WARNING: Possible spoilers, if you haven't seen or read past the Kyoto Arc, don't read this. And also, big surprise: I have no rights to Kenshin or his friends; those belong to Watsuki Nobuhiro, Shueisha, Sony Entertainment and Jump Comics. Please review, flames accepted with a tolerant smile. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride . . .
Necara: Dr. Gensai! Oh Dr. Gensai!?
Dr. Gensai: What!?
Necara: I need you to have a talk with Yahiko for me
Dr. Gensai: Can't, sorry
Necara: Why the hell not!? You have to do what I say, I'm the writer!
Dr. Gensai: Yes, I know, you wrote me out of town so you wouldn't have to worry about writing Megumi (actually, writing Magumi, then letting your beta yell at you for bad spelling, but that's besides the point) So you sent me away so you had an excuse to keep her in Tokyo!
Necara: But-
Dr. Gensai: Nope, it's not my fault, you did it, not me. Find someone else to do your dirty plot throw everyone for a loop thingy. I don't like surprising people! When I do, I end up having to treat them for heart attacks! It defeats the point of being a doctor if I actually cause the injury before I treat it!!!
Necara: ::hangs head mournfully:: well damn
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Last time in Bended Shadows:
He knocked the man to the ground in one swing, and then raised his sword to finish him. With a graceful arc he brought his sword down swiftly . . .
The sword twisted in his hands suddenly and went flying away from him, landing with a loud clang against the stump of a tree.
Kaoru blinked back the fogginess in her vision, and looked up at her savior. Her eyes widened, and her face paled, just then, she lost her thin hold on consciousness and fainted.
Seijuurou Hiko stared down at her in dumbfounded shock. No one, NO ONE, had ever disarmed him. Not in over 30 years.
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Yahiko and Megumi watched the two retreating figures before moving back inside, both lost in their own thoughts.
"Tori-atama, be careful. I know you don't have much sense, but Ken-san really needs your help right now. If he has ever needed our strength, it is now. Always before it was an outside enemy that threatened us. Now it is us ourselves. In just a few short days, everything has changed. Sano- Sano has been wonderful, I don't think I really could have made it through without him holding me up. Maybe I have never given him enough credit? Na, it's a fluke I'm sure. But still, he has handled this better than the rest of us. I think, as strange as it sounds, maybe he understands better than the rest of us. Oh Kaoru-chan. Wherever you are, I hope you are safe. This place is, empty without you. Kan-san is empty without you. He needs you, tanuki musume, you better come back to us! Or I'll kiss him! Yes, that's it! If you don't come back home, I'll kiss Kan-san, hmph! . . .That'll get her home, I'm sure . . . Megumi sighed.
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Hiko shook his head and muttered, "It figures." Then he picked up the woman's body, carrying her in his arms, like a small child, back to a small pottery hut hidden far back into the woods.
He set her down carefully on a futon in the small room, and sighed.
"What has my baka desshi done now?"
"Ken-shi-" whispered the battered girl.
"Is he alright?"
"He was- attacked-. . . . I killed them, they were going to kill him . . . but I got to them first . . . I didn't want to hurt him . . . they always use me . . . I betrayed my father . . . blood, on my hands . . . blood everywhere . . . they wanted him in pain . . . they laughed when they touched me . . . they told me what they were going to do to him. . . they would make him live it everyday."
She continued mumbling, but he had a hard time making out the words, she was exhausted, mentally and physically. He knew without a doubt that she hadn't really rested in days. He frowned at the small pool of blood now settling on his floor.
He walked to a small cabinet and removed some vials and bandages. He then sat down on the floor next to the now unconscious Kaoru.
As he reached forward to slide her gi off her shoulder to treat the deep cut there, she screamed, and writhed away from him in her sleep.
A low growl emitted from his throat as he understood at least part of what happened. I wonder if my baka desshi has yet broken that vow of his?
After several more minutes of him attempting to treat her, and only serving to agitate her more, every time she jerked away, it opened the wounds a bit further, anymore and he would have to burn them closed again. He resolved to the inevitable and bound her securely to the futon, and blocked his ears from her screams and feverous murmurs as he treated and bandaged her wounds.
Finally, when all but the most infinitesimal of cuts and bruises were treated, he released the bonds.
An hour or so later, he sat, sake in hand and watched over a still restless Kaoru. I'm only making it worse, being here in the room seems to agitate her. She mentioned Aoshi and that itachi musume, I think it is time to pay the Oiyia another visit. Heh, rescue the girl, and get kicked out of my own home. He scowled. That baka desshi of mine is more trouble than he is worth, him and his woman both.
But he did make sure Kaoru was wrapped tightly in her blanket, and the door was secure, before leaving for the city.
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A young boy of about 8 bounced into the Dojo, full of engery, all formality forgotten in his excitement. "Yahiko! Did you hear!? They found some bodies buried in a shallow grave not that far from here, my father says it was pure luck that they found them in the middle of nowhere out there, if that man hadn't been so sure that his family had hidden something there! What do you think happened!? My Father said it couldn't have been too long ago, and they look like they had been slaughtered pretty bad. I overheard him talking, they are thinking that it had to be someone very strong, or maybe it was a lot of men? Weird that it happened so close by, did you hear anything Yahiko? . . .Yahiko?"
Yahiko just stared at the boy, his face sheet white. He felt like he was going to be sick. "Class is cancelled today." Without another word, his shinai fell forgotten to the ground as he walked out the gate, he was having trouble breathing. What happens if they trace it here? What is they find out who – what will happen to Kaoru's dojo, to the Kamiya Kasshin style, if they trace it back to us? He began to run.
Breathless he began beating on the door to the clinic, "MEGUMI!" He finally managed to shout.
She opened the door, the sarcastic remark was forgotten as soon as she saw his face. "Yahiko!? Are you alright? What's happened?"
"They found the bodies."
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A silence came over the Oiyia, people were staring in blank shock at the man who now stood in their doorway. Just as suddenly, almost everyone in the room, bowed, the women then quickly gathered together giggling as the man walked over to the only man who had not bowed.
"Aoshi."
Their okashira nodded, and they moved into a far room, Misao not far behind.
~~*~~
They knelt in a small room, Aoshi and Misao facing Hiko.
"You have spoken with Kamiya Kaoru."
Misao and Aoshi exchanged a quick glance, before nodding. They had promised not to say where they had spoken with her, not if they had, after all. And for the man who had saved them from the last members of the Juppon-gatana not that long ago, they would answer as much as they could.
"Tell me what happened to her."
After relaying the story, Aoshi rested his hand over Misao's trembling one. "She is stronger than they think. She will be well, in her own time."
Hiko's face was stone cold, and when he spoke, it was with indifference. Aoshi had a sneaking suspicion that Hiko was not telling them something, but he refrained from asking.
"Has something happened to Kaoru-chan? It wasn't that long ago that we spoke with her, but she was a-" Misao cried anxiously.
"It is as Aoshi Shinamori said, she will be well in her own time. However, I must ask a favor of you."
Aoshi nodded.
"Please send word to Tokyo . . ."
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Kenshin stopped, and turned around to look at his friend. "Sano?"
"Yeah, Kenshin?" The tall man tilted his head to the side, his stomach clenching as he looked into Kenshin's sunken eyes. He's not doing so good. It's getting worse everyday, every time we leave another town, with no more information than when we started, 4 days ago.
"Was she-" He broke off and looked toward the setting sun, "Is she angry with me?"
Sano put his hands in is pockets and gave a half laugh, "No Kenshin, I don't think so. She is angry with herself. She was, not herself, in the days before she left. Withdrawn, she has a lot of things to deal with right now. She had nightmares, every night. About them killing you. That I think, is the reason why this has hit her so hard. She was . . . cold, ruthless almost with those men. We have all seen her angry before, but this was different, something in her eyes was different. Whatever happened, hit her very hard, when Yahiko and I got there, she was still fighting. After she killed the last man, she looked up at us, covered in blood." Sano closed his eyes, recalling that frightening image into his head.
"She was covered in blood, but somehow she still looked beautiful. But it was a cold beauty. Like steel. She was determined that they not get close to you. I've never, in all my years, seen anyone look that deadly, even you Kenshin. Then it seemed to hit her, all at once, what she had done. She went from looking like a goddess of death, to a frightened little girl. Then she just blacked out, it was to much for her."
Sano opened his eyes and looked back at his best friend's pain stricken face. "But later, she wouldn't talk much about it. Once though, just once, she looked at me like she was begging for understanding, as if she needed me to forgive her." Sano clenched his fist. "I remember feeling shocked that she would think that she needed forgiveness from us, her family. As if she was afraid we would all turn our backs on her. It hurt. But then she just said that she was trying to feel guilty about what she had done, but she couldn't. She said she would do it again, every time. After that she got up and went into her room. We could hear her crying, but she wouldn't talk to us. She was gone the next day."
Sano walked forward and rested his hand on Kenshin's shoulder. "No Kenshin, she isn't angry at you. She is confused about what she found inside herself. The killings she probably could have handled in her own way, but the day she realized that she would do it again. . ." Sano shook his head. "She had to figure out what that meant for herself, everything tat she believed in crashed in around her at once."
Kenshin fought back the tears that threatened him. "I didn't want her to ever have to go through that. I wanted to protect her from that. I know, I understand better than anyone, the pain one goes through." He hung his head, "I should never have stayed here, I knew my enemies from my past would keep showing up. I never should have stayed," he muttered bitterly.
Sano smiled softly, "We wouldn't have let you go off on your own for too long, anymore than we'll let her. We are all in this together Kenshin, to the end. Every one of us, is fully devoted to what Yahiko dubbed the Kenshin-gumi a few years ago. As long as we stick together . . . Hell, even I couldn't stay away too long, ne? You guys kept bugging me, threatening to come to China yourselves if I didn't get back soon. No Kenshin, if you had tried to leave, you wouldn't have gotten very far. Now, let's get some sleep, we are only about 3 and half days from Kyoto. I'm sure itachi musume and Aoshi will be able to send their troops out to help us find her."
Kenshin just nodded.
Sano leaned up against a tree and drifted to sleep in minutes, snoring loud enough to wake the residents of Kyoto and Tokyo both.
Kenshin just laid there, starting off beyond the stars for hours, as he finally closed his eyes, one last thought floated across his mind . . . I miss you.
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A/N:
Ack! Can't think of a chapter name . . . this is all stuff to set the stage for what is gonna happen next! I'll make something up for now, but if any of you have any better ideas, feel free to let me know!!
Wee . . . . next chapter down! Sorry about the wait, things got a little hectic around here for a few days!
Everyone! Bow down before Tsukino-chan !!!!!!!!! I don't think I would have ever gotten this readable without her help! Thank you SO much, for the time you put into this!
Now, review please? ::smiles hopefully::
To all of my reviewers, and yes, even those of you who just read: Thank you for your time, and your patience. Your continued returns to my little story mean a lot to me, I hope your enjoying reading, as much as I'm enjoying writing!
Arcia:
Thanks! J You'll find out what her reaction is soon enough . . . if I ever get around to waking her up . . . .
Misu no Hikaru:
::grin:: Glad you like it! Keep reading, it'll get better!
Jupiter's Light & Jen:
Here ya` go . . . . don't forget, you asked for it!
Amberle-chan :
Thanks, it's been hard to write him, because I was afraid that people wouldn't respond well to how I have portrayed him . . . gonna do the same thing to Sano, as you can see above. They all matured so much during the manga/series, that I figured they would continue doing so in own minds . . .
Tsukino-chan:
I can only say one thing, you rock!
Kaoru:
I hope you got my e-mail, and that it cleared some things up! Thanks for reading!!
Dragon Master271:
: ) It's look`n good! Can't wait to read more!
Kik-ting:
Don't worry, I hate unfinished fics more than anything!! Hehehe, and I'm glad, that is the effect I was going for!!!! Thanks for tuning in!
Eugene:
Whew . . . well, umm . . . yes, it does. I'll leave it at that. (I really don't want to get to far into that, that's why it is only alluded to in the story, not outright said, I don't want it becoming a focal point, although, it is important to plot, I don't want it dwelled on too much . . .)
GoldAngel2:
1:Thanks! That's exactly what I was going for . . . I'm drawing on both of them to make the story work . . . and even still I have to, well, bend the facts a bit. But such is the world of Fanfiction, ne?
2: Thanks! Hiko is one of my favorites! So you like the way the thoughts are written out? . . . I wasn't so sure, but if you guys are liking them that way, that's how I'll keep writing them! Glad your enjoying my little thunderstorm!!
Ewunia:
: ) yes, she will! Sorry about the shortness, I can only get my brain working on this at around 4 am . . . . so that limits my writing time down, I tried to write in the daytime, but then I had to rewrite the whole thing the next night `cause it sucked! Thanks for reading!!
Glossary:
itachi musume : Weasel girl, in other words, they are talking about Misao. : )
Onna : very derogatory way to refer to a woman, similar to 'bitch' or 'slut' or the like in English.
Sumanai de gozaru: I'm sorry – Kenshin style
Gomen/ gomen ne: Sorry, I'm sorry – normal style
Onegai: please
Chiburui - a sharp flick of the wrist, to clear excess blood from the blade, done deliberately, and menacingly.
Jou-Chan – Sano's name for Kaoru, roughly "Missy, or Little Missy"
Busu – Hag, or Ugly, Yahiko teases Kaoru with this name a lot.
Kami-Sama - God
Shoji – rice paper doors
Oneesan – "my elder sister"
Sakabattou – Kenshin's reverse blade sword
-chan - added to given name to address children
affectionately, can also be used among girls who are close friends
-dono
- very polite equivalent form of "-san", usually for royalty
and nobility
-san
- added to given or family name to express respect and friendliness
-sama - polite equivalent form of "-san", or used to express appreciation, or used for gods, royalty, or someone one "worships". Aoshi-sama is what Misao calls Aoshi.
Ohayou – Good morning
Juppon-gatana: Ten swords, Shishio's little group of killers, almost all of which are now good guys . . . heh, Kenshin must have been involved, ne?
