Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ The Sharpest Lives ❯ Chapter 12

The Sharpest Lives 12 / ??
Written by Jezz-Ra
Warnings - Not all warnings apply to all chapters. Yaoi, Lemon, Violence, Language, Angst
Disclaimer - I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, don't make money off it. Wish I did.

Archived at - anime.adultfanfiction.net, fanfiction.net, and mediaminer.org, www.enlightenedsquirrel.com ::: Anywhere else, ask!
Questions or Comments? - Email me at megami_no_remon@hotmail.com

// blah // indicates thoughts.

A/N - I know, I know. I vanished without much warning. I apologize. Lots of stuff happened.

So I decided to take a go at this professional authoring thing, though I'm not sure I'm quite good enough. We'll see. I need to survive somehow. So I spent a bunch of time trying to make a website and then ultimately switching everything up entirely...so I have to make the site all over on a new server and I'm html stupid. Couple that with the fact I have virtually no net access right now....well. Yeah. And my muse took off on me...writer's block like ya wouldn't believe.

Not sure if I'd have anyone interested in subscribing to a web serial or not - it'll be high fantasy, sword and sorcery and all that good jazz, some of my original works. Probably a chapter a week (bigger than these ones), pretty cheap. Would anyone be at all interested? Just drop me a line (if I get any responses to this it'll make me a lot more motivated to get the site up and running, that's for sure.)

Anyway! I'm gonna try and get back on the ball writing and stuff...I just have NOT felt my muse lately and it's made things rough. No motivation to get up and go and all that.

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Everything was warm and fuzzy and comfortable. Kenshin couldn't remember being so reluctant to crawl towards consciousness as he was at that very moment. He felt oddly secure and cozy. While the latter wasn't unheard of, feeling secure and safe wasn't something he could remember feeling for a very long time, if ever. It was quite nice, really...

Wait...what?!

Kenshin's eyes snapped open with almost audible force. The first thing he noticed was that the reason he was so entirely cozy was that he had been curled up against Sano, fitting perfectly against him. His head had been comfortably tucked under Sano's chin and his body curled against the fighter's warm, lean frame. One of Sano's arms was still wrapped loosely around his waist and the fighter was breathing peacefully, sound asleep.

// What in...how in the hell did I... // Kenshin's mind was abruptly whirling out of control and he sat up quickly. He immediately regretted it as the full effects of his previously quiescent hangover awakened angrily, setting his head to throbbing and his stomach to churning. His confusion dissolved into a low moan as his hands slid up to clutch at his pounding skull.

Sano was jerked awake at Kenshin's initial rush of movement and his eyes opened fuzzily. "Mrr..."Kenshin struggled to squash the little thing running about in his brain that was screaming and frantically flailing its arms, panicking about his complete inability to remember anything of the previous night. // Dear gods, what did I DO?! // Violet eyes opened and darted to Sanosuke before Kenshin took a deep, calming breath, wishing his headache and nausea were as easily willed away as his panic. // Well, we're both still dressed, even if I did end up in Sano's bed...or more to the point, Sano ended up in Sano's bed too... //

Sano finally stirred, sitting up and stretching with a mighty yawn. "You look like hell.""Oro...good morning to you too."

Sanosuke smirked and slowly drug himself out of bed, wandering over to the table and pouring a glass of water, carrying it back to the bed. "Here."

Kenshin accepted the glass gratefully. "Thank you." After a few moments and several more swallows, he was feeling a little better, at least. "Ugh."

Sano chuckled. "Oh, come on, it was totally worth it. I damn near think you had fun."

"I wouldn't know. I don't remember much past sitting down with you."

Sano's memory obligingly provided a rapid slideshow of memories of the previous evening....Kenshin's eyes smoldering as that lithe little frame wiggled in his lap, kissing him, that liquid purr his voice had dissolved into...

Sanosuke shook his head quickly, turning abruptly and busying himself with brushing out his hair before Kenshin could notice the blush he was sure was blazing on his cheeks. "Oh, we drank and played cards for a while and then came back here. It was fun. You lost a lot, but you seemed to have fun doing it." As Sano tied his band back around his head he turned and flashed Kenshin a grin, pleased that he had himself back under control.

Kenshin was silent for a minute. "And...how did we both end up in your bed?"

Sano cursed inwardly as his blush returned full-force.

Kenshin's eyes widened in alarm. "Wh-what?"Sano shook his head rapidly. "Nothin' like that! Its...you were drunk and...er... I was going to go to bed but you insisted that the floor wasn't as comfortable as the bed and that we could share. And you were halfway passed out by then, so I...didn't bother to fight it and just went to sleep."

Kenshin decided to accept it and just move on. "Alright." After another moment or two of silence, he turned inquisitive violet eyes towards Sano. "I've heard a lot of people moving around already this morning... something going on?"

Sano nodded. "Yeah, we're makin' preparations to dock."

Kenshin was on his feet in an instant. "Why didn't you tell me we were so close to landfall?"

"Would it have mattered if I did? You would have spent the last few days getting all antsy to hurry off towards that village we're delivering the medicine to, when we can't leave yet anyways. Just relax. We'll take off as soon as we hit the shore. I DID mention last night that I had some stuff to do in the morning, but I guess ya probably don't remember that. I have it under control, though. I got an advance in my pay so I can get us a couple horses and some supplies."

Kenshin did relax a bit, sitting back down with a slight smile. "Well...it seems like you've planned this out already, that you have."

"Yeah. I even know right where to go to get us a couple decent horses. I've been to this port a few times."

"It seems that the years have broadened your horizons a good deal, Sano."

Sano considered that for a moment. "Yeah, somethin' like that. I saw a lot of new places, met a few interesting people along the way, learned a few new tricks... and it wasn't that it was a bad life, but it made me realize I'd walked off on some things that were just... I couldn't replace you guys... and I'd never find someone like YOU again."Kenshin felt his cheeks heating and he glanced down. "Sano...""No, its true. Any...recent relationship developments aside... you singlehandedly pulled me out of my self-destruction. I was in a bad way and just getting worse and either didn't see it or didn't care. You kicked my ass and set me straight. You made my life worthwhile again. You're the best friend a guy could have, and I shouldn't have run off in what basically was a fit of jealousy."

"You are a true friend, Sano. Perhaps the only one I've ever had."

It was Sanosuke's turn to flush a little. "Aw, come on, everyone likes you. Jo-chan, the kid, Gramps, Fox-Lady, Weasel-girl..."

Kenshin chuckled. "It occurs to me that I'm the only one that has not received a colorful nickname from you, that it does! It seems you don't call anyone else by name."

Sano thought about it for a moment before grinning himself. "Eh, thats because I respect you...and...I dunno. On the flip side of that...you alone immediately gave ME a nickname. You not only call everyone else by full name, most of them have titles attached. Seems I've always just been Sano to you, though."

Kenshin blinked, then smiled. "I suppose that's true. But not to stray too far from the point...yes, they like me. And I like them. I'd lay down my life to protect any one of them, that I would. I love them all as if they were family. This is especially true in the case of Kaoru-dono and Yahiko. And while I trust their abilities to fight...to an extent...well. The fact of the matter is that they are still both largely innocent when it comes down to it. I have every confidence that both of them could defend themselves from any manner of normal bandit or criminal. They are not unskilled. Someday, when he is older, Yahiko will be a great swordsman, that he will. You know, though, that trouble that is far from normal seems to follow me, things far too dangerous for them to face. While I trust them with my love, the only one I can confidently trust with my life as well is you."

Sano couldn't help feeling both pleased and a little embarrassed. "Eh, I know a thing or two. I've got your back, you've got mine, and that's just how it is."

"Not exactly..." Kenshin was silent for a minute, as if carefully plotting out what he wanted to say. "You're always there when I need you, even if you haven't realized it. Many times when things were getting to be too much for me, it was you that would notice and try to cheer me up. You always knew when I didn't really feel the smile I may have had and always tried to help in your own way. Even if I didn't often tell you what was bothering me...it helped to know someone truly cared. And any time we ended up in our more significant battles, I knew that you would be there to lean on when all was said and done. I knew you would be there for me any time I most needed you." The redhead smiled. "Even when I foolishly got myself trapped by bandits on the roadside after four years apart, it was still you that came to my side."

"Much as I'd love to take credit for that one, it was pure dumb luck."

"Perhaps it was fate."

Sano arched an eyebrow as he caught Kenshin's liquid violet gaze with his own. "Fate, huh? I've never been a big believer in my life being predestined."

"I couldn't have gotten through this without you, Sano. You cannot know what it's meant to me to have you with me through this."

"Kenshin, you don't have to thank me for lookin' over you while you were hurt. And I didn't do anything special."

"You don't realize it, but you did. Anyone could have tended my physical injuries, this is true, but I would have suffered terribly the entire time. It is less and less as time goes by, but I am still a hunted man. I always have to watch my back. If I let my guard down...if I relax the instincts that kept me alive since the first day I became a hitokiri...I will be caught unaware and killed someday. These injuries stripped me of my ability to guard myself adequately. You can not know how it would have affected me mentally to be forced to lie helpless and unaware. I would have started hearing things, sensing things that were not there. I would have been horribly paranoid, frayed to my last nerves. But it was alright. I had you to watch over me and protect me as I would trust no one else to. Perhaps fate did bring you to me at that time."

"Maybe. Figure the world probably owes you at least one for all the shit it's thrown your way, anyways." Sano grinned and Kenshin laughed softly as he stood up and walked over. Kenshin stopped in front of him, eyeing him for a moment before speaking.

"...You really are too tall. Or maybe just this once I'll admit that I'm too short." Before Sano could get his scattering wits together in the face of those luminous violet eyes, Kenshin's fingers caught in his jacket and pulled him down even as he stretched up, giving the startled fighter a hesitant and brief kiss, a touch as light as the caress of a butterfly's wing.

Kenshin's cheeks abruptly flared and he let go of Sano's jacket, his gaze flicking elsewhere. "I...will get our things together while you do whatever else it is that you needed to take care of."

Sano broke into a wide grin. He knew how much even that tiny display of higher affection meant coming from someone as emotionally withdrawn as Kenshin. He felt like cheering, climbing the mast and hollering his joy to the world. Drunken incident not included, this was the first time Kenshin had initiated any contact between them that could be considered more than simply friendly. Of course... if he wanted a repeat any time in the near future, he had to keep his mouth shut. He had no problem imagining how easily he could drive Kenshin away like a skittish kitten by calling any attention to it.

"Alright, Kenshin. I'm gonna go up top and help out with the preparations. I'll come get ya when its time to go." Sano was whistling a cheery little tune almost the moment he walked out the door as he headed to the deck.