Eee! I didn't expect to get such a positive response on my first chapter. :D

Made me feel uber-speshul and all that fun stuff.

Well then, without further ado, chapter two!

Okay I lie. Here, some necessary ado.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Rurouni Kenshin, nor do I own Ken dolls or Barbie dolls or Kenshin dolls, though if there IS a Kenshin doll please point me in the direction of the nearest store that carries them so I can buy one. C:

NOW without further ado, I present you with chapter two.

Chapter 2

Kaoru rubbed her eyes sleepily and groaned when the sunlight hit them. It had been impossible to sleep after finding Kenshin and the nameless doll the night before. In some corner of her mind, she registered that Megumi hadn't screamed yet this morning, so she must not know. 'Maybe I can clean it up before she sees so she doesn't think I did it out of spite after our argument...' she thought to herself, steering her feet once again towards Megumi's room. Megumi was long since up and most likely eating breakfast in the kitchen, so Kaoru didn't even bother trying to be silent as she walked towards the shelf. Bracing herself, she opened her eyes fully and stared at the spot where a decapitated doll should have been.

It was gone.

Yes, it was completely gone, with no traces of the stains anywhere or even a hint of the doll's clothing. Kaoru stared at the spot, dumbfounded, before shaking her head and piecing back together her shattered confidence. Had last night been a dream? Had she simply fabricated it after reading the story of the Hitokiri Battousai printed on the back of the box Kenshin had come in? Wait, Kenshin... If last night had happened, he would need a yukata. If last night hadn't happened, he would still be clothed and...would still need a yukata. Latching onto that thought, she popped open the box where Megumi kept extra clothes for the dolls on that shelf and rummaged about for a yukata. Finally finding one to her liking, she clutched it in her hand tightly as she walked towards her room with resolve. Maybe it had all been a dream. Maybe Kenshin hadn't been lying on the floor in her room covered with blood, instead of in his dojo next to his swords where she had placed him before bed. Maybe--

That hope was shattered as she opened her door and found Kenshin lying on his side in the dojo, a hand towel bundled around him.

'Crap,' was her only thought as she shakily approached the doll and peeled the towel off of him. Timidly, she wrapped him in the yukata and tied the belt, letting down his long hair and marveling at how soft and silky it was. She looked down at the doll in her hands forlornly.

"What happened last night, Kenshin? Why were you dirty? Why was that other doll hurt? Why am I the only one to know about it all?" she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. Sobbing, she threw herself onto her bed and clutched Kenshin closer, trying to draw answers out of him.

But the only thing she found was sleep.


When she finally woke up, eyes still puffy from crying, she was eternally grateful that it was Sunday. Her parents never minded if their daughters slept in on weekends, so she wouldn't be questioned about that, at least. Now, the puffy eyes might pose a problem. Maybe she could practice in the dojo until her eyes no longer bore traces of her tears. Nodding resolutely, she picked up the yukata-wrapped Kenshin doll and strode towards the dojo.

"Oh tanuki..." Kaoru cringed as Megumi's sickly sweet voice interrupted her thoughts. Plastering an obviously fake smile onto her face, she slowly turned towards the offending voice.

"Yes, kitsune?" she said, just as sickeningly sweetly as Megumi had. Her sister flashed a dangerous smile and pointed to Kenshin.

"I might be wrong, but I believe he is wearing one of Akira-chan's yukata," she said, her voice dripping with false sweetness. Kaoru's smile widened.

"He might be. Perhaps he's finally decided that Akira-chan looks better than he does," she said, a bright fake smile stretching her mouth. 'Please just go away, please just go away...' she pleaded mentally with her sister. Megumi opened her mouth to say something, but thought better of it and shook her head.

"Most likely. But if I ever catch Kenshin wearing any more of Akira-chan's clothes, I will personally take his swords and stuff them down his throat, all right?" she growled, losing all pretence of sweetness. Kaoru matched her growl.

"If you lay a hand on Kenshin, I'll beat you within an inch of your life with my bokken."

"Just don't touch my stuff, and I won't touch yours, okay?" Megumi sighed, exasperated. Kaoru thrust out a hand.

"Deal."


Kaoru sliced through her invisible opponents savagely. Ooh, sometimes she could just kill Megumi. The thought brought back vivid images from the night before, and she suddenly paled, her stance wavering slightly as she brought her bokken down in a powerful strike.

What had happened last night?

If she stripped it down to the bare facts, she had found a bloodied Kenshin and a bloodied and mutilated other doll in two different parts of the house during the night, and the nameless doll had been gone when people awoke the following morning.

Something very odd was going on, and she intended to find out what exactly it was.

Her gaze drifted to Kenshin, leaning against the wall, while she wound down her kata. It wasn't night anymore, so perhaps she should see if his clothes had dried? She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and set the bokken on a rack, picking up Kenshin as she trotted off to the bathroom to retrieve his clothes.

There they were, hanging on the towel rack, obviously dry. She picked up the hakama in her fingertips and was about to pull it onto Kenshin when a slip of paper fell from it. Intrigued, she bent down and retrieved it, turning it over in her hand. It was a tiny black envelope, a name printed on the front.

"Hmm?" she mumbled softly, trying to read the name.

"Kekkon Isshou...?" she drew out the name, running it through her memory. Shrugging, she slipped the envelope into her pocket and took a fully dressed Kenshin to the breakfast table. By now, it was almost lunchtime, but Kaoru filled a bowl with cereal and sloshed milk onto it. Crunching her cereal absently, she rifled through the sections of the paper until she found the comics. But the comic strips did nothing to calm her mind and answer her questions. She stared at the paper, seeing past it into the depths of her memory.

She was startled from her meditations by an annoyed tap on her shoulder. Blinking slowly, she turned to meet the cinnamon eyes of her sister.

"Kaoru," she said slightly too sweetly, "one of my dolls is missing." Kaoru paled, and Megumi smirked in triumph.

"You wouldn't happen to know what happened to him, would you?" she asked, voice practically dripping with unspoken threats. Kaoru opened her suddenly dry mouth only to discover that she had nothing to say. Her sister would hardly believe her if she said it had been decapitated and then had mysteriously disappeared the following morning.

"Ah, a-about that..." she stuttered, not certain where her mouth would take her. Megumi fixed her with a pointed look meant to encourage her to continue. A stray thought flashed through Kaoru's mind and she acted on it before her brain could protest.

"What was his name?"

Megumi blinked at the unexpected question. "Isshou-chan. But I hardly see why that's important. ...Kaoru? Tanuki, you've gone white as a sheet! What happened to Isshou-chan?"

Kaoru tuned out Megumi's distressed voice as her mind processed the new information. 'Kekkon Isshou,' she thought numbly, her hand subconsciously fingering the pocket where the black envelope was hidden. Completely ignoring her sister, Kaoru stood up from her chair and retrieved Kenshin before walking in a trance-like state towards her room. She could dimly hear her sister shout at her, calling her names and threatening harm to her belongings, but she easily shut the noises out. She wasn't in the mood to bicker. She just wanted to lie on her bed and try to come up with a reasonable answer to the mystery surrounding Kenshin. Languidly, she held him in front of her.

"Who are you?"


She didn't realize she'd fallen asleep until she woke up, the late afternoon sun shining through her window. Groaning, Kaoru flopped onto her side, gradually becoming aware of her surroundings. Kenshin was still clutched in her hand, as though she'd tried to draw comfort from him as she slept. Odd how the very thing that made her head spin was what she snuggled with when the confusion overtook her.

Shaking her head slightly, she set her protesting feet on the floor and stumbled towards her desk to finish her weekend homework. The desk was positioned in front of the window, so that light would shine on her workspace, but at the moment it also gave her a clear view of the setting sun. Fiery oranges and reds chased each other across the sky as the sunset neared its end. 'The color of Kenshin's hair,' Kaoru thought absently.

'Or blood...'

Kaoru shuddered at the thought and quickly turned her attention to her homework. She had school tomorrow, and she'd be mortified if she wasn't ready for it. Also, it would give Megumi something else to tease her about. Kaoru's eyes narrowed as she considered Megumi. What on earth was she going to tell her about the missing doll? What excuse could she fabricate?

Why did she need to fabricate an excuse in the first place?

'That's a good question,' she mused, tapping her pencil against the arithmetic worksheet on her desk. It wasn't as though she'd done something to the doll. She'd only seen it.

Perhaps she could just avoid Megumi and it would all blow over.

Mind at ease, Kaoru turned her gaze downwards and attempted to sort out 6th grade math problems.


Numbly, Kaoru wondered which kami she'd offended as she washed Kenshin's clothes in the bathroom sink for the second time. Perhaps she'd done something terrible and unforgivable in a past life. But whatever she had done, she fervently hoped she could atone for it.

He had been covered with blood again, the smell knotting her stomach as she removed his clothes and found another black envelope hidden in them. She didn't even bother reading the name on this one; she knew she'd find out what it was tomorrow when Megumi asked her.

'Why?'

The question lingered in her mind as she hung the hakama and gi on the towel rack. Why was Kenshin covered with blood, and why did the dolls even have blood, and why were they dying? She bit back tears of frustration as she clothed a now clean Kenshin in his yukata and stumbled back to her bedroom for yet another restless night.

'Why?' she silently asked again before drifting into dreamless sleep.


School did not agree with Kaoru this particular Monday morning.

More than once she'd been called back down to earth by a sharp rap on the head with a ruler, or a friendly prod from a classmate when she was asked a question and didn't respond. By lunch, her thoughts had finally settled down enough for her to realize that she was at school. How she had gotten there she didn't know; her mother had probably dressed her, fed her and stuffed her onto the bus.

Kenshin was at home.

The thought chilled her as she considered the past two nights. What would happen if he was left alone all day, if he did that much during the night when there were people around? Her appetite fled almost tangibly, and she pushed her tray of cafeteria food away from her with disgust.

This was going to be a long day.

--

Glossary:

Hitokiri Battousai – Kenshin's nickname back in the Bakumatsu, meaning something like "Assassin master of lethal sword drawing"

Yukata – a lightweight sleeping kimono

Tanuki – Raccoon dog, Kaoru's derogatory nickname

Kitsune – Fox, Megumi's (derogatory?) nickname - I happen to like it. xD

Bokken – a wooden sword

Kata – a routine for practicing various forms of martial arts; in this fic, kendo

Hakama – basically samurai pants

Gi – the top that goes with the aforementioned samurai pants

Kami – God, spirit, deity

AN: Well, the plot thickens?

I think.

Maybe it just kinda lengthens.

Or congeals. Yeah, that's it. The plot congeals.

I hereby give credit to the ever-wonderful Misaoshiru who named the victimized doll. His name is very appropriate, considering his brief role. Kekkon: Bloodstain; Isshou: (all) one's life, a lifetime; to the end of one's life

-pings luff at-

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