Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ The Final Blow ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: We do not own Rurouni Kenshin. We just sorta wish we did.

A/N: Here's the first real chapter. It will be longer, and hopefuly better. Thanks to the people who reviewed. I raised the waiting due to future violence. It is, after all, Rurouni Kenshin.

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It had been nearly a week and a half sice the attack had happened. Everyone was anxious for Kaoru to wake up and tempers were short. Even the usually mild-mannered Kenshin was finding it hard to control himself during the many bouts of fighting.

Now, as he set in her room, he tried to get the same temper under control. When, not if, Kaoru finally woke up, he would have to have full range of his abilities to go aftter Monkusai.

Since he sat with his back to the wall and his head down, almost lost in thought, he nearly missed the hoarse whisper.

"K...Ken...shin?"

Snapping his head up, he looked and saw that it had been Kaoru who had spoken.

"Yes, Miss Kaoru, it's me. I'm right here," he answered back while coming to her bedside.

When he arrived he looked down and felt hope for the first time in days. Though here skin was now pale, but instead of being the colorless skin of the dead, it just looked as if she had missed a few days out in the sun. Her deep blue eyes, though barely open, spoke of comprehension instead of the hazy look she had shown the first time she had woken up.

"How are you feeling Miss Kaoru?" he asked, barely speaking above a whisper. He knew it was a stupid question, but it was asked out of the desire to hear Kaoru speak than anything else.

"A little tired but otherwise fine," she replied, putting on a show of bravado. "Where is everyone?"

"They're all asleep. Megumi has been staying here but at the moment she is sleeping. Yahiko retired only a short while ago after checking on you and Sano went home to get a very hours of rest before coming back here," he answered her question, leaving out a few parts.

Megumi was asleep but it was the first sleep she had had in nearly three days. She was occupying Kenshin's room since he had refused to leave Kaoru at all, getting only an hours sleep,leaning on the wal, as needed. Yahiko had come to say good-night and then went to his own room but Kenshin doubted he would get any sleep. He had been having constant nightmares of Kaoru's death. For all the times he had insulted her, he truely did think of Kaoru as a sister. Lastly Sano had gone home to get some sleep but it was the first time he had gone home since the attack. He had been sleeping on the porch and had only left tonight because the temperature had started to drop and Megumi had plainly told him that she could not handle the care of another patient right now.

Kaoru had to know none of this. For now, only Kaoru mattered but soon would come a time when she must answer some questions. When she had woken up the first time, she had informed them that it had been Monkusai who had attakced her but she was barely coherent so they didn't ask anymore questions.

Thinking once again of the monk, and how he had been the one to lead him to Kaoru, he decicded that now that Kaoru had shown signs of recovery he could go and bring the man to justice but a little part of hiom whispered that justice wouldn't be enough, that he couldn't stop short of revenge. That part was small, however, but it was quickly growing.

"Miss Kaoru, we need some answers but if you don't feel up to it, you may just tell me and I'll stop. O.K.?" Kenshin asked suddenly breaking the silence.

"No, that's fine," she said, and Kenshin noted that her voice was returning a little.

"It was Monkusai who attacked you, right?" Kenshin asked using his most soothing voice.

"Yes, it was him but that doesn't matter. It's over now and we can just move on," Kaoru answered, her voice pleading.

"Why did he attack you," Kenshin continued, ignoring the last comment.

"I...I'm not sure."

Though Kenshin would have said that he would always believe Kaoru, he couldn't help but think that she was lying. After living his life as first a Battosai and then a rurouni, he had learned to read people and Kaoru was holding back. he would figure that part out later, after all Kaoru was never good at keeping secrets.

"Kenshin, could you stay here with me, just a little longer?" Kaoru asked in a timid voice.

"Of course, Miss Kaoru, you jsut get some sleep," he told her, tucking the covers more firmly around her.

Even as he watched her, he knew it was a delay tactic, that she hadn't wanted him out searching for Monkusai. Normally he would agree with it but at the moment all he could think about were the contrasting images of Kaoru smiling, her beautiful flash shining, and the deathly pale Kaoru whom he had found lying in the middle of the floor. It was far from over.

"I would do anything for you Miss Kaoru. Anything," he softly whispered sounding just a little like the Battosai.

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