A/N: Sorry I didn't post this earlier, I was busy and reading some other fanfics…I really should NOT have started on this site and fanfics, now I'm totally obsessed with them and it's all I do (read fanfics) -_- However, good news! Since I have a few days off from school (Thanksgiving break, YAY) I might work on the "sequel" to my poem Loving You (to all who have read it). Well, I'm hoping to work on it…uh, anyway, on with the story, the chapter you've all been waiting for!

Chapter 4: A Coma and a Recluse

As Kaoru awoke, she found she was in a hospital. But, Kenshin wasn't there beside her, and Kaoru began to panic. There was a nurse in the room, so Kaoru asked what had happened.

Apparently, a car had run the red light and run into Kenshin's car. Kaoru had luckily just broken an arm, and fainted from the shock. Kenshin, however, wasn't so lucky…

"Can I see him? Please, please let me see him! I feel fine, let me go visit him!" Kaoru begged and pleaded, and the nurse finally gave in. She led Kaoru to Kenshin's room. Kenshin was just lying there on the hospital bed, his eyes closed, his skin deathly pale. Kaoru froze at the sight. She managed to choke out "W-what's wrong with him? He-he-he's alive, isn't he?"

Kaoru was desperate. She needed to know.

The nurse replied, "He's alive, but he's in a coma…the doctors don't think he will ever wake up. He can either stay like this forever, or be taken off life support and die-"

"NO! Do NOT take him off life support, do not!" Kaoru replied harshly, and threw herself to her knees at Kenshin's side. "Kenshin," Kaoru totally broke down and began sobbing, "K-Kenshin, how c-could you do this to me? Y-y-you broke your promise again! You broke it! You broke your promise! P-p-please, please don't leave me! I beg you, d-d-don't! Please, wake up!" Kaoru was crying hysterically next to Kenshin. She wouldn't stop crying. She couldn't. Kenshin had meant the world to her, and now he was gone. Well, not totally gone, but, he practically was…he would never wake up, the doctors said.

,-_-,

Kaoru felt she had nothing left to live for. She visited Kenshin every day after class and talked to him, but he couldn't respond. He was as good as dead. Kenshin, her Kenshin, was gone, and Kaoru didn't know what to do. She had literally lived to see Kenshin, to talk to Kenshin, to love Kenshin, and now he was gone. No one, not Sano, not Misao, not Aoshi, not her mother, no one Kaoru knew could cheer her up. She became deeply depressed. During all the years Kaoru spent at college, she visited Kenshin every single day, going even when she was sick. She knew that even though the chance of him actually waking up was nonexistent, there still was a chance. A very slim, small chance. But it was still a chance. And Kaoru lived for that, for that chance, and so she visited Kenshin every day, hoping to be there when he awoke.

After Kaoru finished college, she got a job at a place near the hospital, and still visited Kenshin every day. Finally, her mother decided it was time to make Kaoru let go of Kenshin and move on. She forced Kaoru to find work in a different city, to get away from Kenshin. She hoped Kaoru would become less depressed with other things on her mind, so she found work in Kyoto for Kaoru, and made her take the job. Even though Kaoru no longer could visit Kenshin, she still had the necklace he gave her. The charm that symbolized his promise that he would never leave her…It kept alive in Kaoru the hope that one day, Kenshin would wake up. That little silver charm is what made Kaoru get up in the morning. However, at work, she never spoke to anyone, and her work was mediocre. She didn't try hard, but she didn't slack. She just did the work, because her mother made her stay at that job in Kyoto.

Kaoru was like a recluse: she spoke to no one, associated with no one, lived alone, and never went anywhere except for work and to buy the necessities. She began to write stories, stories of love and passion, stories of hope, depression, loneliness, anything that she was feeling. Kaoru published under the pseudonym of Snowflake, because if someone  who knew Kaoru read her stories, they would know that whatever story it was, it was really Kaoru's own story, but in different words and context, and Kaoru didn't want that; she didn't want pity or people trying to comfort her. The only thing that would be able to comfort and heal Kaoru would be Kenshin's waking.

One day, seven years after Kaoru had slipped into her shell, she finally agreed to do a book signing. Several of her stories had become bestsellers, and her publishers were urging her to do one. "Just one" they said. And so Kaoru Kamiya did a book signing, for her books under the name of Snowflake. It was a typical book signing, with people lining up behind a table where Kaoru sat, asking her to sign a book she had recently written, called Broken Promises. It was her most famous novel yet. Someone asked Kaoru where she had gotten the idea for the book, and she started to cry. However, she quickly composed herself and apologized, saying, "Personal experiences," and managed to give the person a faint smile.

***

There is an important fact you must know before I go on. The old Kaoru, the happy one, had always worn her hair up in a high ponytail that reached mid-back. And she never, ever, wore the color black and hated it with her entire heart; she had always worn brightly colored clothing with beautiful jewelry. Now, the depressed, novel-writing Kaoru had hair that was a little below her waist; she had not cut it since the crash; she always wore black, and a hat that usually covered her eyes. She hated the color, but she thought it suited the depression and sadness in her life.

***

Kaoru was looking down at the table, at her hands, waiting for the next person to come up and ask her to sign her novel. A man came up. She could tell it was a man, even though she was looking down, because of his heavy footsteps. The man handed her a book and asked her to sign it. His voice sounded vaguely familiar, though Kaoru couldn't place it. She ignored the feeling that was beginning to grow in her gut. Kaoru then wrote a little note in the book, signed it, and asked the man's name, so she could personalize the message a bit more (her fans liked the little "personalized" notes). He replied…"

*****

Haha! Evil cliffie! To get back at all those mean authors who do them all the time *tomato SPLAT* Hey, don't blame me, blame those cliffhanger-istic authors…Anyways, next chapter is the last chapter! And I really wanted to play a joke on you guys and put a THE END at the end of this chapter, but it wouldn't work…I should have done it on the last one. THAT would have been fun :D Heehee! Actually, there's a REALLY short epilogue after the next chapter, and then an author's note…

Oh, I meant to put this before, but sorry on the shortness of the story and all the chapters! I'm just not experienced enough in the writing department to add useless but interesting details to make it longer…lol. Or it could just be that I can't put any more into my plot…anyway, sorry about that. I know I really don't like when authors have short chapters, but I'm one of those, so…

Yay, I got SIX reviews on this chapter!! That's the most I've ever gotten on a chapter, except on my poem…oh, whatever…anyway. A few little comments and review responses to the readers:

LittoGrrlStephie: Wow, I JUST realized it was actually YOU, the author of Law Crazy, who reviewed! I hadn't noticed it when I was reading the reviews! Anyways, I think I did the cliffhanger to get back at you, for your evil one. And I still think it's Mr. White who did it (I was hoping after you had gotten more reviews for the chapters, there would be more ideas and thoughts of people, but not many…). And is Mr. White Enishi? Someone's review mentioned that, so I was thinking…Also, someone mentioned Shurra could have done it…which makes me think. AHH, what am I doing? I should be leaving this in a review…oh well :D And yeah, I'm 12, but I'll be 13 in a month and a few days! And, as you can see, they WERE in a car crash…hope you enjoyed this chapter! (well, I guess you couldn't really enjoy the chapter since it's like…depressing, but…)

IY JA-MO RK: There is DEFINITELY going to be a good ending! I can't stand sad endings. I mean, well, I can but I like happy endings much better. And Kaoru will NOT die and Kenshin will NOT find someone else. I'm sorry, but I can't stand that sort of thing either…I can't stand Kaoru or Kenshin being paired off to anyone except one another. Other alternate pairings are ok, but I'm really just for traditional. And, I understand Tomoe and Kenshin, since Tomoe was the first one he met…but of all the fanfics I've read, none of them have been just Tomoe and Kenshin in the story with no Kaoru, so I'm not sure how I'd like that…

And thanks to Brittanie Love, Schmuck, Gaby (hyatt, and Kayhoka Ayanithne who also reviewed! And I'd really appreciate it if you'd review on this chapter, too!

PLEASE press that button and leave a review!