I didn't realize it would be, but this is the last chapter! Weird, huh? Thanks to all who stuck with this, more notes are at the end.

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin.

Now That You've Returned – Chapter 10

By Gundam Girl

The place was dark and quiet, all except for the top floor. Electricity burned brightly there, and the intruder moved silently up the ten flights of stairs, even though it was pitch black. He had a goal in mind.

There were some people in the world who were evil. He had met many of them, had fought many of them. His sword had crossed thousands of bloody blades, but this man was different. This man had no blade and had probably never performed real combat in his life. Kanriyu hadn't, except to turn the lever of a machine gun.

He had a mind, though, even if it was a sick and twisted one. He had ambition as well, and he would want to keep what he felt was his. But he would be demoted, for sure, and everything he had stolen from others would be given back.

The intruder slipped into the office of Derekai Takeda, the man who lingered in his thoughts like a fly lingered around a person. Light his the intruder's face.

And Kenshin cursed. Derekai had left already. He walked forward and examined the large desk piled high with documents and files. It was a lot of work for a man who was really no more than a boy. Maybe he had just been too thoughtless to turn off the top floor lights. Or maybe…

A team of men rushed in, all in black from their cowl-covered heads to their slippered feet. Bandages covered the length of their arms and legs. Kunais gleamed in each of their hands.

Maybe Derekai had ordered a group of ninjas to guard his office.

Kaoru had been forced to hurry. By spending so much time with Kenshin, she had completely forgotten about dinner for the first time in six years. Fortunately, Tae had been able to have her pick-up ready by the time she had gotten to the main floor of the Akabeko. Ignoring the worried look on her friend's face – Tae knew just as well as she did that she would be late for getting to Derekai's – she hustled out and halfway across town.

The sun had just finished setting when she arrived at the manor and she quickly pulled the house key from her sash and stepped inside. In the kitchen, she worked to hurriedly pull down plates and take out silverware, stopping only for an instant to glance at the clock. Six-twenty. Derekai wouldn't be home for another ten minutes, and Kaoru's shoulders visible sagged with relief.

That was when she felt the hand on her shoulder. Whirling, she met Derekai's eyes; they were sharp and glinted in the light from the lamp that hung over the table. The gleam of them spoke of pain, of violence. Kaoru's throat constricted.

"You're late, Kaoru." His voice was dangerously soft. In the back of her mind, Kaoru marveled for the thousandth time about how much larger he was than her. It was difficult to remember that he was her junior by almost four years. "Why…" He slowly wound his arm about her waist, pulling her to him in the same way a desert cobra coiled around its prey, "…are you late?" He ducked his head and his lips bruised to hers. Kaoru's stomach lurched when he forced his tongue into her mouth. Derekai finally released her seconds later, only to send her sprawling to the floor with a vicious backhand.

Kaoru tasted blood. In the past, she had automatically reached for her hip, for her boken. But she was certain that there was no boken to be found, and she pressed the heels of her hands into the linoleum of the floor, fighting the pain,

"I was tipped off today," Derekai seethed, his voice carrying the same abusive undertones his father had used, "by someone you know. Someone you'd never suspect; he's been keeping tabs on you for me for quite some time. And do you want to know what he told me?"

The tiny hairs on the back of her neck rose as Derekai leaned over and whispered in Kaoru's ear. "He told me that a ghost is haunting you. Someone I killed myself."

A wretched sob tore Kaoru's throat.

"Someone," Derekai continued, "who just couldn't stay away, it seems. Kenshin Himura!" He delivered a swift kick to her side, ignoring her cry. "How long have you known, Kaoru? How long, my wife?"

Kaoru began to scramble away from him, but he seized her by the hair and dragged her back to him. Kaoru's shuddered, holding up her hands to shield what she could. Her voice, when it came, was quiet and pitiful-sounding. "Two days…"

Kenshin counted the number of ninjas and totaled fifteen. Well, he had fought ninjas before, and he knew how to evade their attacks and play the offensive against them.

His face grim as he met their eyes, cold as their weapons, he spread his feet and placed his hand on the hilt of his sheathed sword. More than a few of the men flinched, and he paused. "Do you know who I am?" he asked.

The ninja in front replied in a gruff voice. "You are the hitokiri, Battousai. You are known well from the Tokugawa days." He held up a steel star that could cut through bone. "And you mean to kill Mr. Takeda."

"I'm not sure what I intend to do to Takeda," Kenshin replied honestly. "But it probably won't be to give him flowers, no. And I'm not going to let you delay me further." Because of Derekai wasn't here, then he had probably gone home to Kaoru. And if Derekai knew he was alive, then Kaoru was most certainly in danger. A corner of his mouth turned up to intimidate the ninjas. "Shall we begin?" He popped the top of the sakabatou out of the sheath.

Before either Kenshin or a ninja could attack, glass shards flew about the room in result of a terrible crash in a nearby window. Two figures leapt in and rolled, moving upright to their knees. The smaller one carried daggers. The taller one held a short sword.

"Aoshi," Kenshin said in surprise. "Misao."

Misao glanced over at him and winked, but kept her gaze firmly on the black-dressed ninjas. "Well, Himura, here we are."

"We saw you enter this building from the street," Aoshi informed him. "And then we saw a couple of these guys are the roof. Needless to say, we decided to investigate."

"And be of some service," added Misao, her braided hair wagging as she nodded.

Aoshi rose to his feet and pointed his sword at the offending group. "We can take care of things here, Himura. These people are pushovers." His expression didn't change when a few of the ninjas cried out in rage. "Whatever you feel you must do now, go do it."

Kenshin stared at the much taller man and was doused with an onslaught of memories of fighting with him almost seven years ago, when he had fought for the father of the man he was about to confront. He smiled. "I trust you, Aoshi." He pushed his sword back in the sheath and turned to exit by the window his friends had less-than-silently entered through. "Take care of them for me, Miss Misao!"

"Sure, Himura!"

He dashed through the window and heard moans and cries of pan before he'd gone three feet from the place. Jumping down to the ground by balancing on various window ledges, he raced off toward the part of Tokyo where Derekai's manor was, very thankful for the visit to it the night of the festival.

Kaoru, he thought, after tonight, I promise…

He darted into a back alley and ran, his eyes taking on a light golden sheen.

He won't hurt you again.

"Two days?" Derekai gripped Kaoru's hair tighter. "Two days, and you never mentioned it? That forty-two hours of betrayal, my dear. And for each hour, you will be hurt." Derekai brought his face very close to hers. "In whatever way I choose."

"What are you going to do to him?" she demanded, gasping when he yanked on her head and began to drag her across the kitchen toward the stairs. "What will you do?"

"Do?" Derekai gave a cruel chuckle as they reached the foot of the stairs. "I'll do whatever I want, my dear. To him, and especially to you. Right now, however, your precious Battousai is dying at the hands of fifteen specially-trained ninjas. I suspected he would come after me, and I left quite early."

Struggling to keep up with him so the pain on her head was lesser, Kaoru's feet caught on the hem of her kimono, and she climbed the stairs mostly on her knees. Though she was suffering, she could feel a familiar spark heating her blood, and a sharpness came to her tongue. "Fifteen?" She allowed herself a short scoff. "Fifteen ninjas couldn't break one of Kenshin's fingers, let alone kill him. You assigned only fifteen fighters to destroy the leading assassin of the Tokugawa?"

"That," Derekai said sternly as they arrived on the third floor of the manor. "Is very bold of you. Too bold, you insolent wretch." Without grace, he shoved her into a room and Kaoru found they were in the watch tower. "How interesting," toned Derekai. "This is the very room Megumi Takani tried to kill herself in to escape from my father." His face was contorted with rage. "Isn't it funny that her good friend Kaoru Kamiya is going to die to get away from that man's son?"

"You are worse than Kanriyu!" Kaoru shouted. "At least Kanriyu had a reason for being insane!"

"Oh, I've a reason." His rough, hard hands shoved her onto the pillowed window seat, his movements ordering her to stay there. Kaoru didn't have the strength to move anyway. His eyes dug into her own gaze like a knife that only wished to cause pain. "My reason is knowing that because everyone hated my father, they must also hate me. That because he is dead, I was left to grow up the son of a filthy whore who cared nothing for me!"

If Kaoru had not been forced to tolerate his anger and abuse for six years, she might have been sympathetic, having been brought up lonely as the daughter of a strict dojo leader. As it was, her tears were of hate rather than sadness. "If you let it effect you enough to try to kill a man who rightfully put your father in prison, and then destroy my own life the way you have, you are too weak and pathetic to deserve a better way of living."

His hand struck her across the cheek again, but this time Kaoru did not feel the pain of it. Her own anger at the fool she had never truly considered her husband was more powerful than his insulted pride.

And when Derekai pulled his pistol from his pocket and aimed it at her head, she jutted out her chin. With the moon glowing directly behind her, falling on her matted hair and battered body, she was beautiful – because the pain to her physical self could not overcome her own inner strength.

"Kill me, Derekai." Her eyes glimmered with unwavering courage. "If you do, then maybe you will realize just how terrible you really are, once my blood is on your hands."

Derkeai's weapon-holding hand shook as her words swept through him. "You would love Battousai then, a man who has been drowning in the blood of others for sixteen years, and not me, who is guiltless?"

"Guiltless of murder perhaps," Kaoru bit out, her fingers curving tightly around the edge of the window seat, "but not of treachery. You accuse me of betrayal, and for years you've taken your whores and beaten me even though I am your wife. Is that not betrayal as well?"

"Betrayal is whatever I tell you it is!" he roared. He grabbed her and in an instant had her pressed to the cold glass of the window. "That is my right! I will kill you," he told her, his tone a bit softer as he pressed the mouth of the pistol right to her temple. "Are you not frightened of me?"

A child, Kaoru thought. No matter how he looked, he was nothing more than a man who hadn't really been able to be a child. She was not afraid of children. "No," she replied honestly.

Derekai, on the other hand, could remember times when she had looked at him with such loathing and fear that he had felt more powerful than any man in the world. But at the same time he had realized that the terrified Kaoru Kamiya who he'd had was not the same strong, devoted woman he'd wanted when he had heard of her being with Kenshin Himura.

But it was too late for regret now. He had never really loved Kaoru. Just like Kaoru had never really loved him – or anyone else except that bastard Himura.

"Well," he said, his voice deadly quiet, "in that case, I suppose I should make it so you'll never feel anything else again, least of all fear." His finger tensed on the trigger.

Kaoru let her eyes drift shut. Kenshin…

What she heard didn't sound like a gunshot, and she had heard gunshots before on many occasions. What she did hear was more a metallic sound, a sound she'd heard more times than gunshots. It was steel-on-steel. A sound like a…

Her eyes burst open.

Like a sword hitting steel.

In front of her stood Kenshin, his black cloak gone and his sakabatou free from its sheath. A few feet away lay Derekai's pistol, useless on the wood floor. Derekai was clutching his now-empty right hand and glaring at the red-haired man. Kaoru couldn't see Kenshin's eyes, but by feeling how intense his presence was, she could guess that they weren't purple.

"Ah," Derekai murmured, his expression filled with both shock and rage. "So comes the famous hero to rescue the woman he loves. A timeless story, Battousai."

Battousai was indeed present; Kaoru heard the killer in Kenshin's voice. "Another part of the story," came the low tone, "is that the man the hero rescues the woman from always dies."

Derekai smirked. "To different people, it's either classic or unoriginal. What do you think?"

Kenshin surged forward. The sakabatou had been turned, and the sharp edge was pressed to Derekai's throat. Kaoru could see her lover's face now; it was pale and the teeth were clenched with golden eyes that promised revenge. "I think I should let your blood purify this tainted house. But it wouldn't do the job."

"Then that's hardly a threat, is it?" Of course, the cold steel against his neck was threat enough if Derekai's enemy's words weren't. "What a foolish objective you have, Battousai. You would kill for the first time in sixteen years for a woman?"

"For her, if necessary," Kenshin replied darkly, "I'd kill thousands." He let his gaze switch to Kaoru, and his hand tightened around the hilt of his katana as he took in her ragged appearance. His blood was hot, and his former self craved death, but even now, the rurouni inside of him struggled for supremacy. "I would ask if you are all right, Kaoru," he told her, "but I can see that you are not."

Kaoru swallowed. "Kenshin…" She didn't know what to say. She couldn't manage to plead for Kenshin not to kill Derekai, because she had hated the younger man for so long and suffered at his hands. Her darker side wanted his death.

But Kenshin didn't love her darker side, she knew. Kenshin wouldn't want her if she asked him to murder Derekai Takeda. Just like she preferred the rurouni to the hitokiri, Kenshin preferred the peaceful swordswoman to the hateful wife.

Conflict and tension soaked the room like fog. And then…

Derekai began to laugh. He laughed loud and long, and the two who despised him could only watch him as he did.

"Just look at you two! You're so pitiful!" Derekai grinned, and it seemed any shred of sanity he'd before held was lost completely now. "You can never be together as long as I'm alive and married to her, Battousai. But you couldn't be together if you were charged with my murder, either." He gasped for breath between chuckles. "In the end, the only one with power here is me!"

"Don't be too sure about that, you vicious bastard."

Derekai flew to the floor as a strong fist connected with his face. A trail of blood led to wherever his nose went, and Sanosuke grinned, punching his right fist into his left palm.

"Oh yeah," the tall man said. "I still got it."

In the doorway, Megumi turned her nose up. "What a horribly inappropriate place for a confrontation." Her eyes fell upon her friend. "Oh, Kaoru!" She hastened to the other woman and immediately began inspecting her. It was, she thought with contempt, worse even than the way Kanriyu had treated her back in the days when the older Takeda had occupied this demon-haunted mansion. Her shrewd eyes turned to Derekai on the floor. "Someone…" she waved a hand impatiently in the air, "…do something about him!"

"What is it you want to do, Kenshin?" asked Sanosuke, fist ready if Derekai tried to get to his feet. "Take him to Saito or…" He left the suggestion in the air.

Kenshin looked at Kaoru, and his heart fill with menace again, but he wasn't able to give an answer before a voice floated up from the stairs.

"Sure is noisy up here. You got a party or something going on, Takeda?" Shiro Yamate stopped dead in his tracks when he entered the room and saw several hostile gazes on him. He then saw his employer on the floor with a bloody nose. "Oh. Shit," he declared.

Sano's eyes lighted with fire. "Suzume's boyfriend. What the hell are you doing here?" His eyes widened a moment later when suddenly fell to the floor, motionless. Behind him stood Yahiko.

The dark teenager raised his boken in greeting. "Hey."

"Yahiko? How did you wind up here?" Megumi stared in shock at the fallen thirteen-year-old. "Don't tell me Shiro was…"

"Working for Derekai as a spy. A freaking spy!" shouted Yahiko angrily. "For six months, since he first started school with us at the dojo. Keeping tabs on Kaoru, going so far as to follow her home sometimes to make sure she didn't go anywhere else." He planted a sandaled foot firmly on the unconscious boy's back. "And then he found out about Kenshin this evening. Tsubame and I spotted him by the river and he was talking to Derekai's carriage driver about how he was getting paid for telling Takeda about the still-living Battousai." He stomped on the boy's back again for good measure. "Suzume knows nothing."

"Things just keep adding up, don't they?" Sano said dryly. "Well, that makes two jailbirds."

Kenshin's hand had slacked on his sakabatou, and his blood had cooled. Thinking of little Suzume, who he had played with six years ago, had cleared his head a bit. When she found out that her boyfriend had lied to her and that Kenshin himself was still alive would be shock enough. Kenshin slowly sheathed his katana. He didn't want to add the surprise that Kenshin had broken his vow of never killing again to the confusion.

That was when the gunshot went off, and the blood spurted warm and thick from Kenshin's shoulder. From the window seat beside Megumi, Kaoru cried out his name.

"Ha! Your mistake, Battousai!" Derekai looked up from the floor with a wide smile on his face. Sanosuke's punch, they all realized now, had landed Derekai just close enough to his pistol that he had been able to reach it when the rest had been distracted by Yahiko and Shiro. "Well, at least I don't have to give that pathetic boy his fourteen million yen."

Sanosuke lunged forward. "You wretched—" He froze when Derekai turned the pistol to Megumi, who had jumped to her feet.

"Better watch your step, Sagara," warned Derekai, "or there could be more than one life taken tonight." Slowly, he stood up. "Of course, first things first." Eyes completely deranged and glowing with it, he rushed toward Kenshin. It's time for you to finally die, he thought. "BATTOUSAI!"

Derekai never made it to Kenshin. He felt himself lifted from the ground and realized that it was Kaoru who was doing it. Though rusty from little practice in six years, she was still able to do her jutsu, and suddenly Derekai was thrown over Kaoru's shoulder – straight to the window that she had been sitting in front of moments before.

The glass shattered like rain through fog. The five in the room heard Derekai's wretched, mangled scream as he dropped three stories to the ground. The scream ended abruptly, and everyone turned their eyes to stare at Kaoru, who was looking at the broken window as though it had told her what to do.

Kenshin moved first, stepping toward her. "Kaoru…"

She was silent for a moment; to her friends, she liked like a woman who had known pain and despair and abuse…but she no longer looked defeated. In fact, she looked quite victorious.

"He's gone," Kaoru whispered, awe evident in her soft voice. "And I…"

She crumpled suddenly, bent at the waist, with her face buried in her hands and great, ragged cries tore free from her throat. She shook and shuddered until she felt familiar arms around her. "He was going to kill you!" she sobbed.

"I know." Kenshin stroked her hair, ignoring his bleeding shoulder as she clutched to him for dear life. "I know. It's all right, Kaoru, everything's all right now. That it is."

Kaoru's watery eyes met his. "Is it?"

Kenshin cupped his hand against her tear-stained, beautiful face. "You'll see." With a small smile, he kissed her with a passion he'd never shown before. "I'll prove it to you."

She squeezed his hand and, very slowly, her own smile lit up the whole room. "I'll let you."

She kissed him back.

"It's a beautiful day." Kaoru smiled at Megumi. "Don't you think so?"

"I do." With her usual sassy smirk, Megumi shifted the baby in her arms. "And so does Aiko."

"Your daughter grows more beautiful every day," said Kaoru, stroking a finger down the little girls soft skin. "It's hard to believe a whole month has gone by since her birth."

"Yes. Sanosuke loves spoiling her. He spends whole hours sometimes, mashing fish and vegetables up so they're soft enough for her to eat." Megumi laughed a little. "He's such a softie around her." She gave Kaoru a sideways glance. "I'm sure Ken will be the same way with your child, when he or she is born."

The two were sitting on the porch that surrounded Kenshin and Kaoru's home; the dojo, which neither had wanted to leave for a regular house. Sanosuke and Megumi lived in a small house just next door to Dr. Gensai's clinic, which Megumi had taken over permanently, though Gensai and his granddaughters still lived there. Kaoru remembered Suzume; she had been torn apart by news of the boy she thought had liked her had only been using her closeness to Kaoru to be Derekai's spy. But she had recovered within a month or so and was seriously dating a young man who worked in the local electric company. Her friends expected engagement announcements by the end of June.

Another wedding people were anticipating was Yahiko's and Tsubame's. The two were still seventeen, so they wouldn't be marrying until sometime next year, but everyone they knew showed their enthusiasm. Tae sometimes burst into tears in the middle of the lunch rush. Aoshi and Misao were planning to come back from Kyoto to see them get married. Right now, the two Oniwabans were enjoying life as newlyweds themselves.

Kaoru pressed a hand to her slightly rounded belly and said in response to Megumi's comment, "I'm sure Kenshin will definitely pamper our child." Just then, she felt a hand on her shoulder and smiled up into her husband's scarred face. Kenshin stroked her hair with all the gentleness in the world, and she leaned against him when he sat beside her.

Sanosuke had folded himself down by Megumi as well. "Lookin' good there, fox lady." He pressed a chaste kiss to his wife's cheek. "So do you, Aiko." He took his daughter from Megumi's arms.

Kenshin's hand covered Kaoru's over her stomach. "I've asked Sanosuke to join us for dinner with his family. Shall I go prepare it?"

"In a minute. We're watching the clouds," Kaoru told him. She smiled when he rested his head atop hers.

The four of them watched the clouds, but Kenshin and Kaoru were really only aware of each other, and the third member of their family who they had yet to see.

In the end, both of them knew, beyond death and pain and suffering, love prevailed.

And always would.

Hey, all! Thank you so much for reading my fic. bows humbly before readers It means a lot to me that you all liked it so much to keep coming back despite the really slow updates (and I admit they were slow!) and the at-times inconsistent writing. I know I had Suzume and Ayame confused, but I hope it didn't distract you too much. One day, I may go back and fix it, but for now…well, I'm too lazy. :-P

So…everyone thought Kenshin was going to kill Derekai, and it was Kaoru, BWAHAHAHAHA! …Ahem.

Thanks once again and, if you would, please leave a final review telling me what you thought of the story overall and the ending.

Much love,
GG