After that, darkness…

Chapter 4

The rain was now pouring on Kaoru's body harder, making her breathing shallow and her condition worse. The red wine she had devoured last night didn't help, either. She just lay there in the middle of nowhere, waiting for someone to play Good Samaritan. Fortunately for Kaoru, a man whose apparent route was the direction where she lay, saw her and stopped. Unfortunately, however, the man was far from being Good Samaritan.

The man's enthusiastic eyes that held twinkles of boredom raked her body and a sly smile smeared his lips. He mussed his chocolate-colored hair and spat the fishbone that was stuck in his mouth the whole morning. He knelt down on one knee and held her chin in his fingers.

"Hmmm" he murmured, kneading his jaw, "You're quite hot. So I guess I should take you home, huh?"

With that and a groan, he picked her up and carried her in his small little hut on his back.

Kaoru fluttered her eyes open and felt the unswerving pain all throughout her body. She moaned as she tried to face the other side of the bed, her stomach rumbling in hunger as she did so.

"You hungry?" a man who was leaning on the door smirked.

"What did you do with me?" was Kaoru's immediate reaction and she pulled the blanket closer to herself. "Where are we and who are you?"

The man neared her. "Don't be scared. I'm not gonna hurt you" he sat beside her and gave her a friendly smile that was almost idiotic, "Hi. I'm Sanosuke. Sanosuke Sagara. And I found you lying on the streets. Man, you are blazing with fever! So I took you home here. Sorry, if it's kinda messed up, I'm actually not the clean freak sort of guy"

Kaoru eyes roamed his place and messed up was a very lame understatement. "So I see" she muffled, forcing a smile, "Thanks anyway. I'm Kaoru, Kaoru Kamiya". She extended her hand and Sanosuke gladly shook it.

A moment of silence followed by a set of rumbles from Kaoru's starving tummy.

She looked at Sano with her face all flushed up. "Sorry"

Sano laughed. "Hungry, are we?" he asked, his voice maniacal. "I'm gonna take you to Akabeko but you're gonna have to foot the bill"

Kaoru frowned and her shoulders slumped. "I don't have any cash on me" she sighed, looking at him. "Might I borrow some—"

"Nah uh" he cut her off, "if you haven't noticed, you can't count on me if you talk about money"

Kaoru shrugged. He just made an excellent point. She sighed again, standing up. "Damn" she hissed, "Darn him!"

"Who's him?"

"The red-haired asshole who lives in that big white shithole!"

Sano laughed. "You don't happen to talk about Kenshin Himura, do you?"

Her eyes bulged. "You know him!"

"Know him! Lady, are you nuts!" he snapped, "Everybody knows him! That guy practically owns this whole town!"

Kaoru fainted.

Kenshin Himura snatched his cellphone and pressed down his uncle's number. "Pick it up already" he hissed impatiently.

"Hiko here" the other line announced.

"Uncle!" Kenshin exclaimed, "what the fuck are you trying to do?"

"Didn't you like Kaoru?"

"What are you talking about?" he snarled, "the girl woke me up in the middle of the night dressed in a see-through halter top! And the following morning, I found her beside my bed and—"

Hiko whistled. "You are fast" He paused a while and then continued, "Take it slow on her, she's sick"

"That is not the point!" he snapped, "the point is she was soaking wet when she got here and I didn't know she was sick! So I let her out but in some strange way she got herself in and drank all my Fornarina!"

"Whoah, you gave her that darn wine?" Hiko's tone was a matter-of-factly, "You know how damn strong that is!"

"I did not make her drink it!" Kenshin protested, "Look, we fought this morning and I dismissed her under this downpour. I don't know where the hell she is and most importantly, I certainly didn't know she was sick!"

There was a long pause.

"Then find her you idiot!" Hiko's voice was both concerned and imperative. "Now! If something happens to that girl, I am going to tear you from limb to limb! Mark my words, boy."

But Kenshin had already hung the phone.

Kenshin's Volvo sedan, the only one in fact in the town, roared loud as he sent it flying to somewhere he has yet to find out. The temperature, he noticed as he went along further, was dropping fast but sweat nonetheless beaded at his brows. He idly wiped them and pushed in the accelerator.

A couple hours had passed and he had circled the town a myriad of times. But still no sign of her nor someone who knew or saw her. His heart was pounding a little bit harder now, thinking something bad might have happened to her. He didn't want to think himself responsible but found absolutely no one else to blame but himself. It was then when he decided to drive back home.

He was driving madly when his phone rang. He bit his nails that hang on the side mirror and snatched his mobile. His eyes rolled when he saw Hiko's name. "Now what?"

"You found her?"

He paused. "No" and then sighed. "I've been circling the whole town for hours but nothing…"

"What are you going to do now, you stupid bloke?"

"I don't know" his voice contained a grim sort of determination. "But I can promise you that I'll find her by tomorrow. Oh and by the way, uncle. I would really appreciate if you stop calling me 'cause you're making the situation a lot, lot worse" he added, putting emphasis on 'lot' and without warning, turned off his cell.

Hiko could only shake his head.

It was already five when Kenshin Himura, who hadn't had any food since morning, parked his car in his barely-lit garage. His face was glum and had the frown that was there since he found out about Kaoru's condition. He cursed himself when he got out and kicked his door close.

"Mr. Himura…." Genkai, his housekeeper called, his voice barely audible.

"What!" Kenshin roared.

"S-someone…" and he pointed towards the door, "…err…someone is looking for you, sir"

"Who the devil…."

And with heavy steps, he stomped inside his house and leered at the man who was sitting on his sofa. "Who are you? What the hell do you want?"

"Sanosuke Sagara, sir" Sano announced, extending his hand with a small smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you"

Kenshin glared at it and scoffed. "Let's cut to the chase. I'm not really in a good mood"

He turned around and ordered Genkai for a bottle of vodka. Here he was, frustrated and hungry and some vagrant-looking broom-haired guy just walks in inside his house to introduce himself. What a day!

Sano frowned, "I brought Kaoru here"

Her name stopped him and his eyes widened. He swallowed the lump in his throat and quickly turned around, "what?"

But Sano was already gone.

Author's Notes: I want to thank all the reviewers. All your comments helped me a lot and I apologize for the late update. I've been busy with schoolwork but now that it's all finished, I can finally update a lot faster. Please keep up reading….