Chapter Five

Her eyes opened as a gust of cold air chilled her face; she could hear someone's heart beat in her war, as well as the muffled sound of talking. She remembered what had happened before she had fallen asleep and realised that she must have been sleeping several hours because the sun was shining brightly.

"But Sensei, why are you holding her so tightly?"She heard a young voice say. As comfortable as she was, the emotion in her voice made her look round.

"Pinako, she asked me if she could see the dawn but she was too weak to hold herself up. You've seen how ill she is," Jack retorted gently, no one had noticed that Kiba had woken up.

"But Sensei," she whined, stamping her foot.

"Pinako," she whispered, making them all jump, "please forgive the doctor, he did nothing wrong." The little girl stared at her for a moment before nodding slowly.

"If you say so, I'll forgive him," she said gently, she walked up to him and hugged his side, making sure that she didn't jolt Kiba.

"Pinako, we're going to operate on Kiba," Jack said, the little girl looked from him to her for a moment before nodding and running to find his bag. Jack helped Kiba to sit up on her own before he stood and stretched, popping his joints. He picked her up bridal style and carried her back to her room, her hand tightly holding his shirt in a fist. He pit her down against the wall and began to prepare the room, creating a tall bed that she could lie on during the operation. Pinako ran in with his bag and he set up the portable operation theatre. The oil in the torches where checked and refilled so that they would last the whole procedure. After they had finished preparing, Jack picked up Kiba and gently placed her on the bed.

"This might hurt a little," he said holding a syringe and cleaned her arm with a piece of cotton wool. She nodded and looked away, wincing when he pushed the needle into her arm. She started when her vision began to go blurry but she relaxed when Jack pit his hand on her shoulder, making hushing sounds. She closed her eyes and let oblivion take her.

The instant her breathing slowed, Jack flew into action connecting the breathing equipment.

"Let's do this," he said to Pinako who handed him a scalpel.

"What's going on in there?" Kaoru asked, trying to push past Sanosuke who was blocking the way.

"He's operation on her," Megumi said, coming up from behind them, "If you went in there now you would break his concentration and the girl would die." Kaoru stopped struggling and stared at the fox woman whilst biting her lip. Kenshin put his hands on her shoulders and led her to an empty patch of walkway to sit down. He sat down next to her and held her hand, stroking the back of it with her thumb.

"Kiba is a strong girl, that she is. Just have faith in her," he said comforting her. She leaned against him which her head on his shoulder as they sat waiting for news on her friend. Megumi paced around being unused to being the person outside the room. In the end she began to drive Sano insane so he stopped her movements by pulling her towards him and wrapping his arms around her.

Two and a half hours later the door opened and Jack stepped out, taking off the cap that was covering his hair.

"Doctor, how is she?" Sano asked before anyone else had a chance to.

"She's just fine," he smiled looking back into the room, "her self-diagnosis was very accurate. There was a point in time when her life was in danger but with Pinako's help she was able pull through."

"Pinako's help?" Megumi asked shocked. Jack nodded and picked up the yawning child who was standing by his feet.

"She was in charge of keeping the blood entering into Kiba's lung to a minimum. Because she did her job to the best of her ability, Kiba survived," Jack said seriously looking down at the young girl who had fallen asleep in his arms.

"Doctor?" Black Jack turned to see Kenshin frowning, "What do you mean by self-diagnosis?" Megumi started and stared at the man with wide eyes.

"Kiba knew what was wrong with her," the scarred doctor looked at Megumi, "she didn't want to say anything just in case you tried to cure her."

"Of course I would try to cure her, why shouldn't I?!"

"Her situation was very precarious. If you had tried to remove the offending object with this country's level of medical knowledge, Kiba would have died. No if's or buts she would have certainly died," he said firmly, he needed her to understand that he wasn't trying to take her position of town physician.

"Well, you'll have to stay here whilst she recovers. As payment for the rooms that you will use, I will have you teach me some of your methods for treating patients, " she narrowed her eyes at him, "And I won't take no for an answer." He looked shocked for a moment then smiled, the look in his eye softening.

"I would be honored to."

Her eyes slowly flickered open and her vision focused to stare up at the ceiling above her. She turned her head and saw that, whilst she had been asleep, everyone had crept into the room and were sat around her in various stages of drowsiness. Sanosuke was lying fast asleep on his back beside her, his arm behind his head.

"How are you feeling?" Jack's soft voice reached her ears and she turned to see him sat on her left.

"Better that I have since I came here, there is no pain when I breathe," Tears of joy glittered in her eyes, "thank you."

"You need to stay in bed for a couple of days just to make sure you do not reopen your wound," she nodded and made no effort to sit up. Kenshin looked up at them and saw a smile on her face.

"To be able to run freely, to laugh without fear of having a coughing fit, it sounds almost unreal," she whispered. Jack smiled and brushed a lock of hair out of her face.

Two days later at midday, everyone was sat around a table waiting for Kaoru to bring in their lunch. She had just placed all the dishes in front of them when the sliding door opened. Kiba stood there, her red hair framing her face.

"Why are you up? I told you to stay in bed," Jack scolded, beginning to get to his feet.

"I don't like eating on my own and I'm beginning to go stiff from all this lying around," she walked in and sat down next to him. He huffed and sat back down. Pinako piled up a plate with food and gave it to the girl to stop her moving around so much.

When she thought that no one was watching, she reached forward and picked up a piece of sushi and ate it within a millisecond. She looked up to see Kenshin watching her intently, his violet eyes ringed with yellow as his Battosai instinct bristled. She bit her lip and looked away from his piercing gaze ad began eating the food Pinako had given her. No one had noticed their gazes as they were watching Sanosuke and Yahiko fighting over a piece of food.

"I want to check how you are healing after we have finished eating?" Jack spoke in a tone that warned her not to argue.

"I'll make sure to bring her to you," Kenshin said quietly, a shiver went up her spine when he turned his gaze back to her. Jack nodded and finished eating, he left the room with Pinako on his heels to prepare for the assessment.

"Kiba?" Kenshin was on his feet and looking down at her, slowly she pulled herself to her feet and followed him out of the room.

"I saw you take that bit of sushi," he looked at her out of the corner of his eye and saw her pale; "you're almost completely healed, aren't you?" She gulped and carried on walking until his hand around her arm stopped her, "Answer me!"

"You know my bloodline," she spoke hesitantly; "I don't have any superhuman healing skills but I have become accustomed to the pain, having lived with it for so long. In fact the pain that I am feeling now is less than before the surgery. What would you prefer? Me up and around or sat out of the way, caged in a room?" her voice became harsh. He snarled as his eyes fully turned yellow.

"Don't presume to think that I don't care!" he pushed her up against the wall and put a firm hand around her throat, not applying enough pressure that she would choke, her hands wrapped around his wrist as a whimper escaped her mouth, "Ever since I claimed you as part of my pack I have watched over you. I know the pain of feeling caged, don't think I don't!" He let go of her and she stood there trembling, with a sigh Kenshin turned away from her.

"Kiba, I just don't want you to get hurt, you are the first person who I have ever met who knows what it is like to be a wildling," his eyes slowly turned from yellow back to violet.

"Forgive me," she sank to her knees with her arms wrapped around her chest. He looked down at her for a moment before sweeping her into his arms.

"I just want you to understand, we are your family now and this is your home," his voice rumbled in her ear, "don't feel like you have to hide everything from us. We can deal with it together." She nodded reluctantly, still unused to placing her trust in humans, her heart warmed at the knowledge that she had been accepted here.

They walked into the room the doctor had set up as the assessment room, Kiba was still shaking slightly. Jack raised an eyebrow at her and then saw the glance that Kenshin sent him and decided not to ask.

"Remove you top and lay on your back so I examine you," he ordered, she did what he asked without so much of a word.

He inspected the wound and started in shock, he couldn't believe his eyes.

"How is that possible?" She looked round at him with confusion clear on her face.

"What's the matter?" Kenshin asked walking up to see what Jack was so surprised about.

"The wound has already healed into a scar, there's no way anyone could heal so fast…"

Kiba looked at Kenshin biting her lip in worry. He saw the expression on her face and put a hand on her shoulder.

"What I said before hasn't changed," he then turned to the doctor, "I think she might hate me for saying this but would you like to stay with us whilst you work out the mystery behind her advanced healing? And afterwards, if it so pleases you?"

"I think I would like that very much," Jack said with a frown.

"Please don't look at me like that, I'm not a lab rat," I backed away from the doctor's inquisitive gaze.

"Don't worry I won't experiment all at once," he grinned at her and she couldn't help but laugh along with him.

No matter how much Black Jack ran tests on the red haired wolfen girl, he was never able to find out why she was able to heal her wounds at twice the normal human rate. The only difference between her and any other human being was the makeup of her blood; however on examination there was nothing present that could have caused such a thing to happen.

Needless to say, he and Pinako lived out the rest of their lives at the Kamiya Dojo. Once Pinako had grown into a woman (12 years later), the doctor took her as his wife knowing that if he didn't then she wouldn't have been able to stay with them much longer, as there had been a boy in their area who had taken a liking to her. A year after they were married Pinako gave birth to a dark haired boy who Black Jack named Kuro.

Kiba disappeared for a couple of months before returning with a pack of stray dogs, much to Kaoru's disgust. Kiba trained these dogs and bred them and soon she became know nationwide to be able to train the best guard dogs around. This brought in a large amount of money into the Dojo, which allowed them all to live comfortable lives.

The number of students at the Dojo had tripled when Yahiko matured into adulthood; he became very handsome which brought in many girls who in turn brought in the boys of the neighbourhood.

A young hunter came into town and, having no place to stay, he took board at the Dojo. His instincts and the lithe way he moved caught Kiba's eye. At first she had kept out of his way until she had seen a flash of yellow appear when his eyes caught the light in a certain way.

"What are you up to?" Kenshin had silently walked up behind her and was surprised when he saw that her irises had changed to the wolfen piercing yellow.

"I need your help," she narrowed her eyes, "Battosai." His eyes instantly turned yellow and he followed her towards the young man who was sat watching the carp in the pond. Feeling someone behind him, he span around only to freeze when he saw their eyes. Instinctively his irises turned gold and his hackles rose.

"I was right," Kiba slowly approached him, "you are a wolfen, just like me." His eyes widened in surprise before they returned to their original colour. Tears welled in her eyes and threatened to spill over before he wiped them away.

"I've never met anyone who had the same bloodline as me," he fell to his knees and took in a deep breath. Kiba's expression softened as she knelt down beside him, Kenshin ruffled her hair before walking away leaving the two of them alone.

Soon after they were married and mated with a litter of their own.

Even to this day, there are remnants of their decedents, those who have lost their human appearance and now exist only as wolves, highly intelligent wolves who speak to one another with the words of man; and those who have inherited Kenshin's and Kaoru's bloodline have had their names carved into the history of the world as hero's of war and as peacemakers. If you every see one of these crimson haired children, know that there is a wolf never far away.