A/N1: All I can say is that my RK muse died for a...period of time, so that even though all this story needs is some edits to existing chapters and such, it never got any attention. I'm not going to apologize for it, cause frankly, some of the events of RL would have prevented updates for a long time anyway, and also because there's really not a point after such a long time. Finishing the story is the best apology I can give, and that's my goal for this year. By the end of the year, FR should be finished. I've started another RK story, that will answer the question of what would have happened had Tomoe survived in a series of connected one-shot/drabble type chapters, and I figure pairing updates for these two stories ought to keep me on track nicely.

Do enjoy the chapter, however long it has been in coming.

The rain had been a constant companion over the past three days and it still hadn't let up by the time the tired group of men reached the outskirts of the village. The only way they had to keep track of the time was by how long they spent marching through the forest.

Hamano stumbled over a tree root semi-concealed by the loam on the forest floor and stifled a curse. He had had quite enough of the wilderness by now, and the feeling was shared by every man under his command, with the possible exception of Himura. Hamano could swear he had caught the younger man snickering at his companions several times over the past few days.

His musings were halted, though, when the trailing tail of red hair he had been using as a marker to ensure he didn't get lost stopped moving suddenly. Hamano breathed a silent sigh of relief and signaled the stop for his men. Himura had led them along the winding hunter's path at a ground eating pace, occasionally striking off directly through the forested hills they were traversing, earning the former hitokiri many frustrated looks, and a few muttered curses from the city-bred Ishin following him. Hamano was sure the shortcuts had saved them time in the long run – time that might very well save Kousei-san's life – but it made no difference to the various scrapes and bruises the men had collected from the trek through the forest. The only person who didn't seem to be affected was Himura, who to all appearances hadn't received a single scratch or bruise during their trek. Even the rain the trees didn't block didn't seem to bother him.

The only sign the commander could find of Himura's own worry over their mission was the increasing amount of forays directly through the forest and the occasional deliberate, tense pause to let the others catch up. Hamano was fairly certain Himura's apparent desire to move faster stemmed not only from worry over Kousei-san, but from a desire to be done with this mission that was taking him so close to his master.

Or he could just be frustrated at the pace his fellow Ishin had to take. Himura was probably having to deliberately slow down so as not to lose any of the Ishin blundering along in his wake. Hamano knew the boy could move much faster than the pace he had kept for the past few days.

Well, it makes sense, doesn't it? He grew up out here. Obviously he knows this area even better than Katsura-san thinks he does.

Behind him, he heard various men sink to the ground or lean against tree trunks with quiet sighs of relief. Takagi was muttering to himself about poison ivy, if Hamano heard him clearly. A moment later, there was a quiet yelp and Ketegai hissed at the younger Ishin. "Keep that on it and it'll clear up by morning. We're all bruised and scraped and you're not the only one with poison ivy, so shut up."

"Hai, Ketegai-san," Takagi muttered, sounding sullen. Hamano rolled his eyes and ignored the byplay.

"Himura," he called quietly. Calm blue eyes turned to him. "See if you can find Kousei-san. If you do, bring him back with you. I don't care what arguments he comes up with. That patrol was heading this way, and it can't mean anything good. This town is a lost cause and there's no use in his staying here."

"Hai, Hamano-san." Himura bowed and ghosted through the trees, blending seamlessly into the night. Hamano shook his head in amazement. Even with that beacon flag of red hair, the younger Ishin had no trouble going unseen when he felt the need.

Turning back to the rest of the men, he judged them with a critical eye, trying to determine who had enough energy left to do some hunting. They were going to have to supplement their supplies for the return journey to Kyoto. Speed had been more important than enough rations for a round trip. Minamoto Tomo looked up as he glanced to him and grinned a bit. "Should I get us some rabbit or something, Hamano-san?" he asked cheerfully. Apparently he was deriving amusement from Takagi's relentlessly itching ailment. He was also one of the only men who had come through their frantic march relatively unscathed. "I saw some rabbit runs while we were on the move. It shouldn't take me long."

"Alright," Hamano nodded and tried to figure out who he should send with his fellow Ishin. Minamoto saw his gaze go back to the other men and he chuckled.

"Don't bother, Hamano-san. None of them are going to come willingly, and if you send Takagi with me, he'll just grumble the whole time and scare the game away. I won't go far, and I'll make sure I'm not seen. I'll be fine."

The commander eyed Minamoto skeptically. The idea of sending one of his men out alone was not appealing, but…Takagi was really the only one Hamano could see who wouldn't have to be ordered to go, and the younger Ishin just couldn't do stealth. Minamoto, on the other hand, specialized in it. He wasn't as good as Himura, but then, Hamano was fairly certain only a handful of people could claim that distinction. He sighed in defeat.

"Go. Be careful. That patrol can't be that far behind us." Minamoto nodded and left in the direction they had just come from, still grinning. Hamano felt a small smile tug his mouth and snorted quietly as he turned back to the rest of his men. "Alright, set up camp, but keep it simple. We need to be ready to move on a moment's notice. I don't want to be caught with our guard down."

It had taken them three days to get here. They were tired.

But they had been chosen for this mission for a reason, and no one complained as they set up a meager camp with a tiny fire for warmth and doled out the night watch schedules.

All that was left to do was wait.

Kenshin paused at the edges of the forest, taking a moment to simply breathe and acknowledge his nerves. It had been nearly four years since he had last stepped foot in this village and even without the obvious Bakufu presence, there had been changes.

He could see a couple of new houses from his current position, and Kenshin was nearly positive they had been built to house the Bakufu forces that had descended on this peaceful village. At least, the higher ranking members. The more common soldiers were likely billeted with some of the villagers – whether they had the room or desire to house extra people or not.

Despite the late hour, there were still some villagers hurrying from house to house, avoiding eye contact with the soldiers they passed. Even through the deepening twilight, Kenshin could catch enough glimpses of their features to identify each villager he saw.

Had the past four years really been so hard on this little village, to result in the strain and increased age he saw in each familiar face? Surely Shin-san wasn't old enough to walk with such a stoop, despite working in the fields all day.

A brief scuffle in the village drew his attention back to the moment. Using the distraction that had been unwittingly provided for him, Kenshin ghosted into the town, and though he kept to the shadows, he made sure his reed hat covered his hair.

While in Kyoto, his red hair had led many to call him a demon, the people in this village knew better. They had seen him grow up, and a few of them - Kunio-san and Shin-san especially – might be able to spot him if they thought he was here.

He could not be seen, but he had to enter the village to find Kousei-san.

Somehow, he just knew this wouldn't end well.

Helping her brother limp towards their home, Ayako tried not to sound like she was nagging, or lecturing. It wouldn't go over well with Naoko at all.

But sometimes he just made her so mad!

"Why did you do that? It was so stupid!"

Naoko gritted his teeth and tried to take more of his own weight again. Ayako let him try to stand on his sprained knee and smirked when he stumbled and had to grab hold of her shoulder again. "Shut up, Ayako. You don't understand what it's like-"

Didn't understand? Didn't under – oh, that was it. Ayako shoved her brother off of her and a surprised Naoko stumbled into the wall of one of their neighbor's homes, unable to balance with so little warning. "Don't understand?" she hissed at him, refraining from yelling only because she didn't want those soldiers to come after her this time for a loose tongue. "What do you think I don't understand?" She flung one hand back in the direction they had come from. "That we can't even say we're sorry a man who was always kind to us turned out to be an Ishin Shishi sympathizer?" She flung a hand in the other direction, feeling tears start to build behind her eyes. But she wasn't going to cry. It didn't solve anything. She couldn't expect someone to come scare away the bullies for her, not like…well, she just couldn't anymore. "Or maybe I don't understand what made Kunio-san too frightened to even say he's sorry he didn't see what Kousei-san was up to so he could talk him out of it and save his life? Tadashi-sama took him and you saw what they did to him before they left! We couldn't do anything and…and when they get to Kyoto, they'll…and…" Her voice choked off and Ayako spun on the spot, sniffling.

Kousei-san had been a little odd, really, but it had been a friendly sort of odd. He'd never minded being a tester for Akemi-san's odd cooking experiments, and he'd never brushed her questions about the rest of Japan off as not important for a farmer's daughter to know. He'd even answered – very cautiously, yes, but he'd answered – some of her questions about why the Ishin Shishi and the Bakufu couldn't seem to get along.

He had been like a strange sort of uncle to her, and she had gone running to him as she used to go to Ken-ni. But Ken-ni had left, and no one wanted to tell her where he'd gone, but Kousei-san had been willing to listen to her talk about him, and maybe he'd acted a little weird the first time she'd mentioned Ken-ni's red hair, but really, that was only normal for most people. Red hair wasn't common. She'd made a point of making sure Kousei-san knew Ken-ni had never been evil or scary. That he'd been her protector, even more than her actual brother had been, even though Ken-ni had lived up on the mountain with his shishou. Kousei-san had been really good at listening and he agreed with her – red hair didn't make someone a demon…

"Ayako…"

The ten-year-old stiffened. "Don't, Naoko. Just don't. I don't want to hear about how I'm just a girl, or I'm too little to understand or…or that I shouldn't worry!"

Her brother's hand landed on her shoulder and tugged her around. His arms were held open in a silent invitation as he balanced most of his weight on his left leg. Ayako hesitated, but her brother's expression was kind and understanding, so she buried her face in his shirt and cried. Naoko held her silently, soothingly stroking her hair, not even complaining once about how she was getting his shirt wet.

"I miss him, Naoko. I miss him and Ken-ni and I…I want things to be normal again…"

Naoko's mouth tightened, but he didn't stop his soothing motions. "I know, Ayako. I know. I wish things would go back to normal too."

Ayako cried for several long moments, and didn't take notice of anything but her brother's arms around her. Naoko, for those moments, was solely focused on his sister and making sure he got them both home before that samurai who had knocked him down came back this way.

If either had paid more attention to their surroundings, they might have seen an odd shadow move away from the house on their left.

Minamoto Tomo regarded his catch with a satisfied expression on his face. He might not be very familiar with the country – he certainly couldn't practically run through a forest without stumbling the way Himura-san did! – but he did know how to set traps and hunt. It really hadn't taken as long as he'd thought to fulfill his "mission".

"So, let's think," he mused to himself, regarding the forest around him with a critical eye. "I came from the…east, to get here, and I'd taken off south of our camp…" After a few minutes thought, he grinned and pointed off to the northeast. "So that way should be the quickest route back!"

Feeling rather proud of himself, Tomo bent to gather his supplies and inadvertently saved his own life. An arrow whizzed over his head and thunk-ed into the tree in front of him. Startled, the Ishin whirled around, fumbling around the rabbits he had captured to draw his sword.

"Who's there?" he demanded, heart pounding in his throat. Another arrow whizzed by, and Tomo wasn't so lucky this time around. The arrow managed to find it's mark in his right shoulder and Tomo shouted with pain and surprise, dropping the rabbits and momentarily forgoing his sword in favor of clutching at the sudden sharp pain.

The bushes to his left rustled and a samurai with cold black eyes stepped into view. He was smirking and Tomo felt his heart freeze. How long had he been there? Was he part of that force that Himura had warned them about on their first day out of Kyoto? Had…had he heard…?

"Well, well. It seems our intelligence was right. There are more Ishin Shishi scum in this area. If you surrender now, I'm willing to have a healer take a look at your arm," the samurai offered, smirking.

Tomo gritted his teeth and slowly turned his hand so he gripped the shaft in his fist. "And why would you let a healer treat me when you just intend to kill me anyway?" The arrow hadn't gone very deep, from the feel of it. It must have struck one of the rabbits as well and lost momentum or been shoved off course. If he could buy himself enough time, he could probably just rip it out and run, though if he got out of this alive, Ketegai-san was going to have all sorts of nasty words for him.

"You don't need to know. I'll give you five seconds to consider it. Starting now."

Tomo didn't have to think. He yanked on the arrow, not bothering to stifle his yelp as it ripped out of his shoulder, threw it at the samurai with all the force he could muster and took off running, weaving through the trees and not sparing a second thought for the abandoned fruits of his hunt. His mind had room enough for only two thoughts.

The first was that he really hoped he hadn't been surrounded or the stunt he had just pulled would turn out to be useless.

The second was that he had to warn Hamano-san that they had not only been expected, but that they were in immediate danger of capture.

He had to evade the soldiers long enough to reach camp and pass the warning along. He'd been the one stupid enough to let his guard lapse enough to point out where the others were. He had to fix it.

A/N2: If you remember, I've taken four chapters to get back to the action I started the original version of this story with: Tomo's unfortunate scramble to get back to camp, chased by the Bakufu soldiers. And I've also introduced some characters from my one shot collection: Ayako and her brother Naoko. Ayako was five in the one shot, and "Ken-ni" (I'm sure you all know who that is!) chased off the bullies bothering her in his first "solo," so to speak. (If you want the full story, it's the second chapter of my One Shot Collection, titled "The First Defense".)