Disclaimer: The same answer as always. You decide.

Author's Notes: Enough with the excuses—Yes, this chapter is extremely overdue, I know this. You'll have to forgive me. Life was hard, and in all truth, I will lie to you, I'VE LOST INTEREST in this story. I know I said I would NEVER not finish a story, and that I wrote 'Silhouettes of Shadows' with absolutely no interest, but this story is so much harder to continue. So I'll let you decide— should I keep going, with sporadic updates, or should I just stop the story? And don't give me an opinion due to the chapter's ending. If you decide I should stop, I'm willing to let another author complete the story. But I won't lie—I've lost interest to the point that this story is a backache to write.

ALSO! Please do take the time to visit my website (the link is on my author's page).

Breaking Through

Chapter 14- Lonely Footprints

Kenshin burst through the door without attempting to knock. There were too many emotions shooting throughout his body and mind; every movement was done on impulse. Searching the room wearily, Kenshin spotted Sanosuke down the hallway.

"Sanosuke!" Kenshin yelled, waiting patiently for Sano to turn around.

Sano spun around, and then stalked his way down the hallway until he was directly in front of Kenshin. The look that adorned Kenshin's face only forced deeper rage into Sanosuke, until finally, his fist connected with the flesh of Kenshin's cheek. His punch burned, but did not deter Kenshin.

"What the hell right do you think you have, to come back into Kaoru's home?" Sano stated, venom seething through his words. "You left us all here! You left her behind just because she died!"

Kenshin rubbed his cheek, surprised to realize he had managed to bite into his cheek when Sano punched him. He tried to whip the blood away from his mouth before he responded to the question, but found his attempts futile. There was too much of it coming out at once.

"Kaoru's not dead."

"Don't lie."

"She isn't!" Kenshin persisted. "Enishi took her for a reason; she was still alive. He nursed her back to health and has been keeping her hostage since."

"Then why aren't you going after her!" he responded. "She needs you to go get her!"

"I can't get to her alone." Kenshin stated. "And that punch was uncalled for, Sanosuke."

"What do you mean you can't get to her alone? You're the Battousai, remember?" Sano stated. "But if you do need my help, I'm here to offer assistance, if it involves rescuing Jou-chan from a lunatic. I wouldn't want you to mess up and get her killed."

Kenshin sighed then resumed a seated a position on the floor. "I need to figure out exactly where he has her………"

"You mean you don't know! If you don't know where she is, then how do you even know that she's alive?"

Lazily moving his gaze from the floor to his friend, Kenshin answered the question. "Reliable sources told me, and this source has never once steered me in the wrong direction. She's alive."

Both men sat in silence, each one thinking of the same thing but in different directions. They had to figure out where Kaoru was, one way or another, before Enishi did kill her. There were so many different ways to go about the task though, so which was the best?

"Considering you're a samurai, and far from being a citizen, then I'll go through town and see what I can find in the gambling houses, bars, restaurants and stuff." Sano stated finally, breaking the unnerving silence in the room. "Then you can go back to your source and see if they know anything else they we don't yet."

Kenshin's eye brow rose. "You wouldn't be looking for a new reason to gamble and drink, would you Sanosuke?"

"Of course not! Jou-chan's in danger, I don't have time to just mess around like that!" he defended. "Geez, you have such little faith in me, Kenshin………"

Kenshin stood up slowly, placing his swords back into his cloth belt and arranging them next to his hip once more. He shot Sano a quick glare as a warning not to mess around before saying anything else to the gangster.

"We'll meet back here in three hours." Kenshin stated. "If you don't come and I have to go after you, then you'll regret it."

"I'll be here." Sano stated, slamming one fist into his palm. "And the same goes for you."

A grin flew over Kenshin's face. "You don't have to worry over that, I'll be back before you."

Each one rushed off in opposite directions, Sanosuke toward town and Kenshin back toward the Ishin Shishi base to speak more fully to Katsura. It was possible that he had more information than he had originally stated.

Traveling back down the same trail he had gone down time and time again, he forced his way through fallen foliage and uprooted stones; he fought the elements and his skills to run harder, faster. If it was possible that Katsura knew more than he had told him, then he needed to hurry; if they could get more on Enishi and gain the upper hand, they had a better chance of getting Kaoru back alive.

He slowed his steps when he came close to the base; the last time he had rushed inside, the men had believed that something was wrong and chaos had exploded. At the moment he didn't need to waste that kind of time trying to calm down excited hoards of samurai; he just needed to calmly speak with his commanding leader and then leave again. Taking calculated steps into the building, he searched the surrounding area with determined, emotionless amber eyes until he spotted who he needed to speak with.

"Katsura." Battousai stated.

Katsura looked up from his meal to his prized assassin, then nodded and motioned for him to enter the room. Waltzing in, Kenshin kneeled beside the small table and bowed slightly to his leader before looking up at him.

"You want to know something?" Katsura questioned him. "Himura, I know you don't come to me unless you have a favor or a question."

"The island fortress, what island is it on?" Kenshin asked. "I need to know so I can get to Kaoru-dono as quickly as possible."

Katsura leaned backward. "It's not far from here, really. If you go to the docking bay and ask to go to the closest, privately own island then you will meet with him there."

"Why an island? I thought only hitokiri operated near water………"

"Don't be fooled by its location." Katsura responded. "Just because it's an island doesn't mean it's going to be that easy to break into the confines he has placed around the Kamiya girl. I told you it was a fortress, meaning the entire island is one. You're going to have some problems if you try to infiltrate the area on your own, Himura. I'd suggest you take someone along with you if you insist on gong after her."

Kenshin narrowed his eyes and nodded. "I'm already taking Zanza with me."

"I don't think the two of you will be enough. It's your decision who you bring, considering you know you can trust them, but I think you're going to want a larger party."

"I don't have many other people I can turn to, Katsura. I'll have to go about this with my one man army." Kenshin responded.

Katsura nodded. "Go as you see fit. I'll be waiting to hear how you did."

Nodding, Kenshin stood once more and bowed again to Katsura. "Thank you, Katsura-san; I am indebted to you far more than before."

Katsura shook his head. "You owe me nothing, Himura, just go and find her and bring both of you back alive and unscathed, okay?"

Kenshin nodded and then sharply left the room, taking corners and doorways until he was outside once more, looking up at a sky that was bleeding into the darkness of night again. He held his head downward while thinking over his conversation. It was possible that when he got there, she could be dead, he reminded himself. But there was also that chance that if he never came, she would be killed as well. He had to take chances. He did not have time to doubt himself or his technique.

That thought in mind, he reminded himself, meant that he could have no distractions; this fight was on the battlefield of his heart and his existence as well as Kaoru's, and he couldn't risk harming her or himself in the process. He couldn't kill Enishi, either, which was making the ability not to doubt himself all the more difficult. How was he supposed to fight without killing the man? It was obvious he couldn't hold back during the battle.

But there had to be some way.

Shaking his head to dismiss the thoughts, Kenshin continued on his trek back toward the dojo. Sanosuke would be there before him if he didn't hurry up and travel faster.

Picking up his pace, Kenshin sped through the trail of memories that he'd traveled before. Grinding his teeth together to get rid of the images that were clouding his thoughts, he pushed onward until he found himself at the junction of the field and trail.

This was where he had first met Kaoru, and the place he had to travel through each time to get from her dojo to his base. This was where he practiced to get away from the looks of everyone else; even after he had run from the dojo in his anguish filled rage; he had come back to this exact spot solely to practice and calm himself.

He tried to decide if he should stop and swing his sword a few times, just to see if it would calm him down at all. He decided against it; they would be leaving early in the morning for the island most likely, and he had to get back to the dojo before Sano. After they talked, then he'd come out here to think some more. There were still unresolved problems he had to take care of before they left to get Kaoru back.

Picking up his pace again, Kenshin continued back toward the dojo, regretfully retracing steps he had taken time and time again, each time with a single set of footprints in his loneliness.

There was no more time for him to sit there and wait. The sun would be rising soon; he needed to prepare. Forcing his body to stand from its tired position against the wall, Kenshin lifted his sword and walked away from the room he had been cowering within. There was a little time for him to perform practice kata if he wished; he wanted to be positive he was prepared.

He already knew there wasn't much more he could do in the realm of practicing. His movements now were trained and mechanical, perfect every time from the point of starting to where the point of the blade rested when he completed the maneuver. When you were stuck in a war, precision was the line between life and death.

But Kenshin was pushing for a deeper form of perfection. He had to perfect everything from the spasms in his muscles to the displacement of each grain of sand. Everything he did had to be perfect; there was no margin for error in his upcoming battle. In all truth, it didn't matter to him if he lost his own life in the fight, but if he did not live until the end of the battle, then Kaoru would surely die.

The fate of the one he was trying to protect was relying upon his existence. For all the time he had felt he deserved death, this one time that he realized he needed life outweighed them all. He could not remember ever being this nervous– there had never been a time before when the fate of someone stood directly in front of him. Every other time he had been incapable of rescuing them; this time, he would not allow history to repeat its bloody chapters again.

Not this time.

Author's Notes: Extremely short, but if you READ THE FIRST AUTHOR' S NOTES, then you know the reason why. And I apologize. Don't forget to leave your opinion on the state of this fic. If you are willing to take up the loose ends of writing this fic, do let me know—if more than one of you apply, then you'll have to write me samples so I can choose the best candidate to continue this, so leave your e-mail addresses for me.

Love and hugs—

Crystal Renee