Subject: [kffdisc] Shattered Rainbows: Part 5 Date: Sun, 09 May 1999 08:43:36 PDT From: "Miss Hideki" Reply-To: kffdisc@onelist.com To: kffdisc@onelist.com From: "Miss Hideki" Woo Hoo!!! Miss Hideki is *finally* finished Part 5 of Shattered Rainbows. Yeah Baby!!! I humbly thank everyone for waiting so patiently. I know that this part is rather short but the next one will be longer. Much longer. I promise. Things are heating up you see...oh the intrigue!!! *laughs* And don't worry, that jerk Kiiro will get a what-for soon enough. I'll post Part 6 ASAP. Hopefully that will be soon. But in the meantime, here is my latest addition. Thank you once again and thanks especially to everyone who took the time to write to me. Thanks for all the nice comments! God Bless. Cheers, Miss Hideki ~*~*~Shattered Rainbows~*~*~ Part Five Facing the Dawn’s Shadows “Will she be okay? What if the fever doesn’t go down? What will we do?” Kaoru fretted as her and Kenshin headed towards the clinic. “And Sano. Poor Sano. What will he say? How will he react? I hope that he isn’t too drunk. I hope that Misao-chan and Aoshi find him soon. Oh, Kenshin what are we going to do?” “We are going to stop worrying,” he told her firmly. “Everything will be okay. Megumi-dono is a very strong lady. She will be fine in no time.” He frowned. “But I am worried about Sano. I don’t know how he’ll take this. He loves her so much.” “He’s so incredibly baka at times,” Kaoru muttered. “By the time he actually gets around to telling her what he feels he’ll be ninety-five and she’ll be dead.” She gave Kenshin a sideways glance. “I thought that I’d be dead before you told me that you loved me.” He blushed slightly. “I couldn’t bear the thought of you having to love me and Battousai. I could turn back into him at anytime. I could-” “Kenshin no baka,” she interrupted softly. “You’re the only thing that I’ve ever wanted. You know that I don’t care who you were in the past. There’s only now.” He stopped and kissed her gently. “Aishiteru, Kaoru.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you too, Kenshin.” They continued walking towards Megumi’s clinic, holding hands. “You know, it was Sano who brought us together,” Kaoru mused. “Without him, we would have never admitted our feelings for each other. We owe him, Kenshin. Him and Megumi-san deserve to be as happy as we are.” “I talked to Sano today,” he replied. “I gave him the same advise that he gave me so long ago. I told him to tell her that he loved her. He said that she didn’t love him, that she loved me.” “But she doesn’t love you,” she cried quickly. “She told me that she flirted with you to annoy me. She couldn’t love you, not after all the advice and support she gave me when you left for Kyoto.” “I told Sano that she wasn’t serious, but he didn’t believe me. He said that she despised him and that he wasn’t about to offer himself to someone who didn’t want him.” Kenshin sighed. “It was so strange. I’d never seen him act that way before. He was so angry and sarcastic. He’s never sarcastic. Then I suggested that he go stop by the clinic to see Megumi and he just left.” Kaoru frowned. “You don’t think that he’s going to blame himself for not being there when Megumi needed him, especially after you suggested it?” “That is exactly what he’ll do,” Kenshin said wryly. “I hope Misao-dono breaks it to him gently. He’s going to be very angry.” ************************************* “Why the hell didn’t I listen to him?” Sano demanded to himself. He was such a fool, a goddamn bastard. Kenshin had told him to go visit her. Kaoru had told him that something was wrong with her. He had bloody seen her himself and he knew that she wasn’t acting like herself. He had wanted to go see her, but he had let his pride intervene. “And now because of me, she might fucking die.” His fingers tightened around hers. Her hand was so small, so frail and dainty compared to his. He knew that he shouldn’t even be touching her but he was unable to help himself. Even now, gripped with fever, she was so beautiful. Now was the only time he could touch her. When she woke, she wouldn’t want him; wouldn’t want his touch. Pressing the cloth to her burning face, he gently caressed he smooth skin. “Ah Fox, what have I done to you?” She coughed and moaned, mumbling something incoherent. She leaned against the cloth, as if she was seeking his touch. He brushed her bangs out of her closed eyes. “I’m not gonna to let you die Fox Lady.” During these past few minutes, he had repeated that phrase over and over again. He wouldn’t let her die. He had only just discovered her. Discovered that he loved her. But it didn’t matter. Didn’t matter if she didn’t feel the same. As long as he could see her, could tease her, as long as she lived. That what was important, wasn’t it? Not what she felt or didn’t feel. Just as long as she was okay. As long as she could feel something. Her coughs grew worse, racking her slim body. She was in so much pain and he didn’t have a fucking clue what to do. For the hundredth time, he berated himself. He should have been there for her. She had been all alone filled with pain and without anyone to help her. As if no one cared. But he did. Too much. And that was the problem. He never knew that loving someone could hurt so much. Sano gathered her up in his arms and simply held her. If only he could take away her pain and replace it with the peace she sought. She didn’t deserve to die. If anyone was meant to die, it should be him. He was a selfish nobody. A gangster who cared for nothing and would even go so far as to hurt the woman he loved. But Megumi...She cared for people. She gave, helping others. How many times had she taken care of his wounds? How many times had she forced him, using wily tactics that credited her nickname no doubt, to take medicines and to wrap his wounds? Life had forced to her to hide beneath a façade of haughty pride to keep from being hurt again. But to make up for things that hadn’t even been her fault, she was giving her life. She was so precious to him. No, he couldn’t let her die. Not when she had saved so many others. He stroked her hair, feeling how soft it was. Like silk. His Fox. Too beautiful for words. He buried his face in that silky hair, holding her tightly. Perhaps too tightly but maybe this way he could take from her, her pain. Absorb it into himself and leave her free. If only... His eyes widened when he heard Megumi whisper something very faintly. His heart began to pound. Was she okay? Was her fever breaking? He whispered her name softly, stroking her back as he listened for her to say something, anything. “Sano.” Her voice was soft, heartbreakingly so. ************************************* Misao walked silently beside Aoshi as they began their hunt to find Sano. Even with her worries about Megumi and Sano, she couldn’t help but feel nervous being with Aoshi. All his actions and words were jumbled in her mind. It was all so odd and so overwhelming. Especially since she had decided long ago that she would give up on Aoshi. Well, it really hadn’t been that long ago, only last month. But she was determined to move on. She loved Aoshi, she really did. And because of that, she was willing to let him be. He needed his peace, a chance to find self-reconciliation and to atone for what he had done wrong. That was something he couldn’t do with her at his side. He didn’t want her. It had been hard to accept but she had tried, successfully she thought. But now, Aoshi was complicating things. Did he want her, just a little bit? It was too confusing and she wasn’t courageous enough to ask him about his future plans. So their relationship would have to wait, at least until Megumi got well. Right now, she was more important than anything else. And Sano. He was a very passionate person. He was gonna be pissed off about this for sure, to say the least. She knew how much he loved Megumi. She was everything to him. She had to smile as she thought about what he’d do when he met that stupid foreigner. He’d kill that delicate, yellow haired boy for sure. That guy, whadda jerk he was. A wimpy jerk, at that. “Sano’ll give him a what for,” she muttered, smirking. Aoshi looked over at her. “Misao?” She felt her face heat up with a blush. “Uh, heh heh heh,” she tittered. “I was just...um...you know.” She quickly looked away, cursing silently. Why was it that she always managed to make a fool out of herself whenever Aoshi was around? No wonder he didn’t want her. She was always a bumbling ass whenever he was around. Sighing, she continued to follow him into the night. ************************************* At a small table in the corner, a tall man sat drinking sake. His dark hair covered his eyes as he surveyed the entire room. He had been waiting for over an hour. When would that idiot show up? The door chimes rang. He head snapped up...and his eyes widened. The last people he would have ever expected to enter this seedy nomiya were Shinomori Aoshi and Makimichi Misao. And yet...there they were. His eyes narrowed. So they were here too, huh? Well, he would see about that. He wasn’t about to let the Oniwa Banshuu take what he was after...again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Do you know how many communities live at ONElist? http://www.ONElist.com More than 140,000 with nearly 1,000 new ones joining each day!