A sword needs a sheathe to protect, like a ray of light in the darkness.
The words came across her mind almost like a lightning, and boomed like a thunder that woke her up to her senses. She fingered the letter, which she had received from one of the Shisengumi members, in the alley that particular night.
Everything was pre-planned; her mission was to have revenge for Hitokiri Battousai that killed her soon-to-be husband, in the lonely night. However, she was dumbstruck, how could Kaoru-san know about the fact? How does she, when not even her little brother knew it?
She sat on the floor, looking out to the sun with from the glass panel. The shadows were short, and soon to be noon. Kaoru had told her, once noon, all the members of the Ishin would be gone, knowing that there was a traitor in the house, her. Maybe… Maybe if she start a fire and burnt the whole Ishin quarters down, the Shisengumi could actually think that she had done her own part and the Ishin was eliminated? If…
She broke in despair, it was a choice of hers, and she would have to face it. The shuffles of the shoji door came, and the Ishin were all ready to go. A few seconds passed, and Kenshin came treading in the room.
The pair of amber eyes seemed to burn intensively to hers, piercing through her naked heart. "Pack, and we shall leave." He said, not command. It was more of a request, a polite request. She nodded dumbly, not knowing what to say.
She packed a few accessories and clothes, making sure that Kenshin have some too, and went out to the porch, which was crowded with people of Ishin. "I," she whispered slowly to Kenshin, "need to go… to the lavatory." Upon seeing a tinge of pink on Kenshin's cheeks, she hid a smile and went back in. She went to the kitchen and was positive that no one was in these quarters, and she slid the door close in the kitchen. She gathered hays from another shack and piled them up, and made a fire. She stood there as the fire goes higher and higher, consuming the materials nearby in a whole. She locked the door from the inside and went out, the door was locked in a moment's time, not knowing that someone was still inside.
She went back to the porch as the crowds went out of the quarters, in a file, and it dispersed in a whole. Kenshin seemed to walk hesitatingly till he saw Katsura, who was accompanied by a few of his men.
"Katsura-san," he called, and his pace quickened, "have you seen Kaoru-neesan?" Tomoe seemed a little shocked, knowing that Kenshin had called Kaoru, 'neesan'. Someone yelled from behind, and she saw the orange flames of the fire had reached to the room, almost to the porch. Katsura seemed startled.
He started to shift in his position. "No! I thought she was with you!" Katsura replied, panic evident in his voice. Amber eyes widened, as he turned back and looked at the quarters that were devoured by the flames, and he stoned in his tracks.
"Kaoru… Kaoru-neesan…" he murmured under his breath as the time seemed to stop. Without even waiting, he tore off into the quarters as wooden plank fell into his tracks, preventing him to go any further.
"Kaoru-neesan!" he yelled out loud, from the porch, he could feel his throat tearing apart. "Kaoru! KAORU!!" he cried, and ambers were glossy and coated with unseen tears. He was trying to leap in but was held from the back by Katsura, and his men, who were holding him, back from facing death.
"Its too late now, Himura. Everything is over." Katsura whispered reassuringly, but his heart was shattered when the woman, after his dead wife, his niece was caught into the fire. A dishonourable death. They dragged him out of the fire scene and put him down onto the ground when they have a fair distance. Kenshin raise his fists and pounded the ground angrily. A cry of despair came, and Tomoe stepped forward. She put a hand onto his shoulder and pulled him into an embrace, and he had comfort in her arms.
…She felt like you, Kaoru-neesan. It seemed like you were holding me here, comforting me with the silence. But it can never be you, for you are dead. I am sorry, Kaoru-neesan, this unworthy one failed to protect you…
Tears fell, into her chests as the older held him tight in her arms. It felt so right, like a sword and a sheathe.
"It's alright, everything is alright now…" Tomoe whispered.
"The whole Ishin will be separated, and we should be going into hiding. An address is given to you by… Kaoru, days ago. You should remember it." He said painfully of Kaoru's name, and walked away with the glimmering sun.
Author's Note: I am thinking of ending it here… hm, but I am not that cruel. (Smiles)Hiko Seijuro placed a bowl of gruel by her bedside, rolling his eyes when she opened her eyes almost momentarily. "So you've wake, Kaoru." He spoke in a firm manner, while Kaoru gave a small, weak smile.
"Gomen-nasai, Hiko-niisan." She spoke in a sapless manner and struggled to sit up. The older man helped her to an upright position, with her back leaning onto the pillow. Brownish-black locks covered his facial features, as he glared at the scrawny girl.
"If it's not for me, passing by the Ishin head quarters that time, you would have been roasted in the kitchen instead of jumping out from the window! Have you got no brains at all when you struggled for your survival?! You could jump out from the window without me tell you to!" he leashed out and rolled his eyes in a fatherly manner. Kaoru smiled sheepishly and scratched her head.
"Well, I am thinking of that everything had to end one day, hm, why not it be that day huh?" she spoke causally, while beady-black eyes that seemed to burn through her. He pointed an accusing finger to her and spoke almost defiantly.
"You know… YOU COULD BE THE WORLD'S STUPIDEST IDIOT!" Kaoru shrank back at his sudden anger, curling up onto her pillow like a little kitten, trembling ever so slightly.
"Uh-huh?" she gulped.
"Kenshin may know that you're DEAD!" Her frightened demeanour disappeared, and she looked serious.
"It's good." She spoke quietly, and intensely, "my conditions are getting worst. I could almost see that my future is going to be ingested by an abyass of nothingness, a black hole that has no depth." Hiko tilted her chin up as tears streamed out from her sapphire eyes.
"Remember, you are going to live through it." He said, and gave a small grin. She shook her head harshly.
"No! Medical is not that advanced, and it's the middle of the war! Besides, I could feel it growing inside me… getting bigger as days passed. I wonder if someday, it would grow as big as the windpipe and I will die of suffocation. Ironic isn't it?" Hiko said nothing, and patted her head. And her heart was filled with bitterness. It felt empty, so empty.
Author's Note: Okay, the real ending. You have known something.
One. Kenshin thinks Kaoru is dead.
Two. Kaoru is sick, for your information, it is throat cancer.
Rochelle –Well, reply to your question is that Kaoru is not a seer. Explanations will be given in next next next chappie. Heh.
