A/N: Important, I need everyone's opinion. Should I pair Tomoe with Akira after I make her suffer and redeem herself, or lock her up in some confinement forever. Who should Misao be paired with? Aoshi or Soujiro. Since Misao can't have the "child" love for Aoshi.

i had this ready to go on tuesday, but somehow my internet failed so i went to the school to use it, but it doesn't let me on certain sites. so sorry i made u wait.

Chapter 22
Inspections

Tomoe sat in her office, twirling in her chair. She felt awfully elated that she had found a way to cause hurt to both Kenshin and Kaoru. Kaoru, for taking Kenshin away from her, and Kenshin, for dumping her. They both deserved it.

Feeling bored, she stopped twirling in her chair, when she caught sight of the latest issue of J-news on the table. She reached for it and began to flip through the pages absently, only coming to a stop on the page with the heading 'The Fifty Richest Bachelors in Japan. She scanned through the pictures, stopping only at the good-looking ones to read their information.

Number 31
Name : Kogo Katsura
Age : 24
Estimated wealth : 25 million
Position : Chairman of Kogo Corporations
Siblings : One younger brother
Status : Lives in New York; currently single.

Number 24
Name : Himura Kenshin
Age : 22
Estimated wealth : 40 million
Position : President of Himura Corporations
Siblings : None
Status : Lives in Parks Street; recently split from girlfriend, Yukishiro Tomoe.

She clenched her fists in anger at what she read, but she calmed down quickly, reminding herself that Kenshin will be hers… eventually, anyway. After Kaoru is out of the picture.

Number 16
Name : Sagara Sanosuke
Age : 22
Estimated wealth : 48 million
Position : President of Sagara Corporations
Siblings : None
Status : Lives in Honda Street; currently single

"My, my, my", she thought. "This is surprising. I never knew Sano was so capable…so…rich."

Number 12
Name : Shishio
Age : 23
Estimated wealth : 52 million
Position : Chairman and major shareholder of Japan Hairstyling Corporations, used to be a famous hair stylest.
Siblings : none
Status : Lives in Honda street. Current girl friend, Yumi

Number: 9

Name: Kiyosato Akira
Age: 26

Estimated Wealth: 53 million

Position: Vice president of Kamiya Corporations

Sibilings: none

Status: lives on Edo street. Currently single.

Number 8
Name : Shinomori Aoshi
Age : 27
Estimated wealth : 65 million
Position : President of Kamiya Corporations
Siblings : One younger sister, Kamiya Kaoru
Status : Lives in Edo Street; currently single.

Number 3
Name : Hiko Seijiro

Age : 49
Estimated wealth : 66 million
Position :Retired Pres—

Suddenly, she jerked her head back up to look at Shinomori Aoshi picture. He seemed oddly familiar. She scanned through the little bit of information again and inhaled sharply at what she read. Kamiya Kaoru. She zeroed in on his picture and tried to recall where she had seen him before. In a flash, it came to her. First, at the boutique and later, at the Sagara's dinner party, with Kamiya Kaoru . The ends of her mouth curved into a sinister smile. So, our dear little Kaoru has been keeping a secret, eh?

"Miss Yukishiro?" asks Megumi, poking her head into Tomoe's office. "There's a man waiting outside who claims that he has an appointment with you at 11.30 A.M."

"Send him in, please," she says, getting up from her seat and clearing her table.

"This way, please," says Megumi, ushering him into Tomoe office, then closing the door behind her.

"Good morning, Yukishiro-dono," bows the man.

"Good morning, Kanryu Takeda. Please have a seat."

"Did you want to see me about something?" he asks, seating himself directly in front of her.

"There are two people that I would like you to check out for me. I want every little bit of information on them. Do you think you can do it?" she asks, sliding a picture of Kaoru towards him.

"You said there were two. Where's the other one?"

"There's a little girl that she'll be visiting some time soon, her name is Sakura Seijiro. That, would be the second person."

"How much are you offering?"

"Just name your price," says Tomoe, taking out her checkbook.

"Twenty-five thousand."

"Deal," she says, signing the check with a flourish and handing it over to him. "How soon would I be able to get their information?"

"In a week."

"Guess who?" says Kenshin, covering my eyes from behind me, and leaning close to whisper into my ear.

"Kenshin!" I exclaim, pushing him away. "We're still at the office!" I say, darting a furtive look around to see if anyone saw what we were doing.

"But everybody's gone home!" he whined. "It's way past working hours and I am willing to bet that there aren't that many hardworking employees here who are willing to stay back and work for extra hours, voluntarily," he says, putting extra emphasis on the last word.

"Really?" I ask, hurriedly putting away my things. "What time is it anyway?"

"6.30."

"WHAT?" I cried, whirling around to face him.

"Yup! It's 6.31 now. Why? You have a date or something?" he asks, his eyes twinkling as he came over to wrap his arms around me.

"Oh, how did you know?" I ask, playing along with him. "Are you stalking me?"

"Possibly…" he trailed off, cocking his head to the side. "Who's the lucky guy?"

"It's a secret," I say, grinning up at him.

"Then I'll just have to hunt him down myself and beat him up for messing around with my girl," he says, kissing me on the forehead. "So, want to have dinner together?"

"Not tonight, I can't."

"Why not?" he pouted.

"Aoshi bringing us out to eat tonight," I say, shooting him an apologetic grin.

"Can't you skip this one meal?" he asks.

"Nah, I shouldn't. I'm sorry, Kenshin. I promise I'll make it up to you tomorrow."

"But today's my bi—"

"Your what?" I ask, turning to look at him questioningly.

"It's nothing. Forget it," he says, shaking his head. "Come, I'll send you home."

(Normal pov)

Kenshin pulled his car to a sharp stop in front of his house, crunching gravel beneath his tires. As he entered his house, he smiled at the servants that bowed to him in greeting. Upon reaching his room, he took off his jacket and flung it onto his bed. Then, he unbuttoned his collar, yanked his tie off him and rolled up his sleeves, slumping down onto a nearby leather couch miserably.

He slid his hand into his trouser pocket and took out the blue velvet box. Slowly, he lifted the lid and gazed at the pair of silver rings which lay inside. He took out the thinner silver band and held it up against the light, closing one eye so that he could read what was inscribed on it.

Kaoru&Kenshin

He dropped the ring back into the box and snapped it shut, slipping the box back into his pocket. He had bought it a few days ago, hoping to put it on her finger today…on his birthday. But, it seems as though Kaoru had forgotten about his birthday. Either that, or she didn't care. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, massaging his temples gently.

A few minutes later, his cell phone rang shrilly, jolting him from his little nap.

"Otou-san!" came Sakura's happy shriek.

"Hello, Sakura-chan," he said, smiling. "And it's Onee-san, not Otou-san."

"But I like Otuo-san better," she whined.

"Okay, okay! Now, what did you call me for? Did something happen to you?"

"Nope. I just wanted to wish you a great, big, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

"Sakura-chan, you don't have to yell. I can hear you perfectly fine. At the rate you're screaming, I'll be deaf in 10 minutes."

"I'm sorry," she says, giggling a little. "Anyway, do you want to come over and celebrate your birthday wi—YAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Sakura-chan? Sakura? This is not the time to play tricks. Sakura, answer me," cried Kenshin into the receiver frantically, but all he got in return was a dead line.

Leaping to his feet, he hurriedly ran out of his room and hopped into his car, driving as fast as he could towards the little cottage.

Kenshin got out of his car and his heart dropped at what he saw. The little picket gate that led to the cottage was left ajar. Flowers with broken stalks were strewn over the garden, as though someone had carelessly trampled over them. He reached in his car again to grab his sakabatou. As he neared the door, he noticed it was left open too, and that the lock had been tampered with. The insides of the house were dark, and Kenshin stepped inside carefully, moving his hand along the walls to guide him. Worry began to assail him from all sides when he could not feel a single presence inside the house.

"Sakura-chan?" he called out. "Sae-dono? Are you guys all right?"

He stumbled a little and cursed audibly when he banged his hip against the sharp corner of a table. As he straightened himself, he drew in a sharp breath and froze, all his senses alert when he heard something…a distinct click, as though the trigger of a gun was being pulled back.

He made his way across the room, to where the light switch were as quietly as he could, his heart thumping against his rib cage and blood pounding through his head. He finally found the light switch, and with sweaty palms, he pushed it upwards, flooding the entire place with light, blinding him for a moment while his eyes adjusted themselves to the sudden brightness.

"SURPRISE!"

Kenshin nearly jumped out of his skin at the chorus of all his friend's loud voices. He stood rooted to the ground, scanning the eager and happy faces of five of his closest friends, namely, Shishio, Kamatari, Iizuka and Sano. Just then, Sakura squeezed between their legs and came running towards him.

"Otuo-san! Were you scared?" she asks, giggling, when Kenshin lifted her up into his arms.

"You're getting naughty, Sakura-chan. Trying to scare your Otuo-san like that. Do you know how worried I was?" he asks, pinching her cheeks.

"Those nee-san made me do it!" she says, pointing at the laughing guys.

"You guys are rotten, do you know that?" asks Kenshin, laughing as he walked over to them. "Already in your twenties and still playing childish tricks on other people. When will you guys ever grow up?"

"Ooooooooooh…that's mean!" says Iizuka, folding his arms across his chest and pouting. "We planned this surprise party for you and all you could do is just scold us? You meanie. Right, Kamatari?"

"Yeah! Meanie Kenshin," says Kamatari with his high pitched voice, sticking his tongue out at Kenshin.

"Awwwww, come on. I was just playing! Honestly, the both of you are sooooo sensitive!" laughed Kenshin. "By the way, thanks for all these, guys. I really wasn't expecting it."

"You thought we would forget, eh?" says Shishio, patting Kenshin on the shoulder.

"All right, then. Now that he's here, we can all start eating!" yelled Eric, ushering everyone into the dining hall.

"No!" says Sano. "There's still one more person."

"Who?" chorused everyone, turning to look at him questioningly.

As if on cue, the front door burst open and a girl with her hair in a wild disarray behind her ran towards them. "All right, I'm here!" she panted, gasping for breath. When she got her breath back, she straightened herself and looked around at the small crowd, finally catching sight of Kenshin. She bit her bottom lip, and scrunched her face up a little.

(Kaoru's pov)

"I'm a little late, aren't I?" I asked, meekly.

"Yes, Kaoru-chan, you are," says Kamatari, grinning at me.

"I'm sorry. I got caught in the jam and the cab driver couldn't do anything about it. I'm really, really sorry."

"It's okay. What matters most is that you're here," says Kenshin, coming over to stand next to me. "I thought you had to attend some dinner with your brother."

"Oh…that…umm…I lied," I said, my face flushing red with embarrassment.

"Oh? Lying to your boyfriend, eh?" teased Kenshin.

"BOYFRIEND?" yelled Iizuka, Kamatari and Shishio.

"Oh, yeah…guys, meet Kamiya Kaoru, my girlfriend. Kaoru-dono, this is Iizuka, Kamatari, and –"

"Shishio! Kamatari!" I yelled, totally flabbergasted.

Shishio, who was happily munching on a little cupcake looked up at me in surprise. His jaw dropped open in disbelief as recognition finally dawned on him. "Kaoru? What are YOU doing here?"

"I should be asking you that!"

"I'm Himura's friend!"

"And I'm Kenshin's girlfriend!"

"Girlfriend? Kenshin doesn't have a girlfriend! Do you, Himura?" he asks, turning to look at Kaoru.

"Yes, I do, Shishio. If you had been listening to our conversation earlier, you would have known that she, is my girlfriend. By the way, I didn't know you guys knew each other."

"I didn't know you knew him!" I say, pointing at Shishio.

"And I didn't know you knew her!" he says, pointing back at me.

"Okay, this is weird," says Kamatari, watching our exchange with an amused expression.

"Exactly. How did you guys meet anyway?" asks Iizuka.

"She's my client."

"He cuts my hair."

"Umm…do you think you guys could answer, ONE AT A TIME? My brain can't interpret so much information at one shot," says Iizuka, looking at the both of us.

"That's because you have a really small brain, Iizuka," says Sano, tapping him on the head lightly.

"Whatever. You're just jealous," he retorted, walking towards the dining hall.

"Excuse me?" yelled Sano, walking after him. "Why would I be jealous of your small brain?"

As they argued all the way towards the dining hall, the rest of us laughed as we shook our heads at their childish display.

"Kaoru-dono," says Keshin, slipping an arm around my waist. "Let's go out and take a walk around the garden."

"Okay," I say, smiling up at him. "My ears need a break from all this noise anyway."

As wewalked side by side, he reached for my hand. My fingers curled into his while strolling for a peaceful walk in the back yard. The moonlight cast dark shadows all around us and the only sounds that could be heard in the still night air was our silent breathing and our thudding footsteps.

"Oh, Kenshin," I say, turning to face him when we had reached the large cherry tree.

"Hmm?" he asks, turning to look at me.

"Well…I bought this for you. As a birthday gift," I say, as I pushed a little wrapped parcel into his hands.

"It's not much though. I didn't know what to get for you."

"May I open it?" he asks, grinning at me.

"If you want to," I say. "But don't expect anything great…"

"I won't," he promised. As he tore open the wrapper and lifted the lid of the box, I crossed my fingers behind my back for luck. "Thanks, Kaoru-dono," he says, giving me a warm hug. "I really like it. It's by far the nicest gift anyone has ever bought for me."

"Don't lie!" I say, punching him playfully on the arm. "Did you see the gifts that Sano, Iizuka, Kamatari, and Shishio bought for you? It was like…whoa…"

"But I still like your one best."

"Awwww…thanks Kenshin," I say, smiling up at him. He lifted the silver, rectangular key chain from the box and attached it to the bunch of keys which he always carried around with him.

"There," he says, flashing the side of the key chain with his name engraved on it, at me. "Now everyone will know these keys belong to me!" he says, laughing. "By the way, I've got something for you too."

"Something for me? But it isn't my birthday!"

"It doesn't have to be your birthday for me to buy you a gift," he says, tapping me gently on the nose. "Now close your eyes and give me your hand."

"You're not going to put a bug in my hand or anything, are you?" I ask fearfully. "I hate creepy crawlies!"

"No, I'm not. Now hurry up and close your eyes!"

Obediently, I did exactly what he told me to do. All I could hear was the rustling of his clothes as he moved around. Finally, I felt him hold onto my hands and slip something cold onto my finger. I snapped my eyes open and stared at what he had put there. I raised my head up to look at him questioningly.

"It's a couple ring," he says nervously. "Almost all the couples have one."

"Where's yours then?" I ask.

"Right here," he says, showing me the silver ring on his own finger.

"No, take this back." I replied while taking the ring off.

"… I'm sorry Kaoru-dono. I know this whole Tomoe thing and you has upset you very much, but believe me, I'll never let her do anything to hurt you, never again. Please? Accept me? I know I don't deserve you and all, but I promi—"

Before he could finish his random blabbering, I stood up on my tiptoes to shut his mouth up nicely, place a soft kiss on his lips. Well I have to say, he stopped talking, just when he tried to kiss me back, I forced myself to pull back. Staring into his confused innocent face.

"oro? Kaoru-dono, what's this about?"

"I will accept this, if…"

"If what?" he cut in before I could finish.

"If you don't call me Kaoru-dono anymore. Please, just call me Kaoru."

"Oro? Well, whatever my queen asks. Though then I ask you to just call me Shinta tonight. That was my name before my step father changed it."

"Shinta." I tasted the name on my lips. "Thank you, Shinta"

"That's what I'm supposed to say, Kaoru," he says, holding me close to him. "Thanks for everything."

He lowered his lips and captured mine. opening my mouth, I slowly brushed my tongue against his for a few times, teasing him, until I heard him whinning. Finally giving in, our kiss turned from a gentle and slow paced one into a deep and passionate one. His hands started to rise up my back as I reached up to pull him closer to me by his neck. My other hand twirling his hair, until he pushed me against a wall. The hand on his neck felt the cool bricks as I moved it down to gently pace it on his chest, feeling his heart beat, synchronizing with mine, racing, as we finally broke apart from the demand to breathe at the end.

"Wow, now, THAT was my best birthday gift ever." Kenshin said breathlessly.

A/N I think it might be the last chapter or Kaoru and kenshin's perfect happiness, for the time being. It's hard to write a kissing scene in first person, so forgive me if that wasn't the best.

I changed Sakura's nanny from Ayame to Nanny Sae.

Next Chappie: the beginning of a stream of very bad, and very unfortunate events.

Review replies: I think it's time for me to reply to some things, you all been great, and I owe you at least this.

oro kenshin: hopefully this chapter didn't disappoint you.

Green Animelover: Thanks, hopefully I can keep updating fast, because I want this move to the fun parts. Was this chapter too slow moving?

krazyANIMEchick: I was going to make Tomoe have a daughter with Kenshin, till you all told me to kill her, so I guess she's not very popular.

ME: wow, I would NOT wanna piss you off. Who knows what you'll wish for me if I do. Ok, for you and the other readers who want me to kill her, I'll make her suffer a little. Maybe a lot.

mistress of mist : Confinement, as in something like mental hospital. Soujiro, I think I'll ship him to new york or something. It all depends who I hook Misao up with. And Tomoe and Akira, if I want them, then I'll find someway for Tomoe to repent.

Lynn-Minmay: I'm glad Sakura was popular with most of my readers including you. and Tomoe, no worries, she's evil, I'm more evil.

kiera: I'm glad, hopefully I can surprise you. if I ever get too predictable, tell me. some parts I can't help, since I have to include them.

Anonymous but very interested: Tomoe? She's always up for the same thing. Ruin Kaoru and Kenshin's love life. except she'll go one step too far. But can't say too much. And I will make her regret, regret plenty, and suffer. Good idea, I think I'll devote part of a chapter for Tomoe's self pity and stuff. Confinement as in mental hospital type, or jail. And Sano won't be paired, because of he will serve a very, very special reason. With Soujiro, well, it depends on what my readers think. Should I have a Soujiro/Misao, or Aoshi/Misao? O, that was long reply, and thanks for your constant support!

ahou incarnate: hopefully you like it so far. And if you want to give suggestions, I do take them, plenty, though if I can't fit it in, sorry, but I do listen a lot.

miniwoo : Sorry, Danny would be Soujiro. In about few more chapters, everything will change, I will punish Tomoe, and make some miracles happen. So it will be different from the original. I'll change Tomoe when I no longer need a villain. And the pairings, sorry, I meant for Megumi to be evil, but for some weird reason, I didn't. if I used Megumi, everything would've worked out perfectly. I don't like the pairings much either, I kinda realized that I screwed up after the 4th chapter.

Jouko-chan: that's good, Tomoe fans normally think I should've used Megumi for the villain. But I decided to stick with it and make her suffer.

Antica: it's called my lovely cliffies. And yet I do love them. agreed, Tomoe needs to die, but I think dying is an easy way out.

Jeez: I'm willing to be more flexiable with everyone else, but I can't imagine Kaoru with anyone else, unless Enishi becomes sane. Just how love works.

Sapphireracoongal: Hopefully the wait was worth it. This chappie was really waffy, but next one won't.

Sapphire: She's not gonna be destroyed by Kaoru, or else Kaoru would be viewed as not so innocent. But I'll find some other way.

forever silverwing angel: Sorry, this chappie didn't let you find out what Tomoe will do to reveal Kaoru. Thanks for the Tomoe tip. I think she deserves to suffer but maybe afterwards change or something like finding Akira could also be her knight in shinning armor.

DragonSpirit: battousai isn't done yet, but they'll change a lil more before they stick with Kenshin. I added in some self damning kenshin's thoughts for you, thanks for the advice. Are you sure Aoshi would work with Misao? that was my original plan, but now, Misao didn't grow up with Aoshi so it'll be harder for that eternal love.