Author's Note: I'm trying to turn up the pace and bond things together. You'll see what happens, and I hope you like it! Another bonding chapter but with clues at the end. Enjoy! And no...I don't own RK

Chapter 4: Love and Hatred

"Yahiko I'm sorry! Just talk to me!"

Kaoru called to him plodding behind the boy who continued to march with his arms crossed over his chest, ignoring her pleas. She had caught up to him somehow knowing that he would head back to the dojo rather than wander around town.

But Yahiko hadn't spoken to her ever since she laughed at his clumsiness at the river.

They had been practicing on the lesson of keeping concentration and skill balanced in the middle of a grave situation. The edges of her lips twitched a bit as she thought on the scene, continuing to follow Yahiko.

:FLASHBACK:

"Concentrate! Don't think about the water around you or the fall you might make, just focus on your goal and don't lose any strength during that concentration!"

Kaoru ordered analyzing Yahiko's every move.

Yahiko lost his temper tired of hearing Kaoru screech at him. What the hell was he doing anyways! Standing on a log that's floating in the river had nothing to do with being a swordsman!

"Shut up, Ugly! Your stinkin' voice is so damn annoying! Just shut that big raccoon mouth of yours and let me focus!" He barked at her, getting the raven-haired girl to roll her sapphire eyes.

"Whatever Yahiko. You think you know everything about the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu, but guess what... YOU DON'T! Stop disrespecting your master and do what I tell you to! Now you shut up and run back and forth on that friggin' log before I decide to get on it and push you off it!"

Yahiko glared at her and huffed, mumbling curses. He took his eyes off the water and raced over the log, back and forth.

"Good!" Kaoru smiled, watching her student skittishly run on the log, his hands holding the wooden sword in a battle stance posture.

"Now imagine there's a man behind you, a ninja! He's throwing you a roundhouse kick!" She continued to lesson, inattentively nodding as she watched Yahiko dodge the invisible move and continued running.

Long minutes kept on like this, more moves to block and counter-attack, more men to defend himself from. She began to add more and more attackers, until Yahiko had to fight four at once.

"Ugly, relax! Damnit I can't...do…so... many!" Yahiko exclaimed between moves.

Once and twice he'd lose a bit of balance but Kaoru paid no mind to that or to his complains.

"If you wanna become a great swordsman like Kenshin then you have to be able to do this! Stop acting like such a wuss and just do what I tell you to do!" Kaoru remarked and… burst into laughter when Yahiko was going to turn to face her and took a wrong step falling into the water face first!

Kaoru was dying of laughter, holding her sides from the pain she got of laughing.

Yahiko surfaced spurting water, his hair flat on his head covering his face. He swam furiously towards the shore, and pushed himself up onto the ground, still sputtering water. Kaoru was now on her knees in hysterical giggles, tears down her cheeks.

"Y-Yahiko. T-T-That was h- hilarious! P-Perfect... Way t-to s-show your s-s-swordsmanship!" She laughed while gasping for air.

Yahiko stood up, heaving as he glared at Kaoru. He tossed the bokken down and let out his anger.

"I hate you, Kaoru! You're the worst master ever! I quit! I don't wanna be your damn student anymore! You can't even teach right! I'm sick of your crap and I won't take it anymore! Laugh all you want 'cause I don't care! And I don't care about your dumb ass lessons! So go to hell!"

Kaoru stopped laughing, a scolding face on. Yahiko stood there still eyeing her but just one look at him, dripping in water, sent her into giggles again.

She really didn't think he meant all those things, but that was where she was wrong.

Yahiko dashed right past her, running away.

Kaoru, realizing that maybe she needed to apologize to him, got back on her feet and jogged after him, slowly afterwards figuring out that Yahiko was dead serious.

:FLASH END:

The dojo was right up ahead and the last thing she needed was to have everyone get involved with the problem. She wanted to show everyone that she wasn't just some eighteen year-old who acted like a kid sometimes, she wanted them to know that she could behave and be a young, serious woman whenever possible. Kenshin already knew that, but the others didn't. It was as if they still thought she was the same weak girl who cried herself to sleep when Kenshin left to fight Makoto Shishio.

Kaoru accelerated and caught up to Yahiko, getting a glare from him.

"What do you want?" He spat out, bitterness in his words.

Kaoru sighed, ashamed of herself and placed a hand on his shoulder, which was shrugged off. Kaoru frowned at his action and got in front of him, placing a hand on his chest to stop him from moving, and surprisingly Yahiko halted.

"Yahiko, I'm sorry." She apologized again and got eye rolls from the eleven year-old.

"I don't care, Ugly. I rather hang myself than listen to you. Move."

They looked into each other's eyes, blue meeting with brown, both hurt.

"I know that, Yahiko. I know that. But you have to listen to me; because it's the only time I'll ever say this. I was wrong, and you were right, Yahiko."

Yahiko froze and showed a puzzled look, "What?" He asked, not sure of she said.

Kaoru repeated herself and got a sigh from Yahiko. "Ugly, you're just saying that to make me feel better and to get me to forgive you."

Kaoru shook her head in disagreement and smiled softly at him. "Yahiko, I only do this once in a blue moon. I'm doing this because it's true. It was wrong for me to laugh at you and to say that to you, you were doing better than I thought. And you were right when you said that I'm not a good master. I don't know how to be one and I'm seeing that now. But I don't want your pity, Yahiko. I just want you to accept my apology."

Yahiko looked down at the ground and wiggled his toes that lay underneath the wet socks.

Kaoru shuddered a shaky breath and waited for Yahiko to say something, but nothing came for some time.

Kaoru held back tears, feeling really embarrassed and down in the dumps. She knew she wasn't a good master or teacher to Yahiko, nothing compared to her father. His shoes were too big to fill and she knew it. And now she was positive that the fact was correct.

Yahiko looked up and met with Kaoru's, a small smile playing on his lips getting Kaoru confused.

"Kaoru, you're not a bad teacher. If you were bad, I'd be living somewhere else getting lessons from another dojo. You're alright for a teacher. And I'm sorry for saying those things."

Kaoru smiled widely and abruptly hugged Yahiko. He stood frozen, surprised, and then slowly hugged her back. They stood there for a while, embraced in that one sibling moment.

"Kaoru. You can let go of me now." Yahiko smirked and laughed when Kaoru pushed him off of her.

"Whatever, Yahiko!" Kaoru laughed and let out a breath of relief.

She handed Yahiko his bokken back and smiled heartily as they continued to walk to the dojo.

"Hey Yahiko, did you know that you just called me Kaoru?" She smirked at Yahiko who rolled his eyes.

"Yea, and? Is that your name or is it Ugly?"

Kaoru stopped in her tracks and a flying punch to Yahiko who was nailed right in the chin and landed on his face with swirling eyes.

"That'll teach you!" Kaoru growled, inside her heart knowing that everything was all right and that they didn't hate each other.

Yahiko got up and rubbed his throbbing chin and playfully glared at Kaoru who returned the gesture. It was nice to have everything back again...or so they thought.

"Good afternoon raccoon girl, brat. Isn't it a bit cold to be jumping in rivers? November's in winter, not spring or summer morons."

A sarcastic voice spoke, startling both of them. They turned their faces to find one of their enemies standing in front of them with a malicious smirk.

Haijime Saitoh, former leader of the third squad of the Shisengumi, stood before in his police uniform, a sword in his hand, unsheathed.

"Why are you here?" Yahiko snarled, getting up from the ground.

Kaoru placed a hand on his shoulder, warning him not to do anything dumb.

Saitoh opened his very narrowed eyes, exposing their amber color and answered the rude question.

"That's none of your preadolescent business, Myoujin. You're lucky I haven't caught you alone without someone to protect you, if not you'd be in the river floating to hell."

Kaoru gasped and tightened her grip on Yahiko's shoulder blade, feeling the kid's muscles tense up. She decided to take action before anything happened; Saitoh was not someone to mess with.

"Haijime-san, if you're looking for Battousai, he's not here. But Kenshin Himura is. This is my residence, and no man of whatever sort will step into my home looking for trouble. If you want to come in and speak with Kenshin, then you leave your sword with me. If not, you have to swear on your Shisengumi fighters that you will not harm Kenshin or anyone in my house. Is that clear?" She spoke firmly keeping a hard stare on Saitoh.

No one spoke for a while, waiting for Saitoh's decision that took a while to come.

Saitoh gave Kaoru a deadly glare yet spoke calmly, "I hope you know I can arrest you at anytime I want for any silly reason... but every road has its bumps."

Both Kaoru and Yahiko relaxed a bit and waited until Saitoh had given Kaoru his sword to enter the dojo, where all hell would start.

Why was Haijime Saitoh there? What did he want with Kenshin? Was it for another battle? Was it another mission?

All those questions thundered inside Kaoru's head as she lead Saitoh inside, praying to the Gods that all would be alright.

Would it?

Kenshin was outside, tending to the porch of the dojo, a broom in his hand as his back faced the coming people. He was humming a song his mother had sung to him at night and swept with gladness. But once the strong ki was close enough to sense, his whole body tensed and he stopped sweeping. Still with his back faced towards the visitors, he knew only one person with that ki energy so diabolic and high: his archenemy of the revolution.

Controlling the Battousai in him, Kenshin turned around and met with him once again.

"Konnichiwa, Battousai. Your woman, excuse me, little girl, invited me in. Unfortunately, she's one smart raccoon and she took my sword, so you won't die today." Saitoh commented, smirking when he sensed Kaoru's spirit energy rise.

Kenshin acted to be untouched by his words, but inside, the Battousai wanted out so he could wring Saitoh's head for talking about Kaoru that way. No one is this world would live to ridicule his beloved like that again; Battousai would make sure of that.

"I agree with you on the terms that Miss Kaoru is very intelligent. We'd all be lost without her; she's very important and special to us." And you'd be sushi if it weren't for me meeting her, you sick son of a ---

"Let's get down to business. It's really not that big of a deal to talk to you in private about it. I'm sure you know what it is…but then again, how could you? You're Kenshin, the man in pink, not Battousai, the real swordsman."

Yahiko was going to let out horrible curses but Kaoru placed a hand over his mouth; now was not the time to do or say anything foolish.

Kenshin's eyes narrowed a bit in offense but he kept his cool. "What is it that you want from me, Saitoh?" He said with no emotion in his words.

Saitoh cracked his knuckles and gave another one of his wolf smirks.

"I'm not here for you, Battousai. I'm here for him…

Soujiro no Tenken."