* Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer applies.
In Search of the Lost Sapphire
Chapter 5: Misunderstanding
"Sorry about that, Sir. I…" He stopped abruptly and snatched one of the photos at Kenshin's hand. "Hey, how did you get this shot? I know her!"
"What? Who?"
"I know this girl. This must be an old photo." That man looked into Kenshin's shocked face. "She is now the wife of my best friend…."
*****************
"Your best friend's wife…?" Kenshin didn't want to believe his ears.
"Yeah." That stranger nodded as he returned that photo to Kenshin.
The redhead didn't really pay attention to it. So she's already married… Another part of his mind scolded him, Come on, she's just a girl you met 10 years ago! She won't even remember you! Besides, why would you care anyway? But he couldn't help feeling disappointed. Until he realized that that stranger was waving his hand before his eyes.
"Hey, are you still there?" The stranger kept waving his hand.
"Sorry… I was just thinking…." Kenshin replied dryly. But I want to meet her anyway… "Say, Mr…."
"Katsu." Tsukioka Katsuhiro smiled and held out his hand. "Tsukioka Katsuhiro. And you are…"
"Kenshin. Himura Kenshin." Kenshin shook Katsu's hand firmly. "Nice to meet you too, Tsukioka-san."
"Just call me Katsu. You don't have to be so formal."
"Okay, then you may call me Kenshin."
"Nice to meet you, Kenshin." Katsu frowned a bit as he said Kenshin's name. "Hmm… why does that name sound familiar in my ears? Anyway, what is it that you wanted to ask me?"
"Er… I was wondering if I could meet her…"
"Who? That girl on the photo?"
Kenshin nodded. "Yeah. You said you knew her…"
Katsu thought for a moment. "I can arrange a meeting between you two, but I'll ask her husband first, okay?"
"Of course…"
"Then hang on a sec." Katsu took out his cell phone and dialed a number. "Hey, Sanosuke! It's me!" There was a slight pause. "Yeah, I'm just fine. And you? … Great! Listen, pal, there's a guy here who wants to meet your wife. … Who? The name's Himura Kenshin. But I don't think you know him. … How did he know her? Well, I don't know. But he's got a photo with her in it. … No! She's not naked! I swear! She's very decent. It's an old photo anyway. … So when will it be? … Now?" Katsu turned to Kenshin for a moment. "What about just now?"
Kenshin nodded. "Fine with me."
"Okay, we'll be right there in a few minutes. … Okay, see ya soon, Sano!" Then Katsu broke the line and said to Kenshin, "I'll bring you to their apartment now. It's not far from here. See that tall building there? That's where they live."
***
Minutes later they had already rang the bell to Sanosuke's apartment. A tall man with spiky brown hair opened the door. "Welcome Katsu! Long time no see!" Sagara Sanosuke greeted him as he shook hands with the other man. Then he eyed Kenshin who stood behind Katsu suspiciously. "And this is the man who wants to meet my wife?"
"Oh, how rude of me!" Katsu scolded himself. "Kenshin, this is Sagara Sanosuke. Sano, this is Himura Kenshin."
"Nice to meet you, Sagara-san."
"Pleasure's on my side. Come on in. By the way, just call me Sanosuke, all right? I hate formalities…" Sanosuke led their way to the living room. "I'll go call my wife."
"Er.. can I use the bathroom?"
"Sure, Katsu. You know the way…" And so they left Kenshin alone in the living room. Not long after a woman with long hair emerged from the kitchen. Her raven black hair hung freely on her back. Her lips were red as cherry. A loose dark blue T-shirt concealed her slim figure and she wore a black jeans. Simple, but she looked beautiful nonetheless.
That woman smiled mischievously as she saw Kenshin sitting on the leather couch and fidgeting his fingers nervously. She put down the tray in her hands and poured out orange juice for him. "My, my, may I know the name of this handsome gentlemen?"
"Uhm…" Kenshin blushed furiously at her comment. "I… my name is…"
At that moment Sanosuke came into the room. "I see you've met Megumi. Megumi, this is Himura Kenshin."
"Nice to meet you, Ken-san."
"Uh, nice to meet you too, Megumi-san." After the short introduction Kenshin looked around him, as if looking for something. Then he asked Sanosuke, "So, Sanosuke-san, where is Kaoru.. no, I mean your wife?" Never had the redhead thought how much disaster those simple words would cause…
"Who the hell is Kaoru?!" Sanosuke's eyes widened with surprise.
"Sanosuke!" Megumi scolded him. "Don't you dare telling me that you've got another woman!!"
"But, Kitsune-chan, I swear I've got no other woman. Kenshin, is this some kind of joke?! You said you wanted to meet my wife. Well she's standing right before you!"
"Huh? But Katsu-san said that Kaoru is your wife…"
"Grr!!! That Katsu… what does he have in mind this time? People don't just show up in my house and stir up some trouble!"
And in the midst of all confusion Katsuhiro came into the room, having no idea of what is waiting for him.
"Katsu! You bastard!" Sanosuke welcomed his friend at the room furiously. "Why the hell did you told Kenshin that I had another wife?!!"
"Katsu, Sano can't be having an affair, can he?" Megumi wailed miserably. "How could you do this to us? Sano would never cheat on me!!"
"Katsu-san, didn't you tell me that Kaoru is Sagara-san's wife?"
"Whoa, whoa!!!" Katsu was shocked to see those nasty responses he got. "What's up, people?" He turned to Sanosuke. "Sano, I never told him that you had another wife!" Then to Megumi. "Megumi, relax. Sano will never cheat on you!" And last but not least he turned to Kenshin. "And Kenshin, who the hell is Kaoru anyway?"
Now all eyes turned to Kenshin at once. The redhead could only gulp.
"Now, explain, Himura!" Sanosuke glared at Kenshin.
"Well… to begin with…." Kenshin scratched his head. "Katsu-san, you snatched a photo from my hand, is that correct?" At Katsu's nod he proceeded, "Then you told me that you know the girl on the photo. You told me that she's the wife of your best friend, right?"
"Right." Katsu nodded.
"Then you called Sanosuke-san and thus arranged a meeting. Do you agree with me to this point?"
"Yeah."
"Well, then here we are, and you just said that you don't know Kaoru!"
"Well, Katsu?" Sanosuke's deadly glare was now aimed to Katsu as he stamped his foot impatiently.
"Hey, man, I swear he got Megumi's photo!" Katsu defended himself. "How could I not recognize such a beautiful woman!" This one got Megumi to blush.
"Hey, hey! Don't flirt with my wife while I'm here!"
"Okay, then I'll wait till you're gone!"
Amidst the heated argument between those two, Kenshin took Kaoru's photo out of his bag and said, "But her name is not Megumi!"
What he said caused Sanosuke and Katsu to stop quarreling. Both said in unison, "What did you say?!"
"Look, I'm sorry that I've caused you trouble, but the name of this girl," Kenshin pointed to the photo in his hand, "…is Kaoru. And her name is definitely not Megumi…."
"But I wasn't looking at that photo! It was another…." Katsu stopped talking all of a sudden when he saw the picture. He frowned his furrows, thinking hard. Then as a realization dawned on his mind Katsu burst into laughter. He laughed so hard that he had to clutch his stomach.
"What?" Kenshin and Sanosuke glanced at each other. "What's so funny?"
"Heh, sorry guys…" Katsu rubbed the tears from the corner of his eyes, trying to regain his composure. "It's all a misunderstanding…. Now I know why your name sounded so familiar in my ears. You are that famous photographer, aren't you, Kenshin? May I see the other photos as well?" After receiving the photos from Kenshin he turned to Sanosuke and Megumi and began his explanation. "You see, he is a professional photographer and he is the photographer of that famous 'Japanese Girl'." Katsu took Kaoru's photo and showed it to Sanosuke and Megumi. The men wouldn't have missed the look of surprise in Megumi's face as she laid her eyes on that photo had they not been so occupied with this matter. "It seems that Kenshin was looking for this girl when I bumped into him and caused his photos to scatter in the ground."
"I helped him picking up the photos when I suddenly noticed Megumi on this photo." Katsu took another photo. Megumi was indeed in it. She was wearing the uniform of Red Cross unit. "Apparently Megumi had been a volunteer to help Kobe's victim at that time, right?"
[A/N: if you read the end of the first chapter carefully at the part when Kenshin was browsing the photos, you'd notice that there was a photo of a doctor helping the victims. Katsu was looking at this photo when he said that he knew the girl on the pic…. :-P Got you there for a moment, eh? ;-)]
Megumi nodded slowly. "Yeah…" But she doesn't really pay attention to Katsu's explanation. She seemed so lost in thought….
"The photo of this girl was taken during the aftermath of Kobe's great earthquake." Katsu went on with his explanation. "It has received an award from World Press Photo just recently. I knew it because I've edited the article about the WPP Award…."
The room was back to silent as soon as Katsu finished his explanation. In the end it was Kenshin who spoke first, "I'll have to apologize for causing you so much trouble…." Another dead end… So he thought. "Then I shall get going… Thank you very much for your hospitality, Sanosuke-san." Kenshin shook Sanosuke's hand and then Katsu's. "And to you too, Katsu-san, for the trouble…. Now, if you would excuse me…"
Kenshin turned away and prepared to leave the Sagara's residence when Megumi suddenly called out, "Wait!"
"What is it, Megumi-san?"
Megumi seemed hesitant at first, but then she continued anyway, "Kaoru… did you find anything about her?" She earned Sanosuke's and Katsu's surprised look for this, but she ignored them.
Kenshin smiled sadly as he gazed at Megumi's eyes. "I wouldn't have been here if I had found her…. I've visited all orphanages in Kobe, I've been to police stations, I've knocked strangers' doors, and all I could find about her is that her full name is Kamiya Kaoru and she was the daughter of Kamiya Koshijirou. Also that she had been an orphan since before the earthquake happened. That's all I could find about her…"
"One last question, Ken-san." Megumi asked him once again. "Why do you look for her? Why would you go so far to Japan only to look for a person who might not live anymore?"
Kenshin thought for a moment. "I guess I just have to…. I want to know the person behind those eyes…. You see, one could not turn their back to such eyes. Some of the mails I've received said that seeing her sad eyes made them remember that there are so much children like her out there. Homeless and parentless because of war or something else. They said it inspired them to help such children… While some other said that seeing her smile made them remember that they can always hope. They told me that seeing her smile encouraged them not to give up, no matter what their circumstances are."
Kenshin paused for a while before he continued, "As for myself, she makes me realize the reason I do this, photographing people. I've had it for a long time, but I've forgotten it…. I have always loved photographing people. A portrait can tell you a great deal about a person. It could tell you about his happiness, his sadness, his past and his hopes for the future. It tells you the story of a human's life…."
"It was a naïve thought, but I thought if I could help the humanity with the photographs I take, then I would be content. If by showing the world their life's story I could help them, then it would be enough for me. That had been my driving force…. But over the years, I gradually forgot it. I was too caught up with all incoming orders and activities that in the end, I didn't remember it anymore. Until I received feedbacks from the people who saw Kaoru's picture and read the article…."
"I've sacrificed my relationships more or less for the behalf of my career. But I've just recently realized that the real reason was actually that one thought. I was a fool for forgetting it. But she reminds me of the vision long gone from my thoughts. For that, I'm forever grateful to her. And in the end, I found myself back at the beginning…."
Stillness was all over the room when Kenshin finished. "Very well…" Megumi's voice broke the silence. "… then I shall tell you the story of Kamiya Kaoru's life…. Sit down and take your drink, Ken-san. This might take a while…"
- End of Chapter 5: Misunderstanding -
Author's Note:
* From the bottom of my heart I apologize very deeply for the long wait…. I hope you're still interested in this ficcie…. Explanation? Well, I've been thinking how I should end this fic. I didn't really have an idea how this would end. But I think I know now how. Therefore, after this chapter I will post a prologue first. I'm considering of rewriting some parts, but I'm still not sure….
* For all people who thought that Kaoru's married…. *evil grin* if you knew me then you wouldn't have to worry about Kaoru being paired to other guy…. Because I'm actually a die-hard k&k fan! Read the other stories if you wanna know…. K&K forever!!!
* Sooo…. What do you think of this chappie? Was it lame, was it great, was it appalling, or anything else? Just tell me what do you think of it by pressing the button down there…. *hint, hint* :-)
* Well, my endless thanks for reading this fic (and reviewing)! And thanks for all the supports; they mean so much to me…. Till the next update!