The snick of a blade drawn from its sheath caught Kenshin's attention, and he whirled around instinctively (his feet lost their firm grip on the ground, slick as it was from the blood spilt) to raise his blade ferociously against the intruder.
The blade cut through the air with a near silent whistle, and the so-called enemy swordsman was no more; his weapon clattered to the floor with a tinkling of metal. It was a dainty noise for such a fearsome thing, Kenshin thought idly, his brain wandering away from the fight as he turned to face his final opponent.
The red haired man narrowed his eyes, staring down the last man standing in his way. His leg was still bleeding a bit too heavily for his liking, the wound a remnant from the earlier trap; the explosion had left Kenshin worse for wear but still more than able to carry on. A tense silence filled the air, drowning the two with its ominous presence and weighing down two sets of shoulders, but Kenshin bore the burden with ease as he prepared his sword.
The enemy leapt forwards, suddenly beginning the battle, but Kenshin was no more than a blur, never more than a shadow that was gone in a blink of an eye (the war passed on eternally for him but the fights had been glorious moments of adrenaline filled chaos that he hated himself for loving).
They clashed swords, Himura's double edged one cutting into the weaker, feebler blade which was nothing like the soft flesh that he was used to, but his movements had become somewhat sluggish, and he felt the world spin slightly upon its axis.
He spotted an opening in the opponent's guard and lunged for it, almost desperately throwing himself into the motion to end this battle(his eyes were slightly fuzzy from the blood loss, it had affected him worse than he would ever let on but there was no option but to fight).
He felt his sword pierce through flesh and organs, felt it go out again…and then it encountered another body, cleaving into the middle of that too.
Two bodies?
Kenshin flipped open his eyelids (what was wrong with him?) and saw Tomoe, his beautiful wife, his very own stray neko, staring back at him through calm eyes. She had already resigned herself to her fate, she could accept the notion of her own death, but he couldn't.
It took a moment for the red-headed man to assess what had happened (and half of that was spent trying to tear away from her eyes) but as soon as he saw the tanto in her hand, dripping with blood that wasn't hers and wasn't his, he knew.
She had come to save him.
Fool. He didn't need to be saved. Not when she was around.
Still staring through blank eyes (his eyes, eyes of a killer, hands soaked through with blood) he watched as Tomoe reached up a steady hand, the dagger coming closer and closer as he stood unflinchingly.
The tip carved through his cheek, lightly crossing the other one (apt, they could be the star crossed lovers that she and her fiancée never got the chance to be, because Tomoe was not allowed to leave him no matter how much he hurt her with cruel words and actions and yet he loved her more than anything).
It was a thin, trembling line that welled up with blood, trickling softly down his cheek as her hand fell away and her eyes dulled to ghosts of what they had been.
And a single teardrop fell to the ground.
"Kenshin? Kenshin? Oi, Kenshin!" a voice called to him and Kenshin slowly opened his eyes, blinking in the harsh light of morning and not quite adjusted to clear vision yet, after the black spots that had been threatening to overwhelm his sight throughout the dream (a memory, not a dream, never a dream, only a living nightmare and too much to count as that).
"Ara?" he blinked at the girl above him. His eyes were hazy from sleep, and all he could make out was a sheet of dark hair, falling down in a sheen that reflected the sunlight directly at his eyes.
His heart skipped a beat none-the-less. Tomoe?
And then his vision cleared and his memory retreated, leaving Kaoru sitting grumpily on his stomach with her dark hair flung impatiently behind her as she huffed in annoyance.
He shut his eyes, and a single tear ran down his cheek as Tomoe left him all over again.
"Kenshin? Oi, Kenshin!" Kaoru called, sitting heavily onto his stomach as he lay unmoving on his bed.
She frowned; normally she was thrown off if she so much as touched him, and yet her she still was.
"Ara?" Kaoru heard Kenshin mutter sleepily, opening his bright eyes a slit. He blinked at Kaoru, and she pouted- surely it was too late to keep on sleeping- and flicked her hair indignantly.
And then Kenshin closed his eyes and a bead of moisture fell out of one, carving its way down the side of his cheek and into the chaotic mess that was Kenshin's hair.
All Kaoru could do was stare.
"Hai, hai. I'm awake now, that I am. You can get off me," Kenshin smiled, rubbing his eyes and surreptitiously wiping away the tear that had fallen in his momentary lapse of control.
"Kenshin?" Kaoru said, staring hard at him. "Were you…cry-"
"Just sleepy, Kaoru-dono. Have you had breakfast yet? I'm a bit hungry, that I am, and currently we're going to be late for breakfast, we are," he cut off, smiling gently at her in a way that made it clear that Kenshin really didn't want to talk.
He stood up abruptly, the motion still fluid and graceful (it was still Kenshin after all) and looked down at her, his eyes filled with something heavy and not right for her to know.
"…I'm sorry, Kaoru. But I won't," the man whispered seriously, and she could only nod in understanding, sympathetic but not empathetic whilst pinning her thoughts on an illustrious Someday, where Kenshin would be able to share these things with her.
Kenshin smiled back at the young girl, knowing how innocent her eyes were, and bent over to pull her from the ground softly.
"Who's hungry for breakfast then, ara?" he yelled cheerfully, smiling with closed eyes and striding into the main room, Kaoru close behind.
It had been settled and they weren't going to talk about it.