An Aggravating Visitor

Kaoru was exhausted. It had been three days since Sano left, and as much as she appreciated all his help before, it was nothing compared to how she felt now. The kids were restless and all very upset that he'd left them behind. There had been a large farewell dinner, and he'd given each of them a special and personal good-bye; but they were still very cranky about the whole affair.

She looked out at the yard, and the kids playing, and brushed a strand of stray hair back behind her ear. I miss you too, Sano… but you're doing the right thing… She sighed, then told herself she should stop being silly. Sure, he was gone, sure that made her life just a little bit harder, but how many times had she made Sanosuke's life harder? So many, she was sure she couldn't even count.

But… now she couldn't work at night, without her tall friend to watch over her family. That meant she would have to share her secret life with someone else… and beg them to guard the children while she was out. Yahiko? He was growing up quickly, advancing in skill, if not always maturity. Tae? What would her old friend say if she ever found out what Kaoru was up to? Dr. Gensai? He was too old, and if someone attacked, he would be unable to stop them. She didn't dare leave them all alone… as Hitokiri-dono, she had made some enemies, and if any of them found out who she really was, they would immediately know where she lived. And if that happened, Kaoru knew that her children would be in grave danger. Perhaps she could have one of the police come keep an eye on things. But Kaoru knew how worthless the police could be. I'll be extra careful… wear a better disguise, make sure that no one can ever know who Hitokiri-dono is. A policeman should be able to handle things if I'm just careful enough. Kaoru nodded to herself as she turned back to the kitchen. That decided, she would see to it today.

Hiko stalked through the streets of Tokyo, rather irritated with his baka deshi, with the world in general, and most of all, with himself. The girl's name was Kamiya, if he remembered correctly, and of course he remembered correctly. He was Seijiro Hiko after all. He remembered everything, knew everything, and could do anything. Except find his baka deshi's new home, apparently. For some odd reason, the town of Tokyo was trying to thwart him at every turn. My idiot apprentice would choose an infernal place like this to live in, with that girl he's constantly dreaming about. Children. He snorted mentally at the thought of his apprentice and his friends.

However, they had to be warned, silly children. They had very little chance of surviving the vengeance of Kawajiri, even with his warning; without it they would all surely die. Hiko's thoughts wandered back, to a past he didn't like to dwell in.

It started years ago, all of it, leading up to the present, leading Hiko off the mountain. Kawajiri… Hiko remembered the boy who had been his friend, and fellow apprentice in the Hiten Mitsurugi. What had happened to that boy? What had the years of bitter rivalry and jealousy done to him? Hiko shook his head, saddened by the whole situation, but remembering the danger to his apprentice. He spotted a group of boys loitering on a street corner, and asked them for directions. They pointed him down another street, and said that he should find it eventually.

They were right. Looking up the steps, he could hear the girl's voice, calling out sword movements. She was a crazy one, that Kaoru Kamiya; a perfect match for his baka-deshi if he ever saw one. A young girl scampered by the top of the steps and looked down at him. She frowned slightly, and called out.

"Who are you?"

"Seijiro Hiko," he responded to her question evenly, before asking, "Who are you?"

"I'm Minako." She was still frowning at him. "Are you here to see Mama Kaoru?"

Hiko had to arch an eyebrow at that. Mama Kaoru? There was something going on here, something that he didn't quite understand.

"Actually, I wish to speak with Himura-san."

"You are at the wrong house." The girl replied with certainty.

Now it was Hiko's turn to frown. Focusing, he realized that he could not sense Kenshin's ki around the dojo, nor anywhere nearby for that matter.

"This is the Kamiya dojo?" He asked, walking up the steps. The girl, Minako, took a step back and glared at him. She nodded at the question.

"Yes, but I have never heard of a Himura-san. You are at the wrong house. Go away, or I will call Mama Kaoru!" The girl had raised her voice, and she looked around. She spotted a smaller girl by the house and called out to her. "Kasumi! Tell Mama Kaoru there's a man here who will not leave!"

The smaller girl blanched and ran to the practice building, where there were sounds of wooden swords clacking together. In an instant, Kaoru emerged, wearing her practice gi, sais in her hands, and a look of absolute fury on her face. She was running at him at top speed, her weapons out and ready to protect her children from whatever danger they were in. In a second, Hiko had not only dodged her charge, but also disarmed her and held her above the ground.

"Hey! What is going on here?" He asked, his confusion evident in his voice. Kaoru stopped struggling in his grasp, and looked at him for the first time. Shock, recognition, and fury flew across her face, before it settled into a schooled look of calmness.

"Hiko." Her voice was tinged with a bit of irony. "Are you going to put me down, or explain yourself like this?"

He had immobilized her in a rather odd position. Her body was pressed against his, in such a way that she could not knee him, and he held her arms, one twisted behind her back, the other held immobile over her head. Her feet dangled several inches above the ground, and she was looking up at him.

Hiko put her down with a snort. If she were trying to embarrass him, it wouldn't work. Hiko did not get embarrassed.

"Do I not deserve an explanation? I come to visit my baka-deshi, and find only a questioning girl-child, and a raging tanuki."

Kaoru stiffened visibly. Her voice was like ice when she finally replied.

"I was under the impression that Seijiro Hiko the Thirteenth had decided that he would never be leaving his mountain and his sake. If he has suddenly decided to visit with his apprentice, he will have to look elsewhere. Kenshin is not here." She turned on her heels, and began to herd the several children who had gathered behind her back into the house.

"Wait!" Hiko commanded. When she only ignored him he said, "Kenshin is in danger, you could all be in danger. I must speak with him."

She stopped at that, and sensing her ki, Hiko could feel her weighing something in her mind. Finally she turned to look at him, some expression he couldn't seem to recognize on her face.

"I do not care if Kenshin is in danger. But if this danger could come to the dojo," she glanced quickly back at the children, "I need to know what it is. Come inside and we'll talk over tea."

"You don't have any sake?" Hiko asked, only partly joking. Kaoru raised one disdainful eyebrow at him, bringing a chuckle to his throat. He liked Kaoru, stubborn and incomprehensible as she was, he couldn't think of anyone better for Kenshin. She had changed since he'd seen her in Kyoto, though. Hardened in some odd way he couldn't quite put his finger on.

Once they had settled down with some tea, and Kaoru had chased her children out of the room, Hiko proceeded to explain, knowing instinctively that Kaoru would be more likely to give him an explanation after he gave her one.

"When I was young, I was not my master's only apprentice in the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu." He began. "My best friend, Kawajiri, trained by my side. Naturally, we were forced to become rather… competitive. Our master always told us… only one of us would learn the succession technique. Only one of us could become the next Seijiro Hiko. We both worked very hard, became the best that we could possibly be. We seemed to be equals, on the exact same level. But when the time came…" He paused there, reliving that fight in his mind. "I… I somehow beat him." How could he explain that fight to this girl? However she may have hardened these years, she wasn't ready for anything like this. "Kawajiri… he'd made the Hiten Mitsurugi his life… and he'd failed at it. He believed… insisted… that I had cheated in order to beat him. It was untrue, of course. But he couldn't be convinced, he vowed his vengeance, and I fear… now is the time he has chosen to fulfill it."

Kaoru had listened to his story patiently and carefully. But he could see from her confused expression that she didn't see how this applied to her, or to Kenshin.

"Kawajiri," Hiko continued, "vowed to wipe the Hiten Mitsurugi from the earth. He will come after me, after Kenshin, and after anyone close to us. He will probably come after you, and the rest of the baka's friends first, then Kenshin, and only then, after feeling that I have suffered to whatever level he feels is enough, will he come after me fully. He let me know that it was him though, that he was back, and his fury still burned." Hiko's voice quieted. "He set fire to the mountain, Kaoru-chan… He wants me to know… When you, the others… Kenshin… he wants me to know that it's his doing."

Kaoru, without thinking, reached out and placed her hand gently over his. Even though he hadn't said much about the fire on the mountain, she understood, on some instinctive level, how much his retreat had meant to him. She looked into his eyes with sympathy and gratitude, saying, "Thank you, Hiko-sama. You're welcome to stay here, as long as you wish."

Hiko didn't let himself smile at her. "Well, it seems as if I'll have to, without Kenshin here to protect you. Where is he, Kaoru-chan?"

He watched her freeze, feelings of fear, anger, and incredible pain flying across her face. She bit her lip, not sure of what to say, how much to share, staring into his eyes. She was an open book; he could even read the moment she made her decision.

"Kenshin left last year, Hiko-sama. I don't know why, but he left and we haven't seen or heard from him since…" She proceeded to tell him the whole story. Hiko listened, his face still, as she lost herself in the story, reliving the attack, the months of practice, her first kill, the children, and finally Sanosuke's departure with Megumi.

"I'm sorry about our greeting. Since Sano left, I haven't felt entirely safe here, and I told them to watch out for strange men." She ended. She seemed a little surprised at herself for sharing the whole mess with him, but resigned to the fact that she would probably need him. And he would need to know the whole situation if he was, in fact, staying.

Hiko had to shake his head as she wrapped up her story. "Please forgive me, Kaoru-chan, I never could beat some of the baka out of my deshi. He is quite stubborn when he's managed to convince himself he's right about something. Regardless of whether or not he actually is."

Kaoru nodded, a little sadly, "He always did latch onto the strangest notions sometimes…" Her voice trailed off, and her lips were hinting at a smile, remembering some moment with Kenshin. But it was only for an instant, and then her face became firm again, banishing the thought of him. "I need to make sure that dinner is getting ready," was all she said, standing up.

Hiko nodded while she politely invited him to make himself at home, and sat back as she left, to ponder her story. Kenshin… you are more of an idiot than even I had ever guessed. And more of a coward as well.

Kaoru shivered slightly as she stepped out into the darkness of the night. The children were in bed, Hiko could easily protect the dojo while she was gone, and she had plenty of work to catch up on. Thinking of Hiko made Kaoru shake her head and smile ruefully. He was as good, and as aggravatingly aware of it, as ever. I'll have to get him to spar with me while he's here… she thought to herself vaguely. Ever since Kenshin had left she'd had an intense desire to better herself and her fighting technique. She had indeed increased in both skill and strength since then, but to her it wasn't enough. It would never be enough. Hiko was one of the best fighters she had ever met, and she had met some truly powerful warriors in her time. Sparring with him, perhaps even asking him for some training, would surely make her a better warrior also.

She had already spoken to the police captain, and knew her target. She hadn't been out since Sano left, so she was a little afraid she might have lost all chance of work. But the police, as always, had at least one criminal they wanted her to collect for them. And perhaps, she let herself hope, my absence from the streets has lulled some of them into a sense of comfort, and security. She was wearing her semi-disguise, her information-gathering suit. Dressed as a boy, she could move through the streets mostly unnoticed. Her hair was in a top-knot, to disguise its length, dirt smeared on her face and hands, and she was the perfect country boy, come into town for some fun.

Her darling little ninja friend, Misao, had been incredibly helpful in the design of her disguise, as well as designing her hunting costume. She'd also enjoyed training Kaoru in the ways of spying, and how to incorporate secretive ninja fighting techniques into her own. Kaoru smiled a bit remembering Misao's enthusiasm. "I'll make you an official member of the Oniwaban!! You can come live at the Aoiya with me and we'll train the little ones to be ninjas too!!"

She made her way to a tavern. All seedy peoples frequented taverns, and Kaoru was fairly certain she could find the information she wanted here. It was in the right area of town, and it was the darkest one on the street. Stepping inside, swaying a bit as she let her eyes adjust to the dim lighting as if she'd already had a few cups of sake, she looked around before selecting a table close to characters that looked useful. They were dicing, and rather drunk already, gossiping as men always denied they did. She listened to them as she waited for a girl to come bring her some sake. A certain name caught her ears, and she resisted the urge to turn and look at them. Oh Luck! Kusu promised to come pay off his debts tonight!

"Why there's the bastard now!" One man exclaimed, and Kaoru hiccupped in surprise. Lucky lucky! Time for me to go… he'll be here a while, I'm sure. I'll go change out of this disguise, put on my Hitokiri-Dono costume. Can't let people become suspicious of my farm-boy. That was the main reason she had cultivated the Miss Manslayer rumor these past months. Hitokiri-dono was now a demoness in the eyes of street thugs, a force of vengeance and death who appeared out of the darkness, red as blood and fury. She was never seen until the moment she attacked, a faceless unstoppable spirit. It was as far from how people thought of Kaoru as she could get. The wilder the rumors get, the safer my family and I will be. Kaoru thought as she slipped out the door and down the street.

She hurried back to where she'd hidden her costume. At the end of a narrow alley, there was a chicken coop. It was currently unused, though clearly only recently so. The family that kept it must have fallen on harder times, been forced to eat their last chicken. She ducked inside, silent as a ghost.

Her costume didn't take long to put on. A deep red shirt that wrapped around her body and tucked into her darker red pants, which cinched tight around her waist and billowed loosely around her legs. She let her hair fall loose from the topknot, and then tied it back in a tail with a long black scarf. A red scarf covered her face from eyes to neck. Sais tucked neatly into her belt, she emerged from the chicken coop a different person.

Kaoru returned to the tavern, though not the same way she had left it. Back alleys and rooftops were the way she went now. Good omens on good omens. Hunting never goes this well. Arriving back at the tavern, she snuck a peek through one of the few small windows, to make sure that Kusu was still where he was supposed to be.

When he finally came back outside, he was with several of his friends, and it was very late. The group divided, most going down the street; Kusu and two others headed in the other direction. Kaoru followed as discreetly at she could, waiting for Kusu to separate from his friends so she could capture him. But the three stayed together.

Where are they going? She wondered to herself. Their route had no sense to it, turning at seemingly random whims. But they stayed together, not talking, but walking together with a practiced pace. Suddenly, they met a man, traveling alone in the opposite direction. Without warning, Kusu turned and followed the man a few steps. Following his lead, his companions turned also.

Could… Kusu have accomplices? The police mentioned robbery, on the street and also a few homes. They never said anything about accomplices! Kaoru barely had time to think, when Kusu's friends grabbed the man from behind, and she caught the glint of steel in her target's hand.

Damn! She darted out immediately, sais flashing into her hands. Her skills had certainly improved in many ways, but Kaoru wasn't stupid. She knew she was outnumbered; three to one weren't the odds she would have chosen for this hunt. Get them down. And make damn sure they can't get back up. Her only chance of winning was to take them completely by surprise and to either wound them very seriously, or kill them, before they had a chance to realize that they were the ones at the advantage here.

It was a silent charge, she stabbed one in the back before he knew she was coming. He shouted, surprised, but she slashed at him again, spinning low, across the back of his leg. He fell with a scream, and Kaoru hoped he wouldn't be able to stand again. The other released their victim, who took his chance to flee. Kusu was armed with a knife, so she turned her attention to him. He hadn't had as much to drink as she would have hoped, and he took only a few steps back as she darted for him. I need to keep being fast. He's surprised, and confused, and I need to keep him that way.

His defense was clumsy, and he shouted at his remaining friend to stop her. She caught his knife in her right sai, a sharp twist sent the enemy blade clattering harmlessly away. The other robber lunged at her, trying to grab her, but Kaoru leapt nimbly out of his grasp. Her sais slashed at his shoulders as she dropped behind him, he too screamed and fell on his face when she kicked him in the back. Kaoru's world had narrowed to the fight. The only thing that mattered was stopping these men. She kicked him in the head as she turned to face Kusu, who was looking frantically for the knife he had lost.

Kaoru's weapons, now rather bloodied, no longer glinted, but her eyes had become sharply silver as she advanced on him. Kusu, a true coward, took one glance at his fallen cohorts, then turned and ran. She chased him, and didn't have to run very far. She leapt, and kicked him in the back, sending him sprawling forward. Another short leap, and she landed neatly in the middle of his back. He cried out in pain and fear, and Kaoru could only think that this was how his victims had probably cried out.

"Filthy bastard…" Kaoru muttered, sliding her left sai back into her belt. Grabbing a handful of his hair she yanked his head back and set her blade to his throat. He begged her not to kill him, begged her like the dog he was. She felt him quivering beneath her feet.

"Do I kill you?" Her whisper was harsh in his ear. "Or do I let the police have you?" Behind her, the others were moving. She glanced at them quickly, and determined that they couldn't stand. They were no threat.

The shouting would surely bring the police, eventually, and then she would return to the station and collect her payment. The question was: did she want to wait for the officer to take this thing off her hands, or kill him, leave him here in the street, and go collect on him right away? The police were not only incompetent, they were surprisingly short on morals when it came to this sort of thing. They really didn't care if she handed her bounties over alive or dead most of the time, so long as she got them. Either way ensured her payment.

She sighed angrily. The fight was over. She couldn't kill the man this way. She had to wait.

Did Kenshin ever have to deal with this? When he was the Battousai did he ever kill people like this? In cold blood? While they begged him to let them live? It was hard to imagine the gentle rurouni she'd always known doing that. If that was what he was ordered to do, who he was ordered to kill… he probably did. Kenshin was devoted to a cause back then. And he's devoted to a cause now. If this were Kenshin I had in my hands right now… what would I do? She shied away from the question. It wasn't Kenshin beneath her, no matter how much she could wish that it were. And she still didn't know what she would do if she ever did get him in this position. Would she hurt him? Inflict the same pain on him that he had inflicted on her? Would she demand answers from him?

Would she kill him?

"Absolutely not!" Kaoru shouted, for the third time that day.

"He needs to be warned, Kaoru-chan." Hiko refused to raise his voice at her, no matter how stupid she was being.

"Well… if he'd told me where he was going, I would be more than happy to send a letter, Hiko-sama. But he didn't. He didn't tell me where, he didn't tell me why. All he told me was 'good-bye.' So I wouldn't even know where to start!"

She'd spent more time in the last two days talking about Kenshin than she had in the whole year since he'd left. Hiko seemed to bring him up at every opportunity, practically forcing her to face the issue. He was even going so far as to tell the children stories about Kenshin's training. And while Kaoru found many of the stories quite funny, they only made the children ask her for stories about Kenshin. And she felt obliged to give them at least a few. She had a sneaking suspicion that that was Hiko's plan.

She was right.

Hiko, on the inside, was smiling very broadly. "How many times did he save your life, Kaoru-chan? Don't you owe him at least this much?"

Kaoru scowled. Her weaknesses would just have to come into this, wouldn't they? Hiko just had to bring that up, didn't he?

"Hiko-sama. I don't care." It was a lie, and he saw right through it. "I don't care what he did for me. It didn't mean anything. He would have done it for anybody; he has done that for anybody. He doesn't expect anything in return for that. It's his penance. That he saved my life on more than one occasion had nothing to do with me. Not really."

Hiko arched an eyebrow. The girl had worked herself into some incredibly odd logic through her pain over her abandonment. Kaoru responded to his unasked question.

"Everyone acts as if I was something special to him, Hiko-sama. Everyone seems to think that he thought something special of me. He didn't. I was nothing to him. I was nothing more than another person to rescue, another step toward his atonement. I-" She faltered a little, as the pain came back full force. "I didn't mean anything. Nothing he ever did for me, for us, really meant anything. All it meant to him was another confirmation in his mind that he was doing good in the world. I'm sure he's out doing the same thing right now. Saving the lives of more innocents. Doing more good. That's all I was to him. That's all Yahiko, Sano… all of us were to him. Good deeds. As a person… I was nothing."

Hiko's other eyebrow joined the first. The girl was loopy. Completely and utterly loopy. Heartbroken, certainly, but were all heartbroken children this crazy?

"Do you get it?" Kaoru finished. "I don't owe that man a thing. He never did anything for me. He turned his back on me, Hiko-sama."

"You, my dear little Kaoru, are completely insane." Hiko couldn't help but tell her.

She only glared at him.

"I am too old to be traipsing all over Japan." He went on, "So it's up to you to find the baka and bring him back here so we all have a chance of surviving this insanity."

"It's up to me to do no such thing." She insisted heatedly. "It's up to me stay in Tokyo and take care of my family!"

"Kenshin must be brought back here." Hiko repeated.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!!"

"There's no need to worry about the children. I'll stay and take care of them."

"You don't know anything about taking care of children."

"Yes I do." He resisted the urge to say 'I know EVERYTHING!!'

"Oh? How were you planning on providing for seven hungry mouths while I'm searching for some stupid swordsman that I don't even want to find!"

"I'm sure we'll think of something."

"You'll think of something???" Kaoru looked ready to explode. Hiko had to work very hard to not burst into howls of laughter.

Kaoru stepped out into the cool night air with a sigh. It had been a wearing day. She heaved another sigh as Hiko followed her out to the porch. When he didn't say anything, Kaoru felt she ought to.

"I don't want him back here, Hiko."

"I think… you're afraid of him coming back."

She drew in a sharp breath, but she was shaking as she exhaled. "M-maybe I am…" She replied, whispering.

"He needs to come back home, Kaoru. And you need to be the one who brings him." Hiko remained standing by the door, behind her, so she couldn't see the look of compassion that floated across his face.

"This isn't his home, Hiko-sama." Her voice was hard again. "And this isn't some ridiculous romance novel like Tae reads, where I go searching like a witless lunatic for the man who abandoned me, and we all end up living happily ever after. There are eight people in that house who need me. And I will not abandon them."

Hiko was silent for several moments.

"I have known Kenshin for… a very long time." He finally began, "Since he was an orphaned little kid, like one of your own, Kaoru-chan. I like to think that he had a home with me, on the mountain. But now… I think Kenshin was your orphan, not mine. If one of your children ran away, wouldn't you try to find them?"

"Of course I would. I'd never stop looking."

"Kenshin needs you, as much as these children do. He's still an orphan, Kaoru, and it's up to you to give him a home."

"But-" her voice cracked on the tears streaming down her face. "It's not the same."

"Perhaps… but it is very very similar." He insisted. "I do not believe that Kenshin abandoned you, Kaoru-chan. I believe that he ran away. Perhaps he was scared of something you offered, confused by his own feelings, torn between his self-appointed role, and his happiness. He's a baka, and I can't even begin to fathom his reasons. But that doesn't change the fact that he needs you, and he needs you to bring him home."

Kaoru buried her face in her hands. Her shoulders shook with silent sobs, and Hiko finally came to sit beside her. But he didn't put an arm around her. Seijiro Hiko the Thirteenth did not go that far with comfort.

Kaoru couldn't believe this. Kenshin had never needed her. But could Hiko be right? She had never known him to be wrong about anything, and he would be only too happy to remind her of that fact.

Kenshin was an orphan, just like her children, just like her. He had no family. She had forgotten that somehow, until Hiko had reminded her. Could he really need her to come after him?

"May the Gods damn you into the deepest and darkest of Hells, Seijiro Hiko." She finally answered him. "I'll go… as soon as I can be sure my family will be taken care of."

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This chapter is rewritten. I had forgotten that Misao is the leader of the Oniwaban, so I rectified that mistake. And I decided not to have her come help Hiko with the kids. It occurred to me that A) she wouldn't be particularly useful taking care of children, and B) her personality doesn't fit in with the rest of the story. So, sorry Misao fans… she's not coming.

grin

See you all soon!!

blows kisses