Broken

Chapter 11: Crushed.

"Wait a second" Yahiko began in disbelief. "Are you saying that you can move so fast that not only you can become invisible to the human eye you appear to be in more than one place at once?"

Genma nodded.

Yahiko burst into laughter, holding nothing back.

"For real." Said Genma in a pointless effort.

"You believe me, right?"

He naturally turned to Misao as he asked her, however what he saw was not to be expected. She looked frightened and was on the brink of tears.

"You okay Misao?"

"He couldn't have done that." Her voice was breaking slightly.

"He who? Sensei? I'm sorry but that's how it was."

"LIAR!"

Then she started crying almost viciously.

"It's not that bad, he was just confused and thought he was doing the right thing."

"Not MY Aoshi!" She kept on talking but between the tears and sobs it was indistinct.

"Listen."

He tried to hold her hand in order to calm her down, but she pulled it back before he could even touch her.

"Hey man, leave her alone."

He had almost forgotten about Sanosuke who was sitting on the far end of the table. He was still sitting, yet now it seemed like the food didn't matter much to him as his eyes were fixed on Genma.

"Mind your own business."

And he returned his attention back to Misao who only got worse.

He tried comforting her, cheering her up, sugar coating the truth to see if that helped but to no avail. Her godly image of Aoshi was just to perfect to accept the fact that he almost killed his childhood friend because of a simple mistake. Suddenly, Genma felt a cold hand pull him away from Misao. He stood up and turned around. His eyes met Sanosuke's, who seemed angry. Sano grabbed Genma from his coat and roughed him a little.

"Leave her alone!"

"Don't touch me." Said Genma with a calm, but menacing tone.

"Says who?"

"I won't tell you twice."

Sanosuke's eyes filled with arrogance. He even chuckled a little.

"What are you gonna do about it?"

Then out of nowhere Genma grabbed Sanosuke from his waist (which seemed smaller than his size would suggest) and hurled him outside, knocking down the front door. He followed, making the same signaling gesture that he made to Kaoru when he first fought Yahiko while looking at the boy. Of course Yahiko knew what it meant and refused.

"I'll replace it, promise."

He pondered it for a few seconds, but in the end he gave his bokken even though he knew it was probably the last time he'd ever see it in one piece.

Genma took his blindfold and wrapped it around his left palm to use as a sheath for his wooden sword and stepped outside.

Kaoru heard a loud thumb with a crack in the distance. She chose to ignore it though; probably Genma and Yahiko were at it again. Or Misao and Yahiko. Whatever the couple was, she sort of expected it. Probably they got into an argument about something stupid and one of them crashed onto the table, making a huge mess. A mess she won't be cleaning of course, so there was no trouble. Not like she wasn't used to all that ruckus and…

That ruffling on the bushes started again.

Intrigued, she walked close to it. After a few steps the ruffling stopped. She leaned to look closer. Suddenly, something popped out of the bush and attacked her. It startled her and even made her scream. It wasn't until later that she took a good look at the little raccoon that almost caused her a heart attack. It didn't even attack her, but rather fled away from her. With a relieved sigh and feeling foolish, Kaoru got up to her feet.

She laughed quietly and decided to resume picking up the laundry. She was almost done, so might as well get it over with. All of a sudden she felt a sharp pain on the back of her head and fell on her knees. She cried out in pain for help, but her voice would not come out. Reaching for her mouth, she felt something other than her own lips. They were fingers, she was being attacked.

Sanosuke charged at Genma, fist in position and grinding his teeth. However every time he wailed at Genma he simply moved out of the way and hit him on either his shoulder or his back with his bokken. The poor bastard didn't know that it would take a lot more than that to take HIM down. He tried again, got hit again. At that rate they would keep on fighting forever.

"Can't you do better than that?!"

But Genma just stood there, waiting for him to get close and keep hitting him with that stick. He tried a few more times but no dice. At some point he noticed something that boiled his skin. Genma was laughing. A mocking laugh, like he was nothing but a street thug who doesn't know up from down. Time to pull out the big guns.

He threw a punch straight toward Genma's face with his left arm. As expected he ducked and did an upward slash with the stick against the back of his shoulder. At that same moment he tried using Mastery of Two Layers on Genma's ribs. Next thing he knew Genma was several feet away, sweating like no other and clutching his torso with his right hand.

"That's what you get from messing with me."

Genma dropped to his knees gasping for air.

About time Sanosuke wrapped things up. He tried another dashing attack at Genma.

Just when he was about to strike, Genma lifted his gaze. His eyes seemed cold, murderous. Not only that, there was something vicious about them, almost bloodthirsty.

It felt like he had crashed against a wall and time seemed to stop. It happened too fast to describe it, but after one punch in the gut he found himself flying across the small battlefield, arms completely paralyzed and his lung stripped of all air.

Genma approached with the same monstrous eyes, but at some point his attention shifted toward the back of the dojo and he sprinted in that direction, almost unaware of Sanosuke's presence. Then his mind slipped into unconsciousness.

"Where's the bag?"

"I don't know what you're talking about?"

He punched Kaoru and she fell on her knees. She tried to crawl away but it was useless.

"Fine, I have other ways to make you talk."

He wrapped one hand around her shoulders and pulled her up, close enough to feel his heartbeat pumping with adrenaline. A sharp noise took over, sending a shill up her spine.

"Do you remember now?"

The blade hovered in front of her face just like that snakelike voice. She wanted to tell him and get it over with, but the word wouldn't come out. She was paralyzed by fear.

"Very well. But I won't go home empty handed."

She could feel his tongue gliding over the skin of her cheek, meanwhile the blade course down her boy and slid beneath her obi. That was her chance. She revealed the rock she picked up when she fell from inside the sleeves of her kimono and in a sudden rush of adrenaline she drove it to the top of his skull. He let go of her and she started running, but before long he pushed her and she fell on all fours. He cut off Kaoru's obi and began to tug at her kimono, occasionally slamming her forehead against the floor in an attempt to force her into submission.

It was over; she was convinced of that now. After he was done with her body, this man would dispose of her. However just when she felt like giving up hope she felt a loud yell. More like a war cry. Her attacker got off of her and half a second later a strange wooden object slammed against the floor right beside her face, a bokken.

"Are you okay?"

It was almost a whisper, the voice unfamiliar. Even though he lay as close to her as the attacker, though, this one felt reassuring, friendly somehow.

"You're safe now, leave the rest to me."

His words seemed magical, as her fear was slowly drained out of her.

"Please don't look."

Then she was alone, at least she felt alone. His warmth gone and only his words remained, echoing in her mind endlessly.

Genma glared at the man before him, rage flooding every last corner of his body.

"Who sent you?"

The man's eyes went wide, stricken with fear. He turned to run away, but just as he gave the first step Genma hurled him against a tree. He tried to escape, but found himself suck by some kind of pinwheel that was now attached to his clothes.

"I'm waiting."

"It was Saki! Oruku Saki! Please don't kill me."

Another pinwheel needle flew out of nowhere and went right through his shoulder, pinning him to the tree. He screamed in pain.

"Tell Saki." Said Genma digging his finger into the wound. "To stay away from this building if he values his life or that of his subjects, UNDERSTOOD!"

He simply nodded hysterically. After that, Genma gave him a good pull, ripping some of the guy's shoulder off. Then he tapped his bokken against the wood twice. The wooden sword lit itself on fire and without any hesitation Genma threatened to attack the man, who ultimately ran off as if his life depended on it.

Kaoru was sitting on her knees now, still in shock. She couldn't remember ever being so close to death. She couldn't believe how helpless she was without Kenshin. A pair of hands suddenly held her bare shoulders and pulled her gently on her feet. She was scared at first, until the hands pulled up her kimono up to her shoulders and wrapped around her waist. Now she was angrier than ever.

"What the hell…!"

But things weren't what she thought they were. There he was, Genma fixing her clothes, yet his eyes closed and his face pointing toward the heavens, doing everything possible to not see anything he shouldn't.

"Please Kaoru, turn around."

As soon as she turned she could see what he was doing around her waist. A yellow sash gleamed below the moonlight, holding her clothes where they should be. She turned to Genma, who now was looking at her and holding his pants with his hand, and gave him a hug. Instead of hugging back however he grunted in pain.

"What's wrong?" She asked wide eyed.

"Nothing a good night's sleep won't cure."

She hardly believed him, but maybe he would tell her the next day. All that mattered was that they were both okay. She hugged him again, more gently this time and whispered while resting her head on his broad chest.

"Thank you."