Legacy

 

An RK Fanfic: i.e. the author doesn't claim rights to the anime used.

 

 

 

Chapter 11- Nobody's perfect.

 

 

 

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Lie to me…

 

                                                           -Sheryl Crow

 

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Kaoru hadn't heard anyone approach the kitchen, but when Kero looked up from the ball of string she had given him to play with without diving for cover under one of the woks, she knew it must have been Hideki.

 

"Tada…ima?" she said as she turned around.

 

The items she had asked for stood on the counter along with a little basket of treats Hideki must have picked up for Kero, but the doorway was empty.

 

"Where is she?" she asked in a bewildered tone.

 

"Search me, " Kero answered with a shrug, "Rice-cakes! Score!!!" the little cat creature cried happily before diving headfirst into the basket.

 

"I wonder if anything's wrong?" Kaoru said thoughtfully.

 

"Ah wuffn't wrry," Kero said through a mouthful of cake. He swallowed before continuing, "She just wants to be alone for a little while, that's all."

 

"Hideki the social butterfly wants to be alone?" Kaoru thought wiping her hands on her apron.

 

"I'm going to talk to her," she decided, "Stay out of sight Kero."

 

Kero popped his head out of the basket.

 

"Good luck." he said, "you're gonna need it."

 

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"So, you really like Kaoru's cousin, ne Aoshi-sama?"

 

Leave it to Misao to say something like that when your mouth is full. Aoshi being a self controlled individual, simply stopped chewing and glanced in her direction. Soujiro on the other hand, gagged openly as the tea he was drinking ended up in his nose.

 

Patting her husband's back nonchalantly, Misao kept her gaze fixed on Aoshi who was inwardly withering under the young woman's look. "Well you do, don't you?" she continued relentlessly, "You really shocked the sense out of me at Kaoru's party last night, I almost thought you were going to propose."

 

COUGHCOUGHHACKWHEEZE!!! Went poor Soujiro.

 

Aoshi sighed as he put his bowl down, his eyes were calm as he answered his former charge.  "I admit Kusokube-san is attractive Misao," he answered, "but our relationship, if you can call it that, is purely platonic."

 

"Mm. Hm..." Misao hummed with a catlike smile on her face, " Whatever you say, Aoshi-sama, but I've never seen your eyes light up like that for anyone else before."

 

If Aoshi was prone to blushing, now would have been a good time to do so.

 

"If you're trying to set me up Misao, please don't." he said calmly.

 

"I won't have to," Misao answered, feline grin widening, "I just know you'll do the right thing Aoshi-sama, you always do."

 

Aoshi hummed and picked up his bowl again, but this time it really was to hide the color that he felt rising in his cheeks.

 

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Hideki lay facedown on her futon, still dressed in the kimono she went out in. The yellow scarf was gripped tightly in her left hand while the other was held in a fist at her chest. The leather tie was gone from her hair, leaving it free to scatter itself over her face and pillow.

 

Kaoru slid open the shoji quietly. "Can I come in?" she asked just as softly.

 

Hideki didn't move, she hadn't the strength to. Instead she just said a muffled, "Hai." with her lips still pressed to the sheets.

 

Kaoru slipped inside without a sound, closing the door behind her.

 

Hideki couldn't really hear her cousin approach, but her light-blue bangs shifted in the breeze created when she sat down next to her. Soon enough, she could feel Kaoru's slender hand stroking her hair gently away from her cheek.

 

This was almost too much for the girl to bear. She felt so dirty, so worthless and Kaoru's persistent and loving touch just made the contrast between them seem all the stronger. Her sweet, innocent, baby cousin. She meant so much to so many, Hideki would have given her life in a heartbeat if it ever meant procuring her cousin's safety. Fresh tears slipped down her cheeks and into the fabric below at the thought.

 

 

"Aishet'ru." she whispered into her pillow.

 

 

Kaoru bent and pressed her lips to her cousin's temple. "I love you too, Hideki-chan.," she whispered.

 

Hideki's breath burned her throat as the tears threatened to overcome her once more.

 

"I miss them all so much," she said weakly, "Mama, Auntie, Uncle…Papa," she whispered. Raising her head she looked into Kaoru's gem-like eyes, "Why does everybody leave us behind Kaoru? Why?"

 

Kaoru rested her head on the pillow and reached out again to brush Hideki's bangs back with her featherlike touch, "Shh…" she hushed, "I'm here Hideki-chan, I won't ever leave, I promise."

 

Hideki couldn't help but smile through her tears, a promise from Kaoru was more binding than anything else in the world. "Honto?" she asked.

 

"Really, really." Kaoru answered with a smile.

 

Hideki sobbed once, softly, and closed her eyes as Kaoru wrapped her arms around her body allowing her to bury her face in her cousin's shoulder.

 

"Kaoru?"

 

"Hai?"

 

"Would you sing your mother's lullaby to me?" Hideki asked, "I really would like to hear it."

 

Kaoru smiled and planted a soft kiss on her cousin's temple. Taking a deep breath she began to sing in her clear, bell-like voice.

 

 

A sakura petal floats through the air,

To rest upon your cheek.

It seems the entire world stops it's working,

To watch you as you sleep.

Behind your eyes I suspect the skies are filled,

With swirling cherry-blossoms,

And sunshine golden smiles down on you,

 

Oh, my perfect child.

 

The world would weep for want of you,

If you ever disappeared from my arms.

Sleep sweetly, God's most perfect creation.

 

 

 

Kaoru smiled as she realized Hideki's breathing had slowed into the rhythmic patterns of sleep. Untwining herself gently from her relative's embrace, she padded to the corner of the room and procured a blanket which she tucked around Hideki's sleeping form. Pressing her forehead to her cousin's, she whispered a short prayer-spell to induce only pleasant dreams as she slept, and with one last gentle kiss she rose and slipped back outside to finish their dinner.

 

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Many miles away, on the ocean just outside of Japan, a tall, regal-looking figure wearing dark clothing stood on a deck overlooking the sea. From behind, a shorter man approached the figure with obvious hesitance.

 

"How long now?" the first person asked in accented Japanese.

 

The short man scratched the stubble on his chin nervously, "Only a few days now madam," he answered in a shaky voice, "The weather looks good and we made sure your ship had only the best supplies and men when we left port."

 

Ruby-red lips curled upwards in a malevolent smile, "Perfect," the woman purred, "Now leave me, I want to be alone."

 

"Yes ma'am!" the captain said with relief as he made his hurried exit.

 

Long, sharp nails dug into the ship's railing as the woman's smile grew more feral. "Soon whore, very soon, " she mused, "I cannot wait to hear you scream for mercy at my hand."

 

Her shoulders began to shake. Low laughter bubbled up within her, intensifying in pitch and volume until it echoed like a shriek throughout the entire ship.

 

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