Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin does not belong to me. Only the characters – I mean, the plot. Heheh –sweat drop- woops…

A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed the last chappie! Here are my responses:

StormHornet – Your review made me choke on my food. The whole 'hahaha' thing… I dunno… but yeah, I always liked the Chizuru thing.

Reignashii – Aw is right!

Julieta101 – Thank you! I'm glad you like it!

battosaichick – Indeed, a sad day. I will update soon!

Recap –

"On the way to Shiro the carriage that she and her family was in was ambushed by bandits. There were no survivors."

Before The Dawn – Chapter 4

"Nani?" I couldn't take it in. Little Sakura, dead? It couldn't be! "You are lying!" I yelled at him. "Tell me you are lying."

"I am not lying, child. Now go off." He saw how anguished I was and sighed. "I am canceling all your classes for the afternoon. You may go out. I'm sorry, Kaoru."

That was the first time he had called me Kaoru in a year. Usually he just called me girl or child. "Yes. Arigato." I said. I did not know what I was saying or doing. "Teleport," I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

I landed back in my room, unbelieving that one so young had her life taken away from her. "It's my fault," I said aloud. And it was true. Had I not urged her to listen to me, she would not have 'spoken out of line', and she would not have gone in a carriage to Shiro. Gone to be ambushed by bandits and killed. I began to weep.

"Kaoru, girl!" Drako barged in. "I have been searching the house for y-" He stopped when he saw my tears. "Why are you crying?" he asked, his voice still gruff and mean. He stepped forward, tripped over Mina and nearly fell on top of her. His expression was very odd when he saw her sleeping upon my floor.

"Father has c-canceled all my classes today," I said quietly, through my weeping.

"Has he now?" Drako snarled. "Because you are all 'broken up', ne?" he asked unkindly.

"Just go away! Leave me in peace! Leave!" I began shouting. He did not move. "Just leave! Leave, damn you! Leave!"

He seemed surprised, and backed out of the room.

I wept, curling upon the floor in my sorrow.


"Kaoru!" I heard faintly. Then again, "Kaoru!"

I opened my eyes. It seemed I had fallen asleep on the ground. I had cried myself to sleep. I looked up into the eyes of Sanosuke. Tomoe stood behind him.

"Kaoru!" Sanosuke looked into my eyes. I was in his arms. "Daijoubu ka?" Sanosuke said caringly.

"Oh, Oniichan!" I sobbed. I wrapped my arms around his neck and cried. "Sakura is dead!"

"We know. Father told us," Tomoe said. "I'm sorry Kaoru-chan." She helped me down from Sanosuke's arms. "But you really need to go out. Enjoy yourself. You have been sitting in this house for days now."

"How am I supposed to enjoy myself if a life is taken from one so young? And if her life is taken because of me?" I asked, remnants of my tears streaking my face.

"Kaoru-chan." Tomoe shook her head. "We will leave you now, but if you blame yourself then you are being stupid. It was no one's fault but the bandits that they came and killed her and her family. It was the bandits fault alone, do you hear me?" She then half-smiled, and pushed Sanosuke out the door. With one last look back, she left too.

"Tomoe is right." I tried to convince myself. But then a picture of Sakura came into my mind and I nearly broke down. "Oh, Sakura. I miss you." I slipped into a yellow dress and went outside.

I went to the town square. I was passing a bush when someone jumped out at me. Normally, that would have scared me half to death, but today I just walked on.

"Kaoru! What is wrong?" Ah, so it was Misao.

"Sakura is dead."

Misao put her hands to her mouth. "Oh, no! That's terrible!" Misao led me to a bench and sat on it, beckoning for me to sit too. "I'm sorry, Kaoru."

I nodded and started to speak, when someone in the bush pushed me off the bench! "Ittai!" I said, as I had landed on my knees.

"Kaoru are you alright?" Misao leaped forward and took out her kunai. She whirled round and cried, "A-ha!" and threw her kunai into the bushes. There was no cry of pain, and no person spilling out of the trees clutching their arm. Misao went to retrieve her kunai. "There is no one here," she called back. "Its very odd."

I looked around furtively but no one was to be found. "Odd, yes," I murmured. "Who is there?" I called out to the empty square.

As I suspected, no one answered. "Misao… I'm off now. I'll see you another time." I called as I walked away, trying to keep my mind off of a certain little girl. But as I walked I pictured her lying upon the ground – would she be pleading for them to spare her life or would she face her death in silence? Then the unmerciful bandits wound stand over her and laugh as they plunged their sword into the heart of the young girl, how she would look with sad eyes elsewhere as everything faded away.

I buried my head in my hands and broke into a run. "Oh, Sakura-chan!" I cried, not sure of where I was heading until I bumped into someone. My head shot up in surprise to find kind amber eyes looking into my own. "Oh… gomen nasai!" I flushed, as Kenshin's eyes did not break their stare.

"Konnichiwa, Kaoru-san," he said easily. "Daijoubu, de gozaru ka?"

"Hai… daijoubu desu, Kenshin-san." I averted my eyes to the ground. I was just about to step away when Kenshin's hand lifted up my chin so that I was staring into his face. "I said, daijoubu ka?"

"F-fine," I exclaimed, offering a fake smile.

"If you are fine, then why do tears fall down your face?" Kenshin wiped them away with his thumb. "Tell me what is wrong, Kaoru."

"Everything, if you must know," I confessed, "Let go of me."

Kenshin immediately complied, and backed away. "Gomen nasai, I was worried about you." this time, it was he who offered the fake smile. It was his Rurouni smile. Not many people knew of Kenshin's past, but he had been a Rurouni for about seven years before he arrived in Serras. His Rurouni smile said everything was okay, but how fake those smiles were!

"Kenshin I-I'm sorry… I just –"

"It's fine, Kaoru-san," Kenshin said.

I could tell his feelings were hurt. "Gomen, Kenshin. To make it up to you, would you like to come along with Misao, Aoshi and me when we go along to the Temple of Kurai tonight?"

"Hai, de gozaru yo." Kenshin smiled, and it reached his eyes this time.

"Great. We meet at my house at seven tonight." I walked away with a smile on my face. "Good things are happening." I whispered to the sky. "I think you are watching over me, Sakura-chan."


Kenshin met up with his friends outside his house just before he went to

meet Kaoru. He grinned slyly, and his friends snickered and gave him a high five.

TBC…

A/N: Ooh, trouble! LOL. Review, please! I love hearing comments from you all!