Most of you guessed right, so that means I was obvious. I'm glad to know I'm doing it right so far. Your words of sympathy were well received. Thank you for coming back. During the interval I survived several exams and assignments. My life as a med student is not fair. Far from it. Anyhow, here's the next chapter.
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Kaoru went to the dojos she taught in, and begged for an advanced salary. "I was robbed," she explained.
"Robbed? It can't be!" All the heads of the dojos said. "Himura Kenshin still lives at your place, right? How could you possibly get robbed?"
I was robbed by Himura Kenshin himself, she would answer in her head, that's how.
She told no one, not even Yahiko. It would shatter him to know, he who always looked up to Kenshin. As it was, the event shattered everything she knew about him. She had to remind herself, over and over, that the man she saw then was not the man she knew. He was not right in the head. If not for that firm belief, she would truly have sent him packing. Right now, she simply left him alone.
The morning after their confrontation, he came to breakfast, late and silent. She was still furious then. She served the rice and soup and unceremoniously placed it before him. She then tossed her head at him and ate with haste.
"Kaoru-dono........"
"Look, Kenshin, the fact remains," she answered without looking at him. "I don't care what your reason is. You stole from me."
"It shall not happen again."
"Because I'm not leaving my money in the cash box again. And I will not let you near my money again."
A long pause, as she continued to eat, and as he stared down at his miso. He finally spoke.
"Kaoru-dono."
His voice pleaded to be heard. She did not want to, but she found herself looking at his deep eyes, and seeing all the sadness in them.
"I was.........not myself......understand, Kaoru-dono, please. It will only be until I feel better, understand?"
It was the desperation in his words that riled her. It was the pills talking again, and she had had quite enough of it. "I refuse to understand. It has gone far enough. Sick or not, you will stop taking those pills. It is doing you more harm than good."
"I can't, Kaoru-dono. I just can't. Not now. I can't stop."
His eyes locked with hers. They were asking for help. But she was too angry to notice.
"You're pathetic, Kenshin."
He kept his eyes on her, desperate and distressed. But his words belied his eyes. "I shall not bother you again regarding the matter."
That was the last time he truly looked at her.
Kaoru found him an hour later in his room. His back was to the wall, his eyes were blank and misty.
They avoided each other as much as possible. That was rather easily accomplished, over the week that passed after the robbery. He usually stayed in his room. Whenever Yahiko would peek in, he was either asleep or staring out the window. The poor boy suddenly found himself having to do Kenshin's chores. Breakfast and dinner were quiet affairs now. Neither Kaoru nor Kenshin talked to the other. They would not even look at each other for any length of time. There were no angry looks, just plenty of sad ones.
Now, more than ever, he seemed to be always in a dream state. Asleep, yet awake. And it was as if he wanted it to be that way. Probably, to mask out whatever he felt about what he did. But in shutting out his thoughts, he also shut out the world. Kaoru could no longer get any kind of word, let alone any kind of decision, out of him.
"Once every five hours, I tell you!" Yahiko reported by the end of that week. "He pops a pill once every five hours in the mornings. I think he takes two at once every night. What in the world is happening to that guy?!"
"I wish I knew, Yahiko, I wish I knew........" Kaoru answered him.
Kaoru was confused about what to do, so she hesitated in making the first move. On the one hand, he needed to see that she was angry for having been robbed of her hard-earned money. On the other hand, he was not completely himself right now, so it was not fair to be vengeful.
She decided to do something more constructive as the new week entered. It had become too long. Furious with him or not, Kenshin was still Kenshin, and silly boy, he had to eat. He sometimes would not if you don't offer it. It was one of those times, she sighed.
She walked into his room at the middle of the day, armed with a lunch tray. She lowered it beside him, staring out the window with his back leaned on the wall. She tried to sound as normal as possible. "I haven't seen you eat anything over the last two days. They're edible. I made sure. That's the only thing I'm completely sure I can cook."
His eyes were on her, but they were not looking at anything.
"Oh, come on," she continued with a toss of her head. "I draw the line at feeding you. You have to do that yourself, silly boy."
Nothing.
"Are you even there, Kenshin?" she whispered, as she looked at the weary face.
"Kaoru-dono." He finally said, but still did not look at her. "S.....s.........sorry, Kaoru-dono."
She took the rice bowl into her hand and slowly raised it. "Enough about that. Lunch?"
But his head had lowered and his eyes had shut.
"KENSHIN!" she shouted and nailed him to the wall, his head knocking into it.
The shock had the desired effect, and for a few crucial seconds Kenshin was Kenshin again. The purple eyes truly saw her and looked at her.
"You have not eaten for two days, and I'm worried about you." She raised the bowl again. "Please eat something."
He understood, took bowl and chopsticks from her, and ate in little bites.
"You can't go on like this, Kenshin," she told him, slowly and emphatically. "I can't go on like this. It has to stop. It couldn't be that hard. Just give it to me, and I'll throw it away. Simple, yes?"
He had finished, and lowered the rice bowl. "No.........Not simple as that. Feel better with them.........Can't sleep without. Understand?"
She shook her head. But she was going to utilize this time he actually managed to talk to her. "How many of those things are you actually taking in a day?"
He scratched his head, thought a while, then raised the new pill bottle beside him. "Don't know. More than one?"
Definitely more than one in a day! Kaoru stared at the bottle in terror. Kenshin stole the money from her just a week ago. This was the first day of the second week, and already the little bottle was half empty.
She held him by the shoulders and made sure she saw true eyes. "Kenshin, you have to stop! You have to stop! I'm no doctor, but something's not right!"
But as soon as she said the words, she just barely saw his eyes go from clear to very misty and blank. She had lost him again.
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It was chilly that night, and Kaoru found it hard to sleep. That was why she heard the groans from the next room.
"Stop............stop............never..........yours.............." were some of the discernible words that floated back to her.
The words ceased for a few minutes, then continued again. Clearer this time.
"She will never be truly yours! She hates you!"
Now there was no question. It was coming from the next room. From Kenshin.
She got out of bed and checked to see what was the matter with him. As she got nearer, the groans grew loader and faster. He was not in his futon when she got there. She barely made out his red hair hidden in the shadows, at the far corner of the room. She raised her little lantern, and found him curled up there in a little dusty, forgotten ball.
"Too noisy," he muttered, held his head, and rocked back and forth. "Too noisy! She will never be yours! Always she will be angry at you! Too much blood! On my hands! Too noisy! Stop! Stop! Stop messing with my head!" He fumbled around him for the pill bottle. He found it and took out two pills. "Stop that! She will get mad again! I don't care anymore! I want the voices to go away! Away!" he mumbled in quick succession as the pills shook in his palm. "Don't do it! I have to! Have to!" The hand still shook as he brought it to his mouth and he took in both pills. "Sorry.........Kaoru-dono..........." he finally whispered, as he slowly stopped rocking, and as the hands over his head slowly dropped beside him.
It was the last straw. Kenshin needed help. She would find it. Even in the middle of the night. She grabbed a shawl and ran to the doctor's office.
Kaoru returned to the dojo in half an hour with a sleepy and irritated doctor. She had pounded at the gate and shouted at the top of her lungs, and wakened several neighbors. She did not stop until she saw the doctor himself. She did not care what the man felt. He was a doctor, and she had a patient for him. She pointed to her charge at the corner of the room, and pleaded for the doctor to check him.
The doctor made his routine examination. The patient was passive: he did not react to it, nor did he follow instructions. For all intents, the doctor was checking an unconscious man.
"You should be watching this chap more carefully, young lady. Why, he's a textbook case," the doctor yawned as he finished.
"A textbook case of what?"
"Visit any opium den, and you'll see what I mean," the doctor answered.
She did not know much about opium, but she did know it was one of those things people take to run away from problems. It was much like wine that way, just more dangerous. But to hear that about opium dens from a doctor............Kaoru pushed the man to the ground and held the man by his throat. "Kenshin is NOT one of those addicts!" she screamed.
"Unfortunately, young lady, he is," the doctor gagged under her strong arms.
"If he is, you made him that way, you............you bastard!" Kaoru dug her hands deeper. "You and that medicine of yours! Those pills! You have no IDEA how much it has ruined him! And you call yourself a doctor?"
But she loosened her tight grip as she saw the shock on the man's face.
"I honestly did not know, young lady."
"Impossible," she murmured.
"I heard from a doctor friend of mine, very reliable," he said as he coughed. "Said it was effective. Gave me an address. Besides, it was getting popular among other doctors, especially the more progressive ones. So I thought it was fine."
"Fine? FINE?!" Kaoru pressed him to the cold wooden floor. She pointed at Kenshin. "Does he look fine to you?" She took another good look at her wanderer as she pointed, and found it hard not to cry.
She then stood and released the doctor. "Get out of here, sensei," she ordered. "Before I kill you."
"I will report these findings. Himura will be the last patient under that drug, I promise you..........."
"Just, GET OUT, sensei!" she screamed at him. The doctor took off.
She returned to where Kenshin was, and wrapped him in a blanket. "You will get past this, Himura Kenshin, do you hear?" she told the sleeping figure. "You will fight. You will defeat the monsters in your dreams, the way you have defeated the enemies in your life." She held his hand. "You do not run away, you fight. That is the Kenshin I know. I don't know how, but I swear I will get him back. I will get him back."
Kaoru felt him squeeze her hand.
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It's one thing that's so good about being a writer. You can go places real life will never let you go. I gotta stop writing serious pieces. It's getting to me. A plan is forming in my head for a YT story, so I hope you wait for it. I'll write out the first chapter when my life gets just a little bit easier than right now. Sorry this chapter is rather short.
JML – Genzai? Good point. I figure he's gone to other places? At this point in the timeline Enishi is still sorta-kinda missing, so he won't make an appearance here.
PraiseDivineMercy – Neat name. Thanks! I can't believe I'm that believable! Yes, it's a barbiturate, right on the money, very good.
Vanderleigh – You can't deny the fact that Tomoe was a big part of his life. That doesn't mean Kaoru is any less important, though.
Pnaixrose – You're welcome about the recommendations. The torture will last for a little while longer, though.
Firuze Khanume – You were always good at predicting my next moves. Any suggestions, as usual, are very welcome. Thanks for still reading! Hope you had a great birthday!
Junyortrakr – They're still legit right now.......yare-yare, I have to explain that. Thanks for pointing it out.
Chiki – Thanks much. Haven't been seconded, though. That's alright. Best of luck with the votes!