Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Voix ❯ Fade ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter Three- Fade

"We'll be together!" Her voice was soft and full of dreams. She smiled at him, tracing the curve of his jaw. "And no one will ever care… Never."

He smiled at her and her childish fantasies. She did not know better. She did not understand. "It can't be…" He told her calmly, shivering as her hands danced on his back, between the spots where his ebony wings met his back.

She shook her head. "Have you no confidence?" She asked him, smiling gently.

He stared into her eyes. "Look at me… I'm already a soldier… There is no way. Look at that mark." She complied slowly.

"What of it?"

"Do you have one?" He asked her simply.

She shook her head. "But should it matter?"

He sighed. "It shouldn't." He leaned over and kissed her gentle face, slowly pulling away from her. She took his face into her hands, and then pressed her lips to his gently.

"I love you…" She whispered into his ear, making him shiver.

"I-"

Kenshin sat bolt upright; sweat blooming over his entire body. He shuddered, burying his face into his hands.

"Tomoe…" He whispered, taking in huge gulps of air. The memory was three years before, but he couldn't seem to finish it.

Had he told her he loved her?

Hadn't he told her it had been impossible?

Hadn't she told him not to worry?

She had told him so much…

He let his fingers linger on the scar for a moment, before standing. There was just no getting back to sleep when he dreamed of her. His breathing was still labored as he tightened his yukata, standing up and making his way to seize his clothes. He dressed quickly, and then stepped into the night.

Two nights had passed since Kaoru and he had been attacked. The guilt weighed heavily on his mind still, and he was fearful for her safety. Yuichi had seen her.

Yuichi would have told about her.

"Dammit…" He muttered, feeling the cool brush of night on his cheek. Night…

It was humid, the sky covered with dark clouds. The night was charged with electricity. A jagged bolt of lightning shot across the sky.

Kenshin counted slowly. 1

2

3

4

5-The sharp crack of thunder assaulted his eardrums furiously, dragging out into a loud rumble. He felt Kaoru stirring in her room. The approaching storm was waking her up.

He sat down on the edge of the porch, waiting for her to emerge, as he knew she would.

She slipped out of her room, and sat down next to him. "Still thinking about that angel?" She asked quietly.

He nodded. "You're in danger…"

She smiled at him. "I know… but I want you to be okay…" She took his hand. "Don't worry about me."

He shook his head. "I do… I know that angel… and I know who's going to be coming after me now. You may be used against me." He sighed. "I should leave."

Kaoru shook her head violently. "No!"

He turned as she clenched his hand in hers, laying it to her chest, eyes wide.

"You've been here for three years! You've been here since you fell… you can't leave now… What would I tell my parents?"

"Sh… you'll wake them." He sighed. "I can't bear for anything to happen to you. I…" He had to tell her… Maybe she would understand…

She looked into his troubled eyes. "Kenshin?"

He sighed. "Kaoru… I swore to protect you… When you helped me, you saved my life… I have a debt to you. If I bring you trouble, then I am not fulfilling my bond to you."

She stared at him. "I understood, until the part about the bond…"

He looked up to the sky as another bolt of lightning struck the ground nearby. The lightning was only two counts away then.

"Kaoru… you created some kind of connection between the two of us… I owe my life to you, and we're connected until I can make that up… You're even starting to feel the effect. How would you react?" His eyes were calming. "A lifebond is very nearly like a human marriage."

She stared at her hands. "I…" Her voice trailed off. "Oh…"

He sighed. "Kaoru… I never told you because it didn't seem that you would… well…" He couldn't find the words to tell her. "Because you saved my life, I would die for you. I would kill for you."

She blushed, staring down at the ground.

The lightning flashed again. One count.

He stared at his own hands. "Kaoru… I believe that if I left, it may remove some of the danger from you and your parents."

"But Kenshin!" She protested. "This lifebond… you're describing… it doesn't mean that… if you promised to take care of me, what will happen if you leave me, and someone comes here anyway? That angel saw me… there's no guarantee that he won't tell them about me… can other angels sense a lifebond?"

He sighed. It had been something he had fretted about. "Yes… I'm sure Yuichi sensed the lifebond you created. I'm also certain he knows how you created it, since I would most certainly have died if you had not saved me. This information… yes… he could very easily use you against me." Kenshin stood up and moved to stand in the yard, staring up at the sky.

Kaoru could sense his indecision. She stood as well, stepping beside him. She felt the first drop of rain on her skin. She shivered.

Kenshin turned to her and sighed. "You shouldn't be out here."

She shook her head. "I won't go in yet… I want to know what you're going to do." She paused and looked up into his eyes. "And if you're leaving, I'm going with you… or I'll persuade you to stay."

He laughed softly. "Kaoru… I can't take you with me… and I would leave you, in hopes that I could lead them off of you. I would come back… It hurts someone with a lifebond to be separated from that person, they are so tightly connected by loyalty."

The rain only was sprinkling then, but it was enough to make Kaoru shiver more violently.

Kenshin sighed and wrapped his arms around her to warm her. "Kaoru… I will leave. I have no choice but to do so… it may save you, and your parents."

Kaoru turned in his hold, unwilling to leave the warmth he was offering. "Kenshin… I don't want you to." She took a fistful of his gi into her hands, as though to make sure he went nowhere.

"Kaoru… it's for your own good. I can try to keep them away from you by leaving, or I can stay here and risk you getting in the fight."

"But if they attack here Kenshin… then you won't be here at all to help."

He sighed again. "You still should go back inside. I don't want you to get sick… and your parents are certainly going to become suspicious of us if they wake up and find us here." He smiled very slightly at their positions.

Kaoru shook her head, inclining it up to look at him. "I… don't care…" She whispered in the humid, electric shock of the night. Her eyes were deeper than he'd ever known them to be… her hair a darker color. Everything about her was so much more… refined.

Another bolt of lightning. The long, rolling thunder was almost lazy as it went on and on, but started as a low growl, without any time between the flash and then the thunder.

He never decided what it was that overcame him in that moment, but he leaned down very slightly, and kissed her softly.

Kaoru was stunned, but remained in her shock for just an instant. She lifted herself up and hugged him around the neck, pressing back against him.

The heavens opened up at that moment and began to pour down the rain that had been threatening the entire night. It did feel wrong, for a single instant, but Kenshin ignored the moral situation that he was botching.

As the rain streamed over the two, both of them with increasingly soaking clothes, they refused to part. He pulled her closer to him, letting his heat flow into her. The lightning flashed, illuminating the two in its instant of light, as the thunder resounded over and over. Her hands found his hair, which was dampening further and further in the onslaught of rain.

A pair of eyes watched them carefully as they moved together.

Through the sudden blank in Kenshin's mind, came a single thought, which let itself appear fleetingly, then disappear.

What if I really am… in love… with Kaoru?