Departure Scars

Epolouge:

"Dusty Bouquets"

"I remember...I just can't stand the fact that I almost lost you." Kenshin whispered. He wasn't crying, but his shoulders trembled.

"I'm so sorry Kenshin..." Kaoru said softly as she stepped forward and pulled him into a tight embrace. He clutched her against him tightly. The stress and mental anguish from the past few weeks began to fade from each of them. Still they clung to each other, as if an eternity together wouldn't be long enough.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~X~x~x~x~x~x~x~

"My goodness it got dusty!" Kaoru exclaimed after she slid her finger along a piece of furniture in the dojo. The Kenshin-gumi had been gone for almost two months and they were all extremely happy to be back home.

Kenshin had defeated Shishio, but he was hurt severely. He had been hanging on the edge of death for almost ten days. Finally, a message had been sent to Megumi and she hurried to Kyoto to help. With the special medicine she had concocted, Kenshin began to recover slowly. It took him nearly a month to heal enough so that he could walk around. Through the whole thing Kaoru was by his side. She would fuss over anything that was not good enough for him, if she thought so. She had to be forced to returned to her own room so she could finish healing as well.

"I guess we'll have some cleaning to do de gozaru." Kenshin replied, watching Kaoru from the corner of his eye.

"Yeah." She agreed and began walking down the hallway. "I'm going to put my stuff away."

As soon as everyone set their things down they began walking around the dojo, occupying themselves. Sanosuke was looking for food in the cabinets, Yahiko put the swords away, Kenshin began dusting and Megumi had already left for the clinic to care for patients.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~X~x~x~x~x~x~x~

"Wow...dusty in here too..." Kaoru thought aloud. She set down her bag and began to take out her kimono and her training clothes. "Mou...my good bokken just had to break." She frowned and set the piece of broken wood aside, but she hesitated when she noticed something on the floor near her shoji.

Flowers.

She picked them up gingerly. Discolored flakes from the dry petals glided to the floor. She looked at them carefully. "How did these get here?" Kaoru wondered. She glanced down at the maroon tie that bound the little bouquet. It looked like Kenshin's hair tie. She looked at it closer. It was.

"Aw...Kenshin." She breathed, remembering the all the sweet things he'd done for her. "He's probably doing something sweet right now. I bet he's already dusting the counters or something." (He is too.) "I haven't really done anything sweet for him...He came in to give me these beautiful flowers and I gave him...oh god...I only gave him that terrible look on his face." Kaoru shook her head sadly remembering the look of shock in his eyes, the way his jaws clenched with disbelief. How angry yet hurt he seemed. She began to feel guilty all over again. "Well I can't just sit here and sulk over it..." She thought.

Kaoru rose to her feet and left her room with the flowers still in her hands. She found Kenshin in the kitchen, dusting of course. She hid the flowers behind her back.

"Hey, Kenshin?" She said innocently.

"Hai Kaoru?" Kenshin answered, pausing in his dusting. He looked at her expectantly. She walked right up to him until they were almost nose to nose. She narrowed her eyes a bit as she starred into his. He blinked in confusion. Suddenly, Kaoru rapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his. He barely had a chance to blurt out an 'oro' as she kissed him passionately. She slipped her tongue into his mouth to play with his. She could feel his arms come up around her waist to pull her against him more. He was loving this and she could tell.

But then, just as suddenly, Kaoru pulled away and put her lips to his ear.

"Thanks for the flowers." She whispered breathlessly, lifting the bouquet into his view. With that, she turned and walked away, back to her room. Kenshin watched her in silent shock and awe, but his mouth snapped shut when he remembered the presence that had been standing in the doorway behind him the whole, entire time.

"Damn Kenshin! What the hell did you do to get that?!" Exclaimed Sanosuke, who had not heard what Kaoru had said. Kenshin turned slowly to face him.

"Um...I have no idea...." Kenshin replied with slightly red cheeks. He didn't seem to remember the flowers he had tried to give Kaoru so long ago. "I guess I gave her flowers..." He said slowly.

"Thanks--bye." And Sanosuke was out the door.

"Oro?" Kenshin said, completely confused, but he did have the idea that Sanosuke might be heading to the clinic.

Still confused about the flowers, he sighed, turned around and went back to dusting.

~*Owari

Translations:

Oro: huh?

The rest are in other chapters. Check there.

Author's Notes: OMG!! I can't believe that I finished this! I has been a long year. Whew! It's been such a long time since I updated that I think everyone really had forgotten my fic this time. ;_; *sniff* I hope I get some reviews for this last chapter. This will be really disappointing if I end it like that. I just want a couple of reviews more. Please?

Anyways, I do have a couple more ideas for Kenshin fanfics but I mainly focusing on a Inuyasha fanfic idea that I have. Sorry Kenshin fans.

Thanks for all your support.

~*Minakokiss*~