A/N: YATTA!!! This is now officially my most POPULAR STORY EVER WRITTEN! THANK YOU ALL FOR THE REVIEWS!!
Well, I have to type this chapter because It's killing my brain no more time to talk.
PLEASE JUST READ THANK YOU!



Chapter 9



At first I thought it was good that past gave us some time off,
but it not only let our guard down, they had trained...and they had become
stronger.

I regret ever waking up that day, because if I hadn't, maybe they wouldn't have woken up either. And maybe we would still be happy, like we were the day before.
But things didn't work that way, they worked like death bringers.

I hate them......



We were all sitting down at a table, talking about what would happen if they had faced us again. We didn't have much time to plan, because a strong wind burst through the door and transported us to the dojo.

It looked brand new, like it did in the Meiji-era. But past can do those types of things.
They looked at us, well how they COULD look at us. Those red glows radiating from them.

"You shall obey..." they kept echoing over and over, it was beginning to confuse all of us.

Just then I remembered...Kenshin! He wasn't completely healed yet!

I wasn't going to let them hurt him more then he already was.
I ran towards him and stood in front of him, blocking any attacks they threw.

"You want change? Here you go!" They said throwing energy into our direction and laughing in our faces. They didn't want change, they just wanted us to let our guard down and give up on our own lives. Let them take over.

Sanosuke must've known what I was thinking at that moment, maybe I had that look on my face, and he said, "No way in hell, Jou-chan!"
I turned to him and gave him as much of a smile that was allowed in a fight. He then charged for past...almost like he used to charge at his enemies but with much with more force.

They dodged and he fell smack into the ground. Megumi turned her head to the scene. She looked up at past, which was about to charge right down onto her. She jumped out of the way, and into Sanosuke's direction, propping him upright when she got there.

'Smart move Megumi,' I thought.

And we continued to fight, it lasted hours maybe. Time seemed to go by so quickly when you were fighting for your own freedom of life.

But in one instant...time could seem to stop. Just stop as you watched someone you care about get extremely hurt.

That one instant was about to happen just as Misao prepared to use her Kunai.


The red glow on past gree bigger and it shot forward just a fraction slower then the speed of light. But Misao didn't have any time to dodge. It hit her full force through her stomach and shot her back into the wall near the entrance...hard and fast.
We all stood and stared as she fell to the ground. It lasted three seconds maybe, the whole incident. But in my eyes, it took her days to hit the ground. My best friend had been shot by the being I had hated the most in the universe. Aoshi seemed to look the same as I did, for he ran to her, eyes wide with horror and worry.
I didn't run to her, I stood there as anger built up inside me.
But I did see a few things that I wouldn't forget.

I saw Aoshi lift her slowly off of the ground, turn her, and lift her head so that her eyes met his. There was blood running from her side, and some dripping from her mouth from when she hit the ground.
He put her head against his chest, and she settled peacefully there.
Misao had gone pale, and life was leaving her with every instant.

And past was LAUGHING.

Aoshi looked up to past with a look of 'I wish I could kill you,' in his eyes.
I felt the same way, and I called out to him, "Aoshi! Take Misao somewhere safe! Be careful! I'll fight past for the both of us!"

Aoshi nodded, carefully lifted Misao, and ran away.
I turned to past, and my hate for them had grown worse.

Kenshin had his weapon in hand, his sword. Ugh, we still had to use our old weapons for defense.

I looked at him with a question in my eyes, and he shook his head.

"Kaoru, don't try. You might not even be able to lift this thing." He said to me.

"Kenshin, with this anger I have now, I could take this dojo and rip it apart." I replied, an unusual growl in my voice that I seldom heard before.

Kenshin obviously saw and held his sword out. I took it from his hand and drew his reverse-blade sword for the first time.



A/N: Ah, I feel somehow that this is a proper ending for this chapter. Now that I have my angst part out, I think I'll go write the next chapter to "Live in a Bubble". Then write "Interlude"! MUAHAHAHA!
And ACK! PAST HURT MISAO! DAMN THEM! *starts destroying her own characters that she hates*
But this story is fun anyways. Wa...they hurt my second fave chara! Iieee!!!

Anyway, here's my thanks-ness:

~animeluverthatiam=Gomen gomen-ness! I'll hope to make 'em longer soon! But the "Live in a Bubble" chaps are kinda long-ness. Although yer "Who was that skateboarding fool!" chap is kinda short too-ness! Make THOSE chaps longa and ttyl! (BTW, I DO love that story of yers-ness.) Thanks for reviewing and I hope you enjoyed this chap if you...can-ness!

~Eliz=That chap WAS sweet wasn't it? Well this one really isn't except for the TINY bit of A+M in it. ^^;; Well I hpoe you like this chap and lkeep reviewing!

~Naomi=I BOW to you. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR PUTTING THIS FIC ON YOUR FAVES! YOU ROCK! Thanks for enjoying this and I hope you liked this chap! If that's possible.

~Midori Natari Himura=Thanks for letting me off the Weiss Kreuz stuff easy. I might just read it because your a good author...maybe. Oh well thanks a lot! And for the S+M comment, K+K's time will come of course! (Oh, and if you want to see an example of my weird humor, then plz read my story "Live in a Bubble"! It's the only partial humor fic I have! Thanks again!!!!

~Prudence-chan=You liked the S+M huh? Yay! Well I hope you like the MINOR A+M in this one! More shall come soon I PROMISE! Arigatou-ness!

~Misanagi=Thanks a lot for the review! (Yer name rocks btw.) I hope you can like this one. I hope to see more from you.

~mutsumi=I knew SOMEONE was going to ask that question, thank goodness it was you. Well, while I was posting that day, I couldn't think of a title, and I was listening to SMile.dk's "Butterfly". SO, why not? Heheh. Stupid excuse isn't it? Oh well, thanks a lot for your review(s)! Ja!!

~g3ozlizh=Thanks a LOT. I liked that I satisfied that S+M craving of yers. Heehee! And the "There's nothing more entertaining after a hectic work in school than reading a story about your fave coupling. And done none other than by Spellcaster!" part in your review was really entertaining! Thanks for the compliment!!!

Well that's all. NOW REVIEW ONEGAI ONEGAI ONEGAI?!?!?!?!?!?