Small Note: I'm horrible with fight scenes so please forgive me.

~Chapter 3: High Noon~

Kaoru paced a bit in the empty dojo as soon as the wandering swordsman had left. She was worried about Kenshin. She knew better, why did she let him just leave.

"I should have gone with him. I'm going to go catch up to him!" She announced out loud to no one as she hit her fist against her open palm.

She left the dojo and walked quickly knowing she would catch up to Kenshin, probably before he even bought the tofu.

As she walked, she took note of the forming storm overhead and sped up a little more. What had happened to her beautiful, sunny day?

"If I get wet because of this storm Kenshin, I'm going to let you have it." She grumbled to herself. Rain was pretty to watch, but not be stuck in. This was all Kenshin's fault. Kaoru continued to be lost in her thoughts not realizing she had made it into town until she heard the familiar voice of her student.

"Hey ugly. I thought you said you had something important to do and that's why I had to come out here and get supplies." Yahiko taunted her, knowing it would get a rise out of the young assistant master.
She stopped and looked up seeing Yahiko, letting his words sink in a bit before she realized what he said.

"Why you! Show some respect to your teacher!" She moved to grab him and he easily dodged, even with all the supplies, with a big grin on his face.

"I would if I could bear to look at your face. It's so ugly!" He loved taunting the girl. It dawned on him though that a certain red haired man wasn't at her side to watch on the sidelines.

"Hey, where's Kenshin? Normally he comes into town and not you." He looked around for the man that he looked up to, not seeing a trace of Kenshin anywhere.

Letting her mission come back to her and dropping the current distraction she perked up a bit.

"That's right. I came here to catch up with Kenshin and ask him what was wrong. He was really distracted this morning and looked a little pale. He came into town to get tofu." Her voice mirrored her worried expression. Kaoru looked at her student.

"Have you seen him?" Yahiko shook his head in response.

"No, and I would have because I picked up tofu, it was on the list." The young boy said as he held up the bucket of fresh tofu. Kaoru became even more worried about this.

"Kenshin wrote that list, so why would he go to pick up tofu knowing you would have? Where did he go?" Mind going to the worst case scenario, she looked around.
"You don't think he left do you?" Without giving Yahiko a chance to respond she turned and raced back to the dojo.

"Hey Kaoru! Wait up!" Yahiko sped up as much as he could with the supplies weighing him down to catch up.

Kenshin walked through the forest heading for the shrine. A sharp wind blew through, almost chilling him. He was dizzy and the nausea had become worse. The rurouni was hoping, knowing it was futile, that he could end this encounter without a fight. He continued to trudge along. He stopped in a clearing, sensing a darker presence.

"Who's there? Show yourself." He said calmly as his hand rested on his sword, ready to draw it if need be. A sinister laugh in the shadows echoed around him causing the swordsman to go further on guard.

A figure stepped into the small clearing, he was tall and slender, covered in a tighter fitting garment that covered his whole body including hands. The only part of his body left uncovered was his head. His hair was black, matching his sinister eyes. His thin lips were curved into a dark grin. He stopped about 15 feet from his opponent.

"What took you so long, Battosai? Feeling a little sluggish? Perhaps a little dizzy. Maybe even a little nauseous." The man's lips twisted up more. Kenshin made no sign of acknowledgement outwardly, he stood perfectly still.

'How did he know that?' The former battosai wondered silently to himself before speaking.

"I do not wish to fight you, that I do not. What do you want?" Continuing to remain perfectly still, taking in his opponent as assessed his threat. The man carried only a wakizashi, unsheathed and in his hand, nothing that Kenshin couldn't take on, even feeling how he did. On the opposite side of the small sword was a pouch that hung off the belt that carried the sword.

"I wish for your blood to be spilled by my sword. I will succeed where others have failed. I will kill you Battosai, then I will go after your friends." As he said this, Kenshin's eyes narrowed dangerously. He didn't take threats towards his friends lightly.

"Your fight is with me. You will leave them out of this, that you will." Tone serious, Kenshin continued the assessment of his enemy, it was hard when the world kept threatening to spin but he fought off the symptoms he had, the life of his friends depended on it.

The guy raised the sword towards Kenshin.

"I am Satoshi Kiasoto, and you Battosai, have seen your last day." With that, Satoshi charged.

Definitions:

Wakizashi - a traditionally Japanese sword with a blade between 30 and 60 cm (12 and 24 in) in length. Typically, they were in a set along with a katana and used for close ranged fighting.