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"A carpenter?" Kenshin asked.

"Yeah," Kaoru smiled. "He came by when Yahiko and I were practicing. Noticed the dojo's roof was in bad shape and he wants to fix it up. He gave us a great price, just the cost of the materials, and then a place to sleep and he'll do all the work for free. Even asked us to have a professional look at the roof before and after he's done. He seems polite enough, and sincere. He's got some pretty bad bruises, and said he didn't have a place to sleep, so I offered him a room here."

Kenshin thought about that, "I suppose it was just being polite . . . and it shouldn't be dangerous with me and Sano here tonight . . . ." Kenshin continued to peel and cut vegetables as he spoke. "He can stay with Sano and I, or we can put him in with Yahiko."

Kaoru smiled brightly, "Alright, I'm going to go get the bath running. Yahiko's going to need it when those two get here."

"What's this carpenter's name anyway?" Kenshin asked before Kaoru could go anywhere.

Kaoru passed thinking aloud, "You know that's one thing I forgot to ask him . . . ."

Kenshin paused in what he was doing, sensing Yahiko and an oddly familiar presence, and a third presence, nowhere near as strong as the other two, but there nonetheless. Kenshin washed his hands and headed for the front gate. He passed Sanosuke,who was sitting on the porch, as he went. Sano noticed the look on Kenshin's face, then stood and followed the shorter red-haired man.

In the front courtyard, Yahiko stood holding the reins of a bay horse with a white face and forelock. Kenshin and Sano stared in shock at the horse and ten-year-old. Sano was the one who spoke first with, "Hey kid, where did you steal that horse from?"

Yahiko looked at the two angrily. "I didn't steal him, his owner's right here," he protested as he pointed at the extra legs on the other side of the horse.

A head came up from behind the horse's back. "I'll thank you not to think anyone could steal Katsu, he'd kill them first." The dark-haired person's eyes went wide, "You two . . . live here?"

Neither man recognize the dark hair, dark eyes and bruised face, Kenshin blinked, "Oro? Do we know you . . . ?"

The young man's face fell, "Oh, boy." He put his face to his hand and mumbled, "You guys are either blind or just plain dumb."

Kenshin finally realized were he'd sensed the presence before, "You're that boy from the tea house . . . you own a horse?"

Hirari raised an eyebrow, and she looked at Yahiko. "You live with these idiots?"

"Hey!" Sano said, "You can talk about us that way!" He paused, grinning, "That reminds me, I owe you a kick to the head . . . ." He cracked his knuckles.

The man walked around the horse, his face going hard. Sano noticed that the man was only about the same height as his chin, not as short as Kenshin but nowhere near the average height. In fact he was just a little taller than Megumi. The younger man walked within kicking distance, and stopped. His face was unimpressed, black-green eyes focused, but lips pulled back into a smirk. He lowered his voice and met Sano's eyes, "If you think I'm afraid of you, you're dumber than I thought. Go on, hit me, but let me warn you, I'll hit back."

Sano was in shock again, he felt as though he'd seen this person before. The younger man's face was so familiar, like Sano had known it since he was little. Sano looked at the young man impressed, "You've got serious balls, kid."

The younger man's face dropped to one of surprise.

Sano grinned as he said, "You're alright kid, I think we might get along after all." Sano patted his head.

The younger man winced, drawing away, and putting a hand to the side of his head looked at the taller man again. "I'm not a kid. My name's Hirari. I resent being called anything akin to 'kid'," he stated, glaring. "I'm probably close to your age."

Sano laughed, "You're gonna be fun. I'm Sagara Sanosuke, you can call me Sano. The redhead is Kenshin."

Hiraru's face paled, but she quickly covered it by rolling her eyes and turning away from him. Sagara?! Where does he get off using MY father's name? She forced herself to take several deep breaths. It was best to not let anyone know her last name. That was safest, as she'd always been told. She went back to the horse, loosening the saddle's girth. Kenshin spoke up next, "So this is your horse?"

Hirari looked over her shoulder and nodded, before taking the reins from Yahiko, "His name is Katsu. My elder brother gave him to me."

Yahiko looked at him, "You didn't tell me you had a brother."

Hirari smiled dumbly, "Actually, I have three, but you didn't ask me about my family. Can you take me around to the back? I want to get this gear off Katsu."

Yahiko nodded but it was Kenshin that led the way to the back of the dojo. Kenshin asked another question as he was walking: "Why did you name the gelding 'victory'?"

Hirari smiled as she answered, "He's won me more races, battles, and tests of strength than any other child's pony, or racing horse, or family plow horse. He's one of the greatest, and yet he's one of the smallest horses in the country." She grinned at the horse as she played with his forelock. "I'm so proud of him, that he's my victory token."

In the backyard, Kenshin bowed out to finish dinner as Sano and Yahiko settled on to the porch to watch as Hirari un-tacked Katsu. The saddle bags and saddle came off quickly, but Hirari took a few more minutes to pull the chest harness, a hidden sword, and a carefully packed and hidden package. Yahiko looked at the last items without opening the bags they were in.

"What are these?" he asked.

Hirari smiled as she picked up the almost square bag "This is the last of my fine things, mostly family treasures. I can't sell them; no one would buy them and I can't part with them." She picked up the chest harness, "This helps me hide my treasures. It loops on Katsu's chest and shoulders. It also connects to the saddle so it better hides everything." Finally she picked up the cloth-covered sword, unwrapping it for Yahiko to see the intricate designs on the sheath, "And this is my grandfather's sword. He gave it to me before I left for my adventure, saying that no one should travel in through this country without some sort of blade." She re-wrapped the sword and put it back with everything else, before pulling out a brush and rag. As she began to rub the horse's coat she spoke again, "Personally I don't like swords, or many bladed weapons. I feel like they give the wielder an unfair advantage. If humans had stuck to using there own hands or non-bladed weapons there would have been fewer wars, and fewer lost parents . . . ." She removed the bridle and went over to the pile of leather and cloth. Katsu shook himself, smelling the grass before heading over to a sunny corner of the back garden, lying on his side.

Hirari took on a faraway look, distant and sad. Yahiko and Sano almost went to comfort the 'man' until they realized how wrong that would have seemed. Hirari paused a minute, staring at nothing in particular, before she picked up the saddle, saddle bags still attached, slung the harness and bridle over a shoulder and finally picked up the sword.

"So where am I staying?" she asked.

Yahiko led the dark-haired carpenter to an empty room. Once there Hirari settled her things against a wall before heading back to the backyard where Sano and Yahiko were watching the horse stand in the middle of the setting-sun-lit yard, pulling on some of the longer blades of grass. Kaoru showed up right as Hirari did, and literally screamed, while pointing at the innocent horse, "Where did that come from?!"

Yahiko looked at Kauro like she'd lost her mind. "That's Katsu. He came with Hirari."

Katsu had lifted his head, and his ears were pricked towards the loud person who'd just screamed. It was Hirari that tried to sooth Kaoru with coos of, "It's alright Kamiya-san. Katsu is a good boy, if he needs to relieve himself he'll jump the fence and go in the forest." Hirari put her hands up in a way that was even more reminiscent of Kenshin.

Kaoru just continued to stare at the bay horse. Hirari looked concerned."If you have a problem with him, I can take him back out to the forest to roam . . . ." she said.

Kaoru turned and looked at Hirari. "Oh you don't have to do that… I'm just not use to walking out side and seeing a large animal . . . ." he reassured her, trailing off. Suddenly Kaoru seemed to remember something. She thumped her fist into her palm and exclaimed, "Oh! I was wondering if you wanted to take a bath before Yahiko?"

Hirari found herself nodding vigorously. "Oh yes! I haven't had a hot bath in… months!" She quickly wrapped her arms around Kaoru, before lifting her up then setting her back down. "You're the most wonderful, thoughtful person I've ever met!" She cried gratefully.

Surprisingly enough, Kaoru just laughed at this. "Alright, alright. Come on, I'll show you where the baths are." Kaoru then proceeded to lead the oh-so-happy Hirari to the bath house.

Behind them in the backyard, nobody heard Sano's odd observation; "That guy is weird. One minute he acts like a hard ass, the next I'm wondering if he's even a man . . . ."

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this addition of Captain Sagara's Daughter. Please Remember if you Review I post faster.