REVISED!!!!!!!!!

This ficcy is MY remake of the hot springs episode where that artist falls in love with Kaoru. It starts out the same, but the results are MUCH different *evil grin* It's gonna get steamy!!!!!!! Enjoy and keep in mind that this is the set-up to my fic, the citrusy goodness will be in every chapter after this!!!! ENJOY!!! Don't forget to R&R!!!!

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin

Steam

Chapter One:

"Aaaaahh…this feels so good," said Kaoru, sinking lower into the steaming water as the torchlight illuminated her stunning features.

"I agree! These hot springs feel like heaven after a hard days work," answered Misao, her eyes closed as she adjusted the towel on her head. A friendly silence stretched between them as they relaxed their tired muscles in the warm water. Suddenly the older girl's posture turned a bit contrite and she steepled her index fingers together as she looked at them.

" Ano…I'm sorry, Misao-chan. It was my Kenshin that got us into this mess. If he hadn't lost our money we wouldn't have been cleaning and cooking all day to make up for our expenses…" The ninja girl waved it off with a shake of her head.

"Oh, don't worry about it, Kaoru. We Oniwa Banshuu can handle anything…" She paused as a grin spread across her face and she threw Kaoru a sly look. "But I didn't know it was MY Kenshin now…" she ended with a smirk as her friend's face turned bright red.

"Wha… ah…no!" she stuttered, "I didn't mean that! Me and Kenshin have nothing. I—"

"That's what I thought," Misao cut her off matter of factly. She lifted a shapely leg above the surface to admire her toes as Kaoru's mood changed from flustered to annoyed.

"Well, YOUR one to talk! What about you and Aoshi? Hmm? I haven't seen any progress with YOU two either!" she finished with a satisfied smile and crossed her arms over her naked breasts to watch her friend's reaction. But Misao only grinned.

"I don't care! I'll love my Aoshi-sama till the day I die!" She hugged herself dreamily as Kaoru rolled her eyes in disgust, but couldn't help her smile.

'I should have guessed…'

Suddenly Misao jumped up, splashing Kaoru with water!

"Someone's WATCHING us!"

"Eeeeeeeeehhh???" Kaoru could only squeak as Misao grabbed the wooden bucket and hurled it into the bushes where it connected with an audible *THWACK*! And they stood there frozen for a moment as a dark shape stumbled out of the trees and fell before them.

"It…it…it's a MAN!!!" Misao shrieked as Kaoru stared dumbfounded at the unmoving figure, clutching her towel in front of her naked body. Suddenly, a low chuckle broke the silence and the girls watched in growing terror as ten more dark shaped materialized out of the darkness of the forest in front of them.

"Well boys, looks like we found us some fiery beauties tonight, ne?" Laughter errupted from the other men, but they quieted when the obvious leader of the group, held up his hand. He looked both Kaoru and Misao up and down, absorbing there barely covered curves with his heated stare. The girls couldn't see the men very well due to the forest's shadows, but the men could see them very very well.

"Hey! Who do you think you are snooping around in other people's privacy?!" yelled Misao as Kaoru stared in shock. The leader only laughed.

"Who am I? I am the owner of these hot springs, little lady. I own these hot springs…" his smile turned ruthless, "…and everything in 'em." He finished with a smirk. This sent his men into another bout of low, rumbling laughter. Misao growled.

The noise finally brought Kaoru to her senses and her eyes started to spark with anger.

"Whether you own these hot springs or not, you have NO right to watch us here! We paid for the time we have and we want it WITHOUT perverted men watching us!"

The leader took a sudden menacing step towards them and spoke in a cold, threatening voice.

"Paid for it, huh? That's not what I heard from my Innkeeper." The coldness of his voice suddenly dropped a few degrees making the girls shiver. "You're not lying to me are you?"

The girls only nodded as they backed up in fear. Misao gathered her wits first.

"Why should we take orders from dirty old men who hafta spy on girls to get some entertainment? You're pathetic!"

The leader only chuckled as he stepped into the ring of torchlight to reveal fine, chiseled features and a strong, muscled body that caused the girls' breathe to catch.

"You can judge hold old we are for yourself, but the dirty part I won't deny. And as for the spying, I usually don't have to resort to it, but this pathetic wimp of an artist…" the leader motioned to the prone form on the ground, knocked unconscious by Misao's bucket.

"He told us of the ultimate beauty I have residing at my hot springs and I wanted to see for myself."

He smirked. "And I can see now… he wasn't exaggerating… at all."

He said these last words in a husky voice that sent chills down Kaoru and Misao's spines.

But they didn't miss the cruelty and lust swimming in his gaze.

"So you're leaving the kid for us?" one of the shorter men asked, looking pointedly at Misao in disappointment.

"NAANNIII?!" Misao fumed.

"Sorry boys, but the tall one is all mine," again his voice grew chilly, "Got a problem with that?"

The Kaoru's eyes widened in shock when the subtle threat was accompanied by the metallic scrape of a sword sliding from its sheath. 'Oh my god…this is serious!'

"Maa, maa Dokurou-sama," the man soothed hastily, both hands up to placate his leader. "We'd be more than happy to have the little one."

Kaoru almost fainted when she heard the name 'Dokurou'. She had heard many stories about him and his band of handsome devils while visiting the Akebeko. They had been terrorizing the countryside between Tokyo and Kyoto, raping and killing women by the dozens. She had thought nothing of it with Kenshin's warm, comforting presence by her side, but now it seemed much more…real.

She scrunched up her face, trying to remember what Tae had said that day…

****

"…I hear that once they finish with the poor girls, one of them runs her through as if she was making love to the sword!

The other women gasped, eyes wide in delighted horror as her fand fluttered to her open mouth. "You don't SAY! What a TERRIBLE way to die!"

****

Kaoru's eyes snapped open as the memory ended. 'Make love to a sword? What the hell does that mean?!' But her musings were cut short when Dokurou's voice broke the silence.

"Hmm… I see you know my name. You must know what this meeting will eventually entail." He ended with a cruel twist of his lips. Kaoru only stared back at him in confusion.

His eyes narrowed considerably when he saw the blank look on her face. "Do you even know what happens between a man and a women?" He asked with disbelief.

Kaoru's eyes fell to her toes as Misao scoffed.

"Of course she knows! What do you think we are? Kids? Wait! Don't answer that. Well, with Kenshin around all the time how can she NOT know?"

"Misao-chan!!" Kaoru pleaded.

"Well, don't you?"

All eyes turned to the blushing, half-naked, raven-haired beauty. Her eyes didn't rise from the ground.

"Ev-Even if I…I didn't… I'm not finding out tonight!" she replied helplessly, voice rising in anger.

Misao looked shocked and the men started laughing.

"Is that so?" Dokurou said in a low voice as his humor gave way to sick lust. "Well, you're in for a rough time tonight because that's the last thing you'll ever learn. How to make love to a sword."

The last sentence was the men's signal to advance and the girl's turned to run to the gate with a fairly big head start, not giving a second thought to their bare, white bottoms that served as perfect targets in the torchlight. Because the men weren't called devils for nothing.

Only a few steps from the gate, Misao fell to the ground with a muffled groan as the wooden bucket she had thrown earlier connected with the back of her knee, dislocating it.

"Misao!" Kaoru was at the younger girl's side in an instant.

"Kaoru… g-go on! I can hold 'em off! Go get Kenshin! I'm an Oniwabanshu! I can do-"

"Don't be stupid! You're hurt! I'll take care of them, I have a plan. Just go through and shut the gate. Get Kenshin as fast as you can!"

"B-but—"

"NO! I'm NOT changing my mind! Now GO!" She pulled Misao to her feet and pushed her roughly through the gates, closing and barring them before turning to her pursuers.

Dokurou and his men were in no hurry to reach her. They seemed to walk towards her as they smiled smugly, already contemplating their triumph.

'They think I'm some helpless maiden, huh? Well, they're gonna get more then they bargained for!' she muttered to herself, trying to keep from panicking. 'Think of a plan, Kaoru! THINK!'

Her eyes fell on a torch on the wall to her right and she grabbed it on impulse, brandishing it like a bokken in front of her.

The men stopped they're slow advance to watch her, amused.

"Oh, isn't this cute!" One of the uglier men called out. "What's she think she's gonna do with that?"

"What are you laughing at?" She cringed at how shrill her own voice sounded. "Stay BACK!"

They took a step forward.

She lunged at the ugly man, aiming to knock the victorious look off his face. Even with only one hand holding her makeshift weapon, since the other was holding her towel in place, she should be able to take a few of them out.

But huge, cold hands wrapped around her wrist, anticipating her move and holding her captive against a hard body. Dokurou. The bruising touch brought her to reality as she realized just how serious her situation was… and how badly she was outmatched.

"I would put it down if I were you, unless you want to die a slow, painful death. I would hate to see such a beautiful creature die so horribly." Dokurou whispered into her ear without a trace of humor.

Kaoru stared at him and he watched the emotions in her eyes change from fear, to anger, to rage. He should have been prepared, but lust was clouding his mind, and he was unable to avoid the warm, wet bullet that shot towards his eye.

She spit in his face.

Dokurou flung her into the wall so hard that and her head snapped back and cracked on the wooden planks.

His expression was unreadable as he wiped at the spittle that was slowly running down his cheek and watched as Kaoru's form slid down to the ground.

Desire shot through his groins when he saw her milky thighs spreading from the towel now bunched at her hips. He licked her saliva from his fingers.

Kaoru caught his expression and tried to rearrange the small towel the best she could, stretching it in a futile effort to hide her young body from the men's hungry gaze.

With a lifted hand, Dokurou signaled for his men to retreat into the forest, which they did only reluctantly, as he started to advance on her blushing, trembling form.

All she could do was pray that Misao was okay and was moving her gimpy ass as fast as she could to get to Kenshin. Her eyes grew ever wider as his shadow fell over her.

'This isn't happening! This ISN'T happening… is it?'

Cold hands closed on her bare shoulders as even colder blue eyes bore into hers.

"KEEEENSHIIIIIINNN!"

TBC……..

WAAAAHH!!!!! FEEDBACK!!! Please review and tell me what you think!!!!!! Suggestions? TELL ME!!! And don't forget the B/K action is in every chapter AFTER this!!! This is only set-up for means for the Battousai to be released!!! MWAAHAHAHAHA!!!! Love ya alls!!!

XO Drea-chan XO