A/N: Writing this fic has been like chopping a limb off: painful and grueling. I'm still working on it, but I think beginning to post will help me continue, and keep me from changing what doesn't need changed. So. Here we have it, the Angstquel of lore, sequel to Power, Perceived.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Summer begins to whisper it's coming on the edges of the cool spring winds, and Himura Kaoru knows that it won't be long until even the dirt becomes scorched from the heat. She finds her husband outside, hands submerged in water as he washes laundry. He spends more and more time picking up household duties, and while Kaoru feels she is somehow letting him down by not being a better wife, she refuses to try and take these tasks away from him.

This new life he has been thrust into is not one he knows how to live. These chores keep him grounded, though it worries Kaoru with how often he dips his hands into the water and scrubs; something dark haunts his eyes when he does this, and she fears what this darkness may bring to them.

"I'll help," she offers when the laundry has been thoroughly washed. Together they hang it, hair and wet cloth rustling in the wind, while the grass folds softly under foot.

After this long stretch of silence (one Kaoru does not attempt to break as she senses words boiling up Kenshin's throat; she will always be willing to wait for him) Kenshin says, without looking to her, "Has Sano -" He grimaces, and swallows whatever he was going to say. "No, I...I assume that Sanosuke has told you about my past."

Kaoru's hands begin to tremble.

"About Tomoe, I mean," Kenshin clarifies.

"Yes," she agrees after a long, breathless pause. "He has."

Kenshin nods, and for a time he is so still that it seems he has even stopped breathing. Kaoru cannot seem to stop moving, however; the trembling in her soul seems to be reflected in her body.

"I would like to go to Kyoto," he says finally, "I want to pray at her grave. And I want you to come with me. I think...I think it would make my heart happy if the two of you found peace with each other."

Relief blooms like a flower in Kaoru's chest. What had she feared that he might say? (That she is nothing more than a replacement, and these long days and nights spent with her has made this clear to him.) This request he makes of her is unexpected but not unwelcome; Kaoru thinks it would make her heart happy as well, to lay offerings to the woman who helped shaped the man that she now loves.

"Of course," she agrees, reaching out to rest her hand on Kenshin's arm. "I would be honored visit Tomoe-san's grave with you, Kenshin."

Her husband's smile is tremulious.