A New Era Prequel Part 2 - The Best Laid Plans
Rurouni Kenshin: A New Era -- Prequel

Disclaimer All rights and privileges to Rurouni Kenshin belong to Nobuhiro Watsuki, Shuiesha, Sony Music Entertainment, and associated parties. The characters are used without permission. This is a work of fiction and not written for sale or profit.
All characters I create belong to me.
Notes:
Thanks to Neka, Tae, Hikaru, Raya and Morrigan.
Written on 12/10/98
Yoko-chan (ardith@hanabatake.com)
http://www.hanabatake.com

A New Era Prequel part 2:
The Best Laid Plans

"Don't worry, Kaoru." Megumi brought out a large mirror, leaning it against the wall of the bedroom. Shinnosuke was asleep on their futon, off to the side. Kaoru looked at Megumi with trepidation. She had brought out a veritable arsenal for her "preparation."...

"I can't help it. I'm nervous. Megumi! What if he...he just says no? What am I supposed to do then? I knew I shouldn't have listened to you. I just knew it. This is all a huge mistake!" She wracked her brain and thought the plan over. There was no way that she could ever succeed in seducing Kenshin. No way. He was going to laugh at her. No, worse. He was going to be polite and just walk away. He'd just tell her she was being silly. Tell her that she was still a child. Dang it, she was almost twenty!

"Kaoru! Stop panicking! This is going to work. Believe me. Kenshin won't be able to resist you after this." Megumi moved swiftly, pulling off the blue ribbon that held Kaoru's long hair.

"I don't think I can go through with this," Kaoru looked at her reflection critically. Once released from her ponytail, her dark, inky hair fell down in straight locks past her waist. Her eyes were huge and panicked, in her heart shaped face.

"Kaoru, stop looking as if you're about to go to your death. You know what he feels. He told Sanosuke he thinks you are just too good for him. If you want him, you have to go out and get him."

"Do you really think I can do this?" Kaoru queried softly. Her eyes sought Megumi's in the reflection of the mirror for reassurance. When Megumi first came into their lives, she had made Kaoru feel like the biggest country bumpkin in existence. Megumi had been everything that she wasn't. She was mature and experienced. She knew about men. Megumi's presence had made her feel like a sweaty tomboy, like a little girl playing at boys' games.

"Kamiya Kaoru, look at yourself in the mirror. What do you see?" Megumi pointed to the glassy reflection. "What do you see there? You're beautiful. And more than that. You're strong. And brave. And smart. I'm not going to make you do this." Megumi crossed her arms, her reflection glaring at Kaoru from the mirror. "You are going to do this because you want to. Because you know that it's time."

"I want him, Megumi," Kaoru confessed, her cheeks pinking with her words. "I want to really be with him. I've wanted it for so long. I-I-I just don't know if-"

"If he wants you? He wants you, Kaoru. He's always wanted you. If he didn't, he wouldn't have stayed with you for so long. And he wouldn't have needed to say good-bye that day he left for Kyoto." Megumi had been so hurt when he left without telling her. But Kaoru... Kaoru had been devastated that he'd left at all. She wouldn't even eat. Megumi had fixed that problem. Now she was finally going to fix this one.

"But he-"

"And he came back to Tokyo with you. For you. He needs you, too. Now, the question is: do you want him enough? Do you need him enough?" If Kaoru wasn't ready.... Then Megumi was going to back down. Megumi just felt as if they weren't as happy as they could be, existing in a kind of limbo for too long. She just wanted the best for Kenshin and Kaoru. They were her family when she really needed one. They still were.

"He wants you. You want him. What are you waiting for? He's not getting any younger," she continued with a smile. "Now, do you want to do this or not?"

"Okay." Kaoru's voice was hesitant and soft.

"Hmmm?"

"Yes. I want him. I'm going to get him."

"Good. I sent Yahiko to Tae's with a little note. He's gonna help out and end up staying too late to walk back. Tae will make him spend the night. The rest, my friend, is up to you. Now let's get you ready."

******************************************

Where is Kaoru? It was not like her to be late. Kenshin had just finished the laundry and was hanging it out to dry in the sun. With the humidity in the air, it would take that much longer for them to be fully dried out. All of the chores were done and the sun hung low in the sky. Life at the Kamiya Dojo had fallen into a comfortable routine for him. Chores, cooking.... He knew how long it took to do everything he needed to help Kaoru run things around the dojo.

Where is she?, he wondered again as he sat down, leaning against the entrance to the dojo courtyard.

The dojo was quiet with both Kaoru and Yahiko out. When no one was around, the dojo looked so empty. He wondered if Kaoru had been lonely when she lived here by herself. All those years ago, that young girl had been fierce and full of energy, determined to achieve her goal. But that didn't change the fact that she had been so alone.

He closed his eyes. Kaoru.... She was going to turn twenty soon. Twenty....

That was past the age most girls were married. What would I do if she did...if she found someone to love? To be with? What would I do? Let her be happy. I would let her be happy. Kenshin thought he could be strong. He hoped....

*-*-*

"She's too good...," Kenshin sighed as he watched Kaoru turn and knock the hard bokken out of Yahiko's hands as they practiced.

If she really knew what he felt for her. Kenshin shook his head at that thought. The girl would probably be scared silly. Or more to the point, she would likely run him out of the house. Only Sanosuke knew the reason why he never did anything about his feelings.

"What the hell are you talking about, Kenshin?" Sano sat beside him as they watched Kaoru and Yahiko practice in the courtyard of the dojo. Megumi sat in the shade of the trees, watching the practice with a sleeping Shinnosuke

"Kaoru-dono. You asked me why I don't just marry her. She deserves better than me."

Sano shook his head. "Kenshin. You are usually one of the most intelligent men that I know when it comes to understanding people, but sometimes you are an idiot. And when it comes to certain young, nubile kendo instructors, you are definitely one."

"Sano. Look at her. She's 10 years younger than me. She's good. She's never-"

"She's never what, Kenshin? Never bloodied her hands? Never kissed a boy? Never had sex?" Kenshin's eyes flashed at that. Sanosuke knew when to back off. But still, Kenshin needed a good head butt to clear whatever fouled up his mind on this matter. "Kenshin, she's a lot less naive than you imagine." Sano shook his head at Kenshin's reasoning. No matter how much time they spent talking about this, it would take something drastic to change his mind. "Look at her. Kenshin, she knows more about the goings on of the world than most young girls do. She had to survive alone without all of us.... Jou-chan is strong and smart. You should get off your ass and thank the gods that you have her. Then you should go after her, to make sure she stays yours."

"She deserves better."

"Heh. I told myself that when I finally realized what I felt for Megumi. I've done things that should have horrified her. I had to survive. She understands, though. I think Kaoru would, too. She knows you and if you would just open your eyes, you would see that she wants you, too."

"She deserves better," Kenshin repeated. He felt like he was trying to convince himself.

Sano snorted in disbelief. "Then you'd just step aside if someone came? Think about that, Kenshin. Think about how you'd feel if another man had the right to touch her. To be with her. Could you still let her go?"

"If she wanted to...."

"Hell, Kenshin. Being a damn martyr isn't going to make either of you happy...."

*-*-*
Martyrdom. That was a joke. Could he stand it? Could he just step aside if someone else wanted her? And if she wanted him? Kenshin fisted his hand at that thought. He knew how appealing Kaoru could be. How when she smiled, you could feel like you were the greatest man in the world. It would be so easy for someone to just take one look at her and fall in love.

Kaoru was the most important person in his life. He loved her. That would never change. But Kenshin knew he should let her go. He should let her live her life. Find someone who was like her. Someone who deserved her. Someone who would make her happy.

Kaoru had saved him in so many ways. She had given him a family. That was something he had never really had before. All of them had needed each other for different reasons, but they stayed together because they found a home within Kaoru's sphere. That was her power. She helped you find happiness. No, if she found someone she could love, Kenshin would not begrudge her. He wouldn't leave her either. If he couldn't be with her, he wanted to still be part of her life.

"Tadaima."

"Kaoru-dono? Okaeri de gozaru yo." He stood up and walked toward the front of their home.

"Oro? Ka-Kaoru-dono?" Gods. She looked beautiful. Her hair was arranged so that half fell down her back in a black curtain. Half was pulled up, arranged with combs and pins. She wore a lavender and deep purple kimono. He could hear the silk layers rustle as she walked towards him. She shaded her face with a pale bamboo umbrella. She looked like an untouchable princess.

"Kenshin, do you like it? Megumi helped me dress up."

"Me-Megumi-san?" Kenshin looked so cute. And so confused. It's working!

"Yes. We were just....experimenting. She said that I should really dress up for the next festival. I think she's just worried because I'm turning twenty. It's not as if I care or anything. And she shouldn't either. It's not like she cared how old she was when she married Sano."

"She wants you to find a husband?" Megumi was overstepping herself. It wasn't any of her business if... What was he thinking? Megumi had every right to worry about Kaoru's future. She loved her like a younger sister.

"I guess.... How do I look?" She felt like flying like a sparrow. She was so excited. The nervousness had transformed itself to a sense of rightness. As she walked home from Megumi's, she knew that she had never looked this way. She looked-

"Different...," he replied absently.

"Ken...shin," Kaoru fairly growled. He wasn't reacting the right way. Megumi had said that this would work. Apparently, Sano and Kenshin were different creatures when it came to seduction. Kenshin didn't seem to even notice.

"You look beautiful. I...I have to go make dinner. Why don't you go inside. It feels so hot today..."

"Kenshin?" He walked away. She watched in numb horror as the most important man in her life walked away. Kaoru's eyes filled with tears. What was she doing wrong? What did she have to do to make him realize that she wanted him?

Kenshin worked in the kitchen, automatically preparing their evening meal. It was only right that Megumi would play the matchmaker for Kaoru, he reasoned as he began to cut and dice vegetables. He wondered what kind of man she had lined up for Kaoru. She should have spoken to him and Yahiko first, of course. At least introduced them....

When he saw Kaoru walk in, her face shaded from the sun by that umbrella, her kimono immaculate.... He felt as if his heart might stop. He wanted to reach up and pull the pins and combs from her hair. To watch it tumble around her face and tangle his fingers through the strands. He wanted to kiss her. She smiled at him and he wanted to take. To grab and mess up the perfection of her attire by moving against her. By her moving against him. So he left. He had to go, to find his control.

Megumi probably would be arranging a miai soon. A miai... a marriage meeting. For Kaoru. Kenshin knew that Kaoru was of age, but he had never really thought....

"Then you'd just step aside if someone came? Think about that, Kenshin. Think about how you'd feel if another man had the right to touch her. To be with her. Could you still let her go?"

Someone else touching her? Kissing her? Holding her? Someone else being with her till they were old....

"Kenshin."

"Hm? Kaoru-dono?" He wasn't going to look at her. He couldn't look at her and not want her, not try to reach out and touch. Not today.

"Why are you cutting up vegetables into such tiny little pieces? I thought you were going to pickle them. Don't you usually have them larger?"

"Oro~" The vegetables were cut up into tiny, perfect squares. What was he thinking about? Oh yeah...Kaoru. Marrying someone else.

"I'm going to make....oden instead."

"Don't you need larger pieces for that, too?"

"Don't worry about it, Kaoru-dono."

"Okay. I-I'm going to be reading."

"I'll bring it in when it's ready."

"Thank you." Kaoru shivered as she walked back to the main room. That conversation. It was just so...polite. This plan of Megumi's totally backfired. Now he wouldn't even look at her. Mou, I should have just left everything alone!

******************************************

Kenshin and Kaoru ate in silence. Kaoru wanted to burst into tears. The strained silence ate away at her. She was so sure that the plan would work after she dressed up and saw herself. She had been so sure that she could finally have all that she wanted. Now...Now everything had gone wrong. Kenshin wouldn't even look in her direction.

Kenshin couldn't stand it anymore. He had to know if Kaoru knew who Megumi planned to match her up with. He had to know if the boy was worthy.

"Ka-Kaoru-dono?"

"Yes?" At least he was going to try to talk to her, finally. She felt her muscles relax. He wasn't going to stay upset.

"Do you know who he is?" he asked, staring at his food as he picked at it.

"Huh?"

"For the miai. Do you know what man Megumi-san wants to match you up with?"

"Man? Miai? What are you talking about?" When Kenshin helplessly looked at her, she everything fell into place. "Kenshin, you think all of this is for a MIAI?" He was distancing himself because he thought that she was doing all of this for a miai. He thought that it was all for someone else. Suddenly the world seemed a lot brighter.

"I thought that Megumi-San" Kenshin started as Kaoru began to laugh. Her laughter sounded so sweet to Kenshin that he smiled at the gentle sound. He looked up automatically, expecting to see joy on her face (no matter how painful it was to him).

Kaoru was laughing while tears flowed down her beautiful face.

"Kaoru....dono?"

"You...you thought that I was going to be matched up with someone? That's why you wouldn't look at me this whole afternoon? Gods, Kenshin! I've been going through hell!" She began to cry in earnest. Kenshin dropped his chopsticks and moved to her side.

"You're not going to..."

"Kenshin no baka!"

"Oro~"

"I can't believe that you'd think that. You thought that I'd just accept someone out of the blue like that?" Kaoru wiped the tears away from her face. She wanted to look at him clearly, to see his face.

"You're not getting matched up? Megumi doesn't have anyone for you to...." He looked so relieved. He must have been imagining what life would be without her. Now that she understood, she felt her heart warm at his initial reaction.

"Kenshin. Look at me." He met her eyes. Her face was flushed, her eyes bright from tears. She was so beautiful.

"You're not getting married to anyone?" he asked again. He couldn't seem to think. He just needed to confirm that she wasn't going to be with someone else. He needed to know that she wasn't going to leave him.

"Kenshin... Don't you know? I love you. You're what I want. What I've always wanted."

"Kaoru...dono." She saw him wince and desperately tried to swallowed her panic.

"If you don't feel the same...If you don't love me that way, then tell me now. Tell me so I can...I can do something."

"Kaoru?"

"It hurts. It hurts here," she whispered, taking his hand and placing it over her heart. "Not knowing hurts. Knowing may hurt me, too, but...m-maybe I can make it go away. I can't make this pain do that." She wanted him to understand. Kenshin would always be a part of her life, even if he decided that he didn't want her that way. She would just have to love him some other way....if she could. But he had said Kaoru....

"Kaoru, I-You.... Kaoru, don't you understand how hard it is for me?"

"Hard?" What was he talking about?

He reached out and touched her face. His fingers felt rough, but his touch was gentle. She cupped his hand to keep it still on her, savoring his touch. "Kaoru-dono. You should be with someone good. Someone who hasn't done the things that I have. Someone who hasn't killed another person, no matter what reason."

"You're an idiot," she whispered back to him. "Do you think I would suddenly just fall in love with this nonexistent paragon? I love you."

Kenshin felt his heart squeeze every time she said those words. She loves me. Why am I fighting it? He was fast forgetting any reason for resistance as she moved closer to him.

"Kenshin, I don't think I could accept anyone else. I don't think anyone else would make me as happy as you do." Her eyes were dark pools, blue-back and endless. They pulled him in, drawing him closer to her.

"You could," he whispered back, "if you tried." She was so close now. He could just lean over. He could just move forward and kiss her....

"I wouldn't want to...," she returned, "because I want you." Kaoru leaned up, pulling his face towards her. Their lips touched. She pulled back slowly. "I want you."

"We shouldn't...." He could smell her sweet scent. Jasmine flowers and Kaoru. So close. He leaned forward and kissed her, pulling her closer to him. Kaoru. He had dreamt so often of holding her. Touching her. Now she was in his arms. Pulling him closer.

Kenshin. This was Kenshin. Kaoru didn't know it would feel like this. Kissing him. It was so...She couldn't describe it. She whimpered when he deepened the kiss. She never knew you could do that. She felt like her heart was going to burst, it was beating so hard. She wanted to touch him. She had to. Her fingers wandered up, tangling in his hair, pulling off the tie that held hit back. It felt like silk against her hands.

"You can't talk your way out of this one, Kenshin. Tell me." Her breath was ragged.

"Tell you?" How could she talk when he couldn't even think?

"Tell...me." She punctuated each word with a kiss. Kenshin closed his eyes, but she was already a part of his soul.

"You...could...do...," Kaoru continued to rain kisses on his face, so..much..bett-" She stopped his words with her lips, kissing him with all her love.

"No," she whispered against his lips, "I couldn't. I belong to you. Like you belong to me. Tell me."

"Kamiya Kaoru, you're very stubborn."

"Yeah?" She wanted to kiss him again, so she did. He tasted so good. She leaned forward, molding her lips to his, exploring his mouth as he did hers.

When he could breathe again, he replied, "Yeah."

"Tell me, Kenshin."

"I love you." She sighed and leaned into him, kissing him deeply.

"Marry me?"

"Yes," he returned, kissing her so sweetly that she wanted to weep.

"Oh good. I was prepared to..." She leaned forward and began to whisper in his ear.

"All that?"

"Uh-huh.... Of course, if you were still being stubborn, I would...."

"Kaoru?"

"Yes?"

"Call me Stubborn."

"Stubborn," she whispered against his lips.

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