Winter Memories

Disclaimer: Kenshin isn\'t mine. I wish he were, but life isn\'t that kind to me. I\'m making no money off this story. If I were, I\'d have a good computer and not a POS laptop.
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Meiji Jidai: Year 11, December 1878
Tokyo

It was early December. Winter had come full force in the night. Kamiya Kaoru had awoken several times to the sounds of snow and wind buffeting the walls of the dojo. The sound of a particularly loud THUMP against the wall of their bedroom brought her again to wakefulness. Her heart slamming in her chest, she turned and surveyed the man lying next to her.

Himura Kenshin was the most beautiful man she\'d ever seen. His features were so delicate and angelic looking, that he was even more ephemeral in appearance than most women. His entire body was slight, delicate, slender. Yet when she touched his chest, she could feel the strong, wirey muscles that held his latent strength. His face was absolute perfection. He had long eyelashes which touched down to his cheeks when his eyes were closed. When open, his eyes were a rich, deep violet color that made her heart flutter when she looked into them. His auburn mane was loose, cascading in fiery torrents down his back as he slept, blissfully unaware of the girl\'s survey of him. The only thing marring the perfection of this gorgeous man was the litany of scars that covered his torso.

He bore the scars of battles from his days as the Hitokiri Battousai, including the infamous X-scar, which had been carved onto his features by the doomed couple Kiyosato Akira and Yukishiro Tomoe, whom Kenshin had later married and then accidentally killed with his blade. On his body were the more recent scars from his battles with Saitou Hajime, Shinomori Aoshi, Shishio Makoto and finally, the brutal psychopath Yukishiro Enishi. Kaoru shuddered at the thought of the last one. Only three months ago, all hell had broken lose as Enishi had unleashed his Jinchuu on Kenshin and his dearest friends for the death of his beloved sister, Tomoe.

In the end Kenshin had found the answer to his questions and was able to unlock the final ougi of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu and had defeated Enishi. The ordeal had left many scars, both physical and emotional. The grissly abdominal wound Kenshin had suffered during his battle with Shishio in Kyoto had been reaggravated by the psychopath with his sword technique. Enishi had also carved a nasty wound that ran all the way from Kenshin\'s chest to his pelvis. The wounds were all healed over and Kenshin\'s arm was long out of the sling, thanks to Takani Megumi\'s excellent care. The scars would fade with time. Kaoru lightly touched the long scar on Kenshin\'s abdomen. Finally, finally that horrible wound was closed up and Kenshin wasn\'t suffering from it anymore.

Kenshin flinched when Kaoru touched his scar. She pulled away, not wanting to wake him. Kenshin sighed, drifting back into sleep. During his month-long convolescence after the return from Jinchuu, Kenshin had been plagued by grissly nightmares of seeing the corpse doll, which had made him believe Kaoru dead. He would wake up in a sheer panic, crying out for her. Kaoru would come into his room and rock him in her arms, soothing away his agony and tears with the gentle sound of her voice. Finally she decided it\'d be best for both of them if she slept in Kenshin\'s room with him. He\'d objected at first, but she insisted and since he hadn\'t been up to a real argument, he gave in.

Since they\'d started sharing a bed, his sleep had become more peaceful. The nightmares that had so frequently plagued him, especially those of Kaoru\'s \"death\", had decreased to almost none. Kenshin felt safe and content with her in his arms, and this allowed him to sleep more deeply than he had during the whole first 30 years of his life. Kaoru shivered in the chill air, thinking of the hell they\'d been through in the recent months. She looked again at the man sleeping beside her and snuggled into Kenshin for warmth. It was time to put the past behind them and concentrate on the future. Finally sleep reclaimed her.

In the early morning hours, Kaoru awoke to a choked out sob. Her eyes snapped open and immediately were focused on Kenshin. He was crying in his sleep, tears streaming down his face. Another nightmare about Jinchuu?

\"Mother! Father!\" he choked out as another sob racked his body. Kaoru\'s eyes widened. Kenshin was dreaming about his parents! Kaoru didn\'t know anything about Kenshin\'s childhood before his time under Hiko Seijuro XIII. He\'d never volunteered any information and she\'d never asked, sensing that it was a delicate subject for him and she didn\'t want to pry.

Kaoru gripped his shoulders and shook him gently.

\"Kenshin, Kenshin. Wake up. You\'re having a nightmare,\" she said.

Kenshin\'s eyes opened wide and his gaze locked onto Kaoru. Kenshin yanked her into a vice-like embrace and clung to her. Kaoru stroked his fiery mane and whispered into his ear that it was alright and that she was right there. The sound of her voice and her gentle touch soothed the kenkaku\'s sobs. Finally he laid back down on the futon. Kaoru curled up with him and hugged him, wanting him to feel her touch. She gently wiped the tears from his face with her fingertips. The nightmares had decreased greatly, but were still troubling when he had them.

\"Were you dreaming about your parents?\" she said in a half whisper.

Kenshin nodded and looked at her with watery violet eyes. \"Hai. I don\'t know why I\'d dream about them suddenly. I haven\'t even thought of them in so long, but tonight...\" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Kaoru kissed his cheek.

\"I barely remember their faces. I can\'t remember what their voices sounded like anymore,\" Kenshin continued. \"The only thing I can remember is how much they loved me, and I them.\"

\"What happened to them?\" asked Kaoru.

\"They died of cholera, in the winter, in the snow,\" sighed Kenshin. \"The snow... I hate it.\" He said this with gritted teeth and an unaccustomed bitterness in his voice.

Kaoru hugged him close to her, stroking his long hair and kissing his face. Kenshin nuzzled her and buried his face in her breast. Kaoru snuggled with him till she heard his breathing change as he sank into a blissful slumber.

Kaoru shivered. Kenshin\'s parents had died of cholera during the winter and of course his first love Tomoe had died on a very snowy day, her crimson blood mingling with the hoary snow. In Kenshin\'s mind, winter and snow were linked with death and suffering, nothing pleasant.

\'He hates the winter and the snow. To him it\'s nothing but a time of death and painful memories. He doesn\'t have one good memory linked with this season. He had no childhood at all. He never got to build a snowman, make snow angels or have a snowball fight like I did. That\'s it! He doesn\'t have any good memories about the winter, yet. I can fix that,\' Kaoru thought to herself. Tomorrow the ground would be blanketed in snow, a glorious winter\'s day, a day to help mend Kenshin\'s heart a bit more.