soul_logs | [open]

Characters: Kenshin Himura and Death City
Location: preeeetty much anywhere
Rating: PG/PG-13—I never know how to rate
Time: January 22nd, evening/nighttime
Description: In which Kenshin has a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day and whacks at collapsing structures (when he's not looking for people who might still need help from the earthquake). We are not responsible for anything that falls on you. Maybe.

A man who wasn't used to walking through life with as much weighing on his soul as Kenshin was might have gone crazy from the sheer amount that was dumped on him in the space of a day. He was struggling enough as it was: with the pain he knew Tomoe was in that he couldn't help, the earthquake that had damaged the entire city, and now the news from Saitou that Kaoru may or may not be dead in Japan—

Had Kenshin not had Kaoru's voice running through his head ("Kenshin Himura's life is not meant for atonement alone"), if he hadn't stood after the kishin attack on Tomoe with the determination to go through life protecting those before him, if there hadn't been people out in the city at that moment who might need his help—well, the chance he'd be on his feet at all if not for these things was slim. And he was still not fully himself; he was quieter than usual, his face more drawn, his attention less in tune with his surroundings.

It didn't matter whether Kaoru's death in Japan was faked or not. He'd clearly not been around to protect her to know the difference one way or another—but why? Kenshin gripped the hilt of his sakabatou, knuckles white. Who was out to kill her? What did he want from Kenshin? Saitou had mentioned an enemy in Kyoto and a criminal organization from Shanghai, but that created more questions than answered them.

He turned suddenly, whipping his sword from his sheath, smashing it into the brick side of a partially-collapsed building next to him. Once he'd been able to cleave completely through a concrete lamppost, might have left sizable damage to the wall; now the best he could do was leave a crack. If he couldn't protect Kaoru with his full strength in Japan, how could he do so without it in Death City? Kenshin made a noise of frustration, pulled his sakabatou from the wall and glared at it.

He'd forgotten that the building would be less stable as it was.

There was a moment's warning rumble, then Kenshin backpedalled just in time to see the mortar around the area he'd hit crumble and a section of the brick collapse further.

Oops. "Oro......."

[ooc: feel free to tag in prose or action! I just felt like tl;dr-ing the setup, but prose tags unnecessary from here on out o7]

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"That was this one's fault." Kenshin let out a sigh and dropped his head for a moment, taking time to steady his expression before looking back at Bakura and offering a hand. "I'm sorry. Quite a lot has happened today, that it has."

Bakura accepted it with his right, carefully leaning just a bit on Kenshin as he got to his feet. "Are you all right?" he asked as he attempted to dust himself off.

Kenshin rose with Bakura, dropping the other boy's hand when they were both steady on their feet. "All right?"

He looked honestly bewildered by the question for a moment. He was physically fine, and he was distracted enough by the thoughts of others' well-being—or lack thereof—that he wasn't understanding why the question was being asked of him. When he was able to process the question (after far longer than it should have taken), he shook his head.

"I'm fine. Just—tired."

In many ways.

"There's been a lot going on, ne?" Bakura smiled with a small nod, noting the befuddled delay. Something like Death City was stressful enough to the average person, but for someone who came from a farther off era.... not to mention all the non-madness and kishin related troubles in the city...

"I suppose that's the best way to classify it." He made a valiant attempt at his best smile, but the strain would be evident to someone observant. "It's not often quiet here, is it."

Or to someone who often used the same defenses. "In both good ways and bad, un," Bakura nodded. "Though I think something like this is almost a relief. One of my friends thought it was an attack at first. Saying something was 'just an earthquake' sounds a little silly, but..." he laughed faintly. "You don't realize how much everything all is until you find yourself saying that, you know?"

"An earthquake is preferable to other alternatives, that it is." Kenshin mused. "A natural disaster rather than the cruelty of man, or another hand. But danger is danger..."

Another nod. "Un... Hopefully things will be quiet soon. I think we all could use a break." Bakura looked over at Kenshin with a faint smile. "Especially those of us who are carrying so much already."

It was a subtle attempt to acknowledge how stressed out Kenshin looked without placing any blame for it. One he hoped would be at least a little clear.

Again Kenshin had to take a moment to blink at Bakura. He wasn't used to cracks in his facade, having people see them and call him out on them; it was unsettling, and yet at the same time, there was something very—reassuring about people's being able to read him that he couldn't understand.

He smiled then, a small smile, but it was a little less strained than his expression had been before. Kenshin made a noise of agreement. "Especially for you, then, Bakura. You seem to be having a most... eventful time, that you are."

"Aaa--" Bakura laughed, rubbing the back of his neck with some embarrassment. "It hasn't been too bad, really, just a lot of close calls and embarrassing falls! I think I've been pretty lucky with this. I even managed to help rescue one of my friends." Something he was rather grateful for. To have found out Ryuzaki had been trapped like that and to not have been able to help... everything with Leo was already gnawing at him enough to have that one more thing added to it.

"A good nights sleep and I should be all ready to help out even more in the morning!"

"From the sounds of it, you do have a friend in luck," Kenshin agreed. "But you ought to make sure you rest, too, that you should."

He was silent for a moment. It was interesting, he thought, that Bakura spoke as though the rescue wasn't something he necessarily had thought he should have been able to accomplish, but had done it nonetheless. "Your friend isn't hurt, I hope?"

It was rare when Bakura was in a position to be able to truly help his friends. Even rarer when he didn't have to suffer dearly for the ability. To have been able to manage to help without serious injury or death ~~or selling his soul to his own personal devil~~ or both-- it was an amazing thing!

"Only a little, nothing that he wouldn't be able to recover from, thankfully. He should be back to normal by tomorrow, I'm sure."

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