The next few days Enishi wasn’t as cautious at pretending he wasn’t watching and Kaoru was starting to suspect something, but she really couldn’t say for sure. She had looked up suddenly at one point to see if her eyes hadn’t deceived her and she was in fact, being watched by him. She was met by the same blank stare she always saw, gazing off into the distance beyond.

 She sighed and stared at the ground. She should have known better than to think that she’d succeeded in helping him in any way. She wasn’t good for anything. Even Kenshin thought she was a burden. He may not have said anything but she could see it in her eyes. He was always worried about her, and that was as good as saying she couldn’t do anything on her own.

She packed up the empty bento box and sniffled. She had hoped for once that someone might need her, instead of just protecting her under a mislead sense of justice. A doll taken care of in order to relieve guilt of losing someone else. She wondered if Enishi had seen her that way too. She was just a replacement for the porcelain perfection of his sister.

Kaoru curled herself over her knees and cried heavily into her arms, broken sobs reverberating into the clouded air. She suddenly felt warm arms surrounding her as she was pulled into Enishi’s lap. She looked up at him with tear filled eyes, and was hushed by the soothing tone of his voice as he positioned her between his legs back pulled up against his chest and arms enclosed in his strong one.

“Cry all you want little one,” his voice murmured into her ear. “You may be alone, but I shall always be alone besides you” Kaoru cried anew, but with a hint of abandonment as she leaned back into his warm embrace.

From anyone else the words would have been a bitter lament of self-pity, but she knew they were the only comfort Enishi knew how to give, and so she cried. She cried for herself, and she cried for him too.