Well, to start off I have to say one thing: I came up with this story after I saw the whole series like 2 times and months before I ever found out about the 2nd half of the comic (which, sadly, wasn't animated as part of the series). About a month ago I finally got to see the OVAs. Well, to get to the point of what I'm trying to say is that prior to coming up with this fanfic I didn't know anything about Tomoe or Enishi or even anything about Kenshin's past, except for what they mentioned in the series (I still haven't read the comics, can't find them ;;). So with this said, all I can say is enjoy and pray that not too many people criticize this fic in a bad way. Enjoy.

- Eeni/ WhiteRabbit/ Bunneh

April 2003

Chapter 1:

Ayame and Tusbame's Disappearance

13th Year of Meiji (1880)

Tokyo, Japan

The afternoon was warm and Himura Kenshin was, as usual, washing the laundry of the Kamiya Kashin house hold. Kamiya Kaoru was out for the day teaching at other dojos across the city of Tokyo. The residents of the Kamiya Kasshin-Ryû dojo were, like always, in desperate need of money. Myôjin Yahiko was in the dojo itself, cleaning its floors and dusting all the ledges in the room.

Kenshin looked up to the sky and wiped the sweat from his forehead. It was finally spring again and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. The little pink petals carpeted the streets and yards of all the houses in the city of Tokyo. It was almost like pink snow that wouldn't stop falling from the sky. "Cherries," he whispered to himself as a slight wind blew across the yard. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, taking in the smell of air around him, listening to the wind that gently blew the tiny petals as his long red hair swayed gently at his back. He opened his eyes, watching the blossoms being carried in the wind. "Akiko-san..." he sighed softly.

"Kenshin!" Yahiko's voice came from across the yard interrupting his daydreaming, "Kaoru is gonna be back early today and said that if all the chores of the house were done by the time she came back, she was gannna take us out to eat. It's all on her!" he smiled. "Come on!" he explained, "I'm almost done with my chores! I wonna go out and eat!" The dark skinned boy wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his sleeve as he smiled at the red haired man.

Kenshin smiled back causing the large x-shaped scar on his left cheek to become rounded on his face. "Alright then", he said, "this one is almost done as well." The thirty year-old man quickly went back to his washing. As soon as he finished the laundry he decided to help Yahiko with the washing and polishing of the floors of the house. The warm afternoon was finally beginning to turn into evening, both Yahiko and Kenshin had cleaned the whole house, folded all the laundry, and even prepared a bath for Kaoru's return. However, Kaoru seemed to be running late, she hadn't returned to the dojo and Yahiko was growing impatient.

"She must still be teaching," Kenshin said as he finally sat down with the young boy at the front of the dojo, waiting in the front yard for Kaoru. "She works very hard for us."

"Ya, I guess so," Yahiko agreed as he ran his fingers through the array of dark brown hair. "But she doesn't have to make us wait like this! I'm hungry!"

Kenshin smiled warmly at the twelve year old boy. "Be patient," he said warmly, "your reward for a day's job is coming. You mustn't hurry yourself."

Yahiko looked up at the man. His red eyes followed the two slashes on the left cheek of the man sitting beside him. It was still a bit hard to believe that this man whom can easily be confused for a woman at first glance had actually been one of the deadliest assassins during the revolution only twelve years ago. However, contrary to his fragile appearance, Kenshin had already proven himself to be an extremely skilled swordsman, taking down opponents twice as big with very little effort on his behalf. Yahiko sighed. Well, after all, he was the Hitokiri Battôusai, he thought to himself.

The heavy wooden door opened. Yahiko jumped up ready to go. Kenshin stood up, dusting himself off as he walked down the stone path to the main door. A tall slender man of about six feet casually walked in. The cocky, twenty-one year-old Sanosuke cracked a mischievous smile at the two with his usually fish skeleton between his teeth. Yahiko stopped midway to the door, upset and disappointed, but mostly shocked.

"What are you doing here!" he yelled at Sanosuke. "You free-loader! You don't lift a finger here to help all day long and you expect Kaoru to feed you everyday!"

Sanosuke's smile faded as he brushed the little kid off as his narrow brown eyes locked onto the red-haired man. "Hey," he said, "by any chance is Ayame-chan here?" Kenshin looked back at his tall friend with a blank expression. "I'll take that as a 'no'," Sanosuke responded. "Where could that girl have gone?" he muttered to himself annoyed as he took the fish skeleton from between his teeth and tossed it over his shoulder.

"Ayame-chan is missing?" Yahiko asked.

"Ya," Sanosuke answered a bit frustrated, "Magumi asked her to fetch lunch for her, the two girls and the Doctor at the Akabeko, but she never came back." He scratched his head trying to think. "The moment I stepped into the clinic I had the Vixen all over me, yelling and bossing me around. All she could have done was ask me kindly to look for the little girl." He paused for a moment looking up at the sky, "It's getting late too" he added. Kenshin and Yahiko looked up, the first stars of the evening where beginning to become visible.

"Yahiko," Kenshin said, "stay here and wait for Miss Kaoru. This one is going out to look for Ayame-chan with Sano."

"I'm ganna look for her too!" Yahiko exclaimed.

"No, we need someone to stay here at the dojo to see if Ayame-chan returns. And someone must tell Miss Kaoru of what has happened when she returns."

"Alright," Yahiko responded as the two men stepped out onto the street. He followed behind them and watched as they disappeared behind a corner at the end of the street. After a while he sat down on the thick beam that formed the threshold of the heavy wood doors. The warm spring air that had been blowing all day long had chilled. The twelve year old boy rubbed his arms as he looked up to see the evening stars shine brightly in the early night sky.

--

Kaoru, Sanosuke, Kenshin, Megumi, Tai, Tsubame, and a few of the employees of the Akabeko had gathered at the restaurant. Ayame had disappeared without a trace. No one at the Akabeko had seen her come in or leave the small restaurant that day. The tiny clock at the front desk chimed. It was one in the morning and the search for the little girl had intensified. Dr. Gensi had stayed at the clinic and Yahiko at the dojo to wait and see if the girl would return to either place.

"It was my fault," Megumi began looking down at the floor, "I never should have let her go out alone." Her long black hair fell over her shoulders as she leaned forward, burring her face in the palms of her hand.

"What about Suzume-chan?" Kaoru asked, barely realizing that she had been unheard of since she had learned of Ayame's disappearance. "Where is she? Is she also missing?!"

"No," Megumi managed to say in a trembling voice, "she's at the clinic. She's had a high fever, she hasn't been able to leave her room. Ayame-chan had promised to come back with her favorite dish... but she never did... I ..." The tears that had been building in her light brown eyes began to flow down her ivory skin.

"It isn't your fault Miss Magumi," Kenshin tried to comfort her. "By any chance is there a friend's home that she could have gone to? She might be there."

"I already looked," Megumi said tearfully, "no one has seen her."

"I don't know about all of you," Sanosuke said getting up from one of the tables after finishing his late dinner, "but I'm gonna go out and look for her." The group gathered at the restaurant watched as the tall man stretched and casually made his way to the door. He gave one last quick glance around the room before disappearing from sight.

The rest of the group quickly teamed up in pairs, except for Kenshin and left, leaving behind Tusbame to keep watch over the restaurant. To wait, just in case Ayame came.

--

Two days had gone by and still, Ayame was nowhere to be seen. Now everyone had grown desperate to know what had happened to the little girl. Tokyo was a large city, but still not big enough to get lost in. Kenshin had gone to the police to notify them of Ayame's disappearance, and yet they hadn't seen any girl to fit her description. To make matters worst, three days later Tusbame had also disappeared without a trace when she was sent to the Kamiya Kasshin-Ryû dojo to deliver a lunch to Yahiko. The four rounded lunch boxes she was taking had been found along side the small river that led to the dojo.

When Kenshin returned to the police to notify them of the new disappearance he learned something disturbing. Many young girls and ladies had been disappearing in the last week. With Tsubame, the count came to fourteen. The police had been working hard on finding all these girls, setting up perimeters and check points around the city. A few of the officers were sent to the outskirts of the city and to other small towns surrounding Tokyo to look for anything suspicious. Yet nothing was found.

"It's like they're really disappearing," Kaoru said horrified of the idea as the group had gathered again at the restaurant. The late night scouting had intensified.

"It could be a spirit of a young maiden," Sanosuke began, "having her revenge by taking the girls away from their homes and then taking their spirits!"

Everyone stared at Sanosuke with annoyance. Sanosuke looked around like his explanation was more then satisfactory. "Sanosuke..." Kaoru said making a fist, "one more remark from you about spirits, vengeful ghosts, and other superstitions and I'll..."

"Hey Missy," Sanosuke began in his self defense, "we don't know..."

"Sanosuke, Miss Kaoru," Kenshin's voice interrupted, "please, we can't be quarreling amongst ourselves at a time like this. We have to concentrate on the matter at hand." Both Sanosuke and Kaoru calmed down knowing that Kenshin was more then right. Five days had gone by and they were still no were close to finding Ayame or Tsubame then they had been when the girls first disappeared.

The door to the Akabeko slid open. Everyone looked up, hoping and praying that it would be one of the girls. Instead, a tall man with long black hair walked in. His green eyes quickly spotted out Sanosuke. "I think I might know where the missing girls are," Katsu said in the most composed nature. Everyone's eyes widen.

"You know where Tsubame is?" Ryuko, one of the waitresses of the restaurant asked with an excited tone to her voice as Tai looked at the man with high hopes.

Katsu nodded with a grin on his face.

"Where are they?!" Kaoru demanded, slamming down her hand on one of the tables. Her dark blue eyes locked themselves onto the man. "You don't need to be suspenseful, just let it out!"

To Be Continued...