"Are you happy? We just spent the whole day cleaning."

"And your home looks wonderful now."

It was early evening. Sanosuke, Michiko and Yoshi were on their was to return the broom and the brush and see about mooching some food off of Kaoru. It had taken all day, but the apartment was clean and needed to dry out. The three of them were covered in dust and grime. Michiko looked exhausted, but quite satisfied, and Yoshi was asleep in Sano's arms, his head rested on the fighter's shoulder.

"You look tired."

"We did work very hard, Sagara-San."

"You don't need to call me that, you know."

"I know." She looked at him, blushing slightly, "Thank you for letting me do that."

"It...it was no big deal." He stammered She was smiling at him; the cheery expression on her face was one of great pleasure. He felt hot and prickly. Is this, he wondered, what being in love feels like? Could I love her?

"I can take my Yoshi. You don't need to carry him."

Again with the "my." Why was she calling him that? "I don't mind. He's small and not heavy at all."

"I can't believe he spoke today." Michiko said quietly.

"I know." Sano kind of had the idea that she didn't want the boy to talk; that she was afraid he would say something that would get them both in trouble. He wanted to ask her about it, but he didn't dare. She'd clam up and regress back to the way she was, scared and untrusting.

***

"You guys are filthy!" Kaoru exclaimed upon seeing the trio.

"Be quiet, Missy, or you'll wake up Yoshi." Sanosuke snapped, "The poor kid's exhausted and he doesn't need your big mouth waking him up."

"Ooo! Sorry!" Kaoru squeaked.

Michiko handed her the broom and brush. "Thank you very much, Miss Kaoru."

"Not a problem. You got that pigsty cleaned up?"

"Yes. And Sagara-San was a very big help. I would still be working if he didn't help me." She smiled up at Sanosuke, "Even Yoshi was helpful."

"It actually wasn't that bad." Sano commented.

"Good. Next time the dojo needs cleaning I'll let you do it. Now I suppose you want some dinner." Kaoru muttered.

"Yes please." Came Michiko's hesitant reply.

Sano nodded. "We need to crash here for a while so the place can dry out."

"Why not go to the Akabeko? Their food's better than mine anyway, isn't it?"

He grinned sheepishly. "Michiko doesn't think I should eat and run all the time."

"You could get a job and take care of your tab, you know."

"Don't get carried away, Missy."

"You could spend the evening gambling and drinking with your friends." A pause, "Or does she not like that either?"

Michiko looked at her feet, her face flushed red with embarrassment. Miss Kaoru doesn't want us here, she thought. She's trying to get rid of us. She had plans for the evening and we're nothing more than a terrible inconvenience.

"Would you knock it off? I thought we were friends. Look, if you don't want to, you don't have to feed us. But the floor is all wet and we're staying here for a while."

"You...You-"

"Miss Kaoru, what's going on?" Kenshin had appeared behind Kaoru, a perplexed look on his face.

"Kenshin, I can't keep feeding them all the time! I'm not made of money, you know! It's bad enough feeding you and Yahiko without the freeloader bringing extra people around."

"Calm down, Miss Kaoru. If they want dinner, there's plenty for us all; that there is."

"But Kenshin!"

"They are our friends. We can give them something. Now come on, dinner is ready."

Kaoru frowned. She didn't mind having Sanosuke and Michiko around, but she did have to worry about money or, more specifically, where the money would come from. Kenshin was a big help; he washed clothes, cooked and ran errands, but he made no money doing it, Yahiko was her student -not to mention just a kid- and Sanosuke...he did nothing all day long anyway.

"Well, Kenshin, I tasted Michiko's cooking for the first time this morning and I hate to say it but she's a better cook than you." Sanosuke commented after they'd eaten.

Michiko blushed, looking at her hands, which were folded in her lap. "Sagara-San, I don't cook that well. Kenshin is a very good cook."

Kaoru looked over at the younger girl and sighed. Even covered in dirt and wearing a simple kimono, Michiko was quite the beauty. Something about her -maybe the innocence of her shy smile or the haunting emptiness of her eyes or maybe even the way she tried so hard to please every one- made her simply beautiful to behold. Not only that, but she was a better cook than Kaoru ever would be, she cleaned as if it were fun, and she was humble through it all. It was hard to believe that any one so pure and innocent still existed in the world.

"Miss Kaoru?"

Kesnhin's voice startled her back to reality. "Yeah?"

"Please come help me clean up."

"Wha?" She was confused for a moment. He could easily do it by himself. Then she caught sight of Sano. He was watching Michiko, a sort of dopey look on his face. "All right."

"Come on, Yoshi, you can help too."

"Ya!" The little boy, once he'd eaten something, was back to his normal bouncy self. He ran off after Kenshin and Kaoru.

That left Sanosuke, Michiko and Yahiko sitting there. Yahiko looked at Michiko, her hands folded on her lap, the haunted look in her eyes softened by her happiness, then at Sanosuke, who was frowning at him.

"Okay, I'm goin'." He muttered, "I'm sure Kaoru's got something for me to clean anyway."

"Yahiko, c'mere." Kaoru beckoned him to here, holding out the broom.

"I knew it." He sighed.

"Here. Take this." She held it out to him, "Go sweep and stay near the two of them. Get as close as possible without looking suspicious. I want to know everything they say to each other."

"Wow, that sure is sneaky!" He grabbed the broom from her hand.

"Yahiko, wait." Kenshin looked up from the dishes, "I don't think that's a very good idea, Miss Kaoru; that it is not."

"Aren't you curious, Kenshin?" Kaoru asked in disbelief, "Don't you want to know what's going on?"

"That I do. But Miss Michiko would not feel safe were we to spy on her. She trusts Sanosuke. It is his help she has asked for, not ours. What goes on between the two of them is no business but their own."

"Sometimes you're no fun."

"You let them be, Miss Kaoru. When Michiko is ready to talk to us, she will." A smile crossed his face, "She is already less of a shadow than before."

"There's something you know that you aren't telling us. What kind of secret are you hiding?"

"I would tell you, but it is not my secret to tell."

"Oh, Kenshin!" She stomped her foot, "It's not fair!"

***

"You've got dirt on your face."

"That's not surprising." Michiko licked her finger and ran it across her cheek, wiping at the grime that had come from a day's worth of cleaning. "Is it gone?"

"Nah, you just smeared it around more. And there's some here too." Sanosuke's fingers brushed across her forehead, tracing along the smudge of dirt.

"You're dirty too." She touched the tip of his nose, "Right here."

"That's okay." His soft brown eyes met hers, "It's just a little dirt. It'll wash off."

Her haunted gaze did not travel away from his. "Sometimes you can't wash it away, no matter how hard you try." Weariness filled her voice, "Sometimes it stays with you forever."

"I don't know exactly what you mean." He studied her intently, taking in her wide eyes and all the sorrows they reveled to him, "But I don't really care either. Whatever that bastard did to you, it doesn't matter."

Her mouth opened slightly, giving her a startled look. She wanted to shrink back away from him, but some dangerous new feeling washed over her, drawing her closer instead. Their foreheads rested together; she could feel his cool skin against hers.

She drew in a breath. What is this longing in my heart? Why am I so shy around every one else, but so comfortable with him? I don't understand what's happening to me...Have I truly begun to shine?

"Did you mean it?" Sanosuke's voice was very soft, almost a whisper.

She knew exactly what he was talking about. "I don't know." She said softly, her eyes filling with tears, "I don't know if I am capable of meaning it."

Of one his fingers traced the path of the tear that slid down her cheek. She was so pretty, even when she cried. He wanted to kiss her, but wasn't sure what she'd do. Kenshin thought that she loved him and Kenshin was usually right about that sort of thing. If she loved him, she shouldn't have minded a kiss. But, he argued with himself, she's still afraid. Still locked up in herself. Her heart's still empty. But she's so damn pretty! Cautiously, he leaned closer to her. His mouth closed over hers.

Her eyes widened. His kiss was so different from...Tears rolled down her face and her eyes fell shut. She hugged him tight, her face pressed up against his chest, her petite body shaking with sobs.

"I won't do it again. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry. I just thought that maybe...I had to...I couldn't...I won't do it again!" He held her close, letting her cry, until she felt limp in his arms.

Drained of all thought and energy, she slumped down against him, her grip on him loosening. Her dark hair fell across her damp face. "It's not your fault." Her voice was full of sorrow and tiredness. She slid down, laying her head on his lap, clutching the leg of his pants. "You tried, really you did. It's not your fault."

Unconsciously, he stroked her hair. "We'll beat this guy. He hasn't won yet. Whatever he did to you, we can undo it." More than ever, he wanted to destroy the man who'd done it; to hurt him as he'd hurt her.

"You can't just undo it. It's not that easy." She sighed, "But thank you for trying." A trace of his smile crossed her face, "Your kiss was so much nicer than his, Sanosuke."

He half smiled, looking down at her. "I didn't think you liked it."

"No..." Her eyes closed, her voice no more than a whisper, "You're so gentle. I know how strong you are, but you didn't...He was so rough with me. He forced me to..." Her finders clenched, "You give hope to hopeless. I feel stronger just being with you. You'll keep me safe. Not because I asked you to, because you want to..."

"That's right." His smile softened. She was asleep, still gripping the fabric of his pants between her fingers. His hand rested on her head, stroking her hair. "I'll keep you safe because I want to."

***

"Sano?"

"Yeah Kenshin?"

"You okay?"

Sanosuke nodded. Kenshin had found him sitting on the dojo's porch, Michiko asleep, her head on his lap. His hand rested on her hair and she was scrunched up so that she appeared to be much smaller than she was. A frown crossed Kenshin's face. It looked as though the poor girl had been crying.

"You look like you've seen a ghost." He sat down beside Sano.

"I just thought of something."

"Oh?"

"He did more than just beat her, Kenshin. She's been trying to tell me, over and over again, but she always stops herself. She's still scared of him." Her reaction to being kissed played through his mind, "I think he raped her."

"You have come to some very serious conclusions, Sano; that you have. Until she says as much, you cannot be certain." Kenshin's face darkened, "But if it is true, I cannot allow such crimes to go unpunished."

"This is my battle, Kenshin. You don't need to get involved. Let me be the hero for once."

"You will be the hero no matter what; that you will. Whether I am the one to stop this man or you are the one, you will be the hero in her eyes."

"What are you talking about?"

"She loves you, Sano. She loves you; of this I am certain. In her heart, you will always be the person who saved her, for you are the person who cared for her even when she was unlovable."

"...Kenshin..."

The Battôsai smiled from under his mass of flaming hair. "Yoshi is also asleep and Miss Kaoru has agreed to let you stay the night."

"I'm sure she didn't agree to that without protest."

"That she did not."

"You're always stickin' your neck out for me, always keeping an eye on me." A pause, "Thanks."

"I know how you feel about her. You want to keep her safe; to make sure no one touches her or hurts her ever again. That is love. The kind of love that will withstand the test of time -true, pure love; when you only want her to cry tears of joy. She trusts you heart and soul. She loves you very much."

"Shes' trapped in the past. It all leads back tot hat one man. He haunts her night and day. She could never be happy, not knowing he's out there somewhere."

"Time will heal her pain. It's already begun. Look; she's smiling. Life is about changes. Nothing stays the same." He stood up, "Good night, Sanosuke."

"Night, Kenshin."

Sanosuke sat there a while longer, looking down at Michiko. He brushed a strand of hair off her tear-stained face. He was worried about her. Was Kenshin right? Was more time all she needed? Somehow, he didn't think it would be enough.