"KENSHIN!"

Kaoru woke up with a start. She sat up in her bed, her head pounding. She pinched the bridge of her nose, hoping to relieve some of the pain. It didn't help. She rubbed her face in her hands, resting her elbows on her knees. She looked around, the room was dark, other restless night. Kaoru fell back into bed, knocking over an empty sake bottle in the process. Pulling the covers up over her head, she immersed herself in total darkness. Waiting for sleep to take over again.

Eyes shut tight, she could still see it. The blood, there was so much blood. She can faintly recall the sound of a woman singing.

Kaoru curled into a ball under the blankets. Her stomach hurt. Most likely too much sake. Every part of her tensed u til finally, sleep took hold.

It was a beautiful sunny day, the birds where chirping just outside, singing along with the wind chimes.

"Wind chimes?"

"Yes, it was summer when Kenshin left,"

Kaoru sluggishly got out of bed and made her way through the dojo. It was quiet, as always. Kaoru was walking past the main hall, she hesitated there for a bit. She glanced at the door, her hand hovering over it. She could visualize the inside of her empty dojo. Her name and her fathers name on the wall along with the Kamiya Kasshin, and a shrine. A shrine. That's where it rested, that's where she put it after that day.

Sakabato.

"You're finally up."

Kaoru jumped a little at the sudden sound of his voice. She turned and glared at Yahiko. He looked back at her with his disapproving scowl. She hated that look. She hated knowing he was disappointed in her. She hated letting him down. She hated how much of a man he'd become. How much he's grown these past ten years.

"I own this dojo, I can sleep as late as I want," Kaoru said.

Yahiko sighed heavily. "Yeah, you do what you want."

Yahiko turned to walked away.

"Going to help the Akabeko again?" Kaoru asked.

"Yes."

"You help them more than you help me,". Kaoru blurted out, not really meaning to but still wanted to say. Part of her wanted to hurt him, like he had hurt her. But the second she said it she regretted it.

Yahiko wanted to say something. Anything! Anything to get Kaoru our of this mindset she's locked herself in. He wanted to snap, to yell. Whatever it took to get her back to her old self. But he knew, nothing he said, or anyone said, would do that. There was no coming back from this.

Yahiko went to the Akabeko. He spent a lot of time there now a days. Helping as much as he could. He needed to keep busy. He would practice the Kamiya Kasshin style as often as he could, so his skill would not get rusty. However being in the dojo just wasn't the same anymore. Helping at the Akabeko helped keep his mind off things.

Sano came in as usual.

"Hey shrimp," he jokingly called Yahiko.

"Hey Sano." Yahiko didn't let the nicknames bother him anymore. He'd grown so much he was nearly as tall as Sano now.

"How's the shoulder today?" Yahiko motioned to Sano's right shoulder. It was obvious he was still favoring it a little.

"Feels like it's getting better," Sano said moving his arm in a large circle to prove his arm was okay. As he did so the his jacket moved just enough that Yahiko could get a glimpse at four large purple colored scars engraved deep into Sano's skin.

It seemed everyone had their scars. Some more visible than others.

Kaoru took another sip of sake. It went down smoother and smoother each time. With each sip the memories blurred more and a more, but they never completely vanished. Flashes of blood, the echoes of screams and mournful cries. Another sip. Another flash.

It didn't matter how much she drank, the memories stayed, the pain stayed.

Kaoru sat outside the main hall. Inside was the shrine. A shrine she never wanted, a shrine she couldn't bare to look at. Another sip. Her hand hovered over the door again. Maybe this was all some crazy dream. No, more like a nightmare. She would open the door and the shrine wouldn't be there. It'd be gone. It never existed. There was some mistake.

Just as Kaoru laid her hand on the door, ready to open it someone came bursting through the front door, yelling her name.

"Misao?" Kaoru recognized the sound of Misao's voice right away, despite it being nearly ten years since the two of the saw each other.

"Kaoru, good I found d you." Misao said.

"What are doing here?"

"We need to talk," Misao said urgently.

"About what?" Kaoru asked getting ready to take another sip.

"About this!" Misao pulled a flyer from her bag and forcefully shoved it in Kaoru's drunken face.

"What's this?"

"Read it," Misao urged, her voice cracked a little. Kaoru started reading. "These are being plastered all over Kyoto right now."

Kaoru read the flyer. Her eyes widened, the sake cup slipping from her hand.

"It can't be," she uttered.

Kyoto

2 weeks earlier

Policemen walked the streets of Kyoto. Armed. In small numbers so not to start a panic. They were patrolling the streets, searching for any sign, for a clue. People had been going missing only to turn up dead shortly after. The chief was contemplating enforcing a curfew, but they had no leads and again did not want to start a panic. But maybe he should have enforced it sooner.

It was late. A young couple was just leaving a local beef pot restaurant after a delicious dinner. They giggled as they walked, maybe just a little too much sake tonight. They weren't that far from home. They turned the corner and the woman stopped dead in her tracks. A small girl, dressed in all black, was sitting on the ground, crying. Her soft cries echoing in the night.

"Oh you poor thing," the woman went right up to the girl.

She was pale, almost ghostly white. Raven black hair in tight doll like curls around her small round face. She looked up at the woman, big vibrant blue eyes, full of tears.

"Are you okay?" The woman asked.

"I think I'm lost," the girl cried.

"Oh dear, don't worry we'll help you," the women knelt closer reaching out to help the girl up. As she did so something caught her eye. A woman standing further down the darkened road. She too was ghostly pale, dressed in all black, dark chocolate brown hair cascading down her shoulders. Emerald eyes seemingly glowed in the darkness.

"I'm also hungry," the little girl said. The pale woman smiled a very toothy smile. "So very hungry."

The girl grabbed hold of the woman. Biting into her neck. Blood gushing from the wound.

"No!" The man screamed. He lunged to help his wife when something grabbed him from behind. It threw him back with such force he could feel his spine shatter in several places.

He groan in pain. He tried to get up, tried to save his wife. He saw her lifeless body sprawled on the ground, the little girl wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. The pale woman standing next to her.

A man stepped into his view. Shrouded in black as well, which seemed to make his bright red hair glow like burning embers in the darkness. His pale skin even more ghost like than the girl and woman by his side. So pale the scar on his left cheek had a nearly silver tint. A pair of violet eyes glaring down.

In a cold, ruthless voice he said, "It's dinner time."