A/N: Finally got back to writing, after God knows how many hours spent trying to get rid of this sneaky trojan….

I changed chapter 14's ending slightly. It was too soon for Usui and company to die….

Anyway a big thanks to all of you who left feedback, it's a great moral support. Forgive me if I'm not answering each review, I'm trying very hard to resist the temptation here, even thought I don't really know why. Everyone seems to be doing it anyway….

lolopopoki: I hope you're okay. I saw some pictures of the hurricane on TV, and it looked nasty, even though they say it was weaker than expected.

Kaoru tossed in her futon. She took a long breath, shifted into a more comfortable position to lie in, and stilled herself. She tried to clear her mind of all agitation, willed herself into sleep. Seconds passed, that became minutes. In the same room, Megumi was sound asleep since some time, if Kaoru were to judge by her maid's even and deep breathing. Outside, an eerie silence reigned. More minutes passed.

She sighed heavily. Sleep eluded her, no matter what she did. She was too anxious to sleep, a thousand thoughts whirling through her mind. She thought of her father, imagining the harrowed state he must have been in; of her coming wedding, that she hoped to avoid; and of uncle Houji, on whom all her hopes rested on. She opened her eyes. The moon must have been still young in the night sky, and it's pale light filtered through the shoji, projecting dim squares on the walls, on the tatami, on her blanket.

A small sound, somewhere. Kaoru rose on one elbow, pricked up her ears. Would Chou or Katamari still be awake at this late hour? Or maybe it was a wild animal. A stray dog, or worse, a bear? No, there could be no bear this close to Kyoto. She waited, the silence heavier as time passed. Nothing.

She rubbed a hand on her face. What was she doing? Ridiculous, to be so disquieted by some trivial noise. A sudden gust of wind that had rustled some branches, nothing more. She must have been more nervous than she thought. The stress of the last days was still weighting on her, surely, but no one could blame her, she thought, given the circumstances. She lay down on her futon again.

There, the same sound again. Still faint, but seemingly closer this time. Kaoru sat up. That definitely hadn't been her restless mind playing tricks with her, she was certain of it. She listened attentively, her whole body tensing as she waited. She dared make any sound, and her hands grabbed her bed sheet before she even realized she was doing so. She tried to relax, but remained vigilant still.

The sound came again, very close. Something was wrong here, her instincts told her. It wasn't just her nervousness. Carefully, she put aside the bed sheets, rose, and walked to Megumi's bedside, while keeping an eye on the shoji. She could see nothing through it but the moonlight and shadows of pillars and trees and branches.

"Megumi," Kaoru whispered, shaking gently her maid's shoulder. "Wake up, Megumi."

Megumi groaned in protest, stirring, but not waking.

Kaoru shook her again. "Megumi," she whispered more urgently. Maybe she should have felt guilty pulling Megumi out of her sleep, but she cared not.

Megumi's eyes fluttered open tentatively, letting out a low mumble. "What is it, my lady?" she said.

Kaoru laid a finger on her own lips, shushing her maid. "Megumi," she said as quietly as she could, "do you hear anything?"

"Well yes, I hear you waking me up in the dead of the night."

"Not that! Here, be quiet."

They waited, both still. There was nothing to be heard outside.

"You are imagining things, my lady," Megumi said, her lids half-closed already. "Please, let me have my rest."

Kaoru sighed. "It isn't my imagination, Megumi."

"My lady—"

"I tell you it isn't—"

Kaoru heard the sound again, this time seemingly at her doorstep. She turned to look, but there was nothing out of the ordinary through the rice screens.

"You heard that, didn't you?" Kaoru asked.

"Yes, I heard," Megumi whispered. "Maybe just the servants. You are worrying for nothing, my lady."

"What are you saying," Kaoru protested. Her instincts couldn't be wrong. Her eyes roamed across the room, searching for her katana. It was on the other side, near the drawer. She cursed silently, something she never did, and began to crawl to it.

A small shadow appeared through the shoji. Kaoru eyed it, all her muscles ready to spring.

A meow.

A cat. Nothing more. Kaoru let out the breath she wasn't even aware of holding. She could have laughed then, but she didn't. She feared that it would be quite hysterical, if she let it out. She looked at Megumi. Her maid gave her a shrug, as if to say: see, I told you so.

A cat. Kaoru hadn't any cat in the house earlier. Maybe it was Katamari's pet? She couldn't envision Chou with a one. Or maybe it was just a stray cat.

"Now can I go back to sleep, my lady?" Megumi murmured, some bite in her tone. Her maid was always grumpy when you woke her like that.

"Yes, Megumi. Excuse me for waking you, it's just that I'm edgy."

"Try to get some rest, my lady," Megumi said, turning in her futon. "Good night."

Kaoru slipped beneath her blanket. "Good night, Megumi." She closed her eyes. Her body was tired, but her mind was much too excited. It had been like that for two nights in a row. She willed her mind blank. A vision of herself as lady Himura popped in her head. She might have been young, but she wasn't entirely ignorant of what happened between a man and a woman. She imagined her husband as a fat bald man, his greasy paws all over her body, in her most intimate places, taking advantage of her. And she would be utterly helpless to prevent it.

Never. She would kill herself before that could happen.

Calm yourself, she thought. Calm. She forced those unpleasant images out of her mind. All was silent again outside. Megumi was already sound asleep, it seemed. Kaoru was envious of her right now. Her maid always had that unerring ability to find sleep whatever the conditions. She wished she could do the same. Minutes passed, or at least she thought it was minutes, but to her it seemed like hours. Maybe she could count sheep? She'd heard it could work against insomnia, but it sounded too boring to try.

The shoji opened.

At first, she thought that maybe Katamari had come to check on her. Not an unusual thing to do. Servants did that all the time, back in her family estate, to see if her blanket was correctly put, if the chamber was too cold or too hot, or any other little detail. She turned in her futon to take a look at the room's entrance.

And saw several men, clad in black ninja outfits, outlined against the moon. Thieves? The only thing that saved her was the all too recognizable glint of a blade in the moonlight. She rolled out of her futon, by pure instinct. Just in time. A dagger was already buried to the hilt in the mattress where she'd been.

"Wake up, Megumi!" she shouted. She scrambled towards her katana. Behind her, she could hear the men rush after her.

A step, two steps. Her katana was at arm's range. She lunged towards it, grabbing her weapon, and immediately rolled on her back. A blade passed less than an inch from her head, taking with it wisps of hairs, its sound louder than that of a windmill in her ear. There were three of them. No, four. She drew her katana. A second blade was already coming down on her.

She blocked it with her blade half-drawn. Her weapon vibrated wildly in her hand under the strength of the attack. She was at great disadvantage, lying on the tatami the way she was. Another blade descended. She blocked it again, her katana fully out of its scabbard this time.

Kaoru gritted her teeth. She wouldn't last long like that. Taking aim of the closest assailant's ankle, she kicked it as strongly as she could. She heard a muted groan above her. She immediately rolled on the side, taking advantage of her aggressor's temporary loss of concentration, and was able to get on her knees before another man was on her. She defended, but this time the attack came so fast she almost missed it. The assailant's blade slid against hers, the contact louder than a serpent's hiss, and only her katana's guard stopped it. Even so, it was all she could to contain the attack, her arms quivering against the man's strength.

Something came back to her mind, a move she'd seen Shinta pull off on the road. She swung the scabbard still in her left hand against the man's knee. She took him by surprise, and could distinctly hear bones cracking. The sound gave her a savage satisfaction. Her mind blank save for the need of battle, she thrust into the man's body. Felt her sword slip between ribs. He slumped down, his limbs lifeless, his katana falling on the floor. This one wouldn't be a problem anymore.

She rose to her feet, panting, sweat coming on her brow. She was aware of her state, her nightgown very loose about her, but decency was the last thing on her mind right now.

"Chou!" she screamed. "Where are you, Chou?" Where was he? She held her katana in front of her with her two hands, defying the remaining three men.

Her raised blade and the sight of their companion sprawling on the ground must have made them hesitate, for they circled her carefully. All of them were after her, she saw. None of them were preoccupied with Megumi, who was only beginning to stir awake. The men were assassins, she realized. Her hands trembled unconsciously before she could steady them. They must have been sent here to kill her. She wondered briefly who could have sent them, but she discarded that thought. It would wait for later.

She observed the three of them, noting the fluid way they moved on the tatami, so stealthy in their dark clothing they were almost one with the surrounding shadows, their faces hidden save for smalls opening for their eyes, and even those were unreadable in the dark. She was confident in her skills, but against three trained killers, she knew it was only a matter of time before she succumbed, if no help were to come. She was young yet, and she didn't want to die. What was Chou doing? All she could do was to buy time, and to wait for the swordsman to come to her aid. And pray that he would be sufficient to the task.

"Chou," she called again. No answer. "Chou!" Surely a swordsman like him would be able to sense the danger and the fighting going on, to say nothing of the sounds of swords clashing? She watched the three men spread around her.

"My lady!" Megumi shouted, fully awake now, taking in the scene before her. Her lids dilated with disbelief, and fear.

One of the men lunged forwards, the shortest one, a faint glint traveling the length of his blade as he thrust towards Kaoru. She turned it away with her blade. How, she didn't know. Her body was reacting of its own, all her father's training coming back to her. But it didn't matter. As the man's body came nearer, carried by its momentum, she saw an opening. Her katana still against his, she brought the hilt forward, and hit the man hard on his jaw.

But she didn't have the time to savor this small victory. She heard at the last moment another assassin come at her behind her back, and twisted her body in extremis. Still the blade grazed her, and she felt an intense pain burn her left flank. She winced.

"My lady!" Megumi called again.

The third killer, a silhouette slightly bulkier than the others, was coming at her fast, but her maid flung herself to the man's back, stopping him in his tracks. He grunted, and elbowed Megumi off his back. Her maid fell against the wall, letting out a small scream.

"Megumi!" Kaoru said. She raged to punish the man for hitting Megumi, but she had her hands full already. She was trading sword-blows with an assassin, and losing ground, while the man she'd hit in the jaw was recovering. The situation looked desperate.

The third man came again at her. The strength of the onslaught threw her against the wall. Panic was rising in her now. "Chou!" she called on top of her lungs.

"My lady, you must flee!" Megumi shouted. She flung herself on the bulky assassin again. "Flee!"

"Get off me, little pest," the killer said, his voice managing to be hoarse and shrill at the same time.

The man reached an arm behind him, grabbed her maid. And slashed. Megumi screamed. The sound resonated in the night air. Kaoru watched in horror as the man tossed Megumi away like a ragged doll, a gash visible on Megumi's body even in the dim moonlight. And she had been entirely powerless to defend her maid, her friend.

"Flee," Megumi said once more, her voice very weak this time. So faint.

Flee. Her dream came back to Kaoru. Flee, her mother had said. Flee. "No," she whispered, but in truth she had no idea what she was saying anymore. "No!" Her mind was in turmoil. She couldn't think.

The shorter man slashed at her, but she couldn't see clearly, couldn't focus. She raised her katana to protect herself, but it was no use. She felt something sharp bite into her arm. A yelp. She realized it was her own. The sudden pain made her let go of her weapon.

"Flee," her maid said, and somehow she had her mother's voice, her mother's face. Flee.

Chou wasn't going to come to help her, she understood, at least not in time. Nobody was going to come. It was all hopeless. Kaoru's valid arm shot towards the shorter man's windpipe, as if it had a life of its own. It surprised the assassin. It gave her an opening. Flee.

She fled. She didn't even notice her own tears until some time later.

They'd come across three travelers earlier, on the road, not far from Kyoto's gates. A peculiar bunch. A blind man, and a broomhead. The last one looked like a woman, but Kenshin'd been sure it was a man. The blind one had been the lady Kaoru's escort to the mountain house, Saitou'd said later. Kenshin'd asked Soujiro if he knew the man, but Soujiro had denied. Never saw him with Houji, Soujiro said. With a smile, of course, but there had been a slight hesitation in it. Kenshin decided to keep a closer eye on Soujiro. He might be overly paranoid, but the boy's reason for following him was entirely unclear, after all.

They made good pace on the mountain road. Soujiro was humming besides him, while Saitou remained silent. The moon was dull behind wisps of clouds.

"We're close," Saitou announced.

A scream suddenly pierced through the night, close by. That of a woman. Kenshin tensed.

"Let's hurry," he said, starting to run. The house came into view.

Had been that lady Kaoru's scream? He couldn't tell, but he felt panic rising nevertheless. Something was definitely afoot, and there was no other habitation that he could see. He prayed he wouldn't be too late. Kenshin saw someone—a woman—run out of the house, three figures hot on her steps. He couldn't see who the woman was, or who her pursuers were. He swore.

"You two check the house," he said. With that he dashed towards the woman, before Saitou could protest.

Kaoru ran, and ran, as fast as she could, through the dark. What had been a lovely garden before seemed more and more like a dreary graveyard where trees, stones, or bushes all stood dead. Flee. Gravels stung the sole of her naked feet, to say nothing of the cold, and the odd branches whipped against her shoulders as she passed them by, stirring sharp burn in her wounded arm. But she was oddly insensitive to all this, and the pain seemed to come from a place far away. She ran, her chest heaving, her own ragged breaths sounding strangely alien in her ears. Flee. Dimly she was aware of footsteps following her, boots thumping the ground with military precision. They were gaining ground.

Left, between two naked cherry trees. The cobblestones were slippery and chilly, and her feet landed on them with the small clicks of gravels that had stuck in her soles against the polished stones. She could hardly anything, but she went on. The sky overhead would have been indiscernible from the dark trees, she realized, if not for the stars. Flee. Sweat covered her body, despite the cold.

She came upon the pond, small ripples marring the surface. She ran alongside it, followed its gentle curve. She heard loud noise of water splashing behind her. One of the men must have taken a shortcut through the shallow pond. She wanted to run faster, but couldn't find the sparkle of energy to do it. She plunged into the bushes, the thin branches tearing her nightdress, lashing her skin.

Her feet met some resistance. A root, probably, that she hadn't seen, she thought inconsequentially as she fell with a small yawp. Her body landed clumsily on the dirty soil. She tried to crawl back on her feet, but something clamped on her ankles. A pair of hands. She looked behind her back. And saw a shadow, then two, then three, ghastly ghosts against the night's somber cloth, looming tall over her. So very tall. A naked blade rose over her, gleaming, a lone lodestone of light amidst the darkness.

Kaoru became conscious of trembling, of her heart pounding so hard in her ears. She'd somehow suppressed her fear earlier, but now it rushing in her body, suddenly submerging her. Someone save me, she pleaded silently with the energy of desperation. Kaoru saw the sword dive down. Someone, anyone. She shut her eyes tight, waiting for the sword to slash into her flesh.

It didn't come. Instead, she heard a clang, followed by a grunt, and the characteristic sound of a sword cutting through the air. And then, warm liquid landing on her skin. She opened her lids.

Saw a bright-haired man, standing back to her. Not one of her attackers. Where were they? She sat up slightly, glanced around. Three bodies lay on the ground in a pool of blood.

The man turned to her, sheathing his katana. Knelt in front of her. She didn't recognize him immediately, in her daze. Only heard his words. "I am here," he was saying. "You have nothing to fear now. I'm here."

She looked at his face, not daring to breath, transfixed. He didn't seem to mean harm. He'd killed her assailants, she understood, saved her. She took in his ruffled hair, his gilded eyes fading into a darker color, his blood-tainted cheek, his blood-smeared hand. She thought she had never seen anything so beautiful before. A dam seemed to break in her. Gratitude welled in her chest, and with in its wake, grief. Tears came unbidden to her. She was crying, she realized.

"It's all right," the man said again. "It's me, Shinta. You are safe now, my lady."

Shinta. Shinta was here. Her body jerked uncontrollably with sobs. She threw herself against his chest. "Shinta. You came, Shinta."

His arms came around her, pulling her closer, gently. "Shh," he said. "Shh."

Kaoru only cried harder. She couldn't stop herself. Her emotions were like a torrent, washing all over her. "I was so afraid," she said between sobs. "So afraid. They—They were going to kill me."

"No one will harm you," Shinta said. "I will protect you."

"I—I killed a man tonight. And—Megumi. They killed her. They—" Megumi. She couldn't continue anymore.

Shinta's hands caressed her hair, as if she was a baby. "Shh. Don't say anything. Just cry. It'll make you feel better. Just cry."

So she cried, pouring out all the tears she had in her body, and more, her nose against his chest, for a long, long time. Overhead the moon wasn't young anymore.