This is my eighth fan fic, and this one is dedicated to the eternal couple Kaoru and Kenshin, not that I don't like Tomoe or anything.  I do like her, but I just prefer Kaoru, because she is my favorite.  I kept on thinking about how the show ended, and every time I think about it, it made me cry.  I so badly wanted to write the continuing of it, to write my ideas out and post them out to the Internet, but something always held me back.  This story is the reincarnation of all the Kenshin-Gumi gang, and how the love Kaoru and Kenshin once had will be reunited in this modern world.  However, this story contains a lot of supernatural things, which will come later on in the next chapters.  Therefore in short meaning, is that this story will become much harder to understand, so please bear with me along my story.  If you have any questions, please leave them in your review or contact me at [email protected].  If you think I should stop writing this story, then I'll gladly stop writing it, because I do know many of you out there are sensitive as I am as a person.  Please don't be harsh in your review.  I'm sensitive person.  Thanks and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin Series.  I wish I did but I don't. : (

Just a New Beginning

Chapter One

               The road forever seemed endless.  The path never stopped.  Ever step that was taken, granted unbearable pain.  Tears stung from her eyes, her heart torn, and long ached for something, anything to stop its pain.  Her breaths came out ragged and short,  her mind screamed, tortured her, begging her to stop, to give up.  But no she wouldn't.  Never will she give up.  Never will she abjure her beliefs.  Never will she abjure him.  Is this what love is all about?  She wept endlessly, her mind dysfunction on her, her body weakening, tears fell from her eyes, forever staining their mark of her pain.  Yet she never gave up.  She waited for him every time the cherry blossoms, she waited for him to return from his journey.  As long as her heart kept on beating, every single breath she took, every single step she took, every thing she did, she did it all for him.  Her life itself was truly devoted for him, to him, and always him.  And yet was it worth all the pain? 

               Her body hunched over, her mind growing reckless, her heart beating faster, her breath growing shorter, yet the path seemed to forever hold her under it's spell.  'No he's here.  I know he's here.  He's finally come home,' Kaoru thought, her tear stained eyes, showed a little glamour of hope.  "Shinta," she whispered as she saw a figure from the distance.  Her heart picked up faster, her small steps became larger, and her body weak from his disease began to take its toll on her.  She struggled endlessly to take her last steps and make it towards him.  She felt death was right around the corner, ready, and willing to take both of them away, but she refused to give in.  Her teary eyes once again innate new tears, causing a new trail left to speak her forbidden tales of suffering to the world.  She watched as he stumbled, as he tried so hard to make his way to her.  She used every energy she had left to run to him, every step, the burning pain raging inside her body, the disease, the proof of her love to him, taking it toll on her body.  Her beloved's pace fastened and as they reached closer to each other, it was then he collapsed.

               Kaoru looked at her lover with sympathy, with so much love, with so much anguish in her sapphire eyes.  Once upon time, her beloved was considered to be the strongest man in the whole of Japan.  Because of him, he changed Japan forever, helping to bring new peace, a new error in the whole of Japan.  His sword techniques were advance and lethal, killing every obstacle that stood in its way, but inside he was dying.  Every life he took, he felt responsible.  So he took the last dealing for himself.  He turned into a wanderer forever seeking atonement for his committed sins, hoping that one day, he could finally be forgiven.  And as symbol for him to never forget his past and place in the present, and that he will always carry in the future, was the cross shape scar he carried on his left cheek.  No matter what, even though he had a family, he still felt responsible for the lives he took.  Will he ever find peace?

               No, he will never find peace.  She failed him once again.  Her chances to be a good wife, was a role she could never play properly.  She tried her best to comprehend him, only to fail him in the ending.  She tried her best to give him all the happiness in the world, giving him all of her, but she failed him.  She always failed him. 

               Kaoru held his limp form in her arms.  She cradled his head, kissed his forehead in a gentle gesture, greeting her husband home.  After she observed her surroundings carefully, only then did this place stroke a memory in heart.  This was the place where he told her good bye, before he left to go Kyoto.  If she never did go after him, he would have never returned to her.  She watched the cherry blossoms blooming on the trees.  She watched the beautiful blue clear sky, flashing its  radiant color to the world.  She heard the music of birds in the air.

               "Do you remember how we watched the cherry blossoms every year?  We could continue doing that every year from now," she whispered.  She fought her tears.  Her eyes drooped a little.  'No I'm must not give in.  Not yet Kami-sama, please not yet.  Let me be with him just a little more,' her mind whispered, begging to the one all mighty lord.  She waited for a response from her beloved Shinta, but he never moved.  'Will he ever find peace?  Did he finally atone for his past?'

               Slowly, she moved his crimson hair from his face, so she could get a better look at him.  His body was now lifeless, his heart stopped beating a long time ago.  Some cherry blossoms fell to the floor, as a remembrance making his grave for him.  Kaoru searched his face, for the cross shape scar, that he forever carried as a burden, a reminder of his dreadful past, but all she saw left, left more tears emanating from her eyes.  His cross shape scar faded, it looked as though it was never there. 

               "Your cross shape scar has faded.  Your journey has ended," she whispered softly.

Kaoru couldn't help but smile, as a few tears escaped her eyes.  All the suffering she went through, the tears she wept everyday so quietly, the burning torture that raged through her weak body, the endless torment she felt in her heart, the dysfunction of her mind forever haunted her.  Her life was truly devoted for him.  Yet was it worth it?  He made her so many promises.  Once upon a time, he promised to never leave her and their son Kenji, yet he left.  And even though he didn't come back for a long time, it never stopped her from loving him.   Is this what love is all about?  Is it about pain, suffering?  She wished from this very moment she could relive her life.  She wished to live life with him once again, so she could relieve him of his pain, of his torment, of all the suffering he had to walk with over his years of living.

               She closed her eyes, her heart slowed it pace, her body became light weighted, her head felt a little fuzzy, almost light headed.  She slowly gave herself to the darkness, her life flashed before her eyes.  All her memories were based on her beloved Kenshin known as Shinta.  She truly enjoyed being his wife, being known Kaoru Himura, and then her heart stopped beating.  Little did she know that her wish will come true years later, but instead of carrying goodness, and a heart full of love, all of the sorrow she cried in that life, all her forbidden pain, her mourning, the silence she kept within herself will affect her in the next life, for her beloved did one thing she will never forgive. He broke his promise to never leave her.

              

                                                                                          ***

              

               "Kaoru, come on, it's time for you to go to school!" yelled Kaoru's mom.

               Kaoru stopped writing for a moment.  Her eyes were full of tears, her body raging with so much pain, her mind reckless, there was so much chaos running through her.  Her temples pounded in fury, her body somehow felt terribly weak.  For some reason every time she wrote this story about this woman, she felt so much pain, like if she were once her.  What made the situation more awkward then before, was the fact the woman, the character she wrote about carried her first name.  Kaoru tried to think of another suitable name for the woman in her story, but no other name responded as well as her name did.

               "Come on Kaoru, will you stop writing on that lab top of yours and start getting ready to go to school!" Her mother yelled once again.

               Kaoru rubbed her pounding temples with her soft small delicate hands.  She looked once more at her computer screen, reading it to make sure she didn't leave anything out, and basically to check for grammatical errors.  She saved her story on her floppy disk, slammed her lab top shut, and headed down stairs to grab a quick bite for school.

               Being at home for her, was something she can never bear.  Her parents put her though a lot of frustration, always wanting her to be something she can never be.  The fact that they said she was a negative minded person, is something that always kept her down.  It wasn't that.  They just didn't know her capabilities, at what things came from her heart.  So what if she wasn't the academic brain type as her older sister, Megumi, and her younger brother Yahiko.  She did pretty okay, mostly average in school.  She was better at Social Studies and English, maybe art too, but she never did have the science head and the math head.  She mostly made Bs in her subject and one C.  But that never stopped her from making a B average.  She never put so much time in studying as she put in reading and writing.   She spent most her hours studying for English, after all that was her favorite class.

               As Kaoru headed down the stairs and reached into the kitchen, she saw her father putting on his shoes, her mother took care of Yahiko making sure he was ready for school.  The only person she didn't see was her older sister Megumi.  Kaoru thought she must have left early to go to work.  Kaoru's older sister was extremely smart.  She was so smart she finished college earlier then usual and became a doctor.  She went up for her PHD and got it within five years.  When she was younger she skipped three grades, because of her mind was highly intellectual for any normal standard of her age.  Megumi was not only a brainy act, but she was also a beauty to look at.  She attracted many men with her sophisticated looks, the way she carried about herself, and she carried herself in a bizarre way, more with aberration.  She can be stolid at times, can say fierce words that can sting anyone's heart, but deep down inside she had a heart of gold.  It just took someone to have her high standards of intellect to fully comprehend her.  Then there was Kaoru's younger brother Yahiko.  He was abnormal young teenage boy who is hard to come across every day. He was mostly the type of a fighter.  He carried so much pride in him, when it came to his kendo lessons, and karate lessons.  The one thing he carried in life, were his beliefs to be strong, and protect people he mostly cared about.  He could be an annoying brat most of the times, but he always did something to try to make a person smile.  Also he was very bright in school.  He mostly made As and a couple Bs.  Since he was able to pick up things so fast in kendo and karate lessons, he was able to pick up things fast in school. 

               "Well I'm just heading out and leaving to go to school!" Kaoru yelled at the top of her lungs so she could get her parents attention.  Being the middle child was a tough thing to go through.  Hardly anyone ever knew when the middle child existed.

               "Do you want a drop to school or are you going to walk to school today?" asked her father.  Kaoru couldn't help but smile.  Her father seemed to be the only one who ever showed her how much he'd truly cared for her.  She wished her mother could show her such love, when she didn't want anything.

               "Don't worry dad.  I'll walk to school today.  Anyways I'm suppose to meet a friend on my way to school."  And with those words Kaoru left her father waiting inside the house for her mother. 

               Kaoru walked down the familiar streets of her home.  She lived in New York all her life.  It was her precious home.  She was original born in Manhattan, uptown in a place called Harlem.  There she lived her younger years of life mostly populated with Hispanics and black people.  She loved it, but the place was getting dangerous, crime happened, so much population.  Kaoru's parents moved out from Harlem into a small place in Queens called Richmond Hill.  The place was most populated with white folks.  As she grew older, the place became less crowded with whites, because they starting moving out, and moving to other regions.  Eventually Richmond Hill became populated with Guyanese and Trinidadians.

               As she walked down the street, looking at the pretty large houses, she noticed a figure looming on Liberty Avenue, she was coming across too.  She recognized that tall figure anywhere, the pleasant smile plastered on his face, the wide innocent blue his eyes held.  Kaoru couldn't help but smile as she greeted the familiar person.

               "Well hello Soujiro Seta.  You haven't changed one bit over the summer.  If you did, I'll say you've gotten taller and a little muscular," Kaoru said as she smile a mischievous smile.  Her sapphire eyes danced with wickedness.  Soujiro knew that look too well.

               "Well Kaoru Kamiya, I'll say you haven't changed much either, accept that you've gotten a little bit smaller then before, but at least you still hold that same spirit," he said as he hugged his friend.  He really did miss her over the summer.

               "I didn't change that much.  I was mostly on my feet this summer working at this clothing store on Lefferts Blvd. And volunteering for the library, because of their books."

               "Yep, that certainly does sound like you.  If anyone knows you well, they'll know about the couple of novels you written."

               "I told you not to bring up anything about that."  Kaoru looked at Soujiro with so much annoyance, and a little anger.  She didn't like when anyone brought up any topics about her books.  Last two summers ago, was when everything happened.  Dreams began to plague her, filling her with so much pain, with tears of sorrow, that it coursed throughout her body, forever leaving its mark.  She wrote a couple books called Hidden in the Shadows, and Lurking in the Darkness.  The couple of books were a trilogy she wrote about a young teenage boy, once called Hitokiri Battousai bringing Japan its freedom, and the starting of the new Meiji government.  But what set him apart were his dreams, were the nightmares he experienced through the war, the Revolution.  He met a woman, his first love who changed his ways forever, but happiness can never stay with him for that long.  She died in arms, by his hands, his very sword.  From that day he became a Rurouni, a man who wandered from place to place, looking for justice of people who couldn't receive it.  However after ten years of wandering, did he meet her, the girl who changed his life forever.  It girl who helped him continue because of her beliefs, because of her love for him.  Only he didn't realize how much he made her suffer.

               "I'm sorry to bring up the topic.  I didn't mean to say anything to offend you," Soujiro said as he brought his friend out of her dream state.  He realized the distress on her face.  He saw her brought her hands, rubbing her temples.  Her sapphire eyes looked watery.

               "It's okay Soujiro, you didn't mean to bring up that topic.  You know I don't like to talk about it because it does things to me, makes me feel things that are abnormal," she whispered.  Her head hurt, her pounding temples beat so loudly, deafening her.  More tears fell from her eyes.  Her knees became weak, and she fell away from the real world, succumbing into the darkness.