Enishi was silently worn out from work that day. It had been busier than most, especially with the other blacksmith booked up solid, people who didn't want to wait came to him. He stretched out, glad that in relation to his past workouts, a day of forging was light. But the people… that's what wore him out the most. Human relations were not his high point.

He left the crowds behind as soon as he left the main square. He was glad he had already made a habit of closing shop earlier than most, he couldn't have dealt with much more nonsense. Some people were so picky about everything, he'd like to see them try to do it if they were so all fired to get it right. Enishi grumbled.

Kaoru saw Enishi's shoulders and head appear above the wall surrounding the dojo a little after 3pm. She smiled. Hopefully Enishi would be up to it. She ran out to meet him, wanting to talk to him before anyone else interfered.

"Hey pst Enishi, she said as she ran around the wall, dragging him back before he got to the entrance. "I gotta ask you a favor" she grinned at him, shill whispering. Enishi raised an eyebrow and forgot his annoyance. This was unexpected.

Kaoru related the meeting with the new boy Jineh. He didn't quite get why she giggled at the name, but he left it alone.

"And what did you want me to do?" he asked curiously.

"Ah I wanted you to pretend to be his teacher." She said smiling. He narrowed his eyes, but not seriously.

"I hope you aren't going to ask me to purposely suck at teaching him. I have my pride." Kaoru shook her head vehemently

"No, no, not at all" She exclaimed, almost forgetting that she was whispering "You don't have to do anything like that. I just figure if you're really harsh on teaching him, he'll go to a girl hoping it'll be easier" she grinned. Enishi snorted

"I'm not an easy teacher anyway."

"So you'll do it?" Kaoru looked at him expectantly. Enishi wondered if he wouldn't regret this, but it seemed harmless enough.

"I'll do it" he replied, far from forgetting that things were never as they seemed. "Now where's this boy" he asked. Kaoru lunged and grabbed his wrist and almost ran to the dojo, leading him, but slowed down before they got in the view of anyone else.

Enishi did his best to look disgruntled, but he was really enjoying this. Kaoru was obviously rather trusting of him. It was nice to know that kidnapping someone and trying to kill the closest thing to their fiancée didn't stand against him in the long run. He almost snickered aloud at that thought.

"Jin!" Kaoru yelled, just short of screaming. Enishi winced. The boy rushed into the room and came to a screeching halt. His eyes were rather wide and he almost looked scared. To the boys credit though, he quickly caught himself, looking pissy as he frowned at Kaoru.

"What." He asked, he looked as if he had just eaten some of Kaoru's cooking… Enishi wondered what he'd look like when he actually had… and he couldn't stop a smile from temporality turning up the corners of his mouth cynically.

Enishi Eyed the boy as Kaoru explained to Jin that he'd be his teacher. The boy didn't look unlike he had when he was that age… except he was a lot shorter… like almost two feet shorter. His hair didn't stick up quite so much, falling haphazardly about his face. The strands were thinner, maybe it could compare better as a shorter Sano's hair…

He was a bit on the thick side, not fat or chubby, but obviously he hadn't done much exercise in his life. That would change. Then there was the attitude. Nothing wrong with a bit of bitterness, but the boy was more sullen than anything else. An annoying emotion to say the least.

"So Enishi, you ganna teach me something or what" Jin said, snapping Enishi out of his thoughts. Enishi looked down at the boy with what he knew was one of his most bored, yet still disdainful expressions.

"Look boy. I agreed to take you on even though you're obviously not worth my interest. I suggest you show some respect." He said. Jin's expression wavered a bit, yet once again, he caught himself. Enishi grinned to himself in his mind. The boy was good. He still had a ways to go, but this would be amusing in and of itself, despite the fact that Kaoru asked him to do it.

"What exactly do you mean by that, Enishi sir" he said mockingly, dragging out the sir.

"Exactly what I said." Enishi said, glaring at him. "If I were to be ridiculous I'd tell you to call me Great powerful master sir" he said raising an eyebrow "but titles are not important, so I suggest you refrain from using one to refer to me." Enishi walked out of the dojo. "That also means that my name is not for you to use. Anyone asks you who's teaching you, tell them it's not important. If you want to talk to me.. don't. The only word I want to hear from you is Yes, unless I specifically state otherwise."

Enishi stopped in the middle of the yard and turned around. He undid his outer shirt and threw it on the branches of a nearby tree. He stretched out, noticing the boy was looking at him with wide eyes. He grinned. Most people expected him to be scrawny.

"For any additional words you feel like speaking, you've got to earn the right by hitting me." Jin just stared, making no move to do anything. Enishi almost laughed. Damn this boy was brought up in a bubble or something.

"You're going to have to prove you can do anything useful on your own before I'm going to teach you anything anyway. Now hit me." Enishi said plainly. Jin squared his jaw and swung at Enishi. The swing was slow, amateur, and Enishi didn't even have to sidestep to dodge it.

"What are you swinging at, a post? Nothing else would just sit there while you hit it." Enishi said. Jin swung at him more angrily and a little faster. Enishi smiled. A few days of this and the kid would be in shape enough to stand his more rigorous training régime.

* * * *

Kenshin watched Kaoru walk back in the dojo after handing off the new kid to Enishi. He wondered if that was really a good idea. Enishi's insanity might catch on the kid. Kenshin frowned, now that he thought about it, Enishi hadn't acted anything like he had anytime Kenshin had seen him before he came here.

He'd been so intent on the bottom line that he hadn't noticed the underlying message. Enishi was obviously over his sister's death. He didn't know why he hadn't realized it before. That brought up a disturbing question though. Why was he here. Tomoe's brother had been an intelligent scheming child, despite his obvious bad control on his emotions. The kind of person who never did anything without a reason behind it, usually two.

Now maybe it really was true he had nowhere else to go. And undoubtedly this would be the last place the cops would look for the ex-Mafia boss. With anyone else he may have accepted those as valid reasons, and while he was sure Enishi had considered them, it just didn't ring true.

Kenshin shook himself out of his reverie as Kaoru walked past him, not noticing the former Assassin's form in the shadows of the wall. He had no time to wonder about Enishi's reasoning now. There was something he'd come here to do. He stepped out of the shadows, silently falling in step behind Kaoru.

"Kaoru" Kenshin spoke her name, dropping the usual formal dono. Would she notice? Kaoru turned around in obvious surprise. She'd noticed.

"Kenshin?" she asked, an almost imperceptible shakiness to her voice "Where'd you come from" Kenshin noticed. Was she… afraid of him? He shook the idea off as ridiculous and went on.

"I've been meaning to tell you.." he started, trailing off before he tried again "That is about you I…"

"Ah!" Kaoru exclaimed, interrupting him mid-sentence. "I've got to check on the food. Don't want it tasting any worse than usual!" she said running off with a brief apologetic smile.

Kenshin stared after her, mouth still open and his eyes a little wide. She ran off! He frowned. She hadn't even started making dinner yet. Kenshin's stomach flopped uncomfortably. Did that mean… she didn't want to hear what he had to say? She had to know what he was about to say..

It was the only explanation he could think of. She'd run away from him. And the apologetic smile, that certainly wasn't for the food. Had he just imagined the slight hint of pity in that look? Maybe not. More than anything, Kenshin refused to even think of the suggestion that Kaoru might not return his feelings. She'd always been the most enthusiastic of the two. She was just afraid of change, his mind insisted. If any situation deserved an Oro, Kenshin thought wryly to himself, this was it.

* * * *

"You want some" Sano asked, offering the girl a hunk of greasy chicken. Aneka accepted warily, almost dropping it, her fingers slipping on the grease. Sano laughed. Aneka just blinked at him as she took a bite out of the meat. She still couldn't figure this guy out. Over the last few hours though, she'd learned quite a few things. One was his name, Sanosuke. And the other? Well, he was an incorrigible mooch.

Aneka herself couldn't ever imagine being one. She hated being in any sort of debt, and practically everything Sano did, to her qualified as a debt. She could tell he wasn't the kind of person who really thought of it in that light. But people had always told Aneka she had a rather Old-fashioned way of thinking.

Now she was in debt to Sano. Fun. She frowned slightly as she took another bite of the deliciously seasoned chicken. She just wondered what he planned to do. Like as any, whatever he did would just put her in a worse off situation than she'd been left in. She sighed.

"So what now" she asked Sano, although it sounded more like a statement. What indeed. Sano chuckled at her and responded in that intriguing accent of his, with the slight rolls of his R's and inflections where there should be none.

"Now? Hmm. Well you met my friends" he started. Aneka nodded. His gambling buddies. Sano had made her guess all the dice rolls. Oddly she'd gotten most of them right. "And we've gotten ourselves some food." Aneka rolled her eyes. They'd practically done a hit and run at a restaurant for it. "Unless you wanna hit some bars, we can go crash at my place."

"At your place…" Aneka said dumbly. He acted like she was some long distance friend come to visit after years away, not a hostage. "You're a guy" she stated equally as stupidly. Sano nodded.

"Last I checked." He responded, entirely missing the point. Aneka sighed. She doubted he was the type to molest her or anything, but she'd feel kinda funny sleeping in the same place as a guy that wasn't 3 years younger than her. She also had the feeling his 'place' had little more than a room and a closet. Maybe she could sleep in the closet.

"Ah, lets hit a few bars" she said. Maybe if she was drunk she'd fall asleep right off. And she didn't doubt that Sano could get her into a bar despite her young looks. Sano beamed at her as if that was exactly what he wanted to do, which it likely was.

It would be a long night… though she had to admit, all of this stuff was rather fun. She'd never gambled, ran off before paying at a restaurant, or gotten drunk before. It was defiantly never boring.