Thou hast reachethed the last chaptereth of this Fan-fiction. Thou arteth truly dedicated. I would like to remindest thou that I, the Author of Divine Providence, dost not owneth Rurouni Kenshin or any of the lines from Romeo and Juliet just in case thou art inclined to be a baka and thinketh I do (I wishith I was Shakespeare).
But Kawaii Lara-Chan does own the Haiku! ;)
Kenshin: You're gonna make us do
Shakespeare?! That's not in my contract!
Me: calm down, red-headed rurouni, and just read! Good lord, you'd think I'd
asked you to kill someone! Hehe Lara Chan loves
torturing the RK gang!
"……………." Something said by a character
'…….............' Kaoru's thoughts
Words written in italics are not said or thought by anyone. They are there for literary content.
ENTERING ANGSTY ZONE PROCEED WITH PROZAC
Fate pulls taut a golden thread and holds a razor, precariously above it. Sister Fate smiles her mouthless smile and lets the razor graze against the thread. Above the string, a picture hangs of sweet daylight. The music of life flits through the air, and clear water flows from streams with no bottom. On the other side, all is black and the smell of pain lingers in the air. High pitched screams wail from an infinite abyss of torment, a cacophony of sounds spiraling towards an ultimate, untimely disaster. Fate smiles because a life hangs between her fingers….she throws back her head and cackles as she breaks the string in two with one fell swoop of her judgment guillotine.
I vaguely remember, for the coldness of death that clings to my shroud does not permit me to remember such things. Sometimes, when the voices rise out of the pits of hell at a fevered pitch, a rate too high to think of anything but madness, I can see the scene played out before me. Actors on a stage tell the haunting tale of two lovers destiny…. I cannot lie, I felt it, even though I could not read ki. As I lay in Kenshin's arms that night, something changed drastically about the way the air felt. It grew cold and unforgiving. Kenshin's body suddenly shifted under me, and before I knew what had happened….
Saitoh.
He had been hiding in the clearing, watching us with wolf's eyes…with a wolf's taste for untorn skin. My back, my open vital had been facing him. It was too inviting. My spy instincts had failed me, and another opportunity might never come. He…
He lunged for me, to do away with any trace that remained of his pathetic bakumatsu spy. Kami-Sama, if only I had tasted the lick of his blade, but my sweet rurouni…my rurouni, my only love so new found.
Kenshin hurled me through the air, far from Saitoh's attack. I landed across the clearing, and looked up just in time to see Saitoh's blade flood into my love's chest.
"Noooooo!" I ran between the now upright Saitoh and my Kenshin. Saitoh's sword was dripping with the crimson life of the warrior. Kenshin delicately placed his hand to his chest, trying to protect my virgin eyes, as I fell down next to him. Tears began to spill over and pair down my cheeks, a flood of hot pain dripping onto the already soaked ground.
"Kenshin… let me see." I whimpered, removing his hand.
"Karou….." pain shot through his eyes as he said my name. "Kaoru, it is all right. Please don't cry…. Don't leave me." The gash in his chest. So beautiful, his testament of his love for me shown brilliant like a gem upon his chest.
No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door, but 'tis enough, 'twill serve. Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man.
The rain poured down on his mangled form as I lifted him into my lap. "Kenshin, please, you mustn't leave me! A few moments ago, we just found each other! We can have such a beautiful life, just hang on for a few moments….please, love." Raindrops mingled with my tears.
He gingerly took his hand and brushed away the stray hair across my worried brow. "Shh, Kaoru. Lets not talk of the future, just let me gaze upon you now. Kaoru, I love you. I love you so much, and I will wait forever. You are…" he began to cough, hard. His whole body trembled below me. "safe. That's all that matters."
Here will I set up my everlasting rest and shake the yoke of inauspicious stars from this world wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last! Arms, take your last embrace! And lips, o you the doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss a dateless bargain to engrossing death.
I pressed him hard against my chest and lightly brushed my lips against his forehead. "I love you, my darling. We will find bliss, I promise we will."
He smiled, but not a rurouni, inscrutable smile. He smiled a smile of pure and sheer happiness, and his purple orbs stared into my heart. "I know, my sweet. I love you. I love you more than I have time to say. We'll finish this conversation when I see you again. I am no longer afraid….. just let me look into your eyes." There was nothing to say, except everything I had ever felt. The only words that came to me were Honda's as I brought my mouth to his ear. Longingly, almost breathlessly, I uttered,
"The cherry blossom,
Feels the artic fall air and,
Yearns for days gone by."
He coughed, and I brought my face to meet his eyes once again. "That's so beautiful. You're so beautiful…" he stammered. "I love you. Goodbye my universe, my Kaoru. This lonely star grows dim."
"No……." I brought my lips upon his, in a fury of the storm and my tumultuous feelings. I deepened it and felt the presence of his tongue, and then, his beautiful life slipped out of my hands. His rurouni hair was damp, and my tears flung up from my shaking soul to dampen the earth even more. His blood, his essence, was caked on my gi, his presence was in the air about me. It was in the tall bamboo shoots, in the raindrops that licked my tired features. Lifting his reverse blade from his weathered hands, I laid him out on the forest floor, a fitting bed for my king.
Saitoh had been watching the entire scene unfold, studying our plight, as Kenshin's life drifted out of him like his blood. My small hands trembled as I flipped his sword and ran my fingers against the abrasive edge. 'Such a heavy sword,' I thought as my gaze fell on the human carnivore. He was standing in offensive position, ready for me to hurl myself at him.
"Why?"
"Because you fell in love with the enemy. Because you put you over everything else. YOUR HAPPINESS IS NOT THE PRIORITY, KAMIYA!" he spat towards me.
"But why did you go after me? Why didn't you just try to kill him? If you just went after him, he could have avoided it!"
"You are a disgrace. A DISGRACE! Everything I have taught you! Years and years of teaching you how to be like a spy and you waste it all by going soft! I cannot stand to look at you, anymore, Kaoru. You sicken me." Glancing across my shoulder at Kenshin, I readied my blade. My eyes drifted upwards, towards the dark sky and the thunderous heavens. The rain was falling in sheets, caressing my hair.
"Go ahead, Kamiya. If you have the guts. Go ahead, let's finish this here and now. Charge me." He said, with a slight smile on his face. I smiled back.
"Mibu, you will live the rest of your life haunted by these memories. Regret will tuck you in at night and grief will rise to wake you in the morning. I will not be the one to determine your destiny. You have chosen your life, May it be exactly what you deserve." I flipped the blade towards my own chest and held the point across my heart. Saitoh's eyes grew wide in uncertainty.
O happy dagger, this is thy sheath; there rust and let me die.
Cold steel slid through my chest, into my waiting, aching heart. It felt so warm, and inviting, like I was coming home after a life of running. After 19 years of wandering, I had finally found my place. In death, I belonged. I drew the blade back out and gave the wolf a sardonic smile. Kenshin. I stumbled over to where he had made his eternal bed, and lay myself down beside him, hugging my now bloody chest to his. The blanket of death slowly consumed my whole body. It felt like freedom. "I love you… I'm coming… please wait." I closed my eyes and smiled. There he was on the first day we met, and there, when he said goodbye to me before Kyoto… and there, when he told me he loved me. He was just ahead of me on a path filled with cherry blossoms and birdsongs. He stopped and the wind rustled his hair. Extending his slender hand out to me, he called my name and I ran his direction. I caught hold of his hand, and I had found my bliss.
The intrepid sun rose on a clearing, covered fresh with early morning dew. It's rays glinted upon a tinge of ruby, a poem of life scrawled across the ground. Red hair mixed with ebony, flowing on the soft moss of mother earth. Two lovers lay entwined, accepting the fate they had received with opened bosoms of crimson paradise.
For never was a story of more woe,
Than this of Juliet, and her Romeo
FIN