Disclaimer: I still own nothing. And I never will.
Epilogue
Kaoru started awake as the latch on the gate rattled.
Looking around in confusion she realized she was on the porch, but why had she fallen asleep outside?
Suddenly, memories of the night before rushed over her and she bolted to the gate.
Kenshin was standing there, trying to lock it again as exhaustion began to over run his mind.
Kaoru reached past him and finished the latch.
As she placed a hand on his arm, he hissed in pain slightly and she pulled back looking at the blood that had seeped through the bandage.
"Kenshin what happened?" She asked quietly as he sat down on the edge of the porch to rest.
"Those men will not be tarnishing your family's honor anymore, that they won't." Kenshin whispered.
Kaoru felt there was something he wasn't telling her, but his story could wait.
"We'd better treat your arm before the others get up," she said suddenly, standing up to go back into the house to retrieve some medicine, but paused, "Kenshin? What will we tell Sano and Yahiko if they want to know what happened to you?"
"Don't worry Miss Kaoru, we'll think of something."
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"Kenshin? What happened to you?" Yahiko asked when he saw Kenshin staring mutely into a cup of tea.
Looking towards the boy, Kenshin smiled tiredly, "We had some trouble last night."
Sano put down his chopsticks and eyed his friend, "What kind of trouble?"
Kaoru suddenly jumped in, "A coupe of cats got into a fight on the porch and Kenshin had to chase them off."
Sano picked up his bowl of food again, "Must have been one hell of a cat fight," he muttered.
When the other two weren't looking, Kaoru and Kenshin exchanged small smiles.
Some stories are best left untold and this was one of them.
Fin.