Back yet again with a very quick update. This is short chapter I know, but it does tell a huge part of Kazue's past. I hope you guys don't mind its shortness. Plus, this probably isn't too great, since I wrote a good portion while I was half asleep.

Disclaimer: You know what sucks? Getting your face blown off by a rocket launcher. Now that I've got your attention, I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.

Sano put a hand over his face and shut his eyes as he finished his retelling of the night's events. He leaned back against the dojo wall, waiting for some response from either Kaoru or Kenshin. However, the room remained deafeningly quiet.

Kaoru tried to speak up, tried to say something that might better the situation, but to no avail. Frankly, she couldn't say anything at all. She looked down at her knees, contemplating the story Sano had told them.

Kenshin sat up against the wall opposite Sano, his sakabato propped up against his shoulder. He looked down at the floor, tracing the lines of the boards with his eyes.

"So…let this one get this straight." He finally said, glancing toward the open doors. It was a warm night, so Kaoru-dono had left them open to prevent the dojo from getting too stuffy. Outside, it was just as dark as when Sano had returned with Kazue about a half hour before.

"You found Kazue-chan in the underground speaking with several roughens who were trying to take money from her."

Sano nodded.

"During their conversation, Kazue-chan said that she had lived in the underground before, and the roughens recognized her as the daughter of Akechi Erika, which she acknowledged to be true."

Again, Sano nodded.

"And on the way back, Kazue-chan said that it was not Ezakiya who had ruined her life, but Zanza?"

A third nod.

"It seems to this one," said Kenshin, leaning his head back against the wall to look up at the ceiling. "That this story leaves many loose threads."

"I told ya all I know." Sano replied shortly.

"But…" said Kaoru, finally able to speak. "Does Kazue-chan…want to kill you?"

Sano languidly turned his gaze toward her. He didn't look worried, and he didn't look at all afraid. However, he did look rather tired, and much older than a 19-year-old should. "I wouldn't doubt it." He said bluntly.

Kaoru looked down at the floor by her knees, her shoulders sagging slightly. Though Kazue-chan had obviously had a hard past and was prone to depression, she was still a nice girl. It was hard for Kaoru to grasp the idea that this same girl could be capable of plotting murder.

"Do you think she did it?" asked Kenshin candidly.

Both Sano and Kenshin looked up at the rurouni, who returned their gazes.

"Did what?" asked Sano, sliding down the wall a bit.

"Murdered Ezakiya."

Kaoru sucked in her breath, her eyes widening. Sano shut his eyes and rubbed his forehead. Even if both of them had thought about it, back in the dark, unseen corners of their minds, hearing it out loud…

"If she really is the daughter of Akechi Erika, she would have the perfect motivation to kill Ezakiya. That is of course, if Ezakiya really did kill Akechi."

A long silence followed this comment where each of the three turned over the many possibilities in their head.

"There's too much left out." Said Sano, balancing his elbows on his knees. "We have to know the whole story before we can jump to any conclusions." Unhurriedly, he got to his feet, headed for the door for the second time that night. He put a hand against the frame and continued, not looking back at them.

"There's only one person who knows the whole story." He said. "And I can't face her. One of you will have to talk to her." And with that, he left, sliding the doors shut behind him.

Kazue woke late that morning, even though the sun had been burning through her eyelids for some time. The first thing that registered in her mind was that she'd had that dream again. The dream that replayed the times she found her mother, brother, and father dead. Her eyes were crusty with salt, and she realized she'd been crying in her sleep. Slowly, she sat up, and soon realized that her stomach and nose ached terribly. It reminded her of the events of the previous night, and she couldn't help but groan.

Slowly, she got to her feet, and left the room. "I gotta wash my face." She commented to no one but herself.

This is where Kaoru found her several minutes later.

"Kazue-chan?" asked the older girl cautiously. Kazue removed the cloth from her face and looked up.

"Oh." She said. "Ohayou gozaimasu Kamiya-sama."

"Ohayou." Responded Kaoru. "Um…Kazue-chan? You think I could talk to you about something?"

Kazue blinked and wrung out the cloth, setting it down. "Sure." She said simply, walking up to Kaoru.

Kaoru turned and led her into the hallway, kneeling down and making herself comfortable. Kazue did the same, a questioning look on her face.

"Sano told us where he found you last night." Kaoru said, her eyes darting across the floor. She wrung the material of her hakama in her hands. "And…he told us…that you had mentioned you were there…to find Zanza."

Kaoru heard a sharp intake of breath from Kazue and out of the corner of her eye saw the girl tense up. Kaoru shut her eyes tightly, taking a moment to convince herself to go on. Why had she volunteered to do this?

"You want to know…why?" asked Kazue, her voice shaking slightly. Kaoru looked up, careful not to meet the girl's eyes. Kazue had pulled her knees to her chest, resting her chin on them. She stared at the floor before her feet, her gaze never wavering.

"Y-yes." Said Kaoru, looking away. "We…we'd all like to know why…"

Kaoru trailed off, waiting for Kazue to speak. The seconds ticked by, quickly becoming minutes, and Kazue didn't speak. Kaoru waited patiently, staring at the floor. The floorboards were badly scuffed and dinged, she noticed.

"…Three years ago…I had a family." Kazue spoke suddenly, quietly. She gripped her legs more tightly to her chest, shrinking into herself. Her hair fell in front of her face, covering her eyes, hiding them from the world.

"I had a father, a mother, and a brother." She continued while Kaoru, careful not to disrupt her, listened.

"Mama came to Japan when she was about eighteen years old. That was about four years before the Meiji began. No one really understood why she would go into such a war torn country, let alone how she would get in. But, somehow, she pulled it off.

"When she met my father, he was about eight years older than her. He already had a son, but his wife had died several years before."

A small smiled graced the girl's lips. Apparently, this was the better part of the story. "It didn't take long for them to fall in love. By the time mama was nineteen, they were married and she was pregnant with me.

"Even though my brother and I weren't blood related, we were too young to understand that. We grew up loving each other like any brother and sister would."

"Since mama could only speak a little Japanese, she taught us all how to speak English. I picked up on it the best because I was so young. She and I would always play tricks on my father and brother, muttering in English and pointing at them. That was always worth a laugh.

"My father was a shopkeeper who would buy an assortment of things from other merchants and sell them. This paid well, but not nearly as well as what a successful merchant earns. However, we had to make due, because only my father and brother could work. Mama couldn't speak enough Japanese to work with anyone, and I looked too European."

'That's right,' thought Kaoru. 'Even if she is half Japanese, looking European at all would get her discriminated again.'

"It was okay though." Kazue continued. "It worked well for us. It kept us fed and clothed, and that was enough for us. We weren't out to become rich anyway. Just having enough to get us by was enough to keep us healthy and happy."

Kazue sighed wistfully, rubbing the corner of her eyes. To Kaoru, it looked as though she was willing herself not to cry.

"But…" she continued. "Three years ago…something happened."

She adjusted her gaze from the floor, leaning her head against the wall behind her, looking at the joint between the ceiling and the wall.

"Three years ago, my brother turned eighteen, his coming of age. To celebrate, my father took him out to drink. Mama and I stayed home, because we knew it was more of a father-son bonding event than a family one."

The more Kazue said, the more strain Kaoru could hear in the girl's voice. At this point in her story, she came to a complete stop. She gulped and bit her lip, her eyes becoming moist. Apparently, it had been a while since she had relived the entire story over again.

"But…the next morning, they weren't home." She continued, twisting the loose fabric of her hakama in her hands.

"It wasn't like my father to stay out all night, so mama and I were both worried. We went to look for them and…they were dead."

Kaoru's eyes widen and, for the first time since the conversation started, she turned and looked Kazue in the eye. A few tears had started to slide down her cheeks, and her face was twisted with anguish.

"Dead?" asked Kaoru, for lack of anything better to say. Kazue choked back a sob and nodded.

"In an alleyway not far from where they had gone to drink." She said, her voice strained and high-pitched. "We asked the owner…the man who ran the place. He said…they'd gotten drunk…and bought a fight."

All of a sudden, Kaoru understood. "They bought a fight…from Zanza?"

Kazue nodded her response.

"W-what happened afte-" Kaoru began. However, she was cut short when Kazue again leaned her forehead on her knees and started sobbing; a heart-wrenching sound.

"I'm going to find him." She said through gritted teeth, trying to hold back her sobs even now. "I know his name, and I know he carries the mark of evil. That's all I need to know."

Kaoru shushed Kazue, bringing the younger girl into a comforting embrace. Kazue continued to sob, trying to speak in between, but failing miserably. Soon, she had soaked through Kaoru's gi with her tears, but still Kaoru continued to comfort her.

'I'll find out the rest later.' Kaoru told herself. 'The strain on her is just…too much.'

Like I said, short and crappy, but still informative. Still, you don't know the whole story yet. What about Akechi and Ezakiya, eh?

Please R/R.