Kaoru was tired. Her hair had mostly fallen out of her buns and it fell about her cheeks, some of it plastered to her face with blood. Her sword she held limply to the side as she stood. She went back to that small slope and slept, hoping there were enough dead people that no one would bother her.

           She often woke up suddenly throughout the night, imagining footsteps where there were none, ravenous cries filling the air. She clasped a necklace that she hadn't worn long. It had belonged to the boy.

           The dawn came and she was far from refreshed, but she had to go on. She was as of yet afraid of what she would find in the center of the pit, so she traveled around the edge, discovering many strange things on her way.

           Some of the people living there had banded together to form sort of a tribe. It wasn't at all surprising that the tribe was a cannibalistic one, but they freely talked to her and didn't threaten her at all.

           They told her that they'd go on hunting parties to the center, where people had more power. They hoped to gain the same power by eating the heart. It was a strange tradition, Kaoru thought to herself, but not all that unlikely. She had avoided eating people so far but her food was running low.

           They invited her to stay, and held a big bonfire and feast, dancing about it like madmen. They gave her cooked meat, she of course, didn't ask what it was as she ate it. Not wanting to know, and too tired to care. She left them the next morning, when they asked her to be their queen… if she slept with them. Well it had been less blunt, but the rituals involved orgies and other things that Kaoru couldn't help but stare in horror as they described it her. She had no knowledge of such things up till then.

           She spent the rest of the day passing people by. They often stared at her as she went, but made no effort to go after her. She wondered if they thought she was a dream. She still looked a lot better health-wise than anyone else, but it had only been two weeks. There were five and a half more to go.

           Enishi watched as usual, his hands folded over the railing. The usual frown was plastered on his face, but for the first time his mind had wandered away from Kaoru. Memories often come and go, but he was remembering things he hadn't thought of in years. The time before the war.

           He had been very young then, about six or seven, when his sister got engaged. He didn't remember much about it and his memories were hazy at best. His sister always told him he judged people too harshly, and at first he disliked Tomoe's fiancé. It hadn't been until Akira left for the war that Enishi finally accepted him.

           Even further back, was his mother. He never met her, as like he had so many other people, he caused her death. He'd never blamed himself for it because of Tomoe. She refused to let him, and her gentle mothering ways allowed him to be the brat he had been at that time.

           Enishi smiled faintly as he once again remembered his sisters smiling face. It was an image he hadn't seen since he himself was in the pit. Being here brought unexpected things back to him. But now he had a new image. Kaoru, yet it wasn't her smiling face he saw, there were many. He looked down at the small figure walking around the perimeter of the pit.

           He saw, first, her determination, remembering those words she had said to him so long ago.

           "I know I will not win, but I cannot give in so easily because of that" It had been that moment perhaps, that Enishi first fell in love with her.

           Enishi rested his chin on his hand. That had been the first words to awaken him, but at that time it hadn't been enough to drag him out of his insanity. It had been when she had brought him food, and he remembered his sister doing the same. His sister had been smiling then and he remembered everything his insanity had lost.

           Kaoru… Kaoru was special. Everything from her angry determination, to her sleeping face, to the pained look when Kenshin had cut her, it was all-beautiful. He wished at this very moment he could see her now, tired, worn and covered in blood. She would likely look just as pretty. Because despite the face that her physical appearance was well done, it was her spirit and heart that animated her. Enishi had seen many cold and beautiful people, who were terrible and vicious though they pretended otherwise.

           Fang watched Enishi, enjoying the subtle play of emotion displayed across his face. Enishi really was amazing. Even when he was alone he hid his emotions there. But fang was a master of emotions, he learned all of the subtle or exaggerated facial expressions people had from a young age. He loved them all, fear, pain anguish, bliss, happiness, disappointment. He loved to take each emotion out of people and file it away in his memory.

           Ever since he was a child he had done this. His father had asked him what he wanted every year and he had usually asked for people as "toys". He'd never been denied one until Enishi came.

           Ragged and beaten, Enishi had been covered in blood, hardly any of it his own. It was the look in Enishi's eyes that drew Fang; that wild desperation and will to love on, mixed with a hint of anger and a lot of loss. He'd never seen such a thing, and he'd instantly fallen for Enishi. He'd wanted him as a toy, but his father had refused

           "This one will do good in the pits" he'd said, looking at the struggling boy who was tied and bound. Enishi had looked up at his father with such hatred and resentment that fang knew that he had to have him.

           Sure enough his chance came. Fang had just turned twelve when the man from the syndicate came to take Enishi away. Fang had been frightened that Enishi would be gone for good, but Enishi came back only three years later and killed his father. After that Fang did have Enishi for a while. He'd manipulated the twenty-two year old to leave the pit to him instead of destroying him. Just when he almost had Enishi in his grasp he'd worded something wrong and all was lost to him. He refused to lose it again.

           Kaoru sat on the abandoned stack of wood she'd found. She was surprised that no one had burned it yet. She sighed and took out the note Enishi had given her, running her fingers over the sleeping tiger, pulling her hand away when she realized there was still fresh blood on them. The blood had left a mark on the tiger, but rather than ruining the picture it seemed almost fitting.

           Kaoru curled over her knees wishing tears would come, but even they had left her, and now she was completely alone.

           As she sat there, staring off over her bloodstained arm, the snow fell gently from the sky, drifting aimlessly down; as if it were the tears she'd lost. She looked up towards the sky, wishing she could see the stars, and wondering if Enishi had once had the same thoughts, all those winters ago when The snow had been melted by the newly shed blood of his sister.

           She dozed of into a fitful dreamless sleep.

           Yahiko sighed, holding the cheerful baby girl on his knee. It had been almost four months since Enishi had taken Kaoru away, but somehow he doubted that it was the last he would see of her. Shortly after they had left, he showed up on Kenshin's door, only to find that it was actually Sanosuke's.

           Yahiko had related everything that had happened to Sano, and Sano had been amazed. He didn't know that Kenshin had gotten a sword with a blade, likely would have been against it if Kenshin had approached him about it, which was likely why he hadn't told them.

           Yahiko had been equally surprised to find that the girl had been carrying Sano's kid, and that Kenshin had forgotten everything and was now called Shinta. Kenshin hadn't changed at all in attitude, except he didn't daze of into the past as he used to. Yahiko almost thought it was a better change, were it not for the look Shinta gave them every time they tried to reason with him about the sword, he got a downright frightening look in his eye and refused.

           "I must protect my family, and if you try to take this away from me, Sano, you are a threat" he said coldly. "I know you won't do this to me." He finished, dropping the usual de gozaru polite affixations he usually ended with.

           Sano and Yahiko had decided that it was better if they left it be, in the end. It was obvious Shinta easily transferred over to Battousai when angry now, with no reason holding him back anymore, but their life in China was a peaceful one, and there were no threats so it wouldn't be a problem.

           Sano worried about Enishi showing up, since with Yahikos arrival came the knowledge that Enishi knew where they were, but after there was no news for almost half a year, he started settling down. Yahiko thought it was careless of him, but he'd determined that if he were around to be careful for Sano, it would make up for it.

           He worried about Kaoru, and what Enishi would do to her. He wished he could talk to her and clear up the misunderstanding. Kenshin hadn't meant to almost kill her, all that he'd done was instinct and paranoia, If Wei Li hadn't fallen then he would have stopped mid swing, Yahiko reasoned, even though he knew that Wei Li hadn't fallen until after Shinta hit Kaoru.

           Yahiko eyed the kid that he often had to baby-sit now. At first he'd wondered how Sano could have a kid, but come three months after it was born, It was made apparent how it happened. Shinta assured him that it was normal. Yahiko also learned to avoid parts of the house where energetic sounds came from, but much to his misfortune, his room was right next to theirs and he had to put up with it at night. He often left and slept in the kitchen or outside.

           He missed the dojo, and the weather of china was very different than Japan.

           Saitoh sat in his office, a cigarette dangling from his mouth as he looked over the information Chou had gathered for him. The Battousai was in China, as was the Raccoon girl. Their departure had not been together, and Kaoru had even traveled with Enishi, by choice. That Kenshin had taken so long to find was rather odd in itself, because he was dragged off in an almost comatose state by Sanosuke. The rooster head had more contacts that Saitoh had originally thought. In usual circumstances he would leave them be, but this stank of unpleasant things to come. It was time for the wolf to hunt once more. Tokio would be upset. He hated to upset her; he'd just take it out of Battousai's hide. It was time they finished their fight anyhow.