This chapter will be very short, I'm so sorry…I don't think there will be very many more chapters to this. For some reason, I think I lost the little magic it held when I first wanted to start this project. Maybe I can gain some focus in this chapter. And yes, it may be a bit OOC. Sorry.

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"Please know, I'm only trying to aide you." The girl, who's life had been cut tragically short in the winter's snow so many years ago stared up at the other, newly found woman who was appearing to have an extremely short patience.

"Just let me go back, please," Kaoru repeated, her heart already aching. At this rate, she felt she'd never get to return back to Kenshin and the others, the brother she never had, Sanosuke. Yahiko, the student who tried her so many times…but was a lovely student in the end, deep down. Even Megumi, the kitsune woman, was missed by the supposed 'tanuki'.

"But..this is to show you something. To teach you a lesson," Tomoe supplied.

"I…I don't get it. Just that I know I need him more than ever now." She was softspoken, now, tears falling slowly, as if in a pattern.

"Good. Then you're slowly getting to it." Tomoe's smile was small, and it made her motives seem all the more mysterious.

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"How the hell did she die?!" Sanosuke was now livid, not…accusing Kenshin, per say. He knew that Kenshin, even when angered, could never harm a hair on his precious Kaoru's head.

"Someone killed her…while I was gone, it had to be it. I sensed someone ominous…I knew it, I knew this would happen." He seemed to be in his own little world, spacing out and hating himself for what happened to her, though it wasn't really his fault.

"Kenshin, just calm down. It's not your fault…this just happened, and I'm sure…I'm sure Kaoru wouldn't hate you, either."

"I may as well have killed her! She died by the hands of a stranger….Who knows what they would have done t her? They could have tortured her…At least, if I knew….."

"She's not maimed, Kenshin. I think she died peacefully…" He didn't want to think about, the rooster headed, ex fight merchant. But at least there was something to be said for the fact that she wasn't cut up and murdered.

"But…..Sano, I'll be right back…." He slowly stood up, still with Kaoru in his arms, her hair falling like a sheet over his arm, which was cradling her head, like a baby.

"Where are you going?" Sano asked, gently.

"Nowhere." He said gruffly, then headed to the kitchen to look for something….

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"What's happening to Kenshin?" Kaoru asked, ignoring Tomoe completely for the moment.

"He's pining over you."

"What?" Kaoru was lost, wondering what she meant by that.

"He misses you, that's all. You mean a lot to him."

"I-I'd like to think so," Was all she said.

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He grabbed the tool he needed, then walked out of the room, his light footsteps not made much heavier, even with the added weight in his arms.

"Kaoru, this is all for you…" He said, carrying her to the small pond in the back of the yard, where he wouldn't be seen or heard by anyone.

He held the knife above his wrist, slowly breathing, taking into consideration all that was about to happen. All that was about to end.

But he knew it was worth it. Kaoru was dead, and he would join his princess in death…hopefully.

He could have used the sakabatou, but it seemed wrong to him. The sword was to protect, and so it would remain that way, at least through his lifetime.

Which was about to be cut very short.

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Please read and review. And to add the disclaimer, none of the characters belong to me. So there.