Chosha's notes

Konnichiwa! Welcome back and thank you so much for your reviews. To those who tell me this is becoming better than the first story, thanks for that, too. I hope that I can live up to your expectations. Anywho, I think you don't need to listen to me babbling. Here's the next chapter!

Disclaimer: I own nothing from RK or HP…so lay off!

Last timer on RkatCoS…

'The room behind the bars was a small box-room that seemed to be filled with broken toys and other junk; all with the name Dudley Dursley written on it and all of which looked as if it had been broken by said person in a tantrum. There was very little floor space to speak of. The door to the room seemed to be locked and the only way in or out was a small cat-flap by the door. On the half-hidden bedside table was a cage with a white snowy owl inside, but the cage was padlocked. Next to the cage was a small bowl – which was probably left from whenever dinner had been. The bed, however, had the only occupant of the room lying on it. The occupant was a boy of Kenshin and Ron's age, though he was rather small and very skinny for his age, even more so since the last time they had seen him. He wore clothes that looked like hand-me-downs that were several sizes too big. At that moment in time he seemed to be in a fitful sleep, his round glasses lob-sided on his face. His untidy jet-black hair was all over the place, almost covering the strange, lightning bolt shaped scar that marked him out as the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter.'

Chapter Four

Breakout

Kenshin looked into the barred room with something akin to shock and disgust. "Why would someone do something like this…" Kenshin said, feeling angry despite of himself. He almost hissed.

Ron looked over at him and almost shuddered. In the semi-darkness, it almost looked as is the Japanese boy's eyes were glowing. "Kenshin?"

Kenshin closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath, forcing away the anger. It would do no good here if they were going to rescue Harry. Having got that under control, he turned to Ron, who was relived to see his eyes weren't glowing that eerie amber anymore. Was it just a trick of light? "We need to get his attention without waking anyone else up." Kenshin said. He turned to Fred. "Think you can hold this steady? I need to get to the window."

"You can count on us!"

"Yeah," said George. "We do it all the time."

Kenshin decided not to ask them what they meant by that and said to Ron, "I've got an idea…I think."

Carefully, Kenshin leaned out of the car window and slid his hands between the bars of the window. Carefully, he ran his fingers over the window's edge to find a good hold with his fingernails, then, slowly, little by little, pushed the window up. A stale smell came from the room, as if it had been locked up for several days. He attempted to reach through to prod him awake, but his arm was too short. "Ugh…I can't reach. Ron, could you pass me my Sakabato?"

Ron hesitated, then passed the sword through the bars. Kenshin grabbed it, then leaned as far as he could, holding the sheathed sword by the hilt. It was just long enough for him to reach Harry's head. He tapped it.

He didn't move.

Worried, he tapped again, harder. The boy moaned. "Stop it…Leave me alone…cut it out…I'm trying to sleep" He batted at the Sakabato weakly, until his hand connected with the saya. The boy's eyes snapped open. For a moment, he looked bewildered, his hand still resting against the sakabato. Harry touched it, confused.

"Harry," Kenshin whispered, so as not to wake the muggles (though the snoring from somewhere in the house was probably loud enough to cover his voice from the other occupants of the house even if he didn't). "Harry-kun, up here."

"Psst. Harry, up here, look" Ron added.

Harry stiffened and his face turned up to look at them. His emerald green eyes widened in shock and he almost fell off the bed as he noticed Kenshin, his arms dangling through the window, clutching his sheathed sword and Ron, who's face ogling through the bars beside him.

All he could do was gape. "R-Ron! Kenshin!" he breathed, scrambling up from his bed to get to the window. Kenshin grinned as he pulled his Sakabato back through the window. "I thought you were in Japan! How did you – what the -?" His jaw dropped and is eyes turned to the size of saucers as he saw them all sitting in the floating car. Kenshin could almost guess what must have been going through his mind. After all, it wasn't everyday that your school friends came to pick you up from a bared bedroom in a flying car. Fred and George waved merrily from the front seats.

"All right, Harry?"

Harry could only stare. His eyes looked ready to fall out of his head

Kenshin smiled at the reaction, but decided to answer the boy's question. "Ron-kun and his father picked me up to stay over at his house a few days ago, but that doesn't matter…" his face became serious. "What's happening here? Why have you been locked in your room?"

"And why haven't you been answering my letters?" asked Ron. "I asked you to stay about twelve times-"

"Thirteen, actually," added Fred.

Ron ignored him, "-And then Dad came home saying you had some sort of official warning about using magic in front of Muggles…"

"It wasn't me – how did he know?" he spluttered, still looking rather shocked at the hovering car. If the situation weren't so serious, Kenshin would have burst out laughing at the expression.

"Ron-kun's father works at the ministry," Kenshin explained, but Ron cut him off

"You know we're not supposed to do spells outside school –"

"Bit rich coming from you," Harry said dryly, eyeing the flying contraption.

"Iie, I mean, no, its not," Kenshin said with a small smile. "This belongs to Ron-kun's father. We didn't do anything to it."

"Unfortunately" added Fred, before sighing melodramatically. "Our father has upstaged us, dear brother."

"Oh, the horror of it all!" George moaned, dramatically putting his hand to his forehead. Harry chuckled at their antics.

Ron gave them a half-hearted glare. "But doing magic in front of the muggles, Harry…"

"Look, I told you it wasn't me," Harry said, exasperated. "But it'll take to long to explain now. Look, can you explain to everyone at Hogwarts that the Dursleys have locked me up and wont let me come back, and obviously I can't magic myself out, because the ministry'll think that's the second spell I've done in three days, so-"

Kenshin put his hand over Harry's mouth to stop him from babbling. Harry stopped, but glared at him. Kenshin just flashed him a disarming smile, pulling his hand away. "Maa, maa, Harry-kun. We're going to get you out now."

"But you can't do magic either!"

This time Kenshin snickered, his violet eyes glistening in amusement. "Who said anything about using Magic?"

Ron laughed. "I think you've forgotten who we've go with us." He chuckled, waving in the direction of the twins, both of whom grinned identically.

"How?" Harry asked.

"Well, you tie this to the bars," Fred said, passing a rope from somewhere in the front seat through the open window to Harry. "And stand back."

Harry looked at him for a moment, before taking the rope from him. "You know, If the Dursley's hear you, I'm dead"

Suddenly, Kenshin realised what they were going to do. They were going to tug the bars right out of the wall! The car was quiet, but if they did that, the revving it made would probably wake the whole neighbourhood. Quickly, he grabbed Fred's hand. "No, wait, don't."

Ron frowned. "Whaddya mean, don't? We are supposed to be breaking him out of here, you know."

Kenshin nodded. "Aa, I know, but you can't do it this way." Seeing the confused looks, he elaborated. "Look, if you pulled the bars from the wall, do you know how much noise it would make? The muggles would think someone was trying to break into their house to steal something. It'd have them on our tails before we even got Harry out. I don't think that it would be good if the muggles see a flying car, de gozaru."

All of their eyes widened as it dawned on them. "Then…what do we do?" asked Ron, looking towards the twins, but they looked a little unsure themselves, frowning thoughtfully as if planning their next prank. Kenshin thought for a moment, eyeing the bars, wondering what to do for a moment…

"Aha!" he punched one hand into the other, then turned to the twins. "I've got an idea, but you need to drop the car down a little."

The twins stared at him for a moment, then looked at each other, identical, impish smiles on their faces.

"Oh ho - something has occurred to our guest my brother." George said, grinning.

"Something that looks like could be fun." Added Fred, his eyes twinkling as he lowered the car slightly. Kenshin smiled in thanks, then, dropped out of the open door, grabbed hold of the top of the door-frame and swung himself onto the roof of the car with the grace of a cat.

Harry looked at him confused, but for the moment, Kenshin ignored him, testing the bars with his hands for a second. They seemed strong enough bars, but as he felt along, he could tell that if he applied just the right amount of pressure with his sword, they would cut as cleanly as a knife through butter. "Okay, Harry-kun, stand back."

Harry eyed him with a little trepidation as he stepped back into the room, while the twins and Ron peered up at him through the car windows. He felt like blushing. He didn't really want an audience… Kenshin closed his eyes for a moment, focusing, dispelling the idea of people watching him. This is nothing more than practice. Slowly, he dropped into Battojutsu stance, his hand hovering over the hilt of his sheathed Sakabato. He took a deep, calming breath… let it out slowly. The world around him seemed to narrow. It was just he, the sword and his target, the bars. Nothing else mattered. No distractions…Now!

Kenshin's eyes snapped open and he drew his sword with lightning speed, flipping the blade in mid air. The sword's arc slit through the bars like paper. Completing the arc, he pulled the blade back, reversing the technique and slicing through the other bars. For a second, there was silence. It was as if the whole world held its breath. Slowly, the bars began to teeter, before, as if in slow motion, they fell, landing in the push rose bush below with a soft 'thunk'. Within the house, there was no movement. No one had stirred.

"Yatta!" Kenshin punched the air in triumph.

The others could do nothing but stare at Kenshin's handiwork. Everyone was so silent you could hear the wind blowing… but the silence didn't last long.

"Woah!" gasped Ron. "That was bloody-"

"Brilliant!" cried the twins in unison. Kenshin laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment at the praise.

Harry stood there; gaping at the hole Kenshin had made, before looking up at the redheaded Japanese. "H…how…?" he managed.

Kenshin blushed a little, but smiled reassuringly. "It's something my shishou taught me." He simply stated. "But we've still go to get you out, you know." And he leapt onto the now clear window to allow the car to be raised to the window height. Ron leaned out of the car.

"Alright, get in."

Harry hesitated. "But…my wand…my books…they're all locked up in the cupboard under the stairs, but…I can't get out of this room."

"No problem, Harry." George said with a Grin and the two clambered out of the car and through the window while Ron quickly took the steering wheel. Kenshin and Harry shifted out the way for them.

George rummaged in his pocket for a moment, before pulling out an ordinary looking hairpin. Kenshin Oroed softly as he turned his attention to the lock and began to use the pin to pick at it. Fred noticed the boys' shocked expressions and grinned. "Yeah, we know. Loads of wizards think that it's a waste of time, but we think that it's a skill worth knowing."

Kenshin touched his chin for a second. "Aa, I see. If you can't use magic, like now, it would be the next best thing, ne?"

There was a soft 'click' and the door opened a little.

"So – we'll get your trunk – you and Kenny grap anything you need from your room and hand it through the window to Ron," whispered George.

"Hang on," whispered Kenshin. "Your Aunt and uncle doesn't have a burglar alarm, do they?"

"A what?" asked the twins.

Kenshin glanced at them. "It's like a muggle warning device. It uses sensors to 'see' movement and an alarm goes off." He explained.

"God, don't tell dad that or he'll be out trying to find out how they work, too," whispered Fred, sharing a grimace with George.

Harry shook his head. "No, they haven't. Dudley had a tantrum at the beginning of the summer and smashed the control box. They still haven't had it replaced yet." He turned to the twins. "Just watch out for the bottom step – it creaks."

The twins gave them a thumbs up and disappeared down the stairs in a way that Kenshin was sure would make even Hiko proud. Carefully, so as not to make too much noise, Kenshin and Harry began to grab a few things from around the room, passing them out to Ron, who began storing the items in the boot of the car through the back seat. It wasn't long before the twins made their way back up the stairs, but were struggling a little with the heavy Hogwarts trunk, so Kenshin slipped out of the room to help carry it. He listened, ears pricking as a cough emitted from one of the rooms.

With a little effort, Fred (who had now climbed into the car once more) and Ron helped Kenshin, Harry and George to haul the trunk over the windowsill and into the car with no little effort. By the time they got it snuggly into the car, Kenshin cast his ki-sense round. He froze when he felt the oldest man, probably this uncle Vernon character, coughed, but thankfully, he didn't come awake. Kenshin sighed and clambered into the car after George, Harry close behind. Suddenly, there was a screech that made everyone jump out of their skin.

"THAT RUDDY OWL!" thundered a voice.

Harry's eyes widened in horror. "I've forgotten Hedwig!"

Kenshin's eyes snapped to the door. He could feel the man's ki coming closer, and it was far from happy. Harry scrambled back across the room and grabbed the snowy owl's cage, just as the door burst open. The man that stood in the doorway was staring at them with piggy eyes that blazed, his face was even more purple that the last time he had seen the man, and his thick moustache was bristling more than ever. To all of them he looked rather intimidating. To Kenshin, who could sense something close to the desire to kill in his ki, he was positively scary!

Vernon bellowed like a bull and charged into the room, just as Harry made a dive for the window, snatching the boy's slim ankle in his beefy, paw-like hand. Harry yelped, but held onto the Weasley's tightly, while Kenshin attempted to pull him from the man's strong grasp.

"Petunia!" he roared. "He's getting away! HE'S GETTING AWAY!"

Damn, this guy was strong enough without anyone's help. If his wife and son got there too, they might not be able to get Harry away without almost ripping the boy in two, first! Quickly, he scanned the scene, his eyes landing on the fact that the man was more than half leaning out of the window. He definitely wasn't in a balanced position. An easy to break the iron-hard grip? Break the stance. Kenshin grapped his sakabato and slammed the end of the saya straight into the man's unprotected face. Vernon cried out as his nose crunched beneath the sheath, his face bloody as he lost his grip on Harry's ankle. Unfortunately, that meant he also lost his balance and fell head-first out of the window, crashing into the rose-bush below, just as a horse-faced woman and a boy who could only be compared to a blimp stumbled into the room. They gave a cry and staggered to the window as Vernon struggled to get out of the rose bush, covered in scratches and thorns. He hollered after them, shaking his fist as he tried to stem his nosebleed, only to lose his balance once more and fall back in the bush again.

"Put your foot on it Fred!" yelled Ron. Fred slammed his foot down and the car shot off into the air, but not before Harry gave a cheery wave through the window and yelled "See you next summer!" causing the Weasley's to roar with laughter and Kenshin to smile at the boy. Harry looked as if Christmas had come early – he was grinning from ear to ear.

Let Hedwig out," Harry told Ron. "She hasn't been out for ages – she can fly behind us."

George handed Ron the pin, and Kenshin watched, intrigued, as he began to insert the pin, twiddle with it a little and, not long later, the lock clicked open and the owl almost burst from the cage.

"Oro!" Kenshin yelped and ducked as the bird nearly took his head off in her haste to get out on the winds again, causing another round of laughter.

"So," said Ron after the laughter had finally calmed down. "What's the story, Harry? What's been happening?"

"Why had your aunt and uncle locked you in your room?" asked Kenshin sternly. He just couldn't understand why someone would do such a thing…his face clouded as he remembered the bandit attack that killed all the people he had known at the orphanage he had lived at for a year before he came under Hiko's care. Then again, he had not been able to understand why all those people had to loose their lives that day, either. Truly, humans can be so utterly cruel…

Harry began to tell them everything that had happened to him over the summer. He described how things had been okay for the first week, but after then, his mail had not come to him at all. He told them that a strange little creature called Dobby had given him a warning not to go to Hogwarts and how he had been the one to take his mail. He informed them that because Harry would not stay at home, Dobby had levitated a violet pudding on top of Mr and Mrs Mason's heads, and the warning letter that followed.

When he had finished, the twins looked at each other with dark expressions, murmuring about just how odd the whole thing sounded.

"So, he wouldn't even tell you who's meant to be plotting all this stuff?" George asked, finally. Harry just shook his head.

"I don't think he could. I told you, every time he got close to letting something slip, he started banging his head against the wall."

"You know, I've heard the saying 'bagging your head against a brick wall', but that's just stupid." muttered Ron darkly. Picturing the scene, Kenshin was inclined to agree. The twins just looked at each other.

Harry hesitated. "What, you think he was lying to me?" he asked.

"Well," said Fred, "put it this way – house-elves have got powerful magic of their own, but they can't use it without their Master's permission. I reckon old Dobby was sent to stop you coming back to Hogwarts. You know – someone's idea of a joke. Can you think of anyone at school with a grudge against you?

Kenshin, Harry and Ron looked at each other. "Draco Malfoy." Harry said, finally. "He hates me."

Kenshin remembered the blond Slytherin boy from his last year at Hogwarts. The boy was a rather stuck up kid from what was known as a pureblooded family. He was also something of a wimp and absolutely terrified of Kenshin (and for good reason since Kenshin had threatened Malfoy with his blade after he had attempted an attack on Kenshin while his back was turned.). However, Kenshin wouldn't put it passed the boy to do something like this to Harry, whom he had hated since their fateful meeting on the train to Hogwarts at the start of last year. He listened quietly as the twins began to tell them about the fact Malfoy's father, Lucius, had been a former supporter of 'You-know-who' (which Kenshin had to roll his eyes at. It was common knowledge that no wizard or witch would say Voldemort's name aloud. In fact, Kenshin had so far only heard the name being used – apart from by himself – by Harry and Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts and the only man Voldemort had ever, supposedly, feared.) And therefore his son was probably not much better, with him as an influence. Finally, Harry looked away, worriedly. Kenshin glanced at him. He could almost see the thoughts forming. 'Was he so stupid as to take Dobby seriously?'

"Well," Kenshin said, slowly, "whether it was a trick or no, I think it would be best that we keep our guard up, just in case." He glanced out of the window, watching as the dark clouds float by. He allowed himself to zone out a little as Harry and Ron began to talk about Ron's father and his job, thinking about what Dobby could have meant by the strange warning…perhaps something else was going to happen at Hogwarts again, like with the philosopher's stone. Kenshin pulled a face at his reflection in the window at the thought. Kami, he hoped not. Perhaps he would have to take it up with Hiko…but he seriously hoped that it was merely a prank from Malfoy.

"That's the main road," said George suddenly, leaning towards the window to look out at the scene below. "We'll be there in ten minutes."

Fred began to fiddle with some switches on the dashboard and the car began to lower towards earth again. The clouds cleared a little just as the wonky form of the burrow came into view.

"Touchdown!" warned Fred as, with a slight bump the car connected with earth once more, landing just outside the tumbled down garage in the small yard. Harry began staring out the window, his eyes glistening. Kenshin could imagine. After being stuck in the muggle world, locked within his room, he could bet it was a relief to see something so…well, so magical.

"It's not much," Ron said, looking a little embarrassed.

"Its Brilliant!" Harry grinned happily, causing Ron to go red. Kenshin smiled at the reaction.

They clambered out of the car and began pulling all of Harry's items from the car, chatting all along about how they were going to explain this to the Weasleys when Kenshin felt a ki coming towards them – and a very angry ki at that. Kenshin whipped round to the direction it was coming from and the colour drained from his face. Storming towards them, scattering chickens in her wake was Mrs Weasley, looking for the life of her more scary than the vicious three-headed dog, Fluffy; they had faced last year. While behind her, strode Hiko, his white cape billowing out behind him and if looks could kill, Kenshin would have been nothing more than ask on the floor. As they approached, Kenshin, for the first time in years, truly felt afraid.

TBC

Chosha's notes

Dum dum duuuuuuuuuuuuum! Mwahaha! I'm so evil at times. Sorry, bout the cliff-hanger, but that just seemed a good place to stop. Anyway, what do you think? I tried to cut down on some of the blab that they have in this part of the book, I mean, like hell I was gonna repeat everything, while making my own RK twist. I'm not sure how it came out, but, hey, that's why you guys review, ne? So, please, push the little button in the corner and tell me your opinions, questions, ideas or constructive criticisms. I promise to answer any questions ASAP.

Next time on RkatCoS

Kenshin and the others discover their punishments and Harry, Ron, and the twins discover the extent of both Kenshin and Hiko's abilities – by spying on them? Next episode: speed of the sword.

But until then, Ja ne!

Chosha Kurenai xXx