'It's so dark tonight...'

Tsubame cautiously walked home from work that evening. It was later than usual, because she after to help Tae with some special duties. Feeling the cold air against her cheek, she thought about the year that had passed, the life that she had become accustomed to.

'It started out quietly, but I was pulled in... By everyone's love, everyone's courage... It's made me a better person. I feel like I can express myself now, that I don't have to be scared. Because everyone will stand by me... Demo...'

Her footsteps ceased, her hand moving to her chest and forming a fist. That uneasiness entered her heart, the strange feeling that something was going to be taken away. Something very dear to her...

Staring up at the night sky and the dim stars, she studied this premonition. She wondered when and how it would happen, and how would she react.

'That time... when we thought Kaoru-san had died... That time always comes to mind. I remember crying so much... Asking questions like 'why'... Demo... since that time... I've learned that dying isn't necessary an ending... or an exchange for something... To live is most important, but death will happen someday... Someday, we all have to face it... like that time...'

She could see Kaoru gazing off to sea, on the boat leaving the island of Kyushu - that thoughtful look in her face, her hands grasping at her kimono. The loss of her grandmother beamed in those saddened eyes, from where tears could not fall... not anymore, when every tear she had left had fallen already.

'Kaoru-san... watching you... I've decided what kind of person I want to become,' Tsubame thought, smiling up into the sky, 'A person who is... strong... intelligent... and courageous... just like you.'

* * * * * * * * * * * *
Sanosuke was also walking home from the dojo at that very same time. Steering down the darkened path, he remained attentive to his surroundings.

'I feel like someone is watching me.' Scanning the trees, he couldn't spot a single person, but he couldn't shake that feeling. 'Almost home, but if any of those bastards want to come out I'm up for a fight... Always! Heh!' he chuckled to himself, slamming his fists together.

He then paused and gazed out to the river, with the moonbeams reflecting off the surface. He could see the shadow of someone standing there. He quickly left the road and skidded down the bank to see who it was. He became face to face with Keisuke.

"Oi," they both blurted out at the same time. After a little pause, the two looked at each other intensely with fists clenched at their sides. There was a strange aura in the air that they couldn't describe, as though they had met a long time ago.

"Hey you... Sagara-san, is it?" Keisuke started to say.

"Don't call me that. It sounds weird coming from a guy like you," Sanosuke snarled, "You dojo-boys act tough, but you are really soft and formal. Makes me ill."

"Dojo-boy?" Keisuke snarled back, "I'm not a boy! I'm almost thirty, dammit!" He quickly drew his shinai and pointed it at Sanosuke. "I'm your senior! What do you know any way!"

"Chotto! No need to get all pissed about this!" Sanosuke gasped, while waving his hands. He didn't like the way the red kept flashing in this person's eyes. It almost reminded him of the Battousai, but the red reminded him of blood. 'This guy is very hot-tempered...'

"Suman..." Keisuke sighed, lowering the sword and relaxing. "What I meant to say... that you... I have a request... Please help Himura in protecting Kaoru-chan... that is all I have to ask."

"Nan da yo?" Sanosuke said, lifting an eyebrow, "I liked it better when you were ready to kill me. What's this about dumping the duty entirely on us? Aren't you going to help at all? Jouchan needs you..."

"Chigao!" Keisuke blurted out. He clenched his fists and turned away, gazing towards the river. "No, she doesn't. I... I shouldn't have come. I'm going to make things worse. So, please..."

"What if I told you Jouchan isn't going to be protected by us?" Sanosuke replied, going around to face him, "What if I said that Jouchan has to face this one on her own?"

"Teme!!" Keisuke exclaimed, grabbing him by the collar, "Don't tell me you're going to leave her on her own - leave her to be killed by those bastards!!" The hands were shaking and the eyes became lowered. "That's... That's what I did..."

Keisuke pushed away from Sanosuke and sat down onto the grass. Sanosuke watched him, the pain in his face as his clutched at his sides. "Hey... the past is in the past..."

"Still... I ran away..."

"But you came back didn't you?"

"Sou... I came back... To die," Keisuke uttered, "I killed another man and I was passing judgment on myself. I didn't deserve to be near Kaoru-chan, I didn't deserve to be part of the Kamiya dojo or use its technique... I didn't deserve to live..."

"But you're living now!" Sanosuke argued, wanting to smack some sense into this guy. 'I don't care if he's older than me - It annoys me, this way of thinking!'

"I'm living now," Keisuke said, closing his eyes and holding his hand to his face, "Through Kaoru-chan's memory... Because Kaoru-chan forgave me... Continues to forgive me... That is why... I..."

Sanosuke waited for more, but Keisuke stopped speaking. The heavy look of remembrance weighted on his countenance. "Come on, Yarou!" Sanosuke finally snapped, yanking the guy up by the arm.

"Eh? Where are we going??"

"To my place... You can't possibly stay out here all night! Besides, I'm not letting you off for not wanting to help protect Jouchan and her dojo! Let's go!" Sanosuke said, dragging him onto the road.

Keisuke reluctantly followed, gazing up into the stars and seeing that certain smile shining back at him. 'You keep forgiving me... Someday... I too... Someday...'

* * * * * * * * * * *
The next day, Shizuka was having breakfast when a servant came by telling her she had a guest. "Aa! Tsubame-san!"

Tsubame bowed her head and walked over to sit next to her. "It's my dayoff so I wanted to meet with you."

"Eh? With me?" Shizuka said, pouring her some tea, "Whatever for?"

"You know..." Tsubame started to say. She thought back to yesterday, from what Yutaro had told her at the Akebeko. "I wanted to see if you were okay, that's all."

"I'm fine," Shizuka replied, with a casual chuckle, "Watashi daijoubu desu. You worry too much about others."

"D-Datte!" Tsubame exclaimed, clutching at her knees, "Shizuka-san is... is a good person! You are so important to Kaoru-san... and to me!"

Shizuka put the cup down and placed her hand on Tsubame's shoulder to get her to look at her. "Tsubame-san, thank you for those words. Demo... you do not have to worry about this. My problems are in the past, and you can't change the past."

"Still I..."

Shizuka got up and faced the open shoji, gazing outside. "It won't change... What I did... The pain I caused... It can never be erased... This situation I'm in... I deserve it and will accept it entirely."

Tsubame emotionally shook her head. "Iya yo! No one deserves suffering! No one deserves it! I-I just want all of us... all of us to be happy!"

Shizuka's eyes saddened as she gripped at the door. "Kari-sensei didn't deserve to suffer... I just wanted her to live happily too..."

'Kari-sensei...' Tsubame stood and walked up next to the woman to see what she was staring at. She saw the garden outside that had a small stone shrine and incense burning. 'Kaoru-san no okaasan... soshite, a very important person to Shizuka-san...'

"I was with her, during that time..." Shizuka suddenly said, "We were kidnapped together... That cruel man, who was her ex-fiancé... Raiko... He treated us like hostages and kept us in that cold shrine... Kari-sensei wouldn't let him hit me. She argued that I was still a child... that she would rather have him hit her. At night, when it would be freezing... She would give me her blanket and hold me close... Telling me that I would survive, that Kamiya-san would come save us, and that no matter what I shouldn't give up. Kari-sensei was the reason I lived through that awful experience... and yet..."

The scenes of battle flashed in front of her eyes. Next to her was the struggling Hikari, who put on a strong smile.

"Daijoubu desu, Shizuka-chan..."

"D-Demo! Sensei, you're hurt! We should tell them!"

"Iie... I don't want to interrupt the fight... As soon as my Tetsu defeats him..."

"Kari-sensei held out until the end. She didn't want to burden anyone. Her injuries were too great to heal at the end. But she was happy... She was happy in the end. She was finally going to be free."

Tsubame clenched her fists, thinking about that same man who had caused so much pain to the Kamiya family and many other people. She had met him briefly in Kyushu when she visited Kaoru's grandmother's home, but it was too brief. If she were to meet him again, she knew she would react different. After all she had learned, she would definitely do something.

"But I did nothing..." Shizuka said, holding her hand over her gray eyes, "That time they came for Kaoru-san... I didn't protect her... I didn't stay with her during that awful time... Instead... I..."

The hand clasping onto the other dripped with blood. The younger Shizuka's face strained as she saw the man below, that look on his face full of anger. 'Yashiitomo-san...'

This was the same man she remembered as kind and helpful around the dojo - the same man who changed at the end of Hikari's life. He was now engulfed with anger, with vengeance. Losing that important person was the one thing they had in common. The words he said were kind of foggy; Shizuka couldn't remember clearly. But in her mind, she remembered the moment she released Kaoru's hand and drew away...

"Do what you like with her - I don't care!"

"How could I done such a thing...?" Shizuka asked herself, "How could I... to Kari-sensei's most precious daugther... to Keisuke-san's most precious person... To my...?!"

Shizuka looked like she would break down into tears again. Tsubame then spoke up. "There were reasons... at that time... Demo... those reasons don't apply now. I won't believe that you would do such a thing today, because of the kind person you are. What happened in the past isn't as important as what is happening right now... Shizuka-san, please try to understand."

A great pause followed. Shizuka suddenly laughed. Tsubame, a little bewildered, could only stare in surprise. "Tsubame-san," Shizuka sighed, "Mou, you sound too wise to be such a young person!"

"I-I'm not! It's just a real simple truth!" Tsubame gasped, her face blushing, "Kaoru-san says those types of things all the time! I-I'm only repeating what I've heard!"

Shizuka's face softened into a smile. "Accepting people into your heart... Being open-minded to whatever situation that comes along... That's something that Kari-sensei would say all the time."

Tsubame slowly nodded. "Simple truth is passed down through the years... I'm sure that Kaoru-san learned it from you, Shizuka-san... I'm sure that someday I will teach it to someone else..."

* * * * * * * * * * *
Back at the dojo, Yahiko came running through the gate. "Oi! I'm back from Sanosuke's place!" the boy said, skidding to a stop. He noticed that Kaoru and Kenshin had been sitting together, looking like they were in the middle of a conversation. "Aaa?? Has Busu remembered yet??"

"N-Nani yo?!" Kaoru snapped, smacking him on the head, "Remember this - DON'T CALL ME BUSU!!"

"Maa maa," Kenshin laughed, while burping Kenji, "Yahiko, didn't I tell you were still injured and should be letting your wounds heal?? It's too reckless de gozaru to be moving around."

"Dakara!!" Yahiko exclaimed, "I had to pick up my medicine from Megumi. She's staying home to cook for the Tori Atama. Besides, he had a note for me to deliver to you."

"Oro?" Kenshin accepted the letter and read its contents. 'So he has Keisuke-dono with him... Yokatta de gozaru.'

Yahiko noticed the smile on his face. "Well?? What does it say, Kenshin??"

"We'll explain the details when Sano gets here later today," Kenshin replied, slipping the note into his sleeve. He saw the look on Kaoru's face before she turned away. 'How much longer do I have to hide this from you... I don't want... like that time...'

He remembered the last time Yashiitomo was going to attack them - how Kaoru found out and was very upset with him: "I don't need you!! I can fight him myself!!"

'Kaoru is like that... She will take the fight on herself... But this isn't the same Kaoru as that, is she? She doesn't know or understand the danger that surrounds her...'

He watched as she went to take Kenji, still very cautious and unconfident in holding him. "A-Ano... Kenji needs to have his diaper changed," she stammered, looking very lost.

Kenshin quickly smiled and took him from her. "I'll do it. Don't worry." He then went inside the house with Kenji.

Kaoru leaned over to Yahiko. "Ne, about Kenji's mother... Did she really run away with another man??"

"BAKA!! YOU ARE KENJI'S MOTHER!!" Yahiko roared.

Kaoru went into a split second of shock, before lifted her head and sighing. "Yapari, there is so much I don't remember... How could I have been married and have a child, and to lose my father... I don't understand at all..."

"It'll come back, don't worry about it," Yahiko replied, trying his best to be more sympathetic to her situation. It didn't help that she was still injured on the hands that she couldn't use a shinai. 'If trouble comes, Kaoru will be in trouble. I have to protect her...' He suddenly saw her get up and go for the gate. "AaH?! Where are you going??!"

Kaoru took out her purse from her sleeve to show him. "I just thought I would surprise Kenshin... I mean, get some sweet tofu for us to eat together."

"I'll go with you!"

"Heh?" she asked, looking a bit confused, then annoyed. "What for, kid??"

"Because!! Oh hell, does there have to be a reason?! Let's just go and hurry this up, Busu!"

While those two hurried down the road to the market to buy the tofu, there was a man standing up ahead. Yahiko saw him and thought about where he had seen him before. The dark-eyed man was smiling and looking towards them. 'Where have I...?'

Yahiko then saw the hand on the man's side, flexing - the swirl of wind around it.

'Aah????' Yahiko got in front of Kaoru who bumped into him. 'That guy... He's...!!'

"Ne! What's the big idea??" Kaoru asked over his shoulder, wondering why he had stopped. She also saw the man. "Are? Who is that?"

Yahiko glared at that smiling man, drawing his shinai. 'He's coming this way... that man... from Kyushu...' He could see images of Kenshin's body slashed with wounds. 'That man called Raiko...'