Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Paint me the horizon ❯ To wait and fall ( Chapter 1 )

Paint me the horizon

by sessha himura

Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin is not mine, but I do wish it were. I'm just adopting it to satisfy my thinking mind and my writing hands.

Notes: I had decided to create a prologue to give emphasis on the former relationship of the heroine with (of course) Kenshin. I want to lay all the details going around my mind, but since prologue should only serve as an overview of the whole story, I decided to cut some unimportant ones. Chapter one will be set eight years after the incident in the prologue.

Thank you! I'm open for criticisms so its okay to send me some notes that would not be that pleasing. I would gladly appreciate them because it means that you went out of your way just to read this dumb fanfic of mine.

Thank you again!

Read and review please!

Chapter one: to wait and fall

Must I fear?

Of coming back?

Though you never knew

How much I've waited for you.

Sleep had already left her, for she had been crying for sleep many nights back, the idea of coming here excited her and made her toss and turn in her sleep.

The train halted into a stop and she gathered her belongings and made her way out to the depot. It was a usual travel morning, the hustles and bustles of people were quite the song of the day and she finds it really hard to hear even the loudest sound her voice produced. She squeezed herself in through the crowd, wanting to get out of that sweating mass.

Hokkaido was really incomparable with Tokyo, not that the former was not that advanced, well it was-it has the most luscious trees and vegetation. It's just that Tokyo is the real thing, the real city where she will live her real life. She clutched her baggage tightly and was quite successful of getting out alive in that inferno of people.

She stayed near the gate of the depot, there were less people there, and she then savored the air of Tokyo, compared and contrasted it with her birthplace and smiled. Tokyo is waiting for me, she murmured mentally. She walked outside, her head raised and her baggage dangling from her already-exhausted arms.

She hailed a cab and gave the directions to the driver. The sight around the cab was amazing and wonderful that she didn't pay any attention to the driver asking her a lot of questions.

When she reached her destination, she collected her things. Tired, weary and thirsty, she almost ran towards the apartment where she was supposed to stay. The apartment was her mother's. No one was using it for the time being, so when she decided to go to Tokyo, she asked her mother to give her the apartment.

She quickly unpacked her things as soon as she unlocked the door. The apartment was neat, warm and cozy. It was the nicest place in Tokyo she'd ever seen. Her eyes were beginning to redden from having been exposed to over wakefulness, that she promised herself to finish everything just after her nap.

She dreamt of seas, of papers, of blue paints, and of the skies.

She dreamt of him.

"After lunch then?" he played with the black telephone cord. A slight twist turned his expression into a snarl.

"After lunch," the voice on the other line said. It was his mother, his mother who always travels around the world for artifacts. His mother was such a weirdo. He couldn't quite help his voice laugh out loud at the thought.

"Why?"

"You just have to get home after lunch."

A pause, a long pause.

"Kenshin, are you still there?"

"I'm having vacation."

"Just get home."

"What about Tomoe?"

"Just get home."

A plaintive response, then a goodbye. He then hung up the phone, went back to lounge on the couch and heaved out a sigh.

"Hey what's the matter?" a woman came out of the kitchen holding a tray containing a plateful of cheese and a bottle of red wine.

"I'm going home."

"What?" she sat beside him wrapped one arm around his arm and nestled her sleepy head on his collarbone.

"Someone will be visiting ma, and she told me I have to be there," he reached for the bottle and pour some on the goblet he left on the table just before the call.

"What about me?" she murmured under her breath.

"Sorry."

"Is that all?"

"I'll make it up to you."

"How?"

He smiled, "Now?"

She nodded, a sly smile forming in her lips pulling him down on the couch. She wrapped her dainty fingers around his neck and let her mind drift off.

"I'll be going later," he murmured as he started kissing her.

It was almost afternoon when she found the dress that would suit to the occasion.

She put on a white few-inches-past-the-elbow blouse and paired it with a brown knee-length skirt. I would meet him today, she told herself breezily. Then he would keep his promise.

She combed her hair thoughtfully and got a last glance from the mirror hanging near the front porch.

She then hurried. How far had she gone for love? In a few moments she would be seeing him, the reason for her having to come and live here, the reason for her having waited for long eight years.

How far had she gone for love? Much father than this, she told herself. She risked everything just to see him again. She should have done this several years before but she was bounded by her promise to wait-to wait for eight years. She must hurry now; everything would be fleeting from this time on. Her life would be.

She just walked, for the house of the one she wishes to see was a mere step away. How far had she gone for love?

As far as my ephemeral life would take me. Here.

She then halted in front of a tall building; she gathered from his mother's direction that it was a condominium. She entered it and used the elevator impatiently.

How far? How far? I don't know, she told herself, I really don't know. When she was near the door she felt a sudden compulsion, a sudden frigidity, she knows not why.

Her hands began to sweat, and her heart began to pound hysterically in her chest. What if he had already forgotten about his promise? What if he had already forgotten every bit of thing about her?

Would she fall? He didn't forget me. Kaoru, she commanded herself, don't fall back, you made it this far. Why would he forget you? Why would he forget his promise to you?

She turned to knock on the door. She has to face this, she was excited and fearful all of the same time. She can no longer endure the anxiety building up inside her.

Don't fall back.

Don't.

She found herself sitting on a black leather couch; there was a glass of juice resting on the coffee table. She watched the water droplets thoughtfully forming themselves around the cold field of the glass. It was almost like her.

"Kaoru, let's talk first while we wait for him," a woman, wearing something that looks like a traditional kimono approached her, sat beside her and took her hand.

She nodded, giving way. She took note of the inevitable changes in his mother's face. Sure she developed wrinkles, but one cannot deny the fact that she was more beautiful now. She was as elegant as before, but was more authoritative-looking now.

"You changed a lot," his mother told her.

She nodded again, "How are you ma'am?"

"Don't call me ma'am. What do you call your mother?"

"Uh…I call her oba-san."

"Then you may call me as well. Call me oba-san too."

"Really?" she asked smiling. Everything's going to be all right. Everything will be. But why have I felt that way before?

"Oh, I better reheat the food. Don't worry he'll be here in no time at all."

"Thank you."

Oba-san smiled.

A surge of cough came to her and she fought back the urge to vomit. She tasted that unfathomable thing in her mouth again. She dared not look at it, she might faint. He must come quickly.

Don't falter now.

End of Chapter One.

Notes: Had the plot been that occupied? Tell me, what do you think about the story anyway? It's only the first chapter but I hope I already got your mind thinking about the whole storyline. The end of chapter one signals the start of something. Well as many chapters do. I want to hear from you. I want to know what you think about the story. It's quite dark. But I want to just share to you the darkness of it all. Read and Review please!