Swords and Roses Chapter 5, a rurouni kenshin fanfic

Swords and Roses

Chapter Five: Victory and the Beginning of Acceptances

'So far she's been toying with him. And if they keep true to their words on turing up the heat in combat I doubt Kaoru will stand a chance. Even with her impressive skills.' Kenshin thought.

"Man I've never seen Mr. Up-tight look so serious until now." Sano whispered to Kenshin highly entertained. "Heh, if old Suri ain't careful he'll get his butt kicked by a girl in front of all these people." Sanoadded as he snickered lightly.

"Oh so you mean like how you got wiped in front of me on her first night here?" Kenshin replied earning him a glare. "I wasn't prepared is all." Sano countered.

"Right." Kenshin said sarcastically.

"Shut up!" Hiko barked at them. Immediately Sano and Kenshin stopped whispering not wanting to get on his bad side. Boy was he a scary site when he was truly pissed.

From her little corner Tomoe smirked at Kenshin.

"Tomoe please don't do that. You promised not to start up." Megumi whispered in her ear.

"Oh come on Meg I'm just having a little fun." Tomoe replied. Megumi sighed. "Besides he is occupied with that girl...Can't say that I blame him though. She's very skilled." Tomoe stated as she turned her gaze to Kaoru.

Currently Kaoru was breathing heavily considering her leg just got cut from Surigia's last attack. Unlike her gi, which is about 3 layers thick, her hamaka was only one layer thick allowing Kaoru's leg to easily get cut open.

Blood started to soak the leg of the hamaka around the wound and Kaoru quickly pulled off her headband to tie it around the cut.

'She's very resourceful.' Shuura thought as she placed a hand to her chin. Her violent eyes twinkled in delight as a knowing smile graced her young features. Quickly Shuura searched around the room of bystanders until she spotted who she was looking for.

'Gosh... I think I'm letting him have too much fun.' Kaoru that as she looked to her bokken. She was only going to allow him to crack it, but he clearly took an inchand a half off of it on his own.

"You're getting better." Kaoru commented.

"Thanks, but you have seen nothing yet." Surigia replied.

'And neither have you.' Kaoru thought as she got into one of the graduating Kamiya- Kasshin stances.

Many eyebrows went up, as did shocked expressions. Clearly they saw Surigia cut her weapon so why fight with it? It would be better to fight with an unharmed one so that you stood some kind of chance. Didn't that make sense?

"You're completely right Shuura, she is different." A tall young man with a deep voice commented from outside the Mitsurugi Training Hall.

He peered back inside through the crack in the door then put his attention back on Shuura who stood with her arms crossed.

"She may look foolish with a bokken in her hand and saying she will fight with it. But I never seen such repressed skill before since..." "I get the idea." He said interrupting her.

"She seems like a real nice girl to hang with. Maybe I should introduce myself to her later." A young girl, wearing a blue ninja suit, whispered to herself.

She had a long braid and dark blue eyes.

"That would not be a wise decision." The guy spoke again. "Oh why not Aioshi?" The girl whined.

"Misao! What is the number one rule about outsiders to the Oniwanbanshuu?" Aioshi said fiercely. Misao rolled her eyes and replied annoyed. "Always learn more about the person even more so than they know about themselves." Miaso said angered.

"Correct." Aioshi nodded. "But I don't see how just saying hi to her would be such a problem." Misao said confused as she looked over to Aioshi.

"You are young and so you probably wouldn't understand the significance of the rule." Aioshi commented.

"Well, if you two are done reviewing I believe she has taken a new stance in there if I'm not mistaken." Shuura replied as she bent over Aioshi and Misao who were kind of blocking the path of the cracked door.

Kaoru stood straight, holding her bokken so that the tip of it pointed to her left. Her left hand was open behind the blade. Seriousness was etched all over her lovely features.

All the bystanders, including Hiko, watched on intently to see what new move the young Tokyo girl had to show.

Anxiety and anticipator hung over the drill hall like a thick cloud. No word was uttered, no person stirred, and eyes were glued to the two fighters.

Suddenly Surigia blinked out of sight to many of the viewers' surprise.

'Where did he go?' Most of them thought. Kenshin, Sano, Aioshi, Shuura, and three of the advanced students plus three other people looked around Kaoru.

'Which way is he going to attack?' Kenshin thought.

Sano: 'He's either gonna come from the...

Shuura: '...the left or...'

Aioshi: '...the right.'

"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu Tsui Seri!" Surigia called out as he appeared above Kaoru spinning rapidly down towards her, the blade of his sword attacking like a rotating cutter.

Kaoru looked up at the last minute and shifted her bokken so it blocked most of the impact.

The sound of cracking wood could have been heard between the opponents and the people close enough to her it.

"Kasshin- jutsu counter!" Kaoru called as she bent her body backwards so Surigia fell on the ground. As he rebounded Kaoru hit him in his back knocking him down again and as he got up and turned around he stopped instantly at the feel of the sharp, prickly edge of her cutten bokken.

"End of round one!" Hiko braked. "Kaoru's point!"

The room fell dead silent. No body moved. No one did anything. If breathing wasn't something you did without thinking they would have stopped doing that too.

How could she block a Hiten aril attack like that? It wasn't' done OR heard of. Though they didn't expect much from Surigia, an attack like that they expect to do more damage than break her weapon.

Kaoru straightened from her serious mode and reached her hand out to help him up. Surigia scoffed at her hand and helped himself up without her assistance. Though Kaoru wasn't offended by his action she took a step back as she pulled her second wooden sword from her waist strap.

"You're finally loosening up. But are you having fun?" Kaoru said only loud enough for him to hear.

"What?" Surigia mouthed. Kaoru only smiled warmly at him as Hiko commanded them to prepare for round two. Surigia eyed the young woman with perplexity shining in his eyes.

Never before had he met a woman quite as complicated as Kaoru. So many emotions linked together to form different responses to certain stimuli given to her. And an example of such behavior was exactly being shown to him.

Outside a dojo's training hall she was a tough girl who had a sense of mystery and beauty to her; but inside the dojo she is calm and what appears to be at peace...more at ease than outside the comforts of any drill hall.

"You may have gotten me this round and I will not deny you the satisfaction that it was a round well won, but I shall redeem myself." Surigia spoke to Kaoru looking serious.

"You my redeem yourself only if you allow yourself too or as long as I do." Kaoru stated simply. Surigia stared at her with determination clearly readable on his face.

'That look on Surigia's face. It's an expression alien to him.' Kenshin thought as he watched as the second round begin to commence.

"Man who'd thought Surigia would ever wear such a face in his life." Sano whisper to Kenshin. Kenshin snickered lightly. Enough not to get detected by Hiko.

"Surigia always possessed the ability to wear such a face, but it's just that he never tried it until now that it looks so weird to us." Kenshin replied.

"Well if you ask me that girl should quite toying with him and just win the damn match already." A new voice said from the side of Sano and Kenshin and nearly scared them to death.

"Damn Saitou could you be more unpredictable than you already are?" Sano asked as he clutched the area of skin where his heart laid under beating rapidly.

"Shut up ahou. You don't see Kenshin fidgeting do you?" Saitou responded in a harsh whisper.

"So then you noticed too?" Kenshin asked out of nowhere. Not really asking a question just more so making a statement. Saitou only nodded.

"Not only me but the leader of the Onniwabanshu and there are a few Black Dragon Spies and Heaven's Bandits leader too."

"I thought I felt Aoshi's cold glare from the doorway." Kenshin replied unfazed. "Yeah and I know I saw Shuura moving to somewhere earlier too." Sano replied as he crossed his arms.

"So where are the Black Dragon rejects?" Sano asked looking at Saitou. "Somewhere in this room amongst us. Word on the street is after they heard of who she defeated many of the under lords of the streets have become feared and interested by her. So there are also some people from those people here as well. My spies couldn't figure out that much, but I believe after today it will be the judgement of whether or not evil comes knocking on your front door for her." Saitou said as he looked to Kenshin.

"And why should I care if she makes the wrong choice or not. She has a mind and life of her own witch she controls. She doesn't need a babysitter or someone to hold her hand." Kenshin replied coldly.

"Well you don't have to go all sub-zero on her Kenshin." Sano stated defensively. "Well you were there when she told me a week ago she was capable of taking care of herself so don't give me that." Kenshin ordered.

A loud smack sounded off in the room filling everyone's ears and immediately the men dropped their conversations and returned their focus to the fight.

"DID YOU SEE THAT!" Megumi exclaimed in a low whisper. "Yes, yes I did see Megumi." Tomoe said as she watched the young Tokyo girl in wild fascination.

Tomoe looked back at Kenshin to see how his response to the girl was and noted that he too was as shocked as everyone else was. Tomoe turned her head back to the battle zone.

'That was a perfect aril attack and she countered it with bearly a scratch! There is something not normal about her. Something not normal at all.' Tomoe thought as she continued to watch the girl.

As Kaoru and Surigia were setting into the second round of the match Tomoe felt Megumi tap on her leg suddenly.

"What is it Meg?" "Hey isn't that one of your brothers' goons over there?" Megumi asked as she gestured with a slight tilt of her head over to a guy on the opposite side of the room.

He wore ordinary clothes that were black and white and on his gi it had a red talon on the left shoulder. Tomoe recognized him as the bodyguard her brother often assigned to her whenever she went to check on him.

"Yeah I know him." Tomoe answered after a while of looking at him. Suddenly the person looked up after feeling someone staring at him and even before his head turned Tomoe turned around to the fight just in time to see the attack that produced a loud smack that echoed off in the room.

"I've seen enough to make further judgement." Aioshi stated suddenly. "Well you can leave if you want I wanna see how the fight's gonna end." Misao said as she gladly took the space that Aioshi just provided by the cracked door.

"Misao we have to go back to your Grandfather together. I promised him I wouldn't leave you behind."

Misao waved her hand in the air to signal whatever. This made Aioshi mad.

"Since when did you start listening to my Gramps." Misao stated as she looked up at Aioshi with a suspicious eye.

Aioshi looked at Misao, anger completely forgotten, startled by the sudden question.

"Well..." "That's exactly what I thought." Misao concluded finally in an annoyed tone. "Just go run off somewhere and get into a fight while I stay here." Misao instructed as she turned her gaze from him to the match.

"I would watch what I say if I were you." Aioshi finally stated regaining his tongue. "I will go, but I'm not gonna leave you alone so I'll leave someone to stay behind with you or just to watch you." Aioshi said as he turned around to leave before Misao could protest.

Misao turned around abruptly prepared to complain when she saw Aioshi already turned to leave.

Her face tinted red with anger and she readied a knife to throw at Aioshi cute little head when a loud smack from within the room caught her attention and turned back to the door forgetting about her dumb leader.

Shuura who had been sitting on the side lines watching only shook in her in amusement as she watched the two bicker like an old married couple until she heard the smack making her turn back to watching too.

"Ri Two! Begin!" Hiko shouted as Kaoru and Surigia both this time launched forward prepared to attack the other.

Surigia quickly unsheathed his sword and made for a low swipe around Kaoru's legs.

'Oh no you don't!' Kaoru thought as she leaped up to miss the metal of the sword by half an instance andthen brought down her own bokken to hit his shoulder blade. But, like Kaoru, Surigia dodged the attack at the last moment getting slightly nicked on the cheek.

Kaoru landed on her knees her wooden bokken to the ground and Surigia was turning his body to attack her. Kaoru notice the movement out the corner of her eyes and once again narrowly escaped the metal of Surigia's blade.

"I told you Kaoru I'll stop at nothing to defeat you this round." Surigia grunted as he got Kaoru into yet another power struggle.

A faint smirk appeared on Kaoru's face.

"And I agree to your words, but how badly do you want it?" Kaoru asked as they jumped apart from each other and yet again bounced forward towards one another in determination to knock the other down. But to their dismay it was another power struggle.

"What do you mean?" Surigia asked as he continued to add pressure into the struggle.

"How badly do you want the pleasure of being victorious? Of being the winner of something you've only known being the loser of? How badly do you want to win?" Kaoru answered.

Kaoru's face was stone cold serious as she continued the battle as she jumped away from the struggle only to launch forward again and hit Surigia hard creating a loud smack that echoed off the walls of the hall and danced in the ears of the witnesses. And as a result from all of the intense on and off pressure Surigia's sword cracked in half and as the fallen half fell to the ground it crumbled into pieces.

Everyone in the room mouths fell open at the sight.

Kaoru effortlessly broke Surigia's sword in half almost the same way Surigia had broken hers in the last round.

Shock spread across the faces of many like a virus of some sort and not even Hiko could've believed what he was seeing.

'She has great potential for my style of swordsmanship. It is only whether or not she can put aside her father's believes in order to study my own.' Hiko thought as he continued to watch his pupil and niece resume their fight besides the fact that his pupil's sword was in no condition for battling.

Now that Kaoru has cut his blade she was leading him around the room to see if he could touch her with what was left of his sword.

She had to admit though with half a blade his reaction time and speed had picked up considerably, but though she admired his efforts she couldn't mislead him any more then what she had.

She did her job for her uncle, she had proved she earned her right to be his pupil whether she defeated Surigia or not because from the feel of the room she could tell a good few, probably experienced fighters could tell she was holding back, but not to which degree.

Though just as she was about to make the final move that would've ended the round Kaoru notice something in Surigia's eyes. Through the depths of his eyes she could see a flame that was never there before. It was huge and raging on like a wildfire. Spreading wider and wider with each swing he took of half mighty sword.

'His fighters sprit...its...its growing!' Kaoru thought as she blocked one swing but failed to dodge the swipe of his leg through hers.

Kaoru landed on the ground in a heap before him, but rolled just in time to miss the attack that would have hit her stomach.

Kaoru then quickly stood up and enter back into her fighting stance, as did Surigia.

'He's reacting to desperation. His desire to defeat me is what awakened his newfound skill. If I'm not careful he could pose as a threat to me. But then again it could also just be his desire to win.' Kaoru thought as she analyzed his stance.

It was the same as when they first began, yet different in the same sense. Seriousness rolled off of his body as well as determination and a mysterious air circled around him making Kaoru even more aware of him.

"What was that? She had him against the ropes!" Sano exclaimed in a low whisper as he watched the two fighters battle it out again.

"She saw something that wasn't there before." Kenshin answered him not taking his eyes off of Kaoru.

Granted he only knew her for a week, he learned much about her or at least what he thought she wanted him to know about her.

She's a very complex kind of girl. There were many ways about her that he didn't like, yet there were ways he did like and then there were those ways she has yet to show to anyone leaving her mysterious as the day he meet her. Just when you think you have her figured out she throws a curve at you.

"Hello! Japan to Kenshin." Sano whispered as he waved a hand in front of Kenshin's face.

After a while Kenshin finally noticed Sano's moving hand and quickly grabbed it and squeezed slightly. Sano winced and took it as a hint to stop.

"You know normal people would just say stop." Sano commented lowly to him as he narrowed his eyes.

"You know a normal person would know better than to think that of all people I would respond normally to something so simple." Kenshin said in a mocking tone as he returned his eyes from Sano's steaming face back to Kaoru and Surigia.

"Man she let her guard down." Misao stated as she peered inside.

Kaoru was now presently trying to regain control over the fight since Surigia had practically taken control. That one slip up had cost Kaoru greatly and now Kaoru was working double time than before to get the better of Surigia.

"She didn't let her guard down Misao he took her by surprise somehow." Shuura stated as she peered inside over Misao's head.

"But how could he have done that? I mean he rarely takes anyone by surprise here?" Misao questioned as she looked up at Shuura. Shuura merely shook her head.

'Maybe Aioshi had a point about this one.' She thought with a faint smirk on her face. She looked down at the younger girl and saw the annoyance of not knowing what was so amusing to her.

'Though I'll give her credit on the fact that she does tries at least.'

"Well first of all Misao you have to give Surigia some credit on this fight. This is the hardest he ever fought and that fact alone is a shocker. But for the girl in there she knows nothing of how he fights so the only surprises he can give her is by pulling off a move she can't block or just simply doing something that is out of the ordinary of what he has been doing." She explained.

"Oh" Misao replied not completely comprehending what Shuura had said, but determined to find out for herself. After all she was getting tired of being considered stupid in the art of battle.

"What are you going to do now Kaoru? Your back is against the wall." Surigia commented as he blocked off an attack Kaoru had aimed for his shoulder blade with his half sword.

"Hiten Mitsurugi Sou-Ryu- Sen!" He shouted as he then quickly thrust the sheath of his sword into Kaoru's stomach. There was absolutely no way for Kaoru to block it and so she fell to the ground clutching her stomach. She coughed slightly and started to stand, but stopped when she felt the pointy part of Surigia's half sword on her back, just about where her important organs would be.

"End of round two! Surigia's point!" Hiko called out.

Again another round ended with people in shock. One of the first true fights that Surigia had ever been in he had just won one round. Low mummer spread around the room like a wave. Confused and shocked faces present on every single face in there.

"Settle down and Round 3 will begin." Hiko barked to the little crowd. Immediately people began to quite down and waited with anticipation to see who would break the tiebreaker. Surigia threw his broken sword to the side and Rikusho quickly tossed him his other sword.

"Finally the end of this match. Though I'll admit it has been quite the most interesting fights I've yet to see." Saitou commented to Sano and Kenshin. Both of them nodded their heads.

"So what is the Chief of the Kyoto Wolves gonna do now? He has collected enough information on the new girl hasn't he?" Kenshin replied looking towards Saitou.

"In a sense I'm done for now. But I want to see how this ends. Who knows I might learn something about Surigia after today except for the fact he's a garbage fighter gone decent." Saitou stated as he began to rub his chin in contemplation.

"Don't hurt yourself trying to think I would hate to have to tell your group you died doing so." Sano joked.

"At least I have a brain to think with." Saitou stated as he got up and crept away from them. "Aw what's the matter did I hurt the little wolf's feelings?" Sano snickered lightly. Saitou turned his head slightly sending Sano a deadly golden glare.

Sano stopped instantly.

"Um Kenshin you don't' think he heard me do you?" Sano asked Kenshin. Sano turned back to look at Saitou just in time to make a hand gesture that meant he would die.

"Yeah he heard you." Kenshin replied instantly after seeing the moment. Sano cursed under his breath.

"Ri Three! Begin!" Hiko yelled as he threw his hands down to signal the beginning of the last round.

"Let's go." Kaoru said to Surigia as she eyed him with stone cold eyes. Surigia returned the look and blinked out of sight. This time Kaoru followed suit and joined him whenever he was. Most of the people in the room fell silent.

Not only was Surigia gone from the picture, but this time Kaoru joined him. And the same guys from before eyes started to dot around the ring as they watched every silent blow each now "invincible" fighter threw.

And after a moment of not seeing Surigia came blowing into the mats of the floor as Kaoru stood a ways away from him holding her sword ready to attack at any given moment.

Minus the faces of the experienced fighters that kept up with them, everyone's faces were perplexed.

"I know you can still stand so get up already and quite stalling!" Kaoru shouted at Surigia. And almost instantly Surigia sprung up from his position on the ground and proceeded to charge at Kaoru. Kaoru side-stepped the attack and hit him in his back knocking him down.

Though this time he didn't just fall on the ground. Instead he rolled on to his feet and launched forward with a counter putting Kaoru back on the defensive side of the fence.

'It would seem that with every round they fight the better they become. An interesting teaching strategy. No doubt a mixture of my brothers knowledge and her own.' Hiko thought as he watched the two young fighters continue to go at it.

Taking turns on playing the role of offence and defensive fighting. Suddenly as he watched Surigia dodge one attack he noticed something.

'But exactly how long will Surigia's improvement last? This is the most intense fight he ever put his mind and body through and it is starting show. He will not be able to keep up this fast pace.' Hiko thought again.

"Wo! Old Suri is really pulling stuff out of his butt to win this round." Sano commented as he watched on with excitement.

"Yes it would appear that way, but it's not gonna last for long." Kenshin replied simply. "What do you mean it won't last?" Sano asked looking confused. Kenshin sighed and shook his head.

"Look closely at Surigia and then look closely at Kaoru." Kenshin instructed. Sano did as he was told, but still didn't see what the problem was.

"I still don't get it. They both look fine to me." Kenshin shook his head.

"Look again. Compare Kaoru to Surigia and you'll see it." Kenshin stated.

Sano looked at Kenshin doubtfully for a moment then turned his head towards Surigia and Kaoru. And after a moment of looking hard he then noticed what Kenshin was saying.

Surigia had little beads of sweat trailing down his face and he was starting to take deep breaths. And Kaoru wasn't even breathing as hard as he was. Plus she wasn't sweating as hard.

"But that's impossible!" Sano exclaimed almost a little too loud. "Sano shut up!" Kenshin said as he punched Sano's arm lightly. Hiko was sending them a glare there way.

"Surigia's nearly drowning in his on sweat and Kaoru barely sweating anywhere near the way Surigia is." Sano said quitter.

"But she's a Master/Assistant Manger of her sword style and so she is somewhat use to such strenuous activity." Kenshin answered. "Surigia defiantly has a serious disadvantage this round." Sano mumbled to himself.

Kenshin nodded his head in agreement.

'That was the first time Surigia had ever ran somewhere near the god speed level and Kaoru was able to keep up so she must be able to run that fast or somewhere near it. And if she can then she that means she knows that by moving so fast it requires a lot of energy and she was willing to let Surigia burn off that energy running rather than letting him fight her with it because he could've over powered her if he did just that.' Kenshin thought.

'Either that or she was just testing his limits.' Kenshin thought again.

"You're tiring." Kaoru commented as they clashed the weapons against each other. As they did so again he responded.

"Doesn't matter I got enough energy left to win this round too."

Kaoru smirked at his new level of confidence and not to mention cockiness, but she knew those two factors wouldn't be enough to defeat her. So as they both broke apart to re-stance Kaoru once again entered the same stance she took at the end of the first match with Surigia that helped her win.

'Kamiya-jutsu is a universal attack. That means I can use it as an offense or defense attack and it is only one of the few Kasshin attacks able to handle a higher-level sword style like Hiten Mitsurugi anyways. So if I can use this attack the way I wanted to last time then this will be interesting.' Kaoru thought.

Surigia braced himself when he saw what stance she took. It was the last stance that took him down last time.

'What form of attack could she possibly gain from that stance?' He thought confused as did everyone else. Suddenly Kaoru charged towards Surigia.

This took him by surprise and he quickly unsheathed his sword and jump up out of the way of the attack. Kaoru stopped running once she got to the spot Surigia was standing and since he was still up in the air she jumped up after him accelerating fast to catch up with him.

"Kasshin- jutsu four star!" Kaoru called out as she took her bokken and quickly aimed it perfectly to hit Surigia's shoulders and one hit to his stomach and the last hit to his back.

The attack was fast so the bokken itself looked like a blur as Kaoru and Surigia descended back to the ground. Surigia landed first on the ground roughly in a heap and Kaoru like a cat landed on her feet. Her sword was pointed ahead of her ready to continue fighting if Surigia stood up.

Surigia's body flinched and a moment later he weakly began to pick himself back up. He was breathing heavily and as he got to his feet he was clutching his stomach barely, his sword daggling downward in his hands. He looked worn out and ragged, his facial expressions adding on to the beaten look.

He weakly took a step forward.

"I...I guess I didn't want it enough." He said before he collapsed on the ground.

After a while of no moving Hiko began to count down. Everyone stared confused as to what Surigia meant by 'not wanting it enough', though Kaoru got what he was saying.

'At least you tried and aimed for it and that's basically all any fighter can really do.' Kaoru thought as she watched his still body and noted that she saw a little smile on his unconscious face.

"Ten! End of Match! Kaoru is the winner!" Hiko called out and cheers and clapping went all around the room for not just Kaoru, but for both her and Surigia.

Once Hiko had declared her the winner, Kaoru put her bokken back on her waist strap and went to help Rikusho carry Surigia to the small room attached to the drill hall where Megumi was waiting to examine him.

As Kaoru walked out to wait on Megumi's final word of damage people flocked around her congratulating her and asking her where she learned to fight and other boring stuff like that. And after a while of talking politely or accepting their kind words the huge crowd around her began to thin out.

And once she was nearly done Kaoru noticed a young woman around her age, maybe older with beautiful black hair and eyes that had a sense of elegance seeming to roll off the other girl slightly intimidating Kaoru.

"So you are the talk of the town. Hi you can call me Tomoe." She said as she placed a graceful hand for Kaoru to shake.

Hesitantly Kaoru took her hand and shook it.

"I'm Kaoru." "I know." Tomoe stated flatly. "I know everything about everyone who comes in or out of this city and let me be the first to tell you Miss Kamiya, you better not bring any harm to these streets other wise you'll have to face more people than you can count." Tomoe forewarned.

"Um thanks for the warning, but I have no intentions to become what I despise most." Kaoru replied.

"Very well as long as you know what will happen. Just know that there is always someone watching you in this city even if you can't see them." Tomoe finished as she turned to leave. "Oh and I almost forgot nice match. It was to say the lease...interesting." Tomoe called over her shoulder as she continued to walk out.

"Well what was that all about?" Kaoru asked outloud.

"That's Tomoe Toshimi. She use to be Kenshin's fiancée'." Rikusho answered as he walked up to her. "Well then what happened between them?" Kaoru asked confused.

"Something happened that made her split on him. Really I shouldn't be talking about it, but yeah that's what happened. The only people who know why Tomoe left Kenshin is Kenshin himself, Sano, and Tomoe's brother."

"Oh." Kaoru said still quite interested into knowing more, but judging against it taking into consideration that it wasn't even her business.

"Well Surigia should be find now. He has only a couple of bruises. Nothing life threatening." Megumi commented from behind Rikusho and Kaoru.

"Oh thank you Megumi. Can we visit him now?" Rikusho asked. "He's still unconscious. IT would be best if just let him rest a minute. After all this was a big fight for him." Megumi stated.

Rikusho frowned slightly, but understood Megumi well and walked off.

"I'll be right back. I got to go tell his family he'll be home a little late." Rikusho stated as he walked out the hall.

"Well what about you Kaoru?" Megumi questioned. Kaoru jumped slightly and Megumi saw this and smiled at her. "Gomen." Kaoru mumbled as she noticed Megumi's smile.

"That's alright. But I think I should go ahead and start cleaning that cut on your leg." Megumi stated as she gestured to the now almost completely blood soaked bottom hamaka leg.

"Oh I almost forgot about that." Kaoru stated as she looked down. Megumi went and cleaned and wrapped Kaoru's injured leg. When Megumi was done Kaoru respectfully bowed at Megumi.

"Oh there's no need to thank me. If anything I should be the one bowing. You saved my life last week and I never did thank you." "Oh that's alright, but I didn't mean to give you that bruise though." Kaoru commented.

"Please I would rather have a bruise than to be dead right now." Megumi replied as she stood up to leave. "Well I wish you a very peaceful rest of the day, but living in a place like Kyoto that's almost virtually impossible." Megumi stated as she walked away before Kaoru had the chance to question her.

'How...do people really have it this rough here?' Kaoru thought confused. But Kaoru shook the thought away for a moment. Right now she had to check on Surigia, who was still there unconscious, and find her uncle because they had to talk.

Once the match was over Sano and Kenshin both agreed to try and talk with Kaoru later since she was busy helping Rikusho carry Surigia's over into the other room and then Kaoru was surround by almost everyone in the room when she finished help.

"Well one thing is at least for sure about that girl." Sano mumbled as he and Kenshin walked down the alley streets to his apartment. "And what would that be Sanosuke."

"Hey man I'm serious quite calling me by my full first name." Sano growled. "I'm sorry. Do please continue SANOSUKE!" Kenshin replied yet again using his first name knowing Sano wouldn't do anything.

Sano clenched his teeth before continuing.

"I was trying to say that she is a very skilled fighter and the Mistress of Mystery." Sano finished. Kenshin nodded in agreement as he recapped the match. Half of those moves Surigia used should have been able to shut Kaoru down, but she just made a bunch of loop holes around them.

"Yes she defiantly is the Mistress of Mystery." Kenshin said as he sighed.

It was night time now and Surigia had already left for home.

Kaoru was coming into one of the other guestrooms they put him in with a basin of cool water and a rag when she noticed that the futon was empty. There was absolutely no sign of him anywhere within the room and when she went out towards the gate she found nothing either and she shook her head as she was already use to such a thing.

Her pupils always did that and depending on how old they were they always managed to drive her up a tree about that.

Suddenly off in the distance Kaoru heard a snap of a twig. Kaoru turned around to see nothing but the dirt path behind her and the bushes off to the side.

"Who ever is hiding of into the bushes better show themselves." Kaoru called out.

Kaoru waited patiently listening hard for any signs of moment. Kaoru was once again wearing a kimono, but this time see didn't have anything under it so she reached behind her back and wear the rim of her collar was she touched the base of the handle to her bokken.

A moment hadpassed and suddenly a flash of silver moving right at her caught Kaoru's attention.

Instantly she wiped out her bokken and tapped the silver object hard enough to make it go back in the opposite direction in which it came. As it traveled through the bush a small yelp could be heard from the possible culprit.

Quickly Kaoru rushed over to where she last saw the star go and looked over the bushes, but saw nothing. Whoever it was had just gotten away. Though there were spots on the ground where blood was evident and there also was some dirt from the ground kicked up as if someone was dragging something rather fast.

'Good I only got them in the leg whoever it was.' Kaoru stated in her mindas she let out a sigh of relief from noticing the blood.

Though Kaoru was relieved she was still edgy some and when Kenshin came from behind and placed a hand on her Kaoru spun around fast with her bokken ready to hit the person behind her, but was shock to hear the cling of metal.

When Kaoru finally noticed what she was doing she saw Kenshin before her, his one hand resting at the base of his sheathe that was twisted from its normal position at Kenshin's side to his front and Kenshin's other hand resting on the handle of his sword that he released half of to block off her sudden assault.

His eyes were narrowed dangerously as he eyed the two weapons and then brought his gaze up to her.

"What is your problem?" He asked less displeased than he felt.

It took Kaoru a moment to regain her ability to talk, but soon she answered him.

"I-I'm sorry it's just that I thought you were the person who had attack me." "Who attacked you?" Kenshin asked seriously.

He looked around as if the person was still in seeing distance.

"I don't know. The attack was so sudden and the person disappeared after I countered one of their moves." She answered looking down to the ground. "Can you describe it?" He asked more softly.

"Um...There was something silver coming at me. And what ever it when I hit it to make it go the other way itcame. Italmost a thud sound if you listen close enough from my weapon."

"It was a ninja star you were attacked with." Kenshin concluded. "A ninja star? But how do you..."

"There is only one weapon that has makes that sound if it was countered and/or redirected. Also when I was gone I received a message from the person responsible." Kenshin said cutting her off.

"Gohie is back and wants a rematch with you." "A rematch?" Kaoru echoed.

Kenshin only rolled his eyes.

"Yes a rematch. And to make sure that you accept it he has taken Yahiko again...The boy you saved from before."

Kaoru's face first toke on the form of shock and then the form of anger.

She clenched her first and growled lightly.

"Where is he? That bastard's gonna pay?" She said gravely.

A/N- another chapter done and over with: whew: But because I took my time updating this I owe two chapter the next time I update so let's get busy with that. MOVING ON!

Shout Out List

I would like to shout out )

Animelover11368- Glad you like the chapter!

Crystel- Glad you love Kaoru's sparkling personality and ability. As for Ken's and Kaoru's relationship lots of turns will take place.

Khrisoferkolumbus- you're welcome and thank you for helping me. Your reward for helping me shall come soon.

XxSilentxDreamerxX- I'm glad you like this and thank you.

Sakura Nights- So glad you like Kaoru. And what type of author would I and story would this be with out a Kenshin and Kaoru match up?

Midi Tenshi- I'm sorry! Don't pull out your dust of doom! OoO

The-Lone-Lemon- I know aren't I evil. Thank you for reviewing!

Balletanimerose- does this answer your question?

SonJanusX- I'm glad you're enjoying the fic.

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Cyjj- Thanks!

Hakari- I'm glad you like this and I don't know.

An Avid reader- Sorry. But thank you bunches for the compliment and website! It helps me out a lot. Your reward for helping shall come soon and I'm glad you like this.

Misumi keennegawa- thank you! Do you think that you would like your name to be used in this story?

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