AN: This story uses the 'Sentinel trope/crossover' of having a world with known Sentinels with enhanced physical senses who bond to Guides with mental gifts. It's pretty self-explanatory in the story, but feel free to look it up online if you want more explanation. I love stories using Sentinels. As people say, Sentinels are the little black dress of fandom.

The Guiding Star: Parker Triptych I

By Indygodusk

Chapter 1: Tokyo

Panting, terrified, Kaoru ran, one speck in the vast stampede. Two legs were too slow, so she used all four to lope as fast as possible, trying to get away. But as fast as she ran, as hard as her lungs bellowed for air and her fur became matted with sweat and foam, it wasn't enough to escape. Even the birds and bats in the sky weren't fast enough. Blood red light stained the looming clouds as it stalked them with palpable menace and hunger.

In the distance she saw a shimmer. The sound of rhythmic crashing rose above the sound of countless hooves and paws pounding across the land and wings beating through the sky. Cresting a steep cliff with her brothers and sisters, she saw the ocean.

Insane with terror, the mob didn't hesitate as it ran towards the safety of the water. The birds reached the spray first, followed soon after by the fastest of the pray animals. But when the waves touched their bodies, instead of merely drenching, the water stuck like syrupy ropes, dragging beasts of land and air alike down into the crashing waves. Their distinct forms dissolved into the water like foam, becoming merely globes of light pulled out into the depths by the ocean currents. All too quickly the ocean began to resemble a sky full of caged stars.

For a sliver of a second, Kaoru had a moment of clarity. She instinctively recoiled. The stutter in her step threw the nearby pack off their stride. Bony shoulders knocked her to the ground. Sharp hooves stumbled over her prone body, painfully kicking her off the side of a precipice as the rest of the fear-maddened mob turned and continued racing towards the shore.

Ricocheting off scraggly trees, she finally jolted to a painful stop. Kaoru pushed herself up onto three paws and dragged herself forward. One of her legs didn't work right. Flopping down onto her haunches on the farthest rock, she looked down at the water in despair.

Abruptly the gigantic head of a whale surfaced. Kaoru scrambled back in fear. "Guide!" it called.

The whale almost felt like a female Sentinel, but that was impossible. Aquatic creatures couldn't be spirit animals. Could they?

"Come quickly!" commanded the whale.

Looking back, Kaoru saw some animals escaping: slipping beneath the sand, inside a tree, or even under the rocks. However, the vast majority had been destroyed by the waves.

On the shore the last few spirit animals huddled together. The small group backed up step by grudging step, eyes rolling, teeth bared, driven by terror of the approaching scarlet light and black smoke. Indifferent, the cold ocean splashed across their heels, dragging them in. A hidden hummingbird zoomed up in a desperate attempt to escape, but a spray of water slapped it midflight, unravelling its form before it even touched the surface. The entire ocean pulsed with rapidly sinking constellations of rainbow light.

"Hide inside me," the whale insisted.

"We're all going to be destroyed," Kaoru cried.

"No! I will protect you!" The whale opened her mouth wider. "Please, Guide," the whale begged her with a desperate flap of her fins.

A Sentinel had a genetic imperative to protect Guides. Only rarely could it be overridden. Clutching at her optimism, Kaoru lumbered forward into the whale's mouth. She had to scrunch down as small as possible to fit inside. Even then, she felt her ears smashed uncomfortably hard against her skull and her knees jabbing into her belly. She almost gave up and climbed back out, but for the intense heat building outside.

"Thank you, Guiding Star," a young female voice said as the whale closed her mouth. Just before it became dark, Kaoru caught a glimpse of sentient fire.

Kaoru woke up screaming.

Immediately she choked it off with a ragged inhale, but she knew it wasn't fast enough, not for someone with enhanced hearing and hair-trigger reflexes. A transparent stormbringer bird darted through the wall like a lightning bolt. Then the shoji crashed open as the Sentinel arrived. Kaoru instinctively flinched back as Kenshin's flame-red hair reminded her of the stalking terror in her dream.

Kenshin froze in a crouch, reverse-blade sword in one hand with his other half-extended towards her. His eyes darted around the room before returning to her sweaty, panting face. "You screamed," he said abruptly. "Your pulse is racing and you smell… terrified." He looked fiercely protective, a Sentinel in full battle drive, ready to destroy anything that threatened.

"Just a horrible dream," she whispered through a throat sore as if she'd been screaming for hours instead of just seconds.

Abruptly she became aware of soothing chirping coming from the corner. Her spirit guide, an Asiatic black bear, huddled transparently in the corner with her big paws covering her face, exposing the yellow crescent of fur across her chest. Kenshin's white-throated needletail, Arashi, perched on the bear's shoulder, chirping soothingly.

"I guess we're both big babies about dreams. Sorry, Kenshin," she tried to say lightheartedly, but the little hitch in her breath at the end betrayed her. Then again, she still hadn't steadied her pulse either. She should know better than to try and fool a Sentinel's advanced senses.

Kneeling down next to her futon, Kenshin placed his sword on the floor next to him and held out his hand. She knew touching would comfort both of them, so she took it. "What can I do to soothe you?" he asked softly, quickly calming at the touch of her skin and lack of threat.

"It was just a dream," she repeated.

"Hmm, so it was, so it was," Kenshin nodded, "and now I am here. How can I help you so you no longer flinch from me in fear?"

"I wasn't flinching from you, just from your hair. The bad thing in my dream was fire and, and…," Kaoru felt her pulse elevate as her mind grappled to put words to the terror.

"Shh, it does not matter," Kenshin soothed. His fingers exerted the barest of pulls in his direction. "Let me help you. Please." Steady eyes drew her in, promising protection and peace.

Sighing brokenly, Kaoru moved into his arms and laid her head on his shoulder. Immediately his warm arms came around her back, tightening protectively. His chin came to rest against her hair. "You are safe. Nothing will hurt you. This I vow," Kenshin whispered with a hint of a growl into her hair.

Surrounded by the supreme protection of Kenshin, a Sentinel and the man she loved unrequitedly, Kaoru let the dream dissipate. Quickly calming, she reveled in the feel of being in his arms. Too bad she had to rouse his protective instincts and act weak to get it.

"Oof!" Kaoru exclaimed as Tsukiko, her spirit bear, became corporeal and engulfed her from behind with a bear hug. Kenshin's bird, still perched on Tsukiko's shoulder, rubbed his head against Kaoru's and then across Kensin's chin.

"Sorry for waking you up abruptly, but… thank you." Kaoru closed her eyes and just breathed.

Rubbing her and Tsukiko's sides soothingly, Kenshin finally said, "You needn't worry. I was glad to escape my own unpleasant dreams."

Tightening her grip on his sleeping kimono, she mentally projected feelings of warmth and comfort. He soaked in the feelings and shifted his grip on her body. Their spirit animals disappeared back to the astral plane. Kenshin dropped his head and dragged his nose across the shell of her ear.

Kaoru's breath caught in her throat. She could feel the rumble of a growl growing in Kenshin's chest. His damp breath puffed across face, making her tremble in longing. With his body so close, she could sense him raising the sensitivity of his senses as he soaked in the sight, smell, sound, and feel of her.

But then his fingers drifted off her body like a fading whisper. A forlorn Kaoru found herself sitting alone on her futon. Kenshin stood on the other side of the room. He wouldn't meet her eyes. "I'll go make breakfast. Get a little more rest if you can." Then he stalked out of the room, closing the shoji.

Mental shields thin and skin sensitized in anticipation of his mental and physical touch, she allowed herself a single forlorn sigh. Then she brought herself under control. The empty spot in her core desperately waiting for a bond throbbed with renewed pain, but she forced herself to ignore it, just like she had ever since she'd come Online as a Guide following the death of her mother and the near-suicidal depression of her father, a suddenly unmoored Sentinel with widely fluctuating senses.

Not for the first time, Kaoru felt guilty for how glad she was that her mother had merely been an amazing sensitive and not an actual Guide. Her father wouldn't have survived the death of an actual Guide. Most Sentinels didn't.

But Kaoru had come Online as a Guide and managed to stabilize him and his senses again. She'd learned to live with the pain of a missing bond and the emotions of others constantly pressing on her mind. It had given them two more years together. No matter how the Guide gifts were both a blessing and a curse, or how they'd further stigmatized her in the community, she would always be grateful for them because of that extra time with her father.

Determined to get herself back on an even keel, Kaoru flopped back down onto her futon and called Tsukiko out of the spirit realm for an early morning bear cuddle. She'd let Kenshin make breakfast first. Then she'd get dressed, go out, and eat.

Later that morning, Kaoru sat at the breakfast table. She could feel Kenshin's swirl of worry and anxiety about earlier this morning as he came out of the kitchen, but beneath that, contentment at being here and a determination to protect his tribe and territory. Usually she didn't get so much, but her mental shields were patchy today. They'd never completely protect her from the emotions of others until she bonded with a Sentinel.

"Rice, fish, and miso for breakfast - my favorite," Kaoru praised happily.

The second she started talking, Kenshin's eyes dilated and his nostrils flared. When she noticed a slight rash on his neck peeking out from the collar of his gi, she had to suppress a sigh. Kenshin must be having trouble getting his senses back to the right levels after this morning. Then he focused on her so much that he zoned out and stopped moving.

Kenshin refused to talk about his zones, especially with her. Nevermind that as a Guide she was best equipped to help him deal with it. She had experience helping unbonded Sentinels, first her father, then some of the students at the dojo, and finally as a paid temporary Guide around the city.

Kaoru desperately wanted to help Kenshin, but he avoided discussing his Sentinel problems. Unspoken but clear was the understanding that Kenshin had no intention of ever bonding to a Guide. He felt too tainted by his past. She could help him without a bond, but he refused to discuss that too. However, she refused to let him hurt himself. She'd just learned to be sneaky about helping.

Sighing internally and pushing down on the ache inside, Kaoru thinned her already fluctuating mental shields and began radiating peace and stability. She also projected love, but that was inadvertent. It wasn't a secret that she loved him, but usually she tried not to be pushy about it since he wasn't interested. What they had now was enough. She just didn't want him to leave again.

Determined to bring him out of his zone, Kaoru also began talking in a soft tone of voice while adjusting her bowl and chopsticks to give him sight and sound to latch onto. Those two senses seemed to give him the most problems. He could use her to center his senses so they'd return from being either too high or too low.

"Of course, any meal I don't have to cook is a favorite," Kaoru mused into the silence, "but there's just something about this meal that makes me smile. I've heard that some foreigners can go weeks or more between eating tofu. Can you believe it?"

Blinking rapidly, Kenshin quickly latched onto her mental and physical cues and came back to himself. No one had ever responded to her as quickly as Kenshin did. She hadn't taken on a Sentinel client since meeting him. It was her right to be exclusive to him, even if he didn't feel the same. Not wanting to scare him off or rouse his guilt, she'd never told him that.

"I suppose I can, Miss Kaoru," Kenshin said with only a hint of roughness, glossing over his moment of weakness. "I have heard British men in the market saying that our foods taste strange. It is easy to equate strange to wrong, but I tend to find differences interesting."

Then he smiled and shrugged, "Yet I myself would not want to go long without eating tofu, just like you, Miss Kaoru." Remembering the food in his hands, Kenshin leaned over her to put it on the table. His auburn hair swished sensually across the back of her wrist. Kaoru shivered.

Head tilting, he flared his nostrils. She saw the tip of his tongue dart out and lick his bottom lip. He hesitated, a pillar of sensual heat and almost overwhelming longing by her side, and then moved away with a rueful smile.

Long practice helped Kaoru to keep her pulse mostly steady and her face serene, despite her desire to finally give him the taste of her skin that he'd been craving for so long. Luckily she was stubborn. Although Kenshin couldn't control the way he instinctively reached out to tug at her emotions demandingly, the rational part of his mind didn't want her.

Kaoru wondered if he'd ever admitted to himself how much of her body he'd grounded his senses on. His self-deception hurt. Yet Kaoru kept silent. He gave so much of himself that she tried not to be greedy. Part of loving him was accepting and respecting his choices, while taking responsibility for her own.

As Kenshin sat down, Yahiko stumbled in on a yawn. "Food," the teenager grunted. Kaoru sensed only sleepiness and hunger from the boy. Obviously the commotion this morning hadn't woken him. Bleary-eyed, Yahiko reached out for the largest fish on the platter.

"Yahiko," Kenshin said sharply. The boy yanked his hand back. Kenshin tilted his head towards Kaoru.

Yahiko flushed and grumbled, "Right, sorry."

Although Kenshin was the humblest, kindest, and most even-tempered man she'd ever met, he also had stubborn streak that rivaled her own. Kenshin hated raising his voice, but he would not be swayed. He insisted that Kaoru get first choice of food.

"Please eat if you're hungry," Kenshin said genially.

"Thank you," Kaoru smiled. She should content herself with this. Kenshin did put her first, even if he wouldn't give her everything she needed. He did try to give her everything he could.

Reaching out, Kaoru decided to serve up the fish herself. She gave Kenshin the largest fish (ignoring his slight frown of protest), herself the middle sized fish (ignoring Yahiko's mouth dropping open in dismay), and Yahiko all three of the smaller fish (acknowledging his grudging thanks). Then she dished herself some rice and tofu and took a large bite of everything.

After swallowing, she announced, "I'm teaching Kendo on the other side of town today. Yahiko, are you still assisting Yamaguchi-sensei?"

Not bothering to swallow first, Yahiko answered with a mouth disgustingly full of half-chewed rice and fish. "Yeah, he agreed to hire me for the week. I'm bunking over during the training camp. Then I have to clean up. I'll be home when we're done."

"Did you make sure to pack?" Kenshin asked with concern.

"It's only a few days. I don't need anything," Yahiko protested, shoveling in another bite.

"You aren't living on the streets anymore," Kaoru reminded him with exasperation. "Take at least some extra clothes. You'll appreciate having something clean to change into that isn't drenched in sweat. Maybe that cream for your blisters and bruises too. Training can lead to just as many injuries for the teacher as for the student."

"And a bit of money," Kenshin suggested between silent sips of his miso soup. "I packed you some food, but I'm not sure it will be enough with how you've been eating lately."

"Whatever." Yahiko rolled his eyes.

Picking up a fishbone, Kaoru flicked it at his nose.

"Hey!" Yahiko protested, wiping at his face.

"Don't be an ungrateful brat," Kaoru scolded. "We're trying to help."

Biting back his annoyance, Yahiko looked over at Kenshin and then back at Kaoru. He blew out a big breath. "I meant to say… thank you for the advice." Smiling at him approvingly, Kenshin put an extra scoop of rice on his plate.

Scraping the table clean of food, Yahiko finally leaned back and stretched. "Hey Kaoru, you're teaching on the foreign side of town today, right? I could walk you over. The anti-SG cults are getting bolder over there."

Kenshin sat forward alertly. "What's this?"

"I'll be fine," Kaoru waved him off. "I can still beat you up, Yahiko. I doubt a few troublemakers are going to bother me, especially when I'll be dressed for training."

"Maybe," Yahiko turned to Kenshin for supprt. "You know how some people," he made a rude gesture, "think that Sentinels and Guides are just primitive throwbacks who should be marginalized for the good of the country? Well they're joining up with the foreign crazies who think that Sentinels and Guides are evil demons. Some rumors even suggest Sentinels be made military property."

Biting her lip, Kaoru silently begged Yahiko to stop there. Kenshin already knew most of this, but if he'd somehow missed out on the most recent of the rumors regarding Guides, she didn't want Yakiho to enlighten him. It would just upset Kenshin uselessly. You can't fight rumors.

Yahiko continued, "A few people known to be unbonded Sentinels or Guides have disappeared. Plus a new gang is going around trying to beat the primitive out of Sentinels or Guides."

Kaoru grimaced, "I know the rumors, but I'm careful and tough. Plus, I have a reputation of beating up street toughs. No one's going to bother me, especially not when I'm carrying practice swords."

Hand flat on the table, Kenshin quietly but firmly prompted, "You never explained what those rumors are saying about Guides."

Just before she closed her eyes in dismay, Kaoru saw Yahiko squirm and look her way in apology. "They're just whispers," Yahiko prevaricated, "but I've heard that once the Sentinels are all serving in the military, the extra Guides are..." he gulped loudly and then finished as quickly as possible, "going to be locked up in pleasure camps where their primitive animal passions can best serve others." Flinching, Kaoru opened her eyes as her stomach turned over unpleasantly.

An ominous silence grew from Kenshin's side of the table. His white-knuckled fist trembled on the tabletop and he hid his eyes beneath fringe the color of flames. "Who would dare," he breathed in a low growl palpable with rage.

"That's the problem with rumors," Kaoru said with bitter experience. "It's hard to find the source."

Kenshin surged to his feet, sword clenched in one hand. His stormbird appeared with wings unfurled. Kaoru could feel his protective anger, but he forced it down to strategize. "You mentioned the foreign side of town," he said in a voice so cold it could burn. "I'll start there," turning, he enfolded Kaoru in a protective gaze, "after I walk you to work."

"But-" Kaoru protested.

"No," Kenshin cut her off sharply. Then he softened his voice, "I'm sorry, Miss Kaoru. I can either walk by your side or follow behind you on the street, but I must insist on escorting you."

Kaoru nodded in defeat. "Of course I won't make you walk at my heels. Don't be ridiculous." Sure enough, Kenshin walked her all the way there.

After a hard day teaching Kendo, Kaoru stayed alert as she walked home. She'd half expected Kenshin to be waiting to escort her back, but he must still be trying to follow the anti-SG rumors to their source. Because she was so alert, she caught the sound of a child yelling coming from a small side street and felt a wave of ugly satisfaction.

Kaoru ran.

Rounding the corner, she pulled out her wooden training sword. A group of thugs were attacking two foreign children around the age of 12 or 13. "Leave them alone!" Kaoru yelled as she swung her bokken at the arm of a man about to throw a rock at the bloody boy protecting a girl on the ground. The girl stared blankly into the street. Kaoru hit the bully's arm with a satisfying crack and the man crumpled to the ground with a scream of pain.

Everyone turned to look at her and in that moment of pause, Kaoru sensed it. The children were both Sentinels, or near enough. Immediately she projected calm and control to the children. Combined with the boy's familiar presence, it brought the girl out of her zone. She drew in a deep breath and focused on Kaoru's face. Kaoru felt the girl level her senses, then stand up with clenched fists.

"It's that female Guide who acts like a man. Let's show 'er how we treat their kind 'round here!" cried the leader, pointing at Kaoru. A gaudy ring gleamed on his finger. "First one to take her down gets a ride," he promised with a disgusting leer. He and a friend charged at Kaoru while the other man attacked the children.

Overconfident, the leader tried to grab her arm as if she had no training at all. Kaoru pivoted to the side and whacked him across the backside with her sword. He staggered forward. Then she planted her feet, ducked the second man's swing, and bashed him across the temple with her bokken. He dropped to the dust, out cold.

Enraged, the leader pulled out a knotted length of rope and swung it at Kaoru. She deflected it with her bokken, but the rope wrapped around the wooden sword. The first man she'd attacked rolled up onto his knee and threw a rock at her shoulder. Her hand spasmed, dropping her weapon. The leader slipped inside her guard and punched her hard in the chest with the hand wearing the ring. Pain exploded as she fell, choking for breath, but she still managed to roll away from his stomping feet.

Suddenly she felt a surge of Sentinel rage. Worried for the children, she came to her feet only to jerk back in shock. The gigantic whale from her dream had appeared in the middle of the street. It swam through the air and bared a mouth full of sharp teeth.

While everyone was distracted, she forced herself to ignore the whale and pull out her shinai. Kaoru walloped their leader across the face, breaking his nose with a splatter of blood. Then she twisted to attack the man by the children, but before she could the girl punched him in the face, giving him a black eye. The whale reared up over her shoulder with its teeth bared and he broke, running away screaming. Cradling their own injuries, his friends followed. The whale swam after them threateningly for a few seconds before going transparent and swooshing back to nose at the girl's bruised knuckles before disappearing.

"Are you alright?" Kaoru asked the children, pushing down her panic about the whale. Had her nightmare been a premonition? Or just a coincidence? Kaoru wondered as she sheathed her shinai and retrieved her bokken.

"We're fine. You can leave," the boy said abruptly. Kaoru blinked in surprise.

"Bobby," hissed the girl, dabbing at his bleeding lip with a handkerchief, "don't be rude." Lowering her hand, she turned to Kaoru and smiled. "I've never met a Guide before. You were amazing! Thank you for your help. This is my twin brother, Bobby."

"Robert," he interrupted, "Robert Parker and you can call my sister Miss Parker." Turning to his sister, he demanded, "Let's go. You know we're not supposed to talk to her kind."

Rolling her eyes, Miss Parker stepped away from her brother. "It's stupid. I don't want to be bound. I want to be a Sentinel. So far it's amazing and if Daddy binds me, my senses and my whale friend are going to disappear."

"And just where did the crazy whale come from anyways?" Robert demanded. "She was swimming in the middle of the street!"

"It's my spirit animal, obviously," Miss Parker said coldly. "She's not crazy and where else is she supposed to swim when I need her?"

"You never told me about her!"

"Well you never asked," she replied snootily.

Turning to Kaoru, she added, "I just barely came Online, but luckily I haven't had too much trouble. Bobby will probably come Online soon too. He's just a little late."

Children who came Online early often had natural protections that adults lacked. However, twins usually came Online at the same time. Also, Kaoru had never heard of an aquatic spirit animal except in her dream. She supposed they didn't have to be air breathing animals, considering they didn't live on this plane of existence. The whale had certainly proved that.

"Robert is not going to be coming online because Daddy is going to make sure I don't," the boy insisted mulishly.

"You promised not to tell on us!" Miss Parker cried, stepping forward angrily with clenched fists.

"I promised not to tell on you. I never said anything about me," he defended, crossing his arms and thrusting out his jaw.

Uneasy, Kaoru stepped forward, "Wait, what's this about binding your gifts? No one can just stop being a Sentinel or Guide."

"Our family can," Robert said patronizingly. "We've done it quite successfully for almost six hundred years and I don't intend to be the one bringing shame on generations of Parkers by reverting to the primitive."

"Just because some crazy ancestor of ours found some magical scroll during the crusades doesn't mean we have to blindly follow family tradition. For goodness sakes, we're only a few decades off from the 1900s! As Sentinels, we'd be the progressives, not the primitives, because we're bucking a family tradition that hurts everyone. We could better protect the family and each other. Did you see how I and my whale scared off those bullies with a little help from this Guide? As a pair of Sentinels, we could make the family even greater," persuaded Miss Parker.

A dreamy look came to Robert's eyes. "We could be heroes," he speculated slowly.

"Yes!" Miss Parker encouraged.

Then Robert's eyes darkened. "But Daddy would hate us," he whispered. Miss Parker paled and went quiet.

As they talked, Kaoru scanned them on the psionic plane. She'd never seen anything like it. They were strong, very strong. However, Robert's light seemed murky. Because of the darkness at his core, he might go dormant and never join his sister Online. Kaoru decided not to mention it to them.

Then Kaoru's view shifted and she saw it.

Just beneath their bright spirits lurked a deep, rotting pit of spiritual energy. Psychically it stank. It must come from centuries of rejected spirit guides. Everything about it felt wrong, tortured, blasphemous! Kaoru's stomach turned over sickly and she had to repress the urge to recoil from the children.

"Well, we have a little more time to decide," Miss Parker said with forced cheer. "You aren't even Online yet. Maybe father will change his mind about forcing us."

Giving her a look of scorn, Robert turned his head to look up and down the street. "Where are we even at? I stopped paying attention as we ran away."

"I think we're lost," Miss Parker said glumly, but then she turned to Kaoru trustingly. "Can you help us get home, Guide?"

Confused and uneasy, but certain she needed to find out more about these children, Kaoru nodded decisively. "I'd be happy to help, but my name is actually Kaoru Kamiya, not just Guide. You can call me Guide Kamiya if you'd like, Sentinel Parker."

"Oh, just Miss Parker is fine," the girl said with a suddenly shy blush. "Thank you for helping us."

"It is my honor to serve a Sentinel," Kaoru said with a slight bow.

Miss Parker blushed brighter and straightened her spine. "As it is mine to protect a Guide… if you have need, of course. You're so amazing you probably don't," she babbled. Then she looked down at Kaoru's chest and winced. "That looks like it hurt though."

Glancing down, Kaoru saw a deep cut surrounded by bruises just above the crossed fabric of her gi. It hadn't hurt until Miss Parker pointed it out. Now it throbbed painfully. "Lovely," she sighed. Kenshin would be upset and there was no way for her to hide it.

"It looks like a star," Robert said randomly, "probably because of that guy's ring."

"Well, if you're going to have a wound, it might as well be an interesting star one, right?" Miss Parker said optimistically.

Kaoru laughed. "That's a good philosophy."

Miss Parker then gave her address near the British consulate, adding hesitantly, "If you could try not to mention Sentinels or Guides to my father, that might be best. He and his friends don't like them." She winced in apology.

During their walk they kept the conversation light. Miss Parker seemed to have an opinion on just about everything and half of them were unfavorable. Despite that, Kaoru found her delightful and witty. Robert had his own easy charm, but he kept sinking back into sullen disapproval at Kaoru's escort.

As they approached the large, foreign-built house, Kaoru started to feel uneasy. There were a lot of rough-looking men hanging around in the street drinking or playing dice. They exuded feelings of aggression and hatred. The disgusting emotions made her almost physically ill.

Thickening her wobbly shields. Kaoru tucked the children in closer and drew her bokken, holding it down by her side in readiness. Tsukiko appeared to lumber protectively on the other side of the young Sentinels. No one could see her but other sensitives.

"I don't remember Daddy saying that there'd be so many visitors today," Miss Parker grabbed her brother's hand surreptitiously. She jumped in surprise and then gave a soft smile of wonder when Tsukiko brushed against her arm soothingly.

"He mentioned an important meeting, but I don't think he expected them to bring more than a handful of men," Bobby answered shakily as they passed a group of Japanese toughs fingering rocks as if contemplating whether to start throwing.

Finally they reached the front door and knocked. After a few seconds, a snooty-looking blond man opened the door. "I was expecting someone important. You children are late," he sneered, looking down his nose at them.

"We got lost, Mr. Malfoy," Robert said defensively, stepping forward. "Miss Kamiya had to help us get home."

"Can we come in to our house now?" Miss Parker demanded haughtily, stepping up next to her brother. "I don't remember you living here or my daddy giving you permission to keep us out."

Looking them over disdainfully, Mr. Malfoy's eyes drifted to Kaoru and then stopped. Calculation flashed behind his gray eyes. "Bring your new friend in to meet your father." He opened the door and stepped back demandingly.

Giving her an apologetic look, Miss Parker followed Robert into the house. Kaoru didn't want to go in, but when she looked back, she realized that the men outside had put away their dice and now circled the porch threateningly. "We're waiting, Miss Kamiya," prompted Mr. Malfoy, sweeping her with an icy gaze.

Swallowing hard, she brushed her fingers against Tsukiko's invisible fur for courage and walked into the house. Tsukiko returned to the astral plane as Mr. Malfoy led Kaoru and the twins down a hallway and into a large room. A handful of foreigners stood on one side of a table near the back with an equal number of Japanese arrayed on the other. None of them looked friendly.

When they entered, a cruel-looking foreigner with steel-gray hair stopped ranting mid-sentence to look up. "My Angel!" he exclaimed, his face suddenly transforming into avuncular as he came around the table. "And my Robert, I've been expecting you kids." He gave Miss Parker and Robert a quick hug.

His face looked like any loving father's, but his eyes remained flat. Uneasy, Kaoru shivered. He made her flesh crawl.

"We were attacked by ruffians, but Miss Kamiya came to our rescue," Robert explained, gazing up at his father devotedly while blindly gesturing to Kaoru hesitating in the doorway.

"Daddy, can you have someone give her a ride home in our carriage?" Miss Parker asked insistently. "She walked us all the way here."

Mr. Parker looked Kaoru up and down critically, not missing anything, even the bokken in her hand partially concealed by the folds of her hakama. His eyes narrowed even as his mouth formed a smile. "I'm sure we can arrange something, Angel, but first let me say hello and thank her for rescuing you rascals. Bobby, you need to work harder on your fighting. I can see that swollen lip you're trying to hide. At least your sister looks like she held her own. Her knuckles actually look like they took some hits. She may be older by a few minutes, but you need to start acting like a man soon if you ever want to live up to the Parker name."

Before the children could respond, he turned to the waiting Japanese. "Have you met my children, Sato-san? I was just telling you about them."

Examining them closely with strangely glittering, deep-set eyes, Sato hummed in his throat. "I see what you mean, Parker-san. My children also cause me trouble by disobeying and getting into fights." Robert and Miss Parker now seemed much more subdued and uncomfortable.

Thinning her shields, Kaoru tried to get a sense of Sato, but her passive scan deflected off his natural defenses. Without a direct mental assault, she couldn't read anything. The blank space where he stood made her edgy.

"That's an interesting bruise," Mr. Parker suddenly directed to Kaoru. "Where did you get it?"

"She was protecting us," Miss Parker interjected, looking at him with suddenly nervous defiance.

"It looks like a star," Mr. Malfoy remarked silkily as he walked closely around her shoulder to join Mr. Parker, making her jump. Before he spoke, she hadn't sensed him either. Now he felt like a piece of malevolent ice scraping painfully against her shields. "Weren't we talking about a star earlier?"

"She's an unbonded Guide," a stuffy voice called out from a previously unnoticed doorway in the back of the room. The bully whose nose she'd broken limped up next to Sato. He had dried blood smeared across his cheek and lips. His friends limped in after him.

Everyone put hands on their swords as hatred and fear swelled through the room. Flicking her eyes to the doors and windows, Kaoru felt a moment of despair as she realized that she was completely cut off. She couldn't fight her way free of that many men.

"Is that so, my son? A Guide?" Sato asked in a calm voice belied by the hatred twisting his face. He didn't take his flat black eyes off Kaoru. "Then she must be the Guiding Star from The Prophesy, the unmaker who whispers in the ears of our enemies and lights their feet. This is a sign that the Volcano Ritual must take place tonight! The Gods have sent the Guiding Star to us because they want us to succeed! I need her alive for the ritual, but I don't care if you break something. Take her!"

"But Daddy, she helped us! That man's son is the one who attacked us in the street. Kaoru's my friend," cried Miss Parker, her Sentinel instincts swelling quickly at the threat to a Guide. However she was still just a child. She trusted her father.

Drawing their swords, two of Sato's men stalked towards her. Kaoru shifted to put the wall at her back and lifted her bokken in a defensive stance. Even if it was futile, she would not go down easily.

Behind the swordsmen she saw Miss Parker jump forward, only to be grabbed around the waist by her father and dragged back. The girl cried out in betrayal. Mr. Parker grimly shoved her into the arms of a waiting red-haired henchman. He dragged Miss Parker, thrashing and screaming bloody murder, out of the room. Robert sent Kaoru an apologetic grimace, but followed his sister meekly.

As soon as the children were safely gone, Kaoru attacked. She would not stand by docilely like an animal waiting for slaughter. Charging forward, she surprised the swordsmen, who either were unused to fighting a woman or had let themselves be distracted by Miss Parker's cries. Kaoru mentally blasted them with sleepy feelings to further slow their reactions.

Taking advantage, Kaoru swiped at the first one's leg. She destroyed his knee with a vicious crunch and then knocked him out with a backswing to the head. Ducking the remaining swordsman's slice at her arm, she twirled behind his body and rammed the hilt of her bokken into his temple, dropping him like a stone. She'd taken out both of them in seconds.

Angry and fearful murmurs swept the room. Mr. Parker and Mr. Malfoy drifted towards the back of the room strategically. "She's just a woman and a primitive Guide, disgusting and inferior. Don't let her befuddle you. Take her down!" Sato screamed with a spray of spittle.

At least fifteen men began advancing on her position as fanatical hatred swelled. Frantic, Kaoru decided to try and clear a path to the nearest door. It had almost no chance of success, as even if she got there she'd still have to contend with the men outside. Nevertheless, what else could she do?

Abruptly a man jumped down from the rafters and landed lightly in front of Kaoru. His fiery aura of protective rage matched the dark flame of his hair. "Kenshin!" Kaoru called out with extreme relief.

"Battousai! The Battousai is here!" the Japanese men cried out fearfully, shuffling back. However, the British men had never heard of the most feared assassin of the Bakumatsu. They looked at the short, red-haired man with contempt and continued advancing.

"I can smell your blood," Kenshin hissed with panic. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Kaoru assured him with a soothing psychic caress, "just ready to leave."

"Right," he nodded and reached back to brush his fingertips along her hand, but didn't look away from the advancing horde. "I'll get you out, but if you can, don't let me kill them. You staying unhurt will help me with that goal."

Then the first man reached them and Kenshin unsheathed his reverse-bladed sword across the man's torso, breaking his ribs, slicing his skin, but leaving him alive to be flung back into his fellows. A normal sword would have killed him, but Kenshin now tried to protect the Tribe and the memory of his conscience by maiming instead of killing wrongdoers. He swept through the group almost faster than the eye could see, slicing, thrusting, and leaving a trail of groaning, bruised, and bloody bodies.

One man actually managed to sneak up behind Kenshin with a bared blade. Before he could do anything, Kaoru whacked the foreigner behind the knees and then on the head. He didn't get up again.

Looking around, she saw that most of the foreign fighters were down. Before she could celebrate, Sato's men joined in on the fight. Someone threw a jaw of something rancid smelling at Kenshin's feet and he stumbled as his enhanced sense of smell went haywire.

"Filter it out, Kenshin!" Kaoru called desperately as she ducked a skilled attack from the man in front of her. She wanted to shore up Kenshin, but without a bond she couldn't both help him from such a distance and keep herself from getting hit. When the man's blade sliced through her hakama and barely missed her leg, she made herself focus completely on her opponent. It took some wild dodges, but finally she managed to execute a swift attack, dislocating the elbow of his sword arm. He went down with an agonized shriek.

Stepping back out of range just in case, Kaoru searched frantically for Kenshin. She quickly found him fighting in the middle of the room. One of his eyes watered so badly he must barely be able to see, but he still managed to take out two more fighters as she watched. Only a few more opponents remained.

"As amusing as this is, I have more important things to do with my time," Mr. Malfoy said tightly as he pointed a short, polished piece of wood at them. It was much too small for a bokken or a gun. She'd never seen anything like it. Kenshin also seemed confused. He sheathed his sword and crouched in readiness, hands prepared for attack or defense.

"Petrificus totalus!" Mr. Malfoy spat and something like a spark shot out from his stick. Kenshin rolled to the side, barely dodging it. Malfoy then screamed, "Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy!" Kenshin continued to dodge the uncanny scarlet flares.

But Kaoru got stupid and forgot to watch her back. Suddenly a hand came up around her neck and jerked her back against a hard chest. A knife pricked her throat and she felt her blood spill out hot and sticky. She suppressed her reaction, but it didn't matter when the scent of blood was just as blatant as a scream to a Sentinel.

Turning with a terrified gasp, Kenshin met her eyes just seconds before a red flare caught him in the back. He dropped like a stone. Kaoru screamed in denial and the hands holding her shoved her away and slapped her across the cheek to get her to shut up. Falling to the ground, she scrambled forward until she could grab Kenshin and pull him into her lap with a sob. Thankfully he was still breathing, just unconscious.

"Oh, just knock her out too," Mr. Parker grumbled disgustedly.

Malfoy snapped another, "Stupefy." Before she could react, a red light enveloped her body. Then Kaoru fell into blackness.