Kaoru stayed home with Yahiko the next day, her head too soar for her to consider going to school. They made a miserable pair, Yahiko coughing and fevered, Kaoru achy and irritable. The older sister was certain they would have killed each other if they weren't too out of it to care. They actually even worked together on the cooking! Kaoru cut vegetables - her only real skill - while Yahiko mixed them into a soup mix, adding milk and cheese and bits of meat.

The combination of the soup and some hastily made hot chocolate was delicious. It was still raining, their entire yard was covered in a thin coat of ice, and the pair had fun watching people slip and slide as they tried to walk down the street. That afternoon they fell asleep, wrapped in their respective comforters, watching some movie on television, and when Kaoru woke up that evening she felt much better. Supper was leftover soup and some dried fish that she's unearthed in the fridge. Yahiko also seemed to be feeling better; he ate everything on his plate and asked for seconds.

The next day, Kaoru checked, and Yahiko still had a slight fever. He complained, but ultimately complied with her order to stay home one more day.

The rain had finally cleared, but it was still bitterly cold. Kaoru snuggled into her thick overcoat and cursed that high school girls were supposed to wear skirts. It was a miracle she didn't have a fever after the laundry fiasco.

Stepping out onto the street, she began her quiet walk. Without her little brother, it was a lonely walk.

As soon as she thought that, however, he appeared. He was still in threadbare clothes, his scabbard was still freshly lacquered, his hair still fiery red.

"Are you feeling better miss?"

"Kamiya Kaoru. Just Kaoru will do; and yes, I'm feeling much better, thank you for asking," she replied.

"That is good. When you did not reappear from your house yesterday, this one was very concerned."

"Thank you, Kenshin-sama--"

"No, please, Kenshin. This one is not worthy of the title of 'sama!'"

Kaoru paused in her walking. "Why?"

Kenshin paused, his gentle face becoming wistfully sad. "Because..." His eyes were far away. "Because this one just isn't."

Leaving the topic, Kaoru moved on to another question. "May I ask how it is that you can appear here?"

"Oro?"

"You are in some kind of boundary. I don't know how it works, but other ghosts can't enter this neighborhood. It happened a few days after we moved here; they say that 'he' had awakened, and since then they can't come here."

Kenshin tilted his head, frowning in thought. "This one does not know. This one has only recently come here, he does not remember before."

"Oy, Jou-chan!" A car pulled up beside here, and the rooster headed Sanosuke stuck his head out the window. "What're you doing standing there talking to air? Ain't you got school?"

The blue eyed girl blinked; then looked at her wrist watch. "Oh my god I'm going to be late!" She turned, but the red-headed samurai was no longer there.

"Jump in Kamiya, I'll get you there on time!" Sano reached over and opened his passenger side door.

Without thinking, Kaoru jumped in. The car reeked of beer and alcohol, cans of it littering every possible inch. The high school student suddenly wondered if this was a bright idea as her white jacketed neighbor gunned the engine and tore off down the street.

When they passed the boundary, at least half a dozen ghosts filled Sano's car, demanding where she was yesterday and again prevailing upon her to, in effect, do their bidding. Kaoru leaned forward, groaning at all the noise mixing with the smell of alcohol and the vibration of the car to make her feel sick. Was this how Yahiko felt every morning? No wonder he'd retch as a child.

Sanosuke didn't notice it at all, however, and screeched to a halt when they had arrived at her school. Kaoru gratefully got out and ran to her school, not even acknowledging her neighbor.

The next day, Saturday, the walk to and from school was much more bearable, because Yahiko joined her. He almost whined his way into taking Saturday off (especially since it was a half day), but Kaoru bullied him back into school, not wanting him to miss any more work than he already had.

On the way home, they treated themselves to a quick warm meal at a local café, choosing a corner booth and hiding from the ghosts swarming the main serving area. They talked of trivial things, how their school days went, Yahiko's complaints on how much work he'd have to make up, etc.

Finally, just as they were about to enter their house, a voice called out, "Yo!" Sanosuke wandered over to the fence. "Power's out for some strange reason. I called the power company; all they're saying is that they're working on it."

Yahiko muttered an oath he was supposed to be too young to know while Kaoru shivered. The weather wasn't exactly comfortable, and no heat definitely wasn't looking promising.

"Why don't you come on over," their neighbor offered. "I have an old fashioned kitchen so I can cook us a warm meal."

The siblings looked at each other.

"If you provide the food, of course." Both groaned. Even when being neighborly, he was free-loading. Somehow, that wasn't a surprise.

A quick trip inside provided enough food for a decent meal (assuming Sano was right and he did have a fire-pit in his kitchen). Both walked through the front door and came unbelievably close to dropping said food.

When the image of a "bachelor pad" comes to mind, a little bit of mess does come forth. Enough for people to call for a "woman's" touch. However, Sanosuke wasn't just a little bit of mess. Neither Kaoru nor Yahiko were certain that they could even take off their shoes to step up to the hall. Empty (and old) pizza boxes, take-out containers, plastic plates, instant food trays, and of course, the empty beer cans and sake bottles. That wasn't even getting into the dust, laundry, what looked like files, and - was that pile moving??

"I know that women have the traditional role of keeping things clean," Kaoru mumbled.

"But this is a bit much even for him," Yahiko finished.

"You have no idea." Kaoru jumped, not expecting the pale specter to appear by her side. The woman was tall and elegant, dressed straight from about twenty years ago. And young; oh so very young. Seeing a ghost not even past twenty like this was always hard.

Sano poked his head in from down the hall.

"You comin'?"

"Inconsiderate, boorish, foul-mouthed, binge-drinking, Neanderthal-like, uneducated," the litany went on and on and on. Kaoru had no idea one could be so descriptively insulting without diving into a potty-mouthed portrait of scum. And as the stream of words continued, the mental pictures produced became more and more deformed. The image of a rooster-Sanosuke being hunted by a hit man with an extreme fear of chickens had Kaoru biting her lip to keep from laughing.

"It's saying something funny, isn't it," Yahiko whispered, a huge grin splitting his face open.

Kaoru could only nod, as an image of a two year old Sano out chugging an army of alcoholics made her put her hand to her mouth. Taking a deep breath, Kaoru did her best to ignore the litany of insults originating next to her and put on her kendo-instructor face.

"Sagara Sanosuke!" she shouted, shifting attention from the biting tongue of the ghost to herself. "You had better bring me a broom and mop this instant, or you won't like some of consequences that both Yahiko and I will give you!"

"Wha-"

"You, rooster-headed Neanderthal, will pick up all this trash! I refuse to have either Yahiko or myself deal with it. I will mop and scrub, Yahiko will dry." Kaoru didn't want her little brother getting sick again, so he wouldn't deal with water in this cold weather if she had any say about it.

Sanosuke stood there, dumb-founded.

The spirit beside her shook her head, brows creasing in anger. "Simple minds can't even take simple orders. I'd slap him silly!"

Yahiko, feeling everything the spirit was radiating, dropped his foodstuff onto the entry way, ran down the hall and slapped him, crawling up his back and gnawing at the spiky hair.

"When busu gives you a command, you do it!" he shouted between mouthfuls of hair. Yahiko still poking and prodding, their tall neighbor finally went about getting the necessary materials.

"How bad is the rest of the house?" Kaoru muttered.

"About the same as this. I take it you can see and hear me?"

"Yes. Yahiko can feel you." She shivered, the chill in the air suddenly rushing through her. "I thought all ghosts in this area disappeared."

The ghost huffed. "As if such a mere wave of power could make me leave this house."

"You're here for the house?"

"It's been in my family for about five generations. Then this idiot gets the house and ruins it. I've been trying to oust him, but to no avail."

Kaoru couldn't help but smile. "I might be able to do something about that."

"That'd be nice." The elegant spirit turned and bowed. "I am Megumi."

"Kaoru."

"Jou-chan? Who you talking to?"

Kaoru smiled, an evil thought occurring in her head.

"Are you superstitious, Sano?"

"Che. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Rooster-head!" Yahiko yelled, once more gnawing on Sano's head. "Work while talking! Pick up your mess!" In response, the tall neighbor easily flipped Yahiko off of him, but he did start putting trash into a garbage bag.

"Well?"

Sano growled around a fishbone in his mouth. "Every fighter has a little superstition. That's why sumo wrestlers throw salt into the ring to purify it."

Kaoru smiled. That was all she needed. Now she just had to talk to Megumi in private. Yahiko, however, picked up on what she was getting at and kept up the idea.

"Baka!" he shouted. "Given how old this house must be, you might have moved into a haunted house! What do your superstitions say about that!"

With Yahiko having gotten the ball rolling, Kaoru pushed it further. "Don't you know anything about this house? Who built it; if there were any murders here; who lived here? Don't you?"

"What if they don't like what you're doing to the place? What if you need to make offerings to appease them?"

"Shut up!" Sano shouted. "Like any of that ghost stuff is real."

Megumi was already laughing, and both Kaoru and Yahiko had a hard time keeping themselves from chuckling as well. The seed had been planted. Once the place was actually clean, Megumi could start doing her ghostly tricks and their rooster-headed friend would actually notice. He was about to get scared shitless the instant he started to mistreat the house. And depending on how superstitious he was, Sano was going to do anything to "appease" her spirit.

"I'm going to have the most fun I've had in years."

"I'll bet," Kaoru murmured. Rolling up her sleeves now that Sano had cleared most of the hall, she went about scrubbing the floors, ignoring the chill of the water. The three worked on the house for hours. Megumi kept offering the insults of a sharp-tongued kitsune which both Kaoru and Yahiko had a hard time not reacting to. Kaoru because they were just too funny; Yahiko because the mirth that the spirit emitted was hard to not react to.

At some point during the afternoon, the power finally came back on, but Sano insisted on having them stay (so he could use their food, Kaoru was certain....) and both the boys cooked a good meal. While they were in the kitchen, Kaoru took the opportunity to openly speak with Megumi.

It wasn't often she met such a friendly spirit. Most were either too busy getting her to do their bidding, or begging to have her pass on messages to loved ones. Megumi was neither. She merely loved her home that had been in her family had built. She told fascinating stories about the history of the house, how it had once been a sanctuary from busy Edo until Tokyo started to buy all the land and develop the area. After her untimely death, her beloved house was up for sale, and she refused to leave it. She had too many happy memories for this house and had too much into improving the house to simply leave.

As before, Megumi proved to have a biting tongue, and Kaoru allowed herself to enjoy the company of a spirit for probably the first time in her life. The few times Yahiko had poked his head in, a smile would always grace his lips, and he chuckled at something he couldn't hear.

"You're good for my little brother," Kaoru said. "So many are bitter and angry or sad and regretful."

Megumi huffed. "Only fools would stick around for petty rivalries or to try and correct mistakes that can't be undone. I want to see what becomes of my house. It's been through many changes, and I can't wait to see what future owners will do. Besides, I get to play with my guests. And now I know that I may come across someone like you some day."

Kaoru bowed. "Thank you for the compliment."

"Yahiko-chan, does your nee-san always talk to herself?"

"Don't call me -chan!"

Thus was the start of dinner. It was lively. Megumi tried not to say too much. Seeing how Kaoru and Yahiko reacted, Megumi didn't want to reveal herself to Sanosuke just yet. But she still put out the silver-tongued one-liner from time to time that, unfortunately, sent Yahiko and Kaoru into peels of laughter that Sano never understood.

After dinner, they finished cleaning the rest of the house. Both Sano and Megumi wished them farewell as they crawled back to their home and Kaoru started a bath for Yahiko. He got it first because Kaoru insisted on not seeing him sick again. While he soaked, she called the power company to find out why they were without power for so long. Evidently, a car crashed into a telephone pole, taking down several major power lines. Why the car crashed, though, was a mystery. The driver merely claimed that his breaks suddenly didn't work.

Kaoru mused about it in the hot water when she finally got her bath. As was typical, she always wondered if there was a ghostly connection behind it. Especially when things were unexplained. She also couldn't help but wonder if a ghost was so mad that she wasn't answering it that it had tried to do something to get her attention. But then, she and Yahiko hadn't been in the area that long, so she strongly doubted that a ghost had been that angered by her yet. Give her about five years, and someone would undoubtedly try something, but for now, there was no reason.

Shaking out the bad thoughts, Kaoru dunked her head down and soaked, willing the delightfully hot water to wash away her usual worries.

The next two weeks feel back into routine. Winter finally came fully with the first snow, which washed away in rain the next day. Sanosuke started confessing (oh so slowly) that he was having strange occurrences at his home. At first, something misplaced would mysteriously appear in the exact same spot where he left it. The occasional creak or bump in the night. It was when breath kept whispering in his ear and when furniture in the room rearranged itself at night that he really started to get spooked.

Kaoru and Yahiko could only laugh.

The ghost at Yahiko's school kept true to his word and stayed away from the young kendo student. It was only briefly that they might come across each other, and the spirit Yutaro would quickly leave Yahiko alone. Raijuta's kendo practices started to appear haunted as well, though nowhere near the level that Megumi was bringing down on Sanosuke. Still, Yutaro left Yahiko alone if he joined Kaoru with the kendo club.

The street was still a jolt, going from full to empty. The headache that Yahiko got when going to school was still substantial, but he was getting used to it, just as Kaoru was getting used to the sudden pleas for her attention. They had both discussed, at length, what could have caused it. Neither could come up with a suitable answer. There was also the samurai with the freshly-lacquered sheath, Kenshin. Kaoru had only met him twice and Yahiko had a very hard time describing what he felt the brief time he'd felt the small samurai spirit. How was it that he and Megumi were still in the area when others weren't? Megumi had made it clear that she wouldn't leave her house. Did that mean the sudden lack of spirits in the area was just outside and not for houses in the area? If that was so, why was Kenshin around? It was a puzzle.

Dissection of mysteries and school studies aside, they did grow closer with both Sanosuke and Megumi. When Sanosuke was on his fighting trips (Kaoru got the impression he was merely a professional fighter/wrestler, not a thug-for-hire, like he'd made himself out to be), the ghost was happy to let Yahiko and Kaoru in to spend time with her. It was good for all of them to be in the company of a friendly ghost and she provided a good reprieve from the negative spirits that existed outside. Sanosuke was also fun to be with in his own leeching kind of way. He thought it his neighborly duty to bring them out to fun clubs, cheap-but-good restaurants, etc. Though the local spirits would dampen things, Kaoru was beginning to notice that Sanosuke somehow helped keep them at bay. She hadn't figured out how yet. But it was something both she and Yahiko talked about in a way to try and problem-solve their ghost problems.

One evening, as the moon rose in a pristine, clear night, Kaoru was sitting on the back steps, watching the stars. Yahiko was already in bed, exhausted from their kendo practice, but Kaoru just couldn't seem to get cozy. So she came out to watch the night sky with a piping hot cup of cocoa.

A tiny breeze whistled through her and she shivered. Even with her pajamas, robe, overcoat, and comforter, she still felt the night air.

"I wonder if ghosts get cold," thinking of the threadbare garments of Kenshin and feeling an unusual pang of worry.

"We do not."

He was in their yard again; his red hair now silver in the moonlight; his face a pale cream and his entire presence seem opalescent. A true creature of the night.

"I've been wondering where you were, samurai-san," she said, unconsciously scooting over and offering him a seat. He walked up gratefully to her back step, but did not go further.

"This one must say again, he is not a samurai; he is merely a rurouni, a wanderer."

"I see." Kaoru took another sip of her cocoa, not sure what to say to her little enigma.

"This one has seen you and your brother many times with a shinai, but he does not recognize the style. What school do you attend?" Kenshin looked at her with silver eyes, only a hint of their original lavender stubbornly remained against the moonlight.

Kaoru sighed, bringing her legs up and cocooning herself in her comforter. "Kamiya Kasshin Ryu; the style of my father." She sipped her cocoa again and looked up to the moon. "He passed away four months ago."

Kenshin gasped almost inaudibly, his eyes widening. He immediately bowed his head, saying, "This one is extremely sorry for bringing up such painful thoughts. He will not--"

"No, no," she replied quickly. "It's good, actually, to talk about him. Yahiko isn't ready to yet, he's still running from it. He was a great man, and a great teacher, and a great father. He believed in katsujinken, the sword that protects and revitalizes. A blade isn't supposed to be used to kill people, but protect people. Honestly, it makes no difference nowadays, because no one uses swords; but he drummed the philosophy into all of his students. You did not practice in his dojo until you understood that you would only use your training in the protection of others. As soon as you lifted the sword selfishly, you were banned. I remember, just before Yahiko was born, my father throwing out a student: Hiruma Gohei. Father took him down with just one blow." Kaoru snuggled deeper into her comforter, smiling at the memories.

"I remember telling him that night that I would be the next master of the dojo. Mother wasn't pleased in the slightest." Sipping her drink, she continued, gazing at the moon. "Yahiko said about the same thing two years ago. Father was so proud that we believed in him so much. When he died..."

The pain struck, sharp as ever in spite of the time that had passed, and Kaoru lowered her head. "I'm sorry," she whispered as she felt the grief seep into her.

"Kaoru-dono should not apologize," Kenshin said. She started; it was the first time he had used her name. "It was this one's fault for bringing up such bittersweet memories." The moon drenched specter reached out, as if to touch Kaoru's hand in comfort, but stopped inches away, as if remembering himself. It was not the first time he had done this, Kaoru remembered.

"This one's parents died when he was very young. Not long after, he was sold into slavery, and his captors were brutally slain. It was after that this one met his Shishou, and Shishou taught him swordsmanship. Hiten Misturugi Ryu. It is also a blade that protects; but this one left before the tutelage was over." Here the samurai faltered, his gentle moon-kissed face very far away. "There was... much pain before this one finally understood how to properly use the sword."

Slowly, deliberately, he pulled at the hilt of his sword, and Kaoru saw the blade for the first time. She clear forgot about the cold as she marveled at what Kenshin half drew.

"A... a sakabatou?"

"Yes," Kenshin said softly. "This one now bears this to protect all those who are in his sight; and he will continue to protect until he can no longer move."

"So that's why you're still bound here, you still want to protect people."

"Yes, that, too..." he murmured. Kaoru was about to ask more when he turned, his gentle smile back. "Kaoru-dono has been out a long time, she has. She should get inside where there is warmth."

It was the clearest definition of the end of a conversation that Kaoru had ever seen. Shivering, she stood and stepped to her doorway. She stopped, however, and turned slowly.

"Kenshin," she said slowly, softly, "do you know that you're dead?"

A cloud passed over the moon, hiding the ghost in such darkness that she almost thought he had left. But finally,

"... yes."

"You... you don't have to wait for an invitation to visit," she pushed, guessing at why she had so rarely seen him. "You're welcome at any time."

The samurai - no, the rurouni - looked up and smiled. Kaoru felt herself warm immediately with that smile. "Thank you."

And he was gone.