A/N: Okay, so here is the epilogue to this little story of mine. I realize that this may have seemed short, but it was a story that I was just kind of writing as I went, which may or may not have been a good thing. I have several more stories on the way however, and I hope that everyone reading this has enjoyed the story! Thank you for taking the time to read it.
Disclaimer: (again). No I don't own them. Yes I would love to. I'll keep dreaming.
Epilogue:
Things didn't change overnight. In fact, it took quite a few months before things could once again be considered normal, and even then the normalcy in their lives had changed. Kaoru didn't pick up a bokken again for several longs months, in which Yahiko merely practiced what he had already been taught. It took the incessant prodding of her friends to finally get the blue – eyed girl to pick up a bokken again and continue to train Yahiko. It wasn't an easy thing to get her to see that what she had done that night was not a betrayal.
On more than one occasion Megumi wondered if there wasn't something more going on between Kenshin and Kaoru, because even as she continued to get better the girl still slept in the rurouni's room. She said nothing, however, instead deciding that they probably needed the time to be together alone. They needed time to come to grips with it themselves, and they didn't need anyone sticking their noses in their business prematurely. She had trouble reinforcing this idea to Sano and Yahiko, who seemed to think that they should be informed of any … "developments." It took much of the lady doctor's badgering and scuffing upside their heads to finally get the two boys to agree to stay out of it.
It took quite some time for Kaoru to finally come to grips with her anger and despair, and some days were better than others. There were days when she was so angry at what had happened that she wrongly took it out on the others, mostly Kenshin. There were days when she would fly at him and pound her white – knuckled fists into Kenshin's strong chest and cry and say terrible things to him, but he never wavered. He never let her go when she started crying, never once yelled back at her. It must have taken a great feat of will power not to yell back at her, but she was always thankful that he didn't. He would merely stand there quietly before her and let her vent all of her anger on him, and then turn around and give her a light feathery kiss to make her better when he felt it was safe to do so.
The months following the man's death were strained and, at times, utterly unbearable. When she thought back on those days Kaoru couldn't help but wonder how her friends had managed not to kill her.
Once, not so long ago, there had been nights when she would simply lie awake in bed and wonder what Kenshin was thinking, wonder at what he felt and the well of endless grief that seemed to be locked within him. She would pray that someone, somewhere, would give her the courage and grace to understand that which he had endured, and the wisdom to help him see that he had atoned for the mistakes of his past. She had begged and begged whatever higher powers there were to send him an angel, to find some way to make him see that he didn't need to spend the rest of his life carrying around such grief. Her prayers had been answered, but not quite how she had expected.
Maybe God had intended all of this for her, given her a miracle in the guise of a tragedy. She wasn't sure what she thought, but she knew that those days had merely drowned her in their despair. She had almost been caught in the undertow, almost pulled all the way under when Kenshin had saved her. He had saved her, just as she had been trying to save him. She had been given the key to understanding his soul – and she had nearly missed it. She didn't want to dwell on what may have happened if she had, for those thoughts always sent an involuntary shudder down her spine. No, it was enough to merely remember that, although she hadn't necessarily wanted it, someone had answered her prayers and gave her a way to save the man she loved.
Yes, she understood him now, understood his grief and the nights when the nightmares were too much. Where once there had been a gap between them, there was now a knowledge that they shared. In one night the biggest gap between them had been bridged unexpectedly, and not only did Kaoru survive it, she learned from it. It was perhaps the most valuable lesson that she had ever been taught – and she hoped that she would never have to learn it again.