Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ The Dead Never Stay Dead ❯ Facing the Facts ( Chapter 6 )

Part Five- Facing the Facts

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin and I will warn you beforehand that if you sue me the most you can squeeze out of me is an I.O.U slip as in I owe you nothing because Rurouni Kenshin isn't mine. Now on with the story!

A/N

Sorry if this is late. I was having computer problems and I had to start this chapter all over from scratch because my so called computer deleted the one I worked on. On top of that when I finally got up to uploading my new redone chapter, Fanfiction.net screwed up my format and then when I finally fixed that; the stupid website was overloaded so I had to wait a whole day. Technology has it out for me, I swear. So to make it all up to you guys, I made this chapter extra long. The things I do for reviews. I should probably stop ranting in these authoress notes because I doubt anybody even reads them. To let you all know it has been about a month and a half since Kenshin's chat with the archangel so just keep that in mind when reading this. I decided to put my vocabulary at the top to make it easier. I apologize beforehand if any of the characters are OOC somewhat but I retyped this purely on coffee, sugar, and loud music.

Voc…

Onegai- please

Kami-sama- God, Lord

Kabuki- Japanese theatre

My excuses are lame

I have only myself to blame

And now all I feel is intense pain

I went so far living on a lie

Because if I accepted the truth I knew I would break down and cry

I'm in need of sanctuary, happiness, and release

In dire want of my crying heart to find peace

I have no desire to cry or weep

For my pain is too immense and runs too deep

I haven't the will to do anything

For the loss of a love is a terrible thing

I have no wish to pray or curse

They lie who say that death is worse

"_" dialogue

'_' thoughts

~*~ scene/pov change/end of chap.

"Boy am I stuffed." Yahiko exclaimed.

"Well you should be." Sano said to him, "You ate most of the food and didn't even leave a good amount for the rest of us."

"Well can you blame me?" Yahiko questioned. "I mean it's not everyday that there's edible food in this dojo. But I bet you did all the cooking right Sano, because it's a well known fact that buso here can't even cook without some people getting food poisoning."

Kaoru glared at him, "Yahiko," she said politely while suppressing the urge to strangle him, "in respect of our guests here I'll restrain from my need to murderize you until after they leave."

"Oh don't worry about us Jou-chan," Sano reassured Kaoru, "I'm used to it and I'm sure that Tsubame is too, after all since she hangs out with Yahiko most of the time she should realize that he has a tendency for bringing out the worst in people."

"You know Kaoru," Yahiko said ignoring Sano's snide remark, "I'm thinking of reporting you to Child Services. Threatening to murder me and the onslaught of the toxic waste you make that you consider food cannot be a good growing environment for me. But what I'm most concerned about is that your ugliness might be contagious because I'm sure that you couldn't have been born with that face of yours. If you were then I am positive that the doctors would have made you live with a paper bag over your head so as not to scare away small children."

Kaoru choked on the rice ball she was munching on. "All right that's it, Yahiko." She yelled at him. "Forget the guests I think I'll just go ahead and kill you now." With that said she got up and attempted to make a grab at him.

Yahiko stumbled out of his seat trying to get away from the bokken that Kaoru always had by her. "Hey, I was just playing around." He said desperately. "What's with you, can't you take a joke?" He barely dodged the hit she swung at him with her bokken, "I'll take that as a no." He was running out of room to go. "Okay, okay I'm sorry. There, are you satisfied?" He apologized crudely fed up with how things were turning out.

"Don't try to play nice with me, Yahiko. It won't do you any good." She charged at him her anger renewed.

He glanced back and noticed that behind his enraged sensei was Tsubame trying to hold her back while pleading for Kaoru to stop and calm down. 'Well, a lot of help that'll do.' He thought sarcastically to himself. Wishing he had his own bokken to give Kaoru a taste of her own medicine, he dodged yet another pass she made at him that was just a little too close for comfort. "Look I said I was sorry, what more can you possibly want?" he demanded his patience running thin. It seems that saying that only aggravated Kaoru more and she proceeded onward with a frightened Tsubame in tow.

Yahiko proved to be too slow when Kaoru demonstrated another attack on him. He yelped rubbing the sore spot on his head trying to rid himself of the pain. "What the hell was that for?" He shouted looking up at her. He tried to back away when he saw the wicked gleam in her eyes, but he was backed into a corner. When he saw the smirk on Kaoru's face he knew it was all over for him. Four more hits came raining down on him. He tenderly fingered the wounds adorning his head. He then saw an escape and went for it slipping between Kaoru's legs and glaring at her accusingly once out of her reach, 'Does she want him to get brain damage or something?' he wondered to himself.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kaoru aim her bokken at him. "Won't she just give it up?" He voiced out loud to no one in particular, exasperated. He side stepped her attack in time and sped out of the door grabbing Tsubame on the way, "I'm leaving this madhouse for now to find some sane people." He yelled over his shoulder.

Kaoru was looking pretty dangerous right about now. She glared at the shut shoji door thinking of all the terrible things she should've done to Yahiko when she had the chance. "Sometimes he just goes a little too far. He just doesn't know when to keep his big mouth shut, the little brat." She grumbled to herself. "The bad part is that he got away from me twice in one day. That annoying twerp, when he comes back I am so going to…" the rest of the words were inaudible as she allowed herself to dwell on the thought of torturing Yahiko further on his return to the dojo.

Sanosuke during all the commotion was sitting back drinking his tea and reminiscing. 'Just like the good old times.' he thought fondly to himself. 'You can always count on Kaoru to lose it. With entertainment like this, who needs the kabuki?' Ah, how he missed this.

"Hey missy," he called out to her, "come have some tea with me." For a second there he was fearful that she would go and track down Yahiko in town. 'You can't get away with murder if there are witnesses.' he reasoned to himself, 'And in a public place too, that's just asking for trouble.' He grinned at her as she walked towards him still tightly grasping her bokken. He gently pried it from her fingers to replace it with some soothing green tea. 'Yeah, just like the good old times.' He thought before starting some small talk with Kaoru in an effort to calm her down.

~*~*~*~*~

"Enlighten me, why do you want me to go out walking with you this late?" Kaoru asked Sano who was strolling beside her.

Sano glanced around him taking in the view. "Missy, haven't you been out lately? Everyone knows that the best time to enjoy scenery is at night." He glanced over to the person walking beside him, "Everyone except you it seems."

"I never took you for being a nature person, Sano." Kaoru stated.

"Well I am and there's probably a lot of different stuff about me that you don't know about." He replied. "And now is a good time as any to catch up and find out other things about me. It's been forever since I've seen you."

"Well, okay, it has been forever hasn't it?" she questioned.

"Yeah it has." He agreed.

Kaoru sighed contently, "Well it's also been forever since I been out to just enjoy the little things. Lately I just don't have the time being so busy and all."

"Kaoru," Sano commented, "you had the time to do it before and when you have your whole life ahead of you, there's always time." She just smiled at him sadly as if remembering…something, remembering… someone, remembering… Kenshin.

Sano sighed not wishing to be the one to shatter the dream world she has erected. The dream world where Kenshin wasn't cut down right before her eyes and where pain and sorrow doesn't exist because she never lost somebody that she held close to her heart and loved. Sometimes he wished he could be included in this world or that the past events never even happened. He can't help feeling at times that it was his fault. If he only didn't suggest that they find some jobs then they'll never have ended up in that cursed boat that was to be attacked by pirates. But thinking of 'if onlys' never got anyone anywhere, and it only leaves you with regrets and sadness.

He stopped his musings to bring Kaoru to reality. He tried to convince himself that she'll thank him later and it's all for the best. Yet he couldn't help feeling a tiny bit of foreboding and doubts enter into his thoughts.

"Kaoru," he calmly told her as if speaking of the weather and other nonsense, "it's your own fault that you're so busy and it's not necessary and you know what, it's just plain unhealthy."

Kaoru glanced sharply at him, "I don't know what you're talking about." She said guardingly.

Hearing that only irritated Sano. He stopped in his tracks and spun around to face Kaoru. Not looking where she was going, Kaoru slammed into him and fell. He just glared down at her his patience gone. "Come off it, Kaoru." he said hotly, "Stop trying to pull the wool over my eyes. It's not working." He stopped talking to rein in his emotions and to help Kaoru up. "Jou-chan," he went on in a more gentle tone, "ever since we came back you haven't talked to anyone about Kenshin's death and you closed yourself from the rest of the world. You acted as if nothing happened and that worries me and everyone else who cares for you."

Kaoru flinched at sound of Kenshin's name. 'Does it still hurt after all this time?' Sano wondered. His eyes softened considerably and his voice filled up with compassion. "Ever since his funeral which you failed to show up at, you've busied yourself immensely as if to shy away from the truth; the reality and not think about it." Kaoru opened her mouth to voice an objection to that. He interrupted her before she got a chance to speak, "before you tell me any of your lame brain excuses, here me out."

He faced away from her not wanting to see her face when he laid it down hard on her. 'The truth hurts.' He reasoned to himself. "I want you to realize that Kenshin is dead he isn't coming back and that you need to realize this and move on. I don't want you to act as if he never existed and that he had no affect on your life because denial isn't favorable trait in a woman. It's been a month and a half already and I believe that that was time enough to get use to the reality and try to move on with your life."

He turned around to face her with his eyes averted from her face; he was still not ready to see the expression there. "I could understand if you wallowed in depression for a bit but you didn't you just shoved away your true feelings while putting up a cherry front for all to see and that concerns me. So stop this act and just face the truth like the rest of us have." He lifted up his face to only see Kaoru start to walk away from him.

"Kaoru," he called out to her startled at her reaction. She stopped and turned around to face him. Her face was streaked with tears and her body was shaking struggling to keep the rest from falling.

Sano tried to swallow but his throat was too choked up from the emotions he was feeling. He said her name again his voiced laced with sympathy and worry. He tried to close the distance between them but she held up her hand, stopping him.

Kaoru took a step back and shook her head fiercely. "No, please don't." she implored chokingly. "Don't come any closer, onegai?" She gave him a weak smile in an attempt to reassure him through her grief. "I'm okay, Sano. Really, I am. I just need to be alone for right now. Can you just grant that one favor?" she pleaded.

Sano nodded numbly unsure of what to do or say. 'If only I had a way to ease your pain. If only Kenshin was here so that everything will be as it should. I sometimes imagine that this is all a nightmare that we will wake up from. I go into town thinking that I would see Kenshin's thatch of red hair bobbing around the market with his goofy smile he always has plastered across his face. I sometimes whether I realize it or not look for Kenshin in his pink getup when I go out. But as I stand here in the chilly night I know that this is reality; that this is life. A life and reality without Kenshin who was like family to me and to the rest of us. I wonder why the Fates have played such a cruel trick on us. Death may be hard on the dying but it is worse for the living. It is worse for the people left behind with the memories of the ones lost to us.' Sano smiled to himself. He never was one prone to spit out philosophical crap like this. But hey as they say times change people change and that must apply to him too.

Kaoru's melancholy voice pulled him from his mind's thoughts. "Sano, I want to thank you for opening up my eyes and for making me face the facts. And you're right, the night is the perfect time to view scenery so I think I just go for a little night stroll to do just that. But don't worry I'll be careful." She turned and left walking right pass Sano. All she had to guide her through the well worn trail were the fireflies that flickered through the darkness around her.

Sano sighed wearily his heart feeling tired and heavy. The silence pressed around him, suffocating him. Sano voiced out his thoughts to the night hopeful that in doing so he may see a way out of this mess, "Jou-chan, don't thank me for I don't deserve it. I'm the one who forced you to face the cold harsh reality and in the process I reopened the pain that you locked away. Now why in the world would you want to thank me for that?"

Looking at Kaoru's retreating figure until it was swallowed up by the night; Sano began to once again doubt his motives. Maybe this new Kaoru will be just as bad as the old one if not worse. "Oh God," he moaned. "I need a drink." With that idea in mind, he trudged off to the nearest bar or gambling house; whichever came first it didn't really matter to him. He just hoped that he'll forget this moment, this moment where he opened wounds Kaoru didn't even she had and then rubbed salt deep into them. It seems to him that he had hit rock bottom and then started digging just for the thrill of it. As he walked into town every time he shut his eyes Kaoru's receding image flickered through his eyes and when the wind danced around him he mistook it for the melancholy of her voice whispering in his ears. "Kami-sama," he moaned, "what have I done?"

~*~*~*~*

A/N

Well… how was it? Reviews, pretty please with cherries on top and ice cream on bottom. I changed the format because when I read my story on the net it gave me a headache. I'm thinking of changing the title. Suggestions for the new one are certainly welcome. Okay listen up I need responses on who Kenshin should come back as. Should it be any of the three I put in my previous chapter, someone else like OC or someone from the anime/manga or should Kenshin come in his own body? I won't update until some people reply. And no that's not a threat, that's a promise. Oh before I continue my story check out this website for some side info it's not necessary but I highly recommend it. Don't be put off by the name and just check it out, ja ne.^.^

www.mostannoyingwebsite.com

Response…

Hecate

Extensive review, huh? Thanks a bunch. Yeah, don't you just hate it when you review stories with reviews that are like pretty long and don't get a single recognition? Not like that has ever happened to me of course, hehehe ˆ_ˆ¿. I really liked your previous suggestion and I changed my story a bit to fit it in with my last chapter 'The Offer'. I'll try to fit Yahiko in more I like him too. He's so kawaii (cute, adorable, etc…). I just don't want him to be too out of character. That's the problem with writing chapter fics, it's a struggle to keep the characters in character, you know?

Kiki

I'm glad you like my poems and my story. And yeah if it was up to me I would make Kaoru and Kenshin become joined at the hip or something just to make sure that they'll be together for ever and ever and ever and…well you get the idea. But you know true love is prone to have its obstacles and if K&K didn't have theirs there wouldn't be so many stories about them and the anime/manga wouldn't be as enjoyable.

Nicky

Thanks, thanks, and thanks. Everything will probably turn out for the best. And there will be a great, big, sappy, waffy, happy ending… or not. I don't quite have the plot down yet. Suggestions are welcome if you have any.