Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin series. I wish I did but I don't. : (

Tomoe's Perspective:

Poem 3

Empathy of the Heart?

I'm not a goddess,

The way people think of me.

I'm not something bright,

And always have the sunshine upon me.

I'm not an angel,

Sent from the heavens above.

I'm not perfect,

That everything I do,

I do it with a certain grace.

I'm normal,

I'm human after all.

I can smile pleasantly,

But I can still cry salty tears.

I act lady like,

But I do stumble and fall.

I do talk as gracefully as I could,

But I still stutter on my own words,

And make great faults.

I'm like everyone else,

I have a heart,

Filled with feelings,

I have a mind,

That could think for it's own,

Yet I'm looked upon as a perfection,

As a goddess who has no way,

Or a mind of her own.

I can breathe the fresh air,

I can see the world through my eyes,

I can feel the wind against my skin,

And hear many things.

Is this how life is?

Here I stand, waiting for you to come.

My beloved Kenshin,

The one who has stole my heart and won.

Waiting for you on this pleasant day,

Reminded me of our first meeting the other day.

I stood here on this very spot,

Not waiting for you, but for someone else.

It was then I looked into your beautiful swirling purple eyes,

And saw your true heart on the inside.

Up till now,

I tried so hard to see what you saw in me.

Nothing came.

To me I'm as regular as they come and go,

To me I'm just a human being,

Who has great faults.

But beauty comes within the eye of the beholder.

What I may see as bad,

You might see it as good.

What I think is wrong,

You might think it's right.

What can I do for your love is true?

What can I say for you never turn and walk away?

Every time we spend our precious moments together,

I can feel your stare,

Your eyes, praising me longer then usual.

Your hand in my hand,

As we walk to our destination together.

Throughout time,

I felt everything you had to offer to me,

I felt your heart go out to me,

Calling my heart to return your affection.

Every time you looked my way,

I felt my mind stray.

Every time you smiled this way,

You broke down my barriers,

My heart was left open,

And it remained.

You made me changed, without ever knowing it.

A woman who once lived with no hope of love,

You came like a violent storm,

Swept me away through horrible winds,

Only to capture my heart,

To teach me the feeling of love again.

When I looked at you before,

I wondered what there was to offer,

From a guy like you to a girl like me.

The first time I entered school,

You confessed your true feelings too.

You never gave up,

Without a doubt.

I wonder what you saw in me?

What was there in me to love?

People talked about you,

A guy who had no soul.

There was only one,

Who could make you whole.

I heard of a girl,

A girl named Kaoru Kamiya,

Yet I never had the chance,

To find out who she was myself.

I heard many things about her,

Like for one she was considered as your best friend,

But when I do look out for her,

There was always no hope.

If this girl named Kaoru was your best friend,

Why is it then you never introduced her to me when you had the chance?

Days later I found my answer,

I found the reason for you not showing me your best friend,

For you no longer spoke to her.

Was it me?

Did I do something wrong to end a friendship once so true?

You never talked so much about her,

But a great feeling of despair came over me.

What if you stopped talking to her because of me?

Just thinking about you being close to another girl,

Had my mind dizzy with so many swirls.

I love you truly,

My heart only beat for you,

When it could beat for no other.

Just knowing I could make you smile,

Bring hope and see the light in your eyes,

Made me contented.

Yet why do I feel this sensation?

Why do I feel this scorching burn of betrayal?

Was it me?

Did I end your friendship?

As I feel my mind coming back to reality,

I saw you with another person.

Your smile as bright as always,

But never did your smile touched your eyes,

Until you met my eyes.

You walked to me slowly,

Clutching the young girl next to you.

Inside I felt something stirred,

But kept it down,

Reminding myself to be urbane, not inane.

"This here is my best friend," you said.

"Her name is Kaoru Kamiya."

Then you said nothing more.

Finally I met this young girl every one talked so eagerly about.

I looked into her beautiful sapphire eyes,

Only to see her sadness inside.

I thought it was weird,

That she held no tears.

She stood her ground,

Probably it was her pride,

That kept her so strong.

She looked at you,

Then at me,

And muttered her excuses for leaving we.

As she left,

I noticed she turned around,

However, what I saw,

Stayed within my mind.

For when she turned,

She looked at you one last time,

But you never knew she had her eyes set on you.

What astonished me the most,

Were her eyes at that moment,

At that time,

Held nothing but a deep love,

A love she kept hidden from you all these years.

Could it be that I stopped two people who were meant to be with each other?

Were you such a dolt not to realize what you had in front of you?

Real love,

A rare type of love opened freely before you,

Yet never did you realize that she loved you.

Never did I realize I loved you.

Then I observed one thing,

I was afraid of losing you as I lost my other love.

I feared being alone,

To have no one in this world.

People may call me selfish,

But to live in this world all alone,

It was something I could not bare to aloof with.

That afternoon,

Waiting on the school steps for you once again,

I saw her passing me straight.

I called out to her,

To have her answer my call in return,

She approached me without hesitation,

As if waiting for a confrontation.

I looked at her and smiled,

And revealed her great inner sorrow.

"You love him don't you," I made it a statement.

She didn't answer for a while,

But when she did she told me the truth.

"Yes I do."

"What is it about him that makes us love him so?" I asked.

"We just do," she replied,

Then walked away,

Like she were never there in the first place.

You came out of school,

Saying good-bye to the people you knew.

You walked this way,

In this direction,

To only grab my hands,

And head to our next destination.

If only I didn't love you,

I could have been her friend too.

This situation would have never existed,

And maybe then you could have been with her in many different places.

However, life can be cruel,

Faith is never so kind.

I looked back,

At the school steps,

For the memory of her still wandered in my mind,

From the distance still fresh.

She chose her path to love,

And even if she never fully healed,

Her faith in love,

Her path that she had chosen,

Might someday bring her back to you.

(To be continued.)