- A
Rurouni For Your Thought
- Chapter
one:
First Tears
- Kaoru woke up with a start, screaming at the top of her
lungs. She felt hot and cold at the same time and she was
trembling violently. * That same dream again. Why won't
it leave me alone? * She wondered if the others heard her
and how it was possible for a person to have the same
dream again and again in one night. Before,
she had experienced anguish and helplessness at not being
able to control them. This time these feelings came not
because of the dreams, but from knowing that they weren't
just dreams. * When someone has a dream they
can just wake up and it's all over. It will never be over
for me will it? * Kaorus' body shuddered with convulsions
and nausea as all the memories of the last night and day
hit her the same way fists have. But, what hurt her more
was the memory of Kenshins face... * Kenshin..* She
squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block the tears and the
memories. The sun was setting, sending out it's last rays
turning the sky into a brilliant pink. The last thing on
Kaoru's mind though was the scenery. All through
the walk home she tried to think of how she will explain
her absense from the dojo. She had left the morning
before. The guys must be worried about her. Better not
tell them anything, she had thought. What they don't know
won't hurt them. When she arrived at the dojo, she
found Yahiko, Sanosuke, and Kenshin sitting at the porch.
She almost smiled when she saw that Yahiko was half
asleep. Kenshin, always alert, noticed her first and
hurried up to her, followed by the others. They abruptly
stopped when they saw her soaking wet kimono and hair.
- Sano cursed under his breath and went on to say,
"Oi, do you have any idea how long we looked for you
Jo-chan? Where were you?"
- Kaoru, head lowered, hiding her face in her hair, did not
answer.
-
- "Answer me dammit!" Still no answer.
- Kenshin, who said nothing at the beginning moved closer
to Kaoru.
- "Kaoru-donno..why don't you answer Sanosuke?"
This time, Kaoru answered, her voice colder than ice and
as dull and blunt as Kenshins' Sakabato,
- "Nowhere special".
- She then started walking towards the dojos' open door.
Kenshin placed his arm gently on her shoulder wanting to
get her to explain more. He felt her flinch under the
pressure from his hand and with lightning speed, she
grabbed his arm with both hands, twisted it, then dropped
to the floor spun her right leg towards his legs,
knocking them both towards her. Then, still holding him
tightly with one arm, proceeded to her final hit. Kenshin
has never seen Kaoru this violent. She had hit him
before, hard, but never with this type of brutality. As
she shot her fist towards his face he finally saw her
face. It was a mask of bruises. She had a huge bump on
the left side of her forehead the size of a small rice
ball. A cut ran on the right side of her jaw, from just
below her ear to her chin. All this was bad enough but
what scared him the most were her eyes. They were
the eyes of an abused animal, one that had finally got a
chance to get revenge. Just before her fist crashed into
his scarred cheek, her face changed. It was as if
lightning flashed in her eyes and the Kaoru he knew came
back. She looked at him as if seeing him for the first
time and he looked at her while she slowly raised the
fist that was about to crush his face. Her other hand let
go of him and as she stood up she raised both hand to her
face in horror and disbeleif at what she had done.
- Kenshin had a look of relief on his face that was
immediately replaced by concern and confusion. This made
Kaoru feel even worse * Why should he be concerned after
I just attacked him? * Kaoru remembered vaguely how she
stammered out a weak "Gomenasai" and ran into
the dojo. His confused expression was more then she could
bear. Adding to her physical pain, was the mental pain
from the dreams and the greatest pain of all, the
emotional pain of knowing that she
had tried to hurt the person whom she most cared for in
the world. With that realization came all the suppressed
sobs like a tidal wave.
Part 2