Hey here's the next chapter for you. I finally got a chance to work on this because I have some extra time in my English class. Due to certain events...like the damn stupid camera we were using to film our project NOT working!!....I had some chance to fool around and do stuff!!!

Chapter Three: Evening Thoughts

Kenshin and Kaoru changed quickly. Kaoru was still not used to changing in the same room as him, but she didn't mind. In fact she liked it when she glanced over and saw his bare muscular chest before he clipped on a fresh gi.

"Did you get the letter?" Kaoru asked once she had pulled on a kimono.

Kenshin paused for a moment in thought. "Well...there might have been something a long time ago..."he said thoughtfully as he began to search through his things. He pulled out and envelope and opened it. "Here it is!" he exclaimed only to be hit on the head by Kaoru.

"Why didn't you show it to me before, baka!" she exclaimed, ripping it out of his hands. It was dated before their wedding:

Dear Ken-san and Kaoru,

Aoshi-sama and I can't come to your wedding. There's some things that we need to straighten out here, but I'm so excited that Kenshin finally got the guts to pop the question. I heard about the incident with a fire at the dojo and I hope no one was hurt. Anyway, Aoshi and I are both happy for you (though Aoshi-sama merely blinked when i told him..haha). I hope you don't mind, but we've made plans to come visit in two weeks. I hope everything goes well.

Yours Sincerely,

Misao

Kaoru sighed and dropped the letter back onto their desk. "C'mon. Let's go back to the others."

Meiko sat in her small house, fingering the piece of paper in her hands. This house wasn't actually her's, it had been Yukimura's, but she had claimed it after his death, since she was, after all, his sister.

"Well we can't kill him, I know that. Countless people have tried before and it failed." Meiko said absentmindedly to Jiro.

Jiro's eyes widened. "You weren't actually thinking of killing that man, are you?" he exclaimed.

Meiko shook her head in annoyance. "Didn't you hear what I said before?! We can't kill him, it isn't possible!"

"Doesn't mean that you didn't think about it..." Jiro muttered under his breath.

"This doesn't help me at all!" Meiko shouted and threw the piece of paper down on the floor. "I'm going out." she muttered as she stomped from the room.

Jiro stared after her for a second before he went down and picked up the paper.

Hanijimi,

I cannot comply with your request. To attempt assasination on this man would be pure lunacy. Countless otheres who were known for their strength and quick wits have fallen to the Battousai. I am still willing to reason with you and come to some other agreement once you have decided on a reasonable course of action.

They were all seated outside on the porch, Kenshin with his arm around Karou's waist, Yahiko dangling his feet in the dust and Misao steadily scooting closer to a very silent Aoshi. Sano had run off somewhere saying that he had some sort of business to take care off. They all knew that he was just off with his friends rolling dice and getting drunk.

The sky was growing darker, the light blue shades morphing into indigo as the cicadas called softly from the trees. There was a silent peace that seemed to settle over their wearied shoulders. Kenshin's mind was wandering, back to those days when he had never held a sword or brought it up to kill. The memories of his parents were so dim and faded and it pained him to think that he could no longer remember their faces. In fact he could not remember much of anything about them.

Would his past always haunt him like this? Would he always be reminded, every day of all the horrible things that he had done? When would he be able to find peace? He was married to Kaoru and that in itself brought him so much joy, but hiding behind that joy was an underlying echo of pain and regret that would never go away. Kenshin wasn't sure if he could live like that...or if it would be fair for Kaoru to have to live with that. He sighed deeply deciding that he shouldn't worry about that now. His arm around Kaoru tightned and he buried his face into her hair. As long as he had her, he knew that somehow he would get through it.