Kenshin lifted his head to stare into the still-darkening sky as rain pelted even harder to the ground.

He knew they followed him.

He didn't know who all followed him, but he sensed them nearby.

Hiding his face from the rain again, he crouched and took off in a run, using his speed and his training as a bonus.

He raced past people unaware of his presence until he had long gone. He just had to run. To get away from the whole thing. He had to think.

Something told him that Kaoru was safe, and that was all that mattered.

After nearly an hour of running, he stopped, perched high in a tree so that his hat was unneeded.

"So, you come here to think as well." Came a voice. Kenshin turned to see Saito sitting on a branch on the opposite side of the tree.

"Sometimes." Kenshin said, turning back to look out at the rain and the city below as people ran from awning to awning, trying to avoid the pelting rain.

"Trying to get away?" Saito asked, his own way of asking if he was okay.

"Trying to think." Kenshin said, watching as Tae ran from the Akabeco to the other side of the street.

They sat together in companionable silence. Together, yet alone.

Kaoru stared at the spot where Kenshin disappeared from. From somewhere inside, she knew that he was safe. But something else told her that the dojo was not.

She lept from her perch to land softly on the ground. She sprinted in the direction of the Dojo, where she had left the others.

Little known to Kaoru, who was being watched from above, Tien followed Shinta's path through the rain with his eyes. Knowing that the man was only trying to think, he let his nephew go. He had promised to protect Kaoru. He had promised both Yuushi and Shinta that he would protect the girl.

Following her was no problem. Aoushi Shinomori would follow the ruroni, They had crossed paths following the two.

Sanouske was immobile. megumi had to protect him, she wouldn't let him be taken from her. even if it cost her her life.

Blocking Jinko's attacks with much difficulty, she silently thanked her father for making her take lessons in the Lee-shun style of swordsmanship.

She had hated him for that, making her take sword lessons. Her sensei was a grumpy old fool with hentai pupils that picked on her for fun.

Funny thing was, though, that she could beat them up, and then fix them.

Every time she brought home another fellow student, her father laughed, she fixed them up. Her father often joked that she could start her own clinic for the people she had hurt.

She had thrown something at her father, something that missed and crashed into the wall to shatter into a thousand little peices.

Laughing, her father ducked out of the door.

A little boy in front of her was being wrapped in bandages. Her ever-steady hands wrapping the boy's forehead with the soft, papery fabric.

"What are you lookin at?" she demanded hitting him over the head again.

She was attacked from the side, a sudden blow that caught her off guard. She jumped back, barely avoiding a deep cut.

She slanted her tall body, bracing herself on the floor with one arm as she attacked with the sword in the other. A secret attack for the best of the students.

The man blocked her, though.

ghasping, she rolled backwards, trying to avoid the blows from the sword above her.

Suddenly the attacker stopped. a loud crash was heard, thundering through her mind. She found the sourche of the crash. "Sano!" She ghasped. The fighter was struggling with the man for the sword. The only reason for the struggle was the fact that sanouske was still too weak.

Megumi stared in shock as the two men struggled with each other.

Suddenly Kaoru was there. And kenshin. No. Not Kenshin, his uncle, Tien. Slumping against the nearest wall, she felt blood trickle down her leg. Startled, she stared down at the multiple wounds that spotted her kimono with blood.

Blinking, she pushed herself off of the wall and went to help subdue the flailing attacker.

"Jinko, my friend, stop." Tien said to the man, who immediately stopped to look up at him.

"Capitan? you're alive? Yuushi said you were dead. He'll be delighted to know you live!" jinko broke out into uneasy laughter.

"I live only because of the man that stopped me. Sanosuke." He told the uneasy man. "He told me something that i find to be very true, my friend. We must also fake your death, and Megumi-dono's as well. Do you know who he has targeted next?"

Jinko, always one to follow Tien. They had a history together. A dark history, but a history.

Here's your chapter, sorry it's short, but i'm working on it. I'm trying to get the names right for you stinking sticklers. I'm trying so quit bitching.

for the rest of you...Thanks for your devotion. I love you all. (Shudders) I'm scaring myself.

I'm going to sing the doom song now! Doom doom doom doom... -Grr - Invader Zim.