Of Roses, Scent And Rain

STANDARD DISCLAIMER APPLY: I ABSOLUTELY DON'T own any of the characters from Ruruni Kenshin. And I DON'T make money out of this. This is for entertainment purposes only.

Chapter 6



Kokoro silently watched the busy people of the city from the highest

branch of the big old oak tree. Clinging from it without any fear is

one of her `specialties'. People in the park tend to get panic

whenever they see her hanging among the tree's branches without any

safety harness attached to her body. Moreover, police or firemen were

sometimes called just to save her, just to bring her down from that

dangerous spot. She often scolded by her sisters by that however she

doesn't care as long it helps to relieve exhaustion on her numerous

ordeals in life. She just sits there, watching the skies and the

people, her way of coping with the society's fast track of living –

of growing. It is also her way of meditating or maybe yet, her

recollection or reflecting – her problems or way of life. The sun's

ultraviolet rays stroke her body little by little yet she wasn't

bothered by it. She likes the sun, she likes the sky. Sometimes, she

imagines herself belonging to the clouds, flying with the birds with

endless bliss. Kokoro continues to watch them all, wondering. She

sighed and instantly remembered her sensei. Seeing those wonderful

misty blue eyes made Kokoro wondered of what kind of person her

sensei is. What are his dislikes and likes in life? Does he have any

friends besides Megumi-san and the two little girls from the Tudor

Mansion? How about a family? A family where he could turn to, seek

help. His eyes, they're so lonely, cold or cruel. Kokoro saw nothing

but her own reflection, staring back at her. With those eyes, he

might have had experienced something that made him secluded to the

reality of life – laughter and tears, happiness and despair. The

balance was interrupted, it was cut. His eyes, those icy blue eyes,

they had changed when the two little girls were with him. Kokoro is,

indeed, intrigued by the setting.



"Sensei. What is wrong with you?" Kokoro shifted her position,

finding for a more comfortable spot.



Moments later, a woman wearing blue jeans and red blouse with small

lacy ribbons at each sleeves walks along the brick paving of the

park, searching for someone. She stopped at front of the big old oak

tree then looked up.



"Kokoro-chan! Is that you?! Come down here!"



Kokoro heard the woman's yelling voice. She instantly searches and

views her below.



"Kaoru-chan! Why, it's you! What brings you here?!" Kokoro prepares

herself to climb down the tree slowly.



"You owe me something, Kokoro-chan!" She tries to find a better view

of Kokoro who's now climbing down.



"Okay, okay! I'll be right there!" Kokoro couldn't wait to get down

from the tree. Half way to the ground, she leaps from every branch

that would help her get down safely. She magnificently exhibited her

great balance among the braches until she arrive to the ground

without any exhaustion. "Yep! Kaoru-chan, what brings you here? I

thought you have your ken classes at your father's dojo?"



"Heck. People sometimes need a break from their usual works." Kaoru

raised her hands to the air to feel each of its sensuous caresses

from her bare arms.



"Okay. How about your bodyguards? Are they here too?" Kokoro scans

the surrounding.



"Don't worry. I ordered them not to follow me. I told them that I

need to be alone, to breathe fresh air. Father knows it also. I'll go

back after I get what I truly came for." She chuckled.



"And what is it?" Kokoro scratches her head.



Kaoru moved, circling her friend. Kokoro is totally clueless to her

motive and afraid of something she might to do her in public. Kaoru

stopped at front, staring directly at her friend's wondering eyes.



"You were supposed to tell me something after the training last

night. What is it? The one that kept you off-the-track quite sometime

in school." She moved her face out of Kokoro's surprised face.



"Oh that!" She sighed. "I thought of something else, more important."



"And what is that?"



"Oh nothing….."



"Stop the suspense part, Kokoro-chan! Does it have something to do

with your new good-looking sensei? Tell me." She maliciously stares

at Kokoro then giggled.



"Ah…eh…What made you think of that?" Her heart suddenly beats faster.

She moved away at her, placing herself leaning against the big old

oak tree's trunk.



"Oh well…. It's just a wild guess. Well of course, Kokoro! It's kind

of obvious seeing you often off-minded these past days since that guy

arrived in our campus. Come to think of it, none from all your

pitiful and brave suitors made you acted this way. Well I guess, you

wish of having someone who is sort of demented,"



"Nani?!" She perceived Kaoru with grouchy eyes, a bit irritated with

her assumptions.



", or just plainly mysterious." She smiled.



"I DON'T HAVE ANY SPECIAL FEELINGS TOWARDS HIM! And besides, he isn't

like that – demented. The way he treated the little girls…..like a

father, better be - a big brother." She closed her eyes, remembering

it all.



"What are you talking about?" Kaoru went near to her side, very

curious.



Kokoro chuckled. "I was with him a while ago. They persuaded me to

have breakfast with them. Oh my…."



"Who? They?"



"Before the breakfast thing, I met two little girls who were got lost

in the park earlier this morning, here at our exact positions. They

got lost finding their play center which is, recently I got to know,

owned by a family of doctors. When we arrived, I got to know one of

them. Her name is Takani Megumi, a medical student – a soon to be

doctor."

"Yes! I know her. Our fathers are of best friends since college. They

have a clinic with a daycare center around here. And what does she

have to do with your Sensei?



"Her place has a garden, a garden full of roses, red and white."



"Oh. Your favorite flower." She raised an eyebrow.



"She permitted me to tour myself in the place. While enjoying, I

heard noises at the back of their,"



"Then what?!" Kaoru is eager to know the next scene.



"I went there and saw someone. I saw someone watering the white

roses." She blushed.



"Is that it? Watering the white roses?"



"Sensei."



"Nani?!"



"Yes. He is the one who waters the plants."



"I couldn't imagine that your sensei is also a gardener.

Interesting." She moved towards the sunlight, leaving the tree's

luscious shelter.



"A gardener? He is one of the teachers from that daycare center.

Besides me, there is someone else he teaches."



"Oh. And that makes the two little girls enter the scene."



"Hai!"



"Now I see your picture."



"The roses….he tends the roses dearly." She raised her head, probing

the sky from the leaves of the branches.



"So, what does it have to do with the one you were supposed to tell

me last night? Connections?" She faced Kokoro, wondering.



Kokoro stared at her confused friend. She gradually thought of

something that might help her better explain her side. She

immediately grabbed the right hand of Kaoru and ran towards the exit

of the park. Kaoru randomly asks her friend where will they go but

Kokoro doesn't reply. They ran as they go without minding the people

around them. They rush to something, something worth hastening up

for. After few moments of running in the city, they arrive to the

spot where Kokoro could explain her side.



"We're here!"



"What here?"



"This is where I met him for the third time." She smiled dearly.



"Third time? Have you met him long before he became your sensei? And

why here, in this small dark alley? Ha?" Kaoru crossed her arms.



"First in school, remember? It was two days ago, morning when I

arrived almost late in the class."



"Corrections, you are truly late. You were just lucky."



"Okay. Okay. Whatever! I never thought he will be a part of something

in me." She mumbled.



"Pardon me?"



"Nothing!"



Kokoro moved close to the light post, held her hand towards the post.



"Here. I saw him."



"Ha?"



"You asked me what was bothering in my mind yesterday, isn't? You are

right. It has something to do with him."



Kaoru walked, scanning the spot. "Go on. Tell me."



"At that time, I was wondering, wondering if the guy I saw here last

two days ago and the man *coughing* caught me when I fell from the

wall were the same. After I met my sensei from the training class,

had some unexpectedly contacts with him, it all made clear to me.

They are all of the same man."



"So what makes it special? And what about the thing about

the `catching', huh? Everybody in the campus knows except me! Geez."



"That's why I'm telling it all to you now." She tries to settle the

argument. "It was his scent that made me concluded that they were all

the same, so as the roses."



"His scent? You made up to the point of smelling other peoples'

odors." Kaoru chortled.



"All are inevitable, I guess. Remember the guy I got bumped to when

you bought a gift for Yahiko's birthday, it was him. I recognized him

of course with his features then his scent. It was a strawberry body

mist, a perfume for women."



"Haha! A perfume for women? What made him wear that? Pretty awkward

for someone like him. Very contrasting." Kaoru chuckled.



"I know." She viewed the spot, remembering it all.



"Just in two to three days, my friend's life had change." Kaoru

grinned, teasing her.



"Come!" Kokoro grabbed Kaoru's hand again, leaving the place in a

hurry.



"Where are we going this time?"



"At my house!"



"Nani?!"



*******



Two hours before noon, Aoshi went back to Aoiya. Two of his

subordinates welcomed him at the entrance. These men have reports to

submit to the Okashira. The men followed Aoshi inside the house.



"How's Okina?" Aoshi asked one of the men.



"No need to worry Okashira Shinomori. He's asleep."



They arrived outside Okina's room, silently sliding the shoji then

peeking, checking if he's right. Okina sleeps soundly on his futon,

worrying nothing – for now. Aoshi closed the shoji back, leaving him

undisturbed. They walked towards on of the house's room where they

could silently talk about the news that one of his men will report.

Upon arriving, they immediately sat on the floor, starting to

discuss.



"Okashira,"



"I'm waiting." Aoshi closes his eyes and crossed his arms.



"About the incident last year….the ones who did the massacre….we

still have no information and their whereabouts. Gomen. But I'm still

trying my best to do,"



Aoshi opens his eyes and looked at the cabinet far his right. One of

the drawers contains the cigar he had found near his dead Okashira's

body.



"I'm sure. They are still here in Japan, waiting. Kuso!" He gruffly

sighed and turned facing the man who reported first. "I'm not

satisfied anymore at your performance, Gohei, waiting here to hear

your overused useless reports."



"Ah…eh…." The man was frightened seeing Aoshi's eyes staring back at

him as if he was about to scrape all of his body's skin.



"Was it me who has the problem or you?" The room is getting warmer.



"Okashira," The other man spoke.



"How about you, Shirojou? What about the one that I send you to?"

Aoshi glanced at the young man without moving much of his head. "I

hope it won't disappoint me unlike some." Gohei gulped deeply, bowing

down to the wooden planks.



"We finally found him, Okashira."



"Good. Nice to here that. Where?"



"According to my valid sources, he is often seen in a temple near the

city's park."



"Tell me. Do you notice some changes on him?"



"Well, sir. He is…he is…."



"What?!"



"More of at peace, sir."



Aoshi suddenly stopped from further interrogation to Shirojou. Peace?

What kind of peace Shirojou's been talking about? He stood up, ending

the meeting.



"Find more information about him, Shirojou." Aoshi went outside the

room then followed by two men, preparing to leave. "Gohei!"



Gohei stopped nervously. "Yes Okashira?"



Aoshi didn't look at him. "Next time you fail me, I'll personally

punish you. Understand?! And I know," he looked back glancing with

frightening blue angry eyes upon him, ", you don't want that."



Gohei's heart pumped faster than it had during their discussion. Upon

seeing those eyes made him promise once again to do his work

fully. "Gomen Okashira!" bowing down again to the floor and quickly

exited the place



"Baka!" Aoshi walked, going towards Aoiya's garden. "Change? Huh.

Nonsense."



*******



Upon arriving Kokoro's house, both we very exhausted, running in the

city. They entered the house and immediately went up stairs to her

room.



"Give me one good reason, Kokoro-chan. Why are we here in your

house?" She breathlessly questions her friend.



"Wait." Kokoro opened her room's door.



"What?"



They entered the room. Kaoru dropped her body to Kokoro's bed,

panting. Kokoro breathed deeply, collecting much oxygen to breathe

in. Kokoro went to her desk and grab her glass vase.



"Kaoru-chan,"



"What?" She turned her head to perceived Kokoro. "What is that?"



"Two roses, red and white, in a glass vase."



"I know that. What I meant was, what does it have to do with

everything we're talking about? Hweh!" She cuddled one of Kokoro's

pillows.



"The man who I got bumped to, remember?"



"Yes."



"After the dinner at your mansion, I'm on my way home when suddenly

it rained."



"Yes. I remember that."



"I took shelter. Moments later, I saw him – the man who bumped me

that day earlier."



"Then?"



"I followed him until we arrived to that place – the dark alley with

the light post. I hid myself but close enough to see his doings."



"What came to your mind to do such a thing, Kokoro-chan? He might

have noticed you and…..and…."



"Hush, hush! You're spoiling my story." Both girls laughed.



"Okay. Go on."



"From his trench coat, a bouquet of flowers, roses – red and white

ones around 10 of them – were hidden. He took it then placed it to

the cement floor right beside the light post. He took the plastic and

left the roses….."



"Then you took those from his?" Kaoru pointed the roses.



"Well, yes…." She blushed.



"Why are you blushing, Kokoro-chan?" Kaoru, again, raises an

eyebrow.



Kokoro snapped out from her thoughts then continued her story.



"He took these two roses to his…his…."



"To his? To his what?"



"His lips….brushing the roses' petals smoothly to his gorgeous lips."

Internally, she fainted upon remembering it all our again.



"Oh really….Now tell me, do you still have special feeling towards

that guy or not?" Kaoru raised her body into sitting position,

finally gained her strength from all the running they've done a while

ago.



"I….I…I don't know." Projecting a confused look



"I understand you, Kokoro-chan, dearly." She sighed.



"Why? Have you already felt this before?"



"Just recently." Suddenly, the tables were turned to Kaoru.



"You're not telling me something, Kaoru-chan. Better to spill it

off." She placed the glass vase back at the top of the desk near the

window.



"What? I said nothing." She pretended she didn't say anything

personal a while ago.

"Oh really….That's unfair!" She smirked.



"Okay. Okay! I'll tell you in due time. Please! I'm still clueless

with the true state of our relation with each other. Keep it a secret

first. I'll introduce you to him one of these days." She pleaded

anxiously.



"You promise?"



"Promise!"



`Cross your heart?"



"Cross my heart!"



"Hope you die?"



"Hope you die!"



"What?! Me?"



"No, no. I promise. I'll introduce him to you one of these days."

Kaoru hugged Kokoro tenderly and looked at her Gucci watch. "Almost

lunch. I have to go home."



"Don't be. Let's eat here, okay?"



She looked at the eyes of her friend. "Sure. Why not. But I'll call

my dad to tell that I'm here in your house and send a car to pick me

up after an hour."



"Okay."



Kaoru reached in her pocket the cell phone and called her

dad. "Finish."



"Fine. Let's go down to the kitchen and see what Oneesan had cooked

for lunch." They are starting to leave the room.



"I bet all are delicious. I can't wait to eat."



"Me too." Upon leaving, Kokoro looked back to the vase. "See you two

later." Then she closed the door and went down stairs to the kitchen.









tbc......