I hope you enjoy this chapter! Happy reading and don't forget to review! 3

'Kenshin we can't afford to stay another day in Tokyo, there's a galaxy full of criminals and they are calling our names to catch them!'

'But the air is so nice~'

'If I break your nose, will you still be able to smell the damn air? 'Cause I'm thinking about it!' Sanosuke growled loudly, clenching his fists. 'I'm thinking about it real hard!'

Kenshin chuckled nervously, bashfully rubbing the back of his head.

The two had been arguing about the direction of their ship's next course for days. Sanosuke was eager to get back in the game and chase after the expensive scum that just lay in wait for him to capture. He was also eager to get enough money to buy proper food, as he was sick of his partner's Dango. Kenshin, in contrast, was insistent on taking it easy and enjoying the ambience of Tokyo's sector, sticking around in case anything might pop-up for them. Both of which were, in Sanosuke's opinion, a load of bull-crap. Tokyo was one of the most secure sectors in the galaxy and had a near-zero requirement for bounty-hunters, as their Space Police were more than competent enough to do the job.

'We need real food in the ship Kenshin or I'm going to fall sick and die-!'

'We still have some Dango to keep us going-' Kenshin reasoned, interrupting Sanosuke mid-speech.

'FUCK YOUR DANGO THAT'S WHAT'S KILLING ME!' Sanosuke snapped angrily and groaned, glaring at his teammate. Kenshin's calm smile gave way to a frown, bearing resemblance to a disappointed young mother.

'Language, Sanosuke,' he scolded, crossing his arms over his chest as he spoke. 'Now we don't need to get aggressive over a minor conflict of interest-' Sanosuke grabbed him by his shoulders and cut him off, his back hunched over to meet Kenshin's gaze.

'Don't you get it?' He bemoaned, his face carrying a despaired expression. 'If we don't get back on the job, we won't be able to buy real food and I'll die.' He groaned and hung his head. 'Kenshin if I eat one more dango stick I'm going to die, please let's get out of here.' Kenshin sighed, and pat his teammate's head reassuringly.

'Dear dear, don't be sad,' his voice was soothing and patient as he spoke, gently smoothening his partner's spiky hair. 'We still have some ice-cream left too.'

The brunette let out a sound that was half-way between a mangled cat and a crying drunk, before slumping to the ground to wallow despairingly at his partner's stubbornness. Kenshin bit back a snicker and made his way to the sofa to turn on the television. When it continued to show static, he slammed his hand on the decoder and leaned back into his seat. The screen was lit up by a gun firing off with a visually exaggerated bang.

'Holla amigos!' The dark, heavily moustached man on the screen sang out. Kenshin reached for the side stool where a half-eaten dango-stick lay in wait for his consumption. He started to turn up the volume when the busty blonde started to speak.

'...time for Big Shot! The show that tells you all about fugitives!' Sanosuke had made his way to the couch to join Kenshin and shivered slightly at the sight of the too-familiar-for-comfort treat the read head was consuming. He turned to the screen to avoid looking at it too much before he felt sick again.

'You'll never guess what just got dragged in for the menu today! Tokyo's very own serial killer on the loose, and he's donned the name of Battousai the Manslayer!' Sanosuke turned to his partner in disbelief, but Kenshin just shrugged and motioned to the screen to continue watching. The blonde was speaking now, excited as always to spill the tea on the hottest criminals the galaxy.

'Tokyo hardly gets any villain that makes our menu, but the Space Police need your help 'cause this one's a real big-shot with a whopping 9 million yens, my dear cowboys!' she cooed and winked. The screen gave way for the man's profile and he bore a negligible similarity to the red-haired bounty-hunter. Sanosuke gaped with his eyes wide opened and started glancing between the screen and his partner repeatedly. 'The name he has adopted is stolen from a similar-looking bounty hunter, and a lot of body proportions is off compared to the said bounty hunter, so the police suspect that his current appearance may just be a disguise! He also claims to use the Kamiya Kashin style, though the current sensei of this family-technique has denied his ever learning from them. She, however, refuses to give a further statement or receive any publicity.' The blonde bopped her nose as she spoke and tipped her cowgirl hat. 'He targets women who aren't into domestic work, his most recent victim being a county sheriff of a residential district-'

Kenshin turned the television off and turned to Sanosuke with a triumphant smile.

'That girl from yesterday thought you were the killer, didn't she?' the taller man asked excitedly, jumping to his feet and pointing at the red-head. 'damn!'

'I suppose you don't want to leave Tokyo anymore, yes, Zanza?' The red-head asked with a knowing brow raised at him, his smile turning smug. Sanosuke gave him a thumbs-up, before reaching for his giant Sabato and hoisting it on his shoulders, a shit-eating grin on his face.

'Let's go catch a serial killer, Battousai.'

...

"Deep breaths. Take in deep breaths and... strike!"

Kaoru lunged forward as she made her vertical strike, and she struck so forcefully that she sent wind blowing through the family shrine's wind chimes, nearly putting out the incense-candle flame. She straightened back up and used the sleeves of her training kimono to wipe her sweaty forehead. She had been training all morning in the dojo; the window blinds and doors were shut to block out the light from outside, save the dim candles by the family shrine.

"Fortieth rep of my fifth set, whew! I need to chill out for a minute."

Feeling accomplished, the girl drank long and hard from her bottle of sugarless soda water and when she was done proceeded to stretch. The one benefit of her students leaving was the extra time she had for her training. The Kamiya Kashin style had sequences of kata slowly scaled up to a hundred and she had been teaching the first thirty to her students for such a while that she feared that she may have dropped from her seventy-five to a mere forty. She used the extra time on her hands to bring herself back up to speed.

Kaoru's love for swordsmanship pushed her forward all her life. When her father passed away she was just sixteen and she had been training to enter the sector finals of a kenjutsu tournament. She was one of the best, and her father had supported her every step of the way.

But when her father passed on, Kaoru was left to fend for herself and make the journey on her own. She didn't have the resources to bolster on her career and run the family dojo. The people left in her life could only do so much to help, so Kaoru had sought out sponsors and practically begged for their aide. Sadly, but their responses had all been the same:

"We're sorry Kamiya-san. You're very good, but not that good."

"We can't risk it Kamiya-san, you aren't good enough to make it on sponsor alone."

"It's to big a risk to take on someone who might just be second best."

It had been quite an ordeal and since none of the sponsors seemed to believe in her enough to endorse her career, Kaoru had to pull out of the tournament. It had broken her then young spirit, but it had also built an unshakable resolve within her.

She would never turn her back on anyone who wanted to learn the way of the sword, and she would always support those who wanted to follow that path of their dreams. Many of her students were already making names for themselves in school competitions, and she was ready to support anyone who wanted to go further. It was the perfect way to honour her father's legacy, especially since her unrealized dreams of winning the finals failed to do so.

Of course, that purpose was being thwarted by the damn serial killer who insisted on dragging her father's name through the mud, and the one chance she could have taken to bring justice on him had been chased off by her foolhardiness. Granted, he was a bounty hunter and thereby not exactly conventional or ideal, but he was a lead and what did she do? She beat him off and out of her life before he could do any good for her. Angry, Kaoru picked up her bokken again and fixated her eyes on the training dummy that was at her far-right. With a yell of frustration, she charged and proceeded to train. Furiously.

After venting out all of the steam and pent up frustration, Kaoru fell and set on her knees from fatigue. She felt her eyes water, and she wiped the tears away before they could fall, squeezing her fists as she tightly held onto her hakama. Crying would not help anything, she knew... but she couldn't help the little trickles that escaped her eyes. She wiped again at them in annoyance and huffed, before rising to her feet and grabbing her bokken again.

But then the candles went out.

Kaoru froze.

Her eyes immediately darted to the window, where the blinds were deathly still, a telltale sign of the lack of wind outside. She bit her lips and took a low crouching stance with her wooden sword. Without light, she couldn't see anything in the room, so she forced her breathing to be very still and focused on the sounds in the dojo.

From the far left, the direction of the shut dojo's shoji door came a quiet, gentle, easily dismissable creaking of the floorboard and immediately Kaoru jumped forward and yanked down the curtains, and simultaneously narrowly dodged a fatal sword slice that would have cut her stomach open. The mysterious blade managed to cut her slippers and it fell off her foot.

Breathing heavily, Kaoru watched as the light revealed her slippers on the floor and her mysterious attacker crouched on the ground, with his sword drawn and head down. He was still facing the right, one knee on the ground and the other far outback in a finishing stance. His hair was red and there was a huge X-shaped scar on his left cheek. But when he turned to his left and saw Kaoru clutching at the curtain for dear life, the light of the world outside spilled directly on her face and the whole room was illuminated. She saw that his eyes were not the amethyst ones that had haunted her for the last few days, but a dull amber. She narrowed her eyes and spoke.

'So you've finally come for me.' Her voice was hard as steel, her eyes full of anger and dread. Battousai the Manslayer scoffed and slowly rose to his feet, proving himself much larger than the original. He worked his neck and shoulders before fully turning to her, his sword ready to strike again.

'So I have.' He smirked and charged forward. Thinking fast, Kaoru grabbed her bokken and held it over her head as she slid under him and through the room, knowing his sword would halve her weapon. On the other side of the room were sets of real swords that had been used through generations of the Kamiya family. Instinctively she reached for the one she modelled her bokken after, her father's tachi. The serial killer tsked as he turned to face her. '"The Kamiya Kashin Style is a sword that protects the people, and does not take the lives of others."' He shook his head as Kaoru's eyes burned at her father's mantra being thrown back in her face. 'You have no business holding a sword that can kill.'

'And you have no business using a technique that doesn't.' she seethed, sheathing the sword with its dull bronze sheathe. Battousai snickered, using his thumb to brush the tip of his nose.

'I had a feeling you would be a tougher challenge, which was why I pegged you as my best for last,' he licked his lips and positioned himself. 'Prepare to die, Kamiya-san!' He lurched forward with a strike for her heart, but she moved to meet him half-way, taking him by surprise as she parried his attack off.

She struck for his knee, but he blocked it and struck for her neck in a sweep which she used the hilt of her sword to block before dropping to trip him in a sweep kick. He didn't budge, instead immediately thrust his sword downwards and straight for her head, but she rolled out of his way and scrambled to her feet. He charged for her again but she ducked, causing him to slice through the floral paper of the shoji. Immediately she punched him in his gut and he doubled over, stunned for a moment by the attack. Kaoru swung her sword to deliver a blow to his head, but he blocked the attack with his sword and kicked her through the door.

Kaoru was flung over the veranda and across the dojo compound. Then Battousai ran and jumped after her. He landed right in front of the veranda and lifted his predatory gaze to his fallen prey. Kaoru cursed, tasting blood in her mouth. As she struggled to stand up, her attacker charged with his sword to deliver the killing blow. Kaoru, on a knee and foot, hoisted her sword up as a pillar of support and knelt behind it as her last defence.

She waited, and metal struck metal.

...

'Are you sure this is the place?'

'You said Kamiya Kashin Style School, yes?'

Kenshin nodded in the affirmative and Sanosuke nodded back, full of confidence in his tracking skills.

'Then yes, this is the place.'

The two alighted off Sanosuke's dangerous racerXfighter jet - Zanbatou 2.0 - and bounded for the pristinely kept but seemingly empty dojo. They didn't even get into the compound - they were still by the side fence - when they heard the sound of sword fighting. Sanosuke was ready to charge in to intervene, but Kenshin grabbed his shoulder to keep him at bay. The taller man glanced at him in annoyance but waited all the same.

Kenshin listened to the fight closely and immediately deduced two things: one was fighting with a sharp sword, he guessed their target, and the other a sheathed one, he guessed Kamiya-san. She seemed to be doing a good job of defending herself, so he waited. She also seemed the kind to believe in her skills and not appreciate a rescue if she felt she could take care of herself, so he would need her to be overpowered before they'd intervene. He wasn't eager to face her temper again.

'Sanosuke, I'm ready.'

'Alright captain, on my count then.'

Silence followed briefly, and then the both of them spied the girl flying out of the dojo and close the entrance of the compound. They could hear the footsteps of the girl's attacker coming after her.

'Battousai.'

'Zanza?'

'Go.'

The speed at which he moved with his sword was inhumane.

...

Kaoru waited, but nothing else came after, except the sound of metal gnashing against metal. She looked up and saw a familiar ginger-haired man staring down at her with a smile, his sword stopping the Manslayer's attack. Her eyes grew wide in surprise, and so did her attacker for he leapt back immediately.

'You-!'

Kenshin turned to face his imposter and shook his head in disappointment.

'I'm offended that you'd use that face to try and fool anybody into believing you are who you say you are.'

'B-B-Ba-Ba-Batt-to-tousai!'

'Precisely my point.' Kenshin advanced towards the stunned imposter now, brandishing his ready-to-attack sword. The Manslayer in a state of panic charged forward to attack, but Kenshin sidestepped the attack and brought his sword up for the enemy's blade to slide against and the killer's face connected with Kenshin's fist, all in one fluid motion. His free arm delivered an elbow strike to the wrist holding the sword, causing it to let go and Kenshin to hold two swords now. He kicked the man in the stomach and away from him, sending him flying into the ground. The red wig fell off, revealing short spiky green hair. Kenshin nodded in satisfaction and dropped the other's sword, sheathing his own and heading back to Kaoru, who was leaning heavily on her father's sword for support. 'Hey there stranger,' his eyes were soft as he crouched before her and gently held her face. 'How bad are you hurt?'

She inhaled deeply and leaned too into his caress for comfort.

'Enough to want to return the damage,' she sighed, frowning when she tasted more blood in her mouth. As one hand firmly gripped his hilt, the other slowly snaked into her side bangs as she leaned further in, when her nearly closed eyes grew wide open in alarm. Immediately she tilted her sword in the soil and raised it towards him. Kenshin moved out of the way before he could process what was happening, only to find the hilt of Kaoru's sword striking the throat of the serial killer, who was going to sneak attack on Kenshin. The bounty hunter, who had precedented the move, was surprised at how quickly she reacted in response. The man, who was frozen in his tracks, had his mouth opened and a mysterious black pill flew out. He then collapsed as he gurgled on his blood. Kaoru winced and looked away, never being one for gory sights, and instead picked up the mysterious pill he spat out. Kenshin wordlessly helped her up, slinging her arm over his neck to support her.

'I guess you returned the damage then,' he mused and she contemplated his comment, before nodding her head and shrugging in agreement. He took a look at the pill in her hand. 'What do you think this is?'

'Suicide pill, most likely,' Kenshin reasoned as he led her back into the dojo. 'Probably one of those fanatics who believed he was on a mission and was gonna chomp down on it as his one-way ticket to paradise after doing you in.' He glanced back at the now unconscious man on the floor. 'Sadly, he won't be going to where he's really meant to go, but man must eat bread.' Kaoru nodded, absently remembering that he was a bounty hunter.

'I don't think so. I think he was going to bite down on it to keep from talking, like a mutening drug or something,' she thought out loud. 'Probably to hold till he can escape somehow.' Kenshin shrugged as he helped her sit on the veranda.

'Whatever the case, that's the police's job to find out,' he commented and gave her a one over again. 'Kamiya-san should I take you to see a doctor?'

'I'm fine, I have a family doctor. I'll just go see him later,' she dismissed the offer, her mind preoccupied in thought. 'And my name is Kaoru.'

'Oh, on a first name basis now,' he bent over and leaned forward to meet her gaze with a teasing smirk. 'Are we?' Kaoru blushed involuntarily and looked away, her face growing hot at how close he was to her. The red-head simply leaned over to her ear and whispered, 'Kenshin then.'

'Kenshin.' she repeated quietly in a sigh, but quickly held her tongue. She gagged mentally at how needy she sounded but hoped it didn't show on her face. He leaned back to see her face again and nodded with a smile and wthout another word, he stood up to her adieu. He went away to carry the unconscious serial killer to meet justice.

...

'This is good chicken.'

'I'm glad you like it, Sano.'

'Better than those damn lucky charms, that's for sure.'

'So I should throw those away?'

'No damn it, we need one of those things to keep getting us good catches like that guy!' He paused thoughtfully, 'I suppose we could sell the others though.'

The bounty hunting samurai broke out in quiet laughter as he consumed his steaming bowl of rice and chicken miso. Sanosuke did the same and once they were full, they leaned in their chairs in satisfaction. Sanosuke burped loudly and his partner shot him judging glares.

'Aren't you bothered about that fraud Battousai guy? Like why he used your name or something?'

'Not really, no. It's not like I patented it as a brand or anything.'

Silence fell again as the two revelled in their well deserved loafing.

'That Kamiya girl is something by the way,' Sanosuke spoke up. 'A real treat if you ask me.'

'No doubt she is attractive yes,' Kenshin agreed but shrugged. 'I fear she's rather a prude though.'

'But ain't that your type, Battousai?' his partner retorted with a teasing grin and winked. Kenshin simply threw a bone at his partner's forehead and rolled his eyes. Sanosuke threw his hands up defensively. 'Why'd you stone me? I'm right!'

Kenshin just shook his head and stood up to head for bed.

But once his head hit the pillow, his subconscious haunted him with big blue doe eyes.

FINISHED CHAPTER TWO.

I apologize in advance for any late updates, exams are here and I haven't done shit. I'll see y'all soon.

I hope you enjoyed it, and please leave a review. =UwU=