"S-Sano?" Kenshin said, blinking to push away the hallucination he had.

"Kenshin?" Sano questioned with a raised eyebrow. There was something in the smaller man's eyes that told him something wasn't right. Something was wrong with Kenshin to put him on his nerves like this.

Chapter Three: Blindly Seeing

"Yes Sano?" He asked, his Rurouni mask in place now. He grinned slightly, still not bothering to reach for his blade, the sakabato.

"Uh…are you all right?" Sano questioned, mentally slapping himself in the forehead for that. 'Baka! Of COURSE he's not gonna tell ya if he's all right or not, this is KENSHIN we're talking about here.' His mind told him. 'Mentally talking of course.' It added with a short-lived laugh.

"Yes, Sano." Kenshin said, seemingly a little drawn back by the question. 'Does it look that obvious?' He wondered. "I'm fine, I'll be off cooking breakfast then," He smiled, walking off, his faithful sakabato still not at his hip.

Sano looked at the open door into Kenshin's near vacant room and noticed his blade not on him. 'Odd, Kenshin must really be rattled to not notice he forgot his sakabato!' It sounded incredulous to the thought, but Sano shrugged and grabbed the sword, sheath and all and walked with it lazily around the dojo to try and find the wanderer and return his sword.

There was Kenshin, not fixing breakfast but just sitting there, staring at the blue sky. A couple of pretty birds fluttered past him and he stared at them, not a rurouni's pleasant gaze but more on the lines of a blank look.

"Kenshin?" Sano's words broke the red head from his thoughts.

"Oro?" Kenshin turned his head and stopped abruptly, staring at the sakabato being held out to him.

"Well, are ya gonna take it or not?" Sano said, brushing off Kenshin's weird behavior as some idea that it was a real blade and not a sakabato.

Kenshin's slightly shaking hand grasped the hilt of the sword and he removed it from his sheath as his mind mentally played with him, imagining red blood dripping from the blade and onto him, painting his now ashen skin.

"Hey!" Sano shouted, waving a hand in front of Kenshin's dazed eyes. "Are you okay?" He asked after he got Kenshin's attention. The red head blinked his violet eyes and then shook his head and nodded that he was all right.

"I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night." Kenshin explained, trying to ease the worried look in Sanosuke'e eyes.

He grabbed the sakabato quickly but lightly and pulled it towards his body, an unknown sensation sweeping through him as he recalled the dream. The dream just wouldn't leave him alone!

"Maybe you should sleep for the rest of the day, I'll tell Missie here that you had a rough night." Sano offered, getting a reluctant nod from Kenshin after a moment or two of silence.

Kenshin got up on his shaking but still a little unsteady feet and made his way back to his room, instantly throwing the sakabato away from him with disgust. He wiped the sweat off his heads, closing his eyes and trying to cleanse himself of the smell, the feel, the taste, and the sight of blood.

'There are two choices,' His inner voice spoke softly as Kenshin nodded, waiting for his choices. He opened his eyes, blinking. He looked at the sakabato and then at the door leading further inside the dojo and then the door leading out and away from the dojo.

Now it was his choice. Choice one or choice two. Life as a rurouni, or giving the death their wish. He blinked and titled his head, seemingly deep in thought. 'If I were to die, then that would mean that they wouldn't have to worry about my enemies from the past.' He reasoned with himself.

'But wouldn't they cry? Would they worry and be sad?' He didn't know the answer to those simple yet complicated questioned, only his friends themselves would be able to answer that and he wasn't very opted to do that. After all, do you go up to a friend and ask if you should abandon them or kill yourself to repent for your sins?

What would he do?

TBC