Two Paths Crossing: Pain of Kamiya Kaoru

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or ANY of the characters therein. Those characters are copyrights of Watsuki Nobuhiro and/or Sony, etc… In short, They aren't mine.
http://www.geocities.com/kirkis_elf/kirkisindex.html
kkisblpeen@aol.com


The second time


Hiko walked slowly down his mountain path toward the town. He'd run out of saké, for the first time in a year and a half. With no saké ready yet, he had to go to town to get enough to keep him until his homemade was fit to drink. The sun was a mid sky, on a summer day. As they often did, Hiko's thoughts strayed back to the stupid fool who left his training almost a year ago. "He'll get himself killed." He though. Then he stopped walking, looked back up the road, and laughed. "Why does my mind keep returning to that idiot, if he dies he dies. I taught him better, he just never listened."

His thoughts were broken by the scream of a young woman, about twenty feet off the main path. He looked in the direction of the scream, and momentarily disappeared. Three men were in the process of robbing a family. One was cleaning out the pockets of a man lying in a pool of blood. A few yards away, there was the decapitated body of a woman. Another man was pulling what little jewelry she was wearing off. The last one was a little girl, cornered against a tree, by three men with swords. She had a sword, but she could barely hold it up. One man was laughing as he knocked the sword away.

"This is what you get little girl." One guy said.

"Yeah, you're family supports the Ishin Shishin, you had this coming." Another said. Hiko stepped out of the brush, and walked calmly toward the three men.

"Hey who the hell are you?" the first guy asked. Hiko Smirked arrogantly.

"You want to kill her because her parent's sided with your enemy, How cowardly." He said, sliding his Katana out of its scabbard.

"Who the hell asked you," One of the other ones yelled. "Kill him!" The three murderers turned to attack the stranger. But they didn't have a chance. Hiko disappeared, then reappeared beside one of them. His chest burst, from five slashes. Hiko disappeared again, then again reappeared. The other two men fell dead. The nearest man got up and started to draw. Hiko flew past him; he dropped instantly. The last guy started to run away, Hiko took one slow first step then disappeared. The little girl watched as nine spurts of blood sprayed out of the last man's body. He fell dead. Hiko walked slowly toward the girl, cleaning his sword. She ran and got the sword, and held it in front of her.

"A sword is unbecoming of a beautiful young lady, there is a town nearby, I'll take you there." He said, kneeling near her. She closed her eyes and swung the sword down. It stopped. "I know, I'm going to open my eyes and The sword will be sticking in his head." She thought. She slowly opened one eye, Then both of them popped open, and her jaw fell.

"You should be more careful where you swing this thing, someone might get hurt." Hiko said, holding the blade between his thumb and index finger. She let the sword go and dropped to her knees in tears. Hiko was a little intimidated by this little crying girl, but a master of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu does not back out of any situation.

"There, there, I am not here to hurt you, I'm sorry I wasn't able to save your parents. But at least I could save you. I know your mother and father would be happy that you're still alive." He said, putting his big hand on her little shoulder.

"That may be, But if I had died and my mommy or daddy had lived, they wouldn't be happy to be alive, So why should I?" She answered. Hiko was shocked, She couldn't be older than five or six, but that was an intelligent point.

"You know, you're right. Your parent's would be devastated if you died. But I know that you need to live now, so no one forgets your mother and father. Here, climb on, I promise, I won't let anyone else hurt you." He said, gesturing for her to climb on his back. The girl climbed up onto his massive back. He stood up, and headed back for town.


"She's been through a lot, I'm not sure how it will affect her." The doctor said. "Physically, she only has scrapes and bruises. But the mind can be wounded and no one could tell. I understand a Psychologist from Europe said that a childhood trauma can cause someone to behave differently."

"But she'll be safe here? Those who attacked her family were after them for political reasons. Are you certain they won't come back?" He asked.

"If you want her to be safe, why don't you take her?" The doctor said.

"I have no need for her, I prefer to be alone." Hiko answered, walking toward the door.

"Samurai…"the girl's soft voice cooed. She stood in the doorway of the bedroom, barefoot in her small loose fitting Kimono. "Are you leaving, Samurai?"

"Yes, You'll be safe here." He answered, resuming his exit.

"Samurai…!" She called again, running up to him, and grabbing his arm. "You promised to protect me." She said softly. He knelt down to her level.

"You'll be safe here." He said.

"But if more come," She said. "You promised to protect me. Please, don't leave me here, I want to go with you, Samurai."

"I don't think she wants to stay here." The doctor said. Hiko looked down at the teary eyed girl, and sighed.

"How would you like to learn something to let you protect yourself?" He asked her.

"What?"

"The fighting skill I used to save you." He answered

"I could never do that, I don't think I could ever kill anyone."

"You tried to killed me." She looked away from him.

"I don't want to kill anyone, but If I can stay with you Samurai, I will learn those techniques." She said, standing up straight.

"Well then, I never introduced myself, Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu Master, Hiko Seijiro XIII." He said.

"Ikeda, Ikeda Yui." She replied.

Stories and Saké


Yui stepped out of her small domicile, onto the run down street. She was only a few streets down from Sanosuke's shack. Needing some saké to add flavor to her rice, she figured he'd have some, if he was there. She hurried down the street toward Sano's shack. She slowed to a walk before she reached his front door. "At least I have a door." She thought, touching the curtain, haphazardly hung above the doorway.

"Excuse me, Sagara San?" She said loudly.

"Hang on a sec." Sano yelled from inside. She waited patiently there, listening to the sounds of clothes being put on.

"Yes." Sano said, yanking the curtain aside. He was wearing a pair of white pants, or more appropriately he was not wearing a top. "Oi, Yui San, shouldn't you be working?" Yui stood there not realizing she was blushing. She'd thought Sanosuke was good looking before, but he looked gorgeous without a shirt.

"I…I have the day off." She answered, stuttering a bit.

"Well then, what can I do for you?" Sano said.

"I just came to see…if you had any saké? I needed some for my cooking." She said.

"Sure, come in." He answered. She didn't need to come in and he knew it, but Sano had a kind of radar for female emotion. (with the exception of Megumi, who apparently had some sort of radar jamming device.) Yui took only one step into his home. It was worse than hers; the roof looked like it could cave in, there were clothes and empty saké flasks here and there. His bed was a mess from a long night of tossing and turning, it didn't even look comfortable.

"I have plenty of saké, have a seat, we'll have some." Sano was not really hitting on her, he'd misunderstood what she wanted, he thought she wanted to drink some saké, not take it home with her. "You can sit anywhere, I'm sorry about the mess."

"That's not it, I just…" She started, but snuffed out the statement, and sat down, by his small round table. Sano had stepped to the corner to put on his jacket.

"How long have you known how to use a sword?" He blurted out. A bit shocked, Yui wondered if he'd figured it out on his own, or If Kamiya San had told him.

"Did Kamiya San tell you about me?" She asked, looking up at him as he searched for a bottle with some saké left in it.

"No, does he know?" Sano said, looking up at her for an answer.

"Yes, he's figured out that I am not just a young girl with a few scars." She answered. "Have you heard of Hitokiri Battousai?" She said after a few seconds.

"Yeah, everyone has, the legendary assassin of the Ishin Shishin." Sano said, wondering if Kenshin had told her about his past.

"My kenjutsu is the same as his, Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu." She said. Shock flashed down Sano's spine.

"How many Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu masters are there?" He thought.

"Kamiya San seems to think Battousai is dead but I know he wouldn't die so easily." She said.

"There was a bum who was impersonating Battousai when I first came to Tokyo, He was after Kenshin for wounding his hand." Sano said, pouring some saké into a small cup. He passed the cup over to Yui, and then took a swig straight from the bottle.

"Kamiya said something about a lot of people impersonating Battousai, but I've always thought some stories were true."

"We've come across a few Battousai impersonators, most of them couldn't even match up to Yahiko. One guy claimed to be Battousai to scare off crooks and criminals from a town. He never drew his sword though." Sano said, trying to bend away from the subject of the real Battousai.

"Haven't you ever given thought to finding him?" She asked Sano. "You were a gangster out to destroy the Meiji government for a long time. I'm sure you would want to off the Ishin Shishin's top Hitokiri." She said. Sano sat quiet for a moment, thinking carefully about his answer. "I'm surprised you're friends with Kamiya," She started, "since he was…" She started but stopped. "Oh my god, maybe Kamiya San never told Sagara San about his being Hitokiri."

"Sekihou tai was and still is very important to me. I fought Kenshin when I first came to Tokyo, I got lucky and got my ass kicked. But Kenshin said then, that people were still living the same old way, and that other people could easily take advantage of them. He said he was working for a true Meiji era. Those words reminded me of Sekihou Tai and our leader, his way of thinking was the same as Kenshin's. I hadn't felt that way since I watched Sagara die, Kenshin's words renewed the spark of faith in me. So, I stopped fighting and started living." Sano said, hoping she might not be so cold if she found out about Kenshin. They both sat there for a minute, without saying a word. Finally, Yui broke the silence.

"Can I borrow this cup?" she asked, holding up the cupful of saké.

"Sure." Sano said, a little confused. You didn't want to drink?" He asked.

"No, I'm sorry, I just needed it to cook." She said smiling. She stood up, bowed and made her way out his doorway. Sano sat and scratched his head. "She didn't want to drink? So I could've avoided all those Battousai questions?" "Damn" He said aloud.

Changing the subject (isn't easy)


For the first time since Kenshin had come to live at Kamiya Dojo, Kaoru was hard at work washing clothes. Every so often tears would fall into the wash, before Kaoru could stop them. She was trying to stay positive, but these sort of things always seemed to come up, and she always worried herself sick over them. "This one could be worse, Kenshin hasn't fought anyone other than Yahiko for almost two years now. What if he's gotten rusty? What is she's better? He couldn't kill her, so if she didn't believe him, even if he beat her, she could still come back and try again and again." Three tears plopped into the wash water. Kaoru sniffed the rest back and continued scrubbing.

Yahiko sat on the first step leading to the Dojo, watching his sensei toil away washing everything cloth in the Kamiya home, even if it was already clean to begin with. Ayame stepped down the step, and sat beside him.

"Is she doing any better?" She asked.

"Nah, and I can't figure out why she's so upset. Are you sure she didn't have a fight with Kenshin?" He asked her, looking her direction. Ayame shook her head.

"No, he left for that job thing this morning, and she kissed him goodbye." She answered, resting her chin on her knees. "I sure hope she cheers up soon, I hate it when Kaoru gets depressed." She said, scrunching her eyebrows together. Ayame sat, Kaoru wash incessantly. After about ten seconds of silence, she looked up at Yahiko. His face was filled with concern. "He may act hard like Sano San, but he really does care about her." She sighed, lightly. "He's so cute when he's concerned." Ayame thought. It never mattered what expression Yahiko had on his face, Ayame always thought he looked cute. He looked down at her, She immediately turned her head back to Kaoru. But she couldn't keep from blushing. Yahiko bent his mouth a bit in dismay over the developing crush on him. Ayame had been acting that way for a few months now. She'd always try to beat him even though she was just learning Kasshin Ryu and he was already halfway to mastering it. He sighed, and turned his attention back to Kaoru.

"Do you think it could be another person from Ken-nitan's past?" Ayame asked him.

"Without our knowing about it? I don't think so." He replied.

Kaoru finished her current basket of clothes. She picked up the basket and made her way to the clothesline. On her way, she caught sight of Yahiko and Ayame sitting on the stoop.

"Yahiko!" She snapped. "Go get some tofu for dinner."

"What, isn't that Kenshin's job?" He protested.

"Today it's yours, so get going." She said, bluntly. Yahiko stood slowly and, with Ayame watching him, stomped away.

"Ayame Chan!" Kaoru barked.

"Hai!" Ayame said sharply.

"You can help me." She finished. Ayame stood, and followed her to the clothesline. Kaoru took to hanging the freshly washed clothes onto the line. Ayame was less enthusiastic. She hated chores, especially when it involved being near an obviously upset person. Kaoru sniffed a bit, and turned her head.

"Kaoru, what's wrong?" Ayame said, touching her on the arm.

"Don't you worry about it." She said surprisingly soft for her foul mood. "I'm sure… It'll be okay." She managed to wipe all the tears away long enough to smile at Ayame. "Why don't you catch up to Yahiko, and tell him I need onions too." She said. Ayame didn't ask twice, she bolted (as fast as a girl can bolt in a kimono) away.

The crush…(oh boy…)


"Yahiko San… wait up." Ayame yelled at him from across the bridge. He stopped and heaved a sigh.

"Great, next she'll be hanging all over me." He thought. She trotted across the bridge to meet him.

"Yahiko San, Oneesan said we needed to get onions too." She said, grinning. The two set off walking again, and for the first five minutes, neither one said a thing. Ayame hated when she couldn't think of anything to say. Yahiko seldom spoke freely when she was around. "He always talks to Tsubame-Chan." Ayame thought, biting her tongue to keep from forming an angry face. Ayame had found herself in great envy of Tsubame. She was the only girl Yahiko had interest in; She never seemed to be aware of that. "She always acts so shy and innocent. Doesn't she realize how much he's infatuated with her?" Ayame refused to believe that Yahiko had any true feelings for Tsubame. She had convinced herself that he was just misguided.

They had gone about a half a mile without talking. That was fine with Yahiko, the less he had to talk to her, the greater the chance she'd get over the "silly, little girl crush" she had on him. He'd made the mistake of complementing her on her very early success in Kamiya Kasshin Ryu. "Now she just won't go away," he thought, looking down at his younger walking partner. "Even if she is getting kinda cute… NANI?? What the hell am I thinking?" Yahiko thought, returning his gaze forward.

"Isn't this a nice day, Yahiko San, the sky is so blue, and the trees and grass are so green. I didn't like the rain we had last week, but it sure makes everything look healthy." Ayame said, trying to make conversation.

"Yeah…" He replied, only half listening to her.

"And the air smells so fresh, I can't imagine living in one of those modern western cities. They say the air is filled with smoke, and the water is the same." She said, looking up at the sky.

"Yeah, I know." Yahiko said, paying a little more attention to her this time. It was a good point. Tsubame talked a lot about living in a modern city, and wearing western fashions. But Yahiko had always though that modern western cities were to populated and busy for his tastes, Tokyo was as modern as he wanted. She shifted her gaze from the blue sky, back to Yahiko. He was, deliberately looking ahead, as if he didn't notice her watching him. She unknowingly had a smile on her face.

"Is this trip ever gonna end? We'll pass by the Akabeko, maybe, if they're busy, Tsubame will be getting water from the well." He thought hopefully.

They turned the corner to cross the bridge, and Yahiko saw a familiar form standing on the bridge looking down into the water below.

"Oi Yui San!" He called, enthusiastically. She looked up at him as he jogged to the center of the bridge to meet her.

"Oh, Myojin Kun, What are you up to this afternoon?" She asked, smiling lightly at him.

"We have to get Tofu for dinner." He said.

"And onions." Ayame added, moving closer to Yahiko.

"That sounds good, I was going to fix myself some rice with beef, but I don't feel much like cooking now, so I guess I'll just eat out or something.

"Oh no, You should come and eat dinner with us." Ayame said, brightly.

"I couldn't, I mean, just to drop by unexpected.

"Nah, I'm sure Kaoru wouldn't mind." Yahiko said.

"Yeah, she's been down about something, I know having a new friend over will make her feel better." Ayame suggested.

"No, It's so unexpected, She probably doesn't have enough for an extra person."

"Well, we're going and getting the food, so we'll just get a little more." Yahiko said, scratching the back of his neck.

"That's just like what Sagara San does, I wonder if this boy is trying to be as tough as him?" Yui thought, stifling a giggle. "You're on your way to get the food for dinner, right?" She asked.

"Hai!" "Hai!" They both replied, simultaneously. She smiled as the looked, surprised, at each other.

"Come back by this route, and I'll be waiting." She said, putting her hand back on the rail of the bridge.

Terror; The first strike


Kaoru continued hanging the clothes up on the clothesline. She had almost gotten control of her crying.

"She can't kill him, not if she knows how much he's suffered since then. I don't think she's heartless, so I think she'll have to give up once she sees how many people she would hurt by killing him. Once she knows how many people he's helped since he was Battousai, and how he could never be Battousai again, She has to stop. Kaoru reasoned with herself. I'll tell her, no…I'll beg her to stop, if I have to crawl on my knees. So, I need to find a good time to talk to her, and tell her about Kenshin." She thought. She held up a shirt, and started to pin it to the line, when she heard the front gate open. "It's too early for Yahiko and Ayame to be back."

"Kenshin?" She called, walking into the dojo. "Sanosuke?" She continued, walking through to the front of the dojo, before stopping dead in her tracks.

"Who are you, and what makes you think you can just invade someone's home?" Kaoru said, angrily, at the stranger. The man just smirked, and looked up at her. She got a cold chill as his eyes met hers. He opened his mouth, and words seemed to creep out.

"Hiko……" He said, shifting his eyebrows.

"Hiko?" Kaoru repeated. "Is he talking about Kenshin's master,…No! Yui's." He smirked again and opened his mouth to creep more words.

"Yui……Hiko Yui" He said, softly and very deeply.

"Yui San?" She replied, again in a confused tone. "What do you want with Yui San?" She said forcefully. The shifty eyed, creepy mouthed man only smirked again. And then began moving toward her. She retreated in steps first. Then she just turned and flat out, ran for her weapon. She didn't make it. The dark man stopped her in the middle of the dojo. He grabbed her hair, and threw her against one of the walls. She felt a terrible pain in her left arm. He threw a fist forward at her head; she ducked, only to get the other fist in the gut. She fell to her knees, the pain in her arm growing. She looked down at it to see a bone protruding from her forearm. He knelt down and wrapped his hand around her wound.

"Tell me, where is Yui?" He said, grinning and revealing his green teeth.

"I…I don't know," She started. "And even if I did, I- AAHHHH" She screamed as he squeezed and twisted her wounded limb.

"Where?" He asked again. Kaoru could barely breathe; his breath was sickening.

"I said, I don't know." She replied. He answered her reply with another twisting and squeezing.

"You don't know? She's been here before, why do you invite people in to your home when you know so little about them?" He asked. She was still gritting her teeth over her arms present situation. The dark man pulled out a small knife from his waist.

"Where?" He asked, resting the knife on her right thigh. Kaoru bit her lip, before she made her reply.

"Why are you doing this to me?" She asked. He smirked again, straightened the knife, and pushed it into her leg. "Ayame is with Yahiko, Kenshin or Sano aren't around, Suzume is with Dr Genzai, and Yui…" Kaoru though, as she screamed aloud. He twisted the knife in circles in her leg.

"Where is she?" He asked. She continued to scream.

"Where?" he said, pulling the knife out. She sat there leaning up against the wall, bleeding, and breathing heavily. He waited for a moment before putting the bloody knife on her cheek.

"I'll take your face off, and leave you to live." He said. Kaoru drew in a few quick breaths, before coming up with some kind of answer.

"She lives…." She started, pausing to heave for air. "On, the other side…of town…" He slowly took the knife away from her face. She breathed heavy trying to ease the pain. She looked up at her attacker. He wiped the blood off the knife, with the end of her gi, looked back down at her, and grinned revealing his nasty teeth again. Kaoru looked closely to try and remember him. He opened his mouth again.

"When she comes back, if you're alive, tell her that Mori did this to you." He said. Kaoru opened her mouth to say something, but a sharp pain in her abdomen stopped her. The dark man stood up and turned to leave.

"Where is his knife?" She thought, watching him leave. She sat there for a minute, the pain in her leg and arm dulling, but the terrible pain in her gut wasn't stopping at all. She tried to get up, and noticed why her gut was hurting. There was his knife, pushed all the way into her stomach. She put her hand on it but she was too weak to pull it out. "Am I going to die? What about Kenshin, If I don't… help him, Yui could kill him…I've got to…" She thought as her vision darkened.

"Ken…shin…"

Kirkis' comments on this chapter~~~~~~>