I'm back XD And meanie me hasn't updated. Well, I have now. I started a new job so thats kept me busy but fear not. Lol k, got the dramatics outta my system. I got triple the reviews on this one :D Two from and one from mediaminer. So mucho gracious kenshin.kyo, sorry it took so long for the update and many thanks to KaoruKamiya307 (You didn't sound mean at all :D I really appreciate the help. Bunches) And at mediaminer, thanks to Gure, hehe I changed the summary. K, now for the actual story.

Laundry. Not the most exicting way to start a day but it was a start. At least Kenshin had finally gotten out of bed and back into his old routine. Slightly. Though he cooked his own meals, and cleaned the rest of the dojo, he couldn't bring himself to venture back into her room. The time for crying was over and he knew if he went back in there now, the tears would come.

Around noon, he decided it would have to go into town to buy some groceries. Yahiko would be coming back soon and now that Kenshin was sole owner of the dojo, he had plans to see if Sano wanted to stay there too. Anything to fill in the silence.

The walk to the town was relatively short. Normally the scenery was beautiful but dark clouds overcast the sun, making Kenshin doubt his decision to go today. Still, he figured if he hurried, he would have time to make it back home before the storm came. He might even have enough time to stop by Sano's. He was curious as to what kind of training Sano was putting the 12-year old through.

Lost in his musings, he hadn't even realized he had arrived in town till he heard a noise. Seconds later it registered what it was: a cry of pain. Without realizing what he was doing, he raced down the small alley toward the sounds. Though it was broad daylight, the clouds made the day darker and many people had decided not to risk getting caught in the storm so he wasn't surprised that someone would try an attack.

The small space was longer than he would have originally guessed but when he did reached it's end, the scene angered him. A large guy standing in front of a much smaller woman, her back to the wall. Though the he wasn't actually touching her, his body language cried violence. Making his footsteps heard, the two of them focused on him before he had reached them.

"Look buddy, I got this under control," the main said with a slight accent. American? Probably but he hadn't dealt with many foreigners so Kenshin couldn't be sure.

The small red-head narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to speak when the woman did instead. "Like hell you do," she responded with a laugh. Using the guy's momentarily confusion, and no doubt slow reflexes, the girl ran past them both. Wanting her to leave in case the guy put up a fight, he let her.

"Hey. Don't just stand there. Stop her," the guy cried, beginning his own slow run. Before he could get past Kenshin, the smaller man had his sword out and pointing. "She is no longer a concern of yours. Your opponent is me."

"Opponent? Look guy, I don't know if you get what's going on here. She just stole ALL my money," he said angrily, knowing the gurl was probably long gone by now.

"She...stole your money?" he asked, the disbelief obvious in his voice.

"Yeah pal. Equal oppurtunity and all that. Now thanks to you, she got away. And I'm broke."

"I'm deeply sorry. I came upon the scene and thought you were harrassing her. You may have my money," he said, quickly hanging the pouch over to the guy. Skeptical, he slowly reached out to take it.

"You don't know how much I had and I don't know how much you have here."

Kenshin wanted till the guy counted it to speak. "If that doesn't cover it, I'll track her down and get your money for you. It shouldn't take long."

"This'll do for now but you go ahead and track her down. I hear she's been targetting tourists. If she's the same girl but then again, how many different woman thieves could there be?" he asked. Kenshin decided not to remind him about his equal oppurtune comment.

They arranged to meet in one week in a nearby Inn where the guy was staying and then the two parted company. By the time Kenshin made it to the nearest bar, the best place to get information, the rain had started and his flaming red hair was sticking to his neck and back. For the weekend, the bar was especially empty, sporting only 6 people. Only two of them sober enough to actually be awake. The first one he talked to looked deceitfully sober but when he started telling Kenshin how pretty a serving girl he was and inviting him back to his place, he moved on to the next. As he guessed, the girl was active enough to have made a name for herself.

"Do you know her name?" he asked.

"Nope." Well, maybe she hadn't made a NAME for herself yet...

"Do you know anything about her at all? Where she lives or anyone who does know her?"

"I know she steals stuff."

"Do you know anything else about her?"

"She's a girl." Kensin wasn't sure if the guy thought he was seriously helping with that answer or not.

"Anything else?"

"She has a tatoo. On her arm." Finally. Maybe this would get him somewhere.

"What's the tatoo of?"

"It's a word." Silence. Guess he was going to make him ask.

"What word?"

"Evil."

K XD End of chapter 4. I hope you all liked. When I first started righting I was like "I'll wait till I get this many reviews..." blah blah. But nah. As long as one person's reading it and letting me know, I'm happy. Lol though, the more the merrier.