AN: Ok, well, I've decided to make this my drabble collection site for my KenKao works. "I Remember" will remain by itself, as I think it should. This hit me right after watching a video that simulated what being a schizophrenic is like. Don't ask, it just happened. I love you guys and enjoy!

Kaoru sat in a chair in the middle of the room. The chair was simple and comfortable, she sat in it every day only ever getting up to make more tea after the last mug she'd made had gone cold. She kept the curtains drawn, darkness was easier to deal with then the light. If there was light, then she could see the ghosts walking around her. It was bad enough that she could hear them, but it was worse to see them. Kaoru had decided years ago that she would die in her sleep, because that way, as a ghost, she would look like herself. If you died messily, you were a messy ghost. Messy ghosts hung around more than clean ghosts too, usually because they had so many broken hopes and anger that they had no way to vent.

Until they found Kaoru sitting in her chair, they found that they could vent to her, and if they let out all of their anger they could move on. At first, she didn't mind letting them yell and scream at her, insulting her like she was the one who betrayed them or hurt them. She didn't mind because it helped them, she thought of herself as a ghost therapist; maybe one day she'd get her own television show. But it wasn't just a few ghosts, it was a lot of ghosts, and after a while she began to believe them. Their words became harder and harder to shrug off, because so many of them said the same things to her. She tried to put it up to all of them having the same feelings, but the wording would even be the same, there are only so many ways to say hurtful things. And so Kaoru began to believe them.

She would sit in her chair and just listen to them, the cruel words, the sobs and regrets of lives gone. Ghosts traveled from all over the world to see her, there were languages spoken that she'd never heard of, sometimes there were even dead languages that filled her ears. But she always understood what they were saying. She always felt their hatred and remorse for their deaths.

She had one man with shocking white hair, he was cruel and spiteful he spoke of his sister and a red haired demon that he should have been able to kill. He spoke to her like she was the red haired demon that he hated so much. His words cut into her more than usual, the mug of tea that she always kept firmly clasped between both hands began to tremble after the second day with him. He was with her for a week, longer than any of the other ghosts she had ever dealt with. Finally though, of the seventh day, his anger left him and he spoke gently of his sister smiling for him.

Kaoru smiled bitterly as he left, he brother wouldn't smile for her anymore, he was dead, but he hadn't even come back as a ghost. Her whole family had died in their home, Kaoru should have died, her wounds had been dreadful, but she had pulled through. It was when she returned home as an orphaned eighteen year old that the ghosts appeared to her. Along with helping them, she waited for her family to visit. But they never did and any ghost that she ever asked about them never answered her. They would simply focus on their own death and anger.

Two days after the white haired man left, a gentle and serene woman walked into Kaoru's dark room. Her voice was soft, but she couldn't hide the hatred and the regret of her death. She had died messily, a sword through her gut, the blood stained kimono was terrifying. She'd left her little brother, fallen in love with the red haired demon when she was supposed to kill him, and then died in his place protecting him while he killed her. Kaoru shivered horribly for the whole three days that the gentle woman spoke to her. She was so bitter and exhausted that Kaoru could hardly believe that she never raised her voice. Only when she left did Kaoru stop shaking.

Ghosts could roam the land for any period of time before they left. Kaoru had listened to ghosts from all eras. They simply wandered before finding her or some other medium that would allow them to move on.

A month after the gentle woman left, a red haired samurai appeared sitting in the corner of Kaoru's dark room. He didn't say anything for the first three days. He never even lifted his head to look at her. No other ghosts came to her while he sat in her room; it was a wonderful break to Kaoru. She was tired and the silence was comforting. His presence was even comforting. She took her time to study him; he had died slowly, from the inside out she mused. His heart had gone first, and then his mind, and finally his body had given out on him. She could read him more clearly than other ghosts, he was ashamed and broken. There was no anger in him; he thought he deserved his death. For the first time in many years, Kaoru felt the need to help this ghost; she wanted him to move on peacefully, to rest.

On the forth day, Kaoru left her chair and sat beside the red haired ghost in the corner of her room. He spoke first, his voice gravely from not being used and sad, his voice was very sad but calm. "Why do you stay here?" He asked her.

"Because there is nothing left for me out there. Why are you here?"

"Then why don't you move on?"

"I can't, I have no family, nothing to really live for. You didn't answer my question."

He looked at her, surprise clearly written on his face, and then realization. "I can't move on, because I don't deserve to. I have killed too many, I am not worthy of peace."

Kaoru snorted, "Of course you deserve peace, all ghosts do. Talk to me, I can help."

"But you can't even help yourself." Kaoru looked at him. "When did you die?" He asked her. Kaoru laughed at him.

"I'm not dead, I just sit here and listen to the ghosts who need to let go of their anger. It helps them to move on after some one has listened to them." But then it struck her; her family's murder, the terrible wounds she'd suffered, then suddenly, being ok, finding herself at home in the dark room. No one had come to see her or check on her, she had never eaten anything of drank the tea she always made. "I'm dead." Was all she said before the tears came slipping out of her eyes. She was a ghost too.

The red haired man just nodded, and then pulled her into a hug against him. He felt warm and strong, all of the other ghosts who had brushed up against her had been cold and misty, and they had always gone through her. But he was holding her like they were both still alive, like they were both really there. When she gripped at his shirt and her tears hit his chest, it seemed to sink in for him as well that he was really holding her. They pulled apart for a moment to look at each other; his eyes were a strange violet with flecks of gold. Hers were a deep blue that was almost black in the dark room.

"Kenshin." She whispered before he hugged her fiercely, he had never told her his name but she knew everything about him and Kaoru knew that he knew everything about her too.

"I've been wandering all this time looking for you." He whispered into her ear, his breath hot, "I never even knew." She'd been waiting for him to find her, never even knowing that she had died. "I don't deserve this, but I cannot deny it. We were meant to be together, and in the next life, I will find you Kaoru." She could feel his promise wrap around her like a security blanket. She'd look for him in the next life, and something told her as he kissed her, that it wouldn't take a very long time before they found each other again. They faded from the dark room together as the sun rose outside.