"You are Not Alone…"

Khmer Moon Blossoms

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin. Or Kendo.

Author's Notes: Little shocker in this one!

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Chapter Twelve

Kenshin's POV

I took my stance, spreading my feet apart and holding the bokken tightly in my grip. My opponent, Soujiro Seta, stood on the opposite side of the room, that same old smile on his face. He and I always practiced with each other because we had the same skill level. I stole a glance at Kaoru sitting on the bench on the side of the room. Her eyes were flashing with excitement. A few other girls were with her; I assumed other boys had brought their girlfriends as I brought Kaoru.

I wanted to win this time….just for Kaoru.

The rest of the class was on the floor, the males quiet and watching intently, cross-legged on the floor.

"Go," the coach said, clearly and strictly.

I slipped my right foot in front of me and struck first, throwing the bokken down with full force upon Soujiro's head.

Soujiro easily dodged it and appeared from behind me, stabbing the wooden stick forward, straight into my chest. I sensed him and dodged to the side, turning towards him.

He was still smiling.

"You've been practicing, Kenshin," he told me.

"So have you," I replied back politely.

He struck again, his firm grip bringing down the bokken aiming at my shoulder with lightning speed.

I blocked it with my own bokken, the clashing noise ringing through the room. I could not read his expression; Soujiro's everlasting smile that plastered on his face. I gritted my teeth as I noted that Soujiro's strength was surpassing mine. I pushed my bokken up against his, and finally shoving it off, Soujiro staggered back a bit, giving me a chance.

I ran towards him, slashing my bokken at his chest and taking advantage of the moment. He blocked me again, over and over, clashing noises sounding like raging clams closing shut.

I backed away, breathing heavily and feeling sweat drop down my forehead and the hot heat surrounding my very being.

Soujiro also began to sweat, but he was neither panting nor standing back. He stood up straight and tall in his black kendo uniform.

He ran for me again and this time, instead of striking directly, he vanished in front of my eyes.

Turning around and expecting him to be there, I did not sense him run in front of me again. He was behind me, staring at my back. I tried to dodge this time, trying to avoid his whack.

But I was much too slow to follow through with my dodge.

Soujiro brought down his bokken and struck my back, to which I howled out at the pain. I started to sink to the ground on my knees, the pain surging through my back like a hundred scorpion bites; stinging mercilessly and spreading the pain throughout my entire backside.

My bokken rolled on the floor, and Soujiro's did also. He ran to my side, taking a shoulder and whispering: "Kenshin! Are you alright?"

The flat of my palms glued to the wooden, gritty floor. I gritted my teeth to hold back some of the pain, but nothing worked.

Upon not hearing my response, Soujiro asked me again: "Are you alright?"

By this time, the coach was already at my other side and the class formed a crowd around me.

"Kenshin! Kenshin!" a feminine voice called from the crowd. I did my best to look up; wincing along the way. Through the male faces of my classmates, I saw Kaoru pushing her way through the crowd. She sank down beside me, grasping my hand on the floor.

"Are you alright?" she asked me, breathless.

"Yes," I breathed out.

"I'm sorry, Kenshin. I didn't think I would hurt you," Soujiro whispered, looking at Kaoru apologetically.

"It wasn't your fault, Seta," the coach bellowed, standing up. "Himura, those school bokkens shouldn't hurt anybody. What's wrong with you?"

"I don't know, sir," I hoarsed out. The stinging began to ease. I sat up in an upright position, taking Kaoru's hands and holding them in my lap; refusing to let go of her. She sat in front of me now, squatting with that worried expression on her face. Her lips formed a thin line, and her eyebrows were arched up slightly above round, sapphire eyes.

I heard the coach behind me. "The final competition is in a few weeks. I want you to take a break. If you need to go home, go ahead. The nurse already left, so whatever bruise or pain you're feeling will have to be taken care of at home. I give you permission to leave practice early today."

I stood up, smiling gratefully at my coach. "Thank you, sir."

Kaoru stood up beside me, holding onto my arm to support me. I felt all of my classmate's eyes looking at my Kaoru; as if they had noticed her here for the first time. I even heard one boy say: "Wow, Himura's lucky to have a beauty like that."

"Yeah," Another whispered back. "My girl won't even come to my practices,"

One boy, Akira, walked up to me and eyed me mischeviously. "You got yourself a good girl, Kenshin. You'd better keep her,"

I felt Kaoru's grip loosen on my arm, and out of the corner of my eye, she was blushing a bright red.

Akira walked around Kaoru, eyeing her up and down. I felt my temper releasing again, and tried to ease it by smiling innocently.

I heard Akira whistle. "She's gorgeous." Then, turning to Kaoru, he asked: "Honey, why haven't I seen you around before? I would've snatched you way faster than Kenshin."

"I'm new," Kaoru squeaked, now tightening her grip on my arm and moving closer to me. "I just got here a few weeks ago."

"Ah, I see," Akira's eyes glinted with an all too uncomfortable light.

"Akira," I sighed, running my hand down my neck. "will you stop it with the play-boy act? You aren't available. Don't you already have a girlfriend?"

"Ooh, jealous." He smirked. I wanted to crush his head in. "I could always become single, you know. But since you've already got this beauty to yourself," Akira ran his thumb down Kaoru's cheek, causing her to flinch and pressure herself against me. "I guess I can't have her."

"She isn't my girlfriend," I glared at the wall past Akira disappointedly. I'm sure my tone was evidence of my disappointment, too. Kaoru gave my arm a squeeze, as if sending me a message: "No, don't tell him that!"

"Ah, so she is available?" He smirked again.

"No, I'm not available," Kaoru declared confidently. "You'll have to try your luck somewhere else. Sorry."

With that last comment, she dragged me to the bench. I sat down, eyes wide and my throat choking on its own oxygen that ran down my throat.

"Y-you have a boyfriend?" I managed to squeak out.

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Kaoru's POV

I watched Kenshin's violet eyes swirling with confusion and hurt…something I had never seen someone show me before.

I wanted to giggle, but I amazingly managed to hold it all in.

His eyes seemed to be a portal to his mind; I could almost see everything that seemed to be flashing through his mind in those violet pools.

I read his eyes; they showed me that horrid night that we met. There was that day he had cradled me and saved me from Enishi. The time that we had almost kissed. The brightness of the sun in the mornings when he walked me to school. The times we spent together during school.

How sweet.

He was thinking about all of the times we had spent together; and why all this time I seemed to be spending more time with him than my 'boyfriend.'

"Of course I don't have a boyfriend." I whispered to him. He was sitting below me, his face drenched with sweat. His elbows were upon his knees, and he was slouched over the bench. I sat down beside him, watching his eyes follow my every move.

"I was only lying to get Akira away from me." I explained, and Kenshin seemed to believe me. I knew he trusted me.

"Oh…" he whispered out.

"You believe me, don't you?" I said, regretting the lie I had told. I wish I hadn't lied at all, now.

"Of course I do," he told me, smiling again.

"Anyway," I said, changing the subject. "Why did it hurt you when Soujiro attacked you on the back?"

"I have no idea." He said simply, his face scrunching up into thinking mode.

I walked behind him and began to lift up his soaked, black shirt. He protested adorably, his arms reaching behind him and grabbing my wrists.

"No, Kaoru, you don't—don't have to,"

"Kenshin," I dragged out his name. I twisted my wrists out of his grasp and walked to the front of him. He was blushing, his hands hastily bringing his shirt down to cover his back again. I kneeled down to his eye level, grabbing a towel from the stack on the bench and clobbered the rag all over his face; wiping off all of his sweat.

I heard him groan through the towel like a toddler would do to his mother when she tried to dry him up. I finally pulled it away and put it down beside my feet and pushed the few remaining strands of red that plastered against his head out of his face. I knew he was exhausted, and I only wanted to help.

I placed the flat of my palms onto his knees and pushed myself up, meeting his gaze. I heard a few yelps and 'ha's' of fights from the Kendo team, but I didn't let the background noises affect me. He looked straight into my eyes, trying to figure to figure out what I was doing. I leaned in, my lips meeting his forehead. I pressed a kiss there and pulled away slowly.

I began to wonder what made me do that. It just felt right…

No words could ever explain what gave me so much courage. I guess from seeing all of those scenes playing in Kenshin's eyes made me realize we've been together through a lot.

And I just wanted to show him that I knew.

I pulled myself quickly back into reality.

"I promise it won't hurt," I told him. He smirked and opened his eyes, slightly dazed. Kenshin didn't look surprised at all. It was almost like…he knew I was going to kiss him sooner or later.

"What won't hurt?"

"Your back," I replied. "I just want to see what Soujiro hit that made you go into so much pain."

He sighed. "Don't worry about it." Then, he smirked. "You do that too often, you know: worry."

I smiled at him instead of hitting him this time. "I can't help it."

I walked around to his backside and pulled up his shirt up, slowly inspecting each section of his skin. I scrunched his black uniform to the nape of his neck and pushed his ponytail over his shoulder.

There it was.

Once I fully removed the shirt up on Kenshin's neck, it revealed a massive, blue and black bruise that seemed swollen and was about to burst any second.

A gasp naturally escaped from my lips as I pulled his shirt back down to cover the ugly thing.

I ran around to the front of Kenshin and took his face into my hands.

"What did you see?" he asked simply.

All I could do at that moment was throw my hands around his neck and hug him.

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Kenshin's POV

I awkwardly embraced Kaoru, wondering what she was upset about. She just kept gasping big breaths and whispered: "Oh my god, Kenshin."

"What is it?" I asked for the hundredth time. I looked up to my class. They were still practicing, and the coach totally ignored us on the side bench.

"You've got a huge bruise on your back." She gasped out, pulling away from me. "It couldn't have been caused by Soujiro Seta. It's so big; you've must have had it way before now."

I tried to think back on every time I had hit my backside during school.

I widened my eyes as a memory filled my head.

"Enishi," I whispered, my eyes getting distant.

"What?" Kaoru asked hastily.

"Enishi must have done it when he pushed me against the locker during our fight."

Kaoru looked at me with angry eyes. She stood up suddenly, it made me jump.

"Enishi," she hissed out his name as if it were the most horrid curse on Earth.

"Kaoru, let's go home." I said quickly, not wanting her temper to get out of control. Before she even answered, I pushed her gently out of the gymnasium's doors and out onto the sidewalk that led each of us home.

"Kenshin, I'm not going to let him get away with….with that!" She patted my back.

"Kaoru, it's over. We mustn't dwell on the past." I chuckled slightly at her pout.

"Oh, stop it, Kenshin. You know he can't get away with this, right?"

She clenched her fists and her face went into a pout. Her ponytail bounced up and down as she walked—or stomped—beside me.

It was very cute. I loved her. She was angry at Enishi because of me. I couldn't help but smile wide.

"Kaoru, you know we can't do anything to him. He's already suspended. We're good for now, okay?"

She seemed reassured, blowing off some steam. She unclenched her fists and her eyes were no longer narrowed.

"What are we going to do?" She asked out of nowhere, not looking at me.

"We aren't going to do anything to him," I answered. "Enishi is out,"

"No." She whispered, still looking forward at the winding sidewalk that stretched before us. "I meant, what are we going to do with our parents?"

"Oh," I shook my head, trying to transfer my focus to my parents. "We're going to tell them, Kaoru."

I took her hand again, just like this morning. I gave her a tight squeeze.

"Whatever happens, we're always going to have each other," She recited my words, looking at me with glittering eyes.

We both stopped walking out of habit; we knew even with our eyes closed that we were standing on the sidewalk square right in front of Kaoru's house.

"Here we are," I announced something that was much too obvious.

She turned towards me with a gentle smile, as I did to her. We both we pressed against each other, and somehow, my hand found its way to her back. I pulled her in, coaxing her to come. Her hands lay gently onto my chest, and I felt that we were so close; so close that I could hear her relaxing heartbeat.

The wind played with our hair, mixing red and black strands into one. I watched as Kaoru fluttered her eyes closed and she parted her lips, eager for me to do my part. I willingly dipped my head in, and my lips pressed softly against her and for the first time, we were able to….

Our foreheads ground against each other, and our noses nuzzled. I loved the warmth she was giving me, and the way we were so close; like we were made for one another.

She clutched my shirt as if she couldn't support herself, and my hands tightly grasped her back in case she would fall.

I eventually closed my eyes, enjoying the moment.

This was exactly who I wanted to marry—someone kind and caring, loyal and always at my side, someone who will always be with me.

In other words, I loved Kaoru.

In the middle of my thinking, the moment was taken away all too quickly.

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Author's Notes: Yay! I finished another chapter, like I said I would! The big moment—the kiss—is finally here! Whoot Whoot!

Want to thank everyone who's been keeping with me for so long, and all of you who have been telling me consistently to put up a kiss! Well, here it is!

Oh, and sorry for the cliffhanger! I couldn't help it! FYI: Next chapter is the climax.

Read and Review!