Fall from grace

By hye-kyo

Disclaimer: Nope, RK isn't mine.

A/n: This is a small drabble I uncovered from my HD. It was written a long time ago. It's some sketch of some sort if I remember correctly and was supposed to be a longer story but I've never gotten around to molding it. The idea came from a question raised by a friend. This friend asked me something that led to an answer that involves Kenshin suddenly walking through the wall. This friend still teases me about that. For the Sessha parts, I know, I tried hard to be consistent but I just can't, let's just assume the Battousai personality is seeping...Anyway, on with the story.

Title: Time travel

Rating: K

"""

Kaoru fell asleep around two in the morning, suddenly woke up at three and saw something bright and glinting by the wall. But having been overworked and overstressed she brushed it off as some dream.

Ten minutes right after she went back to sleep there was a poking on her arm. She mumbled, again took that as part of some dream. Twenty more minutes after, the poking was still there, joined by some murmurings in her ear. She mumbled, annoyed, threw her hand up to hit whatever it is, a mosquito or a fly perhaps, and went back to sleep.

Thirty minutes after incessant pokings and murmurings Kaoru sat up, dousing herself from sleep in hopes of getting rid of that dream. But what came before her eyes almost sent her back to sleeping for she almost fainted.

There was a man in her room.

The idea was hard to grasp at first. Watching many horror and suspense films had made her thought about what she would do in such circumstances—she'd scream, fight and run. But being in that circumstance she wasn't able to do anything. She just sat there petrified.

It was only after five minutes of staring that she finally found her voice to shout. Everything clicked in her mind and, clenching her fist, she let out a scream.

But the man was quick to cover her mouth. "Please…Sessha's not going to hurt you…"

Sessha? Now that she's fully awake she noticed that he looked like someone taken from a history book.

"Please don't scream Miss, Sessha's not going to hurt you." There was a pleading look in his eyes, a look that reminded her of puppies and kittens. Oh well, she might as well hear him out. He kind of looked lost and nice and cute…

She nodded at him, relaxing against his hold to assure him she isn't going to scream nor run.

He released her, smiling. "Sessha's really sorry for being here…I believe I am lost…"

"Yeah…oh…" she managed a smile, his smile was infectious. Anyway, she cleared her throat and asked, "Why are you here? How did you get here?"

"Sessha doesn't really know how I got here…I was making dinner and suddenly there was a light, a very bright light, and here I was…Sessha doesn't even know where this is…"

Now that sounded suspicious. If he told her the window was open and he saw her sleeping and got captivated by her and he came in to introduce himself and ask for her hand in marriage she would have believed him. But a bright light? Who in the world would believe that?

Suddenly a thought occurred to her. Her twenty-third birthday is three days from now. Megumi told her they were planning a surprise for her. So, is giving her a heart attack part of the surprise? She laughed.

"Miss? Are you alright?" he seemed worried.

His acting was flawless, she thought. "Okay," she started, trying again, "What's the catch?"

"Catch?"

"Yeah? Where's the camera?" She turned around, "Is Megumi filming this?"

"Megumi?"

She frowned at him, "You can drop the act now."

"Miss?"

"You have a great costume, great acting, so where's the camera?"

"Camera?"

She frowned again. She stood up, started switching on the lights, searching for a camera. When she found none, she turned back to the man, who she could now see has long red hair, a cross-shaped scar on his cheek, which kind of looks a bit too real to be prosthetics or makeup, pretty violet eyes, perfect nose and perfect mouth. Apart from the ragged magenta and white ensemble, throw in the maroon socks and the hideous fashion sense, he could pass for a celebrity.

She cleared her throat, focusing on the more serious things at hand, "So there's no camera?"

"None…I believe there is no camera here nor any thing resembling that contraption," he said seriously.

"So this isn't a joke? A comedy home video? Something that Megumi set up?"

"This is certainly not a joke. Though I am hoping that I am just dreaming because I really do not know how I got here. And no this is not a co-comedy…what was that again?"

She arched a brow, "A comedy home video."

"Yes, no this is certainly not that though I don't really understand what you mean by that. And this is also not something that Megumi set up. Who is Megumi by the way?"

"She's a friend," and then she shook her head, "Don't turn me around. I know you're planning something with her so why don't you just spill the beans?"

"I swear in the name of Kami that I do not know her so I don't have any bean to spill as you put it," he explained.

She looked at the clock. It was almost four and she has to get up by six. She cleared her throat. "So, let's start from the top."

He nodded.

"You don't know Megumi."

He nodded.

"This wasn't planned."

He nodded again.

"You are lost."

He eagerly nodded.

"You don't know how you got here, just some bright light or something."

"Yes."

"So…" she took a deep breath, and as if just speaking to herself she said, "Then I must be dreaming."

"I was hoping too. But unfortunately this isn't a dream."

"Then what is this?"

He slowly shrugged his shoulders and in attempt to say something more substantial choked on his words and only managed a, "I wish I know."

"""

Kaoru woke up. Last night's event seemed so distant, like a vague memory, like a dream. She stretched, smoothed her blankets and let out a sigh, "Oh well, it was a dream."

"Good morning."

"Good morning," she quickly replied on reflex. And then she froze. There was a voice. She slowly turned her head and found a silhouette by the doorway.

"Good morning Miss Kaoru," the voice repeated.

"Who are you? How did you get in here? I'm calling the police! Don't come any closer—"

"I'm really sorry for barging in like this but I just can't—"

And then it struck her. It was the dream. He was the dream.

"You're still here?"

"Yes…If only I could just go back to Edo I promise I won't be bothering you and—"

"Edo?"

"Yes."

No, no. She was not going to fall for that. She would not even think about that. Of course not. What is this? Some sci-fi flick gone wrong? No, no, no. How in the world would she believe that this ragged-looking man—well, he's good-looking anyway so the raggedness can be really underplayed—came from the past?

A/n: So what do you think?