Disclaimer : I do not own Rurouni Kenshin. Would like to, but don't.

Meiji Corporation

Chapter One:

When the message came, no one knew how to react. Nothing like this had ever happened before. They screw up, we kill them, end of story. Never before had they taken a child. No one had even dreamed that they would stoop so low.

Her parents were wrecks; begging, pleading with the Council to agree to the terms the vampires set.

I stood to one side, emotions shielded. I knew better than to beg or plead for the girl's life. She was already dead; it was just a matter of the Elders prolonging it.

My name is Kamiya Kaoru. I am a Huntress for the Meiji Corp. We're a bunch of vampire hunters. By day, you see us as business workers, but as darkness falls, we become murderers. We may stain our hands with the blood of beasts, but we are really no better than them.

The Elders drew my attention and I slowly proceeded to stand before them. They requested that I return to the messenger in the park and give him our answer. I bowed low and turned to leave.

Her parents clutched at my sleeves as I passed them, their cries loud in my ears. I forced back the emotions that threatened to overcome me as I pushed on and out into the night taking with me their last hope of seeing their child alive. I swallowed my pain at their suffering and tuned out my guilt as I made my way to the designated drop.

Thirty minutes after my silent departure from Headquarters found me face to face with a rough, tough vampire. He was tall and lanky with brown hair resembling a rooster's crown. A red bandanna encircled his head and his clothes were that of a street fighter.

"Yo. You got a message for me, girl?" He greeted with a lazy tone.

I wordlessly passed him the Elders' written response. I watched as his face contorted in first disbelief and then rage. He read it again just to make sure that he was on the same page and then I drew his attention back to me.

I pitched my voice low and soft in the night, knowing that it would carry a good distance no matter how quiet, "I wish to make a counter deal, under the table. The Elders need not know of it until it is done."

A tall stoic man with ice for eyes made himself known then just to my right, "What deal would that be? Some new trick to lure us into a trap?"

I shake my head as I replied evenly, "No. No trick. I know the girl and I do not wish to see her hurt. So instead of the peace you offer, I offer a trade: the girl for our best Hunter."

The rooster-headed fighter laughed, "You expect us to believe that you can trade us the best Hunter for the girl? What do you think we are? Stupid?"

"I can do this for you. I will not let that girl die by your hands or anyone else's. She's too young, too innocent for this."

The ice man gazed at me and asked quietly, "What do you know of our rituals?"

I shrugged, "Not much, but I do know that no child should have to suffer them. I offer you one whose hands are stained with blood if you will give me that innocent child."

"Give us an hour and the girl will be here."

I shook my head, "That's not good enough. I want her here thirty minutes before true dawn."

His gaze grew colder as he growled, "We are at our weakest then."

"I need to know that she will be safe from your kind as well as mine. Neither of our groups stirs during this time frame and I wish to use that to the girl's advantage. You bring the girl and I'll bring Luna. If you wish, you may leave directions with the child and I'll see to it that Luna gets to you."

Rooster-head glares openly at me as he demands, "How do we know that you aren't setting us up?"

I know what I must do, even though it pains me to part with it. It's the only dependable friend I've got. Finally, ever so slowly, I reached my right hand across to my left hip and I gripped the sheath of my katana. Both men tense as I slowly draw it from my waist. I slowly took a breath before holding out my beloved weapon to the ice man. My palm is up and the sword is perfectly balanced across it.

I can tell that they are surprised by this action, but the ice man does not hesitate to take the weapon from my outstretched arm. I stepped back away from them clenching and unclenching my hands as I force breath in and out of my suddenly tight lungs.

I barely glanced at them as I rasped, "Half an hour before dawn."

I slipped quietly away from them, stalking straight through the shadows and the moonlight.

A few hours later, I'm sitting in a car at the edge of the park. A long-time friend is sitting behind the wheel.

"Are you sure that you want to do this?"

"I have no choice. I can't let that little girl die, not while I can do something about it."

"You're giving up everything for her! You're willing to die at the hands of those you've hunted! They will not give you leniency just because of who you are!"

"I know that, Kamatari!" I snapped. "But I'm not going to let that girl die. You do this for me and we're done. All debts and favors paid. We're even whether I make it through this or not."

He nodded solemnly, "Very well. Send the girl to me and she will disappear. No one will know that she lives, not even her parents. She will lead a normal life."

A smile tugged at my lips, "Thank you."

I slipped out of the car and retraced my steps from earlier. I stretched out my senses, looking for the little girl.

I smiled as I looked at her, she's trembling something awful but as I call her name she seems truly happy. She covers the distance as fast as her little legs will go and I crouch down to her level so that she can wrap her arms around me. She's crying and shivering but alive and happy. She knows that she is safe now.

I gently rub her back and soothe her before coaxing her to look at me, "A friend of mine is here to pick you up. He'll take you somewhere safe, okay? You'll never have to deal with this life again."

I know that this is her dream, a normal existence and I have been trying to figure out a way to make that wish come true. Now that I have, I know that her smiling face will be forever burned into my memory.

She nods her head in understanding and hesitantly holds out a piece of paper with a message. The message is the directions that I am to follow when delivering Luna and they are written in red ink. I swallow at the sudden uneasy feeling in my stomach. I know that I will walk to my death in a few minutes but I strive to put on a happy expression for the child.

I watched her walk away from me before I turned into the darkness of the park and proceeded to follow my directions. I move quietly out of habit so that nothing disturbs the silence of the night.

I sensed many people around me, and even though they were not at their strongest, I felt a bead of perspiration run down my back. I took a steadying breath as I moved quietly through the throng of the undead.

A soft sigh escaped me. I knew what they had come for. They had come for Luna and I could feel their anger roll off of them as they realized that I was alone. I was not the one who they had been promised.

I came to a halt beneath a large and ancient oak. The fighter and the ice man stood calmly before me, the fighter with his arms crossed and the other almost as if he was bored.

The fighter glared at me, "Where is she? Where is Luna?"

A small, cold smile graced my features for the briefest of moments before it disappeared. "I am Luna."