Chapter Two has now been tweaked.

Ravyn

Remember, violence!

Present Tokyo

Cold amber.

She started, as if she had been slapped. The stinging in her cheek might have been proof of that; it could have been a mere change in the dreamscape.

It shifted

Gasping. Pulling for air, she watched as frantic eyes, young and brown; calling for her to come back. To say and not to leave him alone. He didn't want to be alone. .

She was gasping for air, attempting to find an answer or give an answer and searching. She needed him and he wasn't there.

He wasn't there.

Kaoru sat up with a start and stared at nothing with wide blue eyes. It was a long moment before she realized where she was and who else was in the two bedroom apartment with her. "Misao." Kaoru groaned to herself.

Forcing her shaky limbs to roll off the cheap futon and to find the floor; her pajama clad legs hitting with a thunk. Even in her tank top she was covered in sweat. It took her a moment to remember how to walk and then she managed to find the door.

The light in the kitchen was already on.

"Misao," Kaoru asked quietly as she entered the room.

The slim girl turned her own eyes wide dark pools of blue-green to her friend. She offered Kaoru a cup of the freshly made tea and both sighed as they sipped the warm brew.

"Dreams," Misao stated without really questioning her. They both knew the answer to the word she had spoken. Kaoru gave a curt nod and she sighed. "Me too, what was your this time?"

"Eyes," Kaoru whispered. "The eyes were amber." Her voice lowered until it was husky with uncertainty and thick with emotions she couldn't put her finger on. She gave her friend a tremulous look. "It was like they were trying to devour me whole or something." She sighed. "I sound like a teenage drama."

Misao snorted with laughter. "At least you got something besides a voice." She reminded her friend, her eyes sliding half-closed with remembrance. "That overwhelming feeling of…" she stopped and turned a dull red.

"Misao?" Kaoru questioned softly. Misao shook her head and took a sip of her tea.

Dreams or nightmares, the girls had been struggling with visions for as long as they could remember. They had started after they met in high school and when they had roomed together in College they had both woken with the realization that they both were terrified of them. They had no idea where they came from or how long they would last.

They were both having nightmares about something that writhed in the shadows.

"He felt like--" Misao started and then put her cup down and placed her cool fingers on her hot cheeks. Swallowing she started again. "Like he was terrified of hurting me that he felt I was something small and precious and delicate. I am not delicate." She peeked out from behind her fingers. "Is there a reason I can't find someone like that for real?"

Kaoru sighed. "I wonder sometimes Misao, if maybe we are just deranged." Kaoru grumped as she leaned back. "You want to find someone who has been stalking you for years through your dreams?"

Misao snickered and Kaoru felt a sigh of relief. Her friend just wasn't made to be gloomy. It was one of the things she loved the most about her. Kaoru narrowed her eyes at her almost hysterical friend and sighed. "You know I am getting sick of this."

Misao blinked at the hard tone her friend was using. Kaoru was always gun-ho on something but this, this was something she had not seen in her friend in a long time. She was certain it was the day she had realized her parents were actually gone.

Kaoru had buckled down and supported herself against the odds.

Misao found the same burning light in her friends eyes. Picking her tea mug back up she raised a brow. "So what are we going to do about it?"

Kaoru narrowed her eyes and sucked her bottom lip between her teeth. "We're going to find out who the hell they are and hurt them." She winked at her friend. "Hurt them badly."

Misao gave a shrieking laugh and looked at Kaoru in amusement. "How in the world do you plan on doing that? Find them and bash their heads in with a wooden stick?" Her voice was bubbling with laughter.

Kaoru shook her head. "No. There are other more painful ways to hurt someone." She stretched and yawned, winking at her friend as she went back to bed.

Misao was left shaking her head and giggling. Kaoru had a nasty temper but she rarely wanted to use it in a way that left someone bloodied on the proverbial side of the road.

Misao thought back to there collage days and her response to a few persistent males who wished to take her out on a few dates. Maybe it wasn't at all that rare that she wanted to hurt someone. Grinning she downed the last of her tea and skipped to bed.

Soujiro Seta tiredly placed his forefinger and this thumb on the bridge of his nose. Was he really cut out for this work? Ten years on the job and he still felt like he was constantly being hit by a truck every time he had an employee meeting. The headache so far was only a first branch meeting. He still had to deal with his Hit and Miss Teams and they were legendary for their bad tempers, excellence in forming alliances with the underground and were working against the vampire and werewolf uprisings. He needed to get his doctor to prescribe him something stronger.

It was his Search and Rescue teams that he took the most pride in. He had partnered several hand picked agents from both fields and put them in groups of twos. The agents had no need to slaughter the life of those they worked against but were more than capable if they had to. They worked to get the wives and children of the Underworld to safer homes to survive.

It didn't help that he felt like a glorified baby-sitter.

Plus he had to give the toughest case he had been given to a pair of wild women who would do what they wanted to do regardless of orders. The loop holes, webs and possible war would probably even entice them to break rules so they could save the child and completely ignore their own personal health. Again. Just to prove they were not delicate.

Delicate.

A word he would use to describe their frames and not their personalities.

"Hey Boss-man! Care for some coffee?" Misao's bright voice bright a smile or shiver to every face in the room. Misao no coffee was enough for him to declare an evacuation emergency. Kaoru without coffee was enough to elicit the same response.

Pausing he looked over his shoulder. Where was Kaoru?

"Morning Soujiro-San, feeling up to a day full of Misao?" Soujiro felt a sense of dread slowly fill his stomach. Kaoru sounded almost vengeful this morning. "Is that a new case for us?"

Her smile reached mega watt proportions as the trap snapped shut. "Did you know Misao has been up since about two this morning?" She asked casually as she handed him a Styrofoam cup of coffee and stalked into his office.

A wired Misao; who had he killed and in what past life.

Sighing he watched as Misao danced away from him and into his office and followed them. He almost wondered how they were going to react to something like this. If he knew the two, which he did; he had been responsible for their recruitment almost ten years ago, he would say it was going to be like blowing a fuse.

Fuses and wired Misao...best not think about it.

Soujiro walked over to his desk and sat down as he watched them lean back and sip their coffees with wicked smiles. He decided he should just get his whole problem over with.

"We have slight problem ladies." Soujiro told them firmly as he began digging around his desk for the documents.

Kaoru and Misao exchanged looks. "Soujiro-san, every conversation we ever have starts out with "we have a problem"; can you get a little more creative in future conversations?" Kaoru asked irritably.

Misao nodded, silently agreeing with Kaoru. "Our creative edge is beginning to dull boss-man!" She exclaimed, waving one brightly manicured hand.

Soujiro sighed. "It involves a little girl. She is around three years of age and hybrid."

Kaoru sat up straight at that. "Hybrid?" She demanded in a surprised voice.

Misao blinked rapidly as she processed his words. "I didn't think that it was possible, Sou-chan. The only way vampires or werewolves can have children are with their mate; mates have to be changed. The magic of the child would kill the mother otherwise."

Soujiro nodded his head. "Except this time it was a female who decided to mate. She wanted a child and having a human as a father was only a small price to pay. Since the mother is full vampire the child lived."

Kaoru let out a low whistle. "But that means..."

Soujiro nodded. "You are aware of why most vampires are made aren't you?"

Misao nodded her face deadly serious. "Vampires are made because they are born with only certain small amounts of potential. They are the ones that the urban legends about Garlic and holy water killing vampires got started on."

"Right," Soujiro said tiredly. "A human is born with hi ki and is taught to use it and then turned into a vampire. It makes them something of a super-vamp. The most well known of those would be Battousai."

Kaoru frowned. "I thought the Battousai was just a rumor." Her tone was soft as her black eyes tucked over her brows.

Soujiro shook his head. "I wish he was. The man who was turned into the Battousai is not very well known. The dark-history books are attempting to link him with the Hitokiri Battousai from the Meiji Era. He was supposedly untouchable and something of a legend from those times." He shrugged. "If it's true lets hope we don't ever have to deal with him."

Kaoru blinked. "If they could not kill him then how are we supposed to get near him?"

Soujiro smiled then. "You're not. But you do need to know about him in case he decides to stick his nose into this affair." His voice was that of a man who had been told he was supposed to take out the trash.

Misao blinked. "He is still alive?"

Soujiro laughed. "As is his Master." He grinned at the girl. "We really don't know who long vampires live."

"There two of them?" Both women demanded.

Soujiro nodded. "Yes, Battousai was responsible for the destruction of the majority of Tokyo some 16 years after the Bakumatsu. No one is quite sure what sent the man off but it was rumored to have something to do with a now dead Vampire by the name of Shishio Makoto."

Misao brightened up. "It had to be a woman!" Her voice was bright again.

Soujiro shook his head in a type of denial.

Kaoru frowned. "Why are you telling us all this Soujiro?"

"Because the little girl you have to find is a hybrid of Shishio's family. A vampire of the name Enishi is trying to get his hand on her. With her mixed heritage the little girl may be strong enough to take on the Battousai if she wants something. Now, think of what would happen if a fully grown vampire drank her blood." Soujiro looked up and laced his fingers together. "We think he wants to bring Shishio back from the dead."

"Wasn't this Shishio a very well trained killer?" Kaoru asked carefully.

Soujiro nodded his head. "And because of the ki this child will give off, it will make him almost unstoppable. He will do everything in his power to bring the Blood Paths back from the shadows." His voice had dropped into a growl.

Most vampires did not have the need to drive to drink human blood not after the purifying years. The higher powered ki they had the less likely they would need the kick in their power blood gave them.

The only time blood was taken was during the mating ceremonies. Mates vampires were twice as power as a single vampire. The link and shared power between two souls were indestructible. Vampires swore they could track a mate that had been killed hundreds of years later.

Not many humans believed in rebirth now.

If the blood paths reopened then it would all fall apart. With as many vampires as there were now then the human race would be wiped out in a matter of centuries.

"So what is our job in this?" Misao questioned, her large green-blue eyes filled with a mixture of determination and anger. That expression suggested she wanted to get to work and that she would do whatever it took.

"Your job is to find that child before Enishi does. Find her and hide her." Soujiro ordered.

"Hide her?" Kaoru repeated in a flabbergasted tone. Of all the contacts they had in the underworld there was still no way they could hide such a child easily.

Soujiro shrugged helplessly. "I am going on as much as you are. I will have the other teams keeping their eyes open as well. It's best if I leave it in your capable hands. You have the most contacts and the best chance of finding the child. You're going to be dealing with a mad man."

Misao muttered under her breath the entire way out of his office. "Mad man! Its more like a dog with rabies or some type of crazy person with toothpicks glued to his teeth or…"

Soujiro placed his head on the desk and began to beat it to a rhythm only he could hear.

Himura Kenshin found himself struggling with the same emotions he had been dealing with for over a century. They churned to the surface and fought to break loose and burn his already tentative hold on his soul to shreds.

His amber eyes burned with an intensity he had not felt in so long.

"Kaoru."

He sighed as he allowed her name fall from his lips. It was whispered with stark devotion of a lover; a name to be whispered when he was alone, to allow it to linger on his tongue.

A name meant to be caressed as he caressed her body.

"Kenshin."

Battousai sighed at the interruption but the man pushed it aside and turned. His face was angled against the dying light and all Yahiko saw was the dark gold hidden behind his bangs; eyes ringed with dark violet as he fought for control and he recognized the emotion he saw there. Longing that was fighting and refusing to remain in check much longer.

"She has to be close to twenty-four now if you right about her rebirth." Yahiko tossed out almost carelessly; reminding him why he fought for control.

Kenshin smirked, showing off his fangs. He knew Yahiko's words were more for Yahiko than himself; his need to be reassured that his beloved Kaoru would be back into his life again and soon.

"She is." His voice was low and controlled. The emotions where hidden once again but where so close to the surface that Yahiko feared he may start going door to door until he found her.

There where a lot of doors in Tokyo.

"How much longer do you plan on waiting till you go and get her Kenshin?" Megumi asked from the couch where she was perched. Sano sat next to her, his dark eyes amused.

Kenshin turned then and looked over the family he had taken care of over the years. Megumi and Sano had been mated for almost the entire time he had been without Kaoru and it still bit at him.

Yahiko and Tsubame, mated after both where more than adults and Yahiko finally worked up the nerve to tell her about his past and future. Not long after the blood had stained both Tokyo and the young man's hands if he had remembered correctly. Shishio had met his end at the end of two Katana's and one fist.

Which was why he had brought his little group together after so many years; not that they where ever apart long, just that this was more important than usual, her life depended on it. With Kaoru out there somewhere and if he knew her, in the middle of the rising web of danger.

"Enishi is up to something." Kenshin said softly, his words dark with the hate.

Unfortunately he could not do anything about Enishi until he had more proof, as one of the main figure heads for the now stable system for the vampires, if he went after Enishi for nothing it open the world back for blood shed.

Even as a part of him craved to tear the world back open by its hinges, he knew that Kaoru would never forgive or allow it. Sometimes you had to bend the rules to get your mate however and he would not allow Enishi to place her danger again.

He was certain that Shishio had been connected to his first wife's brother. While he had loved Tomoe he had not been what he was now and had not been changed by his master. He had never felt the any of the desire that he felt for Kaoru.

Kaoru would be his this time.

Sano leaned back and thoughtfully tapped his chin with the fingers that were not holding Megumi's hand firmly in his. "Enishi. That means that he would be trying to bring the blood paths back but I am not sure how he would."

Kenshin sighed heavily but Tsubame beat him to it. "There are several ways in which he can. There are several key players that he can attempt to bring back but in order to do that he would need a sacrifice and lots of blood-magic. Something he does not have right now or we would not be having this conversation."

Kenshin smiled at the girl. Tsubame had taken too their world of intrigue faster than any would have thought and become a strong player in his world.

"Where would he find someone strong enough to cause problems?" Yahiko questioned. "And who would he bring back. I can think of several people that we have killed of the years."

Megumi chewed on her lip thoughtfully. "Kenshin, whom do you have any ideas about what he could be up to?"

Kenshin shook his head. "I have a few half formed ideas but I am need more information. I will have to talk to Hiko first. But Tsubame-chan and Megumi-san, I need something else from you two."

Both women looked at him and nodded.

"There is a group of people who have been going under the name of the Underworld Detectives for around ten years now." Kenshin said softly, "They have been putting a major hole in Enishi's side. I want you two to go and check it out and tell me what you think." He smiled a dark smile laced with amusement.

"An old friend of ours runs it."

The women looked blankly at him.

"Hajime Saitou."

Saitou sighed as he looked at his subordinate. "You sent the weasel and raccoon on the most important mission we have yet to find ourselves with, why?"

Soujiro shook his head. "They are the best we have, sir."

Saitou looked at him dryly. "Hence the reason we are doing so poorly. It would be better if we just went and told Enishi what our plans where and then ask him what he thinks."

Soujiro bristled. "Listen, Captain, who else are we going to send?"

Saitou smiled tightly. "If they mess this up it's going to be your head. Sending one woman who has this insane idea of not killing and another who is a loud as a chipmunk caught under a metal gate is not my idea of subtle or delicate! I am sure I told you this situation needed to be handled delicately."

Soujiro just smiled slightly at his boss and excused himself.

Saitou shook his head and looked at his watch wincing. Tokio was going to have his head if did not get going to lunch soon.

There was nothing more terrifying than an angry Tokio.

Large green eyes shot with small specks of gold hid behind her dark hair and watched as the people around her cursed her and demanded to know why she wasn't where she was supposed to be.

She allowed a small smile of glee to cover her lips.

The pretty lady had told her that the one with blue eyes would help her. And the pretty lady who smelled like those pretty white plums never lied.

The small boned child settled down into her hiding place and watched with eyes that where very wide and muffled her giggles.