Hello again everyone! See, I'm here, as promised! You would not believe my joy when I realized I had 84 reviews! Thank you sooooo much!!!

My cousin gave me the first 31 episodes of RK (which is up to the point where her leaves for Kyoto) and I've been watching them non-stop fo the past couple days. Now I don't know what to do with myself because I want to watch the rest, but he hasn't given me those yet! Wahhhh…

Oh well. At least I'll have some inspiration while I'm working on my story!

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When Kenshin awoke the next morning, he found himself in a rather strange position. He was sleeping in a bed. When he tried to sit up, he found it rather painful, and noticed the bandages around his middle.

"Kenshin?" He started, but it was only Kaoru. He noticed that she sat in his corner, his sword by her feet and smiled inwardly. They were the opposite of themselves. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, thank you," He sat up, this time prepared for the pain.

"Please, lay back down. I'll go get you some breakfast," Her eyes were red and puffy, and her usually tidy hair was unkempt.

"Kaoru, I wanted to talk to you-"

"I think there should still be some left-"

"-about last night-"

"-otherwise I could make you something myself-"

"-I just wanted to tell you-"

"-because I know everybody else hates my cooking-"

"-Kaoru, please-"

"-but you told me you don't mind it, so-"

"-Listen to me!" Kenshin finally made himself heard over Kaoru's babbling.

She gasped, feeling tears threatening, and, before she could stop herself, she blurted out "Where did you get that scar? And who is Tomoe?"

Kenshin stood up to face her with a hard look in his eyes. "Who?" He whispered. His voice was not unkind, but she knew she was walking a thin line.

"Tomoe," She said again.

"Kaoru, you have my undivided attention." His voice was suddenly ice cold, and Kaoru wished she had never brought it up. "Who told you about Tomoe?"

"No one. I mean-well, you did. Last night. You were talking in your sleep," He visibly relaxed.

"I see. Tomoe was my wife."

Kaoru looked at him scrupulously. "'Was'?"

He gave her a stern look. "Would you like me to tell the story, or not?" She was abashed, but waited patiently for him to continue.

"I suppose…Oh, this really is going to take a long time… I can't convince you that this should wait for a later time-" She shook her head. "-No, I thought so. Well, I suppose I'll really be answering both of your questions. You may want to sit down.

"As you have realized by now, Kaoru, I have killed. I think you should know that I am an assassin, and I have been for many years. I work for a man named Shinomori Aoshi, and his rebel group." Kaoru's eyes widened in shock. "Some time ago, when a different man was the leader, I killed a young man by the name of Kiyosato. Of course, I did not know that then; all I knew was that he was a bodyguard of a more important political figure, who was my target. Everything went according to plan, except one thing: Kiyosato was very stubborn and refused to die. He even managed to wound me; a slash across my cheek, before I killed him. This incident would hardly stand out in my mind, except that I am rarely wounded. My style of swordsmanship is simply too fast for most to touch me, but he managed it. And stranger still, the wound would not heal. For weeks and weeks, I had a trickle of blood down my face at all times.

"Sometime later, I was attacked by an assassin sent specifically to kill me. I managed to kill him, rather violently, but when I had done so, I noticed a woman standing across the street. She had seen the whole thing, and I wondered at first if I should kill her too, but she was very drunk and passed out into my arms. I took pity on her, and took her back with me to the inn where our group resided at that time in Kyoto, where she stayed, as she was given a job there. She told me her name was Tomoe, but she didn't tell me much else. Not that I cared to ask, of course. I have always felt it is rather foolish for me to get to know people because of my line of work, as I may be killed at any given time, and attachments would get in the way." He looked at the floor for a moment, then continued.

"However, we were betrayed, and forced to flee. Tomoe was with me at the time, and our leader told me we were to go into hiding until further instruction. We were to be husband and wife.

"We lived together, happily enough. No, to be truthful, up to that point, those were the happiest days of my life. Then one morning, Tomoe was gone. Desperate for answers, I read her diary. I found that she had been engaged to Kiyosato,, and had decided to take her revenge by helping to kill me. I was confused; I thought she loved me, but I realized it must have all been a trick. I went after her.

"I followed her up a mountain and encountered several men, all placed in hopes of killing, or at least weakening me, before I reached their leader. They did weaken me, and I was very wounded by the time I reached the top. Tomoe was nowhere to be seen, but I assumed she was in the abandoned shrine near by.

"I fought with the leader, but was in no shape to defeat him. I managed to muster one final blow in hope of killing him. My blade met flesh, and I looked up to see I he was falling backwards, but my joy was short lived, for I realized Tomoe was between us, and I had…" He faltered. "My sword had gone through Tomoe as she tried to protect me from his blade. As she lay dying in my arms, she took her dagger and ran it along my cheek…" he ran a finger across one of the lines in his cross-shaped scar. "I have never forgiven myself for her death."

Kaoru was silent. She had not expected this, but she found that she was not afraid of Kenshin, nor disgusted by the fact that he had killed his wife. She felt her love for him was very childish now, and very foolish, compared to Tomoe. Even the fact that he might love her seemed foolish as well, as he probably never got over his dead wife. "Why…why did you tell me all this?"

"Because you asked,"

"Oh," She said quietly. "I thought…It's stupid now, but I-" She bit her lip, then just spat it out. "I care very deeply for you Kenshin-no that's not right. I'm in love with you. I thought, maybe you loved me too, but-"

She was cut off as Kenshin pulled her towards him and kissed her full on the mouth. At first she was surprised-no one had ever kissed her before-but as Kenshin tilted her head and deepened the kiss, she moaned softly and threw her hands around his neck. It seemed that they stood there forever, locked in an eternal embrace. When they finally broke apart, Kenshin cupped Kaoru's face in his hands. "Oh Kaoru, you are the most beautiful and wonderful woman I have ever met. How could you think that I didn't love you when I rushed back from Kyoto, in this condition, just to see you?"

"To see…me?" She asked meekly, still overwhelmed by what had just happened.

"I tried to tell you, though I supposed I didn't make much sense,"

Kaoru suddenly remembered his words from the previous night: "I had to come back…had to see you…"

"What happened to you in Kyoto?" She whispered.

"I was ambushed. Ordinarily, that sort of situation would not have resulted in this-" he motioned to his wound. "-However, one of the men said that he knew about you, and that someone was already on their way here to kill you. I was so shocked that he was able to hit me, but I quickly recovered. All four men are now dead.

"So as soon as I had my wounds treated and sent a message to Aoshi-san that they had threatened a girl living in my house, mentioning her by name and description, I rushed back to make sure you were alright. I see now, as I should have then, that it was just a ploy to distract me, and it worked.

"However Kaoru, they may not have come for you this time, but my cover has been blown. They know who I am and who you are, and, more importantly, where you are. You are not safe,"

"As long as you're with me, I can deal with anything," She smiled and kissed him. "And you know, I'm not too shabby myself. You should have seen how I took care of Tanaka the other day,"

He grinned. "I believe you. And now, you'll always have me." He touched her face. "I've asked Aoshi-san to release me from my position. If all goes well, we'll be able to leave and start a new life together!"

Kaoru returned his smile, but the fact that he worked for Aoshi nagged at her. "Kenshin, there's something I should tell you," He looked at her quizzically as she took a deep breath. "I think you should know," She began, then changed her mind. "I think you should know that your bandages need to be changed. I can do it for you, if you like. Megumi showed me how."

Kenshin looked at her for a moment, as if expecting something else. Kaoru held his gaze for as long as she could before walking away to get the bandages.

She bit her lip as she thought, Oh Kaoru, how deep are you going to let yourself get before you realize you're drowning?

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So… forgive me if it's a little OOC, but what can I say?

Alright, chapter 12 next week! It'll be a good one, and you won't wanna miss it!!

Please review!