Kaida walked the streets of Tokyo with her daughter Hikari strapped to her back. The day was growing hotter and she wanted to return to her home before the cold food would spoil.
"Here, Hikari, can you hold this little bag for Mommy? Don't drop it Ok?" Kaida handed her daughter her purse while she looked through the silk, so that she could make a new kimono for Hikari. It was starting to get dirty and worn now that she was able to walk and had a tendency to run through the mud at every opportunity. As she held up the material for an obi, to get a better view of the colors, she spotted a redheaded man going through the crowd.
Kenshin! She almost lost the grip of the fabric, but caught it before the delicate material hit the dirt floor. She placed it back onto the peg it had been hanging from and ran out of the shop.
Which way was he going? Right! Over where the…dojo used to be…
"Hold on tight ok Hikari?" Her daughter grabbed onto her neck as she walked at the fastest pace her kimono would allow her. She turned the corner to see Kenshin standing in the center of the rubble where the Kamiya Dojo used to stand. She quietly walked over to where he stood, hoping he would sense her before she said anything. Without turning around Kenshin spoke to her. "Excuse me, but if you don't mind telling me, what happened here?" The tone in his voice seemed lost and hopeless. "The Kamiya Dojo burned down after the murders four years ago. There was no one left to take care of the place so it just sat there becoming dirtier. Finally some vandalists set it on fire and fled. No one's been the same since you left, Kenshin."
At the sound of his name Kenshin gasped and slowly turned around. His eyes met with the emerald gaze of the girl he had left four years earlier. "Kaida?" He noticed the child now resting on her shoulder. "So…you have a family now?" Kaida noticed the hopeless look in his eyes and heard it in his voice again. How she hated when he looked like that. "I guess you could say that. I'd really rather not talk about it until it's necessary." Kaida tried to avoid telling Kenshin of what had happened to her only a matter of days after he had left her.