Standard disclaim apply.

Hello, readers. It has come to my attention that I need to proofread before uploading. Since I've been writing at work, I haven't been able to do that thoroughly. If you catch mistakes, please be understanding! Thanks! -hK-

::Chapter 12::

"Kaoru! Get up!" Yahiko yelled, as he pulled the blanket off of her.

Rubbing her eyes, Kaoru sat up. She looked like hell.

"Why?" asked Kaoru, groggily.

Yahiko put his hands on his hips in a Kaoru-like manner. "Because you're turning into a lazy sack of potatoes," he replied sarcastically, imitating Kaoru's voice.

Kaoru lay back down with a huff. "I don't want to, and you can't make me." Then, she proceeded to cover her face with her pillow.

"It's been a week since you got home and you haven't done anything!" Yahiko stressed.

"So?" she muttered through the pillow.

"Look, I heard Sano told you. Why haven't you done anything yet?" Yahiko asked, partially curious but mostly irritated by her lack of motivation to make a move.

She remained silent.

"You should see Kenshin. He looks like crap, just like you."

Kaoru removed her pillow and glared at him. "I do not look like crap!" she countered.

Yahiko smirked. "Oh, yeah you do," he said, and left the room, leaving Kaoru to her thoughts.

She sighed.

She hadn't told anyone yet, not wanting anyone to know the truth: she had no backbone.

Truth was, she had indeed called Kenshin the night of her return home. But, ever the cowardice, she had hung up on the first ring, a million of 'what ifs' running through her mind.

What if he didn't want her back?

What if he was sick of dealing with her?

What if… what if… what if…?

What if…he couldn't forgive her?

"Shut up," she told herself. "Just shut up."

She closed her eyes in misery and just as she was about to lose herself to her dark, imaginative world, the doorbell rang.

Grumbling, she rolled herself out of bed and made her way downstairs.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" she shouted when the doorbell rang again. She flung the door open to find a glaring Sano.

"Get dressed!" he commanded tersely, walking into the house.

"Well, good morning to you, too," she said sarcastically, closing the door behind him.

He jerked around and his eyes seemed to pop out of his head as he finally took in the state Kaoru was in.

"You look disgusting," he grimaced.

"Gee, thanks," Kaoru grumbled. "I didn't ask you to come barging in at…in the morning."

"Shit!" he exclaimed, suddenly remembering something. "Hurry up and get dressed!"

"Why?" Kaoru asked in exasperation, throwing her hands up into the air. "It's not like I'm going anywhere!"

"We're going to the airport."

"Airport? But, why?" she asked, confused.

"This is all your fault, missy!" Sano accused, pointing his finger at her.

"What? What I do?" she exclaimed.

"…I give you information, but you don't use it to your advantage, that's what!" Sano cried, pushing her towards her bedroom.

Kaoru remained silent.

Shoving her into the room, Sano dropped the other shoe onto Kaoru's head, metaphorically, of course.

"Kenshin's leaving! Again!"

And then, he shut the door.

Kaoru felt as if Sano had literally thrown a bucket of ice-cold water over her head. Talk about dropping the other shoe, it was a direct hit.

"Hurry up! Get dressed!"

Sano's urgent voice from the other side of the door shook Kaoru out of her reveries. She jumped around the room, looking for clothes.

Kaoru jerked her legs into the nearest pair of jeans she could find, shoving her feet into her old pair of Uggs. She flew to the closet, pulled a sweater off a hanger, and shoved her head into it.

As she made her way to the door, she groaned at the sight of her hair. She grabbed a hair tie and brush, and shoved them in her bag. She would do her hair in the car.

"Let's go," she shouted, rushing past Sano.

They ran to the car and jumped in.

"Grrr," Kaoru growled, working the brush through her tangled mess of hair. "Kenshin's leaving," she mimicked Sano. "Why're bothering to tell me this now?" she asked, a bit hurt that her friends waited until the last minute to inform her of Kenshin's supposed departure.

Sano glanced over at Kaoru, amused by her deft hands working through her hair.

"I just found out today," he said, turning back to the road. "Actually, I found out by accident. Kenshin had left his itinerary in my car," he indicated to the sheet of paper sticking out of the sun visor.

Kaoru took a moment to tie her hair before taking the paper out.

"He leaves in an hour?" she shrieked.

"That's why I told you to hurry," Sano muttered.

Kaoru began to freak out.

What was she going to say to him? Would he even listen? What if he still left? How was she going to get him to listen?

She knew she had hurt him. All over a stupid misunderstanding that she hadn't had the courage to confront him with. Instead, she had just let him go like an idiot. So, did she have the courage to hold onto him now?

Feeling dejected, she whimpered.

"I can't do this…" she whispered miserably. She stared down at her hands in utter misery.

Sano slammed on the breaks and pulled over to the side of the road.

He smacked her on the head, glaring at her.

"You let him go once! Are you sure you can do it again?" he asked. "Can you be absolutely, positively sure that you won't regret this? Cause if you can, I'll turn this car around!"

With tears in her eyes, she shook her head. "No…" she said, "I need him…"

Sano gave a short nod. "Good. We're at the airport exit anyways."

Re-entering traffic, sure enough, he pulled off onto the nearest exit and sped for the airport entrance.

Before he had even pulled to a complete stop, Kaoru had the car door open already and was out the door.

"Thanks, Sano!" she called, running for the departure gate.

"Go get him, Kaoru!" Sano yelled in encouragement.

Kaoru made her way through the stream of people. Pushing her way past groups of people, she searched in panic for a familiar bundle of red hair.

Looking at her watch, she didn't even have 15 minutes before he would make his way to the departure gates where she would not be able to enter.

As desperation set in, tears welt in her eyes, and she began to plead and pray to a God she wasn't sure she even believed in. Please, she prayed. Don't let me be too late…

But desolation began as a minute turned into five, and five turned into fifteen. Dejected, she turned away from the line of people with tears spilling down her face.

She had been too late.

"Kaoru?"

Kaoru swung around hopeful, but only to meet Sano's eyes. She ran into his arms, unable to stop the sobs.

"I was too late!" she cried.

Sano wrapped his arms around her, patting her back.

"It's okay," Sano murmured. "Shhh…"

Although the sound of her cries were muffled by his coat, people all turned and gave Sano dirty looks, assuming he had upset her.

"Kaoru," Sano whispered. "Please stop crying. People are giving me dirty looks" he begged.

At that, Kaoru had to choke back a laugh in between crying. She lifted her head and tried to wipe away the torrent of tears.

"I'm such an idiot," she whispered. "I don't know why I didn't call him."

"You called him?" asked Sano incredulously.

"Yeah," Kaoru replied, absently wiping away her tears.

"When?"

"The day you dropped me off at home."

"That was a week ago!" Sano exclaimed.

Kaoru drooped. "Yeah, I know. I…I was an idiot. A coward. I hung up before he could pick up."

"You did?" came another voice.

Kaoru froze. Slowly, she turned, and came face to face with Kenshin.

Kenshin….

"Kenshin?" Sano asked, rubbing his eyes.

It really was Kenshin! He had a carry-on bag by his side, and he was looking at Kaoru earnestly.

"Kenshin!" she cried, as she leapt into his arms, fountain of tears falling once again.

Kenshin quickly wrapped his arms around Kaoru, hugging her tightly. Closing his eyes, wishing this wasn't a dream, he looked as if he would never let her go.

"Kaoru…" he murmured quietly into her hair. "Is this a dream? If it is, I never want to wake up."

Kaoru laughed on a sob and continued to cry into his shoulder. "I thought you left!"

Kenshin gave a broken laugh. "I was going to…I didn't think you wanted me."

He gently peeled her off of him, just enough to look down into her eyes. Taking his right hand, his wiped away her tears.

"I arrived early at the airport," he explained. "I was waiting in front of the gate for my flight but I realized that…there was no other place I wanted to be…but with you."

"Oh, Kenshin…" she replied, tears welling up. "I'm so sorry…"

Kenshin brought a gentle finger to her lips. "Shut up," he nearly growled. "I'm sorry…for everything. For breaking my promise to stay with you. For leaving for Japan. For not explaining about Tomoe—"

Kaoru grabbed the hand that was preventing her from speaking. "—I should have asked you before jumping to conclusions. I just thought…" she paused, overwhelmed by emotion. "I thought…you loved her…and that was why…"

Kenshin hugged her before finishing her sentence. "…that was why you let go."

Kaoru nodded into his shoulder.

"We're both idiots," Kenshin laughed, his voice rough with emotion. Kaoru nodded again.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have just stood by and let you build a wall between us," Kenshin said. "I'm sorry I didn't return earlier and try to work things out."

Kaoru shook her head. "I'm sorry I hurt you just because I was too proud to straighten out a misunderstanding."

Kenshin and Kaoru stood gazing into each other's eyes, their love reaffirmed. They smiled, happy to have found each other again through the pain and misunderstanding.

Kenshin gave a silent prayer in thanks for Kaoru's acceptance and for finally, having her back to normal. He silently swore that he would make her happy; never would she be a broken doll again.

Sano have a slight cough, catching their attention.

"Ok, we're happy. Now can we go home?" Sano whined.

Kaoru and Kenshin laughed. "Ok," they said together, happily.

"Finally!" exclaimed Sano. "You guys are disgustingly cute. Makes me wanna go home and cuddle with Megumi," he said in complaint.

Kaoru laughed. "Good luck with that."

Sano sighed. "Yeah, I sure would need it."

Then, with Sano leading the way, Kaoru and Kenshin followed behind hand in hand, headed for home. Each vowing to never let go again.

Poll: Epilogue? Yes? No?