AN- Sorry it took me this long to write this chapter. It took me forever to be able to write down these ideas. I would like to thank Mariana for helping me to come up with the idea to this story. And for boosting me up to write this chapter. I would also like to thank all of you for your wonderful reviews, especially the long and heart touched review I ever received from Zerianyu. I hope you like this chapter. Any comments, questions, ideas will be accepted, but please no flames because I ma sensitive when it comes to this story.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin series. I wish I did but I don't. : (

VERY IMPORTANT: I'm deciding whether I should write a lemon in the next chapter but I don't know. You see I want your opinions before I decide writing it. If you like me to write a lemon between Battousai and Kaoru please leave your vote in your review. I don't want to have to get a writer's block from any one of you because you didn't like that idea, so please do tell me what you think. I already got a vote from Princess Destiny. Thanks I really appreciate it!

Piercing Answers

Chapter Ten

"What?" was all Kaoru could say. Everything happened so fast. At first she provoked him to tell her the truth, and then the next; he spoke of his pain to her.

"You heard what I said. Now tell me what you think of me Kaoru?" demanded Battousai as he held her firmly against the tree. His hard body leaned against her soft body, his hot breath sent tickling sensations in Kaoru's body, and however, the cold look in Battousai's eyes set her mind straight. "You knew who I was, yet you let me stay in your home. You knew about my reputation, yet you never showed so much fear, as people normally would. Why?"

Kaoru hesitated for a moment. How could she tell him the real truth after what he told her? How can she explain herself in such a mannerly way where she couldn't hurt both him and herself? She vowed to never fall in love after what she saw her mother went through. She vowed to live her life in such a way where she can help people, despite her reputation, yet here she was, a young woman breaking all her vows, all the rules she set from the beginning. Everything was going fine until he showed his face in the dojo.

"What do you want to hear? You want to hear the reason why I helped you was because I feared you were going to take my life? You want to hear about my fears, about my pains whenever your name comes into my mind? I'm not like other people. The real truth is, the reason I took you in that night, was mainly because that night I saw you as a man in need. You needed help and there was no one to help you. I couldn't leave you out there to die. I wouldn't leave you out there to die, after all I made a vow to help everyone I can in this lifetime," whispered Kaoru. She turned her head away from him. She couldn't stand to look into his fierce amber eyes. She didn't want to see his pain any longer. Instead she wanted to go home, and pretend none of this ever happened. If she had to live with the pain of love in her heart, she was willing to live with it.

Battousai let Kaoru go slowly and turned away from her. He knew her pain, but for whom did she feel the pain? Was it possible that Kaoru fell in love with him as he did with her? Can it be possible that a woman like her will love such a blood stained man like him? He admitted to himself, that Kaoru was not innocent woman as he thought from the beginning. She lived her life filled with pain, sorrow. She struggled to survive in such a cruel world, and she did a very good job doing so. "It's rather funny. I thought the reason why you let me stay with you from that night on was mainly because you fell in love with me."

"What?" Kaoru stepped away from him. Her sapphire eyes widened in shock at his confession, however he was not done speaking as yet.

"I guess I was wrong. I stayed with you Kaoru hoping to hide my identity from this world; instead I ended up learning so much about life from living with you. You see, you reminded me what life is, why we live it, and the greatness about it Kaoru. I owe everything to you, for giving me such a precious gift called realization."

"I don't see how I did that."

"Living in your world, seeing how you struggle, it all reminded me how I lived life once upon a time and how I lost it all within moments."

Kaoru couldn't take any possible confessions longer. She just wanted to sit down. She wanted to take a break, but then she wanted to listen to Battousai. She wanted to know so much about his past, the mysterious life he carried. "Tell me what happened," she found her herself saying.

"It happened a long time ago, when my family was alive. They were everything to me. We were rich. My father was a politician. People believed he was one of the men who could bring along the calm, a new error to them. They were right. My father was ambitious, an outright leader who never backed down. He held so much courage, so much pride. He said he held that because of my mother. Since she supported him and loved him so much, he was able to provide not only for her, but for the whole of his country as well," said Battousai. He walked to a large rock and sat down on it. He brought one knee up, his other leg stretched out. He removed his belt, which held his katana, then put it against his shoulders. He looked up at Kaoru as he continued to speak.

"Then it all happened mid-day. My mother spoke to me about being engaged to a high noble's daughter. At first I rebelled. I didn't want to get married. The idea of getting married was something I couldn't bare, but after being convinced from my younger siblings, I finally agreed. My family arranged for me to meet the girl, but my family wouldn't let me go by myself to meet her. They insisted to come with me. I finally agreed. Little did I know I was going to regret ever doing that action."

Kaoru slowly walked up to him. As he continued to talk about his past she could see the sadness his eyes held. For the first time since she had known him, she saw feelings in his eyes for another like his family. She did see some feelings for her in his eyes, however she couldn't determine whether it was from lust of love.

"During the day while we all were riding in the middle of the forest. We were half way to reaching our destination, when we were attacked by a group of ninjas. My father did the best as he could to defend us, but he was outnumbered. Then I didn't know how to fight. I didn't even know how to handle a sword. I was just a little boy who for the first time was experiencing blood shed. I hated myself. I pitied myself for being helpless. Right before my eyes, one after another, my family lives were taken from me. All within moments they died, all for the idea of money. My family's blood was the first blood to ever stain these hands." Battousai looked at his hands with the look as if they were poisoned.

"They received no money. I was the only soul survivor to survive the encounter. Instead of them taking my life as they should have, they auctioned me off in a market as a slave. It was then a man by the name of Hiko Seijuro took me in. I considered him my master, but a mentor, as well as both a father and a friend. He taught me everything I needed to learn to live on my own. He even taught me his swordsmanship called Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu. That shaped me into a man. I used his swordsmanship to fight in the Revolution, hoping to bring peace. I worked as a Hitokiri in other words known as a shadow assassin. I only lived for one purpose. That was to avenge my parent's death. I needed, I lived to find those men who took the lives of my family, and made me who I am today."

Kaoru felt tears welled up in her sapphire eyes. She never thought Battousai suffered so much in his life. From losing his family, to living so long with vengeance for his family's death, made him who he truly was, an assassin. Yes he killed people, but only to bring peace. Yes he may have killed people and showed no emotions on the inside, but inside he was human. And there was only one person who could bring out the humanity in him, his wife.

"I searched day and night for the men who took my family's lives. I looked for them by the scent of their blood. One night I smelled their blood nearby, and found out it came from a mansion. My mind perfectly astray from the job of planning, just made me go inside there to take my revenge for my family, however that was the night that changed me forever. I saw her. She was the only woman, I ever raised my blade to, and could not find the strength to kill her. There was something about her eyes, something about her aura. I didn't know why then, but I felt some weird connection to her, something unexplainable. Instead of finding the courage to kill her, I kidnapped her and took her into the inn I was staying in. At first we started off at the wrong turns. We both hated each other. She irritated me, drove me crazy. Outside she was maybe good looking, but inside she was like fire. Even thought she acted serene, grace like in her own way, I knew she hid something else. But that couldn't stop me from falling in love with her. Eventually I gave her my heart to her keeping. She acted weird, funny, like she was hiding something from me. Other men warned me to stay away from her. I never listened. Then one day the inn got raided and I had to move her to a safe place. We moved to a house on the mountains due to my boss's order, on top of that to act normal and not look suspicious, we got married. Little did I know her love for me would only bring more death."

How could love bring more death? Kaoru had so many questions she wanted to ask him, but she remained quiet as possible. She laid her hand on his shoulder, mainly in a gesture to comfort him, to let him know he wasn't alone. She waited patiently, silently for him to continue.

"After a few months of our marriage, we went to a new inn on my boss's order. I was needed again. There were many signs that the long war was ending. I wanted to be home with my wife, to spend all my free time with her. Every day and every night was devoted to her. I loved her truly with all my heart. However, she began to act different when we moved to the new inn. She started hearing things and seeing things no one else did. She became reclusive, became quieter, until she fell very ill. The doctor I brought to her told me to keep her in bed, and told me to watch over her. My endless time spent with her began defoliating. I spent most of my time worrying about her well-being. It killed me to see her in so much pain. She spoke words I didn't understand. She told me something about murders, murders in Tokyo. I never understood what she meant. I knew murders happened everywhere after all it was the time of the Revolution, but there was something that called out to her when she said the word murder. She looked as though as if she was possessed. The only thing I could do was go into the futon with her and wrap my arms around her."

'Murders,' Kaoru thought. The only murders that ever happened in Tokyo were parents dying, like her father and mother. Yahiko's father and mother were next victims. A long while ago, a young girl by the name of Tsubame lost her family as well. Those murders that took place in Tokyo all happened under assassinations. Battousai was behind all those, or was he? But then again who killed Yahiko parents? Yahiko talked about three men killing his parents. Yahiko was the only soul survivor just like Battousai was.

"One night I woke up in my futon not to find her there. She disappeared, vanished without a trace. I ran outside that whole night with a group of men behind me. We looked for her everywhere within the inn and outside the inn. Finally when I decided to give up when one of the men found her, but he found her dead."

"What?" Kaoru gasped in shock. She knew Battousai's wife died, but she wasn't expected for this information. How did Battousai kill her if she disappeared into the night?

"Up till today no one knows how she truly died. They say because she was driven to a point of insanity that she threw herself off the inn's tower."

"What is it you believe Battousai?

"What I truly believe Kaoru is that Tomoe didn't commit suicide. She was murdered."

Kaoru got up the instant he finished his last lines. His last words left a shiver and goose bumps throughout her whole body. The way that Battousai described his wife gave her the creeps. How did his wife go crazy after she spent some happy months with him? It all didn't make sense. The way he told his story, every bit of information was relevant, but then Kaoru felt like they were some facts he was purposely not saying. For example Kaoru wanted to know what happened to the men after he took his wife away. Didn't they ever try to get her back? He never mentioned anything about that. Then there were the illusions his wife was able to see what others couldn't see. How can that be explained? The missing link had to do with the new inn Battousai moved in his wife into.

"Battousai, can I ask you two questions? Now that you told me everything I can see why you became what you are, and why you chose your path," replied Kaoru carefully, as she struggled to find the right words to tell him.

"What is it you want to know?" asked Battousai. His blood red bangs covered his amber eyes. Kaoru knew he mainly did that to hide his emotions.

"What was your wife'sfull name before marriage? Why did you find her to be so secretive before you ever got married to her?" asked Kaoru. She slumped against the tree, and closed her eyes as she waited for the answer.

At first Battousai hesitated. He didn't want to answer her questions, but then again she knew so much already.

"Her name was Tomoe Yukishiro and she was a member of the Shinsengumi."