Chapter Five

Aoshi was pacing nervesly in front of the room where Kaoru was being checked by the doctor. He couldn't stand the idea of losing Kaoru that easily.

Not after she started opening up to him again. He loved her so much and the thought of losing her was eating him up inside out. he took a deep breath and stared at the door of the room hoping for a merical to happen "please God, please let her be ok"

"Are there any news yet?"

Aoshi tunred to see Kenshin standing at the doorway of the clinic "no, not yet. How is Misao?"

Kenshin looked at the floor with no particuler expression on his face "She's not doing so well. She got a little better, but the baby is in danger"

"What do you mean?"

"She may lose the baby"

Aoshi's eyes darkened "Kenshin, I'm so sorry. She still has a chance of keeping it right?" he knew he had to hunt the bastards and make them pay for what they did to Misao and Kaoru. He also knew that the same idea had taken place in Kenshin's mind too

"The chances of losing the baby are much higher. We have to wait and hope for the best. Misao has to rest and that's all she can do to help the baby"

"She's a strong woman and she'll get through this. I know she will"

"I hope so" Kenshin took a seat "I don't know who should I worry about more. My baby that I hadvn't seen yet or Kaoru dono whom I knew for a long time and spent the most wonderful days of my life with"

Aoshi couldn't stop the feeling of jealousy that took over him when he heard the battousai say these words although he knew that he meant well by them "I guess you can worry about both of them. That's all we can do right now...worry" and he started pacing around the room again.

Kenshin watched his friend go back and forth in front of him and he couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He didn't believe that a day would come and he would consider Aoshi as a friend of his. but that's what they are now. Truly good friends. And because he grew to know his friend well, he knew that he has developed feelings for Kaoru. He could see it from the way he acted around her the day before when he brought her home and they way he's showing concern for her at that very moment. What he couldn't really figure out is the time this thing started. Kaoru hasn't been there for a long time so it's impossible that it happened on this vacation. He inhaled as he thought that this is not the right time to think about such things.

"What the hell is taking them so long?" Aoshi asked angrily

"You know Aoshi, you remind me of how Kaoru was when you got injured a year ago when you came to visit us"

Aoshi stopped and stared at Kenshin "I remember that too..I can never forget that night"

"How could you? you almost died then" Kenshin smiled at the memory

"Yeah..and I remember how scared was Kaoru when I took along time to wake up"

"And when you did..."

"Man, that was a very hard punch she gave me" and he smiled softly at the memory

"That's Kaoru dono. She worries about you but eventually you'll get what you deserve"

Aoshi didn't hear Kenshin because his mind went back in time to that day..the day Kaoru told him she loved him...

Memories (continued)

Aoshi and Kaoru walked back home together after they finished their training one day and Aoshi was talking about her weak points in fighting. The two of them grew very close together but none of them had the courage to truely show it. Aoshi was opening up to someone for the first time in his life and Kaoru felt appreciated, and that's something she didn't get alot of at the dojo...specially with Yahiko and Sano making fun of her..and of course with Kenshin ignoring her and treating her like she never exsisted. She knew that they all loved her but she couldn't help but feel happier around Aoshi. What she really was afraid of was the fact that she started developing feelings for him and that wasn't good at all. She knew that she loved Kenshin so how come she had a crush on Aoshi?that didn't feel right and she was planning on making these stupid feelings go away.

"Aoshi could you stop talking about training? I feel board"

"Well, excuse me for trying to make a good fighter out of you"

"Ok, what do you mean by that?" she put her hands on her hips and stared at him with fire in her eyes.

Aoshi loved the way she looked when she was angry "I thought the meaning was obvious"

"What? Oh you are cruel..isn't it enough that you came here and played hero and made fun of me in front of the whole town and now you are standing here calling me a bad fighter"

"Kaoru..please explain to me the way your mind works..because believe me it works in a really strange way"

Kaoru shot him an angry look as he passed near her "what do you mean by that?"

"I said that you had some weak points that we need to handle and what did you understand of it? you decided that I'm accusing you of being weak...now you tell me Kaoru...when you learn how to get through your weak points, aren't you going to get better in fighting?"

She nodded without saying a word

"Good...now isn't that going to make you a better fighter" he earned another nod of agreement "wonderful, then as we both see I didn't mean what you thought I meant"

"Oh you talk so much...let's just hurry up before they discover that we aren't there"

"Chicken" he whispered

"Ok...now that was an insult and you are going to get it you..."

She didn't have the chance to complete her threat because she was pushed to the ground by Aoshi as an arrow hit the tree she was standing in front "Sorry that didn't hit the right target...but next time it will so you better take care ninja boy" a man's voice came from a near by tree followed by a sound of a jump

"Who was that?" Kaoru asked as Aoshi helped her up

"Remember the people I came to talk to?"

"But you said you won't have to fight them" she stated worriedly

"I thought wrong. It looks like I have to settle this once and for all"

"What do you mean?" now she was really worried

"I'm going to fight their boss and end this whole mess..they overdid it and they should be stopped before they do more"

"If you leave won't they just forget about you?"

"No, I won't leave even if what you said was true"

"And why is that?"

"Didn't you see?..you were going to get killed by some crazy people chasing me..how am I going to make sure that they won't hurt or use you to make me come back ..This is a fight I have to go through"

Kaoru straitened her kimono "you won't be alone Aoshi ..we'll all fight with you"

"No you won't" he said coldly "none of you is going to interfere in this..it's a fatal fight and I have to do it my self..I can handle my own problems and I don't need help"

"Come on don't tell me that you still think that you are way too strong to get help from the battousai's group"

"You know that's not it Kaoru..I just don't want to put you in danger"

"What if we want to put ourselves in danger?"

"I won't allow it..besides, are you going to force your friends to get into a dangerous fight like this? That's not fair and you know it. They won't refuse if you ask them but can you honestly push them into this fight knowing that they may not survive through it?"

"Well, I can't do that to them..I can't chose for them what to do..but I can surely chose for my self" she looked at him with determination in her eyes" I'm going with you"

"You are wrong young lady. You are not going any where near that fight" he wasn't going to allow her to hurt herself for him..he cared too much for her to let her do it.

"Well, I wasn't taking your permission"

"Kaoru.."

"Aoshi stop it. There is nothing you can say or do to make me change my mind"

"Kaoru, you know that I care for you so much" he said holding a lock of her hair "I can't bear the thought of losing you"

"Aoshi..I.."she blushed a deep shade of red"I..."

he smiled noticing that she didn't really know what to say "let's discuss this later..we need to go home now"

That Night

Aoshi sat quitly in his room cleaning his sword and thinking about the fight ahead of him. everyone was sleeping and he was the only one awake. He couldn't help but think about Kaoru. He never wanted to admit it but he loved her. He loved her so much and he couldn't help but wonder if she felt the same way about him. And because of the love he had for her he couldn't stand the idea of her joining in that fight and getting hurt "I can't let you put yourself in danger Kamiya..not without doing my best to stop you"

A soft knock on his door pulled him away from his thoughts "come in"

Kaoru slid the door of his room open and entered the room "did I disturb you?"

"No Kaoru, come in. I was just cleaning my sword"

She sat next to him on the floor and stared quietly at the wall. Aoshi waited for her to say something but she just kept silent

"Kaoru.."

A single tear ran on her cheek and she softly wiped it away "don't go through with this..you can still go back to Kyoto"

"Kaoru.."

"Aoshi please"

"You don't understand..this is something I have to do. This has to end..at least then I can go back to Kyoto assured that you won't be in trouble because of me"

"You don't understand Aohi" Kaoru argued wiping away her tears "no one is going to accuse you of anything. These things happen..we fight with people all the time so this doesn't change anything. We are used to being attacked so there'll be nothing new..believe me"

"Kaoru..look how lame you sound..this is not an enough excuse for me to go back to Kyoto with out fighting. I'm not that type of a man"

"But I don't want you to get hurt" another tear slipped on her cheek

Aoshi wiped it with his thumb and held her chin in his hand "do you really care about what's going to happen to me?"

Her tears got stronger "of course I do you stupid man"

"You don't know how much that means to me Kaoru..you just don't know"

Without adding another word he pulled her to his chest and hugged her tightly. She didn't show any protest to his action, instead, she returned his hug even tighter. And they stayed like that for a while. Holding each other and enjoying the silence around them.

After a moment, Aoshi pulled away a little and looked her deep in the eye while caressing her hair "Kaoru…" without adding another word he leaned forward and caught her mouth with his.

Kaoru was shocked at first…shocked because of his unexpected action..and more because of the way she felt when he did it.she knew that she never experienced something as wonderful as that. What she felt was indescribable. And for a moment, she allowed her self to enjoy it and she returned his kiss.

Aoshi ended the kiss and pressed his forehead to hers "Kaoru, I love you" FINALLY I LET IT OUT his mind screamed.

Kaoru didn't know what to say. This was too much. Her day was full of surprises but this was something else. In her heart she knew that she returned his love, but all her mind would think about was Kenshin. How come she loves Aoshi while all she thinks about is how to make Kenshin notice her and return her feelings?

She shook her head "Aoshi..I can't"

He looked at her with realization "it's Kenshin. Isn't it?

She nodded. She wasn't able to speak at that moment

"He's been living here for two years Kaoru. TWO YEARS. Don't you think that he should've said something during all this time?"

Although she knew that he was right, she couldn't help but defend Kenshin

"He was always in trouble. He never had time for this"

"There's always time for love Kaoru"

"Please Aoshi don't make this any harder for me"

"You have a lot of time to think Kaoru. Sit by your self and think about what you are going to do. But I want you to know that I'm not giving up on us. One day you'll admit that you have feelings for me. And I'll be waiting for you"

"What makes you think that!"

"The kiss proved enough Kamiya. You don't kiss someone you don't feel anything for the way you kissed me"

"How could you say something like that" she felt really embarrassed and she hated him for making her feel that way

He ran his finger on her cheek "I didn't mean to push you like this Kaoru. I'm sorry for putting you in this tuff situation. But I wanted to tell you how I really felt in case I never got the chance to survive through tomorrow"

"Aoshi please don't say that" she burst out crying as she clung to him "you are going to be fine. You will come back to me do you understand?"

He patted her hair "I will try my best Kamiya..I promise you I will"

None of them wanted to add another word. They just sat like that enjoying each other's presence, each of them thinking about the day ahead of them and hoping that it'll end in good way.

…………………………….

Next day, before sunset.

Aoshi headed towards the door of the dojo without looking back. He didn't want to say good bye to Kaoru. He couldn't stand seeing her tears again. They were too much for him. He never wanted to see her cry ever. He promised himself that he would never cause her to.

"Aoshi wait up"

Kaoru came running towards him "hey, you should've called me instead of sneaking out like this"

"I don't sneak Kaoru. I just thought that I made it clear that you're not going with me"

"Oh you are so wrong mister. We aren't going to go through this again. I'm going with you and that's final"

She passed by him and went ahead of him to the gate. She stopped when he placed his hand on her shoulder "Kaoru wait"

"Is there something wrong?"

She turned around to face him and Aoshi took the chance and punched her hard in her stomach "what.." that was all Kaoru could say before she passed out. Aoshi caught her easily and left her in his arms "I'm sorry Kamiya but I had to do this. I wasn't going to allow you to hurt your self..never"

He took her to her room and he placed her gently on her futon. He watched her for a little while then he kissed her on her cheeks and headed out.

Sorry guys for taking so long to update, but I was busy with school. I hope that you'll like this chapter and that you won't regret all the waiting. I'll try my best to update soon. Thank you all for your patience.