Here's the second chapter, tell me what you think.
The Change
She was in the middle of putting up her strings, so she could dry the herbs Dr. Gensai had brought back, when someone slammed into their back. She hadn't been able to sense them at all, which told her they were well trained in hiding their presence. She probably should have seen this coming after letting Battousai contact his friends, but she had hoped he would let them know she didn't mean any of them any harm.
Something cold pressed against the side of her neck, "Where is he?"
"Seriously?" she did not like being threatened. Her training kicked in, in one swift move she jammed her elbow into his side and rolled away from the knife. It wasn't that hard to get away since he wasn't expecting a fight.
"You could have tried asking politely before putting a knife to my neck," She said once she was facing the man. He was taller than her with short black hair. "Didn't anyone ever teach you about being polite?" The man just stood there watching her. "I did not just spend the past week saving the Battousai's life just, so his friends could attack and threaten me."
"How exactly was I supposed to know you weren't a danger?" The man finally said.
"I guess I just assumed he would let you know. He's in that bedroom," She pointed and then returned to what she had been doing before being interrupted. The man nodded and entered the room. She saw that the Battousai was already sitting up in bed, which meant he had been awake through the whole thing. He had enough strength to walk to the door, he could have stopped his friend but hadn't.
Originally, she had planned on bringing him some tea when he woke up. Now, because she was so annoyed at the man, she decided he would just have to wait until after she had finished with her herbs.
The anger slowly left her as she sorted, grouped, and hung the herbs to dry. The poisonous plants went on the green string, the plants that reacted to skin went on the blue string, the roots on the yellow string, and everything else on the red string. This was her method to make sure nothing got messed up since some of the plants became hard to recognize once dried and labeling them was too dangerous since some were poisons. The man, she had heard the Battousai call him Aoshi, stood in the doorway and watched her.
A couple hours later, she was done, Aoshi had not moved. While she was putting everything away there was a knock at the door. "Kaoru, its me." Saito called through the door. Aoshi stiffened.
"Saito, you know the rules," she called.
"I know, I just wanted to make sure everything was fine."
"I'm fine, thank you."
"Well then, have a good day."
"You as well," she called and felt him withdraw from the door. "He's a friend," she told Aoshi who was still poised to attack.
"He sounded like a police man."
"He is. But like all other police men who know who I am, he knows better than to break the rules."
"What rules?"
"That no police officer is allowed inside while I have a patient." Aoshi did not reply to this.
It wasn't long before she felt another group moving towards her home. This group was far less welcome, but she didn't have a choice. Aoshi stiffened when she touched his arm and pushed him inside the room. "There is a group of idiots coming. It is best if you just keep the door closed this time. I don't think anything will happen but just in case, there is a secret door here," she said showing them the small door in the closet and how to open it. "If they try to come in, just hide in here. I will not stand for fighting in my home. It is a pain to clean up after."
She left before hearing a response, closing the door. It wasn't long before there was a pounding on her door.
"What?" she asked opening the door. Not even trying to hide her annoyance.
"I feel sick, so I came here," Gohei said. He towered over her, but she wasn't intimidated.
"Lucky me," she said letting him and his lackeys in.
"Whose here?" He asked looking at the closed bedroom door.
"None of your business," she said standing between him and the door, pointing towards the couch. "What's wrong?"
"I haven't been able to keep food down."
"How long?"
"A few days now," she nodded and did a quick physical. Checking his temperature and a few other things quickly revealed he was lying. Not that she would let on that she knew.
"It's probably just a stomach bug," she said moving to her herbs. "I'll make you something that should help."
"Drink this up and come back if you don't get better," she said once the tincture was done.
"You drink some first," she obliged and when nothing happened to her he downed the drink. Once it was finished he took his leave.
"That was Gohei Hiruma, right?" Aoshi asked.
"It was," she said cleaning up and then heading into the bedroom so Battousai didn't have to strain himself to hear the conversation. It was also lunch time, so she brought food in for the three of them.
"He's an idiot. He thought I wouldn't notice he was faking it since it was an internal illness. If I had to guess, he wanted to know if you were here."
"Do you think he figure it out?" Aoshi asked, always on edge.
"Probably not. Even if he did he will have more important things to worry about."
"What do you mean?" Battousai asked.
"Medicine used to help with a problem can usually cause the same problem if taken by a person who is not sick. Especially if I add something to it. He'll have quite the stomach ache for the next week. He must have been really curious to come here again after what I did last time."
"What did you do?"
"He came here and acted like I was his. So, I laced his tea with a strong laxative."
"Didn't you just drink some of the concoction you just gave him?"
She held up the leaf she was chewing on, "This counteracts it."
"I'm amazed he didn't just attack you."
"Oh, he's already tried that, never tried again."
"Aren't doctors supposed to not hurt people," Aoshi said and she could tell they were both on edge.
"Technically I am not a doctor, I'm an herbalist," This obviously didn't help, as both men moved towards weapons. "I have promised to help all those who come to me for aid and to never use my knowledge to kill. That doesn't mean I won't use my knowledge to give assholes, like Gohei, a taste of their own medicine. Besides it deters them from coming back. He and his men scare the people around here and find sport in abusing them. Unfortunately, a beating with a boken doesn't deter them as much as a week of being mysteriously sick."
"Then why have you not done anything to me?"
"Just because you break the law doesn't make you an asshole. I don't believe you are a bad person. You have strength, but you don't use it to take advantage of the weak. Instead you protect those who can't protect themselves."
He relaxed at this and his eyes did something she wasn't expecting. The fierce gold she had become use to faded slightly and was replaced by a faint purple color. It was her first glimpse at the man behind the Battousai.
"Well, now that Aoshi is here, I'm going to take a shower. The door is locked, and no one should be coming any way. Help yourselves to anything in the kitchen and don't touch my herbs. Only bother me if there is an emergency," she stood up, breaking her eyes away from his face, and left.
"She's one scary woman, that she is," Kenshin said relaxing. With Aoshi there and Kaoru not nearby, he could afford to do so.
"And your starting to like her despite that."
"You have to admit that she can take care of herself. On top of that she can make a man like Gohei sick for a week with a small vial of liquid. If she was going to do something she would have already, that she would." Aoshi did his typical grunt in response. "How are the others?"
"Worried. Hiko-san had been in a terrible mood. Misao should be here soon to check in. We didn't know if this was a trap. Your message wasn't that informative."
"We should try to make sure she doesn't attack our host. I would prefer to not anger Miss. Kaoru anymore."
Aoshi nodded, "How badly hurt are you?"
"I was unconscious for three days. Past that and the pain I'm not entirely sure. She always changes the bandages while I'm asleep, that she does."
"Should I take a look?"
"It might be best to wait for her. Who knows what she will do if someone messes with her handy work." The corner of Aoshi's mouth twitched, showing his amusement.
"Sorry for causing worry," he said, Aoshi simply nodded. As the silence stretched on, his mind started to wander back to the night he had been injured.
He had been on patrol like always. The others were off either investigating rumors or patrolling their own sections. His section was one of the areas with the highest crime rates because it was where the wealthy city turned into poverty. Where the rich took advantage of those who are weak and desperate. Someone had screamed, and he had gone to investigate. Looking back on it now, it was easy to see that it was a trap. He had found himself alone, in an empty building that was falling apart.
A few well-placed detonations quickly had the building collapsing. It hadn't been easy getting out before the entire building collapsed on him. He was able to avoid the bigger pieces of debris, but he had been hit by plenty of the smaller pieces. Smaller bits of concrete, glass, and pipes had slammed into him as he ran to get out. There wasn't much his sword could do against a building.
Once he got out he found himself face to face with a wall of armed police. He knew how to fight against guns but it still hadn't been easy, especially after just escaping from a collapsing building. Eventually, he got away and that's when his memory started to get a little fuzzy. He had started suffering from blood loss by then.
The police had been the ones to set the trap. They were more concerned with catching him than making the city a better place. True, he had killed his fair share of people and had been an assassin, back when he had been working for the elites, but he was only a criminal because he broke the law in order to save people. If the police spent more time catching the elites who bent and broke the laws to get what they wanted, then he wouldn't have to keep breaking the laws.
The police blamed him for any assassination that occurred in the city, even though none of them had been committed by him in over ten years. The elites hired assassins to do their dirty work, he had fallen in with one when he was younger and full of ideas of grandeur. He though he was doing good, until he saw the aftermath of what he had done. The poverty and desperation his actions had caused.
"You jerk," Kaoru suddenly shouted, bring him out of his memories. Quickly, he donned the mask of the Battousai again.
Misao had arrived. Due to the fact that neither he nor Aoshi were sending out any signs of there being trouble, she had not attacked Kaoru. She had however, come through the window and startled Kaoru, who had just finished her shower. Kaoru was not happy.
"You could have at least warned me someone was coming," Kaoru said. Her outburst had startled the young ninja, but not for long.
"Aoshi, Kenshin, are you alright?" Misao said, pushing past Kaoru into the room. He winced when she said his name. As far as he had known, Kaoru had not known his name and he hadn't planned on telling her. For his safety and her own. When Misao said his name though, Kaoru's eyebrows raised slightly, telling him that she hadn't missed it.
"We are fine, sorry for worrying you," he said before she could say anything more detrimental in her excited state. She was a fierce ninja and a good ally, but she was young and prone to letting her emotions take control.
"Go back and tell the others that we will be back in a few days once the Battousai has regained his strength," Aoshi said, realizing that Misao would probably recite the names of everyone in the group and how worried they had been, if he didn't keep her focused.
"How many more days?" Misao said taking the hint.
"Unless there are any changes, tomorrow or the day after. Depending on how the Battousai feels," Kaoru spoke up from the door way. Kenshin sighed.
"Call me Kenshin, since you now know my name there's no reason you shouldn't use it," he said. She nodded and studied him. "What?"
"Your name, it suits you," was all she said. With that she turned and left. It took Kenshin a few minutes to shake off the surprise her comment had caused.
"I'll let the others know," Misao said and left. Aoshi let out a long breath and sat down again. Kenshin couldn't help but laugh. Misao was improving, but she had a while to go before she was a true ninja.
Once Misao was gone, Kaoru came back in with a notebook under her arm, a bowl of water, new bandages, and a bowl of a strange looking green mixture.
"I need to change the bandages," she said opening the notebook and reading through it before putting it down on the table.
"What's that?" he asked.
"Your medical record, in a manner of speaking. It is just a record of all your injuries, how I am treating them, and how they are healing," She handed him the book, so he could look over it. Then she took his closest arm and started undoing the bandages. Aoshi stood behind her and watched.
It was a bit of a shock when the bandages were removed, and his arm was green. Then she quickly used a sponge to clean his arm and the green stuff washed off, revealing a cut that ran up his arm, caused by a piece of glass or a bullet. It had been well stitched together and was healing remarkably well. She checked the wound, probably looking for signs of infection, then checked the book before nodding and grabbing a pair of scissors.
"I should be able to remove some of the stitches today, but you will have to make sure you don't strain the area and cause the wound to reopen. The rest of them won't be removed for another couple of days. Either your friends can remove them, if they know how, or you have to come back here so I can remove them." He nodded understanding, he along with Aoshi and Hiko knew how to remove stitches. Sano gave them plenty of practice with that.
She worked carefully and with skill. The ease at which her hands moved through every task proved she had been doing this for some time now. Once she was done with his arm she applied more of the weird green paste, explaining that it was made from comfrey leaves and that it helped wounds heal.
He had a few deep cuts on his torso and other arm. It was impossible to see his back but judging by the look Aoshi gave him, it wasn't a pretty sight. Which would explain why his back hut a lot. There was only one major cut on his thigh. Interlaced with the cuts were quite a few bruises. She poked and prodded at each, asking him how much it hurt.
When Aoshi complained about this she told him that it is hard to tell how bad a bruise is based just off the coloration since everyone bruised differently. Since Kenshin was awake she could finally figure out how bad they were. Sometimes she would leave and come back with a cotton cloth which she told them was soaked in witch-hazel or a bottle of mullein flower oil, which she applied to the worst of the bruises.
Along with the cuts and bruises he also had three cracked ribs, which explained why breathing was difficult. She encouraged him to take deep breaths instead of small ones and that it would actually help with the healing, especially since she had to wrap a bandage around his chest due to the cuts.
After everything was done he was truly amazed that it had only been a week since he had been injured and he was already feeling better. He told her as much.
She smiled and laughed a little, "That's because you were unconscious for the first three days. You had a fever for the first two days which really made it hard for you to breath. I had to resort to some pretty drastic measures to get you to stabilize. Many of which neither of you would have approved of if you had been here or awake. There was also the problem of how much blood you had lost. I don't have blood bags so that hindered the process even more as I tried to increase your red blood count without replacement blood, while trying to get you stabilized. I owe my neighbors a lot of ice after all the ice I took from them to keep the inflammation from your fractured ribs down. The inflammation was also hindering your breathing and made it nearly impossible for me to tell if your lungs had been punctured. My only reassurance was that you weren't turning blue.
"Then there was also the issue of you getting dehydrated. Getting you to drink water was quite the adventure. Thankfully, the fever helped to burn out any infections in the wounds, so once the fever broke everything started to move smoothly."
It took a couple of seconds for him to process this. No wonder she had complained about getting sleep. "Thank you for sticking with me then," he finally said.
"I didn't lug you across town just to let you die," she said with a faint smile.
"How did you get me across town?" He asked, and her face immediately closed.
"With a lot of effort," Was all she said, and he didn't find the need to push. However she had done it didn't matter. All that mattered is that she had done it.
"Well thank you. You should get some sleep. We can wake you if we need something."
"That was the plan," she said picking up her things. "Wake me if you need anything."
Once they heard her bedroom door close he looked at Aoshi, who nodded and went into the kitchen. They would see what she had so they could make her food once she woke up. After her description of the days before he had woken up, he felt like they could at least do that much.