The first two nights that Kaoru was home, she cried.

Kenshin heard her, of course. He always did, because he was always awake. His nights would be spent either in the kitchen or outside her bedroom door, which is where he fell asleep most of the time now. He couldn't risk losing her to some unknown monster, not again, not after last time. Especially not after he just got her back.

So he always heard her when she cried. She never tried to be loud with it; of course, because she knew that no matter where she was in the house he would be able to hear her. But that thought never stopped the tears.

"Are you just going to listen to her again?"

Kenshin looked up from his tea cup at Sano as he lumbered in and plopped down next to Kenshin on the walkway outside the kitchen. He stared at the smaller man for a moment before sighing and leaning back on his hands.

"Why don't you go to her?"

Kenshin swallowed the small bit of tea that was unconsciously being held in his mouth before answering, "It would not be proper for this one to go into her room."

Sano blinked at him a few times before bursting into quiet laughter. "Proper?"

Kenshin stared patiently at him until he regained control and shook his head.

"Kenshin," Sano sighed. "That is a young, single girl in there...and she has had three men staying in her house. What part of any of this has been proper?"

With that simple statement, he clapped his friend on the shoulder and stood up to saunter back to the guest room that he had claimed as his. Kenshin sat there for a moment, calmly finishing his tea. It isn't as if he was unaware of what kind of reflection it had on Kaoru in town. It isn't as if he didn't hear what the girls her age gossiped when she walked by, or how they would slyly poke fun at her. He wasn't a fool.

Chewing on the inside of his cheek a moment, it took one final sniffle from her room to make him finally think 'to hell with it.'

He walked across the hall and stood outside her door for a few moments, wondering if he should knock or just walk in. It isn't as if she wasn't aware of his feelings for her at this point, he had made them more than clear the night before Enishi attacked.

'The night before he took her from me.'

His eyes clenched shut and he slid the door open, walking quietly into her room. He knew she heard him even though her back was facing the door. Her hand quickly came up and wiped across her face.

"Yahiko." She breathed out a quiet laugh. "I told you, I'm fine. Really. Go back to sleep."

It was no secret among the house that the young boy would also come check on Kaoru at night. Out of everyone in the house, Kenshin believed that Kaoru's 'passing' affected Yahiko the most…well…second to him. No, maybe even before him.

Without answering her, he knelt next to her futon and lifted her blanket, crawling under it next to her. Her breathing stopped for a moment before he pulled her back against his chest, closing his arms around her and lacing his fingers through hers. He pulled their arms to her chest and nuzzled his nose against her hair softly, touching his forehead to her shoulder.

"It is alright now, Kaoru-dono, that it is." He whispered. "This one is here now, so you may cry as you wish."

She sat quietly breathing for a few moments before she finally started crying again, bringing their entwined hands up to cover her mouth. She folded against him, curling into herself and crying properly for the first time since she stepped off that boat. She sobbed as loudly and as much as her body would have, and she didn't miss the way that her hair got damp from tears behind her.

"It is alright, Kaoru-dono." He repeated. "This one is here."

He said it as much as he needed, not simply for her, but for him. Having another person ripped away from him had gutted him. The fact that it was quite literally his past that had come back and stole her from him made it worse. Another woman he loved ripped away because of the life he foolishly chose at fourteen.

Kenshin buried his face into the crook of her neck and repeated the mantra, pulling her closer to him, holding her tightly against him. Kaoru didn't know how many hours they cried together, but she began to hear the slight change in his voice over the course of the night.

"It's alright now, Kaoru." Then he would nuzzle her shoulder and neck, taking a deep breath before the next words slipped from his lips. "I'm here now."

She turned in his arms, pressing close to him, lifting a hand to brush his hair away. When he looked down at her, she saw gold and finally truly understood why his eyes changed when he fought too hard. It wasn't a snap in his personality. His eyes simply changed when he felt too much emotion for his carefully trained placid temperament to hold back.

Kaoru wiped the tears from his eyes and smiled at him, sniffling her own back. She lifted his hand and brushed her lips across his scarred knuckles, holding his hand to her cheek. They stayed that way for a period of time, just staring at each other and matching their breathing until they both calmed. When dawn broke over the roof of the dojo, they still sat watching each other. Their hands were clasped together, her thumb brushing idly against his pulse.

"Why did it take you so long, Kenshin?" She finally whispered.

He swallowed back his guilt, and drew a long breath. "This one…I…I had thought you died. Enishi had a fake body constructed from many different corpses. The likeness of you was identical. I walked into the dojo and I saw a body that held your face. It had a sword through its chest, and a cross on its cheek. I broke, Kaoru."

He blinked away tears and his brow furrowed as he lifted his fingers to touch her cheek. Flawless as ivory floors. Not a scar ever put there. It flashed in his memory, and he shut his eyes before continuing.

"You can imagine why. To have my past come and take you away from me; another woman I loved, it killed me Kaoru. I couldn't find the strength to even hold the sakabatou. I couldn't protect you with it. I had sworn that I could protect people with that sword and it was worthless to protect you."

She chewed on her lip softly, watching his face as he spoke. Of course she could understand why he would fall apart. She would have done the same in his place, but that didn't change the fact that after they discovered the body wasn't hers, he still didn't come. When she mentioned this to him, he laughed dryly.

"No one had told me that you were alive. I had to figure that one out for myself…well…" Tomoe's smiling face flashed in his mind. "Not completely by myself."

Kaoru's brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Tomoe." He breathed out her name, smiling softly. "She came to me. She smiled at me, and told me that there was someone still waiting for my own smile. That's when I knew you were still alive. It was good that she told me, because if one of the others had…I probably would have gone and slit Enishi's throat."

He watched her face to see if she reacted to him saying that. He knew what his eyes must look like; he knew his speech pattern had changed from the bumbling rurouni that had captured her heart. To his pleasure, she simply purse her lips and gave him a scolding look, but lifted her hand to gently brush her fingers over the scar on his cheek. He had to bite back a smile. This woman, this infuriating, stubborn, vulnerable woman was the one to give a scolding look to Battousai the manslayer. It was as if he were a child and she was telling him to play nicely with the other children, because it was rude to talk of slitting their throats.

"Did…" His smile fell. "Did he…did anyone there…did they hurt you, Kaoru."

She shook her head. "Enishi actually protected me from that. That's not to say I didn't occasionally get thrown into a room when they thought I was being out of line. Or trying to escape. But no one hurt me. Not in the ways I'm sure you're wondering."

Kaoru shivered in the autumn morning air and pressed herself against him, tucking her head under his chin as he pulled the blanket around them.

"I don't think he could hurt me because I was so close to Tomoe-san's age. I think anytime he sees a girl my age, all he sees is her. It actually saved my life."

He hummed softly in appreciation and stroked her hair softly. They lay quiet as they heard footsteps outside in the hallway. A small shadow paused outside her door before a gruff voice hissed from the other side of the hall.

"Yahiko, don't you dare. Just go back to sleep."

"Shut up Sano. I can check on her if I want. I'm the one that actually lives here, you know."

"If you so much as open that door, I am going to shove my foot so far up your ass you'll be tasting my toes."

Kaoru covered her mouth to keep from laughing as Kenshin bit his lip.

"Fine." Yahiko sighed outside the door. "Where's Kenshin, I'm hungry."

"He's none of your business." Misao hissed from the room next to Sano's. "I'll make breakfast today."

"You?! You cook worse than Kaoru does!"

"I'll have you know that I'm a culinary genius, you little shit!"

Kenshin burst into laughter, and Kaoru had to muffle her giggles against his chest, but there was no way they couldn't be heard now. Kenshin sensed Yahiko tense outside the door as he heard both their voices before he backed away.

"Uh…Yeah, Misao, show me your culinary skills then, and try not to make food that'll have me puking."

Kaoru rolled her eyes, calling out over Kenshin's shoulder. "I'm so glad that I'm raising such a gentleman, Yahiko!"

He muttered something about ugly girls being demanding as he walked away, and Kenshin shook his head.

"This one should go and start breakfast for everyone. We have more people home than usual."

As he moved to get up, her fingers tightened around his yukata, and he blinked down at her.

"Stay." She smiled sleepily. "Misao-chan can cook, and Aoshi-san's here to help her."

Kenshin nodded, laying back down and slipping his arm around her waist, pulling her close.

"Kenshin?"

"Oro?"

"Could you say it again…please?"

He smiled, resting his cheek against the top of her head before he closed his eyes.

"It is alright, Kaoru. This one is here. This one is not going anywhere."