Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ How the Past Can Change ❯ Post Traumatic Stress ( Chapter 33 )

How the Past can Change

A K&K Rurouni Kenshin Romance FanFiction

by: bunny ;D

Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin is the creation of Nobuhiro Watsuki, with the manga and anime rights belonging to Jump Comics and Sony Entertainment, respectively. I do not own and did not create the series or its characters...I'm just a fan, and I have no money anyways, so NO SUING ME!! :D

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A/N: This story is altering the original story of Rurouni Kenshin / Samurai X. It also has some OOCness, (especially with Battousai.) If you don't like that idea, or can't handle it…I would advise you not to read this fic. If you are a hard-core Tomoe and Kenshin forever kind of person, I would advise you to not read this fic. Don't get me wrong, I like Tomoe, this is just a different story ok?

Ja ne,

Bunny ;D

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Only a few moments passed before Kaoru cried out, throwing the letter away from her as if it carried a deadly disease and threw herself on Kenshin, sobbing inconsolably.

Kenshin wrapped his arms around Kaoru's small form and knew for a certainty the contents of the letter.

Kamiya Koshijiro was dead.

Without a word, he lifted the young woman into his arms and carried her into her room. He laid them both down on her futon, and let her sob for hours on his shoulder, until finally she fell asleep.

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Chapter Thirty-Three

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Brief A/N: I just wanted to clarify for everybody that this is an alternate timeline. This means that some events although familiar will in most cases NOT occur in the original stream of time from RK. I'm sorry that I forgot to warn everybody that the events of Kaoru's B-day, the death of her Father, and the beginning of the Himura Gohei incident have been changed around for the sake of keeping the story going. I just figured everybody would get that point…since I'm changing the whole story. In any case, considering that the story is called "How the Past can Change," I will warn you now that I have every intention to continue to change events, and the order in which they occur. End Brief A/N.

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Kaoru woke up early the next morning, alone. She wasn't really surprised, as Kenshin had always been one to be up before her, but a part of her had been hoping to see him first thing, to in some ways squelch the loneliness she was feeling deep within herself. She rolled to the side, stretching her arms out in front of her and absently watched her far hand twitch. 'Oh, Dad.' She thought as a lone tear made it's way down her face.

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Kenshin stepped out into the street and turned back to see if the "MOURNING" sign was centered properly on the outside gate to the Kamiya property. He had woken early and watched Kaoru's tear-stained face for a while as she had slept. Knowing that classes would be cancelled for the grieving period, he had finally forced himself to leave the comfort of her bed to make a sign to hang on the gate to notify everyone of the situation. He let out a sigh as he slowly opened the gate door, and going back into the property he trudged back to Kaoru's room, wondering if she had woken yet.

Knowing she was awaked, Kenshin murmured, "'morning Kaoru," To her back as he quietly slipped into her room, and stood motionless in front of her door.

"Yes." She replied, still absently staring at her hand almost as if she was looking through it.

Kenshin frowned before letting out another long sigh. "I've placed notice on the front gate for your students. Why don't you just take some time to relax today? I'll take care of everything else." He said.

Kenshin stood there, waiting for Kaoru to say something, but she didn't respond, so finally he turned around quietly walked out of her room, gently sliding the door behind him. He ran a hand through his bangs as he sat down on the porch just outside of Kaoru's door and watched the cherry blossoms float to the ground, lost in thought. 'STUPID!' he fumed as punched his fist into the porch floorboards. 'I should have been the to one to go. This wouldn't have happened if I had gone. What was he thinking? Why didn't I fight him more about it?' he silently berated himself for not preventing the events that he had known would happen. He sat there getting more and more upset the more he thought about it, and the more he dwelled on Kaoru's pain. 'I would do anything to take her pain away.' He thought sadly. Feeling defeated, agitated and restless, he decided he needed something to do, and away from the property and Kaoru's apparent depression. Even though he was not in the same room as her, he could FEEL her sorrow as if it were pulsing off of her in waves. 'I should go out looking for that imposter,' he thought. 'Maybe I can get some clues about him if I go into town and ask around.' He decided as he stood and made his way out of the dojo. "Get better my Kaoru," he whispered to the gate after closing it behind him. He softly touched the front of the gate for a moment, imagining it was Kaoru he was comforting, and then slowly began to walk down the street towards the town.

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"Ken…shin…" Kaoru whispered to herself in her room, "come back." Another long tear fell down her face before she closed her eyes, willing herself to sleep and forget about her problems.

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T he first place Kenshin stopped at was the Akabeko to talk with Tae. "Good morning Tae-dono." He greeted as he entered her restaurant.

"Oh, good morning to you too Kenshin-san." Tae replied cheerfully. "How are you doing today?" she asked.

"Bad." He replied. "We got news yesterday evening that Koshijiro-san was killed during battle."

"Oh no!" Tae gasped as she covered her mouth with her hands. "Poor Kaoru-chan." She said to herself sadly. "How is she taking it?" she asked Kenshin.

Kenshin frowned, his one expression speaking volumes on how Kaoru was taking the news.

"Oh no. That poor girl...she really takes these kinds of things hard. I remember when her mother died; she didn't do well at all. She refused to leave her room or eat for days on end. You must take care of her Kenshin-san." Tae informed him.

Kenshin frowned at this new information Tae gave him. "That I will." He said to her. "I have another question for you. Have you heard any rumors about the Hitokiri Battousai in this area?" he asked.

Tae made a horrified face. "I have!" she exclaimed. "I heard he's killing people like crazy in the streets, especially at night. I heard he's really big and ugly too." She added.

"Have you heard anything about where he might be found?" he prodded.

"No. Not really, sorry Kenshin-san. I hope you aren't planning on tracking this guy down. You could get hurt, or even worse killed. Kaoru-chan would definitely not ever recover if she lost you too you know." She said.

Kenshin smiled. "You don't have to worry about me, that you don't."

Tae frowned. "If you say so. I think I'll plan to come over and visit you guys tomorrow if you don't mind. If you want to wait, I'll be happy to send you home with some free food." She said.

"That would be very nice. Thank you Tae-dono." Kenshin said before sitting down by the front while Tae headed to the kitchen to place the order for the food.

Kenshin watched the people walking by on the street, carefully observing each person, searching for a clue on how to find his imposter. 'Big, ugly… and out at night…sounds like your average serial killer. I can't believe he's using my name for this, and Kaoru's school. He's going to pay. I will track him down get him. No matter what.' He thought as he narrowed his eyes at a group of men walking down the street talking to each other. 'I wonder if they know anything.' He thought as he took note of their appearances so he could track them down later and get any information they might have.

"Here you go Kenshin!" Tae exclaimed knocking Kenshin out of his thoughts as she came around to the front with a bag filled with boxes of food. "Enjoy, and please be sure to tell Kaoru-chan I said hello!" she added.

"Thanks again Tae-dono. See you tomorrow then." Kenshin said before leaving and heading back to the dojo for lunch with Kaoru.

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Kaor u awoke with a start, as if her subconscious mind had awoken her because she needed to be awake. Her heart pounding frantically, she strained her ears and stretched out her senses, just like Kenshin had taught her, trying to determine what had woken her and if she was in danger. Finally, she heard the soft shuffle of footsteps and almost immediately she knew it was Kenshin, who had returned from wherever it was he had wandered off to. Relief washed through her as she placed a hand over her beating heart, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Just as she had finished exhaling, Kenshin slid open her bedroom door and poked his head in.

"I'm happy to see you awake." He said as he started walking into the room, leaving the door open to let in fresh air.

Kaoru watched him as if in a trance as he continued to come closer and talked with her.

"I went to see Tae-dono and she sent home some lunch for you." He said with apparent forced cheerfulness. He gently set the bag down on the floor as he crouched down on the side of Kaoru's futon and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's a beautiful day…that it is. Would you like to go outside and eat on the porch?" he asked.

Kaoru nodded dumbly, as if her body was simply going through the motions, and there was no thought involved.

Noticing her odd behavior, Kenshin gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze and said, "Everything is going to be ok Kaoru. Come on, let's go eat for now." He stood and then pulled Kaoru up to her feet. She swayed a bit, and Kenshin put his arms around her to steady her, unconsciously pulling her whole body closer to him. At their close contact, Kaoru sniffed, and in only a few seconds she had her arms back around Kenshin, crying on his shoulder.

"Shh….shh…everything is going to be ok." Kenshin whispered soothingly.

"I miss him." Kaoru sobbed out as she grasped the front of his gi in the palms of her hands, clutching onto Kenshin as if he was her only lifeline.

"I do too sweetheart…I do too." Kenshin said as he gently rubbed her back.

"Promise me you won't ever leave." Kaoru said as she buried her face into his chest.

"I promised your father that a long time ago Kaoru, and I promise you the same now. I will never leave you…not unless you want me to." Kenshin said.

"Oh Dad. Always looking out for his baby girl." Kaoru sighed through her sobs, touched that her father had known her so well. "I would never want you to leave me Kenshin, not now…not ever." Kaoru said with conviction before she moved her arms out and hugged him back. "Not ever." She repeated.

"Thank you." Kenshin said, his throat thick from the intense love he felt for the young woman in his embrace.

"For what?" Kaoru asked.

"For loving me. For being my everything." He replied before burying his face in the crook of her neck, ending the conversation.

The two stood there holding each other for what seemed like hours, enjoying the comfort they were able to give each other over the loss they both felt, at the loss of their father.

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A/N: Well…that's it for chapter 33. I know it was sad but wouldn't it be weird if they didn't grieve? In any case, I'm quite proud of myself for finishing this chapter in less than a week whooo hooo!! ::does a little dance while chanting "go bunny, go bunny":: LMAO.

ANYHOW, special thanks to the following reviewers for chapters 31 and 32:

chapter 31 -----

Macy - You're awesome. You are so nice to always review :D

Alex - I don't have a mailing list for when I update my fic, but I do have my story on my RK website (http://kenshin.tsukinousagi.com) and I have a mailing list there, so if you wanna join…you'll know when I update through my site.

LSR-7 - About the holding hands thing…I guess I didn't write it very well, because my intent was to convey that he was more like dragging her by his hand, but she was excited that he was holding her hand. Also, in the anime, Kaoru glomps Kenshin quite a bit - even in public and when other people are around, so I'm not really worried about it. Thanks for the tip though ;D

DAX Demon - Mine takes the cake? O_o;; ORO! Thank you, what a nice compliment. Writing anything new? No…in fact as soon as I'm done with this story, I'll probably quit writing all together. I'm really not that creative. I just thought of this idea, and I REALLY wanted to read it myself and since nobody else (at the time) was writing a story like this, I decided that I would go ahead and write it. I'm sure a lot of people could have done a much better job, but I'm trying to do the story well. :D

sawdust monster - Thank you…I like the thought of that too. I'm very happy that you are enjoying all my craziness which is this fic. ;D

Night Rain - :falls over laughing hysterically:: I know…I love that too. Kaoru learning Kenshin's techniques. It was too awesome to resist. :D

Someone - about the review parties tip - if you had read my a/n after the 500 party, you would have known that I already decided not to do another one till I hit 750.

Varina- thank you, I'm very happy that you got 2 days of enjoyment from the story. How many reviews am I trying to get? ::falls over:: actually…I was only trying for 100 when I started this fic. It just ended up being much more popular than I expected it would be. O_o;;

kawiibaby88 ::hugs:: thank you…that was sweet of you to say :D

bek - thank you for all of your nice reviews ;D

Delphine Pryde - thank you…I try

Sailor Cosmos - thank you for all your feedback about the time travel. It was very difficult for me to write some things, and I was probably still terribly misunderstood in a lot of the writing, but hey - you're enjoying it and that's all that counts right? :D

Silent Teardrops - thank you, and I would hope that each chapter gets better. Take care :D

almi (almi_saure@yahoo.com) - sorry about the long hiatus…but I'm back now. I hope you are still enjoying the fic ;D

Angelin - 3 times?! Wow. I'm impressed. ::hands over a big fan banner and a box of chocolate:: You're the best :D

crystal of psyche - yeah…I wonder what's going to change for everybody with these new developments. :D

wolfpack - thank you, what a nice thing to say. There are tons of other really good (and much better) than mine stories out there. Check my favorites, check chibi-angel and check anna-neko for sure. ;D As for the future…we'll see.

Zackire - gotta keep you on your toes :D

Battousai (battousai10k@hotmail.com) - thank you…that means a lot to me :D

lidmoon02 - You're in luck - there will be quite a few more chapters yet ;)

marstanuki - I know, I know. I deserve a beating, but I was really busy and I was depressed a bit in the winter, and it killed my creative capabilities completely. Thankfully I'm over all that now, and back on the happy update my story wagon. LMAO!! ;D Which reminds me that you have a story yourself that is in need of some serious updating. MMMMHHMMM.

Michiru Kashyuuno - thank you! I'm very happy you are enjoying the fic. I'm sort-of starting where the manga starts, but only sort-of (you'll see what I mean.)

Shizuka - thank you for your nice comments. It's soooooo incredibly cool to see someone so into the story ;D

AT-chan - ::hugs:: my friend! :D Thanks for reading my fic…it makes me supremely happy :D I'm surprised you think I have "writing skills" I think I suck, but you know…people are never satisfied with their own work ne? :D Besides, you're the big author of the two of us, not 'lil 'ol me. ::heheh:: Catch ya on the forums. ;D

Azura Dea - thank you!! It's so nice to see someone who's been a long time reader of my story get so excited about the progress of the characters. You're a real encouragement for me. THANK YOU BUNCHES!

Silver Eyes Bright - ::heheheh:: YEAH!! LOL ;D

Jezika - I think I'm improving on the update time…at least for these last 2 chapters. Right? Right? ;D

NightRain - I'm soooo happy you liked the river scene. It took me forever to get it the way I wanted it ;D As for Kenshin remembering the future…it wouldn't really be a memory…since he hasn't been through it yet. And Kaoru from the future didn't tell Battousai much about what the future held, only a few things that she slipped up on. In anycase, you'll see what I mean in the next few chapters ;D

lizzie (lizziea51@yahoo.com) - It's so nice to make people's days :D whooo hooo!! ::bows:: I'm happy to help, that I am :D Take care :D

Vesca - it's true it's problems, but she has to find out eventually ne? And WAIT till you see what happens next!! ::evil grin:: thanks for the welcome back ;D

the_great_2nd_child - thank you…one word can say a lot and that was a very nice one ;D

Koneko-dono - YAY!! ;D I'm so happy you liked the chapter. Sorry about the updates time (and yes you have nothing to talk about! :P) LOL ;D take care ::hugs::

Ewunia - sorry about the time…thank you for being such an awesome fan! :Hugs:

Jason M. Lee - thanks for all your help as always…and of course being the first to review and hit up my corrections ;D

chapter 32 ----

at-chan - JUST YOU?!?!?! ::falls over laughing hysterically:: you're the one I talk to everyday. LOL I'm happy you are still enjoying the fic :D

Battouasai (battousai10k@hotmail.com) - thank you very much. You always have such nice and informative reviews. I really appreciate the thought you put into them.

Almira - who said anything about me not writing anymore?!?!?

Macy - me too…the party is going to be wicked cool for sure :D It's true, it's all sad now…but soon it will just be funny ;D LOL ;D

Chihiro - thank you for saying such nice things!! WOW!! You're so nice ;D

Azura Dea - I know…sorry…but we had to have the sad part to get to the fun parts up ahead ;D

Luna Moon - WOW!! Thank you!! (Not even close to being ½ as good as the real show, but thanks for saying so anyways :D)

Koneko-dono - You are going to LOVE that 'lil chat…just you wait!! ;D

Hana Himura - I know…it's sad huh? I updated soon, are you proud of me hana-chan?!?! :D

Zackire - thank you bunches :D

Vesca - it does. Thanks for noticing the chapter title. I really appreciate that. :D

NightRain - thank you for the wonderful review, and thank you for letting me know about those typos. And look! I updated so quickly whee!! ;D

Yuki - I know…I'm sorry about the length. I'm not very good at getting a nice length for each chapter, but I'm working on it. In any case…I can't wait to write about Kenshin meeting up with the fake Battousai ;D

XP-DarkAngel - I updated soon. Thanks for reading :D

Gypsy-chan - ::big hug:: thank you so much!! It really means a lot to me that you thought I did a good job with that scene. See you at the party (of course) ;D

Marstanuki - Uh…I don't know how many chapters it will be yet…there is still quite a ways to go…soo…yeah… LOL

LSR-7 - Yeah…read my A/N at the top of this chapter. That should clear things up for you ;D thanks for the review and it's definitely more than 1 from you…I take notice of those who review faithfully ;D

chibnomiko (chibnomiko@yahoo.com) - thank you! Yes, I plan on continuing to write this story ;D

Jason M. Lee - thanks again for all your input. I really appreciate all your help ;D take care ;D

Ewunia - I'm trying to update more often…it's just very difficult for me because I'm a very busy person. In anycase, thanks for reading and sorry about the font thing…it was FF.net tripping.

Jezika - thanks for reading my a/n's and commenting on me updating…and LOOK! I did. ::ehehehehehe:: take care :D

Night Rain - thank you thank you thank you! That was a really wicked cool review. :D

Well…2 hours later…LOL…thanks again everybody!! ;D

Hopefully I can get another chapter out by next week ;D

Bunny ;D