WARNING: Spoiler near the end.

Chapter2: Rurouni's Kismet.

Early morning, Tokyo.

Summer birds began to sing before the sun, while its audience still lay dormant in their homes. Grey skies lurked overhead, showing only the slightest hint of sunshine. Edo was as peaceful as the heavens. But soon, the darkened clouds availed all signs of light, leaving the mortals of Edo, hidden in the dark. The day was young, but already, was it so dreary.

A droplet of recycled water fell upon his nose. Roughly, Sanosuke rubbed the small burden off with his sleeve, and faced the colorless sky with animosity. 'What a perfect day…' he mocked with sarcasm, 'A perfect day to look for assholes...and Kaoru.'

Without a moment's delay, Sanosuke proceeded to Kenshin's room, praying that he still might be there, "Ooi, Kenshin…Kenshin?" and no matter how hard Sano had hoped, Kenshin's will was always one step ahead. "…Damn it Kenshin. Damn it! Why!" A hard fist penetrated through a wooden column, adding more frailty to the roof. Normally, Kaoru would make him work laborious hours repaying for the damage, but now, Kaoru is….

"Mhm." A minor noise that had made his hopes a little higher. Just around the corner of his room, Sano found weak and feeble Kenshin, dwelling lowly on the steps of the dojo.

"Oya Kenshin." Sanosuke immediately helped his long-time and disobedient friend up, "I told you…Why won't you listen?"

Silence suspended the answer, for Kenshin knew he had none; at least not for Sanosuke. Kenshin gently closed his eyes and leaned back against the wood, breathing vastly. His heart felt heavy and strong, like it was about to beat out of his chest. Slowly beating, and pumping blood throughout the body, but having the given freedom to stop at anytime. Sanosuke was right, he'd realized that from the start, but he would gladly risk his life for a loved one. Someone who deserved the innocence, stripped away from him long ago.

"Shit." Sanosuke cursed, "…You're sick, aren't you? ...Kenshin…" Sano reached for his forehead, and found that his presumption was right; Kenshin had a fever, "This isn't good. You know that Kenshin, don't you?" Kenshin only smiled; it was ironic, Sanosuke was even more so concerned than he was. But knowing Sano, it was rather typical of him.

"Yahiko, Yahiko!" Sanosuke called.

The youth growl at the call, "What! What do you want?"

"Come here."

Sluggishly, Yahiko dragged himself out of his room and crankily pushed open the door, "Do you have any idea how early it is?"

"I need you to do something, now." The seriousness of his voice, sounded like a command.

"Where's Kaoru, can't she do it?"

Kenshin dropped his gaze along with his sunken emotion, "Kaoru-dono-"A bandaged hand was placed carefully on his shoulder, the owner assured him no pain in words.

"Kaoru isn't here. She's…gone; we don't know who did it."

"What? You're kidding me!" Taken aback, the boy decided it was wise not to take the news lightly, "No…She- can't be. How could this…"

Sanosuke was humane enough, to let him take the time and consume the truth, then he spoke, "Yahiko, listen, Kenshin is sick. I need you to run over and get Megumi here, now."

Yahiko bent down and stared at Kenshin, to make sure he wasn't justly dying. Usually, Kenshin would argue against the need for medical treatment for such small matters, like a fever. But this time, he couldn't even so much as that. "Yahiko!" The strength of Sano's voice made the boy startle, "Go to Megumi, now." And for the first time, in a while, Yahiko obeyed a harsh retort without a literal rebellion.

Once the errand boy was out of sight, Sano sat down beside Kenshin, and sulked, "Why do you always do this…? Can't you care about yourself; your life, at least once?"

Again, a smile touched his lips, "Sano, I should've died long ago…This is only fate to me. I care; my heart has something to beat for. And that is why, I live again."

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"Ooi! What's the rush Yahiko? Tell me now!" Megumi demanded as she broke the grasp on her wrist and placed it on her hip, "Listen to me; you better have a good reason for waking me up this early, tell me now or else I'm not going!"

"Megumi!" Yahiko whined, "You have to hurry! Kenshin's sick! It's worse than usual! It's like he's dying or something!" Though it was partly a lie, he had no choice but to exaggerate convincingly.

"D-dying! Sick? Why didn't you say so sooner? Oh that Kaoru! Doesn't know how to take care of a man?"

"Kaoru…" Yahiko began, hesitantly, "She-…Kaoru, she's gone."

"Nani?" Megumi asked, suddenly regretting her words, "What are you saying Yahiko? What do you mean, gone?"

"Someone kidnapped her…I guess. That's kind of why Kenshin got sick in the first place, he was out in the cold, trying to look for her, I think…but he couldn't get any farther than the dojo, he got too sick."

Megumi narrowed her black eyes, and stared away intently, "No wonder… Ken-san can't handle the pressure. It'll make his heart problem worsen."

The curse that struck Kenshin was medically incurable. Only through the victim can it be cured, if only the patient would be able to relax, the disease would lessen. But in this case, it was impossible now, with Kaoru gone.
Megumi was the first one to find out; the ongoing chest pains (angina), the occasional long pauses in the most random times, and sometimes even fainting for a short period. When she saw all the symptoms, Megumi knew he was very ill from the heart. But even now, she couldn't put her finger on what disease it was, or maybe it wasn't disease, but something else? More deadly? "No…I can't allow that. If it gets worse then-"

"IF it does get worse…" a stranger interrupted, "then what? What ever will you do without your precious battousai to protect you?"

"Who are you?" Megumi directly insisted.

Kyoto

There was nothing but frustration, and hate in his mind. So much of it; that he couldn't even concentrate on the earned task, "All right, pull yourself together old man." He told himself, while dressing in his old tattered suit; unworn for a year, not since the battle with Shinamori.

"You really think you can find her this way?" a quiet, yet threatening voice asked.

"Hm. If there's a will there's a way." Okina simply responded, "In fact, it would be appreciated if you contributed to this expedition… You really think you know what's going on, Aoshi? That you know where the abductor is?"

Aoshi hardly smirked, "I know more than you, Okina. I shall search for her my own way."

Okina watched as Aoshi slowly departed from his room, "Arrogant fool." He mumbled.

Tokyo

"Kenshin, Kenshin? You okay? Just hang on a little more….Baka, where IS that punk?"

"It's alright Sano…I'm fine." Rurouni said.

"Yeah you are, only for now. But not for long, I know you can't hold out for much longer…your head's burning up." Sanosuke smiled, "Good riddance Kenshin, you look like hell."

He laughed quietly in response. Kenshin appreciated everything they did, every effort they managed to put in. Everyone, together, is one. The one isn't complete without Kaoru; HE isn't complete without Kaoru. Without him, Kaoru would've lost her dojo, and without her…'I'm pointless.' The idea seemed a little surprising and silly to him, a year ago. He remembered that incident when he accidentally fished out a sapphire ring, and Kaoru thought it was a proposal. She was completely furious, and even gave Kenshin a souvenir on the head when she found out.

"What's so funny?" Sanosuke asked, amused by his abrupt action,

Kenshin faced the fighter with a warm expression, "I was just thinking, about the good memories." Sanosuke nodded in approval. Rampaging footsteps made it's way through the corridors and to the deck, "Yahiko!"

"What the- Yahiko, what happened? Are you okay!" The young boy was covered in dirt and blood. Red thickness flowed down his arm freely. "Yahiko!" Sanosuke caught him before he fell forward, "Yahiko!"

"S-sano, He…he took-…Megumi."

"Who! Who Yahiko? Who took Megumi? Who did this to you?- Yahiko! Yahiko!" Shouting was no use, the youth was already senseless.

I just realized that the part where Kenshin says, "Sano, I should've died long ago…This is only fate to me. I care; my heart has something to beat for. And that is why, I live again." sounds like I ripped it off the "The Last Samurai" (not completely but partly). I swear I didn't mean to!

And In case you haven't figured it out yet (I'm telling you know because it won't be mentioned in the story since they don't know what it is yet), Kenshin's "disease" is chronic anemia. I did a little research and found out that it wasn't discovered until 1910 or 1908 in America (not sure). It's a heart disease that could kill anytime in an instant (heart-failure). Its cause is mainly high blood loss (duh).Kenshin-gumi THINKs it's a heart problem (sort of is), but it's not quite it.

If you can get me more accurate information, that'd be great, I'm not too sure about this disease though.