Chapter Summary- Kenshin takes Kaoru back to the dojo, arguments, and dreams . . . .

IMPORTANT- My RuoKen stories are based on the MANGA version not the anime, so if anything confuses you I'll try to explain it at the end of the chapter.

Disclaimer- I don't own RuoKen so bog off!

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"Even now in this new era, the mere mention of Battousai can terrorize the people . . ."

-Himura Kenshin, Manga Volume I chapter I

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Chapter Two- Evening at the Kamiya Dojo

All was quiet in the streets of Tokyo again after another bloody appearance of Battousai. The six shaku five sun tall hitokiri pillaged the streets earlier and manage to thwart off the police shouting as he ran away that he belonged to the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu. It is said a single teenage girl tried to stop the man all by herself only wielding a Boken. The sword-fighting girl was well trained but no one could live up to the standards of the great Hitokiri Battousai, during the struggle she was cornered and it looked like the end for her. At the last moment though in front of apparent doom she was wield off to safety in a blur. A short man with red hair and a katana at his side was seen carrying her to safety in the other direction when the Battousai ran away much to her protest.

Everything seemed quiet anyway, but if you walked by one dojo in town owned by a Kamiya Kaoru it was a very different story. It seems the red haired man brought the girl back to her home after a brush with death and was introduced into her world. She was the Adjutant Master of the Kasshin style and had lost her students to the new sightings of the Battousai. No one wanted to come near her dojo let alone be a member of it if it was the same style the demon used. Kaoru definitely had her mind set on fixing the problem of being set up and that meant force by her.

The man who rescued her was very surprised by her fiery spirit but who would not be, earlier that same evening she even accused him of being the Battousai. She was wrong in the end though; the man was only a rurouni wandering around Japan, he knew nothing of terror and bloodshed as he claimed so himself. To prove his point more he carried a Sakabatou, a reverse blade sword. How could he be the Hitokiri Battousai if he carried a weapon that could not kill? Even after she left him alone to try and track down the real one he knew something was wrong and felt the need to step in. To make matters worse the girl was saying she was going to take care of the problem herself. The Rurouni knew the man was much more skilled than she was and going after him again would only result in the dojo girl's early death.

Much to his protest she was not about to back down. Her father founded the Kasshin style and had witnessed the violence of the Bakumatsu first hand. For ten years he fought for the ideals of the 'sword that protects life' and no one was going to say he was a murderer.

"As a member of the regional sword squad, he was sent to Seinan to stop an uprising. The world he died in was far from the world he wanted to die in." The Rurouni's protest about her giving up chase had only added full to her fire and she was going to fully let him know what she was fighting for. "The One who claims to be the Hitokiri Battousai has already killed at least ten people in the name of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu."

The man seemed to settle when she was talking to him; his look took on a more thoughtful one while he hid his face behind long hair. The other man sitting next to her side tending her wound stayed silent as she spoke. "This school, founded by my father, its names and ideals of protecting lives is being tarnished by a mass murderer," Kaoru was beyond angry with the man and did not understand his logic's at all for not wanting to stop a serial killer. She looked the Rurouni straight in the eye only to have herself on the brink of tears, "But I guess a rurouni like YOU wouldn't understand."

Kenshin's face took on a look of slight surprise, while hers still remained mad and about to cry. 'I wouldn't understand? Only if you knew half my stories, but I can see I'm not going to win this argument . . . .' Kenshin drew up his best rurouni look and smiled back at the girl. It was her turn to be surprised.

"But Sessha does not believe you should be searching for him with your arm like this," Kenshin pointed to the bandaged arm that was being tended to. When she first attacked Battousai earlier in the evening he managed to get a good cut on her upper sword arm. "Perhaps it would be best to be cautious for now."

He started to walk away form Kaoru to the door, "After all if your sword can not protect your own life, how can it protect others?" Kenshin did not give her time to answer as he opened the door, "Besides I highly doubt that your father would choose the honor of his school over the life of his beloved daughter." He slid out of the door. "Excuse me," and with that he was gone only to have Kaoru stare in shock after listening to his quiet reprimand.

The man sitting to her side finished his mending and finally spoke; "I'm done." Kaoru snapped out her state and thanked the older man she called Kihei. "Kaoru-san do not take his words to seriously. After all, he is just a rurouni and probably not too trustworthy. Sometimes I think you're too well-meaning for your own good."

"Maybe. . . . maybe your right . . . ." Kihei was satisfied with her reply, he bid goodnight and left Kaoru to her own thoughts for the evening. 'Maybe your right but something tells me to take that man seriously, maybe I should-' Smack! Kaoru slapped herself in the head for thoughts that were about to come. 'How could I think of even listening to what that man has to say, he's not even a man! He looked about my age and has gone through nothing like I have!' She slapped her hands to the ground, rose to her feet and stomped outside to the porch to clear her head of a certain read headed rurouni. 'After all I'm never going to see him again.'

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'She has a very big temperament for being such a small girl, there was no arguing with that one.' Kenshin felt bad for the girl and couldn't imagine how a girl could live alone by herself in this day and age, and on top of that even run a dojo too. Something told him to stick close to the girl with familiar blue eyes; it was a feeling that if he didn't something awful was going to happen. After much obsessing and waging a mini war in his head Kenshin decided to stay very close. If something were to happen to her it would be his fault because someone was committing the crimes in his name and he could just not live with that.

When he went back the first time to follow the girl that evening he was enraged by the sight he saw. The fake Battousai had just inflicted a cut on her upper arm from his sword, Kenshin felt like running the man through for his actions. How could anyone harm an innocent girl fighting with a boken, obviously the man was in no harm of being hurt . . . too badly anyway. He snapped out of his angered state when he saw fear run through her eyes of the girl as the so-called Battousai was stalking upon her for a kill. Training was set in motion and Kenshin dashed forward to save her before it was to late. He dearly wanted to put her aside and turn around and teach the man a lesson but he knew he needed to get the dojo girl far away before she tried anything and got hurt again. So after much struggling from the girl he finally made it back to her home only to find out the story as to why she considered doing such actions. Then in the end to upset her further when he wished her to stop the chase for her own safety, that's when he felt it was time to take his leave, but not for long.

Kenshin backtracked his way to the Kamiya dojo again when he made up his mind. He had the strongest urge to knock on her doors and demand he stays and be her bodyguard until the fake Battousai was caught. He knew very well that she was going to go out again and try to catch him, stronger or not. 'Do you really think a girl would want a single male staying in her home, especially a strange man she did not know? No, sessha thinks not Himura.' Instead of forcing his way in side Kenshin went around the corner of the dojo and spotted a perfect opportunity. On his way out earlier he noticed a group of trees that would make a perfect hiding spot at the edge of the yard by the wall, and now he was going to put it to some use. He briefly eyed the tree for sturdiness and the best branch to land on. After making his decision in one silent jump he made his way up the tree. A couple of leaves fell of the branch when he landed but all in all his stealth skills were still good after ten years of not being used daily. He proceeded to climb up a few more branches into ones that had more foliage so he would not be seen and finally rested in between the cover of leaves. Kenshin placed his bag of belongings on a higher branch above him and took his Sakabatou out of its resting-place at his side and laid it up against his shoulder and thigh so it would not fall.

'At least sessha will know if she tries to go out and do anything foolish again like she did tonight, sessha can follow her if she does just that.' As he was planning out what he would do if the dojo girl tried to leave again he noticed someone moving around the resident. Kaoru was stomping out of the bathhouse and she did not look very happy. Kenshin winced at the sight of her, she was not happy because of him and the protest he made earlier. 'Pretty girls like her should not have an angry face like that and it's all sessha's fault she has to go though this.' Sigh.

Kaoru made her way to the middle of the porch and slid down to the floor with a thump. She had taken a cold bath to cool her thoughts down for she was still angry at her situation. The cold water did not shock her system as she hoped it would, her mind still went racing back to the man she just met and now she was even starting to feel bad because of her actions and harsh words. 'Kaoru-chan no baka, you always scare off the men, and he even saved you too. How often do you get to be saved by a man like in fairy tales? Not very often.' A small blush crept upon Kaoru's cheeks after she realized the thoughts that were going through her head; she just could not take her mind off of the rurouni. It amazed her how such a small man could easily scoop her in his arms and run away like he was holding nothing at all. Even when she first attacked him he easily jumped over her to avoid the attack in one leap but in the end he more or less unceremoniously landed on the ground with a crash. Still Kaoru had a sinking feeling there was a lot more to the Kenkaku-san than he was leading on. 'But no matter how many times I looked at him I did not see a swordsman, the blade was almost as big as him, and a sakabatou even, honestly, what a strange man.'

Kenshin was amused by his show as he hid in the trees, he curiously watched her as a play of emotions appeared on her features. Kaoru's emotions were like a split second reaction they could change in a heartbeat, once he even thought he saw her blush. 'I wonder what in the world she is thinking now.' Curiosity got the better of Kenshin and he leaned over to get a better view but as he did a twig snapped causing a rather large echo of sound to cascade through the dojo. 'Oops . . . .'

'What was that?' Kaoru rose to her feet and jumped of the porch onto the ground. She made her way to stand in the middle of the yard and tried to determine where the sound had come from, looking back and forth she noticed a rake she left out earlier in the day from chores and went to pick it up. Kenshin now noticed she had a weapon in tow and started to get a little worried but knew there was no way he could jump down to make a get away without her noticing. So he decided to stay put and pray for luck to be on his side for once. Kaoru was making a circle around the dojo grounds and was stalking closer to the trees he was hidden in. Once she reached them she stopped abruptly and looked up. Kenshin was now frozen to the spot. Head still up Kaoru tiptoed closer to the trees, rake also still in hands ready to attack. Eyes up, another step forward.

"EYYAAAHHHH!!!" Kaoru jumped back about five feet. Kenshin still immobile. Her fright was short lived after she noticed what scared her and let out a sigh in relief. A black cat had jumped out of the bushes below the trees and scared the daylights out of her.

"Kitty you scared me I thought you were Battousai coming to get me!" After her heartbeat slowed and she caught her breath Kaoru shooed the cat off and started to make her way back inside the dojo a little shaky still. Kihei shortly came out after to see what the problem was only to have Kaoru affirm him everything was fine.

Tinged a little blue Kenshin let out the breath he was holding when the lights in the dojo finally went out. 'Sessha is to old for this . . . .' He thought it was a little odd that Kihei seemed to take his time and had a lack of concern when he came out of the dojo to check on Kaoru but the thought was brushed aside for another day.

After a heart attack of his own the former hitokiri decided to stay in the tree for the rest of the night until morning light would break. Hoping the whole the night he would not be caught and also wondering what in the world tomorrow would bring him.

Kaoru slept peacefully and her dreams were full of a brave red headed swordsman carrying her off to safety while Kenshin dreamt of falling off trees and being assaulted by garden tools.

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To be continued . . .

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Next Chapter- Kenshin's first night IN the Dojo.

Author's Notes- Just to clear up a few things for you. Kihei was in the manga but not the anime; he is kind of like Kaoru's live in housekeeper. The sad thing is later he turns out to be Gohei's older (shorter) brother and was trying to get close with Kaoru so they could force her to sell them the dojo. So after Kenshin saves her the first night he does not stay, he leaves after she pretty much tells him off (read above story ^_^). They meet the next day again though in town, the day he saves her from Gohei. If you want to read the first manga chapter or more go to my web page link on my bio page. Then go to the RuoKen section and then the links part and in there I have a list of links where you can read the manga on the web. The first dialogue section I took is almost directly from the manga (changed a little here and there) so that really did happen.

Glossary-

Six shaku five sun- about 195 cm

Sessha- Kenshin's archaic way of saying 'I', instead of using 'Watashi', 'Ore' and so on…

Kaoru-san- Miss Kaoru

Kenkaku-san- Mr. Swordsman

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Thanks-

Moonwind, Kenshin_Kaoru_4Ever, Chiruken, Ferai, Shiomei, John Ayala, Chiki, ANGELgirl777, and everpondering- Thanx for all your reviews!

Ferai- Just to answer your question about chapter one, no they didn't meet six years earlier, that was my little thing. I think when I'm done with this I want to write a wondering piece about Kenshin so that little bit will be included. But hey, Viz got the rights to RuoKen and are going to start translating it, also there will be an article about it in #7 of Shonen Jump so check that out and see what's up! Thanx for the review again!

Thanx!