NOTE: If you are Liem or WhiteRabbit5 and are (miraculously) still reading this, then skip this chapter, since you've already read it (I took your advice and split the chapter into two). But I did respond to your reviews, which are at the bottom of the story!

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Chapter 2: A Search (continued)

A large shove suddenly knocked her out of her thoughts. She looked down to see a young boy walking away from her briskly with his head turned down. Before he could leave, however, she reached out and grabbed him from the collar.

The boy looked back at her angrily as he started flailing his arms and yelling at her in Japanese.

"Give it back," she said as she held out her hand. The boy's eyes clearly looked frightened, but he quickly covered that with a mask of indignation.

He muttered something, in which she could make out a few curse words about foreigners, then stuck his chin in the air and crossed his arms.

"That's all the money I have. I won't let you take it. Give it back." The boy looked up at her, startled, and she pinned him down with hard glare from her slate blue eyes. He cast his eyes down and took her purse out of his pocket while muttering an apology.

"It's all right," she replied simply as she took back her purse, even though she knew he didn't understand a word she was saying. She wondered if maybe he could help her. She let him go as she placed the purse back into her pocket.

"Himura Kenshin," she said, struggling to make the words sound right. He looked at her questioningly, then said something that contained the words "Himura Kenshin," but nothing else she could understand. She shrugged her shoulders to show that, and the boy rolled his eyes. He motioned for her to follow him then began walking away. She didn't have anything better to do, so she did.

After a few minutes of walking he had led her to a large building, in which a young man in a blue uniform was standing by the door.

The young boy suddenly took on a role of authority, and then began talking to the policeman importantly. The policeman looked at him with a bored look, then tried to shrug him off. The boy was persistent, however, and soon they were both talking in loud voices as she stood to the side feeling very confused. She did manage to hear "Himura Kenshin" being said a few times, and she hoped that the boy really was helping her.

After a while, the policeman shrugged and went inside. The boy didn't move, so she waited. Soon the police came back outside and muttered something to the boy as he regained his post lazily. The boy bowed deeply with a large grin, then motioned for her to follow him. She also bowed thanks to the policeman and quickly followed the boy.

A little later she was walking down the street towards what she hoped was the right destination. The boy had a content look in his face that didn't seem evil, and she trusted him. Soon she began to relax as well.

She walked behind the boy down the peaceful road, feeling unusually calm in the setting sunlight. The chilly early spring wind wrapped around her fondly and the sounds of children playing filled her ears. She watched as a couple and their young boy walked down the street, the couple holding hands and the child eating some form of a treat.

They reminded her of the young family that had taken her in all those years ago. She fondly remembered the happy weeks she had spent with them as they adopted her and him into their small family. She had never been so happy. That is, until that afternoon, when horrible screams filled the house and squeezed all the warmth out of it...

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"Mei-mei, I have your dinner," he said as he walked into her room, his face a mask of concentration as he balanced the tray he was carrying. She smiled at the boy that insisted on calling her "mei-mei," or "little sister" in Chinese, as he walked towards her and put the tray down besides her bed, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Airgatou," she said in very bad Japanese as she continued smiling at the little Japanese boy. He and his family had been taking care of her and the other boy for nearly three weeks now, and he had been teaching her a little Japanese, since they both had nothing better to do. He was one of the few in the family that could speak Chinese fluently enough to be able to have a conversation with, and, needless to say, she looked forward to talking to him more than anything. It was such a strange feeling to have a brother and be part of a family.

Part of a family...

She didn't remember her family, since they had all died when she was very young, so she had been a homeless little wanderer for as long as she could remember. The only way in which she could recall them was sporadic dreams that she randomly had. But now here she was suddenly being accepted into a family that she met by chance. She prayed thanks every night to the gods that had allowed her to find them.

"Have you eaten?" she asked him.

"Nope, not yet," he grinned. "Kaa-san's taking dinner to..." Just then, a blood curdling shriek screeched its way through the house, making both of them jump in shock.

"What was that?" she asked, feeling a strange chill run up her spine.

"It sounded like Kaa-san," he responded. "I'll go see if she's okay..." Before she could stop him, he had run out the room and bounded down the hall. Something was wrong, she could feel it.

It was a feeling that she would never see him again...

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He was standing in the middle of the room, panting slightly through a large grin. His eyes were wide and there was a frightening gleam in them. The bodies that were strewn around the room were lying motionless in large pools of blood that had splattered everywhere. The same blood that covered the sword that he was gripping tightly.

Finally, after weeks of waiting to fully recover, he had done it...

"You killed them..." a soft voice said from the other side of the room. He looked up to see the girl, her black hair now clean and silky and dressed in a spotless white nightgown. He didn't know she was here, since he hadn't left his room all this time. "How could you...?" She looked up at him with distraught blue eyes.

"It was easy," he grinned, speaking in Chinese like she was. "So easy."

"But, they helped you... and you killed them?" Her eyes began to well up with tears.

"They died for the sake of my Jinchuu," he responded as he looked at her with wild blue green eyes. "It doesn't matter. I swore I'd kill him, and carry out my Jinchuu... Nothing else matters."

"Then will you kill me too?" she asked, her voice calm, although resonating with anger. He didn't answer, but just looked at her with the same expression on his face. Had he understood her? "I helped you too. Shouldn't you kill me?"

"I would... but it's not necessary," he said as he turned away.

"Not necessary?!" She could feel an anger she had never felt before boiling in her blood, making her face flush.

"You don't have anything that'll help my Jinchuu, so it'd be pointless to kill you." Tears of sad realization began to stream down her face as she looked at him with a horrified look.

"You're... you're disgusting," she spat through gritted teeth. "You take the little happiness I had... and refuse to let me join them in the world beyond." He didn't move, and once again she wondered if he had understood her.

Suddenly he spun around and pointed the tip of the blood stained sword straight at her, so it was only inches away from her face.

"Take whatever you want, and get out," he growled in Japanese, forgetting to speak in Chinese. Her usually indifferent blue eyes glared at him with intense animosity, his glaring back at her equally the same.

He blinked and turned away, letting the sword fall to the ground with an earsplitting clatter in the tense air as he walked to the body of the father. She stared at him as he searched the mutilated body. Soon he stood up and tossed a bloodstained wallet to her, which she caught.

"There. Now leave," he said as he turned back around. She looked at the wallet in her hands.

"I hate you," she growled. She threw the wallet to the ground before turning around and tearing back to her room. She was out of the house and bolting down the street in less than five minutes, hot tears stinging her eyes as soft white snowflakes floated innocently down.

She never wanted to see him again as long as she lived.

But, of course, things don't always work out how one wishes.

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Her face was soft and faraway as she reminisced. She had hated him for years afterwards. Her life became a downwards spiral, until she was worse than the scum that wandered the streets of China. There was nothing worth living for during the next ten years, except for the hate that plagued her soul. It was only after she met him again that she began to put her life back together.

They stopped in front of the gate, a large sign above it. She recognized the kanji for "dojo." The boy grinned at her and pointed to it, then said that Himura Kenshin was living there. She smiled brightly at him, then pulled some money out of her purse and handed it to him. He flipped the coin in the air as he walked away, shouting a laughing thanks.

Well, she had managed to find her first destination in less time then she thought. She wondered if he had been here yet, if he had carried out his revenge. If he had, then what response would she get from the people living here? She knew he could be cold blooded and heartless if he needed to be, and who knew what sort of grief he had put these people through. Still, she needed to find him.

And talking to Himura Kenshin was the only lead she had.

She knocked on the door, and soon she could hear the shuffle of feet as they walked towards the door. The gate opened. A young girl with long black hair that was tied in a high ponytail, wearing hakama pants and a gi, was standing in front of her.

"Yes, can I help you?" she asked, her blue eyes looking slightly surprised.

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Okay! Um, I'll post the next chapter soon... I think... I'm kind of in a writers block so any suggestions are appreciated!! Please! What do YOU think will make the story more interesting?

Constructive criticism (pretty please, no flames) is greatly appreciated. SERIOUSLY. Tell me what I did wrong (boring? stupid? no plot? tell me!) so I can fix it!

I have two reviews to respond to! Whoo hoo!!

Liem: I'm glad you like it (so far, anyway)! You won't learn her name until, like, the fourth chapter (don't ask why, I'm just weird that way). Yep, there's definitely something about crazy psycho guys that makes them so cool! Enishi's spiky hair helps too (am I the only one that's noticed that Watsuki-sensei likes spiky hair?)

Sanosuke: With good reason, duh.

K-S: SANO!! (glomp!) YAY! (I love being an authoress, so much power...)

WhiteRabbit5: Heh, yeah, maybe the whole "eating dead people" was a little much, but Enishi did tell Kenshin that he did that to survive! (eww!) In any case, I'm glad you liked it! And THANK YOU for reading my story (I can't believe you actually listened to me! You're so nice!!).

Thank you guys for making the good point that the first chapter was WAY too long! This is only my second fic, so I'm still kind of new to this...

Now YOU should leave a review like the other nice people!

PLEASE!!

REVIEW!!