Part XII:  Kimi wa dare mo mamotte iru

    Kenshin thought over what Yahiko had told them, and Sano's addition.  What had happened by the clinic earlier that afternoon and later on in the woods.  Yahiko had seen her go shopping, watching her as she'd made a few medicinal purchases befoer making his way back to the dojo.  Sano had already been there, after having told Genzai of his discussion with her.
    A few things had fallen into place.  He hoped Kaoru would understand.  There were other men who would be happy to help her run the dojo.  Younger men.  More and more, as time went on he could not help but to be aware of the gap in their ages, and it seemed odd that it didn't trouble her as well.  No, he would not ask her to pend the rest of her life with him.  Someday, he would need to travel again.  A sensei could not abandon her dojo at a whim to wander off with a rurouni, even if love was there deeply enough.
     On the other hand, a doctor didn't have quite the same restraints...  A wry smile chased around his lips, though the sad determination in his eyes never faltered.  First, Ekkusu had to tell them the truth.  Time was running out, and he would not let her go with it.
    Genzai looked up as the soft steps approached.  "Looking for Ekkususan again, Kenshinsan?"  When the other nodded, he shook his head sadly.  "Can't say I've seen her.  Sano came by and told me what had happened, but he didn't know where she went."  He gazed sympathetically at his friend.  "If you'd like to wait here for her, I've made some tea.  Help yourself."
    Kenshin nodded his thanks, moving into the waiting room of the clinic.
    "She's leaving, isn't she."  The old doctor said finally.  Kenshin had taken no tea, but the older man had and was sipping it slowly.
    Kenshin merely nodded again.
    "Do you think you can stop her?"
    "I don't know.  I hope so."  What he didn't say was this would be the hardest battle he'd had to fight without swords since he'd come to Tokyo.  Suddenly, more than anything, he was afraid that this was one battle he could not win.  The silence stretched.  Genzai rose at the sounds of footsteps they both recognized.
    "If you need anything, I'm taking the girls to the dojo."  Kenshin nodded as Genzai left.  "Ahh, Ekkususan!  I'm going to take the girls to the dojo," the older man's voice carried well inside.  "Would you like to join us?"
    "Certainly.  I'll put these away and follow, if that's all right."
    "That will be fine.  We can wait," he added.
    "No, it won't take me long.  I'll be there shortly," Ekkusu said.
    Genzai took the hands of his granddaughters in his own, smiling happily.  Perhaps this could work out after all.
    "I knew you'd be here," she said softly.  Kenshin shot up in surprise.  "I know Sano's followed me at least once, and you all must know that I can't stay here."
    This was not how he'd planned to start the discussion.
    "Ekkusudono."
    She held up a hand to stop him.  "Kensan.  Hear me out."  She set down the basket of medicine on a bench and sat, folding her hands in her lap.  "Let me tell you why.
    "I haven't told you the truth.  You know that part.  I don't even know if I can tell it to you.  I had thought, perhaps Megumisan, but I can't.  And telling Genzaisensei would break his heart.  I suppose if I'm to tell anyone, it has to be you."
    Kenshin sat in silence, studying the woman before him.  The late afternoon sun played on her hair through the window.  "You've heard, I don't doubt, about this."  Without another word, she rose, turning her back to him and loosening her kimono nearly to her waist.  Pulling her hair around either side to cover her breasts, she showed him the scars of her back.
    He flinched.  Looking over her shoulder, she caught it, and her eyes closed,  She turned away from him, her head bowed.  "Then you, too, think I'm ugly.  It's worse in the front."  She started to pull her kimono back around her shoulders.
    "Ekkusudono."  He rose, stood behind her.  Barefoot, she was not much taller than he, no more than two inches at the most.  Hesitantly, he placed his hands on her bare shoulders.  Neither was prepared for the nearly electric jolt that shot through each of them from the point of contact.  She jumped, flinching and pulling away, but he followed.  "Ekkusudono, you aren't ugly."  His voice came hoarsely, deepened with a myriad of emotions.  "Never believe that you are.  You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, that any of us ever has, and it isn't because of your looks alone."  His hands rose, his fingers tracing some of the scars on her shoulders.  His hands strayed no lower.  "You've survived more than anyone has the right.  Your body tells the story of a life of hell, and yet you are the more beautiful for it.  Does my scar make me ugly?"
    She turned to him, looking over her shoulder in shock.  "Kensan..."  The blood glistened on her right cheek along with the tears, and he gently wiped them both away.  "I...  You aren't ugly."  The surprise had faded into painful thought.
    "Then why should you be?"  He smiled, only the slightest trace.  The tenderness in his eyes was unmistakable.  She turned to him, burying her face in his shoulder.  He helped her pull her kimono back over her shoulders before he put his arms around her, holding her to him as she cried herself out.
    That was how Megumi found them, nearly half an hour later, when she came to the clinic to find out what had happened.  Standing in the waiting room, holding on to one another for support, his shirt smeared with her blood and tears, her kimono loose around her shoulders.  Several possibilities went through her mind, even in the instant it took Kenshin to look up and smile reassuringly at her.  The look on her face spoke volumes, and he realized how they must look to her....
    "Oroo...!!?"  He almost dropped Ekkusu in his panic, stepping back from her and letting go.  Ekkusu turned to Megumi, the evidence of her tears clear on her face, and the other woman relaxed, understanding what had happened just enough to know that she could get the full story later.
    "Ohhohohoh!!"  She couldn't help but to laugh knowingly, which somehow made Kenshin turn even redder.  "Maa, maa.  Don't worry, I won't tell a soul," she teased.  She was no longer sure whether his hair, his shirt, or his face was the brightest shade of red.
    "Ororororo!!!!  Megumidono, it isn't like that!!!" he choked out.  While he floundered for an explanation, Ekkusu had calmly redone her kimono and straightened her hair.
    "Yet," she added.  They were both amused to see Kenshin even more flustered, neither having believed it was possible.
    "Truly, it's all right, Kensan.  I know.  But I do have two questions."
    Ekkusu nodded to her friend.  "Hai?"
    "What about Kaoru?"  Kenshin looked blank.  "That can wait a little.  More importantly, what is the truth?"
    Ekkusu sighed heavily.  "The truth.  It's true I was married to Sano.  All of that is true about the child, and about Kanryu's use of me.  Even the part about the leather."  She confessed to Kenshin the truth behind the scars on her face, which she'd already admitted to Megumi.  "I wanted your strength.  I wanted to survive, and I didn't think I could anymore.  I think I thought that it would help me understand how you had done it.
    "Why does Sanosuke hate me so?"  It was an abrupt change of topic.
    "Oro?"
    Megumi blinked as well, but after a moment, she realized.  "Eki-kizu."
    "Oroo??"
    The unscarred doctor turned to the redhead.  "Sano calls her that.  Eki-Kizu and Kitsune.  I suspect he thinks it's cute," she said, clearly more than exasperated with the absent young man.  "Remind me to poison his onigiri next time."
    "I hope you're joking, Megumidono."  Kenshin looked vaguely nervous.  "Still, we'll talk to him if you want him to stop."
    Ekkusu nodded.  "Thank you," she said softly.  "I guess...  I know everyone has different ways of dealing with pain.  You will be careful with him, ne, Megumisan?"  The wide-eyed look she turned on her friend couldn't quite hide the mischief crinkling her eyes.
    "Oh, I'll take care of him, all right," Megumi growled.  Now it was her turn to look discombobulated.  Ekkusu couldn't help it; she laughed.  Kenshin joined in, and even Megumi gave in.
    Still, Ekkusu looked preoccupied.  When the laughter died, she bowed her head again.  "I owe you the rest of the truth.
    "He never captured my Kennii, or the others.  Kaoru and Yahiko came after me with him, the last time...  Sano had come before.  He went ahead, without telling them.  They knew, of course, but not before they found out he was gone too.  He walked in to find Kanryu..  Forcing me.  He'd had me drug myself, and then forced himself on me when he knew my husband was coming to find me.  I was aware of everything around me, but had no control over anything.  I was lying there, as far as Sano could tell, and letting Kanryu take me.  He tried to fight, but Kanryu shot him.  It was a pistol.  His goons dragged my husband out.  It was a thigh wound.  I thought, at first, that was what had killed him."  She shook her head.  "He survived the shot, but his leg was shattered.  Between what he believed was my betrayal, and the fact that he might never walk again..."  She lapsed into a long silence.
    Kenshin and Megumi stared at her, wide-eyed with shock and anger.  No wonder she hadn't been able to talk about this so readily.  At last, Kenshin thought, she was able to tell them the truth.
    "Kennii and the others came then.  He had Kaoru and Yahiko bring Sano to get help.  Kanryu had left me lying the way I'd been when Sano first came in, and he wanted to save them that sight, I think.
    "I don't know how it happened, or even exactly what happened.  Somehow, Kanryu managed to outrun Kennii.  He carried me with him to a hideout of his.  He must have been desperate, extremely desperate, to have the strength and speed that he did.  Maybe he had something to help, some drug...  I don't remember much.  He kept me in the dark, abusing me.  When it became obvious that I was pregnant..."  She lapsed once more into silence.
    "And the rest?"
    Ekkusu nodded at Megumi.  "The rest is as I said.  He cut me.  I lost my child and ran.  I was more desperate than Kanryu had been, to move at all.  There was a storm, and a flash, and I fell.  Then, you were there," she said, turning to Kenshin.
    He nodded.
    "I was his whoer.  He used me to make drugs, to heal his men, and entertain them.  He had me learn skills with the whip to please them, too.  I had stopped caring if I lived.  I wanted to die, but I couldn't kill myself if I'd tried.  I was carrying a child."
    "And when you lost the child, you gave up hope."
    Ekkusu nodded again.  "Hai, Megumisan.  I was ready to die then, until Kensan found me."
    Both women turned to look at him, just in time to catch the sweet expression that flashed across his features -- a look that matched Ekkusu's own.
    Megumi smiled at the two of them.  "Come," she said, turning for the door.  "I think the others are expecting us."  She led the way out.  "And I'm sure the silly country girl will be fine," she added, for Kenshin's hearing.
    Ekkusu and Kenshin followed a little behind, walking close to one another in peaceful silence.