Disclaimer - I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.

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Toy Store

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Living Room

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She opened her door and he was standing there. He was dripping wet with rain, as he'd been the last time she'd seen him. "What do you want?" she asked, not able to keep the spite from her voice.

"Your sister and I broke up because I told her about Megumi."

"I know," she said.

Rain trickled across his cheek. "If I hadn't told her-"

"Are you saying you'd rather I let my sister live a lie? Do you actually think she deserves that?" She was angry, and he was visibly upset. It took a lot to get him visibly upset. "Don't blame this on me. It's your fault for cheating on her!"

"I didn't cheat on her!" His face was red.

"Is something wrong?" a female voice asked from behind her. Misao. "You both sound upset."

"No," Kaoru said icily. "He was just leaving."

"I'm not leaving until I say what I have to say."

"Fine. Then say it to Misao." She turned her back on him and stomped into the living room. She threw herself on the couch and tried to control her breathing. A part of her wanted to hear this. If she hadn't cared she would have gone upstairs and locked herself in her room.

"Would you like to come in?" she heard Misao ask civilly. His voice was too low pitched for her to pick out the words. There was the sound of the door shutting and footsteps on the hardwood floors. She didn't know if he'd accepted Misao's invitation. But then came the sound of shoes coming off. Misao had probably told him he was too wet to walk further into the house than the foyer with them on. And she heard his voice again, muffled through the wall. Misao would let him come in after she figured Kaoru had calmed down. She genuinely liked him, and Kaoru hadn't told her why he'd broken up with her sister.

Kaoru took a deep breath and sat up straight. He walked in the doorway, so silently that she wouldn't have known if she hadn't been watching for him. They sized each other up. He was calm again. He'd been rushed, not himself, even when she'd opened the door. Something must have happened.

"What do you want?" Kaoru broke the silence as she stood. She felt better standing around him.

"Can I come in?"

Kaoru crossed her arms. "I'd rather you stood in the doorway, thanks."

"Fine."

"You know," Kaoru said after a moment of silence. "People don't usually come and bother the families of girlfriends they've just cheated on and then broken up with. It's because the families are pissed off."

"I didn't cheat on her with Megumi."

"You told her you did." Kaoru smiled to hold in her anger. "Why are you bothering to come here and lie to me? You won't gain anything."

"I told her I did to make it easier for us to break up."

"Oh you did, huh? I can't believe you expect me to believe you!" She threw her hands in the air and glared at him.

"It's the truth. You think I would have come all the way out here in the rain to lie to you? I'm not going to lie to you again."

Kaoru strode across the living room to stand in front of him. "Again, huh? And just what did you lie to me about before? Oh wait, what didn't you lie to me about before? Everything you say is a lie!"

"I didn't sleep with Megumi, damnit! I didn't cheat on your sister! I let you think I was cheating on her with Megumi so you'd still think she was an angel when we broke up, so she had some reason to tell you. Megumi's my brother's girlfriend for God's sake! If you want to know the truth, ask your sister."

He was angry now, and she was scared. But not of him. "What are you saying about my sister! You're insulting her!"

"I'm not insulting her. I'm telling you the truth. Why don't you ask her? Ask her the next time you visit her."

"My sister tells me everything. I'm going to see her tomorrow, and she'll tell me the reason she broke up with you and it'll be because of you and Megumi. I love her. She's family." Kaoru said defiantly. "If all you came here to do was to turn me against her, you're wasting your time. Get out."

A last drop of rain trickled down from his hair and down the side of his face, catching on his chin and dropping onto the collar of his shirt. "Kaoru, I love you," he said quietly, desperately, stopping her heart for a split second. "Just ask her, okay?"

He turned and went into the hall. She could hear him pulling on his shoes as she stared at the spot where he'd been standing. She was conscious of her lungs expanding, of the sound of her breath in her head, in and out. She hated him. Hated him because she'd loved him the moment she'd seen him with her sister. But she'd loved him for her sister, because she must love anyone her sister was in love with. She'd loved many of them, the men her sister brought home. But he'd been different. Kaoru had thought it was because he was 'the one' for her sister, but maybe it was because he'd looked at her differently than the other ones had. He'd cared about her too, and from the start.

He opened the door. The rain smell invaded the house, the smell of the world washed. She hated him.

He left.