~Return~

A ship blew its horn in the distance as it entered in the docks of Tokyo Harbor. The sun slowly peeked over the horizon as morning dawned, and the mist began to fade away. The ship anchored at port and the morning crew began its daily work. People from foreign lands piled out of the ship, each and every one fascinated by the beauty and serenity of Japan.

Two people stepped out of the ship, talking excitedly to one another.

"Tokyo has changed so much, hasn't it?" one of them asked.

"Sou ne, it has," the other agreed. "Demo, it's been such a long time since we've been back."

They continued to talk as a young woman stepped out onto the dock behind them. She wore a navy blue Chinese outfit, her long, dar, hair tied at the nape of her neck by a thick, matching band. She looked at the ever-changing city before her with sapphire eyes and smiled sadly to herself.

"It sure has," she mumured softly. "It's been twelve years since I was taken away from home."

<later that day ~ Akabeko>

Sanosuke once again smacked Kaoru's chopsticks away from the boiling pot of stew and snatched the piece of beef that she was aiming for. He chewed away happily.

That was the third time he did that to her, and Kaoru was angry. Really angry. Coming back after two years in Mongolia or not, Kaoru was going to make Sanosuke pay. Giving one glare that said You do that again, you die, she quickly picked up all the food she wanted and gobbled it all up.

Sanosuke, Kenshin, and Yahiko stared at the woman in awe as she continued to eat even more. Sanosuke was especially surprised because he'd never seen Kaoru eat so much. Well, he hadn't seen her or the others in two years, so a lot of things have changed.

Kenshin and Kaoru married a year after he left and they sent him a picutre of their wedding day. Even after all this time, Sanosuke still wasn't used to the fact that a photograph took an exact replica of everbody. But he was happy that the two were together now or else he'd have to cream Kenshin to pieces.

Megumi was now a famous doctor in Aizu. She rarely ever visits due to so many patients but managed to come to Kenshin and Kaoru's wedding. And Yahiko was still Yahiko. He matured a bit, but not by much.

"Che, Jou-chan, never knew that you ate so much," Sanosuke joked. "Keep on eating like that and you're going to lose the dojo!"

She glared at him again, swallowing her food. "Keep on saying things like that, Sano, and you're going to wish that you never came back here."

"I was just kidding!" he replied, laughing nervously. She still didn't forget that I owe her money. "Geez, you take things so seriously."

"She takes everything seriously nowadays," Yahiko commented nonchalantly, scooping in some more rice into his bowl.

He was immediately whacked on the head by a wooden spoon.

"You're one to talk, Yahiko-chan," Kaoru retorted as sweetly as she could.

"Stop calling me that, busu!"

"What was that?!?"

"Maa, maa, Kaoru, Yahiko," Kenshin tried to calm the raging master and student.

Sanosuke couldn't help but laugh. "Che, some things never change."

"What does that mean?!?" asked an angry duo of Kaoru and Yahiko.

"Are you crazy?!?" a voice bellowed fro mthe booth across from them.

The booth across from where the Kenshingumi was at were a group of foreigners who had one too many cups of sake. They were arguing a bit too loudly.

"That plan'll be just laid to waste!" one of the men replied and took another swing of sake.

"Than what do you plan on doing?" the man next to him slurred.

"Some bad things don't change, either," Sanosuke muttered.

"More and more visitors everyday come to see the city," Kaoru informed.

"Although some are a bunch of people who like to get drunk," Yahiko stated.

Their arguement began to climb over normal conversational voices and caught the attention of customers who were covering their ears due to the yelling.

"Can't they take this outside or something?" Yahiko shouted, covering his ears.

"Maa, they should, de gozaru," Kenshin shouted back and then opened his eyes to find Kaoru out of her seat and walking towards the drunks, a look of annoyance on her face. "K-Kaoru! What are you doing, de gozaru?"

Kaoru ignored her husband's protests and stepped in front of the drunk men's booth, hands on her hips. The men stopped shouting.

"What the hell do you want?" one of them asked rather rudely.

"Keep your voices down," Kaoru sharply replied. "This is a restaurant and if you want to discuss something in that loud of a voice, then talk outside!"

One of the men boldly stood up, teetering a bit, to his full stature of six feet and odd inches. He stared down at Kaoru who was the least bit unintimidated. Kenshin was about to intervene when Tae stepped in to protect her.

"How dare you talk to us like that, woman!" he bellowed.

"I can talk to anybody however I want!" Kaoru snapped back.

"Anno, onegai, we don't want too much of a disturbance here and you gentlemen ---" Tae was cut off.

Kenshin, Sanosuke, and Yahiko were already crouching to get up.

"Shaddup! Who asked women to stick their asses in here?!?" the man shouted and smacked Tae in the face who ran into Kaoru behind her and they both stumbled back off balance.

They didn't fall, though. Instead, they were caught by the young woman at the dock.

"Daijoubu desu ka?" she asked softly.

Kaoru and Tae nodded. They stepped aside. Now, the other drunks have stood.

"Oh, so another woman sticks her ass in, eh?" one of them said rather insultingly.

"Oh, I thought that it's a man's rule to not hit a woman, in your culture," the woman cleverly replied, icily staring back at them.

"What did you say?!?" the same man replied, outraged.

"You heard what I said," the woman answered calmly. Then she clicked her tongue in disgust, adding, "Che, I come here for a visit and then you foreigners just had to ruin my day. How many more of you have to come and corrupt the countries far away from your own?"

"A Chinese woman who speaks Japanese fluently," Yahiko murmured. "That's funny."

"Ie, by her accent, it seems like she used to live around Kyoto," Kenshin corrected him.

"Oi, Kenshin, how can you tell?"

Kenshin remained silent, refusing to answer the question. Instead, he stared intently at the woman with slightly narrowed eyes. Her eyes, why do those eyes remind me of someone?

"Look who's talking, woman," the six foot, odd inch man retorted.

"Even though I wear clothing from a different country doesn't mean that I'm a native of that country," the woman pointed out rather slyly.

"Are you looking for a fight?!?" another drunk growled.

"Thee are a lot of civilians and tourists here," the woman pointed out yet again with the same calm, gesturing to the customers in the booths nearby. "I'd rather not fight in here. In China, I probably would've. But if you want to get the hot head of your cooled off, then you go outside and we'll settle it there."

The men had had enough. "Alright! Outside, now!"

<Akabeko ~ outside>

People crowed the sides of the streets as the showdown took place. The group of drunks were on one end, the woman by herself on the other. The largest of the men stepped out, slamming his fists together as if imagining that her head will be crushed like an insect. He stood around seven feet tall and towered over the woman. She didn't seem to care, however, with her arms behind her back and staring up at hin with an eerie calm in her demeanor.

"You're going to pay for all the shit you talked to us, bitch," he growled.

The woman just smiled at the rather colorful language used. "We'll see about that. I'll let you go easy. Three open shots if you can catch me. And I won't use my hands."

The drunk smiled grimly and charged forward, yelling out a battle cry with his fist raised. He attacked, but only attacked the air in front of him. Still in shock, the woman used this to advantage while still in the air and accomplished an amazing amount of hits to the drunk's back with only kicks. The drunk was sent flying into the dirt road. The woman gracefully landed back on the ground, her hands still behind her.

"Uso...she's good," Yahiko murmured in awe.

Sanosuke's eyes narrowed. He'd seen those types of moves before.

The drunk never got up after that. His friends, however, were furious.

"You bitch!" one yelled. He signaled to the others. "C'mon, let's get her!"

"I wonder if I should stop this, de gozaru ka," Kenshin asked himself.

"Why bother? She seems to be the type who can take care of herself," Sanosuke pointed out as they continued to watch.

They all converged on her so that she would have no escape. But she did escape by jumping into the sky, skillfully flipping over the drunks and landing in a catlike position on the ground. Some of the men ran into each other, knocking one another senseless.

The onlookers laughed at them as if they were clowns in a circus. The jeering made the drunks even angrier. They finally got up and attacked the woman again. Instead of dodging, the woman resorted to China's grand tradition of martial arts.

Most of the onlookers could see were a blur of blue and men falling. Kenshin and Sanosuke, however, saw more than just that. The woman was very skilled indeed and was just as fast as Kenshin. Any item within her reach became a weapon. A bowl laid out nearby smached onto the head of one man, rendering unconscious. An empty wooden pole used to hang fish turned into a spear, striking multiple targets in one blow. When broken in half, it became even more deadly.

In just a matter of minutes, all of the drunken foreigners lay in a heap of unconsciousness. The audience clapped and cheered for the woman who stood victorious and a bit embarassed as she set the broken halves of the pole down.

"Oh, you were great! Kick ass!" someone shouted.

The crowd dispersed, leaving only the Kenshingumi, Tae, and the woman.

"Arigatou gozaimashta," Tae thanked. "Those men have been such a nuisance to the local shops."

"It's not much," the woman replied meekly. "I just do what I think is right."

"You're not from China, aren't you, de gozaru?" Kenshin asked. "By your accent, you were from Kyoto, de gozaru."

"Hai, I am," the woman replied.

"That was so cool! You, like, took them all down as fast as Kenshin did!" Yahiko exclaimed in excitement. "Can you teach me some of those moves?!?"

Kaoru bonked him on the head. "Yahiko, you have enough already being the teacher at the dojo."

The woman smiled at Yahiko. "Well, it takes a lot of years of practice to perfect the school."

"Are you going to stay here?" Kaoru asked. "You can stay where we live if you're not going to an inn."

"I don't want to intru--"

"Daijoubu. You helped Kaoru from not injuring herself, de gozaru," Kenshin assured. "It's the least that we can give you for helping."

"Arigatou," the woman replied.

"What's your name?" Kaoru asked.

"Shinomori. Shinomori Ikumi, desu."

"Shinomori?" Sanosuke asked in disbelief. "Matte, are you related to Shinomori Aoshi?!?"

Ikumi was a bit startled, but nodded. "Hai, I'm his imouto."

AYAME-CHAN SAYS: Bwuahahahahaha, that's it fer now! Please R&R!