The sun had not risen much more than a few hours ago yet already it's rays filtered through the trees in an emerald light. True, it was not yet light and remained dim inside the small forest, but he could still see and that was really all that mattered. It was also quiet. Not dead silence and not the daily chatter in the city, but a more natural one where the only sound was the light breeze and the calls of the morning birds.
As he walked on, he picked out the faint sound of something that didn't belong...a child's scream. He blinked and decided best to dismiss it as a sudden burst of terror in the dim light. Nothing more. Then he heard it again, louder and more raw. Something not from the sighting of a frog in the grass, but real terror. The child cried for help and as he moved in a more rushed motion, he could start to make out the scene of two men crowding around a little girl hunched in a ball.
The past flashed momentarily in his mind, a scene that was bitingly familiar to him, like a nightmarish reminder of how he had come to be here. The anger swelled and burned him as he realized that this time, he could do something to stop this...someone would not end up like him. He tempered his anger and let it fan out of him like steam and he rushed at them with blinding speed. So fast was he that he was sure that they would not even see the way with which they were killed.
He could only notice as the child's eyes widened, watching the heads of the men detach frm their bodies and hit the ground before a look of shock could even come across their face. The bodies slumped and the child stood there as the blood began to pool around her feet. He finally stood there and looked at the shocked expression on her face and he softened, if only for a moment.
"I'm sorry that you had to see that." He stood there, trying to think of something else to say, anything to ease the shock of what the child had just seen. He could think of nothing that would help, but did manage to say something. "Please don't let that take away your innocence." It was a whisper as he wiped the blood on the grass before sheathing his sword and walking away. He walked away with a shudder in his heart, hoping he hadn't done anything too rash, but in this age, she'd be lucky to escape without seeing something of the nature.
"W-wait! Don't go!" She called out, chasing him down. He turned and looked at her, his face expressionless. "I'm Inari...Inari Hito." She paused at the way his face remained cold and it seemed to unnerve her, though this did not stop her from continuing to talk. "Uhhhh...What's your name??"
He could only smile at her request and crouched down to her level. He could tell her, she would not remember and he did so want to tell somebody. With the years, she would forget and perhaps that was for the better. He looked at her and blinked once at the striking color of her eyes. Those emerald orbs seemed to draw him in and even though she might forget him, those eyes would be hard to forget. Either way, she would be the one to know his name.
"I'll tell you. I'll tell only you." He leaned foward and brushed back the stray hair from her ear and whispered it to her. She mouthed it as he said it but it seemed to much of a precous thing to say out loud. She grinned and smiled at him. "However, if you want to know the name I use now, I'll tell you that too."
"Really?" She was mystified and remained silent as if she was hearing another great secret.
"You may call me Kenshin." He whispered in the silence of the morning. She smiled again and watched as he stood and began to walk away. He heard her stand and he peered over his shoulder to see what she was up to.
"Good-bye, Kenshin! I promise not to forget you!!" She called out as she waved him off. He smiled and waved back but he was counting on her forgetting him...he would only bring trouble if she did...

~~Thirteen Years Later~~

Kenshin stood there in the pale moonlight, his expression unreadable save for the pain in his eyes. How had it gone so wrong? Why hadn't he been able to keep Kaoru safe? She had died because of him and he felt ashamed of how he had let it come down to that. The battle had been fierce, he had known that the outcome might not have been so good for him, but why did it have to be Kaoru who suffered.
-The clang of steel reverberated through the beech. He was losing and they both knew it.-
He dropped to the ground in front of her, wishing he had told her how he felt about her. That way, niether of them would spend eternity wondering whether those feelings were returned. Would things have turned out diferent if he had told her sooner and not been left here to wonder.
-Enishi had forced him to the ground when his sword had fallen from his hands. He could feel the end upon him and he peered over to where Kaoru was so she was the last thing he saw before death took him, but she wasn't there. He looked around for a moment before he felt her arms around him. Fear flashed in his entire being as he realized that she was making the same mistake Tomoe had.-
Kaoru should have let him die. Kaoru shold be the one ourning over the loss of himself...it was not supposed to be like this.
A shudder passed through his being as he came to the conclusion of what should be done. He would take her back to Tokyo where she belonged and see to it that she was laid to rest properly. Then he would follow her into the darkness. He would not leave her to suffer alone. This was the absolution of the love he felt for her.
-He told her to run. He told her to get away from him, but she just wouldn't listen. Instead, she looked at him, a glow of something he couldn't quite catch in those beautiful gems of eyes and a peaceful smile on her face as Enishi's blade ran clear through her. She winced, but her task was not done yet. She reached for Kenshin's sakabato and thrist it into Enishi's chest.-
Kenshin picked up Kaoru's body and held it against him, holding her. The first glimpses of death were upon her but that did not concern him. He held her anyway. Despite the chill of her lifeless body, he leaned down and kissed her, the slighetst brush of his lips against her own. He should have done this while she was alive. There were so many things he should have done while she was alive; so many things he would have done if she had lived.
The soft sound of footsteps in the sand reached his ears, but he did not care who it was. They could end his life for all he cared, so lost was he.
"Kenshin."
-"KAORU!!" He had screamed. After that, everything seemed to slow down. Enishi fell, crumpling as he bled out and Kaoru slumped against Kenshin, who held her. All the while, he could feel her warm blood pour against his chest.-
Kenshin turned slowly at the somewhat soothing female voice that had called out his name. Black blue hair swayed gently in the breeze. Striking green eyes that were filled with a slight sorrow stared down at him, but she smiled slightly at the thought that she had even acknowledged him. He may have seen her before, but the image was a shadow in his mind.
"I'll tell you why you hurt" The woman said softly. Kenshin layed Kaoru down gently and looked at her, openly confused before his face hardened into a scowl. Of course he knew why he was in pain. He loved Kaoru and she was dead.
-"I'm sorry, Kenshin...I u-used swordsmenship...to...kill." Kaoru had whispered with the last of her breath before she shivered slightly and passed away. He looked down at her as he laid her on the ground. Enishi had pulled his sword from her when he had died. He looked at the scene before him and tried to let it become a reality. He felt the realization come upon him in a wave and he screamed. Screamed for everything he had ever lost.-
"It's because you did not cry for her when the ones you loved died. You just stared at them when they passed and didn't shed a single tear. When Tomoe died, you didn't cry, so your heart took in all the sorrow. Now it is happening again because you won't cry for Kaoru." The woman leaned foward and pulled him into a hug. Kenshin was too numb to resist and siply rested his chin in the dip of her shoulder. She was warm...just like they had been...just like Kaoru should be.
"You know a lot about me...who are you to know these things?" Kenshin whispered hoarsely into her ear. She smiled though he did not see it.
"I told you I would never forget you all thosw years ago, and I meant it." She paused and let out a soft sigh. "I've been around you for so long yet you didn't even know it. In Kyoto I watched you fight for a cause that I couldn't tell if you believed in or not. Like most people, I feared you. You had killed so many and even your former wife hadn't escaped the death, but then I saw what you had done for the country...and I forgave you." Kenshin blinked in confusion. They hardly knew each other but she had forgiven him for what he had done. Tomoe appeared to tolerate his actions because it was what she had grown up in and Kaoru had teied to pretend like it never happened. No one had ever said that they had forgiven him and for some reason it made him happy.
"That still doesn't answer my question...Who are you?" Kenshin was starting to grow adjitated with having to hear everything but what he wanted, but it seemed that he would get nowhere as she continued.
"The two you loved died in the same way, didn't they?" He nodded, "And you won't cry? Why won't you?" He didn't really know the answer, it was simply the way he had grown up and the time period around him.
-"Crying will not be tolerated here. If you want to survive in this world then you must be void of all emotions. To do otherwise would be the end of you"-
His sensei's words buzzed in his head like an angry wasp and he scowled a little. Another reminder of his past.
"It was simply how I grew up." His words were dry, but he hoped that he would eventually get to know her name. The woman seemed to dislike the answer and pushed him away from her before she slapped him, the sound echoing in the air. It stung and made his eyes water. He decided that that was it and he inched away from her and felt his finger tips brush up against Kaoru's body...making his eyes well up with tears.
"They loved me...I loved the both...but they died...I couldn't protect them...They died because we loved each other..." He stared to sob and like a release of the floodgates, tears streamed down his face. He crumpled and the odd woman held him again as he cried. He cried for all the things that diserved his tears. He cried for Tomoe and Kaoru and himself; for the love that brought this nightmare.
She rested a hand on his head in a silent comfort occasionally running her fingers through his hair and whispering soft, comforting words to him. She waited for some time while he cried and whimpered things about his cursed love until he was finally hiccuping occaionally.
"I'm Inari. Inari Hito...Do you remember me?" She said calmly and Kenshin simply nodded. He hadn't forgotten the child he had saved all those years ago from a fate similar to his own.
The question finally answered, he fell into a dreamless sleep.