Disclaimer: Nothing in this fic is ours, except for Kaoru's dad, and I don't even like him. Heh, what a world.

Lady Battousai654: Okay, remember this is the flashback chapter. So things may be kinda weird at first, but trust me, this chapter is very important. It might turn into two chapters, because I don't want to make it seem choppy.

Note for the chapter: Okay, no flaming now, because I'm telling you now, this is not what happens in Trust and Betrayal. We've almost completely changed the whole plot. In our version, Tomoe has a daughter when she meets Kenshin. Her daughter is Kiyosato's but then they think he's dead. She has to have a child. Otherwise there's no story after this.

Vampire Demon666: I feel...angsty, so beware of this chapter.

Kenshin sat in his room at the inn. Since he had gotten there, all he really did was stare out the window. There was nothing else to do. His room was quiet, as all the other men were downstairs trying to hit on the women that served dinner. Kenshin wasn't into that. He just went downstairs when it was all finished. Okami always came to tell him when that time came. He sensed her coming, but didn't move. She slid open the shoji.

"Himura, dinner is ready. Good heavens! You'll freeze to death in here! Why don't you close that window, or at least get a blanket?"

He didn't answer, but she didn't expect one. Kenshin talked only when he wanted to, and you couldn't make him for the world if he didn't want to. Unlike the other soldiers, she respected his wish to remain silent. However, they other men liked to make a game out it if. However could make him talk didn't have to pay for drinks when they went for their little drinking sprees.

"You come down when you want."

He didn't even nod, and someone else might think he was deaf, but it had been that way since he had made his first kill. She had watched his young innocent eyes turn into the eyes of a demon. And she watched his heart harden until finally he was just a silent aura of hatred and pain. Those two emotions were what made up his feelings. She was surprised he even still had those emotions.

All the soldiers called him heartless, but they didn't know how much pain he was in. He hid it well, she decided, but that wasn't necessarily all good. She pitied him, something she took careful care of to hide and not show. She didn't know if he even knew it or not and if he did, he never showed it. Not much could get past Kenshin, but whenever she saw him he was usually to distraught or tired from missions to take note of her ki which could really reveal a lot.

Her inn was very popular among soldiers, and she had met many interesting people running it; but none of them fascinated her as much as Kenshin. There was something about him. Maybe it was the fact that he was so mysterious, or that he was so young and already had a ruined soul. Whatever it was, the young women helpers around the inn sure liked it. It was obvious that Himura was uncomfortable with their flirty behavior. Okami almost had to laugh at how they seemed to have such power over an assassin. At least in the romance department.

She slid the shoji shut again and Kenshin listened for the patter of her feet to disappear down the hallway and end up downstairs. He waited a few minutes before getting up and grabbing his katana from the floor next to him. He took his sword everywhere because you never knew what could happen even over dinner. All the soldiers had their swords next to them at dinner.

He didn't want to wait to long before going downstairs, otherwise he would draw to much attention to himself. That was something he didn't want. Sometimes when he heard the other men whisper he wanted nothing more than to silence them forever. He shoved those feelings away harshly though and told himself he wasn't going to become like that. But he had already become like that. He just refused to admit it to himself.

Downstairs, it was still noisy, so dinner must not have started yet. He was thankful for that much at least. He cursed under his breath when he saw one of the inn helpers making her way towards him.

"Himura," she said in a simple greeting when she had reached him

Kenshin just stared straight at her. She looked a little bit uncomfortable under his emotionless gaze. Unfortunately, that didn't stop her.

"Himura, I was thinking that after dinner, we could go upstairs together," she said with a sly smile.

He backed up as she moved forward. She touched his Gi and he flinched, trying to get further away from her. She was blocking his way to the dinner room and it was filling up fast. He didn't want to be the last one in there. He couldn't be the last one in there. He tried moving forward causing the young woman to press up against him and giggle. He cursed again in his head. And dodged to the side. She followed his movements.

Once again, she advanced and he became more desperate.

"Move," he said gruffly.

"Ah, I finally got something out of you. That's good. Does that mean eventually you'll love me?"

"I said move," he said again, and roughly shoved her to the side, making his way to the dinner room entrance.

It was full and they had begun giving out the food. Kenshin sighed. He wasn't hungry anyway. He walked back the way he came and didn't look at the shocked women leaning up against the wall. He brushed past her in the narrow hall and went back up to his room. His room seemed even colder now, but you could never tell by looking at him. In his profession showing feelings and vulnerability was a weakness. If he looked fine most people wouldn't even want to attack him.

Since he had nothing else to do, he left. He jumped out the window. No one could have even heard him land on the ground below, even though it was right outside the window of where they were eating. He had his Daisho and was ready to go. He wasn't out for blood tonight though. All he wanted was to get away from everything he knew and forget it all. In fact, maybe it was better that he just died. He could even do it now, and not one person would truly miss him. They wouldn't miss Kenshin. Only Battousai, their secret weapon. Maybe that was because he never showed them the real Kenshin. It was their own damn fault anyway. They never gave him a chance. He had to stop. All of those thoughts were making him bitter and making his blade look more and more friendly.

What he needed was some sake. That would help temporarily. It always had before. Some people would think that he was way to young to be drinking, let alone get drunk. Well, the way he figured it, his life span was drastically shorter than the average man. So he had to do a lot of things while he was still alive. That thought didn't really bother him. He accepted it.

-

He set the cup back down after the first sip. It tasted like blood. Was his mind playing tricks on him. He stared at the cup, willing it to all stop and tried another sip. Again, the coppery taste flooded his mouth. He threw the cup away from him, drawing quite a bit of attention to him. A small, tentative women rushed over to him.

"Sir?"

She wasn't sure if he was a 'sir' yet, because he looked like a child, but the swords at his belt demanded respect.

"Are you okay?"

Kenshin put some extra coins on the table along with the regular cost to pay for the smashed cup, nodded to the women and left. On his way out, he heard some men in the corner giving a women a hard time. The vile language they said to her made him cringe inwardly. Yet, she seemed unfazed by their taunting. Kenshin figured he'd do something.

"I don't think this women wants anything to do with you."

The men sneered and looked at him.

"What are you, her son?"

They all laughed. He stared at them straight on and advanced a step.

"I haven't had a good day. Would you really like to mess with me?"

The message came across perfectly: Don't mess with me if you want to live. The men could see he was dead serious and hurried out the door after paying. Kenshin didn't even look at the woman sitting next to him, and walked out the door.

He hadn't wanted to be back so soon but he had no other choice. Suddenly, he felt a presence around him. He couldn't see anyone, but he stood still and got into his attack stance. Whoever this was, it wanted to hurt him. He looked all around him and tried to find where the ki was coming from.

All of a sudden, a chain shot from the roof, wrapping itself around Kenshin torso and pinning his sword arm to his side. He couldn't breathe and couldn't move. He looked up to see a large man hiding his face in the shadows and his response was to tighten the chain around him. Kenshin felt dizzy and with his last energy, he flexed every muscle in his body and grabbed his sword. He then cut the chains and quickly unwrapped them. He didn't have much time, because his opponent jumped down from the roof and Kenshin faced him.

-

His enemy lay face down in two halves in the street. Kenshin stared at it and then sensed another ki. It was a weak one, so this was no fighter. He looked down the street and saw the woman from the inn. It had started to rain and she held an umbrella.

'She-she saw me kill him. There can't be any witnesses.'

She walked forward a little bit.

"You-you made the bloody rain fall."

Kenshin flinched. She really did see him.

"You're bleeding."

She walked forward again, but then fainted a few feet away from him. He caught her in his arms and looked at her face. She was beautiful.

-

Kenshin held the limp girl in his arms. The other soldiers were all up in their rooms, so he didn't have to worry about them. Okami was still downstairs though, and for that, Kenshin was grateful.

"Himura! What do you think you are doing," a shocked Okami asked as soon as she saw him.

He just tiredly shook his head and laid her down on the floor.

"Please take care of her," he said and left.

Okami watched him retreat upstairs and then looked back at the women on the floor. Who was the women and what business did she have with Kenshin? And unconsciously? She supposed there would be time for questions later though and began to clean her up.

-

This time Kenshin went downstairs for breakfast early. He hadn't eaten anything for dinner yesterday, and he felt hungry. There were a few other men downstairs but none of them payed any attention to Kenshin. That's how Kenshin wanted it. On his first day, he had been very uncomfortable, and he had showed it while he was practicing. The other men saw it and imagined themselves in the place of the thing that used to look like a tree and decided that he wasn't one to mess with if you valued your life.

On his way down the steps, he nearly ran into the woman that he helped last night. He got a closer look at her and saw how beautiful she really was. She wasn't much older than him.

"Okami tells me that you saved me last night. I want to thank you, for both times. I was drunk last night and didn't know what I was doing."

'She was drunk," he thought in his head.

"What is your name?"

"Tome. Tomoe Yukishiro."

As she turned around and walked down the hall, she saw a small girl trailing behind Tomoe. She looked to be no more than 2 years old. How old was Tomoe? She seemed far to young to have already had a child. And why wasn't she with her husband? Kenshin thought about it. Was she a prostitute? No, she seemed far to dignified for that. It was no use thinking about it. And he couldn't exactly ask. That would be rude.

Okami was in the kitchen preparing some breakfast, and Kenshin sat down at the small table with her.

"Hello Himura."

He nodded.

"That Tomoe girl you brought in last night is quite a help around here."

"Does she have a child?"

"Sadly, yes."

"I didn't see her last night."

"Turns out she was following you the whole time. She came inside looking for her mother a little bit after you brought her in."

Kenshin raised an eyebrow.

"She had a husband, but he died."

"I see."

"She's a sweet little girl Kenshin. It would do you good to talk to her."

"She doesn't even know me and she looks to shy."

"Try it."

"No. I'm not going to talk to a 2 year old."

Okami sighed and went back to cooking while Kenshin went out to where the other men were waiting for breakfast. Things were gonna get complicated.

Angeliz: Glad you like this chapter. Unfortunately, this one was a short one and pretty boring. Okay really boring, but the next chapter, which is a continuation of the flashback is better. Promise! -Lady Battousai

Rinoa-Heartilly-666: Yes, homework does really suck, and I've had a ton lately. Especially math, which is my worst subject. Kaoru will probably have some more problems, yes, but maybe I'll be nice and give a happy ending. Lol

legolasestelstar: They were doing site upgrades, so no one could review or post new chapters. I hate it when that happens. Yes, it's good to have a friend that'll back me up, particularly someone like him. Lol. blushes You're to nice. Lol. I'm not that special. Anyway, my friend is talking to me more, but she still doesn't sit with us at lunch anymore. Oh well. I've got my other pals! -Lady Battousai

Of course. I always got my buddy's back. Not like she always needs me, she's really independent, but I'm there for her when she needs me. No way. I don't think you're pathetic. Neither of us do. Heh, vampires are cool, so vampire fics always draw a cool crowd. I got my permit too, and I drive all the time. I love it and next month I'm going for my motorcycle permit. I like reading your reviews, so keep it up alright? ::winks:: -Vampire Demon

bluerose: Thanks so much for reviewing. We appreciate it. We try to update whenever we can, but sometimes school gets in the way, ya know? Thanks again! -Lady Battousai

half-breed-demon-fox: Sou is Kenshin friend and Kaoru and Kenshin will meet again soon. Hehe, thanks for reviewing! -Lady Battousai

Our friend: Lol, the therapist didn't exactly turn out with the personality I expected, but oh well. That's how it works. Thanks for your review and we hope to see you next chapter! -Lady Battousai

black-lotusblossom: I'm glad you gave this fic I try even though you don't normally like vampires stories. Lol, hint taken. You'll have to see for yourself. Lol. -Lady Battousai

Fee Himura: Yes, Kenshin as a vampire is very good. I love it! We try to update mostly on weekends, just to give you an idea. Thanks for the review! -Lady Battousai

rain angst: I like evil laughs too! Thanks for reviewing. They all keep us going. -Lady Battousai

What a scene: Thanks for reviewing. Vampires and witches are cool so obsession is okay. O.o lol. Some people say obsession is bad for the soul. Screw it. I'm obsessed with Kenshin and proud! -Lady Battousai

nanakiyoda: Thanks for your review. We usually update on weekends, so check then! -Lady Battousai

cHrRyBlSsm: It was all Lady Battousai's idea to make her visit the shrink. I was planning on having her think non-stop about it and drive her mad...but no. She had to see the shrink. I do the same thing as you. I don't go even though maybe I should...whatever. -Vampire Demon

Mironicka: Crap! I knew we'd forget someone! I'm so sorry! We'll say sorry again next chapter! I feel awful. -Lady Battousai

I seemed quiet last chapter? Huh, didn't know I seemed different. Heh, anyway, glad I'm back to normal now! o.O -Vampire Demon

Racoongirl: Sorry girl! I can't believe we forgot you! ::bangs head on table:: -Lady Battousai

Not another one! Sorry 'bout that. Thanks for actually telling us though. -Vampire Demon.

To the people we forgot, we have to find some way to repay you. You can email me or Vampire Demom with a suggestion! A part in the story perhaps? If you guys dochoose that, it would be in a couple chapters, because we need to finish up the flashback.

If we forgot anyone, please tell us and yell at us, because I'll feel awful. The site update really messed up reviewing and we tried our best to get them all. If we forgot you, please say something.