Chapter Four
"You know Ms. Karou, moping around and crying all day isn't going to help someone with your looks." Yahiko teased as he walked in the room where Karou was being tended to. As Yahiko walked further into the room, he led all of his friends, new and old, along with him.
"Who are they?" asked Karou.
"Guten tag, Ms. Karou," said Nightcrawler, introducing himself, "I am Kurt Wagner and these are my friends. We were hoping to ask a few questions regarding your wandering comrade, Kenshin."
Megumi walked back into the room holding some food for Karou and another blanket, "Oh my…"
"Hey Megumi, I think I'm gonna stay for one more night," Sano said, "these guys might need somewhere to stay and I'm still not one hundred percent on board letting these guys be on their own."
"I don't need a babysitter, Bub," snarled Wolverine, "you can go where ever you want."
"It's not you I'm concerned about," snapped Sano, "I still don't trust you. I still don't agree with Yahiko letting you stay here."
"Fine by me, we can find somewhere else to sleep."
"No! You guys can't leave!" yelled Yahiko, "leave them alone Sano! I think they can help us!"
"Help with what? There's nothing going on with Kenshin that I can't handle myself!" Sano rang back.
"Come on Sano, be real! We need all of the help we can get," Yahiko's head sank, "that's why I'm in here right now, because we need Karou too…"
As Yahiko finished his last word Sano and Megumi both lost control of their jaws and fell into shock. This was the first time either one of them had ever heard Yahiko say something nice about Karou.
Ever since Yahiko joined the Kendo school, run my Karou, he had been nothing but cruel to the poor girl. While Yahiko wasn't always the only one to dish out insults, he was usually the first. Unfortunately, as the school's only student, Karou had always been forced to just deal with it. Yahiko, being the smart young lad that he is, realized this and became a relentless, foulmouthed, little twerp. Yahiko has always been on the side of growth, however, and now more than ever knew that his friends needed him to be a man. Yahiko looked over at Karou again, "I'm afraid that if Karou doesn't come with us, Kenshin will never come back…" Yahiko's head sunk again, this time to hide tears.
"Oh, come on kid!" Sano said putting his hand on Yahiko's shoulder, "Kenshin is gonna come back, no matter what."
"Maybe we should go…" Marty said grabbing Doc and Wolverine.
"No, it's okay," Yahiko said, "I'm sorry, we just want our friend back."
"I understand mein freund." Nightcrawler said putting his hand on Yahiko's shoulder, "we will help you find your friend and hopefully bring him back home."
"We should prepare tonight then." Yahiko added confidently, "let's get some rest now so we can be ready to go find Kenshin!" Yahiko looked around at his new friends, smiling. He looked over at Sano, who was currently standing in the corner with half of his face covered by shadows. Most of the group came together leaving Karou's room alone. Yahiko motioned towards Sano and smiled again, "I'm glad you decided to stay Sano. With our new friends and you, I'm sure we're going to be able to defeat Shishio!"
With Sano barely budging he gave a small smirk towards Yahiko, "you're right kid. Now go get some rest. You know we all need it."
Yahiko responded, "Yeah, you're right." Yahiko nodded towards Sano and then left the room.
Sano waited for Yahiko to completely leave the room and then crouched next to Karou, "I know you feel pain and loss Karou, but Kenshin needs you. Yahiko needs you. We can't do this without you, and I don't trust Yahiko to be alone with those guys." Karou finally looked over at Sano realizing what he was trying to say. "I'm still going to leave tonight. I know Yahiko wants me to stay, but this is something I've got to do." Karou rolled back away from Sano. She began to cry again feeling the loss of another along with more responsibility thrust on her. "It'll be alright Karou." Sano put his hand on her back and then proceeded to lift himself and slowly head out the back door. Sano slowly slipped into the darkness and left the school.
As Sano began his solo journey he heard movement in the bushes and trees around him. Sano began to walk a little bit slower with his fists and arms at the ready. He began to think to himself. Good gravy, what now? Sano continued to creep until he heard the snap of a twig behind him. Sano spun around and prepared himself for battle. As he searched the dark forest for anything he saw a body start to appear through the brush. He began to recognize the figure. Wolverine stood in front of Sano now with a snapped twig in his hand.
Wolverine threw the twig to the ground. "Sorry, just wanted to scare you a little bit."
"What are you doing here?" asked Sano.
"Keepin' an eye on my new friends", Wolverine sarcastically revealed, "where are you off to Bub? You didn't even say goodbye…"
Sano stepped forward and grabbed Wolverine's shirt and pulled him forward, "I don't know who you people are, why you want to help, or how you even got here, but I know I don't need to explain anything to you." Wolverine let his claws push through the skin on his hands again. Sano followed that threat by letting Wolverine go. "Look, I know Kenshin and we have no idea how far ahead he is or if he is even still alive. We aren't gonna do the little guy any favors all rushing in with an army and guns blazin'."
"Look Bub, I'm not here to play hero," Wolverine replied with, "I'm here to get some answers about your friend. If that means I gotta keep that kid over there happy by dragging you back to camp, then so be it."
Sano turned back at Wolverine and began to grind his teeth. "And I'm not gonna shy away from a fight, but you know that already." Wolverine's confidence is erased by his annoyance with Sano. Wolverine dropped his guard shortly followed by Sano. "I don't know what you think you're gonna learn from Kenshin anyway." Sano paused to hear Wolverine's response before he could turn and walk away.
"It's just like you," Wolverine said, "it's just something I've got to do."
Sano looked at Wolverine for a few seconds with Wolverine staring right back. Sano's eyes opened a little more while he cracked a smile. "Why don't you come with me?"
"Huh?"
"Yeah, come on," Sano said feeling pretty confident about his new idea, "I can tell you don't really want to be slowed down by those guys either."
Wolverine looked back at the Kendo school, "ugh, alright. Let's go."
Sano's smile vanished. "That's it? You were supposed to be more excited than that!" Sano raised his fist and began to shake it at Wolverine as he began to walk forward. "I don't do this very often ya know! I usually work by myself! This is a huge privilege for you!"
Wolverine stopped walking and turned back at Sano. "You comin'?"
Sano's head sank, "yeah, let's go."
"One thing I forgot to tell you, I don't just have these claws," Wolverine said with a sneaky smile, "My other mutant ability makes my five senses work at a higher intensity. I can probably sniff out your friend from here."
"Like a dog?" Asked Sano.
"Keep it up, and I'll show you what other dog traits I have…" Wolverine snarled.
"Alright, alright, tough guy. Let's get going now, and keep quiet. The last thing I need is another speech from that little ingrate Yahiko. I know which way Kenshin was heading, so we at least have a starting point."
Wolverine continues to walk forward, but then looks back at Sano. Sano turns to the small kendo school once more and gives a long heavy sigh. "I do hope that Yahiko takes good care of himself. Karou too."
"Come on Bub, we need to get moving now, or you're never going to. Kurt will help them out, and that old guy has more tricks up his sleeve than you would think."
Sano finally turns to follow Wolverine and the two head off into the forest and disappear. The gate from the school closes. Nightcrawler's three white gloved fingers are the ones shutting it. "I hope he knows what he's doing."
"Yeah, I agree. I felt a little more comfortable with that guy around." Nightcrawler turned to see Marty peering through a hole in the wall.
"I'm not so bad myself, you know."
"Yeah, but he's got claws and won't die from all of these lame swords."
Nightcrawler walks over to a stack of swords in a corner that are usually saved for a class session. "I'm not so bad with a sword either."
"Seriously?" asked Marty
"Yeah, why don't I show you a few things? Nothing like learning about good swordsmanship in an ancient kendo school," replied Nightcrawler.
"Right on! I can finally come back from one of Doc's trips with a new skill." Marty excitedly replied.
Nightcrawler threw a sword over to Marty and began his first session with his new friend.
On the morning of the next day, Yahiko woke up his new friends while looking and screaming for help finding Sano and Wolverine.
"Where did they go?" asked Yahiko.
"Don't worry mein freund, they haven't gone far." Nightcrawler replied.
"Huh, what do you mean?" Yahiko asked, confused as to how Nightcrawler knew what he meant.
"My freund left last night too," Nightcrawler replied, "which is all the more reason that we need to leave as soon as possible."
Yahiko stared at the ground and began to grit his teeth together. He closed his eyes and let out a very large breath. His fist, which was once clenched, began to release. "We still can't leave without Karou…"
Nightcrawler looked back to the part of the dojo where Karou had been resting. Nightcrawler looked down at Yahiko, who still seemed to be working everything out in his head. Yahiko hadn't yet moved his stare from the rocks below him, so Nightcrawler patted Yahiko on the shoulder and then began to walk towards Karou's room. He stepped toward the open doorway and began to hear voices coming from the room. Nightcrawler peered in to see Megumi finishing up a one person conversation with Karou. She obviously was turned away from Megumi and was probably trying as hard as she could to not listen.
"You already know how I feel about Kenshin and I also know how he feels about you!" Megumi yelled, "You need to get up out of this room and start to think about your friends and people close to you. I know what Kenshin hurts…a lot, but you can't let that stop you. And if there was ever a time that you needed a sign that this was the time for action, then look outside. There a people here to help, people who I have never seen the likes of before."
Karou's shoulder began to turn towards Megumi ever so slightly. Nightcrawler's yellow eyes squinted to make sure what he was seeing was real and then they slowly began to widen. A small smirk ran across his face, a short grin to show Nightcrawler's satisfaction. Yahiko looked over to Nightcrawler at precisely the same time Nightcrawler looked at him. Nightcrawler gave a thumb's up to Yahiko and Yahiko smiled and jumped up in the air. Nightcrawler, puzzled to see the boy's over-exuberance looked straight ahead to see the small Kendo teacher standing in front of him.
"Are you truly here to help stranger?" asked Karou.
"As best I can madam." replied Nightcrawler grabbing her hand.
"Yahoo! Let's get going then!" screamed Yahiko, "God, what took you so long, you weirdo? Couldn't you tell we've been waiting for you?"
"I'm sorry Yahiko, but I'm ready now," replied Karou as she walked towards him.
"Wow, that's really weird," a perplexed Yahiko let be known.
"What's that, Yahiko?" asked Karou.
"Well, I always heard of a thing called beauty sleep, but after how long you were out, there's no way that can be true." Yahiko said laughing. He began to roll on the ground in front of Karou.
Karou's mouth shrank and turned to one side of her face. A drop of sweat fell from her forehead and as Yahiko continued to roll around laughing, Karou picked up her Kendo stick and began to thrash Yahiko around the garden. "I'm gonna kill you this time Yahiko!"
Yahiko, running from Karou and laughing, grabbed his hindquarters and yelled back, "it's good to have you back Karou!"
Nightcrawler watched for a few more seconds and began to chuckle to himself. He shook his head and was about to turn and walk away when Megumi made her presence known, "I don't know why, but I'm going to trust that you help my friends." Nightcrawler turned to her with an open ear. "These people are all very important to me. They helped me when they really had no business doing so. I want you to take this cream for Kenshin. Knowing him, he's not gonna want you or any of his friends to do much fighting. The cream will help Kenshin heal and seeing that you are probably going to be the leader of this group, I figured you ought to be the one to hold it."
Nightcrawler took the cream and pocketed it. He was about to walk away when Megumi let Nightcrawler in on one last plea: "I've seen your abilities at work and I know you are good people. Please, if the time comes that you must, please get my friends to safety." Nightcrawler looked Megumi in the eye and gave her one reassuring nod. He walked over to a barn area in the back of the school while Megumi went back inside to school to continue her daily chores.
In the barn, Marty and Doc Brown were working on different ways to get back to the present day. When they had traveled back in time a stray bullet from the action beforehand placed a small hole in the side of the car making it impossible for the car to even start.
"Marty, I don't think there is any way we can fix the Time Machine this time," Doc said with scared eyes as he looked into the back of the barn. He began to rub his forehead.
"Doc, Doc, Doc," Marty said with deep concern in his voice, "what do you mean there's no way to get back? There's always something. A train or a maybe a bolt of lightning! Can you remember any huge storms that happened during this time in Japan?"
"How old do you think I am?" Doc asked, "Ugh, it doesn't matter anyway. Unless we know the precise time that the lightning bolt was going to hit, we really have no way of getting that car to generate enough power. Besides, we can't even get the damn car to start. We would need some sort of sling shot to propel the car forward. Do you think either of those two mutants is made of rubber?"
"Not likely Doc," Marty replied, taking a seat next to the table they were working on, "I can't believe we're stuck here."
"I think I'm finally beginning to know what you meant all those times when you said our situation was 'heavy'".
"What's the matter with you two?" asked Nightcrawler.
"Were stuck here Kurt," answered Marty. Doc nudged Marty and with his eyes as wide as he could make them gave a subtle shake to tell Marty to keep quiet.
"No, the lady we were waiting for is ready to go. She has had a recent and sudden change of heart," Nightcrawler said with a smile.
"See, I told you Marty," Doc said looking down at Marty, "pessimism won't get us anywhere!"
Karou and Yahiko finally finished their race to pound each other and ran into the barn. "That guy in the puffy jacket and blue pants is Marty," Yahiko said introducing Karou to their new friends, "and the guy with the crazy white hair is a Doctor."
"Ah, how do you do?" Doc said grabbing Karou's hand, "Doctor Brown at your service."
"And what the kid said," Marty replied standing up, "Marty Mcfly."
"Very nice to meet you both," Karou said with a giant smile, "you have no idea how much it means to me to know you are all going to help."
"It is our pleasure Karou," Nightcrawler said stepping forward, "now, should we be off?"
"Yes…" Karou said holding out her hand for a reminder of Nightcrawler's name.
"Kurt." Nightcrawler said with a reply.
"We will board a boat immediately which has set its course for Tokyo. It's going to be our best chance to catch up with Sano and hopefully Kenshin."
"Then we're finally gonna leave?" Yahiko asked.
"Yes, but we'll need to hurry, I think the boat is about to leave." Karou said with a little worry in her voice.
"Is it the on the harbor on the east side of town?" asked Nightcrawler.
"Yes!"
"Then leave it to me." Nightcrawler put his hand out for everyone to grab. Once everyone had a hold of each other, only purple and pink smoke was left behind.