Please ignore the, um, 11 month absence from this story.

Also, I realized that I completely forgot part of Act 3 scene 1... so I went back and wrote it. Feel free to back track a little... remember what the hell this story is about, you know how it is.

Act 3, Scene 2

Kaoru looked up from the window as her nurse entered slowly. "Megumi!" she cried happily, bounding over to the other woman, "where have you been? Have you seen Kenshin? He's going to be coming soon..."

"He's dead." Megumi's deadpan voice caught Kaoru's attention immediately.

"What?" she asked, then, as the tears began to rise, "No… no, he can't be dead! Please tell me he's not—" but Megumi was nodding sadly.

"I'm so sorry, Kaoru. I don't want to believe it either. How could he? After he said he loved you."

"How…" Kaoru swallowed, "how did he die? He didn't… did he kill himself?"

Megumi slumped into a chair, folding in onto herself. "Never. He was murdered. Oh, Saitoh-sama…"

Kaoru felt as though her heart had stopped. "Saitoh is dead too?" The world narrowed to a point and Kaoru felt like she was falling, tumbling, with no safety net to catch her. "Kenshin… and Saitoh? They're both dead?" Her chest heaved as she fought to catch her breath. Megumi walked swiftly up to Kaoru and slapped her, hard, to stop her hysterics.

"No!" she hissed angrily, "your stupid love is alive and kicking! He was the one who killed your cousin."

Kaoru froze. This was too much to comprehend. She loved Kenshin too much to ignore the fact that he was human, and he might someday die, but… Saitoh? She loved her older cousin so much, so blindly, that she couldn't imagine a time that he would never be there, making her laugh, protecting her, playing with her. He was her cousin and her friend. Never, in all her years of life, had she ever fathomed that he would one day… die.

Worse still, the man she loved had killed him. Saitoh was her family. Kenshin may as well have shed Kaoru's blood. This was something she could never have imagined. Kaoru sank onto a chair, trying to work it all out in her head. Megumi knelt next to her, stroking her hair softly. She knew how close Kaoru had been to her cousin.

"That liar—that… cheat! I thought he was different. I thought he was kind and loving. I thought he wanted peace! No more fighting, no more war. He crept up like a wolf and I let him inside! And now Saitoh is gone." Kaoru burst into tears—the heart wrenching, bitter tears of a girl who lost her first and dearest friend.

Megumi folded her young charge into her arms, rocking her slowly. "I know, tanuki, I know. Men cannot be trusted. I'm sorry you had to learn that the hard way."

Kaoru pulled away abruptly. "Don't talk like that! I should never have said that about Kenshin."

"Kaoru, that man killed your cousin." Megumi's voice was sharp.

"I still love him," the younger girl whispered. Megumi narrowed her eyes, but she nodded and stood to leave. Kaoru's voice, soft and small, stopped her.

"Megumi… do you know why he killed Saitoh?"

The elegant, fox-like lady smiled apologetically. "That boy... the one with the messy hair. Sanosuke." Megumi explained, "Saitoh killed him, and only then did Ken-san go after your cousin." Megumi stood up, briskly wiping her eyes. "Why don't I go find your lover boy? He's probably with his teacher." Megumi vanished, ostensibly cheerful, but her mischievous wink was a shadow of it's usual self.

Hiko was angry. Perhaps 'angry' was too mild of a word. Livid—Hiko was livid. "Never in all my years as a teacher have I had a pupil who was as whole-heartedly stupid as you are!" He exploded, stomping across the dojo floor. "What possessed you?"

"He killed Sanosuke," Kenshin gritted his teeth.

"I don't suppose you thought about how your Kaoru-girl will react? Ten to one she'll leave your ass by the side of the road." Kenshin clenched his jaw and refused to speak. His sensei just sighed, "I have news of Ohkubo-sama's ruling, if you're interested."

Kenshin glued his eyes to the floor. "I'm to be executed, aren't I?

Hiko sighed again, "No, you're not. You probably should be, but you're not. You are banished from Tokyo, however."

Kenshin lifted his eyes, "banished? Why didn't Ohkubo-sama just kill me? Banished from my home, from my family, from Kaoru? I'd rather die." Sinking into a chair, Kenshin folded into himself. His sensei, however, was bored of the pity party.

"At least if you're alive you can still see your Kaoru-girl," he roared, startling Kenshin. "What's wrong with you? Do madmen have no ears? I said banished, you idiot, not killed. There is still hope--there is always hope."

BAM BAM BAM. Kenshin jumped as someone started pounding on the door. Hiko pushed his student into a corner, "stay still," he hissed as he opened the door.

Megumi tumbled inside, trying to catch her breath. "Where is Ken-san? I have a message from Kaoru."

Hiko shrugged, "in the corner, feeling sorry for himself. If he cries any more he'll send himself out to sea."

The older woman smirked, "my tanuki is the same. Wallowing, she is. How about we let those two wallow together? It may do them some good."

"She hates me, doesn't she?" Kenshin's voice was soft and sad. "I killed her cousin. Why should she still love me?"

"That," Megumi said, turning toward the boy, "is an excellent question. One that I don't know the answer to, but she loves you all the same. It seems to me," she continued, "that what Kaoru needs is comfort. She won't listen to me, but maybe she'd listen to you."

Kenshin shook his head. "I should die for what I did to Kaoru."

"We've been over this, idiot!" Hiko exploded, "life is preferable to death--always. In life you can atone for the wrongs you've committed. What is death? An end--just an end. Go to your Kaoru-girl and remind her the she loves you in spite of your glaring stupidity."

Kenshin's eyes lit up and he turned to Megumi. "Is she willing to listen to me? To my apology?"

Megumi sighed, exasperated, "of course she is," she started to push Kenshin out the door. "Go," she said, "make Kaoru happy again."

"K-Kaoru-dono?" Kaoru jumped at the unfamiliar words formed by the familiar sound of Kenshin's voice. She looked to the balcony and saw her love clambering over the wall.

"Kaoru-dono," he repeated, walking slowly towards her, his hands raised in a gesture of peace and sorrow. "Sessha is so... ashamed..."

Kaoru stared at him, confused, 'sessha'? 'Kaoru-dono'? Why was he talking so strangely?

"Kenshin... what?" Kaoru closed her eyes. Seeing Kenshin like this, practically prostrating himself, was making her eyes fill with tears again. "Don't do this, please."

Kenshin reached for her, hesitated, and pulled away. "Sessha is too unworthy to love you, that he most certainly is. Sessha just wanted to say... to apologize for the hurt he has caused you." Kenshin paused, "and to offer... if you would like me to leave..."

"No!" Kaoru sobbed brokenly, wrapping her arms around him tightly, "don't leave, please, Saitoh… Saitoh's gone… you can't… you can't leave me too… please…" she stopped talking, her breath coming in hyperventilated heaves, unable to form words. Kenshin turned and pulled her into his arms, rubbing her back comfortingly until she was calm.