~Chapter Six-No one knew what to expect~
The morning took forever to arrive.
Kaoru had lay in her futon all night wondering, and she couldn't remember if she had fallen asleep, or just stared at the ceiling and the walls all night.
However she had spent her time in darkness, she was aroused in the early morning, before the sun rose, by the screens to Kenshin's room being opened, and a person rummaging around inside.
She knew it was Dr. Genzai, checking up on the rurouni.
She closed her eyes after a moment.
She hoped that her step-grandfather found good results.
How she prayed….
It wasn't long until a bit of light could be seen filling the halls.
Yahiko was still sound asleep in the futon across from Kaoru.
Sanoske had fallen asleep in another room of the dojo. Magumi on the floor in a corner resting her eyes in yet another.
The little Ayame and Sazume slept in Kaoru's room, undisturbed the whole night from the storm.
It was at this time, when Kaoru felt a hand on her shoulder, and she was shook slightly.
"Kaoru? Are you awake?"
It was Dr. Genzai.
She opened her eyes slowly and found the old man staring back at her.
"Y…yes. What is it?" She answered back.
Dr. Genzai smiled gently towards her. "It's early and fresh. Why don't you take your quilts and head into Kenshin's room. I checked on him about an hour ago….and….he seems to be progressing."
Kaoru sat up quickly, remembered her task she had set out to do the night before. "Right, thank you Dr. Genzai! I'll go in right now….okay?"
Dr. Genzai nodded and stood up from the floor. "Just call me if something is happening."
With those only instructions left behind, he walked out of the room, most likely heading towards the kitchen to have breakfast.
Kaoru wasted no time.
She stood up and gathered a bundle of quilts in her arms.
It was cold that morning, and she was going to give one to Kenshin.
As she walked across the hallway, she looked down towards one of the doorways.
She could see rain falling outside the screens.
The storm was over, but rain still fell.
Somehow it suited the day.
She looked towards the screens that Kenshin lay behind, and was almost nervous to see what he looked like.
Would he be sick-looking and paler then snow? Or would he look normal, only sleeping?
There was only one way to find out.
She put her hand on the screen handle, and slowly pushed it open.
She looked behind her to see if anyone was watching.
No one was.
It didn't matter, but she wanted to be alone for this.
She turned back around, and waiting as the screens opened more and more.
Her hand left the handle a moment later and dropped down to her side.
Her heart was numb again.
There he lay, under a thin sheet, a washcloth on his forehead, and a calm look on his face.
She could hear her heart beating in her ears as she closed the screens behind her, so that it was her and only her in that room…..and the sickly rurouni.
She dropped to her knees very delicately, and spread the 2 quilts she had taken with her apart.
She hesitated when she decided to put one of them on him.
He seemed so…..so fragile and innocent.
She leaned over him, and stared into his face, almost afraid he would wake up and see her staring down at him.
But he did not wake.
She reached over and took the cloth of his forehead.
She put it in a near by ice-filled water bowl, and then replaced it a moment later.
She felt his cheeks.
She smiled and her heart was glad when they weren't hot, indicating his fever was going down.
"You're going to be okay…..I promise. Whether it was my fault or not that you're in this situation….I swear I'll make you better." She whispered.
Somehow it almost felt like he could hear her.
Maybe he could.
She hoped he did.
If he could, and it didn't matter if he really couldn't, Kaoru continued to speak with him.
"I…I brought you one of my blankets. It's rather cold this morning. I don't want you to get worse, you know." She said as she covered and tucked the other quilt over his body.
Her nervousness went away after a good half an hour of just sitting there and talking with him.
She realized how tired she still was, and stared into his face from her seating spot beside his futon.
"Do….you mind if I rest beside you?" She hesitantly asked.
If he could hear her, she would be so embarrassed.
But it didn't matter, she reminded herself.
If he got worse, and she couldn't predict if he would or not, then she wanted him to know somehow how she really felt.
She rolled herself into the other quilt she had brought, and laid beside him.
She got a little closer.
She was so entranced by his sleeping face.
She reached across him and placed her hand over his heart.
She felt him breathing, and his heart was beating softly within his chest.
She heard someone outside the room, and pulled her hand back from his heart, and put it into her covers.
She didn't care if they found her sleeping beside his futon.
But no one ever did come into the room.
She was somewhat thankful.
She closed her eyes, and fell into slumber.
~2 Hours later~
Kaoru awoke to Kenshin's breathing getting hoarser again!
She sat up and almost instinctually knew what to do.
She got a cup of water from another water bowl, and put it to his lips.
Surprisingly, he drank as if he was awake, only slower.
She smiled weakly and took the warm cloth off his forehead again to make cold.
As she let it soak, she wished inside that he would wake up and find her doctoring him like a child.
But then again, it was silly to wish that.
She just wanted him to know that she was trying to make up for what Magumi told to her the night before.
That she was selfish and stubborn and only cared for herself.
It hurt to bad inside.
She wondered if Kenshin would have done anything if he had been awake and heard Magumi say those things.
"Kenshin…" She said aloud, and parted his bangs.
His hair was all matted in the back.
She giggled slightly. "I hope we can get those tangles out of your hair when you get better. I'll help."
When she saw him almost smile with her, her heart jumped.
It had only been her imagination though.
When she blinked, the smile on his lips had run away, and all that was left was the calm, content-filled look.
Better then a look of pain, she decided, and placed the now cold washcloth back on his head.
A knock on the door almost scared her, and she opened it from the floor quickly.
"How's he doing?" It was Dr. Genzai.
Kaoru grinned. "Very well, actually. I'm glad. Maybe he'll wake up by dinnertime!"
Dr. Genzai smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. "He looks fine to me as well. You've been doing a good job. Any coughing?"
"No." Kaoru replied. "But his breathing was a little rough earlier. I gave him some water though, and he seemed fine after that."
Dr. Genzai walked to the other side of the futon, and knelt down.
He checked his temperature, and smiled when it finished. "It's only up about 100.0! Last night it was 100.5. To tell you the truth, Kaoru, I wasn't sure if he was going to make it. But now….he seems very good. It's almost noon at the moment. I'll give him more of the medicine I've made for him, and see what happens. You never know, he may as well wake up by dinnertime like you wish he will!"
This comforted Kaoru in such a way she couldn't describe.
All she could do was feel pleased and smile down at the sleeping Kenshin.
After another 10 minutes, Dr. Genzai left the room.
A good feeling was left behind.
"You're doing so good, Kenshin. I told you you'd be okay! You see! I was so worried….but you'll wake up soon….and……thank god for everything." Kaoru hugged her arms and leaned against the wall, smiling at the rurouni continuously.
This was such a wonderful feeling she could never describe to anyone.
Maybe Kenshin felt it too….beneath his sleeping face.
~In the Kitchen~
Yahiko sat and ate an apple as he stared outside at the never ending rainfall.
He sighed. "Geez, when's it gonna stop? We don't need bad luck anymore then we already have! I swear that Fu Young guy's pretty amazing!"
"What're you talking about, Yahiko?" Sanoske questioned, rummaging around for a snack.
Yahiko shook his head. "You mean you've never heard of Sir Fu Young?? He's the greatest fortune teller in all of China, and he's gotten really popular here in Japan too! But yeah…the other day I saw him in town talking about a huge storm coming in, and how it was gonna cause tragedy, so everyone should be on the look-out! Well, tragedy DID happen! Kaoru broke her leg, and Kenshin got sick cause he went looking for her in the bad weather last night!"
Sanoske stared out at the rain with Yahiko now, chomping down on another apple. "I guess I've heard of this guy. I can't believe someone like him actually isn't a fake! Lots of things he says that's going to happen usually always happens. But do you really think that the missy getting her leg broken, and Kenshin getting sick are both tragedies?? I don't. The missy will be fine in a few weeks, and I heard the old man sayin that Kenshin might even wake up this evening! Nothing that big."
Yahiko had a worried look on his face as he watched Magumi outside walking with Ayame and Sazume in raincoats, splashing in the mud, and Magumi trying to stay out of the way so that her kimono wouldn't stain. "Don't jinks it, Sano. Kenshin……might get worse again. You never know."
"And you're saying I'm jinxing it! You just got done saying that you don't have faith that Kenshin'll get better for the missy and all of us! Dr. Genzai said it himself that he'd be fine in a couple of days!" Sanoske exclaimed, and put a hand on Yahiko's head.
Yahiko was in no mood for games though.
His inner self was telling him that something was going to take a drastic turn again.
Not the storm particularly…..but…..maybe Kenshin's illness.
~Outside~
"Auntie Magumi!! Look' it all the puddles the rain has made!!" Little Sazume exclaimed as she ran and leaped into one.
Ayame ran after her little sister happily.
Magumi giggled when she saw the girls covered in mud, slowly being washed away by the falling rain.
Magumi shifted the umbrella she held over her head, and looked up at the clouded sky.
This was a good way for the girls to keep their mind's off of their sickly beloved Kenshin still not awoken yet….but for her, she couldn't forget the night before.
She couldn't forget what she said to Kaoru before taking off.
After that, Sanoske had talked some sense into her…and now she felt bad for saying what she had to Kaoru.
She hoped she could forgive her soon.
All she could do though now was leave her be, and concentrate on other things.
Dr. Genzai opened a screen, and sat on the dry porch watching his granddaughters play in the mud.
The wind chimes dingled and dangled in the falling rain.
Magumi walked over and sat on the edge of the porch.
"How is he?" She asked without looking at the old man.
"His temperature is going down now. Kaoru thinks that he may wake by this evening. I'm hoping that's the case. I'd hate to lose him. I really would. It would hurt all of us….especially Kaoru."
Magumi looked to Dr. Genzai now with questioning in her eyes. "How so?"
The old man watched Ayame and Sazume giggle aloud when they found a frog in one of the mud puddles, and began to chase after it. "Well, Miss Magumi. Kaoru wasn't always alone. She had a mother and a father who loved her very much. She had friends, and cousins. A family spread out where she was never alone at all. Like you, and I, and all the others. We all had a family and we all were once never alone. But…after her mother and father died, and her friends moved away, and the wars killed other family members she loved dearly….the poor child was left all alone….at only the age of 8. I took her in after that, and kept the dojo as well. I tried my best to keep her company, but it wasn't enough. She's been alone for so long, Miss Magumi. When Kenshin came along…..that was the beginning of her new family. She made it all on her own. But it began with Kenshin, you see. That rurouni made her family into what it is today….and I know….that Kenshin cares a great deal for Kaoru. I don't know how much…..but I know he sees her in a high way. It would kill Kaoru…..to have Kenshin die. I don't think she'd ever get over it."
Magumi stared off into space.
What Dr. Genzai had told her hurt, almost to the point that tears walled in her eyes as she finally understood what Kenshin was to Kaoru.
"Uncle Ken would like this one, wouldn't he?" Ayame's little voice stated aloud as she pointed to a rock on the ground.
"Yeah!! It's all shinny and pretty!! We can give it to him!!!" Sazume replied.
The rain still fell.
All was so still.
Something in the air shifted slightly.
No one knew what to expect.
~Oh no!! What don't they expect!!?? Gotta read on the find out!!! Hurry!!! Lol….I need to chill out, huh? ^.^''~
~Smile B~