Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin does not belong to me, it is copyright Watsuki Nobuhiro. I also do not own the song "Damaged," it belongs to "Plummet."

A/N: Gomen nasai all, not for updating in such a long time.

The reason was that I couldn't find a good song that not only fit the chapter, but that was also good background music for me to write to. One day I was listening to DAMAGED, and it sounded like an okay fit. Not perfect, but pretty good. So here I am, finally updating. I'm also actually going to try to use the ENTIRE song for this chapter, so it probably be a long chapter, and short periods between song lyrics.

Oh, and animeluverthatiam, I did not to individual thank you's at the end of this chapter because there were so many people. After a period of time in this fanfic I will upload a chapter of thank you's.

I hope this answers your question well enough.

~To Ayumi, Gypsy-chan, and the RK BISHIE SODA CREW! (We rock!)~

Shifting in the Wind

By: Spellcaster the Diamond

Kaoru sat on the porch to the backyard, playing with her hair, a blank look on her face.

She didn't know what to think, much less what to think about, so she just concentrated on braiding her hair.

Finally, she began a conversation in her thoughts,

'How long have I been living with Kenshin now? Three weeks? Two? Shouldn't I remember this?'

At the talk her thoughts conjured, she let out a small laugh.

'Let's see…it's been two weeks since my high-school graduation, I remember that much. I started living with Kenshin a week before that, so three weeks. Yes.'

Kaoru looked up at the moon. "Kenshin's out destroying people…why does he do it?"

As she pondered this, she felt a horrible pain lurching in her stomach.

She put her hand to her mouth and began coughing furiously. When she finally could breathe normally again, probably minutes after the coughing fit stopped, she pulled her hand away from her mouth. Her eyes widened when she saw what was on her hand. It was a black liquid. A black liquid that she had coughed up. It smelled like a mixture of poison…and blood.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Dreaming comes so easily

Cause it's all that I've known

True love is a fairy tale

I'm damaged, so how would I know?

~*~*~*~*~*~

She sat there, shivering in shock, wondering where she had seen this before. For it looked very, very familiar.

Suddenly, three quick images popped into her mind. Her mother, leaning over, coughing, then her father doing the same, and finally, her best friend, coughing and then not being able to breathe. They were all coughing up the same thing. A black liquid…just like this…

Kaoru turned her head and leaned it on one of the two pillars that rested on the edge of the porch, just as she felt the same horrible pain in her stomach once again.

As more black spurred from her mouth and splattered on the ground, she shook her head.

'Not now, when I finally don't want the disease to come.'

She clutched her aching head, and tried to breathe easily, to ease the coughing and the horrible burn in her stomach and her throat.

The wind slowly circled around her, blowing through her hair, and it almost felt like it was gathering her into an apologetic embrace, then it lessened, only she brought her head up from the ground, staring at where it had seemed to have flown off to.

~*~*~*~*~*~

I'm scared

and I'm alone

I'm shamed

and I need for you to know

~*~*~*~*~*~

As she looked up, a swirl of leaves picked up and it looked like they

swirled around a human form.

'That's impossible!' Kaoru thought.

Just as she thought that, a whispering voice came to her ears. It was inside the wind.

"I am very sorry. I am the cause of Kenshin's killing, and, accidentally, of the pain that you are facing now as well."

Kaoru watched as the leaves spiraled again, and inside the wind, the shape of a woman appeared, yet she didn't seem whole. Just a figure in the air, just an illusion.

~*~*~*~*~*~

I didn't say all the things that I wanted to say

And you can't take back what you've taken away

Cause I feel you, I feel you near me

~*~*~*~*~*~

The woman standing there had long, black hair, and sad black eyes. She wore a white kimono, obviously a symbol for the wind. She looked so calm and peaceful, as if she had never lived…

"I'm so sorry," the woman said again, floating towards Kaoru, then slowly letting herself drop onto the stairs.

'She can touch things,' Kaoru thought. 'How?'

Finally Kaoru thought it best to speak, "Who--"

She was cut off by her own words and began coughing again, but tried her best to finish her sentence.

"Who…are….you?" then her coughing became dry hacking and she could finally relax.

"My name is Tomoe."

"Tomoe, huh?" Kaoru asked, still a bit dizzy.

"Yes. As I told you, I was the cause of it all, and it was all an accident. I cannot apologize to you enough." Tomoe responded, looking down at her fingers, that still looked like it wasn't solid.

~*~*~*~*~*~

I didn't say all the things that I wanted to say

And you can't take back what you've taken away

Cause I feel you, I feel you near me

~*~*~*~*~*~

"How so? Please tell me Tomoe. Did it happen when you were alive?" Kaoru poured her questions onto Tomoe.

"No, it didn't happen when I was alive. I was…never…alive."

Kaoru covered her mouth, a bit shocked.

"My soul was created to protect the wind. As my brother's soul was created to protect the fire…" Tomoe said, her tone slightly angry on the word 'brother'.

"Oh? Really?"

"Yes. I saw Kenshin one day, when I was traveling the winds. He was cold and angry. I saw why, because there was a field of death in front of him. They were the people that meant a lot to him. He and the only two friends he had left wondered who had killed everyone."

"Oh…" Kaoru responded sadly.

"I came to him that night, asking him of what he wanted to do about this. At first he was shocked to see me, to see the wind talking to him. Then he finally said he wanted revenge on everybody. I had felt so compelled to help him, but I didn't want him to slaughter people like the crazed mind who had come to the two blocks that Kenshin and his friends lived on and killed everyone.

Finally, I sub-consciously dropped a sword into his hands…"

"Sub-CONSCIOUSLY?!" Kaoru half-yelled.

"Yes. I was asleep in the wind, and inside my dream, I just wanted to help him somehow, so my outer self probably just said that the only way we could help him was to give him what he wanted."

Kaoru sighed, "So THAT'S what happened."

Tomoe nodded back to her. "I'm so sorry."

"Now tell me about this--DISEASE!" When she finally got out disease, she fell on the ground, and then began watching the black liquid drift to the stone ground. Now there was a hint of crimson inside…

~*~*~*~*~*~

Healing comes so painfully

And it chills to the bone

Won't let anyone get close to me

I'm damaged, as I'm sure you know

~*~*~*~*~*~

"That disease, Kaoru, is property of…my brother."

Kaoru finally stopped being shocked at the crimson blood swirled in with the black poison, and looked at Tomoe again. Here is where she could get another answer, the question that had tugged at her heart for years.

"My brother Enishi, soul of guarding the fire. He made this disease a few years ago. It can claim anyone he wants it to. Pretty soon people begin coughing a black acid, just like that. Whenever it is coughed, it begins to slowly destroy the organs and the throat. Soon the person can't fight it anymore and becomes a property of Enishi. I used to deal with him easily, but now, I can hardly stand him for doing this. One time he was about to claim Kenshin, but I knew that Kenshin could get out of his killing habits, so I persuaded Enishi not to do so.

I didn't mean for him to claim you."

"Oh, I see. So it wasn't contagious after all."

Tomoe shook her head, "No."

Kaoru sighed, "…and the cure?"

"Nothing."

Kaoru slammed her fist onto the stairs, "Damnit! I knew it! Now WHY would Enishi want me in the first place? Or my parents, or even my best friend, Misao…"

Tomoe had a sad look now written on her face, "I'm really sorry. But maybe this might cheer you up. After Enishi claimed Misao, nobody else let him keep her just for himself. She is now one of the once-living souls that help protect elements."

"How would you know?"

"Because she helps protect the wind."

~*~*~*~*~*~

I'm scared

and I'm alone

I'm shamed

and I need for you to know

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Really? Are you serious?" Kaoru asked, her face brightening.

Tomoe laughed. "Yes, I am serious. But now I must tell you, that I know how to get the disease away from YOU. Though it will be hard."

Kaoru had to think for a little. Maybe, if she was claimed by Enishi, she could be torn away from him as well. But, did she really want to live with Kenshin a bit longer?

"Kaoru…I know what you're pondering about, and trust me, I know that you really want to live…"

"Now how would you know that?" Kaoru asked.

"…because I've watched you two, and I know…you love him."

Kaoru blushed. 'Me? Love Kenshin? Could that…really be true?'

~*~*~*~*~*~

I didn't say all the things that I wanted to say

And you can't take back what you've taken away

Cause I feel you, I feel you near me

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Kaoru, deep inside, you know it. What you have to do is very difficult, but what have you got to lose if you can live?"

Kaoru bit her lip, and then finally said, "Alright."

"You have to make Kenshin stop killing."

Kaoru looked at her with wide eyes, "That's nearly impossible!"

"Yes, I know, but still, even if Enishi sees how hard you are trying, and if Kenshin cuts down even a little, it will be enough for me to help him cancel the disease for you. You have one month Kaoru, please do it, and help save yourself. For if you save yourself, you also save Kenshin from more pain and suffering…" and with that comment, Tomoe disappeared, and her part in the wind flew away.

~*~*~*~*~*~

There's only for my soul

And undo this fear

Forgiveness for a man

Who was stronger

I was just a little girl

But I can't look back

~*~*~*~*~*~

Kaoru sighed, "What did she mean by the last words?"

Could Tomoe have meant that Kenshin loved her back? That's silly…no way could Kenshin ever love now.

"Ah, my friend, but you're wrong!" a familiar voice chimed from behind Kaoru.

Kaoru swiftly turned around, "Misao! Oh my god, you really are a wind spirit!"

Misao laughed, "Of course! I want to give you more courage every once in awhile, and I'll guide you when you need help. Please, Kaoru, don't hide behind in the past. I am gone, and you need to go forward with all your MIGHT!"

On the word 'might', Misao did a punch in the air. Kaoru and Misao laughed.

"I have to go Kaoru, don't be stuck behind yourself remember, forge towards the future, and the one you really love will be at your side."

Then Misao also disappeared, and Kaoru made her final decision, not just a weak choice that she would do this.

Now…she really WOULD do this.

~*~*~*~*~*~

I didn't say all the things that I wanted to say

And you can't take back what you've taken away

Cause I feel you, I feel you near me

~*~*~*~*~*~

Kaoru was now in her room, rocking herself back and forth on her bed, easing another coughing attack.

She was still waiting for Kenshin to come home.

She couldn't go out with him to try and stop him tonight.

'He has to find out about my disease. Maybe if he really does love me back, it would help him stop. Though…I highly doubt he would care about me as much as I care about him,' she thought, now finally able to accept her feelings for the assassin.

~*~*~*~*~*~

I didn't say all the things that I wanted to say

And you can't take back what you've taken away

Cause I feel you, I feel you near me

~*~*~*~*~*~

Finally, Kenshin stepped in the front door, his hand on his head, and set his sword down in the shadows.

Soon, a sound caught his ear. It was a dry and painful sounding cough. The only other person that he knew would be in this house would be---

'Kaoru!' his mind yelled at itself. Kenshin ran upstairs.

"Kaoru?" he asked, once upstairs.

"I'm…in my room, Kenshin," came Kaoru's weak voice.

Kenshin opened the door to Kaoru's room and peered in.

It was then when he saw the black liquid on the floor…

"Oh my god, Kaoru, what happened?!"

Kaoru looked up from bending over her bedside to cough, and said, "The disease…the disease that everyone I knew had…it's come to me." She said. She was too weak to explain about Tomoe and Misao, and her throat burned too much to say much more than a few more words.

Kenshin looked to the floor sadly. He didn't ever want her to get this, ever since that night that they had talked on the porch.

Kenshin went over to her bed, sat down, and propped Kaoru's head against his chest.

"Please…keep me safe, Kenshin…"

Kenshin held her a bit closer to him, hoping to sooth her coughing lower, and for some reason that he couldn't figure out, he didn't want to let her go.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Can't go back...

Can't go back...

~*~*~*~*~*~

'Please, Kaoru, don't fall prey to this disease so easily,' Kenshin thought.

Kaoru sighed, finally relaxing, and falling into a peaceful sleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Can't go back...

~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N: Thank god this chapter told a lot, because it stunk in my opinion. I hope you enjoyed reading it though. I know it was kind of long too…almost 30 pages.

Hope you guys like long chapters…hehehe.

I'd like to thank all who reviewed! I will do individual thank you's some other time as I told animeluverthatiam.

Thanks to the people who have been reading already since chapter 1 and haven't stopped reviewing lol.

Hope you enjoyed this chappy and yes I'm making Enishi a jerk!

::takes out yo-yo again:: You will click on submit review, you will leave a review, you will click on submit review, you will leave a review, etc. etc.

~Spellcaster the Diamond~