Nicky
Nicky Townsend, March-October '99
battousai@licensedtokill.com
Battou1028@aol.com

	Disclaimer: Obviously, I am not so brilliant as to 
think up wonderful characters like those in Rurouni Kenshin. 
That honor goes to Watsuki Nobuhiro alone. I also have no 
musical talent, so also obviously, I didn't write the song 
"A New Life". That goes entirely to the two brilliant minds 
that make up the Pet Shop Boys. (All hail Neil Tennant!! All 
hail Chris Lowe!!)

	All lyrics are used with out permission and are the 
God-given property of the people who wrote them, the bands 
who preformed them, the music companies who recorded them, 
and anyone else I may have forgotten.

	Many thanks must go to Rissa, Hiko, Tae-san, Larry, 
Kathy-san, Tatsuko-san, and Todd, just to name a few. Many 
people helped make this what it is; whether they helped edit 
it, or just kept emailing me to make sure I finished it! In
fact I must say that some people helped without ever knowing 
it. ^_^ (Note: Nicky has died from Anne Rice Hero Worship, 
and Pet Shop Boys Fangirl Sickness and gone to heaven)

      A note for my readers: This is a revised edition of 
the first 11 chapters. Technially, this contains what 
originally was chapters 1-5, 6a and 6b, and 7-11. However do 
to revisions in the chapter stucture, chapter 6a is simply 
chapter 6, and chapter 6b is now chapter 7, making for a 
total of 12 chapters. Also, there were some significant 
rewrites to chapters 1-5; especially chapter 5. 

      Without further ado, welcome to the revised edition, 
and I hope you all enjoy it, and I'd like to hear what you 
thought!

~*~*~

A New Life: Volume One

A work of Rurouni Kenshin fanfiction
By Nicky Townsend  

~*~*~

Chapter One
 
"Stars collect overhead, 
They look down on the channel, 
And our lives grown dead
Cars pass on through the night, 
How do you get to Heaven, 
If you never try?"

the Pet Shop Boys, A New Life

	The market was already crowded when Kenshin arrived, 
having risen early to get the daily shopping out of the way. 
You'd never know how much tofu three people could eat until 
you had to go and buy it everyday, he thought wryly to 
himself as he maneuvered deftly through the throng of 
people. He shook his head at how domestic his thoughts had 
become of late, and continued on.
	
	Domestic indeed, a very small, sarcastic part of his 
mind shot back at him. He squelched the voice as instantly 
as it appeared. He didn't need any of that now. Things had 
slowed down considerably. They had all gotten so used to all 
kinds of crisis popping up out of nowhere, that it had 
become nearly impossible to relax one's guard.

	Not that I -like- all that excitement, Kenshin added 
to himself. It was just that the comparative silence that 
had surrounded the dojo of late had given him the feeling 
that this was the calm before the storm. He hurried on 
through the market to the appropriate stalls, and quickly 
purchased what he had come for. When he was alone now, he 
tended to think too much. And besides, he had laundry 
waiting for him. 

	He retraced his path, smiling at those that greeted. 
The need to be home overwhelmed him, and he found himself 
hastening his steps. He couldn't for the life of him figure 
out what had made him so edgy.

	"Sir?" 

	"Oro?" Kenshin spun around so quickly he almost 
splashed the poor man with whey from the tofu bucket. He 
looked the man over for a moment, wondering briefly how the 
seemingly normal man had sneaked up on him so easily. He 
seemed to be a normal peddler, if even a poorer one then 
most. 
 
	The second of cold evaluation passed, and the usual 
warm smile returned to light Kenshin's face as he greeted 
the peddler. "Hello Sir. Is there something I can help you 
with?" 

	The peddler tipped his hat and winked. "On the 
contrary, Sir, you looked a bit under the weather, so I was 
wondering if maybe I could help you?"  

	Kenshin blinked in confusion. Help me...? The thought 
passed briefly through his brain, before being dismissed out 
of hand. He bowed shallowly to the old man, and shook his 
head. "I don't think so. I'm sorry, I must be going." He 
turned to head through the gate. 

	"Ah lad, are you so sure? It couldn't hurt to just 
look, could it?" 

	Something in the old man's voice made him hesitantly 
turn around again. He's right, a small part of himself 
added; it wouldn't hurt to just look. And if it would make 
the old peddler feel like he had done something good, then 
why not?  

	The peddler grinned, and took his pack off his back. 
"I have a few very special things today!" He produced a 
gaudy bronze mirror that looked ancient from his beat-up 
brown pack. "This mirror is said to be able to show events 
happening anywhere in the world! I have been told, however, 
that it prefers to choose its' owner." The old man read the 
barely hidden wince off Kenshin face and placed the mirror 
back in his pack. After digging through the deeper recesses 
of his bag, he pulled out a worn velvet case. After 
carefully lifting the top off, he proudly displayed its 
contents. "These earrings are said to give flawless skin to 
whomever wears them!"  

	Kenshin arched an eyebrow at that, and stated dryly, 
"What would I do with those?"  

	The old man sweatdropped. "Give them to a lady 
friend?"

	Kenshin coughed lightly, "But wouldn't that be a bit 
insulting...?" 

	The sweatdrop grew. "I guess you're right...But it's 
not as if you'd have to tell her that's what they were for!" 
Pouting, he placed the top back on the box and stashed it 
back where it had come from, and dug hurriedly through the 
remaining contents of his pack. 

	"How about this?" 

	"No." 

	"Or this?" 

	"................" 

	"I see. Well I wasn't going to sell this, but..." He 
pulled a large and archaic looking ring out of his pocket. 
It had strange symbols intricately carved all over the band, 
and in the center was a small hole, where a stone might be 
set.  

	"But the stone is missing." Kenshin protested. The 
ring was beautiful in an old antique sort of way, but if it 
was missing it's stone, there was no point in buying it.  

	"It never had a stone. That's why I didn't want to 
sell it. You see, this ring has a legend." The old man waved 
the ring in Kenshin's face. "It's said before you go to 
sleep, that if you prick your finger, and let a drop of 
blood fall into the setting here," the old man indicating 
the lack of stone, "and make a wish, that when you wake up, 
your wish will come true." 

	Kenshin chuckled at that, and shook his head. "What 
rubbish!"  

	The old peddler nodded, "Normally, I would agree with 
you. But this ring has a different sort of feel to it. Here; 
hold it for yourself, and see." He dropped the ring in 
Kenshin's proffered palm. 

	The ring hit his skin, and he felt a jolt. Indeed, the 
ring did have some sort of feeling to it. He turned it over 
carefully in his hand. "How much do you want for it?" 

	The old man eyed him for a moment. "You look like you 
could use a wish come true. Take it, and use it well. As far 
as I know, you'll only get one." He shouldered his pack with 
a grunt, and waved a quick good-bye, as he walked away and 
turned the far corner, leading back into downtown.  

	Kenshin watched the old man disappear. The wind was 
picking up, and whipping his hair around his face.  The sky 
had darkened dangerously during the short conversation he'd 
had with the peddler. White arcs of lighting danced in the 
distance, and the sudden boom of thunder startled Kenshin 
out of his reverie. "Oro...? It looks like it's going to 
rain." With that he hurried through gate to the safety of 
Kaoru-dono's strudy old house, and back to people who had 
become his family.  

Later that night.... 

	He'd been yawning all through dinner, and as soon as 
he finished the dishes, he quietly excused himself. Now he 
sat quietly on his futon, pondering the strange ring the 
peddler had given him. He normally wasn't superstitious, and 
he certainly didn't believe in magic, but there was just 
something about this ring... 

	It was like it exuded a force of some sort. Almost 
like it was calling him... "Well if it doesn't work, there's 
no harm done, right?" He whispered to himself. 
 
	But what if it did work? What should he wish for? 
Happiness? Wasn't that selfish of him? Shouldn't he wish for 
all the internal conflicts of Japan to end?

	He shook his head roughly. How was wanting happiness 
for himself selfish? Hadn't he done his part, and then some? 
He wanted to be able to live somewhere where his past 
wouldn't hound him, someplace where he didn't -need- to 
protect Kaoru-dono, where they could perhaps have a life 
together... 

	He picked up his sakabatou from where it lay beside 
his futon, and carefully removed it from its saya. He 
pondered the sharp side for a second, before he sliced 
shallowly into his thumb, and resheathed the blade. Taking 
the ring in his other hand, he let a small drop of blood 
fall into the setting, and placed it on the ring finger of 
his right hand. 

	"I wish that there will be a more peaceful time and 
place where Kaoru-dono and I can be together." 

	Waves of exhaustion rolled over Kenshin as he lay down 
to sleep. I suppose I'll know in the morning...That thought 
echoed dimly as his eyelids slid closed.

	Sleep overtook Kenshin easily, as if sinking into the 
welcome darkness of death itself. A peaceful smile played on 
his handsome face, and he slipped into blissful 
unconciousness.


~*~*~

Chapter 2

Note: Small warning...I've inserted myself into this 
fic...You'll know me when you see me, because I'm 
keeping my real name.



 
	"Oi! Kenshin!!"

	Someone was in his room. Pure reflex tore him from the 
comfort of his futon, his hand making a swipe for his 
sakabatou. He came up to his feet a mere second later, his 
feet planted firmly in battou-jutsu stance, his sword hand 
hovering over the hilt. 

	The intruder's eyebrow arched in question. "Well, 
aren't we a morning person? And I'm not an intruder. I'm 
your guide. So just sit back down and listen to me, okay?" 

	Kenshin grudgingly settled himself back down. This 
person... He couldn't tell if was male or female, was short 
in stature, and had close clipped white-blonde hair. It was 
perched comfortably on a stool that had magically appeared 
in the corner of his room. 

	"I'm here to inform you that your wish has been 
granted." The being began. "God, IHVH*, Allah, Yahweh, or 
Kami-sama, whatever you choose to call it, likes you. It's 
been watching you for many lives, and Its decided that you 
deserve a break for at least one lifetime."

	"Now that I've informed you of this, I need to prepare 
you for your next life. Yes, you've died, and have been 
reborn. Deal with it. Your current awareness will be 
channeled into your new body shortly. Kaoru never married, 
instead throwing herself whole-heartedly into the dojo. Now, 
since your wish focused on Kaoru and yourself being 
together, she'll be in your next life as well. We've just 
stepped up the pace a bit."

	The being hopped off the stool and handed him a manila 
folder. "The year is 1999. You're 17 years old. Your name is 
now Kevin Hannah. For your sake, we've allowed you to look 
the same, but we've removed your scar. And no, you can't 
have it back, so don't ask. It's inappropriate for the era."

	"In the folder is your birth certificate, ID, Social 
Security card, and Passport. You were born in the United 
States; Sacramento, California to be specific. Your father 
is in the US. Air Force, and your family has just moved to 
Japan. Your mother is a very accomplished psychologist. Your 
older brother is an English major in college."

	"After much debate we've decided to allow you to keep 
all your memories of being Himura Kenshin. However, you're 
going to have Kevin's memories to deal with, and you may 
become confused. But never fear, after a while the blending 
will feel normal." 

	The being placed it's palms on his temples, and 
pressed lightly. "Get ready to awaken!" A flood, of memories 
passed through his brain, he saw himself being born, falling 
out of a tree when he was five and having to get  stitches, 
his first day in school, and later on, his first 
relationship, the first time he smoked a cigarette... they 
just kept coming and coming... finally he saw himself go to 
bed the night before, his first night in Japan. He had to 
start school in the morning. He had to wear a uniform. The 
now huge part of him that had lived in California and spent 
his evenings drinking coffee with his friends cringed at the 
idea. The part of him that had been a peaceful rounin in the 
Meiji era of Japan didn't think the idea was a bad one at 
all. 

	"Hey! Kevin!"

	"Yes?" He felt himself respond automatically. 

	The being nodded happily. "That's a good sign! What 
year were you born?"

	"1850...."

	"No, the other time you were born!"

	"1981?"

	"Right! Much better. Try not to get the two mixed up 
okay? There was a going to be a language problem, but God, 
being God of course, foresaw it and fixed it already. We had 
to mess with Kevin's memories a little, but here's the cover 
story: You had a friend who was really in to anime, who 
convinced you to take Japanese at school with him. Also, 
I'll be going to school with you, so if you need help, 
you'll be able to find me. My name is Nicky, by the way." 
The being snapped it's fingers and took on a decidedly 
female appearance, complete with school uniform. She looked 
at the uniform in disgust. "I may have to wear this dumb 
uniform but I'm not wearing loafers!" She exchanged her 
brown loafers for a pair of calf-high black lace-up boots. 

	Flashing a V sign, she winked. "My trusty Doc 
Marten's! I never leave Heaven without them! This is what 
I'll look like. And now...." Nicky looked at her silver 
wristwatch. "...Okay we still have some time. Do you have 
any questions?"

	Kevin started. Questions? What in the world should he 
ask? He was now aware of things like automobiles, microwave 
ovens, computers, department stores where you can buy almost 
anything, and those machines that spit out money, called 
ATMs. He was vaguely aware that once, back when he had lived 
in California (he wasn't quite sure what that was yet) that 
he had had his own car. Although the memory was slightly 
fuzzy, he could still remember, or perhaps see was a better 
word, how to drive it and even fix it if he needed to.

	Was that how it was going to be? He -remembered- being 
Kenshin. He had been Kenshin for 28 years. Kevin was someone 
that he had never been, although he now had his memories, 
his body (which looked exactly like his) and in fact his 
whole life. He had literally been uprooted, and 
unceremoniously dropped in some poor kid's body.
	
	Nicky shook her head. "What you're thinking is only 
partially true. You and Kevin have always shared a soul. So 
in fact, you have always been with him. All people carry the 
memories of their past lives with them, all I did was wake 
your memories up inside Kevin, and allow you to continue as 
if you never died. Did that make sense?" 

	"So your saying that every life I've ever lived is 
still stored inside me somewhere; I just don't remember 
them?" He couldn't help but allow a touch of skepticism to 
enter his tone. 

	"That's right. Well, some people remember more then 
others. Compared to most, you remember a great deal of your 
past lives. There is a reason you were so good with your 
sword. You've been accumulating the skills over many lives!" 

	He contemplated that revelation for a moment. "What 
about Kaoru-dono?" He asked hesitantly after a moment, 
unsure as to how everything would fit together.

	"What about her? You'll see her soon. Her name 
probably won't be Kaoru anymore, but most likely she'll look 
almost the same. Once again, it's a different body with 
different memories, but the vehicle is carrying the same 
passenger. I'm sure you'll notice similarities between your 
Kaoru, and who she is now."

	"Okay listen closely, this is important! While most of 
the world has become fairly liberal, Japan is one of the 
main exceptions. They've gotten insane over the subject of 
sex, and public displays of affection. While kissing your 
girlfriend in public in America would be fairly natural, 
you'd get a lot of dissaproving stares where you're going. 
Not to mention that they tend to be walking stress cases. 
They freak out about work and school very easily. Japan has 
had the highest rate of teenage suicide for exactly that 
reason for many years. Wakari de gozaru ka?" 

	"Hai de gozaru!"

	"Dammit, I knew that you would say that! You gotta 
stop that!"

	"Yare, yare..."

	"There! Anyway, you may find modern Japan to be a 
royal pain, so I'm here to help you if you get yourself in 
trouble. If you have questions, just call for me, and I'll 
apprear. So, do you feel ready to jump into the fray?"

	"I suppose I'm as ready as I'll ever be. "

	"Alright sweetie, your mom is going to wake you up to 
go to school. When you're all ready, I'll be waiting on your 
doorstep to walk you. I can't have my charge getting lost on 
his first day of school! See you in a few." Nicky waved a 
quick goodbye, and her image fizzled out of sight.

~*~*~

	"Kevin! Kevin! Can't you hear your alarm clock? Wake 
up, or you'll be late for school! Kevin!"

	That's right. Nicky said my name is Kevin now. It was 
Kenshin, but now it's Kevin. He pried himself out of bed, 
and looked at his mother, who was trying to shake him awake. 

	My reflexes are gone. Normally someone's presence 
would have brought me instantly awake. But I have a mother 
again... "Mom, I'm awake! I'll be up in a minute."

	He certainly didn't sound like himself. He couldn't. 
That would be weird. Talking like he used to, now. He still 
had to sort out his memories properly. He had to see how 
much of Kenshin was left. How much had the wish given, and 
how much had it taken? He supposed he would find out soon 
enough.

	His mother had left the room, after placing his 
uniform on his dresser. Such a drab looking thing. Black 
with a high collar and brass buttons. At least it's cut 
well, a foreign piece of his brain added. It had matching 
black slacks, with no pleats in the front. Thank god, that 
same section added again. To part of him, the whole thing 
looked hopelessly foreign, the part that was used to a loose 
fitting keikogi and hakama. Those pants looked unforgivingly 
tight.  

	Scrubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he heaved himself 
out of bed, and promptly fell on the floor. Western bed, his 
brain supplied, not a futon. Bracing his forearms on the 
floor he pushed himself up, and made his way to his dresser, 
and dressed quickly. He ran his fingers through his hair, 
which was thankfully the same color, and a similar length, 
if not longer then before. He worked out the tangles that 
had developed from sleeping, and then tied it back at the 
nape of his neck. He needed to find a pair of socks. Check 
your dresser drawers, that new little voice in his brain 
supplied. After digging through a couple of them, he 
produced a pair of white socks. Not the tabi he was used to, 
but they would work. 

	The full-length mirror on his door showed him the new 
him. He was taller then before, but only by perhaps two 
inches. Most noticeably to him, and as Nicky had warned him, 
the cross-shaped scar that had been on his left cheek since 
he was fifteen years old was gone. He missed it for what it 
had meant, but he was secretly glad to have his perfect 
complexion back.

	Since when have I been vain? He thought. It seemed a 
lot of Kevin had mixed itself into him already. He gave 
himself a quick look, before nodding firmly, and moving to 
retrieve his shoes from the closet. 

	It seemed Kevin had had a thing for shoes. He seemed 
to have something of every kind. The variety went from 
shiny, platformed, and animal printed to very drab and 
normal. He eyed one pair in particular; fuzzy leopard 
printed creepers (he somehow knew that was what they were 
called) with four-inch platforms, and swore they would never 
leave the closet again.

	"Kevin! Hurry up!" His mother called up the stairs.

	"Coming!" He called back down. Quickly pulling on a 
lone pair of beaten up running shoes, he grabbed what he 
assumed was his new book bag (but it looked more like a 
briefcase) and hurried down the stairs. 

	"I'm leaving!" he called as he ran out the door, and 
promptly tripped over Nicky, who was, as she had promised, 
sitting on his doorstep. He caught himself and actually 
managed to land somewhat gracefully.

	Maybe all my reflexes aren't gone after all. The 
feeling of helplessness that had been steadily growing since 
he had woken up abated slightly with that comforting 
knowledge.

	"Yo, asshole! You gonna apologize for getting me all 
dirty before we've even left for school, or what?" Nicky 
stood indignantly behind him, tapping her black booted foot 
impatiently.

	"Gomen, Nicky-dono" He tried to sound sincere, but 
couldn't manage it properly. Nicky's posture and expression 
were so comical, that it was all her could do not to laugh.

	Nicky harumphed loudly. "Apology accepted. But if you 
dono me again, I'm gonna hurl on your shoes, got it? People 
will look at you REALLY weird if you use that term now. I'm 
sure that if I puke on your shoes you'll learn quickly 
enough." 

	Kevin blinked in surprise. He desperately hoped that 
not all modern people were like Nicky. First of all, she was 
loud. Too loud. And she was far too blunt. He did understand 
what she was getting at though. Over-politeness would be 
taken as rudeness in the wrong situation. That was always 
the case, but it seemed more so now.

	He followed Nicky all the way to school, simply 
because he had no idea where he was, or even what the school 
was called. He did however memorize everything on the way 
there for future reference. Some old habits die hard.

	All too soon, they were in front of a large building, 
with an even larger gated yard. "Here we are, so let's get 
this over with."

~*~*~

	Something about today felt different. Kaori wasn't 
sure why or what exactly it was that was different, if 
anything was at all. 

	But it sure felt that way.

	The kendo club was getting new uniforms, but that 
wasn't a huge deal. It was cool that they had been able to 
raise the money, but still. This was even a different sort 
of different! It had nothing to do with the club. She did 
notice that she felt nervous for some reason. And the closer 
she got to school the more nervous she was. Was there a test 
she had forgotten to study for? Perhaps a report due, that 
had slipped her mind? She would be absolutely mortified if 
it was either of the two.

	When she finally reached the school gates and walked 
through them, she felt a quick flash of something, not 
nervousness this time, but anticipation. And then it was 
gone, as quickly as it came. She found herself rearranging 
her school uniform, and checking her hair. As usual, nothing 
was out of place. The obvious red highlights in her long 
glossy black hair glinted in the sunlight. Something had 
told her not to wear it up today. It fell in a long fluid 
sweep to her waist, and was slightly wavy. It was her pride 
and joy. 

	Quickly she made her way to her classroom, and seated 
herself in her assigned seat; it was the row closest to the 
windows, and towards the back of the room. Most of the other 
students were already there, some milling about, some 
chatting with friends. 

	Immediately, one of the boys trotted up to her desk. 
"Hey Captain, have the new uniforms come in yet?"

	She smiled at him. He was one of the newer members of 
the kendo club and hadn't even had a uniform yet. No wonder 
he was excited. 

	"Yeah, they came yesterday! I'll be handing them out 
at today's practice"

	Several of the other boys in the room who were also 
part of the club overheard, and ran to her desk. Soon she 
had an animated throng chatting happily around her desk, not 
only of new uniforms, but also of upcoming tournaments and 
practices. 

	Kaori knew most of the girls in the school hated her. 
Even now, the looks tossed her way could wither small 
plants. She didn't care too terribly much about her clothes 
(as long as they matched and were clean), and she certainly 
didn't care about what they thought of her. 

	She heaved a sigh as the teacher came into the 
classroom. The guys clustered around her desk scattered like 
sheep being chased by a wolf.

	The teacher waited for a few moments for the room to 
quiet, and then held up one hand for attention. 

	"Class, we have two transfer students today. This is 
Nicky Townsend-" A short girl with equally short and spiky 
blonde hair and huge green eyes waved brightly to no one in 
particular. "-and this is Kevin Hannah." 

	A slender boy of medium height with nearly waist 
length red hair tied back in a low ponytail stepped forward 
briefly as he was introduced. He smiled slightly as he 
nodded, his soft purple eyes earnest. 

	Kaori felt her heart stop in her chest as the boy 
stepped forward. This was a new feeling. Even in her most 
important tournaments her heart didn't skip beats. 

	There were several oohs and aahs at the two new 
people, mainly directed at them from their respective 
opposite sexes. The two girls who sat behind her were 
giggling madly. 

	The teacher harumphed loudly, before continuing. 
"Kevin is from America, so I expect everyone to be willing 
to help him out. Kaori-san, you were an excellent English 
student as I recall; why don't you go with Kevin to the 
library and begin tutoring him?"

	She heard several female gasps of outrage, as she 
gathered her things. Making her way out the classroom door
as quickly as possible, she stopped and waited patiently 
for the new boy, Kevin, to follow.

	This was going to be an interesting day all right. 


~*~*~
Chapter 3

"You can live your life lonely, heavy as stone
Live your life learning, and working alone
Say this is all you want,
But I don't believe that it's true
Because when you least expect it,
Waiting around the corner for you,
Love comes quickly whatever you do"

The Pet Shop Boys, "Love Comes Quickly"

	This boy...why did he seem so familiar to her? She 
found herself staring at him over the library table yet 
again, and had to consciously tell herself to stop. Although  
she was sure he had noticed, he didn't seem to mind too 
much. When he caught her, he would just smile sweetly and 
silently go back to his work.  

	It was weird that an American boy spoke and wrote so 
well in Japanese. When she questioned him about it he had 
blushed scarlet. He explained that a friend of his back home 
had collected anime and had insisted that he take Japanese 
with him at their old high school. Kaori had raised an 
eyebrow at that, but kept silent.
 
	Despite that bit of weirdness, they sat in 
companionable silence, with only an occasional question 
asked between them. The time seemed to pass more quickly 
then normal, and all too soon it was time to return to 
class.  

	They gathered their things, and made their way back to 
the classroom. Many of the girls glared at her as she walked 
in the door. She ignored them, and walked directly back to 
her seat and sat down. 

	She tried very hard to pay complete attention to her 
lessons, but she found herself sneaking glances at him 
again. She needed to stop that. She didn't need anymore 
dirty looks shot at her back. None of them would ever get 
into a physical fight with her- she was the captain of the 
Kendo club after all. She knew quite well how to use her 
bokken, but if it came down to it, she didn't really need 
it. Kaori sighed quietly to herself. She really didn't have 
the faintest clue why they didn't like her. It really didn't 
matter. Kaori forced herself to dive into her lesson and 
forget about everything else. 

~*~*~

	From his seat two rows away, Kevin let his eyes slide 
her way again. It was her, it had to be. She looked almost 
exactly the same, except for the bleached red highlights in 
her hair. And her name was Kaori. The names were so 
similar...

	When he learned that she was the captain of the Kendo 
club, it only served to reinforce his impression. 

	When they had returned from the library, and re-
entered the classroom, he was shocked to feel the distinct 
presence of fighting ki. He watched Kaori walk quietly to 
her desk, the eyes of many of the other girls in the 
classroom following her, and their expressions went from 
mild annoyance to bitter hatred. Whatever the case, it was
obvious that Kaori was not well liked among her peers. 

	Kevin could only wonder why. Lost in thought, he 
almost jumped when the lunch bell rang. Almost. He was about 
to get out of his seat to talk to Kaori, when a crowd of his 
female classmates surrounded his desk. His listened politely 
to introductions, and equally politely, if even somewhat 
coolly, he declined offers of after school tea, and homework 
help. As he tried to escape it seemed that they only crowded 
closer, as if trying to imprison him. 

	He floundered helplessly in the throng for a few 
minutes, until Nicky stepped up, her eyes glowing weirdly.  

	"Excuse me girls, but he's coming with me!" Grabbing 
him by the arm, she jerked him out of the crowd. He found 
himself being carried off, out of the classroom and down the 
hall. As soon as they located a place that was somewhat 
empty, Nicky began the drilling.

	"You didn't say anything weird to her did you?" Nicky 
instantly asked. 

	"No!" Nicky's accusing tone caught him off guard. "No, 
all she did was give me a bunch of books to study, explain 
them a bit, and then we came back to class. I didn't really 
get a chance to say anything." 

	"Well that's a start. Are you sure it's her?"

	"I'm certain. She looks just like her, and her name is 
Kaori- too close to be a coincidence."

	"I hope you're right. Makes my job that much easier 
for a change. I'm sure The Guy Upstairs is gonna throw us a 
few curve balls along the way, because that's just how It 
works. But so far so good! Did you learn anything else about 
her?"


	"She's the captain of the Kendo Club. I guess she's 
the first female captain they've ever had."

	"Are you going to join?" she asked pointedly.

	"What?" Join? Why would he do that?

	"Are you going to join the Kendo Club?" Nicky 
repeated, irritated.

	"Why?" He asked, slightly confused.

	Nicky smacked her forehead. "Because," Nicky began, 
her voice showing her frustation "you will be able to learn 
more about her, to help you determine if she is the one? 
Perhaps get to know her better, if she is?" 

	Kevin blinked for a moment before responding. "I 
hadn't thought of that!...That might be a really good idea. 
Would you mind if I asked you a question?"

	"What's that?"

	"When I first woke up this morning, my mom was 
standing over me. Normally if someone came within a 10 feet 
of me, my eyes would have snapped open. But when I walked 
back in the classroom I felt something very near fighting ki 
from some of the girls. If I didn't have my ability to sense 
ki this morning, why did it come back?"

	"The body you now inhabit is getting used to having 
the instincts and reflexes of an ex-assassin suddenly dumped 
into it. I think that you may get some of your reflexes 
back, and it seems that even your ability to read ki is on 
its' back as well. I doubt you'll get ALL of your old 
abilities back. But I could be wrong. Think of it like a new 
computer trying to load old software. It's still trying to 
figure out what to do with it, before it can get anything 
running properly. Understand?" 
	
	"Ano...Sort of." 
	
	"Ack. I keep forgetting that... oh, nevermind. 
Everything is going as well as can be expected, and that's 
what matters. Lunch is almost over, let's get back to 
class."

~*~*~

	The bell rang again, announcing the end of lunch. 
Kaori had watched the blonde girl, Nicky, drag Kevin 
unceremoniously out of the room and away from the crowd of 
disappointed girls loitering around his desk. And now they 
came back in, both of them returning quietly to their seats. 
Nicky appeared to be American as well, perhaps she knew him 
from before? Perhaps they were...? He was gorgeous, she 
admitted to herself. She would be upset if a bunch of girls 
were trying to ask her boyfriend out too. She normally 
didn't let herself think that way because of what had 
happened the last time...

	Kaori shook her head sharply to clear her thoughts. 
Best not to think of that anymore. She was Kevin's tutor for 
two weeks tops, and after that, they'd probably never have 
any reason to talk ever again. She valued her solitude, and 
it looked like he was already taken.

	Class passed quickly enough. She looked forward to the 
end of school so that she could hand out the new uniforms 
and get practice started. 

	Finally the bell rang signaling the end of school. She 
scooped her pens, binder, and schoolbooks quickly into her 
bag. Shouldering it quickly, she scooted out the door.

	Halfway down the hall, a hand fell on her shoulder. 
She spun quickly around, surprised. Kevin. He smiled that 
same sweet smile. 

	"Would you mind if I came and watched you practice?" 
He inquired. He's interested in Kendo? It was probably just 
the obsession foreigners had with martial arts. And if his 
friend had gotten him into anime...Kaori rolled her eyes. 
Well, it couldn't hurt to let him watch, now could it? 


	"Sure. Come on, I have some things to do before 
practice, so we need to hurry." She didn't want too many 
people to see them together...

	"I was wondering..." Kaori started as they hurried out 
to the gym. 

	"Yes?" Kevin inquired, following a bit behind her.

	"Is Nicky-san your girlfriend?" Kevin stopped in his 
tracks, and stared after her for a moment. 

	She thinks Nicky and I...? How absurd. Well, how could 
she know? Kevin shook his head in amusement.

	"What's so funny?" Kaori asked, turning around and 
cocking an eyebrow at his mirth.

	"Dating Nicky would be like...dating my older sister. 
You don't need to worry." Kevin shook his head, one side of 
his mouth twitched up in a half smile.

	"WORRY? Why would I worry?" Kaori snapped back at him. 
Kevin waved his hands placatingly in front of him. 

	"Calm down, I didn't mean it that way! I'm sorry." 
'But I'm glad you took it that way...' he though to himself. 
They must have had this same scene a million times before. 
If he wasn't sure of her identity before, he was positive 
now. She had reacted exactly how Kaoru used to when Megumi 
had flirted with him. A secret little smile settled itself 
inside him, and life seemed so much brighter then it ever 
had.

~*~*~

	"So, what did you think?" Kaori asked him while she 
toweled the sweat of her recent workout off her face.

	"I don't think I'm any good at it at all." Kevin 
looked at the shinai he held helplessly. He wasn't any good, 
-anymore-. He'd NEVER been good with a shinai, having only 
used them perhaps once or twice. Shishou had always had him 
train with the real thing. He had to remind himself that 
this body hadn't been trained as his other had. He'd been 
pretty bad when he first started under Hiko as well. Hiko 
had called him his baka deshi for a reason. But he had 
gotten better, he reminded himself. Much, much better. He 
didn't really need sword skills in this day and age, but if 
he was better it would comfort him a little. It had been a 
part of his life for so long...And according to Nicky, it 
had been that way in all his past lives as well. He reminded 
himself that his helpless feelings were a chosen state of 
mind. What he had to do was look at the potential for 
growth.

	Kaori gave him a skeptical look "What do you mean, 
you're not any good? Everything I showed you, you did 
perfectly on your first try! I think you should join the 
club."

	"You think so?"

	"Yeah! If you learn everything this fast, you could be 
competing all over the country in a year! Are you -sure- 
you've never done this before?"

	"I've never held anything remotely resembling a sword 
before in my life."  The irony of that statement almost made 
him laugh. He'd never held a sword in -this- life. 

	"I can't believe that. Anyway, are you going to join?"

	"Well, if you think I'm good enough..." He let his 
voice trail off. 

	"You're good enough. Or you will be soon. You're in. 
I'll order you a uniform as quickly as I can."

	"Thanks! Um...I was wondering..." He went back over 
his earlier conversation with Nicky. As they'd headed back 
to class, she'd given him a few tips on modern dating. 
'Kevin' knew most of it, but it was like he had to be -
reminded- of it, for the information to be called forth. 
'Kevin' had done what he was about to do many times. 
'Kevin'had had confidence in his good looks. 'Kenshin' had 
never cared.

	"What is it?" Kaori smiled at him. He felt two of his 
most important organs turn to putty. One was his heart. He 
could go without blood for a few minutes. The other was his 
brain. That on the other hand...

	"Well...I was kinda wondering if...if maybe...well, 
you know...if you might wanna go get a cup of coffee, or 
tea, or whatever it is you drink out here, or something. 
Yeah." He mentally shivered in disgust. Just put your foot 
in your mouth why don't you, a voice inserted sarcasticaly 
in his head.

	Kaori's face froze. She shook her head, and bowed 
politely. "I'm sorry, I need to get home now. I have a lot 
of homework. I'll see you tomorrow at school." She 
practically ran as she turned the corner, and left his 
sight.

	It was Kevin's turn to freeze; only his was in shock. 
He knew it wasn't the most brilliant thing he could have 
said, but it wasn't that bad! Or was it? Vague stirrings of 
panic fluttered through him, like dry autumn leaves rustling 
in the afternoon breeze. 

	"Oi, Hannah-san, your jaw is hanging open."

	A boy his age, only shorter and wirier, stood next to 
him. Yoichiro. He was a member of the Kendo club, and one of 
the better ones. Kevin let his jaw snap shut, audibly so.

	"What did you do, Hannah-san?"

	"I didn't do anything. At least I don't think I did 
anything. If I did, I don't know what it was."

	"You didn't ask Myoujin "Ice Queen" Kaori out did 
you?"

	" 'Ice Queen' ?"

	"She had some major problems with an ex-boyfriend her 
freshman year. I'm not sure what he did to her, but I heard 
it was -bad-. Everytime someone askes her out, she always 
tells them that she has too much school work, and not enough 
time."  

	"Do you have any idea what happened?" Kevin asked 
tentatively.

	Yoichiro cleared his throat, and spoke. "Well...I'm 
not sure of the details, but I know he was a lot older then 
her. Word was that she caught him in bed with another girl 
after he went away to college. When she broke up with him 
for it, he started to stalk her. Who knows what happened 
after that? It's none of my business anyway."

	 "That's...horrible!" Kevin burst out. He wanted to 
find that guy and hurt him. Dark tendrils of anger flared 
inside his gut, and swam around amidst his organs. It 
stirred the person he once was, even a lifetime away. Inside 
his mind he could almost feel the tattered soul of the 
assassin waking, one golden eye slowly sliding open. It 
assessed the situation coldly, and decided it wasn't 
needed...yet. The eye slid closed once more, waiting. 

	"I agree. Which is why I understand why she turns 
everyone down. You might wanna just do yourself a favor, 
Hannah-san, and quit while you're ahead. She seems to think 
that she's found a great student in you. Be happy with 
that."

	Yoichiro strode down the hall, in the same direction 
that Kaori had gone. A second later, he stuck his head back 
around the corner. 

	"You didn't hear that from me, got it? Last thing I 
need is a good beating -before- a tournament."

~*~*~
Some Notes: I've gone out of my way to make Kenshin/Kevin
and Kaoru/Kaori seem sort of OOC. After all they are 
different people now, ne?
~*~*~


Chapter 4

"I can feel the discomfort in your seat, 
But in you head it's worse. 
There's a pain, a famine in your heart, 
An aching to be free... Can't you see? 
All love's luxuries are here for you and me"

Depche Mode, "Halo"

	Kaori leaned up against the slippery tile of the 
shower, as the too hot water poured over her. It slicked her 
hair to her body and her face, before falling in a rush to 
the drain below. The noise of the water was comforting to 
her; it drowned out the sound of her sobs. 

	"Endless rain, fall on my heart, kokoro no kisuni, let 
me forget all of the hate, all of the sadness...*" she sang 
quietly to herself. This song always comforted her when 
nothing else could. 
	
	Why did that boy upset her so much? But most of all, 
why did he seem so familiar to her? Normally when she turned 
a guy down for a date it wasn't anything to her. She was 
just protecting herself. But this time...

	She felt like she had some kind of connection to him, 
as if he had been a very good friend from a long time ago. 
He looked hurt and confused as she had turned to leave, that 
expression somehow twisting a knife in her heart that she 
hadn't known was there. 

	She hated that expression. After getting away from 
him, she let herself cry, although she didn't really know 
why she was crying. Was it for her, or for Kevin?

	She shouldn't be crying for herself anymore. Crying 
made her feel better, but it didn't really change anything. 
Nothing could change what had happened, especially not 
crying. She let herself sink into a ball, and the water ran 
over her. She stayed there until the hot water ran out, and 
turned ice cold.

	The freezing water sent her sputtering out of the 
shower to the safety of a fluffy warm bath towel. After 
briskly drying herself and donning her robe, she padded 
barefoot down the hallway and returned to her room. Through 
her open window, the sky was lit dusky blue and purple and 
was sprinkled with wayward clouds, still stained pink and 
red with the remnants of the sun. A few brave little stars 
had begun to peek out from under their soft night blanket 
blinking their eyes sleepily as they prepared for their long 
night.

	Such romantic metaphors, Kaori thought to herself. She 
didn't have time for anything like that. She had schoolwork, 
and she had Kendo practice, whether it be for Kendo club or 
for her family's old Kenjitsu school. He parents sometimes 
swore that she was born with a bokken in her hand. That 
always made her smile.

	Born for the sword... That made her think of Kevin 
again. He had taken to Kendo like ducks take to water. He 
swore that he'd had never held a sword of any kind- wooden 
or otherwise- in his life. But there was a faint smile 
behind that statement, as if there was more to it then he 
was saying. His grips, stances, and swings were all perfect. 
She had only had show him things once and he'd absorb them 
perfectly, as quickly as she could snap her fingers. 

	Later, she'd had him spar with one of the better 
members. Her first true shock came when she realized how 
fast he was. His only real problem was that he handled the 
shinai as though he was used to something heavier. What that 
something heavier would have been, she chose not speculate 
on. Besides that small over-balance, she'd think that he'd 
been practicing for years. 

	Kaori shook her head roughly to clear away such 
wayward thoughts. She had a long night of homework ahead of 
her and she needed to be able to concentrate.

~*~*~

	Later that evening, Kevin sat cross-legged on the 
floor of his bedroom while a flustered and indignant Nicky 
ranted away from her perch on his bed.

	"What did you do to make her scream and run away from 
you?"  Nicky huffed indignantly. No wonder his master had 
called him baka deshi. He was dumb after all.

	"She didn't scream!" Kevin replied hotly "She 
just...ran." He finished lamely.

	"Oh so she just RAN, he says! When someone runs from 
you, that means that they are scared. You of ALL people 
should know what it means when people run from you. I'm sure 
people used to run from you all the time! Are you on crack?" 
She was so baffled she couldn't think of anything else to 
say.

	After a moment of silence, she asked tiredly "What did 
you say to her?"

	"I just asked her if she wanted to get coffee!" His 
voice rose in pitch defensively, and his reply came out 
almost as a squeak.    

	"And nothing else?" Nicky added, threateningly.

	"No, nothing at all! However, one of the other guys 
from the Kendo club said that she got burned pretty bad by 
an ex-boyfriend." 

	"Well then, it might not be you, even as unsmooth as 
you are." Nicky stated dryly with one eyebrow arched nearly 
into her hairline. "And another thing! How can you wear 
those jeans?"

	Kevin looked down at the pair of jeans he was wearing 
curiously. "What's wrong with them?" he asked innocently, 
his face quizzical.

	"What's wrong with them? They're HUGE!!" Nicky spread 
her arms wide, as if to indicate their size. 

	Kevin smiled pleasantly at Nicky's pole-axed 
expression. "Wearing these raver jeans is like wearing a 
hakama again. They fit about the same."

	Nicky plucked at the cuff, and pulled it taut around 
his ankle. "That's gotta be around 32 inches... I never 
thought of it that way. That's all completely beside the 
point, back to Kaori. What are we going to do?"

	Kevin shook his head helplessly. "I really don't know. 
Just wait and hope for the best?"

	"You know, I think that's all you can do at this 
point. Out-wait the enemy and all that rubbish. Anyway, my 
friend, I need to dematerialize for a while. Even Heavenly 
Guides need rest sometimes." She winked at him. "Don't worry 
sweetie, we'll figure something out. I haven't failed a 
mission yet!" With that, Nicky snapped her fingers and 
disappeared in a picturesque cloud of smoke. 
 
	Kevin sighed, and lay back on his bedroom floor, his 
hands clasped beneath his head. Life was never easy, was it? 

	This whole thing was so strange to him. The entirely 
new world, and an entirely new life. Everything was so 
fascinating! Thanks to Kevin's memories he knew all about 
the world he lived in now, but that didn't steal the sense 
of wonder he felt.

	Music. He needed thinking music. For some reason he 
seemed to function better now when there was music on. He 
examined his collection, amazed by its sheer size. Kevin 
hadn't just liked shoes. He liked CDs too. Most of it was 
80's British pop, with some gothic dark wave and industrial 
peppering the mix. It was strange to think that all of this 
was -his-. 

 	Kevin's clothes suited him just fine- big worn raver 
jeans, ancient and soft pairs of cotton and wool slacks in 
somber colors like gray, navy and black. All of the shirts 
were loose, some brightly colored, some not. It was his 
shoes he didn't like. After a careful inspection of the shoe 
collection, he discovered something wonderful- a pair of 
worn-in leather fisherman sandals, which you HAD to wear 
with socks. Right up his alley.

	It was odd though; this time didn't seem as foreign as 
he thought it would. When he'd seen a car this morning he'd 
nearly jumped out of his skin. But on the way home he didn't 
even notice them at all. 

	He sighed and looked at his desk where his books were 
stacked. He had homework to do. He'd better get started, if 
he wanted to get to bed at a decent hour. But first he had 
to have music. Once again he examined his CD tower and 
settled on Once Upon a Time, by Siouxie and the Banshees. 
Time to start, Pre-Calc was waiting.

	Only 20 minutes later a knock at his bedroom door 
interrupted him. His mother poked her head in and looked 
briefly around.

	"Kevin, sweetie, what are you doing?"

	"My Pre-Calc. This stuff is hard!" He threw his pencil 
down in frustration. "I need a calculator..."

	"Kevin I didn't even know you knew how to do 
Calculus!" Shock was evident on his mother's pretty face.

	Kevin looked at his mother. It was so wonderful to 
have a mother to worry about him. He didn't remember his 
other mother...she had died when he was very young. It was 
also nice to look at her, and see some of his own features. 
Currently her purple eyes, which were so like his, were 
etched with worry.

	"So did you have a good day at school then?" Worry 
turned into surprise gradually.

	"Yeah, actually I did. I joined the Kendo club, and I 
met this really pretty girl too. I asked her out, but she 
turned me down. I'm gonna keep trying though. Her name is 
Kaori, she's the kendo club's captain."

	"Wow, sweetie, that's wonderful! I'm going to leave 
you to your homework. Study hard!" She gave him a thumbs up.

	"I will, mom."

	His mom shut the door, and walked slowly down the 
stairs to where her husband sat in his favorite leather 
chair watching TV in the family room.

	"Honey, I just had a weird experience."

	"What's that, Jenice?" Her husband asked without 
turning his eyes from the TV, the glare shining off his 
glasses in the dark.

	"Kevin was doing his homework." Jenice replied, 
deadpan.

	"He was actually doing homework? I wonder how badly 
they threatened him at school." Sarcasm dripped off the 
statement, like water off an oil-slicked surface.

	"And he actually joined a school based athletic club 
too."

	"That I don't believe."

	"He did! Well, he told me he did. And he told me about 
a girl he was interested in too."

	"KEVIN?? Interested in GIRLS? I never thought that 
would happen! I'll believe that when he brings her home, and 
we actually meet her."

	"I'm willing to believe it, just because I've always 
wanted him to be normal. Not that there's anything wrong 
with being gay, but...."

	"Well as long as he's actually doing his school work 
I'll support him in whatever else he does!" 

	"We can only hope for the best."


~*~*~

Later that night-

	Moujin Kaori slept, and in sleeping, dreamt. In her 
mind's eye, she saw a pretty red-haired man. He smiled at 
her, and did her laundry. He was a poor man, but was happy 
with his life. They all wanted to be like him. 

*They?*

 	Yes, her and the rest of her family. None of them were 
related by blood, but they all were her family, regardless. 
Although everyone's faces blurred together, she felt the 
love there.

	Who was this red-haired man and why did he stand out? 
It couldn't be simply that he was beautiful- although he 
most certainly was.  His red hair was long and glossy; she 
was certain that it was as soft and fine as the hair babies 
had on their head's when they were born. His purple eyes 
were velvet soft too- and they were earnest in whatever they 
expressed, weather it be joy, sadness, or the most extreme 
anger-

*No, that wasn't right. When he was very angry, his eyes 
became the most frigid yellow- *

	The only thing that marred his beauty, and kept him 
from looking completely feminine, was the harshly angular 
cross scar on his left cheek. 

*But that scar is gone now, and he is even more 
beautiful...*

	But he was dead- he died young, and he died with a 
smile on his face. She'd lived her life without him after 
that, and taking comfort in the serene smile that had been 
on his face when he'd left them. They'd taken his sword, 
which was as unique as he was, and enshrined it in the dojo. 
That way they could always feel him there-

*It's still there, you know*

	She missed him so much. She still loved him as much as 
she had all those years ago-

*Yes, you still love him don't you? Go and be with him, and 
tell him.*

	Yes, that sword was still in their dojo even after 120 
years. There was a picture there as well, from when the 
founder of their dojo had taken them on a train to Yokahama-

*How did I know that was where it was? How? HOW?*

	Kaori's eyes snapped open, and she looked around her 
room in confusion. She was too far off the ground-

*A bed, not a Futon*

	Her heart calmed slowly. Too slowly. Why was she 
scared?  She was in her room, in her house, and nothing was 
out of place.

*Then why does everything look different to me?*

*-Because it is different-*

	She briskly shook her head. This had to be her 
imagination. She was hearing voices. This couldn't be 
happening. She scrambled out of bed, and slid her feet 
clumsily into her slippers even while struggling hastily 
into her bathrobe.

	She rushed through the old rice-paper hallways of her 
turn of the century house, and out to the walkway the led 
through the yard and into the dojo. Once there, she went to 
a small recess that had been built into the right wall.

	There, sitting serenely on its stand, was that man's 
sword.  She walked by this sword three or four times a day, 
and it had never seem particularly interesting before. Her 
father had once told her when she was small that as long as 
that sword was here, that this dojo and whoever lived here 
would always be safe.

	Although she never had before, for some reason she 
believed him now.

	And now as she knelt before it, she saw for the first 
time the small yellowed photograph that hung there. There 
were four people in it; one was a tall man with spiky hair 
who looked like he's just been poked in the rear with 
something sharp. Also there was a small boy, who's hair much 
resembled that of the tall man. Next to him sat a girl- no, 
a young woman- in what would have been a beautiful kimono. 
Her parents had often told her that she resembled this 
woman, Kamiya Kaoru, who had left this dojo to her great 
great grandfather, Moujin Yahiko, when she died. The photo 
was so old that she could hardly make out the floral pattern 
on the kimono. And next to her-

	-Was that man. Scar, hair, sword, and all. He was 
smiling, and it was a sweet smile.

	Where had she seen that smile before? Everything about 
this man was so familiar. Like she'd known him herself.

	Behind the sword, and under the photo, was an urn. It 
held the ashed of the red-headed man. According to the 
antique dealers that her mother had taken them to, both the 
sword and the urn were worth a fortune. The sword was 
valuable not simply because it was old, but because of who 
this man was and because of who made it, but most especially 
because it was totally unique. The urn was vauable because 
of who made it- some famous reclusive potter who had lived 
on a secluded mountin outside Kyoto at the time- and also 
because of whose ashes it contained.

	Kaori couldn't remember exactly why this sword was 
unique. She was sure she had been told, but at the time it 
hadn't seemed that important. It looked like every other 
katana she'd ever seen. It had been just as well cared for 
as any other family heirloom might be. The shark skin that 
was used to make the grip was in perfect condition, and the 
saya shown from wood polish.  

	She felt like a thief as she reached forward to take 
the mouldering grip in one hand, the hard polished wood of 
the saya in her other. Lifting it carefully from its stand, 
she unsheathed it to inspect the blade.

	A gasp escaped her, and left her lungs screaming for 
air that she couldn't draw. The sharp side was on the inner 
curve instead of the outer! 

*"Could I kill anyone with this?"*

*"The blade is on the wrong side! And there are no 
scratches- why, it's practically brand new!"*

	She let her gaze slid to the hilt. The hilt seemed to 
be a touch loose; maybe it's moorings had come loose from 
age?

*"The loose hilt is why Shishou is alive- it allowed the 
blade to give just enough. If not, the ougi would have 
killed him, and possibly broken the sword."*

	Kaori looked at the sword in horror. It was -talking- 
to her! She quickly resheathed it and set it back on its 
stand. -Looking- at it wasn't to bad, but she didn't want to 
touch it again. 

	After long moments of looking at the strange sword-

*Sakabatou*

	-She realized that there was a gap in her memory. She 
could recall almost everything about this man, but she 
couldn't remember his name! She was certain her father had 
told her multiple times, but she couldn't recall it to save 
her life. 

	She continued to stare at the sword in hope that it 
would somehow jog her memory. Eventually, Kaori simply shook 
her head, and got up to go back to bed. 

	Reaching forward to slide the old wooden door back in 
its runners, Kaori paused and turned to look back around the 
darkened dojo.

*"If you must leave, will you at least tell me your name?"*

*"Kenshin. Himura Kenshin"*

	Frozen at the strange voices echoing eerily through 
the large room, her eyes moved hastily over the walls, and 
familiar wall hangings. There is no one here but you, she 
told herself, trying desperately not to loose the battle to 
remain calm. 

	She was loosing. She'd only been this terrified once 
before in her life. The scream welled up in her throat, even 
while she tried to smother it. Eyes and fists clenched 
tight, she curled into a ball and leaned against the wall, 
and tried to take control of the situation again. After a 
moment, and a few deep breaths, she straitened up, and 
squared her shoulders. When no more strange voices floated 
out of the old walls, she sighed and left the dojo, and 
hurried back to the relative safety of her bedroom.    


* Endless Rain, by X-Japan 



~*~*~
Chapter 5


Touch me, Touch-
Was the heat too much?
I thought I lost you from the start.

Time- Clock of the Heart, Culture Club

	Kaori blinked her eyes sleepily at the mass of words 
in front of her. They sat in the library again, and she was 
currently trying to correct Kevin's homework. The characters 
swam together in dark puddles before her tired eyes.

	Looking up briefly to clear her head, she saw the 
worry etched into Kevin's beautiful face. 

	Of course he's worried. He would never let anything 
happen to you.

	She shook her head fiercely to clear the cobwebs, and 
tried to focus. She pointed out the mistakes she was 
conscious enough to catch, and let the minor ones she was 
sure were there but couldn't see stay hidden. 
 
	"Did you have any problems with your other homework?" 
She asked wearily. Kaori felt her head starting to fall 
towards the table, but she caught it quickly enough not to 
hit her head.

	Kevin shook his head. "Not really. Only the Pre-Calc 
was hard, but I figured that out. Kaori-san...are you okay?" 
she looked like she was ready to pass out, she'd nearly hit 
her head on the table a second ago.

	"No, I'm fine! Really. I just didn't sleep that well 
last night...I had a really bad dream."

	 He was so concerned for her. His perfectly shaped 
eyebrows had drawn together, puckering his skin. His eyes 
were the most beautiful shade of purple, the kind of purple 
that she never believed that eyes could be. They seemed to 
be so deep and warm, almost like a hot spring... One moment 
she was drowning happily, and the next she was falling, the 
ground seeming to jump up from its stationary position. The 
world turned red, then yellow, and finally went mercifully 
black. 

~*~*~

	He hadn't been fast enough to catch her before she hit 
the floor. The thud of the side of her head forcefully 
striking the ground made something inside him squirm in 
panic. He snatched her up in his arms, hurridly asked the 
Librarian the location of the infirmary, and shot out the 
door, as fast as untrained and pathetically slow body could 
carry him.

	He dodged around several curious students, and more 
then a few concerned teachers, before he had her resting 
comfortably in a small bed in the infirmary. All that 
remained now was to locate the school nurse.

	"Hello young man. What seems to be the problem?"

	Turning around quickly, he said "Thank god, you're 
here Sensei-" And his words abruptly left him. If not for 
the gold rimmed spectacles, and the modern clothing, he 
could swear he was looking at Megumi. She had the same 
glossy black hair, only it was braided loosely down her 
back. The same red lipstick that was always applied to 
perfection. He shook himself mentally. He could think 
about this later. 

	"Kaori-san hit her head." He continued lamely after a 
moment "I carried her here as fast as I could." 

	The doctor (he couldn't help but insert the name 
Megumi in his head) nodded earnestly before kneeling next to 
Kaori, and checking quickly for lumps. Just above Kaori's 
left temple, she found one- or the start of one. The doctor 
touched it gingerly, and Kaori winced, even in her blacked 
out state.

	She nodded her head. "That's a good sign. That means 
that she's isn't out cold. The poor thing looks like she 
hasn't slept in a week! I really should try to wake her, but 
she probably needs rest more then anything else. She needs 
to go home." The doctor sat down at her desk, and pulled up 
Kaori's medical records on the computer, and made a few 
phone calls. Finally she replaced the receiver. She shook 
her head, and sighed.

	"No one is home, and I can't get a hold of her parents 
at work either. She doesn't have any other numbers listed. 
Unfortunately I have to leave to go to another school for an 
assembly they are having, and I have to leave. Would you 
mind staying here with her until she wakes up? She'll need 
someone to walk her home when she comes to."

	Kevin nodded solemnly, agreeing. "Okay, thanks. There 
are ice packs in the freezer. I'm late so I have to run." 
The nurse grabbed her briefcase and purse, and hurried out 
the door, shutting it quietly behind her.   

	He watched her leave in a swish of white cloth, and 
then turned back to Kaori. Her face was twisted in a vague 
grimace. A piece of his heart twanged at her expression. 
After a moment of simply watching her, he rose and moved to 
the freezer the nurse had indicated and retrieved an ice 
pack. Sweeping aside her raven hair as delicately as 
possible, he gingerly felt for the lump. Kaori winced once 
again in her unconscious state as his fingers brushed the 
area. Ever so carefully he braced the icepack against her 
head and the pillow, tilting her head to the side a little 
to balance it.

	Straitening up again, he pulled the nurse's chair up 
to the bedside, and sat down to wait.

~*~*~

	The first thing Kaori noticed as she woke up was the 
throbbing pain in her head. Then she noticed how -cold- that 
section of her head was. She moaned softly, and tried to 
open one eye. The light only made her head hurt worse, and 
she reached up to put an arm over her face, and accidentally 
brushed the bruised portion of her skull. Through another, 
much louder moan she heard the sound of blinds being drawn. 
Seeing the light decrease through her eyelids, she made 
another attempt at opening her eyes, and found the light 
level far more pleasant the second time around. 

	She glanced around briefly, disoriented. She was in 
the infirmary comfortably ensconced in bed, with a worried 
Kevin standing guard. He had pulled the nurse's chair up to 
the bedside, and was perched in an uncomfortable cross-
legged position. She tried to sit up, and he swooped out of 
his seat, and gently pushed her back down.

	"Don't sit up. You'll probably feel very dizzy and 
sick if you try. And although I would hold your hair back 
for you if you had to throw up, I don't think either of us 
would enjoy that much." His serious expression convinced her 
not to try it again.

	She blinked a few times in the darkened room, and them 
asked quietly "Kevin? Why are you here? Where is the nurse?"

	Kevin shook his head briefly and then explained "The 
nurse said that you probably had a light concussion. She 
couldn't get a hold of your parents, so I stayed to watch 
over you after the nurse left, until you woke up."

	All she could manage in response was a slight nod. Any 
movement made her head hurt even more, if that was possible. 

	"Why did you do this for me?" She said quietly after a 
moment. "Why didn't you just go back to class? It wasn't 
your problem."

	Kevin shrugged a bit and said, "I wanted to help. If I 
had hit my head like that, I hope someone would do the same 
thing for me." That silenced Kaori for a few moments. 

	This boy is genuinely kind, she thought after a 
moment. Nice guys are hard to find these days, she mused. 
His kindness even shone in his deep lavender eyes.

	-Wait. Lavender eyes? Where had she seen purple eyes 
before?

	Red hair and purple eyes. But no scar.

	Recognition made her body go numb from shock. She knew 
where she had seen Kevin before. He looked like that man 
from her dream last night! What a strange coincidence. If he 
had that weird scar he would look just like him...

	*That scar was gone now, and he was even more 
beautiful...*

	If her head hadn't hurt so much she would have shook 
herself. She was hearing those strange voices again. She 
tired to pass it off as her blow to the head, but it wasn't 
quite working. The resemblence was eerie.

	Kevin was looking at her strangely. "Are you alright?" 
he asked, his eyebrows knit together in concern. Her eyes 
had gone totally blank for a moment. If he hadn't seen her 
chest moving as she took her breaths, he almost would have 
thought her unconscious again.

	She smiled a little as she spoke "Yes, thanks. I 
really appreciate you taking care of me and stuff. I'm sorry 
I was so rude to you yesterday. I just...avoid guys now."

	She watched one of his eyebrows raise nearly into his 
hairline. "Oh? Is that so? Should I give up all hope?"

	"That's not it at all!" She protested weakly. "I had a 
boyfriend once, my freshman year..." Kaori began, and then 
lasped into silence. Kevin was watching her closely waiting 
for her to continue, but as she opened her mouth to begin 
again, she found that she couldn't. "Gomen." She finished 
lamely. "It's hard for me to talk about." 

	Kaori could only wonder what had come over her to 
almost tell someone she barely knew about Shiro...

	*You trust him.*

	Why, she didn't know, but she did trust him. She 
wanted to tell him, but she just wasn't able to-
 
	*-Not yet*

	But strangely enough, although she only met him 
yesterday, she knew this boy wouldn't hurt her ever, 
physically or mentally.

	*Like the other one did.* 

	Kevin's eyes had turned sad, and almost wistful as she 
explained. One corner of his mouth had quirked up into a 
tiny smile. "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable 
yesterday. I didn't mean to."

	She reached out and took his hand in hers. "I know 
that. You didn't know. How could you have? Don't worry about 
it. Besides, you're different. You're actually a nice 
person."

	His grin immediately widened. "Does that mean I get a 
chance anyway?" She couldn't help but smile and chuckle a 
bit over the innocent hope that expression held. Could she? 
Should she? 

	After a moment, and after he looked like he was 
beginning to despair of getting a positive answer, she 
smiled. "One date. You had better impress me if you want 
there to be a second one."  

	He squeezed her hand, and the flash of joy that 
traveled over his almost pretty face was amusing in its 
intensity. This boy made her smile a lot. She supposed that 
that could be taken as a good sign. 

	"Would the classic dinner and a movie work for you?" 
He asked, his grin nearly taking in his ears. 

	"Sounds great." She said with as much enthusiasm as 
she could, considering she had a minor concussion. Realized 
then that she was grinning like a maniac too, she tried to 
stifle it but found herself unsuccessful. They just sat 
there and grinned at each other like idiots, until the loud 
ringing of the school bell brought them back. 

	Smiling, Kevin asked, "Do you feel up to walking home 
yet? If so I'll go get our stuff from the library."

	Kaori nodded slightly trying once again to sit up. The 
wave of dizziness that attacked her wasn't nearly as bad as 
the first time. Managing to get upright, she blinked a few 
times to clear her vision. 

	Seeing her falter, he stepped forward to help. Kaori 
waved him back, and said "I'm fine. Really. Please hurry and 
get our stuff so we can leave."

	His face betraying his worry, Kevin nodded. "As long 
as you're sure." 

	Kaori found herself starring at the door many minutes 
after Kevin had left to retrieve their belongings. What was 
it about him? What was it? There was something there that 
she just couldn't put her finger on. She sighed deeply, and 
quieted her mind. She could think about all of this when she 
got home.  

~*~*~
Chapter 6


Another night with open eyes,
To late to sleep, to soon to rise
You're short of breath, is it a heart attack?
Hot and feverish, you face the fact-
You're in love

Can You Forgive Her? From the album Very,
by the Pet Shop Boys


     Sleep evaded Kevin that night with frightening 
determination. He stared at his blank ceiling, thinking only 
two things- "Oh god she said yes, I have a date tomorrow 
night!" and "If I don't fall asleep now, I'm going to be a 
complete zombie at school tomorrow."

     The first being most important to him, of course. He 
quietly watched the minutes on his alarm clock tick by, and 
the light slowly rise from the bottom of his window. Slowly 
his room filled with light, until it filtered through his 
blinds in a bright shaft, bits of sparkly dust swirling in 
the draft created by the air conditioning. 

     At 7:00 AM his alarm screamed for him to get up. He 
smacked it into silence, and went about what had become a 
morning ritual to him in only three days. Shower, blow dry 
his hair, put his clothes on, grab a bite of breakfast and a 
can of soda, head out the door to school, where he met 
Nicky. They then walked to school together and discussed how 
"The Plan" was proceeding. The good news he had for her 
granted him a bear hug, and a somewhat sloppy kiss on the 
cheek, along with an enthusiastic "Ganbatte yo!"

     School zoomed by at light speed. His nervousness 
multiplied exponentially as the clock chimed each hour. 
Almost too soon, school was over, and he realized that there 
was Kendo practice today. Although he was new, and couldn't 
really afford to miss practice, he decided he needed to 
skip. He hoped Kaori wouldn't be mad.

     The houses along the streets became a blur as he 
hurried home, recapturing some of his old speed in his 
urgency. When he realized that he was practically out-
running cars, he slowed down. It would be embarrassing to 
get a speeding ticket on foot.

     Once home, he attacked his closet with a frenzy. 
"Kevin" had tons of clothes... but, oh, WHAT to WEAR?? He 
got no further then choosing an appropriate pair of boxers 
before becoming frustrated and stocking down the stairs (in 
said boxers) to where his mother sat in the kitchen working 
on some of her files.

     His mother's eyes bugged out of her pretty head, as her 
nearly naked son plunked himself down unceremoniously at the 
kitchen table. 

     "Kevin, dear, what's the problem?" She asked, sensing 
something was wrong, but unsure as to what.

     "I have absolutely nothing to wear!" He practically 
wailed. 

     Kevin's mother had been through this before. She wished 
the change she had been seeing in Kevin a safe trip where 
ever it decided to go, and brought her attention back to her 
semi-naked and wailing son. "Dear, you have more clothes 
then I do. That wasn't helpful. Okay, what's the occasion?"

     "I have a date with Kaori tonight." He murmured 
miserably, as he smushed his face into the table "I want to 
impress her!" 

     Jenice tapped her manicured fingernail on the table for 
a moment. "Dinner? She inquired. "Somewhere nice?"

     His face still squashed into the table, Kevin nodded.

     She snapped her fingers. "Simple! Make a suit out of 
that black velvet jacket you have, and the velvet pants! 
With that button-down shirt I found you at that thrift shop, 
and your father's onyx cuff links, you'll be the best 
dressed guy in there. Do you still have that wonderful silk 
cravat?"

     He stared at his mother in amazement. She had solved 
his problem in a second, when he'd been lamenting over it 
all day. It was so nice to have a mother again! As for the 
cravat...

     "You mean the purple one?"

     "That's the one! Now, go shower, get dressed and get 
back down here, then we can figure out what shoes you're 
going to wear."

     He nodded mutely at his mother, before clambering up 
the stairs to follow her orders. An echoing shout of "Don't 
forget to deep condition you hair!" swept up the stairs as 
he entered the bathroom. 

     He eyed himself in the bathroom mirror, while 
slathering his hair up with Paul Mitchell Hair Repair 
Treatment. Kevin had kept himself in fairly good shape, 
although it had probably been out of vanity, as opposed to 
any concern for his health. He was somewhat muscular, but no 
where near as -defined- as he had been as Kenshin. Of course 
not, he thought ruefully, I haven't been struggling to keep 
Shishou from knocking me out every five minutes. Or hiding 
from and or assassinating government officials, and then 
practically starving to death for ten years he added to 
himself dryly. He let the conditioner soak into his hair for 
ten minutes before climbing into the shower. 

     Another ten minutes later, he stood in front of the 
mirror again, now toweling himself off. No scars, he 
thought, smiling to himself. Not on my body, not on my face.  
After mourning the loss of his cross scar for the past two 
days, he had decided that he could live without it. His 
memory was working fine, and that's what mattered.

     He had to admit he was enjoying being 17 again, and 
having no real worries, except what he was going to wear on 
his first date with Kaori, and getting his schoolwork done 
on time. This life was so different from his other one; this 
was pure luxury in comparison. He smiled softly at his 
reflection, and told it "I did deserves this." Selfish 
indeed, but truly, he had suffered. And now that a life of 
luxury and privilege had been handed to him on a pretty 
silver platter, he certainly wasn't about to tell The Powers 
That Be no.  

     Padding into his bedroom, towel clasped low on his 
hips, the boxers he'd chosen earlier clutched in his other 
hand, and he closed his door behind him. He let the towel 
fall into a shapeless heap, as he inspected his closet for 
the articles of clothing his mother had indicated. The 
"button down shirt" turned out to be a slightly shiny and 
lightly striped affair, but still very classy. It did need 
cuff links. Pulling his boxers on, he began his search for 
the velvet pants. Once locating those, he pulled them on as 
well, straightened his boxers, buttoning his shirt and 
tucking it in before fastening his pants. After quick trip 
downstairs to retrieve the cuff links, and to enlist his 
mother's help in fastening them, and he was back upstairs 
searching for that purple cravat. He spent the better part 
of ten minutes trying to tie it strait. Once it was properly 
in place, he threw the matching velvet coat over his shirt, 
buttoned yet another set of buttons, and tucked in his 
cravat. Looking over his reflection, he realized that 
something just didn't look right. He tapped faintly at his 
mirror trying to figure out what it was. When he'd bought 
the cravat...

      It had come with a waistcoat! That's what was missing. 
Now where was it? He dug through his closet and all his 
drawers, and as always with his luck, it was in the very 
last drawer, and looking a tad wrinkled. But if I'm wearing 
it with a coat over it, no one will notice, he convinced 
himself.  

      The full-length mirror on his door revealed a very 
gothic, but still very classy looking person. Now the test: 
his mother.

      Back downstairs he went, and once again found his 
mother in the kitchen. He did a little catwalk type turn, 
struck a pose, and said, "Well? How do I look?"

      Her hands clasped in front of her chest she said 
dramatically, "You look how I've always thought Armand 
should!"

      "Are you saying I look like one of Anne Rice's 
vampires?" He tried to keep the annoying screech out of his 
voice that seemed to show up when he was annoyed. Kevin 
hated it. He hoped fervently that he could mimic Kenshin's 
soothing mellow voice with practice. He would certainly give 
it a good try.

      "Is there something wrong with looking like a 
beautiful immortal boy?"

      Kevin sighed. "I suppose not." He didn't quite 
understand his mother's nearly occult obsession with Anne 
Rice, but to be compared to her favorite vampire was a 
compliment indeed. "Now, what shoes?"

      Snapping her fingers again "That's easy! The 
Daljeets*." He though again that he had entirely too many 
pairs of shoes, but at least the Daljeets were sort of 
normal looking. Patent leather they were, and also very 
expensive, but not as pointy as some creepers, and 
thankfully not platformed. The silver buckle would look good 
with his tie tack, and his cuff links. 

      The deep rumble of the garage door opening filtered 
through the wall clearly. His mother winked at him. "Maybe I 
can get your dad to let you take his Prelude." Kevin could 
only shake his head. His mother was being almost as nuts 
about this date as he was!

      Presently, his father had come in, and had let out a 
low whistle. "Well, hello. What's the occasion?"

      His mother nodded stupidly while speaking. "Kevin has 
a DATE. With a GIRL." He completely missed the significance 
of his date being with a girl, but his father smiled widely.

      "Is that so? Going somewhere fancy? If not, you are 
now." He found five thousand yen deposited in his hand along 
with his father's prized, but never used, Platinum Visa. 
Kevin could only blink in surprise at his father's 
generosity. 

      He stared dumbly at the shiny plastic card in his 
hand, only to be spooked when he found a set of car keys 
dangling in front of his nose. "Take the Prelude, son. Be 
careful, the driver side is opposite, you have to shift with 
your left hand, and drive on the left side of the road. If 
you dent her, you'll never driver her again, and it will be 
out of your wallet to have the dent pulled out."  Kevin 
winced a bit, but nodded dutifully. He headed back up to his 
room silently, not about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

      Once in the safety of his bedroom again, he stared 
terrified at the shiny metal keys glinting almost evilly on 
his bedspread. He remembered how to drive...sort of. Plus 
with the differences of driver's side, and everything being 
in kilometers.... He sighed helplessly. 

      "Having doubts?" Nicky. Thank god. He was almost glad 
that she could appear and disappear at will where ever she 
chose.

      "No, no doubts at all. Just..." He gestured briefly to 
the car keys. 

      Nicky grimaced. "When did you need to meet Kaori?"

      Kevin looked at his wristwatch. "I still have an hour. 
Besides my hair still needs to dry." He snatched a hair tie 
off his dresser, and pulled his hair back into its customary 
low ponytail. "Hey, where have you been anyway? I've been at 
my wits' end trying to pick out clothing!"

      Nicky waved one hand, basically indicating that she 
wasn't going to tell him. "Oh, here and there. Nothing to 
concern you, my pretty friend. Anyway, I'll give you a 
driving 101, if you would be so kind as to meet me in the 
garage in two minutes." Nicky disappeared into her signature 
puff of smoke. He stuffed the money his father had given 
him, along with the credit card, into his wallet, and was 
happy to see his California Driver's License still safely 
tucked inside his wallet as well. He had known how to drive. 
'He' had done it once; he could do it again. Just like if he 
really tried, he probably still perform most of Hiten 
Mitsurugi Ryu's special moves, with the exception of the 
ougi of course.  Scooping up the car keys, he went to meet 
Nicky in the garage. 

     He spent a mere ten minutes remembering how to shift, 
and use the clutch properly. Another ten getting used to 
being on, what was for him, the passenger side of the car. 
And yet another ten getting used to driving on the wrong 
side of the road. But it only took him a few minutes to 
figure out how the stereo worked (His dad had a CD player in 
the dash. He was glad he remembered to grab a few CDs before 
leaving the house) Nicky merely patted him on the back, gave 
him a good luck hug, and disappeared again. He wanted to get 
to Kaori's early. He pulled up to the old dojo fifteen 
minutes early, his speakers blaring Erasure, and he felt on 
top of the world.

~*~*~
* For all you Non-Gothic people, Daljeet used to be a huge 
Gothic clothing store in San Francisco. They seemed to 
specialize in patent leather. Think of it as a designer 
brand of Gothic/Mod/Dark Wave people. Just as expensive too. 
*sighs, remembering her own pair of Daljeet creepers*


~*~*~
Chapter 7


You spin me right round, baby, right around 
Like a record baby, right round, round, round

Dead or Alive 
You Spin Me Round, 


     Kevin wasn't the only one who had trouble sleeping that 
night.  Kaori also lay awake, her eyes focused intently on 
the ceiling. However, unlike Kevin, who was simply nervous, 
Kaori was experiencing full on panic. 

     Although she was safe, in her parent's house, in her 
own room, in her own bed, she couldn't help but feel 
terrified. What if what happened before, happened again? She 
thought. She carefully reminded herself that what HAD 
happened, had not been on their first date. It had happened 
after she had broke up with Shiro. And besides, Kevin didn't 
seem like the violent type...

     There were a few things about Kevin that did scare her. 
First, he had long hair, like Shiro, and he wore it in a 
ponytail, only Shiro had worn it up higher. And Kevin's hair 
didn't look sharp like Shiro's had. Anything that reminded 
her of Shiro at all made her edgy. 

     The other thing that scared her was that eerie sense of 
familiarity she got whenever she saw Kevin.  The fact that 
the redheaded man in her dreams looked just like him... she 
shivered involuntarily. She also felt strange whenever she 
walked past the sword in the dojo now.  She had made the 
mistake of asking her father who that sword had belonged to. 
She felt she had to confirm her dream, and yet it scared 
her.

     And her father HAD confirmed it. He had known the story 
from family history, as well as history books. It turned out 
that the sweet looking red-headed man had been a famous 
assassin on the side of the Ishin Shishi during Bakumatsu, 
THE most famous assassin of that war in fact, Hitokiri 
Battousai. That was were recorded history stopped and family 
legend started. The man's true name had been Himura Kenshin, 
just as her dream had said. She had discovered from her 
father that after the war, he felt so bad about all the life 
he had taken that he'd given up his katana for a Sakabatou; 
that backwards bladed sword in the dojo; and had sworn never 
to kill again. He'd wandered for ten years, before meeting 
and saving the owner of the dojo at the time, Kamiya Kaoru. 
She had asked him to stay and he had. 

     During his two year stay at the dojo, they seemed to 
collect vagabonds- first, Myoujin Yahiko, her great great 
grandfather, who had been all of ten years old, and working 
for the local Yakuza. Then a streetfigher type, named Sagara 
Sanosuke, and Megumi Takani, who turned out to be from a 
family famous for their medical skills; Megumi had been no 
exception.  When they found her, she had been making Opium 
for another local Yakuza branch.

     Then, suddenly, one day, Himura Kenshin had just died 
in his sleep. No particular reason could be found- he hadn't 
been poisoned, and there were no signs of struggle or 
violence. In fact, he had died with a smile on his face.

     Kamiya Kaoru had been hopelessly in love with him, 
regardless of the age difference, and after that she had 
lived to teach, never married, and died without an heir. She 
left the dojo to Yahiko, who had always been her best 
student, and his wife Tsubame, and the rest, as they say, is 
history. 

     And even stranger, now that she thought about it, she 
had known all that, without ever asking. Confirmation was 
what she had wanted, and that was what she had gotten. The 
fact that Kevin looked exactly like Kenshin had, simply 
without the scar, and had known precisely how to use that 
shinai the moment he'd picked it up made her think. Now if, 
in theory, there was a connection, as Kevin had handled the 
shinai like he was used to something heavier, that something 
heavier would be a sword. More specifically, a Katana, or 
perhaps even the Sakabatou.

    Kaori mentally shook herself. Things like that NEVER 
happen in real life. She was just being overly romantic and 
paranoid, and combine that with lack of sleep, and a minor 
blow to the head, no wonder she was thinking strange things. 
What mattered was she had a date with this strange and 
gorgeous boy tomorrow night. What mattered was that her fear 
was completely out of habit, and yet she KNEW with a 
certainty, that her fear was completely unwarranted. If in 
fact, he had some connection to the ex-assassin who had once 
lived in her home, so long ago, she should feel completely 
safe, for if her second suspicion was correct, she had been 
Kamiya Kaoru. Kenshin had once sworn to protect Kaoru, and 
keep her from worrying about him. 

     If all this WAS true, who else could she have been? How 
else would she know these things? And if Kaoru had died 
still in love with Kenshin, wouldn't that explain her 
instant attraction to Kevin? 

     In the dark of her room, Kaori giggled softly. She was 
indeed a hopeless romantic. Lovers separated by death and 
reunited in the next life. It was almost cheesy. However all 
this what if-ing had calmed her down considerably. Thinking 
that Kevin had been Kenshin, no matter how improbable that 
might be, took all her panic and nervousness away. Making 
her resolve firm, she decided two things; first, she would 
have fun on that date tomorrow. Second, she was going to go 
to sleep RIGHT NOW.

~*~*~

      She spent her whole school day completely zoned out. 
Time and people passed by her without her knowledge. Once or 
twice, she had looked Kevin's way, and he had smiled, and 
nodded to her. 

	Of course none of this escaped the other girls in the 
classroom. They all glared at her back, and although she 
felt it, she staunchly ignored them. To her, most of her 
female classmates were weak and simpering. It would make her 
life easier if they liked her, but she didn't particularly 
mind that they didn't either. She suspected now, that it was 
her strange appeal to her male peers, (she didn't understand 
it either) that made them hate her. So, because she knew 
that she couldn't change anyone's minds, whether they be 
male of female, she just ignored them.  What else could she 
do?

	Other then that, school passed quickly, and 
uneventfully. She had put up a notice earlier this morning 
that Kendo practice was canceled. After school, as she 
walked out the gate, she watched Kevin haul ass (that was 
the only way she could describe it) down the street in what 
she assumed was the direction of his house. She giggled to 
herself as she watched him and his cloud of dust disappear, 
and thought that she had been giggling a lot lately. Shaking 
her head in self-annoyance, a wry smile graced her mouth. 
She wasn't about to let herself become a simpering female, a 
quality she disliked in anyone, especially herself.

	She walked home at a comfortable pace. When she got 
there, she sat down and ate a few crackers and had a glass 
of iced tea. She relaxed for a bit, then glanced at the 
kitchen wall clock- 5:00PM. She padded up the stairs, and 
into her bathroom, stopping briefly to snatch her bathrobe 
off her inside doorknob. Turning on the tap, she ran herself 
a hot bath, and poured a bit of a scented oil into her bath 
water. Relaxing completely in the hot aromatic water, she 
let go of the last of her nervousness with the help of a 
long history in meditation. 

	After her soak, she toweled off, and headed back in 
her bedroom. Kevin hadn't said if they were going somewhere 
nice or not. She hoped they were, because she planed to 
dress nice; in fact she was going to wear the only dress she 
owned. She had bought it along time ago to wear to a Senior 
dance with Shiro that they had never gone to. It was a black 
satin affair, but not too short nor too skimpy. It had wide 
shoulder straps and a moderate square cut neckline. It fell 
to just above her knee, and was cut to be form fitting, and 
yet concealing at the same time. It had a small slit up one 
side of the skirt, but neither did the slit go up very high, 
it just enough to keep the skirt from impeding her walking.

	However, she had grown since she had bought it two 
years ago, and both her bust and her hips were larger, 
making a not-so-skimpy dress look a little slinkier then it 
should have been. However the effect was not unpleasing; it 
still appeared to be rather modest. If anything it 
complemented her figure more, and made her waist look tiny.  

	And now to accessorize! She threw a black cardigan 
over her dress and left it unbuttoned, with the addition of 
a pair of small silver hoop earrings, and a short silver 
necklace, she completed her outfit. Simple yet classy. 
Perfect. Pulling her hair up high on her head, she tied a 
long, wide black ribbon in it, and let the ends trail into 
her hair. 

      Kaori was putting the finishing touches on her hair, 
when she heard a car pull up. She glanced out the window, 
and got a bit of a shock. She watched Kevin step out of a 
car, and a rather nice one at that, and start up the path to 
the house's front door. Kevin's family could afford that 
car? She winced a little as she thought how much that fancy 
little Honda he was driving had cost. That Kevin even knew 
how to drive...

      She hurriedly applied a bit of gloss to her lips, and 
checked her reflection again. Perfect. Just then the 
doorbell chimed. She padded down the stairs, to find her 
poor mother gapping at Kevin. She didn't blame her. Kevin 
looked like something out of an American movie, to be sure. 
Although his suit was all of a modern cut, he still looked 
terribly old fashioned, and yet...She tore her eyes away, 
and looked at her mother, who was still gaping. Kaori only 
shook her head, grabbed her coat, and sat down to fasten on 
her heels. 

      They were about to step out the door when her mother 
recovered herself. "Stop right there! I need pictures!" She 
scurried down the hall and returned a few moments later with 
a camera. After arranging the poor couple till they were 
practically hanging on each other, she snapped a picture and 
scurried off once again. Kevin could only shake his head. 

      "What is it with parents today?" He whispered loud 
enough for Kaori to hear. 

      "Yours too?" She thought that just her parents were 
going batty today.

      Kevin nodded earnestly. "Oh yeah. When mom told dad 
that I had a date, suddenly I had car keys and a credit card 
in my hand." He shook his head. "And now you see, my mother 
has me dressed up like a vampire."

      "It looks great." Kaori said helplessly, now a little 
worried. He was right, he did look downright vampiric. That 
scared her just a little.

      "You look better." He immediately shot back. It was 
true- she didn't need the fancy clothes to look beautiful. 
She'd look gorgeous in a burlap sack, naked, or in Versace. 
It just didn't matter. 

       A faint blush had stained across Kaori's cheekbones. 
Although she knew he was trying to stifle it, Kevin had a 
"Forget dinner, can I have you instead?" sort of look in his 
eyes. Although it made her nervous again, it also made her 
insides jumble pleasantly and feel warm in just the right 
places. Kevin was certainly a vision himself. He exuded 
glamour, as incense gave off smoke. Although he was not very 
tall, all the black made him seem so; combined with his 
natural slenderness, and his posture... well it wasn't 
helping her jumbling insides at all. He was fairly broad-
shouldered, and the cut of his jacket even made him seem 
more so, and he stood with his hips pressed forward, hands 
in pockets. All of that, added to his brilliantly glossy red 
hair, and deep purple eyes...she felt like she was dating 
some kind of model or movie star.

      She must have been silent for quite a while, or 
perhaps she was starring something awful, but briefly he 
looked confused. "Kaori-san, is something wrong?" He asked, 
the now familiar expression of worry etching itself onto his 
face, making his eyebrows draw together, and the skin around 
his eyes pucker slightly. 

      She gave herself a mental kick in the butt, before 
replying "No, nothing is wrong at all!" She punctuated that 
statement with a brilliant smile; "Well, I think my mother 
is done fawning over us, shall we get going before she 
decides she wants more pictures?"

      This instantly wiped the worry of Kevin's face, and he 
gave a low chuckle. "Good idea. Hey, turns out while I was 
getting dressed my mother made reservations at some Italian 
restaurant called Biba's. Have you heard of it? Do you know 
where it is, because I sure don't."

      A surprised gasp escaped Kaori's lips. "Reservations 
at Biba's? I wonder how she managed to do that! That's one 
of the most expensive restaurants in town, and it's ALWAYS 
packed. And, yeah, I know where it is. Let's go before they 
give our table away."

      "They wouldn't really do that would they?" Worry 
worked its way back into Kevin voice and face. 

      "They've done it before; they did it to my parent's on 
their anniversary." 

      "Then we are leaving NOW." Kevin gently took hold of 
Kaori's arm, and steered her out the door.  Upon reaching 
the car, he opened the door for her, and held it until all 
her limbs were safely tucked inside. After climbing inside 
himself, he looked over to find Kaori shifting nervously. "A 
bit like a cockpit, isn't it?" he asked with a grin. "Please 
keep hands and feet inside the vehicle until we have to come 
a complete stop. Thank you and enjoy your ride." He said 
jokingly in his best announcer-esque voice. Kaori put a hand 
over her face and tried to stifle a giggle. It didn't work. 

      The car came to life as soon as he turned the key in 
the ignition. Since this was a sporty car, Kaori had 
expected it to roar to life with all the ferocity of a 
hungry lion. Instead it was very quiet; in fact it purred 
very softly. Kevin punched a button on the dash and music 
blared into the small car. He quickly turned down the 
volume; he didn't want to deafen her. 

      On the way to the restaurant, Kevin amused her by 
trying to sing the lyrics from his Erasure CD in Japanese; 
he failed miserably, not in translation, but in making the 
words fit. Knowing he sounded ridiculous, he switched back 
to English. According to her, she understood English just 
fine, and had been one of her favorite subjects in school. 
And so he picked a song in particular:

"Angel made in Heaven,
Oh, my one and true love,
Give me some of that action, reaction
Angel made in Heaven
Only one and true love, 
Gimme some of that action!"*  

      Kaori understood the content of the song perfectly. 
She wondered if he had picked this one out to get a message 
across.

"Arrow in my heart, we were meant to be
I knew it was my name you were calling
Celebration: now your standing next to me
Show love and emotion, I'm falling!"

      She chose to ignore that verse, and everything it 
could have meant. Now she wasn't sure if she was being a 
hopeless romantic, or just being paranoid. If she wasn't 
reading meaning into things that weren't there, why would he 
want her to love him? Unless...

      Unless her suspicions were correct. She couldn't think 
about it anymore now, however. They had pulled up in front 
of the restraunt, and Kevin was stepping out, and was 
handing a liveried valet his keys. Yes, there was plenty of 
time to think about this later. Right now, she had promised 
herself she'd have fun, and she was going to keep that 
promise.


~*~*~
Chapter 8


"I don't want to start any blasphemous rumours,
But I think that God's got a sick sense of humour,
And when I die, I expect to find him laughing."

Depche Mode, "Blasphemous Rumours"



     "Nicky."

	Nicky shifted in her regenerative state. She had tired 
herself out earlier when she had re-taught Kevin to drive. 

	"Nicky! Wake up!" the voice came, far more insistent 
this time.

	One eye opened drowsily to find an annoyed heavenly 
ruler standing over her. Bounding to her feet, she 
straitened her clothes and checked to see that she was 
properly materialized. 

	The being nodded sharply. "That's better. You haven't 
reported to me once since you started this mission. I 
shouldn't have to come find you myself. Report. NOW."

	Nicky snapped her heels together and saluted smartly, 
her skirt swishing around her legs with the quick movement. 
"Yes, your Majesty!! My mission objective was to help Himura 
Kenshin, in his reincarnated state as Kevin Hannah, to find 
the reincarnated Kamiya Kaoru, thought and confirmed to 
Myoujin Kaori, and fulfill his wish to be with her 
romantically. The purpose of his wish was for there to be a 
more peaceful time and place where their relationship would 
not be interrupted."

	"My current mission status is as follows," Nicky 
continued formally, "Kevin is out on a date with Kaori, and 
appears to be doing fine in the modern world. Something that 
was not part of his wish, but was an added bonus was his age 
reduction to one nearly Kaori's own. I believe it makes him 
more comfortable around her."

	The heavenly ruler nodded slowly. "So everything is 
working out perfectly for him then?"

	"Yes, Your Highness. He is adapting fine. That is the 
end of my report." 

	The attractive androgynous face of the being that 
ruled Heaven twisted into frightenly evil smile. "Good. Time 
to throw a kink in the plot. I can't let him have it that 
easy."

	Nicky felt shock take her. "But...I thought you were 
going to give him a break!" Her hands balled into fists, 
fingernails digging painfully into her palms. "I thought he 
was one of your favorites!" 

	The smile on God's face only widened and it shrugged 
its shoulders. "So I lied. And he's one of my favorites to 
PLAY with. You've worked for me for a long time Nicky, you 
should know me better by now."

	Closing her eyes tightly, she tried to press back the 
tears. She had worked so hard to make sure nothing went 
wrong this time. For once she had managed to do her job 
perfectly. However, she understood the nature of things now. 
God did not care if she actually completed her mission. It 
only wanted to watch the troubles she and her human charges 
suffered as they tried! Despite her best efforts, the hot 
tears poured down her cheeks. Poor Kevin. And he was so 
happy! He deserved it! Nicky took a deep gulping breath to 
calm herself, her large green eyes seeming all the larger 
magnified by tears, and after a moment she spoke.

	"With all due respect Your Majesty, I believe that you 
should take pity on him, and let him rest and enjoy himself 
for a lifetime." Nicky's head was inclined. She was really 
pushing her luck now. 

	God's eyes narrowed sharply. "If I cared what you, a 
simple heavenly guide, thought of how I go about my 
business, I would have had you appointed to the Council long 
ago. Remember your place!"

	Nicky raised her head and matched God's hard stare. 
"Forgive me, Your Highness. I've overstepped." She tried to 
keep the sarcasm from dripping off her words, but still a 
hint remained. "May I ask what you have in store for him, 
that I may prepare more sufficiently?" 

	She heard God scoff, and raised her head again. "Of 
course not. It won't very interesting to watch if you are 
prepared." With a curt wave of it's hand, God banished Nicky 
back to her earthly state.    

~*~*~

	All he could do was watch intently as she picked 
through her food. Even the way she pushed the food around on 
her plate...And so he stared, his own plate of pollo 
marsala* forgotten long ago. 

	Kaori wasn't really eating either. She was literally 
pushing her food from one side of the plate to the other. 
How could she possibly eat when Kevin was staring at her 
THAT WAY?? At school he was okay, because he had to wear 
that same all consuming uniform that all the other boys did. 
School uniforms are never flattering. However, now seeing 
him outside of school, he dressed and carried himself 
completely different. And he always stood hands in pockets, 
his hips pressed forward, causing his back to bow in such a 
way... She mentally shook herself. Her insides hadn't 
stopped their gymnastics either. In fact they must be 
getting a really good workout, because she was warm, almost 
sweating. She knew very well what this feeling was; it had 
been there with Shiro, but was so very pitifully small 
compared to this. 

	Kevin had leaned forward, elbows on the table, his 
hands forming a bridge to support his chin. "You've stopped 
eating."

	Kaori jumped, and couldn't stifle her nervous 
laughter. "Well of course I've stopped eating! You're 
staring at me! And your not eating either."

      A tiny grin sneaked onto Kevin's face. "I'm not 
staring. I am admiring. If you want me to, I'll quit." A 
hint of something he wasn't aware of had sneaked into his 
voice, but Kaori picked it up clearly.

	"You are staring!" Kaori insisted. "Your eyes say 
you'd rather have ME for dinner then your food!" She wasn't 
sure she was comfortable with where this was going. She was 
far too attracted to this boy for her own safety, and 
obviously the feeling was more then mutual. 

	Instantly, his eyes changed, from the warmth that was 
making her squirm in her chair, to sadness. The purple, 
which had acquired an alarming pink tinge in the last half-
hour, became a deep blue, as the pink tinge left them. His 
head lowered, and cocked to the side, allowing her nothing 
but the view of an eyelid, and eyelashes. "I'm sorry. I've 
made you uncomfortable..." He flagged the nearest waiter, 
and flashed his father's credit card, calling for his check. 

	He kept forgetting that this wasn't Kaoru in front of 
him. Well it was her, but it wasn't. This person had had 
something awful happen to her at the hands of someone she 
had loved. But persons' Ki could only tell you so much. 
Currently it was telling him things he was sure she wouldn't 
want him to know.  She was fairly glowing with sexual 
energy, and she was obviously uncomfortable with the 
feeling. He understood, because if bad stuff went down with 
her ex, then of course she would be uncomfortable. All he 
could do was mentally kick himself, and apologize. Sometimes 
he wished that THAT ability had stayed gone.

	Although...he wasn't quite used to this kind of 
tension either. After he'd gone on his journey, part of his 
penance had been abstinence. So when Kaoru had flirted, he'd 
ignored it. He sighed as they brought him the check, and he 
tucked the card inside, and the waiter went to scan it. He 
looked back up at Kaori then, to find her eyes shining with 
tears. 

	"Oh no..." he reached forward across the table to take 
one of her hands. "Please, don't feel like you've done 
anything wrong! You haven't. I've made you uncomfortable, so 
it's my fault." Something about this only made the tears 
rise faster and they now threatened to spill over.

	How could anyone be so nice? He had to be the sweetest 
person she'd ever met. He said it was his fault when it 
wasn't. It was all her. She shouldn't be uncomfortable, 
after so long. Perhaps it wasn't the feeling itself, just 
it's intensity? That was something she'd just have to figure 
out.  But she wasn't going to let herself cry in the 
restaurant. She'd wait until they left...or at least she was 
going to try. 

	He'd gotten his dad's credit card back, and now they 
could leave. He offered Kaori his hand, and she stood up, 
and let him lead her out of the restaurant. The valet 
retrieved the car, and he made a quick survey for new dents; 
his dad would kill him if there were. Luckily there were 
none, so they could leave. Once in the car, he turned the 
music back on, but quietly, and put in something less bouncy 
then Erasure. He figured London Suede would fit the mood 
better. 

	She seemed to be calming down a little, but he didn't 
want to risk it. He pulled the Prelude into a fairly empty 
parking lot, and parked the car under a light. 

	Kevin turned in his seat to look at her. "Do you want 
to talk about it?" He asked gently. 

	Shaking her head, Kaori whispered, "I don't think I 
could explain it to you. It's strange..."She paused for a 
moment, searching for the words. Telling him of her odd 
theory was out of the question, as was talking about Shiro. 
"Part of it DOES have to do with...what happened last time. 
But...I feel like I've met you before. Like I've known you 
for a long, long time. That's what confuses me most." 

      A little bit of shock followed by a lot of elation 
filtered through Kevin's brain as her words sunk in. That 
was definitely a good start! Maybe in time, she would 
remember WHERE she knew him from. When or if she did... 
everything would be perfect.  

      Kaori glanced up then, to see what Kevin's face could 
tell her. He looked strangely happy at what she had said. 
Perhaps he felt it too? No...that would be too weird...and 
further confirm her odd theory of reincarnation.

      But did she really want it to be confirmed? It was one 
thing to find out her dreams were in fact events, but to 
really discover that by chance you are dating a person you 
loved in a previous life...that would point to order in the 
universe that just couldn't be there. Perhaps she had 
developed a bad case of pessimism since Shiro, but people 
just DON'T get that lucky.

      But, what if they did? Was it really so hard to 
believe? She looked back up at Kevin, his concerned face 
looking at her, waiting patiently for her to continue her 
explanation. They were so comfortable with each other; it 
almost felt like they had been together for a long time. 
Kevin was certainly different from most guys. Anyone else 
would have taken her home and never talked to her again, if 
she had started crying in a restaurant like that. The next 
morning everyone in school everyone would know how 'weird' 
she was.  Instead, he had taken her somewhere quiet, and 
asked if she wanted to talk about it. 

      Quite suddenly, she realized something. She WANTED it 
to be true. She wanted to believe that something out there, 
whether it was God or whatever anyone wanted to call it, 
could be kind enough to give the love of her life back to 
her. She glanced up at Kevin again. The love of her life? 
Kenshin had been the love of Kaoru's life. And she wanted to 
believe, so she would believe. 

      "Kaori-san...Are you okay?" She had been silent for a 
long time, as if lost deeply in thought. Every once in a 
while she'd look up at him and smile just a little bit, like 
she was remembering something from a long time ago. It took 
a while for his question to reach her. She looked up and 
smiled again.

      "Yeah. I'm okay. I may be better off now then I've 
ever been. " Her smile widened as she spoke. "I was 
wondering...I hope I don't sound dumb...but do you believe 
in fate?"

~*~*~

      Kevin parked the Prelude in his garage, and sat back 
in the cockpit style seat. When she had smiled at him and 
asked him if he believed in fate, his heart had nearly 
stopped. He almost couldn't breath. She hadn't explained the 
elusive comment, but he had a feeling parts of Kaoru were 
coming back to her. They were probably only vague 
impressions of half-forgotten feelings, but it seemed to be 
enough. They didn't end up going to a movie, but had sat in 
the car and talked for an hour and a half.  

      Their date hadn't been what he'd expected, but he felt 
that it had turned out BETTER. When he'd dropped her off, 
he'd gotten out to open the car door for her, and walked her 
to the gate that still lined the yards of the old dojo. 

      "Do you mind if I kiss you goodnight?" He'd asked, 
knowing very well that it might not be okay; he still had no 
idea what had happened with her ex, in fact she wouldn't 
even say his name out loud. That subject had been completely 
avoided during their talk in the car. 

      She'd blushed darkly, and in the glaring light of the 
street lamp he could see her nose and her cheekbones stained 
a vivid shade of pink. He almost thought she was going to 
say no, but after a moment she nodded her assent.

      Once again, he'd felt his heart skip, and his 
breathing halt. Not even daring to put his arms around her, 
although he would desperately love to do so, he'd merely 
taken her hands and pressed a soft, chaste kiss to her 
mouth, only lingering slightly. After a whispered goodnight, 
he watched her walk inside, before climbing into the car, 
and driving home.

      He heaved a contented sigh, and pulled the keys out of 
the ignition. He locked up the car, and went in through the 
door that led into the kitchen, to find both his mother and 
father waiting up for him.

      He proudly held out the car keys to his father. "No 
dents!" he proclaimed happily. "I told the valet that I 
would kill him if there were any." His father nodded, and 
took the keys from him. 

      "Kevin." his mother said seriously. "How did it go?"

      "Perfect. Great. Better then perfect." Heaving yet 
another contented sigh, he fell into one of the kitchen 
table chairs. 

      "Did ya kiss her?" His parents said in unison as they 
leaned forward over the table expectantly. 

      Kevin drew himself up, and tried to look insulted, but 
couldn't pull it off. He was secretly too proud of himself 
for it to work. "Maybe."  Was all he said, shooting his 
parents a sidelong glance through narrowed eyes.  

      His parents smiled at each other. "He kissed her." His 
dad said though a large grin.

      "He certainly did." His mother replied through an 
equally large grin.  All of a sudden though, she went 
serious. "Kevin we have a piece of news for you."

      He perked up again. News? That didn't sound good. 
"What kind of news?" He asked, worry creeping into his 
voice. 

      His parents shot each other unreadable glances, before 
his mother continued. "That depends. Remember that tall guy 
with the brown hair you were dating when we moved? He called 
tonight. He's coming with his father on a business trip over 
here. He said he wanted to see you while he was here."

      Kevin felt his night go from wonderful to horrid in 
two seconds flat.  This was a part of "Kevin's" memories 
that he hadn't paid attention to. It seemed he'd overlooked 
something quite important. How was he going to explain 
-this- to Kaori? He could only hope she was liberal.

      Silent, he left the kitchen table, and headed up the 
stairs. His parents watched him disappear with worried looks 
etched into both their faces. 

      "Do you think now is a bad time to ask for my credit 
card back?" His father whispered. 

      Jenice could only look at her husband in amazement. 
"Yes. I think this is a very bad time. Ask for it in the 
morning. I don't think I should have given that boy our 
address. Oh well, it's too late now."

~*~*~

	Kevin wandered up the stairs to his bedroom in a daze. 
"That boy I was dating..." he said quietly to himself, as he 
opened his bedroom door. He was too shocked even to panic. 

	He stepped into his bedroom to find a bawling Nicky 
sitting on his bed. Momentarily forgetting his own problem, 
he tired to understand Nicky through her hiccups.

	"Kevin!" She exclaimed. "I have some *hiccup* bad 
news. God called me in for a report. *hiccup* When it heard 
how well you were doing, *hiccup* it decided it was time to 
play with your life again! I tried to talk it out of it, but 
it wouldn't listen to me! I'm so sorry, I tried, I really 
did!"

	Oh. Well that explained things, now didn't it? 

~*~*~
Author's Notes: I wanted to apologize for taking so long to 
write this chapter. I also wanted to thank Miyu for 
flattering me, and Sakka-chan for curing my writer's block. 
Even more thanks to Miss Led; she is a big part of why this 
is readable ^_^


~*~*~

Chapter 9
 
"How can I explain,
When there are few words I can choose?
How can I explain,
When words get broken?
Erasure, Chains of Love
 
      A tall boy, very obviously foreign to the 
neighborhood, and in fact, the country, stood calmly outside 
the high school gates. Female students looked at him for a 
moment in awe, before scurrying away, suddenly frightened. 

      Until you looked at him closely, this boy seemed much 
older then his 18 years, much older indeed. It was 
impossible to tell if it was from the hard-bitten 
experiences of a childhood gone awry, or if that was simply 
the way he was.

      He was very tall, easily over 6 feet, his spiky hair a 
shiny dark brown, except for the long bits that fell over 
his forehead and into his eyes. Those had been bleached to a 
very contrasting white. The rest of his hair had been ratted 
out, and coated in hairspray until it stood up nearly 
strait. His clothing was just as outrageous as his height 
and his hair. He wore a pair of black riding breeches, the 
kind that ballooned out on the side, and over them was a 
pair of knee-high black boots that had been strait-laced 
skin-tight. The domed toe announced a steal plate hidden 
under the thick leather. Thick creamy lace was sewn to the 
cuffs and collar of his poet shirt, and from his neck and 
wrists jingled the distinctive presence of a bondage collar, 
and matching bracelets. 

     The high school students walking past him on their way 
home could only stare. The closest thing to this they had 
seen was a J-rocker, but this boy lacked the 
shiny/glitteryness they tended to have. 

     The boy finally noticed the crowd of curious students 
gathering a respectful distance from him. Through his hair, 
they all saw his eyes slide their way, and his gaze held the 
thinly veiled threat of violence. The crowd scattered 
quickly, and no one stopped to stare after that.
 
~*~*~
 
     Kevin felt a disgusting amount of pride as he and Kaori 
walked through the halls to the exit. As they left the 
classroom, she's taken his hand, and smiled. He been shocked 
for a moment; he'd thought she wouldn't want anyone to know, 
especially all the boys she'd turned down. He was happy to 
see he'd been wrong. 

     He simply couldn't believe his luck. It had almost been 
too easy. And now as they walked down the hall, many angry 
and envious stares beat against their backs. Sometimes he 
was glad that he had gotten back some of his ki reading 
ability; like now, there was no fighting ki floating around. 
Just envy. And other times, like their date, he just didn't 
need to know. 

     They walked out the large double doors that led to the 
huge expanse of lawn that graced the front of the school. As 
they stepped out, almost on cue, a tall boy stepped from 
behind the high plaster wall that lined the lawn, and in 
through the gates. 

     Panic stitched itself in Kevin's stomach, and crawled 
through his veins, making his body go numb, and begin to 
tingle. *HIM* That spiky brown hair was unmistakable, and if 
not that, the slanted brown eyes, even lined in kohl, 
certainly were. Currently, they were narrowed dangerously at 
the girl on his arm.

     The recognition had hit him on two levels. The part of 
him that was Kenshin still recognized the exterior to be 
that of Sanosuke, while Kevin saw only an ex-boyfriend he 
had never expected to see again. 

     Kaori felt Kevin stop. It was so sudden she almost 
didn't stop walking. She also felt Kevin self-consciously 
pull his hand out of hers. Shock was quickly replaced by a 
deep hurt she couldn't explain. As if something she had 
worked very hard for was being cheerfully taken away. She 
felt that withdrawal as easily as she handled her bokken. 

     That was when Kaori noticed the tall boy standing far 
down the path to the gate. A strange looking character 
indeed, his clothing so foreign as to be unplaceable to her. 
His glossy brown hair stood on end as if he had put his hand 
in an electric socket. And yet...somehow, he looked 
familiar, similar to how Kevin had looked familiar to her, 
only there was a different sentiment attached to this one. 
The actual boy in front of her sparked a touch of fear, but 
the feeling his memory gave her was one of long friendship, 
and protection. The memory told her not to worry; the boy in 
front of her told her to run. 

     She looked from the tall boy back to Kevin. His face 
showed a panic she'd never expected. Did this tall boy come 
to hurt him? Kevin was fairly small and slender. He didn't 
look like he would do well in a fight with someone that 
large.

*He won last time, why should this be different?*

     Damn! She was hearing those voices again! She still 
didn't know what they were, or what part of her brain they 
came from, but so far they had never lied to her.

     Striding confidently down the path, the tall brown 
haired boy came towards them, and he came to a stop some ten 
feet from them. 

     "So Kevin, who's your bitch?" Kaori didn't recognize 
the English word bitch, but Kevin's eyes and face hardened 
to that of a stone figure. She knew from the rest of the 
sentence that he was referring to her, and from the look on 
Kevin's face, the word must have been something derogatory. 

     "My parents told me you were coming. I hoped they had 
lied to me. You haven't changed at all have you? But then I 
haven't been gone very long either." Kevin ground out the 
English words; his teeth bared in what would almost be a 
feral snarl. Kaori had never seen Kevin like this, had never 
thought his face could become so frightening. 

*--But when he was angry, his eyes became the most chilling 
yellow...*

     After her brain's last wayward interjection, she 
couldn't help but look over, and wonder if Kevin's eyes had 
indeed turned yellow. She had seen them change color before. 
After looking, she quickly turned her head back, and looked 
at the concrete with a great deal of interest. Perhaps her 
imagination was overactive but she could swear she could 
almost see the yellow-gold flecks gathering and multiplying 
in his normally purple irises.

     Kevin tore his eyes away from the tall boy, and back to 
his new girlfriend. He could sense the confusion and fright 
wafting off her. He took one of her hands again, and with 
his other, he raised her chin so she would meet his eyes. 
For some reason, she was studying the concrete with great 
intensity. 

     "Kaori...look at me." He had switched back to Japanese. 
She looked back up, her gaze tentatively touching his. "This 
is someone who I used to know from where I used to live. I 
don't have time to explain the details to you now, but he is 
angry with me. I would feel better if you left for now, and 
I will explain things to you later. Also, before you go, can 
I borrow your bokken?"

     "My bokken?" Kaori hesitantly touched her favorite 
practice bokken where stuck out of her school bag at a 
jaunted angle. She preferred her own bokken to the shinai 
the school provided, so she carried it to and from school on 
practice days. "What do you need my bokken for?"

     Kevin choose his words carefully, not certain of what 
was going to happen once she left. "I was thinking I should 
get some extra practice in. Is it okay? I'll give it back 
tomorrow, I promise." He tried to smile reassuringly, but 
she probably knew that his smile was forced. 

     That smile is sooooo FAKE, Kaori thought, eyeing 
Kevin's face with trepidation. What he had said wasn't 
exactly a lie, but nor was it the truth. But it was a fact, 
either way. 

     "Fine. A sword is for protection. Remember that, okay?" 
She pushed the old wooden practice sword into his hand and 
then quickly kissed the hand that still held her other. With 
that she ran past him, and then past the tall boy, and out 
the gate. 
 
~*~*~
 
      Kevin watched Kaori sprint out the gateway, and then 
turned back to the tall boy. 

      "Samuel Sanguinetti, I am NOT happy with you." Kevin 
eyed the other boy's tall frame as he shrugged his massive 
shoulders. "And she is not my 'bitch'. She is my girlfriend."

      Sam stepped forward to where Kevin stood, and poked 
the shorter boy in the chest. "But Kevin, you don't like -
girls-, remember? And I don't recall us ever breaking up, do 
you?"

      Kevin stepped back and threw up his hands. "This is 
not the place to discuss this! Just because they are 
Japanese, doesn't mean they can't understand us, you know! 
Follow me, okay?"

      Kevin led Sam back to his house. The sat down on the 
porch, Kevin against a wooden post, Kaori's bokken resting 
against his shoulder comfortably. If it were only a little 
heavier, Kevin thought, missing his sakabattou for the first 
time since his reincarnation. He never thought he would need 
to use a sword of any kind again, wooden or otherwise, but 
everything about Sam's posture told him otherwise.

      Sam had leaned back against an opposite wooden post, 
but remained standing, his arms crossed over his chest, one 
leg crooked, and his foot on the post. "So are we going to 
talk like good little flamers? We couldn't ruin out clothes, 
now could we?" Sam bit out.

      Kevin looked up into Sam's angry face. "Perhaps you 
noticed that my significant other is now female? Whether we 
were or are gay has nothing to do with this. You say we 
never broke up? Well fine. Then I'm dumping you. I'm with 
Kaori now. I know you're not the type to stay friends with 
your ex's so maybe you should just--AAH!!" 

      "I don't like this cold politeness Kevin. You are not 
breaking up with me." Sam hauled Kevin up by his shirt 
front. Or he attempted to. He felt a blow hit his chest, to 
see Kevin 
-flying- away, and after a perfect back flip in mid air, he 
landed in a crouch several feet away on his lawn. Sam stared 
at him in amazement. The blow wasn't enough to hurt him, or 
knock him down, but he couldn't believe what his eyes told 
him he'd seen. Kevin had rebounded off his chest using his 
feet, and landed perfectly. He'd never know Kevin to be 
terribly coordinated unless he was dancing, and certainly 
not athletic to the extent necessary to perform that cute 
little stunt. But he had done it, almost as if he'd been 
doing such things for years. 

      "How...how did you do that?" Sam sputtered, taking an 
instinctive step towards Kevin. He stopped in midstride when 
he saw through the shadows that the fringe of flame colored 
hair created. Eyes that were normally a warm purple burned a 
frozen blue now. That was the only word Sam had for it. They 
burned.

      The figure in front of him stood up slowly, so that 
more then anything he appeared to -uncoil-. He couldn't 
think of the cold figure in front of him as Kevin. He had 
been warm, and almost girlish at times. Even before he'd 
gotten angry, Kevin had still been completely different from 
when he'd left California. 

      That 'Oh no, my favorite shirt! This was a Gucci too!" 
attitude was gone. The severe black slacks and high-collared 
jacket suited the remote person in front of him; it would 
not have suited Kevin at all. 

      But strangely enough, even as foreign as this person 
seemed there was something so familiar about it. He could 
remember seeing Kevin this angry once before, but he 
couldn't really remember when. Something to do with a police 
officer... Sam shook his head briskly to clear his thoughts. 

      Kevin watched the confusion march across Sam's hansome 
face. But through the confusion also showed a great amount 
of hurt. Sam probably had loved Kevin, he thought to 
himself, momentarily forgetting that he was Kevin now. How 
strange it was to think like one person, and be another! But 
now was not the time to back down.

      "Look, I'm sorry about this." Kevin's posture had 
softened considerably. After all...he could very well be 
looking at who Sano had become. "But really. I have a 
girlfriend now. You live in an entirely different 
country..."

      Sam shook his head, almost wearily. "You're not Kevin. 
You act nothing like Kevin did. That sword in your hand may 
be wooden, but you seem to know how to use it. Kevin didn't 
know how to fight; he was a dancer. You're not Kevin." Sam 
repeated as he looked up at him, pain evident in his 
chocolate brown eyes. 

      "I am Kevin." He insisted. "I am. I'm just not the one 
you're used to. Things are different now."

      A pained chuckle crossed with a sob left Sam's chest. 
"Che. I guess they are." He straitened his shoulders, pain 
evident in his posture. Part of him did remember this boy 
more fondly; part of him remembered everything about this 
boy. To part of me, Kevin thought, this boy was my lover. I 
will miss him. And I don't want him to leave so sad. 

      "Do you mind...if I kiss you goodbye?" Sam whispered, 
bringing Kevin back out of his memories. "I mean, I'm sure 
I'll never see you again, so..."

      If it will make him feel better...Kevin let that 
thought trail off in his head, as he nodded his okay. Sam 
stepped forward, and swept him up in his arms, for a moment 
only burrowing his face in Kevin's hair. Kevin had never 
remembered feeling so small; Sam was extremely tall, and now 
he could feel his feet dangling six inches off the ground. 

      It was shock when Sam kissed him. It was as if Sam was 
trying to devour something important inside of him, so that 
he could take it home with him. It was overwhelming to be 
attacked this way...but somehow pleasant....
 
~*~*~
 
      Kaori has stopped short when she saw Kevin literally 
bounce off the taller boys chest, and had been completely 
shocked when she saw him execute a back flip, and land in a 
fluid crouch some distance away. She had followed them when 
they left the school grounds. Even though something in her 
head had told her Kevin could take care of himself, she 
wanted to be there, just in case he needed her help. But 
from the litte stunt he just preformed, it seemed he was far 
more adept then she could have ever guessed, and had 
probably even been holding back during all their Kendo 
practices. Although it was obvious now that Kevin would 
indeed be fine, just as that mysterious piece of her brain 
that had taken to talking to her had said, she still wanted 
to stay. For awhile they just stood cross for each other, 
and occasionally, one of the two would make some kind of 
angry gesture. 

      Eventually though, Kevin's posture softened, and the 
taller boys' became more and more dejected. But that was all 
she could see from a little more then half a block away. 

      Eventually it seemed the Kevin had softened entirely, 
and the tall boy swept him up in a bear hug, with Kevin's 
feet dangling some six inches off the lawn. But then the 
taller boy kissed him! She watched her boyfriend slide his 
arms around another BOY'S neck, as though he didn't mind....

      Maybe he didn't? But...Scenes from another time swept 
through her head. Last time had been much worse, but at 
least it had been a girl...Kaori didn't even realize she was 
crying, until she realized that the distant forms had 
blurred to being unrecognizable. She had been right earlier 
when she had felt something slipping away...

      Without another glance, Kaori turned and ran.
 

~*~*~
Chapter 10
 
"I heard a rumour...
It was just a rumour...
I heard a rumour...
What have you done to her?"

 "Arabian Knights"
Siouxie & The Banshees
 
      Kaori ran. It was comforting to feel her muscles ache 
as they did, because it momentarily dulled the pain of what 
she had just seen. It was instinct that guided her home; her 
sight was too badly blurred by tears for it to be anything 
else.

      In a way though she was glad, she thought, as her 
speed tore her hair back from her face, that she had found 
out so quickly. It could have been worse, so much worse... A 
new layer of sobs bubbled up from the depths of her chest, 
and she wanted so badly to be at home, locked in her room, 
away from everyone...

      Not too far now....she tried to comfort herself, 
You're almost there, just another block...

      And then she was there, and with sob of relief this 
time, she slowed as she ran through the old dojo's gates. 
Still though, she hurried inside, and past her mother's 
intruding eyes, and after kicking off her shoes, she 
thundered up the stairs attempting to make no more, but no 
less, noise then she always did. She did not holler her 
customary "Okaa-san! Tadaima!" She was afraid her voice 
would shake too badly, and betray her distress. 

      None to soon, she entered her room, and closed the 
door behind her, making sure she had turned the lock. Nearly 
ripping them in her haste, she removed her school uniform, 
and dove into bed, face first. Her pillow would be her only 
comfort. Her pillow always listened, it was never rude, or 
late, and it never cheated on her...

      How was she going to look at Kevin tomorrow? She'd 
burst into tears if she saw him. All she could do was 
resolve herself to not look at him, especialy not while he 
smiled (she'd melt instantly, and she knew it) and if she 
had to, she would think of how...comfortable...he looked 
with that other boy. If she replayed that in her mind she 
could stay mad, and if she stayed mad...then she could get 
through this.

      If she stayed angry she could ignore how incredibly 
hurt she was, even though they had only been dating at week. 
But the truth was, she wanted to believe that what she had 
seen hadn't been real. She wanted to believe that all of 
yesterday had been a dream and that there was no strangely 
familiar, and extremely hansome foreigner kissing her boyfriend. 

      Former boyfriend, she added to herself almost as an 
afterthought, as she felt her eyes start to drift closed 
from all the effort such an envolved crying spree had taken. 

      And soon after, Kaori fell asleep, tears still 
trailing down her cheeks.
 

~*~*~
 

      Kevin let his gaze stray worriedly to Kaori's empty 
desk. To his knowledge, she was NEVER absent, and NEVER 
late. It went against her grain. 

      It was almost two hours into class when Kaori finaly 
showed up. Her face was a little puffy, and her eyes were 
blood-shot. Her normaly immaculate apppearance was anything 
but- her hair hadn't been brushed and had been pulled into a 
messy ponytail, when she normaly wore it down. Her school 
uniform was wrinkled, and looked like it had been thrown in 
a crumpled heap into a corner and left there.

      Kevin, for the life of him, couldn't figure out what 
could be wrong. Maybe she'd had a fight with her parents? He 
fingered her bokken where it stuck out of his schoolbag.


      He could do nothing to soothe her at present, he'd 
have to wait until lunch. He eyed her worriedly for the next 
two hours; that was all he could do.

      The moments ticked by ever so slowly, but even still 
the second hand on the clock moved. When it completed its 
circle, the minute hand jumped forward a pace. Round and 
round went the second hand, and slowly but surely, the 
minute hand followed, and even slower still, the hour hand.
Kevin contemplated the irony of his situation to no small 
degree, and although he disliked the idea, he had to admit 
the old saying was wrong:

     A watched pot DOES boil, but only when it got darned 
good and ready to do so, and this evil clock on the wall of 
his classroom seemed to have the same kind of attitude.

      But surely enough, the time did pass, even if its 
speed was far too slow for Kevin's taste. He shot out of his 
seat as though out of a cannon the instant the lunch bell 
rang. He folded his arms on the front of Kaori's desk and 
sank into a squat, peering over the edge.

      His first clue that something was really wrong was 
when she briefly looked up at him, and the instantly lowered 
her head again.

      "Kaori, what's wrong?" He inquired reaching to lift
 her chin, so he could look at her. 

      She swiped at his hand, brushing him away. She didn't 
say anything for a minute, and then said in a low whisper 
"Can I have my bokken back now, please?"

      Kevin felt something akin to dread settle in the pit 
of his stomach. He ignored the possibilty that jumped 
instantly into his brain. He'd watched her leave. And so he 
tried again, this time his eyebrows puckered together, his 
worry showing not only in his face, but also in his voice. 
"Kaori....Please. Tell me what's wrong."

      Although her eyes were hidden behind the thick curtain 
that were her bangs, Kevin thought he saw a little of the 
shiny wetness before she could manage to swipe it away with 
a quick brush of her hand. Once again she was silent; her 
breathing was deep and slow, as though she were trying to 
steady herself. 

     "Kevin." Kaori kept her voice low. She knew that this 
would already generate rumours; they were still in the 
classroom, and while some of the students had left, a 
greater portion of them had stayed. She was sure that many, 
very curious stares were being shot their way. And so she 
needed to stay calm for now. She needed to keep her voice 
steady for now. 

     "Kevin." Kaori said again, "I saw you with him. I saw 
everything."

     All his blood abrubtly dropped into his feet, and his 
body went completely numb. He must have turned an alarming 
shade of white, because now the curious looks they had been 
getting before intensefied tenfold.

     He blinked his eyes a few times to clear his sight. He 
had a sudden urge to burst into tears. He reached for her 
hand, in hopes that she would allow him to take it. She drew 
away from him, as though pulling into a shell. He left his 
hand laying on her desk, and he picthed his voice as low as 
possible to keep it from shaking as he spoke. "Please let me 
explain things to you. You don't have to forgive me, but let 
me explain. Please. You don't ever have to speak to me again 
afterwards if that's what you want." No matter how he tried, 
a note of desperation snuck into his voice. 

     At this Kaori raised her head a little, enough for him 
to see her eyes. They were puffy and blood-shot, just as 
he'd thought earlier, although now, her eyes were completely 
dry. "And what if I don't want to hear it?" she asked him 
quitely, her voice deadly calm. 

     Kevin stood up slowly, one of the joints in his knees 
protesting with a loud pop. He made his way back to his 
desk, and grabbed his book bag. Once again, he walked back 
to Kaori's desk, and pulled her bokken out of his bag, and 
laid it quietly on the hard wooden writing surface. With 
that done, he turned and walked out of the classroom. 
 

~*~*~
 
      Kaori hadn't expected Kevin to just pick up and walk 
out. She watched him march machanicaly out of the classroom, 
his gait stiff, and his face that of a stone figure, frozen 
in time and lost on a faraway island.

      Kaori had seen that look on her own face before and 
knew very well what it meant. She could almost see him 
sweeping up the remains of his shattered heart into a little 
plastic dustbin. 

      She watched the door as class resumed. Some part of 
her belived that Kevin would come back to class and she 
could apoligize for being so cruel. He hadn't lied to her. 
He hadn't denied what she had seen. He hadn't even begged 
for forgiveness; all he'd wanted was for her to listen. She 
wasn't angry with him, she realized as she stared at the 
papers on her desk. Her pride was hurt. That's why she had 
refused his request.

      A small and nearly silent gasp escaped her; how many 
people had she refused out of pride? Some of the girls of 
the school had tried to talk to her before, and she had 
snubbed them. In fact, she had snubbed almost everyone who 
wasn't part of the Kendo club. But why had she done that? 
She didn't used to be this way.

      Shiro.

      But could she blame everything on him? He may have 
been part of the reason she avoided everyone; the mental 
anguish he'd caused her had made her want to hide in the 
deepest hole, as far away from anyone else as possible. 
He'd made her feel like trash to be thrown away...

      And perhaps she had avoided deeper contact with 
everyone, just to avoid feeling that way ever again? So 
perhaps part of it was his fault.

      But it had been her -choice- not to recover from what 
happened. Her choice. Her parents had put her into threapy 
after the fact, the psychologist had always told her that he 
wanted to help her, if she let him. But she had to make a 
-choice- to recover. She hadn't made that choice. She had 
managed to convice him that she would be able to function in 
everyday life; and that was where the threapy had ended.

      Now, two years later, she understood what the 
phsychologist had meant. She would recover when she was 
ready, when she decided to stop living what had happened to 
her everyday of her life and wallowing in the remaining 
pain, because that was all she felt she had left. Now she 
knew different. All she had left had walked out of the 
classroom at lunch. And before him, she'd had nothing at 
all.
 

~*~*~
 

      Later that day, Kaori walked dejected towards the 
school gates, trying to think of some way to patch things 
up. She passed through the gates, not noticing until he was 
practicaly on top of her, that someone was waiting for her. 

      The tall boy from the day before jumped in front of 
her and gestured for her to stop. If possible, today's 
outfit was even more outrageous then the last. His chest was 
covered in a veil of fishnet, and...and...Kaori blinked not 
quite beleiving what she saw. He was wearing a long and 
rather graceful looking skirt, and over which was a curious 
belt that had long bits of thin chain strung between metal 
loops, in a decending fashion. His shoes rather alarmed her 
when she noticed them. The had a very shaply pointed toe, 
and sliver buckles going all the way up the side; she 
counted 12 in all.

     The tall boy let her stare, a grin lighting his 
features making him appear boyish. "If you're done staring 
at me, I'd like to talk to you."

     The boy's English sounded weird to her, his accent was 
thick with something she'd never heard before. She blinked a 
couple of times, processing what she had heard, and 
translating in her head. After deciding that her translation 
was accurate, she nodded slowly, not quite sure what else to 
say. 

     He waved his hand forward, gesturing for her to join 
him. "I don't bite, you know."

  
~*~*~
 

      Kaori found herself at a small coffee shop that 
cattered to foreign touists. It had a small inclosed patio 
away from the street. The tall boy bought her a soda, and 
for himself, a steaming cup of a deathly black looking brew. 

      "You know, Kevin never told me your name." The boy 
stirred his coffee while dumping sugar packet after sugar 
packet into it.

      "Kaori. Myoujin Kaori...." She took a sip of her soda, 
not sure she liked the particular one he's picked. It was 
pale green and sickly sweet.

      The boy gave her a small salute. "Nice to meet ya, 
Kaori. I'm Sam. I'm sure I'm making all kinds of cultural 
blunders, but you'll have to forgive them. I have a story to 
tell you."

      Sam paused, as if unsure of how to begin. "About a 
year ago, I met a boy who I fell comepletely in love with. 
It was very confusing to me because that person was male, 
and I didn't think that I bent that way. But that person 
helped me figure out what was important to me. He helped me 
do what I wanted to do. It's thanks to him that I have my 
job."

      "Now remember that I loved this boy with all my 
heart." Sam continued "He helped me quit speed, and helped 
me study for my GED. This boy gave and gave, never caring 
what he got in return. And then...one day his parents told 
him he had to move far away, to the otherside of the world. 
When he told me, he kissed me, gave me his phone number, and 
said goodbye."

      "I went out to visit him, to discover that he'd 
already completely forgotten about me, and had found a 
beautiful girlfriend. He and I exchanged words, and eventual 
he gave up, and explained the facts to me. He always had a 
way of making me see. So I accpeted what he said, and asked 
him if I could kiss him goodbye. I knew I'd never see him 
again, and this boy was my first love... I kissed him 
goodbye, and went back to my hotel room, not planning to 
visit him again. But today, he showed up at my hotel room, 
in tears and shaking. He told me his girlfriend had seen us 
kiss, and now she wouldn't forgive him. He wasn't sure if it 
was because I was male or just because. Tell me what you 
think of this story."

     Kaori looked at the tall boy in front of her. At first 
she hadn't realized who he was talking about, but now...This 
was Kevin's ex-boyfriend. There was nothing else he could 
be. After a few moments of silence, she said softly, "I 
don't know what to think."

      Sam looked down at the girl in front of him, her hands 
wrapped around her cup of soda, and huddled down in her 
chair. She did seem very confused. He shook his head. He 
have to spell everything out. What a trial. The things he 
did for Kevin...

      Sam put a long slim brown cigarette in his mouth, and 
flicked open his silver lighter. The tip caught, and he took 
a long deep draw off it. What a trial indeed.
 
      "Kevin loves you." He said bluntly, and Kaori looked 
up at him sharply. "He had no problems telling me goodbye. I 
know he cared for me a lot. But I don't think he loved me. 
He loves you. You two have been together, what, a week at 
most? Normaly when a boy is dumped after only a week, he 
just thinks to himself 'Ah hell, screw her anyway' and goes 
on with his life. Kevin was practicaly hysterical when I saw 
him earlier. " 

      "He...was?" Kaori ventured. It was obvious that Sam 
was very protective of Kevin.

      "I hope you didn't decide not to forgive him just 
because it was a guy he kissed?" Sam spoke, his voice 
becoming low in pitch, beginning to sound almost like a 
growl, "If you're that shallow, then he doesn't need you 
anyway. That's something else Kevin taught me. You can love 
someone regarless of what sex they are. It just doesn't 
matter. If you limit yourself that way, you could be missing 
the most important person in your life. You should love 
someone for what they are inside, regardless of their 
gender. Sex is just a result of love. Because I still love 
Kevin, I want him to be happy. And I think that he can be 
happy with you. But you need to forgive him."

      Kaori's felt her eyes go as wide a saucers. All of 
what Sam had said had struck a chord deep inside her, and 
she took it all to heart. Her vision blurred, and she 
quickly blinked the tears away. She wasn't sure why she had 
almost started crying. Taking Sam's large hand in one of her 
smaller ones, she looked him in the eye, and smiled. "Thank 
you Sam. I'll go talk to Kevin tonight." Sam colored deeply, 
and said gruffly "You're welcome. I better not have to fly 
out here again next time you guys have a fight."

      "I'm going to go now." Kaori stood up leaving her 
unfinsihed soda on the table top. "Is Kevin at his house?" 
Sam only nodded; she'd caught him while he was dragging off 
his cigarette. "I'll go over there now then!" Kaori made for 
the small gate that led from the patio back out to the 
street. 

      "Remember what I said, Miss Kaori! Don't make me come 
back out here!"
 

~*~*~
Chapter 11

"All my instincts, they return,
And the Grand Façade, so soon will burn,
Without a noise, and without my pride,
I reach out from the inside..."
Your Eyes, Peter Gabriel
 


      "Nicky, I don't know what to do!" Kevin threw his 
hands up. "If she decides never to talk to me again, doesn't 
it ruin everything?"

      Nicky was silent, staring darkly at Kevin's bedspread. 
"Yes it does. But..." Nicky paused again, shifting in her 
perch at the foot of Kevin's bed. "I have a feeling that 
this is God messing with us. It likes to watch us suffer... 
That's what it does for fun. But I don't think that it would 
end everything so quickly. It enjoys torturing you too much 
for this to be the end."

      Kevin only nodded, not quite sure of what to make of 
what Nicky had said. It was very upsetting to know that you 
were a cosmic chew-toy. But most of all, he kept seeing 
Kaori's eyes as she had looked up at him and said "And what 
if I don't want to hear it?" There had been no forgiveness 
there, absolutely no interest in listening to his side at 
all. 

      It had been a long time since he'd felt like this. 
Depression was settling inside him, taking away the feeling, 
his chest feeling more and more hollow as the minutes 
passed. Now it had developed to a cavernous emptiness. He 
felt like his ceiling looked; starkly white, blank, and 
lifeless. He rolled over, from his back to his side, and 
looked absently at his hand where it lay beside his head on 
the pillow, and thought that his hand looked like something 
foreign all of a sudden, the way his fingers curled 
reminding him strangely of a dead insect.

      Nicky eyed Kevin's increasingly blank expression with 
fright. He was retreating inside himself, locking his pain 
inside, where it could do the most damage. She did the only 
thing she could think of. Grabbing him by the front of his 
T-shirt, she hauled him up to a sitting a position, and 
cuffed him sharply across the cheekbone. His blank, dull, 
purple eyes, cleared for a moment, and the clouded again. 
Fear settled in the pit of Nicky's stomach. He's giving up, 
she thought, and he hasn't even really started his fight 
yet!

      She slapped him again, much harder this time, and 
shook him roughly. "Listen to me. If you want to lay here 
like a worthless piece of trash, then go ahead. But 
relinquish me of my duties. If your not even willing to keep 
trying, then my job is finished. You can waste the rest of 
your time here in this life, and think of what you've done 
wrong, and how everything has been a horrible mistake!"

     "Or," She said shaking him again, roughly enough to 
give him whiplash. "Or, you can try to fix your mistake! You 
were telling me that everyday, Kaori is becoming more like 
Kaoru. Maybe Kaori wouldn't have listened to you, but Kaoru 
would! She would! Kaoru would stay mad for a while, but 
eventually she would listen. So are you gonna sit here and 
let me shake you like a dead fish or are you going to do 
something?"

      He was completely ignoring her now. He dangled from 
the inside of his shirt, Nicky's hold ready to tear the 
shirt at any second. Disgustedly, she let him flop back on 
his bed. "I'm going to tell you a story. Whether you listen 
or not is up to you."

      Nicky took a deep breath and paused for a minute. She 
couldn't be sure, but she thought she might have gotten his 
attention. "I wasn't always a Heavenly Guide, you know. I 
was human once too. But it was a very long time ago, so long 
that I have no idea what country I lived in, because the 
name I had for it is lost to time." 

      "I married a man who was the head of our clan. For 
some reason he'd fallen in love with me from afar. He and my 
father arranged the marriage. I hated them both for not 
asking me."

      "But I did as my father wished. I married into the 
ruling family of our clan. My husband was never anything but 
kind to me, but because of the circumstances behind our 
wedding, I refused him everytime."

      "Eventually, my husband's kindness and consideration 
for my wishes won me over and so we lived happily for a few 
months. That was when the neighboring clan decided they 
wanted out farmland, and war broke out, and he had to leave 
to fight. The war was a long one; both our clans were fairly 
large."

      "Many months, I think, somewhere over half a year 
later, I received news that my husband had been killed in 
the war. Without any hesitation what so ever, I threw myself 
from the highest spire of our home. I died instantly when I 
hit the hard rocky earth, my neck snapped almost double."

      "That was the first time I met God. It informed me 
that committing suicide had severely impaired my chances for 
a happy incarnation, and killed any chance I would have had 
at meeting my husband again in a future life. So it cut me a 
deal. If I guided tortured souls like myself, and helped 
them find what they were looking for, I could eventually see 
him again."

      As Nicky spoke, Kevin's eyes slowly cleared and at 
first, it was only sounds to him. However if he listened 
harder the sounds separated into distinct words and the 
words made up an interesting story. By the time she had 
finished talking he was actually mildly curious of the 
outcome. Nicky had finished and been silent for quite a 
while when Kevin finally spoke up. "...Did you ever see him 
again?"

      Nicky hid her eyes, and from what he could see of the 
other half of her face, her mouth was hard and the small 
muscles in her jaw stood out as she clenched her teeth 
together. "Yes. I did. But something God had never told me 
was that no matter how hard I tried, he would never been 
mine again. He already had a soul mate. I was assigned as 
his guide to help him find her again, and it was very 
painful at first; I almost refused to do it. But in the end 
I agreed because I still loved him, even after so many 
hundreds of years. So now I just look forward to my penance 
ending so I can be reincarnated and live a normal life 
again. I'm tired of helping people achieve their goals, and 
not being able to achieve mine. But this is my last 
assignment, and then my time in Purgatory 
is over."

      Kevin's eyes were wide a saucers as he looked at 
Nicky, and she could only shake her head at the pole-axed 
expression Kevin wore. "Thought being a Heavenly Guide was a 
reward did you? Now are you going to be stupid like me, and 
give up, and spend the rest of not just your life but your 
entire cosmic existence making up for a mistake that could 
have easily been avoided? I'll let you think on that. I can 
only materialize for so long, and I'm starting to get 
tired...."

      Instead of Nicky's normal happy puff of smoke, she 
devolved, particles of her materialized body falling all 
over the carpet, and then further desolving until nothing 
was left of her physical body at all.

      Kevin watched the particles melt into the carpet, 
confusion running a merry race through his head. Now he 
wasn't sure what to do at all. Nicky's chastisement almost 
made him feel as if he had no -right- to be depressed. 
Momentarily, he bristled at that thought, though eventually 
a more sensible voice, a remainder of who he used to be, 
spoke up. 

      She's right, you know.

      He shook his head wearily. What had giving up ever 
gotten him before? Last time, he'd sat completely desolate 
for so long that birds could have nested in his hair, and he 
wouldn't have noticed... If it hadn't been for Aoshi 
discovering the truth, he probably would have sat there 
until he died. In fact, he had fully planned to do that. 

      It had been pathetic, really. But hadn't he just 
almost relapsed into that state? In a way this was just as 
painful. Death may be final, but there often isn't a choice. 
It wasn't as if Kaoru had asked for that whole thing to 
happen. But this time...This time, it had been her decision; 
she had told him, "And what if I don't want to hear it?" 

      Nothing, nothing had hurt more then that. Knowing that 
although she was still there, and no matter how much he 
reached out for her, that she would only draw away, not 
caring. If she ended up choosing never to speak to him 
again, it was almost as final as death, and just as painful, 
because it was something he had done that had driven her 
away.

      And even worse, there was nothing he could do about 
it. If or when she ever wanted to listen, it had to be 
entirely her choice. It would be completely on her terms, 
because he had lost all negotiation rights. Overwhelming 
tides of helplessness swept through him. He couldn't just 
sit here like a lump. If he had to wait, he would wait, but 
he needed something to do while he was waiting.
 
~*~*~
 
      Nicky felt herself rematerialize, and as her body 
reformed itself, she looked around. The Heavenly Throne 
Room. 

      She was almost completely formed again, when a vicious 
slap met with her cheek, knocking her witless to highly 
polished tiles of the Throne Room floor. An absolutely livid 
omnipotent being stood over her, it's chest heaving in 
bearly surpressed rage, fingers curled to look like claws.

      "Insolent wench! I can not -believe- you told him 
that! You know that's against policy! You blatantly defied 
me, and even worse you don't seem to care!" The being 
continued to seethe, seeing that nothing it said was having 
and effect on Nicky.

      Slowly picking herself of the floor, Nicky straitened 
up, and squared her shoulders. "Your Majesty; he didn't 
realize who I was talking about. He would have said 
something to me if he had." Nicky had developed the ablity 
over time to look God strait in the eye as she spoke to it. 
She knew this annoyed it to no end; so few people could do 
it without soiling a perfectly good pair of undies beyond 
repair. 

      The cosmic entity eyed Nicky, in a way she would 
almost think of wary. It looked her up and down, and then 
finally spoke. "Do NOT let it happen again. Next time it 
will not be Purgatory; it will be Hell. And it will be 
permanent."

      "However," the being continued "I'll have to admit 
that the show has gotten pretty interesting! As a Heavenly 
Guide you've always been horrible, but perhaps it will 
comfort you to know that you've always been a good source of 
entertainment! Anyway," The being snapped it fingers three 
times, in a 'Z' shaped motion, "Poof! Be gone!" And with 
that, Nicky found herself once again banished to earth; her 
particles purposely scattered to the four winds. It 
would take her hours to be able to rematerialize again...
 
~*~*~
 
      Kevin busily shoved all his dark non-dry cleaning 
required clothing into the washing machine. Laundry just 
wasn't what it used to be. All he had to do was turn it on, 
dump his clothing and some detergent into it, and poof! A 
half-hour later, your clothing is clean again. The dryer 
held the same concept; it took all the fun out of it. 

     He closed the washing machine, and the lid made its 
customary metallic thud. After Nicky had left, he'd taken a 
quick shower, and tied his hair back while it was still wet. 
He didn't feel like blow drying it, so he left a few wispy 
bits of his bangs fall forward and then covered his head 
with a purple bandana, his ponytail falling out the back. 
Right now, he still felt about an inch tall, and when one 
feels like that, one cannot stand to wear something that is 
the least bit restraining. Kevin was no exception. He wore a 
huge pair of Kik Wear brand raver jeans, and a ratty white 
T-shirt that said "Heaven Sent" in pink cursive letters 
across the front. 

     Kevin heaved a great sigh, and sunk down against the 
hallway wall, knees pulled up to his chest. He needed to 
have a plan. A strategy. Even a stupid sceme. Something to 
take his mind off the situation. He didn't actually have to 
follow said plan, strategy or stupid scheme; he just needed 
to be thinking about it to keep his mind occupied. 

      He'd learned that situations were never as hopeless as 
they seemed; they were often more hopeless then they seemed, 
or not hopeless at all. Kevin sincerely hoped that this was 
not as hopeless at it seemed. He heaved himself off the 
ground, and turned to go back up his room to get another 
load of laundry together. Remembering suddenly that his 
parents weren't home, he popped one of the CDs they most 
hated into his player and turned it up loud, and "Ophelia" 
by Tear Garden echoed through the house.

      He quickly filled another basket with clothing and 
headed downstairs to the laundry room again to drop it off. 
The torrent of synthesizers and drum machines mixed with 
deep soothing British voices fit his mood perfectly. It had 
been awhile since he'd been in the correct state of mind to 
enjoy Gothic music.

      He remembered Sam saying something about Kevin having 
been a dancer; and he found himself doing just that. 
Prancing though his house, his movements matching the 
weirdness of the song as it changed for melodic vocals to 
mechanically filtered noise, his steps holding the grace of 
a ballet dancer.

      He swept into the house's large linoleum tiled entry 
hall. The slick floor allowed him the space he needed to 
work out his emotions; this style of dancing had always been 
good for that. He bobbed and spun, somehow not quite 
following the beat, but not the voice either, and yet still 
melding with the mournful tone of the song.

      After an interlude of stillness the song picked back 
up again; he kicked one leg out in front of him, and then 
crooked it again in such away that the quick movement turned 
him 180 degrees. The song slowed to a close and with one leg 
planted behind the other for balance, he leaned backwards so 
far that his fingers nearly dangled against the floor, his 
back bowed almost to a bridge. Still bowed, he let his arms 
circle back up till they were strait into the air, and as 
slowly as he could manage, he straitened up, leaving his 
head tilted back until the very last moment, and the 
snapping it level again.**

      Silence filled the house as the song ended. Through 
the silence the sound of one person applauding echoed 
through the empty house. Kevin's eyes snapped open, and 
suddenly he realized that he didn't know when they had 
drifted closed. He looked around, finding Kaori standing in 
the doorway to his house, her eyes wide with wonder. He took 
a few deep breaths to  steady himself. "Um..." he ventured. 
"How long have you been watching me?"

     Kaori shook her head dumbly for a moment, but finally 
replied, "Not very long. I rang the bell 5 or 6 times, and 
you couldn't hear me. I figured it wasn't your parents 
listening to music that loud, so..." She looked at her feet, 
and dug one toe into the linoleum tile nervously. 

     "So..." Kevin trailed off. "Well, come in then, don't 
just stand there." Kevin offered a weak smile which faltered 
and fell away after bearly a moment. He gestured briefly for 
her to follow him up the stairs.

      As they entered what Kaori thought must be Kevin's 
room, he immediately turned off his stereo. She looked 
around absently, noting the posters on his wall; rock bands 
she'd never heard of. His bookselves were full of books she 
would probably never care to read. It became obvious to her 
in that moment how different Kevin truly was from what she 
had thought; but not personality wise. He seemed to be 
interested in everything. His books went from classic and 
modern English literature and Horror, Psychology and 
Anthropology, liberally spiced by books on every different 
religion she's ever heard of, and some she hadn't.

      Kevin motioned for her to sit on his bed, while he 
sank gracefully down into a cross-legged position on the 
floor. They stared blankly at each other, neither having any 
idea what to say to the other. Eventually Kevin just looked 
at the ground; he certainly hoped that she hadn't come just 
to stare at him.

     Some uncomfortable moments later, Kaori cleared her 
throat and broke the silence. "I..." she began tentatively, 
but not quite managing to get the words out. Kevin looked up 
at her hoping; she read the message clearly off his face, 
and gained courage from it. "I came to say I'm sorry. I 
didn't listen to you, and I should have. Sam came to the 
school and explained things to me...and I guess...I probably 
would have done the same thing."

      Kaori closed her eyes for a moment. Kevin looked 
horrible, just like Sam had said. However, when she had 
walked in, and he was dancing, he'd seemed completely 
blissfully lost in the music, and she almost felt...bad... 
for making him come back to reality. She opened he eyes, 
wondering how Kevin was 
going to react. 

      Large lavender eyes peered up at her from the floor, 
glowing in blissful happiness, and a wide grin full of 
teeth was her answer. 

      Kevin silenced his brain's need to think, as he 
bounded off the floor and scooped Kaori up in his arms in
a hug. Kaori yelped loudly, and he quickly set her back 
down. He took both of her hands in each of his, pressed 
his forehead against hers, their noses touching lightly.

     "I'm sorry too." Kevin whispered rubbing their noses 
together a little. "For not telling you anything, I mean. I 
guess I should have, although, I don't know how I would have 
gone about it..." Kaori put her index finger to his lips, 
silencing him. 

     "Sssh. It's okay. There are a lot of things about me 
you don't know. I mean, everyone has secrets right? There 
are reasons for a person not to tell everything about them." 
A huge feeling of Déjà Vu flooded through Kaori, one so 
strong that it tore her away from reality.

      Kevin watched Kaori's face momentarily go blank. 
Mindless words fell out of her mouth, echoes from another 
time: 

      "You mean, you don't know anything about me...and it's 
okay?"

      "There are reasons for a wanderer to be wandering, 
right?" 

      Kevin shook her gently. "Hey, are you okay?" 

      Her eyes refocused and cleared almost instantly, but 
there was a touch of fear hidden in their azure depths. 
"Yeah. I don't know what came over me."

      Kevin pulled her tighter against him, and looked into 
her eyes, wishing that he could read her exact thoughts as 
easily as he could read her emotions. He was worried about 
her. But what she had said...

      He still remembered that day so vividly. It had been a 
landmark in his life. Someone who accepted him for who he 
was, no questions asked. Nicky was right; Kaoru seemed to be 
coming back.

~*~*~
 Notes:

** My description of the Gothic style of dance can do it no 
justice. It took me nearly four years to perfect. It's a 
very emotional style of interprational dance. For those of 
you who have no idea what I'm talking about; and perhaps 
Miyu-chan is the only person who will have seen it before; I 
suggest that you get decked out, put on some dark red 
lipstick, rat your hair, and go to Gothic club just to 
watch. Thanks go to Miyu-chan for letting me listen to and 
tape the Tear Garden CD I ordered for her. It inspired that 
whole section.


~*~*~
Chapter 12 


"Eternal Bliss is something I can show you,
Spread your arms and let my wings enfold you, 
My love...my love...

In the darkness, shades of crimson rapture,
The world is ours alone to capture, 
My love...my love..." 

 "Spider and Fly"
London After Midnight
 
      Kevin couldn't remember having been so happy. Only a 
few hours ago, he'd been in the throes of deep depression. 
But that was before he and Kaori had made up. She'd come to 
his door with hope in her eyes, not that she'd ever had 
anything to worry about.

      And now they lay on Kevin's bed, Kaori comfortably 
tucked in his embrace, her face buried in his neck, her soft 
warm breath gliding over his skin. Content was not the word 
for it. It was so more then that. 	

      Eyes closed, he drifted comfortably in and out of his 
thoughts, when he felt the first feather light kisses touch 
his neck. The soft noise he made deep in his throat only 
encouraged her, and the kisses went from feathery soft, to 
hot and open mouthed, running a trial across his windpipe. 

      Kevin's eyes flew open as Kaori moved slowly from 
lying next to him, and slid over him to straddle his thighs. 
She continued her ardent attention to his neck, and one 
practice roughened hand slid just underneath the hem of his 
shirt, and slowly glided up his stomach, causing the muscles 
there to jump and flinch with the contact. When it continued 
gliding up to his ribs and beyond and was joined by it's 
twin, Kevin sat up with a gasp. 

      Gently pushing Kaori back so he could look her in the 
eyes, "I don't think that's a good idea..." Kevin began, and 
watched the disappointment blossom in her azure blue gaze.

      She looked away, her eyes downcast. "I'm sorry. I 
thought..." Pausing for a moment, she looked back up at him, 
her eyes asking for something. One hand moved up to glide 
lingeringly over his cheek. "I want..." She paused again, 
searching for the right words. "I want to be with you..."

      "Kaori...are you sure this is what you want?" Kevin 
asked, his concern more then evident in his voice.

      "Do you think...after my ex...that I would even think 
about it, if I wasn't comfortable with the idea?"

      Looking away from her probing gaze, "No, I guess not. 
But I'm still worried... I mean, since I don't even know 
what happened..." Kaori sent him a look that promised death 
if the subject was pursued. Waving one arm frantically in 
placation, he continued "Not that it's any of my business 
anyway! I'm sure you'll tell me when you feel comfortable 
with it... " The death threat abated to a simple warning. 
"As long as you're sure..."

      Kaori's expression changed her eyes reflecting Kevin's 
doubt. "It sounds to me like you're the one who isn't sure."

      "If I sound unsure, it's because I'm worried for you. 
And... You know how my preferences used to run. I've never 
been with a girl before." It was Kevin's turn to look away. 
The part of him that was still Kenshin was very uncomfortable 
with that part of Kevin, and it was hard to voice his 
thoughts on the matter.

Kaori giggled, and put a hand over her mouth. When she 
recovered a moment later, she said "Oh yeah, that's right! 
They were all guys, huh?"

      Kevin blushed scarlet. "Well...yes. Do you have to 
remind me of that constantly?"

      "I think it's cute! And your ex WAS gorgeous..." Kaori 
poked him gently in the nose with the tip of her fingernail. 

      "Can we PLEASE not talk about this?" Kevin pleaded, 
embarrassed. "You're changing the subject!" She seemed to 
enjoy plaguing him about his past... relationships. She'd 
been asking him questions about it all afternoon. He'd 
managed to field most of them, but there had been some he 
couldn't get out of.

"Fine, fine. Okay, to put your mind at ease: I've thought 
about this A LOT. Almost since we first started dating. I 
trust you, and I know you won't ever hurt me on purpose. I 
think that's been proven beyond a doubt." Kaori said 
solemnly, her hand brushing his cheek gently, her large blue 
eyes serious as they met his own purple ones. She paused for 
a bit, before continuing, "And also...I think I love you. 
And as strange as it may sound, I think I always have. 
Sometimes, I feel like my whole life has just been a prelude 
to meeting you. That brief period when we were apart was so 
painful, it was almost like...I'd been physically wounded. I 
feel like I've been waiting for you for a hundred years."

      "What happened to me...I can't tell you about it yet. 
It still hurts too much." Kaori continued after a moment. 
"All I can say is that the short time I've know you has made 
me a different person! You've allowed me to heal myself, in 
a way I never could have before. And I think that...somehow, 
you've completed me."

      Kevin could only stare at her in wonder. She 
remembered, she had to! There was no other reason she could 
have become so like Kaoru in so short a time. The sudden 
urge to kiss her overwhelmed him, and he slowly and 
deliberately leaned forward, taking the fullness of her 
lower lip between his. She responded instantly, latching 
onto his upper lip with her teeth and tracing it gently with 
the tip of her tongue. Eventually she deepened the kiss of 
her own accord, her tongue gently pushing for entrance.

      Kevin's arms slid around her waist bringing her more 
firmly against him, their mouths meshed deeply. 

      Kaori broke the kiss, and placed her hand on his 
shoulders, and pushed him gently back onto the pillows. 
Kevin allowed the action, not entirely sure what he should 
do. It had been so long...Nearly 135 years. Not that he'd 
actually been alive that whole time, but that wasn't the 
point. All he had to go on was his short time with Tomoe and 
Kevin's memories weren't exactly an option. A blush stained 
his cheeks when images rose unbidden to the forefront of his 
mind. NOT an option AT ALL. Wait. Rewind. The foreplay was 
the same. Briefly, his eyes narrowed, planning.

      Kaori sensed Kevin's sudden withdrawal. She sat back a 
bit and examined Kevin's face for clues. How strange... he 
seemed to be assessing the situation. His eyes were narrowed 
in a way that made his normally sweet face look indescribably 
evil, but at the same time... Kaori shivered at the heat 
swirling deep inside her. She leaned forward again bringing 
her face very close to his. "What are you thinking?" She 
asked, her voice a rough whisper.

      One flame colored eyebrow rose nearly into his 
hairline. "Why do you ask?" answering her question with one 
of his own.

      "Because you're plotting. I can tell."
 
      "And what makes you think I will tell you if I am?" 
Kaori sat up all the way, flustered and confused. What had 
she done wrong?

      Kevin also sat up, and draped his arms loosely around 
her waist. He nuzzled her neck, until her head fell back 
allowing him more access to the long, slender column. His 
teeth grazed her skin, and then he spoke, his lips moving 
against her neck, hot breath spilling over the sensitized 
flesh. "Wouldn't you rather that I show you?"

      A gasp escaped her lips as Kevin found the nerve 
cluster at the base of her neck, and bit into it lightly, 
sending a shiver down all her nerve endings and they all 
seemed to converge at the same place... She sucked air in 
deeply through barred teeth, and finally replied "If that's 
how you want it..."she gasped out, and felt Kevin smile 
into her neck. 

      Her response to him was so immediate! It thrilled him 
to know that he could make her gasp out loud. He moved his 
mouth's path lower, traveling down her neck to her collar 
bone, pausing at the hollow there to nip gently at the 
tender flesh, before moving to where the neckline of her 
dress began. His hands were following their own path, 
sliding underneath the thin material of her short sundress, 
to glide smoothly up the outside of her slender thighs.

      Dear God, how long had he wanted to do this? All those 
times when he'd 'accidentally' walked in on Kaoru at her 
bath...the pounding he'd always gotten had been more then 
worth it. Then there was the time at the hotsprings...The 
only reason Misao had been able to hit him with that bucket 
was because he'd been too busy trying to get a better look 
at Kaoru's frim rear to dodge properly. Back then, he'd 
never had any hope of doing what he was doing now; he'd 
contented himself with vivid dreams and creative fantasies.
 
      Kaori's breath came in heavy gasps. All those dreams 
she'd been having of Kenshin had started out as just 
memories, but had become something entirely different the 
longer she was around Kevin. Perhaps it was because Kevin 
looked so much like Kenshin, and she wanted so badly for 
Kevin to really be him that the dreams had transformed into 
something else? She drew back from him to catch her breath. 
The combined efforts of his mouth and hands, although they 
hadn't journeyed anywhere out of the ordinary yet, still 
made the air stick in her throat, and hiss between her 
teeth.

      He felt her pull back, and at first he thought that 
she had changed her mind. Her expression told him something 
completely different. Her skin glowed damply, some of the 
loose tendrils of hair clinging lightly to the sides of her 
face. Her lower lip was dark red and swollen, her small 
sharp teeth having bitten into the tender flesh a little too 
ferociously. All of that was nice. But it was how her eyes 
had darkened and shone, and how black feathery lashes lined 
her passion heavy eyelids. One of the spaghetti thin straps 
of her sundress had fallen off her shoulder and hung 
teasingly around her arm. 

      Kaori absently trailed on hand over Kevin left cheek, 
his admiring expression turning what of her insides that 
were left into melted goo.

      Part of his brain had cleared when her hand touched 
his cheek. It had been a very small part. However when he 
had realized which cheek, and that she was exactly tracing 
the lines of where his scar used to be, everything focused 
on her slight touch. She repeated the gesture, possibly 
unknowing, first tracing the one that had gone from under 
his eye down to his chin, and then back up from the far edge 
of his jaw, to just beside his nose. Eyes still velvet soft, 
she mouthed his name, but no sound coming out. He couldn't 
be sure, but he could have sworn that 'Kenshin' had been the 
word formed by her lips, and not 'Kevin'.

      He snatched her hand away from his face, startling 
her. "Kaori...what did you just say?"

      Kaori blinked, the haze fading a little. "Huh?" 

      "The name you said." He explained. "It wasn't Kevin" 

      "It wasn't?" Kaori said, her voice almost lost. She 
hoped that she hadn't said what she thought she had..."What 
was it?" She inquired.

      "Kenshin" he paused, hoping that he would see 
recognition flare in her eyes. "The name you said was 
Kenshin."

      Terror replaced everything else that had been growing 
inside her. However, Kevin didn't look angry; his expression 
was almost completely unreadable. An emotion was hiding deep 
in the recesses of his lavender eyes, but what it was, she 
couldn't tell. Obviously, he was waiting for an explanation. 
Should she tell him about her dreams? The truth was her best 
option; Kevin would know if she were lying. He always knew 
when she was leaving things out, so he would know now as 
well.

      "Well..." She began tentatively. "I've been having 
these dreams. In them, I'm someone else, but I still live in 
my house, only my house is different. I live there with two 
other people, and there are a few others that visit all the 
time. Although I'm not related to them, they were my family. 
One of them was a young boy, and my student; the other was a 
rounin who'd decided to stop wandering."

      "The more I dreamed of them, the more vivid the dreams 
became, and personal things about these people were made 
known to me. The young boy's name was Yahiko, and he'd been 
forced to work for the Mafia. Yahiko's last name is the same 
as mine, Myoujin; when I realized that, I went and dug 
through the family history. It seems that Yahiko was my 
great grandfather."

      "At first it freaked me out that I was dreaming about 
something that had happened over 100 years ago. And the 
rounin; I never heard his name in my dreams. Then, I think 
the third day after I met you, I had my most vivid dream to 
date."

      "In the dreams there was another voice talking, one 
that had nothing to do with any of the people I was dreaming 
about. It was telling me things that there was no way I 
could know. For example, it told me that the whole group had 
taken a trip to Yokohama and that the faded picture they had 
had taken was still on the walls of our dojo, and the 
rounin's old sword was beneath it."

      "I sat up from that dream in a pool of sweat, my heart 
going a mile a minute. Even though I was scared, I got up 
and walked out to our dojo. I knew the sword was there. My 
dad had been telling me stories of it protecting our house 
since I was little. But just as the voice in my dream said, 
there was the yellowed old picture pinned to the wall above 
the sword. I can tell you one thing. That has to be the 
strangest sword I've ever seen; the blade is on the flat 
side, and the flat is were the blade should be."

      "The next morning, I asked my father who the sword had 
belonged to. 'A good friend of the woman who gave your great 
grandfather this dojo' he told me. Since that didn't answer 
my question, I had to drag the rounin's name out of him. He 
was surprised that I didn't know; the rounin had been 
famous. He'd been an assassin during Bakumatsu no Doran. 
After the war, he'd sworn never to kill again, and became a 
rounin, and eventually ended up here, where he saved the 
original owner of our dojo. She asked him to stay and he 
did. He is still sort of a local legend."

      Kaori looked up at Kevin's thunderstruck face. "You 
must think I'm crazy. And you must be bored, hearing all 
that history..." Kevin shook his head, his face a cross of 
terror and hope. The expression was one of the strangest 
Kaori had yet to see.

      "No! Is there anything else? What was the rounin's 
name?" Kevin knew he was shaking. He could feel adrenaline 
pulsating through his blood. If only...

      Her face skeptical, Kaori slowly continued her story. 
"His name was Himura Kenshin. In my dreams, I was in love 
with him. You know, when I first met you, that you looked so 
familiar to me... And then, when I passed out that day, and 
you took me home, I realized why. You look just like the man 
from my dream; you look just like Kenshin, except he had two 
scars on his left cheek."

      For the very first time in his existence, Kevin 
wondered if it was possible to die from being too happy. She did remember. She really did. That phrase ran through his 
over-stressed brain again and again. Now, he had to tell 
her, he had to make her believe. It seemed that she'd 
already made the connection on some level, and all he had to 
do was complete it. He could hint and hope she noticed, or 
he could be direct.

      Hinting he dropped out of hand. He wanted her to know 
right now! She hadn't said what her name had been in the 
dreams. If he knew, wouldn't that prove it? Instinct took 
hold, and he pulled Kaori close to him, burying his face in her hair. For a moment it was all her could do not to sob 
happily into her shoulder. 

      "Kaoru-dono..."he wispered, and felt her stiffen 
instantly. "Okaeri...de gozaru..."

      Frozen to her place on Kevin's bed, she heard the soft 
archaic Japanese speech whispered in a voice she remembered 
only from her dreams. She closed her eyes tightly for a 
moment, not even daring... Unable to bear any more, she 
pulled back from him slowly. 

      She saw the same soft smile Kevin had always smiled, 
but now it was more. So much more. She knew she'd seen that 
same smile a hundred times before in her dreams, and even 
more then that in her last life. Kevin's eyes; the same soft 
purple she'd also seen a hundred time before, his red hair 
the same silky mop that she had always wanted so badly to 
run her fingers through...

      Her body still forzen as her mind whirled, all she 
managed to say in that moment was, "...Kenshin?" and that 
came out as a rough croak.

      She looked so...there wasn't a word able to describe 
it. Her eyes were wide, the whites visible on all side, her 
jaw hanging slack from it hinges as if she were about to 
speak. 

      For Kaori, everything was clicking in to place. All 
the things she had so briefly considered; his appearance, 
his sword ability that he swore came from nowhere, how he 
was always able to put her at ease. All these things made 
sudden sense in a way she thought that the gods would never 
allow.

      Her hand shook as she reached out again to touch his 
cheek. Somehow, now, she couldn't believe he was real, and 
that in physical contact she could prove to herself that he 
would not disappear.

      She seemed so fragile in that moment, her azure eyes 
wide and brilliant with unshed tears, her slender frame 
quavering. Every once in a while she would gulp down a lung 
full of air. "Kenshin....?" She ventured again, her voice 
more steady this time. Her mind must be completely boggled. 
Well, if he was her, his mind would be boggled too. He held 
back a chuckle, and took both of her hands in hers. 
Presenting her with a wide smile full of teeth, he could 
only nod.

      Kevin wasn't prepared for her next action. Quite 
suddenly, she was in his lap again, this time her long legs 
curled around his waist. Likewise, her arms had snaked 
around his neck, as if she was holding on for dear life, and 
was kissing him in the most wonderfully expressive and mind-
numbing way he could think of.

      Her hand worked itself into the hair at the nape of 
his neck, underneath the tie that held it back. After a 
moment of persistent tugging, the band came loose. Kaori 
lost no time in gathering the entire flaming mass in her 
hands and tangling her fingers though it. Her brain was 
still a muddled mess, but one thought stood absolutely clear 
of all the others.

      This was Kenshin.

~*~*~
Volume One

~FIN~
~*~*~

Revsions, and editing complete, 8:27 PM, 10/30/99

Nicky Townsend,
battousai@licensedtokill.com
Battou1028@aol.com