A LONG AUTHOR'S NOTE:
You are free to ignore this. So I've been getting comments of the ending being rushed. It kind of was. I wasn't sure what to write for the ending…and this is what happened. I had a debate between two endings to be honest…one was Kenshin arrive at the hospital –Kaoru wakes up saying 'he kept his promise' and she dies. The next was Kaoru in the hospital, Kenshin arriving and saying he remembered his promise. Kaoru forgives him, and all goes well. Then I wanted to do a little prank, make everyone believe Kaoru died.
There was a few times where the story turned on me. I did not expect Aoshi to be a part of the story, as in playing a part, but he did. He became important for the two characters. Megumi wasn't supposed to get involved either, but it happened.
About Kaoru's heart condition, I made it where Kaoru was born with a heart defect. I got the idea a long time ago from my experience with my mom's health. My mom has been visiting the hospital due to bad kidneys, and there were times she said 'she was scared'. At times she wanted to die. It was a tough experience. I thought of placing my mom's experience with Kaoru…but instead Kaoru would not want to throw her life. The idea of giving a heart condition came from an idol that actually has a heart problem, though not serious. I was debating on it or not until my mom took me to a friend's granddaughter's party. The granddaughter was born with half a heart. Her heart condition already gave her a few seizures. It was sad to hear…because the granddaughter has barely turned one year. There is no guarantee of her survival. That was really sad.
Kaoru being bullied…I like stories of a damsel in distress a lot. I wanted Kaoru to be the target of bullying, but I did not know what kind of treatment they would give her. The part where she is humiliated in front of everyone came from a Spanish Soap Opera. My mom watches them a lot, so that came in handy. Part of Kaoru's experience with bullies are things that happened to me. For example, the rumor of being a lesbian. It began when I was in elementary school. Someone claimed I was having sexual relations with one my female friends. I never realized until high school how perverted young children were.
The heart condition was placed, because sometimes people tend to bully those they think weaker…without actually knowing why, though kaoru still managed to push through it all.
Well again I would like to thank all of you for following and reading this story even through its bad times. I admit part of it was rushed. It was only meant to be fifteen chapters…but my brain said 'no, let's make it 20'.
Please look forward to my next story. It might be one of the ones you elected…and a new one which hasn't been shared.
ASHITERU!