lonely and needs someone to comfort him, and Kaoru is the only one who bothers to cook him meals. Don't get me wrong, Kaoru definitely belongs to Kenshin, but hey, we should always try something different ^_~. Excuse me if I made any spelling or grammar mistakes – I know reading fics with those mistakes is utterly detestable, and I do try to prevent them, but they pop up anyway. Please inform me if I made any of those errors. So anyway…please R&R! All comments accepted, even flames from those overly loyal Kaoru-and-Kenshin-Forever fans.
Disclaimer: Do I really have to write this? ….Oh, geeze, okay: RK in no way belongs to me. It belongs to Nobuhiro Watsuki and blah, bleh, bleech. Thank you, have a nice day, and no suing me, please.
