"I'm sorry, Kaoru-dono," Kanshin quickly apologized as he released Kaoru from his grip.

Kaoru didn't say a word.

"I'm going then," Kenshin said, and started to walk away from her.

"Where are you going?" Kaoru called out as she stepped forward too.

"Somewhere," Kenshin vaguely said. In his mind, he added, Anywhere away from here.

"Do you have to go?"

Kenshin stopped walking. "Yes."

"Could you spare a minute?" Kaoru asked.

Kenshin turned around.

"Please?"

----

The air in the Akabeko restaurant seemed subdued. Tae felt it even with herself.

"Tsubame-kun!" a customer sharply called out. Tae saw Tsubame, startled, look hastily at the lady customer.

"Yes!" she quickly said. Tae had the feeling Tsubame was staring into space before this.

"Have you been listening to me?" the customer asked.

Tsubame self-consciously scratched her head. "I'm sorry, ma'am. What was it again?"

The customer sighed.

Tae looked at Tsubame and sighed too. She quickly signaled to one of her helpers in the restaurant and gave him orders. She then approached Tsubame as soon as she left the customer and took her service tray.

"I think we need time out," Tae said to Tsubame. "Our present state of mind is not good for business."

Tsubame nodded listlessly and followed Tae outside. They both spotted Yahiko as he was returning to the restaurant after an errand, and called him to join them.

"What for?" Yahiko asked. "There's loads of work to do and you're skipping off?"

"We couldn't concentrate," Tsubame said.

"And you're in no shape either," Tae said. "Look at those raccoon eyes of yours."

Yahiko looked hastily away. "None of your business. I'm going back to work." He tried to walk past them but Tae's grip on his arm was too strong.

"Oh no, you're not. You're coming with us," Tae said, and together, the three of them left the restaurant.

---

The flowing water cooled their feet. The effect was such a delightful sensation that Kenshin and Kaoru failed to notice as they both sat, side by side, on the bank of the river that witnessed the darkness of Kaoru's pain.

Both of them were silent. Both of them were lost in their thoughts, in their emotions, and both didn't quite know where to begin in addressing the unanswered questions that hung in the air.

"I could almost hear myself in this silence," Kaoru said as she broke the ice. "I could hear myself saying all those words I said to you that night, feel again the cold and the emotions that ran through my veins and remember those thoughts inside my head at that moment.

"I also remember those words you said."

There was no reply.

"You made my life complicated, Kenshin, don't you know that?" Kaoru said. "I've spent ten years of my life hating you, cursing you, wishing you were already in hell for the sin you committed against me. Back in those days, when you were just a speck on the horizon, that was so easy to do."

Kaoru smiled ruefully. "Stupid me, I should have anticipated meeting you face to face," she continued. "But I wonder if that'll make any difference. You took me completely unprepared, unaware of your ability to change my whole perception about you. That changed me, and this change terrifies me."

There was a soft plunk. A stone fell in the water. Kaoru sighed. She took her feet out of the water and stood up. Smoothing out her kimono, Kaoru couldn't tell what Kenshin might be thinking, but that doesn't matter. At least she had spoken her mind.

"Thank you, Kenshin, for your time," Kaoru said. She hesitated. "I wish you wouldn't leave, but I don't want to tell you what to do. I wish you could stay longer, because I don't want to lose another part of my heart."

Kaoru quickly turned away and blinked back tears. "I wish you would return, but if I won't, then I promise I won't waste my life like that again."

Kaoru breathed deeply. "It's the only way I can show my gratitude to you for saving my life twice."

Picking up her stick, Kaoru guided herself away from him and out of the woods.

----

It was Tsubame who first spotted Kaoru emerging from the woods.

"Kaoru-san!" Tsubame called out, running forward to meet her.

"Kaoru, what are you doing here?" Tae said, following Tsubame.

"It is the hag… I thought it was a stray animal or something--- OW!!!" Yahiko cried out as Kaoru whacked him with the stick.

"It's a fine weather to go out for a walk, don't you think?" Kaoru said cheerily and took Tsubame's arm. "Come on, let's go!"

Kaoru took several steps forward. Don't look back. What's done is done.

She couldn't just ignore the rest of her life because of the things in the past; life goes on, and there isn't anything anyone can do about it except enjoy every moment in this present time.

For so long, she had ignored that simple truth.

It was time to get going and live again.

Just like the wandering that Kenshin had decided to do now.

---

The woods were silent. As the sunlight waned, the shadows on the forest floor lengthened and overlapped each other.

Before it became completely dark, a lone figure slowly vanished from sight, consumed by the darkness of the woods.

---