FINAL CHAPTER! WOOOOOOOOOT! Sorry, he he, got a little excited. This is a long one, hopefully, and it should have a little romance.

It was about one o' clock in the morning and Kenshin was sleeping quietly in his own room. Megumi knew that Kenshin would be very concerned for Kaoru so she slipped some sleeping powder in his tea to help him get a good night's rest. Now, he lay on his futon sound asleep in his room. He awoke suddenly to a soft thud and opened his great violet eyes to see a distressed Kaoru kneeling on the floor before him. Kenshin quickly sat up and the coldness of the night air seized his flesh, but his mind quickly overcame it.

Kaoru was sitting on her knees in front of him with her head bowed and her hair spread over her back and shoulders. She shook with every breath and it seemed a labor to breathe, non the less stand. She was grasping her arms and looked as if she was in a lot of pain.

"Ken...Kenshin...K..." she breathed his name over and over again.

"Miss Kaoru! Miss Kaoru are you alright? What's wrong?" Kenshin hurriedly kneeled beside her and gently grabbed her shoulders. She placed her hangs on the floor to help support her body weight. She was breathing heavier and deeper, along with small whines.

"Miss Kaoru what's wrong! Please tell me! What is it?" Kenshin pleaded desperately.

"Ken...Kenshin...I can't...I can't keep d-doing this..." she finally whispered.

"What?" Kenshin noticed a small speck of red in the corner of his eye and looked down to see blood on Kaoru's hand, trailing from her sleeve.

Kaoru looked up to see Kenshin looking down at her hand. "I can't keep...doing this..."

Kaoru rolled up her sleeves to reveal blood trailing down her red arms. She had cut herself mercilessly, countless scars had plagued her arms by her own fragile hands. Old scars, bleeding wounds, deep wounds, light wounds, long wounds, short wounds...all made by her own hands. Kenshin stared in shock at all of the blood trailing slowly down her pale arms, making thin lines of crimson regret and cursed fate.

"I...I need you...Kenshin...I need you to s...save me..." Kaoru finally allowed herself to collapse onto the floor. Kenshin caught her, barely, and held her as close as he could to him without injuring her. The intense heat of his warm body and hot skin pressed firmly against her body, she wanted to stay in his warmth forever.

"Kenshin...I want to stay here in your arms...I don't want to die like this...you have to save me from what I've become...save me before it's too late..."

Tears...

"Kaoru, why are you doing this? You have to stop. You know it's wrong an-

Kaoru breathed in as if she were about to speak. "I...I can't stop the memories...I can't stop the pain...I've kept it in for over 10 years and it's finally caught up and it's tearing me apart. Every time I close my eyes I remember waking up when I was 5 to my grandfather crying and walking into my room...and seeing my mother with her head bowed and her arms outstretched, her hair covered her back and shoulders and she was kneeling close to the floor...she was dead...and I don't even know why...

"But before that...daddy...daddy would say that he was going to take me somewhere and never showed up...he stole for money one day and went to jail and eventually got out...after that he just left...he left me and mommy to fend for ourselves...they never even got married...

"Even before all of that...my brother...my brother died shortly after he was born, he only lived for a few minutes...Karatsu."

Kaoru leaned her head back against Kenshin's shoulder and felt him press his chest against her back and rest his chin on her collar bone and his cheek against her neck. He's so warm...

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her even closer to him. He felt the blood of her arm on his and slowly stood up. He placed a finger on her lips and tread silently through the darkened hallway and to the kitchen. He soundlessly gathered some bandages and hastened back to his room. He sat down and carefully wrapped up her arms and stared at her face until their eyes met and held each other.

"Kenshin...I feel like I'm dying..."

"What can I do to make you stop this, Kaoru? You know that this is wrong, but you see it as the only way to let your pain out, but it only causes more, and you know this." Kenshin placed his hand on her cool face and softly stroked her cheek. Kaoru started to cry again and placed her hand over his.

"Kenshin...you're so warm..." she leaned forward and rested her head on Kenshin's chest. She took his hand and held it in hers, then placed it softly over her heart.

"Heal it..."

Kenshin pulled her into a tight hug and ran his fingers through her black silky hair. "Kaoru."

She was startled at the soft whisper of his voice and sat up to look at his face and into his soft eyes.

"I'm not trying to break your heart, that I am not. I play no games, Miss Kaoru. I love you."

Her breath stopped and her eyes enlarged. "Ke...Ken...Ke..."

"I love you, Kaoru." he placed his finger under her chin and led her into a kiss.

((can't provide any detail there, don't have any experience with kissing, so I can't say))

Kaoru leaned back and her eyes filled once again with tears... "I love you, too..."

Kenshin reached out his arms and once again pulled her into his arms and held her tight against him. She was filled with the warmth of his body and pressed as close to him as she could. Her back was to his chest and Kaoru turned her head to kiss Kenshin again. He kissed her lips and ran his own lips down her neck and onto her collar bone.

"Kenshin..." she breathed, scarcely audible.

"Yes, my love?"

She placed his hand above her heart. "I think my heart is finally healing."