Disclaimer: I do NOT own Rurouni Kenshin. I'm just an avid fan, nothing more. Rurouni Kenshin belongs to © Nobohiro Watsuki, Shuiesha, Shounen, Jump and Sony. This fanfic is merely for entertainment and not for profit.

Chapter 1

Kaoru Kamiya stood frozen in front of her stepmother and stepfather, absolutely speechless about the uncanny blackmail both of them just divulged. She stared at them quizzically, with eyes that both watched with serenity and anger. She took a heavy sigh and bit her lip. "Are you telling me that I should quit my job to find a wife for your nephew?" she scoffed, "That's ridiculous!"

Kaoru's stepmother neared her and mussed her hair, "Darling, he needs your help"

"My help!" she repeated furiously, backing away from her mother's hold. "He is a guy, isn't he? He can find a wife for himself!" she took some more steps backward and found herself a chair to sit on.

"Kaoru, if you are not going to do this, I'm going to have to put your inheritance into a trust fund." Seijuro Hiko said, lighting a cigarette while putting his feet on her father's study desk. Kaoru balled her hands into a fist, repulsed by his offensive and crude ways. If her father had been alive, he'd rip the guts out of this man.

"What?" she asked sarcastically, standing up to near her unlikely stepfather "How dare you…you have no right to do that!"

"Oh, I don't" he smiled, releasing nicotine all over the air, "but your stepmom has" he finished, throwing a leer at Kaoru's mother. Kaoru turned to look at her and saw her gave a small but disgusting titter.

Kaoru shot her an is-this-true look but she just continued smiling and made a slight nod. "I would if that's what your father likes and besides, darling…you can't handle an inheritance that big. It must be put to a trust fund"

She gasped in irritation, glaring at her. "Trust fund? That's bullshit! And what would I have to do? Find a wife for a freaking asshole I don't even know! That's utterly absurd! Ridiculous!"

But her mother just burst in laughter and fanned the remark away, "Kaoru, honey, you must understand. Both of you need help from each other. And besides, it can't be so hard now, can it?" she said, looking at Hiko who tossed her a wink.

"I don't believe any of this!" she cried, covering her ears and gradually and uncomfortably raking her hair with her hands. She heaved another heavy sigh, blared at her unjust and evil parents and tramped her way out of the study room.

"Kaoru darling!" her stepmother shouted, her voice catching up with her fast panache, "You're leaving tonight!" she made it more louder as to make Kaoru hear.

"Tonight?" this was way too much for her to bear, "I hate you!" she screamed and rushed to her room, crying. She plunged herself in her bed and screamed loudly at her pillow, following her own advice for letting out unbearable anger.

She was a practicing psychiatrist, giving advises and speeches to senior citizens and widowed women. She was happy about it and her job was far more than perfect. And just when she thought life can't be more sweeter….here she is……packing her things to play matchmaking with a guy she never met. She paused packing and pondered to herself. What would he be like? And what kind of girls would he want for a wife? Her thoughts were cut short when a familiar set of knuckles sounded on the door. She rolled her eyes. It was her stepmother.

"Honey, here's the key to your car" she said, approaching Kaoru. "And here's the address to your man" she handed it to her but Kaoru just glared at the things, glared at her and resumed packing her clothes wordlessly.

"Okay" her stepmother soughed, placing the things on her bed. "If you need help, call me. I'm really sorry, honey but you really have to do this. " She wheezed and started walking towards the door. She paused as Kaoru began to say something that broke her heart.

"I hate you…" Kaoru hissed, "Traitor"

Kaoru's stepmom smiled in pain. "Look, Kaoru. I know you don't like this because I don't like this either. To tell you the truth, it was really your father who ordered Hiko to put your inheritance into a trust fund and he also said that it was up to your step-father to make the conditions."

"What?"

Her mother nodded, nearing her. "Your father trusted Seijuro, Kaoru and therefore, we should trust him too"

"But I don't understand" she sobbed, wiping her tears. "Why make me find a wife for his nephew?"

Her mother sighed and stood up, giving her a final hug. "I guess it's up to you to find out"

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It was beginning to get late. Kaoru was looking at her map, still trying to keep focus on the road. "Now, we turn left until we get to the fork in the road and I should see a big house" she told herself. She looked on the road and what hit the car windows and glasses disappointed her. Rain.

"Great!" she exclaimed, feeling another piece of bad luck falling on her part. She snapped herself out of the irrational beliefs of bad luck. She is a psychiatrist and all the things befalling on her is not bad luck but destiny.

Destiny it is…

"Goddammit!" she screeched, realizing another dark omen had hit her…or…her car. "Shit!" she shouted, going out of the car. She soon learned that the car had hit a big tree. Great! So much for destiny! She sniffed the cold air and hugged herself, feeling the wetness sticking her clothes close to her little body. "Fuckin' car!" she shouted at the engine, kicking it with all her irate strength.

She started to walk away amidst the falling rain from where her car hit the tree and began to cry. "Why does this all have to happen to me…"

She was all about to relinquish in great despair when finally she spotted a big house, fortunately with lights on. It must be already ten o'clock and she hoped against all hopes that the people inside that house would be hospitable enough as to let her stay for the night.

She began to laugh in hope and began to run towards the house. It was indeed big. Big. "Wait a minute…this is…this is it!" She soon realized that it was after all the house she was looking for. The house of his stepfather's nephew. "Oh no…." she groaned, realizing reality, "he's the nephew of Hiko. Then he must be like him" she covered her mouth and shivered in the rain and totally felt hopeless.

Birds of the same feather are like one another. If Hiko is the uncle of the guy living just inside the thick walls of that gargantuan mansion must be as or maybe more pernicious. She began to feel afraid for herself and began to picture her stepfather's nephew in her mind.

And a man with small eyes that can be barely seen with big muscular frames came to her whimsical imagination. He must also be very tall with big a big mouth and with a thick mustache. Kaoru thought he must be a very ugly man in the forties as Hiko looks like in the eighties. Just kidding…

"What am I thinking!" she said, facing the door, slapping herself to intrepidity. "I've got to do this for my job and my life!" it was all with rigorous determination. She raised her hand and positioned her knuckles in the door. The cells of her hands had already shrinked because of the rain and it made her felt colder. She gently knocked on the door with, "Hello! Is anybody there…"

But there was no answer.

"Hello!" she knocked harder.

Still no answer.

"Hello!" she shouted, pounding her fists in the granite hard door.

But still, nobody came to open the door. "If nobody comes to open this door, I'll change into a beautiful enchantress and curse the people living inside this blasted house" she thought and pounded more.

She pounded more. "HELLO! IS ANYBODY HOME!" she knocked even harder that she felt her fists swelling. "WILL SOMEBODY OPEN THIS FUCKIN' DOOR!" she screamed at the top of her voice and pounded more harder.

Harder.

Pound.

Pound.

The door suddenly opened and a guy with red hair dressed only in his boxers came into view. It was obvious that she had just wakened the guy from his sleep. She froze wide-eyed as he began to speak, "Who the heck are you and what do you want?"