Disclaimer: I do not own anything relating to Rurouni Kenshin. If I did own anything, it would so be Yahiko!

The Secret Kept From Yahiko

Chapter Thirteen

From last time:

The boy was openly sobbing now, knowing that the rain was hiding his tears. Why him? For Kami's sake, he was only ten years old! Why did he have to grow up like this? Why couldn't his mom still be alive? Why did his father have to die before he had even met him? Why wasn't Kenshin here yet? Why was he tied to a metal pole about to become a human lightning rod? Why? The questions went on and on, but there was no one there to answer them... no one. Yahiko was alone again.

Kaoru woke up feeling extremely cozy and warm which she assumed was because of the heat source next to her. She snuggled closer to the warmth before she realized what, or more specifically, who it was. Kenshin was sleeping soundly with the young woman curled up in his arms.

Kaoru made a move to get out from his grasp, but with a slight gasp she realized that Kenshin was not going to let her go. A faint blush tinged her cheeks and she gently shook Kenshin's bare shoulder with her free hand.

Kenshin let out a little grumble but went right on sleeping. Kaoru assumed that he must have been really tired if he hadn't woken up her shaking. A slight movement by the horses caught Kaoru's attention. She turned to see Misao sitting up and stretching.

Misao saw Kaoru and smiled. "Good morning Kaoru. Did you sleep well? From the looks of it you did."

The kendo instructor's blush deepened. "Could you just help me out of this Misao?" She tugged again trying to get away. Kenshin's hold held firm. "Please? And don't say anything, I don't want Kenshin to know," she pleaded.

Misao grinned. "You know, you and Himura look really cute together like that. Are you sure you want my help?"

Kaoru glowered. "You can tease later Misao, but get me out of this before he wakes up." In truth, Kaoru liked where she was at, and could definitely get used to waking up with Kenshin by her side every morning, but here and now was not the time.

Misao lazily pulled herself away from her cozy spot on the floor and went over to Kaoru. "I'll help you this time, but just this once. When I pick his arm up, you roll out of the way, got it?"

"Check," said Kaoru giving a nod. Misao leaned over, gently took Kenshin's arm, and was in the process of removing it from Kaoru when amethyst eyes shot open staring into her aquamarine colored ones.

"Misao-Dono? What are you doing?" Kenshin was referring to the way that she was leaning over him and holding his arm.

"Well... ummm... I was...ummm" Kenshin let his gaze travel down his arm to see Kaoru pinned beneath it.

With a blush coating his cheeks so that it matched his hair, Kenshin quickly released Kaoru and started to stutter out apologies. "Seesha is so sorry, Kaoru-Dono! Seesha had no idea that he would do something like that!"

"It's all right Kenshin," said Kaoru, who was now also a bright cherry red. "I know you didn't mean to."

Kenshin was still mumbling, most likely scolding himself for holding Kaoru like that as he walked around the fire pit to get his gi which was now dry. Donning it he picked up Kaoru's kimono and walked over and handed it to her. Kaoru took the offered garment with a soft thank you. Misao was cooking up a small batch of rice to make into rice balls so that they could eat as they rode. Kenshin took over Misao's job so that she could go get the horses saddled up for them to leave.

"All set Himura," the young girl called out. "All that is left is you, Kaoru and those rice balls! They sure smell good!"

"Seesha is glad that you think so, Misao-Dono." Kenshin wrapped up the rice balls in a handkerchief and walked over to where the horses were standing patiently for their riders. Kaoru was in the process of getting on top of her horse.

Misao was already sitting atop the stallion, looking eager to continue their "adventure" and rescue the young boy Kenshin and Kaoru had told her about. Kaoru had mentioned how much of a brat Yahiko, but since Misao knew that, she herself, was a bit of a brat, she couldn't wait to meet this one. Especially from the sounds of it, he was worse than her.

By this time, Kenshin had climbed onto his mount. Misao clucked to Storm and the stallion led the way out of the cave, Smokey following obediently behind. About half an hour into their trot, Kenshin sped up and handed each girl two large rice balls, with a warning of, "Be careful, Seesha does not want you to choke while riding."

Kaoru had finally decided after about an hour of riding, that she was capable of steering Smokey by herself, so she called a halt to that Misao could untie the lead rope that was attached between Storm and Smokey. After they had started again, Kaoru pulled up alongside Misao to chat. Misao was very talkative, and pretty soon Kaoru had learned all about her family. These people included Okina, her beloved Aoshi-Sama, and the rest of the Oniwaban ninja clan. Misao talked animatedly about all the adventures she had had growing up, from going on her first outing, to her training sessions with Aoshi.

Kaoru had never known that someone could talk so much. Kenshin was a quiet traveling companion, but the silence was comfortable, not hostile. Yahiko, she had not spent enough time with yet to actually get to know him, but she was assuming that he was going to be a talkative kid after he became more comfortable with dojo life.

Dojo life. With Kenshin. Oh that would be a dream come true, but there were two things wrong with the scenario. First of all, now Yahiko would be living with them, so she wouldn't have any private time with the rurouni. But what she thought was worse, was that Kenshin still had the annoying habit of calling her Miss, even when she had told him to just call her Kaoru. They were going to have to work on that. Kaoru was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear Misao calling her name.

"Kaoru? Kaoru? Did you hear what I said? Are you even paying attention to what I'm saying? Misao snapped her fingers in front of Kaoru's face.

"Oh what? Oh, hi Misao. Did you say something?"

Misao threw her arms up in exasperation! "Kami, Kaoru! I said that we should be reaching Tokyo in about half an hour or so. I was also asking you if you have any idea where they are holding the brat captive."

Kaoru shook her head sadly. "I'm afraid that I don't know where he is, but I'm worried about him, Misao. What if they did kill him? I would feel so guilty knowing that I was in the same house and I let those creeps take him!"

Kenshin, who had heard the last part of the conversation, rode up on Kaoru's left hand side. "You should not feel guilty Kaoru-Dono, that you should not. If anyone is to feel guilty it is Seesha. Yahiko came to Seesha the night he was taken to warn me of the coming danger that he foresaw. And yet, Seesha did nothing at that time; Seesha told Yahiko that we would all talk in the morning."

Misao looked at Kenshin with a confused expression written across her features. "What do you mean Himura? The coming danger he foresaw? What the heck does that mean?"

Kenshin and Kaoru looked at each other. They didn't know quite what to do. Yahiko seemed to be somewhat touchy on the subject, and he had barely told them, and both of them highly doubted that the young samurai would want his secret disclosed to someone that he didn't even know.

The young kendo instructor, however, decided that Misao deserved to know, after all, she was helping them get back to Tokyo. "Well," she started hesitantly, "you see, Yahiko can see into the future." Misao's jaw literally dropped to her knees. "But not whenever he wants to," Kaoru added hurriedly. "They just come at any time and he has no control over them."

"So, what can he see? Or what has he seen? And how doe someone even get a power like that?"

Kenshin held up a hand. "One question at a time please Misao-Dono. he can see whatever the vision is about, which as far as we can tell, could be anything. He saw himself in an unknown room, which we are taking to be the gang's new headquarters. From what Yahiko told us, he died after we rescued him, but for some reason he was brought back to life, and received this power."

"That's so cool!" Misao squealed, "I wish I could do that! Then I could see what the future holds for me."

"I don't think you would want it Misao. Because you would have to see all the bad things that would happen to you and those that you care about. Besides, life should be lived on edge with surprises. Or, at least that is what I think it should be." Kaoru shrugged.

After Kenshin had gone a ways ahead, Misao rode up to Kaoru and winked at her. "You wouldn't mind seeing the future if it included fluffy moments between you and Kenshin, would you?"

Kaoru's pale cheeks turned a light shade of pink at those particular thoughts that she had indeed been thinking of if she had the type of power that her apprentice to be had. "Well, I definitely wouldn't mind seeing those, unless they were bad, of course, but it sure would be interesting. Do you think we would have any kids?"

"Now you are thinking too far into the future Kaoru. He has to be able to say your name properly before you can even think about kids! Imagine, the little tyke growing up to hear his father call his mother Kaoru-Dono. That would be just too weird!"

The kendo instructor sighed. "I guess you are right Misao. Besides, I shouldn't even be thinking like that, and we need to concentrate on getting Yahiko before I even ponder hooking up with Kenshin."

Misao pointed. "Look. Tokyo." The girls kicked their horses into a gallop and sped after Kenshin who seemed to have the thought in mind to get to the city as fast as possible. Fifteen minutes of hard riding later, the trio had reached the outskirts of the city. "Which way do we go Himura? This is a pretty big city, and personally, I don't want to get lost."

"Don't be silly Misao, we won't get lost. I grew up in Tokyo and know this place like the back of my hand. If you take my advice, we should head East, the Yakuza's original hideout was to the West, and seeing as no one has seen him, they are probably in a secluded place."

"Hai, you are right Kaoru-Dono. East we shall go." To himself, the rurouni thought as they rode down the main road, 'We are almost there Yahiko, just hang on.'

Yahiko didn't even know that he had fallen asleep until he had woken up. His first thought to himself was, 'how the heck did I fall asleep in that storm?' The young samurai then took the time to look around to see what damage the storm had caused. He found it amazing that he was still in one piece because the yard definitely didn't look so good.

A gnarled tree that had been in the corner had had one of its main branches tear off, leaving the limb lying on the ground covered with debris. Small chunks were missing from the ground, Yahiko determined that they must have either been where lightning had struck or something heavy had hit the ground with force. Some of the shingles on the roof had been peeled off and were scattered around the yard. Leaves covered the yard from surrounding trees.

The only damage that Yahiko could locate unto himself was a deep gash on his left cheek, caused by the flying piece of wood that had hit him only moments into the storm's fury. 'How did I survive that storm with nothing but a scratch? The whole place is torn up, but I'm perfectly fine, except for being cold. Won't Gasuke be surprised?'

Meanwhile, in the Shuei Yakuza's main room, the members were gathered drinking large bowls of soup. They had tried to stay by the window to watch Yahiko beg for his life, but within minutes of the storm starting, they couldn't hear anything above the raging wind, nor see anything from the torrents of rain that kept coming down. All of them were expecting Yahiko to be dead.

"Hey Boss?" asked Soji as he bit into a rice ball, "what are you going to do if that red haired guy shows up to get the brat? he won't be very happy to find out that he's dead."

"We will cross that bridge when we come to it Soji," said Gasuke calmly. "I don't think he will find us, and if he does then he will be too overcome with grief to do much."

It was Honya's turn to speak. "Sir? What would you like us to do with the brat's body? We can't really just leave it hanging on a pole, if the police ever show up they would arrest us all for murder."

"Why don't you and a few others go toss it in the river? The current is very swift due to that wonderful rain last night. "If any finds him, they will just think that he fell into the river and drowned."

Honya grinned. "Excellent idea Boss. I'll see to it right away." Honya picked a few men including Soji and were about to leave the room when Gasuke stopped them.

"Hold on a minute Honya. I think that I would like to see this." The group, now including their leader, marched outside to where Yahiko hung limply on the pole. The young boy heard them coming, but decided not to make a move until someone was within kicking distance. He did have his feet to work with.

"He looks pretty dead. But he looks pretty good compared to the rest of the yard. Look at the place, it's a wreck!" Soji exclaimed as he looked around the large yard, now in ruins. "This is going to take forever to fix up!"

"Who cares Soji? Once the brat is in the river we can go back to our original area. I liked that one a lot better anyway. Close to town, lots of gambling joints,..."

Gasuke was standing directly in front of Yahiko and did not seem to notice the very slight rise and fall of the boy's chest. "So this was how it ended Yahiko, was it? You being electrocuted or just dying of cold, doesn't really matter which. Although I do hope it was the lightning. Much more painful for you that way."

Gasuke took a step forward and picked up Yahiko's head so that his face was looking at him. Yahiko decided that this was his chance. Snapping his eyes open he took his right foot and gave a solid kick to Gasuke's groin, hitting it right on the mark.

The leader of the Yakuza was so surprised that he fell over backwards clutching at his injured area. "Boss?" the whole gang said unison.

"He's... not... dead," Gasuke wheezed, his voice several notches higher than normal. "Get him!" The men charged Yahiko, who was still hanging by his hands. Yahiko became a whirlwind of feet, kicking anyone or anything that got too close to him. He landed an especially good kick on Soji's head, rendering the man to walk around the yard dazedly.

Once Gasuke had gotten back on his feet and seemed to be in control, the fighting stopped. Yahiko glared down at his captor. "Dead, am I? Because I feel very much alive and am ready to kick your butt. Or something else that hurts a lot more, but I already did that."

Gasuke's face turned purple with fury at the insult that the ten year old had placed on him. He stalked over to Yahiko, but stood just out of range of how far the young-looking warrior could reach. "I want him untied and thrown in the river. He doesn't have the strength to stand against the current, meaning he will be dead minutes after getting in the water."

The men inched around Yahiko, Soji with a sword, and after securely knocking him out, (This was done by two men holding his feet while Soji hit him over the head), the chains were undone from around his wrists and Gasuke carried the limp form behind a thicket of trees and down to the bank of a swiftly flowing river.

Yahiko was launched into the air and before he hit the water and was carried down the river, he awoke to hear Gasuke's voice echoing down the river bank. "Have a nice swim Brat!"

Author's Notes:

And there we have it for chapter thirteen! Hope you all liked it!

The main reason that it took me so long to update was that due to way to many bad grades in geometry, my computer time was limited to half an hour a day. And seeing as I had more things to do than write fanfics, all my stories were put on hold. Thanks to a B on my last test (Can't believe I did so well! n.n) I was allowed to have my two hours back, so I have been working on getting this up for you. n.n

Toboe died! I can't believe it! And then everyone else died the next episode! And I think the ending to the whole series was sort of stupid, (sorry for those who did like it) so I'm planning on writing my own ending to Wolf's Rain when I have the time.

Cartoon Network did make me mad though! They took Inuashya off the air on Saturday nights! So I am going to have to send in a complaint about that.

Just because I'm curious, do any of you play an instrument? I play trombone n.n

Reviewer's Comments:

IcyPanther: Stupid auto correct changes everything. I really need to start proofreading, that I do. n.n. Hope you liked the Kenshin/Kaoru moment. It didn't come out quite like I planned, but I guess it turned out all right.

Terra89: Have we met before? Because you've never reviewed before.... hehe just curious I guess. So do you watch Teen Titans? Or do you just like the name Terra? Raven and Beastboy are my faves!

StarofFoam: Flunking geometry? That can't be good! I think I'm getting an A in Spanish, but my health teacher gave me a D on my project because I made a poster on the wrong diet, and didn't put my diet plan on a separate sheet of paper. (We had to get into groups and create our own type of diet.)

Lexi-Chan: Your very welcums for reviewing on your fic... just one question. Where did it go? I can't seem to locate it on the Yahiko story page... I hope you didn't delete because that was really good. Things will get better soon for our young samurai.