Kaoru was having a hard time putting up a strong face when she was with Amakusa. She knew that even if he had done all the wrongs to her, she loved him deeply. She loved him but couldn't stand being near him. She didn't even want to face him at all. Skipping all her classes, she went to the deserted cottage that made her felt better when she's there the other time. It was then that she remembered about her dream and the conversation with Battousai.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Battousai had not seen Kaoru after his last visit. He went back another day but found out that she had discharged. He tried calling her phone but it was always in the off mode. He didn't see her around the campus at all. Taking a day off, he went to his dead brother's cottage for the second time.
Flashback:
"What are you doing?" Battousai asked his younger twin brother as he looked over to cure his curiosity. His bother had always held a medical book in his hands during his free time but this time not so. He was drawing.
"I'm designing a cottage for..." Kenshin said and stopped when he almost spilled the name of his love. Battousai looked suspiciously at him. He knew from the moment that he was hiding something.
"For....?" Battousai asked. Normally he would walk away as it was not his business but he couldn't help but getting interested when Kenshin shortened his sentence.
'A girl? His personal nurse?' He thought as he recalled a girl named Tomoe calling several times to the Himura mansion looking for Kenshin.
Born from the same mother and father, having related blood, he knew that Kenshin had high standard in his woman as he was. Many had tried their best to seduce, showering concern and love to his younger brother since young but not one attracted him. Whereas for himself, Battousai took up all those seductions and whatever those women gave since young.
To many people, he was the devil prince and Kenshin was the righteous knight. He bedded women who offer themselves to him but of course those women are of specially selected. As for Kenshin, Battousai remembered him saying about making-love to the only one woman he love. That moment which will happen only when he get married.
'Was that his proposal gift? A cottage?' Battousai thought.
"So you had decided to lose that virgin body of yours?" Battousai asked, trying to lure him to say out what he was hiding.
"Watch your mouth." Kenshin said knowing what his elder brother was trying to do.
Yes, it was abnormal for him to be drawing and not reading a medical book. But who cares about those medical books when what he was doing currently was for the love of his life. Although many girls and woman had expressed their feeling to him, none of them attracted him. Ever since young, his charming outlook and gentle character lured the other sex group to him. He never got a girlfriend until the age of nineteen and his girlfriend was only fourteen. He met her when he was on training in a hospital under a famous doctor named Megumi.
The first impression Dr. Megumi gave him was elegant posture and professional attitude. Many male doctors had an interest on her but she was already attached to a bar-tender. He was surprised too but when he met her boyfriend, he knew that they were meant to be together. He even became best friend with Sano. Soon he was transferred to another department.
It was a coincidence when he met her. That was when and how a girl name Kamiya Kaoru who was younger than him by five years stepped into his heart.
She was running along the path way. He remembered how her high pony tail swung in the air. He noticed her bright sparkling sapphire eyes. He stopped her. She faced him, looking into his violet eyes. In that second, he knew that he was in love. He felt attracted to her expressive eyes. She was looking at him defiantly. She did not melt and stick herself on him. In his mind, she was the perfect one. She was different. He was dumb-struck when she ran away noticing that he wasn't saying anything.
He looked at her back and saw her enter the door of Megumi. He started to panic. He was thinking what the girl he just met was here in the hospital for. Intending to knock onto Megumi's door, he was called for operation training. The girl was no longer there when he went over to Megumi's office. Not telling Megumi a thing, he went off.
Over the days, the girl contained his mind. It was then that he decided to ask Megumi about her. After times of pestering, Sano told him who that girl was. She was actually the cousin of Megumi. Her name was Kaoru Kamiya. It was then that he knew that those defiant yet depressed eyes were about. Her father had passed away and she had to move in with Megumi. Megumi had finally agreed to introduce him to Kaoru and brought him to the funeral.
His love for her deepened every passing day he had spent with her. She was rejecting everyone when her father died. Kenshin knew that she was trying to be strong in front of everyone without showing any signs of crying. He had accompanied her silently over the days and it was then that Kaoru spoke to him the first time. She had expressed her sadness and cried on him. Since that day, Kenshin brought her to many beautiful places to lighten her mood. Over the weeks, Kaoru had accepted her father's death.
It took much of Kenshin's courage to tell her that he love her and wished for Kaoru to be his girlfriend. Kaoru had rejected him because Megumi had told her about their age gap but he did not give up. He continued to pursue her until she was touched and agreed. That was the happiest day of his life when Kaoru told him that she had begged Megumi to agree them as a couple. Kaoru's effort touched him through his heart. Kaoru was someone he wanted all along. She doesn't care about his looks and his money. All she cared was his heart to her.
They had been together for two years since that day. Everyday was fun. Every outing they had, they would video-taped them down. He had graduated and became a doctor in the same hospital as Megumi. Their love had been strong as steel. He felt loved every moment. Kaoru had grown more beautiful each year as she started attending high school. Worried that she will be snatched away by the boys of her same age, he went to fetch her up whenever he had the time. His worried was eased when Kaoru flung herself onto him whenever he appeared at the gate of her school. Her eyes of love and smile that showed only to him.
Kaoru had been there for him through his ups and down. She believed in him. She trusted him. It was then that he decided to give her a surprise. He always knew that Kaoru had a dream house. He had been making preparations for it. He had even bought the piece of land.
"You are hiding something." Battousai said, pulling Kenshin out of his thought.
"Fine. I'll say but not now." Kenshin replied as he smiled while thinking of Kaoru. He had decided to introduce Kaoru to his family. He wanted Kaoru to be mentally prepared when she meet them. He was brought up in a different environment after all.
Kenshin told his family that he had a girlfriend and had been together for two years. Battousai was surprised. He can hardly imagine who the girl was. He saw the face of Kenshin when he talked about the girl name Kaoru. Battousai was also keen to know her too after hearing Kenshin said the moments he had with her.
Over the weeks of finishing up the design of the cottage and calling people to work for it, Kaoru met his family. His family accepted her immediately with no disapproval. Together with the rest of Kaoru's friends, they always gathered in his garden. It was then that Battousai's face was scared by Kaoru. He knew that his elder brother was falling for Kaoru and was jealous when Kaoru opted to look after Battousai until his scar was healed. Kenshin warned him about Kaoru. Before he knew, Battousai had asked for approval to study aboard. That was the last time he ever seen his elder brother.
The cottage was finally done. He had even planted Kaoru's favourite jasmine flowers on the empty grass land outside. He had decorated the interior which gave out a comfy air and placed many photo frames of them and the others around the place. He had brought Kaoru there when she had failed her exam. She immediately sprang back to her life. Looking at her, Kenshin felt blessed to have her with him. They had stayed overnight whenever Kaoru was feeling down. They spar their Kendo skills to release her stress and anger in the connected dojo.
In a flash, they had been together for four years. He had decided to propose to Kaoru when they had overcome a big misunderstanding. All those while when rumors were spreading saying that he was having an affair with his personal nurse, Tomoe, Kaoru stood firmly on her heart, believing him until the last moments. Everything was explained and cleared when Tomoe confessed. She was the one who stirred all those rumours.
Then, they had an accident. Everything was gone.
Battousai recalled when he received a phone call from his mother. Her voice was cracked and was crying. It was then that he knew that his younger brother was dead. He returned to Japan immediately. Instead of sadness for Kenshin's death, he was more concerned on the woman who taught him the word, love.
He was relief that she had survived but was suspicious when she did not turn up at Kenshin's funeral. He saw Megumi, Sano, Misao and Aoshi but there was no Kaoru. Then he knew it from his mother that she was still in the hospital, in a coma state. He visited her when no one was in her ward. It pained him when he saw those breathing tubes in her fragile body.
Returning home, he found a key and a piece of small map on Kenshin's desk when he packed Kenshin's room after his funeral; the key that belongs to the door of the cottage. He stepped into the cottage which filled of Jasmine smell. There were frames of the couple and their friends. There was also one with him taken accidentally. There were videotapes around the floor. He played them and saw the scenes of the couple at different places. Packing all the tapes in the drawer, he locked them up with the attached key and kept the key with him. He left without locking the front door.
Over the times, he went back to England to continue his studies when he learnt from the doctors than Kaoru may be in coma forever. He called back a few months later to check up on her conditions. The nurse told him that Kaoru had woke up and left the hospital with no memories of the accident. He tried to find Kaoru but got no leads at all.
End Of flashback
'Where are all those frames? Someone had been here before. The place is cleaned recently.' Battousai thought as he stepped into the cottage once again.
