Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.
Title: Chance for Love
Rated: PG-13
AN: This is my first attempt at writing a fanfic. Please bear with me as I get used to the process. I recommend criticism good or bad. The reviews are what tell me what you as a reader like or dislike. I won't change everything in the storyline, but I will try to add what you like.
Italics - Thoughts
BTW this is AU
AN: Sorry for the long delay in this fic. I've been quite busy. Having exams and tons of tests in school practically each week kept me extremely busy. Once more, I apologize greatly for that.
Another AN: Thank you all SOO much for the reviews! They encourage me to write greatly. I read each and every review just to let you know, and I really appreciate them all. And also thanks to the people who have sent me e-mails! Thank you once more for the reviews! Keep it up!
Ultimate Mix Up- This is a story I recommend that you read by Snow White Hyatt.
Romance- Many people have reviewed asking for romance. So here it is. Hope this satisfies you.
Allenby Beardsly- No, Kenshin and Aoshi don't have a rivalry. And as for the questions about Sano knowing about Sakura and about Kenshin dating Tomoe, all these questions will be answered in this chapter.
Sagitarious Devil- Yes, you're correct. Sakura does mean "Cherry Blossoms". And thanks, I'm glad you liked the name I picked.
Lauren Williams- Akira and Enishi were around 15 when they had killed Sakura. Now all of them are in there late teens, 18 the most.
ShariganUser- Yes, I am going to continue on both "Love By The Seven Seas" and this. About updating, I'm not quite sure. I've been busy a lot, but don't worry. I'll have the chapter out by 2-3 weeks the most.
Chapter 6: Let Me Share Your Pain
Kenshin swerved the car to a quick right and continued driving. He glanced over at Kaoru and smiled softly. Kaoru's hands were folded neatly but tightly in her lap, eyes slightly red from crying, but her face serious and solemn while dried tears were imprinted on her cheeks.
Kenshin looked back at the road. "We'll be there in a few minutes."
Glancing from the corner of his eyes, he managed to see Kaoru's weak nod.
Once again Kenshin went back to his thoughts, frowning slightly. Does she really want to see this? She's been quiet lately since I've last told her, does she...does she think of me as a monster?...
As Kenshin continued having his trail of negative thoughts, Kaoru was having her own thoughts as well.
How could Akira and Enishi do such a thing!...Such heartless bastards. And Kenshin, oh poor Kenshin! He had to suffer all through that by himself...Oh, Kenshin... Kaoru felt another burst of sorrow flood through her body.
She weakly managed to look over at Kenshin and instantly saddened once more. Kenshin's hands were white now from gripping the steering wheel too hard. His face had worry lines and a sad look to it. He seemed to be in a deep thought.
Instantly, Kaoru slid her hand and placed it on Kenshin's shoulder. Unexpected by this, Kenshin turned around and smiled weakly at Kaoru. "We're... here."
Those two words made tons of emotions run through Kaoru once more. Kenshin pulled into an isolated surrounding by the beginning of the woods and parked his car. He took a deep breath before both he and Kaoru climbed out of the car.
Once more Kenshin began to feel tense as he observed the familiar forest. Sakura-san...Oh how I miss you terribly.
Kaoru, seeing Kenshin stiffen, walked up to him and slid her hand into his, letting their fingers entwine. Kenshin felt his muscles loosen up and began to relax as he felt the loving warmth of Kaoru next to him.
He looked down at her warmly. "Kaoru, are you sure you want to do this?"
Kaoru nodded. "Please, Kenshin. I really want to."
With a final glance at her, Kenshin began to lead the way into the all so familiar forest while holding her hand tightly in his.
Kaoru followed suit, following Kenshin through a maze of branches, trees, and leaves. Momentarily, she swiped out the leaves and branches that clung to her. After quite a long while, Kaoru looked up at the sky and noticed it was getting near sunset. She was somewhat afraid of the dark, but by being with Kenshin all the fear left her.
Looking back over at Kenshin, she noticed that he was slowing down. She was about to ask why when she found out for herself.
He had stopped into a large opening in the forest. Trees surrounded the place, while flowers bloomed ever so brightly scattered around. You could hear birds chirping from a distance and the place illuminated a beautiful glow to it.
But what made the place stand out greatly, was a large lush pine tree that hovered above greatly from the rest of the trees. It had the most beautiful hand-picked flowers surrounding the tree in a circular halo shaped.
Kenshin held onto Kaoru's hand even tighter and lead her by the tree. He closed his eyes and breathed out Sakura's name.
Kaoru slid her hand out of Kenshin's and walked near the other trees. Kenshin opened his eyes slightly and looked over at Kaoru questionly.
She bent over an area of white plums and smelled them. Picking out the best five, she gathered the flowers in her hand and walked over to the tree and gently laid down the flowers.
Closing her eyes and pressing her hands together in a praying position, Kaoru prayed silently. Oh Sakura-san, I'm so sorry that this happened to you. Even if I never knew you, you must have been a very great person. Please, please let Kenshin love me and trust me fully. Let him share his problems, feelings, emotions, and whatever obstacles that he's bound to face with me. Please, let us be together. As his sister, I beg of you to let me be with him. Let me heal the pain and sorrow that he's facing. Please...let us love each other and be together...forever.
Kaoru didn't even realize that tears were spilling down her face until a gentle finger swiped the tear off her face. She opened her eyes and through her blurred vision, saw a look of admiration, love, respect, and sorrow fill Kenshin's eyes.
He suddenly embraced her into a deep hug, pressing her as close to him as possible. "I love you so much, Kaoru."
Kaoru wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder. "Kenshin...I'm so sorry that this had to happen to you...I'm so very sorry."
As Kaoru began to cry once more silently against him, Kenshin rubbed her back gently. "Kaoru, please don't be. You've done nothing except heal my wounds. Thank you, Kaoru."
She gently pulled back from Kenshin and looked at him softly in the face. "Kenshin? I..I've been meaning to ask you something, but..." Kaoru lowered her face suddenly afraid to ask.
With his hand, Kenshin lifted Kaoru's chin until both their eyes locked. "Please continue."
She bit her lower lip hesitantly before finally responding. "Why..Wh-Why aren't Akira and Enishi both in jail or something? And why are they living with you?"
Kenshin's eyes flickered a dangerous shade of amber before returning to its normal violet. "You see, there was no evidence. Only my word for it. They had instigated an investigation but came up with nothing. And so the file was closed. Hiko had tried everything in his willpower to try and bring both Akira and Enishi to justice, but his attempts failed. But the only thing that Hiko won out of that case was letting the police agreeing to a random search. Though finally, after a whole year, they closed the case with no evidence except my word."
Kaoru kissed Kenshin softly on the forehead. "Oh, I'm so sorry Kenshin. Those heartless fools will soon discover their punishment someday."
Kenshin looked away with a hurt look on his face. "It's my fault. If I had just been their then-"
He was cut off as Kaoru placed her mouth over his in deep kiss before gently pulling away. "Kenshin, please stop blaming yourself. Sakura wouldn't have wanted you to put yourself through this misery. Please Kenshin, please, don't hate or blame yourself for anything."
After a moment's silence, Kenshin pressed his mouth over Kaoru's once more and began to kiss her passionately. Kaoru kissed back with mutual feelings. After the long, hot kiss, Kenshin pulled away slowly and looked over at Kaoru whose face was flushed, but was smiling slightly.
She held on to Kenshin's hand before continuing. "But Kenshin...then why are they living with you?"
Kenshin lowered his head allowing his long red bangs to cover his eyes. Kaoru bit her lower lip not knowing what to expect. And since his bangs covered his eyes, Kaoru couldn't properly see what Kenshin was feeling. Instantly, she began to feel guilty.
After a moment's hesitation, Kenshin finally looked up and over at Kaoru. "It's a long story. Are you...are you sure you want to hear it?"
After seeing Kaoru nod, Kenshin continued. "You've seen Sanosuke's mansion and you could easily tell that he's rich. His parents are the owners of an oil company in Yokohama. Awhile ago, they owned the company partially. They were hoping to become business partners with another wealthy family that too also owned an oil company. The family was the Yukishiro's."
"Tomoe and Enishi..." Kaoru breathed out softly.
"Yes. That family." Kenshin said.
"Well it was pretty difficult to become partners with them. Eventually, the Yukishiro's and Sagara's came to a compromise. Sano would wed Tomoe..."
Kaoru's eyes widened. "But..."
Kenshin placed a finger on her lips before continuing. "That was the only way. Both Sano and Tomoe were against it though. But since the Sagara's really needed to become partners with the Yukishiro's, they begged Sano to try and win her heart. And hopelessly, Sano agreed. He sent her flowers, chocolates, cards, everything to try and win her heart. But all those attempts failed. Tomoe didn't love Sanosuke and didn't even want to marry him. Sanosuke felt the same way, but he still had to try and win her heart just for his parents."
Sitting down on the grass, Kenshin pulled down Kaoru so that now she was sitting in his lap with her back resting gently across his chest.
Kenshin breathed in a strong scent of jasmine from her hair and continued. "Since Tomoe didn't want to marry Sano, the partnership was off. The Yukishiro's were only going to give the partnership if and only if Tomoe obligated and accepted to marry Sano."
Kenshin frowned slightly. "One day, Sano was telling me about the whole situation that was going on. We two were best friends. Sano didn't really want to marry Tomoe, but his parents were forcing and begging him to. Well coincidently that same day, Tomoe and Akira were both walking on the street across from us. Akira was trying to get Tomoe to marry him. Supposedly, the only reason why Akira wanted to marry Tomoe was because of her looks and of her wealth. As you see, Akira handles the Yukishiro's whole financial records. He works for them and so knows about the Yukishiro's whole money affairs."
Kenshin pulled out a few tree leaves that clung to Kaoru's hair and hesitated for a moment. Seeing his hesitation, Kaoru slid her hand into his and silently urged him on to continue.
"Well, Sano and I were walking when Sano caught a glimpse of her and pointed out to me who she was. Because as you see, I've never seen her before. Heard about her, but never seen her. Well Tomoe and Akira were now crossing the street. It was a chilly day and Tomoe was wearing a light blue shawl. A strong gust blew that drifted away the scarf. Tomoe who was now near the ending of the crossing, turned around and went to catch her shawl. Right when she caught it, which now she was in the middle of the street, a truck was speeding fast towards her. In her state of shock, she froze and couldn't move. People called out to her, but the calls were helpless. The truck was a mere distance away."
Kenshin paused once more deciding how he should continue. "I reacted on instinct and ran to her side grabbing her and pushing us both of the street and on to the sidewalk. I had saved her. It took her awhile to get to her senses. But eventually, she regained sense, opened her eyes, and looked up at me. You see, by shoving us both of the street we landed into an awkward position. I was on top of her with my arms wrapped around her."
He suddenly narrowed his eyes in disgust before continuing. "To make this short, she supposedly instantly fell in love with me. Muttering about me being her knight in shining armor. When her parents had heard about the accident, I made Sano go and tell the reporters, who had showed up, and her parents that he had saved Tomoe. I needed and wanted to avoid publicity after what was still going on. About the Sakura incident. This happened a few months just after Sakura's case was closed."
"But Kenshin," Kaoru began. "Couldn't the other witnesses tell you and Sano apart easily?"
Kenshin nodded. "Yes they could, but as you see both Sano and I were dressed exactly alike. Like I said before, it was a chilly day. We both were wearing gray sweatpants with a gray sweater, and on top of that we were wearing an oversized black jacket."
Kaoru giggled and was about to make a comment on their fashion taste when realization hit her. "But what about your hair? Even if you were dressed alike. They could tell you apart from your hair. Red and brown."
Kenshin wrapped his arms around Kaoru and placed his chin on top of her head. "That's true, but we also were wearing winter hats on top. I had piled my hair on top of my head, before placing on the hat."
"Oh," Kaoru said understanding. "But then what happened?"
"My, aren't we eager to know what happened?" Kenshin asked teasingly as he lowered his head and gently began to kiss the side of her neck.
Kaoru sighed softly in pleasure and tilted her head giving him better access to her neck.
As Kenshin continued kissing her for quite some time, Kaoru slowly pushed Kenshin off of her. "Kenshin, please do continue."
Kenshin stared at her softly for a second before continuing. "Instantly after hearing that Sano had saved their daughter's life, the Yukishiro's gratefully gave the Sagara's the partnership. Sano's parents were happy, the Yukishiro's were happy, and Sano was happy."
Kaoru tilted her head slightly. "Why was Sano happy?"
Kenshin smirked. "He didn't have to marry Tomoe anymore."
Kaoru laughed lightly. "That baka rooster!"
Kenshin smiled as he heard Kaoru laugh, but frowned slightly. "Everything was going great until Tomoe regained her complete sense. She had a suspicion that it wasn't Sanosuke who had saved her, but somebody else."
"I don't understand. How could she have a suspicion? You two both were dressed exactly alike and Tomoe had not once seen you before." Kaoru asked confused.
Kenshin placed his hand on top of his scar. "It was the cross scar. Tomoe knew that Sano didn't have any scars on his cheeks of any sort. So she decided to investigate herself. She went to Sano's house. The mansion that Sano's parents had given him in a show of thanks, appreciation, and love. Well, unknown to her, I was over at his house. And when she rang the bell, Sano didn't have enough time to warn me, because Tomoe had already came into the house."
"Oh, no." Kaoru gasped. "What happened?"
"To make the long story short," Kenshin began. "She put 2 and 2 together and found out that I was the one that saved her. Well sadly she was still in love with me, lust mostly, and blackmailed us. She said that she would tell her family about Sano not being the one to save her, if..."
"If?" Kaoru echoed.
"If I would go out with her." Kenshin responded grimly.
"That baka." Kaoru said frustrated lowering her eyes.
Kenshin nodded. "Since she never saw me, she wanted to be with me 24/7. And since Sano had a huge mansion, she blackmailed him into allowing her to stay temporarily. But the worst part was that she wanted me to stay their as well. Being a great and close friend of Sano's, and not wanting to have him involved in more trouble and not wanting to attract publicity myself, I accepted. She was a very beautiful girl. What could have gone wrong?"
Hearing Kenshin call Tomoe beautiful, Kaoru whacked him on the head while glaring at him fiercely. "Baka! Just because she was beautiful, you wanted to stay and 'LIVE' with her?!"
Kenshin rubbed his head and coughed nervously. "But Kaoru, I didn't mean it like that."
Kaoru glared at him and got off of his lap and now sat just a few feet from him. She crossed her arms and continued glaring at him. "I don't even want to hear it."
Kenshin moved closer to her. "But Kaoru-"
She raised up her hand as if to stop him. "Don't Kaoru me. Just stay where you are."
Kenshin frowned and nodded sitting back in his position.
After a long silence of them both sneaking obvious glances at each other, Kaoru finally broke it by saying. "Kenshin...?"
Kenshin instantly looked up. "Yes, Kaoru?"
"Why...Why does Akira stay over then?" Kaoru asked softly, her anger melted away.
Kenshin lowered his eyes back to the ground and stared at the grass. "Remember when I told you that Akira worked for the Yukishiro's? Being in charge of their financial records? Well, since the Sagara's are now partners with the Yukishiro's, Akira is now also the Sagara's financial record handler."
"Then why doesn't he go see Sano's parents instead of seeing Sano." Kaoru inquired curiously.
"Sano's coming of age to take the business in his hands. When Sano's parents pass away, they will need to hand over the company to someone in their bloodline. And that's where Sano comes in. Since Akira's also the financial adviser, he comes over frequently over to the house and discusses the company's industrial records and financial records with Sanosuke."
Kaoru started laughing. "He probably doesn't even listen to half of what Akira's saying."
Kenshin smiled and looked up and over at Kaoru. "Not half, but 75% to be exact."
Kaoru started laughing even more. "So true."
After Kaoru had stopped laughing, she asked another question. "That explains Tomoe and Akira, but now what about Enishi? Why does he work for you?"
A dark look spread across his handsome features making Kaoru suddenly feel bad. Kenshin. ...Maybe I should have drew the line. I had asked him far too many questions...It must be really hard on him...Oh...
She suddenly got up and walked over to Kenshin, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.
"I'm so sorry, Kenshin." Kaoru said as she placed her head in the crook of his neck.
Kenshin lowered his eyes and placed his hand on Kaoru's right arm.
They stayed there for a couple of minutes feeling the warmth of the person they loved.
Gently, very gently did Kenshin bring down Kaoru onto his lap with her arm and began to kiss her passionately. Kaoru responded by wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down for the heated kiss. Kenshin leaned and continued kissing her deeply, shifting so that he could wrap his arms fully around her and pulled her even closer to him. After a long moment did they eventually pull away, both their faces flushed.
Kenshin smiled softly and reached a hand down to gently push some hair out of her face, caressing her cheek as he did so. Kaoru shivered a little bit as his fingers gently traced her face and looked up again at him. Her breath caught at the tender look in his eyes. In such a short time, how could I fall deeply in love with him? she wondered as she trailed her fingers gently through his long hair.
Kaoru closed in the gap and started kissing him once more, both their feelings deeply mutual for the other. Kaoru slid her hands in Kenshin's hair pulling out the ponytail letting his hair flow down in cascades down to his shoulder. Kenshin did the same, removing Kaoru's ribbon letting her hair go past her shoulder in waterfalls. Kaoru leaned deeply into him so both of them landed back first on the soft ground beneath them.
Kenshin rolled over and was now gently on top of Kaoru. He trailed kisses down her neck while Kaoru moaned softly in pleasure. She craned her neck to give him better access to her neck loving the feeling of his hot breath against her neck. She wrapped her arms around Kenshin's back, pulling him closer to her. He then began to trail kisses from Kaoru's neck up to her face finally reaching its destination and capturing her lips.
Both continued kissing passionately with arms wrapped tightly, yet securely around each other.
Suddenly a loud, powerful voice interrupted their passion. "It would work so much better without the clothes."
Yes! Finally done. The next chapter's going to come out...I don't know when, but very soon. Also, I just have one question to ask. Shall I continue and what would you like to see in the next chapter?
Until then, ponder on who you think the voice belongs to. My best and most absorbed readers of this fic should probably know who by now.