Author's notes, some are actually IMPORTANT!!!

NUMBER ONE: I just looked back on all of my chapters and noticed that, at least on my computer, the italics don't show up. Neither do more than one space between lines. I had looked at it before and could have sworn that the italics were there. Bold doesn't show up either. I tried saving it as an html document but when I uploaded it to ff.net, the quotation marks or apostrophes didn't show up (italics did though). I'm going insane, even more than I was before.

NUMBER TWO: Is the group Kenshin worked for called the 'Isshin Shishi' or the 'Ishin Shishi'. I DON'T KNOW IF THERE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE TWO 'S's IN THE FIRST WORD!!! I've seen it spelled both ways, but I'm not sure which one is the correct one. THANK YOU!!!

Other Stuff: I would just like to thank Shoki sooooooo much for giving me one of the best ideas for this chapter. No, seriously people, she fixed a HUGE glitch that I had in my story. I can't tell you what she did now because then it would spoil the whole chapter. I'll tell anyone who cares at the end.

Oh, and if you guys remember, I said at the last chapter that I didn't leave make it as much of a cliffhanger, I never said that it wasn't one. Just thought I'd clear that up. *is pelted with more objects thrown by cliffie-hating readers*

Disclaimer:

Sango: *looking at script* I. don't. own. Rurouni. Kenshin. *sobs* O.k. I said what you want, just DON'T MAKE ME SAY IT AGAIN!!! *runs off crying*

Kaoru: What's up with her?

Sano: She just had to say that she didn't own us for the disclaimer.

Kaoru: YES!!! I was beginning to worry that she might start to think she owns RK since she's been writing about us and all.

Sano: Don't worry, I don't think Watsuki-san would ever sell his prized possession.

(Somewhere in Japan)

Watsuki-san: *sitting in front of computer, suddenly yells to some kid on the street* Hey kid! How much do you think Rurouni Kenshin would sell for?

Kid: I dunno, how about a million dollars?

Watsuki-san: Cool!!! *posts RK on ebay*

Sano: uh oh.

(I don't know if I could get sued for this, but Watsuki-sama didn't post RK on Ebay and if he did, I wouldn't be able to afford it anyway. I only have *checks wallet* about $10. So there.)

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"." = talking /./ = thoughts, FOR NOW, only until I can fix that stupid problem.

A History of Change

By Sango Himura

Chapter 4: Running and Explaination

Kaoru just stood there for a second, thinking about how close she had come to meeting her maker.

Then she heard the last ting she expected, police whistles. Gripping her bokken tighter, she dashed out of the dojo and into the road. Al-the-while trying not to bump into things in the dark, for the intruder had blown out all of her lanterns.

Once in the semi-lighted road it was easy to see the navy-blue uniforms of the squad of police that ran past. One of them spotted her and broke off from the group to talk to her.

"Sorry to disturb you Miss, but it has been hinted that the Battousai is nearby. We strongly urge you to go back inside until he is caught," the somewhat-perky officer said in a rather fast-paced voice.

/This is all a game to him/, she realized. Battousai was only a legend, an evil demon to be hunted and destroyed, honor goes to his killer. This man had not had to grow up during the Bakumatsu; he had not had to live in fear every day of his life.

Paying no attention to Kaoru's inner turmoil, the youthful police officer took her silence for understanding and rushed to join his peers.

Kaoru, taking care to stay in the shadows, ran to find Kenshin. She thought nothing of the fact that he had just tried to kill her, only that he probably needed help. (A/N Boy, Kaoru can sure be a little too helping and kind sometimes, ne?)

She decided her best bet was to silently follow the small police squad that had just passed by. This was a pretty good plan until the group chose to split up, /not exactly wise when looking for the most dangerous assassin known to Japan/, Kaoru noted. She wondered where the other squads were, there had to be more than one. Or did they consider Kenshin that weak. Sure, his arm wasn't totally healed yet, but he could still fight one heck of a lot better than most.

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/Not again/, Kenshin thought. /I should never have even stayed here after my first encounter with the police. I guess all those hitokiri tricks I learned don't seem to want to help me escape. Darn, I could always escape during the revolution, why not now?/

/Now they're chasing me again, but this time someone must have tipped them. I've let no one see me, except Kaoru. But she wouldn't do that./ He knew she wouldn't, ever since she had said his name back there in the dojo.

Kenshin couldn't explain it but it was almost like an unspoken bond between them. But then who tipped the police off?

Kenshin listened for a sound in the road he wanted to cross, but one didn't come. He could feel someone's ki, but it wasn't strong enough to cause any worry. Plus, there were so many police crawling about that he probably just felt one of theirs. Judging it safe, he ran silently out into the street, straight into the nozzle of a gun.
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The person cocked the gun while saying calmly, "Stand down Battousai. We have you surrounded."

It was the young police officer Kaoru had met before. As he said these words, the small squad stood up, revealing their hiding places. They all had guns, and they were pointed directly at him.

/No wonder I didn't feel any threatening ki/, Kenshin thought. /They have almost no fighting spirit, they just use guns./ As if to confirm his inward statement, he glanced around. Even though it was dark except for the faint glimmer of one of the street lanterns, he couldn't make out the outline of a sword's sheath hanging next to a single one of them.

/Cowards,/ he grimaced. Unfortunately, those cowards just happened to have the upper hand.

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Kaoru heard voices from her hiding place in the shadows. By following the group members of the squad a little more, she figured out that they didn't actually split up, just went into separate hiding spots. She just watched as they all took their places.

Then, she sensed someone coming, though she still couldn't hear anything. The police already had their guns cocked, ready to fire.

The silence grew deeper and Kaoru thought she saw a slight outline of a figure come towards them. It suddenly stopped. Kaoru saw the reason why as the moonlight reflected off a gun.

The gunman muttered something she couldn't quite make out, but the gun being cocked echoed loud and clear. Sweating just as heavily as she had with a sword held up to her throat, Kaoru knew she had to do something.

Rushing forth as silently and swiftly as a cat, she hit the man with the gun in the back of the head with her ever-present bokken. The other officers were inexperienced and didn't seem to know what to do, which provided the all perfect escape the girl and the ex-assassin.

Kenshin wasn't quite sure what to do at first but soon recognized the friendly ki of the person grabbing his hand and urging him to move. He, being the faster runner and using his famous speed, picked Kaoru up and sped back to the dojo, hoping the police weren't smart enough to be able to pick up their trail.

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They were both safely inside the gate, listening to the scurrying of the police outside. Kenshin put her Kaoru down and they both wan into the dojo.

Kaoru quickly opened the floorboard where she stored her bokkens and motioned for Kenshin to climb down into the opening. It proved to be quite spacey. Even though it was only four feet below the floor, the room, or basement of sorts, traveled under the whole of the training dojo.

Kaoru stayed above, thinking it might be suspicious if the police had another search and there wasn't anyone home, especially after she had been spotted by one of the officers. She left the bokken she had been carrying under the floorboards with Kenshin, making sure it was in an easy-to-get-to place in case it was needed.

The police, not to anyone's surprise, came around again even though the streets were still barely visible.

Kaoru opened the door still dressed in a gi and hakama but they paid her no notice. Only a quick search was performed before they left again, finding nothing to be suspicious about.

Once they had left, Kaoru brought Kenshin a spare futon though she doubted either of them would get any sleep as the police whistles continued to ring all through the night.

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When the first crack of dawn emerged from the clouds, Kaoru left her room, not being able to take the heavy silence any longer. Walking out into the dojo, she opened lifted the floorboard to find Kenshin had also stayed up all night.

Kenshin squinted as sunlight streamed across the polished floors out of a crack in the door, eyes still accustomed to the darkness.

The police were still searching, being it was the second time Battousai had escaped their grasp in the past week or so. He suspected someone had been fired after last night.

It was still kind of dark and Kaoru decided to sit against the wall to the left of the door. Kenshin followed and sat cross-legged next to her.

"I. I just wanted to say. thank you for helping me," he said with difficulty. "I wanted to ask you, why did you do that? You could have easily been killed," he finished in a whisper.

"I was worried about you," Kaoru answered, also in a whisper for no apparent. She didn't think any police would come in because they heard talking but it seemed more peaceful this way.

Kenshin however, seemed startled by her comment. "You were. *worried* about me?" he asked now using an unsure voice. "But I am, sorry *was*, a hitokiri. Don't you care?"

"I thought I told you," she answered, immediately annoyed. "One, I don't care about your past and tow, you're welcome to stay here for a while. Though I don't know how safe it would be to stay *here*."

Kenshin looked at her with skeptical eyes that made Kaoru get the feeling he didn't believe her. "But what about what you had said to the Police Chief. That didn't sound like not caring about people's pasts to me."

Kaoru's eyes widened, realizing he had heard that whole conversation. Suddenly everything made sense; he thought she'd get the police.

"Kenshin no baka!" she shouted, receiving another weird look from Kenshin. "I couldn't exactly have said 'yeah I know who Himura the Battousai is. In fact, he's staying at my house but you can't come in because he's my friend' without being carted off to jail. Didn't you notice that I *did* say that I didn't know who or where you were?"

Kenshin's logic had been crushed. Everything had almost made sense. She had just been acting when talking to those policemen? Now he felt absolutely stupid and not for the first time. He had almost killed someone just because he hadn't taken time to consider and remember *everything* she had said.

/At least I didn't go through with it,/ he thought, relieved though embarrassed.

Kaoru just watched his face turn a slight shade of pink, thoroughly amused. /I wonder how many people have seen the great Hitokiri Battousai blush/, her mind said.

Turning serious again, Kaoru told him to just put it behind them. Now, they needed to find a way to leave the city with the full line of police patrolling the city.

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I would like to credit my friend Shoki for coming up with the idea of Kenshin being chased, again. You people don't know how much of a glitch she fixed my telling me that in English class. Yes, I was paying attention in class, she told me in the first couple minutes before she started talking. She's a genius people, a pure genius.

Replies to the Glorious Reviewers:

koishii-glory: Thanks again. To tell the truth, I'm not *exactly* positive where I'm going with this so if you have any ideas, please tell me. I have some other stuff I could put in but I need to think of something more than just a main part I want to get to. ^_^x

Rekka Yoruhana: I don't think you need to duck tape anyone to the wall, though. And I like your story, don't advertise against it. You don't update as often but you have a heck of a lot longer chapters than me, so I don't think it counts. Thank you!

Shoki de nai: You did put up your story so all my hard work pestering you paid off. ^.^x And in case you haven't read all the other stuff I wrote: THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! And you should UPDATE sooner than every TWO WEEKS because: 1). You already have many chapters written and 2). Your chapters are shorter (no offense). CYA at school!

Geminidragon: Yes, Kaoru's father is dead. And I'm trying to make Sano have an appearance, I already tried to put most of the characters in already, so why should I leave out him? You can be pretty sure he will appear some time in the next chapter or two (or three if I'm lazy). Thanks for the compliment.

Kitsune KeNsHiN: Thank you for understanding about school and stuff. I wish in English class we could just write, I mean, isn't that what you do in English, write? Yes, it was a cliffy, just not as much of a cliffy as I had planned, thanks for saying it was good though. I always thought 'good cliffhanger' was an oxymoron, but I know what you mean.

sayiangohan16: Sorry about making you wait and stuff. I'm not a HUGE fan of cliffhangers either but I like to put them in. Don't ask. You're the first person to comment on the Dance Revolution games. *hands sayiangohan16 a candy bar* And I'm glad *someone* reads what I actually have to say in author's notes. I usually try to read them all too. Maybe I'll try to put extra info in there for you and other people who read it. ^_^x

the sacred night: Chapter three was longer? I counted the words all of the chapters (not including author's notes or replies to reviews or anything) and chapter three is about 151 words longer, I don't know if that's the *exact number* or not. Thank you for not being upset or anything. I'm actually trying not to make it too romancy since I'm *trying* to write a different story that's a romance, I'm not sure if I'll ever post it though. Thank you!

Tsugoi Kakalena: Liked your review. If you're already dead, then why do you need a chapter to help you live? Never mind. I'll take whatever you said as a compliment, thank you. @.@x

Phèdre Nó Delauney: I reviewed your story to the best of my abilities (I don't watch a whole lot of the Dragonball shows but I think I said that.) And thank you so much for the compliments, they mean a whole lot to me. Hope you get lots of reviews!

Kantari: Thank you! Your review is a great example of how just a few words can really be a big compliment and make an author feel appreciated. ^_^x

Thank you so much and please review if you can!

~Sango