Disclaimer: RK is not mine =(

~A Memory Forgotten~

Chapter 1

            The next morning Kaoru got up and out of bed. Yawn. Then she stifled her yawn, remembering what had happened last night. Kenshin! She quickly ran out of her room and down the hall to Kenshin's room. She slid open the door and found that the room was already empty. Her head tipped down in disappointment. She walked over to his futon, already rolled up, and kneeled beside it.  She put her hand on the bedding and slowly stroked it. Tears were starting to form underneath her eyelids. Looking at the futon she thought, It still smells like Kenshin. Thinking more about her rurouni made her even more tearful. She blinked back her tears. What's wrong with you Kaoru! He'll be back in three days! He promised. She nodded her head in agreement to further commit this belief into her head.

            Kaoru, with a renewed strength, got up from her kneeling position and walked over to the door. With one last look at the room, she walked out. She went back to her bedroom and changed into her gi and hakama. Then, she went down the hallway and into the kitchen. Yahiko was already eating his breakfast of miso soup.

Kenshin made breakfast before he left! Kaoru thought. Yahiko turned his head back and looked at Kaoru.

"Hey busu! What are you staring at?" Yahiko stated with his mouth full of food.

Kaoru was instantly dragged out of her daze.

"Who are you calling busu, Yahiko-chan?!?!?" Kaoru said with her fists on her hips and foot tapping the wooden dojo floor.

"Who else is a busu here?" Yahiko lashed back. Kaoru mysteriously pulled a bokken from the air and hit Yahiko on the head.


"I hope you're ready for today's training, Yahiko-CHAN!" Kaoru stated with her eyes twitching a little bit. With this, Yahiko grumbled underneath his breath and stayed quiet throughout the rest of breakfast. Seeing that the boy was going to behave, Kaoru kneeled down and started to eat her breakfast.

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"Okay Yahiko, I think this is enough training for today. Practice the new kata that I taught you and we'll do it again tomorrow." Kaoru said looking at Yahiko. The boy is a fast learner. He has the new kata already down. Or maybe it's because I'm such a great kendo teacher. Hehe. Kaoru smiled at this thought.

"Hey hag. I'm going to Akabeko to work." Yahiko stated breathlessly while putting away his bokken. The training was really hard today and his body was sweating heavily.

Kaoru didn't hear him because she was still lost in her own thoughts. She woke up from her thoughts when she heard the screen door slide open.

"Oi! Jou-chan!" Sano bellowed as he started to walk towards her with a piece of fishbone in his mouth.

"Sanosuke?" Kaoru said unsurely while turning her head back because she was still halfway between her thoughts and reality.

"Hey tori-atama look after busu while I go to work okay?" Yahiko asked.

"Who are you calling a tori-atama, Yahiko-CHAN?" Sanosuke yelled.

"DON'T CALL ME CHAN!" With that Yahiko jumped on top of Sano's head and started biting his hair.

"Maa, maa. I can take care of myself." Kaoru stated. "I'm not a little girl."

Sano turned back and looked at her. "We know Jou-chan, but you know how Kenshin is. I don't want to get into another fight with him."

"Mou!" Kaoru exclaimed with her fists tightening along her sides. She stomped back to her room. It looked as if steam was coming out of both her ears.

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            As evening approached, Kaoru sat on the porch with Sano. The sky was so beautiful with purple and pink hues. She wished that Kenshin were by her side.

"Hey Sano, where do you think Kenshin is now?" Kaoru asked with her hands cupped along her chin.

"Probably still on the boat? Don't ask me jou-chan." Sano exclaimed.

Kaoru let out a sigh. "Shouldn't Yahiko be back by now?"

"Maybe he's getting to know Tsubame more." Sano smiled slyly. Kaoru punched his arm.

"Oi Jou-chan. Come on." Sanosuke said trying to hide the pain that was shooting up from his right arm.

"I'm going to look for him." Kaoru exclaimed while getting up and brushing the dust off of her kimono.

"Okay. Ikuso." Sano said while approaching the gates of the dojo. Kaoru followed along.

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Meanwhile at the roads near Akabeko

"Thanks Tsubame for the food. I would starve the next three days because Kenshin isn't here." Yahiko said with his hand scratching the back of his head. Tsubame looked up at him and blushed.

"You're welcome, Yahiko-kun." Tsubame said smiling shyly with her hands clasped in front of her.

"Well, I better get back before busu gets worried." Yahiko started to turn around and walk back in the direction of the Kamiya dojo.

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow Yahiko-kun!" Tsubame exclaimed while waving good-bye at him.

"Bye Tsubame!" Yahiko said in a large voice and a smile with his head turned back towards her. Then he focused on the road again as he made his way home. He drowned himself in thoughts about Tsubame and him.

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"Mou! That Yahiko. Where is he?" Kaoru said through her teeth.

"Calm down jou-chan. We'll probably find him in a little bit." Sano said with his arms behind his head as he continued to chew on the fishbone in his mouth.

Kaoru looked at the road ahead of her. She knew that Yahiko would be fine, but her motherly instincts kept her worried. At the corner of her eye she saw some sort of movement. She turned her head and squinted her eyes to get a better look, but to her dismay saw nothing and no one there. Kaoru continued down the road to Akabeko when she saw a small figure walking towards them. Kaoru stopped in her tracks.

Sanosuke seeing that Kaoru had stopped looked at her face to see what she was looking at. He smiled. It was Yahiko.

"Hey Yahiko! Where were you? You got our Jou-chan here all worried." Sano said in a loud enough voice for Yahiko to hear.

"Feh! Busu always gets worried over –" Yahiko's eyes went wide and he staggered forward.

"Yahiko!!" Kaoru and Sanosuke screamed and ran towards him. Sano stopped mid-run and looked around him. Who did it to him? In the corner of his eye, he saw a figure crouching near the trees.

"Jou-chan, there's someone here." With that said, Sano started running towards the attacker.

As Kaoru approached Yahiko, she saw him with his eyes half open. She shook his little body.

"Yahiko! Yahiko!"

"Bu-bu .. d-d-art." Yahiko muttered trying to point to the dart that was stuck to the back of his upper left arm. Kaoru's eyes grew wide and jerked her head towards Sanosuke.

"Sano! He's shooting darts!" Kaoru screamed.

Sanosuke heard her and dodged one of the darts that came flying towards him. "Heh. You can't get me by throwing flying projectiles at me. Get ready to get your ass kicked wimp! Come out and fight like a man!" Sano bellowed. Just as he said this, a dart flew from behind him. It hit his back. There was another guy with him! It was too late, Sano already started to stumble on his feet. His eyes slowly flickered, he tried to keep them open.

"Jou…Jou-chan…there's two. Run!" Sano yelled trying to keep consciousness.

Kaoru having heard this got into her battle stance. She took out her bokken and put it in front of her in defense mode. "Who's there? Come out! What do you want?" Kaoru yelled trying to keep her cool. Her hands were shaking, but she tried her best to keep them steady so she could hold the bokken tightly in her grip. She wouldn't let the attacker win.

One of them jumped towards her and took out his katana. "Let me take this one." The first attacker said with a snicker. She couldn't make out his face because he had a black mask covering both his eyes and nose.

"Don't hurt her. The boss said to bring her back alive." The second attacker said. "Just tranquilize her with the dart."

The first attacker said, "No. I want to have some fun."

Kaoru took note of what was happening around her. "What do you want?" But she just heard some laughter ... that really annoyed her. But what annoyed her even more was the fact that she was wearing a kimono. She couldn't move as agilely as she would like. I guess I'll just have to deal with this, she thought. In a split second the first attacker was only inches from her and took a slash. She dodged and rolled out of the way. Whew, that was close. She wasn't sure how to approach this because she knew that the other attacker was standing by the side with darts in his hand. How could she win this? Her determination was strong and she knew she had to. Kenshin .. I won't be his weakness.

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- To be continued

Thanks for the reviews =) They're really inspiring. Soujiro will be about Kaoru's age, two or three years older though I think. He'll be coming up in the next chapter. Umm..I'll try to make it a K/K fic, but someone will end up getting hurt in the end. It may be a little angsty (even though I don't really like angst), but I'll try to make it as light-hearted as possible. Keke thnx..

Special thanks to: Uenki, Princess of Darkness and me, Sanosuke Sagara, Nicky, and wolfpack =)