A/N-This story is really to help me get back into the mood of writing.

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin. Nor do I own the poem "Nothing Gold can Stay" That belongs to Robert Frost.

Warning: This does contain spoilers for a certain episode.

Nothing Gold Can Stay Nature's first green is gold

Her hardest hue to hold

Her early leaf's a flower

But only so an hour…

"Oh! Why did I have to go to a patient now?" Megumi gathered a few herbs for a sick man. Ayame had gotten her saying it was urgent. "And I wanted to be here to send Sir Ken off."

"I'll walk you two there. A fox lady and small girl shouldn't wander around alone." Sanosuke walked out of the dojo, a piece of straw hanging out of his mouth. "Missy, if Kenshin gets back before I do, hold him okay."

Karou nodded, a small smile gracing her lips. "Of course." She said watching the trio disappear into the darkness.

"Karou…What do you think Kenshin will choose? Will he go or stay here?" Yahiko placed his hands behind his head. He looked down a darkened street, trying to look into it. He looked at Karou when she didn't answer.

Karou turned towards Yahiko, her smile broadening. "I think I'll go look for Kenshin." After that she ran down the street, also disappearing into the darkness.

"Guess I'll just go to bed early…"

Karou continued to run down the street until she came to the riverside. Earlier that day she had made Kenshin promise he'd watch the fireflies with her, Suzumi, and Ayame. But Kenshin wasn't here…

"They're beautiful fireflies, that they are." A soft but firm voice said from the darkness. Karou stood smiling and turned towards the approaching rurouni.

"Kenshin…"

"Govern Okubo was assassinated this morning…" Kenshin looked to the ground.

"I know…It was in the papers."

"One of Shishio's men did it. I can't just turn my back on the matter, I'm going to Kyoto."

"To…kill Makoto Shishio?" Karou in turn looked to the ground.

"No . . . but I'm not sure. If I had remained as I am now, when I first heard that I was needed to confront Shishio, I would have fought until I defeated him. But if, as in the fight with Saitou, I have already returned to Battousai . . . In my days here, while my heart was at ease, I felt like I had changed from the Hitokiri to an ordinary swordsman . . . But the fight with Saitou forced me to realize it. My innermost heart has not changed the madness of the Hitokiri still lives inside."

"But you always came back Kenshin!" Karou raised her head and walked over to Kenshin. "No matter what, you always came back to us!"

"No. When I first turned back into the manslayer, I did it to save you Miss Karou. Your voice was able to bring me back. But with Saitou…it was all for the fight. Nothing you could've done would have brought me back." Kenshin looked at Karou, pain clear in his violet eyes. Those times have begun again. "Miss Karou, remember when we first met. Even though you knew I was the Battousai, you still liked me. You said my past didn't matter. For that I am forever grateful."

"Kenshin…" Karou began to understand what Kenshin was doing. He was…

"But to so many others, I will only and always be Hitokiri Battousai." If I stay here…Miss Karou and the others will be in danger, whenever I become the Battousai. I can't stay here any longer.

Kenshin leaned forward and suddenly brought Karou into a hug. For so long both people had wanted this. But both were too afraid to say anything. Karou stood still shocked by Kenshin's actions.

"Thank you so much, Miss Karou, for everything you've done. Farewell. I am a rurouni, Miss Karou, and it's time to wander again." Kenshin released the teary-eyed woman and walked away.

Karou fell to her knees, crying as if she were dying. And to her, it felt like a part of her just died away. Kenshin was leaving her. She'd never be able to tell him how she felt. "Ken…shin. Kenshin!" Her screams were lost in her sobs.

After a time she stood and looked to where Kenshin disappeared. She had cried herself dry, and all but ruined her kimono. She begun mumbling to herself a sort of poem.

…Then leaf subsides to leaf

So Eden sank in grief

So dawn goes down to day

Nothing gold can stay.

In the eleventh year of Meiji, May fourteenth, Kenshin Himura became a wanderer once again. And into the pitch black of night, he left behind his most beloved treasure.

A/N There you have it. R&R