AN: Meeeeeeeee again! Not much to say. Except to I Luv Monkeys…yes, I liked that song very much. Maybe I'll try to fit it in here…unless it looks like I'm putting too many poems and lyrics in here ^-^. You know I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, blah blah blah…so on and so forth. Just review or feel my wrath.
Sanosuke stared at Saitou.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me. Get up and read your poem." Saitou snapped. Sanosuke slowly picked up his paper and shuffled to the front of the class. He cleared his throat, nervously looking around.
"Running through my veins,
I gain new powers.
They circulate, once, twice
And I inhale again
When I'm allowed to fly
Those on the ground cry
Gliding upon the wind,
I see the truth below
It flickers, once, twice
And I blind myself again
When I'm allowed to fly
Those on the ground cry.
Falling back to the cement
I exhale all my powers
Everything spins once, twice
And I sleep once again
When I'm allowed to fly
Those on the ground cry
It's so dangerous to fly, you see
They don't want me to die"
Silence. Sanosuke looked around. Most students were asleep, as expected; Sanosuke slept through every one else's poems too. Kenshin, Kaoru, and Soujiro were all wide-awake and smiling.
"Free verse. Hmm. 75." Saitou muttered.
"75? I thought this was good!" Sanosuke shouted.
"Moron."
"What?! I could sue you!"
"You wouldn't get diddly squat, kid. I'm a Creative Writing teacher, for crying out loud."
"Oh. Right."
"I'll give you an 85 just for the hell of it." Saitou sighed in an irritated manner. Sanosuke went back to his desk, and got his things together for lunch.
"Pretty good poem." Kenshin smiled. Kaoru nodded, walking alongside them.
"Please, please, please, PLEASE join me so I can make a band!" Soujiro begged. "I tried starting one with Kenshin and Aoshi but they won't do it."
"A band? Me? Awesome! Kenshin, I don't see why not."
"I don't prefer to attract attention to myself, that I don't." He smiled. Sanosuke turned to see Kaoru still tagging along.
"Don't you have some girly thing to be doing, Missy?"
"Oh…I…yes, I suppose I do." Kaoru's face fell, then she blushed. Kaoru didn't normally hang around Kenshin unless they needed to work on their Home Ec. project for Miss Megumi.
"Be nice Sano, she saved you the other night." Kenshin reprimanded.
"She did?"
"Yeah, she was the one that found you by that fire department when you were sick." Kenshin nodded.
"Yes…you thought I was your mother." Kaoru whispered.
"…Oh no…did I sing the Annie song again?"
"Yep." Kenshin and Kaoru replied in unison.
"Shit."
***
Misao smoothed her dress and grimaced. She hated dresses. Tonight was the concert, and she was singing a solo, so she had to wear one. It was long, and midnight blue. Misao was surprised she didn't trip over it.
"Miss Makimachi, you're on next." Mr. Cole whispered, gripping his clipboard tightly. Misao smiled a little; Mr. Cole was always a nervous person and it reminded her of a flustered bird. She took a deep breath, waited for the applause to end, then walked out on stage.
The lights were bright, and the microphone stood all alone at the front of the stage. Misao felt a little more nervous; she hadn't known she would be that close to the audience. She stepped up to the microphone and clasped her hands. Biting her lip, she turned to Therese at the piano, and nodded to let her start. Music filled the silent auditorium, and Misao closed her eyes.
"Des yeux qui font baiser les miens,
Un rire qui se perd sur sa bouche,
Voila le portrait sans retouche
De l'homme auquel j'appartiens
Quand il me prend dans ses bras
Il me parle tout bas,
Je vois la vie en rose."
Misao opened her eyes, smiling. The song was pulsing through her, and it had never made her feel more alive. French had been a hard language for her to learn while singing, but La Vie en Rose had quickly become a favorite of hers. Her mezzo-soprano voice fit it perfectly.
Scary, no? To think that her harsh voice she spoke to everyone with could turn into that of a mezzo-soprano's as she sang.
Misao unclasped her hands, throwing her arms outward to embrace the passion of music. Her voice was loud and clear, and sang the beautiful melody with enthusiasm.
Opening her eyes to meet the audience again, she finished the song quietly. Stunned, the audience remained silent for a moment, then burst into applause. Misao smiled, and gave her bow. Looking up, she caught the eyes of Soujiro.
"What's HE doing here?" She thought. Soujiro quickly broke the gaze and disappeared off to the side. Misao continued smiling, and waved as she walked back stage again. She ran to the dressing rooms to wipe of her ridiculous make-up.
"Your voice is awesome, Misao."
"SOUJIRO WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY DRESSING ROOM?!" Misao screeched, jumping back in surprise.
"If I'm not mistaken, you share this room with two other fellow musicians. They, however, are playing their duet now so it was relatively easy to slip back here. Your voice transaction is amazing, you know. Harsh and crow-like one minute, and mezzo-soprano the next."
"Did you just call me a crow?" Misao demanded, raising her fist. Soujiro caught it, and smiled again.
"Now now, it's not nice to hit people. Why don't we rest a little and let you calm down."
Misao growled, and before they knew it, they were rolling on the floor. Misao screamed and kicked, trying to hit the boy she learned to know as a goddamned nuisance. Soujiro blocked her as best he could, narrowly escaping some of her blows.
"Fuck!' Misao cried. Her dress had been ripped in the process, all the way down the back, revealing a pure white slip. "How am I going to get to the reception afterwards?"
"Do you have a change of clothes?" Soujiro asked, trying to breathe properly again.
"No."
"Any safety pins?"
"No. We have some bobby pins."
"That's nice…Misao…could you please get off me, I'm having a bit of trouble breathing."
"Oh! Sorry.."
Soujiro found the bobby pins, and attempted to close up the back of her dress.
"The material is too slippery, and it would be way too obvious even if they did stay on."
"What am I going to do? I have to go, I'm going to get awards and stuff and I already paid $50 to reserve a place for me at the dinner."
"Okay…how about I pose as your date…all you need to do is stand close in front of me so I can block the slit from view…otherwise just stay close to the wall and sit in your chair."
"YOU? My DATE?"
"That or risk humiliating yourself in front of your fellow musicians."
"It would be humiliating just to date you."
"I see."
Misao sighed, and took his arm. "Well, you'd be less humiliating."
"And we are already married anyway."
"That's right, home economics." Misao smiled again.
"After you, dearest." Soujiro bowed as he opened the door.
"Thank you Soujiro, but I'm afraid I don't care for hopeless romantics." Misao replied. Soujiro only smiled, as usual, and put his hands on her shoulders to ensure that no one would see the back of the torn dress.
***
Aoshi put on his black coat, straightened his tie, and stepped back from the mirror. His appearance was acceptable enough for the funeral. He walked out across the courtyard to the parking lot, where Mrs. Yoshida was waiting in her car.
"Hello, Aoshi darling." She smiled as he slid into the passenger seat. Mrs. Yoshida had aged a bit since his last memory of her; her hair had grayed considerably and she was very pale.
"My, you've grown tall." She exclaimed. "I don't know where that came from, both of your parents were short. Oh, but you do look like your mother's side of the family. Very thin and dark haired. Are you getting enough to eat?"
"Plenty, Mrs. Yoshida." Aoshi sighed, thinking of the free meals the Kickin' Chicken forced their employees to take home. He shuddered to think of them as they were piling up in the refrigerator.
Relatives that had not seen him in years stared at him. He towered above them all, looking out of place with his blue eyes. Aoshi was glad to see that his father was not at the funeral. Those attending made a small crowd at the front of the room. They all watched silently as Aoshi went up to the casket to make his goodbyes.
To his surprise, she didn't look the way he expected. His mother looked as if she were sleeping. Having been pale all her life, death made her look no different. The funeral home hadn't done anything that had altered her body, and she looked so out of place in the casket. A golden gleam caught Aoshi's eye and he saw that Mrs. Yoshida's words about the locket had been true. He surveyed his peaceful mother yet again, and closed his eyes, talking to her in his mind.
"Mother, you were beautiful. You were sweet and kind. You may have been too weak to protect me, and you may have been too afraid to stand up to father for me, but I know you cried. That was enough. Just to know you cared."
Carefully, he traced his finger down her hand, noticing a ribbon peeking out from the pocket in her dress. Discreetly, he tugged on it just to see what it was. Out came a familiar paper star, and Aoshi smiled. No doubt the makeshift mobile was tucked safely inside. He pushed the star back in her pocket, whispered a tiny 'thank you', and reached his seat next to Mrs. Yoshida.
Aoshi didn't listen to the eulogy. He hardly felt that he was still alive. Mrs. Yoshida tapped his shoulder, to let him no everyone was getting to the parking lot so they could follow the hearse to the graveyard. Aoshi stared silently as they lowered the coffin into the grave.
"Aoshi?" Mrs. Yoshida touched his shoulder, and handed him a small bouquet of flowers. "Could you say a few last words for us? She was your mother, after all."
Aoshi didn't take the flowers at first. That awful silence plagued the area as everyone watched him with critical eyes. Slowly, he pulled his hands out of his pockets and accepted the flowers, turning sharply to the grave.
"Golden slumber kiss your eyes.." He murmured. Mrs. Yoshida smiled, being familiar with the words as well. Aoshi was not one for singing, but he continued as best he could, quietly.
"Smiles await you when you rise. Sleep, pretty baby, do not cry, And I'll sing you a lullaby."
There. He had done it. No more emotion. Aoshi shook his head. No, no more emotion. He was tired of it, and it got him nowhere. This was the last time, and his mother deserved his emotions. His mother deserved his smiles and tears. Nobody else was worth all of that.
Aoshi was the first to turn back to the car, to everyone's surprise. They followed shortly after, and Mrs. Yoshida drove him back to Eldewater without a word.
***
"Kenshin, the twins had to go to the hospital because of poisoning. The bill is pretty high…" Kaoru said, looking over the papers in their project folder.
"Damn, that woman is seriously trying to fail us." Kenshin groaned.
"Don't say that. Teachers don't want to fail us, they want to challenge us."
"If you say so."
"So how are we going to pay for the twins' hospital bill?"
Kenshin sighed. They were doing the best they could with this project, but it just wasn't working out.
"We could try for a smaller apartment."
"Kenshin, we have the two of us, twin boys, and a daughter. We need space."
"We could…sell the car and I could take a bus to work."
"And your pregnant wife is supposed to walk?" Kaoru asked.
"I TOLD you that woman was trying to fail us."
In the end, they figured Kaoru would be taking maternity leave soon anyways, so they went ahead and sold their car. The project was not turning out too well, and even Kaoru was beginning to think Miss Megumi was being hard just to spite them.
"I'm exhausted." She sighed, closing their checkbook.
"Me too."
"I wonder where Soujiro and Misao are. They've been gone for hours."
"Dunno. Soujiro said he was going to her concert and see if he could make amends with her. Supposedly they had an argument over his band thing."
"Awww. I think they'd look so cute together."
"Yeah." Kenshin muttered, looking off into space.
"You thinking about Julie and Lisa?" Kaoru asked.
"No. Not this time."
"Kenshin….have you….have you ever had a girlfriend?"
Kenshin looked up in surprise. "Yeah…why?"
"What was she like?"
Kenshin gave Kaoru a questioning look, then explained.
"Umm…her name was Tomoe. She was kind of quiet, and she was pretty nice. It was really weird though, because she wasn't goth or punk or prep…nothing like that. She would always dress like it was the 1930's, and always had her hair done in those styles. You'd think she'd look stupid and out of place, but she really didn't."
"Oh.." Kaoru replied.
"We broke up and she moved because her Dad was in the navy. Have you had a boyfriend?"
"No.." Kaoru blushed.
The two stared at each other for a little while. Kenshin opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. He stared a little longer at Kaoru, intrigued by what her possible motivation was to ask him such a question.
He moved quickly, he didn't even know what he had jumped up for when he found his lips on Kaoru's.
Well, they weren't really on Kaoru's lips.
He kind of….missed. A bit.
In shock, Kaoru had jumped up as well, sending them both toppling to the floor. Embarrassed, Kaoru quickly pushed Kenshin off of her.
"I am …so sorry." Kenshin said.
"It's okay…um…I think I'll go back to my dorm now."
Kenshin walked with her to his door, and watched her hurry off to the courtyard. He sighed.
"I am SUCH an idiot."
Sanosuke stared at Saitou.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me. Get up and read your poem." Saitou snapped. Sanosuke slowly picked up his paper and shuffled to the front of the class. He cleared his throat, nervously looking around.
"Running through my veins,
I gain new powers.
They circulate, once, twice
And I inhale again
When I'm allowed to fly
Those on the ground cry
Gliding upon the wind,
I see the truth below
It flickers, once, twice
And I blind myself again
When I'm allowed to fly
Those on the ground cry.
Falling back to the cement
I exhale all my powers
Everything spins once, twice
And I sleep once again
When I'm allowed to fly
Those on the ground cry
It's so dangerous to fly, you see
They don't want me to die"
Silence. Sanosuke looked around. Most students were asleep, as expected; Sanosuke slept through every one else's poems too. Kenshin, Kaoru, and Soujiro were all wide-awake and smiling.
"Free verse. Hmm. 75." Saitou muttered.
"75? I thought this was good!" Sanosuke shouted.
"Moron."
"What?! I could sue you!"
"You wouldn't get diddly squat, kid. I'm a Creative Writing teacher, for crying out loud."
"Oh. Right."
"I'll give you an 85 just for the hell of it." Saitou sighed in an irritated manner. Sanosuke went back to his desk, and got his things together for lunch.
"Pretty good poem." Kenshin smiled. Kaoru nodded, walking alongside them.
"Please, please, please, PLEASE join me so I can make a band!" Soujiro begged. "I tried starting one with Kenshin and Aoshi but they won't do it."
"A band? Me? Awesome! Kenshin, I don't see why not."
"I don't prefer to attract attention to myself, that I don't." He smiled. Sanosuke turned to see Kaoru still tagging along.
"Don't you have some girly thing to be doing, Missy?"
"Oh…I…yes, I suppose I do." Kaoru's face fell, then she blushed. Kaoru didn't normally hang around Kenshin unless they needed to work on their Home Ec. project for Miss Megumi.
"Be nice Sano, she saved you the other night." Kenshin reprimanded.
"She did?"
"Yeah, she was the one that found you by that fire department when you were sick." Kenshin nodded.
"Yes…you thought I was your mother." Kaoru whispered.
"…Oh no…did I sing the Annie song again?"
"Yep." Kenshin and Kaoru replied in unison.
"Shit."
***
Misao smoothed her dress and grimaced. She hated dresses. Tonight was the concert, and she was singing a solo, so she had to wear one. It was long, and midnight blue. Misao was surprised she didn't trip over it.
"Miss Makimachi, you're on next." Mr. Cole whispered, gripping his clipboard tightly. Misao smiled a little; Mr. Cole was always a nervous person and it reminded her of a flustered bird. She took a deep breath, waited for the applause to end, then walked out on stage.
The lights were bright, and the microphone stood all alone at the front of the stage. Misao felt a little more nervous; she hadn't known she would be that close to the audience. She stepped up to the microphone and clasped her hands. Biting her lip, she turned to Therese at the piano, and nodded to let her start. Music filled the silent auditorium, and Misao closed her eyes.
"Des yeux qui font baiser les miens,
Un rire qui se perd sur sa bouche,
Voila le portrait sans retouche
De l'homme auquel j'appartiens
Quand il me prend dans ses bras
Il me parle tout bas,
Je vois la vie en rose."
Misao opened her eyes, smiling. The song was pulsing through her, and it had never made her feel more alive. French had been a hard language for her to learn while singing, but La Vie en Rose had quickly become a favorite of hers. Her mezzo-soprano voice fit it perfectly.
Scary, no? To think that her harsh voice she spoke to everyone with could turn into that of a mezzo-soprano's as she sang.
Misao unclasped her hands, throwing her arms outward to embrace the passion of music. Her voice was loud and clear, and sang the beautiful melody with enthusiasm.
Opening her eyes to meet the audience again, she finished the song quietly. Stunned, the audience remained silent for a moment, then burst into applause. Misao smiled, and gave her bow. Looking up, she caught the eyes of Soujiro.
"What's HE doing here?" She thought. Soujiro quickly broke the gaze and disappeared off to the side. Misao continued smiling, and waved as she walked back stage again. She ran to the dressing rooms to wipe of her ridiculous make-up.
"Your voice is awesome, Misao."
"SOUJIRO WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY DRESSING ROOM?!" Misao screeched, jumping back in surprise.
"If I'm not mistaken, you share this room with two other fellow musicians. They, however, are playing their duet now so it was relatively easy to slip back here. Your voice transaction is amazing, you know. Harsh and crow-like one minute, and mezzo-soprano the next."
"Did you just call me a crow?" Misao demanded, raising her fist. Soujiro caught it, and smiled again.
"Now now, it's not nice to hit people. Why don't we rest a little and let you calm down."
Misao growled, and before they knew it, they were rolling on the floor. Misao screamed and kicked, trying to hit the boy she learned to know as a goddamned nuisance. Soujiro blocked her as best he could, narrowly escaping some of her blows.
"Fuck!' Misao cried. Her dress had been ripped in the process, all the way down the back, revealing a pure white slip. "How am I going to get to the reception afterwards?"
"Do you have a change of clothes?" Soujiro asked, trying to breathe properly again.
"No."
"Any safety pins?"
"No. We have some bobby pins."
"That's nice…Misao…could you please get off me, I'm having a bit of trouble breathing."
"Oh! Sorry.."
Soujiro found the bobby pins, and attempted to close up the back of her dress.
"The material is too slippery, and it would be way too obvious even if they did stay on."
"What am I going to do? I have to go, I'm going to get awards and stuff and I already paid $50 to reserve a place for me at the dinner."
"Okay…how about I pose as your date…all you need to do is stand close in front of me so I can block the slit from view…otherwise just stay close to the wall and sit in your chair."
"YOU? My DATE?"
"That or risk humiliating yourself in front of your fellow musicians."
"It would be humiliating just to date you."
"I see."
Misao sighed, and took his arm. "Well, you'd be less humiliating."
"And we are already married anyway."
"That's right, home economics." Misao smiled again.
"After you, dearest." Soujiro bowed as he opened the door.
"Thank you Soujiro, but I'm afraid I don't care for hopeless romantics." Misao replied. Soujiro only smiled, as usual, and put his hands on her shoulders to ensure that no one would see the back of the torn dress.
***
Aoshi put on his black coat, straightened his tie, and stepped back from the mirror. His appearance was acceptable enough for the funeral. He walked out across the courtyard to the parking lot, where Mrs. Yoshida was waiting in her car.
"Hello, Aoshi darling." She smiled as he slid into the passenger seat. Mrs. Yoshida had aged a bit since his last memory of her; her hair had grayed considerably and she was very pale.
"My, you've grown tall." She exclaimed. "I don't know where that came from, both of your parents were short. Oh, but you do look like your mother's side of the family. Very thin and dark haired. Are you getting enough to eat?"
"Plenty, Mrs. Yoshida." Aoshi sighed, thinking of the free meals the Kickin' Chicken forced their employees to take home. He shuddered to think of them as they were piling up in the refrigerator.
Relatives that had not seen him in years stared at him. He towered above them all, looking out of place with his blue eyes. Aoshi was glad to see that his father was not at the funeral. Those attending made a small crowd at the front of the room. They all watched silently as Aoshi went up to the casket to make his goodbyes.
To his surprise, she didn't look the way he expected. His mother looked as if she were sleeping. Having been pale all her life, death made her look no different. The funeral home hadn't done anything that had altered her body, and she looked so out of place in the casket. A golden gleam caught Aoshi's eye and he saw that Mrs. Yoshida's words about the locket had been true. He surveyed his peaceful mother yet again, and closed his eyes, talking to her in his mind.
"Mother, you were beautiful. You were sweet and kind. You may have been too weak to protect me, and you may have been too afraid to stand up to father for me, but I know you cried. That was enough. Just to know you cared."
Carefully, he traced his finger down her hand, noticing a ribbon peeking out from the pocket in her dress. Discreetly, he tugged on it just to see what it was. Out came a familiar paper star, and Aoshi smiled. No doubt the makeshift mobile was tucked safely inside. He pushed the star back in her pocket, whispered a tiny 'thank you', and reached his seat next to Mrs. Yoshida.
Aoshi didn't listen to the eulogy. He hardly felt that he was still alive. Mrs. Yoshida tapped his shoulder, to let him no everyone was getting to the parking lot so they could follow the hearse to the graveyard. Aoshi stared silently as they lowered the coffin into the grave.
"Aoshi?" Mrs. Yoshida touched his shoulder, and handed him a small bouquet of flowers. "Could you say a few last words for us? She was your mother, after all."
Aoshi didn't take the flowers at first. That awful silence plagued the area as everyone watched him with critical eyes. Slowly, he pulled his hands out of his pockets and accepted the flowers, turning sharply to the grave.
"Golden slumber kiss your eyes.." He murmured. Mrs. Yoshida smiled, being familiar with the words as well. Aoshi was not one for singing, but he continued as best he could, quietly.
"Smiles await you when you rise. Sleep, pretty baby, do not cry, And I'll sing you a lullaby."
There. He had done it. No more emotion. Aoshi shook his head. No, no more emotion. He was tired of it, and it got him nowhere. This was the last time, and his mother deserved his emotions. His mother deserved his smiles and tears. Nobody else was worth all of that.
Aoshi was the first to turn back to the car, to everyone's surprise. They followed shortly after, and Mrs. Yoshida drove him back to Eldewater without a word.
***
"Kenshin, the twins had to go to the hospital because of poisoning. The bill is pretty high…" Kaoru said, looking over the papers in their project folder.
"Damn, that woman is seriously trying to fail us." Kenshin groaned.
"Don't say that. Teachers don't want to fail us, they want to challenge us."
"If you say so."
"So how are we going to pay for the twins' hospital bill?"
Kenshin sighed. They were doing the best they could with this project, but it just wasn't working out.
"We could try for a smaller apartment."
"Kenshin, we have the two of us, twin boys, and a daughter. We need space."
"We could…sell the car and I could take a bus to work."
"And your pregnant wife is supposed to walk?" Kaoru asked.
"I TOLD you that woman was trying to fail us."
In the end, they figured Kaoru would be taking maternity leave soon anyways, so they went ahead and sold their car. The project was not turning out too well, and even Kaoru was beginning to think Miss Megumi was being hard just to spite them.
"I'm exhausted." She sighed, closing their checkbook.
"Me too."
"I wonder where Soujiro and Misao are. They've been gone for hours."
"Dunno. Soujiro said he was going to her concert and see if he could make amends with her. Supposedly they had an argument over his band thing."
"Awww. I think they'd look so cute together."
"Yeah." Kenshin muttered, looking off into space.
"You thinking about Julie and Lisa?" Kaoru asked.
"No. Not this time."
"Kenshin….have you….have you ever had a girlfriend?"
Kenshin looked up in surprise. "Yeah…why?"
"What was she like?"
Kenshin gave Kaoru a questioning look, then explained.
"Umm…her name was Tomoe. She was kind of quiet, and she was pretty nice. It was really weird though, because she wasn't goth or punk or prep…nothing like that. She would always dress like it was the 1930's, and always had her hair done in those styles. You'd think she'd look stupid and out of place, but she really didn't."
"Oh.." Kaoru replied.
"We broke up and she moved because her Dad was in the navy. Have you had a boyfriend?"
"No.." Kaoru blushed.
The two stared at each other for a little while. Kenshin opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. He stared a little longer at Kaoru, intrigued by what her possible motivation was to ask him such a question.
He moved quickly, he didn't even know what he had jumped up for when he found his lips on Kaoru's.
Well, they weren't really on Kaoru's lips.
He kind of….missed. A bit.
In shock, Kaoru had jumped up as well, sending them both toppling to the floor. Embarrassed, Kaoru quickly pushed Kenshin off of her.
"I am …so sorry." Kenshin said.
"It's okay…um…I think I'll go back to my dorm now."
Kenshin walked with her to his door, and watched her hurry off to the courtyard. He sighed.
"I am SUCH an idiot."