Authors Note: Standard disclaimers apply. Big warm and fuzzies to my beta Hikari Tsuki Chi, you're the best.

Chapter Four: Guessing Games

"Saito, I'll give you two guesses who that "young" manslayer is, and the first one doesn't count." Kenshin said, his eyes narrowing and golden flecks appearing within their depths.

Saito smiled in a very sinister way, "My guess would be Soujiro Seta. And my other guess would be that you are not looking forward to his visit," he said with a sardonic twist to his mouth. Soujiro Seta, their old opponent from the Juppongatana. Kenshin sure as hell didn't want him here. He was a major threat to Yahiko and Kaoru, even though he had seemed to change. That the rest of this new family could protect themselves and their own, he didn't doubt. But he had to also think ways around Kaoru and Yahiko's pride.

Hopefully, the lessons Sano and Kaoru had been giving Megumi and the young girls, Ayame, Suzume, Tsubame, and Tae in self-defense would pay off, but he knew they would be no match against Soujiro Seta. And hopefully, Tokio knew how to defend herself. Though he knew, reality was rarely that beautiful.

"Did Okita happen to say how far away they were?" Aoshi asked. He was looking relatively calm given the situation, and Kenshin was exceedingly jealous that Aoshi could keep his cool when he was so close to loosing control.

"No, but I have a feeling they are not far behind. I don't believe he'll cause problems here, but we have to remember that his nature is that of a manslayer, he cannot be trusted, especially around the women and children."

"Misao can take care of herself." Aoshi said, a hint of pride peeking through his voice, he had taught her after all.

"As can Tokio and Yue. They are both skilled warriors." Saito said, deadpan.

"That's all well and good, and although Miss Kaoru and Yahiko can certainly take care of themselves, you also have to figure in the fact that the Kamiya Kasshin Style teaches them not to kill, and so they would be helpless against Soujiro. And Saito don't even bother suggesting it. Kaoru and Yahiko would never take up a sword that kills. We will need to prepare for him."

"Well then, I think I should say goodnight and go to bed. My wife is waiting for me to tell her everything and it's going to take me awhile. Goodnight."

As Saito was walking away Aoshi turned to Kenshin. The ninja had changed a lot after Kyoto, the look in his eyes was the look of man at peace with himself, not a man obsessed with power. Kenshin was proud to know Aoshi Shinamori, he was a good man, and Kenshin suspected that he also loved Misao, which was always a plus.

Kenshin smiled at him, "Shall we go in Aoshi?" Aoshi nodded and started for the house, making his way to Sano's room, where he would be sleeping tonight.

Kenshin looked up at the stars. Please, he thought, give me the strength to protect them, I don't want to loose them, like I lost Tomoe. At the thought of his dead wife, Kenshin decided to end his trail of thought and walk inside.

"Where are the extra sleeping mats, Miss Kaoru?" Misao asked, looking around the room.

Kaoru was sitting on her sleeping mat, dressed for bed and looking utterly exhausted.

Yahiko's voice came from just outside the door, "The extra mats are in the spare bedroom, which Saito is using. And I already got enough. I took Aoshi his earlier, oh, and by the way, Sano decided to go stay with Megumi and the girls, since Dr. Gensai's away, he felt they could use the protection. And here are Misao's and Yue's." He
handed over the mats. "Kenshin already went to bed and told me to tell you goodnight. So goodnight."

"Thank you, Yahiko. I appreciate you helping out. I'll see you in the morning," Kaoru said, smiling at him. He flushed and walked away.

Kaoru was happy. When they first returned from Kyoto, she had thought that Yahiko would beg Kenshin to teach him the Hiten Mitsurugi Style and she would loose yet another student. But he hadn't. He had stood by her and the Kamiya Kasshin Style and he would never know how much it meant to her.

She was also immensely proud of him. He had developed new sword techniques by mimicking Kenshin, and done it all by himself. He had defeated a strong member of the Juppongatana. He was no longer just a novice, he was an apprentice.

She wished she could spend more time teaching him though. Just right now they needed the money brought in by her students outside the dojo, and that left very little time to train Yahiko. But he was taking it rather well and even offered to go with her. But she wouldn't let him. She didn't want him to know how some of her other students treated her. As it was she had to hide the bruises gained from the Namis brothers, men who already practiced the Shinta Style of sword fighting, but wanted another master to spar with them. Those men terrified her, but she needed the money to support her family. But
hopefully, the money generated by Aoshi's school would alleviate that. Right now all she wanted was to go to sleep.

Misao was running.

There was a popping noise coming from behind her.

The gun. The gatling gun that killed Beshimi, Hyotoko, Shikijo, and Hannya. Her beloved Hanya. Oh, how she missed them. But now she had to run. Run before she was dead too.

But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't move. Her feet were moving but she wasn't going anywhere, and the gun was getting closer.

Lord Aoshi, she thought, save me.

Then she saw his image in front of her. She smiled and reached out, but he turned his back and walked away. The bullets got louder.

No, Lord Aoshi, she thought. Don't leave me Lord Aoshi. Lord Aoshi, noooooooo.

Aoshi woke to a panting breathe and running feet headed his way. He sat up immediately, reaching for his kodachi, but before he could grab it, the door swung open and there stood Misao, her eyes wild and her breathing labored. An instant later she was flying, flinging
herself into his arms.

"Oh, Lord Aoshi," she cried, burying her face in his chest. He held her while she cried, her tears soaking his nightshirt, her shoulders shaking while he held her.

He knew what plagued her. The dreams, the ones she had started having the closer they got to Tokyo. He knew there was nothing he could do. Her dreams were the one thing he could not kill with his kodachi.

He drew her to him and pulled her onto the mat and under the covers, then lay down beside her, wrapping her in his arms and giving her his warmth. He murmured soothing words to her until she fell asleep. Then he lay awake to make certain she slept soundly.

And then he nodded off.

Sleep well, was his last thought, my beloved.

Yue woke before dawn. Slowly creeping out of Kaoru's bedroom and into Kenshin's, where Okita was waiting for her. "Are you ready to have some fun?"

"Oh yes."

Yue smiled. They slowly walked out of the room, making sure not to upset the Battousai or the young boy. They walked down the hall to Sano's room, which both Aoshi and Misao were currently occupying.

"So," Okita said, his voice cheerful as always, but with a hint of mischievousness, "How are we going to pull this one off?"

"Oh, I think we can leave that all up to my mother. You see, Mother and Father's room is right across the hall. My mother is always the first one up, so if we open this door," she indicated the one leading to Aoshi's room, "then she will go on another righteous act and leave us alone. And as an added bonus, we get front-row tickets." They set to work. And as they worked Okita watched her, he had to admit that this was the fastest way to get Tokio off their backs, but what Tokio was saying was right. They had been caught in a compromising situation, and he, for one, had no aversions about marrying Yue. As a student, she was much too rebellious, as a friend, she was the very best, and as a lover he was sure she would excel.

He had always loved her. Fro the first time he had met her. She had been just a little girl, barely seven when he and Saito had come home from the war, he had still been in shock that his comrade actually had a wife and daughter. He had been so in shock, in fact, that he hadn't noticed until it was too late that the girl who looked too small to be seven had climbed up his back and perched herself on his shoulders. Leaning over to face him she had smiled, and he had been in love ever since.

After a time he had noticed her interest in sword-fighting and decided to train her in the style of Shinsengumi. She had been a quick learner. They had had a lot of fun together. Especially pulling pranks on the people around them. Most especially Tokio. But they had gone one prank too far and Tokio had set her matchmaking eyes on them, Okita really didn't mind, but he played along for Yue's sake. Now they were trying to redirect Tokio's sights onto a prime couple, Aoshi and Misao.

The plan was three steps of elaborate scheming. First, they had to rig the doors, so that when Tokio opened her door the door to Aoshi and Misao's room would open as well. They knew that Tokio was always the first one awake in the morning, so there was no possibility of Hajime stepping into their trap instead.

The second stage was to suspend a bucket of cold water over Aoshi and Misao's bed that was attached to the door. So when their door was opened, the water would fall on them. In the ensuring confusion, they would have no time to think up a good excuse for their compromising position and Tokio would no doubt see them. This would have been a difficult job for any ordinary people, but for seasoned pranksters like them, it was a piece of cake.

The third and final touch was to put slippery oil in front of Tokio's door so that she would slide straight into Aoshi and Misao's bedroom. The whole plan would be executed in just a few seconds but would have to be put together perfectly or else it was doomed to fail.

Okita sat up and looked at Yue. "It looks like we're done, good thing too, Tokio will be awake in a few minutes. So, where are our front row seats?"

Yue grinned.

Slipping back into Kenshin's room, Okita was greeted with Kenshin's glaze. Holding it for what seemed like hours, Okita's mischievousness one matching Kenshin's passive one.

Finally closing his eyes and sighing, Kenshin said, "Whatever it is, I don't want to know. I'll be hearing about it soon enough."

"What's to say that something's going on?" Okita asked as he grabbed some kind of snack food out of his travel bag.

Giving him a look that said 'Yeah right', Kenshin said, "Well you and Miss Yue better be damn good at dodging kunai when Miss Misao finds out that it was you."

"Who says that she'll find out?" He questioned, settling back down. Just as Okita walked back out into the hallway he could have swore that the Battousai muttered something about what he had done to deserve this.