~Chapter Fourteen- blue & violet eyes and warm tears~

~With Karou and the false guards~

The horse that Karou rode on the back of was huff looking, and scared.

The false guard that had tied her hands up was at the rains, going faster and faster, leading his buddies close behind him to somewhere in the dark, cold forest.

Karou was cold, and very scared, but she was willing to do this.

*I will become Mr. Orasumi's slave…or be killed all together…..if it will save Kenshin's life. I just wish that I could have………* A scene of Kenshin's face passed her mind as she thought these words. He was smiling at her. *If only I could have……for one single moment………taken his face into my hands……and told him…………how much he means to me.*

She then hoped that somehow, he would know. He would know that she was there. That she would always ran to his side if he called her name.

She felt tears burning her eyes now.

Her black hair danced about in the passing wind, her braid now gone, and her nightgown swatted around in the air as well, a bit tattered, but not bad.

She looked like an angel, taken away from everything.

The horse began to slow down in a clearing all of a sudden.

~With Kenshin~

Kenshin heard horses coming near, and then stop!

"Your friends are back at the mansion…and I have set a bomb to go off there in precisely 25 minutes, and non of them know about it…..and as for Miss Kamiya….." Mr. Orasumi stated.

Kenshin's eyes widened, and he turned around slowly.

He breath caught in his throat.

~With Karou~

"Oh, come on, bitch!! You're not going to cry are you???!!! You were so confident when you left the mansion! I swear!!!!! Frickin' wench!!! Get off the horse!!!!" The false guard shouted, and yanked Karou off the horse. (this is what Kenshin is watching by the way)

Karou's feet hit the ground harshly, and she quivered in fear.

"I…..I'm sorry…….I just…………." Her lip shook, and tears grew in her eyes, her hair falling over her shoulders.

"COME ON!!!!!!" The false guards and the other men shouted, and thrust her towards them.

She cried out a little, but held her breath.

"There's my new wife now, Mr. Himura." Mr. Orasumi chuckled, as the two of them watched this scene unfold.

Karou couldn't take it anymore.

She was being hurt, and she was so scared, and she thought she could handle going through what she was……but in truth………..

She fell to her knees suddenly, and covered her head with her arms, crying hysterically.

"WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU NOW?????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The false guard shouted as he kicked her.

"PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WANT KENSHIN!!!!!! I JUST WANNA BE WITH HIM!!!! KENSHIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHERE ARE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME……….PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M SO SCARED!!!!! DON'T LET THEM TAKE ME AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DON'T LET THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M SO COLD AND SO AFRAID!!!!!!!! I JUST WANNA GO HOME AND BE WITH KENSHIN AND MY FRIENDS, AND MY FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I DON'T WANNA BE HERE ANYMORE!!!!! I WANNA SEE YAHIKO AND MISAO AND SANOSKE AND MAGUMI AND AYAME AND SAZUME AND DR. GENZAI AND EVERYONE ELSE AGAIN!!!!!!!!!! DON'T TAKE ME AWAY!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! KENSHIN!!!!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH PLEASE KENSHIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

She cried and cried…….her sobs so clear and frantic at the same time!!

She trembled, and broke down into so many tears, huddled on the ground like a little child.

All the while, Kenshin had heard everything.

Karou had pleaded with all her might for him, not knowing that he was there!!

He lifted his hand out to her, feeling himself becoming more and more……he could explain the feelings he had.

Everything became silent, except for Karou's sobbing.

Kenshin could hear her words as she did so. She continued to plead for him to find her. She continued to wish and pray that he would stop the people from taking her away……as if he wasn't there…..and she didn't know that he was for sure.

He felt tears walling up in the brims of his eyes as he watched the grieving form of Karou, huddled on the ground…..so helpless. So alone. So cold. So frightened.

He suddenly realized…. that that what was he was…..without her.

Helpless.

Alone.

Cold.

Frightened.

"Karou….." He whispered.

"Karou………" He said a bit loud.

"KAROU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He cried out, his tears spilling down his cheeks as he ran to her side.

"STOP HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Mr. Orasumi shouted to the false guards, and they grabbed Kenshin before he could get to Karou's side.

She looked up and saw him trying to so hard to get out of the grasp of the false guards.

Trying so hard.

Trying.

He thrust forward, and continued to scream out her name, his tears still falling.

His hands reached out to her, and she lifted her self up to her hands, staring at him……….

He wa so……so…………so…………………..afraid and………..he was trembling…….because he wanted to badly to get to her!!!!!

"KAROU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He cried again, pulling himself out of the grasp of the false guards, and running as fast as he could go, filling dizzy, but not stopping for anything, and fell to his knees, taking her into his arms, and pressing her to his heart so tightly.

"KENSHIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She cried into his chest with all her might, wrapping her arms around him and sobbing.

They sat there and sobbed in one another's arms…….not ever wanting to let go…..EVER!!!

"I'M RIGHT HERE, KAROU!!! I WON'T EVER LEAVE YOU AGAIN!!!!! I SWEAR IT!!!!!!!!!! I NEVER WANNA BE AWAY FROM YOU AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!! I SWEAR IT KAROU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ON MY NAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I KNOW YOU MAY FEEL DIFFERENT…….BUT I CAN'T DENY MYSELF ANY LONGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I NEVER WANT TO LEAVE YOUR SIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU'LL ALWAYS BE THERE, WON'T YOU???????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He exclaimed with so many tears.

Karou could only cry.

Suddenly, arms grabbed both their forms, and began to pull them apart!!!!

Pulling…….

"NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LET ME GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LET ME GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Karou screamed.

Kenshin reached out from the darkness and grabbed her hand.

"KENSHIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WILL ALWAYS BE THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND I DON'T FEEL DIFFERENTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DON'T LET THEM TAKE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DON'T LET THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Their hands held on as tightly as they could.

"RELEASE EACH OTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I COMMAND YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The voices of the false guards were heard around them.

"NO!!!!!!!!!!!!! DON'T TAKE HER AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! KAROU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Suddenly, their hands were pulled apart.

Kenshin was thrown to the ground, the tears still falling from his eyes.

He looked up and watched as Karou was brought over to Mr. Orasumi's side.

"Well now, that was most interesting…" He commented with sarcasm in his voice.

"I HATE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HATE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TELL ME WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She screamed in anger and fear and sadness at the same time.

Mr. Orasumi then told her the same story he had told Kenshin.

Karou stared in absolute shock.

"Now…to get my revenge…..you are my wife that I shall marry……and you will also be my slave. You will do anything and everything for me, and you will do it without a complaint. We depart right now for Europe where my other home is. Your friends back at the mansion will be dead soon, and your beloved Himura……" He then grabbed her jaw and turned her head to him.

He was still watching from the ground.

"M-m-my…..beloved…………" She sobbed as she cried with stuttering in her breathing, stared straight at Kenshin's violet eyes, swollen from all the tears.

Mr. Orasumi then rapidly brought her face back to confront his again.

"As for him……he will be dead as well…….and there is truly….nothing you can do about it at all." Mr. Orasumi began to laugh, and so did the false guards around him and Kenshin.

Kenshin gave a look to Karou.

Somehow, she read it, through all her tears.

"So….what do you think, my sweet?" Mr. Orasumi questioned Karou. "You'll make a fine wife and slave, won't you….for me, my dear?"

Karou's teeth bared. "Burn in hell………YOU

BASTERD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WOULD NEVER DO ANY OF IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AT LEAST NOT FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I MAY SEEM LIKE AN INNOCENT LITTLE GIRL, WHO WANTS HER SAMURAI TO COME AND SAVE HER….TO COME AND BATTLE OFF THE EVIL SO THAT SHE CAN SAY "THANK YOU SO MUCH, IT MEANS A LOT." NO!!!!!! NOT AT ALL!!!!!!!!!! NO….I AM STRONG…..AND I AM NOT WEAK!!!!!!!!!!! AND I WOULD RATHER DIE, THEN DO ANYTHING FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!" She then spit in the old man's face, and threw her jaw out of his grasp.

"NOW!!!!!!!!!!! DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Mr. Orasumi shouted with rage, pointing towards the 3 false guards.

"Haha….with pleasure." One of them snickered, and stumped onto Kenshin's body on the ground, the other two throwing punches at him.

"Look at that….he's not even trying to save you now, Miss Kamiya. If you ask me…he's nothing but a lowly, weak, and selfish man who had it coming for him sooner or later." Mr. Orasumi snapped at Karou, trying to prove he was right.

Karou watched as Kenshin was held up into the air by one of the men, and then punches and slapped numerous times!!!

She turned back to Mr. Orasumi, Kenshin watching her all the while.

"You're wrong, Sir Orasumi. Just shows how stupid you really are. That man……….." she pointed to Kenshin, "That man would risk his life to save anyone else from perishing….from losing hope in living!!! He re-defines this horrible world…..he makes others smile…..he makes them realize how important it is to live happily….and if you ask me……that is the greatest thing a person could ever do. Because…in my mind…..and in my heart…..he is the greatest man….the greatest person……that I've ever known. And I would die here and now for him….because I know he would do the same for me."

She looked at Kenshin once again.

Despite the pain he must have been in, he was smiling!!

Smiling at her.

"You believed in me…..when no one else would……..Karou……….so I…..will always………believe in you." His voice was weak, but happy sounding.

Suddenly, Kenshin threw out his sword, and thrashed it into all 3 guards, in seconds making them fall to the ground in pain.

He stepped over them, and walked towards Mr. Orasumi and Karou.

"You will let her go……" He said in an angry voice.

Mr. Orasumi glared evilly.

"No!!!! NO!!!!!!!!!! NOT WITHOUT MY REVENGE FROM MR. KAMIYA!!!! YOU WILL NOT TAKE HER BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!! EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!! SHE BELONGS TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He screamed in anger as he ran to the cliff off in the distance.

Kenshin started to follow, but then Mr. Orasumi reached the ledge first, and held Karou by her nightgown collar over the edge!!!

Kenshin's eyes widened.

"If you come any closer…..I will let her go, and she will fall to the river thousands of feet below us, dead. Do you really want that for her? Don't you even care for her well-being?" He smirked, thinking he had won.

Kenshin looked to Karou.

She didn't look down.

She let herself dangle by her collar, her arms and legs limp as a rag doll.

Her radiant blue eyes were filled with tears, but she continued to stare to him….to find him, and never let his image fade.

Kenshin took one step backward.

"I can't let you harm her. I can't……" He stated.

Mr. Orasumi began to walk back into main land as Kenshin backed off a ways, but suddenly, before anyone even knew it, the ground underneath Mr. Orasumi's feet let lose, and fell through!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Karou and Mr. Orasumi screamed as they began to fall.

Kenshin watched in horror…..as he saw Karou…..falling like an angel who had just lost her wings…..down………and past the embankment where he couldn't see her anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"KAROU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He cried out as he tried to move, but he couldn't.

He was frozen.

"Karou………no………..YOU CAN'T BE DEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU CAN'T BE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! KAROU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He then ran to the ledge as fast as he could.

He got to his knees, and looked down.

"KAROU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He screamed down the valley, his voice echoing.

His tears came again, and they fell down into the dark ravine.

"Kenshin…….." He heard a voice call to him from down below suddenly, and he looked down in hope, his heart lifting.

The fog began to clear with the rain now falling from the sky, and he saw Karou hanging on for her life to a branch sticking out from the ravine.

"Karou!!!!!!! YOU'RE ALRIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He shouted down to her.

"Kenshin…..please…..come and get me!!!!!!! I'm gonna fall!!!!!!!!!!!" She exclaimed.

"Right! Okay!" He agreed quickly, and stepped back from the cliff.

He ran to it then, and jumped off.

As he fell, he saw Karou coming closer to him.

He grabbed onto the branch then, scooped up Karou, and finally pushed off of the branch with his feet, and back to the top of the ledge again.

It took them just a while to find their footing, and then Karou fell to her knees while Kenshin still stood.

The rain fell around them softly, and cleared their senses.

"Karou?" Kenshin asked after a long while.

Karou looked up from the muddy ground at him.

"Yes?"

He stared down at her, and her at him.

~Wanna know what happens next?? Read on! Teehee!~

~Smile B~