See chapters 1-2 for disclaimers and acknowledgements
~*~*~
Chapter 12
"Eternal Bliss is something I can show you,
Spread your arms and let my wings enfold you,
My love...my love...
In the darkness, shades of crimson rapture,
The world is ours alone to capture,
My love...my love..."
"Spider and Fly"
London After Midnight
Kevin couldn't remember having been so happy. Only a
few hours ago, he'd been in the throes of deep depression.
But that was before he and Kaori had made up. She'd come to
his door with hope in her eyes, not that she'd ever had
anything to worry about.
And now they lay on Kevin's bed, Kaori comfortably
tucked in his embrace, her face buried in his neck, her soft
warm breath gliding over his skin. Content was not the word
for it. It was so more then that.
Eyes closed, he drifted comfortably in and out of his
thoughts, when he felt the first feather light kisses touch
his neck. The soft noise he made deep in his throat only
encouraged her, and the kisses went from feathery soft, to
hot and open mouthed, running a trial across his windpipe.
Kevin's eyes flew open as Kaori moved slowly from
lying next to him, and slid over him to straddle his thighs.
She continued her ardent attention to his neck, and one
practice roughened hand slid just underneath the hem of his
shirt, and slowly glided up his stomach, causing the muscles
there to jump and flinch with the contact. When it continued
gliding up to his ribs and beyond and was joined by it's
twin, Kevin sat up with a gasp.
Gently pushing Kaori back so he could look her in the
eyes, "I don't think that's a good idea..." Kevin began, and
watched the disappointment blossom in her azure blue gaze.
She looked away, her eyes downcast. "I'm sorry. I
thought..." Pausing for a moment, she looked back up at him,
her eyes asking for something. One hand moved up to glide
lingeringly over his cheek. "I want..." She paused again,
searching for the right words. "I want to be with you..."
"Kaori...are you sure this is what you want?" Kevin
asked, his concern more then evident in his voice.
"Do you think...after my ex...that I would even think
about it, if I wasn't comfortable with the idea?"
Looking away from her probing gaze, "No, I guess not.
But I'm still worried... I mean, since I don't even know
what happened..." Kaori sent him a look that promised death
if the subject was pursued. Waving one arm frantically in
placation, he continued "Not that it's any of my business
anyway! I'm sure you'll tell me when you feel comfortable
with it... " The death threat abated to a simple warning.
"As long as you're sure..."
Kaori's expression changed her eyes reflecting Kevin's
doubt. "It sounds to me like you're the one who isn't sure."
"If I sound unsure, it's because I'm worried for you.
And... You know how my preferences used to run. I've never
been with a girl before." It was Kevin's turn to look away.
The part of him that was still Kenshin was very uncomfortable
with that part of Kevin, and it was hard to voice his
thoughts on the matter.
Kaori giggled, and put a hand over her mouth. When she
recovered a moment later, she said "Oh yeah, that's right!
They were all guys, huh?"
Kevin blushed scarlet. "Well...yes. Do you have to
remind me of that constantly?"
"I think it's cute! And your ex WAS gorgeous..." Kaori
poked him gently in the nose with the tip of her fingernail.
"Can we PLEASE not talk about this?" Kevin pleaded,
embarrassed. "You're changing the subject!" She seemed to
enjoy plaguing him about his past... relationships. She'd
been asking him questions about it all afternoon. He'd
managed to field most of them, but there had been some he
couldn't get out of.
"Fine, fine. Okay, to put your mind at ease: I've thought
about this A LOT. Almost since we first started dating. I
trust you, and I know you won't ever hurt me on purpose. I
think that's been proven beyond a doubt." Kaori said
solemnly, her hand brushing his cheek gently, her large blue
eyes serious as they met his own purple ones. She paused for
a bit, before continuing, "And also...I think I love you.
And as strange as it may sound, I think I always have.
Sometimes, I feel like my whole life has just been a prelude
to meeting you. That brief period when we were apart was so
painful, it was almost like...I'd been physically wounded. I
feel like I've been waiting for you for a hundred years."
"What happened to me...I can't tell you about it yet.
It still hurts too much." Kaori continued after a moment.
"All I can say is that the short time I've know you has made
me a different person! You've allowed me to heal myself, in
a way I never could have before. And I think that...somehow,
you've completed me."
Kevin could only stare at her in wonder. She
remembered, she had to! There was no other reason she could
have become so like Kaoru in so short a time. The sudden
urge to kiss her overwhelmed him, and he slowly and
deliberately leaned forward, taking the fullness of her
lower lip between his. She responded instantly, latching
onto his upper lip with her teeth and tracing it gently with
the tip of her tongue. Eventually she deepened the kiss of
her own accord, her tongue gently pushing for entrance.
Kevin's arms slid around her waist bringing her more
firmly against him, their mouths meshed deeply.
Kaori broke the kiss, and placed her hand on his
shoulders, and pushed him gently back onto the pillows.
Kevin allowed the action, not entirely sure what he should
do. It had been so long...Nearly 135 years. Not that he'd
actually been alive that whole time, but that wasn't the
point. All he had to go on was his short time with Tomoe and
Kevin's memories weren't exactly an option. A blush stained
his cheeks when images rose unbidden to the forefront of his
mind. NOT an option AT ALL. Wait. Rewind. The foreplay was
the same. Briefly, his eyes narrowed, planning.
Kaori sensed Kevin's sudden withdrawal. She sat back a
bit and examined Kevin's face for clues. How strange... he
seemed to be assessing the situation. His eyes were narrowed
in a way that made his normally sweet face look indescribably
evil, but at the same time... Kaori shivered at the heat
swirling deep inside her. She leaned forward again bringing
her face very close to his. "What are you thinking?" She
asked, her voice a rough whisper.
One flame colored eyebrow rose nearly into his
hairline. "Why do you ask?" answering her question with one
of his own.
"Because you're plotting. I can tell."
"And what makes you think I will tell you if I am?"
Kaori sat up all the way, flustered and confused. What had
she done wrong?
Kevin also sat up, and draped his arms loosely around
her waist. He nuzzled her neck, until her head fell back
allowing him more access to the long, slender column. His
teeth grazed her skin, and then he spoke, his lips moving
against her neck, hot breath spilling over the sensitized
flesh. "Wouldn't you rather that I show you?"
A gasp escaped her lips as Kevin found the nerve
cluster at the base of her neck, and bit into it lightly,
sending a shiver down all her nerve endings and they all
seemed to converge at the same place... She sucked air in
deeply through barred teeth, and finally replied "If that's
how you want it..."she gasped out, and felt Kevin smile
into her neck.
Her response to him was so immediate! It thrilled him
to know that he could make her gasp out loud. He moved his
mouth's path lower, traveling down her neck to her collar
bone, pausing at the hollow there to nip gently at the
tender flesh, before moving to where the neckline of her
dress began. His hands were following their own path,
sliding underneath the thin material of her short sundress,
to glide smoothly up the outside of her slender thighs.
Dear God, how long had he wanted to do this? All those
times when he'd 'accidentally' walked in on Kaoru at her
bath...the pounding he'd always gotten had been more then
worth it. Then there was the time at the hotsprings...The
only reason Misao had been able to hit him with that bucket
was because he'd been too busy trying to get a better look
at Kaoru's frim rear to dodge properly. Back then, he'd
never had any hope of doing what he was doing now; he'd
contented himself with vivid dreams and creative fantasies.
Kaori's breath came in heavy gasps. All those dreams
she'd been having of Kenshin had started out as just
memories, but had become something entirely different the
longer she was around Kevin. Perhaps it was because Kevin
looked so much like Kenshin, and she wanted so badly for
Kevin to really be him that the dreams had transformed into
something else? She drew back from him to catch her breath.
The combined efforts of his mouth and hands, although they
hadn't journeyed anywhere out of the ordinary yet, still
made the air stick in her throat, and hiss between her
teeth.
He felt her pull back, and at first he thought that
she had changed her mind. Her expression told him something
completely different. Her skin glowed damply, some of the
loose tendrils of hair clinging lightly to the sides of her
face. Her lower lip was dark red and swollen, her small
sharp teeth having bitten into the tender flesh a little too
ferociously. All of that was nice. But it was how her eyes
had darkened and shone, and how black feathery lashes lined
her passion heavy eyelids. One of the spaghetti thin straps
of her sundress had fallen off her shoulder and hung
teasingly around her arm.
Kaori absently trailed on hand over Kevin left cheek,
his admiring expression turning what of her insides that
were left into melted goo.
Part of his brain had cleared when her hand touched
his cheek. It had been a very small part. However when he
had realized which cheek, and that she was exactly tracing
the lines of where his scar used to be, everything focused
on her slight touch. She repeated the gesture, possibly
unknowing, first tracing the one that had gone from under
his eye down to his chin, and then back up from the far edge
of his jaw, to just beside his nose. Eyes still velvet soft,
she mouthed his name, but no sound coming out. He couldn't
be sure, but he could have sworn that 'Kenshin' had been the
word formed by her lips, and not 'Kevin'.
He snatched her hand away from his face, startling
her. "Kaori...what did you just say?"
Kaori blinked, the haze fading a little. "Huh?"
"The name you said." He explained. "It wasn't Kevin"
"It wasn't?" Kaori said, her voice almost lost. She
hoped that she hadn't said what she thought she had..."What
was it?" She inquired.
"Kenshin" he paused, hoping that he would see
recognition flare in her eyes. "The name you said was
Kenshin."
Terror replaced everything else that had been growing
inside her. However, Kevin didn't look angry; his expression
was almost completely unreadable. An emotion was hiding deep
in the recesses of his lavender eyes, but what it was, she
couldn't tell. Obviously, he was waiting for an explanation.
Should she tell him about her dreams? The truth was her best
option; Kevin would know if she were lying. He always knew
when she was leaving things out, so he would know now as
well.
"Well..." She began tentatively. "I've been having
these dreams. In them, I'm someone else, but I still live in
my house, only my house is different. I live there with two
other people, and there are a few others that visit all the
time. Although I'm not related to them, they were my family.
One of them was a young boy, and my student; the other was a
rounin who'd decided to stop wandering."
"The more I dreamed of them, the more vivid the dreams
became, and personal things about these people were made
known to me. The young boy's name was Yahiko, and he'd been
forced to work for the Mafia. Yahiko's last name is the same
as mine, Myoujin; when I realized that, I went and dug
through the family history. It seems that Yahiko was my
great grandfather."
"At first it freaked me out that I was dreaming about
something that had happened over 100 years ago. And the
rounin; I never heard his name in my dreams. Then, I think
the third day after I met you, I had my most vivid dream to
date."
"In the dreams there was another voice talking, one
that had nothing to do with any of the people I was dreaming
about. It was telling me things that there was no way I
could know. For example, it told me that the whole group had
taken a trip to Yokohama and that the faded picture they had
had taken was still on the walls of our dojo, and the
rounin's old sword was beneath it."
"I sat up from that dream in a pool of sweat, my heart
going a mile a minute. Even though I was scared, I got up
and walked out to our dojo. I knew the sword was there. My
dad had been telling me stories of it protecting our house
since I was little. But just as the voice in my dream said,
there was the yellowed old picture pinned to the wall above
the sword. I can tell you one thing. That has to be the
strangest sword I've ever seen; the blade is on the flat
side, and the flat is were the blade should be."
"The next morning, I asked my father who the sword had
belonged to. 'A good friend of the woman who gave your great
grandfather this dojo' he told me. Since that didn't answer
my question, I had to drag the rounin's name out of him. He
was surprised that I didn't know; the rounin had been
famous. He'd been an assassin during Bakumatsu no Doran.
After the war, he'd sworn never to kill again, and became a
rounin, and eventually ended up here, where he saved the
original owner of our dojo. She asked him to stay and he
did. He is still sort of a local legend."
Kaori looked up at Kevin's thunderstruck face. "You
must think I'm crazy. And you must be bored, hearing all
that history..." Kevin shook his head, his face a cross of
terror and hope. The expression was one of the strangest
Kaori had yet to see.
"No! Is there anything else? What was the rounin's
name?" Kevin knew he was shaking. He could feel adrenaline
pulsating through his blood. If only...
Her face skeptical, Kaori slowly continued her story.
"His name was Himura Kenshin. In my dreams, I was in love
with him. You know, when I first met you, that you looked so
familiar to me... And then, when I passed out that day, and
you took me home, I realized why. You look just like the man
from my dream; you look just like Kenshin, except he had two
scars on his left cheek."
For the very first time in his existence, Kevin
wondered if it was possible to die from being too happy. She did remember.
She really did. That phrase ran through his
over-stressed brain again and again. Now, he had to tell
her, he had to make her believe. It seemed that she'd
already made the connection on some level, and all he had to
do was complete it. He could hint and hope she noticed, or
he could be direct.
Hinting he dropped out of hand. He wanted her to know
right now! She hadn't said what her name had been in the
dreams. If he knew, wouldn't that prove it? Instinct took
hold, and he pulled Kaori close to him, burying his face in her hair. For a
moment it was all her could do not to sob
happily into her shoulder.
"Kaoru-dono..."he wispered, and felt her stiffen
instantly. "Okaeri...de gozaru..."
Frozen to her place on Kevin's bed, she heard the soft
archaic Japanese speech whispered in a voice she remembered
only from her dreams. She closed her eyes tightly for a
moment, not even daring... Unable to bear any more, she
pulled back from him slowly.
She saw the same soft smile Kevin had always smiled,
but now it was more. So much more. She knew she'd seen that
same smile a hundred times before in her dreams, and even
more then that in her last life. Kevin's eyes; the same soft
purple she'd also seen a hundred time before, his red hair
the same silky mop that she had always wanted so badly to
run her fingers through...
Her body still forzen as her mind whirled, all she
managed to say in that moment was, "...Kenshin?" and that
came out as a rough croak.
She looked so...there wasn't a word able to describe
it. Her eyes were wide, the whites visible on all side, her
jaw hanging slack from it hinges as if she were about to
speak.
For Kaori, everything was clicking in to place. All
the things she had so briefly considered; his appearance,
his sword ability that he swore came from nowhere, how he
was always able to put her at ease. All these things made
sudden sense in a way she thought that the gods would never
allow.
Her hand shook as she reached out again to touch his
cheek. Somehow, now, she couldn't believe he was real, and
that in physical contact she could prove to herself that he
would not disappear.
She seemed so fragile in that moment, her azure eyes
wide and brilliant with unshed tears, her slender frame
quavering. Every once in a while she would gulp down a lung
full of air. "Kenshin....?" She ventured again, her voice
more steady this time. Her mind must be completely boggled.
Well, if he was her, his mind would be boggled too. He held
back a chuckle, and took both of her hands in hers.
Presenting her with a wide smile full of teeth, he could
only nod.
Kevin wasn't prepared for her next action. Quite
suddenly, she was in his lap again, this time her long legs
curled around his waist. Likewise, her arms had snaked
around his neck, as if she was holding on for dear life, and
was kissing him in the most wonderfully expressive and mind-
numbing way he could think of.
Her hand worked itself into the hair at the nape of
his neck, underneath the tie that held it back. After a
moment of persistent tugging, the band came loose. Kaori
lost no time in gathering the entire flaming mass in her
hands and tangling her fingers though it. Her brain was
still a muddled mess, but one thought stood absolutely clear
of all the others.
This was Kenshin.
~*~*~
Volume One
~OWARI~
~*~*~
Revsions, and editing complete, 8:27 PM, 10/30/99
Nicky Townsend,
battousai@licensedtokill.com
Battou1028@aol.com