A/N: As much as I wish I could sit here and claim that I am the genius that has created the wonderful story of Rurouni Kenshin, sadly, I am not. I don't own any of these characters.

Meet me on my vast veranda

my sweet untouched Miranda

and while the seagulls are crying

we fall but our souls are flying

-the decemberists

The rain that clung to every curve of his body was warm. He walked the familiar alley ways that he usually took once a mission was complete. The dried blood was already being washed away by the rainstorm. The assassin was tired, and wanted nothing more but to become isolated in this world. He finally reached headquarters, where he could hear drunken laughter. The silhouettes of samurai could be seen through the window.

"Battousai!" An extremely intoxicated samurai bellowed out, the moment the assassin made his appearance.

"Come join us! have a drink!"

Before battousai could protest, he felt a pair of hands push him forward into the chaos of the party. He hated being forced to participate in these infantile gatherings. He found himself sitting in a circle among various drunk men.

"Ah battousai, nice to see you're joining us." a hand patted his shoulder, as another sober body sat next to him.

"Didn't have much of a choice Akemi." replied battousai. He was in a bad mood. Actually, he spent most of his time in a bad mood. Akemi chuckled at his retort.

"Did you hear? Apparently Katsura has taken in some singer he found on the streets to provide us with some entertainment"

"hmm" Battousai could care less who Katsura did and didn't take in. All he wanted was to be left alone, and to wash himself. Despite the rain washing away the visible blood, he still felt the intangible sticky substance all over his body. He closed his eyes, blocking himself from the rest of the party, going deep inside himself.

His thoughts were quickly disturbed by several hollers and whooping from the drunk men. A few catcalls here and there. Whistles echoed throughout the room.

"There she is." Akemi faced battousai, a smile on his face. He raised his saki cup, and quickly downed the drink.

Battousai looked up through his blood red bangs, to see whoever it was that was causing all this annoyance. She had her back turned to her audience, she appeared to be playing with her long black raven hair. She was tying it up into a graceful ponytail.

Any man with eyes could notice she had a nice body. Like any other man, battousai took notice of this. Unlike every other man in the room, he took no interest in this woman. He chose not to have those kinds of relationships. He didn't want to trouble himself with such a distraction. He looked down and tried to go deep inside himself again.

And then she began to sing.

Every man in the room grew silent, the sober and the drunk. Several pairs of eyes looked up. Beautiful melodies came out of her mouth, every note was hit perfectly. Her voice was haunting, yet alluring. Her eyes were closed, it seemed that she too, was lost in her own voice.

You could almost feel the notes brushing against your ears, whispering and comforting. She captured the room, with one single song. She sang and sang and sang. With every passing song, the room cheered for more.

"I believe Our Kaoru is becoming a little tired from all this singing." Katsura stood up, he could easily tell that Kaoru was out of breath after the 8th song. All the samurai were disappointed that they would have to wait to hear more of the Woman's singing. "thank you Katsura." Kaoru said, giving a smile.

"Ah I should be the one thanking you Kaoru, for letting us all hear that beautiful voice of yours." Kaoru blushed, and murmured a thank you.

"I'm sure you're very tired, I'll have one of my men show you to your room."

"Himura!" Katsura yelled out, waving his hand forward. Kaoru was exhausted. As grateful as she was that Katsura picked her off from the street, and offered her a job and a place to stay, she wanted nothing but to sleep.

"Yes sir?" a voice came out of nowhere, and she felt someone behind her. She gave out a shriek and jumped a little. She quickly turned around to face the most interesting man she's ever seen.

Battousai was amused by how easily he scared her. He looked down at the girl, smirking. He was met by a pair of fierce iridescent blue eyes. He was taken aback by what he could see in her eyes. She certainly was not like every other woman he's come across. He quickly shook off the feeling, and looked up at Katsura, wondering what it was that he wanted.

"Please show Kaoru here her room, she will be staying in the room next to yours."

Battousai stared blankly at Katsura. Why didn't Katsura get some other man to do this? He was an assassin, not a babysitter. Battousai gritted his teeth, he was not one to refuse an order. Katsura merely smiled, knowing what Battousai was feeling right now. He turned and walked away. "see you in the morning." and he was gone.

Without saying a word to Kaoru, battousai turned and walked to his room. Kaoru quickly followed him, noting how cold this man was.

"I'm Kamiya Kaoru" she said, feeling she should break the awkward silence. She got silence in return.

"erm...what's your name?" She said, trying her best to be friendly, but she could already feel her temper increasing at the difficult man.

"Battousai."

Battousai? Kaoru thought to herself. Where have I heard that name before? She shrugged the thought off, she was never connected to the outside world, She was too busy wondering the streets for a job or shelter. Kaoru was too absorbed in her thoughts to notice Battousai had stopped at her room, she continued walking, and smacked right into Battousai's toned back. She had hit him so hard, that she bounced off, and found herself tumbling backwards.

She shut her eyes, bracing herself for impact with the floor. Before her head had a chance to meet the ground, she felt a hand around her wrist, violently pulling her forward. She found herself in an upright position, looking into the cold amber eyes of Battousai. His hand, it was freezing. She could practically feel the warmth being sucked out of her flesh.

He let go of her delicate wrist, looking extremely annoyed. "Watch it girl." he hissed. He turned around and retreated into his room. Kaoru stood there, shocked and confused whether she should be grateful that he saved her from a painful fall, or to be extremely pissed at how rude the stranger was. She was too tired to feel anything at this point. She sighed, and went into her room.

She couldn't remember the last time she had her own room, and her own place to sleep. She wanted to savor the fact this was the first time in years she could have a comfortable night's sleep. She laid on her futon, and found her thoughts drifting to a certain amber eyed man.

A/N: wow! My first chapter! This is the first fanfiction I have ever attempted to write. So I apologize if it's amateur-ish. It's short I know, hopefully as the story goes on the chapters will get longer. I will get better, I promise!