AN: I hope I don't confuse too many people with this chapter… Let me know if you are confused about something and I'll try to clear it up as much as possible.

Always and Forever

Chapter 13- Meet the parents… Or not?

It was early evening when Enishi knocked lightly on Kaoru's door, hoping that she was already awake so that he didn't have to wake her up himself.

"Yeah?" She called softly from somewhere within the room. If her voice was any indication, she'd been awake for a while.

"Dinner's ready, if you would like to join us?" He gave her the option to back out if she wanted to, even though his parents had practically ordered her to join them.

"All right, I'll be out in a minute," she responded. He could hear her moving about the room.

"Would you like me to wait, so you don't get lost?" He asked, amusement coloring his voice.

"Could you?" A vague thump came from somewhere behind the door.

"Of course," he chuckled lightly and leaned against the wall next to the door.

A few minutes later the door opened, revealing an awake, though sleepy looking, Kaoru.

"Didn't sleep well?" Enishi asked, wrapping an arm around her waist.

"I had a nightmare," she shrugged, blocking the images that came to mind.

"What was it about?" He asked. He pulled gently in the direction of the living room, getting her to walk while they talked.

"Umm…." She hesitated. She didn't think it was a wise idea to tell Enishi that her dreams had actually been a memory, a memory of a day spent in the park with Kenshin. It hadn't ended as that day had, that was why she'd called it a nightmare.

"Talking may help," Enishi offered lightly, seeing her hesitation.

"Well…" she started, "I dreamed that I mistook someone very important to me for someone else." Enishi nodded understandingly, but remained silent. "It was horrible, I didn't even give it a second thought," she continued, unable to stop herself now that she'd started.

"I can see how that would be a nightmare," Enishi agreed. "Who was it?" Kaoru tensed at the question.

"I don't remember," she lied.

"Dreams are like that," Tomoe cut in before Enishi could respond. "Mother asked me to tell you that father had to go out, emergency business or something like that. Since father won't be here for dinner, mother decided to join her friends for dinner, so she won't be there either."

"So it's just us three then?" Kaoru asked with a yawn.

"Yes," Tomoe nodded at her while looping her arm through Enishi's free arm.

"Shall we?" He asked. When both nodded at him, he escorted them to the dinning room.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, Kaoru, do you have any idea's for where the wedding should be held?" Tomoe asked, relaxing in her chair while the maid cleared the table.

"Not really," Kaoru responded slowly, "I've never been to Tokyo before, so I really don't have any idea's."

"That's all right," Tomoe smiled, "I know of a few places that you might like. I'll take you to them tomorrow, that is, if you and Enishi don't have any plans for tomorrow?" Her dark eyes drifted questioningly to her little brother.

"We haven't made any definite plans for the week, besides, even if we had, wedding plans come before any other plans."

"All right then, tomorrow sound good to you, Kaoru?" Tomoe turned her attention back to Kaoru, waiting patiently for an answer.

"Sure," Kaoru shrugged, not seeing any problems with the idea.

"We'll leave after lunch tomorrow then," Tomoe smiled and excused herself.

"Another step closer," Enishi commented quietly as Tomoe exited the room.

"One more day closer," Kaoru responded, smiling softly.

"Only five more."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kenshin stretched out on the couch, phone cradled against his shoulder, listening to the person on the other side of the line.

"We're going out tomorrow to look at places for the wedding," the female voice drifted across the line.

"Why are you telling me all of this, Tomoe?" He asked, voice tense and pained.

"Because I'm going to talk some sense into her, Kenshin." Tomoe's reply was blunt.

"Why are you even doing this though?"

"As much as I love my brother, and I don't want to hurt him, I can tell that they don't belong together."

"And Kaoru and I do?" He raised an eyebrow, voice skeptical.

"Yes," she answered matter-of-factly. When Kenshin didn't say anything she continued. "You two love each other, more than Kaoru and Enishi love each other. If they get married they'll be happy, for a while. Eventually they'll realize that they weren't meant to marry, and they'd be unhappy until they separated."

"That doesn't explain why Kaoru and I should be together more than she and Enishi should," Kenshin sighed.

"Stop questioning fate," Tomoe snapped, surprising Kenshin. "You two belong together, you're soul mates. I know you can see that, why else would you have tried to win her back while she was in Kyoto? Yet now, when I'm offering to help you win her back, you act like it doesn't matter."

"I…"

"No. I don't want to hear what you have to say, baka, just listen, all right?"

"Fine," he gave in, though he couldn't help but smile in amusement.

"Now, I'm taking her around Tokyo tomorrow after lunch. While we're out I'm going to talk to her about her feelings for you, try to get her to open up a little. More than likely I'll give her more to think about, and she'll figure things out before the wedding. If not, then at least I tried, and maybe she'll return to you one day, if you haven't found someone else…"

"I won't," he interrupted.

"And why won't you?" Kenshin chuckled, imagining her glaring at him with a raised eyebrow. To most she seemed to be a quiet woman, one who was kind and gentle to a fault. However, once you got to know her she proved to be a headstrong woman who knew what she wanted from life, and wasn't afraid to do what she needed to in order to get that.

"I promised her that I would always wait for her."

"And when did this happen?"

"Last night." It was hard to believe that he'd just made that promise last night, the day had seemed to stretch on forever.

"Well, that works out for the best then," he could hear Tomoe's smile in her voice. "I'd better get off of here now, tomorrow's going to be a long day. I'll call you tomorrow when we get back."

"All right. Goodnight."

"Goodnight. And Kenshin…don't be so down about it, she'll come back to you soon, I know she will."

"Thanks."

Kenshin hung up the phone and set it on the floor next to the couch. He leaned his head back against the arm of the couch and watched the lights from passing cars dance across the ceiling.

"Good luck, Tomoe. You'll need it, if you think you can convince Kaoru of anything," he said to his empty apartment with a laugh.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AN: I'm a day late, sorry. I've had this chapter done for a little while (since before I posted chapter 12, actually) but I've been so busy with homework that I haven't had the chance to edit it to much, so I hope there aren't too many errors. Feel free to point them out, if you want.

Thank you to those who reviewed: Eternal Spring89, sapphireracoongal, Shinta-FAn, Kristy-chan

noneedforprozac27- When it comes to my fan fiction I'll answer whatever questions people ask, as long as I'm not revealing something from a future chapter. I'm glad you liked that scene, I have to say, that's one of my favorite scenes - Thanks for letting me know how my self-editing is, from my point of view it sucks, but what I think doesn't matter much, lol.

Sorry if I forgot anyone.