Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin and its characters.
A/N: Hello to all. It's been quite awhile since I last updated and that's due to the fact that a lot of stuff seems happen all at once. With the exams coming up faster than I wanted it to... Anyway…thank you for the Reviews. They mean a lot to me. And I mean it; they really do mean a lot. I'd also like to thank my all time friends Howard, Narisa and my sister Mayme for all their support. Especially Howard, for editing this chapter for me once again. Alright enough talking…
On with the story.
Story Format-THOUGHTS- "SPEECH"
Couple Crisis
Chapter 19Hiko glanced up at his butler from the newspaper in his hands. A bemused expression was on his face.
"Who did you say it is again?" He asked a slight chuckle lacing his words.
"Yukishiro san, Seta san and a girl I do not know of, sir." The elderly butler said once again.
"Did they happen to tell you why they're here?" Hiko continued to ask his gaze falling back to the headline on the newspaper.
"No, sir. " The butler replied bluntly.
Hiko sighed and stood up. He threw the newspaper onto the armchair and turn to his butler.
"This is sure very interesting, isn't it?" He mused as he walks away to meet his guests.
Hiko padded lightly into his living room to find his young guests sitting primly on the sofa.
"What brought you all here tonight?" He asked nonchalantly as he sat down on one of the armchair and surveyed the youngsters in the room.
He watched the youngest girl's eyes widening at the sight of him and smirked lightly.
"Kamiya san seemed very surprised for some reason…" He said a mischievous glint appearing in his eyes.
"Y-you're Kenshin's uncle?" Kaoru blurted out in utter amazement.
Hiko could only scoff back. "Why..yes. Unfortunately I am."
"I met you at the concert…" The young girl continued, her large blue eyes focused at the older man.
"Yes. I remembered pretty clearly." He returned teasingly.
Tomoe coughed lightly. "Hiko san. Please don't tease Kaoru…"
Hiko turned to face his nephew's ex girlfriend and flash her one of his creepy smile. "Ah. Come on, Tomoe. I wasn't teasing. I was only greeting young Miss Kaoru." He replied mocking the way Kenshin had called her.
Tomoe could only shake her head. She had known this guy way too long to mind him. "Alright, alright. I'll get right to the point then. We're here to ask you if you know where Kenshin is."
Soujirou nodded in agreement. "Please Hiko san. We're really worried and Miss Kaoru really wanted to talk to him."
Hiko merely sipped his sake calmly. "What if I say I do." He answered indifferently.
This caused Kaoru to rush over to him in sheer excitement. "You do? Where is he? Is he alright?" She asked hurriedly her eyes sparkling brightly.
"He is fine. But why must I tell you where my nephew is? If I'm not mistaken I believe you're Yukishiro Enishi's fiancee. Why would you bother to know the where about of my stupid nephew?" He asked piercing her with his stare.
Kaoru could only gape back. She was lost for words. She knew that he knew every single detail but why did he have to make things so complicated?
"Hiko..You knew.." Tomoe shot up only to be hushed with the burning stare from the older man.
"I'm asking Kamiya. Let her speak for herself."
He brought his eyes back to the raven-haired girl. "So..?"
Kaoru glance down at the neatly polished floor, unable to speak.
Hiko gave her afew more second to talk but after awhile he had to shake his head in disappointment. "That's it. I've got to get back to my work." With that he stood up and glided towards the door, completely ignoring Tomoe who was clearly launching into her full blast mode.
"Hiko! How could you? You knew everything. How can you do this to Ken shin, and to her?"
Tomoe said harshly as she step up to block his exit.
"Look. Tomoe. I don't see any reason to tell your to-be sister in law, where Kenshin is." He said his voice lowering dangerously.
"But-" Tomoe started.
"Because…I really love him." Came Kaoru's voice.
That caused the older man to turn around, and to his satisfaction he saw the bright blue eyes of the young girl flashed confidently. But he had to make some points clear to this girl.
"Love him you say…but that's not enough." He replied walking up to her. "Are you ready to face the danger..the risk?"
Kaoru stare daringly back her courage overwhelming. "I don't care about any danger." She replied simply.
Hiko nodded lightly. "Did you know how Kenshin's parents died?"
Everyone in the room blinked. They all knew Kenshin for a certain period of time, but never once had he ever mentioned his parents let alone the cause of their death.
Ignoring the expression on all his guests' face, Hiko continued as he strolls back to his armchair.
"The police reports all concluded that it was the sudden leakage of electrical circuit that caused my sister and brother in law's yacht to explode. But funny after I went after the case..I found something deeper than that. Their yacht was bombed by someone who had a conflict with my brother in law."
Kaoru's eyes widen in shock. She never knew how Kenshin's parents died but this is definitely not one of her likely guesses.
"So..now you know. You must also know that after I retire Kenshin will be running all my businesses. And as far as I know…you might—" He fixed the young girl a dangerous stare.
"—You might meet a similar fate as my sister." Hiko laughed hollowly and went on. "Actually I'm quite amazed that I'm still alive."
Kaoru stood there listening to the tragic incident of the Himura family, but to her own amazement, she was unfazed by all that she had heard. And all because she knew that she could place all her trust on Kenshin. He would never let anything happen to her and himself.
"Hiko san. I'm willing to take all the risks even though I know there won't be any." She replied firmly.
That caused the owner of the house to burst out laughing in satisfaction. "Good. I like your confidence. For once I see that my idiotic nephew had chosen well."
Kaoru blushed lightly at the comment, while Soujirou and Tomoe exchanged a triumphant smile.
"Well. My stupid nephew is at his mother's favorite summerhouse. I'll give you the address."
Kaoru could only smile broadly. "Thank you. Thank you so much!" She gushed as she involuntarily hugged him.
Hiko could only rolled his eyes at the girl. –This girl is sure weird.-
Afew minutes later Hiko stood infront of a large oil color painting of his sister. "I've done all I could,
Kei-chan. The rest is up to him." He sighed up at his sisters' ever smiling face.
-""-
Sanosuke flipped open his cell phone and grin at the ID caller. "Hey…Kaoru. How are you feeling?" He asked.
Yahiko put down the joystick of his PS two, to look over at his brother who was lounging on the couch. And then the strangest thing seemed to happen, his brother who had been up to nothing all day seemed to perk right up.
"Really? Cool I'll be right there." The spiked head cried, jumped up and dash off to his bedroom.
Afew second later he emerged from his bedroom and sped for the door.
"Oi. Where ya going? It's almost eight." Yahiko asked clearly iritated. He hate staying up just to let his brother into the apartment in the middle of the night, due to the fact that said brother had lost his copy of the apartment's key or worse, too drunk to find it.
"None of your business Kiddo. Don't wait up. I'll take the house key." With that he rushed out of the apartment.
Yahiko frowned and went back to his game. "Yea..that's what you said every time you're going out."
Sano pranced into his car and shot off, out of the parking space, amidst the scowls from the people around him. The first thing that came into his mind is to alert his other friends, since almost everyone are quite anxious as to where their red headed friend had disappeared to. He picked up his phone and quickly dialed his girlfriend's number. He frowned at the auto answering system and tried her house number. After afew second someone answered. He almost wanted to bang his head on the steering wheel. –Oh my! Is this my bad day or what! Why oh why must you pick up the phone- He thought in misery.
"Who do you want to talk to!" Came the rough male voice at the other end of the line. Turning on his most polite voice he spoke nicely back. "Hello Takani san. May I speak to Megumi please?"
"Who're you?"
Sano frowned slightly. "I'm Sanosuke, may I speak to Megumi…please?""Oh you! Megumi's not home. So bye!" and the call was disconnected with a rather loud bang from the other end.
"Great!.." He muttered darkly and dialed another number.
"Hello, Makimachi residence." Came a familiar voice at the other end of the line.
"Misao! Hey.. I know where Kenshin is. I'm driving there, wanna come?" He said cheerfully.
Then he heard an obvious sigh from his friend. "I really wanted to. But Aoshi is coming over…and he kinda made me promise not to go out without him."
"Oh. I see. Well..tell him that we found Kenshin then will you." He replied.
"Sure. I'll do that. Hey when you meet Himura give him a 'hi' from me all right. And tell Kaoru that I wish her luck."
"Okay…bye." With that he hung up and focused on the road ahead. He couldn't help but smile at the fact that in no time he'll get to see his best friend again. –And yea..the first thing I'll do is give that guy a piece of my mind. How dare he disappear on us like that..- Sano grinned at the idea and put his foot down on the accelerator.
-""-
A car sped down a road that was winding deep into a wood. "Couldn't we go abit faster, Soujirou?" Tomoe asked glancing out at the absolute darken wood outside the car's window.
"Nope. It'll be dangerous if we go any faster than we are right now." He replied gripping the steering wheel, his eyes focused on the road.
Kaoru glanced out the car's window. She couldn't understand how there could be a house this deep into the wood. But as she mused over the fact the car emerge into a large clearing. Soujirou parked the car under a tree. The three of them got gingerly out and take a look around at the surrounding.
Kaoru looked around and had to gasp at the sight of the familiar sport car that was parked over afew metres away from where they stood. "He's really here." She breathed as a smile flash onto her face.
Tomoe's eyes caught some light flickering some distance away and squinted. "Looks like there's a house over there." She said pointing.
Soujirou nodded in agreement and turn to the raven-haired girl beside him. "Let's go."
Kaoru nodded and the three of them set trodding of towards the house.
-""-
Kenshin paced back and forth in the tiny living room. He turned towards the katana that leaned against one of the wall. He sighed darkly and continued to pace the area restlessly. For the last few days he had reached one decision and that is he had to somehow meet up with the lunatic..other wise known as Enishi. But what he couldn't decide is…should he really risk it? Kaoru is still in the creep's hands. How could he be sure of her safety? He shook his head while his mind jumped to his uncle. But once again it screamed in protest. The guy would one way or the other reminded him about not being able to take care of his own matters. –Nope that's definitely not a good idea.- He thought as he frowned darkly. Still angry with himself for the lack of plan he threw himself onto the couch.
Kenshin closed his eyes and let his mind drift. Someone had mentioned to him that the mind work best when it's not caught up in useless informations. How he really wished that it was true. But then his ear picked up the sound of footsteps outside the cottage. His eyes flew open. He strains his ears for the sound again. It could be some squirrel. But then again what type of squirrel would be around at this time of the night. –And yep. That's sure no squirrel. Wait! Maybe they're some people that Enishi had sent.-
But then he could clearly hear the them talking. Surely assassins do not talk that loud.
Kenshin found himself slightly relieved, atleast he could be sure that it was not some assassin that Enishi had sent to finish him off. Yet his conscience nagged endlessly at him. –who in there right mind would be walking around in this area this late into the night.-
Slowly he walked up to one of the windows and peeked out. His eyes almost popped out of its socket at the sight of the group that was approaching. "How did they…?" He whispered lightly to himself.
-'''-
"This place is sure dark. Tomoe, Miss Kaoru. Be careful with your steps." Soujirou warned as he walked ahead the girls, a tiny lighter in his hand.
"Don't worry. We won't trip over and land on you, Seta san." Kaoru replied.
The cottage loomed infront of them only afew metres away. And the light coming out of its window indicates that someone is residing there. Fortunately a lamp on the cottage's porch was on so a certain area around it was not hidden in total darkness like the rest of the area.
"Kaoru…why don't you go up there and knock?" Tomoe urged, nudging the girl lightly.
Kaoru nodded and step up the porch. She was about to reach out to knock on the wooden door when it swung open. Before Kaoru could react she was swept into a warm embrace. The wisp of red hair caught her sight. "Kenshin.." She whispers almost to herself.
"How did you get here.." Came his muffled voice as he held her close not wanting to let her go.
A fake cough from somewhere made the two broke apart.
"Well, Hello there Kenshin." Tomoe said sweetly waving at him.
Kenshin smiled back at his friends. "Hi. How did you two know where to find me?" He asked
Stepping down from the porch still holding Kaoru's hand.
Soujirou chuckled and shook his head at his friend. "You won't believe it-"
"Oi! You over there! Wait! Did I miss anything!" A voice shouted from the distance and to no one's surprise a second later, Sano came rushing towards them. "There you are Kenshin!" He cried and hugged his friend.
Kenshin laugh heartily at his friend. "Sano. You're also here."
Tomoe shook her head but also laugh lightly along with the rest of the group.
Kenshin broke free from his friend and look around at the group. "Now, Seriously how did you find this place?"
"We went to ask your uncle." Tomoe said simply.
Kenshin blinked in confusion and scratch his head. "I didn't tell him where I was."
Kaoru smiled at her boyfriend. "Who cares.. we found you. There's so much I need to tell you." She started only to be stopped by his kiss.
The three of them rolled their eyes at the couple. Soujirou quirked up and eyebrow. "Um. Would you mind? We're still here!" He reminded his friend but still couldn't help grinning.
Kenshin broke apart and look sheepishly at manager. "Sorry."
Tomoe looked at her ex-boyfriend a serious expression on her face. "Kenshin. Before you get too happy…I hate to remind you that my brother is…"
"Well….Looks like I'm late for a reunion of some sort…" Drawled a voice causing the group to turn around abruptly.
"..Hello..Kaoru darling." Enishi drawled dangerously as he walked in to join the group.
"Enishi!" Tomoe gasped. She turned to Kenshin and shuddered as she felt his eyes changing. It flashed straight at her brother…-Oh no. This is so not the plan.- She thought as she stares at her brother and then back at her ex-boyfriend….
A/N: So…What do you think? Do let me know. Please leave some comment, which meant Review Please. Also this story is coming closer to its end. So any idea on how you want it to end..Do let me know! See you all soon.
