A/N-To kel kel girl 123—sorry for any offense I might have caused, and you're right, I shouldn't use stereotypes. I was careful around the "redhead stereotype" that I used back in Chapter16, and shouldn't have been as open with this one. I apologize.

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-Third person pov, Konosuke's house-

Konosuke respected Toklata's wishes and refrained from waking her up by sitting by her bedside and asking if she was going to sleep all day. On this particular day, he woke her up by dumping a bucket of icy water on her.

"Ah! That's freezing! Why the hell did you do that!" she screeched, sitting bolt upright and holding her shivering shoulders.

"Because you asked me not to scream at you to wake you up. This was my only other means."

She looked bitterly at Konosuke, sticking her tongue out and crawling out of bed. "Do you have something dry for me to change into now?" she asked, shaking some excess water off of her skin.

"I thought you'd ask. Here." He handed her the shirt she had used before, while her other clothes had been in the wash. "Hurry up and change, and then get your ass to the kitchen."

He left her to change out of the wet clothes, and she did so, also bringing her blankets and sheet when she went to the kitchen, lumping them all together and throwing them into the dryer. Then she sat across from Konosuke, who was being bored by the day's paper, at the kitchen table and waited for him to speak in a mockingly businesslike manner (with legs crossed and a bored expression).

He raised an eyebrow at her, only his pale eyes showing over the newspaper, and sighed. "You're such a little smart-ass. Now, I really think you should try cooking something today. You're going to have to face it sometime. I mean, don't they have classes in school where they grade you for cooking…? Well, that doesn't matter. All I'm saying is you should take a look at a recipe box and attempt something."

"And you're not afraid that I'll poison it?" she asked.

"Nope. Because you're not that stupid. Or that heartless. I'm going outside, so don't bug me until you've made something decent."

"Excuse me, but what exactly do you do out there?" she asked, while Konosuke got up and pulled an old cookbook out of one of the cupboards and threw it on the smooth wood table.

"Nothing special. Now come on and start cooking." With that, he left through the front door and circled to the back of the small house, leaving Toklata flipping through the pages of the ancient cookbook.

After a lot of searching, and a lot of terribly complicated recipes, Toklata (who was very frustrated at this point) took the time to get her bedding out of the dryer and rearrange it again on her temporary (she hoped) bed, stopping to lay on them while the blankets were still warm. On the way back to her tedious chore in the kitchen, she noticed the door to Konosuke's room was open slightly, and couldn't help but spare a quick peek inside.

Compared to the other rooms, it still looked like a cluttered mess. There were still papers all over the desk, but there was something else too…

Her heart skipped a beat. Could it really be...? She took a quick look around to make sure Konosuke was still out in the yard, and then snuck into the room, closer and closer to the shining silver metal piece on the desk. Moving a few papers, she found Ronin's sword in a pitiful state.

It was practically crying to be cleaned of the flaky blood that had dried onto the blade. The blade side was also in serious need of a sharpening, and the handle part was very well worn, even fraying in some parts. But then, it must have been old, she reasoned. On the dull side of the sword, opposite the blade, there was a tiny crack, barely noticeable with just a quick once-over of the weapon, but it was there all the same.

Toklata realized that Konosuke hadn't done a thing to the katana; that it must have been like this even the first time she had seen it flash. Ronin certainly could do with a new one, though she was sure he wished he had it at that moment, instead of looking for her unarmed.

She wrapped a hand around the battered handle and tried to pick it up like that, but ended up dropping it on the floor and nearly cutting her own leg open in the process.

"I see you've found the vampire's sword," came Konosuke's bitter voice from the doorway. She turned quickly, expecting some nasty reaction from him, but stopped halfway around when she saw the thoughtful look on his face. "That thing really is in a horrible condition. Though I can't imagine how old it is. Takoda seems to hold it dear, and his fighting skill without a weapon is lacking, so me having it in possession gives me an advantage."

Toklata stepped out on a ledge and chanced a delicate question. "Ah…Mister Konosuke, why? Why do you want to kill Ronin so badly? I'm not questioning why you're a vampire hunter, I'm just questioning why you picked Ronin in particular."

He stared at her through those cold eyes for the longest time, with folded arms and a rather amused expression, finally sighing and saying, "Don't you have a lunch to make?"

"I'm nine. You go make me lunch."

Clearly, Konosuke was not amused. A swift punch to her stomach was all her clever retort earned her, and she doubled over from the pain, eventually falling on her knees. For such a simple (yet harsh) movement, Konosuke's punch certainly did wreak horrible after effects.

Toklata was scared half to death, first of all, because not only was she at Konosuke's mercy in her current position, but she had begun to retch up alarming amounts of blood. This unsettled Konosuke as well, as he reminded himself that live, squirming bait worked better than a corpse.

He watched her, coughing the crimson liquid onto the carpet, for only a few moments before he lifted her gently and carried her quickly to the bathroom, letting her choke into the sink. Her face was drawn up in pain, nothing at all like her usual lighthearted features, and her body shook with each new lapse of blood. The occasional thwack on the back was necessary, and at times it seemed like the flow of blood would never stop, and Toklata would die then and there. Finally, she fainted, looking incredibly pained and tired, obviously in no state to make lunch.

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-Leigh's pov-

Ronin had slept only a few hours before he pulled himself up and announced he was going to go find a stream and try to do something about his legs. But I was getting a little worried, as he'd been gone for hours now. Surprisingly, I wasn't very tired after our long night of searching, and was really anxious to get going again, but Ronin insisted we not get back on the road until the sun went down.

So there I was, sitting under a tree, with no sort of companionship, and Ronin had been missing for what seemed like forever. Naturally, I was worried about him (and bored, too), so I decided to go and find him, to make sure he hadn't died somewhere. Really.

I tried to be as quiet as possible (something about Ronin makes you want to be inconspicuous), but I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to sneak up on him even if I wanted to. That's what I thought, but I was wrong (which isn't necessarily a bad thing).

I found the creek that he said he'd be in, and followed it a ways, until I found a larger pool of water and a miniscule waterfall, maybe seven feet tall. I looked on the shore for Ronin at first, figuring he'd be washing off his bloody thighs with a soft cloth or something.

Instead, he was in the water, bathing his whole body, his back to me. Call me shallow, but I just stared. And stared.

And for good measure, I stared some more.

The water only came up to his mid-thigh, so I could see him quite well. He had (and still has, I'm sure) a cute, tight butt and a well-built body, with lots of little scars, though none as prominent as the one on his left cheek (and I am referring to his face). To add to this, the sun was shining through the golden orange autumn leaves ever so slightly, illuminating the water around him.

I must have made some little noise, because he turned slightly, saw me, and immediately ducked into the water up to his neck.

"Leigh!" he snapped. "What the hell are you doing!"

"Hi Ronin," I sang in a light voice, grinning.

"Excuse me! I'm trying to bathe here! Get lost, you dirty minded woman! And stop your gawking! You can't even see anything now!"

"But you face is cute too," I teased, watching as he blushed a deep crimson. "What's wrong, Ronin? You seemed so eager for a chance at showing off yesterday! You don't strike me as someone who'd be embarrassed in this situation!" I could tell he wasn't pulling any pleasure from his position, and that amused me even more. I realized that I should be more embarrassed than he was at this point, but I wasn't and life was good.

"Come on! Leave already!"

"I'll leave if you answer my question!" I called to him. He seriously looked ready to drown himself. "Why's the little girl been kidnapped? And who kidnapped her? I promise I'll leave if you answer!"

Ronin went a little further into the water, and the ends of his hair floated around him on the surface. "The same man who shot me kidnapped her, because of her association to me," he stated bluntly.

I cursed his sharp tongue, stuck my own out at him, and, regretfully, left. I was tempted to run back and stare some more, but my dignity prevailed and I left the man in peace. Besides, I was sure he would have been expecting me that time.

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-Ronin's pov-

The nerve of that woman! Gawking at my bare flesh like that! And to think she'd been so eager to find Toklata only hours earlier!

Of course, I was a little embarrassed because I hadn't sensed her coming. And embarrassed for reacting the way that I did—I could have taken complete advantage of that situation! I was a little surprised at her reaction, too. She didn't even blush slightly; in fact, she seemed to be enjoying herself immensely.

I quickly reminded myself of more pressing matters. I had Toklata's scent, which almost guaranteed that I would be able to find Konosuke's hidey-hole within a matter of days (well, nights, really). But then what?

I considered trying to rescue Toklata without Konosuke's noticing. This would keep both her and Leigh out of danger, but it seemed unlikely that I would catch him off guard. It also seemed a little cowardly.

My other option was to confront Konosuke outright, but there was always the slim chance that he would beat me, kill me, and then Leigh and Toklata would be doing his bidding.

Impossible, I assured myself. There's no way I'll lose to him. I can't lose to him.