Just in case I haven't established this: I do not own Kenshin or any character associated with the Rouni Kenshin series. I do not own Ichiro Sano or any character associated with that series (Which I am highly disappointed to see that apparently only one other person on the planet knows who does own Ichiro Sano). I do own Sogasu Hikari, Firrin, Farral, Agape, and all those otherworldly types in here.

*******

She thought it was cute. China was a cute country, in that smelling funny kind of way. Hikari sat on the stairs of a temple, and looked up at the sun, knowing that he should be passing by any minute now.

She had even dressed for the occasion. The brown silk suit with white cuffs and a long braid to her heels gave her an almost authentic look. It was a nice day, and the sun warmed her toes in the black cotton canvas shoes as she wiggled them around in waiting.

She tilted her head and leaned forward, looking for him to come by. She watched the people, but they all looked Chinese. Finding a red-headed Japanese guy should be easy.

It was. But he looked so different. He walked slowly, and with difficulty. She frowned at the age and illness that had finally captured him. As he passed by the steps, she sat up straight and in a thin and soft voice that priests usually used, "Confucius say that man who has home has gift of assurance and curse of ingratitude."

Kenshin stopped and blinked and looked to his right at Hikari, who sat casually on the stairs next to a foo dog, "I didn't call you." He said.

"Can't friend come and visit?" Hikari asked, a little offended.

Kenshin looked down, "If that's all you are doing."

Hikari's guilt was telegraphed in the downward cast of her gaze, "It's all I'm doing." She was being honest, but her appearance clearly didn't bode well for him.

"Is it actually time, or are you just warning me?" he asked, since he knew his time was approaching soon.

She looked down again and her voice barely broke a whisper, "It's time. Let's find a nice place for you."

Even though he had known what was going to be said, he still wasn't prepared. He shook his head and backed away from her, "I'm not ready."

"Who is?" she asked, finally looking at him, and swallowing her shock, "You look like hell."

"I'm not going," he said, and started to walk away.

Hikari hopped off the stairs and walked beside him, "It's not as if you get a choice about this. And it's not my doing. This is a process that started the day you were born, and it will be over soon," she touched his shoulder gently, "This has got to hurt."

He half-shrugged, not having the energy for much more, "I would at least like to go home again, to see my family. Not to have to die here and have my family receive an empty shell as their last memory of me."

Hikari shrugged, "This isn't one of those things you can plan. And I'm not exactly the person to be making appeals. There is no person to appeal to. Death happens, where it wants, when it wants."

But the idea had already sunk in. He had to see them, he had to be with them. He had to, just once, keep the promise he made to Kaoru, and return to his home. He looked at Hikari pleadingly.

"Oh no," she put her hands up, "I just came to take a walk with you. It's kind of a long trip and I thought you might like the company. I am not here to help you deny the inevitable."

"I'm not asking to deny it. I just need a little time. Just enough to get home. Please? Then we can go."

"What part of non-negotiable are you missing here," she asked, franticly. She knew she couldn't deny him. It was a reasonable request, and within her power to do. But it would cost her. "Besides, it'll take time to get back to Japan and all that time is time that you can only suffer with this."

"I'll suffer for the time. The pain is not going to last forever, is it? We'll get back to Edo, I'll see Kaoru and Kenji, and then we can go. Hikari, please. Give me this."

She closed her eyes and bowed her head, shaking it. She looked so solemn and sad. Kenshin felt guilty for asking this of her, but if she were mortal, she would understand.

She raised her head and looked away, her eyes bright and hot for the first time Kenshin had ever seen. The idea that he had caused her whatever pain had actually made her come this close to weeping stung even more. She refused to say anything further, but seemed to fade in his vision, wavering before turning away.

"Sanosuke's going to find you shortly," she said.

Sanosuke? "Thank you," he whispered.

She shook her head again, "I just wish you would come back this time. I should have made you stay when I had you. Now I find myself granting you favors to preserve this mortality. It's not what it costs me to do this. It's having to watch you like this."

She faded from his vision before he could answer her, and turned to continue walking until he and Sanosuke were reunited.

The pain was nearly unbearable, but passage was found on a ship and Kenshin was allowed to rest. In his resting, he often asked for Hikari, who always appeared.

" I think I understand," he said one day, "What you said about the good things and bad things of having a home."

She looked at him, listening to him. Her gaze was still frozen, in fact, much of her seemed frozen and distant from him. She hated his mortality and she hated herself for extending it like this.

"You meant that I would become so comfortable having a place to go home to, I would take it for granted."

Hikari leaned back to watch the water pass by, "How well do you really know your son, Kenshin? Have you truly seen him grow up?"

Kenshin looked down, "I suppose I haven't."

"Do you not approve of the method of your demise?" she asked another day.

"I guess I had always expected to die in battle," he answered.

"You will die undefeated, like Musashi Miyamoto. When his time came, it wasn't a sword that cut him down. It was the flu that laid him low. I see the similarities in your situations, and find it ironic," Hikari had answered.

"I find it ironic that you even understand irony," Kenshin snapped at her, whether he was in pain, or just not feeling well, or genuinely angry at her, he couldn't say. His resolve to never upset anything was gone, and the urges of selfishness so long denied were eating at him.

Hikari was never the type to pity Kenshin's condition, and met his retort with one of her own, "I find this entire existence ironic. You, I just find hypocritical today."

Kenshin looked at her, shocked that she would say something so cruel to him.

She shrugged at him and crossed her legs, "Don't look too offended. What are you going to do about it? What's left for you to worry over?"

"You don't like this," Kenshin said.

"That's stating the obvious," she replied, "How come you can't just take it like a man or something?"

"I want to see my family," he answered.

"You want forgiveness," she said, "It just now strikes you how you've neglected them, how little you've seen of Kenji. Every time you come back home, he's a whole different person than he was when you left. You seem to think that by going home, you'll be forgiven."

Kenshin sat quietly while Hikari pulled a blanket across his lap. She remained tender and caring with him, and as she leaned across him, he got a good look at her face. Her eyes and lips seemed pinched, and slightly discolored, as if she were tired. He touched her cheek then and she turned to face him, "No," he said quietly, "I have to keep a promise."

Hikari swallowed, and he could feel her breath, warm and moist, like summer mornings after a nighttime thunderstorm. He closed his eyes, feeling the sea air and her, and realized that there was very little difference.

"Then you will keep your promise, Shinta," she looked at him, invoking the power his birth name held on him, he opened his eyes to look at her again, and smiled.

"I'm sorry to have to do this to you," he said.

She shook her head, "I have to do some hard things to keep a promise. I can't make the same mistake as Firrin and be bitter about it. You're going to be mine after this. Eternity is a long time to hate someone."

Kenshin dropped his hand from her cheek and closed his fingers around hers.

Hikari sat back in the adjoining chair and felt Kenshin's eyes close. Keeping him around was hard on her. Each breath he took drained her energy, each heartbeat taxed her. Every instant he was out beyond his time of passing was her pain to bear. It was his pain that hurt her the most, though. She couldn't bear to watch him suffer, when she had fallen in love with him in his prime. It was life that drew her in, not death. But part of real love of life is to love all of it, from beginning to end and all the muddle in between.

She turned her head to look at him, "We must look very old."

He shook his head, keeping his eyes closed, "Not in my mind, we don't. Besides, you can't grow old."

She sighed, "I already have in some ways, older than you think."

He did think about it. History was just passing pages, and the future an endless sea of things to come to someone like her. She called Japan's first Tokugagwa by his first name, informally! She had told him stories of Westerners, their fairy tales and history. She spoke of the Roman Empire with a disturbing familiarity. Not only was time a different thing to her, distance was not a concern for her either. She had seen and been a part of things Kenshin couldn't understand or comprehend. He imagined that, perhaps, such a life would age anyone. She sat next to him, the perfectly preserved doll. The very picture of youth and strength, he knew that she was ancient beyond the surface, and he wondered if she ever felt her age.

"I do right now," she answered his thoughts. She clenched her jaw as Kenshin sighed, each breath bringing on the aches and pain that always happened when she disturbed the natural flow of things.

She thought about him. She had gone to so much effort for him, and yet even now, it seemed a light load to bear. She had watched him grow from the day they had met. She had been willing to give up everything to serve the Divine Will, even her right to serve it. He had only grieved for her loss, and not cared about why it was done, had only shared the pain of what had to be done.

She loved that about him, the sense of selflessness and kindness had softened her outlook immensely. So many times in his life, it would have been easier to kill his enemies than have to face them. So many times he had been tempted. More than once, she had wanted to tell him to do what was easy, but she knew that it wasn't right for him. Even as he aged, he still worked to do what was right. And his desire to keep his promises at any cost, that was something she could respect and understand. So she swallowed her suffering for him soundlessly. He had made a promise, and he would do whatever it took to keep that promise.

"May you be so loyal to me someday," she said.

His eyes fluttered open and looked at her, "Hmm?"

She shook her head and looked into the dying gaze of the brightest flame, "Nothing. I was just thinking to myself."

He sat up and put his feet on the floor, "I would like to go in now, I'm getting a little cold."

She stood up and helped him. His steps were shakier and slower, and it took him a great effort to move inside. She helped him get ready for bed, washing his face and body, and folding his clothes away. She sat down beside him as he lay down and he rested his head against her chest, inhaling that scent of eternal youth and primal beauty.

"Do you remember..?" she began.

"I remember," he whispered, and she felt the tear slip down her sternum between her breasts. She held him tightly, trying not to hurt him, and watched the stars pass to the agonal rhythm of his breathing.