A/N: Sorry for the wait! I've been trying to write Violet Eyed Angel… but it's being mean and giving me writers block all the time. So then I did a little follow up one shot to my story Under The Weather and er… hehe… I kinda forgot I was getting behind in my updating. FORGIVE ME!

I always get more reviewers when I kill Kenshin off

Cebalrai - Nope! It's not the last chapter! I'm glad you're enjoying the story thus far!

AuburnMoonlight - I love cliffhangers

Hitokiri Musei - Hmmm Kenshin got stabbed in the heart. Neko's throat was slit… WHAT DO YOU THINK HAPPENED! -winks-

EbonyArchAngel666 - Thanks for the review! It really made my day! I'm glad my story is an exception.

droparmor - They can so die. Didn't you see what I did in the last chapter? How do you think they're going to LIVE though THAT!

Tokichic - Yes, I am evil. BUW HA HA!

Shadow Wolf of the Blue Moon - No… I checked. Hiroko's human. Evil. But human.

lolo popoki - Yay for metal-head moms!

FairyMage - I love being evil. BUW HA HA!

Chapter 18 - The Way Home

Neko's eyes shot open as her tiny heart beat rapidly against her chest. Her hand was pressed tightly against her throat. Her other hand she found to be clutching some type of material. She forced herself to calm down and she took a look around. She was still in the forest; dawn was coming shortly. Hiroko's men were nowhere to be found. Fearfully, she removed her hand from her throat; there was no blood on her hand.

She looked up and found herself leaning against Kenshin, who was still peacefully sleeping, her other hand clutching tightly to his sleeve. "Just a dream." She let out a sigh and her body relaxed. To be absolutely sure, she checked to make sure there were no new injuries on her angel's shoulder, chest, and palm.

After disproving her unnecessary fears, she leaned back and let out another long, slow sigh. "Just a dream," she repeated. She gave Kenshin a gentle shake. "Kenshin, wake up." He slept on and she laid her head against his arm in defeat. "I won't leave you, but what am I suppose to do? We can't stay here." She sighed and waited as if someone would answer her question.

She steeled herself, a single thought running through her mind; they couldn't stay here. Holding her breath and leaning heavily on the tree, she pushed herself up. She cried out at the pain that rushed through her leg, but she remained standing. She took Kenshin's left arm, and with a deep breath, lifted him halfway up. She wrapped his arm around her neck and stood there awkwardly for a moment. "Walk," she commanded herself. She slid her bad leg forward, tears flowing freely from her eyes.

She then attempted to move her good leg; she placed a little weight on her bad leg, and crumpled to the ground. She growled in annoyance and picked herself up again. She moved her bad foot in front, then carefully managed to step with her good foot. She was thrilled with her results, and that helped her forget her pain for a moment.

She found her stride and walked at a good pace for her condition. She found the heat of the day to be a bother as sweat ran down her face. Her back began to ache as she dragged herself and Kenshin through the forest. She tried to keep her sprits up, but she began to doubt her ability to go much farther.

Muroi had called her useless, and as the day wore on she started to believe that to be true, even after all the distance she had been able to limp away from where Kenshin had fallen. As the doubt began to sink in deeper and deeper, she started to stumble more frequently.

She tripped over a hidden root, and she fell face first into the dirt. Her breath caught in her throat as she looked over to see if she had hurt Kenshin. He slept on, although his breathing was slightly labored. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw he was okay, but then started to cry. She could have hurt him. 'I can't do this. What was I thinking?' She started to inhale dirt between sobs, but she didn't care. She was worthless. She couldn't do anything. She was just a cripple who slowed everybody down.

Over her ear-deafening sobs she heard someone calling to her. What's wrong kitten?

'I'm useless I can't do anything right.'

Who says?

'Muroi. He said that I was useless. I can't even stand.'

Well I say Muroi is a dum-dum head. Neko giggled at that. You can stand. You were just walking! You're doing an amazing thing.

'Really?'

Really. But you need to keep going kitten. If you want to save your angel.

Kitten. Whoever was talking to her was calling her kitten. They also knew Kenshin was her angel. "Makoto?" She lifted her head. There stood an old man with a crooked smile.

Hello kitten.

"Makoto!" She started to cry. "You're here! You're really here!"

Come on, Neko. Time to get up. Here kitty, kitty, kitty. He teased her. I'll show you the way home.

She was filled with new strength. She forced herself up to her feet and took off, following Makoto. She stumbled a few times, but quickly caught herself and kept up with the old man's speed. "I'm coming!" She would yell out to him when he stopped to wait for her.

"I'm coming!" Kenshin could feel himself moving. His thoughts worked slowly, trying to figure out what was happening. Was Neko carrying him? With a groan, he opened his eyes.

Neko stopped when Kenshin began to squirm a little. "Kenshin?" She stopped and set him down.

He groaned again and forced himself to stay awake. He partially opened his eyes to be greeted by an ecstatic Neko. He looked around as she hugged him, a bit too tightly, this was not the same from before. "What happen?"

She sat back, letting go of her bear hug to point in front of them. "Makoto is showing me where to go."

"Makoto? Who's Makoto?" He looked where she was pointing but saw nothing.

"He's Makoto," she said, a little irritated that Kenshin was not acknowledging her friend in front of her. "He's the one who helped me with the bad slave people."

He looked again. "I don't see anyone."

"But he's right there!" she screamed, pointing at an empty space. "He's right …" She had only turned her head for a second, but Makoto had vanished. "Where is he?"

Kenshin's head was spinning, and Neko's shouting wasn't helping. He could see she was still shivering, in fact now that he thought about it she hadn't stop shivering since they had first left Muroi's house. 'Is she...' He reached out to touch her, but he was too tired, and his hand fell to the ground.

"Kenshin?" She had seen him reaching for her. She shook him slightly, no response. He was out again. Her eyelids felt heavy and she yawned. All of the energy she had gotten from seeing Makoto left. She snuggled up besides Kenshin and slept.

"They, they killed him. They said he was useless." The women bit her lip and waited.

"NO!" Neko wailed. How could people just kill someone like that? They could have freed him. Given him away free. They didn't have to kill him! "Why? Why! WHY!" Neko pounded her hands on the dirt and cried. "Why, why, why, why?"

Neko awoke with a start. That women, she had said Makoto had died, but he had been right there. Hadn't he? She saw him with her own two eyes. He couldn't be dead, or else he wouldn't have been there.

"Over there," a voice called out, making Neko's heart jump.

"They came this way! Find them!"

Neko shook Kenshin. "Kenshin! Wake up!" His eyes twitched a little but remained closed. "They're here! The bad people are here!" She still couldn't wake him.

"Come on, hurry up! Find them!"

She grabbed Kenshin's arm, and without even thinking about the pain that shot through her body from her leg, she took off. She moved as fast as someone carrying someone twice their size, with a bad leg could go. Fear pushed her on as the voices seemed to be coming closer and closer. 'I can't get away!' She could feel the blood pumping through her lips as she went. 'There're getting closer!' She turned her head and could make out bodies right behind her. A scream rose up her throat and she let it out.

She cried, she didn't want Kenshin to get killed. She didn't want to die. "Help me!" she screamed. "Somebody help me!" Her leg gave out, and she tumbled to the ground with a shriek of pain.

"There they are! Get them!" Neko put her hands over her ears and screamed. They were going to find them. They couldn't get away.

Calm down, it's alright. Don't cry.

"Mother." In a sweet soothing voice, that only a mother could have, Neko could hear humming. Her mother's song filled her. The soft humming drowned out her pursuers and she took her hands off her ears.

That's my girl.

"I miss you, mommy. I want to go home."

More humming filled her head. Just rest now. Neko let herself fall asleep again, soothed by her mother's soft humming.

In the morning, Neko woke again. To her disappointment, Kenshin still would not wake up. With a weary body from last night's panic, she hoisted herself up, took a good hold of Kenshin, and trudged on.

This time, no one came. Neko was tired and her body ached. Finally, like Kenshin, her body gave out before she got very far. "Kenshin please, I can't do this without you!"

"I can't do this without you."

'I'm letting someone down again.' He was teetering on the edge of darkness. 'I've let so many people down.

Shishou, Akane, Kasumi, Sakura, and Tomoe. I've let them all down.' He could hear someone crying.

"Why won't you wake up?"

He didn't want to wake up. 'I only cause misery.' His heart ached for whoever was crying.

"Please wake up. I need you!"

'You don't need someone like me. Someone so stained. Neko, forgive sessha.'

"Please! I need your help! I can't do this by myself! Please! Wake up!"

'She needs me. She's hurting even when I'm not there.'

"Please wake up!"

Neko began to cry. She was tired, hungry, cold, scared, and she felt utterly alone. She almost didn't hear Kenshin's light groaning as he forced his eyes open. "Kenshin?" She couldn't believe it.

"It's alright, Neko. You're okay." She squealed with delight and attempted to hug Kenshin, but it was slightly awkward with the way she was holding him. He looked around quickly. "Did you carry me here?" He couldn't believe it.

"Uh-huh. Are you mad at me?" she asked, as tears began to gather in her eyes.

"No, no. It's just…" He couldn't believe she had managed, but he didn't say anything. He tried to stand by himself, and nearly blacked out again.

Neko quickly tried to help him from falling over. "Are you okay?" she asked, once Kenshin was partly leaning on her again.

"I can't carry you." He hated feeling like this. He was so vulnerable and weak. How was he suppose to be any help to Neko? He felt tired and darkness clouded his vision still.

"It's okay. Just, you gotta help, okay? Just help." Kenshin nodded, he had no idea what she was talking about. Why didn't she just leave him? She could have gone a lot farther, faster. She took a step forward. "Can you walk?" He abandoned what he was thinking and moved forward. "See, we'll help each other!" She seemed excited as they leaned on each other for support.

They went a long way, but Kenshin's back began to ache from bending down to Neko's level for so long. His ribs were burning with pain with each step, and he wasn't sure, but he thought the wound on his left side had started to bleed again.

Neko wasn't doing any better. Her leg throbbed constantly. She had also begun coughing very violently, and she was cold. Her head felt like it was about to explode as well. She began to stumble, which pulled on Kenshin, pulling on his injuries. With each pull, the pain would momentarily blind Kenshin, threatening to send him under again.

Neko stumbled once again, and Kenshin reached out to try and catch her. He grabbed her wrist, and was startled at how hot her skin felt. "Neko, are you…" He was speechless for a moment. "…okay?"

"Uh-huh, I'm just tired." She sighed.

"Neko, stop. You need to stop."

"But, but, Hiro..." She didn't finish, as she tripped over her own feet. Reacting without thinking she grabbed on to the closest thing to grab. Which happened to be Kenshin. With a slight scream she hugged Kenshin's side, applying too much pressure on Kenshin's ribs. With a yell of pain from Kenshin, the two fell to the ground.

Neko was the first to raise her head. "I'm sorry, are you okay?" He didn't answer. "Kenshin?" He was lying very still, and his eyes were closed. She shook him a little. "Kenshin? Please! Not again!" She shook him a little harder. "Please wake up!" He was dead weight in her hands. She sat back, put her hands over her eyes and cried. "Please wake up! Please! Wake up! I'm scared! Please, Kenshin, please!" She cried louder. "I can't do this! I just want to go home! I want to go home!"

He had been wandering the forest most of the morning. He kicked absentmindedly at the bushes in front of him. He wasn't quiet or even attempting to be quiet. He was just bored and decided to muddle through the trees.

"I want to go home!"

He picked up his head and turned to the direction he had thought the yell had come from. He stood still for a moment, his head tilted to the side slightly, thinking. That had sounded like a girl's voice. A young girl. He listened, straining his ears to hear. Now that he was listening, he could hear crying. He headed off in the direction he thought the noise was coming from.

Neko laid on her stomach and sobbed. She had her eyes against her arm to keep her head off the ground. She cried for her pain and for her failure. "I wanna go home!" she screamed again.

"Neko?"

Her head shot up at the sound of her name. A little boy with his brown hair pulled back in a small pony tail behind his back and big, brown puppy dog eyes starred back at her. "Kanai?" She could hardly believe it.

"What happened?" Her friend asked as he came closer, but as he did he suddenly stopped. "Is… is that Battousai?" he asked, pointing to Kenshin.

"Don't call him that!" she snapped. She wasn't ready to admit her angel was Battousai just yet.

Kanai lowered his eyes for a moment, ashamed, then brought them back up. "What happened?" He asked again. He was worried. Neko's face was covered in bruises and her lips were cut and swollen. Dirt covered most of her face and she had dark rings under her eyes. Her normal shiny, black hair was a mess and her leg was bent at a weird angle. She did not look like the friend he had said good-bye to not so long ago.

"You have to help me!" she said, choosing to ignore his question. "Kenshin's hurt!" She stopped a moment. "What are you doing here?"

He seemed surprised by the question. "Neko, don't you know where you are? Your house is just over there," he said, pointing behind him. He turned back and stared at Kenshin. "He's the reason they were here, isn't he?"

"Who?"

"The Shinsengumi!" he shouted. "They were in the village a few days ago! They said they were looking for someone and they were checking all the houses! They were looking for you, weren't they!"

"Kanai, please, help me."

"They're looking for you. They're after you." He looked fearfully at Kenshin. "They want him." She was afraid he wasn't going to help her until he looked up at her. "What do I do?"

Neko sighed. "Help me get him to my house," she instructed, as she put Kenshin's arm around her neck again. Kanai didn't move; he just stared at Kenshin. "He's not going to bite you!" she snapped, irritated.

He came out of his stupor and quickly moved to help her, although he was hesitant when he had to touch Kenshin. Like a good friend, he swallowed his fear and put Kenshin's other arm around his neck. "Can you walk?" he asked, looking over at her.

"Yeah, I can." She held her breath against the pain she was sure to come as they started to walk. Carrying Kenshin was so much easier with Kanai that she didn't know how she had managed beforehand. It didn't take them long to reach her old house. As soon as she stepped inside, she sank to the floor. "My parent's futon, in their room. Get it out." She ordered.

With a quick nod of his head, Kanai ran off. Neko rested her head against the floor and she could hear Kanai's feet as they pattered down the hall. In her mind she pictured where he ran. She could picture every detail of this house. She ran her hand across the wooden floor; it was so good to be home. Soon, she could hear Kanai running back. "I did it."

"Okay, now help me move Kenshin there." He nodded, and the two children lifted the manslayer once more and made their way to her parent's old room. Kanai had indeed unfolded the futon and the two lowered their burden on it. As soon as Kenshin had hit the bed, Neko collapsed beside him, suddenly feeling more exhausted then she had ever felt in her lifetime. She could barely feel her limbs or her pain. All she could feel was her heavy eyelids as they slowly closed and coaxed her into a peaceful sleep.

Kanai looked over his sleeping friend for a moment then left the room. He came back with a blanket and draped it over her sleeping form. He then went outside. On the dirt road, there were marks left from where they had dragged Kenshin's limp form. With his foot, he erased all evidence that they had been there. He then went to his house to ransack food and some bandages.

Neko's nose twitched. She blinked her eyes a few times and yawned. "Hungry?" She turned her head and saw Kanai offering her a rice ball. She reached out and took it. For a moment she just looked at it, then started to nibble at it. "You've been asleep for almost a day!" She moaned, what she wanted was to go back to sleep. "I couldn't find your futon."

She groaned a little. "It's at the inn." She took the blanket and pulled it closer around her. "I'm tired."

"But you've been asleep for nearly a day?"

"Did Kenshin wake up?" she asked, turning to face him and found him still sleeping.

"No." He was glad, too. He didn't want to be around when the manslayer woke up. He watched Neko go to take another bite of the rice ball and then set it aside. "Aren't you hungry?"

"I don't feel good," she mumbled, and closed her eyes. "I'm just tired."

Kanai sighed. "Then go back to sleep." She nodded a little, and tried to go back to sleep.

He felt strangely alone when Neko went back to sleep. He leaned against the wall furthest from Kenshin but closest to Neko. He watched Kenshin more then he did his friend. He had taken the man's sword and hid it in Neko's room; he was still afraid of him, but Neko trusted him and that was enough for him to help the Battousai. He couldn't be all bad if Neko had been living with him this whole time; however, it was still uncomfortable for Kanai to be in the same room with him. "For Neko,." he whispered. He would not leave until he thought his mom would get suspicious of his absence, or Neko didn't need him anymore. He was not going to abandon his friend even if it meant staying in the same room as the Battousai.