Chapter 4: The Collaborators

Kaoru was relieved. So far, so good. Her plan was going fairly smoothly.

"Try to stay out of trouble, kid," Kenshin's voice came softly.

"Kid?" She questioned, turning around and looking into his beautiful face. "Don't call me a kid," She teased. Now she felt like Yahiko, and had he known it was her, he would have been flipping out about how she used to mess with him.

"Compared to someone like sessha, you are a kid," Kenshin said kindly, a bit of chuckle in his voice… and yet… his eyes were so poignant and empty, unlike the way they used to be. He rustled her short hair with his hand and laughed a bit. "You're strong minded. It's a good thing to have, but you'd better keep your place if you don't want to be pummeled."

She blushed and smiled. Hopefully her feelings for him wouldn't give her away. Then again, even some men had to have wanted him. He was gorgeous!

"I'll try to behave," She said, trailing him as he walked away. It was better to stay close to the good people, she decided, as not to be pummeled to death.

Then all too suddenly, the crowd shifted, and she tripped and fell over. When she raised her head, Kenshin seemed to have vanished. "K-Ken--- I mean, Himura, sir?" She asked, looking around fearfully. Even in the gathering, she was beginning to feel incredibly alone.

Speaking of the bunch, every person had hushed to an awed silence. As she got up and dusted herself off, a man passed her, sitting on a white stallion. He was thin with limp brown hair that was pulled up on the top of his head and had a few strands hanging in his eyes. His eyes were a bright lime green, an unusual color in Japan. He dressed in a light green gi that practically hung on his frame and brown hakama. There was a scar across the bridge of his nose and a confident smile across his face. In his belt, there were two swords.

"That's him," One of the men in front of her whispered.

"Who?" She asked, butting in between the two conversing.

"Go away, you little brat!" The man complained, pushing her. In reaction, she bumped into someone else who had about the same response. She was shoved around for a few seconds until one wrong dodge sent her crashing into the street.

"What in the-" A voice said.

As she looked up, she saw the man, struggling to keep his horse from pummeling her.

"Um…" She choked, frozen. "Hello…"

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" The man yelled, swinging back the whip he used to control the horse.

"Ah!" She held up her arm in defense, but it never met with hers.

"Don't mind him, sir!" Another familiar voice said. She opened her eyes, and the first thing they met with was the symbol… Aku. "He's not too bright, you see!"

"Neither are you, but I don't go prancing around and talking about it," The man replied.

"Please, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sagara Sanosuke, and might I say, it's an HONOR to finally meet you, Shoji-sama."

Suck up, Kaoru thought, rolling her eyes.

"Get your little friend out of my way, Sagara, and make yourself useful."

"Yes, sir, Shoji-sama, sir!" He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her into the crowd until they were out of sight.

"Ah--- Hey, you're not Yahiko," Sanosuke said, staring at her.

"WHA! Of course not!" She pouted angrily. He wouldn't have helped her had he realized she was not who he thought she was.

"My friend Yahiko got lost from me and Kenshin in the crowd… I thought you were him. My bad," Sano said, smiling.

Poor Yahiko was probably getting bashed and beaten like she was, she betted. Only a short time ago, her clothing had been washed, and now they were dusty with the dirt from the ground.

"You should stay out of trouble, kid," Sanosuke said, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"I'm not a kid!" She yelled. Yes, Yahiko would indeed be having a field day with this one.

"Oh, my bad," Sano said, laughing. "No wonder I mistook you for Yahiko!"

Apparently, she wasn't the only one who noticed.

"So, who was that guy?" She asked, trailing Sano. Kenshin was nicer, but it was better than being alone.

"The one in command of all of us," Sano said, not looking too happy about it. "I hear he's really cruel, but he gets the job done. I worry he's going to be too tough on the little guys like you."

"I CAN TAKE IT!" She exclaimed, hands on her hips.

"You say that, but he led a lot in the revolution. He's slaughtered lots of people, and rumors have it that he enjoyed it."

"Nobody could possibly enjoy killing. Nobody's that bleak," Kaoru said, matter-of-factly. "Besides, Kenshin killed a lot of people too, but he's repenting for what he did!"

"How'd you know that?" Sano asked.

"Ah--" She said. Damn it! I just got here, and I've blown my cover. I'd better think of something quick! "I heard that he was the Battousai. People are always talking about it."

"Heh, yeah, I figured," Sano chuckled. "By the way, have we met before? You look familiar to-"

"NO! NO, WE'VE NEVER MET!" She yelped, waving her hands around nervously, then laughing.

"Hm," Sano said, half-interested. "You need to calm down. You're spazzing out."

"Just… nervous…" She muttered, blushing in embarrassment.

"Yeah, I suppose you feel a little out of place, huh," Sano said.

"You have NO idea," Kaoru responded wearily. It had been a rough day, and it wasn't even lunch time yet.

"Attention! Attention, all of you!" A police officer shouted above the crowd, drawing their attention to him.

The crowd silenced and stared at the officer.

"I can't see anything!" Kaoru whispered fiercely, jumping in an attempt to see over the crowd. Being 5'2" stunk. She hadn't grown an inch since she was eighteen.

Sanosuke grabbed her by the back of her shirt and lifted her into the air. He was snickering at her, but she ignored it.

The police officer was one she had seen before. He had been the one who was after Kenshin way back when and was also the one to inform him about Jin'e. It seemed he was always first in line to do these sorts of things… Maybe it was his job… Maybe he just enjoyed the attention.

"Everyone pay attention now!" He cried. "That's right!"

"Let me take it from here," A man interrupted, placing his hand on the officer's shoulder. It was Shoji. He was a lot taller than she thought he was, probably about Sanosuke's height, a bit shorter perhaps.

"Looks like they're getting down to business," Sano said.

"Yeah," Kaoru whispered back as if speaking would get her into trouble.

"Good day to you all," Shoji said, smiling smugly as seemed to be usual. "It's good to see that we've got a lot of young, strong-looking men here."

Kaoru laughed a little to herself.

"Anyway, let's get directly down to business," Shoji said, clasping his hands together. "Each of you will be leaving as soon as you are finished here. You'll give us the information we need in return for the weapons you'll be receiving."

"Information…?" Kaoru said aloud. "I wonder what he means by that."

"After the information and weapon exchange, you will be filed into one of three groups. This will designate where you will sleep in the temple and what time you'll be working. The teams you are in are each led by one of my right-hand men, and you'd best learn to obey them, should you not want to be killed."

The whole crowd whispered in surprise and worry.

"The first group is led by a dear helper who was glad to pitch in. "

Someone marched up behind Shoji, a smirk on his face. There was a cigarette burning out of the side of his mouth. Kaoru gasped in shock, and Sano growled.

"This, my friends," Shoji said, "is Hajime Saitou."

"Saitou!" Kaoru exclaimed.

"Damn him," Sano glared in direction.

"Do you want to say anything to them, Hajime-san?" Shoji asked.

Saitou removed his cigarette from his mouth and blew smoke in the air, then replaced it. "Hmm… No…" He shrugged, then stepped to the side.

"Cocky as always," Sano muttered.

"Jerk," Kaoru responded. "I'd sure hate to be on his team."

"You and me both, bro," Sano said.

"My next assistant was a bit wary to join us at first, but after some persuasion, he gladly chipped in," Shoji said as if it was some feat of bravery to convince someone to help. Of course, when she saw who it was, she understood why it had been so difficult.

He walked almost silently up behind him, his icy eyes fixated on the crowd as if they were bugs that he could squash without any trouble.

"This is Shinomori Aoshi."

"WHA--!" Kaoru exclaimed.

"This is getting interesting," Sanosuke said, wide eyed.

"Anything from you, Shinomori-san?" Shoji asked.

He stared at the crowd. "Stay out of my way…" was all he said, then stepped next to Saitou, not looking at all happy to see him. Then again, Aoshi was seldom happy to see anyone.

"Then, last, but certainly not least is Himura Battousai."

Kenshin was already standing behind him, and his eyes narrowed in Shoji's direction when he called him 'Battousai'. Apparently, he'd wanted to be called by his true name as to not be an object of fear.

"Go ahead and say something if you wish, Himura Battousai-san," Shoji said.

Ooh, I hate him! Kaoru said to herself about Shoji. How dare he do that to Kenshin!

Kenshin looked out around the crowd, took in a breath of air, and then let it out in a sigh. "We all… must leave today… We must leave behind the ones we care about… leave behind the ones we love… whether it be children, wives, friends, family, or lovers… We must all gather our strength, our courage, and our skills, and let it go… for our country needs us now… It needs us to stand up and fight… to protect the ones we must leave behind…We won't get to see their faces… their eyes… their smiles… We won't get to hear their laughs… their cries… We might even miss things we would never want to… but… as men… we must take up responsibility and leave them… We must stand up for Japan!"

The crowd who had listened in awe for his speech, began cheering wildly.

"Yeah! Tell them, Kenshin!" Sano cheered. "Huh?"

Kaoru sniffled, wiping her tears with her sleeves.

"Are you crying?" Sano asked, a giggle in his voice.

"I-- I can't help it, okay!" She moaned. "What he said was so sad… so true… I know what he means!"

Sano laughed. "Kenshin's really good at making speeches up off the bat…" His laughing faded and was replaced with a solemn smile. "He's pretty torn up about leaving Jou-chan behind though, so I guess I see where he's coming from."

"J-Jou-chan?" Kaoru choked. ME!

"Yeah, Kamiya Kaoru. I think Kenshin really likes her if you know what I mean."

"Ah! Hey, don't be stupid!" Kaoru exclaimed, blushing.

Sano burst out laughing again. "Yeah, she's kinda young for him anyways!"

She cast her eyes to the ground. "You can put me down now…"

"Huh?" Sano asked quietly as he set her on her feet.

She shoved her way away from him, deep into the crowd, towards the front. Too young… Too spoiled of a princess…The thoughts wouldn't leave her alone. Was I a fool to come here…? Was I stupid to even think of Kenshin that way?

"All right! Everyone line up!" Shoji yelled, knocking her out of her stupor.

"Heh?" She asked, flatly as men shoved past her.

Very soon, she was far back in a line of men, staring helplessly at everyone ahead of her.

Glancing to her right, she saw Saitou, Aoshi, and Kenshin. Kenshin was off in his own little world, staring straight ahead of him. She wondered how it would feel to be stared into like that. He looked so intelligent and beyond his years when he got that look, and she found it very attractive… not that there was much that she didn't find so about him.

Truly, a man that perfect couldn't be hers… There couldn't be a woman on earth that deserved that brilliance, that beauty… Of course, Kenshin was more humble of himself than that… Knowing him, he probably thought that he was below any standards because of the death he had caused, the crimes he had committed…

Kenshin…Even if it would never happen, she was there to make sure that he would never kill again… No longer did he deserve to suffer that much.

He had protected her for five years… it was time she returned the favor…