Not the Only One: Prologue-Explain That.
Kenshin straightened from the laundry as he watched Kaoru stare pensively at nothing and then turn to move around the dojo, preoccupied by whatever worried her. When her odd behavior started days before, he had been immediately concerned. She was tired, unresponsive, and he swore that she had even been avoiding him. Nervousness around him was something he expected from people who knew his past, but from Kaoru this sudden strange behavior concerning him was completely out of place. Days ago she had stopped his gentle questions with a short remark of "Kenshin, you worry too much" This morning, at breakfast, he had again asked if anything was troubling her and she had changed the subject quickly.
Kenshin knew something was wrong and was forced, by her unresponsiveness, to resort to active observance of his landlady. He wasn't exactly spying on her, he was just paying a lot of attention to what she did...out of concern for her health. Any good friend would do the same. Or so he told himself.
The ex-hitokiri knew it was a good plan, at least the best for the situation, but knew that the way she was acting did not add up. He could not, for the life of him, figure out what was wrong.
It was almost as if the normally chipper, smiling Kaoru had turned off her emotions, becoming cold toward her friends. At times not even Yahiko could get a rise out of her, but then, without warning, the strangest remarks would set her off and her emotions would burst to the surface almost violently. Reading her aura gave him no more insight into the predicament, her ki flared at the most peculiar moments. She knew that he could sense this kind of emotional turmoil and that it often gave him a sixth sense about people. Whenever her distress was heightened he realized she made an extra effort to avoid him. Sighing, Kenshin loosened his sleeves and put away the laundry for the day before heading to the house to make the dinner that would be gloomy and subdued because of Kaoru's new persona.
On top of the emotional problems, he had found Kaoru doing plenty of strange things, but what on earth did they mean? He remembered, just before this all started, she had returned from a walk with a red envelope. He had seen her read the contents and then proceed to stuff the letter, envelope and all, into the kitchen fire. Kenshin was sure now, as he stood heating soup over that same fire, that she had been concealing the envelope from him and hadn't known that he had seen her at all. But he always paid attention to Kaoru, especially when he sensed her discomfort. He wished now that he had somehow retrieved the letter from the fire, but something told him that she had watched it burn just to make sure.
There was also a well-made Katana hidden under a loose floorboard in the far corner of the dojo. He had not known of its existence until he walked in on Kaoru holding it and staring so intently at it that she didn't notice his presence. Kenshin had wished fervently to reach out and ask her what she was thinking, but it seemed deeply personal and troubling, so at the time he left her to her brooding.
More recently Kaoru wrote a long detailed letter about Kami only knew what to some undisclosed recipient and taken it with her on another long walk, only to return empty-handed.
All of this had happened in the past week and he still had no idea what was going on. Kenshin gave a start when he found himself staring at the young kenjitsu instructor, completely lost in his thoughts, his food getting cold on his plate while Kaoru ate mechanically, staring at nothing.
It was frustrating. He had done everything he could think of short of threatening her or taking a more active approach and following her around. Could it be some problem with the dojo? Could the letter have been from a suitor? Kenshin's heart wrenched unexpectedly at the thought. Was someone threatening her because of him? It had happened before.
He caught her arm as she rose and excused herself to go to bed.
"Kaoru-dono, if there is anything you need or anything troubling you... sessh,I...please..." he stuttered as she gazed at his hand on her arm, "you should feel free to tell sessha, that you should." He said releasing her quickly.
"Goodnight, Kenshin." She said listlessly, the light gone out of her eyes, before leaving the room.
oro,oro,oro,oro,oro,oro,oro,oro,oro,oro,oro,oro,oro,oro,oro,oro,oro,oro,oro,oro,oro;
Hours later amber eyes snapped open, glowing in the dark like a cat's, and then softened to violet as Kenshin remembered where he was. He rose silently to his feet from his sitting position, shifting his weight from the wall he had been leaning against. Straining his senses Kenshin searched for the noise that had awakened him. Sounds of violent movement and low undecipherable mumbles came from the direction of Kaoru's room. "She must be having another bad dream, that she must." Kenshin said quietly to himself. The frequency of her nightmares was adding to his worries as well.
After silently debating with himself he set his shoulders determinedly and headed down the hallway, prepared to risk Kaoru's wrath for coming into her room without her permission. She had called him a pervert often enough as it was, but he was sure that if she truly believed it she would not allow him to stay. Maybe, if he woke her up, she would finally tell him what had been bothering her. Or, at least, what made her have such terrible nightmares.
He found Kaoru tossing, turning, and kicking, her hair and yukata askew, the sheets kicked completely off of the futon. Her body glistened with sweat and her face was wet with tears while she shivered, or perhaps trembled, in her sleep. Kenshin reached out to touch her and gently bring her back from the world of nightmares. He brushed his hand against her cheek, wiping away the tears, and she let out a small whimper of pain and fear. Kneeling by her side, he cautiously stretched out his hand towards her shoulder in an effort to shake her awake.
The room blurred, he felt himself being flipped and unceremoniously slammed into the floor. His eyes flashed amber for a moment as his Hitokiri instincts fought to the surface. Blinking he found Kaoru on top of him pinning him down with her legs and one hand; while the other hand was poised at his throat as if pressing a blade to his neck. The eyes of the woman above him, however, remained closed. Apparently, she had attacked him in her sleep, a snarl on her beautiful face as she fought against whatever her dream told her that he was. How the shinsengumi would laugh to see him in this position.
"Kaoru!" he said, almost sternly with his battousia instincts still just below the surface of his consciousness. 'I cannot wait to hear her explanation of this' the ex-hitokiri thought as he attempted to free himself from her grasp. Kaoru's eyes opened at the movement, but remained glazed. In her eyes he could read barely concealed hurt and a deep seated determination.
Since she hadn't made another move he decided to try and work himself free again. This was hard as he was completely pinned under her; arms, legs, sakkabatou and all. In the next moment he was again surprised as Kaoru's weight was completely off of him. Quickly looking up he saw that she had lifted herself enough to pull out the blade that rested in between them. As he watched she held up the sword and prepared to make a strike at his heart. He promptly dodged the attack of the woman he thought would never hurt him, rolling out from under her and rising to a crouching position a few feet away.
The point of the sakkabatou Kaoru was still holding was pressed into the floor where his chest had been moments before. Her eyes were still glazed over and the expression in them had turned into horror. She let go of the blade and, trembling, scooted away, still staring at the sword with a glazed look the entire time. Her ki emitted waves of revulsion, remorse, horror, and fear. Her eyes were still glazed as they started to pour tears for whoever she had killed in her dream
Kenshin was sick of this and promptly decided he would wake her no matter what. Looking around the room he spotted a pitcher of water next to a basin and rag used to wash Kaoru's face and hands. He rose to his feet silently, again. And walked over to the pitcher. Hastily ,so as not to end up being attacked again, he grabbed the pitcher and emptied the water it held right on to Kaoru's head.
Her eyes quickly lost their glazed over look and she focused on him looking confused. The first words to pass between her lips were, "What the hell is going on?"