I know, I know! It's taken long! I was busy with school and all that stuff. Gomen *lowers her head in defeat*

But I promise I'll update faster this time. But hey! Look on the bright side, I've made this chapter MUCH longer than the other ones *wink wink* How about that! So you people stay off my back!

Disclaimer: Ow, do I really have to say this again?! Mou!! Idon'townthecharactersofRurouniKenshin!! There! _*

/…..\ Someone's thoughts. Now, let's cut the crap and start reading the fic! Enjoy ^_^

Love Confessions; Part 4

Loneliness

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Kenshin walked down the dusty road.

He had succeeded to get out of town without any problems. Kaoru had been the only thing that had been in his mind and he couldn't stop thinking about her.

"Mou, get her out of your head. She doesn't mean anything to you" He had been trying not to think of Kaoru but it didn't help.

"I've been nothing but a burden since I started to live in de dojo. I'm sure she's glad that I've finally left"

His master wouldn't be happy to see him.. He was sure of that, but he didn't have anywhere else to go.

And besides, Kenshin thought, Master doesn't care about me so he would not care to ask me what I'm doing there, so I won't really have to worry about being asked why I left the dojo or what I'm doing there. He relaxed at the thought and continued his journey.

/The only reason I'm going there is to finish my training\ he said to himself and walked faster. He decided to rest for a while. Only a few minutes then I'll move on again, he insisted and he put his things down and sat under a tree.

He had been travelling for 5 days and was happy that he would reach his destination in a few hours. Although he wasn't very thrilled with the fact that he would be living with his shishio, he was glad that he could at least have some place to stay.

~*~

"I saw him a few days ago. It looked as if he was leaving the town" Kaoru was walking in the streets when she overheard the conversation between the two ladies who were busy talking to each other. "You know, the red-headed man who lives in that dojo?" Kaoru paused and stared at the two women.

Are they talking about Kenshin? She thought as she tried to catch more of what they were saying.

"I think he left town"

"Come to think of it, I think I've see him before." The other woman said and paused as she tried to think of the last time that she had seen the man.

Kaoru was staring at them, waiting patiently for the woman's next words. In her mind she was praying that it was Kenshin they were talking about.

She hadn't seen Kenshin for 5 days and had become impatient by the day. But Sano always stopped her from going and said that they had to be patient.

Kaoru didn't understand that. She wanted to go after Kenshin, she wanted to see him again, but Sano had been stopping her.

He said that they were supposed to wait. Wait. They had been waiting for 5 days. 5 long, quiet, lonely days and Kenshin still hadn't returned!

"Yes! I remember him! It's that man who lives in the Kamiya dojo! People are saying that he had a fight with that Kaoru girl and left"

The girl who had been listening to the women froze. Kenshin! It's Kenshin! They saw Kenshin leaving town! She failed to hear the last sentence as she beamed with happiness.

With about ten million questions in her head, she walked to the women and bowed politely to them.

"I heard you talk about a man who left town. When do you last see him?" she asked in a polite tone. The two women turned and looked at the girl in front of them. "Do you know him?" one of the women asked as she studied Kaoru. She could tell that she girl was nervous. "Hai, He lived in my dojo" /used to.. but not anymore\ she thought. Kaoru once again felt empty, the same feeling she had since Kenshin had left.

"I saw him a few days ago. It was almost dark and I wanted to go to my house when I saw him. He didn't have very much with him, only a few things I think he might have needed." Kaoru tried to think of places where Kenshin might have gone.

"That's all I need to know. Arigatou" Kaoru bowed to the women again before walking away quickly.

I need to talk to Sano, was the first thing that came up to her as she walked through the streets. She didn't notice that someone was coming from the corner until... THUG!

"Itai!" Kaoru rubbed her head as she shot a deadly glare to the person in front of her. "Oy, Jo-chan?" Sano said as he stood up. He studied the little missy as she dusted the dirt of her kimono and wondered where she was going to in such a hurry. He also noticed that the girl hadn't been to any places for a week and was relieved that she had decided to come out of the dojo.

"Sano!" The anger vanished as she saw him standing there. "Iwaswalkinginthestreets, Isawtwoladiestalkingabout Kenshinandthey-"

Confused and shocked, Sano stared at the girl as he tried to catch a word of what she was saying. "Oi, Jo-chan stop!" Kaoru sighed and lowered her gaze to look at her feet. "Look, just start over again, this time go slowly, I'm listening to ya"

Kaoru took a deep breath and started telling her story to Sano, who listened to every word she said.

~*~

Sano was at the dojo with Kaoru. She had told him everything about the two women and now he was trying to think of something.

Yahiko had come to Kaoru and Sano and looked at them in an odd way. He wondered why they were so quiet, but realised it had been quiet since the day Kenshin had left.

He had tried to cheer Kaoru up several times, or at least make her smile, but this seemed to make Kaoru look more sad.

He missed the old Kaoru, the Kaoru who used to smack him with her boken, the one who always told him to do 500 katas, the one who was always filled with happiness.

Kaoru who brightened his days and made him feel loved. He remembered her how blue eyes used to shine with happiness, the blue eyes he truly adored. But now, if he looked in those eyes he would only see pain, sorrow and emptiness. She had become distant from the ones around her and this hurt him even more.

How he longed to see the days when the dojo was alive.

He saw Kenshin doing the laundry, cooking, cleaning the dojo, and going to buy the tofu, smiling, laughing. He even missed Kenshin's famous 'Oro' and the 'de gozaru ka' and the 'dono' that he was used to, hearing them everyday.

Yahiko smiled as he remembered Kenshin. He was truly amazing, he thought. Since he met Kenshin, he had dreamt to become like him.

Yahiko's mind wandered to Sano. Sano had also changed. He wasn't the Sano he knew. Sano had really changed within the past few days. He wasn't as loud as he was before. He didn't talk much as he usually did. His eyes had become a little dull, but still, he had been a very good friend during the hard days. Someone he could trust.

Like Yahiko, he had been doing everything to cheer Kaoru and the others up, but had also failed.

~*~

Sano was in deep thought, trying to put the things he had heard in a line. While doing that, he had also been thinking of the quiet days that had passed so slowly.

Sometimes it seemed as if the days wouldn't end. He was doing everything that came to his mind and still he didn't feel the same.

Gambling, he used to gamble everyday but now, as he was doing it, his mind seemed to focus on something else, so he decided to do something else to pass his time.

He had watched slowly how Kaoru had changed in such a small period of time. How she had become distant from the others. He even knew that she had been crying every night instead of sleeping. That's why she was always so tired and didn't want to do anything with the others.

At first that had shocked him, but as he saw her more, he got used to the odd situation. He had walked to her and held her in his arms as she cried on his chest. He did everything to comfort her; he told her that everything would be all right. But he knew that it wouldn't, everything wouldn't be all right. Not until Kenshin came back. Not until everything went back to normal.

At the moment, Yahiko was probably the most important person to him. Although no one knew, their friendship had really grown during the past few days. Yahiko didn't act like he did before Kenshin left. It actually seemed as if he was years older and this surprised Sano even more.

The night that Kenshin left, he had found Yahiko outside crying silently to himself. As he sat next to him, they started talking and after exchanging a few words Sano found himself crying too.

The other nights had been better. They had talked about a lot of things. About Sano and Megumi, about Kaoru who used to chase Yahiko with her boken, about Kenshin and many more things that had happened when Kenshin was still there.

They had laughed. Laughed like they had never before. Yahiko had teased Sano again and Sano called him 'Yahiko-chan'. Things seemed normal as Yahiko jumped on Sano and they started fighting like the old times.

~*~

Sano smiled as he thought of the nights with Yahiko. They truly had fun together. Something he hadn't had for days.

Kaoru looked at him and wondered why he was smiling. She was even more confused as Sano burst into laughter and laughed like a maniac. /What's gotten into him?\ She looked at Yahiko and saw that he had joined Sano with the laughter.

As she looked at the two boys, she realised that it was kind of funny. She smiled as she watched them laugh.

She felt the pain in her heart disappear for a moment, and without even knowing, she found herself laughing with Sano and Yahiko.

The two boys stopped laughing and they stared at Kaoru. Kaoru was laughing? They looked at the girl who couldn't stop laughing and wondered how she could've laughed so much.

Sano couldn't help it and held his breath at the sight in front of him.

She looked beautiful! For a moment, he couldn't believe that it was her. Then he saw her eyes; the eyes that had been expressionless for such a long time now shone with happiness.

Yahiko looked at Kaoru with the same expression as Sano. Beautiful. That was what he was thinking now. He wouldn't even dare to call her 'busu' at that moment because he knew that would be the biggest mistake of his life. Right now Kaoru was the most beautiful person he'd ever seen.

Soon, the whole room was filled with laughter. Kaoru felt as if she was in heaven. It really felt nice to laugh again and for a moment she didn't think about the so-called Kenshin.

After shedding her tears of laughter, Kaoru looked at Sano and Yahiko and smiled warmly.

"Arigatou" she said as she played with her kimono's sleeves. The two boys only smiled back and nodded. Silence once again filled the room and they all waited patiently for someone to say something.
"Kaoru, it's nice to see you laughing again" Yahiko said and blushed a bit at his words. He wasn't used to talk to Kaoru like that.

"Hey Jo-chan! I see you haven't lost your touch" Sano grinned in a sheepish way and rubbed the back of his head.

"Would you two like to eat something?" Kaoru remembered that she had made some food but did not eat it.

"Food, Jo-chan? Err, no thanks, I already ate at Tae's place" Sano actually didn't want to eat her food as he thought of how it tasted. Even if she had laughed, he still wouldn't eat her food! Yahiko thought the same as the boy in front of him and grinned at Kaoru.

"Mou!!" Kaoru pouted and she crossed her arms across her chest. She wanted to sound mad but found herself smiling instead.

*******************

A/N: I know. Lots of angst in here, ne? Please review and tell me what you think. Ideas for the next chapter are welcome! ^_~

Should Kaoru go after Kenshin. Should Kenshin return to Kaoru? Should Kaoru start a new life without Kenshin and end up with.. uhm.. Sano??! O_o; Tell me what you want to see!

Email me for questions of comments. Hell, even flames ! : Nouchisan@hotmail.com

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