Tragic Joy
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
"Jou-chan! Stop! Wait! Yes, it's true!" Sano scrambled to hold Kaoru still. She wouldn't believe the news. She was different from the rest of them. They didn't want to believe it either. But Kaoru just wouldn't, couldn't believe it.
"Kaoru-chan, it's true--" She wouldn't listen to Megumi either. She just slapped her in the face and Megumi fell back at the powerful blow.
"He's not dead and you know it! What kind of birthday present is this?! Yatsu! Ki-sama! Teme!" Her voice was harsh from screaming, "Get out of here! Now! NOW! And never come back!!! I don't ever want to see you ever again! Either of you! This kind of lie is unforgivable!!! OUT!"
She began to slap them then punching them. She backed them up all the way to the gate and slammed it shut. They heard the lock fall down and looked at each other. Sano saw tears streaming down Megumi's face. He hugged her and she sobbed into his shoulder. Everything was wrong. Why? Why did it have to happen?
Kaoru stood with her back against the gate doors, sobbing. It wasn't true. She knew it.
She walked back inside to wait for Kenshin's return. Yahiko was alright too. Both of them. They were perfect.
Days passed and she waited for Kenshin. living a normal life on the outside. But the inside was in turmoil. She didn't know what to think. He still wasn't here. He should be here, she thought while cooking her lunch.
Then there was pounding on the door.
"Kenshin!" She exclaimed. But it was not Kenshin.
"Jou-chan, open the gate now! You need to open the gate and let me in. You need us, jou-chan. Please let us help you!"
Outraged, Kaoru walked towards the voice at the gate. She raised her arm and threw the butcher knife she was cooking with across the yard and it stuck through the crack between the two doors of the gate. Perfect aim. She wouldn't have been able to do that in another hundred years. She smiled at her work.
"I'm doing fine!" Her sweet, crazed voice chimed.
Sano stared at the blade sticking through the crack in the gate. She had gone mad. Full on mad. Not a playful mad. Real mad. She needed help.
Kaoru waited a few hours then went back to fetch her knife. She pulled on it and it came free so she brought it back inside.
She was about to cut her vegetables when she paused. Why wasn't Kenshin with her? Was he trully dead just as they told her? He couldn't be. She began to understand. Her insanity started to fade. Hadn't it?
Tears streamed down her pale cheeks as she raised the knife to her wrist. She pressed the cool metal against her skin and was about to drag it across her arm but there was another blasted pounding on the door.
This time however, "Kaoru-dono?"
The knife clattered to the floor. Kaoru fell to her knees and a slight smile appeared on her face. She crawled to the counter for support and clambered onto her feet. She then ran to the gate and threw the lock up, opening the gate as fast as she could.
"Kaoru!" Kenshin said with a smile on his face. Kaoru lunged into a hug with him. He hugged her tightly back. Kaoru cried harder.
They went inside and then Kaoru faced him. She grabbed his face and took a long look at him. Her Kenshin. He came back.
"They told me you were dead," Kaoru said breathless with joy.
FLASHBACK
"Kaoru-chan, listen to me," Megumi said, "Ken-san and Yahiko never went to Kyoto for your birthday present. He was going to, Kaoru, but he came to me for a check-up first. They said they had both been feeling funny. Both he and Yahiko-chan had cholera, Kaoru. Yahiko's healing up, he wasn't as bad as Kenshin, but…Kaoru…Kenshin didn't make it--"
"W-What…?" Kaoru asked breathlessly.
"Jou-chan, Kenshin died at the clinic. We'll bury him--"
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
END OF FLASHBACK
"It was a sick joke, Kenshin!" She yelled at him.
"Yes, they are not good friends. They are untrustworthy. We cannot let them in. Never again, Kaoru. I've missed you so much. Kaoru."
He leaned forward and kissed her. Kaoru sunk into the kiss and her eyes fell shut. It was more than she had imagined, kissing Kenshin.
They broke apart and Kaoru stared at him in surprise.
"Gomen, Kaoru-dono, but…aishiteru."
"Aishiteru, Kenshin!" Kaoru knew had hoped all this time that he loved her. He did. Now she knew for sure.
"And happy birthday. I'm sorry that I was delayed. Here is your present, Kaoru," He reached into his sleeve and pulled out a box. Kaoru's eyes filled with tears, "Marry sessha?" He asked, opening the box.
Inside was a beautiful gold band with a single pink pearl. She frantically nodded her head and they kissed again after Kenshin slipped the beautiful ring onto her finger and decided to pretend to be married already so they didn't have to go outside where the traitors were.
Kaoru layed next to Kenshin on her futon. He was sleeping like an angel. She ran her fingers through his red hair as she had always wished to do. Everything was perfect now. Kenshin was back with her and he would help her keep the traitors at bay.
Kenshin must have awoken because he rolled over and met Kaoru's eyes. She peered into the mysterious violet depths and decided that she would never ask him about his past. Ever. And she didn't expect him to tell her freely either. But she didn't mind. This was what she had always wanted. To be with Kenshin.
When morning came around Kaoru and Kenshin made breakfast with each other.
"You know how cute you are when you blush?" Kenshin asked. Kaoru blushed. He laughed. Then Kaoru pouted and looked around for a weapon. She grabbed a handful of rice and threw it Kenshin's way. It hit him smack dab in the middle of his face. The two laughed together.
After breakfast Kenshin took Kaoru over to the wall and pulled out his sakabatou. He pressed it into the wall and scratched "Happy Belated Birthday Anata" into it and smiled at her. She smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder as she stared at it happily. For once she didn't mind Kenshin ruining her dojo walls. This was sort of like a scrap book. Plus, he called her anata. He had only done that in her wildest dreams.
"What shall we do now, koishii?" He asked her. Kaoru walked into her bedroom and grabbed her dagger that she had for years. As she could recall, it was a hand-me-down.
She walked over next to Kenshin by the wall and carved in it "Together Forever." Kenshin kissed her forhead and went to do the laundry as Kaoru went to train.
Days, weeks, months passed by. The walls began to fill and Kaoru and Kenshin lived happily together, alone, in the dojo.
About seven and a half years later Kaoru came down with a strange illness and died by Kenshin's side on her futon. She was happy when she passed, for she had spent most of her life with Kenshin. She thought.
The day before she got up and unlocked the gate. That way Kenshin would know that she didn't mind visitors coming. They would be able to see that they lied to her and she still lived happily ever after…
Sano walked up to the Kamiya dojo for the first time in a couple of years. He checked it every few years. This time however, he did not hear Kaoru's voice speaking to some unknown person. All was silent. Not even birds were chirping.
He pushed on the dojo gate and, to his surprise, it opened. He stepped inside, very worried. He did not hear her voice or her sweet laughter as he always had before. He walked to her bedroom.
"Megitsune! Come quick!" Sano shouted into the door of the clinic. She ran out and followed Sano to the old and familiar Kamiya dojo. It was in pieces. She had not seen it for almost ten years but she knew it had never been like this before. The gate was old looking and nearly rotting. The walls had scribbles all over them. She could make some of the out.
"I love you forever" "Happy Belated Birthday Anata" "Together Forever" "Happy New Year" "The Best Day of my Life was When I Met You, Koishii" "Death will not part us" "I reached 5000 strokes training today" "The Ring is Beautiful, Anata" "Arigatou" "Aishiteru" "Tadaima" "Sessha will never leave you again."
There were thousands of them all over the walls.
"What did she do?" Megumi breathed, "Sessha? Kenshin was the only one who used that…"
Sano gestured towards Kaoru's bedroom so she went in and saw…
She gasped and put her hand up to her mouth. Tears formed in her eyes. Kaoru's corpse lay on the futon. Her poor skin was pale white. Her hair had slightly grayed from age before she had died. The strangest thing was that a smile was left on her lips.
"We'll bury her next to Kenshin…" He said. wiping a tear from his own eye. She hadn't ever seen Sanosuke cry before.
Megumi knelt by her side, "She only died within a day or so I'd say. I'd also say that she was schizophrenic…She saw Kenshin when he wasn't really there. She died of…tuberculosis…is my educated guess. See the trickle of blood from her mouth? That is a symptom…sigh Yes, we will bury her next to Kenshin. Where else would we be able to bury her with her permission? She would come down from Heaven to kill us if we put her anywhere else?…I'll miss her. Sure, I missed before, but now she's…she's…"
Sano knelt down next to her and pushed a strand of graying hair behind her ear. He kissed her temple and turned to look at Kaoru's inanimate form.
Megumi's tears began to pour down her face, "I had always thought that they were invincible, you know?…They could never die…Their life would be forever…But it always seems like that…Then you cry when they finally do…I mean, I could never picture your death…You seem just as invincible as Kenshin had. The three of them were so strong. How could they die?…"
Sano hugged her and they sat there for a while in front of Kaoru's body. Sano then turned Kaoru onto her back and off of her side. He folded her hands on her chest and smoothed out the ruffed hair. He tucked the blanket snug on her and they stood up.
The next week Megumi and Sano stood over three graves that stood side by side. Yahiko, Kenshin, and then Kaoru. Megumi dropped new flowers on the old graves and the first flowers on Kaoru's. They walked away, ready to live their lives to the full. Kaoru had lived long all alone, never wanting help. They just never realized that she needed help more than anyone in the world ever had. But then, niether did she, and she was happy. That was how she died. Happy. Because she thought that her loved one was with her all along.
owari
AN: I'm sorry, the only reason I wrote this ficcie is because I wanted badly to write a schizophrantic Kaoru! That is all! I know you probably hate me but...(I got reviews that it is insane that Kaoru could live i her dojo for that long without food, etc. But I am using the fact thatin one of the tv episodes, Kenshin siad that the veggies he picked from the garden should be ready to cook so that's how she ate. Also, Sano wanted to leave Karu alone, that's why he didn't climb over the fence.) Review…please…Be gentle…