Alright WOW so I definitely did not get as far as I'd planned in the last chapter and that has never happened to me before. It was trippy but so fun! I really enjoyed exploring the nuances of what this energy signature is really doing to both of our protagonists. Is the perspective switching okay? I want it to be a little omniscient but also very grounded in the details of their individual views. Im trying to do less world-building and more character driven chapters now, but I am a writer who really enjoys action and description, not so big on dialogue, so sometimes my character choices are coming across a little lackluster in my rereads. If you have any insight on how the flow of the story is progressing, I'd LOVE to hear about it!

Ive been mapping out chapters and it looks like we are gonna clock in somewhere around the 17 mark (spoilers?) the last one was supposed to get further than it did but thats ok. This chapter is going to start broadening perspectives. I want to shine a light into all of these relationships at some point, and then like I suggested in my first authors note, there may be a world of one-shots I develop within this story. If anything piques your interest as a side-plot, do let me know!

Additionally, I hope everyone enjoyed the little twist about the Battousai reveal, aka that they were way ahead of him lol. If you haven't already figured it out, Im sort of playing with the canon representations of Kenshin and Kaoru. Ive made her a bit more emotionally resilient and more independently capable, a little older and more balanced, and in this story she is the one who's just ahead of the curve instead of Kenshin - its her turf! There will be evolutions to that of course, but I rather like depicting Kaoru as a capable leader. She has agency and control, and though this is all new to her (the Kenshin stuff anyway) she is approaching it without losing herself. It might feel a little ooc, but I think if you picture a slightly older Kaoru than og depiction, this makes sense. At least to me lol.

AND isn't is satisfying to see some moments that might otherwise be Kenshin's flip into Kaoru's domain? I particularly enjoyed writing the end of the last chapter, where she was deeply in tune with the ship even moreso than she was in their "aural conversation" and it overrode her attention.

Thank you to my magnificent reviewers, particularly those who have no other motivation than saying sweet things, especially you Nvelvet1 and Kokoronagomu! (**misspelled that, edited to fix!) Your reviews are so kind and genuinely supportive , and you've been following this story for so long! I am thinking of you two when I write, because you've become part of the reason I want to finish it!

Another reviewer mentioned that this reads like an action comic and I LOVE that concept. If you read this almost as though it's panels in a manga, the introspective flow is pretty fun. Thank you for that insight!

Story notes: so just to clarify, Kaoru is 30 in this fic, and Sano is somewhere in his mid 30's, and the others I havent really mathed out yet :'D NOTHING IS MINE But the ideas here and i dont claim them in a court of law dattebayo!

HHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEREWEGO

Kaoru was insanely grateful that Kenshin had remained tucked away in her old bedroom, his bedroom, for the remainder of the flight to Dejambe.

After leaving him she had scurried away to her own room for a brief respite. She needed to be alone and think. As soon as she was in the privacy of her own space she had all but crumpled into a large, rounded chair. It PUUOOF'd like an old man's gasp at her sudden weight. It was just like the garish floral one in the infirmary, but larger and layered in crushed blue velvet corduroy instead. Worn from years and years of duty, it cradled Kaoru's body in the depths of its plushness. Somehow it still smelled like her father. Tightly screwing her eyes shut, she held herself and bent at the waist.

"Dad," She choked from beneath the sweep of her black hair as she bent lower, curling into a ball in the sanctuary of the recliner. "Dad, what is this."

The only thing keeping her from dissolving into absolute basic molecules around Kenshin seemed to be the control her father had taught her before his death. She was so skillfully able to shield her aura and keep its light protected that she hardly did it consciously anymore. Trying to push through her confusion and grief for her father, she began to work through the events of the last week in order. Starting with when Kenshin's escape pod was brought into the hangar and all the way through the last few moments, she began to examine her many aural experiences in a critical spectrum.

All week they had been getting steadily more intense, but there was also variation. There were of course the… in person moments to battle with, she acknowledged with a scarlet blush. However, Kaoru also had a vague idea that something had tickled the outer boundaries of her mind during the exchange with Gohei, and when she looked closer it seemed as though her very soul provided clarity. She remembered it now, the way their auras had mingled together. But it had been unique; she could taste his comfort, the static of his approach. Like a wolf and a puppy they had tousled and thrashed until -

Until what? Her eyelids relaxed a little.

Until she became conscious of where her attention was focused. She picked apart the metaphor her brain had supplied for the exchange. Her ki had been a tremendous presence, flinging itself around with unhindered rage - a wolf. But it had been soothed, its attention captured by the gentle embrace of something sweet - a puppy. A low tone thrummed in her heart. She had a weak spot for baby animals. Did he know that?

'No,' Kaoru pouted at last. 'That's just my imagination making sense of it,'

The moment she had turned to look at Kenshin after escaping Gohei, something had slid back up into place. A barrier between herself and him. It was a defensive wall created by her aura the moment she consciously interacted with another one. The wolf became a statue, and the puppy was kenneled.

'Is this the training he gave me…?' Kaoru's mind reeled and her eyes opened now just a sliver. 'Is this what you meant… when you told me I had to be able to protect myself?'

The thought had never actually occurred to her that her father's training had almost no use outside herself, and yet it had occupied a good chunk of the time she had spent with him. She had trained hard to gain control over her aural expression. She and her father were the only two people she'd ever known to consciously use it or feel it, though. Other people's energy floated around them like useless vapors - she had never seen it put to work in any tangible sense.

Sure, she could admit, it had also helped her with her mediation and overall spiritual and emotional balance. She had gone from a wild-eyed spitfire who wanted to hit anyone who crossed her, to a confident space Captain with a reputation for daring and success that preceded her.

"Kaoru! You're always reacting to something ridiculous! Where is your sense of control?" The chastisement rang in Kaoru's ears even now so many years later.

In her mind's eye Kenshin was gently smiling at her, red hair framing his face and softening his already gentle expression. His eyes were like amethysts and glittered with something special in them, only for her. But then he began to glow. Dimly at first, hardly noticeable, but before she knew it he was engulfed in flames, red and hot and searing -

A feeling was creeping up her spine like a damp chill, that this was what her father had meant. Being able to protect herself from other ki. Her training was working, and she hadn't even realized she had needed it. Her eyes slid closed again but this time it was in silent calm. Gratitude, though still tinged with uncertainty, swept through her body and she began to uncurl herself a little bit.

Why hadn't he told her? It was all snapping neatly into place now, she could see the information gathered painting a fuzzy picture. *'Why didn't he tell me there were others who could use this energy to harm me?' That didn't feel exactly right either, though, because Kenshin would never hurt her. She somehow knew that the same way she knew how many bolts were in the upper housing shield of the navigation array, the same way she knew that sunsets could take her to a distant time and place in her heart. Kenshin could never hurt her. Would never hurt her.

Confusion again.

Kenshin was not the only one, she reasoned at long last. There were others. Turning a shrewd lens on this idea, it made sense. The aural capabilities in her own family had to come from somewhere. Her mother had died before ever expressing if she could sense them too, a long-grieved conversation that should have happened and now never could, but Kaoru had long ago buried that regret. She'd been too young to know then, her own abilities not yet risen to the surface enough to make her wonder. But this wasn't Kaoru's first rodeo reviewing the information she didn't have as a result of never knowing she would need it.

When her father had swooped back into her life, her aural development had begun like an avalanche. It wasn't long before she was working with her father several hours a day, many times a week in order to build up not only her control of her own aura, but also her aptitude at their family's historical fighting technique. Those formative years of her life had built up the solid foundation where she now stood. It had been so long - fourteen years - and she had forgotten what she was supposed to remember.

'Someday I won't be here to remind you to keep your knees bent,'

'Yes, dad, I get it, you're old - '

'Not just old! Old and Wise! And that's Sir Old and Wise while in the dojo, Missy…'

Kaoru snorted and smirked a little as she began to relax into the chair, limbs stretching out over it as she turned the memory over in her heart. Another layer of love and forgiveness for her parents layered itself neatly over top of it.

She was asleep before she knew it.

They had actually managed to arrive at their destination safe and sound.

Kaoru tried to hold tightly to the moment, watching her crew emerge from the ship in a trickle. Each of them was stretching, breathing deeply, healthy, and able to appreciate just how good they had it. Even young Tsubame, with Yahiko as her escort, was joining them for this particular foray. Kaoru led the group as they began to cross the distance between the ship and the buildings.

The Cassiopeia had touched down in a wide sandy field just south of the city, a distance away from any other vessels but closer than would be expected to a small cluster of houses; thanks to its design it was far less disruptive both in sound and air pressure. It allowed them to leave the ship within running distance of wherever they needed to go, usually. Their target this time was a tiny village on the outskirts of the settlement proper, less than a thousand residents but boasting a few specialty markets not otherwise easily found. To the unknowing eye it was an impoverished waste village you wanted to avoid on your way to the settlement. But if you knew who to speak to, it was a different world entirely.

Kenshin watched and eventually followed as everyone seemed to be headed to the same place. It was a small outbuilding, barely a barn really, and from their hundred-yard distance he could see that it was in bad disrepair. Dusk and wind was smoothing over the tiny village - their Captain had timed the descent perfectly in conjunction with her first mate to further disguise their activities. A dust storm would be rising soon around them.

On their approach, in front of Sano went a hoversled ladened with crates and paper-wrapped parcels. It was barely clearing the topography below it so heavy was its burden. Everything was strapped tightly to the sled, and as he looked closer he could see that it was also electrified - thin wires wrapped themselves closely around the sled except for the few locations where Sano's hands directed it. Kenshin eyed it as they traveled, wondering what goods this little crew specialized in.

'Or,' he swallowed as he looked at the barn, 'where are we going that needs such protective measures? There is hardly anyone else here...'

Each of them had a small pack with them, Kenshin noticed, and had changed into different clothes than he had seen them wear at dinner some many hours before. What they wore now was more casual, possibly even a little lesser quality than the stuff from before. He looked down and noted gratefully that he didn't appear much different, but had no bag of personal things. The leader of their group caught his eye and he lingered there as they neared the structure, catching her gaze at the last second.

Their connection briefly sang, a chord struck between them like music that made his ears buzz. Spellbound, he watched as the corner of her lips turned up and her eyes glittered before she turned away.

'Did she just …?' Kenshin hadn't realized he'd stopped walking until the group outpaced him a few strides. Hurrying to catch up he rubbed his forehead, finally gaining on the shadow of Aoshi and Misao. If he hadn't known better, that little stroke against his aura could have almost been teasing. He barely heard as Misao carried on comfortably about another dream she'd had.

The low chatter of the group hushed to nothing as they entered the building from the back. Kenshin was immediately confused - there was nothing inside. It was a shell of a barn with holes in the sides and a thick layer of dust on every surface. The loft up and to his right was the only feature, belching straw over the side that looked old and stank like mildew. Dust motes floated around them and tickled his nose, making him feel like he had to sneeze. Rubbing at his face, he began to wonder what, exactly, they were in the barn for. Just as he turned to glean a few answers from his crew-mates, he saw Kaoru grab the edge of a blanket sticking out from under a pile of loose hay on the ground in the corner of the room.

His only warning that something was happening was the quick pull of the crew's shirt collars up to their faces as they angled their bodies away from Kaoru. She yanked and Kenshin sneezed, eyes watering at the sudden influx of debris that was littering the air around them. He wasn't the only one, a few others coughed and sputtered unhappy comments about their Captain's indelicacy. She had the decency to flinch and offer a sheepish apology before turning back to what she had uncovered. A cabinet much larger than the pile of hay had been was revealed.

Kenshin marveled at the trick, gaping like a fish as he tried to rub the muck out of his eyes. He squinted at the piece of furniture, noting it had only a few drawers at the bottom where the top was a large set of double doors. They were cockeyed and sticking out, and one door was nearly hanging off its hinges. If he hadn't seen it revealed just now, he would never have looked at it twice in the first place.

Then with renewed alarm, his shocked attention swung back to Kaoru. She had put her hands on her hips and was beginning to chant in a firm voice. He saw her aura shimmer around her like she was a koi swimming in a rippled stream.

"Cassiopeia, Andromeda, Cepheus!" Each syllable was pronounced with staccato-efficiency, then she clapped her hands together once. With those words and the echo of her loud clap, the dresser jerked like it was alive. Its lower drawers extended towards them and became steps up into the expanse opening made by the raggedy doors as they swung towards the travelers. Creaking on their rusty hinges, dust swirled outward from the gaping emptiness inside as the pressure pulled in the fresh air and expelled the old.

The chatter of the group began again as though nothing strange at all had happened, and one after another they filed past Kaoru and into the darkened doorway she had opened for them. He even thought he heard a "WooHOO!" from Misao as her voice became distant. Kaoru was waiting for him, a little knowing smile on her face as he clearly tried to grasp at what just happened. She could still remember when Tae had told her about it and the startled disbelief of her own first time seeing it.

"It's pretty obscure tech, it's what keeps people safe in places like this," She supplied helpfully. There was something in the lilt of her voice that had him moving again, straining to tell if the change in her demeanor was reflected in her aura. It didn't seem like anything was different, he still couldn't interact or read it accurately if she was not actively opening the bond for them. With a brief shiver, he realized as he approached that she had the power in a part of his world he had never been without it.

Best not to dwell on that too long. There were much, much bigger challenges - she smells good, continue walking, the freckle on her cheek, don't trip -

Kaoru's eyes gleamed at him as though she had a secret that he simply couldn't be told, and he had a sneaking suspicion that it had nothing to do with technology.

"It can do that?" He asked dryly, trying very hard to focus on the mysteries of the real world instead of those inside Kaoru.

"Oh yes, but it's closely guarded knowledge. I don't know how it works, I just know how to use it," Together they strode into the cabinet. As pitch-dark and silent as it had been from the outside looking in, suddenly Kenshin's world was bright with color and sound. They were at the deep end of a dead-end alley, a bustling market seen as though through a window just a stones throw ahead of them. In stark contrast to where they had just been, this was a bustling street of vendors shouting and patrons milling around. It was dark beyond the reach of the lights, but it didn't feel like the air was close. It was as if they had returned to space again and this dazzling market atmosphere was just floating out there in it.

The colors and lights stretched towards them and around, but the inky blackness was always there on the edges to swallow everything up when it strayed too far. He couldn't see any stars, which made him more uncomfortable than anything else. They weren't in an open market under the dark of a real sky, it was as though they were still inside that strange chest of drawers.

Kaoru was watching him, soaking up his expression of wonder and shock and feeling happy in a way she hadn't in many years. As he was still trying to take it all in she reached over and clasped their nearby hands together, cupping his almost like a child's grasp. She ran her thumb over his knuckles and let her smile widen a bit. He looked down at their joined hands as soon as they'd made contact and then rapidly back up to her face.

But it was not the same as the other instances they'd touched. This time Kenshin didn't feel the arcing fire as it throttled his body into a hyper-reactive emotional state. He instead felt a sense of calm and warmth. Controlled and peaceful, he relaxed even among the nearby throng of strangers and activity. Something had changed in the space captain, but he wasn't sure he could find the words to describe how.

"Stay with me, it's easy to get lost." Kaoru's words were like a spell that wrapped around his heart and bound it. Her eyes were such a soft cerulean, blinking up at him and shining with the reflection of her smile. Little creases around the edges of them, well worn laughter lines, completed the image of home.

'Stay with me,'

It would haunt him, how innocently she had offered this curse.

'It's easy to get lost,'

How long had he been astray? How long had he wandered in starless space? How long had he gone without her light?

Trailing closely behind her, trying not to clutch her hand, Kenshin felt something inside him twist. This was going too far. He had wallowed in this exact concern since she had last left him to be alone with his thoughts, staring at the walls of her old bedroom around him. He had been completely helpless in the press of her aura, so familiar in its sensation if not in its flavor that he had been desperate to be in connection with it, with her.

But logic was creeping in, the truth of his existence was a never ending reminder of his past. Whether or not this crew accepted him, trusted him to be more than his history, it didn't matter. Nothing mattered if they were in danger by him staying. He was a wanted man. He knew without knowing that this crew could relate, they were all fugitives in some way. He was not the same as them, though. He had always been an outcast, and finding someone like himself did not change the fact that he would never be released from the perpetual hunt.

Wilted by this line of thinking, Kenshin tried to steel himself against the coming tragic departure. He wanted to remember what this felt like for as long as his memory served him: it needed to be free from the taint of his misery.

He had hardly realized it when Kaoru steered them through the crowd and into a very nearby arched gateway. He caught his breath as the two crossed a large but short bridge over a gasping chasm of endlessness below. There were ornately-dressed greeters swaying lanterns as they entered the compound.

It was a large and complicated looking building with many balconies and alcoves, rounded windows and vapors rising from within. It was painted in more colors Kenshin had words for and the delicious aroma of well-cooked food was drifting towards them. The gorgeous building was set back from everything else, the only thing breaking up its outline to the blackness around it being soft tufts of greenery growing somehow tall and strong in the dark.

"Is this a bathhouse?" He asked Kaoru, excitement bubbling up in him. She gave him another blinding smile and nodded. "Yes, we always stay at the Akabeko when we come to Dejambe, it's our favorite place. We may stay here a few weeks until the next gig turns up," Kaoru seemed so relieved to be there that it further sealed his feeling of safety.

"This is Tae's place, she's who gave us that private entrance and password - we go back a ways, and look out for each other, so she takes good care of us," They had entered a very comfortable lobby with a small fountain and greenery all around. The smell of saltwater permeated the room and through one large archway to the left, he could see some of his familiar crewmen already changed into bathing suits and were wrapped in robes and towels. Sano caught their entry and waved a large hand at him.

"Kenshin, you're gonna love it here!" So that's what their bags had been for - enough supplies to carry them through a few hours at the bathhouse. Kenshin quirked a small frown, noting he had no extra clothes and no money to buy any, or pay his entrance fee to the bathhouse for that matter. Kaoru seemed to sense his discomfort and moved to the front of the room to speak in low tones with an older woman there. Brown eyes glinting at Kenshin, the older lady leveled him with an exacting stare. Gulping, Kenshin lowered his gaze to examine the ornate floor tiles.

When he looked up again, the lady Kaoru had been speaking to was before him and the young woman herself had disappeared. "Oro?" Kenshin squeaked out before he was brusquely whisked away, herded through several hallways as the remaining crew snickered knowingly together.

They were all together again after a brief separation in which Kenshin was given what he could only describe as a strict grooming session. His long hair had been trimmed a little, combed out and re-gathered at the nape of his neck the way he liked to wear it. Nails clipped and ears scrubbed, the bandages on his forearm changed and replaced with waterproof ones, and he had been given a bathing garment resembling boxers. He felt as good as that first bath on the Cassiopeia all those days ago.

They were all soaking now in what appeared to be a completely natural rock pool, even though they were in a room of the bathhouse. There were different sizes of boulders in the pond-like space for them to perch on to lounge at different depths, from completely submerged to only your feet. There was enough room for them to move around, though it wasn't huge. Kenshin got the impression that a lot of space-condensing tech was deployed in this village. The water was an amiable hundred-or-so degrees, and the panels and ceiling surrounding the room had been designed to present a continuous image of an expansive winter mountain view and flowing river, framed by evergreen boughs laden with snow appearing almost 3D as they shuddered in unfelt breezes.

The crew relaxed in the steamy water, chatting in pairs and groups or relaxing quietly. At some point the clusters became gendered and Kenshin found himself in a small circle composed of Sano, Aoshi, and Yahiko. He appreciated the distraction they offered, giving his eyes an excuse not to attach themselves to the other side of the pool where a certain personage was far too at ease.

'It's not fair,' His brain whined, 'This is too hard,' He could have slapped himself and laughed at the same time. He, the fearsome Battousai, laid low by the curves of a woman.

'It's more than that, that it is.' He argued internally with himself, frustrated at his own lack of respect.

His thoughts stilled as Sano turned his head toward him from where he was lazily sprawled over a rock that held his body just below the surface with only his collarbone and up exposed. Steam wafted from him in curling wisps.

"Kenshin, we all know what you're thinking," Sano drawled, the toothpick in his mouth wiggling. He gazed at the redhead with one eye, the other shut in comfortable repose.

Kenshin gulped and tipped his chin down, hoping his dripping bangs would hide his dread. "O-oro?" Kenshin managed, feeling for the second time that day - or was it the third, or fourth time? - completely blindsided by the turn of events.

"Yup, it's written all over your face," Yahiko agreed with a single sagely nod and a hum of mimicry for wisdom far beyond his years. Kenshin felt his cheeks tinge and beneath the water out of view his hands were anxious fists. Had he been so obvious? Was it really that clear that he was completely unstable when she was close -

Aoshi even made a little noise in their support. Kenshin risked a glance at him, but found he was not looking at Kenshin as the other two were. He was doing a very good job of appearing to do so, but was staring far past Kenshin. Over his shoulder and slightly to the side, in fact. Despite being new to the group he was pretty sure he could infer what Aoshi's real focus was.

As Kenshin watched from the corner of his eye, Aoshi's gaze moved a hair and changed so subtly that one could easily have missed it. Behind him he heard a squeal of laughter and a splash, the ripples making their way over to the men as little waves. Kenshin bobbed in the current before his surprised purple irises took their opportunity to avoid the lingering observational skills of his group and look over to see what the excitement was.

Misao rose from the water exactly as his head turned, dribbles of fluid running down her head as she slicked some loose hair back away from her face. Arms still raised she grinned, giggling, and twisted a little. 'Teasing Aoshi,' Kenshin's mind supplied helpfully and with a budding warmth of familial tenderness. Another tinkling laugh joined the chorus as Kaoru splashed at Misao's raised head.

Kaoru's playful smile turned conspiratorial as she turned and whispered something to Tsubame, who had the decency to blush a dark scarlet when Kaoru pulled away. He had a nagging suspicion that she had just shared her own parallel opinion to Kenshin's with the teenage girl, whose innocence was far greater than her companions'. Megumi was already beginning to chide Misao for the big splash, having to change the towel her hair had been wrapped in after it took the brunt of the water's impact.

Kaoru's own mess of dark hair was piled on top of her head and held there with her typical ribbon, wet ringlets curling around her jawline where they'd fallen free in rebellion. Kenshin marveled at the slope of her neck where it met the shoulder, a new curve that had been in front of him all along but hidden by her usual low mop of a ponytail. He tore his eyes away before she could look up and catch him staring.

"Yeah, it's plain as day alright," Sano continued after his own brief diversion exploring what Kenshin could only guess was the way Megumi's raised slender arms were taut with discreet strength as she worked to rewrap her hair.

"This one does not understand what you mean, that I do not," Kenshin mumbled, attempting to play dumb again. Something was stirring in his guts. Yahiko grinned cheekily and leaned back in the water a little, floating in the embrace of its warmth.

Sanosuke gandered at the redhead introspectively before he answered, chuffing and closing his eye again. The very essence of cool. "You're wondering how you're gonna pay for all this major debt you're racking up with us,"

Kenshin's expression was mortified as he sank into the water up to his cheekbones in humiliation, a drowned "Oro?" the only response he could muster. But the joke was shortly revealed as young Yahiko couldn't maintain a straight face. He pointed and laughed, and for a brief moment Kenshin wondered if this was what it was like to have brothers. Rising to breathe a sigh of relief and chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck, Kenshin played into his relief.

"This one was worried for a moment there, that I was,"

"We have a very healthy relationship with this establishment," Sano drawled, bringing his muscled arms up to cross themselves behind his head for support so he could lean up a little. The action also happened to lift his upper torso further out of the water, and held in such an engaged way the muscles at from bottom of his ribs and up were particularly well-defined.

"Tae gets a steady supply of novelties from us, and we benefit from a highly reduced schedule of payment on our line of credit," Yahiko informed Kenshin when he caught his curious blinking.

Kenshin wanted to ask exactly what kind of novelties, but if the lady operated a bathhouse like this he could only imagine the depth and breadth of variety she looked for in her smugglers.

"It's is an incredible place," Kenshin found himself watching a little animated bird hop around in the snowy tree next to the tub. He couldn't see the faintest hint of disturbance in the image, it was as though he could reach out and touch the softness of its feathers. "I feel like I've seen nothing but shocking, amazing things since I woke up in the infirmary," His eyes turned back to them, a joyful boyish sparkle there. It dimmed when it caught the looks that flashed across his companions' faces.

"Yeah, well," Sano said in a tone that rumbled. "It's not always like this." There was a pause, and then Yahiko crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back against a boulder to feel the heat press at his skin. A reminder of where they were, and that they were safe.

"It hasn't been like this for a few months now," Aoshi added, eyes finally lighting on Kenshin in a focused way. "You may be impressed by all these events, and I can understand why, but to us it is only a relief to ever see them again." Sano made a noise in agreement. Kaoru's earlier statement flashed across his mind, her feeling of total comfort.

"I didn't think the Cap'n was gonna last time, that's for sure,"

Something new and terrible settled in Kenshin's chest, forcing his breath out of him in a silent hiss through the nose. A splash coincided with his dread and he looked instinctively to its source. There she was, lifting herself onto the ledge of the pool backwards to scoot her butt between her hands where they rested on the stone. Now she was only submerged where her knees led to calves below, otherwise he could see her body clearly.

On the right side of her ribs there was mottled green and blue and pink patchwork skin with a thick black line running through it. A gash, Kenshin estimated around fifteen inches long and jagged. It traced from a point at the bone of her right hip and like a snake it curved toward her back, then her belly, and then her back again just under her breast, only to disappear around the other side where it ended on her shoulder blade. The whole thing was covered in the same see-through waterproof bandaging Tae had redone around his own cut forearm.

Kenshin couldn't breathe. That was a deadly wound. How had she survived it?

The women had realized that the group of men had noticed them and begun to reincorporate themselves. Or at least, Misao did. She swam over and through the men, tackling Aoshi and spinning around to hang off him from behind. She giggled and splashed Yahiko with her foot antagonistically, giving Kenshin an opportunity to flinch away and turn his body a bit more towards Kaoru. He raised his scrutiny from her wound to her eyes, hoping some of the color had returned to his face. She met his gaze resolutely, almost challengingly, as if to say 'Whatever you're thinking, it had better not be that I needed rescuing,'

Their auras swept into each other like two storms over an ocean, that stubborn feeling he got from the set of her brow reinforcing her side as they mingled. He wondered at the newness, surprised by another facet to her abilities. It was a question, he realized, probing for his honest response. It did not want his pity, but it did want something. Wondering at the connection, the tantalizing idea that the door was open and that he could experience her this way, Kenshin grasped at the chance and his power flooded into their auras. His answer came in a broken rush, excited to be known but raw in their truth.

Respect, fear, curiosity, anger at her assailant, anger at the situation, a desire to help, a desire to hold -

Her navy eyes flashed and her energy renewed, meeting the almost-forceful push of Kenshin's ki. He felt like he might be getting almost lovingly swatted at, despite the stern set of her jaw. Dismissal of his anger, confidence in her capabilities, rejection of fear.

In the span of a heartbeat it was over. Kenshin's body relaxed, reconciled with one intangible half of 'why' if not yet the verbal entirety of 'how'. The fact that he hadn't earned the right to feel entitled to such uproar over the damage of her person was something he didn't want to think about. Kaoru also seemed calmer after the exchange, as though satisfied that she'd made her point.

'This is progress,' Kaoru's heart was fluttering as she pulled her aura back into herself, gripping the edge of the huge tub. Her side had begun to ache in the warm water, so she'd pulled herself out for a break. As the steaming curls encircled her, she'd caught Kenshin's eye and the battle of wills had commenced.

'Of course he'd notice,' She groaned internally as the group carried on as normal. 'Because apparently there are real human people who are capable of being lethal combinations of intolerably compassionate and incomprehensibly sexy,' She made a last jab at herself in some expression of getting a grip, then gracefully rose and walked over to a stone that was closer to the group.

For once, she wished a bathhouse wasn't their home base.

Aha! Anybody enjoy the subtle suggestion that this is Yubaba's bathhouse from Spirited Away? I just couldnt help myself! But instead of magic, we have tech here.

Also have no fear, there are many little hints in this ch that I will come back toooooo ;) ;) ;)

Thanks everyone for your kind words and encouragement! LOVE YOUUUUU

EDIT as i was laying in bed last night rereading this I realized Id skipped like a whole chunk while doing the og edits smh so IF YOURE FOLLOWING AND READ THIS CHAP AS SOON AS IT DROPPED, it may be worth another skim if you were bugged by any of the word salad that had been floating round the middle there. Cheeeeers!