A/N: The new live action Kenshin movie has really renewed my RK love. I'll be completing and updating both this story and Absolution in the very near future. It's been how many years since I updated? Anyways, I have the last three and final chapters finished and am just working on editing the others before I share them. I hope you feel satisfaction and entertainment with this story. Enishi + Kaoru!

Battle Front: Chapter 18

Kaoru woke up with a pounding headache. Her whole body ached and she knew she'd be covered in bruises and she worried about her lungs and the possibility of infection not to mention dehydration. When she opened her eyes she saw that there was a pitcher of water sitting in front of her as well as an empty glass. She could care less if it was drugged. Her mouth and throat were so parched that she'd risk passing out again from drugs rather than let the thirst continue.

After consuming two glasses of the refreshing water she forced herself to wait before drinking any more lest she throw up. If she drank too much at once she'd do herself more harm than good and she was already feeling more alert. A quick survey of the room showed that she was surrounded by plush pillows on the ground and tapestries adorned the walls. There was a faint light from a grouping of candles in the far corner of the room. There was enough light to see the dark purple bruises scattered across her flesh and they were more noticeable since her clothing had been changed and she now wore red and gold silken clothing that included a great deal of sheer satin. There were golden chains of necklaces with rubies adorning her neck and wrists-she looked like a harem girl. It was hard to appreciate the jewelry when instead of looking pretty it cut into her skin uncomfortably with sharp edges and the chains connected to the ground as a pretty yet effective prison-she had a visual of Princess Leia and Jabba the Hutt. As she shifted her hands the chains clinked loudly announcing each movement.

"You're very lucky," the Geisha woman Yumi said kneeling in front of her on the pillow-strewn floor. She picked up the pitcher of water and the glass and moved them to a table on the far side of the room. "Lord Shishio Makoto is the descendent of Cyrus the Great. In the old days great kingdoms would send gifts to the Persian Emperor as a sign of their respect and obedience. You should think of yourself as the gift from the American military."

"Forgive my lack of manners," Kaoru said wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and rattling her golden chains. The inelegant action earned her another disapproving look from Yumi.

The door to the dark pillow-strewn room opened and Shishio entered with a particularly cruel expression drawing down the corners of his thin lips and carving deep frown lines between his brow. "You Americans think you are so smart? I will show you smart. Hold her down, Yumi."

The other woman threw her weight at Kaoru knocking them both to the ground-Kaoru's breath wheezed out with the pressure against her injured ribs. It was chaos! Was this how Shishio planned to take her the first time? When she was weak and starving and under the weight of a woman a measly ten pounds heavier and locked to the ground in golden chains?

She wouldn't cry out. She wouldn't respond in any way. That was the vow Kaoru made to herself. That vow was quickly forgotten when Shishio's true intentions were revealed. She didn't know what sort of ancient weapon the terrorist held in his hands but she could tell that if he swung it at her that many bones would shatter. And by the terrible look in his dark, mad eyes she knew he was revisiting his earlier suggestion of destroying her means to walk.

Kaoru attempted to move her feet and legs away from the man's swings, but he had the advantage of time and her movements were severely limited. And it didn't take long before the terrible mallet connected at her ankle. Kaoru's scream hardly sounded human as it ripped from her lips. It was the worse feeling in the world—she could feel the small bones of her ankle sliding together and losing connection with the ligaments and tendons that compromised her ankle. And this time she did throw-up the water she'd just consumed revolted in her stomach from the absolute horror and pain of the attack.

The sound of her agony was no deterrent for Shishio as he continued to aim for her other ankle. "You American dogs ruined my computers! You try to make a fool of the descendant of Cyrus the Great!"

Blessedly, the next blow didn't come.

The door opened and Soujiro stood there with a gun aimed toward Shishio. "You hit her again and I'll blow your damn brains out," he warned.

Shishio lowered his mallet and gave a dismissive nod toward Yumi. She scampered away from Kaoru and left through a door hidden by a row of tapestries.

"You would betray me, Soujiro?"

"I warned you that she was important to me. Move away from her. Out that door," Soujiro said gesturing towards the door he had just entered.

"You would dare threaten me in my own strong hold?"

"Your men are all either captured or dead, Makoto."

"Then it hardly matters if I finish the job," Shishio said raising the mallet once more. Kaoru looked up in absolute terror as the mallet hovered over her and the intention of destroying her other ankle became clear. She'd never be able to dance, run, or let alone walk if he completed the crushing arc.

A shot rang out from the other side of the room opposite of Soujiro and the terrorist fell to the floor with a bloody hole in his forehead and the mallet clattered to the ground in a loud clang.

"My orders said dead or alive," Kenshin said lowering his gun. "Though it is a shame that he won't be properly interrogated now."

Tears of gratitude, pain, and terror mingled down Kaoru's cheeks as she clutched at the bloody mess that was her ankle. She could feel her body start to shut down as shock started to set in. Soujiro leaned down next to her and began to free her of the golden shackles that kept her strapped to the ground.

"At least gold is easily malleable," Soujiro said as he worked. He encouraged Kaoru to lay down amongst the pillows while he worked. "It's going to be fine. I'll get you out of here and we'll have the best trauma and surgical team available for you. I'm so sorry, I didn't think he'd go this far this soon. I thought I had time to get you out of here before he did anything so violent."

"Why?" Kaoru asked curling into the fetal position as an intense nausea overtook her body and she had to force herself not to vomit a second time.

"I was a double agent. Shishio was too unpredictable though. I should never have let him take a hostage, but it was either you or Shinomori and let's just say that Shishio enjoys chopping up his male prisoners a piece at a time starting with what would make it possible to have children. I thought I'd have more time with you as the prisoner. I thought I could protect you," Soujiro confessed. Tears were streaming from his eyes as he loosened the last of the chains. He pulled Kaoru into his arms and hugged her tight. "I'm so sorry, Kaoru."

OoO

Enishi looked over at Kenshin and started towards the door when given the signal to proceed by his commanding officer/brother-in-law. At that precise moment Shishio Makoto would be discovering that his precious computers were destroying themselves with the virus he planted himself when trying to view the encrypted decoy research files. There was nothing better than outsmarting a criminal mastermind. Shishio's own greed for power would be his destruction.

Kenshin would be focusing on Shishio and Enishi's primary mission was the rescue effort of Kaoru Kamiya. Enishi first found the torture room and was dismayed to see all the blood staining the floor and furniture-was it Kaoru's? There was a faint blood trail leading to the back wall and he found a passageway hidden into the recesses of the wall and followed it deep into the earth.

He silently pushed the door but it didn't budge. Enishi pulled out his multipurpose tool and began to slide it into the lock and manually forced the door open using the five-fingered discount approach. The click of the tumblers disengaging was music to his ears and he gently pushed the door open. The door opened in time for him to see Himura fire off a shot at Makoto's head.

It was then that his eyes focused on the object of his search. It was as if he stepped out of time and space and entered a parallel universe where the sultan kept his harem girls. Amongst pillows littering the floor a familiar pool of dark hair and massive amounts of glittering gold chains drew his attention. Any fantasy dream he might have had inspired were ruined by the sight of all the blood and bruises marring Kaoru's flesh.

She was clutching at her ankle and it was a violent purple and red swollen mess. Enishi didn't waste time and hurried to her side as Soujiro released her from a hug, glanced over at Enishi, and then took off and vanished behind a set of tapestries. Kaoru looked up at him. Tears of pain shown in her eyes and Enishi crouched at her side and he could feel his heart clench in his chest at seeing the extent of her injuries. Could that even be fixed?

"Enishi?" Kaoru asked in disbelief with her voice cracking with emotion and pain. "I've had a very bad day."

The skimpy mostly sheer red and gold silk costume hardly covered her and there was a visible fresh scar over her rib cage. Was she stabbed too? Her body was covered in bruises. He checked her pulse and it was a strong but with an unsteady beat of about ninety beats per minute and she was breathing, though there seemed to be a slight wheeze coming from the lung near the apparent stabbing wound. Enish ripped off his shirt and tied it tightly in a make-shift brace about her ankle to help hold the mess together and to also staunch the bleeding. He pulled her into his arms and then picked her up and cradled her against his chest.

"We're out of here," Enishi said looking over toward Kenshin for confirmation. The redhead nodded his head in affirmation. Kaoru's breathing was labored and she struggled to stay awake as her body threatened to go into shock—which he couldn't allow—if she went into a coma it was possible she wouldn't wake up again. He brushed aside her dark hair and kissed her forehead tenderly. "You're safe now, Kaoru. I'll make sure you're fixed up; just don't you go to sleep. I know this hurts like hell, but don't you dare fall asleep."

Himura stalked over toward them, took the sword strapped across his back and beheaded Shishio. Enishi held the brave, bloodied woman in his arms and followed Himura out of the dungeons of Shishio's lair. The redhead carried the decapitated head by the hair and made his way to the waiting humvee outside the compound.

A pair of soldiers met them just outside of the vehicle and one held out a plastic box to store the decapitated head while the other offered to help Enishi with Kaoru, but he rejected the assistance.

Enishi didn't loosen his grip on Kaoru and sat with her in his lap on the floor of the back of the humvee with his back braced against the wall to decrease chances of them rolling about. He'd have preferred to fly her out and strap her down to a gurney, but that wasn't an option.

"It's going to be okay, Kaoru," he promised.

Kaoru buried her face against his collarbone and he could feel the hot tears soaking into his undershirt. "I'm going to lose my foot. They're going to amputate. I'll never run again. At least he didn't use an ax like in that horror movie."

"That's not going to happen. The best orthopedic and vascular surgeons are going to work a miracle on you and then we'll have the best physical therapist work their magic and you'll be dancing with me under the moonlight."

"I want to go home," Kaoru whispered her voice cracking as she continued to sob.

"We're going home. I'll take you there myself," Enishi promised. He could see that the shirt he'd wrapped around Kaoru's ankle was stained a deep scarlet. "Himura, I need you to tie your belt as a tourniquet around her lower leg. We have to stop the bleeding."

Kenshin crouched next to Enishi in the back of the vehicle and took off his belt and tied it tight on Kaoru's lower leg. "The tourniquet could stop the blood flow entirely," he warned.

"It's a better option than bleeding out," Enishi said through gritted teeth. He held Kaoru tight against him with one hand and used the other to look at her toes under his shirt. They were still mostly normal colored, so hopefully they had time to reach the trauma surgeons before it came to the point where she'd need amputation—but regardless he'd come to a decision.

"This isn't good," Kaoru moaned. "I really don't want to lose my foot."

"It doesn't matter," Enishi told her firmly.

"How can you say that? I'll be a cripple." Her chin trembled and while Enishi didn't appreciate her negative thoughts he'd rather her be talking than unconscious. He didn't know what other sort of injuries she sustained under Shishio, but with all those bruises a concussion on top of her leg and chest trauma wasn't too far-fetched.

"I don't care if I have to carry you everywhere for the rest of your life—because if that's what it takes I will do so. I'm not letting you out of my sight. I don't want to live another day if that day won't have you in it."

Kaoru reached up and pulled off the glasses perched on his nose with their turquoise lenses. "I wanted to see your real eyes when you said that."

Enishi blinked at her. "And what do they tell you?"

"That my dark-eyed hero is serious. But, Enishi, you can't be with me every day. That's impossible. Besides, we barely get along."

"I don't care. I want to start each day sharing breakfast with you and end each night sitting next to you on the couch complaining that there's nothing on television."

"I didn't think you watched television," she said blinking her eyes drowsily.

"I don't, because there's nothing on, but I would watch it just so I can complain to you that there's nothing on," Enishi retorted shifting Kaoru's weight to try and keep her alert.

"Where's Soujiro? Is he okay?"

"He's fine," Himura reassured her. "He captured that woman that held you down. I'm sorry you were involved, Dr. Kamiya. Things should have never progressed to this level."

"I'm sorry I was involved too," Kaoru mumbled and Enishi tightened his hold possessively on her.

A few more minutes passed in silence between them but Kaoru was awake, just clutching onto his shoulders tightly and sobbing quietly. The humvee came to a halt and Enishi struggled to keep his balance perfect so that Kaoru wasn't jarred by the movement.

"They have the OR prepped," Kenshin said holding his earpiece and listening to whoever was on the other end. He opened the back door and a stretcher was waiting and Enishi reluctantly placed Kaoru on the stretcher, but he kept hold of her hand and ran alongside it toward the base hospital.

Kaoru turned to face him as they put an oxygen mask over her mouth and kept her eyes trained to his. Enishi squeezed her hand. He looked at the doctor in charge. "I want to be in the room."

"Fine, you stay on the non-sterile side with the Anesthesiologist," the surgeon agreed. "I'm going to scrub in and be there shortly. The OR is already prepared. It's going to be fine, Kaoru," he assured her touching her shoulder gently. "We're going to do everything that we can."

It didn't take long for them to sedate Kaoru and have her prepared for the surgery. Enishi grit his teeth in frustration because it was too similar to the surgery he was present for on his sister. He wanted them to save her foot, but mostly he just wanted her to be okay. He wanted to talk with her when she wasn't consumed in pain and tell her exactly how he felt.

Because Enishi Yukishiro was pretty sure that the temperamental, kind-hearted, athletic, smart girl on the operating table in front of him was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with—he just had to convince her to share that opinion.

I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter...looks like Enishi knows how he feels about Kaoru...funny how seeing someone almost get killed right in front of you will change your perspective! Two more chapters left, they'll be out before this summer is over! No more extended waits! Thanks for your patience! BDN