Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin does not belong to me! I am merely using the characters for my own fic ^^ Ooh, don't own Pocari either.

A/N: I know, I'm nuts to start on yet another fic, when Need to Kill isn't even finished yet. _ But I just *had* to get this down on paper coz I thought it'd make a really good story. Ah…the inspiration came from the song 'Haunted' by Evanescence, and the 'Forbidden Game' trilogy by L.J. Smith. This fic is an AR; an Alternate Reality to the RK storyline, and although it does kinda include some parts of the original manga in the fic, it is way, waaaaay different. Oh, and should I tell you that Battousai and Kenshin are two different people? Anyway, this is a supernatural/romance genre fic, and hope that you enjoy it! Btw, it's rated R for a reason, as you'll see soon enough in the rest of the chapters for yourself ;P Btw, this will be updated whenever I'm done with a chapter or whenever I feel like writing, so sorry in advance, 'kay? Need to Kill still comes first. Without further ado, enjoy the fic!

Haunted

Chapter 1: The Watcher

Alongside the world that humans know as Earth, there is a world known as Transience, filled with beings known only as Watchers and the Elders. As their title befits them, the Watchers watch the many different timelines of humans, for millions exist, and the numbers are far beyond what we could ever imagine. The data received from the timelines is then given to the Elders, who then proceed to do as they wish with the 'lines, changing situations, lives and whole worlds with their will alone.

Although Watchers are given much free reign with the many abilities that are given to them, they all suffer from one thing in common:

Boredom.

At first, it is a novelty, to watch the lives of humans pass by, while they live on, eternal. Humans are fragile beings to them, here in one minute of Transience time, gone in the next. But some Watchers, however, may just become more fascinated as time goes by, loving their only source of entertainment, and so, slowed the timeline to their liking as they pleased. So it surprises none that sometimes Watchers develop certain attachments to the worlds, or timelines that they Watch, and at times even individuals, known only as Addictions. There is no rule in the Watcher's book that states that Addictions with individuals are not allowed, but sometimes these may cause the Watcher to interfere with the timeline of the world that they watch, and this is strictly forbidden by the Elders.

Yet, tales of Watchers who have fallen in love with mere mortals do exist, and this is one of them.

~*~

He stood there in the darkness, an unseen wind whipping his long crimson hair into his face, and he pushed the locks out of his face, somewhat annoyed. Yet, his amber eyes were trained on the actions of the young girl with laughing dark blue eyes and long ebony locks. It had been a long time since he had seen her last; a lifetime, to say the least. He inhaled the non-existent breath of air that he had no need to breath, but it was a pleasure he enjoyed that humans didn't seem to notice. Flicking his wrist once, the image of the girl disappeared, and he was once again surrounded in darkness. The overwhelming passion that he had had for her so many hundreds of years ago had not dissipated at all; in fact, it only seemed to have grown stronger. He was well aware of the lust that he held for this human girl, but it wasn't only that.

Somehow, some way, he had fallen deeply in love with her.

And she, in turn, had fallen for him, but not him exactly either. She had loved his Clone. Back in the other timeline, at least that was whom she had fallen for. She had not met his counterpart in this timeline yet. Settling back into what humans would call a 'couch', he sighed as his weight sunk into the plush black cushions, his matching black suit the same colour as his seat. It was only a matter of time before his Clone met up with her again.

It had been a game at first, just one of the harmless little experiments to 'mould' a copy of himself into a human and watch his life proceed as any Watcher would do, something that was often used to offlay the boredom that all Watchers experienced, but it had turned into an Addiction that he couldn't seem to get rid off. He had had no trouble with just observing before, but somewhere along the line, she had showed up in his domain, and his fascination with her knew no bounds. Still, as a Watcher, all that he could do was watch the proceedings between his Clone and her with interest, while he, himself, stood alone and cold in the eternity of darkness.

A cigarette appeared in his left hand, the end igniting easily with the mere glance of his eyes. Putting it to his lips, he took a long drag on it before blowing out the thin white smoke veil. The very human, material objects gave him comfort; he probably would have 'died of boredom' as humans said, if there were no such things. Such was the lonely life of a Watcher.

It wasn't as if there were no others like him; quite the contrary really, many female and male Watchers had tried to pursue a 'relationship' with him, some strange enigmatic attraction to him that was purely sexual. He had no interest in such trivial nonsense, for they only wanted to Mate for more power. Among the numerous Watchers who existed, he was one of the Oldest, one of those who had existed since Time itself came into existence. Although he kept a rather low profile, it didn't stop the new ignorant ones or the persistent ones from making a move on him, but it was of no consequence; he would always disappear from their sight, moving to a new Bounder outside of their reach so that they could never find him. Besides, his notorious image as a frequent rule-bender was what made him well known by all the Watchers. After all, he wasn't called Battousai for just his skill with swords alone, something he had picked up from watching humans fight.

In his entire existence as a Watcher, there were only two that he could call 'acquaintances': the Wolf himself and Shinomori. The other two Watchers had also held similar interests that he did to the human race, and had made their own Clones to progress with the timeline. It had been amusing really, to watch his Clone fight against the Wolf's Clone. And then of course, there had been his Watcher Master, but he didn't really count.

Although the Watchers served nothing more than as a source of information for the Elders, they were nonetheless forbidden to directly interfere with human affairs, with the exception of Clones. He narrowed his eyes in consideration.

That one human girl, however, was intriguing enough to make him want to break the rules. A devious smile crept across his lips and the gold in his eyes glinted in the darkness.

Maybe he would break the rules.

~*~

The door clicked and the knob turned. Kamiya Kaoru entered her new apartment happily, trying to balance a huge heap of boxes in her arms as she tried hard to look over the pile to see where she was going. Setting the boxes down in a corner of the apartment, she smiled to herself, satisfied and proud of the fact that it would be her new home for the next year or so. She had gotten the apartment at a very cheap price, for some unknown reason, and the landlord had even sold it to her, apparently very eager to get rid of it. She shrugged to herself; either way, it didn't really matter now, the apartment was hers after all, and she'd be able to do what she would with it.

"Oi, jou-chan, where do you want these?" She turned to find Sagara Sanosuke almost squished under a pile of boxes. Her best friend since kindergarten, they had gone through their lives together, but strangely enough, only maintained nothing more than a platonic relationship. Besides, Sanosuke's girlfriend, Megumi, was more than he could handle, and although she was prone to jealous fits sometimes, both the women had an understanding between them that Kaoru thought of Sano as nothing more than an older brother figure. Sanosuke and Megumi were both in the year above her. The pair had started dating in junior year of highschool, and even now, two years later, the couple was still going strong.

She thought for a moment, then pointed to the clutter of boxes that she had brought in earlier. "Over there, please. I'll just unpack them later." The spiky-haired man obliged, moving to the corner under the heavy weight, making clouds of dust fly when he deposited the load none-too-gently on the floor.

"Sagara Sanosuke!" Kaoru reprimanded as she coughed hard as a result of the flying dust. "Did you have to do that?"

"Shit, jou-chan," He rubbed his arms; a sudden coldness seemed to envelop him; was it just him or had the temperature dropped a couple of degrees? "Are the windows open or something? Coz it's fucking freezing."

She frowned at him. "What on earth are you talking about, Sanosuke? It's perfectly warm." Walking over to him, she put a hand to his forehead to check his temperature, which he promptly tried to avoid. "Maybe you're coming down with something? I think you'd better get Megumi to check it." Megumi was a second year med student, and was already considered their 'family' doctor of sorts; whenever anyone in their clique came down with something, they automatically went to find her.

He brushed Kaoru's hand away. "Whatever you say Kaoru, but it sure is cold. Brr! I need a hot drink! Come on, let's go to the café first, we can always move the rest of your stuff later." The spiky-haired man made for the front door of the apartment, leaving Kaoru behind. The girl sighed; if she wanted Sanosuke to help her move the rest of her stuff up to the apartment, there was nothing else she could do but follow him; besides, she wanted to have a look around the surrounding area to see where the good restaurants and shops were, since she'd be around for about a year or so.

She pulled the door shut behind her, turning the key in the lock until she heard the decisive click that told her it was locked. Her footsteps clicked in the corridor of the building as she ran towards the lift that Sanosuke was already in.

"Hey, hurry up, slowpoke!" Kaoru barely made it to the lift before the doors closed behind him. In retaliation, she stuck her tongue out at him. A soft 'ding' was emitted as they reached the ground floor, and the lift doors opened. Kaoru huffed, stepping out of the lift first before she whirled around to face Sanosuke, jabbing her index finger in his face.

"You're paying!"

~*~

A spot in the apartment shimmered amongst the dust. If anyone had been watching, they would have said that there had suddenly been a collection of particles in one spot of the room, and then a figure had apparently appeared out of nowhere. The figure shimmered slightly in the light, translucent to the light that shone through the windows. His eyes darted around the apartment, and he sniffed the air slightly, amber eyes narrowed. A positively sensual smile drew across his lips, as he smelt the faint hint of jasmine in the room. His voice was haunting as he spoke to the empty room.

"Found you at last, Kaoru."

~*~

Kaoru turned in the wicker seat that she had been sitting in, inclining her head towards the window. She frowned slightly to herself; she could have sworn that she had heard someone calling her name.

"Something wrong?" Sanosuke returned with a mocha latte and a black coffee. He had returned to the table with their drinks, only to find Kaoru staring out of the window, seemingly looking at something that he couldn't see.

She shook her head, and then smiled. "Nah, just though I heard something. Brain playing tricks on me again." He shrugged, offering her the mocha latte. She took it from him gratefully, long fingers wrapping around the thin plastic cup and drawing in the warmth from it. This time she looked out of the window, purely for the sake of looking at the surrounding that were outside the café. It was a bit of a suburban area, not too quiet, but away from the bustle of city life as well, and she enjoyed it. Kaoru looked out to see children smiling and playing happily in the playground, their mouths opening and closing in happy smiles and laughs as they ran across the compound.

The area had a beautiful park and enough shops and restaurants to keep her interested; besides, if she ever wanted to go to the city, it was nothing more than a train ride away. She sipped her drink as she turned her eyes back to Sanosuke. He was looking at her expectantly, and she realized that he had asked her a question, that she had not heard at all because she had been so zoned out.

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" The man rolled his eyes at her in mock exasperation. He was way too acquainted with Kaoru's daydreaming moods, but it was something that he would never exactly get used to.

"I said: when are you getting a boyfriend?" It was Kaoru's turn to roll her eyes at him.

"I would have thought that you, Sanosuke, of all people would understand why I don't want to get one at this point in time. For one thing, you know that it would be hard for me to get close to another guy because of…what happened last time, and for another thing, I want to concentrate on my studies." She shook her head slightly at the unhappy memories.

Sanosuke's eyes softened slightly. "Jou-chan, I know that he was a total bastard, but it's been more than a year now. Surely you've gotten over it by now? And besides, me n' Meg would worry about you, being a new neighbourhood and all. Can't always come over ya know. It would be so much easier if you had another man to look after you." Sanosuke had been a brother figure to Kaoru ever since her parents had died in a car crash, had always been there for her when she needed him. But things were different now. They were adults, and they both need their own space; it was the reason why Kaoru had moved away from Sanosuke's place in the first place.

Kaoru's eyes burned an angry blue as she retorted. "Something like that is hard to get over Sanosuke." She put her hands on either side of the table, gripping hard onto them as she leaned closer to him. "If something like that ever happened to Megumi, she'd feel the same way too." She hissed at him angrily before settling back slightly into her seat. "And I don't need anyone to look after me. I can look after myself fine. Besides, Misao and Aoshi live around here, so I'll do fine, thank you very much." Her best friend and cousin lived near her, but were currently on a trip with some friends from the restaurant that they worked in.

Sanosuke winced at her cold tone; him and his blabbermouth had gone too far again. "Jou-chan, you know I wasn't trying to make it sound that way, but still…"

"I don't need your advice in finding boyfriends, Sagara Sanosuke, and that is final." Her voice was clipped as she gave her reply, but her eyes softened slightly. "I know that you mean well, Sano, but I'm old enough to fight my own battles now. This isn't kindergarten any longer where you can try to protect me from the other bullies." Kaoru looked up and smiled slightly at him. "But thanks, anyway."

He reached a hand over to ruffle her hair slightly, offering a small smile as form of apology. "Anytime, jou-chan, anytime." He looked at his watch, noting the time. "Well, it'll be time for me to go soon. So let's go back and move that stuff of yours, huh?" Picking up his cup of black coffee, he pushed his chair back and stood. "Meg said she's cookin' something tonight, and I don't wanna get yelled at."

Kaoru stood too and drained her latte before leaving the empty cup on the table as she followed Sanosuke out of the shop.

~*~

Pulling the refrigerator door open, she reached inside to pull a can of Pocari out. Nudging the door shut with her foot, she settled into one of the stools in the kitchen, tired out from moving stuff around and cleaning up the apartment before she unpacked her stuff. A satisfied sigh escaped her as the cooling liquid went down her throat, a very welcome refreshment to the work that had left her feeling tired. She looked around the kitchen, pleased with how squeaky clean everything was after she had given the place a well needed clean up. Peering at the rest of the living room, she nodded to herself, also happy with the arrangement of the sofa and the TV, courtesy of Sanosuke.

After vigorously scrubbing the floor that she had claimed as hers, she had laid out the bed sheets and blankets on her new bed, all ready for her to collapse in after she had had her shower. Wrinkling her nose at the smell of sweat, she rose from the stool, chucking her empty can in the trash, then grabbed a towel, T-shirt and panties from her room before entering the toilet.

Discarding her dirty clothes on the floor of the bathroom, she pulled her hair out of the high ponytail that she kept it up in and stepped into the shower, pulling the shower door shut behind her. Sighing contentedly as the hot jet of water hit her skin, she indulged in the water that flowed over the contours of her body, washing away grime and dirt that had been accumulated during the day. The sound of the shower shut the rest of the world out, and for this, Kaoru was thankful.

Little did Kaoru know that she wasn't the only one in the bathroom.

A/N: Love it? Hate it? R&R please ^^ Ooh, yes, and before you go, let me explain some of the key terms that have been, and will be used in this story.

Transience - the world in which Watchers and Elders exist.

Watchers – beings who exist in Transience; they do what they are named to do, namely, they watch over numerous human timelines and human worlds that exist. They don't actually have names either, but nicknames are given because there are too many of them to remember all their numbers.

Elders – nicknamed by the Watchers as 'The Powers that Be'; they exist in Transience along with Watchers, but are more powerful, and they are the ones who are able to create or wipe out timelines or worlds as they wish

Addictions – prolonged fascination or attachment to worlds, timelines or human individuals. Watchers often joke about this, but human Addictions may be dangerous if the Watcher falls in love with him/her and acts on it. It is strictly forbidden for Watchers to interfere with the timelines or worlds by going into the timeline or world by himself or herself, with the exception of the use of Clones.

Clones – 'models' made in the image of individual Watchers. Clones can participate in the Watcher's own timeline or world, or if allowed, may participate in another Watcher's timeline or world. The Clones live their lives out in the human worlds just like any other normal human would, something that Watchers envy, because they are not allowed to set foot into the Worlds. Clones also have human life spans, and exist according to the planned out timeline or world.

Mate – Ah…sexual intercourse for Watchers. Watchers that have just been born into existence may wish to seek out Older Watchers and have sex with them so that they can gain more power. Most of the time, Watchers have sex just for the sake of gaining more power, but some of them only Mate if they have found a partner that they want to be with.

Older Watchers – Watchers who have been in existence for a long time, and as a result have a lot of power.

Pocari - ^^ Japanese sports drink thingy that's pretty popular. Something like Lucozade or Gatorade if you *must* know.

Well then, hope to see people around in the next chapter which will (hopefully) be written soon! Thanks to everyone who bothered to read this! ^^