RUROUNI

By: Lady Jaye

Chapter 10: Questions

Yahiko was bored. Everyone was sure taking long enough. To fill in time he was practicing his forms. The young swordsman slipped into the Gedan stance, slowly running through all the stances that Kaoru had taught him. The human looked around to see that no one was nearby. He was going to attempt a move he'd seen Kenshin do before.

"I'm the Invincible Myoujin Yahiko, Defender of Justice and Student of the Great Hiko Kenshin!" Yahiko sprang up and swung his sword nearly like he'd seen the Saiyan do before. As he landed, he stubbed his toe on an unseen rock and lost his balance. The boy blushed with embarrassment and hoped that no one had seen that. Unfortunately, some of the others had returned just then to see his blunder.

"HAHAHAHAHA!!" Vegeta doubled over with laughter. Tien shook his head as Yahiko's face deepened to a deeper shade of red. Gohan felt a flush of embarrassment as he remembered doing a similar thing at Yahiko's age. Trunks pushed down a snicker, but it was funny. Well maybe not funny for Yahiko,he thought.

"VEGETA!!!!" Yahiko lunged at the Saiyan and managed to crack the bokken over Vegeta's head before he had recovered from his laughing fit. The boy stared in dismay as his wooden sword cracked and broke.

"YOU BROKE MY BOKKEN!!!"

"THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR CRACKING IT OVER MY HEAD!!"

"YOU WERE MAKING FUN OF ME!!!"

"ENOUGH!!!!!" Kaoru yelled, her voice rising over Yahiko's and Vegeta's. The two of them shut up in surprise. The Saiyan actually shrank back slightly. He saw to his dismay that Kaoru had the very same expression on her face that he'd seen on Bulma and Chi-Chi right before they exploded. He couldn't help but admire that.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING?!"

"Uhh…" Yahiko and Vegeta said at the same time before glaring at each other. Kaoru stormed up to the two of them and thrust a finger at Yahiko.

"Yahiko, you know better than to try something like that without a teacher around!!" Kaoru's voice had lost the volume, but had gained an intensity that caused Gohan, Tien, and Trunks to back away.

"But I…"

"No buts!! Especially when it comes to trying to use the Hiten Mitsurugi without any instruction!! You're a student of the Kamiya Kasshin! My student, do you hear me?! You don't try anything like that without your master around! And you….!" She pointed her finger accusingly at a bemused Vegeta.

"How could you break Yahiko's sword like that??!!"

"Damn it woman, he's the one that hit me with it!!"

"Shut up!! You shouldn't have been making fun of him!! I know that Sanosuke would have done the same thing and I'd be yelling at him too!! But at least that bum would have apologized!"

"You want me to apologize?!" Vegeta yelled. He nearly jumped when Kaoru actually growled at him. No wonder Radditz obeys her so much. The Saiyan prince knew that he probably should apologize to the boy, who was now looking mournfully at his broken sword. But his pride kept getting in the way.

"I…" he started to say, and watched in amazement as Kaoru narrowed her eyes at him. "I…sorry," he mumbled. The Saiyan felt a rush of pleasure he saw Kaoru caught off-guard. Apparently she hadn't expected that.

"Wha…what'd you say?" she asked in astonishment.

"I'm not repeating it! Saying it once is enough!" Vegeta could hardly believe that he had swallowed his pride enough to say that. Living so long on Earth with a family of his own must have changed him more than he'd realized. The Saiyan grunted at Yahiko and walked off. Trunks stared after him.

"Dad actually apologized?"

"I guess there's a first for everyone," Tien remarked.

"Yeah, I guess."

Yahiko stared down at his broken sword. In a way, he knew that it was his fault it had broken, but he still upset. Not that he'd let anyone see how much it bothered him though.

"Excuse me?" Yahiko looked up to see Risha standing above him. The six-armed Dei-sho actually smiled at the young boy. It was the first time that he had seen her smile.

"Yeah, what?" he asked, unable to keep the dejected tone from his voice. Risha's hard face actually softened a bit.

"I can fix that for you."

"Really?" Yahiko's face immediately brightened. "How long would that take?" He watched in wonder as she extended a glowing red hand and seemed to shoot some sort of energy at the bokken. After the flash of light had disappeared, he yelled in joy as he saw that his beloved wooden sword was now in one piece.

The young human picked it up and gave it a practice swing. "Hey! This feels lighter than it was before!"

"The wood is also stronger as well," Risha said.

"Really? Wow!" Yahiko exclaimed. He suddenly blushed as he bowed to the Dei-sho. "Um…thank you Lady Risha," he said to the Dei-sho. Risha nodded at him before turning and walking back to Kando. Kaoru felt a swell of pride at Yahiko over how well he had thanked her. She was thankful that Kenshin's influence was rubbing off on her young apprentice. Kaoru felt a presence next to her and saw that it was Megumi. The elf smiled at her before asking the others.

"What did you find out?"

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"WHAT?! YOU THINK THERE'S A TRAITOR IN YAHTO?!!"

Lo-Pei flinched as Koenma's voice boomed throughout the room. They had taken a private audience with the Magistrate after they'd given the reptiles over to the authorities.

"I'm not sure, my Lord. But it is an unfortunate possibility that Hiko Kenshin has pointed out to me," she said quietly. The ancient toddler turned his glare on the Saiyan. Kenshin merely gave him a calm look. Their group had argued over whether or not to tell Koenma this, but Lo-Pei had won out. She had argued that there was a less chance of Koenma being the traitor than anyone else and Kenshin had reluctantly agreed. Being the head of Yahto, Koenma had no reason to strike from the shadows, but that still didn't rule him out as a suspect.

Goku watched as the toddler sighed wearily and slumped his shoulders, giving the only hint that his age was far more than his body indicated. The Saiyan, for one, didn't believe that Koenma was involved in this mess. But his brother seemed skeptical, as did Sanosuke. He didn't understand why the two of them were suddenly so untrusting. Even Seijuro seemed to agree with them.

"The Dei," Lo-Pei continued, "seems to have opened up on it's own. It only does that if a Dei-sho or an authority figure from Yahto asks it to do that. There was no trace of a forced opening."

"You are sure?" Koenma asked.

"Yes," she answered. The Dei-sho watched the tiny Magistrate rub his eyes for a moment before asking the question she dreaded.

"Do you have any suspects Lo-Pei?"

"No, my Lord, I do not." Koenma sighed at that before dismissing them.

"Very well, report to me when you learn more. I hope for all our sakes that what you suspect isn't true." Let's hope that no traitor in Yahto exists, he thought to himself as he watched the group leave. I hope that Hiko Kenshin is wrong.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Kenshin!"

"Sir Ken!"

"How come I never get a welcome?" Sanosuke complained.

"Oh, Sir Ken! I'm so glad you're back!"

"Uh…hello Miss Megumi," Kenshin managed as Kaoru pulled him away from the doctor.

"Stay away from Kenshin, you Vixen!"

"Oooh, jealously…" Megumi taunted. The elf gave the bewildered Saiyan a wink and blew him a kiss.

"Uhh.." Kenshin said.

"Go home you pointy-eared witch!" Kaoru yelled.

"I don't need to hear that from a sweaty little girl."

"Why you…!"

Vegeta watched in amusement as Sanosuke grabbed Kaoru by the collar before she could throttle the other woman. He thought it would be rather entertaining to watch the two women go at it, but no one ever asked him his opinion. Kururin and Tien both sweat dropped as they watched the exchange.

"How come I could never get two women to fight over me?" Kururin complained.

"Are you sure you would have wanted that?" Tien asked. Radditz had endured a brief tug-of-war game between the women and now had a bruise forming above his right eye.

"Uhh…maybe not Tien."

Gohan and Trunks were currently sitting nearby with Yahiko. He had watched the exchange for moment before remarking that it was stupid. The two half-Saiyans had shrugged their shoulders and joined the young human.

Goku, meanwhile, was debating on whether or not to attempt a rescue of his brother. Despite his fear of the two angry women, Goku charged in and pulled his brother out of the fray. After a few more minutes of argument, with Sanosuke pathetically trying to be the peacemaker, the two women calmed down.

Seijuro heard an irritated sigh and looked over to see that Piccolo and Lo-Pei were standing near him. He also saw that Thain and Nerushi had joined the gathering.

"What troubles ye, Piccolo?" he asked. Piccolo gave a start at his voice.

"This is foolishness."

"Maybe, but it is a pleasant foolishness. One that I am glad Kenshin is able to experience, that I am." Seijuro watched as Piccolo gave him a curious look. The Namek was going to ask the red-haired human the question that had been on his mind lately, but instead he gave a grunt and turned to Kando and Risha.

"What did you find out on Earth?"