Disclaimer: I do not, have not, and will not ever own either "Yu-Gi-Oh!" or "Rurouni Kenshin."

Chapter 16

Kenshin and Yami made it home around 6:00. They came in the back door, hoping to avoid Grandpa as he closed up the store. When they were halfway up the stairs, Kenshin suddenly pushed Yami away from him. Yami stared at him curiously and was about to ask him why, when Grandpa suddenly came around the corner. Yami looked at Kenshin. He had forgotten that Kenshin could somehow tell where the people were around him. Grandpa smiled up at the two boys.

"So, did you two have fun today?" he asked, a strange glint in his eye.

Kenshin slowly turned so that he was half-facing Grandpa. His black coat concealed the blood on his side, and he was careful not to turn so much as to allow Grandpa a view of the blood on his leg. The continual movement of his leg while walking home had prevented the material from helping to clot the wound and, as a consequence, his blood now covered his leg from hip to just above his ankle. His side wasn't much better, the blood had reached his knee, but his coat covered it. "Hai," he replied, smiling as if he had nothing to hide.

Grandpa's smile grew wider. "Yes, you did look like you were enjoying yourself at that tournament," He said, watching both Yami's and Kenshin's surprised reactions. "Or didn't you notice the camera crews, broadcasting the entire event?" he continued, chuckling at their reactions.

They just stared at him. He had watched the whole thing? He didn't seem too upset that Kenshin had participated, although that was about to change. Kenshin suddenly stumbled, and would have fallen had it not been for Yami's strong arms catching and supporting him. It only took Kenshin a minute to regain his balance, but it was enough. Grandpa had hurried over to Kenshin when he had almost fallen, and saw the blood before Kenshin could hide it.

"Kenshin! You've re-opened your wound!" he exclaimed, worriedly.

//These people have a knack for stating the obvious,// Battousai stated, dryly. //We should have taken one of the bandages from either arm. Even if one of those wounds re-opened, we could have hidden it!//

"You shouldn't be walking on it--you could make it worse!" Grandpa continued. He looked up, only then noticing that Yami was in control of Yugi's body. "Could you help me carry him to the car?" he asked.

Yami didn't want Grandpa to strain his back. "He's pretty light--I can carry him by myself," Yami said, picking up a protesting Kenshin. Kenshin was pretty light, but there are just some things you can't do when you're old.

"Put me down! I can walk just fine!" Kenshin complained, struggling in Yami's grasp. Yami ignored him. Despite Kenshin's struggles, Yami had no difficulty carrying him to the car. As Yami sat him inside, Kenshin again protested, guessing where they were taking him.

"I'm fine, I just need to go upstairs and change the bandages--I don't need to be taken to the hospital!" he argued, his thoughts drifting to a particular employee on the nurse's staff. He did not look forward to any more time spent under her excruciating care.

Grandpa glared at him, disapprovingly. "Kenshin, that wound is serious. You need to have it looked at. I can't believe you'd be so careless as to re-open it in the first place..." he said, muttering the last part to himself.

//It wasn't our fault--it was the circumstances. Normally, this would've never happened,// Battousai said, defensively. He didn't like people blaming him when it was beyond his control.

Yami sat down in the back next to Kenshin. Kenshin glared at him. "I save your life and this is how you repay me?" he said, quietly, not wanting Grandpa to overhear him.

Yami shrugged apologetically. "I could either carry you to the car, or we could wait for an ambulance to arrive and take you on a stretcher. I assumed that you would prefer this option," he explained, grinning at Kenshin's predicament. Kenshin just turned and glared out the window.

Grandpa started the car, and drove to the hospital.

~*~

Kenshin woke up and looked around him. He was in a familiar looking white room, only this time there was a curtain blocking off half of the room. How did I get back here? he briefly wondered. Then he remembered what had happened. I must have fallen asleep in the car, he thought. He looked around again. He couldn't see any clocks and the curtain blocked the window, but by the amount of light peeking out around it he judged it to be late afternoon. He sat back on his bed, feeling weak for some unknown reason. He turned his head as he heard the door open.

"Oh, good, you're finally awake! You've been unconscious for over twenty hours," Dr. Kagarashi said, walking up to Kenshin's bed. Kenshin didn't say anything, waiting for the doctor to continue. "The wound on your leg isn't that bad, but you should have kept the bandage on it."

"I took it off to replace the one on my side. It had opened again, and I didn't have a replacement bandage at the time. I thought that the wound on my leg had healed enough to remain closed until I got home to replace the bandage." I knew that it was possible I would have to fight either one or both of the yamis. Why did I take the one off my leg? One of the bandages on my arms would have been a much better choice! Kenshin thought, berating himself.

"Yes, I see that this is not the first time that the wound on your side has re-opened," the doctor said, looking at Kenshin disapprovingly. Kenshin was silent and the doctor looked away, shaking his head. "It looks like you're going to be here for at least another week, if not more. And before you ask, yes, you're on strict bed rest. I understand that you walked quite a distance last night with that wound, and lost a lot of blood because of it. We didn't have to give you a blood transfusion, thankfully, but we do have you on a lot of fluids in the meantime," he said, gesturing to the IV running down and into Kenshin's arm. Kenshin looked down, surprised. He hadn't even noticed it was there. "You're probably feeling somewhat weak. It's natural, and probably a good thing, as it will keep you in bed for awhile, at least," he said, emphasizing the last part. Kenshin nodded. The doctor was right, he felt really weak and didn't want to do anything more than go to sleep.

"One thing that is different from your last stay with us, is that this time you have a roommate to keep you company," the doctor continued, pointing at the curtained off section of the room. At Kenshin's confused look, he explained, "Due to the sudden influx of injuries due, in part, mostly to a particular tournament, we have had to put two patients in a few rooms. You will be sharing your room with one Seto Kaiba," the doctor said, peering at the clipboard in his hand.

Because he was looking down, he missed Kenshin's expression at the news. Let's just say that Kenshin was very surprised at that. He had gotten his expression under control once again when the doctor looked up. It was then that Kenshin, extending his senses to Kaiba's side of the room, discovered that he was asleep. It's a bit early to be asleep...Unless... "Doctor, has Kaiba woken up since the tournament?" Kenshin asked, trying to remember exactly how hard Battousai had hit him.

"Oh, yes, he has. However he, unfortunately, didn't quite agree with my diagnosis and had to be sedated to keep from injuring himself further..." the doctor trailed off, looking a bit distressed at the memory. "We'll see how cooperative he is when he wakes up. He should be waking up shortly."

It took a lot of control on Kenshin's part to keep from laughing. This would be an interesting stay in the hospital, indeed.

"Well, I have to be going. I have other patients to attend to--ones that aren't bent on injuring themselves further," he said, looking at Kenshin. Kenshin just smiled. The doctor shook his head and left the room.

//Well, it looks like we're going to be stuck here for awhile,// Battousai said, a little depressed.

/Hai, but at least we have company this time,/ Kenshin said, trying to cheer up his darker half. It worked a little too well.

//Oh yeah! We can torment Kaiba!// Battousai said, with glee.

/That's not what I meant.../ Kenshin trailed off as he noticed a change in Kaiba's aura, signaling he was waking up.

Sure enough, Kaiba started stirring and opened his eyes. Remembering what had happened, he started grumbling about stupid hospital staff in general.

"They're not all that bad--you've just got to learn which ones to avoid," a cheerful voice said from beyond the curtain. Kaiba grabbed it and pulled it back, revealing a smiling Kenshin sitting there in the bed next to him.

"Hello, Kaiba. You're finally awake, I see," Kenshin said, cheerfully.

"I could say the same thing about you," Kaiba said. Kenshin's cheerful voice was already starting to grate on his nerves. "At least I didn't pass out on the way to the hospital. You hit me three times, but it appears I did more damage to you in that one hit than you did to me with the three," Kaiba smirked. He had over heard Yugi and his grandpa talking after Kenshin had been brought in.

Kenshin shook his head. "Sorry, Kaiba, but I'm afraid that you can't take credit for my condition," he said, still smiling. Then his face took on a more serious look. "I received all these wounds from my master. You just managed to hit one of them during our fight. It was a different fight later on that re-opened the wound on my leg," Kenshin said, his voice much more serious than it had been a minute ago.

Kaiba was a little surprised at the sudden change in the red-head, as well as the revelation about his wounds. It had to be pretty serious to land him in the hospital and, by the way the doctors talked, he would be here for at least a week. His master gave him those wounds? Kaiba thought, a little surprised. He didn't allow any of his thoughts to show on his face, however.

"Well, it sounds like I'm gonna be stuck with you for awhile, anyway," he said, looking out the window. It was already dark outside. Even though he had been sleeping earlier, he still felt tired. "Well, I hope you don't snore. I'm going to sleep." With that, he rolled over facing away from Kenshin.

Kenshin smiled. "Good night, Kaiba."

~*~

Kaiba woke up. He could see the moonlight streaming in his window, reaching the floor hallway between his and Kenshin's beds. His eyes rested on the figure in the bed next to him, and he determined that that was what had woken him up. Kenshin's face was scrunched up in an expression of pain. Beads of sweat glistened on his forehead in the reflected moonlight. He was moving restlessly, talking in his sleep. Kaiba was about to yell at him to wake up and shut up, but then he heard what Kenshin was saying.

"...please...I don't want to kill her...she wouldn't betray us...I don't believe it..."

Kaiba's voice got caught in his throat. He suddenly remembered something he had read somewhere--dreamers never lie. He decided to listen awhile longer.

"...Izuka must be wrong...Tomoe would never betray us...I can't kill her..."

There was a pause, as if someone else was speaking.

"...no, Battousai, you can't...don't make me kill her...no! Stop! No! TOMOE! " Kenshin screamed, sitting up suddenly. He cried out and fell back, clutching his side as tears fell unheeded down his cheeks. He gradually got his breathing under control after a few minutes, and the pain subsided as well. It was then that he noticed Kaiba was watching him. He smiled at the other teenager. "May I help you, Kaiba?" he asked, in his usual cheerful voice.

Kaiba was a bit stunned at the transformation he had just witnessed. One minute Kenshin is crying and screaming, and the next he's Mr. Cheerful? Just then a nurse came into their room.

"We heard someone scream, but we couldn't tell where it came from. Do either of you know?" she inquired. Kenshin just looked at her innocently and shook his head. She turned and exited the room. Kaiba just stared.

Kenshin looked at him. "Is something wrong, Kaiba?" he inquired.

Kaiba finally regained his composure. He stared at Kenshin coldly. "I don't appreciate being woken up in the middle of the night. You might want to keep your yelling down," he said, annoyed.

Kenshin didn't seem fazed. "Gomen," he said, still smiling.

Kaiba laid there for a few minutes. "Who's Tomoe?" he asked, softly.

Kenshin stiffened. There was a long pause and then, "She was...my wife."

Kaiba was utterly surprised. Kenshin had a wife?! He's like, what, 15?! Kaiba then realized that Kenshin had used past tense. "Had? What happen to her? You two divorced?" he asked, hoping that what Kenshin had said in his sleep hadn't been true.

"She's dead," came the reply in a cold voice.

Kaiba pressed the matter further. "How?"

Apparently, this was a very touchy subject for Kenshin. "She was killed by a murderer, alright?! Since when do you care so much, Kaiba?" Kenshin said, scathingly. Kaiba was surprised by the venom in Kenshin's voice, and decided to let the subject rest. Obviously, the one who murdered his wife was either himself, or this Battousai person. That name sounded vaguely familiar--where did he know it from?

~*~

Kenshin had that dream again. He didn't know what triggered it, but he could almost feel the blood on his hands as he had watched her fall into his arms, his sword still protruding from her body. He had sat up too quickly, using muscles that shouldn't have been used, and sending a wave of white hot agony through his side to let him know that. He realized that he could still feel the blood on his hands, only this time it was his. It didn't matter--the nurses would change the bandage in the morning, anyway. He noticed Kaiba was staring at him. He put on his cheerful mask, as if pretending that nothing was wrong would make it go away. Then the nurse came. So, I actually screamed this time? My control is really slipping... Kenshin decided that he was too tired to deal with any more tonight-- especially the questions that were sure to come from Kaiba-- and retreated to his soul room. Battousai could take control of the body or not-- Kenshin didn't care at this point. He sat down, leaning against the wall in his soul room, and went back to sleep.

Battousai did decide to take control and tried to act like Kenshin, but quickly gave up as Kaiba proved to be more nosy than Battousai liked. After Kaiba had finally left him alone, Battousai retreated back to the Mask, allowing Kenshin to sleep in his soul room, while his body got the rest it needed as well.

~*~