And so we arrive to the end of our tale. I would like to thank all my loyal
reviewers and readers. You kept me motivated to do well with the writing.
Thanks for the honest criticism, I am a better writer because of it. This
fic gave me some new insight into storywriting, how inspiration works with
perspiration. I have you folks to thank for that. It was a grand 3 weeks
writing this stuff.
Final disclaimer. Nobuhiro Watsuki's unbelievable mind gave us the harrowing Jinchuu arc, which partly inspired this writing. Sony animated his awesome manga, which introduced me to it and got me hooked. I just BEG Sony to animate the Jinchuu arc decently. At any rate, Shueisha, Shonen Jump, and Sony have money on Rurouni Kenshin that I don't, so don't sue me. The story and characters depicted in this fanfic are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual situations and persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. I've watched too many movies in my life. ^_^
Ultimately, this fic won't be around if not for a dreadfully annoying plug for the TV show Seven Days, playing on AXN. "Agent Parker risks all odds, in attempts to reverse history...." And I don't even watch the show! ^_^
.....................
Darkness. That was all I saw. Complete, inexplicable darkness.
It was accompanied by a stillness that I did not comprehend. It was all dark, and still.
I did not know what to make of it. I did not understand. I did not see anything, feel anything, even know anything. I did not even know how long I had stayed that way. All I remembered was a loud pistol shot. Something hit my leg. I tripped, and I fell. Then, this darkness.
Somewhere, far away in the darkness, I thought I heard someone calling for me. A familiar voice, but I was not able to make it out. I did not know where it came from. But that was only for a few seconds. Everything became still again. Unbearably still. It seemed like an eternity was passing, and I was powerless to stop it. I was unable to move, to see, to speak. I tried to brush it off as a long, terrible dream, nothing more. But it was hard to brush off what I could not figure out.
Kaoru-dono. What about her? I knew I already had her in my arms, firmly in my grasp. I knew she was beside me when I fell. But what happened after that? Did that shot hit her and kill her? No, it is not so! I went back in time, seven days, all for nothing?! To get the same result all over again?
Stupid me, I got her worried unnecessarily about myself. She did not understand, yet she tried to comfort me, keep me up. Until the end, she did not think about herself. She thought about others. She worried about me.
Now, who will worry about me?
Finally, I was able to open my eyes. I found myself, sitting again inside the dojo. Again, at the far end of the practice area, slumped against the wall. The wall was rather cool, and the floor was colder still. It did not matter to me. This time, for certain, no blanket would be ready for me.
At the room opposite the practice area, I saw the white sheet again. Someone was under it. Shadows of people were fussing about the body. I did not understand why. People normally avoided dead bodies. They did not hover over the dead; they hovered with the living. So why were these shadows looming all around this body?
I saw people come in and out of the room intermittently. So far they have not noticed me sitting there in the practice area. All had concerned, agitated looks on their faces. They were all sad and worried.
Sanosuke walked by, hands deep in his pockets. He was looking at the floor as he walked, and slowly gnawed on a fishbone. He stopped at the middle of the practice area and ran his eyes through the entire room. Then he raised an angry fist to heaven and demanded, "Why, Kami-sama?! Why!" He drove the fist through the floor, and sulked. He just knelt there, with eyes burning with regret, with pain, with anguish. Roughly ten minutes elapsed before he left the practice area, without seeing me, without knowing I was there.
Daigoro soon passed by the room, and sat on the porch. His glasses were foggy from crying. He held his cap, crumpled in his hand. "It's all my fault! I tampered with history, and this is my punishment!" No, Daigoro. It's not your fault at all. The fault lies completely in me. You gave me a chance to undo a horrible past, and now I have wasted your good faith in what I can do. It was never your fault.
Megumi also went out. She was haggard and spent. I did not understand why she would look so tired over a corpse. Maybe she had tried to console poor Sanosuke while in the room. From the appearance of her clothes, it seemed like she had stayed in the dojo overnight. They were still the neat, well- arranged attire Megumi ws known for, but it had more creases than usual, as if she had slept a night wearing the same clothes. She mumbled a few words about going home to change, then I saw her quietly open and shut the main gate behind her.
A silent hour went by. I had a horrible urge to shout and get their attention. My hair is too red to be ignored and to go unnoticed. So why had they missed my presence all this time?
Yahiko,too, he did not see me as he left that awful room with the white sheet, with a body under it. He was murmuring something under his breath. "I did what I could, honest, I did, but still I wasn't able to bring Megumi in time. Why does it have to be this way?" As tears rolled down his cheeks, he went on and walked to the kitchen alone. Poor brave little samurai. He had been through a lot.
Yes, my worst fears had come true. Kaoru was dead. And I had failed.
Wait. Who was that coming out of the room?
A woman, a young woman. She wore a familiar kimono.
The setting sun shone its full light on her face as she appeared before me.
Kaoru.
She was alive! Kaoru-dono was alive! My Kaoru was alive! Oh, thank the heavens!
I actually stood up and ran toward her-----------but her face was lifeless, and her brilliant eyes were now dull and cheerless. She looked like she had not slept for days, long days. Worst of all, she looked straight through me, as though she did not see me at all. I tried to embrace her, but she walked away before I could. I saw a tear fall off one of her tired eyes.
What was going on?!
"Kenshin!"
I looked behind me, and I saw the angel from that horrible day again. But this time she was no longer wearing a kimono. She was wearing a flowing white dress, and her hair fell beautifully to her waist, untied by a ribbon. In all truth, she was an angel.
WAIT A MINUTE! Why was I still looking at Kaoru-dono as an angel, if I already saw my Kaoru-dono alive and well?
"Don't worry, my rurouni. I will be gone from here very soon. Kami-sama has already allowed Kaoru to go back for good. Your Kaoru-dono is alive."
I heaved a sigh of relief. I was glad I was not seeing things. Kaoru was alive, it was now completely certain. But...
"Yes?"
Who then is under the white sheet?
"You."
NANI DE GOZARU KA?! (What?!)
"Relax, Kenshin. You are not dead. Not yet, at least. Unconscious, but not dead."
Like that assurance is going to help me in some way? How do you explain ME to myself? Is this an out-of-body-experience of some sort-----------What about Kaoru-dono? No offence, my angel, but I do have to address the real Kaoru.....
"Calm down, my friend. Otherwise you'll have Kaoru running back with Megumi, sick with worry about you."
I tried to calm down, but this situation was weird, very weird. I still did not know what was going on. The sorrow that I saw on the faces of my friends confused me even more.
I peered into the room.
I saw----myself, lying on my futon. I was covered up to my neck with the dreadful white sheet. My head was wrapped in bandages, and so was my right leg. That did not bother me; I had been bound up so much in my short life that white cloths were a part of who I was.
What worried me was probably what concerned my friends as well. To use a terrible expression, I was pale as death. There was no color to my cheeks or my lips. My eyes were rolled far back; all that could be seen were the whites in them. Even I thought I was dead. The only sign of life was the chest that rose and fell, but even that was not seen from where I stood. I thought that the sight of so many deaths in my lifetime would render me unfazed to see my own. It was not the case.
Poor Kaoru-dono. What have I done?!
"Sayama hit your leg with the shot. You therefore tripped and knocked your head on the pavement, rendering you unconscious. By instinct you fell to your side, thus you received the full impact of you and Kaoru's combined weight falling, but Kaoru's fall was gentler."
And what happened to Sayama?
"Two shots were fired. One was shot at his shoulder, just to make him unable to use his gun. The other shot was fired by Sayama, and was aimed at the ambassador. But Daigoro protected him effectively by keeping the ambassador under the carriage."
Well, was he arrested?
"Of course he was. His accomplices were also arrested. Police guarded the positions you mentioned, and immediately after the initial shooting the men were apprehended and thrown into jail. As for Sayama, a trial will ensue, but Saitou-san says that he will most probably just be reassigned up north, where no one will remember this case."
The ambassador-----oh, no! I had forgotten all about him, in my concern for Kaoru. Where was we? Was he alive?
"Very much alive, thanks to you and Daigoro. He made a few inquiries about the situation with Sayama's family. He promises to send back from the United States money sufficient for them to get back their business, and to clear the name of the family with foreign traders. And, I must tell you, you have a medal of honor waiting for you at the precinct..."
That is all good to hear------but what about me? H-how long have I been like ------ this?
"By tonight, three days."
I sighed long and deep. I was worrying Kaoru-dono again. How many times already had she had to suffer for my sake? I was selfish, very selfish. She had done more for me than I had ever done for her.
Then I found myself reliving the day that now no longer happened. I recalled seeing Kaoru running toward me. I did not know why. She held me tightly. I heard the shot. I saw her fall and close her eyes. I held her as she told me that it was wonderful having known me----that she loved me. And I felt the exact moment when she let go of my hand.
I may have stopped it this time. She lives for me today. But what about tomorrow? And the day after that? How could I possibly walk that avenue again, remembering that I almost lost her there?
The angel shook her head at me. "This will not do. You have to forget about it. Now it did not happen, it should not bother you anymore."
I can't. I can't forget. Because it will happen again.
"No, it will not do to leave you like this. Kami-sama was right. I would have to do a manual erasure for you."
Manual erasure?
"You are not the first one, of course, to have traveled back in time successfully. Kami-sama has experience in these things. Now, normally, as the person successfully undoes an unfortunate event, he forgets the old event, and remembers the new event. Things are back to normal. But there are cases when the person holds on to the unfortunate event in his memory, and forgets that he un-did it. For those cases, Kami-sama allows one of us to perform a manual erasure. We make the person forget."
And why would you do that?
"We have to let the person move on, and live his life."
Move on? Live my life? I've done just that for too long! I've lived with it....
"Look, Kenshin, not at yourself, but at Kaoru. Do you want her to suffer for your sake, let her be concerned about you constantly, like she is concerned about you now?"
Of course not! She's done enough worrying as it is about me---------
"So no more words. This will be the last time that you see me. Goodbye. "
She placed her hand on my head, as if she were blessing me. She began to utter words that I did not understand. My brain struggled to resist what she called a manual erasure. I refused to forget. I refused to let go. I will remember--------I will ------------
But my eyes closed, against my will. My head clouded into a fog. I slowly drifted into a long dream.
I felt the apprehension and the fear being slowly erased from my memory. The confusion faded from view. I remembered.....the last seven days....
I recalled how beautiful Kaoru was that Monday, how wonderful the kimono felt against me, how smooth her long flowing hair felt through my hands. Yes, I remembered that hard slap, but I recalled how she blushed after she withdrew her hand.
I remembered how she found me in the practice area Tuesday, fast asleep. It was her. She wrapped a blanket around me. I felt her stroking my messy hair. I felt that kimono again through me.
That Wednesday, she forced me to buy groceries, more than I could handle. I complained about women in general, and Kaoru in particular. But as I overheard that assassination plot, the blood rose to my head. I promised that, pushover or not, I was protecting this woman with my life, from men like him.
Thursday. She told me she believed in me---that is all she had to understand. She said I never went back on my word---that is all she had to know. A lot of things were confusing and disturbing then, but she chose to trust without knowing.
Now I knew. I saw Kaoru, plainly, clearly, kneeling before me in the night. I did not have to have my eyes open to see. I drew her nearer to me before I knew what I was doing. I wrapped my arms around her, and felt the reality of her before me. She was my Kaoru-dono, one and only. She raised me up, and walked me back to bed. And she had lain beside me, early that Friday, as if to reassure me that she will never leave me.
Saturday. The whole day was hectic, but I never got my mind off Kaoru. Of all the wonderful things the ambassador could have said to me, he chose to say, that Kaoru could join me in the parade. I remembered the joy on her face, when I told her. I remembered the smile, as she promised that she would not let me be sad.
Sunday......She was on the horse, waving happily, smiling at her friends in the crowd. Smiling at me. I remembered---only vaguely-----a scream. What I remembered distinctly was her brave, resolute face. She told me not to worry about her, but about the ambassador. Always, she was concerned about others before herself........
Of course, I recalled the rest. Daigoro. The time machine. Saitou. Sayama. The ambassador. But Kaoru.....she was the reason why I agreed to do this.
I forgot why I agreed, what had happened. But I knew it was because of her.
I remembered Daigoro as he asked me. Do I regret what I did?
I now have an answer for him.
Do I regret what I did?
No.
For Kaoru, I would do it again.
As my eyes opened again, I found myself in my futon. It was early morning, and the birds were singing by the window.
Beside me, Kaoru was asleep. But I felt that she was not at peace. I heard her whisper my name, as a tear run through her cheek.
It was time I returned all her many favors to me. It was hard to move. I still felt weak and dizzy. But I reached out for her hand and held it. She whispered my name again. I slowly moved toward where she lay. I ran my hand again through her long black hair, and touched her pale cheeks. I gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead.
That was when she awoke......saw me.....wondered if this was another dream......and kissed me back.
It was wonderful to be beside her, to be seen and loved by her.
It was a great day to be alive.
The End.
..............
"Sessha" is "I" in Kenshin language. ^_^
Much thanks to all my readers and reviewers. One of these days I'll have another story, but for now, thank you for liking this one. Thanks to Chiki, Naomi, Keiko, Crystal, kraci, Nena, Julie-chan (finally I get to know that it's Itsuko-it's the same in English), and SkyFire. Thank you for all the support and the comments.
EK out!
Final disclaimer. Nobuhiro Watsuki's unbelievable mind gave us the harrowing Jinchuu arc, which partly inspired this writing. Sony animated his awesome manga, which introduced me to it and got me hooked. I just BEG Sony to animate the Jinchuu arc decently. At any rate, Shueisha, Shonen Jump, and Sony have money on Rurouni Kenshin that I don't, so don't sue me. The story and characters depicted in this fanfic are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual situations and persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. I've watched too many movies in my life. ^_^
Ultimately, this fic won't be around if not for a dreadfully annoying plug for the TV show Seven Days, playing on AXN. "Agent Parker risks all odds, in attempts to reverse history...." And I don't even watch the show! ^_^
.....................
Darkness. That was all I saw. Complete, inexplicable darkness.
It was accompanied by a stillness that I did not comprehend. It was all dark, and still.
I did not know what to make of it. I did not understand. I did not see anything, feel anything, even know anything. I did not even know how long I had stayed that way. All I remembered was a loud pistol shot. Something hit my leg. I tripped, and I fell. Then, this darkness.
Somewhere, far away in the darkness, I thought I heard someone calling for me. A familiar voice, but I was not able to make it out. I did not know where it came from. But that was only for a few seconds. Everything became still again. Unbearably still. It seemed like an eternity was passing, and I was powerless to stop it. I was unable to move, to see, to speak. I tried to brush it off as a long, terrible dream, nothing more. But it was hard to brush off what I could not figure out.
Kaoru-dono. What about her? I knew I already had her in my arms, firmly in my grasp. I knew she was beside me when I fell. But what happened after that? Did that shot hit her and kill her? No, it is not so! I went back in time, seven days, all for nothing?! To get the same result all over again?
Stupid me, I got her worried unnecessarily about myself. She did not understand, yet she tried to comfort me, keep me up. Until the end, she did not think about herself. She thought about others. She worried about me.
Now, who will worry about me?
Finally, I was able to open my eyes. I found myself, sitting again inside the dojo. Again, at the far end of the practice area, slumped against the wall. The wall was rather cool, and the floor was colder still. It did not matter to me. This time, for certain, no blanket would be ready for me.
At the room opposite the practice area, I saw the white sheet again. Someone was under it. Shadows of people were fussing about the body. I did not understand why. People normally avoided dead bodies. They did not hover over the dead; they hovered with the living. So why were these shadows looming all around this body?
I saw people come in and out of the room intermittently. So far they have not noticed me sitting there in the practice area. All had concerned, agitated looks on their faces. They were all sad and worried.
Sanosuke walked by, hands deep in his pockets. He was looking at the floor as he walked, and slowly gnawed on a fishbone. He stopped at the middle of the practice area and ran his eyes through the entire room. Then he raised an angry fist to heaven and demanded, "Why, Kami-sama?! Why!" He drove the fist through the floor, and sulked. He just knelt there, with eyes burning with regret, with pain, with anguish. Roughly ten minutes elapsed before he left the practice area, without seeing me, without knowing I was there.
Daigoro soon passed by the room, and sat on the porch. His glasses were foggy from crying. He held his cap, crumpled in his hand. "It's all my fault! I tampered with history, and this is my punishment!" No, Daigoro. It's not your fault at all. The fault lies completely in me. You gave me a chance to undo a horrible past, and now I have wasted your good faith in what I can do. It was never your fault.
Megumi also went out. She was haggard and spent. I did not understand why she would look so tired over a corpse. Maybe she had tried to console poor Sanosuke while in the room. From the appearance of her clothes, it seemed like she had stayed in the dojo overnight. They were still the neat, well- arranged attire Megumi ws known for, but it had more creases than usual, as if she had slept a night wearing the same clothes. She mumbled a few words about going home to change, then I saw her quietly open and shut the main gate behind her.
A silent hour went by. I had a horrible urge to shout and get their attention. My hair is too red to be ignored and to go unnoticed. So why had they missed my presence all this time?
Yahiko,too, he did not see me as he left that awful room with the white sheet, with a body under it. He was murmuring something under his breath. "I did what I could, honest, I did, but still I wasn't able to bring Megumi in time. Why does it have to be this way?" As tears rolled down his cheeks, he went on and walked to the kitchen alone. Poor brave little samurai. He had been through a lot.
Yes, my worst fears had come true. Kaoru was dead. And I had failed.
Wait. Who was that coming out of the room?
A woman, a young woman. She wore a familiar kimono.
The setting sun shone its full light on her face as she appeared before me.
Kaoru.
She was alive! Kaoru-dono was alive! My Kaoru was alive! Oh, thank the heavens!
I actually stood up and ran toward her-----------but her face was lifeless, and her brilliant eyes were now dull and cheerless. She looked like she had not slept for days, long days. Worst of all, she looked straight through me, as though she did not see me at all. I tried to embrace her, but she walked away before I could. I saw a tear fall off one of her tired eyes.
What was going on?!
"Kenshin!"
I looked behind me, and I saw the angel from that horrible day again. But this time she was no longer wearing a kimono. She was wearing a flowing white dress, and her hair fell beautifully to her waist, untied by a ribbon. In all truth, she was an angel.
WAIT A MINUTE! Why was I still looking at Kaoru-dono as an angel, if I already saw my Kaoru-dono alive and well?
"Don't worry, my rurouni. I will be gone from here very soon. Kami-sama has already allowed Kaoru to go back for good. Your Kaoru-dono is alive."
I heaved a sigh of relief. I was glad I was not seeing things. Kaoru was alive, it was now completely certain. But...
"Yes?"
Who then is under the white sheet?
"You."
NANI DE GOZARU KA?! (What?!)
"Relax, Kenshin. You are not dead. Not yet, at least. Unconscious, but not dead."
Like that assurance is going to help me in some way? How do you explain ME to myself? Is this an out-of-body-experience of some sort-----------What about Kaoru-dono? No offence, my angel, but I do have to address the real Kaoru.....
"Calm down, my friend. Otherwise you'll have Kaoru running back with Megumi, sick with worry about you."
I tried to calm down, but this situation was weird, very weird. I still did not know what was going on. The sorrow that I saw on the faces of my friends confused me even more.
I peered into the room.
I saw----myself, lying on my futon. I was covered up to my neck with the dreadful white sheet. My head was wrapped in bandages, and so was my right leg. That did not bother me; I had been bound up so much in my short life that white cloths were a part of who I was.
What worried me was probably what concerned my friends as well. To use a terrible expression, I was pale as death. There was no color to my cheeks or my lips. My eyes were rolled far back; all that could be seen were the whites in them. Even I thought I was dead. The only sign of life was the chest that rose and fell, but even that was not seen from where I stood. I thought that the sight of so many deaths in my lifetime would render me unfazed to see my own. It was not the case.
Poor Kaoru-dono. What have I done?!
"Sayama hit your leg with the shot. You therefore tripped and knocked your head on the pavement, rendering you unconscious. By instinct you fell to your side, thus you received the full impact of you and Kaoru's combined weight falling, but Kaoru's fall was gentler."
And what happened to Sayama?
"Two shots were fired. One was shot at his shoulder, just to make him unable to use his gun. The other shot was fired by Sayama, and was aimed at the ambassador. But Daigoro protected him effectively by keeping the ambassador under the carriage."
Well, was he arrested?
"Of course he was. His accomplices were also arrested. Police guarded the positions you mentioned, and immediately after the initial shooting the men were apprehended and thrown into jail. As for Sayama, a trial will ensue, but Saitou-san says that he will most probably just be reassigned up north, where no one will remember this case."
The ambassador-----oh, no! I had forgotten all about him, in my concern for Kaoru. Where was we? Was he alive?
"Very much alive, thanks to you and Daigoro. He made a few inquiries about the situation with Sayama's family. He promises to send back from the United States money sufficient for them to get back their business, and to clear the name of the family with foreign traders. And, I must tell you, you have a medal of honor waiting for you at the precinct..."
That is all good to hear------but what about me? H-how long have I been like ------ this?
"By tonight, three days."
I sighed long and deep. I was worrying Kaoru-dono again. How many times already had she had to suffer for my sake? I was selfish, very selfish. She had done more for me than I had ever done for her.
Then I found myself reliving the day that now no longer happened. I recalled seeing Kaoru running toward me. I did not know why. She held me tightly. I heard the shot. I saw her fall and close her eyes. I held her as she told me that it was wonderful having known me----that she loved me. And I felt the exact moment when she let go of my hand.
I may have stopped it this time. She lives for me today. But what about tomorrow? And the day after that? How could I possibly walk that avenue again, remembering that I almost lost her there?
The angel shook her head at me. "This will not do. You have to forget about it. Now it did not happen, it should not bother you anymore."
I can't. I can't forget. Because it will happen again.
"No, it will not do to leave you like this. Kami-sama was right. I would have to do a manual erasure for you."
Manual erasure?
"You are not the first one, of course, to have traveled back in time successfully. Kami-sama has experience in these things. Now, normally, as the person successfully undoes an unfortunate event, he forgets the old event, and remembers the new event. Things are back to normal. But there are cases when the person holds on to the unfortunate event in his memory, and forgets that he un-did it. For those cases, Kami-sama allows one of us to perform a manual erasure. We make the person forget."
And why would you do that?
"We have to let the person move on, and live his life."
Move on? Live my life? I've done just that for too long! I've lived with it....
"Look, Kenshin, not at yourself, but at Kaoru. Do you want her to suffer for your sake, let her be concerned about you constantly, like she is concerned about you now?"
Of course not! She's done enough worrying as it is about me---------
"So no more words. This will be the last time that you see me. Goodbye. "
She placed her hand on my head, as if she were blessing me. She began to utter words that I did not understand. My brain struggled to resist what she called a manual erasure. I refused to forget. I refused to let go. I will remember--------I will ------------
But my eyes closed, against my will. My head clouded into a fog. I slowly drifted into a long dream.
I felt the apprehension and the fear being slowly erased from my memory. The confusion faded from view. I remembered.....the last seven days....
I recalled how beautiful Kaoru was that Monday, how wonderful the kimono felt against me, how smooth her long flowing hair felt through my hands. Yes, I remembered that hard slap, but I recalled how she blushed after she withdrew her hand.
I remembered how she found me in the practice area Tuesday, fast asleep. It was her. She wrapped a blanket around me. I felt her stroking my messy hair. I felt that kimono again through me.
That Wednesday, she forced me to buy groceries, more than I could handle. I complained about women in general, and Kaoru in particular. But as I overheard that assassination plot, the blood rose to my head. I promised that, pushover or not, I was protecting this woman with my life, from men like him.
Thursday. She told me she believed in me---that is all she had to understand. She said I never went back on my word---that is all she had to know. A lot of things were confusing and disturbing then, but she chose to trust without knowing.
Now I knew. I saw Kaoru, plainly, clearly, kneeling before me in the night. I did not have to have my eyes open to see. I drew her nearer to me before I knew what I was doing. I wrapped my arms around her, and felt the reality of her before me. She was my Kaoru-dono, one and only. She raised me up, and walked me back to bed. And she had lain beside me, early that Friday, as if to reassure me that she will never leave me.
Saturday. The whole day was hectic, but I never got my mind off Kaoru. Of all the wonderful things the ambassador could have said to me, he chose to say, that Kaoru could join me in the parade. I remembered the joy on her face, when I told her. I remembered the smile, as she promised that she would not let me be sad.
Sunday......She was on the horse, waving happily, smiling at her friends in the crowd. Smiling at me. I remembered---only vaguely-----a scream. What I remembered distinctly was her brave, resolute face. She told me not to worry about her, but about the ambassador. Always, she was concerned about others before herself........
Of course, I recalled the rest. Daigoro. The time machine. Saitou. Sayama. The ambassador. But Kaoru.....she was the reason why I agreed to do this.
I forgot why I agreed, what had happened. But I knew it was because of her.
I remembered Daigoro as he asked me. Do I regret what I did?
I now have an answer for him.
Do I regret what I did?
No.
For Kaoru, I would do it again.
As my eyes opened again, I found myself in my futon. It was early morning, and the birds were singing by the window.
Beside me, Kaoru was asleep. But I felt that she was not at peace. I heard her whisper my name, as a tear run through her cheek.
It was time I returned all her many favors to me. It was hard to move. I still felt weak and dizzy. But I reached out for her hand and held it. She whispered my name again. I slowly moved toward where she lay. I ran my hand again through her long black hair, and touched her pale cheeks. I gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead.
That was when she awoke......saw me.....wondered if this was another dream......and kissed me back.
It was wonderful to be beside her, to be seen and loved by her.
It was a great day to be alive.
The End.
..............
"Sessha" is "I" in Kenshin language. ^_^
Much thanks to all my readers and reviewers. One of these days I'll have another story, but for now, thank you for liking this one. Thanks to Chiki, Naomi, Keiko, Crystal, kraci, Nena, Julie-chan (finally I get to know that it's Itsuko-it's the same in English), and SkyFire. Thank you for all the support and the comments.
EK out!