I think Kenshin and Aoshi would have this kind of conversation.
As always, Rurouni Kenshin is not mine. If it is, I will be one of Oniwabanshu members.
They both were quiet; as quiet as the dojo could be with Kaoru took Misao for a walk around town. Kenshin felt uneasy, but he knew Misao could protect his reason to live. For now, he had to fulfill a promise with someone.
Kenshin sipped his tea and fidgeted a little for he was not really someone who held a tea ceremony like this, but he had made a deal with Aoshi before they went back to Tokyo after defeating Shishio. Moreover, he owed him very much for finding the truth about Kaoru's fake death.
"Something in your mind, Battousai?"
Kenshin mentally flinched. Ten years has passed, but some people still remembered him as the most feared man as he once before.
"This one wants to say thank you, that he does."
Aoshi sipped his tea, "You already did just a minute ago."
Kenshin smiled and looked over the cup he held. "This one thinks one thank you is not enough."
Aoshi nodded. "Understandable."
Another silence.
"And after all of this, what will you do next with Kaoru Kamiya?"
Kenshin blinked. "Oro?"
Aoshi lifted his eyebrows and back to his tea. "You exiled yourself to that place after what happened. She must be so special for you to lose your will to live."
Kenshin smiled softly and his eyes turned dreamy. Aoshi was right. He couldn't pretend Kaoru wasn't someone. All his friends even his enemies knew how special Kaoru was for him. Even Jin-e already knew she was his woman before he realized it himself. But, before that, he had to say goodbye to someone who also dear to him. At least in the past.
"I will return to Aoiya tomorrow," Aoshi said again.
Kenshin stared at the handsome man in front of him. He nodded. "Have a safe trip. I'll visit you with Kaoru-dono soon in Kyoto."
Aoshi smiled a little. "We will wait for you visit, Battousai. It will be nicer compared to the last time."
Kenshin smiled back and sensed the familiar ki of Misao and Kaoru. His face lit up and even Aoshi could notice. The okashira put his cup and bowed to the readhead swordsman.
"Thank you for the tea."
Kenshin put his cup too and bowed back.
Aoshi stood from his sitting position and slid the shoji open. Kenshin followed Aoshi and put his sakabatou on his left hip. His heart warmed when he saw Kaoru, holding a tray of cake with Misao next to her. He smiled when the girl said her gratitude to Aoshi, but he dismissed it.
Aoshi was right.
Kaoru was special to him.
Glossary
"Oro": Kenshin's expression of "huh"
Sakabatou: Kenshin reverse-blade
Shoji: paper rice door
Okashira: The leader of Oniwabanshu
Oniwabanshu: an elite cadre of onmitsu who were established at Edo Castle by the 8th Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Yoshimune, in the early 18th century. Rumored to have been quartered in the garden of Edo Castle (hence the name), Yoshimune had tasked the Oniwabanshū with covertly gathering information on various daimyō and statesmen of the bakufu, as well as providing security for the castle itself. After the bakumatsu (during which the Oniwabanshū were ordered to guard Edo Castle instead of participate in the fighting in Kyoto), the organization has dwindled in the absence of the bakufu and, headed by the genius Okashira Shinomori Aoshi, the remaining onmitsu have split into two groups-one maintaining an intelligence headquarters in Kyoto and the other acting as mercenaries in Tokyo.