Chapter 14

Waking up to a new night, Kaoru lay still, weighted down by nervous anticipation. Last night, Kenshin the Rurouni had well and truly left the building, and she'd actually had a conversation with Hitokiri Battousai, undoubtedly the first person to do so in a hundred years. But what man was it beside her with his arm draped lazily over her waist? Her bedfellow was still dead to the world; she could tell by the colour and generally skeletal look of the hand she could see. But which persona would he be when he awoke? Battousai had assured her the Rurouni, but… She dared not roll over to face him. Instead she continued to lie on her side, her hands folded under her head, her eyes open and her breathing carefully even.

Even if he was the Rurouni when he woke up, what kind of a mood would he be in? He may very well declare himself too dangerous to be around and insist on leaving again, and though she could call him back, she wouldn't. That would feel too much like yanking a dog's leash; she wouldn't to force him that way. And how did his arm get around her waist, anyway? He didn't move in his 'sleep' the way humans did, so had Battousai deliberately put it there? Why? Because he wanted to? Or to make the Rurouni feel awkward when he awoke in his place?

Kaoru looked at his withered hand again. It didn't really bother her; if you love someone, you accept them, even if they do resemble a mummified corpse when they're asleep. Hey, at least he didn't snore, right? Kaoru moved one of her hands down from her pillow and took hold of Kenshin's. It was colder than hers, but not as icy as she'd expected. A couple of degrees below room temperature, maybe. It felt as if there were no flesh or muscles under the skin. It was like sticks and paper, the pads of his palm like really old sponge, but she could feel the solid, unbreakable quality to it. She would have cherished that moment if she knew that Kenshin had held her in her sleep because he loved her, but she thought that was the most unlikely reason it was there. She moved her hand back to where it had been under her head and returned to her considerations.

The arm convulsed suddenly, and Kaoru could almost see the life flow back into that hand. He was awake. Kaoru continued to lie still, but she left her eyes open. He had not taken his arm away. She counted the seconds go by. Finally, she was aware of movement behind her as he pushed himself up on his arm. The other arm, which was still resting on Kaoru's waist, slid forward to support him as he looked at her. With one of his arms on either side of her, she was effectively trapped. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. She was relieved to see a familiar purple watching her. She would let him speak first.

"Kaoru-dono?" he said in his soft, melodious voice.

"Yes, Kenshin?" she replied as non-descriptively as she could.

"What happened last night?"

"Nothing happened. Battousai was very good."

Kenshin seemed to hesitate over something.

"Why was my arm around you?" There was a strange uncertainty in his voice, an awkward jealousy, or embarrassed suspicion.

"I was hoping you'd know."

"Oh." was all he said back to her. He continued to ponder this, his eyes moving as though he were reading something inside himself. Kaoru grew uncomfortable and rolled onto her back.

She suddenly recognised what an intimate position they were in. Her lying on her back, the bedclothes down at her hips, her hair pooled around her face. Him leaning over her, his arms forming a sweetheart's cage around her. Once again, she tentatively touched his hand, bringing him out of his introspection. Now his eyes questioned her, confused by the look he saw on her face and in the deep sea of her eyes. She didn't speak, she just stroked her fingertips across his hand, tried to put as much sex and emotion into her eyes as her inexperience would allow, and let him figure it out.

When he continued to be blind to her advances, she shifted her hips slightly, bringing them more out of the covers, and she got the desired result when his eyes involuntarily flicked to the movement. She also relocated her lightly-stroking fingertips from the back of his hand to the inside of his wrist. This time, as his eyes returned to her face, they moved slowly up her body, and when he met her gaze again, there was something other than confusion visible in them.

"Kaoru-dono?" he said, his voice ever-so-slightly huskier.

"Yes, Kenshin?" Her voice was low and sincere, intimate.

"What are you doing?" he asked, his eye line returning to her body. She was glad she was wearing the pyjamas that gave him something to look at. She inhaled heavily but silently, making her breasts strain against the fabric for a second. Kenshin's eyes flicked back to her face as if he had noticed, but hadn't wanted to.

However, his question had frustrated her. How much further did she have to go before he would get the hint? What was he anyway, a monk? No monk would have behaved the way he had Friday night. Since hitting him didn't seem like the most seductive course of action, she lifted herself up onto her hands, bringing her much closer to him, and she whispered in his ear,

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm trying to get you to kiss me."

There, she'd said it. If he rejected her now, that was it. It was that embarrassment that kept her cheek to cheek with him, avoiding his gaze. But then slowly he turned his face to look at her, and she was forced to meet his eyes. They were so close together, an eager breath and they would be touching,

He's not going to do it, she thought, He's thinking of a way to let me down easy.

But then she saw Kenshin's eyes flick to her lips and back again, and suddenly his tense body language took on a whole new meaning.

Kaoru closed the gap between them and pressed her lips to his. In less than a second he was kissing her back. She slowly lay back down on the bed and he followed her, keeping the kiss unbroken. She revelled in the weight of his body. He supported himself with his elbow, his hand resting above her head, while the other one sought her waist. She loosely wrapped both arms around his neck. His nose brushed hers and her heart gave a little jump. She had to force herself not to smile in her pure, simple happiness.

This wasn't the same desperate, fevered kiss of last Friday. They weren't attacking each other; they were just kissing, almost like any other couple. Of course, to Kaoru, it was still one hundred per cent unique. Just knowing what his lips felt like turned her heart into a diamond of love for him.

Suddenly, something changed. Kenshin's weight shifted, he began kissing her harder, more deeply and more franticly. The whole tone of his body became more like that of last Friday, more... ferocious. He broke away abruptly and he tried to hide his face as he slowed his breathing and tried to reign himself in. Concerned, Kaoru forcibly turned his head to see into his eyes. There was no dismissing the shards of amber there.

"What's wrong?" she asked nevertheless. He looked angry.

"I can never be what you need, Kaoru-dono. This is wrong. I could hurt you very easily," he said.

"But you won't. I know you won't. Don't talk like that, like you're going to leave me again."

The fear in her eyes was a knife in his heart. He softened, and then sighed. He lovingly brushed her cheek with his knuckles.

"If I was stronger I'd be able to resist you and do the right thing."

"Does that mean you'll stay?" she said.

"I thought we had already decided that," Kenshin replied.

"I know but I meant stay… with me. Be my…" she trailed off. The word 'boyfriend' just could not be applied here. He entangled his fingers with hers.

"If I can be anyone's, Kaoru-dono, I am yours, even if I do not understand why you would want that," he said, a light frown creating a single crease between his eyebrows.

"I'm not going to try to explain why I love you. You'll just have to accept that I do," she replied. Kenshin gave a small huff of a laugh and smiled.

"I have spent over two hundred years predicting the actions of others. I have bet my life on my calculations many times, and I had come to think I was quite good at it, but you always manage to surprise me. First you discover that I am a vampire, and instead of casting me out onto the street, you invite me to stay. Then, your friends reveal my past as Battousai, and you beg me not to leave. A week ago, I come within seconds of biting you, possibly killing you, and your only complaint is that I threw you to safety too hard. Next, I do bite you, and almost kill you, and when I apologise, you tell me I'm being arrogant. Now Battousai has returned, and instead of being afraid, you share your bed. I don't think I'll ever understand you, Kaoru-dono." he said, finishing with a sigh.

"Yeah, well, love makes you do crazy things," she said.

"That it does," Kenshin agreed, looking down at their mingling fingers.

Another night, another shift. The Akabeko had long been a second home to Kaoru. Kenshin had been greeted with degrees of welcome ranging from open loathing, to cold indifference, to impersonal disapproval, but no one could argue with the perpetual grin Kaoru was wearing in response to their newly confirmed 'in love' status. Kenshin had bowed to Tae, hands clasped in front of him, as soon as they'd walked in and apologised for wrecking her diner. She'd accepted sullenly, telling him it was lucky they kept spare furniture in the storage room. In fact, you could hardly tell that two of the most powerful supernatural beings in Japanese history had gone head to head just by looking around. A lick of paint here and there, some new tiles, and the Akabeko would be good as new, and Kenshin promised he would help with the redecorating.

Now the couple sat at a booth near the middle, talking quietly to each other. Kenshin was allowing Kaoru to play with his arm, testing and examining his vampire skin and muscle, tracing lines with her nails. It tickled pleasantly, and when Kaoru started on his hand, he decided to have some fun of his own. Just as she slowly stroked his index finger, he used every ounce of his exceptional vampire speed to snatch his hand away and seize hers. He smiled in a predatory way when she jumped and squeaked adorably. He held her eyes as he brought her hand to his lips and kissed it like a gentleman. She gave a nervous little laugh when he grinned, inadvertently baring his fangs to her.

"Sickening, Battousai," said a cold and humourless voice. They looked up, but Kenshin didn't let go of Kaoru's hand.

"Hello, Saitoh," he said, refusing to be embarrassed.

"I see you're back to your old self again. Shame," he said, sounding generally disappointed.

"What are you doing here, Saitoh? Isn't it the full moon tonight?" asked Kaoru. The old wolf got a scarily eager glint in his eyes and he smiled at the memory of full moons passed and at the opportunities of full moons yet to come.

"Yes," he purred, if a wolf can purr, "But I just thought I would stop by and see if Battousai had killed you yet. I was curious to find out what had happened last night, but now I think I'd rather not know," he explained, with an expression of mild disgust that he didn't bother hiding. Nevertheless, Kaoru's grin was back in place.

The little bell over the door rang, distracting them. Sano walked in, and went straight for the counter to talk to Tae. He looked tense. In her new found happiness, Kaoru regretted that he had been angry with her, and decided to try and smooth things over with him. She excused herself from Kenshin and Saitoh, trusting them not to start fighting again, and walked over to him.

"Hey, Sano," she said cheerfully.

"Hey, Jou-chan," he replied, giving her a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, "You seem happy tonight. That's good."

"Yeah, well…" She glanced over her shoulder at Kenshin and Sano followed.

"Oh," he said, his expression darkening. He turned away from her and muttered something that sounded like 'unbelievable'. Kaoru wasn't going to call him on it anyway, but as he turned away, he inadvertently exposed a huge, purple bruise sprawled on his neck.

"Oh my god, Sano, what happened to you?" she said.

"Huh? Oh, er, that's nothing, you know… You should see the other guy," he tried for a boastful grin, but he'd never been a good liar.

"Sano, have you been taking jobs again?" Kaoru asked, referring to his fighter-for-hire days, and his agreement to give them up.

"No, this was… something else. A favour, to a friend." Although Kaoru didn't believe him, she let it go. "Anyway, I didn't come here to talk about that. I'm getting close to something big." Slowly, an old smile that Kaoru recognised crept onto his face. His you-know-you-love-me-and-want-to-feed-me smile. She would gladly pay for his every meal for a fortnight if it would make him any happier. And with Sano, it just might. She found herself smiling back.

"You've been working?" she asked, putting up token resistance.

"Like a dog," Sano replied eagerly.

"What a fitting expression." Kaoru looked up and saw Saitoh walking towards them. Sano had also seen him, and immediately drew himself up to his full height, his eyes narrowed. Kaoru sighed internally.

"Do you have to eavesdrop on people and sneak around like that?" she asked, trying to distract him. Sano and Saitoh were a powder-keg ready to blow. It was the old Hereditary werewolves vs Infected werewolves feud, and nothing set Sano off as quickly.

"Begging for food again, I see. Just like the mongrel dog you are," said Saitoh, ignoring Kaoru. She wasn't sure whether he genuinely hated Sano, or whether he just insulted him like this because he knew how it got to him.

"That's rich, coming from an abandoned stray like you. Tell me, how long are you going to keep up this one-man-pack routine before you just admit that you're no less of a mutt than I am? Pedigree doesn't mean much when no-one's paying for a collar." Both men cut each other to the bone with their words, mercilessly digging for their opponents greatest insecurities. Saitoh narrowed his eyes,

"At least I am my own master. These humans have you leashed and muzzled like an misbehaving puppy. Are the free meals worth what little dignity you had?"

Done with words, Sano growled at him. It seemed so strange that such a sound could come from a human, but of course Sano wasn't human. Hackles raised, he vibrated with a terrifying, menacing rumble that was enough to make anyone think twice. Saitoh looked as though he was trying to glare Sano into submission.

"Hey, no fighting you two," said Kaoru, stepping forward but knowing well enough that if they chose to attack, it wouldn't matter if she was between them or not.

Kenshin approached and stood next to her, unobtrusive but ready to intervene if he had to.

A jangle of the bell alerted them all to Megumi's entrance. Seeing them all gathered there, she came over.

"What's going on?" she asked, looking at the faces around her. They hesitated to tell her, but eventually something gave and Sano relaxed.

"Nothing. I was just leaving. Places to go, people to see, that sort of thing." He kept his eyes confidently averted as he shouldered past her and walked out into the all-encompassing blackness of the freezing winter night.

Saitoh gave a small snort and left too without excusing himself. Megumi looked back at Kaoru and Kenshin with an expression of surprise and confusion.

"Was it something I said?"

Hours later, the night, and blissfully Kaoru's shift, was coming to an end. Kaoru, Kenshin and Megumi had spent the time making polite conversation, if you could call a barrage of questions about a certain person's inhuman physiology polite, inside the warmth of the Akabeko. The night had been calm and uneventful. Whatever Shishio was doing, he was doing it quietly. Not a single person had come through that door looking for more than a hot meal and a cup of coffee.

Tae trotted over worn out and ready for bed, wiping her hands on her apron.

"Can I get y'all anything else?" she asked politely.

"No thanks, Tae, we'll be going soon," Kaoru told her. Her friend nodded and began piling their cups and other crockery onto a tray, which she promptly dropped as soon as she tried to carry it.

"Oh, butterfingers!" she cursed, kneeling down to pick up the shards. The others joined her, scooting around on all fours making sure to get every last chip so that no-one would hurt themselves. Megumi had one hand full of glass and two halves of a cup in the other, but as she moved to stand up, she stood on the hem of her lab-coat, causing her to pitch forward. Having to make the decision in a second, she thrust out the hand with the glass in to save herself, keeping her fingers tensed to avoid crushing the pieces into her palm. None of them broke, though she couldn't avoid dozens of little cuts. She swore.

"Oh, Megumi, are you alright?!" cried Tae, who saw what happened.

"I'm fine, they're not deep. They look worse than they are." replied the fiercely independent Megumi, unnecessarily strong at the best of times.

"Let's get you a towel." she said, rushing off into the kitchen.

"Thank you." said Megumi, following her. Kaoru and Kenshin collected the last of the debris and stood up. It was this seemingly peaceful scene that was interrupted when a man, wearing only a pair of jeans, crashed through the entrance carrying a colossal, chocolate-brown wolf.

"Help!" he called frantically to the mainly deserted diner.

"Katsu!" Kaoru cried, drawing his attention. She had only met him once or twice in all her years as head of the Dojo, but she recognised his straight, greenish-black hair. She knew him to be Sano's best friend, and the only other survivor of the Sekihoutai.

The man spun towards her voice, and hurried over. He laid the giant wolf on the nearest table, where it struggle to sit upright, barely having enough room it was so big. Its front right leg was horrifically mangled and covered in blood, some of which was drying on Katsu's chest.

Kaoru recognised that wolf and all the feeling drained out of her through her feet.

"It's Sano, I found him like this out in the woods a couple miles away. I came straight here." Assuming from his state of undress, when he had found him, Katsu had been in wolf form, and had only taken the time needed for trousers. He wasn't even wearing shoes, and he must have ran the whole way.

"Sano, are you alright?" Kaoru asked, afraid to touch him and make his leg worse. The wolf gave an angry snort, as if to say 'Of course, but how inconvenient.'

"Who would do this to him?" Katsu growled. Kaoru had never seen him angry before; he had always been very kind and easy-going. Now she was seeing the powerful wolf in him.

"He'll heal, won't he?" she said, appalled. She wanted so badly to touch him, just to make sure he was there, still alright, still warm and breathing. Afraid to touch him anywhere else, she tentatively laid her hand on his left flank, and Sano let her do it. Somehow, she could feel that this was Sano, and she relaxed as she buried her fingertips in his warm fur. She had seen Sano in wolf-form several times before, when fighting or at the full moon. When they'd first met when she was still a teenager, he used to leave a room as a man and re-enter as a wolf, just to spook her. He had a certain pride in his gift, a touchiness that was forever ready to defend against any slander.

Katsu was looking at Kaoru painfully.

"Kaoru," he said. "The bones have been broken. He can't stay in wolf form long enough to heal them. Unless we do something, and soon, he'll change back into Sano and he'll have forever lost the use of his arm."

Kaoru looked back at the senselessly large wolf on the table at her elbow. Sano was hanging his head, he obviously knew what they were saying. If Sano lost the use of his arm… Fighting was all Sano had, the only thing he thought he was good at, great even. Breaking his arm hadn't just been a message, it had been a sadistic act of cruelty. An image of the maimed and deformed limb he would be left with when his human body healed misplaced wolf-bones flashed in her head.

"Megumi!" Kaoru screamed for the doctor, who came rushing from the back room, took one look at the scene in front of her, and immediately took charge. She stalked over, shoved Kaoru out of the way and took Sano's injured paw in her hand. Katsu began filling her in as Tae arrived next to them.

"How long do we have until he changes back?" she snapped authoritatively. Katsu looked toward the window and went still for a moment. He was feeling the moon.

"Not long, twenty, twenty-five minutes maybe," he answered. During a full moon, the wolves had to change, but they could change back whenever they wanted. But just as there would a come a time when they would transform whether they wanted to or not, so was there such a time for returning to human form.

"It'll have to be done here then. At least we don't have to worry about infection. I'm going to try to reset the bones. It's our best shot." Sano presented his twisted leg and looked away in a very human gesture.

"But Megumi, your hand," interrupted Tae. Megumi turned her hand palm up, exposing the cuts from the glass. "If his blood touches those cuts, you'll become a werewolf too."

For one dreadful, suspended moment, Megumi just looked at her hand, not giving anything away on her face. But then she balled it into a fist and turned back towards Sano.

"It's the only way," she said darkly. She moved to take Sano's paw, but Sano had understood too much. He skitted away from her across the table.

"Sano," she sighed, trying to get him to come back to her. "I have to."

Sano just growled softly, a warning to her, not the same threat he had given Saitoh earlier. This was just a 'No', it wasn't meant to terrify her.

"Katsu, can you get him?" asked Megumi. Katsu was willing to allow her to become infected if it meant Sano would recover. He recognised that it was Megumi's choice, and they were fresh out of options. He slowly moved around the table towards Sano, hands out innocently, but Sano just growled louder and more fiercely at him, inching away. Katsu dived, hoping to surprise him and manage to grab him, but Sano leapt from the table and hobbled quickly away.

"Ken-san?" said Megumi, enlisting the other man in the room, who also happened to possess a supernatural strength. Together the three of them advanced on Sano, who retreated, hackles raised. Under any normal circumstances, a wolf that size would have emptied the room, but they knew he wouldn't attack them, he just wouldn't let Megumi near enough to become infected.

They had him cornered. Every few seconds he would snap at their hands, but otherwise all he could do was growl. As they got nearer, he made a last ditch effort to escape them by charging them, hoping to slip past, but the two men got him.

"Tae! Get me toothpicks and thread!" ordered Megumi, kneeling where Kenshin and Katsu held Sano. Once they had him pinned, he thrashed fiercely, bucking and wriggling, making it impossible for Megumi to work on him.

"Sano, stop being so childish about this!" she admonished, her voice breaking and giving away her panic. Their time was ticking away and, like it or not, she loved this man. She and the stubborn wolf before her were the only two who knew how badly she wanted just to hold him in his pain and cry into his fur.

But he just twisted his head around and snapped at her hands when they got too close. It was truly a testament to his strength if a fellow wolf and a vampire combined couldn't keep him pinned, and when he was injured into the bargain.

The little bell over the door rang and a blast of cold hit them.

Kaoru was the only one who could afford to look up and see who it was, and when she did she wasn't sure whether she felt better or not. Saitoh was the closest thing Sano had to a mortal enemy, but on the other hand he was strong enough to help them. He heard the commotion and came towards them. He was smoking, most likely chain-smoking, and was looking very relaxed and satisfied with however he'd spent his night.

"Saitoh! Help us hold Sano down," implored Kaoru, making her decision. The man stood, looking down at the thrashing wolf at his feet with an expression that was almost bored, and blew out a cloud of smoke.

"Why don't you just knock him out and be done with it?" he said.

"No! If he loses consciousness he'll change back," answered Katsu before Saitoh could move.

"So?"

"So, look at his arm!" Saitoh's unusual yellow eyes slowly roved to Sano's injured leg. The seriousness of the situation must have filtered through his languor because he ground his cigarette out with his shoe and knelt to help them.

Having Saitoh's hands on him did not improve Sano's mood, but with the three of them, Katsu holding his head, shoulders and left foreleg, Saitoh leaning on his middle and keeping the injured leg within Megumi's reach, and Kenshin pinning his hips, kneeling on his tail, and trapping his hind legs, Sano was immobilised. As Megumi shuffled forward to begin rearranging the bones in his leg, all Sano could do was howl, bark and continue growling, which he committed himself to admirably.

To rework the delicate structure of his leg, Megumi had to push her fingers into the wound and feel her way. Kaoru could not imagine how much pain Sano must have been in, and indeed he thrashed and whined, but eventually a strange, suffering quiet came over him and he lay still, not making a sound. In a way, it was sort of worse.

Using the toothpicks and thread as miniature splints tied around the bones themselves, Megumi was able to repair the leg to a degree that Sano could change back into a human safely. As soon as she finished, she pulled her bloody fingers away and wrapped them around his thick neck. She buried her face in his fur, allowing herself to cry for her lover, and the others gave her privacy. Although they hadn't been told, it was obvious that there was more to these two than just friends.

The rhythm of his breathing became faster and more erratic, and the flesh, muscle and bone beneath her hands began to twitch and convulse. She kept her hold on him as he changed, throwing her lab-coat over him to preserve his dignity. When she felt that he was fully human again, and the rippling sensation of his transformation had subsided, only then did she dare look at his eyes.

His expression was cold and hurtful.

"You stupid bitch." was all he said to her.

A few feet away, out of hearing distance but with a view of the couple, the others were standing. Saitoh was leaning against one of the tables, his cigarette disappearing in a steady trickle of smoke, as inanimate as a statue, giving the impression of being blissfully oblivious. Katsu was alternately wringing his hands and running them through his hair, allowing his muscles to relax, and his frayed nerves to calm. Kenshin was watching Kaoru. She was standing looking over at Sano. She didn't move or speak, a worrying determination affected her. She was too composed, Kenshin could see she was planning something.

Suddenly her head turned to address them.

"Send word to the Oniwabanshuu. This attack cannot be ignored. As of tomorrow night, we're at war."