Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!

Author’s note:

You are about to read the silliest, funniest piece of work I’ve made yet. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.

Nozomi

Nozomi looked up at Shihsio’s palace, and sighed. Her brother had gone evil; the rumors were true. When she had gotten the telegraph from him to come as soon as she could to this spot, she had hoped he was still the same Shishio she knew from childhood. She looked up in surprise as a section of the palace exploded, and burst into flames. The fire immediately whirred back into the whole in the room, pulled in by some sort of vacuum pressure. She sighed, and decided to wait and see him tomorrow. She set up camp with a fire, and her healing pastes and potions next to her, looking up at the starry sky, her eyes thoughtful. She looked down at her healing pastes, the red paste flashing against the blue and white pastes like fire on water.

That night, men came from the doorway, carrying three limp, burned bodies. She looked at them, her eyes wide in horror. Her healer’s mind added up their injuries as she hid behind a tree, waiting for the uniformed men to go back inside. She knew none of the hurt men would live without her. When the uniformed men had left, she grabbed her wicket basket filled with her healing packs, and ran over to the bodies, kneeling next to the nearest man. She kneeled next to him, and hissed through her teeth in pity, seeing his wounds. In a battle, he had scored a broken hand, and bruises all over his body. On his forehead was a gash in the shape of a fist that bled steadily. She spread the white paste over his wounds, and started spreading the blue paste over his hand and forehead when he woke up. His brown eyes were hard as he looked around. He looked up at Nozomi warily as she took off his overcoat and bandana to look at his wounds. He gritted his teeth in pain as a finger brushed by one of his broken ribs.

“Sorry.” She whispered, her eyes locked on her hands in concentration. He looked up at her, and down at his bruises as she started smoothing the red paste over his skin gently, her hands smoothingly cold. HIs eyes widened in surprise as the pain vanished.

"Who are you?" He said, in a deep smooth voice. Nozomi looked at him, and smiled.

"My name's Nozomi. I'm a healer."

"Nozomi? Your name means Hope... you're a healer?" He said, looking at her. SHe nodded.

"Did Shishio do this?" she said softly.

"Yes. Kenshin went to- KENSHIN! You're a healer! Go heal Kenshin first, I'll be fine." He said, pointing to the unconcious man in red and white, with a reverse blade resting by his open hand. Nozomi looked to her current patient, nodded, and went over to Kenshin. She did the same procedure for Kenshin, using the blue paste over his chest, healing the five or six broken ribs, and then using the red paste to heal the deep gashes on his front. After the red paste was applied, hi looked up at her silently as she finished her work.

"Where am I?" he said, his voice quiet and calm.

"You're outside Shishio's palace. I'm Nozomi, and I'm a healer."

"Shishio? So... he's still alive..." Kenshin's eyes narrowed, and he tried to reach for his sword.

"Stay still Kenshin." she said, grabbing his arm and resting it at his side again. He looked at her in surprise.

"How did you know my name?" He said, turning wary.

"He told me." Nozomi pointed to the first man, who smirked at them and did a sningle two fingered wave.

"Sano... you fought him?" Kenshin smiled as Sano nodded. Nozomi walked over to the last man, who looked at her, his eyes half closed and unfocused.

"He was so fast..." Saitoh said, his voice crisp amd hard. Nozomi put the red lotion on the deep gash on his chest, and went back over to Sano. Kenshin sat up, along with Saitoh. sano tried to sit up, but groaned in pain, and fell back down. Nozomi looked at him in concern, and kneeled next to him.

"My...back..." He said, gritting his teeth in pain. Nozomi nodded and smiled.

"Don't take this too personally Sano." She said, and rested her head on his chest, reaching her arm around him to his back. He looked at her in surprise, and smiled, closing his eyes as he rested his chin in her soft blonde hair. She sat up, and looked at him.

"You have two dislocated disks. It'll hurt when I relocate them. Here." she said, and handed him at stick. "Put this in your mouth, and bite down on it when your back starts to hurt." She said softly, and he nodded. She leaned down on his chest again, and grabbed the edges of his spine, moving them back in place with a *crack*. Sano yelled out in pain, his eyes wide. Nozomi bit her lip nervously, hating to hurt people.

"One more Sano." She said quietly, and Sano nodded slgihtly, ready for more pain. She repeated the process, and snapped his spine back together. When she was done, Sano sighed in releif and smiled at her.

"Thanks Nozomi, that's much bet..... Nozomi?" She looked down at her in concern when she didn't move. He felt her back, and ran his hand over a deep gash that oozed blood slowly but surely. He lifted her slightly by the shoulders, and felt her move slightly. She looked at him, her sapphire eyes filled with pain. three gashes covered her front, two across, and one vertical. She was covered in bruises and burns as well. Sano looked at her in horror.

"How did you get like this?" he said, holding her up gently. She swayed weakly, gasping for air.

"...red....paste...." she whispered, and fell against him. He looked at her in confusion, and at Kenshin, who was now walking toward them, reversed blade sword safely in its sheath. Sano noticed the gashes on kenshin and Saitoh's chest were gone, and his bruises and burns were gone too. Kenshin noticed this as well.

"She must have transferred all of our wounds to herself. A very noble healer, that she is." Kenshin said, kneeling down next to her and Sano.

"We'll set up camp, and take care of her." Saitoh said, and walked into the nearby forest. Sano nodded, and picked up Nozomi's unconcious body, carrying her gently.

Nozomi woke up, her skin plastered with paste, and her head resting on someone's lap. She looked up at Sano, who smiled back down.

"I didn't know which paste to use, so I used them all." He smirked goofily. Nozomi giggled, but winced in pain. Sano looked down at her in concern, and pushed a golden lock of hair from her face soothingly. She closed her eyes and smiled, blushing slightly. Kenshin watched them, his eyes unfocused as he thought of Koaru. Nozomi looked up at Sano with a questioning face, and tilted her head toward Kenshin.

"Kenshin's thinking of Koaru. She's waiting west of here." He said, smirking. Nozomi smiled softly, looked up at Kenshin, and back to Sano.

"We should go to her then." she smiled.

"We?" he said, his eyebrows risen as he looked down at her, smiling. She nodded.

"Someone has to keep you three from killing yourselves. Especially you." she smirked, and ruffled his hair playfully. He made a goofy grin, and brought her closer to him. He had put his bandana back on, but Nozomi found herself wearing his overcoat, and the outside of her shirt was covered in bandages.

"Sano... thank you..." She said softly, and rested her head against his bare chest. He blushed slightly, and looked up the the stars, pretending not to be embrassed. Kenshin and Saitoh both chuckled at the sight, but when Sano glared at them, their chuckles turned to smirks. Sano looked back down at Nozomi, and smiled when he found she was sound asleep. He pulled her against himself in a soft hug, and kissed her forehead gently. He realized what he did, and blushed.

"What's wrong Sano?" Kenshin said, smirking slightly.

"He's never been in love before." Saitoh said, his voice amused. Sano looked at the ground, realizing he was right. He sighed, and looked back at Nozomi. Her face was still slightly flushed, and he could tell that the gashes were healing slowly but surely. Kenshin smiled at Sano, and walked over to the darker half of the forest clearing.

"I'll get us something to eat." he said, looking at Saitoh. Saitoh's eyes widened in realization and he smiled. He stood up and followed Kenshin without a word. Sano looked up after they left, and back down at Nozomi. She was beautiful, but he didn't care. She was braver than a lot of people he knew. She would heal people who were dying, exchange for her own health. He would never forget that. True, he liked Megumi, but he felt strange saving her all the time. Plus she was very flirtatioius, and always thinking of romance, and never of reality. He ran his fingers over a large bleeding bruise on her forehead. That had been one of his injuries. He wrapped his overcoat around her tighter, and held her against himself protectively. She stirred abd looked up, her face looking up from his overcoat, smiling. She rested her head in the warmth of his arms. He smiled down at her, and looked up as a rustle came from the bushes to their right. Sano's eyes narrowed as he looked at the bush warily. He set Nozomi on the ground carefully, and stood up, baring his teeth, ready to fight. A force slammed him down to the ground, and laughed as he lookeed at the being on top of him in anger. Nozomi gaped at the girl on top of Sano in confusion. Who was that?

"Hiya Sanosuke! Long time, no annoy!" the girl said, her voice naturally high pitched. Sano looked at her for a minute, and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Astare! I thought you were dead!" Sano said, smirking. Astare smirked back.

"Nope! Just following you!" Sano looked at her, his face now straight.