I'm going to pretend this isn't a short chapter.

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"Kaoru. Kaoru why are you with the Battousai?"

Kaoru stares at Sano blankly. "Why are you focusing on that? We should be planning for rescuing children right now." Sano swivels his head to stare at her. "Why? You're with the Battousai, and you're asking why I care?" He gestures at Kenshin wildly.

"Red hair, gold eyes, and a scar across his cheek like in the stories. He's the Battousai. The demon that's been bound to serve the royal family since longer than anyone can remember. There's no way they would just let him run around without a purpose. How do we even know that he can be trusted and isn't under their control?" So that's what the problem is.

She gestures at Kenshin as well. "If he's under their control, then show me the control seal." While Sano studies him for the seal, Kaoru is staring at the scar. She had never paid attention to it before. Her attention was always in favor of his hair and eyes. Had it always looked that raw? "I give up. Where's the seal Kaoru?" Kenshin responds before she can open her mouth. "She destroyed it."

Sano's voice shakes in anger. "She… destroyed a seal that had been in place for at least a few centuries? Kaoru is human. Humans can't destroy seals because they have no magic. So how is it that you think you'll convince me that she destroyed it?" There's only one way that he'll accept it. She's going to have to give up her secret. Again. Gently, she winds her fingers around Sano's and pushes forward the memories of what she remembers about the seal.

Kaoru shows him how dreams and whispers showed how to reverse the seal. She steps away from him when she's done. Sano doesn't handle it nearly as well as Kenshin did. Kaoru slides her fingers her bokken handle and considers beating sense into him after he stammers gibberish for a while. Maybe it'll do some good for his brain cells.

Unless she hits too hard, then he'll be even worse. So perhaps a love tap... Or five? Five sounds good. Alas, Sano regains enough of his senses to begin questioning her just as she decides the appropriate number of taps. "You're human right? Completely human?" Her eyebrows raise at that. "Yes. You administered the tests yourself when you took over the Sekihōtai."

Something that has been required of everyone associated with the Sekihōtai. Checking to ensure they only speak the truth, are who and what they say, and for any seals. Sano sits back visibly thinking. Although there wasn't much to think about in Kenshin's opinion. Kaoru can speak and show things through skin contact. That's it.

"Getting rid of Kanryū would be beneficial to everyone as long as none worse than he take the throne. It won't change most things, but it could set the stage for something better." He leans back against the wall with his eyes closed for a while before speaking. "The costs will be high. A lot of people could die from this. One wrong move and everyone, even the children, are failed."

Kaoru sighs. "I know. We've failed those already in their clutches. If we keep doing what we're doing, we can only fail everyone else in the future. There's a chance if we take Kanryū and his control out of the equation, there will be more of those that share our beliefs left behind. Maybe there will be more of us than his type of people. The country will follow the majority."

Sano kept his position relaxed and his eyes closed. "That doesn't answer who will run the country in his place." Kenshin takes advantage of the tense silence to give them an answer. "Katsura, of the Ishin Shishi is still alive. They weren't strong enough to kill him, so they put him under a seal. He'll wake up if Kanryū's control is shattered."

The Ishin Shishi were those who had taken control of the original warring countries by force and made them into one country. As the head of Ishin Shishi, Katsura was credited for leading the country to the most prosperous era it had ever seen. Until a coup for power took place. Katsura was announced dead, as well as the Ishin Shishi.

"Well shit." Sano breathed the words. "Let's do this then."

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Several Months Later

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Kaoru watched Kenshin play with the children. The children had been rescued from the last facility along with an elderly doctor who's healing was beyond anything she had ever seen. Already, they were adjusting nicely. Two girls, the doctor's granddaughters in fact, were very attached to Kenshin.

Or rather, Uncle Ken. Kaoru smirked a little at the nickname. It had taken forever for him to trust people enough to tell them his name, and the children had seen his disturbance to being called Kenshin by so many people. They didn't think twice about butchering his name into Ken, and it wasn't long before it became an affectionate Uncle Ken.

A role he seemed to enjoy greatly. It was like seeing him become a new person. Sort of. The same way you see a bud become a flower. The group's swordsmith, Shakku, had given Kenshin a sword almost immediately after meeting him. A reverse-blade sword.

"I'm tired of making things to kill people, and you've got the look of someone tired of killing. If you can make use out of this scrap metal, then the world will probably be on it's way to being a better place. If you can bear the weight of fighting without killing until the blade breaks, then come see me in the forge. I'll make you a masterpiece." Shakku left for his forge after that. It was within the Sekihōtai compound, but he was a reclusive sort. Just seeing him that day was an irregularity.

Kenshin had seemed intrigued by the sword, but didn't dispose of his original until after the first facility raid. Kaoru was certainly intrigued. She went to Shakku and asked about a sword of her own. With stipulations of course. Light enough to be used by her, strong enough to withstand attackers, and without a sharpened edge so that she would never have the option of killing.

He agreed without asking her further questions, and gave her the sword without the speech he had given Kenshin. She almost felt cheated until she saw the craftsmanship was far beyond what she had expected. There were even jasmine blossoms carved into the hilt. She looked down to study the hilt again until a semi-panicked voice drew her attention back to Kenshin.

The children had tackled him to the ground for the grand punishment of tickles. A smile crossed her face at his suffering. If it could even be called that. Seeing these children made her think of her own. How much longer before she could go to them? Her fingers absentmindedly traced the lines on her wrist from the seal Yahiko had placed. It had faded until it was a mere shadow after showing her what needed to be seen.

Kenshin was healing from his time spent in the facilities, but like the seal on her wrist, he would never be completely healed. She can see it in the wariness when he gives one of his names, in the way he watches all but her for dangerous movements, and when someone tried waking him by touch instead of sound. They hadn't tried again waking him that way again.

"Kaoru-dono!" Drat, he spotted her. Sometime after joining the compound, he had taken to calling every woman dono. She loathed being called Kaoru-dono. Kaoru sighed. She was going to have to tell him the plan for the latest facility eventually. Even if she had wanted to watch him play with the children a little bit more.

He wriggled free of the children, and set them on another game before running to catch up with her. "Is it tonight?" She glanced at soft violet eyes. When had the gold eyes become violet? "Tomorrow morning. They found the facility's keystone on the rooftop, so while the main group attacks from the front, I'll be going in from the side with the secondary group."

Kenshin's eyes flashed gold as he narrowed them at her. "You say that like I'm not part of the secondary group." Yup. There's the reaction she anticipated. He didn't believe in forcing those he considered his friends to be safe and stay in the compound. Instead, he believed in fighting with them so that he had the opportunity to save them if something went wrong.

Kaoru hummed non committedly and didn't look over at him. The silence is almost deafening. Cursing Sano for making sense, she continued in a soft voice. "The elite guard is stationed at this one, Kenshin. They need you to be on the front lines with their best fighters. They need you to provide backup."

She continues walking without looking at him until he snags her wrist. "And what about you? Do you need me?" Kaoru's heart flutters into her throat as he searches her eyes. Colors of abandonment, betrayal, panic, worry, and a smidge of hope flicker at the edge of her sight. "I-" Her voice fails and she watches numbly as he closes his eyes in frustration.

It isn't until his grip loosens on her wrist and he begins to turn away that her voice finds its way back to her. "I do." Warmer colors start to edge in. "I do need you. At the front lines. Because there are too many, and if you're not there drawing their attention, they'll be looking for you on the inside. Drawing the danger to- To the secondary group." Drawing the danger to me remains unsaid.

Carefully, she tries to ignore his colors and see him instead. His lips have thinned, and he's focused on dragging her wrist into the air. Kaoru shudders as he twines their fingers together and presses his lips to the back of her hand. "Then I'll be on the front lines tomorrow." He doesn't look at her as he leaves, and she pretends it doesn't hurt.