Hey there  it's been a really long time, and the last favorite I got reminded me that I have a story sitting here with at least another ten chapters of it unposted and unread. Sorry about such a big delay. A lot has happened in the past year, and as you can see from the sneak peek of my newest story, waiting, I have graduated from past stuff and I'm now writing about real, modern people and all their psychological bullshit  I hope you enjoy the burst of leftover chapters though. Thank you :D

Chapter six

The Tears

"So… the Oniwabanshu is planning on attacking Shishio… and you're both putting your lives on the line to do it." Misao repeated, looking shocked. Kaoru was in a similar state. Everybody was present, including Yahiko.

"Well…" Okon said, "I know you'll come to understand it, Misao. Shishio's a dangerous man, with a dangerous plan, and the both of you happen to be with two of the strongest men in Japan." She said.

"But…" Misao looked at Aoshi. "I'll be pregnant… I need my husband with me. How long can he stay with me at the Aioya?"

"Well… see, Misao, you're the leader of the Oniwabanshu. In Kyoto, you'll be a constant target for Shishio." Aoshi said, looking pained by the threat. "Once they know you're pregnant, they'll try to eliminate anyone from your bloodline or mine…"

Misao stared at the floor.

"You'll have to stay here, at the dojo. Shishio will never find you here."

"But…"

"It's for your own good." Okon agreed.

Misao chose that moment to blow up. "YOU EXPECT ME TO STAY BACK HERE WITHOUT YOU? YOU REALLY ARE A RETARDED, PRISSY, OVEROBSESSED, OVERWORKED, ARROGANT, EMOTIONLESS, GIRLY BASTARD!!!"

Kaoru saw the need to pounce in Misao's eyes. She let out a roar as she ran forward, but Kaoru caught her at the waist and pulled her back. "Misao, please listen to what he has to say!"

Misao tried to run forward. Sanosuke was cowering against the wall, Okon was sighing, Megumi rolled her eyes, Yahiko quavered… but Aoshi was just sitting there, completely still. He knew that Kaoru was strong enough to hold Misao back, and he would never turn his back on his pregnant bride-to-be.

"Geeze, Misao, please try to calm down!" Kaoru cried, but Misao threw herself forward and brought Kaoru to the ground with her. Kenshin, in that instant, joined Sanosuke at the wall. Kaoru lost her grip on Misao, but just as suddenly pulled her back. After Misao had finally given up, Kenshin caught his breath.

"I have been through life and death situations in the revolution. I have had to battle against countless villains, and I'd endured the sight of many deaths. But never in my life have I seen something so… terrifying."

Misao shot up and bore down on him. "SO YOU THINK I'M TERRIFYING, HUH? Keep it up and I'm gonna SHOW you terrifying!" Kaoru grabbed Misao's braid and pulled her back. "GET OFF OF ME, KAORU!!!" She roared.

"I swear…" Kaoru sighed. "It has to be the raging hormones that come with pregnancy…"

After Misao had settled down and Sanosuke and Kenshin had been coaxed to remove their backs from the wall, the conversation continued. Megumi and Kaoru, though, had been placed on Misao-duty, to make sure she could be restrained should she decide to blow up again.

"Shishio is willing to kill anybody who gets in his way," continued Okon. "He will set fire to Kyoto and kill innocent people, and while that's going on, he will overthrow the government in Tokyo with ten of Japan's best fighters. We need even better fighters to defeat him. The Oniwabanshu will have all of their men and women ready to put out every fire and restrain any soldier setting a fire. If necessary, we will kill. The strongest, though, including me, Aoshi, Omasu, even you, Misao, if you weren't with child… we would be waiting in Tokyo with Sanosuke to hold back Shishio's forces. If possible, we'll ambush his temple and kill him as soon as possible. Whatever we can do, we will do." Okon stared upon the worried faces in the room.

"But… Shishio is one of the strongest fighters known to man. And… his lackeys… Aoshi, you can't do this!" Misao declared. Megumi and Kaoru instinctively grabbed Misao's shoulders.

"I have to." He said sadly.

"But… other people get to sit home like bums while you do all the fighting! That's the way it's been for a while! Why can't you be one of those bums for once?"

Aoshi frowned. "Those 'bums' do not have the ability that I do. Because I am capable of defeating Shishio, it's my duty to fight. For those too weak to do it, their duty is to stay out of the way."

"But you've risked your life so many times…" she whispered.

"I know…" Aoshi said. "And I have to do it again."

Kaoru looked towards Sanosuke. "You're going too…" she stated, not bothering to ask since she knew the answer already.

"I am." He nodded briefly.

Kaoru closed her eyes. "When… when do you leave?"

Okon sighed apologetically. "Three days." She said.

"Three?" Kaoru opened her eyes. "Does it have to be three?"

"It does. We have a vague idea that the inferno is going to begin in a week's time. But it could always happen sooner. That is why we need to act fast."

Kaoru rose suddenly. She looked like she was having difficulty hiding her emotions. "Okay," she smiled a fake smile. "I guess we'll have to get them ready tomorrow. Megumi, you can help."

"But, Kaoru…"

"What?" She looked very impatient to get somewhere private. She wanted badly to cry.

"I'm going to Aizu tomorrow afternoon. Dr. Genzai wants me to pick up some certain herbal mixes and directions for making Aloe Vera jelly. I'll be back in a week, so you don't need to worry about me."

Kaoru nodded and strode quickly out of the room.

"Sulking tree?" Misao asked knowingly.

"Most likely." Sanosuke said. "I would follow her, but… it's pretty hard to fit through that hole unless you're a nymph like Kaoru."

"Kaoru went through a hole to a place called sulking tree?" Kenshin asked. "What…???"

"She calls it haven, but it's really just her sulking tree. It's a forest, but there's one particular tree, hanging right over the Buddhist shrine and the koi pond." Sanosuke smirked. "She's been going there to sulk since she was a kid. She told me her mother used to come there and call her down, and she'd always ignore her until she got really hungry. As for the hole, the place has a wall to one side, but there's a hole big enough for her to fit through. So instead of walking all the way around the neighborhood to get to the entrance, she just slips through the hole right across the street from here."

"It sounds nice. The term sulking tree seems pretty amusing in some ways."

"Anyway," Okon said, changing the subject. "You two, Sanosuke and Aoshi, you should start packing."

When Kaoru had finally run out of tears to cry, she got down from the guava tree and stared into the pond. The koi were all alive and swimming aimlessly around. She dipped her small hand into the water, holding her sleeve back with the other, and watched the fish swim past her and slide their flanks against her palm. She smiled and rewarded them with the tops of the algae growing at the surface- the parts they tried to get, but had to swallow down with the gross stuff at the bottom. They poked their protruding lips to the surface where the algae was scattered and sucked them in. Kaoru smiled.

"I have a lot of stuff to deal with…" Kaoru said quietly. "I don't know if it'll turn out right or not, or if Buddha is on my side. But I will probably see you all again tomorrow."

She knew the fish couldn't hear her or understand her, but she still liked to talk to them and pretend they were listening. She knew it was pathetic, but it was still, in some ways, comforting.

She got right to her feet and smoothed her kimono. As soon as she got home, she was going right to the kitchen for tea. She said a long prayer to the Buddha on the shrine and kissed its jade-green forehead, but she would find out at home that fate wasn't on her side.

"Megumi…" Sanosuke said. "Got any space for a roosterhead?"

Megumi smiled genuinely at him. "Not packing?"

"I was. But I need a break. Thought I'd spend some time chewing on an apple in the kitchen."

"Go ahead," she said. She was mixing something together that Sano didn't have a name for.

He pulled an apple from one of the drawers and leaned over the counter next to Megumi. For a while, the only sound was Sanosuke's crunching and chewing and Megumi twisting the pestle around in the mortar, crushing sweet smelling seeds and herbs together. But Megumi knew that, since this could be the last time she sees him if, god forbid, he loses to Shishio, secrets would have to be told. So after a long silence, she spoke up.

"Sanosuke…"

"Yeah?" he looked at her casually.

"I've… well… I've been thinking. Remember before you and Kaoru, when we… we used to joke about being together?"

"What about it?"

"My 'pretend' thing for you… it was real." Megumi bit her lip anxiously.

Sanosuke stiffened. Megumi looked away. Then, in a heartbeat…

"Megumi?"

"What?"

"Turn around and look at me."

As she turned her head, he grabbed her, pulled her body to his, and kissed her.

Megumi went rigid. She was… she was kissing Sanosuke. But she relaxed.

Sanosuke seemed to have lost all restraint after feeling her lips on his. This was the woman he'd been deathly attracted to since they met. He knew it was more lust than love. But if he could feel this lust every day, and feel this sudden pleasure every day, he would force himself to love. His hands trailed up her body, making her tremble in all sorts of ways as he felt the flesh that he'd always wanted on his fingertips. Megumi deepened the kiss. Sanosuke trapped her between his body and the counter. And then…

"All I want is tea, Yahiko, and don't worry, I'm all— " the voice stopped. Megumi and Sano pulled apart just as Kaoru realized that what she saw was real. "Sanosuke…" she whispered. She was frozen in place.

Yahiko's hand tightened on his bokken. Nobody dared move. The silence seemed to stretch for a million miles as everybody waited for someone to say something.

Kaoru dropped her hand from her gaping mouth. She was trembling with too many boiling emotions to count. She turned away, and slid behind the walls of the dojo, and paced back and forth, breathing shallowly with stress.

"Oh my god…"

She spoke unintelligibly to herself, or to the sky, but nobody who'd see her would know which one, and covered her face with one hand. She felt sick, as if her insides were being ripped out of her, and cupped her face in her hands, not to cry, but to calm herself down and hide pathetically from the world while she tried to calm the cresting wave of shock. She heard both pairs of footsteps behind her and didn't need to turn around to know. "Grab your stuff and get out." She said in an undertoned but frighteningly clear voice.

"Kaoru…" Sanosuke started. "Koi…"

"Don't you dare think you can use an endearment on me ever again, Sanosuke. Grab your stuff and get out."

"But… Kaoru…" Sanosuke stepped forward and reached for her, but Kaoru drew back angrily. Her fists were at her sides, and they shook as she tightened them further.

"Don't you ever touch me again. Not ever. Now grab your stuff and get out." She looked like she was on the edge of cracking, or breaking, or exploding, or something of the sort…

"But… Kaoru…"

"Just…" Kaoru stamped angrily and shut her eyes. "You have a place at the Ruffian Row, damnit! So it's not like I'm throwing you out on the street!" She cried, her voice trembling. "Now get out! Get your stuff and leave! And don't come back here!" She cried. Yahiko was at her side defensively, appearing to share her feelings so strongly he hated Sano and Megumi as much as she did. He took a step closer to her, just to let everybody know he was at her side.

"Kaoru, please let us exp—" Megumi started, but Kaoru cut her off.

"And you! Just because you treated my wounds does not mean you get to betray me like this! You don't! I had the mind to think you actually cared!" Kaoru cried. "You and I have been close friends for years, and you suddenly do this?" The tears were streaming down her cheeks. She bowed her head and covered her face in her hands. "You knew how happy I was to be with Sanosuke, Megumi, you knew…" she cried.

"Kaoru…"

She dropped her hands and looked up at Megumi and Sano, and then looked down at the scars on her wrists –remnants of Gohei's torture– and she knew she hated them both. It was so intense she felt it burn on the inside. "I told you to get out of my house!" She cried, throwing the closest thing she could towards them. Kaoru left the room with tears running silently down her cheeks. Even through a river, she could see that things would never be the same again.

Yahiko watched her leave and made a move to follow, but stopped to look at Megumi and Sano. He shook his head slowly at them, his eyes etched with hate. "You know all she's gone through, and still you do this? You're lower than dirt." He spat. "I'm only eleven and even I know how generous and selfless she is. And you do this…"

"Yahiko, sometimes people can't hold back…"

Yahiko froze. "That's your excuse, Megumi!?" He cried. "This is my house, too, and it's not yours or yours," he said, looking at them both, "so get out of here!"

"Give us a minute…" Megumi said sadly.

Yahiko spit on the floor. "Temes! Both of you are! And you belong together!" When he left, Megumi and Sano took it as a sign to gather their bearings and leave.

Kenshin had heard the sudden yelling and entered the hallway just as Kaoru stormed into her room. He was about to enter when Yahiko stopped him. He could hear the sobbing inside.

"Yahiko… what's happened?"

Yahiko's eyes still burned with hate. Real flames could have been in his eyes and Kenshin wouldn't have seen the anger as clearly as he did now. "Megumi and Sanosuke…" It was all he needed to say for Kenshin to understand.

"Really?"

"We both walked in on them. Kaoru's kicking them out, back to their own places."

"I don't blame her," said Kenshin. "It's so cruel…"

"Not only did she lose a lover, but she lost two best friends. She knows she can't trust anybody." Yahiko said. "I don't know if you should go in there."

But Kenshin disregarded his warning. He slid the door open, stepped inside, and closed it again. Kaoru didn't bother to look up. She was curled up, kneeled on the ground looking broken and betrayed. Her body shook and jerked with sobs. Kenshin kneeled down next to her and did what he wouldn't have done in this case with anybody else. He pulled her curled form into his lap, wrapped his arms around her, and tightened his hold on her until she was fully in his embrace. Instead of staying still, she turned and collapsed to his chest in a mess of sobs. He would be her shoulder to cry on and her friend to lean on. She was so desperate for some kind of comfort that she'd never truly been given that she accepted his new role without delay.

"I know how it feels…" he said to her in a comforting voice. "To be betrayed by close friends and lose them." He started gently rocking her back and forth. "It hurts to put all of your trust in somebody and have them betray it." He looked down at the top of her head with kind, understanding eyes. "And it hurts to lose a best friend. It hurts doubly to lose two." Kaoru sniffed. It was something like a gesture that she was listening as she cried. "When it happened to me, I didn't have comfort from anybody. Not even my wife." Kaoru shifted her head slightly. The feeling of her movement against his chest sent sparks up his spine. The fact that she was so wantonly leaning into him for support made those sparks all the more recognizable. "You shouldn't worry, though." He whispered into her ear. He shifted her in his lap so that her forehead was in the crook of his neck. "You will have comfort for as long as you need it."

Kaoru knew she should have been too overcome with sorrow to hear anything he said. She was supposed to be mind-blown by Sanosuke's horrible betrayal on her part, so much that the rest of the world was a blur. But she lay pressed against him, wide eyed in the dark, having heard every single word he said and having understood all of it. He didn't need to tell her what he meant for her to know what he was saying.