CHAPTER 4: REUNION

Begginning notes: This was a fun one to write and to imagine.

"Ya know Kenshin, it's a long trek to get here but I need to know what's going on. I remember you telling me about those guys."

Kenshin was still a little surprised. He didn't expect Sanosuke to show up. Then again, he didn't expect those two brothers to show up again either. At this rate, Kenshin was wondering about other past enemies. Ji-ne. Aoshi. Saitou. Shishio. Enishi. There were many. Some became allies. Some became enemies. Some were dead. Kenshin's thoughts raced around the thoughs of these old enemies.

"Ow!"

Kenshin's thoughts shattered. Sanosuke seemed to know when Kenshin's thoughts consumed him, so he knew when he needed to whack him to snap him out of it.

"Sometime today?"

"Still straight to the point aren't you? I actually have a question for you Sanosuke. How did you know to come here?"

Sanosuke exhaled heavily. He didn't want to say why he knew to come. But he knew Kenshin would understand.

"Here.", he said, as he threw a folded parchment on the table between them.

"Look at your own discretion."

"Another drawing.", Kenshin said as he heaved a sight at the thought of what was drawn. He picked up the parchment and unfolded it. Most of the drawing was red. Kenshin saw the death of the Sekihoutai explicitly drawn. Captain Sagara was right in the middle, with a picture of a young Sanosuke crying over his corpse.

"He couldn't even draw it right.", Sanosuke said, with a sly smile on his face.

Kenshin smiled back. They both knew the feeling that was flowing through the both of them. Nostalgia.

Kaoru and Yahiko had gone to the Akabeko to bring some food for a party since Sanosuke's return. The police captain had come and taken the brothers away in a carriage. It was just Kenshin Himura and Sanosuke Sagara.

"You really want to know everything?"

Kenshin wasn't sure what to say. He knew, no doubt that Sanosuke would be protective of his old friend. But he had to tell him.

"Yes."

"Very well."

Kenshin began. He told of Yahiko's outburst. He told of the drawing. He told of them journeying to Tsunan's. He was in the middle of telling him who forced Tsunan to do these things when Yahiko and Kaoru stepped in with Miss Tae and Tsubame. Kenshin would finish later.

"Hello Miss Kaoru! Miss Tae. This is certainly a pleasant surprise that it is!"

Sanosuke spoke, "Well, I guess the rest of our story can wait. I should tell ya. I asked for some help."

"Help?"

"Yea. I figured someone who new that much about me wouldn't be easy to take down."

"Who did you ask?"

"Like I said, the rest of the story can wait."

The party went well into the night. Sanosuke had challenged Kenshin to a drinking contest, but Kenshin declined. He still remembered last time. The night he had battled Sanosuke at the central affairs building. So he challenged Kaoru instead.

Kenshin placed the bottles in front of both of them. If he thought his last time drinking too much was bad, the thought was completely replaced by the first time he saw Kaoru get drunk.

"Are you two ready?"

Yahiko piped up, "Come on Sano! Beat her!"

Tsubame was a little nervous.

"Don't drink too much Kaoru!"

"Kaoru smiled, "Don't worry! This guy's got no idea who he's messing with!."

A voice came from the gate.

"But I know exactly who he's messing with. You haven't changed a bit have you?"

Time seemed to stop for everyone. Sanosuke smiled as he looked to the gate.

"You got the letter I sent then. So you came to join in the fun?"

"I wouldn't miss it."

Kenshin smiled as he said, "I am glad to see you again, Miss Megumi. So Sano, you sent for her?"

"Her and some others."

"And you're all drinking again!"

Kaoru smiled a sly little smile, "Wanna try?"

"WHAT?! I would NEVER..."

Sanosuke cut her off, "Yea! The missy and the fox battling it out!"

Kenshin saw nothing but bad things coming out of this.

"Sano, I don't think..."

"Come on Kenshin. This'll be a good one!

Miss Tae even promoted the idea.

"Yea sounds like fun! I'll do it too!"

Not a sound was made after that. Everyone's eyes went straight to Miss Tae. Even Tsubame was stunned into silence.

Within ten seconds, all three of the had a bottle in front of them.

Kenshin looked to Sanosuke questioningly. "Sano. Aren't you gonna try?"

"I wouldn't get drunk and miss this. This is bound to be quite possibly the greatest drinking match in history."

Kaoru looked at Megumi. It was so good to have her friend back, and to have the chance to beat her all at once.

Sano started, "Three. Two."

The tension mounted. Kenshin had a bad feeling. And he knew he was right to have it.

"One...GO!"

"Kenshin had never seen bottles so quickly lifted before without someone spilling. But these three meant every word they said. The drank, and drank and drank, each of their faces becoming increasingly red. One of them begin to fall over. They all looked over and saw Megumi slanted to the side, still drinking. She looked like she was about to fall over but surprisingly enough, stayed up. Something then happened that no one there accept Sanosuke had ever accomplished.

They all finished their bottles.

No one moved. The silence remained for about ten seconds before Yahiko made a bold move. He walked over and poked Kaoru in the shoulder. She didn't even twitch. None of them moved.

Yahiko's eyes widened, "They couldn't have..."

Sanosuke's eyes widened, "They all passed out?!"

He bursted out in loud laughter. The sight was too much for him. Three old friends, literally drunk stiff. Kenshin joined him until he heard an all too familiar sound.

"Hc."

Kenshin's eyes were still closed form the laughter, but when he opened them, he found hat it was not Kaoru who had hiccupped. As a matter of fact, Kaoru was completely gone. He looked over with the others to see that the hicup came from Miss Tae. The look on her face did not look like Miss Tae. at all. It looked like some dark manner had come over her, and was waiting to rip one of them to shreds. Or two. Tae's glance fell on Yahiko.

"Hey! What are ya lookin at me for?"

She abruptly got up and walked right up to Yahiko. He was too surprised to move. If it were a dangerous situation, he would have done something a long time ago, but to see someone he had known for so long like this kept him frozen in his tracks.

Her galnce was on him for a full thirty seconds until she grabbed him by the scruff, "COME ON!"

"Woah! Hey! What are you doing?! Let me go!"

Kenshin tried to convince Tae, "Uh, Miss Tae could you please put Yahi-"

"YOU TOO!" She grabbed him by the ear and dragged them both into the dojo. The door slammed and at first there was silence, but it was blown away by the immense volume no one knew Tae had.

"ARE YOU TWO STUPID?! DON'T YOU KNOW THAT YOU TWO HAVE BOTH GOT SOMEONE WHO CARES FOR YOU?!"

Kenshin's voice, "Miss Tae, I think you should rest a bit..."

"NO! I THINK YOU TWO...", the sound of a bokken being removed from the rack was heard, "NEED TO COME TO YOUR SENSES!"

From the outside, nothing could be heard but pure carnage. Tsubame was embarrassed that Tae had said what she said, despite the fact it was true. Kaoru was too drunk to notice.

Then Sanosuke heard something. He had hoped against all hopes, but it seemed for him, all hope was lost. Megumi was staring straight at him, with a less than friendly look. It was then that Sanosuke heard a definate crack. Tae got yahiko. Sounded like she got him pretty good. If she could do that, Sanosuke shuddered at the thought of the tragedies that could befall him if Megumi got a hold of him. She got mad at him all of the time as things were anyway.

Megumi said in a low angry voice, "Give me your hand."

Sanosuke didn't move. Not on his life was he gonna...then again his life may pend on what she said.

"Give it to me!", she shouted. Sanosuke was considering running for it. But he knew he didn't want to miss the rest of this. But was it worth the risk? He held out his left hand.

"THE OTHER ONE!!!"

Instantly, Sanosuke did as she said.

She looked at it as she had done in the past, examining it for any new injuries. Sanosuke remembered his numerous examinations in the past. He had been rather reckless in the past with his right hand in the past, but it was now almost completely healed.

"Can I have it back?"

She looked at it some more, and then enveloped it. She clung on with all her strength.

"What are you doing?"

"KEEPING YOU FROM BREAKING IT YOU IDIOT!!! If I have it than you can't go off and break it again!"

"It won't break if you don't crush it!"

"Better me than some psycho like before!"

Tsubame watched, as she realized that she was the only one not involved in some sort of chaos. Sanosuke was still trying to get Megumi to let go of his hand, and Kenshin and yahiko were still dodging Miss Tae's audible swings. Suddenly the chaos in the dojo stopped. It was silent for a moment. Even Megumi looked to the dojo door. But she did not let go of Sanosuke. The door opened. There, was Kenshin holding Tae. He placed her on the porch area, out of harm's way. He looked like he had seen death. The silence was thick. Yahiko fell out of the dojo door.

Kenshin began to speak, "That...was really...really...close." It was then that everyone saw, that she had swung so hard, that although she missed, she broke Kenshin's hair band. They also saw that she threw the word so had it had been implanted straight into the wall. Sanosuke and Tsubame looked to Yahiko and saw he got a good hit right in the forehead. With Miss Tae passed out, that still left Megumi. Kenshin tried to pull her off, but it was as if she were attached.

As they tried to pull her off again, the worst possible scenario in Kenshin's mind began to come to life.

"Hic."

They both stopped.

"Hic."

They slowly turned to look to Kaoru. She was looking straight at the ground.

Kenshin let go of Sanosuke and began to slowly walk away. He knew the wrath that would befall him if he were to stay. He let go of Megumi and began to tiptoe away.

Sanosuke objected, "HEY! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!"

"Shhhhhh! Please Sano, don't wake her up."

Then he felt it. Kaoru had his arm in an iron grip, and it wasn't about to come off.

"Where do you think you're going?", said Kaoru, with a voice that only told of an oncoming wrath.

"To sleep Miss Kaoru. It's getting really late and..."

"We're at a party."

"Yea well I'm not really much for staying up all night so I just think I'll..."

"Dance."

"What."

"Dance!", she yelled, suddenly full of joy and excitement. She dragged Kenshin into the dojo and flung him so he was standing right in front of her."

"NOW DANCE!", she yelled, angry again.

Yahiko had to see this. He ran excitedly in with Sanosuke and the attached Megumi, "WHEW! GO KENSHIN!"

Sanosuke butted in, "YEA! GET HIM MISSY!"

Kenshin looked at Sanosuke and said in a whisper, "Help me!"

"You got yourself in this one pal."

Kaoru began to dance with Kenshin in the dojo. She spoke in an angry tone, "Hey! You're suppossed to be leading."

"Uh...I'm not much of a dancer Miss Kaor..ahhhh!"

She yanked him right off of his feet into a dance.

"I LOVE THIS MUSIC! I COULD DANCE TO IT ALL NIGHT!"

Kenshin was literally being swung around in a circle, held only by Kaoru's iron grip on his wrists. Kenshin yelled, "Miss Kaoru! There's no music!!!!"

She stopped and pulled him by the scruff right up to her nose.

"Of course there is! Can't you hear it?"

Kenshin hesitated, "Uh...yes I hear it. It certainly is beautiful that it is Miss Kaoru..."

"Then dance!"

"I don't know how!"

"Oh yea. That's right. You don't know how to dance. You know how to fight."

BAM! Similar to when Kaoru met Kenshin, she gave him a hard right and sent him flying half way across the dojo.

"COME ON! FIGHT ME! WE ALWAYS DO EVERYTHING YOUR WAY DON'T WE?!"

Yahiko ran to help Kenshin up, "Kenshin! Are you ok?"

He was plucked off of the ground by Kaoru. She was holding him by the scruff. She pulled him right up to her nose.

"Hey. Runt. Me and you. Now."

"You did not just call me that."

"I'll call you what I want. Now."

"You wanna fight?"

"No. I wanna dance."

"WHAT?! NO WAY!"

"Then I won't put you down."

"Huh?"

"Dance and I let you down."

Sanosuke was laughing out loud at the door, despite Megumi's vice grip. Kenshin sat up to watch the scene.

"Are you kidding Kaoru?"

It was silent for a moment. Yahiko knew that if he said no, the same thing would happen to him that happened to Kenshin. The only difference was that he would fly a lot farther. He thought a moment. He didn't want to be sent flying, but he didn't want to dance either. He knew what the right choice was though.

"All right. I'll do it."

"Good."

She set him down and took his hand. Sanosuke scoffed, "Go Yahiko!"

"Shut up Sano."

Kaoru started to slow dance with Yahiko. The reluctance on his face was apparent to everyone accept the oblivious Kaoru and Megumi, of whom had passed out but still maintained a hard grip on Sanosuke's hand.

Kaoru was seemingly dancing to something but Yahiko couldn't figure out what it was. He just kept going. Kenshin laughed, considering the fact that in any other situation, this was very unlikely to ever happen.

"You're very good Yahiko that you are.", Kenshin complemented.

Kaoru spoke up, "Yeah Yahiko, teach him how!"

In the excitement she gained, she, like she did with Kenshin, started to swing Yahiko in a circle. But Yahiko stayed on his feet. The remained spinning in a perfect circle, while on their feet. Sanosuke couldn't help but pipe up, "Having fun with this aren't ya?"

"It's better than what happened to Kenshin."

"Where did you learn to do that?", asked Kenshin

"I don't even know. But I don't think she's about to stop."

Kaoru was just laughing. Loud. Just like the first time she got drunk. The same gitty laugh that told everyone else that she was about to do something that no one would forget. Not that this wasn't already memorable, but to drink the jug like that so quickly, this wasn't like that time. It was worse. Tsubame made sure to stay her distance from Kaoru. She was making sure Miss Tae didn't move. Any injuries Kaoru was likely to give were enough with her getting another bokken off of the rack...or out of the wall. Tsubame couldn't help but to laugh at the scene in front of her. She appreciated that Yahiko was actually able to do it.

Kaoru let go of one of his hands. But Yahiko was ready he used the force from when she let go to swing to the other side of her and continue the dance. Kenshin and Sanosuke actually gasped. They thought he was about to go flying. They were even ready to catch him. They continued to dance in the same fast paced way. Quite a change from the original slowdance they did earlier. Whatever music Kaoru was hearing in her head, it must have been very strange. Kaoru and Yahiko were now each going into rapid spins and playing the dance off of each other. Then Kaoru abruptly stopped. She stood very still right in front of Yahiko, her hands kept in front of her properly. Yahiko dropped his to his side since it seemed the dance was over.

"That was fun Yahiko! Now we'll do what you wanted to do."

"Huh? What did I want to d..."

BAM! Yahiko flew clear past Kenshin and into the wall, leaving a very notable dent.

"You wanted to fight, runt."

Sanosuke had seen her drunk before. But not like this. She was gitty, happy, infuriated, and even fun. It scared him.

"Kenshin! Fix her!"

"Oro?"

"Do something!"

"What do you wnat me to..."

THUD!

Kaoru hit the floor. All was silent for a moment. Yahiko got off of the ground.

"That really hurt."

Tsubame ran in, "Little Yahiko! Are you ok?"

"Yea, I'm fine. She does it all the time. Not quite like that though."

Kenshin silently went and picked up Kaoru.

"I believe Miss Kaoru and the others are ready to go to their rooms. It would seem that Miss Tae and Tsubame will be spending the night here with us."

Kenshin left the dojo and carried Kaoru to her room. He put her pillow under her head and a blanket over her. Yahiko assisted Sanosuke in removing Megumi from Sanosuke by prying one finger at a time. They made a bed for her and Tae in Kaoru's room.

Yahiko turned to see Tsubame, "We'll give you a different room."

Yahiko took her to a different room and saw to it that she was comfortable. After that, it was just Kenshin, Sanosuke, and Yahiko. They were all silent for a moment. Kenshin and Yahiko exchanged a glance. Sanosuke looked to Yahiko, "Kenshin mentioned ya got tougher."

"Yea, I'll have to show ya sometime."

"So Kenshin. When are you gonna finish that story you were telling me?"

"I believe that i should finish it tomorrow that I do. We have all had an interesting night. I think that for now, we should all get some sleep."

Yahiko had to agree, "Yea, I agree. My eyes are getting blurry."

Kenshin turned, "Well, you two know where to find all of the blankets. I will retire to my room for the night.", he said as he walked away.

Yahiko and Sanosuke each grabbed a pillow and blanket and stayed in the same room. Sanosuke wasn't tired, and Yahiko could tell. It kept him awake.

"What are you thinking about Sanosuke?"

"Just what it was all like before I met you guys. After Captain Sagara was killed, when I was Zanza, fighter for hire. Then I met Kenshin and you guys. We just went through a lot together. Our battles with Shishio and the Jupongattana. And Enishi. It's all just so strange to think about. So much has happened."

"Yea. After my parents died, when I was a pick pocket, I wasn't satisfied. I wanted something better, and then Kaoru came into the headquarters of the Yakuza. She and Kenshin set me free. Then that raccoon girl taught me everything I know about swordsmanship. I would never have beaten any of my opponents if she hadn't helped me."

"I guess we owe those two don't we?"

Yahiko pondered that for a while. It was true. If it weren't for those two, Kenshin setting them straight, and Kaoru's generous giving of her home, despite the bad food, things could have been very different. On these thoughs, Sanosuke and Yahiko peacefully fell asleep, and not another sound was heard at the Kamiya dojo on that night.