Disclaimer: I do not own any Rurouni Kenshin or Samurai X characters, but I do own Sazuma and Orune because I created them.

Overprotection
Chapter 1

I walked down the dark main corridor of my Dojo with no idea why I was up. In the middle of a hall I tripped over something and fell. As I got up a lantern flicked on and slowly brightened. I cried out in shock when I saw what I tripped over. It was Orune. He was curled up in a ball, clutching his stomach. A light trickle of blood ran from one corner of his mouth, and dark red tears fell from his eyes. A sea of crimson was laced through his auburn hair. His face was slightly distorted in pain from constant wincing, as an ocean of blood ran through his fingers. As each second passed his face got paler. He was dying, and when I tried to reach out to him my hands went through him. I bit my lip as tears ran from my eyes as I sat there watching him lay there. It was killing me know that there was no way for me to help him. I knew he would die, but the fact that I would be here with him (even if he didn't know) through his last moments was reassuring. It didn't take him long to pass, only about 5 minutes after I tripped over him. He finally looked peaceful as his hands slid of his stomach and limply to his side. I didn't know how long he was lying there in the first place. I could do nothing there but leave him there after he died. I continued sadly down the beckoning corridor.

As I walked further down the corridor, the flame of the lanterns turned red with a black base. They grew brighter and fiercer with every step. The practice room is at the end of the hall and I stood outside of it unsure. Something told me I wouldn't like what was in there. I slowly opened the door and couldn't believe what I saw. It was my father lying face down in a pool of blood. I ran over to him, and hesitantly turned him over. His eyes were open in shock, as if he couldn't see the enemy coming. There was a deep gash over him chest, surrounded by a large burn and singed skin. There was only one person who could do this; Shishio. I turned around slowly while a sudden chill filled the room. A dark shadow with bright red eyes came out of no were. The figure flew into the air with his sword raised high above his head and right before the sword came down I woke up with a start. I sat up in bed shaking at the horror of what happened in the dream. It was just a dream, I told myself even though I was still shaking. It seemed too real to be a dream. I wonder if Orune's all right. Ever since he left for the war, I had nightmares.

I took a deep breath to calm myself and slowly slipped out of my bed (not an American type of bed, the traditional Japanese kind), and put on my sword practice uniform. I tiptoed out of my room, and into one of the halls of my Dojo. I wondered if dad was up, so I walked over to his bedroom and carefully slid open the door. Just as I expected: he was up already. I met him in the practice hall where, as usual, he sat in the middle of the floor quietly sipping green tea, with a bowl of plain hot soba across from him that he had made for me for breakfast. Next to him, was a tea kettle and a small bowl of sugar.

"Morning dear." He said with a bright smile that showed unconditional love and affection for me, while pouring a cup of tea and handing it to me. My dad loves me a lot, considering my mother and brother was killed during the fight with Shishio. I'm the only thing he has left to love, and the down side of that is he doesn't was to lose me so he's very overprotective. No I'm serious, you can't even begin to imagine how bad it is.

"Morning dad, and thanks for the tea and soba" I said tiredly as he handed me the cup and I started eating. I had a long night, because I was up until 11:30 practicing. Dad was teaching me how to maximize my thrust and I just couldn't get it. My left hand still ached, and I wasn't sure how this practice session would turn out. It only took me a few minutes to finish eating, but it seemed like forever because I ate in silence. Dad just sat there, staring at me. I don't mind because he doesn't have anything else to look at.

"We will begin, as usual, with our deep breathing exercises" he said calmly when I pushed my now empty bowl over to the wall. Then we sat there with our legs crossed and our eyes closed, breathing slowly and calmly. I tried very hard not to fall asleep, and was relieved when we moved onto stretching. After stretching we moved on to blocking. This is the part when dad charges at me and I have to block it. We use wooden swords so we don't hurt each other. How could a father hurt the daughter he loves so dearly you ask? My dad gets very into fights, and once he hit me in the side with a real sword and knocked me out. I knew he didn't mean it, and told him that it was all right and I forgive him, but he never forgave himself. Also I'm stronger than dad is (I explained it earlier), but I've never hurt him. Once we were done with blocking, I practiced charging. Every time I charged I hit him.

The lesson dragged on like that for a few hours, and was over at 9. Afterward I got a short break, and then dad home-schooled me. My schooling ends at 12, and then Orune comes over for lunch, I he didn't die. After that I get the rest of the day to spend with Orune. This is the first day I would see him after he joined the anti-imperial army. I was still a little nervous about seeing him again after the dream.

"Good after noon Satiou-dono and Sazuma-san" Orune sang as he shook dad's hand and gave me a peck on the lips after bursting through the door. The only reason for not enveloping me up in an embrace and a long, emotional kiss is that my dad would kill him for touching me like that. He thinks that any kissing like that will lead to sex and he would kill me (and Orune) if I wasn't a virgin. Personally I don't get it, and when I said very over protective, that's what I meant.

"What would you two like for lunch? Does mesou soup and rice balls sound ok?" I asked, trying to hold back the tears of joy because my beloved boyfriend has returned, as dad prepared the eating area.

"Anything sounds ok when you say it, my darling!" Orune said lovingly, as he came up behind me, put his arms around my waist, and twirled me around. I smiled happily in a kind of trace. I still couldn't believe that Orune was here with me and I never wanted to let him go again. Dad told Orune to put me down before he shoved him through the door. The was a smile on dad's face when he said it, but you would never see it unless you knew where to look. Orune knew where it was, so he didn't take it personally.

"Would you like some help preparing the food Sazuma?" Dad inquired as I headed for the kitchen. I was about to tell him I didn't need any, when Orune but in and said that he would me help cook. Once we got into the kitchen, Orune wrapped me in his arms and gave me a hug followed by a long, passionate kiss.

"I missed you so much, dear," he said with a smile and I could see his eyes mist over.

"I was so worried about you, Orune!!" I cried and started sobbing. I prayed every night for him to return to me safely after we found out that he got captured. I didn't want to leave the safety of his arms and couldn't stop crying.

"It's all right my love, I'm here now" Orune whispered to me softly to calm me down. It was a good thing that the kitchen was a long way down the hall form where we were eating, because if dad heard me crying, he would have unleashed a big can of whup-ass on Orune, Sinsangumi style.

"Now that you've calmed down a bit, sweetheart, don't you thing we should start making lunch? You're father might get the wrong idea if we don't go back soon." Orune asked.

"You're right Orune," I said reluctantly pulling away from him and wiping the tears from my eyes.

"I'll make the rice balls and you make the soup". When we were done cooking, we carried the food into the eating area.

"What took you two so long?" Dad asked, looking like he knew we did more than cook, "I'm starving!" Uh-oh I thought. What I'm I supposed to say? Dad expects an answer to everything! But being the resourceful person he is, Orune answered for me.

"I was chopping up vegetables for the soup when I cut myself. Being the kind loving person she is, Sazuma-san insisted that she take care of it. Isn't that right Sazuma-san?" Orune asked me with that please-play-along-so-I-don't-get-skinned look.

"Yes that's it exactly" I said but I knew dad didn't buy because we forgot one important thing: the bandage.

"Oh really?" dad said menacingly "Sazuma, dear, you've studied with Ms. Megumi before haven't you? If you're such a good doctor than where is the bandage?" Aw, fuck this was bad. God-damn over protective piece of shit!

This was the end. I could see the wolf in his eyes creeping up behind Orune's reflection ready to give the lethal blow. And with the speed of light he grabbed both of Orune's hands, screamed " There are no cuts!!!" and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying across the hall, bouncing slightly off the floor a few times and finally landing at the foot of the door.

"Orune, NO!!" I screamed as tears streamed down my face and I tried to run over to him, but dad caught hold of hold of my wrist. Damn Damn Damn Damn Damn! Why is he so hyped up about this. Was he on Opium?

"Don't try to save him, his fate is sealed!" dad cried as he let go of my wrist and closed in on Orune. Through my tears I saw dad getting closer and closer to a defenseless Orune. Then it hit me: he could kill him. Dad could kill the one man I loved. I had to do something, and that something was in dad's bedroom on the floor next to his bed. That something was his sword. It was the same sword that protected him through the revolution. I didn't have any other choices, and his bedroom was 2 feet away. I ran in as fast as I could and found the sword. I was about to draw it when I heard a blood-curdling scream.

"I'm coming Orune!" I yelled as I drew the sword and started running at my father. I saw him raise his sword above his head to deliver the lethal blow.

"Forgive me father, but for the sake of the one I love," I cried as I was in 3 feet of him and I am glad to say that that distracted him greatly "I will fight you!" And at that I did a gatozu zero style and threw the sword at his sword knocking it out of his hand. It wasn't much of a fight but what else was I supposed to call it?

"Orune, Orune speak to me! Are you ok?! Please, please say something, anything just don't die…please don't die" I was bawling my heart out as I ran to him, and then I saw blood. Blood was all over his chest gushing from a deep gash. I was too late. I fell to my knees in shock. The sadness was unbearable, as I crawled towards him. I rested his head on my lap as I sat back on my knees.

"Orune I'm so…so…I'm so sorry…I'm too late…oh Orune, I'm so sorry!" I cried while stroking his soft brown hair. I leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips. At that moment he opened his soft blue eyes.

"…Sazuma…" he stammered in a soft voice that was below a whisper. "…I…I…I love you…" he continued with a small smile that I wasn't even sure was there.

"I love you too Orune, just don't talk. Everything will be ok, I'm here now." I replied in a soft soothing voice, still stroking his hair. That seemed to calm him down, and his eyes closed reluctantly, as if he wanted to make sure it was my lap his head was in and he wasn't dreaming. I thought that everything would be all right, but I forgot that my persistent father was hovering over Orune and I in disbelief.

"You would choose that piece of shit over your own father?" dad questioned, anger flowing through his voice.

"How dare you!" I screamed at him while hot tears of anger streamed down my face.

"I don't care what you think! Orune loves me for who I am! There's more to me than what's in my pants! So I make out with! What's the big deal? Yes I kissed him, but we didn't have sex! What's your fucking problem? Kissing and sex aren't the same thing. You kissed mom but didn't have sex all the time! You god-damn perv…." I yelled between sobs.

"Look what you did! You…you…you could have killed him…just…just…just get away from me you…you monster! Leave me and Orune alone! Why are you so messed up? You're on opium, you drugged out loser! I knew you were a user! Get the fuck out of here! Go do drugs somewhere else! I wish mom were here to see what you did! Why can't you understand? I'll die before I let you hurt him!" I cried hysterically, as I gently pulled Orune up and cradled him in my arms.

"You bitch! After all I've done for you, this is how you repay me?!" Dad screamed in anger as he yanked me away for Orune and threw me into a wall. When I hit the wall, my head slammed into it and a hot pain seared through me like a knife. Everything started to get blurry and I saw Orune slowly stand up. He was running towards me, but he seemed much farther away than he really was. As I slid down the wall, I reached my shaking hand up and lightly felt the back of my head. Something was warm and sticky and kept gushing from my head. I put my hand in front of my face, and even though I couldn't make out the blur of red in front of me, I knew that I was bleeding badly. Goddamn father! Because of him, I get to die just when my boyfriend comes home. Great the perfect way to go.

"Sazuma, Sazuma!" Orune cried in panic, but his voice was fading. He was reaching out to me, to take me away from all this. I think dad said something, but I couldn't make out what. This was the end. I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. There was so much I wanted to say, but my time was up. Orune, I though, I hope you know how much I love you. Then everything went black.

Author's note:

God I hate fathers! Mine's a fat bastard who thinks I'm selfish because I wanted to se him for Christmas! How fucked up is that? Anyway, I hope you like the story. Sorry the chapters aren't longer! My bad. Listen to H.I.M. They're the most awesome bad ever! Bam Margera listens to them, for all you fellow sk8rs out there. By the way H.I.M.'s symbol is called a heartagram and looks like this: