Author's Note: Okay, so it didn't take as long as I thought it would! This is good news though, maybe I can get another chapter written before going back to school! Good news, I also see the light at the end of the tunnel, only 4 more chapters to go! I hope you enjoy this chapter and the others as well!

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Disclaimer: I do not own Kenshin, Kaoru, or any of the other characters. I also do not own JL Conrad, or her poem August. I do own the idea to this story though, and I do hope you enjoy reading it as much as I've liked writing it.

Chapter 7:

I pressed your hands
as I would two poems

noted their exact texture
and weight,

:---:

'What's his name?'

'Himura Kenshin.'

'Do you think he would do it?'

'He's young. He just wants to help the country.'

:---:

Kaoru woke up, the sun streaming through the window. Megumi and Misao were up and gone to class already, leaving the drapes open part way. Friday. Today is the day we meet with Iizuka's boss. I wonder what his name is. I hate calling him Boss. Seems as if I were working for him. But who knows how this day will work out, by the end I might be.

Kaoru got out of bed and readied herself for the day ahead, gathered her books for class, an apple from the fridge and headed out of the dorm.

:---:

I started working for a man by the name of Katsura Kogorou today. I'll be fighting for the Shogunate. It's my chance to show the world that Hiten Mitsurugi is a sword that can protect, just not kill.

:---:

Kogorou sent me to the mountains today. Tomoe came with me, she will be my protector, my shield, says Kogorou. My way of hiding from the world, denying that I existed, even though I could never hide from my own existence.

:---:

"Kaoru?" Misao asked, approaching where Kaoru was sitting in the library.

"Hi, Misao."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Just reading more in the diaries." Kaoru answered her friend as Misao sat down across from the table.

"Are you worried about tonight?"

"Not worried, I guess its more apprehension than anything. I do not know what to expect, why is he looking to us, two University students; as Megumi said the other day."

"You'll be fine. Kenshin will be with you, and Sano and Aoshi will be following you, just incase there is any trouble. Megumi and I wish we could go with you, but neither Sano nor Aoshi would let us, we can't even attempt it because they would expect it from the two of us."

"I don't want either of you two there. I'd rather Sano and Aoshi would stay home too. If anything happens to the two of them…" Kaoru let her sentence fade. "I hate that Kenshin could get hurt as well. But he needs to be there. I just get this feeling of, I don't know. Dread, when I think of tonight."

"You think something might happen?" Misao asked.

"Yes. No. Oh Misao, I have no clue what's going to happen tonight. I just have a feeling of dread that, as we get closer gets harder to ignore and at points is so bad that I can't breathe. I don't know if it's that bad or just me blowing it out of proportion.

"Just take a deep breath and calm down. Everything will be okay. This guy, what's his name? Probably just wants information that you have or maybe he has a connection to your past, these diaries possibly." Misao said, picking up the open tome.

"I know. I just worry. About Kenshin. About us. About what will happen with us." Kaoru said, laying her head on the table.

Misao placed her hand on Kaoru's head, stroking her hair. "Everything will be okay Kaoru. You and Kenshin have a strong bond, a strong love, it'll prevail. Just don't ever give up on that."

"Thank you Misao. You're a great friend, you do know how much I appreciate your help, right?"

"Of course. What else are friends for? Shopping? Having fun? Certainly not. We're friends because we're always there for each other."

"Yes. Having fun and shopping and giving advice about guys are just the perks of friendship huh?"

"Yes. Although, talking about boys."

"Misao, you do know Aoshi is standing right behind you, right?"

"Of course she does Kaoru. She tries to vex me everyday by asking others what to do about me."

"I was trying to get an unbiased opinion on what to get you for your birthday." Misao said, pouting and folding her arms across her chest.

"I'm sure." Aoshi said, trying to hide a small smile that was forming.

:---:

The rain splashed along the side of the road, falling from the overflowing gutters of the buildings in the alleyway that he was standing in, watching, waiting.

'That must be him.' He thought to himself, hearing voices coming towards him. They were just a few feet away. Battousai started preparation. He unsheathed his sword, coming out of the alleyway just as they were coming to the opening from the street, slashing, fighting those who were farther behind, working his way to the man that was his prey, slashing, blood spurting across his clothing, the last man coming at him, his sword drawn.

'He's good.' Battousai thought as he parried with the guard, his protection not enough as the man laid in the street, Battousai's sword making the life seep out of his body.

'I will dye trying, even if I don't succeed in killing you Battousai.' The man said, as he came at him again, getting a cut in across Battousai's cheek.

Battousai stayed quiet, waiting for the moment he would slash him across the chest, killing him.

The moment came, the man fell.

Battousai stood there, looking down at the man as he reached for a flower that had fallen on the street, still alive.

The sword came down, blood spurting from the young man's neck.

:---:

Kenshin didn't know where he was at first. He looked slowly around, realizing he was sitting in class. The professor was speaking to the class, he knew he should be listening, but the visions he had just seen were racing through his head, replaying, blood seemed too real for Kenshin.

"Himura!" The Professor yelled, taking the visions of rain and blood away from his mind's eye.

"Hai, Sir?"
"Are you okay? You seem to go pale."

"Yes sir, I'm fine."

"You fell asleep. Stay after class please?"

"Yes Dr. Saito."

:---:

"Kaoru, I need to speak to you. Meet me after my class in front of the Art building." Kenshin said, leaving a message for Kaoru when he was done speaking with Saito. He didn't like the man. The man never should have become a professor at the University after retiring from the force. He walked out of the building thinking of what Saito had told him.

'The man who you will be meeting tonight is Katsura Kogorou. He is the CEO of a large corporation. I don't know what he wants with you and Kaoru, but it is most likely to do with information on the diaries.'

'He was the one that recruited me in to working as a manslayer.' Kenshin said.

'Yes. He was a friend, even in the end when you were betrayed by the one that brought you to him.'

'I should trust him now? With my life as well as Kaoru's?'

'Listen to what he has to say, whether you trust him or not is up to you. I'd be wary and cautious.' Saito said leaning against his desk as he stood in front of it. 'What were you seeing in your dream?'

'My dream?'

'Yes, and don't say you weren't dreaming, or sleeping at that, I know you were.'

'It was Battousai, one of his kills. It was a young man protecting a government man. Battousai easily killed the man he was suppose to, but the boy continued to fight, even got a cut across his cheek. Almost like the one cut of his scar.' Kenshin said, touching his cheek, tracing the cut.

'That was the night he received the first cross, yes. It was also the night he met Tomoe.'

'Tomoe.'

'Name sound familiar?'

'Yes, kinda.' Kenshin said vaguely. 'I've got to get to my next class. I'll let you know in the next class how everything goes.'

'Fine. But take heed to my warning.'

'I will. Thank you.' Kenshin said, leaving the room.

:---:

Kaoru stood on the porch of Kenshin's house as dusk fell, thinking of what Kenshin had told her Saito had said this afternoon.

"Kaoru?" Kenshin said, joining her on the porch.

"What should we do, Kenshin?"

"Meet with Katsura, see what he has to say."

"What if he wants to recruit you to kill, as he did in your other life? Would you become the Battousai again?"

"You know I wouldn't." Kenshin said, putting his arms around her.

"I have this feeling. The closer we get to the meeting time, the worse it gets."

"Everything will be okay. Nothing is going to happen. He just wants to talk to us."

"I know. I know you have everything under control, but when I get this feeling, it's usually true. I don't want anything else to happen to us. I just want to resolve all of this. Get on with this life, live it and forget the past." Kaoru said.

"It will be. I swear to you. This will all be done soon." Kenshin said, pulling her closer.

"There's Iizuka. It must be time." Kaoru said as a car pulled into the driveway.

"Are you two ready?"

"As ever." Kenshin said, letting go of Kaoru, and taking her hand.

"That's what I like to hear. Don't worry. The Boss is a good guy."

"I'm sure you're correct." Kaoru said quietly.

:---:

The car moved quietly through the evening traffic. No one spoke, the air filled with tension as they moved through Tokyo. Iizuka finally pulled up to a posh office building in downtown Tokyo. He pulled to the back of the building, and got of the car, signaling Kenshin and Kaoru to follow him. They walked to a door and Iizuka knocked on the door, letting whoever was behind it that they were there. That person was a young boy with a hat and sunglasses on, stepping back into the dark once the door was closed, he disappeared. Iizuka led them into the building, closing the door.

'There's no turning back now.' Kenshin thought as Kaoru and he followed Iizuka through the dark building to where the offices where located.

In the office, Katsura was sitting behind his desk, calmly waiting for Himura Kenshin and Kamiya Kaoru. He heard the door open, the two walking in and stop shortly after entering, Iizuka closing the behind them. He wouldn't be in on the meeting but waiting outside to escort the two back to Himura's apartment.

"Please, come in, make yourselves at home." He said, motioning to two chairs in front of his desk. "It is a pleasure to meet you both. I have been waiting for this day for a long time."

"Please, what would like from us Katsura-san? You have left us in the dark for far too long." Kaoru said, coming closer.

Katsura was caught off guard by this girl at first. He had never seen her before. Even during his past life, as he had news of Himura, he had never met the woman that healed the wounds of his past. He noticed similarities in appearance to Tomoe, but in looks is where those ended. This woman was strong. Physical and in her will and determination.

"I would like to speak to you of the past." Katsura started. "Do you know Miss. Kamiya, you surprise me very much. I never did get to meet you in our past lives. I regret that. I have a feeling we would have been great friends."

"I never would have let you have the chance." Kenshin said from the middle of the room.

"Do you remember me so well?"

"I do now. Before I walked in here I only remembered a few things, I'm remembering more and more now."

"Very well, that will make this easier." Katsura said. "Do you remember what you did while you were in my, let's say, employ?"

"Yes. I remember that very well." Kenshin said, coming into the room now. "And I won't do it again."

"That is quite unnecessary. Today's Japan is quite different. But I do need protection. There are many people who want me dead. My business has become very successful, even moving to the continent and states. Being as reclusive as I am, and as many lives that I have hurt, only to make more lives better, has gotten me into trouble many times. I am about to leave some of my guards to their own lives, free them so that they can have a life to live, like I thought Battousai would be able to do. That, unfortunately was not to be, but you worked it out in the end, didn't you?"

"You want me to be your body guard?"

"In short, yes."

"It seems too simple. There's more isn't there? A specific threat possibly?"

"The government has been taking a very keen interest in our past lives lately Himura. They have been looking into my life, believing that I am Kogorou's great-great-great grandson. They want to know who Battousai was. They'll be searching for you, as well as your diaries.

"Yes, about the diaries, why do you want them?" Kaoru asked.

"Curiosity, I suppose you could say. What Battousai wrote of his life as a manslayer, about his life after. After his location was betrayed, and his first wife was killed by accident Battousai came out of the shadows. He killed to protect and bring Japan to peace. After that he wondered, then found Kamiya and contentment there. What were his thoughts during those times, how had he changed, how had his experience changed him. He had been an idealist, hoping that Japan could find peace.

"There's something else, what is it?" Kaoru asked.

"No, that's the only reason."

"No, you're hiding something. What is written in those diaries that could harm you. You said this is all about protection, what is it that you don't want leaked out?"

"You don't want to be known as the father of Battousai. The one that led him down the road of killing, being a manslayer, breaking his mind and spirit. Turning a child into someone only thirsty for killing, not for living." Kenshin said.

"Partly yes. I want to protect Battousai as well. That is in the past, people know my part in his history. That is no secret. There are other things that needed protection in Battousai's life."

"I know my own life. What could need protecting? Most of Battousai's life was known by everyone in that period, and generations afterwards. He was feared, people where happy when he disappeared. "

"He had secrets though, didn't he?"

"WHAT SECRETS! Quit being so elusive. I had laid the past to rest when I fought Shishio. I had come to grips with it, everything was known by those in my life at that time, my son knew of it."

"You lived your life in pain because of what you had done in that past, whether you had laid to rest or not though." Before he knew it, he was pinned up against the wall several inches off the floor. Kenshin was a much smaller man, but his strength was much greater. As Kenshin held him there, he said,

"I lived that life already, I don't want to live that life again."

"Too late, you already are. That's the other thing. Not only do I want to protect you, me and what is meant to stay in the past, several people don't. Some are my enemy's, from now and then, others are yours."

"Mine? My enemy's are dead."

"Not all of them. And mine are coming out as well. They are helping and working with my rivals to undo me and this company. That is why you need to be my body guard. That is why I need Miss. Kamiya in the research department."

"I protect Kaoru and my friends. You don't need my protection."

"You are meant to protect people Kenshin. In your past life as well as this life. But I do, you are the only one to know what I need protection from. The past is a terrible thing, but none of my guards know how to protect me from that past. The people and events of that past. No matter how much I try to educate them on that time and the people that hate me." Katsura said as Kenshin let him down. There was a knock at the door.

"Yes!" Katsura yelled out.

"He's here, Sir." Iizuka said, popping his head in.

"Thank you, bring him in." A few minutes later, a young man with white hair and sunglasses came into the room.

"Who is this Katsura?" Kenshin asked.

"This is Enishi Yukishiro. He will be helping you, he's new to my team, but has showed great potential. He's looking for someone from his past." Katsura said.

A man came through the door, tradition Chinese clothing on, sunglasses perched on his nose, coming toward Kaoru. 'Your lover boy is here. You can watch me kill him from the sidelines. You'll never see your precious Kenshin Himura alive again after today.'

"I'll give you two days to come up with your answer. You may leave now." Katsura said.

Enishi…Jinchuu.