Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

Notice to Readers: To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required.

Argument:  For many of my frequent readers they've been asking me a singular question.  That question was about the tears, the tears being the doorways between each of the Anime worlds that have allowed them to cross-over into each other.  Now the time has come for them to find the answer to that question, and it is that and other questions that shall drive them and bring them together. 

It's hard to say really where this all began.  I knew that I had to find a way to end my Gundam fan fictions sooner or later.  Eventually it got to the point where I was saying to myself over and over again, that I had to finish this.  Mainly because I knew that it was time to try to grow beyond fan fiction and back to the original stories that I've kept on the back burners for so very, very long. 

There is a fellow fan fiction author, ShadowHawk who had pleaded with me each time to make another Gundam story while I was working on this fic.  He was the one who has given me such villains and mechas to fight in my other fan fictions:  The Knight Blazer for GW Gundam, the Cyber Fang for Evangundam, the Silencers for Children of the Gundam, as well as enemies who became heroes, such as Id "the Lion" Kushrinada, Kazuki Peacecraft and the Desbats.  I do owe him a lot, of which I had paid back by writing many of the fan fictions he has posted, those fics being, Trigun GunGraves, Sailor Moon: Sailor Swordians, The Four Gundams of the Apocalypse, Gundam Wing: Zone of the Enders, and Zone of the Enders: Episode Zero.

When he pleaded with me to make another Gundam fic, I had told him that it was time for me to end my fan fics with this…my "Magnum Opus" (Latin: "Great Work"), this will be my greatest piece of fan fiction that I've ever done.  In the end I myself knew that if I was to finish my Gundam Saga which spans 12 stories, 7 crossed-over Animes, and countless blending from other sources of Anime, Movies, Books and Music. 

This fic will encompass them all, all the fics I have done in the past, all the Animes that were crossed over, they will all meet together once again.  This will be the final story in my Gundam Saga, and this chapter will be the beginning of the end.  Enjoy the fic.   

Anime's Unite:

The DarkTower

Chapter 1:  The Western Group:

The Old East and the Wild West

It was a marvelous day in Inepral City.  The world of Gunsmoke had changed so much since the day that the Peace Guns (Consisting of Vash the Stampede, Nicholas D Wolfwood, Millie Thompson, Meryl Strife, and Millions Knives) had come back from the Gundam universe.  Yet, time seemed to have its same effect as it did with all of life.  It kept marching onward.  It had been five years since they left and came back.  Since they came back, they had brought the technology to make the "lost technology" work once again; even more so when it had made Gunsmoke a livable world.  Instead of the desert that stretches ever onward in all directions with the twin suns scorching them.  The skies had become unbelievably blue, there were winds across the lands, and there was even water and rain. And grass, cool, green grass.  The lands were farmable and the soil rich.  It was even better since it was the Peace Guns that had done it.  Even better for Vash since it was discovered that it was Millions Knives and not Vash that had caused so much destruction.  Thus the 60 Billion Double Dollar reward had been dropped.  That was if, Vash and Knives would do community service...which they did for five years.

It seems that Vash and Knives were like brothers once again.  Just like in the past in how they were inseparable.  Despite their own differences, the two of them had gotten along quite well.  In that time, five years after coming back from the Gundam Universe, they were visiting Inepral City, the very same city that tried to catch Vash and then hailed him as a hero.  Vash as well as his friends were hailed as heroes all around ever since the planet became a better place to live. 

All five of the Peace Guns had a place booked somewhere in Inepral city while the Plants were being adjusted.  Millie, Meryl, and Wolfwood were comfortably enjoying a drink at the bar while Vash and Knives were at work.

Wolfwood took out one of his crooked cigarettes from his pocket and lit it up as he downed another shot of whiskey.  Wolfwood had tried to quit cold turkey, unfortunately trying to quit that way was too hard.  So, on occasion he would smoke but there was always a watcher who always stopped him.  A very familiar hand reached over and pulled Wolfwood's cigarette away.  Millie looked at him with her unusually kind and happy face. 

"You know that smoking is bad for you darling." She said

Wolfwood smiled, "I'm sorry honey." Then he told her the same thing he told Vash, "Bad habits really do die hard."

Millie just sat closer to him and wrapped her arm around his neck, "its ok, darling. You'll get through this."

Unfortunately Meryl wasn't exactly in the same mood.

She kept tapping the bar impatiently, "Where in the hell are Vash and Knives. They were supposed to be back hours ago."

"Now Meryl." Millie shook her finger at her, "You know repairing the blocks as well as the plants is a tough job. So have a little more patience for them."

As Meryl let out a very exhausted exhale she heard the door open.  She would always turn her head expecting to see that smiling goofball Vash with his arm around his brother Knives coming into the bar to have themselves a good time.  And her wish was fulfilled.  Vash did come in with his brother Knives both of them smiling and ready for a good time.

"Hey Meryl." Knives smiled.

In the past when Knives smiled it sent chills through anyone.  When Meryl saw Knives smile it was a genuine one, one that seemed to be filled with warmth.  The same with Vash.  The two of them were genuinely happy.

"Hey, Meryl" Vash smiled, "Let's have a few drinks shall we."

"Only one, Vash" Meryl ordered holding up one finger

"Aw" Vash said like a disappointed five-year-old

"Don't argue with me Vash. You know you can't hold liquor. You just get sick and have a major hangover."

Knives leaned in to whisper into Vash's ear, "I always knew you were on a short leash Vash."

Vash made a very frustrated sulking face, "Alright, just one drink."

"Honestly Vash." Meryl mildly scolded, "Sometimes you can act like a kid."

"That's what I tell him." Knives said as he sat down and had a glass of red wine.

            Despite Meryl's restrictions, Vash and his friends had continued to have fun in their own special way but thanks to Mille and Meryl it never quite got out of control.  Wolfwood tried to smoke again, but Millie pulled it out of his mouth again and reached into his pocket to get the rest of his supply.  Of course Wolfwood was surely about this, but if it was for this woman that he loved he figured that he could suffer a little nicotine withdrawal.  Though the only way he felt that he could cope with this would be to pour himself another drink of Jack Daniels…his own kind of crisis management. 

            Vash on the other hand felt a little smothered ever since Meryl restricted his drinking habits, but he reminded himself that she was only looking out for him.  Thinking of it that way Vash knew that not very many women have cared for him like this.  In that moment the two of them connected eye to eye while the rest of the world was drowned out like slipping under water.  They moved closer to each other and their lips met each other in their embrace.  At the same time Millie and Wolfwood had met each other in the same embrace.   

            As Vash, Meryl, Millie, and Wolfwood were in each other's arms, Knives watched as he sipped his red wine.  He understood what love was from watching those two couples, and it was with that he understood even more why Vash as well as Rem Saverem wanted to save both the spider and the butterfly. 

            The night progressed with dancing and some drinking (most of that on Wolfwood's part) but then came the time to go back to the Inn.  Going back Vash couldn't help but star up at the night sky; the three moons of red, blue, and pale yellow as well as the stars above.  He always did things like that…stare off into space, be it the blue sky or the night sky itself.  He would always think about the past when he did that, but at that time he was thinking about only one part of the past.  It was about that short time when those tow girls came into his wandering life, Meryl Striffe and Millie Thompson, as well as the priest Nicholas D. Wolfwood.  He couldn't help but smile at those events…the good…and the bad…even that time when they encountered the Preventers. 

            "What are you thinking about Vash?" Meryl asked

            Vash only smiled, "I was thinking about the Preventers."

            "You mean those boys and those robots?"  Meryl scratched her head, "That was over five years ago, why are you thinking about them now?"

            Vash chuckled, "I'm not sure."

            "You've always been like that, Vash."  Wolfwood had remarked as he reached into his pocket hoping that there would be a cigarette there but reminded himself of Millie. 

            "Then again, we do owe them a lot."

            "He's right about that."  Millie remarked, "Without them, our world wouldn't be as good as it is now."

            Yet Vash couldn't have told them about what he was truly thinking.  For the last few nights, Vash has had some very odd dreams…unlike any that he's had in the past.  One dream he had he only remembered a fragment of it; he remembered seeing a small boy dressed in a suit and wildling a piece of wood.  He tried as hard as he could to see what he was making but he could only see partial shapes sticking out of the wood.  There were jagged edges much like a key at least that was the upper part of it.  The lower part of the wood towards the boys hand was a very elegant curved s-shape like the arch of a woman's back…and that was all that Vash could remember about that dream. 

            The thing that stayed with him after he woke up was that over all feeling.  That ominous kind of feeling like watching a scary movie and knowing that something was going to happen but then become shocked when it actually happens…and Vash wasn't about to tell anyone about that.  At least not until he knew for sure what it was all about…

              In the many rooms of the inn, they did have a few couple's suites.  Such as Vash and Meryl who shared the same bed together, as a matter of fact they had been sharing the same bed for quite some time.  The same goes for Wolfwood and Millie, it was as if they were married, even though they didn't exactly have the rings or the titles, but the love between them was all that they needed. 

            That night Vash lay asleep in his bed with Meryl curled up next to him with her head upon his chest, it always did pain Meryl to touch Vash's scars…to think that he had to go through so much.  Yet, she felt relieved that he didn't have to do it anymore, he wouldn't have anymore scars and no more pain. 

            Vash was dreaming again…

            He dreamt of walking down a dirt path, which was the first thing that his eyes in the dream had told him.  He was looking down at his boots that stuck out from under his red duster.  He then looked around and saw green leaves, but then his eyes focused even more in this dreamy blur.  He saw that he was surrounded by rose bushes, all of them different colors, red, yellow, orange, lavender, peach, pink, and white.  They were all in full bloom; it was beautiful to Vash's eyes, especially the red roses that reminded him of the red germanium that Rem loved so much.  He reminded himself that the color red means determination and courage in the language of flowers, the very same words that Rem had told him.  Yet, the beauty seemed to be shadows, as if something was creeping across them like an enormous eel that blocked out the sun. 

            Vash stood up from looking at the roses and saw what was at the end of the dirt path…the tower…a dark tower that rose to the sky with its pillars, turrets, and windows populating its skin from the single pillar like branches and leaves of a tree.  Vash felt overwhelmed by the sheer size of it…nothing he had ever seen was so enormous…from what he could see it was as if the tower had breached through the clouds that swirled around its mass like cream in coffee.  The clouds themselves looked dark like storm clouds. 

            "Come to me…" A voice called out from the tower, "Come to me…"

            Vash woke up with a gasp and Meryl too had awakened feeling Vash's fright.  In the darkness of their room, Meryl went and hugged Vash pressing her nude warmth against his.

            "Vash…" she said with the sadness in her voice, "What's wrong?"

            Vash had to confess, "It's my dreams."  He said burying his face into his hands, "It's been the same dream over and over again…I can't escape it."

            Meryl brought herself to Vash's front, "Vash…look at me."

            Vash brought up his face to look at the woman he loved sitting upon the bed completely exposed much like Vash's scars.

            "You don't have to bear it alone…not anymore, I am here with you."

            At the same time, across the multiple worlds that exist in the alternate realities of time and space there was Japan in the year 1878, the 11th year of the Meiji era.  It was in the city of Tokyo where the Kamiya Kasshin Dojo lay and it was there that there was a family in the greatest sense…the Kenshin Gumi, which consisted of four people.  There was the assistant master of the Kamiya Kasshin School, Kaoru Himura wife to Kenshin Himura, a man who was once known as Hitokiri Battousai the Manslayer.  At least that was in his past, same with a lot of the members of this small family.  Each one had a terrible past that they've had to come to terms with.  Such as Yahiko, one of the only students of the Kamiya Kasshin style.  He was formerly a pickpocket, but thanks to Kenshin's intervention he could give up that life and learn the swordsmanship of Kamiya Kasshin from Miss Kaoru.  Then there was Sanosuke Sagara, formerly of the Sekihoutai a group of soldiers who were really just farmers that worked for the Imperial army during the revolution.  Yet, they were betrayed by the people that they worked for, and Captain Sagara (the man that Sanosuke looked up to) was executed and labeled a traitor.  With all these pasts that they have, each of them has had to move forward…and they did so together.  Just like any kind of family they've stuck together and been there for one another through the good times as well as the bad.     

            Life seemed so wonderful for them, Kaoru going around to teach lessons as well as passing on the teachings of the Kamiya Kasshin style to Yahiko.  Despite the fact that Yahiko does tend to give her a hard time, such as calling her ugly and so on.  Though he never quite means it, perhaps it's just the things that people do when they're together. 

            Sanosuke was somewhat of a freeloader, though only Miss Kaoru had the gall to say that to his face.  Then again those two were always at each others throats sometimes.  Even over the smallest things, like that time when the four of them were going to Kyoto on a train.  Sanosuke and Miss Kaoru were arguing with each other over what powered the train, Sano believed that a ghost was power it.  While Miss Kaoru was trying to tell him that it was merely a tea kettle.  Then again Sano was always the superstitious one…such as he believed that when a camera takes his picture it'll take a little bit of his soul away.

            This was the Kenshin-gumi, a wonderful group of people, and a family at that.

            It was spring time, and the weather was starting to get a lot warmer since summer was on its way.  The days were so nice to all of them that it seemed criminal to just stay inside all day.  There was Sanosuke who was lying against one of the wooden pillars and enjoying the warm weather.  The biggest decision that Sano was trying to make with himself was whether to stay where he was and enjoy the warmth of the sun or go into town to eat or even go and gamble a little.    

            As Sano sat sunbathing, Miss Kaoru was out in town earning some Yen teaching sword lessons, while Yahiko was cleaning the training hall.  Having the cleaning cloth in his hands and running up and down the hardwood floor in the crouched position.  He did somewhat resent doing so many of these chores, especially on such a warm and beautiful day as it was outside.  Yet, he still did what he was asked to do because he knew what Miss Kaoru would be like if she found out that he wasn't doing his duties. 

            Kenshin on the other hand was over by the washing pail doing the laundry.  He scrubbed each Hakama and Kimono trying to get the dirt out.  It was at times like those when he was thinking about the past.  It seemed ironic that only a few alternate universes away there was another peace loving fighter just like him who wielded a gun instead of a sword.  Kenshin wasn't thinking about the terrible memories of his past, he was thinking about all the good times that he's had.  He then wondered if he had suffered so much only to experience such happiness with these people at the Kamiya Kasshin dojo.  After all if he hadn't…who knows where he might have ended up?  In a way he was glad that things turned out the way that they did, because he had Kaoru.  He smiled thinking about how wonderful it would be to see her again, even though she was only gone for a few hours.

            The gates of the dojo opened.

            "I'm back."  Kaoru called out

            "Welcome back, Kaoru."  Kenshin smiled at her and continued to work

            "You're working pretty hard Kenshin."  Kaoru had said as she hugged him from behind, "Unlike some people I could name."  She looked over to where Sano was sunbathing with a very disturbed look.  "If only he did something around here, I wouldn't feel this way about him." 

            Kenshin didn't say anything to that because he really couldn't defend Sano in this case and so he continued to scrub.

            "How have you been feeling Kenshin?"  Kaoru asked

            "Just fine, Kaoru."

            "You needn't lie to me, Kenshin.  I've been overhearing you walking around late at night."

            It was true; Kenshin would wake up in the middle of the night and wander around the dojo.  Though the reason for it is something that Kenshin wanted to keep to himself, but with Kaoru at his side he knew that he could confide in her, because she was his wife. 

            "I've been having strange dreams, Kaoru."  Kenshin explained

            "It's alright, Kenshin.  Dreams can't hurt you."

            "It wasn't just any dream."  Kenshin's tone seemed to change to being very ominous, the very same tone that he had whenever he would speak seriously about anything, "It felt incredibly real, as if I was there."

            "Where was it?"

            "I don't know.  It wasn't like anyplace that I had ever seen.  There were mountains of such majesty that they rival Mount Fuji itself.  It seemed so beautiful in every direction.  I was standing in the middle of a field of wheat.  I knew that I was on top of a hill and I looked down in each direction and I saw a small house in the distance…I don't know why but I went down to it.  It was only a small house, one floored like our dojo.  I went up to it and I saw someone sitting on the steps."

            "Who was it?"  Kaoru asked

            "I don't know, I never saw him before.  It wasn't even a man, it was a boy.  He seemed about the same age as Yahiko.  He was dressed in western style clothes, a suit and tie.  It seemed very unbefitting of a boy his age.  I saw that he was carving something out of wood in his hand.  As I had approached the front steps he looked up at me and smiled.  It was as if he was expecting me. 

            "Welcome, Kenshin Himura.  He said to me, we'll be needing people like you very soon.  And that was when I woke up.  I don't know what it means but I have a very distinct feeling that something is going to happen very soon."

            "Something like when we came into the company of those Preventers?"

            That time that Kenshin and his friends had journeyed into the After Colony Universe was only a month ago, but it was an adventure that none of them would soon forget.  Kenshin still had the one gift that was given to him by a man named Johan Peacecraft Rodriguez; it was a Preventer Standard Issue Beam Saber as Johan had told him.  Don't use it unless you intend to kill someone, Johan had also warned Kenshin who didn't know what he meant by it.  At least not until he got back home and tried out the beam saber on a tree branch and the branch came down as if it was only made of straw.  When that happened, Kenshin knew that he couldn't use something like it. 

            Thinking about Miss Kaoru's question, Kenshin had a very gut feeling about this.

            "I think so, that I do."  Kenshin said

            "Then what should we do now?" 

            "I think we should get ourselves ready for a long journey."

            Back on the planet Gunsmoke, Vash the Stampede and Nicholas D. Wolfwood were brining up breakfast to their bedrooms.  Not just for themselves but also for their ladies that were lying in bed waiting to wake up.

            Vash and Wolfwood had passed each other with a good smile on their faces.  It was as if without any telepathy on Vash's part, the two of them already knew what the other was thinking about.  Then again, it wasn't exactly any mystery of what happened last night.  For one, there's always a look on someone's face when they've gone through the act of love.  They come out with the greatest smile on their face, that it providing either it was their first time or it was the greatest that they've ever had.  Then again, Wolfwood could hear Vash and Meryl through the wooden walls most of the night.  The same could be said about Vash hearing him and Millie through the wall as well. 

            Coming to the door of their rooms, both Vash and Wolfwood knew that their hands were full from the food trays.  So to compensate like many of us do, they shifted the tray table a little bit so that their hands could be free to open the door.  With the door opened, Vash was about to go in but something made him look over to his friend.  Wolfwood simply stood in the doorway grinning at Vash, but then gave him a small wink before going into his own room.  Vash smiled at this and went into his own room; he closed the door quietly behind him using his foot so that he wouldn't spill the food on his tray.  He came over to Meryl's bedside and saw her there curled up to one of the pillows in her nude state.  She looked so beautiful and peaceful there that it seemed such a shame that Vash had to disturb her.  Still, keeping quiet Vash set the tray down on the nightstand next to the bed.  He then sat down next to Meryl being extra careful with the steel spring mattress, she stirred only for a little bit, and Vash reached out and stroked her raven black hair.  It seemed like the perfect moment…until…

SLAM!

The door opened wide with Wolfwood busting through it, "Vash, you've got to come see this!"     

Meryl awoke immediately and seeing instantly that it wasn't just Vash there, she reached down for the covers and pulled them up over her body. 

Vash slapped his forehead, "Oh, what is it now?"

"It's the tear."  Wolfwood said, "It's happening again." 

The word tear struck a deep chord in Vash, it struck it in all of them.  They had all seen this thing called the tear once before.  It was a long time ago, when Vash had defeated Knives and brought him back to that village a few isles away from L and R town.  They were trying to care for Knives, and then he had vanished into a hole in the closet that lead into another world; a world in which young boys piloted huge machines called Gundams.  It was there that they had made some great friends and made their last stand against Knives.  After that Knives had finally seen the futility in fighting and joined Vash in order to repent for the crimes that he committed. 

Vash was quick to move as he got himself dressed into his leather jumpsuit and his red duster.  He had grabbed his gun, sunglasses, and bag.  He looked over to Wolfwood and said,     

"I think we should all pack." 

Within a matter of half an hour, the Peace Guns had gotten themselves ready as if they were going to another town.  Vash, Meryl, Wolfwood, Millie, and Knives all had gathered in that one room where Millie and Wolfwood stayed.  They saw there in the wall across from the bed, the tear.  A perfect diamond shape cut into the wall as if it were a window.  Yet, its edged were blurred like looking at the distant mountains through the atmospheric haze.  Inside the tear they saw a desert, much like how their world was before Vash and his friends came back with the blocks from the After Colony Universe. 

"Where will it lead?" Meryl asked

"I don't know."  Vash said, "But I think that we should go through."

"That's crazy Vash, you don't know if you'll get back or not."

"We got back the last time."  He smiled down at Meryl, "I'll go first."

The others moved away from him to give Vash some room because he was going to go through the tear at a run.  With his bag over his shoulder, Vash ran to the tear and as he made it to the threshold, he vanished into the tears borders. 

His friends looked and saw him on the other side, but his image was blurred and distorted as if he was an object at the bottom of a well.  He waved through the tear and gestured for the others to come through.  Next, Wolfwood ran to the tear and came out through the other side safe and sound.  Soon, Meryl, Millie, and Knives came through the tear.  They may have gotten through the tear, but where they were was something that was a complete mystery. 

They looked and saw nothing but sand in every direction.  The winds blew the sands gently across the dunes that were in every direction of where the Peace Guns stood.  Being in that place brought back quite a few memories for many of them who grew up in a world that was filled with dust, sand, and scorching heat.  Yet the heat seemed to be so much less than what it was in their memories.  Vash looked up at the sky shielding his eyes from the rays, and saw that there was only one sun that hovered in the sky. 

That was when it hit Vash that they were no longer on the planet of Gunsmoke. 

            Back in the year 1878 (the 11th Year of the Meiji Era) Japan, Kenshin Himura had called all his friends to dinner that night to discuss something that he had confide in Kaoru only that afternoon.  He knew that since he told Miss Kaoru, he had to tell the others.  After all they had been there for him when he fought the Juupongatana that was lead by the Manslayer successor Makoto Shishio.  So, Kenshin knew that he could tell them, especially since he had this nagging feeling in the back of his mind that they would be needed.  Like that feeling that people would get at the grocery store in picking up an extra item because they had the intuition that they were out of it. 

            Around the dinner table, Kenshin had confessed everything.  He told them about the dream that he had and how he feels that it could be a premonition.  Telling him that something would happen in which they would all be needed. 

            Sanosuke shook his head, "That is one hell of a dream, Kenshin."

            "It didn't feel like just a dream."  Kenshin restated, "There was something that felt so real about it and I think that we should be ready for whatever happens to us all."   

"Meaning what?"  Yahiko asked

"I think we should all pack for a long journey ahead of us."

Yahiko, Sano, and Kaoru did just that, despite the fact that all of them felt that there was a certain amount of insanity to what they were doing.  Sanosuke himself tried to reason and rationalize this, which was an odd thing to do especially for someone as superstitious as he was.  Still, he had a deep trust and respect for Kenshin, especially after he was defeated by him.  Ever since that time, Sanosuke had seen Kenshin do some incredible things.  He knew that at first sometimes what he asks may seem unreasonable, but in the end it does make sense why he wanted it a certain way.  That's what kept Sanosuke packing, that there would be a time at the end of all this when he would understand. 

Yahiko packed and thought about the things that could happen as well as what Kenshin had said at the dinner table.  Like Sanosuke, Yahiko had tremendous respect for Kenshin.  Mostly because of his strength, the techniques of Hiten Mitsurugi style, the speed and power of each blow.  He also admired Kenshin for his resolve of his ethics.  The idea of not killing and still be able to save lives to do it.  It may seem impossible but really when you think about it there are ways to save people and not kill anyone...plenty of ways.

It didn't take to long for everyone to pack up as if they were going to trek their way across Japan on foot.  To Kenshin it was pretty second nature...hell, he did it for nearly 11 years. 

Miss Kaoru on the other hand was packing but as she did she kept looking over to Kenshin as if she was waiting for a more specific answer for what was going to happen.  She concluded that either Kenshin didn't want to tell or that he didn't know.  She decided to leave Kenshin for a moment and take a look around the Dojo.  She had the suspicion that perhaps it would be the last time that she would see the dojo for a very long time or that it would be the last time that she would see it...ever.  She dared not to think of such thoughts but it was something that couldn't be helped like an itch that wouldn't go away unless it were to be scratched.  She looked over the grounds of the dojo and she came to that same tree where the hole in the wall was located when she and the others had visited the Preventers.

She turned the corner and there it was...the tear; the very thing that had brought them to the company of the Preventers and had brought them back to this world.  She looked into it in shock when she saw that inside the blurred edges of the tear she saw a forest.  Yet, the forest had trees unlike any that grew in Japan, they were taller, thicker, the kind of trees that looked as if they took decades and even centuries to grow. 

"Kenshin."  She called, and then called louder, "Kenshin!"  And even louder, "KENSHIN!"

Within a matter of a few moments, Kenshin came running out of the house to where Kaoru was standing. 

"What is it?"  he asked with exhausted breath.

Kaoru didn't say a thing, all that needed to be done was for her eyes to move and her hand pointed to that one section in the wall.  Kenshin followed her line of sight and to where he finger had pointed to.  That was when Kenshin's eyes had connected as if his eyes and the thing in the wall were magnetized to each other.  He knew sharply like finally breaking through ice to the waters below that this was the thing that he was waiting for. 

"Gather what you've packed, Kaoru."  Kenshin said, "I'll get my bag and tell Yahiko and Sanosuke that the tear has appeared once again." 

It was only a matter of minutes before all of the Kenshin-gumi had gathered at the tear in the wall.  All of them stood around one another hoping that someone would say something or at least do something to break the silence.  Instead they all stood there looking at it like people being mesmerized by a show of incredible visuals. 

After a few minutes of bare silence, Kenshin had broken it.  He stepped forward and looked into the tears opening. 

"I'll go first."  He said not even looking at the others, he grabbed the hilt of his sword and the strings of his duffel bag and jumped into the tear.  He appeared blurred but safe on the other side, and so one by one the Kenshin-gumi had followed suit into the tear. 

The portal itself had closed up behind them like a wound that was being stitched.  Just like that the Kenshin-gumi was gone from that world of 1878 Japan, but there were other worlds that this. 

To be continued…