Author's Note: well, to any new readers, this fic's all done! to any returning reviewers, the first couple of chapters have been revised, so i hope that you re-read!

Disclaimer: All original characters and story lines do not belong to me. however, any outside characters and the plot of THIS fic do belong to me.

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Memories

chap.1 - forget

Suffocation. The heavy air hung in dying breaths as the humidity clung to skin, choking lungs. Black smoke filled the infernous setting, spewing from crumbling exhaust pipes that had once almost glamorously stood outside the fire-consumed fighting arena between the infamous Lord Shishio and wandering samurai Kenshin Himura.

But that battle was long but done, and the results were catastrophic as Kenshin felt reality cracking, ready to shatter and break, falling apart into the millions of pieces he felt he was. Beyond this reality, he felt darkness looming cravingly ahead, the easy way to the end. But so many awaited his promised return...

He felt his eyes tear open as he left the reaslitic boundries of his dream. Cold sweat beaded his forehead as Kenshin felt blood soak through the bandages around his chest, allowing new blood to seeth through the opened wounds. The wounds given to him by Lord Makoto Shishio himself. It took the red-head a few painstaking seconds to realize that the world before him was blurred, and that the pain provoked a dizziating state of mind. The woman sleeping beside him stirred as she heard her husband had awoken.

"Kenshin...?" she mumbled sleepily, "What's wrong?" She slowly sat up as she rubbed the scattered sleep from her eyes, soon eying her husband worriedly.

"Just a bad dream, Miss Kaoru, no need to worry," Kenshin smiled happily, "Although, I do believe I will need a new set of bandages, that I do."

All of a sudden, Kaoru was wide awake and up, scrambling to the other end of the room as she retrieved a fresh roll of cloth for Kenshin's wounds, reprimanding sternly, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?!"

"I didn't want to wake you, Miss Kaoru."

"Stop thinking about me, and start thinking about yourself," Kaoru replied gruffly, pulling tightly on the cloth as she wound it, her frustration fueling her strength.

There were a few minutes of silence as Kaoru finished up, and declared triumphantly, "There! How's that?"

"It's fine, arigato."

"Oh, and Kenshin?"

"Hai?" Kenshin winced, prepared for another lecture and whiplashing.

"Aishiteru..." Kaoru whispered soothingly as she leaned over and gently kissed Kenshin's lips, "...itsumo."

Kenshin smiled softly as he lay back onto his futon, the quiet breeze whispering outside the dojo.

Aishiteru...

There were no other bad dreams that night.

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Morning light sparkled, and luminous patches of sunlight could be seen through the shadowed patches of trees. Cherry blossoms were in full bloom, their vibrant pink color beautiful, adding color to the perfect landscape.

On the gravel Kenshin crouched, hands moving up and down, fingers intertwined with the cloth, creating a steady beat as he dumped the clothes into the soap-sudded water. As he gazed thoughtlessly at his chore, a flash of fire lit his mind and the clashing of swords filled his ears. He dropped the damp kimono he was washing and placed his hands against his forehead. The battle again. Always it seemed to haunt him, as did many other battles and deaths he could not put aside, could not forget. His past was always upon him, eating on his every thoughts, consuming his head and throwing it into agony. Kenshin opened his eyes thought obscurely, Would I be happier if I never was the Battousai? How would my life be now?

Shaking his head furiously, he cast the thought away and continued to scrub at the laundry. Wishing everything wasn't how it was now... That's not how he should think, he should accept his past... But sometimes, accepting seemed impossible. Lots of things seemed impossible.

Kenshin's thoughts were interrupted by Sanoske's loud voice, "Yo! Kenshin! Kaoru says she needs more tofu! ....I don't know why you're still working, you should be resting. Hey, you want me to get the tofu?" As Sano got closer, Kenshin looked up, his violet eyes glimmering, "No, that's alright Sano, I'll get it." He smiled as he slowly got up.

"Don't worry about me Sano, it's just tofu."

Sano shrugged as Kenshin made his way to the gates of the dojo, but mumbled quietly, "But be careful anyways Kenshin."

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With each progressing footstep, Kenshin gradually made his way to the same store in which he bought tofu. The same exact place and route.

The bustling business of the market was evident, customers clammering from store to store, bargainers' voices heard loud over the din, so as to drown out their opponent's suggestion. All this was a sense of comfort to Kenshin, exceptionally glad that at least one thing would always remain the same.

He was just about to reach the usual, busily crawling tofu store when an exceptionally odd and recently new store caught the corner of his eye. Its miniscule size and obliviousness to the rest of the marketplace was of no concern to Kenshin as he was precariously drawn to it, and began to tread his way through the crowd, slowly walking closer and closer to the tent.

Heavy navy-black drapes hung on its sides, creating an eery silhouette and highlighting its inner contents, which contained nothing, save for a single young, petite girl with long, black hair that fell into her amber, glazed-over eyes. Her eyes caught the most attention, threads of dreary, smokey clouds whirling about within them, emanating a feeling of loss and emptiness; as was the feeling that came off of the rest of her self. Her self; an empty shell that sat upon a four-legged stool, set firmly and solidly in the dirt floor. Kenshin let his eyes wander to the girl's barefeet, which was ghastly ashen, as if soil refused to stick to her skin. He also found that her darkly black kimono was no sense of comfort, and it seemed to absorb the light that surrounded it, only reflecting the purest of shadows.

Her head slowly, creakily tilted upwards as Kenshin drew nearer, acknowledging Kenshin's precense with a blank stare.

"I've been waiting, Kenshin Himura," her ghost white mouth moved slowly as her lips contemplated each word and syllable that left its caverns.

Kenshin paused, and found himself frowning slightly as he replied, "You know my name?" He gazed at the girl's face as she made no attempt to answer, and he added curiously, "If you don't mind me asking, little one, what is this...store...for?" The red-head unintentionally skipped a beat as he pronounced the word "store," not even being positive that the insignificant tent was made for such a purpose.

The girl did not respond to Kenshin's question, but instead lowered her heavy-lidded eyelids as she smirked ever-so-slightly, "You have a dark past, Kenshin Himura."

Kenshin was astonished at the girl's knowing and change of subject, and soon overcame his look of surprised hesitation as he murmured softly, "I do not deny my past..."

Her smirk grew wider, "Yet you wish to forget it."

"I -" Kenshin couldn't understand why he paused. Of course he wanted to forget it all...every last one of the most wretched, despicable memories that bellowed within his mind, that yelled so loud that the aching never stopped. Had never stopped...and would never stop. An echoey throb that dwelled with him since the last dying days of the Bakumatsu. Of course he wanted to forget his past...but the thought could never be a reality, and because of this realistic fact, Kenshin drew the words steadily out from his mouth, "...I do not know if I wish to forget my past, but I have learned to accept it, and if I have not yet accepted it, I am learning to."

The girl's miniature face turned, facing one side of the tent's dark canvas, in a seeming contemplating, intentional way. "I see more than just an empty lie. I see death," she whispered eerily, "And blood. Taken by the sword of the man who is called the Battousai. A name given to him for his incredible, impregnable skill and god-like speed. A man who has the hands contaminated with the bloodbath of the revolution, a man who took countless, and more than likely, innocent lives. A tainted soul. It didn't matter, did it?" She spun her head, her blank eyes locking with Kenshin's violet ones.

Kenshin gazed at her with the utmost abashed and shocked expression that had ever come across his face. Hardly anybody had dared to speak on the matter of his past so bluntly, so harshly that made him want to turn around and run to a faraway place, never stopping once. No one had dared...none less than a child... "I -"

"I see your thoughts, Kenshin Himura. Everyday you live in dread, your past haunting you, stalking you like a tiger does its prey. Countless battles playing and replaying, with no way to stop it," the girl paused, and her void eyes seemed to glint as she spoke her next words, "But I can make all of it stop."

Kenshin overcame the strong want to distance himself as far away as he could from this girl, and instead strained a polite smile, "I'm sorry, but I don't think anybody can change what I've done. I can merely attempt to repent for my past, and never turn the blade of my Sakabato."

"All of it. Anything you wish to forget, it is gone." The girl paid no attention to Kenshin's last words, and completely ignored Kenshin's repliant expression as she continued, "I know you try to repent for your sins Himura, but deep down, you know you can never be ridden...you can never be forgiven for what you have done. You can forget, and I can make it happen."

Before Kenshin would realize it, he began to consider the thoughts that had always been in his mind, but yet had never really been thought upon until now...when the actual chance seemed to be placed before him, and to merely forget, all he would have to do was accept...

"What of my friends? Would they forget as well?" Kenshin hardly had control over the words that escaped from his mouth, it seemed that another person had taken over his body, asking the questions, making his decisions for him.

"They would forget as well."

Kenshin stood in silence, weighing his options and chances, considering what there was to loose. The girl was right in many ways...in fact, she was right in most ways. Maybe this was the answer.

And as a third person looking in, he saw his bewildered eyes blink as his lips moved in a slow motion, forming the words that crept up from his throat, and he heard his own quiet voice say,

"I want to foget...everything in my past."

Kenshin's eyes grew wide, as if for the first time realizing what he had said, what his conclusion had become. But what could she do? What power did a child have?

As if in answer, the girl smirked, and abruptly, her eyes glowed. Glowed a ferocious golden yellow that shimmered and shone, blinding Kenshin as he lifted his hands to shield his eyes from the light. Her heavy, black hair had begun to rise, forming a halo that framed her petite head. Kenshin noticed that the hustling noise of the surrounding market's crowd had dimmed away, visible surroundings had ebbed into the darkness that now enveloped them. There were only two people that existed now: Kenshin and this little girl.

Kenshin could make out the girl's outline, and saw her illuminated figure still situated on the same wooden stool.

She sat with her head down, her golden eyes avert, with no intention, when her head suddenly jerked upwards, her eyes shining into Kenshin's, boring into his mind. Kenshin gasped at the immediate, surprising pain as he felt her search, dig through his memories. She was reading him like an open book, and he saw images flash in his unopened eyes, from his recent life in Tokyo working backwards...his battle with Shishio...life as a wandering rurouni...war...revolution...blood...Tomoe...assassinations...Hiko...gone.

Gone.

The pain doubled as he squinted at the girl; she was editing and rewriting scenes in his past...

But this wasn't right...

But those thoughts immediately left Kenshin's head as he felt the pain lessen. The little girl's eyes dimmed a bit as she began to finish, and in a certain resolution, whispered hauntedly, "Kenshin Himura...the Battousai no more..." Her hoarse voice trickled away, and Kenshin felt the pain pass as he slowly opened his eyes, feeling the darkness sink away, replaced with the regular hustle of the market. The tent was no longer there; instead stood an empty space.

Why am I standing here? Kenshin thought obscurely, and it oddly took him a minute to figure out who he was. What was I doing? He thought back and a sharp pain struck his head as he winced, Oh yes, Miss Kaoru wants tofu.

Kenshin Himura, the Battousai no more.