'God, why won't this blush go away?!' Kaoru thought as she looks at herself in the mirror. That mysterious stranger had walked her home and left almost two hours ago and here she still was, blushing at the fact that he had been so sweet and handsome. She had tried to start reading the book on Hiten Mitsurugi as well, but her mind would keep wandering back to Kenshin.

She almost didn't hear the knock on the door, which effectively pulled her out of her daze. Opening the door, she finds herself face to face with Hajime Saitou, the city's captain of the police and a major pain in her ass. He seemed to enjoy pissing her off whenever he could, though she tried to get under his skin whenever she could as well. Glaring up at him, she crosses her arms and leans against the door frame.

"What do you want Saitou?" She asked in a biting tone. She was unable to think why he was here. She had paid her bills this month, which was usually the only reason he dropped by for these unpleasant visits.

"Hello raccoon. Now, I need to ask you a couple of questions." He explains coolly, smirking down at her though it was obvious that he was angry about something. "You're not so thick headed that you don't know about the Battousai and his murderous gang, are you?"

"Yes, I've heard of the Battousai." She snaps, knowing that this was going to take a while if he was bent on insulting her at every turn. Why did he have to come right after her great time with Kenshin?

"Well, he's made a demand of the city. He said he won't attack anyone in the town if his demand is met." Saitou explains, his anger slowly fading, though Kaoru had no idea why.

"What demand did he make?" She asked carefully, wondering why Saitou would be telling her this.

"He follows a different set of laws than us, so he's demanded a prize." Saitou said cryptically. His anger had totally dissipated as he smirks, thinking up a way to please the Battousai and still torture her at the same time.

"What, exactly, is his prize?" Kaoru asked, starting to get very annoyed at how pointless this conversation was.

"He's demanded a slave. You, actually." He explained, his mirthless smirk getting wider as he glared down at her, enjoying how her face had suddenly lost all of its blood.

"W-what?" She stuttered as she looks up at him, incredulous. Why would the Battousai want her? How would he even know of her? All of these questions went racing through her mind as she waits for Saitou to wipe that stupid smirk off of his face and answer her damn question.

"He wants you, Kaoru Kamiya, as his prize." Saitou explained, enjoying the look of confusion and pain on her face. "And if you don't do it, he's going to start killing people in our town." Knowing that she would never let that happen, he watched with cruel pleasure as Kaoru's resolve broke and she gave in, slumping against the door frame and nodding.

"Ok….." She said quietly, unable to look him in the eye, knowing that he must have been enjoying this immensely. "Let me just grab some stuff-"

"We have no time and it's not allowed. You are now the assassin's prize, so he owns you. Slaves don't own anything and we have to go now. Let's go!" He barked as he walked to the outer gate of the dojo. Damn girl, still trying to be independent. She follows behind him slowly, looking back at her house and trying not to cry.

As they reached the city, everyone was at the windows. Apparently the news had already spread across the village. As they passed Hinzen's store, Hinzen came out and looked at her sadly, trying to smile to make her feel better.

"Take care of the dojo Hinzen…..please" Kaoru said weakly as she looked up at him. She was going to miss him and Mai and all of her other friends, even if there weren't many.

"Hurry up, raccoon!" Saitou snapped again as he continued to the edge of the town where there were three mounted horses waiting. "Here we are. Now, here's your prize Battousai, just remember your promise to stay away from this town."

"I'll remember, don't worry." Came a voice from the man on the center horse that made her look up suddenly. She had to stare up at him in surprise as he pulled down his hood and smiled down at her softly. "Hello again Kaoru."

It was Kenshin. Kenshin was the Battousai. This couldn't be true. Kaoru just stared up at him in amazement before remembering she was suppose to be his slave and looking down. "Hello Battousai."

That hurt. She looked at him like she couldn't believe it was him and then she wouldn't look at him at all. Looking from Kaoru to Saitou, who had a satisfied smirk plaster on his face, he decided that it had to have been because of Saitou. The bastard.

Glaring at the cop, he nudges his horse, a large, black stallion, forward and reaches a hand down to Kaoru. She look at his hand and then up at him with a small smile before taking his hand and squeaking slightly as he pulls her up onto the horse in front of her.

"Hopefully we don't meet again Battousai." Saitou said icily as Kenshin turned his horse around and the other two horsemen came onto each side of him.

"Hopefully we won't." Kenshin said smoothly, glaring back at the cop before nudging his horse forward and starting a gallop towards the countryside, flanked on each side by his men.

Once they were out of sight of the town, they slowed down to a trot and the men pulled down there hoods to show a man with spiky brown hair who slightly reminded Kaoru of a rooster and a younger boy who was smiling kindly. Kaoru looked up at Kenshin, wondering what she was going to have to do as his slave. He hadn't struck her as the type to have slaves.

"Well, you sure chose a cute little missy for your prize." The rooster headed man said, causing Kaoru to blush softly and glare at him a little, which just made him laugh. "She's got a spirit too. Nice choice Battousai."

"Shut up Sano, can't you see you're embarrassing her? I'm sorry about him Miss Kaoru, but he's always like this." The smiling boy explained before introducing himself and the rooster head that was called Sano. "I'm Soujiro Seta, and that rooster headed idiot is Sanosuke Sagara."

Kaoru had to giggle that someone else also thought that Sano resembled a rooster. She could feel Kenshin chuckle behind her as well and looked up to see him smiling down at her before looking up and pointing something out. Kaoru looks up and saw a huge castle looming up in front of them.

"Welcome to your new home Kaoru." Kenshin whispered quietly into his ear as all three horses raced towards the castle.