Chapter Thirty-Four

Kenshin quickly pulled the long length of his haphazard ponytail from the collar of his shirt in order to avoid any misunderstandings. Having his shirt off while alone with Kaoru might make it look like he was a danger to her for other reasons than his fiery nature. Since he still had some personal things left to say to Kaoru that he wished to convey in private, he preferred not to ruin his chances by appearing to be a pervert. Thinking he might take a step back for good measure, Kenshin paused immediately when Kaoru's hand slid into his.

She smiled happily up at him, as if nothing else in the world mattered. The way her sapphire eyes blinked at him innocently did something strange to his heart. Then in a triumphant return of goofy energy, she pulled his hand up towards her face and dramatically planted her cheek in his open palm. Both hands pressed against the back of his knuckles and wrist, and she grinned up at him toothily with closed lashes and dried blood still lining her chin. From the doorway, Tomoe repressed a giggle, and Kenshin quickly jerked his head in the opposite direction to hide his expression.

"You two had a good talk, I see."

Kaoru's eyes popped back open to look over at Tomoe as she came closer to the couch. She nodded her head cheerfully against Kenshin's hand to agree.

"How wonderful, hmm?" Seating herself next to Kaoru, Tomoe brushed back her damp hair. "Let me look at you, sweet girl. Where does it hurt?"

Kenshin's hand was released reluctantly to point out her throat, jaw, and the back of her head. A quick examination confirmed the absence of a concussion, and Kenshin breathed easier as he rubbed his hands together. It had not escaped his notice that the wall was cracked behind where Iizuka had been holding Kaoru by the jaw. Kenshin knew, better than most, that humans were awfully fragile, despite their strength of will. When Tomoe asked Kaoru to open her mouth, a small frown formed between her brows.

"You're missing a tooth." Dabbing at the blood still seeping from the hole left in her gums, Tomoe attempted to gain a clearer understanding of the damage. "Thankfully it appears to have come out clean." Coal black eyes looked up at him, then over the mess inside the room. "If we could find the tooth, we might be able to set it back in. As long as it's not broken."

"Really? I'll look around."

"Do you have an idea where it might be, Kaoru-san?"

Kaoru pointed in the general area next to the door. After some searching and flipping over papers, Kenshin found the bloody molar where it had slid into a broken blue pencil.

"Found it."

"Good. Make sure you don't touch the root." Standing, Tomoe helped Kaoru up. "Let's rinse your mouth out with some water, and I'll do the same for the tooth. If this works, Megumi-sensei should be able to secure it, okay?"

Kenshin waited to follow them with the tooth in hand, but as soon as Kaoru's back was to him, his violet eyes widened in shock. The tear in her shirt gapped wide down her back, and just to the left of her spine was a new burn scar he had never seen before. At first, his mind shriveled in anguish as he assumed it to be confirmation that he had not just tried, but succeeded in hurting her. Then logic disagreed as he realized any burn he would have caused only four days prior would not have healed so fast.

"Kaoru." Touching a hand to her shoulder for attention, both women turned to look at him. "The burn scar on your back. Where did that come from?"

Kaoru frowned, and her mouth twisted slightly. Tomoe reached around to pull Kaoru's torn shirt up to cover her modestly.

"It seems to be of the same origin as the scar on her chest. Megumi believes it connected to the disappearing seal there. It…" Tomoe paused. "We're not sure, but it looks like she was stabbed all the way through."

"Stabbed?!" Struggling with surprised indignation, Kenshin scratched his free hand through his hair. "But… a stab there would have killed her. And why the burn if it was a weapon?"

"We don't know. I'm sorry, Himura-san, but we're still working it out."

"But…"

Small arms wrapped around his waist, and Kaoru briefly hugged him tight. A swallow forced down his protests, but the frown stayed on his face.

"Let's take care of this for now. Megumi-sensei wants to talk once we have everyone together."

Though reluctant, Kenshin followed them into the outer room of the bath where Kaoru was once more seated on a short stool. The tooth was rinsed clean with cool water, and Tomoe spoke aloud her relief that it was not cracked or chipped. Afterwards, it was carefully reset into Kaoru's mouth, and she bit tenderly down on a wash cloth to pack it back into place.

"Great. Now, why don't we change your shirt and dry your hair while we wait for Megumi-sensei? She said she would be up soon."

Tapping the fingers of his right hand on his thigh, Kenshin jerked his opposite thumb over his shoulder.

"I'll… pick up the room."

Blue eyes looked back up at him in that way that froze his lungs, but then she nodded after a moment to accept his absence. Back in the other room, Kenshin righted the desk and chair, and then began picking up the scattered papers, overturned canvasses, and dangerously hidden colored pencils. Near the desk, he found a broken wooden sword, and he bent to pick up the handle curiously. There was blood on it.

"Ken-sama. Glad to have you back." There was almost a slight purr in the voice. Turning to find the five-tailed vixen standing by the couch, he let the broken handle hang by his side.

"Wow. You look like shit." Her arms crossed, and one eyebrow cocked upward. Kenshin ignored her dry sarcasm.

"Iizuka?"

Pointed teeth flashed at him from behind a wicked grin. "Appropriately restrained. Unfortunately, Enishi knocked him out, and we're still waiting on him to wake up. No doubt, the fourth degree burns you gave him had a hand in his incapacitation."

"I barely touched him." Cool and unconcerned, Kenshin looked away.

An amused chortle filled the room. "His shattered kneecap and broken orbital bones would suggest otherwise."

Creases formed along his forehead. "That wasn't me." A moment later, he held up the broken handle again in realization.

"I don't need you to protect me."

Maybe so…

"Oh my, you're not suggesting our little heroine did that." An impressed look tilted her head to one side. "I might be able to like that girl." Megumi shifted to stride towards the bathroom, then stopped herself short.

"While I have your undivided attention, perhaps you might humor my curiosity. This…" Both hands came up to her chest, and she bent and straightened her fingers into an intricate hand sign. "Is this how you manually activate that love charm of yours?"

A scowl darkened his features. "How would you know that?"

"Ah. So it is. Well, that answers all my questions. You really are completely illogical when it comes to that girl." Laughing, she turned on her heel to leave the conversation hanging open.

"Wait, Megumi-san! How did you figure that out?"

Megumi sighed impatiently, as if explaining something she had already worked out in her head was a waste of her time.

"The security footage, obviously. Right before the salamander appeared, you made this hand sign. Only, your hands weren't together, which is why I didn't catch it the first four times I watched it. I figured it was either an attack sign, or the sign that activates the salamander. Of course, I was right in assuming it was for the salamander."

"But… I don't remember doing that." Perplexed, Kenshin's gaze lowered to the floor as he thought back over that incident for the hundredth time.

Dark brows lifted. "Are you telling me you activated it unconsciously?" Red lips pursed. "I suppose that explains even more."

"I thought it appeared to protect her from me. I thought it meant… that I tried to hurt her." The tone of his voice was low.

"Did you?"

"I… don't know."

"You don't know?" The question was incredulous, and when he didn't look up, Megumi sighed in disgust. "How the hell do you not know? Even if you attacked her on instinct, you would have known."

"I…"

Red-tinged irises studied the conflicted fire demon, before shifting her weight to face him fully once more. "Fine. Shall we work it out then? Tell me, Ken-sama, if your entire purpose is to protect something from harm, but you're called into a situation to protect that something when you have sensed no harm, what is the first thing you would do?"

"I don't understand the question."

Megumi's voice hardened, and shot out at him with the same speed and voraciousness as one of Hiko's punches.

"You have no idea what's going on, but you have to react immediately, otherwise little miss in their could die! What do you do?!"

"I make sure nothing can touch her while I assess the situation."

"Exactly." Her regal, superior tone returned, and her tails flicked. "Like say… with a tornado of fire." She shrugged nonchalantly, and Kenshin's shoulders relaxed in disbelief.

I… didn't… try to kill her.

"I'm still impressed that it was willing to attack you to protect her, but I suppose manually activating it the way you did gave it free reign to do what it wanted." This time, when she walked away, she didn't stop.

"By the way, I've invited a couple people over. They should be here in a couple hours. Once they arrive, let's talk about our resident human, hmm?"

X

Tomoe watched Megumi stand from the main work station to pocket her phone and walk towards the exit.

"They're here. Why don't you wake the children?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

A brief bow saw her out, and then Tomoe turned to the rec room. After cleaning everything up, both Kenshin and Kaoru had apparently decided to take an unplanned nap on the couch. It was slightly relieving, since Tomoe knew how little sleep Kaoru had been getting. From Kenshin's appearance, it was apparent he had slept even less. While they looked more than adorable, propped up against one another on the couch, and their exhausted expressions tugged at her heart, she knew the discussion that was about to take place was not something any of them could forgo.

Truth be told, Tomoe was already anxious knowing the little she had been allowed. Megumi had kept her findings close to the vest on purpose, and with Iizuka revealing himself as a double agent, Tomoe now knew why. She hoped Kenshin would find it in him to also understand. With his return, he had confirmed just how protective he continued to be of Kaoru. Learning Megumi had used her as bait would not sit well with him, no matter how much information they had learned as a result.

Touching them both lightly by the shoulder, Tomoe tried a small smile, but it quivered slightly when they blinked at her tiredly.

"It's time, you two. Come help me set up some chairs."

Briefly, Kaoru's arms tightened around Kenshin's waist, and she turned a yawn into the inner crevice of his shoulder. The hand he had inadvertently rested at her hip disappeared to fake a stretch.

Enishi beat Megumi and her guests back to the lab. Upon his request, he had been left with Iizuka, and his face told quite a story of disgust and bottled anger over whatever he had learned. He had no time to speak aloud what Iizuka had spilled about his clients, though, as Megumi butted in close behind him.

"Good, you made it." Megumi spared him a nod, before walking on through to the wall of glass and monitors separating the main room of the lab from the observation room. "Let's get introductions out of the way before we begin. This is my mentor, Genzai Oguni-sensei. You may remember that I enlisted his assistance after Kaoru was brought here."

A wizened nine-tailed fox stood where Megumi indicated, and he smiled at each of them in turn as they bowed a greeting. He stood straight, for an older demon, and his hands clasped together behind his back.

"A pleasure to meet you." His head nodded to one side. "I believe you know my escort."

Sagara Sōzō stood slightly behind and to the side of him, and he grinned at Kaoru's excited wave.

"You look a bit rough, Himura-san."

Kenshin closed his eyes and tried a harmless smile. "So I've been told. Nothing a good night's sleep shouldn't remedy."

"And my assistant," Genzai turned to look for a third person, and a slight frown marred his features when he found no one behind him. "Akira-kun, is everything alright?"

"Yes! Forgive me, Genzai-sensei! I-I got caught in the door!"

A rather frazzled daitengu stumbled into the room, and one dark wing looked to be uncomfortably bent. A red mask with a long nose had slipped out of place and successfully blinded him. Wandering off to one side, he tripped over one of the chairs that had been set up for their use. The folder and tablet in his hands went flying, the mask slipped from his ears and was accidentally kicked across the floor, and he landed ungracefully on his hands and knees. Genzai sighed and turned to help him up.

"Slow down, boy. There's no reason to be in a rush."

"O-of course, my apologies, Genzai-sensei."

Kneeling gracefully to pick up the mask that had stopped at her feet, Tomoe walked forward to hand it back to its owner. Dark eyes were looking at his legs as he dusted himself off, and saw first the offered mask.

"Oh, thank you so mu…" When he looked up, whatever gratitude his tongue had started to convey dried up in his throat and left his mouth hanging slack.

Standing straight and tall, the coal demon waited politely, and then nodded her head graciously when it seemed he would not finish his sentence.

"You're welcome."

Sharply, the tengu shook his head to collect himself. "Kiyosato Akira." He bowed again, only this time into an almost ninety-degree angle. "May I… know your name, my lady?"

Unfazed and perfectly poised, Tomoe bowed in turn with hands clasped at her waist.

"Yukishiro Tomoe."

"Tomoe… what a perfectly beautiful name." His voice was breathless and soft.

Turning away, Tomoe spared him one last glance to look him up and down out of the corner of her eye. "You may call me Yukishiro-san."

"Oh, of course. Please forgive me. I did not mean to be rude, Yukishiro-san." He bowed again, impossibly lower, but when he stood, he found himself face to face with the taller, intimidating stone golem. All of his scattered papers and the hard-cased tablet was shoved into his chest.

"Here."

"Ah, thank you, good sir." But dark eyes were captivated by the coal demon, and they wandered back over to watch her walk away.

"I'd keep my eyes to myself, if I were you." Enishi's voice was openly displeased with the crow demon's attention towards his sister.

The daitengu jerked his stare back to the golem in front of him. "May I have your name? So that I may thank you properly."

Enishi crossed his arms. "Yukishiro Enishi. I'm fine without your gratitude."

"Yukishiro?" Akira was almost crestfallen, but Enishi purposefully refused to clarify their relationship.

"Alright, are we done playing?" The vixen's voice was snappish. "There's a lot to cover, and a lot we need to plan afterwards. Enishi, you go first. What did you find out from Iizuka?"

There was a moment of respite as everyone settled into a chair, and then Enishi's deep voice filled the room.

"You were right. He was working for Sojiro."

Kenshin instantly frowned in indignation. "You knew?"

Megumi barely spared him a glance. "I suspected, but I only knew for certain a few months ago when I found out he was intercepting my communications with Genzai-sensei. We decided it would be better to leave him where he was and keep an eye on him. Since Sojiro did not seem interested in taking her back or harming her, I thought she would be safe. I didn't tell you, because I knew you wouldn't go along with it."

"As he shouldn't." Enishi was the one to answer, and his voice was angry enough for everyone. "Unfortunately, Iizuka was also working for someone else who wanted her dead. Someone by the name of Ōkubo Toshimichi."

Sōzō, who had chosen to stand, stepped forward. "What?"

Kenshin's hand tightened around Kaoru's, and he stared at Sōzō with open hostility.

"What else, Enishi?" Kenshin's voice echoed.

"The ogre claims he doesn't know anything else. At first Ōkubo only wanted copies of the information collected on Kaoru-san, but then changed his request almost immediately after receiving the pictures Iizuka sent him. Apparently, he was willing to pay a lot of money to have her killed."

"I wish you wouldn't look at me like that, Himura-san." Sōzō was able to hold his stare, but only because of his military training. "I have never served under Ōkubo-san, and would not have condoned or went along with such an order. You may also be interested to know, Ōkubo Toshimichi was found dead just this afternoon. No doubt it will be withheld from the media for a few days while they investigate the cause. However, it does not appear natural."

The scowl on Kenshin's face lightened with surprise.

"Well, that is an interesting development." Megumi chewed her thumb nail. "That's either a majorly lucky coincidence, or Sojiro found out he was using the same informant and wasn't happy to share. Either way, it may be worrisome for us, if the rest of the government finds out about Ōkubo's investigation into my lab."

"I will see what I can do to cover for you." This time, the nine-tailed fox spoke up. "To be honest, it would be best if no one finds out about your young ward." Kind, dark eyes looked over at Kaoru, and the tenko smiled. "No matter your origin, I find it distasteful when young life is tampered with."

Finally calmed enough to participate in the conversation, Kenshin spoke his contemplations aloud.

"I understand there are many demons who might react… unkindly if they discovered Kaoru is human, but why would the government care? She's only one human. What damage do they think she can do?"

"Well…" A long, deep breath pulled into Megumi's lungs. "It may have something to do with humans being extinct."

"Like I said, she's only one human."

"Ken-sama, think about what you just said. Humans barely lived ninety years, sometimes, rarely, to one hundred."

"So?" His almost defensive answer caused the vixen's eyes to roll.

"So… where do you think she came from?"

Kenshin's face dropped, and his head jerked when the daitengu stood.

"Here. This may help explain." A single sheet of paper was withdrawn from his folder, and he handed it to Kenshin. "I found that in the government's classified system."

A glance down at the sheet revealed a black and white close-up picture of Kaoru's face. Directly above the picture, in bold lettering, was the word MISSING. Without looking at anything else on the paper, Kenshin's eyes darted up. Next to him, Kaoru's chin leaned against his shoulder to study the page in his distraction.

"This means nothing. Sojiro reported her missing when she escaped from him."

"Himura-san… look at the date." Enishi, on his other side, grabbed one side of the paper and lifted it. "This missing person flier is from three hundred years ago!"

"Yes, I found it in an old data file, in what used to be human servers. The government keeps them for reference, but strictly limits access to them."

The math checked out when wide violet eyes finally focused. Then they glanced at Kaoru, and she blinked at him curiously.

"How is that possible? There's no way a human could live that long."

"That's because, Ken-sama, she was not actually alive the entire time."

X

A/N: Finally, I'm getting to the second half of this story. Yay! Feels like it took forever to get here. While much less happened in this chapter than the previous ones, and it is more of a transition chapter to carry us into the next, I hope that you still enjoyed it and any new tidbits you may have picked up on. I'm really excited about the development that is to come, both with Kaoru and Kenshin's characters. I really can't say much else at this point without spoiling what happens, so please bear with me. Sending lots of love and positive vibes! See you next week!