I don't own Kenshin.
BLADE OF THE PAST
Chapter 14 - Waiting
He couldn't focus as he paced back and forth in the hallway. Saitou's intimidating and quite frightening presence didn't affect him. He didn't care how the policeman glared at him, fidgeting from not being able to smoke in the doctor's house. Even the small and whimpering form of Shinta was far away from his mind. His own son took second place to the worries and fears that clouded around him and threatened to suffocate him.
Sano reached out and tried to stop him, saying something about making Missy nervous with his hurried and aggressive pacing. Kenshin merely glared, his eyes flashing yellow for a brief moment. Sano wisely pulled his hand away.
Dr. Gensai was with her now. Megumi too. Isa was in the best hands. He had to convince himself of that. Isa was in good hands. Isa was in good hands.
Oh gods, he'd lost her once! He wasn't sure if he could handle it again.
Kenshin's knees felt weaker as he stalked down the hallway. His breath was coming shorter. His vision was starting to blur. He had to stop, putting his hand against the wall in an effort to keep himself balanced and on his feet.
He was so useless! He hadn't been there to stop the darts! He wasn't able to save her then, and he hadn't been able to save her before. She nearly died twice now because of him. And the second time was still able to turn in a very bad direction. Kenshin dropped heavily to his knees, holding his face in his hands.
***Flashback***
His eyes opened slowly, his body aching from multiple wounds and pushing himself too far. He knew he'd gone too far. The cold of the snow still lingered in his soul. But there was a fire nearby, enticing with its warmth. It almost made him want to keep living.
"You're awake," a soft young voice came from above and behind him. Kenshin shifted on the hard floor, keeping his mouth shut to avoid groaning in pain.
"Who are you?"
The young girl smiled. She looked younger than him by perhaps two years. Her hair was dark and cut short like a young boy's. She wasn't Japanese, and her most striking feature was her bright blood-red colored irises. That and the two swords tucked into the belt of her hakama.
She knelt down, her fingers trailing across the bandage on his left cheek. "I hope you don't mind, but I dressed your wounds."
"You should have let me die."
"Because you killed her?"
Kenshin squeezed his eyes shut. He willed his eyes to keep tears from falling.
"She loved you, you know."
He didn't answer.
Her hands were warm as she smoothed his hair away from his face. "Will you live?"
"I don't know," he answered truthfully. Without her, without Tomoe, he felt very much like dying.
"She will be disappointed if you give up easily."
Anger flared in Kenshin. "What do you know of her?!"
"I know that I would have been sold back into slavery had it not been for Tomoe-san. And I know that I have known her for far longer than you have." The girl stood up, brushing her hands on her men's clothing and turning away from him. "I know that she must have loved you very much to not have carried out her plan to kill you."
"Why don't you do it?"
"We may be on opposite sides of this revolution, but I must trust Tomoe-san. If she did not kill you, there must have been a good reason. I have to respect that decision."
Kenshin remained still. The warmth of the fire started to make him sweat, but he still felt cold inside.
"I'll keep you alive, hitokiri, until the time I'm ordered to kill you," the girl said. She started out of the house, into the steadily falling snow. "I suggest you burn this shack when you are healed. It may hold memories of Tomoe-san, but warriors of the shogunate might find you if you linger."
"Wait," Kenshin called to her. "You never answered my first question."
The young girl paused, looking back into the room. "I've been called many things. I've been given the name Zhinu from my owners in China. That will do for now."
"I'm called Himura."
"Nice to have met you, Himura-san. I hope I don't have to kill you soon."
***end flashback***
Kenshin shook with the memory – one of his first memories of her. She'd been called Zhinu then, and Saitou and others of the shogunate still knew her by that name.
"Himura!" Saitou called, the sound of his voice leading Kenshin to believe that this wasn't his first calling of his name. He looked up at the policeman standing over him.
"What is it, Saitou?"
"How is it that you know her? She was on the opposite side of the Revolution than the Imperialists."
"Leave me alone."
Saitou glared and looked as if he were about to strike back, verbally or physically, when the door slid open and Megumi stepped into the hall.
"She'll live," Megumi managed to say, her fatigue evident. "If you hadn't knocked away those other darts, or if you hadn't pulled the one out so quickly…" Megumi's voice faltered a moment, contemplating the unhappy ending to those thoughts. "I don't know how you managed to carry her the entire way here, Ken-san, but she will live thanks to you."
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You are all welcome to flame me – after all its been a long long time since I've updated this. School sucks and it takes up all my time, especially this close to finals. I hope to write more very very soon.