It was a rainy afternoon. There were just a few mourners beside the simple wooden coffin, and as the priest said his final words, they filed past to look their last upon the sleeping woman and to leave white flowers atop the glass that covered her. After they did so, they looked sympathetically at the little girl standing still in front of the coffin, staring at it as though trying to look beyond the wood, and will the woman to open her eyes, smile at the little girl and tell her that she'll see her again in the morning.

No such thing occurred. The last of the mourners had left the cemetery, and only four people were left: two adults, and two children. One of the adults, a woman, knelt close to the little girl and whispered, "The men have to close the coffin now, Tomoe-chan."

Deep dark eyes met the woman's brown ones. "Wait, please."

The woman's eyes teared up. "Oh honey…"

The little girl shook her head vigorously. "Please, let's wait a little longer," she pleaded. "Maybe she's not yet done resting. She'll wake up soon, let's just wait."

The other adult, a man, touched the girl's shoulder. "Tomoe-chan, we've talked about this, remember?"

The girl shook her head again. "I don't remember, sir," she replied. "I only remember my mother promise she'll wake up in the morning."

The man and the woman looked at each other. Their silence was interrupted by the gravediggers, who approached them to say that they really needed to lower the casket into the ground.

The other child, a boy, was all the while looking intently at the girl. He was clenching all the while a white iris. He meant to give the flower to the woman in the coffin, but the unexpressed grief of the girl changed his mind. He looked at the man firmly as if to say he could talk to her, and a slight touch from the woman made the man nod in approval. They hung back to talk to the gravediggers and let the two children talk.

"Tomoe," the boy ventured. The girl remained stock-still. Undeterred, he held her hand. "I still have to give this to Auntie, you know," he said, raising the iris in his hand. "Will you go with me?"

The girl didn't reply, but she gave an almost imperceptible nod. The boy took her hand and led her slowly towards the coffin. Never letting go of her hand, he gently placed the iris among the other flowers on top of the glass. "Auntie liked irises very much," he said. "She told me once that seeing irises always reminded her of you, who were born in a rainy afternoon like this, and who she always called as her beautiful girl in the rain."

The girl remained silent. The boy looked at her as he tried to smile while feeling her pain. "Now she will always remember you beside her," he said.

The girl was still silent, though the boy felt a tight hold on his hand. After a few moments, she walked backward, still facing the coffin, but it was permission enough for the gravediggers to do their job. She watched as the casket was slowly lowered, and then the gravediggers filled in the hole. Soon, a mound was erected, and a memorial stone set up. The small group then left the area, sheltered under black umbrellas.

The boy never let go of the girl's hand.

The door opened. Footsteps were barely audible above the beeping of the monitors. Tomoe didn't even look up. She just let the doctor do what he had to do. She didn't care about anyone else anymore. She didn't have eyes for anyone else, just the person lying down on the bed.

The person who entered wasn't the doctor, though.

"He's still not awake, then." Kenshin pulled a chair close to Akira's bed.

Tomoe looked up involuntarily, surprised at his appearance. Kenshin met her surprised glance with a steady look. "What?" he said. "I'm supposed to be at my friend's side, aren't I?"

Tomoe recovered her composure. "Of course you should." She turned back her gaze at Akira. "The anesthesia hasn't worn off yet. Maybe a few hours more." She paused, and stole an icy glance at Kenshin. "You took long enough," she said, a touch of irritation in her voice.

"We were here," Kenshin replied coolly. "I just drove Kaoru home."

Tomoe flinched. She leaned back and turned away from Kenshin and Akira. "Kaoru…"

"…knows," Kenshin completed her sentence for her. "Who you are… who you are to Akira…" His steely gaze made her look at him for his next words, "…and who Akira is to you."

Kenshin's gaze showed enough. Tomoe bit her lip. "I didn't… I didn't mean…"

"You never meant many things, Tomoe," Kenshin said coldly. "You never meant to fall in love with the boss's son. You never meant to be his girlfriend, then you never meant to be his fiancée. Later, you never meant to leave him for five years. You never meant to make him suffer when you were gone, and then you never meant to make him suffer again when you decided to come back."

"I never meant many things to happen!" Tomoe's tears fell with every sin that she had committed. "I didn't want to… I never wanted to…"

"But they did, Tomoe, and now look at him!" Kenshin couldn't keep his anger in anymore. "Look at what you did to Kaoru! Look at yourself." He exhaled harshly. "Everything's spiraling out of control now, and you can't do anything about it."

The monitor's beeping, and Tomoe's uncontrollable sobs, were the only things that broke the silence between them.

The following week was difficult. The boy watched the girl do the same chores as her mother, even if his parents told her not to. The rainy weather was still upon them, but all throughout it, she still washed the dirty linen of the household.

She ate little each meal, did not change clothes quickly when she was soaked in the rain, and disregarded all the attention that the household gave to her. The worst is she never smiled. It was as if she forgot how to smile, and it pained the boy so much that sometimes, he cried silently at night.

"Tomoe, stop this," the boy pleaded, but all he saw in those dark eyes was nothingness.

"I'm fine, Akira, let go," the girl said tonelessly.

The boy slapped her hand, making her let go of the laundry basket she was holding, and held her in a tight embrace. "Stop it, Tomoe," he repeated. "Please don't do this anymore."

That's when he felt her skin, which was burning up, and held her as she lost consciousness because of fever and fatigue.

All the people in the house attempted to nurse her back to health. The family doctor was sent for, and he promptly prescribed drugs that would combat her illness. The cook was anxious to feed the girl nutritious foods, but to the cook's dismay, she could only take in little of each dish. She was in and out of consciousness for a few days as her fever raged on, until the doctor took the master and the mistress aside and whispered, "If she doesn't fight for her life, she will die."

The boy heard the doctor's words. He gripped the sick girl's hand tightly as he whispered fervently, willing her to hear him and heed him, "Live, Tomoe. Please fight this. Open your eyes."

The girl didn't reply. She didn't even open her eyes.

At that, the boy stood up immediately and left the room. He went directly to the servants' quarters, startling some of the maids. He searched every nook and cranny of the girl and her mother's room, desperately sorting through their personal belongings to find a way for her to return to health.

After a few hours of searching, he finally found what he was looking for. He placed it, uncapped, on the table beside her bed, and prayed hard that it would work on her.

Tomoe couldn't express her shame well enough. These tears merely proved just how weak she was. As Kenshin said, everything that happened was a direct result of her actions. No matter what justification she gave him, or herself, the fact still remains that Akira had been caught up in the whirlwind of pain and suffering that served as consequences of her actions.

It wasn't just Akira. Kaoru was caught up in it as well. Looking at Kenshin through her tears, she knew, so was he.

When she could, she blurted out the only thing she could. "I'm sorry," Tomoe said. "I don't know what else to do, other than apologize for everything I've done. I'm sorry for hurting Akira, sorry for taking away from Kaoru her happiness, sorry for making you miserable because I've made them miserable."

Kenshin didn't say anything. He only looked at her, then at Akira.

"If I could do anything, I would," Tomoe said. "If you want me to, I'll leave Japan and never come back again. I won't contact Akira anymore, and stay out of his and Kaoru's lives once and for all. Only…" she choked back a sob, "…only let me wait until he wakes up, and I know that he's out of danger. Then I'll leave."

Still, Kenshin didn't say a word. The monitor continued beeping, and the silence between them lengthened. Tomoe understood. She had cut this man's peace completely by hurting the two people he had cared about the most: his best friend, and if she wasn't mistaken, the woman he had grown to care about. If there was one person who could never forgive her, it was this man, first and foremost.

Finally, Kenshin sighed. This time, when he looked at her, his eyes were not filled with hatred, but rather sympathy. "It's too late for that now," he said, his tone flat. "You tried doing that, didn't you?" He looked at his friend lying on the hospital bed. "Look where it got Akira." He shook his head. "Look at those times that you tried to run away. Instead of making everything better, you've made them worse."

Tomoe pressed her lips together and didn't say a word.

Kenshin considered Tomoe for a while. He looked hesitant, as if deciding whether to speak or not. As a compromise, he looked over at Akira while he said, "You've known Akira longer than I have, and have loved him far longer than I have. That's why at first I couldn't understand why you left him the way you did. I think I do now." He still wasn't looking at her, but Tomoe raised her head and looked at him.

"When you first left," Kenshin continued, "you thought you were protecting Akira from the slander that had begun to build against him. You thought you were a liability, that your presence in his life would only hinder him from coming into his own.

"Then you came back again, because as you told me, you had to see that he was happy. And you did, so you tried to leave again. But this time, you found it more difficult, because you started to look not solely at Akira's happiness, but yours as well. Because you saw in Kaoru how you should have been had you not left him in the first place."

Tomoe's tears fell again. "I still love him," she said softly. "I did everything I did because I love him. I had to leave him because I love him. I can't leave him as easily now because I love him."

"Akira knew that," Kenshin said. This time, he looked piercingly at Tomoe. "He understood why you left him in the first place. He understood your struggles, he knew everything that you were going through. But he was prepared to fight through hell just to keep you with him then. That's why he threw that grandiose engagement party just for you. He wanted to show that you were someone he believed was worthy to stand by his side, someone that he chose. In his own way, he was protecting you too." He sighed. "If only you were strong enough to remain by his side."

Tomoe shook her head. "I wasn't. I couldn't see him suffer because of me. I had to leave to save us both."

Kenshin smiled bitterly. "You had to leave so you wouldn't see him suffer," he said mockingly. "I see."

Tomoe couldn't say anything in reply.

Kenshin expelled a harsh breath and looked back at Akira. "Despite that, he understood you," he continued. "Fool that he was, he understood you. That's why he let you be, as you became successful and all. He went to see all your movies. He even traveled abroad to see you, but he took care that you not see him. He'd always come to me, excited as a puppy, and describe to me how you've grown more beautiful, then he'd turn sad and look out the window afterwards."

Tomoe smiled through her tears.

Kenshin turned his eyes on Akira. "Stay this time, Tomoe," he said. "Running away didn't help you, nor him, so this time, stay."

"Kenshin…" Tomoe whispered. She looked at Akira. She reached for his hand and held it tight.

At that, Kenshin smiled slightly. "In any case, let's wait for this guy to wake up before you do anything else."

The next day, the girl's fever broke, and she opened her eyes and saw the boy standing over her. His relief was evident in his face, but he could only hoarsely whisper her name. "Tomoe."

The girl looked fixedly at him for a few seconds. Then she uttered her first words. "You brought me my mother's perfume," she whispered. Another miracle occurred as she smiled at him. "She visited me in my dreams, and she told me that now I have a way to remember her too." Through her smile, her tears were finally released as she continued, "She had your iris in her hand. She said she liked it very much. You were right, she did tell me that irises always made her think of me, and that wherever she was going, she would always make sure that there were irises beside her. She told me to thank you for that." She pulled the boy closer to her as she whispered, "Thank you, Akira… thank you…"

The scent of white plums lingered in the air. It penetrated the haze in Akira's mind, clearing a little bit of the darkness that he was in. It reminded him of dark eyes that rarely smiled at him, but which sparkled brilliantly in the rare occasions that they did.

It reminded him… but it was a reminder that gave him a lot of pain.

With the fragrance came a familiar touch. Slim fingers wrapped themselves around his hand: long, white, delicate fingers they were. They held his hand tightly, as if afraid to let go.

Letting go… but those fingers had always done so.

"Akira…"

A voice. It was quiet, but it was unmistakable. It was a voice that he had wanted to hear for five years, a voice that he had yearned for with all his heart and soul.

It was her voice… but it was that voice that broke his heart into pieces.

The darkness beckoned to him. These should all be tricks that his mind was conjuring up, delusions that provoked him to either rage or despair. To avoid any of them, he only needed to sink deeper into the darkness, into the warmth of oblivion.

She was gone… she had long been gone anyway. What was there to stay for?

He reached out his hand to touch the darkness… but the fragrance held him back. His hand was still grasped tightly, and the voice called out to him.

"Akira…" the voice said. "Do you remember when… when Mama died? I couldn't feel anything much during the funeral, but at her burial, the fact that I won't see her anymore made me wish that I were going with her. I wanted to die with her, and you knew that, didn't you?"

Yes I did. But I…

"But you never let me. You pulled me out of that darkness, the despair, and even if her loss still hurt me, you eased the pain with the happiness of being with you, of loving you."

But you…

"But I left you. How could I have left you, you who are everything to me? How could I do that to you, who had given me only happiness and strength? Why did I have to cause you so much pain, when I knew I was going to inflict the same kind of pain to myself?"

He felt his hand graze against something soft.

"I love you, Akira. Difficult as it may be to understand how this can be an acceptable reason, that's my only justification for doing everything I did. But this love of mine had only brought you trouble and grief, when yours had only given me nothing but happiness. For this, I am sorry."

Suddenly, he felt droplets of water graze his palm. That made him pause.

"I love you."

I've always loved you.

"If you don't want to see me again, I'll gladly go away and never come back again. If you decide that it would be better for me to disappear from your life, I'll do it. I'll do anything you want. Just please… please… open your eyes… Akira…"

To see you again...

"Wake up please, and tell me what you want me to do…"

He felt her lips press into his palm.

Akira opened his eyes.

"Tomoe." He struggled for a bit to form the words that he needed to say. "Don't leave me."

I think I haven't said this enough: THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE! I don't deserve the patience that you've shown me by continuing to read my scribbles, but thank you for giving it to me anyway. Because you waited, I've always strived not to disappoint you when you next open my story. We're at the last stretch now anyway, so wait just a little bit longer.

Again, THANK YOU FOR READING! =)