Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin is not mine. I'm just using its characters for the sake of this story.

Epilogue: One more day, one more year, another forever

"Miki!" A middle-aged man with red hair called at a young girl who was buying jasmines.

Innocent blue eyes turned to look at the man and she smiled before replying.

"I'll be there in a moment, dad!"

The red-haired man eyed her before sighing and nodding his head.

As the girl finished paying for the flowers, she went to her father's side and continued to walk with him in the street.

"Is that your only present, Miki?" The man asked the child.

Miki raised her eyes to her father and she giggled. "Of course not, dad. However, jasmines are part of it."

Her father chuckled and both of them disappeared among crowds of people and incessant noise.

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"Happy birthday, Kaoru!" Cheerful voices said as surprised azure eyes stared at the decorated room.

"I love you." A soft tenor whispered in her ears as long arms enfolded her in a warm embrace. "I hope you like it."

Kaoru turned her head to the side and kissed her husband on the cheek. "Thank you, Kenshin-anata."

Kenshin looked at his wife with all his love and grinned at her, his embrace tightening around her.

"Grandma! Grandma!" A girl with shining blue eyes and a wide smiled ran toward the couple. "Happy Birthday!" Extending her arms, she gave her grandma a bouquet of jasmines and a medium-sized box wrapped with metallic light blue paper.

"Thank you, my sweet Miki." Kaoru took her present and sat on the couch to open it.

As she finished her task, Kaoru hugged her youngest granddaughter and kissed her at the top of her head. "I love it, sweetheart. Thank you so much."

Little Miki smiled widely and jumped in excitement. "Yes! I knew my present was the best one!" She said as she looked at her older brother and two cousins and stuck her tongue out.

A young boy of around ten, with red hair and green eyes, stared at her and huffed. "Show off." He muttered under his breath. At his side, two identical girls with brown hair and light blue eyes giggled in amusement.

"Now Miki, this is not how you should behave." Kenji said to his daughter as he picked her up and handed her to his wife. He then turned his head toward his sister and brother-in-law and smiled apologetically at them.

Kaoru and Kenshin, who were sitting on the couch, laughed at them as they continued opening Kaoru's gifts.

"Kao-chan, since you complain so much about the wind, Sano decided that this scarf should do. Of course, I had to change colors in the store since my husband in here is color blind." An older Megumi said as she rolled her eyes when her husband uttered something about picky people.

"Thank you. It's lovely." Kaoru said as she giggled at Sano's expression. Although years had passed and Megumi and Sano had been married for more than forty years, their usual bickering was something that wasn't going to disappear any time soon.

"My turn, my turn!" Aqua eyes said excitedly as she carried a little boy with green eyes and a few strands of black hair.

"Misao, hand Toshi-chan to his mom. You've been carrying him the whole afternoon." A slightly less tall Aoshi said as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

Misao looked at her husband and shook her head.

"Nope. I haven't seen my grandson for two days so there."

Aoshi sighed and Toshi's mom only laughed at her parents' behavior. Life in the Shinomori household was always amusing – especially when it came to her green-eyed mom.

Peering at a bag filed with papers, Kaoru found a pair of golden earrings.

"No matter how old you are, a woman has the right to look good – and that includes wearing lovely jewelry." Misao said as she sat next to Kaoru.

The blue-eyed woman smiled at her best friend and hugged her. Meanwhile, Kenshin muttered something in his breath.

"Right, so other men are leering at her."

"What was that?" Kaoru said as she eyed at her husband.

"Nothing," Kenshin said innocently as he cleared his throat.

Kaoru shook her head and turned to her best friend. "Thanks, Misao. It's really pretty."

Then, she turned at her husband and raised an eyebrow. "And you, my dear husband, shouldn't get jealous for nothing. First, I'm old so no man is leering at me. Second, we've been married for more than thirty something years…"

"Thirty eight." Kenshin corrected her.

"Right, more than thirty eight years and you're still as possessive and jealous as the first time I met you. And third, Misao is right. I do have the right to try to look nice although I'm all wrinkled and what not."

Kenshin sighed and looked up at his son who patted him on the shoulder.

"I know, dad. Women. My Sakura is like that as well and… Ouch!" Kenji said as his wife hit the back of his head.

"Kenji Himura, if I hear you say something like that again you'll sleep on the couch."

"Let him be, Sakura. Sometimes he says foolish things. Trust me. I've been his sister for twenty-seven years." A woman with black hair and violet eyes said as carried a little boy with brown hair in her arms.

"Who wants cake!" A high-pitched female voice called from the table in the dinning room and every one started to move.

"Misao, I think your granddaughter has inherited the power of your voice." Sano said as he held his wife's hand and started to the dinning room.

"Takes talent, eh?" She replied smiling.

Standing from the couch, Kaoru straightened her skirt and took her husband's awaiting hand. As they walked to where everyone was, a picture framed in light blue and lavender sat on the coffee table. It was the image of a young woman with blazing blue eyes smiling at the camera. She standing in the beach and was wearing a light sweater. Behind her, a man with red hair and amethyst eyes had his arms around her small waist and his lips were gracing one of her cheeks. At the bottom of the picture, it read:

"My twenty-third birthday"

At the right corner of the picture, something was scribbled by hand:

"To my future wife,

Thank you for making me the happiest man alive.

Now and forever, I love you,

Kenshin"

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You're the sunrise of my mornings; you're the fire that warms my heart during cold seasons when feelings are frozen like thick ice. Your love is my strength, your presence is home. In the cycle of life, you always come but never go. You share my journey, I share yours. At the end, it's just the same one. With its ups and downs, it is how it should be. You're there and I'm there.

As time goes by, as seconds run, as minutes tick, and hours pass. As days start and end, as years come one after another, the guardian of my heart has never changed. People talk of forever, and some think there is not such thing. How wrong they are. If they love like I do, if they love like you do, forever is every moment I gaze at your eyes and remember why we're one. Forever is every time I take you in my arms and know that you were, you are, and you will always be the owner of my happiness, my life.

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The End

Completed December, 2005 by Vic'Chonn.

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Phew, done. The last part was the hardest part to write and I hope is decent enough (too much cheesiness, I feel). Hope you liked the whole story nonetheless. Thanks for reading and hope you continue reading my other stories (shameless plug).

Take care,

Vic