Rurouni Kenshin 1. Chapter 1

Tiger's Den

By SharkAria

Enishi/Kaoru, sort of.

A/N: I have messed around with some of the timing and outline of events in canon during Kaoru's time on the island. More copious notes at the bottom.

Trigger warning: There is a reference to Kaoru's fear of sexual assault in this fic. Nothing like that occurs, or is even threatened, but I want readers to beware of some of the character's concerns.

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Kaoru doesn't understand Chinese, but when she catches Wu Heishin's four hulking bodyguards making comments to each other while leering at her, she comprehends that Enishi may not have total control over the men. On her first full day on the island, the men never so much as cast a glance her way when they are in Enishi's presence. In fact, when he is around, their eyes remain riveted on him, pupils wild with fright - strange facial expressions on men who look as though they have never otherwise known fear in their lives. But later that afternoon, when Enishi leaves her alone after giving her a lecture about the prison-like features of the island's terrain and the inadvisability of trying to escape, she walks past the four men practicing combat moves on the beach. They glare at her like resentful predators, presumably caged by a command from Enishi to stay away from her. She narrows her eyes and returns their stares, meeting their eyes one at a time, but she hurries back through the wooded pathway to the relatively safer territory of the house up on the hill.

She vows to avoid Wu and his bodyguards over the next several days while she waits for the next transport ship to arrive. Her escape plan to overpower the weakened Enishi and force her way onto the ship is probably futile, but it is better than trying to deal with the four capable fighters and their leader. Staying out of their way proves difficult, however, since the men linger in the common areas of the house and spar on the beach, the only two places on the island that Kaoru can explore in her bathrobe and slippers. Once, Kaoru passes Wu in the hallway and accidentally brushes his shoulder; he spits out an angry stream of Shanghainese curses that he bites back abruptly when the door to Enishi's room creaks open. After that, Kaoru does not find him or his men in the upstairs part of the house.

The next day, while searching for items that could be used as weapons in case she has the opportunity to take Enishi hostage, Kaoru overhears Enishi and Wu talking in the downstairs study, their voices flowing between Japanese and a musical, twangy Chinese dialect. Enishi's voice is still hoarse from his fight, but Kaoru lurking silently just past the doorframe, and she makes out enough to figure out that Wu is waiting for Enishi's scheme with Kenshin to wrap up so that he and his men can get started on something else. She can tell that Wu is crafty enough to avoid sounding too impatient in his discussions with Enishi, but he is clearly eager to move forward with his new plans. It is no wonder that he and his brutes are directing their rancor at Kaoru, the weakest person around, and the reason for the delay in whatever it is that they want to accomplish.

That night after she eavesdrops on the discussion between Wu and Enishi, Kaoru lays on her mattress assessing her observations about the interactions between her island companions. It's obvious that Enishi frustrates Wu, and Kaoru's presence is grinding the two men even further apart. The relationship between the two gangsters matters little to her, except that Enishi has promised her that he will send her back to Tokyo eventually, whereas Wu likely finds that arrangement unnecessarily inconvenient for his own mysterious plans.

While settling deeper into the folds of her threadbare bathrobe, she is struck forcefully by the realization that if the men perceive that Enishi has lost his strength, they will quickly take the opportunity to get rid of him. She feels an inexplicable twinge of pity for her captor for having such untrustworthy subordinates. In any event, if Wu and his men take out Enishi, her already unfortunate situation will become immeasurably worse. While Enishi tormented her in Tokyo, here on the island, he provides her only protection from Wu's henchmen, who would cheerfully send her to Shanghai and sell her to a whorehouse.

In coming to this disturbing conclusion, she reluctantly abandons her plan to take Enishi hostage and board the transport vessel. If Enishi is weak enough to be taken hostage, then Wu and his men will quickly realize that they can easily kill their boss and Kaoru. And the Kamiya Kasshin style dictates protection of the weak - even crazy obsessive gangsters like Enishi.

The next morning, Kaoru passes a still bruised, bandaged Enishi stepping gingerly up the staircase. He stops on the same stair upon which Kaoru stands and gazes at her with dull eyes, but he does not speak to her. He continues ascending slowly until he reaches the landing, then walks across the hallway and opens the wide doors that lead to the balcony. Kaoru looks away; she quells the fear that is churning in her stomach as a result of her viewing how battered he looks. If his injuries don't heal quickly, Wu will cease to be regarded as as a threat. Wu will stop following his orders, and he and his bodyguards will do with Kaoru what they wish. She won't be able to get back to Tokyo, to her friends and to Kenshin.

With these dark thoughts ricocheting around in her brain, she decides to employ a different strategy to marginally improve her situation. She will cook meals for Enishi in an attempt to improve his haggard appearance. Much as she hates to help him now - the healthier he becomes, the more difficult it will be for Kenshin to disarm him in their inevitable showdown - she knows that she won't survive on the island if Wu's men realize that they can overcome Enishi. Kaoru hurries downstairs to go into the kitchen.

Enishi's kitchen has many Western conveniences that Kaoru has never seen in a residence until he'd brought her to this place. Until now, she has just been scarfing down the hard biscuits brought in from the ship, but they are far from nutritious, and won't build up Enishi's strength. Cooking, which has never been one of Kaoru's strengths anyway, will be even more difficult for her here, but with some practice she is sure that she can become proficient at putting together a basic meal. She starts a fire in the enamel wood burning stove to heat up its iron surface, then plops a big pot filled with water and dry rice onto the stove. She digs through the supply cabinet and finds some pickled vegetables in rubber-stoppered glass jars and some fish in square tins. Although the Chinese gangsters have built themselves a richly appointed waystation for their smuggling activities, they evidently don't place a high value on fresh ingredients.

Steam pours out from under the pot lid, and Kaoru tests the rice to find that it is, if not exactly fluffy, at least cooked through. She scoops the rice into a ceramic bowl and spoons on some of the vegetables straight out of the jar, then slaps a slab of oily whitefish onto a little square plate. She arranges the items on a wooden tea tray and grabs a set of chopsticks to complete the meal. Tae wouldn't serve it at the Akabeko, but out here it would pass for dinner.

Kaoru adjusts her bathrobe and takes the tray upstairs, to the double doors leading to the balcony. She presses down on the door handle with her elbow and shoves open the door with her hip, then steps out.

"Enishi?" She calls. He is seated, facing away from her; he does not acknowledge her. She walks toward him and sets the tray on the table nearby. "I made you some dinner. If you're making a meal for one, it's just as easy to make it for two -"

He moans, a low, feral cry of pain. His shoulders are trembling and he is tearing at his hair with clawed fingers. Kaoru rushes to him and places a hand on his bicep. "Enishi, are you alright?" She whispers quietly, trying to get a glimpse of his face.

At Kaoru's touch, Enishi lurches forward, out of his chair. He falls to his hands and knees, coughing, crying out his sister's name. He clearly does not realize that Kaoru is even standing next to him - or even that he is outside at his waystation house. He retches, which interrupts his raving at unseen tormentors. He has never looked more vulnerable to Kaoru than at this moment.

Kaoru hears Wu's men chattering down below; it sounds as though they have ceased practicing their martial arts forms and are talking about what they heard above them. They will come and look into the cause of the commotion. If they see Enishi like this, still recuperating from his physical injuries and lost in hallucinations, they may make the calculation that it is time for them to wrest the organization from his grasp.

The porch door downstairs slams as the men enter. They are coming to investigate. Kaoru is out of time; she makes the snap decision to protect herself and Enishi. She hopes that this plan works better than the previous several ones she has invented.

With difficulty, she drags Enishi's limp form off the balcony and back into his bedroom, which also opens onto the balcony. She drops him on the thick wool rug; his glassy eyes stare unseeing up at the wooden beams on the ceiling, and he groans. As she hears thumping footsteps on the stairs inside, she slams the exterior double doors and closes all the shutters in the room, then runs to the door that leads to the interior hallway and slides the deadbolt into place. A moment later, there is an urgent bang on the door.

Wu's muffled voice comes through, but whatever he says is in Chinese. Kaoru can guess pretty well that he's asking about the noises his men heard.

Enishi is still in his semi-comatose state on the floor; he's not even in this world, much less capable of answering his second in command. Kaoru's heart leaps into her throat.

There is only one way for Kaoru to save herself, to keep Wu from breaking down the door to find out the extent of Enishi's injuries. She swallows and exhales, willing herself to lower the register of her voice. "Enishi and I are - occupied -"

She hopes her breathlessness comes across as playful rather than terrified.

There is a beat of stunned silence. Then she hears Wu say, more quietly, "Kamiya," in explanation to his men. She hears several agitated voices at once, growling in Chinese, and she hopes this means that they believe that she and Enishi are - in the room - she can't even finish the thought.

Enishi groans again. There is another smattering of Chinese voices and a low guffaw from the other side of the door. Evidently the solid wood barrier masks the difference between sounds of pain and pleasure. Wu speaks again, this time in rough Japanese. "Excuse my interruption. Should you need me, I'll be downstairs. My men will be outside." The men lumber down the stairs. The front door squeaks and slams shut.

Kaoru clutches at the neckline of her bathrobe, gasping for air. The adrenaline subsides, leaving a wave of vertigo in its wake. The afternoon sun is streaming in thin lines through slats in the wooden shutters, creating bright zigzags across her vision. She leans against the wall to steady herself; it isn't enough, and she sinks to the floor.

She takes a few calming breaths and looks across the dark room to where Enishi lies. He has rolled onto his side and is now struggling to sit up. His sling has tangled up around his shoulders and in his dazed state, he can't seem to work his way out of it. Without thinking about what she is doing, she crawls toward him and helps adjust the fabric so that his body no longer pins him to the floor. He sits up, clutching at his head with his good hand. She expects him to rudely ask what she is doing, but when she looks into his glazed eyes she realizes that he is clearly still halfway in his imaginary world.

Kaoru glances at his bed, a low, wood carved frame with a wide mattress covered by dark embroidered linens. The bed is easily the most expensive piece of furniture Kaoru has ever seen. Enishi should really be recuperating there instead of cramped up here on the floor, no matter how fancy this carpet must be. She hooks his good arm over her shoulder and puts her own arm around his waist. "Come on, Enishi, just a few steps," she encourages.

Enishi staggers to his feet, shifting most of his weight on Kaoru. Her knees nearly buckle, but she is strong and holds him up until she makes it to the edge of the mattress. She tries to ease him onto the bed, but he collapses, bringing her down with him. She is trapped face down against the linens, with Enishi's arm and part of his body pinning her in place.

For one terrifying moment, she fears that Enishi has orchestrated this trap, and that he will now do all the things to her that she feared Wu's men would try, but then she feels him shiver next to her. He takes a sharp breath and sobs, a cry that seizes his entire body. His fingers claw into Kaoru's shoulder and his elbow digs into her back as he wails the name of his sister again.

Kaoru's thoughts shoot down to Wu, who is undoubtedly listening for suspicious noises from this very room. If Enishi keeps this up, the four bodyguards will be up to beat down the door in a matter of minutes.

It is in this desperate frame of mind that Kaoru yanks an arm out from Enishi's crazed embrace and flips on to her back. She can't completely slip free, but she manages to pull herself forward enough to where Enishi is grasping her around her waist, sobbing into her lap.

"Enishi, hush, let's stay quiet," Kaoru coaxes as she leans down, her breath puffing against his ear. She strokes a hand through his silky silvery hair in what she hopes is a comforting gesture - she has never been good at this soft, motherly stuff - and listens for steps on the stairs. She sighs in relief that she doesn't hear any.

Eventually, Enishi's sobs subside and his breaths even out. He snuggles his head further into Kaoru's lap and wraps his arm over her legs. Not knowing what else to do, she leans back into the pillows and keeps petting his head cautiously, as if touching a sleeping tiger. He seems to have descended into a deep sleep, but every time she shifts away to get up, he grips her hip hard and she is compelled to stay put. Resigned to her position, she gently lifts the glasses from Enishi's face and folds them up, placing them on the lacquered bedside table. She's a little stiff from sitting like this, but even if Enishi would let her move, it's not as if she can leave the room for a few hours anyway - her deception of Wu depends on her staying put for several more hours. At least her improvised plan seems to be keeping her and Enishi safe, for now.

Fearful exhaustion washes over her, and she suddenly finds that she cannot keep her eyes open for one second longer. She tilts her head back against the soft cushion and falls fast asleep.

When she awakens, it is late at night. A few weak lines of moonlight breach the shutters, allowing her to see the outlines of the furniture in the room, but otherwise the room is pitch black. The only sounds she hears are the crashing of the waves against the beach and Enishi's quiet, even breathing.

She has sunk deep into the cushions on the bed, and her neck feels crooked. Her left foot tingles painfully as a result of Enishi's head still squishing her legs. The immediate threat from Wu having passed, her wretched fear is replaced with anger over Enishi's crazy episode putting them both in harm's way. Anger feels good; it feels righteous and pure, and helps block out all thoughts of how she has never been this intimately close to any man before, much less with someone like Kenshin's sworn enemy.

She tries to shove Enishi off of her without success. On her third attempt, Enishi's head pops up reflexively. His fingers dig into her hip and he shakes his head, fighting off his interrupted dreams.

"Hey," Kaoru whispers. "Move."

Kaoru can't see much more than the silhouette of Enishi's head and his heavy lidded eyes, still cloudy with sleep and possibly his other imaginary world. He smacks his lips and swallows drily. He can probably still taste the vomit on his his lips, Kaoru thinks in disgust. Without acknowledging Kaoru's command, he sighs heavily and pulls Kaoru down the bed and toward him.

Kaoru's stomach drops and she struggles against him, terrified that this time he really will do something awful to her, but then he settles against her shoulder, snuggles his head under her chin, and tucks his own arm over her waist. Kaoru freezes, utterly nonplussed. Enishi's position reminds her of a small child cuddling against his mother after suffering a tremendous nightmare. This would be adorable if it were Ayame or Suzume; however, Enishi is a homicidal, delusional maniac.

Enishi's breathing soon returns to the calm, even inhales and exhales that indicate sleep. Kaoru taps his shoulder experimentally but he's obviously out cold again. The feeling in her foot is returning with painful pinpricks, and she rotates her ankle to speed the process. Being trapped in the arms of a psychopath is far from ideal, but at least she doesn't have to pee at the moment. Kaoru closes her eyes again and drifts off into a fitful sleep.

She opens her eyes again and it is morning; bright tropical sunlight illuminates the room. The shutters have been pulled open, and the bed linens on the side of the bed she isn't laying on have been tucked over her body. For a moment, she thinks she is alone, but then her eyes land on Enishi, who is perched on the edge of a chair in the corner of the room. She jumps, startled, then wills herself to relax her muscles. If he had wanted to hurt her, he would have done so by now.

He has changed out of his bathrobe and now wears clothes similar to those in which he battled Kenshin. He leans his elbows on his knees, his chin resting on his good hand, his sheathed watou laying threateningly across his thighs. He is staring at her over the top of his glasses in a decidedly hostile way.

"You - you fainted," Kaoru explains, as though she is the one who needs to justify her presence in his bed, with all the doors in the room locked from the inside. "I dragged you onto the bed so you could rest."

"Why did you not leave me on the balcony?" He asks in accented Japanese. His now clear and perceptive eyes bore into hers, and she wonders why she ever had the impression that he could not take care of himself.

"I was afraid of what Wu and those other guys might do to you - to us - if they saw you looking weak -"

"Your fears are unfounded," Enishi interrupts. He abruptly rises, breaking their eye contact, and swings his sword onto one shoulder. Without another word, he stalks to the hallway door and unlocks it, then slams it shut behind him. Kaoru gapes at the closed door as she hears his heavy footsteps going down the stairs. Now what?

She runs a hand through her messy hair, then reties her ponytail, trying to clear her head, and adjusts her own bathrobe, wishing for the millionth time that Enishi had provided her with actual useable clothing.

Her stomach gurgles, protesting the fact that she skipped dinner the previous night. Well, there is no way she can face what is shaping up to be an even weirder day than yesterday without a full belly, so she might as well take care of that. She stands, shoves her feet into her bedraggled house slippers, and peers out the door to make sure that no one is lurking in the hallway, then carefully exits Enishi's room. The door to her own room remains shut; she blushes in spite of herself. What would Tae or Megumi say about her spending the night in Enishi's arms? What would Kenshin - ?

Tears well up in her eyes, and she swallows hard. She resolves to put all thoughts of Kenshin and her friends out of her mind for now; she won't be able to come up with a plan if she starts crying every few minutes. Squaring her shoulders, she walks down the staircase and heads for the kitchen.

Once there, she tosses canned sardines over some of the leftover rice from the previous day. The food won't make a very tasty breakfast, but it will fill her stomach, and throwing it together gives her an activity to keep her brain from straying to the intimate feeling of Enishi's delusion-induced embrace, which would have been almost tender if he weren't such a freak. Standing at the counter, she takes a few bites from her bowl and grimaces at the taste, then puts together a second bowl for Enishi.

The kitchen door that leads out to the back patio screeches open. Enishi saunters into the kitchen. His face and the front of his clothes are spattered in fresh blood. He stinks like a slaughterhouse or a battlefield clinic. At the sight of him, Kaoru gasps and drops her chopsticks; they clatter to the floor, forgotten.

Enishi leans his sheathed sword against the wall. "Wu and his men now understand the consequences if they attempt to harm you."

Kaoru nods, her eyes bulging in horror. She swallows the bile rising in her throat and tries to discern whether any of the copious quantity of blood on Enishi is his own.

Enishi insouciantly picks up his bowl and chopsticks from the counter. He tracks red footprints across the hardwood floor into the dining room. Numbly and without any lingering appetite, Kaoru follows him.

He sits at the head of the table, chewing his food with only a mildly displeased expression on his face. A little blood drips from his hair into his bowl; he shovels the contaminated rice into his mouth without even seeming to notice.

"Are you hurt?" Kaoru asks quietly, careful to keep the anxiety and revulsion out of her voice. She sits in the seat on his left side, knowing even as she does so that the strategy is all but useless - Enishi's weak side is still many times more dangerous than her dominant side.

Enishi grunts without looking up at her. "This is mostly from Wu's bodyguard," he states matter-of-factly. Kaoru tries not to retch at the thought. "But I may have opened up a cut on my back." The blood seeping through his jacket confirms his stated suspicion.

He pushes his half-finished meal to the middle of the table and stands up, walking out of the room without even pushing his chair in. Red droplets from his clothes now stain the chair cushion.

In spite of her disgust, a small part of Kaoru's mind resentfully reminds her that eventually she will be responsible for mopping up all the bloody footprints that Enishi is leaving all over the kitchen and dining space. She follows the crimson trail upstairs and sees that it leads into the bathroom next to Enishi's room. The door is open. She starts to turn around to go back downstairs, hoping that he doesn't notice or care about her presence.

"Come in here," demands Enishi from the door. His voice echoes around in the tiled space. Kaoru gulps and walks to the doorframe.

Enishi has removed his sleeveless shirt and is trying to staunch the bleeding from the gash on his back with a towel, but the injuries from his fight with Kenshin prevent him from reaching it properly. He flails his arm and the towel back and forth, and fresh blood pours from the cut, dripping on the porcelain sink and spattering the framed mirror. More blood is smeared along the white tiles and against the cast iron claw footed bathtub. It would be a humorous scene if it weren't so gory. Enishi gazes at her expectantly.

"Um," Kaoru mutters, as if reading from the insane script that must be in Enishi's head, "Let me help you with that." She takes the towel from him, and he sits down on the lid of the toilet so that Kaoru can hold it up to his cut. Kaoru does not understand how Enishi can be so nonchalant about bleeding all over the modern marvels of this room. She will be relieved when her friends rescue her from this island prison, but she will also be sorry to go back to chamber pots and hand pumped water and woodfire-heated baths.

Kaoru stands there, pressing the towel against Enishi's bare, muscled back, wondering once again how she is caring for this man so intimately when her modest, beloved Kenshin would have been far too embarrassed to allow her to assist him like this. Enishi didn't demand this treatment from her their first day on the island when he was first recovering from his injuries; something must have changed for him. Kaoru concludes that it must be a result of her closeness and protection of him as he recovered from his hallucinations last night, but she cannot puzzle out what is going through his damaged mind.

The cut stops actively bleeding. Kaoru drops the wet towel to the floor without regard for the mess. She grabs some of the cotton cloths off a shelf and wets them in the sink, then starts wiping the drying blood from Enishi's arms and hands. She removes his glasses from his face and polishes the lenses, then folds them and places them on the vanity. Enishi neither protests nor assists in this process. He simply accepts her care as though he expects it.

Wordlessly, acting as if on instinct, Kaoru draws a bath for Enishi. She catches him observing her with an expression that seems almost curious.

"You can take it from here," she mutters and throws him a towel, then marches out and slams the door shut behind her. She lets out a heavy sigh. If she'd known that throwing her lot in with Enishi meant that she would have to treat him like a child (in the shape of an extremely dangerous, rather good-looking man), she might have chosen to take her chances with Wu and his henchmen. Or the sharks in the bay.

Later that day, to her surprise, she learns that Enishi didn't kill any of Wu's bodyguards; he simply removed a limb from one of them. The other three also appear pretty roughed up. While peeking out from behind the curtain of one of the windows on the second story, she sees them sulking together in the shadow of the warehouse down near the shore, glaring daggers up toward the house. Wu is nowhere to be seen. Kaoru is unsure whether this is a positive development or the mark of a deteriorating situation. She supposes that she is relieved that Enishi refrained from slaughtering yet another person, but she is not so naive as to think that Wu and his men will not find a way to retaliate if they have the opportunity.

As the shadows grow long and the sun sets, Enishi starts stomping around the house with greater agitation than in the previous few days. He huffily stalks past Kaoru's self-claimed nook in the library several times, his bathrobe flapping around his legs. Kaoru ignores him for a while; she is attempting to distract herself by looking at the linotype prints of modern buildings in a European book after spending the rest of the afternoon mopping up all the blood in the kitchen and bathroom. After his fifth pass of the room, she worries that he is descending into another scene of madness such as the one from earlier, but then she catches him glaring at her out of the corner of her eye. It takes all of her willpower not to just shout at him, "What is your problem?!"

Instead, she shuts the book and sets it down on a side table, then stands up and simply waits for him to indicate what he wants. He glances at her once more, evidently appeased that she has taken note of his presence, and steps out of the room. Kaoru sighs and follows him upstairs once again.

He reaches the top step and turns around to make sure that she is still behind him. Curious yet exasperated, Kaoru raises her eyebrows slightly to try to elicit a verbal response. She is unsuccessful. Enishi whips his head around as he steps into the hallway and walks over to the door to his room. He stands in front of it, his arms crossed, looking expectant.

Kaoru's eyes narrow at him. It's clear that he wants her to come in, but for what purpose, she is unsure. Perhaps he is worried that Wu or one of his men will try to retaliate, and he wants her in his sight at all times. Or maybe, enjoying the way she cleaned up the other rooms, he wants her to fix up his space as well. Ultimately, it doesn't really matter; she has already committed to doing what it takes to protect them both while she is on the island (or at least as long as it continues to benefit her). With trepidation, she steps into the room with him behind her.

Enishi shoulders her gently out of the way and pulls the covers back on the bed. Kaoru looks at him, and her fear must be written in her eyes, because he looks away from her and growls, low and quiet, "Just what you did last night. Nothing more."

Kaoru swears that she hears an undercurrent of shame flowing through his voice. She sits down at the edge of the bed, eyeing him suspiciously. He does not look at her at first; instead, he kicks off his slippers and removes his glasses. With a single motion, he flops into the mattress and actually pats the spot next to him on the bed. Kaoru furrows her brows but scoots over, and the next thing she knows, his head is in her lap again and his arm is slung across her hips. When she fails to stroke his head, he glares up at her. She sighs and runs her fingers soothingly through his hair. He closes his eyes and exhales as though the tight knots of tension inside of him are unraveling all at once. In spite of herself, Kaoru can't help but feel pity for Enishi, whose pain over losing his family has twisted him into the vicious, troubled, yet vulnerable man. He is so alone that even this simple contact is somehow comforting to him.

Soon, he is breathing calmly and evenly, and Kaoru knows he has fallen asleep. She follows shortly thereafter.

When she wakes up the next morning, Enishi has again tucked her into bed, but has already begun training outside - she can tell by the thwacks hitting the trees that can only be caused by a sharp sword. She rubs her eyes and stretches, wondering what this development means for her escape prospects.

This routine continues for a week. Enishi barely acknowledges her during the day, other than to make the occasional snide comment about her cooking; she talks to him very little, but finds herself staying nearby in case Wu tries to approach (which happens much less now that Enishi has asserted his dominance over them).

The transport ship arrives and leaves shortly thereafter, bringing with it word that the warrior with the cannon attached to his arm is tearing up Tokyo. Kaoru listens to Wu and Enishi discussing the news in the study, hoping to hear mention of her friends, but Enishi catches her eavesdropping and, glaring at her, he slams the door in her face.

Kaoru wonders if the news will change Enishi's strange nightly ritual with her, but the only difference that night is that he seems to cling to her more desperately. The shift is slight, but unsettling.

When she wakes up alone in his bed the next morning, there is a fabric package on the bedside table. It is a new blue kimono, tailored to her exact measurements. Kaoru gulps and wonders just what this portends.

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A/N: A long time ago, I wrote some fics where Enishi was still a sick, scary guy, but the strongest traits I gave him were intelligence and an exceptional ability to think strategically and manipulatively. Several authors have written him with these characteristics in wonderful, complex stories. With this fic, I am trying to take his character in the opposite direction - that is, I ratcheted up his obsessive, delusional traits and threw it up against how I think Kaoru - a girl who is strong, confident in her sense of right and wrong, believes that dangerous/damaged people can be redeemed, and has vague and inexperienced desires toward Kenshin - might deal with that. I hope I am doing these characters justice. In any case, this isn't exactly romantic, but there are some romantic feelings, in there, someplace. I think there will be one more chapter.

A/N 2: People who have mental health issues should be respected and helped. They should not be called names or be defined in ways that perpetuate stereotypes or are otherwise disrespectful. That said, this story is from Kaoru's POV. Kaoru is a sharp-tongued, 17 year old girl who sometimes calls people names. I thought it was true to her inner voice to use terms that should not actually be applied to people.

A/N 3: This is a reminder that what is written in fic is not necessarily what an author desires in real life, or even in canon. This story is not intended to reflect healthy romantic interactions between Kaoru and Enishi. This is an exploration of characters, not my preferred ending to RuroKen.


	2. Chapter 2

Tiger's Den - Chapter 2

by SharkAria

A/N: So happy to see that so many people still care about this pair after all these years! I hope you enjoy the next part of this story.

Warning: More adult situations in this chapter.

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The first night that Enishi sleeps in the arms of Battousai's woman, he does not dream his usual nightmares of blood and revenge. Instead of the ice and pain and fear to which he has become accustomed, he feels his sister's warm, reassuring love surround him. He is a young child once again, and his sister caresses his head and wipes happy tears from his cheeks. He embraces her and holds on tightly, and she promises that she will protect him.

He awakens to the Kamiya girl drooling in his hair. She is sleeping heavily and does not open her eyes when he crawls out of bed, although she smacks her lips and mutters something about breakfast. Enishi pulls the covers up to her chin to help her ease back into her dreams.

He remembers very little about the previous afternoon after he fell out of his chair on the balcony, although this fact unto itself is not exceedingly alarming. After all, he has memory lapses from time to time, and it matters little anyway, since he often mistrusts his own perception of events. He has learned over the course of many years that his reality often diverges from the experiences of others. He has the vague sense that Kamiya brought him into this room with great urgency. He glances at the doors and confirms that they are locked; the girl must have been scared of something or someone outside. Interestingly, her fear must not extend to him; otherwise, she would not have stayed in the room with him. He is surprised to find himself both annoyed and curious about this fact.

As he washes his face in the bathroom sink, a shimmery Tomoe glares at him from the periphery of his vision. She looks especially reproachful this morning, and he shivers with adrenaline. Whenever Enishi is conscious, Tomoe never smiles, never speaks, but from time to time her expression shifts subtly to give him hints about what she thinks of his actions. Sometimes it takes him a while to figure out what she wants. When he does not know how to please her, his anxiety ratchets up until he explodes with rage at the world for failing to provide him with the ability to make her smile, or else he spirals into a chasm of despair. He steels himself against either of these possibilities and returns to his room to get dressed.

Soon after that, Kamiya awakens and explains that she dragged him inside to keep him safe from his own men. Evidently she perceives her own safety to be intertwined with his own. It is then that Enishi understands that Tomoe is angry with him for not adequately protecting Kamiya. It is only because of the girl's actions that he has survived another day to have the opportunity to see his jinchuu to completion.

The thought invigorates him and he marches out of his room to confront his subordinates. He slices the arm off one of Wu's men in warning and in appreciation for Kamiya's actions, and Tomoe approves. Her beautiful, immortal face reflects greater calmness than Enishi has seen from her in years.

When he gets ready to go to bed that night, an anxious restlessness overtakes him. The peace he felt after proving his domination over Wu extinguished with the setting of the sun, and now his skin is crawling. He prowls the hallways of the house with Tomoe trailing after him, gazing dolefully at him.

Kamiya must notice his anxiety as well, because she finally follows him up the stairs. Somehow he feels embarrassed that she could perceive yet more of his vulnerabilities, and he almost stalks into his room just so he can slam the door in her concerned face. But he does not even need to bring up the image of Tomoe's face in his mind to know that her eyes are narrowed in disapproval of that idea.

He has lived a lifetime of taking everything he is powerful enough to grab, and since he has been the head of the syndicate for many years, he has grown accustomed to those around him anticipating all of his needs and desires. So it is especially difficult for him to verbally express to the girl that he found her presence comforting the night before, and that he would appreciate it again.

He chokes out a few syllables that make it clear he wants her to stay, and that he does not intend to assault her. "Just what you did last night. Nothing more." It sounds pathetic even to him, and he breaks eye contact with her out of shame. Tomoe nods encouragingly, however, and seems to think that the words are sufficient. In any event, Kamiya joins him. After that, he does not need to ask for Kamiya's accompaniment at night; she simply shows up at bedtime and lets him rest his head against her shoulder until they both drift off to sleep.

As he passes more days waiting for news of Battousai's agonizing demise, and more nights with Kamiya, his dreams become more convoluted. In one dream, his child self basks in Tomoe's affectionate gaze; she folds him into her arms with familial love; suddenly, her face swirls into an image of Kamiya embracing his adult form as they lie together on the island beach, her long hair streaming down her back. He encircles her in his arms, his nostrils fill with the scent of her clean skin, she envelops him and heals him. But when he leans over to whisper words of gratitude in her ear, the fantasy curdles into a nightmare; Battousai's sword slashes across her torso and red rain splatters Enishi's face and clothes, and Kamiya morphs back into Tomoe and the beach sand and snowbanks are streaked with blood from the bodies of both women.

Enishi jerks upright in a cold sweat, and when he opens his eyes in his moonlit room on the island, he can still smell the blood; the sticky hot liquid streams down his face and arms and stains his shirt. He rips the garment over his head and throws it across the room. Someone is screaming incoherently.

Kamiya, sitting up in bed next to him, is shaking him and looks alarmed; her lips are moving but he cannot understand what she is saying. She seems alright, but Enishi has long since learned not to trust his own eyes, even when he is conscious. He grasps the collar of Kamiya's robe and pulls it down to her shoulders to make sure there is no slash across her torso. Her neck and clavicle are as smooth as ever, and the soft skin between her breasts remains perfect and pale and unbroken. He swivels her around to check her back for a mortal wound and yanks the collar down nearly to her waist, but her shoulder blades and spine and ribcage are untouched as well.

He exhales in relief and the room is still and quiet again. He realizes that the screams must have been his own. There is no blood on his face or the sheets or his clothes, and the girl is safe and alive. He gazes down at his hands, turning them over to confirm that they are clean and dry.

Tomoe lurks in a dark corner of the room. Her brows are furrowed in pained disappointment; she reminds Enishi that he must have scared Kamiya. Enishi offers a wordless apology to the image of his revered sister and looks back to his captive.

Kamiya stares at him over her shoulder, her eyes wide with shock and fear. She has pulled her robe back up over her shoulders. She misunderstands why he tore at her clothes moments earlier.

He smiles at the girl reassuringly, exposing a thin crescent of teeth in the moonlight. "You are safe," he says. He pulls the linen sheet off the bed and drapes it over her shoulders. Against the darkness, Tomoe's luminous, worried expression calms and she recedes into the periphery of Enishi's mind; the tension recedes from his muscles.

Kamiya, clearly still shaken, clutches at the sheet. But she takes Enishi's hand cautiously and laces her fingers with his.

Enishi stares at her hand on his and feels her warmth. He experiences an echo of the sensation of her arms around his neck from within his dream. His eyes flick up to to her lips, which are open just slightly. She is breathing fast and her eyes are still wide. His face suddenly feels inexplicably hot as he grasps her hand in return.

"You saw Tomoe die in your dream, didn't you?"

Enishi's throat feels dry and hoarse. He has killed men who spoke his sister's name in his presence, but Kamiya's sorrowful tone of voice cuts off his instinct to fly into a violent rage. He swallows and jerks his head affirmatively.

Kamiya looks at him with an expression that he does not understand, but then he has always had difficulty reading others' emotions. She places an arm tentatively around his bare shoulder and pats his bicep gently. The hairs on the back of his neck stand on end at the contact.

"Come lay down again. Let's just sleep," she beckons.

He complies with her suggestion and lays his head on her shoulder and drapes his arm across her waist. She pulls the comforter over both of their bodies.

When he finally falls asleep again, the dreams with Kamiya continue. They are mashed up with scenes of violence, childhood memories, and erotic fantasies. First she walks through the streets of Kyoto wearing a bloody purple kimono, trailing the scent of plum blossoms behind her. She slides open a door that opens into his bedroom in his apartment in Shanghai. She pushes him onto his bed forcefully, and then she is wearing nothing at all, smelling like the ocean and smirking maliciously above him. She pins him against the mattress with a strength he knows she cannot possibly possess and holds a handkerchief soaked in ether up to his nose and mouth. His vision blurs as he inhales the fumes and when he can see straight again, he is above her writhing body; he is buried deep inside of her, about to spill his heart and his desire into her as she breathes his name into his ear -

"Enishi?" Kamiya's voice brings him up from the depths of his dream. Pink rays from the sunrise are just beginning to illuminate the room. Her face is just inches away from his. Her eyes are lit up with concern.

He is still hard from the dream, although that has been rendered rather painful by a full bladder. He wonders if an innocent girl like Kamiya would notice or comprehend his obvious arousal if he were to stand up right now.

"You were groaning. I thought maybe you were having nightmares again."

"I'm fine," he mutters and sits up with his back to her. He runs a palm over the top of his head and ruffles his hair. "Go back to sleep. You never get up this early anyway."

She purses her lips in a way that he finds surprisingly endearing as if to protest, then flops back into the pillows and tosses some of her long hair over her eyes. "Can you go destroy some trees on the other side of the house today? It is super loud and annoying when you do it right under the window."

The corners of his mouth turn upward in spite of himself. He rises from the bed and takes a shirt out of the armoire, then pulls it over his head. He glances up at the package on the top shelf, the kimono he has been saving to give to the girl when Battousai is dead and he returns her to Tokyo. The former idea fills him with joy, but the latter feels unnerving.

Enishi looks back to the softly snoring form of Kamiya, clad in the decidedly grungy-looking bathrobe. On impulse, he fishes the package off the shelf and places it on the bedside table. From her place in the corner, Tomoe inclines her head slightly in approval.

* * *

A/N: Originally I thought this would be a two-shot from Kaoru's POV only, but then I couldn't stop writing Enishi. He is so scary. I now think this will have 1-2 more chapters. Thank you for your reviews, follows, and favorites.


	3. Chapter 3

Tiger's Den - Ch 3

By SharkAria

Warning/Notification: Non-explicit imagined sexual content. I...don't know how much I succeeded with this part. 

* * *

Kaoru holds the item Enishi has left for her. The kimono is beautiful and soft; it is hewn from durable linen. The transport ship must have dropped it off a few days ago, or perhaps Enishi has had it with him all this time, and he has only just now decided to hand it over. It is not formal; rather, it is a higher quality version of her normal town clothes. Some sparring clothes would have been more useful to wear around the island, but the garment nevertheless represents a big step up from the ratty old bathrobe. At least now, she can walk along the beach without having to worry about the ocean breeze flapping open her robe and exposing her legs.

When Kaoru sheds her grungy attire, she experiences a disjarring sense of gratitude for Enishi that grates against her long-standing resentment over being kidnapped. She recognizes that such feelings must be the result of having no one to talk to but Enishi for nearly two weeks, but the realization does little to change her feelings. She renews her resolve to find a way to get off this island, and soon.

In any case, the new clothes make her situation a bit more tolerable. As she pulls on the delicate underskirts and adjusts them into place, she ponders Enishi's motivations. There are only two reasons she can think of that would inspire him to provide this kimono now. Either he is no longer worried that she will try to escape or hide, or - nausea spirals suddenly through Kaoru - he is trying to turn her into his sister.

The latter idea certainly aligns with Enishi's improved behavior over the previous week, although Kaoru does not think he has admitted anything to himself. In addition to his nightly routine of prowling around restlessly until Kaoru relents to stroke his hair as he falls asleep, he has engaged in some suspicious little brotherly-seeming behavior. Not that Kaoru is an expert in sibling interaction. However, the way he snapped at her when she burned the rice a few days ago reminded her a little of Yahiko. And he did a few unexpectedly nice things for her, too: he replenished the stack of firewood and refilled the water cistern in the kitchen, and he unearthed a few books in Japanese and left them around the study - weaponry catalogues, mostly, and an insipid little volume of parables and anecdotes meant to inspire schoolgirls and housewives. The reading material leaves something to be desired, but it helps pass the long, boring stretches of time that heretofore have only been punctuated by moments of terror when Wu or his men approach the house.

Kaoru yanks her hair into a ponytail with the ribbon she found folded alongside the obi. She bites her lip distractedly. Perhaps Enishi's awkward filial efforts can provide her with a potential opening to exploit. Although it is troublesome to play the part of the comforting older sister to this fully grown man, particularly when she lies in his bed waiting for him to fall asleep, she sees some potential advantages to continuing to act the way he wants her to. His actions must mean that his trust in her is growing, which, if she acts strategically, might eventually lead to passage back to Tokyo on the transport ship.

She wraps the outer kimono around herself and ties the obi in a pre-Restoration style knot that she has seen older ladies still wearing out in the countryside. She hopes the subtle change does not make it too obvious that she is actively trying to remind her captor of the one person he ever cared about.

When she steps out of Enishi's room, fully dressed, her bathrobe over her arm and ready to be washed, she finds a pair of women's sandals outside of the door. She slips them on without shame - after all, the gangsters have been tromping around wearing their boots inside the house since she got here - and she makes her way downstairs to unearth a bucket or basin and some laundry soap.

She walks through the kitchen and out the back door to a storage shed where she previously noticed laundry supplies shoved in a corner. As she opens the little door and allows her eyes to adjust to the shack's dusty darkness, she hears a sinister cackle from the trees behind her. The hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She whips around, her fists clenched, ready to throw punches.

"This is a dangerous game you are playing girl," Wu's voice hisses from the shadows. He slinks out of the thick jungle foliage and stands at the edge of the clearing. Kaoru cannot understand how the man looks so composed in his thick black jacket and pants amidst the oppressive heat. His remaining three able-bodied bodyguards shuffle forward as well.

Kaoru listens for sounds of Enishi's tree-thwacking to determine if he is within hailing distance, but she knows that Wu would not dare to approach her if he thought that his boss could interfere. Lacking other options, she decides to stall.

"Where's your friend? The one missing a hand?" she taunts, jerking her head the bodyguards. The mercenaries grit their teeth.

Wu snickers, but his eyes project icy hatred. "He left on the transport ship this morning. Perhaps he shall get outfitted with some arm artillery, if the infection doesn't kill him." He spits in the dirt, demonstrating his distaste for the whole affair. "The boss isn't usually so merciful as to leave someone alive when he is trying to make a point. He must be even weaker than I thought."

Kaoru keeps her face neutral. Wu is clearly testing her, trying to see what she will reveal. She must keep Wu convinced that she and Enishi are lovers, and make him believe that Enishi is far more invested in her well-being than he truly is. "Kenshin got a few good hits in, but Enishi is stronger than ever. I told him to be nice to you," she bluffs.

Wu guffaws. "Oho, so you are calling the shots now? Giving the boss orders? That little body of yours must be sweeter under those clothes than it looks from here." Behind him, his men chortle cruelly.

Kaoru's face reddens, but she stays silent. The longer these guys mock her, the more likely it is that Enishi will walk onto the scene and put a stop to it. She is not exactly afraid of Wu or his hired helpers at this moment - Enishi has healed from his injuries faster than any human she has ever seen, and Wu obviously fears him - but the men are making her feel deeply uneasy.

The sun has risen higher in the sky and it is beating down on her back. Nervous sweat drips from between Kaoru's shoulder blades, down the curve of her spine; it soaks the fabric of her kimono beneath the obi. She knows there is some other reason besides personal fear that Wu has not confronted Enishi. Whatever it is, she does not wish to get caught up in the middle of it.

Wu takes another step out of the shadows, and Kaoru freezes in place, willing herself not to retreat. He smirks at her and speaks, his voice low and cold, "When our organization's sources in Tokyo reported back to me about you, they said you were a lovesick child pining away for the affection of an indifferent red-haired swordsman. You certainly did not seem to pose a threat to my plans. Yet now you have been here for nearly two weeks, sharing the boss's bed every night, currying favor with him - that's a nice new dress, by the way -"

"Is there a point to your rambling, or can I get started on the laundry?" Kaoru cuts in, hoping she sounds bored, rather than worried. She fears that if the discussion goes on much longer, she will give away that she and Enishi really are just sleeping in the same bed.

Wu narrows his eyes and clenches his fists at his sides. "I've been trying to figure out what's going on with you and the boss. And I've decided that either you are a power hungry little slut who goes after any man with clout, or you and the boss have been conspiring for months to throw me out of the organization I've worked so hard to build," he rasps. "If it is the former, you should know that the boss will cede control of the gang's operations to me once his unorthodox revenge scheme is complete. He's going to walk away with nothing, and so will you." A loud insect buzzes in the trees above them. Wu continues, "If it is the latter, you will be even more sorely disappointed, because I will go to any length to become the top boss. Not even Enishi will be able to stop me in a few days."

Kaoru hangs her head in annoyance. Wu's paranoia about her finally makes sense; he is convinced that her presence will upend the deal he made with Enishi. Kaoru is tempted to laugh at the absurdity - she just wants to get off this island prison alive, and she could not care less about the business plan for the Shanghai gang - but she anticipates that such a response would not improve her situation. She decides to keep Wu guessing about her true motivation. "Oh yeah? What happens in a few days?"

"You'll see soon enough." Wu slides a long fingernail down a shiny incisor. "Clearly you are perceptive, and you think strategically. So I am giving you this warning. Stay out of my way when I take over. Encourage your lover to do the same. If you do as I say, I may spare you from harm. If you do not, I will personally ensure the destruction of you, the boss, and all your Tokyo friends when they arrive on the island."

Kaoru's eyes widen as she gasps. "Kenshin is coming?!" As soon as the words leave her mouth, she regrets it.

Wu smiles broadly, like a weasel that has just dug a tasty mouse out of its den. "Heh, perhaps you still carry a flame for the redhead, even as you fawn all over the boss?"

Kaoru glares at him, but before she can reply, one of the bodyguards whistles in warning. The three underlings melt back into the jungle as if they were never there.

Wu lingers an additional moment, his teeth exposed in a feral grin. "Remember my words when the time comes, girl." He disappears into the forest behind his men.

Kaoru's shoulders sag as she exhales in exhaustion. She has never been good at deceiving others, and this high-stakes effort is taking its toll on her. She turns on her heel and hurries back into the house.

She finds Enishi in the kitchen, cooling off from his morning practice. His sleeveless navy shirt is stained dark at the neckline and under the arms, and his orange pants are wrinkled and sandy. He leans against the counter, sipping cold tea left over from the previous night and crunching on some hard European-style crackers straight from a metal tin. He glances at Kaoru, cursorily confirming that she has donned the kimono, then wordlessly gazes back into the depths of his porcelain cup. He does not look away quickly enough to hide the pleased light in his eyes.

Kaoru huffs her bangs out of her eyes in exasperation. His behavior is utterly frustrating. Each night, he needs her to stroke his psychopathic head to chase away the nightmares, but in the morning sun he barely acknowledges her. Kaoru stuffs down her anger and reminds herself that between Wu and Enishi, Enishi provides the greater likelihood of keeping her alive and making it back to Tokyo. So the fact that he seems to be happy is a positive development. She takes a deep breath, letting the encounter with Wu fade away for now - she needs to think about that more before she decides what to tell Enishi.

"Thank you for the clothes," she says, in as casual of a tone as she can muster after the kind of morning she has had.

Enishi grunts and nods, then sets his cup on the counter. Kaoru's eyes skate along his wrist and up his arm; she notices that his exposed skin is coated in sweat from training in the humidity. The muscles on his arms and what she can see of his chest look as though they have been chiseled from wet marble. She is used to spending time with good looking men in astonishing physical shape, but she continues to be shocked by the attractiveness of Enishi's combination of a youthful face and his body's musculature. Chalking up her fascination with his features to her inability to understand how such an unstable person can look so remarkably put together, she is nevertheless embarrassed when she finds herself staring at him. She blushes and turns away.

"That kimono is certainly more expensive than anything you possess," Enishi mumbles into his tea as he takes another sip, in a similarly bad attempt at an offhanded tone.

Kaoru's thoughts snap away from Enishi's physical attractiveness, and her ears grow hot as anger swells within her. "Sorry you didn't think much of my wardrobe back home. If I had known I was getting kidnapped, I would have bought something special for the occasion!" she shouts without thinking, then claps her hands over her mouth in shock and regret.

Enishi scowls at her, slams down his cup on the counter, and stalks outside, leaving the back door flapping open. A moment later, she hears more tree thwacking.

"So much for trying to imitate Tomoe's grace," Kaoru mutters to herself and sighs. She returns to her original task of laundering her bathrobe, hoping that the chore will unlimber her mind enough to figure out what to do about Wu.

* * *

The girl says crabby things to Enishi all the time, and for the most part he finds her whining annoying but not troublesome. But he did not expect her to shout at him the way she did, and he definitely did not expect her response to evoke an angry reaction from himself. Usually, he would not spend time thinking about such an exchange, but the sun has set hours ago, and Kamiya still has not yet come to his room to lay down with him, as she has been doing every night for weeks. Instead, she is banging around in the kitchen downstairs, letting everything on the island know just how upset she is with him.

Enishi flops back against the pillows on his bed and stretches his arms out so that he can touch both edges of the mattress at the same time. He stares at the ceiling beams until his eyes water. Every time he blinks, Tomoe glares at him reproachfully. He grinds his teeth in frustration. How was he supposed to know that one comment would cause Kamiya to react this way?

Enishi rubs his face with both palms. Ever since the girl began sharing his bed, his dreams have been getting even weirder than usual. There has been less blood and pain, but far more graphic sex, usually with Kamiya. Sometimes he is pursuing her through the island jungle as she laughs at him, floating just out of reach; other times, she possesses complete control over him, tying him up so thoroughly with Gein's puppetry wires that he is practically immobile when she runs her hands over his body. Even more strangely, the dreams have no grounding in his own personal experiences, which have been limited to businesslike transactions with women involved in criminal organizations.

The dreams disturb him even as they provide momentary respite from his own bleak life. Several mornings he vows to send the girl back to her room for good, hoping that doing so will give him a measure of peace at night, or will at least redirect his previously single-focused mind back to the pure, righteous task of avenging his sister. But each night Tomoe appears before him, agitated and fearful, and she only relaxes when he rests his head on Kamiya's shoulder. It is the first time that Enishi has experienced something that calms Tomoe but that unsettles him.

And at the moment, Tomoe is upset with him. Just as he is rising from the bed to just go fetch the girl, a soft knock on the door wrests him from his thoughts.

"Enishi?" Kamiya calls from the other side of the door. Her voice sounds less angry than he expected. Now that she has come upstairs, Enishi feels oddly irritated with her for making him wait so long. When he does not immediately answer her, she comes in, dressed for bed in her newly clean bathrobe, carrying an oil lamp.

"What?" he grunts, glaring at her slippered feet, which look a little out of focus without his glasses in the soft light. She steps forward and sets the lamp on the bedside table, then sits on the bed beside him. He resolutely refuses to meet her eyes.

"It's Wu - he talked to me today."

Enishi swivels his rage from the girl to his second in command. He grabs her wrist and squeezes it as he demands in a quiet hiss, "What did he say?"

Kamiya winces and Enishi loosens his grip. "He thinks we are working together to keep him from taking control of your organization." She pauses and looks at his face carefully, obviously trying to size up his response. With some effort, Enishi keeps his expression neutral. "He told me to stay out of his way when it's time for him to take over."

Enishi leans his head back and closes his eyes. Alternating waves of relief over Kamiya's return and anxiety over Wu's insistence on complicating his revenge plan wash over him. Tomoe's lips are pressed into a thin line.

Enishi presses his palms against the mattress and shoves himself back against the pillows. He gestures for Kamiya to join him. "Come on, let's sleep."

Her brows are furrowed as she protests, "Don't you want to -"

"No. I will handle this."

She shrugs her shoulders, then crawls up the bed toward him. As she gets ready to flop beside him, he reaches out on impulse and tucks her under his arm. She looks up at him, confusion written on her face, and he gazes at her, daring her to make a remark. She rolls her eyes and lays her head on his shoulder for a change, then closes her eyes.

Enishi breathes out slowly through his nostrils. Reflexively, he curves his hand at Kamiya's waist and hooks his thumb along the edge of her bathrobe sash. She shifts to get more comfortable and places her hand on his chest, over his thumping heart.

Arousal shoots through him as he remembers a snippet of an erotic dream from the previous night. In the dream, everything is quite different from any actual sexual experience he has ever had; for one thing, he feels overwhelmed with a desire to please his partner. Kamiya touches his face lovingly, inviting him to call her by her given name. He breathes Kamiya's - no, Kaoru's - name into her ear; he bites her neck lightly as he parts her bathrobe and slips his fingers between her thighs. He coaxes her legs apart with a gentle touch, and finds her already hot and slick and eager for him to give her pleasure. When he touches her, she tenses up around his fingers and arches her back; she bites her lip and squeezes her eyes shut as he brings her close -

Against his closed eyelids, Enishi sees Tomoe blush, her glowing face tinged with crimson cheeks. Although Enishi has long since become accustomed to his sister's ghost permeating his mind at all times, he still feels a rush of shame. He clenches the sash at Kaoru's waist in his fingers, willing his hand to stay put.

Kaoru shifts again and takes a deep breath. "Are you still awake?" she whispers. Her fingers curl against Enishi's shirt.

He turns his head down and sees that she is looking up at him curiously. He could lean forward just a few inches and touch his lips to hers, if he thought she would accept it. Pride surges within him as he realizes that this is probably the closest that she has ever been to kissing a man. His eyes flick down to her parted lips. "Yes, K-" he stops himself before saying her given name; now is not the time to reveal that he has begun to think of her so intimately. "What is it?"

She wets her lips nervously. "Seriously. How are we going to deal with Wu?"

Enishi's nerves tingle at her use of the word "we." Instinctively he knows that she, like everyone else who has ever teamed up with him, just wants to do what is mutually beneficial. But he still enjoys the way she assumes they are allied together, at least at the moment. He smoothes the nubby fabric of her bathrobe with his palm. "Do what Heishin says. Stay out of his way."

Kaoru's hand tenses on his chest. She clearly wants to say more; Enishi imagines that he can feel the pulse at her wrist quicken with nervousness. He quells the urge to press his ear against her bare skin and feel every beat of her heart. "What about you?" she asks, obviously unaware of Enishi's thoughts.

He looks into her eyes. Her concerned expression is so open and honest, and so completely devoid of ulterior motive. Enishi is uneasy about his captive worrying about him wholly apart from her own well being. He blinks to check in with Tomoe; she does not know what to make of Kaoru's feelings either.

Enishi says what he can to assuage Kaoru. "Wu is exceptionally intelligent, but now that I have recovered, neither he nor his men can touch me. Not out here on the island. Maybe he has a plan to dispose of me if he thinks that the organization is threatened, but his schemes are worthless against my strength."

Kaoru does not respond. She drums her fingers against his chest absentmindedly. She is probably trying to think of some impossible way to protect them both without hurting Wu or his men. Her credo of protecting life, even as she wields a sword, perplexes and exasperates Enishi. He wants to seize her wrist to halt her nervous movements, to make her stop obsessing over circumstances that will not improve. He imagines demanding that she stop thinking of Wu, of Battousai, of anyone or anything but him on this warm night, in this stuffy room.

Tomoe flashes before him again, her eyes narrowed in disapproval. Her unsmiling visage reminds Enishi that he, of all people, cannot hope for Kaoru to turn her mind away from her purpose. After all, he would never do so. Kaoru serves as a pleasing distraction from his thankless daily activities here - she would be even more so if she opened herself up to Enishi's subtle overtures toward her - but she can never eclipse his overarching purpose of revenge. He swallows and pushes the fantasy from his mind.

Instead he tucks her body even closer to him and closes his eyes again; he nuzzles into her hair. He whispers harshly, "Stop asking stupid questions. I'm trying to sleep."

Kaoru remains silent, but both of them remain awake late into the night.

* * *

A/N: Think there will be one more chapter. Also I kinda started on a sort of sequel to this. Hmmm. Hope you are enjoying! I appreciate the follows, favorites, and reviews!


	4. Chapter 4

Tiger's Den - Chapter 4

by SharkAria

Warning: Angst. Heartbreak. A moment where a character fears violence, although no violence occurs.

* * *

.OoO.

Enishi opens his eyes long before the first light breaks across the horizon, while the girl beside him snoozes peacefully. As has become habit in the past few days, he lays on his back in bed for a while, listening to Kaoru's soft breathing and the waves crashing against the beach. Later, when the sun beats down high in the sky, insects will buzz through the foliage and the heat will be oppressive, but right now the jungle is dark and quiet, and the bedsheets are cool and welcoming. Deep in slumber, Kaoru sprawls across the mattress; her left leg flops familiarly against Enishi's thigh.

Before these last few weeks on the island, Enishi never slept next to anyone - it would have been too risky for a mafia boss, and he would never have allowed a stranger to stay in his personal chambers back in Shanghai for long anyway - but now he has grown accustomed to waking up next to this young woman who has entrusted her personal safety to him for the time being. Like so many things about the girl, Enishi has found this experience to be unexpected but not unpleasant.

The first rays of sun peek in through slats in the shutters. Enishi rolls onto his side, toward Kaoru, and props himself up on one elbow, considering her prone form in the subdued light. She is slim, but no weakling; her arms splayed across the pillow above her head reveal the lean musculature of a kendo master. He wonders how much more skilled she would be if she would get up earlier to practice. But then she has never needed the kind of discipline he has, for she has not been cursed with the tragic motivation of Tomoe's bloody death. For Enishi, the hour before sunrise when he trains has long been the only reliable part of his day when he can feel calm, hopeful; with each stroke of his sword, he has the opportunity to grow that much stronger than Battousai. Now, with Kaoru here, his early mornings have been overrun with all kinds of pointless, jittery ideas that bring him no closer to finally avenging his sister. And while this fact bothers Enishi, Tomoe's shimmery form, lingering at the edges of his consciousness, seems surprisingly untroubled.

Kaoru lets out a little snore that breaks Enishi out of his dark thoughts and soothes his frayed nerves. He lays his head on his forearm, his face close to hers. She looks so different here in the pink-hued light, her expression content, not stern, like when she bravely faced him down in her dojo in a fight she had no chance of winning, or resolute, like when she was explaining how she saved him as a strategy to survive against Heishin. At this moment, she is tranquil, carefree; he would not have believed even a month ago that the same strong and determined woman would lie so completely relaxed by his side.

Enishi leans closer, his nose practically touching her arm. For reasons he cannot surmise but nevertheless appreciates, Kaoru has taken his desire for physical contact with her in stride. At first he thought that she simply feared him and was complying with his commands, but she quickly disabused him of that notion by yelling at him whenever she disagreed with him (something that no one had dared do since he was a child). Though he neither comprehends nor cares about acceptable interactions between young men and women in Tokyo, even he realizes that their behavior on the island would be considered unforgivably scandalous where Kaoru is from, regardless of the fact that they have not actually become lovers. Yet they have embraced almost as intimately as a husband and a wife. Kaoru clearly does not worry about adhering to social norms when it comes to Enishi. She confuses him; the way she treats him does not comport with his understanding of the way people act toward one another.

Somehow she has disarmed his default setting of never-ending suspicion and has reset it to a spiral of ever-increasing desire. Even beyond the waves of his arousal for her, which have ranged from mildly inconvenient to deeply uncomfortable, he has found a gradual peace that settles down into his bones when when she strokes his head, like a heavy cloth muffling the sound of jangling, discordant bells.

In the hazy moments before Enishi falls asleep, Tomoe floats restfully across his eyelids; she does not smile - Enishi knows that only Battousai's death will bring that luminous moment - but she has not looked so calm since she was alive. And for the first time since Tomoe's death, Enishi wants something besides revenge.

Still asleep, Kaoru flops onto her side toward Enishi, and he gives in to the urge to brush her bangs out of her face. Her soft hair is unkempt after a night of tossing and turning. Enishi's hand slips lower and he caresses her cheek with the back of his fingers. His eyes catch at the neckline of her robe, which has folded over in such a way that exposes a little more cleavage than usual. He swallows and exhales, pushing back images from the many vivid dreams featuring that particular part of Kaoru's body.

Kaoru smacks her lips and rubs her nose as she rouses. Enishi yanks his hand away from her face before she opens her eyes.

"Oh. Hello," she mumbles quietly to Enishi as she blinks away her dreams, her eyes still unfocused.

Heat creeps up Enishi's neck. He can feel her breath on his lips. Now that she is awake, her closeness feels unnerving rather than comforting.

She stifles a yawn and smiles a little sheepishly, but does not shift away. Enishi stares at her in open amazement. No one besides Tomoe has ever been so comfortable in his presence. For the hundredth time he wonders how it would feel to kiss her at this moment, to have her kiss him back.

"You - um - sleep alright?" she inquires awkwardly, revealing her concern that nightmares might have plagued him through the night again. He is usually out of bed and training by the time she wakes up; perhaps his lingering in bed has worried her. Mercifully, she seems unaware that most of Enishi's recent dreams have been troubling to him for an entirely different reason.

When the dreams first started up so many nights ago, Enishi tried to quash his attraction to Kaoru by trying to convince himself that she was nothing more than a loudmouthed teenager, a pawn in his glorious plans for revenge, a naive idealist whose hopeless immaturity made her an especially bad fit for a battle scarred murderer like Battousai. Though the characterization of Kaoru rung true to him, it did not stave off the stream of sometimes idealized, often lewd images of her that flowed through his brain night and day. He came to accept that as with so many of his thoughts, he could not control those about the girl. But it is only at this moment, when he gazes into her concerned blue eyes, that he is forced to acknowledge that the fantasies with Kaoru have become woven into the fabric of his psyche, alongside Tomoe's spirit and his life's purpose of vengeance.

"Yes. I slept fine," he chokes out when he notices that she is still waiting for an answer. His voice comes out hoarse.

"Um. Good. That's good," she replies, uncharacteristically shy. She is clearly distracted with something. Is she thinking about Battousai, the man she actually loves, wondering why he has not yet come to save her?

Enishi's stomach turns at the thought. His nemesis has now enmeshed himself twice within the trust of kind, innocent young women; the first time ended Tomoe's happiness and her life. At least Enishi's jinchuu will spare Kaoru from such a fate, in addition to making his sister smile again. He wishes that Kaoru would see that his actions benefit her, that he is helping her escape the misery that Battousai would inevitably bring her. But neither the encouraging visage of Tomoe nor his lifetime of crushed dreams allow him to actually hope for such an outcome.

Kaoru reaches across the few inches of bedspread that separate them and she pats his shirt gently. Instead of the calmness or arousal that have heretofore come over him when she touches him, waves of nausea and anxiety and regret slam into him like a tsunami as he fully comprehends that Kaoru will always love Battousai. The blood drains from his face and the cool room suddenly feels dank, suffocating. The place on his shoulder where Kaoru's hand rests burns as though she were pressing a red hot iron poker against his skin. Tomoe, suddenly agitated and inconsolable, flashes into the forefront of his mind.

Kaoru, entirely unaware of the turmoil churning within him, broaches the topic he least wants to discuss. With a small, apologetic smile, she asks, "Have you thought more about how we can get rid of Wu?"

* * *

.OoO.

Kaoru nervously eyes the rapidly pulsing vein at Enishi's temple. He is clearly upset with her for asking about Wu again; his expression immediately shifted from calm and content to angst-ridden when she mentioned his partner's name. She gazes over the rest of his delicate facial features; across his furrowed brows and narrowed eyes, down the sharp bridge of his nose, along his wide lips pressed into a thin, furious line. Even when frighteningly angry, he is rather attractive. Kaoru realizes belatedly that he must bear a striking resemblance to Tomoe, and that Kenshin's wife must have been extraordinarily beautiful. A pang of grief strikes her; she pushes it back down into the full space in her heart where she has compartmentalized her memories of the people she loves during these recent painful weeks.

"I told you," Enishi grits out through clenched teeth, "I'll take care of Heishin." He sits up abruptly and swings his feet over the edge of the bed. "Do not ask about him again," he commands as he snatches his glasses off the nightstand and shoves them onto his face.

Kaoru rises into a kneeling position and grabs Enishi's forearm, hoping that he will respond positively to her touch as he usually does. He could yank free of her grasp if he really wanted to, but he seems to be waiting to hear what she has to say, though he does not turn around to face her. "That's not an answer. We need to have a plan," she insists.

Enishi's sighs in resignation and he lowers his head. "If you're worried that he will kill you before I can send you back to Tokyo, don't. I will protect you, as I have before," he spits out flatly.

"I know you'll try," Kaoru says skeptically. He is using the tone of voice that warns her not to push her luck, but she is so tired of fighting to stay sane every day and willing herself to stay calm all night. She just wants Enishi to listen to her for once instead of arguing over every last thing, especially since it's their lives she's trying to save. Emboldened by her desperation, she tightens her grip on his forearm and places her other hand on his shoulder. "Just in case, let's come up with something. Wu said he would kill you if you don't get out of his way -"

"Stop!" Enishi roars suddenly. He shakes her off of him and leaps up from the bed. He whips around, his eyes smoldering and his face pale. He is so upset that he trembles.

"Look, you're not exactly my friend, but I don't want you to die!" Kaoru shouts, disregarding Enishi's rage. She slips off the the bed the bed and stands up, facing him down with as much bravado as she can muster. Her effort fails. She has never felt more mentally and emotionally exhausted than she has at this moment, after these weeks of subterfuge to hack out a path of survival between a psychotic swordsman and his ruthless second-in-command.

She hangs her head and lets her guard down just long enough for her to mutter the truth she has tried to conceal since she first came up with her plan to escape. "Look, I've just been trying to help you the way that Tomoe would have -"

"What?" Enishi whispers, his face suddenly ashen; his eyes wide with shock. He paces away from her across the room in a frenzy, then turns on his heel and rushes back. He looms over her and shrieks, spittle flying as he bares his teeth, "You are /not/ my sister!"

"Excuse me?!" Kaoru returns, equally infuriated. Enishi's display of anger, which might have scared Kaoru a few weeks earlier, does not even dent the righteous resentment that spills out now. "I've cooked and cleaned and helped you sleep when you had nightmares for three weeks! The way I see it, the more sisterly stuff I do for you, the less of an asshole you are to me!"

Enishi stares at her, frozen; his lack of response only incenses her further. She pokes him in the chest hard with a forefinger and screams, "If you don't want me to be your sister, then stop pretending that I'm Tomoe!"

Enishi's expression is wild, horrorstruck. His lips are parted in outraged astonishment.

Kaoru gasps and claps both hands over her mouth. She instantly regrets the outburst, and she is absolutely certain that Enishi will kill her now. Her weeks of careful strategy have been wiped away with these foolish words and she can only hope for a shred of mercy from her captor.

"Enishi," Kaoru whispers. Against every instinct she possesses, all of which are telling her to jump out a window and hide in the jungle, she steps forward, closing the space between them. He flinches, but he does not throw her across the room, which she had fully anticipated. She takes this as a sign that she may continue. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said -"

Enishi steps forward and suddenly Kaoru's face is practically shoved against his chest. Kaoru's words die on her tongue. He takes her head in his hands and turns her face up so that she is looking straight into his face. All she can see are his blazing turquoise eyes over the top of his glasses. She can feel his fast breaths across her face, and in her state of stunned panic she imagines that he is either going to snap her neck or kiss her, or both.

"Understand this, Kaoru," Enishi hisses through his teeth, his nostrils flared and his eyes wide. He has never used her given name before, and she is so startled that she almost misses what he says next. "How I see Tomoe is /nothing/ like how see you."

His voice is harsh and his eyes bore into hers, but his cheeks are flushed. For a moment Kaoru thinks he is apoplectic with rage, but it slowly dawns on her that he is painfully humiliated about what he has just said.

Oh. /Oh./

The gift of the kimono - the protection from Wu and his henchmen - the comforting nightly rituals - the use of her name - all of Enishi's actions reshuffle in Kaoru's mind to outline an entirely different narrative than the one she has been assuming these past few weeks. Enishi has not been providing costumes and set pieces for her to playact as his sister, he has been behaving this way to become likeable - no, lovable - to her. Kaoru blanches.

Enishi closes his eyes, his whole face now blotted red with shame over the admission of his secret. He swallows and wets his lips with his tongue, then glances down at her again. Kaoru can only stare back up at him numbly.

He releases her face and slowly slides his fingertips along her shoulders, down her arms. When he reaches her hands, he laces his fingers with hers.

The familiar contact helps her unstick her tongue from the roof of her mouth. "Enishi," she rasps, her voice breaking. She clears her throat and stammers, "I didn't - I'm - we're not -"

Enishi squeezes her hands briefly and then drops them. He takes a few steps back from her and adjusts his glasses on the bridge of his nose. He stares down at the rug, his eyes unfocused, his shoulders slumped.

He looks so sad and utterly alone to Kaoru then, a friendless man barely into his twenties who had already witnessed and caused so much death and pain. She had wanted to manipulate him to get his sympathy, not cause him to develop feelings for her that she could never return.

Kaoru steps forward and reaches up to stroke Enishi's face, but he cringes before she can touch him. She pulls her hand away remorsefully.

"I'm sorry," Kaoru whispers.

Just as Enishi opens his mouth to respond, a deafening boom echoes across the jungle. Kaoru and Enishi both jump up in surprise. Enishi gives Kaoru one final sorrowful look, then rushes past her to the shuttered windows overlooking the bay. Kaoru follows.

Enishi pulls open the wooden shutters and peers through the glass, then yanks open the window to get a better view. Kaoru shields her eyes from the glare of the sunrise with her hand and lets her eyes adjust. A ship's dark silhouette breaks the monotony of the horizon.

Kaoru gasps, her mind racing. "Isn't that -"

"A Japanese military vessel," Enishi finishes. Kaoru turns to him. He is still staring out across the water. The vulnerable, open expression he had on his face just moments earlier has been replaced with a strange smile that is somewhere between euphoric and bloodthirsty. "Battousai has come to die."

* * *

.OoO.

A/N: Lesson learned. Never promise that the next chapter will be the last, because it probably won't be. So, the next chapter will PROBABLY be the last chapter, but I'm not guaranteeing it. The sequel to this is coming along OK as well, so please stay tuned.

Your reviews and favorites have kept me going. If you love fics with alternate pairs, there is no better way to inspire an author to finish a work than by letting authors know what held your interest!


	5. Chapter 5

Tiger's Den - Chapter 5

By SharkAria

Warning: violence. Also, remember how I said this was E/K, sort of? This is the part where it's also sort of not :(

Notification: I messed around with some of the canon events and timeline here.

* * *

OoO

"Enishi, wait for me!" Kaoru calls to the figure far ahead, several trail switchbacks below her. She can't see all of him through the thick foliage, just a flash of orange pants here and a glint of his unsheathed sword there.

The jungle is weirdly quiet; it is as if the cannon fire earlier scared the birds and insects and rodents into silence. The only sounds Kaoru can hear are the noises she and Enishi are making; he shuffles down the path below, and she makes heavy footfalls and breathes laboriously as she struggles to catch up with him.

She left the house at the same time as Enishi, after they had gotten dressed to head down to the beach and meet her presumed rescue party, but between his longer strides, more practical clothing, and burning desire to destroy Kenshin, Enishi has made much better progress down the steep hill. She curses the stupid kimono and sandals that he gave her, and wishes for the hundredth time that she was wearing her training clothes that would allow for infinitely easier movement.

As Kaoru tries to skip over a short rockslide, her toe gets lodged beneath a tree root and she stumbles, nearly losing her balance and toppling over. She catches herself just in time by grabbing onto a low branch.

"Hey, you jerk, give me some help over here!" she screams at him, more out of anxiety and frustration than actual pain. She hasn't totally processed the events of the morning, the strangest in a series of many surreal mornings in a row. Maybe if she keeps treating Enishi the same way she has been doing the rest of the time on the island, she won't have to think about the way he inadvertently confessed his feelings to her less than an hour earlier.

Apparently Enishi is taking the same approach. He hikes back up the trail, muttering loudly about what a useless girl she is, and narrows his eyes in exasperation when he takes stock of her predicament. With an unnecessarily dramatic sigh, he leans his tall sword up against the tree trunk and kneels down to help her dislodge her foot and shoe. "How a klutz like you beat one of Shishio's men, I'll never know," he grumbles as he grabs ahold of her ankle and starts to pull the foot out of the tangle of roots.

Kaoru looks away and tries to concentrate on holding herself up on the tree branch so that she can avoid thinking about Enishi's hands on her foot, about how his face is close to her exposed knee, by the fold where her kimono opens -

A series of loud explosions followed by a whooshing sound of water comes from the direction of the beach. It is unlike the cannon from before. Both Kaoru and Enishi look toward the sea, but the jungle completely blocks the view. Another explosion and whoosh happens and Kaoru flinches. "Do you know what that is? " she asks fearfully.

With a quick yank Enishi untangles Kaoru's ankle. He places the shoe onto her foot with surprising gentleness and stands up, meets her eyes for the first time since the ship arrived. "Mines. They must have found a way to disarm them, which is causing them to blow up." He takes his sword in his hand and slashes it through the air. "It's just as well. I look forward to destroying Battousai with my own sword," he adds grimly and turns on his heel.

"Enishi," Kaoru says pleadingly, and grabs his shoulder.

He whips around as though she has scalded him. His face flashes between cold rage and impatience as he shrugs her hand away.

Kaoru shivers in spite of the heat. "Please don't do this."

"No one can stop me from avenging my sister." He pulls his glasses off his face and wipes the sweat from his brow with his upper arm. "Not even you."

"Tomoe wouldn't want -"

"Do not speak her name!" He screams at the same time another mine goes off. This one sounded much closer to the shore, and they both look down the path, as if they expect Kenshin to come strolling up from the beach.

Enishi looks back at Kaoru with wild eyes. "You know nothing of what she wants," he hisses, creepily speaking of Tomoe as though she is still around somewhere. He turns from Kaoru again and marches down the path with renewed determination in his step.

Kaoru hurries after him. Enishi begins addressing his sister directly in a soft, reverent voice. "Tomoe, sweet sister, our revenge is nearly complete. Please lend me your strength to finish off your murderer."

Kaoru stops in her tracks. She has heard Enishi call out for Tomoe from his sleep, has listened to him mutter her name under his breath as he runs through his sword fighting exercises, but this is the first time that she has heard him talk to her openly. Her skin crawls at the notion that his reality has become so warped. She is overwhelmed by hopelessness and sinks to her knees, the damp sandy soil staining the skirt of her kimono.

Her eyes overflow with hot tears. The form of Enishi's back blurs with the shadows of the trees.

An indistinct shout comes from the beach and Kaoru hears the unmistakable clang of steel weapons colliding. Her friends must have landed and begun to engage Wu's men. A meaty thump makes the ground beneath her vibrate; a flock of parrots shoots up from the canopy. She is nearly out of time.

Kaoru wipes her face with her sleeve and stands up unsteadily. Enishi is about to turn into the final tunnel of vines that leads to the beach. A last ditch idea comes to Kaoru.

"Tomoe-sama!" she screams into the trees. A bird startles and caws in response. Enishi freezes, then slowly turns his head a fraction toward Kaoru, his eyes affixed to a spot on the ground. She can tell he is waiting, listening. "Please protect your husband Kenshin from harm."

A girl's high pitched cheer pierces through the muffling effect of the leaves as another thump ripples along the ground. Enishi grips his sword tightly, his knuckles white against the hilt, but otherwise he stands as still as stone.

Kaoru has his attention now. "And Tomoe-sama - please heal Enishi. He needs your smile."

Enishi stops breathing, swallows. He looks at her out of the side of one eye, which is wide and bloodshot from the battle raging inside of him.

Kaoru takes a step toward him. Perhaps all is not lost.

A third thump rolls across the soil, and a moment later the rasp of Sanosuke's rough voice saws through the foliage. "Hey Enishi, you white haired bastard, we're done playing with your pathetic thugs. Now bring Kaoru out and come face Kenshin."

Something inside of Enishi shifts, and he grins with what looks like crazed rapture. He breaks eye contact with Kaoru. "It will be my pleasure," he whispers, and steps forward onto the beach.

Kaoru runs after him, sick with fear for Kenshin, dizzy with pity for Enishi.

* * *

OoO

Enishi steps out into the open, onto the sand before his sister's killer and the little party of fools that have come along. Dimly he registers that Heishin's three remaining bodyguards lay in an unconscious pile near the water's edge, and that his second in command is nowhere to be seen. Battousai lobs angry words at Enishi, but his ears ring with the righteous excitement to mete out justice, and he barely registers the exchange. And suddenly their swords are drawn, and they are attacking one another in a frenzy of blows.

The fight with Battousai blurs across Enishi's vision in streaks of hot light and blue sky and searing pain. The metallic blood in his mouth - his and that of his enemy's - energizes him, nauseates him; anguish and ecstasy spin together as his sword bites into his opponent's flesh. Tomoe hangs back against the back of his skull, her face pale and withdrawn. Enishi is so close to fulfilling his final purpose, but Battousai refuses to die - refuses to admit that his death will bring Tomoe the peace she deserves.

Battousai uses a cheap trick to dull Enishi's nerves of insanity, but the coward understands nothing of Enishi's strength of will. Enishi punches out his ear drum with his own finger to override the problem. The world tilts and vertigo overwhelms his keyed up senses, but it does not matter. He crawls toward Battousai, who lays defeated in the sand; one single strike will send the demon to hell.

But then the snake, Heishin, rises from a pit in the bushes, brandishing a pistol and shooting indiscriminately, and manages to hit Battousai. Suddenly Kaoru - no, Tomoe - they are the same person at that moment - rushes forward in a futile effort to stop the fatal attack. The hot sand and the cold snow spiral together and the woman who means the most to Enishi rushes forward, gives up her life, but Enishi cannot see her die again.

He has no recollection of standing up, of sprinting to the gun-wielding Heishin, of punching him in the face so hard that his body flies back and crumples against a tree three meters away. But he must have done so, because he sees Heishin's broken body there, and then his sister's and Kaoru's arms embrace him at the same time and he sobs into her kimono, and he knows that Kaoru's pleas to spare Battousai's life were also the pleas of his beloved, desperately missed sister. He wails into Kaoru's lap for the woman he has lost and the emptiness envelopes him at the same time that Tomoe's face finally lights up with love, and the hint of a smile.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

by SharkAria

A/N: I uploaded Chapter 5 at the same time as Chapter 6, so if it has been a little while since you stopped by, don't forget to go back and read that first! FINAL CHAPTER!

Warnings: Non-explicit adult content. Bittersweetness.

* * *

OoO

The rented room in the Aoiya is surprisingly bright for the middle of the night, with light from the gas lamp outside diffusing across the paper window shade. Misao put them up in the finest room in the house, but the night is cold and Kaoru shivers in the hotel's thin sleeping robe, wishing that she had brought her own from Tokyo, or at least asked Misao if she could borrow something else. She curls onto her side, shrugging the thick comforter up to her ears.

"Kenshin," she whispers across the futon, observing her lover's head resting on the rough linen of the pillowcase, his eyes closed and his face calm.

He opens his eyes and turns toward her, a content smile playing at his lips. No matter how quietly Kaoru says his name, no matter what time of night, no matter how deeply asleep he appears, he always turns to her her with the same expression, as though he has been dreaming of taking care of all her needs and desires as soon as he awakens.

Which he has already done, of course, since he began sharing her bed after recovering from his numerous injuries on the island. Kaoru snuggles close, breathes in the scent of his hair on the pillow, places a hand on his shoulder to confirm his presence. Even after these past several months of living as husband and wife, Kaoru still enjoys the tangible evidence that her fantasized paradise has become her reality.

"What is it, Kaoru?" he asks, his eyes soft as he slips his arm behind her shoulder. Kaoru nuzzles up under his chin and wraps her arm around his chest. She inhales against his neck, smelling the traces of soap from the big bath downstairs. "Love?" he questions, a drop of concern coloring his voice. He shifts back just enough to get a look at her face.

Kaoru blinks. Her eyes flick to her traveling pack in the corner of the room, where the note with her name carefully inked across the top is neatly folded, tucked deep in the inner pocket. After she picked it up and read it earlier today, she almost left it there on Tomoe's grave marker, but Kenshin insisted that she bring it with her.

She looks back to Kenshin, hoping he didn't notice.

He glances at the travel pack as well. "You're thinking about his note?"

Kaoru nods, looks past Kenshin's ear, at the lit-up window shade. In her mind she sees the note folded up, tied to the flower bucket handle, then, later, folded and slipped between her extra clothes and hair ribbons in the pack. The notepaper is clean, thick, expensive; the writing strong and made with sure strokes of a brush. The words scrawled across it are brief, cryptic; the note is unsigned but but the sentiment makes it clear who wrote it.

She tries to imagine Enishi sitting tall and straight at a hardwood big desk like the one in the library back on the island, his handsome face clear and resolute, his right hand fully healed as it dips the fine bristles into a glass inkpot, confidently painting her name across the top of the note.

But the image is faint; it is quickly overridden by the memory of his despondent expression, blood drying on his bruised eye socket and cheek, his shoulders slumped and his handcuffs jangling around his wrists as one of Saitou's men had led him toward the military ship. It was how he had looked when Kaoru ran up to him at that moment and pressed Tomoe's diary into his hands. He looked up at her then, his eyes glassy with physical and mental exhaustion, but he took the book. Kaoru touched his hand, and said his name, but he bit his lip and looked away and then she could not bring herself to say more. Then the policeman had prodded him onto the skiff that would take him to the larger ship.

It was the last time that Kaoru or any of her friends saw Enishi, for shortly afterward he escaped police custody, and Saitou declined to send anyone after him.

When she and Kenshin and everyone else got back to Tokyo, they spent a month recuperating. Kaoru told her friends most of what had happened on the island, although she left out the part about Enishi confessing his love to her, and her friends caught her up on how Enishi's men had torn up half of Tokyo trying to kill Kenshin.

And then, a few months later, Misao and Aoshi returned home, and the others drifted away to seek their own destinies, and Yahiko moved out to Sano's old place, and then one night she and Kenshin were sitting quietly together after dinner sharing some tea, and when Kaoru asked if Kenshin would like more, Kenshin replied that yes, he would like more, but instead of taking the teapot from Kaoru's hand, he leaned forward and brushed his fingers against her cheek and pressed his lips against hers.

And later that night, for the second time in her life, Kaoru was sharing a bed with a man, but this time there was nothing chaste about it.

Afterwards, Kenshin held her tight in his arms and buried his nose in her hair and asked her, in an almost tremulous voice, if she felt alright. "Of course, how could I not?" she replied, and smiled at him. He smiled back and Kaoru blushed, and Kenshin pulled the covers over the two of them and they drifted off to sleep together.

When Kaoru awoke in the morning with her beloved Kenshin finally by her side, on the futon in the room where she had slept since she was a child, Kaoru was alarmed that the first thing she thought of was how, with his warm body pressed up against hers and his even breaths the only sound in the room, this was not so different from waking up next to Enishi. But then Kenshin opened his eyes and smiled at her sleepily and leaned over and kissed her long and slow, and she didn't think about anything other than his messy hair tickling her collarbone, and his tongue flicking against her lips, inviting her to kiss him back.

Kaoru thought of Enishi a few other times during that first month that she and Kenshin began living together as husband and wife. She remembered the tears that had poured from Enishi's eyes when Kenshin had thanked him for disarming Wu, streaking the blood and dirt on his face, and she wondered if Kenshin had noticed the way that Enishi had looked at her when she handed over Tomoe's diary. But if he had noticed, he never mentioned it.

Three more months passed, and Kaoru came with Kenshin to Kyoto to visit their friends and to pay respect to Tomoe. This very morning they arrived at her gravesite bearing the most beautiful purple irises in the market near their lodging.

When they arrived at the cemetery, they found chrysanthemums in the flower bucket already placed reverently next to the marker. The folded note was fastened to the handle with Kaoru's name painted across the top, and Kaoru plucked it off the handle and unfolded it and read the two brief sentences. Now Enishi's note is folded away deep in Kaoru's traveling pack, just like her memories of him are folded away deep in her heart.

Kenshin strokes his fingers over Kaoru's loose hair, and she looks back into his eyes. "I will never forget the relief I felt when I saw you on the island, alive and unharmed."

Kaoru places her hand over Kenshin's and clasps it to her breast. He's told her this before.

But then he continues, "I knew at that moment I would be grateful to Enishi for the rest of my life, for protecting you, for resisting the demons inside of him that told him to do whatever it took to destroy me."

Kaoru swallows and opens her mouth to respond, but when she tries to speak her voice crackles, dies in her throat. In her mind she sees the words that Enishi painted across the page to her:

"Because of you, Tomoe smiles again for me." And then, on the other side, scrawled more hurriedly, "Live well, Kaoru."

In shock, Kaoru had dropped the paper and the breeze had blown it a few gravesites down. Kenshin had jogged away, retrieved it. He had read it, said nothing, but pressed it into Kaoru's trembling hands.

Now she lies here awake in this room, so far from home, with Enishi's brush strokes uncoiling into a line drawn between her and her husband where before there was only calm breaths and beating hearts. Kaoru wants to blot out Enishi's words, scream to Kenshin how she has loved him since she met him, how there has only ever been him and no one else, how, although she cared for Enishi and will forever feel grateful for his humanity overcoming the monster inside of him, she will never, ever -

Kenshin leans forward and brushes his nose against hers and smiles again, halting her runaway train of thoughts. "Enishi has finally found peace. You and Tomoe helped him find it." He kisses her softly, lovingly.

Kaoru returns the kiss and nods, her eyes shining. "Then let's live well, together."

* * *

**OoO**

Tomoe still sits in the corners of the little house Enishi shares with the old man, still floats across his vision when he walks into town to buy firewood or at night when he lies in bed staring at the ceiling. She guides his hand when he adds salt to the broth over the little brazier in the middle of the room, and reminds him to sweep the charcoal into the tin bucket after the fire has died down. And she ghosts her luminous fingers across his cheek in sympathy on the rare occasion when he allows himself to think of Kaoru and the family he heard she created long after he left Tokyo and moved back to Kyoto.

Most days, Tomoe's face is calm, clear, and neutral, but sometimes after the first fall frost, or during a spring rainstorm, when the earth smells clean, the corners of her mouth curl upward in pure contentment, and Enishi's heart overflows with the happiness and pain that are so tangled up inside of him that it's all the same feeling.

* * *

**OoO**

LONGEST A/N EVER: Enishi and Kaoru have been knocking around in my head for um, like, a decade (or more ... O_o). After I reread the Jinchuu arc, I fell in love with Kenshin and Kaoru and the way the manga ended all over again. The only thing I would change in canon would be to give Kaoru more fight scenes. BUT. Fanfic is all about asking "what if" with characters you adore, which is what I did here - what if Enishi and Kaoru experienced a common threat? What if Enishi, for all of his obsessive grief, was just a little bit more open to finding the love he craved? What if Kaoru's strategy to make Enishi feel more sympathetic towards her worked in a romantic direction?

In asking these questions, I came up with some answers that I hope I succeeded in writing here. I liked the idea of Kaoru, whose heart was eternally pledged to Kenshin, nevertheless being physically attracted to Enishi. And I liked the idea of Enishi not caring much about how Kaoru looked, but developing deep feelings he thought impossible to ever have toward anyone because of the comfort she provided and because of the selfless strength she showed when she protected him. Like, if he has the capacity to love, even if it isn't a successful venture, he can maybe regain his humanity.

Ultimately, I couldn't see my way to coupledom between Kaoru and Enishi in this fic, at least not the way I wrote the two of them here. Kaoru came to care for Enishi as a person needing help, but she always loved Kenshin in this universe. And Enishi was just too unstable in his grief to establish a new healthy relationship with Kaoru (or anyone, really).

And because I still want to write a freaking happy ending with E/K somewhere, I am writing a semi-sequel, set in a new universe but nevertheless tied to this story. I hope you will take the time to read "Tiger's Den II: The Restoration," of which there is already one chapter out. Thank you!


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