Chapter 2

Kenshin was already at the dock waiting for the passengers to unload from the ship that carried them to Europe. He is staying near the end of the long line of people waiting for their loved ones to embark off the ship. "Damn it, Seta should be the one here waiting for his fiancée instead of me! I am to be blamed for ending the future of two people…" Kenshin thought.

"What is taking her so long? She should have been here by now?" Kenshin asked as an hour already passed and he didn't see a female passenger with a companion get off the ship looking for her fiancée. "Maybe she decided not to go after all…" he thought. In his impatience, he started tapping his gloves on his thighs.

Meanwhile

"Oh god, there he is… " Kaoru said with a tremor in her voice. She dreaded going down the ship so she waited until all of the passengers are already down on the dock before she went down the plank that will carry her toward Tomoe's fiancée. She saw a man with his back turned from her tapping his gloves on his thighs as a sign of impatience.

"Well, here it goes.. there is no use in delaying the news much longer." Kaoru started walking down the plank when suddenly the nobleman waiting for his fiancée turned around. She wasn't able to see his face clearly. All she could determine was that he had long, red hair tied low on his head. And a pair of violet…no, amber eyes…

As Kaoru drew nearer to the person she thought was Tomoe's fiancée, Soujirou Seta, Kaoru saw his eyes widen and his eyebrows draw together.. "He knows… he is wondering why his fiancée is not on the boat!"

The reason why Kenshin's eyebrows drew together was that he was not expecting this somber girl with sapphire eyes as the fiancée of the man he killed. He expected someone older and more elegant than she is. This Tomoe is wearing a somber blue gown that is almost spinsterish and her hair is tied up in a bun… hardly the outfit a woman meeting her fiancée would wear…

Kenshin started walking to meet her halfway when suddenly a shout came from one of the men working the crane… "LOOK OUT LADY!"

"Huh?" Kaoru looked around with confusion and suddenly the crane carrying crates from the ship hit her in the head and she flew on the side of the dock. "NO!" Kenshin shouted and tried to run as fast as he can over to Kaoru. But he was too late. She was already lying on the ground with a big gash on her head and blood running from her head down on the side of her face.

"No, not again… (not this time) I'm not going to lose another life.. I wouldn't allow you to die." Kenshin whispered. "I'll take care of you. I'll make sure that you wake up and that you won't have to suffer because of me." He picked her up and ran toward his carriage to bring her to his townhouse in London. "Tsunan, let's pick up Dr. Gensai while on the way home so that he can look over Tomoe. And hurry!" Kenshin climbed in the carriage and it sped off toward London in a breakneck pace.

A/N: As this is fiction, Kenshin is not the Battousai here. He's a nobleman… an earl to be precise… but that part will come later…

Reviews please! Thanks!