Ardith's A New Era- Prequel
Part Two: The Best Laid Plans (Lemon) [A]
Disclaimer All rights and privileges to Rurouni Kenshin belong to Nobuhiro Watsuki, Shuiesha, Sony Music Entertainment, and associated parties. The characters are used without permission. This is a work of fiction and not written for sale or profit. All characters I create belong to me.
"Don't worry, Kaoru." Megumi brought out a large mirror, leaning it against the wall of the bedroom. Shinosuke was asleep on their futon, off to the side. Kaoru looked at Megumi with trepidation. She had brought out a veritable arsenal of "preparation" items....
"I can't help it. I'm nervous. Megumi! What if he...he just says no. What am I supposed to do then? I knew I shouldn't have listened to you. I just knew it. This is all a huge mistake!" She wracked her brain and thought the plan over. There was no way that she could ever succeed in seducing Kenshin. No way. He was going to laugh at her. No, worse. He was going to be polite and just walk away. He'd just tell her she was being silly. Tell her that she was still a child. Dang it, she was almost twenty!
"Kaoru! Stop panicking! This is going to work. Believe me. Kenshin won't be able to resist you after this." Megumi moved swiftly, pulling off the blue ribbon that held Kaoru's long hair.
"I don't think I can go through with this," Kaoru looked at her reflection critically. Once released from her ponytail, her dark, inky hair fell down in straight locks past her waist. Her eyes were huge and panicked, in her heart shaped face.
"Kaoru, stop looking as if you are about to go to your death. You know what he feels. He told Sanosuke he thinks you are just too good for him. If you want him, you have to go out and get him."
"Do you really think I can do this?" Kaoru queried softly. Her eyes sought Megumi's in the reflection of the mirror for reassurance. When Megumi first came into their lives, she had made Kaoru feel like the biggest country bumpkin in existence. Megumi had been everything that she wasn't. She was mature and experienced. She knew about men. Megumi's presence had made her feel like a sweaty tomboy, like a little girl playing at boys' games.
"Kamiya Kaoru, look at yourself in the mirror. What do you see?" Megumi pointed to the glassy reflection. "What do you see there? You're beautiful. And more than that. You're strong. And brave. And smart. I'm not going to make you do this." Megumi crossed her arms, her reflection glaring at Kaoru from the mirror. "You are going to do this because you want to. Because you know that it's time."
"I want him, Megumi," Kaoru confessed, her cheeks pinking with her words. "I want to really be with him. I've wanted it for so long. I-I-I just don't know if-"
"If he wants you? He wants you, Kaoru. He's always wanted you. If he didn't, he would not have stayed with you for so long. And he would not have needed to say good-bye that day he left for Kyoto." Megumi had been so hurt when he left without telling her. But Kaoru... Kaoru had been devastated that he'd left at all. She wouldn't even eat. Megumi had fixed that problem. Now she was finally going to fix this one.
"But he-"
"And he came back to Tokyo with you. For you. He needs you, too. Now, the question is: do you want him enough? Do you need him enough?" If Kaoru wasn't ready.... Then Megumi was going to back down. Megumi just felt as if they weren't as happy as they could be, existing in a kind of limbo for too long. She just wanted the best for Kenshin and Kaoru. They were her family when she really needed one. They still were.
"He wants you. You want him. What are you waiting for? He's not getting any younger," she continued with a smile. "Now, do you want to do this or not?"
Okay." Kaoru's voice was hesitant and soft.
"Hmmm?"
"Yes. I want him. I'm going to get him."
"Good. I sent Yahiko to Tae's with a little note. He's gonna help out and end up staying too late to walk back. Tae will make him spend the night. The rest, my friend, is up to you. Now let's get you ready."
Where was Kaoru? Kenshin had just finished the laundry and was hanging it out to dry in the sun. With the humidity in the air, it would take that much longer for them to be fully dried out. He was just about finished with all of his chores. Life at the Kamiya Dojo had fallen into a comfortable routine for him. Chores, cooking.... He knew how long it took to do everything he needed to help Kaoru run things around the dojo.
Where is she? He wondered again as he sat down, leaning against the entrance of dojo courtyard.
The dojo was quiet with both Kaoru and Yahiko out. When no one was around, the dojo looked so empty. He wondered if Kaoru had been lonely when she lived here alone. All those years ago, that young girl had been fierce and full of energy, determined to achieve her goal. But that didn't change the fact that she had been so alone.
He closed his eyes. Kaoru.... She was going to turn twenty soon. Twenty....
That was past the age most girls were married. What would I do if she did...if she found someone to love? To be with? What would I do? Let her be happy. I would let her be happy. Kenshin thought he could be strong. He hoped....
"She's too good...,"Kenshin sighed as he watched Kaoru turn and knock the hard bokken out of Yahiko's hands as they practiced.
If she really knew what he felt for her. Kenshin shook his head at that thought. The girl would probably be scared silly. Or more, she would likely run him out of the house. Only Sanosuke knew the reason why he never did anything about his feelings.
"What the hell are you talking about, Kenshin?" Sano sat beside him as they watched Kaoru and Yahiko practice in the courtyard of the dojo. Megumi sat in the shade of the trees, watching the practice with a sleeping Shinosuke.
"Kaoru-dono. You asked me why I don't just marry her. She deserves better than me."
Sano shook his head. "Kenshin. You are usually one of the most intelligent men that I know when it comes to understanding people, but sometimes you are an idiot."
"Sano. Look at her. She's 10 years younger than me. She's good. She's never-"
"She's never what, Kenshin? Never bloodied her hands? Kenshin, she's a lot less naive than you imagine." Sano shook his head at Kenshin's reasoning. No matter how much time they spent talking about this, it would take something drastic to change his mind. "Look at her. Kenshin, she knows more about the goings on of the world than most young girls do. She had to survive alone without all of us.... Jou-chan is strong and smart. You should get off your ass and thank the gods that you have her. Then you should go after her, to make sure she stays yours."
"She deserves better."
"Heh. I told myself that when I finally realized what I felt for Megumi. I've done things that should have horrified her. I had to survive. She understands, though. I think Kaoru would, too. She knows you and if you would just open your eyes, you would see that she wants you, too."
"She deserves better," Kenshin repeated. He felt like he was trying to convince himself.
Sano snorted in disbelief. "Then you'd just step aside if someone came? Think about that, Kenshin. Think about how you'd feel if another man had the right to touch her. To be with her. Could you still let her go?"
"If she wanted to...."
"Hell, Kenshin. Being a damn martyr isn't going to make either of you happy...."
Martyrdom. That was a joke. Could he stand it? Could he just step aside if someone else wanted her. And if she wanted him.
Kenshin fisted his hand at that thought. He knew how appealing Kaoru could be. How when she smiled, you could feel like you were the greatest man in the world. It would be so easy for someone to just take one look at her and fall.
Kaoru was the most important person in his life. He loved her. That would never change. But Kenshin knew he should let her go. He should let her live her life. Find someone who was like her. Someone who deserved her. Someone who would make her happy.
Kaoru had saved him in so many ways. She had given him a family. That was something he had never really had before. All of them had needed each other for different reasons, but had stayed together because they found a home within Kaoru's sphere. That was her power. She helped you find happiness. No, if she found someone she could love, Kenshin would not begrudge her. He wouldn't leave her either. If he couldn't be with her, he wanted to still be part of her life.
"Tadaima."
"Kaoru-dono? Okaeri de gozaruyo." He stood up and walked toward the front of their home.
"Oro? Ka-Kaoru-dono?" Gods. She looked beautiful. Her hair was arranged so that half fell down her back in a black curtain. Half was pulled up, arranged with combs and pins. She wore a lavender and deep purple kimono. He could hear the silk layers rustle as she walked towards him. She shaded her face with a pale bamboo umbrella. She looked like an untouchable princess.
"Kenshin, do you like it? Megumi helped me dress up."
"Me-Megumi-san?" Kenshin looked so cute. And so confused.
"Yes. We were just....experimenting. She said that I should really dress up for the next festival. I think she's just worried because I'm turning twenty. It's not as if I care or anything. And she shouldn't either. It's not like she cared how old she was when she married Sano."
"She wants you to find a husband?" Megumi was overstepping herself. It wasn't any of her business if... What was he thinking? Megumi had every right to worry about Kaoru's future. She loved her like a younger sister.
"I guess.... How do I look?" She felt like flying like a sparrow. She was so excited. The nervousness had transformed itself to a sense of rightness. As she walked home from Megumi's, she knew that she had never looked this way. She looked-
"Different...," he replied absently.
"Ken...shin," Kaoru fairly growled. He wasn't reacting the right way. Megumi had said that this would work. Apparently, Sano and Kenshin were different creatures when it came to seduction. Kenshin didn't seem to even notice.
"You look beautiful. I...I have to go make dinner. Why don't you go inside. It feels so hot today..."
"Kenshin?" He walked away. She watched in numb horror as the most important man in her life walk away.
Kaoru's eyes filled with tears. What was she doing wrong? What did she have to do to make him realize that she wanted him?
Kenshin worked in the kitchen, automatically preparing their evening meal.
It was only right that Megumi would play the matchmaker for Kaoru, he reasoned as he began to cut and dice vegetables. He wondered what kind of man she had lined up for Kaoru. She should have spoken to him and Yahiko first, of course. At least introduced them....
When he saw Kaoru walk in, her face shaded from the sun by that umbrella, her kimono immaculate.... He felt as if his heart might stop. He wanted to reach up and pull the pins and combs from her hair. To watch it tumble around her face and tangle his fingers through the strands. He wanted to kiss her. She smiled at him and he wanted to take. To grab and mess up the perfection of her attire by moving against her. By her moving against him. So he left. He had to go, to find his control.
Megumi probably would be arranging a miai soon. A miai... a marriage meeting. For Kaoru. Kenshin knew that Kaoru was of age, but he had never really thought....
"Then you'd just step aside if someone came? Think about that, Kenshin. Think about how you'd feel if another man had the right to touch her. To be with her. Could you still let her go?"
Someone else touching her? Kissing her? Holding her? Someone else being with her till they were old....
"Kenshin."
"Hm? Kaoru-dono?" He wasn't going to look at her. He couldn't look at her and not want her, not try to reach out and touch. Not today.
"Why are you cutting up vegetables into such tiny little pieces? I thought you were going to pickle them. Don't you usually have them larger?"
"Oro~" The vegetables were cut up into tiny, perfect squares. What was he thinking about? Oh yeah...Kaoru. Marrying someone else.
"I'm going to make....oden instead."
"Don't you need larger pieces with that, too?"
"Don't worry about it, Kaoru-dono."
"Okay. I-I'm going to be reading."
"I'll bring it in when it's ready."
&nbps; "Thank you." Kaoru shivered as she walked back to the main room. That conversation. It was just so...polite. This plan of Megumi's totally backfired. Now he wouldn't even look at her. Mou, I should have just left everything alone!
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