Sorry I haven't updated this story for the longest time, but it takes me forever to write this story down.  I hope many of you can forgive me for not being able to update my other stories, but I will get to them as soon as possible.  Oh yeah, please read the story from Deseray since she started her two new fics, called Chances and Little Earthquakes.  It's a way of thanking her for helping me to write this story.  She's a great writer.   To warn of all you, most of the ideas in this story are not my own.  I borrowed the plot, the setting, and the ideas from a book called Dark Gold by Christine Feehan.  She's my favorite author so far.  Do feel free to read it.  The story is a lot like hers, except it has it differences.  Please if you are too young, don't read it.  If you are reading it, then read at it at your won risk.  If you don't want me to continue the story, then I shall stop writing it.  This is a place where people can expand their imagination so please remember that.  Well, enjoy the story!

AN- The weird dreams that Kaoru gets sets this different from the book.  Her dreams have something to do with the game in which Enishi is making.  It sets her dream world apart from reality, yet it links them together.  You will understand later on in the chapters.  Feel free to e-mail with any questions, ideas or comments, but please don't leave flames.

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin series and Christine Feehan story and ideas, so please don't sue cause I don't have any money. : (

The Conversion and Moments of Truth

Chapter Four

                Battousai prowled through the night, in search for helpless prey.  His mind was now in red haze, demanding him to feed.  His teeth ached for the longing of fresh red blood.  Across from a distance, many miles away from his so called home, he sensed three men in a dark alley.  He could smell their sweat; hear their crude laughter, as they waited for a lost soul to brighten their night. 

                Here in Untied States a couple of the Carpathians chose to come to do their duty to both the human race and the Carpathian race.  A long time ago the Dark One, leader of the people, chose Carpathian men to go throughout the world to rid the earth of enemies known as vampires.  Many Carpathian men lost women, who were to be their lifemates during the old wars, creating most of the Carpathian male species to out number, the females.  Eventually a hypothesis came out where it was said a few human women, who had special physic abilities were able to be true lifemates to his species.  Though this was said, the hypothesis was never truly put to a test, for the fear that an innocent life would be put into immense danger.  For Battousai, as time passed in United States, he learned to like diversity of the place, the seasons, and the different people.  It became somewhat his home.

                Silently, he moved through the dark alley, making his way to the three men whom waited so deliberately for their luck to take advantage of a helpless soul.  His muscles rippled as he stalked toward his prey.  Their mutterings were loud, even though he lowered his hearing, wanting to escape the assault on his over sensitive senses.  The overwhelming emotions and colors, which he didn't experience for so many centuries, were now taking their toll on him.  One part of his mind focused on getting his prey, while the other focused on the beauty of the night.  Never had he seen how beautiful the clouds, the stars, and the moon were.  They took his breath away.

                To relax the tension from his rippling muscles, Battousai took a deep breath.  Slowly steadying himself, he focused on the real task that brought him into this dark alleyway.  Then he made his way down the alleyway, calling forth a message. He did not have to if he wanted to.  The predator in him, wanted to have a good battle, yet, he did not have the time to indulge himself for entertainment.  He had other things to focus on now, like, her.  The woman whom he saved from Shishio's clutches the one who made him see color again.  There were so many times, the predator broke free in him, wanting, and waiting to kill, ready to splash-red blood on his prey.  The vampire almost came out in him, especially when he faced Shishio.  After that battle he found something he waited for his entire life.  Now he wouldn't let himself be lost to his predator side.  He would not let down his will or intelligence to another creature he despised so much.

                Battousai moved through the alleyway, as he predicted three men started following him.  One man smoked, his pungent aroma, which shifted into the air.  The other two men followed their hands in their jacket, reaching for their man made weapons.  Their eyes were slightly gazed, as though they were drugged stoned to death.  It bothered Battousai that they were doing drugs, but blood was blood.  The drugs they were doing, was not going to affect him so easily.

                "Did you know it's cold out on the street at night?" asked Battousai as he slipped an arm around one man.  He took him away from prying eyes into the shadows of the dark alleyway to drink his blood.  The other two men pushed at each other, eagerly waiting to be next to see him.  However, their unwashed bodies and useless minds sickened him.  He did need the blood, so he shall take what he could get.  Sometimes his mind wondered why men like these were created?  For what purpose were they put on earth?  His kind, were intelligent.  None were like this kind, the human kind, in which people would go so low as give their lives to the damned.  These were the types of people vampires hunted for, wanted.  They hungered for power and these types of people were easily controlled.

                The man, whom Battousai fed upon, fell helplessly to the ground.  The men under hypnotic of his mind, went to him, easily, eager to gain his attention.  He fed urgently on the other men then let their bodies fall into a heap on the ground.  He needed nourishment, and he specifically chose men who preyed on the weak, who were no better then the average monster.  They were cruel to their women, and had no obligation to their most precious treasure, their children.  Anyway who cared how this got this way?  They chose to be like this, while if they were Carpathian males, they would have instincts as a predator, but they would never abuse a woman or a child.  No matter what, they would accept the responsibility of their most precious treasures.

                As Battousai finished his feeding, he sensed another's pain in him.  He could sense their confusion, their fear, and their anguish.  From the distance, she reached out to him, opening her mind for him to feel what she was feeling.  She was in pain, her fragile body, still finding ways to heal from the earlier incident.  Her body crying out for nourishment, as her body once again repeated the process she went through earlier.  Apparently the conversion never ended and he was responsible for her outcome.  For the first time, feelings over swept him; as his form shivered from an intense emotion, fear.  Guilt over swept him as well, but most likely, the woman who would be stuck with him for a lifetime, would easily give herself to death, if there were no existence of her brother at all.  The woman already had two marks on her neck, meaning the vampire only exchanged blood with her twice.  Battousai almost killer her, thinking she turned into a vampiress.  Thank God, that he realized his mistake before killing her.  He regretted what he eve did to her.  Earlier he exchanged blood with her, the only way he could get to her to fully change into what he was, was he needed to exchange blood with her once again.  With enough of his blood in her veins, he would be able to dilute the blood the vampire gave her.  Her transformation would hopefully go from a deranged vampiress to a Carpathian woman.   Her fear for her brother being alone with a man or monster that killed another strange creature within moments kept her alive.  She was willing to live for her brother, knowing that he was alive and needed her protection.  It kept her from giving herself to the dark.

                Battousai swept into the air, his lean, muscled frame turned into a beautiful owl, which owned the sky at night.  The woman in distress needed him.  He could feel Tae's distress also, her mind wandering what she could say to calm the woman in pain.  They both needed him right now.  As Battousai flew through the air, he did not care if many people saw a beautiful large owl sweeping through the heavens.  The distance between him and his woman grew much closer, as he neared his home.  He could still feel the woman's pain, confusion, and fear amounting to terror.  

                He flew to her.  She called out to him, wanting him to come to her.  Her mind needed his close contact, since he bind them together using his ancient words. 

                Outside the underground chamber, he could feel her pains rummaging through his heart, piercing him all over, and compelling him to come to her.   Her faith was to believe him the helper and not a monster.  Her hopes, was for her brother to be well under the care of total strangers, ones in which she planned not to open so well too.  He wanted to kick open the door, but her pain; her cries called him, to his sanity.  She did not want have anymore fear, for her body was already undergoing too much stress.  He rested his forehead against the doorframe, and then was shocked to see a crimson stain among the sheets on the bed, while Tae was in the room with the pained young woman.  He was sweating in blood, her agony, her pain, her cries, her feel of terror and confusion, called to him, beckoned him, yet he remained where he stood.  The physical agony he could take, but when it came to heart and mind, barriers began to break.

                It seemed like am endless nightmare, one in which he could not live in.  He knew exactly what was going on in the room.  He knew when the young woman struggled to crawl, hoping the pain would be easier to go through with body stretched out.  He knew when Tae tried her best to cradle the woman, and then the woman vomited blood on the floor.  The tainted blood was the vampire's whom thought could claim her.  He felt her insides burning, as they rebelled against the mutations.  Internal organs were reshaping and becoming new organs.  Her cells, muscles, tissues, and skin were on fire through the transformation.  What she went through before was nothing what she was going through now.

                Yet deep down inside Battousai hoped this woman was truly his lifemate.  He hoped he would not lose her, even though she was living for her brother.  He needed her to live.  Without her, he would choose sunset to die, and then turn into a vampire.  The transformation would be successful and she would not turn into a deranged vampiress, Battousai hoped.

                Where are you?  You promised to help me?  Where are you right now?  He waited so long for an invitation.  He thought he was hallucinating when it finally came.  He hit the door with the flat of his hand.  As he entered the room, he saw Tae struggling on holding the young woman.  Her stained tear face looked up at Battousai, pleading him to help her.

                Battousai nearly dragged the young woman away from Tae's arms.  Cradling her body in his over protective arms he ordered Tae out of the room for the moment.  Tae just looked at Kaoru with sympathy and then looked at Battousai with accusation and smoldering anger.  She smartly left the room and all that could be heard was the large slamming of the door.

                The moment Tae left the room, Battousai gently looked down at the woman he was holding.  Gently he rocked her back and forth, trying his best to soothe her.  "You thought I deserted you didn't you honey?  I didn't.  I am here as I promised.  I will doing everything in my willpower to help you."

                Kaoru turned her face away from Battousai.  Her face was drenched with humiliation for him to see her in her disheveled state.  Wait, why did she care what he thought of her?  She didn't have time to dwell on her question, for a new pain clawed its way up her stomach and around her liver area.  The intense pain caused her to cry out once again.  She felt a blowtorch slamming at her heart and veins.  Her cries echoed through the room, as the walls showered her with her own screams of pain.  She wished the pain could stop so she could breathe properly, but it continued on.  It never ceased, for she continued to cry, her tears dropping to the floor like splattered jewels.

                Battousai thumbed away the tears to only have his hand stained with blood.  He breathed for he; he breathed for them both.

                Battousai's touch was soothing and cool to Kaoru's already heated skin.  His soothing chants were like her anchor to the sane world.  After sometime Kaoru realized the pain wasn't as intense as it was before.  Somehow he took a part of her pain away from her, keeping it for himself.  He was there in her mind, shielding her from the scorching burns of her pain, keeping them from driving her insane.  It was like he was completely aware what was going on in her body.  Her mind seemed hazy, as if she were in a dream state.  She could see her agony in his golden eyes, as he stared down at her.  The smudge of blood smeared across his forehead.

                When the terrible spasms finished their horrible deeds to her body, she gently raised her hand to his face, to touch him, to see if he was really there and not a figment in her mind.  "You came after all," she said huskily.  Her throat swelled from the long process of pain she inhabited.  "You didn't forget.  It hurt."

                "I did come Kaoru, like I promised.  I took away some of the pain from you, but I couldn't do more then that.  The vampire's blood was poisonous, therefore it caused the process to be more hurtful then ever."  He said it with honesty, humbleness, regret, and remorse.  All these emotions were so new to him.

                "How could you do what you just did?"  Kaoru's tongue touched her lips softly, but the pain of the sores, caused her to cry a little.

                "Through the blood we shared together, it brought us closer.  It called me to you when you were in pain.  That was how I came to you."  Slowly and gently, he bent down to kiss her lips.  His salvia, which had the power to heal, soothed the tender flesh of Kaoru's pink lips.

                "I'm so tired.  I don't want to think anymore.  I feel like going to sleep and never wake up again."

                "Don't say that.  You have live for your brother.  He needs you," like I do.  Battousai rocked her back and forth, cradling her little fragile frame in his arms.  He held her as if she was the most precious possession ever.  He was there in her body, in her mind, sheltering her, bidding her to live and not give herself to the darkness.  Her finger encircled his arm.  Her blue eyes looked into his golden liquid eyes.

                "I don't know anymore."  Then with a huge pain rose inside her, dwelling around her heart area, her voice shattered into a scream, which echoed through the dimmed room.  Her scream went right back at her, repeating in her ears.  Her hand clutched onto her chest, while her other hand grabbed onto Battousai's arm.  Her blue eyes pleaded him to help her, to find someway to end the pain.  Her body finally arched, shifting away from his comfortable embrace to the corner side of the bed.  Then her body stiffened at the final impact as both hands clutched to her heart.  Images of swirling red came to her vision.  The blood bath, the golden eyes that then turned to burning amber.  The eyes of the hunter looking at her, the prey.  The drawings she did for Enishi Yukishiro, they were there in her mind.  The man before her was a monster, not a gentle creature.  He was a vampire like the other.  He wanted to take her life, to make her like him.  No she must not be like him.  And then her breathing stopped, her heart ceased to pump.

***

                Walking down to the study room once more, he heard the soft footsteps of the young maid who helped assisted with his woman.  Silently battling with himself whether he should explain the situation to the woman or not, he never noticed when another form entered the room.

                "Battousai," said a soft womanly voice from the distance.

                Shocked from being discovered on not being on the alert side, Battousai turned his attention to the healer of his people, one of the few females Carpathian left in existence.  They were precious to his male race.  They were only hopes to the male salvation and bearing children who may someday have their own children.

                "How is she?" asked Battousai.  He hoped his inquiry earlier was correct.  He hoped his lifemate was to live as a Carpathian and not a deranged vampiress or else he would have no choice but to kill her and then himself.

                "Her heart has shut down, so her mind would not be able to think.  From the last exchanging of blood, I believe there may be a chance she won't become a vampiress."

                "No!" Battousai demanded.  He refused to hear what the woman before him was saying.  He refused to believe Sanosuke's woman.  He knew Kaoru was his woman and his woman alone.  She had special powers; he knew when he first laid his eyes on hers, that she was his.  Why else was he able to see colors?  When a Carpathian male saw colors it meant that they found their woman, their salvation.  "She's my lifemate, and because of that she will be a female Carpathian.  No less then that."  With that Battousai left the woman healer to think, while he went to sleep next to his woman.

***

                The sun began to set and a disturbance came into the chamber where Battousai slept with Kaoru.  He heard the telephone ring upstairs.  He knew when a nervous Megumi picked up the phone.  Battousai smiled a pleasant smile.  Behind the tensed foxy woman, Sanosuke stood; ready to defend his lifemate and the residence in which they were residing in.

                Battousai arose from his bed.  His body was strong and supple.  His golden gaze moved to the young woman next to him.  What he saw there made his body stiffened in shock, and his mind tried to comprehend what was going on.  Kaoru was beautiful!  There were a few scars marring on her beautiful soft skin, otherwise then that, she was extremely beautiful, her skin flawless and healthy looking.  Her lips were soft and lush, dying to be kissed.  Her eyelashes were long and heavy.  She was younger then he imagined and she belonged to him.  His body all of a sudden responded to the vulnerable stranger lying in his bed.  The sudden ache shocked him. Amazing how he had known her for such little time.  For the consideration of time they were like strangers, yet when he was in her mind, he knew her secrets, her intimate moments of life that would take someone a lifetime to find out.  He bent his head and brushed a soft kiss to her tender forehead.  The kiss was for her courage to saving the people whom she held dear to her, her capacity for loving others, and the natural goodness she carried within her heart.  But his action only caused the ache to deepen.

                Hastily he put distance between him and temptation lying on his bed.  It had been six hundred years and this surpassed anything he ever felt before.  This was no mild feeling to please his pleasures.  This was for real.  It was more then that; it had more meaning to it.  He needed her now, more then the word needed mean.  Just her being young and beautiful rather then the hag he mistaken her for, only made him want her endlessly more.

                The caller above was yelling at Megumi.  Clearly from man's tone, Battousai could tell the man was obviously used to having his own way with things.  He had to be rich or something.  He was demanding to see Kaoru Kamiya.  He went so far that he threatened Megumi with deportation if she didn't provide any useful information about Kaoru to him.  Her accent he thought made her vulnerable.

                Fangs exploded From Battousai's mouth, his golden eyes turned to vicious smoldering amber, as the beast in him grew stronger then ever.  The need to protect his woman and his family, called to the beast, forcing him to kill the threat in which poised to the ones who were precious to him, including his woman.  Could it be that the man who asked for Kaoru could make him so envious?  Because he was feeling so angry- someone called his house to know about his woman- that someone was yelling at not only a woman he considered family, but someone who under his protection arose the beast in him.  He recognized at this point that he had to work on self-control, especially if he was going to be around Kaoru.  He did not want hurt Kaoru anymore.  She suffered enough for the past few days.  A low hiss escaped his throat as he floated upstairs into the kitchen, through the long passageway that led to presence of Megumi.  He walked faster then the human eye could see.  To him and his people, it was second nature.

                "You better produce Kaoru Kamiya in appearance, or else I will call the police!  I think this is foul play!  You have something to do with party!" yelled the man over the phone.  His voice could be heard a mile away.  He yelled at Megumi as though as if she was an insect, and he could crush her easily under his foot.

                "She will be out sometime in the future.  Right now she is not feeling to well," answered Megumi politely, not taking his threats seriously.  She stood there completely well poised.  Her right hand held in the air to ward off the over protective Sano from taking the phone and doing something he might regret.  Her left hand held the phone while her eyes twinkled with amusement.  Battousai smirked when he saw Megumi handling herself pretty well.  If it was one of the things he liked about Megumi, was in ways she was too cunning for someone to mess with.  As a Carpathian woman who existed for a long while, she knew the extent to her powers.  She had special gifts and the man on the phone speaking to her was nothing but a toy for her.

                "I better be able to see her!" yelled the voice once again acting childishly.

                Megumi only smiled sweetly, which made Sano malevolent in nature.  Before Megumi knew what was happening, she heard the man on the other end of the phone choked.  He gasped for air, as he tried so hard to speak.  And then all of a sudden the other end of the phone clicked.  Megumi turned her head to look at Battousai and then Sanosuke.

                "Don't look at me."  Battousai pointed to Sanosuke giving the man a feral smile.  Knowing what to expect, he turned and left the room.  Megumi's wrath was something no one should ever mess with.

                "Why the hell did you do that for?" yelled Megumi.

                "I didn't kill him, I swear!"  The bashing, the rather violent couple could be heard throughout the house.  Megumi was only swearing, while Sano tried so hard to convince her, that he did not mean to what he did.   Perfectly the logical explanation to the whole scene was Megumi was getting all too sweet with the man at the other end of the phone.  Sano didn't like the attention she was giving the other man and took action.  The Carpathian male as mentioned before had protective instinct over his treasure.  Sano's treasure was Megumi, and that's why Sano acted the way he acted.  If Battousai were in the same position with Kaoru he would have done the same thing.

                He just walked away from the house into the darkness in search of food tonight, because when Kaoru awakes from her deep slumber, Battousai will not have it easily at all with her around.

***

               

                Later on that evening the doorbell rang.  Tae ran hurriedly to open the door, expecting it to be the police in which the guy threatened he would do earlier to Megumi.  As Tae ran to the door to open it she noticed something different.  When she opened the door, she saw a tall handsome man standing there, his aqua eyes fixed intently on her.  In his one hand he held his sunglasses, in the other hand he held a leather brief case.

                "Sir, please state your reason for being here," asked Tae timidly.  By the appearance of the man at the doorway, she did not feel safe at all.

                "I came here to see Kaoru Kamiya.  Is she feeling better?  I need to see her, to talk about urgent matters," said the strange man.  His brooding eyes never the woman.

                Abruptly before he can say anything, a cold feeling swept over him.  He had the distinct feeling that something wasn't right about the place, that something stalked him.  Wildly he looked around the immaculate yard in search of what he felt, but he found nothing close to the description.  The yard was beautiful, peaceful, and ever so quiet.  Yet when he looked back at the woman, the woman he believed he spoke too earlier on the phone, he felt the impression that the house was dangerous.

                "Sir, are you alright?"  The words barely registered in his mind, as he felt his heart thundered from fear.  Since when did he start feeling this way?  Since when did he fear for something?  He had the right to see the young woman named Kamiya.  She was going to be working for him, after all when he first met her she needed the job desperately.  And then out of nowhere, a figure closed in, one, which held such divine beauty and confidence.  The man was dressed elegantly; his long blood red hair tied into a high ponytail.  It was then Enishi, stopped breathing for a second.  The man looked vaguely familiar.  It was like he saw the man before, but he couldn't place where he saw him.  The recognition shocked him.  Knowing the surroundings at last, Enishi stopped daydreaming and went back into the real world.  He held up his hand in peace, hoping he could straighten out the situation.

                "Look, I'm sorry we started off the wrong direction.  I never meant for things to be handled the way they were handled.  It's just that when I found out that a dear friend of mine went missing, I needed to make sure she was fine.  My name is Enishi Yukishiro."

                Battousai recognized the name immediately.  The rising name of the computer-games industry, the imagination behind the astonishingly popular vampire video games had come to call.  Battousai raised one skeptical eyebrow, his face expressionless.  "Am I suppose to know you?"

                Enishi watched in horror at the other man.  The interview automatically changed roles.  Now instead of being in charge of the game, he was just the pawn, and the other man, the rook.  For some reason the soft-spoken man, scared the hell out of Enishi.  For some reason behind the calm face, Enishi felt a predator strong and ready to come out on the surface at any moment in time.  Enishi knew he had to be careful what he said.

                Enishi took a deep breath and tried again.  "Kaoru and I were dining two nights ago, when she claimed she wasn't feeling well.  She raced from the restaurant without taking her portfolio.  I know that this is very important to her; she would never left it if she was all right.  An old man was claimed to have a heart attack outside the restaurant.  A terrible storm broke loose, and I tried my best to stop her from running into it for the fear of her safety, yet I failed too.  She worried me.  The next day her car was found in the parking lot, until your friend or caretaker removed the vehicle from the premises."  Enishi gave a good sum amount of money to an attendant to find out that private information.

                "Kaoru Kamiya is a close personal friend," Battousai told Enishi.  "Her younger brother waited for her outside the restaurant.  Until she became ill, he called me and I brought them here.  She is still quite ill and can't receive any visitors.  I am certain she will be pleased to have you return her briefcase.  I will tell her you called."

                The smooth pleasant voice made it clear to Enishi, that he meant nothing to other man.  For a strange reason he wanted the man to respect him.  He was so close to giving up the brief case, when all of a sudden; he realized what he was doing.  "I'm sorry I didn't get your name."  He said almost immediately.  He wasn't going to be pushed around any further.  How did he know what the other man said was the truth?

                The other man smiled a predator smile showing perfect white teeth.  His golden eyes held no warmth in it.  Instead it looked at Enishi with danger, with nothing but coldness.

                "My name is Battousai Himura.  I believe we both attended the party for Senator Hiko a year ago, though we were never introduced.  I seem to call you make up games."

                Enishi winced.  The voice was musical, so pure that he wanted to hear it again and again.  It only made the man seemed familiar.  Is that where he saw him?  Is that why he looked so familiar?  Enishi would let that convince him for now.  Enishi was a famous man for his games, for his imagination.  Somehow the games came to him at ease, like he knew the dark world.  Compared to Battousai Himura, he was a sought man, but if Battousai rejected him outright, the other businessmen would reject him as well.  It was that much importance Battousai held in the industry world.

                "I really must be present to give Kaoru her work.  She was eager for a job, and I am certainly eager to give it to her."

                "Well, her brother now resides here.  For Kaoru, due to her illness, we thought it would better to give her the personal care she needs before she gets back onto her feet," inquired Battousai as held out his arm to the woman next to him.  Never did he forget she was there, listening to their conversation.  "Her sudden illness advanced the moves from the apartment to here.  Any personal property should be given to me, since she is under my protection and I always take care of my own."

                That strange moment, Enishi free handily gave up Kaoru's briefcase to the man who stood before him.  He wondered what made him do such a thing.  The way the other man caressed the leather brief case with his thumb made it look like the relationship between him and Kaoru was intimate.  And that made Enishi envious.  Just what was Battousai Himura to Kaoru?  A man like Battousai Himura would eat the innocent Kaoru alive.  Enishi forgot his surge of simplicity, his main reason for being here.  He found Kaoru to be an extremely talented artist, whose work fit his description perfectly.  He wanted her for the job and that was what he came to notify her about.

                "Thank you for coming by this evening Mr. Yukishiro.  I will personally tell Kaoru you came over with her portfolio.  I have several other appointments I have to attend to.  In a couple of days Kaoru will contact you or I will contact you personally about her progress."

                "Good evening sir," said the maid, as she closed the front door softly, and left Enishi standing outside the door like a jerk.

***

                Battousai turned to Tae and gave her a soft look.  Something he couldn't do for centuries to a human being.  "Did the jerk hurt you?"

                She laughed lightly at his caring question.  " I don't think he upset me as much as he upset you.  I didn't know Kaoru had another rich man after her.  I guess now you have a rival and the reward is the promise of Kaoru's affections.  A famous millionaire he is."

                "He does not have a chance with her.  He is too old for her."

                Megumi and Sano who now entered the kitchen laughed open heartily at what Battousai said.

                "Like you're not too old for her, more like centuries old," Sano mentioned.  He moved back slightly when he saw Battousai molten gold eyes looked at him with accusation.

                "Talk about joking," said Megumi softly.  "You can't joke around with Battousai at all."

                Battousai turned to look at both Tae and Megumi.  For the first time he smiled at them.  His smile reached his golden eyes.

                "I think the boy needs to see his sister.  He lost to much in his already short life," said Tae softly.  It was just a suggestion she made.

                "He's such a sweet child.  He already has Sano wrapped around his little finger," Megumi pointed out.

                "It's you who weeps for him and always try to make him feel at home.  You make poor Tae fill his plate of food," said Sano half heartily, plus aware of Megumi's temper.

                "I will talk to the boy later and tell him he could see his sister, for she is dying to know how he is," said Battousai seriously.  "It's for the boy she lives."

                "That's when she wakes up," Tae corrected with a frown.  She didn't want the boy to see illusions or to know anything about the dark world.

                "She is the true one.  Don't you see it already?  She's the light in me.  She made me see colors and feel emotions once again.  She will wake as one my people.  She will have resistance against who she has become, but not in front of the child.  She loves him very much and will appear normal to him.  He has been her prime motivation for years and she will continue to be that prime motivation.  She will appear as normal; for she would never do anything to make her brother think anything is wrong.  I suspect that little Yahiko will accept me.  That though, will only be half the battle."

                "Battousai!" yelled little Yahiko as he ran into the room, hugging Battousai's leg.  "I've been looking for you everywhere.  Megumi told me your room was on third floor.  When I went there, you were no where to be found."

                "I told you to stay away from Battousai's rooms," said Megumi trying her best to scold the little boy, yet she couldn't stop the laughter her eyes couldn't conceal so easily.

                "I'm sorry, but I had to find Kaoru.  Don't you know where Kaoru is located?" asked Yahiko with a helpless tone in his voice.  Battousai could sense his concern for his older sister.

                "Kaoru is here.  She would never leave you," said Battousai assured him.  "She will always be here.  We would look after her so that no one would ever take her away from us.  You know I will protect her and not be easily defeated.  No one will take her from the two of us.  Is that a deal?"

                Yahiko grinned at him trustingly.  "We are best friends aren't we?"

                "Hey I thought I was your best friend Battousai," said Sano childishly.  Megumi just looked at him and the nodded at him with sympathy.

                "We are more then just best friends," replied Battousai soberly.  "We are a family."

                "I have to go to school, but Kaoru takes me.  She thinks it's not safe to walk to school by myself."

                "Well, then Tae will accompany you if you like," said Battousai softly.

                "No I would like if you would take me to school, since Kaoru can't take me," said the little boy innocently.

                "You little devil.  I see where Kaoru has a soft spot."

                "Yeah, Kaoru lets me have anything I want.  When I do something I am not supposed too, she tries hard to yell at me to end up hugging me instead."

                "I believe you have the rights to your life.  You will learn the importance of right and wrong."  Battousai lifted the child up, looking at with such tenderness.

                "You don't ever yell do you?  That's good.  You are my best friend and part of my family."  The young boy hugged Battousai with warm affection that it touched Battousai's heart.

                "I will go with Tae, but if you can't come then please let Sano come.  He would scare away the big bullies from messing with me."

                Sano moved away from Megumi's side and walked to the little boy cracking his knuckles.  Megumi glared at him for his offense action.  "Yes Sano will scare them and nothing more," confirmed Megumi.

                "Okay now time to eat your food," said Tae softly as she called to the young boy.

                "Yeah!  Aunt Tae, you certainly can cook food better then my older sis," cheered Yahiko as Battousai put him down.  Battousai smiled at the young boy.  For a long time he knew people who cared for him, who had been loyal to him.  Now that he could feel emotion, he was overwhelmed with happiness to know he had a family he could call his own.

                "We won't tell that to Kaoru now," he said quietly.

                "He just likes to compliment me and lick the frosting from the spoon," said Tae laughing once again.

                Yahiko shook his dark head so hard, that he felt dizzy when he stopped.  His voice was solemn, his eyes filled with honesty.  "No Tae.  Kaoru is a bad cook, she burns everything."