D/C: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.

Hello! Okay, I said that I was editting and rewriting the story, right? Well, half of this chapter had been erased and rewritten, and this half is going to affect the sequel of this story. When you read it, you'll find out why. I'll meet you at the end of the chappie, okay? Enjoy!!

Warning: You're in for a bit of a shock.

Epilogue

'Alright, Miss Kamiya. You may leave now. Please schedule an appointment with the secretary outside. Oh, and again, congratulations!'

Kaoru just smiled weakly at the doctor. Smoothing down her clothes, she turned to the door, and with a rather shaky hand, she reached for the doorknob and twisted it. She pulled it open and slowly took a step outside the room. Kenshin, who was waiting outside, jumped up to his feet when he saw her, and he rushed to her side. He grabbed her gently around the shoulders and peered into her face.

'Kaoru, sweetheart, are you alright?' he asked anxiously. 'You look rather pale. What did the doctor tell you?'

Kaoru mouthed wordlessly for a few moments, and then she gestured at a nearby chair. She opened her mouth and strained to speak her next words. 'I...I just need to sit down a bit,' she said hoarsely. God, she sounded really awful.

Kenshin nodded, and he led her towards the chair. Kaoru slowly lowered herself onto the chair, and he knelt down on the floor next to her. 'Erm...should I get you something to drink?' he asked uncertainly. 'Water, perhaps?'

Kaoru nodded silently, and Kenshin immediately left to get her a glass of water. Kaoru hugged herself and doubled over her knees. She could already feel the tears welling in her eyes, and it was taking her every ounce of energy to fight them back. She was glad that Kenshin wasn't with her at the moment, because she really wanted to be alone. She knew that if she set eyes on him, she'd burst out into tears, and that would lead to awkward questions...and she really didn't want to go through that. In fact, she didn't want to set eyes on Kenshin for a long while, but she knew that that was a wish which couldn't be granted.

She was pregnant.

Tests had come out, and the doctor had told her that she was pregnant, and already in her third week. Pregnancy was something to be happy about, but in her case, it made her feel like she wanted to commit suicide.

Three weeks ago was exactly the time when she had gone and slept with Shinta. The child in her belly wasn't Kenshin's child, and she could tell because it was only two weeks since she had slept with Kenshin. She was pregnant with Shinta's child.

She was engaged to be married to Kenshin and yet, at the same time, she was pregnant with Shinta's child.

Kaoru just couldn't live with herself. She felt like she deserved to be burned at stake or something, because she didn't think there was a greater sin than to be pregnant with the brother of the man you love...and his murdering bastard of a brother at that. She was pregnant with a murderer's child. She, Kaoru, the one known for being a straight arrow, was just as bad as all these guys she used to throw in jail...or so she felt.

'Here's your glass of water,'

Kaoru hastily wiped away her tears and smiled up at Kenshin. She gratefully accepted the glass of water from him. 'Thank you,' she said softly. She put the rim of the glass to her lips, and took a sip of the cold water. She put it down. 'Thank you, Kenshin.'

Kenshin knelt down before her and placed his hands on her knees. He looked up at her, concerned. 'Kaoru, darling, what did the doctor tell you?' he asked her. 'Is there something wrong with you? Are you...sick?'

Kaoru wished she was sick. She wished she was down with cancer...anything was better than this. She shook her head. 'No, I'm not sick; there's nothing wrong with me,' she assured him.

'Well, what is it, then?' he demanded.

Kaoru looked down in dismay at his hopeful face, and for a brief moment, she actually thought of not telling him at all and going ahead and having an abortion, but she quickly shook these thoughts out of her head, horrified that she was merely having them in the first place. She smiled at Kenshin. 'I'm...I'm pregnant, Kenshin,' she finally told him.

Kenshin's face went slack, and now it was Kaoru who was watching him anxiously; wondering if he might a suspect a thing. She found herself breathing out in relief when a huge grin crossed his face. 'Pregnant?' he repeated excitedly, and she nodded. 'Oh, my God!! You're pregnant! You're pregnant!! How amazing is that?'

'Pretty amazing,' she replied, straining to keep the smile on her face.

Kenshin felt her stomach for a moment and then he looked up at her. 'Our...our baby is in there!!' he exclaimed.

'Yes, our baby is in there,' Kaoru lied. But...it's not your baby, Kenshin; it's Shinta's.

Kenshin leaned forward and kissed her. 'I love you,' he whispered. 'I didn't think there could be anyway that I might love you more than I already do now, but you proved me wrong. You...the baby...I just don't think I deserve this.'

Kaoru couldn't say anything. No, Kenshin...you're right; you don't deserve this. You deserve someone better than me. Loads better. She felt tears well in her eyes and roll down her cheeks. 'I love you, too, Kenshin,' was all she could say.

-

Shinta allowed himself to be stirred down the corridor by the two bulky men who stood at each of his sides. They stopped before an iron door, and one of the men grabbed the note and pushed it open.

They pushed Shinta inside, and he staggered a bit before regaining his balance. He took a look around and realized he was in one of those rooms where criminals had their mug shots taken. It felt weird to be in one of those rooms, especially since he never thought he'd be in one…ever.

'Move it,' one of the men said gruffly.

He pushed him towards a wall where a shining white board had been hung. Shinta stood up against it, and faced a man who was holding a camera. He clicked the first picture and Shinta was momentarily blinded by the bright white flash.

'Turn around to your side,' the man instructed him. Shinta turned around and the man took another picture of him. 'And now the other side.'

Shinta scowled and turned to his other side. The man took his third picture. Shinta vowed silently that when he escaped, he was going to come back and burn the pictures and kill this asshole of a photographer.

'Ok, I'm done now, you can take him,' he told the two blocks who had brought him in.

Shinta shot a death glare at the photographer before the two men dragged him out of the room. Once they were out the door, one of the men stepped up and blindfolded him with a black piece of cloth. Shinta cursed silently under his breath as they both started dragging him down the corridor.

He hated himself for this. He hated Kenshin. And he hated Kaoru. Yes; he hated Kaoru.

They all contributed in the situation he was being put in at the moment. He allowed himself to fall in love with Kaoru; he showed her his weaker and more emotional side, he tried to make her fall in love with him, but in vain. Kaoru had in turn hurt him, ran out on him, and wanted to see him dead. And Kenshin had betrayed him, stole the heart of the girl he had love so much, shot him in the leg, and gave him in to the authorities. And now he was probably having the time of his life with Kaoru.

Shinta gritted his teeth, and balled his hands in really tight fists, his finger nails dug into his skin. He felt warm blood wetting his hands, and he let out a contented sigh; God knows how long it will take before he'll be able to feel the blood of somebody else's on his hands…his heart longed for his sword and the blood-shed which accompanied it.

After what seemed like five minutes, they finally reached to a stop. Shinta heard the sound of keys being turned into a lock and then his blindfold was removed. Then the chains around his wrists and ankles were unlocked as well. Shinta rubbed his wrists.

On of the men shoved him into the dark cell which stood before him. Shinta stumbled inside but didn't fall. He regained his balance and turned around to gaze coolly at the bloke who was locking his door. He could sense that his gaze was making the later uncomfortable, because he quickly locked the door and hurried away, muttering something which sounded like, 'Bloody bastard.' His friend went after him.

Shinta continued to stand in the middle of his cell, his hands shoved deeply into the pockets of his prison pants. It took him only a few moments to register his surroundings; a small bunk, a washing basin, a lavatory seat, and a small wooden desk with a chair. Shinta gazed upon all of this with extreme distaste. He knew he'd have to live with this until he managed to escape; but the thought wasn't comforting nevertheless. He started to head towards the bunk when somebody spoke to him.

'I was wondering when you would come in here,' the voice, obviously belonging to a man, drawled.

Shinta peered out through his iron bars at the cell across from him. He saw a man in there, perched on his wooden chair and gazing out intently at him. Shinta straightened up; a smirk on his face.

'Shishio Makoto,' he sneered, recognizing the assassin he knew from old. 'I was wondering where they took you…it has been five years, hasn't it?'

'Yeah, and this place ain't getting any better,' the man replied.

'If so, how come you never tried to escape?' Shinta asked the older man. 'I thought you hated imprisonment.'

'I do, and I would escape if I knew a way out of this damned place,' Shishio muttered. 'But you're not so great yourself; you were always at how you were never going to be arrested, but look at you now…how did they get to you, anyway?'

'You just mind your own business,' Shinta snapped at him, turning around from him.

'Ah, they're always touchy at the beginning,' Shishio said knowingly. 'But you'll have to get used to it, Battousai, you're in for a long stay.'

Battousai.

Yes; he was Battousai, and Battousai will find a way out of this. He'll find his way out and go for his revenge. They weren't going to put him down. He was getting out of here. He was going to make him fall for him…all of them. They were going to fall at his feet. Especially Kaoru.

'Don't count on it, Makoto,' he murmured. 'Because I, as you said yourself, am Battousai.'

-

A/N: And YES! There's gonna be a sequel! Now, tell me, aren't you shocked? Who expected the story to turn out like this, eh? I guess you can see why I'll be changing the sequel, right? I mean, Kaoru's pregnant with Shinta's child, and the story's going to be entirely different from now on. I really hope you liked it, though, because I'll be wanting reviews!!! You know, this story took a good 180 pages on MS Word, and thinking back, I feel amazed that I've actually managed to write this much!!

Oh, and some of you asked me about the movie I got the dialogue from; the movie is called, "A Walk to Remember"; watch it, trust me, it's amazing!

And finally, I would like to thank…

Adelaide MacGregor, LazyHop, skenshingumi, Strawberry'd, Crystal Winds, Aldailyn, BlueberryStain, royal blueKitsune, Clueless Girl, Grace 07, deal-with-it, Jisusaken, kenshinlover2002, gabyhyatt, half-breed-demon-fox, Brittanie Love, Neko-Yuff 16, SaPpHiRe AmBeR, Crewel, loveywhatever, Via X Infinito, Reignashii, jeez, kawaiimeeh, Hikari-Kawaii, blood rose, All Knowing One 412, Valaroma, Mizz-Clumsy, Blessed, hisui-chan02, tennisbum, wh00t, Anime Girl, Lynnah, Me, Brickwall847, Kira the Mizu Ryuu, Fae Black, 1kenshinlover, ss1128, Sims are awsome, Shimmering Tear, Ken, Ken, Dark Witch of Spira, locatamy, Donbu, Hawk-EVB, achi, chakitattyla2h8, tiffany, xshatteredtear, wai-mi, tomboi-chic, sakuya-kaleido, The Mystic Firefly, Tsubasa wo Motsu Mono, Wolf Jade, Crystal Winds, Kaoru4, angelbecca, fly without wings, blueangel-maggie1723, nes, Misau, TearsofInfinity, Moon-Dragon 1288, Sanctuary-Enigma, beybladegal24, Emily Rueckert, meant2be, silver0150, lynne, wah, Nika Phoenix, Waffles01, -infidelMaki-, Ann, midnite cherry blossomz, Yahiko-chan, Shirou Shinjin, Tameka-tanuki-jouchan, tasha, Anarana221, RosenMaiden, XxAznLadyXx, mtgranola, Shinken-Tamura Yoshimi, Battousai-chan, SesshomaruEdwardlover13, KIacK, Sheababy92, Kinomoto, Karla Rodriguez, Kira R.Chan, anonymous, mimiru.hack, aya nightwing, pyramidgirl89, KisaiAyani, Ice Angel Kaoru, joann, Lendra-chan, Misao-chan, bishoujo21, Iris Night, tiffany888, Story Junky, Katana no Mizu Ryuu, The Angel of Death 14, Estel-Elf-Lover, nadachichan, Val, kobakawa reisha, marstanuki, Angle81

…for reading and reviewing my story! Thanks!

Anyway, I babbled too much and I gotta split now. There's a lot of homework to be done!

- S. N. B.