The cold steel cut through her like fire. The pain was piercing. No. This could not be happening. Not now!!! Not when her life was so good. But the pain was real. Everything was going cold. 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 have always belonged to me," Yuuta whispered the words to her. His eyes were glazed, mad.
It had to come to this. Yuuta made sure he struck true. He struck so she would suffer, so she would pay for ignoring him, rejecting his pure love that day.
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 when the katana cut her flesh, deeply. He felt his eyes tear at the sound, at the agony he was inflicting on the one person that was most important to him. But after the pain, they would be together. For that he rejoiced. Together forever!! No one else would have her now. Not any of those men who lived with her and laughed with her. She was his forever! He wiped away the crimson droplets that sprinkled on to her face. There, she was as he always remembered her. She would always be perfect.
"No!!!! 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 as they had just started toward home. Yahiko, Sanosuke and everyone else had stopped by the river banks to relax for a moment before heading back home. But Kaoru had rushed back to fetch a bag she had left there, telling them to start walking back, that she would catch up.
"You are too late! She's mine now!!! I love her and she will be with me forever. I'm taking her to the next life. It's too late!" The man was mad. He killed 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. It was over that fast 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. The wound was too gross to fix. She was dying before their eyes.
"Kenshin. . ." her voice was weak. Death. This was death. She wanted to scream at her loss. She wanted to live. But. . . but it was not going to happen.
"Kaoru!!! Oh my lord!" 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. God. She bent forward to try to stop some of the bleeding, but it was hopeless.
Kenshin knelt by 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 . . . . He said he loved me. He said that no one could have me, if he could not. He was mad. I never noticed. . . I ignored him. . . ."
"Kaoru. . ." Kenshin's voice cracked. "Shhh. Don't talk. It's going to be okay."
"Kenshin, I getting cold." She wanted to take back the words as she saw the panic on his face grow. She did not want him to worry about her. It was going to be okay now.
Kenshin knew it was too late. She was not going to make it. He buried his face in her loosened hair. She smelled of jasmine flowers. Of jasmine and the 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.
"I love you, too. So much. . . . I love you, minna. Take care of each other." She told everyone as the darkness closed in on her. Her eyes felt so heavy. She had to close them. She could not feel anything anymore.
"Please. Yahiko, take over the school. I taught you. . . . I taught you the sucession technique. . . ." She could not feel the tears that seeped from her eyes. She could not 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 now. . . ." Kaoru closed her eyes, slowly.
"NOOOO!!!!!" Kenshin screamed. Everything was coming together now. There was peace. He had thought. . . . He had thought that they would be together forever. He could be with her forever. 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! (Shit!) 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 all a nightmare. All of it.
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