Disclaimer: Soujiro is not mine. *Author looks from side to side then grabs Soujiro and runs. Hehehe . .

Special Thanks to OniTokage, Adara Kaye, and Atrienne for adding me to your Favorite Authors List! Sniff sniff. . thank you! =D =D

Warning: Violence, blood, and offensive language.

Author's Notes: I hope you all had a great Christmas! Happy New Years everyone! This is the last stretch until this fic finally comes to an end. =*) Sorry it took so long for this chapter to get out. Anyway, this is an extra long chapter and is pivotal to the entire story.

Quick Recap: Kaoru has started to regain her memories about her past, although she still has not remembered anything about Kenshin and the rest of the gang. In order to search for Higurashi, Kaoru and Soujiro have journeyed together to Shanghai, China. Kenshin, Misao, Aoshi, Yahiko, and Sanosuke have followed them. The only sighting of Kaoru has been by Tokio who has relayed the information to Saitou. After almost a month of being in China, Kaoru has finally found Higurashi and he has broken to her the news that he is actually her biological father and Kaoru has accepted him.

Timeline: Post-Jinchuu. It's been about two months since Kaoru has been missing.

Characters: (I've only put in the ones that are OC and not part of the anime series.)

Higurashi Miroku – Father of Kaoru and ex-Shinsengumi member who worked as a spy for the Ishin Shishi.

Fujimoto Akane  - Ex-Shinsengumi captain who is after Higurashi and his daughter for vengeance for the past.

~ A Memory Forgotten ~

Chapter 27

"You . . you BAKA! I don't care about the danger, I only want you to stay with me. Please," she said while focusing on her father's surprised eyes. "That Fujimoto guy is looking for me too right? It won't matter if you're here with me or not." Her determined blue eyes looked at him and challenged him to leave her once again.

"and . . and . . and anyway . . I would like to learn more about my father," Kaoru ended with her head bowed down.

Miroku's eyes began to become watery as he turned around fully and instantly pulled her into a fierce hug.

"Oh, Kaoru-chan . .." He closed his eyes as he felt his daughter's body loosen up within his hug and smiled.

He had found his happiness once again.

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Morning in Shanghai

Miroku sat in a chair at home waiting for his daughter to come out of the room with a pleasant smile donning his features. It had been a week since he had told Kaoru the news about her past. That week that he had spent with her and Soujiro were the best days of his life. Kaoru told him stories about his old friend, Kamiya and he had both laughed and cried. He was grateful to his friend for bringing up his daughter in the manner that he did. She had grown into a beautiful and strong woman. A daughter any father could be proud of.

"Higurashi-san?"

Miroku looked over his shoulder and saw Soujiro coming inside. He was wearing a black Chinese dress suit with pants. He smiled at the young man. "I've told you to just call me Miroku. No need for formalities," he said with a laugh.

Soujiro smiled.

Miroku looked over at him and his heart warmed. He had found that he had really grown to like Soujiro a lot. He reminded him of someone. Someone that was very dear to him.

"Ano .. is Kao-chan almost ready?" Soujiro asked.

Miroku shook his head as he broke out of his thoughts. The father had made Kaoru change into a traditional Chinese qipao so that she could blend in with the Chinese people. By changing her physical appearance a little, he thought, Fujimoto and his men would have a harder time finding her.

CLICK

Kaoru stepped out from the room. Miroku and Soujiro's breath caught within their throats. Before them was no longer the bokken-wielding assistant master of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu, but a real lady. A princess, Miroku thought with a smile. Kaoru was wearing a traditional Chinese qipao. The midnight blue color highlighted the blue of her eyes. The qipao also had silver patterns of flowers that were intricately stitched on. Her hair was tied up in a simple bun. Pearls and other ornaments adorned it. The silk dress that clung to her frame accentuated her curves. Kaoru spun around to show off her new clothes.

"So .. what do you think? Do you think I would fit in?" Kaoru asked with a bright smile.

 "You look great, Kao-chan. I didn't think you could look so much like a woman," Soujiro playfully said with a smile.

Kaoru's ki suddenly flared at his comment and then she narrowed her icy blue eyes as she turned towards her companion. "What did you say, Sou - - jiro?" she said menacingly.

The young man sweatdropped. "Ano.  . . I was just playing Kao-chan. You know . . ." He squeezed his eyes shut as he gave a forced smile and began to fumble with his fingers behind him in anticipation of getting hit. Instead, nothing came. He looked up and saw that Kaoru was smiling.

Soujiro made a mental note to himself: Never make fun of Kao-chan's womanhood.

Miroku broke into another hearty laugh at the scene that played before him. He loved his daughter's vivacity. It reminded him so much of his wife's personality. "You know, Kaoru-chan . . you can be quite scary when you're mad. You might scare away any eligible bachelors with that attitude."

Soujiro scratched the back of his head as he put on a smile, agreeing with Miroku's observation.

"Mou . ." Kaoru sighed as she walked towards the two of them. She eyed Soujiro up and down since she had not seen him donning Chinese clothes before and laughed. "Mou! Sou-chan! You can't even put on your shirt properly!"

Soujiro blushed a deep red as he looked down. "Ano . ." He gave a nervous chuckle as he looked down at his clothes.

Miroku laughed. "I didn't even notice until now. Go on Soujiro, I'll show you how to wear this."

The young man nodded as he smiled and turned around to go into the next room. Miroku followed closely behind him. When they went into the room, Soujiro took off the shirt so that he could fix the shirt inside. Miroku chuckled at Soujiro's confused face as he looked at all the buttons and such. As Soujiro turned around, the man noticed something on his bare back.

A crescent-shaped birthmark in the upper right shoulder blade area.

Higurashi felt his legs become weak and his breathing became labored.

Was it possible?

"Daijoubu Higurashi-san?" the young man asked with worried blue eyes. Higurashi's own eyes widened. "Ano . . Higurashi-san?" Soujiro repeated. Miroku shook his head to come out of the daze.

"H-hai, Soujiro. I'm fine," he said shakily.

The boy gave him another worried glance, but then smiled. "All right, Higurashi-san."

The monk felt his palms become sweaty and started to feel lightheaded. He took a seat at the nearest chair as he lay his head down on his arm. Was it possible? How .. but how .. I can't jump to conclusions like this. Miroku took another swift glance at Soujiro as he was struggling to put his shirt back on himself. But the resemblance . .the resemblance is uncanny, he thought.

"Ano.. Soujiro, you never told me about .. well, do you remember your parents?" Miroku asked with reservation.

Soujiro turned around and continued to smile. "No, my parents died a long time ago. My mother worked in a brothel house and my father was a small business man. I don't remember my mother at all and I can only see a shadow of what was my father."

"Oh," Miroku replied. He thought for awhile and then asked, "How old are you?"

Soujiro scratched the back of his head as he thought. "I think I'm about twenty now or maybe twenty-one. I haven't really kept track of my birthdays. Ano . . Higurashi-san . . is there something wrong?"

The monk faked a laugh as he adjusted his dark blue robes. "No . . nothing. I just wanted to learn more about Kaoru's friend, that is all."

"Aaa," Soujiro mused.

As they retreated from the room, Miroku's eyes darkened as he tried to piece together what little information Soujiro had given him. He is around the same age also, he thought. But it couldn't be . . could it? Could it be . . that . .  that . .

Flashback

"'Tousan 'tousan!" a little boy called out.

Miroku came out with a laugh. "Nani Ryo-chan?" The little two year old boy's deep blue eyes looked up at his father with glee. 

"I want to go swimming! But 'kaasan say that you need to come with me," the boy said.

Miroku laughed and nodded. "Alright, 'tousan will come watch you."

"Yay!" Ryo screamed in happiness as he jumped up and down. Miroku picked up the boy in his arms and walked over to the small lake. Since the water was only about a foot deep, Miroku felt it was safe for his son to swim around.

"Yay!" the boy continued to gleam. The father put his son down on the ground and helped undress him. As Ryo got up to run towards the water, Miroku noticed the boy's birthmark.

A crescent shaped moon on the right side of his shoulder.

End Flashback

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Kenshin, Aoshi, and Misao journeyed in the blinding sunlight towards the Qinghua Temple once again. Misao walked in front, Aoshi in the middle, while Kenshin lagged behind. The rurouni was thoroughly depressed and had not had a night of good sleep for the past two months or so. Misao looked behind her with a small frown of worry on her face. This was not the Himura that she knew from before. The time without Kaoru had taken its toll on all of them, but it was most visible in Kenshin. He was not the 'oroing' friend that she once knew. Instead he had become less talkative and much more withdrawn from the group. The only thing that would bring about some energy from him was news about Kaoru. The pig-tailed girl turned back around and furrowed her brows. Thoughts and questions ran through her head at lightning speed.

What if Kaoru's memories about us never return? What would we do? What would .. what would Himura do?

And. .

What if .. what if we never find her?

Misao's heart clenched in pain as she thought of the latter. No, she couldn't think of something so pessimistic. Things will turn out all right. We will find Kaoru and things will all be back to normal, she tried to convince herself. Then she could go back to plotting about how she would get Aoshi to propose to her. The girl let out an evil smirk at the last thought.

The group continued to trek through the dirt roads until they finally reached the temple. Kenshin surprised both Misao and Aoshi by running ahead of them as they went up the long stone staircase. Misao smiled a bit at Kenshin's renewed energy. The determination that she saw in Kenshin's eyes renewed her hopes once more. He reminded her of herself when she was searching for Aoshi and the rest of them at the time. She wouldn't give up because she loved him.

Misao looked back at Aoshi and gave him a bright smile. Aoshi smiled a ghost of a smile back at her. The girl beamed at the sight and became lost in her daydreams as she continued to walk forward.

THUD

Misao was so busy in her own thoughts that she had ran into Kenshin's back. She was about to yell at him for stopping in the middle of her way when she noticed how tense his muscles were in his back. Curious jade eyes looked over his shoulders.

The glimmer of hope she had earlier flickered out at the sight before her eyes.

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Mid Afternoon

Miroku's thoughts were thrown into turmoil. When Kaoru had gone to take a bath, the man thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to ask Soujiro about his past.

"Ano, Soujiro . ." he began. The young man looked up at the monk as he addressed him and gave him a smile. "I am . . well, I was wondering . . if you could tell me about yourself. What you did before . ."

Soujiro's smile faltered as he mentioned this. However, for some reason, Soujiro felt that he could confide in the man that sat across from him.

An hour later

" . . . and that was when I met Kao-chan," Soujiro finished. Miroku sat and watched the young man before him in a new light. How he could still be someone like he was right now was amazing for him. The older man reached out and grabbed Soujiro's hand as he finished.

"Arigato, Soujiro. For . . taking care of Kaoru these past two months," he stated. As he said this, they heard the door slide open and Kaoru come inside. Both of them turned towards her and she gave a worried look. She had noticed that the once joyous atmosphere had turned serious and melancholic.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Soujiro smiled, "Kao-chan, don't worry. Nothing's wrong. Higurashi-san and I were just talking."

"Oh," she replied as she wiped her wet hair with the towel. "Mou, you guys seem so serious."

Miroku was conflicted, half of him wanted to burst with happiness, while the other half was weary. He wasn't sure how Soujiro would handle the news. But after much thought earlier that day, Miroku decided it would be best to break the news to the both of them. He looked back and forth between Soujiro and Kaoru.

I have to tell him, it's only right, he thought.

"Soujiro," Miroku started as he motioned for both Kaoru and the young man to sit down, "I have a story to tell you."

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Downtown Shanghai

A man dressed in a black western suit came back to the hostel with a tight frown on his face. His underlings cowered beneath him as they heard his heavy footsteps come through the door.

"O-okaeri . ." a female servant said.

The man looked at her with narrowed brown eyes and grabbed her forearm. The girl was shocked. "F- Fujimoto-san?" She looked up at him with fear in her vivid brown eyes.

"Damn that bastard," Akane mumbled underneath his breath. "It doesn't matter. I'll find you Higurashi and your daughter."

"F-Fujimoto-san . ." the girl repeated meekly as he continued to drag her by her arm. She gasped when she saw traces of bloodstains on his suit and wrinkled her nose at the smell of gunpowder.

Akane looked down at the servant with fierce brown eyes. Swirls of hatred mixed with bloodlust colored his eyes as he thought of Higurashi. That bastard will pay, he promised himself. His grip tightened on the girl and she let out a small squeak due to the pain.

"You're coming with me," Fujimoto directed at the woman as they walked into the room.

He gave an evil smirk as he shut the door behind him.

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Back at Qinghua Temple

Kenshin, Aoshi, and Misao stood in shock at the sight before their eyes. Blood. It was everywhere. Someone had come and slaughtered all of the monks that resided in that area. Kenshin and Aoshi quickly scanned the entire area for any signs of hostile ki.

"It seems that the intruder has left," Aoshi stated.

Kenshin nodded his head in agreement.

Misao's eyes were wide open in horror and disbelief at the scene. "Who would do this? We . . we were just here a week ago . . and . . and everyone was fine. Who could do such a horrible thing?"

"Fujimoto," Kenshin said icily. His eyes narrowed in hatred and disgust as they turned an amber shade. His ki became deadly. How could he take the lives of so many innocent people?

Aoshi looked around and said, "Let's look to see if there are any survivors." He began to walk further into the temple with Kenshin and Misao close behind. As they passed through several temples, all they had found were dead bodies. So far they had not found a single person that was still alive. Kenshin clenched his fist tightly. This only happened a couple of hours ago. If only we had come earlier, we . .we could have prevented this from happening, Kenshin thought.

*GURGLE, GURGLE

The trio heard a sound and quickly turned to search for the origin. There they found a monk who was half-dead propped up against a red pole near the corner of one of the larger rooms. Blood was sputtering up from his mouth and there was a large bloodstain near the man's right side. Color was quickly draining from the man's face. They ran over to his side and Kenshin quickly tore some cloth from his gi to wrap around the monk's wound.

Misao gasped as she saw the face. "It's .. it's the monk that we saw when we last came here."

Aoshi's eyes glazed over as he too recognized the man. Hatred for Fujimoto tripled upon seeing that the man had mercilessly slaughtered all of the people in the area. Just for one man. . . what kind of monster is he? "Shi shei gan de?" (Who did this?) Aoshi asked the monk.

The monk, in a lot of pain, craned his neck towards Aoshi. He opened his eyes half-way and his eyelids fluttered. As he began to speak, a thin river of blood began to drip from the corner of his lips. "Shi . . shi ni." (It's you.)

Misao's eyes began to water. It seems that the monk still recognized them from that time that they had come before. She subconsciously reached out to hold the man's hand that was quickly losing its warmth by the second. No . .how could .. how could someone do this?

"Shi shei gan de?" (Who did this?) Aoshi repeated. This time his voice held an edge to it. The man was thoroughly angered by the atrocity.

"Shi . . shi . . yi ge nan de jiao Fujimoto. Ta gen . . gen . .  bie de ren lai. Ta. . ta yao zhao Miroku," (It was a man named Fujimoto. He came with a few men to search for Higurashi Miroku.) the monk said with difficulty. He closed his eyes as he became short of breath. With his last remaining strength, the monk reached into the sleeve of his clothes and took out a raggedy piece of paper. "Dui bu qi, wo zao yin gai gei ni zhe ge," (I'm sorry. I should have given this to you before.) With those last words, the man's body became limp.

Kenshin, Misao, and Aoshi lowered their heads in sorrow. All was silent as death surrounded the three of them.

"We'll find him and . . and . . he'll pay," Misao spoke. Tears started to come out of her eyes as she thought of what had just taken place. This . . if Kaoru is found by him . . this . . this is what will happen to her. "We can't  let . . we'll find Kaoru before he does." She then felt a strong pair of arms embrace her and pull her in. She looked up and saw that it was Aoshi. He had his eyes closed as held onto her. Being in his arms made the girl feel a bit better.

Kenshin looked down at the man with his crimson bangs over his eyes. He said a small prayer for him as he took the small, crumpled piece of paper from the monk's hand. He slowly opened it up. Scribbled on the paper were Chinese characters depicting what Kenshin surmised to be various locations where Higurashi might be located. Kenshin felt his heart become just a bit lighter and his hope grow as he looked at it.

"Thank you, houshi-sama," Kenshin said silently as he closed the man's eyes. "Rest in peace."

With that said, Kenshin and the others got up and slowly began to make their way back out. Misao walked shoulder to shoulder with Aoshi. She needed some of his strength to make it back. They stopped at the bottom of the mountain and took one last look at the temple.

"Here are different locations where Higurashi could be located. Misao, you and Aoshi go search for her in these places. While I go search for her here," Kenshin stated as he pointed to different places on the piece of paper.  "If we find him . . maybe . . maybe he would know something about Kaoru-dono . . ."

Misao and Aoshi nodded as they walked in their separate directions.

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Early Evening

Kenshin had searched every location stated on the piece of paper, but to his dismay, no information about Higurashi Miroku was known. The day was already starting to become dark. He breathed a sigh of defeat as he sat himself down next to the tree. His purple eyes gazed over at the sparkling water that was a few feet away from him. The sun cast a hypnotic gold glimmer on the pond.

Kaoru- dono . . Kaoru . . where are you?

His eyes began to tear up as he thought about her once more. Fujimoto was relentless and vicious. He would stop at nothing until he had found both her and Higurashi. Kenshin understood this and this was what scared him. What if Fujimoto finds her before I do? He shivered at the thought and the memory of the tragedy that occurred at the temple the day before. He dropped his head down and his bangs fell over his eyes.

No matter what .. I can't let that happen. I'll find you and then . . and then . .what then?, he questioned himself. What if Kaoru still would not remember him? What if Kaoru wanted to stay in China with her father? These questions came upon him like a tsunami sometimes at night, but he would not let himself get carried away in those thoughts. His only goal was that he wanted to find her.

No matter who she is with or what she decides to do and whether or not she remembers me, I'll always protect her, he asserted to himself.

He looked back up and found that night had already fallen.

A single firefly flew by him.

And tears fell from his eyes.

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Evening

"You're my son . . ."

Kaoru pursued Soujiro as he ran out of the building. She followed him for a long while until she found that he had stopped near a pond. Out of breath, she stopped and rested near a large tree.

Kaoru looked at Soujiro with a calmness in her face. She understood what the young man was going through right now. She knew about his past. His confusion and pain, they both seemed very palpable to her. For Kaoru had gotten so close to her companion in the short span of time they had been together. To find out that . . find out that they were siblings, her heart and mind were thrown into confusion. Her life compared to Soujiro's own seemed to be a walk in the park.

"Sou-chan," she whispered as she neared him. Soujiro didn't turn around to acknowledge her as he stared out into the pond. Kaoru took small, light steps as she walked up closer to him and placed a gentle hand over Soujiro's own. Then she lay her head upon his shoulder.

Soujiro didn't move.

"Soujiro, I know . . I know . . that this is . . difficult. I . .I really don't know what to say. I just want you to know that I'm really glad that we got to spend the time together that we did. I know that this is a shock, but . . I'm glad to have you as a brother. I wouldn't want anyone else."

Kaoru looked at Soujiro's visage after she finished speaking. His eyes were narrowed in emotion displaying shock, anger, sadness, and  . . . and maybe even happiness. She looked towards the pond. Fireflies had become to come out and they had begun to cast a haunting greenish-yellow glow to the entire area. She sucked in her breath.

"It's beautiful," she whispered in awe, as she said it her heart clenched in pain. For some reason, despite the beauty of it all, there was an air of sadness to it. A tear fell from her eyes unknowingly. As she continued to stare off into the pond, she felt Soujiro's palm wipe the wetness from her face. She turned towards him.

Soujiro was there gazing at her. "Kao-chan, don't cry."

With that said, Kaoru embraced him. She felt him smile and her heart lightened. Together they walked back home.

Unbeknownst to the two, a pair of lavender eyes watched from behind the tree.

-

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-

- To be continued

Author's Notes:

Please read and review! Thanks very much! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a great New Year's! I can't believe 2003 has already come to an end. Sniff sniff .. time flies by so quickly. Gomen, this chapter may seem loose in some ends, but more will be explained in the next chapter, which I will start working on this week.

Lol .. I bet you can guess who the lavender-eyed guy is in the last scene. ^_^ Anyway, that's the "first meeting".  Also, Kaoru will be meeting up with Sanosuke and Yahiko in the next chapter. =D

As you can see, I've made my character Fujimoto Akane a kind of mentally deranged man who is driven on revenge and regain of his dignity. In a sense, the man still lives in the past because he cannot give it up.

Also .. what transpired that night when Miroku's wife and "Ryo" left Miroku's side will be told in the later chapters. ^_^ Keke . . Also .. they will reveal the reason why Soujiro does not seem to remember it. I know it seems like a long stretch .. but Soujiro's physical appearance is somewhat similar to Kaoru's. Blue eyes, black hair. ^_^ Hehe . . and I like Soujiro a lot. There are a lot of clues leading up to this discovery in many of the earlier chapters. You'll probably catch them if you were to read through this fic again. I thought what would make him happiest is to have a family. That way he could learn how it was to be loved and how it feels to love. How it feels to be wanted. Anyway, I thought that by giving him a real family, he could later on find love for himself and have a family of his own: ie what it means to be a father, etc.

Here is some additional information to clear up any other questions in the chapter:

1.) Qipao – Traditional Chinese dress that is tightly fitted to the female form. It is made of silk or can be made of cotton. It usually has two high slits on the sides. ^_^ (I always wanted to see Kaoru dressed in one of these with Kenshin around .. hehehe .. wonder what our rurouni thinks)

2.) Soujiro has gotten much closer with Kaoru so he is able to make fun of her at times. ^_^ (thus the joke about Kaoru being womanly)

3.) Fujimoto and his men came to Qinghua temple to find out about the whereabouts of Higurashi Miroku. If you remember in one of the earlier chapters, Fujimoto had found out about where Higurashi had been residing at for the past couple of years in Shanghai. Since none of the monks told him any information about Higurashi, Fujimoto had mercilessly slaughtered the entire lot of them. In the end, the monk could tell that Kenshin, Aoshi, and Misao were good people. That was why he entrusted them with information about Higurashi.

4.) To elaborate: the piece of paper that the monk had slipped to them was a paper showing all the locations in China where Miroku had connections.

Reader Responses:

Naruto Fan – Thanks for reviewing all the chapters! I really appreciate it. I love Naruto also. ^_^ It's one of my favorite anime series. =)

Princess of Darkness and me – Hello! Thanks for reviewing again. ^_^ I missed you. Lol .. anyway, hope you had a great Christmas and everything.  Happy New Years!

O.Juice – Hi! Wow. Thanks so much for reviewing. I absolutely love your fic "Always" Hehe . .when are you updating it? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Happy New Years!

Ryoga – Thanks for all the great reviews. I really enjoy reading them.

Saotome – Thanks for reviewing. I hope you had a great Christmas.

The sacred night – Hehe .. I'm glad you like the story behind Kaoru's dad. ^_^ It seemed plausible enough to me. Btw, I've read your fic and really enjoyed it! ^_^

MissBehavin – Happy New Years! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know some parts are a bit confusing right now, but they'll be cleared up in the later chapters. ^_^ Btw, your new fic based on Katsu's paper is hilarious! I can't wait to read more installments. =D

Sailor-Earth 13 – Hello! Thanks for reviewing. ^_^ I'm glad you like the story so far. I hope you still enjoyed this chapter. Whatever that seems confusing in this chapter will be explained in the next one. Happy New Years!

Uganda-san – Hi! Glad you like the story! Hope you enjoy the rest.

Bubble-boi – Hi. Glad you liked it.

Kitty12perfecto – Thanks for reviewing. Yeah, there is one more major sad part to this story which will be coming up soon revolving around . . .(mumbles something incoherently)  ^_^ Happy New Years!

Shermaine – Thanks for reviewing.

Irihi – Hello! I'm so used to seeing your other name "Blazes Purple Fire" hehee. . Anyway, I hope you still enjoyed this chapter. It's different from my other ones, but anything that is confusing will be explained in the later chapters. More stuff will be revealed about the past. Lol . . it plays a major part. Happy New Years!

OniTokage – Hehe .. so Kenshin has seen Kaoru ..  "First meeting" they 'll meet again in the next chapter. I hope you liked it. Happy New Years!

Kalli – Hello! Thanks for reviewing! Lol. . Yeah, I chose Miroku as the father because I usually like having a face to a name (so I chose someone from another anime series)… anyway, yeah you're right, I chose him because of his physical appearance and because of his personality.  Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter. Happy New Years!

Boomerang-chan - =D Thanks for reviewing. Lol .. I've been watching a lot of Naruto episodes lately. It's currently my favorite. I would totally recommend it to you! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Have a great new year!

Laurika – Hello! Thanks for reviewing! Yeah, this is another looong chapter. Lol .. my longest chapter yet. I don't think I'll be writing any more chapters this long for this fic. Anyway, I hope you have a great new years! Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Kago2350 – Hehe .. Kenshin has finally found Kaoru .. ^_^ The "First Meeting".

Aimi-chan – Hi! I'm glad you enjoyed the fic so far. I hope you still enjoyed this chapter. For Sou/Kao pairing, I decided on writing another story. ^_^ You can see why. Hehe . .anyway, the family relationship between Soujiro and Kaoru is pivotal to this story and plays a big part later. You'll just have to wait and see why. ^_^

Anonymous – Thanks for reviewing! Anyway, the reason why Fujimoto wants Kaoru is because she is the daughter of Higurashi Miroku. Fujimoto hates him and wants to do anything to cause pain for him. So he decided in order to get revenge, he would also kill his daughter.

Anabell – Hi! Thanks for reviewing. I hope you will still like this story even though it's not a Sou/Kao pairing in the end. However, I am planning on writing a different story so that Sou/Kao end up together. =)

Kawaiililkitsune – Hello! Thanks for reviewing! I hope you have a great new years! I'm glad you like the story so far ^_^ *blushes. I hope you enjoy the rest.

Shiomei – Sorry about taking so long to update. This chapter is extra LOOoong to make up for the time. Happy New Years!

Catrina3 – Yeah, ^_^ I like Kaoru's personality. I'm glad you like the story so far. =D I hope you have a great new years!

Anna – Thanks for reviewing!