Kendo no Go
In the Language of Kendo:
A Fanfic in 100 Chapters
by Akai Kitsune
03: Song
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Kenshin liked to sing when he did the laundry.
Oh, it wasn't exactly a song, by definition.
song n. uta ( 1. [Music] a) A brief composition written or adapted for
singing. b) The act or art of singing. 2. A distinctive or characteristic
sound made by an animal, such as a bird or an insect. 3. a) Poetry;
verse. b) A lyric poem or ballad.)
There were no words, at least not to her knowledge. But sometimes, as she
watched him, Kaoru could hear the musical lilt of his husky voice humming an old
tune, one she couldn't recognize or name. She wasn't sure if even he knew the
name of it, but it was always the same. When it got to the point where she
started subconsciously singing it with him, she finally approached him and asked
what it was he was doing.
"Oro?" he answered, then regretted it as a vein seemed to
grow on her forehead. "Oh, it's not much... I don't think I even realized what I
was humming... I'm sorry if it bothers you-"
"Kenshin no baka," she muttered tiredly, "Can't you ever
just answer a question?"
"Sumanei," he apologized again, as he always did. "I
believe it was an old battle march for Choshuu... funny, I didn't even realize
it. We used to sing it to taunt the Shinsengumi - and I don't really care to
mention the lyrics- itai!" He winced, as she pulled on his hair. "I mean... not
that I would ever taunt them, Kaoru-dono... could you let go, de gozaru...?"
Her mother had sung to her, occasionally. Kioku lacked a
good voice to go with the songs that she sang, so her "bedtime lullabies" were
rather underappreciated. After a few years she gave up, and graduated to the
patented goodnight kiss. That went over much better, although it wasn't able to
hide the dark silence. At least an off-key song was better than the monster
growls under the tatami.
It wasn't long after Kenji's birth that she began experimenting with her own
voice. She sung softly to him as he slept, when he woke up screaming with that
amazingly loud voice - she couldn't imagine where he could have gotten it from,
until Yahiko told her, quite bluntly - and even when he settled down to eat,
although her words sometimes cracked with uncomfortable winces. He had certainly
inherited his father's strength.
Kenshin never sang to him, of course. Taunting ballads of war didn't seem to
catch the ear of their young son - not that Kaoru found the song appropriate
anymore, and not that Kenji would do anything more than wail and pull his
father's hair, anyway. She did notice, however, that Kenshin had stopped humming
when he did laundry. Although he had a tendancy to whistle the songs she sang to
Kenji at night - and was terribly bad at it. Finally, he stopped altogether;
Kaoru tried hard to understand why and, when she couldn't, remembered what it
was like when he did sing. Wishful thinking was never a crime, at least not for
her.
~*~
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