Riyo-The-Protector: Thanks! I'm glad you liked it!

Angel of loneliness: I'm so glad you liked the story. I hope this update was soon enough for you!

Kintora: I'm not on a story rampage…ok maybe I am! I just have way too many ideas in my head and I try to get them all down as fast as I can before I forget them. I will update Gundam Seed …just have to make sure I got all the kinks I want out of it.

Gabyhyatt: thanks!

Tree: well I hope this answers your request for more!

…The Greater Fight …

Disclaimers: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or any of their products. This is an AU story but deals with the same timeline as the series. Takes place after the ending of the show…Enjoy!

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Chapter One

Kaoru stirred and placed a hand on her forehead, "Awww…my head." Kaoru sat up in her futon and looked at her surroundings she was in her room but not alone. She turned her head up to see Hiko standing in a corner of her room. She looked at him stunned as he knelt down beside her and pressed his hand on her forehead.

"Master Hiko what are you doing here?" Kaoru asked as she looked towards her door, "Does Kenshin know you are here?"

Hiko smirked, "Everything is going to be alright, Princess…"

Kaoru's eyes widened at the mention of Princess…Kaoru felt a rush of sensations and emotions that ran through her body. She stiffened as her memories that were pushed so far back in her mind came to the surface as someone breaking from the water. Smells from long ago seemed just like yesterday, as pictures of days that were long forgotten have resurfaced and it was all seen in her eyes. Hiko rushed to her side as tears came from her eyes and he knew that she had remembered that painful day. He closed his eyes hoping there would be any other way, but the truth of the matter she would have to face her own demons one day. Kaoru then put on a smile on her face, "Hello Uncle, it's been a long time since we sat together like this."

Hiko nodded, "Yes it has. How are you feeling?"

"My head feels a bit strange," Kaoru told him and Hiko smiled. "I wish you could have told me something in Kyoto instead of waiting till now."

Hiko nodded, "I didn't think you really needed to remember me…at least not at the time. You seemed perfectly happy with the way things had turned out after we had used hypnosis on you, I was afraid to bring up any bad memories."

Kaoru nodded, "I see…so how have you been fairing uncle?"

"I have been well," Hiko answered. "It would seem I had arrived before Sakura did."

"She left a note," Kaoru said plainly. "She already has taken the lives of my mother and father, what else does she want?"

"She wants to make sure there is no one left to teach your family's sword style," Hiko said as he opened the door and stepped out. He motioned for Kaoru to follow him, she stood up and followed after him. "The reasons I cannot completely know, but I figure that you do…" Kaoru just simply nodded, "I see. Then…I guess are you up to some light sparring with me?"

"You can't be serious," Kaoru said putting her hands on her hips and pointing a figure up at Hiko. "I just woke up with repressed memories all on the surface and you want me to spar you? I haven't sparred you in like six years! And even then you don't go full out on me, so how is that a way for me to learn to defend myself against that crazy bitch!"

Hiko was stunned at her sudden outburst, At least that hasn't changed about her since she got her memories. Damn, why did I have to be the one to do this?

"Another thing, your apprentice is living here? How am I suppose to explain that you, his master…are my distant relative," Kaoru was loud enough to wake up her residents in her home. Kenshin came out to nearly fall to the ground in surprise to see his master there and Yahiko was all giddy but confused. Kenshin and Yahiko quickly were standing on the side lines watching the confrontation between Hiko and Kaoru. "That is not going to be something I am looking forward to telling him! I mean, I didn't even know who you were in Kyoto…why did you block those memories of you out too? I don't get you, you were weird before, you were weird in Kyoto, and you ARE STILL WEIRD!"

"Calm down, will you," Hiko said with a gruff tone. "Sheesh, you make it sound like I planned on all of this to happen."

"Why do I have such strange family members," Kaoru said with a sigh.

"Uh…Miss Kaoru…" Kaoru looked over in shock to see Yahiko and Kenshin looking at her. "Is everything alright?"

"Eh," Kaoru was at a loss for words.

"She's going to be sparring with me," Hiko said with a smile as Kenshin fell to the ground in shock. "That is after I can find that other sword your father hid from you."

"What sword," Kaoru asked with an arched eyebrow.

"You'll see," Hiko said as he walked over to the storage house. Kaoru then followed after him but would be stopped by Kenshin pulling on her arm. Kaoru turned to look at him as he held surprise in his eyes.

"Why is Master Hiko here," Kenshin asked and Kaoru turned to look at the ground unable to meet his deep violet eyes. "Miss Kaoru…"

"He is my uncle," Kaoru said softly as Kenshin felt like a ton of bricks hit him on the head. "He is a distant relative but still he is my uncle. I guess during your ten years of wandering he ended up spending some time here…I always use to make fun of him for making pottery…"

"You sound like you have many fond memories with him," Kenshin said softly as he held her hand. "Is there something I need to know, Miss Kaoru? I would like to help in any way I can, that I do."

Kaoru shook her head, "This is a family matter…and it will be dealt accordingly." Kaoru's voice had turned dark and it frightened him, it didn't sound nothing like the Kaoru he had gotten to know. Her voice was distant and ran to the storage house once his grip was loose enough to do so. Yahiko stood next to the red headed man; both were stunned in the change of tone in her voice. It was almost as she was a female version of Battousai and that was a very frightening thought.

"Kenshin," Yahiko called to him softly. "Do you think she is going to be alright?"

"Miss Kaoru will be fine Yahiko," Kenshin said with his usual smile but then it fell when he heard thrashing from the storage house.

"Well it sounds like she is making some noise," Yahiko said with an arched eyebrow as objects flew out of the storage house. "Yup, Kaoru is completely the same…"

"Well I don't think the hypnosis completely changed her Yahiko, just kept some unhappy memories repressed, that it did." Kenshin then got up and then got hit in the head by a book. "ORO!"

"I'm sorry Kenshin," Kaoru came out of the storage house and knelt next to the fallen wanderer. She looked over the small read mark that the book had left on his head as he sat up. "That wasn't for you, it was for uncle."

"Good thing I'm still faster than you," Hiko said materializing behind Yahiko. The taller man hated to admit it, but the Kamiya women scorn is very frightening. They seemed to have that familiar trait, hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn…and God knew it was so true for that young woman kneeling by his idiot apprentice.

"I'm fine Miss Kaoru, that I am." Kenshin said with his usual smile. "Why were you trying to hit Master for?"

"He took the sword away from me before I could even take a look at it," Kaoru said pointing over to Hiko who held out the sword. It was a complete replica of the one Hiko had at his side. He smirked as Kenshin recognized it without hesitation, it was the same sword that the man had made for him and Hiko so many years ago. Why would Kaoru have one just like it, and stored away in her storage house none the less? There were so many questions and it didn't feel as if there was enough to time to digest it all if or when the answers came. Kenshin stood up with the gentle help from Kaoru. "So why won't you let me have it?"

"Because my dear," Hiko said as he placed the sword at his side with his own. "I want to make sure you can still handle yourself before I let you play with your new toy. Besides princess, you owe me a light sparring match."

"You're CRAZY!" Kaoru shouted at him and Yahiko looked rather interested in the matter.

"What's the matter Ugly," Yahiko teased. "You got some memories back and you are afraid to battle your uncle?"

"Yahiko," Kaoru said in her usual annoyed tone with the boy. "Fine, uncle you'll have your sparring match."

"Are you sure Miss Kaoru," Kenshin asked completely worried about the girl. He knew about Hiko's tactics for training and Hiko just smiled at him.

"I won't do the same thing to her like I did to you," Hiko said laughing. "Besides, Kaoru didn't learn the Hiten Mitsurugi style, we're just going to have a simple sparring match between us. That's all…there is nothing wrong with that. Granted this girl knows kind of a mix style of Hiten Mitsurugi and Kamiya Kasshin. This will be fun!"

"You would say something like that," Kaoru said annoyed. "How did I end up with all the crazy relatives?"

"Hey, who are you calling crazy," Hiko said slightly offended. "I was able to lose your psycho pathetic aunt on the way here from Kyoto. So you should be thanking me, not insulting me."

"You haven't changed at all," Kaoru said crossing her arms. "You're still very arrogant…"

"Got that right," Kenshin agreed and got hit on the head.

"Who asked you," Hiko said as he held his fist over Kenshin's head. "At least she listened to me, you on the other hand were not so eager to listen to my wise words. Hey, speaking of which I can remember one…"

"NO!" Kaoru shouted blushing and Yahiko looked over in interest.

"Do tell," Yahiko said with a smirk on his lips. "Did Ugly here do something stupid?"

"Oh, I have plenty of wonderful memories about this little lady here," Hiko said with a wide grin as Kaoru turned bright, extremely bright red. "Lets see, which one is my favorite?" Hiko began stroking his chin as Kaoru clapped a hand over his mouth and Kenshin had to smile, he wasn't the only one that Hiko seemed to remember embarrassing moments from. Then again, Hiko tended to remember the embarrassing moments a lot better than he did other things. He could not understand why this great swordsman would remember the moments that caused people such embarrassment, maybe it was some warped sense of humor.

"AWWW, come on Kaoru let him tell me the stories," Yahiko begged.

"No way," Kaoru said with a blush still on her cheeks. "I don't need to recall any of them, THANK YOU!"

"Hey what's with all the ruckus about," Sanosuke said walking into the dojo and stopped when he saw Hiko. "What is he doing here?"

"Nice to see you too," Hiko said with a smirk. He pointed at Kaoru, "She's my niece…and that's…" Hiko pointed at Kenshin, "My idiot apprentice."

Sanosuke laughed and then paused for a moment, "Wait…you're related to Missy?"

Kaoru groaned, "Distant uncle…from my father's side of the family."

"Wow," Sanosuke whistled. "Wait till Fox hears about this one, but wait doesn't Doctor Gensai know?"

Hiko nodded, "Doctor Gensai has been a good family friend…at least to the Kamiya family. He and I made the decision in order to protect Kaoru from herself."

"I see," Sanosuke said with a smile. "So missy, you were a bad little girl eh?"

"Shut up!" Kaoru stuck out her tongue and crossed her arms over her chest. "I knew something like this would happen one day, Uncle would return not to protect me but to embarrass me!"

"Stop you're whining," Hiko threw a wooden sword at the girl and she caught it with ease. Hiko then got his own wooden sword and began walking towards the dojo's main practice hall. Kaoru sighed and followed after him as did the others. They wanted to see what was going on, Hiko stood in ready position and Kaoru did the same. "You ready princess?"

"I wish you would stop calling me that," Kaoru groaned and glared back at her uncle. "This really isn't fair, I haven't practiced in a long time."

"You need to stop whining," Hiko said as he charged at her with his god like speed and Kaoru in return went at a similar speed. Kenshin, Yahiko, and Sanosuke nearly fell over in surprise. Kaoru was able to move as fast as Hiko, however their wooden swords wouldn't last long. After each block and blow the wood would become brittle with each strike. Kaoru growled and got the spare sword from Hiko's side and Hiko drew his sword.

"You're a royal pain in the ass," Kaoru muttered and Hiko arched his eyebrow.

"I'm glad your mother isn't alive or she would blame me for that language just now," Hiko said with a smirk. "Your father would probably keep me from training with you."

"Shut up," Kaoru said annoyed and Hiko sighed.

"Some things never change," Hiko said as he blocked one of Kaoru's strikes.

"Is it just me, or she seem REALLY different," Sanosuke asked the two smaller men.

"Whoa…" Yahiko said in awe as he watched the assistant master of the Kamiya Kasshin style duking it out with Hiko…who was the master of Hiten Mitsurugi. It was completely a jaw dropper for the young student and he now wanted to be like Kaoru. She had skills, skills that were more than just repressed. They were always there just unable to come to the surface. "I want to be just like Kaoru…sorry Kenshin, but Kaoru has got some mad skills!"

Kenshin smiled, "That she does. However, it worries me, that it does."

"What do you mean," Sanosuke asked.

"The story Doctor Gensai told us about Miss Kaoru worries me, that's all." Kenshin said with a small smile. "If this woman is really after Miss Kaoru's life…Miss Kaoru will be forced to defend herself, even though the sword is a reverse blade it can still be flipped over, that it can."

"So are you saying that Kaoru might kill her own aunt," Yahiko said quietly as he watched Kaoru throw another attack at Hiko who dodged it with ease. Kaoru made a face but it was her typical face expression, for at least the moment…nothing was out of the ordinary except for her abilities. "She won't, she grew up with the idea that a sword is not meant to kill, only to protect."

"That might be so," Sanosuke said simply as he watched their little missy going at it with Hiko. The two didn't seem to be breaking a sweat, at least not yet. "But this is a Kaoru with memories of her parents' death and she knows who took their lives. It won't be as easy to forget now that they are all on the surface and a few new abilities as it seems."

"We must have faith that Miss Kaoru will be alright, that we should. We should also help her in anyway we can," Kenshin said as he stepped forward with a smile on his face. "I think that is enough you two…why don't we have some breakfast before you two go do another sparring match."

Kaoru and Hiko both stopped at the mention of food, Kaoru put the sword back into it's sheath as Hiko followed suit. The two bowed towards each other and left the room. Kenshin made his way over to the kitchen where he would prepare breakfast as Yahiko and Sanosuke stood there recalling the match between Hiko and Kaoru. The two didn't know what to make of it, and from the looks of it…neither did Kenshin. It was all too much in one moment to digest but it had happened before them. Kaoru wasn't just their normal Kaoru any longer; she had some bitter memories and former abilities now on the surface for an added bonus. There was no way of telling how the outcome will be for her if or when she meets her aunt face to face. Would she stain her hands with blood? Or will they remain as clean as they have always been? Yahiko didn't want to worry about Kaoru, but she was like an older sister and he grew worried. Sanosuke was thinking the same thing, Kaoru was like his younger sister and if anything were to change her drastically it would break everyone's heart…especially Kenshin's.

"Do you think she will change?"

"I dunno, what about you?"

"I can't say, but it seems as everything is going to be a little different now," Yahiko said sadly. "I almost wished that woman never came back so we could keep Kaoru the same way. No risk of her changing."

"Wow, you sounded grown up there Yahiko," Sanosuke teased and Yahiko grew red in fury.

"WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSE TO MEAN!"

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A groan could be heard as a figure slowly stood up and glanced up at the sky. Damn you, Hiko. Sakura stood up and massaged the back of her neck where Hiko had hit her. She growled as she stood up and began making her way to Tokyo once again. She would enjoy her time and make sure her men continued to observe the girl and those around her. She knew that she had already received her note and now Hiko probably gave her repressed memories a kick to the surface. It didn't matter if she knew or didn't, she would die at her hands. She might have lost the battle but she would her own personal war that had been raging in her for several years.

"I will not lose to a little girl…"

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Well here is the chapter! I hope everyone enjoyed it! I'll try to make them as long as I can…I know I hate short chapters. But knowing me they'll probably get longer gradually. So I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time!