A/N- This entire chapter is told in Kaoru's point of view, which is supposed to make it less difficult to understand. I hit a bit of writers block about halfway through the chapter, which is why it took so long for me to update!

Disclaimer - I do not own Rurouni Kenshin.

Sanosuke always had a way of being overdramatic and violent. Whenever I was in trouble, or teased, he would be right by my side, brandishing his fists in a way that made even the older kids quiver in their boots. Of course, I had noticed that there were times when his stature would change, when he suddenly shifted in such a way without a catalyst, but I never brought it up with anyone.

It wasn't until he was taken away that I remembered the crazy gleam he'd get in his eyes, how his smile would change to that akin to something evil, and how his voice would even drop a few octaves. At first, I thought it was simply my memories playing tricks on me, until I tried to figure out why he never came to school, never returned my phone calls, and why I never saw him anymore.

Men came up to our house and asked for me, scaring my poor father half to death. They were very vague, but from what I could gather from their riddles and their large words, never a good combination, Sano had been deemed mentally unstable. And from how they treated me, I wasn't sixteen, I was four. But that's a story for a different time.

I had visited his dad next, demanding to know what happened and where they held my dearest friend. Apparently, they had treated his dad like an adult, because from what I could gather from the panicked father, Sano had been diagnosed with a severe case of Multiple Personality Disorder. And no one was allowed to see him.

I supposed that, being his best friend, I should have taken further consideration into several things he'd talk about, and how he'd act. Usually after he became really angry, and that gleam came into his eyes, the next day, he'd panic about not being able to remember what had happened. Only what had set him off. At first, I'd listed it off as bouts of alcoholism, or even drugs, scolding him mercilessly. He didn't deny or even object to my scolding's, only nodded and say he'd try to stop.

I suppose, maybe, I should've recognized that, unless he was really heavy on those super-bad drugs, I shouldn't have assumed that it was only his bad habits that were the cause of everything. But, as many things are, it was too little, too late. He was already gone by the time everything was pieced together to make a full, complete Sano-puzzle. It was a regret I had carried with me, even after I moved from Tokyo and into Kyoto.

But anyway, back to the present. His head rested on my chest, as though I were a pillow, and he snored softly. I twirled a bit of brown hair between my fingers, letting my thoughts drift. He was really sweet, his carefree personality and joking manner still the same it had been when I had last seen him. He had been joking when he laid on top of me, pretending to fall asleep when I had shifted the topic from cars to the new styles in clothes, not one of my favorite topics, but one I could more easily relate to. A few snores later, he actually fell asleep.

I had attempted, for a few seconds, to wake him up. Of course, just like before, he was a rock when he slept, and nothing less than an earthquake would get him to move from his spot until he woke up on his own. The doctor, Megumi I'd been told, had walked in right after Sano had fallen asleep. She gave me nothing but a soft smile for the longest time, and I began to see envy seeping onto her face before she finally began to speak again.

My my, Sano, you're such a dog.

"Megumi-san, what happened to Sanosuke?" I murmured, rocking slightly in the chair. Sano's arms wrapped around my waist tightly in response to his name, forcing me to wiggle and shift around, allowing me to breath again. The doctor smiled sadly, giving a mournful chuckle, and dragged a gentle finger over one of his many scars. Her hand darted away and my questioning look, and she flushed a light shade of pink, so light that I supposed I could've simply imagined it.

"I tried so hard to sew these up, and even then, you didn't recognize him…" she murmured, referring to the scars, before looking at me seriously. "Kamiya-san, how much do you know about Sano? Do you know about his condition? You were his friend for a long time, surely you noticed how… Protective he may be?"

I nodded, "Only a little. I only knew that, he had a strong case of Multiple Personality Disorder, and that I couldn't see him after he was taken away." Megumi smiled softly at my response, shaking her head again, "So, I suppose, you wish to know why he has these scars?"

I nodded fiercely, and Sano's arms wrapped tighter around me. Megumi looked fondly upon my friend, "He received these scars after falling through a window, trying to escape when he was first.." she bit her lip, searching for the right words, "When he was first.. Detained."

"Megumi-san," I began, after a few seconds of silence, "Are you and the redheaded man doctors?"

I received a chuckle in reply, "Oh, Ken-san? He is as much of a doctor as Sano is." The sentence gave me an odd picture of Sano with a stethoscope, but I shook the picture out of my mind. Megumi leaned forward, using her dark hair to cover her face, "Truth be told, we're as detained here as Sanosuke is." I barely heard her whisper over my breathing, and Sano's snoring.

"D-does that mean.. That I-" I began to speak again, fear clenching my chest. Was I mentally unstable? Was I going to be detained here for the rest of my life, living as though a prisoner?

"No, no," she murmured, "Ken-san brought you here for a different reason.. It appears that, you are under some odd circumstances.."

Megumi had left without another word, and I couldn't stop her, being restrained by the large childhood friend. Sano shifted slightly, forcing me to take shorter breathes instead of longer, relaxing ones. Already I could feel my heartbeat beginning to race from the lack of air, making my earlier calm turn into anxiety.

The door to my room opened again, this time yielding the redheaded Ken-san, dressed in a black t-shirt, and dark blue jeans. A small voice in the back of my head noticed how the bottoms of his jeans were tattered, probably after being dragged and stepped on, he wasn't a very tall man. He gave my a wary smile, and ran a quick hand through crimson bangs.

One of his hands tapped on Sano's back, waking him up. The reaction from Sano seemed wrong, I wasn't able to wake up Sano for the life of me. The sleepy rooster-head looked at me, confused, before turning to look over his shoulder, into the violet eyes of the man behind him.

"Mmm, whadya want, Kenshin?" he mumbled sleepily, making a large yawn. I scrunched my nose as the warm Sano-breath washed over my face, a detail I was suddenly very aware of.

"Ew! Sano, get off," I squirmed, my hands pushing against his brawny shoulders. He chuckled, blowing at my bangs one last time before yielding and moving towards a chair. His lanky form lumbered as a sort-of bear, still drowsy, plopping into a cushy chair just to the right of me with a small "Oof."

He flashed a grin at me, and then looked back at Kenshin, "What do you need then, man?" He leaned forward, and a small alarm went off in my head when his posture suddenly tightened, his face hardening in a way I had never seen before.

I noticed how the redheaded man shifted into a posture more alike to playfulness, and I adopted the same role, sitting slightly to the side to make me seem more laid back, and hopefully, Sano's behavior would become the same. It was a habit of body language I'd been noticing when Megumi and Kenshin interacted around him. It was also something I had learned from experience when we were little.

He didn't relax, and Kenshin's voice was soft when he began to speak again, although the words were directed at me, "Kamiya-san, I realize you're probably very confused about what's happening here, but I need to know several things before I tell you anything. Everything you can tell me about your family, friends, job, schools, anything or anyone that will look for you, now that you're.." Violet eyes darted to the floor, and the man's face became much more somber, "Now that you're missing."

I felt my posture become slightly more rigid and tense, and Sano glanced warily at me, and then at Kenshin, and I saw that crazy gleam in his eyes change into something more panicked.

"Sano, please leave," I murmured softly. But no matter what I did, I couldn't make my voice soothing. Even I could hear the fear that made my voice waiver. One of my hands reached out, and I could visibly see it trembling as it reached out to pat his shoulder. He twitched underneath my touch, and I withdrew my hand, afraid he would snap.

"Sano!"

Everyone in the room jumped as the voice of the doctor rang throughout the building, and Sano bounced up to his feet, giving a playful grin, "I think the Fox needs me, see you two later." He ran towards the door, flinging it open, and ran out into the hallway, with more enthusiasm than I could fathom, especially for a person who was probably going to be scolded.

After the door behind him closed, I saw Kenshin shift into a more formidable stance from the corner of my eyes, changing the earlier playful aura in the room into a tenseness that you could cut with a knife. I looked back at the man, to find that he wasn't looking at me, so much as he was looking above my head.

For a few seconds, all I could hear was my breathing, and I tried to make it less obscene in embarrassment. I saw one of his eyebrows raise up in question, before they both furrowed together, and his face changed into one of confusion and frustration.

He took a few steps towards me abruptly, the expression on his face frightful, and my heart clenched in fear. I pressed further into the chair I was sitting in, wishing that it was bigger, and could possibly hide me.

The violet eyes began to turn into a sort of amber color, and he studied me closely, before sighing and looking at the chair that Sano had vacated. He reached towards the chair, pulling it so that, when he sat down, he was facing me. He leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees, his chin laying on the knuckles of his fist.

Those knuckles look very white. I shifted uneasily in my chair, my breath caught in my throat. My fingers trembled as I reached up, resting them at my collarbone, feeling the small chain around my neck that was hidden under my shirt. Father, give me strength.

My voice betrayed me, shaking on the first word, "W-why am I here?" A shudder ran down my spine from the look he gave me, and for a second, I truly thought I was going to die. His eyes shifted from my eyes, to the top of my head, to my hand clutching at my hidden necklace.

Then, suddenly, he shifted back, his body hitting the back of his chair with enough force that it rocked back, nearly teetering backwards, his hands hitting the ends of the armrests to keep his balance. I quite nearly jumped out my chair to dart out of them room, but my body felt frozen by his now-amber eyes.

He didn't lean forward like before, which made my heart start to beat normally, and I waited for the longest seconds of my life for him to begin to speak again.

"Tell me about your family, friends, and anything or anyone that will be looking for you, now that you're with us," he repeated from before, and my heart started to speed up again.

I took a few shaky breaths, and nodded quickly, "M-my," I gasped and took another breath, trying desperately to get the strong, sure voice I needed to be capable of, "My parents are both dead, my mother died when I was little, my father died just last year."

I was about to continue, but he gave me a withering stare, and I simply closed my mouth. "What did they die from?" He inquired gravely, and I swallowed what felt like a large lump in my throat. It was a simple question, and my mouth and voice went on auto-pilot, going into a practiced answer for the question that several people had asked about.

"My mom died in a fire, long ago, in our house when I was four. My father perished from cancer," I murmured, and, in confidence, I felt empowered by the tone of my voice. My heart steadied, and I felt ready for the next question.

"What type of cancer? Was the fire caused by arson? During what season did it occur?" His eyes bored into mine, and my heart ached at the insensitive, but personal to me, questions. Slightly taken off guard despite my earlier feelings, my eyes dropped from his amber, and I mumbled the rest.

"Lung cancer, caused by cigarettes. The fire was in the dry season, during drought. A neighbor had a gas leak, and it leaked into our house. My mom lit a match to light a candle, because she had broken a light bulb in our basement." For a second, I wondered if he heard me, I was speaking so softly that I could barely hear myself.

He nodded thoughtfully, and for a few seconds, I was simply lost in the sorrow and irony of my mother's death, a woman who I had truly barely knew, and who I could only barely remember. Caught in the small ironies that my mother had died from a neighbor's mistake, I was also brought to my father's death.

For a full year he had quit cigarettes, and a trip to the doctor showed his intentions had been for naught, when it showed that despite his efforts, he would still have to fight to win against his past mistakes. And, as it turned out, he lost.

Lost in my thoughts, I zoned out from my surroundings, until the redhead snapped his fingers in front of my nose. I shook my head, trying to rid myself of the sad thoughts, which I had spent hours of my life on before. His voice immediately held my attention again, and it was a wonderful distraction.

"And your friends? Employers? Teachers?"

"My closest friend who may be concerned would be Misao-chan, my others aren't close enough to probably take notice for a while." I blew upwards, puffing up my bangs as I dwelled in my thoughts. In truth, the friends that I had left behind in Tokyo probably wouldn't be concerned at all, I wasn't known for keeping in touch.

"I work at the diner, and Tae-san knows me quite well, she'll be concerned when I don't show up for work and-" I broke off, suddenly more concerned about what I was saying. Didn't I want to be rescued? Sure, I wanted to see Sano, but what if these people were here to-

Kenshin growled impatiently, and suddenly I threw together a quick lie, "But if you let me call in, I'm sure she'll be okay." I never call in sick, Tae will know something is amiss…

Kenshin looked into my eyes, and I knew, immediately, that he knew something was off about my statement, "No," he murmured quietly, "No phone calls. Now, do you go to school?"

"Kind of," I whispered softly, my hoped dashed, "I take a pottery and cooking class at the Community College."

"Who're your teachers?" I heard a slight smile on his voice and glanced up at him. One of the corners of his lips was twitching, desperately wanting to raise up into a smirk. How dare he mock me!

"Hiko.. Sensei.. Teaches both classes." I added the 'sensei' part with hesitation, and my heart dropped along with my ego. That man didn't need any honorific, his ego was large enough as it is. I saw red hair shake back and forth from the corner of my eyes, and looked up, to see the man covering his mouth, making a small snort.

"What? Was something I said funny?" My vision felt red, even though nothing truly changed, and I nearly stood up to slap the chortling man in front of me. How dare he! I felt my eyes scan the room for something large to smack him with, before he calmed down, only a slight smile on his face.

"Calm down, Kamiya-san, this one isn't laughing at you, this one is simply amused that his former instructor is now teaching pottery…" He looked up at the ceiling, reclining more in his chair, giving a small chuckle. His lips moved, and I could only hear the soft tones of his voice changing, not individual words.

When he looked back at me, his eyes were that lovely violet color, and nearly sparkled with friendliness, gentleness. In the back of my head, I wondered briefly if this man also suffered from multiple personalities. He nodded his head toward me, in a sort-of bow, and began to rise off of his chair.

"Kenshin," I whispered softly, as one last detail set forth in my mind. His eyes met mine again, confused. "I own a small dojo, back in Tokyo. I rent it out to a couple, please make sure that they, and my dojo, stay safe."

The redhead nodded and smiled reassuringly, "Yes, they'll be safe. What are their names?"

I felt my smile lift, knowing that, if anything, this would be what saved me. If they didn't simply let me go with this new information, I didn't know what would.

"Fujita Goro, and his wife, Tokio."

A/N - For those of you who are confused, Fujita Goro is Saitoh's code-name for when he's in the police force. *smiles* Read and Review!

Oh! And also, does anyone know any beta readers who wouldn't mind editing this story a bit? I have a list of those who I would like to edit my stories but.. Well.. I'm shy to the whole thing. *giggles uneasily*