Am I really getting you guys wanting Kaoru to be so badly with Kenshin? If I am then I have to admit I'm doing a great job writing this story. The whole idea of this story is learning how to live with the expectations of life. You can't always get what you want, however this story is only just the beginning and for you hard core Kaoru and Kenshin fans, you still have many more chapters to wait for. I hope you like this chapter. I'll try to update as soon as possible. All flames, suggestions, comments, and questions are all accepted.
Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin series. I wish I did but I don't.
A Mistake?
Chapter seven
The second college year was now over. The summer came with the warm gentle breeze, bringing nothing but only peace in its wakening. The sun glitter its sparkling diamonds over the ocean horizon. The sigils flew in all directions above the beach. Misao watched the warmth beauty of summer. She couldn't believe how fast college came and went. She only had two more years left of college and then she was going to be out on her own. She could already tell the future for the others, mainly because it was obvious. Most likely Sano was going to finish college and marry Megumi. Kenshin and Tomoe were going to have their kids. She will meet someone of her dreams and eventually get marry to him. But what about Kaoru?
Through the past three years going onto four years, Sano and she found nothing on Kaoru. Not even a little bit of information was found on her. They never found out where she moved after she left with her family. People around the neighborhood acted like they never knew them. Misao began to wonder many things, like what happened if Kaoru changed her identity, or moved to a different country. There could be many different endless possibilities. Either way Misao hoped with all her heart that Kaoru found a way to move on. She smiled as she watched the sunset across the distance.
Tomoe looked at her reflection in the mirror. She wondered if she looked okay. She remembered when she saw Misao's face; she saw the shock in her beautiful greenish-bluish eyes. She smiled at that memory. For the first in her life she felt like she had good, honest friends. At first she could tell they didn't like her for some odd reason, but when college started and they actually began to take their time to get to know her, they began liking her as a friend. She always wanted to know why they didn't like her at first. When she brought up the topic to Kenshin, all he did was gave her a cold shoulder.
Tomoe flinched as she remembered what happened three years ago.
Flashback Three Years Ago
"Enishi would you hurry up in the bathroom! I have a date to go on you know?!" yelled Tomoe. Usually she more pleasant, more on the quiet side, however, her brother seemed to know how to break that normal habit of hers.
"Well Tomoe you'll you have to wait like normal people do! You aren't some princess you know!" yelled back her brother from the bathroom.
Tomoe couldn't take it anymore. Her patience worn thin. She literally almost knocked down the door with her fist as she banged with all her strength on the door. She didn't want to be late to meet Kenshin, plus she knew Enishi was doing this deliberately. He was very protective over her as Kenshin was. Both of them treated her as though as if she were a fragile doll that was about to break. Mainly because she acted graceful as her mother taught her to be, because she hardly said anything unless she was spoken to, made others think of her either as a stuck up snob or a fragile doll.
With all her strength, her yelling, her violent actions to get into the bathroom, to prepare herself for her date with Kenshin, made her really desperate. She didn't want to disappoint Kenshin. She didn't want him to be mad at her for something she couldn't help. Finally Tomoe just gave up and fell to the door. Her small delicate hand clutched on her shirt, her breathing came in ragged short breaths. She crouched down hiding her now sweaty forehead. She made a vow to get Enishi back later.
Before Tomoe can even recover her position on the ground, she heard a door open, and before her stood her tall brother. His tall muscular frame blocked the entrance to the bathroom. His grayish eyes narrowed on her with anger. She saw his fist clenched as well as his jaw. She saw him like this before. He usually did this when he tried his best to intimidate her.
"It's not going to work this time Enishi," she warned as she stood up to face him.
"I don't care whether it works or not. I don't want you dating him Tomoe," said Enishi fiercely. His eyes never did leave hers.
"I don't care what you think. I finally found someone who treats me for me. Even though he's protective as you are, he still makes me feel like me, and not someone else. I love him Enishi and you're not going to stand in the way of my decision."
"What makes you think he's not after you for you know what? Are you that easy to fool by appearance? There's something about him, something dark and dangerous. All I'm doing is looking out for your safety."
"I can't take it anymore! I'm not some kind of little girl who you have to make decisions for. I have a life to live. The only way I could ever learn to do things for my own, is if I could do them, but you, you act like you rule me! You act like you rule my life!" Tomoe couldn't stand the pain searing through her heart. She pushed Enishi right out of her ways and headed towards the bathroom.
"Enishi remember this. I love Kenshin with all my heart, so if I were you, I wouldn't think about doing anything stupid." With those words Tomoe closed the bathroom door on Enishi's face.
She felt Kenshin's arm around her waist as he brought her into his embrace. He whispered words of his eternal love for her. She closed her eyes. His words drunken her five senses. She felt both pleasure and the fear to run away. Earlier events of what happened between her brother and her were forgotten. All that mattered was that she was here, in the arms of the man she loved.
"I love you," Tomoe whispered to him. The warmth sensation she felt all over her body became clouded, as she felt him flinched at her words. She stepped back and looked into his now amber eyes. "What's wrong? Did I say something wrong?"
She watched as he turned his back to her. He walked just a few feet to put distance between them. Tomoe felt her heart skip a beat out of fear. Was he going to break up with her too? Was he going to do what her last lover did to her? Was he going to break her heart like what Akira did? She hoped with all her heart she didn't do anything to offend him. She prayed that he wasn't going to say he never wanted to see her again.
"Kenshin," she whispered his name ever so softly, as if she was calling him in a middle of a fog.
He didn't respond to her.
"Please Kenshin, just answer me."
Still no response.
Tomoe didn't say anything after that. She didn't want to make him any angrier then he already was at her. Instead she decided to go back in his car and wait for him. As she turned around ready to leave him behind, she heard him faintly whisper something in the wind.
"Are you going to leave like her?" he whispered in the darkness of the night.
"Like who?" Tomoe questioned. Outside she put on a passive face to look strong, but deep down inside she felt her heart tearing apart. Did he love someone else? What did he mean by leaving him? Did the other woman he loved leave him?
"Like her."
"Like who?"
"The young vibrant girl, with wide interesting sapphire eyes, with long beautiful raven hair, and words that can pierce anyone's soul."
"Do you love her?" Tomoe waited for his answer, but it never came. She turned around and walked away from the starry night and headed into his car. There she waited for him, which seemed like forever. Finally when he did appear in the car, the last words he said were "she was my best friend."
Present
That was the first and the last time Kenshin ever acted so weird in front of her. From that night, Tomoe told herself to never bring up a topic about his best friend, because it only brought out his darker side. Tomoe guessed that his darker can only be tamed not by her but by another woman who he considered her his best friend. From that night, when for the first time she saw pain in his eyes, she realized his best friend hurt him dearly. Even now he still carried the feelings of remorse, of pain in his usually kind violet eyes. He thought Tomoe couldn't see it, but she detected it well. She never brought up the topic for fear he might shove her out of his life, and give her the cold shoulder. She didn't want to have to go through another time of heartbreak.
Why was she thinking about this now? In the next two days, she was going to marry her beloved Kenshin and spend the rest of her life with him. Tomoe smiled as she admired herself one last time in the mirror. She observed her beautiful white wedding dress which symbolized her changing's from a single woman, to becoming a wife. She realized as much as she tried to smile, and remove the memory of what happened between her and Kenshin that night, it wouldn't go away from her mind so easily. She kept on assuring herself everything was going to be fine, but why did she feel like everything was just a beginning to a new disaster?
Sano waited for the fellow bride and her brother the day of the wedding. There was hardly anyone at the wedding. Tomoe told Kenshin she wanted a simple small wedding with only the closest people to them invited. Sano looked his darling Megumi next to him. She took his very breath away, with a stunning lavender dress that showed most of her bare back, hugged her small waist and thighs, going down it flared making her look so exotic to his eyes. He loved this woman with his life. On the other side he saw Misao standing next to Kenshin, whispering something in his ear. His long crimson hair was tied in a low ponytail, his bangs were well tamed by jell. Sano could tell by his posture, how nervous Kenshin was. He wondered what took Tomoe and her brother a long time to make it to the church. Sano checked his Movado watch; he worked so hard to buy. It classiness showed him it was now ten to twelve. They should have been here ten minutes ago, but they never showed.
"Don't worry she's going to make it here Kenshin," Sano heard Misao assuring Kenshin about Tomoe's arrival.
"Are you so sure about that?" asked Megumi beside Sano.
"Yes I am sure," replied Misao as she put her hands on her hips.
Sano stared at the two women and decided to ease the tension steaming between them. He placed his body between them, just in case they decided to take their fight physically. Sano on the other hand knew Kenshin couldn't wait any longer. He saw Kenshin sat down on one of the benches along the aisle.
"She will come. I know she will," replied Misao faithfully.
"Before this wedding will happen, Misao I need to ask you one thing," said Kenshin deadly serious. Sano heard the change in his voice. He saw Kenshin buried his face in his large hands. He crouched in a low position so no one can see his facial expression or be able to read it off of him. Then Sano turn around as he heard Misao gulped out in fear. Her greenish-bluish eyes flicked with so many emotions but from where Sano was standing he couldn't read them clearly.
"What is it?" she asked slowly.
"The incident at school, when it was rumored that I almost hurt a girl. Was it… you… you know who?" asked Kenshin. His hands became fists as he waited for Misao's answer.
It took quite awhile for Misao to answer that question. From where Sano was standing he could she was struggling to either tell him the truth or tell him a lie, however he knew the truth. Misao told him everything after the incident happened to her. It went around the whole school, as one of the reasons why Kaoru disappeared. He never believed that Kaoru would leave on such a stupid reason as such, but then again now in the position he was in, he began to think differently.
Before Misao can answer, Tomoe came walking inside the church with her brother at her side. Her breaths came out rather short. Her hair looked a little disheveled as well as her beautiful white dress, but whichever way Tomoe ever got messed up, she still looked beautiful.
Sano turned in Kenshin's direction. He saw his eyes showed so much love and warmth towards Tomoe. Sano couldn't help but feel proud of his friend. When Sano craned his neck to look at Tomoe he felt a lot remorse building inside of him. He wondered what she ever did to make him not like her. She was very innocent, like Kaoru. Very nice, pleasant, more on the quiet side, but her personality was amazing. He liked her better now then before, and he was proud that his good friend Kenshin was finally going to have the one thing he always wanted most in his life, someone to share his life with him.
However Sano observed something he didn't notice earlier. When Tomoe did enter the church, and Kenshin stared at her the way he did, Sano could have sworn that behind the swirling purple, he saw a tinged of molten gold.
The wedding ceremony was over, and Kenshin and Tomoe made their vows to love, to protect, and to honor one another till their dying day. That part made Misao cry. She hoped one day she could be wearing a beautiful white dress like Tomoe saying her wedding vows to the man she loved. But that wouldn't come in a very long time.
She saw Megumi gave Tomoe and hug and kiss on Tomoe's cheek wishing her the best for the future. She watched as Tomoe got into a beautiful grand limo filled with beautiful decorations of white and blue. A few tears animated from her eyes s she watched the beautiful scenery.
As she turned to go back into the church to discuss something important to Sano, she felt a hand grabbed her shoulder fiercely. It turned her around, faster then an eye could blink. Before Misao could comprehend what was going on, she stared into fierce amber eyes, ones that can pierce someone's soul and forever haunt them with its angry flare.
"You never did answer my question," Kenshin said fiercely as held tightly held Misao's upper arm.
Misao gulped in fear, her body trembled, her eyes welled up in tears, not from happiness for Tomoe, but now in fear. "Yes… it was Kaoru."
Misao could see his fierce amber eyes satisfied with the answer, and then within a blink of an eye again he was gone like he was never there before. Misao looked around her. There was no one on the streets. The beautiful black grand limo drove away with the beautiful bride in it, and the handsome groom. Misao rubbed her tear eyes, wondering if it was all a dream, or a thought, but she realized it wasn't a dream or a thought, it was real.
Misao clumsily walked into the church, almost tripping over every step she stepped on. She walked down the aisle in the church to tell everything to Sano what happened to her. But as she made her down the aisle, she realized what she did was wrong, very wrong. If Kenshin was capable of turning on her like the way he did, then what about Tomoe?