Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ What Dreams May Come ❯ A Girl's Dream ( Chapter 1 )

Soft afternoon sunlight filtered through the bamboo latticework covering the windows, and the girl bustling around the small room stopped a moment to turn her face up to the golden warmth.

 

“Daydreaming again, Kaoru-chan?” a familiar masculine voice asked, and Kaoru turned with a start to glare at her fiancée leaning nonchalantly against the open doorway.

 

“Practicing for a career as a stalker?” she asked mulishly, resuming her dusting as she lifted small porcelain objects to whisk a graying cloth beneath them.

 

There was no real anger behind her words, but it had always been a point of contention that even though he was half again her size he moved with the silence of a wildcat stalking its prey.

 

“Y'know, if you just practiced some you could move like that too,” Sano replied, grinning unashamedly and wrapping his arms around her waist.

 

“Hmph! As if I have time for that these days,” she said, swatting his hands away and turning to her work with more concentration than such a simple task required.

 

That was the problem with old friends, they saw more than you wanted them too.

 

Undeterred, he pulled her back into his familiar embrace, her hands locked against her side so she couldn't put up a fight even if she'd wanted to.

 

“What were you thinking about,” he murmured into her hair.

 

“Nothing,” she said on a whisper, shaking her head in negation. The soft ebony strands of her hair rubbed against his chin and he breathed in the clean scent of her… raindrops on lavender.

 

A sad smile turned the corners of his lips; it was the same reply she always gave. Even thought they had always been close, and still were, she no longer told him everything as she used to.

 

And more and more often, since that fateful day when her father had disappeared, he would catch her staring blankly out the window; the strength she usually showed the world falling away to reveal the vulnerability beneath.

 

“What are you thinking about?” she asked, so softly he barely heard her. She was relaxed now, leaning against him, her head tilted back against his shoulder, her arms covering his around her slender waist.

 

“I'm thinking, that it's a beautiful day… too nice to waste indoors!” he answered, swinging her around in his arms, his voice sounding happier than he actually felt.

 

She laughed, a lyrical sound he didn't hear enough of these days.

 

“You are incorrigible,” she scolded but gladly threw down her dusting cloth and pulled her apron off over her head. No matter how much she or her stepmother cleaned the place, it never seemed to stay that way for very long. “So what should we do instead?”

 

“Hmm… picnic!” Sano declared, thinking that they needed to take advantage of the crisp autumn sunshine before it gave way to winter.

 

Grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the kitchen, “Let's grab some food and go down by the river,” he said and Kaoru rolled her eyes at the boyish excitement in his voice.

 

“And who's going to pay for that food?” she teased, poking him in the ribs and he grinned rakishly at the old joke.

 

A long time ago, before their betrothal, Sano had come as an orphan to beg for food at the home of the leader of the Kamiya clan, Kaoru's father.

 

That child, whom no one else had wanted, Yasuo Kamiya had taken in and nourished in body and in spirit.

 

Upon his arrival Kaoru… the spoilt first child… couldn't stand that someone else was getting more attention than her and often taunted the young Sano by calling him a penniless freeloader who would eat her clan out of house and home.

 

Despite the teasing, Kaoru had a kind heart and childhood bickering gave way to a deep abiding friendship.

 

Later, when despite protests from clan elders, both began to train to lead the clan together it seemed only natural that their friendship progress to the next level.

 

“You're never going to let me forget that, are you?” he asked wryly.

 

“Nope,” she grinned, a twinkle in her soft brown eyes.

 

“Women,” he grumbled, walking into the kitchen and Kaoru laughed again.

 

“I heard that,” an older voice said in mock admonition.

 

“That's right, Sano, don't forget you're outnumbered in this house!” Kaoru winked at Megumi who stood behind the counter chopping a rapidly diminishing pile of vegetables.

 

“And what am I? Chopped liver?” A dark haired boy stomped into the room, glaring at his sister for her careless words, as he went to stand next to Sano.

 

Looking at the two of them, Kaoru couldn't hold back a smile of sisterly pride.

 

Though they weren't blood brothers, the two had the same way of glaring at her and their other similar mannerisms, not to mention their porcupine hair styles, always managed to amuse her.

 

For a moment she let herself imagine what it would have been like if her father had never disappeared. They would all be around the kitchen, laughing at something or the other.

 

It was a scene similar to the real one in front of her, but in her dream there wasn't the stiff thread of tension winding itself through all their hearts.

 

Pulling so taut, as if, with one pull it would all fall apart.

 

Yahiko saw the glimmer of a tear at the corner of his sister's eye; he wasn't as unaware as the adults sometimes thought he was.

 

“What? Nothing to say? I knew it, I'm too much man for you,” he said in a gloating voice sure to snap Kaoru from her reverie, and it worked like a charm.

 

“Ha! You wish pint-size,” she retorted, “From my calculations you only count as half, barely enough to make up for the two of us!” she put her arm around her stepmother's shoulder.

 

Megumi covered her mouth with her hand to hide a smile, “Kaoru, don't tease your brother.”

 

“Yeah, hag! You heard what she said.” Yahiko said triumphantly, sticking his tongue out rudely so that Sano laughed and held up his hands in an appeasing gesture.

 

“Now, now. Let's not get all excited,” he said ignoring Kaoru's pointed glare, “we were just about to go for a picnic anyone care to join us?”

 

“Yeah!” Yahiko cried, his small fist pumping in the air as he ran outside, Kaoru followed, muttering under her breath about the retribution one could heap on little brothers.

 

“You too, Megumi-san?” Sano asked gazing down at his soon to be mother-in-law, who had moved on from chopping vegetables to slicing meat.

 

Her movements were so calm and steady, every measurement delicate and controlled. In fact, even though she had more to cry about than many of them, nothing seemed to perturb her.

 

Sometimes Sano just wanted to do something to provoke her, any reaction to show that she was human, but because of that itching awareness he always made sure his manners were unfailingly polite around her.

 

“No, dear,” she said in a motherly tone he hated, “go on ahead.”

 

In one second flat Sano went from the easy-going boy everyone knew to a man at the edge of his temper.

 

“Don't talk to me like that,” he said in a low growl, and Megumi's hand stilled on the knife.

 

She turned her calm black-eyed gaze on him, “Like what, dear?”

 

“Like I'm a child,” he said more calmly, “there's only a two year difference between us anyway.”

 

Shaking off his irritation Sano snagged an apple from the fruit bowl and swallowed both apple and ill temper in a few bites as the steady thud of Megumi's blade hitting the cutting board resumed.

 

“Technically I am married to Kaoru's father, that also makes me your foster mother,” she finally said.

 

He waved his hand in airy disregard, “Whatever, that's just a technicality as far as I'm concerned.”

 

“When you marry Kaoru…” she started, but then her voice diminished and Sano looked up to see a worried frown marring her smooth brow.

 

Sano went up behind her, his strong hands settling on her slender shoulders and massaging gently. That's the other feeling she stirred in him that he couldn't understand, the need to protect.

 

“You will always have a home here,” he said and felt her body shudder when she released a pent up breath and mutely nodded her head.

 

She didn't say anything more but their quiet was interrupted when Yahiko ran back into the kitchen, around the counter and back out… Kaoru hot on his tail.

 

“Hey, are we going or not? The hags starting to get restless,” the boy called out loud enough for his sister to hear.

 

“How many times have I told you…!” Sano and Megumi heard her fuming as the siblings' voices diminished with the slamming of a door.

 

“Dinner will be ready by seven,” Megumi said without looking up. With a sigh, Sano's hands slipped from her shoulders and he excused himself, the polite façade he always presented to her in place once more.

 

XOXOXOXOX

 

Once Megumi heard the door swing close she walked briskly to the front bay window and watched the trio of her `children' walk toward the river.

 

Yahiko was running on ahead, waving an imaginary sword in the air while Kaoru and Sano walked more sedately behind him. Their heads were bent together and Megumi could only imagine what they were saying to each other.

 

Comforting words? Like the ones she longed to hear.

 

Megumi watched as Kaoru's arm went around Sano's waist and felt a sharp pain that left her gasping for breath when Sano's arm went around Kaoru's shoulder.

 

Confused at her own feelings, Megumi returned to the kitchen, the place where she felt the most comfortable in this huge house that felt more and more like a mausoleum each day.

 

Resting against the counter, she hugged herself tightly, wondering what it would feel like if arms other than her own held her. With a startling clarity she remembered the feel of Sano's warm, slightly callused hands gently rubbing her shoulders and moaned helplessly.

 

The sound seemed loud in the silence of the afternoon, echoing off the white tiled walls and worked like an alarm to prompt Megumi back to her task.

 

She had no right to these feelings. She had chosen her own course and now she would have to live with it. Any unhappiness she felt was her own fault.

 

Despite knowing this, Megumi couldn't help but remember the idealistic dreams she had once believed could come true.

 

A fulfilling career that would help save lives… instead of this purgatory of cleaning and cooking she faced each day. And a man who loved her. Deeply. Truly… instead of the cold empty bed she faced each night.

 

She smiled and felt the bitterness in the distortion of her own skin.

 

This life, her real life, had taught her many things. Mostly that dreams never did come true. But the shadows of those dreams remained, calling out to her in nightmares.

 

Weighing her down with the burden of their hope.

 

Author's Note:

 

This is my first RK fic so please be gentle (bet you never hear that one 6_6) Anyway, please R&R and let me know if you liked it, think some things need to be changed, or that it totally sucked (hopefully not the last one!)

 

Erm… this first chapter is a bit boring, I'll admit but it gets more exciting… promise (heard that one before too >_<) In this chapter I just wanted to set up a little tension between some of the characters and I hope I pulled it off~ see you in Chapter 2!

 

Kamiya, Yasuo= “peaceful one” ~ What I've decided to name Kaoru's father since I don't know if they actually ever say his name in the manga/anime… do they?