Chapter Two: In Which Sano Learns That Raccoons Are Worthy Opponents Too

The sun shone brightly. In the air, the smell of cherry blossoms. Birds sang in the trees, and a gentle breeze drifted through the window. God, do I hate mornings.

He rolled over with a groan and blinked his eyes; once, twice… then let them drift shut on the third. There was something I was supposed to do today. The dojo… Kaoru… Kenshin… Shit

The sound of strikes being called in the training hall echoed through the thin walls, a sure sign that Yahiko and Kaoru were already awake. And, from the sounds of it, working off some of their nervous energy pounding each other into the ground. Sano caught a low yelp and rolled his eyes. Or, just Jou-chan pounding the kid into the ground. Part of him wondered how Yahiko had been stupid enough to pick up a bokken around the worried shihondai.

"Probably deserves everything he gets," he muttered bad-temperedly to himself. "You going to be stupid enough to pick up a stick around a pissed-off Jou-chan, you deserve every hit." Still, he worked up enough energy to sit completely up.

Sano scratched at his hair and debated how he'd go looking for Kenshin. His usual contacts would be more available in the late evening, so he'd normally just wait until then, and maybe score a meal or three between now and then – except that Sano figured that none of the local thugs would be much help. They would probably just take advantage of Kenshin's absence. Which, from the sounds still ringing through the dojo, would probably just mean 'give Jou-chan and Yahiko animated practice dummies'."

On a whim, he headed out to the practice room and watched the sparring.

Sano pushed door aside and let himself into the high-ceilinged room Kaoru and Yahiko, and occasionally even Kenshin, used for practice. Rarely, in Kenshin's case, since he was downright shy about letting anyone see him practice and generally needed a taller ceiling anyway.

The two combatants stood in the center of the floor, with their pint-sized peanut gallery watching silently from the sidelines. Eerily silent for a six-year-old, Sano thought. Kenji's indigo eyes followed them with bright intelligence and a goofy little smile coupled with a wave when he spotted Sano's entrance across the room. Kid's Kenshin's all right. Plenty his mother's son too.

Sanosuke was amazed, actually, how good Kaoru really was. Her forms were nearly perfect – it was just her speed that was lacking and her tendency to let her emotions influence her strategy that was holding her back. What she needed was a challenge –a master significantly better than her. But perhaps, she'd settle for a challenge from someone, who, while he could never compare to Kenshin, still ranked high in Japan among the top fighters. That would be Sanosuke himself.

Sano snorted as Yahiko came flying at him and crashed into the wall.

Sanosuke twisted slightly so he was more or less looking at the sprawled samurai right-side up. "Having fun?"

"Oodles," Yahiko said. "Excuse me. I've got to hit her back." "Be my guest," Sano muttered, easing back against the wall next to Kenji.

Pushing himself up, Yahiko grunted, set himself in position and ran at Kaoru. When she moved to counter, Yahiko abruptly changed direction, hitting her from the other side with a less-than-gentle crack. Sano winced as Kaoru fell sideways, making contact with the floor with an audible thump.

"Kaasan needs speed," Kenji said. "In her wrists, in particular."

Sano raised his eyebrows. "Sharp observation, kid."

Kenji turned to him and smiled a disturbingly familiar smile… one he'd seen often Kenshin use to distract from his obvious intelligence.

Sano let out a slow breath and ruffled Kenji's hair. Kenji leaned into the touch with a cheerful smile before hopping to his feet and waving to get attention. "Kaasan It's Sano-nii's turn "

"What?" Sano whispered furiously to the boy he considered his nephew. "Listen, kid, I don't know if you know this, but if I kick your kaasan's…" he searched for the right word, "…butt, your father will kill me. No questions asked."

Kenji smiled mysteriously. "I don't think you have to worry about that, Sano-nii."

Sano pushed himself to his feet and looked quizzically at Kaoru. "Well, you don't get stronger fighting people who are weaker than you all the time," Sano shrugged, ignoring Yahiko's angered yelp of indignation. The younger man promptly found Kenji attached to his hakama leg and dragging him off. Kaoru coughed to cover her laughter as Yahiko allowed himself to be herded.

Sano grinned and cracked his knuckles. "Ready?"

Kaoru glowed at the unexpected contest. "Are you sure?" she said carefully, trying to give him a chance to back out should he wish to.

Sano smirked, "Well, Kenshin wouldn't like this... but you don't know what I'm capable of anymore, and I don't have a much better idea of your skills."

Kaoru's jewel-bright eyes dimmed slightly, and the tip of her bokken planted itself in the wooden floor as she pinned him with a grave look that still had the excitement of a warrior meeting a worthy challenge glittering in the background. "This isn't for Kenshin, Sano," she told him. "It's for me. Don't hold back."

"Wouldn't dare," Sano grinned. "Are you going to come after me, Jou-chan, or are we going to talk all morning?"

Kaoru nodded. "Hai." Then, without warning, she leapt into the air and landed just in front of Sano, swiping at him with her bokken. Grunting, Sano bent over backward to avoid the swipe. Balancing on two arms and one leg, he swept out his right foot in a powerful kick. Kaoru jumped and easily avoided his leg. "Nice," Sano said, jumping up to his feet. "Warm-up's done. Here comes the fun."

The air fairly hummed between them and Kaoru did not, or could not, stop the elation bubbling through her veins. She had not even realized how much she had missed this. True, the match with Sano was a far cry from any with her father, but the same feel of pushing the outer walls of her abilities against someone that had reach and strength beyond hers was a familiar and well-missed exhilaration. For the first time in recent memory, Kaoru found herself pulling out all the stops.

Sano felt the answering rush of adrenaline flow through his body. He knew Kaoru was no match for him, that the fight would probably end quickly, but the excitement in her eyes raised his awareness and focused his attention. They were both intent on what was about to happen. Slowly, they both began to circle around each other, testing footwork, balance, calmness. It was Sanosuke who was ready to attack first.

He threw himself at Kaoru, intent on catching the "blade" of her weapon and wrenching it out of her hands. Kaoru laughed brightly and ducked under Sano's reach to smack him from behind. She threw him off balance, but Sano twisted to recover and came up into a defensive crouch. His fist hovered for a breath above the polished wood of the floor, but a death-edged glare from Kaoru brought him up short. She had clearly heard descriptions of the techniques Sano had learned from the fallen monk, Anji, and her face and stance promised swift death if he ripped up her floor trying any of them.

Shrugging his shoulders almost imperceptibly at such limits, Sano took advantage of her momentary distraction and punched his left fist out. When Kaoru dodged, he simply used the momentum to carry him through a forward roll up to his feet. As soon as he was upright, Kaoru began a series of attacks toward the middle part of his body. Combining her bokken and the speed that was so vital to survival, she attacked his waist. Focusing all his attention on blocking the blows from her bokken, Sano nearly missed the blow to his groin from her elbow, catching at the last minute and letting out a surprised "woof" of air.

"Dirty move, Jou-chan " he accused. She grinned in response and sliced at his head in a powerful overhand strike. With a katana, it would have been a killing stroke; with a bokken it would only have given him a hell of a headache. Sano dived at Kaoru instead, taking her strike across his right shoulder and tackling her around the waist.

Grinning and panting a bit, Sano teasingly held his hand about her throat. "I think I won."

Feeling the sweat pour down her forehead, Kaoru flashed him a brilliant smile. "I think so too, but it wasn't as easy as you thought it would be, was it?"

Sano shrugged. "Guilty. It's just that I've never seen you fight, Jou-chan."

"Yes well, I'd love to reminisce about all I could have done in the past, but at the moment, I'd just love to get your weight off me, if you don't mind."

Sano laughed and then rolled over to one side, panting and studying the ceiling. "Good match."

"Thanks, Sano," Kaoru nodded, looking more energized than any of them had seen in a long while as she rolled back to her feet. "Didn't you have something planned for today?"

"Eh?" Sano pulled his lanky self up more slowly, and stretched. "Oh, right. Right after breakfast, anyway."

Still reeling from the whiplash of the unexpected difficulty in fighting Kaoru, Sano nearly jumped to find Yahiko standing right in front of him. He didn't remember it being that easy to sneak up on him. "Hey, kid. You've gotten better."

Yahiko laughed. "Don't sound so surprised. I've been working on my technique for years, remember? I've been doing some thinking."

"Don't say things like that. You'll scare those of us who know and love you best."

Yahiko's face darkened and he moved to lunge at the streetfighter when that Kaoru's voice called him up short. "Later, you two. I have a class coming this afternoon and Yahiko gets to sweep the training hall before then." She bent down to take Kenji's hand and slung her bokken over the opposite shoulder.

"Sano-nii " Kenji's high-pitched reed-like voice pierced the air enough that everyone stopped moving for a moment. Those sharp blue eyes, one of the only features he'd inherited from his mother, pierced Sano's briefly and then softened to those of a child with tears hovering on the edge. "You're going to look for Tou-san, ne?"

"Sure, kid. Right now."

Kenji's face lit for a moment and he returned his hand to his mother's keeping as he waved goodbye.

"Sometimes that kid is just a little creepy, you know?"

Yahiko nodded. "Yeah, I know."

Kenshin, Sano decided, was annoyingly hard to track for someone with an infamous reputation. Especially one that stuck out like a copper coin in a mound of poppy seeds Not that he hadn't found anything, he had just managed to confirm that Kenshin had left Kyoto on foot almost two weeks before, and had not been seen since.

The problem now was where to go from here. He'd spoken to merchants that had been on the road during that stretch of time, and no one had seen him. It was almost as if Kenshin had fallen off the edge of the Earth and then kept walking. Sano felt like he'd used all his contacts…. If no one had seen him alive, then Kenshin must be delayed. If not permanently, then seriously. Kaoru would not take this turn of events very well.

Actually, Sano was pretty sure Kaoru would be doing bodily harm to someone over it. He would just have to make sure that he was holding Kenji at the time.

Arriving at the dojo door, Sano pushed his way in and towards the kitchen. "Kaoru, Yahiko, Kenji-chan, you here?"

"Hai " A trio of voices called out. Sure enough, they were all there, Yahiko standing over a pot and looking very serious.

"Did you find anything?" Kaoru asked anxiously, though she could tell by the look on his face what the answer would be.

"He's completely vanished," Sano admitted. "I mean, some of the merchants saw him leave, just like Misao said, but no one's seen him since."

"So, what can we do?" Yahiko asked, ignoring the part of the meal he was watching in favor of frowning at Sano.

"Well," Sano scratched at the back of his head. "I'll head for Kyoto in the morning. Haven't been here long enough to set down roots anyway. Maybe I'll find him on the way. If I don't, we'll need the ninjas' help, so we might as well alert them."

"You're going after him?" Yahiko raised a skeptical eyebrow at him.

"Oi, why not? Who else is going to?" Sano demanded.

"Sano, you got lost last time you took off for Kyoto on your own," Kaoru pointed out dryly.

"That was different " Sano sputtered indignantly, and was met by two sets of silently raised eyebrows. Kenji looked between his mother and Yahiko before turning to Sano are raising his eyebrows too.

Sano folded his arms and hunched a bit. "Well, I know my way this time." Pointed silence answered him and Sano found his embarrassment quickly becoming irritation. "Dammit, Jou-chan, it's not like you can just come with me to make sure I ask for directions!"

Kaoru's eyes lit up and Sano could almost see the wheels turning in her mind. "No Kaoru, if you come with me and something happens to you, Kenshin will kill me. It'd be faster if I just go by myself "

Kaoru's eyes flashed dangerously. "Listen here, Sanosuke. This is the second time we've had to chase Kenshin to Kyoto, and last time we brought him home almost in pieces. And it was a month before we could even do that I can't stand waiting here for one minute more Do you understand me?"

Sano gulped. "Hai."

"Yahiko, start packing. You and Kenji are coming too."

The young man's face drained. "What?"

"I can't trust you here alone at the dojo with Tsubame just down the road. "We're going to celebrate your wedding, Yahiko. Not just come home to you married."

"Kaoru!"

"And Jou-chan doesn't trust you," Sano smirked. "I don't trust the situation," Kaoru corrected primly, while foiling Kenji's plan to spear his fish with a chopstick. "But, it's settled. To Kyoto we go. Everyone be ready to leave bright and early tomorrow morning. We'll ask Shinou-sensei to look after the dojo and pick up our classes for a few weeks. If we find Kenshin, no... when we find Kenshin, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind for causing me all this trouble..."

"Don't worry, Kaoru. We'll find him so you can hit him over the head," Yahiko said, his teasing tone at odds with the gentle look in his eye as he patted her on the shoulder and walked out the door.

LadyChi's Note: Thank you to everyone who reviewed, especially the folks over at the LJ community Triumvirata. It's always gratifying to know that you're not alone in the world in hating the OVA characterizations. Thanks to Emy, who beta-read this and did a fabulous job, and also a shot out to Shinou-chan, who is actually a girl, but makes a cameo here as an old dude. Thanks for all your hard work keeping us going... and for the fanart (which you can check out at her deviant page: http/shinou. Believe me, we appreciate all you do. Thanks also to Kat, my brilliant coauthor, who holds in her pinkie finger more knowledge about Japan and Japanese culture than I will know in my entire life. We're having too much fun doing this, y'all, so thanks for liking it and encouraging us to keep going. It means the world. Until next time.

Kat's Note: Next time, by the way, will be next week sometime. And ... yeah, I'm normally talkative, but don't have much to say this time round that wouldn't be just echoing Chi. Definite thanks to Shinou and Emy. And to Chi, who is the one that twaks my nerotic tail into gear so we write instead of obsessing over details. She's the dynamo that gets the stuff written. Otherwise, thanks for reading. We've been pleasantly surprised by the reaction so far!