FicWad

2


Kenshin did not wake again until mid-day. By this time Sano had already been fishing and returned with the day's meal supply. He was making more tea when Kenshin opened his eyes and made his presence known with a feeble cough.
"Good morning." Sano said over his shoulder.
Kenshin sat up slowly, taking in his surroundings in a disoriented manner. "I over slept." he said at length as Sano walked over to him, handing him another hot cup of the greenish tea which contained his medicine.
"Don't worry, that's pretty common with people who are sick." Sano said with a wink.
Kenshin grimaced as he took a sip of the tea. "It's terrible."
"Get well and you won't have to drink anymore of it!" he laughed.
Kenshin managed a small smile, and finished the medicine in one huge gulp, pushing the cup away.
"There now, that wasn't so bad now was it?" Sanosuke asked in a coddling, motherly sort of way, patting his friend on the back before standing up again and returning to his task, which was currently mending a torn saddle bag.
The red-haired man sat on the matt watching him, absorbed in watching the slight body gestures the other man made as he went about his business. Somehow they all seemed vaguely familiar, but it was hazy and shrouded and Kenshin preferred to push away the suspicions rather than examine them further.
"Something interesting?"
Kenshin realized that the other man was speaking to him and shook his head. "No...only thinking."
"A dangerous past time." Sano chuckled.
"Oro?" the other man replied.
Sano's smile widened. Perhaps the real Kenshin was still in there somewhere.
"I thank you for helping me." he said suddenly, getting unsteadily to his feet. "But I must go home now..."
Sano set his chore aside, "Kenshin, you're still too sick to travel."
"I do not have time! Don't you understand!?" The other man shouted back at him. He leaned heavily against the wall, trying to stay on his feet as he forced himself in shaky baby-steps towards the door.
"No, I don't. What is so urgent?" Sano asked him.
Kenshin's unstable footsteps ceased and he froze where he stood. He racked his brain for the answer to Sanosuke's question, but it didn't come. And the more he thought about it the sicker he felt, until the inside of the hut became watery and hazy and everything swayed abruptly to the right before going black and quiet.


*

Screams in the dark. No light, no one from which the sounds came. Just the screams of men dying, and the sound of a sword...clanging....slicing through flesh.
Kenshin came awake again with a gasp, staring around him. The room was dimly lit by a candle in the corner. Night was upon them.
The samurai felt sore and stiff, and his throat was raw and dry. He looked around him for the other man...what was his name? Sanosuke. Yes, that was it. At least he could remember that much. And he was....Kenshin. Sanosuke had called him Kenshin.
"Sanosuke?" his voice cracked like a dry twig in the fire.
There was a rustling sound from beside him somewhere and he felt the familiar warmth of Sano's hands on his shoulders. "You're awake."
The statement had some kind of relief in it. Kenshin leaned backwards and felt Sano's arms come around him fully until he was almost sitting in the other man's lap. Sanosuke rested his jaw against Kenshin mane of red hair.
"I had a dream...." the smaller man croaked.
"You've been asleep for almost a week." Replied the taller man, putting a large hand to Kenshin's forehead. "Your fever finally broke. Well, that's good news at least. Can I get you anything?"
"Water." Kenshin sighed.
Without getting up, the taller man reached across his matt and ladled some water from a bucket nearby.
Kenshin choked it down like a man dying of thirst. He drank three more cups before his thirst was quenched.
"Easy now, don't choke yourself." Sano laughed, watching the other man.
Kenshin blushed slightly as he choked down the last few drops. Sano took the ladle from him and put it back in the bucket. "Well, water's all well and good, but you should try to get something on your stomach. Miso soup sound alright?" he asked.
Kenshin's stomach turned over at the thought. He was hungry, but he was also nauseous and that usually won over hunger.
"Maybe not just yet." he answered.
"Aw come on, Kenshin you need to eat SOMETHING." Sano pleaded.
Kenshin gave him a dry smile. "Alright, I'll try." he answered with a slight nod of his head. Sano nodded in reply and went to fix their meal.
"You know I was really beginning to worry about you," Sano said as he went about his work. "Thought you were going to leave me alone here in this little hut with no one to talk to." he added, trying to sound smug and sarcastic, but instead sounding very lonely.
He had been lonely, until now.
"I wouldn't want that." Kenshin answered from behind his back.
Sano paused for only a second, then continued on as if the other man had said nothing. It was better that way. In time Kenshin would remember, he would remember everything and he would leave. So it was better not to hope for anything else.


*


After they had eaten, and Kenshin had cleaned himself up with a hot bath, the two men sat outside the small hut, watching the sun come up over the ocean. Sano chewed on a piece of wheat grass, sitting silently watching the sun rise. Kenshin sat next to him, wrapped in a blanket to keep the chill off him.
"This is nice." he said at last, breaking the meditative silence between them.
"Huh?" Sano blinked, looking over at him.
"Sitting here with you. It's very peaceful. It makes me happy." he added with a familiar smile that Sano remembered from long ago.
Sano flicked Kenshin ear affectionately. "You're a sentimental old fool." he chuckled.
"Oro?" Kenshin asked, rubbing his ear. "Well maybe I am. But you're not lonely any more, are you?" he added standing up and walking back into the house. Sano froze up, letting the wheat grass fall out of his mouth.
"I'll make breakfast today. It's the least I can do for all you've done for me." the red-haired man said from inside the little building.
Satisfied that he could not been seen from in there, Sano smiled brightly to himself. No...he wasn't lonely anymore.