A/n My apologies for taking so long to update. I was having a hard time with this chapter. It's because the closer I get to the end, the harder it is for me to write it out. I'm such a procrastinator when it comes to closing the story.
On a side note: I fed my new baby corn snake this morning. I was worried because we had him for a week and he refused food. (He is supposed to eat ever 3-5 days) but today he decided that he was hungry and woofed up his meal in like two minutes. I was also worried because he didn't eat his food head first, but it turned out alright.

Anyways, I want to shout out to all the great reviewers really fast.

Gabi1994 –Don't worry, Aoshi will have help soon.
Assassel – Thanks so much. I never did a rewrite before. I'll have to read this story before asking permission to see if I can do anything with it. Seems like a good challenge.
RedWingedAngel- It's okay, I've been falling behind in updating my work. It's always great to hear from you.
Scarylady- writing Aoshi's story is interesting in the fact that it's very difficult to write. I just hope I don't ruin it with its intenseness and darkness.

And thanks to all my other great reviewers!

Disclaimer, I don't own Kenshin or the work of Feehan.


Saitou paused and crouched down, setting two fingers on the imprint of a bare foot in the soft forest floor. The print was hardly twenty-four hours old and it was the third one they had found. Kenshin silently walked up and paused beside him and his teen son struggled to catch up.

"The footprints seem sporadic and unpredictable." Kenshin said. Glancing over his shoulder to see Kenji stop just yards from them to catch his breath. The young fledgling was having a hell of a time keeping up with the elders. "They are miles apart and all heading for a different direction."

"It's like…whoever it is… is going in circles." Kenji said as he gasped for air. "Or like there's more than one."

"Yes." Saitou simply said, rising to stand on his feet again. He stole a look at Kenji as the boy walked up to them, having recovered enough to not embarrass himself. Saitou narrowed his eyes slightly as he studied the boy. His face was set, though hardly flat and emotionless. The rip in his soul hardly seemed to have affected the boy as much as it did his sister. His lavender-blue eyes snapped upward to catch his.

"Is that what all the grown-ups say when they haven't a clue to the answer?"

"Kenji." Kenshin warned as he walked in the direction the foot print was pointed. The two males watched as Kenshin paused and held as still as the trees around him. He took a deep breath through his nose, filtering out the scent of the forest and all its inhabitants.

"Vampire?" Kenji asked. Anticipation ran through him, making him itch.

"Maybe." Was all Kenshin said; a hint of confusion on his face.

Saitou crouched back down over the print and inhaled deeply. "The scent is the same as the other two prints." Nothing he had ever smelled, it smelled old but the print was hardly that old. So it was one person, and it was as if they were going in circles. "This one is not as old and the other two" A stench hung in the air that spoke of vampire, and yet not. There was something else there that didn't make sense and it was throwing the males off. Saitou watched and Kenshin's face pulled from confused to worried and disturbed. But whatever Kenshin was thinking, he wasn't going to share it.

"We're closer to humans." Kenji said in a low voice. Though the prints were in a wild, unpredictable pattern and it was impossible to tell what direction they were headed, they were definitely getting closer to civilization. Closer to humans and closer to their group unit. This sent up a red flag in Kenji's mind. Instincts were clicking on. Protect the humans…protect the females. His sister, his mother, Megumi and especially his unbonded cousin Itsuko; they were all in danger now.

"You are right." Kenshin said, reading his son's loud thoughts. He walked over to the pair, one hand resting on the hilt of his sword. "We need to keep Itsuko close while the Prince is absent."

"She won't like the idea of having to bunk with an elder, even if it is for her own safety." Kenji said.

"True." Saitou agreed "Aoshi is the most powerful of us, but…" His voice lowered. "I don't want her to be around the Dark One for any length of time." He felt shame for not being able to trust their most loyal Carpathian. But he was so close to the edge of Darkness, just being around a female for more that what was comfortable would be enough to push him.

"Nor do I." Kenshin agreed. "She can stay with us, that she can. We are her next of kin and she will feel more comfortable with us."

"You're the one who's gonna have to tell her then, Old Man." Kenji said with a lift of one eyebrow. "Because I sure ain't." No way is he going to risk that kind of wrath. His cousin cared for her independence.

Kenshin smiled and set a hand on the shoulder of his son. "Don't worry. I won't let her hurt you." He laughed as the boy took a swipe at him.

…. . . …

Tokio parked her car against the curb of the street and shut the engine off. She sat in the semi-darkness with the yellow glow of street lamps around her. She wasn't anywhere near Saitou's or her parent's home. She was in the city. The young Carpathian closed her eyes and felt the air shimmer around her and her clothes shifted and changed. A sky blue skirt with a black tank top with a matching sky blue design. Black fingerless gloves that reached her elbow and chunky yet light weight black boots that reached her knee. Her make-up was thick and consisted of blue lipstick, thick eyeliner, neon blue mascara and eyeshadow made up of at least half a dozen different shades of blue.

Her hair was loose and hung pin straight down her back. It glittered in the street light as she swept from the car and across the sidewalk to the sound of the pulsating building. She walked past the line of people that waited to get inside. Up at the double doors three giants in jeans and matching black short-sleeved t-shirts stood like a wall. She flashed them her most genuine smile. The men instantly lit up as they spotted her.

"Hey Tokio, how's the fam?" One asked as the three of them spit like the red sea to allow her to pass.

"Pretty good, Zel. How's the new baby?" She asked back. She didn't really have any sort of relationship with the men. Tokio and Kenji had simply planted false memories of their friendship in their minds and pulled up bit of personal information about each of them. Now they had no idea that the Carpathian twins hardly knew a thing about them. They only knew what they pulled from their minds moments before talking to them.

"She's doing good, getting round and happy." The barrel-chested man said with a proud smile.

"That's great." Tokio replied with a bright smile. "Hey Tai, Hey Yuji, she said to the other two men as they pulled the doors open for her. The music that rattled the building poured out into the street. They nodded their greeting as she quickly slipped into the darkness.

Inside the building, it was like a different world. The music was loud, almost too loud to understand the lyrics. The bass of the music rattled her insides…just the way she liked it. Multi-colored lights blinked in rhythm to the music and laser-lights danced over head in neon greens, blues, and reds. Tokio let out a breath in a contented sigh as she let the mass of dancing bodies swallow her.

She danced.

Tokio closed her eyes as the men and women danced around her, slowly flowing around her like the ebb of a tide. The temperature of the club was on the rise with so many dancing bodies crammed into one spot. Tokio spotted a woman not much older than her that had stripped down to her pokka dotted neon bra and underwear that glowed under the black lights. No one cared, all that mattered here was the music and how it flowed into the body. No one worried about rips in the soul, or lifemates or vampires…all that mattered was the music. Here everything was normal, everything was accepted and everyone was happy. Of course it helped that a good amount of the people dancing were high on ecstasy.

Tokio wasn't sure how much time had past. Two, perhaps three long songs had played when a young man a few years older than her stepped out of the mass of moving bodies. "Hey Tokio, where's your brother?" He asked over the music.

The young woman glanced up at the young man and quickly pulled his name from his mind even though she had seen him here plenty of times. "He had some more important things to do." She pouted just as she should, keeping her body moving with the music, never breaking the spell of her gracefulness.

"What could be so important that he would let you come here alone?" His face pulled disapprovingly.

She shrugged, "I donno" Didn't anyone believe she could take care of herself? Now even humans were questioning her.

"Would it be alright then if I kept you company?" He moved closer still and Tokio could smell his excitement. Tokio was about the refuse his offer when a large hand clasped her shoulder and pulled her to the side. The arm attached to that hand wrapped around her shoulders and she found herself tucked neatly into the side of her lifemate.

Saitou seemed to loom over the young man, yet his face was pleasant looking. "That's alright, she came with me." Saitou glanced down at her and Tokio fought to keep from squirming. "She knows it would be stupid for her to come here alone." He smiled as if they just shared a joke but Tokio knew she was in for it now. The younger male needed no further hints and he bowed his head slightly to Tokio before allowing the crowd to swallow him.

Saitou bent low and brushed his lips against her ear. "I should bend you over my knee and beat you." He whispered, knowing she could hear him over the music. She was making a mockery out of him. Saitou, the near elder Carpathian couldn't control his own lifemate, one that was a fraction of his age and power.

"I guess I would deserve it, how did you find me?" She said, trying not to shiver at the feel of his breath on her neck. She ignored the music as it turned into a slow, pulsating melody. The humans slowed their dancing, taking a breather and taking the chance to press closer. It was hard to ignore it however; Saitou pulled her up tight against his body and he moved in time with the beat of the music.

"It's not difficult to locate my mate." Saitou answered, his face still pressed into her hair, his lips whispering in her ear. "I knew the moment you veered off the path for your parents home and I felt your joy as you entered this place. I was angry at first. But I let myself feel your joy. After the pain of the rip in you soul, I'm happy you have something strong enough to distract you from it." He only wished he could be what distracted her mind.

"The other day you were ranting at us for being here." Tokio accused, though her words were weak for Saitou seemed a natural for moving his body to the rhythm of the music. His hands slowly trailed from her arms to her hips down to her upper thigh and back up again, running across her belly and shoulders, his hands were everywhere as he pressed himself against her back. She let her head fall back to rest against his chest as his hand scorched her skin. Though Carpathians could regulate their body temperature, Tokio let herself experience the rising heat and humidity of the building. Blood tinted sweat started to bead on her forehead and cut trails down the sides of her face. No one would notice, it was too dark and the hypnotic flashing lights made it impossible to see clearly anyways.

Saitou reached around with one arm and wrapped it around her middle, pinning her against him as the humans drew closer. Tokio opened her eyes and glanced up at Saitou, she was surprised to find that he was watching her, and that he to was sweating. His hair clung to his damp face and reflected the flashing lights. He looked positively gorgeous. His eyes were dark with his hunger for her. She could feel his need curling low in her belly like it was her own need.

"Perhaps we should go home." He purred as he pried her hands from his clothes. Tokio didn't even notice that she was gripping him so. She glanced around; knowing none of the human around them could really see them.

"Must we?" she whispered as she turned in his arms and pressed her cheek against his chest. His heart pounded to the beat of the music around them, and she knew her heart followed his rhythm. She knew he didn't like it here. He didn't want her here. Yet at least he was trying to be nice about the way he asked for her to leave. As much as this place took her problems and stress away momentarily, she knew she needed to give Saitou the chance to take her problems away himself. And suddenly for no reason at all, she wanted to be with him. "Alright." She agreed before he could answer her question. She felt him pause at her sudden agreement, but then he took her hand and quickly made his way through the swaying crowd.

… . . …

Tokio turned in the passenger seat to watch Saitou as he handled her car with ease. She had thought hard about the question she wanted to ask, wondering if she really wanted to know. She didn't want to have flashes here and there from his memory, she would rather he tell her himself. So she took a deep breath and organized the words in her head. "Saitou, tell me about your first wife."

Saitou's hands slipped on the steering wheel as his head snapped in her direction. "Yaso?" His eyes went back to the road and after a moment he spoke. "What would you like to know?"

Tokio blinked and turned her eyes to the gently curving road as well. "Just like that? You're willing to surrender information?" She thought he would dance around the subject. Being that he had no idea that she knew that he was ever married before. She didn't think he would be so calm about it. Damn males and their emotions.

Saitou smiled softly just a tip of his lips. "Tokio you could know every detail if you went into my mind."

"I'd rather not know every…detail." The girl replied. The last thing she wanted was to stumble on every intimate detail. "I didn't know you had a wife or even that you had a daughter." She paused as she felt his surprise. "I just want to know about them." She added softly, her head tipped down as she gazed at her hands in her lap.

Saitou was silent for a moment as he gathered his thoughts. "I was there when Yaso was born. She was the daughter of a close human family that had served Prince Hiko for generations. They protected us, we protected them."

"Like Yahiko." Tokio offered.

Saitou nodded. "Yahiko of course is close like family, but very much the same idea. Yaso was a sickly child. She was much smaller than the average child in height and weight. I'm not sure why, but I took it upon myself to take particular care of her." They stopped at a red light and Saitou glanced over, Tokio wasn't looking at him, but was absorbing the information he surrendered. "I was pretty much lost to the world at the time. The darkness was all around me. As a child, Yaso brought me a gift…moments of happiness, small times when the evil wasn't pressing me as hard. I knew that Yaso wasn't my lifemate, at the time we had no idea humans could possibly become lifemates. But I was dead set on marring the girl once she became of age. I knew I had to do something to save myself."

"No one liked the idea very well, huh?" Tokio asked.

"Not really. The human family was happy that their daughter would marry. But Hiko was a bit upset that I was going to use the woman to save myself. It was too much like bending the rules."

Tokio nodded. "Were you upset, when she died?"

"In a way. I wasn't upset in the traditional way. I was upset for myself, but I had a daughter, and the joy of her birth overshadowed Yaso's death. Even so, I was an emotional wreck. My wife's death and my daughter's birth caused my emotions to surface and with no lifemate to help me control them…." He paused as the memory flooded to the front of his mind. Uncontrolled rage, the wooden bed splintering and a wounded baby. He recalled Hiko's voice ordering him to the ground. Earth raining down upon him as his body fell into the death-like sleep.

Tokio could see these memories like they were her own and she winced. "So you had to go to ground?" She skipped around the subject of how he had harmed his newborn in his rage. She knew it was a mistake; somehow she couldn't picture Saitou harming any female, especially a baby.

"For months." Saitou confirmed. The road eased into the country, they were closer to home now and the car grew dark from the lack of streetlights. "By the time I was healed enough to leave the earth, months had gone by. Camilla had been sent to the homeland to be raised by a childless Carpathian couple."

"Were you upset that you couldn't raise her yourself?" Tokio could feel the ache in his heart and it hurt her to know he was hurting. "I'm sorry for making you dig up these memories." She said with regret.

Saitou rested a warm hand on her knee. "I'm more than happy to share them with you, Sweetheart, you're helping me heal." He flashed her a rare smile. "I was upset that I had lost my daughter, but I knew I could never care for her in the way she needed. I was broken, emotionless; I knew only anger and a child could never thrive with that. I knew she would be better off with others. She would have a mother, which Carpathian children need desperately."

Her thoughts went to her Aunt Tomoe, who Kenshin raised along with Sanosuke. How her father was able to raise two small children…it was beyond her. Her aunt was only a baby, and had to have been very frail.

"Your father is remarkable in his strong empathy." Saitou answered her thoughts. "He was still a very young fledgling and still had his emotions. His empathy helped him tune into the needs of his small charges."

Tokio twisted her hands together in her lap. "It must have been very hard back then." She whispered. "I wished I could have been there to help."

Saitou moved his hand from her knee and covered her wringing hands. "You're here now, and that's the way it should be." He said solemnly. "Perfectly timed, I've always had faith that my lifemate would come when ready and not a moment sooner. I learned my lesson…by trying to cheat the system; I was the one that got cheated."

Tokio turned her hands so that she could wrap her fingers with Saitou's "You haven't traveled much. Do you miss Camilla?" Her father had said he use to travel often but stopped after she was born.

"I do. We keep in touch through e-mail and phone calls. But things like that are never enough for Carpathians. Once things settle down, I want to take you to see her." He said proudly.

"Eh?" Suddenly the thought of seeing her much older step-daughter made her stomach twist with nervousness and Saitou tried to quell her unrest.

"She will be more than happy to meet you. She would be thrilled to hear that her father found his savior."

… . . ...

The rest of the car ride was spent mostly in silence as Tokio shifted through her feelings. Days before, she would have been disgusted with Saitou's choice to use the poor human woman to save himself, effectively breaking the Carpathian law of protecting women, especially human women. But now that she had this rip in her soul and had a taste of the darkness, and the voices, she wasn't altogether sure she wouldn't have done the same to end the despair.

It explained the anger and the bad mood Saitou had always been in. Cheated of his child and having his transgressions thrown in his face every time he was around someone that was there to witness his downfall. Suddenly Tokio felt the car slow. She glanced up and saw that they had pulled into her parent's estate. She quickly scanned the home but the familiar auras were absent. Most likely everyone had gone out find a donor. "What are we doing here?" She asked as Saitou suddenly vanished from the car and reappeared outside to open the car door for her.

"Your mind is a mass of thoughts, perhaps your duties call out to you?"

"My gems?" Tokio suddenly wanted to perch herself in front of a flaming torch with a rod of metal, with music in the background and the soft whispers from the jewels she worked with. Inspiration had suddenly hit her and hit her hard. Ideas of desperation, rebirth, regret.

'Among other duties.' Saitou purred sinfully into her mind and Tokio quickly stalked to the side of the home before Saitou could see the blush crawling up her face. Of course the male would bring up the fact that he has yet to bed her. Tokio carefully guarded her thoughts and she stalked into the forest with Saitou silently following behind her. Perhaps she should get it over with; it might just calm him down. Not that the act wouldn't be enjoyable. Tokio was almost a hundred percent sure she would enjoy it.

Saitou paused, as scent in the air caught his attention and instantly a warning went up in his mind. The scent was thick, but stale, as if it had been a few days old. But they were only here a short time ago. Saitou turned to his lifemate as she continued on down the path. Could this be the same thing that he was hunting down earlier that night?

Almost as soon as her small workshop came into view Tokio felt a large uncomfortable lump slam into her stomach. Instantly Saitou was at her side and had hold of her wrist. "Sweetheart, I think we should just go home."

"Tokio blinked as the lump in her stomach grew heavier. "What do you mean, we just got here, this was your idea." She rambled, noticing that his eyes were looking past her to the workshop. The male's breaths were deep; he was searching for a scent. "What's going on?" Her heart raced to match his pounding away in his chest.

"Something isn't right here." He admitted, his hand on her wrist kept her from moving an inch away from his side. "It's not safe."

The lump made her stomach cramp and her body was flooded with icy fear. "The workshop isn't safe?" She turned to look at the small one room building. It looked normal in the moonlight. Her eyes focused, making the light bright as day. She saw nothing wrong. But with a deep breath, she caught the scent of something that made her head pound in warning. It was acidic, burning her nose and lungs. "Ugh, what is that?" She pressed closer to Saitou.

Saitou's eyes scanned the area, seeing nothing, he heard nothing. He could only smell the evidence and feel the trace that was left behind. "Something evil has been here." He muttered to himself. "But I can't tell how long ago."

"What? Here at my workshop?" her precious projects. The creations she had fashioned for her clients. People in need who needed her help. Had something contaminated her gifts?! A cry escaped her throat, startling both her and Saitou as she slipped from his grip and darted off to the workshop. She didn't care if it wasn't safe. The items in her shop were important to people. She was their caretaker.

"Tokio, wait!" Saitou called, but Tokio ignored him as she used her superhuman speed to run to the door. But she wasn't fast enough, Saitou reached it well before she did and he pushed the door open to check for intruders. It moved only an inch before it fell from its hinges. Her lifemate's large form blocked her view but Tokio wormed her away past him and stumbled into her workshop. The sight inside ripped a scream from Tokio.


A/n Arg, I have something about cliffhangers, I'm sure my long time readers hate me for it. hehe. So I wonder what's lurking around out there. Kenshin seems to have an idea but Saitou is in the dark. Mysterious if you ask me. I've just realized that this story is almost over. I'm not sure how many more chapters are left, but it's getting pretty close. I've only just started the second chapter of Aoshi's story So I had better get on the ball here huh?

Thanks for reading everyone! Reviews are loved.