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

WARNING! SPOILERS FOR SAMURAI X: TRUST AND BETRAYAL

Chapter 18

Yugi and Mokuba walked out of the hospital in silence, each consumed by their thoughts, which were surprisingly similar in nature.

What did Kaiba mean by that? Tomoe haunts Kenshin, looking for revenge? But, Kenshin hasn't killed anyone--has he? I know the Battousai has, but the Bakumatsu was over 100 years ago! And it seemed like it was a pretty sore topic for both Kenshin and Battousai... I wonder who Tomoe was? Is she even dead? Kaiba made it sound that way, but he might have heard wrong--I mean, Kenshin was asleep after all... Yugi's thoughts were leading him in circles. With a sigh, he decided that this topic would have to wait until he could discuss it with Kenshin.

He and Mokuba reached the entrance to the hospital. They walked outside, Mokuba going over to the limo that was waiting for him. He stopped when he got to the vehicle and turned to Yugi. "You want a ride? I can drop you off by your place on the way," he offered.

Yugi shook his head. "No, thanks, but I'd prefer to walk," Yugi declined, shaking his head. Mokuba shrugged, and got into the limo. Yugi watched as they pulled away, then turned and started home.

~*~

Grandpa smiled as he saw Yugi walk in the game shop. It was a little later than the time Yugi normally got home, so he figured that Yugi had stopped by the hospital to check on Kenshin.

"Hello, Yugi. How was school today?" Grandpa asked.

Yugi looked up as if he had only then realized that Grandpa was there. "Oh, fine, I guess. I stopped by the hospital to see Kenshin," Yugi replied.

Grandpa nodded. "And how is my other stubborn grandson doing?" he asked.

Yugi smiled at that remark. "He's fine. He actually woke up last night. I told him you'd probably be coming to visit after you closed the shop," Yugi said.

Grandpa nodded. He looked at the clock. "I'll close in about an hour. We can have a quick dinner, and then we'll go see him."

Yugi nodded, heading towards his room. He dropped his bag on the floor and flopped on the bed. He lay there for a few minutes, then--after more than a little prodding from Yami--started his homework.

~*~

Kenshin laid in his bed, staring at the ceiling. Grandpa and Yugi had come back, but they'd only been able to stay a few minutes because visiting hours were over. Kaiba hadn't said another word to Kenshin all afternoon. Kenshin wasn't sure what to make of the silence. He tried reading Kaiba's aura--the taller boy was confused about something. This, in turn, confused Kenshin.

What would Kaiba have to be confused about? It seems that his confusion has to do with himself, but that doesn't make sense, Kenshin thought. He turned his thoughts inward. /Battousai,/ Kenshin called, softly.

//What do you want?// came the annoyed reply.

Kenshin sighed. Battousai had been in a particularly foul mood since Kaiba's remark. Kenshin wasn't exactly sure why he was so upset. If he didn't want Tomoe to die, then why did he strike her? He knew that was a killing stroke--he was trying to kill his opponent! Kenshin wondered briefly.

/You needn't take your anger out on me,/ Kenshin said, in a calming voice.

//Well, if you haven't noticed, there's nothing else for me to take it out on. You won't let me at Kaiba, and it's not going away, so you're all that's left. Deal with it,// came the angry reply.

Kenshin sighed again. It was going to be a long night.

~*~

Kaiba, for his part, was confused. He had been trading insults with Kenshin, when he had suddenly hit a little too close to home. He had known that it was a tender subject to be left alone, but he had probed deeper anyway. And, then he had gotten the response that he wanted out of Kenshin. Why, then did he feel bad about it? Why did he feel guilty for bringing that up? There had been so much sorrow, so much anguish in Kenshin's eyes--but, that's what he wanted, right? That's what he was trying to do, right? Then, why did he feel so guilty for causing Kenshin so much pain?

~*~

After another hour of doing nothing but staring at the ceiling, Kenshin decided it was time to go to sleep.

/Battousai, I'm going to my soul room to go to sleep now,/ Kenshin told his yami. Battousai said nothing, so Kenshin assumed that he didn't mind. Kenshin entered his soul room, eyeing the bed. He then shook his head, walked over to the wall, sat down, and fell asleep.

~*~

Kenshin was walking through a forest in the snow. He was following a set of footprints in the fresh powder. He felt something warm running down his left cheek. He felt it with his right hand. It was his scar. It was bleeding again, only there was just the vertical slash. The other one was missing. Looking down, Kenshin saw that he had a blue ribbon clutched tightly in his left hand. He was also dressed in his Ishin Shishi uniform with his swords at his waist. Kenshin also took note of the fact that he couldn't move his body. It was walking forward, and all Kenshin could do was watch. He felt determined and betrayed, but it took him a minute to realize that these emotions weren't his. They were Battousai's. I must be in Battousai's dream, Kenshin thought. Battousai continued onward through the forest.

Suddenly, someone ran up behind them. Battousai turned and brought his sword up, barely in time to counter the attack. His assailant jumped back, throwing a small arrow as he did so. Battousai was too slow to react, and the arrow buried itself deep in his right shoulder. Battousai's vision blurred as he fell to his knees, his attacker jumping out of his field of vision. Battousai clutched the arrow and pulled, flinging it away from him as soon as he had removed it from his body. He remained on the ground as his opponent rushed at him again. Three more arrows came flying, but Battousai deflected these. His attacker drew his sword, and thrust it at Battousai. Battousai went under the attack, pushing his own sword through his opponent's heart. His would-be killer staggered back, off Battousai's blade. Blood poured from his wound, and he would be dead shortly. He stumbled away from Battousai, using his sword as a cane. He had only traveled a few feet before he fell to the ground. Suddenly, there was a large explosion off to Battousai's left. The sound was deafening in Kenshin's ears. He couldn't hear his own breathing, and when he put his hand to his ear, it came back red, with his own blood. Kenshin stared. What's going on here?! This isn't what happened that day! Kenshin cried out, confused, but nobody heard him. Battousai walked on.

After a few minutes, Battousai saw a large man standing on the path before him. The man was holding a large ax. He ran at Battousai, swinging the ax. The red-haired boy jumped out of the way, and the ax-man swung again. This time, Battousai blocked with his sword, but his opponent was stronger than he was, and pushed him back. Battousai ran into a tree. Suddenly, steel claws plunged down from the tree into the top of his right shoulder and twisted, before being ripped back out. Battousai cried out in pain and surprise, clutching his wound and turning his head to see who was in the tree. He looked back just in time to see the ax coming towards the tree. He ducked as the ax embedded itself in the bark where his neck had been seconds before.

Battousai jumped away from the tree. The man wrenched his ax out of the tree, and ran at Battousai, swinging his ax before him. "Tomoe," the hitokiri whispered as he jumped back out of the way, only to feel the sharp metal claws rake across his back. "Tomoe," he whispered again, sounding more like a plea this time. He staggered forward towards the approaching ax-wielding man, falling to his knees in front of him. The man raised his ax above his head, while the man behind Battousai raised his metal claw. Suddenly, the boy jumped to his feet, pushing his katana through the ax-man's throat and his wakizashi through the metal claw behind him. He pulled his katana out as the man stumbled back, but the wakizashi was ripped from his hand as the man with the metal claw took off running through the forest.

The larger man turned and fell forward, grabbing something in the snow. Battousai watched him closely. He saw the explosion go off, killing the dying man, before his vision went white. He closed his eyes tightly, waiting for the pain to pass. After a few minutes, he could open his right eye without too much pain, but his vision was blurry at best. He felt more of the warm liquid running down his face and knew that his left eye was bleeding as well. Is this what really happened? I knew about the fights and the explosions, but I had a clear view from the Mask, so I didn't think anything of them. I thought that Battousai was as distracted as I was, so he wasn't fighting to the best of his ability. I wasn't in any better condition, so I let him do as he pleased. If I hadn't insisted on sulking in the Mask, I would have known, Kenshin thought. But would it have made any difference? Battousai continued onward, his determination still strong even though his body had been weakened.

They walked for several minutes. At one point, Battousai fell. He was able to pick himself up off the ground, but he was now using his sword as a cane. It was now snowing and the wind blew, cold and biting. After what seemed like an eternity, they came to what appeared to be a hut. That blur of color before him--yes, that was his opponent. He heard something very garbled. Was the other man trying to speak? Battousai let the other man talk, trying to regain a little of the strength he had lost along the way. All too soon the man was finished and attacked. Battousai fell forward, inconspicuously changing his grip on the katana. When he thought the man was in striking distance, he quickly pulled his sword from its sheath, swinging it in a wide arc hoping to hit the man. However, his impaired senses made him misjudge the distance drastically. He swung before the man was in range, leaving himself wide open to the attack that followed. The man punched Battousai, catching him under the chin and sending him reeling backwards. Battousai caught himself, and rushed forward, swinging his sword blindly. His vision was starting to clear, but not nearly enough. He was also rapidly losing his strength. This was proved when the man blocked his katana with his a metal arm guard. Normally, Battousai could have sliced through the man's arm, guard and all. Now, however, it stopped the blade. The man punched the hitokiri again, catching him at an angle and causing him to spin three times before he hit the ground.

This made Battousai a little disoriented, delaying his reaction time. The man walked over, picking him up by the back of his gi, and punched him in the stomach. The red-haired boy somehow managed to remain standing, and felt another blow connect with the injury on his back. He staggered to the side and turned around to face his opponent. He looked up in time to see the man's palm just before it connected with his face, sending him reeling backwards once again. The hitokiri rushed forward, swinging his sword, but the arm guards blocked it once again. The man then grabbed Battousai around the neck and swung him around, flinging him across the clearing. Battousai landed hard on his side, momentarily stunned. When no new attack came, Battousai slowly and painfully pulled himself to his feet. He knew this would be the last attack.

He drew a deep breath and vocalized all of his anger and frustration in a war cry as he rushed forward. He knew he wouldn't survive this attack. He could barely make out his opponent in front of him. He was also rushing forward. Battousai closed his eyes as he continued rushing forward. This was it. Suddenly Kenshin heard his own voice. /No! Stop! You can't! You'll kill Tomoe!/ He didn't know she was there, Kenshin realized. He could feel Battousai's thoughts as if they were his own. Battousai was doing this to save Tomoe. It didn't matter if he died, Tomoe would live. He felt his blade connect and continue through his target. He didn't notice the extra resistance as his sword cut through two bodies instead of one until he smelled it. It was her perfume--white plum. She was somewhere nearby. He started to open his eyes, noticing that his vision had improved dramatically.

Suddenly, Battousai found himself back in his soul room. Kenshin had forcibly taken control of the body. But why? He looked out through the Mask's eye's to find out. There, cradled in Kenshin's arms, was the dying body of his wife. He watched as her life's blood poured out of her. She raised her dagger to his cheek, tracing a line perpendicular to his first scar. His bloody tear fell on her cheek.

"...forgive...my love...please...forgive me..." Tomoe whispered. Her hand fell to her side, still clutching the dagger as her entire body went limp. Kenshin, who had been thrown in Battousai's soul room when the dream Kenshin had kicked them out of his mind, turned to look at Battousai. His twin sat transfixed, staring at the scene before him. His eyes were wide, a look of horror marring his features. He just sat there, staring in shock at what he had just done.

~*~

Kenshin awoke with a start. He was in his soul room. He could feel a myriad of emotions flow through the link he shared with Battousai--pain, sorrow, and anger being the most prominent. He would have to return to his body for this conversation. He may share his body with Battousai but no one, not even Kenshin, ever saw the hitokiri cry. And right now Kenshin was pretty sure that was what he was doing. Kenshin returned to his body.

/Battousai,/ he called, softly. Kenshin gave him a moment to compose himself. /I know you're awake./

//What do you want?!// came the snarled response.

Kenshin countered with a question of his own. /Is that what really happened?/ he asked.

//Is what what really happened?// Battousai asked, annoyed. He wished his hikari would leave him be right now. He wasn't in the mood to play Twenty Questions with Kenshin.

/Your dream. Is that what really happened, that day?/ Kenshin asked, again.

There was a pause. //You saw?// Battousai asked, all the anger gone from his voice.

Kenshin nodded, although he knew Battousai couldn't see him. /Yes. I saw what happened through your eyes. I... I didn't know. Why didn't you tell me?/

Battousai snorted. //Would you have believed me?//

/I suppose not,/ Kenshin admitted a bit sheepishly, /I was too upset after she died, and later I would have just thought you were making up excuses. I'm sorry. I didn't realize she meant that much to you, as well./

//Yeah, well, it's a thing of the past. She's a thing of the past. Let me see, how did you put it? Oh, yes. You said, and I quote, What's done is done, and neither you, nor I, can change that.//

Kenshin flinched at hearing his own words flung back in his face. But, he had to admit, he deserved that. /I'm sorry. If I would've stopped sulking and come out of the Mask, I would have known. Things might have turned out different. If I had communicated better, I could have helped you during the fights. I could still see out of the Mask. I should have done something. It's just as much my fault that she's gone as it is yours. I could have warned you. I was stupid to not realize what was going on. The explosions--I should have figured it out. You weren't upset enough to miscalculate your attacks so drastically. I should have realized it and helped you. I'm sorry./

Battousai was silent, so Kenshin decided he might as well try and go back to sleep. /I'm returning to my soul room now./

Kenshin walked back into his room and, deciding the bed looked much more inviting than the floor, he walked over and slid into bed. He curled up under the covers, letting his mind drift. Just before sleep claimed him, he thought he heard his door open softly. He heard a very familiar voice whisper something.

//Thank you.//

/You're welcome,/ Kenshin murmured, his last conscious thought before he fell asleep.