She watched him from afar and knew that he wouldn't take much notice of her; not with Tomoe around. Demure, beautiful, charming, kind, sophisticated, and everything a woman of class was supposed to be…that's what Tomoe was. She didn't hate the other woman. How could she? She was everything he needed and he was happy. It was obvious that he was happier when she was near him. That's what was important, right? Why then did she feel a huge hole in her chest when he walked by her? If his happiness made her happy, then why did she feel like crying when he held Tomoe's hand?
It wasn't long after he came into town that Kenshin met Kaoru. After saving her from that bully Gohei, they became instant friends; nearly inseparable. She had been alone for so long that she had forgotten what it was like to have friends. The time spent with him helped to heal the pain she had felt during the long years after her father's death. She felt like a whole person again. With time, her circle of friends grew and eventually became the family that she had always longed for. After a couple of years, and many wild adventures, she grew to care for the man deeply. However, just as autumn eventually becomes winter, their friendship became cold with the coming of a new member of the village.
"Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry!" she said while trying to pick up her small bag of groceries off of his feet.
"Maa maa…this one is fine, that he is. No need to worry," he replied.
When she stood up, he nearly froze. She was strikingly beautiful. As the woman introduced herself to Kaoru, Kenshin could do nothing but stare. When she walked away, food in hand, Kaoru had to nudge her friend into reality. "Um, Kenshin? You ok?" she asked. Later on, she would recognize that as the beginning of her pain. He shook his head to regain some composer and laughed off the slight lapse of mental function as the last rays of summer heat messing with his mind. In her heart she knew it was more than that. What exactly did he see in this new neighbor who said her name was Tomoe?
Eventually, as time tends to do, summer became fall and fall became winter and with the winter came new heartbreak for Kaoru. The people who had become her best friends, her family, slowly grew apart. Megumi went back to Aizu. Sano traveled the world. Yahiko's lessons continued, but grew less often as he started working in the Akabeko more. Misao's duties in Kyoto became so heavy she stopped writing. Eventually, the large dojo that always greeted her with a warm and friendly face held nothing but silence. However, nothing hurt her bruised heart more than when Kenshin decided to spend his every waking moment with her.
Eventually, he stopped doing her laundry, not that she really wanted him to wash her dirty clothes. She knew that he still cared about her, but with every passing day, he spoke to her less and less. One afternoon, while bent over the wash basin scrubbing a kimono, she lost balance and tipped the bucket over; getting dirt (now turned into mud) all over the recently clean cloth. When she noticed she was crying, she tried to brush it off as being upset at having to start over. Deep down though, she knew it wasn't the truth.