Kenshin and Tai loaded a large wagon with fire and earth dust crystals. They piled it as high as it would go and pulled it through the forest, away from the house. They pulled it for about an hour before they came to the cave. The two men unloaded the crystals and placed each one ten feet away from each other, spanning the first five miles of the tunnel.

"I'm going down there," Kenshin told Tai. The blonde nodded and the red-head bolted down the tunnel and into the cavern. He found the body of the Lusus Naturae. "There you are," he said to himself. He walked up to the beheaded creature and kicked the skull away from the body creeping towards it. He then picked up the body under an arm and drug it back to the entrance. He threw it on the ground in front of Tai. The younger huntsman knelt down in front of the twitching mass.

"So, what's this one's name?" he inquired.

"His name, is Seijuro Hiko the Tenth." Tai straightened in surprise.

"One of the previous masters of the hiten mitsurugi? How is that possible?"

"Simple really. Salem brought him back to life about a hundred years after he died. I've finally figured out why it works on some people and not others. In order to become a Lusus Naturae, you have to have Silver Eyes. That's why he was coming after Ruby. Whatever Salem does to them that brings them back fuses with the power of the silver light. It seems I'll have to go hunting. Are the crystals in place?"

"Yeah, they're where you told me to put them."

"Okay. I'm going to put his body in the middle of it so when we cave it in, it will be decades before we have to deal with this one again."

"There was another victim found earlier today, head and heart removed. The police still have yet to find any evidence of the culprit," Lisa Lavender reported. Yang turned off the TV and placed her face in her hands.

"That makes six killings in six days. What are we going to do? We can't keep going like this." Yang bolted upright as a tremor shook the house. Her dad and Kenshin had gone off several hours ago to seal a cave and they weren't back yet. Could that have been the explosion? It had to be.

"What was that?" Ruby yelled as she rushed down the stairs.

"I think that was Dad and Uncle Ken sealing the cave you guys found." Ruby clasped her ears in her hands.

"It was so loud and sudden it scared me." Yang patted the cushion next to her and Ruby walked over. She sat down and Yang wrapped an arm around her.

"Don't worry. As long as I can protect you, I will, and so will Dad and Uncle Ken. We're all here for you." She squeezed Ruby's shoulder. The smaller girl leaned into her sister and closed her eyes. Within minutes, Ruby had fallen asleep again.

"Wow, Uncle Ken was right, you are exhausted."

Ruby had no idea how long she slept for, but when she woke up again, she felt the familiar fabric of her sheets under her back and her blankets over her chest. She sat up and felt for her braille clock. 7:30 in the morning. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and yawned. Her exhaustion was gone, which was a plus and her bones didn't ache anymore, which was another upside. She swung her bare feet onto the floor and stood. She hooked her fingers together and pulled her arms above her head, giving the muscles a good stretch. The young girl walked over to her dresser and grabbed her shower stuff.

Ruby came out about ten minutes later and put everything away. She sat on her bed and brushed her hair out, all the while thinking about what she had said to Kenshin and her parents the previous day. After she was done, she went downstairs to get some breakfast, only to find everybody was already sitting around the table.

"Ruby, you're awake." It was Yang's voice. She heard chairs sliding around the wooden floor. They were making room for her. There were four of them at the table, but Ruby smelled five groups of food. She sauntered over to the fifth and sat down, smiling.

They started to eat the food that Kenshin had cooked for them. Every time he came around, he would make breakfast and dinner for the entire household. It was nice to sit at a table filled with loved ones. The food was so delicious that they couldn't stop eating until it was all gone. When they were finished, Kenshin gathered up all the dishes and washed them.

"I would like to say something," Ruby stated. "I want to thank all of you for understanding, what I've been going through, and I'm very grateful to be a part of this family." That's when the tears started coming. "And now I know, that I don't have to be scared of what you all will think when I finally make up my mind about what I want to be." The smile on her face was one of true gratitude.

Later that day, Ruby hitched a ride into town for a shopping trip she'd been needing to go on for a while now. She remembered the path to her favorite dust shop, From Dust Till Dawn. She knocked on the door and waited for a response.

"Come in," came the reply of Old man Shopkeep. Ruby opened the door and went straight for the counter.

"Hello, I need-"

"Let me guess, you need bullets." He cut her off.

"You know me so well."

"Would you like me to get them for you, or do you think you can do it?" he asked the small girl.

"I think I can do it. Do you have any new magazines?' she inquired.

"I got a shipment of braille weapons magazines just for you," he answered as he pointed behind him. "Oh, sorry. They're in the back, near the canisters."

"No problem. I knew you were pointing behind you." She smiled a little wickedly. "You forget I can practically see with my ears or something?"

He laughed a little at her attempted sarcasm. "I must be going a little senile in my old age." He waved his hand around his head like you would if you were calling someone cuckoo, but a little slower. The two laughed a little and Ruby waved at him as she went to hunt for fifty caliber rounds.

"Remember, when it's closing time, just tap me on the shoulder, okay?" The old man smiled as she walked off.

"As always." He went back to whatever it was that he had been doing before Ruby walked in.