Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Oblivion ❯ Chapter 13

Standard disclaimers apply.¡Bien, tengo unos pocos pennies arriba la manga… pero eso definitivamente no sería suficiente en ganar un traje de la ley que yo me pongo't tiene ninguna esperanza a ganar de todos modos!! ¡Sea amable! ¡Don't me demanda, por favor! @_@;;

What if some things went wrong from the way Kenshin planned things for the Aoiya's defense while fighting Shishio-and the love of his life being the one to suffer his mistake? Can K&K still triumph over the trials thereafter?

I guess this is it! The second to the last chapter. The next would be already 'au revoir'? Yeah, sad but I think its just the way things are eventually… only mine's sooner than what has been expected of it. I really can't write long stories, sorry. And I've been looking forward in posting these stories that's been in my computer for a long time now, and that ideas for them just kept on coming. Some of them are collaborations, song fics that are still in the process of editing, I also have an A/U coming up. But the next fic's gonna be a little supernatural with a little dose of mystery on the side. An A/U K&K for sure, don't worry.

Up until the end I can't seem to stop blabbering, can I?

"Oblivion"

Chapter Thirteen

"I can never go back… I can't…" Kaoru whispered against Kenshin's cheeks.

I can't just simply go back, after all that they have been through because of me…

"Kaoru…"

Kaoru instantly stopped crying. "M-mother?" she turned to where the voice came from. She saw Nanako from one corner of the room, eyes unhappily to her.

"W-why?"

"Kaoru, my child," she began to speak while walking towards her. "I have helped you regain your memory in the hope that you will know your self-worth in the lives of these people around you at this moment…"

"… but it seems I have failed in that job," Nanako looked into Kaoru's eyes. She paused, and tried to smile consolingly. "All I wanted is for you t-to be happy…"

"M-mother…" Kaoru called as her mother began to cry. Caressing Kenshin's cheek, she tried to fight the tears bading to fall once more.

"I had never wanted to leave you… leave you to live alone. My hatred towards your father had cost me your happiness, that I'am sorry. Even in the after-life I have looked for ways where I can rectify the mistakes in my lifetime… by making sure you become happy. Exactly the opposite of what has been happening to you now…"

Kaoru bit her lip and looked up to her mother. "All my life, Mother, I have asked Kami if there was still a chance for me to feel happiness at all. Instead, the more I asked, the more cruel life has been to me."

"First there was you… you went away. You had left me questioning my very own existence. All there is I know is that you hated father… and that father made no retributions, nor care about that. We held on to each other to live, which we did."

Blinking continuously to hold back her tears, Kaoru continued. "A-and in that realization that we could live together… I tried to build my dreams. Have you ever thought about my education? My ambitions? No, of course. You haven't got much time there in the living world…"

Kaoru smiled to herself. "You know what Mother? I've always wanted to be doctor," she chuckled. "I have always envied Megumi over there, when she takes over and treat everyone who was injured-while me? All I can do is watch and get her things."

Nanako looked hurt. She dropped her gaze from Kaoru and continued to listen.

"I can remember how I wanted to help back then… even Yahiko? Yeah, he would prefer to let Megumi take care of him than this 'steel-armed busu'…"

"Don't say that, Kaoru…" her mother interrupted her.

"No!" she hissed. Seeing the pain in Nanako's face, "N-no… that's what he calls me. Busu… a good-for-nothing sensei… a raving tomboy…" Her voice lowers by each phrase.

"Kaoru."

Both looked surprised at the sound of a man's voice.

Kaoru couldn't believe her eyes. It was… it was…

Tou-san... Kaoru thought.

Katsuro Kamiya eyed her daughter carefully and turned to look to his wife.

Nanako did not even look at him, just retained her anguished state, and sobbed quietly.

"Its been a long time, Nanako, since I last saw you… and its disappointing that in times like this we have been reunited for once," Katsuro said.

Kaoru's mother wiped her wet cheeks but said nothing still.

Katsuro grinned at this and glanced at Kaoru's direction. Kaoru was now in the verge of tears and still was clinging on to Kenshin's face.

"Nice man you have there, Kaoru-chan," her father pertained to Kenshin. Sighing, "You know very well that if I were alive, things were very much different from what is at present ne?"

Kaoru lowered her gaze. It was true, what her father said was true. She could've been studying still; might've mastered her Kamiya Kasshin-ryuu more; and, most of all… she could've been the best, or yet, the second best cook in that side of Tokyo.

Things that should have been, and will stay that way still.

Katsuro began to speak again. "Tell me, Kaoru," he said. "Do you love that man?"

Kaoru suddenly felt her cheeks redden. Stammering, "Anou… Tou-san, you see…"

"Do you love him?"

Gazing at her mother, whose eyes seemed to be telling her to lie, that she understands nevertheless for they both know Katsuro more than anyone, Kaoru gulped before speaking.

"Y-yes." It was more of a whisper than the expected reply.

"Good. I wish you well."

H-huh? Kaoru looked instantly at her father and frowned in disbelief.

"T-tou-san, I-I don't understand…" she said glancing again to her mother who was surprised herself.

Katsuro smirked at the reactions of the two women. "People change, Hime-chan. And I admit I'am one of them."

This did not change Kaoru's face a bit. "B-but why? I could not imagine you-Tou-san-to affirm to such things, you know, about me admitting my feelings for K-Kenshin…" she hesitated.

Nanako's eyes were still wide from doubt.

"Kaoru," he began, "Do you think I'm that selfish enough, that even in the afterlife I'd be still controlling your life? This is the lesson I have learned. I've been watching you carefully, constantly, and I'am sorry I have caused you so much pain. Your life hasn't been the typical type one undergoes, and I feel that I'am the one to be blamed for that…"

Kaoru fell quiet.

Katsuro sighed deeply. "And with that, all I could do is to wish for your happiness. And because-" he cut himself, looking at Nanako.

"-I don't want you to experience the same one that I did, which is, n-not to be loved at all."

"That's not true!" cried Nanako. Seeing the astonishment of the two, she lowered her voice. "T-that's not true at all. I have loved you, Katsuro. Its just…"

"… its just… everything happened so fast in my life. Kaoru-chan said something about her ambitions, unattained ambitions. I do have those too! But then, our marriage has been planned and done quickly, to my frustration! I don't know anything! I don't know how to be a wife! And to think you were the one whose always doing things for me… I feel useless…" Nanako cried and buried her face in her hands.

Katsuro walked and stopped right in front of her. Kaoru was surprised when she saw her father took her mother's hands away from her face to look at him.

The couple was silent for a moment. Its as if her eyes were the ones whose talking to each other.

Finally, Katsuro spoke, "If you were indeed useless, I should've separated myself from you since the first week of our marriage. But no, I cannot even picture myself not married to you, Nanako. I have loved you since we were small, and silently waited for the day on which your mother and father had said you and I would marry. But your disapproval upon hearing our engagement shocked me, and thought that you don't love me."

Nanako shook her head. "Like what I have said, and like my daughter, I also have dreams, Katsuro. I also looked forward to that day when we will marry, but not in a fast and unexpected way. Our parents pushed us into a commitment we both are not ready yet, and as for me, I wanted to be prepared for anything and not be caught off-guard for anything that might come after it. I wanted to be the perfect wife f-for you…" she said with a nervous smile.

Kaoru was speechless. She blinked twice to check if this was only a dream.

"But you already are, Nanako," Katsuro said, pushing a stray lock of hair away from his wife's face.

"You know that I'm not. I couldn't clean the house, even prepare my bath on my own, and even cook!" Nanako said, looking at Kaoru, who's jaw dropped at her mother's revelation.

Katsuro grinned. "But I liked you as you are. Even if you know how to do that I still wouldn't let you work at all."

"B-but…"

Katsuro put a finger on his wife's lips. "No more of that. I'm happy, Nanako, knowing that you have loved me after all."

Nanako lightly slapped him on the chest. Smiling shyly, "Of course. Would I be willing to have your child if I do not in the first place?"

It was all Katsuro wanted to hear. He cupped his wife's face and kissed her lightly on her lips then embraced her tight. Nanako smiled happily and closed her eyes and felt secured for once.

Kaoru suddenly felt tears streaming down her face as she saw her father smile for the first time-a smile full of love, and complete happiness. It was all she wanted, knowing she was produced out of love after all.

Her parents heard her faint sobs and released each other. Smiling at her, they invited Kaoru to come to them. Kaoru immediately stood up and cried loudly in the arms of her beloved mother and father.

The reunion was too much overwhelming for her. Katsuro and Nanako cried with her too, for they were both sorry for the sorrow that has costed their own child's happiness. And so the three were united, in the most unexpected time and place, and yet, was the only time that made them fix the mistakes they have done during their lifetimes. Each felt a feeling of regret, for things should've been different, like what Katsuro have said earlier, if only they have let their feelings take over.

Nanako shoved her daughter's hair as she continued to cry. "Cry, my child. Bring out all of those inside your heart that troubles you, so that when you come back to the world of the living, all will be well again."

Kaoru looked up to her mother. "I-I? I will be coming back?"

Katsuro answered. "Yes, Kaoru-chan. Its not yet your time to go. Would you just let those people you love-and loves you-die also of anguish? You have seen how your friends reacted when you died, especially the man you were cradling a while ago," her father said, emphasizing the word 'cradling' more.

Blushing furiously, "Mou! Tou-san, Kaa-san… I-I want to b-be with you…"

Nanako smiled at Kaoru lovingly. Holding her hand, "Kaoru-chan, listen. You have still a life waiting for you back there. And helping you bring back your memory was the least we could think of with all the sadness we have caused you. And now that you're back, you should go home… home to those people that you have touched. You are their life, Kaoru. Without you they can never live the same way they are now. Do you understand me?"

"And," Katsuro interrupted. "I thought you say you love this… this man…"

"… Kenshin, dear. Right, Kaoru?"

"H-hai…" Kaoru nodded.

"Yes, I thought you say you love this 'Kenshin'. Is it just okay for you to leave him there, grieving for you? I tell you, Kaoru, you will be very cruel to him if that is so," Katsuro pointed out.

Kaoru's eyes widened. "Huh? Why is that, Tou-san?"

Nanako looked instantly at her husband and shook her head, as if signaling him not to continue any further. But her father did nevertheless.

"His sins as the Hitokiri Battousai is still not been paid, up to now. But since his turning to a much quieter life as a ruruoni, and helping those in need, slowly helped him get back his merits-but not fully. For now his soul is weighed as to somewhere between rotting in hell and living magnificently in heaven," Katsuro explained. "As spirits we have the power to peek into one's future, my daughter. But it is forbidden for us to do tell anyone, to meddle with Fate. I can't directly tell you what future lies for Kenshin but, what I saw was one 'that is not good'-for he has done something that should not have been-since you left him."

Kaoru became pale at that moment. Shaking her head, she freed herself from her parent's grasp and walked towards Kenshin. She stood beside him and looked sad, judging her feelings.

And she knows quite well what her heart tells her so.

Closing her eyes, she remembered his promise before he went out to fight Shishio that he will come back no matter what. And he did.

Now it was her that was breaking the promise. She was being too unfair.

But the happiness her reunited parents were promising; being with them once more was all she ever wanted, and now its all within her reach…

Sighing deeply, Kaoru opened her eyes, sure of the decision she finally had resolved.

Kaoru…

Kaoru…

Why did you leave me?

I can't bear the thought of life without you… you saved me from the brink of madness I myself have created…

And now… you're gone…

What's the use of me living when I don't have my reasons anymore?

You're the reason I live, Kaoru…

Is this finally the end I've been wishing for…?

"Huh?" Aoshi frowned at the sudden wind blow around them. Frowning, he bent over and looked at everyone. He thought somebody might have recognized the mysterious aura that had just passed among them. But looks like nobody did:

Misao was still quietly crying on her own now, unable to move because of shock;

Yahiko was wailing continuously, muttering curses under his breath;

Omasu and Okon were weeping quietly in one corner, being consoled by Okina;

Megumi, who has revived now, was being held tight by Sanosuke who leans at the doorbeam outside, also sobbing loud, still whispering about 'Jou-chan's' untimely death;

And, of course Kenshin, whose slumped form remained still beside Kamiya Kaoru's corpse.

Aoshi felt the same air surrounding them again suddenly. It went around and finally settled. Closing his eyes, he snapped it open, now sure of what happened. He eased, motioning the still-bewildered Misao to go and try to wake up Kenshin.

Misao looked at Aoshi incredulously. She could never believe he would be this stone-hearted even at times like this. But she did nevertheless what she was requested to do.

Seeing Misao had moved, the others began to look at her questioningly. Misao then, patted Kenshin lightly in the face.

"Himura… Himura, please wake up," Misao said softly. "Himura, please be alright. P-please… for u-us… for K-Kaoru…" her voice broke and resulted in a whimper. Sano released Megumi, as she had requested, and kneeled beside Misao, calming her. When she got better, Megumi signaled Sano to come near and help her revive Kenshin. Sano did so, shoving Yahiko's head as he passed by him.

Kenshin's eyes slowly opened after a few moments. He closed it again, upon realizing he's still not dead. Settling his eyes on Kaoru's face, void of any signs of life, he began to moan depressingly, clenching his hands against his head, shaking it at the same time.

"Ken-san… don't do this to yourself. K-kaoru wouldn't want you to be like this," Megumi pleaded.

Kenshin shut his eyes firmly. Crying bitterly, "You could've just let me die, Megumi-dono… the reason I'm living is gone, what else am I waiting for here?"

Yahiko bursted to more tearful sobs once again with what Kenshin had said. Kaoru's gone, and now Kenshin doesn't want to live… what more?

"If you die Himura-san, Kaoru-san would surely be sad when she wakes up."

All of them looked at the same time from where the voice had came from.

Aoshi nodded, answering back their mocking looks.

Sanosuke couldn't contain his hidden anger anymore. "Look here, Buddha-man, speak more of those shitty words of yours, I'll be more than willing to send you to the real loony world!"

"Sanosuke!"

"Oh!"

"Sano…!"

"Stop that!"

Misao remained silent.

All were in defense of Aoshi as he coolly shrugged off Sanosuke's remarks. Not minding the rooster at all, he glanced over at Kenshin once again and spoke, "Kaoru-san is back, Himura. She's coming back."

"WHY YOU-!" Sano leaped over and grabbed Aoshi by the collar, knocking him with one hit, pushing him out of the room. Everyone was horrified as Sano began to follow Aoshi who was outside now. Misao held on and tried to push each other away from the other. Aoshi's eyes flickered green but tried to calm himself.

Megumi tried to pacify Sano with Yahiko, as Aoshi with the Oniwabans.

"I told you Aoshi! Shut up! You don't know Jou-chan that much that you can make stupid things about her! We know, she's dead! Can't you just respect that?!?"

Aoshi regained his composure and looked much relaxed. "I assure you, you will regret that you have done that once Kamiya-san wakes up."

"That's just IT!" Sano spit and pushed away Megumi and Yahiko, ready to attack Aoshi again. Just then, he stopped, surprised.

"Ken-san!"

"Kenshin!"

And there he was between them, eyes casted low.

"Kenshin, stay out of the way. I'm going to teach this asshole not to mess around Jou-chan…!"

Just as he was about to strike again, Kenshin pulled out his sword and pointed it directly at Sanosuke. His eyes flashed gold.

In a low voice, Kenshin spoke. "I swear, Sanosuke… if you continue to do anything that would tarnish the solemnity of Kaoru's death, I swear… I may have to forget that you are my friend."

All of them fell silent.

Kenshin, without saying anything, quietly sheathed his sword.

Turning to Aoshi, "Aoshi, I thank you for trying to lift up my spirits-for a while there I almost believed you. But now I understand. Arigatou," turning to everyone, "And to all, thank you, for caring for K-kaoru; Yahiko, Megumi-dono, Misao-dono, Okon and Omasu-dono… and to you Okina… thank you."

Taking a glimpse at Sanosuke before he walked away, "Gomen ne, Sanosuke. I just want peace for Kaoru just this once… for the l-last time…" Kenshin's voice cracked at the last statement. "Okina, can you lend me some clean sheets we can cover Kaoru's body with?"

Okina nodded. "Y-yes Himura-san, come with me," he said motioning for him to follow.

Just as they were about to leave, Yahiko called.

"K-kkaorrruuuu…"

All of them looked at the boy and saw he was standing halfly inside the room.

His eyes were wide and mouth hanging open, but no words came out.

Misao walked over him and looked at what he saw the room they were in a while ago…

… her expression became the same as Yahiko's.

The others frowned at this, except for Aoshi and Kenshin. They all stood beside the two and trembled at what they saw.

Tears began to form in their eyes…

"I can't b-believe this…"

"This is a miracle…"

"Sensei…"

"Jou-chan…"

Jou-chan…? Kenshin's brows knotted. What are they saying?

He looked at the others and saw them crying at the places they were standing, stares still fixed inside the room. Upon realizing his hesitance, Megumi smiled at him and cried again.

"Ken-san… Kaoru…"

Kenshin's eyes widened. Walking slowly towards the room, he was astonished at what he saw…

Kaoru was there, standing, alive. And she was flashing her most sweetest smile at him again.

Onto the next chapter…!