Disclaimer: I have not, do not, and will not ever own either "Yu-Gi-Oh!" or "Rurouni Kenshin."

Chapter 10

Yugi was walking home from the park, deep in thought. The situation was just becoming more and more complicated. Bakura was back and that meant trouble for everyone, but mainly him. And then there was Kenshin... Yami didn't trust him at all, but Yugi couldn't help but feel that Kenshin was with them, not against them. But, what had happened in the alley? Why did Kenshin not tell him? Of course, saying he was attacked by someone that Yugi obviously trusted was not something most people could do. Maybe Yugi would ask Kenshin about it later. Of course, having lied the first time, why would he not lie the second time?

It was then that Yugi, not paying attention where he was going, ran into the figure of his thoughts. "Oh, excuse me, I wasn't looking where I was going," Yugi said, bowing quickly.

"It's alright, Yugi," said a familiar voice. Yugi straightened up, looking at--Kenshin. "Kenshin! What are you doing here? You should have gotten home a while ago! You didn't get lost, did you?!" Yugi asked, feeling extremely guilty for letting Kenshin go off on his own.

"No, Yugi, I am not lost. I decided to do a little exploring and try to get to know my way around town. I was just on my way home," Kenshin explained, smiling.

"Oh, okay," Yugi said, not feeling quite as bad. The two resumed walking towards the game shop. Yugi noticed a piece of paper sticking out of Kenshin's coat pocket. "What's that?" he asked, pointing.

Kenshin pulled the piece of paper out of his back pocket and handed it to Yugi. Yugi took it and unfolded it. "Oh, it's a flyer for the tournament. I never was any good at kendo myself--just not built for it. Are you interested in attending?" Yugi asked, curiously.

"I would very much like to participate, but there is a slight problem," Kenshin said.

"Oh?"

"I don't believe that Grandpa will let me attend, due to my injuries," Kenshin said, sighing.

Yugi had to agree with his Grandpa on this one. If Kenshin's wounds were still bleeding, then he shouldn't be out fighting. "Yeah, he's really strict about that sort of stuff," Yugi said, hoping to discourage Kenshin from trying.

"However, I feel fine. My injuries are healing nicely, and won't get re-opened at the tournament. I'll make sure of that," Kenshin said. He sounded like he was going, despite what anyone said.

"How do you know you won't re-open any of your wounds?" Yugi argued.

"Swordsmanship is my forte. I'm untouchable." Kenshin did not say this arrogantly, just as if he was stating a fact that had been established long ago. Which it had, but Yugi didn't know that.

"That scar on your cheek says otherwise. How'd you get that, anyway?" Yugi asked, curiously.

Kenshin put his hand to his cheek, his eyes filled with great sorrowed anguish and pain. Yugi was sorry he'd asked, but Kenshin masked his emotions and the look was gone as quickly as it had come. "This was two mistakes I made when I was younger. Neither of those will be repeated," Kenshin said in a cold voice that sent shivers down Yugi's spine. It seemed, however, that Kenshin's anger was not directed at Yugi, but at himself.

"At any rate, I highly doubt anyone at the tournament will be able to harm me," Kenshin said, steering the conversation away from the tangent it had taken.

Yugi sighed. If he couldn't stop him, he might as well help. "Well, I guess we can tell Grandpa that we're gonna be hanging out with the guys on Saturday," Yugi said.

Kenshin's eyes widened slightly in confusion. "We?" he asked.

"Yeah, I gotta go to get you out of whatever trouble you're gonna get into in that tournament," Yugi said.

Kenshin smiled. "Arigatou, Yugi," he said.

Yugi shrugged. "We just have to tell everyone not to go to the shop asking for us, or Grandpa'll have our hides for sure!"

Kenshin was too preoccupied anticipating the tournament to notice the ki of the man walking up behind him. Suddenly, someone grabbed Kenshin around the waist from behind and put a knife to his neck. "If you give me the pretty gold necklaces that you both are wearing, then no one will get hurt," a voice sneered into Kenshin's ear.

Kenshin was seething. That's twice that he'd been surprised by someone in one day! He was beginning to wonder how he'd ever managed to survive the Bakumatsu! Had he really gotten that soft in only three weeks of peace?!

Yugi felt helpless. He wanted to help Kenshin, but there was nothing he could do. Yami could use his shadow magic, but not without hurting Kenshin as well. So, he just watched, hoping that Kenshin could get himself out of it.

Neither Kenshin nor Yugi had moved, and so the man made his demand again, pressing the blade into Kenshin's neck to emphasize his point. A small trickle of blood ran down Kenshin's neck.

Kenshin's hair was in his eyes, so no one noticed as they shifted from a soft violet to a hard amber. This man had not only dared to attack him, but he had dared to draw his blood. This enraged the hitokiri. //I will kill him,// Battousai said, furious.

/No, don't. Yugi is still here,/ Kenshin reminded him.

//Then get rid of him,// Battousai said relinquishing control to Kenshin.

Kenshin looked up at Yugi. "Yugi, you go on ahead, I'll meet up with you at home," he said, smiling. Both Yugi and his attacker stared at him.

"What are you smiling about?!" Kenshin's assailant demanded. This kid was starting to scare him. Most normal people would be scared to death at this point. But this red-haired boy in front of him was acting like he was in control of the situation. Only two kinds of people act like that: people who are insane and don't know better, and people who actually are in control. One look at his eyes told the man that this kid wasn't insane, and he began to worry about what the kid knew that he did not.

Yugi looked at Kenshin and saw that he had a plan, but in order for it to work, Yugi could not be present. Yugi thought of his options. There wasn't anything he could do for Kenshin, if he stayed, but if he could run through the alleys and come up behind them, then... Deciding on this course of action, Yugi took off running. He'd have to get there fast, before this guy dragged Kenshin off to who knows where.

Battousai, seeing Yugi disappear around the corner re-emerged, taking control of Kenshin's body once again.

"Your friend left you here to die, eh? That's loyalty for ya..." the man said, trying to shake the feeling that something was about to happen that he would not like one bit. A low, deadly voice split the air. "Now it's time for the real fun to begin."

It took the man a minute to realize that the voice had come from the child he held at knife point. "And just what do you mean by that, kid?" the man asked, trying to keep his voice from shaking. This kid was really starting to freak him out. Kenshin, however, didn't need to hear the quivering in his voice. He could feel in the man's aura that he was afraid. Now was the time to act.

Kenshin's arms, which had remained at his sides the entire time, suddenly came to life. His left hand grabbed the man's wrist and twisted it, forcing the blade a little deeper into his neck before the knife was released. Kenshin's right elbow went back hard into the man's stomach, making him fall to his knees as the knife clattered on the ground in front of him. Kenshin calmly walked forward and then turned around to face him. The man grabbed his knife and raised it menacingly only to have it fall from his hand as he looked into the child's eyes, his glowing amber eyes. He just stared, looking into eyes that seemed to sear through his very soul, sending chills down his spine and promising a very slow and very painful death. Kenshin just stood there, looking down upon his would-be assailant coolly. The man, as hard as he tried, found it impossible to break his eyes away from the amber gaze of this boy. Those eyes seemed to suggest different ways to kill him, each one more brutal and horrifying than the last, being played out in his mind's eye. Although Kenshin was doing nothing to the man physically, mentally, he was causing the man to lose his mind. Normally Kenshin couldn't do this on his own, but the combination of several things, most prominently being the man's own stark terror, was causing the previously weak-minded man to go insane. Battousai had no qualms about this fate, and refused to break the eye contact that was pushing this man over the edge. The man had started mumbling incoherently, but Battousai would catch a word here and there. "No...stop... (mumble mumble) ...please... (mumble mumble) ..." The volume of the man's voice was slowly increasing, but he was becoming more incoherent.

Suddenly, Yugi rounded the corner behind the man, hoping Kenshin hadn't been hurt. The scene in front of him was definitely not what he was expecting. The man was kneeling on the ground, a few feet in front of Kenshin with the knife on the ground in front of him. Kenshin, was standing in front of the man, about four feet away, with one hand on his throat to help stop the bleeding. They were just staring at each other.

\Yami, do you know what's going on?\ Yugi asked, uncertainly.

\\I really do not know, aibou. I sense no shadow magic, but I see no reason why neither of them are attacking,\\ Yami replied, equally baffled by this behavior. Yugi started walking towards them, accidentally kicking a rock as he went.

Kenshin looked up at the noise, his eyes switching back to violet. The man, finding himself released from the demon's eyes, took off running in the opposite direction, screaming incoherently. Yami tensed, ready to take over and defend Yugi, if need be, but the man just pushed past him and kept running, not daring to look back for fear of those piercing amber eyes.

Yugi stared after him. "What happened?" Yugi asked, turning to Kenshin.

Kenshin had an evil smirk on his face, but it disappeared so quickly that Yugi wasn't sure if he'd really seen it at all. "I'm not sure, Yugi. I managed to get out of his grasp, and then he just stared at me. I'm not sure what happened," Kenshin said, looking equally confused. Kenshin looked towards the sun that was starting to dip below the horizon. "We'd better get going. More shady characters are out at night, and I would rather avoid any more encounters with them. Besides, Grandpa'll be wondering where we are as it is. And, could we please not tell him about this? I don't want him to worry. He fusses enough about my injuries as it is," Kenshin said, a bit ruefully. He didn't want people to be worried about him.

Yugi nodded. Grandpa would probably forbid them from going anywhere besides school and home, if he found out about this. "But, it's gonna be hard to hide that cut," Yugi pointed out.

"Not really. Since it's on the side of my neck, I just have to do this." Kenshin pulled his hair tie out of his hair and shook it out, running his fingers through it. He then pulled some of it in front of his shoulder, covering the cut. It was a bit of a feminine way to wear his hair, but it served it's purpose.

"I guess that'll work. Well, we'd better get going before anyone else comes," Yugi said, looking around. Kenshin nodded, and they headed home.

~*~

When they arrived home, Grandpa noticed the change in Kenshin's hair.

"Kenshin, wasn't your hair up when you left this morning?" Grandpa inquired.

Kenshin had prepared an excuse, just in case. "Hai, but because it's so long, it occasionally gives me headaches, so I take it down," Kenshin explained.

Grandpa nodded. "Well, anyway, dinner should be ready in about half an hour," he said, returning to the kitchen.

Kenshin went up to the bathroom to clean the cut on his neck. It wasn't very deep, but the blood stood out against his pale skin. /I guess I'll have to wear my hair down for awhile,/ Kenshin said.

//Aww, you look so cute that way. Maybe you could curl it and start wearing make-up, too,// Battousai said, snickering.

/Shut up. Besides, you're me, so you look the same way,/ Kenshin shot back. Battousai had no comeback for that one.