What's Wrong With Sanosuke
They had a little less than a month to train for the tournament. Life at the Kamiya Dojo took on a pattern of sorts. Kaoru and Yahiko would get up early and train in swordsmanship before breakfast. Sanosuke joined them for breakfast then helped them with the chores: weeding, sweeping, etc. . . After the chores were finished, Sanosuke taught Yahiko the finer points of fist fighting, though Kaoru insisted that they call it open hand fighting. Kaoru got a break until lunch to do whatever she felt like doing. Most of the time she trained herself or meditated, but sometimes she stuck around to watch Sanosuke and Yahiko. After lunch, Sanosuke would disappear for while. At first Kaoru suspected that he went off alone to train himself. After she heard rumors that a path of splintered trees had been blazed through the forest, all the way to the mountains, Kaoru knew that's what Sanosuke did. He'd come back around supper time, soaked in sweat, looking pale enough to make Kaoru worry about him, but she never said anything about it. She doubted that Sanosuke would appreciate her criticizing his personal way of training. After dinner they usually didn't train anymore. Yahiko was always tired from working out with both Kaoru and Sanosuke, and Sanosuke always looked half sick. Sometimes they went for walks in the woods and sometimes Dr. Gensai and his grandaughters would come over. One night Yahiko taught Sanosuke and Kaoru how to pick pockets- not so that they could rob people, just because Sanosuke wanted to know how it was done. Kaoru tried to teach them how to juggle, but Yahiko failed miserably at it, and Sanosuke had absolutely no interest in learning, but must have felt like he was required to teach something since the other two competitors for the Kamiya Dojo had tried to teach him. So he tried to teach them how to gamble, but Kaoru wouldn't stand for any games involving spare change in her dojo. Instead he taught them how to balance knives on their finger tips by the points, then how to throw them.
Kaoru was so busy training for the tournament with Yahiko and Sanosuke that she hardly had time to breathe, let alone dwell on Kenshin too much. She did think of him sometimes. Kaoru couldn't help it. She missed him. At times she was mad at him for leaving her, and at other times she just wished that he would come home. She wondered if he ever would. If Kenshin turned into the Battosai again, would he want to come back? Even if he didn't become the Battosai once more, would he go wandering again instead of returning to the dojo? And there was always the posibility that Kenshin could be killed, though Kaoru tried not to think of that one at all. The only way Kaoru knew how to hold herself together was to believe that Kenshin would come back to her.
She suspected, however, that if she hadn't been able to keep herself sane, Sanosuke would have found a way to for her. It had taken her some time to realize why after she started acting like herself again, Sanosuke had started being so much nicer to her, instead of being nice to her while she made herself an invalid. Kaoru was grateful to him- how long might she have wallowed in self pity if he hadn't pulled her out by her throat? But she was troubled by Sanosuke.
The fighter-for-hire had always puzzled her. Her first impression of him had been that he was a tough guy with a good heart. Then she had thought that he was a cheap tought guy with a good heart. After Sanosuke had challenged Kenshin she had started thinking of him as a jerk, then after he joined the Kamiya 'family' she thought he was a nice guy, but cool and distant. Now she was being forced to revise her opinion of Sanosuke Sagara once again, though she didn't know what to think of him anymore. She supposed that she was starting to think of Sanosuke as a panther kitten- young compared to Kenshin and the revolutionary fighters, but showing promise of becoming a great fighter in his own way, though Kaoru doubted Sanosuke would ever be able to hold a candle to the tigers that Kenshin and the revolutionary survivors had grown into. Not that he needed to be more than a panther to survive in the Meiji era, though, as long as Kenshin didn't attract the other tigers to him anymore. And just like a young panther, Sanosuke had that adorable look of an animal that was sweet but lively, until you vexed him and forced him to show his claws.
Kaoru bit her lip. What was she thinking? Sanosuke? Adorable? At one time she would have thought that those two words could never be in the same sentence unless there was a second noun for adorable to describe. But now. . ?
"Are you alright?" Sanosuke asked suddenly.
"W-what?" Kaoru glanced up, eyes wide.
"You were just sitting there watching me teach Yahiko to fist fi- to open hand fight, and when we walked over here to get a drink you continued to stare at the space where we had been. Are you alright?" Sanosuke sat down beside her.
"I'm fine," she told him, staring up at him. It was a terribly hot day. Sanosuke rarely allowed Yahiko a break when they trained together, but since it was so hot this day, Kaoru guessed that Sanosuke had made an exception.
"Water's never tasted so good before," Yahiko commented, sitting down on the other side of Kaoru and leaning against her. He had drawn a bucket of water from the well and was drinking it as fast as he could swallow.
"Careful, or you'll make yourself sick," Sanosuke warned.
"I know, I know." Yahiko stopped drinking and dumped the rest of the water over his head.
"Yahiko! You're being rude. You should have offered Sanosuke a drink!" Kaoru scolded her aprentice.
"It's okay," Sanosuke smiled. "I'm not thirsty."
"Liar."
"Okay," Sanosuke's smile broadened, "I am thirsty, but I don't want to drink right now and would have refused the offer." He'd taken off his surcoat an hour or so ago. The bandages remained around his stomach, hiding the abs that Kaoru knew had to be perfect. The muscles of his chest and shoulders were perfectly visible, though, and shining with sweat. A lot of sweat. Kaoru had never seen Kenshin sweat that much, just like she'd never seen many of Kenshin's muscles. A swordsman as great as Kenshin had to have them, she knew, but for some reason she didn't associate Kenshin with muscles. Sanosuke was the one she always associated with muscles and sweat. Kaoru had once thought that guys who sweated as much as Sanosuke was sweating now were disgusting, but Sanosuke didn't seem unattractive even though he was dripping sweat.
"It's hot today," Kaoru said, because she couldn't think of anything else do say.
"That is so," Sanosuke agreed.
"Hot enough to be dangerous," Kaoru said. "I remember when my father was teaching at this school, he wouldn't let the students work too hard because he was afraid they would collapse from the heat. He used to say that even the strongest of us can only challenge the heat so much." Kaoru shifted slightly on the bench. Her flowing sleeve touched Sanosuke's bare arm. "You'll come back here tonight for dinner, won't you?" she asked Sanosuke.
"I always come back here for dinner, silly woman," he answered, shifting as well so that his upper arm touched her shoulder lightly. "Where else can I get free food?"
Kaoru tried to scowl, but it died in the face of Sanosuke's charming smile. She wondered when she started to think of Sanosuke as charming. "You," she huffed, and shook her head. "You're terrible."
"I know."
"You don't know as much as you think you do, Zanza," she teased, using his old nick-name.
"It's been awhile since I've been called that," Sanosuke stood and stretched. "Alright urchin, enough lazing around!" he addressed Yahiko. "Back to work!"
Sanosuke did not come back for dinner that night. The only thing that Kaoru actually cooked was rice. It was too hot to cook anything else. The cucumbers had started coming out of the garden so Kaoru had picked those and cut them into long strips. Cold sea weed salad, pickled plums, and cold tofu was what would make up the rest of their meal. But Sanosuke didn't come.
Kaoru made Yahiko wait nearly an hour, before finally allowing him to eat. She tried to eat some too, telling herself that Sanosuke had just gotten delayed, and that he'd be back any minute now. But after Yahiko finished eating Sanosuke still wasn't back yet.
"I don't think anything's really wrong with Sano, Kaoru," Yahiko told her. "He's probably locked in a prolonged game of dice with a couple of his friends."
"Do you really think that Yahiko?" Kaoru asked her student.
Yahiko stared at Kaoru for a moment then looked away. "No. I don't. Sanosuke said he was coming back for dinner. If he says he's going to do something, you can bet he will. If he doesn't. . . He's never not done something he's said he was going to do before- unless it's a death threat he issued."
Kaoru jumped to her feet. "Get two water skins and fill them with well water, Yahiko and meet me by the door." Kaoru ran to the porch where Sanosuke's dinner was still set out, along with the extra food. She picked up the jar of pickled plums and some cucumber slices, wrapped them in a napkin, then ran toward the door. "Hurry up, Yahiko!" she called.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Yahiko appeared with his kendo stick on his back, two water skins in one hand and one of Kaoru's wooden swords in the other.
"What are you bringing the swords for?!" Kaoru demanded.
"It's getting late," Yahiko opened the door. "If something's wrong with Sano and we have to drag him back here, he's not going to be able to fight if someone wants to take advantage of an invalid, a girl, and a kid."
"True," Kaoru took her sword from Yahiko. "Alright, let's go."
"Do you have any idea where to find Sanosuke?" Yahiko asked as they jogged through the streets.
"The woods. Near where they're constructing the new road. Don't talk, just hurry." Thankfully it was getting cooler as the sun set. Kaoru still found it hard to breath though. Her worry was choking her and her heart seemed to beat in time with the pounding of her feet on the street. If something was seriously wrong with Sanosuke she didn't know what she'd do. She didn't know what she could do. When Kenshin was around it had been different. Kenshin was strong enough to carry Sanosuke to shelter or safety. Kaoru and Yahiko would be able to drag him if need be, but she didn't want to resort to that. When Kenshin was around he looked out for everyone, whether they needed to be looked out for or not. He wasn't obvious about it, of course, but Kaoru always knew he was ready to step in if anyone tried to harm his friends. Even with Kenshin gone, Kaoru had always known that she had Sanosuke to look after her and Yahiko. He was strong enough to protet them from everyone except the revolution fanatic warriors. If something had happened to Sanosuke, she and Yahiko would be all alone. If something had happened to Sanosuke. . . If something had happened to Sanosuke. . . Kaoru couldn't afford to think about that now. "This way," she told Yahiko, turning onto the street leading out of the city. They ran until they reached the forest then slowed down.
"How are we going to find him?" Yahiko asked.
"I don't know," Kaoru admitted. "Praying to the gods and guessing, I suppose."
"Let's hope the gods are listening," Yahiko looked around. "I don't think that guessing will get us anywhere."
"Sanosuke," Kaoru whispered. "Where are you?"
"Perhaps if we were to call him?" Yahiko asked.
"Good idea. SANOSUKE!"
"SANOSUKE!!!" Yahiko echoed. They began walking up the mountain side. "SANO!!! SANO!!!"
"SANOSUKE!!!" Between each shout they stopped to listen before calling again. "SANOSUKE!!!" They walked for a long time, calling their friend's name. "Sanosuke!" Kaoru gasped. Sanosuke stood before them surrounded and ensnared by a multitude of thick strings. Iron weights had been tied to strings then looped over his shoulders so they hung on either side of him.
"Kumo?" Yahiko asked fearfully, looking around.
"Kumo? You mean spider demons? I don't think so," Kaoru ran forward. "These cables are tied to the trees with one end and Sanosuke with the other. A human did this deliberately. And I think that human was probably Sanosuke himself."
"Why the hell would Sano tie himself up like this?!" Yahiko demanded, joining Kaoru in front of the snarl of ropes.
"To train," Kaoru placed a hand on a rope and pushed down, obviously putting a great deal of strength behind it. The rope bent, but only a little. "Every time he tries to move he fights against the ropes," she told Yahiko. "They're made of something that stretches, I don't know what, but he has to fight against it to throw every punch and take every step. It seems like an intense way of training, and I think Sanosuke took it a little too far." Through their whole conversation Sanosuke hadn't so much as lifted his head. "The heat and the intensity of the training got to be too much for Sano. I think he passed out before he realized he was in trouble. We need to get him out of there now, and we need to get some water in him." She put down her bundle and sword and began climbing over and ducking under the cables to get to Sanosuke. Yahiko followed with the water skins.
"Mmnnh" Sanosuke gave a muted groan as Kaoru reached him. She thought he saw his eyes flutter, but couldn't be sure.
"Give me the water skins, Yahiko, and start untying the ropes on his feet and legs." Yahiko obeyed and Kaoru stood on tip toes while she uncorked the water skin. "There's no sweat on him. That's a bad sign." Kaoru tilted Sanosuke's head back and put the water bottle in his mouth, pouring the water in. "Sanosuke you fool, you better be okay!" She poured some water over his head, then made him drink some more before putting the bottles down and helping Yahiko with the ropes.
"Ka-" Sanosuke's eyes opened a crack. "Ka. . . Kaoru."
"Hush," Kaoru told him, picking up the water bottle and holding it to his lips once more. "Drink. Small sips."
Sanosuke obeyed. "Ka- Kaoru."
"I'm here," she told him, pouring some more water over his head. "You'll be okay Sano. We're here. We'll get you home."
"Kaoru. Weights."
"What?" Kaoru asked, looking down at the weights that hung from Sanosuke's shoulders on cords that criss-crossed over Sanosuke's perfect chest muscles. Following the cords with her eyes, Kaoru saw the problem. "They're cutting into the sides of your throat!" she cried, horrifed. Kaoru immediately grabbed the closest weight and raised it and untangled it from the other strung weights. She let it fall to the ground, partly because she was in a hurry to get the other one off of Sanosuke and partly because she couldn't hold onto it. Kaoru wondered if the weights weighed as much as she did. "Drink," she ordered Sanosuke again when the other weight was gone.
He tried to disobey. "Kaoru-"
"I said DRINK!" Kaoru grabbed Sanosuke's chin and tilted his head back, forcing the water into his mouth. "You're dehydrated you idiot. If you don't get some fluids into you then you're going to get even sicker than you already are!"
Sanosuke choked on the water and spit some of it out. He continued to cough.
"Oh Sanosuke," Kaoru felt bad for yelling at him. She wiped his face with the sleeve of her kimono. "You're going to be okay."
"I've gotten all the ropes I can, Kaoru," Yahiko told her. "You need to get the ones on his arms. I can't reach those."
Kaoru poured the rest of the water from the first skin over Sanosuke's head and down his back. "Hold him around the waist Yahiko. When I get these off he's going to fall foreward." Kaoru went to work untying the rest of Sanosuke's ropes. She was able to help catch him when he fell. Kaoru and Yahiko dragged Sanosuke across the clearing and propped him so he was sitting with his back to a tree. "Eat," Kaoru ordered him now, holding a slice of cucumber to his mouth.
"I'll get sick," Sanosuke told her, his eyelids struggled to stay open, then sunk to meet their lower counterparts.
"Then drink," Kaoru picked up the jar of pickled plums and held it to Sanosuke's lips. She poured the plum flavored vinegar into his mouth slowly so he wouldn't choke.
"That's not water," Sanosuke protested when she took it away.
"I know, but you're still going to drink it."
"Yuck," Yahiko made a terrible face. "You really are a terrible woman, Kaoru, making poor Sanosuke drink vinegar!"
"What do you mean I'm a terrible woman?!" Kaoru demanded
"What do you mean 'poor Sanosuke'?!" Sanosuke coughed angrily.
"Don't cough," Kaoru said, calming almost immediatly. "And don't talk. Your throat is probably still dry."
"Today was the first time I used those weights," Sanosuke explained. "I didn't count on them strangling me. They were fine at first, but-"
"If you can talk then you can eat!" Kaoru jammed a piece of cucumber into Sanosuke's mouth.
"Kaoru! You're going to make him choke again!" Yahiko protested.
"Shut up, Yahiko!" she snapped, then more gently to Sanosuke she said, "We're going to have a hard time getting you home tonight, Sanosuke. Why don't we just stay here tonight? That way you won't have to get up again until tomorrow morning."
"Mmmnn," Sanosuke seemed to agree.
"Drink a little bit more and then you can go to sleep," Kaoru poured some more of the plum vinegar into his mouth.
"I swear, you would have made an excellent master torturer for the shogun," Yahiko muttered. "Have you ever tried drinking that stuff Kaoru? It's nasty as hell!"
"Watch your mouth!" Kaoru slapped Yahiko.
"Sorry Sanosuke. I tried," Yahiko told their less than consious friend.
"Just shut up, Yahiko," Kaoru said, wrapping her arms around Sanosuke's shoulders and pulling him gently to the ground. "Go to sleep Sano. You're safe now."
Sanosuke sighed. "Kaoru," he whispered
"Yes?" Kaoru leaned in close to hear what Sanosuke had to say. But Sanosuke was asleep.
When Sanosuke awoke he was aware of only one thing: How incredibly dizzy he was. He couldn't tell if he was standing or sitting or laying down. There was light shining directly in his face. What was going on?
"Kaoru?" he asked. He wasn't sure why he called out to her- he didn't know where he was and if she was near enough to hear.
"Sanosuke. You're finally awake," Kaoru's cheery voice cut through his growing head ache. Her face appeared in his field of vision. "How are you feeling?"
"Miserable," Sanosuke forced himself into a sitting position. Kaoru put an arm around his shoulders to help him. "What happened? Did I get into a fight?"
"No. You almost strangled yourself with weights while you were training."
"Oh, yeah."
"Drink." A skin of water was thrust into his face. Sanosuke took it from Kaoru and obeyed her order. "This training you've been doing is dangerous, Sanosuke," Kaoru told him. "You shouldn't do it unsupervised. What if someone came up and wanted to kill you? You wouldn't be able to untie yourself quickly enough to fight."
"This type of training makes me stronger," Sanosuke said when he finished drinking. "Stronger and faster. Two things that I need to be able to fight in the same league as the legends of the revolution."
"That doesn't make it any less dangerous!" Kaoru shouted. "I don't have any objections to you training this way as long as there's someone with you to help you if your weights start strangling you or to untie you if you need to be freed quickly."
"I'm not going to drag you and Yahiko all the way out here every day," Sanosuke told her.
"I'm not asking you to! There's no reason why you can't train at the Kamiya Dojo the same way you train here. We can move your ropes into the storehouse and you can train in there, where I can get to you if you start choking!" Kaoru shouted.
Sanosuke looked at the ground, scowling. "Today- or yesterday- was the first time I used the extra weights. They kept slipping off my shoulders so I crossed them across my body. Then it was fine until I stopped sweating and tried to untie myself before I took the weights off. That's when they started strangling me."
"Train at the dojo where I can keep an eye on you," Kaoru told him, "So I can make sure you don't get your fool self killed."
"I don't need anyone keeping an eye on me," Sanosuke scowled. "I'm not some child who's going to get himself trampled by a horse the moment you let go of my hand."
"I know that, Sanosuke," Kaoru told him, "But that doesn't mean I don't worry about you when you go off and do something dangerous without anyone with you. Besides, you waste an awful lot of time walking from the dojo to this place and back every day, don't you?"
"I do," Sanosuke had to admit.
"Then move these ropes back home. You can train there."
"Alright," Sanosuke sighed.
"Good. Now that we've got that settled, eat something," Kaoru ordered, shoving a jar of pickled plums into his face.
"I hate pickled plums," Sanosuke tried to scoot away from the offending food.
"I DON'T CARE!!! YOU WILL EAT THEM BECAUSE THEY'RE GOOD FOR YOU!!!" Kaoru screamed.
Sanosuke swallowed. Under normal circumstances he probably would have rebelled. Right now he was dizzy, hungry, and had a terrible head ache that would only get worse if Kaoru continued to scream. "Alright," he gave in.
Kaoru's smirk was annoying, but kind of cute- in a strictly non-romantic way, Sanosuke told himself. What she said, however, was not cute at all, just annoying. "Now you see how it is."
They had a little less than a month to train for the tournament. Life at the Kamiya Dojo took on a pattern of sorts. Kaoru and Yahiko would get up early and train in swordsmanship before breakfast. Sanosuke joined them for breakfast then helped them with the chores: weeding, sweeping, etc. . . After the chores were finished, Sanosuke taught Yahiko the finer points of fist fighting, though Kaoru insisted that they call it open hand fighting. Kaoru got a break until lunch to do whatever she felt like doing. Most of the time she trained herself or meditated, but sometimes she stuck around to watch Sanosuke and Yahiko. After lunch, Sanosuke would disappear for while. At first Kaoru suspected that he went off alone to train himself. After she heard rumors that a path of splintered trees had been blazed through the forest, all the way to the mountains, Kaoru knew that's what Sanosuke did. He'd come back around supper time, soaked in sweat, looking pale enough to make Kaoru worry about him, but she never said anything about it. She doubted that Sanosuke would appreciate her criticizing his personal way of training. After dinner they usually didn't train anymore. Yahiko was always tired from working out with both Kaoru and Sanosuke, and Sanosuke always looked half sick. Sometimes they went for walks in the woods and sometimes Dr. Gensai and his grandaughters would come over. One night Yahiko taught Sanosuke and Kaoru how to pick pockets- not so that they could rob people, just because Sanosuke wanted to know how it was done. Kaoru tried to teach them how to juggle, but Yahiko failed miserably at it, and Sanosuke had absolutely no interest in learning, but must have felt like he was required to teach something since the other two competitors for the Kamiya Dojo had tried to teach him. So he tried to teach them how to gamble, but Kaoru wouldn't stand for any games involving spare change in her dojo. Instead he taught them how to balance knives on their finger tips by the points, then how to throw them.
Kaoru was so busy training for the tournament with Yahiko and Sanosuke that she hardly had time to breathe, let alone dwell on Kenshin too much. She did think of him sometimes. Kaoru couldn't help it. She missed him. At times she was mad at him for leaving her, and at other times she just wished that he would come home. She wondered if he ever would. If Kenshin turned into the Battosai again, would he want to come back? Even if he didn't become the Battosai once more, would he go wandering again instead of returning to the dojo? And there was always the posibility that Kenshin could be killed, though Kaoru tried not to think of that one at all. The only way Kaoru knew how to hold herself together was to believe that Kenshin would come back to her.
She suspected, however, that if she hadn't been able to keep herself sane, Sanosuke would have found a way to for her. It had taken her some time to realize why after she started acting like herself again, Sanosuke had started being so much nicer to her, instead of being nice to her while she made herself an invalid. Kaoru was grateful to him- how long might she have wallowed in self pity if he hadn't pulled her out by her throat? But she was troubled by Sanosuke.
The fighter-for-hire had always puzzled her. Her first impression of him had been that he was a tough guy with a good heart. Then she had thought that he was a cheap tought guy with a good heart. After Sanosuke had challenged Kenshin she had started thinking of him as a jerk, then after he joined the Kamiya 'family' she thought he was a nice guy, but cool and distant. Now she was being forced to revise her opinion of Sanosuke Sagara once again, though she didn't know what to think of him anymore. She supposed that she was starting to think of Sanosuke as a panther kitten- young compared to Kenshin and the revolutionary fighters, but showing promise of becoming a great fighter in his own way, though Kaoru doubted Sanosuke would ever be able to hold a candle to the tigers that Kenshin and the revolutionary survivors had grown into. Not that he needed to be more than a panther to survive in the Meiji era, though, as long as Kenshin didn't attract the other tigers to him anymore. And just like a young panther, Sanosuke had that adorable look of an animal that was sweet but lively, until you vexed him and forced him to show his claws.
Kaoru bit her lip. What was she thinking? Sanosuke? Adorable? At one time she would have thought that those two words could never be in the same sentence unless there was a second noun for adorable to describe. But now. . ?
"Are you alright?" Sanosuke asked suddenly.
"W-what?" Kaoru glanced up, eyes wide.
"You were just sitting there watching me teach Yahiko to fist fi- to open hand fight, and when we walked over here to get a drink you continued to stare at the space where we had been. Are you alright?" Sanosuke sat down beside her.
"I'm fine," she told him, staring up at him. It was a terribly hot day. Sanosuke rarely allowed Yahiko a break when they trained together, but since it was so hot this day, Kaoru guessed that Sanosuke had made an exception.
"Water's never tasted so good before," Yahiko commented, sitting down on the other side of Kaoru and leaning against her. He had drawn a bucket of water from the well and was drinking it as fast as he could swallow.
"Careful, or you'll make yourself sick," Sanosuke warned.
"I know, I know." Yahiko stopped drinking and dumped the rest of the water over his head.
"Yahiko! You're being rude. You should have offered Sanosuke a drink!" Kaoru scolded her aprentice.
"It's okay," Sanosuke smiled. "I'm not thirsty."
"Liar."
"Okay," Sanosuke's smile broadened, "I am thirsty, but I don't want to drink right now and would have refused the offer." He'd taken off his surcoat an hour or so ago. The bandages remained around his stomach, hiding the abs that Kaoru knew had to be perfect. The muscles of his chest and shoulders were perfectly visible, though, and shining with sweat. A lot of sweat. Kaoru had never seen Kenshin sweat that much, just like she'd never seen many of Kenshin's muscles. A swordsman as great as Kenshin had to have them, she knew, but for some reason she didn't associate Kenshin with muscles. Sanosuke was the one she always associated with muscles and sweat. Kaoru had once thought that guys who sweated as much as Sanosuke was sweating now were disgusting, but Sanosuke didn't seem unattractive even though he was dripping sweat.
"It's hot today," Kaoru said, because she couldn't think of anything else do say.
"That is so," Sanosuke agreed.
"Hot enough to be dangerous," Kaoru said. "I remember when my father was teaching at this school, he wouldn't let the students work too hard because he was afraid they would collapse from the heat. He used to say that even the strongest of us can only challenge the heat so much." Kaoru shifted slightly on the bench. Her flowing sleeve touched Sanosuke's bare arm. "You'll come back here tonight for dinner, won't you?" she asked Sanosuke.
"I always come back here for dinner, silly woman," he answered, shifting as well so that his upper arm touched her shoulder lightly. "Where else can I get free food?"
Kaoru tried to scowl, but it died in the face of Sanosuke's charming smile. She wondered when she started to think of Sanosuke as charming. "You," she huffed, and shook her head. "You're terrible."
"I know."
"You don't know as much as you think you do, Zanza," she teased, using his old nick-name.
"It's been awhile since I've been called that," Sanosuke stood and stretched. "Alright urchin, enough lazing around!" he addressed Yahiko. "Back to work!"
Sanosuke did not come back for dinner that night. The only thing that Kaoru actually cooked was rice. It was too hot to cook anything else. The cucumbers had started coming out of the garden so Kaoru had picked those and cut them into long strips. Cold sea weed salad, pickled plums, and cold tofu was what would make up the rest of their meal. But Sanosuke didn't come.
Kaoru made Yahiko wait nearly an hour, before finally allowing him to eat. She tried to eat some too, telling herself that Sanosuke had just gotten delayed, and that he'd be back any minute now. But after Yahiko finished eating Sanosuke still wasn't back yet.
"I don't think anything's really wrong with Sano, Kaoru," Yahiko told her. "He's probably locked in a prolonged game of dice with a couple of his friends."
"Do you really think that Yahiko?" Kaoru asked her student.
Yahiko stared at Kaoru for a moment then looked away. "No. I don't. Sanosuke said he was coming back for dinner. If he says he's going to do something, you can bet he will. If he doesn't. . . He's never not done something he's said he was going to do before- unless it's a death threat he issued."
Kaoru jumped to her feet. "Get two water skins and fill them with well water, Yahiko and meet me by the door." Kaoru ran to the porch where Sanosuke's dinner was still set out, along with the extra food. She picked up the jar of pickled plums and some cucumber slices, wrapped them in a napkin, then ran toward the door. "Hurry up, Yahiko!" she called.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Yahiko appeared with his kendo stick on his back, two water skins in one hand and one of Kaoru's wooden swords in the other.
"What are you bringing the swords for?!" Kaoru demanded.
"It's getting late," Yahiko opened the door. "If something's wrong with Sano and we have to drag him back here, he's not going to be able to fight if someone wants to take advantage of an invalid, a girl, and a kid."
"True," Kaoru took her sword from Yahiko. "Alright, let's go."
"Do you have any idea where to find Sanosuke?" Yahiko asked as they jogged through the streets.
"The woods. Near where they're constructing the new road. Don't talk, just hurry." Thankfully it was getting cooler as the sun set. Kaoru still found it hard to breath though. Her worry was choking her and her heart seemed to beat in time with the pounding of her feet on the street. If something was seriously wrong with Sanosuke she didn't know what she'd do. She didn't know what she could do. When Kenshin was around it had been different. Kenshin was strong enough to carry Sanosuke to shelter or safety. Kaoru and Yahiko would be able to drag him if need be, but she didn't want to resort to that. When Kenshin was around he looked out for everyone, whether they needed to be looked out for or not. He wasn't obvious about it, of course, but Kaoru always knew he was ready to step in if anyone tried to harm his friends. Even with Kenshin gone, Kaoru had always known that she had Sanosuke to look after her and Yahiko. He was strong enough to protet them from everyone except the revolution fanatic warriors. If something had happened to Sanosuke, she and Yahiko would be all alone. If something had happened to Sanosuke. . . If something had happened to Sanosuke. . . Kaoru couldn't afford to think about that now. "This way," she told Yahiko, turning onto the street leading out of the city. They ran until they reached the forest then slowed down.
"How are we going to find him?" Yahiko asked.
"I don't know," Kaoru admitted. "Praying to the gods and guessing, I suppose."
"Let's hope the gods are listening," Yahiko looked around. "I don't think that guessing will get us anywhere."
"Sanosuke," Kaoru whispered. "Where are you?"
"Perhaps if we were to call him?" Yahiko asked.
"Good idea. SANOSUKE!"
"SANOSUKE!!!" Yahiko echoed. They began walking up the mountain side. "SANO!!! SANO!!!"
"SANOSUKE!!!" Between each shout they stopped to listen before calling again. "SANOSUKE!!!" They walked for a long time, calling their friend's name. "Sanosuke!" Kaoru gasped. Sanosuke stood before them surrounded and ensnared by a multitude of thick strings. Iron weights had been tied to strings then looped over his shoulders so they hung on either side of him.
"Kumo?" Yahiko asked fearfully, looking around.
"Kumo? You mean spider demons? I don't think so," Kaoru ran forward. "These cables are tied to the trees with one end and Sanosuke with the other. A human did this deliberately. And I think that human was probably Sanosuke himself."
"Why the hell would Sano tie himself up like this?!" Yahiko demanded, joining Kaoru in front of the snarl of ropes.
"To train," Kaoru placed a hand on a rope and pushed down, obviously putting a great deal of strength behind it. The rope bent, but only a little. "Every time he tries to move he fights against the ropes," she told Yahiko. "They're made of something that stretches, I don't know what, but he has to fight against it to throw every punch and take every step. It seems like an intense way of training, and I think Sanosuke took it a little too far." Through their whole conversation Sanosuke hadn't so much as lifted his head. "The heat and the intensity of the training got to be too much for Sano. I think he passed out before he realized he was in trouble. We need to get him out of there now, and we need to get some water in him." She put down her bundle and sword and began climbing over and ducking under the cables to get to Sanosuke. Yahiko followed with the water skins.
"Mmnnh" Sanosuke gave a muted groan as Kaoru reached him. She thought he saw his eyes flutter, but couldn't be sure.
"Give me the water skins, Yahiko, and start untying the ropes on his feet and legs." Yahiko obeyed and Kaoru stood on tip toes while she uncorked the water skin. "There's no sweat on him. That's a bad sign." Kaoru tilted Sanosuke's head back and put the water bottle in his mouth, pouring the water in. "Sanosuke you fool, you better be okay!" She poured some water over his head, then made him drink some more before putting the bottles down and helping Yahiko with the ropes.
"Ka-" Sanosuke's eyes opened a crack. "Ka. . . Kaoru."
"Hush," Kaoru told him, picking up the water bottle and holding it to his lips once more. "Drink. Small sips."
Sanosuke obeyed. "Ka- Kaoru."
"I'm here," she told him, pouring some more water over his head. "You'll be okay Sano. We're here. We'll get you home."
"Kaoru. Weights."
"What?" Kaoru asked, looking down at the weights that hung from Sanosuke's shoulders on cords that criss-crossed over Sanosuke's perfect chest muscles. Following the cords with her eyes, Kaoru saw the problem. "They're cutting into the sides of your throat!" she cried, horrifed. Kaoru immediately grabbed the closest weight and raised it and untangled it from the other strung weights. She let it fall to the ground, partly because she was in a hurry to get the other one off of Sanosuke and partly because she couldn't hold onto it. Kaoru wondered if the weights weighed as much as she did. "Drink," she ordered Sanosuke again when the other weight was gone.
He tried to disobey. "Kaoru-"
"I said DRINK!" Kaoru grabbed Sanosuke's chin and tilted his head back, forcing the water into his mouth. "You're dehydrated you idiot. If you don't get some fluids into you then you're going to get even sicker than you already are!"
Sanosuke choked on the water and spit some of it out. He continued to cough.
"Oh Sanosuke," Kaoru felt bad for yelling at him. She wiped his face with the sleeve of her kimono. "You're going to be okay."
"I've gotten all the ropes I can, Kaoru," Yahiko told her. "You need to get the ones on his arms. I can't reach those."
Kaoru poured the rest of the water from the first skin over Sanosuke's head and down his back. "Hold him around the waist Yahiko. When I get these off he's going to fall foreward." Kaoru went to work untying the rest of Sanosuke's ropes. She was able to help catch him when he fell. Kaoru and Yahiko dragged Sanosuke across the clearing and propped him so he was sitting with his back to a tree. "Eat," Kaoru ordered him now, holding a slice of cucumber to his mouth.
"I'll get sick," Sanosuke told her, his eyelids struggled to stay open, then sunk to meet their lower counterparts.
"Then drink," Kaoru picked up the jar of pickled plums and held it to Sanosuke's lips. She poured the plum flavored vinegar into his mouth slowly so he wouldn't choke.
"That's not water," Sanosuke protested when she took it away.
"I know, but you're still going to drink it."
"Yuck," Yahiko made a terrible face. "You really are a terrible woman, Kaoru, making poor Sanosuke drink vinegar!"
"What do you mean I'm a terrible woman?!" Kaoru demanded
"What do you mean 'poor Sanosuke'?!" Sanosuke coughed angrily.
"Don't cough," Kaoru said, calming almost immediatly. "And don't talk. Your throat is probably still dry."
"Today was the first time I used those weights," Sanosuke explained. "I didn't count on them strangling me. They were fine at first, but-"
"If you can talk then you can eat!" Kaoru jammed a piece of cucumber into Sanosuke's mouth.
"Kaoru! You're going to make him choke again!" Yahiko protested.
"Shut up, Yahiko!" she snapped, then more gently to Sanosuke she said, "We're going to have a hard time getting you home tonight, Sanosuke. Why don't we just stay here tonight? That way you won't have to get up again until tomorrow morning."
"Mmmnn," Sanosuke seemed to agree.
"Drink a little bit more and then you can go to sleep," Kaoru poured some more of the plum vinegar into his mouth.
"I swear, you would have made an excellent master torturer for the shogun," Yahiko muttered. "Have you ever tried drinking that stuff Kaoru? It's nasty as hell!"
"Watch your mouth!" Kaoru slapped Yahiko.
"Sorry Sanosuke. I tried," Yahiko told their less than consious friend.
"Just shut up, Yahiko," Kaoru said, wrapping her arms around Sanosuke's shoulders and pulling him gently to the ground. "Go to sleep Sano. You're safe now."
Sanosuke sighed. "Kaoru," he whispered
"Yes?" Kaoru leaned in close to hear what Sanosuke had to say. But Sanosuke was asleep.
When Sanosuke awoke he was aware of only one thing: How incredibly dizzy he was. He couldn't tell if he was standing or sitting or laying down. There was light shining directly in his face. What was going on?
"Kaoru?" he asked. He wasn't sure why he called out to her- he didn't know where he was and if she was near enough to hear.
"Sanosuke. You're finally awake," Kaoru's cheery voice cut through his growing head ache. Her face appeared in his field of vision. "How are you feeling?"
"Miserable," Sanosuke forced himself into a sitting position. Kaoru put an arm around his shoulders to help him. "What happened? Did I get into a fight?"
"No. You almost strangled yourself with weights while you were training."
"Oh, yeah."
"Drink." A skin of water was thrust into his face. Sanosuke took it from Kaoru and obeyed her order. "This training you've been doing is dangerous, Sanosuke," Kaoru told him. "You shouldn't do it unsupervised. What if someone came up and wanted to kill you? You wouldn't be able to untie yourself quickly enough to fight."
"This type of training makes me stronger," Sanosuke said when he finished drinking. "Stronger and faster. Two things that I need to be able to fight in the same league as the legends of the revolution."
"That doesn't make it any less dangerous!" Kaoru shouted. "I don't have any objections to you training this way as long as there's someone with you to help you if your weights start strangling you or to untie you if you need to be freed quickly."
"I'm not going to drag you and Yahiko all the way out here every day," Sanosuke told her.
"I'm not asking you to! There's no reason why you can't train at the Kamiya Dojo the same way you train here. We can move your ropes into the storehouse and you can train in there, where I can get to you if you start choking!" Kaoru shouted.
Sanosuke looked at the ground, scowling. "Today- or yesterday- was the first time I used the extra weights. They kept slipping off my shoulders so I crossed them across my body. Then it was fine until I stopped sweating and tried to untie myself before I took the weights off. That's when they started strangling me."
"Train at the dojo where I can keep an eye on you," Kaoru told him, "So I can make sure you don't get your fool self killed."
"I don't need anyone keeping an eye on me," Sanosuke scowled. "I'm not some child who's going to get himself trampled by a horse the moment you let go of my hand."
"I know that, Sanosuke," Kaoru told him, "But that doesn't mean I don't worry about you when you go off and do something dangerous without anyone with you. Besides, you waste an awful lot of time walking from the dojo to this place and back every day, don't you?"
"I do," Sanosuke had to admit.
"Then move these ropes back home. You can train there."
"Alright," Sanosuke sighed.
"Good. Now that we've got that settled, eat something," Kaoru ordered, shoving a jar of pickled plums into his face.
"I hate pickled plums," Sanosuke tried to scoot away from the offending food.
"I DON'T CARE!!! YOU WILL EAT THEM BECAUSE THEY'RE GOOD FOR YOU!!!" Kaoru screamed.
Sanosuke swallowed. Under normal circumstances he probably would have rebelled. Right now he was dizzy, hungry, and had a terrible head ache that would only get worse if Kaoru continued to scream. "Alright," he gave in.
Kaoru's smirk was annoying, but kind of cute- in a strictly non-romantic way, Sanosuke told himself. What she said, however, was not cute at all, just annoying. "Now you see how it is."