Hey minna! Honestly, I hadn't forgotten about this story, really. I just got caught up and time flew by!
BTW: If you wanna see my INUYASHA FANART, hop on over to DeviantArt and check it out! )
Now, onto my reviewers who ROCK MY BEiNG:
MZ. AMbER EYES : hehe, I thought the same thing! Maybe Kenshin'll get his act together, eventually…
JDFielding : Thanks for such a nice, long review! And I SWEAR on this stack of Kenshin mangas that I am going to go review your story ASAP. I've been out of town and away from the computer so I really didn't receive a chapter alert until just a few hours ago. ::sad face:: forgive me??
Quist: Quisty, you rock! I could NOT for the life of me remember what the heck Kaoru and Megumi called each other, I didn't like how I phrased it earlier either. But don't worry, I finally got my Kenshin DVD's back and this next chapter all is better with the suffixes (see Misao below)
cyberdemon : gawsh, I HOPE the rat's days are numbered….. heaven knows I'm as sick of him as you are! Hehe, thanks for the review!
PrincessofWildfire: Indeed, YAY SANO! Yesh, I agree with Battousai also, my friend. Hehe, thanks for the various sugary treats and here's another update!
Animegurl444: Haha, I wish I could get the chapters out quicker too…. But, life often gets in the way… ah well, here's an update, late though it is
cincygurl22 : oops, sorry about the late update time. Btw, cincy as in Cincinatti? I live in Lexington, so we're pretty near each other!
bscl43: I'm glad you didn't think I went on forever! I'm never quite sure….. haha, here's your update and thanks for the review!
Alea Seikou: ::Alea Seikou rules my world:: thankies for the long review, buddy! Yesh, it seems that Rurouni might just have to kick his butt in gear, hopefully. Otherwise, buh-bye dojo! Well, here's your update and thanks again!
Art3m1s: OMG they killed Kazuo! Haha, now I can't watch Southpark without thinking about that. Heh, read on to find out how Kenshin deals with the rat ;)
Crystal Renee : I LERVE you! You know that? ::glomps you:: hehe, thanks for the review, and I hope things are going O.K.-ish. You rock my world, Princess Himura, remember that!
Monkeystarz: Hehe I am a bit evil with the cliffie! Thanks for the review and I hope you like the update!
Mia, Princess of Eternity : BWAHAHAH! ::laughs again and again at Drunk Mia's review:: hope the sake was good! Haha, glad you liked the Megumi scene, thanks for the review!
Neko-Kyolover: hehe, your wish is my command
The nadja: Glad you liked the divorce part. Oh, and good question about the split personality thing…. Heh, that would SUCK to deal with both of them day in and day out, poor Kaoru!
Ethereal Waves : HAHAH! Now I can't look at my LOtR poster without little voices popping into my head of Battousai as Gollum! Heh, thanks for the review, friend
WolfCreek : On your arm with a pen? Heh, well that's one way to remember things… of course, then people start reading your body on the subway, and that's just frightening. Thanks for the review!
Zxully anti-nostalgic : Thankies for such a long review! Hehe, I'm glad you like my story so much! ::huggles you for your nice, supportive comments, especially the Megumi one because Larachan thinks she's horrible at writing Megumi…:: Hope you like this next chapter!
El Capitanu : well, thank you! Glad you liked it! Cool username, btw.
An Avid Reader: And I'm a lazy bum… but here it is, I get them out eventually…
Asilin Kheldarson: Haha, please, by all means, I don't mind a bit if you want to impale him. Scout camp? Cool! My best friend's an Eagle Scout!
TenkunoMeiouu: Haha, sure thing buddy, here ya go!
aphrodite24goddess : hehe, thanks for the bit about chapter 6, glad you liked it!
Now, ON WITH THE STORY!
"Can we leave now, Aoshi-sama? Pleeeease?" If Shinomori had been in the habit of smiling, he would have. As it was, he merely raised his upper lip, which made him look more mad than amused.
She was busy with her back turned towards him, trying to shove half her life into a full suitcase. "I mean, we only have one day now….The wedding's tomorrow…and if we're late…" Misao brushed a hair back from her face and straightened her new yellow kimono that Okina had bought her for her birthday. "If we're late…I'll… I'll never forgive you!"
Strong words coming from the Itachi Musume…
Aoshi opened up one eye and continued sipping his green tea. She was so… Annoying. In a rather endearing way.
"Look, Aoshi-sama, I know you don't wanna go to this-"
Damn right. Weddings had a way of making his skin crawl… What with all the emotions and such… He just hoped to Kami that everyone in the audience could please refrain from crying when he was around.
"And, to tell you the truth, I don't really wanna go to this either…" Misao wrung her hands. "I mean, didn't you always think that Kaoru-chan would end up marrying Kenshin?"
Ah, and that was the other concern. What had rotted inside that little tanuki's brain to make her choose someone else over Himura? Granted, he wasn't extremely fond of Himura, or love for that matter, but some things are just right and some are just wrong.
"But regardless, we are Kaoru-chan's family. So… Are you coming? Or am I going alo-whoooa!" She tried to pick up her seventy pound suitcase in defiance and almost toppled over.
Aoshi sighed. Sat his teacup down. Reached out his hand, caught her and the suitcase and righted them with dizzying speed. She gave an involuntary smile.
"C'mon." He took deliberate, slow steps to the carriage out front, carrying the suitcase on his shoulder like it was filled with pillowcases. Misao trotted behind him, giggling every few steps. Rather sickening, he thought. And rather…cute…
Rurouni was going to die.
He leaned against the wall of the dojo and tried to avoid the beams of the rising sun. Just behind this thin shoji was the love of his life, peacefully sleeping, unaware of the letter-bomb lurking directly outside her door.
And now, Rurouni was going to go inside and destroy all her happiness. It was enough to make him keck.
"Gimmie. I'll do it." Battousai snapped his fingers at the letter.
"Er…Sessha thinks this is best done with someone more…sensitive, de gozaru yo…"
"What? I'm not sensitive now?"
"Well…….no…no, you're not."
Battousai snorted in reply. "At least my way we would have already done it by now and she'd be crying in my arms… Which is a hell of a lot better than being falsely happy in his arms. Just do it, Rurouni."
Rurouni sighed and leaned towards the shoji…
Placed his hand on the handle…
Slid the door back, and-
"Having delightful conversations with yourself again, Himura?"
Battousai wheeled around and was confronted with a cigarette. How did this man always manage to sneak up on him? "Kazuo," he growled, his eyes flashing amber.
"'S a little early in the morning to be stalking my fiancé, don't you think?"
"It's a little early to be wandering around Kaoru-dono's dojo unannounced, wouldn't you agree, de gozaru yo?"
Kazuo took another draw on his cigarette and rolled his eyes. "Don't get cute with me, you. We both know what you're here for." At this, Kenshin hurriedly stuffed the letter back in his gi. "Come, come now. I know you have something that belongs to me."
Kenshin raised his eyebrows. "Nani?"
"What? You don't think you're the only one with scum-of-the-earth friends digging around in the trash for you, do you? Tip. Next time the street riffraff tries to trail me, tell him to make sure no one's trailing him first." Kazuo let out a sickening chuckle and blew tobacco smoke right into Kenshin's face.
Kenshin tried to make his nose stop twitching. "So you admit what you're going to do to this place after Kaoru-dono marries you?"
"Of course, my righteous fool. Do you think I got to the top of the company food chain by being honest?"
"And you think Kaoru-dono will still marry a snake like you once Sessha tells her what you're planning?"
Kazuo smiled revealing pointed, glaring teeth. "You're not gonna tell her."
"Watch me!" Kenshin reached for his sword.
"No, you watch this…" Kazuo raised a hand and pushed Kenshin to the side while simultaneously opening the shoji to Kaoru's room just a crack. "Because, you see, baka, I have the one thing that overpowers love… the one thing that can make her happy forever… and I've got plenty of it. Go ahead, peek inside."
Kenshin stole a glance at the room. It was…totally changed. Against the east wall a new cloisonné mirror stood and caught the morning sun. Various jade hair pieces were splayed out on a new mahogany vanity. The double door to the armoire in the corner were opened just enough to see many, many various stitched brocade kimonos. And there, in the center of the room, was the beauty.
She was just rising. She opened both eyes and propped herself up with one arm. Then, Kaoru took her hand and held it out in front of her, letting the light catch the glittering ring on her hand. She giggled, then stood up and began her morning routine. Kazuo snapped the shoji shut.
"So, tell me Himura, when you marry Kaoru for love, how are you going to provide for her? How are you going to make sure she has enough food for dinner everyday? Are you going to be able to buy her expensive presents and treat her like she's meant to be treated?"
Kenshin's heart sunk. "B-but the dojo…"
"She'll get over it, once she sees my mansion in Hokkaido. I'm not gonna hurt her, Himura. I'm going to give her everything she wants, everything that money can buy. All she has to give me is the legal right to this place. Now, don't you want her to be provided for? Or are you selfish enough that you'd put your own desire for her first?"
Kenshin spun around with his back to the shoji. His amber eyes met Kazuo's cold, calculating ones.
He wanted her to be happy.
And to be cared for.
Isn't that what he had always said?
Was he going to let his own selfish desires get in the way of her destiny? What could he give her that this man couldn't?
Suddenly, his hand found its way to his sword, which found its way to Kazuo's face. With one fell swoop, Kenshin cut the cigarette dangling from his mouth straight down the middle. It fell to the ground in two identical halves. Kazuo jumped and his eyes were wide, but he was backed up against a post on the porch. "H-himura!" He stuttered. "What're you doing?!"
"Swear to me!" Kenshin roared, his sword coming closer and closer to Kazuo's neck. "Swear to me that you will never hurt her."
"I-I won't!" Kazuo held out his hands in front of him.
Kenshin's voice became rough and low, almost a growl. "Then hear this. If you do, I will know. Every shadow, every rustle, every movement of the wind will be me coming for you." Kenshin dropped his sword to his side again and pulled the letter out of his gi. He pressed it against Kazuo's blazer.
Kazuo snorted and pulled a match out of his back pocket, striking it on his pants. "Smart move, Himura." The letter burst into flames and became ashes on the ground. "But tell me, what will you do once Kaoru and I are married?"
For once, both of Kenshin's minds were of one purpose.
"Sessha… Sessha will become a Rurouni once again."
CRRRASH!
Kenshin reeled around to see a plate fall to the porch floor and shatter. Kaoru had just emerged from her room, a pink kimono, now covered with the food that had been on the plate, wrapped around her. Her eyes were wide. "K-Kenshin! How could you!" She buried her face in her hands and ran back into the dojo, her tears flying behind her.
"Kaoru-dono!" Kenshin called after her as he began to charge towards her. A hand grabbed at his shoulder.
"Don't touch her!" Kazuo yelled in his ear as he darted past Kenshin and closed the shoji in his face while giving Kenshin one last angry glare for good measure.
There was only one thing left to do.
Kenshin sat down on the porch steps…
Cupped his hands in his face…
And… Was that… a tear?
O.K. She could get through this. She had gotten through worse stuff before. It was just…
Oh, Kami! The pain! It was like a great, gaping void right in the middle of her left ventricle. Kenshin? Leaving? How could he do this to her!
She had locked herself in her room all day, even refusing entry to Kazuo. She was hoping that by the time the moon rose, things would be hurting a little bit less. No such luck. The moon had been up for two hours and she still felt like she was suffocating.
Then, someone knocked at the door. Her heart leapt. "W-who is it?" Kaoru sniffled.
Nothing. And then, in a small, choked voice, "Yahiko."
Her heart sunk again. But, she still rose and straightened her kimono out. "Come in." The door cracked open and a frail boy snuck through. He looked…awful. His face was pale, his eyes puffy. He was wearing an angry expression and Kaoru braced herself for a tantrum since she had refused to train him today.
But then, the strangest thing happened. He crossed the room and hugged her. Hard. His head just reached above her waist and he pulled her towards him. Kaoru's eyes widened in shock. She ruffled his hair and rubbed circles on his back with her free hand. "Yahiko, what's the matter?"
Yahiko pulled his face away from her kimono and looked up. Tears laced his eyes. "K-kaoru…" Kaoru was surprised. No Busu? What was wrong with this kid? "Kaoru, why do things have to change?"
Kaoru sighed. "Oh, Yahiko… nothing's gonna to change. Me and you'll always stick togeth-"
"NO!" Yahiko wrenched himself from Kaoru's grasp. "You're changing EVERYTHING!"
"Yahiko, I-"
"I'm going with Kenshin, Kaoru! I'm gonna be a wanderer, too!" The sound of his footsteps leaving the room struck spikes in Kaoru's poor heart. She needed to go somewhere… Somewhere where she could be completely alone on this, the night before the happiest day of her life….Somewhere she could go where no one could hear her sob.
The bathhouse was dark this time of night, but at least here Kaoru could be assured of no disturbance. She entered after stoking the fire from the outside, removed her clothes, and emerged herself in the lukewarm water.
Then, she dipped her face under and let her tears float around her. At least this way there was no way of counting how many fell from her eyes….
Little by little, she began to adjust to the darkness. She looked to the far wall and saw the barred window with the dojo in the distance. Behind her was another stack of coals. And above the bath was a shelf that held a huge copper pot.
She let her hair snake around her and form rivers of blackness. "Damn you, Kenshin!" She screamed, sure no one could hear her here. "Why d'you have to leave me?!" Kaoru gave the side of the washtub a hard side kick and placed her head in her hands again.
But wait… there was a noise…. And it sounded like a moaning…
Then, suddenly-
c-c-cRRACK!
The shelf above the tub gave way and both the long board and the big copper kettle came tumbling down into the wash basin. The board landed on Kaoru's back and pushed her to the bottom of the barrel, a couple of feet from the surface. And then, the pot fell right on top of it, pinning her. She tried to lift up, to squirm out, to do anything, but…
She was pinned! She began to panic. It was only a matter of time now before she ran out of air and suffocated to death. Oh, why oh why hadn't she told anyone where she was going! Her subconscious released a silent, panicked scream into the water around her…
I am an evil human being for stopping here…. And being evil feels SOOOO good. Haha, same rules apply, flames and reviews alike are welcome and will win you chapter nine! Thanks for reading, everybody!
tillnexttime
larachan
