Broken

Chapter 13: Battered

His eyelids felt heavy. His entire body hurt. His limb felt…well, he couldn't feel anything.

"Try not to move, I might hurt you further."

"Who the hell are you?"

Sanosuke asked, but the words didn't seem to come out.

"It's Genma, now stay still unless you want to spend the rest of the week completely paralyzed."

He closed his eyes, but the pain wouldn't cease. His mouth tasted bitter. A thick, heavy taste, like something you might get at a clinic or from a soup gone bad. Almost as bad as…

He fell asleep.

Genma was finally done fixing the front door, which honestly was in much worse condition than it's appearance might've suggested, when Kaoru came outside to check up on him.

"Are you okay?" He asked her instinctively.

Kaoru nodded with a slight smile, the kind that says I'm better but not quite alright. Drawn by an unseen force he couldn't help but worry. Before he could even notice he had left his activity and was just looking at her, ready to throw another question at her.

"You sure?"

"I'm just a little shook up from last night. Also my head hurts."

He moved closer and placed a caressing hand on her forehead, right beside a small cut from the night before. His hand, although rough and worn, felt rather kind and soft. A warm feeling that somehow made her feel comfortable, safe.

"Don't worry about it. It was just a small cut and you should be a lot better by noon."

They stared and smiled at each other for a second, but as Genma's cheeks began to turn pink he returned to what he was doing.

"One more thing."

He looked up to her.

"Sure."

"He was talking about a bag you supposedly have."

His expression changed from childish to as serious as anyone can be. Then he seemed burdened and even worried, but it all went away and he returned to his usual goofy self.

"Wanna see it?"

He entered the living room with his white duffel bag. Kaoru had forgotten all about it, but she remembered seeing it when he first came to Kamiya Dojo. He also wore a strange white coat with belts on it back then. Genma placed the bag very carefully on the floor. Opened it with the same care and pulled a few long items from inside. It took her all of a minute to figure it out. They were swords, eight of them.

"Remember that sword collection I mentioned? This is it. A little small, sure, but worth more than most." He said very proud of himself.

They were all different somehow, some didn't even look like normal swords. She grabbed one and pulled it out of the sheath with an amazed look. The hilt had the shape of a snake, completely white except for the ruby eyes, real rubies. The blade was very sharp and completely black.

"Don't swing it."

She felt startled, as if a spell had been broken.

"It releases poison from the hilt toward the blade every time you swing that sword."

She quickly slid the blade into it's sheath again to avoid any accidents, but not without noticing a small crest near the sword guard. It looked like some sort of origami figurine, like a bird of some kind, not a crane, it was more like an owl.

"These are the last of the Masamune. Ever heard of them?"

"Not much."

"Not much to tell really, they were a family of blacksmiths that were all killed in a single night."

She couldn't help but be amazed.

"By who?"

"Nobody knows, but apparently they were thieves, since all of their weapons disappeared. That assassin I told you about, he's the last of them."

Her throat tightened a little. She had spent the last few days as if nothing important was happening. The fact that Kenshin's life was at stake had totally slipped her mind. What was wrong with her?

"But." She asked. "What does he want with Kenshin?"

"I believe he thinks that Kenshin's sword is one of his family's, after all he IS traveling around retrieving them."

There was something strange in his tone. He seemed irritated somehow. Like she had done something wrong or she was bothering him somehow. But unlike many other times she felt uncharacteristically bad, she felt sad for some reason.

"Sorry." He said in a lower, tamed tone

She looked back at him.

"It's just that I didn't get much sleep last night and I m a little bit jumpy."

A wave of relief flooded her body. It felt awkward though.

Kaoru quickly grabbed another sword to shake away that feeling. It was very heavy and even though the hilt was normal sized, the sheath was abnormally thick, like five inches thick. Even quicker did he snatch it away from between her fingers, scaring her.

"Sorry, it's just that I don't want you to get hurt."

He grabbed the hilt with his left hand and the sheath with the other.

"When this sword's blade vibrates it emits a sound that disturbs a person's senses when heard. It can make you dizzy, disoriented, your eyesight gets distorted and you may even get sick to your stomach. Most people only get the symptoms, but a delicate flower like yourself could actually get hurt."

He could fell his cheeks changing in color again, but this time he spent no effort trying to hide it, as hers changed ever so slightly as well.

"Cover your ears."

And so she did. As soon as Kaoru placed her hands over her ears Genma began to pull the sword slowly from within the sheath. The origami crest was visible, but on that one it was different. It didn't look like anything she'd seen before. Not origami, but a word. Love.

Genma suddenly stood up and stepped beside the door, holding the sword tightly, as if prepared to attack someone. He said something to her, but she didn't get it.

"What?" She asked uncovering her ears.

"I said that there's someone outside walking toward us, probably a woman, not too tall, thin, probably mature…"

"How can you tell?"

"Weighs about 100 pounds approximately…"

"HEY!"

He looked at Kaoru with a surprised look.

"How can you tell?"

"Her footsteps, can't you hear them?"

She shook her head, more confused than ever.

"It's probably Megumi."

"Friend of yours?" He asked raising one eyebrow.

After Kaoru nodded Genma seemed to relax a little, as he eased his grip on the sword. He turned to sit beside Kaoru while still looking outside. As he did this, she couldn't help but noticing a long line of stitches on the left side of his torso and a strange necklace he hadn't been wearing any of the other days he had spent there. It was a simple black colored string with a long, slightly curved, ivory colored object tied to it. It sort of looked like a bone, or so she thought.

The front door slid open and Megumi stepped inside. However her eyes shifted toward Genma and before even greeting anyone she found herself staring at Genma's bare chest.

"Nice to meet you too?" Genma said sarcastically.

Apparently Genma's comment did not have the desired effect, since Megumi simply walked toward Kaoru and greeted her, seemingly unfazed by his sarcastic remark.

"Genma, don't be rude."

He couldn't help but feel awkward, being scolded by a girl younger than him. Paradoxically though, it made him feel like he belonged.

"My apologies, Miss Megumi." He extended his hand. "My name is Genma, pleased to meet you."

She took his hand without saying anything.

"My, nice grip." She said.

Genma's eyes widened for some reason. Not surprise, it looked more like worry. That without mentioning how awkwardly uncomfortable he felt at that moment.

"Well…" He said pulling his hand away from hers. "About time I left to do something productive."

"Where are you going?" Kaoru asked but apparently he didn't hear her since he just disappeared into the building.

The area in which he was wasn't very clear. He didn't even know where he was. But he kept walking anyway. How long had it been? Hours, days, seconds? No way to be sure. As he continued to press on the ground began to shake. Not an earthquake, just zigzagging. He fell on his knees for a moment. Then he opened his eyes…

Yahiko woke up and there he was. Genma hovered above him with that creepy grin of his.

"Rise and shine kid! You've got training!"

The boy turned around and resumed sleep, mumbling something but Genma didn't quite get.

Annoyed, Genma grabbed the collar of Yahiko's top and lifted him like you would a kitty and took him outside, walking past Kaoru and Megumi but not even looking at them. He even seemed to rush a little in their presence. He dropped Yahiko on the floor which woke him up again. He started complaining, but Genma seemed too busy trying to figure out how the hell this kid could sleep while being carried all over the dojo.

"What the hell is your problem?!" Yahiko asked furious.

"I already told you, you have training today."

"Says who?!"

"Kaoru didn't tell you?"

The boy shook his head in confusion. Suddenly Genma just burst into an uncontrollable laughter, clutching his gut and struggling not to fall off of his feet.

"What's so funny?" Yahiko said making no effort to hide his anger.

"Must've been weird carrying those around all day for no reason."

Yahiko didn't say anything, but his confused expression let it all out.

"Thing is…I kinda sorta took over your training."

But nothing happened. It was strange, he was expecting Yahiko to get mad, yell a little, and throw one thing or two at him. Instead he just stood there looking at his bracelets.

"Aren't you going to say anything?"

"I forgot I had these on."

"I mean about taking over your training."

"Not bad, I was getting bored anyway."

Not quite the answer he was expecting. Nevertheless, Genma couldn't help but feel aroused by Yahiko's attitude toward pushing himself past his limit.

Not being able to hide his smile, Genma rushed inside and came out holding his duffel bag just as fast. Just as he was opening it however, Misao was passing through. He felt pulled, he had screwed up big time the night before and the guilt was crushing him. Without giving it much thought, he walked to her, at least to say hi. The moment he touched her, however, she drove an elbow to his ribs with as much anger as anyone could put into such a move. After that, she simply walked away, ignoring the fact that Genma fell on his knees and clutched his torso in pain.

Yahiko rushed to his side.

"You okay?!"

"I'm fine."

Contrary to his words though, Genma clenched his teeth, winced and was sweating a lot. He was in deep pain. More troubling so, when the boy tried to help him up he noticed that his master's hand was drenched in blood.

"You're bleeding!"

"It's nothing; get back to your training."

"But…"

"NOW!" He yelled at Yahiko, who simply stepped out of his visual range.

"So, who is he?" Megumi asked with a devilish look on her eye.

"Just a friend."

"Oh, really?"

They stared at each other for a few moments. Kaoru had to choose her words carefully, otherwise she would never hear the end of it.

"Kenshin now about him?"

What followed was Megumi's devious laughter. Little did Kaoru know about the expression on her face. A large thump came from the entrance, but she didn't give it much thought, she was more worried about the position in which she was at that moment.

"Sorry for that."

It was Genma's voice, tired and broken. There was something about it that made Kaoru forget about everything else. Whatever it was, it made her head turn toward the entrance, although not toward the prettiest of sights. There he was, Genma standing at the door, his right hand on the left side of his torso, his fingers digging into his skin. To make it worse, almost all of his right side had a bright red glow, like it was covered in a mantle stained with fresh blood. There was no mantle, but that didn't stop that ghastly color from enveloping his arm, leg and part of the floor as well.

A loud shriek filled the room as he walked by, but then there was nothing but darkness, sweet, silent and comforting darkness.