Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ The Torture ❯ Prelude to the Past ( Chapter 2 )

Tenshi: I'm done with this chapter but this will turn out longer than the promised two shot. Don't ya hate me now? It's four in the morning here so I'll just hit the sack, I have a full day of shopping tomorrow and I gotta prop myself for the horrors. How is it that during the summer I'm such an insomniac?

 

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The Torture

Chapter Dos: Prelude to the Past

 

 

 

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Riddle me this: It exists only in your mind and protects your sense of self. It controls your past, present, and future and the elderly value it more than anything else.

 

What is it?

 

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…your memories

 

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Kaoru trudged up the stairs leading to her apartment cursing herself for living so high up. Weariness oozed from her every pore and she didn't know where she got the strength to keep on moving. Unlocking her door she almost collapsed at the entrance but somehow managed to hold that off until she reached her sad excuse of a couch.

 

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Then she was a goner.

 

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She was tired, dead beat, bone weary. Take your pick. She hadn't been eating well for the past few days so that can partially account for her fatigue and the numerous jobs she had been shouldering makes up for the rest of it. Suppressing the urge to sleep she attempted to get up from her lumpy sofa.

 

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She succeeded on the third try.

 

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Kaoru dragged herself into the kitchen and stared blankly inside her fridge to see if there was anything that she could eat for dinner. Preferably something she wouldn't have to cook because she won't fool herself into thinking that she can successfully make anything edible with her mind still functioning on autopilot.

 

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That's hard enough already even when she's at full capacity.

 

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Spotting a small bowl of fruits Kaoru immediately grabbed it before heading back towards the couch. The fruits were the last remnants of her failed attempt at eating healthy. She managed to eat only nutritious meals with no snacking for one day but on the second she pigged out on every fattening junk food known to man.

 

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Her self-control sucks.

 

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Kaoru plopped down and tried to make herself comfortable on her couch before picking up the remote next to her. It took a few rounds of channel surfing before she remembered that she didn't have cable anymore because she was unable to pay off the bill.

 

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Being broke bites.

 

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And so she resigned herself into watching the shopping network. It was either that or TV Guide which talked about all the shows that she couldn't watch. That was too much of a downer for her so she just picked the lesser of the two evils. Even so, if this is how she's going to blow all her Friday evenings then she really is pathetic.

 

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Well, at least the models are cute.

 

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Kaoru idly popped a grape in her mouth and thoughtfully chewed on it as her thoughts turned inwards. This had been a bad week for her so she couldn't wait for it to be over. She had exams everyday causing her to curse the educational system and her college professors in general. Not only that but she worked double shift on both of her jobs and some bastard stole the tips from her waitress job. That just set her in a testy mood for the rest of her shift.

 

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But that wasn't the worst of it.

 

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Yesterday was the absolute pits and she skipped her classes, exams and all and called in sick for her jobs because of it. Yesterday was the reason she had to double shift her jobs and it was also the reason why she hadn't been eating right. Out of all the days this week, yesterday was pure hell for her. But how could it not be? It marked the two year anniversary that she left him. God, had it been that long already? She can still remember she first met him, or rather when he first met her.

 

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And as her memories flooded her Kaoru picked up an apple from her dwindling fruit bowl, biting viciously into it while her tremulous mind took her back before all of this trouble started-

 

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Back to the beginning…

 

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A/N: Chapter two done chapter three on its way, sorta…