Disclaimer: *Starts whistling the Rurouni Kenshin theme song while people look at her rather expectantly.* "Huh? What?" *Realizes she hasn't disclaimed RK yet* "Oh okay, if you insist, I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, and I won't in the next chapter either." *shakes head* J/K. Well, er, not about the not owning RK part anyway…

Chapter 4

Battousai looked at Misao. Or Kaoru, if what she just said was right. He hardly noticed he was scowling as he thought about what that meant.

If Kamiya wasn't the telepath, then he was just wasting time keeping her with him. But at this point, there was no way he could bring her back. She knew too much, even in the short time they'd been together. It would be too easy for her to give a description of him now, and who was to say she wouldn't tell about this whole thing?

The only other way to get rid of her would be to kill her. And the more he thought about it, the more it sounded like a good idea. But something stopped him. It was the voice in his head that reminded him that it was completely his fault she was even here in the first place. It was he who had failed the mission.

That was the other thing her being Kamiya meant. Battousai could honestly not remember more than three missions he had failed. Two had gotten a report of his plans and hid, and the third he had only managed to maim. And with the first two, he had gone back and fixed his mistake.

The side of him that he had locked away since becoming the Battousai was now seeming to come out. It was Kenshin Himura, who he used to be. And even Battousai's honor was against him murdering an innocent girl for his mistake. But she can't know about me! , he was screaming in his head.

Kaoru had started staring at him when his eyes began going from amber to purple, and then back again.

"Uh, earth to Kenshin?"

"What," His eyes instantly changed back to their usual icy amber.

"How about we make a deal?" She almost sounded rather happy. She had certainly snapped out what she was feeling earlier fast enough.

"What could you offer," he asked, a slight smirk on his face, "that I would want?"

"For starters, I'll tell you whatever you want to know about me,"

"And what makes you think I'd want to know anything about you?" His smirk grew after he said this. He wanted to see her reply.

"Well," She surprised him by putting an innocent looking smile on, "besides the fact that Misao might not be the only one with powers…Oh, and a few other things I might could tell you about,"

"And what if I make you tell me myself?" His hand now moved to the hilt of his katana.

"What if I lie?"

"Trust me, I'll know,"

"Well then I'll cook as well, as an add-on," At this, she wanted to burst out laughing. She settled on a wider smile. As much as she hated to admit it, and though she never would to anyone else, Kaoru Kamiya knew she was a horrible cook. "C'mon, I'll cook and I'll tell you everything. All I'm asking for is one tiny favor. You don't even have to do anything."

"Though I could make you do that as well, what do you want?" He dropped the smirk from his face, and looked her in the eyes.

"I want to make a phone call," She dropped her act as well.

* * *

The last man fell after a hit from the flat side of Soujiro's sword. He, like the others, was still alive.

"Dang!" Misao exclaimed, "They're all knocked out! I can't scan their minds now!"

"Excuse me, Misao-san, but I don't think I heard what you said,"

"Oh heck…" Why do I keep doing that?! I really can't keep my mouth shut, can I?!

Pretending he hadn't said anything, she asked, "Um, Soujiro, how exactly are we gonna get out of here? The gas tank on my car is leaking and two tires are flat!"

"I guess we could walk…" he started, but was quickly cut off by Misao's voice.

"Walk!?! What about my car? We aren't leaving it here!"

"Unless you have a better idea…"

She stood still for a moment, trying to come up with something. Her cell phone was at home, on her bed, and he didn't have his either. And besides, who would she call? Kaoru would have been her first choice. What would she do, call Collect and ask to speak with the Hitokiri Battousai? She snorted.

"But what about those idiots that just attacked us?"

"Well, they weren't that difficult. I'm sure I could protect you if-"

Misao sniffed, annoyed. "I, Makimachi Misao, can protect myself. And just for the record, you're getting air-headed,"

And when he started to laugh, she added, "And will you quit smiling!!"

* * *

"There's no way I'm letting you use the phone in here to make a call. My phone number in your caller ID would be rather noticeable,"

"Duh. I wasn't talking about that. I meant a cell phone,"

"Well I'm not letting you use that either. It's only for business—" He stopped when he saw her rolling her eyes.

"You're getting paranoid, aren't you? I didn't say your phone. It really doesn't matter. Call one of your killing-buddies up here and let me use theirs. I just need to make one really important phone call in the next hour—"

"What happened to your brother and sisters dying?" A sarcastic edge was now in Battousai's voice.

"What do you think I'm wasting my time trying to make a deal with you over!?" She blurted out in exasperation, then putting a hand to her mouth in shock of what she had just said. With anybody else, they would already have been dead by Battousai's sword. He had never let anyone talk to him like that. So why was he letting a girl he had known for only a day start now? He told himself it was out of surprise. She had looked somewhat surprised herself, but she hadn't shown a single ounce of regret or fear whatsoever. That was strange. Grown men were terrified of his name but a short, teenage girl was standing here yelling at him.

His icy glare returning, she softened her tone. "Please. I promise, I'll tell you how I know this as soon as I can call. And I won't tell anything! I just need to get Yahiko to go find Ayame and Suzume before-" She cut off, biting her lip and looking down.

Whispering the rest, she finished, "Before they drown," And once again, she struggled keeping her tears from showing.

"Use this," Battousai said simply, walking over and getting something off of the kitchen table, "It was in one of the men I killed in Kyoto's pocket,"

He was completely astonished by a grinning Kaoru running and throwing her arms around him. She quickly let go, blushing slightly. "Er, sorry. But thank you! See look," she jabbered on, "You aren't as much of a jerk as I thought you were!"

A/N: You know what? I'm actually starting to get this plot sorted out. Hehe, miracles do happen…Another one being that I'm actually on chapter 4. Definitely a miracle. Well, I hope you guys are enjoying this. My writing skills are no where near excellent, but I'm having fun writing.

Reviewers~

You guys, I really didn't expect this. Thanks bunches!!

Unique-starfish~ Thanks! I hope it was ^_^

Crystal Renee~ THANK YOU!!! *Hugs back* I'm glad you like J . And I appreciate the review ^_^ Hehe, I think Kaoru is taking on a bit of my personality…except I doubt Kenshin would have thought twice about killing me. Lol, I probably would be annoying *innocent grin*

l3al3yanime~ Thank you, and I'll try to (Fall break helps a lot *g*)

ReinaQueen~ Hehe, I hope it was *g* And I'm on fall break (YAY!!!) , so hopefully I'll get in some writing time.