*The title of this chapter comes from a waltz written by Eugen Doga. It's called Gramofon Waltz and I particularly love the piano solo. During their wedding, Kaoru and Kenshin dance to the said piano solo.
Chapter Eight
Gramofon*
Almost an entire year passed before Kenshin and Kaoru ended up having their wedding ceremony. By then, Kaoru had already gotten her law degree and even had started working for the same company her redhead fiancé was employed at.
At first, the young bright-eyed woman was against them sharing a workplace. In her mind, there were only two ways a situation like that could play out. Either no one would take her seriously and baby her or – even worse – she not only wouldn't be taken seriously but everyone would also assume that she got the job just because of her romantical involvement with Kenshin.
Such fears were the reason behind Kaoru feeling so extremely repelled towards applying there. However, it wasn't particularly good time to be looking for a job as an attorney. Due to an economic crisis, not a lot of law firms were hiring and she was fresh out of university, with virtually no real-life experience in the courtroom. There was simply no way the bright-eyed woman could be picky about her first job. Hence, when her fiancé informed that their company was hiring, she sent in her CV and ended up getting the said job.
Contrary to the aforementioned fears, Kaoru wasn't babied in her new place of employment. Frankly speaking, no one even seemed to remotely care about the existence of her involvement with Kenshin. Everybody was too busy with their own lives and cases. She had a normal workload for a rookie, which at that particular company, meant having to slave away her days. It reminded Kaoru of Kenshin's confession which he had made so long ago. Now, she as well, was more of an errand girl, despite being employed under the title of a lawyer.
Though the mentioned redhead's cases and wins were often the topic of choice around the water cooler, Kaoru got to see her fiancé in the courtroom only a few times. On all of those occasions, she had come to the court with another attorney as their second chair, because she was still not allowed to handle cases on her own. Though sometimes it frustrated Kaoru, the blue-eyed woman knew that it was a great learning opportunity for her and somehow managed to put up with it.
When the person she had initially come with would be done, Kaoru would sneak into Kenshin's hearings. Those times, the cute, kind, warm and sometimes clumsy man seemed to become a completely different person. Instead of the redhead she adored, Kaoru would get to see a cold, aggressive, fast-acting and merciless man. The persona she was so unfamiliar with, sometimes scared Kaoru. Of course, she never said anything about it to the man himself, not wanting to hurt his feelings.
Thankfully though, that carefully crafted mask never lasted. The moment the judge would announce the verdict and Kenshin would be done exchanging a few words with his client, the red-haired man never failed to notice her and make all of the ice in his eyes melt away. While a smile would be tugging at his lips, the man would come and hug her, surprised by his fiancée's unexpected presence. He would also proceed with asking her out for lunch and the man Kaoru knew so painfully well would claim his rightful place.
In the end, due to the huge gap between the two conflicting personas Kenshin possessed, the woman stopped actively seeking out to be at the court on the same day as her fiancé. It was just too uncomfortable and made Kaoru feel as if she was watching someone try to play Kenshin, instead of the man himself.
Meanwhile, they were also preparing for their wedding. It was loads of work, that they couldn't handle on their own with their busy schedules. They ended up employing the help of their family - namely Sanosuke and Hiko. Be it as it may, as one should've expected from the couple, not everything went as smoothly as they would've liked it to.
One of the major problems was actually, rather primitive. It was their disagreement with Seijuro Hiko. The long-haired man wanted to hold a big celebration. He insisted, that it would serve as a great networking opportunity for both Kaoru and Kenshin. In lieu of the extravagant event, Hiko was in favour of, the young pair wanted to have a rather small wedding. With few guests consisting only of family and their closest friends.
It took many long and tiresome arguments for the older man to give in to his son and the future daughter-in-law. Nevertheless, he did manage to get the reception under his control. Given, to a certain extent, but that still was something.
With this agreement in place, the ceremony itself was bound to be a rather simple affair. It was to take place in a small chapel, with barely twenty people attending. The reception, on the other hand, was unavoidably going to end up turning into a lavish party. Though, Hiko did promise tone it down more than a bit.
... ∽∾●∾∼ …
Kaoru's wedding dress wasn't anything over the top – only a fit and flare dress with a V-neck –, yet incredibly elegant. As she gave her vows, the young woman wore her hair down with only loose curls at the ends of her hair. In her hands she held a banquet of jasmine, of which, Kenshin claimed, her hair smelled on any other given day as well. Only the light smoky eyes and slightly redder lips gave away the fact that she was wearing any makeup at all.
The red-haired man, much like the woman who became his that day, didn't go over his head. He wore a traditional tux, though Sanosuke had tried to get him to wear a white one. Kenshin wore his hair scooped up into a low ponytail, as he placed his signature next to Kaoru's and said the words 'I do'.
In the absence of their father, the person to take Kaoru to the altar was Sanosuke. Before placing her hand in his best friend's palm, he almost cried as he hugged his baby sister.
Regretfully, he had to come alone to the celebration, declining to bring a plus one. It wasn't for the lack of a significant other, however. Neither was it because he thought that his new relationship wouldn't last. On the contrary, he had been smitten for years now and figured that it would take him at least just as long to fall out of love with the said woman. The thing was, he was just extremely careful about this whole thing – even if it seemed to be completely out of character for him – as his new girlfriend was Megumi.
It had caused him a huge headache – making the aforementioned decision. After all, Kenshin and the female doctor had been involved once before and Sano was perfectly aware of the consequences bringing her could have. He had heard enough stories about the jealous ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend ruining the person's – who once was their significant other – weddings and relationships in general. And this wedding wasn't just a simple wedding. It was the union of his little sister and his best friend. An occasion Sano would never forgive himself if he brought ruin to.
Once Sanosuke brought the matter up with Megumi, the foxy doctor insisted that there was truly no place left for the red-haired man in her heart. According to her, they parted on friendly terms and the most their relationship could now be described as was the one between acquaintances. He ended up going to the happy couple as well and, although, the conversation was painfully awkward neither of them seemed to have any problem with his new girlfriend being there. Sanosuke had even made up his mind to take Megumi with him.
What changed his mind was the night the four of them had a double date. An awkward silence hung in the air, all of them were so stiff and clearly not comfortable with the situation at all. Sano realised it then, that they needed a bit more time to get used to the change of their roles in each other's lives. Hence, he came to a conclusion that bringing Megumi to the wedding would be a mistake and he'd rather ease Kenshin and Kaoru into his new relationship.
The reception was held at a rather upscale restaurant, to which Kenshin's father invited a few of his influential friends. Though it took him a lot of self-control to not abuse the power given to him after those incredibly boring arguments.
Truly having no say in the matter, Kenshin and Kaoru smiled as they received congratulations from a small group of strangers, consisting of few judges, medical examiners, and influential detectives. Those people didn't seem to spare compliments when talking about the bride's beauty, the groom's luck and Hiko's choice of venue.
It didn't take long for the young couple to get lost in the conversations with the specialists in their fields. Due to their many years of practice, the said professionals had a lot of truly entertaining stories to tell. However, after a longer period of time, Kaoru and Kenshin grew tired of socialising. They simply wanted a break, a few moments just with each other.
Just as both of their minds were buzzing with all of the possible excuses they could use, the newlyweds were saved by a waltz starting to play on the sound system. The red-haired man shared a look with his wife, involved in a conversation just a few meters away from him.
"How about we finish this conversation later?" He addressed the detective standing in front of him. "It's her favourite waltz."
Laughing and shaking his head, the detective encouraged him to go on. In a few strides, Kenshin reached Kaoru and gently touched her shoulder, interrupting the conversation she was in the middle of. If the redhead recalled correctly, the person she was talking with was a medical examiner, blabbering away about how incompetent policemen sometimes ruin the crime scenes. The other man also let the young couple go without insisting to further explore the topic, probably also tired of hearing his own voice.
"Do you even know how to dance waltz?" Kaoru smiled up at the redhead beside her.
"I took lessons especially for this occasion. There's no way I could allow myself not to be able to dance to your favourite waltz, now could I?" He chuckled quietly while whispering those words into her ear.
"My favourite waltz?!" She inquired, a bit too loudly, unable to contain her amusement.
"I had to say something to get us out of there. If you hadn't noticed, this isn't exactly the first waltz of the night, so I had no other choice but to get a bit more creative."
As they reached the clearing between the tables Kaoru set her glass of champagne – which up until that point she held in her hands – down on the very last table. Kenshin swooped her as close to him as he could in order for their movements to still resemble waltz and they started dancing.
"I forgot to ask you if you knew how to dance waltz." He whispered.
"Well, as you can see, I'm pretty decent at it." She played coy, even though his touch tickled the small of her back.
"You also took dancing classes in the old town?" Kenshin was surprised, he didn't remember seeing her anywhere around that area except the courthouse.
"It was one of the elective courses I took while I was still in high school. It was a choice between that and visual arts, the teacher of which I despised." The smile on her lips grew bigger and the man standing in front of her had to stop himself from laughing out loud.
Neither Kaoru, nor Kenshin noticed as the crowd gathered around them until it erupted with applauds the moment the waltz ended. Though they were startled, Kaoru and Kenshin still continued to sway to the music while roaring with laughter. Even though the music had already changed into another piano piece, refusing to let each other go.
That night, they danced to many other songs, both separately and together. While Kaoru was dancing with Seijuro Hiko, he even offered to buy them a house, feeling a bit guilty for not having given them any kind of wedding gift.
"It would be nothing special." Hiko smiled as they twirled to the sound of music. "Nothing big, but it would be a start and a lot better than nothing. You can't continue renting forever and I just think it would come in handy for the two of you when my grandchildren are finally born." At the last few words, the man smirked.
"Grandchildren?! Already?!" The younger woman laughed and the sound of it merged into one with the melody.
... ∽∾●∾∼ …
As they took a cab home, Kaoru retold her husband the conversation she had with her father-in-law. They laughed at it. The offer was certainly sweet, but they never really thought about children. Not Kaoru, and not in the last few years at least. After she got a job, she was just so busy all the time and the thought never truly had the time to enter her mind.
Though the car ride was full of smiles, laughter and hand-holding, when the newlyweds finally stepped into the small flat they rented they realised just how tired they truly were. The whole day – even though it was one of the happiest days of their lives – was incredibly emotionally exhausting. And the only purpose the slight buzz from all those champagne glasses they drank seemed to serve, was making them that much sleepier.
As they undressed, ready to fall asleep on the spot, Kaoru looked at Kenshin with a slight hint of jealousy in her eyes. He was already half way done with taking off his tux, while she was still unsuccessfully trying to get a hold of the zipper on the back of her dress. The redhead seemed to notice her staring at him. He smiled sheepishly at her before coming over to help her with the said item of clothing.
"A house..." The redhead muttered while releasing his wife's torso from the constraints of the wedding dress and kissing the back of her bare neck.
"A house." The bright-eyed woman repeated, with one hand in his vivid red hair and the other one on her hips, where her husband's hand made its way to rest only moments ago.
"Kids..." He continued kissing down her neck, to her shoulder.
"Kids." Her voice echoed as if the two of them made up a broken record.
For some reason, the young woman remembered them dancing waltz earlier that evening. His laughter, mixing in with the beautiful tune, which now she could hardly recall.
"Have we ever talked about kids, wife?" His words brought Kaoru back to reality.
Kenshin continued to trail kisses down her back, right along the narrow slit of the zipper of her dress. Kaoru's lax hand fell from his red coloured hair and now hanged by her side.
"I don't believe we have, husband." She let the straps of her dress fall down her shoulders.
"Do you want kids, dear?"
Kenshin suddenly pulled away from her back and turned the woman in his arms around. He proceeded to kiss her forehead, followed by her eyes, nose and then cheeks.
"Do you want kids, honey?" Kaoru whispered back at the red-haired man, unbuttoning the few remaining buttons of his shirt and pulling it off him. She could feel an animalistic desire taking control of her body.
"I want you to have our kids, my lovely Kaoru." The man avoided the dark-haired female's lips and began kissing down her neck to her collarbones.
The action only served to further Kaoru's desire. It slightly irritated the dark-haired woman how her husband kept playing with her, even though he clearly wanted her as much as she did.
"I want to have our kids, my beloved Kenshin." A voiceless whisper left her mouth.
Not being able to endure it any longer, Kaoru stopped Kenshin from tracing butterfly kisses over her body any further and took his head into her palms. For few moments, the young woman just stared at his face, marvelling at how the streetlights reflected in his deep violet eyes, how it made his beautiful blood red hair shine. Only then, she pulled up his face closer to hers and gave him the same treatment she got from him. However, she did not miss his lips, rather choosing to make him go weak in the knees.
"I love you..." She whispered after pulling away.
"I love you too." His voice echoed in turn.
AN: I know it took a while, but finally, I uploaded a new chapter! Hopefully, the next one won't take as long. Positive and negative comments are welcome.