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NOTE TO ALL WHO HAVE ALREADY READ THIS CHAPTER: All I did was change Koburi and Koyuki's names to Sachi and Shousei. Reasons in the next author's note!

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-Chapter 1: You!

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He yawned widely as he stretched his arms out, then slumped back and continued chewing on the fish bone in his mouth as if nothing had happened. His two friends who were seated by him and across from him didn't bother to note that that had been extremely rude behavior since they were in the middle of eating, but neither cared much because one: they didn't care about manners unless in important company, which didn't happen very often, and two: it was Sano that was sitting across from them, it's not like he'd care if they did tell him to straighten up.

"So what's new, Sano?" Shu asked his friend as he served himself more beef stew. Sano glanced at him unconcernedly as he drank some sake from a small saucer.

"Not much," he sort of grunted in reply, "Everything's nice and quiet at the dojo." Then he added, "Not that I mind or anything, but I'm bored."

"Yeah, well, after being 'Zanza' for so long I guess normal life can be kind of boring, right? Guess you just have to get used to it," Gin said as he served himself more beef stew.

"Just 'cause I'm not selling fights anymore doesn't mean I can't see any action now and then," Sano grinned. "The fight with Shikijo was pretty entertaining."

"Sano, only you could find a fight entertaining," his other friend Shu replied with a smirk.

"You make it sound as if I'm some brainless thug," Sano replied, arching an eyebrow.

"That's because you are a thug," Shu said with a wide grin.

"A freeloading, gambling, booze drinking thug!" Gin said, making him and Shu burst out in laughter.

"Yeah, yeah, very funny," Sano said grudgingly as he took another sip of sake, although a smirk tugged at his lips.

"Speaking of free loading," Gin said as the laughter died down. "Who's gonna pay?" No one answered as the three friends stared at each other awkwardly.

"Umm…." Shu said, tilting his head towards Sano hopefully. Sano gave him a look that either said "don't look at me" or "I'm broke."

"I'll pay," a voice said from behind them in another booth. The three guys looked up to see a tall, muscular man with dark brown hair walk up to their booth. He was grinning confidently with a mischievous gleam in his eye. "But only if you can do something for me."

"Oh no, not again," sighed a feminine voice from behind the man.

"Can't he stay out of trouble just for a little while?" groaned another exasperated voice that sounded exactly like the other. Two girls appeared behind the man, both with short flame red hair and green kimonos, frowning critically at him with identical glares.

"Oh yeah?" Sano said, still holding his saucer of sake, choosing to ignore the comments from the girls. "What do you want, fuzz head?" The man's brash face faltered slightly as a flash of annoyance passed through it.

"Fuzz head?" one of the girls whispered to her twin, a smile spreading on her face.

"He is fuzzy!" exclaimed the other, motioning to the man's messy brown hair, making both of them to burst into a fit of giggles.

"Stop it! You're ruining the moment!" snapped the man irritably at them, but that only caused their giggles to grow into full out laughter. He shot another glare at them before turning to Sano, who had an amused look on his face.

"You said you were bored, right?" he said, not pausing for an answer. "Well I'm low on cash. If you can beat me in a fight, I'll pay for your dinner. If I win, you pay for ours." The girls behind them stopped laughing abruptly.

"You can't pay for his dinner!" one exclaimed.

"Is this how you try to skip out on the bill?" said the other, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Besides, the noneko's still out looking for an inn, remember? We have to stay here and wait for her," said her twin as both of them crossed their arms.

"It's her fault she's late," the man said, waving them off. "Leave a note here for her and tell her to meet us at the river. Besides, do you really think I'll lose?" he added, cocking an eyebrow towards them. They avoided his gaze and began humming absent mindedly. He frowned at them, clearly annoyed. Then he shifted his look to Sano. "So, whaddya say?"

Sano shrugged, "Sure, whatever. I could use some after-dinner exercise."

"I wish we could stay, Sano," said his friend Gin as he got up. "But we've got some business at the Shuei-ya and we can't be late."

"Yeah, see ya, Sano!" said Shu as he got up and followed Gin. "Good luck!"

"Like I'll need it," Sano replied after them, getting up. He looked at his challenger and gave him a cocky grin. "Well, let's go then." He began walking out the restaurant, leading the way. The man grinned, then began to follow him. The twins gave each other exasperated looks, left money at their booth, then followed their companion.

"He didn't pay his bill again," sighed the waitress that had a handkerchief around her head as she watched the group disappear.

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"There's just no stopping him," she sighed to her sister. "Once he's got his mind set on brawling there's nothing we can do."

"The only person that can stop him is probably on the other side of Tokyo right now," sighed her twin in the same tone as her sister. They watched with mildly interested looks on their faces as Sanosuke and their friend began to face off.

"I haven't had a fight in a while," Sano said casually as he gripped and un-gripped his fists in front of him. "I hope you prove to not be a waste of time."

"Same to you," grinned his opponent, stretching his arm in preparation. "Let's keep this simple: fists only, okay?"

"Wouldn't have it any other way," replied Sanosuke with his usual cocky grin. They stood there for a while, the sun sinking slowly on the opposite bank of the river, waiting. The tension was mounting in the air, just a few more seconds and…

"What do you think you are doing?" a cold feminine voice snapped suddenly. Sanosuke raised an eyebrow as his opponent froze.

"What does it look like?" he replied to the voice behind him, though not changing his gaze. "Stay out of this, I'll be done in a minute."

"No you won't," the voice replied in the same iciness. "You cannot attract attention to yourself like this. Remember that fisherman in the last town, what you did to him and how long it took us to explain everything?"

"That guy had it coming, besides, this is just a fist fight between two men," the man replied, rolling his eyes. "It's not like I'm gonna blow up Tokyo or something."

"Yamainu…" the voice hissed in a dangerous tone, making even Sanosuke's hair stand on end. His opponent, or Yamainu, as he was called, put his fists down, rolled his eyes yet again, and turned around to the woman standing behind him. Sano couldn't see her since Yamainu was in the way, but he could almost feel her glare through him.

"What?" Yamainu asked in an exasperated voice. There was a moment of silence in which no one said anything, the two people staring at each other.

"Okay, okay," Yamainu said, raising his hands up in a sign of defeat. "I give, just stop looking at me like that, it's creepy."

"Good!" the voice said, now cheerful. She pushed Yamainu aside and faced Sanosuke.

"Sorry for any trouble my friend caused you but…" She trailed off, her eyes becoming wide and her jaw slacking. Sano just stared as he looked into familiar green eyes, messy brown hair covering them slightly.

"YOU!" she exclaimed suddenly, pointing at him accusingly. A few seconds of awkward suspended silence followed in which everyone kind of stared at each other, as if ticking down to an explosion.

"SANO!!" She flung herself at him suddenly, her arms going around his neck and her body swinging a few times with the momentum. Once she landed she began to shake him furiously as she yelled out one long string of words:

"OhmygodIcan'tbeleiveit'syouIthoughtI'dneverseeyouagainhowareyou??"

She stopped, looking up at him happily. He, however, was still processing the fact that there was someone shaking the life out of him… who seemed to know him and seemed really familiar…

"H-huh, who?" he said perplexedly, looking down at her, feeling kinda overwhelmed. A flash of pain crossed her green eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a look of anger.

"WHAT?!" she exclaimed as she began to throttle him again, this time more out of anger and not happiness. She began to yell out a long string of curses and bad words, which will be excluded from this fic to keep the rating from going up. She kept throttling him as he continued to lose brain cells until he finally got his bearings (as well as you can when your head feels like a punching bag).

"S-s-stop," he stuttered as his head kept swinging. "Stop!" Still no response as she continued shaking him furiously. Old memories of times with the Sekihoutai and the familiarity of her piercing green eyes and voice finally clicked in his mind. "OI! KYOURI! STOP! I REMEMBER YOU, OKAY?!" She stopped abruptly, looking up at him with wide eyes as he tried to get the stars out of his eyes.

"You do?" she asked hopefully.

"Y-yeah," Sano replied as he rubbed his head, blinking furiously. He looked down at her, seeing how crestfallen she still looked. As if he could forget about her. He grinned. "How can anyone forget such a violent girl?" She beamed at him as he grinned back.

It was really her.

"Um," he said after a few moments of happy yet awkward silence. He motioned to her hands, which were still gripping the front of his gi tightly. She blushed, smiling sheepishly, and let go.

"Sorry, Sano," she muttered as she looked away, her face still slightly red. "I guess I got a little carried away."

"Well," said one of the forgotten twins standing behind her. "that's the understatement of the year." Kyouri's face got even redder as she cast an angry look at the young girl who simply grinned back.

"Right…" Kyouri frowned at the group behind her before turning back to Sanosuke, grinning. "Let me introduce you to my friends! These are Yamainu, Shousei, and Sachi! Guys, this is Sanosuke! He's, um, an old friend!"

"We've already met," Yamainu said grudgingly before turning to Kyouri. "I'd hate to ruin your happy reunion, but we need to get going if we're gonna get to an inn." Kyouri's face fell slightly.

"About that…" she said, smiling anxiously and twiddling her fingers nervously. "I don't think we can actually afford to stay in an inn."

Yamainu frowned, silently cursing his luck, "Why not?"

"Well…this is Tokyo, remember? Everything's more expensive here. Also, I think you spent most of the money we had on dinner at that restaurant. I told you we were low on cash, but you didn't listen."

"Hmm, and he was going to pay for your friend's dinner if he won," Shousei cut in, giving Yamainu an upset glare while Kyouri shot him an annoyed look; he avoided both by looking away as if thinking.

"Does this mean we have to camp out again?" Sachi groaned.

"Yeah…unless we can find another place to stay," Kyouri said.

"Are we even allowed to set up camp in the city?" Shousei asked, furrowing her eyebrows. Everyone was silent as they cast each other questioning looks.

"I know where you can stay," Sano said, grinning as he broke through the silence. Kyouri beamed at him while Yamainu narrowed his eyes at Sanosuke suspiciously and the twins looked at him as if he was their savior. "There's a dojo nearby that belongs to a friend of mine, you could probably stay here for a few nights."

"Great! That's settled then!" Kyouri exclaimed happily, for once not waiting for her friend's approval. "Lead the way, Sano!"

Soon they were all walking down the road, Kyouri and Sanosuke walking a few steps ahead and talking among themselves while the other three followed, having their own discussion.

"Have you ever seen Kyouri pounce on a guy like that before?" Sachi said in a hushed voice to her sister. "It's so weird!"

"I don't blame her," Shousei said, grinning slyly. "He's hot."

"No kidding," Sachi replied, and they both began to giggle madly.

"Will you be quiet?" Yamainu hissed at them. "I'm trying to listen."

"Aww, is poor wittle Yamainu jealous?" Sachi asked with a foxy grin.

"Uh huh, right…" he responded sarcastically. "Now are you gonna let me listen or not?" The girls exchanged glances, but remained quiet as Yamainu concentrated on the pair ahead of them. They, however, didn't seem to be talking too much.

They walked in silence, both of them reveling in the fact that they were actually there, standing side by side after ten years, a curtain of unasked questions lingering around them.

These questions were booming in Sanosuke's mind, but he didn't know where to start. Where had she been? What had she been doing? Was she still running?

How long would she stay?

Instead he settled for studying her out of the corner of his eye. She was tall, taller than Kaoru, that was for sure, and had the same soft face with bright green eyes that glittered with curiosity that he remembered. Most of her body was covered with a dark blue traveling coat that reached her bare knees, including her arms which were tucked in. Her light brown hair had been cut slightly unevenly, her bangs going into her eyes and eventually getting longer as they got nearer to her ears so that they reached her shoulders at the edge of her face. He couldn't see how long the rest of it was since she had her coat over it so that only a worn red ribbon tying it was shown. Sano grinned when he realized what the ribbon was.

"I can't believe you kept that for so long," Sano said as he reached up and gently pulled on the ribbon. (Behind them Yamainu darkly muttered something about physical contact, while the twins just looked on, their interest peaked.). Kyouri grinned; she knew he had been watching her for a while and had wondered if he would actually say anything.

"It's the one hair accessory that I actually use," she replied, smiling.

"Yeah, except it's supposed to go on your forehead," Sano said, grinning as he pointed to his own forehead.

"Yeah, well, we can't all look good in head bands," she grinned. They kept walking side by side as they settled into silence once again. Their elbows brushed together and Kyouri glanced up at Sano, smiling softly.

He could say something now, ask her something. She was so close and he wasn't sure when he'd get a chance to talk to her again. Yeah, now was the right time…

At that moment Yamainu stepped in between them, putting his hands on both their shoulders and pushing them apart.

"Are we there yet?" he asked Sano as he glared at him. "The girls are getting tired." He motioned to the twins behind him, and both Sano and Kyouri turned to look at them. Sachi and Shousei both had arched eyebrows and half lidded eyes. They rolled their eyes at each other before a mischievous gleam appeared in them.

"Oh yes," Sachi said in a flat monotone, her voice dripping in sarcasm. "My poor delicate little lady feet, they feel as if they may fall off."

"Oh! Someone catch me!" Shousei exclaimed delicately as she put the back of her hand to her forehead with an overdramatic flourish, "For I fear I am about to faint!" At this they both became overcome with sniggers, which soon developed into laughter. Sano and Kyouri couldn't help grinning as they looked at Yamainu.

"I swear they stick around just to torment me," Yamainu muttered.

"Oh no, Shousei!" exclaimed Sachi to her sister in mock surprise, "He's on to us!" They erupted in giggles once again, causing Yamainu to glower at them.

"Relax, we're here," Sano said as Yamainu looked like he was about to strangle the giddy twins.

They had stopped in front of a large gate, a sign with "Kamiya Kasshin Ryu Dojo" posted by the door.

"This is it, come on," Sano said as he opened the door and stepped in. It was twilight now and the dojo was unusually quiet without the sounds of anyone yelling or practicing. The new group looked around curiously as Sano began to walk into the yard.

A girl with long raven hair that was up in a high ponytail appeared from around the corner and was walking by with a shinai resting on her shoulder. And on that shinai swung a short boy with spiky dark brown hair, his facial expression resembling the one Yamainu had a minute ago. The boy was muttering darkly to himself as he rocked back and forth, but the girl, who was also glowering, seemed to be ignoring him. In fact, she seemed to be ignoring everything and didn't notice the group of people by the door.

"Hey, busu, you've got company," the boy said impatiently as he gave the group a look that clearly said "laugh and I will kill you." The girl gave him a murderous glare, but glanced at the door and noticed them for the first time.

"Oh! Sano?" she said, walking up to them. "Friends of yours?"

"Something like that," Sano said with a grin. "Kyouri's a friend from the old days. I was wondering if you could let them stay at the dojo for a while." The girl gave him a skeptical look, as if asking him to elaborate. "They would stay at an inn, but they're broke." The girl dropped the boy from her shinai unceremoniously and began advancing towards Sanosuke, the grip on the handle tight and a dangerous look on her face.

"Sanosuke…" she said as she looked daggers at him. "I'm not running an inn here! Besides, I've already got enough freeloading going on without you inviting friends without my permission! Maybe if you start paying for your meals then I'd more willing to have more people here!"

"Don't be so stingy," Sano frowned. "You've got enough room anyway." Kyouri noticed how he didn't mention paying for his meals and she could hear the twins sighing heavily behind her and could practically feel Yamainu rolling his eyes.

"Gomen nasai, miss," Kyouri cut in, smiling brightly. "But we have no intention of staying for free." The girl's menacing air faltered at this as she looked curiously at Kyouri. "We just… don't have any money." Now she did a semi-facefault as she hung her head and sighed audibly. "But we can work! Right guys?" Kyouri turned to her friends, which nodded half heartedly. The girl was apparently at a loss for words.

"Wait…" the boy which had been dumped on the ground was now standing besides the girl, a skeptical expression on his face. "You guys are Sanosuke's friends, right?" They nodded. "But you're willing to work to pay to stay here?" They nodded again, but more slowly as if unsure what he was getting at. The boy's brow was furrowed in confusion. "So, wait… how long have you known Sanosuke??"

"Five minutes," grumbled Yamainu.

"Kaoru-dono, this one has finished the laundry," a bouncy looking red haired man said, interrupting the conversation, as he walked up to the group. He looked slightly surprised when he saw the group, but Kyouri had the feeling he had known they were there. He smiled at them but didn't say anything otherwise.

"Kenshin, these are some of Sanosuke's friends that are going to be staying for a while," said Kaoru happily. "They'll be cleaning the dojo as payment." Now the man named Kenshin had a genuine look of surprise on his face.

"You're going to work to stay here?" he asked, his eyebrows disappearing under his messy red bangs. "Are you sure they're Sanosuke's friends?"

"Why is this so surprising?" muttered Yamainu, looking annoyed.

"Because if you know Sanosuke you know he's a freeloading…" began the boy, but he didn't get to finish as Sanosuke had slammed his fist onto his head. "Hey!!" he exclaimed as he looked angrily up at the tall man, rubbing the bump on his head furiously.

"I see you've got everything taken care of, Jou-chan," Sanosuke said, completely ignoring the boy, "So I guess I'll get going. 'Night all." He walked away, looking a little tense, Kenshin noted. The girl with brown hair looked at his retreating back, seeming slightly anxious herself. Sano shot a grin at her as he passed, and soon stepped out the door.

Sano felt that he needed at least a night to collect his thoughts, which he figured had been splayed all over the place with Kyouri's greeting.

"Urgh, baka," glowered the girl to the gate he had stepped through, "He didn't even introduce us. Oh well…" She looked at the group happily. "I'm Kamiya Kaoru, assistant master of this dojo." She bowed her head at them politely and they did the same.

"A girl swordsman?" said Sachi, "You don't see many of those." Something in Kaoru's happy expression faltered slightly as her eyebrow twitched.

"Yes, you've got a problem with it?" Not another girls-shouldn't-play-with-swords-but-should-stay-home-and-raise-a-family type of freak.

"On the contrary!" beamed Sachi, punching her fist into the air. "More power to ya!" Kaoru was slightly taken aback at this weird reaction, but obviously pleased since the bright smile resumed its place on her face.

"This is my student, Myoujin Yahiko." She motioned to the small boy, which waved his hand at them once but seemed disinterested. "And my, er, boarder, Himura Kenshin."

"Hello," Kenshin said happily, bowing his head. Yamainu wrinkled his nose, as if smelling something strange in the air, but quickly stopped when Kyouri shot a glare at him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all," Kyouri said. "I'm Kyouri, and these are my friends…" She quickly introduced the people behind her for the second time that day.

"It's getting late," Kaoru smiled as she began turning towards the dojo, "I'll show you all to your rooms so you can get to sleep. We can all talk tomorrow."

"Arigato," Kyouri grinned as she and her friends followed her. She gave Yamainu a happy look and whispered, "See, this isn't so bad." He seemed determined to remain annoyed, however, and didn't answer. She sighed, rolling her eyes at the twins who returned her look of exasperation.

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Note: Something about this chapter seems… off (-bangs head into keyboard-). I give up, I've read over it about a million times. Whatever!!

I hope everyone has had a good break so far. I missed my computer and not being able to write, then when I finally got back it started snowing so I couldn't post anything since the internet went out! Argh! Anyways, I got some really cool reviews and I'm glad people are liking it so far! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter… but I think it could've been better… (-sigh!-).

Reader Responses:

WhiteRabbit5: Heh, Katsu meeting her on the bridge? Now that would've been a weird turn of events (lol). You got inspiration from my fic? Even if it was an assumption? Cool! Thanks a lot, it's good to know I've pulled off an OC without making her Mary-Sue, now if I can just keep it up…

Dew-Drop Viper: God, I know! It's sooo horrible! I tend to avoid Sano/OC fics too for the exact same reasons! (It's too bad too, because Sano's my favorite character). XD Wah! Thank you!!

Rayne-chan: You're gonna show your friends? Really?? (-blush!-) Heh heh, well, I hope I don't disappoint you!

Zoe: If ya mean please update, then I did!

darkXdemon15: Whoo! Another one!

Sorry if I seem a little, um, stupid right now. It's 11:30 and I'm multi-tasking between writing this and watching Witch Hunter Robin (I just realized it's back on Adult Swim!). This story may seem to get a little slow for a while, but I swear it gets interesting later! Really! Don't leave meeee!

(-yawn!!-) My brain shut off about an hour ago, I need to stop writing now…

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Please don't forget to review!!

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