From: MadamHydra@aol.com I'm still wrestling with Kenshin's and Kaoru's little encounter so I decided to give you guys a quick and wicked little teaser, which takes place afterward. Have fun! -------------( start teaser )------------- At the Aoiya, they found Risako Takagi calmly waiting for them. When Saitoh dumped the squirming Misao at Risako's feet, she gave the disheveled ninja girl a faintly dubious look, then said to her father, "What exactly do you want me to do with her, Saitoh?" He shrugged and pointed behind him at Tokio. With an air of very mild exasperation -- mild for Saitoh, that was -- he said, "Why don't you ask HER? She's the one who wants to keep Shinomori in one piece." Risako glanced at her mother and got only a placid smile in return. With a resigned sigh that seemed to match Saitoh's mood, Risako said to Tokio, "You're a hopeless romantic." Tokio's smile widened a bit and developed a slightly mischievous quirk as she serenely fanned herself with one of her razor-edged warfans. Suddenly, the front door to the Aoiya slammed open without warning. Although Tokio, Risako and Saitoh seemed completely unsurprised, everyone else jumped as Kenshin stalked into the front hallway and gave everyone a cool, golden-eyed stare. In one hand, he carried two bare and bloodied kodachi, while with the other hand, he securely held the struggling body of a young woman -- bound hand and foot -- slung over his right shoulder. "Kenshin!" Yahiko shouted. "What the hell...!?" Sano yelled at the same time. However, Misao couldn't get any words out as she stared in horror at the two familiar kodachi held almost carelessly in Kenshin's left hand. As she was imagining the very worst, the squirming woman spoke up in a voice filled with a mixture of relief, happiness, and a definite air of embarassment. "Hello. I'm back... sort of." "KAORU!" everyone shouted joyously. Misao was just as happy as Sano and Yahiko to see Kaoru back and alive, but she also knew what the two kodachi signified. "Is... is Aoshi...?" she stammered. Kenshin's expression softened slightly as he dropped the bloody blades to the floor. "He's still alive, Misao." "Then what are you doing with...?" "He didn't need them anymore. Aoshi now has Kinslayer." "What!?" Sano shouted. "How did he get his hands on that damned sword?" Kenshin said coolly. "I let him have it." "WHAT!?!?" shrieked half the people in the room in unison. Sano shouted, "Kenshin, are you CRAZY!? Do you realize what the demon's going to do with that sword!?" "Yes." "And you let him have it!?" yelled Yahiko in sheer disbelief. "It was necessary." However, it was clear that Kenshin wasn't particularly happy about the situation. "Who the hell told you that!?" An decidedly odd expression appeared on Kenshin's face. "You could say... a bird told me." While Sano looked like he was about to have a stroke, Yahiko blinked, then said slowly, "A bird.... You wouldn't be talking about a big, black raven, would you?" He then gave Saitoh a startled, if thoughtful look. Kenshin gave the boy a startled glance, then nodded sharply. Saitoh chuckled wickedly and said with a satisfied smirk on his lean face, "I see that you've finally stopped lying to yourself." Still hold Kaoru on his shoulder, Kenshin glared at Saitoh. In a terse voice, he snapped, "I didn't have a choice. It was necessary. That doesn't mean I enjoy it, Saitoh." "It doesn't matter if you like it or not, as long as you just do it. But it would have been much easier if you just accepted your true nature at the very beginning instead of trying to pretend to be something you're not." To Sano's and Yahiko's stunned surprise, Kenshin abruptly leaned toward Saitoh and uttered a low, snarling hiss of aggravation. Saitoh instantly bared his teeth and retorted with a vicious, feral growl of his own. -------------( end teaser )------------- ********************************************************************** -------------------------------------------- madamhydra@aol.com /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/:E http://www.geocities.com/~madamhydra/ -------------------------------------------- --------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ---------------------------- How has ONElist changed your life? Share your story with us at http://www.onelist.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------