Chapter 14
Kaoru was feeling good. No, better than good. Great. Awesome. Alive. Real. She kept trying to think of words to describe what she was feeling, but it always fell short. This was like a whole other dimension that she had been opened up to.
Megumi warned her that she may feel tired and a bit run down because of the bonding process, but Kaoru had only become more energetic. After sleeping so much with her broken bond before, she was ready to do everything.
Today Kaoru, Misao and Yahiko were standing in the doorway of the room Kaoru, Kenshin and Misao had all transformed in and had mostly destroyed. Though the mountain getaway had been designed with the wide, open rooms to support dragon transformation, it had never been meant to hold three transformed dragons, one of whom was quite panicked.
"I guess we're going to have to gut it." Kaoru said, holding a broom that she was sure was going to be worthless. Misao had a sledgehammer. Yahiko had a sour expression.
"I don't know why I have to be here to help fix this." He snorted and threw a look at Kaoru. "We could be working on the katas…"
"You know, we can get this fixed…" Misao said halfheartedly with a little shrug.
"No! We caused this and I need something to do, and I've done this before. I just can't sit still. I've already slept too much! And now I've got to do something!"
Misao could feel Kaoru's energy shifting. She had been randomly changing into her dragon form as a dragon would while still quite young, though she had developed a lot of control in the last few days. It did seem like the more she worked, the easier she dealt with her emotions and the new energy she had.
"Let's start by moving what's left of the sofa out," Misao yelled cheerfully, cutting through Kaoru's train of thought and jumping into the room with a little skip. The others followed.
So they removed the sofa in short order and began the heavier work.
Kaoru had jumped straight into her role as older sister, and Yahiko, despite grumblings, was benefiting from having someone older to depend on.
"Yahiko. We're going to drag all these boards out, while Misao takes out these walls here."
"I still don't see why I'm helping clean up this mess." Yahiko complained, grabbing the boards anyway.
"Well, had I not been shocked to see you, I wouldn't have made this mess!" To Kaoru, it was infallible logic.
"I think that was mostly Sano's fault. He should be here instead."
"I haven't seen him. I'll get him to help later."
Misao watched Kaoru carefully. Everyone did while they were around her. The whole experience was just so different. No one had known what was going to happen, and it was fascinating. Since connecting to her dragon, all of her emotions had seemed more real. Her dragon had not emotionally developed much past a fledgling despite it being physically adult, and the energy gave Kaoru a new, childlike exuberance and in some cases explosive temper which was quite unlike the more controlled Kaoru they had come to know.
Yahiko was another interesting piece of the puzzle. He knew so much of the story, and yet he was so young. The death of his family had caused him to take on an energy quite beyond his years.
Yahiko was much too old for his dragon age, and Kaoru much too young.
Megumi had been fascinated and thrilled by all she was getting to learn hands on. She was less thrilled with Kenshin's reaction to the whole thing.
While Misao, Kaoru and Yahiko were keeping busy, Megumi was across the huge house, having tea with a much healthier, but more irritated Kenshin.
"I take it you've been following up on Yahiko's explanation of events?" She asked, trying to force Kenshin to stop brooding.
"Yes. I remember when his father's case came before the council. I should have known something wasn't right."
Megumi barely kept herself from rolling her eyes, keeping her perfectly poised posture. "I remember you being a step away from death during that whole incident. It isn't surprising that the council missed some things."
"Kaoru's and Yahiko's parents ended up dead because of what happened. And Kaoru was nearly lost."
Kenshin remembered the way the young Yahiko told his story, barely keeping his emotions in check as he told everyone of the clan that had wanted Kaoru for her bloodline. "She was unbonded fire." Yahiko had said. "Pure fire."
Dragon elements of power were usually quite varied, and pure elementals were rare. There were few pure dragons of fire left, and almost none were unbound. Yahiko knew of the clan fight that had started over Kaoru, the near death of her mother that left both her parents weakened and had alerted her father to the fact that there was a traitor around him, and the way his father had given up everything to hide Kaoru in the only way she would never be found: to be raised human by the only human he completely trusted as his daughter. Yahiko had been told all of this later, as he had been born as part of the dragon debt that had resulted from the fallout.
Kenshin felt responsible. He should have been at the head when the waring clans came before the council. But Megumi was right. He had been quite unable.
"I will make up for my oversight and inability to govern the council as I should have been doing before now."
"And Kaoru? You have not been around her much." That was an understatement. Kenshin had barely said two words to her in the week since they had reformed their bonds with each other.
"I just think she needs time to develop outside of the bond."
"Well, she is going to have to live with the bond for the rest of your lives."
"It isn't right." Kenshin said through gritted teeth.
"It is how it is!" Megumi returned, unperturbed by his anger and she set her teacup down with a sharp tap and glared at the red-head in front of her. "You can't change how it happened."
"The people who did this should be punished!"
"And right now, the only one you're punishing is Kaoru." Megumi kept talking as Kenshin tried to protest. "You haven't said anything to her this whole week. She probably thinks she's done something wrong considering all she's feeling from the bond is a whole bunch of your negative emotions. I'm willing to be she thinks that she's made you angry at her."
"But I'm not angry at her! She needs space to develop and I need to track down what went wrong and caused this."
"And you haven't told her that." Megumi said, settling back and picking up her tea to take another sip. "You know, she told me that it's okay if you regret bonding with her. She's fine being by herself and leaving you alone."
Kenshin blinked, mouth opened to answer, but was unable to for a second. "Wait. She.. She said that? How could she think that? We're bonded and…"
"…You're acting like an angry idiot who's full of regret." Megumi finished for him. "She has no knowledge of what bonds mean. She only knows the way you've been acting and has been drawing conclusions. They're wrong because it's obvious to us you adore her, but you are so dense!"
"Oro!" The shock on Kenshin's face was almost comical as it occurred to him just how it must have looked to Kaoru. It was obvious to him that he was angry at the situation and himself for having a hand in causing it.
Megumi was not surprised when he got up without a word to go find Kaoru. She continued having tea alone as she allowed herself an eye roll.
When Kenshin arrived, the three dragons were working at pulling up the damaged floorboards as Kaoru was cheerfully explaining the substructure and what they needed to do to fix the room. Kenshin had told Kaoru it wouldn't be necessary and they could get something to fix it, but Megumi had told him to let her burn off energy. The energetic dragon in front of him was so different from the Kaoru who had been so tired as she was dying from a broken bond.
This Kaoru was both more energetic and centered. Her eyes sparkled. The dragon-fire light blue bled into her dark blue human eyes and her energy was radiant. It wasn't just her eyes. She sparkled. He studied her and her energy, focusing on their bond. He had been so worried because she was just so young, but despite starting off almost afraid of magical energies Kaoru was beginning to control her dragon and recognize and respond to the dragon in those around her very quickly.
She was perfect.
Kaoru looked up, responding to his momentary rush of happiness and pride that she could feel through their bond. She looked a bit confused to him there, but smiled at him.
Misao looked up and smirked. "Hey little Yahiko. Let's go get lunch started." She ruffled his hair in a way she knew he hated, and he growled a bit, chasing a laughing Misao out of the room. Kenshin barely managed to dodge out of their way, and was impressed Yahiko had not morphed to his dragon form with his rush of emotion. The clan experience and having an older sibling was doing wonders for him.
Kaoru took the board she had been holding and threw it on a pile, walking around the growing hole in the floor.
"You've done a lot. The place is nearly gutted." Kenshin said as he eyed the bare studs of the walls.
"We've been working on this place full tilt so we were able to do a lot. A lot of the damage was surprisingly superficial. I actually don't quite believe the window wasn't broken," She took off the gloves she was wearing as she walked over to him.
"When building for dragons some extra magical support in the design can come in handy in certain situations. Plus I was able to help a bit since we were all so close. Your energy was quite explosive."
Kaoru laughed a bit at the thought, and looked a bit sheepish. "I shouldn't laugh at the destruction of your room, but this is so strange. I've never felt real and now that I do it's like something out of a fairy tale." She stood across from him, feeling a bit awkward, "Is there something you wanted to talk about?"
"I did want to clear some things up. Walk with me?" He offered Kaoru his arm.
"Let's walk outside, it's so nice today."
Normally Kenshin would worry about her being too cold, but since unleashing her fire dragon, Kaoru hadn't complained about being cold once. He had to admit he did miss the way she would get as close as possible to his dragon heat without even meaning to. Now she seemed a bit reserved around him. Happy, yes, but she had pulled her energy back. That wouldn't do.
"I wanted to apologize." Kenshin started as they walked outside. Kenshin cringed inwardly as he thought of the first long, fairly strenuous hike they took up here when Kaoru was in much worse shape. Now she seemed to be enjoying the hike.
Kaoru smiled a bit, "What would you need to apologize about? I feel like I should be the one saying sorry."
Kenshin flinched a bit, "I'm mostly sorry that you feel like you should say sorry. I know I've been in a terrible mood this week, and I wanted to set the record straight." He could feel the waiver through their bond. Of sadness? Disappointment? It was subtle, but there. It needed to be gone immediately. They were holding hands, so he pulled her towards him with a move so swift and smooth it took Kaoru a second to register she was in his embrace. "I am very glad you are here, that we are bonded. I am sorry I made you think otherwise. It's my fault because I wanted you to have space as a dragon to figure out who you are."
The confusion Kaoru was feeling bubbled up from the first surge of happiness she had felt at Kenshin's words and embrace. It was wonderful to be in his arms but she couldn't quite understand the last week.
"So, you aren't mad at me?" She asked hesitantly as she pulled back a bit to look at his expression. She felt a flutter in her stomach at just how close he was, and how hot the fire in his gaze was.
"I was never mad at you. I was frustrated. I wanted to help you through all of this. I am angry that I had several chances to help protect you and I could not. You are everything I could have ever wanted and hoped for and I was angry that I failed to.."
His words were cut short and his eyes went wide as Kaoru surprised him by pressing her mouth to his, leaning deeper in to his embrace, as he pulled her even closer in response. Kaoru smiled as she ended the kiss, to Kenshin's slight disappointment. She grinned.
"So you do want me!" She said. It wasn't a question, and he didn't feel the need to answer. At least not with words. Their bond spoke more than either could at that moment.
A/N Okay. This took much longer to write than I anticipated. I just have such hard times with Kenshin and Kaoru scenes! That and I've got several almost chapters about things I only sort of hinted at here, which I might update as drabbles. I don't want to flesh them out too much as it was getting sort of unwieldy. This is all I want to do with this story right now, because there's much more I want to write on other things, but I hope to visit this one again! I think it has some potential.
To answer The Honeycomb's question it was kind of an aside, but everyone showed up to Kenshin's house several days later. Everyone had wanted the two to have time alone, but Megumi, after realizing just exactly what they were dealing with cut that a bit short and of course Kenshin was keeping her updated on Kaoru's energy levels. (His keeping Megumi updated is not in the story. I'll add that in when I update some of the chapters.) Also, about Kenshin's anger: he was mostly angry about the whole situation with Kaoru. With Megumi there to help with the transition it would have been easier on Kaoru's system from the beginning. Having to deal with raw magic was not in the best interests of anyone. Also, the fact that Kaoru's magic had been turned in on itself while she was a baby to keep her in a human shell was quite uncomfortable for him to think about. To have magic cut off like that is tantamount to abuse for a dragon. He was mad at whoever had done that to her and his inability to help her through that. From his point of view, he's also bonding with undeveloped energy and for dragons it would be like bonding with a child. Had Megumi been able to help she could have found a way to introduce her to her own magic. He's not mad at Kaoru, just what happened to her and his part in it.
I hope that clears up some things! And I hope everyone enjoyed it. Even with the hiatus. (Sorry about that again...)