Disclaimer: I Do NOT own Rurouni Kenshin, that right belongs to Nobuhiro Watsuki. This story is strictly fan-based. I do, however, own Sannai Erina and her late commander, Shiroji Sasuke.

The Kamiya Dojo: Repairs And A Place To Stay

Sannai put her hands up in attempts to show that she meant no harm as she backed up a couple steps. "I am simply a rurouni. I don't mean to intrude." She turned to leave but she heard rushed footsteps headed towards her. She

turned and dodged the oncoming fist that was aimed at her head. She was now further away from the hole in the wall where she had planned on escaping through. The tall, dark haired man now stood in front of it, preventing her from

doing such a thing. "You're not going anywhere. They say that there have been killings happening as of late. And you're carry a sword. I bet there's a reward for bringing in the killer!" He said, excitement in his eyes. Sannai sighed and

rested her left arm over her sword. "You sound like the officer who assaulted me a month ago. I do not go around killing for pleasure. Now would you be so kind as to let me go?" She smiled, closing her eyes and tilting her head to try to

convince him in letting her leave. The sound of something rubbing against the dirt caught her attention. Without even opening her eyes she knew that he had change into a fighting stance. She sighed and opened her eyes, looking at the

man. "Is there really no way to avoid this? I rather not fight pointless battles." The comment seemed to make the man angry. Her thinking fighting him would be pointless made him enraged. He ran at her and swung his fists at her and

every time she would dodge him. Then her eyes widened when her back hit the wall of the dojo. The man attacking her smirked and swung his fist at her. However, she was able to dodge it using speed that had the man widen his eyes.

He continued his swing though, destroying the wall of the dojo. "The Futae no Kiwami. Impressive." Sannai spoke as she changed her stance into that of an attack. The man turned, a smirk on his face as he cracked his knuckles. "Oh, so

you know of the technique. I'm impressed as well. I didn't think anyone knew of it. Looks like this fight will be interesting." He got into another fighting stance before charging at her. Sannai didn't know what to do. This man was unarmed

and she didn't know hand-to-hand as well as he did. But if she didn't fight it wouldn't end. Sighing, she had to resort to her only option. She drew her sword and swung at him, hitting him on the arm and after hearing a satisfying crack,

she backed away. He held his arm and winced as he moved it. She said something about her having some power behind her attack that it reminded her of Kenshin's attacks. She raised a brow at the name. "Kenshin?" She whispered to

herself quietly. She shook her head to clear the thoughts building in her head. Now was not the time to let her mind wonder. The man popped his arm back into place and came at her again. She gritted her teeth as she blocked or dodged

attack after attack, occasionally throwing in one of her own. She did not want to hurt this man so she made sure she didn't hit him too hard. Though it seemed that no matter what she did he kept getting back up. She sighed and

sheathed her sword, getting ready for another attack. The challenger seemed to have a trick up his sleeve, for he punched the ground with the Futae no Kiwami and the earth below cracked, heading for her until she jumped out of the

way and it ended at the building, causing a wall to crack quite a bit. When she was coming down to land on the ground, he ran at her and swung his fist at her. Thinking quickly, she moved her sword in front of her to block the hit. She

skidded back a bit, stabbing the ground with her sword to stop herself. She stood up and thought about ending the battle. She charged at the man, opened her mouth to yell out her attack, but blinked when she heard a voice yell out.

"Dou Ryu Sen!" A bunch of rock and debris headed towards Sannai and she jumped out of the way. "Stop this senseless fighting this instant!"

~o~o~o~o~o~

Kaoru and Kenshin were on their way back to the dojo after running to the store to buy some more cleaning supplies when the ex-hitokiri sensed something wrong. Handing the purchased goods to Kaoru, he ran ahead and skidded to a

stop in front of the giant hole in the wall. He saw the woman he helped a month ago and Sanosuke fighting. And Sanosuke was pretty beat up. Anger getting the best of him, he sent an attack at the woman before thinking. She dodged it

by back flipping away from the attack and landed gracefully, her sword still drawn with her left hand on her scabbard. "Kenshin...that sword!" Came Kaoru's voice once she caught up with him. "It's a sakabatō, that it is." Kenshin sheathed

his sword and glanced at Sannai's sword, the sun glistened off of it showing that it was in near perfect condition. He looked over at his friend to see that he only had a few bumps and bruises, possibly a broken bone or two, but no cuts of

any kind. "Ah-ha! So that's the kind of sword you've been carrying! " Came Yahiko's voice as he crawled over the broken wall, heading over to Sannai, who was sheathing her sword. Kaoru's hand on his shoulder stopped him from going

any further though. He just shrugged her off and told her that she had nothing to worry about. He jogged over to the swords woman and smirked at Sanosuke. "Seems she beat you pretty easily." The man spit at the ground and turned,

clearly embarrassed that a woman had beaten him. Kenshin only guessed that he would be heading over to Doctor Genzai's to have Megumi check him over. "Yahiko, you know this woman?" Kaoru asked as she cautiously walked over to

them. Her apprentice nodded and pointed at her over his shoulder with his thumb. "This is Sannai." Hearing the name had Kaoru's eyes widen and they were practically sparkling. Instantly she had the woman's hands in her own and

smiled at her. "You're the samurai from before! You were amazing the last time I saw you! Please, tell me what sword style you use. Oh! And how long you've been a swords woman!" Yahiko's eyes twitched and he jump kicked his master

in the head, sending her flying a few feet away. "Jeez Ugly. Leave her alone!" Kaoru was instantly standing in front of the young boy, glaring at him with fire in her eyes. "What was that? Do you want to clean the dojo until it's

spotless?" Yahiko smirked and chuckled, placing his hands behind his head and looking away. He asked her what dojo and Kaoru turned to see that her dojo was in horrible condition. Her mouth dropped and her eyes were wide. She

closed her eyes and clenched her mouth closed, a frown placed upon her lips. She turned to glare at the woman, who was tip-toeing away towards the giant hole in the wall surrounding her property. "And just where do you think you're

going?" She asked in a dark and calm voice. Sannai froze up and slowly turned her head to look at her, a nervous smile on her face. Kaoru walked up to the girl and glared at her. "You will fix up my dojo! No way am I letting you get away

with this!" The elder woman put her hands up in the middle of the second sentence in defense. She glanced at the building and winced when a wall fell apart, the material falling to the ground. She didn't realize she had caused so much

damage. She looked at Kaoru, smiled fearfully at the enraged girl and nodded. "I apologize. It seems that I got carried away. But you see, I no longer have a place to stay for I was planning on leaving tonight." "Oh no you aren't! I hit

you! Therefore you have to stay for another week at the least." Yahiko's argument had Sannai glare playfully at the boy. She explained that it was a cheap attack and did not count. Kenshin decided to step in. He suggested that she stay

at the dojo until the dojo was repaired, and Kaoru happily agreed. Though not only because she had to rebuild the dojo, but because she wanted to know more about her new idol. Feeling bad for the damage she had caused she agreed,

thus making Yahiko jump and raise a fist into the air.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Sannai was in the kitchen chopping up vegetables for the dinner she would be cooking. She told Kaoru that she would rebuild all that she had destroyed as fast as she could in order to leave quickly so that she wouldn't be a burden

anymore. She was given a room and permission to hang a couple pictures. She was going to start working that night, but Kenshin had told her to start in the morning. Sannai looked out the window as she waited for the water to boil. She

blinked when she realized that someone was watching her. She turned to look behind her to see Kenshin watching her, his looking studying her. "Kenshin, is there something I could help you with?" It seemed that he was lost in thought,

for he blinked a couple times before smiling. "I just wanted to say I am grateful for you not seriously hurting my friend, that I am." Sannai turned back around and put the vegetables in the water before chopping up some meat and putting

it in the fire so it was in flames. Kenshin blinked and raced over to help put it out when Sannai waved him off. "It's fine, Kenshin. I do this all the time." She smiled at him before blowing on it to put it out when the outer layer was black.

Kenshin said something about it looking burnt and the newcomer to the dojo giggled a bit before peeling off the outer layer to reveal to cooked meat under it. He chuckled and left her to cook. He was going to help but it seemed that she

had everything under control. Sannai wondered when she should confront the man about knowing exactly who he was and why he, too, bore a sakabatō. "Perhaps after dinner." She decided as she used the cooking knife to quickly cut up

the meat before sliding it off the cutting board into the soup. She stirred it a bit before moving to create something she was sure they hadn't had before. She poured some oil into another pot and set it over a fire. She got out the tofu and

rice and waited till it was time to use them. A few minutes later she put out the fires she was cooking over and poured the soup into four bowls and placing a two fried pouches of tofu on plates. She set the table and placed four cups of

tea on the table. She placed the chop sticks over the bowls before walking into the hall and spoke loud enough so the household could hear her say that dinner was ready. A moment later Yahiko came running into the room and sat down

at his seat. Then Kaoru sat down on the opposite side followed lastly by Kenshin who smiled at her. "Oh, this looks delicious!" Kaoru complimented before waiting for everyone to be seated. At once they said their thanks before taking a

bite of the food. Yahiko took one of the fried pouches into his mouth and brown eyes widened. He looked at Sannai and asked if it was inari maki and the woman shook her head. "It is inarizushi, fried tofu stuffed with rice. Is

it...acceptable? I haven't made it in awhile so it may be a bit...bland." She admitted, rubbing the back of her neck with a nervous smile. Kaoru took a bite of the new food and smiled at her. "It's delicious!" Sannai sighed in relief before

bringing her bowl of soup to her lips and sipping at it. She felt a little out of place as the friends made small talk about what all they had done that day. Every now and then though, the group would try to ease her discomfort by asking her

a few things about her life. Some questions she avoided answering though, and she was grateful that they hadn't pressed the issue. After they all ate she started to collect the dishes to wash but Kaoru beat her to it. Sannai thanked her

and left to find Kenshin to ask him what she wanted, but after searching for a while she failed to find him. She gave up and headed to her room to find the door slightly ajar. She narrowed her eyes a bit and put a hand on her sword as

she slowly opened the door all the way. She relaxed when she saw that it was Kenshin and he was looking at the paintings she had hung up. "This is the work of Katsu, that it is." He said turning his head to smile at her. She only nodded

and silently wondered why he was in her room. She had searched for him, true, but never expected him to be here. She left the door open just in case as she walked further into the room. She told him that for the last month he had

gained his friendship, as well as Yahiko's and the Akabeko girls. The group painting was a parting gift. She laughed lightly saying that Katsu would be pleased to hear that she was staying longer, but would complain about painting the

picture earlier than he had to. Kenshin turned his whole person to face her and asked her about the picture of the late commander, reaching his hand out to touch said painting. Sannai stalled in answering him. She was not about to tell

him why she had that painting. "He was someone I idolize when I was young." She half lied to the man. He nodded, accepting the answer he received and then mentioned that he had sensed she wanted to ask him something at dinner.

The woman smiled a bit,surprised that he had noticed, yet again he was Hitokiri Battōsai. She shifted her weight a bit and closed her eyes. She asked about why he carried a sakabatō. He simply told her that he swore to never kill again

and he used to the sword to protect those around him. Sannai laughed lightly, covering her mouth a bit as she did so. "I never imagined the great Battōsai to never kill again." At her words his eyes narrow in suspicion. She waved him off

and smiled. "It's not hard to recognize you. Red hair and a cross shaped scar on your left cheek. It surprises me that the siblings here accept you after knowing who you are." Kenshin laughed lightly as well. "Yahiko and Kaoru-dono are

not related, that they are not. But they certainly act like they are, that they do." He walked past her and half-turned to face her once he reached the door. He opened his mouth to say something but she shook her head. "I will not call you

Battōsai. You go by Himora Kenshin now. You have left your past behind you, correct?" The man smiled slightly and nodded in thanks before wishing her goodnight and leaving to retire to his own room.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Kaoru groaned as she was awoken from her slumber to the sound of soft pounding. She yawned and sat up to get a better look out the window. Her shoulders sagged as she saw that the sun was just rising. She pushed herself up and

walked towards the source of the noise, prepared to yell at whoever had woke her up so early. She saw Yahiko slouching a bit and Kenshin standing up straight with his hands in his sleeves. She walked between them to see at what they

were looking at and blinked in surprise to see that Sannai was working on fixing the floor in the dojo. The walls were completely torn down and she could see the woman working. Sannai turned to look at them when she heard Kaoru say

her name and smiled. She stood and made her way over to them, wiping her hands clean on a damp rag. "Ah, Ohayo everyone." Kaoru stuttered a bit, returning the greeting. Yahiko had asked in a groggy voice why she was up so early

and his answer was a nervous one. She was used to waking up before sun rise and it had become a hard-to-break habit. She informed them that she had breakfast made and was keeping it warm by having it over a very low fire, checking

on it every now and then of course, and when they were ready she would serve them. They were all baffled, blinking their eyes in surprise. Kenshin was the first the thank her before turning to head to his room and dress for the day.

Yahiko just grumbled and followed suit and Kaoru bowed a bit in thanks then retreated to her room to do that same. It wasn't until they all came back that they noticed what exactly Sannai was wearing. She wore her usual clothing, but

the kimono top was down, hanging over her waist, relieving her bandaged covered chest. When asked she told them with a slight blush that it was to keep her chest from falling out whenever she got into a fight. All three of them nodded

in understanding before heading to the kitchen to help themselves to breakfast. A moment later Kaoru poked her head out and looked at Sannai who was turning to return to her work. "Are you not eating, Sannai?" She asked. Sannai

shook her head with a smile and went back to work.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Laughter was heard throughout the Kamiya dojo yard as two girls ran away from a smiling and laughing Sannai. Sannai was without her sword, having left it leaning against one of the uncompleted walls in the dojo when Dr. Genzai and

his grandchildren, Ayame and Suzume arrived. Kenshin smiled as he sat on the porch and watched as the woman played with the children. Kaoru was training Yahiko in the dojo, part of the reason she wasn't currently working on it. Sannai

tackled the girls, managing to capture Suzume and he was impressed on how she used her body to protect the child from getting any scraps. The laughter increased as the captured girl was tickled and then Ayame jumped on the woman's

back in attempt to save her sister. Sannai pretended to be over powered by the girls when Kaoru come into view, looking down at the woman. "The dojo floor looks amazing Sannai! Is that all new wood?" Sannai nodded and sat up,

Suzume sitting in her lap and Ayame slouched over her shoulder a bit. "I bought the best I could afford. I hope it is to your liking." Kaoru blinked and looked over her shoulder to see Yahiko still doing his strokes before looking back at the

woman. The assistant master guess that it must have been over a thousand yen and a nervous giggle followed. "Something like that." Yahiko came walking towards them and said that he was done, and Kaoru said he could take a break

for a while. The boy sighed in relief and went to get some water from the well. Ayame and Suzume whined when their new friend stood up, and patted her pants down to remove them of any dirt she had gotten on them. The girls held

onto her pant legs and tugged, innocently asking if they could help her. With a smile the swords woman nodded and the girls cheered, racing off to the dojo. She followed them and then squatted down in front of them, holding a finger out

and suggested something. The girls' smiles grew and they nodded eagerly and ran to the pile of wood as Sannai went to her sword. She put it on her hip as she went to the wall she was working on. The girls came back, both holding a

pile of wood together and dropped it on the ground. "Now, remember what I told you." The girls nodded and both picked up a long piece of wood. The residents of the household peeked their heads around to see what the girls could

possibly do to help out in rebuilding the dojo. The siblings counted to three as Sannai shifted her stance and waited, her left hand close to her sword. "Three!" They said together and tossed the piece of wood into the air. Sannai jumped

at it, swung her sword, then landed behind Ayame and Suzume. Everyone watched as the piece of split into reasonable sizes of wood and piled up in front of the girls. The girls cheered and hugged Sannai as she knelled down to their

height level. "That was amazing!" "Amazing!" Suzume mimicked her sister. Kaoru and Yahiko stepped out into view and clapped, clearly amazed at the scene. Sannai smiled bashfully, rubbing the back of her neck. The children looked at

Sannai, holding another piece of wood ready to toss it into the air. Sannai nodded to them and continued to show off to the girls. It wasn't long before Yahiko joined them in tossing the wooden pieces into the air. She was grateful for him

joining in. He was able to toss them higher into the air than the girls. It wasn't long before there was enough wood cut up to finish the wall she was working on, and Yahiko and the girls sat down and enjoyed a cup of water, watching the

woman work.

~o~o~o~o~o~

About 4 hours late, Sannai leaned back so she no longer balanced on her toes. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and a hand holding a cup of water appeared in her line of vision. She turned to see Kenshin smiling at her, holding out

the cup to her. She smiled, closing her eyes and took the drink, thanking him. He told her that he had prepared a few rice balls and if she was hungry she could eat them. Looking at her work, she decided that she could take a break and

stood up. The pair walked to the porch and sat down. It was silent before Kenshin asked a question that had been in his head for a while. Sannai swallowed and took another rice ball and answered him before taking a bite. "About 1500."

She said casually and lavender eyes widened dramatically. "Oro? Sannai-dono, you shouldn't have spent that much! If Kaoru-dono finds out she'll feel obligated to repay you, that she would." Sannai simply smiled at the man next to her

and shook her head. "Really, it was nothing. I destroyed her dojo so I thought it would be best to make sure I made it up to her." Kenshin slouched and blinked at her, amazed that she was not upset in how much money she had spent.

"But 1500 yen, Sannai-dono. That is simply too much, that it is." She waved his opinion aside and they made small talk while Sannai rested. She asked him questions such as what he's been doing since revolution and asked why he had

stopped wondering. She didn't question him about why he was a Rurouni and he was relieved at that. In return, he did not question her for her reason on being a Rurouni. There were enjoying the comfortable silence when a voice was

heard. "Sir Himora. I've come to give you some news." Kenshin sat up straight from leaning against the wooden banister that held the porch roof up. "Konnichiwa officer. What news do you bring?" The officer nodded in greeting and then

noticed the girl who looked to be sleeping. Her eyes were closed and was an arm over her sword that was resting on her shoulder. "It would seem that the Widow I mentioned sometime ago is willing to speak with you." Himora nodded

and Sannai opened her eyes, looking at him questionably. He shook his head in a way to tell her it was nothing to worry about and got up to follow the officer. Sannai blinked and tiled her head towards the retreating forms. Perhaps

Yahiko knew what Kenshin was up to.

Y: There was another Battōsai fighting for the Ishin Shishi? Kenshin how come you didn't tell us?

K: Oro?

Y: Don't 'Oro' me! How come!

K: I...didn't think it was of any importance, that I did not.

k: What's surprising is that it's a woman!

S: A woman huh? Is she hot? Owe! What was that for Missy?

k: That's rude! Plus she could probably kill you easily.

K: Well one thing's for sure. We better be careful, that we should.

k: Next time on Another Battōsai: Wanted: The Legendary Lady Battōsai