Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ How the Past Can Change ❯ Conflicts ( Chapter 34 )

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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"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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Chapter Thirty-Four -- Conflicts

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Two weeks later, Kenshin found himself absentmindedly listening to Kaoru yell at her students while scrubbing laundry. 'I never realized before how much I enjoyed doing the laundry.' He mused as he realized he had completely lost himself to the simple chore. It had been an interesting couple of weeks, to say the least. Kaoru was still pretty depressed about her father, at least once a day she broke down completely, crying her heart out and in the most interesting places too. On the roof, in the bathhouse, by the riverbank, on tree limbs, in the kitchen cupboards, in her bedroom in the middle of the night, she even walked out on her students the second day she had resumed classes. Her intense depression had made him become so concerned with being there for her that he didn't have much time to dwell on his own pain, and for that he was grateful. Although Kaoru had not died when she had returned to the future, the pain it had caused him to be separated from her was extremely intense; in fact, she may as well have died, for how much it affected him. Those feelings were ones he had hoped to never experience again, and although the loss of Koshijiro still pained him greatly, it paled in comparison to his concern for Kaoru. It seemed as though every other minute, he was running off to comfort her because he could feel her breaking down. The few occasions he had found himself finished with his chores, and Kaoru in a somewhat cheerful mood, he had been working on tracking down the Battousai imposter. Which brought him back to doing the laundry, which was the only opportunity he had to just slow down and think about the more important issues in life. Primarily, how he was going to tell Kaoru about his past, and when.

It had been plaguing him for the past two weeks. He knew she needed to know. He knew it had to be soon, especially since realizing exactly how much Kaoru disliked the idea of living with a manslayer. She deserved to know the truth. But there was a problem. She was already devastated about her father, and Kenshin couldn't bring himself to tell her, fearing that as Tae had said, it would make things even worse for her if she lost him as well. Not that he wanted to leave - she would certainly have to kick him out in order for that to happen, but he knew that the truth about who he was, and what he represented would take its toll on her emotionally. Regardless, it was eating away at his conscience, and worst of all, Kaoru had noticed - despite her own emotional turmoil. He couldn't help it, it just didn't feel right anymore to hold her, kiss her, speak lovingly with her…she didn't really want him. It made him feel dirty. Stained. The times he gave in to his emotions and showed his love for her, he knew he was living a fantasy, one that would come to a rather abrupt halt as soon as she discovered the truth about his past and who he really was. In a way, Kenshin had to admit to himself that part of the reason he had not yet told Kaoru was selfish - maybe just for a little bit longer he could bask in her ignorant love - wishing that it was all true. Kaoru had noticed though, how he had begun to pull away from her to a certain degree. This morning things had come to a bit of a head while during their daily training she had gone so far as to confront him about it.

~~flashback~~

Like most mornings, since Kaoru's training in Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu had begun, Kenshin and Kaoru were training in the river just outside of town. Kaoru was blind folded, working on a ki exercise in which Kenshin would randomly attack her from different angles. She would not only have to sense him coming, but also move quickly enough with the friction of the water to get away from him before being hit. Not like he actually hit her even if she didn't make it away on time - he would only place the tip of his own reverse blade to his attack point to let her know her get away had been unsuccessful. After a few unsuccessful attempts in a row, Kenshin had admonished her, "pay closer attention, and remember to block out your thoughts in order to sense me sooner."

Kaoru had suddenly exploded at his words yelling at him "How am I supposed to concentrate with you acting so strangely! All I can sense from you is the conflicts in your heart! What's got you so worked up? I know it can't be Dad, because it's not the pain that is so strong, but an inner turmoil. You would think the world was coming to an end and it was up to you to save everyone! What could possibly be bothering you THIS MUCH and I not know about it?" she finished.

There was a long silence before Kaoru finally whispered out, "It's not me, is it? Did I do something to make you begin to distance yourself from me as you have been?"

Kenshin had tensed up immediately, and was unable to mask his reaction from Kaoru, alerting her that she was the cause of his inner turmoil. She dropped her sword; tip down into the water, effectively lodging it between the smooth pebbles on the riverbed and removed her blindfold to look at his face and see if what she was sensing was really true, or simply imagined.

Kenshin stared at her for a moment and despite the conflict in his heart, couldn't help but admire how lovely she looked when her hair cascaded in long wet strands down her back and her bangs pushed to the sides, clinging to the side of her face in wet tendrils. Troubled with his conflict, as well as his reactions to her, he looked down, watching the gentle flow of the river, hiding his eyes from Kaoru's probing ones. 'The time is not yet right.' He thought sadly.

"Kenshin…" Kaoru whispered the desperation in her voice not lost to either of them.

"We need to return, or we will be late." He said abruptly ending their conversation. He jumped to the riverbank. Kaoru had let out a hefty sigh and then followed his lead and jumped onto the bank herself, knowing what came next; now that they had begun her serious training, Kenshin used everything they did together to train her - including their travels.

The two of them stood on the riverbank for a moment, the water softly dripping down their wet clothes, their silence at this point unusual and uncomfortable.

"GO!" Kenshin said and a moment later both of them sprang into the trees, racing home by jumping from limb to limb and rooftop to rooftop.

~~End Flashback~~

Remembering the difficult conversation he would face once classes were finished for the day, Kenshin sighed as he snapped the now clean sheet from the laundry tub and hug it to dry with the rest of his wash for the day, took a step back and admired his work.

"I will have to just deal with it later." He murmured to himself before he proceeded towards the gate, out of the dojo in order to continue his hunt of the fake Battousai.

----------------------------------------------------------- < p>A few hours later Kenshin found himself still listlessly roaming the streets of Tokyo. Classes at the dojo had finished a couple of hours ago, he knew. And Kaoru was probably sitting at home fuming to herself about him, but he couldn't help it. He didn't want to go home and have the discussion that he was certain she would want to have with him. So he continued on through the streets, absentmindedly searching for the fake Battousai, concentrating more on his anxiety about confronting Kaoru.

Forgetting his dilemma for a moment at the sounds of yelling, Kenshin picked up his pace to run around the corner of the street to witness a scene he had hoped he would never encounter.

There stood Kaoru, her sakabatou held out in front of her in a defensive stance, a few men, one of them very large, surrounding her.

"Hitokiri Battousai!! You will pay for what you are saying about my dojo and the people you have killed!" Kaoru yelled to the largest man in the middle.

The big man had laughed at her before unsheathing his own sword and bringing it down on Kaoru. Kaoru had dodged, but the large man had been able to nick her on the side of her arm.

'She must be distracted still from her problems.' Kenshin had thought, excusing her surprising deficiency at the art. His eyes then turned a fierce golden at seeing Kaoru's blood spring from her arm a second later. Without another thought, Kenshin had sprung into action, picking up Kaoru and jumping up onto a roof, away from the large man attacking her.

Utterly surprised at the intrusion on her battle, Kaoru looked up into the face of her savior, one arm in her lap, the other hanging to her side, loosely holding her sword and then she gasped, "Kenshin!"

Realizing what had happened at Kaoru's gasp of his name; Kenshin looked down at the young woman in his arms. "Your hurt. Let's go home and leave this battle for another day,"

"No!" Kaoru had said immediately while also trying to pry herself out of his arms.

The fake Battousai had taken his leave and was already parading down the street, swinging his sword around proclaiming, "I'm the Hitokiri Battousai of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu!"

"I finally found him, and he's not getting away with this any longer Kenshin!!" Kaoru had yelled, continuing to squirm, in an effort to be released and chase after the man defaming her good dojo.

Kenshin tightened his hold on her as she squirmed. "I'll come and take care of him later if you want, but first we need to take care of that arm of yours." He said calmly before he ran back towards the dojo, carrying a befuddled and bemused Kaoru the whole way there.

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A/N: Well, that's it for chapter 34. I hope you all enjoyed it. This is the last chapter before a lot of action and more drama that is to come. Lots of action. Yep, yep. ;D

Anyways, I want to let you all know that I'll be at Anime Expo this upcoming week (July 2-7) so there won't be any more updates until I get back from that. I'm SO EXCITED! If you happen to be going to AX, I'll see you there! ;) I'm going to be on the FanSite panel again this year, so I'm easy to find. It's Friday night from 8:30 - 10:00.

Anyhow-

Special Thanks to the following for reviewing my last chapter: orchid-child18, alex (saishin87@yahoo.co.uk), bek, LunaAngel, shirokitsune, Hana Himura, crystal of psyche, straberyshrtcake (straberyshrtcake@hotmail.com), Battousai, darkfire, Lid02 (lidmoon02@comcast.net), KenshinXKarou-fangirl, marstanuki, yv, Azura Dea, PhyreWitchGoddess, XP-DarkAngel, Varina, Sailor Cosmos, Aino Saori, Serenity, LIZZIE (lizziea51@yahoo.com), Ayame, Chiki, Jezika, Silver Rune, yuki, angelstargazer, Koneko-dono, Toraneko, almira, ShimmerNymph, Hitokiri Himura Jenni (rurouni_jenni_himura@yahoo.com), LSR-7, JML, Lysse-chan

Thank all you guys for your wonderful comments. They are really encouraging to me, especially those of you that put extra thought into your reviews. But I also really appreciate the quick ones that say, "that was good." Or "update soon" because I know that there are people reading the story and that they enjoy it. Thank you everybody! ::group hug::

Here are a few answers to your questions:

LunaAngel - Please don't stick the MOON CHOCOLATE HONEY CATS ON ME ::runs away screaming:: LOL

alex (saishin87@yahoo.co.uk) - Will this be an epic? Uh…isn't it technically already one? I don't really know for certain. I know that there is still quite a bit to go before this story ends, but I'm not sure when I'm going to end it, although I do know how. ;D

Hana Himura - ::glomps:: Guess what? Guess what? I'm having a party…wanna come? Yes…you should be updating, and look! I already have yet another chapter out. This must be record breaking for me.

marstanuki - The Sailor Senshi of SailorMoon are I would describe as warrior princesses. They are all princesses of their respective planets, and I think that at times they are referred to as goddesses, but they aren't goddesses in terms of what one would normally think of when they think of a goddess. (You know like people worshipping them and stuff.) As the princesses of their planets, they inherit the power of the planet from which they protect and rule. The actual star of the planet resides in their hearts and that's where they draw their power from, with the exception of Usagi/Sailor Moon whom also has the power of the Silver Imperium Crystal, which follows the wishes of her heart. I hope this helps. ;D

Azura Dea - When will the rest of the Kenshin-gumi come? Soon.

Aino Saori - Thank you for such a nice review. That was really encouraging to me to see how into it you are, it makes all my work worthwhile. As for the longer chapter…I'm trying. Was this any better? I can't seem to get much more into each chapter than the pace I'm currently at. ::sighs::

Chiki - I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy! ACK! ::glomps:: thanks for reading my story! AS you know…I love yours. Anyhow…here's the answers to your questions:

Why the sudden change on Kenshin's speech? Well, actually there wasn't as drastic of a change as you think. Most of that was when he was talking with Tae, and all other interaction since becoming a wanderer before now has only been with Kaoru and Koshijiro, who he treated as if they were family, so he didn't talk to them in that way. He started doing it a bit with Kaoru after she went off about his alias (HB) because it changed his viewpoint on her feelings for him. It's only subtle now because he's trying to hide the truth from her until she recovers more from her Father's death. I hope this explains it a bit more from you. It had a hidden meaning to it, and I was trying to show the meaning through the story, but I guess I didn't do a very good job since you needed to ask me about it. O_o;;

I don't write lemons, period. So no worries on that point. ;D

Thanks for liking the OOC! (I personally love OOC.)

See lookie, lookie…I already updated :D ::hehe::

Is Okita and or Saitoh going to be in this fic? Probably.

About Enishi…you will see. :D

Thanks again for reading my story and for such a nice and informative review! ;D

Koneko-dono - I know…I surprise myself too. Sorry this chapter wasn't more happy…or waffy for that matter. (darn these necessary evil chapters) Lol ;D

Toraneko - Is this story going to tie with the anime? Um…kind-of. There are…events I'm going to keep, but if you mean am I going to re-write the whole anime but add a few changes, then no. This is a different story.

ShimmerNymph - As for Kenshin knowing that Koshijiro was going to die and not preventing it- well, here's the thing, if you go back and read the chapters before Koshijiro left, I think it will help. Kenshin knew that he was going to die, but he didn't know how or when, so he was guessing that the war might have been it. So he didn't really know for sure. This is why now he feels guilty for not doing more to stop him, since he had an idea that this could happen. I'm not planning on the story being long and drawn out (though it is already a bit long and drawn out.O_o;;) I'm going to get to the point I want to get to, and then I'm going to stop.

Hitokiri Himura Jenni (rurouni_jenni_himura@yahoo.com) - Who is hotter, the Battousai or the Rurouni? Battousai, hands down…but I would rather marry the Rurouni. (don't tell either of them I said that…or there will be major chaos in this house)

LSR-7 - There is still a Gohei, it's just that the events are changed in the order they occur and how they occur, because the characters are different. As for Kenshin's handwriting…it was a big sign. LOL ;D