Chapter Nine

Sano had a solemn expression on his face. He groaned softly as he sat back into the soft dark leather sofa behind him, his eyes shut closed. After the impromptu meeting with Kaoru he felt as if the life had been sucked out of him. It had taken all his will to just make it to his empty, unfurnished apartment which he had unfortunately forgotten to stock the liquor cabinet.

His mind kept wandering back to Kaoru. No matter how hard he tried not to.

She had looked so unlike what he would've imagined.

Not only was her pale face marred with deep bags and taut cheeks, she had gazed upon him with foreign eyes that held the look of a frightened victim. She had never looked at him, or at anyone with those eyes before. He remembered her bright sapphire eyes, that shined more than any jewel he'd ever seen. He remembered the spark of defiance that was always present. He remember his Kaoru, and that person wasn't her.

"Kenshin, man, what happened?" Sano questioned softly, as he turned his head and gazed at the photo located beside him on the small red oak table.

Lifting it up he couldn't stop the small smile that made its way onto his face.

In the photo were the adolescent forms of Kenshin, Kaoru, and Sano at the lake house their used to go to every summer. Kaoru was snug in between the two of them with her bright smile shining as she proudly held up a giant bass that had taken all three of them to reel in.

Setting the photo down, Sano sighed.

"What happened to us?"

With Soujiro and Enishi

"Has He replied yet?" Enishi questioned as he filled a small paper cup with ice chips for Kaoru.

Soujiro leaned casually against the wall and smirked slightly.

"He called, but hasn't signed it yet."

Enishi raised his eyebrows.

"You're giving him a choice?"

Soujiro chuckled and faced Enishi fully as he took the cup from the silver-haired man's grasp.

"Not really. But I think it's more fun if he actually chose this path."

"You're sadistic," Enishi smiled, "but as long as everything goes as planned, I don't care about the small details."

Soujiro winked and the two made their way back to Kaoru's room.

A.N.

I'm very busy right now with a lot of things, so there probably won't be that many updates soon. But I would like to know if you (my wonderful readers) would either like:

Short chapters more often

Longer chapters but less often