Adelaide: This story is of my own imagination. No, I do not own Kenshin. No, I do not own the song Waiting for a Girl Like You. I could wish I was that creative, but I'm not. This is part of the little creativity I have. I'm sorry. And no, this is my standard disclaimer for this story, it will not be changing at all. I don't own anything but the idea and words that form this little story.
Chapter Three: Return Visit
You're so good, when we make love it's understood
It's more than a touch or a word can say
Only in dreams could it be this way
When you love someone, yeah, really love someone
The weeks came and went, and soon, before anyone knew it happened, Kenshin and Karou had grown inseparable. One night, Karou approached the subject of having Kenshin letting him see her past again.
"Kenshin, I want to try it again." Karou pleaded, walking down the street back to campus. They had been a swing club with Misao, Megumi, Sano and Aoshi, that evening, the other two couples were a short distance ahead of them on the nearly empty street.
"Karou, I don't want to hurt you again with those memories. You were completely drained that first night. I will not put you through that again. You should not be seeing things like that." Kenshin said bring her hand to his lips.
"I want to help you though Kenshin." Karou said stopping, pulling him up short.
"Lets go back to the room. It's cold out here, and you just getting over that cold, come on." Kenshin said.
"Kenshin, I will do this." Karou said stubbornly.
"I'll think about it."
"Maybe there's a happy part."
"Possibly." Kenshin said, finally catching up with their other four friends.
"We'll see you later. Yeah, g'night!" Kenshin and Karou said. Sano and Aoshi had decided to stay and watch scary movies with Megumi and Misao that night. For Kenshin, all the scary movies he needed where in his head.
"Kenshin, come on, let me try once more." Karou said as he let them into the apartment that he, Sano and Aoshi shared. There was a couch, chair and Tv to the left of the door, a table with chairs around it to the left and beyond that a small kitchen. Past the living room was a hallway that held the three bedrooms and the bathroom. Karou sat down on the couch as Kenshin went into the kitchen. The light was flashing on the answering machine, "Baka deshi," the voice said, Kenshin cringed, recognizing the voice of his adoptive father, Hiko. "Where are you at such a late time? And what is this I hear of a new girlfriend. I heard it from Okina. Call me tomorrow." Hiko had been a friend of his parents, and took him in after their death in an accident when Kenshin was only a small boy. Hiko had taught him the use of a sword, a different technique that Kenshin had known from before, long before, the Hiten Mitsurugi. The next message was from Katsu, a friend of Sano's from his first high school. "Hey pal. I'm coming up there next weekend, maybe we can get together again. Talk to you soon!" Kenshin left the note for Sano to call Katsu and deleted both messages. He grabbed two Coke's out of the fridge and went into the living room and sat next to Karou.
"What did Hiko want?" She asked.
"To know about you." Kenshin said simply handing her the can of pop.
"Me? What did he want to know? You haven't talked to him about me yet?" Karou asked.
"Not much, the last time I talked to him was shortly after we had met, we hadn't started going out yet. If I don't talk to him soon, he'll come down here from Kyoto though. I better call him tomorrow, like he said. If I don't he might do something drastic." Kenshin said, thinking about his father. He wasn't sure when he started thinking of Hiko as his father, had never called him such, but that was who he was to Kenshin.
"Kenshin."
"No. I will not let you do it. Karou do you remember the scenes from last time? You shouldn't have seen that. I won't let you see those again." Kenshin said firmly.
"I don't think I will though."
"What makes you so certain." Kenshin asked, turning his face towards her.
"Your eyes. They don't have the pain in them as much anymore. Your voice doesn't carry the pain it did that first night either. And your heart, I know, I've sat here, or at our place, and it doesn't beat as erratically, it's a peaceful beat to it. It has been for awhile."
Kenshin looked at Karou, deep into her eyes, knowing that she wanted to heal whatever wounds lay deep within him. He looked down at her hands, took one in his own. He thought for a few minutes, and then slowly, unbuttoned both gloves, slid them off her hands, and took both of her hands in his, placing the palms together, like they had that first night.
Memories came again, this time of the same man, but yet these memories Kenshin had never seen. These memories where bright, cheerful. These memories where happy. Karou leaned forward a bit, resting her forehead against Kenshin's. She was smiling, her breathing steady, her body relaxed.
The same man now sat on a porch to a traditional Japanese home, leaning against a support pole. It was evening, the stars slowly starting to come out in the dark midnight blue sky above him. It was spring, just as the Cherry Blossom tree in the front yard was starting to blossom. A shoji door slid quietly opened and a woman with dark black hair in a high pony tail and sapphire blue eyes, stepped out, closing the door just as quietly as she opened it, joining him on the porch. They looked up at the sky for a long time, just simply talking about the stars, the blossoms that were periodically falling in the evening breeze and of what had happened that day.
The two were again in the evening, this time surrounded by little dots of light. They were standing on the road, surrounded by fireflies. Tears where falling down the woman's face, as the man pulled her into his arms. After a few minutes of the embrace, the man slowly let her go, and continued walking. The girl turned to watch him leave, tears still falling.
Another image came as that one faded out. This one was of the young woman sitting next to a futon. On the futon the red haired man laid still, bandages over his chest, arms and neck. She was silently weeping. The man quietly awoke, and seeing the young woman crying, reached out for her hand with his own. She looked up at his face as his hand engulfed her own. "I'll be fine, Karou-dono." The red haired man said faintly, reassuringly, just before slipping back into sleep.
Karou opened her eyesslowly and looked into Kenshin's deep violet ones. The stayed like that for a few minutes. Eventually, Kenshin pulled Karou into his embrace, leaning back against the arm of the couch.
"Do you think those people where who I thought they were Kenshin?" Karou asked quietly reaching for her gloves so she place them back on her hands.
"Us? In a past life. That would explain quite a bit. Like how we've felt like we've known each other longer than we've been alive." Kenshin answered her equally as quiet.
"It would explain quite a bit. But that man. Was he the same we saw in your other memories? Or was it a different life? I'm not tired, I could try to see more."
"Not tonight Karou." Kenshin said. His thoughts were of Karou as she was in his images. Her elegance and gracefulness, her strength and independence showing through everything, just as she was now.
"That's fine. Lets just stay like this. I don't want to leave." Karou said as she snuggled into his arms more.
Kenshin simply let her adjust her position, closed his eyes, and pulled her closer to him. I could stay like this forever Karou-dono. Kenshin thought as he drifted off into sleep.
When Karou awoke the next morning, she had been placed into Kenshin's bed. Her first thought was of shock. Then as the fog of sleep drifted away, she knew nothing had happened, because first of all, she hadn't been drunk and she would have remembered, secondly, she was still in her jeans and t-shirt from the night before, only her shoes and sock, that laid on the floor a short distance from the bed, had been removed. She quietly got up and padded down the hall. The house was quiet, both doors to Sano and Aoshi's rooms where open and inhabited, meaning they had stayed with the girls last night. When she reached the living room she saw the top of a very red head, laying on a pillow, peaking out above a blanket. Kenshin had placed her in his bed, and slept on the couch.
Now I know it's right, from the moment I wake up till deep in the night
There's nowhere on earth that I'd rather be than holding you tenderly
She quietly went over to him and sat on the edge of the couch, gently pushing his bangs away from his eyes. He stirred slightly moving the blanket away and pulling her down in front of him, covering them with the blanket once again. He held her with such tenderness. Her last thought before falling asleep was that she felt warm, safe, protected and cherished by the man holding her.