Back at the Tang house, Fu was staring out the window, his brows knitted together in worry. "Do not worry, Fu, she will be alright." Lin tried to comfort him but to no avail. Fu hummed, looking down at his tea his wife prepared him to help his nerves. "It is very late; she should have been back by now...I have a bad feeling, Lin."

Before Lin could reply, a tiny voice called to them, "Yeye, Nainai!" Lin gasped in surprise, turning around to see Shen, her eyes wide with fright and worry all over her face. "Shen, dear, what is the matter?" Lin asked concerned as she went to kneel down to her granddaughter, her husband following suit. "Did you have a bad dream, child?" He asked, noticing the fear in Shen's eyes.

Shen looked at them, seeming to be in some sort of panic and she grabbed her grandfather's shoulders. "Mama!" She cried and Fu looked at her in concern as a sinking feeling started to fill his stomach. "What about your mother?"

"She is in trouble; we have to go help her!" Shen continued to cry desperately, and Fu's eyes widened. Lin put a comforting hand on Shen's shoulder. "Bǎobèi, it was just a nightmare. Your mama is fine. She will be home any minute."

Shen shook her head and looked at them pleadingly, tears welling in her eyes. "No! Something is wrong! I feel it!"

The feeling in Fu's stomach worsens, old instincts coming back to surface. Before either grandparent could respond, Shen ran past them and hurried out the door. "Shen!" Lin called out as Fu quickly got on his feet. "Tang Shen, come back here!" He ordered but his granddaughter ignored them both.

Shen was never a disobedient child, she always listened to her mother and grandparents but right now, she had to do something. Her mother was in trouble, and she was determined to save her. 'I have to save mama, I have to!'

Fu clenched his jaw when he lost sight of his granddaughter, and he was about to chance after her, but an arrow shot near his head, making him instantly froze in place. "Fu!" Lin gasped. Fu looked at the detraction the arrow came from before his eyes widened when he saw a familar face, he hoped her would never see again...

...

Ren was still running like her life depended on it. No matter how many twists and turns she took, she could not lose the two men. They were persistent, Ren will give them that, but she refused to let them have their way. She knew if she continued like this, she would just end up in a dead end. Ren finally decided to take the chance and stopped running to face the enemy.

The two men halted when they saw that she was not running anymore and grinned. A cruel chuckle came out of the first one's lips. "Finally done running? Ready to show us what the 'Fierce Lotus Blossom' can do? Because we would love to see it."

"We would?" The second one said nervously, earning himself a jab from his partner. Ren glared at them fiercely. "You will not have me or my family!"

"What are you going to do to stop us?" The first one taunted. "I will do what I did to the other man who made the mistake of threatening my family." With that, Ren clapped her hands together, purple energy filling her palms and the two men's eyes widened in slight nervousness.

Ren focused, concentrating all of her energy to fill her hands to use in battle but before she could even attempt-

"Mama!"

Ren let out a sharp gasp, her face filled with horror when she heard the all too familiar voice. She looked to see Shen who stopped once she saw the two scary men. She tensed, as if feeling the gravity of the situation and caught eyes with her mother. "Mama?..."

"Shen, run! Get away from here!" Ren screamed but before Shen could do anything, the first man grinned and held a gun at her, aimed at her head, making her gasp and flinch a bit in fright.

The man looked back at Ren, humming coyly. "Is she your daughter, Lotus Blossom?" Ren glared at him as he glanced back at Shen. "Pretty girl. She looks a lot like you."

"Don't you dare harm her!!" Ren sneered, now glaring murderously. "Tell you what, Lotus, I will make you a deal. You come with us willingly without giving us any trouble and I will let your daughter live."

"He is lying, mama!" Shen yelled out and the man glared at her. "Shut up, brat!" He fired his gun near her feet, making Shen scream in fright and showing her mother that he was not playing around.

"STOP!" Ren roared. She was at a loss of what to do now. She had no way of fighting them without risking her daughter's safety. "What will it be, Lotus?" He asked, tonelessly.

Ren stood frozen for a moment before her shoulders fell in defeat. "I will go with you but my child and my parents will remain unharmed." The man considered it for a moment then smiled in approval. "Very well, you are who our boss really wants anyway. We will just say that we killed the others out of self-defense."

The man then put his gun away and offered his hand to Ren with a smile. Ren hesitated for a long time then slowly walked towards him. "Mama, no!" Shen pleaded, tears in her eyes and Ren offered a reassuring smile that did not quit reach her eyes. "It is alright, my love."

"Miss Tang, if we are to go, we best go now before I change my mind," The man warned and Ren lowered her head to move forward once again but-

"No!"

"Ah!" Ren snapped her eyes open, only for them to grow in horror when she saw that Shen had pounced on the man's back and was pulling at his hair as he struggled while the other man was trying to help him. "Shen, no!"

Shen was terrified but she refused to let these bad people have her mother. She will not stand for it. Unfortunately, Shen was not too strong, so it did not take them long to throw her off painfully. Ren let out a shout and tried to rush towards her daughter, but the other man stood between them.

The other man growled furiously as he rubbed his aching scalp. "You brat! You know what, forget the deal! I am just going to kill you and take the rest of you by force!"

"NO!" Ren screamed and furiously as well as desperately struggled against the man who held her back as Shen tried to back away from the other but was met with a break wall. The man raised his gun but before he knew it-

A piercing scream caught his attention and he looked, only to for his eyes to widen in shock when he saw that his partner's arm was twisted in a weird angle. Ren glared dangerous as she grabbed him by his badly injured arm, to throw him over her shoulder.

Shen using the chance of destruction ran past the other man and clench to her mother's side. The man stared at his partner who was sweating and gasping painfully before glaring at Ren and her daughter. He then let out a heavy, frustrated sigh. "You fool, you are not making this any easier! I was specifically told to take you all in alive but you Tangs never know when to give up, do you?"

Shen's whole body began to tremble, and her legs felt heavy as she stared at him. She looked to her mother. "M-Mama? I'm scared..." Ren forced herself to look away from him and offer her daughter a comforting smile before glaring at the two men again. For a moment, no one said anything, not until Ren's whole body began to glow with purple aura.

The man gasped while Shen stared in awe. Ren brought her hand up, before sweeping it across the two men, making her chi push them far away. As soon as they were knocked off their feet, Ren knelt down, grabbing Shen's face and smiled. "Run Shen, run far from here."

Shen blinked, her eyes turning glassy. "Mama..." Ren continued to smile, trying to be as assuring and comforting for her daughter as possible. "You must be brave for me, ok? I need you to be strong. Run back home, I will meet you there."

Shen shook her head as tears fell. She sniffed and whimpered before wrapping her arms around her mother's neck. "No, mama! I want to stay here! I don't want to leave you!"

Ren hugged her daughter tightly but far too quickly pulled back. "Everything will be ok. When this is over, we will go to New York, ok? Just like you wanted." Ren then stood and Shen hesitated, still holding on to her mother's hand. "Mama..."

"Go now!" Ren ordered and Shen stared at her wide eyed for a while before squeezing her eyes shut and slowly pulling away from her mother's hand. She did as she was told, running as fast as she could to find help as she cried.

"Aw, how sweet but that will not help anything," The man said as he soon recovered and stood up, along with his partner. Ren growled and whipped her head to glare at them. "Just leave us alone!"

"No can do, Lotus. Honestly, you are a lot more trouble than you are worth. It will be far easier to just kill you and take your daughter."

"You will not have her!" Ren declared while standing in a fighting stance. The others doing the same.

...

Meanwhile,

Shen was running as fast as her feet could carry her, she kept falling and bumping into people as she did. Her panic desperation made her mind unfocused, and her teary eyes made her vision blurry. She kept calling out for someone to help her, but no one would even glance an eye. They were all too focused on their own lives, to notice the sobbing, scared girl.

Shen ran faster, causing her to bump hard against someone and fall down. She felt too weak to get back up and started sobbing harder, screaming for her mother who was in serious trouble. However, just when she thought all hope was lost, the person she bumped into turned and scooped her up. Shen yelped and began hitting the person, scared that it might be one of the bad men until he said her name, "Tang Shen!"

Shen gasped and opened her eyes to see a face she did not recognized. He was a tall man with long brown hair, tan skin, and chocolate. He was also wearing a big fancy red and white kimono. However, that was not what was on Shen's mind. What was on her mind was how did this person knew her name? Then she noticed the sword that was kept safely in his sash. 'A ninja.'

Seeing her calm now, the man put Shen down and looked at her sternly. "Tang Shen, what are you doing here? Where is your mother?" Memory of her mother shot back quickly, and she gasped, looking at the man pleadingly. "Please help! My mother, she is in danger!"

Shen did not know who this man was, but if he was really a ninja, then he might be her mother's only hope. The man looked taken aback by this, looking a bit worried which Shen would have question later if now a better time was but it wasn't. The man than quickly stood. "Show me."

Taking his hand, Shen ran, pulling him to the direction of her mother while praying with all of her being that she will make it in time. Meanwhile, the man frowned, he did not know why, but the way the stars seemed to get covered by dark clouds and ran slowly beginning to drip on their heads...made him feel like a storm was soon to come.

...

Now that her daughter was out of harm's way for the time being, Ren could focus more on the two monsters who tried to kill her. She was terrified but mostly, she was enraged. This was not supposed to happen. She was supposed to go home to see her loving daughter, safely sleeping in her bed while her parents talked about plans for tomorrow. Not this. Never this.

Ren was beyond confused. These two were definitely not ninjas or any enemy of the Lotus clan that she knows of. Why were they doing this? What correlation did they have with them? Unless...it was not them but who they worked for.

"Alright, Lotus, no more games! We can do this the easy way or the-!"

"Who do you two work for?" Ren asked, staring at them. The two paused at the question and went silent. When they still did not answer, Ren continued, "You know that I was a shinobi in China. You know of the Lotus clan and of the nickname they gave me. You even knew of my origin. There is no way either of you could discover any of that information...if you were doing it on your own. You two are obviously not ninja which means who you work for is. So, who is he?"

"What does that matter?" The man dismissed but Ren did not need them. She already knew. She stared down as the rain grew harder, it dripped from her hair and soaked her dress as she clenched her fists tightly. "It is Oroku Nagi...isn't it?" She said in a smooth, hateful tone.

The two paused again, stumped before the first man chuckled darkly. "You really are a smart one, Tang Ren. Yes. Oroku Nagi was the one who requested for us to capture you and your family, but he is not who we work for. We work in the Yakuza, the biggest crime organization in Japan. Oroku Nagi called our boss and paid us a lot of money to take you all in."

Ren lifted her head up and glared hard. "You two are despicable."

"You are not telling us anything we do not already know. Do not blame us because you failed to kill him when you had the chance."

Ren took a strong fighting stance, just as her father and uncle had taught her. She looked at the two men straight in the eye, then said in a low, dangerous tone, "I may have failed to stop Oroku Nagi, but I will not fail to stop you two. You tried to kill my daughter. For that...you will have no mercy."

The two now looked fearful but then unexpectedly, someone dropped high from the sky, landing in front of Ren. Ren was confused for a second but then was in horror when she realized who he was. Though he was wearing a cloak, his aura was no question. "You," Ren hissed.

The cloak figure stood straight and looked at Ren then at the two men. "You two did well in leading me straight to her. You will be paid highly for this. You may go now; I will finish the rest."

The two nodded, shaking slightly before they dashed down an alley, but they did not fully leave, too curious about the fight that might unfold. Once they were out of the way, he turned fully to Ren who was shaking with anger as well as fear. "Oroku Nagi," She said, with full venom in her tone but Nagi was unfazed. "Lotus Blossom...we meet again." His voice was dangerous, just as Ren's had been.

"What do you want? You destroyed my whole clan, was that not enough for you?!" Ren shouted. "What do I want?" Nagi growled then lifted his hood up slightly so Ren could see his scared, shut eye. "I want my eye back and for you, as well as the Hamato clan, to pay for your sins!"

"You will pay for yours first." With that, Ren lunged forward. She swept her legs towards Nagi's face, but the man leaned back quickly to avoid her kick as the two men remained cowardly in the alley. Nagi unsheathed his sword and Ren used her cuffed bracelet to block it. Ren pushed the sword away then back flipped, landing several feet away from Nagi. She held her fists ready and he charged for her, swiping his sword towards her neck.

Ren skillfully used her arms to grip the sword then planted her foot in his stomach and launched him backwards, disarming him and claiming the sword as her own weapon. Nagi glared up at Ren as he took out two razor claws to use instead. "It seems you have not lost your edge after all these years," Nagi said, lunged for Ren but she performed a simple upper, using her bracelet to again block his weapon then, she stabbed him with his own sword into a small, unprotected area, of Nagi's abdomen, right under his breastplate.

Nagi gasped, frozen in shock. Ren just glared at him, fiercely one last time then kicked him down. Ren stared at him for a while then glanced at the two men who were gawking in shock. Ren wanted to kill them for what they did but knew she could not. It was not the shinobi way to fight for vengeance, only for the sake of peace.

"If you two ever come near my family and I again," She threatened. "You will end up just like this monster here."

They did not answer, too afraid to even say one word. Ren turned and began to walk off, knowing she needed to get herself and her family out of here as soon as possible.

"Stupid girl."

Ren froze and spun around, her eyes widening when she saw Nagi standing, blood pooling from his side and onto the wet sidewalk. In a blink of an eye, he stood before Ren and grabbed her by her hair, making her gasp sharply as he held her up off her feet. "My father gave me far greater injuries than that! Did you honestly believe your shinobi skills could defeat me?!" He threw Ren aside. The retired shinobi rolled, hitting the wall of a building hard.

Ren stared in horror as Nagi approached her, claws unsheathed and ready to strike. Ren pushed herself to her feet and lunged for Nagi, but he ruthlessly knocked her aside. "You truly are a monster," Ren groaned, trying to push herself to her feet but Nagi held her down with his foot, glaring hatefully.

He scoffed, "And you are worthless. Your clan believed and trusted you to save them, but you are no warrior, like I and the others I have fought. You are nothing but a girl who thought she could protect everyone but, in the end, you could not save a single person you cared for. Now you and your family will die."

Ren glared up at him. "I never pretended that I was a warrior, and you are right, maybe I did not belong on the battlefield, and I did fail to protect those I cared for but just because I failed does not mean someone else will. There is always someone stronger and there is always someone who can stop you. I pray that someone comes soon and that you burn in the fiercest fires of Hell for all that you have done, alongside the rest of your disgraceful family."

Nagi said nothing, only raised his claws and stabbed right through Ren's chest, killing her instantly. "That day will not come easily..." Nagi said darkly then began to walk off, but little did he know that there was another Lotus he had not killed.

Shen and the man had come, the moment Nagi killed Ren, and the man had pulled Shen into a corner while cover her eyes to spare her from the horrific sight and her mouth to silent her screams. Shen struggled against him, but the man would not loosen, not until he was sure Nagi was long gone. His eyes were widened and his breaths we heavy as he tried to calm his racing heart. He stood frozen in shock, unable to move or say anything as Nagi continued to disappear in the cloud of rain.

Oroku Nagi was alive. How?! Ren told him that she had killed him! How is he alive?! Slowly and cautiously, he turned to peak out to assure that he was gone until his eyes caught Ren. Letting go of Shen, who stopped screaming and struggling, finally growing too tired, the man stood and ordered her to wait here.

For a moment he just stood there, staring endlessly then he slowly pushed one foot forward then all but ran towards Ren, dropping to his knees and pulling her in his arms. He looked her over, looking for any sign that she might be alive. An air of breath, a beat of a heart, a twitch of movement but there was nothing. Blood was pouring from her chest; her skin was pale and cold to the touch.

Shen could not help her curiously and worry and looked out to see the man cradling her mother in his arms. He could see his lips moving but Shen could not hear, and Shen looked to see blood pouring non-stop next to her mother, making her tremble and her face pale.

She watched as the man gently laid Ren back on the ground, bowing his head then slowly stood up as he walked back to Shen who looked absolutely lost in a sea of confusion. "Mama!" She called but there was no response coming from her mother. No flutter of an eye, no sound, no movement. She just continued to lie there. Lifeless.

Shen's eyes started to stream with big fat tears. "Mama! Mama!" She kept calling but still nothing. "Ma-!" Shen got cut off when the man laid a heavy hand on top her head and she peered up at him, to see him looking at her gravely in the eyes. "Your mother can not be with you anymore."

Shen's eyes widened as reality began to sink in and she slowly lowered her head as more tears fell, and her shoulders began to tremble. For a while, he just stood there, watching her, allowing her to have her moment to gather herself before moving his hand to grap her shoulder. "Come."

Shen did not protest as he began pushing her forward, the firm grip on her shoulder was the only thing keeping her standing and moving, if he were to let go, Shen feared she might keel over and fall, possibly never even get up. As if reading this, the man did not let go and Shen did not say anything, not until a while later when he was putting her inside a cab. "W-Wait, where are we going? I want to go home! My grandparents-"

"Just wait here," The man softly ordered then looked at the cab driver. "Watch her." The diver nodded as the man looked at Shen one last time before walking off to her home, but Shen could not see clearly because she was too far away, all she could see was a man and what looked like a solider wearing red.

"It seems they were attacked, by the time we got here the whole house was on fire," The solider had told him. "All that was left was this." The man's eyes widened as he handed him the green jade staff and slowly gripped it in his hands. "Master Fu..."

The man closed his eyes tightly then opened them again. "Did you find the bodies?" The solider nodded. "Yes, the men took them and are heading to the fortress now."

"Tell them that there is another near south."

The solider nodded and was about to leave to do as he was told but stopped to give the man a sympathy look. "I am truly sorry for your loss, Master Kenshin." The man, Kenshin, just nodded as the solider took off. Kenshin then went back into the cab and sighed heavily. "Take us to the nearest train station."

"Yes, sir!"

"Wait!" Shen cried. "Where are we going?! Who are you?!"

"We are heading to a ninja fortress; you will be living there for now on so you can be safe. As for who I am..." Slowly, the man looked at Shen. "My name is Kobayashi Kenshin...I am your father..."