A look, a word, even violence itself can be at times, overcome. Mostly, by that part of him, which prefers the warmth of the sun, the laughter of children and the ever present scent of jasmine within the bounds of his life. Always there to comfort and call him back, when the anger and despair of the hitokiri, threaten to break the restraints he’s so carefully constructed. Such a fragile balance, he sometimes wonders, how it’s even possible for it to exist at all. Because even he knows, that all it would ever take is but the one push. That one provocation to—

Kaoru suddenly, screamed, with such panic and horror in her voice, that for a moment, his heart ceased to beat. The world withdrew alarmingly, a split second before something else steadied his pulse. Fear, panic and guilt; were all momentarily forgotten as his body sprang into movement. Dropping all he’d been carrying as he rushed on back through the dojo’s gate, down the street and past a corner before abruptly coming to a stop—as anger filled his heart.

Amber engulfed the violent in his eyes, as he moved without warning. Striking four consecutive blows, in the time it took for Kaoru to let another blood curling scream. By then, it was all over. And she realized belatedly, that the strong unyielding grip around her waist belonged to her rurouni and not to the men, who’d tried—

“Shh,” was all she heard, as he repeatedly stroked her hair. Whispering words, she couldn’t quite hear above the sudden torrent of emotions, brimming in her eyes, all she could do, was cling to him, as the world beneath her crumpled and fell.

Worried and angered him even more, though he was careful not to show her the full extent of that anger. He picked her up, gently as possible before any prying eyes could see what’d happened—and got them home. Barely managing to close the door, he headed straight for her room, more than oblivious to the others home, he was keen on them leaving them alone. And so, he didn’t bother to hide the anger pulling his skin taut. The cold hatred, still visible in his gaze nor the menacing shadow of death that followed him still, whenever his ki peaked so high.

And yet, all this disappeared, the moment he tried to set her down, because Kaoru suddenly became like a frightened child. Wordlessly, tugging him down with her, eyes brimming as he shook his head, silently refusing her the comfort he knew she needed, not because he didn’t want to but because it was making him so dangerously angry.

Of all the things—he’d never forgive himself for almost letting harm come to her. As it very well could have. And it all would’ve been his fault. If he hadn’t been so damn preoccupied with his thoughts or trying so hard, to ensure that she was some distance away. Kami, he didn’t even want to think about what could’ve happened.

He ignored the pain, the sound of her broken voice brought him, instead, he reaffirmed his rurouni mask so that only concern peeked from behind the intensity of his gaze. Dark and violet now, so that she didn’t become alarmed.

Even so, “Kaoru-dono,” his voice, he realized was still much too deep. A sign, at his failing attempt to rein his anger back into place so soon after the incident.

He nodded, fairly suspicious that if he uttered even one more word it’d be the hitokiri speaking and not him.

. . . . .

She awoke sometime later, only to realize that somewhere along the way, she must have fallen asleep. It was fairly dark, now. Not quite afternoon, but no longer morning either. In any case, she still felt tired and with so very little light coming into the room, she was fairly tempted to stay put. And after a moments hesitation, she decided, that yeah, after the morning she’d had that’s just what she needed to do. Yawning softly, she let her gaze slowly travel, moving amongst the many things in her room before it abruptly paused, caught by the now-calm, purple gaze. She felt both relieved and slightly flustered, as she smiled almost shyly. A bit embarrassed now, by her earlier reaction when . . . . . just earlier, she thought, before purposely ignoring the rest.

“I—” She began, in an awkward sort of way before just blurting out— “Please, don’t tell the others.” The way his eyes suddenly narrowed, made her want to cover her face. “I mean, Thank you. But—”

“Don’t tell.”

And something in the way he said it, the tenor of his voice, made her look at him again. Wondering what it was about him today, that made him seem so different, so out of place.

Casually, almost, he turned away, breaking the scrutiny of her gaze before heaving a soundless sigh. “Sessha,” he said, carefully edging around his form of phrase. “Sessha, won’t say a thing.” He smiled reassuringly at her, before slowly standing. Heading for the door, where he paused, just as he reached the wooden frame. “Later,” he whispered, “You can tell sessha what happened.”

But from the way, he gently said it. They both knew, he wasn’t really asking, He was telling her, that whether or not she was ready, she would tell him what’d had happened. And so, sighing, Kaoru turned away, mumbling “All right Kenshin,” before closing her eyes and falling into a dreamless slumber almost immediately after he left.

. . . . .

Hours later, when she awoke, for the third time that day. She sat up slowly, rubbing sleep out of her eyes, before barely managing to stand. Her back was killing her but she dared not tell him that. Kami only knew what’d he’d do if she told him the full extent of her injuries.

Wobbling a bit, still, Kaoru decided it’d best to take a moment to stretch. It wouldn’t do much for her back but at least she’d manage to get the kinks out of her legs.

Arms stretched fully over her head, she bent at the waist from side to side, wondering, how in the world they’d ever managed to over power her. Yes, there’d been four of them and true, they’d had some knowledge of kempo but even so, she knew they weren’t up to her skill. She should have been able to handle them . . . . but, she’d been so distracted. Thinking about Kenshin, that when they’d jumped from over the wall of Naishinno’s house. She’d been too surprised and reacted way too late.

Sighing, Kaoru stopped her stretches and slowly began to rub her lower back. Frankly, surprised that she could still be so stupid, thinking they weren’t going to fight dirty, ha! She groaned as she touched a rather tender spot. Fleetingly, she wondered what Kenshin would say if she showed him her back, by now, with how sensitive her skin was, she knew it would probably look like a mass of purple and blue patches.

“What a miserable day,” she thought. From the moment she’d woken up . . . she should have just stayed in bed. “And avoided all sorts of problems,” she grumbled, easing carefully back onto the futon. She looked uneasily towards the door, wondering if he’d come get her or if he expected for her to seek him out. And if the later, could she hide out a bit longer, still.

“Kaoru-dono?”

No, I guess not she thought. Rising from her spot, she tried to smooth out her hair and then realizing she still hadn’t changed, attempted to smooth the wrinkles out of her kimono as well, though it proved pointless in the end.

“Kaoru-dono?”

She looked up just in time to see the door slide open, and while a part of her fumed at the audacity of his behavior, the other part of her mind seemed unable to comprehend much more than he’d just opened the door and let himself in.

“Kenshin,” she began, the beginnings of a frown forming on her face. “You can’t just—” but she fell silent as soon as she caught sight of his face. The seriousness in his expression made her wonder, if perhaps, he was angry at her for trailing behind. Did he blame her for what happened? Looking at him, closely, she was sure he didn’t. He didn’t think like that but . . . she had to wonder, why he suddenly seemed so frightening?

He’s acting like—Kaoru felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach. A nasty, inkling coiling around her conscious. “Kenshin,” she said slowly. “What happened, to the men . . . . whom attacked me?”

He blinked or she blinked, she couldn’t tell but in the next moment, whom she thought she’d seen wasn’t there at all. Kenshin’s purple gaze, became stricken as though she’d physically attacked him and he backed up a step.

Kaoru, immediately shook her head, feeling the sting of tears prickling her eyes. “I’m sorry.” She apologized. “I didn’t mean . . . Of course you wouldn’t.” But she was afraid the damage had already been done. And as she took a step towards him, he backed another one up. Halting her movement, as tears now freely flowed down her paling face.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered, wishing the earth would open and swallow her whole. How she could ever think, Kenshin would do such a thing. She shook her head. Miserable and guilty, her head bowed in shame.

“Kaoru-dono . . . Please, sit down.”

She sat, unable to meet his gaze.

“What happened earlier?”

And that was all it took, her head snapped up, eyes wide in shock, at how quickly he’d jumped the subject. “I—I was following you,” she stuttered. “I guess . . . . . I didn’t realize you were that far ahead.” Sighing, she turned a bit a way, not quite able to stand the way he looked at her. She cleared her throat. “I—guess I was looking down. I didn’t see them until they jumped over the wall. I didn’t have my bokken and with my wrist—”

End of preview . . . .