Fwaaaa!

You all rock, you reviewers and stalkers and everyone else who has read my story so far. C:

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or any of the characters from it, nor do I own Barbie dolls or Ken dolls or Kenshin dolls.

Thank the Lord.

SO. Here's chapter 3

Chapter 3

Kaoru was pleasantly surprised to discover that her errant doll had managed to not coat himself in blood while she was at school.

'Must be a night thing, then,' she thought absently as she dropped her backpack in her room and slipped on her practice clothes. Her fingers had been itching for her bokken ever since she'd snapped out of her daze, and she was more than happy to oblige to their desires.

She hadn't taken two steps out of her room when Megumi's voice stopped her cold.

"Kaoru."

A tremor rippled through her body at the cold, deadly tone the word was said in. Megumi meant business.

"Kaoru," she said again, approaching her sister with calculated steps, "there are now two of my dolls missing. What in the name of kami-sama did you do to them?"

"Nothing," she said quickly. Too quickly. Megumi's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You lie, Kaoru," Megumi hissed, fire flashing in her cinnamon eyes. "Tell me now: What happened to my dolls?"

Under the stress of the situation combined with the near-sleepless nights she'd just experienced, Kaoru did the only thing she could: she cracked.

"Listen here, Kitsune," she seethed, anger and frustration rolling off of her in almost tangible waves. "I did not touch your precious dolls. I do not know where they are. I did not help whomever it was that took them. If you don't stop asking me about them, I will personally clobber you with my bokken. Are we clear?"

Megumi was taken aback, her meticulously groomed features in an uncharacteristic aghast expression. Slowly, carefully, she nodded her assent and walked back to her room, casting a wary glance over her shoulder once to be certain Kaoru wasn't following, wooden sword held high.

Kaoru, though, had turned away and hurried towards the dojo, her need for her bokken greater than ever.


It turned into a routine of sorts; every night, Kaoru would find her doll lying on the floor, covered in blood. She would wash him, change him into his yukata, and fall into uneasy sleep. The following morning, she'd receive black looks from Megumi, go about her day and simply wait for night to come again.

Her pile of black envelopes was steadily growing.

Still, she couldn't find it in herself to hate the doll. If he really was doing what she thought he was doing... she just might help.

She never had liked Megumi's obsession.

A slightly sinister smirk curled her lips as she fingered the latest envelope. What were these for, anyway? They always had the name of the victimized doll printed on them, and she had opened one once to find tiny, precise handwriting she couldn't read without a magnifying glass.

Heck, she couldn't even read it with the magnifying glass.

So the envelopes remained a mystery. Almost everything about Kenshin remained a mystery, actually.

Was he simply bored?

She tested the thought, rolling it around in her mind. It wasn't exactly as though she spent hours and hours concocting things for her doll to do. She just carted him around with her and cleaned up his messes during the night.

Perhaps he needed "human" contact.

Her thoughts instantly turned to Tomoe-chan, the pretty raven-haired doll with the brown eyes that held so much sorrow. Narrowing her eyes, she recalled how Megumi had practically challenged her over Tomoe-chan. She subconsciously rubbed her hand where her sister had slapped her, and began plotting ways to get the two dolls to meet. Her mouth quirked upwards at the corners as ideas began to form.

Challenge accepted, Kitsune.


It was different this morning, the hateful glare she could feel boring into her back as Megumi fought to keep from pummeling her. More intense. More hateful.

More sorrowful.

Her mind returned to the night before. She'd been going through the ritual of washing Kenshin when she felt something that marred the smooth surface of his face.

A scratch.

A deep scratch.

No matter how much she scrubbed at it, the blood that had settled into the scratch along his jaw refused to come out. Frustrated, she'd finally given up her attempts and settled down for the night, questions plaguing her mind.

They were answered when Megumi spoke.

"Tanuki."

The controlled emotions evident in that one word were enough to make Kaoru uneasy. Just who exactly had Kenshin offed the night before?

"Akira-chan is missing."

It felt like a piece of her soul had died with the proclamation of the words.

'I guess Kenshin did win the swordfight, after all,' she thought numbly, tears pricking her eyes.

"I want to know where he is, Tanuki. I swear, if you had anything to do with this, anything at all, I will strangle you with your own hair ribbon. After I burn your bokken," Megumi said coldly. Something in Kaoru's heart snapped.

"I've already told you! I don't know where your dolls are disappearing to! If you dare touch my bokken, I just might help out whomever is taking your dolls and donate a couple hundred of them to Goodwill," she threatened, voice cracking with emotion.

Megumi's eyes narrowed, but she left without another word.

Kaoru was trembling.

But she wasn't trembling from fear, or sadness, or frustration.

It was anger.

Anger at Megumi, for trying to implicate her whenever one of her precious dolls went missing. Anger at Kenshin, for daring to go after a doll Megumi obviously cared a lot about. Anger at herself, for not giving Kenshin better outlets for his cravings, whatever they were.

Anger at Akira, for dying.

Tomoe... she had liked Akira, hadn't she? They'd been engaged after all.

Surely she wouldn't want anything to do with her fiancé's killer, would she?

Except for revenge, of course.


To say she was shocked would be putting it mildly.

It had been several weeks since the disappearance of Akira, and things had fallen back into their normal pattern.

But tonight was... different.

Most definitely different.

Kaoru washed Kenshin's clothes mechanically, mind whirling too fast to think. It had been just another normal night. She'd gone to the kitchen for her ritualistic glass of water, and had bent down to pick up Kenshin even before she registered that he wasn't alone.

Tomoe was lying in his arms.

At first she hadn't known what to think, the pattern she had become used to broken. But eventually her brain had noticed that both Kenshin and Tomoe were dirty, and from there habit had set in.

Why on earth was Tomoe with Kenshin?

The only answer she could think of in her dazed mind was that she had wanted to kill him but couldn't do it while he was awake.

But of course that was a stupid idea.

Because dolls can't think. Can't want. Can't sleep.

Can't kill.

Well, that notion had been sorely put to the test for the past few months. Before she realized it, she had finished cleaning both dolls and their clothing and had walked back into her bedroom. Sighing slightly, she wrapped Tomoe-chan securely in the hand towel and put both dolls into the popsicle stick dojo.

She needed sleep.


There's nothing better than being woken up by a frothing kitsune on a Saturday morning.

Megumi was screeching out profanities and insults a thirteen-year-old should never have known while clutching Tomoe-chan protectively. It took a moment for the haze to retreat from Kaoru's mind, but once it was gone she understood the situation perfectly.

Megumi had found Tomoe-chan... in her room... with Kenshin.

Bolting upright, she blinked her eyes rapidly, trying to clear the sleep from them.

"Megumi, it's not what it looks like," she pleaded, cutting off one of Megumi's tirades.

Kaoru wondered absently if it was healthy to have skin that particular shade of purple.

"Not what it looks like? Oh, really? I come into your room to wake you up for pancakes and find Tomoe-chan in here with that thing, and my dolls have been disappearing one by one for months, and it's not what it looks like? What in the name of kami-sama is it then?" she spat out, eyes narrowed to slits. Kaoru took a calming breath.

"I went into the kitchen to get a glass of water last night and saw her on the floor, but I didn't want to wake you up so I brought her to my room," she said, congratulating herself for not flinching during the half-truth. Megumi stared at her intently, weighing her words. Finally, she let out a sigh, and with a shake of her head, turned to leave.

"Next time, wake me up, Tanuki," she quipped.

Kaoru breathed a sigh of relief and flopped back onto her bed, a nervous smile settling on her face.

"And if I ever find Tomoe-chan in here again I swear I will give your bokken to the neighbor's dog," Megumi chirped, popping her head back into Kaoru's room.

She was gone by the time a pillow connected with the door.


Stealthily, Kaoru slipped through the hallways to her sister's room.

Megumi was at a birthday party.

Licking her lips nervously, she opened her sister's door and made her way to "the shelf".

She was slightly disturbed by how many dolls were missing from it.

'What did you expect, baka? You know how many black envelopes you have now,' she chided herself. Timidly, she set Kenshin next to Tomoe-chan so they could talk while she examined the other dolls.

She decided immediately that she didn't like Iizuka-chan.

'It,' she declared firmly. Iizuka didn't deserve to be treated as though it was alive. It was an it. Smiling slightly, she perused the shelf, eyes settling on Katsura-chan. Something about him tickled the back of her mind, and she cautiously picked him up.

And gaped, wide-eyed, when a black envelope fell from his gi.

With trembling fingers, she retrieved the envelope and stared at the name on the front.

'Keikoku Takai.'

How appropriate.

Numbly, she tucked the envelope back into Katsura-chan's gi and picked up Kenshin.

This was a development that merited some attention.


She wasn't really surprised when she found the exact same envelope in Kenshin's clothes that she'd seen in Katsura-chan's gi. Actually, she'd expected it.

'Well,' she thought, 'at least now I know where Kenshin gets the envelopes from.'

But questions of "why", "how", and "when" continued to plague her mind. Why did he get the envelopes, how did he act on the information written in them, when did he take them from Katsura-chan?

She was beginning to get vague ideas about the answers to those questions.

"Why" might be answered this way - he got the envelopes because Katsura-chan didn't like the dolls.

"How" - He had swords. He apparently knew how to use them, considering their state every night.

"When" - She was at school for most of the day during the week. On weekends, she didn't cart him around with her everywhere, despite what her sister thought.

Still, it irked her that only her doll went on killing sprees, and not any of Megumi's. It would have been fun to see Megumi's expression upon finding a blood-encrusted doll on her bedroom floor.

'When did my thoughts get so morbid?' she wondered to herself, realizing with a jolt what it was she had just thought.

More than slightly disturbed, she finished her nightly task and snuggled into her bed, content to let Kenshin watch over her while she slept.

--

Glossary:

Bokken – a wooden sword

Kami-sama – God

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

Yukata – a lightweight sleeping kimono

Tanuki – Raccoon dog, Kaoru's derogatory nickname

Baka – Idiot, fool

Gi – Basically a samurai shirt

Keikoku - Warning, advice

Takai - Death, the next world

AN: Well, hopefully the amount of plot packed into this chapter made up for chapter two. xD

Once again, I must thank Misaoshiru for being a totally awesome beta. -snugs-