AN: I haven't had time to edit this, and I don't have a beta, so I apologize for any mistakes.

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.

Always and Forever

Chapter 6- Confrontations and Confessions

Kaoru sighed quietly. Really, the man had a one-track mind at times. He hadn't even said hello to her and he was already demanding to know who, though she couldn't really blame him.

"Enishi Yukishiro," she told him while taking a seat on the bench next to him.

"You promised you'd return to me, Kaoru. What happened to that, did it really mean so little to you?" Kaoru winced at his calm tone. She'd half hoped he'd get mad at her when she told him, though she knew he'd be this calm, he always was.

"It didn't mean little to me. When I made that promise I meant it, with my whole heart. But, Kenshin, you have to understand, people change. I still care for you, but Enishi…"

"I don't want to here about Enishi," Kenshin snapped.

"Make up your mind! You wanted to know what happened to that promise, well I can't tell you without including Enishi." Kaoru growled, trying to keep her temper under control.

Kenshin watched her as she turned her head to glare at something down the street. Seeming to ignore her outburst, he didn't answer. When Kenshin didn't respond Kaoru turned to look at him. He reached up and cupped her cheek in his palm, running his thumb along her cheekbone. When she didn't resist, he leaned in and gently kissed her.

"I won't give you up so easily," he whispered against her lips. Without another word he stood up and walked away.

Kaoru watched him walk away, too shocked to try to stop him. She wasn't so shocked about him kissing her as she was about allowing him to. Groaning, she rested her head in her hands and tried to straighten her thoughts out. That was how the others found her when they returned a few minutes later.

"Kaoru, are you all right?" Misao sat beside her, touching her shoulder gently.

"Yeah," she sighed as she straightened and looked at her three friends.

"Where did Kenshin go?" Sano asked, noticing the absence of the red head.

"I don't know. He just left," Kaoru shrugged, not really caring where he was at the moment.

"He didn't take the news too well, I take it?" Megumi raised an eyebrow as she watched her friend struggle with her thoughts.

"No, I guess not," she agreed. "He wouldn't even let me explain… he just asked who, then left." She purposely left out the part about the promise. None of them knew about it, no one did… except her and Kenshin.

Megumi and Misao exchanged worried looks at this. Kenshin wasn't the type of person to not let someone explain, especially if that someone was Kaoru. Something else was wrong.

"Can we just forget about this for now and continue with whatever you guys had planned?" Kaoru asked quietly as she stood.

"Sure, Jou-chan," Sano answered easily. Kaoru offered him a grateful smile before looking around curiously.

"Where's Aoshi?" She asked.

"I dunno, he said he'd meet us back here," Sano shrugged. A few minutes later Aoshi came around the corner. He didn't say anything about where he'd been, or about Kenshin's absence.

"So, where should we go for lunch?" Misao asked, attaching herself to Aoshi's arm.

"How about the Akebeko?" Kaoru suggested.

"Sure, it's not that far from here," Misao made a vague motion with her hand in the direction of the restaurant. Megumi and Misao started discussing what they should do after lunch as they started following Sano and Aoshi. Both girls tried to pull Kaoru into the conversation, but she was lost in her thoughts, and eventually they gave up.

Enishi sat down on the dojo steps, setting the practice sword on the smooth wood behind him. Koshijiro's suggestion had been to spar a little, having heard from Kaoru that Enishi was pretty good with a sword. Enishi had been all for it, it had been a while since he'd sparred with anyone of decent skill level other than Kaoru.

"Here," Koshijiro handed him a glass of ice water.

"Thanks," he accepted the glass gratefully.

"You're better than I thought you would be. Kaoru only said that you were decent," the older man eased himself down on the steps next to his soon to be son-in-law. The young man had gotten in a few good hits that were making movement a little stiff. "Kaoru's always had a thing for swordsmen," he chuckled.

"Really?" Enishi was interested now.

"The guy she was dating when I sent her to America to finish her schooling was a swordsman… Actually, now that I think about it, I believe they were still going out even after she left. I never heard anything about them breaking up."

"She never mentioned anyone," Enishi confessed quietly.

"Hmm.. I figured that would be one of the first things she would have told you."

"No, she never mentioned anything about past relationships. Who was he?" Koshijiro studied him for a long moment.

"Kaoru should tell you about him herself. I'll tell you his name, but nothing else, you'll have to ask Kaoru about him. His name is Kenshin Himura."

"Kenshin Himura… I've heard that name before."

"Hmm…" Koshijiro shrugged, "how about another round before we call it quits?" He motioned towards the practice hall behind them.

"Sure," Enishi grinned. Setting the empty glass down, he grabbed the wooden sword and followed Koshijiro back into the building.

It was nearly dark by the time Aoshi pulled up in front of the dojo to drop Kaoru off. Kaoru climbed out of the car and turned to Misao, who was leaning out of the passenger side window.

"There's a new place opening the day after tomorrow. We were planning on going," she motioned towards the cars other occupants, " Do you think you and Enishi would be interested in joining us?"

"I'll have to talk to Enishi about it. I'll call you tomorrow and let you know, ok?"

"All right," Misao agreed, pulling her upper body back into the car, only to stick her arm back out to wave as the car pulled away. Kaoru walked through the gate, closing and locking it behind her. She spotted Enishi sitting on the steps by the practice hall and went to join him.

"Hey," she greeted as she sat next to him.

"Hey, did you have fun?" He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her closer.

"Yeah." She leaned her head against his shoulder, feeling comforted by his presence.

"What did you guys do?"

"We went out to lunch, then we went shopping. We only went shopping to torture the guys," she laughed. Enishi chuckled.

"Was it the same friends we had dinner with last night? Or did any other friends join you?" Kaoru tilted her head away from his shoulder to look at him.

"One of my other friends joined us for a little while, but then something came up and he left."

"Was it Kenshin Himura?"

"Yeah." Kaoru looked up at him again. She couldn't remember telling him Kenshin's last name.

"Your father mentioned him today, said you two had been going out when you went to America," he explained, seeing her questioning look. "He wouldn't tell me anything other than that, said I had to ask you about him."

"I suppose you want me to explain, huh?"

"When you're ready to. There's probably a good reason why you haven't told me about him yet, I can respect that. So I'll wait until you're ready."

"Thank you, Enishi." She rested her head on his shoulder again, but the comfort was gone.

"I love you, I'd do anything for you, Kaoru," he whispered, tightening his grip on her.

"I love you to, Enishi."

AN: It's leaning more and more towards Kaoru/Enishi, I know, but the pairing is Kaoru/Kenshin, I swear it'll start making itself more apparent here in the next few chapters.

Thanks to: Jasmine blossom625, keena, Moonlight Star Phoenix, shinta, reiko-chan, Kaoru-Kitty, Kendokawaii00, Chibi Reli, sapphireracoongal, noneedforprozac27, gabyhyatt, Anonymous but very interested (I hope I got everyone... if not, sorry)

Your reviews are very much appreciated, especially the ones with questions or comments about things you noticed.

I'd prefer reviews that are more than "great story so far" or something like that, but if that's all you have time say, or you just don't want to say anything else, that's fine to -

Note to Anonymous but very interested- your questions will eventually be answered (I'd answer them now, but that would give too much away.)