-Vol 6: Dusk of An Era-

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14 minutes and 12 seconds, that’s all the time it took for Kenshin to travel all the way from Mito to Tokyo. Since he was following Yuki’s location on the map, he was able to accurately pinpoint her location to reach faster. He came out of the ground in a closed down park and walked towards where Yuki was.

Reaching the door of a high-class hotel, Kenshin activated his concealing skill and went inside without bothering anyone. It took him a while before finding Yuki’s assigned room. At the door, he gently knocked on it. A few minutes later, the day was opened as a tearstain faced Yuki opened the door. She was stunned to see Kenshin at her door, but it transformed into elation as she embraced him, “you really came.”

“Of course, I will come. What happened? Why are you crying?” he caressed her back while trying to coax her into stop crying. Her shoulders shook while she buried her face on his chest. He could feel the wetness in there, no doubt from her tears. He stepped inside the room, closing the door behind him and locking it.

Carrying her in a princess carry, he went to bed as they both sat down. It took him some time but finally, Yuki calm down and captured his lips immediately. The kiss soon escalated to something more as the amorous union continued until very late in the evening. Kenshin frowned while looking to the ceiling of the room. Yuki was sleeping soundly in his arms, exhausted by his monstrous stamina.

He was having this feeling of being watched ever since he came into this room. Earlier due to Yuki’s condition, he didn’t voice it out but now that she was sound asleep, he confirmed his suspicion. Someone or something was watching them. The problem was, even with the advanced function of the map, he couldn’t pinpoint the source accurately.

Then there was another problem of understanding Yuki’s situation. He already knew she was going to face the tormentor of her past, but never he thought things would turn out this bad. Had he known this; he would have accompanied her even though the opponent they supposed to meet were the strongest on earth. Period.

Throughout the whole time, Kenshin didn’t sleep at all knowing that he was under someone’s surveillance. He remained on a lookout in hopes of finding this adversary, but even though the whole afternoon passed and evening came, neither the feeling of being watched vanished nor he could find the source.

Yuki woke up, rubbing her eyes like a cat. Kenshin looked at her with affection and smiled, pushing back all the negative thoughts in his mind, “hey beautiful good evening.” Pushing a strand of hair behind her ears, he smiled again, “did you sleep well?”

“Mhmm,” still under the effect of sleep, Yuki purred to his touch, leaning her head towards him. Kenshin smiled upon seeing such a cute act from the normally sassy and confident woman she portrayed herself.

“How are you feeling now? That place, it's not hurting, right?” Kenshin asked in worry, hinting about the intense action they had.

“Yeah. There is no plain whatsoever today. You became good at it” she commented before giving a dead stare, “have you been practicing?”

“Stop joking, will you? I can't even get enough time to take a breather let alone find someone to practice.” Kenshin sighed giving Yuki a light slap on her snow-white ass cheeks for her ‘insolence’. She giggled merrily, turning the atmosphere mellower.

A brief silence permeated the room as they both laid in each other’s embrace, enjoying their moment. Yuki broke it first, “aren’t you curious what happened last night for me to lose control like this?”

“I am indeed curious, but I didn’t ask trusting you will tell me on your own when you feel like talking about it,” Kenshin said, which was what he felt before. He could have asked the moment he entered the room but seeing the state she was in, he gave up. She was clearly emotionally hurt, he couldn’t make her hurt even more.

“Thank you for being this understanding and patient with me. Even though I hid something this big from you…” Yuki said in an apologetic tone. She was indeed feeling guilty for hiding such a huge matter from him. she was afraid that after knowing her involvement with those people, he would change for the worse. If that happens, she might not be able to take it, and probably try to commit suicide.

Currently, he was the only one who keeps her boat stay afloat.

“I am your boyfriend. If I don’t care about you then who will? As for the matter of hiding, I understand that you have your own concerns, therefore I won't blame you for it.” Kenshin smiled he brushed her hair.

“Thank you for understanding me. Today… I just couldn’t hold myself together in front of them. The memories just kept popping no matter how much I forced myself to stay focused. I didn’t know the trauma to my psyche was this deep…” Yuki sighed sadly.

“Mm don’t worry about it. how about we go back to Mito? I am pretty sure Mrs. Yui must have prepared a sumptuous meal.” Kenshin smiled. The best way for her to forget these jarring memories was to let her return with him to Mito, back to his small family. The ambiance would cheer her up, Kenshin was sure of this.

“How will we return?” Yuki asked, “in fact, how did you reach here so quickly? It was just half an hour since I called?” she was really curious about this. She wondered, ‘was he still here in Mito when I called?’

“Me? I just used skill of mine to reach here. look I was so worried that I didn’t even get the chance to change my clothes. I was still in a short and a t-shirt.” Kenshin said showing to the heap of clothes in one corner of the room.

“Ah, I am sorry.” Yuki apologized sheepishly. She lost control of herself this morning.

“Yes, you won’t believe what happened last night. We, well more especially me, targeted by a bunch of assassins. They even targeted my friends to get leverage against me.” Kenshin said in a matter of fact tone as if he was talking about the weather.

“What?” Yuki sprang up, looking horrified, “Ellie and Axel aren’t harmed right? Is something happened to them, I will not let those guys go!!” she had the expression of an angry mother hen whose cheeks were bullied by someone. For a second, Kenshin had an illusion of seeing a dragon behind her when she declared about not letting those people go.

“Don’t worry. I didn’t allow a single scratch on them. That aside, you don’t have to take revenge, I have already got rid of them all. The thing is, Axel wants me to go to his school to attend a function as his parent… you wanna go?” Kenshin asked tactfully, pulling Yuki out of her revenge driven oath.

“Huh, Axel! Why not? As your girlfriend, wouldn’t that make me his mother? Yes, I will go, I will definitely go.” Yuki smiled like a bright sun at thought of Axel calling her mother. She, who could never become a mother herself only find solace this way.