Disclaimer: I don't own RK

AN: Hey I guess I'll work on both stories at the same time cuz I did get a few good reviews that wanted me to continue. So here's the next chapter!

'Thoughts'

"talking"

XXXXXX-time/scene change

Chapter 2:

The dojo was still bathed in darkness and nothing stirred for everything and everyone was still asleep. It was early. The sun still had about an hour before it would rise over the horizon. All of the occupants of the dojo were in a peaceful slumber except Kenshin. It was at this time that his nightmares became more intense. Memories in the form of dreams plagued him. In his dreams, Kenshin saw blood. Not only blood, but he saw his first wife Tomoe being killed by him over and over again. Around him, he saw the faces of not only people he killed, but their families as well.

They were all pointing at him, crying out, "WHY! It's all your fault! Why did you do this to us? What did we ever do to you?"

It was at this time, that a great light emanated from Kenshin's room. It was a blinding light that even lit up the hallways outside of his room. In a matter of seconds though, it disappeared without a trace. There were no witnesses for it was too early. It was a few hours later, that the occupants found out the result of this light.

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Kaoru and Yahiko woke up around 8 as usual. They sleepily walked into the dining room, expecting Kenshin to have cooked and set the table. As they sat at the table, they realized that nothing was there and Kenshin wasn't around.

"What the…?" said Yahiko in wonder. "Where's Kenshin and breakfast? Normally Kenshin is awake before all of us."

"He must've been really tired," noted Kaoru. "Oh well...I guess I get to cook breakfast today!" she said enthusiastically

"No! I'll go wake him up," said Yahiko starting to run to Kenshin's room.

"Oh no you don't," cried Kaoru grabbing the collar of Yahiko's gi. "I don't know if you noticed, but Kenshin hasn't been getting a lot of sleep lately and he's been really tired. Frankly, I think that sleeping in is good for him."

"Fine," grumbled Yahiko as he went outside to do some early morning drills.

Kaoru set off to cook breakfast. Try as she might, she still ended up burning everything. She set the table and placed all of her blackened food on the table. "Yahiko, breakfast is ready," said Kaoru from the door. "I'm going to go wake up Kenshin. You can get started if you want."

"What the heck is this?" exclaimed Yahiko as he eyed the food.

"It's breakfast now eat up before I decide to let you starve," said Kaoru angrily as she hit Yahiko on the head.

"Actually, I think I'll go with you. I need to talk to Kenshin about allowing me to be poisoned by a crazy girl," said Yahiko as he started to run towards Kenshin's room.

"What did you say!" shrieked Kaoru running after him.

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"Why did you do this to me Kenshin? I thought you loved me?" cried a woman covered in her own blood.

"I-I didn't mean it. Please…don't leave me again, Tomoe. Forgive me, I'm sorry..." said Kenshin brokenly as the woman he loved started to leave.

"I'll never forgive you! I hate you! You took away my happiness."

Kenshin's eyes snapped open. He was covered in sweat. 'Am I in a futon? Did I get hurt? I feel kind of sore,' thought Kenshin. 'and where am I? This isn't the Kohagi Inn…' he thought confusedly. Kenshin sat up and his brilliant red hair fell around his shoulders. Suddenly realization dawned on him. 'I'm in the dojo…Why the heck did I think that I was back in the Bakumatsu?'

He slowly got up from his futon and began to change. 'That was weird…' thought Kenshin. Distractedly, Kenshin brushed his long silky hair and pulled it up into a high ponytail. He stepped up to his mirror to make a final inspection to make sure everything was in order, but suddenly stopped cold. There staring back at him in the mirror was a 17 year old version of himself in the dark blue gi and gray hakama that was his uniform. His hair was in a high ponytail and his eyes were a dark violet-bluish color with amber flecks in them.

'What the…'

Kenshin brought his hand up and touched his face in disbelief. 'This can't be happening.'

He stepped back in bewilderment and leaned against the wall. He slid down and right as he touched the floor, his mind was bombarded with fresh memories of the Bakumatsu and the feelings of overwhelming guilt and remorse that he experienced as a seventeen year old.

"No…" whispered Kenshin as he hugged his legs and squeezed his eyes shut trying desperately to shut the visions out.

Just then, Kaoru knocked on his shoji door. "Kenshin, are you awake?" she asked from the other side. "Kenshin?" she asked slowly sliding the door open. Seeing Kenshin's trembling form in the corner of the room, Kaoru gasped and immediately rushed to his side followed by a concerned Yahiko.

"Oi! Did Jou-chan cook today?" asked Sano loudly as he stuck his head into the room. He immediately saw something was wrong and rushed into the room as well.

"Hey are you okay Kenshin?" he asked.

Unbeknownst to the concerned group, Kenshin wasn't hearing anything that was going on around him. All he saw and heard was fighting and blood and the screams of people being killed. "Please stop" whimpered Kenshin.

"Kenshin, stop what?" asked Kaoru worriedly. She put her hands on his shoulder to get his attention when all of a sudden, he visibly flinched at the contact and Kaoru immediately drew back. He looked up to see what had touched him. His eyes widened in horror and he started to back away from Kaoru. "Please just stay away from me," whispered Kenshin his eyes filled with grief and sorrow. "Kenshin?" asked Kaoru in confusion reaching out to him with her hand to try and comfort him.

"No!" yelled Kenshin as he desperately backed away from Kaoru into the shadows of the room. "Stay away from me! I don't want to hurt you again!" he yelled. "What are you talking about Kenshin?" asked Sano.

"Kenshin, it's me Kaoru…You never hurt me before," said Kaoru slowly inching forward to Kenshin.

Realization finally dawned on Kenshin and his eyes widened in surprise. He thought that Kaoru was Tomoe! In his mind, he saw Tomoe in Kaoru's place and he didn't want her to be hurt by him again.

"Kaoru?" he said weakly. She nodded and closed the gap in between them. She hugged him to try and comfort him and he whispered, "I'm sorry." "It's alright," she whispered back. "So …are you okay Kenshin?" asked Yahiko. "Well…it depends on your definition of okay," he said pulling away from Kaoru and stepping further into shadows.

"What do you mean?" asked Sano slowly.

"Well…something's happened… to me and I can't really explain it," he said.

"What do you mean something's happened?" asked Yahiko.

"I can't really explain it, so I guess I'll let you guys see it for yourselves," said Kenshin as he walked out into the light.

The three gasped as the light fell upon Kenshin's young features. "What the…" said Sano in disbelief.

The four of them just stood there in silence. Eventually, Sano, Kaoru, and Yahiko got over their shock and started to circle him in wonder and awe. "Wow, this is so cool!" said Yahiko excitedly.

"You said it!" exclaimed Sano.

Kaoru just kept quiet with what she thought of the situation. 'Whoa, Kenshin is so…handsome,' she thought dreamily. "Let me see…" said Sano with his hands on his chin as if he was thinking. "You're what sixteen?" asked Sano with a grin on his face.

Kenshin smiled. "Close, I'm seventeen."

"Seventeen!" exclaimed Sano. "You look more like your fourteen," he snickered.

"But you said sixteen," said Kenshin with a frown.

"Yeah well knowing how short you are as an adult, I figured you were probably puny while growing up too," he said barely containing his laughter. "And I guess I was right."

Kenshin sighed. 'Why do people love to taunt me about my size?' thought Kenshin.

"Well, let's have breakfast. I'm starving," said Yahiko.

As the four reached the dining room, Sano said, "You know Kenshin, you look a lot better in blue than in pink. You should wear that more often. I didn't even know that you had anything else other then your pink gi." Sano picked at his food instead of stuffing himself. It wasn't that he wasn't hungry, but that he was being cautious of the food.

"This is my old Ishin Shishi uniform. I've always had it, but I just never liked to wear it.," replied Kenshin quietly.

"Oh…" said Sano.

"Well, it's such a nice morning don't you think Kenshin?" asked Kaoru cheerfully trying to make everyone feel more happy.

"Yes," replied Kenshin without even looking up.

Kaoru frowned. Normally, Kenshin would look at her and smile when asked these types of questions. Kaoru decided that she would try to pry out what was wrong after breakfast. She began shoveling food into Kenshin's bowl. "Here Kenshin, eat something."

"Thank you," he said quietly accepting the food.

Kaoru began to eat, but winced at the taste. She sighed. She had tried especially hard this morning to make a decent breakfast for Kenshin to wake up to, but it tasted even worse than before; if that was possible. She looked at her friends. Yahiko and Sano were picking at their food and forcing themselves to swallow the food with a look of disgust on their faces. At least they weren't badgering her about it this time. At least not yet.

Kaoru looked at Kenshin and was surprised to find him eating her food as if he had cooked it. Normally, he would try to look as if there was nothing wrong with it, but she would see him hesitate to eat and eat very slowly, only eating when she was looking. Yahiko and Sano looked up and saw him eating the food and their eyes widened in surprise.

Kenshin could feel his friends' eyes on him, but he continued to force himself to eat the horrid food and keep his eyes down. After a few minutes, the others watched in amazement as he finished off the food in his bowl. He calmly grabbed some tea to wash away the disgusting taste in his mouth and stood up swiftly. He bowed and said politely, "Thank you for the breakfast," then left to his room.

They all watched him leave and then looked at each other. "Something's wrong with him. He's acting very weird," said Kaoru quietly. "Well duh," said Yahiko, "he did wake up 10 years younger than he was yesterday."

Kaoru sent him a glare as Sano snickered. "I just meant that maybe we should get Megumi to check him up. I mean this isn't normal. Maybe he was like poisoned with something that was just created or something."

"You're right, You want me to go and get her?" asked Yahiko wanting to help in some way.

"Yeah, I think you should. Thanks Yahiko. Sano, why don't you try and talk to Kenshin. See if he'll tell you anything," instructed Kaoru.

"Me? Why not you?" asked Sano confusedly.

"Well…you are his best friend. He'll open up to you more than to me. Just trust me," said Kaoru.

"Alright."

Yahiko left as Sano got up and headed to Kenshin's room. Kaoru spent her time cleaning up the breakfast that was barely eaten.

Sano reached Kenshin's door and hesitated. To his surprise, Kenshin opened his shoji and stepped out of his room. "You wanted to talk Sano?" Kenshin stated rather than asked.

Sano dumbly nodded and followed Kenshin as he sat down on the porch by the said of the house. Sano sat beside Kenshin leaning against the opposite post with his leg dangling over the edge like Kenshin's.

Sano had no idea where to start. After a few moments of silence, he couldn't take the quiet and said the first thing that came to mind. "How did you eat all of Kaoru's food like that? None of us can finish all of Kaoru's food and today's was especially bad," said Sano.

"I'm used to it," he said simply.

"What do you mean you're used to it?

"Well…In the Bakumatsu, I learned to eat anything whenever I have the chance because sometimes I would get so busy that I wouldn't be able to eat for a couple of days and when I wasn't working, I had to sleep and regain my strength," said Kenshin darkly.

"Oh…" said Sano. An uncomfortable silence fell upon them again. Sano fidgeted with his with jacket that he always wore. "Kenshin are you okay?"

"I'm fine…really I am."

"Are you sure? Because you don't seem fine. You're acting weird and everyone's getting worried. Talk to me Kenshin. You're my best friend and I want to help you," said Sano earnestly.

"I feel weird, but I'm not acting weird. You have to remember that when I was seventeen, I was known as Battousai. I wasn't the most sociable person around. This is how I behaved as a 17 year old," he said.

Just then, Megumi and Yahiko walked into the dojo. "Kenshin! Sano! Come out here! Megumi's here," yelled Kaoru from the front of the house. Sano got up followed by Kenshin and they walked into the living room. As Kenshin stepped in behind Sano, Megumi gasped. "How is this possible?" she whispered.

After a few seconds of the awkward silence, Megumi finally came to her senses. "Ken-san come here," she said. Kenshin hesitated, but came and sat down in front of her. "I'm going to give you a check up. Can you please remove your gi?" she said quietly.

Kenshin suddenly stiffened. "What's wrong?" she asked putting her hand on his shoulder. To her and everyone's surprise, Kenshin flinched away from her touch and she immediately drew her hand back. "I'm sorry! Did I hurt you?" she said quickly.

"No," he said quietly cursing himself for not being able to control his body.

"Okay...," said Megumi skeptically. "Please take off your gi so I can give you a check up Ken-san," she repeated.

He just sat there. "Kenshin?" asked Kaoru. Suddenly understanding, Megumi said, "Umm, guys, can you please leave the room? I need to speak to Ken-san about something." They all looked at her confusedly, but nonetheless left.

"Alright, everyone's gone. Will you take off your gi now? Or would you like me to go get Dr. Gensai?" said Megumi sitting in front of him. "N-no that's alright. I'm sorry for not cooperating," stuttered Kenshin. Megumi caught the red blush on his cheeks and couldn't help but to start giggling. Kenshin looked up in surprise and Megumi tried to get her giggles under control. "I'm sorry Ken-san; it's just that in all of the time I've known you, I never thought that I would ever see you as a flustered teenager."

That made Kenshin blush even more as he shrugged his gi off his shoulders. He kept his head down while mentally cursing himself for acting like such a teenager when he was supposed to be a 28 year old man. As Megumi's giggles died down and she was able to see Kenshin's younger body, she gasped.

Again Kenshin looked up in confusion. "Ken-san what happened?" she said immediately going to his shoulder and inspecting the half healed wounds. Kenshin subconsciously flinched again. In confusion, he looked down at his shoulder and saw the claw like wounds that were inflicted when he was trying to rescue Tomoe.

His mood immediately darkened and in a monotone, he said, "I got it during…a protection mission." Megumi noticed his darkened mood and immediately dropped the subject.

After the check up, Megumi said, "Alright Ken-san, you're perfectly healthy. How do you feel?"

"I feel…weird."

"How so?"

"I feel like I really am a 17 year old boy. I feel myself mentally becoming the 17 year old I used to be….Like this morning; I woke up confused as to why I wasn't at the Hokagi Inn, which was the Ishin HQ. I thought that I was in the Bakumatsu and without even thinking, I put on my old uniform and put my hair in a high ponytail."

"I see. Do you have any idea how this could've happened?" asked Megumi.

"No."

"Alright then. I guess we're done. I'll come back in a few days to tell you if I have any ideas as to why this happened and to check out those wounds on your shoulder and back."

"Right. Thank you Miss Megumi."

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Kaoru, Yahiko, and Sano impatiently waited outside for Megumi. "What's taking them so long?" asked Yahiko as he sat restlessly. Just as he said that, Megumi stepped out of the living room. "So, how is he?" asked Kaoru in concern.

"Except for a few half healed wounds on his body, Ken-san is in perfect health," said Megumi.

"Wounds?" asked Kaoru. "Where did he get wounds? He hasn't been in any fights lately."

"They are wounds that Kenshin had when he was 17. I asked him about them and all he said was that he got them on a protection mission. They were pretty gruesome," said Megumi as she sat down on the porch. "What do you mean gruesome?" asked Yahiko curiously.

"Well…there are these weird claw-like wounds on his shoulder and back, as if they were created by a bear or animal of that sort. He also has many burns and smaller cuts and bruises all over his body."

"Where's Kenshin?" asked Yahiko.

"He went to his room," said Megumi.

"Again. He's been in there all morning," said Kaoru with a frown on his face. "Did he tell you anything else?" asked Kaoru worriedly.

Megumi told them what Kenshin had told her and then left with Sano accompanying her. Kaoru and Yahiko decided to start on their lessons for the day. Each with thoughts as to what was going to happen in the days to come.

AN: Wow this chapter was long! 8 pages on word. Anyway…tell me what you think! (That means review! Lol) I hope you liked it and I'll update as soon as I have time again.