Act VIII. Weasels, Vixens, & Raccoons Ending A.

"Kenshin?" a familiar voice asked as the red haired Samurai stirred. Kenshin opened his eyes to see something he didn't think he'd ever see again. Kaoru Kamiya's warm smile, he just couldn't smile back. He thought he was seeing things at first.

"Is everything alright Kenshin?" she asked. Kenshin looked at her in pure bewilderment, she was alive and sitting right in front of him.

"Yes… Yes it most certainly is Kaoru dono," he reached over to her and held her tight in his arms. She was surprised, at least at first. She didn't understand what would prompt Kenshin to do that, she almost thought he was going to leave again.

"Kenshin, you're not… not going to leave again are you?" Kaoru asked. Kenshin didn't release her from that hug for a while. His answer to that took a lot more time than the hug. He just looked at he with a truly happy expression.

"No, no I'm not Kaoru dono," he answered.

"Good," she answered promptly.

"Ken San?" a different voice asked. Kenshin looked over at the door to see Megumi. She nearly tripped as she ran over to give Kenshin one of her vixen hugs.

"Megumi dono… how long was I out?" that was all he could manage to stutter.

"It's been at least three weeks Sir Ken," she replied disappointedly.

"Gome, I had no idea… I was having a really bad nightmare the whole time," he said bowing his head. That's when Megumi checked his temperature, she shook her head.

"Still sick, but not as bad Kaoru. Maybe you should look after him for a while," Megumi instructed Kaoru on certain things to do for him.

"I hope you get better soon Sir Ken," Megumi said cheerfully and left the dojo.

"So do I, Ugly's cooking has been horrible these last three weeks!!!" Yahiko barely managed to add before Kaoru started chasing him with her wooden sword.

"Get back here and say that to my face you pointy eyed midget!" Kaoru yelled as she ran off. Sanosuke looked in after nearly being trampled.

"So you are awake, that explains missy being so rowdy. Yahiko's telling the truth about the cooking though, with you out cold she was actually worse," Sanosuke said quietly. He came down and sat in front of Kenshin expecting some questions.

"Oro? Sano… when did I get knocked out exactly?" Kenshin asked, looking slightly concerned.

"Is Himura San awake?" the voice came from the hallway. Chief Yukimura stepped in, and he looked pleased.

"Oro… Hi chief," Kenshin thought knew exactly why he was here, "are you going to arrest me?"

"Why would I arrest you Mr. Himura?" Chief Yukimura looked at Kenshin for a while. He let a long deep sigh, and then sat down in front of Kenshin, "I'm here to investigate if there was a hallucinogen in the water. You blacked out right after your friends saw you at the riverbank. You were declared sick even though all of your vital signs were good according to Miss Takani."

"So that's when my dreaming started," Kenshin mumbled, he tried to stand but his legs didn't support him, "what is this?"

"They had you on some serious medication when you got some weird symptoms. I hope you feel better soon Mr. Himura," Yukimura bowed his head and stood up, "your Sakabato is in the shrine of the dojo." Kenshin looked at him, Yukimura looked like he regretted something. Kenshin shrugged off the feeling he was getting from him. Yukimura and Sanosuke left him in the room to regain his thoughts.

"That's strange that it is, wonder why this places seems clean…" Kenshin thought to himself.

"Does he know what he did while he was under that influence?" Yukimura asked Kaoru as he was leaving.

"No, he just woke up. What exactly are we supposed to tell him?" Kaoru asked pointing at the Sakabato that had once been stained.

"Tell Himura nothing, it's not his fault that happened so don't tell him or he may have a bit of a problem. We should probably see if we can find that man that you mentioned," Yukimura kept his distance from the sword.

"I'd appreciate that, the man tried to kill both of us in the dream," Kaoru answered, Yukimura looked at her like she was nuts as she picked up his sword, "Kenshin always carries his Sakabato with him. Also I have one last question could you make sure that no one questions Kenshin about the thing?"

"I make no guarantees," Yukimura watched as Kaoru, but the Sakabato on her belt, "be careful, he was pretty much possessed."

"I know," she said as she set her father's blade gently back on to the Kamiya shrine, "now to give this back to Kenshin." She watched Yukimura exit hastily as she went back over to Kenshin's room where he was sitting against a wall lost in thought.

"Did I really dream that?" Kenshin mumbled. Kaoru watched him curiously, wondering what he was talking about.

"Kenshin, your Sakabato," she said handing the blade to him. Kenshin looked at it for a second, then set it on his lap. He looked at Kaoru closely, determining if he was dreaming still.

"You are alive right?" he asked suddenly. Kaoru gave him a look of 'duh!' Kenshin paid no attention to it.

"Yes, why wouldn't I be Kenshin?" she asked. She was wondering what could have made him ask such a thing.

"In my dream, well nightmare there was a huge battle. You, Sanosuke, and Yahiko, were there. Someone kidnapped you and I followed after them, but in the end," he stopped, Kaoru saw tears forming at his eyes.

"In the End?" Kaoru asked, wondering what he was getting to.

"I was unable to prevent someone from hurting you Kaoru dono. Someone in my dream killed you," he closed his eyes and small beads of tears ran down his cheeks, Kaoru went over to put a hand on his shoulder. His eyes opened slightly, she smiled.

"Don't worry, I'm right here and I'm fine," she told him. Kenshin looked at her, if felt as was in a place where he could feel safe. She felt a little concerned that she had the same dream as him at the end.

"I should probably get you something to eat. Anything you really want Kenshin?" Kaoru tried to get his mind off the dream.

"…there's some one out there. I can feel it," Kenshin muttered quietly. The door was still open so he saw the girl walk by, her long black hair in it braid almost haunted him. She turned to look at them.

"It's been a while Himura, I heard you were sick so I came to see you," her voice was warm and cheery. Kenshin smiled, Misao was always there should he require any help.

"Well nice to see you miss Misao, how Aoshi?" Kenshin asked. Misao sat down, she was wearing her Ninja outfit again.

"Lord Aoshi's gone off and left me again, that's part of the reason I stopped by. If you see him please tell me!" with her message left Misao was gone in a flash leaving Kenshin and Kaoru with puzzled expressions. Kenshin shook his head and laughed quietly after awhile.

"She is just so strange. Chasing after Aoshi like that…" Kaoru wasn't laughing yet.

"You'd do the same thing if it was Kenshin Missy. So you're one to talk!" Sano said pointing at her. Kenshin and Sanosuke started laughing pretty hard as Kaoru blushed away. Happy to have Kenshin's mind on that horrifying nightmare she had also had. She smiled and walked into the kitchen, she was finally ready to poison Sanosuke and Yahiko again. This time she'd go easy on them though, because she was also feeding her Kenshin as well.

So I finished one…. Now, the other one's for the people interested in blood, screaming, and ect… As for something I just noticed.. Hittocere is not Aki or Kenshin's father. He's just one of those people you like to hate this time. There is another side to him, but you saw a little of it… He's really, really, mean some days…