Like I said before... I'm really nervous for this chapter... please don't hate me. Um, hopefully there are those that are still enjoying the story even if you haven't reviewed... thank you to those that did... I really appreciate it. Arigato. Ok, not much else to say except for don't stop reading. I hated doing this to Kenshin... I really did... but everything will get better... believe me. Now...

WARNING: This gets a little (ok REALLY) suggestive and is probably not something you should read unless you're seventeen or older... don't say I didn't warn you because I have and I will not be held responsible.

Disclaimer: I bet he's sooo glad...

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Chapter 6

Kaoru blinked open sleepy eyes and looked around her dark room, but there was no signs of life, and nothing out of the ordinary that could have woken her up. Sighing she closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep.

Then her shoji was slammed open with such force that she nearly jumped completely out of bed, her heart hammering hard against her chest in fear. Scrambling with the bed clothes, she crawled backwards and looked to the open door with trepidation. A figure stood there menacingly, brandishing an unsheathed katana, the sharp metal shining brightly in the moonlight. As Kaoru's eyes adjusted to the light she found she could pick out the red tints in the long hair covering the figure's eyes, and she sighed in relief.

"Kenshin, what's wrong? Is somebody attacking?" With that thought she stood up, hand reaching for the bokken she kept in her room for emergencies.

"Iie." The voice stopped her in her tracks, its deadly tone sending a shiver up her spine and freezing the blood in her veins.

"Kenshin…"

The fiery head tilted up and she gasped in a breath at the sight of amber eyes staring at her, blood and heat reflecting from their cruel depths. What was he doing here? What was wrong? The Battosai took a step forward, she took a step back.

"Kenshin, onegai…what's going on?"

"You lied to me." His voice accused with a growl.

"What are you talking about?"

"You said you didn't care about the past, yet that's all you've been living in." Another step. "Does that mean you lied about mine as well?" The katana levered out toward her.

"Iie, Kenshin…I don't…"

"I see it now, Kaoru. You never loved me. I should have left a long time ago." Her back was against the wall now, his breathing hot on her face. Eyes a molten gold stared into hers, no affection could be seen in them. Only death.

"No, Kenshin…I do love you." She pleaded with him pitifully, one hand raising to grab his shirt. Cold fingers slapped her hand away and then the harsh feel of his blade touched her neck, forcing her to press herself flat against the wall.

"No, you could never love me, Kaoru. Not ME." His voice hissed in rage. "You've only lied; to me, to yourself, to everyone. I don't like being lied to, Kaoru." The blade pressed harder against her soft flesh. "I've been lied to before, and I will not allow for it again."

"Onegai, Kenshin…I would never lie to you."

"Liar." He chuckled heartlessly into her ear. "But Kaoru, what I wanted to tell you…" His free hand dropped to run suggestively over her body, Kaoru sobbed brokenly at the implication. "I do not give up what is mine." He whispered quietly. "Even if you don't want me anymore…" His hand roughened, tearing at the thin material covering her. "You will always be mine."

"Onegai…Kenshin."

He ignored her plea and she shuddered when he bit her neck, bruising the tender skin and making her cry out in pain. The yakuta she wore was ripped from her, while she stood, helpless to protest with anything more than whimpers and pleas that fell on deaf ears. The blade still pressed into her throat and all she could do was feel. Feel the man she truly loved with all her heart take something from her that she would have freely given to him. All he had to do was ask.

Callously he pulled and twisted at her skin; bruising her… hurting her… marking her. The katana disappeared, a sharp clatter on the floor, but her position wasn't any more comfortable as he trapped both her hands above her head with one of his own. Struggling feebly, crying helplessly, she was forced to endure every usual small pain with a harsh intensity and no way to lessen them. Tears poured from her eyes, blood ran smooth down her legs and off her lip where he bit her for screaming, and her mind wailed in protest. This was not the way it was supposed to be. Not her first… not her last… not with her only love.

The pain did not cease even after he pushed himself ruthlessly inside her for the last time, grunting in her ear in his pleasure. Neither did it stop when he pulled away, dropping her unceremoniously on the floor below and leaving her to curl into a ball and stare at the wall in front of her blankly. The pain was there, in her body, coursing through her, but her mind felt numb. Not even letting her respond to the scathing remark he left in her ear before turning and leaving her there, her heart shriveling and dying in her chest. That one word echoed in her mind, reverberating through the depths of her thoughts and making her giggle hysterically with its irony. All she had ever wanted to hear from him. All that she'd ever wanted to be. She had it…but never did she believe that it would come like this.

Mine.

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Kaoru woke to a noise that confused her at first, jolting her out of her unconsciousness and momentarily lapsing the horror of it. It wasn't until the door to the bathhouse was nearly ripped off its track that she registered what it was. She was screaming.

"Kaoru!" Kenshin burst into the room, looking frantic and concerned, running to the side of the tub without even caring that she was naked under the water. Kaoru lifted the hands from her head to turn and look at the owner of the voice and screamed again, louder. Backing her way to the far side of the tub, then jumping out when he only seemed to keep coming. Scrambling over the side, she hit the rock floor without pause and crab walked backwards till she hit the wall. There she seemed to finally realize that she was naked, and it only added to the fear and terror in her eyes.

Kenshin watched in confusion and dismay as she only seemed to get worse under his scrutiny. In the corner she curled into a little ball, covering herself as best she could, and whimpering now in the back of her throat.

"Kaoru?" He took a step forward, and she cringed into the wood behind her. He stopped. "Kaoru, what's wrong? What happened?" There was no response but her anxious movements to cover herself, prompting his next move. Hurriedly he pulled off the blue gi he was wearing, intent on covering her with it. The widening of her eyes was missed in his struggle, but her choked sob and terror filled gaze when he finally looked was not.

Slowly he advanced, painfully aware of every whimper and tear that escaped her, but he gritted his teeth and moved forward, determined to help her in any way that he could. Only the soft whispering of her voice and its distressed plea stopped him again, feet from her.

"No, please, leave me alone. Not again…please."

"Kaoru…"

Megumi burst through the door at that second, taking in the scene before her with an observant eye. Walking forward briskly she ripped the gi from Kenshin's hands and moved to cover Kaoru, who jumped into her arms with something like relief on her face.

"What are you doing? Trying to scare the poor girl out of her wits?"

"But…this one did not do anything." Kenshin protested weakly, chagrined that his Kaoru went willingly into the arms of the doctor and not his own.

"It was apparent that she's scared of you at the moment. You should have came for me, or waited until I got here."

"How could this one just leave her here in such a state?" His voice turned accusing, angry that he was being yelled at for caring.

"It doesn't matter! Just get out of here and find her some clothes to wear. Preferably a yakuta, because I'm sending her straight to bed after this…escapade." Megumi turned back to the shivering girl in her arms, wrapped in Kenshin's gi and peeking over the edge at the red-head cautiously. Kenshin left with the sounds of her soothing words and promises that everything would be okay singing in his ears.

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Kenshin sat looking up at the cloudy night sky. Kaoru had been stowed away neatly in her own room hours before, his gi had been recovered, and Megumi was checking up on her one last time before leaving to go to the clinic. There had been no reason supplied by the little kendo instructor as to why she had been screaming in the bathhouse, or why she was frightened into hysterics when he had entered. In fact, all Kenshin knew about anything that happened behind the closed doors of her room was that she'd fallen asleep almost instantly after arriving. *Sigh* I wish I knew what to do to help her. To fix it.

Kenshin buried his head in his hands in frustration, then heard the door slide open behind him and Megumi carefully sitting down next to him.

"Is she ok?" He asked weakly, not looking at her, afraid of the answer.

"She's fine now Ken-san." Violet eyes looked up curiously at the bewildered tone in her voice. "In fact, she wants to see you."

"Nani?" His reply sounded breathless, even to his ears.

"Hai, she said she wanted to talk to you about something. Or things. But she wouldn't tell me anything about what happened, so I'm going to assume she's going to tell you." Megumi turned to look at him, a determined spark in her eyes. "Although I'm glad that she wants to talk, I don't know how good of an idea it is for her to talk about it to you. Especially since she seemed to want nothing to do with you earlier." Kenshin looked mildly offended. Okay, so he was really offended.

"Meaning?"

"I'm going to stay here overnight, just in case she throws herself into another fit that neither you nor Yahiko can help her out of."

"That's sounds fair, Megumi-dono." Kenshin smiled weakly, before standing up and leaving her there. "Oyasumi nasai."

"Oyasumi nasai, Ken-san."

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A/N: That was rather horrible of me to do... and now that I look back on it... I really don't understand why myself... except maybe for what it does to help Kaoru understand her own situation. Ah well... please keep reading and leave me a review.