Disclaimer: The young fighter had a hungry look, the
kind you get from not eating for a while.
Altered Memory
Chapter 6 – Part I: A Slight Change
Immediately on leaving the study, Kenshin
drove away and didn’t return to lunch, much to Kaoru’s relief. Bur even then,
she found Yoshida’s eager conversation a strain. She had to make an effort to
respond when her mind was seething with so many things.
It wasn’t until she had pulled the
sun-loungers into the shade of a huge tree and settled Yoshida down foe her
rest that she had the opportunity to think about what she had learned from
Kenshin.
The shock of learning her stepfather was
dead had numbed her to what Enishi had done, and even now she found it hard to
believe he was so selfish, indifferent to the suffering he had inflicted at a
time when Yukio was helpless.
She had always known Enishi resented her,
even before his father had married her mother. He had gone out of his way to
make her feel an unwanted outsider, mocking her in front of his friends, only
hiding it from the staff and to his father and stepmother. When his father
announced his intentions of legally adopting her, he had betrayed his true
feelings with a fit of temper.
Kaoru had never been close to her
beautiful but shallow mother. She had no recollection of her father as he had
died before she was two years old. When Kaoru had first been introduced to
Yukio Mishima, she had liked him instantly because he was the first of her
mother’s men friends to take an interest in her. She would never understand how
her mother could have thrown aside a good marriage in search for new conquests.
Enishi had been triumphant when her mother ran off to America but his triumph
had been short-lived when it became clear that Yukio had no intention of
relinquishing his adopted daughter.
Enishi’s fury had been frightening but he
had been away at university and she was at a boarding school so she was free of
his resentment and spite. And when they did have to be together during the
holidays, Kenshin Himura had often been around to protect her.
She’d had no idea that Enishi had hated
her so much he was prepared to be rid of her. It sickened her, though, that he
had so little feeling for his father.
She should have suspected Enishi’s
kindness since it was so uncharacteristic. But again, weighed down by guilt,
shocked by her stepfather’s supposed rejection, and that none of her friends
had been in touch, she had been grateful for Enishi’s sympathy to question it.
And all the time, Yukio had been asking
for her while fighting for his life in the hospital.
The air was warm in her spot, the breeze
stirring the leaves into a soothing rustle. Worn out by emotion, Kaoru slept.
The sudden coolness as a figure blocked
out the sun jerked her awake and she opened her eyes to see Kenshin standing
over her. “Isn’t collapsing from exhaustion enough for you? Do you want
sunstroke as well?” he demanded harshly. Kaoru realized that the patch of shade
had moved, and she had been sleeping in the full sun.
Yoshida awoke. “Oh Kenshin, you’ve brought
the tea out. Are you going to join us?”
To Kaoru’s dismay, he readily agreed, and
by the time she had poured out and handed him his cup, he was sitting on the
lounger she had vacated. “Don’t hover like a moth, sit down.” He patted the
cushion beside him.
“I can fetch another chair,” she said
quickly, but he grasped her wrist.
“It’s hardly worth the effort when you can
share with me.” He added in an undertone, “You wouldn’t want Yoshida to think
we hadn’t settled our differences, would you?”
He stayed for half an hour and although
Yoshida did most of the talking, Kaoru was acutely aware of his brooding
presence.
He was there for dinner too, and there was
no Tomoe to take his attention, and after they had drunk their coffee in the
sitting room, he showed no signs of going out or even retiring to his study.
This time, the suggestion that Kaoru should pit her wits against him at chess
came from Kenshin himself. She would have liked to refuse but couldn’t think of
an excuse to do so and Yoshida was eager to witness the match.
At first, she was too tensely aware of his
nearness across the small table to concentrate on the game, but after two
foolish moves and his mocking reaction to them put her on her mettle. She found
she was beginning to enjoy pitting her wits against his, pleased at his
surprised when she blocked one of his pieces and at the knowledge that he
wasn’t having the walkover he expected.
That he was enjoying the battle too was
apparent from the frown of irritation on his face when the door opened and
Tomoe came in. “Darling, I thought you were coming over this evening,” she
said, kissing his cheek as she perched on the arm of his chair.
“I don’t remember making such promise,”
Kenshin said coolly.
“I-I know you didn’t, darling, but I
usually see you some time in the evening.” Such an unenthusiastic reception had
obviously shaken her.
“I fancied a game of chess tonight and as
neither you nor your father play…” Kenshin made no attempt to placate his
fiancée, even seemed irritated by the interruption.
Kaoru might envy Tomoe but she couldn’t
help liking her, and seeing the uncertainty in the woman’s dark eyes, feeling
sorry for her too. “But now you’re here, I know he’ll find your company much
more stimulating than mine. I don’t mind packing this up.”
“A tactical retreat? Afraid I’m going to
wipe the floor with you?” Kenshin’s voice was light but the tightening of his
jaw told Kaoru he wasn’t pleased. And Tomoe must have realized that too because
she said, “Please don’t let me interrupt. I’ll talk to Yoshida till you’re
finished.” She went to sit with Yoshida.
Kenshin directed a mocking glance at
Kaoru, who glared back at him. Heavens, but he was arrogant! That was his
fiancée he’d just snubbed!
From then on, she didn’t even try,
throwing the game away because she only wanted it to be finished.
Kenshin made no comment until his aunt
asked what he thought of Kaoru’s game. “Disappointing,” he said. “She was very
promising to start with, but she collapsed like a house of cards. Perhaps she
was feeling guilty at keeping me from you, Tomoe.”
Kaoru resented being talked about as if
she wasn’t there and disliked the accuracy with which he guessed hr motives. “I
think I’m just tired. If you’re ready for bed now, Yoshida…”
But Kaoru found sleep elusive. All she
could think of was Kenshin downstairs… with Tomoe.
After a restless night, she woke very
early. Her bedside clock telling her it was only 6:00. she rose and dressed,
slipped downstairs and let herself out into the garden.
The earl morning air was cold and damp. A
rambler rose climbed up the wall in a sheltered corner. Kaoru move towards it,
breathing deeply.
A sound broke through the stillness and
turning towards it, she saw Kenshin emerge from the summerhouse. He wore only
bathing trunks and his skin glistened with water. He was rubbing his hair with
a towel as he walked back to the house, obviously having swam in the pool.
Kaoru couldn’t drag her eyes away.
It was some moments before she realized he
had stopped drying his hair and was watching her watching him. Even at a
distance, she could see the mockery in his face. “Good morning,” she said,
embarrassed. Kaoru turned away again, pretending an interest in the rose and
wishing there were somewhere she could hide herself.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when his
voice right behind her said, “It’s a very common variety, you know, hardly
warrants such close scrutiny.”
She turned to find him standing so close
she could feel his body heat, smell the tang of chlorine on his skin, and for a
moment, overcome by the urge to reach out and touch him. Moistening her
suddenly dry lips, she said, “Even a common dandelion would warrant attention
in some of the places I’ve been.”
His mouth compressed and his eyebrows drew
together as if her remark had angered him. “You’re an early bird.”
“I’m used to getting up early.” She tried,
not quite successfully, to repress a shiver.
“Cold?” His eagle eye missed nothing.
“Just a little,” she admitted. “I suppose
I’m not fully acclimatized yet.” She found Kenshin’s closeness disturbing and
wished he would move away.
“It’s going to be a scorcher when this
mist clears.”
“Yes, I thought it might. Maybe it’ll be hot enough for Yoshida to go in the