Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ When Amethyst Loved Amber ❯ 10 ( Chapter 10 )

Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin is not mine…You should be getting the idea by now people! C'mon!

A/N: I know what I want to happen…If it doesn't come out write (Pun intended)…don't sue me, k?

Warnings: Lets see…maybe a bit of sap~ MAYBE lime again~ (The lemon will be close to the end I've decided, unless something happens.)

Chapter 10

Sano nodded and turned, briskly walking in the direction that Hanami had headed, intent on helping his red-headed friend, and solving any problems he had created. Knowing, fully, that his life was in danger if he went after the confused manslayer…Then again…love did strange things to people.

He stopped back at his house, thinking that for some strange reason she had come back here, but that was a negative. After he discovered that she was not at the tavern, he decided to wait around for a bit, it was almost time for her to come to work anyhow.

When she did not show, he began to get worried. What if she had left? Or worse, what if she had decided to go back for Kenshin? He frowned irritably and made his way to the Dojo. Peace and quiet surrounded there, save for the Rurouni sleeping lightly against the post on the porch, his sakaba resting against his shoulder. Poor guy… Sano thought as he turned and made his way quietly away.

Sanosuke headed for the forest, wanting to find a spot to sit and relax for a bit. To let his mind settle. It seemed as though a thousand tiny voices were screaming at him…and they were all problems. Trudging slowly through the tall green grass, shadowed over with the thick trees that let in just enough moonlight to light the path he walked, but dim enough for him to not notice that there were feet print that did not match his.

He heard a rustle up ahead and drew his arms from his pockets, readying himself for fight. It was usual for gangsters to come around at this time. He frowned as he realized that there was no one there, he had been feeling in the mood for a fight for some time. It had been a while since he'd last fought, grinning as he remembered the poor fool falling before him. Gods knew that was the greatest feeling in the world to him.

Something up ahead caught his eye. A small flicker of light just up the path. Creeping quietly, as to not alert anyone…or anything that was up there, he approached. The light faded, he noticed as the moon was blocked out by the clouds that had begun to gather, signaling a nice rain was about to come. Frowning yet again, he continued on. Stopping only when the clouds parted, allowing him to notice that the light was the reflection of the moon in Hanami's Koketsu that was propped against the trunk of a tree.

Expecting Hanami to attack him, he braced himself, looking around cautiously. Her sword lay at the base of the tree, so he needen't worry about that, but then again…she didn't need it. He jumped three feet into the air, when her sandal hit the ground. Loud in the stilling silence. Looking up, he noticed that she was up in the tree, and her sandal had fallen off. Though it didn't look as though she noticed.

She sat, carelessly up on a high branch, half bathed in clouded moonlight. Her other sandal was slipping off, but she didn't seem to care as she toed it off to join its twin. Her hair blew back in the slight breeze smelling of rain, allowing her eyes to be seen, murky through freshly brimmed tears .

He heard her small sigh as she leaned back, tilting her head to the sky, arching her slender neck as her hair shifted from her shoulder to hang carelessly below the branch, swaying in the wind.

Sanosuke crouched lower in the flowering shrubs, as to not be seen by the emotionally unstable woman. He frowned, creasing his eyebrows, Unstable? Emotional? How-- His thoughts were cut short as she began to speak, all other chittering animals, whispering leaves seemed to silence for the merciless goddess of Death.

His eyes abruptly shot up to the shadowed figure, gazing at the manslayer in all her grace and beauty, watching it crumble before him as a low moan escaped her parted lips, "Battousai…no…your not him anymore…You're just Kenshin Himura…a damned humane wanderer…not the man I once loved…"

The fighter for hire shifted his eyes, suddenly feeling that he shouldn't stay and listen further. Fearing that at some point she may dash all hopes of 'them' ever existing. He sighed and shook his head, his red bandanna fluttering in the gentle wind. He began to crawl away, but a whispered word caught his attention, "Sano…"

Suddenly interested, he turned back to her, dipping low in the shadows as he wondered what she could possibly have to say about him. Hanami chuckled, twisting her face through the tears that had begun to fall, "Sanosuke Sagara, Zanza fighter fore hire…" Sanosuke sighed, Get on with it already!

She licked her lips, tasting the fresh salt of her tears, "How come I had to be attracted to such an arrogant fool?" Sanosuke scowled and clenched his teeth, Arrogant!? How can 'you' of all people say 'I'm' arrogant?! He looked back up at her, suddenly angry. "He's so unlike the battousai, who was so in control, never doubting. But him…Sano…He's free, untamed, he doesn't have a set life, he lives day by day. It makes me wonder why I wasted every day, week, year looking for something I knew would hurt me."

She drew her knee up to her chest and wrapped her scarred arm around it, resting her chin at the cap, "But…if I hadn't spent my whole life searching for the battousai…I may have never met Sanosuke…nor would I have felt the urge to change, wander off the course of my life, off the path of the Death goddess."

Sanosuke watched as her eyes closed and she rolled her cheek to lie on her knee, reminiscing to a few hours ago, when she had said she had not been aiming to fall in love. His eyes, he had looked…so…shocked. And that lady doctor… She scowled at the thought. He had been so, carefree with her. "What am I thinking? Sanosuke is not the kind to go after a woman like me. I'm nothing like the women here. He wants someone…refined…Someone that wouldn't think to try and kill him, though I know I couldn't have gone through with it…"

Sanosuke frowned, she had it all wrong. How could she not see it? He had a weakness for Kisei Megami…no a Weakness for Hanami Seijun. He was bound and determined to drive the death goddess away.

A rumble of thunder in the distance caught their attention as they, simultaneously looked up to the sky. It looked as though his gentle rain was a prediction made too soon. Hanami scanned the area, swinging her legs around to drop to the ground. Sanosuke stood, at the right time, but the wrong moment. The gods must not have been favoring him at the instant that lightning split the night sky.

Hanami spotted him, for a brief second, she saw that all to familiar 'aku' symbol, bold and black against that fluttering white fabric. He cringed as she shouted his name, hearing her soft grunt as she landed on the ground like a cat, "Sanosuke! I know your there, there's no use in hiding from me!"

Sano knew that there was no point in trying to run, or pretend that he wasn't there. "Who says I'm hiding?" His smartass comment reached through the darkness, and her head moved to where he had. He could tell that she was glaring, but it was almost impossible to tell what she was doing, the moon had been blocked by the dark clouds that rolled in from the heavens.

She grabbed her Koketsu, awkward with the new weight of it, "Why are you here Sano?! Come out where I can see you!" "I'm right here." She turned, how had he gotten behind her. As her eyes adjusted to the new darkness, she seen him, standing in that arrogant pose he always struck. She brought her Koketsu up, stopping at his chest, "Were you listening to me?" He shrugged, "Was I? I drank so much sake I don't know what I was doing a few minutes ago."

She ground her teeth, somehow knowing that he was lying. Her hair stuck to her face as the rain began to pour, "Answer me! I'll kill you if you don't!" He shook his head, "You wont kill me. You cant. And you know you cant." At this point, she was glad that her bangs covered her eyes as they began to betray her true feelings. She faltered for a second, her hands quivering against the slippery staff of her weapon. She tightened her grip, "What are you talking about? Your already dead! I could kill you, and you wouldn't have the time to scream!" He began smirking, and she scowled, "And what do you find so amusing?"

He chuckled, boldly reaching up and sliding her soaked hair from her eyes, "The fact that you always hide your emotions behind that mask of yours…" He uncovered her eyes completely, "But, that mask…is faltering, isn't it?" He could see her shaking, and her voice wavered, "You have no idea who I am…Your just a naïve boy. Only making guesses at what you want to be right."

He grabbed the Koketsu, it slid easily from her slackened grasp, and he cast it to the side. Then he moved forward, placing his hands gently on her shoulders, taking care not to hit her wound, "Let me prove that you don't have to hide behind the identity of Kisei Megami. That you don't have to be afraid to love again…"

He was right…Damn him… She pressed her face into his shoulder, shaking like a helpless leaf, caught in a heavy gust of wind…Swirling about her perplexed emotions. The youth pressed his cold lips to the crown of her head, "Lets get out of the rain, Hanami…"

A/N: I had a little help on this chapter…. *Sammy comes in and waves* But all in all, I think it was my best chapter yet! ^.^ The next chapter is going to be a song fic~chapter~whatever, so beware…..~.~