You’ve made the right choice, Enishi,’ Tomoe said softly to him."But what have I done to her?" He snapped, throwing an arm at the dojo behind him. The eye flinched away.‘You’ve changed her, but life is change,’ she replied with a shrug."Why am I here?" Enishi fumed, beginning to storm around on the porch. "What am I doing? All I wanted was to find Otomi and have things go back to normal! Why did you have to bring him into this, Tomoe nee-san?" He snarled, sitting back down.

‘Your life changed when you got on the boat, Enishi,’ she repriminded."Aaugh! The boat!" Enishi slammed a hand against his head in frustration. "Heishin! The island! How could I have forgotten!" He slumped again and grabbed his ankles in a favorite childhood pose of his, then bent his head down and rested his forehead on his feet. "How long of I been on Honshuu?" He moaned to himself.‘Well, you arrived at Osaka on the tenth of June…’

"Shut up, shut up! I know! How could I forget that day," he added with a smile, leaning back against the porch, splaying his arms out on the stairs carelessly. His smile faded and he sat back up, leaning against one of the supports, resting his head on his knee. He was silent for a long time, and even Tomoe, who had picked up a knack of talking just when he needed quiet or vise versa, kept her mouth tactfully closed.

‘What will you do when you find her?’ She asked finally, almost meekly.Enishi groaned, pulled his glasses off and ground the heels of his hands against his eyes in frustration. "Hell if I know," he muttered.‘Enishi!’"Sorry! Sorry. I don’t know, is that better?" he asked with a sarcastic shrug.‘Did you ever think of marriage.’He gave a snort of bitter laughter. "When have I not, you know that! If I could find her, I would marry her, but where the hell is she?!" He slammed his fist against the porch, splintering the ancient wood. He grimaced at the pain inside himself and slowly let his head sink onto the porch. "All I want is to find Otomi, take her home and go on like we were before," he whispered sadly, a prickling beginning at the corner of his eye. He squinted angrily to keep the tears at bay.

He sat that way for a long time. His back was beginning to hurt but his fit had passed when Kenshin walked back through the gates. "Enishi," He said, startling the younger man. "Sano and Megumi-dono told me what happened." Enishi looked away and stared instead at the hole he had made in Kaoru’s deck."I’d appologize, but she hasn’t come out yet," he informed him in a surly voice. He picked at the splinters like a chastized child as Kenshin loomed over him as only the rightous can do. After several minutes, Kenshin turned away and walked around the corner.

"Help me." Enishi looked up, then followed him. He found Kenshin a moment later, setting his sword down and picking up two hammers, some boards and a handfull of nails."You want me to help you fix the deck?" Enishi asked incredulously. Kenshin nodded and handed him half the boards."Firstly," he began, walking back to the front of the dojo. "Kaoru will be rather happy that you managed to make me fix the deck finally. Secondly, she’ll be glad you helped. Thirdly…" He paused and turned to Enishi with a slightly challenging gleam in his eye. "Here you pull your weight. I don’t know what you did on that island, but here we all pitch in. Even if you hadn’t broken the proch, I would have made you help me eventually.""We’ll be working together wether you like it or not, so we might as well start now," Enishi finished for him. "I get it, I get it." Kenshin nodded and began to pull the broken boards up and set them to one side. "Nee-san, what have I gotten into?" He moaned to the heavens. A quiet sense of amusement was all he got in reply.