Author's Notes: You might recognize some familiar quotes in this one. They felt appropriate to the pattern of the story.

Skinshengumi: Enishi is such a devious person that I had to do it! I agree that Kaoru protecting Kenshin like that was a very Kaoru thing to do. I hope you like where I go with this! Thanks again!

Guest: Thanks! That review looked very familiar. lol

MyMoon: K&K's emotions have to be on super high alert! We'll see about Enishi. I haven't quite decided how to handle current and past Enishi is separate ways yet. Thanks again!

happiflower: I'm so glad you like it! Each chapter makes me more and more nervous because I have particular things in mind coming up soon. I hope you enjoy it!

stormraven: quite a few questions are about to be answered, so I feel ok saying that something you mentioned happened to be almost spot on. I was completely shocked! Anyway, without giving anything away, I've got certain things planned that might make some people upset with me, but once again, I ask that you have faith in the author here. Depressing things are in store, but... I like happy endings. We'll see! ;)

Summer314: Thank you! I'm so glad someone caught the Enishi twist! ;) That's really all I can say about it though. lol!

Glass Dragon's Rose: I can't answer about past Kaoru yet because it's something I have planned out to bring up later, but keep reading! Thank you so much! I'm really happy you like it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kenshin.

Early that morning, as Kenshin and Soujiro separated, and Kenshin blended back again with Shinta, I was finally able to peel my eyes open. By that time my cheeks were soaked with tears and I roughly and quickly wiped them away. When I looked up again I was met with amber eyes regarding me with penetrating curiosity, even as he blinked away the icy pain. It was a fight not to look away. I didn't think I was able to hide how I felt about Shinta fast enough, but my reaction to him could have been mistaken for something else, and I was determined to deny it fiercely to protect him anyway.

"Well, that was a completely different experience." Soujiro placed his hand on the wall to steady himself, looking slightly pale.

Thankful for the distraction, I peeled my eyes away from Kenshin's piercing gaze. "Are you okay, Soujiro?"

He nodded, a slight look of discomfort passed over his smiling face. "I understand the brain-freeze mix-up a little better now. It's freezing, and my head feels like it's been put through a blender."

"It goes away quickly," I offered, pushing my forehead against the cool bars and willing my racing heart to slow down.

Soujiro blinked and then focused on both of us. "I found myself blocking you from certain feelings, Mister Himura. Did you do the same?"

"Yes," Kenshin said, still intently observing me. There was a tiny piece of white lint on the floor, and I focused on it as if it were the most interesting thing going on in the room. With a sigh, Kenshin's gaze flicked over to Soujiro. "How do you feel about Hiko?"

Soujiro's smile widened uncomfortably, and he ran his fingers through the back of his ear-length hair. I noticed it was getting longer than he normally kept it. "Same as before. Confused. A little intimidated by his strange personality I guess." He shrugged. "Although most people say the same thing about me."

Kenshin grinned at him. "That's good. I have very specific opinions about my father, and it appears I was able to block those from you. That it does. Have your feelings for Kaoru changed?"

They both glanced at me, and I quickly looked away again.

"Same," Soujiro answered.

"Good."

Kenshin thought for a moment. "I was also able to block certain feelings coming from you too, possibly because I was prepared for it."

"And Kaoru wasn't," Soujiro finished, giving me a sympathetic look. "I did the same."

I sighed, pressing my warm cheek against the cool bars. "So, I guess Enishi might not have gotten any of my emotions then?" Which would be disappointing because I was kind of banking on that.

Kenshin shrugged. "Unless he didn't know what to expect."

For a moment, things were silent as we all processed what that meant. When blending with your counterpart, you inherited everything; thoughts, feelings, memories, emotions… the whole package. You became each other. When blending with someone else, as long as you were prepared for it, you could control what came and what went, but only so far as emotions go.

Wait. My head snapped up. "Did you guys actually share anything? Or were you too blocked off?"

Kenshin and Soujiro met one another's eyes for a moment.

With a laugh, Soujiro's face reddened. "We may have to try again," he admitted, his foot tapping in that slow rhythm that suggested he was ready to fight or flee. "I think I might have been too guarded. But you weren't. I felt something…"

Kenshin's eyes met mine, the amber hues trapping me, melting me, and I couldn't look away. "Redemption," he said. "The feeling of helping others."

It was a beautiful thing for him to do, helping Soujiro the only way he truly knew how. Unfortunately, just as I was soaking in his sweetness, a second later I slapped my hand against the bars with so much blinding hatred and anger that I felt like a bull trapped in a gated fence with a red flag flying two steps away.

...

Now I sat in the interrogation room, yet again. A cup of tea sat steaming on the tabletop and I wrapped my hands around it to soak up the warmth. It was cold in the room, and I had just given Tomoe my notebook, littered with my reasons for loving Kenshin. Tomoe studied the pages intently, her fingertips running in a smooth pattern against the table top. It was embarrassing to let her read it. Like having your sibling go through your diary while you watched her read detailed explanations as to why you loved her ex-boyfriend.

"Your reasons for loving Kenshin fills up half the notebook Kaoru," she observed quietly, her eyes sliding slyly to the mirror at her side, knowing others were listening.

I nodded, a little less cunningly. "Yup."

"Any reasons for hating him?"

A shrug, my shoulders feeling heavy as boulders. "Nope." Not a single darn one. The only quirk that Kenshin had that annoyed me was that he ate so quietly and dignified, as if he honored and cherished his meals, while I inhaled them with little thought beyond "get in my belly." It made me feel quite piggish, but that was my fault, not his. There were also the times when he tried to hide his feelings from me to protect me, just like I was doing now. Did it make me hate him? Of course not. In fact, it did the opposite.

"And how do you feel about that?" she asked, pretty eyes flicking up to meet mine.

I snorted, tapping my fingers roughly against the table top. "About not having a reason to hate the man I love, but feeling like I hate him anyway? Extraordinarily frustrated, heartbroken, angry, guilty."

I was so tired of being here and talking about my, and Enishi's, feelings that I thought I was going to fall asleep sitting up. Either that, or break my hand trying to punch a hole in the concrete wall.

I hadn't told Tomoe yet how I felt towards Shinta when he and Kenshin separated. I wasn't sure if I should. But the fact haunted me like a single-minded ghost. A very selfish part of me wanted to run to him and beg them to separate because having Shinta meant having Kenshin, and vice-versa. At least for me.

If being separated from either of them for the past several days taught me anything it was that I was a better person when we could be together. Yahiko showed me as much. But that meant past Kenshin would lose me again. No matter how desperately I wanted him, I couldn't do that. I was determined to find another way, even if it tore my heart apart.

Tomoe pointed at the notebook and glanced up at me through her dark bangs. "This says, 'The look on Kenshin's face when I welcomed him home to my dojo?'"

I sighed, feeling my heartbeat pick up as I remembered. It was a look I'd never forget, as if he didn't understand why someone would ever be so kind to him. As if he didn't deserve kindness. "I meant my apartment."

Tomoe gave me an assessing look. Then she sat the notebook down and ordered, "Close your eyes."

With pleasure. My eyelids slid pleasantly shut.

"I want you to imagine your hatred for Kenshin as an ice cube."

It felt more like an iceberg, but okay.

"Sit that ice cube down on Hiko's front porch."

I scrunched my nose. "Why Hiko's front porch?"

"Because it's familiar," she explained patiently. "Your love for Kenshin is the sun, vibrantly shining on a hot summer day."

Behind my lids, I rolled my eyes. "Tomoe, I really do love you like a sister, so I'm hoping that gives me the free pass to say, this is nuts."

"Then I'm hoping it gives me the free pass to say, I'm older and you're going to do as I say because I'm trying to help you. Now do it."

Her voice was still so insanely kind, and the words so out of character that I had to giggle. Then, after taking in a deep inhale of breath, I did as she said. I sat the ice cube on Hiko's porch and watched it. In my mind's eye it made me feel cold. I concentrated, realizing I was picturing doing this in the early morning hours when the sun had barely peaked over the horizon.

My love for Kenshin is the sun, vibrantly shining on a hot summer day…

Instantaneously, as if in a cartoon, the sun shot up in the air, shining brilliantly mid-sky. The sky was cloudlessly blue, and the heat it radiated not only had the ice cube sweating, I glanced up at the whooshing sound of it catching the tops of the trees on fire.

My eyes snapped wide open. My heart was pounding. The anger felt… a little lessened. "Holy crap Tomoe!"

She smiled at me. "You of little faith."

I leaned forward, a beaming smile on my face. "The anger is still there but it's as if I can control it better now. You're a genius!"

"We'll have to test it out with Kenshin to make sure you don't try and attack him again, but I want you to picture this anytime the anger feels uncontrollable. Can you do that?"

I nodded. "I think so. When there's time, anyway. Sometimes it comes on so strong and fast that I just act."

The door opened, and my gaze snapped over to find Hiko strolling inside. With his large body tight and his fists opening and closing in quick succession, he looked mad. "Mind if I sit in, Miss Yukishiro?"

She motioned to the seat beside me. "Please."

Hiko's hulking mass took a seat, and I was suddenly hyperaware that this was Kenshin's father, who despite his teasing, loved his son very much. I wondered if I should apologize to him.

"How about we do away with picturing calm beaches and margaritas for just a minute?" He asked unabashedly, raising a single brow at Tomoe. I guess even she was not immune to Hiko's unceremonious mocking.

Tomoe's face turned a pretty shade of pink, but she nodded once.

Hiko's hard gaze found mine, and I swallowed, sitting far back in my chair. "I'd never seen my idiot son so happy. And now I've never seen him so miserable," he observed.

I blinked at him nice and slow, but I didn't say anything because I was already well aware of that fact.

He cleared his throat and laced his fingers together on the table. "You'll get through this, both of you."

"How do you know that?" I asked, wanting him to elaborate. I still thought the possibility remained that he knew more than he led on.

He cocked his head to the side slightly. "Because your love is stronger than Enishi's hate." Those eyes found mine, looking more serious than I'd ever seen before. With deliberate slowness, he leaned forward, punctuating every syllable in his next words. "He had to use time-travel to bring it here, to make you feel it. Yours transcended time."

Mesmerized by his words, I straightened in my seat. What an honorable, romantic prick Hiko was! "Say that again," I implored him. What a lovely thought!

"No." He grimaced at me and sat back, looking almost sheepishly embarrassed for a very brief moment before shaking his head. "Do you feel him with you?"

I couldn't stop the incredulous smile on my face at his reaction. "Who? Enishi?"

"Of course, Enishi. We're not talking about a greater power here, Kaoru."

The sweet moment was gone, and I wrinkled my nose at him. "You don't have to be such a turd about it! Yes, I feel his stupid emotions!"

Hiko closed his eyes, looking exasperated. "You really are the perfect match for my idiot son, Kamiya Kaoru. That is not what I'm talking about."

I let my palms slide forward on the table and looked up at him with narrowed eyes through my shield of bangs. "Well how am I supposed to know that?! I haven't exactly been through this before, you know!"

The big man sighed. "Do you feel him with you?" He asked again, trying to sound patient and failing miserably. "Is he still there?"

I sank back into the chair, thinking.

Hiko gave it about two seconds. "That's a no."

I blinked. "Huh?"

"If you have to think, it's a no."

"How?" I exclaimed. "Enishi isn't my counterpart!"

"You wouldn't feel him there if he were, but since you are two different people, his presence would be like a foreign object left in your body after surgery."

I leaned forward, giving him a suspicious look. "How would you know that?"

Hiko's large shoulders shrugged. "I think you already know the answer to that, Kaoru."

I sprang to my feet, pointing at him in triumph. "I knew it! You blended! Kenshin is going to be so—" my voice trailed off as I suddenly realized that I probably wouldn't be the one talking to Kenshin about this because I could hardly stand to be near him.

Good grief, I missed him. Desperately.

"Sit down." Hiko glanced over his shoulder at the two-way mirror and then back at me again. "He already knows."

"But how did this happen?" Tomoe inquired, leaning forward. "Saito asked you to blend days ago and you refused. Who brought your counterpart here?"

"Someone you'll meet shortly," the large man responded, dismissively. Tomoe opened her mouth the argue, but Hiko waved her off and met my eyes. "That's beside the point. I know you would feel Enishi there because I know my IDIOT SON blended with Soujiro Seta last night!" He glared at the glass again. "And I asked Soujiro about it this morning."

My mouth was hanging open. In fact, Tomoe's was too. "There's someone else playing in this game?"

Hiko's head tilted at me. "Do you have a switch somewhere that plugs your ears when I speak to you?"

I toned his insult out and leaned forward in acute interest. "Who is it?"

In answer, he groaned and stood to head toward the door. "It is foolish to listen to one who does not listen to you. But know one thing, Enishi is not there anymore. Stop letting his anger control you!"

He slammed the door, leaving us speechlessly staring after him for a long time.

Finally, Tomoe blinked. "Unconventional," she muttered.

"Yup," I responded.

I left Tomoe behind to speak with Saito, who was absolutely livid that Hiko had only just revealed he was blended and that others were a part of time-travel. Apparently, the FBI was not as up to date on their intel as they assumed. It made me wonder if Enishi knew about these other players or if this was a whole new ballgame altogether.

Either way, I knew one thing; Hiko was right. I had been wallowing and feeling sorry for myself and Kenshin, but my love for him was stronger than Enishi's hate! I had given that hate three days, and that was all I was willing to give without a fight!

Determinedly, I walked, and I kept walking, uncaring who was following me, until I found myself standing outside of Shishio's cell, the man inside watching me with a grin on his scared face.

"To what do I owe this pleasure, Miss Kamiya?"

Beside me, I felt Soujiro's eyes watching us curiously from his cell, and I wondered how he'd been since his counterpart strolled through here earlier.

"I want to know what you know," I said, talking into the shadowed darkness of his cell. "I don't think you're the kind of person who follows someone else's orders, so why would you do anything Enishi says?"

From his cot, Shishio lifted a curious brow. "I'm flattered you think so."

He didn't offer anything else, and I honestly hadn't expected him to. I grasped the bars. "What if I can find your counterpart?"

Shishio chuckled darkly, and his eyes cornered over to the cell beside him, where Soujiro was. "Now that I've seen what blending can do, I'm afraid the idea has all but lost its appeal."

I pressed my lips together, just as Soujiro's face wrinkled up. Of course, having Soujiro turn sides would change Shishio's mind. "Soujiro never wanted this life anyway," I said, stepping forward and wrapping my fingers around the bars. "He would have changed one day, with or without blending. Kenshin lived through it. He defeated Soujiro because he discovered the boy never wanted to kill anyone and it weakened his resolve. Soujiro parted ways with the Juppongatana after that."

Shishio stretched his long legs out against the cold floor and stood. "And after that, the Battousai killed me."

I shook my head, rooting myself to the spot even as his mummified body slowly stepped towards me. "No. You fought too long, and it burned you up from the inside out." His eyes narrowed at me curiously, apparently surprised that I knew that was even a possibility. He took another step. Encouraged, I went on. "Your body temperature is already raised because of the burns. Kenshin didn't kill you," I paused and pushed into the bars as far as my face could fit, "Your pride killed you."

Shishio stopped about a foot away from me. I could faintly smell the scent of firewood drifting from his scared flesh. He was grinning fiendishly as his head tilted, the cloths around his face drifting down like white dreadlocks. "Hmmm, I'll give you one thing: Haven't you people thought about how Enishi blending with you might have affected him?"

I blinked. I had been so busy with what he had done to me to even think about that. "How did I affect him? What, does he love Kenshin now?"

Shishio chuckled and shrugged his clothed shoulders. "If so, I hope they are very happy together. But I've been rather busy myself, Miss Kamiya." He raised his arm to showcase his entrapped surroundings. "As you can see."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You wouldn't give me information like this for free. You're up to something."

He nodded. "You're just figuring that out? Of course, I am. Did you think I was stupid enough to get caught without a plan?"

I snorted. "I don't know. Were you stupid enough catch yourself on fire, or just stupid enough to piss someone off so much that they did it?"

His laughed boomed greatly through the halls. "The ladder. I like you very much, Miss Kamiya. Hopefully I won't have to kill you when I get out of here."

Suddenly, Soujiro was there, standing beside me, having blended seamlessly once again. Kenshin was standing at his cell door, the keys to it in his hands, having just let him out. Soujiro smiled widely and bowed at his former mentor. "Good morning, Mister Shishio." There was a very faint underlying of protectiveness in his voice.

Shishio nodded, his eyes never suggesting the slightest betrayal from his young student. "Good morning, Soujiro."

Still polite as ever, despite the underlying uneasiness. "Would you like me to bring you some lotion?" Soujiro asked. Putting his hands on my shoulders, he pulled me gently away from the bars. "I'm afraid your steam baths will have to wait."

Shishio stepped quickly forward and curled his long fingers around the bars, the stench of his old bandaged drifted to my nose, making me turn away. "Get me Yumi," he murmured, "and I'll tell you more."

Soujiro's face dropped. "Miss Yumi?"

Shishio snorted, and turned away. "Unless you want to change these bandages yourself. I need someone who isn't repulsed by me. Get her, and you'll get more information."

I wanted to ask who Yumi was when, without warning, my body clenched tight, and I spun on Kenshin, so livid I could feel my heartbeat through the top of my head. Soujiro caught me at the waist and I bucked against him, grunting and panting and reaching for his sword. He slapped my hand away and ushered me through the door and to my cell, speaking calming words. "Shhhh, Kaoru, this isn't you."

Kenshin watched, expressionless and unmoving as Shishio chuckled darkly from the cot in the corner of his cell.

…

It was night again. I had been sitting for hours in my cell, thinking and plotting and writing in Tomoe's notebook.

Sanosuke, Megumi and Yahiko were with me now, sitting on the floor to play cold "go fish" with me in between the bars.

"I still don't understand why this is necessary," Megumi commented blandly, glancing around the cell. "Even if you have Enishi's full skills with a sword, you're not going to take down this entire precinct."

Sanosuke nodded. "Right! This is overkill!"

"I just don't want to hurt Kenshin, but I keep attacking him out of nowhere," I responded, looking up at the three of them through my bangs. My head hurt and my eyes burned but their distraction was calming and necessary to my sanity. I needed to feel like myself again, if only for a moment. "Do you have a queen, Yahiko?"

"Go fish."

I narrowed my eyes at my kid, trying to judge whether he was lying to me or not. His nose would twitch every time he was hiding something, and right now, it was twitching so profusely that it made him sneeze hard enough to scatter several cards from the top of the pile. He glanced up at me, looking guilty, and rolled his eyes when my mouth dropped open.

"Fine!" He flung his queen at my feet.

"So past Yahiko lied during games too, huh?" I asked, plucking the card from the floor. Ever since Yahiko blended I've been trying to pick out any quirks that were different from my kid. So far, he was much the same as before, and I was thankful for that.

Sanosuke laughed and pointed at Yahiko with his thumb. "This brat cheated at hide and seek with your five-year-old neighbor! He's such a poor sport!"

Yahiko screwed his face up. "Me? What about you, mister 'I'm gonna go get drunk and gamble all my money away so Kaoru has to feed my sorry butt!'"

Sanosuke threw his cards down on the floor. "Look who's calling the pot black, you freeloader! Kaoru takes care of you too!"

"The pot calling the kettle black," Megumi calmly corrected, taking a sip of tea.

They ignored her. Yahiko jumped up to get in Sanosuke's face. "She adopted me, you roosterhead! You're just a mooch!"

I felt my lips pull up into a slight smile. Their fighting was almost comforting despite wanting to pummel them both upside the head. "Will you two stop! Shishio and his thugs can probably hear you arguing through the door! You want them to take you seriously when you're kicking their butts later, right?"

As if to mock me, Shishio's muffled laughter drifted clearly into the room. I paused to grimace at he door, not liking in the least that he could overhear that. In the future I would have to remember to talk much more quietly.

Sanosuke and Yahiko glanced at one another, looking appropriately disturbed as well. Then, they continued bickering despite that.

"Megumi, do you have a two?" I asked.

She tossed me a card, and I did a little happy dance as I laid down another match.

"Kaoru, might I make a suggestion?" She asked, her voice low.

I glanced up at her. "Sure."

When she leaned forward, I instinctively did the same. And then she whispered something completely out of left field. "Angry sex."

I jumped back, face-flushed and eyes wide. "Megumi!"

Thankfully, Yahiko was too busy yanking Sano's hair to notice.

Megumi shrugged. "I hate seeing you in here. Besides, it's a much nicer way to release all that pent-up hostility than the way you've been going about it." One brow raised suggestively. "And I guarantee Kenshin wouldn't complain."

…

Later that evening, I was sitting on my cot, jotting down a random plot. It was a bad one that wouldn't amount to anything, but it started the wheels turning in my head. If Enishi did inherit any of my feelings at all, it meant he had a weak spot, and if it killed me, I would find a way to use that against him.

I hoped desperately that I had changed his feelings towards Kenshin at least slightly. If that were the case, maybe his hate had at least cooled.

I stared down at my notepad and blinked. A doodle of a pair of full lips filled the top corner of the page. Unfortunately, Megumi's words had gotten into my head, and now it was difficult to push the thoughts of angry sex with Kenshin away. I hadn't even had regular sex before, and I wondered what the angry part entailed. I imagined a lot of fingernails and teeth and hair-pulling, which made me uncomfortably warm. And still, I couldn't seem to stop thinking about it.

At that moment, the heavy door opened, and my head jerked up in surprise. Kenshin walked inside, carrying something bulky. Thankfully, he didn't look at me, because my face flushed about a thousand shades of red. Instead, he busied himself with setting up a small television. "What are you doing?"

"Playing Mario Kart."

"Why?"

He glanced at me over his shoulder and smiled so wide his eyes crinkled sweetly. "Because it's been too long and I enjoy playing video games with you."

I pressed my lips together as he hooked up all the wires and controllers and sat in his usual spot on the floor, looking very pleased with himself that it turned on the first try. I was just thinking how adorable Kenshin looked when, without warning or provocation, I could practically feel my hair rising in the air in alarming fury towards him. Slamming my eyes shut, I pictured that melting ice cube. The tiny drip, drip, drip as water seeped slowly through the wooden beams of the porch calmed me slightly. Considering the raging heat from the sun, it was the slowest melting ice cube I'd ever witnessed. Still, my anger cooled somewhat, and I opened my eyes again.

Taking in a deep breath, I grabbed one of my pillows and threw it at the bars. "Sit on that, please."

Kenshin's back was to me, but he turned his head to the side and arched a dark eyebrow. "I don't nee—"

"For crying out loud, Kenshin, take it!" The idea of him on that freezing floor another night made everything in me tighten like Hiko's bulging biceps.

His lip twitched in a small smile. "Thank you, Kaoru-dono."

Without looking at me, Kenshin took a second remote and slid it on the concrete floor between the bars. I stared down at it when it bumped my big toe. I pressed my lips together and reached for it, refusing to let Enishi's animosity make me feel like I was playing videogames with an enemy instead of the man I loved.

I took my other pillow and sat on the floor next to the bed. We played silently for a long while, Kenshin allowing me to pick whatever level I wanted to play. Surprisingly, I didn't fall off a cliff even once. At one point, I was on Kenshin's tale through the entire level. Along with being better with a bokken, I suppose somehow blending with Enishi gave me a little more hand/eye coordination with other things as well.

"You nearly beat me, Kaoru-dono." Kenshin's eyes rounded.

I frowned at him. "You don't have to sound so surprised!"

It felt like I was cheating somehow, but it still made me grin feistily at the tv. What surprised me even more, was when I realized I had scooched up to the bars, so close to Kenshin's sleeve that we nearly touched.

I swallowed, feeling my skin flare scornfully, but refused to move. The other part of me flared with the heat of something much more pleasant, and I attempted with almost painful determination to focus on that instead.

"Forgive me Kaoru, but as many times as we've played this game together, you were always at least five laps behind me."

"Thanks for remembering the good times!" I exclaimed sarcastically, still staring at his shirt sleeve.

Kenshin chuckled, looking quietly down at the floor, and I felt my mouth twitch. "They were very good times."

I swallowed again. And then once more. He was wearing his cute flannel pajamas pants and t-shirt, and the skin of his arm was calling for me to press my palms to it, feel the tight muscles beneath. Had I not thought I would claw at it afterward, I would have reached for him.

I cleared my throat. "You pick the next level."

Kenshin nodded and chose Rainbow Road. I think he was probably testing me with that one.

"Before Yahiko blended, he told me he wanted to kill Enishi." I had been aching to tell Kenshin that since the night before, but avoiding him and talking to him didn't generally go hand in hand. "I hope he blended for the right reason."

Kenshin's cart swerved a little. "I know how Yahiko feels."

Even though he wasn't looking directly at me, I knew the look he cast at the television and it chilled me to the core. Unable to suppress a shiver, my cart sailed off the brightly-colored highway. "Nobody is going to kill anyone," I repeated the words I'd spoken to Yahiko, hoping Kenshin would understand that returning to his Battousai ways was not an option, no matter what Enishi did to deserve it.

"I made you a promise, Kaoru-dono, and I fully intend on keeping it," Kenshin responding, his mouth curling at the screen for a single moment before his expression went serious again.

I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply. I was tired. Tired of fighting Enishi's hate. Tired of not touching Kenshin. "Do you know any jokes?"

Kenshin's brows shot up but he kept his eyes on the screen. "Oro?"

"Knock, knock jokes or something?" I needed more distraction.

"When I was ten, I tore the ACL while training with Hiko and needed surgery to repair it. And when I was waiting to go back, I was so nervous that Hiko started distracting me with... well, not really jokes, but some funny things. That he did."

I smiled widely at that. "Really?" What a sweet memory.

Kenshin nodded. "It helped. When they called my name, the nerves came back but he had me laughing up until then."

"Tell me some of Hiko's funny things," I encouraged, biting my lip as I leaned slightly forward to brush the very tips of my fingers against his sleeve. The simple touch on the fabric sent a jolt up my arm, and I pulled back quickly before he caught me.

Kenshin smiled at the screen as he thought, and I realized I had forgotten to start playing again after my kart was picked up and deposited back on the road. "I invited my girlfriend to go to the gym with me, but she stood me up. I guess the two of us aren't going to work out."

The way he told it, his voice so deadpan, I nearly choked on my laugh. Kenshin's face turned pink but the smile on his face was heartbreakingly relieved at the sound of my laughter. So, he kept going. "The biggest change after having kids was putting a swear jar in the house. Whenever I say a bad word, I have to put a dollar in the jar, and at the end of every month, I take all that money and buy myself a nice steak for being such a cool dad." Kenshin's eyes cornered to me, humored. "You think it's funny, but Hiko actually did those things."

I giggled until my face turned red and I couldn't hold my kart on the highway any longer. "I can see him doing that. Hiko is so eccentric but he loves you so much."

Kenshin smiled at the floor. "Yes, he does." He took a deep breath and sat his remote down, having passed the finish line. "I accidentally proposed to you once, past you that is."

My eyes snapped to him and I snorted as my kart flew over the edge again. "How on earth do you accidentally propose?"

"It was your birthday, and I found a ring. A friend of ours suggested I give it to you. At the time I had no idea what an engagement ring was, but you certainly did. You were not very happy with me when you found out I hadn't exactly intended to marry you. That you were not."

"I bet I knocked you with my bokken."

Kenshin smiled widely. "Your fist, actually."

Megumi was right. I was a violet girl when it came to Kenshin. "That's embarrassing for both of us."

"The ironic part is how much I wanted to marry you."

I swallowed. "Then why didn't you just go with it?" It surprised me how soft and curious my voice had become, not in the least harsh.

He shrugged his tense shoulders. The movement must had scratched his back pleasantly against the cell bars because he did it again three more times. "Fear of losing you. Fear of a target on your back because of my past. There were many times I'm sure you questioned whether I had feelings for you at all because I chose to hide them in case someone used them against me. I had already lost one wife, Kaoru, but I was a fool for letting fear control me, for waiting. That I was."

I swallowed, looking at him, studying him. There was a long scar on his right arm, starting just below the curve of his elbow and disappearing up into his t-shirt. "You were always trying to protect me, weren't you?"

"Yes," he answered without pause, and turned toward me with his legs tucked up under his body. His eyes found mine, and they were so filled with warmth and love that I completely stopped breathing. "I'm going to marry you, Kaoru."

Before I could even process what he said, a soft reply sprang from my lips, "Yes." And my eyes popped with surprise, making Kenshin smile. I knew it would happen. One day. "But what about the hate?" I didn't want to say out loud how those emotions had lessened during our conversation because I didn't want to get his hopes up. Or mine. But at that moment, it felt as if love was winning.

Kenshin sighed. "Hate is a negative energy that can alter your perception, sometimes causing uncontrollable destruction and chaos. It's what opens up the bad part of us. For me, it's something I'm trying very hard to keep closed even though Enishi has successfully caused destruction and chaos to the most important parts of my life. I've never wanted to hate more than I do right now. I have to remember that Enishi hates me because he thinks I killed Tomoe purposefully, as if I wanted it to happen, but that's not the truth. Had he known the truth, maybe none of this would be happening. This animosity you feel towards me, Kaoru, isn't only not your own hate, it's also based on falsity." He turned his head to look at me. "Love is truth."

I knew that already, but I repeated it in my mind over and over anyway. Hate is based on falsity. Love is truth.

Our love was the truth. I needed to write that down.

"Do you think I inherited Enishi's anger towards you because he wants me to kill you?" It was the most morbid question I'd ever asked, and the answer absolutely terrified me. There were times where I thought this anger could lead to me hurting Kenshin, maybe even brutally. It wasn't something I ever thought possible, but I had to be prepared.

Kenshin's eyes narrowed at the tv screen, the lights glittering in those golden orbs. "I don't know."

"I'm not killing you," I said firmly. The game had ended, but it didn't stop me from punching buttons on the controller violently.

Kenshin barked out a laugh. "I don't want you to."

"This is killing both of us anyway though, isn't it?" I asked, softly, more speaking to myself than to him, but he heard me anyway.

Kenshin's brilliant eyes flashed with something akin to anger, but I caught a deeper emotion in them, pain and sadness. I had been so scared to look into those eyes for several days now, but something drew me in like a magnet, and I couldn't look away.

"You'll only realize that you truly love someone if they already caused you enormous pain. Your enemies can never hurt you the way your loved ones can. It's the people close to your heart that can give you the most piercing wound. Love is a double-edged sword, it can heal the wound faster or it can sink the blade even deeper."

I glanced at the other side of my cell, feeling hot tears dripping endlessly down my cheeks. I wiped them away violently. "Hating you hurts more than anything, Kenshin. I'm stabbing you over and over and over again. This has to stop!"

He leaned close to the bars, wrapping his long fingers around them, and I turned to watch him, my body responding as if I were fish lured by bait. There might be a sharp hook in my mouth, but the lure was so delicious that I was willingly being pull in. "I'm not the only one hurting, Kaoru. But if you expect me to give up then you are very mistaken. Whatever you lose, you'll find it again, but what you throw away you'll never get it back. And I'm going to have you back."

My body responded to those words. Every inch of my skin felt on fire. "But I'm hurting you."

Kenshin's eyes bored into mine. "You, Kamiya Kaoru, helped a new stranger on the street 1,347 times in the past two years. Did you know that?"

I swallowed, and inadvertently my traitorous eyes dropped down to stare at his mouth. "Well… n-no… but—"

He leaned forward even more, his nose nearly touching the bars. "I know because I counted, Kaoru. And each time you gave someone the last bit of your bus money so you were forced to walk several miles back home, I fell more and more in love with you."

And then I couldn't breathe at all because his demeanor completely changed. Despite his sweet words, his eyes narrowed into a look that had me pinned to my spot, completely unable to move. "Kenshin," I said, gritting my teeth. "Are you angry with me?"

He completely ignored me. "Do you know how many times you did that?"

My head shook, unable to speak.

He tilted his head, and the anger I saw flare in his eyes was bright as a blazing fire. This time it was definitely directed at me. "378… more than a year," he answered his own question. Those eyes bored into mine, the beauty of his face almost feminine in it's strange, exotic appeal. But his body was tense like a lion, and there was nothing feminine about that. He leaned forward until his red bangs brushed the bars, and asked me very, very quietly, "And now you're sacrificing for me, aren't you?"

Time stopped. My nose flared. I locked eyes with him, refusing to budge. One of Kenshin's catlike eyes caught the light of the television, practically making it glow. Our game had been long forgotten and now the only sound left in the room was breathing; His steady and even. Mine, heavy and erratic.

"What do you mean?" I asked, voice unsteady.

But he didn't say anything right away. The look on his face said enough. His level gaze was as heavy as a bucket of stones. The detective in him was back full force, and he knew I was not as conniving as I desperately wished I had been. He knew I didn't feel hate towards Shinta when they separated. And now I dreaded what he would do with that knowledge. "Even with Enishi's hatred, you're still protecting me, aren't you Kaoru-dono? What happened when I separated?"

No, I had to deny it!

I lifted myself off the floor, and Kenshin's powerful gaze followed mine as I slowly stood in front of him. I held his eyes with my own and noted the sharp intake of breath through his nose as he watched me. There was a glint of warning in his eyes, daring me to lie, which angered, scared and thrilled me all at once. I was about to turn away and bury myself in my bed without answering him, mentally trying to prepare myself if he followed into my cell, when there was a sudden commotion beyond the door.

"Hey! Didn't I kick your ass in the past?" A familiar voice drifted from outside, ringing loud and clear, and both our gazes snapped to the heavy metal door. "Oh wait, you're just part of the same group. Where are the other Juppongatana? Ew, you've got a little something going on with your face."

Oh my goodness! It couldn't be!

Kenshin sprang to his feet just as the door swung open with a flare. There the tiny girl stood, hands on her hips and a huge smile on her face. I could have cried at the sight!

"Miss Misao?" Kenshin's voice was lined in disbelief.

"Kaoru!" She squeaked, zooming inside, her long braid bouncing. She shoved Kenshin aside and reached into the bars to hug me. "Did ya miss me?"

I squeezed her tight. "Yes! Misao, what in the world are you doing here?"

She pulled away, her face coloring shamefully. "Well, it's kind of a long story." Before she could continue, her nose scrunched up, distracted. "Why the heck are you locked up? Is this some kind of weird kinky stuff, Himura? If so, go Kaoru!"

I glanced at Kenshin, still recovering from the whirlwind that is Misao.

"Because some people think she is a threat," Hiko's body took up the entire door. "Personally, I don't see it since she weighs the same as my big toe, but nobody around here listens to me anyway."

"A threat?" Misao glanced between me and Hiko and Kenshin, looking for an answer. "How?"

"Enishi blended with her and now she feels his hatred towards my idiot son," Hiko said, completely indifferently, as if the expression blended was just something thrown around to anyone in casual conversation.

My eyes popped. "What in the world is going on?"

"Enishi did what?" Misao asked, thoroughly concerned, and completely ignoring my question. "Kaoru, are you okay?" Before I could answer, she spun to Kenshin. "How could you let this happen, Himura?!"

Kenshin had been rubbing at his sore bottom, when suddenly he stood straight. "Wait, you know what blending is?" He glanced at his father, who just rolled his eyes in return. Behind him, peered the buldging eyes of an older man with white hair and a grinning mouth. Kenshin's mouth dropped open at he sight. "Okina?"

I grasped the bars tight. "Who is that? WHAT IS GOING ON?!"

Misao's appearance out of nowhere was surprise enough. Now, somehow, she understands blending?!

Misao smiled, looking both ashamed and a little excited as she turned to explain to me. "Uh, well… I blended about three months ago and I don't have to hide it from you anymore. Also," she added, as if that wasn't enough. "Kaoru, meet gramps." Misao yanked the old man out from behind Hiko's massive body, and he crinkled his eyes at my jaw-dropped, stunned face. "You knew him in the past, but unfortunately he passed away there. This is future gramps... or, today gramps, and he's the one responsible for time travel... Surprise!"

The old man stepped forward, raising his warm hand to take mine, which was cold and tense as he pulled it through the bars. "Hello, beautiful lady," he said, sweetly placing a kiss to my knuckles. "I've heard quite a bit about you."

To Be Continued…

Author's Notes: We're about to leave headquarters and really get things going. Lots more to come!