Chapter Three

Early morning light was beginning to filter in through some cracks in the wall when Megumi finished stitching the wounds in Hiko's legs closed. Turning her head and looking down, Megumi could see the fragments of the bullets she'd pulled out of the muscles and laid on a small tray beside her, glad that none of them had penetrated bone.

"And I am pretty sure I got all of it out………He should recover completely…..If and only if he gives himself enough time to, that is." Megumi mused, as she carefully moved and placed the back of one hand to the man's brow, somewhat relieved to find that his fever had cooled considerably in the hours since they had first met.

"How's he doin' Megumi?" Sanosuke asked, quietly, from the doorway.

"Better. His fever isn't as bad as it was earlier." Megumi replied, as the ex-fighter-for-hire entered the room and sat down across from her.

"Good to hear…..So, how bad was the damage to his legs?" Sanosuke again asked.

"Not as bad as I thought. The bullets had shattered upon entry, but they had not damaged the bones. He was very lucky." Megumi stated.

"What would have happened if the bullets had struck bone?" Sanosuke questioned, somewhat surprising Megumi with all of his questions on the other man's welfare.

"He would have lost his legs. The bullets would have splintered the bones, making it impossible for them to mend properly." Megumi said, as she wiped her hands clean on a rag, then draped a blanket over the swordmaster, pulling it to the middle of his chest. Sanosuke nodded, not really understanding all that the doctor was saying, but getting the gist of most of it.

"I heard last night when you told him that you might have to amputate. You should've known then that the situation wasn't that serious, since he walked all the way here from the train station." Sanosuke stated, as he fixed a strangely serious gaze onto the female doctor.

"Everyone heard, Sagara, and it is not something to be taken lightly. Why did you suspect that his legs might be beyond repair?" Aoshi asked, startling both people in the room with his quiet voice.

"I……I had heard rumors, about how devastating foreign weapons could be. How some men could walk several miles on bones shattered by bullets and not even realize how badly they had been injured till they arrived in hospital tents." Megumi replied. Aoshi rolled his eyes.

"You should know better than to listen to such lies, Takani. You're a doctor, for pity's sake. Pay attention to the facts before you, not the fiction you hear." Aoshi muttered, with a surprising amount of irritation in his voice as he said that. Megumi scowled at him.

"I haven't dealt with very many gunshot wounds, Shinomori-san, and I have only the hearsay of other doctors to guide me in their treatment." Megumi said, angrily.

"That doesn't give you an excuse, Takani. You should know better. It is impossible for men to immediately stand up and walk on legs that have been broken……I should know, the Oniwabanshu suffered a few broken bones on a number of different occasions before we arrived at Kanryu's mansion." Aoshi said, his voice softening even more as he remembered what had happened just a few months before.

"Including you?" Megumi asked, with some skepticism in her voice. Aoshi only offered a minute nod before answering.

"Hai…..and that was due to some carelessness on my part." Aoshi admitted, his ice-blue eyes narrowing when his mind brought back images of some secret, long-forgotten, and decidedly painful event in his past.

"Wow…..never thought you'd admit somethin' like that." Sanosuke said. This got a ghost of a smirk from the former okashira as a response.

"A broken bone is nothing to joke about……especially when you have comrades counting on your strength to back them up." Aoshi murmured. Sanosuke nodded in complete understanding.

"I agree with ya there. So, when's he s'posed to wake up?" Sanosuke asked, as he pointed at the still unconscious swordmaster.

"In a few hours. It could be even sooner, considering how strong he is. In any event, his fever should break before then." Megumi said, as she tried to push aside her anger with Aoshi.

"That is, assuming you know what you're talking about." Aoshi muttered, sarcasm blatant in his voice as he gave Megumi his equivalent of a deadpan look. Sanosuke backed away when he saw the vein in the side of Megumi's head appear and when she growled something unseemly under her breath.

"I…hate…you." Megumi hissed.

"That is fairly obvious, isn't it?" Aoshi asked, not even flinching when Megumi stormed out of the room and stomped downstairs.

"She has it in for you, Aoshi." Sanosuke mumbled, as he sat down and reclined against the door jamb.

"I don't doubt it…..But I'll sign my will when I feel like it." Aoshi said, coolly.

"It's no wonder Saito called you the 'Icicle'. Sheesh." Sanosuke muttered. Aoshi said nothing more, but Sanosuke could sense the other man's amusement, even though no smile showed up on his stoic features.

It was well into afternoon when Hiko finally started to regain consciousness. The first sensation he became aware of was the dim feeling of someone being in the room with him. He could sense that the person was a woman, and that she was concerned about him. Other than that, his senses were strangely muffled.

"Must be an aftereffect of that stuff Takani had used to knock me out." Hiko mused, as he made an unconscious effort to move. The pain that came as a result jolted him back to full awareness almost instantly. His eyes snapped open and he bit back a cry of pain, taking notice in that instant that it was Kaoru sitting there in the room with him.

"Hiko-san!" Kaoru yelped, noticing the look of agony in the swordmaster's eyes when he'd awakened.

"Kamiya…….what're you doing in here?" Hiko asked, gritting his teeth as he struggled to get the pain under control and looking her in the eye as he did so.

"Megumi-san is changing Kenshin's bandages right now…… and she told me to keep an eye on you in the meantime." Kaoru replied, softly.

"I don't need a keeper, Kamiya." Hiko muttered, irritably.

"I'm not. In fact, I was supposed to tell Megumi-san when you woke up, so she could tend to your ribs. She couldn't do so while you were asleep." Kaoru said, with surprising patience on her part as she placed a damp rag back on his brow.

"Hmph…….I suppose that makes sense. Judging from the amount of pain I am feeling, it seems she didn't deem it necessary to take my legs off." Hiko muttered, as he tried to relax, somewhat surprised when he realized that there was a futon beneath him.

"Seems that way……but you'll have to remain still, if you want your legs to heal, Hiko-san." Kaoru said, as she briefly glanced at the swordmaster's injured legs, then back at his face. He gave her a look that was a cross between sarcastic and pained.

"Kamiya, how far do you think I could get with my legs the way they are? Granted, I could still get a little bit farther than the average man, but that would be pushing it." Hiko stated, forcing himself to sit up when Megumi entered the room.

"So, did you manage to shut the Itachi up?" Hiko asked, getting something that resembled a wry smirk from Megumi as a response.

"I wanted to tie her up with the bandages and gag her with a dirty sock…..but, alas, I could find nothing of the sort nearby, and I need all the bandages I have available on hand." Megumi joked, finding it easier to talk to the swordsman than she'd initially thought. Hiko also smirked, while Kaoru tried to smile and actually managed a small one. Yet she almost did a double take when Hiko gave her a look of reassurance (when Megumi's back was turned, of course), and remembered when Kenshin had given her that same look before leaving to fight Shishio. Then the look was gone; vanished beneath the calm and collected exterior of the thirteenth master of the Hiten Mitserugi Ryu.

"Did I imagine it……." Kaoru wondered, as she watched Hiko reluctantly remove his shirt and as Megumi started feeling the ribs for breaks. She would probably never know.

Early evening was rolling in when Hiko was awakened again; this time by Yahiko. Through barely open eyes, he silently watched as the boy carefully moved about the room, noticing with some amusement when the boy curiously touched his mantle (it had been placed in a corner by either Megumi or Kaoru while he'd been sleeping). He also noticed when Yahiko reverently picked up his sword and gazed at the wooden handle and sheath.

"Winter Moon?" Yahiko whispered, when he'd read the faded symbols on the sword's handle.

"Aa. The heirloom of the Hiten Mitserugi Ryu. It has been passed from master to apprentice since before the Sengoku Era……..till now." Hiko murmured, almost causing Yahiko to drop the sword in surprise.

"What do you mean?" Yahiko asked, deciding it was better to keep the subject on swords (and placing said sword carefully alongside the mantle as he did so).

"Kenshin refused the mantle and sword as the sign of being the successor…….then went and faced Shishio. The rest you know." Hiko said, softly, the effort of talking sending stabs of pain through his ribcage. Yahiko nodded, taking in the man's appearance as he did so. Even though he was young, Yahiko could tell that the older man was in serious pain. Getting hit with a sakabatou was nothing to laugh about…….especially when the attack that had been used would have killed him had it been done with a normal sword.

"Megumi hadn't been kidding when she'd said that he was in rough shape. It's hard to believe Kenshin did this to him, though." Yahiko mused, flinching when loud yelling emanated from the room where Misao was recovering. And he shared an exasperated sigh in response to it.

"So much for peace and quiet, ne?" Yahiko muttered.

"Aa." Hiko grumbled, in agreement, then added, in irritation, "This is why I avoid people. Most, if not all, of them have mouths that are far too big for their own good."

"I think we can both agree on that, Seijuro-sensei." Yahiko said, as he walked over and gave the door down the hall a scathing glare. It was quite some time before the inhabitants and guests of the Shirobeko knew peace and quiet again.

Author's Note!

Yes, I know this wasn't a very exciting chapter…..but I am starting to run out of ideas for this fic. If anybody has any fresh ideas as to how this story could continue, please let me know! Thanks!

Gemini14