Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, just using them.

Chapter four

Saito's POV

I knew that the Battousai was asleep and I waited to open my eyes for a moment. My head wasn't hurting as bad as before, but my side burned. I carefully I sat up and reached for the nearest piece of wood; the fire had died down and it was cold again. The dry wood caught fire easily and I lay back down, feeling the stitches pull at the edges of the wound. I lifted the bandages and inspected the Battousai's handiwork. It was rough work, but it kept me from bleeding to death. The Battousai shifted in his sleep and then opened his eyes to stare at me. His eyes were back to gold.

"I told you if you tore those stitches I'd slit your throat. Don't get up again Wolf." The Battousai growled at me. I began to sit up slowly and he was at my side almost instantly. "You don't know how to follow orders do you? Your acting like an ahou you know that."

"I can't lay like that for that long Battousai." I growled back resisting his attempts to get me to lay back. He glared and then helped me to sit up against the heavy medicine box from the back of the cave. "You never answered my question from last night Battousai."

"That is because I don't have an answer for you Wolf. I don't know why I saved you." He answered resuming his position by the other side of the fire. I watched his eyes change to purple for a while and then back to gold. "Is there a town near here that we can get to? We cannot sit here for much longer."

I thought of the terrain again and shook my head, which made me dizzy again. The Battousai sighed and then stood up. I saw fresh blood stain his own bandages and reached backwards into the box.

"What are you doing?" He asked sharply. "If you tear those…"

"Yes I know. If I tear my stitches you'll slit my throat. But you have just torn your own stitches and they need to be redone, so come here and I'll stitch up your wounds." I snapped back. He looked like he was about to argue with me. "Now Battousai."

He frowned but came over to me and sat down where I could reach his wounds. I smirked; even Okita obeyed me when I used that tone of voice. I took a small blade and cut away the ragged stitches that the Battousai had done and started on my own.

Kenshin's POV

I winced as Saito cut out the stitches I had done and started with his own stitches. He was so annoying when he didn't listen but I had to admit, Saito's stitches were far better than mine. He probed the bottom of one cut and muttered under his breath. He reached back into the box and came out with a smaller blade than the one he had cut out the stitches with. He cut into my skin just below where he had stopped the stitches. I let out a hiss of pain as he pushed hard against the wound.

"What in the hell are you doing?" I asked as the pain spread from my abdomen to my spine. He had hit a very sensitive nerve. He ignored me and focused on my wound. "Wolf what in the hell are you doing?"

"Stop your complaining and stay still." He ordered as my body began to shake from pain. He grabbed one shoulder and forced me down. The pain lessened somewhat, but my body was still shaking. Saito ripped a piece of my shirt sleeve off and rolled it up. "Bite down on this. This is going to hurt like hell."

I did as Saito asked and the pain became excruciating. My vision became dark and I stopped fighting it. I passed out gratefully.

Saito's POV

I was grateful when the Battousai finally passed out. This was going to be hard enough without him shaking. I found the piece of metal again and began to ease it out of his flesh. It was the very tip of an arrow. The arrow head was jagged and it would have poisoned the Battousai within a few weeks if he had lived that long. I put the arrow head down and probed deeper into the wound to see if any of the shaft was left in as well. There was nothing else so I stitched up the wound.

I put a pad of bandages over the abdominal wound but didn't wrap the bandages around his abdomen. I was exhausted and wanted to sleep, but as long as the Battousai was asleep I had to keep watch. It was safer that way and I wasn't sure how he was going to react to my surgery so I wanted to be awake for his reaction. I picked up the arrow head and turned it over in my hand.

"You should have had this removed Battousai. It was dangerous to leave it in. And you said I was acting like an ahou." I mused placing another piece of wood in to fire. I stayed awake for another hour before I decided to sleep.

Ahou means idiot.

TBC…