Yay new chapter after ack so long!

Yes I do know what Kenshin and Shinta means but I've twisted the meanings around to fit the story.

Enjoy!

Shiin

Kaoru woke to find Tomoe standing over her with a cup in her hand. She accepted it gratefully and raised to her lips, taking a slight sip half-expecting it to be another sleeping potion.

It was only tea.

Kenshin was still laid out on a pallet asleep beside her and Kaoru resisted the urge to go over and hit him until he awoke and demand answers.

What she had just seen in her dream of him, flashed through her mind and her grip on the cup tightened.

"Did you know him before?" Kaoru asked softly.

Tomoe tilted her head at her questioningly.

"When… when he was Shinta… Before…" Before the ascension battle before he had killed his brothers and become Kenshin.

Tomoe shook her head soundlessly. "I have known him only as Kenshin and little enough at that."

"He's not an easy man to know," Kaoru murmured.

"He isn't at that." Tomoe agreed.

"How are his injuries?" Kaoru inquired.

"Not too bad considering what they could have been." Tomoe replied. "Once he awakes Megumi will check on him."

Kaoru opened her mouth to ask how long it would be until he awoke but he was already stirring beside her.

He pushed himself up and accepted the cup of tea Tomoe poured and handed to him, wincing slightly as he swallowed.

"Good you're awake," Kaoru said cheerfully. "Explanations would be good right about now."

Kenshin blinked at her for a moment and then nodded as he remembered.

Kaoru smiled at him, "start talking and don't try to get out of it because you nearly got strangled."

"Fine…" To his credit his voice did sound rather hoarse. Tomoe took his cup away from him momentarily to fill it up with more tea.

"It's a long story…"

"I've got time." Kaoru said.

"I've already told her about Hiko Seijurou and some of the history of our country." Tomoe said, possibly wanting to spare his throat as much as possible.

Kenshin nodded, "after Hiko sealed Shishio away everything was peaceful. Kasshin and Hiten existed easily alongside each other and their magic flourished. But Kasshin's magic started to fade. We don't exactly know the true reason – perhaps it faded because they stopped believing in it. Or it had begun to fade even before that. We don't know." He paused to take a sip of tea and Kaoru mentally congratulated herself that she got more than six sentences in a row out his mouth."

"And this has to do with me because…?" Kaoru murmured.

"Shishio is breaking free again," Kenshin said.

"That's a bad thing," Kaoru stated.

Kenshin snorted.

'Very bad thing,' she amended.

"What does it have to do with me again?" She repeated.

"You're a key part in it. And that is all we know."

"Lovely," Kaoru muttered.

"You could say that," Kenshin closed his eyes and she was struck suddenly how tired he looked. Guess fighting off demons attempting to possess you took a lot out of you.

At least she was now beginning to understand:

Big bad demon breaking free and she was supposed to stop/help stop him. How she had no clue. But hey she was supposed to do it.

Kaoru ground her teeth in frustration.

'I've been here what? Six or seven months? Think I could have been told a wee bit earlier?' She groused.

'They probably thought you'd react like all the other princesses and freak and demand to be taken home,' a little voice at the back of her mind piped up.

'At least I'm not dodging drunken Princes.' She retorted. 'No all I have to worry about is Kenshin… if he ever shows any interest in me that way, that is. Which he has not so shut up.'

'Have you really been giving him a chance? You've avoided him as much as he's avoided you.'

'Self-preservation,' she snapped back.

'Preservation from what?' They asked.

She snarled silently in response.

"I'm going to go to bed," she pushed herself up from the floor before she launched herself at Kenshin and throttle him.

She stomped out of Tomoe and Enishi's tent before she started breaking things.

The air was colder than usual and Kaoru shivered. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms as she strode back to the tent quickly trying to keep warm. There seemed to be a faint electricity in the air and a look skyward showed that clouds were moving to cover the moon and stars.

A storm coming perhaps?

Her tent was lovely and warm and she crawled into her pallet, pausing only to unbuckle her sword and lay it within reach. She was asleep almost instantly and found that she did not dream.

000

Like Kaoru, Kenshin left Tomoe and Enishi's tent and hurried back to his own.

Sleep claimed him the second his head touched the pillow unlike Kaoru, however he did dream.

It was dark.

Faintly he could hear the sound of someone singing.

A light flickered in the distance beckoningly and it seemed to be the same place from which the singing was coming from.

With nothing better to do than stand there lost in the dark Kenshin followed the singing and walked toward the light.

What he found had him blinking.

A woman was sitting at a loom spinning threads into a large tapestry. She was still singing though the song contained no words he understood.

She raised her head as he approached and he was struck by the color of her. Or rather the colors that made her up. Her hair and kimono were silvery with shots of color running through them. Her eyes were crystal like reflecting the glow of the lamp.

She smiled when she saw him and he saw faint wrinkles around her eyes but couldn't put a guess to her age.

"I was wondering when you would come to visit me that I was." She murmured.

"Who are you?" Kenshin asked.

"The little one calls me Shulya. So you may call me that as well Kinglet."

Kenshin twitched.

Kinglet?

She noted the flash in his eyes and cocked her head at him, "or would you rather I call you by your name… Shinta?"

"Shinta is dead." Kenshin replied.

"And yet you still live." She countered.

"Shinta died a long time ago. I'm Kenshin now."

"The boy with a hole in his heart," Shulya murmured.

Kenshin didn't reply and she made a tsking noise.

"You were born Shinta and you will die Shinta. The name you call yourself in between is irrelevant."

"You don't know anything about me." Kenshin bit off.

Her eyes pierced him. "… or is it rather I know too much Kinglet?"

Kenshin closed his eyes and she made another tsking sound. "You're as bad as the little one that you are. Worse even."

He opened his eyes slightly, "little one?"

"Little one yes… Kaoru…" Her eyes glinted. "You're wife."

"Name only." He answered.

"Is that how you truly wish it to be?" Shulya asked softly. "She is a match for you."

Kenshin shook his head, "she is…"

"Too innocent? Then you do not know her at all because you have refused to let yourself. Kaoru has lived a life as hard as you, worse in some aspects."

"How…?"

"You are both half-bloods but at least you were acknowledged. Kaoru never had that. She was only acknowledged when her usefulness became apparent to her family."

"They…"

"Did not attempt to kill her? They did that and worse." Shulya cut him off. "Had she less spirit and fight in her she would have been made in a lordling's plaything with no soul left to speak of." She held up a hand as she saw his mouth open again. "She has blood on her hands just as you do."

Kenshin's eyes widened, "she killed?"

"To save herself. Just as you killed your brothers."

Kenshin flinched.

"Anything else?" Shulya asked idly.

Kenshin glared and her mouth twitched. "Don't worry so Kinglet."

There was the very audible sound of Kenshin's teeth grinding together and Shulya merely beamed at him. "Now scamper off Kinglet. You will not be refused that you will not."

Before he could reply Kenshin found himself flung out of his dream.

000

A loud rustling and creaking woke Kaoru. The temperature in the tent had dropped several degrees and she burrowed deeper to avoid it. A sudden cracking sound had her stiffening and was the only warning she had as the tent folded in upon itself and collapsed.

Kaoru cursed and fought her way through the folds of tent, mentally thanking whoever had designed it had made it light. Then again it was expected to be portable on horseback, she mused as she rolled out from under the tent and into a rather deep patch of snow.

Snow?

Since when had there been snow on the ground?

Kaoru blinked at the fluffy white-tinged stuff in confusion noting the sizzle of electricity along her skin wherever she touched it.

Whatever the hell this was, it was not ordinary snow.

She noted also that three or four other tents seemed to have collapsed their occupants appearing and they seemed unconcerned. The ones that had been forced to clear out of their tents merely went into the nearest tent.

Too late and too cold to do anything about it, Kaoru supposed.

She might as well do the same. She cast one annoyed look at her now flattened-snow covered tent and picked her way through the odd snow to the nearest tent.

Pushing back the flap she murmured a soft apology to whoever's tent she had just invaded and froze.

Of all tent's she just had to end up at Kenshin's.

From the look of it he had been sleeping. He sat up when entered and she suppressed a giggle. Bed head did not sit well with him.

"My tent collapsed. I'm sharing yours. So scoot over it's cold!" She informed him and without preamble crawled in beside him.

He stiffened and she fought the urge to hit him.

"It's cold. Your bed – and you – are warm. So shut up and scoot over." Kaoru grumbled.

"Never said anything." Kenshin muttered.

It was too dark for him to see her sticking her tongue at him. She huffed and curled up beside him.

She was asleep almost instantly but Kenshin didn't have the luxury. Kaoru had scooted closer in to him in her sleep – which he didn't blame her. She was cold! A fact made painfully aware to him when her hands slipped around her waist.

Those soft purring-snores she made weren't helpful either. He moved to remove her hands but the grip around his waist only tightened.

He attempted to scoot a bit farther but she flung her leg across his effectively using him as a full-body pillow.

Kenshin's glower was lost in the dark.

000

Kaoru yawned and stretched as she awoke. Blinking several times as she woke up she came face to face with Kenshin.

"Morning," she yawned again.

Kenshin snorted and she raised an eyebrow.

What was the matter with him?

Realization dawned on her at her realization the position she was in.

She had pretty much plastered herself across him sometime during her sleep. One hand had red hair wound around her fist and the other arm was thrown about his waist.

"Guess I should have told you I'm clingy?" Kaoru offered as way of an apology.

Kenshin blinked and she suddenly did not like the look in his eyes.

She yipped as she found herself suddenly picked up. Cold air hit her as he ducked under the tent flap and she yelped again.

"What are you…?"

The answer to question was revealed as she found herself dumped into a very deep snowdrift.

"What was that for?" Kaoru screeched as she floundered her way out of the snow.

"Keeping me up all night," Kenshin replied and disappeared into the tent.

Kaoru was pretty sure she woke up everyone who was still asleep at that hour screaming after him.

Still fuming she stomped back into the tent.

"What are you…?" This time it was Kenshin's turn to ask.

"Clothes. Gimme now. Mine are either buried or all wet thanks to you. And since we're relatively the same size I'm going to wear yours."

The sputtering sound he made nearly made up for the fact she was now freezing and wet.

She brushed past him and went to the drawers and began pulling out clothes.

"Kenshin… why do you have a pink gi in here?"

She turned and found he had disappeared.

"Dammit," she muttered.

She changed into his clothes grabbing a sash to wrap around her waist. A thick and heavy if somewhat oversized coat was also found and she pulled it on relishing the way the fabric trapped her body heat. She wrung her hair dry and tied up and off her neck.

The looks she got when came out of the tent made her want to scurry back inside.

"Oh bloody hell," she muttered. 'Nothing happened and STOP looking at me like that. Next thing I know I'm going to have people coming up to me and speculating… argh! If you REALLY think that – go and inform your king to stop acting like an idiot!'

"Where is Misao?" Kaoru grumbled. "I need to whine very badly."

She found her inside of her tent rolling up the bed pallet.

"Kaoru?" Misao blinked. "What happened?"

"Long story," Kaoru groused and plopped down next to her.

"I see your tent collapsed." Misao said.

"Yep," Kaoru closed her eyes.

"And…?"

"Ended up in Kenshin's."

"Ah… did…?'

"No."

"No?"

"No."

Misao made a tsking noise. "And I thought Aoshi was bad."

Kaoru opened her eyes slightly, "don't tell me…?"

"Yep."

"Blast it."

"You could always ask Megumi to put something in his drink." Misao said.

"Six months," Kaoru fumed. "Ok I admit I was running like a startled rabbit at first, but gah… he's worse than I am."

Misao snorted.

"I think I'll go see how Karuna is faring with all the snow we have." Kaoru pushed herself up from the ground and gave Misao a smile before disappearing.

000

The snow reached well past her knees but Kaoru managed to find some parts where it was packed densely so if she stepped quickly and carefully she could walk on top of it.

She found the herd of horses romping through the snow, scattering it in all directions.

Karuna was in the middle of rolling and Kaoru shook her head as she got to her feet covered in at least three inches of snow.

Fiachra was at the edge of the meadow digging at the snow to reach the grass underneath.

Karuna's head jerked in Kaoru's direction as she was spotted and the palomino mare let out a soft whinny and leapt through the snow to her side.

"Having fun?" Kaoru stroked her forehead as Karuna came to a stop in front of her.

Karuna nickered softly and nudged her pockets.

Kaoru shook her head, "no treats girl."

Karuna huffed softly, gave her pockets one more hopeful nudge and then turned away to go back to playing in the snow.

Kaoru watched her for a few moments more before heading back to the camp.

The people were busy at work clearing the snow away and righting the collapsed tents. Kaoru eyed hers which was still flat on the ground dubiously.

The sound of hooves thundering toward the camp pulled her attention away and she narrowed her eyes as a group of chestnut horses she hadn't seen before galloped toward the camp, their riders hunched low on their backs.

Several people jumped out of the way as they flowed into the camp and Kaoru herself leapt backward as the lead horse came to a stop right in front of her. His rider swayed and fell from the saddle, to land on the ground in heap.

"What the?" Kaoru stepped toward the prone figure but stopped bewildered as Megumi suddenly pushed past her cursing under her breath.

"Stupid fool," Megumi grumbled under her breath as she propped the man up so she could check for injuries.

He opened one eye and grinned at her, "hi Fox. Long time no see."

"What did you do this time Sano?" She snapped.

"Fighting Demons," he grinned and then winced as she prodded him sharply in the side with a finger. "Oww!"

"Broken rib," Megumi muttered. "Luckily your head isn't broken."

"Oh now that you mentioned it," Sano's voice started to become a bit slurred. "Everything is going dark…" He slumped over unconscious and Kaoru saw Megumi ball her hands into fists to keep from hitting him.

"Uh…" Kaoru blinked. "Who is he?"

"Sanosuke Sagara." Megumi sounded exasperated, "Leader of the Sekihoutai and my husband."