Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ How the Past Can Change ❯ Just You and Me ( Chapter 25 )

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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Koshijiro leaned over and placed a hand on Kenshin's shoulder. "I'm very proud of you too, Kenshin. From the moment I met you, I have been impressed with your kindness, your knowledge, and the respect you have given me, despite that you are a much more skilled swordsmen than I am. I know now, that you will take good care of my daughter forever, and that you will both always be happy. Regardless of whether I am able to return to the two of you or not, I will always know that she is well loved in your care." He finished.

Then as Koshijiro stood to leave the dojo, for most likely the very last serious conversation he and Kenshin would have, he said, "I will be departing early in the morning, before Kaoru wakes. I don't want this to be more painful for her than it already is. Take care, Himura Kenshin, my son." Then Koshijiro Kamiya turned to the door, and exited the room with a finality that left Kenshin breathless, and sad.

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Chapter Twenty-Five

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Early the next morning, Kenshin was preparing breakfast for Kaoru and himself. It was a beautiful morning, but Kenshin felt that it should be raining. He was sad, Koshijiro was gone, and Kaoru would be devastated when she found out he left without saying goodbye to her.

Koshijiro had left just before the sun began to rise, and after hearing his departure, Kenshin had got up to his morning routine. He knew he was not going to be able to rest, the anxiety of knowing that Kaoru would be upset when she woke was enough to have kept him up all night worrying about her.

As Kenshin was watching over the water he was boiling for their morning tea, Kaoru suddenly screamed out, "KENSHIN!!!!"

Kenshin looked up from the steaming water and then broke into a run to find her. Almost ripping the door off of its slider in his haste, Kenshin finally found Kaoru in a heap on the floor of her Father's room.

"Kaoru!!" Kenshin exclaimed in worry as he knelt down beside her and started checking her over to see if she had been hurt, or had hurt herself.

"I'm not hurt you baka!" Kaoru exploded, slapping away his hands as she finally looked up at him.

As Kenshin slowly took in Kaoru's tears rolling down her cheeks, and the piece of paper crumpled up in her hands, understanding suddenly dawned on him. Koshijiro had left Kaoru a goodbye letter, and Kaoru had just discovered that he had left without personally saying goodbye to her. Kenshin frowned as he tentatively placed his arms around her small form.

"I'm sorry Kaoru. You scared me, I thought you had been hurt, or someone had tried to hurt you." He whispered into her hair.

Kaoru sniffed as she clutched onto her best friend for the past 9 years of her life and said, "It's ok Kenshin, how were you supposed to know that Dad would just leave us like that?"

Kenshin gulped, guiltily.

Noticing Kenshin's nervous gesture, Kaoru pulled herself slightly away from him and stared into his violet orbs for a moment, looking for the truth. "You knew!" she suddenly exploded while rising to her feet and pointing an accusing finger at the man on the floor.

Kenshin cowered deeper into the floor, hoping Kaoru would go easy on him for not telling her.

"How could he!!?" she began. "I can't believe he would tell YOU goodbye and not ME!! Aren't I the one that's related to him? Am I not his blood, and sole heir!! You would THINK that he would have had the decency to say goodbye to me before probably marching away to his death!!" she yelled at the top of her lungs gesturing widely about with her arms.

Kenshin, noticing that Kaoru was too upset at her Father to hit him with the closest object, slowly stood and grabbing her arms, engulfed her in a protective hug before she could hurt herself. "Shhh, shhh, everything will be ok." He soothed, while patting her hair.

Before getting comfortable though, Kaoru violently pushed Kenshin away. "NO," she yelled, "It is NOT ok, ok? I'm so upset how could he do this to me?" She began once again.

Kenshin sighed, knowing that from the looks of it, it would be a long time before the object of his affection calmed down.

Hearing Kenshin's sigh of defeat, Kaoru turned on him. "And you!!" she yelled at him, once again pointing an accusatory finger at him. "Why didn't you tell me he was going to do this? How could you keep something like this from me, Kenshin?" she questioned, now on the verge of breaking down into more tears.

Kenshin's expression turned to one of agony as he moaned out, "Kaoru, please don't be mad at me. It was beyond my power to tell you."

Seeing Kenshin's sincerity in his pained look, Kaoru waved her hand as if to dismiss the topic. Then she handed Kenshin a piece of paper. "Here, Dad left this one for you." She said before she turned away from Kenshin and sank onto her knees on the floor.

Kenshin glanced at the letter, and then back at the small form on the floor. "Kaoru…" he began, wishing he could take away her pain.

"No Kenshin." Kaoru said cutting him off. "Don't say anything, just-just go away. I need to be alone right now." She finally choked out.

Kenshin frowned is disapproval, but did as she said. She was upset, and pressing it would get him nowhere. Kaoru would talk to him when she was ready, or so he hoped. Besides that, he was in no position to tell her what she should or shouldn't do, and he wasn't about to cross over that line with her. It would be disrespectful. Considered to be family by Koshijiro or not, he was unsure of how Kaoru felt about him. Since drawing away from her these past few years, he had become insecure about her feelings. Was it all just a silly childhood crush? Did she see him as an older brother, or did she see him as a man that was in love with her? She had said in her anger that she considered him to be her best friend. But what did that mean? Kenshin sighed. He had wanted the friendship... From seeing his future self, and the future Kaoru together, he had resolved to become Kaoru's friend before anything else, when he met her. Friendship wasn't enough though. Sighing, Kenshin slumped his form onto the porch and opened the sealed paper from his father-in-law.

Kenshin,

I know you are probably wondering why I have written a letter to you, being that we closed up all our lose ends in our conversation last night. However, after much thought, I determined that I needed to clarify a few things for you. Firstly, you may be wondering why I did not ask you if you knew of my own future, when you confessed to me knowing Kaoru when she was 19 years of age. The answer is simple, I don't want to know what my future holds, and I do not wish to know if I will live through this trip or not. Although, I am interested in knowing what will become of Kaoru, and I'm happy that I do. The second thing is that, in case I wasn't obvious enough in our family meeting, the time has come for me to give my blessing on your intentions towards my daughter.

Good luck to you Kenshin,

Kamiya Koshijiro

Kenshin looked up from the letter, and across the courtyard to the cherry blossom tree he had observed Kaoru from before moving into the home himself. A lone tear streaked down his cheek at the loss of his friend, and father. He exhaled a deep sigh and covered his face with his one empty hand, the letter hanging from his other hand that was slung over his knee, and tried to clear his mind.

Attempting to clear his mind of his troubles though, proved to be futile. He found himself reminiscing of good times with Koshijiro while at the same time, worrying over Kaoru, and then all in the same, trying to decide how to act around Kaoru. He had been waiting for 9 years, and now that Koshijiro had given his blessing on Kenshin acting upon his suppressed emotions, he didn't know what to do. Kaoru would need time to adjust to her Father being away, and so did he. He also didn't want to move to quickly…

The sound of the door sliding open broke into Kenshin's thoughts, and he looked behind him to see Kaoru coming out of Koshijiro's room. She gave him a weak smile and then sat down next to him on the porch, her eyes on the cherry trees just outside of the property.

Wisely, Kenshin remained silent and turned to look toward the trees himself.

"Hey," Kaoru said to him after only a minute or two.

Kenshin looked away from the trees to the young woman sitting beside him for a minute, only to discover that her gaze was still fixed on the trees.

"Hey," Kenshin whispered back to her.

Kaoru let out a deep sigh, and then turned towards her redheaded friend. "Kenshin, it's going to be ok right? I mean, it's not like he's dead, he'll be back in no time right?" she asked him, her voice hopeful.

Kenshin smiled. "I hope so." He said.

Kaoru sighed. "So, it's just you and me until then." She said.