Disclaimer: I own nothing except for my very brief mention of Shima who's my OC for a different story.
Author's Note: Okay, chapter one was pretty tame but each chapter will hopefully become more insane. Read and Review if you like but Flames will be ignored. Thanks!
Chapter 2: One way by night, another by day
Kenshin and Sano entered the dojo and looked around warily. Unexpectedly a woman's scream rang from the house and the threesome ran inside, prepared to face whatever foe might have attacked the poor woman.
"Hajime I have had it with this! Kaoru was not nor is involved with that false Battousia mess and if I ever catch you trying to sneak in here again…" The woman's voice trailed off as she caught sight of her guests. "Ah Yahiko-kun, thank goodness you got back, Kaoru has gotten worse and I can't get her to wake up!"
"Have you talked to the doctor?" Yahiko asked as he handed a small bundle to the woman. "Yes but all he could tell me was that only the kiss of her true love would wake her at this point. You wouldn't happen to know who that is would you?" the woman asked, opening the bundle.
Yahiko shook his head, "Nope. Not a clue Tokio-san."
Tokio sighed, "It was a long shot anyways. But maybe the tea I can make from these leaves will help her." She disappeared into the kitchens leaving a slightly ruffled looking Saitou behind.
Also in the corner lay a futon. And the girl that laid on it was unlike any Kenshin had ever seen. Yahiko caught Kenshin looking, "And that's Kaoru you're staring at."
Kenshin blushed deeply, "I'm sorry that I am," he stammered.
Yahiko just smirked, "Maybe she's your true love."
"I think not." Kenshin looked even more embarrassed now.
"Tokio did mention something about the 'kiss of true love'. Maybe one of you should test her theory." Saitou suggested as he dug into his pocket looking for a cigarette.
"After you." Sano gestured towards Kaoru.
"I can't, I'm married." Saitou ignored the stares and continued his search.
"Maybe you should try it Yahiko, you've know her the longest that you have." Kenshin suggested but Yahiko stepped back, "M-me? K-kiss busu?" he gasped, looking ill.
"I heard that Yahiko-chan!" The girl, who had been lying quietly on the futon suddenly sat up, reaching for the boken that lay by the bed. "I'll have you know I'm one of the most beautiful girls in the village!"
"Don't call me 'chan' and if you're the most beautiful then our village most have some pretty ugly girls in it!" Yahiko yelled back, once again reaching for his weapon.
Kaoru moved first and began to beat Yahiko over the head with her boken, "You should have respect for your teacher!" Kaoru punctuated her words with a strong whap.
"Well it appears Kaoru-dono is fine, that she is." Kenshin rubbed the back of his head with a bemused grin on his face.
Kaoru suddenly let off hitting Yahiko as the unfamiliar voice registered into her mind, "Who are you guys?" she yelled, now brandishing her boken at Kenshin.
Kenshin gulped but before he could answer her question Tokio walked back in, "Kaoru you're awake. Which man kissed you?"
Kaoru's mouth dropped open, "K-kissed me? One of these weird guys kissed me?"
"No one…" Kenshin began to explain but Kaoru cut him off, "You're all a bunch of perverts, kissing poor unconscious girls! Get out of my house!"
8888
It wasn't till the next morning after dawn that Yahiko managed to negotiate their way back into the house. Multiple times the night before Kenshin and Sano had tried to leave but Saitou and Yahiko always dragged them back, claiming they weren't going to take Kaoru's blame alone and that it was technically Kenshin's fault because he had to make sure Yahiko got home safely.
Finally Kaoru let them back inside, her sour mood from the night before lifted, but only partially. "I think I deserve an explanation as to why all of you where in my house." She said coolly, looking at Kenshin.
The others looked at Kenshin too and he felt himself begin to grow nervous, "It's a long story that it is but Sano and I were sent on a mission by Okubo-sama to defeat Shishio and we got lost in the forest. Then we met Yahiko-kun and Saitou-san. Saitou-san explained what had befallen your dojo before he disappeared and Sano and I decided to make sure Yahiko-kun got back here safely. Then one thing led to another until we found ourselves in that most embarrassing situation for which I humbly apologize for. I had no desire to make you uncomfortable that I did not."
The room fell silent as Kenshin finished his story. Finally Saitou spoke, "You're fighting Shishio?" At Kenshin's nod he continued, "Then I'm going with you."
"Wha?" Sano yelled at the thought of Saitou joining them. He'd been looking forward to getting rid of this guy!
"I said I'm going with you. I happen to have reasons for wanting Shishio killed, the main one being that I cannot abide the thought of anyone as evil as him being allowed to live for long. I would like him to meet my own brand of justice. Aku. Soku. Zan."
"If you're going Hajime then I'm coming too. I'm not staying home anymore, happily raising our kids."
"If you go who'll watch them though?" Saitou asked, giving the air of a man who desperately wanted to get away.
"Don't worry, Shima's watching them." Tokio waved a dismissing hand and before Saitou could protest Kaoru had jumped in, "I'm going too!"
"Who said anything about anyone coming?" Kenshin asked, staring at Kaoru in confusion.
"I have to go. Shishio killed my father." Kaoru spoke fiercely but Sano just groaned, "Guess what Jou-chan, there isn't a person in this country that Shishio hasn't killed a friend or relative of."
"Oh." Kaoru's blue eyes blinked a few times in surprise.
Kenshin stood up with a defeated sigh, "If we're going to be going anywhere we need to leave now."
"I'm ready." Kaoru confidently grabbed her boken which had been moved to a rack on the wall. "Yahiko take care of the dojo while I'm gone."
"No way, I'm going too!" Yahiko yelled, "No you're not, you aren't ready yet." Kaoru countered but Yahiko wasn't done arguing yet, "Then neither are you. I'm almost as good as you are busu."
"You like to think you are but I'm still your teacher and what I say goes."
"No way," Yahiko shouted.
"Yes way," Kaoru countered.
The two argued back and forth for a good five minutes before Kenshin's patience wore thin, "Either you both stay or you both go but we're leaving now!"
Kaoru and Yahiko both stopped arguing instantly.
"Now may we go?" Saitou asked calmly.
8888
By early afternoon Sano was beginning to doubt Kenshin's sanity. What had convinced him to allow Saitou, Tokio, Kaoru and Yahiko to tag along? He could grudgingly see the logic behind Saitou's joining the group but the other three? What help could they bring?
Kenshin was in the front walking between Kaoru and Yahiko, trying to calm them both down when he stopped suddenly listening. Kaoru and Yahiko paused wondering what he had heard. The answer soon became apparent.
Kenshin placed his hand over the hilt of his sword, his moment mimicked by Saitou. Something rustled on the path ahead of them and Kenshin began to draw his sword.
Then from around a bend in the trail came two little girls who were causally taking ohagi from a bowl and dropping it behind them. They stopped and looked quizzically at Kenshin's group. Then they saw Saitou and screamed loudly, fear plain on their faces.
Saitou sheathed his sword with an air of disgust, "What is it about me that always frightens children?" he asked no one in particular.
"Ayame, Suzume calm down, these are my friends." Kaoru stepped towards the girls and they both left off of screaming to run to her and bury their faces in her skirt. "Scary man aunty Kaoru." The older one, Ayame got out, echoed by Suzume, "Scary man!"
"It's okay, he won't hurt you." Kaoru reassured before looking at them, "But why are you out here and where is your grandfather?"
Ayame's bottom lip began to quiver, "We don't know. We all went for a walk and he asked us to wait in a clearing while he went to go do something and then he didn't come back."
Kenshin frowned and stepped forward, "Kaoru-dono do you know these children?"
Kaoru nodded, "Ayame and Suzume are the granddaughters of the village doctor." She lowered her voice and whispered into Kenshin's ear, "I don't think he forgot them on purpose, he's a little old and sometimes forgetful." Kenshin nodded his understanding, "Why don't we take them back to the village? We need to go through there anyways to reach the main road again."
Kaoru liked that idea, "Don't worry Ayame-chan and Suzume-chan, we'll take you home." Ayame peeked up from where she had hidden her face, "Really?" she whispered.
"Yep."
The little group started out again with two new members and Sano's now very firm conviction that his friend had lost it. "If w get on any more 'side quests' we'll never complete the quest we were sent on."
8888
Having to travel with two small children had cut their travel speed in half and they had finally had to make camp in yet another tiny clearing in the forest.
Sano leaned back against a tree and surveyed the camp through partially closed eyes. Yahiko and the little girls had already fallen asleep, Saitou and Tokio where sitting apart from the others arguing in a low voice about something called "marriage counseling", Kenshin had gone out to make sure that the surrounding forests were safe, insisting that Sano stay behind and keep an eye on the kids.
Someone was missing. Sano began to panic slightly until he realized that Kaoru had disappeared. His worry fading Sano mentally shrugged, Kaoru probably went off to find Kenshin. Sano may have been dense were women were concerned but even he could see that Kaoru really liked the red head. With a sigh he closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep.
Something pulled on the leg of his pants and he opened one eye, then both. A raccoon was sitting next to him with something colorful on its head. "What the!" Sano yelled, earning a glare from Saitou. "Why is a raccoon wearing Jou-chan's hair ribbon?" he demanded. The raccoon began to make a chattering noise but Sano wasn't done yet, "I've heard that raccoons like to steal things but this is unbelievable!"
"No! Listen, listen, listen, listen, listen!" Kaoru's voice came from the raccoon as it jumped onto Sano's chest to look him in the eye.
Sano glanced around uncomfortably, the raccoon's…Kaoru's…the thing on his chest's yells had woken up the kids, caused Saitou and Tokio to both come over, an expression of concern and some amusement evident on the latter's face and Kenshin had come running into the clearing, his sword in his hand. "Okay I'm listening." Sano nodded his head.
"Yahiko, you didn't explain this to them?" Kaoru demanded, her head turning to eye her apprentice. "Hey, don't blame me! I told 'em you were cursed but they didn't listen!" Yahiko grimaced as he anticipated a boken to his skull, until he remembered that a boken was bigger then his sensei at the moment.
"So…Kaoru-dono, is that you in this raccoon's body?" Kenshin asked, as he sheathed his sword.
"Yes it is." Kaoru sounded annoyed. "And you've always been like this?" Kenshin asked, tactfully feeling his way into the topic.
"No. It was only a few years ago. It's a curse, not a defect!"
"Oh." Kenshin frowned but Saitou spoke first, "Wonderful. Now not only are we stuck with two children but one of them is cursed to be a raccoon. And you still think it was wise to bring them along Himura?"
Tokio's slightly amused expression changed to one of anger, "It's not Kaoru's fault that she has this curse laid on her. If she could change herself back into a human then she would. But she can't! You should be more sensitive!"
"I'm not sensitive. I'm the Wolf of Mibu; the Wolf of Mibu is not a sensitive individual." Saitou argued.
"You should calm down that you should." Kenshin advised before looking back at Kaoru, "Is there no way for you to turn back?" he asked but Kaoru waved her head from side to side, "No. I'm only a raccoon during the night, during the day I'm human. It's not so bad really, being turned into a raccoon…except that I get these incredible urges to dig through people's garbage. That was what I was doing before I got sick. But then again, digging in garbage cans isn't too bad either, 'cause sometimes I find really neat stuff."
Kenshin nodded as several puzzle pieces fell into place, "Ah that makes sense." He spoke as Yahiko's comment ran through his head.
"Can't you become human again Aunty Kaoru?" Ayame asked as she crept forward to carefully touch the raccoon's back. "Yes, tomorrow morning I'll be back to normal, you'll see."
Ayame shook her head, "No, I mean really human. So that you don't change anymore."
"Well…" Kaoru looked towards Tokio for help and the older woman jumped in with an explanation, "The curse was laid upon her right after her father was killed. There are only two ways for her to break it. The first is to have her true love kiss her, but as we know true loves are hard to find these days. The second is slightly easier; simply defeat the person that laid the curse on her, in this case that would be Komagata Yumi."
"Komagata Yumi," Kenshin spoke in a whisper, "The consort of Shishio himself!"
Sano was getting tired of Kaoru on his chest, "That's very interesting but what do we do about Kaoru right now?"
Kenshin scratched his head, "I don't know that I don't. We could just try to sleep and in the morning Kaoru-dono will be fine and by late tomorrow morning we should have reached the village and Ayame and Suzume can go home were they will be safe."
The others agreed and they all found comfortable spots on the ground but Kenshin stayed awake later then the others as he watched Kaoru, 'Even in the midst of her own troubles she tried to comfort Ayame. She's a very brave girl.' Kenshin decided.