One week later....
At the dojo.....
"Kenshin! I told you she ran off! Why are you sitting around, just staring at the goddamn wall?!" Sano demanded.
Inside Kenshin's head......
Rurouni: Maybe she did leave
Battousai: No shit sherlock. We have to go after her. She could get hurt, worse, someone could touch her. Claim her.
Rurouni: She is perfectly able to protect herself, unlike poor sweet Tomoe. (A/N: Ahhhh! She is NOT poor! OR sweet! She's a bitch!!!!!! And I hate her! Hate her!!! With a passion!!!!!! Kaoru: will you shut up!? -whacks ducky over the head with bokken-)
Battousai: She's dead, dammit! Kaoru isn't! And you know she can be over thrown! Let me out!!
Rurouni: No way. You will not be permitted to-
Battousai: Just watch me.
And he did. He overthrew the rurouni quite easily and gained physical control.
"Kenshin! Are you listening to me?! This is no time to be all peaceful and shit! Hey are you-" he was cut off as the Battousai grabbed his wrist.
"Shut the fuck up," he ordered.
"K-K-Kenshin?"
"We need to leave. Now," he said, his golden eyes glimmering up at Sano.
"Battousai....." he whispered. Kenshin didn't pay him any attention as he got up to leave.
"W-wait! What happened? Why the sudden change?"
In the Aoiya.....
"Thank you for all the training Misao-chan, and if Kenshin happens to stop in, or anyone else, please tell them you haven't seen me," Kaoru gave her last request to her friend, who nodded and agreed right away.
"No problem! Now! You should be on your way, Himura can cover ground when he wants to!" Kaoru nodded and jumped into a tree. She started to hop from tree to tree, a secret Misao had taught her. She said that one time she ran away from home and she tree-hopped right under Okina's nose. She said that it comes in handy.
"Hmmm, I should really thank Misao-chan. Without her, I'd be lost," she muttered, still wearing the newly acquired ninja uniform. She remembered what Misao had said when she gave it to her.
'Now! Here ya go Kaoru-chan. This is my gift to you. Well actually two. One is my standard Oniwabanshu uniform. The other is my sexier one," she said with a wink.
'How is it sexier?'
'Well you see,' she held it up, 'it's black for starters. Then it's practically see through not to mention tight! And it doesn't have shorts. It has something like underwear that you wear underneath it. It's almost like a short kimono.' She was right.
The outfit had short sleeves and a diving neck line. It was designed to look like a short kimono, but without the standard Oniwabanshu shorts. Kaoru was wearing the standard one at the moment, thinking she'd save the other for another time. She checked her leg bindings. Within each rested a kodachi. In the top of her shirt there were twenty-four kunais. On her back was a sakabatou. She had wanted to take her bokken, but thought this would be better if there was any real trouble. Due to her non killing principals, she hadn't taken the katana.
She silently thanked both Aoshi and Misao for all of their help. Without them she would have never ever made it and not been caught. Keeping her pace, her thought traced back to the rurouni.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid. Kaoru no baka, what's wrong with you?" she muttered as her thoughts drifted back to the rurouni that broke her heart.
With Kenshin......
Rurouni: Sessha can't believe you
Battousai: I'm shutting you out as of now.
Rurouni: Hey! I-
Unfortunately the rurouni is cut off by the Battousai. And now he has been removed from the picture. Poor rurouni, (not! i hate him! i still can't believe i did that to kaoru! no! plz, keep away angry kaoru! plz!)
"Hey Kenshin?"
"What?" he spat, fastening his pace.
"You, seem kinda different...."
"Really? I have to find Kaoru, so either keep up or get lost," he answered. Sano winced. Yep, that was the Battousai, not the rurouni they were all so used to.
Kenshin passed the train station, earning a quizzical gaze from Sano.
"Uh, Kenshin? Wouldn't it be faster to take the train?"
"No, I can cover more ground than the train." Sano knew he wouldn't be able to keep up with the hitokiri.
"I'll meet you at the Aoiya then. Don't leave without me," he told him, taking out the money he'd gotten from Katsu before the trip.
"Whatever." Was the simple reply. Sano sighed, knowing he might get left behind.
"Dammit, how am I gonna get there? I don't wanna take the train," Sano asked himself.
"Shit, I haveta, else I'll be left behind......" he said, not liking the idea at all.
Kenshin ran down the path, making his way through Odawara and then Shizuoka with an incredible pace. There was only one thought running though his mind at the time. 'Kaoru.'
"I'm coming Kaoru."
Back in the trees....... (Kaoru: that sounds so stupid, do somethin' else. ducky: no! you are in the trees, ok?!)
Kaoru sensed a presence not to far away. It had a suppressed ki, but it was there. A fighter's ki. She stopped and peered through the foliage to find what looked like a boy making his way through the woods. She hopped down to intercept him.
"You there, what's your name?" she asked. He smiled at her and she gasped for she knew this boy.
"Why, Kamiya-san, I think you know who I am. Seta Soujiro."
"Sou-chan!" she embraced him briefly, "I thought you died! What ever happened after the whole Shishio thing?"
"Well, Himura-san, allowed me to wander the hills and find peace of mind. Enough about me. How are you? I've missed you, it's been so long," he replied, returning her hug.
"Nothing much. That stupid rurouni broke my heart and now, well now I'm on the run," she smiled at his mild expression of shock.
"I thought he really did love you. I still remember his expression when I told him I knew you. It was priceless. He didn't believe me, he was acting very possessive," Soujiro said, reminiscing slightly.
"Tell me," she urged. He smiled his never ending smile and answered.
"Well, he said that to protect 'Kaoru-dono' in Tokyo, I have to defeat you. Then I asked, 'Kamiya Kaoru?' He looked at me as if I were joking," he laughed at the memory.
"And?"
"I told him that you and I were childhood friends. He didn't believe me though, saying I was a liar."
"That's sounds like him," she said, "I have to go, but it was nice talking to you. I'll send word to you when I've settled somewhere."
"Alright, sayonara, Kaoru-chan!" She smiled and jumped back into the tree.
"By the way! If Kenshin happens to intercept you, you haven't seen me in eleven years!" she called to him. Soujiro waved and nodded in response.
'I haven't seen Sou-chan in forever! Since I was like nine, man has it really been eleven years since I've seen him?' she thought to herself.
With Kenshin.... er, the Battousai......
While Kaoru was enjoying her chat with her childhood friend, Soujiro, Kenshin is almost to Kyoto. He is just about to enter Kyoto as he left Kuwana. He was making a good pace as he came into Kyoto. He saw the Aoiya fast approaching and he urged his feet faster.
"Misao, have you seen Kaoru?" he demanded. Misao stared at his amber eyes in amazement.
"Wow! Himura, how'd you do that to your eyes?" Misao asked, excited.
"It doesn't matter, have you seen her?"
"Since when did you drop the -dono in everyone's name?" she pressed on, doing this on purpose, hoping that her friend would be able to put good distance between them.
"Answer the question."
"You answer mine."
"No, dammit, answer the fucking question!" Misao backed away, a little scared.
"Haven't seen her. I was gonna ask you why she wasn't with you, seeing how she loves you," she added, throwing it in his face. Without answering he turned and left, and Misao let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.
With Sano.....
Just as Kenshin is leaving, Sano is running to catch up.
"Wait!!! Matte!!" he yelled after him. Kenshin failed to oblige as he kept going faster, leaving Sano in his dust.
"Dammit!! I took the train for nothing!! I'm just glad I didn't wake up in the sewers......" he said turning towards the Aoiya.
"There is NO way I'm taking the train again..... so I'll just stay with the weaselgirl."
And back to Kaoru........ (Kaoru: yay! i like this part of the story best! ducky: that's because your in it...)
She had decided on a location to hide in. She was going to head to Wakana, and try and get a ferry out of Japan. If she couldn't get out of Japan then she'd go to one of the small islands that Japan had reign over.
She finally made it to Wakana and found a small hotel that she had enough money to stay at. She asked for a room and they gave her one, but they were a little suspicious of all her weapons. She shrugged their reaction off as she entered the room she was going to stay in for a few days to rest.
And at the Aoiya.......
"Hey tori atama! What are you doing here?" Misao demanded as he made himself comfortable at her table.
"Kenshin left me behind," he said simply. She furrowed her brows.
"Exactly what is wrong with Himura? He had yellow eyes when he came here, and really bad language, it was scary," she admitted. Sano laughed at her ignorance and explained.
"Well, I guess something happened that the Battousai part of Kenshin didn't like, so he took over. Now he's gone after Jou-chan as the Battousai."
"Oh, I just thought he'd gone insane with guilt seeing how he told her he didn't love her and all," she answered.
"How did you know that? You told Kenshin that you hadn't seen her," he pointed out. Misao blushed and muttered some words he couldn't understand.
"Well, actually, she was here. Me and Aoshi-Sama kinda taught her onmitsu arts and how to use both kodachi and kunai," she confessed sheepishly, "Don't tell Himura, he'll kill me."
"I can't believe you guys! But I won't tattle on you, I just can't believe it!" he said.
"Hee, hee," she replied.
With the Battousai!
"She has to be around here," he said walking into the town of Wakana. (Kaoru: did he find me? ducky: shut up, and read)
He looked for traces of her anywhere. He couldn't see anything that would point out her location. He cursed and continued looking, thoroughly searching the whole town, since there was no one he knew here.
And back to you Kaoru....... (Kaoru: about time)
She tossed on the futon, her hand clenched around the dagger under her pillow. Something wasn't right. She could feel it. There was someone there, someone with a hidden ki. She sprung out of bed silently, taking a stance, picking up her kodachi's.
"Come out," she commanded. A man stumbled out of her closet and in a matter of seconds he was on the ground and Kaoru had straddled him, her kodachi's held to his throat.
And Aoiya.......
"What?!"
"What, what?" Misao asked Sano as she walked in. He and Okina were swapping depressing stories of being rejected my women.
"She threw her purse at me," Okina repeated.
"Geez, Jiji, you think you'd stop all that hitting on women way to young for you," Misao scolded.
"I could advise almost the opposite of you. You need to stop making passes on older men. Just because Aoshi won't date you, doesn't mean you can go hitting on other men," Okina reprimanded.
"Well, it's not my fault they think I'm hot," she winked. Unbeknownst to Misao, Aoshi was standing in the doorway.
"I mean, Aoshi-Sama doesn't see me as a women, so other men are happy to," she continued. Sano and Okina were looking past her to the man in the doorway.
Back to Kaoru.........
"Talk, why are you in here?" Her kodachi's hadn't wavered at all. She could feel his arousal and felt the urge to retch. She pressed her blades a little harder and he shuddered beneath her.
"Nevermind," she said, realizing that he was after her body, "Get out before I slit your throat." Before she could move, her door opened and Battousai took in the sight with wide eyes.
A/N:
Ducky: can u believe me?
Kaoru: no! a cliffie! That is so mean! I wanna no what kenshin's gonna do.
Ducky: -smiles evilly- oh, i have something good in mind.
Kaoru: do i want to know?
Ducky: probably not, now where did i leave Aoshi-Sama?
Kaoru: not again.
Ducky: oh, Aoshi-Sama!!
Kaoru: i think that we should do the disclaimer, seeing how you forgot earlier
Ducky:Aww! I just found Aoshi-Sama, do i haveta?
Kaoru: -sighs- fine, i'll do it. she doesn't own rk
Ducky: but i will claim Aoshi-Sama -grins evilly-
Kaoru: oh brother, kenshin is there a wall i can bash my head against?
Kenshin: now why would you do that, Kaoru-dono?
Kaoru: i like you better as the battousai
Ducky: told ya so
