Kaoru saw Kenshin's face take on a concerned and displeased look a look she hadn't seen before. He crumpled up the paper in his hand and shoved it in his pocket and hastily slurped up his soup too. He and Sano then got to their feet.
"Miss Kaoru, Miss Tokie I thank you very much for your excellent hospitality but I'm afraid we have to be going now, a urgent situation requires our attention," said Kenshin. He lifted Tokie's hand and kissed it lightly and lifted Kaoru's hand too, which surprised her, and kissed it too but looking into her eyes with fondness. Sano simply nodded his head to the both of them and followed Kenshin up to their room to get dressed.
Kaoru and Tokie sat quietly until they finished their soup. Tokie looked up first, "What do you think that letter said?"
Kaoru looked back to the window of their room, "I don't know but it seemed to make them displeased."
Tokie then got up and gathered the bowls and gave Kaoru to spoons and led them to the kitchen.
They went and waited at the front doors waiting to say goodbye to their guests. Kaoru got that same funny feeling inside her again. She didn't want to say goodbye to Kenshin just yet. She wanted to get to know him and if she wasn't mistaken she was sure Tokie was interested in Sano since she saw her catch a glance at his backside when he was turned.
Kaoru closed her eyes and raced up to her room and yelled back to Tokie, "I'll be right back."
She opened a few of her draws looking for something. Scattering the contents of one on top of her table and she grabbed something quickly and ran down to Kenshin's room. Just as she was going to knock on his door it slid open and there he was right in front of her surprised.
"Uh, Kenshin do you have a minute?" she asked starting to blush.
"Sure Miss Kaoru what is it?" he asked as he closed the door behind him and walked to the stairs.
"Kenshin I want you to have this. This is the same hairpin I wore last night and I want you to have it," she said looking down to the ground as she stretched out her open hand to him.
Kenshin picked it up and saw it was the same golden butterfly pin. "Miss Kaoru, no I couldn't. Such a wonderful item is worth much and-"
Kaoru's checks started to feel hot with embarrassment. "Please, there's no need to call me 'miss'. I just… I just didn't want you to forget to come back sometime."
Kenshin wasn't sure what to say and looked at Kaoru with tenderness and kissed her on the cheek and walked down to the front door where he said goodbye to Tokie and walked out the door.
Sano was just got out of his room and walked past Kaoru, "See ya around missy," he said and nodded to Tokie and followed Kenshin out onto the street.
Kaoru started to whimper a little and trudged to her room and started crying in the corner. She could hear Tokie start washing the dishes and the noise from the streets as the stores opened. She cried, she felt like something very dear to her was taken away, never to be seen again. One part of her asked why she was crying. This was the part of the job that relations didn't fit into, they never stick around and even if you wanted them to a geisha isn't allowed to have personal male relations. A geisha's life is a open book, her life and reputation was always in the public eye. She didn't know him, and felt weak and vulnerable inside. But another part of her wanted her to go run out and find Kenshin and bring him back to her. A part of herself left when he walked out that door. She wanted to hear his voice, stroke his face, and laugh with him. She cried for a long while until she cried herself dry and walked down to the kitchen and reminded Tokie it was her day off and she was going into town and walked out with a basket in her hand heading for the market feeling lonely. Her appearance left her unrecognizable as a geisha; her plain hair and nearly makeup-less face, simple kimono and the expression on her face that betrayed her true feelings.
As she passed various people in the street her hair blew in the wind and whipped around her face she whispered, "Oh God I wish something exciting would happen in my life."