Chapter 4

(Kenshin)

I can't remember how long I've been flying. After I discovered the cabin in flames I flew as fast as I could from the site, trying to escape the memories. My shoulder burned with the effort my muscles were making to keep myself in the air. My wings ached, my muscles were crying for rest. Sweat was pouring down my skin, and my clothes were soaked in the rain that had started falling not long ago. I was shivering violently even though it felt like my body was on fire. Tears were still flowing down my face to mix with the rain falling through the sky.

I gritted my teeth and tried to keep in the air, but I was slowly sinking towards the trees below me. I strained my wings, but they couldn't hold out. My muscles failed and my wings crumpled. I fell like a stone to the ground, a cry escaping my throat. I smacked into trees, and my head snapped back as a branch scraped up my left cheek. I squeezed my eyes shut, and then my head was wrenched around as a branch again hit my cheek. I hit the ground with a thud, and I felt my left wing and right ankle snap. I screamed, pain flaring through my body, nearly causing me to black out.

I fought the blackness, knowing I had to get myself under cover. I had landed on a path beneath the trees, and I knew I didn't have the strength to call up enough magic to hide my wings. I tried to raise my upper body only to cry out again as my left wrist gave out beneath my weight. It was broken as well, something I hadn't noticed. Using my right arm I began to drag myself to the side of the road. I struggled to get myself under cover, but my vision was fading. I tried to fold my wings closer to me to lessen my size, but the resulting jolt to my broken wing caused pain to roar through my frame. It was too much; my cheek fell to the mud as I lost consciousness.

(Karei)

I was walking back to my home in the woods through the light rain, holding my blue umbrella above my head. I had always loved the rain, it was soothing. I suddenly blinked, my eye being caught by something by the road. I walked over to it, and gasped as I saw two great wings. Covered in glistening white feathers, they were huge. I knelt beside the thing, and was shocked to find it was a young boy, unconscious and covered in blood. There was a bloody cross carved into his left cheek, a new wound. The left wing was at a strange angle, obviously broken. His right ankle was black and blue, and starting to swell, as was his left wrist, indicating either breaks or sprains.

I pushed the fiery red hair away from his face to see a youthful face stained with sweat, tears, mud, rain, and blood. My eyes softened, and I looked over him again. There was half of an arrow embedded in his right shoulder, and the skin was an angry red around it. I winced. Infection, and it looked bad. I felt his forehead and hissed. He was burning up!

I folded my umbrella, putting it in the bag I carried over my back. I may not be able to carry him, I was a small woman, but he was littler than I was. Even though I was nearly 40 I should be able to get him to my home. It wasn't far from where we were.

I put my arms beneath the boy's chest and lifted, shocked to find how light he was. He was also incredibly skinny; I could feel his ribs easily. I moved my bag to in front of my chest, and hefted the boy onto my back. He was fairly light, and I knew I would be able to manage until we reached my home.

I walked slowly, and I knew that his beautiful wings were dragging in the mud, but it was the best I could do. I reached my house in good time, and took him inside to lay him on the floor by the fire.

I quickly shut the door to the increasing rain, and then ran to my room to get blankets, cloths, and an extra futon I had. Once back in the main room I set about cleaning up the blood, carefully washing his cheek and bandaging it. It looked painful, and I was sad that his face should be scarred like that. I removed the arrow from his shoulder, eliciting a cry of pain from him and a jerk of his body. I shushed him, petting his hair lightly. He calmed, and I continued.

I had luckily learned much about medicine when my husband had been alive, he had fought in the war for a long time, and I had often seen travelers that required help in some way. Though the boy's wings were surprising, I was not afraid. My husband had had wings as well, so I knew that something horrible had to have happened to the young boy in my care.

I felt his wrist as gently as I could, and then set it quickly. It, along with his ankle, was broken. He whimpered as I set these and tried to pull away from me, but I whispered nonsense words to him and he quieted. The wing I would have some trouble with. I decided to hold off on that for a moment, and instead worked on clearing out the pockets of infection in his shoulder, cleaning and bandaging it. His face twitched as I cleaned that out, along with other cuts that he must have gotten some other accident.

I bathed his face in cool water, laying a soaked cloth on his forehead. He moaned again and shifted beneath the many blankets I had piled on him. I set about splinting his broken wing. I pulled it out, extracting a hiss of pain from him.

He writhed, and I continued to work, knowing that the faster I got it done the faster his pain would lessen. I set the bone like I would a bird's wing, wrapping cloths around it to keep it in place. He suddenly screeched like a wounded animal and I jumped. He made no more sounds though, so I calmed.

The wing successfully set, I replaced the cloth on his forehead with a fresh one and undid the tie in his hair, gently washing away the blood and grime caked in the flaming strands. I cleaned his wings as well, moving gingerly so I wouldn't aggravate the injuries.

Once he was cleaned I returned to trying to break the horrid fever he had. I mixed herbs and made tea, then lifted his head and poured them into the back of his throat along with the tea to help him swallow the medicine. He resisted, coughing as he refused to swallow. I rubbed his throat gently, and then smiled as he swallowed the medicine. His face relaxed slightly, and I lay him back down.

I sighed, settling back on my heels. There wasn't much more I could do at the time, except for watch him and make sure that his fever did not rise. He moved in his sleep, murmuring and frowning. I brushed his bangs away from his hot forehead, hushing him quietly. His face relaxed and I heard one clearly whispered word from his pale lips. "Kaasan….."

My eyes widened. Mother? Is that what he saw me as? Didn't he have a mother of his own? Or was he just delirious and believed me to actually be his mother? I looked down at his face again, saddened. This poor boy, he must have had a hard life with his wings.

I thought about the condition I had found him in. What had happened to him? I sighed. All I could do was wait until he woke, and hope that he would trust me enough to tell me what was plaguing him. Maybe I would be able to help him in some way.

HM: I do own Karei, I made her up. Hope you enjoyed this chappy, please review!