Authors Notes: I'm so sorry everyone! I haven't updated in a long time! I've just been so caught up in my new story!
Forgive me! –bows-
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy my new chapter! Oh, and I just sort of glanced back at my former chapters. I cannot believe how random I was XD A Tiger? Sheesh!
Chapter 24 – Realizing what you Have
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Kenshin's eyes slowly fluttered open. His head was pounding and fuzzy, and his vision was slightly blurred. He groaned in irritation as he tried to sit up fully. Suddenly, a course of pain shot through him as he cringed and cursed under his breath.
He looked around groggily. What had happened? He could barely recall…
Kaoru!
Kenshin quickly whipped his head around all over the room frantically searching for her presence. He tried to lift himself from the futon that he was placed in but the bullet that was shot at his leg and abdomen screamed bloody murder, permitting him of doing what he desperately needed.
He clenched his fists as he cursed darkly again, the cracking of his knuckles were obvious as he tried to restrain the anger that built within him from his own weakness.
"Damn it!"
Kenshin pounded his fist on the wooden floor, causing a pulse of sound to echo through the small room. Suddenly, the shoji doors were thrown open as the person he was just frantically searching for him appeared in the doorway.
She was dressed in a yukata and her hair was out of it's regular pony-tail. The fact that nothing seemed to be disarray proved that she hadn't gained any sleep.
"Kenshin!"
Kaoru rushed over to him and knelt down by his side. She had fear written in her eyes but all of it washed away into bliss when she gazed into his own gold laced violet ones.
"Oh Kenshin, I was so frightened! You passed out right after Kuchiro was killed and you wouldn't come to no matter what! When we got a doctor here, he said it would be a miracle if you were to wake up!"
Tears were flooding her sapphire eyes as stated just what had happened all the while when he was passed out. Kenshin couldn't say anything. He was just awestruck at the gleam of emotions Kaoru held in her eyes.
For him, and him only.
Kaoru drew him into a shaky hug so to be careful not to hurt him. Even though her grip was loose, the emotion put into it was just the same as it would be if it were more firm.
Kenshin heard muffled sobs emit from her. He closed his eyes and lifted his hands and placed them on her back, rubbing that area slowly.
"Shh…it's alright…everything's alright…"
Kaoru continued to weep on his shoulder while Kenshin caressed her back with the utmost care. He couldn't get over just how much concern she had over little ole him. He almost wanted to chuckle but decided against it as his abdomen started to throb.
"I was so worried…that you wouldn't wake up…"
Her sentence was broken between sobs. His heart wrenched to see her this way. He then drew her back out of his embrace and brought his hand up to wipe away the tears that had streaked down her face.
"Kaoru, you didn't have to worry about that…you don't have to worry about that…"
"Why?"
Kenshin smiled and rested his forehead against her own, nudging his nose with hers.
"Because I'd never miss the chance to wake up with you…"
Kaoru's eyes widened slightly. Did he mean what she thought he meant? Kenshin slowly strained his neck upward toward her, his eyes starting to drift shut. Kaoru didn't budge as she suddenly felt his hot breath glide across her silken lips.
A blush painted across Kaoru's cheeks as she felt his lips brush against hers lightly. She let her eyes flutter shut as Kenshin finally felt a bold rush streak through him as he pressed his lips firmly against hers.
It was their first real kiss.
The simple little brush of their lips a couple years ago couldn't be considered something he'd call a kiss. He felt as though he was floating on a cloud. His senses were going haywire as a surge of energy, excitement, and some other emotion he couldn't decipher coursed through him.
All he knew was that he wanted more.
His body was practically on fire. Just the feel of Kaoru's lips on his own just made him want to scream. It was just making his stomach flip flop and his heart beat quicken.
He lifted his hand and placed his palm behind her head and pulled her closer to his mouth, pressing it more roughly against his. He twisted his head this way and that, testing what the feels of her mouth against his at different angles would feel like.
A small groan emitted from Kaoru. Part of himself in his mind smirked. She was enjoying the feel of it, was she? He ushered her to open her mouth to let his tongue in with a small graze of his teeth on her bottom lip. Kaoru gasped lightly at the sensation and Kenshin took that chance and plunged his tongue into her mouth.
He gave off a throaty moan as he felt the texture of Kaoru's small tongue battle with his own. After a while of their tongue battling, he withdrew. Kaoru's face was red and painted over with a rouge tint.
Kenshin smirked at her and gave her a sly grin that made her turn away and blush even more.
"K-Kenshin, w-we shouldn't be doing this. Y-You're still injured and y-you could irritate them…"
Kenshin snickered.
"I don't care about my wounds right now, Kaoru…"
Kaoru turned back to him and gasped. His eyes were a blaring gold. When did that happen? Kaoru was suddenly pulled out of her day-dream when she heard a hiss emit from Kenshin.
She looked at him and saw that he was gripping his abdomen and his fist was slowly leaking blood.
"Kenshin!"
Kenshin winced as he tried to tell her that it was ok but she rushed to his side before he could tell her otherwise.
"Kaoru, it's alright. It's only bleeding through the bandages."
Kaoru scolded him by whacking him lightly on the shoulder while her face held worry.
"I told you, you could irritate them!"
She gently placed her hand on his that was placed over his wound and tried to pry it away. He hissed in pain and growled, warning her to back off. Kaoru glared and snapped back.
"Don't you growl at me, Kenshin Himura! Now remove your hand!"
Kenshin sighed and did as he was told. Here he was, a young ruthless samurai that frightened men to death with just a glance and listened to no one, and here, he was obeying this girl. He smiled at himself. Love did strange, strange things.
Kaoru gasped and tenderly grazed a hand over the wound. Kenshin winced and clenched his teeth. Kaoru got up and scurried over to a closet and got some extra bandages and some cleaning utensils.
She hurried back over to Kenshin and ushered him to turn onto his stomach. He did so, hissing slightly from the pain. Kaoru slowly started to undo the bindings around his abdomen.
She winced when she saw how the wound had re-opened from when the doctor sewed it up. She bit her lip and then rushed into the kitchen to boil some water.
She returned in a short while with a bowl of steaming water. She carefully took the cloth and dipped it in along with a couple of stitching utensils. She clenched her teeth as she also dunked her hands in the boiling water.
"Kaoru, what are you doing! That's boiling water, you'll burn yourself!"
"I have to kill the germs and bacteria so I don't infect your wounds even more!"
"But Kaoru-"
Kaoru tuned him out and focused on keeping her hands in the water. Kenshin just watched as she did this. He felt awful that she had to go through that just because of him.
Once she was done, she took the cloth and rung it out and carefully placed it on Kenshin's wound. Kenshin hissed and clenched his fists. Kaoru gently pressed the cloth to his wound, the blood soaking into the fabric.
"Oh Kenshin…what am I going to do with you now-a-days…"
Kenshin chuckled a little, then hissed again when his chuckling caused his abdomen to throb. Kaoru lightened up on the cleaning a little. She finished up and then grabbed the needle.
"I'm sorry about this, Kenshin…"
She took the skin stitching thread and threaded it through the needle. She slowly inched toward his re-opened wound with the prick of the needle. She winced slightly when she touched his skin with the tip of the needle.
Kenshin cursed inwardly. It was almost pathetic. He was the strongest of swordsmen and he was wincing and grimacing at the pinprick of a needle. Although there were reasons.
The pain was on going. It didn't die down eventually and throb like a swords wound would. And not to mention it was irritating an already wounded area. And the tug of his skin with the stitches didn't feel good either.
He tried to put all that aside by envisioning Kaoru's hands doing all of that. Try to imagine the fact that it wasn't some other doctor, it was his Kaoru. Although the pain was hard to ignore, it was slowly starting to settle in.
"Am I hurting you, Kenshin?"
Kenshin almost wanted to chuckle at her naïve nature. She was just so cute. Well of course it was hurting him, but it wasn't like she wanted it to. Besides, she was helping him, wasn't she?
"No, Kaoru. It's alright."
Kaoru sighed sadly as she continued to patch up the wound. It pained her to see him like this. So wounded and just tossed aside. She could hardly believe that he would endure all that just to protect her honor…
"Kenshin, you sweet headed moron."
Kenshin's eyes widened a little as he craned his head to the side to look at Kaoru.
"What?"
Kaoru jerked back a little and squeaked in surprise, placing a palm over her mouth. Had she said that aloud? She blushed a little and waved a hand to indicate that he was just hearing things.
Kenshin only shook his head and sighed. The wounds were getting to him. He wanted ot pick up his hand and feel his forehead to see if maybe he was coming down with a fever or something.
He shook his head to rid himself of the thoughts. He sighed as Kaoru continued to lace up his wounds. He hoped that the enemy wouldn't decide to strike anytime soon.
Well, most of the men were killed off…and so that's good…but…what would they want with Kaoru…?
His thoughts were just so jumbled. Why would they want Kaoru? Was it just for her virginity? Just to get a little action going on? No, that couldn't be it. They wouldn't waste the time to track her down.
"..Then why…"
This time, it was Kaoru's turn to look at Kenshin.
"Pardon?"
Kenshin realized that either he was hearing things, or they were just both coming down with something that caused you to lose control of private thoughts. He decided to not keep her in the dark.
"Kaoru…do you know why the shinsengumi was so determined to get you…?"
Kaoru stopped her ministrations and looked down. She shifted her form a little and fumbled with her fingers. She bit her lip, unsure of how to start. Kenshin just awaited on what she was to say. Kaoru took a deep breath and decided to talk.
"My family…wasn't exactly…poor. We…actually were quite wealthy. Oh for the love of Pete, we were rich, okay?"
Kaoru's answer almost seemed as though she was pressured into saying it. Kenshin jerked back a little at her outburst but continued to listen. Rich? She was rich? In the village she lived in? Sure didn't look that way.
"We didn't want to be bothered by people to come to us for money so we decided to live in a simple village in a dojo so to keep our reputation of wealth down…frankly, I really liked it. I never liked being in satin laced dresses or dining in large marble floor palaces. I really, really liked the simple life…"
Kenshin nodded his head. So that explains it…
"When the sinsengumi found out about our location, they came after us…most likely, they didn't know which house was ours so they killed anyone who didn't seem like the wealthy type. With that as motivation, they didn't hesitate to kill my parents. Probably because of our disguise."
Kenshin bit his lip. Was it this hard being rich? He almost wanted to laugh at his thoughts of it. It sounded so silly to a poor little orphan such as himself.
"In some law or what not, it's said that if the parents are to die, then the child, if any, would inherit the fortune once bound in matrimony…so my thoughts are if my honor is taken, then my chance of being married to a man other than the one I belonged to are close to zero…"
Kenshin smiled to himself. She was saying things that were just so silly to him.
"Kaoru, I wouldn't care…well that didn't sound too reassuring. What I mean is…whether or not your honor was taken…I'd still lo-"
Before Kenshin could finish, the shoji doors were roughly pushed open. In the doorway stood one of Kenshin's comrades. They had their sword in hand and a stern look on their face.
"Himura! We've got trouble! Remaining shinsengumi members have arrived and are claiming the girl! Most of our fleet has been injured or killed! And with you in the condition you're in, we'll surely be beaten! We have to give them what they want!"
Kaoru's eyes were flooded with fear. She backed away from the man who stood in the doorway, luckily finished with her sewing. Kenshin growled and glared at the man which made him go silent.
"Their leader was killed! Why the hell would they be after Kaoru's life now! Don't they know the code? 'Once the leader has fallen, orders given formally are to be forgotten and the fleet shall return to regular base until another leader is chosen to command the group.' !"
The man simply shook his head, indicating that he had no clue as to what might be going on. Suddenly, another man rushed in next to the other with fear written in his eyes.
"Himura! The shinsengumi…they've joined together with the other 2 squads in the area!"
Kenshin cursed darkly, hissing at the event.
"How…"
"The leader…doesn't seem to be a swordfighter! In fact…the leader isn't even male!"
Kenshin's eyes widened.
Was this what you planned all along…? Is this what you wanted to happen…? Are you really this crazy…? Tomoe…?
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Well, that's all for now! Please review:D
