This is one of my darkies, people. Angst, injury, pain and torment. Enjoy!
(Warning : One scene fairly reminiscient of Warrior's Pride, if any of you remember that one.)
______________________________
______________________________
Forgive Me
Night. Dark, cold, comfortless.
Those three adjectives were the only things on his mind at that moment, even staring at the soft moonlight being cast across the river. Kenshin watched absently as the moon's reflection played sleepily along the water's surface, clouds drifting across its face.
He could hear the others ahead of him, talking, fighting, laughing as they
walked home from the Akabeko. It had been a mostly uneventful night,
aside from the brawl that had almost broken out after Yahiko hit a drunk
Sanosuke in the face with a bowl of rice. Kenshin supposed it was okay
that he'd been hit instead of the eleven-year-old; everyone had been so
taken up with fussing over his poor head and sputtering apologies that the
cause of the spat was forgotten.
"Orooooo--"
"Sano no baka! Kenshin, daijoubu?"
"H-hai Kaoru-dono--ororoooo..."
"Oh shit! Man, Kenshin, gomen! You okay?!"
He rubbed his cheek tenderly. The swelling was down; that was good. With any luck there wouldn't be a bruise in the morning. Kenshin sighed and returned his attention to the water.
Nights like these...
Suddenly something flashed across his vision, a haze, flitting briefly over his sight like a fluttering moth. The moon was painted a dark red, pulsing, a sudden scream, and the sick smell of blood began to creep into his nostrils. Then, just as suddenly as the breeze, it was gone.
He shook his head, a chill beginning to run down his spine. It was probably nothing. Just memories, a dark night, and an overactive imagination.
"Kenshin?"
Shimatta. He forced the smile into place as Kaoru approached him. Her
expression bore worry.
Concern for him. Shimatta.
"Daijoubu ka? You're pale," she said, lifting a hand to his cheek. "And," she felt his forehead, "you're sweating. Is everything alright?"
"Hai. Daijoubu, Kaoru-dono. Thank you," he said, his voice cracking slightly. He cleared his throat. "I just... We'd better head back now, de gozaru." With a slight shake of his head Kenshin walked past her, in the direction of the dojo.
"But--Kenshin, wait..." Kaoru stopped herself, watching brokenly as he
walked away. He wouldn't tell her. Just like always. It made her both angry
and sad at the same time, everday, everytime.
All he ever does is keep it to himself whenever anything bothers him.
A single tear escaped her notice as she slowly followed the red-haired
mystery into the night.
______________________
"You IDIOT!! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!?"
"Hungh? D-d-do what, Yahiko--chan?" Sanosuke said drowsily.
"YOU TRIPPED ME!" the indignant eleven-year-old shouted.
"Did not," Sano said, looking up with a peeved expression from the floor, hands flung lazily behind his head. "Look kid, if you don't want people finding out about your sake guzzling, then don't be such a drunk. Don't try to blame it on an innocent man."
"I did not!! You were waiting for me to come in the door!!"
"Oyasumi, Sano. Yahiko."
Yahiko looked up as Kaoru entered the front room, sliding the shoji aside absently.
"Oi, Bus-- What's wrong?"
Yahiko cut off in midsentence when he caught sight of her face. The girl's
cheeks were wet, and her eyes red-rimmed. Her shoulders were slumped
forward in an almost dejected fashion.
What's with her? He wondered briefly. The boy shrugged. Whatever it was,
she'd get over it in the morning. Maybe he'd trash Sano while she was too
out of it to yell at him. Slowly the boy tiptoed toward the prone fighter
snoring on the living room floor.
"Oh Sanoooosukeeeeee...huh?" He froze as his gaze travelled over the window.
A light was on in the bath house outside.
Nobody should be out there now; it's really late. Almost midnight.
Yahiko peered carefully out of the open window, leaning forward. He
squinted as he tried to get a glimpse of whoever was--
Suddenly, a flash of fiery red.
Kenshin?
The rurouni was stripping his shirt from his body almost frantically in the soft yellow light of a lamp, his hair flowing down his back from its ponytail, thrashing back and forth. His back was toward the window, making his face impossible to see, but Yahiko could've sworn his air was one of panic.
What was Kenshin doing trying to bathe at this time of night? And why so
quickly?
Maybe I should go check on him.
After a few moments of mental debate, Yahiko's sleepiness caught up with
him. He decided to leave the man to his own business. If Kenshin felt he
needed a bath right then, then he should be able to clean himself up
without being bothered.
The raven-haired samurai looked down at the pile of inebriated white cloth and pointy, dark brown hair that was his friend-slash-rival and rolled his eyes. That big idiot. In a few minutes the boy was fast asleep next to Sanosuke, sprawled out in the exact same position as the drunken street fighter.
Meanwhile Kenshin was having a much harder problem than simply staying awake.
________________
Morning came faster than anyone had expected.
Yahiko was the first one up, Kaoru, the second, and, of course, Sanosuke was last. The daily routine was as always, and Sano was sitting up on the tatami floor, rubbing sleep from his eyes. Kaoru opened the shoji to go see Kenshin, he was always up doing laundry at this time. Yahiko appeared in the hallway, hauling a broom...and abruptly tripped over Sano once again.
"Wha--Sanooo!!!" he whined. "You baka!!"
"Yahiko-chan, it's too early for this. Go bug Kenshin."
"Why y--" What? Kenshin. That's right, he was going to check on him in the morning--
"KENSHIN! NOOOOOOOO!!! KENSHIIIN!!"
Sano and Yahiko looked at each other.
"Jou-chan," Sano whispered.
The two tore open the shoji and bolted for the bath house. Kaoru was throwing herself at the door, pounding on it hysterically, ready to tear it from its hinges.
Sano grabbed the girl's shoulders. "Jou-chan, what is it, what's wrong?"
Kaoru's eyes were full of tears and desperation. "I knew it, I knew something was wrong," she stammered. "Kenshin--I saw him through the window as I walked up--his eyes--"
An involuntary shiver overtook Sano's body. "Kaoru. What's wrong with him?"
"Please Sano, you have to help me get the door open! Please!"
Better try the somewhat polite approach first...
BANG! BANG! "Kenshin! Oi! KENSHIN! Can you hear me?--KENSHIN!!"
There was a faint moan from the other side of the door.
Sano couldn't wait any longer. "Yahiko!"
"Ou!"
"On three---three!"
WHAMM!!!!
The door came loose and fell flat on the bath house's wooden floor. Kaoru
rushed in and put her arms around the fallen, half-naked man leaning over
the edge of the tub. The water was pink.
"Kenshin, Kenshin please, look at me, please," she begged. He didn't look up. The rurouni's hair was completely covering his face.
Sano put a hand on his shoulder. "Kenshin, what's wrong?"
Then he lifted his head.
Kaoru screamed.
Sano's face was ashen. He froze in place, his fingers trembling.
"Kenshin..." Yahiko blurted in horror.
He looked like a corpse.
The man's features were so pale they were almost blue. His high cheekbones were protruding from his face as the skin stretched almost drum tight over the frame. His lips were blue, and he was shivering. But strangest and most disturbing was the blood that flowed from his ears, nose, eyes, and mouth. He was dressed only in his white hakama, which was now stained, and his skin almost blended with the fabric.
Then...
...there were his eyes.
Kenshin's eyes were clouded over, completely white, and they seemed to be studying something unseen. The lids were blackish, bruised, as if he had been beaten, and a cold sweat was sliding down his face.
"Oh--oh man," Sano managed. "Yahiko, get the fox. Now."
"Wh-what? Oh--y-yeah," he gulped, and ran out of the room.
"Ken--Kenshin. Can you hear me?" Kaoru said in a falsely calm voice.
He turned his head slowly to look at her with eyes that didn't exist. The
rurouni was almost unaware, vacant, as though he were underwater.
"...I can hear you."
His voice was barely a whisper of breath, flowing from his mouth.
Kaoru bit her lip to keep from screaming again. She was going into shock.
"Kenshin. How. Did you get like this."
"...I killed you," he murmured softly. "I killed you all." Slowly, fluidly, he turned to face Sanosuke. "I killed you. I killed Yahiko. I killed Ka...I--I killed--" His face began to twist into an expression of slight pain. Then slowly shifted to agony.
"--I killed her--"
Suddenly his scar seemed to widen as a tear of blood made its way across his face, leaving a thick scarlet trail behind it.
"I don't want to do this anymore...I don't want to see them here...Make it stop...Please make them go away..." He leaned and finally fell backward against Sano, bouncing slightly as he slid and hit the wet floor. Kaoru couldn't move.
One of his hands was moving along the floor towards her, grasping the air for her hand as his eyes closed. Sano shakily guided Kenshin's hand to meet Kaoru's. Numbly her fingers clutched at his. A small smile formed on his lips as he slipped from consciousness.
His words were almost incoherent."Can I...sleep now...?"
The last thing Sano remembered seeing was Yahiko and Megumi rushing into the room before a brilliant white light blinded him into unconsciousness.
__________________
__________________
(singing to the tune of High Apple Pie in the Sky Hopes, you know, the ant and the rubber tree plant song at the end of Antz?) "Because she's- eeeeevil, yes she's--eeeeevil..."
I know, I know. Pay Attn., right? Look, I'm trying, Ireally am, but when I wrote this I just did it in a catharsis of tragic angst, so deal. If you like it, review and maybe I'll continue. I've actually got a basic PLOT for this! Can you believe it?!?!?!
Ahem. Welllll, in case you haven't noticed I exist, I do. So, review why doncha?
And YES, I am working on P. A., C. It's coming t-o-o-s-l-o-w-l-y though.
I'll try and get a GOOD, LONG chapter up for that ASAP. But for now, just
tell me if it's good, or if I'm being an angsty, injury-lovin' little freak.
'Kay? 'Kay.