Disclaimer: Everything that does not belong to me, belongs to Nobuhiro Watsuki and associates (Jump Comics, Shueisha Inc. etc.) Everything that does belong to me, does not belong to you. (But unlike Watsuki, you can ask me for permission to use it!)

A/N: I have low writing morale at the moment. Or, I did. I'm not sure anymore. But it was like I was forcing myself to write this whole month, and I couldn't, for the life of me, churn out anything worthwhile. There are like five different parts of this chapters that had three different versions each. I basically wrote this whole chapter this weekend.

Anyway, hopefully that has passed because, at the moment, I am very happy with the result of all that toil.

Tanoshimu!

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-PART ONE-

Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved. -William Jennings Bryan

Chapter Seven

Change

After the jubilation and excitement surrounding Sano and Megumi's marriage announcement had died down—and the couple in question had departed—Kenshin quietly took Kaoru aside from the group.

As everyone was getting up and stretching lazily, ready to take on the rest of the day's chores and activities, Kenshin led Kaoru into the kitchen. Naruku's eyes wandered after them, but she quickly shrugged and refocused on whatever Yahiko had been saying.

Kenshin smiled lightly and shut the door, turning to a bewildered Kaoru.

"Kenshin?" she spoke hesitantly. "What's going on? What do you want to talk to me about?"

Kenshin held up a hand and closed his eyes until Kaoru's questions ceased. "First of all," Kenshin began, opening his eyes again and staring into Kaoru's perplexed face. "I would just like to thank you for giving this one a home for the past couple years."

"Kenshin—" Kaoru tried to break in, but he stopped her.

"It has meant a lot to me…and even more than you continue to open up your heart. It really matters that at least one soul in this world has remained as pure and innocent as yours," Kenshin said, his voice quiet and serious.

Kaoru did not know what to say to this. It left her speechless and still rather confused. Why was he saying all of this to her now?

"Things are changing now, Kaoru-dono. I know you can see it, too," Kenshin went on.

Now Kaoru was concerned. The last time Kenshin had spoken like this, it was right before he'd left her, almost exactly one year ago. She didn't really think he'd do the same again…but could he?

The answer, Kaoru decided, was in Kenshin's heart. And she knew Kenshin's heart; she knew how he felt and how he thought. She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath.

"Naruku-dono and I have decided to go to Kyoto," Kenshin said as Kaoru's eyes fluttered open again.

She was silent. He was going to Kyoto. This didn't mean what it had last time. But what it did mean was a mystery to Kaoru. Why would Kenshin want to return there, of all places? It had always been a place of bitter memories for him, Kaoru thought.

Finally she spoke. "How long will you be gone?"

"A week, perhaps more," Kenshin replied, noticing her downcast tone. "I would never abandon my home," he added, and she raised her eyes to meet his.

She smiled gently at him. Those words were all she had needed from him. When they would leave, why they were going, what they would do…none of it mattered to her as long as he returned. The rest was between him and Naruku.

Naruku sat on the porch underneath a soft gray sky, feeling the chill of wind run goose bumps up her arm. Misao sat to her right, gazing out into the rest of the yard where Kenshin was, strangely enough, teaching Soujiro the correct method of doing the laundry.

How strange it seemed to see the two rurouni—the two master swordsmen—stooped over a wash bucket, discussing the pressure at which to rub haori coats so that the dirt would loosen, but the fabric would remain soft. But then, Naruku could not think of anything more fitting.

It seemed that Soujiro was ready to take on the arduous task of laundry by himself because Kenshin stood up and shook his hands clean of suds. He glanced over in Naruku and Misao's direction, an easy-going expression on his face. His eyes then rose up above Naruku's head as she sat, and he looked at something behind her, his face grew slightly more staid.

She turned and saw familiar black trouser legs. Aoshi was standing there. He seemed to motionlessly beckon to Kenshin who responded and came over without a word. He stepped between Misao and Naruku and quietly followed Aoshi into the house. Naruku watched them go with an expression of particular bemusement.

Misao reached over and patted Naruku's shoulders in an affectionate way. Her eyes had obviously been followed Kenshin and Aoshi as well, and she gave Naruku a knowing, reassuring smile before turning back to watch Soujiro laugh in pure delight at the soap bubbles forming between his hands.

"Naruku is a girl that I have known for a very long time," Aoshi began placidly. He and Kenshin sat across from each other, each carefully sipping a cup of steaming tea.

Kenshin knew that whatever Aoshi wanted to talk about, it was very important to him. So few things in life seemed to be of importance to the Okashira, so Kenshin listened wisely.

"Even if her childhood was interrupted with tragedy, she was always a very content girl," he paused here for a moment before continuing. "There was a light within her, as there was in Misao."

Kenshin looked very solemn. This was why Aoshi had left the Aoiya all those years ago. To protect the lightness that existed in two little girls.

Aoshi's eyes flickered downward, and he was completely still for a moment. "I have seen that light diminish before."

Kenshin searched the contents of his teacup, half-expecting the crazed face of Enizu to appear there. A hissing hatred bubbled up in the pit of his stomach, and he gripped his teacup tighter. This was not an emotion he was accustomed too. Like Aoshi, Kenshin always refrained from deep feelings of hatred. His sense of duty and his morality always came first.

Enizu. The fact that that man managed to raise Kenshin's fine-tuned temper was testament to how deeply Enizu affected him. The dead were just dead, or so Kenshin had always felt. But he had done too much, tortured Naruku for too long. He could not be 'just a person.' He would never be just dead.

Aoshi continued after a moment, his voice as even as always. "The time Naruku spent with Enizu gave me more guilt than working for Kanryuu ever did. Naruku was subdued, dispirited and submissive to Enizu."

Kenshin could swear he saw a flash of fury in Aoshi's eyes, but again his voice did not betray him.

"He took the light right out of her."

Kenshin set his teacup down for fear of breaking it.

"But I have seen the two of you together, and I have seen that light—her spirit—return to her. That, above all else, is what I am most grateful to you for."

Aoshi didn't say more than he needed to, and Kenshin understood.

Aoshi felt a deeply engrained duty to Naruku. It was the same duty that Aoshi had upheld to his fallen comrades. He felt responsible for Naruku's ill fate—but he realized it was Kenshin who alone had brought her back from that and restored who she was.

Kenshin knew that it was not him, but Naruku who had mended her own broken spirit. Naruku had never been meant to be anything other than the effervescent girl she was today.

Nevertheless, it was the care of people like Aoshi and Kenshin that had truly shaped her into who she was—not any event or misfortune she had experienced. Aoshi recognized this, and his role in it. He also saw Kenshin's role in it, and the future he and Naruku were reaching for. Aoshi was giving Kenshin the right to be the person who would care for Naruku, to be the person she turned to indefinitely.

Both men knew this right could only be given by Naruku—but the fact that Aoshi had made this gesture made both of their intentions clear. It was all of the resolve Kenshin needed, and he bowed his head in deep gratitude to Aoshi, who nodded back. And the two men sat and sipped tea in silence, never having reached an agreement as remarkable as that.

It was the day Naruku and Kenshin would leave. The two of them had not explicitly discussed it, but it was some how known between them that they day of their departure had come.

So when Kenshin approached Naruku in the light of the morning, she already knew what he was going to say and nodded accordingly. Her bags were neatly packed, sitting in her bedroom, but she still had one thing left to do before they left.

Heart thudding in her head, Naruku nervously strode over to where Soujiro stood by the dojo gate, overlooking the hillside.

"Beautiful here, isn't it?" Naruku said, startling the young man.

He smiled politely. "Certainly."

Biting her lip and anxiously flexing her fingers over the sheath of her hanashitou, Naruku gave a tense smile back.

"I was just thinking about how lucky Himura-san was to find Kamiya-san and this dojo," Soujiro said reflectively, turning back to look at the landscape.

"He was," Naruku said quietly, letting her hand fall from her sword. "We all were. And…" unsure if she was bold enough to say it, Naruku gulped. "You were very lucky to find Misao-chan."

Soujiro turned to her, the surprise clearly showing on his features. He moved his mouth slowly and uttered, "Yes, I was."

Then, her thoughts growing more and more resolute, Naruku said, "You didn't have a particularly happy childhood, did you Seta-san?"

Partially bewildered by her forwardness, Soujiro answered, "Why do you think that?"

Naruku's reply was simple. "The way you look when Misao is with you. When she's holding your hand or smiling or looking at you with an expression of complete trust. You look like you can't believe it, not for a second. But you do anyway."

"I'm learning to," Soujiro answered. "But what about you, Kokorei-san? What was your past?"

Naruku frowned. "I don't know. It seemed happy. Hard to believe now, but back then I was happy. But then, the past doesn't matter now, right?"

"On the contrary, I think it matters a great deal," Soujiro said. "Or we wouldn't be the people we are."

Naruku thought about this. She remembered the story of Tomoe, Kenshin's late wife. She'd heard the story quite a while ago, but now and then she couldn't help reflecting on the beauty of Kenshin and Tomoe's love, and the tragedy of its demise. She wondered if Kenshin could look back and remember the beauty.

Naruku knew better than anyone how much the simple act of caring can change a person. For Soujiro, that care was enough to keep him from insanity. For Kenshin, it had stopped him from becoming a cold killer, the very person Enizu accused him of being.

Perhaps it was that thought that then drove Naruku to say, "I never thanked you for what you did for me. And Kenshin. Risking yourself like that."

Soujiro didn't respond for a few moments. A gust of wind blew around them and then Soujiro answered, "I'm not sure why I did it."

"But you did," Naruku pressed. "And it saved my life. So thank you."

"I wonder…did Himura-san ever tell you of the time he fought with me on Mt. Hiei?" Soujiro asked suddenly.

Naruku shook her head. "It's not really like him to drudge up old battle stories."

Soujiro nodded and continued. "He beat me with his ougi technique. It was too much for my own secret technique, and I was outmatched. But this time, when our swords met in Castle Edo, mine was the victor. It was the same techniques, the same fighter, but a different situation. And I realized…my sword was stronger because I swung it to protect someone. As strange as that seems…" Soujiro laughed lightly at this, sounding as much the innocent young child as he looked. "But it's what I believe."

Naruku believed it too. She slowly reached up to her sheath again, and unclipped it from her belt. "I've used this sword many times to try to uphold that belief. It is my father's sword, and it was his beliefs I tried to protect. The Hiten Mitsurugi I learned was a lie, but mine, Kenshin's and my father's values were not. And never in my life had I been able to defend them as wholly as you did in those few seconds. So here, I offer you my sword in hopes that you can protect the ones you care about better than I have."

She slowly extended it, hilt-forward, to him.

Soujiro stared at the sword being offered to him. He remembered how it had felt in his hands before, when he had charged into battle selflessly to defend Naruku in that time of peril.

But could he take it from her? How could his stained soul possibly achieve what she was asking? Naruku was far better fit to uphold these beliefs than he, tarnished and broken from his past.

She smiled at him as he hesitated. And then he understood. It was not an honor she was offering him, but an obligation she was giving him. A reason to stay true to his promises and newfound beliefs.

Not only was she entrusting her belief to him, but also the fate of some one she loved.

Misao. She was telling him to protect Misao.

Soujiro slowly reached his hand out and wrapped it around the hilt of her sword. Her smile grew as he pulled it out of its sheathe and watched it shine flawlessly in the golden light of the morning.

After marveling over it for a moment, Soujiro took the gray steel sheath from Naruku and slid the sword inside. He clipped it to his belt, completing the transaction, and let it rest peacefully at his hip.

"Thank you," he said in a tone of deep sincerity.

Naruku nodded, the corners of her mouth curved into a serene smile. The feeling of loss after giving the sword to Soujiro quickly diminished in light of a new, blooming feeling in her chest. This was right, she felt it.

And now, finally, she could begin her journey down the road of redemption.

May 8

Meiji 13

Naruku-dono and I departed from Tokyo earlier today. We did not want to make it a big deal when we left, but there were still many goodbyes and good lucks exchanged as we left. We even stopped at the Akabeko and Tae-dono gave us her well wishes.

I can tell that Naruku-dono is excited to go to Kyoto, but scared as well. She hides her fear well, but it is still there. I don't know what she hopes to find in Kyoto, or even if she hopes at all.

I noticed when we left that she did not have her hanashitou. I saw later that Soujiro was carrying it. She didn't explain it, and I did not ask. Whatever transpired between them has put her in good spirits. And after drinking tea with Aoshi yesterday, I am feeling the same.

I know whatever we find in Kyoto, it will change things. Change is a natural process of life and I have seen it occurring more and more with the passing days. Naruku-dono sees it as well and she smiles; welcoming the change as she always has.

At this moment, that is the most important thing to me, and I will follow her lead.

Change--End

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A/N: I'd like to thank everyone who continues to read and review. It really means a lot to me, and my day is that much better when I know people are reading my work and thinking about it enough to tell me what they think. So thank you.

Also I want to let you know about an experimental forum I started called "The OC Exchange." Check it out.