Lady Battousai654: Thank you guys all so much for waiting and not killing us. Also thanks to every single person that told me the meaning to big brother. Ken-nii, was what I was looking for. I couldn't remember it, so a special thanks to Linwe!

With his back against the tree, he say feeling lonely and miserable. His mind drifted to things that he didn't know even happened to him. It was like his mind was opening up to another part of his life he had forgotten.

He saw his mother again, and father. They were both with him and seemed like nothing in the world mattered except for the little boy in front of them. Kenshin smiled and saw both of his parents laughing faces.

Unknowingly, a tear slid from his eye at the memory. He was thankful that they couldn't see the wretched monster he had become. If only he had stayed with Hiko, none of this would be happening. He wouldn't feel unworthy of life itself and like he was always dirty. He felt like he was staining little Echiko every time he touched her.

Lost within his thoughts he didn't even notice that Tomoe and Echiko had returned. Tomoe merely glanced at the Hitokiri noticing that he hadn't moved since they left which had been quite some time ago. With the grace that few women had she bent down to kiss little Echiko and hand her the bag of candy they had purchased in town. She stood up while watching her run back to her new friend, the bag of sweets clutched in her small hands.

Echiko stopped before plowing into Kenshin. She looked surprised to see that he didn't respond and sat down. Watching his distant face she giggled.

"Ken-nii?"

Getting no response she picked up a small stone and threw it at him, hitting him in the side of the head. She giggled wildly and he shook his head looking at her in a confused way. Seeing the girl hysterical with laughter made his own smile appear on his lips. A smile fit his features well as well as the stoic frown he so often chose to wear. She soon recovered and put on a face indicating that she was thinking about something. Suddenly her mouth opened happily and her eyebrows lifted showing that she had remembered something.

By her side sat the bag of goodies and she opened it up holding out the bag of candy. Kenshin looked at it as if it were poison, as if he couldn't possibly accept something from such an innocent and sweet child such as Echiko. He shook his head lightly and gave a small smile. Echiko wouldn't go for it though and her brow furrowed in thought. She then leaned forward reaching for his hand and placed one of the candies in it.

The gesture was so sweet that Kenshin couldn't refuse it and he placed the candy in his mouth while watching Echiko roll up the bag after taking a piece for herself. The taste made him think of being a carefree child once again and he smiled sadly at the rush of memories. In wasn't often that he felt so, but the child made him vulnerable and he felt a pang of pain in his heart. He never realized how empty he felt inside and he despised that fact that he knew it know.

He stood quickly, needing to go to his room and Echiko looked up at him with wide eyes. She had just shared her candy with him and now he was leaving. She blinked her large eyes and Kenshin knew he couldn't leave just yet, so he sank back down to the ground with his back leaning against the trees. His eyes closed softly and soon his breath became even signaling he was in a light sleep.

-

Kenshin ran through the alleys searching for the signs of the person that had just attempted an attack of him. Kenshin had managed to nick him in the side and he wouldn't allow him to get away. Darting past barrels that stood in his way and over piles of he didn't know what his keen amber eyes would find whatever was hiding between the buildings.

There, he had seen movement. Taking off in the direction and following the unforgettable stench of blood lead him right to his prey. The wound in his side wasn't bad, but it was enough to slow the movements of the attacker and Kenshin faced him with his sword held in front of him.

As brave as the man tried to look he reeked of fear and the promise of his own death. Kenshin didn't bother explaining himself, the man in front of him knew he was to die and didn't need to know why. His death had been assured to him once he had tried anything with Kenshin. He took a step forward eyes burning dangerously.

"No! Wait, stop I beg of you!"

He held out his hand while holding his sword in his other hand. His whole body shook with pure terror of the boy in front of him. Kenshin's face remained stoic as he replied to the pathetic man in front of him.

"And what makes you think I would allow you to live after you tried to take my own life. You may as well not answer because nothing you can say will let you live." His tone was dark and had no emotion what so ever.

Tears filled the eyes of the one in front of him as he heard his death being promised to him with no remorse shown by the Hitokiri. Was there anything he could possibly say to spare himself?

"Please, please, I beg of you, spare me! I have a wife and child at home that expect me to return. They need me."

"Well, I guess that means they will have to be disappointed if you don't return. You shouldn't promise them that you'll come home and then pick a fight with me. You should've thought that over."

"It wasn't me that decided to do this. I had orders. I have nothing personally against you!"

"Well, you're about to."

He dropped his sword and slumped to the ground. He held his hands out to Kenshin tears freely falling down his face. His voice was now but a whisper.

"Please. Please, is there nothing I can do?"

"No," was Kenshin's curt reply.

He made a choking sound and looked up at Kenshin.

"Then please, make my death brief. I know you aren't the evil man you pretend to be. I know you have feelings too but if it makes you feel better go ahead but I ask you one favor. Please, before you take my life, can you give this to my wife and show you at least have some decency?"

He pulled out a crumpled letter from inside his shirt and handed it to Kenshin with shaky hands. Kenshin hesitated at first but then took it and placed it in his own shirt. He would bring it if it would give this man some comfort.

"Yes, I will give it to her."

He then granted the man his first wish and took his life quickly and painlessly. As much as he wanted to let this man live he couldn't. Echiko was making him to soft. On the side of the building grew a vine with flowers on it. It wasn't the most beautiful, but it was all that was there. Kenshin plucked on of them and held it between his fingers before placing it on the body of the loyal husband and father. What scared him the most was what the man had said.

'You aren't the evil man you pretend to be. I know you have feelings to...'

They echoed in his mind and Kenshin closed his eyes taking a deep breath. The man had been right...and as he walked away he whispered only two words.

"I'm sorry."

-

This was second pursuit of an attacker in two nights. Something new to even Kenshin. He hoped this wasn't going to become a habit of the people that hated him. He usually liked to get it over with as quickly as possible and preferred not to play hide-and-seek with them. His version of the game was a little more bloody and he should prefer to call it run-and-die.

This night though, his attacker wasn't leading him down twisting alley ways and around corners. He was leading him in a straight path and Kenshin caught glimpses of him as he ran further away from town and into the middle of nowhere.

Kenshin knew better than to call him a fool because whoever it was obviously wanted to be followed and had a plan of his own. Keeping his distance he ran behind him not losing the trail in the dark night. After he ran over the next hill, a lone figure stood in the middle of an open field. There was absolutely nothing around them, no one to hear the anguished screams that Kenshin would make him scream.

He cautiously approached him and looked around ruling out the possibility of an ambush. He stopped and waited for whoever he was following to speak. Finally he did.

"Himura, I see you followed me. Congratulations on making it this far. Not many humans can keep up with me."

He laughed loudly stepped forward. Kenshin remained still. Humans? This guy was nuts. What was he besides human? He pushed the ridiculous sentence out of his mind and watched him casually look at his nails. Kenshin sensed absolutely no fear on him and this puzzled him. He wasn't used to that.

Kenshin didn't even think about how he knew his name, but was interested. He said nothing.

"So you're not a talker. Well that's okay, because I don't want you to talk, I want you to listen to me."

Kenshin's anger flared momentarily, but he relaxed, and the stranger advanced on him.

"I know that you aren't scared of me. That's why you aren't running. You think you're a tough guy, don't you? Let me tell you, I could kill you before you had time to wet your pants."

Kenshin raised an eyebrow. This guy didn't sound like he was bluffing, but Kenshin had doubts that he could honestly kill him that easy. He had killed so many men before they even had a chance to scream

"Kenshin, I want to make you one of us."

"Us?" Kenshin finally spoke. Curiosity got the better of him.

"Ah, so I have you interested. Yes, one of us. You see Kenshin. I'm not human."

"What's that leave?"

"I happen to be a Vampire. A real one. There are some down's but everything else makes up for it."

"Like?"

"Living forever, super-human strength, and tons of other things that fit into those categories."

"You said you live forever, what if I want to die," Kenshin wasn't sure if he believed him, but he was humoring him. Testing him.

"I think that if you wanted to die, you'd be dead by now. I think that you are afraid of death."

Kenshin was taken aback by the way this stranger seemed to know so much about him and how it really scared him. However, he didn't let it show that he was nervous and spoke in his same cold and deadly tone that usually had people tremble in fear.

"What makes you think I will believe you? I happen to think you're crazy and I think I should just kill you now."

He searched for a sword at the strangers hip and found none. No matter, it just meant his death would be even faster. He drew his sword and it glinted in the moonlight. The stranger laughed and waited for Kenshin to attack. He finally did.

With an attack that was meant to kill in one blow, he came flying towards him with a battle cry and brought his sword down. Then the tables turned.Before he knew what was happening, he was being dangled in the air, by the collar of his shirt, and he was staring into the eyes of a demon.

"Kenshin, I'll prove to you that I am real, and I will be your mentor. This is a fairly simple process. Don't worry, it'll be over soon."

If there was one thing Kenshin hated the most in the world, it was feeling helpless, which was exactly where he was now, dangling in the air, by the collar by a man who wasn't human.

"Put me down," but before he could finish his command, he was on his back, with the man hovering over him. He smiled to reveal to long, dangerous fangs, and he tipped Kenshin's head back. When he started to lean forward, Kenshin panicked, but he was only held down tighter. What the hell was he doing? It became clear when he felt pain on his neck, but he couldn't move when he tried to push his weight off of him. Slowly, he could feel his life draining from his body and his scream caught in his throat.

-

He lifted his head, blood dripping from his fangs and laughed in that same loud obnoxious laugh as before. For a moment Kenshin just sat there stunned and felt his world going dark as he realized he was dying. The Vampire then cut his own wrist and held it up to Kenshin mouth.

"Drink."

When he refused his wrist was pushed into his mouth and he was forced to swallow the bitter tasting blood. Coughing uncontrollably he rolled over onto his side to try to get away from him. The man merely stood up and crossed his arms watching the pathetic display in front of him.

"You're going to die, you know that right? You're body will die yet your mind will live on. You are going to become a Vampire Kenshin. Let me know if you need anything."

Kenshin glared daggers at him and looked around for his sword while laying on his stomach. His arms supported him and he crawled weakly forward away from the demon not caring about his sword at the time.

Suddenly his body exploded with pain as he felt like he was being stabbed over and over everywhere. He let out a blood-curdling scream which of course no one could hear because the were in the middle of nowhere.

Just as his yell of agony came to an end another one erupted from his mouth as he rolled over on his back. His hands clawed at his body as if it would help. The stranger watched with a semi-sad expression. This wasn't the best part of the job, no. He actually pitied the boy, because he was so young and so full of life but orders were orders and they couldn't be dis-obeyed.

Kenshin leaned over to throw up on the ground coughing painfully. His body didn't need food anymore and it rejected his last meal. Feeling ashamed and miserable Kenshin laid on his back, his body shaking. His breaths came in ragged intakes and his eyes looked glazed over in pain. He gritted his teeth as another piercing pain flowed through his body and let out yet another scream of anguish.

Just as soon as the unbearable pain had started, it stopped. With weary eyes he glanced up at the stars to tired to even move his head to search of the sick man that had done this to him. His vision became fuzzy and he vaguely registered being picked up before blacking out completely.

Lady Battousai: Oh my god you guys! I'm so sorry it took so long but I have been soooooo busy AND, Vampire Demon was really, really sick. ::pats him on the head:: The next update won't be as long, I promise. I really hope this chapter sorta makes up for the wait though.

Vampire Demon: Thanks Lady B...hey guys. Sorry but school is just a time-sucker and leaves no time for anything fun.