Answers to Reviews:

Fanficnewbiee: Yes, there will be an epilogue. This is it, in fact. Though, like I said, I'll probably go back and edit the story. After going back and rereading it, I found that there's a lot I can improve on. The story line will stay the same, of course. I'm just going back and cleaning up where I feel like I could.

Ihaine07: Thank you for reading my story, even if you don't leave reviews. I'm just grateful that you (and all my readers) would take the time to read my story(ies). So, thank you!

Guest: First off, gah, I wish you had logged in and left a review. I want to tell you, you're brilliant. Seriously. A confession hadn't even crossed my mind. For me, Enishi is the ultimate evil. His reasons aren't even close to understandable (even though there's no understandable reason for murder). I'm not sure how this will go. Your review left me asking myself so many questions. Unfortunately, this is my last chapter, so I won't add any more to delay the story's end. Thank you, though. Really. I feel like I have more to cover than I had originally.

Note: This is why you guys should review! (laughs). Your comments and ideas help me with the direction I'm going in. Never doubt that.

Also, I'd like to point out that Kaoru got pregnant because of the sex (that wasn't shown) at the end of chapter 20. Notice in chapter 21, I said weeks had passed. Just... use your imagination on how many. Thanks, loves.

So here we go, the Epilogue of Keeping You Safe

In the end, Kenshin ended up getting a new manager. Tomoe could never forgive Kaoru; it was her fault that her brother was suffering in a prison. "She has to go," Tomoe had told Kenshin after the news of her pregnancy had been released. Misao had been appalled, Aoshi had looked disgusted and Kaoru's heart had fallen to her stomach. It wasn't the response anyone had been hoping for.

Kenshin, who looked at Akira, sighed. He had talked to Tomoe's husband, telling him what he'd been planning. Surprisingly, he had agreed that it would be for the best. "Actually Tomoe," he had said with a heavy heart. "I'm letting you go. I want us to be friends, but I won't ever pick you over Kaoru." It didn't matter how long they'd been friends. She had changed, and he wasn't okay with who she was now.

Six excruciatingly long months had passed since then. Enishi, who still denied that he'd done anything wrong, sat behind bars. Tomoe still pleaded his innocence. Sickened with grief and hatred, she had left Akira. Day after day, she visited her brother, hoping to find the truth and set him free.

Akira still worked for Hiko, and had slowly gotten over Tomoe.

Kaoru, who had kept in contact with him, was pleased to hear that he had started dating again. She wanted to meet the mystery woman, she'd laughed. Deep down, she was still sad that Tomoe hadn't been able to move on, but she was happy that Akira hadn't been dragged into whatever pitying state Tomoe had sunk into. "Do you think she's there right now," Kaoru asked Yahiko as they sat in the living room of their new home. Kenshin formally proposed to Kaoru after two months of finding out she was pregnant. They decided to postpone until after the baby was born, but even now, they all lived together. They were closer to Hiko, incidentally.

"Probably," Yahiko sighed as he looked over at her. "I think it's kind of sick how she falls all over the place for him and constantly begs."

It was a little weird, Kaoru thought. But, if he meant that much to her, who was she to say anything? "I don't see how she can do it." When Yahiko gave her a questioning look, she continued. "They aren't ever going to let him out; why does she still try? She's only making herself miserable."

"Honestly, I don't know." He admitted. "And personally, I don't want to think about it. Neither should you." He gave her a kind smile, letting her know he wasn't trying to sound cruel. "Besides, you know what Kenshin said- no more stressing yourself out."

Kaoru laughed; being pregnant was stressful in itself. Everything she did for a living, she had to give up. No more running after bad guys, no more fighting... nothing that could hurt her. "The only person you'll be running after is our child, when he or she is born," he'd told her in a matter-of-fact tone. Naturally, she had wanted to argue, but he was right, of course. "Yeah, yeah... if you tell him I talked about this, I'm going to tell him you made me cry." Now that she was pregnant, anything that upset her, he promised to take care of it for her.

Yahiko's eyes widened. "That's not fair! He doesn't need me." He leaned away from her and pouted, crossing his arms over his chest.

Kaoru's eyes glinted with humor. "Then it's a good thing that I do, isn't it?" He grumbled and she laughed, lightly running her hands over her extended stomach; only two and a half more months left and their child would be here. They still didn't know what gender it was, and they didn't want to know. It was a surprise, and they liked it that way.

"Hey, hey, there he is," Yahiko jumped excited against on the back of the couch.

Kaoru looked at the television and smiled. Kenshin had a conference in Kyoto, in talks of the new member of the team and the reasons behind letting go of Tomoe, who had been with him from the beginning. No doubt it had been difficult. He still didn't like talking to her about it, let alone someone else. "He looks tired." He looked exhausted, actually. He'd only been gone for three days and she missed him terribly. Now that he'd arrived back in Tokyo, he was going to come home and spend time with them, with her. Yahiko usually left when Kenshin was home. He wanted to give them the privacy that they craved. He didn't mind, he said. His girlfriend liked it when Kenshin was home.

"Mr. Himura," a reporter approached him as Aoshi blocked him from their view. "Is it true that you let go of Ms. Yukishiro because of the differences between her and your current girlfriend?"

Kenshin stopped and turned to reply, but Aoshi stopped him, whispering in his ear.

"Don't do anything rash, Kenshin," Kaoru whispered to herself. Kenshin had become more defensive of her over time, reacting to the slightest tone of insult towards her.

"No," she heard him say to the reporter. "I let Ms. Yukishiro go for professional reasons. She had a private family matter that took precedence over my career. I thought it would be best so that she could have her focus on where it needed to be." He started to walk but stopped and looked back at the man. "I love my fiancee, but she has nothing to do with my professional team."

For Kenshin, that was like saying fuck off. Kaoru smiled as he walked away.

"He'll be here soon," Yahiko commented as he stood up.

"Yeah, where are you going?" He wasn't here yet, Yahiko couldn't be leaving already, could he?

"Tsubame's." With a shrug of his shoulders, he walked towards the door. "You've got my number. If something happens before he gets here, call me and I'll come running back."

Kaoru shook her head at his words. "Go, go," she shooed him away. She would be fine by herself. They treated her more like a child than a pregnant woman.

When Kenshin showed up, Kaoru was still on the couch, waiting for him. He opened the door, Aoshi following closely behind him.

Kaoru smiled and slowly stood up; with the pregnancy, she wasn't able to move as fast as she once could. "I missed you," she smiled as she walked towards him. when she reached him, she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down to her. She pressed her lips against his and sighed. "Yeah, I really missed you."

Kenshin laughed as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "I missed you too. It's been a long three days." Kenshin looked back at Aoshi. "I'm sure he's ready to quit after the hell I've been giving him."

Kaoru, leaning against the chest of her fiance, looked over at the man. She had a hard time believing that he would feel like that towards Kenshin, especially since Misao had stayed home as well. "I'm sure Misao will be glad to have you back," she commented.

"Is that you subtly kicking me out," he asked, raising his eyebrows in curiosity.

Kenshin laughed as Kaoru stuck her tongue out. "No," she smiled. "You're more than welcome to stay." She wanted some alone time with Kenshin, but if Aoshi wanted to stay for a while longer, she wasn't going to turn him away. "Do you want anything to drink?"

"No, thank you. I'll be leaving in a moment." He gave Kenshin a nod before walking back to the door. "How's the baby doing," he asked.

Kaoru's smile widened at his question. "He's fine." She rubbed her stomach soothingly.

Kenshin gave her an alarmed look. "He?"

She could only shrug as she looked at him. "I just feel like it's going to be a boy. I'm just guessing, I promise." She leaned up and ran her lips against his jaw. "We'll know when he or she is born."

"That's good to hear." He gave Kenshin a pointed glare. "She and your baby are fine. Now you can stop worrying." He gave Kaoru a small smile. "You two have a lot of making up to do for these last few days. If it happens again, I might strangle him." Okay, so maybe there was a little issue there. Still, he wasn't just employed to Kenshin; they were best friends. He wasn't going anywhere. "I'll call you later, Kenshin." He left without another word.

Kaoru stared up at him as the door shut behind their friend. "Do you remember it being this hard?" They'd been away from each other for a few days at a time during the last six months, but every time it seemed to get harder and harder. They needed their space, they knew, but still... it wasn't the same without one another.

"Yes," he smiled. "It's always hard to be away from you guys." He ran his fingers over her stomach as he leaned down to kiss her. "Where's Yahiko," he whispered against her lips.

Kaoru smiled against him. "He went to see his girlfriend. He wants to give us privacy." She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards their bedroom. "Apparently Tsubame likes when you're home." The warm laughter that escaped his throat warmed her completely. When she slowly sat on the bed, he knelt in front of her, watching her wearily. "How did it go?"

He sighed, knowing she wanted to talk about the conference. "It went..." He looked up into her eyes. "Tomoe was there."

Kaoru's eyes widened at the news. She's traveled all the way to Kyoto to see Kenshin let her go? "Why?"

He shook his head, still at loss for what had happened. "She wanted to beg me to come back to her," he looked at Kaoru's balled up hands in her lap. "She wanted me to help her with Enishi; get him the right help that he needed to be released." He took Kaoru's hands in his, holding onto them like a lifeline.

"What did you say?" Kenshin would never leave her, but she was curious as to how he had handled the situation.

He looked into her eyes then, a grin tugging at his lips. "It's no secret that you're pregnant or that we're engaged. I reiterated it. She thought it was for show, of course. It was comfortable and I couldn't let something like that go because I was... I don't even know how she described it. It still doesn't make sense to me." He leaned forward and kissed her neck, slowly running his tongue along her sensitive flesh. "I was very adamant that she would never be more than a friend to me, and that you would be nothing less of my best friend, my lover, the mother of my children and my wife." His hot breath had reached her ear.

Kaoru's breath hitched at his words and his breath. Even after all this time, he affected her more and more every day. "How did the conference itself go," she asked, trying to distract herself from the way her body was reacting. She wanted to know how the new manager had fared with the wolves.

"It was great," he replied, slightly pulling away as he stood to his feet and walked to her side. Sitting down next to her, he wrapped his arm around her waist and gently pulled her to lay on her side. "Tae handled it in a very professional manner, while at the same time gaining new fans herself." He paused as he stared at the love of his life. "It's hard to believe she's a complete beginner." He reached over with his free and and ran it through Kaoru's raven locks. "But, that's over and done with. I'm home with you, and there's more important things that I would like to do."

Kaoru leaned closer into him, lightly throwing her arm over his chest. "Like what," she prompted with a grin. She already knew the answer.

"Like making love to you for the rest of the afternoon." While they'd experienced and, quite frankly, enjoyed being rough and primal with each other during sex, after she'd gotten pregnant, they'd tried to slow things down. Really, slow things down; much to their surprise, it was just as, if not more, enjoyable. The baby was safe, no matter what, as her pregnancy was smooth, almost perfect, but he didn't want to chance anything.

"Good," she whispered as she leaned into him. "I've missed you, in every way possible." Kaoru took his hand and led it to her breast, letting him feel her. She was sensitive, much more than she had been.

Kenshin's eyes heated at the contact as he leaned in to kiss her lips roughly. "Eager," he asked, slowly sliding his hand down her body; over her belly and in between her legs. She couldn't answer, all she could do was nod. "Good." Thoughts of the new team, the conference, Enishi and Tomoe... everything that wasn't there left them, as the basked in the scent and feel of each other.

Afterwards, Kenshin never heard from Tomoe again, Enishi still being in prison, they assumed she'd given up hope when it came to help; when it came to someone being at her side through all of this. Tae had taken the team above and beyond what had been expected of her, and they were all very impressed. Kenshin had been working on new music and another tour was in the works.

When Kenshin wasn't working, he noticed that Aoshi would leave as soon as he could, no doubt getting home to his wife. Weeks after the conference, Misao had accused Aoshi of cheating on her; when he wouldn't answer her calls, she got paranoid. Not suspicious, paranoid. "She knows I wouldn't," Aoshi had commented one day during lunch. "I just don't want to give her the impression that I don't care how she feels." If she was nervous about him leaving her, he would prove himself until she was secure in the relationship again.

As Kaoru's due date approached, Kenshin had spent less and less time at work and more time with her, just in case something happened. Nothing would, she promised him. She'd encouraged him to go; she didn't need to be crowded when she was perfectly fine. After weeks of hearing the same speech over and over again, he'd decided that he'd give her the afternoon to herself, but as he went to check on her, he found that she was going into labor. He'd stayed with her all the way, Yahiko scurrying behind them, calling everyone to tell them it was time.

Six hours later, their son, Kenji, was born. Through the thick and the thin, the good times and bad, Kaoru and Kenshin saw the joy in everything as they looked at their son for the very first time. "Thank you, Kaoru, for everything. He's beautiful." He leaned down to kiss her as she held their newborn son against her chest.

"Thank you," she whispered back. She couldn't have made it this far without him. "I love you."

As he gently stroked his son's head, he smiled at her. "I love you, too." He wrapped his arm around her as she leaned back into his hold. "It's my turn to keep you safe," he promised.

That's it. Happily ever after! I'm surprised with myself. Truly, I am. Not at all what I was expecting, but I'm pleased.

I want to thank each and every one of you who have contributed your thoughts and feelings to this story, and to everyone who has even read the story and stayed with me until the end (or even if you came on board during the middle). Thank you everyone!

Please, please let me know how you enjoyed "Keeping You Safe". I love you all.

-K