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Memoir of Kohaku…
"It is now…"
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Session Twenty-Six: Watercolors
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"Happy birthday to me…"
Rin sang to herself as she continued to feed the ducks. "Now this is how to spend your birthday. Feeding the ducks on a Sunday afternoon."
"Mm-hm."
She sprawled out on the grass, humming to herself as she watched him. 'Always drawing…'
"Painting," Kohaku replied, as if reading her thoughts.
Rin smiled. "I least I know you're still on Earth. Anything new going on with you?"
"I'm supposed to be going somewhere with Sango next week. It's something she calls an 'epitaph'."
"It's part of the healing process."
"So you know what it is then?"
"Do you know how when people have certain phobias, psychiatrists will leave their patients in a room with the thing they fear most. Since an epitaph is the writing on a tombstone, it's a metaphor for 'burying your troubles'."
"There's no such thing," Kohaku replied flatly.
"That's why it's a metaphor," she replied, looking up at the sky. He watched her from the corner of his eye, surprised at how much she had grown in the past several years he had known her. The once loud little girl had now become…
'Well, she's still loud…'
"Rin?"
"Yeah?"
"Why exactly did we have to leave the hospital and come all the way here? The nurses are probably going to kill me when we get back."
"Hospitals are depressing, you need to be somewhere happy." She continued to toss bread crumbs into the river, watching as the baby ducks chirped in delight. "Do you have any regrets?"
Kohaku looked up from his painting. "Regrets?"
"About you and your parents?"
"I regret," he whispered to himself. "I regret… not knowing them better. I mean, my father used me as an example of everything not to be and all we did was argue, I hardly talked to my mother. I have no idea what they were really like or what their life was like before we were born."
"It's what parents do," Rin replied, "they try to make themselves as strong as possible for their children."
'Sango…' "Do you think you've changed any?"
"I don't think people really change, just… evolve. We do the same things we've done since the Stone Age, just flashier. I don't think I've really evolved any; I still feel the same. You, however, have grown a lot."
He snorted, trying to take away from the light pink growing on his freckled cheeks. "If anything, I've probably gotten worse," said Kohaku.
"You put yourself down too much. Show some pride."
"Pride's a deadly sin."
"So is sloth."
"I'm not lazy."
"You're lazy enough to not try and heal those wounds."
Kohaku unconsciously retracted his left hand. "What about yours?"
The joy in Rin's large brown eyes dimmed slightly, if only for a second. "When I think of my family's death, it does sicken me. I mean, they were killed by a drunk driver on their way picking me up from school, it was something that could've been avoided easily, even by a few moments," she closed her eyes.
"But… what happens to us?" he asked.
"I can't say, really. For the present, we enjoy these rare peaceful moments."
"And my parents were still murdered." He looked out onto the lake coldly.
Rin gave him a worried look, scooting closer to her best friend, her boyfriend. "In some religions, people believe that when good people die, they go to this paradise that fill every wish a person has ever dreamed of. You want the best for your family, what could be better for them than that?"
Kohaku remained silent, subconsciously gripping his paintbrush between his fingers. "Paradise, hn…?"
"Just for them, no worries."
"…Good."
Dropping his paintbrush, he turned towards her, resting his forehead against hers.
Rin tinted a light shade of pink, but quickly suppressed the feeling in the pit of her stomach. 'It's not like we haven't kissed before, he's just never been so… bold.'
It was a soft kiss at first, followed by something a little more sensual than they were both used to. She realized how much she missed his kiss, and a short memory tugged at the back of her mind.
"What do you want?"
Naraku's answer was short and simple. "You."
A long moment of silence stretched between them.
"Rin," Kohaku turned towards the young girl, "go."
Rin watched them, too afraid to move. "Kohaku..." she whispered.
"GO!"
She jumped, surprised by the tone of his voice. He had turned away from her, his eyes hidden by his dark bangs. Holding back a sob, she hurried back up the stairs, but not before hearing the next part of their conversation:
"Nice girl," the dark man gave a bored glance, "love her?"
"...Yes..."
Simultaneously, she broke the kiss. "Ditto," she said softly.
He looked at her, obviously confused. "What?"
Rin smiled up at him. "And be happy. Life is beautiful."
He returned the smile. 'It is now…'
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"So… are you going to break them up or should I grab the hose?"
Sesshoumaru glared at her. "Don't be childish."
Kagura smirked, folding her arms across her chest. "Well then, go ahead- wait- where are you going?"
His retreating form stopped, but only for a moment. "For a walk."
Her eyes softened, resting her hand on her protruding stomach. "Thinking of what to name your son?"
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I've been lazy… too lazy.
Got a small case of writer's block, so instead I made an entirely new chapter, but the thing still has too much dialogue. The one I promised before will be next, promise.
So much so little time. THREE awards ceremonies this week, two job interviews, and a bikers. Lot and lots of bikers.
It's the beginning of the end.
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Posted 5/22/05