Kabuki
By hye-kyo
Disclaimer: Nope, RK isn't mine.
Author's Notes: So this is the last installement for Kabuki. I'm not really sure if this is what most of you had in mind. Anyway, this is very short, I don't want it to be dramatic anyway. Tell me what you think.
"To Yokohama."
Kaoru tilted her head to find the source of the voice. She furrowed her brows, so unusual to find Kenshin so talkative early in the morning.
"What did you say?" it was Yahiko who asked.
"I am going to Yokohama," and he turned to meet Kaoru's gaze, "With Kaoru-dono. Together."
Her eyes widened with surprise, words began to stumble out of her mouth as her cheeks started to flush. Kenshin only smiled at her.
"Y-you? With b-b-busu?" Yahiko looked scandalized, he began to tear at his hair.
Kenshin turned to Sano, "You take care of the dojo while we're away alright?"
Sano nodded, a brow raised at him at which Kenshin only nodded and muttered a word of thanks.
"I-I'm not going anywhere with a-anyone!" Kaoru suddenly stood up, fuming, her eyes trained hard at Kenshin. Glaring and huffing, she turned around and stomped her way to the dojo.
"Seems you got a big problem eh?" Sano didn't bother looking at the now hyperventilating Yahiko.
"Yes," Kenshin looked at the direction Kaoru went off to. "But I'm going to fix it."
"How?" oblivious to Yahiko's sudden fainting, Sano reached for extra helpings of rice.
"I'll do what I should have done all these years." Kenshin stood up, deciding to finish the remaining laundry.
"Finally." Sano sighed, closing his eyes as he began to chew. "It's heaven you know, free food."
"""
He stalked her to the dojo, watched as she performs her kata, her hair swinging behind her, her eyes with deadly concentration. He had anticipated her reaction, though what he had been expecting was something more dramatic—a bowl of steaming rice crashing with his head, a bokken suddenly appearing out of nowhere to club him to death, a five-finger mark on his cheek. He had been anticipating too much, too much that Kaoru's diluted reaction seems so, so diluted.
Another proof that he was slowly becoming a secondary character in her life, a nobody.
He stopped just before the floorboards creak. He had been watching her the past days on this same spot, avoiding the creaking floorboard (though he wanted to try and see whether she'd hurl a bokken at him if she discovers him—that at least will prove something). He had been watching, the kata getting more and more complicated. She was a strong woman, in body and spirit. And he liked her for it. Loved her for it.
She had been avoiding him; that was no longer a guess. He had consulted much with Sano (and though he didn't get much from his conversations with Sano, it at least confirmed the fact that some other person besides himself also noticed her changes) and realized that he didn't want to be a nobody in her life.
Kaoru's arm swung gracefully upward, her head leaning back, a trail of sweat glistening in the peering sunlight. Beautiful. He moved closer, he had been taking her for granted for so long. It is not that he thought she would not understand—she had been understanding him for the longest time—it's just that—
Shut the unworthy crap. She ain't waitin fer you forever.
He cringed upon hearing Sano's voice in his head. "I know," he muttered under his breath. He leaned against the shoji, wishing he is not too late.
"""
Kaoru stripped off everything and plunged into the hot water. Her heart was palpitating in her chest. She felt so exhausted, so breathless though the effects of her strenuous kata had long worn off. She pulled her knees up, her head resting against them. She could feel a knot in her throat, a squeeze in her chest, and she let out a sigh.
Didn't he just laugh at her recently? And now he was asking her to go with him on a trip. She clenched her fists, shut her eyes tight and fought the urge to curse. The sound of the sliding shoji stunned her, her ears perked up, her head swung up.
"Kaoru-dono."
But it was the voice that froze her on the spot. Her eyes were kept focused straight ahead; a form so evidently male, so evidently Kenshin, appearing in the corner of her eye. She tucked her knees tightly. "What are you doing here?" Her voice quivered, a knot it her throat, a sudden wild thumping in her chest. She tried to reach for a wooden bucket to throw at him but found that she could not move. Could not breathe.
"I need to tell you something," Kenshin said, his tone not changing, as if barging in on someone else's bath is a daily occurrence.
"Kenshin," she said, breathlessly, exasperatedly.
"No two things. You said to save some of the bean curd dish for you," he said, moving a step forward.
"Later," she tried to force the words out of her mouth, "We'll talk later. Outside." Couldn't he see? Couldn't he see that this is beyond propriety? And to think that he's the one so keen on the issues of decorum! She felt so vulnerable, so naked (which she was) and hugged herself desperately. After everything, after everything, this!
"No," another step forward, "You are avoiding me Kaoru-dono." She stole a glance at him, her face in a scowl. She wanted to scream, but found that she could not, as if she was under some compulsion. She watched from the corner of her eye as he lifted one hand carrying a bowl; his other hand was holding a wooden bucket.
"Kenshin, just...just let me be," she murmured angrily, and felt a stinging in her eyes. She was not going to cry. Not over him. At least not anymore.
"No." She heard his deep intake of breath, "If I do that," he said slowly, in a whisper, taking another step, and then another until his hands appeared in her line of sight, "You will not eat the food I cook, nor let me do your laundry, nor prepare your bath." He deliberately swept the bowl in front of her before placing it front of her on the ledge of the ofuro. He did the same with the wooden bucket, and in a whisper said, "You won't let me love you, especially now that I want to show it to you."
He stopped, stood there without speaking. Kaoru could feel a wheezing cough in her throat, the prickling of tears threatening to fall.
"I'm sorry. For everything," and then she heard his footsteps, heavy and echoing against the cemented floor. He was leaving.
The sudden sound of the shoji sliding caused her to release the breath she was holding and unbidden, her tears began to fall. She reached out for the small bowl, found that it contained the bean curd dish. She almost laughed out loud for the weirdness of the situation. With trembling hands, she took a mouthful, swallowed and sobbed. She wanted to stop crying but found that she can't; she swallowed some more, took in more mouthfuls until she finished the entire bowl. Hiccupping, she replaced it back on the ledge, her body shaking with wheezes as she tried to control her sobbing.
You won't let me love you.
She covered her face with her hands, it felt so much. Too much that she feared her heart might explode from too much hurt, pain and love. Standing up to step out of the water, she noticed something glinting in the wooden bucket. She picked it up, afraid of what she'd find. As if all her strength was drained from her she collapsed back on the ofuro, water splashing all around her, fresh tears falling down her cheeks as she held the only thing she had wanted to receive from him—a ring.
"""
"Here."
Kaoru's voice was hoarse as she placed a pile of blankets and sheets in Kenshin's arm. He watched her swallowed hard, her fingers curling and uncurling as she tried to avoid his gaze. He waited.
She cleared her throat and lifted her eyes to steal a glance at him. "What," she swallowed hard again; Kenshin could see the moistness gathering in the corners of her eyes, "Does this mean?" she raised her palm and opened it to reveal the ring. It looks identical to the one she bought when she planned to propose to him, this one though is smaller.
He smiled. He waited until she was looking at him before he spoke, "You can assume whatever you want to Kaoru-dono."
She bit back a whimper and her mouth involuntarily made a frown as she blinked back tears. She looked away, closing her palms around the gold band, "Whatever?"
"Yes."
"Yes? And you won't laugh at me?"
It took him some time to respond, feeling overly guilty for the insecurity he caused her. He reached out a hand to touch her face but stopped midway lest she was not ready yet. "I will not," he says and promises. "Nor will I make you cry if I can help it."
She bit back her lower lip, folded her palms together and clutched her chest. She was starting to heave.
"Am I...too late now?" he dipped his head, searching her face, her eyes, her heart.
"No..." she hesitated and with a sharp intake of breath she tilted her head and looked away, "But I dictate the time here."
He smiled. "The ring you gave me, can I wear it?"
"It depends," she stole a glance at him.
"Depends on what?"
"On the food you make, the laundry, the bath. If you do everything correctly I might let you wear it. You have to work hard you know." She bit her lower lip, fighting the urge to blush.
He fought a grin, "And what about the last one?"
She turned around, blushing, remembering that last thing he said in the bath. She started marching off to the dojo, "That too. And I expect you to be good at it." She broke into a smile.
Owari