Chapter 3: Tomoe and the Man

The room had become as silent and freezing as the falling snow outside. Kenshin had paled substantially and looked ready to faint while the others weren't in a much better condition.

Tomoe stared at Kenshin as if he were some foreign object she had never seen before.

Finally, Yahiko was able to gain enough composure to say something. He directed it at the woman. "Tomoe! Your name is Tomoe?"

She looked at him for a moment, tried to form a word, but in the end had to nod instead.

"It's…" Kenshin said in a small voice, so wistful and full of wonder and confusion. "It's… This is impossible."

Everyone else was thinking the same thing.

"Are you some sort of imposter!" Sano threatened. Being the first one able to move more than a head, he stomped forward, waving a finger in her face.

"No…" She mumbled, eyes down-trodden.

"…but…" Kenshin choked, gulping down the blackness trying to set in and knock him out.

"You're… supposed to be…" Kaoru mumbled. Her heart felt like it was slamming against her ribcage at a hundred miles an hour.

"…dead…" Kenshin finished off, a crack in his voice that Kaoru had never heard before.

Tomoe wouldn't look them in the eyes. "I… I do not know… how… but…" She trailed off, unable to explain herself. No one could blame her. How could someone explain coming back from the dead after being gone for so long? She didn't even look like a corpse! If they passed her on the street, they never would have suspected that her demise had been carried out years ago.

It didn't make sense at all that Tomoe was walking among the living.

Kenshin shook his head to stir the fainting spell out of his body. "T-Tomoe… It's.. Impossible…" He repeated.

"Kenshin…" Tomoe spoke, her voice pouring with hurt as her eyes finally met with his again. Those dark eyes were brimming with tears. Were they tears of hurt? Tears of fear? Maybe they were a little of both.

Kenshin took a step forward, then stepped back again. Nobody present had ever seen him so unsure of himself.

Tomoe closed her long lashes over the dark orbs of her eyes, then opened them again, now wet with her tears. "I… I do not know… I do not know… what's going on… I am… afraid…!"

Kenshin moved forward in a haste but stopped half-way across the room. He looked around as if something in the room would help him get his bearings.

Tomoe took a step forward, hesitated, then started towards him. She looked horrified of touching him, as if he wouldn't accept her. It was a possibility that he didn't even believe she was there, that she was a figment of his imagination. He might have even thought that all of this repenting and fretting and worrying had driven him insane at last.

Her foot caught the floor the wrong way as she approached him, and her body fell forward suddenly. She yelped, believing she would fall, but she was consumed by a warm body in fuchsia fabric. She was on her knees, her head against his stomach when she looked up at him. He was looking back down at her and looked like he'd been working hard labor for hours.

Her hand unconsciously moved upwards, slowly but steadily, until it reached his left cheek and placed itself over the cross-shaped scar. "I am sorry… my darling…" She whispered.

It broke him, and he scooped her into his arms, dropping his head into the bend between her shoulder and neck. "TOMOE! My god…"

Kaoru stared at the scene before her and let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding, then sucked it back in before the staleness had left it. A whimper was caught in her throat, and she wasn't positive why… Yes… she was. Her chances with Kenshin, how ever slim they already were, had just flown out the window.

She turned and stepped out slowly, not wanting to see this scene. She couldn't bare to see Tomoe's lips meet with Kenshin's.

Sano had not seen her leave, but Yahiko had, and he followed her silently with his pick-pocketing stealth.

She stepped into her shoes and walked right out the front door. Yahiko grabbed his scarf and hers and followed after.

Her feet picked up speed as she walked faster and faster and faster. It wasn't long until she broke into a run, and Yahiko had to do all he could to keep up with her, even with her kimono binding her legs.

She reached the edge of the woods and screamed, punching the closest tree.

Yahiko kept his distance for a moment, somewhat afraid that this rage would be taken out on his poor little, fragile, ten-year-old form. After she didn't do anything else but shiver, holding her hand, he figured he was safe, and when she let out a sob, he knew that she needed someone.

"K… Kaoru…?" He mumbled hesitantly, approaching her while clutching her scarf to his chest. The wind was biting.

She glanced at him over her shoulder and collapsed to her knees in the snow. "YAHIKO!"

He went to her and put her scarf around her neck. "Kaoru, get a hold of yourself…" He said it calmly, as to not set her off.

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON!" She shouted, hugging him. "It doesn't make any sense… It's not fair!"

Yahiko felt like crying too, but he was much too tough for that. He needed to be a man right now for their was a girl who was like his family looking for comfort.

"Now, now. Calm down. I know it's confusing, but you need to get a hold of yourself. It's too cold out here to just stand here and cry. Come on, let's go back inside and work this out."

"No!" She said more loudly than she intended.

Yahiko sighed. "Well, then let's go into the town and see if we can find some information. Maybe Tae-san and Tsubame know something."

Kaoru nodded but didn't make an attempt to move.

"Come on, now," Yahiko coaxed, grabbing her wrists and pulling her to her feet. "You'll ruin your kimono."

She stumbled along for a few seconds before following him towards the town. Yahiko couldn't help but notice the redness in the hand she used to punch the tree. "We'll go see Megumi about your hand after checking up at Akabeko."

-

"Damn it all," A man slurred from his seat at Akabeko, taking another swig from the cup of sake on the table. He'd brought a bottle himself, but he hadn't touched it.

This man had sable hair, a messy mop upon his head. His chin was covered with small hairs, not shaven in at least a day. His gray kimono was tied together with a red belt and seemed much too light for the weather.

"Hey, girl," He garbled, referring to Tsubame who was serving the table across from his. "GIRL!"

"Um… yes?" She asked timidly, turning to face him.

"Get me more 'a this," He told her, shaking the empty sake bottle at her.

"Um, I think you've had enough…"

"Do it."

She reached out for his bottle.

"Not mine! Get one of yours!" He shouted blearily.

"Yes, sir!" She yelped, rushing off. Why did he scare her so badly? Maybe it had something to do with those lifeless, red eyes.

Yahiko entered Akabeko with Kaoru trailing him quietly. The restaurant was full of people chatting and eating, most likely to get away from the cold. Kaoru herself was shivering a bit though Yahiko felt all right for the moment.

"Where do you think they are?" Kaoru asked, looking around.

"It's really crowded, so it might take a few minutes. You wait here. I'll find them."

He left before she had the chance to object. She pouted. "I don't want to wait here," She mumbled, leaning against a post next to a nearby table. There was a man sitting at this table who looked to have had his fair share of sake. He was swaying slightly and mumbling to himself, eyes closed.

She looked out idly at the other people when a snatch at her wrist made her shout.

"You have a scent on you that I know," The man whispered into her ear, a strange calm to his voice. Somehow he had stood and gotten behind her and was now holding onto her wrist so tightly that she thought her hand was going to fall off. "That smell."

"Let go! Leave me alone!" Kaoru cried, trying to jerk herself free.

"I know that scent! That's the smell I'm looking for! STOP MOVING!" With his other hand he took hold of her head and slammed it into the post. Her body twitched slightly before loosening up. She didn't move. She wasn't unconscious, but the shock left her stunned.

"Tell me where she is," He growled in her ear.

"I don't know what you're talking about…" She choked, feeling the heat of the blood trickling down the side of her face. This man was drunk, wasn't he?

"Kaoru!" Yahiko shouted.

She turned her head just in time to see Yahiko slam his shinai into the back of the man's head, forcing him to let go. She backed away, holding her wrist that was pink where he'd held her tightly.

"Are you all right?" Tae-san asked, taking Kaoru's face in her hands. Kaoru nodded slowly.

"It's not as bad as it looks," She told her.

"You jerk! What do you think you're doing!" Yahiko yelled.

The man hiccupped and started to stumble out the door.

"Hey! I'm not through with you!" Yahiko screamed, chasing after him.

"I dun' waste m' time with little brats," The man slurred, stepping out into the street.

"You don't know what I'm capable of!" Yahiko said, whacking him across the back. "Turn around and face me like a man! How dare you hurt Kaoru like that!"

"So, Kaoru's her name, eh?" The man looked over his shoulder, then turned his body to face Yahiko. "I was just asking Kaoru some questions."

"You hurt her!" Yahiko held out his shinai in defense. "For that I will show no mercy."

"Ooh, I'm shaking in my sandals," The man replied unenthusiastically.

"You're just lucky Kenshin wasn't here to-"

"Kenshin!" He shouted, eyes wide.

Yahiko finally noticed the redness of those eyes and gulped.

"I see…" The man smirked. "I wasn't going to do anything, but since you're a friend of Kenshin, I'll make an exception."

"You know Kenshin?" Yahiko asked, looking deep into the man's eyes.

"Yes… You could say that we met… in Hell…"

Suddenly, they were encircled with flames underneath a blood red sky where the clouds appeared black. The ground was bare and painful to the feet. The man brought back his hand, his nails elongating greatly.

"What's going on!" Yahiko screamed, trying to block his hand with his weapon. It sliced right through it and slashed open the front of his shirt. Yahiko staggered backwards, but the man brought forth his other hand and smacked him across the face with his sake bottle. Yahiko fell to the ground and felt searing pain enter his back. He reached out for his broken weapon, his only source of protection, when the claws became even longer, and the man stabbed him through.

Kaoru, Tae-san, and Tsubame were all running out to find Yahiko just standing in the snow, staring up at the man who was staring down at him. Seconds ago, Yahiko had been shouting, and now he'd gone quiet. It was strange.

The man turned and wandered away. Yahiko vomited a bit of blood before collapsing into the snow.

"YAHIKO!" Kaoru screeched, mortified.