Enishi stared at her and seemed to see right through her. She wanted to melt into a crack in the ground. Still smiling nervously she stuttered out an explanation

           "I was uh, err, I only wanted to watch I mean see what you were doing and uh, I didn't mean… I didn't hear anything and I'm sorry…" Enishi quickly grabbed her hand and hauled her up. She leaned back unconsciously, as she was a little too close to him for comfort. She could feel the heat emanating from his body. He seemed to notice her discomfort as he stepped back. He stared at her for a minute, his expression just as unreadable as usual. He finally spoke

           "If you're going to spy, at least don't be so obvious" he said simply. Kaoru had a feeling he didn't really know how to deal with the situation, as he closed the door between their rooms, leaving her rather confused.

           Yahiko saw the boy leave Enishi's room, barely. He looked on curiously as the boy sneaked off into the shadows towards the back of the ship. Yahiko decided to follow. The last two days had been uneventful, and there was still a long trip ahead of them. He had avoided any trouble, but maybe this boy would give him something to do at least.

           ***

           He walked towards the room where Heishin was, not paying as much attention to how stealthy he was. It didn't matter; the time for judgment had come. He grinned, and he would be the one to deal it.

           He paused in front of the stairs to the hold beneath. Heishin would be inside. How should he go about this, he wondered briefly, before just opening the door and heading in. It seemed the most efficient way.

           Heishin snored loudly, surrounded by his four bodyguards; he obviously had no problems dropping to sleep. A tremendous slamming of a door rudely awakened him. That door always slammed he thought to himself, annoyed. But who had entered. He sat up and looked to the entrance, where he saw a figure that looked much like a young boy. He squinted, hoping to make out the form better, but all he saw was a halo-like outline, caused by the darkness of the room, and the slight light from the outside illuminating the boy's apparently light colored hair. Heishin scowled, his face contorting to an ugly anger.

           "Who are you, brat, and what are you doing here" he yelled at the boy. His bodyguards rose up besides him at the sound of his words… all of them except one. Heishin paid no mind, waiting for the impertinent visitors response. The boy stepped further into the light and Heishin's eyes widened as he started shaking in fear. His eyes, it was a demon. His eyes were two blue rings, filled with nothing… a void. And the whole pupils were apparent as the boy grinned widely, his voice almost quivering in glee;

           "You can ask me that after I've killed you," he said soundly grasping his hand into a fist, revealing the bloodstained metal claws he wore upon them.

           Yahiko heard what the boy had said clearly, but he didn't believe it. Why the little snot was likely even younger than he was. Yahiko waited behind a support, waiting for something to happen although he wasn't sure what. He didn't have to wait long as the huge bodyguards Heishin had with him sprung at the boy. Yahiko blinked. One of them hadn't moved this whole time. He decided to work his way slowly over to it out of curiosity and against his better judgment. Everyone else in the room seemed like they would be otherwise occupied for quite some time.

           Heishin watched on in horror, as his guards seemed to be making no progress against the cursed little boy. The boy was dodging all their moves easily, and furthermore had yet to attack himself. He growled and backed further into a corner, hoping his eyes were deceiving him and the boy wasn't truly just toying with his prized killer bodyguards.

           The boy stood still finally, and the bodyguards stopped suddenly, wondering what sort of trick would be coming their way. The boy smiled suddenly gleefully

           "You're fighting styles are simple. I will make a quick work of you." He sprung at one of them as they backed away almost fearfully. He unleashed his metal claws easily tearing the trio to shreds in a manner of minutes, chunks of flesh and organs splattering against the wall and dripping down from the point of impact. Heishin stared on in surprise as blood fell across his face from the graphic scene. He could barely believe what he was seeing, not that he had much time to as he found himself impaled by a hand. He looked down, still in shock as he barfed up blood that had been forced into his lungs from the impact.

           "Enishi told me to inform you that you're no longer needed." The boy said coldly as he yanked his hand up from Heishin's stomach to his neck, leaving a trail of wreckage behind and instantly killing Heishin with the destruction off his heart on the way.

           The boy pulled away his hand, and the body slumped to the ground with an audible thud. He shook his hand off, as some organ pieces still clung to it. He sighed and was about to turn around to leave when he heard a voice.

           "Oh wow, this is another doll just like Kaoru's… only it's got all this neat stuff inside!" The boy turned around abruptly, his eyes wide as he saw the kid that had come with Kaoru, his head inside the wire-ridden bodyguard doll. He hadn't even known the kid was here.

           "How'd you get here" he asked simply. Yahiko brought his head out and looked at the kid.

           "I followed you" he said just as simply, surveying the room with an interested look on his face. "Wow you did some damage." He stood up. The other boy said nothing, seemingly trying to figure Yahiko out. "Usually I'd freak out in a situation like this" Yahiko said, more to himself than anyone else "But after seeing Kaoru dead, and all the times Kenshin was practically bleeding to death, and hell, just everything that's happened lately…" he trailed off. He didn't know why he said it. Something about the bloodstained white haired kid made him want to talk.

           "I assume you know that you're covered in blood and guts." Yahiko said, changing the subject. The boy raised one of his thin eyebrows over those pale blue eyes. Yahiko blushed, but he didn't quite know why. Probably embarrassment for the awkward situation.

           "Yes…" the boy said simply. Yahiko noticed that the boys voice, although cold and in a way silent, was a little high. He must be pretty young, Yahiko thought to himself as he stared at the boy. He was about the same height as Yahiko, but defiantly didn't seem to be the same age.

           "How'd you learn to fight like that" Yahiko asked.

           "I didn't learn." The boy said looking away. "I did this because Enishi promised he'd teach me." He said. Yahiko's eyes widened.

           "You mean to tell me that you beat all of them… without… you never…" he stumbled over the sentence, trailing off. The boy eyed him, still not knowing what to make of Yahiko.

           "I'm fast." He said. "And it's a simple matter to kill people if you know the pattern of their fighting" he explained. "I dodge them long enough to get a hang of it and then just rush in." The boy shrugged "It's more a matter of surprise than anything else, I catch people off their guard. What I do wouldn't work on people like Enishi or Kenshin for that matter. If I keep it up someone will catch on." The boy wiped a piece of bloody flesh away from under his eye, only smearing it more. "But it doesn't matter anymore because Enishi will teach me how to fight."

           Yahiko stared in amazement as he took in the words the younger boy had said. It all made sense, but Yahiko wouldn't have ever thought of doing something like that himself. He had learned to catch on to fighting styles, but he only did it so he could learn some of Kenshin's moves. He hadn't thought of using it against an opponent, but now he felt stupid for not seeing it before. He looked at the ground, his mind churning over the possibilities. Deep in thought he almost jumped as the boy spoke up.

           "I can't kill you now, as Enishi said that I wasn't to bother with you" the boy stated. "You interest me though. I will kill you eventually." With that, the boy turned around and walked up the stairs leaving to the outer deck of the ship. Yahiko looked after him, confused, with even more thoughts rushing through his head. He sat down, not paying attention to the mess around him, hoping to sort out the various bits of inner turmoil.