Nothingness

I suddenly realized how much my chapter titles suck...

THANK YOU REVIEWERS. YEAH. Or maybe I should say reviewer. *sulks* Anyways, thank you SRAS9 for reviewing every chapter so far. ^_^

In answer to SRAS9's question – I'm not going to reveal why in the later chapters, and since I'm way too lazy to make a sequel this, I'll just explain here (I forgot all about having to explain…). My explanation is that Kaoru isn't supposed to exist at that point, so it messed up quite a few things in what should have been…

I own my plots, not the characters… I'm sure we all know this, so I'll just go back to sleep… Mm-hmm.

Third: The Fallen

Kaoru tried not to cry, but it was hard. Crying wasn't very usual for her, but it was a natural instinct when she had a bit more stress hanging over her head than usual. Usually, that meant a death of family and friends, which happened every now and then because of the war.

Her father was the last living relative she knew of after her mother had died, but now he was dead as well, and she hadn't even gotten to hear his last words. She was simply informed of his death by that unfeeling piece of paper that didn't even seem to care that she was all alone.

It wouldn't be long until someone decided that they could steal the dojo.

A ten-year-old Kaoru sat with her legs folded beneath her in front of a painting of her father, his smiling face looking down at her, tiny wisps of smoke floating up.

There was a moment of silence before she bowed to it, the quiet rustling of her clothes seemed almost deafening to her.

Whoever came to take away her last memories of her father and mother could go stuff himself; she was going to fight for it, even if it meant her death.

A silent tear slipped down her cheek.

~:~*~:~

Makimachi Misao was best friends with one Kamiya Kaoru.

Perhaps Kaoru thought she was too hyper, but she did know when something horrible had gone wrong.

A not very reassuring smile that seemed unsure of its own self flit her way and Misao wondered what the heck had happened. No matter how much trouble Kaoru could possibly have gotten in, she should be able to get out of it, or knock the guy senseless. She wasn't the type to get so deep in the kind of trouble she can't dig herself out.

…Right?

No! Misao shook her head rapidly, braid swinging right along with it. Kaoru wasn't stupid; she should know. Kaoru was practically the older sister she'd never had.

So why was she hurt?

Misao glared at the wall, as if it was the source of all her problems.

Letting her eyes wander slightly down towards the hunched form of Kamiya Kaoru, she scowled, eyes flashing.

Leaning against the wall, she sighed and sulked.

She was getting to the bottom of this.

~:~*~:~

There was a thud, and Hiko sighed as he lifted his head, wondering what his baka deshi had done now.

Silence poked and prodded at him, waiting for a mane of red to appear, purple eyes looking at him guiltily. Nothing happened, and Hiko cursed as he groggily got up, the saké still working its effects.

Wondering what could be preventing his apprentice from rushing into the home, he walked out of his house before realizing what had happened.

The rain was pouring heavily, the sky filled with the darkest of grays, and if he squinted just right he could make out an unmoving figure face flat on the path to his home.

Damn.

Before he knew it, his baka deshi was slung over his shoulder and he was rushing down the path towards the doctor's.

At the same time Seijuro Hiko arrived at Dr. Gensai's with a Himura Kenshin, a Makimachi Misao arrived with a Kamiya Kaoru.

~:~*~:~

"DR. GENSAI!"

"Gensai-san."

As fate would have it, both Misao and Hiko arrived at exactly the same time, rushing into the doctor's clinic, glaring at each other.

A figured emerged from the shadows and both started speaking in unison.

"Kaoru got hurt and she won't tell me how and she finally collapsed and you really really need to help her!"

"Kenshin went and tripped."

Dr. Gensai watched with quite some amusement between the two, as if trying to decide.

"All right, lay both of them down on an empty bed. I'll check the boy first, since he seems to have a head injury."

There was silence as the doctor did his job and reported.

"Kenshin is fine, just a concussion. He should wake up soon, and tell him not to move his head too much."

Hiko remained unmoving and simply nodded at the shorter man.

Misao shifted nervously as Gensai checked Kaoru, trying to restrain herself from speaking.

"So? How is she? Is she okay? I don't know what Kaoru's been up to but she's been getting hurt a lot since her father died and all the students from her dojo are gone so she doesn't get much money so I'm not sure how much she eats and I can't always be there at her dojo since I'm not actually her sister as much as I'd like to be so I need to go back to the orphanage and-"

The man held a hand up to halt her ramblings and she obeyed, eager to find out if her nee-chan was okay.

"Kaoru's fine, Misao. She's simply tired, and the bruises and cuts she have didn't help."

A sigh of relief seemed to lighten the room up, just as another girl drifted into the room sleepily.

As the two greeted the girl, Megumi, he vaguely noted, nobody noticed Hiko's attention moving to their conversation at 'Kaoru'. He hadn't really noticed the girl or her name, but she certainly looked like that kid he's met all those years ago.

Funny; maybe the world does want those two to meet, he mused, wishing he had brought some of his saké to pass the time with.

~:~*~:~

Kaoru woke to blinding sunlight as she carefully opened her eyes, only to close them again.

She felt horrible. Her body ached all over, and she just wanted to fall asleep again on this good… comfy…

…bed?

Her eyes shot open and she sat up as quickly, trying to figure out where she is.

A snort brought her attention to the right, and she met Megumi's eyes before relaxing. Bed and Megumi meant Dr. Gensai's, which meant safety. She was okay then.

"Took you long enough to wake up," Megumi announced before marching out the door to call Misao in. Taking the time to look around, her blue eyes were met with apprehensive purple.

"Oh. You."