Standard disclaimer applies.

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The Sound of Jasmine

Part Two: Nightmare of Memories

By: Luna

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My breath caught in my throat.

He was here; just arrived, and was walking slowly to his table. My breath trembled in my throat, and I wondered how a little dream could affect me this much. But it did affect me. This much and more.

His eyes... they were so sad... and he was crying...

Not so much as tears running down his cheeks, but it was as if I could feel them leaking from his soul. He seemed to be in so much pain...

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. It all came down to this being just a dream, and I knew that I should not react to it as strongly as I am. But... I can't seem to help myself.

With a sigh, I grabbed his bottle of sake and the cleanest cup I could find and made my way over to him. With my head bowed, I snuck a peak at him from under my bangs. He didn't seem any different from before. I sighed and I knew that I would have to stop referring him to my dream. His eyes were as empty, cold and lonely as before.

I set the bottle of sake in front him softly, then the cup. He seemed startled. Instead of keeping my head bowed as I usually did, I looked up to his face to see what was wrong. He usually seemed to know whenever I came near. I blinked.

He was staring right at me...

I offered him a smile and waited to see if he wanted anything else. But he didn't say anything, just stared at me. I frowned slightly.

His cheeks seemed a little too flushed, and he wasn't drunk. Without thinking, I reached my hand out and lightly brushed my fingertips across his forehead. He jerked his head back just as quickly as I retracted my hand. He was burning up!

I left quickly, my intent to make him some tea that would help with his fever. Just a bit of chamomile and mint...

I quickly poured some hot water from a kettle heating over a fire pit, and then quickly stirred the tea. I wanted it to be ready before he left. Taking the skills I learned from my childhood, I wrote down carefully a small note for him:

"For your fever," I wrote as fluidly as I could. "Please drink it, and rest a while. You need to take care of yourself."

This time, he seemed to know when I approached him, for he turned his head slightly and looked at me from the corner of his eyes. When I set down the cup, he only looked at it for a moment before looking back at me. Hurriedly, I set down my note.

His eyes widened slightly, and he looked back up to me startled. I smiled at him and nodded my head. I turned back around and started to make my way back to my post when his silken voice floated to my ears.

"Thank you..."

I turned to him slightly, and I saw him bring the cup of tea to his lips, blowing on the steaming liquid before taking a drink. I smiled slightly to myself and continued my way back to counter.

As I made my way through the front gate of my house, I paused, then decided to take a walk to the grassy glade. Sitting down and taking off my sandals and socks, I looked up into the starry sky, reveling in the feeling of the cool grass under my feet and the sound the little stream made as water lapped against the rocks. The sky was so beautiful...

I knew it was late and I probably should head back home, but when I glanced back in the direction of it, I wrinkled my nose and plopped myself back, so I was lying down. I sighed, a bit melancholy.

My house used to be beautiful. The wood polished, the floors clean; everything looking new. But then... mother died from a severe epidemic that seemed to spread. And papa... I squeezed my eyes shut painfully. My strong, reliable papa went crazy from her death. He never even seemed to be aware of his two children anymore...

My younger brother, Kyo, who was only six at the time and six years younger than me, from malnutrition also caught the disease. He died only after two weeks of being sick...

When the tears came, I let them, needing to have some kind of release from the pain.

And papa...

He really lost it when Kyo died, but... when he saw that I lived, he had blamed my family's death on me. The next morning, I had found him hanging from a tree limb a little ways from our house.

He had killed himself, without any regard to how his little girl was going to survive on her own.

I had to burry Kyo and papa all by myself...

I cut the tree that he hung himself on the next day, chopping it into little pieces, then burning them.

I didn't want to stay in the house, it was too painful. Even now, five years later and me being seventeen, almost eighteen, I always dreaded coming home. I choked back a sob as I rolled onto my side, my fingers twisting themselves into my hair.

It was then that I had stopped talking. It was my punishment, for making mama die, then Kyo. And even papa, who always seemed invincible; I'm the one that drove him to his suicide.

It was all my fault...

If only I had been stronger, if only papa hadn't gone mad, if only little Kyo was still here...

I got up to my feet shakily, then made my way to their graves. I lay down, curled into a ball beside my mother, wishing she were here with me now. She had always been the strong one to me. She was always there, supporting me when I needed her, holding me against her chest and whispering words that soothed and encouraged me. I remembered everything about her, even though I had tried desperately to forget. Because with my memories, came also her death, it and the events afterwards were memories I did not want to relive. The pain was almost unbearable...

Even when she died, I remember her last words, whispered through cracked, dry lips. "I love you... I love you all so much... please, remember me..."

Papa had then shut us out of the room he was in, and had stayed with her dead body the rest of the night. Kyo and me heard him talking to her the whole time, sometimes so silent we couldn't hear, and other times he was screaming at the top of his lungs that he was forbidding her to leave him. I closed my eyes slowly.

So many memories in that house... most sad than happy. I wondered where I had gotten the strength to come home to it every night...

I was floating on the edge of sleep when I felt warm and gentle arms lift me. I murmured something then, but I didn't know what.

When I felt myself fall into the deep abyss of sleep, I didn't stop myself.

The wind blew fiercely outside, the trees groaning against its force. I looked up into the sky, pushing my long hair out of my eyes. There was no moon... no stars... where was I?

I wrapped my arms around my body tightly, trying hard not to shiver. A growling noise behind me startled me, and I swerved to see what it was. But nothing was there... just darkness. The kind that was so inky you wouldn't be able to see the nose on your face if you were standing in the middle.

Fearfully, I backed away from it. Ever since my childhood... ever since Kyo died and I didn't have anyone to cuddle with at night, I was afraid of the dark. I hated it, because at night was usually when the memories and the nightmares came.

Yellow eyes seemed to materialize in the darkness. Many of them, growling like wolves, spreading all around me. I screamed terrified, then turned and started running away.

"Kaoru..." Kyo's little voice whispered in my ear.

No! Stop it!

"I'm scared. Where are you?"

I stopped running as the scenery changed, and I saw myself and Kyo in his room. He was crying on his futon, and I was standing over him, watching as if in satisfaction.

No!

"You're such a stupid cry baby, Ky. Cry, cry, that's the only thing you're good for!" The twelve-year-old Kaoru sneered.

No! Tears streamed down my cheeks unchecked. This wasn't how it had happened!

Little Kyo's small, sick body shook while little Kaoru stood watching, unfazed. "Kaoru... please hold me?"

Of course little lion, I'll always hold you close...

Kaoru snorted, then turned around in a huff. "Me? Hold a little nuisance like you? Yeah right! Hug your pillow for all I care, but don't ever ask me that again!" She stomped out of the room, slamming the door after her.

Little Kyo was left, crying to himself on the floor . . .

The scene faded again until all around me was nothing but pitch black.

"NO!" It was the first that I've spoken in years, and the word seemed foreign rolling off my tongue. "No! It wasn't like that! I was there for you Kyo! I was there to hold you! Don't cry! Please don't cry!"

"KYO!"

I awoke screaming his name. I heard footsteps pounding as the person ran towards me, possibly a robber. But I didn't care. I instead turned to lay on my side, my back to the door, and started crying in harsh sobs to myself.

That wasn't how it happened, I wasn't that cruel!

I felt someone watching me, felt the awkwardness as he sat me up and held me in his arms. I looked up from his shoulder and found myself staring into amber eyes stricken with worry.

Why, he didn't seem that much older than myself...

My eyes burned with tears once more, and I buried my face in my hands. When I had cried as much as I could, I pulled away from his embrace and sat back on the futon he must have laid out for me. But how did he get here? How did he know where I lived?

He must have seen the questions burning in my eyes before I bowed my head to him in thanks.

"I... followed you home. Some men were making inappropriate gestures to you, and when you left so did they. And I..." He hesitated, and I had the feeling this was the most he spoke in a long time. "I wanted to repay you for the kindness you've shown me. It's more than anybody has ever done since..." He didn't finish his sentence, and I didn't try to press him to continue.

"My name is Himura B... Kenshin. Wont you tell me yours?" I stared into his eyes for a moment before I dropped them to the ground. I didn't know him at all practically, and I felt as though I didn't quite trust him yet. I heard him sigh.

"Then... I guess, if you wouldn't think me impolite, if I could call you Jasmine?" He blushed when I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "It's what you smell like..."

It was my turn to blush as I dropped my gaze to the floor again. I didn't think he could smell my perfume; my one luxury, at all. I preferred the subtle aroma of it other than the extravagant fragrance that fancy women seemed to prefer.

He seemed a bit uncomfortable sitting across from me, and he bowed to me before he stood up. "Well, thank you again, I suppose I'll be going now."

I didn't want him to leave...

I blinked, surprised to find that it was true. His was the first real company I've had ever since... and the only person who stuck around to speak to me. No one else seemed to want to talk to me, saying I was just a stupid mute. Well, there was Kasane, my childhood friend, but after the... 'incident' we haven't really seen each other except at work.

"Where are you going?" My voice was hoarse and I whispered the words as softly as I could. I saw him freeze when I spoke, and he turned slowly around and pierced me with his gaze. He shrugged, the action only a slight movement of his shoulders. "Probably back to the inn I have been staying at since I've finished my... business."

I stayed on my knees and bowed low, my forehead nearly touching the ground. "If it is at all possible, I would like it if you stayed here, as a boarder, and in payment, you can help me repair my house." I knew it sounded very forward and probably extremely impolite, but the words that seemed almost foreign to my tongue tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them.

I felt him staring at me, his amber eyes flashing in what I felt was probably surprise. I sat up slowly and looked up at him. He started to move his eyes around the room, and when he spoke, it was slow and careful. "I suppose this house does need to be repaired. And if I boarded here, I could help repair it without owing you any dept. Thank you, Miss Jasmine, for your generous offer. I shall get started right away." With a bow, he turned and left.

I stared at the door for a long time, wondering just what I have gotten myself into, before I decided that it was time I started to warm up the bath.