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Kaoru, could you take this down to the nurse?
She jumped from examining theabsentee list, heart fluttering in inexplicable
anxiety. She'd been unable to concentrate, to calm down, ever since... ever since... those words...
she returned, unable to bring any real brightness to her voice. The
secretary smiled in thanks, though a little concern showed in her eyes, and handed her a few papers held precariously at the top with an old paper clip. Kaoru slid off the stool, not caring to look through the papers. It didn't concern her, and it didn't matter to her. She... all she could think...
She had to be overreacting... creating something that wasn't there... she
couldn't really be...
The dulled tile clicked beneath her heels, and she watched her feet, not wanting to see the other students who passed, look in their eyes, know that they weren't worrying about any more than how they could stay out of class the longest without being caught... nothing like what her sister had imprinted into her thoughts... and what she couldn't shake away...
She couldn't really be...
She laid a blind hand on the badly painted door, pushing it open and turning into the area that should have been cleared by the swinging barrier, only to bounce off the jamb and trip over her own feet to sprawl in an unladylike pile on the cold white tile. If only to add further insult and injury to her present frustration and embarassment, a heel caught in one of the chairs that was always placed there for visitors to wait in, and the heavy metal frame toppled over, pinning one leg painfully to the floor.
she squeaked out, then winced and squirmed, trying unsuccessfully to rock the chair off of her thigh. The weight of the seat was digging hard into the bunched muscle in her upper leg, painful and unforgiving.
Suddenly, the weight shifted, lifting slightly. The screw on the edge of the seat caught with the sharp ripping of fabric in her jeans, and deeper-
Kaoru cried out, feeling the cold metal tear at the vulnerable flesh it had dug its insidiuous way into as the chair had fell. She struggled-
Stop moving, you silly girl! snapped a familar voice. It's caught. If you stop moving, you won't get hurt much worse than you already have!
Kaoru froze, feeling her entire body begin to quake. she stuttered, staring at the dirty white tile.
Yes, yes, yes, I'm here again. Now hold still!
Kaoru squeezed her eyes shut, that same hand clenching into her heart, only
deeper, harder, twisting at the sound of that voice... After a few agonizing minutes, Meg's soft grumbling intensifying as she struggled to extricate the metal screw from Kaoru's leg without injuring her further, the older girl sighed and finally lifted the metal frame from the ground, setting it off to the side with a heavy thump.
Gentle fingertips settled onto the torn flesh, and Kaoru shied away with a hiss of pain. It felt like a deep cut... it had gone through the denim of her jeans, and into the skin... Perfect. Just perfect. Now she looked like a clumsy idiot on top of everything else... In front of Meg...
Can you get up? the low voice inquired, an unreadable taint coloring the businesslike edge.
Kaoru pushed against the cold tile with both elbows, trying desperately to save whatever face she could. It was only a cut, after all, she'd had worse... Much worse. So she made it up to her knees after only a few seconds of frantic effort. It was only when she tried to stand...
One knee went weak, limp, the gash throbbing in excruciating pain, and Kaoru listed to her right side with a whimper. Why couldn't she stand? It was only a cut... a little scrape... why were her knees like water?
Kaoru closed her eyes, not wanting to watch the room spin as she fell for the second time. What... what was wrong with her today...? Everything was in a fog, a grey fog, as though she were watching her own life through a window darkened with condensation... Nothing mattered... she just... wanted to sleep... wanted to hide... away from all the prying eyes... Everything...
And yet, for the second time, just before the freezing tile would have met her side, before she would have crumpled to the ground and not gotten up again, firm arms caught her, lifting her, sweeping her feet from the ground, cradling her to a warm form, a slender shoulder... Kaoru slitted open one eye, not comprehending with her clouded senses, fighting from behind hazy thoughts to see...
Meg lay her down on the cot, Kaoru staring up at her blankly, lips trembling in pain and confusion, forehead throbbing. Onyx eyes scolded her silently, just like the time before... just like...
You hit your head, didn't you? Of course you can't stand just yet. Stupid little girl, the dark-haired woman berated, slim hands busied inspecting the wound on the back of her thigh. Would you pay attention to what you're doing? Maybe if you were a little more aware of your surroundings you wouldn't be walking into doors. Did you ever think of that, hmm?
Kaoru blinked, then cast her eyes aside in some amount of embarassment. She
heard Meg sigh heavily, then one hand patted her knee, and the older girl stood from her bedside. she continued, voice softer and gentler. I'll go get some ice and bandages for you. It looks as though you're going to have quite the bruise, Kaoru-chan. I'll be right back, so... why don't you take off your jeans and just wait.
Kaoru froze.
Meg's black eyes sparkled, something light and mischievous silhouetted by
something... darker... deeper... And if just for a moment, before she turned away, it seemed a bright flame gleamed within those depths, burning...
She stared after the dark-haired woman, the beat of her heart renewed to
double-time within her thin chest, a cold sweat slickening her palms, something... aching... shuddering... She trembled, staring blindly at the badly-painted concrete wall, lips pressed tightly together.
She was overreacting.
But... the way her eyes had sparkled... was she just teasing? Or was it... was it something... something besides... Why would she have asked her that? She had to inspect the gash, probably... But couldn't she do that without...
Unless she wanted to bandage the leg entirely... which would make sense, she
supposed... but still... But still! Why would... the look in her eyes... oh, God, what was going on?
Kaoru's fingers twitched, and she swallowed hard, throat suddenly painfully dry. Why did this have to happen to her? Why couldn't things just be simple? But nothing was ever simple. Her parents died. Then the man who adopted her became sick... and never got better... He would never get better... and then he fell in love... and now... she was... she was... she was...
No. She was overreacting. And there was no reason this should be scaring her so badly. She was overreacting. She was confused. Her life had been in enough of a tumult lately, it only made sense that she was a little confused. She was making things up, seeing things that weren't really there. There was nothing to really make her think... she was reading too much into...
Finally, frustrated enough to not care anymore, Kaoru kicked her shoes off,
then tugged off her socks as well, stuffing them down into their respective shoe and placing the pair down next to the cot. She was being ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. It had been a perfectly innocent request. Meg had to take care of the cut, after all. That was her job. Anything else... anything else was just her imagination. It had always been overactive. Why should now be any different?
Her fingers hesitated on the cool metal button, and she bit her lower lip. Well... down the hatch... she was a doctor-in-training, after all, so she would never abuse that power... She was simply being silly and paranoid. She was so good at being silly and paranoid...
So she inhaled sharply, then ripped the button from its slit and undid the zipper in one fell swoop, struggling out of the tight denim and kicking it to the foot of the cot before she could change her mind. The gash burned in recrimination for the drastic shift, and she whimpered and squirmed until the pain eased. Bruises and cuts on their own were one thing, she had dealt with those all her life, but she was still queasy when it came to a cut and a bruise as a dual injury. It hurt so much worse, and it took so long to heal, no matter what you put on it, and she always got them in the most
unfortunate places...
At least she was wearing a long shirt today... Kaoru tugged at it petulantly until she managed to sit on the hem, pulling the cloth to a few inches down her prickling cold thighs. That stretched it uncomfortably over her shoulders, but it was either show off her embarrassing lack of a bosom or completely bare her legs. Her gangly, scarred legs. God, how she hated razors... and tree branches... and erroneously placed kitchen knives...
All right, then, announced Meg's voice as the dark-haired woman reappeared from her small office, a small roll of bandages in one slim hand. There is such an appalling lack of a filing system in there... sorry about the wait, Kaoru-chan!
Kaoru was silent, staring at her bare feet, knowing her face was beet red but not willing to pull up her knees to hide it. That would undo all her painstaking work of obscuring that part of her body anyway, and at the moment, she'd rather be blushing than half naked.
Meg paused for a moment before kneeling back on the tile, her sharp dark eyes unreadable. Kaoru shivered in the chill air, her fingers shaking where they held the edge of her shirt, the bruised cut throbbing uncomfortably. She couldn't force anything through her dry throat, trembling lips, and her lungs ached from the disappearing air... She was frozen within the darkness of the older girl's eyes, her fathomless eyes, the onyx that was neither warm nor cold, but only... a pure mystery...
Then Meg winked.
Aren't we a shy little thing? she purred coyly, then knelt down to peer closely at the wound. Silly little girl... ashamed of herself... Kaoru found herself scowling, but watched those slim fingers ghost across her quivering thigh with nothing less than absolute fascination, a shock taking her every sense at the quick touch... A shock that bit at the pain nerves there, and yet danced on into other receptors, to tingle across her
skin and through every fiber of her being. It was something... something like she'd never felt before... something she couldn't identify...
Or rather, didn't want to...
This is a bad one, isn't it...? Meg pursed her perfect lips, then sighed and shook her head. I'd be worried of a lasting scar, but I'm sure that's not a problem, little tomboy that you are... With those words, a fingertip flicked over a particularly long scar that spanned her leg from knee to upper thigh. You're fairly drawn with these, Kaoru-chan!
Like you've never fallen down in your life? Kaoru snapped, finally out of patience, and her pride taking precedence over the unidentifiable flutterings beginning in her stomach.
Oh, I have, of course I have! Meg blinked innocently up at her. I just don't make a common practice of it, Kaoru-chan!
Kaoru grumbled and looked aloofly at the ceiling.
She heard a soft, dry chuckle, and a slender hand patted the side of her leg. A long shiver ran down her spine, and Kaoru bit her lower lip, willing herself not to show it... not to show it... even though her mind was refusing to communicate exactly was was...
Her teeth dug farther into that vulnerable flesh as the dark-haired girl began wrapping the thin bandages around her wounded thigh. The cotton fabric stung on the open cut, but she held back any whimper of pain out of pride, unwilling to show weakness before... this girl...
Meg announced.
Kaoru jumped in startled surprise, having been too engrossed in her thoughts to notice the process of bandaging any more. O-oh... Thank you, she managed lamely.
Only my job, Kaoru-chan, the dark-haired girl reminded with a alluring smile, standing gracefully. You can get dressed again, if you want...
Kaoru blinked, then nodded shakily, reaching for her jeans as quickly as possible without seeming odd. The hard fabric was so reassuring... and within three seconds, she was squirming into the confines of the garment again, gasping sharply as the rough motion scraped the gash again. But the stab of agony cushioned through the few layers of cloth wasn't nearly enough to make her halt in ridding herself of that awful feeling of vulnerability, to those dark eyes...
Within a flurry of motion that lasted under a minute, Kaoru found herself standing beside the cot, hands shoved uncomfortably into her pockets, eyes fixed firmly on the floor. I-I brought those papers... she offered softly, struggling to keep her voice steady. Did you-
I got them off the floor, yes, Kaoru-chan, Meg interrupted dryly. Are
you going to be all right to walk today? That was-
I'm fine.
Kaoru winced inwardly at the abruptness and sharpness of her own voice, but
continued towards the door and didn't look back. She had to figure this out... and at the moment, the only sensible option seemed to be to get as far away as possible, let herself calm down, work through it on her own... make it all make sense...
Well, I suppose I'll see you tonight, the young woman called after her. Say hello to Ken-san for me, Kaoru-chan!
The door swung closed after her.
Kaoru watched the fluorescent lights embedded in the ceiling shine off the lumps of brown paint that spotted the door, an inexplicable tightness choking her throat...
And turned away, returning her gaze to the dusty floor that every other student in the school tread, the same as her, everyone going the same way... One foot half the length of the other ahead, going as slowly as possible while still appearing to move as the best possible rate... Half-foot-length to half-foot-length, looking only a few tiles ahead...
Oi, called a familiar, cheerful voice, the smile on his face so evident in those words. Sanosuke passed her, agenda in hand, the other raised to fondly shove at her shoulder. He was walking opposite her, most likely heading back upstairs to class from the bathroom, taking the longest possible route, of course...
She smiled up at him, feeling her spirits lift, if just a little. It was nice to see Sanosuke pass by with a smile on that face of his, instead of the dark glower she was so used to seeing set in his features... It was strange, how the different exercise of only two muscles could change someone's appearance so completely, from brooding and forbidding to gentle, boyish, full of life... Even cute, in both applications of the word...
Go to class, Sanosuke, she scolded fondly. He scowled down at her and
continued on his way, pace not varying in the least; a long, bounding stride, long legs taking the hallway six tiles at each step, gaze cast far down the hallway to see things coming from afar.
In such bright spirits...
Kaoru watched him for a few moments, until he turned the corner by the guidance office, aching deep within herself...
Such bright spirits...

Sano tossed the flimsy agenda into the air, humming some stupid song he'd
heard Misao blaring in her room this morning, some random J-pop she'd found
somewhere...
Never get away... Hihiri made! he sang aloud, remembering that much for
some reason, then continued humming. It was a damn catchy thing...
As he passed the guidance office, his gaze was inevitably drawn to the second door, the one to Kenshin's office... it was obvious that the entrance was a relatively new addition, and badly installed, to boot. In fact, they probably had stuck it in back when they were redoing the roof... a few years ago, his freshman year? Probably. He didn't really remember much from ninth grade...
But none of that really mattered so much, anymore...
His lips curled in a silly little grin, and he barely caught the agenda, eyes fixed on that door, knowing that his Kenshin was right back there... His Kenshin...
Thus, his attention was elsewhere when he tripped over the bucket. Sano swore, briefly but filthily, tangled up in the plastic pail, the thin film of water over the bottom threatening to soak one leg of his jeans. He kicked at it irritably, only succeeding in flinging water everywhere, then flumped against the floor to swear some more.
He hadn't fallen very hard, so the shock to his hand only came when he leaned onto it. His right arm had gone, simply by biology, to catch his body before he'd fallen completely, that hand splayed over the dirty tile still as he'd struggled.
His wrist bent, and the daggers of agony lanced with unforgiving swiftness
through the torn tendons and coursed over the chipped bone, every tiny muscle complaining, torturous pain catching like flames over the hand he had nearly destroyed in his rage only a week ago... Sano gasped sharply, tears springing to his eyes, lips tightening as his jaw clenched.
he hissed, squeezing his stinging eyes closed, willing himself not to break down and cry like a little girl in the middle of the hallway. But damn, that hurt... He lifted up gingerly, letting his wrist fall limp, the throbbing torment only intensifying as blood rushed freely through the abused flesh...
Sano picked himself up painstakingly slowly, managing to shake the bucket
off his foot with only minimal effort. His hand hung down, a dead weight, and he was truly afraid to move again, feeling that blood pulsing so fast through his veins, so dreadfully sure that it would burst free again if he moved too fast, too sharply... just like before...
He could still see the bloodstains on the floor...
And with only one last glance at that door, he continued down to the stairwell. He couldn't go running to Kenshin every time something went wrong... and he knew, that if he did, the little redhead would look up at him with those big, sorrowful eyes again, and ask, oh, Sano, why? in that despairing, miserable voice, unable to understand that it wasn't because of him that Sano had been hurt... Just like the hospital... It wasn't his fault, it couldn't have been his fault, and yet...
Kenshin would take all his pain away and bear it on his own, if only he could...
Sano looked down at his shattered hand, the tiles far beneath it, walking much slower this time, half-foot-length to half-foot-length. Maybe if he was more careful, and paid more attention to the here and now, he wouldn't trip over things... watched the road ahead instead of getting distracted... just get back to class. Worry about the rest of it later. Later, when there was time. There was no need to worry about this now...
And maybe Kenshin wouldn't blame himself anymore.
He would do the same as his lover, if it were possible... if there were any way for Sano to take all Kenshin's sorrows away, if there were any possible way to make sure he woudn't have to suffer anymore, he would do it, without a second's hesitation... He'd never met someone who suffered so much, and yet bore up still, with a smile... Though that smile was one that could break at any time, he still tried to wear it... and succeeded, most of the time...
Why couldn't things work out, just for once?
And which class might you be going to? inquired a soft voice.
Sano froze, his hand throbbing faster, the pain cutting that much deeper, vibrating to the frequency of that sly tone, the chill of his presence taking hold of all his being...
He spun, remembering without effort the training that had brightened some of his early years, falling immediately into offensive stance, leaning back lightly on his left foot, hands fisted at his sides, the tip of his right sneaker lifted from the tile as the rest of his weight went to that heel.
Officer Fujita... Saitou Hajime... gazed down at him with a vague amusement
floating over the frozen amber of his narrow eyes. Sano snarled, a familiar adrenaline prickling through his veins, setting him afire, lips tightening as his eyes narrowed to fiercely glittering slits, the rushing blood and building rage sending everything crimson...
Yare yare... the police officer observed, shifting almost imperceptably, redistributing his weight just as Sano had, just not as dramatically. Do you react so violently to all authority figures?
I know who you are, Sano growled, voice rumbling deep in his chest, unbearable anger making him quiver... This man... this was the man... This was the only man alive who could still endanger his Kenshin... his beloved Kenshin... This lightning strike from his past, that had the potential to destroy everything he had worked for, the happiness he so rightly deserved...
He wouldn't let it happen. There was no way in Hell he would stand by and
let this asshole take away everything Kenshin had achieved, his peace, his freedom, his life... on the basis of something he hadn't done... something that someone else living in his body had done... It hadn't been Kenshin. And even if it had been, it wasn't his fault... It wasn't his fault! He'd only done what he had to so he could go on living!
If it took everything he had, he wouldn't let Saitou Hajime take any of
that away.
The tall man cocked his head, as though only further amused. Well, if course you do... It only follows that the Battousai's woman would know all of his affairs, now doesn't it?
Battousai's WOMAN?! Sano yelped, barely able to comprehend what had just
passed his ears. His woman? What the Hell was-
Saitou cocked his head, expressionless.
Damn you! Just shut up! Sano snapped in barely expressible frustration, refusing for the moment to switch back to his native Nihongo. English, as strange and confusing as it was at times, nevertheless had some choice phrases he preferred to use in their full glory, rather than settle for a substitute. And he planned on using a few...
You think you know him, don't you?... Saitou took a slow step forward, but Sano refused to back down in his stance.
I do know him, he snarled in return, feeling a certain pride swell in his chest. You're the one who doesn't know him.
I know the killer, the dark man said coolly. The man who slaughtered innocent women and children in their sleep so there would be no chance of anyone identifying him as the killer of their fathers, husbands, sons... The man who refused to take responsibilty for his acts and fled instead across an ocean. The man who endangers thousands of innocents every day by his very existence. He is a murderer. And a liar. And you are deluded if you think any differently.
Sano felt something break deep inside him, an ache beyond any words he
could ever hope to express. You motherfucking bastard, he hissed, then tensed- springing forward to swing into a high puch, muscles exploding into fury-
A thin hand caught his, fisting tightly but not painfully around his fingers, stopping his forward motion with the exertion of only one arm, the shift so fast as to throw him off balance, to stop his attack with only a mild touch-
Sano stared down into glimmering gold eyes, an undefinable fire burning there, such power within that gentle touch...
Stop, Sano, Kenshin said softly. He's beyond you.

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