Chapter 7 Megumi & Hiko
Seven days had passed. Kenshin was beginning to show signs of life again after being under the care of the lady doctor, Megumi. He had not quite become fully aware, but he was drifting in and out, stirring on his bed. More in an exhausted sleep than dangerously unconscious.
Megumi had explained to Kenshin's friends that his wounds were healing and with time, he would regain his strength again and wake up. She was very professional and optimistic in their presence, but I sensed her holding something back.
The next time she examined Kenshin in his room, I analyze her carefully rather than studying Kenshin's healing progress.
Megumi is opening up the bandages to Kenshin's bullet wound. Outwardly, the wound appears small - the bullet entering and exiting cleanly from Kenshin's body, but the internal damage had caused the worst complication. The bullet had pierced one of the lungs, causing it to collapse and cut off much needed air during Kenshin's battle with Shishio. That, more than lack of spirit or suspectibility to pain, had caused Kenshin's immediate collapse.
Megumi listens to make sure both lungs are working now, and wraps clean bandages over the bullet wound, but I see a slight glint of concern in her chestnut-colored eyes as she does so. I see how she discreetly glides her fingers over Kenshin's body, especially the joints. Not sensual but probing and comparing.
Tired of wondering what was going on, I speak up.
"What are you doing?"
I can see Megumi quell her first instinct to snatch back her hands, but then she smoothly recovers and finishes bandaging Kenshin up. Instead of answering my question, she asks one of her own.
"Tell me, Master Hiko, how old was Kenshin when he first started learning the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu?"
It wasn't a response I was expecting. I answered, "Kenshin was eight," waiting to see where this conversation would lead.
"So twenty years." Megumi murmured to herself. She seem to debate something over in her mind before coming to a decision.
Megumi lifted her head and looked directly at me in the eyes.
"What I'm about to tell you should not be shared with anyone else right now. Not even Kenshin, until I'm sure."
I nodded that she continue, knowing that I probably won't like what I'll hear next.
"Master Hiko, I believe Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu is destroying your apprentice."
After that announcement, she proceeded to explain what had been troubling her. Before, in the months that she had known Kenshin, she had rarely treated any of his wounds, so private and self-sufficient was he about his person. The most she had seen up close of him was when she had treated by lantern oil the deep side-wound that Saitoh had inflicted before Kenshin had left Tokyo.
It was during Kenshin's recovery from Shishio, with examinations during the daytime with most of Kenshin's body bare, that she noticed a pattern of abnormal symptoms. Extra heat and swelling coming from joints. Stiffness of limbs. The prolonged delay into full consciousness. Pure exhaustion. All symptoms of someone who had fought a battle at 60 years of age, not 28.
"Since you don't seem to be affected like Kenshin, I suspect that his slight frame takes a greater toll on him than it does on larger men." Megumi said. "I think he won't be able to do any Hiten Mitsurugi after five years at the rate he's deteriorating," she concluded with eyes filled with sadness and worry.
"I suspected the same," I replied. I had mentally reviewed my apprentice's fight with Shishio over the past days. The reluctance to use the ougi at first, the minute slowness -perceptible to only one who had taught him, the lack of breath after the Kuzo Ryu Sen, the lack of control after the Amakakaru no Hiremaki. They weren't typical "idiot apprentice" errors. Even going back to the abbreviated training session, he had shown signs of sloppiness that could have been linked to his condition.
Surprise fills Megumi's eyes, but then there is a sudden shift into anger. Careful to control the volume of her voice, she snaps out, "You did this to him! How could teach him the Hiten Mitsurugi when you knew that his body couldn't handle it? Why didn't you warn him of its affects and tell him not to use it? You shouldn't have taught it to him!"
"Don't be foolish," I bite back. "Do you think I taught Kenshin the Hiten Mitsurugi to make his life miserable? Twenty years ago, I selected him as my apprentice, not because the world needed another person versed in the art of killing, but because he needed it. There is more to a person than the physical body. His spirit was crying out to be released, to find an alternative to the helplessness that was smothering his will and emotions away. It is the same then as it is now. The Kenshin you know would be unrecognizable without the Hiten Mitsurugi to balance and focus him. He would have driven himself to the grave trying to help out everybody around him in every possible manner and that would have been an inconceivable loss for one with such a great heart at such an early age."
A stirring from Kenshin causes me to pause. He seemed to be disturbed by the emotions flowing in the room. I wait a moment to make sure he settles, before continuing in a softer voice.
"Besides, the side-effects of the Hiten Mitsurugi could not be anticipated. No other person in the history of the Hiten Mitsurugi school had driven themselves so hard to be a shadow assassin at Kenshin's age - before training was complete and before his body was fully grown. In addition, the guilt and internal conflict that he carried during the Revolution caused him to neglect his body even more. That, more than his slight frame using Hiten Mitsurugi, would have aged him prematurely."
I see a protest still forming on Megumi's lips, and so I add, "I thank you for taking care of Kenshin and hope you will continue to do so, but trust me in this. I know my idiot apprentice better than anyone else. I know what lies in the heart of the sword. He needed the Hiten Mitsurugi."
Seven days had passed. Kenshin was beginning to show signs of life again after being under the care of the lady doctor, Megumi. He had not quite become fully aware, but he was drifting in and out, stirring on his bed. More in an exhausted sleep than dangerously unconscious.
Megumi had explained to Kenshin's friends that his wounds were healing and with time, he would regain his strength again and wake up. She was very professional and optimistic in their presence, but I sensed her holding something back.
The next time she examined Kenshin in his room, I analyze her carefully rather than studying Kenshin's healing progress.
Megumi is opening up the bandages to Kenshin's bullet wound. Outwardly, the wound appears small - the bullet entering and exiting cleanly from Kenshin's body, but the internal damage had caused the worst complication. The bullet had pierced one of the lungs, causing it to collapse and cut off much needed air during Kenshin's battle with Shishio. That, more than lack of spirit or suspectibility to pain, had caused Kenshin's immediate collapse.
Megumi listens to make sure both lungs are working now, and wraps clean bandages over the bullet wound, but I see a slight glint of concern in her chestnut-colored eyes as she does so. I see how she discreetly glides her fingers over Kenshin's body, especially the joints. Not sensual but probing and comparing.
Tired of wondering what was going on, I speak up.
"What are you doing?"
I can see Megumi quell her first instinct to snatch back her hands, but then she smoothly recovers and finishes bandaging Kenshin up. Instead of answering my question, she asks one of her own.
"Tell me, Master Hiko, how old was Kenshin when he first started learning the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu?"
It wasn't a response I was expecting. I answered, "Kenshin was eight," waiting to see where this conversation would lead.
"So twenty years." Megumi murmured to herself. She seem to debate something over in her mind before coming to a decision.
Megumi lifted her head and looked directly at me in the eyes.
"What I'm about to tell you should not be shared with anyone else right now. Not even Kenshin, until I'm sure."
I nodded that she continue, knowing that I probably won't like what I'll hear next.
"Master Hiko, I believe Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu is destroying your apprentice."
After that announcement, she proceeded to explain what had been troubling her. Before, in the months that she had known Kenshin, she had rarely treated any of his wounds, so private and self-sufficient was he about his person. The most she had seen up close of him was when she had treated by lantern oil the deep side-wound that Saitoh had inflicted before Kenshin had left Tokyo.
It was during Kenshin's recovery from Shishio, with examinations during the daytime with most of Kenshin's body bare, that she noticed a pattern of abnormal symptoms. Extra heat and swelling coming from joints. Stiffness of limbs. The prolonged delay into full consciousness. Pure exhaustion. All symptoms of someone who had fought a battle at 60 years of age, not 28.
"Since you don't seem to be affected like Kenshin, I suspect that his slight frame takes a greater toll on him than it does on larger men." Megumi said. "I think he won't be able to do any Hiten Mitsurugi after five years at the rate he's deteriorating," she concluded with eyes filled with sadness and worry.
"I suspected the same," I replied. I had mentally reviewed my apprentice's fight with Shishio over the past days. The reluctance to use the ougi at first, the minute slowness -perceptible to only one who had taught him, the lack of breath after the Kuzo Ryu Sen, the lack of control after the Amakakaru no Hiremaki. They weren't typical "idiot apprentice" errors. Even going back to the abbreviated training session, he had shown signs of sloppiness that could have been linked to his condition.
Surprise fills Megumi's eyes, but then there is a sudden shift into anger. Careful to control the volume of her voice, she snaps out, "You did this to him! How could teach him the Hiten Mitsurugi when you knew that his body couldn't handle it? Why didn't you warn him of its affects and tell him not to use it? You shouldn't have taught it to him!"
"Don't be foolish," I bite back. "Do you think I taught Kenshin the Hiten Mitsurugi to make his life miserable? Twenty years ago, I selected him as my apprentice, not because the world needed another person versed in the art of killing, but because he needed it. There is more to a person than the physical body. His spirit was crying out to be released, to find an alternative to the helplessness that was smothering his will and emotions away. It is the same then as it is now. The Kenshin you know would be unrecognizable without the Hiten Mitsurugi to balance and focus him. He would have driven himself to the grave trying to help out everybody around him in every possible manner and that would have been an inconceivable loss for one with such a great heart at such an early age."
A stirring from Kenshin causes me to pause. He seemed to be disturbed by the emotions flowing in the room. I wait a moment to make sure he settles, before continuing in a softer voice.
"Besides, the side-effects of the Hiten Mitsurugi could not be anticipated. No other person in the history of the Hiten Mitsurugi school had driven themselves so hard to be a shadow assassin at Kenshin's age - before training was complete and before his body was fully grown. In addition, the guilt and internal conflict that he carried during the Revolution caused him to neglect his body even more. That, more than his slight frame using Hiten Mitsurugi, would have aged him prematurely."
I see a protest still forming on Megumi's lips, and so I add, "I thank you for taking care of Kenshin and hope you will continue to do so, but trust me in this. I know my idiot apprentice better than anyone else. I know what lies in the heart of the sword. He needed the Hiten Mitsurugi."