Disclaimer: The only thing I own in this whole story is Marie. Everything else belongs to Watsuki-sensei

A/N: This is my first Rurouni Kenshin fanfic, so constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. Also, I will try to define any and all French used in this fic, and I apologize in advance for any errors, French is not my first language, so I'll probably make mistakes.

Chapter One

Myojin Yahiko glared at the list in his hand, trying to will it to burst into flames before he reached the market. He sighed as he realized that no matter how hard he wished, the paper wouldn't vanish, and trudged down the road thinking about how he'd gotten himself into this mess. He and Kaoru had gotten into a tremendous fight that morning over breakfast, and the end result was that his breakfast had been dumped over his head. Now, as punishment for being a "brat", he would be completing the days shopping on his own. Not that Kenshin could have helped anyway, because Sanosuke had come by at some ungodly hour to take Kenshin gambling with him. That was part of the problem, of course, since it had meant that Kaoru had made breakfast. Cooking had never been Kaoru's strong suit, and Yahiko never missed an opportunity to remind her.

He was still grumbling mutinously while trying to get a good deal on daikon when he noticed the oddity. There was a small girl, maybe three or four years old meandering aimlessly around the market, with nary a parent in sight. Odder still, it was a gaijin child, with bright blonde hair and a clean Western-style dress. He ignored it for what the sight was, just an oddity. But nearly half an hour later, with the shopping almost done, he spotted the little girl again, still alone, and wandering into a rather busy section of the market. No one else seemed to be paying much attention to her, and Yahiko was beginning to become concerned. The kid was obviously lost, and if she kept wandering about like that, she could get hurt. He began to think that maybe he should take some action.

So, feeling rather clever and responsible for all his 10 years of age, he walked up to the little girl and began questioning her.

"Hey, are you lost?"

The girl stared blankly at him, her blue eyes puzzled.

"Do you understand me?" He asked her, slowly enunciating the words, all the while realizing his folly, expecting a gaijin to understand Japanese.

The girl continued to stare at him. Then she smiled and aped his words back at him. Well, she attempted to, at any rate.

The boy pushed his hair out of his face and sighed. I must be out of my mind, he thought. He picked up the bucket of foodstuffs he'd bought, and held out a hand to the little girl. "Come on, I'll help you find your parents," he said, trying to sound friendly, though the gods only knew what the girl thought he was saying. He would have been the first to admit his surprise when the chubby hand reached out and clasped two of his fingers, the only two she could wrap her hand around properly.

As there were no other gaijin in sight, Yahiko assumed that the most practical idea was to pay a visit to police headquarters and see if anyone had reported a gaijin child missing. He carefully lead the small girl through the busy streets, and she cheerfully babbled at him in her strange Western tongue.

As Yahiko entered the bustling police headquarters, he belatedly thought that perhaps a building that had hardened criminals coming into it all the time might not be the best place to bring a small child. However, he was intent on showing how responsible he was, and walked in with his shoulders squared.

Chief Uramura was surprised to see the youngest resident of the Kamiya Dojo walk through his doors. Even more surprising was the fact that there was a gaijin child trailing along next to the boy. When he shot a questioning glance at Yahiko, the only answer he got was, "I think she's lost. What should I do?"

For a moment, the chief was flabbergasted. Then, regaining his composure, he said, "First, you'll need to file a report, and then I will assign a few of our officers to begin looking for the child's parents. Have you been able to get the child to talk?"

"Well, she babbled the whole way here, but it's not like I speak gaijin. I don't think she understands Japanese, either." Yahiko said, wondering if maybe he should have thought a bit more before bringing the girl straight to the police department. He could at least tried to figure out what the kid's name was.

"We'll just take a physical description for now," Chief Uramura said "Do you think Kamiya-san would be willing to help look after the girl until her parents are located?"

"Of course Kaoru won't mind!" Yahiko declared. Surely Kaoru couldn't yell at him for following the teachings of Kamiya-Kasshin Ryu. He was helping the helpless, after all.

"Then you should take her back to the dojo with you, and a police officer will be in contact as soon as the girls parents can be found. They're probably living in the gaijin colony in Yokohama." Chief Uramura tried to sound confident. He wasn't at all sure the girls family would be located. The gaijin very rarely came into Tokyo, and it would be unusual for them to carelessly leave behind a child unless something--untoward--had happened.

Yahiko took the little girl by the hand once more and cheerfully lead her to his home, completely unaware of the police chief's worries. He was sure that all would turn out well, and that caring for the girl in the meantime would be a cinch. After all, Kaoru was a girl, she would certainly know how to look after a kid.

Kaoru was beginning to get worried. Yahiko had been gone far too long at the market, even when factoring time in for him to drag his heels and grumble about the added chores. When she saw him walking up the road, she hid her sigh of relief by yelling, "Hey, Yahiko-chan! What took you so…"

She trailed off as she noticed the gaijin child walking with Yahiko.

"Yahiko, why is there a little girl with you?" she asked, sounding deceptively calm.

"Can we keep her? She's lost." Yahiko said, sounding for all he world as if he were asking to keep a stray kitten. "I went to the police chief, and he filed a report, and said we've gotta keep her until they can find her parents."

"She's not a pet, Yahiko. She's a little girl. This isn't going to be like looking after a cat or a dog."

"I know that! But I found her, so aren't I responsible? She's gotta stay somewhere."

"Yahiko, do you even know how to look after a little kid? What are you going to do when you're at lessons, or working at the Akabeko?"

"It can't be that hard! Besides, I was able to look after myself when I was little"

Kaoru snorted at the idea of Yahiko thinking he was grown up, and then glanced at the little girl. She had to admit, the girl was adorable, with her strange hair color and horribly impractical dress. She bent down to examine the girl more closely.

"Mou. Does she have a name?"

"I don't know what to call her. She doesn't understand anything we're saying."

"Let's see if we can't get her to understand we need to know her name. Okay, little one. I'm Kaoru," The assistant-master of Kamiya-Kasshin Ryu said, while gesturing at herself. "Can you say 'Kaoru'?"

The little girl wrinkled her brow in concentration, then said "Roo?"

"Close enough," Kaoru said, trying hard not to giggle. She was not going to enjoy this. Oh, who was she kidding. The kid was cute.

The little girl looked up at Kaoru and Yahiko, and said, "Je m'appelle Marie!," pointing at herself. Then she looked straight at Yahiko and said, "Et tu, comment t'appelles tu?"

Yahiko assumed that the girl was asking what his name was and replied, "I'm Yahiko."

"Koko," The little girl agreed.

"And you're Marie," he said, stumbling over the foreign name.

"Marie! C'est moi!"

To Be Continued...

A/N: Thank you so much for giving this a chance! Please leave a review, constructive criticism makes my day! I hope the French translations are helpful!

French Phrases:

Je m'appelle…" - My name is…

Et tu, comment t'appelles tu?- And you, what is your name?

C'est moi!- That's me!