Kaoru woke up and it was early, seeing the old lady sleeping so peacefully as if she wasn't breathing... Wait! Not breathing? Kaoru got out of bed and rushed over to the old lady and placed her ear against the old lady's chest looking for a heartbeat. A few seconds past and nothing. Nothing at all. Tears fell down Kaoru's cheek and cried silently beside the dead woman. It had been a long time since she sat there next to the dead, Kaoru saw the sun rays peeked through the curtains and dark circles were now under her eyes, puffy from crying. Her legs were numb from sitting there and she didn't feel like going on an errand now that the old lady was gone.

A knock was on the door and Kaoru snapped back to reality. Trying her hardest, the numbness made her weak in the legs and she could barely stand. A knock was on the door again, in a more urgent kind of way.

" Jou-chan! Granny! Are you up yet?" Kaoru sighed, it was only Sano.

" Yes, I am!" Kaoru replied, still trying to get blood flowing through her legs. Outside Sano sighed,

" Then get granny awake so we can go on our errands!" Sano cried as he left. Kaoru heard his footsteps disappear and Kaoru sighed. Then she looked back at the corpse and thought,

' What am I going to do with the body now? Better yet, how am I to tell them that she's dead?' Once her legs were free of numbness, Kaoru got up and went to gather the rest of the family into her room. Aoshi, Kenshin who were sleeping had to be yanked awake and Kaoru had to fetch Sano from the candy shop. They all sat down, staring at her and the old lady, who they thought was still sleeping. Sano looked over at the old lady,

" Hey, Jou-chan. Didn't I tell you to wake granny up?" Sano replied as he got up and walked over to the old lady and tried to shake her up. Kaoru just sat there, bangs covering her face. She replied dully,

" She's dead, Sano." All three boys had shock written on their faces. Sano thought she was joking and laughed a little like he couldn't believe it and started to shake the old lady awake.

" Come on, granny. We know that you're just in a deep slumber. Come on, wake up." Sano tried and tried again, hoping her time wasn't here, but it was. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he tried to hold in a sob, but couldn't as he cried out in anguish. " Why?!" Sano cried. Kaoru, Kenshin and Aoshi all looked down as Sano's cries were the only thing they heard.

Few days later, they all had a proper burial for the old lady and they all went back to their normal lives doing what they were doing before. Kenshin and Aoshi took turns tending the shop as Kaoru and Sano went out to do errands.

" So... are you still planning to win our little bet?" Sano asked smirking. Kaoru could only glare at the "rooster head" and replied,

" Of course! I'm never letting you take away my first kiss. I want to save it for Kenii." Sano was a little hurt by this but still didn't say anything about it. Who could when the girl just didn't have any feelings for him. He sighed and replied,

" Well then, if that's how you want it... I won't be treating you out to lunch. You'll have to starve until we finish with our errands." Kaoru could only stand in shock.

" You wouldn't dare!" Kaoru growled. Sano smirked as he continued on his way. Kaoru ran to catch up to him and looked up at his eyes. " You're lying aren't you? You didn't mean it did you?"

Sano could only stare at the raven haired girl and replied seriously, " Do I look like I'm joking? I can't have you wasting all my hard earn money when I could use your share for something else..Besides, I have to eat you know." Kaoru just glared,

" Well, I have to eat too, I'll have you know!"

" Really? Well, if you want to be skinny, missy... go on a diet!" Sano laughed as he ran ahead.

" Hey!" Kaoru cried chasing after him. When it was lunch, Sano was right about not treating her to lunch, he was stuffing his face while Kaoru just sat there next to him and crossed her arms across her chest. A rumble of hunger was heard from the raven haired girl and a blush crept up her cheeks. Sano could only laugh, Kaoru turned the other way.

" Oh? It's you guys." a voice replied. Kaoru and Sano both looked up at the voice and the boy looked familiar to them; White hair, black tinted glasses...

" Um... do we know you?" Kaoru replied after a while. The boy came and sat next to Kaoru who only drew back slightly,

" I'm Enishi Yukishiro. Nice to meet you." Enishi replied softly. Kaoru remembered that name somewhere... but where? Then she remembered,

" You're the guy from last week, right?" Kaoru cried. Enishi could only nod,

" Yeah. Wow, so you're buddy here doesn't want to share food with you? That's downright mean, here. Compliments of me. I gotta go, see ya!" Enishi ran off. Kaoru looked down at her hands and there was a bright red apple. Kaoru could only smile,

' Thanks Enishi.' Kaoru thought. Sano could only glare at Enishi's back with jealousy and looked back at Kaoru was busy eating her apple.

' Darn. I thought Kaoru would beg me to buy her something. Oh well, no money will be wasted then.' Sano thought happily.

Finishing up their second part of rounds, they went back home where it was Aoshi's turn tending to the shop and few children were over there at the counter choosing which candy they wanted and it caused some sort of racket and Kaoru and Sano could see that the katana master was losing his patience and very fast!

" Aoshi, why don't you go inside and rest. I'll take care of this." Kaoru replied and the shop was saved as he went back inside along with Sano and their savings. Kaoru finished up with the shop and waited a little to make sure that no one else was coming before closing shop. She walked in and the smell of food wafted in the air and she drooled at the thought of food. Sano had freshened up and was waiting at the table, Kaoru could only roll her eyes as she sat across from him and Aoshi. Kenshin came in with a pot of ramen and sat next to Kaoru. They ate.

' It's been five days since you passed and not once did I forget about you. I am sad that we only got to know each other for two months, but I guess that you can't help when the time comes. Your death has deeply affected us all, we all hoped that we would continue living until we were old enough to be on our own, yet it didn't come. I miss you, granny. I miss you, mom.' Kaoru thought as she finally found the peace that she needed to fall asleep.