Hello people!


Man, I've been out of it for almost 5 months, I think.  Hi to all you
new people!  If you don't know me, I write Mirai No Yakusoku and
Rurouni Kenshin: A New Era.  I haven't been writing for a while
because...well...work and school and *sigh*  a lot of things.  


If you need to know what went on before, please go to my fanfic page
at:


http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/1149/yokoff.html


This is still a rough draft, so it is subject to change via my whims
and wishes.  Enjoy.  (hopefully.  It has been months
since I've really written!)


Ardith


Mirai part 11:  Lingering Thoughts


She should know better than that.  When she smiled at him like that, he
couldn't think.  He couldn't help it.  Every single time she turned
toward him, he felt as if he was blindsided by her, hit with a Mack
truck.  Her smile.  Her face.  Her voice.


She was beautiful.  Sagara Yuukiko.  So beautiful....  Just like in his
dreams.  He took a deep breath and forced himself to relax his fisted
hands.  God, he loved the way her lips moved, the way
she moved.  He wanted toŠ.  He wished he could go up
to her.  To really speak to her.  But he couldn't.  


You're such a fucking coward.  You can't even get the guts to
talk to the girl-no woman of your dreams.  If you
don't take this opportunity... Not only a coward, but a loser, as
well.  He took a step forward, shook his head and stepped
back.


Yeah.  He was a loser.  Dammit!  He should just go talk to her.  It
wasn't as if he was ugly or anything.  And she knew
him.  She would just have to get use to thinking of him as more
than....  Oh hell, she'd probably be nice and talk to him for a while,
then pretend that she has to be somewhere.  Anything to avoid him.


She was so cute.  So nice.  So sweet.  Throughout middle and high
school, through all the time he had watched her, she had not once been
attached to anyone.  He closed his eyes and sighed.  He had a chance. 
If he could just get the guts up, he could talk to her and she'd really
like him.  She would!  And thenŠ  Maybe, just maybe, she was just
waiting for someone like him to sweep her of her feet.  Yeah.  Maybe he
could sweep her off her feet.  Girls always were looking for a prince
on a white horse, weren't they?


He could be that prince.  He could.  Yeah, right. 
Yuukiko never really thought of him as more than a friend.  Hell. 
She'd been barely speaking to him now.  She was probably designating
him one of those people you knew passingly in the halls.  He clenched
his fists at that thought.


He remembered the dream her had last night.  The feel of her skin under
his fingers.  Running his hands through those long, dark locks. 
Tangling them in her hair.  When he woke up, he could still feel her
lips against his, could still taste her.  SoftŠlingering.


He sucked in a breath and took a step forward.  He could talk to her. 
She was alone.  No one was in the room.  No one would know if he failed
or not.  Or if he made a total fool of himself.  He watched as she
gathered her books, mumbling to herself, brushing her hair off her
shoulders in a way that made his heart ache.  So?  What are you
waiting for?  Go talk to her!  Okay.  Okay.  Okay....  He
sucked in a gasping breath to build his courage.  


"Yuu-"


"Yuukiko, are you ready to go?"


"Oh, Kakushin."  Kakushin?  He turned around to see a
red-headed student enter the classroom.  Who the hell?
 He sat back down, watching as he walked with an easy grace.  The
intruder barely spared him a glance.


"Yuukiko, ready?"


"Yeah.  I have everything."  He watched in horror as his dream girl
leaned forward and kissed the redhead lightly on the lips.  The
stranger reached out and brushed a lock of hair away from her face, as
comfortable with her body as with his own.  Yuukiko smiled sweetly at
him.  The look in that guy's eyes...  Who was he?  Yuukiko, you
andŠ this guy...?  He prided himself on knowing most of the
students at school.  This guy wore the uniform, but he didn't know him.
 How had a guy so new moved so fast?


He couldn't move, couldn't say anything as she walked away, the new
student's arm holding her close to him.  He felt the bile rise in his
throat.  Yuukiko?  You're supposed to be mine.  You're waiting
for me, remember?  His dreams couldn't have been wrong.  He
clenched his hands, seeking control.  He wasn't going to just let her
go.  Not again.


*****


"What's wrong?"  Kakushin asked, slowing down to look her in the face.


"Huh?"  Yuukiko looked up blankly, shaking her head as if to clear it. 



"You seem distracted."


"It's nothingŠ"  Yuukiko pushed her hair away from her face
distractedly.


"YuukikoŠ"


"It's justŠ"


"Just?"


"We are doing the right thing, aren't we?  There isn't something we
aren't forgetting?  Maybe all our fears are baseless.  I feel like I'm
jumping at shadows half the time."  She reached over to gently trace
the soft purple circles under his eyes.  "You haven't been sleeping."


He caught her hand and held it to his face.  "Hmmm."


"Kakushin, you'll burn out if you don't get rest.  Regardless of what
we were in our last livesŠyou're a teenager now.  You have to rest."


"Yuukiko.  There is something going on.  I feel it,
too.  I think that the past is trying to catch up with us."


"Trying to catch up with us?"


"The events of the past few weeks amaze me.  How could we find so many
people from our past so quickly.  Everything is happening at light
speed.  It doesn't feel right."


"Kakushin."  Yuukiko reached down for his hand.  She squeezed it
softly.  "No matter whatŠ  We're together.  We've found each other. 
Isn't that worth something?"


"I intend to see to it that we stay together.  Nothing is going to tear
us apart."  He brought her hand to his lips, kissing her palm softly. 
"Nothing."


"Nothing,"  she whispered back.  "I won't let that happen, either."


*****

There was just something so calming about cigarette smoke.  The white
curling clouds touched something inside him.  He flicked the burning
bud downwards, crushing it beneath his foot lazily.  


"You know, you're killing yourself slowly with those things, love."


At the sound of his companion's voice, he closed his eyes.  He idly
considering breaking up with her again.  She was pushy and arrogent. 
But, then again, she had her uses.  If only she would just keep quiet. 
It would be a lot better for both of them.  They certainly didn't love
each other.  There was just something missing.  "Hn.  Living things
start dying as soon as they're born."  


Nami watched her lover smooth back his dark hair.  He looked so
chillingly elegant.  At twenty-five, he was known as a shark when it
came to business.  He took no prisoners.  Whatever he did, he achieved
his goals.  He was the cliché of the tall, dark and handsome stranger. 
Mysterious and brooding.  Facinating.


"What are we doing here?"  Nami felt so uneasy in Tokyo.  The decision
to go was so sudden.  And the dreams Rei had been havingŠ  They worried
her more than she wanted him to know.  Blood and death.  He never
really talked about it.  But sometimes, in his sleep, he would call
out.  She could tell that he didn't want her here.


"You can do a bit of site-seeing, if you want.  I have some business to
take care of."  With that, he turned and walked out of the hotel, into
the crowd.  His tall, lanky figure blended and disappeared.  


Nami pushed back her long locks and pouted.  "WellŠwhatever.  Looks
like I'm on my own.  Again.  Keep this up, big boy, and I'll get to
thinking you don't want me around!" 


*****

At Keiko's third sigh, Yuunosuke broke.  He couldn't handle it anymore.
 "Stop complaining!  We have to see if everything is up to speed,"
Yuunosuke growled at Keiko.  The "History Club" was meeting at the dojo
to see what they had going for them.


"I'm not complaining!  I'm just thinking!  Stop snapping at me.  You've
been acting like a wounded animal all week."


"Sorry, babeŠ  I'm just worried.  These are just kids.  Heck, we can be
barely considered to be adults.  You think we can handle what's
coming?"


"We may all be a bunch of kids now, but all of us have lived our lives
through once before.  We can take care of ourselves."


"Not Jou-chan, though," he reminded her softly.  He remembered the
dreams, the past when Kaoru had died before them.  He still remembered
the horror of seeing her life-blood stain the ground.  Kenshin's face
contorted with pain and sorrow haunted him to this lifetime.  They had
all been so helpless.  He cracked his knuckles and growled.  "It's not
going to happen again."


Keiko remained silent as she watched Nozomi enter the practice room. 
At Yuu-chan's words, her stomach knotted.  Again?  It could
happen again.  That was way too predictable, though.  Why
would they all be reborn, just to watch the soul of one girl leave the
earth again.  No god would be that cruel.  


"I hope she's ready for this," Nozomi said flatly as she walked to the
center of the room.  She was wearing traditional kendo gear, her shinai
was balanced on her shoulder.  "She hasn't exactly been practicing."


"You have, Chibi?"  Yuunosuke teased.


Nozomi looked back at him, her gaze unwavering.  She smirked as she
replied.  "Before I knew who I was.  I've always practiced kendo."


"Yup.  Ever since I've known her.  Nozomi has won championships," Akira
added.  He, too, was wearing hakama and gi.  He carried a bokken and a
shinai with noticeable ease.  At Yuunosuke's questioning look, he
grinned lopsidedly.  "I've had a little training, too."  He smiled
softly at Nozomi.  "Shall we do a warm up?"


"Sure."


Yuunosuke blinked at the sight of two middle school kids carrying
themselves like well worn veterans.  The pair moved into fighting
stances.  He recognized the positions.  Kamiya Kasshin RyuuŠ?  Hiten
Mitsuryugi Ryuu?  Without waiting for a signal, the two began to go at
it.  They moved quickly across the room, every step smooth and
graceful.  They weren't even breathing hard.  The only sounds were the
soft slaps of bamboo on bamboo as the shinai met their marks.  The pair
fought as if they were dancing.  They read each other and moved
accordingly.


"Is that how kendo works?"  he muttered to Keiko.


"I don't know.  Whatever it is, those two are good."


Nozumi stopped and ducked under Akira's strike.  She winked at him,
parried and thrust her shinai forward, knocking his out of his hands. 
"We need new challengers anyway!  We know each other too well,"  she
said, pushing away her damp bangs from her forehead.


"I haven't beaten you, though," he grinned back.


"You were getting close,"  she said with a snort.

 

"You guys are really good."  Keiko looked with wonder at the pair. 
"Really good."


Nozomi smiled.  "Just something that we've always done.  I hope that
Yuukiko can-"


"Can what?"  Yuukiko entered the practice room in full gear.


Keiko gasped.  "She looks..."  


"Uncanny, isn't it?"  Aya followed behind as Rui and Kakushin brought
up the rear, carrying all sorts of weapons.  "  I think she looks the
most like her past self out of all of usŠ."


Yuukiko stood in entrance of dojo.  She shifted her feet, back and
forth nervously.


"I can do this.  I mean...maybe it's like instinctual.  Kaoru studied. 
I remember Kaoru's life, so therefore..." 


"Are you going to talk or are we going to get some practicing done?"


"Nozomi.  You're still a brat, even after all these years."


"You haven't changed much either, busu."  She said it
with a soft smile.  This felt so right.


"Yeah, yeah.  Ready?"  The younger girl grinned, adjusting her grip on
the shinai.


"Are you ready?  It's been a while, Yuukiko." 


"Don't worry.  I think I can handl-"  Yuukiko dogged as Nozomi yelled
her move.  Yuukiko blocked the strike to her head and twisted in the
air, landing on her feet.


"Ooh.  Nice.  You still have your reflexes."


"Nozomi!!!  That was not-"  Yuukiko dogged as Nozomi twisted, her
shinai headed toward her face.  She gasped, striking forward with her
own bamboo sword.


"Yuukiko, if someone is going to attack you, they aren't going to
announce themselves."


"Fine," she panted, adjusting her grip.  "Let's play."


"Play?  Yuukiko-ne-chanŠ  There's nothing playful about this."


"I know."


"I'm staying out of this one," Akira said, moving back as the girls
began their fight.


"Good choice, kid," Yuunosuke agreed.  "Wise not to get involved with a
battle between two chicks.  Never know when they'll turn on yo-"


"Better stop while you're ahead, Yuu-chan.  Remember, who you have to
deal with later."


"Umm.  Got it, babe." 


"Good."


They watched as Yuukiko and Nozomi moved across the room.  Every strike
by Nozomi was countered by Yuukiko.


"She's doing really well for someone who hasn't picked up a shinai in
her life," Akira commented as the pair moved across the room again. 
"But Nozomi is holding back."


"That's holding back?"  Keiko gasped as she watched a particularly
vicious swing aimed at Yuukiko's head.  Yuukiko ducked and struck for
Nozomi's leg, missing it by a hairsbreadth.


Rui and Kakushin just watched their technique as they fought
relentlessly.  Yuukiko remembered, all right.  Her moves were getting
faster, as if her body was waking up from a sleep.  Nozomi adjusted her
technique accordingly, stepping up her strikes.  


In kendo, you were supposed to call out where you were going to strike.
 The girls were silent, as Nozomi and Akira had been before.  Yuukiko
closed her eyes for a split second and then moved.  Nozomi gasped as
Yuukiko struck, pushing upwards against her and twisting.  It was a
Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu move that Kaoru had taught Yahiko so long ago. 
Nothing that was really all that devastating.  It was justŠ


"I can't believe you pulled that one on me!  That was so simple, I
should have known better."  she laughed, her eyes tearing a little. 
"Kaoru wouldŠ  God,"  she whispered.  "GodŠ."  Akira was behind her in
a flash.  She buried her face against his shoulder, breathing in his
familiar presence.  "It's just so hardŠ"


The shinai fell from Yuukiko's limp fingers.  It was hard to fathom. 
Images of the past began to bombard her.  She knew how to grip a
shinai.  How to execute a block.  A strike.  She had to only ask
herself the question, what next?, and she moved.  Lord.  She never knew
that she could move like that.  She didn't think, she just knew.  


She felt, rather than saw, Kakushin beside her.  He gently took her
hand and squeezed.  "This is supposed to happen, isn't it?"


"Yeah.  We are doing what we can, Yuukiko."


"I knew what I was doingŠ inside.  I just knew.  Weird, huh?"


"Not so weird.  I knew what I was doing when I saw you," he said
lightly.


She laughed at that.  "You're just trying to make me forget that I feel
all weirded out.  That was weird, too."


"But right.  Whatever's going on, everything will be all right."


Yuukiko took a deep breath and turned to the others.  "Okay.  Who wants
to try to remember their battle moves next?"


Yuunosuke punched his right fist into the palm of his left hand and
grinned.  "You knowŠ  This is going to be fun."


"Tako.  You always-"


"Exactly babe!"  Yuunosuke interrupted Keiko with a quick kiss to her
mouth.  "Let's get it on.  I'm thinking that we all still need some
practice and the dojo is free for the rest of the day, soŠ"


"Yuunosuke is right.  We should focus,"  Rui said softly.  "Aya?  You
come with me.  We're going to see how much ninja we still have left in
us."


"UmŠ Honey?  How are we going to do that?"  


He grinned softly at the woman he loved for more lifetimes than he
could count.  "Looks like we practice."


"I'm not jumping a tree.  This body hasn't been doing any of those
ninja tricks for-"


"Don't worry, I have a feeling that we've got more in us that you
think."  He pulled her close to him and whispered in her ear.  "It's
always been in us.  You'll see."


"I'd like to take the time to remind you that gravity, et all, are
forces that we can't play with."


"Have more confidence in yourself.  Guys?  Aya-chan and I are going out
for a little practice of our own.  We'll be back."


"They better not be going out to neck."


"YUUNOSUKE!"  Keiko jabbed him in the stomach.


"WellŠit wouldn't be fair!"


"Who's going to go against you, Kakushin?"


"Someone's going to turn up."


"Someone?"  Yuukiko asked softly.  


"I'm sure of itŠ" Kakushin replied with a soft smile.


*****


"AAACCCHuuuu!"  Rei rubbed his nose thoughtfully.  Funny, he didn't
feel a cold coming on, though.  He shrugged and continued to walk along
the crowded Tokyo streets.  The answers were here.  He felt it.  Maybe
he could finally put a stop to the damn dreams.  If he could find the
keyŠ 


What about Tokio?  Do you want to find her?  


He shook his head.  Dreams were only dreams.  The faded
memories were nothing to him.  He just wanted them to stop, so he could
get on with what he needed to do in life.  


Nothing else mattered.  Nothing.




_______________________________________________

http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/1149/

ardith@ucla.edu