DISCLAIMER: MibuWolf does not own anything here except her DVD, manga and her over reactive imagination. Enjoy… and please review! D

Timeless Love

Chapter One-Past Haunting

"No!" Don't go! Don't leave me, Kenshin! PLEASE!" Kaoru begged the lavender-eyed man she had grown to love. Kenshin brushed her away gently.

"Shessa is a rurouni, Kaoru-dono that he is." He said softly, walking away from her, "Arigato and… sayonara."

And with that, he left the raven-haired girl whose love was unrequited.

Kaoru dropped to her knees, numb with grief.

"Kenshin!"

-

Kenshin woke with a start. It was the same dream that had been haunting him for the past five years ever since he left Kaoru. It wasn't that he chose this he had no choice, as one by one his old enemies emerged from the shadows of his past to seek a duel with the legendary Hitokiri Battousai.

The last straw came when Enishi kidnapped Kaoru and kept her hostage at his hideout. Tomoe- the last woman he had come to love before Kaoru stepped into his life- had suffered a tragic fate for loving him. No matter, what he did, no matter how hard he tried, the ones he loved were always the one who paid for his sins; he didn't want another loved one hurt for what crime he had committed in the past.

That was why he left.

But Kenshin could never forget the look on Kaoru's face when he told her that he was returning to the life of a rurouni… and it haunted him with every step he took, further from her.

And he could take not another step.

Without another word, Kenshin got his sakabatou- the only possession that remained by his side in his wandering years. He had to see Kaoru again; he was returning to Tokyo.

-

"Kaoru-dono…"

Kaoru ran from door to door, trying to find the man whom the voice belonged to. That same man she loved.

"Kaoru-dono…"

"There!" Kaoru tried the last door- the dojo gate, to be exact. At last she had found him, after five long years of waiting. She ran into his inviting arms, and laughed as he hugged her…

"Kenshin…" she said, breathing into his flaming red hair.

Kaoru stirred sleepily from her slumber, thinking about her strange dream she had had last night.

She got no reply.

"Kenshin?"

-

Sure, it was the same dream that accompanied her every night for the last five years… the same dream that brought tears to her eyes… the same dream about that sad night when Kenshin left her.

But now it was followed by another dream- it was about Kenshin returning to the rdojo after five long years. Coult it be? It seemed so magical, it was exactly the way she had fantasized about it…

"Dame! Baka me!" the 23-yr old slapped herself on the cheek. How could she be so dumb as to harbour false fantasies? Reality set in, and Kaoru shook her head as if to clear her head of such thoughts

I've moved on without that bastard who dumped me for loving him," she thought to herself, There's no use in wasting more time on him than I have to… right? He abandoned me because he didn't love me… even though I adored him so much…

A loud pounding on the door jerked her out of her thoughts. Sighing, she went to answer it, leaving behind her thoughts at the same time. Why bother about idle fantasies? She had far more important things to do now.