"No no," Sano said lazily, tightening the wrap on his hand. "She did. She’ll be pretty angry with me too, when she finds out that I knew all along." He gave the group a wicked smile."Sano!" He just chuckled more and gnawed on a blade of grass."Just watch this," he chuckled as Megumi came tearing back up the road toward the dojo, still a faint blob. She ran back through the gates a minute or two later, panting but smiling.

"It’s a nameless chemical used by only a few people. I thought the symptems sounded familier! ‘He’ wanted me to make that too." She brushed a lock of hair off her forehead."Wait a minute, Megumi," Sano said, pushing off the wall. "Isn’t that that funky seed? Ground it up and put it in boiling water to make the heavy vapors that knock somebody out?""No. That’s completely different," she muttered, waving a hand at Sano dissmissively. "How did you know?" She rounded on him suddenly, her eyes ablaze."I was bored," he shrugged. "You’re fancy books are really long. What’s a guy suppost to do?"

"STAY OUT OF MY HAIR, THAT’S WHAT!!!" Megumi shouted furiously. She stalked away and glowered at him from the porch."About this girl, her name?" Kenshin asked hastily. Enishi turned back to him."Otomi.""Family name?" Kenshin raised an eyebrow.Enishi opened his mouth to reply, but no name came to his lips. He wrinkled his brow and looked down the road that Iida and Yahiko had just left by. "I, I don’t know," he said finally. Kenshin made a small thoughtfull sound.

"I think we should recruit the help of some friends," Kenshin said, rising and heading away. "I’ll be back soon.""Where are you going, Kenshin?" Kaoru asked urgently, catching up with him hastily."I have a feeling that Aoshi and Misao-dono will be ivaluble, and Saitoh would feel left out, I’m sure," he added with a small smile."This doesn’t need to be a big affair, Battousai!" Enishi growled. "You don’t need to bring the whole posse!"

"Please don’t call me Battousai, Enishi," he replied sadly. Enishi felt himself nodding grudgingly and suspiciously. "And this was no ordinary kidnapping. There have been others. That is why I’m contacting our friends." He began to walk away again. "The knowledge and experience of Saitoh Hajime and the Oniwabanshuu will make this go much faster. Besides," he added throwing a glance and a smile over his shoulder at Enishi. "They told me they were getting bored.""They may be a while in coming," Kaoru said in the silence. "You’ll need a place to stay, Enishi."

He nodded noncommentally, turning away from the gates and beginning to pace the courtyard."Enishi," she said again, more firmly. He didn’t respond. "Look at me, Enishi!" His head snapped up at the command in her voice. He saw her staring at him with tear-laden eyes in a flushed face."I- I- I’m sorry," he said hastily, nervous about what might come next."Why can’t you forgive and forget, you jerk?!" She cried, tears beginning to spill down her cheeks. "I don’t care about what happened before! Don’t you get it?! All I want now is to help you! You have to look at me sometime! You have to speak to me! I’m human!" The tears flowed faster and faster as she went on. She balled her hands into fists and glared at them in frustration. Suddenly spinning on her heel she ran back into the dojo, slamming the door hard behind her.

Enishi stood thunderstruck in the middle of the courtyard, feeling very cruel. It had never occurred to him that Kaoru would ever forgive him, or that she was sincere about her desire to help him. He glanced sideways out of his eyes at a flash and flutter of two bright colors; Sano’s jacket and Megumi’s smock. They stared at him blandly. "What…" he stammered in a pleading tone.

"All I know is that she said she wished she could forgive you," Megumi said softly, holding Sano’s sleeve in tense fingers. She quickly went into the dojo and came back a moment later with a large book that she tucked under her arm as she left. Sano began to follow her out, lightly placing a hand on her waist for just a moment protectively."Be nice to that girl," Sano warned as he left.

That left Enishi alone with in the home of his arch-enemy after making his woman cry. Great. He gave a huge sigh of exasperation and confusion and slumped down on the steps of the dojo, burrying his head in his arms as he thought about the wisdom of his decision. The other woman had said the Kaoru wanted to forgive him. Maybe the outburst he had just seen was her way of trying to forgive him. Nobody forgave things like what he had done. "Aaugh! Nee-san, what have I done?!" he moaned.