Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Content ❯ Content ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Content- by Editor Jen

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Summary: AU, K/K, WAFF-y, One-shot. Kenshin and Kaoru have been best friends since they were little. But after Kenshin's love, Tomoe, dies, it's up to Kaoru to heal his heart. Which should be interesting, since she can see Tomoe's ghost.

Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin belongs to Watsuki-sama, I'm just borrowing his characters for a bit. I'll give them back, really! *sighs* Though I really wish I could keep Kenshin to myself…

Author's Note: Here's a short one, guys. I've been reading a book about ghosts and it sparked an idea. Enjoy! It's `Alternate Universe' which means it doesn't take place long ago in Tokyo, haha, so you don't have to know anything about Kenshin to read this! Reviews make me happy; flames make me sad; constructive criticism makes me embarrassed, but a better writer.

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Content

Kaoru shut the bathroom door behind her with a happy sigh, hugging a T-shirt to her chest. She leaned against the closed door for a moment, her bright blue eyes sparkling with youthful innocence and a passion for the unseen. She smiled as she regarded herself in the mirror, noting her cheeks were flushed from the night's cold.

She let out her hair from its high ponytail and it cascaded down her back and fanned around her shoulders like midnight itself. She wasn't strikingly pretty, but her plain face held exotic eyes and a tentative smile that caught the eyes of a few more men than she would have liked.

At seventeen, she was just beginning to feel comfortable in her body. The dress she wore fell just below her knees and hugged her new curves. She finally had a figure, though she was usually to shy to flaunt it. She grinned ruefully at that thought as she kicked off her uncomfortable shoes and slipped out of the tight dress.

The party had been far too long; adults could be so social. She felt she would have exploded if she had to answer one more question about her college of choice and plans for her future. The black sleeveless dress lay on the floor, abandoned, along with the stresses of that night.

`Much better,' she sighed. Clad only in underwear, she shivered as the crisp air hit her exposed skin. She quickly put on the oversized T-shirt, and only after she had just pulled it over her head did she see the shimmering in the air in front of her.

Dull gray eyes peered into hers, and Kaoru repressed the urge shudder. She had been seeing ghosts since she was three, but had only started conversing with them lately. Their voices came in soft, feathery tones, like a melody carried on the wind.

However, there was one ghost she tried to avoid. Tomoe.

The pale girl was nearly an inch taller than her and her silent presence was unsettling. Her raven-colored hair stopped just below her shoulders, which mimicking her short life, cut off too early. She was dressed casually. Blood she had lost from the car accident coated various parts of her face and body. Though she was more of a saddening sight than a frightening one. With her arms hung limply at her sides, Tomoe didn't usually say anything, but stood careful watch.

Perhaps she was afraid Kaoru would make a move on Kenshin. Kaoru flushed.

He had always been her best friend, and her heart had been as broken as his when his first love died. A year had already passed. Kaoru remembered how Kenshin avidly avoided her for a week after that fateful day, drawing awkward apologies from his parents at the doorstep.

But they were meant to be together; and when she had finally managed to see him, she put her arms around him just like when they were kids. She held his head in her lap and ran her fingers through his hair as he cried.

Months had passed and he seemed to get on with life, the remainder of Tomoe still held in his eyes as a glimmering sadness that shone through in truly unguarded moments. Things had returned to normal then.

Until… Tomoe had started visiting Kenshin.

It all began about two months after the accident. It was as if Tomoe couldn't move onto the next world without seeing that Kenshin would be taken care of.

He couldn't see her, but would Kaoru could. The girl began to tag along behind him, watching his every move with her all-seeing eyes. Sometimes she was there; sometimes she wasn't. But just when Kaoru would begin to relax, a shadow would shift in the corner of her eye.

Tomoe was looking right at her then, as if reading her thoughts. Kaoru looked away, hugging her arms to herself as if for protection from memories. Or accusations.

“I'm only sleeping over!” she snapped in a loud whisper. She pale girl flinched, as if she'd been hit, but didn't say anything. Kaoru felt instantly sorry. She knew Tomoe only cared about Kenshin's happiness. When she was alive, Tomoe was especially nice to Kaoru, although she couldn't quite figure out the relationship she and Kenshin had kept alive all these years.

Tomoe was back because she cared about Kenshin's happiness; Kaoru just wanted to be with her best friend and make him happy.

She lowered her gaze to the tiled floor in a silent apology. When she looked up, the girl was gone, and left behind were only fragments of shifting air. A playful voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Are you going to be in there all night?”

Kaoru laughed and picked up her discarded shoes and clothing. After taking one last glance in the mirror, she swung open the door and found herself face to face with Kenshin.

His eyes skimmed over her form and an appreciative smile lit his face. “Is that my shirt?” His eyes met hers, and Kaoru couldn't help but grin. It just seemed so… right… to wear his things.

“Yeah,” she answered and stepped by him into his bedroom. She threw her clothes onto the floor and turned around to find Kenshin still looking at her. Her grin faltered for a moment as she tried to read into his gaze.

Suddenly snapping out of his trance, Kenshin grabbed her waist and pulled into the bathroom with him, smirking. Dizzy and giggling, Kaoru felt like they were kids again.

“Brush your teeth,” he told her, motioning toward the toothbrush designated as hers. She had spent so many nights at his house it had become a second home. Kaoru even had a drawer for her clothes.

“Hey!” she shrieked, letting out an indignant cry. “Are you saying my breath stinks?” Her hands were mounted on her hips. He chuckled.

“No. But you do smell like wine. With all the adults at this so-called `formal' party, they really ought to have kept a better eye on the kids.” He laughed as he turned on the faucet.

“You're a kid too!” She retorted. A mischievous grin lit up her face. “Or do I have to remind you?” Before Kenshin could respond, she cupped a handful of water and flung it at him. He yelped and did the same to her.

Soon they were both breathless and more than a little wet, so they called a truce… just for the night of course. Not wanting to wake Kenshin's parents, they brushed their teeth quietly and climbed into his double bed. They had always slept together if they were at the same house, since Kaoru was often plagued by nightmares.

As he held her, she tried to hold in yet another sigh. Why did it seem that these were the only moments she felt completely safe?

She shifted closer to him so she could lay her head on his chest. His heartbeat soothed her; falling asleep to it usually drowned out the calls from troubled souls that cried out to her in the dark. His hand moved to her hair, and as he pushed her bangs out of her eyes, she saw Tomoe standing patiently in the corner.

Tonight had to be the night.

“Kenshin,” she breathed into the darkness. His hand stilled its motions in her hair and he listened.

“I know you miss her.” Kaoru hated to bring up the subject. She felt Kenshin's body tense in response.

“Didn't we say we wouldn't talk about…” his voice trailed off. He couldn't even say her name. Kaoru frowned, then set her jaw. She had to go through with this.

“If you want…” she began, just as softly. “You can talk to her. She can speak to you… through me.”

Kenshin's eyes widened. He knew about Kaoru's gift of hearing and she had told him stories of how she let some ghosts enter her and talk through her or write their last wishes on paper. He wasn't quite sure what to believe, though he certainly didn't think Tomoe would want to speak to him.

“I… don't know. You don't have to-”

“She wants to talk to you,” Kaoru said insistently. Kenshin didn't reply, and she took his silence as a `yes.' She pulled herself out of his embrace and sat beside him on the bed. With great concentration she relaxed all of her muscles and gave a final nod to Tomoe who began to glide toward her.

And then she was in that place. The line as thin a rice paper that separates life from death, seen from unseen. She could see from a space behind her eyes but couldn't move. It took quite a bit of trust, she thought to herself, to give your body to someone else, even for a small amount of time.

Kaoru felt her eyes blink, and then a voice emerged that was not her own. It was lighter, softer, and could be missed if one didn't pay attention.

“Kenshin.”

His ashamed gaze crept to her face and his eyes were shining with unshed tears. He mouthed her name. Tomoe. She nodded, and suddenly, all the things he wished he could have said came at once. Words were lost to him, so he sat there, stricken, as she watched him.

“I'm sorry,” he finally admitted.

Memories of that night came flooding back to him in snapshots. A wild party. Both of them drinking. Getting into his car to drive her home. Kaoru's face as he drove away. The car that pulled out in front of him. The love song that had been playing on the radio. The crash of medal. The smell of death.

“It's okay.”

Those two little words wrenched his heart into a knot, and he tried desperately to hold in all the feelings that had collected these past months.

“It's okay,” she repeated. “I don't really know how to explain it to you. But, I was so tired. Life, it's tiring. But I can finally rest now. I can watch the sun rise. I can see the moon at night.”

Her eyes searched his. “I'm happy, Kenshin. I want you to be, too.” She reached a hand toward him. “I'll do anything.” Her fingertips brushed his left cheek and she looked at him, trying to find hunger in his eyes that had been there before, when he loved her.

She was startled when he pulled away. He took one last look at her, his gaze open, revealing everything he felt, and then he left the room. She heard him stumble down the dark hallway and into one of the guest rooms.

Tomoe looked at her hand that had brushed his face. His eyes had shown her everything. He had loved her. He was relieved she was all right.

But maybe, she had misread everything from the past few months. She looked toward the open doorway, and then back at the hand that wasn't really hers. Maybe he was happy again. With his best friend.

Tomoe bent her head, a sudden longing coming over her. She couldn't be with him, now that she was dead. But he would still be happy. She managed a smile.

Kaoru blinked, coming to, and shook her head to clear the fogginess that accompanied a ghost. She wasn't entirely sure what had happened and was about to follow Kenshin when a movement in the corner caught her attention. Tomoe.

“Take good care of him, Kaoru.”

She was about to protest, to question the ghost, but Tomoe disappeared, fading away slowly this time, as if her very breaths were dissipating into the air. Kaoru knew she had left for good this time. Brushing the tears away from her eyes, she padded down the hallway and into the guest room.

“Kenshin.”

He turned to look at her; his eyes were red as well. She was shivering. He stared at her for a moment and then peeled back the covers so she could climb in. She did so, and relaxed against his warmth. He pressed his lips to her forehead for a moment and then leaned back and closed his eyes.

Kaoru knew something important happened that night, but she wouldn't ask. Not quite yet. She closed her eyes. Snuggled into his arms, she knew she was safe, no matter what ghosts haunted her dreams, and no matter what the relationship she shared with Kenshin turned out to be. And that for the moment… was enough to leave her content.