So that took a while because I kinda ran out of steam in the summer then decided to finish off a few projects so I could lighten my load before coming back around to this work. I tried to be a little better with how they refer to each other in this chapter because I think I dropped the ball a bit last time.
"I don't need an exam. I told you I was fine," Kaoru insisted. Her hands were still a little sore after climbing the ship, but other than that she was fine.
Megumi looked up from where she was bandaging Yahiko's wounds. Dr. Oguni had taken over with Kenshin after Megumi had handled the worst of his injuries. "I can see that you don't have anything more than bruises, but you said yourself you were drugged. I'd like to make certain that you're alright."
"Fine," she agreed with a huff, crossing her arms.
She felt some of the tension release when Megumi turned back to Yahiko's wounds. It felt weird to have so much of her attention. Normally, it was the boys doing dumb stuff deserving of her worry as a doctor.
Of course, it didn't help any that Yahiko and Misao kept staring at her. Yahiko wasn't even paying attention to Megumi's treatment to just watch her. Kaoru looked away, wondering how she was going to handle this. She hadn't expected everyone to be worried about her when she came back, but this went beyond that.
Megumi finished tying off the last bandage. "Now, stay still for once. Kaoru, if you could follow me."
"Okay," she said, pausing as Yahiko grew more distressed as she moved away. "It'll just be for a little bit. I'll be right back."
Misao got up from her seat to follow.
"No," Megumi said, giving the girl a sharp look. "You stay here. This is between me and Kaoru."
Misao immediately switched to giving Kaoru puppy dog eyes. Kaoru sighed. "It's not that serious. I'll be right in the next room."
"Fine," Misao said, crossing her arms and sitting back down on the stool she'd been borrowing.
Kaoru followed Megumi out of the room and over to an empty room in the clinic. Megumi shut the door behind them then turned to her with a serious look that didn't totally manage to hide her worry. "Are you certain you're okay?"
"Yes," she responded, just as seriously. "I know I was unconscious for a while, but I woke up in my own clothes the same as I'd put them on, and no pain beyond what could be expected from getting shoved into a wall."
Megumi looked at her for a few moments then nodded. "Okay, I still want to perform an exam though. You were drugged after all."
She made Kaoru undress to check for any injuries that she might have missed, and Kaoru's relieved when she says there aren't any. After she redresses, she asks Kaoru a series of questions about the drug and what the drugging had felt like, even going as far to ask her to perform a couple of physical tests.
At the end of it, Megumi nodded and said, "Chloroform most likely. It's a known anesthetic. The greatest concern is respiratory failure when unconscious, but you've already made it past that. There are side effects like nausea, hypothermia, and jaundice, but you're not showing any symptoms. You should be alright."
"Thanks," she said, feeling genuinely relieved to hear that.
Megumi moved to open the door then paused to turn back to Kaoru. "I'm happy to see you back home and safe."
"Thanks," she repeated, more hesitantly this time as she got the feeling her friends had a worse time than she had while she was gone. She didn't know what to do with Megumi's sincerity, bare of any sort of friendly animosity to distract and rile her up.
Megumi nodded once then opens the door to return to the room Kenshin and Yahiko were in. Dr. Oguni turned to them with a weak smile. "I've done what I can for Himura. He needs rest and time now."
"Thank you, Dr. Oguni," Kaoru said, bowing to him.
"It's no trouble. I am glad to see you both back," he said.
Kaoru froze, uncertain what to do again. He's been her family's doctor and friend her entire life, but he wasn't like this even after coming back from Kyoto. He stepped forward to give her a gentle hug, like she might break if he pressed too hard. She hugged him back. He held on for longer than she expected him to.
He left quickly after that. She looked around the room to see everyone who was awake staring at her.
"Is everyone going to be like that?" she asked.
"Probably," Megumi answered. "I'm sorry, but I have other patients to see to."
She left as well, and Kaoru turned to Yahiko and Misao. "So what happened to Sano? Why isn't he here?"
Yahiko and Misao shared a look. Yahiko told her, "He left."
"He left? What do you mean he left?" she asked, flabbergasted. She remembered her conversation with Kenshin about him someday leaving, but she hadn't expected him to just leave in the middle of everything.
"He left," he repeated, sounding a little hollow. "You were dead. Kenshin was in Rakuninmura and practically dead. It was over so he left."
She looked over to Kenshin, either unconscious or asleep, but looking pretty dead to the world at the moment. Without the grime on him, she could see the dark circles under his eyes and how pale he was. She looked back to Misao and Yahiko, and they both looked like they couldn't quite believe she was there. She didn't know what to do again.
She sighed and tried to tuck her hair behind her ear, but it wasn't there to be tucked. "Okay. How safe do you think it is for me to go home and get cleaned and into fresh clothes?"
"Oh, it's perfectly safe," Misao said. "The other guys in Yukishiro's group all got arrested before we even arrived here."
"They did a raid on their hideout in the city, too. They should be in hiding now that they know the police are onto them," Yahiko said.
Kaoru winced. "So I really cut all my hair off for nothing."
"Sorry," Misao said. "It was the right idea though. It actually might be for the best anyways in case anyone is hanging around spying."
"And so I don't freak everyone out being back from the dead," Kaoru added sourly, "Seeing as no one seems to be able to recognize me now."
"Yeah, that too," Misao agreed weakly.
"Well, I'm going home to get clean," she said, and out of the clothes she'd repeatedly swam in the sea in.
"I'll go with you," Misao said, immediately jumping to her feet.
"Okay," Kaoru said then turned back to Yahiko, "We'll be back in a little bit."
Misao walked her back home, talking about random things like everything was normal. It wasn't working. Kaoru opened the gates of her home and found nothing had been fixed since she'd left. Someone had attempted to clean up the damage, and she suspected that had been Yahiko. It all felt a little wrong despite her having been gone for less time than she'd spent in Kyoto. She let out a breath and entered.
She decided not to take a bath to spare the time, washing herself quickly and efficiently with a bucket of water and a towel. She dressed in another gi and hakama so her hair wouldn't look so weird with her furisode. She put her dirty laundry with the rest then rejoined Misao in the courtyard. "Let's head back."
They head back to the clinic. Kaoru opened the door to see a familiar policeman she hadn't expected to ever see again. "Saitou? What are you doing here?"
"I thought you were dead," Misao added. "This is too many people coming back from the dead at once."
Saitou gave them a disdainful look. "I didn't leave behind a body. In any case, I have questions for you, Miss Kamiya. I'd appreciate it if you'd accompany me to the precinct."
"Questions about what?" she asked, glancing in the direction of the room Yahiko and Kenshin were in. She could get out of this if she didn't know anything.
"There was a ferry in Tokyo Bay known to be associated with a criminal organization we're investigating and found with the bodies of the entire crew on board," he said. "A woman matching your appearance was seen fleeing the ship."
Kaoru felt her stomach sink. She had known something was wrong with the ship when she'd left.
"Maybe you should have cut your hair sooner," Misao said quietly.
"I didn't kill them," Kaoru said.
"Obviously," Saitou said. "That's why I'm bringing you in for questioning, not arresting you."
"Oh," she said, worried about how relieved that made her feel. "I can answer your questions."
"Good, let's go," he said, moving towards the door and motioning for her to exit.
"Watch Yahiko and Kenshin for me," Kaoru told Misao. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
"I will," she promised, giving her a nod and a determined look.
Saitou kept silent as he led her to the police headquarters. He guided her through the building to an office with a desk covered in paperwork and a chair set before it. "Please sit," he said to her, gesturing to the chair.
She sat down in front of the desk as he sat behind it. He pulled out blank paper and a western pen to write with, one of the ones that didn't require dipping it into ink to use it. "We have been investigating the criminal organization Yukishiro Enishi leads out of Shanghai. We intend to raid the island he uses as a relay. The other members of his group that we captured had not spent time on the island, only seen it as the ship loaded an unloaded. You, however, spent a week there. Any information you can give us on the island would prove very helpful to our efforts."
"Alright," she said, wondering if this was how he treated anyone who wasn't friends with Kenshin.
He asked her questions about the island, guiding her from one topic to the next while getting the most amount of information possible. She responded to the best of her recollection. When he asked who was on the island, she paused.
"I'm not sure if there are other men stationed there because I think they were ordered to leave me alone, but as I was leaving, a man with four large guards surrounding him headed up to the mansion."
Saitou looked up at her with interest. "Describe him."
"He looked short and skinny, but that may be because his body guards were quite large men. Short hair and a thin face. He wore all black Chinese robes."
"It's very likely to be Wu Heishin, Yukishiro's second in command," he said. He checked over what he had written then told her, "Thank you for your assistance and cooperation. I can see that you're escorted back to the clinic if you wish."
"I would appreciate that, thank you," she said because it was polite, not because she felt it was necessary.
He then led her out of the office and ordered a young policeman who couldn't be much older than herself to escort her back to the clinic. It was well into the evening by then, and she had to practically bully the man into stopping so she could buy some food to take with her to the clinic. It wasn't her fault that Saitou made him come with her.
The policeman bid her goodnight when they reached the clinic. It was quiet when she entered. She made her way to Yahiko's and Kenshin's room. She found Misao waiting there with only a lamp keeping her company. Yahiko had fallen asleep, and Kenshin didn't seem to have moved at all.
"I brought food," she said, holding it up. "How are they?"
"Same as before," she answers, holding her hands out for the food.
Kaoru passes her half the food she bought. "How have you been?"
"Well, things were going well before I got here. I was really happy to get your letter and to get the chance to see you again. It was pretty bad before we figured out you weren't dead, but still not okay," she says then shrugs. "But you're back now, and these guys are recovering. It'll be okay."
"Oh," she says, not sure what to do. She tries to eat to stall for something to say, but the food feels too dry, too difficult to swallow. It takes her too long to swallow the mouthful. "I can't imagine it. I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault," Misao rushed to say. "It's just Yukishiro's."
"I know, but it's very strange. I was worried, for myself and all of you, but," she shakes her head. "I didn't expect to come back to things being like this. I expected everyone to be upset and scared not so…"
Broken, she thought, but didn't want to say it. Didn't want to admit how much harm Yukishiro had managed to do to them through her.
"You're important, Kaoru," Misao said. "What did you think would happen? Sure, Himura has helped everyone, but you're the reason anybody stayed, even Himura."
"Oh," she said. She hadn't really seen it that way. She'd always known Kenshin had been the initial draw, and she knew she was the reason Yahiko had stayed because he was her student, but the others, she'd thought it had been for more than just her. That they all stayed for each other and would do so until other desires and obligations drove them onward instead of just falling apart in her absence.
"This is good," Misao said, gesturing to the food she had brought. She began chatting quietly about the food to lift the atmosphere. It was enough for Kaoru to be able to actually eat.
They stayed as long as they could before returning to the Kamiya estate to sleep. She doesn't mind when Misao asked to share her bedroom. She woke in the morning feeling more normal until she tried to tie her hair up to find it not there. Misao helped her make breakfast and pack a lunch before they head to the clinic, and she put in enough work the food to come out edible.
Yahiko was awake when they arrived. He looked so relieved to see her, like he'd been dying of thirst and had just been given a glass of water, though he covered it up quickly with a smile. Kaoru hated that he looked at her like that.
"Good morning," she told him.
"Morning," he said. "What did Saitou want?"
"The police are planning a raid on Yukishiro's island. He wanted to ask me questions about it so I answered him," she explained. "Have you eaten yet?"
"Yeah," he said. "They're making me eat stuff for blood loss. Did he say when they were going?"
"No, and I didn't ask," she said, taking a seat beside his bed.
"Why not?" he asked, sounding a little offended. "We have to get him back for what he did."
"What? No, why would we need to do that?" she asked. "The police are going to arrest him for his crimes, we'll hand over Tomoe's diary, and that'll be the end of it."
Yahiko stared at her.
"We only wanted revenge because he killed you, but you're not dead," Misao said.
"Kenshin already fought Yukishiro once, and he didn't really fight fair in the end," Kaoru said. "We don't need to have anything more to do with him. We can give him the diary and move on."
Yahiko looked angry for a moment before settling. "I guess it's not right to want to go after him like that."
"No, that's not true," she argued. "He hurt you and the people you care about very badly. You can feel however you wish about him. I'm definitely angry at him. I just don't think further action is necessary when the police will arrest him and he's sure to be punished appropriately. Maybe we can think of doing something about it should that not happen, but it's not necessary now."
"Why do you still want to give him Tomoe's diary if you think he'll be arrested and punished?" he asked. "Why be nice to him?"
"It's not for him," she said, and she can't totally hold back her anger there. "I can't claim to know Yukishiro Tomoe or her wishes, but I think she would have wanted her brother to know what she had truly thought. It's also for Kenshin. He did hurt Yukishiro Enishi. It won't erase what he did, but it is something that he can give back to him."
He looked a little chastised at that. "I guess you're just nicer than me to think that way."
Kaoru considered this. "You could call it that if you want, but it's really just a different way of viewing things. It comes with training and experience. I wouldn't have thought like this when I was your age. Besides, it's not like I really saw what it was like for you all while I was gone."
"Kaoru," he said, looking at her like a drowning man.
She didn't know what to do, didn't know how to make him stop hurting. She decided she had to try even if he pushed her away. She moved to sit beside him on the bed and pulled him into a hug. Instead of resisting, he clutched at her tightly.
"It didn't feel real at first," he told her, voice tight. "Even after the funeral, it didn't feel real. It wasn't even that long, just days that we didn't know it was a puppet. But it was enough, it was enough for everyone to leave."
He couldn't get out any more words and began to cry.
"I'm sorry," she said. She'd done what she could to prevent this, and it wasn't enough. How could she have expected this to break the others so much? For them to just leave Yahiko behind? She glanced over to Kenshin, still unconscious. She'd have to talk to him, and Sano if he ever came back.
Yahiko shook his head before burying it in her shoulder. Kaoru looked up to check on Misao, but she looked close to tears, too. She must have taken that as some kind of signal because she moved in to hug her as well. Kaoru shifted one of her arms from Yahiko to Misao.
"I'm sorry," she said again because she didn't know what else she could say.
It took a while for them to stop crying and calm down enough to pull away from her. Yahiko rubbed his face furiously to pretend he wasn't crying. Misao brushed away the sign of her tears a little more gently.
"I hope Himura is better when he wakes up," Misao said. "It was really awful to see him in Rakuninmura. I don't think he'd have wanted you to see him like that."
Kaoru looked over to Kenshin and didn't know what to think. She wanted to be mad at him for leaving Yahiko like he had, but how much pain had he been in to go to a place like Rakuninmura? He had surely blamed himself. She wasn't sure she could take it if he reacted to her like the others. She hadn't really shown him the state his leaving for Kyoto had put her in, and this would have been so much worse because she hadn't left, she'd been killed so far as he knew.
"It'll be okay," Yahiko insisted. "Things will be okay now."
Kaoru agreed, things would be okay, once she had words with Sano and Kenshin.
Yahiko was released from the clinic that afternoon on the promise that he would look after his wounds. Kaoru doubted it would matter much as they'd be visiting Kenshin every day. They established a routine of visiting Kenshin as he continued to rest during the day, and after dinner, they worked to repair the Kamiya estate. The damage to the dojo would require hiring a repairman, but they could handle the clean up themselves.
It had been a week since Kaoru had returned from the island when Megumi entered Kenshin's room in the clinic and announced, "Sano's returned. I just bandaged up his hand, again."
"Is he still here?" Kaoru asked, "I need to talk to him. If you've told him I'm not dead, that is."
"Yes, he's here and I told him," Megumi answered, "I can take you to him."
Yahiko and Misao got up to go with her.
"No," Kaoru said, "Stay with Kenshin. I need to talk to Sano alone. Just give me a few minutes."
Megumi guides her to another room and opened the door, "Here he is."
Sano stared at her in surprise, and Kaoru can't help smiling at seeing him again and his dumbfounded expression. "Wow, she really wasn't kidding about your hair. You looked like you tried to copy Shinamori."
Kaoru stepped into the room, ready to give him a piece of her mind over how he'd left Yahiko on his own, but instead he stood up and gathered her in a hug. It didn't feel like a normal hug you give to a friend, not even after a long separation. He practically crushed her to him like he had to check she was solid and real.
"I'm glad you're okay, Kaoru," he said, calling her by her name for once rather than Missy. His voice was tight the same way Yahiko's had been when he'd been trying not to cry.
It felt so wrong that all of her friends had suffered much more than she had over all of this.
She let out a breath and hugged him back. Then she said, "Stop, I'm trying to be mad at you."
"What?" he asked, pulling back enough to look at her, but not far enough he had to completely let go of her.
"You left Yahiko behind," she told him, some of her irritation with him for that bleeding into her tone. "I know it was hard for you too, and that he's not really your responsibility, he's mine, but I can't believe you would leave him totally alone like that."
"He was fine when I left. He had weasel girl with him," he said, but she could already hear the guilt in his voice.
"He's ten, Sano, and Misao isn't you or Kenshin," she said. "He was crying, not just because I died, but because you and Kenshin left him totally alone after he's already lost his parents. Even if you don't feel a responsibility for him like I do, I still find it hard to swallow that you would leave a friend alone like that when he's grieving."
Sano looked away with a grimace. "No, you're right. I'll apologize to him."
"You better," she warned him.
He finally let her go. She opened the door and found Misao and Yahiko waiting outside for them.
"We're hungry," Misao announced, "but Dr. Takani said there's too many of us to eat in Kenshin's room."
"Really?" she asked, because they'd all fit before.
"Tusbame brought food over for us," Yahiko said. "She wanted to check on Kenshin after."
"Oh, that's nice of her," Kaoru said.
They ended up eating the food Tsubame brought in the main room of the clinic as it was the only area with enough space. Even Megumi sat down to eat with them for a little while. Kaoru caught Sano's apology to Yahiko while Misao was talking with Megumi and Tsubame.
"I'm sorry for leaving you like I did, kid," Sano told him, doing his best to keep his tone neutral and gruff.
Yahiko gave him a suspicious look then turned back to his food. "It's fine."
Sano then looked at Kaoru, like he wanted to know if that was okay. She shrugged because she didn't know. This was between him and Yahiko. She'd already settled her issues with Sano.
After eating and cleaning up, they headed back towards Kenshin's room with Misao and Yahiko in the lead. Misao opened the door and she and Yahiko paused.
"Himura!" she shouted as Yahiko shouted, "Kenshin!"
Kaoru felt her heart lurch, they'd missed him waking up. She moved to go into the room, but Megumi caught her by the arm.
"You showing up alive might be too great of an emotional shock for him to handle," Megumi warned her, keeping her voice down.
"Kenshin's not that weak," Yahiko retorted, grabbing onto Kaoru's other arm.
"Maybe we should warn him about the hair, though," Misao said, moving out of the way so Yahiko could pull Kaoru through the door and into Kenshin's room.
She stopped in the entrance of the room to see Kenshin looking alright, sitting up in bed and having already managed to tie his hair back into its usual low ponytail. He's staring at her the same way everyone has been since she'd come back.
"See, Kenshin?" Yahiko said proudly. "Kaoru's okay, and she escaped from Yukishiro herself."
"She just thought that she had to cut off her hair to hide from Yukishiro's men," Misao added, peaking into the room around Kaoru.
Kaoru stared at him helplessly for a moment, wondering what to even say to him. "Hi," she somehow came up with, immediately feeling foolish for it.
Kenshin smiled at her, "Hi."
Kaoru smiled back helplessly.
Sano sighed behind her, "You guys are hopeless."
That's bye bye to the final battle because it doesn't need to happen after Kaoru's escaped and they have the diary now. Kenshin finished his character arc when he got out of Rakuninmura, he just announces the solution he came up with during the final battle. So that's basically it for Jinchuu and following the manga, but that doesn't mean we're finished dealing with the aftermath of it.
I'll be honest, the manga and none of the fic I've ever read have really been satisfactory for me in dealing with the aftermath of Jinchuu. Like I get it would be easier to hide how bad it got for everyone from Kaoru in canon where she sees them after they've recovered somewhat, but they can't do it when she shows up in the middle. It's also a bad move on Kenshin and Sano's part to abandon Yahiko who has already lost his parents especially when Kenshin's the one who had him become Kaoru's student. Even if he'd still went dead to the world it would have been a little bit better if he went dead to the world at the Kamiya dojo rather than in Rakuninmura. So yeah, you can't tell me Kaoru isn't the linchpin when they all fall apart the moment she's gone.
But the other thing is that Enishi just like destroyed Kaoru's life because it's not just the main group that thinks she's dead, it's everyone because she had a full on funeral. Like, does she get to keep her property after this? I'm surprised Yahiko didn't get kicked out because I don't think he got formally adopted or written into her will or something. I didn't deal with it yet because this chapter is dealing with the emotional side of stuff and she's just going between her estate and the clinic and no one's really recognizing her yet, but it's gonna come up, not super in depth probably, but it'll get acknowledge at least.
So yeah, hope you enjoyed the chapter!