*jumps in* Bonjour! This is my new Rurouni Kenshin story, and possibly the only new story I'm going to be making. Ugh, you have no idea how hard it is, to write a story, and then go over every paragraph and make it at least a sentence longer! Eeks!

Kenshin ran a shaky hand through his crimson hair. Everywhere hurt, his hands, his ears, his heart. Every breath came out as a wheeze, and for a second, a thought of asphyxiation ran through his mind. He tried to sit up straighter, and the air whistled easier down to his lungs.

He had to have been here an hour or so, looking around. Deep in the darkest corner, he met eyes with a women in a waitress's uniform. She shot him an apologetic smile, and he supposed, would've come to take his order, had her arms not been full with plates and glasses.

The last few customers filtered out of the restaurant, and silence overtook the booths. He heard a few hushed murmurs from the kitchen, and a door swung open. He rolled his eyes, making a point of ignoring it. Memories suddenly pushed to the forefront of his mind, and for a second, he was completely oblivious to the outside world.

He couldn't save her. Her numbers had dropped to a point where all he could do was sit there, holding her in his arms. He'd killed her.. If he'd never gone.. If he'd never acted as he did, she'd still be here, sitting across the table on the other side of the booth, caressing his hands in hers so the scent of white plum could wash over him, a small smile playing at the sides of her mouth.

He'd killed her. Rage overtook him, and for a second, he was shaking uncontrollably, pulling at his hair, ready to rip all of the red hair off, ready to rip off all his fingernails, just to make the pain stop, just to drive away the scent of blood, anything.. Anything..

"Sir? May I get you anything?"

Kenshin looked up in anger, and saw the waitress in front of him take a small step back. Nearly as tall as he was, midnight black hair framing her face, her lips slightly parted in surprise. Wide, blue eyes questioned him as her pencil tapped gently on her notepad. For a second, he tried to think of a reason why she'd be so taken aback, before he realized what he was doing.

His ki pressed against her, and he saw her surprise, her fear. She started to speak again, her voice wavering at the first few words, "May I get you anything?"

"W-Water," he finally choked out, reading her nametag. Hello, my name is Kaoru. He looked at the top of her head as she walked away, perhaps a bit too quickly.

65 years, 6 months, 23 days, 22 hours, 37 minutes, 12 seconds.

He closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands again, the metallic scent of blood still fresh on his palms. He studied the for the longest time, checking under every fingernail, checking every small line and every callous on his hands. Nothing but the fresh pink of roughly scrubbed skin looked back at him. He sighed and buried his face in his hands again, self loathing taking over.

He could hear the Kaoru girl shuffling around. It sounded like she'd opened a refrigerator and was dropping ice cubes in a glass. He could hear the crackling of the ice as she filled it with water.

He heard her suddenly turn, and winced when he heard a noise he had not heard in a long while, she suddenly pealed into laughter. He heard a hand clapping over skin, probably someone pressing their hand over Kaoru's mouth, because the laughter was now muffled.

"Hush up Misao-chan, help Tae out. No.. No! No phone numbers are to be.. No! Misao-chan!"

He heard her rush toward the swinging door that led away from the kitchen, a soft, pink flush coloring her cheeks. She looked back just in time to see the smaller waitress, that Misao woman, be hit by the door when it swung back. When she looked back at him, it seemed as though she would burst out laughing again.

She smiled comfortingly, setting the glass of ice water down on a coaster and grabbed her notepad again, licking the tip of her pen to get it running, "Would you like something to eat?"

He looked at her, simply stared for a few seconds. Only when he saw her blush deepen did her look down at the menu for half a second, "Soba…" he mumbled, pushing the menu towards her.

"Anythin-" his waitress had barely started when he interrupted again.

A cruel thought entered his mind, and he imagined a man in a police's uniform laughing. Three, stick straight strands of hair in front of his face, and he could imagine the man shaking his head. He could practically hear the words of the dreaded man, Saito.

Whenever you wish not to draw attention, order soba. Plain soba.

"Plain.. Soba.." He wanted to laugh bitterly, and hid his face under his hair as he bit his lip enough to make it bleed. The laughs he felt wanting to slip from him felt hysterical, something he could laugh about for hours, something that would kill him.

Thinking about death, he nearly threw his head back to laugh some more. His chest ached beyond belief, and he gripped the area over his heart, nearly doubled over. He wretched forward, sobs threatening to overflow, the pain beyond belief. He felt his fingers gripping the table, heard the splintering of wood, but the pain was too much to think about anything else.

He heard the waitress murmuring something to her friend, but couldn't pick up the separate words. He blinked repeatedly, all he could hear now was his heartbeat, the blood rushing past his ears. He looked up and saw her, carrying the bowl of soba, and then hand it to her friend. He turned away, expecting her to leave him be.

A soft weight rested on his shoulder, before stroking along his back, and he relaxed at the comfort, sighing softly, before his arms wrapped around her. As her arms began to encircle him, and as he heard her humming soothingly, all his anguish seem to overtake him. Unable to do anything else, his forehead rested on her shoulder and he sobbed and cried.

"Tomoe.. Tomoe.."

Kaoru's POV

The bowl of soba nearly fell out of my hands when I saw the redheaded man doubled over, as though in pain, his body shaking. I handed the dish over to Misao, truly afraid that it would drop from my shaking hands. I flexed them a few times, and looked over at my petite friend, "Please, put the soba someplace where it can stay warm."

I saw her eyes turn ablaze at being ordered around. I ignored her when she began to open her mouth, barely letting her get a "Hey!" out, and went over to my customer. His teeth were grinding together, feebly trying to stop the sobs from racking his chest.

For a second, I stood there awkwardly, glad there were no other customers around. I slid into the booth, paying no attention to the fact he tried to flinch away from me. I reached out, rubbing my hand along his back, trying to soothe him like I did to Yahiko when he'd shown up on my doorstep. He looked up at me through the crimson hair, and I saw whatever will he had, crumble beneath his sorrow. I made a point of shifting more to the side, making it slightly easier for him to bury himself against my shoulder.

My customer reacted the exact same way that Yahiko had, his arms wrapping around my waist, slightly messing up the bow of my obi as he pulled me closer. I bit my tongue to keep from protesting, that sash was a pain to tie, and simply ran my hands up and down his back, shushing him and humming softly as he cried out a woman's name.

Tomoe.. Tomoe..

His voice cracking in heartbreak when he said the name, enough to make me blink my eyes several times to keep from tearing up myself. I had to stop humming for a second to clear out my throat, feeling myself getting choked up I saw Tae storm out of the kitchen from the corner of my eyes, and then slowly step back in, before coming back out with a mop and bucket, washing the floors with the patience that only she could have.

I watched Misao peek from the small window in the kitchen, before grin and disappear. I rolled my eyes. Soon, she came out as well, turning out most of the lights, already out of her kimono, and in her Bermuda jeans and green tank top. I flashed her an apologetic smile, but she just stuck her tongue out at me.

The man in my arms was slowly starting to calm down, his grip on my waist relaxing. Without shifting him too much, I reached back to check the bow of my uniform, relieved that the damage wasn't as bad as I'd thought.

I ran my hand through his hair a few times before he slowly pulled away. His eyes were rimmed with red, but they were beautiful. Shining brightly from the tears, they were the purest violet I had ever seen. I watched as those eyes looked away from me, and the faintest, ghost of a blush creep up under his cheeks.

His nose was slightly red, but his face was perfect, beautiful, and for a second, we simply stared at each other. And then I saw a bleeding wound on his cheek, crossing perpendicular to a healing scar that ran from about the corner of his ear to his jaw bone.

But he was beautiful.

Kenshin's POV

I looked at the surprised woman before me. Her bright, sky blue eyes gazed into mine. Her skin was as clear and pale as porcelain, her pink lips smiling comfortingly at me. Her expression, while confused, also looked quite embarrassed, and I noticed her cheeks begin to flush.

Her smile was contagious, and I felt my lips pull up as they wished to do the same. Now that the feeling ran through me, an errant thought entered my mind, when was the last time I had truly smiled?

My eyes felt dry, and I felt my nose running. The truth looked me square in the face as I realized what I had done. I had cried in front of this woman, and, from the way the other two ladies were looking at both of us, they had noticed it too. I looked away, a bit ashamed having shown my weakness to such people, when I heard a gasp from the women with the mop.

"Kaoru-chan! You're kimono!" I looked down at her shoulder around the same time she did, and saw her expression darken. Right at the spot where I'd been crying, a large blood stain had formed on her kimono. I reached up to my cheek, feeling fresh blood from my second scar. We both looked at each other, and for a second, I can say, I was truly scared of this woman.

"Oh my goodness Miss! I didn't.. I didn't.." My mouth hung open slightly as one of her eyes made a small twitch. Creepy.

"My uniform!" Her face flushed with anger, and I reached over to grab a napkin, as if it would help, before looking back up.

At the top of her head. All of time seemed to freeze as I looked at her numbers. It felt like tunnel vision as I stared at them, this couldn't be happening, it was impossible. Impossible!

1 month, 3 days, 25 minutes, 41 seconds.

A/N: I know, kinda weird, right?