So, this is a Samurai 7 fanfic...the only one I'll do. There are too little KikuKoma stories, so that's this one. Since the ending to the actual show was suckish, I decided to improve it. Note: Heihachi and Kikuchiyo do survive, but Kyuzou still dies. I don't like him; he can stay dead. This is all from Kikuchiyo's point of veiw, posiblly delving a bit into others'. Please, feel free to comment.

Oil and Water

Prologue: The Separation

"Kiku! Kiku!" Kikuchiyo, the mechanical seventh samurai of Kanna Village, let out a raspy groan as his systems attempted to reboot. He felt awful, like a train had run over him….which he suddenly remembered wasn't entirely far from the truth. He vaguely recalled a falling airship, a giant sword, pain and burning….it was too much to try and remember all at once. He tried instead to concentrate on the little voice he heard calling his name…but it sounded so far away. "Kiku! Kiku wake up! Please, answer me!" The little voice was closer now, above him, by his head. There was a slight pressure on his shoulder, like someone was shoving him with small hands. He tried to place the voice, but his processors were refusing to feed him any data. The voice faded in and out of coherence, until finally, he felt a sharp rap on the side of his face.

"Arg! Cut…that out!" The very act of speaking hurt. Kikuchiyo finally felt the strength to open his visual field, the doors of the lens creaking as if coated in rust. His optical feed picked up a shape directly above him, a shape that slowly focused into a fuzzy-outlined human face. It took a moment before his processor-brain was able to recognize the face: it was little Komachi, the younger sister of water priestess Kirara. Her moony eyes were round with worry, tears spilling down her cheeks and her eyebrows slanted up. Her face was a little grimy, and her clothes seemed torn in some places, but other than that she looked unhurt. Kikuchiyo gathered what strength he could to speak again. His voice came out in short bursts filled with static, but he just had to say something; she looked so worried. "Wa…Wha-at's with th-e tears, Sprout?" Komachi gasped and looked directly into Kikuchiyo's visor. When she saw the flickering light emanating from the slit, she let out a cry that could have been both a laugh and a sob.

"Oh, Kiku! You're awake! You're okay!" Kikuchiyo gave a chuckle that quickly turned into a static-filled cough.

"I…wo-uldn't s-say okay…b-but-t-t I am al…al-ive." He shuddered greatly, and steam exploded out of his ventilation ducts. He was alive for now, but he couldn't be sure how long that would last. Komachi saw that her friend was in pain and her sobs deepened. She laid her head down on his shoulder and gripped his tattered jacket, her tears staining the fabric and metal.

"You saved us, Kiku," she sniffled, nuzzling him with her cheek. "You saved the whole village. You were so brave…but now you're hurt…Why'd you do it, Kiku?" Kikuchiyo wanted to place a comforting hand on her back, but he then remembered he was missing his right arm. He frowned, wondering what else was missing. With an enormous effort, Kikuchiyo ordered his systems to do a full self-scan to see how damaged his body was. The results that flickered on his data feed screen made his heart twist. He wasn't only missing his right arm, but both his legs as well, from the knee down. There were multiple punctures in fluid reservoirs throughout his body, including the vital main line down his middle. The joints in his left arm were all torn apart, so even though he still had the arm he couldn't move it very well. His bottom jaw part was gone, and he was leaking both blood and oil from several places, mostly from his lack of legs. He felt the blood-oil mixture trickling down his face, but he couldn't tell how big the wound was. He ran a deeper scan and saw that the remaining human parts of him had suffered concussive damage as well. Ribs were broken, a few organs were bruised, and his lung was punctured.

'Crap,' he thought, 'I'm really in trouble.' Komachi's pathetic weeping brought him back to reality. With a creaking effort, Kikuchiyo lifted his left arm up and settled it down onto the little girl's trembling shoulder. The movement sent pain and sparks shooting through his shoulder, but Kikuchiyo ignored it. He had to do what he could to make things easier for the poor girl. "H-ey, come on n-ow, Sprout. Don't b-be…..uh-upset." Komachi closed her eyes and buried her face in his jacket, her sobs nearly uncontrollable.

"You can't die, Kiku!" she sniveled. "Please don't die! Don't leave me; I love you, Kiku!" Kikuchiyo couldn't think of anything to say to that. He simply stroked the girl's shoulder with his thumb, ignoring the jolts of pain the simple action caused him. "Don't die. Don't die

"Shhh."

Kikuchiyo felt himself slowly drifting into unconsciousness, but he knew if he gave in he probably wouldn't get out again. So, he latched onto Komachi's presence at his shoulder, concentrating only on her; her soft, quivering back beneath his hand, her breathy sobs, her warm cheek against his metal skin. She anchored him to this world, just like she had been doing since he met her. But then, suddenly, Komachi's sobs halted, and she looked up at someone approaching from behind. Kikuchiyo couldn't turn his head or get up to see, but he realized he recognized the voice of the people when they next spoke.

"He's alive. We must find a way to get him back to Kanna, before it's too late." It was Kambei's voice. Kikuchiyo tried to speak, but only static escaped his vocal box.

"He's losing a lot of blood, Kambei-sama. I don't know how we're going to transport him." That voice belonged to Shichiroji.

"Sensei, if we get the barge over here we can make a litter for him. But, I don't think getting him back to the village will do him any good; he needs a mechanic." Katsushiro…

A breathless laugh echoed from somewhere near where Katsushiro's voice had sounded.

"He's….still got a heart, y'know…He n…needs a doctor." That was….

"He…Hei-ha…chi?" Kikuchiyo managed to ground out. He'd thought for sure Heihachi was dead. Kambei's profile appeared in Kikuchiyo's line of sight. He was bleeding from a cut on his forehead, and his clothes were pretty torn up, but other than that he looked okay. Komachi gave a desperate gasp and reached a hand out to the samurai leader.

"Kambei, can you help him?" she asked shrilly. The dejection in the little girl's voice broke Kikuchiyo's heart. A worried voice sounded from somewhere behind her, and Komachi was suddenly scooped up out of Kikuchiyo's sight. He was about to protest, but then he heard a concerned whimper from where the girl had disappeared.

"Oh, Komachi! Why'd you just run off like that? I thought you might have been hurt!" It was Kirara, Komachi's sister. Kikuchiyo relaxed, and coughed furiously a couple of times, causing oil and blood to spray from the wound in his head and his gaping jaw.

"Kikuchiyo-dono!" Katsushiro appeared on Kikuchiyo's other side, directly opposite Kambei. A bleeding, breathless Heihachi was slung across his back, Katsushiro holding him up by the legs. The woodcutter samurai's legs were completely crushed and bloodied, yet he still had that goofy smile on his face. Shichiroji came over to stand beside Kambei, and Kirara appeared beside Katsushiro, Komachi weeping into her shoulder. Kambei knelt down beside Kikuchiyo, his face closed but searching. Kikuchiyo tried to say something, something to get them all to stop staring at him so depressingly, but all he could muster was a ragged breath and another cough. His punctured lung was beginning to take its toll.

"Be still, Kikuchiyo-dono," said Kambei quietly. His eyes roved over the mech-samurai's damaged frame, his grim mouth tightening, and then he returned his gaze to Kikuchiyo's face. "Do not worry. We shall get you the help you need; just try to hold on a little longer, my friend."

Kikuchiyo took in another bloody breath, and felt the weight of pain pressing down on him. He closed his visor, but he was able to keep his attention on Komachi's sniffles, thereby keeping him in this world.

….Kambei had called him "friend"…

The group of survivors carried Kikuchiyo on a makeshift litter away from the battlefield and back to the shelters of Kanna village. He was only vaguely aware of the trip there, but he was always conscious of the small pressure of Komachi's hand on his limp left index finger. They carried him to where the huts were thickest and set him down in the middle of the path, then moved to make arrangements for him and Heihachi. The injured woodcutter samurai was laid in a hut near the path to be attended to by the older women. Kikuchiyo caught a few snippets of what people were saying about him: Heihachi's legs were crushed but they might heal eventually, but his back was most likely broken; he probably wouldn't walk again. Kyuzou was dead, accidentally shot by Katsushiro. He was in an empty hut, waiting to be buried. Kikuchiyo sighed, and winced at the pain it caused him. He was waiting to be buried too; he just didn't want to admit it yet. Komachi never left his side.

There was a commotion somewhere; Kikuchiyo was quickly losing his ability to sense direction with the blood that still poured from his wounds. Komachi's presence faded for a moment, but then quickly returned, her round child face appearing in his field of vision. She still had tears in her eyes, but there was a smile on her mouth.

"Old man Masamune is here, Kiku!" she said, giving him a pat. "He's here already! He'll be able to fix you!" Kikuchiyo folded his brow plate in a frown. Masamune was here? Had the old man known that they would be battling the capital? Had his mechanic known that Kikuchiyo would nearly get himself blown up? The commotion drew closer, and then there were suddenly people around him, both familiar and not. People from the village mixed with samurai, and at the head of the crowd, looking down at him with a mixture of frustration and concern, was Masamune.

"My God, Kiku," the old mechanic huffed, shuffling over and taking a knee beside the injured samurai, his expert eyes roving Kikuchiyo's wounds, "You must have a death wish." Kikuchiyo huffed, and coughed laboriously.

"Don't….le-lect-ure me, old man," he rasped. "I feel…like crap." Masamune nodded and pulled out a small remote. He ran a full-body scan over Kikuchiyo, and mumbled something under his breath.

"Can you do anything for him, Masamune-san?" asked Katsushiro. Masamune stroked his beard for a moment, reading the results of his scan.

"Well…he's suffered quite a lot of damage, both mechanical and bodily," the mechanic said grimly. "If he had only retained injuries to his frame, I'd be able to repair him here in the village. It'd take a while, and I'd have to retrieve some more tools, but I could do it. However," his face darkened, "his real human body has been damaged too, and the connections to it are in need of repairs. I can't do anything for him here; I'm afraid I'll have to transport him back to my shop in Hogakyo." Komachi sniffled, and the samurai's faces tightened simultaneously.

"Can he even survive that long of a journey?" asked Shichiroji. Masamune gave a gruff snort.

"Not conscious he won't," he said grimly. "I'll have to put his systems in stasis mode, so that his power can be rerouted to keeping his human body functioning." He looked down at into Kikuchiyo's visor. "Sorry Kiku, but I'm going to have to put you under; hopefully you'll reboot when we get back to Hogakyo." Komachi frowned and waved a hand at the old man.

"Does that mean Kiku is going to sleep?" she asked. Masamune smirked.

"In a manner of speaking; his systems will be subdued to just the vitals, so that he doesn't waste any energy. Trust me, it's a lot safer."

The villagers put together a sturdy wagon built for long-distance travel, and the samurai laid Kikuchiyo down in the bed of the wagon. Katsushiro let Masamune hook his turtle-horse to the wagon to pull it. They carefully strapped the injured mech-samurai down so he wouldn't be jostled on the journey. Kambei and Shichiroji insisted they escort the makeshift caravan to Firefly House, and Kambei proclaimed that he would follow through to Hogakyo. Katsushiro would stay in Kanna to oversee the village repairs and look after Heihachi. The villagers pressed in around the cart to bid their savior a final farewell. Kikuchiyo could hardly make out their faces by now, and his hearing was starting to fade. Kirara surprised him, however, by giving him a light kiss on his dented cheek.

"Thank-you," she whispered, a tear sliding from her eye and landing on his face. Kikuchiyo looked at her. If he still had his bottom jaw, he would have smiled. Komachi climbed up into the cart and seated herself at Kikuchiyo's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Kiku," she said, her voice trembling but having regained its bouncy glee, "I'll be by your side all the way!" Kirara made a disapproving noise and shook her head.

"No, Komachi," she said sternly, "you're staying here. We need all the help we can get in rebuilding and tending to the wounded, and you need time to recover." Kikuchiyo's fuzzy awareness instantly sharpened when he heard this.

"Re….Recover?" he asked, glancing at the little girl perched at his side. She didn't look at him, her face furious as she stared at her sister, tears streaming from her wide eyes.

"I don't need to recover!" she snapped, waving her arms in anger. "I'm fine! Kiku's the one who needs help now!"

"Wha-at's wrong… wi-ith y…you, Sprout?" His voice was horribly weak, and there was so much static even he had trouble discerning his own words. Komachi's glare faltered, and her mouth curled miserably. He realized now that the sadness he saw on her young face was tinged with pain. How could he have not realized she was hurt? Kirara made an impatient noise.

"Komachi broke her ankle in a fall, and she's been cut pretty badly on her back," said the water priestess. "She needs rest and healing; she can't travel to Hogakyo." A new pain shot through Kikuchiyo when he heard this news. Komachi was hurt, and she hadn't let him know. Komachi shook her head, her breathing now becoming hiccups.

"I'm fine, Sister! I'll be fine with Kambei and Momataro. I need to stay with Kiku!" A cloud of steam escaped Kikuchiyo's ruptured vents.

"You…m-most cer-cer-tainly will n…not," he said harshly, giving a cough that jarred his entire damaged frame. Masamune made a disapproving sound and bustled over to the end of the cart where Kikuchiyo's head lay.

"Don't overexcite yourself, Kiku," he said sharply, typing in some commands on his hand-held remote. "I'm going to have to put you down pretty quick here. Let's break this little fest up and be on our way." Komachi let out a wail and collapsed onto Kikuchiyo's chest, careful to avoid touching his gaping wounds, and wept uncontrollably.

"Don't leave without me, Kiku!" she begged, curling her fingers to grip his torn jacket. "Please, I have to come with you. I need to make sure you're okay!" Kikuchiyo let out some more steam, but it was in exhaustion rather than anger. He craned his head around to face her and laboriously lifted his remaining hand to settle on her cheek, cupping the back of her head in his fingers—she was so small. Komachi gasped and looked at him, her eyes shining and puffy.

"I'm…n-not l-leaving for ev-er, Sp-rout," he grated, gently stroking her hair with his thumb. "I'm just….g-going to-o ge-et fixed u…up." Komachi's bottom lip trembled.

"Please, Kiku," she whimpered, hiccupping and reaching up to touch his hand with hers. Kikuchiyo shook his head once from side to side. The movement sent searing jolts of pain down his neck and back.

"I p…pro-mise, I'll be-be back re-eal soon." He coughed. "I've got-t to c-ome back….Y-you s-said we w-ere gonna get hi-hitched on-one day, right?" Komachi nodded, closing her eyes against the tears. "A-nd you…you've st-ill got m…my family tree sc-scroll, right?" She nodded again. "Go-od. The…Then I'll be ba-ack for s…sure. C…Count on it." Masamune leaned forward, catching Kikuchiyo's attention.

"Sorry, Kiku, but time's up. I'm going to have to put you in stasis now." He glanced at Komachi. "Say your good-byes." Komachi looked frantically to Kikuchiyo, gripping his hand to her cheek.

"Promise you'll come back, Kiku," she begged, leaning in and touching her forehead to his. He sighed and nodded, wincing.

"I pro-promise, kid-do; now…y-you be g…good."

The last thing he saw was Komachi's shining eye as she kissed him on the cheek, and everything went dark.