Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Paint me the horizon ❯ Small spark of hope ( Chapter 3 )

Paint me the horizon

by sessha himura

Disclaimer: I do not own Kenshin or Kaoru for that matter; I own nothing mind you. I'm only using them to creatively express my ideas and to ultimately satisfy the needs of my thinking mind and my writing hands.

Notes: I can't tell whether my story is a fast-moving one or a slow-paced one. I'm quite having a hard time prolonging every chapter. Chapter two had been ephemeral too, though a little longer than chapter one.

I'm already thinking of the middle of the story that I find it hard to concentrate on this chapter. Please bear with me as I get used to the writing process.

And oh by the way, I've added a new character to the story. I'll be making the plot a little more confusing. Hope you'll enjoy it.

Please read my other fanfics too.

Read and Review!

Thanks!

Chapter three: small spark of hope

Might I die and climb the heavens

Let me hover above you

Continue the life

There with

You.

Suddenly, her world, which she built and took care of for eight years, collapsed in a span of a few minutes.

She found herself making her way back to her apartment, her life torn and disheveled. She remembered hearing oba-san tell her that everything will be alright, that he was just over fatigued from work and studies, that he was just too tired to involve himself in any conversation, especially one regarding memories.

She forced herself to believe in what oba-san told her. They continued dinner together, though the real reason for the dinner had already gone to nowhere land. The dinner was bearable enough, it's not that oba-san did not make a good company, she did. It was just that she was feeling something really putrid inside her heart.

She walked cautiously towards her apartment, reminiscing the times, eight years ago, which had made her life. It was on that two-year memory where her whole life evolved around. That two-year memory made her life and now broke it.

How far had she gone for love? That same question which besieged her mind hours ago has now come back to haunt her. She had answered it already, with a smile carved on her face, for when she answered it she was not aware of the fact that he had already forgotten her. Now she can't answer it with a smile, she can't even answer it.

How far had she gone for love? I don't know, she told herself. She reached the front porch of her house and sighed at the cold view of it. She doesn't want to go in. she feels that it might only close in on her. She might get lost inside. She wants to go home.

She wants to go to wherever Kenshin was. She wants to see him, talk to him, explain her reason for coming here, and pledge her forever-waiting love for him. She must converse with him, yes she must. Maybe he would see me again, she murmured. Maybe after then he would understand me, and then would love me. I should do that.

She unlocked the heavy mahogany door and went inside, her thoughts still dangling around her hazy mind, her ideas still bedraggled and cursed. She went in, and was completely engulfed by the darkness of being alone.

He didn't keep his word. He told his mother that he would not come `till tomorrow, but he came back later that evening.

He never found the painfully familiar stranger with the long ebony hair, the flushed cheeks, the scarlet lips, and the voice that he knew and he felt that he had already heard before. Maybe what she saying was true, he told himself mentally.

When he came back, his mother gave him a piece of what looked like a part of a canvass. His mother told him that she found it on the couch. His mother seemed rather displeased with the way he treated the girl.

He was lying on his bed motionlessly, his mother had gone and he was left alone in his pad. Had he really been that rude? Yes, the answer came in swift thrust. Somehow he can remember something about the girl, about Hokkaido, but he can't just receive the affianced thing. He, affianced to that girl he barely remembers?

He sat up and reached for the piece of canvass his mother gave him. This was the piece of paper that girl was trying to show me, he murmured to himself. He held it high, above his eyes that he might see the imprints clearly. It was a painting, no a drawing only. It was drawn by a child, he could see that clearly. It was colored with an immaculate blue, with dabs of white seasonally imprinted on the azure surface. Underneath the blue surface was a stretch of what may look like a sea, painted with a darker shade of blue.

It was the sky. He finally found out. The lighter shade of blue was the sky. And the darker shade was the sea. How he figured it out, he didn't know. He just felt that he had already seen this paper. And he felt intimately attached to it. He just doesn't know why.

He continued eyeing the paper and he turned it, saw several notes on the back and began to rummage through the seemingly endless thoughts. He found one readable:

`Last night you asked me, what would I be if I'm going to be a thing, I haven't answered because I don't know. Then you told me you're going to be the sky, so that you'll always be above to watch me.'

`After then I realized what I really would want to be. I want to be the sea, for the sea alone can meet with the sky. For the sea alone has the horizon which enables it to meet with sky.'

`I'll be back after eight years, at the appointed date and place. I know you'll be waiting. After eight years we will form our horizon, and I'll meet with you.'

He stopped.

The writing was his, he was well sure about that. Had it all been true? He found a piece of something written below the note. `Kenshin' the name was his. Yes now everything was clear, his two-year stay in Hokkaido, his acquaintance with someone named Kaoru, the inevitably developed feelings for her, his goodbye, his supposed meeting with her at the seashore, after eight years, overlooking the grandness of the horizon.

Memories came in surge, as if just waiting to be stimulated one by one, as if just waiting to have a catalyst that when would awaken one, would therefore awaken everything.

He had known her and he rudely denied having known her.

He sighed. Well what is done is done, he told himself painlessly. He would ask forgiveness from her, that would be all, and then he would ask her to forget about him. That would be easy.

He suddenly bit his lip.

She waited for eight years, he told himself. How am I supposed to tell her to forget about me? He shook his head, firmly resolving to make her stop thinking about him. He got up, reached for the telephone, dialed his mother's number and waited for the ring.

"Ma, it's me Kenshin. Do you have Kamiya's number?" he said casually, he doesn't want his mother to think of anything.

"So late for your call. You should've asked for it from her," the tone of his mother's voice suggests that she was still angry with him.

"Ma, do you have it?"

"No I don't. And if I have I won't give it to you," with that his mother hung up.

He sat back in silence, wandering, just wandering what it would be like if he stayed with her and not made her wait for eight long years.

Days had passed when all she did was to think of him. His thoughts never left her, his beautiful face lingered within the depths of her memory and try as hard as she might she can't just shake the odd feeling off.

She felt so rejected yet so happy. He had been cruel to her, pained her with his words, his expressions, his actions. Yet she had been terribly happy, at least she saw him. She saw how great and dashing he had become. He was wonderful. Seeing him was the greatest thing she could have. And she had it, nights back. She should be contented by it. Yet the promise he made still lingers in her, still haunts her, still whispers in her ear.

She had wanted to go home, she had had enough, she had been pained, and all her waiting had gone to nothing. But her mother obliged her to stay; her mother would worry about her if she'll go back right away. And she doesn't want that. Her mother is vulnerable; her mother had gone through too much pain before. Besides it is her goal to study in Tokyo.

She resolved to forget everything about him, yet she doesn't want to, she can't do such a thing. She promised herself that she would do anything just to get him back. I will, she told herself.

Is this how far you intend to go for love? The question came in a colored blur, and she tried hard to answer it. It was a simple question, and it requires a simple answer. Yes, as far as this.

She was soberly sitting on the couch, staring blankly at the phone beside her. She had wanted to reach it, call him. She had wanted so badly to hear him talk. But what if he doesn't want to?

She gingerly dialed his phone number, hoping in her heart that he was there in his pad and that he would answer her call. The ringing took almost forever and she was ready to give up when she heard the ringer click.

"Yes, hello?"

"Uh, yes…Kenshin? This is Kaoru," her voice was quite shaky. She involuntarily wiped the sweat off her forehead and waited patiently. She was ready for anything, might Kenshin hang up or might Kenshin say something not nice.

Silence. Long silence.

"Kenshin, are you…" she faltered, sensing something wrong.

"Kamiya, I've been thinking of calling you," the voice on the other line said, "I just don't know how to contact you. It's good that you called."

A sigh of relief passed her mouth. Had he really wanted to call me? She just can't believe her ears. "Uh, yes. Why?"

"It's better if we talk personally. Do you have anything to do this afternoon?" his voice sounded casual.

"Me?" her hands were shaking and she didn't know that she had squeezed the phone hard.

"Yes."

"Uh, nothing. I have nothing to do…why?"

"Meet me 2:00 at the coffee shop two blocks away from here."

"Coffee shop? Yes. You said 2, okay."

"Do you know that place? I forgot the name of the shop."

"I know that place. I passed it several times already."

"Meet me there."

"Okay," she heard the click, and the conversation ended. "Take care," she murmured, the receiver still clutched tightly to her chest. "I'll be there," she whispered suddenly.

"Oba-san, you're looking great everyday," Seta came running from the gate, closing it carelessly as he saw oba-san making something on the porch.

"Soujiro," oba-san lifted her head from whatever she was doing and a big smile curled up her lips, "Since when have you arrived from London?" oba-san left her clay materials on the front porch and curtsied towards him.

"Just yesterday. I quickly remembered you, I missed you so much," he followed oba-san as she beckoned him to come inside, "Nothing changed. It's all still the same," he murmured.

"Yes. I preserved the entire house. You know how much I love this house, don't you?"

He nodded. "By the way, where is Kenshin? Haven't seen him anywhere."

"He lives on his own. You know how he is, stubbornly independent. I let him; he'll learn that way. He lives in Tokyo."

"I'm thinking of visiting him. Would you mind giving me the address?" he sat on the floor and watched oba-san prepare tea for him. He studied the whole house. There was a kakemono hanging from the wooden wall. A teapot whistled at the heater in the middle and the lanterns colored the whole house mellow with orange.

"Well you better. And I have something to ask you. Would you mind doing a favor for me?"

"What is it?" he said as he tapped his fingers against the low table.

Oba-san brought two small porcelain cups from the kitchen and poured some of the contents of the teapot on them. She handed one to him and said, "I have something to give him, but I don't have time to give it to him. Since you're going there, I might as well hand it over to you."

"No problem oba-san. By the way, is Kenshin committed right now?"

"I don't know about that fool."

"Yeah, he's always a fool," then he sipped the tea and laughed his heart out.

"And also I want you to get to know Kaoru Kamiya."

"Who is she?"

"A very dear daughter, well almost like one. There is something going on between her and Kenshin. But you know how Kenshin is; he doesn't care if he already hurt somebody. I want you to help her, she wants to enter college. I want you to befriend her, okay? "

"Sure. What does she look like?"

"Beautiful."

"I see," he smiled.

End of Chapter three:

Notes: Thank you for the reviews but anyways, this chapter had been quite lengthy, and wordy. Me too had been quite bored by this chapter. No need to worry.

Read and Review!

Thanks!