Departure Scars

Chapter 6:

"To forget or not to forget?"

"She doesn't seem to remember anything Yahiko." Megumi stated.

"So...then what should we say for right now? Before we talk about it?" He asked.

"Nothing...Don't tell her."

"Okay."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~X~x~x~x~x~x~x~

The next day Megumi and Yahiko left for the marketplace before Kaoru was awake. They tracked down Sanosuke at a small gambling shack and dragged him to the Akebeko to involve Tae in the conversation, since she was indeed Kaoru's best friend.

"Kaoru is suffering from amnesia--" Megumi began.

"So you mean, she doesn't remember anything?" Sanosuke blurted. Megumi smacked him on the head. "Ow!"

"I wasn't finished yet rooster head." Megumi snapped. "Anyways, she does remember all of us, but not Kenshin."

"Yeah, last night she woke me up accidentally and I saw her go outside. I thought that she was going to leave, but then Saitou showed up and called her the battousai's woman or something. Now she's asking questions about that." Yahiko informed.

"I don't know whether we should tell her or not. I'm sure that none of us wants her try to commit suicide again. I'm sure that if she did know and tried to commit suicide again, that she wouldn't survive this time, especially since she's not completely healed yet. But there's also the fact that if she recovers she'll probably be very angry with us. So what to you thing we should do about this?" Megumi concluded. The group looked thoughtful.

"Well, what if Kenshin returns, I mean, what would happen then?" Tae spoke.

"I guess it depends on if we tell her or we don't. If he does return and then she might remember or she might not." Said Megumi. Tae sighed. She didn't know what to do. This was a hard decision.

"I don't think we should tell her." Said Sanosuke. "She'll be really pissed at us for not telling her, but it's for her own good. I think she'll understand. We're worried about her." They were silent for a moment. "So what do you guys think?"

"I don't know which one to pick. I'll go with everybody's choice." Said Tae.

"Well...even if we regret it...I think that not telling her is best." Admitted Megumi. "We can't let her just throw her life away...she'll recover." She looked a bit sad.

Everyone's heads then turned to Yahiko.

"Well, I guess I have to decide then...um...Megumi has a good point I guess...so..." His voice trailed off and he looked extremely thoughtful. "We don't tell Kaoru." The group nodded and moved to the next subject.

"So what do we say if she asks questions?" Sanosuke asked.

"Tell her you don't remember...that you only remember what she remembers...or maybe try to change the subject." Megumi answered.

"Do you really think that some excuse like that will work with her?" Tae looked sceptical.

"This is the best we can do for now." Megumi replied.

"Okay."

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He jumped over the dojo walls and landed gracefully on the front yard. His violet narrow eyes scanned the area. No one seemed to be around. He mutely stepped onto the veranda and made his way to the rice paper door to Kaoru's room. Kenshin inhaled the wooden scent of the dojo he had missed. He had missed a lot of things...but there was something he had longed for even more.

Kaoru.

He pulled a shoji open barely enough to let one eye peak in. Her room was pretty much the same except two disturbing things. The floor had a large, dark stain on it and the jasmine scent her room kept was partially faded by the smell of blood. That scared him. The smell wasn't too strong but the stain was pretty big. His long for Kaoru was replaced with extreme worry. "Is she dead!?...No no! I can't think like that...but what if...no! She's fine...there has to be some other logical reason why blood is here." He opened the shoji a little more. He could feel Kaoru's ki so he knew she had to be in there. He listened quietly and heard quiet thuds in the floor. Footsteps. He could hear quiet humming. It was her beautiful voice.

Yes! She was just fine! He was so relieved that his knees felt weak. Oh, he had missed her so much! Even just to hear her quiet voice made his nerves calm. But he wanted to see her. To see those beautiful ocean blue eyes that always sparkled with life. Her skin that was so soft and always glowed after sword practice. Her hair was gorgeous and felt so silky if he ever was given the lucky chance to touch it. She was so wonderful, wonderful in every way. He wished he could of told her how much he--

"Hey, busu! Are you awake yet?" Hollered a young male voice that nearly gave Kenshin a heart attack. He snapped the door shut and whirled around. Panicking, he jumped onto the roof and hopped over the gates without a sound. He ran at full speed into the woods.

When he felt that if was okay to stop, he slowed and turned around to look behind him. No one. "Good." He thought with relief. That was too close. "But, I still didn't get to see her...I did tell myself that I would see if everything was okay...and...that includes her." He reasoned to inwardly and sat down on a tree log. "I guess I could come back late tonight when everyone is sleeping. Then I'll start going back to Kyoto right away." He nodded to himself and gathered some firewood for heat that night. "Now what should I do for dinner?"

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"How are you feeling Kaoru?" asked Megumi as she began to change Kaoru wrappings again. "You look a bit better now." She smiled.

"I'm feeling much better, Megumi-san. I just hurts a little bit when I walk and if I turn, but I'm sure that it will go away soon." She informed and smiled back.

"You should clean your wound twice a day and change the bandages before you go to bed everynight." Instructed Megumi. Kaoru nodded obediently and sighed. Megumi noticed this. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"Megumi-san, I can't remember...what happened." Kaoru replied.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I don't know how I got this huge wound on my chest!" She blurted, her mood changing quickly. Megumi was quiet for a moment.

"When someone receives a traumatic injury, sometimes the victim suffers from amnesia for a while, or rarely for the rest of their lives." Megumi recited, wanting to turn the subject to something else.

"Oh." Kaoru lifted her arms while Megumi tied the bandages securely. "What was so traumatic, though...can't you tell me why that I have this wound?"

"Well...I don't know..." she lied. "...You shouldn't worry about it right now."

"Humph. That's what you said last night Megumi-san!" she sulked and glared at the doctor.

"That's because you still shouldn't worry about it." Megumi repeated.

"But, I want to know!" Kaoru protested.

"Hush!" she ordered. Kaoru was quiet. Megumi rose to her feet. "You'll know when the time is right." Megumi said softly and left the room. Kaoru glared at the floor. She felt like she was being treated like a child that had just gotten caught sneaking cookies. "Why won't she tell me?! I'm not a child. I can handle the truth!" She sighed and went to the dojo to instruct Yahiko, since she couldn't practice.

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Later, that afternoon, Megumi, Yahiko, Kaoru, and Sanosuke had sat down to eat lunch. Kaoru was very quiet. She hadn't eaten in several days so she had to to eat carefully so she wouldn't vomit. She took a small bite of tofu and chewed uncomfortably. "For not eating in such a long time, I sure don't feel very hungry...I just feel like something is...missing." She thought and swallowed. Her eyes scanned the others around her. A spark flickered in her eyes when an idea struck her mind. She looked at Sanosuke as a grin played with her lips. "I know...I'll just ask Sanosuke. He has to know something."

Translations:

Hai-yes

Author's Notes: Well, then. Another chapter finished. The next one is going to be big cliff hanger. Hee hee! I was going to add the big cliff hanger into this one but I thought it would be too long for me and I have to go to school in the morning. It's already late. Um...oh, yeah! When I do the spell check the options to change some of the words are: Hitokiri- hooker and Yahiko- yahoo. I thought that was funny because I pictured Kenshin standing on the side of the road wearing dark red lipstick and lingerie. And Yahiko singing that is too funny! Okay...um I'll shut up now. Please R&R! I hope you like it! Thank you so much for all your reviewing!