Chapter 13

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Wei Li groaned as it took an effort to stand up anymore now. Shinta rushed over to help her up. He smiled at her and she smiled back. Sano was out shopping but should return anytime now.

“Are you feeling alright?” Shinta asked politely. Wei Li nodded. “You should take it easy, the baby is due in less than a month.” Wei Li chuckled.

“But if I sat around for the rest of the time, who would get Sanosuke worried” she said good heartedly. “I don’t think I could stand lazing about that long anyhow.”

“Well you should” Sano announced, entering the house with a bundle of groceries under one arm. He placed them off to the side and walked over to Wei Li, hugging her to him tightly “I wouldn’t want you to overdo it” he said, intending it to be sternly but it came out as more of a soft caress.

“Ah, Sano, Sano, Sano, when are you going to make an honest woman out of me” Wei Li said. Shinta chose that moment to quietly wander off to do some cleaning, as Sano gave Wei Li an incredulous look.

“As soon as I’m an honest man” Sano chuckled collapsing into a comfortable cushion, leaning back and sticking a fishbone in his teeth. Wei Li blinked at him, she still didn’t know where he got those, because they were quite a ways from the nearest body of water.

“Besides,” he continued, “I thought you already were an honest woman” he grinned at her. Wei Li glared at him for a moment then changed the subject abruptly.

“Have you thought of a name?” she asked. Sanosuke chewed on the fishbone, frowning slightly.

“I thought that was your job,” he said, earning a glare from Wei Li. He held up his hands as if to fend off an attack “I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” He grined “I thought of a name for a girl, but if it’s a boy it’s your pick.”

“Well? What is it” Wei Li asked impatiently. Sano grinned at her.

“Mai” he said. The look of adoration she gave him made him smile wider, until she leaped on his lap. His eyes widened as her full, pregnant weight fell on him.

“Ooff” he winced, earning him a worried look and a volley of apologies from Wei Li.

Kaoru sighed. They had fallen back into the superficial routine of training in the dojo. While those first two weeks they had seemed to get closer, at least from Kaoru’s point of view, now Enishi seemed more distant every passing day. It showed in training too, he had slowly become harder on her, and by the end of the day, if not earlier, she’d painfully make her way up the stairs and collapse in her room on the bed in a heap of sore muscles. A few times she hadn’t made it to her room and she knew she had collapsed on Enishi’s bed, yet every time she did, she would wake up in her own room.

She had to admit; she was improving a lot because of it though. Examining herself in the mirror she had become more fit than she had already been. She looked sideways at her reflection. She had never considered herself fat, or plump, but with the difference now, she almost wondered if she had been. She giggled and brushed the thought aside. She quickly tied her hair up with her favorite ribbon and threw on her usual combat clothes, heading to Enishi’s room to go down to the wooden room below.

Before she reached the door, Enishi opening the door himself surprised her. He was usually gone by the time she got up. She blinked at him, waiting for him to say something as she paused mid step. Enishi noted her surprise and stepped aside waiting for her to pass by into his room. In that moment, she hesitated, feeling like a rabbit walking into a wolves cave, but after a moment she continued past him.

“I have some news to tell you,” Enishi said “But it can wait until we finish today” he said nodding towards her attire. Kaoru groaned inwardly, the most she had practiced with Enishi at one time was three hours. He usually only showed up towards the end of an evening. This promised to be painful.

Kousetsu smiled out towards the open sea. He finally had a name. He had chosen it himself. It was Japanese, like Enishi-sama. He frowned. Enishi-sama was to busy with that worthless girl to train him yet. He glared over the horizon. Patience, he told himself, patience would get him anywhere, and this was no exception. The girl was only a tool anyhow; he had no cause to be jealous. Kousetsu turned around, a wild look in his eye and chuckled maniacally to himself. His pale hair tossed by the heavy sea winds.

Kaoru exhaled and fell backwards onto the ground. Enishi had beaten her soundly multiple times in a manner of minutes. She groaned, staring up at the ceiling. He had given her the illusion of improvement for over an hour, and then he had turned it about and shown her every single mistake she had made the whole time by defeating her easily in seconds with his bare hands.

The second bout after lunch she had to admit was much better. She corrected all of her mistakes from the previous few hours and even had Enishi backing up for a few minutes. He had beaten her easily once again, although not as badly as the last time. She suspected he had gone easier on her than before and nearly resented him for it.

She looked up at Enishi as he stood over her. He raised an eyebrow at her and then sat besides her, but about three feet away. He rested his arms on his knees, which were bent casually in front of him. Kaoru watched him as he stared at her, coldly, but not maliciously, undoubtedly expecting her to do something. She finally got it and sat up herself, folding her legs beneath herself and facing him.

He stood up and offered her his hand. She placed hers in his and he impersonally pulled her up, letting go of her hand afterwards. Kaoru unconsciously clutched her hand in a fist, trying to retain the feeling of warmth.

“I told you I had some news.” He said, motioning towards the stairs afterwards as if expecting her to travel up them. She complied. Once they had reached the top, Enishi opened his chest and grabbed some clothes, tossing them towards her. She looked down at them. These were his; they weren’t the seemingly perfect fitting ones he had always handed her before. She looked up at Enishi and he had turned around again. This time she didn’t hesitate to get changed. She snickered when she finished putting them on. She was drowning in them. The long orange pants pooling at her feet even more than they just bunched up when Enishi wore them, and the shirt falling to mid thigh, nearly just above her knees. Enishi turned around and Kaoru could tell he was trying to hold back a smile.

“I didn’t have time to acquire more appropriate clothes for you” he said with a humorous note to his voice. It was a vast change from his usual tone. He handed her his wraparound cloak, and after she fumbled with it for a few minutes, he took it back and wrapped it around her deftly, concealing her hair. Kaoru tried to shuffle forwards, only to trip over the bottom of Enishi’s pants. Enishi steadied her with one arm on the shoulder.

“We should hurry, or it will be too dark to see” he said and gathered her up in his arms. Kaoru sighed at the feel of the silk on her legs and body, she could understand why Enishi wore the thin clothing now.

Enishi headed out the door and walked in quick strides to the railing, setting Kaoru down when they got there. Kaoru gasped as she saw the most amazing display of colors playing over the sky on the thin black line of the horizon. The sun had almost set and lighted the clouds with a vibrant red, fading to a light purple at points. Above the line of clouds the sky grew dark, a deep blue sprinkled by at least seven stars, the rest still concealed by the fading light. Beneath the clouds the sky was still a light blue, falling into the darker ocean, the lights reflection wavering on the water all the way back to the black line.

That line, Kaoru noticed, wasn’t wavering. She squinted at it trying to make some sense of it. Her eyes widened as she realized why Enishi had brought her out here before the light had fell. That thin black line was land. They would soon be in China! She tuned around to look at Enishi, happiness gathering tears in her eyes. She hugged him, burring her face in his chest as she sobbed in happiness.

“Kenshin” she whispered into his chest. He stiffened more than he already had the moment she hugged him, if that was possible. He stared into the falling darkness for a few minutes, bearing her tears before he finally got fed up.

He lifted her up and slung her over her shoulder, turning around and heading towards the rooms once again. Kaoru sniffled loudly in an uncomely way.

“You know you’re already the only person who’s ever carried me like this,” she said, her voice still bearing the mark of her tears although she tried to sound amused “Do you really have to do this every opportunity you get?” she asked. Enishi just grunted at her, opening the door and setting her inside, leaving her alone afterwards.

She slipped out of Enishi’s pants and set them on his bed, the shirt was more than enough cover on it own, she thought, sliding off the cloth cloak and setting it besides the pants. Afterwards she headed into her room and sat on the bed, clutching her knees to her body, her mind running through any possible scenario of what Kenshin would say or do when they met again. She smiled sadly at how long they had been apart… even Kyoto, she’d only been away from him for a month at most.

“Kenshin,” she whispered into the silence “Aitai desu, I want to see you, I just want to see you” she finished burying her face in the space between her arms, knees and body, sobbing into the empty room.