Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or Samurai X.

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Dearest Tomoe,

I know you will never receive this message.

I was the one who ensured that. My own bloody hands were the ones that stole the last breath of life from your body. It was I who took your life during your attempt to save mine.

Since the day my scars crossed and your love became but a tender memory to me, I have lived my life as a swordsman who does not kill, a rurouni who wields a Sakabattou to defend the innocent.

I would protect life, guided always by your smile.

My sole purpose for living was to bring a smile to the face of the people around me.

I use my bloodstained hands to save the lives of people who wish to live peacefully in the new era.

I am fulfilling my unspoken promise to you now. Since the end of the Bakumatsu, I have taken not one life with my sword.

I have saved the lives of people in the same way that I should have saved you… yet I cannot see my life without your death and the scar you left me with as a guide throughout my unworthy existence.

I often asked myself whether or not I would change a single thing if I had the power to turn back the hands of time.

For, what I have found through the hardships in my life is a new hope, a promise that I must protect.

Your smile once guided my decisions, but now I realize that if you knew what I have been doing deep inside my heart, you wouldn't smile at me.

I never truly accepted your death at my hands and the fact that I was unable to save you, just one innocent life in the midst of the death and chaos.

When I almost lost another such person, I finally faced you and came to terms with the past. I was able to move on and save that person's life and happiness.

I knew, at the moment I looked up and into the distance of the unknown future, that your smile was shining just as radiantly as the sun's rays on my face and I was able to smile back… free of my burden and free of my past. I was able to live, guided by a new light: the light of the one who showered me in a love more pure and unselfish than I knew could exist.

Through the lowest times in my life as a rurouni, this woman was always by my side with her eyes on my battles and the smile of an angel on her face.

Now, I am astray. I have been wandering for years on end with no hope of ever reaching my home… my Kaoru.

Please forgive me, Tomoe, for not allowing your memory to be honored as it should… as a memory.

I will return someday. All I wish for now is to see my Kaoru's smile and to hear her sweet voice welcoming me home…

Someday, I will be able to truly rest in my beloved's arms again.

With Love,

Himura Kenshin

…Shinta

Kenshin stepped off the ship onto the peer with no memory of who he was or who he should look for… He had no memory of who he was, other than the fact that his birth name was Shinta and, according to Sanosuke Sagara, his name was also Kenshin Himura. He searched the crowds for a familiar face, but found no one. He had just about given up all hope when he saw a young woman smile beautifully at a passerby. For some reason, the smile struck a chord and Kenshin felt a warm sense of familiarity in his heart, forming a single word deep within him.

Kaoru…

It was all he could see…Kaoru's face and her angelic smile. His heart leaped with an overwhelming sense of security and fulfillment.

"Tadaima… Kaoru."

>< Owari ><

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