Based on the song "There Goes my Life" by Kenny Chesney.

I'm not a country music fan, but this song just captured my heart – as well as the video. Both are beautiful.

I hope you like it.

Vic

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Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin and There Goes my Life are not mine.

There Goes My Life

All he could think about was

How I'm too young for this

I've got my whole life ahead

Hell, I'm just a kid myself

How am I gonna raise one

All he could see were his dreams

Going up in smoke

So much for ditching this town

Hanging out on the coast

Oh well… Those plans are long gone.

He stayed right there, he was just shocked.

He couldn't believe it.

"Kenshin? Kenshin? Are you listening to me? I-I am pregnant," she said sobbing and with a worry face. "Kenshin, I-I want to have…"

"No, it can't be. Are you kidding me?" His tone was full of anger, to himself, to her, to everyone.

Why him?

'There goes my life… Everything is ruined.'

"K-Kenshin…" She couldn't believe her ears.

"Kaoru, we can't… you can't have the baby" He said firmly without looking at her.

More tears were pouring from her eyes. This was hurting her, more than anything else, more than that time he had broken up with her because of his infatuation with that girl. Tomoe was her name?

"Listen to me, Kaoru. This was a mistake; this is going to ruin our future, this…" This time he gripped her shoulders and began shaking her very lightly.

"A mistake? I can't believe your words Kenshin Himura!" She yelled at him and got rid of him. "I'll have this baby, with or without you."

She turned around, tears still in her eyes, and a broken heart.

He just stood there looking at how she was disappearing along the streets.

That was the last time he saw her…

And he said

There goes my life

There goes my future

My everything

Might as well kiss it all goodbye

There goes my life

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Couple years of up all night

And a few thousand diapers later

That mistake he thought he made

Covers up the refrigerator

Oh yeah… He loves that little girl

Momma's waiting to tuck her in

As she fumbles up those stairs

She smiles back at him

Dragging that teddy bear

Sleep tight

Blue eyes and bouncing curls.

Two years have passed since that day.

He was wondering what has happened to her, to Kaoru. He still loved her…

And her baby, their baby.

Did she have him?

Since the day she run off, his mind wondered if he had done the right thing, if he had said the right words…

College had ended long ago, he got a good job, a good pay, but it felt as if there was still something missing.

May be her? May be the baby?

He didn't know.

He continued walking, for some reason, he didn't want to use his car that day. He had gone to work by taking the bus, now, that he was heading back home, he felt that he needed to walk, to breathe some fresh air.

He stopped at a park, and saw several children playing happily over there. He began to wonder again.

If he had accepted the baby, he would have been one of those parents there, but, no.

He had studied so much, worked so hard to leave his dreams in nothing just because of a mistake.

A mistake?

He loved Kaoru, they have agreed to do it but they didn't know that it would happen.

They were young, full of goals. They have been together for quite a while, but they, he, was not expecting to become a father, to raise a child by his own.

His mind had been shot by these thoughts over and over since that day. May be it was he who had made a mistake? 

He sat on a bench, and continued watching the children playing. Suddenly, he saw a little girl with blue eyes approaching to where he was.

'Her eyes, just like hers'

The child looked like she was barely three years old. She had an innocent look, and bright red hair.

He smiled to himself.

'May be that's how our baby would have looked'

"Kio like red hair" She said with a smile pointing at him, "like kio hair."

Kenshin didn't even have time to answer her when he saw a very familiar silhouette coming towards him.

It was her

Her hair was in a low ponytail, as long as it was the last time he has seen her. She was wearing blue jean pants and a baby blue sweater.

She stood in front of him, too busy to notice the man since she had been looking for her daughter.

"Kioku, how many times have I told you not to leave my sight? You could have broken mama's heart if something has happened to you." She hugged the little girl with some tears in her eyes.

"Kio saw red hair. Me wanted to see him" The child said in her mother's embrace, not understanding the situation.

"See him?" Kaoru looked at her daughter just to notice that she was staring at something, or someone behind her.

"Nothing happened to her, she is ok."

'That voice, it couldn't be.'

"Kaoru, how are you?" He asked nervously.

Kaoru turned around and saw the man she swore she wouldn't see ever again.

"Kenshin…"

The world seemed to stop for both of them.

There they were, the father, the mother, the child. But they were not a family… he had chose not to have them as such.

"I-I'm good… I have to go" She took her child and was about to leave when she felt a hand grabbing her wrists.

"Don't… please. I need to talk with you." He said holding a soft gaze.

"Honey, go to play with the other children. Mommy will be right back, ok?" She was hesitating, but she felt that it was necessary to talk with him.

The child nodded and run to the playground.

Kenshin saw Kaoru smiling lovingly at her daughter, their daughter.

"How old is she?" She turned around to see him.

He hadn't changed a lot. The same long hair, the gentle face.

"Two in August" She answered back with a monotonous voice.

She didn't know why she had accepted to talk with him. Her tongue was tied. What would she say? That she did have the baby without him? That he was a stupid man? That she missed him? That she still loved him?

"She's is beautiful… just like you" He whispered the last words.

"She is" Kaoru was agreed. Her daughter was beautiful. Deep blue eyes just like hers, bright red her as her father's… her father…

"Look, I have to go back. The sun is setting down and I don't want her to catch a cold…" She needed to leave, again.

"Wait" She felt two arms around her waist, embracing her so tight that she thought she would pass out if he added just a bit of more force.

"I don't want you to leave" He whispered in her ears. He had missed her a lot, he had missed her smile, her scent…

A mistake

It wasn't a mistake to accept her and the child she was carrying, never. She was theirs after all, the product of their love. No, he wouldn't have done a mistake two years ago, he would have just accepted a new life, but not a mistake.

"Kenshin… don't you think that it's too…" Her voice was merely a whisper.

"No, don't say that. I still have time, have I?" His face was on the side of her neck, his lips caressing the skin he had missed so much.

Kaoru was speechless

How she was waiting for this moment, this moment that seemed impossible to come.

"Kaoru, I need you… I need her." He looked at her teary eyes. One of his hands began caressing her cheek and then he kissed her very softly.

"I thought I had lost you when you said that our lives would be ruined. You broke my heart that day, you know?" Kaoru leaned her head on his right shoulder.

"I was scared, confused… All this time I was thinking about you and our baby." He held her tighter. "And now, now that I have found you, I won't ever let you go."

He looked at where his daughter was playing.

"I thought that everything I had worked for had been for nothing. I thought that my life was gone during that day, and it was…" He turned back to look at Kaoru, and raised her chin so he could see her eyes. "Both of you are my life. It was gone without you."

She smiled while tears were falling freely from her eyes.

Those words, they were the only thing she needed to hear.

She hugged him as he did the same.

"I love you," Kaoru said while kissing his cheek, "and our baby loves you too."

Kenshin looked at her confused.

"I told her that her father was abroad completing a work. I told her that he would be back soon, and that then, she would meet him and he would stay forever with us."

"And I will, I will stay, forever… I love you too." He leaned forward to kiss her again.

He smiles,

There goes my life

There goes my future

My everything

I love you, daddy goodnight

There goes my life.

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She had that Honda loaded down

With Abercrombie clothes

15 pairs of shoes

And his American Express

He checked the oil

Slammed the hood

Said you're good to go

She hugged them both

And headed off to the west coast.       

Time passed as if it was running.

Her first tooth, kindergarten, her first punishment, her first A+, the first boyfriend - which wasn't a very good time for Kenshin as a jealous and protective father -, her prom, her graduation.

His little baby was now a woman, and today, she was leaving for college.

"Take care, my baby" He hugged her tightly and let some drops fall from his eyes.

"I'll be ok dad. It's just four hours away. I'll visit you during the weekends." She said smiling, but tears were in her eyes too.

"Honey, don't forget to call us as soon as you get there" Now it was time for her mother to hugged her. Kaoru couldn't do anything but cry. Her baby was leaving them, to have a new life.

"I won't forget mom, if I do, I know that dad will come rushing to the dorms and do god knows what until he finds me." Kaoru laughed a bit.

Yeah, that was her husband. He would do that. She knew that he was also torn apart because their child was leaving.

"Take care Kio, and don't bring a boyfriend with you when you're back or dad will get the hell out of him" A boy with red hair said while putting his arms around her sister's waist.

"I'll consider that Kenji," Kioku smiled at the boy who was now becoming a teenager, "be a good boy and next time that anyone wants to bother you, tell him that your sis will come back and get the crap out of him."

"Kioku, watch that mouth!" Kaoru said alarmed.

"I'm sorry mom," Kio scratched the back of her head.

"I think you better go, honey, or you won't get there until night" Kenshin said behind her. 

"You're right dad," Kioku breathed, "I'm going to college." She smiled and hugged her parents and her brother again. It was time to leave.

She opened the door with one hand while the other carried a bag. She stood there in the doorway, and waved at her family.

"I'll call you"

And with that, she shut the door and went to the car.

Kenji went back to his room, but Kaoru and Kenshin remained in the living room. They were standing at the window looking at how their girl was disappearing along the road.

"And to think that I left her, both of you" Kenshin said still gazing outside, and then he looked at his wife, "but I'm glad I came back."

"I'm glad too" Kaoru smiled at her husband and kissed him on his cheek.

They both continued looking at the window in each other arms, looking at the path their baby had taken.

The sun was setting down and the night was coming. This night, Kenshin and Kaoru let a part of their lives go away, to form her own path.

And he cried,

There goes my life

There goes my future

My everything

I love you,

Baby goodbye.

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What do you think? Was it good? Please, have mercy.

Vic