Chapter 15: Lost Soul

It was a scene many people in their lives had witnessed, but not once would any of them wish to experience it again. The quiet air, save for the kind words the priest was giving, and the occasional sob or sniffle from around the small group of people all dressed in black, a funeral was the last thing on anyone's list to have to go to.

Megumi was clutching onto her brother, finding it very hard to focus on what the priest was saying through her tear blurred eyes. Aoshi simply held her close, eyes slightly averted away from the coffin waiting to be slowly lowered into the ground. The rest of the family was there too, Mr Shinomori and Mrs Takani, and various other cousins and aunts and uncles that had known Kenshin when he was growing up.

They had to tell the college what had happened as it had been during a college week, and Kaoru and Yahiko had insisted they come along to the funeral too, the girlish happiness at the thought of Kenshin that usually surrounded the young girl now completely gone, her head lowered, trying to swallow back a lump in her throat that refused to move. Misao had come along too, and stood the other side of Aoshi, staring blankly at the coffin. Even Sano's mother Yoko was there, who with her nosey attitude had found out what had happened and had come rushing back to Sano.

At one end nearer the priest, who had now finished his sermon, stood Sano and Soujirou. Although the look on Soujirou's face was sad, his eyes seemed to be darting around the expanse of graves around them, as if looking for something. Sano however, was the worst case of them all. Although he made no sound, no sobs, the tears gently dripped off his cheeks as he stood there, staring down to the coffin.

As the gentle autumn wind blew some stray leaves amongst them, Sano saw out the corner of his eye, quite a fair bit away across the grass to the road further below, a black car pull up beside a large tree, and a lone figure step out. The man leant against the tree, staring up the slight hill to the funeral up above, and lit a cigarette, just standing there and watching.

Sano's sad features turned to a glare for a moment, and he turned away back to the coffin, just in case Saito could see him looking at him.

"Are you sure the police can't do anything?" he whispered to Soujirou as the coffin was lowered into the ground, Megumi suddenly bursting into tears and burying her face at Aoshi's chest unable to look anymore.

"It's a difficult situation." Soujirou whispered back, "The Yakuza are very protective of their loyal employees. If we'd caught him at it we would have been able to bring him in, but he got away, so yet again slipped through our fingers. The Yakuza and the Law Enforcement tend to stay away from each others affairs, no matter how much I want to put him away, there's nothing I can do without risking a lot of lives on both the law and the Yakuza side. I'm sorry."

"Yeah…yeah I know, don't worry about it." Sano said reluctantly, as the priest said his final words. Slowly one by one the people around them began to move away, heading back to the main building to hold the final reception and goodbye.

"But you know," Sano continued, as he watched Saito get back in his car when he saw people moving away, driving off back to wherever he'd come from, "if Saito doesn't believe this is a real funeral, if I end up having to do this for real, and if Kenshin really does die…I will kill him…" Soujirou looked up at him, Sano's face deadly serious as he turned to walk back to continue the fake funeral with the others.

"I won't care who gets in the way or what happens to me, I'll kill Saito."

Minutes had turned into hours, hours into days, and still Sano sat, in the lone white plastic chair by the side of Kenshin's hospital bed, waiting for him to wake up.

Tonight had been just like any other night, the doctor would come in to see if there was any change, do some more tests, shake his head at Sano, and walk out again. At first the nurses had had a hard time telling Sano that he couldn't stay, could only come during visiting hours, but when Sano refused to move, there was nothing they could do in the end.

Eight days Kenshin had been in a coma, eight days Sano hadn't left his side, and every day that passed the chances of Kenshin waking up grew less and less.

There was only the light from the small bedside cabinet that lit the room, and the soft green glow of the heart monitor that told Sano Kenshin was at least alive, if not awake, and the slow rhythm of bleeps coming from it that hadn't changed its rhythm in days.

He sat in his chair, leaning forward resting his elbows on his knees, holding Kenshin's pale right hand in his own, staring blankly at the white sheets.

Holding the fake funeral earlier today had been a nightmare, the constant thought that he might actually have to do it for real if Kenshin doesn't wake up. But they had to do it, to protect him if he does wake up. Saito had to believe Kenshin was dead, if he did, he'd leave him alone. The police had gathered the close friends and family, not telling them the real truth, but enough to know that Kenshin was in danger, and if they wanted him to be safe to get the tears going and come along to the supposed funeral.

When Kenshin wakes up, and he will wake up, Sano had already planned to leave the country together, just the two of them, leave all these bad memories behind and get Kenshin out of danger. He just had to hope that Saito believed the funeral was real, and even more so, he hoped he wouldn't have to do it for real at all.

A soft knock on the door did not stir him, as it slowly opened and Aoshi walked through, pausing to look at the dejected Sano, before closing the door behind him.

It was dark outside now, but Sano hadn't pulled the blinds down, so the moon, now not as full as it had been eight days ago, shone through the clouds making it look as though they were glowing in the night sky, not that Sano would have noticed.

Aoshi stood with his back against the door, watching the slow rise and fall of Kenshin's chest, wrapped up heavily in bandages, and the breathing mask over his face, a sight that he had unwittingly grown used to now.

Slowly Aoshi moved to the chair the other side of Kenshin's bed opposite Sano, and he sat down quietly, looking from Kenshin back to Sano, and the heart broken look on his face that hadn't left since Kenshin was rushed to hospital.

Eight days ago when Kenshin had been shot, thanks to Soujirou's quick thinking the paramedics had arrived just in time, getting him onto a stretcher and in the ambulance just as he had passed out in Sano's arms. Sano had been like a walking zombie, brain devoid of all thought except fear as Soujirou forcefully grabbed his arm and practically threw him into the ambulance with Kenshin, Sano in shock himself and not doing anything but sitting in a trance, staring at Kenshin as the paramedics tried to save his life.

When they'd got to hospital, the fact that Kenshin really had been shot and on the verge of death had finally sunk into Sano's mind, and instead of the barely-able-to-walk-from-shock Sano that had stepped into the ambulance, panic had over taken him, and when they rushed Kenshin through the hospital to the emergency surgery, Sano was right at his side, getting in the way and in the end having to be forcibly removed when he refused to leave the surgery room.

For the next who knows how many hours, Sano sat almost shaking in the waiting room, Aoshi and Megumi joining him shortly after, and eventually Soujirou, who had come back with bad news that Saito had got away.

If only to break the silence in the room, Aoshi had said that he had called Soujirou when he had seen Kenshin's car speed away, Soujirou only going on a hunch that it would have something to do with Saito as he seemed to have a knack of getting in the way at awkward moments, and that's why Soujirou had arrived there so quickly after putting out a bulletin on Kenshin's car license plate number. It had been an awkward way of doing it, but Aoshi had lost track of Kenshin's car trying to follow him, he'd been driving so fast.

When the doctors had finally come in, they'd explained that they'd managed to remove the bullet, but Kenshin's right lung had collapsed in the procedure, and had to operate further. Sano had sat with his hands clutching the side of his seat so tightly his fingernails had burst through the padded coverings. They'd lost him almost twice, but had managed to get his lung back up with pressurised tubing. The doctor then proceeded to talk in the complicated language that only doctors seemed to understand, Sano recognising some dreadful phrases like "suffocation to the brain", and getting frustrated with him Sano had demanded he let him see Kenshin.

When he did, the sight broke his heart. Kenshin looked so pale, so weak, only being able to breathe with the help of machines. Sano couldn't stand the emotions running through him, and almost as if he really had lost him, he broke down in tears.

Since then Kenshin's condition hadn't changed, and Sano was exhausted from worrying, now just sitting day in and day out, waiting for Kenshin's violet eyes to open.

Because…they had to open….Kenshin couldn't die….

Eventually Soujirou had managed to get Sano to tell him everything that had happened, Sano even telling him about Aoshi's relation to Saito, which made Soujirou's face turn to one of shock. He hadn't known that.

Sano slowly peered up at Aoshi sitting opposite him, who was now looking at Kenshin, a slight concern in his usually emotionless eyes that had been present for a few days now. Sano wondered over and over again if Aoshi knew who he was related to, if he knew that it was Kenshin who had killed his father, if he…wait a minute…

-"Since I was 13 years old." Aoshi replied, "It was a month after he had moved in when one of his nightmares gave away what he had done, that he had murdered his parents, and-" Aoshi seemed to catch himself, but the 'and' was so quiet Sano didn't seem to have noticed, and Aoshi continued on. "But do you see me running away from him? Saying that I hate him for not telling me the truth? No. Because Kenshin is the kindest person that I know, and I will do anything I can to keep those nightmares at bay. Admittedly, at first, I did hate him. But I kept quiet, as I was as a child, but as the years passed by, the more I saw that this gentle boy, this…kind smile he had, was not one that belonged to a murderer, but to someone that needed all the love and care that his new family could give him, to bring him away from his past."-

Aoshi had paused during that speech, that 'and' he never elaborated on. He had stopped from saying something he didn't want Sano to know. And that…all that about hating Kenshiun, it wasn't…it wasn't just because he knew that Kenshin had killed people, it was far more personal than that. The way he said it, the look on his face at the time, my god why didn't I see this before! Aoshi….Aoshi must know that…

"You know who killed your father don't you?"

Aoshi didn't look up at him for a moment, but when he did, he scanned Sano's eyes for any hint that he was simply trying to get an answer from him. When all he found were honest and concerned eyes looking back at him, he sighed.

"Do you remember what I said when Soujirou and I were talking to you? That I grew to understand Kenshin, to see past what he had done?" Sano kept quiet, "Despite the fact I knew he had killed my father, as the years passed, I saw through the darkened heart to one that just wanted to be accepted, one that wanted forgiveness, one that understood what terrible things he had done, had been forced to do, and needed love, not hate." Aoshi lowered his head, looking down at Kenshin's unmoving figure, "It took me many years to forgive him, many very painful years, but it was so hard to hate someone who seemed so innocent and carefree, someone that would always come to see me when I was upset, someone who would always go out of his way to make sure that everyone around him was happy and well. It's impossible to hate someone like that, no matter what they may have done in the past." Sano watched him, his expression never changing except the worry in his eyes, "When I found out from Soujirou the real truth behind what had happened to Kenshin, there was never any way I could blame him, not for anything. Kenshin is my brother, he always will be, and I have had enough of the torment he has been going through. Which is why," he said, looking up at Sano once again, "when Kenshin wakes up, I want you to look after him. I've decided I'm going to tell Megumi about Kenshin's past, I cannot bear to see Kenshin have to tell anyone else, and I know that Megumi will forgive him."

Sano's eyes widened at that remark. Aoshi had always said he would never tell anyone, that it was unfair to Kenshin. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" he asked.

"Yes." Aoshi simply replied, "In the end, I think it will be better this way."

The pair sat in silence for another moment, nothing but the constant bleeps from the heart monitor. Sano looked up at Aoshi when another thought crossed his mind, something that he wasn't sure Aoshi knew.

"Hey um…did you know that your dad had a younger brother?"

Aoshi frowned.

Sano bit his bottom lip. Should he tell him about Saito? Tell him he was related to the man that had caused Kenshin all this pain in the first place?

"Listen," he said awkwardly, "as you're going to tell Megumi about Kenshin, I guess it's better to get everything out in the open right now. There's something I need to tell you about Saito." Aoshi looked at him, the slight frown still there, wondering what Sano could have to say. "Saito's real family name is Shinomori, he was your dad's younger brother. That's why Kenshin ended up on your doorstep that day—"

"—I know."

Sano stared at him, "You…you already know?"

Aoshi looked away through the window, "Soujirou told me, shortly after he got the information from you, that's why I didn't come to visit Kenshin for a few days. I felt….guilty."

Ah, so that's why Aoshi seemed to disappear. Everyone had come to visit Kenshin, but Aoshi just seemed to have dropped off the face of the planet. When he came back four days ago, the look on his face had been one Sano hadn't seen before, an ashamed look, but at the time he didn't know why.

"I feel so guilty to be related to the one who has caused Kenshin this pain. But there is nothing I can do about it. What had happened has happened, things can only get better now."

Sano's eyes seemed to droop a little from shock into sadness. Things could only get better if Kenshin woke up. If he didn't….if he didn't wake up then…

…Sano closed his eyes. This was not a good thing to be thinking right now.

"Hello?"

His word disappeared into the never ending recess of white before him.

"Hello? Is anyone here?...where ever here is." Kenshin added softy to the end, as he looked around him, nothing but white for as far as the eye could see, the white ground he was standing on covered in a thick layer of mist, melding into the white air around him.

How he had ended up here he had no idea. The last he remembered was looking up at Sano, the most incredible pain in chest, before everything when black. When he awoke, he was alone, lying on this hard white ground, looking around just as he was now for any signs of life who could tell him where he was and what was going on.

Kenshin felt like he'd been wandering around for days, but surely it couldn't have been, he hadn't eaten or slept in that time, so it couldn't have been more than a few hours surely. The one thought however that kept creeping back into his mind that he kept on pushing away, was that he didn't actually need food or sleep for a very valid reason.

He'd been shot. He remembered that, and he knew because his shirt had a torn hole in it, and his blood was still on his shirt. But it made no sense, he knew he'd been shot, he had the blood on his clothes to prove it, but when he looked at where the bullet had gone through, there was nothing. No scar, no pain, as if he'd never been shot.

The thought that kept on coming to him was…well, that he was dead.

Heh, but that was ridiculous wasn't it?

"Hello?"

Kenshin called out again, yet again receiving no answer except for the small rushes of wind on the mist below him, swirling it round and round before it laid still once again.

He continued walking, hoping that at some point this expanse of white would end, that or someone would show up and tell him what on earth was going on. He had to get back to Sano after all, somehow.

"THERE YOU ARE!"

Kenshin nearly jumped out of his skin and twirled around to see a very short, very bald, and very big headed old man, a long thin moustache protruding out from under his nose.

"I wish you wouldn't move around so much. Most people usually tend to stay in one place confused and lost, but no, you had to go and wander around and make me chase after you didn't you!"

The short man, barely two foot in height, tried to stand up on his tip toes to look at Kenshin better, Kenshin just standing there wide eyed and his heart still beating out his chest from having this little guy creep up behind him like that.

"My name is Roujin, I'm supposed to guide people like you but I just know you're going to be one of the stubborn ones aren't you? I can always tell, ones that wander off like this…why can't they give them manuals to pick up, it won't send them to hell to put a stand here with guides on." He added on, mumbling to himself.

"Er…" Kenshin continued to stare, before his manners returning and smile appeared on his face, "Hello. I am Kenshin Hima—"

"I know how you are!" Roujin snapped, "I wasn't following you for the hell of it you know."

"O-okay." Kenshin said, still smiling, although rather forcibly, "Umm, could you tell me where I am? I think I'm a little lost, that I am."

"Of course you're lost, you're a lost soul! Lost souls tend to be lost."

Kenshin blinked, "A…lost soul?"

"Yeah," Roujin said, Kenshin watching as he walked around him looking Kenshin up and down, "You're dead, in other words, but the big guy up there don't wantcha," he said, pointing up, "And the red guy down there don't wantcha either, so you're stuck." He said, pointing downwards, and then shrugging.

"I'm…dead?" said Kenshin, eyes wide.

So he really was dead? But….but Sano had said he loved him, that he'd forgiven him. He couldn't be dead, he had to get back to him, he had too, but…how? What was this place? He wanted to get back to Sano, not stay here.

Roujin stared at him, "Slow on the uptake here aren't you? Look," he said, motioning for Kenshin to sit down on the floor, which he did, if still looking confused and worried, kneeling down while Roujin sat crossed legged. "Here's the deal. Heaven doesn't want you, but neither does Hell, that's because somehow during your life on earth, you've done an equal of "good" and "bad" things, meaning neither side here wants you. So, you've got two choices. One," he said, holding up one finger, "You can wander around this highly un-decorative place for the rest of eternity, or two," he said, raising a second finger, "You can go back down to earth to your body and be alive again. I've looked you over and you haven't faded yet which means your body is still alive on Earth. We're actually surrounded by lost souls here but you just can't see them, they're what's moving all the mist around here."

Now he knew what they were, Kenshin became a little more conscious of the rushes of wind going past him, trying not to think he was surrounded by, for lack of better word, ghosts, and more importantly trying not to think how utterly absurd that sounded.

"So, what do you want to do?"

Kenshin, turning his eyes back to the little guy after following a trail in the mist, stared at him.

"I would like to go back to Earth." He said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Heh, thought you might say that." Roujin said, standing up from the ground, "No one ever chooses the easy way. I can tell you now, it'll be a lot quicker if you just give up now and stay here. Everyone always wants to go back to Earth, but no one ever makes it." he said squeakily.

"What do I have to do?" Kenshin asked, apparently un-fazed by his apparent warning. It didn't matter how hard it was to get back, he had to get back, to be with Sano. There was no way he was going to leave, not like this, and not by Saito's hand. If he had a chance to get back, then nothing was going to stop him, nothing at all.

"Do you like pain?"

Kenshin blinked, "E-excuse me?"

Roujin seemed to be sneering at him, before he turned around, "Come on, might as well get this over with, follow me."

Kenshin stood up from the floor, watching the small man make his way through the mist, little trails following him, before dispersing when they realised where he was heading.

Kenshin followed slowly, mind adrift in so many thoughts. All he knew, is that dead or not, lost or not, he had to get back to Sano. It didn't matter what he had to do, how much pain he would feel, he'd waited his whole life to hear those words Sano had said, there was no way he was going to be torn away from him now.

He didn't know how long they walked for, complete silence but Kenshin's footsteps and Roujin's shuffling through the mist, but eventually they came to a single sign post. Just a normal, wooden signpost, with one plain arrow pointing to their right.

"Okay," Roujin said, standing in front of the sign and turning around to face Kenshin, "If you want to go back, you have to walk over there." He said, nodding towards where the sign pointed.

Kenshin frowned, looking over to his right to see nothing but the same whiteness as everywhere else. But did as he was told, too confused to ask questions, and took one step to the right of the sign.

The moment he did however, an unbearable amount of pain shot through his chest, and he collapsed to the floor.

"KENSHIN!"

Sano shot up from his chair, panic in his eyes as Kenshin's still body suddenly convulsed, the heart monitor suddenly slowing down.

Kenshin held one hand to his chest, eyes squeezed shut tightly in pain, gritting his teeth. It was felt like he'd just been shot all over again, and when he managed to open his eyes to look at his chest, he found fresh blood pouring through his fingers, his wound back again over his right lung. Painfully he looked over his shoulder at Roujin, silently asking what was happening.

"Hurt's doesn't it?" Roujin said, standing perfectly calmly by the sign. "If you want go back, you've got to have a heck of a good reason too, because you're going to have to live through every ounce of the pain you went through before you died to get back to your living body again."

Kenshin stared at him, blood dripping into the mist beneath him, and closed his eyes again in pain, clutching his chest.

"This is why a lot of souls give up, it's too painful for them. You've got to walk all the way down that path if you want to get back to Earth again."

Kenshin looked up, "W…what path?" he said through gritted teeth, and as soon as he said it, the mist before him disappeared, leaving a plain white path in front of him, the mist acting as its sides.

"Don't turn back. If you want to get to Earth you can't take even one footstep back or you'll be stuck here got it?"

Kenshin looked down the long pathway, a path he couldn't even see the end of, and looked back over his shoulder. Roujin watched him for a moment, having seen this kind of scene billions of times before, before turning around, walking to wherever his next Lost Soul had arrived.

"I hope whatever it is you want to live for is worth it." he called back over, "Cos from now on you're on your own."

Kenshin tried to watch him leave, but the pain was too much, and as he closed his eyes again. When he opened them, the little man was gone. Turning back to the path in front of him, Kenshin tried to stand up, wavering a little, but managing to stay up without falling over. The blood soaked through his shirt, and ignoring the pain, he took another step forward.

Again, pain shot through his chest, but this time he managed to stay standing, managing to catch himself before he stepped outside the path into the mist. Gritting his teeth again, he opened his eyes to glare down the pathway, his eyes focused. Pain was nothing to him, and it certainly wasn't going to keep him away from Sano.

His third step.

His fourth.

The fifth.

He collapsed again, starting to have trouble breathing, just like he had before he died. He coughed, clearing his lungs of blood, winching in pain as he stood up again, finding a picture of Sano in his mind, and continuing on.

Nothing was going to keep him away.

"KENSHIN!"

Aoshi was having trouble keeping Sano away from the doctors that had suddenly surrounded Kenshin's bed, all manner of apparatus and technical talk as they tried to save the life that was seeping away from the one he loved.

Aoshi held onto Sano from behind, hooking his arms around Sano's as the younger man pulled as hard as he could away from him, just to get close to Kenshin, to see him, to kick that damn heart monitor to go back to normal and to stop telling him that Kenshin was dying with every beat that got slower.

The tears that streamed down his face mingled with the blood that was pouring to the floor. Kenshin knelt on the ground, unable to keep the painful sobs inside him now as the pain grew far beyond what he had experienced when he died. He could barely move, he'd walked barely the length of a swimming pool and he felt like he could die at any moment, if it wasn't for the fact he was already dead. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't move from the pain, he just knelt there, tears down his face, both hands clutched to his chest, the blood, which there was no way he could have had that much in his body to start with, continued to fall from him.

"I…." he gasped, "….I can't….I can't stop….." he sobbed, gritting his teeth so hard in so much pain as he fell forward onto his front. "I have to…keep….going…" He tried to crawl forward on his stomach, standing now completely out of the question. But every time he moved forward, more pain washed throughout him, and little did he realise, that the more pain that consumed his mind, the picture he had of Sano grew weaker and weaker.

"Sanosuke please calm down!" Aoshi shouted, "You're not helping Kenshin if you run over there."

But Sano wasn't listening. In one last feat of strength he yanked Aoshi's arms away from him, burst through the crowd of doctors and nurses, and stood at Kenshin's side.

"Kenshin stop it!" he yelled, grabbing the silent Kenshin by the shoulders, "Don't do this to me please! Not after all this! Please just wake up! Don't die on me Kenshin PLEASE!"

Kenshin found himself lying still on the ground, watching with fading eyes the pool of blood that had gathered in front of him from his chest. "I can't….." he closed his eyes, tears now of frustration, the pain seeping his strength from him "….I can't do this…."

Aoshi's and the doctors own yells at him were ignored, Sano only aware of the dying Kenshin in front of him, his life slipping away before his very eyes, and unable to do anything about it. The tears had long since started to fall, he couldn't lose him, not now, not after everything they'd been through, he couldn't lose him!

"Kenshin…" Sano choked, not caring who saw him cry, "…please….."

"…..Sano…." Kenshin whispered, his eyes closing, the pain so unbearable he was now past the point of actually feeling it, just knowing his whole body was numb, unable to move, and just wanting to rest.

Maybe forever? Just here? Just lying here….

Sano clung onto Kenshin, wrapping his arms around him as the heart monitor finally gave up, emitting nothing but a long line of high pitched sound, indicating that this was the end of line.

"Kenshin…" Sano whispered, holding him closely across the bed, whispering in his ear, blocking that horrible sound from the heart monitor from his ears, "Please wake up…please don't die….I love you, you can't do this….Kenshin." Sano's mind was starting to turn blank, not knowing what to do except hold him, hoping that somehow, it would be enough to bring him back. He stared at the pillow, the doctors around him having fallen silent. Sano's heart sunk, his body feeling cold, and as his tears continued to fall, pressed his cheek against Kenshin's, not wanting to look.

"I love you…"

"I love you…"

Kenshin twitched slightly, and slowly opened his eyes, frowning tiredly, "….Sano?" he whispered, barely audible.

"Kenshin…"

Ever so slowly, Kenshin moved his head back to look down the pathway, and when he did, his eyes went wide. There, standing only 6 feet away, was Sano. The path Kenshin had been walking down, he now saw ended just behind where Sano was standing.

Had…had he made it to the end?

In a sudden rush of energy, Kenshin managed to move, gradually, and still immensely painfully, getting to his hands and knees.

"Kenshin?"

The heart monitor had suddenly bleeped back into life, if only barely, but as Sano held onto him, he saw Kenshin's hand twitch ever so slightly, and Sano's eyes went wide. "Kenshin!"

"Kenshin!"

Kenshin looked up at the Sano standing before him who was looking so worried, tear tracks on his face, but now looking at him with an expression of slight hope.

"Kenshin! Are you…. hey wake up!"

"Sano…" Kenshin attempted to smile, watching as the sad features on Sano's face were gradually replaced by one's of hope and joy, as Kenshin shakily stood up from the ground. Having Sano in front of him like this was all he needed, his love for him, the feeling of needing to be with him, was far stronger than the pain engulfing his body.

"I can hear you." He said gently, smiling, taking another step forward, stumbling slightly, before taking another one.

"Look! Hey Kenshin! Come on, wake up, you're gonna be okay please just open your eyes!"

"Sano." Kenshin repeated, his voice getting stronger, "Sano!" And with one step forward, Kenshin reached out to the Sano he saw before him, touched his shoulder, and…

"…Sano?"

As Kenshin's coarse whisper was heard, and his violet eyes opened, the biggest grin of relief swept across Sano's face.

To Be Continued…