I'm so scared that I'm going to get writer's block! I know where this fic is going to but getting there, boy, that's a whole different chapter…Just hang in there with me…I promise to deliver you there safely.
Saitou had no part in this story originally, but I realized that the story needed him in it. 'sides, I love the way he acts so cool and unattached…
Have you ever woken up in the morning and for some strange reason had the giggles? Random question. Not really. Just go on, read through it. Okay, okay, so I woke up having the giggles, coz I felt so giddy that people actually were reading and reviewing this little piece! In fact, I'm having the giggles right now! 0_o…oh my aching stomach…Hmmm, does anybody like Ranma ½? Isn't P-chan adorable? Okay, I'm ranting here…I know…I know…go on…please do….
Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin. In a perfect world I would, but I live in the real world…and sadly I ain't got no money…so, it's utterly useless to sue me…but for good measure: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, but Nobuhiro Watsuki and a bunch of other people do…
On with the madness…
Promises From the Past Swans and RaccoonsA hand was touching his forehead. Even in his fevered state, he noticed it was a soft, feminine hand.
He opened his eyes to see whom the hand belonged to and looked into brown eyes.
Beautiful brown eyes. Concerned, beautiful brown eyes.
He frowned in confusion. A woman concerned for him?
He was about to say something to the woman, when she put a finger on his lips.
"Ssshhh…do not speak," the woman said, "just rest."
He watched her as she turned to a small lacquered tray, put some white powder in a cup, added some water and stirred it. She turned back to him and helped him sit up.
She put the cup to his lips, "Here, drink this. It will help bring the fever down."
He tasted the liquid and grimaced at the bitter taste. He turned his head away but the woman followed with the cup and made him drink all of it. He had no choice but to do so.
When he finished, she helped him lie down again. She placed the cup on the small tray and picked up a white cloth. She soaked the white cloth in a bowl filled with water, wrung it out, turned to her patient and began wiping his forehead with it.
He flinched, trying to avoid her touch. She looked him in the eye. He glared at her. But she kept on wiping his forehead and his face with the wet cloth.
"What are you doing?" he asked curtly.
Instead of answering, she soaked the cloth in the bowl again. She then took his left arm, folded back the sleeves of his yukata and continued her ministrations, now on his arm.
Angry at her for not answering, he grabbed her arm with his right hand and glared at her, "What are you doing, woman?"
She looked at his hand on her arm, back at him and serenely answered, "I'm nursing you."
Then she grabbed his right wrist, applied some pressure, and his hand went slack, letting go of her arms.
Surprised at what she did, he just glared at her more and said rudely, "I don't need your help," then he looked away like a sulking child.
The woman chuckled at his display and said, "Don't be such a baka. Everybody needs help sometimes." And she went on wiping him with the wet cloth.
For a while the only sounds that could be heard were the splash of water as the cloth was soaked and wrung out again, the soft rustle of silk, soft bird song coming from outside the window and the tinkling of wind chimes.
The effect of the medicine and her gentle ministrations made him drowsy, and he could feel himself slip into sleep.
Seeing that he was about to nod off, she soaked the cloth once more, wrung it out and placed it on his forehead. She looked at him and softly stroked his left cheek.
Already in that place between consciousness and sleep, he still felt her hand on his cheek. Strangely, it felt comforting.
Then he heard her softly spoken words, "Rest now…I'll take care of you," and fell into peaceful slumber.
***
Kenshin opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. Strange he thought that's the first time in weeks that I didn't dream of dead bodies
Still a bit fuzzy from sleep, he smiled and snuggled into the blankets. He closed his eyes and tried to remember his dream. The same feeling of comfort he felt earlier came over him again and he realized that he actually felt happy about the dream.
One of the few memories worth remembering
A rooster crowed and Kenshin knew it was time to get up and make breakfast. Sitting up, he stretched his arms, yawned loudly and burst out laughing.
Abruptly, he stopped, looked around to check if anybody heard him. Realizing the absurdity of it, he started giggling like a schoolgirl.
Realizing what he was doing now, he put a hand over his mouth to stop himself, but couldn't.
So he sat there on his futon, a hand over his mouth, shoulders shaking and giggling to himself. When he finally stopped, he had a huge grin on his face.
He got up, dressed himself in his magenta gi and hakama, put his yukata, pillow, blanket and futon away. Taking a piece of dark cloth, he tied back his hair, thought that maybe he should have his bangs cut, then shrugged the thought aside, and picked up his sakabatou.
All the while, he had that huge grin on his face.
Realizing that, he stopped before he stepped out of his room.
He tried very hard to put the 'Hi! I'm just an innocent rurouni who is absolutely no threat to you' expression on but found that he couldn't wipe that damn 'I'm so happy I could hug the world' grin off his face.
He really felt like grinning but he knew that if the other occupants of the Kamiya Dojo would see him like this, they'd probably think that Himura Kenshin, former Hitokiri Battousai had, yes, finally flipped his sword.
At that turn of phrase, he burst out laughing, thinking that with the sakabatou as his weapon of choice for thirteen years now, he'd flipped his sword a long time ago.
He was still laughing when he heard a voice outside his room ask, "Kenshin, are you okay in there?"
Hearing Kaoru's voice, he instantly sobered. He didn't want her to think that he was crazy.
Taking a deep breath, he mustered all that renowned Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu self-control and managed to answer quite calmly, "Hai, Kaoru-dono, I'm fine."
He was more than fine. He was happy.
And that thought scared him. It sobered him up like nothing else could. Sliding his door open, he saw Kaoru dressed in her training clothes looking at him.
Able to put on his rurouni smile again, he greeted her with, "Ohayou de gozaru, Kaoru-dono."
Seeing that the same beloved rurouni was facing her, Kaoru smiled and answered, "Good morning to you too, Kenshin."
Kenshin took in the sight of Kaoru and felt a sudden burst of emotion in the region called his heart. He suddenly felt like grinning again.
So before it could manifest itself on his face, he hastily said, "I will go make breakfast now, Kaoru-dono. I'll call you and Yahiko when it's time to eat."
He turned abruptly and walked down the hall towards the kitchen.
Kaoru studied his leaving back, frowned and muttered to herself, "Strange, I could swear that I heard him laughing in there."
"Oi, busu, are we gonna get to training or what? I don't have all day you know!" Yahiko yelled from somewhere down the hall.
At the B word, Kaoru, with her bokken in her hand, stomped down the hall towards the boy yelling, "You watch out, you brat! For that I'll make you train so hard you wished you called me the damn empress of Japan!"
"Yeah, yeah, ugly! You're all words! Get to the training already!" came Yahiko's insolent reply.
"500!" Kaoru yelled.
Kenshin heard their yelling in the kitchen. He grinned, shook his head and said to no one in particular, "Just another day at the Kamiya Dojo."
With a huge grin on his face, he proceeded to making breakfast.
***
After breakfast, Kaoru and Yahiko continued their training in the yard. Kenshin was by the laundry tub doing, what else, the laundry.
He had his hands in the tub, scrubbing clothes, sometimes holding up a piece to inspect a stain that needed to be scrubbed some more.
Occasionally, he would stop, lift his face to the sky with eyes closed, and stay that way for a few seconds as if soaking in the sun. Then he would go back to doing the laundry as if nothing had happened. Except he would grin to himself. Once he even started whistling but stopped when he finally realized what he was doing.
But his odd behavior did not escape Kaoru and Yahiko.
Yahiko stopped in mid-down stroke and nudged Kaoru, who was looking at Kenshin as if she'd never seen him, "Oi, what's with him today?"
Concerned about Kenshin's strange behavior, Kaoru forgot to get angry at Yahiko for stopping in the middle of training and answered distractedly, "I don't know. He seems…happy."
Yahiko studied the rurouni for a few seconds, "You're right…he does seem happy…happier than I've ever seen him. What could've made him that happy?"
Kaoru was still studying Kenshin and didn't reply.
Mistaking her silence for something else, Yahiko burst out, "Wait a minute…you two did it! That's why he's so happy! You let him have some! Ewww, I can't believe that he did it with a hag like you…now I can never ever…"
But before he could finish his sentence, Kaoru had him flying halfway through the yard yelling at him, "You have such a smut-brain, you little hentai!"
Hearing the commotion, Kenshin looked up with an "Oro?"
Kaoru continued yelling at Yahiko, who was passed out on the ground, "That's what you get for letting the little brat hang out with that tori-atama! He fills that brat's head with all sorts of stuff a thirteen year old shouldn't be talking about!"
"Oro?" was Kenshin's reaction for he still didn't know what the yelling was about. But apparently, Kaoru was yelling at herself.
"How else would he think that the only way Kenshin could get such a goofy grin on his face is by getting some from me? What does that little brat think? That I'd just jump Kenshin's bones and do it with him?"
Realizing that what she just yelled across the yard at an unconscious Yahiko could be heard by a very conscious Kenshin, she stopped, turned to Kenshin, saw his blush and blushed crimson herself.
Kenshin quickly looked down, started to vigorously scrub a piece of cloth, and pretended that nothing happened.
Mortified, Kaoru turned and fled into the house.
A half-hour later, Kaoru came back out with a broom in her hand because she figured that there was no sense in hiding inside, and started sweeping the engawa.
Kenshin was now hanging the laundered clothes on the bamboo poles to dry and Yahiko, she figured, was in the training hall avoiding her.
Finished with his task, Kenshin stood there for a minute and looked at the clothes that were flapping in the soft breeze.
A memory of a woman with beautiful brown eyes, telling him that one of the small pleasures of life was seeing clean clothes hanging in the breeze, came to his mind.
A smile came to his face as the odd feeling of comfort washed over him again.
As he was standing in profile to the porch, Kaoru saw that smile and her thoughts went back to Yahiko's words before those that made her flip him across the yard.
Remembering those other words made her temper flare up again, but her anger was overridden by the same confused and niggling feelings she had every since this morning when she thought she heard Kenshin laughing in his room.
Yahiko's words were true. Kenshin seemed happy today. Very happy.
So happy in fact that he was behaving oddly. Very oddly.
Grinning and whistling? She never seen him that…carefree. It was like he was a whole different person. A person she didn't know.
And that was the root of her worries. Because she felt she really didn't know him that well.
Sure, they'd lived together for three years now.
And they experienced things that a normal person could only experience in ten lifetimes.
And yeah, she learned a lot of his past life when he was still the Hitokiri Battousai. Well, why wouldn't she? Almost every experience they went through had involved somebody from his past.
And yeah, Kenshin opened up on some occasions, telling them about the years when he was that feared assassin. He told them about Tomoe, his first wife.
Yeah, but only when you got kidnapped by that psycho brother of hers and it was inevitable for you to find out about her role in his life a little voice inside her head whispered.
Kaoru sighed and admitted to herself that Kenshin's past mattered to her. Even if she had said otherwise the first time she met him and many other times in the past three years.
Not that knowing would change her feelings for him. She was in love with Himura Kenshin, former Hitokiri Battousai, and always would be. But sometimes she felt a need to know about his past.
The everyday things that he did, what made him angry, what made him smile.
Who made him angry, who made him smile.
With the last thought, she suddenly remembered her conversation with Sano yesterday.
***
It was mid-afternoon. Kaoru was sitting on the porch alone since Kenshin and Yahiko had left for town.
Kenshin, to buy his beloved tofu and some vegetables to pickle. Yahiko, to go help out at the Akabeko and probably see Tsubame.
Kaoru, bored from sitting there all on her own and sleepy from the afternoon heat, was about to go inside to take a nap when Sano arrived.
Seeing him, Kaoru said, "Lunch was three hours ago, rooster head."
Sano sat down beside her, shrugged his shoulder, "That's okay. I'm not hungry anyway."
Surprised at his reply, Kaoru raised an eyebrow, "Okay, what are you here for then, if not to mooch off of us?"
Sighing, Sano seriously replied, "I came here to talk to you."
Seeing how serious Sano was, Kaoru was instantly concerned, "Did something happen to Kenshin or Yahiko?"
Looking at her, Sano shook his head bewildered, "No. They're both fine. Why would you think that?"
"I don't know," Kaoru shrugged her shoulders, "You looked so serious, I assumed that something bad had happened…but if that's not it, what're you here for?"
Sano took a deep breath as if bracing himself for something unpleasant, then turned to Kaoru and asked seriously, "You love Kenshin, don't you?"
Kaoru blushed a little but answered, "With all my heart."
Sano nodded his head, "That's what I thought." Then he looked at her again and asked earnestly, "Do you ever wonder about his past?"
Not sure where this was going, she replied, "Sure, sometimes."
Then Sano looked out into the yard, "Don't you sometimes wonder about the people he met? Who his friends were? Who he got close to?"
Kaoru looked out into the yard as well, "Sure I do. Especially when his friends turn out to be prominent people. You know? Like, who would have thought that our unassuming rurouni knew Yamagata-sama or the Dutch consul personally?"
Sano acknowledged that with a brief nod. There was a long silence while Sano was apparently thinking about something.
Kaoru began to wonder where all this was leading since Sano being this serious was a rare occurrence.
He broke the silence with, "What about women?"
Not understanding, she asked, "What about them?" She looked at Sano's profile, since he still was looking out at the yard.
He looked at her then, "You know…women…that Kenshin met before he came here."
This time, Kaoru looked up at the sky and remained silent for a few seconds.
Then she sighed and said, "Before I learned about T-tomoe, I never did think about the women that Kenshin could have met. It's ridiculous really, if you think about it. I mean, I knew that he was much older than I was, that he lived a life before he came here to Tokyo but I never thought to think about that. Maybe, I didn't want to, you know? But when I learned of Tomoe, that she'd actually been his wife, that my Kenshin had actually been married and had not bothered to tell us about it, tell me about it, I started wondering."
She looked at Sano then, and he could see how vulnerable she really was.
Cursing himself for even starting this, he said, "Jou-chan, I shouldn't have started this."
But she merely gave him a small smile, "No, Sanosuke, you were right about this. I love him so much that when I look at him, it hurts here," she pointed to the area where her heart was, "but what hurts even more is the not knowing. The not knowing what his life was, who all his friends where…who he liked…who he loved…but most of all the not knowing if he could ever love me the way I love him."
"Of course he loves you!" Sano yelled emphatically.
"I know he has feelings for me, he might even love me. But does he love me like a man loves a woman? The way he talked about Tomoe, I understood how much he loved her."
Kaoru sighed, feeling the old insecurities taunting her again, "She was perfect! She was graceful, soft-spoken, and beautiful. And she could cook! She was a swan! Why would anybody settle for a raccoon when he could easily have a swan?"
"You're being ridiculous!" Sano said angrily.
But Kaoru just looked at him with that small smile again, "Am I? Who knows? He could have met another swan in the ten years he had been a rurouni. And if he did, what would prevent him from returning to her? Sure, he says that this is his home now and he promised to never leave again, but if there is a swan for him out there, don't you think he would want to return to her eventually?"
Sano wanted to refute her words by saying that that would never happen since Kenshin always kept his promises and that the rurouni was truly in love with Kaoru, but he remembered the woman who was here in Tokyo to see Kenshin on 'personal' business and the words remained stuck in his throat.
There truly was so much about Kenshin's past they didn't know, that anything could be possible.
Seeing that Sano had nothing to say in reply, Kaoru knew that what she said could be possible.
Suddenly feeling this heavy weight on her heart, she got up and looked down at the still sitting Sano. He looked up and studied her.
She gave him a sad smile, "I'm tired. I'm going in to take a nap. Feel free to raid the kitchen." She turned and went inside.
***
"…Kaoru-dono?"
Kaoru blinked at hearing Kenshin's concerned voice. She looked at him a little blankly, not having heard what he had asked her.
"Are you okay, Kaoru-dono?" Kenshin asked again, this time a bit more worried.
My sweet rurouni, always such a worry-wart she thought.
Aloud she said, "Of course Kenshin, why wouldn't I be?" and gave a bright smile to reinforce her words.
Kenshin gave her his rurouni smile and said, "Sessha was getting worried when Kaoru-dono was standing on the porch, clutching the broom, staring into space."
Realizing that she must have looked like a complete idiot, she blushed a bit.
"Ah, Kaoru-dono is so kawaii when she blushes," Kenshin teased.
A teasing Kenshin? This time Kaoru stared him straight in the face to see if she was actually talking to the same rurouni she knew.
Said rurouni grinned at her and asked, "Ne, is there something on my face besides the scar, Kaoru-dono?"
Kaoru blinked, "N-no," she stuttered. What is it with him today?
Kenshin just shrugged his shoulders, "Oh well, since it's almost lunch hour, I'll be in the kitchen preparing the food. Do you think Sano will be here for lunch today? He didn't come yesterday. Oh, well, it's better to be prepared than not." He smiled at Kaoru again and then turned to go to the kitchen.
***
Fifteen minutes later, Kaoru was still puzzling over Kenshin's strange behavior when she heard a commotion from the front gate.
"Look, woman, I already apologized for being late. You don't have to act huffy over it the whole day." That was Sano's voice.
A female voice replied, "Listen, man, it wasn't my idea that you pick me up at the inn. So if you say you'll be there at eight o'clock, I expect you to be there at eight o'clock. Not freaking nine o'clock and definitely not 10:34 o'clock!"
Curious, Kaoru went to the front gate to investigate.
"Jeeze, woman, do you have to be so exact? I already apologized to you, didn't I? And we're here, aren't we? So what's the huff about?" That was Sano again.
The same female voice replied, "What's the 'huff' about? What's the 'huff' about? I'll tell you what the huff is about. The huff's about me arriving here almost at lunch hour without an appointment for some business that happens to be very important to me. If I go in there to see Himura-san, he'd be forced to offer me lunch."
Hearing Kenshin's name mentioned by the woman, Kaoru opened the gate a bit to get a glimpse of the woman talking to Sano.
What she saw was a woman dressed in a beautiful spring green silk kimono with blades of grass, some sort of white flowers and yellow butterflies embroidered on the hem and a wide obi in yellow, green and white. Her hair was pulled back into a beautiful chignon and a small comb with green beads was tucked in beside the bun. She looked graceful, elegant and everything a proper lady should be.
When she took in her own attire of sweaty training clothes, she felt like that sweaty tomboy she once declared herself to be.
"What's so bad with being offered lunch?" Sano asked the woman.
"You don't have any sense of decorum or etiquette. That's probably why Megumi-san won't give you the time of day!" she answered hotly.
Kaoru looked at the woman's face and couldn't deny to herself that the woman was beautiful. She looked like a princess.
Or a swan… came the unbidden thought.
But before Kaoru could go any further with that, Sano, who had spotted her peeking from the small opening at the gate, called out, "Jou-chan! How long have you been standing there?"
Mortified that she had been caught snooping, Kaoru slammed the gate shut.
"You baka! Why did you startle her like that?" the woman's annoyed voice came from the other side of the gate.
Realizing how utterly ridiculous she was being, Kaoru opened the gate to let Sano and the woman in.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to slam the gate in your face," she said apologetically.
The woman smiled at her, and Kaoru couldn't help but feel that little pang of envy at the woman's beauty.
"That's okay. We probably deserved it anyway. After all, we've been standing out here bickering like some old married folk," the woman looked at Sano and winked.
To Kaoru's astonishment, Sano blushed and muttered, "You're trouble, woman, with a capital T."
The woman just chuckled, "I know."
But then she turned to Kaoru and smiled, "You must be Kamiya Kaoru."
A bit unsure of what to make of the woman, Kaoru nodded, "Yes, that's right."
Debating whether asking the woman who she was would be construed as bad manners or not, she was saved when the woman introduced herself.
"My name is Mikage Sayuri. I am so pleased to finally meet you," Sayuri made an elegant little bow towards Kaoru.
Hearing the sincerity of Sayuri's words, Kaoru bowed back, "I'm pleased to meet you as well."
Then she opened the gates a little further, stepped aside and motioned for them to get inside, "Please come inside."
Sayuri thanked her and stepped inside. Sano followed her and Kaoru closed the gates, thoughts racing through her head about the woman named Mikage Sayuri.
But one bothered her the most. Why is she here to see Kenshin?
Sano had already led Sayuri to the porch where they were arguing, when Kaoru went to join them.
She was intercepted by Yahiko, who also had heard the commotion outside and went to investigate. He saw Sano arguing with this beautiful lady standing by the porch and was curious how something so beautiful ended up being with that ahou.
"Psst! Kaoru," he called his master.
Kaoru turned and glared at Yahiko, "What?" She was still mad at Yahiko for the incident earlier.
Yahiko pointed to the two people standing in front of the porch, oblivious to his master's lingering anger, "Who's the beauty with the beast?"
At the question, so typically Yahiko when referring to Sano, Kaoru chuckled, "That's Mikage Sayuri."
Yahiko scratched his head, rubbed his nose and thoughtfully asked, "Do we know a Mikage Sayuri?"
Kaoru frowned and answered, "No. But apparently a Mikage Sayuri knows our Kenshin."
"What a relief!" came the emphatic reply from the boy.
Kaoru glared at him, "What's that supposed to mean?"
Yahiko pointed his chin at Sano, "That if she were with that tori-atama, it would be the ultimate injustice. But since she's here for Kenshin, I guess that's okay."
"What do you mean 'since she's here for Kenshin, that's okay'?" Kaoru glared at the boy some more.
He just shrugged his shoulder, oblivious to his master's feelings, "Just that it'll make more sense, her and Kenshin than that rooster head."
But before Kaoru and Yahiko could get more into it, Sano called the two over.
Yahiko and Sayuri were introduced and the boy blushed when she smiled at him sweetly.
Kaoru saw him blush and rolled her eyes.
But her attention was called back to Sayuri as she addressed Kaoru, "Karou-san, I apologize profusely for coming here at this late hour."
Wanting to get on with business, Kaoru just smiled, "That is okay Sayuri-san. It isn't that late."
"But it's already lunch-hour, and you didn't know I was coming. I don't want you to think that you have to feed me," Sayuri argued.
"Really, that is okay. We expected Sano anyway," Kaoru shoot a glance at Sano.
Sayuri looked at him too, "You told them I was coming?"
Before Sano could reply, Yahiko said, "Nah, but the rooster head there is a regular here, if you know what I mean."
A muttered, "Shut it brat!" was all that Sano got out when he saw Sayuri turn to him. He glared at her, daring her to say anything.
But she just smiled and turned back to Kaoru, "But since it is getting late, I better come to the point. I'm here to talk to Himura Kenshin."
Kaoru looked at Sayuri directly, "What for?"
Sayuri glanced away for a second, but then looked at Kaoru directly, "I better talk to him first. It's personal."
Kaoru knew that pressing Sayuri wouldn't work, so she just nodded, "I'll get him for you."
She left them standing there to go to the kitchen to fetch Kenshin. Wild thoughts went through her head. Wild thoughts about this personal business that a strange woman had with Kenshin.
So lost in thought was she, that she nearly bumped into Kenshin, who has coming out of the kitchen to tell them lunch was ready.
Stopping just in time, Kaoru looked at his face blankly.
Kenshin gave her his rurouni smile, "Is something the matter, Kaoru-dono? I heard some commotion coming from the front yard."
Remembering what she went inside for, she blurted, "There is somebody here to see you."
Kenshin smiled some more, "Really? Who, if I may ask?"
Before she could stop herself, she replied with "A swan."
Kenshin frowned in confusion, "A what, Kaoru-dono?"
Realizing her blunder, Kaoru hastily answered, "A lady. A lady is out there to see you."
"A what?" Kenshin said, at the same time walking towards the porch to see who his visitor was.
There, a lady, with her back to the porch, was good naturedly teasing Sano.
Something about her was strangely familiar. The sound of her voice, the way she held herself, the ways she moved her hands as she was speaking. Then she turned around and Kenshin saw her face. And he went stock-still.
She hasn't aged a bit… where his jumbled thoughts.
Kaoru, standing beside Kenshin, noticed his reaction. And a painful emotion went through her.
Sayuri saw him standing just inside the door and gave him a bittersweet smile, "Hello, Himura Kenshin."
But Kenshin replied with only one word, "Ran…"
Muwahahahaha!
To be continued…again!
Muwahahahaha!
____
I know, I know…you feel like wringing my neck, stuffing me inside a sack, dropping me from a very tall building and drowning me in the ocean coz I still didn't get to the part that explains why Sayuri is in Tokyo. I was going to do it in this chapter, but I just had this overwhelming compulsion to write the chapter this way. Part of it will be revealed in the next chapter, I promise…I really do.
Thanks for reading through, though. Oh and please don't forget to review…(I did my very happy dance again…)