The Faerie Chronicles of Kenshin & Kaoru: Immortality, a Rurouni Kenshin fanfic by Raberba girl
Extra scene
To makulit - Either you're a troll, or you're yet another hater who never bothered to read my author's notes. 1) I wrote all this crap I've been updating with years ago, before KK fans turned me against the pairing. Which I have said before. 2) If you have a problem with me or my attitude, just stop reading my stories, which I have also said before. 3) People like you are the reason why I hate your fandom and your favorite pairing, and you just keep making it worse instead of better. So if getting me to hate what you love even more than I already do was your goal, congratulations. 4) What do you think I have been trying to do? I have been trying to leave the fandom for months now, which I also said, and I'm not going to re-explain everything to you when you could just either A) actually read my author's notes, or B) stop reading the story. Unless my writing skill is just soooooo awesome that you can't tear yourself away from my awesomeness, in which case I suppose I should take it as a compliment. 5) People do hate me for writing non-KK stuff, which you wouldn't know because you're not the one having to sit here getting hate mail about it for three years. If you can't handle my author's notes, then leave; I didn't ask you to suffer through this story. Or to get captivated by my awesome fantastic writing, whichever one it is.
By the way, guys, I changed my mind. I re-read the omake in preparation to edit it, and all the KK in it was making me sick, so I've decided not to post it here after all. This scene and the epilogue are the last of the Faerie Chronicles series. If you'd like to think that I never actually wrote an omake and was just trolling you, feel free. (I was not deliberately trolling, but it's not like I can convince anyone to believe that when they're determined to think the worst of me.)
xXx
Everyone looked up in surprise as someone came into the room. It was a rather outlandish-looking man, with fiery crimson robes, several sword hilts sticking out at seemingly random angles, and very long, bright blonde hair that stuck straight up but then drooped down halfway along like the fronds of a thirsty potted plant.
"Chou," Kenshin said in surprise. "What are you doing h-?"
"I screwed up," the man said in a low voice. The room immediately hushed as everyone gave him amazed looks. Kaoru got the feeling that they were not accustomed to hearing this man say such things. "I crossed over nearly ten years late - he's dying, Battousai. He wants to see you."
In response, Kenshin heavily braced himself on the table next to him with one hand. For a long time, he said nothing, and there was a dead silence in the room. All eyes were fixed on him, or else wavered between him and, disconcertingly, Kaoru. The expressions were stricken or grim, but Kaoru was too afraid to break this charged silence to ask what in the world was going on.
Then Kenshin suddenly raised his head with a little gasp, and came straight over to Kaoru. He caught up both her hands and squeezed them tightly in his, looking so distracted that she was pretty sure he did not realize he was hurting her. His expression was desperate as he whispered, "Kaoru, please. Please come with us. You can't...you can't not be there when he - goes. He's missed you so much. Please, for his sake, come with us."
"Who's...who's 'he'?"
Kenshin closed his eyes. "This one can't...really tell you...but, please, believe me, you are very dear to him, as he once was to you. This one cannot describe how much you will regret it if you - if you are not there at the end."
"Okay," Kaoru said cautiously. The situation was bizarre as usual, but Kenshin looked so upset that there was no question about how important this must be. She could badger him for explanations later, when he didn't look like he was about to lose it.
"...Ken-jiichan?"
Everyone turned to find Kensuke and the twins standing apprehensively in the doorway, Tsubame behind them. "I thought I should fetch them," Tsubame explained softly.
Kenshin, so distressed that he forgot to thank her, wordlessly held out his hands. The twins ran to him, Kensuke following behind more slowly. "Girls," Kenshin said unsteadily. "We have to go to Faerie. It's Kenji."
"Is he dying?" Suzumi asked anxiously.
Kenshin swallowed. "Yes."
Both girls gasped, and Kensuke cursed under his breath. The four of them had clasped hands by now, and Kenshin turned and reached out to Kaoru. "Kaoru-dono," he said awkwardly. "You should be warned...we are going somewhere very strange - perhaps you ought to close your eyes while we make the passage."
"Believe me," she told him, "I am definitely used to 'strange' by now."
He smiled weakly, gripping her hand hard. "The most important thing is not to let go of this one's hand, or you will be lost. Do you understand?"
Kaoru gulped. "Yes."
The others were clasping hands as well, almost everyone in the room and some newcomers besides, so that it was quite a crowd who crossed over together into an entirely different world.
[The passage; Kaoru's re-introduction to Faerie; Titania & her court's grieving.]
Kenshin did not pause at the doorway, but pushed straight on in. He went immediately to the bedside and sat down carefully on the edge, leaning over the figure lying there and fixing all of his attention on the dying man. "Kenji?"
For a long moment, there was only the sound of slow, labored breathing. Then a voice, weak and slow, but full of good humor. "...Heh. Made it after all. Beat...beat up Chou for me, will ya?"
"...Kenji..."
"Don't go blubbering...geez. Where's...the kids? Are they here?"
Aya and Suzumi instantly hurried forward, one of them kneeling at the head of the bed and patting his thinning hair, the other carefully climbing over to sit against the wall and drape her legs over his in such a way that none of her weight touched him. "We're here, Jiichan."
"Heheh...the last of my girls...oh, man, Suzumi, you look so much like your grandma..."
"Which one?" Suzumi asked with a watery smile.
"Heh...the second one. Zel had much longer hair." With a sigh, the old man, Kenji, turned his head to the side and murmured in Kenshin's direction, "I miss Zel so much...Kairi and Zel both, I miss 'em so much..." He reached out a quivering, mottled hand and grasped Kenshin's arm. "Dad, I understand now. Dad, you have to find her."
Kenshin smiled, very sadly. "This one has found her, Kenji."
"What...?"
Kenshin took a deep breath. "She's come, Kenji. She's here. Kenji, she remembers nothing, she's only a child in that strange new world, but she's come...to tell you good-bye."
The silence was thick, and then Kaoru was alarmed when several pairs of eyes turned to her, including those of the dying man. She did not make a conscious decision, despite her confusion and amazement and apprehension, she simply walked forward and stood by the bed and took the thin, brittle hand that was held up to her.
Up close, she could see what Kenji looked like now, so long (from his perspective) after she had last seen him. He was old, he was dying, but there was such a strength of expression on his face and in his eyes that it nearly took her breath away.
That expression was now turned to wonder as he gazed at her in delighted disbelief. "It's you...you came back at last...I thought I'd never see you again." He chuckled a wheezing laugh that turned into a fit of coughing. At the end of it, he gasped, looking amused, "You haven't changed...since the last time I saw you...it really has only been a few weeks for you, hasn't it."
Kaoru took a deep breath and forced herself to say what she felt she had to. "K-Kenji-san...I am so, so sorry, but I - I mean, there's a lot I don't understand, I suppose you really do know me, but I - please, I don't remember...I-"
"Kenji-san?" The astonishment quickly turned to an almost boyish grin. "It's Kenji. Geez, don't...ever call me '-san' again. And it's okay you don't remember. Just...shut up and hold my hand." He squeezed her fingers weakly. "Can you...can you please...stay with me until the end? Even if you're...freaked out...please don't run. I couldn't stand it."
"I won't," she told him fiercely. "I'm staying."
Kenji's face softened. "Thanks...thank you so much...I'm so glad you're here."
Kaoru sat down, almost in Kenshin's lap, but she barely noticed because she was so busy staring at Kenji and feeling like her heart was breaking.
"Hey." Kenji blinked and glanced restlessly around the room. "Kensuke here?" His eyes fell on the boy, who was standing back by the doorway, halfway behind Megumi. "Oi, kid. Get over here."
Kensuke shuffled over to the bedside and stood there awkwardly, staring at the floor.
Kenji grinned again. "You afraid?"
Kensuke's head snapped up. "No way!"
*permanently incomplete*
[After Kenji dies, Kaoru starts crying, grieving together with Kenshin. She can't figure out why it hurts so much to lose a man she didn't even know, except that those twinkling eyes had been the same as those of the King Kenji I she met in Faerie while time traveling. Yet that still doesn't explain why she feels like she lost a member of her own family.
"Who was he, Kenshin?"
"He was..." Deep breath, "Kaoru-dono, you know that I am older than I look. This one was made immortal many years ago. His son, however, was given the choice to take a more natural path, which he did."
"Your son?!"
Kenshin just looks at her.
"Oh...Kenshin...I'm so sorry..." Her eyes widen. "Kenshin, your wife - does she know that Kenji's- Does she know?"
Kenshin immediately whirled, hurried into his office, and shut the door with such a look of pain on his face that Kaoru was immediately wracked with guilt. She had not meant to hurt him, yet she could tell that she had done so very badly. "Oh, Kenshin..."]
The Faerie Chronicles of Kenshin & Kaoru: Immortality, a Rurouni Kenshin fanfic by Raberba girl
Epilogue
A/N: Takes place when Enishi frees himself between The Sleeping Prince and Immortality.
o.o.o
Enishi squared his shoulders and marched into the Unseelie court to reclaim his crown, only to find his people waiting for him with no sign of the regent he had been preparing to fight. They watched in unusual, uneasy silence as he paced down the center of the room.
There was a note on the empty throne, with his father's knife resting on top of it.
Dear Enishi,
You don't want to know how much I've invested, getting this sorry pack of brutes into shape. Don't screw it up, Or Else.
~Hiko Seijûrô, Master Swordsman, Wizard Unrivaled, Potter Extraordinaire
Enishi smiled, carefully tucked the note away, and sat down on the throne.
xXxXxXxXx
Kaoru eventually unlocked her memories and remarried Kenshin to become his queen once more, Kenshin and his allies defeated Shishio once and for all, and everyone lived happily ever after.
The end.
Author's Notes: And Raberba girl finally got this series off her To Do List, yaaaay.
There are two reasons why I got the idea to do Immortality. One was that skenshingumi commented that it didn't make sense for Kenshin to sort of kill Kaoru's mother and then never have that issue resolved. It made The Sleeping Prince a lot longer, and I had a hard time pulling off a happy ending (it was supposed to end joyfully with Kenji's revival, not with Kenshin & Kaoru's reconciliation after a dark period in their relationship). I also became unsatisfied with the ambiguously happy ending, and wanted to do a more focused KK going back to the courtship stage, yet with a different sort of conflict and with all the history still lurking in the background, ready to come to light. It was also a problem that Kenshin lives forever young, and Kaoru ages and dies. Immortality solves that, though I am by no means advocating immortality hands-down over a normal lifespan. Both of them have their perks and problems.
So, yeah, I'm never gonna write out the rest of this story like I'd originally meant to, so you'll have to be satisfied with the slapdash ending. I've edited the series as best as I can, and am now filing it away in my Finished folder because I do not want it on my To Do List anymore.
Aaaaand thanks to makulit, a coward who only dared to comment when anonymous, now you will get yet another sample of why I lost all desire to finish this series properly:
guest, another coward who only dared to comment when anonymous - I have no problem with KK lovers writing their own fics. My problem is when they barge onto my turf and bash my fics, proving in the process that they have no idea what the phrase "constructive criticism" actually means.
moo, another coward who only dared to comment when anonymous - Apparently you didn't bother to read my author's notes. Most of my recently posted RK stuff is OLD. It has been sitting on my flash drive for YEARS. The only reason I'm posting all this RK crap now is because I've given up on trying to finish the stories the way I'd originally meant to, and there was no reason to let the fragments go to waste by not letting them be publicly available. And who are you to tell me to stop writing? I am perfectly capable of accepting legitimate criticism, which "reviews" like yours are not.
Whatever, another coward who only dared to comment when anonymous - You think I have thin skin? Guess how it got that way. And why are you going around pulling "facts" out of your butt? Regardless of whether your statement was true or not, saying it was entirely pointless, and I have no idea why you did.
Starr and Guest, more cowards who only dared to comment when anonymous - Kenji is Kaoru's son in canon (though there is plenty of room for people to come up with alternate scenarios if they wish, which would not directly contradict canon). He can be anyone's son in alternate universes, and I chose to make him someone else's son in that AU. Why should I bother to make up a throwaway OC when I already have a character who perfectly suits the role?
Aman, another coward who only dared to comment when anonymous - If you hate love stories, why the heck did you read a fic with "LOVE STORY" in the title, then bother to tell me that you dislike the genre it was posted under?
Sour Queen - You posted while signed into your account; thank you.
Guest, another coward who only dared to comment when anonymous - Characters can never be OOC solely based on the pairing they're shipped in. They're IC or OOC based on how they're written, which you made zero commentary on. And I why should I care that you "love Kenshin and kaoru"? That was not positive feedback, it was merely stating an opinion that had nothing to do with the actual story.
Scarred Sword Heart - Thank you for being signed in. What you said actually wasn't that bad at all, but on top of all the other crap I've had to put up with all this time, it annoyed me; sorry.
Lackwit - Thank you for at least leaving me a way to contact you.
To all the anonymous commenters listed above, and everyone else who's sent me similar reviews and messages in the past - First of all, I have no respect for brats who are too scared to say that kind of stuff to me unless they're able to do so without leaving any contact information. Also: stop reading my fics. Seriously. It is not hard. Just don't click on anything that says "Raberba girl" on it. If you hate me, yet are just dying to find out what happens next in the story, then just skim through the updates and stop commenting. None of those comments were actual reviews or helpful critique, it was just you thinking you have the right to dictate to me (or else you getting a laugh out of trolling me). Therefore, your only accomplishments by "reviewing" were to waste your time (unless you were trolling, in which case, get a life), waste my time, and make me hate RK fans even more than I already do. So if that was your intention, well done. Way to represent the Rurouni Kenshin fandom with pride.
To you handful of RK fans who actually have respect for others and a decent amount of objectivity - I apologize. Please spread love, be tolerant of others' opinions even if they're the polar opposite of yours, and try to overcome all the hate of your fellow fans.
To everyone - I'm not saying that this is the "very last rk story i'll ever post EVER zomg!", but it is the last of Faerie Chronicles, and I will never write anything new with the Kenshin/Kaoru pairing again. I'm trying to transition into focusing entirely on either my current fandom or my original stories (or both), since I have no interest in other fandoms anymore.
So I will say once again: please take me off your alert lists and stop reading my stories, because I can assure you that you will have no interest in my future work. Unless anyone who's reading this is a troll, in which case...I dunno; troll away, I will eventually train myself to stop feeding you.