Wow guys--it's been FOREVER. Holy crap. Sorry, college and work and lots of personal and family problems are kind of hindering my creative flow. But here you go, I hope this is enough to tide you over for a bit. 3 REVIEW!

Chapter Three: Attempts at Normalcy

Kaoru, Kenshin, Megumi, Sanosuke, Tsubame, and Dr. Gensai had somehow fit themselves around the breakfast table and were all feasting happily on some of Megumi's famous ohagi. Introductions had been completed, and Kaoru was now interrogating Kenshin carelessly about his experiences over the past nine years.

"So you didn't meet any other women, did you?"

"Now, Miss Kaoru," Megumi began with a chuckle. "I'm sure that Kenshin wouldn't have done that to you."

"I don't know," Sanosuke replied in Kaoru's stead. "He did abandon us all for nine years."

Kenshin coughed, an attempt to change the subject. "I didn't do any such thing, that I did not. However," he paused, looking toward Tsubame, now a rather attractive eighteen year old. "Yahiko did."

"Really?" Came the response, not only from Tsubame, but from Megumi and Kaoru. The three girls were surprised.

"Where is he this morning anyway," Sanosuke asked as he took another bit of ohagi from the plate.

"He's still asleep. I'll go wake him…" "No, Kenshin—" Kaoru interrupted. "Tsubame, you go wake him up. He's in Sanosuke's room." Tsubame nodded and stood, smoothing her kimono.

"Sanosuke-san, please don't eat my share. I would like to fill myself before I work today."

"Whatever…" Tsubame sighed and excused herself from the room. She walked down the hall and opened the door to Sanosuke's room slowly, waiting for the signature squeak that always came with it. But upon finding that there was no squeak, she stepped inside and smiled at the boy who still sat on the floor, head on his knees, Sanosuke's jacket still up over his shoulders. She approached him quietly and knelt at his side, long brown hair falling over her shoulder, and touched his arm gently. "Yahiko-kun…" "Hmmph…" Came the groaned reply.

"Yahiko-kun, please wake up… Megumi-san cooked ohagi for you… She knew how much you liked it and if you don't wake up now Sanosuke-san will eat it all before you get even a little!"

"Ohagi!?" Yahiko shot up and jumped to his feet, giving no regard to the girl at his side, who he'd practically ran over. He pelted from the room, his bare feet carrying him down the hall with a silence matched only by the best of manslayers, and he threw the door open hastily, panting as though he'd just ran three miles.

"Good morning, Yahiko," Kenshin offered as he took another bit of ohagi. "I didn't hear you coming." "You made ohagi and didn't wake me up!?" "I thought you might like to sleep after a week and two days of walking—was simply trying to be thoughtful…" "Thoughtful?! You're trying to starve me!" Yahiko sprinted to the table and took his usual place between Kaoru and Sanosuke and grabbed greedily at the remainder of the ohagi. It wasn't until then that he regained his composure and blushed a deep red as he wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his gi.

"Excuse me…" He said—and blushed even deeper when he belched rather loudly.

"Yahiko—you shouldn't eat so fast," Kenshin warned. "After all, you are company here…"

"Company?" Kaoru interjected. "You boys aren't company, you're family," she grabbed Yahiko around the neck and pulled him roughly to herself in a hug. He groaned at the touch and began to try to pull away.

"Come on, don't be such a guy."

"Don't touch me you ugly girl!"

"Yahiko!" Kenshin scolded again, but this time he got results. He watched as Yahiko sat up and bowed his head shamefully, apologizing to Kaoru profusely.

"Kenshin, why'd you do that?" Sanosuke asked as he placed his half-eaten ohagi down on the table. "He was acting normal."

"Are you all busy?"

"Tsubame… Where'd you go?" Kaoru asked, directing everyone else's attention over toward the door.

"I was tidying up Sanosuke's room. I made the futon…" She looked over at Sanosuke and approached the table. "You need to be a more calm sleeper."

"You need to be less picky about your housecleaning."

"And you," she looked at Yahiko with her hands on her hips. "You need to pay more attention to who's around you. You just about killed me back there, knocking me over like that!"

Yahiko looked up for the first time from the ground and blinked a few times, remaining silent. He began his attempt at an instinctive apology, mouth moving as though he were imitating some kind of fish, but no words came out.

"Yahiko?" She inquired as she sat down beside Kenshin. "Are you all right?"

"Ts…Ts…Tsuba…me…"

"Yes, Yahiko?"

"I didn't realize it was you that woke me up… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to knock you over, I didn't know I knocked you over, I'm very, very sorry that I knocked you over…"

"You're rambling," Kenshin warned.

"Apologies."
The Akabeko was busy, as it had always been. Waitresses with faces both familiar and not rushed about carrying their trays and plates to the kitchen and to the customers with precision and speed. Tae had been waiting on the Kenshin-gumi since they'd arrived that afternoon, and now sat with them at the small table where the group sat around their giant bowl of stew. "It's been a long time, Kenshin. I was afraid I'd never see you again. Miss Kaoru and Sanosuke seemed a bit lonely without you and Yahiko around to keep them on their feet."

"I see," Kenshin replied with a smile as he sat his small bowl on the table. "It is good to be back, even in this new revolution. You should know that you're under good protection now, I wont let any more harm come to this place."

"We can only hope." Tae looked away and toward the door, pausing slightly before changing the subject. "So have you seen Tsubame lately? She's not been coming to work, I'm rather worried about her."

Kaoru giggled at this comment, attracting the attention of all of the Kenshin-gumi. She covered her mouth and closed her eyes, nodding her head to Tae's question. "I've seen her."

"Really? Where has she been?"

"Well," Kaoru began, calming herself enough to talk. "It would seem that she and Yahiko have been going out a lot lately."

Sanosuke leaned back, arms folded behind his head, against the wooden wall that separated the small three walled rooms of the Akabeko. He sighed and closed his eyes. "So that's where he's been going lately."

Kenshin looked between the two and quirked a very confused eyebrow. "Oro? I thought that he was working his kata!" he interjected. "If he was going out with Miss Tsubame I'm certain he'd have told me, that he would."

"I thought you might know him better than that, Kenshin," Kaoru replied matter-of-factly. "He's a bit more secretive than you give him credit for."

"I see—"

It was at this moment that Yahiko entered the Akabeko, Tsubame following closely behind him. He gave a short bow and sat while Tae excused herself and took Tsubame back toward the kitchen, scolding her for skipping her work. The others continued to eat, deciding that it would be best not to address Yahiko's escapades in public, that it might become an argument, as things used to when they all talked together.

"You're not eating, is there something wrong, Yahiko?"

"I'm fine, Miss Kaoru, you shouldn't worry yourself." Yahiko replied quietly.

Kaoru bit her lower lip in an attempt to remain calm at Yahiko's emotionless response. "I hate it when you do that to me."

"Do what to you, Kaoru?"

"You should know…"

"I'm afraid that I don't. I've only been back for a day…"

Sanosuke blinked, and interrupted the beginning argument. "So… What day is it?"

"Tuesday, I think," Kenshin replied as he poured Yahiko a generous portion of the stew that sat before the group. He watched him eat slowly, making sure that he wasn't skipping anymore meals.

"Yes, Ken-san?" He inquired as he looked up from the bowl. "You should eat more."

"I think I'm doing all right. Don't wo—"

Kaoru threw her bowl at him, pegging the side of Yahiko's head. "I told you to stop talking like that!!!"

"KAORU-SAN!" Yahiko rubbed the side of his head with a wince and glared over at her. "Why did you do that you ugly woman!?" Kenshin and Sanosuke exchanged glances and before they could stop it, began to laugh hysterically. Unfortunately, Kaoru's bowl had still had a bit of the stew left in it, and now it was splattered all over Yahiko.

"You know I didn't have to come out with you all."

"Yes you did."

"No… No I didn't, Kaoru, now if you'd kindly excuse me I'm going to go clean the stew off of my head…" He shot another cold glare toward Kaoru.

"It was funny, though," Megumi interjected as Yahiko stood and looked down at her, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'm certain it was… Now how about we all go home so that Ken-san and I can rest for a while?"

"Good idea," Kenshin replied. "Sanosuke, pick up the tab would you?"


Yahiko sat on the roof of the dojo, the place that he'd found to be most comforting to him, and peered up at the dimly lit night sky. Only the moon hung above him now, a few bright stars dotted the sky, illuminating the landscape just enough to see. He closed his eyes again for a moment, but opened them upon sensing a presence, someone that he'd not felt before had intruded into the dojo. He crawled across the tiled roof stealthily and silently until he reached the edge, where he crouched on his stomach and looked down below. On the walk were four men, each very young looking with their daisho at their sides. They couldn't have been more than his age, and each had dark hair--or what appeared to be such in the light. Before them stood Kenshin, hand on the hilt of his katana. He looked angry. More angry than Yahiko cared to see, but the boy dared not interfere with Battousai. He instead listened intently to the conversation, readying himself at any moment to jump to his sensei's aid. "Battousai, surrender yourself to my lord or you yourself will perish alongside your woman."

"What have you done with Kaoru?" Demanded the Battousai coldly as he stepped forward. "You will find that I wont do anything until you set her free--and if you should refuse to do this, you and your master will die just like your predecessors have."

"So it was you, who disposed of my second brigade of men… Three years ago if I'm not mistaken."

"Three years ago I had not slain a man."

"Then your counterpart had"

Counterpart? Yahiko thought, the word unnerved him. He'd never thought of himself as Kenshin's other half, but in a way, it was very possible. Kenshin had always been the defensive part of the operation, he himself had always been the offense. So maybe it was true--Kenshin was still trying to protect the ones he loved.

"Where is Ryu? Why has he not come to your aide yet, Battousai?"

"I do not need him to protect me from your kind, that I do not. Now tell me, where have you taken Miss Kaoru!?"

"Master Shinomori does not wish for me to disclose that information to you. But if you wish to, you can surrender at any point. Or you can follow us and fight—"

"I will kill you, regardless of whose turf I fight on."

The four men nodded and fled, their feet carrying them faster than Yahiko had thought was physically possible--but Kenshin followed suit, his pace only a bit slower than theirs. They disappeared into the woods, in the direction of the river nearby. It was at this point that Yahiko decided that something had to be done.

The boy jumped from the rooftop, landing quietly on the ground below. He turned on his heel and pelted inside and into Sanosuke's bedroom, where the fighter for hire laid asleep on his futon. He leaned down and began to shake his shoulders violently, knowing that if he didn't, he wouldn't get him awake. "Sanosuke, wake up!"

"Ehrm? Yahiko? What do you want?"

"Kenshin left!" Yahiko replied. "I'm afraid that Kaoru's been kidnapped--they were going to kill him."

"You're a manslayer--go take care of it yourself."

"Sanosuke!!!" The fighter for hire sat up and glared menacingly over at Yahiko, and pushed himself out of bed. "What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to leave a note for Miss Megumi and Tsubame. If they should come, I don't want them to worry about us. I'll go get some food and my katana--I saw him go south… Toward the river--the falls to be exact."

"The falls?" Sanosuke stood and walked to the door, Yahiko following close behind him. "The cliffs, you mean?"

"Yes," Yahiko replied. "Now go write the note, if you please. I'll go and get the other things we'll need." The boy walked down the hall to the left, Sanosuke walked toward the kitchen, and the two began to gather their things for a trip that would last several days at least. They met back within five minutes and nodded toward each other, Yahiko leading Sanosuke from the house and southward into the woods.

The two men walked in silence for a long while before one spoke to the other, Sanosuke the first to talk. "So, do you think we have anything to worry about?"

"I do, actually." Sanosuke remained quiet for a moment, waiting for Yahiko to elaborate on his thought. But to his chagrin, nothing came. The fighter for hire proceeded to talk again. "And that would be because?"

"Ken-san switched my katana with his reverse blade sword. He's out for blood…"

"What do you mean?"

"For the past nine years Kenshin hasn't killed anyone, he's simply lured the enemy to me so that I could do it…"

"I see." There was once again silence.

"Yahiko, why don't you talk?"

"I don't know, I just suppose I'm not a loud person anymore."

"Why is that?" Yahiko was once again quiet for a few moments after hearing a question that he wasn't sure how to answer. He stopped walking and waited for Sanosuke to catch up with him, and he looked up at him. "I don't know"

"Well stop being so damn quiet. Why cant you just be the way you were?"

"Maybe because I'm different now." Yahiko retorted and fell quiet, continuing to walk with Sanosuke at his side. He reached his hand up and felt the hilt of Kenshin's sakabatou, resting his hand on it as a kind of comfort. "I can't help it," he began after maybe ten minutes of silence. "I just can't seem to figure out what went wrong in the past nine years. Its just kind of hard when you're trying to control a ruthless killer."

"A ruthless killer… You mean your other half? What you were talking about a couple of nights ago with Kenshin?"

"That would be correct."

"Well you could start by not sounding so sophisticated all the time. Don't be so smart."

"I don't consider myself to be too terribly intelligent--but if that was meant for a compliment then thank you."

"I don't think I meant it as a compliment" Yahiko blushed and looked down, ready for a change in conversation. " So… How long do you think its going to be until we get to the clearing?"

"I don't know. It's been a while since I was there last… Maybe two more hours or so"

Kenshin stared with amber eyes into those of Kaoru's assailant. He drew Yahiko's katana and held it in front of him in an offensive posture. Concentrating on only the battle ahead, Kenshin paid no mind to Kaoru's crying for him coming from behind. He breathed deeply and began to speak in a low and menacing voice.

"You will let Miss Kaoru go or your men will die."

"Battousai," the boy sneered in reply as he pulled his katana from its place at his side, "my men have defeated your kind before… You are not the only manslayer that I have faced in my time"

"You are as of yet a boy, you do not know what it means to be a manslayer."

"Do you think I am so young?" The boy stepped forward and into the light. "I am in fact, as old as your Kaoru… But that does not mean that I have no skills."

"Let her go."

The boy drew his katana and held it in front of himself. "You will fight me for her. Should you kill my men and I, then, and only then, will I let her go."

"Kenshin, don't!" Kaoru screamed from where she stood at sword point, surrounded by huge samurai. "Don't do it, please!"

"Kaoru, I will do anything to save you, so please do not try and stop me…" He placed his hand on the hilt of the katana and glared at the boy. "Come now, you will taste death as so many have before you."

Kaoru cried out as Kenshin began fighting with the boy, watching in horror as the swords came dangerously close to removing limbs or grazing throats, the sound of clanging swords reverberating among the trees. She stared at the Battousai and raised her hands to her mouth, wincing as she saw his arm be sliced rather badly by the boy's katana. She knew that Kenshin was outskilled—he would need help.

The girl decided then that she would have to make her own escape. She plowed through the men that surrounded her and began sprinting as fast as she could away from the clearing, back toward the dojo where she knew that Sano and Yahiko would be waiting, worried for them.


"Sanosuke…" The fighter for hire stopped in his tracks, startled by the sudden urgency in Yahiko's voice as well as the fact that he'd broken the silence. "Yeah?" "Someone's coming—"

"YAHIKO! SANOSUKE!" Yahiko stepped ahead of Sanosuke and squinted, trying to see through the dark and the trees. "Is that…Kaoru?" He mused to himself surprisedly. "Sanosuke, That's Kaoru!"

"It is!"

Sano and Yahiko stood and waited for Kaoru to get to them, panting and crying, and she collapsed into Sanosuke's arms, weak from her sobbing. "Sano—they're making him fight… He's going to kill again…"

"No he wont," Yahiko replied. "If anything, they'll kill him first…"

Sano looked over at the boy and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"He's not killed for a long time, I already told you that." He paused and looked back at Sanosuke. "Go get Miss Megumi, please… I'll go help Kenshin—"

"But you'll need help…"

"I'd rather you not watch me… I don't need any help, Kenshin and I can handle it."

"All right. I'll have Megumi come to the dojo, if you're not there by noon we'll return to the clearing." Yahiko nodded and turned.

"Thank you, Sanosuke… I'll be back, I promise."

Sanosuke turned and began escorting Kaoru from the woods, Yahiko walking alone in the opposite direction. The boy began sprinting after a long while, reaching the clearing maybe a half an hour later. He stared in amazement at what he saw—at least a dozen men were dead, responsible for them all, and he was being faced by a tiny looking man that appeared to be giving him problems. The Battousai was backed up against the cliffs, laying back. He'd been subdued and beaten rather badly, and Yahiko knew that if he didn't act now, he would go over.

"Ken-san!" Kenshin and the boy looked across the clearing as Yahiko pelted angrily across, jumping over the dead bodies. He plowed mercilessly into Kenshin's assailant, sending him sprawling out onto the ground, and drew the sakabatou, holding it in an offensive position, ready at any moment to take the boy's life.

"Yahiko-kun, don't do this," Kenshin warned, seeing the angry look in Yahiko's eyes. He knew that if the boy killed now he'd be in his killer mindset for a long while afterward.

"Kenshin, don't instruct me to make foolish decisions," Yahiko replied coldly as he lowered the tip of the sword to the boy's throat. "I'm doing as you taught me."

"I never taught you to be an evil man–" Yahiko stopped his advance and looked down at Kenshin confusedly, his guard momentarily lost, and in a lightning fast second, Kenshin's assailant took advantage of this, drawing a separate katana, ramming it upward and deep into Yahiko's mid-section, springing quickly to his feet. He twisted the katana twice and pulled it from the wound, leaving the manslayer in excruciating pain for a moment. But Yahiko quickly composed himself, and backed away and toward Kenshin, holding his hand out for the katana. Kenshin obliged and handed Yahiko the sword, and watched as he began to fight with the boy, his movements barely slowed by the wound. The katanas clanged together violently, but soon enough, Yahiko had subdued the boy and once again had him at sword point.

"Go and tell your master that you have been defeated, I wish no longer to see his henchmen, but to see him in person. I will do battle with him when that time comes."

The boy nodded in fear and sprinted away, leaving his katana behind, into the woods, leaving Yahiko and Kenshin alone. Yahiko walked to Kenshin and knelt at his side, examining the numerous bad wounds that he'd acquired.

"You're hurt… And weak…"

"You're not much better yourself, that you aren't."

"It's nothing, not nearly as bad as it looks, believe me." Yahiko shook his head and closed his eyes for a moment, shaking off a dizzy spell before he picked up the sakabatou and sheathed it. He took the scabbard of his own katana from Kenshin and sheathed his sword as well, placing the sheathe in his belt beside the sakabatou. He began to speak again in a soft voice.

"If you'd not find it disrespectful or demeaning I can carry you back to the dojo—"

Kenshin nodded. "That may be necessary… Thank you, Yahiko."

The young man nodded and scooped the Battousai gently into his arms, beginning the long trek back to the Kamiya dojo.