Butterfly

By Jamie Day

Chapter 1

Don't own Rorouni Kenshin

Kaoru looked at the peace all around her. She closed her eyes and breathed in the deep scent of flowers and trees. She was sitting in the middle of a huge field covered with wonderful flowers. She could only stay for a bit. No one knew she was here. She wasn't supposed to be here because she had disobeyed her father and had gotten grounded to the mansion but she didn't care. Let him punish me, she thought defiantly.

She picked up a flower and strung it through her hair, holding it there by planting the stem behind her ear. Suddenly, she felt almost as though she was being watched. Kaoru shifted uncomfortably. Who would be watching me? She wondered.

"Hello!" She called. She was starting to feel amazingly nervous. She turned to where she thought she was being watched from and saw something moving before she watched one of the most gorgeous men she had ever seen walk out. "Who are you?" She asked very softly.

"My name is Kenshin but you would probably know me by my other name." He said this calmly, almost dispassionately.

"Why? What's your other name?" She was really curious. She didn't really know this guy but he sparked her interest for some reason.

"Battousai." He said unemotionally. She gasped. How could he just say something like that? Like he didn't care. Like it was all part of his way of life.

"Wh-What?" She asked. She was stunned. She was not afraid but she was very much in awe. Then she got upset. "How could you say that like it's normal? That's the most feared name in all of Japan. You've killed thousands of people, probably millions, and you act as if no one cares." She had tears running down her face by the time she got dune talking.

Then after stating the facts that she never thought to utter she suddenly started to tremble. Now she was scared. It finally hit her that she should run away and pray to God he didn't catch up to her although she knew he would if she made a run for it.

Battousai was angry although it didn't show on his face. No, his face was an impenetrable mask. He always hid behind this mask. No one knew it was hiding. No, they considered it his own kind of weapon but that was not true. He considered emotions a weakness. Always pain. Always.

He suddenly grabbed her throat and brought her back up to one of the many trees surrounding the field they were in. "How dare you begin to judge me? You don't even bother to get to know me."

Kaoru was afraid. There was no use denying this. What would it help? But then she realized what he had said. She thought on it quickly. Then she said something completely ridiculous. "Well, then, why don't you let me?"

The Battousai froze. "You want to get to know me? You mean like a friend?" He asked warily.

"Yes, yes. Why not?" Maybe he can still be a good person on the inside. Maybe I can still change him.

"I've never had a friend before." He seemed surprised by the idea. Why does she want to be my friends? I can't believe she gave me a chance to be her friend. He let her go.

"I have to get back to my house but I will come back sometime tomorrow." She said tentatively but truthfully. She never called her house a home because it had never been one to her. "Will you be here?"

He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment before nodding. "Great." She said. "I'll meet you here." She said this almost enthusiastically.

The very next day she came back just like she said she would. However, when she looked around she couldn't find Kenshin.

She sat down in the grass and, as Kenshin watched from the trees, began to pick some beautiful flowers. Once she had a handful she stood up and walked straight toward him.

Kenshin watched curiously as she found him through all the trees when she shouldn't have even known he was there and handed him the flowers. "Friends should talk. Not sit in the dark and watch each other." She let her words sink in before asking, "How old are you, Kenshin?"

He looked surprised but only for a second before saying. "13. You?"

"I'm only 9 but my mom always says I'll be too old to be 'her little baby' before I know it." She said matter-of-factly. "Hey, come play with me!" She said excitedly.

And so they spent their time together for years, either talking or wrestling. There was a hill they would roll down, or they would play tag on. They were still children although sometimes they seemed too mature for their age.