"I’ve got to go now," Enishi told her, feeling very akward standing in the middle of her neat floor with a worn travel bag over one shoulder and a sword, still warm, in his hand. "But I’m glad to see that you’ll be taken care of." They both glanced back at the slumbering Iida, a battered blanket clutched in one small hand, and smiled."Do you have a place to stay?" Otomi asked suddenly, reaching out a grabbing his sleeve. The man paused and shook his head. "Would you, um, like to stay here?" He smiled and nodded."I’d love to, Otomi-san."

"What’s your name?""Enishi," he replied, looking at her with a small smile. "My name is Enishi." They regarded each other for a long time, niether wanting to fracture the quiet moment. Iida sighed in the other room and both of them glanced up at the room where he lay, then Otomi went to lay out a futon for her guest.In the following weeks, Enishi and Otomi became very close. Once Iida and Enishi had met, they were very friendly. Iida began to call him ‘Nii-chan’ and smile again. Enishi was always appologizing for his intrusion into their quiet lives, but in truth the two original occupants of the house wouldn’t tell him to leave for the world. Enishi almost forgot all about Heishin and his vengenge, living with Otomi and her brother.

Eventually, the two admitted what they had known all along, which Iida found utterly hilarious."I was wondering, Otomi-san," Ensihi said one day. "How long will you let me stay here?" He figited with his hands in the silence. He couldn’t belive how much he had changed since he had met Otomi! Her opinion meant so much to him. ‘What will I do if she tells she wants me to leave?’ he wondered fleetingly."How long do you want to stay, Enishi?" Was the reply."Would you let me stay forever?" He asked, stepping closer."I was hoping you would," Otomi said, letting him bend down and kiss her gently on the cheek. They sprang apart at a bark of laughter. Iida, a fishing pole in one hand and his catch in another, had entered the room just in time to hear their conversation. He continued to laugh as he went to the kitchen to clean his fish.

"About time!" he giggled. Enishi and Otomi refused to look at each other for the rest of the day. That night, after Iida was asleep, Enishi came to Otomi to say goodnight. Instead of the customary ‘Oyasumi nasai’, he pulled her closer and kissed her. Not on the cheek, but on her lips.Not long after that they began to share a room.One night, in the middle of summer, their little life was turned upside down. Enishi and Otomi were fast asleep, he without his shirt to stay cool, her dressed in a light kimono. They lay side by side, Enishi’s arm wrapped around her waist. The breeze blowing through the open window was cool and fresh, but somehow overly sweet.

In the middle of the night, Enishi was awakened with a huge headache. He saw Otomi being dragged out of the room by a tall figure dressed completely in black. She struggled and cried out, but they were just too strong. Enishi tried to leap up, but his hands and feet were tied, not only together, but to each other. He fought against the rough rope so hard his wrists bled, but the rope held. "Otomi! No! Leave her alone! Don’t take Otomi!!" She looked up and for just a moment, he caught her eye. Then a shadow fell across Enishi and he managed to see the club just before it hit him."Nii-chan! Nii-chan!" Enishi awoke again and found himself untied and laying on the disarreyed bed, Iida shaking him and crying.

"It’s okay, Iida," Enishi murmured woozily, patting the young boy on his back. "I’ll get your sister back."Iida began to cry again, laying his head on Enishi’s chest. "I’ll be all alone! You’ll go off to find her and I’ll be all alone! Don’t leave me Nii-chan! I don’t want to be alone!" Enishi managed to push himself up into a sitting possition and comforted Iida while he cried, all the while thinking as fast as he could.

He had to find Otomi, no doubt about that, but what would happen to Iida? He couldn’t leave him alone, not after what had happened to him before. ‘Nee-chan, what’ll I do?!’ he wailed mentally, feeling as lost as Iida. A picture appeared in his mind of himself, Iida in tow, standing outside the gates of the Kamiya dojo. Then he saw himself bowing deeply before Kenshin. ‘No! I refuse!’‘Then what will you do about Iida?’ Was the soft reprimanding reply. Enishi saw himself embrace Iida, who was standing in front of Kaoru and Kenshin, then run out the gates.