Battousai Himura raised his sword in a last effort to kill the big thug.  He braced himself as he swung the blade downwards thru the thug's heart and expected to be knocked senseless—but strangely nothing happened.  The huge lump just collapsed and left a bewildered Battousai standing there, his senses blurred.

But more important things came to mind and he quickly ran to the shack where he thinks they were keeping Tomoe.  Please let me be on time…

Enishi Yukishiro stood watching from behind the bushes.  His face fell when he saw Battousai kill the thug.  But he quickly recovered and walked briskly to a slit in the shack where the Battousai headed when he killed the man.

Tomoe stood as she watched Battousai staggering towards the cabin, bleeding heavily and his breaths came in sharp gasps.  When he opened the door, he found Tomoe standing there holding her short knife.

"Wha-what are you doing?" he rasped, barely maintaining his stature as the life slowly seeped from him.

Tomoe said softly, "I was going to help you."

Battousai smiled, a small, weak smile, "Arigatou, but there's no use for it now, ne?" with that he fainted into Tomoe's arms.

~*~

When Battousai awoke, he was in the cabin he shared with Tomoe and the cabin was toasty warm due to the fact that there was a merrily dancing fire in the middle.

Tomoe kneeled in front of the fire, stirring a ladle around a pot of stew.

Enishi sat nearby, his face down and hands in his lap.  He appeared to be asleep.

"T-Tomoe?" Battousai struggled up.

Tomoe turned around abruptly, "Shh!" she pressed a finger to her lips and pointed to her younger brother.

Battousai smiled weakly.

"Dinner's almost ready." Tomoe murmured quietly.

"Mm."

"Are your wounds healed?  You've been sleeping nonstop for about three days already."

"I think my neck bone's still a bit cracked,  but otherwise everything's fine."

"…I'm sorry."

"Why?"

"I hired those men to kill you."

"Nani?!?!"

"Shh!"

"Oh, gomen ne."

"As I was saying, I hired those men to kill you because," at this she took a deep breath and took the ladle out of the pot, and turned to face Battousai, "because I hated you so much, you took my happiness away, you…you killed my fiancé."

Battousai's eyes widened.

"You killed him in Kyoto…" Tomoe's voice cracked and a drop of tear slid down her face.

Battousai was speechless.  Here was the woman he loved, and he had taken almost everything from her.  And yet she still wanted to help him. 

Tomoe wiped her eyes, "Gomen nasai, I-I'll be going back to cooking." She turned around quickly, still dabbing at her eyes.

Battousai stood up and touched her wrist, "I'm sorry."

Tomoe said nothing.

Battousai took her free hand and kissed it, "Here's for taking away your happiness."

Tomoe turned to look at him, a look of utter surprise on her face.

Battousai helped her up and took her in a hug, whispering in her ear, "And here's for taking away your love." And with that he pulled back and looked deep in her coal black eyes.

Without a second thought, Tomoe leaned forward.

Battousai leaned forward too, and their lips met briefly before pulling apart.

"I-I…" Battousai blushed.

Tomoe smiled, he was so naïve, so young…she took his hands in hers, "Aishiteru."

He seemed taken aback, "Nande?"

"Anata ga suki des, Battousai."

"Ai-aishiteru, Tomoe."

~*~

"Miko-chan!" a mother of about twenty-seven yelled, chasing after a young girl of about eight years old.

The girl laughed as she ran around a tree trunk and yelled to her mom, "Catch me if you can, okasan!"

The mother fumed angrily and her usual tranquil face broke into a frown, "Miko-san, you come here this instant!"

The girl sensed danger and obediently stepped up to her mother, putting on an angelic face, "Yes, mother?"

There was a masculine laugh from behind the mother as a young father of around twenty-four appeared, and he was dragging around his left foot unnaturally because a young boy of around six was attached to it.

The boy clung to his father's leg and mumbled, "Otosan, watashi no anaka ga suita…"

The father tried to shake the boy off, grumbling, "Geroff, Toshihiro!"

The boy held on tight, "Watashi no anaka ga suitaaaa!" he whined.

"Tomoe-chan…" the dad looked pleadingly at the mother.

The mother pointed at the house they live in, "There's some meso soup inside the pot, I think."

Toshihiro hurriedly detached himself and scurried inside the house, searching for the soup.

The girl laughed.

The mother looked at a clock inside the house, "It's almost time for Enishi-kun to come."

The father winced.

There was a knock on the door and the girl and boy both came running to the door, squealing, "Ojisan!  Ojisan!"

The door opened and in stepped a boy around nineteen, "Oi, Miko, Toshihiro!" he clamped them in a hug.

The mother welcomed her brother, and said politely, "We're just about to have dinner, why don't you join us?"

The father nodded somehow reluctantly.

The uncle gave a sly smile to the father and said, plastering on a fake grin, "Sure, onesan, it'd be a pleasure."

A/n- dats dat!  I think that's what would've happened if Tomoe was still alive.  Happy endings.  (sniff, it's still so sad when she lay dying in Battousai's arms, smiled, and said, "This is the best kind of ending…so please, don't cry, okay?" and died…sniff) (oh and watashi no anaka ga suita means I'm hungry, I think)

Later dayz!

CyberSerpent .~

PS. Here are some possible upcoming fics:

1. Tomoe's Diary rated: PG- basicly just a peek into the diary of Tomoe

2. Modern day rated: G- the RK crew gets warped to modern day—right in my house!