Dedication: To Sara-chan, who listens to my nightmares and is constant to spur me on to embrace my dreams. And for Misty, ruler of Antarctica and Mistress of all penguins.

Notes: Sorry this took so long (a week late), but I was on the best vacation ever. Anybody on a robotics team? I am! I went to Pittsburgh, PA, for a competition (Team 272!). We took home highest honors! I was so happy. I roomed with one of my friends for three nights, so I had fun at the hotel, too. Still, 6 hours of driving is a lot. Anyway, I'm still writing, but on chapter seven or so, things seem to be coming to a clean close, but I might even expand a bit more. I never know exactly what I want to do.

"Look at me I'm falling/
Off of a cliff now/

Can't catch up to me now/
And the view is so beautiful/
All the way down/"

-"I Choose" (The Offspring)

"I wake up laughing/
Thrown from a nightmare/
I come down standing/
When I'm tossed/

 in the air./"

-"The Dream's Lost on Me" (Blondie) Truths, Lies, and Golden Eyes

Violet eyes met the world again. He quickly realized that he felt as if his head had collided with a rock, and a heavy one at that, judging from the pounding in his skull.

"Oh, Kami-sama." There it was again, that hand that drug him back, didn't allow him to slip back into the nothingness.

Sapphire blue stared down at him, ringed with red. She hadn't been……… crying?

"Kaoru-dono?" His voice felt as if it had come from someone else, far away, though the pain was so near………

"Don't crowd him, Tanuki!" Megumi's words flew harsher than usual from somewhere behind him. Kaoru obeyed, silently. He automatically sprung up, suddenly aware of the people around him.

He feared to ask it, willed himself not to ask, but it was inevitable.

"What happened?"

"You fell on the street." Kaoru interjected, her voice shaky.

He knew that she was withholding something, but with his head in the shape it was in, he couldn't properly sense a ki. He smelled blood, though whether it was his own or the blood of another he couldn't be sure, and he couldn't concentrate on.

He breathed deeply, feeling the welcoming softness of a pillow and the cold cloth against his head, calming him. The pain was fading, if only slightly. He would worry with everything else later, but his body screamed for natural sleep, and that he could not refuse it. Through heavy eyelids he saw them, watching, and he knew that they would be there when he awoke.

"Will he be okay?" Fevered voices whispered, trying not to wake him.

"For the thousandth time, he'll be fine." Megumi, he presumed.

"But what about-" A male voice, but not one he recognized.

"Leave it. He's waking up."

Everything blurred together, colors dancing on a pallet before him before shapes formed. All but Kaoru, Sano and Yahiko had left by now, but he noticed a police officer being hurriedly pushed out the door by an impatient Megumi.

"Tell him……… Later."

His limbs felt like stone, heavy and dead, and his mind was fuzzy. Perhaps they were the effects of a drug of some kind. Barely anyone had moved at all, save for Yahiko, who had fallen asleep in Kaoru's lap. After a moment, Sano was on top of him.

"Hey, you had us worried there, Kenshin." He said with a smile.

"TORI ATAMA!" Megumi, like an apparition came out of nowhere, steaming and prying Sano off her patient.

Kaoru didn't move. She looked at him. He looked at her. They looked at each other. And Megumi dragged a whining Sano and a half-sleeping Yahiko out of the room.

She gazed down at him with warmth that he had not known for far too long. So polite, so helpful and generous and kind to her. And she had taken him for granted. His eyes were closed again, but she could tell he wasn't asleep. She brushed a lock of hair out of his eyes, prompting him completely awake. He spoke quietly, his eyes only cracked open to allow himself to see her, no matter how much the light hurt.

The trail of a tear made its way down her face silently, knowing the truth and knowing how much better a lie would sound……… but she couldn't lie to him. Her thoughts were ceased by the chilled hand on her face, wiping away the tear from her cheek. His voice met her ears painfully, cracked and depressed.

"Kaoru-dono……… Sumimasen."

 She didn't answer right away. Did he know? Did he know what happened? Of course not………

"No……… no need to apologize." She said with a weak smile.

No need to apologize to her, but she hadn't been there. Not at the market- not after he'd gotten up again. And not when he'd become the Battousai. But she need not have spoken; she could see him slowly remembering. She could only thank the gods that he was carrying the reverse blade. No one was killed.

}{He remembered indeed. Opening his eyes, those hateful, golden eyes and staring around at the people now encircling him. A feeling of pure hatred for them, for no adequate reason, was boiling inside of him. And he rose, drawing the sword. One after another they fell with a cry until the sixth woman cowered before him. He stopped dead. Yes, that he remembered, trying to regain his hold on the manslayer. It bought them enough time to knock him out from behind.}{

He looked at Kaoru, who was staring at her knees. He tried to speak, opened his mouth, and, knowing that nothing he could say would be appropriate, closed it again.

"We should have watched you, gone with you-" Her breaking voice hesitantly tested the thick air.

"Iie. It's my own fault." He shook his head, disgusted with himself. He pushed himself to his feet, but dizzily dropped to one knee again. Emotions tensed him, anger and desolation setting in. He found himself lying again in a moment, Kaoru's hand pressing gently and insistently against his chest.

"They're all fine. And most of them understand, really they do. Megumi's checked them all over and they'll be fine in a few days." She spoke with a half-hearted smile, trying desperately to reassure him, though the tears of fear she was fighting weren't helping her case. Kenshin shook his head. They couldn't understand. They understood the probable explanation of insanity that was given to them, but they could never understand the truth. Even he didn't fully understand the truth. But he was sure he knew one person who did.

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Invader Zim: Will do. Sorry for the delay, hope it's up fast enough for you!

bootleg: Two are up now, hope you stick with me. I'm glad this didn't go down like a lead balloon.

Inochi Ryu: *laughs* Sorry 'bout that, you'll just have to deal with my cliffy tendencies. I believe you have cliffhangophobia, you may want to have it diagnosed by a professional. ^^

kenji: Thanks very much! I spent a lot of time tweaking everything to make it less than typical. I've only yet scraped the main plot… have fun readin'!