Joe: back again with another chapter! Woo-hoo! smiles let's get started. Tsukiko!

Tsukiko: Joe doesn't own any of the characters she uses. She owns some songs partially, but others aren't hers.

Joe: Oh yea! And to a reviewer named "whee!", Kaoru wasn't performing that day. She plays in an orchestra, but that doesn't need to be known for a little while. I needed to tell people that for a part later in the story.

Chapter 2- Loving Thoughts

Kaoru Kamiya sighed as she drove home. She couldn't forget Kenshin's face. "Calm down, Kaoru," she said. "He doesn't even know your name." She pulled into her driveway and got out of her car. She locked her car and went into her house. She quickly changed before plopping on her couch to watch television.

"Hey, little sister." She turned around in her spot on the couch to see a tall man standing in the doorframe. His silver hair swayed as he walked over to where she was seated. He kissed her forehead. "How was that concert?"

"Hey, Sesshomaru. The concert went well. Lots of people, lots of screaming…" Sesshomaru smiled. "But now I'm tired." Kaoru yawned. "I had a great time. Good night, Sesshy." Kaoru handed Sesshomaru the remote and went up to her room. Sesshomaru stared after her for several long moments before turning of the television and picking up the phone. He dialed a few numbers and waited while the phone rang.

"Hello?" a voice asked.

"Joe, hey."

"Hey, Sesshomaru, what's up?"

"Nothing much, just come on over and bring Rin with you. Kaoru has a rehearsal tomorrow and I want to take Rin out. You know, maybe the park or something."

"Alright. Be there in a flash." Sesshomaru hung up and went into the kitchen to get a glass of water. By the time he finished the glass, the doorbell rang.

"Sesshomaru, get that will you?" Kaoru called from her room. Sesshomaru smiled before answering the door.

"Big brother!" Rin leapt on his back and hugged his neck tightly. "I had so much fun today with Joe!" Rin started running around the room.

Sesshomaru glared at Joe. "You gave her sugar," he said simply.

"Eh heh…she wouldn't go to sleep, so I just let her do what she wanted. And – "

"You gave her sugar," Sesshomaru said again.

"She found the candy first!" Sesshomaru smacked Joe upside the head before returning to the couch. "I'm going to go now, I have to do some stuff tomorrow, bye, Sesshomaru and Rin!" Before either of them could do anything, Joe left.

Sesshomaru sighed before turning to Rin. "Rin, it's late. Go to sleep before I get angry. I'm taking you out tomorrow so be up early. I have to go to work tomorrow after lunch." Rin nodded.

"Goodnight, big brother." Rin hugged Sesshomaru before running up the stairs to her room. She wouldn't be asleep for another five hours, but Sesshomaru didn't need to know that. Sesshomaru sighed before he went upstairs to his own room.

"Kenshin! Come on! We're going to miss the flight!" Soujiro banged on Kenshin's door. "Hello? Kenshin, open up!" Chikage heard the ruckus and came from down the hall to see what the problem was.

"What's going on?"

"Kenshin won't open his door and we're going to miss the flight!" Chikage's eyes got big and she started banging, too.

"Kenshin! Open the door!"

Kenshin turned to look at the door. "Hold on." He turned back to the slip of paper on his desk. He read it over before neatly folding it and putting it in his coat pocket. He quickly put on his shoes and grabbed his two bags before opening the door. Soujiro almost fell down. "I'm done. Let's go." Soujiro got up and brushed himself off. "Soujiro, come on! We're going to miss the flight!" Kenshin and Chikage were already downstairs and out the front door. Soujiro glared at them for a moment before running after them. "Okay, so the flight leaves soon. Let's go." The driver sped off toward the airport where their private jet awaited them.

"Aoshi and Sano are there already. Yaone went with them. Rini left last night." Chikage leaned back and sighed. "We're going to be the last one's home. Aoshi and Sano left early this morning. Kenshin this is your fault." Kenshin wasn't listening. He was too busy writing on a slip of paper. "What are you doing?" Chikage leaned over and started reading what Kenshin was writing. "M.I.N.D.?" Chikage looked at Kenshin questioningly. "My intelligence never deteriorates?" Kenshin nodded.

"I've been working on it for a while now. I'm almost done." Soujiro reached over and grabbed the piece of paper.

"Hey, I've got a good idea for a beat." Soujiro smiled and started humming to himself. "This is going to make a great rap." Kenshin nodded and took the paper back.

"I have one more line left." Kenshin scribbled a line down before handing the paper back to Soujiro. "Done." Kenshin smiled and leaned back. "Well, now I've got nothing to do on the flight."

"You can sleep. You were up all night last night. Why?" Kenshin pointed to the paper. "You were awake writing a song?" Kenshin nodded slightly. Chikage sighed and hit Kenshin. "That's not healthy."

"What's your point?" Kenshin opened one eye to look at Chikage. "I'm fine. I'm just going to get some sleep on the flight."

"Whatever you say, Kenshin," Chikage said as they pulled into the airport. "Come on. We have to hurry. If we take too long either the plane will leave us or we'll be bombarded by fans. I don't prefer either so hurry up!" Chikage grabbed her bags from the back as did Kenshin and Soujiro. The three of them ran as fast as they could into the airport and out to the plane. They ran up the stairs and into their seats just as the doors started to close.

"You notice that the plane wasn't supposed to close its doors without us?" Soujiro looked at the door as it closed. "They started to close right when we got outside." Chikage nodded in agreement.

"Let it go. You guys are paranoid." Kenshin closed his eyes.

"Hey, Kenshin. Yesterday didn't you say you were going to prepare for a road trip?" Kenshin nodded. "You lied?" Kenshin nodded again. "Kenshin…you're so bad." Kenshin nodded again. Chikage smiled and leaned back next to her cousin. "Sweet dreams, Kenny." Chikage pulled out a magazine and quietly started reading while Soujiro pulled out some staff paper and started writing music for M.I.N.D.

"Get up, sleepyhead. I have work today remember? Get up so I can take you out to lunch. We have to drop off Kaoru to her rehearsal." Rin groaned and kicked the person trying to get her to wake up. "Rin…get up before I get angry." Rin's eyes shot open as she jumped out of bed and got ready in less than a minute. "Come on, let's go."

"Good morning, you two," Kaoru said from the kitchen. "I'm ready to go when you are!"

"Let's go then," Sesshomaru replied. You're going to be late. And if you're late, I'm late. Come on." He heard grumbling coming from the kitchen before Kaoru came out with her flute case. They all got into Sesshomaru's car and drove to a theater where Kaoru's rehearsal would be.

"Big brother, I want to watch Kaoru play," Rin said. "Can we stay and watch please?" Sesshomaru stared at Rin for a moment before slowly nodding. "Yay!" She hugged Sesshomaru very tightly.

"Sometimes I hate being the only male in this family," Sesshomaru muttered, unheard by any of them. The three went into the building. Sesshomaru and Rin took seats in the front while Kaoru took the steps up onto the stage where her friends were already set up and practicing.

"Good morning, Kaoru," Misao said as she turned the page on her music. She was third chair violin. Next to her was Trish, her other friend.

"Good morning, Misao," Kaoru replied before taking her seat behind the violins.

"Hey, Kaoru," Dante stated as he continued practicing his part. He was first chair violin.

"What's up, Dante? How are you, Trish?" Kaoru put her music on her stand and started putting together her flute. She didn't get a reply, but she didn't expect one either. The three violins practiced together. Kaoru watched as Misao quickly pointed to a measure in her music and Kaoru found that measure in her own music before jumping in to join them. All too soon, the conductor came onto the stage and raised his fists signaling for the orchestra to be quiet.

"I have news for you," he started. "Everyone here has heard of the famous singer Kenshin and his famous cousin Chikage right?" He could hear sounds of agreement coming from the orchestra. "Well, as it turns out, they lost their orchestra. And they're looking for one to fill in for the lost one. There were some contract disagreements. So, I volunteered this orchestra to play for them for the time being. So we will have to put all of our current pieces on hold until they can get their orchestra back. We will play them once in a while, but not regularly. I have copies of the orchestra parts to some of their hit songs so that is what we will be rehearsing today." The conductor passed out the music and set the score on his stand. "Let's start with this one. You may not hear a melody focused on one part of the orchestra, or any melody at all. The melody will be carried by the pianist, who is absent on this day."

"Won't he be absent every day?" The question came from one of the cellos. "Soujiro Seta is the best friend of Kenshin Himura. I would imagine that he – "

"Goes everywhere with Kenshin, sir," a trumpet finished. The conductor nodded.

"I would suppose that you're right." The conductor sighed. "But we do not have a pianist at the moment. Does anyone know how to play the piano?" The conductor looked at the several people that raised their hands. Dante, Misao, a clarinet, and a baritone raised their hands.

"Rin can play, sir!" The orchestra turned to look at the young girl sitting in the two-man audience. "Rin has been learning from Mister Dante and Miss Misao, sir! Rin can play good, sir. Rin goes to both of their houses once a week to learn, sir! Rin can play!" The conductor looked at the violin section.

"Rin's ability is beyond that of an average teenager, sir," Misao stated monotonously.

"She is capable of playing anything Mr. Seta can, sir. She has been learning from me for six years," Dante added in the same tone.

"She's been learning from me for five years as well, sir." The conductor looked at the two violinists skeptically.

"Both of them are excellent pianists, sir." Kaoru said. "I've heard them both and their playing is amazing. Not to mention their memory."

"Rin agrees, sir! Mr. Dante and Miss Misao play the piano very well. Rin hopes to be as good as them. Mr. Dante is teaching me Bach and Miss Misao is teaching me minor and chromatic scales. Rin can – "

"Let her play," Sesshomaru commanded, rather than suggested. "She's starting to go overboard. Let her play before she gets off topic." The conductor nodded and motioned for Rin to sit at the empty piano bench. He handed her some music.

"Can you play that?" he asked. Rin stared at the music with wide eyes. The octaves and chords were complicated. Fingerings were written here and there usually in the most complicated parts. Rin gulped before nodding. The conductor smiled before walking back to his stand. "Miss Rin has the first three bars so whenever you're ready, miss."

Rin placed her hands on the white keys. She stared at the music and slowly began to play. Dante smiled, Rin was doing very good at sight reading. She had never picked up a piece and played it this well. Misao smiled as well. The hours of sitting on her couch listening to Kenshin's music had helped. She recognized the title and the melody immediately as the song she played over and over on her radio while Rin was at her house. That must've helped somewhat. Dante flinched when he heard a slip of Rin's fingers and a false note. Trish tapped Dante's shoulder as it came close to the measure they were to play at. When Dante turned around to face the music stand, Trish turned and tapped Misao's shoulder as well. They held up their violins and started to play. Kaoru waited a little because she came in a few measures after. She picked up her piccolo and started to play. The melody in Rin's part flowed along with the orchestra. They picked up the song easy because the majority of the orchestra members were Kenshin fans. The music filled the entire theater. When the entire orchestra had their instruments in their laps, Rin was finishing the song. She hit the last note and the orchestra applauded for her, along with her brother, who was showing the smallest smile. Rin smiled and ran up to the conductor with the music. She handed it to him and was given another piece. She skipped back to the piano and looked at the music. She raised her hand.

"When does Rin come in, sir?" Dante looked at her in puzzlement for a moment before looking at his music. The violins started. In this piece the piano didn't play a whole lot. He went to the piano and took a look at her music.

"Rin, you're on the keyboard in this song." Dante smiled at her and led her to a bench behind a keyboard. He set the sounds and volume and started explaining to her the meanings of multiple measure rests and how to know when to come in. "You watch the conductor and he'll cue you in." Rin nodded and Dante went back to his chair. The conductor started the count and the violins started their little part. He cued Rin in, but she didn't play. He cut off the violins and sighed.

"Rin gets lost here, sir," Rin started to explain. "Mister Dante can play for me the first time?"

"Yeah, Dante, go play the keyboard," Trish cheered. Dante smiled a little before putting his violin down and going to the keyboard. Trish smiled after him and turned the stand a little. Dante sat down beside Rin and nodded at the conductor. The conductor started the count and the violins started playing. Dante counted in his head and started to play, too. He would play a little piece of music, and then stop for a little while. Soon his playing became longer and there was more of a melody in it. When the song was over, he returned to his seat as first violin. "Good job, baby," Trish said as he took his seat. The conductor looked at everyone there.

"The flight leaves in two weeks. We're going to be traveling to Kyoto to work with Mr. Himura and his colleagues. We will be there for quite some time – as long as they want us. Miss Rin, will you be joining us? We would be glad to have you as part of our orchestra." Rin looked at Sesshomaru before nodding. The conductor turned to Sesshomaru. "Mr. Kamiya, if you would like to join us, we might be able to get another train ticket for you."

"I can get my own ticket, sir. As well as Rin's." Sesshomaru smirked.

"Fair enough." The conductor went to Rin and handed her copies of all the new music he had. He also gave Misao and Dante a copy of all the piano parts. "I trust you two to drop all current studies with Miss Rin to teach her these parts." Dante and Misao nodded and put the music in their folders. "I will see you all tomorrow. Practice your new pieces. Start packing." The conductor smiled and started putting away his scores.

"Can you believe we're going to work with Kenshin Himura?" Misao exclaimed as soon as the group was out the theater door.

"Well, it's believable, but it wasn't exactly probable," Dante replied.

"But it's so cool! I'm going to work with the hottest singer in Japan!" Misao looked at the sky with stars in her eyes.

"Ah ha…we are going to work with the hottest singer in Japan," Kaoru corrected Misao. "He is so hot," she added. Then she gasped and started pulling everyone to a nearby café. "Oh, my gosh. I completely forgot. I have to talk to you." She dragged them to the back in a secluded area and made them all sit down. "Miss!" She waved at the waitress. "Cappuccinos for all of us please!" The waitress nodded and started preparing the drinks. When she set them at the table, Kaoru paid her and leaned in. "After the concert last night…"

Joe: Ha! I'm going to stop it there. To get me to write more, you people have to review! Review! Haha! Alright, I'm going crazy…I'll work on the other stories now so…yea. Bye!

Tsukiko: Curse you all! gets hit on head by Joe Ouch!