A/n Suprise! I now I normally don't post in November due to NaNoWriMo, but I'm so far ahead I felt comfortable taking the time to do one last readthrough and post this chapter up. Many of you left so many great reviews. I was relieved that including Sano into the relationship, just a little, was as welcomed as it was. I am quite nervous about this chapter and didn't want to put it off longer than I had to.
On to the story!

Chapter 34

There was a thundering sound, it was all around her and went on and on until Kaoru thought the sound would make her go mad. She blinked but could see nothing but blurry shadows and light. It took a few moments for her to realize she was uncomfortable. That her head and side hurt. With languid movements, her hand went to her belly and found no pain there, just the comforting gentle swell. And she sighed, content to relax back into the embrace of fuzzy colors and dull sounds.

But the thundering continued. It only grew louder as she struggled to blink the blurriness away. It really did nothing to help the pain beating away at her head.

The flashing shadows and light came into sharp focus. The clouds drifted across the sun above her. The thundering was the hooves of half a dozen horses at a flat run across the grasslands. The uncomfortable pain in her body was from being squished into the armored body of the Drow whose lap she was draped across. Her head lolling like a limp doll across his shoulder. His white hair flew in a tangle behind him, and he smelled of horse and a sharp, acidic smell that reminded her of burnt things. Half of his body was clad in black leathers, and the other half was left bare to show off a chest covered in scars in strange patterns etched into the skin.

Fear was a hard hand clutching her heart but she couldn't find it in her to move. Her body would not obey. It was all she could do to keep her vision focused. How long had she been senseless? Her eyes darted about frantically looking for any sign of Kenshin. The bouncing of the running horse made it difficult for her to focus on the distance. Around her, she could see more Drow whooping and ululating as they ate up the ground. The sound chilled Kaoru to her soul.

A flash of tan skin and earth hair draped across a black horse caught her attention.

Sano!

She sat bolt upright, nearly smacking her captor in the chin with her forehead. Sanosuke was unconscious and bloody!

A rough word came from the Drow as he jerked back in surprise. His hold on her clamped down, but Kaoru was far too dizzy to fight. Even now, the sudden motion of sitting up left her feeling weak and nauseous.

A second Drow rode up and the pair of them spoke in their harsh language. The one who held her focused his eyes down at her. They were inky black with lightning bolts of white touching the dark pupil.

"Wife of the Manslayer. Myt'tar will pay us well for you." He said in a slightly hesitant, heavily accented common tongue.

Who? Was this a ransom? Did this person know her or Kenshin? She winced inwardly at her own stupidity. Why did she wander so far from the troop? There were too many for even Sano to protect her from. Now, not only was Sano hurt, but she would be used against Kenshin.

"Give us problems and I'll make sure you'll not wake until we reach the homelands."

Kaoru couldn't make that promise, but another knock to the head was the last thing she wanted. Besides, if she were awake, then at least she could make sure she wasn't roughly handled and her pregnant belly harmed. Weakly, she nodded her head.

"Clever woman." The Drow seemed pleased.

Kaoru swung her head forward and nearly gasped at the sight of the Air Empire. Sharp cliffs rose up, like mountains cut in half by a God's sword. They were hazy in the distance and Kaoru wondered how close they were to any civilization. Surely too far for her to expect help. She wondered if the Air people knew there were Drow in their lands.

Strange looking trees lined the horizon. But they were not riding towards them. They must be headed North. Kaoru winced up at the sun. She was unsure how much time had passed but yes, they must be going North.

One of the strange trees loomed up to their right. It was alone, like a sentinel watching over the flat land. Pale and dead, its boney branches stretched up toward the sun. Even in death, Kaoru could imagine the strange flat top of the canopy.

Words were exchanged, shouted over the pounding horse hooves. Laughter rang up and they made a sudden sharp turn towards the dead, lonely tree. Closer and closer, higher and higher the tree grew until Kaoru could do nothing but marvel at the true height of the tree. At the trunk so wide, a ship could be carved from it. Finally, the sound of thundering hooves came to an end. The land was eerie in its silence. The only sound was the blowing and snorting of horses. A constant gentle wind bent the grasses and caused the more vein-like, delicate branches of the tree to sway far overhead.

The Drow chattered in their harsh, yet rhythmic language. Kaoru heard a moan and she whipped her head around, leaning to look around the large body of the Drow.

"Sano!" Kaoru called as three Drow dragged the fighter off the horse and onto his feet. Again the male who had her tightened his hold. Fearing another cuff to the skull, Kaoru didn't dare struggle. Her eyes darted all over the Earth man's body. He had various stab wounds, although, thank the Gods, none had the black veining of poison. At least none that she could see. She winced when he lifted his face. Both eyes were near swollen shut, his lip was split and from the stiff way he moved, it was obvious ribs must have been broken, or at least cracked.

"Missy?" He called weakly, turning to the sound of her cry. But the men gave him their fists.

"Stop!" Kaoru cried, turning to the one who had her. "He's weak already, why beat an already beaten man? Do you not understand honor?" It was a helpless question. The Drow were savages. His lips parted, showing yellow white teeth filed into sharp points. His head fell back as he laughed, showing the chain that had deflected her attack. If she were not carrying a child, Kaoru would have gone for his exposed throat with her own teeth.

Kaoru turned and watched in horror as a rope was thrown to the lowest branch and Sano had his hands tied behind his back and the rope was tied to his hands. They started to pull, Sano screamed a long string of curses and swears as his arms were twisted behind and above him and his feet started to leave the ground.

"Sanosuke!" Kaoru cried. "Monsters." She spat helplessly at her captor. "He's Earth and already weak from the Air lands and now you separate him from the ground?" She couldn't imagine the Drow to be as cunning as this. She always heard that they killed on sight, never tortured.

"You are smart...clever wife of the Manslayer."

Eyes flashing, Kaoru turned and tried to slip off the horse as Sano's cries grew the higher he was lifted away from the ground. Blood started to flow and drip down his body to stain the grass below. The Drow clicked his tongue at her and simply tightened his hold around her middle.

"Missy!" Sano called down as they gave one last pull of the rope and tied it to an exposed root. "Do as they say! Arg! Don't fight them."

"But Sano!" Kaoru paused in her struggles.

"You must live, live for Kenshin!"

His twisting body grew blurry again as tears filled her eyes. "You must live for us." she choked out around the pain in her throat. Sano couldn't die. Not here, up in the air. It would devastate Kenshin, it would devastate her. As the horde of Drow mounted their horses and turned to leave him for dead, Kaoru felt a wail bubble up, her eyes on the shrinking figure kicking in the air. Her wordless sound of grief and anger mingled with the breeze over the grasses.

... . . ...

Kaoru felt foolish and useless. She glared out at the flat ground stretching out before her. She was tired of flat grassland, tired of being on a horse, tired of the stench of the Drow, she was tired of looking at them. Like a red hot ember, her anger glowed inside of her. But she swallowed back her venomous words and tried to sit so that as little of her body touched the dark creature as she could manage.

Her hope of rescue faded as the afternoon sun started its march toward the horizon. Her thoughts turned in on herself as she struggled to not think about Sano dangling in a tree, or of Kenshin looking for her and possibly finding his most trusted friend hanging dead.

There was no warning of the attack. At once, white horses flew up, as if birthed from the very grass that covered the lands. Silent and deadly men flew from their mounts to run their thin curved swords into their targets. She hardly had time to react to them when an arrow shot by her face and into the face of the one holding on to her.

Kaoru only had the time to shout in surprise as her captor fell from his mount, his head, removed from his body. The woman grabbed for the mane of the horse before she felt herself plucked off the animal and set neatly into the lap of yet another male. Kaoru glanced up at a lean and lanky man before catching the sight of the last Drow drop headless from his horse. The whole attack was over in the blink of an eye and she was left dizzy from it all.

Tall and lean and blonde, these were Air fae. Their style was swift and silent like her husband's. Their cream and white mounts moved like the wind to round up the startled dark horses.

"Your name?" Asked the one that had her. He was as lean and tall as the rest of them, but dark of hair and eyes.

"Kaoru, Himura." She said gasping at the sudden turn of events. She watched as the rest of the men gathered the horses of the Drow and tied their reins to their saddles.

At her name, the impossibly narrow eyes of the man grew into even smaller slits. "This one was to meet Himura. Are you to tell me you are the wife of the assassin Kenshin Himura?"

Kaoru blinked. "Yes." She said simply. Feeling numb. From one captor to another, it seemed, and yet she knew she would be safe with these strangers, even the one that knew her husband. "You are the friend he was to meet with." She realized out loud.

The dark Air man looked perplexed but his thin lips turned into what she could only guess was a smile. His bloody sword hung somewhat forgotten at his side.

"Yes. This one's name is Saitou. I was to meet with you and your husband tomorrow. But it seems something has gone wrong."

Relief flooded the girl to the point that she sagged against the stranger and he tightened his hold on her. "I didn't know there would be Drow here. I never would have strayed so far. I shouldn't have been so careless." She muttered more to herself. But her rescuer heard her.

"We did not think these abominations were in our lands, that we did not." He said simply.

Kaoru glanced over at the other men. They were all just as tall and lean with graceful, almost ethereal movements and most had blonde hair trailing like golden wheat in the wind down their backs.

"My bodyguard." Kaoru croaked. "We have to go back for him. He was tied to a dead tree perhaps an hour's ride from here."

"The Drow left him alive?" One of the other Air fae mused as Saitou cleaned his sword. "That's not something they do."

"He's an Earth man, they thought it funny to string him up in the air." She turned back to Saitou. "He's very wounded, he'll die."

"If he's not already dead. It would be better to take you to the nearest town and then go find what's left of your troop." Saitou returned.

Kaoru grabbed at the front of his light, cream colored cotton tunic. "Please." She begged, she cursed the tears that sprung up, but hoped that perhaps the sight of them would soften the man. "Please, he's a dear friend. Or at least give me a horse and I'll go myself."

"Himura would take my head if this one let you go off on your own." Saitou sighed. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly through his nose. After a moment that seemed to stretch an agonizingly long time, he looked down at Kaoru. "Fine." He said simply.

... . . ...

The giant dead tree was something of a land marker that the Air Fae knew well. The group silently and swiftly ate up the distance with a speed that took Kaoru's breath away. Riding into the wind caused her eyes to sting and water so she pressed her face into Saitou's back and tightened her hold around him.

Kaoru prayed.

The Goddess of the Sea, the protector of the womb of life. She was not Sanosuke's deity but Kaoru begged her for his life. She didn't know the Earth Goddess enough to pray to her, so her own would have to do.

She pictured the sea. Slow, gentle waves caressing the sand. The soft and constant shifting area where the sea and earth touched. Two very different elements that welcomed each other. Waves always reaching for land, and the earth shifting shape with each wave. Sometimes taking a beating when the waves were hard and hammering, and sometimes the waves breaking up against the unyielding rocks. She and Sano were so different and yet so very much made for the other. The ache of his loss would forever change her. Kaoru clenched her teeth, not wanting to think about it.

He was her best friend.

Kenshin knew what he was doing in attaching the Earth man to her. She wondered, since he was Kenshin's closest friend… how would the warlord take his death?

Kaoru gasped for air but refused to let it become a sob. It was all her fault. If she hadn't wanted to wander off...she would never forgive herself for taking Sano away from Kenshin.
But she didn't have time to let tears fall. The tree loomed up quickly and Kaoru spied the small shape of Sano up in the air. He was still and limp and Kaoru wanted to rise off the horse and fly to him. Her hands gripped Saitou's tunic even tighter.

As they rode up, Saitou pulled his horse to slow and hung further back while the rest dismounted and went for the rope.

"Look away, Lady Himura." He said over his shoulder.

"No." Kaoru's voice wavered at the one simple word as she slipped off the side of the horse before he could grab her. Her legs wobbled from sitting for so long but she pressed forward. She looked up at that still form. Her lips pulled back into a grimace, teeth set and eyes streaming with tears. The Air men lifted their arms as Sano came closer to the ground and they took him and gently guided him down to the ground. As his body settled in the grass a low moan escaped him and he was silent again.

Kaoru pushed between the men and fell to her knees beside the Earth fae and pressed her face close to his. She felt the soft, shallow breaths against her cheek and she lifted her face as Saitou approached.

"He's alive!" She gasped, wrapping her arms around Sano's shoulder. "We need trees! And water!"

Again Saitou pressed his lips into a thin line as his eyes narrowed. "It would be a mercy to end his life. This one knows a painless way-"

"No!" Kaoru wrapped her small body around the bodyguard as best she could. "No!" Was all she was able to get out. She wanted to say she would kill any man who tried to harm Sano, that she would send Kenshin after them, that she would scratch their eyes out with her own nails, but all she could muster was trembling rage filled "No!" before her throat closed up and she could speak no more.

Again Saitou sighed. "Sanosuke Sagara, This one is not surprised to find you strung up in a tree. This one knew you would end up there one day, that I did. Just didn't think it would be by the Drow." There was a pause. "Fine. Get him on a horse."

Kaoru refused to let Sano go. She held on to him and followed as the men lifted him and slung him across one of the Drow's dark horses. They tied him to keep him from slipping.
Saitou divided the group into two. "You lot with me." He said pointing out to the men still mounted. "The rest, take this fool and Himura's wife to Willow Springs." He turned to Kaoru. "There you'll have enough trees and water. This one hopes you'll find enough power there to heal him, though it won't be easy in Air lands."

"Where are you going?" Kaoru asked as she scrambled into the saddle of the horse Sano was on.

"To find your husband. Time is short, and there may be others to rescue besides your Earth bodyguard." He huffed, turning his horse and spurring him forward before Kaoru could call out a retort. Sano wasn't just her bodyguard. He was important, and loved and she didn't like the way Saitou was regarding him like a wounded dog to put down. Was this why Sano seemed to have such low regard for this man? Were they enemies? Kaoru held tight to the unconscious man, as if it would protect him from the Air fae.

"The ride is a bit long, my Lady and the sun is going down, that it is." A warrior of slight build said in a musical voice before taking the lead of her horse and turning his own horse East.

"Let's hurry then." Kaoru held tightly to her friend as the Air man nodded and off they went. The rest rode around her, keeping her in the middle of them. Trying to distract herself from Sano's various wounds, Kaoru turned to study the men around her. She had seen some Air fae before. They didn't frequent her area as the Keep was tucked close to Earth lands and Air and Earth got along about as well as Water and Fire. Their white and cream tunics were long and flowing, even the sleeves looked far too long for warriors. But it seemed they did little to hamper the silent and graceful movements of the men. Golden threads weaved into their clothing glinted in the sunset. Their faces were angular, and sharp with pale, smooth skin and piercing golden and hazel eyes. They seemed stoic, calm. Even in battle, there was very little emotion on their faces. Long delicate fingers graced with golden ring bands, wrists in bracelets, seemed too effeminate to wield such deadly swords. Their curved bows strapped to their backs gave the illusion of an outline of wings.
They were very different, and yet felt so very familiar. They spoke like Kenshin, fought fast and silent like him as well. Kenshin was raised with the Air fae and trained with them. It shouldn't surprise her that he picked up their habits. And yet he even looked like them. Not blond and tall, but thin and delicate and graceful. Kenshin even had the same beautiful angular face that was somewhat effeminate and yet masculine at the same time. The same long fingers and sharp eyes always scanning.

Sano gave another moan and Kaoru caressed his back. "Shh, Sano, I'm here. I know it's uncomfortable thrown across a horse like this. But we'll get you off of it soon." She swallowed hard and looked down at the body slung across her saddle. His clothes were torn, and stained with an alarming amount of blood. It had already dried to a rust brown on his green tunic but darker patches proved sticky to the touch. Kaoru pulled her fingers back stained bright red.

She bent her body over him and prayed as the night slipped over the sky. She prayed the trees and water on the Air lands would be enough to heal him. She prayed that their troop were all alive and safe. A sob tore from her throat as she begged the Goddess for the life of her husband. She didn't think she could handle this alone. Was she strong enough?

... . . ...

The warriors set Sanosuke down gently against the trunk of a weeping willow tree. The long whip like branches hung to the ground, creating a living dome. Kaoru fell to her knees in the long grass and set her hands on Sanosuke's face.

"Sanosuke...Sano." She called, patting his cheek firmly with one hand. Her voice was raw and cracking. "You need to wake up." The man muttered, but didn't open his eyes. Kaoru pulled the ruined bits of tunic away to find multiple stab wounds. And one on his side was bleeding particularly bad. Kaoru feared a lung was punctured. But his breathing, though shallow, held no sound of him drowning in his own blood and the wound was not sucking, only bleeding. Kaoru turned her red eyes to the men.

"Please give us some privacy."

The men bowed their heads and vanished through the swaying branches. Kaoru followed after them. A stream cut a path a few paces away. The sound of water beckoned her to come and soothe herself, but instead, she dipped a large shred of Sano's ruined tunic into the cold water. She paused only to see if she could pick out the men in the darkness and found they had settled by their horses and were making a fire. They were far enough away to give them ample privacy in the cover of the willow, and yet were close enough that a shout would bring them to her side in an instant.

Body trembling, Kaoru rushed back under the branches and carefully picked her way in the darkness to set the wet rag on Sano's face. The shock of cold water was enough to stir him. Her heart jumped as hope returned. His deep brown eyes fluttered and seemed to find her in the darkness.

"Kaoru?"

"You have a tree here." She rushed to say, dragging the wet rag to his lips so he could suck the water from it. He took a weak pull, just enough for a sip before falling still again. Kaoru feared he had gone unconscious but a soft glowing green light started to trickle up from the roots of the tree and down from the trunk to flow into the large man. It was all he could call in the Air Empire. Earth magic was weak here. Why did this have to happen here of all places? Kaoru called for the power of the water flowing nearby and like a tiny thread, blue magic weaved between the cover of the willow branches and entered her body. She set her hands on Sano's chest and forced the power away from her. Asking for the energy to flow into Sano. She remembered how he had done the same when she was suffering sun poisoning. She had never transferred energy this way, but it seemed to be working. Where she touched, his skin glowed blue-white.

"None of that." Sano coughed.

His deep tone startled Kaoru but she refused to break the transfer of power.

"Use that on yourself, Missy." He was too weak to reach up to pull her away.

"Like hell I am." Kaoru snapped. "You took care of me and I'm going to take care of you. I don't care what you say. I'm unharmed, unlike you." She lied. She tried to sound firm, even angry, but the effect was ruined by the crack in her voice giving away that she was on the verge of tears.

Sano sighed, his head lolling to the side, as if too weak to hold his head up any longer. "It's no use Missy, I'm in the wrong land….if I were home...I'd make it." He could feel his energy ebbing away almost as fast as it was coming in from the tree. Damn the Air Empire. He couldn't look at the woman. Instead, he turned his eyes to the black canopy of willow branches. They rustled in the ever blowing breeze and a shaft of moonlight would penetrate for only a moment before being covered again.

"No!" Kaoru hissed, taking his head in her hands and turning him to look at her. "You will not give up! Do you understand Sanosuke? You wouldn't want me to give up, don't you dare give up on me."

Sano coughed. "I don't want to give up Missy...but"

"No buts." Kaoru's hands scrambled to find the bleeding wound in his side. Her hands slipped on the blood but she found it and pressed as hard as she could, as if she could will the blood to stay in his body. "If I were a trained healer, I could." She said bitterly.

"Could what?"

"Keep your blood in your body." Kaoru explained. She was a Water, she was a healer by nature. Why couldn't she seem to focus? She closed her eyes, feeling for the ebb and flow of Sano's bloodstream. It was sluggish, struggling. Kaoru willed the blood to keep flowing in his veins, to skirt away from the breach in the vessels and instead stay in his body. She could only keep her power focused on the worst of the chest wounds, the smaller stabs and cuts continued to bleed. She wasn't strong enough to block them all.

She pulled more power from the stream, but pulling on the energy in the wrong land was like pulling on spider silk. If she pulled too hard, it would simply snap and she would have to make another thread. She pulled more threads from the water. Trails of light reached out to wrap around her already established connection to form more of a yarn than a thread.

"Missy….yer straining yerself." Sano's deep tone pulled her from her thoughts yet again.

Damn Earth man. How could he tell she was sweating and struggling for breath as if she had been running? She had never called on her power to work this hard before. Not even to save herself when she had been poisoned. It moved too fast for her to even think about establishing a connection to the water.
She would run out of strength before she could gather enough energy to help Sano. This was not the way. "It's not enough" Kaoru confirmed as she watched his skin take on a pale tone. As white as death.

Scrambling, Kaoru ripped at her riding clothes. They were torn, bloody and in the way. She jumped to her feet to yank off the riding leathers.

"Kaoru?" Sano huffed, hazy eyes turning to her. "What-"

"Calling the water for my power isn't enough, we have to do this the right way." Kaoru rushed as she stripped the clothes from her body. She was too much in a panic to feel the chill in the air.

Sano's head was moving from side to side. "No Missy. We can't...I can't"

"You don't think you have enough blood to perform?" Kaoru said in a half terrified joke. Her laugh was a bark that didn't sound anything like her.

But Sano only chuckled, a low and warm sound that eased her fears.

"Hell no, Missy. I just don't have the strength, I'm ashamed to say."

"Fuck it, I'll do all the work." She hissed under her breath as she straddled his hips and went to work on his belt. The leather and metal was slippery in her blood-covered hands but she got it undone and tugged his pants down until he was free. Even with the blood loss, the idea of coupling was starting to have an effect on his manhood. His body knew that mating was the only way to heal. Kaoru was certain his body was calling for it, demanding it save itself.

"No." In a burst of strength, Sano sat up and caught Kaoru by the wrist. His eyes dipped down to her exposed breasts, and down to the dark shadow of curls tickling his belly and then back up again. His resistance slipped and he looked torn and dismayed. "I don't have it in me to stop ya."

His grip was weak and Kaoru easily settled herself on his hips, feeling his cock jump to attention. With her heart racing in her throat and the fear of him dying very real now, Kaoru knew she wouldn't be able to relax enough for her body to accept him with ease. But she couldn't rape him. Even if it was for his own good. The damage to his soul in these foreign lands would kill him for certain.

"Please, Sano." She begged. The damn tears were back and she wished for just one moment she could get through this without shedding another tear.

"But I'll get you with child, Missy." He sighed, voice weak as he slumped back against the tree. The outburst took all his energy.

Kaoru froze. Had Kenshin still not breathed a word about her condition? Even now that they were days out of the Fire Lands. "No, Sano...I'm already pregnant." He arched a brow up at her and quickly she took his hand and pressed it to her belly. "Kenshin and I were keeping it a secret while we were in the Fire Lands."

His touch was cool against her belly as his finger spread open to cover the gentle swell that was there. Even in his weakened state his power instinctively felt for the growing life and found it there.

"By the Goddess." Sano breathed, both hands moved up to cup her changing breasts and hissed again. "How did ya hide this from me?" He sounded happy, and angry and mystified all at once."

... . . ...

"I don't know." Kaoru said truthfully. "I thought for sure you knew, you were just keeping it to yourself."

"Goddess I didn't know. How could I have not known." His teeth were set. "I should have known. Yer swingin' moods alone should have told me."

"I tried very hard to hide it from everyone, even Kenshin." She rushed to say. "So you see, you don't have to worry about giving me a child. I already carry Kenshin's." Sano's deity was a pregnant goddess. Being with child meant she was the embodiment of all he held sacred. She could feel and see the change in him instantly. Awe filled his eyes as his hands dropped. One went to her belly while the other slipped between them to part her lower lips to find that sensitive part of her.

"Sano. I'm supposed to do this, not you. You need the healing." Her words cut short as his touch made quick work at chasing away her fears. Skilled as he was he had her wet and breathing hard in moments. His attitude changed in an instant.

"Think I give a damn about some stab wounds Missy? I've had worse and I'll be damned if I let ya harm yer holy body tryin' ta save me." He started praying out loud. A low rhythmic prayer in his own earthy language. All the while his hand was splayed across her belly, worshiping the new life within her.

There was a pulse of green energy from the tree, like a heartbeat. Each wave of energy grew stronger, brighter. Kaoru quickly called to the water, feeling herself reaching that edge with Sano's touches. She reached down and pulled his hand away. Sano let her, he was either too weak or now submissive under her now sacred form. She eased herself down, letting him fill her. He was different than Kenshin, not anything better or worse, but strange and different. He bumped against her swollen womb as she settled in his lap, she had forgotten the impressive length of him. His prayers grew louder. Sano rested his head against the tree, eyes half lidded as he watched her pale form move against him.

Rocking her hips brought more energy to her. She felt it gathering around her, trying to press into her skin but instead she set her hands against Sano's chest near the worst of the wound and pushed all the energy she could into his body. It was far more than the Earth energy. Even with mating, in the Air lands it was hard to be had.

"Yes Pet. Just like that." He moaned.

In the back of her mind Kaoru wondered what laws the Air fae had about sex. They were not as rigid as the Fire's but not as free as the Earth or even the Water's. She hoped that any sound that escaped they would take for pain of a man trying not to die.

Like riding a horse, her hips rocked. She tried to be careful with the multiple wounds and cracked bones but Sano gripped her hips in his strong hands and showed her how hard he liked it. She followed his example until a low moan came from her own throat.

"Harder Pet, I'm almost there." He hissed, head thrown back, eyes squeezed shut.

Kaoru leaned forward, making sure to settle her hands on the worst of the bleeding wounds, focusing her power there and whispered against the skin of his throat. "That's right Sano, Goddess, I can hardly take all of you in, I want you to come for me."

The words worked. Although she felt a bit naughty for saying them, they had the affect of sending him right over the edge. She knew that he cried out his pleasure and she was afraid for what the Air fae would do so she took his lips in her own and muffled his cry.

Her lips were for Kenshin, but Sano was important to her too. She kept her eyes open, watching as the green energy dove deep into his skin as his cock pulsed inside her, filling her with his seed. His mouth parted and he gave a gentle, painfully tender sweep of his tongue over her lips, as if to say a shy thank you before breaking the kiss and sagging against the tree, spent and worn.

Kaoru continued, his seed made her even slicker and she arched her back and angled her hips so that he stroked that spot inside of her and soon she was mewing. He stayed as hard as ever, and Kaoru wondered if all Earth men had this magic or if Sano was just lucky?

"Come for me pet, just like that, ya know how ya like it." His hands were at her hips again, urging her to finish. "When I'm at full strength again I'll show ya what I can do. I'll worship ya like ya deserve. I'll make ya come all night, screamin' ma name." He hissed in her ear as she fell over the edge. Even as she let the waves of pleasure wash over her, she pushed the surge of power away. Thick ropes of Water energy from the stream shot through the air, flowed around her and down her arms into Sano where he absorbed all she gave him. Her head tipped back, her mouth open in a silent scream of pleasure. When it was over, the power vanished, leaving them in the dark and the pair sagged against each other. Panting for air.

Kaoru was breathing hard, causing her side to ache and her heart was racing. Weakly, she sat up to see that all of Sano's wounds had stopped bleeding except for the very worst one. But instead of a steady stream, it only oozed. Sano took a deep breath and Kaoru looked up to see his face relax and his body sag as he fell into deep sleep.

She slipped free of him and hitched his pants back up over his hips and went to wash the blood from his body. But as she tugged her tunic over her head she heard a low rumbling. At first she thought it was thunder, but it went on and on and grew louder until she could feel the very earth tremble with the sound.

Horses!

The sound ebbed away and the half moment of silence was shattered.

"Kaoru! Kaoru!" Kenshin's voice rang out.

She disregarded the rest of her clothes as all Kaoru wanted to see was her husband alive and well. She burst blindly from the willow branches and nearly tumbled right into his arms. His eyes were yellow, teeth sharp. He was bloody and covered in dirt. He had a slice cut across his neck but she didn't have the chance to ask if he was alright because he took one look at her half dressed and bloody state and crushed her to his body. He curled around her as if he were trying to absorb her into him and she felt more than heard the mighty roar of a dragon rip from his throat.

A/n Wow, it's just one thing after another for this poor woman. She wanted an adventure so she sure as heck got it. yikes! Of course Kenshin is relived to see her alive, but she appears to be in worse shape than she really is. Her poor husband is going through it!
I know many of you wanted to know what Daddy Hiko did to that jerk in the last chapter and don't worry...you'll have hints...but not until later.
Thank you for reading. Reviews are loved!