Disclaimer: Sou-chan and Kenshin are not mine. =(
Author's Note: The whole ordeal with Kaoru's parents will be revealed later on. (gomen . .I know it sounds kinda confusing right now, but it's meant to be like that). Also one of my reviewers, Kay Kaylo, pointed out that even though Kaoru had a cloth around her mouth, she would still be able to make some noise. This is true, however, because of the cloth, her voice was muffled and so no coherent or understandable words could come out.
~ A Memory Forgotten ~
Chapter 9
When she left the room, she smelled food burning. Kaoru wrinkled her nose up at the unwelcome scent. As she made her way to the kitchen she saw the figure before her working on some miso soup. Her eyes were frozen on the spot as her mouth dropped open in an "o".
The man in front of her had long red hair and was wearing a magenta gi.
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Kaoru shook her head and blinked as she focused her eyes. Her eyes readjusted to the surroundings and she breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Soujiro turn his head around with a look of worry sketched on his face.
What was that just now? Mou, I'm hallucinating, she thought with a frown.
"Kamiya-san! You shouldn't be out of bed," Soujiro reprimanded her as he was approaching her.
She looked up at him apologetically. "Gomen Sou-chan, but I was having trouble sleeping and I was starting to get hungry." As she said this her stomach started to rumble loudly and he smiled at her. She was embarrassed and suddenly grew interest at the floor. Then remembering what she had said to him, the boy blurted out in a confused state, "Sou .. –chan?"
Her face started to become red as she looked back at his face. "I hope you don't mind me calling you that," she replied with a bright smile.
He gave her a warm smile. "Iie, . . I like the sound of that," he said sincerely as she smiled back at him. Then remembering the food, he said to her with a sheepish smile on his face and a hand scratching the back of his head, "Ano .. Kamiya-san, I kind of burnt the fish."
Kaoru face-vaulted. Soujiro looked up at her and blushed with embarrassment. Seeing the reaction on Soujiro's face, she started to giggle only to laugh louder after seeing the boy's look of confusion. Aargh, she yelped in pain. She had forgotten that she still had the wound in her shoulder. Soujiro instantly came out of his confusion and helped Kaoru sit down. He looked over at her wound and decided that he should re-bandage it. Kaoru looked over at him graciously as he was tending to her shoulder. She put her hand on his hand that was rebandaging her wounds and squeezed it gently. Soujiro looked up at her and smiled. They gazed into one another's eyes for the next couple of seconds, which almost seemed like an eternity. The depths of the blue pools, which they were looking at, entranced both of them. Kaoru was the first to snap out of the daze and mentally slapped herself for looking at him for so long. She blushed and said to Soujiro, "Arigato, Sou-chan." Then she removed her hand from his and he smiled while he got up from his position to get the miso soup for the both of them.
What was that?, he thought to himself in disbelief. He looked back at her and saw that she was in a kneeling position again finding interest in the ground. Her cheeks were still tinted pink. He smiled to himself as he saw the sight before him. Kirei. He got the miso soup and returned to Kaoru's side while they both ate dinner in silence. Both of them were still embarrassed about the earlier situation.
Soujiro broke the silence. "Kamiya-san, have any of your memories returned yet?"
Kaoru looked a bit frazzled when he asked her this and replied in a solemn voice, "No, not much. Nothing that I can make sense of right now."
He noticed her uncomfortable state when he brought the topic up and decided to talk about something else. "Well, we're going to need to stay here for the next couple of days until your injury is healed."
Kaoru gazed at him. Sou-chan is so caring. He didn't want me to feel uncomfortable by asking more questions about my past. She gave him a smile and then said, "Just be sure not to burn the fish next time, ne Sou-chan?" She laughed when he gave a look of embarrassment yet again.
"Kamiya-san, don't embarrass me," he replied in a joking tone. He got up and picked up her the dishes so he could clean them.
"Sou-chan, could you tell me a bit about yourself?" asked Kaoru. Soujiro's stomach clenched, he didn't want to tell her about his past, how he had been known as Tenken and how he was a part of the Juppongatana. He looked back at her and gave her his usual smile.
"Maybe some other time Kamiya-san. You need to rest now."
"Mou! Sou-chan!" Kaoru replied with a gruff.
"Maa maa Kamiya-san. I'll help you get back to bed," Soujiro said lightly as he helped her get up.
"Arigato," she said. When they got back to her room, he slowly placed her onto the futon. Kaoru was really exhausted from the little exertion that she put forth that day and also because of the flashbacks that she had been having. Before drifting to sleep she wished her friend good night.
"Oyasumi nasai, Kamiya-san," Soujiro said sweetly as he started to close her shoji door. Kamiya-san looks so innocent when she sleeps, he thought with a small smile. Then he headed towards the kitchen to finish cleaning up.
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Back in Megumi's office
"Oi fox! I thought Dr. Genzai and them were coming home today," Sano said gruffly.
"Something came up so they're not coming back until the next day. My, my, why are you so interested?" Megumi asked with a smirk.
"Feh!" Sano ignored her with a wave.
Yahiko was kneeling on the floor looking at both Megumi and Sano. He was in a stupor. They waited the whole day and there was not one word from the police about Kaoru's whereabouts yet. What's worse is that Kenshin was scheduled to come back the very next day. All of them knew that, which only led to the increased tension in the air.
KNOCK KNOCK"I wonder who that could be?" Megumi asked aloud as she made her way to open the door. Half of her was delighted and half of her was filled with dread when she saw the guest at her doorstop.
"Excuse me, is Sagara Sanosuke here?" the policeman asked her formally.
"Hai hai," Megumi replied as she opened her door wider to allow the guest into the building.
When Yahiko and Sanosuke heard, they quickly ran out of the room to meet him.
"D-Did you find out anything about Kaoru?" asked the young boy before Sano could get a word out. Sanosuke blurted out the same thing a millisecond after Yahiko had started.
The policeman looked at the both of them and nodded solemnly. He brushed off both of his hands as he kneeled down and began to tell them what they had found. Yahiko, Sanosuke, and Megumi's heart clenched as he opened his mouth, afraid for the worst news.
"Today we went to scout around the Tokyo area, looking for the gang's hide out. We heard a lot of complaints from people stating that they heard a lot of noise near the rundown restaurant in the more unpleasant part of town. Learning of this, Captain Fujita-san sent us to investigate the incident."
Everyone held his breath as the officer continued. This doesn't sound so good, thought Yahiko with dread.
"Well, when we arrived at the scene, the whole place was practically in shackles. There were about twenty-four bodies knocked unconscious and one who was dead, impaled by a katana. We didn't see any sign of Kamiya-san. However, we did find this on the ground," the officer said as he pulled out a blue ribbon from his coat.
Megumi, Sanosuke, and Yahiko's eyes grew wide when they instantly recognized it as it had belonged to Kaoru and it was the ribbon that she had been wearing when they were attacked that night. But they paled considerably when they found that half of the pretty ribbon was soaked with blood.
"I'm sorry. We haven't found out any more information yet though," he replied in a monotone voice. He took a breath then continued seeing that no one else was talking. "We've apprehended those that were found unconscious and have thrown them in jail. However, not one of them has come back to consciousness. We asked the doctor and they said that we should be able to interrogate them tomorrow morning. Captain Fujita-san said that he would allow you both to be there when he questions them."
The two of them nodded at the officer.
"Thank you for your time," the officer said courteously as he got back up and out the door. Megumi and the others did not move from their positions to walk the officer out due to their shock. Sanosuke was still clutching the bloody ribbon tightly, so much so that his knuckles were turning white. Everyone had a glazed expression in their faces as they stared at the ribbon.
Megumi's eyes started to tear up. She looked at Sano and Yahiko. Both of them looked so lost. She gathered up her courage as she said to them, "Don't worry. We'll find out everything tomorrow morning. Let's not jump to conclusions so quickly."
Sano and Yahiko looked over to Megumi as she spoke and the words registered into their brains. Yes, we shouldn't jump to conclusions like this, both of them thought. They nodded at what she said and came back to their senses.
As they got up, Yahiko interjected sullenly, "I think I'm going to head back to the dojo. Kenshin should be coming home tomorrow. It would be better if I was there to tell him what happened."
Sano looked at the boy and agreed. "I'll come with you, Yahiko." Then he looked over at Megumi and put a hand on her shoulder as she blinked away the tears that had started to fill her eyes. "You take care, Megumi." He smiled at her and pulled her in with a quick embrace.
Thanks Sano. I needed that, Megumi thought as she lay her head on his chest contentedly. They ended it reluctantly as she saw Sano and Yahiko out the door. When both of their figures started to disappear into the night, Megumi shut the door. Her body slumped against the wooden door and slowly her knees gave way until she was sitting on the floor. Tears that were unshed were now coming down like waterfalls.
Kami-sama. I hope Kaoru is okay, she wished as she saw in her mind a flash of the doll that Enishi had used to portray that Kaoru was killed. Megumi shuddered at the thought. No, no .. Kaoru is going to be fine. They didn't find her body there. She's going to be fine, she said trying to convince herself.
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The next morning at Kamiya dojo
Yahiko and Sano sat around waiting for Kenshin's return. Sano still clutched the same ribbon in his palm. The wait was excruciating for their nerves. Every little noise made them jump out of the room to see if Kenshin had come back. Around the thirtieth odd time Yahiko got up to look at the front door, Sano mumbled under his breath, "Enough is enough."
"Oi Yahiko," Sano called out.
"Yeah? What do you want?" asked Yahiko grumpily as he sat back down in the room.
"You're making me nervous. Just sit and wait," complained Sanosuke.
Yahiko looked at him and seeing at how nervous his friend was also, he nodded. They waited until mid afternoon when they heard the familiar shuffling of footsteps. Both of them held their breath as the familiar man with red hair and a cross-scar walked into the room. They looked up at him silently.
Kenshin smiled and pleasantly said with the familiar rurouni smile, "Hi Sano and Yahiko. Where is . . ." His smile started to falter when he saw the mellow look on both of his friends' faces as he greeted them. Kenshin looked over at Sano and saw that he was clutching something tightly in his fist. His eyes stared down at the familiar blue cloth. His eyes grew wide and everything went black.
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- To be continued
Author's Notes:
Hi! Please read and review !!!! =D Wow, this story is becoming longer than I thought it would be. Hehe .. ^_^ There are still plenty of twists and stuff up ahead. And now Kenshin is back !!! =D =D =D =D . . Hmm .. what can I do to him .. Author smiles evilly There will also be some more ^_^ Soujiro/Kaoru waff. Anyways, I hope you guys are enjoying it so far.
Thanks to my reviewers:
Nicky, wolfpack, Uenki, Princess of Darkness, Tsugoi Kakarlena, kenshinfan, kato, Souryusen, chibi, Briar, shippo, beriath, chibi frog, Luna Angel, hoots, kaoru-no-tanuki, Ana, CurlsofSerenity, pushpitake, Inugirl, kiki, kim, john, Poohbear, Jouchano8, anime lover, Clemen, Miya-chan, Kyoznekozukigirl, Aino Saori, wudnt u like 2 kno, kuru kuru 17, Moonwind, and Sanosuke Sagara for your support!
Anime Freako – Aww. . thanks .. your comment was very flattering ^_^ .. lol .. when I said that, I didn't mean it that way. ;P