Subject: [kffdisc] [Tomoe] Vengeful Love, a challenge response Date: Sun, 18 Apr 1999 14:54:44 -0600 From: Mark Eymer Reply-To: kffdisc@onelist.com Organization: N/A To: "[kffdisc] ML" From: Mark Eymer It's kind of short, but that's what you get when I write it on the fly. In response to the Tomoe Challenge, I scraped this little piece off the top of my head onto paper. Enjoy, I hope… Vengeful Love: A Tomoe Challenge Fic By Mark Eymer As I walk beside him down the dirt road through the village, I can’t help but forget his sins. I look at his shining eyes and the content smile on his face and I forget about the cause of the scar on his cheek, the reason I started doing any of this. He turns to look at me, and his eyes are alight with… something. The guilt rushes through me then, and I drop my gaze in silent pain, hoping he thinks I do it in modesty. My heart aches when he looks at me like that… with love. He’s so young, and yet his hands have been stained by the blood of so many. I hate the Ishin, and this damned war. The Bakumatsu has forced him to kill, forced his hand to extinguish the lives of the “enemy.” Inside, he’s simply a confused child, forced to grow up too fast. He knows what’s right and what’s wrong, and believes in saving the innocents. Even if he has to kill to save lives. A few of the village children run up the path to meet us, and he bends down to talk with them. His smile is so radiant when they’re around. His face is so innocent, his soul so clean. Children compliment him, and he loves every one of them… like they were his own. It’s still hard to believe. The Hitokiri Battousai is also the man in front of me, laughing and playing with these children. It brings a smile to my lips, and I forget Kyoto for just a little while. Forget the horrors, the killing, and the blood. I forget the reason why I found Kenshin during moments like this, and I secretly pray for them to stretch out into eternity. I wish we could live in this moment forever. With him, the loving young man, so happy, so alive away from the Bakumatsu, and I, his wife. It’s no secret; I can’t hide the fact from myself anymore. I love this man, this killer. It pains me to see him remember, or to feel him toss and turn beside me at night, as he battles with nightmares wrought by the bloody battles he’s participated in. If I could change what fate has in store for us, I would do so in an instant. I know that my brother, Enishi, will eventually arrive, and I fear the message he may bring. I never expected this to happen. I thought I could never be happy again, that I could never love again. Not after Akira, my dead fiance. Killed at the hands of the man I now love. A tear slides down my cheek, and I’m glad Kenshin’s too taken with the children to notice. He finally finishes, promising he’ll be out to play tomorrow, and we continue home. Stopping on a small outcropping a little ways from the village, Kenshin stares out across the landscape. He gently takes my hand and tells me to look at the sunset. I do, and it’s beautiful. Almost to the point of starting my tears again anew. He seems to sense this and he takes me in his arms. His enclosing embrace, which makes me feel safe. And as I lean my head into his chest, he whispers against the top of my head that a new era is coming, one of peace. And that in this new era, we might be able to live together truly as husband and wife, not under this guise. I wrap my arms around his waist, and hope this moment will never end. I don’t know what the future has in store for us, but I certainly hope it’s… each other. Author’s Notes: MAN, I can’t believe how hard it is to write in the female perspective. Me being male, it poses an interesting problem. I just can’t see myself doing any of those things… oh well… Hope you all enjoyed this, and inconsistencies or “we would not do that” from the females on the list… let me know. I crave all the C&C I can get. Peace and thanks for reading, Mark Eymer ------------------------------------------------------------------------ You can now easily share photos and documents with your fellow list members http://www.ONElist.com Check out our homepage for details on how to use our new shared files feature!