A/N: So this chapter seems a bit odd to me…not sure why maybe it's just because I'm a bit tired and have been working at it for a while. But hey, it's here and hopefully good! One thing I did change that I need to go and change in earlier chapters is I said the class is "Intro to Forensic Chemistry" I don't know jack about chemistry so I switched it to Forensic Science instead. That cool with you guys? Comments wanted!

Edit 11/22/2013 : Edited for the usual, any errors I may find!

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin and Co. I only screw them up to entertain fans.


Dreams/Flashbacks

'…thoughts…'

"…speech…"

Which Way Is Up?

.

Chapter Four

She held her breath as the man with sandy blonde hair and golden brown eyes moved past her, talking to the a small woman at his side and she closed her eyes slowly as she let the breath out. Her heart felt strained in her chest. Kaoru opened her eyes again then jerked back quickly.

"Ack!" The smile, a quick flash of charming, came from the man in front of her and she felt her heart stutter for another reason as his warm purple eyes seemed to smile at her all on their own.

"Good morning. Headed to the wrong direction for class today, aren't you Kamiya Kaoru?" His smooth voice sent a blush creeping up the back of her neck.

"M-Mr. Himura. Ah, school? Right." She shifted then remembered the white piece of paper in her hand before holding it up. " I am going to miss a few classes this morning…" She couldn't begin to think of a reason to give him as he raised a hand, slipping the paper from between her fingers.

He unfolded it and glanced down at it over his glasses.

"Do you want me to hand this in to Dr. Takani?" He looked back at her and she felt guilt clench her stomach. Here the man had stuck his neck out for her, and she was going to play hooky without a good reason.

"No, that's okay. I'll be attending her class." She reached up to take the note from him then froze for a moment as his eyes locked with hers. His expression was momentarily unreadable.

"Ms. Kamiya? Are you alright?" Kaoru blinked rapidly a few times and took the note back, stuffing it into her pocket.

"I am, I'm sorry. It's just been a long day already." She watched a slight frown tug at the corners of his mouth.

"Would you like me to walk you home?" She opened her mouth wordlessly as she fought a vicious inner battle for a moment, and fought to keep from blushing.

"That would be…that is…I mean." What should she say?

He watched her for a moment then smiled and turned, offering his hand to hers as he stepped down off of the curb. She moved automatically, slipping her hand into his and was surprised to feel that his hand wasn't soft and smooth, it had a few rough spots; calluses, she noted, then pushed the thoughts away as soon as her hand had been in his she had taken the step down and suddenly the contact was gone.

The tips of her fingers seemed to tingle as she walked with him across the street and down the sidewalk in silence for a few minutes.

What should she say?

"Do you live alone?" He asked conversationally and Kaoru glanced at him then nodded.

"I do. I live in my parent's house."

"And where are your parents?"

"Ah, they're dead." She felt her heart squeeze in her chest, ignored it then looked at him as he looked at her silently for a moment before looking forward again.

She had expected him to say that he was sorry, like everyone else she had told, he never did.

"What about you?" Kenshin looked at her again, took in the shadows under her eyes, the unnatural paleness to her skin and smiled at her.

"What about me?" They turned the corner together and she shrugged a shoulder slightly.

"Do you live alone?" The question felt dirty as soon as it left her lips. This was her teacher she was speaking to for God's sake.

"I do."

"Not married?" It slipped out before she could stop herself and her cheeks pinked as she focused on staring straight ahead.

He looked at her with a momentarily startled expression then a slight grin lit his face. "No, not married."

"Oh." What else could she say? "I see?" "Good?" "Awesome then we can date!" ?

She stopped at the gates to the house and turned, looking up at him slightly. "Thank you for walking me." She smiled at him, he smiled back.

"Thank you for allowing me to walk you. I'll see you this afternoon in class?" She nodded, and looked his face over. He was so damned handsome. "I hope you have a better day Ms. Kamiya."

"You too Mr. Himura." She watched him turn, watched him walk away and blew out a breath. "Whoa boy." She whispered before turning and moving into the gates.

"You saw him?!" The strain of concern in Misao's voice was echoed by the sudden loss of color in her face.

"Shh!" Kaoru hissed, waving a hand and looked around the school café quickly. No one looked up from their own private conversations.

Kaoru swore internally. She had never should have accepted Misao's sudden lunch invitation today. She should have known she couldn't keep secrets from her younger cousin.

"I can't believe this! Kaoru, you actually," Misao leaned closer, and whispered "saw the Hitokiri Battousai?" Kaoru nodded slowly and Misao seemed to pale more. "Are you sure it was him?"

Kaoru thought back to the cold gold eyes, the crimson red of the man's hair that matched the blood on his sword and nodded barely.

"I'm sure."

"Oh my god." Misao breathed out as she leaned back in her chair. "Oh god. Kaoru…did he see you?"

Kaoru felt her heart clench in her chest, this is where she had to make a big decision. It only took a seconds thought as she remember his whispered words.

"No. And I only saw him for a moment, I talked to the police, told them what I saw and went home." Guilt twisted her gut, but she knew it was for the better.

"And that man that was killed? Did you see his body?"

"I did." Kaoru thought back as she stood in the public bathroom where she had run off to call the cops and where she scrubbed at the bloody handprint on her arm from where the man had grabbed her.

Kinjo.

"That's so horrible." Kaoru blinked away the mental images and nodded before picking up her onigiri and bit down even as her stomach lurched in protest. "Do you want to stay with me, Mom and Dad for a few days?"

Kaoru looked at the younger girl, thought of her aunt and uncle and nearly caved in.

"No. I don't want to disrupt my routine any more than it already is, you know? I'm fine. It's fine. I talked to the police, they're confident about my safety. Everything's okay. I just want to get things back to normal."

Misao looked like she wanted to argue for a moment then nodded slowly.

"Okay. I understand." Kaoru smiled, because she knew the younger girl did.

"Now, why did you want to meet for lunch today? It's not like you to skip school." Misao's face lit up suddenly.

"Oh, oh yeah. I have something to tell you! Remember Aoshi?" Kaoru blinked, vaguely remembering a tall black haired man with blue eyes that Misao had met at the public library one day, then nodded. "We're dating!"

"Dating? But…isn't he like a third year in college?"

"He is! He is so…handsome, and smart! And he's the strong, silent type. Oh Kaoru, I think I'm in love."

"Did you tell your parents?"

"Oh, um. No."

Kaoru shook her head a bit, couldn't hold back the amused smile. If anything Misao was an excellent judge of character. She was happy for her.

" Don't worry. My lips are sealed."

"Oh good, because I totally told them I was spending the night with you tonight when I'm going to go and spend it with him." Misao grinned.

"H-hey!" Kaoru protested and the younger girl laughed.

"Forensic Science is the backbone of the justice system. We're the meat and the potatoes people. Without us, cold cases, complicated cases, hell, cases in general would be left either unsolved or lacking good strong evidence to back up locking a criminal away. It is important that you decide which field you want to concentrate on by the end of this course when I have shown you all of the options available." Dr. Takani leaned against the front of her desk and watched the class. Today her hair was swept back and she wore shoes with heels so spiked Kaoru briefly wondered if she could kill a person by kicking them, or if she ever had.

"I'll be teaching the chapters on Anthropology, and Psychiatry." A few students let out laughs behind coughs and Kaoru bowed her head to hide a smile.

Too bad psychiatrists couldn't fix themselves.

Dr. Takani leveled the class with a look that promised retribution before continuing. "And Mr. Himura will teach Pathology and Psychology." She looked towards a male student in the front of the room as he raised a hand. "I haven't even said anything complicated yet."

"You have a PhD right? So why is it Mr. Himura can teach this stuff without one?" Dr. Takani smiled a shark like smile.

"My Kenshin has his doctorate, he just chooses not be called "Dr." he feels it's too stuffy a title."

Kenshin smiled politely from where he stood, leaning against the white board.

"Anymore idiotic questions?" She looked around the room before standing straight and walking down between the desks.

"Now I'm going to try something different this year. Normally we'd have two large cumulative exams at the end of each semester, in which has failed at least half of my class in previous years. So, in order to even out the grading scale, we'll have one exam, and one large project." She turned at the end of the room then walked slowly back up to the front of the class as the students started whispering silently to themselves.

"You have one week to decide who you'd like to pick to be the subject of your project. I want you to pick a criminal in history and give a heavily in depth researched speech and ten page paper profiling them and their murder, or murders. This will require going to the police station and working with the records keepers, talking to witness' and generally not slacking off. I'll e-mail you a list of who you can chose from. This project will be a major part of your grade. I shit you not, so don't cross me since I'm taking it so easy on you lot."

Kaoru watched her move back to the front of the room and looked down at her notebook, her heart beating a bit harder in her chest. She already knew who she wanted to pick.

"I'm tired of talking for today, so I'll let you out early. But don't let it get to your heads!" Takani called out as the students all rushed to pack up their things and moved to the door.

Kaoru slipped her notebook into her bag and stood slowly.

"You're looking a bit better." She looked up as Kenshin walked over and smiled at him.

"I'm feeling better. I worked some things out, and got to talk to a good friend of mind who kind of put me at ease."

He smiled. "That's good." She nodded and moved the strap of her bag onto her shoulder.

"Thanks again for walking me home. I really appreciate it."

"You're welcome." He shifted closer to her, dropped his voice a bit and offered her another warm smile. "I'll have to do it again sometime."

Kaoru felt her face heat up as he turned and moved back to the front of the classroom.

"Oh man." She whispered then moved from the room.

Kaoru leaned with her elbow on the desk, her chin in her left hand as she navigated the mouse with her right, opening the e-mail Dr. Takani had sent the students. The top read "FIRST COME FIRST SERVE." In big, bold, black lettering. Kaoru briefly wondered if anyone else was going to steal her idea.

"Crazy. This is crazy." She shook her head and scrolled through the list, curiously then opened a reply message.

Dr Takani,

I have chosen the subject of my project already. It's a bit controversial, and a bit crazy I suppose but I feel like I could do this project well and would be able to be very versatile in my research if I am allowed to pick this subject. Hitokiri Battousai.

Sincerely,

Kamiya

Kaoru held her breath as she sent the message and leaned back in her chair. "What the hell are you doing?" She whispered to herself then closed her e-mail before bringing up a browser window. She stared at the screen for a moment before clicking letters slowly on the keyboard. "Kinjo." Her voiced cracked as she said his name and her mind shied away from the image of his limp body, eyes staring off at nothing.

She hit the enter button and glanced at a news article, the same one she had witnessed being taped, written down and documented, the one she had managed not to be in by some small grace of god.

Scrolling down she frowned and clicked on another document. "Kinjo Ken." She glanced over it then frowned again. "He was part of a Yakuza." Shifting she leaned back in her chair and squeezed her eyes closed, remembering his face and trying to remember his clothes when she gasped and sat up straight, opening her eyes.

"He said it wasn't his blood! There's another victim somewhere." She leapt from her seat and grabbed her purse, running to the door and slipped on her shoes quickly then moved out.

He watched the blood drip down the white-wash wall. The sweet metallic smell stirred his loins and the taste burned his tongue as he licked the edge of his crimson covered blade.

It wasn't enough, not nearly enough to paint the room red much less the world. He stepped over the naked corpse of the raven haired woman, laying spread on the tile flood. He hazel eyes stared blankly at his black pant clad legs. The wide, smooth edged cut from her throat down to her stomach marred her porcelain skin. The blood oozed slowly over the edges , spilling down onto the floor.

He moved out of the room as he slid his katana back into it's scabbard, tucking it away into his trench coat and moved down the hallway, gold eyes narrowed in irritated thought.

"She saw us." He spoke softly as he walked out of the front door to the small clinic. "We must dispose of the witness." He whispered as he stepped out into the moonlit night.


A/N: Read and review!

…Nuclotei