Chap.2 –Found

A full day's time had passed since the body had fallen, not that anyone was counting the fleeting days. But to a stranger's eye, the body looked no different than the hundreds of other corpses littering the village common. The villagers had been slow in the cleaning while they continued to grieve the dead and knew well there was nothing they could do to bring them back. The small frame lying unmoving by the river's edge went unnoticed. A small, calloused hand fell over the edge with slender fingers dipping into the lake attached to an arm still heavily marred. The ground was charred from where the lightning had struck in random places, which had long ago subsided leaving only a heavy overcast to shadow the form. But it wasn't the only shadow present…

Another shadow loomed over the dying body curled into itself with one of its arms clutching to the stomach. It appeared in pain. The stranger's eyes roamed over the body taking in the pitiful sight without the slightest care. It paid special attention to the blood surrounding it and the hard red crust caked in its hair and all down its body.

What a mess.

The stranger's eyes caught the gently rise and fall of its crudely clad chest. Something laughed softly.

It's still alive, whispered the voice swirling around his mind. The strange man scoffed.

"It is a "she"," he said in a deep emotionless voice. "….and why do we care? She is dy-" he stopped himself when his eyes drifted on her face. How he failed to notice it was beyond him. Or perhaps it was because of the wisps of silver strands blocking the full view of her face. 'It couldn't be', he thought in awe. Fate was not the cruel. But then…it could be at times. He could hear the voice chuckle softly and whisper in his ear once again.

Yes…you see her face. She looks like her… His eyes widened.

"It's not possible. It isn't her…" he reasoned desperately, but the voice ignored him and continued.

Are you going to let her die…again? Another chuckle.

Again? But this wasn- His eyes widened further as the saw the body move just a little, trying to find a suitable position to die. It was just enough for him to see more of her face. The small lips opened in a small gasp of pain while her face contorted further. 'Such a face should not be marred so.' It was her…he concluded. That or an uncanny resemblance. Something inside him clicked and he hastily picked up the girl, careful of her injuries. How a girl could come so close to death was beyond him...but it was enough to get him thinking of what kind of a woman she was. 'Maybe she was like her,' he wondered with a small ray of hope.

He carried the girl to the small home nearby and kicked open the door and nearly gagged at the smell. It reeked of death, like a corpse left to rot in the sun on a scorching day. It damn near made him tear.

Finding the master room was not an easy task, but it was worth it to get away from the smell. It was the only place where the scent was not present, much to his comfort. He laid the girl on the bed close to the wall and quickly removed the remaining few strips of her clothes, taking note that she was already close to naked. Such a sight was not new to him, so he didn't bother to feel shame for her indecency. Yet, he couldn't stop his eyes from wandering over the pale skin of her damaged body, not caring if he would be struck as a lecher for doing so. He uttered one word. "Beautiful."

Even with the many scars, her skin looked flawless and he couldn't stop from reaching out and lightly stroking along the exposed skin…just like he would do wi- He quickly retracted his hand and shook his head. This wasn't her, just someone that looked like her. He had to remember that. With that thought in place, he removed his outer coat and left for the river to retrieve water.

Bronze eyes slowly opened shortly after, still pained by the injuries from the rest of her body. Instinctively an arm came around to clutch the wounded area only to find that it touched bare skin. The eyes opened wider as the holder gave a small gasp of shock. She sat herself up as best she was able against the head board and looked down at herself, a small cry passed her lips. She had been stripped. Her eyes became fearful, forgetting the extremity of her injuries for a moment.

Were they still around? She asked herself and began to pull her legs together up to her chest. The action tore the wound on her stomach wider, starting the blood rush again. Kouen stifled back a whimper and hissed through her teeth. Why hadn't she died already?

Soft footsteps were heard coming swiftly down the hall toward her room. She inwardly panicked. All her weapons had been used earlier and she was now rendered defenseless. She wanted to scream. It wouldn't end like this! The steps stopped outside the door which remained ajar. What were they waiting for…for her to scream? Cry? Beg? Like hell she would. She frowned, determined. She would fight her way out of this, the girl thought with her fist clenched tightly by her sides as she waited for her attacker to enter the room.

And he did…carrying a large flask filled with water over his shoulder and the overflowing sleeve of his coat torn into long strips. He looked deep in thought as he entered and almost missed the death glare in his direction, but once he looked up, ice blue clashed with a hard yellow. He could instantly see the fear and silent determination laden within, as well as (surprisingly) anger. He froze and tilted his head to the side in question. What was she upset about, he wondered, but then his eyes cast downward and noticed she failed to cover herself.

Oh…that might explain it.

He sighed softly and continued into the room dropping the flask in the middle of the floor and stopping at the foot of the bed. The girl backed flush against the head board, not caring that she was damaging herself further by moving. The man whispered softly. "I'm not going to hurt you," and as a peaceful gesture, he offered his hand with a small smile on his lips.

Kouen stared at the rough and calloused appendage skeptically, thinking that this was some sort of joke of him wanting to take advantage of her confused and vulnerable position. She looked up, meeting his eyes once again to stare at him hard for what seemed like hours…and never once did his eyes change. They remained the calm, patient, ice blue orbs that first met hers. They were kind, she could see…but wouldn't believe. "Why?" she asked softly.

And then she cried.

Enkai panicked. Kar- This girl was crying. Perhaps it was something he did, but what did he do? His hand retracted back to his side in shock as he continued to watch her cry, dumbfounded.

"Um…w-why are you crying?" he asked in the same caring tone, but stuttered a little. Comforting was not his field of expertise. "She" had always been a strong woman who kept her emotions in check, even in the most intimate of positions, so he never saw the reason to learn. He swallowed audibly and slowly moved closer toward her, keeping close to the bed. He placed a hand down next to her before taking a seat on the edge of the bed beside her. His words came gently with a little more certainty. "I have not hurt you…and I don't plan too." He reached a hand to her again in the same gesture, this time making sure the girl understood. Tear-filled eyes looked at him instead of the hand and something inside him felt stricken. Another nervous swallow followed.

Those eyes…

They were too similar…but it was impossible. He knew this and repeated it over and over inside his mind, but it wasn't registering. This much was certain when he found himself mere inches away from the strange girl's lips. He stared at them greedily as if mesmerized causing her eyes to widen more. It was her turn to swallow nervously and took on what ever courage she had and placed her hands against his chest and pushed off as hard as she could. Which wasn't very strong.

That slight nudge broke him from his stupor and he shook his head quickly. 'Dammit…get it together,' he scolded himself and earned a light chuckle in response. After blinking several times the girl's image came into focus, as did the memory of why she was there and…naked. And then he felt a tinge in his stomach and lower. Now really wasn't the time.

Keeping himself calm he ordered gently, yet firmly, "Lay back."

This poor girl looked ready to cry again, but just as quickly as the fearful look filled her eyes, it was replaced with a deep anger making her dulled eyes grew colder as she gazed upon him. He fought down the involuntary shiver. "That's not what I meant," he sighed and showed her the strips of cloth. "I need you to lie down so I can work on your stomach. That's all I'll do…I promise. I won't even look," the corners of his lips turned up in a small smirk as he saw her pale cheeks take on a reddish glow of embarrassment. 'Cute.'

She stared at him for a while, not moving an inch under his gaze, nor did he move in hers. Slowly (and hesitantly) she lay back and stretched out for him to see the extent of her wound. He sighed in relief and immediately went to work.

He began by taking a kunai from the side pouch of his pants and brought it to the gaping hole of her stomach. He studied the length and width of the cut, taking in the areas were the blood had hardened over the skin and seemed to be holding parts of the wound together. He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. Troublesome. There was no way he would work unless he first cleaned the wound, that much was obvious. He looked up when he heard a throat clear and knew it could only be the girl's. His eyes widen. Unmoving, was a puddle of water resting in the bowl of her hand and held out toward him. He stared blankly at it for several seconds wondering why the hell she wasn't awake sooner for her to do that and save him the trouble of lugging the heavy flask back to the house from the lake. But more importantly he wanted to know- "How did you do that?" His voice faded out for a moment but came back when he cleared it. The girl blushed faintly and looked down and dropped her hand. And his eyes widened still. The water was suspended in midair just where her hand once was.

"How…"he didn't know how to word it and settled for something more important. "What is your name?" The girl looked up with the redness gone from her face and a serious look took it's placed. She looked to the floating collection of water then to the eyes of the man and said almost too silent to hear. "Kagenori…Kouen." He smiled in turn. "I am Enkai and it is nice to meet you Kagenori-san," he replied politely and began his work again, much to her pleasure.

The deep gash was delicately, but thoroughly cleaned with Enkai using one of the scraps of his sleeve as a wash cloth and using the ever refilling "floating" puddle of water. The girl's skills were interesting to say the least. When ever the water became too bloody to use again, she would place her hand under the puddle and clenched her fist causing the water to take a similar form of a tight ball. She would then spread two of her fingers apart resulting in the red mass to split into two parts, one filled tightly packed with blood and the other with water with just a little more added. Kouen would hold onto the collecting mass of blood until he finished, which during the time no words were exchanged between the two.

After a good half hour the gash could be clearly seen against the pale skin. The light pink flesh revealed made Enkai squirm uncomfortably a bit, but it didn't seem to bother the Kagenori who stared at him the entire time. The hole had to be closed, this they both knew, but they were facing a problem. They had nothing to close it with. Again the Kagenori surprised him by taking the remaining amount of water and morphing it into another useful tool. She rubbed the tips of her middle finger and thumb together causing the watery mass to thin out and roll tightly into a lengthy coil. She brought the string to her lips and blew lightly on it, a little frost formed on her lips, but she paid no mind. The coil was frozen instantly but was highly flexible just like the real thing, but the very tip of it was frozen solid. The needle point. Enkai took the hint and grabbed the thin point of the needle and pressed it against the corner of the cut. She didn't flinch and he took it as a sign and plunged the needle into her skin.

The makeshift stitches would hold she assured him, just as long as she didn't fall too deep into unconsciousness. Her ability to hold the string's form was dependant on her chakra usage, but she couldn't keep it up for a long time. She would be exhausted soon from the exertion and would need to rest. So to keep her awake while he wrapped her stomach, Enkai asked her questions about her home which she answered quietly, but without pain or remorse, just…hollow.

"My family of myself, my mother and father, and my siblings, lived in this house since my brothers were born. They left home when I was 11 to become ANBU for the village and have currently been out on a 3 year mission since their last visit home. The village praised them and loved them as their own and they loved us too. But things turned for the worse. The village…it quiet as a single, but nosy as a whole and an accident happened." She remained silent for a while and Enkai looked up from his stitching on the cut on her leg. Her eyes were becoming heavy and most likely she needed rest.

Almost done…

"It was my fault," he heard her whisper, more to herself than to him. "It was my fault…only mine." He watched a lone tear slip down her face and he resisted the urge to wipe it away. This wasn't 'her'…

"This is my punishment…" the words came out as broken and Enkai feared she would start crying again and stopped his work. "Kageno-" "Kouen," she said shortly, not liking the formality between them. He visibly flinched then corrected himself, "Kouen. I don't know what you are talking about…but I'm sure it is not your fault. You need rest."

Kouen said nothing and looked at him. (Enkai was growing annoyed with constantly being stared at.) Her eyes bore into his skeptically, but Enkai dared not to look away. He could tell that this was her way of "reading" him, to see if she could trust him with anything new. After all, he was still a stranger in her home. Finally she closed her eyes without giving him a second glance and allowed her breath to even out in a slow but steady pattern; she was asleep instantly. Enkai released the breath he didn't know he was holding and gave himself the pleasure of watching her sleep for a few moments before shedding himself of his heavy coat and stretched it out over the naked girl. He would still work on the minor wounds, but he didn't need anymore distractions.

After a long 2 hours and another torn sleeve later, the girl was bandaged, nearly from head to toe with a very tired Enkai leaning against the side of the bed for support. It had grown late and dark sooner since night approached faster in this part of the country, meaning that people would be winding down around this time. Enkai was no exception. He covered his mouth with the back of his hand to block a long yawn while an arm stretched out behind him until he was granted the satisfying crack from his joints. He shook himself loose and looked around the room for a place to sleep. And there was only one, but it was currently occupied. He sighed again. Ah well. No harm in it.

Enkai carefully reached a leg over the girl, straddling her sideways momentarily before swinging his other leg over and stretched out next to her. He lay beside her watching her as she slept, listening to the gentle ins and outs of her breath and watching the slow rise a fall of her chest. He found it hard not to move his head closer to her chest, faintly hearing the steady beat of her heart. 'It's not her…but you wish her to be…' surfaced a low and compassionate voice. It too held the pain he felt. 'I know….but…it cant hurt,' he countered while moving his head closer and lifted it up just a little then placed it to rest between the valley of her breast hidden by the coat. He closed his eyes and indulged in the rhythm of her heartbeat. His own breathing evened out as sleep overtook him in a moment's notice.

The bronze eyes that watched him finally closed again as well, falling into a real sleep not haunted by their faces.

'It wasn't your fault,' he said, causing the person below him to look up. His head still remained on the source of warmth with his body reluctant to move. "I know it's not, but I should have done something. I should have fought harder." His head buried deeper. His companion sighed and knelt down next to him. 'And you think she would have been happy with knowing that you selfishly gave away your life?' There was a fire in his eyes now when he looked into a pair of red slitted eyes. "It would not have been selfish. If I died I could have been by her side. I could have joi-"

He was stopped abruptly by the eruption of laughter and met a menacing smile. 'You are pathetic. A lost boy pining for death just because his lover was taken from him. Oh how sad. Get the fuck over it!' he all but screamed. 'She died, that was three years ago. She's not coming back and you are not ready to die otherwise you would have ended your life long ago! Stop mourning for pity's sake and wake up to what is in front of you. You still have you life, you can avenge her death. Find the beast that killed her, and once you become strong enough or the moment is opportune, you can have its life. You have a goal to live for!'

Enkai looked at the mirror image of himself not moving from the warmth. He was right. Hadn't he promised to avenge her death? Didn't he have a goal to live for? He closed his eyes. But…hadn't he found her again.

'That is not her…' his counterpart spoke again, voice completely emotionless. Enkai nodded his head. "Yes she is. She has been given back to me…my love ha-" 'That is not her,' he repeated again, angering Enkai. "Yes she is. They look the same. Her body is that same, her scent is the same, her eyes-" 'Are not the same.' Enkai clenched his fist and slipped a protective arm around the body below him. He knew that what 'he' said was true, but he dared not to believe it. It was true their eyes were different, but only slightly. If it had not caught her eyes, they would look identical, but when the light shown through this new girl's, he could see the cat-like iris surrounded in a dark yellow. Karei's here always a honey colored and the iris was normal. But…they could still be the same person, right? No one pays attention to image anyway. Maybe their personalities were similar. Maybe she would love him li-

All thought stopped. Maybe she could love him…if this really was Karei in another body, she would remember her love for him, right? That was the only way to be certain. Then he would know she was given back to him. "Karei," he whispered her name against her skin. Their "blanket" had fallen away during the night, not that he was complaining and obviously, neither was she. "Karei," he said again, this time earning a low groan in response. He had to stop his smile from spreading. Enkai lifted his head to look into the eyes he loved so much still heavy with sleep. He gently reached out a finger and traced around her neck line up to her jaw and softly across her lips. She stared at him almost dazed. "Karei…I missed you so much," he said quietly and leaned down to take her lips with his. To taste their sweetness once again.

But she moved away.

Why?

Enkai looked both confused and scared, and silently panicked. This was her…he knew it. It had to be. "Karei, d-don't you know who I am? Don't you r-remember me? Me, Enkai?" he asked, pleading and nearly cried aloud when she shook her head. "B-but…you have to, koibito," he continued, sitting up straight and pulling his lover up with him. Instinctively she grabbed onto his arms to keep from falling back. He pulled her against his body feeling the wild beat of her heart pounding against his own chest. She looked utterly confused and scared beyond all thought. His love should not be like this…what was she afraid of? Didn't she love him? Enkai tilted his head and asked in a whine, "Why are you scared of me? Don't you remember me? Don't you remember that you love me? You love me, don't you Karei?" Again his lover shook his head and he became angered. "Why? Why don't you remember? I know it's been three years, but you cant forget that quick. You can't! Everything that happened between us, YOU CAN'T JUST FORGET THAT!" He was furious now, ignoring that he was scaring his love to the point of shaking against him. He would make her remember.

Maybe his touch would bring her back to her senses…

Stop this…

Kouen was awakened by the low murmurs against her chest and an arm wrapped around her tightly, just below the bandaged mark. Her first thought, was tht it was her little sister holding onto her as she dreamt, but then she remembered, the little girl was gone…and the thought filled her with dread. But who was holding onto her? The answer came in a muffled phrase.

"K….ei," she made out the first two times and opened her mouth to reply, but found her voice lost. Who the hell was he trying to call? Kouen tried to make out another word, but a small groan escaped instead, her throat was killing her. And that was when he moved. He looked down at her with eyes half-lidded and pupils dilated showing his was still dreaming and only acting out what he "saw". The moment his finger touched her face she froze and watched him skeptically. He was really dreaming, right? "…missed you…" he had said softly and leaned down toward her for a kiss. Ok, maybe he was, but that didn't mean he could do as he pleased. She turned her head to avoid the forbidden kiss whimpering quietly in protest. She felt him shift above her and looked back at him to meet the confusion in his eyes.

"…know…who I am..?" he asked. Kouen shook her head slowly and turned to move back, but he was too heavy on top of her, rendering her immobile…and trapped. "..have to," he cried and suddenly pulled her up against him. His coat fell between them being the only means of coverage for her lower half, though she wasn't really paying attention. She didn't even realize she was shaking until more confusion came written on his face.

"…sc…ared of me?...love..me?" was all she could make out before he held her tighter, like she was his only life-line. His eyes opened a little more, but they were clouded in a silent rage. She shook violently, especially when he screamed in her face and saw the intent in his eyes.

He would force her…

Her mind raced a mile a minute as she felt his hand creep up to the neck slowly digging his short nails into it. This wasn't right. Another hand came down just below her chest and began its slow descent causing her to struggle against him harder, but was till held fast. Her nails clawed at his arms, trying anything to wake him. She forced herself to scream against her inactive throat trying to form the words, "Wake up", but they only came out as a low squeak. He looked at her curiously with a smile smirk on his lips and pushed his hand down lower onto the wrapping around her stomach. They both froze. Blue met yellow and a spark of realization ran through his eyes.

Not her…

He paled as he looked at her and released her. She fell back against the bed and quickly scrambled back against the headboard. She could tell he was trying to say something. His mouth opened and closed like a gaping fish, trying to find the right words, but what could he say? Some how, 'I'm sorry' didn't seem like the right thing to say, not with something like this. They sat there, staring at each other for a few minutes, one unsure of what to say to the other…but it was Kouen that broke the silence with a single gesture. She raised a hand and pointed to the door. Enkai did not need to be told twice to take the hint and stood up and walked toward the door, silently. He paused at the door and looked over his shoulder at the girl he had mistaken for his love. He still didn't feel right…he had to say something. He watched the girl stretch out again and roll over on her side taking Enkai's coat as a blanket. He sighed.

"I'm s-"

"Leave."

And he did, taking a seat against the wall outside the room. There he slept until dawn.