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Flight of the Wounded Dove	By : ShaeyaSedjet Category: Rurouni Kenshin > General Views: 3101 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
Disclaimer:
I am in no way claiming to own any sort of right to Rurouni Kenshin!
I just like to pretend that I am god and bend the characters to my
will. Mwahahaha!!!

Author’s
Note: Hiya! I’m a newbie to Fanfiction.net, and
this is my first RK fic. Please bear with me. It’s
a lil’ sappy and kinda sad, but I think it is worth a read.
Thanks!

Flight
of the Wounded Dove

Chapter
One:

Broken
(Revised)

Kaoru
watched her reflection in her mirror as she brushed her raven hair
with long, smooth strokes. :Ugly. That’s what
they call me: Her hand stilled its brushing and she touched
her free hand to her face. :Is it true?:
Tears began to well in her lovely sapphire eyes. :It
must be. No man has ever expressed any romantic interest in
me: She looked at her bokudo robes. :I
dress like a man! I behave like a man! No wonder men
are not interested in me! I might as well be a man
myself:

She
set the brush down on the low table in front of her and knelt on the
cold floor. She pressed her palms into the cold, smooth, wooden
surface and a sob escaped her delicate throat as images began to race
through her mind; images of herself lashing out at Sanosuke; images
of herself pummeling Yahiko with her bokken; images of herself
punching Kenshin for accidentally walking in on her in the bath.

:It
is no wonder…: Another sob escaped her raw
throat. :I have to get away. I have to start
over…: She thought desperately.

----------------

Kenshin
heard Kaoru’s sobs as he rested in the corner of his room.
He had only seen her cry when he was hurt or the time he left her for
Kyoto. This wasn’t like those times. The sounds
coming from her delicate throat were gut-wrenching. The
tortured sounds struck a chord in Kenshin, and he rose from his soft
futon to go check on her.

When
he reached her room, the shoji was closed. He raised a
battle-calloused hand and knocked gently on the wooden frame of the
rice paper door.

“Who-is-it?”
came the strangled, hiccoughed inquiry.

“May
I come in, Kaoru-dono?”

She
made another strangled little sound, “I would really rather not
see anyone right now, Kenshin. Please just go away,” she
pleaded.

Kenshin
was becoming suspicious, “Are you alright, Kaoru-dono?”

Another
sob was heard from behind the door, and Kenshin threw open the
sliding shoji. He glared around the room fiercely before
his gaze came to rest on Kaoru lying in the center of the room.
She was nearly naked, and Kenshin started.

“Gomen!
Gomen nasai, Kaoru-dono! Sessha did not realize
you were not fully dressed!” He knew a beating was
coming, and he braced himself for it.

Kaoru
had seen his body tense as he braced himself for the onslaught of
violence that would usually have accompanied him walking in on her in
her half-dressed state. An invisible fist squeezed her heart,
and she hid her face behind the curtain of her glossy raven hair.

When
Kaoru did not initiate an attack, Kenshin looked up and looked
around. Kaoru just lay on the cold floor on her side, her
yukata loosely covering her. She was listless and looked
defeated in some way. Her aura was gray, and it scared
Kenshin.

“Kaoru-dono?”
He peered around at her, but could not see anything because her hair
was covering her face.

“Nani?”
came the muffled reply, and Kenshin noted that her voice was as
listless as her body.

“Did
your cooking make you ill, Kaoru-dono?*” he asked with genuine
concern, but was horrified when Kaoru curled further into herself,
her body shaking with silent sobs. “Are you ill,
Kaoru-dono? Should I fetch Megumi-san?”

She
made no answer. The only sounds she made were pitiful
whimpering noises. Kenshin was so disturbed by this that he did
the only thing he could think of. He knelt beside her on the
polished, hardwood floor. He noted, with distress, that the
floor was ice cold as he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Kaoru-dono,
you should sit up. You will catch cold.”

When
she made no move, he gathered her into his arms and pulled her into a
sitting position. He pulled her yukata firmly about her
and tied the sash as she merely watched his hands with a detached
interest.

“What’s—Kenshin!”
Yahiko barked on his way past Kaoru’s room. “If you
are going to do that, at least keep the door shut! No one wants
to see that ugly cow naked!”

Kenshin
felt Kaoru tense and heard her small intake of breath. The hurt
expression that replaced the desolation in her eyes spoke volumes.
He would deal with Yahiko later. At the moment, he was worried
about Kaoru.

He
bent his head near her ear, “Can I get you anything?”
She made no response. “Kaoru, you must get up off this
cold floor,” he insisted firmly. When she would not
respond, he picked her up and carried her over to her futon and
gently placed her on it. “I will get you some tea.”
He stood and left the room more worried than ever.

Half-way
down the hall, he caught up with Yahiko. “What you said
about her in there was entirely uncalled for. You should think
before you speak and be more civil to the woman who puts a roof over
your head and food in your belly.”

“Oh,
it didn’t bother her. I always say stuff like that.”

“It
did bother her, Yahiko.”

“She
didn’t say anything or throw anything.”

“She
didn’t have to—I saw the expression in her eyes.”

“In
all fairness, Kenshin,” Sanosuke piped up, “You are not
the most considerate of her feelings. You insult her cooking,
even when you are not meaning to be cruel about it, and you joke
about her weight.”

Kenshin
froze. He was remembering the look Kaoru’s face when he
had asked if her cooking had made her ill. He winced. He
had not been thinking that such a comment might hurt her feelings.
He had been sincerely concerned about her health, seeing that her
cooking had that effect on people. He, too, had contributed to
her pain.

He
thought about the look in her eyes as he made her a cup of tea.
It pained him to know that he had helped to put such a desolate
expression in the eyes that he had come to cherish.

When
he took the tea to her room, she was sitting just as he had left
her. She was staring into space and seeing nothing. She
reminded him of a wounded bird, wasting away because it could not
take flight.

“Kaoru-dono,”
he murmured gently. She did not respond. He did not like
this trend. “I brought you some tea,” he offered it
to her in an outstretched hand, but she made no move to take it from
him. He set the cup aside and knelt before her. He put
his arms around her with one arm firmly across her back and the other
cradling the back of her head. She still did not respond.
She only sat passively, enduring his embrace.

Kenshin
felt hollow. There had been a time when she would have welcomed
comfort from him. But he had helped the others to wound her
without even realizing it. He had hurt the most precious person
in his life. He sat like that with his arms around her for long
minutes before he finally released her. His attempts at comfort
were futile. It would have been like Judas comforting the
Christ.*

He
rolled up to his feet and, with a heavy heart, moved toward the
door. He paused in the doorway, watching her for a long moment
before he spoke again, “Please drink your tea, Kaoru-dono.
It will warm you.” He received no response, and paused
only a moment before seeking the sanctuary of his own room.

To
be continued…

*Kenshin
is not blatantly insulting Kaoru’s cooking in this moment.
His immediate concern is to make sure that she is alright. He
doesn’t realize what he is implying about her cooking. We
all know the Rurouni Kenshin. He is entirely clueless!

*At
this point in time, the characters of the RK world probably would not
know who Jesus Christ was. I just wanted to make it clear that
this was my own comparison and not an opinion of Kenshin himselfJ

So…what
did you think? It’s dark, I know, but I was in a dark
mood when I was writing this chapter. This is what happens when
you write fanfic while you are feeling totally alone, abandoned and
misunderstood. *grin* I promise it will get lighter!
There is much waffiness to come!
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Flight of the Wounded Dove