Yeah, I didn't think the prologue was long enough to suvive on its own...so here's chapter one. Enjoy!

Kaoru's eyebrows furrowed as she glared at the patchwork on the dogi that lay in her lap before sighing and ripping it out for the third time. With Yahiko gone for the week she had too much besides sewing to think about. She raised her eyes to the ceiling as her breath hissed out of her, how was she supposed to get all of her students taught without having all of them come to the dojo? And then there was Kenshin, sometimes she swore that her husband was more of a wife than she was. He had even volunteered to take Kenji to the market today so she could have some peace around the dojo. Her eyes rolled back up towards the ceiling again as the thought of their son crossed her mind. He had recently begun to associate the word 'mine' with whatever he laid his little hands on; she was going to have to do something about that, along with a myriad of other annoying details. She looked up from her work as Ota's head poked around the corner.

"Kaoru-dono, Kenshin-san is back," he said, immediately pulling his head back out of view.

That was another thing. She couldn't place it, but Ota was beginning to remind her of someone as he grew taller, but she didn't have the faintest idea of who.

Kaoru sighed as she stood from her kneeling position and set the dogi on a low table, it could wait until later. She walked out onto the entryway, slipped on her geta and went out to meet Kenshin, who had two buckets balanced across his shoulders along with Kenji, who was perched happily around his neck. Happily, that is, until he caught sight of her.

"Mama," he exclaimed, his voice beginning to waver as he squirmed to get off of Kenshin's shoulders.

"Oro! Kenji, your mother will be very upset if this spills, and not at you," Kenshin said, a smile on his face as he gave the buckets to Ota and handed his squirming son over to Kaoru.

"How was he," Kaoru asked as Kenji clung to her side, looking around the dojo grounds carefully to make sure there was nothing new that had arrived in his absence.

Kenshin's smile deepened as he replied, "He was fine, but he gave this one quite a speech about what was his in the market."

"And I'm sure all of it was one syllable," she groaned, setting Kenji down so he could have free reign of the dojo as she talked with Kenshin.

"How was your day," Kenshin asked, moving forward as Kaoru turned to go back into the dojo.

She grimaced as she answered, "Frustrating. Yahiko rips so many dogis, and now that he's gone for the week I thought I would have time to fix them, but there are too many other things to think about."

"I could do them for you," Kenshin replied, picking up the torn dogi as he spoke.

"No, you won't," Kaoru said, taking the torn sparring shirt away from him, "you've done enough for today by just taking Kenji with you to the market. Besides, I can't let you do all the housework.

Kenshin hugged her as he spoke, "Kaoru, speaking of Yahiko, are you willing to say where he went for the week?"

"Not a chance, it would ruin the surprise, 'Ken-san'" she replied.

"Ah, this one was wondering when Megumi-dono would be visiting next," he said, looking down at Kenji as he pulled on his sleeve.

Kaoru smiled over her shoulder at the two as she walked off to find where Ota had put the rice. As luck would have it, she found it in the last place she looked, her bedroom.

"Why can't he just put it in the kitchen," she muttered, heaving it up onto her shoulders as she moved into the kitchen to begin making dinner.

As she put the buckets down and began to set the low table, she reflected that at least her cooking had improved since they had gotten married, and that was for sure, because Yahiko had stopped complaining about it. Kenshin had always found her cooking tolerable, and Ota was too quiet to say anything about it, but Yahiko would always tell her exactly what he thought of it. As her mind began to wander into the coming weeks Ota walked quickly into the room.

"Kaoru-dono, there is someone here to see you, he says Yahiko is needed in the market immediately and wants to know if he's here," he said, his calm eyes looking directly at her.

Kaoru set the knife she had been using down on the counter and moaned, "Why is it always when he's gone?! And for a week this time too, this is just great!"

She walked away as quickly as her restricting kimono would allow and made her way out to the front gates. She found Kenshin already there, waiting with a young boy, holding two bokken in his hand.

"What's going on," she asked, looking at the tired message bearer.

"Some of the Yakuza are making trouble in the market, they've got some kid cornered against a wall, and he has a sword."

Kaoru looked at Kenshin. It was well known that swords were banned from being carried it public; even now Yahiko still ran into some trouble as he carried Kenshin's old sakabato.

"Why aren't the police doing anything about it," Kaoru asked, reaching over to take a bokken from Kenshin.

"All the senior officers are away with Lieutenant Fujita, the only ones left are the rookies, and they can't handle it," he answered.

"Alright, let me change and we'll be down there as soon as possible. Ota, you're watching the dojo while we're gone." Kaoru said as she turned to go back into the dojo, her fist tightening around the hilt of her shinai as she moved.

Ota nodded and followed her in, leaving Kenshin at the front gates.

"Himura-sama, I should get back to see what's happening, please hurry," the boy said, turning to run back the way he'd come.

"This one will arrive as soon as possible," Kenshin replied, looking back in the direction of the dojo.

As Kaoru came running from the sliding door he turned and followed her out, matching her pace as they ran. A cloud of dust rose up behind them as they went, marking their progress to the market.

"Kenshin, please be careful, strangers with swords are never good," Kaoru said, looking over at him.

"You forget," Kenshin said, "that's all I was when we first met."

Kaoru looked at him carefully, looked at his eyes, which were smiling even if his face wasn't.

"True, which is why we should hurry," she said with a slight smile, putting on a burst of speed, "we can't have another Kenshin hanging around here."

"Oro," Kenshin posed, watching as his wife took the lead.

As the two arrived at the edge of the market place they were halted by a bustling crowd, or at least Kaoru was. She came to stop as she hit the wall of bodies and began to push her way through as she watched Kenshin melt into the crowd, moving through the people as if they didn't exist.

"Just another skill of the former hitokiri battousai," she thought, "I really have to learn how he does that."

As she came to the crowds' inner edge she found Kenshin standing in a ring of open space between them and another crowd of people, this time though, it was one made up of Yakuza. Kaoru looked at them as they stood motionless, watching the scene that was unfolding in the middle of the ring they had created. The gang members were numerous and annoying, but most of the time too cowardly to cause much trouble. At times like this though, they seemed to swarm like bugs.

"What was Saito thinking, leaving the rookies here alone," Kaoru hissed as she stared down the nearest Yakuza member.

"I'm sure whatever he's doing is important enough to warrant this," Kenshin commented, beginning to try and make his way through the ring to its center.

"Not so fast, you can stay right here until this is over," the man growled, grinning down on Kenshin, who was forced to look straight up if he was to look him in the eyes.

Kenshin stepped to the side and ignored the man, looking through the crowd at the scene that was going on in the center.

"That's right, step aside," the man said with a laugh, turning back to watch.

"Kenshin, what are you doing," Kaoru asked.

"It won't hurt to watch, at least for now," he replied, looking at the boy who stood in the center of the crowd with his back pressed against the side of the building behind him. He was staring up at the man who stood in front of him, waving a cane sword around in front of him menacingly. His hand was on the hilt of the katana he wore at his side, and his defiant eyes refused to leave the man's face.

"Come on now," the man mocked, "this sword has been a good one, but it's been getting dull lately and I need a new one, just hand it over and you can go on your way."

"It was a gift, and is not meant to be touched by someone like you," he said, spitting the last word out like a draught of poison.

The man scowled as he looked down on him, "I don't like that attitude, how about I run you through and then we'll see how tight your grip is on your precious sword?"

The boy's thumb strayed to the hilt guard and a feint click was heard as he popped the sword from the grip of its sheath. The gang leader frowned and cracked his neck.

"Fine, if that's how you'll be I'll do you a favor and end this quickly," he said, his arm snapping out to cut the boy across the face.

His eyes widened and then narrowed as he found his blade stopped by the boy's katana, which shone brightly against his own dull blade.

"All right, I was considering letting you off once I had my new sword, but you're a water child now," he seethed, swinging his blade more and more haphazardly as he came closer and closer to the boy.

Kenshin watched the exchange for a few seconds and then turned to Kaoru as the boy's sword began to waver, his arms trembling from the weight of the katana.

"This one would think it's time," he said.

A Yakuza member turned as he heard the sound of breath leaving lungs and looked down just in time to receive a bokken to the ribs, just under his shoulder. He gasped and fell to the ground as red haired man calmly walked by, taking care to step over him as he continued towards the center of the ring, followed by a woman with shoulder length black hair.

The gang leader grinned as he thrust the boy's sword out of the way and leveled his own blade at the boy's neck.

"I told you not to mess with the Yakuza, and now you're gonna' pay for it. See you-"

He was cut of by the sound of a sickening crunch as a bokken smashed into his temple, and the boy raised an eyebrow as he watched the man's eyes roll back up into his head and fall over on the ground. He looked up to see a young woman in front of him. She had a bokken resting on her shoulder and a man behind her who didn't look much older than her. She scowled down on the man before turning her attention to him.

"I'm sorry we took so long, but for some reason the idiot behind me thought it best to watch for a while," Kaoru said, a half smile on her face as she nodded towards the "idiot" behind her.

Kenshin smiled and ran his hand through his hair, "My apologies, but I thought that perhaps it would be best to see how well you handled it first."

"You know, it's against the law to be carrying a sword around," Kaoru said, pointing down at his katana.

"Really," he responded, looking down at the blade he held in his hand, "in my town no one cares who carries a sword, not that anyone does."

"I would expect something like that, but here in Tokyo it's a bit more enforced," Kaoru responded before turning to Kenshin, "Come on Kenshin, Ota is probably beside himself trying to take care of the dojo and keep Kenji pinned down for more than five minutes."

"I hope your stay in Tokyo goes more smoothly than today," she said, looking back at the boy before turning to go.

Kenshin followed her back through the swath of unconscious Yakuza members they had created and began to walk back in the direction of the dojo.

The boy's eyes moved left and then right before focusing on Kenshin.

"Wait," he shouted, sheathing his sword and running after them, "can you tell me where an inn is?"

They turned as he neared them and looked at him more closely. He was about Yahiko's age, and had a mid-length black hair that ended just above is eyes. He wore an open jacket with a white shirt underneath.

"You don't have a place to stay," Kaoru asked, looking at Kenshin.

"No, not really," he said, looking from one to the other.

"If you want, you can stay at our dojo tonight," Kaoru offered.

His eyes darted from Kaoru's face to Kenshin's, "Are you sure? I really can go to an inn if you would just tell me where to find one."

"No," Kenshin said, "in fact this one would very much like you to stay."

"And if you like it there," Kaoru added with a smile, "you could always enroll as a student."

"I don't know about that, but I'll accept your overnight offer," he said, pulling his bag farther up over his shoulder and following them as they turned and began to walk down the road.

A shadow of a smile flitted across his face as he followed them; his gaze locked on Kenshin's turned back. This trip to Tokyo was going better than he had thought.

"By the way, what's your name," Kaoru questioned, looking over her shoulder at him.

He looked at her for a moment before looking over at Kenshin, his answer coming slowly, "It's…Hikaru."

Yeah, yeah, some of you are probably thinking I threw an OC in there a bit too early, but please bear with me. I hope the fic's started off well, I couldn't tell with my last one either though, so please give me some feedback. I can take whatever you can give so please R&R! Until next update,

Twilight Rurouni