Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Second Chances ( for now...) ❯ The month before... ( Chapter 1 )

Okay, here goes nothing! This is the very first fanfic I have ever written, and English is not my mother tongue so I hope it's any good.

And if it's not, please let me know what to do about it? That's right… I'M BEGGING YOU PEOPLE! REVIEW!!!!

Anyone notice I'm horribly nervous? Well I've got a good reason…and no I'm not telling you what it is…yet.

Right on with the story, I'll try to update soon, until then, help me think of a good title?

Rating may go up, I'm planning to put a LEMON in here somewhere.

Love & Peace!

A/N : I do not own Kenshin, what's worse…I don't own Sano, and I cry about it regularly. So please take pity and don't sue??

~@#*#@~

Slowly she pulled the t-shirt off over her head.

Getting ready for a bath had never taken her quite so much time ever before…

Every time she started to take off another item of clothing, her thoughts drifted back to what had happened earlier that day, and every time they did she hit herself in the head

"Kaoru no baka!"

…and got back to undressing.

Kaoru was confused.

`Okay, so I go hit by some idiot in a car..! He apologized, I accepted it…It's really no big deal!!…What's the big deal!!??'

Finally freed from her clothes, she stepped into the bathtub. That's when she noticed the bruises on her left thigh and hip.

`Mou! I should have at least asked his name. I could definitely sue for damages!'

She lay back and soaked for a few minutes, the bath was lacking the relaxing effect she was used to and had intended though…Each and every time she closed her eyes the /idiot/'s face appeared distinctly before her mind's eye. His gorgeous long auburn hair, his kind and worried eyes, the smooth skin of his face. Then she remembered his smile, the thought of it bringing one to her lips, his smile was the most disarming, reassuring and kind she thought she'd ever seen, but still…

Her eyes flew wide open.

"I have seen it? I-I…know…him?!"

She felt it only faintly, but it was definitely there. She slowly closed her eyes again at look at /his/ face again with a different point of view this time. Scrutinizing his features she kept coming back to look at his perfect left cheek. `Chigau desu…there's something missing.'

She heard a key turn in the lock and the front door open seconds before a clear voice rang through the apartment she shared with her older sister Tae.

"Tadaima!"

"Okaeri! I'll be out in a minute, just taking a bath!"

"Alright!"

She thought for a bit. `I'm not going to tell Tae-nee-san about this, she wouldn't let me out of the house again…'

Kaoru laid back again, remembering the afternoons events as she absentmindedly stroked the sore marks on her leg.

It had happened when she was on her way home from lunch with Misao, her best friend.

Misao was really the reason she still lived, Kaoru reminded herself.

Some years back both of Kaoru's parents had died in an accident, leaving her in the care of her sister. Although she loved her sister, Tae was no substitute, nor tried to be, for her mother and father. Tae hadn't known how to help Kaoru, who withdrew from her more and more each day. Kaoru really believed that if she hadn't met Misao, if Misao hadn't insisted on being her friend and if Misao hadn't coaxed her into talking, she might have killed herself eventually…

And now, Misao was leaving. Leaving for Kyoto. She saw clearly now that the distance between Tokyo and Kyoto could be overcome; there was internet and the phone, besides, the train ride was reasonable. But she couldn't even begin to grasp the idea of live without Misao within reach when she stepped out on the pavement. She ran through the rain, the icy water mixing with the water falling from her eyes.

It was at that moment that she heard a shout from the other side of the road and turned just in time to see a man on a motorcycle heading straight at her. There was no time. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly and waited for it all to be over. She heard the sound of skidding wheels and screaming and a loud crash just before she passed out, she still caught a glimpse of hose piercing blue eyes though.

The same eyes she saw when she opened her eyes again, filled with fear and worry.

She distinctly heard him sigh in relief when she met his eyes.

"Daijoubu de gozaru ka?!"

Kaoru felt like someone was continuously pounding her head while someone else was doing something similar to her leg. She looked around and found herself lying partly on the unknown man's lap in the middle of the street, on the side of the pavement a motorbike lay in a smoking heap and people were standing around her with looks of concern on their faces. Slowly she realized just what could have happened and that it was her fault for not paying attention. She sprang to her feet only to feel whoever it was that was jumping on her head to double his pace and send her crashing to the ground again. The ground was remarkably softer than she expected though…

She carefully cracked open her eyes again, to find herself staring into those eyes and lying in those arms yet again.

`Why is he so kind? I nearly got him killed!!?' Tears sprang into her eyes at the notion.

"Sumanai…eto…?"

She gave him a blank stare, completely missing his point. `Oh right, he must mean my name…'

"K-Kaoru…" She wasn't happy with how weak her voice sounded and fought back her tears again.

"Sumanai, Kaoru-dono, I am very sorry, I should take you to a hospital, I think I hit your leg rather badly."

"Iya! I'm fine!"

She jumped up again and ran as fast as she could, away from /him/ and the man with the hammer.

Too confused and ashamed to bear it any longer she ran and ran until she reached the Akabeko-ya, the restaurant she and her sister shared.

`I'm so stupid…'

She stormed up the stairs and into the room flinging herself face forward into her bed.

For nearly an hour she could do nothing but curl up in a sobbing and shaking ball, but the cold rain piercing her clothes

Finally forced her to get up.

Now she lay there, in the hot water, and her worries were still there, but at least she was warm. 'How is it even possible that he missed me anyway? I wish I had asked his name…'

Tae called again and she got out of the tub and into her working clothes.

Heaving one last sigh, she grabbed her apron and trudged down the stairs.

`This is going to be one very long night…'

~@#*#@~

Just a few blocks away, a certain redhead was nervously pacing his apartment. From kitchen to bathroom to bedroom to studio to living room to kitchen again.

`I *shouldn't* have let her get away, I should *not* have let her get away, I shouldn't have let her run off like that!!

What if she had some kind of internal injury? She did hit her head, after all…She could have put to much strain on her body running like that…She could have died…

OH NO SHE COULD HAVE!!!

AAAAAAAAAARRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!'

Kenshin collapsed onto his bed, as he had conveniently just wandered into his bedroom at that moment, clutching at the roots of his hair.

After she had run away from him he had stood there for a minute, not really knowing what to do, while people stared at him expectantly. Maybe the were waiting for a romance novel to sprout into existence or something. He just knew that she really, really wanted to get away from him and he should respect that. On top of that, a certain suspicious-looking person was prowling way too close to his bike. Even though it was lying in a dishevelled and smoking heap on the side of the road, it was still his bike!

He slowly turned around and walked away, pushing the remains of what used to be an excellent motorbike beside him.

Laying there now, staring at the ceiling, her name still resonated through his mind, and occasionally escaped from his mouth.

"Kaoru..."

Something about her name rolling off his tongue felt so right.

He closed his eyes, there they were again.

`Those eyes…'

In those deep pools of ocean-blue every emotion experienced by the young woman seemed to be reflected. He had seen them change from peace to fear in an instant, and then to anger and guilt. But always an overwhelming sense of sadness seemed to linger there.

`I wonder what happened to her, to make her feel so…insecure. It was insecurity I picked up from her…I think…

This is doing my head in!'

He crawled deeper into his pillows and buried his face in them. It didn't work…

`It felt as if I could look into her soul, and as if she could into mine, if she chose to try... There is something so familiar about this…But it feels like a good thing…it feels like…love?'

Suddenly he sat up straight.

`Love?! Suuuuree Himura, you nearly ran her over, obviously scared her half to death and she's probably sitting somewhere hating at fearing you all at once as we…ano…I speak…

Anyway, guilt, remorse, worry and such are natural I suppose, but this is definitely overdoing it!!

GO TO SLEEP!!!'

That night he slept like a log, and when he woke up he was sure he had dreamed and that those dreams had held answers for him. But the annoying buzz produced by his alarm clock disagreed and so, as soon as he was awake enough to hit the snooze button, his memories of that night were thoroughly wiped.

Except for a single image which on the other hand wouldn't move from where it had settled in his mind.

He didn't really mind, though. It was the best inspiration he'd had in months.

He stretched himself out on the bed and slowly turned to look at the time, immediately wishing he hadn't.

`Kuso, I've got an appointment at that art gallery in an hour, but I really should…'

He got up and sprinted into his studio, grabbing paint and brushes along the way.

`Finally I know what to do with this canvas…'

He pulled an empty canvas from the corner, it had been staring at him rather blankly for months. Frankly, it had been scaring him beyond measures that he couldn't do anything about that.

Kenshin grimaced at the canvas.

`My turn…'

He put the blank sheet up against the wall and began to put down a rough sketch of his vision. He briefly wondered why it was as if it was a memory instead of a dream, and why he was suddenly more driven than he ever remembered being. But it really wasn't that important anymore once his sketch became increasingly less rough.

It took him some time to remember that he was actually in a hurry, but when he did.

"Masaka! Five minutes, but…my bike is still broken!"

Eating breakfast while he pulled his hair back in a low ponytail, he was hysterically looking for a pair on jeans and a shirt that were not covered in paint. Finally he settled for a positively ancient magenta-turned-pink shirt which was just long enough to cover a hideous green paint mark on his jeans.

Fumbling with his shoelaces and grabbing his portfolio between his teeth at the last minute, he dove face forward into the elevator, smothering an old lady in the process.

After having apologized profusely to the lady who turned out to be his upstairs neighbour he ran.

`Onegaishimasu! Kami-sama, I need a break! I need money!'

A/N: Wow…So this is done…

Right! now I HAVE to write a message to my very best friend.

Are you still alive? I know this isn't something you would read if you could prevent it. So thank you so much!!!

The worst is yet to come though…

I hope you'll be able to look at me when this is all over…

My life just wouldn't be the same without you, ne?

In fact it would be really really boring…;-)

Love to all, but I think a bit more to you, you know who `you' is right. I know I could write down your name…it would be extremely funny, ne? ( You, that is, everyone else, are probably not Dutch, as I am, so reading and most of all PRONOUNCING his name would be hilarious…well it would be, to me! )

Riku-chan!