He lost her.
Yoshi sent him to fetch the master of supplies to arrange a trade.
When he reached the master's tent, the commander there had another message for him. A replacement would go with the master to guard the entrance.
Kenshin could not protest a simple order.
He could not go back to question the girl.
He lost her.
He knew her, she said. She seemed to know him.
She had looked him in the eye and spoken to him. No one looked at him or spoke to him like that. He was only an orphan, recipient of pointless teasing and endless orders. The only people who looked him in the eye were the men he fought. Some had scarred him. Some he had scarred. Some he had killed.
He was Kenshin. He was no one's son, no one's brother, no one's lover, no one's friend. Even Akira, whom Kenshin remembered with faded echoes of resentment and fear, had only known Shinta, and now Shinta did not exist.
But Kenshin was something... to her.
Now he might never see her again.
.
After seeing him, Kaoru only knew that she had been lost, and this samurai - this young man... Something about him called to something in her, something she had forgotten - something beating inside her - a rhythm, a pulse.
Yahiko tugged on her arm as Grandfather tried to barter with the camp's supply master for some food, some tools. "What's wrong with you?" he hissed. "Are you trying to draw attention to us?"
"I don't know... I'm sorry. I don't know what it is about that man."
"He looks strange. You act strange. Maybe you're both possessed."
Kaoru's grip tightened on her stick, suddenly feeling ill. "You don't know anything about it."
"I know we need to get these supplies back to the mountain with as little trouble as possible."
"I'm not going back."
"What? Are you crazy?"
Kaoru felt shocked at her own words. She had never imagined abandoning this journey or the home she had with Genzai and Kohaku - Grandfather and Grandmother.
"I... I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?"
Kaoru felt very cold, suddenly. She felt afraid. "Nothing. I don't know what I meant. I'm... not staying here. I'm returning home."
Yahiko looked at her mistrustfully while she shook her head to clear it and pretended that nothing was wrong.
But Kaoru felt ill.
She had spoken what she intended to do, but she felt like she had lied.
.
For such fine-spun, well-woven cloth, the master of supplies gave them enough food to last the journey as well as some ironwork tools to take back to the mountain.
Genzai, Kaoru, and Yahiko packed their cart and started back the way they came. Grandfather said nothing to her, only glancing at her worriedly, while Yahiko kept watch over her as though afraid that she would bolt.
They had gotten a few miles away from the camp by the time that night fell.
It began to rain.
After an hour, it started to pour.
By midnight, they were in the middle of a hailstorm.
Their ox bellowed and struggled to break free. Kaoru and Genzai pushed against its flanks to comfort and guide it while Yahiko ran into the field off the path to try to find a place where they could shelter.
Yahiko was sprinting back toward them, waving his arm. Kaoru shouted to Genzai, "He found something!"
She could not hear the old man for a moment, but then he commanded, "Look!"
A rider, coming up behind Yahiko, overtaking him across the field. A samurai. He leapt from his mount between them and the boy. They could not see Yahiko. The samurai had his hand on the hilt of his sword.
It was the same red-haired swordsman.
Then Yahiko came forward, the samurai following, still holding the grip of his sword. Bright streaks of lightening illuminated the fear and anger on Yahiko's face, the cold determination of the samurai.
"All of you must come with me," the samurai said as they approached, barely audible over the storm.
Kaoru caught Yahiko by his shirt and pulled him to stand behind her, with Grandfather and the cart.
"Why?" she demanded.
"Don't ask questions. Just come."
"Let them go home. I'm the one you want. It was me." Again, Kaoru heard her own words as though someone else had spoken them, but still she held her ground between the samurai and Genzai and the boy.
She stood without bowing or flinching, watching the samurai's eye.
He stared at her. "...You."
She spoke with calm conviction. "It was me."
The samurai glanced at Yahiko and Genzai, frowning. He looked back to Kaoru.
She stared at him, and he stared at her. Rain was dripping into their eyes, small hailstones striking the wet earth around them. The storm, the situation, it all seemed to fade away before the question between them. What is this with us? Who are you?
"It will be worse for you," the samurai finally spoke, "if you are alone."
"Even so."
"Very well. The three of you had parted ways. I only found you."
Kaoru nodded. "You found me."
The samurai, in turn, nodded his assent.
Kaoru turned around and threw her arms around Grandfather, who seemed to be weeping. He murmured something into her ear - something like "knew we couldn't keep you." She hugged Yahiko, though she had barely gotten to know the boy. He stiffened and refused to look at her.
"Come on," the samurai snapped. He whistled for his horse and helped her mount it, then climbed up in front of her and ordered her to hold on.
"Stay safe!" Kaoru shouted as they galloped onto the road, into the storm, leaving her companions behind.
.