The Lost Samurai

Chapter 14 - Recovery

As tears flowed through Kenshin’s face the bones started receding and his human flesh became visible, with a loud roar Kenshin’s hands opened the bones and destroyed his skeleton body, letting the human body inside it fall to the ground.

Before he hit the ground Kyoko jumped and grabbed him mid-air softly landing, her father was really weak and his chi wavered like a small flame in the middle of a storm, using his full power with this curse already had an enormous energy use, but with the control-loss and the struggle to come back the amount of chi used was impossible to cope with.

“Dad! Dad! Can you hear me?!” Kyoko shouted to Kenshin in her arms trying to get any response, his eyes were half closed and he was too pale, making her really worried he might not wake up again after falling unconscious.

“My baby, you’re… so grown up and strong now… I love you.” His vision was blurry and it took him a big effort just to speak those words, but he couldn’t help but say it after the memories of baby Kyoko flowed through his mind.

“Haha, Dad, i’m already entering my adolescence, i’m no longer a baby, but well i know i will always be your baby.” Kyoko’s tears couldn’t be stopped and some of then wet her father’s face as his eyes slowly closed. She was glad to notice his breath normalizing after his eyes closed.

Without losing a moment Master Hori’s disciples and Kyoko brought the unconscious disciples, Hori and Kenshin to the dojo so they could properly treat their wounds.

In the dojo Kyoko started using her medical chi in her dad’s wounds, almost no wounds could be seen from the fight, but there were quite a few caused by the skeleton transformation, and the bones in sight were now way more than last time, she quickly did everything she could to cover those bones and heal the wounds, after her treatment they looked way better.

Worried about Hori and the disciples hurt Kyoko walked towards another room where they were receiving treatment, the scene was really sad, quite a few girls were in a deep coma and the few that already regained consciousness were so pale and with so many wounds that it wasn’t certain whether they would get better or die after a few days.

Master Hori was like the last group, she took most of the pressure during their quarrel against the dragons, and Kenshin losing control and beating her didn’t help at all, she had a few gray hairs popping and her eyes had a pale color, her skin wasn’t well too, you could almost see the veins and arteries behind the skin, the biggest wounds were covered and the small ones were already treated.

“Master, I'm sorry, if Dad didn’t lose control you would be in a way better state! I’m really, really sorry!” Kyoko bowed apologetically with teary eyes, she was ashamed of the situation this master was in and ashamed of herself. If only she was stronger, really strong, things wouldn’t have gone so bad, if she could fight like her father he wouldn’t have lost control with the pressure.

“Hey it’s ok my dear, and you don’t have to call me master, you can always call me aunt Hori, i helped your father take care of you when you were small don’t you remember? I changed your diapers when you were still a baby, haha, and about your Dad, it wasn’t his fault, nor it was yours, you’re just a kid, you will get stronger with time, i bet way stronger than me, i’m the adult here, a master. If I wasn't so weak Kenshin wouldn’t have used all his power while with this curse.” Kyoko and Kyoko hugged and comforted  each other, both recalling happy moments and feeling a bit more relieved even if they still thought of themselves as the guilty ones.

“Kyoko my dear, could you take me to your father? He’s probably still senseless right? I want to examine him myself, so I can find a way to help him.” Even in her current state Hori still cared about Kenshin more than anything else, sadly she lacked strength to even sit on her own, so she needed help to go to the other room.

“Aunt Hori! You… you can’t do that now, you’re still too weak, please focus on your own recovery for now.” Kyoko denied what she asked without giving it a second thought, the idea of her trying to treat him now was ridiculous.

“Calm down, i will just use a bit of chi to assess the situation, we need to see how the chi inside his body is doing, else it could easily lead to your father’s death, ok?” Reluctantly Kyoko agreed and carried Master Hori in her arms towards her father. She didn’t want Master Hori to over exert herself now, but she also was really worried about her father.

Reaching their destination in a few seconds Kyoko put a chair right beside Kenshin’s bed and laid Master Hori in the chair, grabbing her shoulder gently to stop her from falling.

“Thank you my dear, let’s see, he is really weak, and also his chi is divided in two, normal green chi and a nasty purple chi who is fighting the normal one, that's why he still didn't wake up, the internal fighting is taking all of his strength, he needs to win this battle before waking up, if i was stronger, i could help a bit.” Master Hori gritted her teeth and her hands were grabbing her legs with full strength, if she wasn't in this state, if she was stronger, but now he was by himself.

“So, can I help him? I didn’t fight so I'm 100% now.” Kyoko prepared to inject some chi in her father’s body to fight the purple chi, she wasn’t in a bad state like Hori and she was worried about her father, but before she could reach him Master Hori quickly repelled her and gave her an angry look.

“Don’t do it! Your father is absurdly strong, don’t you know? Even in a weaker state the chi could easily kill you without even being aggressive, just by touching yours, i know you’re worried but, sadly he’s alone for now.” Hori was also worried about Kenshin and wanted to do something to help him, but she wouldn’t let Kyoko kill herself trying, she had to take good care of her.

Kyoko silently agreed and looked at her father, carefully caressing his hair. Hori was just waiting with her, only time could decide the winner.

Inside Kenshin’s head a fight broke in, he was fighting the skeleton with just a metal bar instead of his usual sword, but that didn’t stop him the least, for him the sword was a mere tool, even fighting with his bare hands wouldn’t be a hindrance, the real sword was in his heart, and the sword within his heart cried for the skeleton’s death, he was fierce as never before and nothing would stop him from winning this fight, he was fighting not only for his own life but for the life of everyone he loved.