Ciao!!!

You know what's funny?

Yasai: No. But you'll tell me in a second.

Well, I think what's funny is that my spellcheck keeps insisting I change 'Battousai' into 'bathhouse'.

Yasai: O_O So it's the attack of the evil bathhouse now...

All right, this is going too far. Enjoy the story!!!

"…." Denotes talking

….. denotes thinking

*~* means a change of scenery (either temporal or local, I  think which one of those will be clear) has taken place

Disclaimer: I do in no way own any rights, moral or others, to Rurouni Kenshin, its characters or plot. Characters other than the characters from Rurouni Kenshin bearing any resemblance to persons living or dead are purely coincidental. I do not intend to make any profits out of this story, it's written for entertainment purposes only and any attempt by persons natural or legal to make money from it in any way is not in accordance with this author's express wishes.

Chapter 9 Sulfur springs and farm life

"No! Don't!" Kaoru's voice was shrill with panic and so high-pitched it resembled a bird's cry. "Don't kill him. You know you really don't want to do this!" Tears fell from her beautiful sapphire eyes as she helplessly watched the agent she had come to associate with safety and warmth turn into an ice-cold killer. While the display of his fighting skills had been frightening enough the way he was carrying himself now was downright terrifying. Murdering a downed man in cold blood... it was impossible for Kaoru to behold. Yet Kenshin's quivering weapon was raised above his head, its downward strike certain to sever Saito's head from the body. The girl's tears dropped to the ground in a steady river of starlit pearls, her hands reaching out in a futile attempt to stop the agent from becoming his own nightmare. The way Megumi-and her father as well- had talked about Battousai she was sure the gentle and caring young man she had met didn't want to be like that, not anymore. His amber eyes were glowing with a light of their own that did not stem from the yellow glow of the searchlight. Kaoru was shaken to the core when they briefly swept over her.

"If you choose to kill him you might as well kill us right afterwards. I know we will be hunted by every man in the country- but some of these men will not be very motivated, which is our chance to escape. Should you, however, cause the dead of one of their own...I think the bloodhounds would be more merciful than Regime soldiers on the hunt. Battousai, please apply the logic you are famous for and let the man live. He deserves to die, as much as anyone you ever killed. But right now he is of no imminent danger to us. Perhaps the shame of losing his duel will even keep him quiet for some time. This is our chance. We still have so far to go- don't ruin it all now. You are known as a strategic genius. Think!"

Megumi had steeped forward as the words poured from her mouth. Recalling everything she remembered about the assassin-agent called Battousai from her short time in the Agency she tried to reach the core of logical thinking that had to reside within the instinct-driven man before her. Amber eyes fastened on her for a short glance before they turned back to his helpless prey. At least he had heard her...

The tip of the strange, long sword quivered more violently now. Then, with a movement so lightning fast and precise it startled the seven people watching in trembling anticipation it was sheathed- but not before a tiny flick of the right wrist cleared imagined drops of blood from the blade. Head bowed the agent stood in front of his fallen opponent. His right fist, which had rested upon the hilt of his sword, clenched so tightly that every sinew and knuckle stood in stark white contrast against the skin reddened from the cold.

Whirling around the agent faced his friends and protégés with cobalt blue eyes of amber-flecked steel. Blinking once, they turned softer, deeper in color. "In one point you were wrong, Miss Megumi. Nobody deserves to die. Those I killed didn't deserve to die. I killed because I had to, because I wanted to avoid people like you safe from terrors such as the Camp. But they didn't deserve to die, that they didn't."  With that, friendly delft-blue and violet returned into the agent's saddened and weary gaze. His stance faltered and his shoulders dropped down as he relinquished his guarded tension and relaxed battered muscles.

"You're back..." Kaoru's voice held the remainder of her helpless tears and shook with the aftereffects of the fear she had experienced. Her feet moved on their own account as she rushed to Kenshin's side. He smiled at her with his lips, a gesture making her feel safe again even though his eyes didn't reflect the smile but retained their haunted look. "I'm glad..."

She stood in front of him, one hand stretched out to reach his shoulder, torn between the desire to slap him for his foolishness and to embrace him with all the warmth she could give since he looked so lost. Her eyes were the color of the sky and reflecting all the stars above in their tear-misted state. The agent had the fleeting impression an angel had descended from the heavens to be his guiding light.

"What kind of sword is that? It looks strange!"

"Oro?" Yahiko had cautiously approached the agent and the girl, feeling uneasy until recognition that the agent wasn't going to go on a rampage had settled in. Then he couldn't curb his curiosity any more and had somehow managed to snatch the agent's weapon from where it hung on his hip. Pulling the blade out of the saya bewilderment reflected on his face. Kenshin tore his gaze from the enticing sight of the angel in front of him and fastened it on the boy studying his sword with rapt fascination.

"It's not sharp!" Yahiko exclaimed.

"It's a sakabatou. A reverse-bladed sword, that it is." Kenshin explained.

"But you can't kill anyone when you use it like a normal sword!" The boy was puzzled.

"That's the sense behind it, that it is."

"But-"

"Yahiko. I don't think we have time for discussions right now! We have to leave. We have been here far too long already. What if someone sees us?" Tae was fidgeting nervously and twisting the fabric of her sleeve between her fingers.

"Tae's right... sorry to say so kid, but Kenshin's gotta get us away from here now. I smell that guard who passed us earlier returning."

"You smell guards? And here I thought a chicken had an underdeveloped sense of smell... regardless, Tae has a point here. Kenshin, tell us where to run to." Megumi brushed off Sano's bristling as though it were nothing. She truly had a talent to antagonize him- but so had he with her. Brightly burning the memory of how he had kissed her returned to her, and blushing a deep red she almost missed out on Kenshin's answer.

"I have already gotten my bearings, that I have. We need to straight westwards for about a day, then turn southwest. Perhaps we should travel at night and hide during the day, that we- that we should." The agent hoped no one had taken notice of the slight faltering in his speech. A dizzy spell had hit him, he knew he had exerted himself in the fight with the Regime officer, but he also knew they had to move as quickly as possible. By his estimates chances were they would all be found and killed if they didn't manage to leave Regime territory within a week's time. There was no rest for him... but he had accepted that when he had proposed the mission, hadn't he?

"The let's go!" Sano shouted slamming his fists together only to be silenced by reproaching looks from Sae, Tae, Tsubame and Megumi. "Let's go," he repeated, more quiet.

Kenshin collected his body into a more energetic-seeming pose. "This way," he instructed them quietly, setting off at a convenient pace that injured little Tsubame would be able to keep up with. Kaoru silently followed him, watching absently as his red hair that seemed gray in the darkness of the night swished back and forth across his back. He didn't turn round to look at Saito, so she did. The Regime officer was lying motionlessly in the pool of yellow light emitted by the battery-powered portable searchlight that had illuminated their fight. For a moment the girl thought she saw it reflecting off equally yellow eyes, but she shrugged it off as a hallucination caused by her fears. There was simply no way the man could be conscious already after having received a blow like this.

Not quite able to shake the uneasy feeling of being watched Kaoru hurried to catch up to Kenshin again.

It wasn't until three hours into their travel that Kenshin allowed them to rest for the first time. He simply stopped walking and gestured towards a group of conveniently sized boulders off the track they had chosen. Dropping down against one of them himself he let his shoulders slump. Traveling through the tundra at night wasn't exactly a walk in the park. Even though the terrain was fairly even there were pitfalls where the ground had split open from the forces of wind, frost and water. Stones too small to be seen caused their feet to stumble and the thorns and thin, scratchy twigs of the shrubbery that managed to survive in the harsh climate tore at their clothes and scratched their skin. Still, they had endured everything in silence. Along the way, Tsubame's strength had given out and Sano had taken to carrying her on his back, earning him a smile from Megumi, which she quickly covered up with one of her foxy looks.

"We've come a fair distance, that we have," Kenshin spoke up in a hushed whisper, "but it's not far enough yet, that it isn't. If they send out the dogs they will find us too soon, that they will."

"Once they send the dogs after us they will find us no matter what," Tae stated calmly tending to Tsubame's shoulder which had developed a nasty swelling.

"There is a swamp not far from here that is nurtured by hot sulfur springs, that there is. If we reach it and go into it the dogs will be useless since their noses will be overpowered by the smell, that they will." Kenshin's eyes, visible in the pale light of the rising moon had taken on a faraway look as he tried to recollect how far from the Camp the swamp had been, how far they had come and what distance they would still have to cross before reaching temporary refuge. 

"A... a swamp? One in which snakes live?" Strange how a simple word like 'swamp' could put a little crack into Megumi's unfaltering countenance.

"Oro? I don't think there are any snakes there, that I don't."

"Oh, well... I just hope the sulfur doesn't ruin my hair. After all, I managed to keep it intact all that time in the Camp and it would be a shame if I would ruin it now." Megumi's light tone reappeared, and everyone blamed it on the lack of adequate lighting that two small, triangular shadows became visible on top of her head.

"I have heard that sulfur springs are good for the skin," Sae volunteered. She felt the tension in the air, the tension that would make them explode if not somehow released, and what was better than a discussion of something utterly trivial when one wanted to relieve tension?

"Oro? I don't think we will have the time to take baths in the swamp, that we won't... and I don't want you to drown in he bottomless pools, Miss Sae, that I don't." Kenshin didn't really understand what was going on with the women, but then he was too tired to apply his ki-sensing skills to them right now. "We should rest for half an hour now, that we should. I will keep watch so you can sleep."

"But what about you? You are injured and you had to fight Saito!" Kaoru protested.

He ignored the grainy feeling behind his eyelids and the throbbing of the wound in his side. "I am alright, that I am. I will rest when we have reached the swamp."

"But Saito...." Kaoru started.

"Me? Rest? But not before I have tended to your injuries, Ken-san." Megumi's sharp voice showed she hadn't forgotten what had happened in the fight.

"Thank you, Miss Megumi," Kenshin said quietly. He slipped out of his shirt, wincing slightly when he had to tear it from where it had stuck to the slash in his side.

Some balm and a roll of bandages later the physician retired. Slumping against a boulder she fell asleep before she even recognized it. Kenshin smiled and perched himself atop the highest erratic block, silently staring into the night. He would cut it close by allowing them half an hour of rest, he feared it would likely be too close, but then he couldn't have them stumble along in a state of semi-consciousness. That would provoke too many injuries, which would slow them down even more than this half an hour. Senses on full alert he kept up his silent vigil until it was time to awake his companions again.

Sanosuke's soft snoring stopped the instant he touched him. Kenshin nodded to the tall fighter who started shaking Tae, Sae and Tsubame awake immediately. Megumi didn't need a wakeup-call. Her training as an agent included the ability to sleep for a certain period of time and automatically awake once it had expired. She softly shook Kaoru, who mumbled something about not wanting to go to school today before jolting into full awareness with a gasp. Once everyone was ready they set off once again, Kenshin in the lead, Sano bringing up the rear. The moon had risen high into the sky by now, and even though it was only a small sliver of silver, very much like the blade of a katana it gave enough light to make traveling less stressful.

The faint odor of rotten eggs hanging in the air was the first sign they were nearing the swamp Kenshin had been talking about. Kaoru was close to heaving a sigh of relief when she caught it. Since their short rest they had been walking without a pause, and now dawn was already near. Kenshin's steps had not once faltered. Nor had he increased or decreased their pace. If she hadn't known better she would have thought he was a robot disguised as Kenshin. Now, however, he halted and turned around to the rest of his group who had staggered to an abrupt halt in order to avoid a collision.

"We are nearly there," he said, his voice betraying his exhaustion, "however, we're going to have to run. There are a few soldiers not far behind us, and I have no doubt they have brought along the dogs, that I haven't." He seemed to grow smaller, wearier at his words.

"We're going to escape. We're not going to be caught now," Kaoru said, touching his shoulder reassuringly. He smiled brightly.

"Thank you, Miss Kaoru." His energy seemed to have returned at the show of confidence from his companions.

He didn't show any signs of the nervousness that possessed him while he hurried them along at breakneck speed. Restraining himself from going too fast he still forced his group to go beyond their limit. The world shrunk down around them, centered only around their ragged breathing, the fire in their lungs and the sting in their sides as they ran across the open, barren, frozen plain that lay before what Kenshin knew was their salvation. He could practically hear the dogs breathing down their necks when they finally reached the first bogholes reeking of sulfur. Slowing down so as not to fall prey to the treacherous ground of the swamp they picked their way along steaming sulfur ponds whose edges were rimmed yellow with the mineral's sedimentary deposition.

The sun rose when Kenshin decided they had gone far enough. Choosing a small island of soggy ground covered with any variety of the various monocotyledonous, often tufted marsh plants of the family Juncaceae- also known under the common name rush- he asked the group to rest while they could. Their little place, although not really comfortable because of the acrid smell that burned in their nostrils was sheltered and as secure as they would get. Everyone gladly took the opportunity to relay sore limbs, the women and Yahiko immersing their feet into the hot water of the neighboring spring, the men simply lying on their back watching the gray sky lighting gradually up.

"How'd you know your way around here, Kenshin?" Sano asked lazily.

"I came through here when I went scouting before my infiltration of the Camp," the agent replied, his voice as weary as his body.

"D'you remember everything you've seen?" The ends of the red bandanna held a certain fascination to them since Sano studied them so intensely when he asked his question.

"Yes, I do…" Kenshin answered softly. "Every place, every face, every time…"

"Ya know- I'd get a headache from that."

"I often do. From that, and… other things."

"I'm glad I forgot some things- even though it's kinda hard to forget I was put into that Camp because some of your kind goofed. But hey- I met Foxy!"

Kenshin chuckled. "There's a sense behind everything for you, isn't there?"

Snoring was all that answered him. "Isn't there?" he repeated to himself before allowing his eyes to drop shut for just a few minutes of semi-slumber.

*~*

Misao snuck out of the house at the crack of dawn. She had a craving for a nice, thorough soaking without Jiya trying to peep or the girls wanting to use the bathroom for themselves. The only way to get this, though was a two-hour hike into the sulfur swamp where the farm people had found her. She had her own little spring there, a place as beautiful as it could get in the harsh environment of noxious fumes and stinking puddles.

Happily dancing along the path the farm people had worn into the ground Misao practiced a few of her self-defense moves by jumping and twisting. Soon, she broke into a run, repeating all the techniques Hannya had taught her, throwing imaginary kunai at targets she chose from the shrubbery. Panting and sweating but with a smile on her face that rivaled the early morning sun in its brilliance she arrived at the edge of the swamp. From now on she took it in leaps and jumps, twisting her elastic and agile body around to evade attacks from phantom opponents in midair.

Finally, she stopped as she had arrived at a particularly dense growth of the sturdy marsh plants and creeping vines that replaced the tundra bushes as shrubbery. Behind that hedge lay her secret place, her bathtub so to speak. It had a very minute concentration of sulfur in it, making it more akin to fresh water than the acidic fluids of most of the other springs, and since there was no volcanic funnel to be found in a radius of fifty feet the stench was bearable as well.

Misao hummed a soft tune to herself, a song she only recognized as the French national anthem after she was halfway through. Concentrating very hard for a second or two she tried to remember the words, and as soon as she had her voice rang louder and clearer through the wilderness.

"Tremblez, tyrans et vous perfides

L'opprobre de tous les partis

Tremblez! vos projets parricides

Vont enfin recevoir leurs prix!

Tout est soldat pour vous combattre

S'ils tombent, nos jeunes héros

La France en produit de nouveaux,

Contre vous tout prêts à se battre. Aux armes..." She had arrived at the fourth stanza by the time her shirt was slipped over her head. Remembering the time she had learned the words to the Marseillaise she sang on with a little less fervor.

It had been the fourteenth of July, and the Oniwabanshu had taken her on her first mission to Paris. She had been eight years old at that time, a little spy-in-training and small enough to fit through the smoke and heat venting system of the building they wanted to infiltrate. While she crawled through the narrow tubes in the ceilings the marching band outside had played the song...

She finished undressing, her swimsuit the only article of clothing still on her sixteen year-old body. One never knew whether Jiya was around... Goosebumps on her shivering arms were a really good incentive to get into the water as fast as she could. It felt like all her body heat was sucked out of her at the moment. "Here I come!" she shouted, preparing to jump into the wonderfully warm spring. She was glad she had decided to peek around the bushes first.

She was not alone. There were eight motionless bodies lying on the shore. The faded beige-white of their threadbare clothes signified to her the danger she was in. They were fugitives from the Camp that was rumored to be nearby. Looking starved and injured they seemed to have collapsed where they had stood, the few bundles of... stuff they were carrying strewn as carelessly around as hey themselves were.

Perhaps they have something of value... the girl thought creeping up on them. She used her ninja skills, unrefined as they were due to lack of training to hide herself, to appear like she was one of the plants, or a little rodent scurrying around on the ground.

The bundles only held some moldy bread, herbs and bandages. But there was something else that caught her eye. Next to the woman whose long, red hair splayed over her face hiding it from view lay a positively ancient and valuable looking sword. Misao had never in all of her life seen a real katana, the closest to that being the smaller kodachi her beloved Aoshi used, but she knew they were rare and expensive.

She crawled over to the redhead. A small, penniless woman like her- even though she was most likely taller than her, Misao acknowledged with a grimace- could not have legal ownership of such a thing... it had to have been stolen from the Regime, had to be government property... Her fingers touched the cool, smooth hilt. Now she only had to get away.

"EEEEP!"

The other seven people jumped to their feet at her cry. So they weren't dead after all... Misao wriggled frantically trying to free her wrist that was trapped in the vise-like grip of the red haired man with the angry gray-blue eyes.

"Let- me- gooooo!" she cried. A flock of birds, roused by the ruckus, took to flight creating even more noise. The redhead looked even more worried and angry at that.

"Who are you? Trying to steal Kenshin's sword... you thug!" A young woman with black hair and blue eyes was screeching at her. In her hands she held a sturdy stick that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, and she threatened to give unfortunate little Misao a good whacking with it.

"Don't! I thought- I thought you were dead... and since you came from a Camp I thought you had stolen the sword. Please let me go!" Time for some theatralic tears... acting was a skill the girl had to perfect in her line of work. Success of her technique was immediate. The man who held her wrist loosened his grasp, and with a sudden twist Misao was free to dart away- or so she thought. A hand grabbed her by the back of her swimsuit.

"No, you don't. Hey, how'd you know we were from a Camp?" The hand belonged to a very disreputable looking young man with brown hair that stood straight up and resembled a cockscomb with its wild spikes.

"You're wearing the clothes of the workers there. And you don't look very healthy." Misao didn't even know why she was talking to the strangers. But perhaps something in their weary, dirty faces convinced her they were not bad but some of the innocents the Regime chose to intern for its own reasons.

"What are we going to do with her, Ken-san? She has seen us. She could be a spy. We should incapacitate her."

The red-haired man whose name was something along the lines of 'Ken' or 'Kenshin'- since both names had been used Misao wasn't certain which one was right- dropped down onto the floor in a sitting position again.

"Sit down. I know she is a spy, but she's not one for the Regime if my memory serves me correctly. She's one of Aoshi's Oniwabanshu, a partner group of our Agency."

"Oniwabanshu?" Seven voices asked in unison but were drowned by the excited shout from Misao. "You know my Aoshi-sama? Where is he?"

Kenshin tried to ward of the onslaught by frantically waving his hands in the air to calm them all. "Maa, maa... the Oniwabanshu were a group of spies not unlike our field agents..."

"And what about Aoshi-sama? Where is he? Is he alright? Did he survive? Have they caught him?"

"Oro...." Kenshin was helpless against the full force of Misao's energy when it was focused on him as the focal point for her greatest obsession.

"Who is Aoshi, Kenshin?" Kaoru asked while Sano and Megumi restrained Misao from pouncing on their helpless leader.

"I will tell you later, Miss Kaoru, that I will," he tried to stall. 

"Oi! Don't tell me he's the guy who scratched you- you know, creepy ice-blue eyes, tall, very silent?" Sano blurted, remembering the look Kenshin had thrown the retreating figure of that particular man.

"Oro... well, he is," the agent conceded. He couldn't lie if his life were on stake, he knew that, so he just told the truth and hoped for the best.

"You've met him? You've met my Aoshi-sama? Where is he now? Please, tell me everything!" Misao looked at Kenshin with huge pleading aqua green eyes. "Please?"

Kenshin sighed, but before he could start to speak he stiffened. "We need to get out of here, that we do," he said quietly, in a deep voice that sounded slightly worried.

"What is it, Kenshin?" Tae asked. Tsubame was asleep again, watched over by Sae and Yahiko so the cook was free to join the conversation.

"Soldiers. They are searching for us and signaling each other where to go with those." He pointed to the columns of smoke drifting into the gray-blue sky not too far away. "If we don't move on they will find us!"

"They are close..." Megumi worried. Misao beamed at them.

"You know, I think you can hide on the farm. Jiya won't object, and I will be able to get my information on Aoshi-sama!"

"Farm?" Kaoru asked. She instinctively trusted the younger girl, but on a farm there usually was more than one person, and she wasn't too sure if she could trust them.

"It's where I live. Don't worry, they're nice people. They took me in when I was lost wandering the land while searching for my Aoshi-sama. They don't really like the Regime, so you should be safe."

"I say we risk it," Tae spoke up, "Tsubame needs a bed to rest in for a while..."

"I love farm food," Sano said.

"I think it's our only option, isn't it, Ken-san?" Megumi sighed. Kenshin nodded.

"The follow me!" Misao cried, snatching her clothes from the vines and dressing up again. Sano took the sleeping Tsubame into his arms, and they set off behind their guide, whose braid was swishing across her back in rhythm to a tune that sounded suspiciously like the Ode to Joy, only with the name of 'Aoshi' inserted instead of 'joy'.

*~*

Saito stood next to his silent companion in front of a blubbering sulfur spring at the edge of the swamp. "They went in here," he stated flatly, lighting the cigarette in his hands with a lighter drawn from the depths of one of his uniform pockets. "I don't think they have crossed it completely yet. If we hurry we will catch them on the far side."

Shinomori Aoshi nodded, studying the tracks once more. "Battousai is injured from your fight," he said, "he is favoring his right side."

"He is a fool to think he will get away with this," Saito snorted, "he has become a weakling."

"Yet he got you good enough that I found you half frozen to death and unconscious," Aoshi mentioned offhandedly.

"That was a lucky shot. I didn't expect him to move so fast. I held back because I wanted our fight to last." Saito seemed unconcerned by his close brush with death. After all, he was the man who had gotten the nickname 'the wolf' because he survived next to everything- just like the lean predator of the tundra did.

"A lasting fight? It seems we both have our grudges against Battousai. He has bested me once too often." Aoshi offered in a rare moment of opening up slightly. Saito didn't remark but only inhaled deeply before throwing his cigarette to the ground where it sizzled out in a pool of rotten yellow water.

"Let's go. We have quite a distance to ride"

Aoshi and Saito walked back to where the rest of their men waited for the two officers to return. "Move! We will go around this swamp!" Saito bellowed. The soldiers moved with practiced efficiency, dousing cigars and cigarettes, stowing away packets of playing cards and standing at attention within a few seconds earning them a slight nod from their commanding officers. 

They remounted their horses, which were swifter and more agile than cars or jeeps in the wayless tundra and thus more suited for the chase. The dogs on their leashes barked eagerly, hungry for the blood of the fugitives. Saito gave the signal and off they were, two officers and twenty-five men tracking eight tired people...

*~*

"And here we are already!" Misao beamed as she skipped up the driveway into the courtyard of Okina's farm. Behind her, the fugitive Camp workers shuffled along, too spent to react to her cheerful introduction to her home. "Jiya! I'm ho-ome!" Misao called.

"Mi-sa-o!" An old man came out of the house's front door, a stern look on his wrinkled face. "Misao, you ran off again. That means- punishment!"

Before the bewildered eyes of the little group the man suddenly leaped at Misao, mercilessly tickling the girl until she breathlessly begged to be released. Finally he stopped, leaving her doubled over from laughter, her face flushed a bright pink.

"And who might you be?" he turned to the silent observers.

"We-" Megumi started.

"They are friends I met on the way. This is Kenshin, Kaoru, Sanosuke, Megumi, Yahiko, Tsubame, Tae and Sae, Jiya," Misao chirped as each of them nodded when their respective names were called. Kenshin had stepped back behind Megumi, half hiding from view since he wanted to study and assess the situation first without attracting too much attention- which his unusual looks always did.

"Friends from a less then friendly place, I think," the old man stated, warily eying the strangers' clothes. "You had better have a good reason why I should run the risk of accepting eight fugitives from Camp Freedom into my house."

"Aw, come on, Jiya!" Misao pouted. A hand landed on her shoulder from behind, strong, slender and long-fingered with noticeable calluses on the fingers and palm.

"Misao, he is right, that he is. Thank you for guiding us so far. We will move on now, that we will. I just hope you won't tell the authorities about us, that I do." Kenshin's low voice bore no grudge, only weary acceptance. "Jiya-dono, please excuse our intrusion on your property. We will be leaving now, that we will."

Okina inhaled sharply when the small man with the red hair had suddenly stepped to the front. He had a feeling he knew him, and when the man raised his gaze to meet his eyes while he apologized he knew his feelings were right. The angry red scar on the man's left cheek gave him completely away.

"That will not be necessary. Misao, I think we hide them best underneath our barn. There is a storage room there which will suit your needs, I hope. Welcome to my farm, Himura Battousai!"

... to be continued ...

Yuppieh! Misao and the rest finally meet!

Yasai: But you still haven't had Aoshi meet her.

I know. Next chapter... Oh! My beta reader insisted I include a translation of the fourth stanza of the Marseillaise since it's more ancient French than usually learned at school. I wanted to just leave it at that. But my beta is the ultimate force, so here it is, translated to the best of Chibi's abilities:

Tremble, tyrants and traitors
The shame of all good men
Tremble! Your parricidal schemes
Will receive their just reward
Against you we are all soldiers
If they fall, our young heroes
France will bear new ones
Ready to join the fight against you

Okay, this is what the French words mean... I think.

Yasai: Now Chibi's got to say goodbye once again- she's got a date…

Yasai, you were not supposed to give that away… but I really have to hurry or I'll be late so Cya!!!

Chibi-chan and her muse Yasai