Disclaimers: Rurouni Kenshin was a creation of Nobuhiro Watsuki. I don't own RK!!! (I would love to though…)

"...." indicates dialogues

'....' indicates thoughts

WHEN IT RAINS

Chapter 7

Kenshin held Kaoru's hand as they walked on the way outside of her room. He was about to open the door when she stopped abruptly, slightly squeezing his hand. Kenshin turned his head to look at her; he could tell she was afraid, her eyes filled with unshed tears from earlier. It broke his heart to pieces to see her like that.

"Kaoru-dono, is everything all right?"

'Kaoru-dono?' She thought a little disappointed. 'That's how you call me… how you see me. We will never be what I want us to be. It would be so much easier to talk to you if I just knew what I really mean to you.' Kaoru closed her eyes as these thoughts filled her mind and then she remembered his question, "I'm fine. I just wish things didn't have to change."

"What makes you think things will change Kaoru-dono?" Kenshin asked her, eyebrows knotted in puzzlement.

'Will I ever be 'Kaoru-dono' for you? I wish that could change.' Kaoru blinked several times trying to shake those thoughts out of her head. She had other subjects to worry about, for instance she had to figure out the best way to explain what was going on to Kenshin and the others. She would think about her relationship with Kenshin - whatever it was - later, that is, of course, if he didn't stop talking to her.

"Let's go, Kenshin." She decided opening the door.

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When they came out of her room everybody was waiting for them even Tae was there. Dr. Genzai sent Yahiko to call her over. It was of his knowledge that she knew the whole story so, he thought she could help Kaoru, giving her support. Seiya who had his backs against the wall instantly had his eyes focused on Kaoru and Kenshin's joined hands. That made his body become tense and he straightened up. Something about that man made him very uncomfortable… disturbed his soul. Something about the way he acted toward Kaoru wasn't right. He averted his gaze from them; he would deal with that later.

"Hey Jou-chan you better stop scaring us like that, especially Yahiko-chan. You should have seen him, he was completely worried with you." Sano said jokingly trying to lighten things up a bit.

"I was not!!! And don't call me CHAN!!!" Yahiko yelled at Sano but his eyes softened when he looked back at Kaoru. He was indeed worried for his sensei. "Err…hey busu are you sure you're well enough to get out of bed…I mean you were bleeding and all…maybe…"

"W-what?! Kaoru what's going on? Are you hurt?" Tae blurted out in concern, abruptly cutting Yahiko off. "Seiya-kun, does this have anything to do with the reason you're back?"

"I'm fine. And the wound is not that bad." Kaoru said a small and fake smile curving her lips. "Besides I couldn't get any rest before explaining to all of you what is going on."

Everybody except Seiya and Kenshin looked at her in puzzlement.

"I will make some tea." Misao offered walking in the direction of the kitchen.

"Please let's all sit and wait for Misao to come back." Kaoru said.

"Kaoru-chan?" Seiya called her. "Are you sure that's what you want?" Kaoru was still holding Kenshin's hand when Seiya fixed his questioning eyes on her and talked to her; she knew what she was asking of him, and she knew it was a lot. She let go off the redhead's hand and walked toward Seiya.

"Yes. It's time for me to face my demons like you did with yours a long time ago but I'll need your help now more than ever. It's your secret as well as it's mine. Will you help me to tell them?" She softly asked and silently wished he would understand her.

For a moment he just stared at her, to her deep blue eyes taking into consideration what she was asking him to do. How could someone show so much of one's soul just by simply looking at you? And how could he deny her anything? He couldn't… he would share his secrets to these people he barely knew if that would make her fell better or if that's what she wanted. So he silently nodded.

"Thanks. You know you can take off your hat now." She said playfully to him.

Seiya chuckled taking it off. "Yes it's not like I'm going anywhere anytime soon, right?" He could feel Kenshin's death glare at him without even looking at him; but what really took him by surprise was the change in Kenshin's ki, until then he hadn't paid any attention on the redhead's ki. 'Who the hell is this guy? What's this strong battle aura I'm feeling?' Seiya narrowed eyes studied Kenshin for a moment.

"Seiya?" Kaoru called him.

"Huh? Oh! Sorry." Seiya shook his head slightly trying to banish those last thoughts. He would figure out who that guy was later; he promised himself. "What did you say?" he asked Kaoru.

"I said we should take a seat." She replied somewhat confused.

They went to their seats around the table Kaoru sat between Kenshin and Seiya. Misao came into the room right after and took a seat as Tae helped her to pour the tea.

After a few seconds Kaoru had everybody's full attention. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes. Seiya put his hand over hers gently squeezing it attempting to give her encouragement. "You can do it," he spoke softly. And when she opened her eyes she could see the sun going down, tingeing the sky an orange-red color so sparkling and so warm. And she thought that was a lovely evening for such sad story; she'd rather be outside laughing with her friends or even practicing with Yahiko, watching Kenshin playing with Ayame-chan and Suzume-chan or doing the laundry, while Sano would be snoring or chewing on his fishbone. 'A much nicer picture', she thought. During days like that she would easily forget about her past. The lies. The good-byes. The sorrow. She felt the slight squeeze of her hand. This time she could be strong. She lazily brought her eyes from outside to face the people inside staring back at her questioningly, waiting for her to start talking. 'My family…' was her last thought as she started to speak.

"My father like you all know created this dojo along with the Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu. And for a long time I thought his devotion lay exclusively on his philosophy of 'the sword that protects life'… But I was wrong. For how long I've been wrong and if he's ever truly believed in that statement I don't know. The truth is the dojo and their techniques were a lie…a disguise only." She trailed off, looking down at the cup of tea not really paying any attention to it. "My father was a lie. He was a murderer who hid himself behind beautiful words of peace." Kaoru took a moment to breathe and to calm down; those words really hurt her as they came out of her mouth.

She drop her eyes slightly, her hands lay on her lap; the left one above the right one. The first squeezing the latter. For a moment her vision became blurred, because of the tears forming in her sapphire eyes. But she held them there, and went on with the narrative.

"My father secretly worked for the new government as a killer. There were a lot of people who were unhappy with the Meiji government and did more than just complain about it and others who they just considered too dangerous and threatening. So they needed people like my father to do their dirty job and so he did. He was given assignments most of them of targets - like he used to call - or people he should killed." Kaoru felt a sharp pain run through her body and closed her eyes shut, inhaling deeply.

"Kaoru-chan? Do you want to stop for a second?" Seiya asked concerned.

"No. Let me finish." She replied firmly. "During the day he ran the dojo defending life instead of death. And when the night came he embraced its darkness and did the very opposite of all that. But he wasn't alone." She finished looking at Seiya waiting for his assent maybe, because he seemed to understand it and gave a slow nod. Kenshin watched them fighting the unexpected emotions growing within him. Emotions he couldn't quite understand at that moment.

"My father had under his command a group of people whom he trained and worked along with to accomplish the orders given to him. They were all young people like Seiya-kun. People that had lost almost everything after the Bakumatsu…Seiya, could you?" she asked with a pleading tone.

"Yes…" he replied quietly. It had been a while since he last talked about that to someone.

"Before I came to work with Koshijiro-sensei I was recruited by the Meiji government to achieve certain orders. Most of these orders regarded dealing with people they judged dangerous and threatening for the newly raised government. And so I did. Like Kaoru said I was very young and had lost everything in the war; I had nothing left no family, no aims… I didn't need further persuasion than the one they offered me. They knew all the right words, the perfect speech. Things like the containing of evil spread in the underground, the maintenance of peace and order, how someone like me could make the difference. I guess for them, I was in the right place at right time. I needed guidance they needed people to guide."

Seiya took a sip of his tea before resuming the talk. "Well that's what happened in my case but it was pretty much the same to the others. Those who recruited us knew exactly what kind of people would be perfectly fitting to achieve the job. They were people willing to work in the shadows, and that would easily accept their terms and truths."

"After some time they told me that I would be working under the command of Kamiya Koshijiro. That's when I came here and met him, the rest of the group and Kaoru."

"And what kind of jobs you did with him?" Misao asked.

"Pretty much the same I did by myself, but on a bigger scale I guess" He answered vaguely.

"Which were?" Sano insisted.

Seiya glanced at Kaoru for a moment. He didn't want to bring that up, but she was the one who asked him, she wanted them to know. "We received our targets, located them and most of the time had them killed."

"Oh" Misao let it out surprised, "But Kaoru, you didn't know your father had this…um… secret job… I mean when exactly did you…?" but she faltered. 'It must be hard to find out that the person you so fiercely believe in has been lying to you.'

Kenshin rolled his eyes to the side to catch a glimpse of Kaoru's expression, her head was bowed and one of her hands nervously squeezing the other over her lap. He immediately recognized what she was feeling, something he never thought he would see in her. Shame. But of whom? Her father or herself? She hasn't done anything wrong. So why would she fell ashamed of herself? He took her nervous hands in his, drawing her eyes to meet his.

"Kenshin…"

"Kaoru-dono, would you mind telling us how you found out about your father?" He asked, a half-hearted smile curving his lips.

"Hey!! It's not easy for her! Why don't you give her a break and…" Seiya began scolding Kenshin but Kaoru stopped him.

"It's ok." She said gazing at him. "It was on a rainy night that I found out about…"

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(Flashback)

A twelve-year-old Kaoru was training at the dojo, eagerly swirling the bokken she held tightly in her hands. It was late, she knew she should be in bed by that time but she decided to improve her training, especially after that morning when her father scolded her for being careless and precipitate. She had left her defenses opened and took a very powerful strike from her opponent.

Kaoru deeply concentrated on every movement performed but she didn't fail to hear voices outside. She stepped quietly toward the source of the sound considering the possibility of being thieves. But when she sneaked a look outside, she found her father, Seiya and the others leaving the dojo. 'Where are they going?' She asked herself.

'I bet they're going to fight against another dojo and because of my mistake today otousan doesn't want me to go along. Mou!! What's he thinking? That I can't fight? I've been training really hard!!!! I'll show them.'

A very decided and angry Kaoru grabbed her own bokken and rushed off in the direction they headed.

She followed them closely, taking extra care so they wouldn't see her. After some time Kaoru saw them make their way into a forest, "Where are they going? That forest will take them to the other side of town. There's no dojo there!!! Mou!! Maybe I should go back home and ask them tomorrow. I can convince Seiya to tell me." She muttered.

But there was something strange about their entire behavior, walking around a forest at that time of the night… And to make it worse some drops of water started falling from the sky. "But they didn't mention anything about going out tonight… And when I asked Miya-chan to help me with my training, she said she was too tired and would go to bed early." She considered puzzled. But whatever doubts she had about what to do next, drifted away from her thoughts when she heard a piercing scream coming from where her father and the others had vanished.

Kaoru sped up desperately towards the source but what she saw made her stop dead in her tracks. She gasped, her eyes widened and she drop the bokken she had in her hands. Her father was holding a katana; he raised it just to mercilessly bring it down to give one last blow. Quick and fatal, it slashed the flesh at the front, producing a loud thud as the body met the ground, spreading a pool of blood, impossible of being washed away even by the powerful rain that kept falling from the sky.

She looked around just to find more people meeting the same deadly fate but only this time by the hands of Seiya, Miya and the others. For a moment she stayed there watching them not quite believing in her eyes, wondering if it wasn't just a bad dream when she felt something grabbing her right leg. When she looked down she realized it wasn't something it was someone. Kaoru gave a startled shriek as the wounded man started to clutch on her attempting to get himself up.

Her scream called everybody's attention to her. "Kaoru!!!" Seiya called but before he could do anything he saw Koshijiro piercing the man's back with his sword.

Kaoru stayed motionless as she watched her father stabbing the man clutched on her as if she was the very life he was trying to hold onto as it was being taken away from him. The blow made the man's blood to spurt all over her.

"K-Kaoru…" her father stammered.

"Otousan…why?" Kaoru whispered, but she didn't wait for any explanation or any excuse, at that point all she really wanted was to get out of there. So she ran, as fast as she could to wherever place her legs would take her as long as it was far away from there. She could hear her father and the others calling out her name but she didn't look back.

When her legs refused to keep on running, the choking smell of blood became unbearable and the rain too painful, she stopped. Gasping for air, she went down her knees, placed her hands over her face and she cried. Kaoru just wanted to forget but how could she when the blood was all over her and the images replayed in her mind again and again? All of a sudden something caught her attention, an ordinary branch, 'Just like a bokken', she thought. 'A bokken… All this time it was a lie.'

"A lie!!!!!!" Kaoru shouted with grieve for no one in particular.

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After the story, Kaoru told them all about the letters she and Seiya had received. About the day she was attacked by that bald man, the way he threatened her and how he seemed to know her and the Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu. And the way he was apparently seeking for revenge against her father.

She noticed how Kenshin became restless when she talked about the fight she had with the bald man but she didn't dare to look at him. She heard Kenshin asking if Seiya knew whom that man was followed by the negative reply from the latter. All the time she kept her head down, there was no way she could face any of them now. But then, surprisingly Kaoru felt Kenshin's hands reaching hers and she instinctively raised her head to meet his eyes. When she did she could only gasp and stare at him in awe. He was smiling at her, the most tender and sincere smile she had seen.

"Kaoru-dono, you did nothing wrong." He said softly.

"But I should have told you. It's just that…" Kaoru trailed off.

"Hey, Jou-chan, I can't believe you thought we would hate you because of this. Come on! We all have our pasts and things we wish we could just forget." Sano said with a smile.

"Sano's right, Kaoru. Wow! That's something I never thought I would say." Misao added a surprising expression on her face.

Despite herself Kaoru smiled, she should have known they would understand.

"Thank you all! And I'm really sorry for not telling before. I should…" She faltered when she looked over Yahiko. The boy had his head bowed, his face shadowed by his bangs and his hands were clenched into fists at his sides.

"Yahiko, are you ok?" Kaoru asked concerned.

"NO!! I will not forgive you. You've lied to me!! You made me believe in something that wasn't true. You made me want to fight for it. And it was a lie!!! You're nothing but a stupid liar!!!" Yahiko yelled, jumping up from his seat so abruptly causing the table to overturn and before anyone could say something he had vanished out the door.

"Yahiko!!" Kaoru called out frantically. "I'm so sorry…" She was decided to go after him when Seiya's voice prevented her, "Let me go talk to him." He said quietly getting up and leaving to follow the boy.

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Author' Notes:

Hi minna-san!!!

This chapter was very difficult to write maybe because I was trying very hard not to make it too boring and yet believable. I don't know if I succeed though… There're a lot of things I chose to leave out of this chapter (at least) 'cause I was afraid to turn this chap. into something even more boring. So please please please send me feedback about this one, ok?! I really need to know what you guys think about it. And if you guys need some encouragement I'll give you: Next chap. is one my favorites not only because there will be a little of K&K romance but 'cause of something that will happen. Not telling what but I've kind let some tips in this chap. ::evil grin::

To those worried K&K fan this is a K&K fic so there'll romance but not just yet, I'm planning on torturing dear Kenshin a little more with Seiya-kun. Hihihihi… Well he deserves for being so dense ^_~

Anyhow, THANKS so so much for the reviews. I really appreciate all of them and they kept me inspired. Especial thanks to Hoshiko, Kelly and Isis for kindly beta read this chap and help me with my grammar. You guys are the best!!!!