Disclaimer: I do not own Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple.
Recap: Kenichi is in bad shape, after his teary confession to Shigure, which left every one choked up, his conscious left him, and he was taken to Akisame's Clinic for emergency care.
Leaving a shocked and confused Shigure in his departure. But Shigure has disappeared.
_-(((xxxXSXRXxxx)))-_
The mood was grim at the Ryōzanpaku dojo. After Kenichi went to the Clinic, no one really knew what to do, having normally would be training Kenichi, the sudden burst of spare time did not bide well for the Masters.
*At the dinner table, Every one save Kensai, Akisame, and Shigure are present*
"Man this just ain't right" Sakaki stated in a thick voice, " It just isn't the same without Kenichi".
"Sakaki is right!" said Apachai, "Dinner with no Kenichi no fun!"
They all nodded in agreement, looking to the Elder, as if to see what next. Concern written on all of there faces.
"Well" Started the Elder, "I'm sure Kensai and Akisame have him stable by now, so how about after dinner we all go to check on him?-"
"YAYYY!" Apachai yelled, pumping his fists in the air in victory with Sakaki, only to have their party cut short as the Elder continued.
"BUT" the Elder continued, "There will be no waking him up, loud noises, or disturbing him...have i made myself clear?" he questioned, looking hard into all of there eyes.
"Yes Elder" Everyone replied simultaneously.
*Shigure, sometime right before dinner was served*
"What..is this..." Shigure questioned, speaking to herself, "Why..would he.." she tried again, coming up with no answers, she thought back, to what she overheard from Akisame and Kensai when she was spying.
*Flashback*
"This is bad Kensai" Akisame stated shortly, "I don't know how how he was able to walk period, let alone talk".
"Yes, I know" Kensai muttered sadly,"Especially before he passed out, the pain must have been worse than death".
"It's incredible what people can do when they are in love" Akisame said quietly, half to himself, "He must have really thought he was going to die, and in all respects, he should be dead, after sustaining so many broken ribs, almost crushing his lungs, and fulling them with blood, along with the fractured collar bone and cracked shoulder, I'm surprised he didn't go down much sooner" Akisame continued, "Let alone the concussion and the fact that the pain was worse than death, I wish he did go down sooner, if just so he wouldn't have hurt himself more by walking home, if not just time where he wouldn't have to feel the pain".
"Your telling me" Kensai replied shortly, "Thats more pain that most people could stand for and not lose there minds in a world of pain, but to confess his feelings to Shigure?".
"You don't have to say it Kensai, I know" Akisame replied curtly, pain, and admiration in his eyes as he looked at his apprentice.
Shigure gasped from her position in the rafters at this.
Kenichi thought he was dying? He was in so much pain that normal people would have passed out, oh so long ago? He was willing to stand at what he thought was deaths door, perhaps even beckoning death all the quicker, just to state his feelings?
What are feelings, but things that get in the way in a fight, Shigure thought to herself, Or am I completely wrong? I don't think I am..But..this..pain..in the back of my mind..and in my chest..what is it? It throbs, every time I look at Kenichi..WHAT IS THIS?
Shaking of her thoughts Shigure went back to spying.
"Quick Kensai! block the nerves in his neck, I have to re set his ribs to get the pressure off of his lungs' Akisame requested, rather loudly.
"On it!" Kensai replied curtly, quickly going about to do as Akisame requested.
*Flashback End*
Shigure was stuck, in a battle that she had never fought before..and she didn't know what kind of weapon to use. And to a Weapon's master such as herself, that was a situation to be scared of.
Why couldn't she look at Kenichi without her chest throbbing? Why couldn't she get his words out of her head. Because thats where they were, bouncing around in her head..she couldn't stop marveling at them no-matter how hard she tried.
Yes, she did admit to herself, she was no stranger to that pounding in her chest. It did that quite often when Kenichi was around him, watching him train, watching him sleep, eat, or running errands for the dojo.
But this was on an entire different level.
When he said those words, those four simple words, just, "I care about you", it was like her chest exploded, so much it almost hurt. The feeling of his hand on her cheek, it left a hot trail wherever he touched, and making her heart rate increase even more so, almost reaching, what she thought, was a painful climax. Then he passed out, and it got worse. But when his hand went limp, it was like everything ended.
It was like she died.
A feeling foreign to the young Weapons Master.
After that she remembered her instincts taking over. Instincts she never knew she had. She remembered throwing herself over him, and some wet feeling on her cheeks. Could she have been crying? No, of course not, it had been many a year since such a thing had happened to her.
Yet upon feeling her wet cheeks, she had to reconsider. Why would he care about her? Why would he say that? And for that matter, why was she thinking she missed something, thinking back to what she overheard Akisame saying, reviewing his words in her mind.
"It's incredible what people can do when they are in love" Shigure finally remembered, then froze. Love...what people...can do...when they are in...love. She almost fell off of the rooftop she was crouching on. Kenichi..love..her? No way, not possible, not in a hundred lifetimes, it just wasn't possible.
Then what did he mean by that? She tried to convince herself that he was simply stating his friendship to her, but it was herd to even conscience herself. Why the hell would someone there friendship in what they thought could be there last moments.
"If he was confessing friendship, he would have held your hand, not your face" her continence told her quietly.
"Shut Up!" she yelled at her continence, trying to ignore her own thoughts, shaking her head as if to shake the thoughts away, she left from the rooftop.
*Back at the dinner table*
"You going to chew that till its dust Miu?" Sakaki asked fretfully, having finished his dinner almost before Apachai had, His impatience apparent as he scratched the back of his head with his right hand.
"Now now Sakaki, lets not be impatient" The Elder childed, scolding him like a parent, "You are not the only one who wants to go check on Kenichi. But be mindful of Miu, she did cook everyone dinner, Including your own you know".
He couldn't blame Sakaki for his impatience, he was actually quite anxious himself to check on the young disciple who showed such promise, but he remained firm in his belief in the young man's ability, not letting his emotions get him out of check.
"Elder is right, but I Still want to see Kenichi..apa" Apachai stated, offering a thumbs up at his own suggestion, "Lets take Kenichi some food for when he wakes up, he probably very hungry!" Apachai went on, running his stomach to visualize his thoughts.
"I'll go and put some food on a tray now" Miu replied, smiling in spite of the herself at Apachai. It was hard to frown whenever the childish Giant was anywhere to be found, or had any say in the matter. Miu got up, having finished her food, and began to collect the dishes when Apachai began gathering them as well, telling her he would get the dished so she could go and prepare Kenichi's food. She smiled, and walked on into the kitchen, carrying what dishes she had already collected along with her, placing them gently in the kitchen sink.
"Ap-pap-pap-pa, Ap-pap-pap-pa" Apachai went, marching into the kitchen, having all the plates in one arm, bowls on the other, and the glasses precariously balanced upon his head, " apa, Kenichi cares for Shigure" Apachai sung to himself as he placed the dishes in the sink, none to gently to Miu's dismay.
"It appears so" Miu smiled to Apachai, Pulling out a trey for Kenichi's food, "I'm happy he finally told her".
"You knew?" Apachai asked, disbelief written all over his face," Why didn't he tell any one else though? like Apa!"
Miu giggled lightly, a smile framing her face, though she quickly went back to placing the food on the trey,"He originally wasn't going to tell me, but I figured it and finally asked him about it, and he finally told me, He was insistent that I not tell anyone though".
"How did you figure it out though?" Apachai questioned, his face locked into a puzzled expression, "And don't you like Kenichi?".
"By the way he looked at her of course, you could see it written in his eyes" Miu smiled before continuing, "And of course I like Kenichi, he is like the brother I never had!".
At this Miu could have sworn she saw a movement from the ceiling, but quickly disregarded it, when, after careful observation on the ceiling, found nothing.
"Apa..brother?" Apachai scratched the back of his head at this, he always thought that Kenichi was really close to Miu.
Picking up on his question, Miu went on, "All of you guys her are like my family, and Kenichi and I are just really close, like family" she smiled, finishing with Kenichi's food and tying it all together with a cloth, then looking up at Apachai, wiping her brow with a kitchen towel, "All Done!" Miu went
*Back to Shigure*
She shifted from her position in the rafters, having been so engrossed in listening on Miu's conversation she almost lost her cover, sloppy work, she scolded herself, now crawling over the dining area on her way out to get some air, stopping as she heard Kenichi's name being brought up in conversation beneath her in the dining area, stopping to listen once again.
Upon stopping, she realized that it was the Elder talking to Sakaki.
*The Elder & Sakaki*
"So your tellin me..that you knew how Kenichi felt about Shigure all along" Sakaki questioned, his tone skeptical. Outlining his own obliviousness to the topic at hand, shrugging it away and putting back his bottle of Saki.
"Yes, that is exactly what I'm telling you" The Elder Pushed, Irritated at Sakaki's skeptical tone.
"Well... how did ya know?" Sakaki questioned, his curiosity loosened by the amount of Saki he had consumed already, in a vain attempt to drown his worry for his apprentice alive in Saki. A good plan in theory alone.
"Have you ever noticed how he changed when she was around? The Elder asked, upon seeing his tipsy friend shake his head, he continued, "When he was training, no-matter what kind of crazy contraption Akisame had him in, or whatever mad training exercises you had him doing-".
"Hey!" Sakaki cut in, "There's nothing wrong with my training method".
"I Know that" The Elder continued, giving Sakaki a small glare for interrupting him, but continuing all the same, "No-matter what he was doing, even when he had no more energy left in him, If Shigure appeared, he could keep on going, he always did his best when he knew she was watching" at this the Elder smiled, thinking back to how he watched the two countless times while taking his afternoon tea.
"Well" Sakaki went, now thinking back, "Now that you mention it-"
*Back to Shigure*
She resumed her crawling, now with a renewed urgency. She needed to get outside, she couldn't take any more of this. Was she the only one who hadn't seen this? Why was it that The Elder knew, and Miu knew, and even Akisame knew, based on how he acted when Kenichi went down, clearing a path between herself and Kenichi is his wake.
She lept from the rooftop of the main building, not even paying attention to where she was going.
Why had she been so blind? How did she miss something, that now seemed to be such a big deal.
Having someone like me is no big deal, she thought to herself. What made it such a big deal? She knew that guy's thought her pretty, even though she did not see why herself.
Kensai certainly seemed to think so, with his stupid damn camera's which he seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of, just thinking about it made her reach for her Shuriken unconsciously, checking herself upon realizing this, and then taking note of her surrounding's.
She looked around in confusion, where was she? She was in one of the ceilings, over a room it appeared.
Still being in the midst of recovery from her spying, she didn't even think to look for the marks she put into the wood over each room as a label, she simply moved a ceiling tile and hoped in.
Upon landing she looked where she was standing, noticing she was standing on a book, she reached down to pick it up, reading the cover.
"How to...Survive in the...Wilderness" She spoke softly to herself, standing there for a few seconds before realization hit her. She was in Kenichi's Room. How did she get here? Why did she come here? Ugh,she thought to herself, not knowing how many more surprises she could take in one day.
She looked around the room, eying his bed as she realized her own exhaustion. Not physically, but mentally, and most of all, emotionally. Shrugging, she walked over to it, sitting down on it, trying to think over all that had happened that day, all the while trying to tell herself that she was only making a big deal out of this because he was her disciple. Not because she had feelings of her own, that was insane..not even possible.
Kenichi only liked her as a friend, and she had set that in her mind. He had not, and never would think anything special of her.
Seeming satisfied with this turn in thought, and throughly ignoring the pain in her chest at that thought, she decided that she needed to get some sleep, and that she would not join the others in going to visit Kenichi, Because he thought nothing important, or special for her, and so she would simply put him out of her mind for the time being.
Turning to leave, something caught her eye. A light shine coming from under Kenichi's pillow. Moving to check it out, curiosity, she lifted the pillow, peering underneath it curiously, shock once again making its way across her face as she took in what she saw.
A picture, sitting on top of a leather-bound Journal.
A picture of her.
_-(((xxxXSXRXxxx)))-_
Well, hoped you enjoyed it, feed me some reviews if you would be so kind.
Even if you just ninja it, a quick comment saying if you like it or not would be much appreciated, though not required.
Have a Nice one, next one will hopefully be out before the end of the week.
My Regards,
-Shaw, SR-