'I guess it's not so bad' Koji thought to herself. Her chore regiment encompassed the majority of the day, but it was nothing compared to what she had to put up with back home. Making and serving the meals, keeping the floors clean, doing the laundry, airing out the linens, and making sure the dishes were cleaned was simple enough. There was one problem...she'd never skinned a fish before.

There it was in all its scaled glory staring back at her with its mouth hanging open. It was as if it was saying: "Why do you want to eat me? What'd I ever do to you?"

Koji was never very fond of fish. In fact, she loathed the thought of ever letting a morsel pass her lips, but she knew while she was in this world; it was either this or nothing but rice. While rice was more appetizing, it was hardly filling. She sighed to herself before steeling herself from the one puppy-eye the fish was able to give her. She instead concentrated on the movements Kaoru had shown her earlier.

'I REALLY hate fish' she thought again, as the scales rained through the air. The fish was still quite fresh, having been caught recently in the river by Kenshin, but she could already imagine the smell of dead fish permeating the air. Koji never could understand how the Japanese could stand the smell of rotting fish.

'To each their own I suppose...but I REALLY hate fish'

The sun was beginning to set, warming her back as she sat hunched over her work. Other than her chores, Koji spent her few hours to herself practicing her ninjutsu. It was quite the entertainment when the other occupants of the dojo witnessed her running through her physical conditioning movements.

They had found it quite comical, until she challenged Sanosuke to a minor spar. Koji'd warned him not to take it easy on her...and despite her warning, it was obvious he was holding back. It was a lesson he learned quite thoroughly when she had him laid out in under thirty seconds. Needless to say, when he called for a rematch; he went all out, even if it didn't change the outcome. Sanosuke still found himself incapacitated in under a minute.

'Just imagine if I'd taken the fight seriously! He wouldn't have lasted two seconds!'

Koji picked at her borrowed Kimono. She wasn't used to such constricting clothes, especially ones in such bright colors. Kaoru thought, rather deviously in Koji's opinion, that she looked rather fetching in bright pink, and much to the chagrin of Koji proceeded to ensure that she had no other options left available.

'Satanic twit hid my clothes! I've looked everywhere and still can't find them! At least Kenshin lent me a pair of hakamas to practice in!'

Koji finished preparing the fish and set them to cook. Kaoru insisted she aid in making the rice, much to the chagrin of the other occupants of the dojo. Apparently her culinary skills were legendary in their lack of appeasement...at least among those who had tasted her morsels before. Koji hadn't suffered through a meal of Kaoru's yet and so had no prior knowledge of the dangers she was subjecting herself (and the others) to.

After the meal...Koji did ALL the cooking from that day forth. It had been voted on, decided on, and set as a new house rule. Koji didn't even have a choice in the matter, and Kaoru wasn't even allowed to vote. Koji tried to explain that she wasn't sure how long she'd be there, but she was easily ignored due to the satisfaction the others had in their decision.

Oh she'd change that idea, with tooth and nail if she had to. She was not going to remain their cook! Koji had other places to be, and she needed to find a way home! Not only that, but if she was correct, there were two other people she had to locate! Like hell she was going to be the cook!

(Next day)

Koji rested on the veranda after a nice long workout. When she'd started teaching herself ninjutsu, she never imagined that it would ever be put to practical use. At first, Koji attended a regular Karate dojo, but when her mother died; her father refused to continue to pay the dues, ending her supervised learning. Koji refused to end it there though, and continued privately on her own. The library offered a few old ninjutsu books to her gratification and after reading through them lightly decided to apply the techniques to what she already knew.

She was grateful for not giving up her quest in learning to fight efficiently. After only a few days here, Koji knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they'd come in handy. (Provided she wasn't overtaken while concussed like before.) With all the disgruntled samurai running loose, and the condition of the government, confrontation was a given. Especially since she was now associated with Himura. Apparently trouble followed him at all turns (if the stories were to be taken true). At least with her unarmed conditioning, she might stand a chance against a low level swordsman, or (if her spar with Sano was any gauge) a high level street-brawler.

Koji sighed. She still had no idea what it was she was supposed to be doing here. The oracle (what she'd decided to call the mysterious voice from the room of doors) said that she was supposed to find her purpose in order to find her way home, but not only that, somewhere in all this was that annoying girl Catse. Whether in this world or another, Koji had to find her, and ensure that they BOTH made it home in one piece. True, Catse was a decent fighter but, if past experiences were anything to judge by, not too bright. It would take both brain and brawn to successfully find their way home. That was obvious when they were given weapons at the very beginning.

If assumptions were correct, there was a key or item that would open the door to either the next world or to her home. Problem was, how would she recognize it? It would be too much to hope that it would be a glowing oddity that held a sign emblazoned with the word 'KEY' in emboldened letters.

'At least for Catse anyways. I doubt she'd find it if it was any more subtle.'

Koji was driven out of her contemplations by an approaching Kaoru. She held two rice buckets; obviously empty, with the way she was swinging them about haphazardly juxtapose with her feet.

"Koji! I have a favor to ask." She said in what was supposed to be a sweet 'sing-song' voice. "I know this guy who's having a sale on rice in town and I need you to go get some. We're almost out."

"Um...ok" Koji agreed.

"Normally I wouldn't need to go for more rice so soon but..." Kaoru continued, "since I'm nice enough to cater to free loaders..."She glared at an unresponsive Sanosuke, "I'm needing a bit more than usual."

"Sure I'll go." Koji agreed again, feeling that maybe Kaoru was trying to play on her sympathy's or something, almost as if Koji had told her no the first time. But Koji shrugged it off as nothing and stood.

"Oh, and take Kenshin with you!" Kaoru advised as she tossed to buckets to Koji who managed to miraculously catch them before they hit the ground.

(At the market)

When in a public setting it is customary for a woman with a male escort to walk a few paces behind him. Koji was an exception to the rule. In her opinion, she didn't need an escort and so therefore, proceeded to walk abreast of Kenshin. This caused her to receive quite a few stares and disapproving glares from the townsfolk.

'I'll wear a damn PINK kimono, I'll have my hair up in this ridiculous pony-tail with these eye-sore ribbons, I'll do ALL the cooking and cleaning, but I REFUSE to walk behind someone just because they're a male!'

Koji's 'I-AM-WOMAN-HEAR-ME-ROAR' mentality was set into overdrive. Let her be glared at, she didn't care. It obviously made Kenshin nervous, but Koji wasn't going to back down just because he was uncomfortable. Hell SHE was uncomfortable. It was hot, she was in a PINK dress, there were ribbons in her hair, and people were giving her ugly looks. Let them look; she'd pound the first person who said a thing.

'Great, now I'm beginning to sound like Catse!'

Both gave a collective sigh of relief when they reached the specified rice peddler.He was an elderly man with deep laugh lines adorning his face. His stall was one of the few who managed to find a place with shade, meaning he'd been set up since dawn. This observation prompted Koji to come to the conclusion that he took his rice seriously, and so therefore so should she. It was only polite...even if she wasn't in a very polite mood to begin with.

After a bit of haggling, Koji managed to get the rice for less than the discounted price Kaoru was so happy about. All it took was a bit of finess, and to speak as if the rice was food provided by the gods and therefore deserved reverence, which apparently the peddler believed wholeheartedly.

On the way back to the dojo (rice in tow) Koji came upon a strange sight. There were three men dressed completely in black, wearing facemasks, and swords strapped to their backs; blocking their path. This portion of the road was completely deserted since it was out of the way of the market. If Koji's hunch was correct, this was some sort of ambush, and so therefore, it would be in Kenshin's favor since there weren't any innocents to be caught up in the upcoming fray.

Without warning, the middle masked man threw three throwing stars in their direction.

Kenshin drew his sword and deflected them with ease, but it was only a distraction. The other two leapt forward and drew their swords and commenced an attack.

Kenshin defended himself to the best of his ability, but against two very skilled swordsmen, he was having a rough time.

Koji integrated herself into the fray by attacking one of the men after Kenshin. His back was to her, so she swiftly delivered a well placed chop to the pressure point beside his neck. He fell unconscious.

Deciding that these guys were serious, and Kenshin needed help with the two others, she set her rice down gently. If they were going to be so serious, so would she.

As soon as the rice was safe, Koji looked up in time to dodge a kunai that whizzed past her head, millimeters from her face.

'That was close!'

"Koji-dono, run to the dojo and get Sano!" Kenshin ordered.

"That would not be wise Kenshin-san, I can't leave you with two opponents. I will help where I can."

"Don't! They'll kill you! I can handle them! GO!"

"I can promise you Kenshin-san, they won't lay a finger 'or kunai' on me."

Ignoring any other protests Kenshin might have made, Koji engaged battle with one of the remaining, turning it into a one on one fight. Koji picked up one of the deflected kunai from the ground and began using it to parry the sword attacks from her opponent. When she saw an opening she used it to deliver a spinning heel kick to his head. As soon as he fell, the last remaining threw curry powder into Kenshin's face. Taking advantage of his blindness, he grabbed Kenshin's sword and sheath and disappeared around the corner of a building.

Koji wanted dearly to chase after him, but couldn't leave Kenshin in his state of temporary blindness. Though she'd never really seen one before, Koji knew those guys were ninja. When she turned around again to assess the two bodies, she found that they had disappeared. Upon closer inspection, though, she found a small pendant the size of a quarter. It had a dragon and tiger in a death-lock etched into it.

'A clue.'