Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Steps Of Courage ❯ Time Cannot Tell ( Chapter 18 )

Disclaimer: All standard disclaimers apply. Always.

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Chapter 18

Kaoru shuffled along the pathway, arms full of leftover food. She rounded the corner to the dojo, the scent of warm night air lingering around her. As she reached the dojo gate, she carefully swung the gate open and creaked it closed behind her. She looked around thoughtfully. It was quiet.

“Well, I did get back pretty late,” she mused. “Kenshin and Naruku may have retired already. I wonder if Yahiko is back yet.”

“Kaoru?” an uncertain voice grasped her in the dark.

She turned. “There you are.” She moved toward him and nearly jumped when a tall figure appeared behind him. “Sano? What are you doing here?”

Sano jerked him thumb at Yahiko. “Kid ran to get me. Said it was urgent. Now that you’re here, I suppose he can tell us, right?”

Yahiko nodded, looking more solemn that Kaoru had ever seen him. “I heard…from inside the drill hall, I heard Kenshin.”

Kaoru and Sano exchanged dark looks.

“And Enizu,” Yahiko went on in a low whisper. “They were fighting. Naruku’s in there too! She could be hurt, and who knows what’s happened to Kenshin?”

“Enizu!” Sano roared, not sounding surprised, but instead furious. “That bastard! I can’t believe him! Betraying us all like that…I’m gonna kill that lowlife!”

“Sh…be quiet and calm down, baka!” she hissed. She then turned to Yahiko. “You need to go get Megumi-san! One of them is bound to have gotten hurt—maybe both of them are. Come on, go now!”

Yahiko dashed out through the gate, not thinking to protest against leaving the scene of the battle.

Kaoru barely glanced back at him before hurrying toward the drill hall, feeling Sano behind her. As she neared it, her palms started sweating and her heart pounded rapidly. “No…no, Kenshin…this can’t happen again…you can’t keep fighting, not—not now…” she muttered. She surged forward and grasped the shoji flinging it open as she and Sano burst inside.

“Enizu you asshole!” Sano bellowed. As soon as his voice died out, it was quiet. He and Kaoru stood breathing heavily in the doorway, there eyes turning to scan the darkness of the room.

Kaoru gasped and ran forward. The sight that greeted them was described in one word in Kaoru’s mind: disaster. The room itself was torn up, with blood splattered everywhere. The dimensions of the walls seemed to have shrunk, as if the drill hall had taken a deep breath in and had forgotten to breathe out again.

Kaoru heard a sharp intake of breath behind her. She glanced up at Sano, who was staring lividly at something else in the room. She followed his gaze, and could barely make out two figures lying there, doused in pale moonlight.

“Kenshin…Naruku…” she whispered, her blue eyes clouding over. Her two friends lay battered on the ground, a few feet apart. Their clothing was torn where Kaoru knew they had gaping wounds. She raised a hand to cover her mouth, not trusting herself to stay silent.

“They can’t be…not…dead?” Kaoru fell to her knees, trying to control the spinning of her head and shallowness of her breath.

Sano reached out and gave her shoulder a squeeze. “They’re alive. I’m sure of it. They’re alive and Megumi will be here any second.”

Kaoru was faintly surprised at Sano’s comforting actions. She gave a small smile. She was even more amazed that Sano seemed to have forgotten all about Enizu. Hatred had no place when friends were in need.

Kaoru flicked her eyesight from Sano to the outside of the drill hall, where Yahiko appeared with Megumi in tow, the both of them out of breath. Megumi didn’t pause to gather herself, but strode on to the drill hall and pushed between Kaoru and Sano, headed straight for her patients.

Kaoru got to her feet and dashed to get a lantern, wishing she had thought of it before Megumi arrived. Naruku and Kenshin needed treatment as quickly as they could get it.

She arrived back quickly to find Yahiko talking in a low voice to Megumi, who was nodding grimly.

Megumi glanced over Yahiko’s shoulder at Kaoru and reached for the lantern. “Good thinking. Someone needs to boil some water—please hurry! And I need blankets—towels, anything!”

This time Yahiko jumped up, and Sano followed him out.

Megumi instructed Kaoru to hold the light over Naruku as she inspected her. Megumi’s beating heart partially regulated as she looked at Naruku’s condition. “Her condition isn’t fatal. Her shoulder may be dislocated, and she is certainly cut up, but a lot of this blood isn’t hers.”

“Kenshin,” Kaoru said grimly, finishing the thought. The two of them turned to look over his condition.

“He’s critical. His wounds need to be cleaned right now,” Megumi said. She shook her head, eyes blurring slightly. “There are so many of them…” she went on in a floatingly haunting tone. Delicately, she rolled his right shoulder over, exposing a deep puncture right under his shoulder blade. “He was stabbed in the back.”

Kaoru raised her eyes to meet Megumi’s hollow brown ones. Neither of them said anything.

Yahiko and Sano arrived back, arms full of supplies. Megumi turned to them and thanked them primly. She placed the water next to her and doused her fingers. Then she wrung a towel full of it and began cleaning Kenshin’s wounds. She held one out to Kaoru, who started on Naruku.

“I need to get their hair out of the way,” Megumi said. Yahiko rushed forward and offered to do it.

Then the real work began and Kaoru, Sano and Yahiko could no longer do anything to help. They could only look on in fascination mixed with fear. Megumi worked diligently, hardly pausing to breathe between sewing up wounds and wrapping bandages around the less deep ones.

It was forty minutes before Megumi looked up from her work. “I’ve…stopped all the bleeding,” she croaked, sounding exhausted.

Kaoru bit her lip. She did not want to let Megumi take a break, but the doctor deserved it. However, Megumi didn’t think so because she went right back to treating Kenshin’s wounds.

“There’s not much else we can do, but wait for his condition to stabilize. He is not only unconscious—he’s in a coma. I want to be honest. I’m not sure if he’ll ever wake up.”

Kaoru gasped and buried her face in her arms.

“He woke up in Kyoto,” Yahiko said stubbornly. “He’ll pull through again. He has to!”

Megumi sadly shook her head. “You have to know that there’s a possibility he won’t.”

Yahiko shook his head vehemently, trying to hide tears and hold back choked sobs.

Sano cursed and punched the wall, its exterior already ruined and crumbled.

“I need more light, Sano,” she said crossly, turning to Naruku. Instead of Sano, Kaoru stood up to get it.

“You’re going to treat her before you make sure Kenshin won’t die?” Sano said savagely.

“Sano,” Megumi snapped. “She’s my patient too. She needs to be treated. I can’t do anything for Kenshin right now! You need to understand that—that even doctors sometimes can’t fix things. I’m not all-powerful, all right? I’m just a doctor…just…” she sobbed, cursing her weakness, cringing at how hysterical she sounded.

Sano’s rage faded and instead he felt compassion. He moved forward to gather Megumi in his arms. “I know, Megumi, I’m sorry…I’m sorry…”

Megumi nodded, her cheek brushing against Sano’s cloak. “I might be able to save him, Sano. It was foolish of Naruku to get involved in his fight, but judging from the wounds she sustained, it might have saved his life. That, or his sanity. Without her, Kenshin would most certainly be dead.”

She moved away from Sano, wiping her tears with her forearm.

“You can save him. I know it,” he gave a tight smile. “Naruku got those wounds for Kenshin. Treat them.”

Perhaps some part of Sano doubted Naruku’s involvement in the fight. Who was to say…that she hadn’t been on Enizu’s side? Sano didn’t want to think ill of her, but it was entirely possible. She had known Enizu longer. Loved him longer. But then Sano realized, there was no way she hadn’t stuck up for Kenshin. If she had been on Enizu’s side, and even if Enizu had lost, she would have no wounds. The gash in her shoulder was a badge of her loyalty. Sano was glad the only person he had to hate was Enizu.

“Kaoru-chan,” Megumi said. The younger girl jumped at being addressed. “I need to spend the night here. Is that all right?”

“Only if you’ll get some rest,” Kaoru replied, offering a tiny smile.

Megumi was grateful for the gesture—they had to find solace in any little way they could.

Naruku stirred from her unconscious state, her forehead tensing and relaxing as she began to wake. She shivered and grabbed at the air until her hand clenched a thin blanket. She pulled it over herself with her arm, a thick, husky breath escaping her. She rubbed her feet together, trying to warm them. In discomfort, she tugged on the blanket and attempted to roll over. Before she had turned over, a fierce pain ripped through her shoulder. She cried out silently, at last fully awake. Her eyes blinked open, her surroundings slowly making themselves clear to her.

“Look—she’s waking up!” a voice yelled. Naruku wished they would be quieter; her head hurt enough already.

A cluster of heads formed over her. Annoyed, Naruku ignored them and sat up, making her friends jump back so their heads wouldn’t bash together.

“Ohayo…” she told them.

A giggle escaped Kaoru. “Sorry Naruku. It’s not morning—yet.”

Naruku tried to summon the energy to shrug, but instead simply didn’t answer. It wasn’t morning…? Suddenly Naruku wished she had never woken at all. Flashes of Kenshin’s fight ran through her head, tormenting her as she recalled the ear-piercing sound of their blades together. The fabricated memory cut through her mind, making her head hurt even worse.

She let out a short gasp of pain and flopped back down onto her pillow.

“Ano…” Kaoru began timidly. “How are you?”

“Don’t ask her how she is, baka! She just woke up from being unconscious! She was just in a fight!” Yahiko snapped.

“Just trying to be helpful…” Kaoru replied absently.

Naruku turned over on the side that was not dislocated. “Where’s Kenshin?” she asked.

Her friends were taken aback by her simple conversational tone.

“Uh…well…” Sano began. “He’s—resting,” he said shortly.

“Don’t lie to her!” Megumi barked. “Naruku, Kenshin is deep in a coma. He might not—”

Naruku sat up again, this time getting to her feet completely, ignoring the pain in her head and the protest from the rest of her body. She scrambled over to where Kenshin lay. He was completely bandaged up, and she could barely see his chest rise and fall as he breathed.

“No…” she whispered, shaking her head and brushing tears away. “No…no he can’t! I…I did this?”

Sano put two firm hands on her shoulders. “No Koneko. No you didn’t.”

“Yes!” she protested. “Yes, yes I did! I led him here! I didn’t…I didn’t…” she stopped, her breathing raw. She remembered these thoughts.

“Augh!” she cried, throwing herself to the floor in aggravation.

“No!” a shriek came. Either from Kaoru or Megumi she wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter.

Naruku hit the cold wood with a loud thump. She couldn’t feel it. She plummeted herself down again.

Yahiko ran to catch her before she hit the ground, and nearly toppled over from the effort. Sano assisted him, taking Naruku into his arms and ignoring her fruitless struggle.

“I have to—I have to fix it!” she told him, screaming hysterically.

“Sh…it’s okay, you’ve done enough…” Sano said quietly.

It didn’t calm her. Instead she went wild, clawing and scratching, squirming and struggling.

Sano fought to pin her to him, but her fury was too much. His arms loosened for a split second as she pushed away from him. The result being that Naruku fell from his grasp, flying to the ground next to Kenshin.

She lay there, her head pressed hard against the floor. Her only movements were the soft shudder of her shoulders as she sobbed.

Sano and the others looked on with tired and pained eyes.

“Please go to sleep, Naruku.”

The girl didn’t answer. Neither did she move. Kaoru draped a blanket over her, stepped back and sighed. She picked another blanket for herself, sat against the wall and tilted her head back.

“I’m sleeping here tonight,” she told her friends. “I want to be near, in case…in case…” she let out a small cry and gave up. “Goodnight.”

The others seemed to have the same idea, and the four of them fell asleep in rather uncomfortable positions, for the sake of being near each other, and being near Kenshin.

By nine o’clock the next morning, all four unharmed members of the Kenshin-gumi were at work. Yahiko had run down to the Akabeko to pick up something for lunch and dinner, knowing that no one would have the time to cook. Tae and Tsubame also passed along the message that they would visit later on, after hearing the horrifying story of how Kenshin and Naruku were found.

“And,” Yahiko had added. “We still don’t know what happened. Naruku won’t talk.”

Now back at the dojo, Yahiko was working on scrubbing the blood off of the floor and walls. Sano sat up from his position, leaned over the crack in the ground. He was nearly done repairing it, however it had gotten there. Sano’s theory, which would later prove to be true, was that Enizu had stabbed Naruku’s injured arm and the sword had gone down through the floor. The thought made him sweat with anger.

“Well, minna, I better be going,” he said, standing up.

“What? Where are you going?”

Sano put a hand on the back of his neck to work out the crick. “Uh, you know, around.”

“You aren’t going out to gamble! With Kenshin in this condition?” Kaoru shot back shrilly.

“No I’m not going out the gamble!” Sano replied, shocked by how badly she thought of him. “I need to see Katsu, is all.”

Kaoru looked apprehensive, but realized she couldn’t exactly detain him at her dojo. Still, she was reluctant to let her best worker go. Even if Sano was lazy most of the time, he came in handy to fix things. “Drop by this evening if you can,” she said icily, and turned away from him.

Sano sighed. “Don’t be like that,” but he turned and left anyway.

“Kaoru-chan,” Megumi called from across the room. “Can you help me redress Ken-san’s bandages?”

Kaoru complied, and when they had finished she sat up and stared over at Naruku. “She’s so quiet. She must be traumatized or something.”

“It’s very likely, but there’s no way to tell what she went through, unless she talks. No one else knows,” Megumi said.

Naruku turned her pensive green eyes onto them. She looked solemn. Then she looked away, staring at nothing, her eyes turned inside herself. But in that one look, Megumi and Kaoru could see the brief flash of how much pain she was in.

It was days, almost two weeks, before Megumi gave them good news: Kenshin would wake up, eventually. She didn’t know when, but she knew that he wasn’t going to die. This heightened the spirits of everyone at the dojo. Including, maybe, Naruku, though she still gave no recognition to anyone. Perhaps, though, she did feel better, but she certainly wasn’t sowing any viable change.

Finally, though, Kaoru could sleep in her own room peacefully, thanks to the news. Sleeping in the drill hall was cramped and uncomfortable, but before it was the only place she could fall asleep.

Sano was showing up less and less. It wasn’t that he was rarely seen—in fact, he was at the dojo just as much as he had been before the fight. But compared to the time he spent there after Kenshin had been so wounded, it seemed like he was there very rarely.

Until, of course, he showed up after dinner with Katsu in tow.

“Can I help you, Tsukioka-san?” Kaoru asked, blinking in confusion. Was Sano bringing more freeloaders?

“Would it be possible for me to speak with Kokorei-san?” he asked gently.

It was actually a few seconds before Kaoru remembered that ‘Kokorei’ was Naruku’s family name. “Well…I suppose, but…she’s rather withdrawn for now.”

“I know,” Sano spoke. “I wasn’t going to bring this on her before, but now that we know Kenshin won’t die, I thought she might feel good enough to…to talk about some things.”

“What’s going on?” Yahiko piped up, returning from washing the dishes.

Sano scratched his head, unsure of how his friends would take to his idea.

“Well, Sanosuke here asked me to do a story. The thing is, I have no idea what it is, and neither does Sano. He said the only person I could ask was Naruku-san,” Katsu explained.

“Sano!” Yahiko cried. “You’re going to sell Naruku’s story to a newspaper journalist? You really think she’d like that?”

“Sh…Yahiko,” Kaoru said gently. She turned to Katsu. “Of course you can speak with Naruku. Under one condition. I need to be there. She’ll find it hard enough as it is, but I don’t think she’d be wild about telling everything to a total stranger.”

“Kaoru?” Yahiko gaped. “What?”

Katsu nodded thoughtfully.

Kaoru turned back to Yahiko. “Don’t you get it?” she said in a fierce whisper. “What do you think Naruku’s most afraid of, now that she knows Kenshin isn’t dying?”

Yahiko paused in his rant to contemplate. He couldn’t think of anything. And then it came to him. “Enizu! She thinks Enizu is coming back?” he asked.

“Most likely. She probably thinks he’ll come back to finish off Kenshin, maybe to kill us, too!” Kaoru replied. “If Katsu gets this story published, Enizu won’t dare set foot in Tokyo again, and if Naruku knows that, she won’t be as afraid. It’s perfect.”

She raised her eyes to Katsu’s impatient ones. “We’ll take you to her.” She stood up and led him to the drill hall, which looked considerably better than it had two weeks before. Sano and Yahiko trailed after her.

Megumi looked up from where she was watching over Kenshin. “Hello?”

Katsu introduced himself and scanned the room for Naruku. She was sitting dolefully in a corner, staring with hollow eyes at Kenshin. She felt Katsu’s eyes on her and she turned to look at him. He was taken by surprise at the amount of exhaustion and pain he could see there.

He strode toward her and crouched next to her. Kaoru followed him and took Naruku’s hand.

“Naruku-chan, Tsukioka-san wants to ask you…about what happened,” she said gently to her friend.

Naruku looked scared and tugged her hand back, but Kaoru enclosed it with her other one. “It will keep Enizu away.”

Naruku relaxed. “Where—” her voice was cracked and rough, deep in her throat. She cleared it and tried again, quietly. “Where should I start?”

Katsu gave a friendly smile. “Why, where any good story should start—the beginning.”

Naruku closed her eyes and exhaled. Then she realized, she wanted this. She wanted all her words to spill out. She wanted them to know. Her eyes opened. “You could stay it started when I met Enizu. But that wouldn’t be true. This story isn’t about him, or me. It’s about Kenshin. It started when Kenshin became the Battousai…but it happened when I met him,” and from there, Naruku’s words unfolded, telling a story that might not have been hers, but belonged to someone close to her who couldn’t speak for himself. She cried, during it, and sometimes felt she couldn’t continue. The happiest parts made her the saddest. Kaoru held her shoulders in comfort, urging her quietly to go on, to continue. There were things left to be said.

When she had finished, Katsu packed up his things. “Thank you for your time, Naruku-san. And I truly want to wish you all good luck.” He departed.

Megumi, Yahiko and Sano came in from their various positions in the room. “Wow,” Sano said softly. “I can’t believe some of the things that came up. Enizu…Kanryuu’s brother?”

Naruku turned away from all of them.

“Wait, Naruku!” Kaoru cried, not wanting her friend to block them all out again, not after opening up like that.

Naruku turned her head. “I’m exhausted, Kaoru. But…before I go to sleep, I want you all to know that I’m sorry. For anything. For everything,” she smiled slightly and pulled the covers over her, falling into a dreamless sleep.