Again, my thanks. You have kept me alive on this long and difficult road...
glossary:
sessha wa rurouni = "I am a wanderer." Kenshin's ever-memorable line from the first episode/issue, and from the Sayonara scene (boohoo!).
futon = Japanese mattress
Kinou no Kakera (A Piece of Yesterday)
by Mirune Keishiko
Seven: Answer
Moonlight crept upon the city as the night deepened. All over Tokyo, people were going to bed. Light shone only from the restaurants and shops that were already closing for the night.
/Sessha wa rurouni./
His words to Keisuke the night before echoed in Kenshin's mind as he silently slid open the door to Kaoru's empty room. Padding swiftly through, he drew from inside his gi a small, carefully folded sheet of paper. He moved toward the folded futon, hesitated, then quickly lay the paper on top before he could change his mind.
In the doorway he paused again and looked back. On the chest that stood against the wall lay a ribbon -- Kaoru had worn it all day. Slowly, fighting the urge inside him to hurry, to be on his way before he was discovered -- the hitokiri's wary vigilance and the rurouni's eternal restlessness -- Kenshin picked up the ribbon, sliding it between tentative fingers. He brought it to his face with a sigh, breathing in the scent of Kaoru's hair that lingered in the silk.
He felt furtive, guilty, like a thief, like a child doing what he knew was wrong. And so he allowed himself only another breath of Kaoru before the ribbon was back in its place on the chest and he was gone, the shoji sliding shut with barely a rasp of wood against wood.
Outside the air was sweet and balmy, the stars glowing feebly behind a screen of cloud. Kenshin found himself lingering in the shadows of the yard, circling the building soundlessly. His quick eyes wandered over the dojo as it stood dark and silent, picking out old scars, old memories.
The panel in the front part of the house, obviously newer than the panels that stood next to it. Sanosuke had repaired this panel after his first bloody encounter with Saitou so many months ago--cursing freely, of course, about a Jou-chan who wouldn't cut a guy who'd just been stabbed through the shoulder a little slack.
The barely perceptible crack running finely down the wall in another part of the house, where Kenshin had attacked the wall, lost in his memories of the Shinsengumi.
Another crack, this time in the fence, where Kaoru had thrown Kenshin in her rage after the engagement ring fiasco. Kenshin shook his head and smiled. What a Tanabata that had been for everyone.
As he walked through the dojo, flitting through the corridors like a ghost with his godspeed, more memories drifted to him. The courtyard, scene of so many happy moments with Yahiko, Sano, Megumi, Genzai-sensei, and the two little girls. The well, where he had spent countless peaceful mornings doing laundry -- perhaps an ignoble task for a hitokiri, but then he vastly preferred to have soapwater on his hands instead of blood.
The tension was singing in his veins as he rounded the last corner. Time was of the essence. Yahiko would be getting back from the Akabeko any minute now. And, although Keisuke had taken Kaoru out for a walk after dinner, there was no telling what time they would return. Kenshin strove to quell the rising urgency inside him. There was one last place to visit before he left.
He left his bag at the doorstep and stepped inside the dojo. The training hall stretched before him, cloaked in shadow, but he needed no light to see the rack of bokken at the end, the wall screen hanging in its honored place on the wall. The dim moonlight filtering in through the doorway glowed on the students' boards, pitifully few.
/"I didn't say I wanted Battousai to stay! I want the wanderer..."/
He had been surprised at that. Such spirit, pure and unfettered. He had not known many men like that, few women, and certainly no girls. Until now, after ten years of wandering, in a rundown dojo on the outskirts of Tokyo.
/"Well, at least tell me your real name..."/
/Himura. Himura Kenshin./
Kenshin picked up his bag and left, quietly shutting the doors on the dojo as he did.
/I'm a little tired of wandering./
He was. Now that he had found a home, it was getting harder and harder to leave it behind. Kenshin sighed, blocking from his mind images of Suzume-chan and Ayame-chan, Yahiko turning wide eyes to him, seeking advice for battle. Sano chewing his fishbone and arguing with Megumi, whose fox ears had sprouted again.
No. Kenshin gripped his sakabatou in his hand and approached the gate. The Kamiya dojo may have been home for... some time. But it had never really become his. Always, people had their own lives, their own destinies -- and his was not to be found here.
At least, not anymore.
/Sessha wa rurouni,/ thought Kenshin resolutely as he sped across the lawn. Then, unable to control himself, he glanced back one last time. The dojo was quiet, peaceful in the darkness, a benevolent hulk looming against the star-studded sky.
/Sessha wa.../
/This unworthy one./
/Kaoru-dono. Be happy./
Kenshin unlocked the gate with a sigh that was silent as the autumn wind.
/Ai shiteru, Kaoru-dono...
Kaoru./
Head bowed, he pushed open the gate.
* tsuzuku *
gulp... stay tuned for the next part!
ai shiteru = "I love you." I didn't include this in the glossary above -- it might've ruined the suspense, ne?
only two more to go, kukuruu! ^.^x
glossary:
sessha wa rurouni = "I am a wanderer." Kenshin's ever-memorable line from the first episode/issue, and from the Sayonara scene (boohoo!).
futon = Japanese mattress
Kinou no Kakera (A Piece of Yesterday)
by Mirune Keishiko
Seven: Answer
Moonlight crept upon the city as the night deepened. All over Tokyo, people were going to bed. Light shone only from the restaurants and shops that were already closing for the night.
/Sessha wa rurouni./
His words to Keisuke the night before echoed in Kenshin's mind as he silently slid open the door to Kaoru's empty room. Padding swiftly through, he drew from inside his gi a small, carefully folded sheet of paper. He moved toward the folded futon, hesitated, then quickly lay the paper on top before he could change his mind.
In the doorway he paused again and looked back. On the chest that stood against the wall lay a ribbon -- Kaoru had worn it all day. Slowly, fighting the urge inside him to hurry, to be on his way before he was discovered -- the hitokiri's wary vigilance and the rurouni's eternal restlessness -- Kenshin picked up the ribbon, sliding it between tentative fingers. He brought it to his face with a sigh, breathing in the scent of Kaoru's hair that lingered in the silk.
He felt furtive, guilty, like a thief, like a child doing what he knew was wrong. And so he allowed himself only another breath of Kaoru before the ribbon was back in its place on the chest and he was gone, the shoji sliding shut with barely a rasp of wood against wood.
Outside the air was sweet and balmy, the stars glowing feebly behind a screen of cloud. Kenshin found himself lingering in the shadows of the yard, circling the building soundlessly. His quick eyes wandered over the dojo as it stood dark and silent, picking out old scars, old memories.
The panel in the front part of the house, obviously newer than the panels that stood next to it. Sanosuke had repaired this panel after his first bloody encounter with Saitou so many months ago--cursing freely, of course, about a Jou-chan who wouldn't cut a guy who'd just been stabbed through the shoulder a little slack.
The barely perceptible crack running finely down the wall in another part of the house, where Kenshin had attacked the wall, lost in his memories of the Shinsengumi.
Another crack, this time in the fence, where Kaoru had thrown Kenshin in her rage after the engagement ring fiasco. Kenshin shook his head and smiled. What a Tanabata that had been for everyone.
As he walked through the dojo, flitting through the corridors like a ghost with his godspeed, more memories drifted to him. The courtyard, scene of so many happy moments with Yahiko, Sano, Megumi, Genzai-sensei, and the two little girls. The well, where he had spent countless peaceful mornings doing laundry -- perhaps an ignoble task for a hitokiri, but then he vastly preferred to have soapwater on his hands instead of blood.
The tension was singing in his veins as he rounded the last corner. Time was of the essence. Yahiko would be getting back from the Akabeko any minute now. And, although Keisuke had taken Kaoru out for a walk after dinner, there was no telling what time they would return. Kenshin strove to quell the rising urgency inside him. There was one last place to visit before he left.
He left his bag at the doorstep and stepped inside the dojo. The training hall stretched before him, cloaked in shadow, but he needed no light to see the rack of bokken at the end, the wall screen hanging in its honored place on the wall. The dim moonlight filtering in through the doorway glowed on the students' boards, pitifully few.
/"I didn't say I wanted Battousai to stay! I want the wanderer..."/
He had been surprised at that. Such spirit, pure and unfettered. He had not known many men like that, few women, and certainly no girls. Until now, after ten years of wandering, in a rundown dojo on the outskirts of Tokyo.
/"Well, at least tell me your real name..."/
/Himura. Himura Kenshin./
Kenshin picked up his bag and left, quietly shutting the doors on the dojo as he did.
/I'm a little tired of wandering./
He was. Now that he had found a home, it was getting harder and harder to leave it behind. Kenshin sighed, blocking from his mind images of Suzume-chan and Ayame-chan, Yahiko turning wide eyes to him, seeking advice for battle. Sano chewing his fishbone and arguing with Megumi, whose fox ears had sprouted again.
No. Kenshin gripped his sakabatou in his hand and approached the gate. The Kamiya dojo may have been home for... some time. But it had never really become his. Always, people had their own lives, their own destinies -- and his was not to be found here.
At least, not anymore.
/Sessha wa rurouni,/ thought Kenshin resolutely as he sped across the lawn. Then, unable to control himself, he glanced back one last time. The dojo was quiet, peaceful in the darkness, a benevolent hulk looming against the star-studded sky.
/Sessha wa.../
/This unworthy one./
/Kaoru-dono. Be happy./
Kenshin unlocked the gate with a sigh that was silent as the autumn wind.
/Ai shiteru, Kaoru-dono...
Kaoru./
Head bowed, he pushed open the gate.
* tsuzuku *
gulp... stay tuned for the next part!
ai shiteru = "I love you." I didn't include this in the glossary above -- it might've ruined the suspense, ne?
only two more to go, kukuruu! ^.^x