Dawn
In the low morning light, Kaoru studies the lines that run from Enishi's nostrils to the corners of his wide mouth, two deep creases. Her braid is still wrapped around his fist, even though they finished having sex half an hour ago.
He smirks down at her. "Found one."
My grief is catching up to yours, Kaoru thinks but doesn't say. "Just one grey hair? That's not bad for a woman my age."
Enishi finally releases her hair and kisses her. He's nearly fifty, but he still doesn't grow much of a beard. There's enough silver stubble to scrape her chin, though. He slips his hand into the folds of her open sleeping robe, grazes his fingertips across her bare waist, and grinds up against her thigh.
"How can you possibly be ready again?" Kaoru mumbles against his lips, although she can't say that she minds the attention. "You're old."
"I'm old? You're the one with two grandchildren," he responds.
The most effective mood killer of all. Kaoru shoves Enishi away and sits up, then ties her night robe back into place. "Speaking of which, I need to get ready for the day. Kenji's bringing the girls over so Kiyu can go to the market with her friends."
Enishi winces as he rises, his joints cracking as he moves. The covers fall to his waist, revealing his still-lean, battle scarred torso. "I'll get Kenshin dressed and feed him breakfast."
Kaoru looks away. "Thanks."
Day
Kaoru rocks the basket in which Mifuyu sleeps. The baby is larger than Kenji was as a six month old, and she eats more, too. Hopefully she'll remain asleep until Kiyu returns.
Three year-old Tatsu pays no attention at all to her sleeping sister as she bounces on Kaoru's lap. The toddler plays with a handful of flowers and pebbles on the boards of the deck, between her fat bare feet.
Kaoru arranges the pebbles into kanji characters. "Look, it's your name," she says to her older granddaughter.
Tatsu smiles, then piles her fistful of flower petals into the space between the lines.
"Soon you'll be helping Enishi with his accounting," Kaoru says, looking across the deck to where Enishi sits cross legged, his back against a wooden post and a notebook on his lap. He scratches figures onto the pages with a stick of graphite and keeps taking off his spectacles to wipe them against his tunic. "But he's going to need your help even sooner if he doesn't get a set of thicker lenses for his glasses."
Enishi glances up at Kaoru with a single raised eyebrow. "By all means help the girl learn how to write, but make sure that Kenji teaches her how to cook."
The old anger flares in Kaoru's chest for a brief moment, then sputters out. Kaoru long ago proved that she could build a successful marriage and family life, even though she never did learn to prepare a decent meal. She doesn't need Enishi's approval of her kitchen skills.
Kaoru looks out across the sunny yard, where Kenshin smiles as he hands Kenji pieces of clean wet laundry from a wide basket. Kenji, much taller and broader in the chest than his father ever was, snaps the linens over the clothesline. Kenshin runs a gnarled hand through his faded brownish-red hair and starts singing, and soon Kenji joins in. Tatsu kicks her feet, and the pebbles skitter across the deck.
"Thank you for your help, sir," Kenshin says politely to his son when his basket is empty. "It's a treat to meet someone who knows that old Kansai song."
Kenji opens his mouth, then closes it. He clenches his fist at his side. "Father, you taught me that song. I'm your - " Kenji looks over to Kaoru, and for the thousandth time her heart breaks for her boy. "I'm your son."
"Son? That's not -" Kenshin's face crumples in confusion, then fear. His eyes take in the yard and the dojo, and then land on Kaoru and his granddaughters. He meets Kaoru's stare.
Remember our family, she thinks. Remember me.
Kenshin's brows furrow on his lined face. "Excuse me, ma'am, but who - do you know my wife? Do you know Tomoe?"
Kaoru hears Enishi's intake of breath. She gently moves Tatsu off her lap.
"It's alright, Kenshin," she says quietly. "You're safe at home now."
Kenshin looks at her suspiciously; dully. His gaze shifts to Enishi. "Oji-san? What - what happened to your beard?" That's new. Usually Kenshin doesn't recognize Enishi at all. "Where's your daughter? Where's Tomoe?"
Kenji places a large hand on Kenshin's shoulder. "Father, your wife is Kaoru, right there. My mother. Tomoe's not your wife anymore. Tomoe's -"
"Don't," Kaoru warns her son. "It'll upset him."
Kenshin shrugs away Kenji's hand. "I need to find Tomoe -" His voice cracks. He reaches up to his face and touches his scar. Tears fill his eyes. "I need to -"
Kaoru stands, slipping her feet into her sandals on the ground. "Kenji, your father needs to rest now. Thank you for doing the laundry. If Kiyu stops by on the way from the market, I'll let her know you took the girls home."
"No!" Tatsu objects, clinging to Kaoru's clothes. "I want to stay with you, Grandma!" The girl flails and accidentally kicks her sister's basket, and the baby jerks awake with a scream.
Kaoru picks up Mifuyu while Tatsu wails.
Enishi shoves his notebook aside and walks over to Kenshin. "Come on, Kenshin, it's fine. Kenji, help me -"
Kenji tries to take his father's hand, but Kenshin jerks away. "Please don't touch me," he growls, and he reaches for a sword that hasn't been in his belt for years.
Kaoru is mostly beset by the little girls, but she is able to watch through her own watery vision as Enishi and Kenji work together to half-wrestle, half-herd her terrified husband inside.
Dusk
Later that night, when Kenshin is sleeping off Megumi's sedative, Kaoru and Enishi eat in silence.
As Kaoru is stacking the dishes, she says, "If you hadn't nearly killed him back then -"
Enishi tugs at his bad ear, the one he destroyed over two decades ago. "You know what I think about that."
Kaoru does know. If Kenshin hadn't killed Tomoe, he would be enjoying grandchildren with his first wife.
Kaoru would be alone. Enishi would be, too.
Kaoru has sex with Enishi again that night. Whereas Kenshin's desire waned as his mind fell apart, Enishi remains an enthusiastic partner. Extremely enthusiastic.
When he comes, Enishi bites Kaoru on the neck under her ear where anyone will be able to see the mark. He still acts petulant and possessive, even though everyone who matters has long since accepted his place in Kaoru's life, and in Kenshin's. Kaoru rolls her eyes through her own climax.
Kaoru is back in her night robe and half-asleep when the slide of a shoji screen jolts her back to consciousness. She leaps out of Enishi's arms and flies out the door.
Kenshin is standing in the hallway, the moonlight softening his features.
For a shred of a second, Kenshin's eyes burn with hitokiri fire. Kaoru's body blooms with heat, as much from the sex earlier in the evening as from the nostalgia from when she was learning to live with Kenshin as his young wife.
He blinks and shakes his head. "Kaoru? Love?" His eyes are clear.
"Yes," Kaoru says quietly, hope in her heart.
"Kenji isn't in his bed." Kenshin gestures to the room where he's slept for years. His voice teeters on the edge of terror. "Where is our little boy?"
Kaoru swallows.
At least he remembers part of their life together, tonight. It's enough. It has to be. "Kenji is safe," she answers. "He's -" He's all grown up, taking care of his own wife and children in their home down the street. "Sano and Yahiko are with him in the yard. They're looking at the stars."
Kenshin nods, perhaps unconvinced. He rubs his eyes. "Why is everything - ?" His shoulders slump. "Things don't make sense anymore."
"Have they ever?" Kaoru says, and Kenshin smiles at that. She approaches him carefully, then wraps her arms around him. His muscles tense, but slowly he relaxes in her embrace. "Why don't I help you get back in bed?" she offers.
He nods against her neck.
She leads him back into his room and assists him down onto the futon. He looks at her expectantly and pats the spot beside him on the bed. Her heart breaks again.
"I'm still cleaning up out front," she lies, talking past the lump in her throat. "I'll be back in a few minutes. I love you." She pulls the covers up to his chin and kisses him gently on the lips.
"I love you too," Kenshin says, reaching up to press his hand against her cheek. "My wife." He closes his eyes.
As she closes the screen to Kenshin's room, she hears Enishi clear his throat. She looks up to see that he's leaning against the wall beside the door to her own bedroom.
"I do love him. I always will," Kaoru says quietly; defiantly.
Enishi steps forward and takes Kaoru's hand in his, then presses his lips to her knuckles. "It's all a shit situation, but for whatever it's worth, I've never been happier than I am now."
"That's because you were miserable for so long," Kaoru says bitterly. She built such a good life with Kenshin, for so many years. She'd give anything for Kenshin to remember his granddaughters for just one day.
"It's a different kind of justice than what I once planned for him," Enishi grunts. "Watching him deteriorate. Keeping him alive. Sleeping with his wife."
Kaoru waits for the guilt that sometimes seizes her when Enishi reminds her of his place in her heart, but it never comes. She places her arms around his waist and lays her head against his chest. "For whatever it's worth, I love you, too."
She can feel him freeze. "Not the same way as Kenshin," she clarifies. "Never that. But - I have more joy because you're here. Because you help, and because you -" She feels the heat rise to her face. "Because you're with me." It's enough. It has to be.
Enishi returns her embrace. "I feel the same."