Kenshin kissed the sleeping Kaoru's cheek, then wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth.
"This one is going to run errands, koibito," he said. "Does Kaoru-Dono need anything?"
Kaoru rolled over in her futon and sighed. Her lips curled into a blissful smile. Kenshin brushed aside her disheveled hair and nipped her bare shoulder.
"Kenshin?" said Kaoru, sitting up and adjusting her yukata.
"This one is happy Kaoru-Dono enjoyed last night as much as he did."  And Kami had he enjoyed himself last night.
Kaoru gave him a playful shove. "Don't look so smug."
Kenshin laughed and rose from his futon to open the shogi screen. The storm had passed and the morning was crisp and clear.
"Anata?"
Kenshin turned to his wife, who was tying her sash and staring at her own belly. "Yes?"
"Do you think I could have gotten..." she said, "...pregnant?"
Kenshin smiled at her. "Kaoru-Dono will have to wait and see," he said.
Becoming a father hadn't been a possibility for him until last night. As much happiness as a child would have brought him, now probably wasn't a good time. He was a man with many enemies and a wife and child would be a target for them.
"You asked if there was anything I needed." Kaoru squeezed his hand. "Outside the village, there's a woman who could give me something to..." She looked down at her stomach.
Kenshin nodded. Most villages had someone who helped women with these kinds of matters. He grabbed his shopping basket and kissed Kaoru's hair. "This one will be back soon, that he will."

A servant dressed in aristocratic livery approached Kenshin on the road back from the village. "Excuse me," he said. "My mistress told me to ask you how to get to Otsu from here."
Kenshin pointed the way. Otsu was about a mile down the road. "If this unworthy one might be so bold, could he ask who your mistress is?"
"My mistress is a lady of the Saito Clan." The servant puffed out his chest and pointed to a carriage pulled over on the side of the road, which sure enough had a curtain with the Saito Clan's sigil on it.
A slender white hand raised the curtain. "Kenshin..?" The scent of plum blossoms tickled Kenshin's nose.
Kenshin's stomach dropped. Tomoe. He'd know that voice anywhere, even after all these years. The plum blossom scent drew him over to the carriage.
"It's been a long time hasn't it," said Tomoe, her face as beautiful as ever. 
A nasty part of Kenshin had hoped that if he ever saw Tomoe again, she would have grown fat and haggard. But she'd changed little from the eighteen-year-old girl who entranced Kenshin five years ago, as pristine and dazzling as virgin snow.
Kenshin gritted his teeth. "Yes, it has."
Why did she have to appear again out of nowhere all of a sudden, just as he'd moved on and found happiness with another woman? Why couldn't she just let him be?
"If Tomoe-Dono would excuse this unworthy one," said Kenshin. Kaoru would be waiting for him to return with her tea. "This unworthy one has to be getting home."
Tomoe gave him one of the wistful little half smiles that had once captured Kenshin's heart.
"Home to Kaoru-Chan, you mean. I should congratulate you on your marriage. Kaoru-Chan is a remarkable girl."
Kenshin couldn't help but smile. "That she is."  His Kaoru-Dono, his wild, willful Kaoru-Dono, certainly was remarkable. "This unworthy one should congratulate you on your marriage, even though he's five years late. Akira-Sama is a good man."
The blazing hatred Kenshin once felt for his former rival had long since burned out. It was an uncomfortable truth each of us has to learn. Sometimes, the person who gets the thing we wanted deserves it more than us.
Tomoe bowed her head. "Thank you, Kenshin," she said. "That means a lot coming from you."  
"Thank you. This unworthy one is much obliged."
Kenshin had never seen Tomoe smile before without a touch of melancholy but this time, her face beamed with genuine happiness. She had a piece of seaweed, probably from her breakfast, stuck in her teeth. Kenshin suppressed a laugh. Tomoe was a flesh and blood woman after all and not a perfect goddess of ice and snow.
"Why is Tomoe-Dono on her way to Otsu?" asked Kenshin. Of all the places in the world he could have ran into her again, on the road to Otsu wasn't one he'd ever considered.
"I'm joining Akira-Sama," said Tomoe. "We're going back to Edo and he went on ahead of me. I had to stay behind... for personal reasons."
Kenshin questioned no further. A woman's secrets were her own.
Politeness obligated Kenshin to invite Tomoe and her retinue back to the farmhouse for refreshments. Tomoe wasn't exactly Kaoru's favorite person, but Kaoru would want to hear news of her family.
Kaoru came out onto the engawa as Kenshin helped Tomoe out of her carriage. She greeted Kenshin with a kiss. "Welcome back," she said. Remembering her manners, she bowed to Tomoe.
Tomoe bowed in return. "It's a pleasure to see you, Kaoru-Chan."
"Can I get you something to drink?" Kaoru gestured for Tomoe to come in. Tomoe raised the hem of her kimono and stepped inside. "We don't have any sake. My father-in-law, Lord Hiko, drank us dry the last time he came to visit. But I can make some tea."
Kenshin lowered his eyes. Kaoru had often made jokes about Tomoe being a lush. Was this one of those instances?
"Tea would be nice," said Tomoe.
While the two women went inside, Kenshin helped Tomoe's servants fetch water from the well so the horses could drink.

"That tea you're drinking smells lovely, Kaoru-Chan," said Tomoe. Kaoru had prepared jasmine tea for Tomoe and Kenshin but made the special tea from the village woman for herself. "Is it chrysanthemum?"
Kaoru shook her head no and sipped her tea. "It's mugwort," she said. 
"I've never had mugwort tea before."
"This one doesn't think Tomoe-Dono would like it," Kenshin added. He whispered to her that mugwort tea prevented pregnancy.
Tomoe bit her lip. "We had Yahiko-Kun's genpuku earlier this month," she said. The tea pot rattled in Kaoru's hands. She placed it on the table. "We only had a small ceremony. Yahiko-Kun didn't want to have a large one without you there, Kaoru-Chan, or Lord Kamiya. It would have been wrong without the whole family together."
Kaoru's mouth quivered. Kenshin squeezed her hand. His poor wife had wanted so badly to witness her little brother's coming-of-age. "What other news from Kyoto?" said Kaoru.
"Well, we were all convinced that Aoshi-Sama was a monk but it turns out that he's had a lover here in Kyoto all this time. He and his woman are now betrothed, even though she's only the orphaned granddaughter of an inn keeper."
Kenshin and Kaoru shared a look. So Aoshi was finally going to make an honest woman out of dear Misao-Chan.
Tomoe's face pinched up in disapproval. "According to Sanosuke-Sama, the girl's grandfather caught them in bed together and threatened to kill Aoshi-Sama with a sword until he agreed to marry her. Surprisingly, Lord Saito agreed to the match."
Kenshin took a sip of his tea. Misao-Chan's grandfather, Master Okina, was the boss of the Oniwabanshu who were important allies of Lord Saito. Kaoru's uncle couldn't afford to offend him.
"Misao-Chan is a wonderful girl," said Kaoru, "I know they'll be happy together." "Who would have thought Tomoe would be the one to bring us good news for a change."

"You really love, Kaoru-Chan, don't you?" said Tomoe as Kenshin walked her out to her marriage.
Kenshin smiled. "Yes," he said. He'd been drawn to Kaoru's sweet, irrepressible spirit since he first saw her. There wasn't a specific moment when he realized he was falling in love with her. It happened before he even realized what was going on.
"Not too long ago, you were madly in love with me." Tomoe raised an eyebrow.
Kenshin called her bluff. "Are you jealous?" Tomoe had never wanted him but maybe her pride wouldn't let him move on and be happy with someone else. After all, who could compete with the divine Tomoe?
"You said you loved me, but I knew you didn't mean it." Tomoe put a hand on Kenshin's shoulder. "I knew that one day you'd find a girl you really loved and you'd be happy you weren't stuck with me." She bowed to Kenshin and climbed into her carriage. "Bless you, Kenshin. I wish nothing but happiness for you and Kaoru-Chan." 
Kenshin bowed as the carriage pulled away. A crushing burden fell from his shoulders. He returned to Kaoru with a lighter soul.