Kendo no Go
In the Language of Kendo:
A Fanfic in 100 Chapters
by Akai Kitsune
91: Tsuki
~*~
The moon
was full that night, Kenshin remembered.
The moon
was full on the night he walked the streets of Kyoto, stalking his prey until
the moment he felt was best for his attack. It was full as he killed three
men, two with ease, the last with the mildest of struggles, ending in a clash
of swords, a spray of blood, and a shard of pain running down his left
cheek. His first wound in an entire year of assassinations. The moon ran red
with blood, blood he spilled.
The moon
was full on the night he faced a man who became his greatest challenge for the
first time, gazing into dark amber eyes, a cool look of challenge meeting the
responding smirk of anticipated victory. That same victory which was never
attained, yet never denied, either. The moon ran red with blood, the blood of
his comrades and the blood of the enemies who fell by his sword.
The moon
was full and bright when a young girl met him in the streets of Tokyo,
shouting the name that was not truly his anymore, challenging him to face her
and surrender to her anger for murders he was - for once - innocent of
bringing about. There was blood spilled that night, but he made it in time to
prevent that same girl's life from ending.
The moon
was full on the night he faced a killer, a man who sought blood wherever he
went, a cruel grin on his face and blood on his katana. It was full and red
with anger, his anger, as a girl he cared dearly for lay so close to death,
dying even as he fought to save her life by bringing about the man's death. So
much blood would have fallen had not the young woman - his woman, as
the assassin had sneered - broken free and saved herself, saved him, at
the same time.
The moon
was full on the night he faced an old enemy from Kyoto, a man whose only aim
was to kill him, to find out what sort of person he had become in the ten
years since they last fought. A man who did everything he could to bring out
and set loose the burning flames of a hitokiri from his eyes and his soul. A
man who could have destroyed him merely by being destroyed that night. A man
who made the girl - his woman - cry out his name in terror.
The moon
was full on the night he was carried back, bleeding and unconscious, from the
mountain on which he fought a madman for the future of his country, and of the
friends he had made over time. He never saw that moon - never knew the colour,
even - but Kaoru told him that to her it seemed blue; blue, the colour of
misery, of despair, which is how she felt until they appeared on the horizon,
safe and alive. A blue moon, lighting the path towards home for their
warriors, even though the night was stained red with his blood.
The moon
was full on the night he stood with a girl - a young woman, his woman -
and took her hand, gently telling her of his feelings, the feelings he had
kept inside for a very long time. It shone down upon them as she cried, tears
falling down her cheeks, her hand frantically trying to brush them aside, and
told him how happy she was. It glowed a soft blue-gray as he kissed her,
carefully and cautiously, wanting to move slowly, to protect her innocence,
although his heart told him he had acted too slowly, that he had nearly
lost her to his foolish insecurities. It seemed to smile as she responded to
his touch, wrapped her arms around him, holding him so tightly that she would
never let go, which suited him just fine. It seemed to understand that, when
he whispered once more, "I love you," and she replied with the same words, he
could not contain his joyful tears for anything.
The gentle moon, not red, not
angry, not covered in the night's spilled blood, was the only witness as
Himura Kenshin asked Kamiya Kaoru to become his wife.
~*~
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