Thank you reviewers for reading my story! I'm sorry I haven't posted stories in a while! My computer was wiped of microsoft word so I had to type in word pad...

I'm feeling slightly irritated because I was being annoyed by some guys in my class, couldn't take it anymore and slammed my palm into his back. I have to remedy the situations soon though... This teasing things getting a bit out of hand... You'll see more of childish prankster Akiko in the next chapters battle! Read and review!

Reviews:

Piggy: Thank you!

Stepheroni': Well she sort of gets out... Yahiko doesn't play much of a role till later...

Hattori: )) Thank you!

Evee-chan:Thank you!

It could've been worse

Akiko had now probably trod over the same patch of land over two hours. Having absolutely no sense of direction she was utterly lost in the maze of Bamboo. She collapsed on the ground. The bamboo was too high to jump completely over but... She could try to spot someone or see if she was close to an exit. She dug her feet into the soil and crouched low.

"Yargh!" She yelled as she flung herself into the air. She rose about one and a half meters up, which still wasn't enough to clear the bamboo trees.

"Dammit! How long am I going to be stuck here!" She could feel karma ebbing beside her... She left Banshin with the mental woman and wound up in the middle of a dense bamboo forest... Great...

'Bamboo is to smooth to climb... I'm gonna be stuck here forever!' She could picture herself crying a flood of anime tears... So she did the next best thing.

She went to sleep.

She was rudely awoken later by shouting and blinked several times. This was definitely not the forest she fell asleep in. A bunch of burly guys chucked a smaller girl who was gagged and bound with ropes beside her. She moved her hand slightly only to realize she was bound by rope as well, she was thankful she wasn't gagged. She smiled to herself, despite the circumstance she was out of that forest...

"You guys keep quiet."The mans tone itself made her want to kick his ass.

"Sorry no can do! You have to say pretty please!" The man's eyebrow twitched.

"You are in no position to argue by tomorrow morning you'll be on the slave market." He sneered while Akiko held up the act of 'goodness'.

"I'm afraid that'd be an inconvenience for me. See I have to stay here. So could you let me and the rest of these ladies go?" She batted her eyelashes.

"Fuck off"

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"You may wanna take that back." He sneered and showed his pearly whites.

"No"

"Then I have to kick your ass." She threw the ropes that once bound her at his face.

"Kage kitsune!" Shadows crept around him forming teeth and fox faces. The sight itself seemed to immobilize him. She used her hands to undo the knots they had made in the other womens ropes. Most of the women's hands and wrists had chaffed and reddened by the roughness of the rope.

"Your the girl from that restaurant! Tsubame!" She watched with amusement as the girls expression changed from relief to shock.

"How were you kidnapped?" She looked slightly depressed as she spoke.

"I... I was waiting for Yahiko-kun to show up at Akabeko when I was grabbed by that man... It was late so we didn't have customers and no one saw me being carried off... B-But... Yahiko's going to worry about me... He's going to search and tire himself out because of me..." There were tears in the corners of her eyes. Akiko had never been one to give good advice... But, she figured this was a good a time as any to start.

"Tsubame... Yahiko is... I mean... Must be a good person for you to want to cry over right?" The younger girl nodded.

"Then I seriously doubt that he'd want to find you sobbing over split milk." The girl looked at Akiko.

"He's probably waiting for you and wondering what happened. If he sees you in tears he'll assume the worst and you don't want him more worried than he already is. So..." She paused.

" Hurry and go back to him!"

Tsubame scuttled to the exit of the cart while thanking her and ran into the darkness of the night. For some reason even though she should feel happy that she'd stopped a cart full of women from being violated of their human rights, she really wasn't.

Excuses came like a maelstrom in her mind. It could have been that the mans face made her queezy or that sitting in a rickety old cart for hours had caused mild disturbances in her stomach... But, just thinking logically... It was most likely that the awful sensation in her abdomen was caused by selfishness. She wished that someone was waiting for her.

Soujiro just seemed so far off... It seemed like forever, and yet not forever. Even her memory was fading, grasping it looked impossible... But, Soujiro was the only one who had made her feel warm inside. Those cold days were always brighter when he was beside her... She felt like crying... Traveling for so long and searching for an evasive memory.

But, Akiko was a warrior. It was not permissible. Crying for real would be disastrous for any fighter, not only for the sake of concealing weakness. But for the protection of others. A fake tear every now and then was alright. But to be seen truly hurting was an opportunity for enemies that she didn't want to give.

She gave a wary step out of the wobbly cart, who knew if that guy had accomplices? She released her light trick from the man and watched him gasp for breath. The man began to shout a flurry of curses at her as well as calling her a witch for her oh-so-magic use of light and shadow.

She didn't feel threatened at all for some odd reason. Perhaps it was the fact that the man was shaking and backing away or that his balding head was really amusing and made her want to laugh wildly or it could be because she had two polished daggers hidden from sight just itching to be used. Taking it into consideration, it was all three.

The man didn't seem to want to let her off that easily. Then again, she had stolen his 'loot', taunted him and almost burst out laughing due to his baldness(which for some reason was slightly green).

"Some people many be wanting a stray magician for their toy. So let me cut off a few strings!" He charged at her with brute force. She rolled sideways to dodge and flung a dagger which flew past the man's head.

"Ha! You-" The man never managed to say missed because the second dagger was thrown at a much faster rate and corrected the angle of the first sending the blunt end of the dagger at the man's cranium. His unconsciousness satisfied her.

"Why didn't you kill him?" Her eyes flicker to the man she knew as Sagara Sanosuke.

"Its pointless. Don't you agree Sagara Sanosuke?" She gave a chesire cat grin, he appeared not to be phased and she was a little disapointed that he hadn't flinched or anything...

"Its obvious from your moves that you could've easily killed him." He had his brown eyes concentrated on her face. Not a good sign... Then again she could tell him about the fight and set a time...

"My accomplice wishes to fight you. The battle is tomorrow as soon as dawn breaks. At the Dojo, everything goes." She stated clearly.

"Why? Why do you want to fight Kenshin?" She felt that thin line of ebbing hatred return.

"I was told that my friend was heavily injured by him, that he almost died and was forced to flee. I can't allow this to go unpunished."Her determination was evident in her eyes.

"Would you do anything for this friend?" She hesitated then nodded firmly.

"Then be prepared to die. I'm not giving Kenshin up that easy."

"Nor I for Soujiro."

Well... The day could've been worse. So Akiko was sort of thankful. She suddenly felt one step closer.