Disclaimer: none of the Rurouni Kenshin characters belong to me :*(. Therefore, DON'T SUE ME!!!

*goes and hides behind Soujiro* I don't have any money! Plus Soujiro will protect me! *Soujiro slaps his forehead in annoyance* "I'm not some walking protection wall like Himura-san is." *Soujiro walks away* "Hey, you jerk! Get back here" "You don't own me, remember" *Author gets very mad and chucks a shoe at the back of his head and hits it* "owww, that hurt" "Serves you right".

* * *

"Wandering for ten years. It didn't sound too hard at the time." Soujiro thought as he walked down a deserted road.

Then he said aloud, "I guess I really wasn't thinking when I said I'd do that; I'm glad I did though."

"Well, I've been wandering for just two years, and I am just amazed that Himura-san did this for ten."

He was so busy turning these things over in his mind, that when he rounded a bin it took him a few seconds before he saw a small girl off to the side near a ditch.

He started when he heard a soft sniff and then noticed the girl. Even though it was getting dark, Soujiro could still tell she had been crying. He looked around. There was no one else coming or going down the road. He hesitated, but eventually walked slowly over.

"Do you need some help?" Soujiro asked.

He heard a faint "uh-huh". Then the girl turned to look at him. She had tears streaks down her face along with some dirt over what was a forming bruise. She had a delicate face with large, honey-colored eyes.

Well, he couldn't help her if he didn't know what was wrong. So, he asked, "What happened."

As if just the thought that something had happened seemed to upset her. Her eyes filled up with tears.

"I…I…" she tried to tell him, but the tears beat her to it and soon her small form was shaking from the crying.

Soujiro sat down next to her and rubbed her back a bit like he had seen some parents do for their children in towns he had pasted through.

He did this for quite some time all the while muttering "It'll be okay." Soon she started to calm down enough to talk, but she just sat silently and looked at the ground.

Soujiro waited a bit longer. He didn't want to push her or anything, but it was getting dark. If she needed to get back home, they had to get a move on.

"What happened?' he said softly.

"I fell," the answer was short and came in a cold voice. Soujiro sat, stunned. He knew she was lying, but never imagined those two words could sound so harsh. Especially coming from a little girl no more than eight.

"What really happened?" he asked. She gasped and looked at him, as if no one had ever seen through her lies before now. Soujiro could tell she was trying to stop from crying again. He just calmly looked at her and she all of a sudden grabbed the sleeve of his gi and started to shake violently.

Then he heard, in a small voice, the words "My father hit me."

"Will he be expecting you to come back home eventually,"

Again he heard a soft "uh-huh." Then she looked up at him and added, "I don't have anywhere else to go."

"Do you need to go home now?"

She looked at him with sad eyes, and nodded. She wasn't in much condition to walk to the village he finally noticed, but was still a distance away. So, he picked her up and she clung to his neck as if she might die if she didn't. He felt very sorry for her, and he knew something was not right. Something started to tug at the corner of his mind. He pushed it away. It would do no good to let it come up in his mind because he knew it was not good. Whatever it was.