New chapter is new! Please enjoy and review!
It had been late when they finally reached the small house outside Otsu. Kaoru's ankle had only gotten worse and Kenshin was now being forced to carry her. She had fallen asleep on his shoulder almost ten minutes later leaving Tomoe and Kenshin to walk in silence. She could sense the tension around them but didn't comment on it. Neither did he.
"There are only two rooms." Tomoe observed as they entered the small building. She noticed a fire had been set for their arrival. Katsura hadn't been lying when he said the house would be ready for them to live in. She glanced at Kaoru as they girl shifted in Kenshin's arms before her eyes opened.
"We can all share a room if Kenshin doesn't mind." Kaoru pointed out. Tomoe shook her head before disappearing into the other room which was really only separated by a movable divider. She sighed before going back to the couple. She blinked as Kenshin had set Kaoru on the floor so her ankle was propped up against his lap as he had also sat down.
"There are three futons. I can bring one up here to sleep one so you can share the back room. We need to make the newlywed story as believable as possible. We may be on the outskirts of Otsu but that doesn't mean we won't get visitors." Tomoe said as she took a seat on the other side of Kaoru.
"We should probably go get some provisions tomorrow. We can't live here without anything to eat." Kaoru pointed out. Tomoe pulled her pouch to lay the money they had in front of them.
"We don't have that much, really. This could sustain for only a month at most. And that's if we ration." Tomoe replied. The other girl sighed before shaking her head.
"My family farmed." Kenshin whispered. Kaoru and Tomoe looked at him surprise. Tomoe could also see the softness in Kaoru's eyes. She had a feeling the man rarely said anything about his family. She watched as Kaoru reached out to place a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Kenshin, I didn't know your family had a farm. There's quite a bit of land here." she whispered. Kenshin nodded before letting out a sigh.
"Indeed. We can get some necessities we need immediately and buy some things to grow. I'll also grow herbs and other things to make medicines. We might have trouble the first few months but we shouldn't be here that long." Kenshin said. The two women watched as he stood up while slipping his sword back into his belt.
"Kenshin?" Kaoru whispered, making his name a question. Tomoe watched as he looked down at the other girl with a soft gleam in his eyes.
"I'm going to look around to see what I can find. Tomoe-san, would you help her get into bed? It's been a long day and we need our rest." he requested. Tomoe nodded before he exited the house allowing the door to swing shut behind him.
"He has so many shadows haunting him. It worries me that…he may never become the true Himura Kenshin." Kaoru whispered softly. Tomoe laid a gentle hand on her shoulder to get her attention. She smiled gently at her.
"It will be okay." she said. Even though deep inside of her she wasn't sure if she was telling the truth. She could only hope she was. She had a horrible feeling about the future but kept that to herself.
The days went by slowly. Kenshin had been right about it being hard the first few months but not about how they would only be there a short amount of time. After the third month they had gotten into the routine of taking care of the gardens, Kenshin selling medicinal herbs, and both Tomoe and Kaoru taking care of the local children. Spring had turned into summer and summer was slowly morphing into fall.
"It'll be getting cold soon. We should start making thicker blankets to sleep under." Kaoru said one night after they had cleaned up from supper. Kenshin was sitting against the wall with his arms and legs crossed. He looked up from where he had been watching the fire to nod at Kaoru with a small smile.
"I'll see what fabrics I can find in the village tomorrow then. Is there anything else you need?" he asked gently. He watched as Kaoru looked away from him as her hands fisted into her kimono.
"No." she whispered. He could tell she was lying.
"Kaoru, just tell him. We can splurge every once in a while." Tomoe said from where she was washing the dishes. Kenshin spared her a glance before looking back at Kaoru. The girl was refusing to look at him.
"Kaoru?" he asked. He wondered what she wanted but refused to ask for.
"Well…it's a little selfish, I guess. I…I really want to receive a ribbon from you, Kenshin." she whispered. He blinked in surprise before swallowing to keep a blush from his face. He glanced back at Tomoe when he heard her giggle softly.
"Kaoru has always collected ribbons. She's never asked for one before though. She must really care about you, Kenshin." Tomoe teased. Kenshin continued to force himself to not blush at the statement. He watched as Kaoru stood up with a bright blush spread across her cheeks.
"Never mind! I'm going to go check on the garden!" she said before running out of the house. Tomoe giggled as Kenshin jumped to his feet. He looked at her and she shook her head at him.
"Don't stand there staring at me. Go talk to her." she told him with a grin. He blinked before also leaving the room. He had no desire to stay and talk with Tomoe. He always felt uncomfortable around her. He felt it was because she knew he knew she didn't like him. As he walked towards the garden he could see Kaoru standing there just staring out into the distant.
"Kaoru?" he asked softly. She jumped before turning to him with wide eyes. He bit back a smile as he realized she was still blushing. He found it cute.
"You didn't have to come out here, Kenshin. I just needed to get some fresh air. You can go back inside." she told him. He shook his head with a soft smile on his face.
"It's alright. What is your favorite color?" he asked. He watched as she blinked in confusion up at him. He took a step closer to her so they were facing each other. He could feel her body heat radiating from her because of how close they were. He could see how blue her eyes were when he was this close.
"I…I really like the color blue. My mother always said I looked nice in blue before she passed away." she whispered. He smiled at her causing her blush to return full force.
"A blue ribbon it is." he told her. He watched as her eyes widened before softening as her blush began to glow. He reached out to put a gentle hand on her arm. She looked up at him through her eyelashes with a smile shining in her eyes.
"Thank you, Kenshin." she whispered. He nodded before leaning down. He could feel her shift as well and knew she was drawing closer. His eyes slipped closed as their lips brushed gently for a moment before he pulled back. The smile on her face was still there. It made his heart rate speed up.
"We should go back inside. Tomoe will wonder where we've gotten to because of how late it's getting." Kaoru finally whispered after a few moments. He nodded in agreement and followed her back to the house they were calling home. He stopped at the thought. He watched as Kaoru turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Kenshin?" she whispered softly. He looked at her with wide eyes.
"Is this what home feels like?" he asked. She smiled before going over and taking his hand to drag him towards the building. They walked in silence before stopping in front of the door. She once again looked at him.
"Yes. This is what home feels like." she answered. He managed a small smile before allowing her to pull him into the house. The house that was becoming home.
Fall changed into winter and Kenshin met with an Ishin Shishi a few times to get updates on what was happening Kyoto. Kaoru nor Tomoe were around during the meetings as both women felt uncomfortable around him. Time continued to pass on with the children coming to play and help them. It was one night that had been overtaken by snow and Tomoe had gone to bed early that Kenshin and Kaoru talked.
"Tomoe-san doesn't seem to like me very much." he said as they sat against the wall of the room they shared. Kaoru sighed before looking at him.
"It's because she…she lost her special someone. He was killed in the war. I think…I think it hurts her when she sees us together. I don't think she means to let it show but…she lost the man she loved. I can understand why." Kaoru whispered. She blinked as Kenshin put an arm around her shoulders. She moved her gaze up to see he was staring off into the distance with determined eyes.
"I will do everything I can to protect her and your happiness from now on. I won't let you lose your happiness." he told her. She smiled at him before leaning up and kissing the scar on his cheek. She watched as his eyes widened in surprise. She just gave him a small smile in return.
"I know you will, Kenshin. One day…Tomoe will like you, I just know it. She just has to heal first." Kaoru whispered. He nodded in agreement before moving to lay his head atop of Kaoru's. She smiled as her nose caught the scent of the firewood he had brought in earlier that day. She yawned before slowly falling asleep Kenshin. She was aware when he placed her on the futon and also when he laid down.
She wasn't sure how long she slept before a sound from the other room roused her. She sat up and could see a figure moving through the shoji that separated the two rooms. She glanced at Kenshin to see he was still sound asleep. She slowly climbed to her feet and peeked around the wall. Her eyes widened as she saw Tomoe was awake and moving around.
"Tomoe-san?" she asked quietly so she wouldn't wake Kenshin. She knew he had trained himself to be a light sleeper. She didn't blame him considering all he had been through in his short life.
"Oh, Kaoru. You're awake. I was just going to go visit a…friend. They told me to come early so I was getting ready to leave." Tomoe told her. Kaoru frowned before quickly disappearing back into the bedroom. She rummaged through the small amount of stuff before grabbing the object she had been looking for. She went back to the other room and held it out.
"For protection. It's really early and you don't know what's out there." she told her. Tomoe took the dagger before looking at Kaoru with a confused look on her face.
"Where did you get such a thing?" she whispered. Kaoru smiled as she shrugged her shoulders.
"Father gave it to me before he passed away. He used it to protect himself before the Bakumatsu broke out. Please use it, Tomoe-san." she whispered. Tomoe nodded before slipping it inside her obi with a small smile.
"Thank you, Kaoru-chan. I'll be back later in the evening." Tomoe told her. Kaoru nodded before going back to the room. She found she was wide awake and wouldn't be able to return to sleep. She quickly dressed and decided she would warm the bath for Kenshin. She left the building and began to pump the water.
She continued to work until she was sure the water was warm before reentering the house only to pause as she saw Kenshin standing there. He turned and she blinked at the piece of paper he was holding. She set down the tub of water she was holding as she waited for him to say something.
"I found this. It says Tomoe-san has been taken and…if I don't come to them they're going to kill her." he whispered. Kaoru felt her eyes widen.
"What? But…Tomoe left earlier this morning on her own. She said…she said she was going to visit a friend. How…how did they manage to get in here without either of us noticing?" Kaoru asked. She watched as he threw the paper down and disappeared back into the bedroom. She could hear him moving around only for her eyes to widen when he reappeared dressed in his hakamas with his sword at his side.
"Kenshin! Where are you going?" she cried. She swallowed at the hard look in his eyes. She found that he looked exactly as he had when they first met in Kyoto.
"I promised to protect both of yours happiness. I'm going to go get her back." he told her as he walked to the door. She quickly followed as she watched with worried eyes. She felt as though something was about to go horribly wrong. No matter how hard he tried she had a feeling someone was going to get hurt.
"Please be careful, Kenshin." she whispered as he began to disappear into the horizon. She wasn't sure how long she stared, turning away the children who came to play, until the sun finally set. She swallowed before going over to the piece of paper Kenshin had dropped earlier and read it. Her eyes went wide as she noticed the note said they would be waiting for him in the forest.
'I…I have to go! I can't let him do this by himself!' she thought. She ran into the bedroom and grabbed her shawl. She quickly followed the path Kenshin had taken earlier that morning. She didn't know what was leading her but she found she knew exactly where she was going.
She stopped as she reached the edge of the forest. She took a deep breath before running in. She swallowed as she came onto a scene covered in blood. She shook her head before continuing on. She had to get to Kenshin as soon as possible. She knew what he did. She couldn't begrudge him fighting for what he thought was right. She continued to run, ignoring another bloody scene she passed, only to stop breathing hard as she finally reached a clearing. She was surprised to see a large wooden house standing there in the clearing.
She looked around frantically only for her heart to stop when she finally saw Kenshin. He was covered in blood. He was kneeling in front of a man who had his sword raised as though to strike Kenshin. Kaoru felt her heart jerked back into life as the man began to bring the sword down. She started to run towards him as fear began to move her into action.
'He can't! I can't let him die!' she thought as she managed to jump in front of him. She gasped as a burning pain engulfed her back. She realized, hazily, that it hadn't been the unknown man's but Kenshin's sword that had cut her. She fell back only for Kenshin to catch her before she could hit the snow. She managed to give him a small smile as she could feel the world growing darker.
"KAORU!" she moved her eyes as she felt hands on her shoulder. She smiled as she saw Tomoe was staring at her horrified. She let out a small breath only to realize her breathing was rapidly slowing. It didn't take long for her to realize she was dying although she had already subconsciously known it.
"You both need to be happy. This world…needs…happiness." she whispered before her vision went black and she went limp in Kenshin's arms.
"NO! KAORU! GIVE HER BACK! PLEASE, GIVE HER BACK! NOW!" Kenshin screamed as he held her close. He could feel anger and guilt rolling off of himself. He couldn't find a way to keep the sorrow from overtaking him. "Please, let me go with you."
"Kenshin!" he looked up only to blink as Tomoe slashed a knife across his left cheek and the scar already there. He had the distinct feeling this new cut was also going to scar. "Get hold of yourself! Kaoru saved your life so you could live on! You need to live on for her! Don't wish for your death! As long…as long as this scar remains, I will never forgive you for those words!"
"Tomoe." he whispered softly. She continued to glare at him as the snow fell around them while they sat in the blood stained snow.
"We buried her in Kyoto before I was sent to the front lines of the Bakumatsu." Kenshin finished softly. Kaoru sat there in shock. She had known what she was going to hear but the fact she had actually heard it was hard. She could see in both of their eyes it had been a painful story to tell.
"But…how did…how did you become like this?" she asked softly. Tomoe let out a soft sigh before pulling something from the inside of her jacket. Kaoru felt her eyes widen as she realized it was a dagger. Kaoru didn't understand why she was carrying a dagger around.
"Kaoru gave me this before she passed away. I noticed shortly after her death…the dagger was pulsing. It came into my mind that…I needed to take my heart. I did so and realized I hadn't died." Tomoe whispered. Kaoru's eyes went wide before she leaned forward.
"Wait, what?" she demanded. Tomoe looked up at her with a shrug.
"She carved her heart out with that dagger. The thing is…she survived and her heart is the only one to have disappeared." Kenshin told her. Kaoru felt as though another big question mark was hanging over head.
"Huh?"
"She also carved our hearts out when we were close to death. Our hearts, however, never disappeared. We keep them…in storage." he whispered. Her eyes went wide before she looked at him in shock. He nodded towards Tomoe who was studying Kaoru's profile. Kaoru turned to Tomoe as she waited. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting as an explanation but it had certainly not been this.
"The hearts are kept alive by the magic that surrounds this knife. We keep them in separate trunks to represent each person who has been touched by this magic. I cannot tell you where it comes from because I do not know myself. Like Kenshin said, I can only use the knife to help those who are already on the edge of death. Aoshi, Misao, Megumi, Sanosuke, Yahiko, who you have yet to meet, plus Kenshin and myself have all lost our hearts this way." Tomoe told her. Kaoru bit the inside of her cheek before holding her hand out.
"May I?" she whispered. Tomoe nodded before handing her the dagger. Kaoru's eyes went wide at not only the wait but the warmth. They grew even wider as it pulsed in her hand. "It's like a heartbeat."
"The magic in this dagger keeps all of us alive. The only way to kill any of us is to destroy the dagger that changed us or to stab our heart." Tomoe told her. Kaoru nodded before looking away from the object in her hand to the two people in her room.
"That's the only way then?" she inquired softly.
"Well, there is one more way for us to die. That is if the person trying to kill us can imitate the circumstances that we were originally meant to die in. Let's use Misao as an example. She had been shot in the Aoiya, a restaurant in Kyoto, and was bleeding profusely from the wound in her shoulder. She would have died if I had not been there. Now, for her to die like that again she must be shot in the exact same spot she was over a hundred years ago. In the clothes she was wearing." Tomoe revealed. Kaoru blinked in surprise before giving a soft laugh.
"I can't see many people keeping the clothes they were meant to die in." Kaoru murmured to herself.
"As Kenshin told you earlier, the magic also affects our belongings. Those clothes are also kept but with the hearts. We keep it under lock and key." Tomoe told her. Kaoru sighed before holding the dagger out to the older woman. She wasn't sure why she was so calm but something about these people made her feel at home. Even if they were much older than her she felt as though she belonged. She had only felt that when her parents had still been alive.
"There is one more thing. The hearts can be returned to the owner. But for it to succeed and for the receiver to live the person doing it must have a very strong spirit. A successful return has not been done since we became like this." Tomoe said. Kaoru looked at Kenshin only to look away. Something in her felt like she was breaking.
"That's so sad…that means you can't love." she whispered. She didn't see the startled looks they gave her. She glanced up at Kenshin as he put a gentle hand on her shoulder. She could see the smile in his eyes.
"We can offer strong friendship though." he told her. She nodded before letting out a soft sigh and looking up at Tomoe.
"I have another question. Do you have somewhere I can train?" Kaoru asked. She watched as they both blinked at her in surprise. She guessed they weren't exactly expecting the question.
"Train?" Tomoe finally managed to repeat.
"Yes. I'm a successor to the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu my great-great-great grandfather created. I wasn't able to learn much from my father before he passed away so I memorized the sets written down and practice them each day." Kaoru said with a bright smile on her face. She watched in amusement as the two shared another look before turning back to her.
"You practice swordsmanship, Miss Kaoru?" Kenshin finally managed to ask. Kaoru nodded.
"I can protect myself. That guy from Shishio just really caught me off guard. I need to practice so I can stay sharp." she said. She jumped as the door bounced open and a young boy was standing there breathing hard. She blinked at his spiky hair and the bokken strapped across his back.
"You know Kamiya Kasshin Ryu?" he demanded. She nodded in confusion. "I'm Myojin Yahiko, I was a student of that style before I…died. Would you finish my training so I can become a Master?!"
There are reasons for some of the holes in the story and those will be explained at a later date. I hope you enjoy, please, please review! I greatly appreciate it!
