I'm sorry about the hold up. I'm supposed to be studying for a big exam, yet here I am writing a next chapter for all of you. For those who think that I compared Tome to Kaoru, you're wrong. It's just the way how Kaoru viewed herself when she thought of Tomoe. Like I told you I'm writing from the perspective of the characters, not as I am thinking of it. I don't know when it will be the next time I'll update, but I'll do it by next week, so please do look for the new chapter. Till then wish me luck on my big exam. Thanks for your support. All flames, suggestions, comments, and questions will be accepted. Thanks! Oh yeah please forgive me on my spelling and grammar if you see any mistakes!
Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin series. I wish I did but I don't.
A Promise
Chapter seven
Misao walked down the long aisle to meet her two very close friends. She couldn't believe the mistake she made. How could she let Kenshin marry Tomoe if he was going to turn on her? Misao hoped that she could find someway to be closer to Tomoe. She could never forgive herself if Kenshin did something wrong to his own new wife.
As Misao lost herself in thought, she never noticed when Sano came right in front of her.
"Misao are you okay?" asked Sano with concern in his dark brown eyes. "Earth to Misao! Wake up would you?" Sano waved his hand in front of Misao to wake her up from her dream state. At first she wouldn't respond, but slowly she lost herself from her thinking world and began responding to Sano's reaction.
"Oh sorry about that," said Misao. Her reactions towards him assured him she was back to her normal self.
"Why were you day dreaming Misao? Did something weird happened?" asked Megumi as she came up beside Sano with a worry expression on her face. Somehow she always knew when something went wrong. She had a way of predicting the impossible, and she was very good at reading people's facial expression.
"You know talking about that Megumi. I think we did something wrong," said Misao now getting serious with her friends.
"What do you mean? I thought Kenshin and Tomoe getting married was a nice thing. I thought you finally accepted her," stated Sano. Misao could see the offense in his posture, plus the confusion in his eyes.
"It's not Tomoe. It's about Kenshin."
"Did you tell him the truth?" asked Megumi.
Misao did not answer the question. Instead she stood her ground and stared down at the floor. She didn't know what to tell her friends. If she told them the truth, did they might scold her. If she told them a lie, then they would say she was not being a good friend to both Kenshin and Kaoru. What more can she say?
"Misao, did you tell him the truth?"
"It's not a hard question to answer you know?"
Misao finally couldn't take the questions anymore. She turned her back to both of her friends. "I told him what I needed to tell him. No more, no less." Before anyone can say anything more to her, she left the church.
1 Year Later
The room was dead quiet. Within its silence, doctors came out the operating room with grief stricken looks of pain written on their faces. Hardly anyone made a sound. They moved as quiet as the dead, hoping no sound can come from their hollow faces. Standing there, Misao knew exactly what happened. As she waited for Kenshin to return to the hospital from his long day of work, hoping to see his ill-fated wife once again, did he not know the tragic news she carried ever since her birth.
Misao, left there standing all by herself, wanted to cry, to scream her pain to the heavens above. Why did God have to take away such a good soul now? The hospital couldn't do anything for her. The doctors said there was no possible way she can survive, for her genes carried the same thing what was happening to her now, death. Misao couldn't imagine the reaction she would see on Keshin's face. She felt so much remorse on berating him for something he never did. Not once did he ever turn on his wife. Not even his darker side found any possible way of hurting her. He treated her like a goddess, no more like an angel. He filled her with his heart's contempt. He did everything to make her happy. And now she was dying because she sacrificed her life to give him a special gift, a new born child.
Misao walked quietly down the hall into a small corner room where Tomoe stayed. There she waited for her husband's appearance. Misao didn't want to disturb her very friend, but she also knew that this was her last time she'll ever get to see Tomoe again. As Misao walked into the small room, there she saw a pale looking woman, wearing nothing but a light blue shirt lying down on her bed. She looked so helpless, her long raven hair cascaded down and fluttered on the bed sheets like waterfalls. Her dark brown eyes which once held so much light, so much hope, was now dull and held little or no conscience of life whatsoever. Misao thought Tomoe was already gone from the world.
"Tomoe," whispered Misao as she went by her side, and gently took her hand. "Please answer me."
Tomoe made no attempt to move. Instead she looked straight across the room, her eyes never left the sight of the doorway.
"Please Tomoe, answer me. Tell me something," Misao begged as she looked into almost a lifeless person. Misao wanted to cry, but she let her eyes welled up in tears. She waited for Tomoe to make a movement, to say something, for her dark brown eyes to leave the doorway entrance, but Tomoe did none of those things. Instead she stayed in her same position as before.
Misao decided to speak to Tomoe, even though she wasn't listening to her. Misao thought if she did talk to Tomoe, Tomoe might respond to her.
"You know I could remember when I first met you at high school. You were very pleasant, very quiet and shy. Most of the boys wanted to know you better. I wanted to know you better, but I never did. At first when you made friends with Kenshin I liked that. I always planned on how we can hang out with each other, talk to one another. Eventually when you settled in school, you made a lot of friends with the boys. They talked about how nice you were and how they would like to go out with you. It was then I realized I didn't like you, or I thought so. I mean you just walked into high school and within a month, you were dating my best friend's friend, and were already popular in school. Most guys looked at you as though you were some kind of goddess. Most girls wanted to be like you. I wanted to be like you, yet I envied you and everything you possessed. I started calling you names, putting you down, staying away from Kenshin when he needed me the most, plus his own best friend turned her back on him. We weren't very good friends with him. It was only when we hit college did I bother to get a chance to know you better. It was then I realized that I truly never looked at you for the person you were. You Tomoe became very dear to me. You became a best friend as well as a sister. In college when I learned so much about you as a person, I realized you were hope, light in Kenshin's. You were able to bring out so many good potentials that I didn't even know that Kenshin was capable of. You were his motivation as well as his salvation."
Misao stopped for a moment. She turned her head away from Tomoe and glanced at the doorway Tomoe kept her eyes on. She felt something stir deep within her soul, for she can longer hold the remaining of her tears.
"Kenshin, he always talked about you. He couldn't wait to see you. You brought so much happiness into his life. You kept him up, when he kept himself down. You motivated him to reach for the stars, when he thought he couldn't change the sky itself. You taught so many things, gave him support that not even his own dear friends could give him. I thank you Tomoe for giving him everything, even a new baby girl, whom you risked your life for. I only wish I can find a way to thank you for everything you did for him."
Misao could not hold back longer. Her tears fell one drop after the other, like rain drops from the world outside. She covered her face with her bare hands, hoping to hide the pain, the torture, the overwhelming need to cry out her anguish for her dear friend Tomoe.
"Misao," whispered a very gentle and familiar voice. Even though Misao heard her name, she didn't look to see who it was. Instinct told her Tomoe finally decided to respond to her.
"Misao I'm sorry it turned out to be this way. I never did want to leave Kenshin, or our baby girl. I know how much he wanted this baby from the start. I wanted to give him that, even if it took my very life to have one. If it's anyone whom I should be thanking it's you," replied Tomoe.
"But…" Misao said passed her sobs.
"No buts. However I do have one favor to ask of you. Please I beg you do it not only for me, but for Kenshin too."
"What is it Tomoe?"
"I know Kenshin had a best friend who cared fro him very deeply."
For the first time, Misao removed her hands from her face and stared at Tomoe with wide eyes filled with shock. What shocked her more was when she found Tomoe looking at her.
"I know you know who I speak of. Please find her Misao."
"But why Tomoe?" Misao felt her hands clenched as she waited for Tomoe's answer.
"Because I knew Kenshin cared for her deeply. A person also needs their best friend. I was just a lover, a wife, as well as a friend to him, but I realized that I can never replace his best friend. His looks, his violet eyes were so empty. I made a vow to find her, and return her to Kenshin's life before I die, but I wasn't able to do so. I found only one source leading me to her, but that was it. Please continue where I left off."
"How can I?" Misao asked sympathy.
"You know what Kenshin's business about right?"
"Well he's working on making a new computer software."
"Yes and it'll be a huge success. From there you will have access to everything, anything you ever wanted. Find her, find the girl name Kaoru Kamiya, and if you can't find that name, then look under the file called Hiten Mitensurgi, the Kamiya Kasshine, or Tenken. You'll find something about her under one of those files. I guarantee it," whispered Tomoe gently.
"How do you know all of this information?"
"That doesn't matter right now. Just look for her please. Promise me that you will," Tomoe begged.
Misao looked toward the direction of the door. She felt her heart gave a leap in fear when she saw Kenshin walking down the hall. His violet eyes showed no emotions.
"I promise," was Misao's last words to her very close friend, Tomoe.
Everyone gathered into a line on the very sunny evening in the cemetery. Grief plagued everyone who was there. Everyone had something positive to say about Kenshin's wife. Tears fell one after another as they said their final farewells to a very dear woman. Kenshin stood among them. Misao could see his now golden eyes which were once upon a time an innocent swirl of purple looked at the coffin of his dead wife. He was now a widower, a man who made no promises to cherish life any longer, but just to live it for the sake of his daughter. They held no laughter, no grief, just nothing but a blank expression. However Misao knew deep down inside his soul, he had done his great deal of shedding his tears, of living through his tormented pain. The only precious gift he had left of his precious wife was his daughter, who looked so much like her. And as the evening passed on, it turned to night. Everyone left but him and her. She watched Kenshin stared at his wife's grave. The remaining two never said a word to each other. Silently and carefully, Misao made her way to the grave of her very dear friend, bent down, and gently laid a fresh rose on the tombstone. From this moment a new life has begun. From this moment a special person had became a memory. From this moment everything's changed, for life has continued on without a young woman who was once called Tomoe Himura.