Aurora Whisperwind: Woo hoo! Chapter 10! Double digit! Heh heh….the cliffy sucks as usual, but…

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or any of its characters. But how I wish I could own the Peacemaker Kurogane version of Okita…. (Drools uncontrollably)

Saitoh Bloodlust: Snap out of it, ahou. And start typing.

Aurora Whisperwind: You're so mean! Okita's so much nicer than you! Why, o why does he die all alone? Why does he die anyway? I want him to live! I want it, I want it! (Begins raving)

Okita: There there, it's okay…. Dying isn't that bad. After all, to live is to die and-

Aurora Whisperwind: (Snapping out of it) and to die is to live…

Both start chanting: The pure are soiled; and the soiled are pure-

Saitoh Bloodlust: SHUT UP AND START TYPING BLOODY WOMAN! AND YOU COPIED THAT OFF KIKYOU!

Aurora Whisperwind: Oooh look, I'm a woman! Neways, read on! And, Okita here is the PMK one, with the long gorgeous hair and the incredible eyes and the-

Saitoh Bloodlust: I'm warning you one last time…

Aurora Whisperwind: Sorry! Okay, to put it all in a jingle;

'He's so pretty

Oh so pretty

He's so pretty

And witty

And uh…straight!'

Saitoh Bloodlust: This thing is rated K, you know?

Okita: "…."

Disclaimer: (Again) I own nothing! Not the songs or Kikyou or anything else! Spare me!

The red-head paused and gave them a simpering smile. "Hi!" she chirped, "I'm Nancy Drew! I'm a detective! I'm really cool! I mean I can, you know, fight, skate, dance, ski, swim, scuba dive, drive, parachute, sing, play any musical instrument and in short, I can do anything better than anyone else! I'm really pretty too! All the cool guys fall for me! But I don't always fall for them you know, my heart belongs to Ned and to Ned alone!" She produced a handsome puppet. "Say hi, Ned! He's really great looking, no? He helps me with all my cases! My friends help me too!" she moved aside to reveal two dogs. A sleek wolfhound and a golden retriever. "George and Bess! They help too! But mostly I'm the one who solves everything with my calm clear thinking and brilliant deduction which earned me my international reputation! But I'm always modest!"

Silence followed this speech. Okita was the only one to speak, as the rest were staring incredulously at her. "Um…so what are you doing here?" The girl's gaze snapped onto him, and she shrieked. Covering the puppet's eyes, she commanded to the dogs "Get her! She's too pretty to be wandering around like that! Ned might just look at her that way!" The dogs growled and pounced on Okita, who was too busy trying to figure out what she said to defend himself. Luckily, Saitoh came to his rescue.

Pretty soon, Nancy, her puppet and the two dogs were tied to a tree. Aoshi decided to question them. "So, what are you doing here?" Nancy struggled a little, and then replied "We heard of this prince guy who was trapped in a tower, so we came here to try and save him! You may be a handsome man, but I'm sorry, I'm not available…the prince is supposed to have red hair, just like me! Though mine is nicer! My hair is reddish-blond, or ginger, or carroty, or auburn, or flame-colored or…."

Aoshi almost moaned in misery. "SHUT UP, WILL YOU, YOU INEPT GIRL!" Nancy stopped talking and gave him an injured look. "You're not nice" she pouted, "I know! You're the evil guy here! My astoundingly brilliant logic tells me that! Oh no, don't try to deny it! I've caught many criminals! My experience-" Everyone sweat-dropped. Saitoh looked at everyone and smirked. "Maybe you could help us" he drawled "We're going there too, you know. We need someone of your caliber…you can have the prince. The reason we're going there is to claim the castle"

Nancy looked at him suspiciously. "Well alright" she said stiffly "But on condition that you keep that pretty girl away from my Ned" Okita looked like he'd contradict her and assure her that he was a guy, but Saitoh flung his arm around his mouth, and nodded an assent. Kaoru and Misao were boiling with rage that this girl didn't even consider them competition (hem hem, Misao?), while Sano and Yahiko-in-boots watched with interest mixed with disgust. Aoshi looked slightly dazed; this was not the fight he had been expecting. "So we have a truce now, right?" asked Saitoh looking at Aoshi. "What truce? You can't pass until you beat me!" Aoshi declared. "Okay then, do your bit, frog girl" Saitoh said, moving aside and dragging Okita with him. Misao squealed with joy and hopped straight to Aoshi, who watched her warily.

"Wanna join us, Aoshi-sama?" asked Misao, hearts in her eyes. Aoshi stuttered something in reply, he felt weird around this frog. "Um... yes why not?" he stammered. Kaoru hurried to Saitoh while Sano and Yahiko-in-boots went to untie Nancy and her group. "Saitoh! What were you thinking, inviting her to join us?" she snarled at him, while Okita struggled to free himself from Saitoh's iron grip. Saitoh smirked "Weeeeeeeeeeelllllllllllllll, we do need someone to distract the dragon and to offer as sacrifice….." Okita gasped inaudibly. Kaoru smirked back, an evil look spreading over her face.

"Okay now, Okita. You're a girl" Saitoh said, finally letting him go "It's not that hard to pretend to be one, with looks like yours…" Okita pouted. "I don't want to be one! In fact I'm going to go and tell that girl now!" he marched off, but Saitoh held him back. "Idiot! Do you think someone with such little intelligence will actually believe you? I told you we'll feed her to the dragon, right? So stay put and pretend to be a woman!"

So they all set off again, the others pretending not to hear about Nancy's last case. Until at a point were it got unbearable. "Hey Busu!" Yahiko asked, "I'm hungry, could you make something for us?" Okita, who was pretending to be a devout Japanese girl and who was walking with his head down, crashed into Saitoh when the latter stopped in sheer horror. Kaoru smiled at Yahiko, understanding his plan. "So that we eat all my delicious food and starve those morons?" Sano smacked his forehead. "No, missy! We meant to kill-" Yahiko clamped a hand over Sano's mouth and said "Oh no, Kaoru! We may be bad, but we certainly have no right to deprive others of your magnificent cooking!" Saitoh chimed along "Oh yes! It would be torture, not eating that slice of heaven!"

Kaoru beamed at all of them, and prepared something to eat with everyone's help. She didn't notice that all of them listened to her with no complaint or that all of them took their meals aside to 'cool'. Misao decided to save Aoshi the pain, so she instructed him to do exactly what they all did.

There is no need to mention what happened to their unwanted guests.

Aurora Whisperwind: Oookaaaaaay…. That was short but… I hope not bad? This story is coming to an end soon, what do you think of this chappie? I know it is a gross breach of rules, bringing Nancy Drew into the story, but as Saitoh said, someone has to be fed to the dragon…and I happen to HATE HER! I HATE HER LIKE HELL! I'm really, honesty sorry if I disappointed any of you, but…

To my reviewers,

To lolo popoki: Yay! You liked the way Kaoru's cooking came to use! It came into some use in this chapter too! Thank you for reviewing!

To Rurouni-maxi: Shikijo? No way! I said slender! And about the bears… (Blushes) I'll set it right! Thank you for pointing that out!

To sueb262: I hope you don't find this chapter stupid? Please keep reviewing!

To Phantom of blood: One day, I hope to have an entire sentence for a review from you…

To butterfly87: actually, if Kaoru was the princess, it would have been predictable…

To Mitsuki Himura: Thank you for your review! It was really sweet!

Please read and review! And please don't flame me for my inept choice of characters!