Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Down The Road ❯ A Night Alone ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter One

A Night Alone

It started with a letter from Kyoto and then she was sitting side-by-side with Yahiko, drinking tea. She didn’t read the letter, but every time she took a sip the letter started to tear. It was Yahiko ripping it up.

Kaoru came in to sweep then, but Naruku kept getting in the way. The broom hit her shoulders and, fed up, she began clearing the dishes from the table. It was always her job to clear the dishes; she’d been doing it for weeks. Just like how Kenshin always did the laundry.

They were fishing. Kaoru wanted a nice big catfish to give to Megumi. So Naruku and Kenshin sat on the bridge, bamboo-fishing poles held out with their lines in the water. Kenshin said he would teach her the Ryu-Kan-Sen. She was ready; she just needed to catch a fish now.

They were in the middle of the bridge, the best place to catch something. Clearly the fish didn’t like her; otherwise they would bite, wouldn’t they? She tried to find a rock to toss into the water, but no, that would just scare them. She watched as Kenshin’s pile of fish grew, and hers remained as nothing. She needed more fish to prove that she lived there.

She caught one and tossed it back in. She didn’t know why, she wished she still had it.

Sano was there then, telling them it was time for dinner at the dojo. He always knew what time dinner was.

Kenshin said okay, they’d train more tomorrow.

And all that time they had been training. She caught up to Kenshin and it seemed like time had slowed down, along with their footsteps. He put his arm around her as the sun set. She didn’t want to, but she laughed, and Kenshin’s hand was on her cheek.

It wasn’t the sand, he told her, it was the wind. She really had no idea what it meant. But he wouldn’t say anything until she did.

Naruku did you hear me? Naruku. The sound of her name, his voice. And nothing else mattered.

Their faces came close to each other, but Naruku stopped. She couldn’t, she would put him in danger.

Why? She would, she would, she would. She would put him in danger, she knew it.

I don’t care, Kenshin said. I don’t care. That was all he said, and he pulled her close again.

I don’t care.

She would be on the train tomorrow, it all had to do with that letter. But Kenshin didn’t care, he held her in his arms and hugged her. She didn’t cry, she smiled and looked up t him. And in that moment, she was sure…she was so sure…

Naruku awoke; her eyes flickering open slowly, adjusting to the dark hue of the night. Her fire, once bright and alive, was now smoke and a few crackling sparks. It was dark, completely dark. Even the moon seemed to be shunning her.

Running slender fingers through her limp, ragged hair, Naruku sat up. The dream that had been so vivid in her mind now slipped away, just a dim dance of figures in her subconscious.

And in that dance Naruku had been close—so close she could hear the beat of Kenshin’s heart. But that warm, comforting sound had faded into the distant chirp of cicadas.

The warm night air slithered across Naruku’s shoulders, pressing up against her and suffocating her with its reality. She closed her eyes and lay back in her makeshift bed again.

The dream had been enough to make her feel the dull ache of loneliness again, and she could feel that weakness sliding into her. But the dream had been wonderful, taking her back to a time when that weakness did not matter.

But then she had awakened and remembered she was alone. That she had been alone for the past ten days.

She had nothing but herself under the vast night sky, with nothing but the stars to comfort her.