Kaoru entered the inferno, her forearm guarding her face from the smoke. It filled her nostrils and stuck in the back of her throat, choking her. She fell to her knees, coughing, and crawled across the floor deeper into the burning shrine. Fire leaped out at her from the walls; she tried to avoid the worst parts burning away the floor.
"Kenshin? Kenshin, where are you?" She called between coughs above the crackling fire.
"Miss Kaoru?" She heard his voice and followed it into the second room.
His feet and hands were tied together so he could only crawl on his hands and knees, and his sword was clamped between his upper arms; he was crawling around searching for something.
"Kenshin!" Kaoru crawled quickly over to him and began releasing his bonds, scolding him. "Kenshin, what are you doing? You could've been out of here by now. "
"I was looking for your silver ribbon, Miss Kaoru. Sometime during the battle it loosened and fell somewhere. I did not wish for you to lose it Miss Kaoru, that I did not. Though it looks as though you'll lose more than that." Kenshin smiled as he reached over her and squelched a tongue of flame on the hem of her kimono with the right sleeve of his gi, and then punched out more flames on the sleeves of her kimono. Discovering more creeping toward her legs, he managed to punch those out also.
Kaoru stared at her kimono a moment before shaking herself back into reality.
"Kenshin!" she screeched, standing up quickly, "Who gave you permission to touch me like that?! You never even asked! I can't believe you!" She fumed, trying to sweep the smoke out of her face without much luck.
"But Miss Kaoru..." His voice trailed behind her as she stormed away. He shook his head a little, wondering how Kaoru could think of such things at a time like this.
But with the smoke blinding and choking Kaoru, she lost her way, and fell to the ground breathing heavily. She promised to rest for only a moment, but that moment seemed to stretch, and still she could not seem catch her breath. The smoke seemed to grow thicker and the fire hotter. Panic began to set in.
Suddenly she heard a particularly loud crack above her, and looked up just in time to see a burning rafter begin to topple ground-ward, aiming straight for her. She dodged out of the way just enough for it to miss her head, but it still caught her on the back of her leg. The pain was unbearable; she fell unconscious to the floor.
Kenshin never found Kaoru's silver ribbon, but on his way out found her lying on the ground, a smoldering rafter laid askew next to her.
"Miss Kaoru!" He cried, fearing the worse, and scuttled over to her. He checked for a pulse and found it. Abandoning courtesy he swooped her into his arms and dashed out of the door.
When he had blinked the grit out of his eyes, he noticed with relief that the police were there and had taken Kyossa away, and Sano and Yahiko were all right and still there. He collapsed on the ground, still holding Kaoru.
"Kenshin... what's... going on"
"It's alright Miss Kaoru. You're safe now. Just rest "
"Sleep..." And her eyes closed again, and Kenshin stayed there, looking at her for a moment. And soon his eyelids seemed to weigh twice as much as they should, and he too fell asleep, vaguely feeling Sano catch him before he fell to the ground.
Kaoru coughed fitfully in her sleep, as she had almost the entire night. Megumi moaned to herself as she rolled out of the extra futon and went into the cabinet, digging for some more medicine. It had been at least four hours since Kaoru's last dose, so it would be all right to give her some more. She sat the young woman up and tipped the medicine down her throat, making sure she swallowed. She checked the minor burns on her hands and the more serious one on her leg, reapplying some salve and re-wrapping the bandages. Kaoru began to murmur in her sleep, and Megumi shushed her before returning to her own bed to catch what few minutes of sleep she might have before Kaoru started coughing again.
Almost immediately she changed her mind, and stepped into the next room to check up on Kenshin and Dr. Gensai. Both were asleep, the former coughing every now and then. Kenshin suffered few and very minor burns miraculously, even though he had been there longer than Kaoru had. Yet still, Kaoru would live, though she wouldn't be able to walk on her own for a while. Megumi smirked wearily. Her pride wouldn't allow such a thing, but she would have to deal with it.
With one last yawn, Megumi shuffled into her bed and finally slept.