Disclaimer: I own nothing! No Suing!

Author's Note: Thanks to all of you who have reviewed! The support really means a lot to me! Now sit back and prepare yourselves for the wild ride as Katsu gives Sano advice on love, Kaoru tries to kiss Kenshin and Enishi shows up again! Read and Review if you like but Flames will be laughed at!

Chapter 11: Screw-ups and Screwballs

The morning sun filtered through the paper walls and Kenshin closed his eyes tighter. He was awake but he didn't want to get up…not yet. Misao had insisted that they have some kind of party to celebrate…he wasn't sure what they had been celebrating but the party had still been fun.

At least until Okon and Omasu got into a fight over Hiko, Okina made a pass at Megumi and Sano punched the old man in the jaw, Saitou and Tokio got into a fight and she took his cigarettes away, and a drunken Misao tried to kiss Aoshi.

The end results where Omasu storming up to her room to cry, Okina knocked out on the floor, Saitou going to bed without having reclaimed his cigarettes, and Aoshi hiding in the kitchen. After that the party broke up and everyone went to bed.

It had been a long night and Kenshin was sure he'd be the first one up anyways so he could afford to sleep for a few more minutes.

"Kenshin! Wake up!" Kaoru's voice broke into his sleep hazed mind and he jerked up, "Kaoru-dono, are you all right?"

Kaoru's face entered his line of vision a few inches from his nose, "No I'm not all right Kenshin! I have a tail!" she wailed.

"What?" Kenshin blinked and rubbed his eyes before looking at her again, "Kaoru-dono, what are you talking about?"

Kaoru jerked away from him and ran to the center of the room, "I have a tail, see?" she spun around and sure enough, at the back of her kimono she had a raccoon tail, "I didn't change back completely from last night! What am I going to do?"

Kenshin felt his eyes grow wide, "Oh dear, this is a problem." He thought for a moment before, "I don't know what you should do; I know nothing about curses and things like that."

He paused as an idea came to him, "Maybe Katsu can help us. He might know what to do."

"You mean the antisocial mirror that hangs out with Sano?" Kaoru frowned.

"He's not antisocial…he just doesn't like people. Why don't I go find him?" Kenshin ducked out of the room before Kaoru could stop him.

With a sigh she looked back at her tail, "I suppose I could wrap my kimono over it." She tugged on her tail for a moment before closing the door. It was the best chance she had…if Yahiko saw her like this he's never stop laughing.

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Sano stepped out of the door to the backyards at the same time Megumi was passing in front of it. They both ran into each other and Megumi dropped the basket she was holding, "I'm so sorry….oh it's you." Megumi sounded slightly disappointed as she bent down to pick up the plants that had spilled out of the basket.

"You sound disappointed, were you expecting someone else?" Sano asked, handing several of the plants to her and she stuffed them in her basket, "No…yes…I'm not sure." She stammered and quickly turned to leave, "I need to go; I told Shiro and Kuro that I'd help them make breakfast."

"No need to leave so fast, are you scared of being alone with me?" Sano causally handed her the last plant, hoping that his question hadn't sounded too odd. He wanted to spend time with her alone but he didn't want her to think that he was desperate to talk to her.

"Of course I'm not afraid of being alone with you; I just have other things to do rooster head." Megumi sounded slightly scornful but her voice lowered slightly as she reached his nickname.

"Ah you probably do, a lady like you must be pretty busy." Sano ginned halfheartedly.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Megumi demanded as she spun around, fire flashing in her eyes.

"Nothing, nothing! I just meant that a doctor like you probably has much more important things to do then talk to a guy like me and stuff like that." Sano trailed off and began to rub the back of his neck in an agitated manner.

Megumi mumbled under his breath and brushed past Sano, heading towards the kitchens.

Sano slumped down on the edge of the porch, "She probably has a lot of other things to do." He mumbled.

"Why don't you just tell the girl you love her and get it over with?" Katsu demanded irritably. Sano pulled the mirror from his pocket and opened it, "I can't tell her that! She'd kill me!"

"So you're just going to keep stalking her?"

"I'm not stalking her." Sano protested.

"Then why were you standing behind that door for fifteen minuets, waiting for her to walk by so you could 'run into her'?"

Sano rolled his eyes but before he could come up with a comeback he noticed something on the ground and picked it up. It was a necklace, with a broken heart pendent at the end.

"This is strange, who'd want to hang onto a broken necklace?" he muttered as he examined it. A name on the back of the pendent caught his eye, "So this is Megumi's huh?" he was going to study it further but heard someone behind him. Shoving the necklace in his pocket he turned around, "Hey Kenshin!"

Kenshin only nodded and grabbed the mirror, "Katsu you need to come with me!" he yelled as he disappeared back inside.

"That was weird." Sano muttered, "Maybe this quest is getting to him."

But it didn't bother him that Katsu was gone. Now he could talk to Megumi without an annoying and all too observant mirror along for the ride.

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Kaoru had just finished retying her obi when the door was pulled open. "What kind of pervert are you? Do you normally come running into a room were a girl is changing?" Kaoru threw her shoe at the person and stepped from behind the screen, "Ack! Kenshin, I'm so sorry!" she yelled and knelt by the rurouni's side, "Are you alright?"

Kenshin blinked his swirly eyes away and nodded, "I'm fine Kaoru-dono that I am and I found Katsu."

"Oh!" Kaoru blinked and sat back slightly.

Katsu looked up at her, "Is there something wrong here? Kenshin wasn't answering my questions."

"It's a long story…" Kaoru began.

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At the end of her story Katsu looked thoughtful for a minute before pulling up a large book that he had been keeping….somewhere.

"Here it is," Katsu pulled off the reading glasses he was wearing and looked back towards Kaoru, "There's more fine print to your curse then you realized. How long have you been cursed now?"

Kaoru counted on her fingers for a moment, "Two years, eleven months and three weeks. In seven days I'll have had it for three years."

"And that's were your problem is. It seems that if you haven't lifted the curse by the third year it becomes permanent and you'll never be able to become human again."

"What?!" Kaoru exploded.

"I said you'll never…" Katsu began but Kaoru glared at him, "I heard you the first time! Oh this is not good." She moaned before grabbing Kenshin, "I don't want to become a raccoon!"

"Calm down Kaoru-dono. We'll find a way to fix this that we will."

"May I point out that the only way to reverse your curse is by defeating the person who cursed you or by true loves first kiss?" Katsu pointed out.

"That's it!" Kaoru grabbed Kenshin's head and it was only his incredible speed that prevented Kaoru from kissing him on the lips, instead she kissed his cheek.

"Kaoru-dono, what are you doing?" Kenshin yelled, his face turning bright red. It didn't help that Katsu was snickering.

Kaoru pulled back, "Oh Kenshin…I mean…that was….really dumb…and rash…and oh I feel like an idiot….I'm going back to my room." Kaoru decided, tears welling in her eyes.

Kenshin reached up a hand to stop her, "Kaoru-dono wait." But she was already gone.

"I'd suggest that you let her calm down before you try to talk to her again." Katsu advised.

"You're right that you are." Kenshin sighed. Still he was curious, why had Kaoru kissed him? It wasn't like they were meant for each other or anything, not that he wouldn't mind that, you know. It was just that he didn't deserve her; she was too good for a man like him. He was just a wandering performer and did odd jobs for King Okubo; he didn't deserve a nice lady like Kaoru. He would just have to wait till she calmed down before he could ask her; that was all.

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Omasu huffily shoved some rice into her already full basket, 'That stupid Hiko, I don't know what I ever saw in him. He likes Okon betters anyways, just because Okon's taller then me, has nicer hair then me and her shinobi robe really shows off her legs…he's just shallow that's all.'

The early morning sun beat down on her head and she glared around the market place. She hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the night before and if anyone messed with her today they'd regret it.

However she had been very upset at the party the night before, maybe she should get herself something special. Just a little present to help herself cheer up a little. She looked around at some of the stalls, debating about what to buy.

She was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't notice the two men who had paused beside her and were pretending to look at the wares in the stall.

Cho quickly glanced over the weapons that filled the stall he was in front of and suppressed a slight shudder of delight. "Man if Ah could get my hands on some of these babies…" He muttered, eyeing the swords with particular interest.

Henya elbowed him in the ribs, "Don't forget why we're here broom head." He hissed.

Cho shot him a dirty look and noticed Omasu, "Wait, she looks like the girl we were sent here to find. "

Henya elbowed him harder in the ribs, "Not so loud you baka!"

Omasu glanced over at them, "I wouldn't fight near this stall; the owner of it is a little testy sometimes." She advised, looking back at the small disk she was studying.

"We'll remember that." Cho nodded.

Omasu took one last look at the disk and sighed before walking away from the booth. Cho and Henya followed her, trying to look discreet.

Omasu was getting the feeling that she was being followed and every time she looked behind her she could see that blond haired man and his strange companion. Final she had had enough.

"Is there a reason you're following me?" she snapped, reaching for the kuni she kept in her obi.

"Uh…oh…follow…we're not following you. What could give you an idea like that?" Cho stammered and Henya slammed his forehead into his own hand.

"I don't think guys normally look at hair ribbons." Omasu pointed out.

"Good point." Cho stepped away from the booth he had been standing by and looked around sheepishly.

"So why were you following me?" Omasu asked again this time pulling out her kuni.

"Aw man, she's armed!" Cho groaned, "Guess we're going to have to do this the hard way."

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Enishi was walking through the market place when he noticed a very strange scene. A girl was running through the marketplace with two men chasing her. One of them had wild blond hair and the other had…wings?!

Enishi shook his head. Guys with wings? That was just crazy. Of course ever since Tomoe had sent him on this trip to Kyoto, without her, he had felt like he was losing his mind.

The two men had managed to chase the girl into an alley and Enishi finally walked over to see if he could help. By the time he'd reached the scene he was too late to help either side.

The guy with the wings had managed to get close enough to the girl to force something over her mouth. She struggled for a moment before going limp. The man with the wings pulled a handkerchief away and the girl raised her head slightly, her eyes looking glazed.

She saw Enishi standing in the entrance to the alley, "Quick…go to the Aioya… and tell them….everything you saw." She ordered in a faint voice before passing out.

The man with the blonde hair looked around, "Who's she talkin' too?"

Enishi decided he should leave at that point; it wasn't that he was afraid of getting into a fight with these men; it was just that he had just cleaned his sword and he really didn't want to get it dirty again. Besides he needed to find this Aioya place.

"Okay…" Enishi looked around at the streets, "Where do I go?"