Author's Note: An update at last! I know it's been a long time, and it's entirely my fault! Please forgive me… bows humbly I was busy all summer what with work and a trip to Italy (which was awesome, by the way), and school just started not too long ago… Either way, from this point on, there will not be another wait that long again. Oh, and to the person that I promised that this update would be out in early September… I'm sorry! Thank you for waiting!!! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don not own Rurouni Kenshin… but if I keep saving money…

Your Azure Eyes Chapter 10: Reflect The Past

Kaoru quailed and tried to twist out of Kenshin's grip, her instincts telling her to bolt; to run anywhere away from where she was. But Kenshin held her tight, unwilling to let her run blindly into her doom, which rested in the form of the tall, white haired man standing at the door.

Without taking his eyes off of Enishi for a moment, Kenshin slowly tucked the struggling Kaoru behind him. Silently trying to calm her down and make her realize exactly what would happen if she were to race towards the exit.

"What do you want, Enishi?" Kenshin demanded, giving Kaoru's arm a reassuring and gentle squeeze. She calmed slightly, finally remaining still under his grasp. Kenshin kept his eyes glued on her former boyfriend in front of him. He noted that there was a black strap running diagonally across the man's torso, possibly containing a gun, a sword, or some other sharp weapon.

"What do I want?" Enishi whispered, his wide eyes darting madly around the small room, "I walk in on you with my girlfriend, and you ask me what I want?!" His voice quickly rose until he was screaming. Kenshin could feel Kaoru begin to shake in terror. His ears caught the sound of her breath coming in short gasps, with barely audible whimpers escaping her lips.

With Kaoru's utter fear fueling his fire, Kenshin's voice took on a livid tone unknown to any human ears; at least, any living human.

"You do not own her," Kenshin growled. He watched through golden eyes as Enishi took a slight step back.

Enishi stared, fear evident in his eyes. For a few moments, the tiny room remained silent, save for Kaoru's slight whimpers. Enishi seemed to be having a battle in his mind, and Kenshin watched as the man's eyes darted from one thing to another, and his lips moved as if he were muttering something to himself.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up as if he had just had an epiphany, and a crazed smile spread across his face.

"You…" He laughed, his eyes dancing madly, "I recognize you now! The red hair, golden eyes, you're him! The assassin of the Mitsurugi!" His sentences were choppy and short. Kenshin's eyes narrowed at Enishi as the insane man continued to speak. "At first they said that you were killed, but we didn't believe that, because it would have been one of our members who had done it! So this is where you really went, Battousai; this is where you came to hide!"

"What…?" Kenshin heard Kaoru gasp quietly behind him. He felt her small hands curl into his shirt as she leaned against his back, "You, an assassin?"

"That was a long time ago," Kenshin said quietly to both of them, "I'm done with those days. My life no longer requires spilling the blood of innocents."

Enishi laughed loudly, his eyes nearly rolling into the back of his head with madness, "So you don't deny it, Battousai!" Suddenly, he reached behind his back and pulled out a long, Japanese style sword, and raised the glittering blade with the same, sick smile upon his face and pointed it directly at Kenshin's throat, "You killed many of my friends, and I won't let you hide from your past anymore!"

The two stood stock still for a few moments, though it seemed like an eternity to Kaoru. They stared each other down, trying to make the other yield. Suddenly, Enishi took in a shuddering breath and shouted, "Take the girl!"

At that instant, Kenshin saw the dark outline of a man step into the room. Although he could not look directly at the other man, since Enishi had a sword pointed to his neck; he could watch the tall shadow out of the corner of his eye.

With padded footsteps across the floor of the dark room, unlike the clicking or thumping of shoes that normally accompanied someone walking across the small room, the large man strode over to Kenshin. Just as the man was close enough to reach Kaoru, Kenshin was ready to stop him; but Enishi prevented him from doing so.

With a loud war cry, Enishi swiped his blade horizontally at Kenshin, narrowly missing slicing his stomach open. Kenshin heard Kaoru scream behind him. Thinking quickly and out of instinct, he grabbed for the nearest weapon. Groping in the dark while dodging the occasional blind swipe of the sword, Kenshin clasped his hands around an old piece of pipe.

Quickly swinging the pipe, Kenshin smacked Enishi squarely on the shoulder to stun him. Using the few precious seconds he had attained with this move, he knocked the gray haired man to the floor with a hard stab to the abdomen.

Keeping his grip tight on the pipe, Kenshin looked desperately around the small room for Kaoru, hoping that perhaps she had hid under the desk or in the corner, but to no avail. She was gone, and so was the tall figure that had entered the room moments ago.

Yelling her name, Kenshin leapt over Enishi, sprawled out on the floor in front of the door, and ran throughout the warehouse, but she and the man were long gone from there.

Just as he was about to run out the door to check the street, he heard the whir of a blade cutting through the air behind him. Ducking quickly, Kenshin missed the be-heading blow by millimeters. But the revived Enishi was ready for the dodge, and kicked out with his foot to send Kenshin sprawling across the floor.

"I dare you to come find her, because when you do, I promise that we'll finish the job we started!" Enishi began to run out through the warehouse door, but Kenshin leapt up from his place on the floor and grabbed the arm that held the sword. Blind with desperation to prevent Kaoru's kidnapping, he was not prepared for Enishi to knee him in the stomach. As he doubled over with pain, unwilling to let go of the mad man's limb, Enishi twisted out of Kenshin's grip and brought down his blade to slash the arm that had once held him before darting out of the door.

Ignoring the searing pain in his right arm, Kenshin straightened up ran to the door, only to watch a black car speed away. Steadying himself against the doorframe, he looked down to quickly analyze the wound. It was a long gash, about from elbow to wrist, but not deep. The blood was slowly dripping from his elbow. Bright red drops shattering on the floor like fallen tears. Kenshin quickly wrapped his arm in his shirt and applied pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding.

The first thing Kenshin could think of was to call for help. Running back inside to call the police, he was sidetracked by a flash of white in the corner of his eye. Turning towards the door of the darkroom, he noticed a bit of cloth stuck on the doorframe. Walking back over to the door he picked up the small bit of cloth. It looked like strip of medical bandaging which had been well worn as it was yellowed and frayed on the ends.

Squeezing the cloth angrily in his hand, Kenshin pocketed it and then continued towards the nearest phone.

But suddenly he realized whom exactly he was dealing with… and what calling the police would mean. If he were to tell them the whole story, he could be arrested and prosecuted for all of the crimes he had committed long ago when he was one of 'them.' The so-called 'Chosen Ones…'

Kenshin leaned his back against the steady support of the wall, and slid down it until he was sitting upon the cold, concrete floor.

He had been chosen to join them, the Mitsurugis'. Every teenage boy wanted to be one of them… The gang offered protection to others when no one else would. Kenshin, only 15 and still naïve to the world, truly believed that they were different from the other typical hardcore gangs in the city. He had been incredibly excited when one of the gang members invited him in after hearing about his above average sword skills.

Little did he know that those sword skills would be used to brutally murder many shop owners and local families unwilling to pay their "protection money." He had also been used as the front man during brawls with other gangs for their territory… The Mitsurugis were no different from any other gang, and Kenshin wanted desperately to leave. But once you had joined them, there was no getting out unless you wished to ask for a slow and painful death.

It had been so long ago, that he didn't think he could recognize anyone from his old gang, let alone from a rival one… But they had recognized him. And now his past was coming back to haunt him, although he had thought that moving across the city and going to college for photography would somehow clear his name and leave those days firmly behind him.

With a sigh, Kenshin pulled out the strip of cloth again, testing its texture with his fingers, trying desperately to jog his memory. Who could it have been? What rival gang had Enishi and his friends been apart of?

But it was no use. He had been so determined to block out those years, that they seemed to be just a fuzzy haze in his life. From 15-17 there was a part of him missing, because he had purposefully blocked it out.

But he would have to find that part in order to rescue Kaoru…

The utter fear that Kaoru had felt when she first saw Enishi at the door of the dark room left as soon as that strange man had grabbed her. Instinct took over as she thrashed and screamed. She attempted to dig her nails into his flesh, but was hindered by a thick layer of cloth. Suddenly, she felt herself violently shoved into a car.

"Let go of me!" Kaoru demanded, her voice muffled by the thick cloth bag they had placed over her head. She tried to move her arms in order to struggle, but they were firmly tied behind her back, useless. Her legs, too, were tied together and unable to help her. With a loud sigh, she gave up the struggling, and fear began to set in again as she realized her situation. "Enishi?" She asked quietly, for some reason hoping that he was there.

"What??" He growled back at her from what seemed to be the direction of the driver's seat. Kaoru sighed quietly in relief. Although she had been abducted, and had no idea what was to become of her, at least there was something familiar around her. She had some sort of hope that Enishi hadn't the heart to kill her… Although the man who had picked her up, whose evil aura she could sense sitting in the passenger's seat, was not someone she had high hopes for at all.

'Oh Kenshin…' She pleaded silently, 'you've been so kind to me, but I've gotten myself into another mess… Please help me!'

"And I have done you so wrong

Treated you bad

Strung you along

Oh, shame on myself

I don't know how I got so tangled up."

-'Tangled' by Maroon 5

Extra Author's Note: Hopefully the next update will be really really soon. I've already got it planned out, so it shouldn't take that long. But don't quote me on that!