Author's Note: I have to admit this has got to be the suckiest chapter I've ever written in my entire life! But bear with me please. I promise, cross my heart hope to die, that the next chapter will be waaaaay better! Please just read and review, I would love you forever if you did! Thanks again for even reading my crap. I've been going nuts doing sports week and all the school work I have and everything else in my life that I've been soooo uncreative when it comes to my story. But no more, I say! Ok I'ma shut up now. And no... Luckily for those Misao/Aoshi lovers I do not own RK.

:sticks out tongue:

Chapter 5: Starting a Fire

All of them except Saitoh stood rooted to the ground, shock and fear bursting in them.

Kaoru's eyes widened. Yahiko's back straightened up. Kenshin's throat became dry.

Saitoh seemed amused by their tactics watching their every move as he stood there feeling very formidable.

The cold wind seemed to be icy rather than a simple cool breeze, catching whispers of the people of Tokyo. The sun beamed high in the sky, directly at the small group that kept still while time passed. Not a single word came out of anyone's mouth, not a single syllable. They were moved immensely by the Wolf's words.

Kenshin reacted fast after those frozen moments and attacked wisely. "Isn't he dead, along with the rest of the former Juppon Gatana?"

Saitoh kept his smirk on, knowing the game that Kenshin was trying to bat in, but Saitoh's pitches were out of Kenshin's league. "If he were dead would I be wasting my time coming to this run down place and ask you for information that I already know?"

Kenshin loosened his grip on the broom and sighed, inwardly trying to relax his muscles and hide his shaken ki. "You are always full of surprises, Saitoh. I really don't know how to answer that question."

Saitoh glared irritated and continued with his duty. "Battousai, where's the boy? We both know he's here and he's coming with me. So cut the bullshit and give me the kid."

Kenshin walked down the steps and handed the broom to Yahiko who was as still as a statue, afraid of what might happen. Kenshin seeing the fright in both Kaoru and Yahiko, he smiled sincerely and as calm as possible he spoke to them, "Miss Kaoru will you please make some tea? And Yahiko please sweep the training hall, I need that clean." Both nodded and proceeded to their deeds leaving Kenshin and Saitoh alone.

Both men stared at each other dead in the eye.

The taller one with his eyes of gold flashing in the sun lost his smile and took on the face of the infamous Wolf.

The shorter one, with his fiery red hair blowing in the direction of the wind, kept his cool never feeling intimated by the height of the Wolf. "I know why you're here, Saitoh...You want another fight, but it's not going to happen. Not here at least."

In the blink of an eye, Kenshin's eyes took form from a dark purple shade to a bright lilac with irises extremely small; Pre-Battousai speaking for Kenshin, amusing Saitoh even more.

Kenshin took a step closer to Saitoh and looked up, never breaking the eye contact and spoke in a deadly voice, bringing back old memories of the revolution. "And if you ever insult Kaoru again, I will turn you inside out and make sure your whole bloodline lives pure hell until I die. Do not mess with me, Haijime. Don't fuck with me; I'm not the same man you fought a long time ago. Because if you keep thinking that, you'll surely die quick."

Saitoh glared at him, ignoring that Battousai was almost out of his cage.

"Battousai, I will insult whoever I wish to, and you take your own advice wisely as well. I don't give a damn if you're a God in disguise. Don't threaten my family or it'll be you who die a quick death. Haijime Saitoh is afraid of no one and nothing. Remember that, Battousai. Engrave it in your mind and carve it in stone if you need to, but do not forget."

Both warriors' spirit energy blew high into the sky yet they never spoke another word until long minutes later. The tension was clearly there and not even the cold weather could cool it down.

Kenshin, well Battousai, his eyes now amber, opened his mouth once again. "Seta Soujiro is not here, and if he were you'd be able to sense his ki now wouldn't you?"

Saitoh narrowed his eyes even more and stood quiet, searching for Soujiro's ki but found none except the people that lived in the dojo.

"I'm watching you, Battousai. The Wolf of the Shisengumi doesn't miss a thing. I know he's here somewhere and if he's not, he'll surely come to you later. I'd bet my life on it. I'll be watching." With that Saitoh turned on his heel and withdrew from the dojo.

Battousai kept his honed senses sharp and waited till he was absolutely sure that Saitoh had gone. Once he did, he let out a breath he subconsciously had and closed his eyes, his way of putting Battousai back into his solitary cage.

He thought of Kaoru when she was crying as Saitoh and he battled in the dojo; her body hunched over the floor as she begged for him to stop… and of the night when he had said goodbye to her, only to her. He still vividly saw those memories after all that time, but of course he'd see them clearly, Kaoru meant the world to him.

She was the air he breathed, the heart he lived with, the light in his life. He loved her madly, deeply, and truly. He'd die a thousand times and live eternities in hell if it meant having her near him.

Kenshin reopened his eyes, now their normal shade of purple, the Rurouni back in place. He treaded to the gates and locked them, not caring if it was only around 3 or 4 in the afternoon and that Sano would soon be coming back for lunch.

With that done, he continued his path to the training hall where Soujiro had been cleaning all that time during the confrontation.

There he found his three companions, two of them with eyes of fright.

Kaoru rushed over to Kenshin and subconsciously let she run her hands over his face and hands checking for any signs that would show that he had fought.

"Kenshin, are you alright? Did he hit you? Did you fight? Don't tell me you fought, please tell you didn't! It'd be the last thing for me, having you fight that man again. Are you hurt? Don't lie to me Kenshin or I swear I'll hurt you even more than he did! Curse that man! But are you sure you're alright?"

Kenshin laughed, mentally asking himself if Kaoru's speech went faster than Soujiro's Shukuchi.

He gently grabbed Kaoru's questioning hands off his face and locked eyes with her. "Sessha is fine, Miss Kaoru, that I am." He sweetly spoke, pouring love out of his lips.

Kaoru blushed furiously and bowed her head in embarrassment. Kenshin wondering why she did that gesture tried finding a reason and he too blushed when he noticed it.

He had laced their fingers together.

Dropping their hands quickly, he scratched the back of his head and chuckled dumbly. "I'm sorry Miss Kaoru." He smiled that Rurouni smile of his.

Kaoru nodded, hurt inside by his actions of dropping their hands so quickly, and moved out of his way.

"Himura-san, what happened?" Soujiro questioned, seeming depressed.

Kenshin moved towards him and sighed, "Saitoh somehow found out that you're here. But he's not quite sure, I think. But everything's all right now. All we need to do is make sure we keep a low profile on you, Soujiro. I'm sure Saitoh will kill you the moment he has you alone with him. Saitoh has always been like that, ever since I met him in the revolution."

Soujiro gave a smug smile and sheathed his sword that he had out in case that Saitoh might've come in.

Yahiko had dashed to the training hall where Soujiro stood with a dust brush in his hand. Yahiko had quickly told him who was outside and what he wanted. Soujiro took a defensive posture with his sword out and nodded. He knew that someone very powerful was outside with Kenshin, he had felt the ki from all the way outside and so he covered his like he used to before. Kaoru then came and they all three kept quiet in the room, ready for anything.

"Mr. Saitoh would have to catch me first to kill me." Soujiro cracked a simple joke trying to break through the tension in the room.

Kenshin smirked and sighed once again, "Well we can all relax now. There's nothing to worry about...Yahiko why are you wet?" Kenshin asked, now realizing that the student of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu was soaked in water.

Kaoru's lips twitched again and before any one knew it, she let out a loud laugh beginning her reign of hysterical laughter once again.

Yahiko fumed and turned to Kaoru, screaming at the top of his lungs at her, letting out curses and threats. Both swordsmen watched in puzzlement as Yahiko blew his top off and yelled at Kaoru while the young assistant manager of the Kamiya Kasshin Style laughed her head off.

Yep, there was nothing to worry about; it was obvious to those two.

But to the other two standing in the room with the wheels in their heads turning, there was plenty to worry about…

Haijime Saitoh would surely come back and not alone, and leave every stone turned to find Soujiro. He was definitely not someone to take lightly. What added more to the problems was THE question: When would he come back?

"Soujiro...I know what you're thinking…And I'm telling you now.. Miss Kaoru would hang both you and me if you dare step out of this house and leave. She'd have my head if I let you leave, so don't think about it." Kenshin whispered, making sure that Kaoru and Yahiko would not listen, they were still at it.

Kenshin kept his puzzled expression on as he talked to Soujiro who did his trademark gestures. Soujiro once again was surprised by Kenshin; the man never ceased to amaze him. How had he known that he was thinking of leaving?

Because he's the Battousai, a voice in his head spoke. Soujiro had quickly thought of leaving the dojo to save his 'family' the trouble that they would go through with Saitoh. He did not want to get them in trouble with the law nor cause any commotion.

"Mr. Himura, it'd be better this way. Like you said before, the love that I feel for everyone here won't allow me to hurt you, so this love that I have is trying to make the right decision."

Kenshin glanced at Soujiro and sighed, "But you're not making the right one. You'll hurt your family even more if you leave. Trust me on that, I know."

Soujiro nodded but still had doubts, he would not let any harm come to the people he loved, no matter what.

Kaoru suddenly punched Yahiko right in the chin and fumed over him, catching their attention.

"Miss Kaoru, I think Yahiko has gotten his punishment that I do." Kenshin got in, knowing the look in Kaoru's blue eyes.

She turned to him and gave him a deadly glare. "I'd stay out of this Kenshin, if I were you."

Kenshin animatedly sweat-dropped and laughed nervously while Soujiro laughed, "Yahiko's doomed."

"SHUT UP, TENKEN! ONCE SHE'S DONE WITH ME, I'LL GET TO YOU!" Yahiko shouted, standing up from his fall.

Unfortunately for him, Kaoru had speed beyond what people thought and she was right on his tail as he zoomed out of the training hall.

Kenshin and Soujiro would not speak of the topic of him leaving ever again, for Kenshin thought that Soujiro understood, but the thoughts still ran in both men's heads…

They continued with their doings, the dojo back in order.

"Hey Kenshin, I'm hungry! I don't smell no damn onegiri!" A male voice boomed, getting Kenshin to face fault.

"Don't I get a break."? Kenshin playfully whined, swirls for his eyes.

"Will you shut up? Gods you're loud! Sir Ken doesn't have to cook for you, you low life drunkard!" Sanosuke and Megumi began their bickering loud and clear, now getting the dojo really back in schedule.

"Oh Sou-chan! Where are you darling? Megumi came to see you, sweetie!" Stopping the dust brush in mid air, Soujiro gulped and prayed that Megumi wouldn't start groping him or get all girlish on him.

But of course that prayer never reached the heavens; it would go against Megumi's.

"Gods…."

Author's Note: As I was fixing up this chapter (yet again), I noticed one of the lines: "Mr. Himura, it'd be better this way. Like you said before, the love that I feel for everyone here won't allow me to hurt you, so this love that I have is trying to make the right decision."

….I realized that I was missing a chapter. This quote, exerted from this episode, comes from a previous chapter where Soujiro is cooking supper for the gang. It's an all-Soujiro chapter, where we get to see how he is handling himself with the Kenshin gumi that have accepted him as a very loved member of the family. Seeing that this very introspective chapter is missing in this story, I shall give a synopsis on it so those who wonder just what the hell did Soujiro meant in the quote.

As I mentioned, Soujiro was cooking up dinner for his new family but he was having some trouble getting it done. For those who reviewed the chapter, you said that Soujiro was cute and adorable. Indeed he was. :smiles: he even cursed in this "forgotten" chapter! He was frustrated by the fact that he had been having nightmares about slaughtering his new family. He could not get rid of those thoughts and he was very disturbed by them. He did not want to harm his family, you see, and was worrying about the future…if he would indeed slay them. The chapter gives vivid details on these nightmares, how the characters are killed, very gruesome I tell you. Our favorite redhead comes into the kitchen and persuades Soujiro to tell him what was bothering him. Soujiro spills and Kenshin comforts. He tells our cute little Tenken to call him Kenshin when Soujiro (for once my memory is serving me well) calls him "Mr. Kenshin." As you can tell, he's still not used to calling Kenshin, Kenshin. Kenshin tells Soujiro that if he did love his family, he'd be able to control that desire to kill (in where Soujiro frowns and comments that he doesn't have any desire to kill and Kenshin, as a result, smiles) because that love that he feels won't let him hurt his family and friends. Soujiro, now feeling quite relieved and enlightened by his role model, smiles and watches as Kenshin leaves to go do laundry.

So that chapter establishes what Soujiro now feels.

That's all I wanted to clear up! Keep reading, folks:waves good bye: