Chapter 2: Friends and Enemies

Hello my readers! I hope you are enjoying this thus far (and if you are please leave me a nice review!) Something I forgot to mention in the last chapter was that I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or its characters, but I do own Ryuichi. Enjoy chapter 2!

The following morning, Kenshin went into the station alone to pick up Ryuichi. He had sensed the previous evening that she was very intimidated by him, and so he decided that it would be best if Kaoru were to stay home and make sure everything harmful was put out of sight and locked away.

He wasn't exactly sure why they were even doing this. She was not someone they knew, and they had enough to deal with. Sanosuke and Yahiko seemed excited to have another woman around, but neither Kenshin nor Kaoru mentioned that she was an assassin.

When he arrived, an officer handed Kenshin a bag of Ryuichi's articles and walked him inside. Kenshin approached her cell and as he neared, saw that she was standing and clearly unhappy, but off of the killing high she was on the previous night.

"You are late." she growled, "And they aren't giving me breakfast."

"Ryuichi-dono, Sessha is sorry that he was late. We were preparing things for you. However, Sessha needs to know now if you are serious about renouncing your ways as an assassin and that you are going to do your best to try." Kenshin was very serious. He didn't need or have any desire to deal with a renegade.

"Batto.."

"Kenshin please."

"Kenshin-san, I assure you with all of the honor I have lived my life to uphold, that I am very willing to change. Otousan isn't going to like it, but I know he will understand. He wants only for my safety." Ryuichi said with honest sincerity. "However, I know after a while it will become something I crave. I can have a nasty personality, and I will need to be ran over in order for me to grow past this. Do you understand? You can't give me any slack, because I will undoubtedly take advantage of it."

"Hai, Ryuichi-dono, Sessha understands. Shall we go home? I am sure Kaoru-dono will have something you can eat."

As they walked, Ryuichi was very quiet. She kept a stern look on her face, yet was very attentive to her surroundings. She made no offer to run or attack, but this is something that Kenshin attributed solely to her fear of him.

"I also need to mention something. I do have private occasions to attend to from time to time. Unfortunately, I can give you no details into this, but I need to ask you to be my chaperone. I will need to visit my father."

"We will address this situation when we come to it, shall we?" Kenshin smiled. "Sessha believes you will fit in well with Sano and Yahiko. "

"I most likely will. It's women that I don't get along with. I've been around very few, and have found myself relying on the wives of my mentors for most of my female company." she said mechanically.

"What happened to your mother, Ryuichi-dono?"

"She was killed when I was very young. I remember nothing about her, or the day she died. I was there when she was murdered though..."

"Ahh…Sessha witnessed murder when he was young as well…Well, here is the Kamiya dojo!"

Sanosuke and Yahiko were waiting outside, extremely curious as to who exactly the newcomer was. She smiled warmly at the two, specifically Yahiko.

"Sano, Yahiko, this is Ryuichi-dono. She will be staying with us for a little while." Kenshin said.

"It is nice to meet you guys." she said, smiling sweetly.

Sanosuke reached his hand out to shake Ryuichi's, she reluctantly held hers out to him, wincing as he shook it.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"I think I may have hurt myself…" she laughed nervously and looked at Kenshin, "When I fell.."

"Ahh, the doctor should be over shortly anyway, she typically visits for lunch." Kenshin said.

Kaoru came out, and came up to Ryuichi. "I have some older kimono that you can borrow, and I will show you where the bath is."

"I hate to ask this, but I would rather wear hakama if at all possible. I typically only wear kimono when I am working, and I would rather not have that association." Ryuichi moved her heavy bangs away from her scarred eye. Her pupil was dilating and contracting rapidly.

"Whoa! That's awesome! Does it hurt?" Yahiko yelled excitedly.

"Yahiko! How rude!" Kaoru said, hitting him on the head.

"No, no. He's fine! Everyone is curious when they are young!" Ryuichi laughed, " Yahiko-chan, the sun hurts it sometimes, but no real pain. It wasn't so fun when it happened though!"

"Really? What happened?" the young boy asked.

"Yahiko-chan, sometimes memory hurts more than physical pain. " Ryuichi whispered and smiled weakly.

Ryuichi took a bath and changed into Kaoru's clothes and helped Kaoru prepare a lunch of vegetables and bean curd boiled in miso. Soon Megumi came to join them. She approached Sanosuke and kissed him lightly in front of the female assassin. Megumi then approached Kenshin. "Ken-san, I see you have brought in another renegade."

"Megumi-dono," Kenshin whispered extremely quietly, "Sessha wishes that you might be more sensitive. Ryuichi-dono is very unstable. Also, might you look at her arm? It seems to be injured."

"Okay, Ken-san, but only because you are asking. Ryuichi-chan, Ken-san says your arm is injured. What happened?"

"Don't call me Ryuichi-chan please. From what I understand, I am older than you. As for my arm, I fell off of a roof." Ryuichi glared at Megumi. The two walked inside while everyone else ate lunch.

"Looks broken. There isn't much you can do, other than I can give you a splint and sling. So why in the world has Ken-san decided to bring you here?"

"He wants to help me move forward from my current career, Megumi-chan." Ryuichi narrowed her eyes.

"I hope you know that Ken-san isn't interested in romantic relationships. And if I find out that you have been coming on to Sanosuke, you will have more than a broken arm to deal with." Megumi growled.

Ryuichi stood up. "I don't think you understand who I am, onna. I have no interest in romance or sex. I have been interested in one man in my life, and you see where that got me." She said, pointing to her scarred eye and extremely dilated pupil which gave her a look of insanity. "As for Kenshin-san, he is a man who I have tremendous respect for. He is so at peace, yet at his core, he is ruthless. Just the thought of watching him work makes me quiver with excitement…Also, you shouldn't be so aggressive, Megumi-san. It gets you nowhere." she sighed. She seemingly turned into a different person.

A couple weeks passed and Ryuichi was seemingly becoming more and more accustomed to her life at the Kamiya Dojo. She got along with Kaoru for the most part, avoided Sanosuke and Megumi, enjoyed working with Yahiko with bokken, and revered Kenshin.

Soon a letter came to her.

Ryu-chan、

Thank you for letting me know where you were with your letter. We were all very worried about you! I am very disappointed in your decision to waste your talents, yet I understand why you have decided that. I do want you to remember that I do not think that you are abnormal or maladjusted. You've just lived a more exciting, albeit more dangerous life.

Please visit this week and I will pack you some of your belongings and give you the payments I received for the Tokyo assassinations. I will also make the accommodations that you asked for. You will be missed around the house for the next few weeks. Remember that I am proud of you.

Aishiteru.

Otousan

Ryuichi read her letter and excitedly ran to Kenshin. "Kenshin-san, will you please accompany me to Yokohama to visit my father. I know you do not trust me to travel alone, and I would feel safer traveling with the Hitokiri Battousai!"

"Oh Ryuichi-dono, please call me Kenshin…And if you so wish, we shall leave tomorrow." He smiled.

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