~Chapter Three-Fooled and regretted, but almost said thank you~
"Ohhhhh……I'm so full I think I'm gonna die!!! Help me someone!!" Misao moaned as she laid in her chair, about to burst with muffins, cupcakes, crumpets, and 10 cups of tea!!!!
"Well, Miss Misao….if you hadn't have eaten so much, you would not feel so full right now, that you would not." Kenshin stated.
Misao glared at Kenshin for a moment.
"If I wasn't so stuffed, I'd smack you, Himura."
Karou smiled at the two, then noticed Mr. Orasumi getting up.
"Where are you going, Mr. Orasumi? Aren't you going to stay a while longer and visit?"
Karou questioned.
Mr. Orasumi shook his head.
"No, I'm afraid my treat was spending this tea party with you. Although this is summer, and I'm living in my summer home, I'm not off work. I'm very close to government work right now, and I need to go visit one of my officials for some business. Terribly sorry. But remember, my home is your home right now, do as you please for the rest of the afternoon, and hopefully, I'll be joining you all for dinner tonight."
Kenshin, Karou, and Misao nodded.
"Good day to you all."
And with that, Mr. Orasumi left the garden without any hesitation.
A tall man dressed in a dark black kimono stood in the doorway to the mansion from the garden, and looked down at Mr. Orasumi.
"Do you have a plan yet? How will you get back at out Mr. Himura?"
Mr. Orasumi shook his head.
"I believe, Mr. Himura isn't the one we should be after. He was the one who saved my life after all. I can at least spear his life. A life for a life, you know?"
The tall man grunted.
"Then why do you have a grudge against this Mr. Himura….whom used to be the Battosai and ruled over your part of the government?"
Mr. Orasumi sighed.
"It's not Mr. Himura…nor the Battosai I have a grudge against. I'd rather have him as an ally then a foe. It's Miss Kamiya that I despise so much."
The tall man smirked.
"And why is that, old friend?"
Mr. Orasumi looked back at the tea party, and he could hear Karou's voice laughing with Misao.
"Miss Kamiya's father and I……were enemies ever since the revolution….and he died before I could get my revenge on him….for making a fool out of me. Him and I were rivals in combat, and we both used the Kamiya Kashin style. I believed that the sword was for killing and protecting yourself, but once I told that to Mr. Kamiya that, he threw a fit, saying that the sword was a tool for saving people with, and protecting the ones you love. What a bunch of rubbish he spoke, and yet, he embarrassed me in front of the entire Kamiya Kashin students back then in his dojo in Tokyo. I was going to kill him with his own style of swordsmanship….but…..when I arrived once at the Kamiya dojo about 12 years ago, I found that the only one left of the Kamiya family….was a little girl named Karou. Her father had been killed already, and she had a mother, but she had died as well. I didn't show my face in front of that little girl that day…but I swore that one day, I would kill that girl named Karou, and get my revenge."
"What a brilliant story, Sir Orasumi. So your target isn't Mr. Himura at all. It's the other way around, correct?" The tall man pointed out.
"Yes. I didn't know Mr. Himura had any acquaintance with Miss Kamiya, but turns out, when I invited him to join me at my summer home as a gift of thank you for saving my life, he wrote be back a message, saying that he had a family that would come along too, one of which was Miss Kamiya. So I plotted…..why not get rid of her now. It's a perfect opportunity! No one will suspect a thing!" Mr. Orasumi explained.
The tall man nodded, and the two men walked into the mansion, out the front door a few minutes later, and rode off in a carriage to visit the officials.
~Back in the garden~
"Well….I'm gonna go unpack, okay you guys?" Misao stated to Karou and Kenshin, while standing up from the table.
"Okay…we'll see you later on then, that we will." Kenshin smiled to Misao.
Misao giggled, then ran into the mansion, leaving Karou and Kenshin alone.
Kenshin looked to Karou after a moment, and saw her looking the opposite direction.
In Karou's mind, she was going insane.
*Oh god….Oh god…..please don't think of me as rude…..I'm just so nervous. WHY THOUGH!!!!! I NEVER USED TO BE THIS WAY!!!!!??? What will he say to me? What will he do?* She exclaimed in thought.
Kenshin didn't understand why Karou wouldn't look at him.
"Miss….Karou? Are you still angry with me over something? If you are….please tell me what I did wrong." He got out.
Karou grasped her dress with her fingers tightly.
"I……I'm not mad at you. You didn't do anything wrong. Nothing at all."
Kenshin sighed, not knowing whether to believe her or not.
Suddenly, 2 blue birds flew from the trees above the garden.
Kenshin watched as the flew higher and higher into the sky, and then vanished into the golden sunshine.
He smiled.
"Miss Karou? Would you like to take a walk with me? It's such a nice day, that it is. It would be fun!" He questioned.
Karou's eyes widened, and she couldn't help but turn to him.
He saw the redness on her cheeks, and the shock in her eyes.
"Y….You'd take me?" She stuttered.
"Of course." He grinned, and stood up.
Karou stared up at him for a while, unsure what to do.
His smile was so wonderful. It made her want to smile so badly.
"Come on. I bet there's a path or something into the forest."
Kenshin then held out his hand to her, and somehow, as the light hit him just right, she felt herself lost within that moment, and she lifted her hand and placed it into his gently.
He grasped her hand very softly, and helped her stand up.
She stood with him, and let him lead her into the back of the garden, and there, he opened a gate, and continued to lead her into the forest.
The beautiful shadows of the trees high above their heads, and the spots of sunlight shinning in, it was almost as if they were in some sort of fairytale story.
Slowly, she could feel Kenshin's hand grasping hers more and more.
Her heart was beating madly, but she was also so very calm, she didn't understand herself at that moment.
Soon, they approached a ledge, overlooking the entire forests below them.
The sunlight was bright and warm, and as they stood there enjoying the view, Karou slowly turned to look at Kenshin.
His smile was soft, and his eyes were so gorgeous.
Those violet eyes.
She loved his eyes so much.
Violet.
It was the same color as her dress she wore.
She realized she her favorite color was violet.
It never used to be, but when she saw Kenshin's eyes for the first time about a year and a half before, and saw the gentleness and caring expressions given to her from them, she fell in love with that shade. It was so unique.
Her hand tightened around his then.
He looked to her and continued to smile.
"Miss Karou……" He said ever so carefully.
"Kenshin……I wanted to tell you……I wanted to say that I…..I mean…..than-"
"KAROU, KENSHIN!!!! CHECK IT OUT!!!!!!!!!!"
Karou was suddenly interrupted by Yahiko's excited voice.
For some reason, Kenshin and Karou's hands snapped back from one another, and to their sides.
They both turned away from each other and to Yahiko, and the soon after Sanoske.
"Look at it! Isn't it just the coolest!?"
Yahiko held out an old piece of some type of crystal.
"Wow! Where did you find this at, Yahiko?" Kenshin questioned as he took the crystal from the boy's hand and observed it up close.
"It was actually Sanoske that found it, but isn't it cool! I bet you these forests used to be covered with those things! We were lucky to have found that one!" Yahiko explained.
"What do yah mean by "we"!! I was the one that found it, not you, yah little pipsqueak!!" Sanoske barked.
Yahiko grabbed the crystal from Kenshin's hands, and ran off up the path Kenshin and Karou had come from.
"HEY!!!!!! COME BACK HERE YAH LITTLE JERK!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT'S MINE!!!!!!!!!!!" Sanoske ran after Yahiko, his fists shaking wildly.
Kenshin took a step forward, and noticed that Karou wasn't following.
He turned around and saw her staring at the ground, still completely unable to let the moment before pass like it was nothing at all.
"Come on, Miss Karou. We should be getting back to the mansion. We still have a lot of unpacking to do." He explained.
Karou's fists tightened, but she followed slowly behind.
She looked ahead at the samurai walking forward.
It was too different from what had happened before.
When he took her into the forest, she was happy, and her hand was in his.
Now it was just an empty feeling that was always there.
*I wanted to say……thank you.* She whispered in thought to herself, knowing she couldn't bring herself to say it to Kenshin again.
~Is this sad or what??? Well…keep reading! Plenty more where that came from! Hehehe!!!~
~Smile B~ -^.^-