Well, I was going to keep these on LJ…

But it has management issues. So I'm going to be putting them up here. Please be warned, they were written randomly and while I'll try to clump the ones together that are related…

These are drabbles. Some are long, some are short. None are shorter than 200 words. ( I think a few hit about 15 pages?) All of them are bits and pieces of worlds I don't have enough time to explore in complete stories. So I'm writing out the pieces of them as they come to me. Some come in more pieces than other.

Please enjoy.

Ravyn

Note: All Drabbles will be Kenshin/Kaoru pairing of some sort. Please expect werewolves, vampires, demons, college students, mobsters and anything else...

Most of these Are Not Beta Read.

He settled on the railing of her balcony, content in the knowledge that she couldn't see him. With the lights on her in her apartment she would be lucky to see anything that in the night. The streetlights were too dim, the cloud coverings were too thick…no light to penetrate behind him and give away his position. It was the only contentment that he could be assured. That he could watch her unaware all night if he chose.

She wore a pair of old jeans that had been bought several sizes ago. They clung tightly with an old familiarity to the curves of her thighs and the shape of her backside. She left them unbuttoned and they showed off the top of her rubber ducky panties. His teeth flashed in an amused smile. There were matching holes in her knees and her feet were bare. Chipped dark purple toenail polish contrasted against her pale skin as she rose up on her tip toes to reach the book she has been hunting for the last five minutes.

Her hips were still smoothly rounded. Her waist was a little lean showing her diet of ramen and her unceasing regiment of running and jumping rope. The running was done in the morning when it was still cold enough to see her breath and the jumping of rope occurred for as long as her downstairs neighbor would put up with it. So far she had hit a solid five minutes before the banging started and another three before she finally stopped.

She had cut her hair.

He had mourned the loss but saw the move as practical from her standpoint. Instead of hitting somewhere above those hips it now lingered only an inch or so below her shoulders. She had cried when she came home but there had been a determined expression in her eyes. The bottle of dye she had set in her desk drawer and refused to touch.

He wondered how long she would run. Either from herself or from her past, he wasn't sure what scared her more. She didn't see much sunlight anymore and her skin was pale. Cream with only a faint tint of gold to contrast her big blue eyes and black hair. She saved her one dollar bills religiously and grocery shopped only when she had to. Then she came home with crates of ramen and a gallon of ice cream. Dutch Chocolate if she was happy and Double Fudge Chunky Swirls if she was depressed. The ice cream never lasted as long as the ramen. Occasionally there was a box of donuts or a container of store bought sandwich meat. She never made a sandwich, instead eating the meat straight from the container with a few pieces of cheese.

He watched the way her muscles shifted under her skin, detracted only from the dark blue sports bra she wore. There were soft bruises ringed along her elbow and his eyes narrowed into golden slits as he considered what could cause that sort of damage. There had been a steady haunted expression in her eyes recently and his palms itched to take care of the problem himself.

He knew he would in time.

Just as he knew it was only a matter of time before she let him into her life fully. Already he was carefully weaving himself where it mattered. He unsettled her, worried her to the point of distraction, but she hadn't pushed him aside yet. There was something needy in her eyes…something terrified and desperate.

Terrified because of the reaction he brought to her blood. Desperate because if he left she was frightened that she would never discover what was between them. He knew she was attempting to find something to use against him, to find a way out. He was careful to keep from giving her those reasons. She need never know of his constant vigil. She knew his nature but she didn't understand it. Not the way she would need to if she was to escape from him. He had been carefully weaving this web for months, each step careful, calculated.

Why would she wish to live without him? The question was one he knew she debated over daily, startled and frightened by how well he maneuvered her into things she was uncertain of. She wasn't against change but the idea of going into something unknown was a fear that had started long before he had met her.

A smile tilted the edges of his lips.

The lines of her body were so neat.

She had finally chosen the couch as her resting point and sprawled out on her back to read. It was late and she was tired. One leg had been thrown over the low back of the couch and the other rested on the arm. Her toes wiggled occasionally as she turned the page. How many nights had she fallen asleep on that ridiculous couch with all the lights on, to wake at some wee hour of the morning to stumble to bed?

He admired the way her body lay. She was relaxed and content and the nervous energy of before had smoothed away. Her feet were small and narrow. Her hands were slender but held the calluses of both work and her hobby of playing with a piece of wood. It was a defense against both her insecurities and her past so he said nothing. He preferred live steel but that was his prerogative.

The book was settled against her chest and she had closed her eyes. Those ridiculous pants couldn't be comfortable to sleep in. Unwinding his limbs he settled onto the floor easily. The press of a hand and the force of will unlocked and opened the glass door silently. He didn't bother to shut the door behind him.

Moving forward he murmured her name softly, and sleepy blue eyes opened a heartbeat before he reached down and lifted her from the couch. She breathed his name against his neck in unguarded, unconscious welcome. Her body was warm after he had sat in the cold and he carried her easily to her room. One hand pulled back the patched comforter and cotton sheets that were threadbare from too many washings. Once he had settled her onto the bed he brushed her bangs away from sleepy eyes and traced his fingers across the lines of her jaw and down her neck until he came to her collarbones. Her chest heaved in a sigh and her eyes fluttered closed as his fingers danced along the delicate bones, his second hand rising to join the fingers of his first.

He ghosted his hands down the sides of her breasts and let his palms smooth the curve of waist and hip and the lines of her ribs. Hooking his fingers into the material of her pants he gave a firm tug, easing them down the line of her legs easily. She made a noise of protest in the back of her throat, her eyes not quite opening, and he answered it was a faint rumble in the back of his own throat. He threw the jeans into a corner of the room and let his eyes linger on the clean lines of her body for long moments before pulling the covers up over her relaxed figure. Indulging himself a little, he leaned in and nibbled on the corner of her mouth until she sighed his named again in a sleep slurred voice.

Stroking his thumb across her cheekbone, he stayed until he was sure she was asleep. The corners of his mouth tilted upwards in a small, possessive smile that would have alarmed her has she been awake to see it. Humming a little under his breath, he turned the lights out, unplugged her alarm clock, and locked all the windows and doors behind him. Standing on her balcony he breathed in deeply, rolling his neck in a satisfied move.

The first time he had dropped in on her she had refused to even closer her eyes until he had pretended to leave. Jumping up onto the railing the flashed a satisfied smile into the darkness. It wouldn't be long now.

He never gave up what was given into his keeping.

Slipping back into the shadows, he went to find something worthy of being his prey to work off some of his excess excitement. It wouldn't be long now.

As always, please comment.