Chapter Nineteen

The Message

Kaoru's POV

Returning to the streets of Kyoto left an empty, sick feeling in the pit of Kaoru's stomach. It appeared that things had greatly changed since the destruction of the base and the disbandment of the Choshu Clan. When Katsura's army had control of Kyoto the people who were forced to reside in the town were able to at least wonder about freely. It wasn't uncommon to see children playing in the street, or mothers wandering about their properties taking care of household duties—things like hanging laundry and gardening. But as she continued through the nearly empty streets she noticed that there were no children running about, and most people had boarded up their doors and windows. The few people she had passed in the street didn't dare to make eye contact, and their conversations were hushed as if trying to prevent the soldiers—now stationed at every corner—from eavesdropping. The distrustful, unfriendly vibe was foreboding and left Kaoru feeling rather unsettled. This was not the Kyoto that she had once known. Kaoru turned a familiar corner and sped up her pace as the small marketplace came into sight.

As she approached the small market Kaoru noticed that the booths had thinned considerably. Many of the usual merchants she had been accustomed to were gone. In fact, only a bare six remained. Her stomach coiled itself into a tight knot as she approached an old farmer attending his rice cart. Subconsciously she reached into her kimono sleeve pocket and felt for the velvet pouch of coins Kenshin had equipped her with. Satisfied that she hadn't lost her money Kaoru began to examine the buckets of rice, each baring their own price based on weight. Kaoru didn't have a great lot of money, but she had a fair amount that should buy them the essentials. Still she wanted to spend sparingly. The farmer eyed her carefully from underneath his straw hat as she picked up a bucket or two and tried weighing them. Kaoru felt his scrutinizing gaze, but ignored it. Finally, she decided on a bucket of rice that was perfectly heavy and fairly priced. She pulled her pouch of money out of her pocket and took the appropriate amount of coins out. With an uneasy smile se offered the man her money. For a moment or two he simply stared at her outstretched hand. Finally, the farmer took her money, and shoved it into his pant pocket. When his hand reappeared, there was a piece of paper in between his fingers that he placed on the cart and slid in Kaoru's direction.

Curiously Kaoru picked up the neatly folded note, her eyes never leaving the farmer's unreadable expression. Gingerly she opened the message and read the question that had been quickly and messily scrawled down. Are you Kaoru Kamiya? The doctor glanced back to the farmer. He had raised a single grey, scruffy brow and had crossed his arms over his chest impatiently. Kaoru swallowed thickly. What did this mean? How did he know who she was? More importantly what did he want with her? Kaoru finally nodded "Yes." She responded meekly. The old man grunted and pulled a bucket of rice from the very back of the cart. Furrowing her brows Kaoru took the bucket. She had many questions, but thought that she would receive no answers if she were to inquire this strange man.

"Have a good day miss." He said in a stale, gruff tone as she took hold of the handle of the bucket. To her surprise this bucket felt even heavier than the others. It was surely more expensive than the one she had originally chosen, but he hadn't asked for more money. Shaking off her queer experience with the farmer Kaoru gave him a stiff bow and continued to the next stand.

The cold front that had recently moved down from the mountains carried a promise of a late spring snow storm—an implication that could prove fatal if they were stranded without any provisions. So, this trip to the market was necessary if they were to survive the snowy days to come. The second stand Kaoru moved to was a shabby looking booth. It had been slapped together with some rough lumber, and their merchandise varied greatly. They sold miscellaneous items everything from houseware to canned goods. For a little while Kaoru sifted through the small selection of quilts, thinking that a little extra warmth wouldn't be too bad if it came at a fair price. Unfortunately, the prices at this particular stand seemed to be rather high, and Kaoru quickly moved away from it and to the next one.

The cart next to the pricey stand sold various vegetables, and some canned goods. Kaoru purchased two jars of pickled radish and a couple cans of bean sprouts from this stand. The young woman watching over the cart took her money and compiled her groceries into a small basket. Kaoru was rather grateful for her thoughtfulness, and graciously took the basket of goods. Having completed her grocery list the doctor took only a little while longer to rummage through the remaining carts, but didn't buy anything else. At last her shopping trip had come to an end, and Kaoru left the market place pleased with her purchases.

As she made her way out of Kyoto Kaoru kept a careful eye on the shadows of the surrounding buildings trying to spot her samurai. He had been very firm about not allowing her to venture into town alone. Kaoru wasn't about to protest against his company. After all she was all too aware that Kyoto would not be the safe haven she had once known. However, there was a problem, which was the fact that neither of them could risk Kenshin being recognized by a Shin Sen Gumi solider. It would only cause them unneeded confrontation that would rile up the enemy camp, and ultimately create a hassle for the two of them. So, it was decided that Kaoru would take care of the shopping, and Kenshin would lurk not too far away in the safety of the shadows, ready to strike if the situation so called for it. Today it seemed that their precautions proved to be unnecessary. As planned Kenshin met Kaoru at the threshold of the hidden, dirt path that winded through the forest to their temporary home. He took the heavier bucket of rice, relieving Kaoru of some of the weight "That was a strange encounter you had with the farmer." He commented, eyeing the bucket suspiciously.

Kaoru nodded in agreement "He was acting oddly. I wonder why it was so important for me to have that particular bucket?" She mused aloud as they continued along the overgrown, dirt path.

"I'm not sure."

The trip from Kyoto to their hidden forest home felt rather short as Kaoru babbled about various things she had seen in the diminished marketplace. Kenshin listened patiently to her idle chatter, every now and again nodding his head when it seemed appropriate in the conversation. Once they had reached the hut the environment had changed dramatically. The once blue sky overhead was blanketed with heavy, dark grey clouds. The temperature had dropped below freezing, and tiny reminisces of snowflakes drifted around in the air. The snow storm they had been promised would soon hit, and the two of them had made it just in time.

Kenshin's POV

The last bit of light had just faded from the windowpane when Kenshin had managed to get the fire fully stoked. Kaoru had used her time waiting on the fire to thoroughly clean out the old cooking pot Kenshin had discovered in the old, dilapidated shed behind the hut. In resemblance to her work as a surgeon he had notice how she was careful to leave no corner unattended. It was rather amusing to him to see how much time and work she had put into cleaning the old pot, knowing that her effort was simply a force of habit. He wondered if she even realized that she was treating it like a patient in the clinic. With a smile Kenshin turned his attention away from Kaoru and used the stick in his hand to prod the fire. A flurry of orange embers spiraled upward from the cinders as a wave of heat washed over his chilled skin. For a moment, he glanced to the pile of firewood he had neatly stacked on the far wall against the door. Kenshin hoped that he had enough to last for the duration of the snow storm. With that thought in mind his gaze then drifted over to the only window in the hut. Outside the snow seemed to be pouring down from the sky. If the weather didn't lighten up, by tomorrow morning they would be snowed in. The idea of being trapped in the small hut didn't bode well with Kenshin, but he knew that they had enough food, water and warmth to last them for a week or more. Surely the storm wouldn't last longer than that.

Finally, Kaoru was satisfied with the worked she had done in cleaning the iron pot, and was moving on to filling it with enough water to cook the rice. Kenshin listened as the water sloshed against the sides of the pot. It was then that his thoughts turned to Kaoru cooking. He had never seen her cook before, and never had he asked if she even knew how. Surely a young woman as smart as she was could cook though. As he became wrapped up in thoughts of Kaoru's cooking abilities, he only vaguely heard the scrapping of the wooden lid on the bucket being removed "Kenshin…" Kaoru's soft voice drew him from his unimportant musings. Peeking over his shoulder at the sweet doctor Kenshin was quick to register the confusion that played on her delicate features. Her head tilted to the side as she reached her hand into the bucket of rice. With a small tug, Kaoru pulled free a letter lightly buried under a pile of rice. Kenshin stood and quickly moved to her side to get a better view of this mysterious envelope from the farmer. Kaoru gently eased the envelope open, and pulled the letter free. She delicately unfolded it as Kenshin settled down next to her on the floor.

The letter was written on thick, expensive parchment. The handwriting itself was beautiful and flowing, it was the kind of writing one would expect to see of a nobleman. This peaked Kenshin's interest. He was familiar with the handwriting. He had seen it dozens of times at the tea house.

Dear Mr. Himura and Dr. Kamiya,

I am writing to inform you that the Choshu Clan has been far from defeated. As I am writing this letter we are recruiting men, and reassembling our army. Plans are currently being drafted to take back Kyoto. Forgive me for not contacting you sooner, however we were uncertain that you two had even survived the fire. If it wasn't for your acquaintance Sanosuke Sagara we would have presumed that the both of you had perished. Sagara seems to have a short memory, for he couldn't recall your location, so I would consider myself lucky that one of you happened upon the spy I had placed in the Kyoto market.

There is much that we need to catch up on. I will spare the majority of the details until we can meet personally, but there have been many advances on our part in Kyoto. I have enclosed a map of our whereabouts. I look forward to seeing the both of you soon.

Take care,

Katsura

They both seemed to have finished reading the letter at the same time, and on que Kaoru switched the page over to the map behind the writing portion. Kenshin studied the well-drawn map, memorizing the narrow mountain path that would no doubt be burdened with many dangers. His thoughts turned to Kaoru. He did not favor the idea of her accompanying him through the hazardous mountain pass. There would be feral animals, and ruthless bandits that they were sure to encounter on their way. Kenshin was an excellent warrior. His sword technique was refined to be as equally dangerous as his opponents. It was comprised of offensive techniques that were meant to be single strike attacks. One's opponent would not be able to continue fighting after landing one of those mastered strikes. However, the single flaw in his technique was that after he had sufficiently killed his opponent, Kenshin was left wide open for an attack. While he had no doubt that alone he would easily be capable of fending off a pack of wolves, or a gang of bandits, he was painfully aware that Kaoru would become his vulnerability. It would be very difficult to take down their enemies and protect her at the same time. When it was between him and Saito, Kenshin only had to worry about one target. He felt as those his abilities to protect her would be limited by multiple targets. Especially if one of them were to hold Kaoru hostage. That was why he could not risk her accompanying him on the journey into the mountains "Kenshin...?" Kaoru's soft, melodic tone drew him from his thoughts. He studied her carefully, noting the expression of concern reflected in her sapphire eyes. Had she already deduced his intentions? Her small, delicate fingers entangled themselves into the fold of her kimono as she adverted her gaze first "You plan to leave without me, don't you?" She asked in a hushed tone.

So she had figured him out. Kenshin placed his hand over hers in a soothing manner "It's too dangerous." He admitted knowing that his answer would cause her sadness. She recoiled away from his touch, and turned her back to him. No doubt hiding her tears from him. Kaoru could be so selfless at times. He had hurt her with his answer, and she still didn't want to hurt him in return with her tears "I fear that I wouldn't be able to protect you out there." He continued even though he knew a farther explanation was not needed. At times they seemed to know exactly what the other was thinking—this appeared to be one of those times.

Her response was stubborn in nature "I don't want to be left behind." She murmured her voice faltering just slightly "I want to go with you. I know it's dangerous, which is why I couldn't let you go alone." She bent her head forward, her hair falling gracefully over her shoulders as her body shivered with her tears.

"Kaoru I will be fine." He responded trying to lay her rising fears to rest.

"How do you know that?" She demanded "If something were to happen to you out there…" Her words faded as she turned around to face him. Hot tears were gathered in the corner of her eyes threating to spill over and her body trembled with anger and hurt. She inhaled shakily "I just can't let you go alone." Kaoru finished in an even tone. Something deep within him was stirred by her words. He felt as though he was falling in love with her all over again. She was worried about his safety. In that moment he knew that she did not see him as the monster that had taken many lives in the most brutal of ways. She saw him as a human man, and it was for that man that those tears now streamed down her face. It was for that man that she feared for. His pulse fluttered beneath his skin and he couldn't help the sense of devotion that only deepened for her.

"Kaoru." His calloused palm cupped her face "It gives me joy to know that you care for me this much." He murmured, pausing for just a moment to get his emotions in check. He had never been a man to be impassioned by his feelings, and he could not allow his heart to lead him to a foolish decision "But I cannot allow you to come with me." His response was made in a withdrawn tone.

His solid answer seemed to peak her anger, initiating a stubbornness that he had come to be very familiar with "I will go with you." She responded once again pulling away from his touch "I know that you only want what is best for my well-being, but it is not best for me to be separated from you." She protested with an unrelenting glare in her eyes. Kaoru crossed her arms over her chest indignantly "Aside from that, that letter was addressed to both of us." She pointed to the letter that had long since been abandoned on the floor "Katsura is expecting both of us, and that is what he will get."

On any other occasion Kenshin would find her outburst rather humorous; however, in this particular moment, he found it enraging "He will have to be satisfied with one of us. You will be killed out there." Kenshin seethed coldly. Kaoru wilted under his harsh response, and immediately Kenshin regretted letting his anger get the best of him. She shrunk away from him as he tried to capture her hand. Her blatant rejection stung, and he knew that he had made a terrible mistake. Kenshin's features softened "I'm sorry." His apology was genuine, but did not warrant her acceptance.

A few long, painful moments of thick silence lingered in the air between them before she replied "It's okay." She whispered. Kenshin once again extended his hand to her, and this time she did not turn him away. Kaoru gently placed her hand in his and he pulled her close to him "I still want to go with you." She told him as she settled her back against his chest. She was relentless. Kenshin wrapped his arms around her waist and propped his chin on top of her head.

With a sigh he gave into her persistent antics. Kenshin knew Kaoru well. If he didn't allow her to come she would make an attempt to follow him. Such an attempt would only endanger her "You can go," He began hesitantly "but I will have to give you some training before we leave." It was the best resolve that he had for their current problem. If he could teach her some basic defensive techniques, it would buy him sometime if they were to be attacked, enough time to ensure that she wasn't hurt. At this point it was his best tactic.

Kaoru laid her head back against his shoulder and placed a kiss on the inside of his neck "Thank you."

A/N: Thank you for reading, and as always if you have any comments leave them in the box below! :)