Stained Glass

[mainime]

Title: Stained Glass
Day/Theme: February 13: a killing dance
Series: Rurouni Kenshin
Character/Pairing: Kenshin x Kaoru
Rating: R
Notes: Standard disclaimers apply. Set during the Revenge Arc. This can be found also at my <a href="http://art-noveau.livejournal.com">fic LJ</a> and at <a href="http://31_days.livejournal.com">31_days</a>.


He was sleeping quietly in the next room and she had all but spent most of the day tiptoeing back and forth there just to slide the shoji by a crack and check up on him.

Kaoru heaved a small sigh of relief when she saw him still laying there, his torso covered in bandages. She was almost afraid that he would have gotten up and left her yet again. She already knew that if he left her once more, her heart would inevitably break. It was always like this...she'd get up early in the morning on impulse and rush to see if he was still there in his room.

She knew it was almost like not being able to trust him, but she had seen him leave so many times before and each moment that passed her by with his absence, she felt more afraid he would never be able to come back to her alive.

'I know he promised. He always keeps his promises...but what if one day...?'

What if one day he wouldn't come back?


+ + +


The first night they spent together, she bled. It was expected, of course. He had been very gentle with her, whispering how much he needed her and how he always knew she was a strong woman...their first kiss was explosive, they fell into each other's arms with a longing that they could not understand. There was a hint of desperation in the way he clung to her, almost as if he was afraid.

For one night, she beheld all of him; his real fears, his past, what continued to haunt him and she knew there would never be another one she could love as much as him.

But he had not told her that he loved her. Not that night.

And she realized she could not tell him, either.


+ + +


'We were both afraid.'

They couldn't stand any more loss. There was only so much they could take in one lifetime.

Enishi had been mad; there was a crazed light in his eyes that did not go away, even after Kenshin had long won the battle. The dance of blades was still as clear as day in her mind; she could see how both men struggled to dominate the other through the art of the sword.

The cruelty of the man was what had nearly driven Kenshin over the edge. Yet when she reached out to reassure him, careful not to touch any of his wounds, the amber of the Hitokiri Battousai's eyes disappeared.

But for how long would it stay that way?

Kaoru could only look to the future with uncertainty.

"I won't let you bear all of this alone, Kenshin. We'll get to live this life together."


+ + +


As he lay sleeping on the futon, his thoughts drifted in and out of dreams and he heard her faint voice through the shoji.

And he smiled, knowing that he was home and this was real.

[MormonGirlie]

I liked this fic. It was short and sweet, in short it was good. Keep up the good work.

[Sovereign of Silence]

short n' sw eet