Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Vows ❯ One-Shot

Rating: PG-13 for implied m/m and language.

Notes: This story was inspired by a host of things, some SxS related and some not. I'm not entirely satisfied with it, but it did let out something that's been niggling at the back of my mind.

Disclaimer: The cast of "Rurouni Kenshin" belongs to Watsuki Nobuhiro. I am making absolutely no profit from this, so please don't sue.

"What's wrong?"

A rustle of cloth, the muffled thump of someone sitting down.

"Nothing."

"Ahou. You're sitting out here in the middle of night."

"So? Can't a guy just look at the stars sometimes? Something wrong with that?"

A waft of cigarette smoke.

"Don't insult my intelligence."

Lips, soft and inviting, twist in a grimace.

"Yeah, you're a fucking scholar, aren't you?"

"Tell me."

"It's nothing."

Silence. Amber gleam in the darkness.

"Don't give me that look, 'kay? I was just thinking."

A chuckle.

"I thought I smelt smoke."

The narrowing of brown eyes.

"Fuck off."

"I'd rather fuck you, ahou."

A smile, answered by a wince.

"You did. Twice. Damn, I'm gonna be bruised for days."

Lean fingers brushing back dark hair with surprising tenderness, reaching down to trace the line of a jaw.

"Did I hurt you?"

"Nah. You know me -- I can take whatever you can dish out."

The fingers begin stroking the nape of a neck.

"What's wrong?"

"Think you can stop making fun of me for a while?"

"I think I can bring myself to it, yes."

Another pause.

"I was just thinking about us. And your wife."

The fingers still.

"Tokio is of no concern to you, ahou."

"Can we skip the insults?"

"Fine."

"Fine."

Something tinkling in the quiet of the night, the cold prickling flesh left exposed.

"Funny thing, marriage vows. A man'll die for an Emperor he's never met, but breaks the heart of a woman he's made a home with like it was nothing."

"Sano, I can assure you--"

"No, 'Jime, you can't."

A sharp exhalation of breath.

"What would you have me do? Divorce Tokio?"

"I'm not asking you for anything! You must be joking if you think I'm gonna ask you to leave a woman alone to fend for herself."

"How very noble of you."

"You don't know anything about me, cop."

"I doubt it."

The dying flame of a cigarette butt, falling like a suicidal firefly.

"Your conscience took its sweet time to speak up."

"Shut up."

"Talking to me?"

A sigh.

"I was just wondering, y'know... we never made any promises."

"So this is what it is."

A steady brown-eyed gaze.

"Let's not fool ourselves, 'Jime. I'm a one-man kinda guy, but I'm not gonna sit here and wait for you."

"What do you want then, a vow of chastity?"

"And you say I'm the ahou. What we have, we have now. I know as well as you do that you can't promise me anything."

"You think so little of me."

"That's where you're wrong."

A flutter of wings in the moonless sky, perhaps an owl.

"Sano."

"Yeah?"

"I may be forced to do whatever it takes to do my duty."

A shrug.

"Like fucking someone else? I sorta guessed."

"Hmph. You're taking this unexpectedly well."

"I'm the 'other woman', remember?"

Dark head resting against broad shoulders, slim torso surrounded by muscular arms. Amber looking down into brown.

"You know I don't think of you like that."

A gentle kiss.

"I can't live like you, 'Jime. Alone in the darkness -- I've been there, and I don't want it anymore. I want the sun. Warmth. And it's cold when you go away."

A long silence.

"I won't begrudge you your sun."

A tight embrace.

"So. What can we promise each other, Sano?"

"Honesty?"

Wry smile.

"We already have it."

"Then can we promise never to lose it?"

"Even if it breaks us?"

A deep breath.

"Yes."

"Then I promise."

-owari-

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