The Faerie Chronicles of Kenshin & Kaoru, a Rurouni Kenshin fanfic series by Raberba girl

Part 5: Immortality

Summary: Kaoru thinks she is a normal high school student who happens to have caught the attention of one the richest men in the city. Ken O'Neill, however, seems to know her much better than he should from merely a few days' acquaintance, as do his employees. Why is he so interested in her, and what is his link to the infamous Battousai, who is fighting against a government now headed by Shishio Makoto? *PERMANENTLY INCOMPLETE*

Prologue

"Dying isn't as bad as I thought it would be," Kaoru murmured thoughtfully.

"You're not dead yet," her husband grumbled. He lay beside her, propping his head on one hand, her body nestled against his. Their hands were clasped over her chest, his thumb idly caressing her knobby fingers.

"I'm almost a hundred years old," she pointed out. "I'm sick. I could go at any time."

"You've been saying that for months now."

"It's true."

He shifted his arm so he could lay his head down next to hers. "What is this one supposed to do when you're gone?" he whispered.

"Find some other girl," she suggested. "Someone who won't die on you this time. Have lots of red-haired kids and remember me with fondness." She was trying to tease, but her chest felt tight at the thought of her Kenshin with another woman. She didn't want to be selfish, but...well, she wasn't quite dead yet. "The sex'll finally be better again, anyway."

She smiled to feel his lips against her neck, soft kisses moving up to her ear, into which his voice finally breathed, "The sex has been fine."

"Only just 'fine'?" she teased.

He pulled himself up again, smiling, his face so close to hers that she felt his breath against her skin. "It's been wonderful."

"Liar," she murmured, and their lips met. When they parted, she took a moment to get her breath back and then said, "Well, you lie very well, I'll give you that much."

She reached up, as she had so often done, to trace the mark on his face, now thin and bright red. It had been almost invisible for so long, but its color had become more and more vivid in recent months. It was selfishly reassuring to see that, despite the contentment of their life together, he was distressed at the prospect of losing her.

It had been awful to watch herself growing older and older, wrinkles beginning to ravage her face, blue veins blossoming on her legs, the gray hairs becoming so numerous that she had given up plucking them out - as beside her, he remained handsome and ever-young, practically unchanged since their wedding day.

She had been upset and anxious at first, but his love had never wavered, patient through all the clinging and moodiness and jealousy, until finally she had given him her trust again and settled down into the way things had to be.

It had been painful... For a while, she had refused to appear together with him in public, since she thought angrily that they looked like a young prince lovingly caring for an aging queen mother. Yet eventually, she gave up and stopped trying to hide it. It was a pitiful situation no matter what she did about it, and anyone whose opinion she cared about didn't bother them about it, anyway. The brain she used to co-govern, after all, had only grown sharper with the years.

What had been more pleasant was watching the children grow up - watching Kenji charm the hearts of the people and take on rulership with earnest grace, watching the girls grow into beautiful, passionate young women. Kenshin and Kaoru had been so reluctant to betroth their eldest daughter that she ended up falling in love with a young farm boy before they made a decision, and neither of them had had the heart to forbid such an outrageous marriage.

After that, they had been in some anxiousness about their younger daughter, but Suzume was perfectly willing to marry the nobleman who first asked for her hand. He was many years her senior and not too handsome, but he was very kind and very rich and treated her like the princess she was, so that by the time their first child was born, Suzume declared that she couldn't possibly be happier.

In the meantime, their old friends slept on, hidden in a room that was nevertheless well furnished and well cared-for ("Not that they'll ever notice," Kenji sometimes pointed out). Kenshin and Kaoru had been understandably upset to return, all those years ago, and discover what had happened, but the strange letter in Kenshin's familiar messy handwriting had been difficult to argue with.

"...This one begs your trust in this matter. Sano and the rest are sorely needed at this time, as you will one day come to understand..."

With it had come the uncanny pictures, flat and glossy like stolen moments of time, showing Sanosuke and the others in strange clothes, smiling. More ominous had been a thin paper printed in black and white, depicting a person who looked terribly, horrifically familiar.

Then something had happened a few years ago which convinced Kenshin that the letter spoke truth, and gave him dark thoughts of the future. He had told Kaoru, who began to nurse a secret hope. Yet if some strange adventure was to befall them, there had been no further sign of it, and now it seemed almost too late.

"This one will miss you so much," he whispered.

Her eyes filled with tears, and she squeezed his hand. "What do you think it will be like?" she whispered back. "Do you think it's like falling asleep?" He gazed at her silently, unable to answer.

The door burst open and Tomoe swept in, still spry despite her aged body; she had been luckier than Kaoru in the effects of her mortality. "Is Kaoru-san dead yet?"

Kenshin sat up to stare at her in astonishment, and Kaoru glared indignantly.

Akira came in then, laughing. "You're not supposed to ask it like that, love."

"Really!" Kaoru agreed. "You'll give someone around here a bad impression!"

"Good," Tomoe breathed out in relief, presumably in response to the fact of Kaoru's continued survival rather than what she had actually said. The enchantress turned to Kenshin. "Kenshin-kun, I need to have some time alone with Kaoru-san. Would you mind keeping Akira company for a little while?"

Kenshin and Kaoru glanced at each other. Then she nodded, and he brought her hand up to kiss it. "I love you," he said softly.

"Love you," she answered, returning his smile.

Outside the room, Kenshin leaned against the wall with folded arms to wait, and Akira paced slowly, looking restless. "So," Kenshin finally said. "How have you been?"

"Great," Akira said at once, and paused to smile at Kenshin. He seemed excited and nervous, though he offered no explanation.

After an awkward pause, Kenshin asked curiously, "How are the children?"

"They're running me ragged, I don't know how Tomoe keeps up with them," he said happily. "Sora started turning everything to ice last week, and it turns out that Rika's been so upset lately because she's growing wings. It's got to be from Tomoe's side of the family, since everyone in my line has kept their feet firmly on the ground."

Kenshin nodded, smiling at the thought of the little ones. "And Ena, how's she?"

"She's doing great, the baby came along fine." Then he smirked. "She swears she didn't keep us up 24/7 when she was a newborn, but of course her memory back then was just a tad sketchy. What about your own girls?"

It was not until the conversation had moved on to Chou's latest exploits that Tomoe finally came back out. "I'm sorry, love," she told Akira. "It looks like I'll be having to say good-bye sooner than I thought." She smiled wryly. "Kaoru-san doesn't quite trust me."

"What?" Kenshin said, startled.

Tomoe and Akira had wrapped their arms around each other and did not hear. She closed her eyes and rested her head against him, and he rocked her gently. "Will it take a long time?" he asked softly.

"I don't know," she sighed. "It might be only a few minutes, or it might be years. But Akira-" She pulled back and looked earnestly into his eyes. "I promise I will see you again."

"I'll be waiting," he said solemnly, stroking her silvery hair. "I love you."

She kissed him, then went back into Kaoru's room.

"What was that all about?" Kenshin asked suspiciously.

Akira shrugged. "You should ask your wife."

"Does this have something to do with Tomoe-dono's elixir?" Kenshin asked cautiously.

Akira smiled widely. "She did it. It works." Then he frowned. "At least, theoretically. Tomoe hasn't tried it yet, and we didn't have any mortals to test for alternate effects."

"Please tell me," Kenshin growled, "that Kaoru-dono is not going to be your test subject."

"Only if she chooses to," Akira said, shrugging.

Kenshin started toward the door, but Akira quickly laid a hand on his arm. "Kenshin, you know Tomoe. She wouldn't do anything to hurt your wife."

"Once," Kenshin said coldly, "she did something terrible to this one's son, though wishing to keep him from hurt." Akira's grip slackened helplessly, and Kenshin shoved the door open.

Tomoe still sat next to the bed, but she had leaned forward to pillow her head on her arms, and her eyes were closed. Kaoru also lay apparently asleep, the rose she had kept over so many years clutched in her withered fist; an empty vial rested in her other palm. Neither of the women moved, or responded when he called their names.

To be continued...

Author's Note: There was a reason why I'd had Tomoe with young kids even at an advanced age, but I never got a chance to fully deal with that. Also, I'm almost certain that I gave that one kid the name "Sora" before getting into Kingdom Hearts, so I might have had a different Sora in mind.

Ftr, Kaoru accidentally drank too much of the elixir, and Tomoe was already gone by the time Kaoru made her decision.