by Suiren
We have decided to bury him amongst the cherry trees. I remember telling him how the sakura could make his pain fade. When I close my eyes I can see him standing there -- with that small sad smile he reserved for me. But it's no use thinking like that. I won't ever see that smile again. He's left me here, alone. I wish I could drift to sleep and die. Then maybe I would see him among the cherry trees again.
~*~Kenshin's POV~*~
That figure's still following me. It's so familiar, and yet at the same time it's different, and I wish it wasn't so blurry. Every once in a while I try to glance at it out of the corner of my eye to see if its guard is down -- to see if I can see who it is. It speaks again.
"Battousai...you cannot see me...because you don't want to see me."
Well, perhaps that's true. I don't want some wierd thing following me when I go back to my friends and my wife at the dojo. The door is open and I step inside, and my nose is struck by the stench of illness and even death. I could tell when I came back that Kaoru was ill -- but surely she has not died! The figure behind me sounds tired.
"No, Kenshin. Kaoru is not dead."
I breathe a sigh of relief.
"Oro...my name is Shinta."
I turn my back on that annoyingly familiar figure again and begin to wander the dojo. Tsubame rushes by me with a warm kettle of tea like I'm not even there. The girl is polite to the extreme, and her completely ignoring me is puzzling, so I follow her out into the hallway. Yahiko is sitting on the floor outside of Kaoru's room, head down, asleep. He looks troubled. I peer in through the doorway and I see Tsubame set the tea down inbetween two familiar figures who are kneeling next to a third. One of them is Tae. The other--long black hair--red lips...
"Oro! Megumi! What are you doing here?"
She doesn't answer my question but I get my answer anyway as I peer over her shoulder. Kaoru is in bed. Her face seems to suck the life out of the room instead of being full of the life and vibrancy I remember. She's so pale. I move to rush to her side, but a firm hand grips my shoulder and stops me with surprising strength. It's that blurry thing again. Only this time something catches my eye--the hand--it's feminine. Something to ponder later.
"Let go of me." I murmur, quite certain my eyes are turning to amber, "I want to see my wife."
"She can't hear you, Kenshin."
"For the last time, my name is Shinta."
I don't have time to think of what that means as I break free from her grasp and slide to my knees on the other side of Kaoru, across from Megumi and Tae. Megumi is gently shaking Kaoru.
"Kaoru. Time to take your medicine. Tsubame made you warm tea."
Kaoru's eyes flutter open, and they're a dull blue as she stares at Megumi.
"Leave me alone. I want to die. I want to be with him..."
~*~ Kaoru's POV ~*~
Something dares to shake me out of my sleep -- of my dreams of Shinta when he came to the dojo -- when I fell in love with him -- when we created Kenji. It's the only happiness I have now. I cannot go back to sleep, so I open my eyes and stare up at Megumi, Tae, and further back, Tsubame.
"Leave me alone. I want to die. I want to be with him..."
Megumi lets out a sad sigh, and I see her eyes tear up. My words must have hurt her. She doesn't understand that by letting me die, it's not a loss. It's a celebration. A reunion. I belong with Shinta. That's what a wife is for, isn't it?
"Take your medicine, Kaoru. Kenji needs you here."
Kenji...the image of his father. He's not like Shinta--no, he is more like Kenshin. Perhaps even Battousai. He wants to be strong--and he does not need a weak, ill, grieving woman around to intrude upon his training with Yahiko. These thoughts of mine are interrupted when Megumi and Tae carefully tilt me up so I can swallow some of the medicine, followed by the warm tea Tsubame made for me, and I somehow manage a smile for them. Megumi told me once my smile was the best medicine for Kenshin's scar. But now he's not here. I have no real reason to smile. A shiver runs down my spine and I gasp softly, my eyes widening at the same time. I pull myself to my feet, despite the fact that Megumi, Tae, and Tsubame protest and rush to my aid, and I stare around the room, whirling quickly.
"Shinta...Shinta..."
He's here, but he isn't. My Shinta. No...it can't be. He's dead. In a few hours he'll be rotting beneath the ground covered in sakura.
~*~Kenshin/Shinta's POV~*~
When Kaoru stands up I try to move to help her, but I feel frozen. I can't move, and I watch as Tae, Megumi, and Tsubame stabalize her.
"Shinta...Shinta..." she says, and I manage a weak smile. I feel tears run down my face.
"What was that you said about my wife?" I ask as I tilt my head towards the figure. I can't see it's face, but I know it's surprised. It finally manages to speak.
"Ne...Ken...Shinta...you've died."
No. Not after all these years. Not when I finally made it home. When I've finally left my past and my sword behind for good. When I can finally spend time with my wife and my son.
"No. I'm alive. Kaoru-dono just proved that."
The figure has no answer. And I have too many questions.
A/N: That's all for this chapter. The next chapter I'll be ignoring K/K for a while so I can focus on the other characters... cause I love 'em all and I've ignored them. Twenty points to anyone who can review and let me know if that girl Kenji's with at the end of Seisouhen has an official name -- and Tomoe's fiancee was Kiyosato, ne? Anyway, R/R! For those of you who've mentioned it...yes...there is a happy ending. And possibly a sequel. ^o^
-- suiren