A mistake has come to my attention. I have spelled the Oniiwabanshuu word incorrectly. Now that that's settled, let's keep swimming!

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"Babies grow up in their sleep."

- Tsukino Usagi, Sailor Moon

"Any enemy stupid enough to tell you what his secret technique is should die shamefully, you fool!"

- Genkai, Yu Yu Hakusho

"It's this big...and it lights at the bottom, and then it goes KABOOM!"

- Kagome, explaining to Inuyasha what a rocket is, Inuyasha

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While Son Pan was busy rummaging in the kitchen for the tea, Soujirou reached into his pocket and produced a small packet of sleeping powder. Quickly dumping its contents in the tea cup across from him, he answered Pan with a polite yes. She had asked if green tea would have been alright.

Pan smiled at him, and ignored the pounding on the doors of the dojo. After what Yahiko did to her, she definitely locked him out. "I am very sorry for his behavior, Mr. Seta." Soujirou's normal grin started to scare her, but maybe he was happy or something.

She poured the steaming tea into the delicate white tea cups, silently thanking Tae. She had given her these tea bags after Pan had waited on some of the tables in her restaurant for free. She sat down next to Soujirou and lightly sipped. "So what do you do for a living Mr. Seta?"

Surprised by the attempt at the conversation, he answered with a, "I am a samurai." Pan brightened. "You too? There aren't many any more. Now that it is illegal to carry a sword, no one seems to care any more." Pan sighed. Soujirou nodded.

Pan closed her eyes as she took another sip. Soujirou smirked. No matter how strong someone is, they never lasted past five minutes. She was going on her fourth. He watched, with satisfaction her delicate expression change from one of serene, to one of pain.

Her vision dimmed, moved. She held her head with her hands, and inhaled more shallowly. It hurt to breathe. She looked into the smirking face of her guest and realized her mistake. Pan saw black and then nothing.

Soujirou smiled more widely at the affect and moved to the slumbering body. Picking her up bridal style, he moved quickly. He had wanted to be back to Mr. Shishiou in three days or less. Kamatari's bets had become very fun, and he had never backed out of one.

His feet tumping on the ground, he opened the sliding door, not caring if that boy saw him or not. Soujirou sped into the forest and out of sight.

Yahiko yelled out in outrage. He had just seen Pan being carried off by a stranger, arms hanging limply at her sides. He ran after the man as long as he could before he hurried in the other direction toward Kenshin. Kenshin would know what to do. He always does.

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Pan stirred. She snapped her eyes open when she realized that the ki she had come to know very well was not close. In fact, she was very far away from them. She was being carried, and something or someone was moving very fast in a certain direction.

Looking upwards, she saw her captor. It was the man who she had invited into her home so readily. How could she have been so stupid? "What are you doing?" She asked quietly, her voice quite hoarse from lack of use.

Soujirou grinned down it her, stopping for a rest. "You should not let people you don't know into your home, it's dangerous." Pan glared bitterly. "I know that now." He laughed and resumed walking on the clear path. "We are going to a man called Shishiou's home."

Pan said nothing but merely glared. The side effects of the powder still in effect, she rested her aching head on his shoulder. It wasn't like she wanted too. Her face contorted into a pained expression, but she stayed awake. She wasn't weak like that.

Soujirou was a little surprised by her antics, but brushed it aside. The three day limit wasn't the only thing that Kamatari had bet him. Soujirou recalled his words.

***

Shishiou had just finished ordering himself to capture Son Pan, a leader of the Oniiwabanshuu. Kamatari was nearby, but he didn't want to reveal right away that he knew about the new mission.

Soujirou, who was sharpening his sword, sensed Kamatari approach him. "What is it?" He had asked. Kamatari, with a sly smile, threw his hands up in the air in a surrendering manor. "Don't become offensive Sou-chan. I've come to make a bet." Soujirou's smile faltered.

"Go on." Kamatari, clearly encouraged, spoke his thoughts with more confidence. "I bet you that you could not get the girl in three days. And make it back." He said with smugness. Soujirou grinned. "Is that all?" "No." Soujirou nodded his head toward Kamatari's direction.

"You could never, ever, get that girl to like you. If it becomes evident that she loves you, then I will clean your sword for the rest of my life."

Before Soujirou could respond, Kamatari was gone. And Soujirou had just been gloating about how he never lost one of the cross-dresser's bets.

***

The woman, called Pan, had snuggled her self farther into his arms. Looking down, he tried to ignore the warm feeling spreading throughout his whole body. She looked so peaceful now, without the powder affecting her.

It was strange. It didn't react how it was supposed to. Instead of just knocking the girl out, it hurt her. A part of Soujirou wanted to interrogate Shishiou about his choice of poison and the other part told the defending side to 'stuff it'.

Pan stirred restlessly. She slowly opened her eyes, and found herself staring at her captor again. His face was still happy, although his smile wasn't as great. She continued to look at his youthful features a moment before she asked, "Why do you smile so much?"

Soujirou continued to stare straight ahead, not intending on answering the question. What right to she have to ask such a thing? None. Pan huffed and glared at an easy direction to glare at.

"So is this Shishiou guy nice?" Pan asked, again, conversationally. "No." Soujirou answered, almost incredulously. How could she think a guy that wouldn't care if she was killed was nice? This girl was crazy.

Pan grinned. "That meaner the better!" Soujirou half glanced at her as he took in the new forest scenery. "Explain, please." Pan just shrugged and looked in the direction that he was walking. She looked back up at him. "I can walk now I think. Want to try it?" Soujirou as if on queue dropped her. Fortunately for Pan, her reflexes had not been dampened from the substance she was given.

She landed on her feet quite nicely but found herself missing the warmth from Mr. Seta's body. She shook it off and began to stretch her cramped up legs. While she worked, she noticed how dark and green the setting had looked instead of the dry and bright color before. Of course they were in a forest, but how many forests did she know just popped out of no where?

Still a little pained from the past ordeal, she silently asked Soujirou for his hand to help her get up. He eyed her hand mistrustfully. "Don't worry. I can't run away since you hurt me." Soujirou nodded and helped her. She used his arm for support and didn't let go until she was sure footed.

She smiled brightly at him and began to move on her own without any trouble. Didn't this girl know that he could kill her without a sweat? Was she playing around?  Was she hiding something? Whatever it was, it was clearly getting on his nerve

Pan looked up almost instantly, feeling the change in his ki. "Something wrong?" she asked. Soujirou shook his head and kept his smile in tact. "We are approaching Mr. Shishiou's home." he commented. "When we reach it, you will be informed of the reason of this kidnapping and you will be treated accordingly. If Shishiou decides to kill you, use you, or enslave you, it is not your choice. You will comply." Pan shook her head. "I refuse."

Soujirou gave her a menacing look. "You may have the upper hand with me now, but as soon as this passes, I will crush all of you." Pan stated darkly. "Unless you treat me with respect that is! We could even become friends." Soujirou just grinned. Not watching where she was going, Pan stumbled again, but this time was caught in the air. She looked into Soujirou's face in confusion.

"I like your spirit." he said, before walking away.

Dazed, Pan vaguely realized she was getting left behind.

"Hey wait up!"

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Yahiko flew toward the town with speed he had no idea that he possessed. Where the heck were they? He stumbled around people, calling out, "Kaoru! Kenshin!"

Men and women gave him disgusted glares, muttering things like, "How immature" or "What a nuisance!" He didn't care. Pan was out there, maybe even dead. He had to do something.

He checked over the bridge, in some of the shops, and even asked people if they saw the pair. He nearly gave up hope until someone commented that a man with red hair was headed toward the Akebeko. Before the words had finished coming out of the man's mouth, he was already half way there.

Tae's restaurant came clear into view after about five minutes. He raced up the steps and into the doors without a thought about it. Running down the isle, he spotted both of his targets.

"Kaoru! Kenshin! Help!" Kenshin looked up in amusement. "Is Pan after you again, Yahiko?" Yahiko shook his head, still trying to catch his breath. Kaoru gave him a glass of water to help. "Pan has been taken away!" Kenshin tilted his head in surprise. "Taken? What do you mean? Explain to us what happened!"

"Pan and I were playing around, when a strange boy showed up. I knocked Pan into the boy so to get back at her for the dirty tricks she played on me. To apologize to the boy, she invited him for tea. It looked like he was going to refuse until Pan told him her name. He accepted and they both went to the dojo, and locked me out. Before I knew it, an unconscious Pan was being carried out of the door by the weird boy. I ran after them as long- as long as I could until I realized that I couldn't follow him without you guys."

Kenshin turned to Kaoru, only to find that she was already running out the door to the dojo. Kenshin looked up to Yahiko again. "What was his name?" Yahiko responded with the same seriousness as he. "He said it was Seta Soujirou." A part of Kenshin's memory sparked, but he ignored it. He nodded to Yahiko and hurried after Kaoru. Yahiko followed behind them.

****

They both found Kaoru sitting at the table with a teacup in her hand. She slammed it to the table. "She was poisoned." She said, as neutrally as she could. She wasn't going to cry. She wasn't going to cry. She wasn't going to- "Ms. Kaoru what kind of poison was it?" Kenshin asked gently. Kaoru shrugged her trembling shoulders and hid her face. She wasn't going to cry. The ex-Battousai pried the cup from her grip and looked at the contents of the cup. "The poison isn't going to kill her, Ms. Kaoru."

Kaoru looked up abruptly. "What? Kenshin you idiot! Why didn't you say that before?" Kenshin produced a soft, "Oro!" and settled down. He was clearly unruffled. "You didn't let me look before! Oro!" Kaoru sighed and caved in. "I suppose you're right. But, what can we do?" Kenshin looked down with a different gleam in his eye. "We must find Aoshi."

Kaoru only nodded.

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Somewhere out in the world, Aoshi sneezed. He looked up at the heavens, suspiciously.

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Should I have made this chapter longer or something? Feedback please!

Please RemEmber to VerIfy that you arE folloWing this fic correctly.