Usual disclaimer--Rurouni Kenshin is the creation of Nobuhiro Watsuki, with the manga and anime rights belonging to Jump Comics and Sony Entertainment, respectively. FF is non-profit, meant for entertainment only and can be archived anywhere, just let me know where. Please send no flames, I'm sensitive. But for all other comments you may contact me though this website or my own.
ּ
ּ
ּ
ּ
ּ ּ ּ
ּ
ּ
ּ
ּ
CHAPTER TEN : For all the Penance
They were quiet when he arrived; all sly glances and worried looks aimed covertly in his direction as he studiously ignored them. Hiding behind his bangs as he took a seat across from them, motionless forever it seemed before he calmed down enough to think, what seemed coherent like thoughts. Eyes ever a dark purple, as he lifted his head, revealing pale shadowed features even his mask could little hide.
"She was attacked." He revealed, ignoring their gasps and sudden murmurs as he inwardly sighed. "Sessha—" he forced himself to say, "Dealt with the attackers, just . . . not fast enough, it seems. She was hurt." Because of me, he thought, fisting his hands beneath his sleeves as he allowed himself a moment to blink, carefully staying away from those kinds of thoughts while others were in the room. "She needs to rest but . . . You will have to see her Dr. Genzai."
"Kenshin?" The doctor asked, looking slightly more worried then the others Kenshin guessed because he felt a lot more in what he didn't say than in what he did.
"Sessha will stay outside her room while you look in on her. You have to make her rest. Sessha needs to run down to the police station and . . . She can't be left alone."
"What happened?" Tae asked. Looking on the verge of tears as Yahiko frowned at her.
"She's got an injured wrist," he piped in "And when I saw her at the restaurant she didn't even have her bokken with her. Kaoru's good," Yahiko admitted, "But even she would've had problems if they'd ganged up on her."
"That's not what I meant," she sniffed. "I know about her hand. I asked her why it was bandaged. What I mean . . . I mean, I don't understand. I was only a couple of minutes behind her. And I—I didn't see anything. Where did they attack her?"
"Near the house—" Kenshin hedged, rising from his spot with a fluid grace, his audience did not miss. "Dr. Genzai, are you ready?"
"Of course," the doctor nodded, rising a little slow as Tae helped him stand, handing Kenshin his bag before they turned and left, silent for a lot of the walk until they reached her room. "Is there anything you want me to check for?" The doctor asked, eyes never wavering from the floor as Kenshin spared him a glance.
"No," he replied, confident Kaoru had told him the truth some hours before but— "Sessha just needs to be sure she's all right. At this point—it's just better she rests." He murmured, sliding the shoji aside with infinite care, afraid to startle her awake as she slept where he had left her.
"Kaoru-dono," he whispered, taking hold of her arms and shielding her from the doctor's gaze as she started awake. "It's all right." He murmured, easing her down slowly on the futon, as she blinked herself awake. "The doctor's here to check on you."
"I told you I was fine," she argued, looking a little pissed as Kenshin smiled.
"Sessha would feel a lot better if he agreed." He murmured, watching her a fraction of second too long before moving back. "Sessha will be outside, if you need anything else," he instructed watching Kaoru out of the side of his eye, as he nodded to the doctor.
"Kenshin . . ."
"Sessha won't be far . . . Kaoru-dono, just outside the door. All right?"
"All right," she agreed, watching him slowly smile before sliding the shoji closed, eyes ever clear as he disappeared from her view.
΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅
In the silence of his wake, as the doctor opened his mouth to ask her where it hurt. She motioned for him to stop, rising very slowly and with a grimace on her face, before she motioned for him to reach her ink and paper.
"I feel fine." She started, voice normally loud so Kenshin wouldn't suspect. "I was just startled." She lied, writing down--hurts.
"Well I'm just here to make sure." The doctor replied, mouthing; where, as Kaoru touched her ribs and back before disrobing.
"Does your hand still hurt?" He asked, tapping her back in a silent signal, she could understand.
"A little," she hissed as he began to touch carefully over her back—"It isn't anything to worry about, right?"
"I'm not sure," he admitted, turning her around slowly so he could examine her ribs. "Now, I'm going to press on this, he motioned, indicating her ribs. "And you tell me, if the pain is sharp or just a sting, all right?"
"All right," she agreed, taking in a deep breath as she readied herself for a bit of pain.
"Here we go," he said, pressing along her ribs as she breathed through clenched teeth. "Kaoru?"
"It isn't sharp," she murmured, blinking back the need to cry as he handed her the discarded robe.
"Not a sting either though, is it Kaoru-chan?"
When she shook her head, he nodded. Taking her pad and ink before jotting down; nothing's broken, just sore, ok. "It's going to take something like two to three weeks before the pain—" he motioned, indicating the bruises, so she could understand. "Goes away. You just need a lot of rest."
"That's what I thought you'd say." She murmured, smiling a little as she sat down on the futon again.
"I'm going to leave Kenshin some tea for you, which you need to take three times a day. It's going to make you sleepy but it will also make this hurt less, all right?"
When she nodded, sighing more relived then she'd ever thought she'd be, she noted the doctor paused, looking as if something else was troubling him when he suddenly grabbed her injured hand, undoing the bandages before looking it over carefully.
When he was done, he redid her bandage, looking terribly concerned as he looked at the slight bruising on the side of her face. "Kaoru-chan . . . Is there anything else?" He prompted, watching her carefully, Kaoru noted, as she easily shook her head.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure," she whispered, understanding what he meant by his choice of words. "I'm just a little rattled from the scare," she admitted, glancing towards the door as if afraid Kenshin might have heard; "But otherwise fine." She stated, glancing at the doctor as he began to stand.
"All right," he conceded. Smiling softly down at her before ruffling her bangs, "I'm going to take Yahiko with him so he can bring the medicine back to Kenshin, ok. I'm sure he's eager to get you all better again," He teased, choking on his chuckle as Kenshin suddenly slid the shoji open.
"Kenshin," The doctor chided, hand over his heart, as it continued to race. "You don't do that to old people." He berated, looking sternly at the red head, who really, didn't seem sorry at all as he apologized; calling Yahiko to the door before letting the doctor pass.
"Make sure Tae-dono locks behind you," he instructed, making sure Yahiko understood him before sliding the shoji closed, waiting silently for their echo to trail off before nearing her futon.
"You look better," he stated, taking a seat besides her on the floor as she began to smile.
"I feel better," she admitted, coloring a little bit before looking away. "He said I was fine."
"Aa, sessha heard."
"So you don't have to worry," she continued, yawning a little before covering her mouth.
"You need to rest Kaoru-dono."
"I'm not sleepy." She insisted, turning to face him a little before inwardly sighing. "I'm fine."
"Sessha knows . . . you might feel fine Kaoru-dono, but it's still . . . Sessha would feel . . . better if you just had a bit more rest, that's all."
"Kenshin," she sighed, about to begin her berating when she noticed her pad and ink close by. Any closer and Kenshin might see it, she thought, turning abruptly as Kenshin frowned. "Fine," she murmured, acting as if she were doing it against her better judgment. "You'll only go on about this forever if I don't listen anyways. So I'll lay down, ok."
"But you have to sleep," he insisted, watching her carefully as she raised a hand to her head, massaging the ridge of her nose as if a headache were coming on.
"How about, I go to sleep when the tea gets here." She bargained, watching him as he seemed to ponder this before nodding his head. "Good, now that we're agreed, will you get another blanket, please?"
"Sure," he replied, beginning to move toward the side of her room when she caught his sleeve.
"I want one of the one's from out in the hall. Those are warmer," she reasoned, smiling shyly for maximum affect. "I'd feel better if I had one of those."
"All right," he nodded, standing up in one fluid movement, her worried mind, didn't quite observe. Watching him instead for any backwards glances that showed he might have known, she meant to hide him something.
"Sessha will be right back," he told her, as he began to close the door, it dawned on her that he would have to leave her to fetch the stupid blanket.
"Wait," she called, realizing she sounded a bit panic; "Just—don't close it, ok. Just, leave it open."
"Aa," he replied, sounding strangely displeased as he turned around and left.
He would be gone only a few seconds, her mind argued, pushing her to move faster than she felt comfortable with as she tore the page off the pad, wondering where to hide it, when she spotted her truck. She didn't really have the time to hide it properly, she though as she stuffed it inside an old doll, quickly before he noticed she had moved; she rolled over into her futon, pulling the blanket over her just as he arrived.
"Kaoru-dono?"
"I . . . I was just wondering what was taking you so long," she lied, eyes cast down so he couldn't know, she didn't exactly tell the truth there.
"Gomen nasai," he apologized, "Sessha shouldn't have taken so long." He murmured, smiling sadly down at her before covering her carefully with the blanket. "You can close your eyes," he told, smoothing the edges around her futon with incalculable calmness. "Sessha will be here when you awake."
"But I'm not sleepy," she argued, yawning back another contradiction as he sat by her side. "You look tired," she murmured, turning slightly beneath the blankets as she watched him watch her; a slight yawn escaping her as she cuddled beneath the warmth. "When was the last time you slept . . ." She wondered, unsuccessfully keeping sleep at bay as it finally caught up to her. Blinking ever slowly, as he half smiled—the feel of his hand never registering as her eyes began to close, drifting off to sleep as he brushed her bangs away, murmuring; "Not for many days now," before slowly drawing his hand away, sure to keeping his distance as Kaoru's even breathing began to fill the room.
΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅
Staying calm, in the face of her nightmares however proved much more difficult than he'd thought—between keeping guard and drug induced slumbers, often interrupted by her desperate call. He was wearing himself thin, he could hardly lift up his head anymore without the shadows of his emotions coloring his eyes. He was tired and angry. And without Kaoru to comfort him . . .
Kenshin shook his head, sighing wearily as he did the wash. Focusing on the coldness of the water to bring down his muddled thoughts when Kaoru called for him again. Sounding desperate as he rushed to her side, caught between levels of sleep and waking as Tae tried to fully wake her up. Shaking her like a child as he entered the room.
"Ken-san," she murmured, looking afraid as he neared the futon. "I was only a gone a minute," she whispered, crying softly as Kenshin took a sleeping Kaoru from her hands.
"It's fine." Kenshin whispered. "Sessha will keep watch a while longer, you may go."
"I- I'll just be in the kitchen if you need anything else then." She murmured, leaving hastily as Kaoru began to thrash again, the sounds of Kenshin's name beginning to slip her lips as Tae closed the door.
"Kaoru-dono," he whispered, brining her into the circle of his arms, as he called to her again. "You need to wake up now, come on. Sessha's right here." He whispered. Coaxing her to hear him somewhere in her drug induced slumber as he brushed his hand along her hair.
The feelings of guilt washed away as anger began to manifest again. "Kaoru," he insisted, taking a firm hold of her chin as he gave her one quick shake. "I'm right here."
"Kenshin . . ."
"Aa," he murmured voice as deep as her eyes were dark in the quiet of the room.
"Kenshin . . ."
"I'm right here," he whispered, rocking her gently against him until she began to calm, snuggling into his warmth as he inaudibly sighed—waiting for a long time, in the silence surrounding them before he set her back on the futon. Mind blank, as he watched her sleep a moment longer before heading out the door. Aware her sleeping cycle would allow him only an hour or so before she began to call for him again.
"Ken-san?" Tae called, stopping him on the porch, as he looked out into the yard. "Where are you going?"
"The police station, Sessha's just going to check on the progress of their . . . search." He bit out, careful to mask the underlining anger often present since her attack.
"But what if Kaoru wakes up?"
"Sessha won't be long Tae-dono. She will sleep until Sessha's able to return."
"But if those men . . . What if they come back?"
"They wouldn't dare," he reasoned, voice becoming cold as Tae gasped.
"Ken-san?"
"What sessha means," He hastily added, "Is Uramura-dono, left some men nearby. They won't come near," he promised. "There's nothing to worry about Tae-dono. You'll both be safe until my return," he explained trying to appease her with a rurouni smile before he turned around and left.
Inwardly cursing at the situation before he focused on what he'd say once he found his way into the station. Saitou was never forthcoming with information. His last visit two nights ago had reaffirmed that. Just as it'd confirmed, he knew a lot more than he was willing to part with.
He should know better than to ask him but there really was no one else, he doubted he'd let Uramura in on what he knew. The Ishin Shishi
Shinsen-gumi had always been very secretive, especially amongst themselves he knew, for Saitou to have trusted him with anything of real value. The only real way to get anything out of him was to beat it out of him but that would take a lot longer than he could spare. Though the thought of it did have its appeal, he mused, shaking his head as he continued down the road.
΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅
He was both then surprised and angry, as he found Saitou had come and gone from his house, leaving nothing so much as a clue when he returned back home. Almost as completely empty handed as he had been when he left.
"Did you find out anything else?" Tae asked, still standing between him and the door as when he'd arrived.
"No, they're still missing." He informed her, cautiously looking around before releasing a small amount of ki. Enough to draw that idiot back with, he thought as Tae began to nervously twist her hands.
"When he was here . . ." She trailed off, trying to discern his expression suddenly like she didn't know who he was.
"What?" He asked, trying to make his voice as even as possible under the circumstances. Though his ki, he felt would soon begin to rise.
"He just . . . He looked like he was going to say something when he suddenly looked up, looked over his shoulder and towards the gate before shaking his head. He murmured something but he was already too far to hear."
Not such a waste of time then, Kenshin thought, if his reaction was anything to go by. Though why he hadn't sensed him on his way back was the questions, he most wanted to ask. Since from here he could pinpoint exactly where Kaoru was, where their closest neighbor milled out around his porch and how far his wife stood in the back washing clothes. He could even sense Tae's worry as well as the approaching storm just beyond the horizon. He could sense everything, like he hadn't been able to in long time. So it bothered him, he would admit, that he had not sensed Saitou from afar.
"Ken-san?"
"Hmm?" He responded, quickly shaking out of his thoughts as Tae waved a hand in front of his eyes. "Gomen," he apologized, looking slightly worried and lot more like himself than when he'd first come back.
"It's my turn to close the restaurant, so I'll be gone for a couple of hours." She told him, going inside for a shawl he remembered westerner's peddling at the port. "I'll be back in the morning to help you out." She sighed, wrapping the light wool around her shoulders as she cast a weary look at the sky. "I'll try and send Yahiko back early as well, so you don't have to worry about him being out so late." She explained. Walking slowly towards the gates as Kenshin followed. "Dr. Genzai might drop by a little later with girls too. He thought you might need the company and I'm inclined to agree, Ken-san . . ." She trailed off, watching him witch a calculation, he didn't very much like. "You're not looking well." She murmured, glancing away as he opened the gates for her. "We're worried about you."
"Sessha knows Tae-dono. Thank you for your concern."
"All right," she murmured, looking like she understood his dislike of the conversation as she headed out. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Aa," he murmured, closing the gates behind her before slowing rounding the house making sure everything was in order before he locked himself inside.
Treading ever slowly towards her room with an inaudible sigh, he couldn't seem to hold back. He was feeling guilty now, for insisting she take her tea when he knew she suffered from nightmares. Still without the drug induced slumbers, he knew she'd hardly rest—not to mention allowing him to leave the house.
No matter how sick Kaoru was, she would always trail behind him if she thought he was in any type of situation warranting her concern, which as it happened, occurred quite frequently in the beginning of his stay with her.
Though, sooner or later Kaoru would catch on to the sleeping pattern the tea induced and nothing he said or tried to prove would ever make her drink it again. But until then he hoped to make the most of the time, there were only so many hours in the day he could use to follow a lead where he felt safe enough to leave her in the care of some else.
And while Kaoru wouldn't appreciate the idea of being watched constantly like a child he had little choice in the matter. Her safety was well above her feelings until she was healed and that the doctor had assured him wouldn't be for some time.
After tonight though, after all the hints Uramura had unknowingly handed him, he had a better chance of finding the men responsible for scaring Kaoru; though how they ever managed to get away in the first place, remained a mystery. No one other than a true samurai, someone with an incredibly high ki, could have taken such a blow to the head and still stood—and though those men had been anything but conscious when he'd walked awake with Kaoru in his arms.
Someone had come along and helped them. The same way they'd helped Yamato and his crew from their cell in the station. Though how this all tied into Saitou being back here again, is what he still had yet to figure out. There was something else he was missing, he knew, something else he just couldn't figure out but what that was remained elusive.
΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅
There was slight noise in the background, hushed voices that seemed to escalated with intensity as she opened her eyes, blinking back sleep as a slow wayward yawn, escaped her dry lips. It felt like she'd been asleep forever. All the muscles along her back and ribs, protested as she sat up, dark waves of black falling across her face as she took a look around. Wondering where Kenshin was when a shadow stepped into her line of sight.
"Kaoru-dono," he whispered, silently bending down to her level as another shadow fell across the door.
"Kaoru-chan, how are you feeling?" The doctor asked, coming into the room as Kenshin sent him some sort of look Kaoru was unable to decipher.
"I'm fine," she responded, "Just a little sore I guess. How long have I been asleep," she asked, unable to help the yawn making it way across her face. "Gomen," she apologized, blinking at the two bleary figures watching her with concern.
"I think you've slept enough Kaoru. You need a long bath and supper before you can sleep again." The doctor explained, moving around Kenshin to help her stand.
"Why don't you ready her bath Kenshin, I'll help her along."
"Sessha," he told the doctor, "Would rather she rest a little longer."
"Her muscles can't take much more rest." The doctor stressed, looking like he'd already had this conversation with him once before. "She needs to eat."
"What's going?" She murmured, looking from Kenshin to the doctor who'd locked gazes.
"Nothing," Kenshin replied, demeanor changing as he regarded her. "Sessha will go heat up your bath, Kaoru-dono. And we'll see how you feel after that." He told her, smiling a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes before exiting the room—leaving Kaoru to wonder why he seemed upset.
"Kaoru-chan?"
"Hmm?" She answered, shaking her head slightly before she faced the doctor. "What were you guys discussing before?" She asked, taking hold of the arm being offered her as they made their way to the bath house.
"It's . . . Kenshin just being Kenshin I guess," the doctor cryptically replied, shrugging his shoulders as Kaoru turned to look at him. "He didn't want anyone waking you up." He continued, frowning as they turned a corner. "He seems to think you'll heal faster that way but that isn't how this works."
"So . . . He's mad because I woke up?"
"Yes and no," the doctor sighed. "There's a lot going on right now he doesn't want to share. He's just concerned, I suppose and that's just hard for him to express."
"What's he so concerned about?"
"Kaoru," the doctor warned, a chiding in itself as he left out the caring honorific, he'd used since she was a child.
"What?" She huffed. "Can't I be concerned?"
"You'll only get yourself into trouble Kaoru-chan, now come on. I'll help you into the bath and then all I'll head off into the kitchen. Make sure that rurouni of yours' feeds you before coaxing that tea down your throat."
"Is that what's making me so sleepy?"
"Aa," he replied, moving the bathhouse shoji aside to let her in. "I told you that when I prescribed it to you, remember?"
"Sort of," she trailed off, watching the doctor as he checked the water temperature before turning around to face her. "I think I can do the rest myself." She informed him, watching him as a bit of color blossomed against his cheeks before he sighed.
"I forget how grown up you are sometimes," he replied, smiling gently at her in turn before closing the door behind him as he left.
As Kaoru stood there, breathing in the therapeutic smells of salts, wood and fire, heating her water. Ever slowly as she began to undress, the doctor's voice begin to rise again, growing near as Kaoru unconsciously neared the bathhouse wall, ear pressed against it as the rest of her body sank deep into the water the furo had heated so nicely.
Some of his words were becoming garbled with the distance but grew louder again as if the doctor came out of the kitchen and into the yard, arguing with Kenshin she assumed over what they'd been discussing earlier.
'No,' she heard him say, voice becoming agitated at something Kenshin said.
'She will not follow you if you tell her ahead of time where you're going.' The doctor snapped.
'I'm not going to lie for you Kenshin.'
'No,' the doctor replied, voice becoming distant again as the echo of his walking drew away.
But either way, she didn't like what she had heard. Kenshin was leaving. Though for how long, she hadn't been able to decipher from what they'd said. One thing she was certain of however was that they were both obviously upset. She just didn't understand what could make two usually peaceful men begin an argument that would cause them each to raise their voice.
΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅
It's true she didn't feel well. She was still a bit confused and not to mention worried over half of what she'd heard. But trying to bring up a topic had never seemed as impossible as when they were all pretending everything was fine. Kenshin no baka. She was sure he was behind it all. Knowing him, he'd probably made everyone of them swear not to tell her anything. He was just that . . . Baka; she silently fumed, watching him through narrowed eyes as he brought out the main meal, carefully setting it down in the center before handing out everybody's share.
But as long as she didn't drink the tea, she thought, everything would be all right.
Even so, she cast her food a suspicious glance, dark eyes narrowed as Kenshin watched her look around, gaze ever thoughtful as it swept over every plate around her before taking a very small bite.
"Kaoru-dono . . . Are you all right?"
Oh, I'm just fine, she thought, glaring angrily as he began to frown. Don't think I'm not on to you, her mind whispered, gaze never wavering as she gazed at him, watching his concern turn into something like displeasure before he turned away. Gaze anywhere but on her again as she continued to watch him.
"Hey busu, are you going to eat or what?"
Yahiko no baka—"Of course I will," she murmured, ripping his bowl out of his hand. "Here, you can have mine," she said, as he scrambled to catch the fuller bowl. "I wouldn't have finished it on my own. Better you take I think." She reasoned, cutting Kenshin's protest in half as he sat back, dark eyes narrowed at Dr. Genzai who only frowned, brown eyes watchful of his meal and everyone else's before stopping on Kenshin's bowl.
"You're not having any meat?" The doctor asked, as Kaoru shot him a troubled look mouth full of meat she'd already twice swallowed. Kenshin looked up. Eyes a hard purple, she couldn't quite will herself to trust.
"Sessha has not been feeling well." He admitted, eyes never wavering from the doctor's. "It might be easier to fall asleep, sessha thought; if it was a lighter meal."
"But why so early?" Yahiko asked, earning a fleeting narrowed look from Kenshin, Kaoru couldn't have possibly missed.
"Sessha needs to rest," he murmured, expression veiled behind his bangs as he looked down again, chopsticks full of rice that didn't quite seem to make it all into his mouth.
As she watched him suddenly yawn, a light gomen, falling off his lips, Kaoru found herself unable to ask him what he'd been arguing about with the doctor. Eyes a little concerned as he looked about to tip over.
"If you'll excuse sessha," he murmured, rising almost slowly from his spot. "Sessha will go to bed. There's a lot to do tomorrow and sessha needs the early start."
A soft rurouni smile and everyone around him bid him good-night. As Kaoru watched him, narrowed purple eyes casting a final glance at her, she began to open her mouth, wondering what the look was about when she noticed Yahiko beginning to eat her food again.
"Stop it you."
"What, there's no Kenshin here now."
"Dr Genzai," she appealed, watching him smile at her before he turned a stern word to Yahiko.
"She's still sick Yahiko. Now stop it before she screams for Kenshin. Tired or not, you know he will come out here." He reasoned, doing enough to make Kaoru stick out her tongue at a properly abashed boy—continuing to eat distractedly when Ayame almost fell over her bowl. "Oh," she whispered, beginning to rise when the doctor halted her. "Finish your meal Kaoru-chan. Me and Yahiko can put the girls to bed. They've been up for hours today without a chance to nap. I'm surprised they lasted this long." He murmured, handing Ayame to Yahiko just as he shoved in a few more pieces of meat into his mouth.
"Don't eat my food," he warned as he and the doctor disappeared around the corner. Kaoru yawned, Yahiko no back. What the hell did ever do around here anyways, she thought. Rubbing tiredly at her eyes as she tried to focus on her meal, wondering at the same time why Kenshin had been acting so weird. He had never, ever left the table without at least offering her something to drink before; for him to have just gotten up like that, made no sense to her whatsoever.
Even when he had asked to go to bed early, he hadn't said good night to her at all, she thought, yawning once more as the bowl fell out of her hands. She hadn't realized she was so sleepy. The doctor had said she was still sick and with all her bruises, she recalled, she really should go to bed, she thought, as she rose off her spot, wavering ever so much to the right, Kaoru put out her hand. Wondering why she'd insisted on staying at the table so long when she knew she needed to rest. She should have listened to Kenshin, she thought as she made it to her room. The thought of Kenshin lingered, trying to remember why she'd been so concerned . . . When the doctor said . . .
Kaoru yawned, beginning to slump against her shoji when warmth and the smell of fresh air suddenly encompassed her, brining her closer to soft skin and a dark gi as she was carried to her room; trapped beneath soft blankets that encased her inside a small cocoon.
The whisper of someone's voice gliding softly against her face, disappeared with a slight echo of callused hands, brushed against her bangs as the murmur of something else . . . Echoed a bitter farewell.
΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅΅
In the dark, from where he stood, Kenshin could see the shadows of people moving in and out of the police station like shades of color against a poor lit pallet. The messenger he had sent more half an hour ago, to fetch him Saitou had yet to come out.
If anything, it was simply done to piss him off, he thought. As if he had time to spare on games. Kaoru and the others would wake up in a couple of hours and when they found he wasn't home, Kaoru herself would come out looking for him, he thought. Becoming ever more agitated as he finally spotted the messenger he had sent.
"Fugita-sama, gave me this to give to you." The young boy, said, so used to saluting officers, he bid him farewell in the same way.
As Kenshin opened the small piece of paper, feeling Saitou's ki draw away, he quickly, read; Not here. Go to that idiot's favorite bar and I'll see you there in a half hour. And for that, Kenshin thought, he'd already wasted just as long.
If he hadn't already searched the forest and come up with nothing but the scent of blood, he wouldn't have even come to seek him out. But there was something he had wanted to tell him and that small burst of aggressive ki he had tossed out into the wind, had done him little good in drawing him back.
He had no choice but to go. Kaoru would forgive, he reasoned, if he came home smelling too much of that place tonight. It was for no other reason than to find out why there had been so many incidents involving her, though if he was a bit more truthful, he would admit that wasn't exactly true. At least not from what he could remember. Though his shishio had always said, memories aren't always truth.
And as he more inclined to believe the older man now, he would continue to pursue this as a direct provocation rather than random acts of separate assault. Since the only reason, she was ever in any danger was because they all thought of her as his.
One day, he wished, if he could just forget for one day who he was, that damn rurouni façade would not interfere with his desire to do away with all those lingering shadows trailing behind the rurouni scent.
He shouldn't be getting so worked up over this—now was not the time to delve into those kinds of thoughts. As long as those men, were out free to run around, he could not be in peace. They were the closest to have every really harmed her and because of that, he couldn't let it go. He had to seem dead or behind bars before he dropped it. Really, either one would do, at this point he didn't so much as care anymore. He just wanted them gone.
He wanted Kaoru to feel safe again. And for people on the street to quit whispering when he drew near her. It had never really bothered him before but over the last two weeks or so, they had really gotten nasty. It had gotten to the point, where every where he turned now someone was insinuating something or other of his plans to marry her. As if he could afford really make her his.
Though he wished . . . And often wanted, that wasn't really him, he reasoned, that was that other part of him that should have been securely locked away. Not lying beneath the surface, blooming with every look she sent his way.
It was all Enishi's fault. Maybe if they weren't so close to the anniversary of his Jinchuu; to the day he'd nearly lost her, he'd be more reasonable and not so quick to wish everybody dead, he thought, stopping as he realized he had arrived.
Toushi's like always remained a heavy smoke filled atmosphere that made maneuvering at times, a little more difficult than it ought to be. As he took his seat near the back, his eyes, easily fixed on the door where Saitou should enter from, a drink arrived from the bar.
Yasaburo, which was the elder brother of the two bartenders he seemed to keep on saving from one disaster after another, bowed to him politely before scurrying off. As he took a drink, feeling the bitter taste of metal and copper fill his mouth, he inwardly sighed, hating everything around him as he swallowed down the shot. Kurama Kotetsu, smiling from afar as he drained the little jug, approached him when he was done.
"Battousai," he murmured, eyes filled with mirth as Kenshin tried to focus blue metallic eyes.
"Aren't you supposed to be in jail?"
"No, that's my brother. He died in prison soon after you had him arrested," Kotetsu told him. Mouth curving upwards as Kenshin began to frown.
"What do you want?"
"Simply to do you a favor Battousai, you rid me of my brother and now I'm going to help you rid yourself of someone you hate just as much."
"I - Sessha doesn't hate."
"Sure you do. At first I thought it was that white-haired freak who took your woman but as it turns out, it was someone else entirely. Imagine my surprise," he murmured, winking conspiratorially as the view around Kenshin began to shift.
"What have you done?"
"Nothing but help you out, Battousai. I hated my brother and yet the law protected me as his heir, so I suppose you did me a favor—I'm now going to repay."
"Sessha doesn't need . . . need any of your favors," Kenshin whispered, feeling a slight shudder run through his spine as his body temperature began to rise. "You put something in my drink."
"Nothing bad I assure you. It's like opium but with none of the nasty little side effects."
"What do you want?"
"My-my, you are untrusting. Well, I'm simply here to tell you that friend of yours wont come. I had a bit of a mess created on the other side of town. So he won't be able to join you as you had hoped." He told him, halting mid motion as Kenshin grabbed his wrist.
"This person you think I hate?"
"Oh, he'll be gone by morning, that's been guaranteed," he promised, beginning to draw back when Kenshin tightened his grip.
"Where are you going?"
"Far away, now. I only came here to repay my debt." Kotetsu added, managing to pull away as the world around Kenshin tilted far away, perceptions becoming skewed as he tried to shake his head.
"Wait!" He called, running out into the dark street after Kotetsu only to come face to face with nothing but a vast empty road; the ringing of a bell nearby reminding him of the time as well as a sudden need to get home.
Kaoru was going to kill him, he thought, as he ran down the street, trying to remember how long he had spend in the bar, the worry of everything else vanished like a cloud of smoke. Senses reeling off of whatever drug Kotetsu had intentionally slipped him; were far too slow in registering the faintest trace of Jasmine coming across his path. But the shadow of movement could never escape his sight.
As Kenshin stopped, the feeling of a strong ki vibrating with familiar strangeness, the first sounds of a blade being unsheathed ran along his senses. Moving his head just in the nick of time as the blade swept past his face, cutting across the air with such swiftness, Kenshin tilted his head. Mind distantly surprised as it began to rain, the blade of his opponent being automatically drawn back by chains he felt eerily reminiscent of another time.
'A Shinsen-gumi? No, someone from the shadows similar to myself,' he thought watching him across the small distance separating them. As the other straightened, long black hair high up on a pony tail, trailing down his shoulders as the rain around them became a pour. Kenshin's eyes ran across the man's onmitsu garb, which as it was supposed to do, hid everything but the man's eyes, the white of his hands, protected by strong arm guards matching the set low on his legs.
It was a moment of flash backs and confusion and hatred for a man he wished dead more than any other before the echoes of all the cleared, moving with silent motion towards his opponent who moved as eerily as the hand of fate. Long chained blades uncoiling as the first of them was sent too short to reach him, Kenshin speed serving his advantage as the man's blade swept across his face too far again to touch him but not enough away to trap him he realized, as the chain coiled around his arms, binding him from further movement as the shadowed figure jumped a safe distance away and to a nearby rooftop—the shadow of a woman distantly approached.
White robes socked through and through as she ran down the road, dark waves of black matted against her back and cheeks as she moved towards them hurriedly, hand over her chest as she called for someone through the rain. The echoes of her voice, dying in the distant roar of thunder that followed a blinding flash of light, illuminating her face a pale shade of fear as she noticed their rigid stance, weapons unsheathed and in hand as she stopped some feet away.
So much like before Kenshin tossed his blade away instinctively, catching it with his left as the other jumped off the roof, long chain uncoiling as he sent it out handle first, hitting her directly on the side of the head before she even understood. Kenshin had cut himself free, a wash of dark anger, suffusing his emotions as he ran to her side, feeling the dull end of a blade catch him in the back with so much force, he tumbled to the ground. Awash in crimson, as he stood, perceptions ever twisting came to a standstill as he forced himself to stay afoot. Even as the world around him twisted and a deep searing pain cut across the back of his skull, he knew any hesitation on his behalf would kill them both.
Knowing so fueled his anger and in doing that, left himself vulnerable as he attacked because no matter how well he deflected, his heart could still be ripped apart, if the shadow figure grew tired of missing its mark. He would kill her. And it was this reason and this one alone, why Kenshin allowed himself to be caught, bound in the same position she'd found them, as he readied his attack. Eyes changing between shades settled on frozen gold as the other man drew near, twisting his chains around him until he felt he couldn't breathed anymore—Kenshin closed his eyes, twisting the blade in his hand as the other hitokiri hurled himself above him—cutting across cloth and skin and bone alike, as the speed and strength of his attack cut the other man in half, splashing the world around him in a rain of blood, as he fell to his knees, trying to catch his breath as the sight of Kaoru watching him, finally registered along his senses.
Eyes full of tears, brimmed as she watched him, blinking rapidly as he began to stand, "You can't leave me now." She told him, "I know who you are."
And as his sword clattered to the ground, the wheel of destiny turning Battousai's life one more time around, she refused to let him go.
ּ
ּ
ּ
ּ
ּ ּ ּ
ּ
ּ
ּ
ּ
Well we've finally come to the end and if you're anything like me, you're reading this with the ova playing in the background. Moved by the music and tragedy which will begin their tale. You all know this is a two part'er right. The rest of the story is continued in the Sounds of Yesterday, which sets the story four years since that day, when the hitokiri emerged and was forced to kill again.
What do you think, was it good? Took me like twenty eight pages you know and for a while, I feared a chapter eleven having to be added, but it didn't turn out to be so, I'm glad. My wrist couldn't have taken much more. Anyways, there will author notes as well small notes, to walk the end with you, ok. So let's just move with it.
΅
A/N: I think it should be kind of obvious, we start exactly from were we left off. That is on the eighth day, counting down to Enishi's Jinchuu. The medicine they make her take knocks her out for two, so from where it say: Staying calm, in the face of her nightmares however proved much more difficult than he'd thought—approximately eight pages down, is a NEW day; the tenth day to be exact as well as the anniversary to Enishi's Jinchuu.
There is a reason, for my doubling the rk ova at the end but that won't become clear until the next story. Sorry.
΅
Small Notes: are necessary I guess. But it will be limited info let me say, since a lot of what you're wondering about will come out in the next few chapters of the Sounds of Yesterday, all right? Good.
Now since the attack, more or less, the balance between who he was and who he is has become more than razor thin. He shifts between personalities and mood like he shifts between eye color.
'She was attacked,' he revealed, because of him. Shows the long ingrained mantra the rurouni has learned so well. It's often true of course, but never the less the tell tale signs of guilt and powerless, characterizing the rurouni personality. Given enough time, it seems like he can almost revert back to the rurouni we all know. And yet, the way he moves or sometimes speaks, indicates a touch of strangeness on his behavior you just can't quite bring yourself to ignore. Is he or isn't he, you wonder as he leads the doctor to her room.
He is protective, beyond the boundaries the rurouni has clearly drawn and yet, when she needs him, despite his behavior or lack of sleep, despite not eating and constantly being haunted by dark haunting dreams, when she needs--Kenshin can pull the mask of her rurouni down with practiced ease, lowering the natural register of his voice to something soft and familiar. Telling her he won't be far, so she won't be afraid. Coaxing her slowly into getting checked out by the family doctor, just in case, she wasn't all that forthcoming earlier in the day.
The way he's behaving; its no wonder Kaoru won't reveal the extend of her bruises. However naïve or ignorant she has seemed up to this point, there's a small, unconscious part of her picking up on the signals, he can't veil—worrying herself into a little stress ball until the doctor comes and helps. His choice of words and easy going attitude put her more at ease as he prescribes her not just pain medication but a way to rest.
It's this rest, however, that later becomes a problem. When Kenshin's need for the hours in between her sleeping and dreaming, become a necessity he can't afford to loose. Not while investigating her attack and the sudden disappearance of the men who attacked her.
Saitou is of no help. But Uramura, his presence specifically at a particular crime scene, leads Kenshin to search the forest. But since Saitou's had all the bodies moved, there is little there for him to find. Too many people have walked around the clearing for him to find tracks, and with the shadowed figure's carefully honed skill at killing people without drawing large amounts of blood, it's very easy to put of the trail.
When he gets home, head full of thoughts and concern over what he couldn't confirm. He finds Tae already waiting for him inside, bearing bad news as she recounts the Mibu's visit. Hinting at other things Kenshin picks up on from her description of Saitou's behavior before he'd left, bidding him farewell not too shortly after. Leaves Kenshin all alone, cautiously doing a circuit of the house before locking himself inside, conclusions only half way reached as he enters her room, knowing, despite all the missing clues, that there is someone helping these men out, how far or to what extend--is easily concluded from the last chapter, where glimpses of this shadow-figure, show him to assist them only as far as drawing them away. Luring them to the forest where they all seem to meet their end. Of this, it seems, only Saitou can be sure of, since in all his digging up and trailing the arsonist's from Yokohama, he's found out a few other interesting little bits.
Dr. Genzai's visit and opposition to Kenshin's hope in keeping her asleep a while longer, escalate outside her room, waking Kaoru up, as their voices raises. It's Kenshin's ability to sense people however, which causes him, to immediately abandon the fight and scamper off to her side. Eyes full of concern as he tries to suggest she get a little more rest. Dr. Genzai however, having followed him inside, quickly cuts off any off that, helping Kaoru stand as he ushers her to her bath, sending Kenshin away, with a few words Kaoru at the time, finds only curious.
It's once the doctor has already left her to take her bath however that things become a bit more complicated. Their (Kenshin's and Dr. Genzai's) argument seems to continue as the doctor goes into the yard. As Kenshin continues to whisper his insistences, pushing that she remain asleep awhile longer, the doctor's voice begins to rise. And from what Kaoru hears, it doesn't sound so good, for the idiot rurouni. As she takes her bath, minding running over and over, the little bit she heard; she, of course, gets angry.
When dinner arrives, she's mad enough to beat him, not to mention highly suspicious of everything he does, watching him with narrowed eyes until she catches his eye. Him and his fake concern, she thinks, becoming ever madder; its no wonder, Kenshin becomes confused. Though that seems fleeting as well, as she becomes angry, her ki spikes and from the way she continues to stare at him, Kenshin she has to know . . . something. And whether purposely or not, it was the doctors fault she now knew.
But Kenshin isn't anything if not prepared. Everything he had cooked had been washed through with her medicine; knocking out everybody who ate, including his little Kaoru, who he later finds outside her room, eyes beginning to drift close as he picks her up and gently sets her on her futon. Whispering words she can't hear until he whispers farewell.
Leaving the dojo grounds, only to come back to where he'd started; the police station, where Saitou momentarily resides. And since he knows, beyond a doubt, that Saitou has somehow come across the answer he needs to know, he sends him messenger to go and fetch him.
It's not so much a surprise, when the messenger returns without him, baring only a note that requests they meet else where. Though why, remains unknown. It is coincidental, it seems that he is asked to return to the bar, he has frequented in the last ten days.
As he takes his seat, eyes fixed on the door where Saitou will enter from, a drink arrives for him. It's Yasaburo who serves him (And since he's saved his life more than once, Kenshin doesn't really stop to think about why the man is giving him a drink. It is characterized behavior for both brothers to serve him as soon as he comes in . . .) so, he drinks. Feeling the bitter taste of his guilt and blood tainted life as he swallows the first shot; drinking one, after the other, until he finishes the jug. Only distantly aware of Kurama, smiling in the background, until he approached.
It is not coincidental Kurama took his time, waiting for him to drain every last drop, before calling him out gently. Knowing that whatever he had given him will only make him slow, temporarily. The thought of this, doesn't get a chance to form for Kenshin however as Kotetsu Kurama, as he reveals himself to be, is the youngest brother of the man Kenshin had stopped from robbing the bar (As was previously mention, in chapter six).
He has come to thank Kenshin, he tells him, revealing a passing hatred for his brother as he reveals he has come only to repay his debt to him before leaving once more. But in Kenshin's state, it's hard from him to control his thoughts. His perception like eye change with his mood and in his conversation with the other man, more and more of who he had once been is revealed; as Kotetsu smiles, indulging Kenshin's delusion of hatred towards others. He reveals a great knowledge of Kenshin's past, telling him he had thought, that if he was going to hate anyone, he would have surely have betted on Enishi being the guy.
And the interpretation of that comes down to symbolism. Who, has he revealed, has he wished to be rid of all along. Who has it been impeding him from attainting the life he wants, if not consciously, then like he often does when he's asleep as it was first mention when the story began; the echoes, steal beneath my guard, placating all fears and suspicions while they themselves, distort my dreams. And in that moment, he does wish be rid of someone else . . .
His drug encumbered thoughts however, never get that far. As Kotetsu takes advantage of a momentary dizziness overcoming him, he runs away, leading Kenshin outside where the watchman's bell, tolls one o'clock. Reminding Kenshin once more of the need to get home.
As he runs away, forgetting everything but the need to get home, his mind hastily adds one; Kaoru would surely kill him before hastening his pace, unintentionally ignoring certain warning signs around him (including the scent of Jasmine) until a strong ki comes across his path. And strangely enough, it feels familiar he thinks, in the way he might have sensed it ( remember ch. five) sometime in his life.
The sound of someone unsheathing their sword, rolls along his senses, with enough time fore him to move away from the on coming blow, watching wearily as his opponent's swords prove connected to him by chains. Eerily reminiscent of another pair and another time, his first thoughts, as he looks at the man are flash backs; as he ponders whether the man is a Shinsen-gumi or someone else. Someone more like himself . . . Kenshin thinks. Mind set in the past, as he looks over the man's garbs.
Confused by feelings and thoughts, only momentarily, before pushing it aside, moving in silent motion as he met his attacker head on, dogging his blade in a display of liquid-smooth movements uncommon for the rurouni than for the man he had once been forced to become.
And still, it was not enough, he was tangled in the man's chain, arms constricted by heavy steel as it began to rain. Both parties, calculation their chance of survival as the rain turned heavier and it began to pour, making their visibility a lot harder than before but even then, they saw the shadow of woman approach.
Still too distant too see her face, but she was in a hurry they could see, by the way she ran and held her hands, she was in an awful hurry to be somewhere . . . So late at night and beneath the rain . . . Dressed . . . in white-white robes . . . Pushed at Kenshin's thoughts until he couldn't help but think, it was all so much like before. Unable to hear her cry beneath the roar of thunder pulsing through the ground but her face, as lightened broke over the sky, he could see her face as she came to a stop.
So much like before, he glided through remembered movements and motions, switching the blade from one to the other and cutting himself loose, too late he realized, as he caught sight of his opponents blade, already in the air and hitting its mark. As she fell to the ground, Kenshin ran to her side, careless for less then a second; as his back was turned, the shadow-figure threw out his blade, hilted end first, with such might and precision, he knocked Kenshin clean to the ground.
It was sheer will alone, which allowed Kenshin to stand again, as blood oozed from the long gash on the side of his skull, eye changing between hues gazing at his attacker. Kenshin knew, if he hesitated again, even once more, they were dead. Knowing it didn't make it any easier, it only made him that much angrier because like all the enemies from his past, this one too would use what he could to his advantage. He would kill her. He would kill her and never think twice of what he'd done he thought, reading his attack as his eyes settled on a cold shade of gold, leaving himself open as he moved through familiar motions before allowing himself to get caught.
As the air lessened from his lungs, lack of sleep and now blood, marring half his eyes; the other man jumped off the roof intent on striking Kenshin down full force as he twisted the chains around him, giving him little choice but to act in self defense. Eyes closed, beneath a wash of pain and anger, coiling around his gut—as he raised his sword, god like speed and hitokiri strength fueling his movements, he cut the other man dead. Falling to his knees, with rasping sounds as he tried to catch his breath, warm rain like blood falling all around him as he realized Kaoru had watched him. Like only once ever before, as he began to stand—
"You can't leave me now," she told him. "I know who you are."
And what could he do, when the hand of fate had interfered once again . . . For better or worse . . . The blade clattered from his hand, as eyes like gold bore into her weeping gaze . . . Battousai exhaled anew.
ּ
ּ ּ ּ
ּ
Thanks for reading everyone. Please, don't forget to review, all right. Ja.