Disclaimer: All rights and privileges to Rurouni Kenshin belong to Nobuhiro Watsuki, Shuiesha, Sony Music Entertainment, and associated parties. The characters of this series are used without his permission for the purpose of entertainment only. This work of fiction is not meant for sale or profit.
Author's Notes:
The title means "Future's Promise" in Japanese. . . . . All the characters I create belong to me. I began writing this story before the end of the manga series/TV animation. I consider those sources as my main inspiration. Um. I don't like the OAV's at all.
Warning: It is not all that happy to begin with!
Originally written in 6/98. Revisions made: 11/20/98.
Updated with new revisions: 1/24/99 - Thanks to Amy Forsyth
Updated again. New Edits. 03/11/02
UPDATED ONCE AGAIN - 03/16/2005
Japanese Notes:
Chikkusho: Shit
Mirai No Yakusoku: Part 1 - Losses
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? He stared in facination at the shock on his beloved's face. 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. This life would be over soon. 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.
Before heading back to the dojo, they decided to stopped by the river banks to relax. They had been starting back when Kaoru remembered something. She rushed back to fetch a bag she had left there. She told them to start back and she would catch up. Kenshin's heart sank as he took in the scene before him. Kaoru lay crumpled, her kimono stained with blood. A man knelt beside her, his eyes bludging with madness.
"You are too late! She's mine now! I love her like none of you ever have," he raged. "She will be with me forever. I'm taking her to the next life. It's too late!" Covered with her blood, he raised his katana again, cutting into her with fierce strength. 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 cut Kaoru so that she would suffer. 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 wounds were 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. Megumi's hands shook as she tried to staunch the flow, knowing nothing she could do would help. "Kaoru...," she whispered. "Please, no."
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... I-"
"Ka-Kaoru..." Kenshin's voice cracked. "Shhh. Don't talk. It's going to be okay," he lied. His hands shook as he pushed her hair from her face. Her beautiful eyes were full of pain. And of love.
"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. His heart ached and broke as he watched her struggle to breath, to talk. She was slipping out of his life. Dammit, she didn't deserve this. She...
"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." It was so hard to talk. She struggled to move her lips. She had so little time to say what she needed to. They needed to know how much... how much she loved them. Needed them. Loved them. "Please. T-Take care of each other. You... need each other," she whispered as the darkness closed in on her. Her eyes felt so heavy. She had to close them. She couldn't feel anything anymore. The pain, sharp and burning a few moments before, now began to fade. She struggled to say all she could before... She needed to let them know.
"Y-Yahiko, take over the school. I taught you... I taught you the succession 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 totally.
"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. With her. He had thought... He had thought that they would be together. He could be with her. He loved her so much.
He pulled her body closer, as if trying to will his life into her. Too late... Too late. He looked up at his companions, as if trying to find an answer. There were none.
Yahiko 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 happening. It was a nightmare. All of it.