Neither Kamiya were fairing well. Both had been awakened the previous night by another murder from Shishio, and they both were getting damn sick of feeling sick. Kaoru saw unsightly bags under her eyes in the mirror, and Yahiko next to her was horribly pale. Both sucked it up, however; they had missed too many days of school to afford to miss another - especially with exams looming over them.

They were putting their shoes on when the phone rang. Cursing, Kaoru pulled them back off and jogged back into the house to pick up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Go to the Tsukiyoumi Shrine. It might be there, so bring one that knows more than most." Saitou, Kaoru recognized the voice, hung up.

"Huh?" she stared at the receiver blankly, processing what he just said. "Wha... how the hell am I supposed to do that?" she shouted to the offending object.

"Busu?"

Stomping back out and putting her shoes on, she grabbed her confused little brother's hand and started marching. "Saitou called," she explained. "He thinks the Mugenjin is at some Tsukiyoumi Shrine or something. The jerk wants us to magically dig up the Oniwabanshu and bring them over to find out if it really is the sword or not."

Yahiko, too, took a moment to process. "How the hell are we supposed to do that?" he echoed, anger settling on his face. "He's the police officer; he should be the one doing it! Why are we saddled with all the work?"

"My thoughts exactly," Kaoru huffed.

"Oro?"

"What, Kenshin?" Kaoru turned her wrath on the red headed specter, ready to imbue divine retribution if he dared say anything stupid.

"It is just that, this one knows where the Tsukiyoumi Shrine is, he does."

Both Kamiya stopped in their tracks. "You do?"

"Yes, it was around when this one was alive. The miko, the priestesses who work there are known for their spiritual powers, they are. It would make sense that a cursed sword or demonic sword would be brought there for purification."

They mulled it over their in their heads. There was no way for them to contact the Oniwabanshu, she doubted Kenshin knew how it was done either. But they were "under watch," as Misao had said once. Finally, Kaoru turned on her heel.

"Where is it?"

It was a forty five minute walk. Kaoru was certain they could have taken the subway, but Kenshin didn't have a clue how to get there without walking. Yahiko was cursing silently under his breath at the length of the walk, but both she and Kenshin ignored him. They knew they were there because there was a steep hill of steps to climb, the base of which was the classic red torii. Both Kamiya stared up the stone steps.

"You've got to be kidding me," the younger brother said.

"Kenshin?"

"It is up there, it is," the rurouni said. A rare smile was on his lips.

"You don't have to go up these," Yahiko groaned. "You can float or whatever."

"We won't get up there by just standing here," Kaoru said. "Come on." She took off her windbreaker and unbuttoned her burgundy jacket, trying to give her body as much breathing room as possible. Yahiko acted similarly and they began the trek up the steps.

Twenty minutes later, both were huffing, puffing, and glaring at Kenshin who was of course not winded at all.

"This one used to race others up these steps," Kenshin said happily, lost in his own nostalgia. "He always won, this one did; he could make it up in about fifteen minutes."

"Fifteen minutes?" Kaoru growled. "Did you grow wings or something??"

"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu," he replied.

"If he wasn't already dead," Yahiko breathed, "I'd kill him."

Even ten minutes after that, they finally reached the top. Yahiko dropped onto the ground, panting and sweating. Kaoru sat by him, certain she'd lost thirty pounds from the excursion. She gave herself another moment, and then stood. "Come on, Yahiko, let's get this over with."

It took a moment to find someone, but Yahiko finally spied a miko sweeping with a bamboo broom on the west side of the temple.

"May I help you?" the small woman asked, apparently very soft spoken.

"Yes," Kaoru said; bowing and trying in vain to straighten herself out at the same time. "My name is Kamiya Kaoru; this is my brother, Yahiko." A quick whack on the head and he bowed slightly in respect.

"Yukishiro Tomoe," the priestess offered. Her eyes narrows slightly, and her lips thinned suddenly. "You are both marked by a demon."

Kaoru and her brother blinked. "Eh? You can see it?"

"Yes, it is very strong," Tomoe said, reaching out. "You on your hands. You, on your neck and shoulders." Turning back to Kaoru, she added, "You also have a second mark. I don't think it's a demon's..."

"It's not," Kaoru said quickly, seeing Kenshin's obligatory look of self deprecation. "There is a guardian near our house. We kind of woke... well, it's a long story. The short part is that we accidentally released a ghost turned demon. The demon is after something and we think it's the sword he had in life. So, would you happen to have a sword called Mugenjin that was wielded by an Ishin hitokiri named Shishio Makoto from the Bakumatsu no Doran stored here for safekeeping?" The words fell out quickly, Kaoru belatedly hoped she made sense.

Tomoe, to her credit, only blinked.

Yahiko started scratching his neck, and Kaoru herself poked at her itchy hands, waiting for a reply.

"We do have sword here. I do not know its name or its origin, but the head priest cautioned several times to never touch it. Human touch will awaken the evil powers of the sword."

"Of course it would," Yahiko muttered, knowing he had done just that. He again ran his fingers over his neck.

"Kaoru-dono," Kenshin started, but before he could finish pain shot through her arms and Yahiko cried out. They both fell to the ground. Yahiko shrieked at the pain coursing through him, vomiting up his breakfast and, this time, flecks of blood as well. Kaoru saw and felt skin break on her palms, blood spurting all over her uniform. Shishio had killed again. This was much more intense than the other times, even as she tried to pull her steaming brother close with her own steaming hands, but before she could even ask the question, Kenshin answered it for her.

"He's coming up the steps," he said, his voice low and his eyes gold.

"A samurai," Tomoe whispered.

The pain wasn't leaving, if anything it was becoming more acute. Kaoru felt as though her hands were melting off the bone, pain shooting up her arms and then down her spine, making her twitch and convulse. Yahiko was writhing, his eyes rolling back into his head and giving gurgled screams.

Tomoe was suddenly there in her field of vision, making quick hand gestures. She pulled out four paper fudo and placed them on the ground. An odd blue energy encircled them, and everything Kaoru was feeling dulled; not going away but becoming infinitely more bearable. Yahiko was still incoherent, but it seemed even he was doing better.

"All of you; stay behind me," Kenshin ordered. His sakabatou was drawn, and he stood at the ready.

A dark head peaked over the horizon of the steps. Kaoru did not see the bandaged figure of a man, as she'd come to expect from the descriptions of Aoshi and Misao, but the sensuous body of a woman. Well proportioned and only barely clothed, she stepped into the temple grounds and smiled. Kaoru somehow made out that her eyes were red.

"Battousai," she said. "I see you finally decided to show yourself instead of playing house with those... children."

"Shishio..."

"Really, I find it quite degrading to you," the girl said, shrugging her shoulders, "you being my senpai, my predecessor and all. I'll tell you what, why don't I go collect my sword and we can have a rematch."

"I will not allow you to re-manifest," Kenshin said darkly. Kaoru and Tomoe could only watch. "Release the woman you have taken."

The red eyes hardened. "No."

"Then I have no choice."

The fight began.

"Nee-chan..."

Kaoru looked broke her mesmerized state and turned to her brother. He was still steaming from his burns. "It's so heavy..." His eyes were still rolled into his head, blood still seeping from his mouth. "It hurts so much..."

"Shh, it's okay," Kaoru whispered. "Kenshin will take care of it. You know how strong he is."

"I can't..."

Tomoe leaned in. "Here," she said softly, a fudo in her hand. She placed it lightly on his forehead. "It should dull the pain."

Energy crackled around the shield she had constructed, and Kaoru watched as the fudo set fire, becoming ashes in less than a second. Yahiko cried out, his back arching.

"Shh, shh, hang on," Tomoe said, putting another fudo on his fore head. The miko kept her fingers pressed, her brow furrowing. "I've never seen a mark this strong," she whispered; sweat was beginning to collect under her bangs.

"Kaoru-san," she added, looking to her. "I think the reason you and your brother react so strongly is because you have miko blood in you."

"What?" There was a clang of swords near them, and both instinctively ducked.

"You can see spirits, can you not? Your brother, too?"

"Yes, well I do. Yahiko just--"

"It was from your mother, yes?" Tomoe pressed. She did not wait for an answer. "Go into the temple. Your brother clearly opened the shrine; he has the worst mark. Your samurai has marked you, and between it, Shishio's mark, and your miko blood, you should have enough power to neutralize the sword, making it useless to the demon."

"What?" Kaoru didn't understand.

"The demon's mark will bring you to it, the samurai's mark will prevent it from taking you over, and your miko heritage will purify the sword. Now go! Hurry!"

Tomoe spoke no more, turning all her concentration to Yahiko and her fudo.

Kaoru took a deep breath, steeling herself, and then stood and stepped outside the fudo shield. Pain shot through her arms, and her hands again began bleeding. She nearly fell to her knees, but sheer willpower prevented her from doing so.

"Kaoru-dono! Get back where it is safe!" Kenshin was in front of her in an instant, blocking her from Shishio.

Kunai flew from somewhere, and the woman jumped thirty feet into the air to avoid it.

"Himura, take care of Shishio! " Misao and Aoshi joined him, again appearing from no where.

"Kamiya has something she must do, " Aoshi added. "The miko is right. "

All three charged at the woman, disappearing. Kaoru dimly wondered in the back of her mind just who, exactly, had volunteered her for this. Never mind, she decided, she could beat up the necessary parties later.

She stumbled to the temple jerkily, constantly dodging bursts of energy, light, or ghosts.

Kaoru pitched to the floor of the engawa when she felt something zoom past her head. She lay still for a moment, the pain in her hands and arms unbearable; she didn't even want to guess how much blood she had lost from her palms.

"How interesting." Looking up, the kendo student saw the woman Shishio had possessed staring down at her. Envy of that perfect figure briefly swept through Kaoru before she remembered her place. "You're the little bird that Battousai has claimed his own. Of course he'd pick someone special, that's just like him. Do you know why he has the scar that he does?"

"Ke-cho Kick!" Misao rammed into the woman, her shadow passing over Kaoru.

"Oniwabanshu Nitou Ryu Ougi: Kaiten Kenbu Rokuren!" Aoshi swept by, leaping over Kaoru. Kaoru marveled, not for the first time that some ghosts really could manifest in the physical world.

Struggling to her feet, Kaoru fumbled into the temple and its relative quiet. She was panting, sweat everywhere, and in absolute agony. The cuts on her hands had spread up her arms, and blood was pooling on the beautiful hardwood floor. Rolling to her side, she fought to her knees and realized dimly she didn't have the strength to stand. When did she get so weak?

"Ah, that's how you do it. "

She turned slowly, shocked to see the tall blue form before her. "Saitou?"

"You'll find my body at the foot of the steps, " he said simply. "Now I see what you were talking about. " He took a drag of a cigarette. "These ghostly matters are really quite fascinating. "

"You would find it interesting," she muttered. Feeling somehow stupid for crawling but unable to do better, she moved deeper into the bowels of the temple, searching for the Mugenjin. Of course Tomoe was nice enough to tell her it was in the temple, but heaven forbid anyone in this beautiful mess be helpful enough to tell her where in the temple.

That thought quickly died in her mind, however, when she entered the next room. It was filled with the scent of blood, and at the far end of the room was the sword, carefully wrapped. Like with the shrine, there were no fudo, not wards, nothing to make one think it was dangerous. Kaoru doubted she would have noticed were it not for the intense fight going on outside. Saitou was beside her, still smoking his cigarette, content to watch.

"Why not join the fight outside," Kaoru muttered, inching into the room and sliding the door closed. Hopefully the fight wouldn't wander into the temple.

"I'm not a guardian, or a demon, like the ones outside. I don't have their powers yet. That's fine. Watching can be much more interesting than participating. "

"Is that was you've been doing for the last, what, three weeks? Four? Watching?"

There was an intense rush of energy, and Kaoru felt the cuts spread further up her arms, watched the blood spurt again as the pain increased even more. Strength left her, and she fell to the floor completely, her body unwilling to move, just out of arms reach of the sword.

"Kaoru-chan! Hurry!"

"Kamiya, the sword!"

"Kaoru-dono!"

So the fight had entered the shrine. The image of Yahiko burning in black smoke flittered through her mind, along with everything that had happened since. Energy was crackling in the room; she could see the woman casually walking in. The sword was humming, loudly. Growling, Kaoru pushed herself forward by an arm's length. "I'm so sick of this!!" She reached out and wrapped her blood-covered hands over the sword, pulling it close.

"No!" the woman cried.

White light seemed to emit from everywhere. Pain coursed through Kaoru yet again, blood filling her nose and mouth as the sword tried to possess her. The heated stones that Yahiko had so frequently talked about rolled over her back and then down her arms, stopping at the sword and pressing into her palms. After that she saw her mother, smiling down at her.

"I'm so proud of you... "

And Kaoru remembered nothing after that.