Rurouni Kenshin - The Scent of Hakubaiko

 

‘Rurouni Kenshin’ by Nobuhiro Watsuki
“The Scent of Hakubaiko” by Ryuuzaki Kusakurin

DISCLAIMER: Rurouni Kenshin belongs to Nobuhiro Watsuki-dono and VIZ Media. In short, it’s not mine.

Warnings: Flashback, oneshot, drabble, etc.
Characters: Himura Kenshin / Hitokiri Battosai, Himura Tomoe
Theme Songs: Above [Blue Man Group], The Spirit Within [Elliot Goldenthal], Tsuki no Curse [Okina Reika]
Pairings: [past] Tomoe x Kenshin

Won’t be posted anywhere else, you know the drill.

Author’s Note: It’s set somewhere between the end of the Enishi arc and the end of the story where Sanosuke runs off.

 

Tomoe… Are you listening?

The red-haired rurouni stared up into the snow as it fell, sighing heavily. From his nighttime perch on the dojo’s roof, he could see all of Kaoru-dono’s land; while surveying the small world he had allowed himself to become a part of, his lonely thoughts still dwelled with his late wife.

You always did want this one to keep living, didn’t you?

Watching the sleeping, whitening world below and around him with vague interest, Kenshin simply allowed his thoughts to wander off. By their own volition his mind drifted to the scent of Hakubaiko and how much his life had turned since the untimely death of Himura Tomoe. Not even Sanosuke was awake - watch duty was no longer necessary now and so he had gone out to ‘live a little’, which generally meant hitting half the bars and then the brothels.

This one has lived truly, if only for you. There will always be a place for you here, in this one’s heart, though this one is moving on now… To pursue happiness, however fleeting.

He thought back on the good times. The times when Tomoe woud go out of her way to help an injured child. The way that they could make do with however little they had. The way that even the Battosai could put down his sword and live in peace. He missed those days - they were arguably both the best and the cruelest hours of his life. Looking back, the days leading up to the woman’s kidnapping and accidential death were unimaginably cruel for ending the way they had and slowly doling out the remainder of his love’s life. He had understood her like no other could, he thought, but after her death…

Hopping down from the rooftop, he slowly looked around him, simply breathing in the scent of the air and hoping beyond hope that he would see her again…

And Tomoe… I love you.

Stepping back into the Kamiya dojo, his padded feet brushed against the floor as he lay on the pad of interwoven cloth and young, soft bamboo. Looking around at his adopted family, Kenshin smiled slightly and went to sleep. And as he did, his cross-shaped scar faded a little.

~ by Ryuuzaki Larkir Kusakurin on Tuesday, 29.01.2008.