-1I do not own any of the Characters in this story; only Matakashi. They belong to the genius that created it and I have no right to say that they are mine. Though I really wish they were. I hope you enjoy the continuance of this story because it only gets better.

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Kenshin came back in later after he thought on what had happened. He didn't speak when he entered the dojo; he just went to his room to get a couple of hours of sleep at the least.

The others didn't disturb him even when it was dinner time; they just sat and ate the meal that Megumi cooked for them quietly. Soon after that they went to bed, except for Megumi and Doctor Gensai, though they too eventually fell asleep.

Morning

A scream pierced their groggy, sleep fogged minds. Jerking awake, Kenshin ran to the source and discovered that he came to Kaoru's bedroom door. He threw the door open and his eyes landed on the one screaming. It wasn't Kaoru, it was Megumi, and instead of Kaoru lying on the futon, there wasn't anyone. He looked around and that was when he noticed the small trail of blood leading out onto the porch.

He quickly followed it and lost the trail as it entered the woods behind the dojo. He twisted around to find his friends, his new family, waiting on his command to find Kaoru.

"We'll split up and search in different directions, until someone finds her. When you do, whistle, can everyone here whistle?" He asked; they nodded in answer.

"Good, when you find her whistle until one of us shows up. She can't have gone far. Let's go," and with that he took off, trying to pick up her trail again.

The farther he went in, the darker it got, and the harder it was for him to follow the trail he picked up earlier. Finally, he lost it and he stood for a moment trying to get his bearings.

"Vhiiiiiii," startled he stopped looking around.

"Vhiiiiiii," sounded again and he knew that she had been found.

He took off towards the sound, dodging trees and low shrubs to get there.

With Kaoru

Yahiko stood stock still as he looked at the scene before him. Kaoru was laying on a huge rock that was next to a large stream. She was on her back even though it was bleeding and her blood was running down the sides of the rock. Through all of this she sang, a song that was haunting, yet stunning in its beauty.

"How can you see into my eyes
Like open doors?
Leading you down into my core,
Where I've become so numb.

Without a soul,
My spirit's sleeping somewhere cold,
Until you find it there and lead it back
Home."

She had a rose in her hand and a dark indigo ribbon was tied in a neat bow around it. Yahiko knew the story of that ribbon and who had given her that rose. Before she had been kidnapped by Jin eh, she had given her ribbon to Kenshin, knowing that sooner or later that he was going to fight Jin eh. And since he had her favorite ribbon she told him that he had to come back to give it to her. She continued to sing as he remembered what he had been told about it.


"Wake me up inside.
Wake me up inside.
Call my name and save me from the dark.
Bid my blood to run.
Before I come undone.
Save me from the nothing I've become."

She had been kidnapped right after she had given it to him. He had gone after Jin eh and found out that if he didn't kill his opponent that Kaoru would die. He had somehow frozen her lungs, preventing her from breathing, and the only way to break it was for him to die.

"Now that I know what I'm without,
You can't just leave me.
Breathe into me and make me real.
Bring me to life."

She had told him with her eyes not to kill him, but he didn't see any other way. So he started to fight Jin eh and finally when he went to kill him, she broke out of her state and started to heave great breaths of precious air. She looked to him and whispered, for her voice was very weak,

"Please do not revert back to the Hitokiri... do not utilize the sword... to... kill...," and with that she had started to fall forward.

Kenshin rushed to her side and caught her. Kenshin talked to Jin eh and then he had killed himself instead of being captured alive. Later, after everything that had happened, Kenshin had washed the blood stained ribbon and tied it to a rose and gave it to her. He asked her to forgive him for getting blood on it. She had smiled and gave him a quick hug, before taking out her magical bokken and thumped Yahiko over the head for calling her something inappropriate.

"Wake me up inside.
Wake me up inside.
Call my name and save me from the dark.
Bid my blood to run.
Before I come undone.
Save me from the nothing I've become."

He whistled again and soon he started to hear the running of feet towards him. Suddenly Kenshin burst out from his left, looking a little frantic, but that quickly changed to shock as he looked at the scene before him. He looked at Yahiko with shock and little bit of anger, but shook his head and proceeded to get closer to her. He finally noticed that she was singing and he looked a little frightened at the words she sang.

"Bring me to life.
(I've been living a lie.
There's nothing inside)
Bring me to life.

Frozen inside without your touch,
Without your love, darling.
Only you are the life among the dead."

Sano and Megumi emerged from the right a ways apart and came to stand next to Yahiko. They watched as Kenshin walked closer and closer to Kaoru after she had finally stopped singing her song. Still she twirled the rose between her fingers and hummed the haunting melody of the song that would stay forever within Yahiko.

"You're all that I have left now of him, little rose. He gave me you with my favorite ribbon tied to you. He gave you to me after I was kidnapped and asked for forgiveness for getting blood on the ribbon that you hold. He washed it off of course before he gave me you. Now you're the only thing that I have left of him. They all died and I'm all alone again. Mama died fighting for me, so did Daddy. Sano and Yahiko died from Matakashi's men, I think that Megumi died from them as well. Kenshin ...'she sobbed, 'Kenshin died from Matakashi even after he had killed him. I'm all alone again; I hate the dark when I'm alone, my memories come to haunt me when it's dark. Why does everyone I know die for me in the end? Why?" She whispered to herself, yet the others heard everything that she had said and it chilled them deep.

"What's wrong with her Megumi?" Yahiko asked, terrified.

"She's still trapped inside her mind from the poison. She thinks that we all died because in her dreams she must have dreamt of us dying because of Matakashi's men. Now she thinks she's the only one left." Megumi answered.

Kenshin approached and noticed that her eyes were fogged over and she probably couldn't see anything as she cried silently. He climbed unto the rock and gently lifted her into his arms; she was asleep, the rose hanging loosely in her hand. She sighed and unconsciously snuggled closer to him though she winced in pain as she stretched the newly opened wound on her back. He jumped down from the bloodied rock and walked quickly to his new family. They followed him out of the woods and into her bedroom once again.

He laid her gently on her futon and took the rose she held from her loose fingers and laid it above her head. Megumi ushered everyone out of the room except Doctor Gensai. They set about mending the tear that she had created by moving while the others went about cleaning the blood that stained the porch deck.

After they had finished the guys all sat on the front porch of the dojo and watched as the sun started it's decent in the sky. The silence was broken when Yahiko's stomach growled loudly startling the others out of their reveres. They laughed a little before Kenshin got up and went to fix an early dinner.

Sano and Yahiko sat in a comfortable silence until Kenshin came back out to tell them that the food was done and that they better eat before it gets cold. They both nodded and got up heading inside.

Kenshin ate quickly and went to get Megumi and Doctor Gensai, who were watching over Kaoru, so that they could eat, yet still have someone watching over her. They thanked him gratefully and left him alone with her.

In her room

He smoothed some hair out of her face and was grateful for the peaceful look that she had on her face. He sat there for awhile and just watched her sleep. He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes for a moment. He didn't expect to doze off, but that was what happened.

He didn't notice or hear when Kaoru awoke and looked at him.

"Kenshin...help me...please..." She whispered as she reached her hand out to touch him, but she fell short and her eyes glistened over with tears. Her hand dropped heavily to the ground and her eyes clouded over before she fell into her own Hell once more.

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A/N: Sorry for taking so long in updating. I couldn't figure out how to write this chapter...I might have chapter 8 up real soon as a way of making up the time I didn't update...I hope you enjoyed this new chapter...I would love it if you would review and let me know what I could do to improve it...Thanks ...