Title: Afternoon Tea
Author: JC Sun
Rating: PG. Implied Saitou x Sanosuke. Non-explicit Aoshi x Kenshin.

Summary: : Aoshi and Kenshin get some sleep -- really, they do!

Aoshi never explained why he'd come, just walked through the front gates, walked to the kitchen yard and sat down, putting his knapsack next to him. It took Kaoru two hours or so before she decided that she was hungry and tried to scrounge some food from the kitchen, only to find the cabinets empty and Aoshi sitting in a ray of sunshine, back straight against the wall, eyes closed and hands folded in his lap and looking for all the world like he was meditating. She pestered him for about half an hour, dancing and yelling and making faces at him until a) she wasn't going to get a response from him b) no, Misao wasn't with him c) she wasn't coming, and d) that Aoshi *probably* wasn't here to kill Kenshin.

And if he was, it served the stupid rurouni right for spending so much time lurking around the streets. What'd gotten into him? Ever since Sano had moved and gone back to his old rooms, Kenshin had been moping, drifting off into space and slacking off in his chores; at night, when he thought she was asleep, Kaoru would listen to him get up, slide the door open and sit outside until dawn, and when that happened, he went and started his chores. . .

Who cared what the stupid gangster was doing anyway? So he was friends with Saitou now and taking lessons from him. Maybe that would keep him from running to Kenshin with every little emergency, dragging the poor man out at all hours of the night to some burglary or mugging or a friend's house.

So eventually, Kaoru left Aoshi alone to meditate against the wall and told Yahiko she'd beat him if he bothered Aoshi, she'd thrash him. Yahiko yelled back that if she did that, he'd teach her a lesson with his bokken. When she snapped that she was the teacher, he said that she wasn't because she didn't teach him anything worth knowing, and the squabbling continued noisily until she gave in and took him down to the river so that his clumsiness wouldn't "bring the whole Dojo around our ears".

So now, the Dojo's silent. The figure outside the kitchen doesn't move except for some slow, rythmic breathing, but that's so quiet that the sparrows are taking dust baths in the ground in front of him or hopping around, heads tilted, trying to figure out whether this is the man who feeds them grains of undercooked rice. Some of the fledglings start practicing flying in the courtyard, but none of them are very good at them, particularly the one raised underneath the northeastern eaves, and while trying to prove that he can fly to the snotty bedroom sparrows, he loses control and for one instant, clumsy wings brush the edge of Aoshi's face, whose eyes flick open to a world of soft brown feathers drifting amidst sunshine.

Then he closes his eyes again.

Kenshin comes back in the middle part of the afternoon bearing groceries for dinner-- they're going to have tofu and some fish he picked up at the market, and he's also got some reeds to repair a screen that he broke a few nights ago.

First, though, he's got to haul water and do the laundry, but then he sees the tall, slender shape near the kitchen door. Something inside of him lurches so badly that he staggers, blinks against the strong sun as a ferocious kind of hope clenches his throat. But then, he gets close enough to make details, and the hope fades away to leave a burning on the inside of his eyelids.

But he climbs the steps to the kitchen strongly enough and makes tea. Given Kaoru's financial situation and his own poverty, it's relatively cheap stuff compared to what Aoshi's used to, but he's sure that Aoshi won't mind. In fact, while it's brewing and sending out some truly marvellous smells, Aoshi sniffs and nods approvingly, all without opening his eyes.

Kenshin sets the tea tray down in the next room over, and Aoshi opens his eyes before he obligingly gets up and walks over. The sound of his footsteps is very loud against the soft clinks of Kenshin sitting up the teacups or the fluttering of the sparrows amidst the dust baths. And as he watches the sparrows, Kenshin reminds himself to leave a few extra grains out tonight because there're an extra one--a visitor, no doubt, or a fledgling that's just learned how to fly on shaky wings and is celebrating his first afternoon out of the nest.

It's a marvellous afternoon to learn, though, and the sunlight sluices into the room through the open door, making the whole room light up and chasing the shadows away into the farthest corners of the room. Kenshin marvels at the dust motes settling down in it as he pours the tea, and when he sets Aoshi's teacup down, he notes that Aoshi isn't wearing his kodachi, that he's left them outside with the rest of his things. Kenshin blinks, then shrugs imperceptibly and settles back to enjoy his own tea as well as the sparrows in the yard.

One of them has definitely learned to fly this afternoon. He swoops about marvelling at the strength of his new found wings, and he seems to take a delight in tight curves and tighter swerves to avoid mid-air collisions. After a particularly daring aerial spectacular, he takes a few breathless, panting moments at the eaves. Then, he launches himself up against the sky, going higher and higher until all of a sudden, confronted by a contrary headwind, he tucks his wings underneath him and plummets towards the ground, going so fast that it seems he's going to hit the ground any second, that he's going to break his neck against the hard-packed dirt. At the very last moment, though, he pulls himself up so that he's going up again, above the courtyard, above the Dojo and all the houses and roofs, an arrow soaring for the heart of the blue, blue sky.

And then Aoshi looks up through that thick, thick fringe of lashes and something around his mouth twitches, but no sounds come out. Kenshin doesn't say anything, either, just lifts the teacup to his lips and takes one of those careful little sips he always does, but his eyes are following the way Aoshi sits, straight and tall, without the slightest hint of slacking even now. Also, the soft edge of Aoshi's mouth over his teacup and the strong, fine line of his shoulders in the sunshine along with the shadows haunting his face.

Kenshin touches his own cheek and traces the some same dips and hollows in his own face. When he presses at the area underneath his eyes, it aches from lack of sleep, and he's seen himself recently rnough so that he knows there are great black and purple crescents underneath his eyes. Last night, they matched the moon.

But night-time seems very far away now.

Aoshi blinks, and Kenshin watches the lids slide down over those strange gold eyes, and reflexively or sympathetically, he blinks too. And when he opens his eyes again, Aoshi has leaned over the platter and is kissing him, soft and gentle like the brush of feathers lingering on the face. Kenshin initially stiffens into the kiss, but then relaxes and starts pushing back just as softly and maybe even more gently. He keeps contact while he sets the fragile teacup aside and pushes the platter away so as not to even chance breaking the porcelain. There's a little clink as two of the cups tip over and hit the platter, but after that, it's all silent except soft little gasps, the occaisional sigh or rustle of flesh on clothing, and Kenshin's voice calling out as he holds on to Aoshi.

And afterwards, with the two of them lying on the floor, soaking up the warmth, Aoshi threads his hands through Kenshin's hair and when Kenshin reaches up to caress Aoshi's hands, Aoshi bends down and kisses those soft, pink fingertips. Kenshin just turns around and starts tracing the side of Aoshi's face with damp fingers, and Aoshi slips his free arm around Kenshin's waist, and underneath the sunshine and caresses and above all, the silence, they close their eyes and sleep for the first time in weeks.

*

end.

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