Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Oblivion ❯ Chapter 12

Standard disclaimers apply. Well, I have a few pennies up my sleeve… but that definitely would not be enough to win a law suit that I don't have any hope in winning anyway!!! Be kind! Don't sue me, porfavor! @_@;;

What if some things went wrong from the way Kenshin planned things for the Aoiya's defense while fighting Shishio-and the love of his life being the one to suffer his mistake? Can K&K still triumph over the trials thereafter?

"Oblivion"

Chapter Twelve

"Are you ready to finally embrace the truth, my child?"

"H-hai…"

And she felt her eyelids got heavy…

Kaoru woke up at a place uncertain to her. She looked around, and she suddenly felt the crisp coldness of the place. It was a road, a road covered with thick mist.

"Its just morning," she whispered. She backed away till a thick wall prevented her from going any further.

Where am I?

Just then, as if it was natural for her, she felt a lingering presence coming towards the road she was in. The wall automatically became her hide. She waited and studied the ki of the person approaching.

Kaoru felt her heart racing. As if she had been waiting for a mortal enemy.

By the second, the ki became stronger, and stronger.

The footsteps getting audible and louder by each moment.

Its right behind me, she thought.

Slowly, she took a peek from the wall she had hidden herself.

Her heart jumped at the sight of the man… she had never seen such tranquility in a face before.

His eyes… she could swear they were purple. So rare a trait for common people she usually sees.

And… huh? Her brows knotted as her eyes seized the sight of his cheek.

A cross… scar?

Then suddenly the vision disappeared.

Kaoru was left alone, her mind left with a thousand questions.

Then she heard her mother's voice…

Try to remember, my princess…

Try to remember your vow, your vow to handle the weight of the sword…

The weight of the sword…?

And she closed her eyes once more.

Vague images came flashing in her mind.

The red-haired man carrying her to safety…

Her, giving him her ribbon, by the riverbanks…

Her sight of him holding up his sword by the moonlight to give a man a last blow…

A pleasurable trip to Yokohama…

Their simple gathering with friends inside the dojo…

The hurting memory of them being separated because of an attack by the sea pirates…

… and the sweet return.

And everything else faded away for a moment, as if readying her for the highlight of the revelation.

Kaoru opened her eyes, and saw herself beside the red-haired man. And sakura flowers are all around them. Looking at the other direction, she saw the boy, Dr. Genzai and his two grandchildren walking away from them.

I know this… I remember this… Kaoru whispered to herself, as an unknown surge of inexplicable emotions filled her heart.

She gasped at this drastic change and tried to placate her self by breathing slowly. The emotions were so overwhelming, at first she couldn't understand the sensations she was feeling. But as tears began to well up at the brim of her eyes, she realized it was grief and anguish that had finally settled in.

"I have never realized that I like watching flowers fall," he said.

"I' am sorry," Kaoru replied, surprised at her own words. But it felt so right…

"Don't be."

Silence.

And she began to ask, "Is it possible for you to laugh, in front of me?"

He didn't mind her question. "Last night I had a dream… about that time…"

Kaoru's heart jumped with what he said. W-why did I became so scared suddenly? But she had to make sure. "T-the end of the B-bakumatsu?"

He nodded slowly, merely thinking of the reaction it would do to me. "H-hai…"

The wind blew, showering us both with sakura petals all around. He suddenly became thoughtful, "…that was a different flower petal."

This worried me even more, "Hmm…?" A petal landed on my shoulder.

He replied, picking the petal, "But, Sakura is Sakura de gozaru na."

"That's right. Next time we will see the same ones in your dream. And when you do, before you know it, all pain will vanish."

"I hope so, de gozaru na."

Someday, he will show me his smiling face from the heart. Definitely.

The wind blew once again. Kaoru held the sleeves of her kimono as well as her hair. When she turned to where the red-haired man stood, she was surprised he was gone.

Kaoru felt the surging emotions all over again. This time its much more profound, intense, almost choking her with mysterious sentiments. She struggled for breath and shoved her chest. Not taking any more of it longer, she ran. She ran as far as her legs could carry her.

She saw the Kamiya dojo, hurried inside the temple, still panting for breath. And what she saw did not give her any calm, but instead, increased her pallor even more.

A man sat inside, his back on her, holding a sword across his chest. When he felt her presence, he turned around grinning and slowly slid out the sword from its scabbard.

"G-gorou… Fuji… ta…" Kaoru choked out.

She felt her knees began to wade. And before her strength could even fail her, shaking her head disdainfully, she ran once again, wary of her direction.

She went inside the house, and sliding a door open, she gaped at the sight of the Minister Okubo Toshimichi along with the police, Kowada.

Her hands flung to her mouth. With a shaky voice, she mumbled between words.

"I remember this… I remember now, please stop…"

She pleaded. But the memories kept on baring themselves before her.

Kaoru became very pale and backed away till the wall again prevented her from going any farther. She almost jumped upon feeling the wall flat on her back and drew away from it. Her eyes widened even more when she saw from the calendar what day was it…

… it was May 14, 1878.

It was all she could bear. Turning paler than before, she supported herself by leaning on a console table-her hand seeming to be made of wax-and looked at them with terror in her eyes.

"No… please. Enough… onegai," murmured Kaoru.

She was about to sank in her emotions when another vision appeared: a carriage drawn by horses seemed to have been in front of the room she was in. Yanking herself towards the door, peeking was the only thing possible she could do.

And there she had seen it: Minister Okubo was assassinated. His lifeless body hung bloody from the carriage steps…

Feeling all too much for her, she knelt in front of her father's sword and prayed, her head buried between her trembling arms.

It was the last thing she had remembered.

Night came and Kaoru remained lying still. Her eyes were open but missing with any expression. She stares in space, not minding of the already half-torn hem of her kimono.

Suddenly, a bright creature came flying by her hand. It was a firefly, sharing its light by the darkness of the place she was in. The thing had landed on her loose finger, and when she attempted to catch it, it flew.

She followed by her eyes where it went, and she felt unhappy when it flew out of a half-opened shoji.

Kaoru sprang to her feet slowly. She trailed the direction of the firefly. Peeking in between the door, she saw another vision. It was by the riverside.

Her eyes widened. Memories came flooding her senses.

No… I can't… I can't go through this again…

Shaking her head contemptuously, something at the back of her mind screams for the truth; yet the other doesn't want to feel the hurt once more, the memory brings back.

Letting her instincts work over her mind, for her heart was overwhelming with strange emotions, she slid the shoji door open and stepped out.

I remember now… her every step increased her heartbeat by the second. It was on this night I had made a lot of realizations about my life…

I know now how he had changed my life and the others' as well. He has been the strength of our little family, our light, our guide…

I remember now, what had meant by the sword's weight. I had to be one with him: one with his sentiments, his outbursts and view about things. I'm young, but I don't care. There are things that matter more than youth. Before, my life had no meaning, lived only in the existence of my parents, and did not even thought of a new morning for me…

… until he came.

He brought new definition to my life, brought sunshine in this empty and dark dojo; that had its walls as the living witnesses to my grief. I never thought this dojo will ever become a place of delight, of happiness and of indescribable bliss. I look up to each day with something I believe that have left me since that fateful day along my father's demise…

Faith.

Yes. It has returned to me since he came.

From all what we have gone through together…

… it feels like the second time to feel hurt once more.

… this is the climax of it all.

Kaoru and Kenshin talk, with fireflies surrounding them. It came the moment where he had to tell her he had to leave. Kaoru's face clouded; and persuaded him not to go away. But in the back of her mind, she knows she just has to let him…

I understand. The world needs the strength of this person once more. And then, I will... wait for him to return.

I understand.

I understand, but...

But...

Kenshin stepped up to her, and…

H-huh?

… he embraced her tightly.

Kaoru burst into tearful sobs on his shoulder. And more as he whispered to her ear these words:

For what you have done, I thank you.

Sayonara, Kaoru...

He then lets go of her and walks away without looking back. Kaoru was left to herself, slumps on the ground and cried miserably.

I cried...

That time too.

She remembers the day her father went away.

"No… don't go, K-kenshin…"

Kenshin.

That was his name.

The name I will always cherish in this lifetime of mine.

What can I say?

I love him…

Kaoru remembers the day she and Yahiko followed him to Kyoto; their journey to Hiko Seijuro's cabin and hers and Kenshin's meeting since his departure from Tokyo. The events that came after that were now crystal clear to her.

She was glad there was no more hindrances…

No more holding back…

No more uncertainties…

And thus…

Kenshin...

I won't talk or be in the way of your fights anymore.

But, I don't want to be separated from you.

One day, there will be a time when you can truly be at peace.

On the day Kenshin left the Aoiya, and as she and the others prepare for war with the Shishio faction, Kaoru looked up to the sky.

Tou-san...?

Tou-san, I' am still unsure whether I'm ready for this...

But...

"Kenshin!"

Kenshin turned around, surprised.

"Promise me, you'll come home safely. We will go back home in Tokyo together, ne?"

Kenshin gave her the most consoling smile he had ever shown her since these past events.

"H-hai. I promise."

The vision ended. And Kaoru had gone back to the Aoiya's room where her body lay with her friends. She now understands all that has been happening. As they remained still and suspended, she walked towards each and embraced them tight.

Tears of sadness flooded her cheeks. How she wished she could come back…

If only…

Then she came in front of herself and Kenshin. Reaching up to touch his scarred cheek, she remembered his revelation when she was still with them: that he loved her, after all.

Cupping his jaw, she bent over and kissed him on his lips.

The lips she had dreamed of all along…

… those lips she could never feel that would kiss her back.

"I love you too, Kenshin… I always have, and always will…"

She cried desperately on his cheeks.

I can never go back… I can't…

Haha! She knows she CAN, can't she? Two more and this is done. Please tell me what you think. The next chap should be entitled 'The Return of Kaoru', ne? More to come, so stay glued! Gracias por todo.