Here's a super long chapter!

The girl who knows names, and feels little pain

"I'm starved. If we're going to face an opponent its best to have your stomach satisfied!" She stated to Banshin and pointed to a sign.

"Since I'm going to help you… You can buy me lunch!" Banshin was about to object, until he saw the sign.

"You have some fine taste…" He clicked his tongue.

"Naturally"

They strode into the well-known restaurant Akabeko. She thought about the décor. There were no chairs, just short legged tables and pillows. There were wooden screens separating tables. She slipped off her sandals and seated herself on a pillow. Banshin kept his combat boots on and sat at the table.

"Welcome! May I help you?" A lady dressed in a stripy kimono asked her and Banshin.

"Hmm… This place is famous for Beef hotpot right? Can we have one of those?" Banshin glared at her, the hot pot was expensive…

"Did you have to-" She nodded and his face looked pained.

"Hey I'm helping you! You might as well treat me!" The lady smiled like a true business woman.

"Would you like any drinks with that?"

"Just some green tea." Banshin looked like one to spend on sake so she continued.

"Make that two green tea's Tae-san." Banshin looked about ready to explode.

"I'm not letting you get drunk. Imagine how stupid you'd be then…"

"Now wait a damn-"

"This Sanosuke person will whoop your butt if that happens. You don't need to lose anymore brain cells." She wagged her finger at him. Tae observed them carefully.

"That'll be all Tae-san." She gave a small smile at the waitress who tred lightly away from them.

"I have an attack strategy." Banshin leaned closer.

"Is it a good idea to say it here?"

"Why not?" She asked him with a hint of confusion.

"Well… This is a place where the Battosai hangs out." She placed the palm of her hand under her chin.

"And you let us walk in here… Why?"

"Information gathering."

"I thought you knew where this place was." She stared at him incredulously.

"I do. But if we're going to fight them we have to be sneaky."

"What for? Let's just go and challenge them. It's fairer that way." Banshin began to brainstorm, trying to concoct a good reason.

"Battosai is a strong fighter and if he is malicious enough to hurt Soujiro don't you think that he'd be able to trick using barbaric means?" She nodded unsurely.

"I guess…" Banshin laughed inwardly. She was so gullible, for one so strong.

"After we eat we go to the dojo and scout things first. I think you should go because you're smaller and less noticeable."

"You are actually making sense. This is amazing." She said in a disbelieving tone. He ignored her comment.

"Then we meet outside and you tell me about any weaknesses you can find." She tapped her chin.

"What about their strengths?" She wondered why he was only interested in weaknesses; their strengths won the battles after all.

"Here's you hot pot. Enjoy!" Tae set the pot upon their table as well as two plates and pairs of chop sticks. She proceeded to place the tea as well.

"Thank you Tae-san. This is for you." She held a closed fist over her hand and handed Tae some yen.

"Thank you." Tae smiled gingerly.

"Your welcome." Banshin gapped.

"You're loaded!" She tilted her head.

"I'm not one to flaunt my wealth." Tae discreetly made her exit as they squabbled.

"Why make me pay then?"

"Hey! I don't even have a solid job. I have to save."

"You just gave a tip!"

"So!"

They continued to throw around comments for another hour, and then left the restaurant after devouring their lunch. Banshin paid anyway.

"This is the dojo. I'll meet you here at dark." He pointed to a small compound.

"Infiltrating such a small place?"

Her cotton shorts would get dirty… She opened her bag and used a piece of black ribbon to tie her hair back. Her long sleeved shirt was also going to be sacrificed… She used a bandage to wrap around her arms.

"Why're you doing that?"

"Oh, no reason. It just looks cool." Banshin slapped his forehead.

"Name is Akiko. Call me by it." She hopped with ease over the high wall. Banshin walked away briskly.

'Hmm… Looks quaint…' It was a fairly simple structured Dojo. She could probably crawl around in the ceiling by taking apart a few boards. But, she was no ninja… She excelled only in hand to hand combat and a few tricks of light. Jumping was easy. Climbing was a different matter all together.

A hum snapped her out of her thoughts. Someone was coming! She gauged the distance from the wall to the roof and pounced stealthily, stumbling slightly on her landing. The humming stopped and she held her breath. Had she been heard?

"Yahiko I told you to practice that stance one thousand times. It's only been two minutes. Get up!"

She let out her breath. A splashing sound caught her attention. She scrambled over to the other corner of the roof.

"No way…" 'Is that?'

"Hitokiri Battosai?" his hair was reddish and his eyes blue. He was doing the laundry outside and was bent over a bucket. He was not the sort who would seem to be bad… Then again her 'family' did not seem bad at first… And look how they turned out.

'This is weird why does he have three names…' Most people only had one or two… He'd been named three times.

'Hitokiri Battosai, Himura Kenshin, Shinta…' She couldn't seem to finish the last part. How long ago had he been called as such? It must have been very long ago… Her uncanny ability to know people's names astounded many, at first. She could never get over the amusement of their faces. Probably the one reason she liked her search for Soujiro.

I mean, it's not an awful lot of fun searching for someone for such a long time… Though she did meet lots of interesting people… Tanaka was cool sometimes. His moves were awesome and always left her gaping. Her own developed moves seemed to be like a shadow. He always asked her why all her moves were named to fit girl fighters. He was dense and she didn't feel the need to tell him.

"Lunch is ready!" A feminine voice called. "Kenshin, Yahiko, Sanosuke!"

'Those must be their most recent names. Better write that down.' She rummaged through her pockets. She gave a triumphant smile as she fished out a paper.

'Okay! Wait. I can't write! Brilliant…' She grimaced. 'Where's Banshin when you need him!'

"I have to go to Megumi's!" A tall brown haired man yelled. ' Sagara Sanosuke…'

"Hey! I'm coming! Wait for me!" A small boy in a yellow clothing shouted.

'She must be a nice person to have everyone want to see her…'

"Come back here! You guys! Hey!" A lady with dark blue hair strode out in a huff.

"My cooking can't be that bad… Can it?" She looked depressed.

'So that's why they ran off so quickly…'

"Kaoru-dono? This one thinks that they just needed Meguim-san's help urgently." The red headed boy gave her an earnest look. She began to think that he resembled less of a fighter and more of a puppy…

"Thank you… I really don't think so though…" She glanced at the bowls of rice.

"This means you should have seconds! You don't want to waste food do you?" She began scooping out the half burnt rice into a bowl and placing it onto his place mat. He turned a pale shade of green.

"ORO?"

Akiko stifled a laugh. They were hilarious! This couple didn't look married so why was he here doing laundry? Was he the hired help? What about the other two? Maybe… Her child and her… cousin? Their hair colour was not even the same!

"Sigh…"

She slapped a hand over her mouth but the deed had already been done…

"Who's there?" Their eyes flashed with a deadly precision. They were eyeing the exact place where she hid in the ceiling boards.

"A complete stranger you have never heard of before. Bye." She turned around hastily and was about to scamper when the boards beneath her creaked.

'Crap'

She fell silently but crashed with enough sound to wake the dead. The young boy Yahiko ran in with an out of breath pose.

"Tae-san… She said… That there… Were two people… Hey! That's one of them!" He pointed at her.

"Its rude to point you know…"

"Its ruder to sneak around someone's house then break their ceiling!" Kaoru yelled.

"Sorry Kaoru-san how was I supposed to know that the damn ceiling would collapse." She rubbed the back of her head.

"How did you know my-" She paused in mid-sentence, Probably thinking about the sign on the entrance of the dojo.

"Umm… Since you guys know I'm here. I would like to challenge both Sanosuke Sagara and Himura Kenshin." The stared at her blankly, and none noticed that she had hidden malice as she spoke Kenshin's name.

"Do you know her Kenshin?" He shook his head violently. She was way too young to have been involved.

"Well… He doesn't know me exactly. But, Banshin knows you. I know all about your dirty tricks. So you better not try anything funny. I want a nice fair duel." Those around her quickly changed to outraged, except the battosai.

"You don't even know Kenshin! How can you assume that he's like that!" Yahiko's voice was loud and Kaoru's voice added to it. She wondered if the were able cause permanent ear damage.

"That reminds me… Why do you have three names?" He gave a questioning look.

"Hitokiri Battosai, Himura kenshin and Shinta." His eyes were puzzled.

"How do you know this one's past names?"

"Dunno. I always know. Though I think you haven't been called Shinta in a long time. Though I believe some still refer to you as Hitokiri Battosai. Himura kenshin is your new name right? A combination of the word 'sword' and 'new'. Though I'm not sure about the details you know the Juppongata." He turned serious in an instant.

"I wish to lay down my terms of the fight, you can do so as well shortly." He shook his head.

"This one laid down his sword."

"Then pick it up. It's not so difficult." She gestured. Kaoru spoke up.

"He means that he no longer fights to kill. He only fights to protect."

"Then he shouldn't have been so terrible to my friend." She rose and was about to storm away.

"Who's your friend?" She halted at the door way and readied herself to leave.

"Seta Soujiro"

---------------flash-back---------------

"Lana-chan!" She heard a voice yell as she put the last barrel of rice into the storage house. Soujiro appeared, his smile faded.

"L-Lana-chan? What happened to your arms?" He pointed to the blood soaked bandages around her arms.

"I thought about what you said… Since it doesn't hurt when people pinch I tried another way! It was interesting and kind of itchy… Then all this red stuff came out. It was kind of weird and I felt like crying and stuff. But I'm all better now." He enveloped her in a hug.

"You shouldn't do stupid things like this! You could kill yourself!" She winced at the excruciating pain that flared from her arms.

"S-Soujiro-chan please let go of me…"He saw the pain in her eyes and let go.

"It hurts doesn't it?" her head bobbed knowing he was right.

"Maybe… Just a little…"she used her index finger and thumb to symbolize the amount.

"Lana… Don't do this anymore." He felt so angry with himself. He had given her this idea. If he had never brought it up… She wouldn't have hurt herself.

"Okay… I won't. So long as you stay by my side…"she grasped his hand loosely afraid that her muscles would not allow her to hold his hand properly.

"We should go back" She nodded, she had been here for over an hour. Any longer and she'd be scolded for sure.

'I really love you Soujiro-chan. With all my heart.'

At that time she was the only one who felt this way. But he soon began to like her too and true smiles graced his face.

------------------end of chapter!-----------------

I haven't been answering review questions so here goes…

Tyranosaurus: Nope she's not supposed to be innocent! (About The Tenken)We'll just wait and see!

Rin nee-chan: I'd be glad to! Thanks for your review!

X-Files: they'll probably meet in another 2 or 3 chapters… Thank you for reviewing!

Angel: Course she will! And of course I'll try to update more!

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