Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin © Nobuhiro Watsuki, Sony Entertainment, Shueisha, ADV, Shounen Jump, Fuji-TV, SME Visual Works and Media Blasters. This story is made for the sole purpose of entertainment and is not being used for sale or gain in money.

A/N: I decided to remake the story. I know some readers will not be happy about it and will most likely stop reading/liking this story. Well… I'm sorry, but it's somehow easier for me to write it this way; the themes are wider in alternate universes. Thank you to all your support though; it was very encouraging. I'm very sorry for the long delay. I must ask all of you who have been waiting for the remake of the story for a while to be aware that I'm still in school and I just got off in middle year vacations. So I do appreciate the wait you have all endured. Just a clarification before you head into the story: the plot will be the same (Misao wanting to get over Aoshi… meeting Soujiro, something to that effect) but slightly different, since it's an alternate universe and all. For the encouragement received, expect long chapters. Thank you.


Dreams
Prologue: Justice

"Good job out there, Makimachi," the comment leaked with sarcasm. Many others passed by and mentioned similar comments, all managing to hurt her. She did not intend to screw up—she never did!—but she always managed to be in the right place but at the wrong time. She couldn't help it; they all knew she would get really anxious when they get emergency calls at the SFD—Special Forces Department—and she usually ended up being in the lead team. It's not that she didn't know what to do, but that once she was out in the action her blood would freeze and her brain would be unable to react the right way.

"So much for those blasted ninjas," one of the men from the samurai squad muttered under his breath as he passed near Makimachi Misao, and he was sure to give her a glare. The ninja squad was discussing things behind her, turning papers, and walking around. Because someone of their squad had ruined the mission they had to fix it themselves. Ah, the samurai squad would never stop preaching at them for this…

"Makimachi Misao," a firm voice called her out. "Stand up and follow me; we need to discuss something important." It was one of the superiors, an A-leader from her squad. She did not know his name since she had recently been placed in his group and had not the chance to have a word with him.

As she stood up from where she had been sitting, her superior walked to the side, away from the rest. He came to a halt and she stopped before bumping into his back. He turned around and with a sigh started speaking. "Are you aware of how important this mission was?"

She stuttered for a while, thinking about what she was going to say before opening her mouth. "Yes sir," she answered firmly after a minute.

"I'm aware that you know that we have been looking for this individual for a while. Tonight we had a professional personnel—Honjou over there—pretend to be the owner of the local shop, the one where he did his drug dealings at, and catch him once he would admit that he indeed had the drugs with him."

She remained silent, listening as the information was sinking in. She had not been informed about that before.

"We almost had him; he was about to bring forth his dealing when he decided to call several of his men to the place and threatened on killing a civilian at the store. Somehow he managed to see through Honjou's disguise. When we received the emergency call it was not to enter right away into action; it was to keep backup around the area incase any situation rose."

He did not speak anymore. He looked at her with icy blue eyes and she looked away, unable to keep his stare in hers. She felt guilty, and the silence he had purposefully allowed to take over didn't help. She was ashamed. Because of her, their team, both the samurai and the ninja squad had lost a chance to catch this individual. And because of her someone nearly died, luckily ending having only a badly wounded shoulder.

Now he spoke again, a single question which was barely audible even to her. "What should we do about you?"

Her first thought was to complain, and perhaps cry. Instead, she answered with a quivering voice: "I am deeply sorry… however whatever it is that should be done about me is beyond my power to control. If the superiors see it fit, I should then be removed from my position." She knew it had not been the first time she screwed up. People at the SFD didn't like her. She was younger than the majority, just eighteen years of age, but she wasn't the best. Perhaps her father had been a very important member of the SFD once, but she clearly wasn't like him.

Whether it was because of pity or something else, her superior did not intend on having her quit the SFD. "You will be assigned another kind of job, if I am right. However you will not serve in outside missions of this kind anymore until it is said otherwise." His shoulders relaxed when he saw her calmed expression after he said that. Before leaving, he patted her on the shoulder. "Your father was not only an important member of this team, but also a much respected man, and a good one at that. If you have any doubts on whatever mission you get from now on, you can always ask me to clear them up. Ask for Shinomori."

With that he walked back to where the ninja squad was, who finally found some way to clear up the mess. She looked as he walked away, his back to her, and she smiled slightly. She slowly started to walk towards the others.

For now she would ask in what she could help. If they would tell her to leave—with a good enough reason—she would report back to her quarters. It was late at night already and the continuous cold breeze told of a coming storm when the night grew old.

She reached to her quarters at the SFD and drew a heavy sigh before falling on her back on the bed. Everyone had told her to go and did not accept her offer to help. The fear that had bottled within her earlier that night seemed to have disappeared somewhat. It seemed like her superiors were not altogether mad at her but she was still going to be removed from her former position in her squad. Two knocks on the door made her sit down on her bed immediately. "Who is it?"

She could hear the person at the other side moving about before answering. "It's me, Kaoru. Open up Misao-chan." At once Misao hurried to open the door, welcoming her best friend and training director for the samurai squad, Kamiya Kaoru. She was a pretty girl, sapphire eyes, cobalt black, long hair, which she tied in a ponytail most of the time, and pale rosy skin. She was dressed in blue jeans and a blue long sleeved shirt—the air conditioner in the hallways were enough to freeze many!—and was not dressed as how she would usually have after her training session, a pale gi and a dark hakama. It did not matter people had actually stopped using those kind of clothes many decades ago except for traditional events, members of the SFD found themselves keeping old traditions than most.

Kaoru was one of the few female members in the SFD who could keep up with a fight of the samurai squad; in fact, many took training lessons by her! "I heard about today… I'm sorry." Kaoru offered as she stepped inside and placed a package she was holding in the nearby dining desk. She turned to look at Misao. "It's not really easy to be part of the ninja squad after all, so don't blame yourself, ne?"

Misao blushed slightly and playfully slapped Kaoru on her arm, the taller girl clueless of the reaction. "Aww, Kaoru-san, don't be like that. I know I did wrong and I have to take responsibility for the consequences of my actions. It's not like being in the samurai squad isn't as hard either."

Kaoru, for some reason which she kept only to herself, sighed and did not answer. Instead she smiled warmly. "I went over to the noodle stand before coming here and I thought about getting you something to eat; mind if I join you?" With this being said, she pointed at the package at the table.

"Ah, I would love that Kaoru-san!" Misao chirped, skipping towards the kitchen and getting some chopsticks, glasses, and a bottle of juice from the fridge which she placed at the table. "It's been a while since I've eaten dinner with someone. But…!" She turned to look at what she was wearing with a bit of disgust; the ninja uniform—much like a smaller type of gi and a hakama which showed the majority of skin from her long legs—which style depended on the user's rank at the SFD. It was apparent that the SFD was a department started long before people started wearing modern clothes and so their uniforms were very much like the older traditional and sometimes forgotten ones from decades ago. "Would you mind if I quickly bath and change to more normal clothes?"

Kaoru agreed to wait for Misao to get done while she watched some TV. Not only was the SFD a sort of police department that looked over for the welfare of Kyoto and its inhabitants and took over missions that other justice departments would not, but it also acted as a home for many of its members. It not only had quarters, but a school for theory, an eating lounge, a gymnasium, a clinic, a library, training grounds—including inside and outside spaces, and an auditorium for mission briefings and important reunions. That was a few of the things that could be mentioned without counting the several offices each official of the SFD had and the transportation that could be found at the hangar. The SFD was made up of more than fifty floors that could be either reached by stairs or elevators. So it wouldn't be a surprise that in each quarter each member of the SFD would have at least a bed, TV, computer with internet access, a bathroom, and a kitchen. Telephones were not allowed since the SFD had suffered previous terrorist approaches because of it so only official and upper class members were allowed to have them.

The members of the SFD were still allowed to leave the building for their own wishes every once in a while—visit their family, go shopping, spend time with their friends, visit the hospital if injuries or disease was too serious for their small clinic, or several other needs. It was no wonder many tried desperately to be able to qualify to enter either the samurai or ninja squad, perhaps even the special squad—members for infiltrating missions, the hardest ones recorded so far—but many could not. It took a lot of hard work, education, and commitment due to the fact that they would be deprived from the outside life a lot and many could not bear it.

Kaoru was watching the news about how terribly the SFD had 'screwed up' more than once this past month when Misao came back, dressed in normal clothes, or so she would say. To Kaoru they were nearly the same as her ninja uniform: shorts and a top. 'Each to their own' thought Kaoru. She quickly changed the channel when Misao sat down next to her, eager to eat. Before they could even open their packages filled with warm noodles, there was a loud thunder nearby. Misao's prediction for the upcoming storm proved to be true. Soon after the thunder, rain followed. They started eating as they chatted about things that had happened to them that day. Kaoru was very excited to talk about how she was getting a bigger amount of students now. "It seems that now everyone wants to join the samurai squad! As far as I've been here, people have always wanted to join the ninja or special squads, so this is really exciting!"

Misao knew that Kaoru really liked to talk about her students and who she expected to be a really good samurai once passing the exam. Kaoru mostly trained people who desired to join the SFD in a training room at the first floor most nights, but on weekends she trained with already members of the samurai squad—for training and to see whether they would pass to the next rank. The samurai official thought very highly of Kaoru to make her the passing exam for most members. But despite her obvious good skills, she did not participate in outside missions. It was luck for those who trained with her because the other part time trainer they would have if she was sent out on missions was one called Himura Kenshin, who wouldn't mind sending those who sparred with him to the clinic with a broken leg or arm.

"Say," Misao began while trying to chunk a big amount of noodles through her mouth, "how's it going with Himura?" She managed to grin through the noodles in her way, though whether Kaoru noticed it, she would not say. Misao knew Kaoru had a crush on Himura Kenshin. It was the most obvious thing that could ever be noticed. And the way Kaoru blushed when he was nearby or his named was mentioned; priceless!

"Now Misao-chan…" Kaoru began, trying hard not to blush, yet failing at her attempt. "He is just a comrade, nothing more." And she quickly drank some juice as an excuse of not being able to keep answering. 'Sure thing,' thought Misao. They would make a cute couple, too, if any of them would even have the courage of hanging out together. But Kaoru did have a reason to feel slightly afraid of hanging out with him; he was older than her, for one, and he had a very dark past not many knew about; his demeanor was cold and fierce and many feared even keeping eye contact. A few of the ones who could actually keep contact with his cold amber eyes was Katsura Kogoro, the samurai squad leader, and—Misao just noticed—Shinomori, the leader of the ninja squad she was part of until this evening.

They remained the rest of their dinner together in silent, watching a movie that had just started on the TV. They found it so entertaining that even after they finished eating they stayed to watch it until the wee hours of the night, when Kaoru thought it was about time she head back to her quarter. Misao had fallen asleep on her bed as she watched the movie, so Kaoru silently got up from the chair and turned off the TV, as well as the bathroom and room light, leaving only the kitchen light on. She cleaned up the glasses and chopsticks and threw away the leftovers from their dinner. After fixing Misao's blankets so that they would keep her warm during what was left of the night, she wrote a note explaining that the next day she would be out of the SFD building, having her free day spent at visiting her parent's grave in Tokyo. She wrote that she wished her luck on her new position and that if she needed anything for surviving the day that she could always go to her quarters if need be, explaining where she hid her extra card key. She placed the note at the table and with one last 'good night' whispered at Misao she exited through the door and closed it quietly behind her.

She and Misao had been best friends ever since high school and were happy when they found both of them had thrived to enter SFD after they got separated in college. It was not surprising that Kaoru thought Misao as a younger sister.

The next morning Misao was woken up by the sound of the intercom ringing. Doing her best not to trip as she walked towards the intercom in the kitchen, she managed to see that the time was six in the morning and it had not stopped raining. When she answered, she recognized the voice to be Shinomori's secretary. Briefly she was told of her new job and that she was to report at the third floor to receive more information on her first day of assignment. She was given three hours to prepare herself. "What! Three hours to prepare myself and she called me this early!" Misao exclaimed, once she hung up. And the third floor no less! Misao's quarters was in the twenty fourth floor and even going to the fifteenth through the elevator was a pain. She showered quickly and fixed herself some breakfast and as she sat on the desk she took notice of Kaoru's letter.

With a sigh she put it away, fearing that her day would be boring without her around, but she was not about to let that bring her down. She turned on the TV for some morning news as she ate her breakfast.

When it was an hour before the time she was required at the third floor, she started thinking about what she speculated her new job to be as she went down the stairs, thinking that the elevator was only going to be a nuisance and take longer to take her to her destination with the several stops it would make on the way. The floors from the first to the tenth were all concentrated about training grounds. Perhaps she would be given a job like Kaoru's, in training new recruiters in ninja skills—she hoped it concerned outside activity; she could not imagine how training in ninja skills was going to be tried out inside. Yet she was asked to go to the third floor, and in the third floor there were no outside locations.

She arrived just in time and had to jump the last few set of stairs when she noticed she had taken too long in the stairs. She recognized Shinomori from a distance and Saitou Hajime, known as a strict leader and one of the few official and loyal members of the samurai squad and SFD. Why would a samurai squad member be here, she did not know, but they were expecting her and were standing in front of a door. As she walked towards them, or more like jogged towards them, she noticed a young man with them who carried a katana, just like any other samurai member would. She had never seen him around before.

She greeted them and felt surprised when Himura Kenshin moved out from one of the shadows at one corner and approached the group. It seemed that her job would consist of the approval of samurai squad members? Soon she was told to enter the door they had waited outside for her. Only did they enter when someone else from the ninja squad, Hannya as he was known to everyone, arrived. Misao smiled wide for Hannya was a good friend of hers. With a nod of acknowledgement as Hannya saw her once inside, he turned to talk with Shinomori.

The young man with the katana seemed slightly scared of Hannya; he could not be blamed for his demon mask was slightly scary and used to confuse many of their opponents on very important missions. They were all, as Misao would have expected, dressed in their appropriate uniforms and she noted that even the young man she had never seen before was high ranked, too. It was then that she noticed that despite showing how uncomfortable he was feeling, he kept a smile on his face. It surprised her, a lot. Plus, Himura was acting strangely hostile towards him. 'Hmm, I presume this had to do with the so-called rivalry to be the best samurai around?' Not that she had ever seen Himura in action as to know whether to perceive him as the excellent samurai people sometimes, or more like always, referred to him as.

It was Shinomori the first one to talk after his small council with Hannya. "Makimachi Misao, you were taken out from your former ninja squad and are no longer part of the group in charge of outside missions anymore." It did sound harsh to Misao the way he worded what he had said; it seemed as if she was going to be banished from the place. "But the superior members who were in charge or slightly involved in yesterday's mission have decided on giving you a chance." Yes, it did sound as if she was going to be banished or was about to get some evil torture… She thanked Kami that a torture room was not included in the SFD facility. "You'll be working to train special squad recruits in the arts of kempo and kunai as well as the basics of ninjutsu. Depending on your performance in this job, we shall consider you joining a few missions every once in a while."

Now it came to Misao the opportunity to be an obnoxious child and wonder why what she had done had been so horribly wrong? 'Oh, right, SFD is supposed to be an excellent justice department and any small detail gone wrong would ruin their reputation… right…'

"Your job, however, will be very much involved with samurai skills the special squad recruits will need to know along the way, and with Saitou-san's and Himura-san's," when their names were mentioned both samurai nodded slightly, "consent, they have chosen Seta Soujiro," at this, the young samurai bowed at Misao, who reluctantly did too, not used to such greeting, "to help you in your training to these recruits." A long silence befell and Misao knew better than nothing to not break it. Shinomori was looking at her straight in the eyes, as if to prove whether she was apt for this job or whether she was going to take it seriously. "Do you or do you not agree with this?"

"I do, sir."

A nod of approval spread around the ones who were inside the room. Hannya now took over and made it clear to give both Misao and Soujiro instructions for their job, schedule, members, and how tough they were expected to be on the recruits. The other three left and nodded slightly when leaving, probably to some important affair elsewhere.

"First of all," Hannya began, "I want you two to take a look to this room. Look at it as much as you need and take in all your surroundings." Misao went soon into action, since ninjas were trained to do this kind of things the majority of the time. She room was very big, with a cushioned floor area covering the majority of the place except for the horizontal normal concrete floor they were standing at. The walls were also cushioned and no windows could be found. There was only one door, which could be opened easily from the inside but which needed a card key if entered from the outside. Misao noticed the several weapons placed at several shelves at her left. The majority were bokkens and kunais and shurikens with no sharp edges or points. All weapons had been modified to make no more harm than a bruised leg, chest, or arm if someone was attacked with any of them. She noticed that all the lights were installed directly into the ceiling to keep them from being any fatal obstacle when training. It was altogether—and obviously—a room suited for training.

When Hannya noticed that they were done, he briefed them on their job. "You will have members that have passed the exam as candidates for the special squad forces, however they have little or no experience in ninja and samurai skills so it is in both of your hands to ensure that every student—as that is what they will be—use their skills and abilities and skills to their maximum to become the type of members the special squad requires. You will have practice missions every month to put the skills they have learned in practice. However these missions are called "practice" missions, they still present real life situations which could be fairly important to keep the peace in Kyoto."

Hannya drifted at telling them about the schedule of the training classes and a list of things they had to start with. Soon enough they found out that they did not have to precisely teach their 'students' with detailed ninjutsu and swordsmanship, but enough as for them to be able to counter these attacks and be able to keep up in a fight or mission.

"Stealth is very important. Makimachi will take the students on Fridays to the training grounds outside the facility to have them practice stealth. Seta will have to work on this skills too, so on Saturdays it is your turn to take the students to the training grounds as well to practice stealth and agility, like every samurai should have known."

Seta chirped in. "Does that mean that I don't have to join Makimachi-san on Fridays and neither does she have to join me on Saturdays?" Hannya nodded and gave each of them a list with the names of the students. The students in total were less than ten and their classes would start that day in the evening. He asked them to follow him outside and to do whatever they wished to do before noon.

"Ah, before I forget…" he looked inside one of his pockets for two ID cards and key cards. "Each of you has an ID card that you need to present at the secretary from this floor before you give classes and the key cards are to open the doors. Do not let the students see you as easy teachers and that they may teach you as they wish. It would also be better that, since both of you will be working together now, that you get to know each other."

Both nodded as they put away the ID cards and key cards. Before walking away, Hannya added: "Welcome to SFD justice facility, Seta." His ninja skills were so improved that as soon as they stopped looking at him, he disappeared. Misao then turned to look at Seta Soujiro. 'New here, huh.'

"It's good to meet you."

"I agree," Seta Soujiro answered, still smiling at her. "Eto…" He scratched his cheek sheepishly, "I do wish we could talk right now but I need to go find my quarters and leave my stuff there. I guess we'll do that later, so I guess I'll see you at noon in training class."

Misao nodded. "No problem. I see you are new here, so if you need any help you can ask around the secretary offices in each floor or you may ask me. My quarters are on floor 24, number 2408. Once you get to your quarters you can call different quarters through it by pressing the numbers. The ones for the secretary offices are marked on the intercom so I don't think you'll have much trouble, but that's a just in case!" Seta bowed and thanked her before heading to the elevator. With nothing to do until noon, Misao headed to her quarters through the stairs. She was going to take a nap before noon, since training would consist of five hours and according to Kaoru, who worked for twelve or more hours a day, mentioned to Misao how tiresome it would be after the first three hours.

A/N: SUP. What do you guys think? I'm trying this idea of ninja and samurai teaming up to make a justice group thing. Ehehe, so Misao meets with Soujiro! And what's this? Kenshin is not the rurouni but the Battousai? GASP. And check it out, Hannya ain't dead and Aoshi talks a lot. :O Hmm, when writing this I felt like really wanting a place like the SFD to exist (Gee what a lame name, I mean "Special Forces Department"? Puh-lees!). So I'm afraid Aoshi and Misao are not going to have that much interaction as in the anime and manga, sigh. But that's better for the Soujiro and Misao interaction, right!

One thing I want you all to think about for the next chapter: What is this thing about training special squad recruits? What IS the special squad about? And why the LAME name if they're supposed to be taught ninja and samurai skills? Don't worry, much will be told in the next chapter. Also expect characters like (aw, don't you love this?) certain freeloaders (COUGHCOUGH) and samurai kids appearing.

Do forgive grammar mistakes and typos I might have commited. I hope you have all enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you think and thank you for reading and keeping up with me!