AN: This is my first fanfic on this site. I wrote a bunch of fanfic years ago, but this is my first fic in about 5 years. I was inspired to start writing by watching the Kenshin series and falling in love with him, and although I'm not quite done with it, I couldn't wait to write this after reading all the other awesome fics that are here. I don't speak Japanese, yet I've done my best to research the words I've used, and to use them properly, or as they are used in the anime-manga. If I've used anything incorrectly please let me know. I hope you enjoy, and please let me know what you think of this story. Feedback always makes me write faster.

This fic is rated M for mature themes, and will probably end up with some lemon stuff. If you are underage please go enjoy some of the other wonderful stories on this site.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kenshin, or anything relating to it, and have the utmost respect for all the people who created these wonderful characters.

Shinrai (Trust)

Chapter 1 - Funshitsubutsu (Something Lost)

"Kenshin?" Kaoru stepped into the kitchen where Kenshin was finishing up washing the breakfast dishes.

"Hai, Kaoru-dono." He turned to face her, a smile on his face.

Her heart sank slightly, as it always did when he used the formal honorific after her name. Yet she put on a bright smile. "I'm going into town for the afternoon. Megumi-san invited me and a few other friends for lunch."

"You should have a good afternoon, that you should." Kenshin smiled again. "Will you return for dinner?"

"Hai." She replied, turning and slowly leaving the room. With Yahiko off with some friends for the day, and Sano who knew where, she would have liked to spend the day alone with Kenshin. But lately it was hard to be alone with him, because every time she looked at him so many words swelled in her heart, none of which she had the courage to actually say to him.

Kenshin turned back to washing chopsticks as he heard her footsteps retreat. He wished he could think of things to say when he was around her, but lately she had been quiet around him, and he had never been much of one for words. So many were in his heart, but none that he felt he had a right to say. She was so innocent, so pure, and he was certainly neither of those things. He'd lost his innocence around the time she was born; he'd lived in a world she couldn't understand. He believed her when she said she didn't care about his past, but she also knew very little about it. She didn't even know that he'd been in love before, yet alone that is was his fault that lover had died. How could he let himself love her? How could he put her in that kind of danger?

The day passed slowly for Kenshin, yet he found satisfaction in his routine chores, even though he wasn't able to keep his mind on them completely. Since their return from Kyoto, they hadn't been out of each other's sight for an entire day, and he felt himself feeling her absence. Maybe it was time, he reflected sometime late in the day. Maybe it was time to tell her some of his past, to see if she would still look at him in the same way. He needed her to understand. And if she did, maybe he would finally be able to tell her how much he loved her. He sighed and began to start dinner.

"When's dinner?" Yahiko called a little while later as he crashed into the house.

"Soon, Yahiko." Kenshin called out as he boiled water for tea. "As soon as Kaoru-dono gets back."

"Kaoru-san is not here?"

Kenshin froze as he heard Megumi's voice. If Megumi had come in with Yahiko, why wasn't Kaoru with them?

Kenshin charged out of the kitchen. "Kaoru-dono told sessha she was having lunch with you and some friends at your home."

"She told me the other day that she might come, but she wasn't sure." Megumi replied. "When she didn't show up, I just assumed something else had come up."

"Kaoru-dono left shortly after breakfast, saying she was going to your house." Kenshin replied with worry. "It would not be like her to change her plans and tell none of us."

"Yahiko-chan, run into town and see if she's been seen there at all today." Megumi instructed, and for once the boy offered no argument either at being called –chan or at being ordered around. He took off as fast as he could run.

"Sessha must go look for her." Kenshin was saying even as Yahiko took off. He ran into his room, grabbed his sakabato, and charged out again, running past Megumi without a second thought, which would have normally been unthinkably disrespectful of him.

Kenshin charged down the path until he left the dojo's gate, then he slowed down, looking along both sides of the path as he jogged, alert for any sign either of her or of danger. Because there were really only two things running through his mind, that either she had wanted some time alone and he would find her sitting quietly somewhere, or that someone had kidnapped her again. Given the lives they all lead, the second was unfortunately more likely.

About halfway between the dojo and town, he caught sight of something in one of the trees a few feet off the path. Reaching for it quickly, he gripped a blue ribbon tightly in his fist. A blue ribbon that was torn, and stained with blood. A ribbon he remembered seeing in her hair before she left the dojo. He looked carefully at the ground around the tree, noting the marks on the ground, seeing Kaoru's footsteps, along with another set that were so heavy they had to belong to a male. There were marks of a fight, although a brief one, then a single set of very heavy footsteps leading deeper into the woods, leading him to believe that Kaoru had been overpowered and carried away.

Luckily it had rained the previous night, so the tracks were rather easy to follow, and he moved through the woods rapidly, covering miles as if they were nothing. He was just loosing the light of the sun when he noticed a clearing in the woods with a small house placed in its center.

The small part of his mind that wasn't busy worrying insanely about Kaoru tried to figure out where he was, and he realized this must be what the people of the area called the hermit's cabin. There was supposed to be a man living out here, a man who had been driven crazy. Some rumors said he'd been a samurai once, others said he'd been a farmer or a thief, but whatever he had been, in all stories one thing was the same. His wife and children had died in an accident, and he'd gone insane. He lived in the woods, alone, but Kenshin had never heard of him being dangerous in any way. Still, the tracks appeared to end here.

Staying just out of the clearing, Kenshin paused long enough to reach out with his senses. He felt Kaoru in there, and that was all he needed.

"Konnichi wa." He called out.

"Who's there?" Called out a deep voice as the door slid open, revealing a man who was probably in his 40's.

"Why is Kaoru-dono here?" Kenshin called back, moving closer to the house.

The man eyed him angrily, "No one here but me and my wife. And we don't like any interruptions."

"Your wife?" Kenshin said as he stood a foot away from the man, one hand on his sword. Every story he'd ever heard of the man had said his wife was dead. Unless…

"Move along, boy." The man replied, reaching his hand back into his house and pulling out a katana.

Every muscle in Kenshin's body went on alert. He pushed his senses into the house again, certain that Kaoru was there. "Once I see your wife, I will go." He replied, gold eyes flashing in the setting sun.

The man didn't seem to know what to say to that at first, then finally he said loudly, "She came back to me. She was walking down the road, and now she's mine again, as beautiful as the last time I saw here. No one else can see her. She's mine."

Kenshin let out a roar and charged.

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Kenshin ran past the unconscious man towards the back of the house, where he could feel her presence. He kept his sword out, one part of his mind warning him that he was so focused on Kaoru's presence that he might have been blinded to other people being in the house.

He opened the shoji to the room where he felt her, and was amazed to find her asleep. At least she seemed to be, but it certainly wasn't a peaceful sleep, that it was not. Moving towards her quickly, he froze for an instant and his eyes flashed gold as he saw the blindfold over her eyes, the dark bruises showing on her neck and arms. A dark growl escaped his lips as he saw the ropes around her wrists, saw how they were nailed to the floor on opposite sides of the narrow futon.

He wasn't sure how long she'd been like this, but he knew that on the off chance that it had been done after she was asleep, he wanted to untie her before she awoke. He couldn't bear the thought of her awaking to such terror if he could prevent it. He moved with his god-like speed, quickly slicing through the ropes that bound her hands, the blade back in its sheath a second later. He knelt beside her to remove the blindfold. The thought of how long she might have been like this made him both angrier than he'd ever been in his life, and sadder. He hated it so much when any violence touched her.

"Koibito." His lips mouthed the word that even now he couldn't quite find the voice for. Yet he couldn't stop himself from brushing his fingers over her cheek as he reached for the blindfold.

She came awake the instant he touched her, and she came awake screaming in terror. Her hands shot out blindly, striking all around her, as if fighting an invisible assailant that was right on top of her. Kenshin grabbed her wrists instinctively, seeking to keep her from hurting either herself or him.

Kaoru froze the instant the strong male hands grabbed her wrists, and she felt the panic rising even further. Unable to fight, remembering how much she'd been hurt when she did the last time, she simply coiled up like a spring, whispering one word over and over under her breath.

"Iie. Iie. Iie."

"Kaoru." Kenshin said firmly, not realizing that it was the first time he had ever used just her name.

"Onegai shimasu, iie." Kaoru continued to whisper. "Please, no. Not again."

"Kaoru-dono." Kenshin tried again, shifting her wrists to one of his hands and using the other to pull off her blindfold.

Kaoru gave a gasp of hope, although her eyes still weren't open. She'd dreamed of him coming so many times, and each time had woken from the dream more depressed than before. She was about to open her eyes when she heard his beloved voice again.

"Kaoru-koibito is safe. I'm here."

Kaoru burst into sobs, knowing for sure now that this was a dream. She'd dreamt of hearing him call her that before, of hearing love in his voice when he spoke to her, but she knew she'd never get that in real life. Still, the word soothed her heart, if only for an instant, and she couldn't help but whisper his name.

"Hai, Kaoru-domo. Sessha is here."

Her eyes opened at that, at hearing not only his voice but at hearing him speak the way he always did. Kaoru blinked away the tears, her eyes wide, and she saw him kneeling by her side. With a cry of delight she flung her arms around him, whispering his name over and over in her sweet voice.

Something about the way she said his name had always made his heart give a little flutter, and that flutter turned to an ache now as she clung to him. He'd imagined her in his arms a hundred times since their one embrace, but had never thought it would take something like this. He'd always thought they'd have time, time for him to risk letting someone into his heart again, time to tell her a few things about his past that she had a right to know if they were going to be a couple. Why could he only hold her when she was crying, and not when they were happy?

He brought his arms up around her back, intending to bring her closer for comfort, but she immediately stiffened and pulled away. He let out a confused oro as she pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them.

"Nakato?" She asked in a fearful whisper.

"Is that his name?" Kenshin asked as he tilted his head, confused as to why she had pulled away when she was obviously still upset. "He won't trouble us for a while. Although we should be leaving, that we should."

Kaoru nodded, the events of the past day rushing back into her mind now that her relief of Kenshin's arrival was no longer new. Feeling the panic starting to rise again, she closed her eyes and bottled everything up and locked it away. Her face now blank, her eyes dry, she nodded again and rose from the bed, thankful that she was fully dressed.

As Kaoru walked calmly by him and towards one of the doors, Kenshin paused briefly in confusion. Her relief upon seeing him had been genuine, yet she was now acting so distant. And he'd never seen her as scared as she'd been when he'd first woken her up. Wanting to ask what had happened while she'd been captive, but not wanting her to break down again, he followed her out of the house.

Japanese/English glossary.

-chan : Used either with children, or with someone you're extremely close to. When Yahiko's always complaining in the series about being called little, it's because they call him Yahiko-chan.

-dono : Kenshin's overly polite way of addressing women. Although the dubs and subs always translate it as simply Miss, it's much more formal than that. It was most commonly used to address a liege lord or lady.

Hai : Yes.

Iie : No!

Koibito : Sweetheart informally, also the word for boyfriend or girlfriend.

Konnichi wa : Hello

Sakabato : Kenshin's reverse-blade sword. This word was created for the series, just like 'rurouni' was.

-san : Mr., Mrs., or Miss., this is the form friends would use with each other.

Sessha : A very humble way samurai spoke of themselves. The best translation I've found is "this unworthy person." It's a word used instead of simply saying "I;" at some times it can translate as I, yet at others it translates only as a third-person noun. In the series, Kenshin almost always refers to himself this way, except when he's being the Battousai.

Shoji : The sliding doors used in Japanese houses.

Onegai shimasu : Please, as in asking for something, very formal, also has a traditional usage when said from a student to a teacher, but that's not the usage in part 1

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