Hey! Finally, the last chapter up and done. sighs I hope this answers most of the questions. I tried to fill in all the holes! I realize a huge question hasn't been asnwered yet, you will have to wait for the epilouge for that one! I hope everyone enjoys!
Ravyn
Warning: Adult themes. I wanred you, so be warned!
Disclaimer: I Do not own RK.
Thanks to: Stephanie, who edited this. So for once you have an edited chapter!
Kenshin moved in on padded feet and silently slid the shoji open. The fine hairs on the back of his neck lowered as he took in the huddle lump under the futon blanket. The pattern on the comforter was soothing and calm, but it did little good to calm the churn of emotions that were building up inside him at the site of her. Shutting the shoji with careful fingers, keeping it quite, he padded over to her still body. Besides the up and down of her breathing, she hadn’t made a single movement. He was aware that she could have been unaware of him, trapped in a peaceful world of slumber.
Pulling the blanket away from her face he drank her in.
Her hair was still damp and it clung to her face and throat. Her lashes clumped together as a mute testament of the tears she had shed, but her smooth cheek was dry to his touch. Her bottom lip was still faintly red; as if she had abused it continuously as she was want to do if nervous or unsure; slightly chapped when he ran a questioning thumb over the warmth there. She didn’t even stir when he pulled the blanket further back. She was wrapped in her own Yukata, and her small hands were loosely fisted in the blanket he did not quite dare to pull back anymore.
She had cried. Brushing away a long strand of hair that clung to the curve of her once-damp cheek, he frowned darkly. She had cried a lot. Her Chi, even is sleep, was slightly uneven from both the force of her emotions and the stress of the pregnancy. His eyes swung to the expanse of her tummy, hidden from his view, and he no longer attempted to give into temptation. The morning was warm and she was fast asleep. Tugging the blanket carefully from her limp fingers, he tossed it to the end of the futon for easy reach later. His hands went to the belt of her sleeping-robe and he undid the loose not with ease. Pushing it aside, he looked up to see if she awakened. She sighed a little and seemed to settle. Swallowing he took her in.
It was one thing to look at her by the light of a lantern, the artificial light stark against her skin. Even moonlight gave her an ethereal glow that showed shadows and hollows that his tongue demanded to trace. In the light of early morning she looked warm and natural. Her skin was pale where the sun never touched it, and he could already see the signs of her pregnancy. Her breasts had begun to swell in preparation for feeding their child and now that he thought about it, they had been rather tender the past few weeks. Her expression of discomfort in the middle of a practice bout should have let him on to something. Not to mention the fact that she had been more sensitive during their love making.
“So this is why you have been so tired,” he softly whispered, stroking the skin just above her navel, reveling in the softness there before letting his hands slide down to where just the faintest of curves was beginning to show. “I am such a fool,” he breathed, closing his eyes and letting the part of him that could read her Chi open up.
There was nothing to show that another life was living inside her, just a curious swirl of heat and fire and Kaoru under his hands. Even with the proof of her pregnancy under his finger tips, there was very little change in her Chi to account for it. He ideally wondered how long it would be before the baby’s own Chi was strong enough to show through its mothers.
“You are in such trouble, Koishii,” Kenshin told her softly, his eyes sparking amber.
Kaoru never once stirred from where she was sleeping and he couldn’t quite force himself to wake her. All the signs said she had only been sleeping for half a candle mark or so, and she needed her rest. Because once she woke up, there was going to be all sorts of questions to be answered. He would find out exactly what reason she had in her little mind of hers that she couldn’t tell him about the baby.
Carefully he pulled the blanket back over her form and watched her sleep for a few more moments before standing. He wanted to lock the Dojo back down and then take his own bath. By then he would have formulated the best plan of attack against his beloved.
Relocking the gate didn’t take long, he hadn’t expected it to, and so he went and quickly washed himself free of the sweat and grime of that night. Kaoru’s Kimono was in a soft pile near the back of the changing room, as if she had thrown it, and he padded over to pick it up. Part of one seam was ripped and it was filthy. He blinked when he caught he heavy scent of sake and frowned as he remembered the shards of pottery in the fire. The Kimono itself was far from salvageable so he shrugged and tossed it back where he got it from. Once he had scrubbed himself clean, he removed all the water from his hair that he could with a simple piece of cloth. Then he took another piece and wrapped it around his waist.
Time to check on Kaoru. Unconcerned that he was wrapped only in a towel he moved back into the dojo, letting the damp cloth fall from his hips only once he entered her room again. He closed his eyes to enjoy the scent of jasmine that always clung to everywhere she was.
There was no helping it. Walking over he shifted the blanket away from her. While he had left she had rolled over to her left side and was, he supposed, attempting to hide from the light. Carefully, so not to wake her, he stripped her of her robe and then spooned in behind her. His nose settled against the junction of her neck and shoulder, while his thighs tangled with hers. One arm slipped around her waist so he could press his palm to the little mound on her tummy, while his other arm supported her neck.
The weariness of the night before crashed into him and he let his eyes slid shut. There was no way she could sneak out of his arms without waking him, and with her pressed so tightly against him, there was nothing that could harm her.
Kaoru woke up slowly, like someone treading through thick, murky water. Her father had taken her to the river when she had been a child to teach her to swim, so that if something should happen, she would be alright. Sometimes, when the big storms came through, there was flash flooding on the banks. More than one child had been lost to such a thing.
Now, it was just like it had been, waiting for her fathers hand to pull her out of the water and let her have air again. There was air, and light, and sensation, but was all muted with the heaviness she had felt once before.
Then, as if her struggle to awaken had called it, warmth settled through her limbs. Her body was cocooned in and sensation she had only ever associated with Kenshin. Blinking eyes that felt a little raw from her earlier crying fit, she took stock of the situation, and realization of what was going on hit her hard and fast.
His hand curved along her belly, the slight mound she had gained with the beginning of her pregnancy curved along his palm. She was naked. If the feel of his thighs, slightly rough with hair and so familiar; tangled with her own legs said anything, so was he. Her head was against the curve of his shoulder, where it always rested, and her naked back pressed against a chest and abdomen taunt with muscle.
Shifting her head so she could look up, she was suddenly aware of how his fingers feathered across the skin of her tummy. “I see you’re finally awake, Kaoru.”
Husky, smoky, all the sin of those first few days he had been back of the dojo slithered down her spine in a warm flood of sensation. Swallowing hard, she watched her fingers attempt to curl in a nervous movement and she forced them to relax. There was no way she was getting out of this position, all tangled up with Kenshin, without a fight and she didn’t particularly have any fight in her right at that moment.
“Yes,” she agreed her voice low and a bit raw. Her throat burned for a moment and she wondered if she could convince him she needed a glass of water. Her thoughts were interrupted when he moved, tilting her so that she her head rested on the futon. Her legs were still wrapped up in his, sparks along her skin where his flesh pressed against her own; a sort of feminine helplessness in her position that both terrified and thrilled her.
“You have some explaining to do.” Kenshin told her flatly, the fingers of one hand dropping down to trace her stomach. She jerked a little and he raised his eyes back to her face. “Saitoh came by yesterday to tell me that you had been taken in the market.”
Kaoru tilted her chin up at him, refusing to give into the pressure he was skillfully exerting. His hands never stopped tracing her tummy, as if he was fascinated, and she wondered desperately how he knew. She had done so good not to let it slip, to never be sick where he could see it, and to never take naps in the afternoon no matter how tired she was. There had been some days she had thought she could fall asleep in the middle of Practice, but she had managed to pull her charade off.
What had given it away?
“You tore up your room,” Kaoru stubbornly interjected, unwilling to be breathless at the movements of his fingers. Even when his hands dropped down to trace the crease of hip and thigh she forced herself to meet his eyes. There was something lurking there, something hot and furious.
“Saitoh went back into town to gather information with his contacts and Yahiko and I were forced to stay here and cool our heels,” Kenshin softly informed her, his hand still on her thigh. Suddenly his face was so close that his hot breath fluttered across her lips and his bangs brushed hers. “Why did you go with them?”
Kaoru blinked, attempting to concentrate on something other than his nearness and how good he smelled. “They were going to hurt people,” Kaoru managed tightly. “I couldn’t let that happen!”
His eyes moodily stared into hers. “And the baby? Did you think how it would affect the baby, Kaoru?”
Kaoru felt like the air had been punched out of her lungs by a sledgehammer. She could only imagine that she was suddenly pale, because she felt pale, and it was suddenly hard to breath around the lump in her throat. It was one thing to assume that he knew about the baby, but it was completely another for him to acknowledge it. His eyes never left hers and only when she turned the color of white-silk, her eyes wide and dilated, did he move back a few inches. “So it’s true then. You’re going to have my child and you didn’t tell me.” His voice was soft and lethal and Kaoru struggled to breath, to find some sort of explanation, and then realized what she was doing.
She was going to justify herself to him.
Raising her hands she put them flat on his chest, but he didn’t budge. “Get off Kenshin!” She snapped, suddenly more than aware of her vulnerable position. Screw female sensibilities, she didn’t want to know the power of his body. She wanted him off of her and several layers of clothes separating him and her from each other.
“No,” Kenshin drawled, never taking his eyes from her face as he encircled her small wrists with his fingers. His grip was light, but something about the hold suggested if she were to move them, or try to move them, she wasn’t going to get anywhere.
“Let me go, Kenshin,” Kaoru ordered again, her voice rising in panic. “I don’t want to talk about this.”
He leaned down and nipped at her fingertips and shook his head. “We are going to talk about the fact that you’re pregnant, and you let yourself get kidnapped,” his eyes dropped down to the faint bruises on her breasts. Kaoru looked down and realized what he was looking at. “They hurt you.”
Kaoru shifted her weight, fully prepared to fight him, but he simply pressed her down with his weight. “I don’t think so, Kaoru.” His voice was firm. Not angry, not tight, not anything really. Just firm. The same firmness that had flickered in his voice the first time she had met him, when she tried to go after Gohei and he had objected. Her heart rose into her throat.
“You have explaining to do, thistle, and I am going to get my answers now.” His eyes darkened with some unnamed emotion. “Don’t think for a second you’re leaving this futon until I get those answers.”
Kaoru pressed her lips together and met his gaze with her own steady eyes. “There is nothing to talk about.” Her voice was low. “I don’t know who told you I was pregnant,” ‘perhaps I could…’
“Tokio dropped that particular morsel,” Kenshin breezily interrupted her.
‘…never mind.’ Kaoru thought desperately.
“What I don’t understand, Kaoru, is why you hid that from me.” Kenshin questioned in that firm tone, “did you think that I wouldn’t want it? That I wouldn’t be happy for us?”
Kaoru averted her eyes before she nodded once. Denying it was one thing, lying at a direct question with his voice in that tone, was impossible. He sucked in a breath and she felt him struggling with his emotions.
“Why,” he asked his voice taking on an almost hissing quality. He was furious, yet his hand never once tightened on her wrists.
“Why?” Kaoru asked, her head jerking in his direction, her eyes hot. “When did you ever give me any sign that you would want something like this?” Her voice was low and dangerous and he blinked several times. Her teeth clenched together, so that she had to speak around them. “Why would I ever…” her voice cut off and she struggled again, and this time it was only by luck that he managed to repress her. He seemed to be shocked at something, surprised, maybe even a little hurt, but she couldn’t let that stop her.
“Kaoru,” he started but she cut him off.
“Listen to me, Kenshin,” Kaoru finally hissed, rising up just enough that her back cleared the futon and her eyes could drill into his surprised ones. She searched his eyes and still couldn’t find what she was looking for. The hidden shadows, she supposed it was just because he was that much better than she was at hiding his feelings. Perhaps this side of Kenshin was just that much better. “I can’t do this,” her voice was low and rough and slightly unsteady. “I will not do this again. Do you understand me?”
He opened his mouth to say something, she didn’t know what it was, but she shook her head so violently that her braid whipped into his arms. She squeezed her eyes shut to block out the nausea that move brought and to hide herself from the expression on his face. The understanding, and the relief soon to follow, would break her heart.
“I don’t want to hear it,” Kaoru told him, keeping her eyes shut tightly. “Because…it doesn’t matter.” She took a shuddering breath, attempting to manage to get herself under control when Kenshin’s mouth met hers. Her eyes flew open in surprise and she stiffened as he kissed her. It was soft, a neat closed mouthed kiss that was the press of his lips to hers. His eyes were muted shades of color as he watched her and he pulled back only because she wasn’t breathing.
“I think this discussion has been long over due,” he softly murmured, his eyes taking in every plane of her pale face. “For that, I owe you an apology.”
Kaoru stared at him, swallowing because she didn’t know what else to do.
He pressed her back down so that his chest pinned her to the futon. Temptation was in the way her breasts pressed against him, but it was the way her eyes, so bruised and vulnerable, stared up at him, that kept his attention away from her body.
“Do you remember the day the Rurouni left?” He asked her softly, never taking his gaze from her blue eyes. “You met someone in the woods.”
Kaoru blinked at him, rapidly, and she swallowed again. “The old woman?” Her voice was low and hesitant and he nodded, brushing her hair back from her face.
“Yes. I don’t know what you said or did, but whatever favor you gave her, she repaid it in full.” His breath feathered over her features as he sighed. “We were so close to getting on that boat. Sano and I were surprised to see an older woman approaching us at that time of night on the docks.”
Blurry sensations. The knowledge that he was being called. A sense of possible freedom that hummed in his blocked awareness. The momentary burning in his blood.
“She gave me a choice, Kaoru.” He rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip. “She gave me the option of being chained by guilt from the past, or being able to let it go and embrace life.”
Tears brimmed and spilled down her cheeks and she blinked and went to move her wrists to wipe them away but they were still trapped in his hand and he relinquished her lip and brushed them away instead, bringing the salt of his tears to his lips to lick away. “I choose to seek out my future, Kaoru.”
Kaoru turned her face away. She wanted to believe. Gods how she wanted to trust the words falling from his lips. He had given her his body, his presence, and now he was giving her his word. He couldn’t give her anything else, but she didn’t know if she could trust that. She wanted to, but something inside her had broken with the Rurouni’s leaving and it was still very fragile.
“I don’t expect you to trust me today, Kaoru,” he told her gently. “I have three years of neglect and bruised emotions to heal before I can expect that.”
Kaoru sniffled. “But…I don’t…” she lowered her eyes from his burning gaze. “What makes it so different this time, Kenshin?” she jerked her hands a little to improvise her words. “What makes this so different than the first time?” She swallowed. “And you can’t say it’s the baby.”
Kenshin rubbed his nose against hers. “No, although I am very, very happy to hear about the baby, no Kaoru, it’s always been about you.” He burned his nose in the column of her neck. “First with Gohei, then with Jineh, and even Saitoh, it was always about you. Clawing to the surface, fighting to keep you safe; how could it ever be about anything other than you? For ten years I let myself wither away in a cage of my own making. You broke those chains for me. How could I do more than love you for that?”
Kaoru went so still under him he couldn’t even tell if she was breathing. He raised his eyes to see her face. She was starring at him, her lips parted in utter surprise, her pupils dilated so wide her eyes were black. She licked her lips, parted her lips to speak, and then closed them.
He gave her an amused, indulgent smile. “I do love you Kaoru. I would die for you, if you asked it of me.” His voice was slightly teasing and she just stared at him.
“You always…wanted to…leave…before…” Kaoru hiccupped. “How can I trust you won’t…again?” Her words were almost painful and he released her wrists so he could cup her face instead.
“I know,” he told her gently. “But I won’t leave you this time. No matter where I go, I will always come home to you, Kaoru.” He promised. He brought one of her cool hands to his mouth and kissed her palm. “And I am willing to do whatever it takes to prove it.”
Kaoru opened her mouth to say something, but her eyes opened with shock when his hand cupped her breast, and she inhaled sharply when his thumb feathered across her nipple. She had forgotten that they were both naked. His other hand rose up to mimic the motions of his second and she moaned and arched her back.
He planted a series of kisses along her throat. “I plan on doing whatever it takes, love, to prove my point. Starting today,” he breathed against her panting throat. “And tomorrow, we are going to go to the nearest temple so that you can have some measure of peace.”
Kaoru arched up as his fingers played wickedly against her skin, her questions dying in her throat as she gave a long moan. “Besides,” he whispered as he gave a wicked smile. “I rather like the idea of keeping you to myself, Thistle.” She made another little noise and he dropped a serious of kisses along her shoulder, down between the valley of her breasts, enjoying the way her body moved against his hands.