Disclaimer: Need I say this again? Much as I would love to own the phrases "Oro?" and "Shi-ne"¯, I don¡¯t so that more than proves my point. Original Hex concept belongs to Rhiannon Lassiter, while the original soulmate principle and shapeshifting concepts belong to L.J. Smith. Wakaru no?

A/N: ^^ Everyone seems pleased with the last chapter that I put up really early to make up for Chapter 5 being late. ^^ Thanks to everyone who reviewed! This chapter begins where chapter 6 left off, and Kaoru does some mind-reading on Aoshi. Sanosuke finally demonstrates some of his (terribly terrible) telekinetic abilities and poor Kenshin must avoid getting clobbered by stuff! ^^ Some AxM fluff too! Sit back and enjoy the show!

Reviewers' Space!

rogue solus - o_O 'Kouri-sama'? Now that's something I've never been called before. ^^;; the honourific term is far beyond me, but er...thanks anyway ^^ I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! It was mucho fun to write, but Saitou got less exposure than I had intended to write, coz Aoshi and Misao took up the space ^^;; hehe. Anyway, stay tuned for the next chapter!

the squirrel - Thank you! I'm trying to write as much as I can, and I'm also trying to keep the plot as interesting as possible so that people won't fall asleep! ^^;; I'm glad you're enjoying it! Please stick around to read more!

Curlsof Serenity - Hehehn~ good? ^^ Ah, here's the next one already ^^ It *is* obvious that Aoshi has feelings for Misao, but well, you know Iceman being Iceman, will never admit to his feelings unless he gets a whacking from all the characters involved, and then some. Mwahah. Don't worry XD I'll pound it into his senses soon before Sou-chan takes over! Lol. Yeah, hawks and cats huh? ^^;;; I couldn't very well have a huge black panther jumping over Tokyo now, could I? If that was the case then Black Dawn's cover would have been blown in no time! That's why I had to settle for the hawk. ^^ Stick around for the next chapter, and thanx for reviewing!

ewunia - Ah, yes, Kaoru is strong, ne? She has to be somehow, considering that she's got to act both as an assassin and a normal person at the same time; I think that all of them are strong in their own ways, but Kaoru stands out because she is a woman, and well, most women would be hard-pressed to keep up with that. Hehe~ yeah, ^^ I took advantage of those similar characteristics to make Soujirou, Kaoru and Aoshi related ^^ I'm glad you like the supernatural bits; it's really fun to write ^^ See you around in the next chapter too, ne?

missaw - Yup, I'll update as much as I can!

Tsugoi Kakarlena - XD Hehen~ glad you're enjoying it so much!

can't-get-enough-anime - Oh don't worry, Misao is fine (she will be!). Nope, Kenshin and Saitou weren't fighting at the Black Dawn headquarters, but they would have if Aoshi hadn't interrupted them ;p

InuYasha22 - Thankies! Animorphs? I used to ^^ I remember that 2 hour time limit thing that they have, but the shapeshifting idea for this fic was borrowed from the NightWorld series by L.J. Smith.

Angie - Do stick around for more chapters, and I'm glad you like it~!

vindemon64 - =) Of course. As soon as I can.

Rapyer2986-Malik's Mika - Wow, that's one long nickname, if you don't mind me saying so. ^^ What would you suggest for Misao's nickname? It was just something that I came up with on the spur of the moment, and well *chuckles* she is short, but then again, so are most of the others :p Thanks for the correction! I'll change it! Although I have to say that there are quite a few different ways to fight empty-handed even if it is Chinese. ^^ I practice some myself, but well, that's another story. Thanks again for the help and do stick around for more!

giggleplex - Ah, FFIX fan I see. ^^ Thanks for reading my fic, and thanks for your review too!

Neko Oni - Lol, I know, a rare treat indeed for the readers, considering that it's never going to happen again! XD Mwahah. Besides, I wouldn't have time to update as fast as that once school starts. -_- I can only imagine the amount of essays that I'll have to write for Law, not to mention Biology or numerical nonsense for Accounting. Ah, the life of a student. I know what you mean! I've been rummaging through the archives of ff.net looking for nice long stories to read ^^; There goes the phone bill! Yes, dear Mr. Sarcasm is back with us and more sarcastic than ever, lol! There is of course a reason as to why Kenshin is called chibi-gaki, but we'll come to that whenever I get the side story finished :p Haha! Yeah, but that would make Saitou a really young grandfather then! *evil grin* It took me quite some time to figure out what animal Misao should shift into during the spy mission, and I did contemplate just plopping her as a weasel...but then I remembered that I have no idea what a weasel looks like! ^^;;;; And besides, yes, it would look rather strange to find a weasel in Japan ne? heh. See ya around in the next chapter!

Dragowolf - Ah, a happy reviewer is a good reviewer. ^^ Lol, don't mind me. o_O Why on earth would I want to kill Misao anyway? She's too fun a character to have to kill off -_- but then again I did kill off the two main characters of my Inuyasha fic, but well, that's something else entirely! I'm glad you like how I portrayed Misao XD coz in my eyes that's how I see her. Now all we need to do is get the ice blockhead to admit that he has feelings for her!

kuikkick - Ah, you're probably better off watching the anime than the manga. It *is* pretty good, but the animation starts to suck near the end of anime. The manga has much better artwork, but there's only two books, and then after that it's kinda left hanging. There is of course the sequel to the original series, but they had to change the character designs coz the mangaka sued them! Anyway, I'm glad you're enjoying the fic at any rate, and I'll stop promoting Weiss Kreuz now! Lol. My school starts on July 15th. Don't worry, it's just how the college I'm going to works. Since our programme is rather hectic, they've got to squeeze in as many days of school as possible. Thanks for reviewing!

chai girl - XD I think I'm happy that you're speechless ^^;; lol. Thanks for reading and reviewing and see you around next chapter!

Now...on to the fic!

Chapter 7: Fever Dreams

Thoughts are in ¡® ¡¯

Speech is in ¡° ¡±

Telepathy is in italics.

"Shit!" Kaoru wasn't fast enough to stop Aoshi from collapsing on the doorstep, and she still had the cat in her arms. She passed the cat carefully, but swiftly to Soujirou who had come up behind her.

"Saitou-ojisan, I believe that the cat isn't a cat, so since you're a 'Shifter (1), could you try to pull whoever it is out of his or her form?" Saitou nodded silently, taking the cat from Soujirou and moved to the kitchen.

Kenshin and Kaoru moved at the same time to grab Aoshi and move him to the couch, and she smiled at him gratefully. 'He asks no questions but he somehow seems to know when to help and when to back off.' Soujirou grabbed Aoshi's legs and together they heaved the lanky man onto the couch. Kenshin moved off to get a cold compress for Aoshi before Kaoru could even ask him to, and she sent him a mental message.

Thank you. She was slightly surprised when he replied in the same manner before he disappeared from her line of sight.

You're welcome.

She turned towards her unconscious cousin who was lying on the couch. Soujirou left the area to wake Sanosuke up and Kaoru gently brushed her cousin's bangs away from his forehead, then pressed her fingertips gently against it. She took a deep breath before closing her eyes, and then she dived into his mind (2). Kaoru brushed away the mental barriers to his mind easily with a flick of her wrist, pushing memories around to find the most recent one. 'Black cat...black cat...' Her line of thought broke off when she found what she was looking for. She urged the memory to unfold as she prodded it gently with her fingers and watched the scene run before her eyes. As she watched, she could feel Aoshi's memories feeding her more information. This black cat with the jade green eyes was Aoshi's student; a fellow Oniwa Banshuu. Kaoru smiled slightly. 'And she's obviously more important to him than just being a mere student.' She could feel some of the emotions that he felt when he thought about this Misao. 'He's probably too idiotic to realize it though.' Her cousin had always maintained an icy cold exterior about him; icy walls to high for any human to scale, and even though Aoshi was indeed the closest to her and Soujirou, he still maintained a distance from them, so it wasn't surprising that he was doing the same with this girl.

Kaoru followed the memory until she found the cause for Misao's condition, then she withdrew from Aoshi's mind quickly, patting the layers back together and left his mind just the way that she had found it. When she pulled out of his mind, she found that Kenshin was right next to her, and she could almost feel the worry emanating from him. 'Not right now.' She thought, before noting that her twin had returned with a (surprise surprise) awake Sano. Kenshin had placed a cold compress on Aoshi's head, and Kaoru was sure that he would wake up soon enough; even though he had indeed been flying in hawk form for a couple of hours to get to the Black Dawn headquarters, the man would recover quickly from his fatigue with just a very short nap. Kenshin offered her a cloth, and it was only then that she realized that sweat was dripping down the sides of her face. Kaoru accepted it from him gratefully, silently wondering how on earth he knew what she needed even before she, herself knew (3).

Your emotions are running over. She didn't expect to hear a reply, and she turned to the redhead; the mental message had come from him. 'How did he...'

Saitou's voice broke her line of thought. "Kaoru, I need some help here."

Sending Kenshin a 'We need to talk later' look, she went quickly to the kitchen. Saitou was frowning, and it was a bad sign; the problem was more serious than it looked.

His eyes met hers. "The poison is interfering in my calling her back. I can't seem to bring her out of it, so I'll need your help, as well as Soujirou's."

"Sanosuke, please go to the shed with Kenshin and find some jasper stone and red rosehip; we need an antidote for bloodroot." She asked of them without turning around. The men turned to go. "Please hurry." The softness of her voice belied the urgency in it.

~*~

Misao opened her eyes in the darkness. She looked around, and found that she was in human form once again. 'What is this place, and why am I here?' There was nothing except the surrounding darkness and a hint of fear was creeping into her.

"Aoshi-sama?" She called out tentatively. No response; why would she expect one anyway? He always used the most unorthodox methods of appearing behind her when she least expected it. Something echoed in the distance, and Misao whipped her head around to see it. Nothing.

Misao... A whisper trailed in her mind. Something and nothing all at once. Silence reigned for a few seconds before the voice came again, more insistent this time.

Misao...!

'Am I hearing things?' The 'voice' sounded vaguely like Aoshi, worry underlying cool ice. A tall silhouette of the man appeared in front of her, and she reached instinctively towards it. "Aoshi-sama!" Her fingers went through the ghost.

"Misao-chan?" There was a woman's voice behind her. She turned to look and found three people waiting there. A tall man with amber eyes, and a young man and woman by him with matching ebony locks and turquoise eyes. She squinted at the younger man. If he was taller and had a colder aura around him, he would have been a dead ringer for Aoshi.

"Dare?" She whispered; all of a sudden she felt tired.

The girl with the long ebony locks reached a hand out towards her. "Come back to us. To Aoshi."

Misao's closing eyes opened at the mention of his name. "Aoshi...sama?"

"Aa. (4)" The younger man stepped forward as well, offering his hand; a mirror of the young girl.

Eyes the colour of tarnished gold watched as the girl with emerald eyes reached out towards the twins and he closed his eyes just before a blinding white light flashed.

~*~

Sanosuke pushed the heavy wooden door to the shed open, and the hinges creaked hideously; both men winced at the sound before the musky smell of the shed floated out. Sunlight shined through the only dusty window in the shed, and Kenshin could see that no one had been in here for quite some time. His violet eyes turned slightly amber in the darkness; it was much easier to see this way. Sanosuke walked in behind him.

"What did jou-chan say she wanted again?"

"Jasper stone and red rosehip." Was the soft reply. He peered into dusty jars, rubbing the grime off with his sleeve to get a better look; his clothes could always be cleaned, there was someone's life at stake here right now.

Sanosuke reached for the jars that were on the higher shelves, biting back a sneeze when the dust wafted down, tickling his nose. He cursed inwardly; there were more than a hundred jars in here, how on earth would they be able to get what they wanted without taking hours on end, let alone 10 minutes?

We've brought her back. We need the herbs soon! Soujirou's mental voice pressed into their minds and the sense of urgency increased, but the men had found nothing that they wanted so far.

"Screw this." Sanosuke muttered, terribly frustrated. 'Desperate measures call for desperate means'. Kenshin looked over at him from his dusty spot near the bottom of the shelves. "Could you remote view the herbs and then tell me where they are so I can get them out?"

There was a questioning look on the red head's face, but his eyes soon turned dull while he searched for the essence of the herbs. Sanosuke waited impatiently, tapping his foot on the ground, and made more dust rise. Kenshin soon rose from the floor; he had found what they wanted easily.

"Third jar at the back on the 5th shelf, and eigth one on the right of the 2nd shelf."

"Thanks." The tall assassin rubbed his hands together before closing his eyes to concentrate.

"You might want to stand back a bit."

Kenshin was about to ask what he meant by that, when a jar came whizzing down out of nowhere, and he ducked to avoid it, feeling the jar swoosh past his head. Memory clicked. 'Oh. This is the 'very bad' telekinesis that he was telling me about.'

"Sorry!" Sanosuke grunted out, and sweat was running down his face as he tried to concentrate hard. His telekinesis had only manifested about 2 years ago, and he was still having trouble with trying to control it; hence the very bad lack of control over floating objects. It wasn't as if he knew anyone who could practice telekinesis with him, and so he couldn't exactly develop his talent.

Another jar whizzed towards Kenshin and he barely stopped it from connecting with his stomach. He clutched the jar to himself, ducking all the other incoming objects that were whizzing around in the air. Then just as suddenly as the jars had started levitating, they floated slowly to the ground, and all flying activity stopped. Sanosuke was clutching a jar, breathing heavily as sweat dripped down his face, staining the long untouched ground.

"Let's go."

~*~

Jade green eyes opened to find two pairs of deep blue eyes staring worriedly at her while a pair of dispassionate amber looked on from behind them, and she heard a collective sigh come from the two who were closer to her. She frowned slightly; why was she wrapped up in a blanket, and where were her clothes? Pain lanced through her body and she convulsed on the table; Kaoru quickly held her down, wiped the sweat from her brow.

"Please try to stay still. There is bloodroot poison in your body, and any movement will just make it flow faster." Misao's fevered green eyes peered up at her.

"Aoshi...sama?" Her voice was a shaky whisper.

"Don't worry, he's alright. He's just sleeping for a bit right now, he'll be awake soon-" Movement from the couch affirmed her sentence. Dark glossy hair came into view and quiet footsteps echoed on the kitchen tiles. His blue eyes met Misao's green, and Kaoru moved out of the way to make space for him. He cupped her face in one hand and stroked her cheek with the back of another. Her disheveled state didn't seem to bother him at all.

"Are you alright?" Bottomless pale blue eyes searched through faltering emerald. Misao nodded slightly, afraid to speak, and shivered within the folds of the blanket. Her skin was clammy and cold to Aoshi's warm touch, but she was sweating. The bloodroot was starting to fully penetrate her body, and she was starting to grow feverish.

Hurried footsteps rushed back into the house and they looked up to see Kenshin and Sanosuke holding two dusty jars, and the men themselves were fairly covered in dust. The taller of the two held up the jar he was holding, and gave his audience a crooked smile. "We got what you need." Kaoru noted that he was panting heavily, and her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"You know you're not supposed to use it! (5)" She berated him, slippers whispering across the floor as she moved to take the jar from him, promptly shoving him to the ground with an easy push of her hand.

Soujirou removed a pestle-and-mortar from one of the kitchen cupboards, ready to grind the jasper stone and red rosehip together for the antidote. He was surprised when Kenshin took the bowl from him. "Nani?" He watched as Kenshin placed a piece of jasper into the bowl, and then moved back from it slightly.

"Soujirou, please move back." The younger man complied, still confused.

Kenshin shut his eyes slowly, and his brow furrowed, as if he was concentrating hard. His eyes snapped open an instant later, and everyone in the house heard something shatter (6). Satisfied, he moved towards the bowl; the single piece of jasper stone had shattered into millions of small pieces in the mortar, and it was much easier to grind. Kenshin reached into the jar that contained the red rosehip; they all watched him, entranced at the grace he displayed even when doing so simple such as grinding an antidote.

Kaoru's mental voice echoed in his mind quietly. How did you do that? Kenshin flashed a wry smile at her before handing her the grinded potion.

Experience. He replied.

She frowned, many questions forming in her head even as she prepared the jasper and red rosehip antidote, placing the powder into a tall glass before pouring in some hot water. 'He might have been around for only 2 weeks, but we still know close to nothing about him.' The vermilion haired angel had volunteered almost nothing of his past to them other than what they already knew, and even when they talked, it was nothing more than polite conversation about recent events. His silence was starting to drive her up the wall, and she was going to make him talk, damnit! The potion done, she handed it to Aoshi who passed the glass to Misao to drink.

Misao's eyes fluttered shut as soon as the last drop had gone down her throat, and Aoshi held her sleeping form to him in a gentle grip. With Kaoru's permission, he took the sleeping teenager up to her room, putting her in Kaoru's futon and pulling an extra blanket over her. Smiling slightly, the lanky man kissed her forehead, then made his way back to the living room.

The kitchen had been abandoned for the living room, and the occupants were sitting in the couches and sofas. Saitou was sitting in a one-only sofa seat, demurely sipping some tea; Sanosuke was sprawled out on one of the couches; Kenshin was in another one-only sofa seat that was opposite Saitou and was glowering at him in a rather frightening manner. Kaoru and Soujirou were left on the only remaining couch, and Aoshi took up the space next to Kaoru. The Mibu Wolf replaced his teacup on the coffee table and cleared his throat slightly.

"You know that I am not one who beats around the bush, nor do I come around just for the sake of visiting my dear nephews and niece-" Kaoru muttered something under her breath while Soujirou grinned, and Aoshi sat as silent as a stone, "or to see how chibi-gaki's are faring in their new environment either." The scowl on Kenshin's face grew deeper. Saitou gave all of them a sardonic smile.

"You have a mission." All the members of Black Dawn instantly became more alert (with the exception of Sanosuke who was already trying very hard to stay awake). His amber eyed gaze turned to Aoshi. "The Oniwa Banshuu may choose to join if they wish, but they had better not hinder the mission." Aoshi's brow developed a little tic. Kaoru could feel her cousin's slight annoyance, and hid a grin behind her hand; their almost-uncle was one of the only ones who could annoy Aoshi; Soujirou and Kaoru had to work extra hard if they even managed to elicit so much as a blink from him.

"It has come to Katsura's attention that there is a young boy who is being kept by the Bakufu. The boy, of course, is less than ordinary." The sardonic grin lit his face again. "And all of you seated here should know what I mean by that." His audience volunteered no reaction and he shrugged. "The boy is an Empath (7), and he is being subjected to various forms of torture, because the Bakufu wish to use his ability for their own uses." Kaoru could feel her blood boiling, but she kept her rage underneath the surface. "You are to break into the Sylven Laborataries to retrieve the boy. There should be no problems at all, but if you encounter anyone, you know what to do. The mission will take place 2 nights from now, so you have more than enough time to find the information that you need. I'll send you the mission objectives again with more details if we can get anymore information."

He stood up to leave. "Saitou-ojisan." He turned to look at her. "What do we do with him after we get him back? What's his name? Will he come wilingly?"

The Wolf arched an eyebrow at her. "He will stay here." He ignored all the other questions, eliciting a glare from his niece.

"Why?" The question came from Kenshin, who had been sitting quietly all this time. "Assassin headquarters is hardly a place for a young boy to stay in." His eyes had taken on an amber hue again, and he seemed to be radiating cold anger.

"Katsura's orders." He shrugged his coat on and strode to the door. "0100 hours, Sylven Laborataries. Nice seeing you again."

With that he was out the door before anyone could even ask him anything and the front door had shut behind him.

"'Get our own information' he says." Sanosuke drawled from his spot. "Here we go again."

Soujirou stood up from his seat and stretched slightly. "I'd better get to work then." (8) It would take quite somet time to find the information that they required without raising any alarms in the Bakufu network. He disappeared into the basement, while the others nodded absentmindedly. Aoshi left, making his way up to Kaoru's room to see if Misao had woken up or not. Then Sanosuke too, stretched lazily, yawning.

"I'm going back to sleep before I conk out here."

And that left Kaoru and Kenshin as the only ones in the living room.

"So." She started. He turned violet eyes to her, smiling warily. 'Why do I somehow dread what she's going to say next?' He knew what was going to come next.

"Start talking."

¡¡

Dictionary

oji-san - Uncle

-sama - honourific that is attached to someone's name. -sama is not usually used, unless you're addressing someone really important or something, like say, the king? :p You see just *how* high Aoshi is in Misao's sight ne?

Dare? - Who are you?

jou-chan - Sano's nickname for Kaoru. Loosely translated as 'little miss'.

Nani - what

Notes:

(1) Yup, add yet another 'Shifter to the list! ^^ I suppose that it really should be no surprise since Saitou's wolfness is already so apparent in the manga/anime. heheh..

(2) Mind-reading unconscious people. It's a bit harder since the person isn't awake, but if they have any mental barriers, then they are indeed much weaker. Kaoru and Soujirou could easily do this if they want to anybody, but as I did say in earlier chapters, they respect people too much to invade someone else's mind. Kaoru has to go into a bit of a trance for this because she needs to be able to find the actual memory that she's looking for. While in someone's mind, she can tap into (almost) any information that she ones. There are specific memory 'orb' thingies, and all she needs to do to see a memory replay is by prodding it a bit. =) Make sense?

(3) Here comes the HalfSoul connection again. You can read some of the emotions and sometimes, even the thoughts of the HalfSoul that you're connected to, if they are expressing them strongly enough. Kenshin is not reading Kaoru's mind here, but can somehow sense what she needs; she in turn can feel his worry for her. Both of them are not Empaths at all, but they can still read each other¡¯s emotions clearly due to their connection. It works the other way round too, and the connection will grow stronger if both of them acknowledge it. :p So you can't even lie to your HalfSoul without them not knowing about it. Good eh?

(4) Soujirou isn't trying to say that he is Aoshi here, but something more like acknowledging that he's (Aoshi) back in the reality world, waiting for her.

(5) Ah, a word about Sanosuke's powers. He's an untrained telekinetic, and he doesn't really use his talent much, so it's kinda rusty. This also means that he has to exert himself whenever he uses it, because it doesn't come to him that easily as, say, Kaoru's and Soujirou's telepathy is to them. Sano has only had his powers for 2 years, while the twins have had theirs for practically their whole lives, so there's a vast amount of difference there, ne?

(6) Nah, Kenshin isn't another telekinetic. He's just using some ki manipulation. His training was probably more intense than the training that Soujirou and Kaoru had to go through, so he's just able to use his ki better. That's why he's the top assassin, see? Well, among other things as well, but that's something else to ponder on another day.

(7) Empath. New ability no. 1 in this chapter. An empath is someone who can sense the emotions of other people around him/her, just like a telepath can read the minds of other people. However, being an empath is harder, because it is very hard to shut off the emotions of others from yours. As a result, empaths are often cold and try to seclude themselves so that they are less affected by emotions. Talk about a tough life, ne? Yahiko-chan has to deal with this.

(8) Tadah! Yet another ability has jumped in. Apart from being a telepath, Soujirou is also a Hex. A hacker, if you want to call it that, but different in comparison to other more um¡­normal hackers, because he has to let his mind do the work, instead of just his fingers. It may be faster to get information that way, but also more tiring in the long run. So there you go, another ability!

A/N: Phew, yet another chapter. O_O 3000 words this time. _ Why am I going sooo over the word limit that I set myself? Darnit. Hmm. I didn't like this one as much as the others, but it's still hanging fine in there. XD Mwahhaha, Kaoru tries to get Kenshin to talk in the next chapter, so stick around to find out how she interrogates him! ^^ Misao will wake up soon as well, and Yahiko's going to show up soon! Thanks again to everyone who have been reading and reviewing and I'll see you again in the next chapter!