Complete Me

Author's Notes: I have the BEST readers in the world. Thank you so much for all your great reviews. Thank you to everyone who pointed out details about Kenshin's speech patterns (-dono, de gozaru, sessha, etc). I thought long and hard about that – and decided not include them here. Before you jump on me, let me explain: Kaoru took away his memories of killing so at this point he has no guilt and therefore doesn't humble himself as much as in the canon universe. At the same time, he is very polite. I hope you can understand and put up with my decision!

Chapter 2: Awkward

I am forgotten by them as though I were dead,

I have become like broken pottery.

(Psalm 31:12)

The steady pitter-patter of rain against the umbrella Kenshin held above them filled their companionable silence as they walked through the dark streets. Kaoru's arm was looped through Kenshin's and she tried not to let the tension in her chest spread to her arm muscles. She let him guide her as they walked, and took the opportunity to study his pale profile from the corner of her eye. The once harsh lines of his face were now smooth and his eyes, though observant, were calm.

As if he knew he was being watched, he turned smiling eyes down at her.

"Yes?"

Kaoru shook her head and looked forward, embarrassed at being caught staring. Certain that her body would betray her anxiety, she slipped her arm from his. Their shoulders bumped awkwardly as they walked, trying to stay under the shelter of the umbrella. She side-stepped away slightly, pretending not to notice the thick drops of water that rolled off the slick sides of the umbrella onto her shoulder. She shivered. Then, she felt Kenshin's long fingers wind gently around her own. Surprised, she looked to his face. He smiled coaxingly and pulled her arm through his once again. She smiled, shyly.

-d-b-

People were looking, Kaoru thought to herself as she stared down at her plate of food. She felt the heat of the other restaurant patrons' stares on her back and knew that they were all wondering why such a young girl was having dinner with a police officer. She could almost taste the sour tang of disapproval that hung in the air.

"You know, you've never really told me anything about yourself." Kenshin said, after watching Kaoru push her food around her plate for half an hour.

She froze then, like a deer caught in the headlights, her entire body tense and her eyes wide. She tittered nervously. "There's nothing really to tell."

He raised an eyebrow. "Come on now," he said, neatly setting down his utensils, "There are only three things I know about you for certain: you love chocolate ice cream, you work at the university library and it never rains when you carry an umbrella."

Instead of laughing as he expected her to, Kaoru seemed to slip further into her brooding silence. After a few tightlipped moments, she finally looked up. "I enjoy reading haiku," she said guardedly.

It was like pulling teeth, he thought behind an encouraging grin. "Was that your major in university?"

Immediately, he knew it had been the wrong question. Kaoru's head dropped suddenly, her bangs falling into her face. He barely caught a series of incoherent mumblings.

"Sorry?" He asked as he leaned in.

"I never went to university." She lifted her head and it seemed to him as if she were wondering if he would hate her for it.

Kenshin reached across the table to cover her hand with his. "You don't have to go to university to be brilliant," he assured her, "You're just someone who is smart enough to get by without some old farts telling you about the world. If it makes you feel better, I don't think I went to university either." He chuckled. "At least, I don't remember."

Kaoru's face tightened and words left her mouth before she could stop them. "I didn't finish high school either," she said shortly.

"And yet you work at the university library!" Again, that infuriating smile. "You see, you're a genius."

Kaoru's fingers curled into a stiff fist. "Believe me, I'm not."

Kenshin's smile faded. "Why are you so down on yourself? I don't think it's such a big deal."

"You wouldn't know." Kaoru couldn't think above the stinging tears collecting at the corners of her eyes. Her mind whirled as she stared at his genuinely concerned face through the mist of tears. Lines of worry gently creased the pale skin at his eyes and to her, the expression seemed utterly foreign. Before, when he had been worried, his face had tightened, taut with tension visible only to those who truly knew him. Now, his emotions were plainly displayed for all to see.

It was all too normal for her to bear.

"You couldn't possibly understand." She looked away, straining to cast away their forgotten history.

"Why won't you open up to me, Kaoru?"

Her heart constricted as he dropped the honorific he that usually attached to her name. "Kenshin," she said quietly, "Why do you think we get along so well?"

"I suppose it's because we have a lot in common."

"Like what?" She turned her face to level him with a serious stare.

He shrugged with a grin. "We enjoy each other's company."

Kaoru waited for him to continue but his lips were closed. "Is that all?"

"Do we need another reason to get along well?"

If I was just a normal woman and you a normal man, she thought silently. She studied his smile. "Can't you think of any other reasons?"

A blood-soaked past carved by the sword,

Kenshin sighed dramatically. "Well, if you want me to be specific," he said, threading his fingers through hers, "We like the same food, the same restaurants…" He paused. "I suppose I'm just waiting to find out what else we have in common." He shrugged. "At lease we're in the same age group. How old are you exactly?" He smiled to encourage her.

"I'm eighteen years old," she said suddenly, throwing his hand off. "And don't try to tell me that you're almost the same age as me. I know you're twenty-eight."

"How did you-" The smile had dropped from his face.

"It doesn't matter." Her voice rose as she stood, her chair scraping back loudly behind her. Her hands balled into fists at her sides. "You're ten years older than me. Now you know."

He stood as well, his face wide in shock. "Kaoru, I-"

"Do you like me less now?" She was making a scene and she didn't care. "Well?"

She paused a moment, breathless at what she'd just blurted out. Without giving him a chance to respond, she spun on her heel and fled the restaurant. Blinded by stinging tears, she didn't see the man crossing the restaurant's front entrance. Consequently, she barreled straight into his chest and they both tumbled backward into the street. She felt strong hands grip her upper arms and pull her back onto the sidewalk, under the restaurant awning and out of the rain.

"Kaoru-san, whatever is the matter?"

Kaoru backed away from the warm arms, furiously rubbing the tears away with the heel of one slick palm. "Oh, it's you Soujiro," she tittered, feeling utterly foolish. "I'm terribly sorry."

"Please, don't be, Kaoru-san."

Kaoru looked up into his grinning face and was momentarily astonished by the luminescence of his bright, blue eyes. "But I-"

He laid a firm hand on her shoulder. "Please," he said again, "You have nothing to apologize for." He stepped fractionally closer. "What happened, Kaoru-san?"

"It's nothing, Soujiro," she lied, "Please don't worry about me. I'll be alright."

"If you say so, Kaoru-san," he replied and she could hear his doubt in spite of his glowing smile, "but I hope no one has been hurting you."

"Who is this, Kaoru?"

She turned to face the dark silhouette that stood in the restaurant doorway, blocking the warm yellow light that had illuminated the now grey concrete around her. His voice was low, but edged with a hardness that churned the anxiety in her stomach. For a moment, she couldn't breathe.

It was Soujiro who broke the awkward silence that had begun to stretch between them. "Let me introduce myself," he said genially, "My name is Soujiro Seta. I met Kaoru-san at a university lecture this afternoon."

"Is that so."

Kaoru looked from Kenshin to Soujiro and then back again and was able to feel the taut line of the stares they were leveling at one another. Suddenly she realized that Soujiro was still resting his fingers on her shoulders. Her mind screamed at her body to move but for some reason, she felt rooted to the spot.

"Kaoru?" Kenshin's voice was flat as he stepped toward her, casting a cool shadow across her face.

"Yes," Kaoru said hastily, irrationally feeling as if she needed to justify Soujiro's presence, "I met him today at the university." She was beginning to panic, as if being sandwiched between the two men was going to suffocate her. It didn't help that Kenshin had just lowered his gaze to hers. In the darkness, she couldn't tell what colours were swirling in his narrowed eyes but she knew was that she felt pinned to the spot. While under his inquiring stare, Soujiro's fingers felt like leaden weights on her shoulder. Again, she screamed at herself to pull away but, yet again, she found her tense muscles paralyzed. As Kaoru's breath quickened, she imagined that Soujiro's fingertips were spreading an almost electric tightness through her very bones.

"I see." Kenshin said as he began to turn away.

As he shifted, the golden light from the restaurant spilled across his features. It was in that split second before he turned his back to her that Kaoru glimpsed the barest shadow of fine lines under his eyes, the tell-tale sign that his finely shaped cheek muscles were contracting furiously under his smooth skin. As though she feared she would lose him in that instant, Kaoru reached for him blindly.

Kenshin paused to look back as he felt her fingers brush against the material on his back – and immediately his body went rigid. As if in slow motion, he watched as Kaoru's fingertips slipped away from his shoulder blade, her eyes rolling back and her knees buckling underneath her. Before he knew it, he had caught her limp form in his arms. He pulled her to himself and lifted her dangling limbs to keep them from the wet pavement.

"You should probably take her to a hospital."

Kenshin's eyes flicked to Soujiro, whose cheerful smile did not warm his cool, ocean blue eyes. "Don't worry about us." Without another word, he turned and left the other man standing on the sidewalk.

-d-b-

Kaoru struggled to lift her heavy eyelids. Her head felt heavy, and she let it loll back against the cushion rather than working to straighten herself in the reclining seat she had found herself in. Groggily, she began to pry her eyes open. As her senses slowly regained their purpose, she began to recognize the low rumbling vibration surrounding her. When she had finally blinked away the last of the haze obscuring her vision, she instantly identified the svelte interior of Kenshin's two door car.

"Kenshin?" She tilted just enough to catch his tense form in her field of vision. It wasn't difficult as he had hastily laid her into a fully reclined passenger seat.

"Yes, Kaoru-san?" He glanced down at her quickly.

"What happened?" She felt as if she had swallowed a beaches' worth of sand.

"You fainted in front of the restaurant."

"And Soujiro?"

"He left."

There was a long pause. Kenshin listened to her slightly irregular breathing.

"Where are we going?"

"I am taking you to a hospital." He punctuated the statement by violently shifting gears.

Suddenly he felt her icy fingers clamp down on his wrist with surprising force. He looked down at her wide blue eyes.

"No." Her voice was strangled. "Not there."

Kenshin allowed a slight frown to work its way onto his face. "You need to see a doctor."

"I know of a clinic," she began hoarsely.

"A clinic? I hardly think they would be able to treat you-"

"There is a doctor," Kaoru interrupted, "That I trust. Please, Kenshin," her voice cracked, "Please take me to her instead of the hospital."

Kenshin's lips tightened but he nodded. "Which clinic?"

"The Takani Medical Centre."

-d-b-

As soon as they passed the automatic glass sliding doors, Kenshin found Kaoru whisked away from him. The protest died on his lips, however, when he saw Kaoru totter away from him and slump into another woman's outstretched arms. He watched speechlessly as the taller woman wound protective arms around the girl while Kaoru began to mutter incomprehensibly into her white-collared shoulder. With tenderness inconsistent with her sharp expression, the woman supported Kaoru's sagging body and began to lead her down the hall. Then, for reasons unknown to him, the lady doctor leveled a spiteful glare his way. His eyebrows shot up at the bitterness she conveyed so easily.

"Himura," she snapped, "You wait out here."

Without an explanation, she dismissed him with a flick of her long black hair. Kenshin could only stare at her receding form. He sighed, his shoulders falling.

"How did she know my name?" He wondered aloud.

"Megumi Takani knows many things, Himura-san."

Kenshin turned to face the tall, dark man who he had sensed previously but who had only chosen to reveal himself now. He conjured up a cheery smile, all the while appraising the other man - whom he could tell was observing him coldly.

"I am Aoshi Shinomori," the man said finally, clearly unimpressed by Kenshin's bright grin, "Why are you here?"

"I was with Kaoru-san this evening, Shinomori-san."

Aoshi's dark eyes narrowed fractionally. "What were you doing?"

Suddenly feeling as though he was being interrogated by a jealous father, Kenshin lifted his open palms and said deferentially, "We were just having some supper."

Aoshi's thin lips turned downward slightly. "How long have you been acquainted with Kaoru-san, Himura?"

"Only a few months." He paused. "She's a wonderful girl."

Instead of responding to his comment, Aoshi strode past him – which Kenshin took as his cue to follow him down the long corridor. "Are you at all familiar with the Takani Medical Centre?"

Kenshin did not answer right away. He glanced around himself, slowly letting the sight of the white walls and polished linoleum floors wash over him. They passed an open door and Kenshin caught a glimpse of a long conference table surrounded by modern chairs. Unbidden, an image of a ruined room, filled with scattered furniture and surrounded by glass windows rose in his mind. His brow creased slightly. In his mind's eyes, the room wasn't pristine white. It was painted in red.

He shook his head suddenly, banishing the disturbing image.

"No," he responded quietly, "I have never heard of this place before."

Aoshi was silent.

-d-b-