AN: I don't own anything :D So if you think I'm Nobuhiro Watsuki… you'd be wrooooong (it wouldn't be as good of a story if I were)

A second later, Kaoru realized she wasn't on fire, and that in fact, she was being held against someone, or something. She didn't know how it had happened, one moment she was about to be devoured by flames, and the next, the spot where she had been was ablaze, and she was being set on the ground by what appeared to be a man not much taller than she.

The toad bellowed at the intrusion. "SHE IS MINE! Stand aside."

The man did not look at her, but from the light of the burning tree, she could see his hair was long, held in a high pony tail like a samurai and it was the most amazing color red she had ever seen in her life.

Red hair. The Battousai? Kaoru couldn't see his face, but something inside her told her it must be him, but why he was there, why he had saved her and why he seemed somewhat annoyed, she couldn't fit the puzzle together. She wasn't in the village, the demon hadn't techinically attacked the village. Kaoru bit her lip, she just wasn't sure what to think, but the man did not turn towards her. All she knew was the heavy aura washing off him made it difficult to breathe, and watched in awe as he rested his right hand on the hilt of his katana and sighed in annoyance.

The toad readied to belch fire again, opening his mouth, Kaoru saw the orange swell in his throat. Then, her eyes widened, the demon was engulfed in his own flame, his neck had been slit before he could finish, and she realized the man was no where near her anymore, he stood next to the dying demon, sheathing his katana slowly. Kaoru hadn't even seen him move. The man turned towards her, and she knew with the gold eyes that burned her skin, it had to be The Battousai. Her heart leapt into her throat at the deadly grin he gave her, and fumed when she saw his gaze wander somewhat lazily over her body, He has no right!

Did he save me to eat me instead? Why isn't he moving, he's just staring at me. Kaoru felt his gaze engulf her, and her body shuddered. She couldn't kill the toad, and she knew if he could do it so easily, and so swiftly, she didn't stand a chance. After a moment, he began to move towards her, his neck arched for a moment and she saw him sniff once, his jaw tight and he stopped a few feet from her, glaring down at her with those burning eyes. She couldn't read the look at all though, and she couldn't move. Finally, she got her wits somewhat and glared back at him, and he arched an eyebrow.

So what if he can snap my neck before I even know what is going on? If he does, at least it would be a quick death. Kaoru didn't really want to die, but she had never taken well to being bullied, and his eyes, felt judging, though with the length that he stared, obviously somewhat interested as well, however 'interest' did not seem to soften the look at all.

It seemed like forever before Kaoru was able to speak. She hadn't realized she had been holding her breath, and she exhaled. The look in his eyes had caused her to cease breathing entirely, and in the back of her mind she had to admit, the rumors had been true, and he was breathtaking, though she would never say it aloud… ever.

"You're-" she ground out, her voice somehow hoarse. She tried to drag her eyes from him, but she couldn't seem to do it. He didn't react to her word, and didn't seem much interested in how she had planned to finish it. Instead, she gripped the stick that had dropped to the ground, and tried to stand up. The Battousai merely watched her move, his eyes following with a deathly glare. Kaoru wasn't sure it was smart to be moving, especially with the look he had in his eyes, as if he were trying to get her to burst into flames too. One thing for sure was that if he was going to try and eat her, she was going to put up a fight first, even as weak of an attempt as it seemed, even to her.

Slowly, she tried to pull the wood up in front of her, it took some effort, the lashing from the toads tongue had left large bruises all over he body, and she bit her lip to help focus her mind on the demon before her. His eyes narrowed slightly at her, and he finally turned his gaze away sharply, as if something to the right had caught his immediate attention. He angled his eyes back at her for a moment, then turned his back on her and began walking away. After a few steps he turned his head gracefully to glare at her over her shoulder and said coldly, "Come."

Kaoru thought he was crazy, she stared dumbfounded at the demon striding casually away from her. Yah, I'm gonna follow you. Attractive… yes. But you don't have a freaking spell on me or something! She thought, fuming. She glared at his retreating figure, and after a moment, he paused and turned sideways to look at her once more.

"Come." He said again. Then, his eyes changed slightly, but before she could recognize the look, it vanished and he was staring at her in a much more excited manner, and he slightly curled one side of his mouth in a partial grin that was non-too-comforting for Kaoru. She stood perfectly still, apparently it seemed, he had just been made aware of something… something that pleased him.

"Stay if you like. But with your scent fogging up the entire forest, I'm sure you'll have a few more friends to play with soon enough." His voice was so harsh, it caused Kaoru biting her lip again to keep from wincing at the tone. It was like his words became solid, and filled the air, trying to suffocate her. She looked away from him finally, staring at the ground.

Better odds against one demon… is the scent really that strong?

She bent down and picked up the rice and box that were nearby. She wasn't entirely sure, but if he let her live… she'd like an opportunity to eat. Trying angrily not to limp, she began to follow him as he turned once more and strode away.

I am having a bad day. Worst day really. Burned home, attacked by an overgrown toad… frog-thing. Get saved only to possibly be eaten, just by a more complex monster. At least I'm alive at the moment. Kaoru's mind was in knots. She didn't know if it was better to follow this man, but she was too stubborn to just sit around waiting to be eaten. The wood was heavy in her hand, and she dropped it, it was little to no use anyways, especially since she could hardly hold it up at this point and he was carrying a katana. She felt weak, especially walking behind this man that just radiated more strength than his short height and build should be capable of.

She was growing weary fast, and her ankle seared with pain, she knew she was sweating slightly from the effort to continue walking and that she was walking more with a limp now than when they had first started off. No clue where they were going, but knowing that they had been walking for quite some time, she continued to follow him without complaint. She wasn't sure if she should say 'Thank you', especially since she really didn't know if he had saved her or if she would end up being his late night snack. Either way, he at least kept his tongue to himself she thought in amusement.

Even if he is going to eat me later… I should say thank you. At least I am alive for a little while longer. Kaoru was pretty sure the pain in her body might have made her somewhat delirious. She let out a soft, short snort of amusement.

"Thank you." She said, trying her best to sound normal.

Without pausing, or shifting, he let out a sharp, short laugh that made Kaoru's blood freeze, "Little bird, you've only traded a frog for something much, much worse." He grinned sadistically over his shoulder at her, "I won't be satisfied by simply devouring you."

Kaoru felt like hear heart stopped beating, and it took her a number of minutes to regain her composure from his words. Trying once again to sound normal and not let her emotions carry through in her voice, "At least I'm alive at the moment."

The man in front of her didn't respond, only continued walking, and the only sign he showed that he had heard her at all was a cynical snort.

After what had to be another hour, at least, to Kaoru, she sighed heavily, she was panting now, her body was sore and her ankle couldn't handle any of her weight anymore. Nearly hopping behind the man, each hop brought a sharp pain in her leg and she worried she might have made the twist much worse than it had been previously. The pace was grueling to top it all off, and when she tripped on a raised tree root and fell flat on her face, she exhaled and just laid there.

Enough of this… I'm not a damn demon. I can't keep up with this asshole. She was too tired to care if he walked off on her. Slowly she, made the effort to roll onto her back and opened her eyes. The Battousai was staring down at her, glaring more like it, Kaoru thought.

"Get up." He ordered sharply.

Kaoru narrowed her eyes, I'm not walking any farther. She frowned.

"Just leave me or eat me… I can't walk anymore." She panted, too tired to keep glaring even. The emotional stress of the day was finally taking a heavy toll on her, and she just wanted to fall asleep… if she could keep her ankle from throbbing long enough to do it.

Apparently he didn't get it because he repeated his previous order more firmly, "Get Up."

Kaoru closed her eyes, she wanted to throw something at him, if only he weren't a demon, he didn't seem to have a real sense of humor. "I can't walk any farther." She repeated and opened angry eyes at him, "I'm obviously slowing you down, my ankle is twisted, and I am not moving from this spot." Her voice was heated.

The man before her sent her a sharp look that Kaoru tried her best to counter, but she knew she failed miserably. The pain in her leg, arms, and stomach had taken away most of her fear, which was probably something you needed to have around this man, but she just was too exhausted to care. He bent down in front of her and pulled her into a sitting position firmly. His hand then went down to her ankle that had swollen to a good sized ball, and growled. Kaoru could feel his growl through his touch even, and it made her somewhat wary. His eyes snapped back to her.

"Your race is annoyingly weak." He said in a dark grumble.

"Well we can't all be freaks of nature now can we?" Kaoru shot back sarcastically. His hand fisted on her swollen ankle and she screamed in pain, black spots shooting before her eyes, and finally he released her ankle.

"What is WRONG with you!" she spat angrily when she found her voice. He bit the inside of his wrist and brought it to her lips. Kaoru looked at him as if he were insane, and clamped her mouth shut.

"Do it." He ordered, holding it to her mouth, but she simply tried to lean away and kept her mouth closed, glaring at him. However, the Battousai seemed out of patience, and grabbed his hand on the back of her head and shoved her mouth against his wrist and held it there harshly. Kaoru shut her eyes tightly, and bit her lip.

He didn't relent, even as she tried to pull away. Finally, she licked the blood off his wrist slightly, already the wound was nearly healed, and only a small slow stream poured out. The Battousai hissed as if he'd been burned. She peeked one eye open and glanced at him and she found that the blood… didn't really taste as metallic as it should. She licked more off his wrist and her lips, one eye still squinched shut, the other watching him carefully. His jaw tightened, and he pulled his wrist swiftly from her and stood. His aura was suddenly heavier, weighing on her shoulders.

"Get up." He said for the third time. Kaoru was about to argue, exasperated but she felt the throb in her ankle dim, and it felt much cooler than it had before. Looking, she noticed it was still swollen, but less so than it had been moments ago.

Demon blood. It can help cure human ailments? Good thing people don't know about that, there would be a lot more men killed by demons, trying to get the blood to sell at a high price. Kaoru was very much surprised, and then realized that the demon was currently still standing by her, waiting for her to stand up. Finally, with a heavy sigh, she stood.

"Why are you dragging me along with you?" Kaoru asked, after walking for another good while. "Where are we even going?"

The demon glanced back at her for a moment then turned forwards again, never stopping. "It's none of your business."

His voice doesn't change much. On another topic… HOW is it none of my business! Kaoru knew she was probably pushing the short tempered demon's buttons, but it just seemed not to matter, apparently he had no plans of just leaving her in the woods, he was going to simply march her to death though.

"How much farther?" she muttered, mostly to herself, and was somewhat surprised when she heard him growl again.

"Hour." Was his short reply, he didn't seem much interested in what she had to say, he kept looking off to the right every few minutes, which had her eyes following, but she never saw anything.

Kaoru needed to talk though, it was keeping her awake and now that she wasn't hurting anymore, her curiousity was getting the best of her. "Are some smells more… potent for a demon than others? Like certain smells stand out?"

He growled, but otherwise remained silent. Apparently, he had decided to simply stop answering her. However, this did not seem to deter her from asking further questions.

"How many demons live in these woods? We haven't run into more of them." Kaoru wondered how they had been so fortunate to not run into more demons. Night was supposedly when they were out in force, but she had only seen the toad and the man before her.

"Do demons ever eat just normal things, like deer, or rabbit? I mean I have to imagine fish is pretty tough if a demon's nose is so sensitive to everything." She continued to think out loud. She continued to go on about the sense of smell with different topics for a while. Kaoru felt it sort of made the time go by faster. But after a few more minutes of near non-stop wonderment… Battousai's shoulders had slowly tensed.

Suddenly the breath was knocked from her lungs as she was slammed against a tree, his body pressed roughly against hers, a hand around her throat. Her head ached from hitting the tree, and before she could see straight she heard a seething voice whisper against her ear.

"If living is what pleases you, I'd suggest you shut – " his mouth grazed her ear, "up."

Finally she was able to recover enough vision to see his head was pulled back, his amber gaze filled with bloodlust, and she felt terrified. Apparently, her fear of him made him much more satisfied and Kaoru remained silent and he took that as her co-operation. He didn't move, and her body remained rigid against his. Suddenly she felt something hot against her waist and realized that his fingers had slipped into what had to be a small tear in the fabric of her haori. Her eyes widened somewhat, she struggled to breathe, it felt like her lungs were constricting, and his hand gripped her waist firmly.

"If you think we are alone, you are mistaken. There are many others following your putrid scent." Her heart fluttered in her chest and he grinned wickedly, "But I do not believe in sharing."

As quickly as he had grabbed her, he released her and was walking away again. Kaoru didn't know what had happened, but she knew that he wasn't planning to kill her at the moment, and at least she wouldn't be torn apart by the other demons he claimed were following them. It took her a moment to calm her rapidly beating heart, but she was able to steadily follow him, still shaking from the contact, and trying desperately to gain control of herself.

To distract herself from him, she descreetely sniffed her shoulder, then under her arm. I smell faintly of sweat, but I wouldn't call it putrid. Maybe it just stinks worse to him. Kaoru was embarrassed at the thought of her odor smelling more strongly than she could smell it. Sniffing her haori, she could still smell the slight scent of the Jasmine she had tried earlier, It somehow dripped to my haori. She thought.

After walking for a good while longer, she finally saw lights from the shrine-like house on the hill. They were very close now, only a few more minutes. Kaoru was suddenly less sure she wanted to reach their destination, it would probably mean her life would soon be ending, though she really didn't want to try and trek behind the demon any longer than she had to. Climbing the steps to the house, she sighed, at least her ankle had almost completely healed at this point. Kaoru wasn't sure why he even bothered healing her if he was simply going to kill her. She tried to not think about the house and tried to remember what little information she thought she had heard about demons.

Different types of demons… beast, like the toad earlier. Elementals, they had some power over things like earth, wind, rain, etc. Then there were Sentinels. She was pretty sure that the Battousai was this sort of demon. Sentinels were overall guards of the land. Demons were possessive by nature, but a sentinel was substantially more possessive due to their protective instincts. They were supposedly among the strongest and rarest of demons, and… Kaoru tried to remember more but she just didn't really know much about his race, and she found she quickly ran out of facts. Once they neared the front door, she noticed another figure standing on the porch waiting for them. Squinting to try and see better in the darkness, she was able to see it was a woman.

She was very beautiful, with long flowing black hair, pointed face and beautiful dark eyes, hidden by long eyelashes. Kaoru knew the woman was taller than her, and much more filled out. The Battousai stopped a few feet away from her and looked over his shoulder at Kaoru, she walked the last few steps, coming to stop a bit behind him, her eyes glued to the woman.

"Megumi, give her a room." He grinned and moved his arm back to shove her forward roughly. Kaoru almost fell flat on her face but caught herself and couldn't help the glare she sent his way at her indignance. He merely grinned at her, and she wished he wouldn't, it felt like he was going to devour her with his eyes alone. Turning away from him, she looked back at the woman who sighed, as if having having better things to do.

"As you wish Kenshin. I don't know why you brought this child, she smells awful. Can I at least throw her in the tub? She'll stink up the entire house." The woman said with a short chortle.

The man… she had thought him to be Battousai… maybe he is Battousai, but Battousai does sound more like a title, Kenshin is probably his name. She deduced.

"Aa." Was his only reply as he walked past them and into the house. Kaoru wasn't sure how she felt at being at the mercy of this other demon. Was she also a sentinel?

Before she had time to think on it, she was shoved forward again, this time, by Megumi.

"Follow me Tanuki." She said, her voice edged with disapproval. They walked through the main room and deeper into the house. After a short walk the woman opened a door to a bathing room. Kaoru stepped in, and the woman shut and locked the door behind her, saying through the door, "Hurry up and get that foul stench off." Before she heard the woman step away.

Kaoru let out a sigh of relief. At least she was alone, no more gold eyes boring into her soul, nor evil women sneering at her. Slowly she pulled off her haori, and stood in only her hakama and bindings on her breasts. Looking at the tub, she saw it was already filled with water, and noticed two buckets on the floor near a chair, also already filled.

Slipping off her sandals and removing her hakama and bindings, she folded her clothes neatly and set them aside. Kaoru then sat on the stool and pulled her hair down from the pony tail she had put it in, and grabbed the first bucket, pouring the water over her body. Picking up the soap, she latered it well before proceeding to wash her body, she tried to do it as thouroughly as possible.

Don't want them to continue to claim that I reek. It's annoying, especially since I can't smell it.

Sighing when she felt sufficiently latered up, she took the second bucket and poured it over her, removing the soap from her body before standing and walking to the tub. Kaoru slid in with a contented sigh. It was amazing how the water helped to relax her, even in the oddest of circumstances. She looked at the ceiling and her mind wandered.

What does he want with me anyways. If he wanted me, he would have raped and eaten me by now. What does he mean when he says he might have something worse planned for me? Her mind thought back to the way his face had changed when she hadn't responded to his first calls to 'come'. He seemed surprised and happy about something. Was he glad that I stayed where I was? That makes no sense Kaoru! She tried her hardest to stay logical, but the warm water of the bath was relaxing her so much that she found herself falling asleep. Slowly, she dozed into a wonderful, dreamless sleep.

AN: Thanks for the reviews so far. I was already almost done with this chapter by the time I got the first up. Hopefully it lives up to expectations =/ I am already considering rewriting the first chapter though. I'm really not satisfied with the first chapter, and I'm not sure I want the dojo burned down. It is a little too dramatic for me, I mean, if she already has the hardships she has, I'd prefer to not overkill on her life, especially since it will soon become much more annoying, frustrating, sad, etc. Basically it's not gonna get better anytime soon xD And I feel the dojo being burned might be the straw on the camels back, I'd like her to have someplace she could run to if need be, and at the moment she doesn't. Also, I have a VERY vague idea where this story is going, so please be patient, the third chapter will take longer for me to get out.

Thank you all for the reviews! They make me very happy!