Third Day

The night was alive.

Kaoru struggled to fall asleep, but the buzzing of the mosquitoes and the chattering of the wild put an end to that effort. The jungle was noisy—it was nosier than Tokyo at night because at least the streetcars stopped running after ten. The jungle teemed with life; one of its inhabitants was a renegade mynah bird, intent on reproducing all the other sounds. She swore that she was going to roast that bird alive.

Since she had spent the last half hour staring at the wall, her eyes had adjusted to the darkness. She took a peek across the room to see if Yukishiro was awake. He was facing away from her.

"Yukishiro?" she whispered between intermittent crows.

No response.

"Yukishiro?" She was sure that he was awake; he was already giving off that Howard Roark-like aura of animosity. Conversation with him was just as pleasant.

She tried again. "Enishi?"

"What?" he snapped.

"I can't go to sleep. Do you have any suggestions?"

He didn't turn around. "Craft a bow in the morning."

She stared at his back as the cries of the bird echoed on. She was exhausted and weary, and neither she nor Yukishiro would find sleep anytime soon. Might as well try to get some conversation out of him.

"Do you know how to make a bow?" she asked.

No response.

"Have you hunted animals before?" she tried, desperate for any conversation.

No response.

Kaoru sighed. If he wasn't going to talk, she was going to talk.

"I've never hunted any animals before," she began. "But there was this one time, when my dad was still alive, he brought home this package of bear meat, wrapped in wax paper. Apparently he won it off a friend who just came back from Hokkaido, but neither of them knew how to prepare it. So he—"

"Do you know what I lived off when I escaped to Shanghai?" Enishi interrupted.

"What?"

"Corpses."

She froze. He couldn't be serious. "You mean—?"

"Human, dog, whatever. Corpses."

Kaoru was horrified. She was speechless.

"To survive in Shanghai as a child, I had to compete with the other street rats, the opium addicts, and the deserters that crawled their way to Shanghai's streets," he continued tonelessly. "I drank from mud puddles and ate anything more dead than me."

She said nothing. A squawk filled in the silence.

"So Kaoru," he said, "spare me your inane conversation, because it won't help us any."

She spent the rest of the evening in troubled thought, until the clamour ceased and she drifted off to sleep.

Sleep made her more exhausted than the day before, if it were possible.

Kaoru could barely get herself out of bed, and her arms and legs were sore from yesterday. Yukishiro was already up before her. She heard him pace outside the shack, moving things around. She wouldn't be surprised if he was moving piles of wood to the other end of the campsite, pausing to scrutinize it a bit, just to move it all the way back. One must imagine Yukishiro happy.

Despite the humidity, she lifted up the sheets over her head in an effort to make herself invisible. If she could think hard enough, she could imagine that she was back in her room with Kenshin doing laundry in the courtyard. She would slumber on or meditate in deep thought until Yahiko would burst in and say—

"Wake up!" Yukishiro said, barging in.

She squeezed her eyes shut and pretended to be asleep.

"I don't have time for this," he snapped.

I don't have energy for you, she thought.

"Any time with sunlight is precious time to take advantage of," he said, and yanked the sheets from her.

Kaoru groaned. "Now? Really?"

"Survival is our priority, and it is best if we prepare supplies ahead of time."

"Surely there are supplies remaining?"

"The food spoiled overnight, you didn't cut enough wood, and the water is almost out."

"So you want me to get wood and water for several days worth?"

"Precisely."

So he was being serious.

"Would you help me?" she asked, shielding her eyes from the bright sunlight that streamed in through the window.

"I would do the work if he didn't do this to me," he said, gesturing towards his injuries.

You started it, she wanted to retort. She examined him—he didn't look too bad. His bruises were ugly but starting to heal, and the swelling in his eyes had diminished to reveal a handsome face. He still couldn't use his left arm, but it wasn't like the muscles in his right arm had atrophied. "But you still have one good arm. Maybe you could—"

"I need to conserve my strength in order to get us out of here. I would be happy to switch roles—if you are capable of swimming that distance."

Right now, she wasn't capable of walking across the room.

"So what are you going to threaten me with?" she sighed.

He cocked his head. "No wood, no water—no fish."

Her stomach made an audible sound.

"Hand me the axe," she said, stumbling out of bed.

Chopping up firewood today was even more labourious. It was taking her three times as long to do the work and Yukishiro wanted her to cut three times the amount—incase a tropical storm could sabotage their activities. He resumed his station as the all-knowing taskmaster, sniping at her while he lounged back and played the hapless patient. Hapless patient her ass—he needed to be at least a head short to be as harmless as a saltwater crocodile.

Her muscles were sore and bruised, and it hurt to clench the axe's handle. She gritted through the pain and worked at a pace that minimized the torture. She rested between swings—at least until her shoulders stopped screaming.

"You can't scare it into cutting itself, Kaoru," he quipped.

Right. So what about those fire signals?

She swung the axe.

"Maybe using force will help."

Fire signals need to be built in a clearing, so planes can get a good view of them.

She swung the axe again, almost falling back.

"Your sense of balance is progressing quite nicely."

She resisted the urge to swing the axe at him.

"At this rate, the job will be done in record time."

Building three fires in the same area should get more attention.

"Have you been practicing?"

So how would she hide it from Yukishiro? What would he do if he were to find out? Would it be worth the risk?

"Your competence amazes me."

The dam holding back her anger broke and it gushed out in a flood. Without a second thought, Kaoru threw aside the axe and launched herself at the devil.

She saw his eyes widen in surprise as she tackled him, targeting him with a well-aimed fist. Most of her blows missed as her attack propelled them down a slope, and foliage gleefully wrapped itself around the duo like dried seaweed. Their roll down the slope did not stop Kaoru in her efforts to hurt the bastard, but he had lightning fast reflexes to compensate for his injured arm. They crushed flowers and hit trees along the way—but the two were occupied in their stalemate battle: Kaoru—angry but fatigued, and Enishi—insulted but crippled.

They came to a halt when they slammed into a formidable tree. She was muddy, bruised, and disoriented, but continued to aim at any blur of white within her field of vision. Her fists mostly hit air, tree bark, and his blocking arm. Kaoru had Yukishiro pinned against the ground—with one hand on his shirt collar and the other as raised fist. She looked down at him—he was panting heavily with his good arm raised instinctively in defense. He looked absurd with the leaves and petals in his hair. She likely looked just as absurd.

The burst of energy that came with her anger retreated, and muscle fatigue took its place. Also panting heavily, she returned to her senses, and realized that assaulting the man at her current state was futile and pathetic. She dropped her fist, and satisfied herself with grabbing his shirt collar with both hands.

"…you…are… intolerable!" she wheezed.

He stared up at her in bewilderment. She stared right back as she recovered her breath.

"Enishi… you can't treat me like this! I can't take it anymore!"

She released him from her grip, and ran her fingers through her tangled hair—dislodging some leaves in the process. She looked away for a second, collecting her jumbled thoughts.

Kaoru inhaled deeply. "I've been cooperative… very cooperative. I want to get out of here as much as you do; we share that in common even though you're out to kill Kenshin."

He stared at her with no expression.

She blundered on. "I've done a lot and I can do a lot, but damn it, I'm only mortal! I'm tired, hungry, and my arms can barely lift anything up. If I keep on going like this, my body will collapse!"

He looked at her impassively.

"Could you help a little? Could you be less mean? Could you give a little?"

He continued to be unreadable.

"Damn it! Say something!" she cried, flustered and on the verge of tears.

Enishi nudged her off, and sat up. He looked away from her to assess the damage. He ruffled his hair, and picked leaves and insects off his clothes. He rubbed his eyes and adjusted his glasses. He turned toward her, and finally said:

"No fish."

Kaoru made her attempt at self-sufficiency by taking a shot at fishing; it was a worthy attempt if she could wretch herself free from him. Enishi let her use the fishing tools—he jeered that she probably couldn't catch a single fish with her two able hands. The bastard was right, which was why she was back to hauling water.

"On you go," he said, gesturing with his Watou sword.

"Is the sword really necessary?" Kaoru whined.

Enishi pushed up his glasses. "Before all else, be armed," he quoted.

Pity he didn't break both arms.

"So are you going to follow me around then?" she asked, slinging some empty coconut shells over her back.

He arched an eyebrow. "Why? Should I?"

"Maybe you could help carry something," she shrugged.

He snorted. "I thought we already had this conversation."

"It was worth a try," she sighed, and made through the wilderness alone.

She traveled back to the spring without a hitch, but things went downhill from there. Her legs and arms were numb from exhaustion, and the tropical heat beat down on her despite all the tree cover. She couldn't use her hiking stick because she needed both arms to carry all the litres of water. She stumbled onward through the dense jungle, tripping over the twisting roots that she avoided the day before. Terrain that was not too steep became a struggle to ascend. She spilled her load several times, requiring her to make return trips to the stream, contributing to her already foul mood.

Her disposition did not improve when she heard the sound of a passing aircraft overhead. She would have shouted and waved for its attention, but she knew that since she couldn't see it through the thick canopy, the pilot would not be able to see her either. She muttered a thousand curses.

As she staggered on, fueled by willpower more than anything corporal, she realized that she was lost. There wasn't a specific landmark that provided her this insight—she just felt a sense of wrongness. The forest began to thin out, and patches of clear sky were visible. The ground was thick with fallen branches and organic debris, so she had to be careful.

Kaoru couldn't find the way back, so she decided it was best to keep moving forward. It would be easier to get re-oriented once she was outside the thickest part of the wilderness. Her concentration wavered, but still, she kept one foot ahead of the other.

It seemed like she was about to enter an area that finally seemed familiar when the ground suddenly gave way. She was momentarily weightless until in panic, she reached up and grabbed hold of a large tree root. She felt her entire weight pull on her forearms as she swung uncontrollably, dangling over a chasm that appeared bottomless.

Kaoru shrieked with fright and tightened her grip on the tree root, but with its moisture it began to slide through her palms. She reached for the overhang of forest ground, but her hands reached no solid rock and decomposing material simply slipped through her fingers.

She fell down with a scream, only interrupted by her jaw painfully colliding with sheer rock face, and then her body resumed the freefall. As she saw the light retreat above, her mind spewed out all the memories she had formed over the past twenty-odd years of her life. Her mind evoked all the connections she had formed, the recent trials she had endured, the promising future she had cut short, and her love for the redheaded wanderer.

Her body hit the ground with a crack. Her form lay awkwardly on top of a pile of fallen branches and organic debris. She stared at nothing. Blood began to pour from her nostrils and lips.

She lay still.

Kaoru shuddered and began to weep.

The sound of her own crying sounded alien to her, as the fluid in her throat made thick gurgling sounds. This realization only added more fuel to her sorrow. She cried until an instinctive drive compelled her to scream for help—and she screamed for the man she knew best.

After sometime passed, she gained enough cognition to understand that she had been screaming for the wrong man after all. She had been calling for Kenshin.

Stupid girl, Kenshin is not here to save you.

Kaoru examined herself. While she was bruised and battered, she appeared to have no broken bones. She pushed herself up and limped for a few paces. She coughed and her tongue still tasted blood. She leaned against rock, and stared up. The wall of rock that surrounded her framed a clear blue cloudless sky. Judging from the amount of light that beamed in, there was probably a forty-foot distance between her and the surface.

Leaning against rock, her breath steadied and she gathered her wits. While Kenshin wasn't around, she knew one man who was.

"Enishi!" she shouted. "ENISHI!"

Her voice echoed, sounding more like herself instead of the gurgling perversion she heard earlier. She screamed his name with gusto. She paused and waited to hear movement from the surface, craning her neck up to see if there was a speck of white in the distance.

Nothing.

She alternated between yelling and listening, growing impatient. Her throat became parched and her voice grew hoarse. Enough time had passed that the position of the sun changed noticeably, and if she remained idle for any longer, it would be too dark for her to see the rock that surrounded her. At that point, she resolved that she could depend on no man to rescue her; instead, she had to save herself.

Kaoru wiped her bloody hands on her shirt, rolled up her sleeves, and began to climb. Her first attempts were met with failure as she lost her grip on the rock. The longer she stayed in one spot, the more her hands sweated, and the more her grip loosened. She fell down several times, bruised in ego and in body, but her spirit flared.

She realized that she would have more success climbing up if she were to plan her route up beforehand instead of clambering up blindly, figuring out the footholds as she went along. She advanced on her ascent, but miscalculated the depth of a handhold. Her fingertips trembled and shook with a spasm, and she slid back to the bottom.

Kaoru panted heavily, rubbing her aching joints. She bit her lip and almost cried in desperation when she heard the sound of aircraft above.

She stared up and saw not one but six airplanes in a V formation cutting across the sky. Their perfect geometry against the clear blue sky made them look triumphant, lending further contrast to her plight. She didn't care whose planes they were or what their mission was—all she cared about was getting out of this pit and this island alive. She cursed Enishi and his schemes. Enishi Yukishiro was the cause of all her problems, and she was going to build that goddamn fire signal and be rid of him.

Her resolve grew as she continued to climb up the rock. She fell down several times, she felt lightheaded, but she eventually reached a point where she knew she was going to make it. With a final pull, she crawled her way back to the surface while coughing. She crouched on the ground; the blood pounded in her ears and her vision was blurry. After a time, she saw a pair of feet in front of her.

"My hero," she said bitterly to Enishi.

"Are you hurt?"

"I almost died, you asshole," she rasped.

"Shit. Did you fall down that pit? How did you get out?"

"I climbed out. It took a while."

He looked at her in his inscrutable manner. "You're bloody. C'mon, let's get you out of here." He pulled her up with his good arm. "Can you walk?"

She took a few wobbly steps before he caught her.

"Lean on me," he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "I'll bring you back to camp." Kaoru didn't like the idea of leaning on him, but she wanted to get out of the woods as soon as possible.

They limped their way slowly through the forest while Kaoru felt off balance. Everything was spinning except for the steady pillar that was Enishi. He gave her clear instructions on navigating through their path, and awkwardly carried her over the bigger obstacles—helping simmer down her anger.

Her vision began to steady, but when she thought everything was in the upswing, she vomited out the fish they had the night before and some more blood as the cherry on top. They stopped for a bit, and when it seemed like she had nothing left to vomit out, they continued until they arrived at the shack and she collapsed on her futon. She had never felt so miserable before. She heard Enishi leave while he cursed in a Chinese dialect, but he returned and knelt at her side.

"Sit up and rinse out your mouth," he said as he held up a husk filled with water. She gladly took it, not realizing how thirsty she was until he offered it to her.

"How's your breathing? Do you still taste blood?" he asked calmly.

She stopped for a minute to observe herself. Her heartbeat was no longer racing, and her breathing felt mostly normal except for the smell of blood remaining in her nose. She could no longer taste blood.

"I'm fine, blood's not flowing anymore," she replied.

"What happened?" Enishi said. Kaoru noted that this was the first time that she heard no trace of hostility in his voice. She found the sound of it strangely reassuring.

"I was exhausted, hauling all that water." She realized that she lost all her day's work, but continued on, and told him about the fall and the torturous climb. She didn't mention that she glimpsed the passing planes or that she screamed for Kenshin.

"Stay still," he said. She felt a wet cloth pressed against her lips, it stung.

Enishi gently cleaned her face. Kaoru could see him eye-to-eye, and realized that they had never been in such close proximity before other than the time when he was threatening her. Their closeness made her nervous and she forced her hands to remain still at her sides. She observed the planes of his angular face, and she could count the number of lashes that lined his half-lidded eyes. She searched his pupils to see if there was a glimmer of humanity hiding in the abyss. He didn't return her gaze since he was so preoccupied on wiping her chin.

A bright light painfully shone in her eyes and she closed them shut.

"I have to check your pupils. Keep your eyes open or I'll open them for you."

Kaoru noted that everything that he said was phrased like a threat even though it was likely not intended.

She tried to pry her eyes open but couldn't, the light was just too painful. He placed a coarse hand on her cheek and she flinched away on reflex.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said. "I know what I'm doing."

Kaoru gave a tired nod and let him resume his examinations. Having someone else lift up your eyelids was an unusual sensation; she didn't think she had experienced that before. He flashed the light in her eyes and asked her to follow it. When he was satisfied, he proceeded to ask her to open her mouth, and examined her with his hand on her chin and a callused thumb brushed against her lip. He was leaning in so close that her breath was caught in her throat and her heart pounded.

"The good news is that you didn't lose any teeth," Enishi said, putting away the flashlight and moving away from her. She exhaled in relief at his distance, although her skin still tingled from his touch. "You had a concussion from the fall, but you'll recover. I've been through worse. Just drink more water and get some rest."

"Who made you village doctor?" Kaoru asked cheekily, recovering from the encounter.

"My line of work has its hazards. It's useful to know which men I can salvage," he said flatly.

"Versus which men you can expend?"

Enishi raised an eyebrow at her comment but shrugged. "If the situation calls for it. Fortune is a fickle woman—she doesn't show mercy just because you earned it."

She was disturbed by his cynicism, but not surprised.

"What about you, chief? When do you show mercy?" she asked, trying to keep her thoughts away from the nausea threatening to flood back.

He paused for a second, and then replied, "When it makes sense."

Kaoru mulled it over, but it didn't help unlock the enigma.

"Maybe you're not such a monster after all," she conceded.

Enishi stepped toward her, cradled her face, and touched her lip with a finger. The room spun, she wasn't sure if it was the nausea, Enishi's proximity, or both. She was surprised, but she realized that he just missed a spot of blood. She stared at him, and she fuzzily thought that he was attractive, and in her delirium wondered what it would be like to kiss him.

"Good," Enishi replied. "I don't hate you, and I don't want you to hate me. However, you should still fear me." The last words snapped her out of her daze. He withdrew his hand and removed his undershirt, exposing a lean and sculpted torso. The blood drained from her face.

"Take your shirt off," he said, throwing his at her.

"W-what?!" she sputtered.

"You don't want to sleep in that, do you?" he said, gesturing at her blouse—which she realized was soaked red.

"Get some rest," he said softly with a gentle squeeze on her arm, and left.

She clutched her head and moaned from the nausea that returned in full force. Her head throbbed and her thoughts reeled. What did she just think about Enishi?

She removed her blouse and put Enishi's shirt on. It was too big it but it covered what needed to be covered. Kaoru laid down and fell into a deep slumber. She dreamt of airplanes in V formations and the fire signal that she was going to build tomorrow.

Regardless of who Enishi was, she wasn't going to get dragged down with him.