ii.
The minor fall and the major lift
She's warm in his arms.
Kenshin carries the girl with arms that do not shake despite the chilling dread that has curled itself up beneath his ribs, focusing instead on quieting his breaths and quickening his pace. The gravel crunches beneath his sandals as he trudges back to the Kohagiya, mind spinning in circles.
She hadn't screamed.
Somehow, it does not seem strange to him. He looks down at her unconscious form, pale skin freckled with red and cheeks tinted rose from alcohol, and there is an odd sensation of something beginning to move, like a rusted cog groaning back to life. But Kenshin has no patience for superstitions or omens. He has more pressing matters to concern himself with: namely, figuring out what to do with this woman who had seen him bathe in a shower of blood.
The girl sighs deeply in her sleep, and Kenshin does not think about how her perfume is the first thing he's smelled other than blood since coming to this blighted city.