Meiji 3, one snowy evening…
Huddled close, a couple was walking together, silent as the world around them, concentrating on the road ahead of them. After a while, the young man slowly lifted his hand to her shoulder and turned her around to face him. “E-to…”

“Nan desu ka?” the girl asked curiously, “Why so serious?”

”Ore…” He bit his lip, sweat running down his face as he trembled all over, “I want to ask you…”

“Ask me what?” she replied, her gray eyes giving him her full attention.

But it only made me more nervous. He quickly released her and turned to go. “B-bezuni! Let’s keep going!” He then put his hands into his pockets and continued to walk on. He stopped, only to realize that she had stopped and wasn’t following him. “Hm? Shizuka?”

”Keisuke…” she uttered, tears in her eyes, “…You don’t want to ask me?”

“…eh??” he stammered as she started crying into her hands, “S-sore wa… o-ore… Shizuka…!” He rushed up to her and pulled her closer, “Shizuka… I want to say it… but I’m such an idiot… I don’t know the words…”

“I don’t care…” she sobbed, “Even if you say it all wrong… my answer will always be ‘yes’…”

”Shizuka…” he uttered, leaning his chin down onto the top of her head, his arms tightening around her.

A girl had been spying on them from behind a tree. Her hair was up into a ponytail, her black hair falling into her eyes as she shivered a bit in the dojo clothes she was wearing. Straining to hear as well see more, she peered out a little bit more from the tree trunk. ‘Ganbarou, Keisuke…!’

Just then, a force pulled her backwards, causing her to land painfully into a pile of snow. “(Keep out of sight!)” Hachi scolded her, “(You know Keisuke would get pissed off if he caught us…!)”

But it was too late. Already, the couple had found the peeping toms out. Already, Keisuke had switched from romantic to rage. “OI!!!! What the hell are you guys doin’?!”

“Gaaah!! It’s all your fault!!” Hachi cried, as Keisuke came after them with fists and snowballs. “Next time you’re staying at the dojo!!!”

Shizuka sighed and crossed her arms, “You too, Kuma?”

Kuma shyly bowed his head in apology, “Gomen nasai, Onee-san.” But then a snowball knocked him over. He quickly retaliated, hurling over one the size of a melon. Unfortunately, he missed his target. “G-Gomen nasai, Onee-san!”

Shizuka shook the snow out of her ear and sighed heavily as this erupted into an all-out war. Snowballs flying through the air, Kaoru knelt down and rolled a snowball in her hands then, without another thought, hurled it into the air…

* * *
“ORO?!”

The snowball made contact with Kenshin’s head, sending him crumbling to the floor. Everyone stopped and turned towards Kaoru, who woke from her daydream, her face full of embarrassment. “Kenshin! Gomen! I didn’t mean to…!!”

Kenshin shook the snow out of his ear and put on a concerned smile. “Maa maa, daijoubu de gozaru ka, Kaoru? You looked as though you were someplace else de gozaru yo.”

“I-I was just thinking about…” she stammered, her focus shifting back to the winter scene before her. She had never seen the dojo covered with such a blanket of white, not since days when she was little. Somehow she found herself lost in her memories… memories so dear in her heart.

Sanosuke and Yahiko had also turned her way, ready to give her the third degree. Luckily for her, someone had arrived at the dojo, a katana police officer. “Yo!! Kimi-tachi!!”

“Are? Hachi?” Kaoru gasped as he lifted his cap and walked through the gate, “It’s so good to see you! What brings you here?”

Hachi grinned, “Was on my lunch break, so thought I’d pay a visit.” He sat down next to Kenshin, rubbing his hands together, “Sure is cold today. Who knew it would snow today, huh? Sure hope Kuma isn’t freezing his ass off working in the northern district. Heard they a blizzard up there…”

”Sou ne…” Kaoru uttered, turning for the kitchen, “I’ll go get more tea for you, Hachi. Be back in a second…”

As soon as she was gone, Kenshin turned to Sanosuke and Yahiko. “Eto… could you two leave us to talk for a bit?” His friends eyed him over suspiciously. “Eheheh… it’s nothing really. I, uh, want to ask Hachi what he think I should get Kaoru for our anniversary.”

Sanosuke rubbed his chin. “So, it’s been a year already, eh? Just give her some of that hot samurai lovin’. You know she’ll like that…” Kenshin responded by clobbering him with his sakabatou. Yahiko sighed and dragged the unconscious Sanosuke away.

Hachi opened his case and got down to business. “It’s true… he’s out of jail.” the cop uttered, “It seems we couldn’t hold them long, because arson, kidnapping, and attempted murder aren’t strong enough charges. Also, I believe there was a glitch somewhere… surely someone was bribed.”

Kenshin stared at the documents. “Yashiitomo…” he uttered, remembering the incidents that had taken place just over a year ago. Kaoru had nearly lost her dojo… had nearly lost her life. He stared long and hard at the papers, the vile in his throat rising, “That bastard… what’s his status now?”

”A free man.” Hachi explained, “We have some men checking him out every once and a while, but no one really knows what he’s up to. I’m sure that bastard will try for Kaoru-chan again, but my superiors doesn’t really care to give me support this time.”

”Hachi-dono.” Kenshin uttered, taking a letter out from his sleeve, “I received a letter from him today. He wants to meet me tomorrow for who knows what.” He handed it over to Hachi to read, “I’ll uptake any challenge.”

Hachi skimmed through the letter, then handed it back, “When are you going to tell Kaoru-chan?”

Kenshin’s eyes fell. “I don’t know… Her life is being threatened – so I should… demo…” He closed his eyes tight, remembering how she fought him even injured, walking the thin line between living and dying. “She will be reckless. I know she will. Surely if she heard that Yashiitomo was out of jail, she would go looking for him, herself.”

“We’ll try to keep a closer eye on him.” Hachi replied, “He doesn’t want to go back to jail so he won’t do anything stupid while we’re around or if she’s in public. Surely, the only place he’ll attack if she’s at home…”

”Leave it to me, then. I’ll keep her safe.” Kenshin replied, “In the meantime…” He stopped suddenly as he saw Kaoru coming from the corner of his eyes, “Say ‘hello’ to your wife for me!”

Hachi frowned, “That hag… you mean I hafta talk to her? C’mon, Kenshin, if you wanna talk to her, do it yourself. Don’t put me through enough torment…” He then lifted a grin to Kaoru, “It’s too bad I don’t have a kawaii wife like you do!”

”Mou, you two were talking about me or something??” Kaoru asked, looking back and forth before placing the tray of hot green tea between them. She then took a seat next to her husband. “Ne, Hachi, you should come over to dinner and bring Shimako-san. It’s been a long time…”

”Not gonna happen.” he replied, taking a cup, “She’s staying over at the Tsukigata house. It seems Shizuka’s back in town and the two wanted to pick up where they left off. That’s good for me, because finally I’ve got peace and quiet at home…”

”Shizuka-san…?” Kaoru uttered. She cradled the porcelain cup in her hand and stared at the floor, “I haven’t talked to her for years… not since Keisuke’s funeral.”

“Long time eh?” Hachi said, munching on a cookie, “Seems like yesterday we were all playing in the snow. Ya remember, Kaoru-chan?” She nodded silently. “I remember the time you fought off an entire school of senior fighters! People were talking about it for days…!”

”Kaoru did what?” Yahiko asked, he and Sanosuke coming over, “Oi, when did this happen??” Kaoru looked embarrassed as Hachi went on to tell the story.

* * *
It happened one snowy day. The rivalry between Kamiya Dojo and Maekawa Dojo was at its height. Already, both sides had suffered from each other’s pranks. And Hachi’s was going to be the best…

“Eheheh! While the sensei’s away…” Hachi chuckled, directing his fellow classmates, “We’ll shovel a whole lot of snow into their training hall! Ahahahahaha!”

“Eto… aren’t we gonna get in trouble?” Kuma uttered, dragging a cartfull, “I mean isn’t this vandalism??”

“It’s only fair!! I mean after they put those leeches into our uniforms… it’s unforgivable!!!” Hachi growled, fire surrounding him, “We’ll get them if it’s the last thing we do!!”

”Demo… where are all the students today anyway??” one guy asked, putting his shovel down, causing the same reaction for everyone else. They all stared towards Hachi.

“Simple! I just told Kaoru-chan to go ahead of us and divert them!”

At this, Keisuke popped up and grabbed him by the collar, hissing, “TEME! What did you say?!!”

”Eheheh…” Hachi nervously waved his hands, “Told her if she wanted to be part of our group, she had to do this deed… just a couple laps around town, using that charming little personality of hers…”

”If anything happens to her…” Keisuke broke a shovel in half then took off into a run. “CHIKUSO!!”

Earlier, Kaoru had arrived at the Maekawa dojo. From her hiding spot, she took a deep breath. ‘Here goes. Don’t get killed…’ She then rolled up a snowball and aimed, directly at the senior assistant instructor’s head. ‘Yoshi! On the mark!”

”W-What the hell?!” the guy exclaimed, shaking snow out of his ear. He spotted the girl at the gate, pulling at her eyes and laughing, “K-Koitsu!?”

“It’s the Kamiya brat.” one of his comrades said, “Let’s teach her some respect. C’mon boys!” With that, the entire squad came after her.

“Gaaah?!” Kaoru exclaimed, running with them on her tail, “Now what do I do?!” Hachi had just told her to keep them busy for a couple hours. “A couple hours?!” She ran into Downtown Tokyo, dodging people left and right. Being little as she was, it was done deal, as the men behind her had difficulties. “Still persistent, ne?” she uttered looking back, “Uh oh…” She was turning into an open area where there weren’t any crowds around. Soon, there was a wall in her way. “Eeeh?! Now what?!”

The assistant instructor chuckled, leaning his shinai on his shoulder, “So you want to play with the big boys eh? Let’s show you some moves…”

’I’ve got no choice!’ Kaoru picked up her shinai and got in defense position. Everyone stared at her, “C-Come!” At this they laughed, but then she leaped up and knocked over the assistant instructor, “COME ON ALREADY!”

”She’s serious.” someone uttered, “What the hell? She’s just a kid!!” With that, one by one they came at her, and one by one they fell. “That does it!!” This time, they circled her, coming in like vultures.

“HYAAAA!” Kaoru did an entire rotation, sending them to their knees. “Had enough?” she asked, waiting for more. But it seemed they had only gotten started. Again, attacks came from all corners. Kaoru dodged and countered, her little form running circles around them. “Had enough?” she asked again.

“HELL NO!!” they yelled, coming at her again.

“Still persistent…”

Keisuke came running down the street, following the footprints in the snow and the trail of disaster left behind by the Maekawa dojo. He was amazed at what he found and what he would later report to everyone in his neighborhood. “KUSO!”

Kaoru stood in the middle of a battlefield; all of her opponents face down in the snow, while she was still in stance. “Enough… I’ve had enough…” she uttered tiredly, dropping her shinai and falling to her knees, “Enough…”

”Kaoru-chan?” Keisuke asked, going to support her, “Daijoubu?” She couldn’t reply, her heart racing and mind a blur, “Sugoi! You’re amazing!” he exclaimed, as she leaned her chin onto his shoulder, “Hm? Kaoru-chan…?”

”It’s so… so warm…”

“Kaoru-chan?” he asked again, but she had passed out. Smiling, he lifted her up onto his back and uttered, “…that’s my kenjutsu komachi.”

* * *
The story was finally finished. Kaoru had filled in the areas, which Hachi didn’t know while the other guys had listened attentively. “Heh, who knew Jou-chan was a town hero.” Sanosuke chuckled.

“T-that’s not true!” she cried, still very embarrassed, “Keisuke’s still much better than me!”

Yahiko nodded, “Aa! That guy sounds the coolest! I want to learn some of his special moves you talked about! I can do some real damage if I only knew how…!”

Hachi slapped Kaoru on the back, “Ask Kaoru-chan! She should know them all!”

”I do not!” she snapped, “And I’m not teaching them to anybody!” Everyone stared at her, as if to ask why. “Datte… they don’t belong to me. I haven’t any permission to pass on something like that.” she said in a little voice.

“But it wouldn’t be wrong or anything.” Yahiko replied, picking his ear, “I mean, you two were like girlfriend and boyfriend…” Everyone stopped and stared at him. He flicked the wax aside and stared back. “What?”

Kaoru exploded. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! YOU’VE GOT IT ALL WRONG!! TAKE THAT BACK IMMEDIATELY BEFORE I GO BURY YOUR SORRY ASS IN THE SNOW!!”

“Maa maa.” Kenshin said, pulling her back and imprisoning her in an arm hold, “Kaoru, calm down. Yahiko was just observing…”

“But it’s not the truth!” she said, struggling with him, “I mean, Keisuke was ten years older than me! It’s not possible!” Suddenly, everyone looked the other way and chuckled. “What is it now??”

”Eto…” Kenshin tightened his grip, smiling over her shoulder, “Kaoru… I’m ten years older than you de gozaru yo.”

“Oh… well, that’s different!” she replied, “I was just a child back then…”

Hachi pulled himself off the floor and grinned. “Seems like you still are.” Hearing these words, Kaoru lifted her head and stopped her struggling, “Kaoru-chan, you haven’t changed one bit!” he laughed.

“Eh?” she uttered, “But I…”

Hachi put on his hat. “I better head back to the station. The boss will get mad at me if I’m late from my break. I’ll visit again soon.” he said, leaving.

As Kaoru waved towards the departing cop, the other three congregated together and discussed the discovery. “So Kaoru had the hots for the young swordsman eh??”

”Shimatta! Guess you weren’t her first love after all, Kenshin.”

”Oro…”

”MOU!!!” Kaoru appeared, completely raging, “STOP SAYING LIES!!!” She then picked up the sakabatou and started chasing the two. They continued like this, circling around Kenshin, who was in a daze.

“Oi! Kenshin!!” Sanosuke wailed, “Your wife’s trying to kill us… again!!!”

Kenshin just whimpered, “There was someone else…?”

”IT’S A LIE! A LIE!!”