Clair de Lune

The Woods

First Kaoru intended to go to the city square, but was forced to rethink that once she realised that a lot of people should be there since they were no longer as afraid to leave their houses. Instead she decided to head to the woods, which were on the opposite side of the town from her home. As she passed the governing building she noticed a soldier gluing another poster to it's walls, which prohibited or made mandatory another thing. Wherever you would turn now, you would see a poster with the word PROHIBITED written in red bold letters and PUNISHED BY DEATH PENALTY in a slightly smaller letters underneath.

Kaoru finally reached the woods. Those big trees, only affected by the season and untouched by war, charmed her. The first steps she took on the damp grass were careful, she even tried to avoid the puddles on the ground. Soon, though, all that carefulness was gone and she ran through the woods without any self restraint.

The puddles in which her feet had landed splashed on her legs and dress and the bushes in which she ran into left traces of raindrops on her skin. Soon most of her body was wet and covered in mud. Kaoru just couldn't stop herself from laughing at the fact. She felt as if she was a child again.

When she was younger Kaoru used to run here with boys her age and play all kinds of boyish games, that according to her sister were unfit by young girls to play. As a kid Kaoru would always return home muddy. She couldn't remember a night when she would return home after a long day filled with fun games and Megumi wouldn't have lectured her on her dirtied dress.

As Kaoru felt that her legs were about to give out she slowed down her pace. She slowly walked until she found an old fallen tree - a place to rest. Once Kaoru sat down she laughed again. It has been a long time since she felt so tired and safe. Sitting here she could imagine opening her childhood home door, Megumi lecturing on how she shouldn't be out so late and asking will she ever get tired of playing in the mud. Kaoru could see their father coming down the stairs from his study and laughing at the scene. Just as it used to be when she was a child, just as she would like it still to be now.

A smell of cigarette smoke brought Kaoru back from the fantasy land. She cursed. It seems that the woods weren't as untouched by the war as she thought. Kaoru sighed and continued sitting on the fallen tree, waiting for the German soldier appear from the bushes any moment now.

"Kaoru, is that you?" Leaves rustled as someone asked. It was a man's voice that terribly reminded of something to her. Once Kaoru turned around and saw the person's face, it took only few seconds for her to recognize him. It was Enishi.

Kaoru wouldn't dare to call Enishi her friend or that she knew him very well. As children they used to play together quite often, but even then their relationship was a shallow thing.

Now Enishi hardly resembled the boy Kaoru used to play with. The man was a lot taller and had a lot more muscles. He now also wore glasses. Probably the biggest change in his appearance was his hair. As a child Enishi had raven black hair, but now he stood before her with snow white hair. Kaoru was pretty sure that if not those few facial features that remained unchanged, she wouldn't have recognized him.

The gun in Enishi's right hand caught Kaoru's attention. The Germans collected it during the first week of their stay and he shouldn't have had this. All this situation gave her a bad feeling.

"You mind?" The man pointed at the spot on the fallen tree. Kaoru nodded her head and Enishi started making his way in her direction. She noticed that he was limping and remembered hearing about his leg few years back. Apparently he was hunting with friends when a stray bullet tore his leg muscles and a major vein, causing the said limp. Actually that leg was the only thing that stopped him from joining the front lines as Enishi was more than full of fighting spirit and hatred.

The man flopped down next to her. He held the gun tightly and took few whiffs of his cigarette, before putting it out on the sole of his shoe. "Been a while, huh?" Enishi started talking again.

"Four years, I think." Kaoru tried to concentrate on the mud under her feet, trying not to look at Enishi's gun.

"Time flies." The man said so softly and quietly that Kaoru wasn't sure if she was supposed to hear it or not.