See? I updated! Yay for me! Hope you like, this chapter was a pain in some ways…meh, enjoy! prays that she doesn't get flamed too badly and guess what, there's something or someone who is familiar to all of us in this chapter…three guesses who!

Disclaimer: No, I don't own the series, Nobuhiro Watsuki does, and I am just some poor fanfic writer. ((I'm serious about the poor part, my wallet's pretty empty))

Chapter 1: Encounters and Decisions

It was really late at night, and so dark that Kaoru couldn't see anything, much less the hand that she waved in front of her face before setting it down beneath the blanket, and gripping lightly onto the cottony light-green fabric. She drew her covers closer to her just under her chin, and tried to relax on the futon. She had to sleep soon; otherwise she would doze off in class tomorrow, or rather today since it was past midnight. For some reason or other she had been unable to sleep for a while. Kaoru had fallen asleep earlier, but had woken up to this pitch-black room that had had dim light in it before.

'School… I really hope that I can continue going. What with the state our dojo is in, and no students to help pay off the bills, I suppose I'll have to get a job. If I'm able to find a job, then I'll have to quit -no- take a break from school. Its not like I'm permanently stopping my education, just taking an unwanted vacation.' Kaoru sighed wearily. She had been going over this issue since last Sunday, and today was Friday. Kaoru hadn't wanted to involve Yahiko in this, so she had kept silent on the matter. Besides, he'd find out eventually. She rolled over onto her right side. ((A/N: this is exactly one week from the first chapter))

All was quiet. The wind had long since disappeared and there were no tendrils of moonlight peeking their way in through her fuchsia blinds. This dark was the deepest blackness that you could ever imagine. Her eyes couldn't see anything, which was weird because usually she could see at least a sliver of light from a crack in the blinds, or the shoji.

Now Kaoru herself wasn't a woman who backed down from anything willingly, but the

challenge of keeping the dark from scaring her was a hard battle. Luckily she grew tired all of a sudden. Biting her lower lip in unforgotten frustration, she closed her eyes to a softer darkness and finally slept.

Kaoru awoke with a start, her subconscious had registered a noise and she instantly became alert. Straining to hear what her mind had heard once already, ears pricked for any tell tale sound.

And then she heard it.

A soft movement on the dojo floor moving her way. Light footsteps, carried carefully and

precisely. Occasionally Kaoru could hear the floorboards creak at the unwelcome weight, but not often.

Kaoru stiffened at the sound. The person was just down the hall not too far away from

her, going her way. The sound continued and Kaoru grew more nervous, after all lying in your bed in a sleeping yukata wasn't exactly a reassuring situation to be in when faced with a possible intruder. Plus there was the added bonus that she was helpless, her bokken, which was usually stashed near by, had been stowed away in the practice hall for once. This was just great, the one time she had need of it, she had decided to put it somewhere where she couldn't get it.

The young woman didn't dare to move, not wanting to accidentally notify whoever was out there that she was awake and listening to their every move.

'Is it Yahiko? He has been getting up in the middle of the night to grab a drink of water lately before going back to bed. That's right; it was probably just Yahiko-chan.' Kaoru tried to reassure herself. 'But…' came a sudden unwelcome little voice that just had to argue with her earlier answer to the riddle of the mystery person.

'But isn't the kitchen the other way?'

Kaoru listened closely for the person. Her heart was thudding loudly in her chest, and she was sure that anyone within a few hundred meters could easily hear it. A coldness had settled into the once warm room. It snaked out icy fingers that tightened around Kaoru as she lay there, sucking the warmth out of her body. The overwhelming darkness had closed in on her in a way she hadn't thought possible. That wasn't the worst part however.

The footsteps had stopped.

Right outside her room.

She drew in a shaky breath, praying that the action would calm her nerves enough for her to speak.

"Yahiko?" Kaoru grimaced at her voice, the simple question had come out as a scared squeak.

Silence reigned supreme.

'Oh Kami-sama, please let it be him, please let it be him, please let it be h-'

The shoji slid open and Kamiya Kaoru finally snapped open her eyes only to feel them widen in shock and fear at what she beheld.

A pair of glowing amber orbs greeted her a mere six feet away. The eyes were the only things that Kaoru could make out from this most likely, probably, and definitely dangerous man. How Kaoru ever knew that he was a man was beyond her, considering that the shadows still hung over the dojo like a thick blanket.

A feeling told her that he knew she was awake, and seeing no point in feigning sleep she reacted.

"What do you want!" It was funny how her talking was stronger now.

'Stupid Kaoru! That's right, go ahead and aggravate the guy some more, brilliant idea of yours.' Kaoru berated herself for the sudden outburst.

The menacing eyes locked onto her own, and Kaoru found she was unable to move. The eyes pierced right through her and she was sure that this man knew everything about her. The intent look came across as indifferent, one that didn't care if she lived or died through this encounter. Something flashed in them darkly, and Kaoru felt rather than sensed the eyes flickering downwards to where the rest of her lay motionless. Was he really able to see her?

Kaoru knew instantly that he was taking in the situation, assessing if she was a threat or not. 'This is no ordinary robber!' Her mind screamed at her as it put some ofthe pieces of the puzzle together.

He must have come to a conclusion for he took a step forward and Kaoru could hear the sound metal sliding faintly against a sheath. Fear flooded her senses.

'He has a knife!'

Cold amber appraised her silently as another step brought him closer to her. Kaoru tried to back up, she had never been this frightened in her life. Whenever she had been threatened she responded bravely, never backing down. Of course, that had been in daylight, not cowering in her futon without any light around her save for luminous fiery gold.

The trespasser stopped in front of her, she again felt rather than saw him drop his hand to his hip. A loud click broke through the silence; it reverberated off the walls amplifying it more than necessary.

She wanted to scream so badly now, in the hopes that someone, anyone would rescue her from a fate that she didn't want to accept.

It was the click of a sword; she'd heard so many of them when she attended certain kendo tournaments with her Father. He used take her to them whenever he was home for a few days, that was how she had recognized the chilling quality of that 'click'. Her opponent was a swordsman!

'Can't move. Have to get away. Now. Quick. Please, no…'

Kaoru whimpered as he regarded her prone figure. She wanted to look away from where he stood, and then he disappeared. For a brief moment Kaoru was assailed by the thought that he had truly gone, only for a moment though.

Kaoru was jerked to her feet and found herself alongside the wall, hot breath flickered on her earlobe as a warm body leaned heavily against hers. A strong arm that refused to move an inch gripped her right shoulder roughly and she whimpered again, this time in pain. Were those claws that dug into her skin? They must've been, no nails were capable of this. No normal human's nails that is.

She tried to struggle, stopping only when her throat came in contact with cold steel. Her knees quivered; if he hadn't been holding her up she was sure she would've collapsed.

The blade was pressed non-too gently, but Kaoru was rather surprised that she wasn't cut yet. This man had complete control of his katana and her life and she didn't like it one bit. Daring to look straight at him, she gritted out through clenched teeth.

"Let me go."

'Oops. Mistake number two.' The cynical voice was back with a vengeance.

He didn't answer but Kaoru thought she saw approval glitter very briefly in his eyes before resuming their normal glare.

Something caressed her skin where the yukata had slipped, long feathery strands of what felt like hair as mystery man moved in closer to whisper in her ear.

"No."

It sounded like silk over steel when he spoke, and held a feral quality that had never been tamed. The blade pushed harder at her neck and Kaoru screamed.

With a loud gasp she shot up straight in her futon, breathing too fast for her own good. Her hands flew to her neck in protection from an invisible danger. Kaoru still tingled from where he had touched her.

'It was just a dream, just a dream. Nothing to be scared of, no one's here, your all right-' These and other reassurances repeated themselves. It was still dark but Kaoru didn't think she would be able to sleep any longer, and so got up anyways.

Methodically, she changed into her navy blue and white sailor fuku and a pair of knee high white socks.

'Did I really dream of a demon? It seemed so real, I swear I can still feel that blade on my throat. And his voice, so deep and imposing, but his eyes were the worst of all. I couldn't move, it was like he held me captive with his gaze alone.'

Kaoru brushed her hair free of all the knots, then pulled it into a high ponytail. She stood in front of a hanging mirror to look over her work. Judging herself to be acceptably dressed, Kaoru grinned.

She strode over to the rice paper door, mentally shaking off the aftereffects of the horrid dream. Kaoru couldn't shake off the nagging at the back of her mind that insisted that the man in her dream was from somewhere.

"I wonder what his name was…" A soft murmur slipped out as she left.

Later that same day after school in the den…

"Battousai…"

"Battousai was the…" She gave up.

Kaoru glared at the textbook; no matter how hard she tried she couldn't get into the words. She had been trying to read the same sentence for five minutes or so, with no luck whatsoever. Mr. Watanabe just couldn't get enough of the Bakumatsu, that's why they were still learning about it, and about Battousai and she was getting tired of it, but she did harbor -some- interest in the subject.

'Good thing Yahiko isn't here.' Kaoru counted her blessings at her brother's absence. Kaoru had sent Yahiko out earlier to a restaurant; the Akabeko, to visit with his girlfriend, or 'friend', since he adamantly denied any sort of relationship. This was all done in the hopes of being able to complete her reading activity. However, it wasn't working. She heaved a sigh.

She didn't really have to read more about Battousai, Kaoru knew the basics. He was some sort of awesome swordsman who looked like some unholy demon. The man being a demon was impossible, there were no such things as demons. 'The thing is, I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't want to meet Battousai in an alley at night, even if I wasn't his target.' She mused still staring blankly at her book.

'I suppose he might be compared to my own demon, the one I met in my nightmare.' She shook her head at the similarities. 'Alright Kaoru, time to get back to work!'

Grumbling about 'pig-headed teachers and their lousy ideas of fun' she settled back to reading.

A minute passed, two minutes, three min…and that's when all hell broke loose.

"ARGHHHHH! I can't read this stuff!" She threw the book viciously at the opposing wall, grinning with satisfaction when it hit with a loud thump. Her worries were catching up with her preventing her from reading, one of which involved her Father as per usual.

Kaoru clenched her teeth at what he had said earlier to her when he made his weekly phone call.

Flashback

A loud ring echoed through the house startling its occupants, said occupants looked at each other with a calculating stare across the room that they were watching a program on the TV in. Another ring broke through and then both siblings were racing to get the phone first.

"I'll get it!" Kaoru yelled to Yahiko who skidded around a corner, he almost fell but recovered by steadying himself with his hand. He was ahead of her by a few feet but she was ready to tackle him. Kaoru dove, only to be surprised when he put on an extra burst of speed that left her eating the floor in an ungainly heap.

'Too late.' Kaoru groaned. Yahiko had reached it first.

"No way you old hag! Its my friend, she said she'd phone me later so, nyah!" He stuck his tongue out at her, grabbing the phone from its charger as he stepped back out of Kaoru's reach.

'Old hag!' Kaoru got up in a flash fully intending to strangle the little brat for his words, when a thought struck her.

'Wait a minute, did he say 'she'? Your in for it now Yahiko-chan, time for payback!' she chortled with glee, her former pursuit momentarily forgotten.

Meanwhile, Yahiko had answered the phone.

"Hi Tsubame!" He said brightly and listened to the answer on the other end while Kaoru watched. She saw him suddenly burn red from embarrassment as he swiftly shoved the phone towards her.

"It's for you." Came the mumbled answer to Kaoru's unvoiced question.

"Hello?" Kaoru asked curiously when she took the cordless from his proffered hand. As soon as she had, Yahiko fled the scene; presumably to give her a sense of security while he spied from outside.

"Kaoru-chan, how are you?"

Her heart stopped for a second. It was Father. Her hands suddenly become slick with sweat and she had to force a cheery reply.

"I'm fine Father, and you?" 'Why is he phoning today, he usually phones on Sunday. Did something happen to change his plans? Is he staying longer on his trip?' her mind raced with all the different possibilities.

"That's good, yes very good. As for me, I couldn't be better. So… Kaoru-chan, how's your brother doing? All is well I hope?" She could tell that he was unsure of what to say to her, he always was whenever they talked.

Should she tell him about the dojo's money problems?

No, Father might've owned the dojo at one time, but it was more hers than his now. Her dojo, her responsibility. Kaoru would take care of everything, somehow or other things would turn out okay.

"Yahiko-chan is just his normal annoying self." She heard a stifled curse from outside the shoji door, confirming her suspicions. "He's doing well in school, and his katsujin-ken practice is coming along great. We're all doing just fine." 'Without you.' she added mentally.

"Well, you're probably wondering why I'm calling today. You see, I've been asked to go to a meeting in Ottawa, that's in Canada."

She rolled her eyes, of course she knew where Ottawa was, she wasn't dense.

"The leaders of the company that I work for have forged a tentative arrangement with another company for certain blueprints for a new bio-analysis technology. This revolutionary idea, if it happens, could place the enterprise at the forefront of the business world!"

He had so much enthusiasm for his work, but couldn't even show a tiny degree of it to his family? Again Kaoru wondered how this could be possible. Another thing that annoyed her was that he never shared any information with her, he still considered her a child when she was almost a grown woman!

'Notice how he never even told me the name of the other company?' she asked herself cynically.

"Its impossible to refuse such an offer when they came to me to ask if I would be one of the five representatives. I agreed to it. Unfortunately," She heard him pause and when he didn't continue she pressed him for more.

"Unfortunately?"

"Unfortunately, I'm not exactly sure when everything will be finished and the way its looking, I'll have to stay the summer and then some."

The entire summer? It was almost July now, and school was fast approaching its end. Kaoru shrugged, figuring the long absence wouldn't be any different than all the other times. They'd both grown away from Father, her and Yahiko. If Father thought that they were going to complain or beg him to reconsider, was he ever going to be in for a shock.

"Sure Father. Yahiko and I'll hold down the fort. You just go ahead and do what you need to do." She bantered easily with him.

"Kaoru," he pronounced slowly, "so your alright with it?"

She nodded, but then realized that he couldn't see it on the phone. "Yes, I'm quite sure."

"In that case, I'll be sending over some money soon, it'll arrive within two weeks or so."

Some money huh? Knowing him it wouldn't be enough for all the supplies that she and Yahiko needed. That was when Kaoru made up her mind. She was going to go look for a job.

"Kaoru, I've got to get going now, oh and if anything happens, you do know that Dr. Genzai is there for the family."

They exchanged goodbyes and Kaoru hung up the phone. She just stood there for a while, then her whole body slumped in relief. 'What a day this turned out to be…what's next on the list? Hmm, poking Yahiko with sharp and pointy objects sounds like fun, wonder where he is?' She really needed some sort of stress reliever.

Yahiko chose that moment to walk in the room casually.

'Well what do you know? Wishes really do come true.' She chuckled evilly.

"So busu, what did he want this time?" He continued ranting for a few more minutes until she had had enough.

"Yahiko-chan." Kaoru broke through his seemingly endless tirade.

"I'll bet h- Eh? What's up? And stop with the 'CHAN' already!"

"I suggest you run." She stated matter-of-factly while picking up a spare bokken that happened to be conveniently lying around.

And believe it or not, he actually listened to her for once.

End Flashback

Kaoru grinned as she picked up her fallen book, she certainly felt better remembering that episode after the phonecall. Putting new effort into her homework, she finally began to read.

"Battousai was the top-ranking assassin in the..."

Reviewer's Replies:

reader-kikilala: Thanks so much for your praise, and for being my first reviewer! Yeah, I liked it too when she was drawing him. Heh, some of the first part of chapter one is kinda like how I feel when I'm bored. Oh, and don't worry about the comment, its awesome that I got reviews at all-

Eternal Light/Fire Dragon: Thanks for your compliment! Btw, you have a really cool name. I'm a bit of a dragon lover myself, well, a big one actually. You might have seen my reviewer siggy around this site as dragonspirit4215. Is this fast enough updating for you:p

gaby (hyatt: Thanks for telling me that my fic is great, it means a lot to me!

battousai69: Thanks! Well, I hope this chapter didn't disappoint you too much. Plus, it's longer!

Prince Aoshi: Lookies, I continued soon! Although I don't know how long it'll take for the next chapter to be up. Maybe a week, but no promises! I'll try really hard tho'.

dunkmoonX: I'm so happy, your review made me shout out in joy…and receive several weird looks my way, I was in school at the time. Maybe not the best place to cheer, ne?

Bradybunch4529: Yes it'll be very interesting…Mwhaha, sorry, I got a little carried away. Heheh, demons, yup, that'll be interesting, since there's definitely more than one as mentioned in this chapter. In other words her nightmares, are they more than just nightmares? Stay tuned for the next chapter-

Lendra-chan: I know, it was sad wasn't it, well this chapter was creepy in a way! But also showed some actual interaction between a variety of people, such as Kaoru's father. Thanks for all your encouragement, seriously, every time I read a new review I got really pumped! Thanks again!

Thanks to everyone who read my story but didn't review, and thanks to those who put me on their favorites list, or on their author alerts! I really appreciate it!

A/N- Well, another chapter gone by, and soon another one will be up, maybe in a week or so? I'm not sure, but we'll find out eventually. I apologize if any teachers happened to actually be reading this, gomen nasai!

Oh and I have a favor of all of you, okay, a few favors…

Should this fic be entirely in Kaoru's POV? Or should others be included?

And who should make appearances in the story? There is no Tomoe btw, nor will there be any hint of her, so please don't ask. Its not that I despise her, its just that I really don't know much about her. Sorry.

Any other questions or concerns just email me, or imail as I would call it!

Oh, and I apologize if any of the characters are OOC. I'll try to adjust them to fit better if it becomes a problem.

Thanks again to everyone!

Dewa mata! ((See you!))