The cold steel cut through her like fire. The pain was piercing.
No.
Kami-sama, this could not be happening. Not now!!! Not when her life
was so good. But the pain was real. Everything was going cold. She fought
as the darkness ate away at the edges of her vision. No. . . no. . .
no. . . NO!!!!
"No one can have you. No one can have you. . . . You belong to me. You've
always belonged to me," Yuuta whispered the words to her. His eyes were
glazed over, mad.
It had to come to this. You made me do this. Why didn't you
love me? Yuuta made sure he struck true. He struck so she would suffer,
so she would pay for ignoring him, for rejecting his pure love.
She had seen him around, avoided him. To her, he was nothing. Now she
knew. Now she was his. He had loved her for so long. She was so beautiful.
She was so kind. He had never had the courage to speak to her, but he watched
her. Yuuta would come by to speak with her father, as a boy, and stare
at her, even back then, watch her with hungry eyes. She was everything
to him. But she never noticed. Not once. If she did, she hid her
reaction.
She had screamed, his beautiful angel, as the katana cut deeply into
her flesh. He felt his eyes tear at the sound, at the agony he was inflicting
on the one person that was most important to him. He felt her pain as he
pushed the sword through her flesh. But afterwards, they would be together.
For that he rejoiced. No one else would have her now. Not any of those
men who lived with her and laughed with her. No one. She was his forever!
He wiped away the crimson droplets that sprinkled on to her face. There,
she was as he always remembered her. Perfect. You are so perfect. And
you belong to me.
"No!!!! Kaoru-dono! KAORU!" Kenshin's voice was harsh,
frantic. He ran towards Kaoru's prone form, near the riverbank. She had
gone back after a package she had left by the banks. Her screams had reached
the group just as they started toward home. They had all stopped by the
river banks to relax for a moment before heading back home. They had been
starting back when Kaoru had rushed back to fetch a bag she had left there.
She told them to start back and she would catch up.
"You are too late! She's mine now!!! I love her like none of you ever
have. She will be with me forever. I'm taking her to the next life. It's
too late!" The man was mad. The bastard wanted to kill Kaoru because he
loved her?
Kenshin ran towards her, towards the man beside her, but it was too
late. Her attacker plunged the stained katana into his own heart. The pain
was over quickly for him, but he had cut Kaoru so that she had to die.
She was bleeding to death. Kenshin could only look on in horror. To his
experienced eye, he knew that the wound was too gross to fix. She was dying
before their eyes.
"Kenshin..." Her voice was already weak. Death. This was death.
She wanted to scream at her loss. She wanted to live. But...But she already
knew that it was not going to happen.
"Kaoru!!!" Megumi rushed toward her side, but she already saw that it
would do no good. The wound was too deep. He had cut too many vital organs.
So much blood. Gods. She bent forward, trying to stop some of the bleeding,
but it was hopeless.
Kenshin knelt beside her. Kaoru stared at his face, imprinting it to
her final memory. His eyes. She loved his eyes. They always let her see
into his soul. Since the beginning, she could see the truth in those eyes.
They were burning now. Tears. He was crying for her. She loved him,
so much. So much. She never wanted to see him sad....
"Kenshin.... Yuuta...H-He said he loved me. He said that n-no one could
have me, if he couldn't. He's mad. I-I never noticed...I just ignored him....I-"
"Ka-Kaoru..." Kenshin's voice cracked. "Shhh. Don't talk. It's going
to be okay."
"Kenshin, I'm getting cold." She wanted to take back the words as she
saw the panic on his face grow. She didn't want him to worry about her.
She felt a strange calmness take hold. It was going to be okay now.
Kenshin knew it was too late. She wasn't going to make it. He buried
his face in her loosened hair. She smelled of jasmine. Jasmine and the
familiar sharp, metallic tinge of blood.
"I love you...." he whispered into her hair. He lifted his face and
kissed her lips gently. For her belief in him. For the family they had
made together from so many different people. For everything.
"Kenshin, I love you, too. So much... I love you, minna. Please.
T-Take care of each other. You....need each other." She told everyone as
the darkness closed in on her. Her eyes felt so heavy. She had to close
them. She couldn't feel anything anymore.
"Y-Yahiko, take over the school. I taught you....I taught you the sucession
technique.... I'm s-sorry....I'm so sorry. I love you." She couldn't feel
the tears that seeped from her eyes. She couldn't feel the tears that fell
from Kenshin's. She welcomed the dark, now. The pain was ending, fading
away.
"Forever.... Kenshin." She whispered. "I will wait for you. Kenshin.....
Don't worry so much....Please...," she whispered softly, her voice faint.
Kaoru closed her eyes.
"NOOOO!!!!!" Kenshin felt his soul rip apart as her eyes closed
forever. Everything had been coming together. There was peace. He had thought.....
He had thought that they would be together. He could be with her. He loved
her so much.
Yakiko staggered forward to kneel by her, tears streaming down his face.
He touched her cheek, wiping the tears away from her face. It was still
warm, but the chill of death was creeping in. "Kaoru! Chikkusho! Chikkusho!
This
can't be happening."
Yahiko loved her. Kaoru was the sister that he never had. The mother
that he had lost. This could not be happenning. It was a nightmare. All
of it.
