Chapter Thirteen: A Prophecy Fulfilled

"Here we are again, my lady."

"Enishi," Kaoru whispered, "let me go."

"Himura will be here shortly. We shall see what happens."

Kaoru tried to stretch her body out from the bed where she had been unceremoniously dropped. Shivering from the cold, she was somberly muttering at herself for her stupidity and walking around in the rain when Enishi started to towel her hair dry. She blinked her unseeing eyes at him, pausing in her movements to let him finish. Letting go of the towel around her head, he cut the ropes that bound her hands and feet and gave her a robe to change into.

It was only the mere sound of the shoji door closing shut that told Kaoru she was finally alone a moment afterwards.

Enishi brought tea. Kaoru was sitting on the edge of the door listening to the rain when the man placed the tray in between them and sat down.

Kaoru handed him her hand, and Enishi placed a filled cup in it.

"Counting the minutes?" Enishi asked.

"They're turning into hours…"

"What if they turn into days?"

"I won't be of much use to you by then, won't I?"

"It doesn't matter what it means to me. What does it mean to you?"

"He's late."

Enishi chuckled and took the tray and cold tea with him.

Kenshin clenched his fists when he saw the man pick up his wife from the edge of the shoji door. She was dozing lightly, after having spent the majority of the night waiting as she silently listened to the rain.

He could only guess at what was keeping the man so long inside her room, it made his blood boil.

Enishi quietly laid her down on her bed. He spared another glance at her and saw that without her ribbon, her hair luxuriously framed her delicate face. A smile played on her lips as a stray breeze flickered a strand of her hair across her face.

His fingers moved deftly across her face, putting the strand of hair back in its place. The smile that played on her mouth disappeared and was replaced by a serene contentment that looked oddly like that of a person he knew once eons ago.

Tomoe…

Memories rushed back and the voice of the prophetess filled his ears.

He knew what he had to do.

"Why do you keep her in your room, Enishi?"

"You would never forgive me if I gave her to my men."

Battousai glared at him. "I can never forgive you, FOR TAKING HER AWAY IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

"We shall call it even, then, god of life!"

Black mist surrounded the two as they started to circle each other.

"What took you so long? It's rude to keep a lady waiting." They drew their swords.

"I was waylaid by a certain prophetess."

They clashed swords.

"Did she have anything to say about me?"

"Everything she said was about you."

"Then you know what I speak of."

"I can only be thankful that you remember now as well." Kenshin answered sarcastically.

Once again, steel met steel in a powerful dance.

"I have been waiting all my life blindly for nothing!" Enishi lunged and hit scraped Kenshin's shoulder.

"At least you're still alive. You should have died a very long time ago…" Kenshin muttered.

Enishi laughed, "what's wrong Battousai? Getting tired?"

"I want my wife back!" Kenshin returned the parry and caught Enishi off-guard, but it wasn't enough to incapacitate him.

"At least she's still alive… You never once gave Tomoe a chance…"

"You killed as many humans as I did in those days, and not one of them you gave a chance."

Enishi came at him fast and before Kenshin could dodge, Enishi had lunged the sword through Kenshin's side. The most Kenshin could do was keep it from skewering his heart.

Enishi stood still, letting the feel of his sword get acquainted in Kenshin's body. In a broken voice he whispered, "she looks like Tomoe."

Kenshin dropped down on his knees when Enishi drew back his sword, dripping with precious blood. It was then that the door behind them opened.

"Kenshin?"

Kenshin coughed blood and it was all that Kaoru needed to learn about the situation before her. Kaoru clumsily walked towards the man on his knees and brought his head to her chest. Gasping for air, he clutched at her waist as she cried, tears mingling in the rain.

Kaoru, her arms still around him, turned around towards the man behind her, his sword pointed at her neck.

"A war is a war, m'lady. This sword-fight is over, but Carnelia is still several blood-baths away."

"Take it and leave us alone…" Kaoru whispered, laying Kenshin's weakening body across her lap.

"No, the land was my father's. It is part of my pact. My people are starv—"

Enishi once again pointed the sword at Kaoru's neck before Kenshin's eyes. Kaoru might not be able to see, but Kenshin saw the feral smile that laced Enishi's features.

"Her life or theirs, Himura."

Enishi grinned wider when Kaoru finally realized what was happening. Her eyes widened in dismay.

"Why? Why do you do all this? What have you to gain!?" Kaoru shouted.

"Simple. His pain. You can't have it all, Battousai. Your life is no fairy tale."

"What do you plan to do about the Carnelians?" Kaoru retorted.

"I shall wallow in their blood, because their blood is on his hands." At this he made a flick of the sword and pointed to the center of a cross-scar.

"But, that doesn't make sense…"

"He made a blood-oath with his god that he will do everything in his power to keep the race of the Carnelians alive when the war is over. He would only take his lands, not innocent lives.

He never considered the possibility that he would lose to me. Choosing to let them live instead of you, is still in his power."

Kaoru turned towards Kenshin again, horrified. He nodded gravely and tightened his hold around her.

"You can't, Kenshin." She said in panic. "It will add up and you'll never be free from seeking your penance."

"And you haven't reached yours yet. If you die now, you're soul will be lost as well."

"But—"

"Koishii, it will be okay."

Kaoru started to sob. "I'm only one person, Kenshin. Why shoulder the death of hundreds of thousands of people all over again? It is almost over, Kenshin, it's a choice--"

"I will not lose you. If your death comes before the goddess finds her answer, you are lost to me even if I find mine."

"But I will lose you. We'll both lose each other!"

"I can bring them back…" Kenshin whispered. Kaoru stared at him disbelieving.

"Then it's settled," said Enishi sheathing back his sword. He walked away, leaving the newlyweds alone.

In the distance he could hear Enishi's conversation with his generals. "Burn the lands, all of it. Leave none alive."

Kenshin merely laid there on Kaoru's lap, hearing all the innocence mingled in the terror of the screams

Somewhere, a mere three-day-ride away, a river reverts back to blood as the rain poured heavily over the dying flames.

Kenshin was dying.

Aoshi had made it in time but the army he brought was completely useless. He looked helplessly down at the land of Carnelia as it burned to ashes. He had brought Kenshin and Kaoru from the Yukishiro camp and away from all danger, atop a cliff that overlooked the lands.

He had tried to save as much as he could from the city. But there were little refugees to save, and only one small girl remained unharmed from what had happened. She sang a small lullaby that a priestess used to sing her in the orphanage.

"With love impure by timeless sin, a crystal heart forms within the iron foe, the devil's kin is turned by touch of innocent skin."

Enishi, the devil and Kenshin, his foe, had awoken new legends as magic and power danced in the air—the gods on high were making their sentiments known to humanity on earth with untamed weather. Aoshi was meditating, having been waylaid by a certain prophetess as well. Her words rang clearly in his mind as she tried to explain her uninvited presence in the new but deteriorating camp.

'Love impure is love unwhole. A crystal heart is a heart purified because by being with her, he finds penance. This love is borne in her, and because of her innocence, the devil strived to be better than his foe. The devil gave his foe a choice to save the one he loved instead of killing her just as the foe had killed his. Had his foe chosen the lands and the people, the devil would have let her live anyways, knowing that his foe would be shamed by putting the lands over love. But the foe chose his love out of his own selfishness—that was less of an evil and they both knew it. The devil crowns his foe in shame but leaves them both alive, even when his promise of revenge clearly stated his foe's death. It was almost merciful.'

Three days after the city burnt down in flames, Aoshi heard that Enishi had committed suicide.

Kenshin's amber eyes bore at Kaoru's sapphire gaze. He was at an impasse. His body had stopped bleeding, but his soul would not allow him to heal. The god in him was dying, his penance unsolved and his time cut short.

"You told me you could bring it all back?"

"Yes…"

"I don't understand…"

"Priestess, do you remember what a sacrifice is?"

"You told me you never believed…"

"A god lives within me, of course I believe." He chuckled but was stop short by the blood that he coughed out.

"Kenshin…"

"It's just a game, koishii."

"No. It won't be enough, Kenshin." She held desperately onto his hands. She knew what he spoke of but she didn't dare believe his words. A game? This was a game?

As if an answer to her thoughts two beings came up to the tent. The tent flap revealed that the two were hooded in black. One of them walked in and laid a gentle hand upon Kaoru's shoulder.

"Jou-chan…" he said softly

"Sano?" Kaoru asked incredulously feeling the presence of the two. "That means… Megumi?"

"Yes, Kaoru."

"Kenshin, it's time." Sano lifted up his best friend from his cot and guided him out of the tent.

It was almost too convenient that the camp was set up on a cliff overlooking the horizon. Kenshin looked down and paled at the lands he once tried to claim as his own. The two figures let down their hood and Kenshin saw that in between them, they held Kaoru up by the arms. Her face was too painful to look at, she knew what was to happen.

He has killed many, but in this one act he can bring them back by releasing the god.

"What if you haven't done enough? You will end your life a day short, or a week short, knowing full well that the answer maybe in the next few hours? Kenshin, your soul will be lost!" She shouted in vain.

"My future as a god is not my main priority," Kenshin evenly replied as he unsheathed his katana.

"What about us? I have lived through both divinity and humanity to finally love you—" she cried, tears falling freely down her face.

"Kaoru, you are stronger than you think—" he replied with a small painful smile.

"Baka! It's not that I can't live without you, it's that I don't want to!"

"My point exactly, koishii. Either way, you will live on. You will find your answer and you will find true happiness in someone who is not as bloodied as me."

"Kenshin you can't do this…"

"I love you." He whispered. Not once did he turn around for he could not bare her tears. How he wished he himself were blind. He placed the tip of his sword moments away from his breast and slowly kneeled down.

Sano's and Megumi's grip on her had been gone ever since Kenshin drew his katana out. She was standing alone and completely free from their grasp…

"I love you, Kaoru." He said in a final voice.

But the sword was no longer in his hands.

Opening his eyes, his wife stood there, tears no longer falling and with a smile that must have been the envy of the heavens.

"Let me join you."

Kenshin remained speechless as she pushed him down on the ground to sit with his legs crossed. She sat on his lap as she took up his hands again and gave his sword back. She leaned comfortably back into his body, savoring how they fit perfectly. She craned her neck, sweetly kissed his cheek, and sighed in satisfaction.

"Kaoru, you can still find penance. You can still live. Please do this for me."

"Do you still not understand? You are my priority. I will willingly live in darkness if I can be with you."

"But—"

"It's only fair, love. I let you kill the masses and you let me die with you. It's called compromising—an essential ingredient in a marriage. Surely you didn't really think you could have everything, right?" She could still tease even in this moment. Kenshin looked down at her face, his gaze softening when he realized how stubborn she was. He dropped a chaste kiss on her unsuspecting lips.

"I love you, Kaoru. Are you sure?"

"Sure of what? That I love you back? Of course." She pulled his hand up so that the tip of the sword rested lightly on her chest.

Kenshin closed his eyes and with all his might…

"I can't… not again." He muttered bitterly, alluding to the other two times he had killed her. Kaoru merely smiled forlornly and gave him another kiss.

"Let me help you." She cupped his hands in hers.

Somewhere in the camp, the voice of the little girl was once again singing the refrain of that lullaby.

"A blade reflected in ones eyes, the solemn truth masks all the lies, twice tried to darken all the skies, but thrice, it comes with paradise."

"Kenshin Himura, what is your wish of absolution?"

To bring life back to the land.

An essence left the weakened body and swooped down towards Carnelia. In its wake, people awoke from the ashes.

"Kaoru Kamiya, what is your wish of absolution?"

To see his smile, at least just once.

Slowly she opened her eyes. She saw that the sword was no longer in her breast. Instead, she was cradled in his lap and was leaning on his chest. Kenshin was leaning back on a sakura tree, his head hanging down.

Weakly, she brought her fingers up to his face. She grimaced at the pain in her breast, but she continued to push away the red bangs that obscured his face from her newly gained eyesight. When she had finally, albeit slowly, tucked his hair behind his ear, she saw that he was looking at her with amber-amethyst eyes.

He smiled when he saw recognition flash in her expression.

She placed a finger on the smooth skin where there was once a cross-shaped scar. He gazed intently at the eyes that were once blank.

"Beautiful," they said in unison causing them both to smile, knowing full well they were on borrowed time.

They both went back to sleep, exhausted with the life that was never theirs to begin with.