All right, back again with another update. There will be adult scenes in this chapter and possibly bad language too. I'm just making it now so let's see how it turns out.

It's been six months. Our wedding had been planned for the following month. I could not bring myself to cancel the arrangements. So, as far as anyone knew the wedding was still on. I had hoped we would be able to work things out, but he didn't come for me.

I noticed a few changes to the lobby of the building as I walked through for the first time in six months. Nothing big, only subtle differences. I nodded to Charles, the concierge. He was always very good to me. Many times I found my favorite comfort foods sent up to my condo without requesting them. I came to find out that Charles had noticed when I was having a rough time of things and wanted to make me feel better. Funny how most of those times involved Kenshin in some way.

The professional season was long and arduous. At least once a week Kenshin played on the road, and twice a month there were road trips that lasted more than 4 days. I felt so lonely when he was away. I would stay up at all hours of the night to wait for him even if he wasn't due to come home the next day. I tried to make up for every minute he was away the moment he stepped through the door.

I made him my life. Even though I knew he loved me dearly, I felt that something was missing. I hadn't been happy for a while though I showed no signs of this. He was on the receiving end of everything. I gave and gave, and got nothing in return. He is a good man and I can't fully believe that he was truly happy either. We just didn't have the time to communicate like we needed. We were only going through the motions of what was familiar. He gave us both an out when he cheated.

The truth was that I had already been preparing to leave. I needed to get away and find what I had lost; figure out what had been missing between us. The love was there, but there was no more passion. I could play the part really well though. I smirked to myself, I should have been an actor.

The time spent apart was time well spent. I found what was lost. I had lost my sense of self. My will to live. In giving everything to Kenshin, I gave away my life. I tried to be someone I'm not. Pretended was more like it, because everyday I lived the lie I killed a piece of my true self.

I wasn't always like this. I once had dreams, ambitions, things I wanted to do, places I wanted to go. I used to be so lively, confident, and so happy. Always with a bright smile. I never let anyone push me around and was know by my peers as someone who would not conform to convention. I marched to my own beat and held great conviction in my unorthodox views. These were things that Kenshin had originally found attractive in me and prompted our first meeting.

In the end I regained my strength and played off of the push Kenshin gave. I left, but he was supposed to follow.

I took a deep breath as the elevator doors opened to hallway that would lead me to discover if there was any real hope for us. I was scared shitless. I want things to work. I want to marry this man.

I walked through the door to the condo and was taken aback at the scene before me: Sano on the couch on top of some young thing making out like teenagers, in my living room that looks like a bomb hit it, on my couch that was surrounded by bottles of a ridiculous variety of alcohol. I pulled myself together before I beat him over the head. I noticed Kenshin was nowhere in sight.

"Hello Sano." I spoke in an arrogant voice.

He shot up from the couch, standing ramrod straight. With no shirt on he spoke rather loud, "Oh, hey Kaoru! It's been a while."

I smiled slightly, enjoying his fidgeting. Poor boy. He was Kenshin's best friend on the team, and was no doubt trying to help his best bud get over the love of his life.

"It has. Sorry about your not making the playoffs. Kenshin is in the bedroom I'm guessing?"

A look of complete horror crossed his face. He leaned down to the girl who had by now poked her head up to see what the fuss was about.

"Sano, I expect this place to be picked up now, and you and that thing gone by the time Kenshin and I come out of that room." I spoke with all the confidence I had lost before. I was feeling good. I was feeling like me.

"No problem."

As I turned I could hear Sano shuffling about and mumbling for the flavor of the week to get her shit together and help him before they both get thrown out of the window. Sano was one of few who knew me before Kenshin, so he knew all the wonderfully pleasant tortures that awaited him if he did not comply like a good little boy.

I made my way to the bedroom knowing that Kenshin was in there with some floozy. Sano's loud talking was a dead give away. I steeled myself for the scene I was about to face.

Not one to disappoint, there they were. Kenshin was laying on his back, hands fisted under the sheet as the tent in the middle bobbed up and down. I stood there waiting for a bit seeing if he would notice an intrusion, and committing the sight to memory. Apparently he didn't pick up on Sano's warning. A short minute later a body burst from under the blanket and situated herself on top of Kenshin and continued to "rock his world." I laughed to myself. How stupid! Kenshin looked bored as hell. When I saw the little twitch his ear makes when he is close to climax I cleared my throat loudly. "AAAHHHEEEMMM!"

Startled out of his stupor, Kenshin turned toward me eyes wide. The woman on him stopped and screamed grabbing the sheets.

"Tadaima!" I smiled lazily.

"O...okaeri na...na...nasai." He stuttered out the response I would naturally give him upon his return home when he would have said tadaima. Finally noticing his position, he threw the woman off him yelled for her to get the hell out. The woman, though stunned, grabbed her stuff and ran out tail between her legs. I didn't blame her for her fear. I just put Kenshin in one of those rare moods of his. "Ka...Kaoru? You've come home."

I wasn't sure what to make of that. He said it so blandly. I couldn't tell if he was happy or annoyed. As he approached me I refused to back away. We just stared at each other. I let my disappointment show clearly. His anger was apparent but so was his longing. It seems that Kenshin Himura was still in love with lil' ol' me. When he was close enough he raised his hand to touch my face.

"Hey Kao!" Sano called from the living room. "I'm all done picking up, send me the cleaning bill, okay? Someone sent up a tray of food, it's in the living room. I'll be leaving now."

I turned slightly to call out to him, effectively blocking Kenshin's attempt to touch me. "Bye Sano!"

I looked at Kenshin with a look of disgust and walked out to the living room. I have to remember to give Charles a good tip for this. I needed the energy for the upcoming battle.

Sorry about ending it here like this but I'm really tired and I don't think I can deal with the dialogue right now. So you'll just have to wait. Originally the next chapter was going to be the last but now that I'm procrastinating, there'll be 2 more chapters. The next one will probably be very short only including the dialogue and an ending scene for the chapter.