A/N~ Hey, XxSilentWolfxX here. Chibi Okami did the last intro so now it is my turn! YAY! I apologize for the wait; I have been ill and couldn't meet up with Chibi to write the next chapter. I still have a cough, but no more blistering fever! YAY!

Thankies~ First we have to thank all the reviewers, Ayane and Rachel get one cookie each, and Phoenix Wonder and VolleyGurly get two cookies. They added Shattered to their favorite stories list. Go them! I would also like to thank Phoenix for complementing my bar-scene, I know, wasn't it wonderful. LOL! Okay, so hear are your cookies. *reaches for cookies but Chibi beats her to them*

Chibi~ My cookie!

Silentwolf~ Give me the cookies!

Chibi~ NO! They are mine, I made them myself!

SilentWolf~ Okay I give in, you can have the cookies. Don't worry, I'll go get some right now, you don't want Chibi's home-cookies. Trust me, I know. *gets more cookies and passes them out*

Chibi ~ *eats cookies and dies*

SilentWolf~ *crowd cheers, she is finally dead* *Chibi Okami sits up* Darn! She is still alive, even though she is not able to keep her cookies down, that's not pretty. Let's write the chapter now.

Disclaimer ~ We no own, you no own, you no sue, we no have money.

Shattered

Chapter Two

"Why can't I have the job?" Kaoru screamed into the phone. "I am fully prepared to handle this!"

She paced back and forth across the room, her feet pounding against the carpet, though the carpet of the small apartment cushioned the blow of her feet and made the stomping of her feet softer. The room was small, it was a part of a three roomed apartment; it contained a bedroom, a bathroom, and a living room connected to the kitchen (one room). The apartment was a cheep one, with her low paying job she couldn't afford anything else. The once, what she guessed was white, carpet was covered in numerous stains - some red, and some other unpleasant colors, it was safe to say the carpet was no longer white. The yellow walls, which she thoroughly despised, were also riddled with marks and dents here and there, nothing in this apartment was the color it used to be. The kitchen cabinets and counter tops had long since lost their nice wooden shine, and the tile was even cracked in places. The bathroom was the same, though the sink-tops had a strange color toward the corners that had Kaoru worried. It was amazing how much you could despise a room because of it being miss-colored.

"I need this job!" The raven-haired girl boomed. "I have been waiting for an opportunity like this now you aren't going to let me have it?" The person on the other end said something and she slammed the phone down in fury. She was enraged, how could they do this to her? She had waited so long!

Kaoru stomped back over to the tile floor area that marked where the kitchen was, still cursing at the person on the other side of the phone, and yanked open a cabinet door. She grabbed a glass and poured tap water from the kitchen faucet in it. She examined it and saw floating bits of minerals from the well-water. The girl groaned and poured it out deciding it was best not to drink it. Instead she grabbed a soda from the fridge: diet, of course. The young-woman sighed at the sight of her near-empty fridge. If only she would have listened in home-economics; if only she could cook. Feeling hunger pains in her small stomach, she walked out the door of her apartment and headed for the closest drive-thru fast food chain. She was in a hurry.

---*---

Blood. It was everywhere. It surrounded him, enclosing him within the warmness of the liquid. It reached at him, pulling him down farther and farther into the darkness. He struggled, but he was no match for its strength, and he slowly descended into the abyss.

"Hey, wake up." A faraway voice rang in his ear. They sounded so far off. If only he could reach them . . . "Kenshin, wake up!"

At the sound of his name his eyes fluttered open and he looked across the room. Instinctively the gun that was constantly attached to his hand flew out in front of him and his fingers curled around the metal in the same fashion they had been trained to since he could hold a gun. Three fingers and a thumb on the hilt, and his fore-finger on the trigger ready to pull back at a moment's notice.

He looked over the metallic luster to see a woman in his view. Her long black hair dangled to her mid-back and her pale skin seemed to glow against the dingy purple of the bedroom. Though her ice blue eyes (A/N I am not sure if they are blue or not, if I am wrong, feel free to tell me) seemed to see straight through Kenshin.

"Good Morning to you, too, Ken-san." She smiled at him, her red lipstick making her white teeth look even whiter.

"Megumi." He muttered to himself and quickly pulled the gun back into his lap. He had once again been sleeping sitting up next to his bed. He was on the opposite side of the door behind the bed, as though he had been hiding. His legs were crossed and his hands, folded in his lap.

His amber eyes scanned the room, just as he had been trained to do, from his low position his eyes met with a dingy bed - never before slept in since the previous owners (it had come with the place) - perfectly made without a wrinkle in the white covers, possibly the only thing that retained it's natural color in this room. The walls were red, though there were areas that were miss-colored due to the toilet from the place above him overflowing and leaking through the floor - his ceiling. Yes, he lived in an apartment, a small, crappy, apartment, and one with awful neighbors to boot. The couple across from him could never get along, there was constant bickering between the two of them, and they seemed to stop caring if the neighbors heard or not.

He took his eyes away from the room and down to the gun in his lap. It was a long gun, one that could be used at a distance, though also at close range. The gun was a black color, and on the side written in silver was the phrase 'With Death, There's Always Rebirth'. And Needless to say, that was how the gun got it's name - Rebirth.

"New Mission?" Kenshin questioned the lady as he stood up, stretching as he did so.

"Yes, there is. But before I do give it to you, I must once again remind you it is not very good for you to sleep sitting up! You should use your bed, Ken-san!" She yelled at him before he shot her a glare.

"What's the mission?"

"Ken-san! You know before you go I must make sure you are alright! So what's the point of getting the mission before I make sure you are okay to go?" She protested.

"I didn't get hurt last night." He told her. "I don't need your help." In truth he didn't believe that he had the right to be helped. Not after all he had killed. He didn't deserve anything - except to be in pain. That much he felt he deserved.

"I am your nurse!" She pouted. "The agency sent me to make sure you were okay and this is the thanks I get?"

"I said I was fine. Now what is the mission?"

"Fine, here's your mission." She said, tossing a brown envelope to Kenshin.

---*---

Kaoru dashed across the street, running as fast as her feet could carry her. That had taken longer than she had planned, if she didn't hurry she wouldn't make it to work at the bar on time. The street lamps turned on and she cursed once again. She was fired, she was so fired . . .

'A car.' She thought as she ran. 'I need a freaking car! If only I got paid enough to buy one . . .'

Her feet pounded on the pavement and as soon as she saw the glowing sign 'Quake' she rushed inside. She ran to the bar where she met Sanoskue, the bartender, and muttered an 'I'm sorry I'm late, I will work especially hard tonight to make up for it.' She told Sano this because he was the manager, too. They didn't have many workers - just Sano and herself. She started to go back to the back to get changed, but Sano called her back.

"Kaoru! Come here." He said, waving her down.

"What is it, Sano?" She questioned as she hopped back to him.

"What the hell happened to you?"

"What do you mean what happened to me? Nothing happened." She said matter-of-factly.

"Something happened alright. What is that from?" He asked, pointing her face.

"Huh? Something's on my face?" She questioned and raised her hand to her face where he had been pointing. She quickly pulled it back in pain. She then remembered what happened before she came; she had been so preoccupied she forgot about it. "Ouch, I guess I got a bruise."

"NO SHIT!" Sano roared. "A big one at that! Now, tell me what the hell happened?"

"Nothing, I-I just fell." She stuttered to try and come up with an answer.

"Kaoru, I won't buy that shit, now tell me. Is your boyfriend beating you or something?" He asked her seriously.

Kaoru took a step back and held her arms in front of her. She also managed to put a smile on her face like it was a joke. "Of course not, Sano! Where'd you get that idea?"

"Kaoru . . ." He started, but was cut off by the girl.

"Look! Here comes Kenshin, I better go get changed, I'll be back in a minute." She didn't give him the chance to reply before she ran to the back.

---*---

THE END OF CHAPTER TWO!!!!

Sorry this is so short, peoples. Silent has been sick, as you may have noticed from above and I can't write this without her, she would kill me! And now I am sick of writing - I have been writing a different fic with her, too. It isn't completely finished . . . as in, I haven't finished my part . . . so more writing . . . oh joy! I never thought that I'd get sick of writing, but oh well, I am going to try and get the other fic (it is an Inu-Yasha fic) done, too . . . soooooo that's all for now, we should have another chapter next week! AND DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!!!

~Chibi Okami (Riddle-Master with XxSilentWolfxX)