In All My Ways

Chapter 14: "Acknowledge Him"

Kenshin ached all over and wished instantly that he wasn't regaining consciousness. Despite that, he found himself opening his eyes anyway. He discovered one of them was almost swollen shut, and realized Enishi must have beaten him after he'd lost consciousness. Well, that was a new twist, he'd known Yukishiro was insane, he hadn't understood that he was a sadist also.

Wincing, he propped himself up carefully on an elbow, and straight after went into a fit of coughing. His side had a sharp, ill-omened pain in it. He'd either had a rib broken, or something busted inside. The coughing produced a splatter of blood on the wooden floor, and Kenshin decided maybe both of those things were responsible.

He scooted back until he was resting against the wall, and then carefully wiped his mouth on the shoulder of his gi. It was going to leave a brown stain on his favorite magenta shirt, but oh well... Who could say if he would even make it out of this predicament alive enough to feel sorry about a stupid blood stain.

At least Kaoru was all right... at least as far as Kenshin knew. Unless Enishi had decided to go after her anyway. Where was he? Kenshin looked around the room, but though his vision was a bit blurred, he didn't see or sense the man anywhere. Maybe he'd gone out to eat... But he'd already eaten at the inn... Hopefully he hadn't gone out to hunt down Miss Kaoru.

Kenshin swallowed, fearfully, tasted the metallic blood still in his mouth, and prayed, 'Oh, Kami-sama... Please don't hold it against me that I'm a sinful man... I'm afraid for Miss Kaoru's safety, that I am. Please do not hold it against her that she's taken me in and given me a home for a time. Let her be safe and let no harm come to her. I know I wouldn't deserve it if you answered this prayer, but I have no one else to turn to, that I don't." He was used to turning to himself when there was a problem to solve.

At the moment, though, he was a little indisposed... His only recourse and hope was a simple cry for help to a God who may or may not have been listening.

o o o

Kaoru stopped to rest just at the moment they reached the gates of the house where Enishi was staying. That's how she and Sano saw him coming out of it. She panicked and wondered in a stage whisper to Sano, "What'd'we do?" For a split second, she thought about hiding and going in the house to get Kenshin out.

But then she remembered that this guy was responsible for Tomoe's death. She couldn't just let him get away... She had to catch him or kill him for Kenshin's sake. So before Sano could even answer her, she stepped out into Enishi Yukishiro's path to meet him.

Enishi stopped, looked at her without recognition, his dark-blue eyes strangely flat and emotionless. Even Kenshin's eyes when he was the Battousai, held an emotion... It was anger, cold and ruthless, but it was still an emotion. This man's eyes were like dry... did that make sense? Like dry ice...

Enishi's eyes flickered, then, and he smiled. "Kamiya Kaoru, I presume?" he murmured, his voice silky smooth and somehow insidious.

"H-How did you know that?" Kaoru wanted to question, but her only hope of beating this guy was putting on a front so cool he thought she was badder than he could ever be.

She placed her hand on the hilt of Kenshin's sakabatou and said with as deep a voice as she could muster, "I'm here to avenge the honor of Himura Kenshin, Battousai the manslayer."

Enishi smiled without real amusement and questioned with an arch of his brow, "Then who might you be, young sir?"

Kaoru resisted the blush that tried to form on her cheeks by retorting, "That's none of your concern. Only know that I have trained under Master Himura." Hah! Like he was ever going to believe this drivel.

"Really, I was under the impression that Himura was a drifting wanderer without home, family, or students," Enishi challenged her claim, his tone playful yet worryingly penetrating. "But if a fight is what you wish, than a fight is what I shall give you, young sir."

Uh, oh...! Agh! What was she going to do? She couldn't actually fight this guy! He was probably, most likely better than her, and if she died fighting him, then who was going to get Kenshin out of this mess? "Not so fast," she snapped, trying to stall for time. "What have you done with Master Himura?"

Enishi's brow went up again. "Oh, he's somewhere safe, fear not." He threw back his dark-blue cloak to reveal a long katana beneath. With his hand readied on the hilt of it, he said, grinning, "Now, lets fight!"

o o o

'Oh, man,' Sano realized, 'Kaoru's in trouble. She can't stall him anymore and she's no match for him in a fight... What's she gonna do?' He decided that if worst came to worst, then he would step in and fight Enishi himself. But if he revealed himself right then, it would blow Kaoru's cover and any chance at a bluff that she might have left.

So he sat back and tried to watch the outcome without biting his fingernails to the quick.

"All right," Kaoru said, sounding resolved and more herself than when she'd first started speaking to Yukishiro. "I'll fight you... But with my father's style, not Himura-san's. The Kamiya Kasshin Ryu."

Enishi looked like he were going to fall over from shock, but he quickly recovered. "So you are Kamiya Kaoru? The tramp that Himura's been staying with?"

"That's right," Kaoru answered, shifting her stance to one of readiness, pulling Kenshin's sword from its hilt and holding it before her. Oh, boy, here they went... Sano wasn't sure if now was the best time to step in or not. Perhaps Kaoru still had something up her sleeve, after all. "And I'll be the one to beat you."

"I doubt that very much," Enishi declared, removing his sword from its sheath with a flourish. "I'd hate to kill a woman though, so I'll start out easy..."

"Save it," Kaoru spat at him, "I'm not your average woman!"

And then she rushed at him as if she were going to attack. Sano forgot trying to hide and launched to his feet with the cut-off cry of "Kaoru" on his lips. The two swords connected, and the clang split through the air as if it were loud enough to wake the dead. Kaoru jumped away in time to avoid a slash to her side, and Yukishiro laughed maniacally.

She thrust at him again, while he was distracted by his own short-term victory, but he was still quicker, and deflected her attack. And then his sword caught her across the right side of her cheekbone. It was only a scratch, but it dripped blood like it was a mortal wound. He was just playing with her, Sano realized and cursed dramatically under his breath.

If only he hadn't sold the Zanbatou... But he'd left his name Zanza, and the sword behind and committed himself to being a better man for Yahiko's sake. If only he'd known all of this was going to happen, then maybe he would have hung onto that huge beast of a sword.

Kaoru rushed at Yukishiro once again, and he didn't bother to fake this time. He just swung his sword and Kaoru ended up on the ground, holding her right shoulder. Blood seeped through her fingertips, and she was gasping raggedly as if she was trying not to cry. Yukishiro must have stabbed her all the way through her shoulder.

Sano restrained himself from calling her name, and saw that she was trying to get up despite being that close to her own defeat and death. 'Oh, Kaoru, what are you doing?' he wondered, silently, desperately to himself.

"Why don't you just give up now?" Enishi taunted, "You and your lover are going to be meeting each other in hell pretty soon anyway."

Kaoru looked striken and then a new resolve fell over her deathly pale face. She gathered herself to her feet, still clutching her wounded shoulder. "I won't give up... never. Not on Kenshin. He helped me when he didn't have to, at the risk of getting arrested if the police caught him. He's a good man, and I... will... not... give up on him. So... just... fight me!"

And she ran forward once again, releasing her wounded shoulder and holding the hilt of the sakabatou with both hands, one, pale and shaking, the other, bloody and slippery. Enishi was ready for the attack of course, but he couldn't have expected what happened next. As Kaoru slashed downward with the reverse blade, it slipped from her hands and continued like an arrow through the air.

Enishi's cold eyes widened and the next thing Sano knew, he was on the ground, Kenshin's sword embedded up to the middle of the blade in his left shoulder. He groaned and fell, rolled over to his uninjured side, and passed out. And then Sano turned to see what Kaoru was doing, and found her in a similiar state.

She lay, unconscious, face forward on the ground, her right arm stretched out as if she were still trying to hold the sakabatou. "Oh, man," Sano groaned, and went and scooped her up into his arms. He retrieved Kenshin's blade, yanking it from Enishi's shoulder. It was either blind, stupid luck... or a miracle.

He rushed with Kaoru into the house and saw Kenshin right away snoozing with his back to the wall in the main room. He was bound up with rope, but he looked okay. Except that he was almost as pale as Kaoru, and there was a blood stain on the shoulder of his gi.

Sano laid Kaoru down on the floor and ripped off a part of his shirt to bind up her shoulder with it. That should do until he got her back to Doctor Gensai and Megumi. Now, to see about Kenshin...

o o o

A/N: Oh, boy! Hey everybody! It's been a long time! Eee. Please don't kill me! Heheh. I won't be posting another chapter very soon, but I promise this story will get finished, eventually.

Thanks everybody that reviewed the last time and has reviewed, and added me to their favorites! Very cool! Thank u!

In case I didn't answer your questions before:

Miharu Kawashi: Thanks for reviewing! First, Sano was saying that she couldn't look like a guy, and she gets mad at him because her bluff depends on her looking like one. And then he says, "Then again" or something like that (It's sad when I can't remember what I wrote), and she gets mad at him again because he's implying that she's butch. But I think I'm kind of like you, and I would take it as a compliment. But if I was in a bad mood, I might not. Heheh.

Du Weldenvarden Farcai: Thank u! Hopefully I will start updating more frequently, but if not, don't worry. I do plan on finishing this story. (Mutters to herself: "Even if it kills me...") ;)

summerstar: thank you mucho! I will do my best, yessiree!