Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, Weiss Kreuz or any of the characters that are involved in this fic. All that I own is my luverly laptop and my RK manga! ^^ Owning Battousai would be niiiice though.

A/N: Still moving slowly slowly on~ Don't worry ^^, there'll be quite a bit of action soon enough, just bear with me for the moment ne? And if anyone can think of a better title for this story, please let me know, because I know this title sux :p Well, read on!

Chapter 2

– Ima wa dou suru? – What now?

He sat by her bedside, her limp, white hand in his, as his dark violet eyes stared blankly at the other wall of the tiny room, the only sounds that broke the silence were the occasional beeps of the numerous machines that were hooked up to her to keep her living, breathing.

The doctors had told him that although her condition was stable, she was now in a comatose state, and they didn't know when exactly she would wake up. The operation had taken more than eight hours, and Shinta had paced up and down the hospital corridors non-stop the whole time, while the hospital staff had watched him with sad eyes. When the doctors had come out of the ER with grim looks on their faces, Shinta felt overwhelming despair. The news had been better than he had hoped, but it still cast an overbearing shadow as to what would happen from hereon. It was indeed a miracle that she had actually survived such an incident. He had been very thankful that Tomoe was alive, but the fact that she would be comatose for an undefinable period of time put a damper on his rising spirits, bringing him back down to the cruel reality again. How on earth would he be able to pay for the medical fees? He was only 15, and even then, Tomoe had been the one who had taken care of everything after their parents had died. He felt completely lost, and tears threatened to spill from his amethyst eyes. Nee-san…please wake up…don't leave me here all alone…please wake up… As exhaustion finally overtook him, he thought that he felt someone wrap a blanket around him, but he barely saw the face as his eyelids fluttered shut.

"Ariga---…" The rest of Shinta's words trailed off as sleep caught up with him.

Hiko Seijurou watched the boy in front of him. The sleeping siblings looked deceivingly at peace, although he knew better. Two other men chose to walk into the room at that moment.

"That's the boy, isn't it?" murmured the first man softly. His long black hair was tied back in a ponytail, and although his voice was at this point soft, the glint in his eyes proved otherwise. Katsura Kogorou was known both for his kindness and his uncorrupted sense of justice.

"Aa." Hiko affirmed. "I can sense it in him. He will be the one to bring about the new era."

"You do know that by doing so, we may ruin his life." Takasugi spoke up, moving into the light of the room from the doorway.

Katsura turned to face him. "There is no other way, and there is no better chance than this. Without him, the plan will never succeed."

"You want me to train him in the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu then." A blatant statement from Hiko, rather than a question.

Silence, then Katsura nodded his head once in reply.

"This way we'll be able to give him a proposition; the care of his sister's health in exchange for his training. Don't tell him about the job we have intended for him yet. It is still too soon. In a year, maybe."

"The Ishinshishi must succeed, no matter what the cost."

Katsura turned and left the room silently, and Takasugi soon followed, leaving Hiko alone in the room with the siblings.

"'No matter what the cost', huh?" Hiko muttered to himself.

He looked to the sleeping Shinta.

All I can do right now is pray that you don't lose your sanity.

"Forgive me for doing this to your boy, Keiko."

A/N: Gomen! This is a pretty short chapter, but I'm still working things out at this point. As you can see, other characters like Hiko and Katsura are slowly but surely making their way into the fic XD However, I think that I'll be doing a two or three part story to this. This is part 1, Kenshin's past. Kaoru, Sano and most of the other main characters will only be introduced into part 2. And part 3? ^^ Well, we've just gotta wait and see won't we? Sorry to all those Tomoe fans out there, but she doesn't really play much of a major role in my fic. Gomen nasai~. Read and review please! ^^