Thought I had forgotten it huh? School and work as kept me really busy but I've had this chapter planned out for a while. Sorry for taking so long to update. Thanks to Alex, XxSilentDreamerxX, holly, sweety, kawaii, Razorblade Kiss,and Antoinette from for the reviews and everyone who reviewed from I rreally apperciate when people take the time to review. I am already half way finished with the next chapter as well so the next update will come sooner.

Her head still throbbed with pain when she slowly regained consciousness. A moment of confusion was all she allowed herself before the harsh sounds of battle brought her back to reality. Slowly forcing her eyes open, her blurry vision allowed her to see two people engage in a fight and it was obvious which one was winning. One of them was much smaller than the other and he seemed to be exerting a lot more energy than the other but wasn't able to land even a single blow.

Her eyes widened when she was able to identify the two fighters. They were Monkusai and...Yahiko! The young boy had already obviously taken a beating and was covered in black and blue bruises. He held his wooden sword, technically her wooden sword, with only his left hand and his right hung uselessly by his side. Strangely enough the few seconds it took Kaoru to get up, Monkusai didn't even try to hit Yahiko.

"St...Sto....Stop it Yahiko," Kaoru said using all her strength. She was so tired. She wanted to just curl up and take a long nap and her body agreed fully.

"Kaoru," the brown-haired boy yelled with obvious happiness in his eyes. He had been worried about his surrogate sister and hd feared he had escaped too late to safe her. Well he planned on saving her...

"How touching.Now you two get to see each other one last time before you die. Now move boy. Let me finished what I started," Monkusai said pushing Yahiko out of the way. He then turned to face Kaoru before raising his sword above his head. "Now watch a true warrior in action."

"You're not a true warrior," Kaoru whispered out.

"What did you say?"

"You're not a warrior. A true fighter fights with noble intentions and they don't only fight battles which they know they'll when. Tell me, who in your life has taught you that fighting a young child and an injured girl is actually fighting?"

"Hey I can fight very w..." Yahiko tried to interject from his place on the floor from which he was still gathering his strength to rise from.

"My intentions are noble. My father must be avenged. Your family must pay," Monkusai said but with less force than his other ouotburst.

"Noble is saving not killing. I truely apologize for the death of yor father and can truthfully say that my father regreted it for the rest of his life but shouldn't you try to make your life as honorable as you can? Isn't that the greatest gift a child can give their parents, honor?"

"You will die now before you sway my judgement."

"If it can be swayed then is it the right one," Kaoru said getting desperate.

Without bothering to answer he swung his sword in a downward ark. Yahikos yell of "No" could be heard from far away. Kaoru kept her eyes open, determined to meet her death with pride.

"Megumi. Megumi, get out here. We have trouble," a panicked Sano yelled running into the dojo.

"We have trouble in here too," she said stated softly when Sano finally located her in Kaoru's bedroom. He looked down to see the empty pallet and immediately thought the worst.

"What happened? Where is she?" he asked the still silent Megumi.

"If I knew where she was do you think I would be sitting here. I came in here to check on her and she was gone. Wait, what was your problem?"

"Kenshin has been in some trouble. He beat up a lot of men and now he knows where Monkusai is. He went after him and I know he's going to do something he's going to regret."

"Him and us both. Do you know where that man is staying?"

"No. What do we do now?"

Neither of them having an answer, they both just looked to one another in dispair.

It happened so fast that she heard the cling of metal against metal before she saw the flaming red hair of the ruriouni. She was so grateful to be saved that she momentraily forgot about the Battousai problem but when she saw Kenshin attack Monkusai she began to worry.

To her their swords appeared to be streaks of light but Kenshin seemed to be pushing Monkusai backward. Soon he had him backed into a corner and then he sent Monkusai's sword spining through the air. It landed only a few feet away, the blade sticking into the ground.

Kenshin, with his blade to the large man's throat, turned to make sure Kaoru was okay. She feared looking into those normally deep eyes and seeing the shallow gold which was a trade mark of Kenshin's darker side. She knew that of Kenshin looked back at her with the eyes of the Battousai they had very little hope of getting him back.

When she could finally see his eyes she grasped in shock.

Okay this is it. I think the next chapter may be the last chapter. Do you think it should be? Please take the time to review this and thanks to all those who will.