Yume Kazerei: I liked that line too! ^_^

Thank you so much to Istoria, dizzy devil, selene, Koneko-dono, cool camzy blue, Susan and Gypsy-chan.

I actually posted chapter 10 right before I went to bed the other night, and decided to proofread the new chapter first thing in the morning. I was shocked to see I already received 100 reviews that morning, even before I had the chance to proofread chap 11, and despite the problems with submitting reviews. Thank you so much to the fantastic readers of this fic!! Special thanks go to Susan and Gypsy-chan who took the time and effort to send me a review through email when ff.net had problems. Anyway, the point of this long rambling is to apologize for the late update. Right after I finished proofreading this chapter (which wasn't easy because it was so long! (Is that good news for anyone?), I guess ff.net had problems again 'coz I could not log in!! And then I tried yesterday, and after a hundred attempts, I still could not log in to my account! *Sigh*

I'm really sorry.

Enough with that. Get ready for a long chapter! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin. This fic is entirely fictional and Japan did not have a Project Messiah nor a Mission Messiah as far as I know. I did not write the haiku below. Harold G. Henderson did the translation.

Other Side of the Moon

Carpe Diem

Chapter 11

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Summer grasses----

The afterward of strong

Men's dreams.

---Matsuo Basho

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kaoru could not sleep well the previous night. The thought of having to live a new identity plagued her mind. Giving up on the hope that she'll be able to sleep straight and comfortably anymore, she decided to take a long hot bath and go to school earlier than usual. She arrived an hour and a half before her class started. Naturally, the classroom was empty, which was very fine for her. She wasn't in the mood to mingle and socialize because it is so early, she lacks sleep, and is very burdened by her "more personal" problems.

Kaoru zoned out for quite sometime I guess, and pretty distant too because she didn't notice that a fellow classmate has stepped inside the room. "Good morning," the newcomer said.

Kaoru came out of her own little world and stared at the voice's source. She practically gaped at the owner for a few seconds before he finally registered. "Oh, hi Kenshin! Didn't notice you come in," Ryo greeted.

"That's alright. You're early today, can't recall of any other time when you arrived before me," Kenshin said which earned a half-smile from Ryo. He continued, "So, how come you're so early today?"

"I just got up earlier than usual, and I can't go back to sleep anymore," he tried to answer as plainly as he can.

"I see, but you seem to be still half-asleep."

"I'm not a morning person," Ryo answered and flashed Kenshin a lopsided grin. Kenshin smiled at this while he continued to stare at Ryo.

Kaoru felt her cheeks heat up when she saw Kenshin smile. She also noticed Kenshin's eyes to stay on her, which caused her to immediately look the other way. 'Why is he staring at me? He looks so cute.' She thought guiltily while trying hard to avoid eye contact.

Kenshin's smile only grew bigger when he saw her blush and then try to hide it by breaking the eye lock. 'If only I can tell you that I know.' He thought before adding mentally, 'On the other hand, I like this quite a bit. She looks so cute when she blushes. Ahem... let's rephrase that a bit, when I make her blush.' Kenshin noted with a touch of ego.

"Sooooo…what's up Kenshin?" Ryo said as he tried to break the tension.

"Nothing---" Kenshin was about to say 'nothing really' when a better idea came to mind. "Maybe you can help me out with something," he said instead.

"Sure, if I can, why not? What is it?" Ryo answered.

"You see, there's this girl I like," he opened up.

Ouch. 'Girl? Girl he likes?' Ouch. "And---?" Ryo managed to release.

"Actually, change that. I just don't 'like her,' I really, really like her," Kenshin spoke again.

Ouch. 'Does this guy know how much this talk is hurting me? It's like he's stabbing me to death!' "Ok, then what's the problem?" Ryo tried to answer as emotionless as possible, putting her years of attending acting workshops in action.

Kenshin who in the meantime, is keenly observing Kaoru's reactions, continued rather disappointedly when he saw the confession had no effect on her at all, "Well, I don't think she knows, not even a clue. I don't know where to start. Besides, she probably does not even notice me, other than as a friend."

'Who could not notice you? I'm going to kick the hell out of this girl if she dares to ignore you! Wait a sec, why am I helping her anyway? She's stealing you away from me! ------ Not that you were ever mine in the first place.' Kaoru blushed as she ended her thought. Luckily Kenshin didn't notice her since their other classmates started arriving. He was busy greeting the other students. Kaoru continued her musings while Kenshin was occupied. 'I better squeeze the truth from Kenshin today since this is the last day we'll ever be together anyway! I have the right to know whom I'm going to lose to, ------ even if there was no competition in the beginning anyway. Mou! Why do I have to finish my thoughts with such statements??'

"Sorry about that, you still with me?" Kenshin said once he finished greeting their classmates.

"Yeah," Ryo answered then continued, "May I ask who's this 'girl' we're talking about?"

"A girl?" Misao, who appeared out of nowhere, said.

"Now we're talking, who's the special girl Kenshin?" Sano, who suddenly appeared just like Misao, added.

"Just this girl, who Kenshin likes," Ryo answered, while restraining herself to answer sarcastically or very bitterly.

"Oooooh…not the best time to go date Kenshin," Misao teased.

Kaoru, who was very into the topic, raised inquisitive eyebrows and asked, "Why not?"

"'Coz my uncle just loaded me with tons of work. Remember I work for him during the summer? Well, he figured since summer's almost here, it wouldn't hurt to start helping out," Kenshin quickly filled Ryo in.

"Yeah, Kenshin won't have time to take this 'girl' out 'coz he'll be all busy and stuck with his uncle," finished Sano.

"I see. You still haven't given us her name?" Ryo asked.

"It is very unlikely of you Hirameshi-san to poke around somebody else's personal life. I've always seen you as a quiet young man who respects other people's privacy."

"Shinomori-sensei?!?!?" a startled Ryo said. 'What is up with people appearing out of thin air today?'

"I advise you to reschedule your discussion of Himura-san's life. Class will start right now."

"Yes sir," the four answered together.

'Oh no. Aoshi knows. The last time he acted like this was when he discovered my crush on this really cute classmate I had. He's being all protective again! I swear, if I become an old maid, it'll all be his fault. He wants me to be just like him--- all work, and no fun.

Mou…he knows!!! He knows I like Kenshin!!! I'm so embarrassed.' Kaoru thought miserably, as the math teacher started the day's lesson.

**

The day went by fast, and as normal as any school day can be. The four friends hang out together with the occasional teasing, squabbles, and laughter. However, this normal day was about to end for most of them, if not all.

Sometime during the afternoon, Kenshin noticed a new message on his pager. It was a numeric page that had his home phone. 'Shishou,' he thought. The only time Hiko pages him is if there was an emergency meeting, or if something unplanned has happened. 'Something's going to happen tonight,' he predicted almost surely.

**

The meeting was scheduled later that afternoon. Kaoru, Saito and Tae were just waiting for the rest of the Mission to finish their reports, when the doorbell rang. Not wanting to cause suspicion, the group members present, hid for a while as Ryo answered the door.

"Good afternoon."

"Oh hi Kenshin, Misao, Sano, and Mr.."

"Just call me Hiko."

"Nice to meet you Hiko-san. What brings you here?" asked Ryo.

"We need to talk about Project Messiah," answered Hiko bluntly.

Kaoru was taken aback. Before she could deny her knowledge on the issue at hand, Hiko spoke again, "Don't deny it. I know you know very well what I'm talking about."

Just then two people appeared from kitchen. "I see you have visitors Ryo. Why don't you let them in?" Tae spoke.

"Hai," Ryo obeyed with his startled expression still written all over his face.

"State your business," Saito spoke coldly.

"Takeda proposed us a project about a week ago, and it concerns your boy." He paused for a while as he studied the look on their faces. The man with sleek black hair remained passive, while the woman has moved and was now beside the boy. Hiko continued, "The Takeda Enterprise is very much involved with a certain Project Messiah. We seek to find out what makes it so interesting."

"Who are you?" Tae barked.

"Hiko Seijuro, one who people believe to be the best private investigator around. There also happens to be a man known in the underground, which is rumored to lead a group of people, trained to be the best spies and assassins.

No witnesses alive to tell anything about the said team. The only ones that have seen his crew are their targets. Consequently they're all dead.

Tall, long black hair, and a cape, a man that goes by the nickname 'Agent.'" Saito continued amidst the gasps that his last statement caused, "Was thought to have quit the job because no assignments were accepted for nearly two years now. Apparently, the rumors were just rumors," Saito affirmed, his eyes never leaving the face of the 'Agent' a.k.a. Hiko.

Just then the front door opened and revealed the other three officers. The almost always calm exterior Aoshi carried was gone the instant he saw the 'visitors.' His eyes went wildly huge while his lips shifted to form a distasteful frown.

"It's confirmed captain, it's them," Aoshi addressed his senior, although his eyes were focused on the unwanted visitors.

In the meantime, Kenshin, Sano and Misao's faces all had surprised looks on them as they saw their teacher and school nurse burst through the door. It did not take a genius to figure out why they are standing in front of Ryo's door, rather defensively and alarmed at the same time.

They're all part of this.

Hiko was intrigued by the surprised look on his people's faces. He decided to ignore that for a while, and mocked Aoshi's statement instead, "Hnn… You did your homework well I see."

Megumi quickly approached Kaoru and stood defensively by her right side, while Tae stayed at Kaoru's other side. Aoshi and Soujiro stayed by the door.

"Takeda will not have Ryo," Saito said.

"We don't want any more trouble than we already have. Please leave and forget about your assignment because it simply is not possible," Soujiro spoke calmly with a light smile still pasted on his face.

"You've misunderstood us. We did not accept Takeda's proposal," Hiko explained

"Why did you not accept the offer? I'm sure it was a lot of money," Megumi taunted.

"We do not kill or do stuff for the fun of it. It's not for kicks. We do it for valid purposes," Sano growled back.

Hiko ignored the little bickering between the two and continued, "We simply want answers from you. We did our little research but it only made us ask more questions. Misao."

Misao nodded and started her report, "Hai. Takeda refused to impart what they want with Hirameshi Ryo, so we declined their offer. We sought to get the answers ourselves, which brought us to a file named Project Messiah. A government funded research led by a Dr. Kamiya. The discovery of the said file led to nothing for it simply placed my research to a dead end with the name Kamiya Kaoru as a souvenir. I have not found anything yet that has anything to do with Hirameshi."

"First question: Why did they not get the password from the doctor before they finished him off?" Hiko started the questioning.

"What's it in for us if we answer your questions?" Megumi snarled again.

"For the right answers, added protection for your little boy. We'll help you IF EVER," Hiko answered with a strong emphasis on the latter part of his statement.

"Hnn..why do you think we'll need your help?" Aoshi scoffed.

"We all know why. Takeda is getting closer in getting what he wants. The more people to look out for him, the safer. Besides, we might be able to help you end this endless hiding."

"How do we know we can trust you?" Tae asked cautiously.

Hiko answered arrogantly, "You'll just have to."

Silence.

"They did," Saito finally answered.

"Then what's stopping them?" Sano further inquired.

Saito answered once more, "The password itself is encrypted."

"And the only one who knows how to decode it is the doctor's daughter, Kaoru," Kenshin spoke the first time that night.

Nobody refuted Kenshin's reply, silently acknowledging the validity of his assumption.

Sano looked perplexed on how Kenshin figured that out, and why he didn't tell them that earlier. "Then what do they want with Ryo?!" he asked.

Sano's confusion was indirectly answered with Kenshin's request. He faced Ryo's direction and asked, "May I please talk with you for a while Ms. Kamiya? Privately."

"No! How dare you think we will allow such careless action," Aoshi instantly answered for Kaoru.

"It's all right Aoshi," Kaoru replied softly as he glanced at Saito, waiting if he'll make any objection. Luckily, he didn't.

"We can talk in my room," she said as she rose from the futon.

"Kaoru, I still think this is not a good idea," Aoshi insisted as he held her wrist.

She ignored his warning and removed his hand from his wrist and murmured, "I'll be right back."

With that, the two left the group, leaving a dumbfounded Sano and Misao.

**

"How long have you known?"

"That you're Kamiya Kaoru or a woman?"

Kaoru certainly did not see this question coming. "You knew that I was really a woman?"

"Hai."

"Since when?"

"Since the first week we met."

"What??? How?"

"I saw you in your room… in your sleepwear," stuttered Kenshin.

"What? You hentai! Were you peeping on me?" exclaimed Kaoru, who turned bright red in an instant.

"Oro! No! I heard a loud noise, so I decided to check it out. Unfortunately I saw you sprawled on the floor, as a girl."

"I see," replied Kaoru as she skeptically tried to make sure he was telling the truth. She continued, "How come you concluded that it was me right away?"

"I didn't. However, when I saw the same bruises I saw on the girl earlier that morning, it confirmed my suspicions. Plus I did a little research and stumbled on your previous 'feminine' identities."

"How dare you not tell me until now! You mean, you actually knew I was a girl all this time? How dare you trick me!" Kaoru released her words sharply.

Kenshin replied in a cold but equally sharp manner, "Watch your words, RYO."

"I had a valid reason. What was yours?" defended Kaoru.

"I did not want to pry to whatever reason you have to cross-dress. I simply did not want you to feel uncomfortable knowing that I know you're not really a guy. I did not want to offend you, I'm not homophobic anyway."

"Nani? You thought that I preferred girls???"

"What did you expect me to think? That you dress like that for fun?" he answered.

"Anyway, it's still not fair that you knew about my secret, yet I didn't know yours until now. So much for real estate," she added bitterly.

"You know I can't just tell you that. A normal person would freak out and stay away from me as distant as possible once I tell them what my part time job is."

"I can't believe this, this is just too much."

"I agree, though, I am hoping this is real," he said then continued in a barely audible whisper, "I want to believe this with all my heart,"

"Huh? I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"Let me protect you Kaoru."

"Nani? Umm…"

Not waiting for Kaoru's reply, Kenshin said, "We better get back. They're probably waiting for us to return."

"Hai. Ah, Kenshin, are you mad at me?"

"No." 'How can I be angry with the one I love most?'

**

"We need to know the basics if we are going to work together, and that means we need to know what is it they want from Ms. Kamiya. Who exactly are we protecting?" Hiko spoke once more as soon as 'Ryo' and Kenshin came back.

Soujiro addressed his senior ever most politely saying, "Excuse me sir but we still do not approve of any of this."

"They may have a point Seta. I will not deny Kaoru the chance to have an increase in security. However, the last decision still depends on her," Saito stated as his eyes drifted to the person he referred.

Kaoru bit her lower lip then finally gave a small nod towards Saito's direction. Kenshin could not help but release a soft sigh, which was not left unnoticed by his shishou. However, Hiko just raised his eyebrows and proceeded with the talk, "Well?"

"Don't push her," Aoshi snapped. "In any case, Kaoru will be transferred to a new location first thing in the morning. All have been set, it is too dangerous for her to continue as Ryo since Takeda already knows where to find her."

'No,' Kenshin thought. "You may not need to relocate her if we help ensure her safety sir," Kenshin quickly said. "It is no use if the only solution you have is to run continuously. As far as I know, you've been running from this for quite sometime now, and none of the identities you've come up with seem to keep those guys away for long. Don't you think it is best if you stop running and start to face those people? I'm sure the sooner we get over this problem, the sooner Miss Kaoru will achieve happiness and peace."

"You are in no authority to say such words. You've only known Kaoru for less than a year. In fact, you've never known Kaoru, just her little act as Ryo," Aoshi powerfully shot back. "So don't you dare accuse us of running away from the problem, and propose such reckless ideas and pretend as if you know what's best for her!"

A hand, gently placed over his own, soothed his abrupt temper outburst. He looked at the owner of the hand and saw her weak smile. "You don't have to do this Kaoru," Aoshi softly whispered.

"But I want to," she quietly said. After taking a deep breath, Kaoru started, "I guess we need to start from the beginning."

Pause.

"Almost 16 years ago, my father led a project for the government. He was supposed to design an invulnerable shield to protect Japan. He worked on it for years, and when he finally thought he got it, he did repetitions to verify his findings. That's when he noticed the error he has made. The project he made was not a shield but a weapon, when used to its full potential, may be powerful enough to wipe out the whole planet." Kaoru paused and looked around her listeners. All were listening intently even the members of Mission Messiah. She continued, "My father and the government both agreed that it is best to get rid of Project Messiah to avoid power-craving people from using the said weapon to their advantage. They got rid of everything except for the filed papers which were stolen the night before they were to burn it. My father thought that whoever stole the project file has forgotten or gave up on it since nothing has happened since the robbery. You see, the file folder of Messiah is just a bunch of numbers, which an ordinary person will never figure out what it means. Three years later, I got home and saw my parents lying on the floor, my mother dead while my father was with his last breaths."

"It follows that they actually figured out that the file is encoded, so they went after your father to get the decoder," Misao inferred after a long pause from the group.

"That's right Misao. They killed my parents the moment Daddy told them the decoding matrix." 'They probably threatened to kill mom if he didn't, that's why she was already dead when Saito-san and I arrived.' Kaoru mentally added sadly.

"I will guess that the message formed using your dad's decoding matrix was not the password they were looking for," thought Kenshin aloud.

"Yes. You're right again. The message formed is KAMIYA KAORU."

"Is it another cryptogram? Are they looking for another decoding matrix or something like that?" Sano asked confused. 'Now I wish I listened to the stupid math class more attentively.'

"It's not a decoded message. It simply means I have the password, or that I know it," Kaoru answered.

"Wait a second, why not punch a bunch of characters or something to break the code? Why do they have to chase after Ryo, err… I mean Kaoru, if it has given them so much trouble?" Misao wondered.

"Because the program will automatically remove itself from the main computer and launch itself to cyberspace after three consecutive failed trials. And, I am sure Takeda will not like the idea that someone will find the project and steal his plan to rule the world," she explained.

"Why don't they just cut the Internet connection from the PC to end their problem?" Sano said jokingly.

"The file itself is run by a program which my father created solely for Project Messiah. The program creates some kind of a 24/7 Internet connection through satellite transmissions so cutting off the line will not do."

"Ok, how about deleting the file whenever you hit 2 incorrect passwords then reinstalling it again?"

"There was no delete option created in the program. Either keep it or it will launch itself into cyberspace."

"Why would your father create something like that?"

"I don't know. Maybe he just got prepared in case something like this happens."

A/n: Ok..sorry if it sounded nerdy discussing about matrices and computers..hihi. I just wanted to sound realistic and logical. I didn't want this to be super sci-fi so I can't have Kaoru be zapped and transform into the key or something for access. So there, mathematical equations to the rescue. About the computer program launching itself, if it didn't follow or sounded weird, sorry bout that. I just can't think another probable reason why they didn't do Misao and Sano's questions.

If the program sounded surreal or super high tech, remember this is just a fic, so bear with me. I am not an expert in programming either so ignore if it didn't make much sense. About the program Kenshin used last chapter to see what the young Kaoru will look in the future, according to Gypsy-chan, such a program does exist in the real world!

Ok review time!! =D Thanks