A/N This chapter will be from Kenshin POV. Enjoy!

Deep in your silence

Please try to hear me

I'll keep you near me

'Til night passes by

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Chapter 3 - Lost in the Darkness

Blood. Everywhere I turn, there is blood. It's raining down on me and pooling around me. I can't fight it as it starts to slowly rise. Lifeless bodies are floating in it, faces of those that I killed during the war. Faces that I will never forget as long as I live. The blood is now almost covering me completely. I try to keep my head above it, but it is no use. I can't breathe anymore.

I bolt upright in my bed, gasping and being careful not to let out the scream that is pushing in my throat. After taking slow, even breaths, I wipe the sweat from my face as I try to erase the horrible images from my dream. The war had changed me so much. The only reason that I was allowed back home was because all the killing I had done had driven me mad. A monster had been created inside of me, one that thrived on the smell and taste of blood. The very thought of this creature inside me makes me cringe. Is it really another being inside me, or is that creature the real me? I hope not. I don't want to be that kind of man. The kind that lives off of others suffering, begging for life.

Perhaps that is the reason why I decided to help Kaoru-dono. She was destitute, and just seem to cry out for someone to care for her. Helping her will make me feel like I am a good person. If I truly was a good person, I should be aiding her without trying to make myself feel better for it, but after everything I have done, there is no way that I can ever redeem myself. There is no going back to the person I once was. I may be able to keep up a facade of that man, but he is long gone. All that is left is a broken man, wandering in the darkness, hoping to find a light to guide him back to happiness. I pray that Kaoru-dono will be that light. I desperately need someone to help keep me in check, but I'm afraid what will happen if she ever saw the darker side of my soul. Will she run from me? I couldn't bear the thought.

I know I only met her yesterday, but she has already captured me. Her blue eyes, raven hair, fair skin, and soft voice. She was like an angel, hidden behind a mask of mud. I was the lucky man who got to take her home and see the beauty hidden behind fourteen years of dirt and grime. I wonder how she came to live in such a way. She must be about eighteen, which would mean that she has lived that way since she was four years of age. My gosh! How can such a young child survive living that way for so long? She must be very brave and strong. Fortune must have smiled on me to have allowed me to have such a woman stay in my home.

Eventually, she will discover what I am, I can only pray that she will not turn away.

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A/N If you're wondering about Kaoru's past, it comes up in a later chapter.