Y'know, if I had more reviews from more readers I would probably update faster.

I know I've been holding up a pretty good streak lately, but it probably won't always be that way.

Unless, I had motivation…

hint-hint-nudge-nudge-wink-wink-

You're my readers (at least, I hope there's more than one of you).

You know what to do.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kenshin or Aoshi or Saito or any particularly cool characters in this fic. Don't it just suck?

Chapter Four

Kaoru was happy.

No, that would be an understatement.

Kaoru was Misao on an odd mixture of steroids and caffeine, if you can bear to imagine that.

She hadn't made a new friend since she was three, and technically Misao and Aoshi—great as they were—didn't count, so Yahiko was officially her first official companion.

Officially.

But that was not the reason, oh no, that Kaoru was so happy.

Friends were all well and fine, but this was way bigger than any of that.

"We are leaving the planet," Mr. Aoshi had announced, after a stuffed and sleepy Yahiko had been sent to one of the guest rooms.

Kaoru was happy.

Yes, we know that's an understatement, but it's the truth.

They'd always lived here. Always.

They'd never been anywhere else. Never.

And now Devicia. They were going to Devicia; possibly the best-known trading planet, and they were going.

"We," Misao had added softly, "are leaving tomorrow."

This had been cause for a minor blip in the endless cloud of Kaoru's elation.

She wasn't dumb. They were leaving for a reason, and that reason probably involved the law, and a certain amount of trouble that they were in. Which implied illegal actions on the part of Mr. Aoshi and Misao.

This had not worried Kaoru, not at all. In fact, she was really nearly impressed with her guardians. Criminal enough that they had to move? No legally adopted daughter could have been prouder.

"Tomorrow," Mr. Aoshi explained, "you will have your things ready, your friend will go home, Misao will take you to the landing strip, you'll meet me there, and we'll arrive at Devicia in two weeks."

"Can't Yahiko come with us?" Give up her first friend in fourteen years? Never. "I don't think he has a home."

Misao winced. "Kaoru, I don't think there'll be enough room onboard for an active kid. He'll feel cramped and miserable, I think."

"Can't I just ask?"

"We can't be responsible for some kid we found only a few hours ago," Misao said reasonably.

"But can't we be responsible for a dear friend in a time of need?"

"…"

Misao regarded her friend wistfully.

"Are you bent on turning this into a big, dramatic, Hallmark-channel-type-thing?"

Kaoru didn't have to think twice.

"Of course."

Misao rolled her eyes, but grinned a little. "It's fine by me."

Mr. Aoshi, watching all this in a sort of stunned silence, finally nodded. "I suppose I agree, since if I don't I just know I'll have mutiny to fear."

Misao and Mr. Aoshi watched Kaoru skip to the stairs.

"You're sure we can deal with a kid right now? It's going to be dangerous."

"Yep." Misao gave him a confident grin. "It's only a trip to Devicia. Think of it like a vacation. Like for fun, or something."

"A vacation." Mr. Aoshi nodded. "A vacation with Shishio sending his best recruits and weapons and ships to track us down while we're virtually defenseless?"

Misao shrugged.

"Something like that."

---------------

Kaoru rocked back and forth on Yahiko's mattress.

Why couldn't the kid just wake himself up already?

She rummaged in her pocket for a pen, and began poking the sleeping boy's right temple.

"Yahiko?" Poke poke. "Ya-hikoooo…?" Poke poke poke poke poke… "Wake up."

"Ermf…whaddya want?" He rolled over and hid under the red blanket.

"We're going to Devicia tomorrow. Wanna come?"

Under the quilt Yahiko's eyes popped open.

Devicia? The trading capital?

Last time he checked that citied was filled with spies.

I can't stay here forever, he reasoned with himself under the cover. Devicia…It sounds like the perfect place to start. Better than here, isn't it?

"Yahiko?" Kaoru started tickling him through the covers. "Yahiko, are you still there? Did you fall asleep again?"

Yahiko made a very convincing sleepy sound.

And there'll be plenty of stops along the way…I can get off whenever I want…If I do actually go all the way to Devicia with them, I can always stay with them. For a while.

"Yahiko?"

It wouldn't hurt. And then I can get back to work.

"Are you listening to me?"

Maybe…

"I'll go." He uncurled suddenly, sat up, and playfully pinned Kaoru against the wall with his pillow. "But, ugly, I'll only go if ya lemme get some sleep."

Kaoru managed to leap with joy and pummel the small boy with cushions at the same time, engaging him in all-out pillow warfare, and doing her best to make his very survival hard.

…

But not too hard.