Kiriko's Home!
Kiriko was in a complete daze as she walked towards Tokyo. After Shio's tall frame disappeared into the woods, she had collapsed to her knees and sobbed into her hands. Several times she had to stop the impulse to run after him. She actually did take a few steps in his direction, thinking that maybe she could help him find the Battousai but stopped immediately when she knew he wouldn't hear of it. Shio wanted to do this alone. Kiriko cried more in those few moments than she did in her entire lifetime. The thing that bothered her most about the crying was why she was crying so much. It's not like I love him or anything like that, she thought, I just hate the fact that I'll never see him again. More tears pooled at the bottom of her eyes.
Kiriko was so immersed in her thoughts that she didn't sense the four eyes watching her from the trees. When two figures came flying out the trees, Kiriko back flipped and pulled out Laplatina. It took her a minute to realize her attackers. It was the twins she met in Kyoto.
"WE FOUND YOU!" Meshi and Asao squealed with glee. They ran over and hugged Kiriko.
Kiriko was so surprised to see them that she was completely flabbergasted. Then the twins circled her and started to dance around her like ring-around-the-rosie.
"We found her first! We found her first!" They sang merrily.
Finally, Kiriko snapped out of her shocked state. "Hey! Hey! Wait a minute. What are you two doing here?"
"We're here-" "to look for-" "you, Kiriko."
"Huh? What? What's going on!" Kiriko was totally confused now.
"We'll tell you-" "what we know-" "on the way-" "back to your-" "house."
Kaoru was waiting on the porch for everyone to report back with any news about Kiriko. Almost everyone came back but no one had any good news. They were all waiting on the twins and then the night shift would go out. Kaoru and Kenshin talked pretty much the whole night when he first came back. She wanted to know more about this born Battousai thing he had mentioned earlier in the conversation with the group. Kenshin explained it the best way he could. Kaoru only shook her head and laughed to herself. She knew there was a little too much Kenshin in her daughter but she didn't think it was that much.
Kaoru snapped out of her daydream when she heard chattering coming from up the road. She knew it was the twins. They sounded just like their mother when she was that age. Kaoru got up and decided to meet them by the gate.
The three girls walked side by side. Kiriko listened intently as the confusing twins tried to explain what was going on. They were quickly approaching her front gate. Kiriko stopped when the gate door opened and her mother walked.
Kaoru had her back towards the twins. She turned around; "Did you girls have any-"
She gasped.
The twins smiled brightly as mother and daughter stared at each in complete silence.
"K……Kiriko?" Kaoru breathed out. The word came out barely above a whisper.
Kiriko opened her mouth to say something but decided that there were no words could describe how she felt at that moment. She ran into her mother's arms.
Kaoru hugged her to the pointed of suffocation. Kiriko didn't care. Every time her mother squeezed tighter more tears seeped out of Kiriko's eyes.
"Kiriko…….don't-" Kaoru pulled away from Kiriko and looked into her daughter's tear stained face. Then Kaoru bit her bottom lip and gave Kiriko a hard quick slap across her face. Kiriko and the twins gasped in utter disbelief. Then Kaoru took her back into her arms and hugged her tighter than before. "Don't you ever do this to me again!….Do you hear me!…..If something had happened to you…….I……..I just don't know what I would have done."
Kiriko cried into her shoulder. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
The twins ran towards the house to get everyone to come outside.
"KIRIKO'S BACK! KIRIKO'S BACK!" They screamed.
Kenji, Kano, Meya, Sanni, and Yatsume heard this news loud and clear. They raced out the house to meet the twins.
"She's back! Where!" Kenji said looking around the yard.
"She's out by the-" "road with your-" "mother."