The great room was still sparse. They had a kotetsu, a TV on a stand, and a tiny shelf to hold books. In a distant corner was the shrine. Kaoru had decided against the funeral photo, instead optioning for a photo with the entire family. Their mother had died three years after Yahiko's birth; cancer. Their father ran a prominent dojo, and was planning to reopen it in the city. It was only after the house had been purchased did he pass away.

Kaoru was on the floor, leaning against the wall as she stared at the photo. The memorial tablet was next to it; on the other side was a single lily, his favorite. The picture was at the dojo, after Yahiko's first lesson. He was wrapped around his father's shoulders, still in his hakama and gi; Kaoru was next to them, clutching her father's arm and smiling for all the world. It was arguably the family's favorite picture.

"Father, I miss you," she said softly. Yahiko thumped upstairs, trying to focus on homework. Kaoru just couldn't. The events of the last several days replayed over in her mind, over and over. Kenshin in the rain and in the moonlight. Saito's cold eyes raking over them. Yahiko challenging a high school student in a rage. But mostly, the black smoke engulfing her brother, his screams, his writhing in the mud.

"A lot have things have happened, since we came here." She paused as it all rolled through her mind again. "Father, I need you. I can't do this on my own.

"Help me."

"That's my job."

Whirling around, Kaoru saw Saito, the police officer.

"I have more questions."

Feeling violated at his intrusion of such a private moment, Kaoru stood quickly. "I've told you everything I know. I have schoolwork to do, so if you'll excuse me."

"No," Saito said. He followed Kaoru to the kitchen. "You haven't told me everything. I've been doing some checking. You and your brother are notably odd people."

"Thank you so much for the compliment," she replied dryly.

"The boy is perfectly healthy, but at seemingly random points in elementary school he'd faint, become sick, even throw up. Or he would have moody spurts, unnatural anger, even fights in school. Do you know what caused these fits?"

Kaoru did not answer, instead busying herself by looking through cabinets, looking for nothing.

"And then there's you," the cigarette came out, followed by the telltale click of a lighter, and the acrid smell of smoke. "Without fail, without pause, when your brother is having these fits, you are coincidently talking to no one. You have conversations, lengthy and heated, always under your breath, always begging whoever you're talking to, to go away.

"Just last week, you and your brother were seen arguing heatedly coming in to school, when it's blatantly clear that the two of you're a close. The boy is agitated and snappish. At kendo, he challenges a high school student and is almost completely unrecognizable; some students claim his eyes changed from rust to red; he is completely out of control. Instead of saving him, you are seen talking furiously to a spot of open space, saving him only at the last possible minute.

"My question," Saito finished, "is what is it that you see? What is it that your brother can feel?"

Kaoru stood perfectly still, arm raised to the upper shelf of a cabinet. She lowered it slowly, turning.

"No history of mental illness, perfect psychiatric evaluations, no reason to believe that these are delusions. So what do you see?"

The gold eyes were dark but not menacing. She did not like him, at all, but a tiny corner of her mind told her it was okay to tell him, he exuded competence with every ounce of his countenance.

"Ghosts," she said finally.

His face did not change. No quirks of the lips, no twitch of the eye, not even a blink. He, too, stood absolutely still, absorbing, assimilating, calculating, and finally concluding.

"Were any with you when the shrine opened?"

"Yes. One."

"Was the black smoke a ghost?"

"I think so. I'm told he was a ghost sealed there, and has since become a demon."

"Who told you this?"

Kaoru paused again. She had only just learned of the Oniwabanshuu, was still absorbing the fact that something like that, that organized, even existed in the afterworld. That Saito was taking this in stride at all was miraculous, she wasn't about to push her luck.

"A ghost more informed than others," was the best she could say.

Saito didn't chew on that one very well. His eyes narrowed to gold slits, and he stared at her. "How many ghosts are involved in this?"

"The one that was released, the one that was with us, and two that... are looking into it."

"The one that was released, that you say was turned into a demon," he didn't say "claimed," and for that Kaoru's impression of him raised half an inch. Whatever his thoughts were, he was taking it all at face value for now, "Do you know if it had a name, when it died?"

"Shishio Makoto," Kaoru said slowly. "I don't know when he died, but he supposedly burned to death in a fight with Himura Kenshin. That's all I know."

There was an awkwardly long period of silence. Saito was clearly processing the information. Kaoru didn't know what he thought. That he wasn't writing her off as crazy was refreshing, even nice; but his lack of affirmation that he outright believed her left her tense, unsure.

Finally, "I'll look into it."

Saito turned on his heal and left.

Two days later it was Monday. Kaoru did her last button on her burgundy jacket, straightened her thin bowtie, and brushed a few stray hairs back into place. She slipped on a light windbreaker as opposed to a thick winter jacket. The temperature was now in the forties since the release. Yahiko was waiting silently on the gekkan, and didn't say a word as they began their walk to school.

At the end of the street, Kaoru was surprised to see Kenshin standing on the corner.

"This one will walk with you for a ways," he said simply, and picked up their stride. Yahiko's shoulders dropped, the only sign on his lessened tension.

Kaoru scratched at the fading burns on her hands. "You mean you're not going to sacrifice everything for our supposed well being?" she asked dryly. "I'm shocked."

"He deserved that, this one did," was the reply. Then, "This one did not realize that he was the reason for your quiet walk. That it has since disappeared has bothered this one greatly; he causes nothing but trouble, he does."

"He's upset about something," Yahiko murmured. He scratched his neck as Kaoru again raked her nails across her hands.

"I know," Kaoru replied. "He thinks anything bad that happens to us is his fault." She threw a sidelong glance at the rurouni. "Kenshin has no concept of how helpful he is."

"Surprise," Yahiko said.

Kaoru grinned satisfactorily. "Good."

"This one does not understand," Kenshin said slowly, "but he is glad for Kaoru-dono's words."

They continued to walk, schoolmates passing by here and there. Some waved and said hello, others gave the obligatory funny looks and ignored them. The ghosts pleasantly kept their distance, and Kaoru noted with pleasure that her little brother seemed to relax more and more. The kendo practitioner finally thought they would have a pleasant walk when,

"Alright, it's time you explained yourself! "

Brother and sister both stopped. Yahiko groaned as he again scratched his neck, muttering about bossy ghosts. Kaoru stared at what she could only describe as a pirate standing before her; hair hidden in cloth, mismatched armor, and a tetsubo balanced menacingly on her shoulder.

"What?" she asked.

"You heard me, " the ghost said, leveling her weapon at Kaoru. "Your bloody samurai over there is the one that erected that stupid barrier, right? Now he's trying to keep us all away from you. What makes you so damn special, huh? You think if you ignore us we'll just go away? Think you can shirk your duties if you hire a guardian like him to keep us at bay? You're one high and mighty prissy little princess if you think it's going to keep me away! "

Yahiko groaned again, sagging under the weight of the spirit. Kaoru put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, quietly sending him strength as Kenshin stepped forward.

"This one has decided, on his own, to protect these two, he has. If you have a problem, please talk to this one."

"No, " the pirate said heatedly. "You're just as bad as she is. Where do you get off thinking you can boss us lower spirits around, huh? You're pretty high and mighty, too, aren't you; well too bad. I'm not going to let a power wave from you blow me over, you... "

She was cut off as Kenshin stepped forward. Kaoru felt keenly the power he was emanating, for a brief moment she thought she saw blue aura radiating off him, and the itch in her hands left her.

"I want you to leave. Now." Kenshin's voice had again dropped an octave, was again speaking differently.

"Why you little--!"

The testubo flew, but Kenshin was even faster than the club of the pirate. The sword almost wasn't seen, and the ghost pirate blew back. Kaoru felt her hair involuntarily blow back from the power Kenshin emitted, Yahiko similarly leaned into her, pressing his face against her waist and holding the back of his neck. "Heavy," he muttered.

The pirate was gone, and Kenshin slowly turned around, his gentle smile firmly in place. "This one hopes he did not hurt you too badly," he said softly, his yellow eyes eyeing Kaoru's brother in concern.

"Don't worry about it," the boy muttered.

"Kaoru-chan!" a classmate came running up. "What was that wind just now? Did you feel it?"

"Uh, yeah," she replied dumbly, trying to assimilate what just happened. She had not felt that kind of power since Kenshin had touched her. Just what kind of abilities did he have? The pirate had called him a guardian, so had the Oniwabanshu. Kaoru dimly wondered what she had gotten herself into.

The three of them walked silently after that, each lost in their own thoughts.

It was when they were fifty feet from the schools when it happened. The burns on Kaoru's hand became very hot and itchy, pain flaring up her arms. Yahiko yelped, clutching his neck and falling against the gate wall.

"Kaoru-dono! Yahiko-kun!"

Pushing past her pain, Kaoru tugged at her brother, peeling away his hands; his neck had again burned, searing hot to the touch. His entire body was sweating, and he vomited up his breakfast. Feeling helpless again, Kaoru pulled her brother close, muttering soothing words and oblivious to the crowd that was gathering.

A low, guttural cry passed Yahiko's lips. He was white as a sheet under his flush. "He just..." he coughed. "He just killed somebody..."

The pain in Kaoru's hands faded as quickly as it had come, leaving only the thick smell of blood. Yahiko was shaking, almost violently; until he finally fell limp in her arms. Someone walked up from the spectator crowd and asked if he could help. Kaoru merely tuned him out, miraculously shouldering her brother's weight after checking his pulse.

Kenshin's eyes were gold as he followed them to the infirmary.