Note: Hi there! Is somebody reading this still?

Whew… I had this on my computer since VERY long ago, so I suddenly diecided to post it. I hadn´t been in the modd to even post for months, but here it is. Enjoy!

Doll House

Chapter Four

Himura Tomoe

As soon as the woman slid the shoji of her room close behind her back her legs finally gave way, and she collapsed and fell to her knees with a soft thud. No one had followed her there. She was safe from her demons come alive, back in the shadows, protected, encased…

Alone…

Tomoe shivered, pulling herself closer and embracing her legs until her knuckles turned white. She could feel her body throbbing with an almost forgotten ache that alarmed her, and her breath turning difficult under its effects. What on Earth was this? Was her body… crashing down?

With a great effort, she finally managed to support herself on her bleeding hands, repressing a jolt of pain as the wound in her side throbbed again because of her movements. Leaving a red trail of blood in the snow in her wake, she crawled away from Tatsumi-san, towards the place where Kenshin's ragged breath was coming from.

She did not dare to lift her face. She could not look at his terrible state once more, and above all at his eyes, at his accusing eyes reminding her of her systematic betrayal of two men. She tried to open her mouth and ask for forgiveness, but the words didn't want to come out.

Her hands twisted a ball of snow in an agonic reflex, until it turned crimson and started to melt. In an irrational impulse, she wished for an instant that Tatsumi-san was still alive, that he hadn't died and left them alone with each other.

"I…" she began. "I…"

I am a monster. Finish me now.

The snowflakes were falling at a quickening pace, soaking her hair and her kimono as she knelt there, waiting and fearing any sign of acknowledgement from the man that she couldn't bring herself to lay eyes upon. Her ears could register no response, no sound, only a long silence that to her agitated state of mind seemed almost endless. Then, as in a dream, she heard the soft crunch of footsteps treading over the ice in her direction.

"Kenshin…" she muttered, closing her eyes. Her kimono was already soaked in blood from her wound, but she didn't feel it anymore. "Kenshin…"

His steps were faltering, she could notice it from her crouching position. In a blur, she saw something fall to the ground with a soft clatter, which she recognised as her husband's bloody sword. Alarmed, she instinctively got herself to lift her eyes at last…and felt the weight of her raw desperation come back to her in loads.

There was no love or hate in his expression, not the slightest hint of forgiveness or anger shining through. His eyes were vacant, empty, devoid, and they didn't seem to even see her. All the light she had gradually come to see in them during their months in Otsu was quenched now by an impenetrable darkness, and when his feet gave way his face did not even seem to register any pain or emotion.

"Kenshin!" she cried, rushing to support his inert body. His clothes were dripping with blood, and she could see the open wounds through the torn fabric of his kimono and hakama. His face had a ghastly, unnatural pallor, and his body felt colder than the snow under her knees. As she gathered him as she could and cradled his head in her lap, she felt her own body racked by long forgotten sensations. An ocean of painful emotions throbbed inside her chest, and finally, with a hoarse, anguished yell of painful liberation, she pulled them to the surface.

"Kenshin…I'm…I'm so sorry…!"

The wet drops started falling over the young man's closed eyes, as monotonously as the snow that the wind drew around them in menacing circles. The woman held to his unconscious body, protecting it from the blizzard, and, for the first time in so many years, she cried her heart out.

Cry…

Cry?

Tomoe touched her face, and her fingers became immediately wet from the moisture that was rolling down her cheeks. So… that was it? These were tears, and she was crying again, as she had done that day thirteen years ago. Even though she had been sure for long that she didn't have tears left, she was doing it again, she was overpowered by that eerie, noiseless shaking that did not want to stop this time either.

Already! Leave me, leave me… leave me alone! Please, take pity! I didn't… I didn't want to…

The wretched woman's hands covered her head feverishly, and she let herself sink onto the couch to smother her sobs once and for all with the bending force of asphyxia.

Please, let me die…

Kamiya Kaoru

Morning came next day in the shape of a sunray, softly caressing the girl's face as she lay in bed. Tired as she was, she tried at first to bury her head under the covers and free herself from that unwelcome intrusion, but its warm persistence finished by bearing fruit. Suddenly remembering who she was and when and where she was, Kaoru opened her eyes in shock, and pushed the covers away in an impulse. How could she be still sleeping so late, when she had a dojo, a chase, Battousai…!

Battousai…

The girl stopped in her tracks, and leaned on the wall with a tiny hint of dizziness overwhelming her mind. She had almost forgotten the events of last night! And she couldn't even blame herself too much for it; all which had happened had been so… confusing that she would think it had been a dream if it hadn't been because her wound was still there, heavily bandaged on her arm.

I started my chase at night, and then I found that man. I attacked him, believing that he was the Battousai because he was carrying an illegal sword, but he was nothing more than a wanderer. Afterwards, I found the true one… and I fought him! He broke my sword, but that wandering swordsman entered the picture again and rescued me. He brought me back here…and he said…

Kaoru blushed, as all the memories came back to her mind in a rush. How could she have been so… so stupid, so impulsive, so childish? Seen in the reasonable light of the morning, her actions had been those of a real idiot, as Megumi-san had said. True, she had been reasoning in full possession of her faculties when she had decided that she did not mind risking her life, but the way in which she…

You say that your father's sword school protects life. Wouldn't all those ideals be nothing more than a joke if you let yourself be killed for them?

Shaking her head as if she wanted to chase those embarrassing recollections from her mind, the girl started dressing at a furious speed. Damn him, she had to acknowledge that he had had a point there. Could he have made the hit a little more direct? It had hurt… that was why she had yelled that…

Oh, no.

Kaoru put her hand in her forehead, and wiped off a few drops of sweat that were rolling down her skin. She had behaved horribly towards that poor man, and this after he had been unjustly attacked by her, saved her life, and then had been worrying about her safety. How could she have done anything of the sort? She hoped that Megumi had kept him there before she left; she wouldn't be able to live knowing that she had let him go like that!

Sliding the shoji open, the girl walked down the corridor towards the older woman's door. To her surprise, it was closed, and as she put her ear to the door she could hear the distinct sound of a heavy sleeping breath. Now, what was this supposed to mean?

She probably stayed until late last night, and now she hasn't got up in time, she thought, wistfully. She was not sure whether she wanted to imagine what the doctor had done alone with that man. They seemed to have a close relationship, and, and… well, she had to admit that he had charm, and…

Stop thinking like that, Kaoru, she chided herself. Somehow, she could not help feeling some kind of irrational… jealousy? at that train of thoughts, and a deep uneasiness that she had to smother immediately. She had too many problems already to have affair to her silly side.

If she has missed the train, or the carriage, or whatever, then she'll have to stay here some more time. And there will be time to think of a solution, she thought, trying to give herself a new hope. Not to speak about how I will be able to poke fun at her for once and have my revenge, she added, as her lips curved into a mischievous smile for the first time since she didn't know how long.

At the kitchen, the girl found that her breakfast was already set, and thanked Tomoe-san in silence for her diligence. The woman usually got up at ungodly hours, and had things always prepared for them even if they woke up very early. While she ate it as quickly as she could, though, her mind could not help wandering again towards that strange man, and the things he had said to her last night.

He said he was a wandering swordsman… Looking at him, who would think he has any dangerous skills? He could not even stop my strike. But then… he did not hesitate to jump in the middle of my battle with Battousai, and somehow, he was able to stop him. Probably because Battousai was in fear of the arrival of more police and decided it was time to leave, but, still…

The more that she thought about him, the more she realised the walking enigma that man represented, and the more frustrated she felt about her exchanges with him. She could not grasp him, or rationalise his actions. At one moment he looked stupid and unable to help even himself, and at the next he was giving her a piece of advice that left her thunderstruck. He was small and looked like a weakling, but he went around with an illegal sword. The sword was reversed… Kaoru wondered, not for the first time what could be the meaning of this.

This sword does not kill, he had stated, as if very proud of the fact. He had reminded her of her father at that moment, though she had been too busy back then as to acknowledge the exact nature of what she had been feeling. Still, not even her father would have gone that far as to say that while defying the sword ban at the same time. What did that man pretend?

Questions, questions. They're all nothing but questions. And no answers, Kaoru thought in frustration, slamming the empty bowl on the table and getting up. If she didn't care for her pride, she wouldn't stop until Megumi-san told her, but, unfortunately, she happened to care very much for that.

"Well, enough already! I have no students, but I should look at things in a positive light and use the opportunity to go shopping instead," she admonished herself. Shielding her eyes from the brilliant onslaught of the sunrays, she slid the shoji of the porch open, and stepped outside. To her surprise, she did not find Tomoe sitting there… and, as her eyes grew bigger and bigger, she realised that this was not the only abnormal thing in the courtyard that morning. A small red-haired man was kneeling in front of the washing tub, turning his back to her.

"Good morning, Kaoru-dono!" he waved cheerfully. "This is almost done."

"What?" The girl walked in disbelief towards the man, who was efficiently scrubbing garment after garment with a smile on his lips. Her big pile of dirty clothes had disappeared, and a new, brilliantly clean one, was lying at his other side. "What are you… doing?"

"Laundry," he answered the obvious. "Did you like the breakfast?"

"Y… y… youmade breakfast?" she stammered, feeling more confused than ever. "I thought it had been one of the other women!"

"No, they haven't got up yet. Megumi-san stayed awake until very late, so I suppose she's tired…"

"Me… Megumi-san?" Slowly, the girl started to regain her footing, and gave the man a suspicious glance. "And what were you doing with…? Oh… no… never mind." Realising in time the inconvenience of her impulse, Kaoru blushed furiously, and shook her head. Sometimes, she just couldn't help herself… "Uh, er, I'm… surprised. She was going to leave today, or so she said. Did she… tell you something about that, by chance? That she had changed her mind, perhaps?"

The red-haired man laid the piece of cloth he had been scrubbing back in the tub, and grinned at her obvious hopeful expression.

"In part, yes. I have things to do in this city for a while, and we have decided that she will leave with me afterwards, so she's protected on her way."

"Ah." Kaoru muttered, unable to think of a better answer. "So… you will stay for a while."

"Yes," the wanderer nodded. "By the way, thank you very much for letting me stay here tonight. It's nice to sleep under a roof, for a change."

The girl waved her hands in quick dismissal. "Oh, no! It was the least I could do after… uh, well." Remembering what she had come to say all of a sudden, she blushed a deeper shade of crimson. "I… attacked you yesterday, then you saved me, and then I… instead of saying thank you…"

The red-haired man dried his hands carefully and granted her an encouraging smile as he got up.

"Don't worry about that."

"Bu… but…" Before he could leave, Kaoru made a motion to stop him. "Wait a minute, you!"

"Oro?"

The girl tried to ignore the clueless stare, concentrating only on what she had to say. She knew that it was a bad habit of hers, that she wasn't used to apologise, but he was making it doubly difficult with his annoying attitude!

"I only wanted to say that, about what I said to you yesterday night, and about my attitude, I… am sorry."

The man's eyes widened in astonishment, and he put a hand to her forehead.

"Are you feeling well, Kaoru-dono?"

That was definitely too much for the girl. Feeling her self-restraint crumble in front of so much blockheadedness, she threw herself against him and kicked him inside the tub.

"I was simply trying to apologise, you… you…!"

"Ah, so it was that!" he exclaimed, once his head had popped again among the bubbles. Still smiling, she realised in dismay, feeling a bit sorry for what she had done. There was something… unsettling about kicking people who didn't kick back. "A wanderer does not worry about little things like that. And you don't need to, either."

Confused, she lent him a hand out of instinct, and helped him to pull his weight upwards. He was surprisingly light, or maybe it was just that her arms had grown too strong after so much kenjutsu. As she had that thought, she could not help but wonder what would that man be thinking deep inside of the womanliness of a girl who let him do all the housework and then kicked him inside a tub…

Oh, no, again. What stupidities was she thinking? She hadn't let him do the housework, he had done it because he had wanted, and well, maybe she hadn't meant to kick him so hard…

"By the way, Kaoru-dono, I must say I have never encountered such a high pile of laundry in any house. You must be terribly busy with your dojo…"

A kick sent him flying back to the tub with a splash.

"I-didn't-ask-for-your-help!"

"Orororooo…"

The girl growled, turning away to enter the house again. As she was going to do so, though, a shocked gasp reached her ears, and she could distinguish Megumi-san's silhouette standing at the doorstep.

"Good morning, Megumi-san," she offered, a bit testily.

"What… what do you think you're doing?" the older woman cried, running towards the tub and helping the twice soaked man out of it. In her face, there was a strange mix of deep astonishment and anger. "Are you… are you alright, Himura-san?"

Himura-san?

"So that's your name?" Kaoru asked, turning back again. The short man shook his head to dry his hair a bit, and the girl could see Megumi giving him an awkward glance before he nodded.

"Family name," he specified. "But I wonder… has something happened to your other boarder?"

"Tomoe-san? Oh, it's true!" In her surprise about having forgotten, the girl almost missed the sudden flash of emotions that showed for a brief instant in the face of the man. Megumi, however, was able to perceive its full impact, and scratched her hair pensively. "I'm going to have a look in her bedroom. Oh, and by the way, Himura… why don't you stay here with us? Megumi-san's room won't be free for you now, but you can sleep in the dojo, right?"

"Uh… er…" Megumi looked shocked, and she sent another furtive look to the red-haired man's direction. He smiled to her first, and then turned back towards Kaoru.

"I thank you deeply for the offer," he said, bowing. "Unfortunately, there are things that I must do in this city, and I'm not sure about how much time they will take. It would be very unaccommodating for you, Kaoru-dono."

The girl could not help but shake her head to herself. For a wanderer, he was certainly quite a character, that she had to admit.

"Well, then I have an idea," she smiled sweetly. "You will have a bed and food here, and you are invited to come and use them whenever you want. I still haven't apologised properly," she remembered with a sigh.

The man seemed to think about this for several instants in silence, then bowed again.

"Thank you very much for your kind invitation," he replied in a low voice.

"Wonderful!" the girl exclaimed, with a suddenly dangerous gleam in her eyes. "Now you can get ready!"

"Ready?"

"Yes, we're going shopping!" Kaoru explained. She could use some help and some opportunities to get to know more about his secrets by herself, she thought in a brief bout of self-satisfaction. "I'm so glad to have someone to help me carry the things!"

"O…oro?" the wanderer asked to the already disappearing back of his - prospective- new landlady.

Takani Megumi

What on Earth was he thinking about?

The woman gave a deep look at the wanderer, and repressed a sigh when his only reaction was a smile. In a brisk pace, she turned her back to him and crossed the courtyard to get inside the house with her mind in pure turmoil.

So he had not only preferred to lie to Kaoru about the true reasons of her stay. He had also given a perfect excuse that saved her even the trouble of inventing something, and Kaoru, of course, had believed what he had said. Of her deepest and innermost fear, which had been having to tell the truth now that the situation had changed, there hadn't even been the question. And, to her surprise, something inside her wasn't sure about whether this was good or bad.

What does he intend? That we stay here, that he helps us with our problems, and that she remains in total ignorance about who caused them and why? After a while, this is bound to come out…or, maybe…

Maybe, she thought, what he was offering her was an opportunity of telling the truth herself, without intermediaries or revealing events taking place. Last night, he had told her that she deserved to be happy… but…

Happy? With my past burdening me and making everybody change the way they look at me? Does he tell who he is? After all, she remembered, it was not only because of her that the so-called Battousai was terrifying the dojo and the city. If he hadn't been using a certain person's name, people wouldn't have had such reverential fear of him. Right now, when she had pronounced that family name tentatively, he had already looked stressed, probably not unaware of the fact that the girl was too ignorant to know that the man she was chasing after was supposed to be called Himura Battousai.

Oh, don't be unfair, she chided herself almost at once. He was fighting hard to solve any problem he might have caused to other people, while she was running away. And, didn't those people deserve to know the reason why they had been in danger in the first place?

But I can't. I just…can't! another part of her complainedAfter living in various places and travelling aimlessly for long, she had finally found a stable place where, for the first time, she did care about being watched with kindly eyes by its inhabitants. According to him, she had two options: leaving and being unhappy and staying and being happy, but wouldn't she be terribly unhappy if she stayed and lost the appreciation of those people forever? For this, she might as well leave, and save everybody the trouble!

She feels horror of being alone again.

The man's words did not cease to echo heavily in her mind. They had made her discover last night that, in spite of her pledge of atonement, she was so dreadfully selfish that she was even unable to recognise a deep motivation inside someone which was the same as hers. She should have them in mind at least now, it was the least she could do. But, even taking them into account… did Himura-san really think that she would be happy to have an opium dealer, no, an opium maker at home? She was naïve, all right, she trusted people too much, all right, but who would trust someone who was evidently a very bad person? It was too much to ask of anyone who hadn't ever shared a similarly guilty past.

Well, and now, what should I do?

Disgusted at the patheticness of her own question, the doctor shrugged her nose. Why did she have to need all the help she could get all of a sudden? Hadn't she fended off alone for all her life?

"Megumi-san!"

"Uh?" Surprised in the middle of her intense musings, the woman lifted her head. Kaoru was running towards her, her face creased with lines of worry. "What's the matter?"

"It's Tomoe-san," the girl answered in a ragged breath. "She's… she's ill."

"Ill?" Megumi closed her eyes in surprise, and tried to remember her exchanges with the woman the previous day. She hadn't looked to be… "Don't worry. I will take a look at her now. And don't make such noise! In fact," she added, heading towards her room to gather her medicinal box. "it's better that you leave and go shopping. Is it fever?"

"I don't know what it is, but she is in bed, and she looks awful," Kaoru explained, with clear hints of anxiety in her voice. She panicked easily when facing cases of sickness of disease, Megumi imagined that because she had some childhood trauma with her mother's fate.

In this, again, they were completely different.

"Nothing is going to happen to her. Now, hurry and get that food. Things get sold very soon at the Tokyo market," she repeated, thinking at the same time that if the girl decided to stay there in spite of her words she would go insane on someone. Fortunately, Kaoru had kept enough levelheadedness as to do as she was told.

"Well… if you don't need me, and really think that I'm a hindrance, I'll leave," she sighed. "I trust you more than any other doctor, Megumi-san."

Trust you.

"I'm no doctor yet," the woman grumbled, heading towards Tomoe's room.

The room was dark and stifling, but Megumi's practiced nose could not detect the slightest trace of any smell of decay as she came in, bracing herself for the worst. While her eyes slowly grew accustomed to the dark, she tiptoed towards the futon from where the exhausted silhouette of her friend stared at her with eerie brown eyes, and knelt at her side.

"What's the matter, Tomoe-san?" she asked, taking her observation tools out of the bag. The older woman lifted her face, and Megumi swallowed strongly when she checked how pale she was. Even more, there were pronounced dark circles under her eyes, and she looked overall as if she hadn't slept at all in all night. "Do you feel pain? Discomfort?"

Tomoe nodded vehemently to both questions. Megumi bit her lip in surprise.

"Let me see," she mumbled, as she started her checking operations. She touched her forehead several times, looked inside her mouth, felt her pulse, and then began a quick inspection for any other external things like wounds or rashes in the most usual places. Tomoe let her do all those things meekly, with her eyes fixed at some point of the ceiling above her heads and her lips now and then forming unknown words that she would never be able to pronounce.

Megumi's perplexity augmented at each passing moment.

"You…" Little by little adopting a dead serious expression, she leaned back and sat down. "You are not ill, Tomoe-san. Not in any way that I know of."

For a long while of heavy silence, both women stood each other's glance. Finally, it was Tomoe who shifted position, and made a demanding gesture with her hand.

"What do you… you're pointing at your diary?" When the older woman nodded, Megumi's eyes widened. "And this too?" she added as she saw her point as well at the writing tools that lay next to it. Tomoe sat down with a lot of visible effort, and extending her hands towards both things.

What's that supposed to… mean? The doctor could not believe her eyes. Tomoe… wanting to write something for her? Since she had known her, in all those months, she had never ever written anything for the purpose of communication, and Kaoru said that the only thing she had written for her had been a single kanji, her name, on the day of her arrival. This had actually been one of the main arguments that the doctor had needed to build the theory that Tomoe wasn't mute from birth, since it showed that the main disorder behind that deficiency was less inability than sheer, strong unwillingness. There had been something in her past that was strong enough as to fill her with such horror for offering concrete information, of transmitting a message through unequivocal words… and now, something equally strong must have happened, if she was going to force herself to master her trauma.

Tomoe sat on her bed, and dipped the brush in the ink. Carefully, as if she was doing herself some kind of violence, she wrote something on a white sheet and handed it to Megumi.

Please, she read. Help me.

"Help… you?" the woman asked, almost speechless. That desperate plea… that state… "What has happened to you, Tomoe-san?"

But the woman did not write anymore. Sadly, she shook her head, and turned again an imploring glance towards the doctor, who had to force herself to repress a sigh of frustration.

"If you aren't going to tell me, how should I help you?" she grumbled. "You should take walks outside, and you would sleep much better. Those problems would then disa… uh?"

Tomoe shook her head again, now with more desperation. For Megumi, who had learned to interpret her signs long ago, it looked like a desperate denial.

"I can't say that you are ill, if that's what you want. You aren't ill!" she exclaimed, sitting at her side again. "And why would you want to be ill, anyway? Is there something funny in staying…?"

…staying?

A sparkle of realisation dawned in her mind.

"You don't want to go out. It's this, isn't it?"

Tomoe's eyes lingered for a while in the folds of her lap before she nodded in inevitable confirmation.

"Is it because…?" Megumi's mind worked quickly. "Because of someone? Someone who bothers you? We will be here with you all the time, I promise, and that Battousai impersonator will be taken care of soon. Or maybe you don't want to be with us anymore? Or is it…?"

Shaking her head furiously, the older woman seemed to be asking her to stop theorising at once. The doctor, though, was too far advanced in her reasonings as to pay heed to her pleas this time. She suddenly felt as if she was touching the surface of a sinister affair, rooted deeply since long ago.

"It's… it's him, isn't it? You know who he is," she asked at last in a quiet, composed voice. "Heavens, you… you know him, too!"

Nothing, in spite of her premonitions, could have prepared Megumi for what Tomoe did now. After staring at her for some instants, her face as white as a sheet, she lay back on her futon, and pulled the sheets all over her head.

"To… Tomoe-san…?" This is pitiful! Why…?

There was no doubt now: her companion had had an encounter with the hitokiri Battousai in the Bakumatsu. But… what kind of encounter, and what had he done to her? Could this be the reason why she couldn't speak?

Truth was, she almost had a shudder when she thought of it.

"Tomoe-san!" she insisted with more determination this time, even if her decision capacity was far lower than usual. Effectively, there were two options in front of her now. On the one hand, if she supported Tomoe's scheme, she would undoubtedly save a lot of pain to both. Himura-san had suffered enough, and she felt he deserved some help now and then. But, if, on the other hand, she could show to Tomoe-san… if she could make her have a glimpse on how much this person whose very remembrance terrified her had changed, and how much good he harboured inside, maybe…

Would she let escape the only chance to heal her desperation, bring her out of her shel, and protect her from getting even worse?

"Well, this is exactly the kind of problem that I was lacking right now.," she muttered between clenched teeth. The huddle of blankets did not even move, and she sighed again.

"Tomoe-san… I think you are getting him… wrong," she began, after thinking hard for a while. She had rarely - never- felt so stupid at the beginning of a speech. "I do not know what… happened to you back then, and in which degree he was involved, but I think I know better about him than you now. He wasn't the impostor who was killing people here in Tokyo, that man that drove all students out from Kaoru-san's dojo. In fact, he's a completely different man from the legendary monster of popular imagination."

There was some motion of the blankets at last, and Megumi could see a head emerging from under them. Tomoe's eyes had lost their despairing gleam, and were now watching her with an enigmatic expression.

So she was interested, after all…

"As you probably know, he disappeared after the battle of Toba-Fushimi, and everybody lost his track ever since," the doctor continued, significantly encouraged. "That's why there are so many legends about him, but the truth, the real truth, is in none of them. He left because he wanted to change his life, because he felt very strongly about what he had done. He wanted to atone for all the crimes he had committed, and for this he took a reversed sword that did not kill and became a wandering swordsman, protecting all the people who needed it without taking any more lives. He's been wandering for ten years now, tirelessly, helping people in his way and standing up against injustice… and this has shaped his personality in a very different direction."

Megumi made a pause to look at Tomoe again, but when she did so the words fled from her mouth from the surprise. She looked almost in trance, with a glance filled with astonished…. delighted? curiosity intently fixed on her.

Why does she…why does she look happy, all of a sudden, the younger woman wondered. It was almost… she didn't know, but for a moment, it seemed to her as if Tomoe-san was feeling for him, instead than for herself, her own feelings and her safety like mere moments before. As if her feelings suddenly mirrored Megumi's, with the deep fondness that she felt for him and the wish to see him happy that she had harboured since that day on which he had saved her.

"Two years ago, he did me such a favour that I will be grateful to him for all my life. I don't know where I would be now if he hadn't helped me," she added in a low voice, as if talking to herself. Tomoe joined her trembling hands over her lap and… smiled.

"But well… do as you wish," The doctor recovered her composure as quick as she could, and got up with a shake of her head. "If you want to stay here all the time, I won't raise any objection. I don't want to see any of you two hurt."

When she closed the shoji behind her back and left, Megumi failed to see Tomoe's gradual change of expression, and the tear that tricked down her cheek while she slowly sank back on her couch.

Kamiya Kaoru

"Himura…"

"Uh… yes, Kaoru-dono?"

The wandering swordsman cocked his head to the side, his lips curving in an absent smile. A red drop trickled down his cheek, and glittered briefly in the morning sun before it stained the ground.

"Your wound of yesterday," she observed, a bit shyly. After crossing the bridge, they had got very close to the marketplace, and the quantity of people that hurried and chatted through the streets had increased very much. They could even hear the shouts of the vendors already, announcing their goods from the distance.

"Ah," he nodded, wiping the blood away as if it was no big thing. In the expression of his eyes, though, Kaoru was for a moment unable to perceive any matched carelessness. "It's of no importance, that it isn't."

"Hmmmh.," she mumbled wistfully, as she turned her head away to stare at the reflection of the sunrays in the nearby river. What a strange man…

"Could you tell me…?" she started, but as usual stopped herself immediately before she finished the sentence. Now, what should she ask first? There were so many things she wanted to ask that it was becoming almost intolerable, while he kept walking happily and whistling a tune as if nothing had happened at all. Maybe he was doing all this just to spite her, Kaoru theorised angrily to herself.

"Could you tell me why do you carry a reversed sword? Are you good at swordsmanship? And, what's your na… uh?"

The girl stopped in her tracks, finding herself alone. While she looked left and right, worried and pissed at the man's sudden disappearance, a woman's angry voice reached her ears from behind her back. The wanderer was there, apologising profusely to a fat lady whose groceries had been accidentally scattered and helping her to collect them back.

Is this supposed to answer one of my questions, she wondered, as a corner of her mouth started to twitch uncontrollably.

"Look well where you're going!" the woman grumbled, taking the groceries from his hands with an ungracious push. "Now I'll have to wash all this again!"

"Sorry. I'm really sorry," he continued with his apologies even after she was gone. Kaoru watched him scramble to his feet, and then turned her back on him again to continue walking.

I wonder how you did manage to save me yesterday, she whispered to herself, not for the first time in that morning.

"Himura, hurry up! The first shop is there in front of us, and there are quite a number of people there already. If we don't want to return at an impossible hour…"

"Eh… Excuse me, Kaoru-dono," he interrupted her, wiping the dust from his hakama. "If you don't mind, I'll wait for you outside, that I will."

"Outside?" The girl lifted her head, surprised. "Why?"

"Well…" he hesitated. "I have some things to do in this city. And besides… there might be some problems if I enter anywhere carrying a sword."

"Sword?" Kaoru's glance immediately travelled towards the man's obi, and they almost came out of their sockets when she realised that he had been carrying that thing all along. "What are you doing here with your sword?"

"Uh… sorry," he apologised. "I'm used to bring it anywhere with me, that I am. Just because there might be some problems anywhere."

"Problems?" the girl thundered. "Are you the greatest troublemaker in Japan, or what?"

"Well, problems might be anywhere. They don't have to concern this unworthy one directly," he answered defensively. "For example, it was someone else who got into one last night…"

Well, that was aimed low., Kaoru growled to herself, feeling her cheeks flush in spite of her efforts. "Fine, do what you want. But be there in an hour. And if the police arrests you, I won't help you!"

"Yes, Kaoru-dono," he replied. The girl watched him bow and leave, and shrugged her shoulders in irritation before entering the mass of people.

I'd wish so much to know what's up with him…

The shopping for rice and miso took her longer than expected, as she had to fight for it with a really huge crowd. When at last she came out with her prize safely stored in two heavy buckets, she found that she had already been there for an hour, and realised with dismay that she still had to go to the tofu shop.

And he isn't here yet…, she thought, a bit worried. Would he have got into problems? Searching with her glance among the people that crowded the streets, she didn't realise that someone was approaching her, and almost dropped the food in fright when she felt a hand over her shoulder.

"Uh… aaaah!" she gasped, while she managed somehow to catch it in time. "Sheesh, almost! Who…?"

Three policemen stood in front of her.

"Excuse me, young lady, for the derangement," one of them greeted her politely. "We are interrogating the people in the street about a man we're searching. Have you seen by chance a man with a sword around this street today?"

"A… what?" Kaoru's face dropped, and she felt her heart beat quicker inside her chest. What had that red-haired stubborn walking disaster got himself into while he wasn't with her? "What kind of… man?" she asked, more than a bit lamely.

"Oh, sorry for scaring you," another of the policemen added, with a smile that told her that he probably didn't regret it that much. "But you'd better be careful around here these days. A dangerous murderer has been seen around this zone several times already, and this very morning a man with a sword was seen around. It's highly believed it could be the hitokiri Battousai from the Kamiya dojo."

A huge vein popped out Kaoru's forehead in a fraction of a second.

"What. Did. You. Say?" The buckets with the miso and the rice fell to the ground with an ominous thud. "Repeat it, if you dare!"

The policemen looked at each other in astonishment.

"Is there any problem?" one of them asked. Kaoru swallowed deeply, in a last unsuccessful attempt to keep her self-control. She wanted desperately to stay clear of any problem, to just retrieve her things and turn back with a smile. But she couldn't take it any more, she couldn't, she couldn't… It felt as if all her momentarily forgotten frustration had come back in a sudden rush!

"My dojo doesn't have anything to do with that monster! Anything, do you hear! He's just a filthy impostor!"

"What? Do you dare to defy an agent of the law?" the one which had spoken first said, making a step in her direction. Kaoru stayed in place, her hands on her hips.

"Agent of law? Don't make me laugh! Cease hiding behind your uniform and come here if you d… ouch!" Her shout ended abruptly in an astonished complaint as she felt something hitting her over the head. No one of the policemen had moved, and when she scanned her surroundings, she was unable to find anyone susceptible of being the author of the stupid joke. "What…?"

"What's the matter now?" one of the policemen asked tiredly.

"Someone has just hit me in the head," she answered, fuming. "Don't you see?"

"What do you think?" The first policeman turned towards his companions, who nodded gravely.

"She's crazy," the second attested.

"What did you call me?"

"Let's leave her alone. We have more urgent business now," the third suggested. Accepting his advice, his two companions turned his back on the furious girl and disappeared behind the crowd, headless to her threats.

"Hey! Come back! This is a power abuse! Come back and you'll see…!"

"Kaoru-dono! Who are you yelling at?"

"Uh?" The girl closed her mouth, and turned back to find the wanderer standing behind her and holding the miso and the rice that she had dropped. "When did you arrive?"

"Right now," he answered with a grin. "You were talking loudly and you alerted me, that you did. What happened?"

"I… uh… well, I…" she stammered, her anger quickly melting into shame. She'd never tell anyone about what had just happened. Never. "There were… three policemen, asking for you. They said that a man with a sword had been seen around this place. You're too careless!"

The red haired man did not look impressed at this.

"Let's go back home then. We have both solved our business here, that we have."

The girl took a sharp intake of breath, and dropped her shoulders as she started to walk down the street with him. She didn't know why, but she felt currently… exhausted.

"Fine," she surrendered. "Let's go home."

He comes with me carrying his sword, and then leaves me alone in a crowd while he goes to solve some business that he doesn't want to tell me about. Then, those three jerks appear and insult my father's name yet again. I lose my patience, and as I'm arguing with them someone hits me in the head and disappears. They call me crazy and leave, and then, mysteriously, he returns with a grin on his face. In the end, I forget the darn tofu, and when we arrive here he disappears again without telling me where he's going and says he won't be back until tonight or tomorrow. Tomoe-san is ill and refuses to see anyone, and Megumi-san is so weird that she even abstains from making any comments about the food I forgot to buy. And, on top of everything, my wound hurts and they won't let me search for the murderer in three thousand years. Argggh! I feel as if I might be going crazy in truth!

Kaoru was certainly not feeling well that night, as she crossed the yard to enter the ample and familiar privacy of her dojo. All days had been fairly trying for her of late, but that one took the prize. And now, when night had fallen putting an end to it at last, she unexpectedly found that she could not sleep.

If only I was thinking about ways of defending my father's reputation and making the students come back to my dojo…But no…I am not. I can't…

In spite of Megumi-san's strong recommendations, Kaoru's hands picked a wooden sword almost instinctively, and she began to practice with liberating fury. Probably she was just feeling restless and frustrated because the affair hadn't been solved yet, she had no students anymore, one of her friends was ill and another was going to leave soon. It should be that, at least. On her past expeditions the clues she had gathered had been scarce, and she was in no shape to chase after them. She had told some to Megumi-san and some to Himura, but they were probably as helpless as she was. Besides… well, she was perfectly conscious of the fact that it wasn't their business.

"It's my business. My business and no one else's,"she admonished herself, breathing heavily at the end of a kata. "I will find you and I will destroy you in my father's name!"

"Excuse me…"

"Huh?" Surprised, the girl lowered her weapon, and looked behind her to search for the source of the voice. To her great horror and disbelief, the dojo shoji broke with a crash, and a giant silhouette surrounded by many others stepped in behind the splinters. "Wh… what…?"

"Did you, by any chance" a mocking voice greeted her with a laugh, "mean me, Kamiya-san?"

(to be continued)