When Karou awoke, she found herself in an interesting situation - Kenshin was above her - KISSING HER? Karou closed her eyes and softly murmured questioningly, "Kenshin….?" and full heartedly kissed back. But hearing the sound of her voice made him stop suddenly. Kenshin. Did she really love that tenderhearted fool? With a snort of disgust he pulled away and sat up, straightening his clothesat the same time. Silently he pushed her off his lap and walked out the door, never looking back. Tears pooled in Karou's eyes and slowly fell one by one onto the earthen floor of the hut. She struggled to get up at first, but finally managed to pull herself to her feet. When she stumbled out of the hut, anxiously glancing to and fro. At first he was nowhere to be found. She hoped that he would've have gone far, but then she spotted him sitting near the sakura tree, his eyes closed. She fixed her kimono, and then silently padded over to him, trying to not make a sound.
When she got there she carefully lowered herself to the ground just a few feet away from him and hugged her knees to her chest, staring into the water. Kenshin had noticed her presence, but didn't say a word, trying to pretend like nothing was happening. Karou spoke quietly in a pained whisper, as if she was merely talking to herself.
"You don't really know who I am, do you?"
Kenshin lazily opened his eyes and joined her in staring at the pond. Just as quietly he said "No I don't; tell me, did we have something going on before this?" Plip. Plop. Plip. Plop. Cherry blossoms fell into the water, mingling with the tears that fell from Karou's stormy eyes. She managed to nod briefly, then took a huge breath and began to talk. She told him everything she knew and could remember, right from the time she had first met him and until where they were now.
He sat silently through it, never shifting his glance from the crystal pond that lay before them. Once she had finished though, his hand darted out and snagged a cherry blossom mid-air that had been floating gently towards the pond. Using his speed, he had succeeded in placing the delicate bloom into Karou's ebony hair before she had noticed what was going on and could react. Karou stifled a gasp, then tentatively reached up and touched the flower that had been placed there. She cast a swift glance at Kenshin, who was staring at her and in a puzzled voice asked, "Did you…?" and let the question die off. Without saying a word, he grabbed her hand that had been resting on the shore and said "Many, many strange things have happened to me since I left. I've seen and gone things that I'll never forget, but it seems that you were not among those memories."
A fresh batch of tears came to Karou's eyes and she angrily wiped them away.
"Fine! Just leave then! I've waited for all these years, hoping that you would come and then one day you just show up out of the blue a-"
Maneuvering with his arms he leaned over to her and in the middle of her tirade planted a firm kiss on her lips. When he finally pulled back he stared deeply into her hurt and saddened eyes and whispered the only words he knew to make it right.
"I love you."