"..Kaoru-dono?" Kenshin sleepily murmured out. His eyes opened up to a view of morning daylight. Oh, he was daydreaming again. He was wide awake that early dawn but the somber air must have lulled him into falling asleep. For days the same vision, dream or whatever it was, apart from being real, was haunting him in his thoughts. He wondered if they'll really be able to find her. He gazed across the dojo where Kaoru used to teach Yahiko kendo. He was very much used to seeing her everyday, the habit has quite grown in him. Now that she wasn't here anymore, it seemed to be very void.
Sano wasn't back yet. All three of them, Yahiko, Megumi and he decided to stay up all night to wait for him, anticipating the news. Eventually, the Megumi and Yahiko had fallen asleep leaving him alone---with his thoughts.
It's been several months already that Kaoru has been missing. Everyone who knew her was on an all-out search for her. But so far, their searching as well as everyone else's
wasn't paying off anyhow. Megumi refused to believe that she was dead, unless a body was reported or anything like that, none of them was just going to stop looking and assume Kaoru had already died somewhere along the way. There were doubts though, they couldn't help it, but as long as they were together and at least one person still had hope, the search will go on.
They were sure she wasn't in Edo. Or in Kyoto for the matter. They've tried looking for her with the help of the Oniwanbanshuu, but their sources say that Kyoto is clear out of the might-be places list. even the Oni people had a hard time looking for Kaoru. It didn't seem to impossible to find someone alive, and it didn't look so possible either. That was just the point. What if she wasn't alive anymore?
They chose not to believe the conclusion. And so did the Oni gang who fully supported them all through their way. They said, she must have had her name changed or even her appearance. All these conclusions had lead into deeper questions and thoughts. It was very confusing for them. But one thing was still clear. If Kaoru Kamiya was still a breathing soul, they were going to find her, somehow.
Just as Kenshin was about to close his eyes again, the door slid open.
"I'm home." Sano called out. He had a very exhausted expression. Megumi moved up from the futon when she heard the noise. Her actions also caused Yahiko to be awaken.
"....well?" she asked having remembered what they were doing there for.
"I found the wrong person, I made a mistake." he continued closing back the door.
"It turned out that she also has the same name with Jou-chan, but she isn't the one."
"You sure?" Yahiko asked in a perky tone.
Sano who was now leaning against the wall replied, "..the girl has red hair, I'm sure."
Everyone was heavy-hearted. Megumi felt disappointed and so did Yahiko. Kenshin realized that maybe not all of them had the heart to go on with this. It was true that they were working very hard to find her, he just couldn't understand why she hasn't turned up yet. He stood up and with a calm tone he began to say, "We chose to believe that Kaoru isn't dead yet."
"..since we did that, we should know inside that we will find her. Eventhough things are not going very well," he hesitated,"...I know for myself, I should not lose hope that I will be able to see her again, just as she didn't lose hope that she would be able to see me again after my battle with Shishio Makoto."
"And with that, I have quietly made a promise to make her happy." he finished as he turned away from them. Sano was a bit moved with what he had just said.
"Yeah, ok, stop it, stop it already...we had enough of all this pep talk. Tomorrow I'll start looking again----we'll all start looking again." Sano added in. It was a tough job. But they had to do it.
Megumi stood up with a look of agreement. "--I'll go prepare breakfast..a breakfast fit for five."
"..anou, Yume-san.." Juji-chan called out to her waving her right hand across her face.
It took quite a while for her to realize that one of the children was calling her attention. She suddenly snapped out of her thinking and turned to her.
"..nandesuka, Juji-chan?" She asked.
Juji-chan smiled and reached out to her with open arms. "Carry, carry!!"
Yume moved down towards her until her nose reached the child's. "Carry again??"
"Hai. Again." She answered approvingly. Yume looked back at the sink which still had several unwashed plates. Because of her daydreaming she left her work. Anyhow, it wouldn't hurt to play with Juji-chan for a while---and then go over with her chore.
"Ok, last one." Yume smiled back at the little girl as she turned away to remove her apron and wipe her hands dry.
She moved towards her and carried her up in her arms. "...Hmm..now if you wanted me to carry you, I suppose you want to go somewhere, ne?"
"..Aa...want..want!" Juji replied as she clung to her tightly.
"Where, then?" Yume asked as she saw a used cup lying on the table. She moved down to it and took it by her free hand.
"...Takuro and Kaori-chan!!"
"Hmm...you want to play with Kaori and Takuro upstairs? But you've just been there! Don't you want to go out?" She asked her. She walked back to the kitchen to place the cup into the sink along with the other dishes.
"No! Kaori-chan, Takuro-chan..!!" Juji insisted threatening to cry.
"Ok, ok....to Kaori and Takuro." she answered.
"Hai!"
"Well, then..let's go." Yume held her up with both hands and carried her up to the children's room. She had been thinking about her daydream that morning. She was sure she wasn't asleep when she had fallen into one of those. A dream about a man with a scar. But now, she'd better forget about it, if she didn't want to be caught distracted again by one of the children.
