A/N: Thank you all for being so wonderfully supportive. Massive thanks to Syolen, who has like twenty times my talent and still puts up with me fangirling/sobbing about this damn story at her. Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, and signed up for notifications. I appreciate it very much!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
"I'm dying." Groaning above the small bucket that contains the final bits of her last meal, Kaoru pushes sweaty hair from her face and trembles.
Kenshin pats her shoulder comfortingly before removing the bucket, disappearing out of the small cabin they share to dump her sick overboard. He returns when it is empty, carrying fresh water and cloths.
"Sea sickness," he advises sagely. "It will pass."
"No, you idiot," Kaoru corrects crossly. Doesn't he see how sick she is? Her inside slosh meanly with motions of the ship, and she thinks even her brain will be liquefied, left to drip stickily out of her ears. "I'm going to die."
"You'll be fine." More patronizing than comforting, Kaoru scowls at Kenshin's tone of voice. Her hand flashes out and smacks him hard on the side. He gives a yelping, "Oro!" of surprise, before lunging forward to put the bucket between Kaoru and the floor as a heave surges through her body.
She dangles from the little bunk they share, body convulsing. Kenshin drapes a cool cloth over the back of her neck, and resumes his caretaking.
(He stops correcting her when she proclaims death is near but only after she threatens to lodge her bokken in truly uncomfortable place.)