Chapter 19

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Enishi jumped back almost a clear foot away from the bed, looking at her warily, not knowing what to expect. Kaoru stared at him for minutes, seemingly not knowing what to say either. She opened her mouth to say something, changing her mind many times before finally deciding on something.

“So it was you all those times I wound up in my bed without remembering how I got there” she stated. Enishi seemed to relax, and then he nodded, going to exit the room, taking it as an opportunity to avoid the embarrassing situation. Kaoru watched him go, wondering if she should have said something different

Kaoru lapsed into a deep silence after he’d left. Her mind wouldn’t allow her peace, though, as it wandered back to memories best forgotten. The last words that she had heard Kenshin say.

“I won’t allow this, even if Tomoe is smiling down on you…” at that time, her heart had skipped a beat, she had been willing to do anything for him, she had thought that he had chosen her over Tomoe. Then she recalled Enishi’s words following that.

“The more you burn to protect her, the greater shock when she’s gone” The lie echoed in her mind, reverberating in the silence of the room. He hadn’t really cared.

She stood up and fled the room after Enishi, afraid to be alone any longer with her own thoughts.

“There are no grudges between us….” Her mind finished as she ran down the hall, determined to get in the last thought. She had barely remembered Enishi saying that.

The weeks passed quickly after that. There were few more embarrassing incidents, but Enishi always somehow managed to get away unscathed. He always seemed a little nervous around her whenever they were alone when he wasn’t teaching her something. Kaoru brushed it of as just an illusion, not believing Enishi could ever be anything like nervous.

Kaoru was improving greatly in everything, she found that learning other weapons helped her better understand hers. In fact, when she trained against Enishi with a boken, she found that it wasn’t so hard to keep up with him anymore; in fact she had even hit him a few times.

This past week Enishi had been teaching her to ride, telling her that she would need to know where they were going. Kaoru had been left curious when he also started teaching her how to shoot a bow while still on horseback.

Yesterday he had disappeared. She looked all over for him but couldn’t even find a clue. She should have counted how many horses were stabled there. For a while she worried that he wouldn’t come back, but then he’d returned that night with a few odd-looking packages and supplies for wherever they were going.

“We’re leaving tomorrow.” He said, unsaddling his horse. “Tonight I will go over some things that you need to know.”

They had eaten dinner in silence. Kaoru was glad she had made enough for two even though he wasn’t there. She needn’t have worried; he never ate all the food she gave him. Afterwards he led her to the large room in the center of the house, filled with extravagant and comfortable furniture. He pulled out two of the packages, and handed the smaller one to her.

“You’ll need more suitable clothing.” He said in explanation as she unwrapped it. She gasped as she fingered the cloth. It was the same material and design as Enishi’s usual clothing, except it was fit to her, and the colors were different. The lines were black, but instead of the orange Enishi had, it was a cherry blossom red. There was an undershirt as well, but thankfully it was looser than Enishi’s. He had also included black fabric for the purpose of binding her breasts. She blushed.

“Thank you” she told him, still staring down at the clothing. She had loved the feel of the fabric when she had worn his, but she didn’t think he’d noticed. It was a little unnerving.

He handed her the other package. It was long and looked suspiciously like his sword did when it was wrapped up. She took it from him, it was heavy, but a well-balanced weight. It wasn’t hard to guess what it contained; yet she was still surprised when she unwrapped it.

The sword’s sheath was beautiful. It was made of black oak with intricate designs made of mambo embedded on it. The picture was of a sakura branch in full bloom. Apparently as Enishi’s symbol was the tiger, he had taken it upon him to have hers be cherry blossoms. She didn’t mind though, as she had always loved going to the hanami festivals.

She ran her hand over the sheath, it was polished to an almost metal-like smoothness, yet not as cold. On the swords handle the design continued. It seemed to be more of a traditional katana than the sword Enishi carried. Kaoru preferred it that way anyhow. She drew the blade out of the sheath only to find a fine line of writing written on it in a foreign but graceful looking script. Kaoru looked up at Enishi in question.

“It’s written in Arabic” he said, looking off to the side, refusing to meet her eyes.

“Scattered thoughts, drifting

Wondering after my soul

He left me alone”

He recited the words quietly in Japanese. Kaoru looked up at him in wonder. How did he do things that suited her so well? He got up and left the room, saying only that they would be leaving early in the morning.

The next morning Kaoru got up refreshed. She took a quick bath… if you can call half an hour quick, and dressed in her new set of clothing. Not surprisingly enough it fit perfectly. She looked in the mirror and realized that her usual hairstyle wouldn’t fit.

She giggled as she put it up in two braided buns to the side of her head. Her mother had put her hair up like that when she was very young. She lowered her hands, her heart heavy, she hadn’t thought of her mother in a long time. Her mother had left when she was six. Her father never told her where, she didn’t know if her mother had actually left or just died.

She sighed and sat on the bed, her hand falling on a sturdy but almost transparent piece of silk. It was also red. She picked it up, looking at it; she must have overlooked it in the bundle. She eyed the sword and realized what it was for, tying it around her waist and securing the sword at her side.

When she went downstairs she found that Enishi had already saddled and packed the horses. Hers was a beautiful black Arabian horse. She hadn’t noticed it before. Enishi’s horse was much larger than hers, a destrier, he had called it. It was a speckled white with a black mane and tail. He looked at her and handed over a loaf of bread.

“We haven’t time to eat breakfast. We have to get over the mountains before the snow comes.” He said in explanation. Kaoru nodded and slung herself onto the horse. Enishi mounted his horse easily, turning it around towards the faint path.

“I haven’t gone to this hellhole since…” Kaoru heard Enishi trailing of as he mumbled to himself. She still wondered where they were going. She asked, and he looked around at her. He said one word that didn’t answer her question in the slightest.

“North” he turned around and thrust his horse into a gallop, Kaoru followed.