I love how you did put the hope back for Kenshin. I also love how you trick us. I was certain this was a sad reflection on Kenshin leaving his chance of happiness behind with those first two lines. How nicely you skewer that with "Again, he walks the road, amazed, and at the same time, perplexed." At first, I was perplexed but then you fix us in time to Kenshin's return. This brought a smile. I think the rurouni deserves a happy ending.

I love this moment! Thanks for giving the "second half" of the May 14 stories. This just reminds me how *good* Watsuki-san's storyline is!

I love Kenshin's thoughts as he walks the road *from* Tokyo, and the contrast of his thoughts returning.

That scene, where Kaoru extends her hand to him and says 'welcome home', is beautifully described.

I'm all for hope! May 14th was such a sad day for Kenshin, and you reflected that in the way you referred to Kaoru as the one who 'could have made a difference'.

Then you pulled the story out of the gloom by the last line 'And surely, he would smile back.' I loved that part!

Nice one-shot!

Hey..

Initially the set up is dark... brooding even... but it is distanced... we know in the end that this is not "The 14th May"... but the one after...

great work... very satisfying read. ^_^

Cya

I love how you start us off thinking we are in the dark valley of his leaving, and it's not until we read "again, he walks the road" that we get a clue that we are NOT in that first May 14th. There is that paragraph where "today" sort of works its way into his consciousness, and then we hear Kaoru's tender "welcome home", followed by his puzzlement--is he really here? The spine-tingling acknowledgement from his own wondering self: "I'm home, that's for sure."

And then, "surely (?), he would smile back"--how long WILL it take him to really loose that smile in the safety of his new family?