Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ When I Look to the Sky ❯ Chapter 1

Standard Disclaimers Apply
Rurouni Kenshin (c) Nobuhiro Watsuki; "When I Look to the Sky" (c) Train

When I Look to the Sky...
(A Songfic)

 

When it rains it pours and opens doors
And floods the floors we thought would always keep us safe and dry…

 

Spring came again, inevitably with the steady turning of the earth, and this year brought with it soft showers that soon turned into an unrelenting torrent.

 

“I hate monsoon season,” Kaoru grumbled, setting down another empty can beneath yet another leaky rafter. Nudging it with her foot till the dripping water fell into the container rather than onto her floor, she watched it fill steadily; the plinking sound of water dripping into various buckets, cups and cans around her creating an almost lyrical music.

 

“Whine, whine,” a low nonchalant voice say from the far corner of the room and Kaoru turned to glare at Sano sitting arms and legs crossed on the floor, the splintered remains of a toothpick wedged between his teeth.

 

“Better than being a freeloader,” she said haughtily, sliding open the outside shoji screen to toss out a bucketful of water.

 

“Hey! Watch where you're throwing that!” Yahiko's voice called angrily and Kaoru had the grace to look chagrined though only for a moment.

 

“You were wet anyway, baka! Didn't I tell you take and umbrella?” she scolded, hands on her hips, her expression not the least bit sorry.

 

Yahiko refrained from answering, since that's exactly what she'd said earlier, and stalked past to get a towel and some dry clothes. Looking at the tracks of muddy footprints and copious puddles on her once clean floor, Kaoru sighed and threw the damp rag in her hand down in disgust.

 

So much for spring-cleaning.

 

A movement at the corner of her eye drew her attention and Kaoru wondered how she hadn't noticed Kenshin there earlier.

 

The lean, red-haired man was leaning against the doorframe of the open door looking out at the heavy rainfall that turned the world into shades of gray, his face was passive but the melancholy shadows in his eyes didn't escape Kaoru's notice and her heart ached for this mysterious warrior and his secret past.

 

She approached him on silent feet and tentatively placed her hand on his shoulder.

 

“Kenshin? What's wrong?” she asked softly, her voice mingling with the delicate sound of water on leaves and stone.

 

“You worry too much, Kaoru-dono” he replied, turning to her with that familiar carefree smile that hid so much.

 

Her hand clenched in the folds of his red haori, “Don't lie to me, Kenshin,” she whispered drawing closer despite the distance he preferred to keep between them.

 

If he didn't crave her touch, the feel of her, so much Kenshin would have said that his hand rose against its will to stroke the long ebony strands that fell in rivulets to frame her face.

 

Answers came to mind, but none were the truth and so he couldn't say them to her. For a man like him, with a future stretched out lonely and deserted before him… the only thing he had to give her was his truth.

 

Even if it hurt her.

 

“Something has happened. I leave tomorrow.” He said, his voice hardening but never against her, only against the pain he knew his simple words had delivered.

 

Her broken exhalation held the tinge of tears and suddenly both his arms were around her and her body trembled within his embrace. But she refused to cry.

 

“Will you be back?” she hated herself for asking, for placing another burden on him, but she couldn't hold back the desperate words.

 

He didn't answer, only tightened his arms around her. It was an answer of sorts and once Kaoru understood it she finally gave way to tears, her sobs muffled against his heart.

And in the midst of sailing ships we sink our lips into the ones we love
That have to say goodbye…

 

The wharf was crowded and noisy, though every sound seemed dulled, either by the rain of by her own thoughts careening inside her head… Kaoru couldn't tell.

 

All around her ferry passengers disembarked, sailors called lewdly to each other across the wooden planked dock and fishermen hawked their wares in grating voices.

 

Ahead of her, Kenshin's brightly clad form was like a beacon that she could have followed if she were blind. Would follow anywhere, if only he'd let her.

 

He wouldn't.

 

Absorbed in her thoughts, she almost didn't notice him come to a stop and had to catch herself before she went careening into him. She needn't have bothered because in the next instant he had pulled her into an embrace that almost crushed the breath from her lungs.

Goodbyes to Sano and Yahiko had been said earlier, they didn't seem to understand the importance of Kenshin's journey and Kaoru had been too frantic to try and explain it to them… and hers would be the final farewell.

 

“I'll see you,” Kenshin said against her cheek, his warm breath grazing her flesh caused a shiver to run down Kaoru's back.

 

Pulling away, she caught his violet gaze, `Will you really, Kenshin? Then why does this goodbye seem like forever?' her eyes revealed the words of her heart but she didn't dare say them aloud in fear of the answer.

 

Kenshin found himself drowning in the azure depths of her stare, they seemed to ting the gray sky of his world to shades of sapphire and indigo; he wondered if he looked long enough whether he would be able to see himself through her eyes.

 

She nodded, and as if that were permission, Kenshin picked up the small bundle of his belongings and wound his way toward his waiting ship… alone.

 

The drizzle that had threatened earlier that morning suddenly began and mingled with the tears on Kaoru's face.

 

Watching Kenshin board his ship, the distance between them seemed like an eternity and in that instant Kaoru felt as if a string tying their hearts together had been pulled taut. The cry she uttered then was the sound of her sorrow. She felt as if her flesh had been stripped away, leaving her soul exposed, and bleeding.

 

Gripping the skirt of her yukata in white knuckled fists she ran toward Kenshin, unaware of the pressing crowd as she dodged through couples and leaped over the crates littering the dock.

 

He turned to her and she hurtled into his open arms, releasing a sob of release when they closed around her. Frantically, her lips turned to him, pressing against his closed eyelids, his cheek, the corner of his lips, against his jaw.

 

His nostrils flared as he tried to restrain himself, find some control when she was so lost but the insistent promise of her body, straining and melding against his, was too hard to resist and with a defeated groan he touched his lips to hers.

 

His tongue teased the sensitive border of her lips and she gladly opened to him, her tongue caressing his as her lithe fingers tracing the loving contours of his face.

 

She gave him a lifetime of kisses, of soft touches and whispered phrases… and each took his heart further into her keeping.

 

 

Author's Note:

 

Please let me know what you think about it so far Too much angst? Not enough angst? I'm actually trying to practice with angst since I'm not too good at torturing characters I like 66' It's a failing I know. Also, I've been obsessed with this song since I heard it and saw a really cool Farscape AMV to it, it's so romantic!

 

Anyway, I know this isn't really like a normal songfic since it's so long and I'm breaking it up into chapters... but there you have it! Please R&R!